Jimmy James

Wonder if Hart/Piper from Mania 8's a little too good for this topic. Great moment for Bret, and one of my favorite finishes of all time (now that's a topic for a thread...)

***** episode of WOR today, for what it's worth. It's usually good after a disastrously bad RAW, but this was one of my favorite examples since that "John Cena Appreciation Night" RAW a few years ago which caused a long digression on M*A*S*H and Marcus Welby, M.D.

I like Roman because I have a long-standing bias toward wrestlers who mainly throw punches and bombs. More seriously, I think his facials (when not doing one of his well-deservedly mocked Rock-Lite promos) and expressions in-ring are top-notch without pissing me off in the way that, say, Edge or Dolph Ziggler's expressions did. It's a big part of why I like his selling so much. I think his current "silent guy who beats the shit out of people" gimmick would have worked to get him over had they never bothered with those god-awful promos in the winter of 2014. Even despite his awful reactions when he comes down the ramp, he tends to get much better reactions when they just let him loose and beat the shit out of someone. As far as Rusev goes, I love that guy because I firmly believe he's one of those guys who could get over in any era, anywhere in the world. I'd love to see him have a long run as like, the Arn Anderson of the company (or, I guess, the new Big Boss Man)- someone who can work as either an upper-card face or a heel and give you quality work no matter where you put him on the card.

I realize that posting dumb comments from wrestling boards is the lowest of low-hanging fruit, but

I actually thought the Roman/Sheamus program was excellent aside from the lame League of Nations gimmick, though I may be a minority there. There was also that widely-praised tournament match with Cesaro (though Cesaro mostly got credit for "carrying" him)

For match 2 in a 7-match series, no less. Though it did get people believing the worked injury, so I guess it could be justified that way.

I don't like KO stylistically in the ring, but I love him forever for trolling Full Sail over the Brooklyn NXT show that one time. Fantastic.

Meltzer hasn't said anything yet, "it's in the latest issue" is his standard "pay up, you poor bastard" answer to any question that can be answered in the latest Observer issue.

In some sense, I think the love of "workrate" and the obsession that wrestlers "Deserve" their push are inherently self-destructive together. Take two guys who WWE brought up, Roman Reigns and Rusev. I can imagine Rusev doing his awesome thing in his mid-40s. I can even imagine Roman throwing a few Superman punches at that age. Can you imagine Seth Rollins working a match with a 45-year-old's body? Or, god forbid, Kevin Owens?

kind of related, but I've thought about something: Indie "workrate" style is a problem, because it means that by the times someone's paid enough dues for the fans to think they "deserve it!", they're probably going to have iffy long-term prospects because of how destructive the ROH/PWG/etc workrate can be on a body by the time you hit your 30s.

Daniel Bryan in his mid-30s with an iffy health prognosis was probably not a good choice for the long-term face of the company, but booking the Rumble the way they did was one of the most predictable disasters ever.

Well besides the idea that they just don't like each other, my take on it is that HHH has spent all this time building up this idea that he's the great savior of wrestling and doesn't want to have that get fucked up by Shane's return. HHH is the guy who has rescued the indy darlings from the tyranny of Vince McMahon's big guy fetish and given us the greatest thing that has ever or will ever be, the almighty NXT. And since before that Shane was the smark savior everyone kept hoping would return to WWE from exile, banish evil Stephanie and take over, HHH doesn't want Shane's comeback to steal away any of his new smark street cred. I wonder if Hunter will ever lower himself to begging CM Punk to come back. Smark chants are a powerful drug,

I think Meltzer has repeatedly "hinted" how HHH seems to never be in the same angles as Shane ever since Shane came back. I have no idea what he is hinting at, but hey.

It's kind of funny that Daniel Bryan was so incredibly over that he indirectly ruined the careers of Sheamus and Roman Reigns. Like, obviously that's not like his "fault", but still

This company is so faux-feminist that it has me dreading the inevitable time they'll do a Woman's Championship match as a PPV main event, because my god will it be self-congratulatory.

I think Dave's evaluation on his selling is based on him getting bad reactions in FIP segments, which is fair in a sense, but like, at this point it's pretty clear that his reactions are about external politics and not really his workrate, right? Rusev's probably my favorite seller in the company (which is why I want a Roman/Rusev blood brawl so badly) and I'm not sure if even he could draw sympathy in Roman's spot.

That segment felt like none of the writing staff were on the same page over whether Steph or Paul were being sincere or sarcastic at any given moment. Awful.

Roman Reigns is not a super-worker but "decent enough but bad at selling" is an absurd evaluation of him, especially the bit about the selling. He's like #5 in the company at worst.

Meltzer's new assessment of Roman Reigns as a wrestler is that he's "decent enough" but is bad at selling, which is the new saying Sheamus was "in position for everything" I guess.

This would be a solid match stip if it was decided by a run-in by a returning RVD.

I don't even get the controversy. WON is an insider newsletter. It's about the business. This is less being mad at like, the movie review section of the NY Times publishing spoilers and more like being mad that Deadline Hollywood is reporting that an actor is leaving Game of Thrones or something. It's a trade journal, not a fansite.

I liked Tatanka's offense, from what little he did. I'd pay to see an independent show with him headlining.

The Usos have a solid-enough resume in the current tag scene that I'm surprised nobody gave them a nod.

Not to mention how workers in the last generation had about ten times the amount of leverage with Vince in any negotiation, just because WCW existed.

Vince as an in-ring performer seems to have about five thousand times the knowledge of pro wrestling as Shane has.