Kadaveri

Sure I didn't mean 'peak' as in a period of time, I meant is as in 'how great is their very best work'. Maybe ceiling is the better word for that. In which case I'd agree that Christian's ceiling/peak stuff isn't Top 100 material, his case is that he has for many years very consistently put out lots of good-very good matches with virtually anybody he's been put up against.

You're probably not far off in your assessment of the matches, it's more what you value. Volume/consistency vs. Peak.

Dave Meltzer is also reporting this: "Just to clear up a few things. Shane McMahon was a producer of the men's Royal Rumble. He is not a regular producer for WWE, but Vince gave him the assignment for the match. He helped produce the Royal Rumble in both 2020 and 2021 but was way more hands on and taking control this year than in the prior two years. Both matches were constantly changed. Those on the inside knew who the winners were all along even if there were apparently many in the company told differently, but as far as what would happen in both matches, they were constantly changing. The stories about negativity toward McMahon regarding the men's match are pretty accurate. As noted here, he is booked for both the Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania shows."

Mayu struggling to hit that moonsault towards the end of the match coz she's so beaten up was some awesome shit. This match blew me away. ****3/4

I think there are some differences (he does it all a lot slower now for one) but really this aspect is probably a big reason why so many people have soured on him. He's had virtually zero evolution since becoming the top star of NJPW and watching a guy just do the exact same act every night stops being interesting after a while.

Meltzer reporting that WWE may change the name of the Elimination Chamber PPV to "The Annual Elimination Chamber".

I'd gradually move the age/career length requiremeet up 1 year every 2 years until it's at 40/20.

Seth Rollins is not short

I don't think anyone ever claimed this.

We're restarting the Watch Parties today. January 8th 5pm EST (i.e. in 40 minutes) we have Chigusa Nagayo. January 15th 5pm EST we'll be watching Steve/William Regal. All welcome!

ELP's comment in Dan Kroffat's thread that he's a fake Frenchman reminded of the most outrageous lie in wrestling history Bulldog.mp4

This bangs. Suzuka attacks Hokuto before she can get out of her big robes and wig only for Hokuto to counter a backbreaker into an armdrag over a pile of streamers. Hokuto takes her wig off, Suzuka jumps her and attempts the backbreaker again but Hokuto counters it into a splash this time, goes back into the corner to take off her robes and shouts something at Suzuka which got a lot of crowd laughs. Suzuka looks a bit embarrassed that she failed to jump Hokuto at the bell not once but twice. One of the wackiest opening 30 seconds ever. They then have a great violent match with nasty handwork and the big bombs you'd expect. ****1/4

One of the best squashes ever. I wouldn't know how to rate it as a match, but it's something everyone should watch to understand why Akira Hokuto was such a big star in this era. It was more than just the 4+ Star matches.

Really great interpromotional match that's seems to have slipped under the radar. A big dynamic is that Aja treats Eagle Sawai relatively respectfully. Kyoko Inoue on the other hand, is totally contemptuous of Leo Kitamura. Maybe she's offended at Leo having a similar aesthetic with the facepaint, right from the start of the match Kyoko refuses a handshake and beats the hell of her. It's about as sadistic as I've ever seen Kyoko in this era. The Aja vs. Eagle segments are the best part of the match and what the crowd are really hot for. They do a great job of doing enough to make the match satisfying without feeling like they're giving away a singles match. ****1/4

Before it went all super indie NXT used to have loads of squash/JTTS style matches in 2013-15 and it worked perfectly well in building stars and matches people wanted to see.

Okada's style probably isn't that safe when he was a broken down wreck by 32 years old.

When Jim Cornette reviewed Walter vs. Dragunov on his podcast he said Walter's offense is safe and praised him for using tricks to make stuff look more damaging than it really is that nobody else uses anymore.

If anything Bryan seems to be stylistically limiting himself more in AEW than when he was in WWE. He's certainly cut his moveset down pretty drastically, doesn't really do much other than grappling and strikes now. But I don't think you can really compare the two because Bryan's been launched into a main event feud the moment he stepped into the company whereas Punk's just had midcard matches. Both are delivering the goods, but Punk is the bigger story because there was never any real reason to doubt Bryan would be good in AEW, whereas who could know what 7 years out of wrestling could have done to Punk. He's getting a little better with every match and vs. Sydal especially he didn't feel much different to 2012.

My favourite review of this:

Tomorrow at 12pm EST we're going to be watching a 'Stan Hansen in the USA' compilation. Hansen finished 3rd in 2016 and is mainly known for his work in Japan, so this should help people see the full extent of his case. You can find the Discord group here: https://discord.com/invite/3F2CKuZYfx

The longest I can think of is the CM Punk Contract Signing segment on the go home to Money In The Bank 2011. It's a bit longer than Rock This Is Your Life.

I think the distinction is when Savage/Funk/Flair did those things they were portraying over the top wrestling characters. When the Bucks do a parody of babyface comeback spots they're not actually portraying any kind of wrestling character, they're making a joke of wrestling itself. People can like or dislike that line being crossed, I'm just arguing that it's a real thing and not just a natural continuation of Lou Thesz being funny or whatever. It's what distingushes the Bucks/Omega from still 'modern' wrestlers like Christian or Bryan.

My recs for the tournament: 07/31/21 - Giulia vs. Starlight Kid ***1/2 07/31/21 - Maika vs. Utami Hayashishita ****1/4 07/31/21 - Mayu Iwatani vs. Momo Watanabe ****1/4 08/01/21 - Saki Kashima vs. Starlight Kid ***1/2 08/01/21 - Saya Kamitani vs. Utami Hayashishita ***3/4 08/01/21 - Maika vs. Syuri ***3/4 08/01/21 - Momo Watanabe vs. Natsumi Maki ***1/2 08/01/21 - Giulia vs. Mayu Iwatani **** 08/07/21 - AZM vs. Syuri ****1/4 08/08/21 - Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano ***3/4 08/13/21 - Konami vs. Saya Kamitani ***1/2 08/13/21 - Giulia vs. Koguma ***3/4 08/28/21 - Maika vs. Unagi Sayaka ***3/4 08/28/21 - Himeka vs. Mayu Iwatani ***3/4 09/06/21 - Himeka vs. Natsumi Maki ***1/2 09/06/21 - Koguma vs. Starlight Kid ***1/2 09/06/21 - Takumi Iroha vs. Tam Nakano ***3/4 09/11/21 - AZM vs. Utami Hayashishita ***1/2 09/11/21 - Himeka vs. Momo Watanabe **** 09/12/21 - Koguma vs. Momo Watanabe ***1/2 09/12/21 - AZM vs. Tam Nakano ***3/4 09/16/21 - Natsumi Maki vs. Saki Kashima ***1/2 09/16/21 - Mina Shirakawa vs. Momo Watanabe ***1/2 09/16/21 - AZM vs. Saya Kamitani ***1/2 09/16/21 - Takumi Iroha vs. Unagi Sayaka ***3/4 09/16/21 - Koguma vs. Mayu Iwatani ***3/4 09/18/21 - Mayu Iwatani vs. Mina Shirakawa ***1/2 09/18/21 - AZM vs. Takumi Iroha **** 09/18/21 - Himeka vs. Starlight Kid ***3/4 09/20/21 - Takumi Iroha vs. Utami Hayashishita ****1/4 09/25/21 - Himeka vs. Koguma ***3/4 09/25/21 - Mayu Iwatani vs. Starlight Kid ****1/4 09/25/21 - Syuri vs. Takumi Iroha ****1/2 09/25/21 - Tam Nakano vs. Utami Hayashishita **** 09/25/21 - Final ****1/2 Wrestler Of The Tournament - Tie between Syuri and Mayu. Syuri for having the best matches, Mayu for getting the best out of a much weaker block. Most Improved - AZM. She wrestles very logically for being 4'11 with endless stamina. Doesn't try to overpower opponents, just exhaust them with a thousand pinning variations and eventually one will work! See AZM vs. Takumi Iroha 9/18/21 Best Sprint - Mayu Iwatani vs. Starlight Kid 9/25/21. 6 minutes and felt like an epic! Most Overachieving Match - Maika vs. Unagi Sayaka 8/28/21 Loudest Smack In The History Of Pro-Wrestling - See Syuri vs. Takumi Iroha 9/25/21

If I were to sum up the difference it's that Bryan Danielson has the "I can't make anyone believe wrestling is real, but I can make them believe I'M real" attitude in how he presents himself. Kenny Omega is completely inauthentic in everything he does and revels in it, he's all about irony and meta. It's not really about what moves they do or whatever, it's the bigger picture things.