SmartMark15

So Brad Stutts was fired from CWF Mid-Atlantic for "inappropriate behavior." Sad to find out considering he was one of the driving forces behind this pretty hot period for CWF Mid-Atlantic as well as a pretty good announcer. But the way this was phrased, it doesn't bode well for Stutts.

I certainly thought that it was Jericho's best singles performance from what I've seen in his career. For greatest match, that has to go to the match vs HBK at Bash 08. But that was far more a Shawn match than a Jericho one. This was the first time I felt like Jericho took the lead and by far ran away with the better performance in a match.

This match held up much better on my rewatch. Nakamura on absolute point with his offensive here, just going crazy on this kid trying to take his spot. Ibushi mocking Nakamura was amazing and the way they respond to each other because of those taunts is a wonder. Fantastic match here. *****

I'm surprised no one has talked about this on the forums yet. This was absolutely fantastic, a classic of modern day WWE far more than their Mania XIX match was. The match is already pretty great to open with. Shawn catches a hurt to the ribs early establishing that injuries will be caused by far simpler offense than usual in this match. Shawn sells the ribs great in this match and the spots all build up nicely to each other as the two cut a pretty decent and fun pace. Jericho brings the cocky hate to this match as Shawn pulls out his usual arsenal. Things go into absolute overdrive once a wild back elbow opens up Shawn above the eye. At that point, this great WWE-style match suddenly transforms into a Lawler-Dundee level match with Shawn putting in one of his legendary gusher selling performances. Jericho gets some amazing heat doing punches. Punches in 2008 in front of a WWE audience got actual heat. I couldn't believe it either. Throw in a desperation Crossface and some classic babyface booking and you've got yourself an all-time classic here. *****

Absolutely loved this. Chris Jericho put in a level of performance I've never seen from him before. He really brought the hatred and brutality and I really enjoyed all his little heel mannerisms. It was fun to just see some old school heal heat on a guy trying to get some old school heel heat. The brawling to the outside felt fantastic with Omega pulling off an organic and unexpected table bump. From there, Jericho and Omega pretty much literally tore the house down as their brawl ripped through the announce area. Man, Jericho seriously shocked me here. Doing the stuff he did at the pace he did while still throwing in a lot of heel characteristics was the real highlight of this match. Not at any time during the build did I believe the wrestler of the night on WK12 would be Chris freaking Jericho. ****3/4

Could you imagine the response if Cena went over Punk or Bryan clean on PPV in those circumstances? It's interesting how on the surface similar scenarios can engender such different responses from fan bases. The reaction to Okada winning has been mixed at best but plenty of the western New Japan acolytes have roundly defended it. I guess the real proof in the pudding is in the Japanese market if we see any decline in business. The crowd in the building certainly seemed like they were let down by the result. I too was brutally disappointed in the finish of the main event. However, what I believe separates New Japan from the WWE in situations like this is the amount of good will they've built up with all their long term booking in the past. In the WWE, should Cena have beaten Punk or Bryan at those points, the crowd would deflated because odds are that'd be the last time either guy gets anywhere near the title anyway. In New Japan, there's a proven track record of wrestlers eventually getting their big win. In fact, the problem with that is the track record is too rigidly set in stone as Naito is basically following a similar WK booking arc as Okada himself.

Gedo's booking patterns win out and spoil what should have been a crowning moment in New Japan history.

A fun match that needed a particular result to become truly amazing. We didn't get that result. I don't know but the result really just deflates a lot of the match for me and it's not like it was a total barn burner to begin with. ***3/4

I rather enjoyed Ibushi-Cody. Thought it was much better than expected and Brandi adds a lot to the old school heel gimmick.

No offense, but this post at this point in this thread makes your user name seem VERY ironic. By which I mean: You might expect that someone who has the eye of a hawk or someone who is "smart" to have noticed this post: Ah, I see. Probably the Mid-South Coliseum or whichever arena Memphis ran out of in the 70s so we could see the Lawler-Fargo feud.

I'm a sucker for the Manhattan Center from 05-07. If I had to pick, I'd probably pick 2006, the centerpiece of Bryan Danielson's ROH Title reigns with multiple great level defenses in that building.

I thought he had a pretty hotstreak going into the Hell in a Cell match. He had some of those really cold vicious promos that got him so over in the indies. The attack on Vince was also a fantastic segment.

An Imperfect Top 15 Matches of the Year 1. Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW 4/9/17) 2. The Revival vs. #DIY vs. Authors of Pain (NXT 4/1/17) 3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW 8/12/17) 4. Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate (NXT 5/20/17) 5. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (WWE 11/19/17) 6. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman (WWE 8/20/17) 7. Trevor Lee vs. Chip Day (CWF Mid Atlantic 3/25/17) 8. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW 7/17/17) 9. AJ Styles vs. John Cena (WWE 1/29/17) 10. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE 4/1/17) 11. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns (WWE 7/9/17) 12. The New Day vs. The Usos (WWE 10/8/17) 13. The New Day vs. The Usos (WWE 8/20/17) 14. Authors of Pain vs. #DIY (NXT 5/20/17) 15. LA Park vs. Rush (Baracal Entertainment 3/1/17)

After puroresu.tv went under, I thought I'd never have the same level of discussion about pro wrestling again. It's so nice to be in a board with so many passionate and articulate people. Merry Christmas, all.

Lots of fun here especially with Sabre ragdolling for WALTER's chops. He didn't even need to be suplexed to bump like a maniac and I thought that was a great touch. Enjoyed how WALTER paced out his selling so that his arms got in progressively worse shape as the match went along. Sabre's quick bursts of energy after a long WALTER beatdown gave a lot of energy and life to this match too. His heel character work peppered throughout was a fun development too. ****1/4

Yeah, that Dragon/Steen one is just fucking epic. Great build too for those who followed PWG. The Bucks were booked to be smarmy twerpy heels who kept going foe the company ace and this match was a glorious pay off.

https://twitter.com/briantheguppie/status/942054673451835392 You know, I feel like a competent camera crew and production team could have made that look better. That series is dumb and ridiculous but they used the worst possible angles as well. I'm not a big fan of how modern ROH looks. All the overhead shots and crane shots actually makes the venue look smaller. The more intimate angles from the early days made the wrestlers feel larger than they were and it emphasized the sound of the crowd.

Thought this match was laid out beautifully. You have AJ working the legs early on to put some money in the bank but once Jinder tosses him over the barricade, the match goes into overdrive. Easily Jinder's career best performance tossing AJ around and putting some variety into his offense for once. Of course best in the world Styles comes in to bump like crazy and sell like a nut as well as have some really fun spots along the way. I mean, Jinder knocking AJ off the top rope and AJ landing ribs-first? That's just good pro wrestling right there. Hot finish but yes the crowd wasn't buying into Jinder. Still, the guy worked hard and put in the match of his life so props there. There's no escaping the fact, though, that he was in there with the absolute best in the world today. ****

Those Chaos Theory suplexes Gable was throwing were insane.

I'm in the camp of people who actually thoroughly enjoyed that match when I first saw it (have yet to rewatch). Things like the Undertaker visibly struggling to do his sit up spot or looking lost as Reigns ran circles around him to hit the Spear are top notch moments for me.

I don't have the most nuanced and broad view on this but I think New Japan deserve a nod here. Made a huge splash critically, and their end year build to WK 12 has done a lot to really pique people's interest in their product.

Dark horse mentions for BRAUN and Johnny Gargano. Braun, for one, while not having a strong enough case for WOTY certainly has the strongest case for Most Improved of the Year. From a footnote in a stable to one of the hottest acts of the year, completely shattering the "workrate" era image. Gargano has turned into probably the absolute best babyface on NXT and has retained all his heat despite being on the losing end of most of his feuds.

Seconding Kawada on this. Reigns has remained hot, relevant, and always put on quality. I think his only close competition is AJ Styles but Styles had a tepid period with the US Title whereas Roman has been part of incredibly hot stories all year. He got a good brawl out of Owens, retired Taker, had an amazing feud with Strowman, hot promos with Cena, over Shield reunion, hot IC Title run. The guy is killing it and seems to get better every week.

Jericho's interview with Dave & Bryan last week made me more interested, too. Those six minutes were some of the best work Omega's done in the ring in his whole career because all he had to do was sell and make Jericho look like a madman. So simple. Wrestling can be so simple.

Probably a good place for me to say that Run The Gauntlet is one of my favorite TV booking ideas ever. Just looked it up and it is a rather clever idea. Simple but a good use of TV with just enough kayfabe stakes. Speaking of gauntlets, I rather enjoyed the Smackdown Title Contender Series on the post-SummerSlam 02 SD! Winner of each match moves on to meet another opponent and so on and so on until the last winner gets a shot at Brock. Great episode plot that gave us a good series of matches including a strong Eddie-Edge opener and a really fun Benoit-Angle-Taker main event.