Control21

The Olympians crack me up sometimes. A great match between Brian Adias and Rady Rose gets overshadowed by the arrival of Chief Joe Lightfoot and Sivi Afi. The two working together could really shake things up in the AWA if they play their cards right. I enjoyed reading the last two shows. AWA is off to a hot start in 1989!

I like how the Rumble is shaping up so far. Could we see any surprises? It's that time of the year after all.... The Varsity Club continues to grow. They could go far in 1989 under the right leadership. Spivey vs the Steiners is a dream feud. Always fun to see the Rogeau Brothers and Dino Bravo pair up.

I really like the direction of Maple Leaf Wrestling so far. The mixture of talent gives it a unique feel and having a native talent like Jim Neidhardt lead the charge only helps. Can't wait to see things continue to grow over the coming year.

Card Announcement: UWF Newborn - "Dynamism: Budokan Super Bout" January 26th, 1989 Nippon Budokan Tokyo, Japan Shigeo Miyato vs Yoji Anjo Minoru Suzuki vs Naoki Sano Tatsuo Nakano vs Masakatsu Funaki British Catch Rules: Marty Jones vs Mark Rocco Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nikolai Zouev Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi Satoru Sayama vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara Victor Zangiev & Salman Hashimikov vs "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & Gary Albright Akira Maeda vs Nobuhiko Takada

Well, they were clearly preparing the New Generation for a feud against Okada, but it's kinda hard to do that now with him getting poached by AEW...I'd say they have done a good job of pushing some of the new guys and getting them to this point, although they probably could have been quicker/bolder with Tsuji and Umino. WWE may have presentation problems, but there's also the problem with getting lost in the shuffle on the AEW roster and becoming just another guy on their massively bloated roster and eventually fading away as TK chases after a shiny new object every three months. It's sad to see Puroresu collectively become more like the NPB in terms of the biggest names eventually going over to the "big leagues." I think this will be the new normal for a while, at least until the TV bubble pops. Why get invested in anyone now? As soon as Umino becomes a massive star, I'm sure TK will come calling too and Moxley will be in his ear. It sucks if you are primarily a Puro fan. It's not a healthy environment right now.

I hope Okada goes to the WWE. I think that outcome is infinitely more interesting than Okada in AEW. We all know what Okada will do in AEW. Okada in post-Vince WWE is a bigger mystery and probably one that should be explored more.

Personally I found the EVIL thing hilarious and I'm not even a big House of Torture fan

I figured it would help add some flavor if I contextualized UWF's role in the Japanese wrestling scene for our game world, especially since no one else is running a Japanese promotion. I think it's a lot more interesting instead of having things exist in a vacuum. As you can tell, I take a lot of influence from actual history and hopefully the Meltzer stuff I added at the end helps explain things from that perspective.

Part II of Super Clash 3 lives up to the hype! Kokina vs Crusher Blackwell and Carlos Colon vs Buzz Sawyer were standout matches, and both were hard-hitting and violent in their own ways. Paul Orndorff is the new AWA Mid-American champion someone finally gets the belt off Larry Z! Paul Orndorff will make a great champion, I think. Jumbo Tsuruta shocks the world by defeating Nikolai Koloff! But perhaps he should thank Sgt. Slaughter for helping him out with that. Koloff can't be too happy, but Tsuruta is the new champion and it will be hard to get the belt off him. He will be a very formidable opponent for just about anyone. Great job with Super Clash 3! It was well-written and the details you put into it brought it to life.

PCW has started the new year strong with a series of excellent shows and plenty of tasty matches. The masked man continues to mystify people, and it'll be interesting to see how long he can get away with mucking up the territory before someone pulls his mask off... The Oregon Wrecking Crew seems to be primed to run the show this year, can anyone stop them? Barry Windham looks unstoppable as well. He might be in a league of his own at this point. Billy Gunn vs Chris Adams was a great main event. Good stuff there!

Kronus and Saturn get a well-deserved win. They are only rookies, but they are already looking quite promising. Steve Wright vs Adrian Street sounded like it was a great technical display. Big John Studd in NWA is going to be interesting, and pairing him with Baby Doll/Ron Fuller is a good choice to start things off. Jimmy Snuka pins Super Destroyer and may have earned himself a title shot. The Master Blasters have a great debut and Kurrgan looked very impressive. Super Strong Machine also appears to have the match of the night with a solid win over Rod Price and SSM looks to be in a title hunt as well. Two solid shows for the fans in Georgia and those viewing on the USA Network.

A pretty fun and diverse start to the rebirth of Maple Leaf Wrestling! Looking forward to me. I found the mixed tag team match and the Ryuma Go/Damien 666 tag team very interesting.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. The product feels fresher to me than it did two years ago

I thought that was the best Wrestle Kingdom since 2020. Maybe tied with last year, but I think the shorter matches were a lot more exciting than the long epics that have worn out their welcome. I could be wrong about this, but I think most people who watch these big NJPW events and then complain about NJPW being cold are primarily AEW fans who don't follow the product anymore and have trouble "getting" what's going on. The result is having an obvious disconnect with the product. You have to follow things regularly to help get a feel for what's what. I have my complaints about NJPW's booking these days, but it's not as bad as some of the AEW elitists make it out to be.

WrestleCade delivered for sure. I enjoyed all the matches here, and Williams/DiBiase vs The Samoan Swat Team was probably my favorite. Very easy to imagine how good that match would have been living color. Lex Luger vs Dan Spivey and Terry Funk vs Dusty Rhodes were as good as expected, and the main event between Flair and Sting set the tone for 1989 with WCW primed for a big year. I echo LowBlow's comments re: finding your footing and figuring out what you want to do. The flow of WCW so far has been very good, and I haven't noticed any confusion disrupting the overall feel. I would just go with my gut feeling and not overthink things too much, but of course, we all do things differently here.

The Rockers are the new US Tag Team champions...inevitable as these guys are on the roll and are quickly becoming one of the hottest acts in the business. Savage and Hogan continue their feud and build up a potential major encounter for the next Wrestlemania...or maybe sooner. Speaking of guys on a roll, Great Muta is making a name for himself in the states and could become a major player for WWF as we head into 1989. Rick Martel is a great IC champion and I'm rooting for him to have a long and productive reign.

The first half of Super Clash was well worth the wait! We get a great opening tag match between the Olympians and the Gunslingers. I was rooting for the Olympians too but the Gunslingers winning also makes sense, and both teams looked strong regardless. Kazmaier vs Cannonball Grizzly is a true hoss fight...and the fans got everything they wanted out of that encounter. Fujinami is a true professional and made sure that Vader came out of his first match as a new major star for AWA. Vader is going to be on a warpath but Fujinami may not be done with him yet. Tony St. Clair is going to be a great fit for AWA as well I think. He's definitely someone that Verne Gagne would appreciate! Gordy vs Kerry was a brutal war and I'm not sure either man will be the same after that experience inside the steel cage. If Kerry still wrestles after that match, he's going to have a lot of new fans behind him I think. This was extremely well-written. Can't wait for Part 2!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope the holidays and new year treat you well!

Puerto Rico was definitely not Lucha. Lucha developed as a unique flavor of wrestling in Mexico. As far as I know, Puerto Rico did not follow the same traditions and elements of Lucha Libre. I think England, Germany, and France all developed in similar ways. Catch wrestling from Lancashire influenced all three up until the 1940s or so, when they began to evolve into more modern wrestling and that's where they all adopted a "European" flavor if you will, with all three regions more or less having the same elements. French wrestling probably stood out the most in the 1950s/1960s.

Gedo has done some good for NJPW overall, but stuff like a "Whiskey Bottle match" and a "Coffin match" screams the worst of his tendencies. If it isn't Gedo, I would be shocked because it feels like these ideas come out of 1988 Memphis.

Music City Wrestling continues to deliver. Miss Kentucky has been one of my favorite additions as well and the intrigue she brings to the table is top-notch stuff. Will the Renestos finally get their chance against the champions? I love how you keep building up that feud and increasing the tension.

That was something I did not see coming. Paul E. and Great Muta is a great duo, that is an excellent choice on your part. The Hogan storyline is very intriguing. That has been fun to follow and it's a very creative way of keeping us on our toes as we head into 1989. Bad News Brown vs Ultimate Warrior is going to be fun

WrestleCade looks tremendous! Dusty Rhodes vs Terry Funk is setting up to be a classic. Spivey vs Luger and Ric Flair vs Sting should deliver as well. Great job with the build-up, feels like a big-time event is coming our way!