EnviousStupid

Meat of the match is this being Kobashi's last match before knee surgery, having to fight some of his most recent rivals in Akiyama and Vader. Initially I was confused over how much offense Akiyama took and making Vader the one to dish out most of the punishment on Kobashi, but I think there's good reason behind it: they expect Akiyama/Kobashi to continue once Kobashi returns and in 2001, Vader is easily the most limited competitor of the four. But what he can still do is roughhouse and make his stuff look painful, which is exactly what was asked of him here. Him working on top like so helped make a 20+ minutes feel shorter and with less dead space than there actually was. The issue came where Taue was the legal man, and despite liking him a lot, he garners nowhere near as sympathy compared to his partner here. Kobashi is instrumental to the storytelling, whereas Taue's moments are largely irrelevant.

One of the most tolerable examples of Zack Sabre Jr.'s wrestling style. More stripped down, not so counter-heavy, in a match that never really asks him to be sympathetic, although the circumstances in the promotion do make it easy to accept him as such. WALTER has obvious physical advantages, and Zack is recognised as an excellent technician who has a chance to win if he can keep it on the mat or maybe isolate a body part to home in on. Thing is, Zack is also arrogant, prideful, and very prone to fighting WALTER at his own game. He never wins that game. Despite ample chances and hope spots, Zack tried running head-on at a giant, only to get beaten down every time. As much of a cathartic release as I could hope for, as someone who never loved the scrawny brit.

One of those old matches where they're given plenty of time to play around with their grappling, leading to some very cool tricks and twists in how the match turns out. Tito in the one match shows how great a technical worker and fiery brawler he can be. Orton does a lot of classic cheating to get ahead, but he'll also break out these absurd-looking flying headscissors that had my jaw drop at first. Don't get the wrong idea though; it's a game of chess for both men, gradually figuring out a way to win. They spend a little too long taking their sweet time in certain holds for me to think of it as a MOTYC, but I'll take great wrestling from this era when it pops up.

Batista telling Rey Mysterio he was gonna rip his head off after a 4-way world title match in late 2009. I started watching in 2007. The first match I can remember seeing on TV was a cage match between Batista and Undertaker (the one where Edge cashed in afterwards). Cena was the top face at the time, but I had always been more a fan of Batista. That moment of him attacking Rey gutted me as a young fan.

Saw a twitter post yesterday about Cena turning heel to the tune of everyone cheering, and how fans care less about being part of that storyline than they do observing the product with a critical eye. Thought the example was dumb, but I get the concern. All that's to say that CM Punk tonight made me want to see him take on the world and come out of top. Not because he's a great wrestler and will rank highly come putting together a GWE list, but because I still believe in that man when he speaks with feeling.

Awesome match. Been loving a lot of Jake's pre-WWF run in the sleazy sweatpants. Never physically imposing like his opponent and others around the time, yet deceptively tall. Bit like Randy Orton in that you don't notice how much he towers over certain guys. This is a Lights Out match, hence why there's never a DQ called. Loved the opening stretch battling over a knucklelock transitioned into a bodyscissor from Garvin, and how the crowd were still so loud through all of the rolling around the mat. Jake leaves the ring once Garvin lands some punches, a nice thread continued on from the feud. The arm work from Jake not being sold afterward by Garvin bugged me at first, but looking back on it, it's more a way of keeping him grounded than being focused on damaging the arm, ended when Garvin tosses the Snake off. Immediately it's followed with the quickest tape spot I can recall watching, teasing at a submission win multiple times. Jake gets frustrated with failed attempts of putting Garvin away and takes it out on him outside the ring. That ends up coming back to bite with, as Garvin kicks off his fiery comeback with a chair in hand and dishes out one hell of an ass-kicking. Garvin stomps all over the body to a raucious crowd. Ellering tries to distract for Jake to steal the victory but ends up getting knocked out. Felt like a wholly satisfying conclusion to the feud. Garvin is predictably great, but man has Jake does wonders for me watching footage from this part of his career.

From the Omni show recently uploaded on WWE Vault. So much to appreciate about this one. Probably the best Jake Roberts match I've seen, with his performance largely making the match's structure and building to the payoff in Garvin's punches. I didn't realise his ribs were taped underneath the shirt before Garvin pulled it up, but he made sure to remind me every step of the way thereafter with his selling and general movement. Loved the way Roberts found unique and interesting ways to gain leverage and work on top before Garvin powered his way out each time. Ellering's interference spots were also always great. Cathartic last few minutes of Garvin landing his fists into that sleazy-looking Roberts before the snake struck the final blow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B-jsn9tXGg&t=2979s

I think the biggest part of why this recent turn has so much traction and attention stems from how so many fans had been clamouring for Cena to go heel for years, being denied such for years, to the point that everyone more or less stopped believing it could happen, better appreciating in hindsight how well he played the top babyface hero role for so long while he reaches the final chapter of his in-ring career, and swerving everyone when they finally pulled the trigger. Could it have worked 10 years earlier? Maybe. It's all hypothetical, but there's probably a few key points (vs. Taker, vs. Rock) where the moment could have had similar magnitude. But the reality is, Cena turned here and will face the current top babyface for the world title in the main event of WrestleMania. The full segment on YT hasn't even been up for a day and has nearly 3.5mil views. I've already seen and heard plenty of non-wrestling fans asking about the turn and why it is such a big deal.

I get the feeling that the Raw Women's title picture will see a triple threat at Mania with Rhea, Iyo and Bianca. For as good as all of those women are, I can't see that being as exciting to me as any singles matchup between them.

Surely that was the biggest heel turn since Hollywood Hogan, right?

Can't get over how Ricky is doing that pose after everything now, compared to when it was just part of his entrance before.

I can still vividly remember back last decade how the Heavyweight title was exclusive to a handful of top guys, with someone like Goto always being on the outside. Never thought New Japan would pull the trigger on him, but I'm so very glad that they did.

I think there's a strong case for him being one of the best AEW wrestlers ever since he's signed there in 2023. I know I'm in the minority, but I found him easily the MVP of 2023's Continental Classic and would've at least been in my top 3 from last year's tournament. Has racked up plenty of fun performances both across singles and trios matches. Is always a likeable character on TV that still has such recklessness to how he moves and bumps for others, which gets more impressive when you realise he is now 40. He's in that same category as a Claudio Castagnoli or Roderick Strong now, where they might not be doing the most eye-catching spots every night (Darby Allin) or getting marquee matchups time and again (Bryan Danielson), but their consistency for what they're being given and reliably making something great out of it shouldn't go understated. And to top it off, this is only covering the last few years of his near 25-year long career. We should be talking about him more.

Let Billionaire Tony waste money on guys sitting at home earning the easiest paycheck of their careers.

I expect from these two, at best, an entertaining spotfest that keeps up the pace and doesn't overstay its welcome. Not my preference of style and structure, but I'd like to think I can still appreciate a fireworks show from guys doing flips that I couldn't dream of doing. This ended up being a lot more frustrating than fun. Part of it falls on just how often I've seen these moves done (usually better with the other guy not obviously waiting for it to happen) and not enough connective tissue to keep the match together. But some choices are just baffling to me. A weak-ass leg submission that Laredo just lets go off is sold hard by Vikingo, then is helped back up to his feet and they go into a strike exchange that feels completely out of place with the rest of the match? They both play to the crowd at times, but the fan's cheers are never as loud to counteract all the egregious horns. Laredo wins with a second Laredo fly, as it was first used for a nearfall, just before he'd also kick out of Vikingo's finisher. Not my kind of lucha.

Never seen the match before today, but I kept hearing things about it being AJ working like a Southern heel. I get the comparison, though I find the level of restraint AJ has after the early dropkick that reopens Naito's forehead cut to be the most outstanding part of this. He'll target the wound until blood flows down Naito's face, then rarely makes contact with the head again. Partly to give himself a kayfabe reason for losing, but also so that every time he does go back to it, even if just a counter, it immediately shifts the momentum of the match back his way. Outside of the Springboard Forearm, he never hits a high-flying manoeuvre and never tries to outdo Naito, at a time when the kid still only really has flashy offense. When on top, AJ always slows the pace down so that once Naito gets his comeback, it's more eye-catching and effective. After a failed attempt at the Styles Clash from the second rope, AJ grows desperate alongside the frustration of not having won yet and ends up feeding himself directly into a handful of Naito's signature offense for the surprise yet earned upset.

Great multi-man tag in a TV setting where all the competitions on each team feel distinct enough whilst working well as a collective, especially the Dangerous Alliance. I think in terms of heel stooging I prefer the style and production from 80s WWF, but when you got guys like Eaton, Zbyszko, Anderson and Rude doing the job and putting in the effort you won't hear me complaining. Spot of the match for me was Anderson clapping his hands behind the ref to act like it was a legitimate tag, then gloating about getting away with it to the live crowd. Wonderful way of doing something minor and maximising it.

I just wanted to highlight this. Even with a torn bicep and 5 minutes to work with, Rey is not only better than Edge but can still carry him to something palatable.

Miraculous stuff from the greatest WWE wrestler ever. Majority of the match is comprised of Rey hope spots and structured to give Rey a handful of chances to hit his signature 619, more than he'd get in almost every other match of his. Edge has never been one to work over a limb particularly well, but Rey compensates with some of the best leg selling I can ever recall seeing from him. Moreover, he adapts his offense really well to the damage and sneaks in a sell with each flurry of offense he gets in thereafter. Vickie interfering should've had more of an impact, but with 12 minutes to work with, I was seriously impressed with the match as a whole. If this hadn't happened in bizzarro land where Edge is cheered over Rey (do we ever find out the reason for this?), I'd think this would be much better remembered.

How many times do we need to watch MJF have another overly-long dud of a promo battle? I like Jarrett but he's not making it any better the way a Samoa Joe or Adam Cole did.

Saw the Tajiri match drop and kept hearing reactions of how great Triple H was, rather than how great Tajiri could be getting a ton of offense in a 20+ minute match in front of his home country. Tajiri's got plenty of great, compact TV matches, but rarely was he able to stretch his legs with so much time like on that house show.

The topic came up in a discord server and when I looked into it, there wasn't one here comparing the two. I'm inclined to lean towards Bret, but that's more a case of me not having dug as deeply into Steamboat's career.

I think Bryan's importance on the independent scene is overstated, largely from being a constant over the 2000s and often featured in ROH during its hottest period. Guys like Low Ki, Samoa Joe, CM Punk, AJ Styles came and went, but Bryan stuck around and was a reliable worker with whatever he was given. It's not like you could throw a Roderick Strong or Doug Williams in all the spots that Bryan was given and the matches/feuds/promos would be just as good, but it's worth noting that Bryan was usually not the first choice for promoters in terms of who they'd build around. While it seems insane to think about now, if it weren't for Bockwinkel, Bryan doesn't reach the King of the Indies finals, let alone wins it.

Probably won't vote for him but he was a guy that, in that 2-3 year period that's already been mentioned here, was consistently pretty good in whatever he was given by WWE. Usually shorter matches and not produced to outshine the rest of the card, but reliable in ways that only a handful of other guys were at the time. Also anchored on selling hits in a punch-drunk kind of way that I love and complimented his stiffer opponents at the time (MVP, Finlay, JBL). He was a good, everyman face figure for the midcard, who got to be the top star of their C-brand, before floundering and his eventual release. I think he definitely has a case taking into account the longevity and tag work (which I do credit him for just as much as Jeff), but I'm more likely to preference someone like Christian or Bradshaw, who have the outstanding singles work to go along with the consistency in their singles runs, on top of their tag work.

Am very happy that I can view Moxley as in his Hollywood Hogan phase. Dude's had a lax way of carrying himself in moments of matches, would at times feel inclined to say he's just phoning it in, so this works for me extremely well alongside the NWO-lite takeover.