EnviousStupid

Darby is the only pillar that feels integral and needed in the company right now. With other young guys like Garcia, Yuta, Starks, Hook, Wardlow, Hobbs, Top Flight, among others to fill various roles on-screen, the other 3 pillars feel more expendable than ever since AEW first started.

The AEW run is probably as ideal as we could've hoped for Sting to be booked and utilized, with plenty of great tag matches over those few years. Really cool to see given how some have panned his work over the mid-late 90s and TNA stint in general.

Missed opportunity if BCC came out with Road Warriors gear and didn't no sell a piledriver.

Love the difference between Eddie landing on his head, neck & shoulders off the suplex whereas Bryan's head was always a foot above the mat when getting thrown. Call him a goat if you want, but he don't got that dawg in him like Kingston do.

All Out 2021 and maybe Full Gear 2021 would've been my picks for the best builds AEW have pulled off, but there's a fair bit going for this one. Feel like they've balanced enough across Eddie/Bryan, Sting's last match, OC/Roddy, and even the women's title match. I'm in the camp that find Hangman easy to dislike, although I still struggle to view him as the heel in this scenario. Same goes for Swerve as the face. To me, it feels like the recent actions of both go against what was established between the two last year, rather than a part of the natural development of their feud. Hanger losing him moral compass out of spite doesn't work as well if I can't get behind either Swerve or Joe as the face in contrast.

Saw this live and despite my low expectations, it was a fun time with the whole live crowd experience. Chamber matches are what they are - cool concept in the moment and rarely hold up - although Orton's selling performance alone had me hooked with the men's match. Lucky Seth to being returning to action early and not having to face someone who's actually good at selling his back. Rhea/Nia might be the shortest PLE main event in a long time and while that does leave a bad taste in my mouth, I wouldn't want this pairing to go over 15min. I despised everyone involved in Grayson's segment and felt like the only one who wasn't a fan of all four guys. Ah well.

Bit the bullet and tried watching this one. Ospreay no-selling his back once hitting the Tiger Driver on the outside was more egregious than usual for him. Alexander collapsing on the mat before the match had even hit the half-way point gave me more cause for concern. By the time they reach the ramp for another spot that won't matter, I was reminded of how transparent a lot of the big matches inspired by Okada had become, especially if they feature Ospreay. Most of the time I was just calling what move I expected them to go for and was right almost every time. As much as I'd like to pat myself on the back for it, it's really not at all hard when wrestling has become as homogenized as it is now.

The only thing that I think keeps him from being a high-end candidate to me is that Choshu never really worked well in long singles matches. Maybe some feel differently about that '84 Inoki match, but the guy is tailor-made for short, compact outings and for my taste, never was able to adapt to something longer. I don't know if there's a singles match of his that goes over 20 minutes that I would recommend as great. That probably doesn't matter to some here, but when I look at Fujinami, Jumbo, Inoki, Tenryu, Fujiwara, Hashimoto, any of the Pillars, etc. I can see plenty of longer matches that're held up as not just their best work, but among the greatest matches ever. Compared to them, it's just something he seriously lacks.

I had always believed the idea that Orton wasn't clicking as a face around 2004-5 until I actually went out of my way to watch the Raw episodes from this period. He's over. More natural and complete as a heel, sure, but definitely not a misfire like his face run in 2010. That being said, it was probably for the best that Orton's push was cut short so that Batista and Cena could be the top faces of each brand.

Not high on any of the matches but hey, Randall and Punk are back and likely to be on the upcoming Raw. First time I might watch an episode in full since pre-pandemic.

Even though I didn't love the title matches with Sheamus or Drew, the TV title matches and the tags with Imperium have really impressed me. So far, it's been a super strong run for someone I never would've thought could transition well into WWE.

Hated the Dynamite opener with MJF/Garcia. I appreciate them trying to make it feel like something noteworthy in the short span of time they built to it, though seeing the story going in be Garcia showing up as the 'professional wrestler' and then watching MJF consistently get the better of him feels so disgusting. It's great if the intent was for Maxwell to live up to the HHH comparisons, but idk if they could've gone about the match in a worse way with the time they were allotted.

I wasn't impressed with the recent Rampage match against Rocky Romero, but I'm not sure if that's a good representation of his work since rebranding as Mistico. Does anyone have a list of great matches from him over the last couple years?

I get the feeling that there's more to appreciate here in theory or in the conscious decisions made throughout the match. I can only recall one rope break being used - with Danielson immediately being called a coward for it - and from then on relying on moves like stomps, Busaiku Knees and a Regal-plex that aren't based in the style of wrestling they were trying to emulate prior. Moreover, neither man exited to the outside at any point, threw a closed-fist punch, or did much in the way of conventional pro wrestling spots. These kinds of details I think are worth note, but like @Ma Stump Puller I also found a lot of the grappling and counters to be very weightless and lacking the effort of making moments feel memorable after happening. Commentary mentioning Inoki/Robinson also made me want to watch that over this. Felt too much like it was worked as an exhibition of what elaborate holds they can string together whilst being very co-operative with each other, a stark contrast to many of Inoki's older matches.

Didn't catch the last half but kicking Da 'mite off with back-to-back title matches was fun. The women's match is particular is worth checking out.

I'm a lot more interested in where Punk goes from here than what AEW looks like with Punk gone, which as we've seen from AEW this year, is a far worse wrestling product. There's a slight chance he goes back to WWE, but I'd be willing to bet there's not many on the roster willing to deal with him in a program. Some other promotion (or a new one altogether) could get behind Punk, though once again those chances are slim; Punk doesn't strike me as the type to wrestle for much less pay at his age. I'm hopeful for maybe a deal with New Japan, as they seem like the only other realistic option for him in wrestling. If it's a contract like Mercedes', he'd be working less dates and featured on major shows. Maybe with the option to work certain guys he's already shown interest in (Ospreay).

I expect to make a proper case for Funk when 2026 rolls around as I've had him pegged as my #1 for a few years now. But I think even just looking at his body of work in All Japan, Terry is probably hovering around top 25 all time for me. Easily the most over gaijin I've ever seen, and at worst the 2nd greatest gaijin ever after Stan Hansen. You have a fantastic mix of singles and tags, the latter almost always with him being the highlight. All-time rivalries against Abdullah and Hansen, as well as an underrated one with the Funks playing soft heel to Baba/Jumbo across multiple Tag Leagues. His NWA title defense with Jumbo is the only one we have in full, but also happens to be one of the best of its time and style. There's also great stuff with him as a title challenger against Flair in 81, and Bockwinkel in 83 (non-title match, but Bock was billed as AWA World champion at the time). Gave the likes of Tiger Jeet Singh and Bruiser Brody most of their best matches on footage. For my money, he had the best retirement match I've ever seen and could've stopped there, but he returned a year later and instead of keeping to what he was, he evolved overtime. Like a precursor to the middle-aged and crazy phase, acting as a sort of old guard to the likes of Choshu/Yatsu, Tenryu/Hara, Misawa/Kawada.

He's a guy I'd figure has more great promos and moments than great matches. Even when travelling the world and working all the indies and New Japan, he was never a guy touted for in-ring work. I think his peak work lies in AEW, but you also have the lows (Ogogo) and downright baffling period of him never turning heel and having his own stories feel disconnected from the rest of the show.

Inoki is probably better at working more styles and has the better match catalogue, but Hash was never frustrating like I've found Inoki to be across the 80s. Outside of how other wrestlers were shafted by him, Inoki just is not as consistent as his contemporaries, and has a tendency of forcing matches to work in his favor, even at the detriment of everyone around him. Off the top of my head I can think of matches with Choshu, Saito, tags with Fujinami where he does this, and the best explanation I can give for him doing it is sheer vanity. Whereas with Hash, if he's working with guys who are limited or inexperienced but have some kind of martial arts background, he's making them look great and accentuating their strengths. He was arguably the highlight of both NJPW's interpromotional feuds with WAR and UWF-i. His rivalry with Ogawa in his final years with New Japan is an all-timer. I'm inclined to say that in-ring, he was doing Inokiism better than the originator.

Yesterday marked the 40-year anniversary of one of my favourite matches, so I decided to revisit it and, big shock, I still adore it. Very technical and mat-driven with all the holds applied being so hard-fought and gritty. Neat little ideas like Terry grape-vining the leg whenever Bock applies a hold to not give him much leverage, sometimes failing early on before it finally leads to him working over the leg. Or how Bock will apply a Headlock that's sold like it sucks the energy out of his opponent, with Funk having to throw knees into the back of the legs in an attempt to break out of it. Bock eventually starts doing his own knees to lead into working Funk's leg and he does a fantastic job of making it distinct from the way Terry worked over the limb: lot of cheap tactics and rabbit punches before really torquing it in painful ways. Of course, with these two kinds of wrestlers, you know the kind of selling and general reactions they'll have, all having a cumulative effect on moves done and choices made thereafter. I think it's a match that teaches one a lot about the kinds of wrestlers these two are; what they stand for and represent, the strengths they tend to lean on in matches, as well as what they're willing to do when put in desperate situations. It's also a match that had to end the way it did - in classic AJPW fashion - knowing where both Funk and Bock were at this time in their careers. Some might have wanted something more, but the work on display impressed me in so many little ways that I feel grateful that we have (most of) it on footage. Two of my all-time favourites putting on one hell of a contest.

While I'm in the camp who still hold his ROH run in high regard, I've been finding most of his other indie work pre-WWE to be disappointing. The FIP title reign as a Saturday morning cartoon-like heel worked against virtually all his strengths back then. The work I've seen of his NJPW/NOAH tours was often ordinary and at times outright wrong-headed for the situation (see the KENTA match in '06 NOAH). While the rivalry with El Generico did nothing for me, there is some great matches from him in PWG, but they tended to be against other greats from his generation who were consistently great back then too. That's kind of where I see some holes in his career. ROH over that period of time is so lauded and near-mythologized that it makes someone like Danielson, prominently featured from the start to his departure, appear head-and-shoulders above his contemporaries. But I think when you look at the scene in its entirety, you'll find guys like Low Ki, Chris Hero, Necro Butcher all having great runs and standout work over several promotions, and that's something I can't say about Bryan back then.

Gonna go with Rey-Rey, but they're completely different cases and workers to compare. When I think of Rey, I'm thinking of a guy who put so much effort into working around and adapting to opponents of all statures. That's a stark contrast to who might as well be the platonic ideal of his archetype, whether he be in WCW, WWF, New Japan, All Japan, UWFi, Europe, you get the gist.

THE guys from the 2000s/early 2010s North American independent scene.

If I were a booker, I wouldn't be putting that on free TV. But I am no more than a fan, so instead I'll appreciate the gifts thrown my way.

Guess who's back, back again. vs. Tajiri, WWF Jakked (25.02.2002) This is a bit of an oddity as it's broadcasted on March 2nd, after Goldust had won the Hardcore title the last episode of Smackdown, so he's recognised on commentary as champion despite not coming out with the belt. As for the match, it's not too different from their one I covered in an earlier post. Bit more fun with taunting early on, some work over the back from Goldust, but the broad strokes are roughly the same. Tajiri taking control of the match 10 seconds after taking a top-rope Bulldog was egregious, though the match is only a few minutes long and they don't establish much of a hook or story in that time. Goldust wins after a series of counters leads to a Curtain Call Neckbreaker. A tad lower than their Smackdown match, but I don't expect much more when they're given just 2 minutes on a C-show. Full match available here **Between this match and Goldust regularly teaming with Booker T, there's more than a handful of singles matches he has on episodes of Sunday Night Heat. Unfortunately I can't seem to find them available online, but if they do show up, I'll try and make sure to cover them later** _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ w/ Booker T vs. The Hardy Boyz, WWF RAW (15.04.2002) Starts off as a brawl that quickly shifts to Booker working a heat segment on Matt. Most of Goldust's time in the ring is spent taking hits from both Hardy Boyz, though he does manage to pick up the victory after one of Booker's Harlem Sidekicks. Commentary points out how weird it is to see Booker T and Goldust as a team, but there are moments of natural chemistry between them early on that can be seen as signs of a promising new duo. This is also the match where Brock ends up hitting an F5 on Matt onto the stage, building up to their PPV match which obviously takes precedent over a random TV tag. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ w/ Booker T vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & Spike Dudley, WWF RAW (22.04.2002) This is awesome. Spike dives over the ropes and the match officially starts with a flurry of fun offense from Bubba; punches, elbows, slaps, even a fucking Mongolian Chop to pop me. Goldust also feeds into and bumps off of it all so well. Then once Spike tags in, he's able to use his speed and manoeuvre around Goldust to maintain the advantage, only losing that when Booker T gets a cheap shot in. The match is a really good example of how great Goldust can work as a base, regardless of the size of his opponents. The unlikely couple pull off another victory when Goldust attacks Bubba while looking for a table, allowing Booker to hit Spike with the Scissors Kick. Steven Richards run out afterwards to attack Bubba, only to get Powerbombed through a table for it. Recommended. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Spike Dudley [c] - WWF European Title Match, WWF RAW (29.04.2002) It's under 2 minutes and all Goldust, which was probably for the best as both Spike and the referee were messing up. There was a neat idea with Goldust having an answer to Spike's speed this time around and cut-off any chances of a comeback. Sadly, it's never able to be properly fleshed out, as Booker T comes out to hit him with a Harlem Sidekick and Spike capitalizes off of that to retain. Hate this booking. Full match available here