EnviousStupid

Sakuraba v Santino is a dream match I never knew I wanted

I've always viewed early Jumbo as following the lead of his opponents in matches, though I can't recall a single time when he felt out of place in those matches. He played the native going up against the best in the world and holding his own consistently. Jumbo was much simpler a character and I believe easier for audiences to project some of themselves onto him. They were seeing one of their own beating the likes of top-tier technical guys ala Robinson, Funk, Bockwinkel, as well as dastardly heels now and again. He wasn't an Inoki with the kind of undeniable, irreplicable presence he carried, but I never thought he needed to have that. He meshed in with the pieces around him, rather than trying to move everything according to his vision or design. I think there's something to be appreciated from a wrestler doing that effectively against so many different types of workers. Though I still maintain that Jumbo from 86-92 is likely the most complete wrestler I've ever seen.

Angle's been coming up a lot in terms of his "greatness", mainly by people who can't believe Meltzer gave him no 5 stars. Regardless, I thought I'd add my 2 cents here on him. I like Angle. More as a personality and promo than in-ring, but the guy was an athletic freak who could go go go with great wrestlers and often enough result in something great. Well, at least for a handful of years consistently. I think by 2005 he's clearly intent on having a kind of epic match that loses its lustre the more you see it. It can still work to a lesser degree with some guys, but it really did depend on the guy opposite him and how much his opponent was able to call their match/es. The picture of him being this great technical wrestler lies primarily on his credentials and everyone around him referring to Angle as such. Rarely ever was it his own craft living up to the moniker. Still, he had his strengths that, for a period of time could mesh well with the talent around him. I think his body of work as part of the Smackdown Six and late Attitude Era is more than enough to prove that. Mostly though I just like how he'd lean into being a goofball. When I think of peak Angle I don't think of matches, but Milkomania, or shooting a tranquilizer dart at Big Show.

Rock Concert!

It's far too early to say this seriously, but Okada may end up being their best signing in terms of taking a high-profile star and doing something completely distinct from his previous work. Putting him with the Bucks does well to hide the weaker aspects of his in-ring game nowadays, while also highlighting things that had been seen only sparingly like his comical side or speaking primarily English confidently. For me, it's probably the most interesting story to come from AEW this year.

2 mins of her entrance was enough for me to hate the song choice.

Recently I went through an old March Madness bracket for "The Greatest WWE Wrestler Ever" and saw him against Shawn Michaels. Now, I must confess, I am a fan of most of the Shawn's big classic matches, however I really struggled to rank him above Reigns. For one, Shawn's case on this topic leans a lot on his peaks, but the week-to-week wrestling and overall consistency isn't there in my eyes the way it is for Reigns. The Shield run is obviously chalked full of great tags and trios matches until their breakup. What's less accepted is his singles work from 2015-2018 and that when not burdened by the likes of Jericho, Wyatt, or supremely awful booking, he was reliably great in all sorts of roles that were thrusted onto him. Whether it be as a badass running through tons of guys at once, working on top against smaller underdogs while not undercutting himself technically as a face, or being the sympathetic figure in his selling, offense and fire in the face of monsters. There's a breadth of versatility in his performances that I doubt Shawn was ever full capable of, and he had many more years to work with in comparison. All of this during the time when Roman was getting John Cena-levels of heat regularly from a significant enough portion of their crowds. That's a lot of pressure to work under in that kind of environment, and he did better than I think anyone could've realistically expected for the time. That's another thing he has over Shawn, who had plenty of tantrums and "controversy" that tarnished potentially great matchups or feuds without as much backlash from the audience.

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.