Octopus

Jericho is the Tony Bennett of wrestling. Rightfully or wrongfully, throughout his career he was often overshadowed by acts that were more popular or arguably better and he didn’t have that top Ace spot until a late career renaissance. Yes, Kenny Omega is Lady Gaga and Tony Khan is Amy Winehouse in this analogy lol. I agree that his reinventions can be a tad overstated, but what can’t be is Jericho’s longevity. Chris had an entertaining career with a variety of different opponents and fun segments. I hated him as a kid but I would say his catchphrases like “assclown.” Fun Fact: margin or error of 1 based off maybe birth month, but Jericho starting in AEW was the same age as Terry Funk (49) starting in ECW. It’s been fun watching this part of his career. He’s had some feuds that have gone on too long, but his highs were a real treat. In a shaky reintroduction to ROH in the AEW Universe, it was his Ocho run that made it work while waiting for a potential tv or streaming deal. I loved the Inner Circle and his commentary in the early Pandemic Era. I feel (like him or not) Jericho is an important figure in [modern] wrestling history and the current landscape of the business. Saying all that, I’m leaning towards Punk on this. Mainly, I’d rather watch a CM Punk match or promo than a Jericho one a majority of the time. I enjoyed the ROH/ Indy run, his time in WWE was pretty special, and the latest AEW period (drama aside) has been a real delight. Although I make Jericho jokes, I’m far from a hater. At the same time, I wouldn’t even consider myself a CM Punk guy. But out of the two, I guess I lean Punk.

I figure it’s ok to post this here. Wrote this review a year ago for Secret Santo on DVDVR, suggested by my buddy over there, Curt McGirt —- First thing I want to highlight is the beauty of the arena set up. Is that two entrance ramps opposite of each other? As a fan in the area, I can more likely see my heroes potentially walk by? I love this and could see this being something reattempted in the future. My former governor of course is wrong on who always starts up the match. You goofball. Speaking of goofballs, Terry Gordy should never try to start a match with a double leg takedown on a man in a singlet and headgear. It’ll never work. I’m loving how this starts out. Rick will have the advantage on the body positioning and regularly re-maintaining control through lock ups. All while the young Scott is excitedly pacing back and forth on the apron. Apron character work, when done right, can add to a match. Gordy gets leg control but can’t successfully take the dogface down. So he pops him in the face. Three of the characters involved are now defined. Rick gains control by the wonders of grappling and tags in Scott. Scott and Gordy press up against each other. Just like with Rick, but now the goal is for completing a suplex instead of sheer body control. Terry gets his arms hooked under Scott’s and can gain an advantage to flip Steiner over him. What happens next is a great display of struggle. Scott stays with his arms clasped around Terry’s waste. A pin attempt is stopped with Steiner arching upward. Normally, the goal is to completely arch to a turning and standing position. But whether it is a botch or Gordy asserting dominance, we witness multiple attempts to rise and Gordy putting his weight downward. Pin attempts and back arching. Intentional or not, Scott comes across like a young Spider-Man struggling to lift debris and heavy steel beams off of himself. The full pages of sweating and pain, when this normally little moment happens it feels so much bigger and earned. And after all this, explosive Scott shifts his body and performs a tossing single leg takedown over his head. The crowd erupts. It wasn’t just the move but the fact that he fought to pull it off. Then it happens. The sound of Jim Ross’s hog smashing against the bottom of the announcers table as Doctor Death tags in. Suplex guy vs Suplex guy. Amateur wrestler style circling each other and reaching in to try and find an opportunity to get the opponent to make a premature jump. There is an old tale of the Mongoose vs the Snake. The Mongoose continuously pummels and hopes to beat the head of the Snake mercilessly until victorious. The Snake attempts to dodge and weave waiting for the moment to strike with a venomous bite. These two mother fuckers are Snakes. Quickly circling each other, waiting for the moment to fuck the other up. Wrestling. Fuck yeah, wrestling. Two big dudes then do some awesome freestyle wrestling. “Jockeying for position” moans a sweaty Jim Ross as he continuously throws praise towards Steve Williams. I enjoy struggle. I recently watched a few Daisuke Sekimoto matches. His fight is slow and pressing of ham and slapping of chests. This is a quicker fight of two goats raging their horns against each other to get the other off balance enough to achieve an opportunity for an explosive blow, all to the excitement of the Oklahoman farmer doing his best the hold onto his milk pale with his sweaty hands. Pretty evenly matched, even when Scott manages to get behind Williams, he is lifted up and neutralized until they both reach the ropes. Stand off. The Death Doctor is irritated by how long the rope break release took so both teams in the ring in a standoff. Rick gets tagged in during the next grappling sequence and HOT DOG RICK EASILY BELLY TO BELLYSSTEVE. Steve Williams rolls out the ring. Good guys in the ring posing (Rick Steiner is a dog) while the heels are outside being mad they were one upped. Jim Ross then uses this moment to again mention his affection of Steve and how we all need to pay attention to the strategy of Doctor Death. He talks about how Scott is an emotional young man and needs to watch out for the smarts and handsomeness of Williams. Even though it is Rick in the ring. Ross is full on late-90’s Lawler with his admiration of puppies. But it isn’t towards the actual dog (Rick) but the glistening hardened pecks of Doctor Death. I’m loving the freestyle wrestling style approach here. Both men are throwing their weight together quickly and trying get an advantage of the other. Rick is the clear superior fighter here, but Doc does a disrespectful hand push to Steiner’s face. Rick say, “nuh uh” and didn’t like that. By the power of rage, Rick Steiner’s grappling is now unstoppable. He over-powers Doc and pummels him. Rick is now punching! Williams meekly turns him over and gains a rest hold on Rick’s back. Forearms him in the face for good measure. They get up and Doc takes the moment to throw a big lariat. In this Act we see how the characters are progressing through this battle. Up to this point, Rick is the top wrestler. Doc is just under him, but will get a tad disrespectful to get in his opponents head for an advantage. Scott is the young stud athlete that can toss you if you’re not careful and Terry will use his weight and punch your face. Dogface is in trouble and Terry is tagged in and likes punching faces. Gordy vs Rick in a slugfest, Gordy will win. He’s in control until a poor decision to lock up for a belly to belly attempt, Rick will win that battle. Hot tag to a feisty Scott. Beating them both up. Scott is in control until his youth leads him to trying too much too fast and a failed drop kick leads to a STF to slow him down. Doc tags in and beats the poor Steiner up. Steiner is the victim to tag team moves and a good old fashioned beating. Gordy/Death control segment until another classic hot tag. Now we get Rick Steiner’s revenge. Good wrestling is filled with storied parallel moments. Rick Steiner clotheslines Doc over the top rope and comes out ahead in a slugfest with Terry. Rick goes for the victory but the ref can’t count because he never saw the tag. Uhhhhh oh. Scott is still derped up and is getting beat up by Gordy in the outside. Wild fun as Rick and Terry are fighting and Doc charges Scott with a shoulder tackle to the knee. Ending segment is pretty sweet. Doc vs Scott. Williams presses Steiner above his head and catches him into a power slam. Scott kicks out. We’re getting a comeback. Rick is stopping Gordy from shenanigans but that catches the ref’s eye. Terry shenanigans stops a belly to belly and shoulder tackles Scott’s knee to stop a comeback. Williams gets the pin. I’ll file this match under fun. I really enjoyed the wrestling style and would love to see more of them all go at it again. Exciting action and each character filled their role well. The story could have been more conscientious or tuned in, but I don’t know if that would automatically make it better. This seemed like a realistic bout and played out the way it should. Good guys lose but look strong, while the villains still come across like killers.

I just watched two Jaguar Yokota matches, against Monster Ripper (82) and Jackie Sato (80) and what I loved about those matches that it was a relentless struggle the entire time. During both offensive and defensive positioning, everything felt earned and fought for. Jaguar specifically really just stands out with in ring charisma and fantastic reactions throughout. There is a brief moment where Yokota is on Monster Ripper’s back and she is clearly about to be reversed and over-strengthened, but Jaguar is pulling at the back of her hair and doing everything in her power to gain positioning. Just a constant fight! I’m so excited to dig through more of these matches.

Fellow lurker. I discovered the site after the last vote, so I’ve been reading everything after the fact. A few of the posters here I know from DVDVR, so I’m excited to participate. With a 1 year old at home, I may spread some posts out a bit. Saying that, hopefully I can contribute and learn.

1975 - Andre the Giant, Terry Funk, Nick Bockwinkel 1985 - Ric Flair, Stan Hansen, El Satanico 1995 - Bret Hart, Kenta Kobashi, Rey Mysterio Jr 2005 - Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, John Cena 2015 - Daniel Bryan, Sasha Banks, AJ Styles 2025 - Daniel Garcia, Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair