MikeCampbell

I just randomly watched this today, and heard something eerilly ironic from Bischoff. "Look at Benoit's eye, that guy is a nut!"

I've watched this twice now, because I wanted to watch it with a fresh mindset after getting over my markdom of the Revival finally getting the titles. The only real flaw that I find is that neither of them does much to put over the struggle of kicking out of near falls. Even when Gable gets the early German suplex on Dawson, he just lays there until after the ref gets to two, and then kicks out. There's a couple times when they make that idea work, like the blockbuster/German suplex and the near fall where Roode pushes Dash (I think) into Dawson to break up the pin. But, other than that, they worked a good pace, the work was generally smart, and the match was well worked for the time constraints that TV forces them into. I haven't seen a shit ton of stuff from this year (which is one reason that I enjoy lurking in these threads so I know what to check out), but, the only thing I'd probably put above this would be the NXT Tag Titles match from Takeover Phoenix.

So, have they actually acknowledged what "EC3" stands for, or is everyone just supposed to more or less know and/or accept it?

My initial reaction to him being sent to 205 Live was "I wonder who he pissed off?" Does anyone think he'll go to AEW rather than New Japan? I don't know if he and Cody would be tight at all from being in WWE together. But, certainly Omega vs KENTA, or even KENTA/Someone vs. The Bucks would be something of a dream match. Edit: After talking about things with a friend, KENTA/Pac vs. The Bucks would be a helluva dream match for them.

I was thinking about this the other day. It used to be that people would be future endeavored every other week. Now, barring Enzo and Cass, I couldn't even tell you the last time or the last person that they released.

I don't think they'll be letting Dash and Dawson go. If anything, Monday night seemed like they were finally getting ready to go all the way with them, with them finally getting one over on the Lucha House Party. I could see them letting Mike and Maria go, they obviously don't value them as much of a commodity. I haven't seen anything reported yet, but a friend of mine said he'd read that Dolph Ziggler also requested a release. He's another that I don't see them wanting to lose.

In the ten years since you originally started this, have you used the phrase "ambitiously stupid" at all?

This reminded me a bit of 'Mountain's matches with the Undisputed Era, except that it wasn't nearly as good. This felt too long, and there were at least two other sequences that would have made perfectly good finishes.

I used to be a huge mark for Kanemoto when I first got into New Japan. But, watching this after so many years, I have to roll my eyes at the taste of my younger self. It has things that I really do like, like Koji needing to change up the ankle lock for the finish, his selling when AKIRA does the Musasabi to his legs, and the bit where he does the senton, but instead of getting a heatless near fall, he drops punches on AKIRA instead. I also liked that Koji's first ankle lock, game from the ground, since he was still hurt from AKIRA's STF. Even the stiffing each other early on worked, in the vein of showing their disdain for each other, before they moved onto working each other's leg. But, Koji's no-selling is so frustrating! There's the kip-up after the blockbuster, and even the finishing stretch has Kanemoto throwing out spin kicks and jumping knees, on a supposedly bad wheel, before he gets the last ankle lock.

I think it's possible to keep her strong. I think that the Rumble should be Ronda vs. Nia, with Ronda going over. Becky runs in afterwards and KO's Ronda with the SD Title belt, and then puts Nia in th Disarm-Her and "breaks her arm" as revenge. The crowd will love her for that, and then you can build to Ronda/Becky at Mania.

Heyman yelling to Corino "Excuse me, dickhead!" always cracked me up.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega is most likely winning match of the year, but if this is any indication, then L.A. Park vs. Rush is going to win feud of the year! This is an absolutely insane brawl with intensity that makes you completely believe that they want to rip each other's heads off. The dq finishes to the falls don't feel like screwjobs or copouts. If anything, it's impressive that the ref's let them get away with as much as they did before finally having to step in and call it off. I was taken aback a bit by how quickly Park seemed to recover from the piledriver. But, I'll admit that my on-again off-again lucha viewing has been 'off' for a few years now, so maybe that's more the norm now. And, it's not like Park just took the move and jumped to his feet like the bullshit that used to run rampant in NOAH. As soon as Rush started showing off that picture frame, I knew that it wasn't going to end well.

My favorite Saito memory was the first NJPW Tokyo Dome show from April of 1989. He wrestled one of the Russians that Inoki brought in, Whaka Evelov or something to that effect. Saito put him over in the end, but before doing so, he clobbered him with some brutal lariats.

Another batch of them were added today, including one of my all time favorites, The British Bulldogs.

Today, Demolition and both the 1989 and 1992 Ultimate Warrior Coliseum Videos were added.

This was definitely a pleasant surprise. They both did a great job putting over their worked over body parts. Russev having adjust the Accolade was a really smart touch from him. I really hope they do a rematch and switch the title. Between how popular he's gotten, and him showing that he can carry his weight in smart matches like this, Russev certainly deserves a chance.

Bate did that before. I guess we're supposed to infer that Drake told him that he'd disqualify them if he did it again.

I don't know if I'd call it NXT MOTY, I'll have to watch Almas/Gargano again, but I'd easily put this over both of the Gargano/Ciampa matches. Just from Strong and O'Reilly's entrance, you can tell that they mean business tonight, and they show that they'll have no qualms about crippling Seven if necesarry. Bate was the perfect hot tag, and dishes out some wicked shots to Kyle and Roddy. I wish they hadn't switched the titles here though. They could have gotten away with a DQ with Seven getting a rope break and one of the heels not letting go of the hold (they just did something similar on RAW with the Revival), or even had Bate get a fluke win with his rebound lariat. If the heat here was any indication, they can keep this feud hot for another month and then blow it off at Takeover (which I'm guessing is the plan anyway). There's one thing I have a problem with though. "The Strong Clutch" WTF? It looks like shit, especially compared to the real thing from Kondo and even Cabana's Billy Goat's Curse, and his old ROH "Stronghold" finisher has both a better name and also looks a lot better. Also, when the Undisputed Era were celebratng, Bobby Fish walked out, so he does't need the crutches anymore. Looks like we'll be seeing him back soon. Which begs a question. The recent tags and trios matches have gotten some high praise. If Fish was invovled instead of Strong, would they have been as good?

I'm with you as far as Delirious goes. But, what's the matter with Koff?

I liked this a lot more than the title switch in England. The heel control segment on Bate was much better, with the 'Era keeping him in their corner and working over his ribs with both strikes and holds, I haven't seen a shoulder breaker in forever! Ricochet was a great hot tag, showing off his flashy crowd-pleasing offense, his way of avoiding the high/low combo was awesome. O'Reilly's heel mannerisms have been excellent all year, and this was no exception, mocking Moustache Mountain's pose while he worked over Bate, and his reaction when Ricochet stared him down after he saved Cole from getting pinned. Strong and O'Reilly managed to stay on the same page and not hit each other! The finish is smart for a couple of reasons: Ricochet getting pinned protects the champions going into their title rematch with Strong and O'Reilly, and the manner in which Ricochet winds up losing is due to him losing his cool and diving onto O'Reilly after he broke up the pin, and setting himself up for Strong's ambush, than it is the 'Era being better wrestlers.

I liked a lot of things about this, but, it just didn't come together as well as I'd hoped. The control segment on Seven from Kyle and Roddy wasn't that interesting, aside from the bit where Kyle yanked Bate off the apron to stop the tag. I could also have done without the all the miscues from Kyle and Roddy, they did the exact same knee/elbow one in the trios match from the night before. But, it scores major points for Kyle and Roddy's stooging and bumping, especially the way Roddy sold that rolling kopo kick from Bate, and some of the spots were crazy in a good way, like Bate's deadlift German while Kyle was on his back, and that rebound lariat to O'Reilly into the suplex from Seven. But, I'd have liked to see them tell more of a story, other than "Kyle and Roddy can't seem to string together more than two successful tandem spots." It's a fun match to watch, and a great feel good moment for the UK fans, but I don't think it's a great match.

The only thing that really soured me on this was when Okada took the reverse rana on the floor, stumbled and sold perfectly, rolled into the ring and ate the V-Trigger and then promptly countered the One Winged Angel into the Tombstone. I could buy him playing possum after the rana, but it just shit on the running V-Trigger. It wasn't like anything else they did leading up the actual end of the fall was really impactful, aside from maybe Omega countering the dropkick with the powerbomb, and escaping the same cradle that pinned him in the first fall. Other than that one thing, I think mostly lives up to the praise it's getting. As annoying as those pop-up sequences with the suplexes were in AJ/NOAH, they get it right here. When Omega is selling his midsection and sees Okada signal for the Rainmaker, so he jumps up and his the snap Dragon while Okada isn't paying attention. I don't think it redefines wrestling nor is it the best match I've ever seen, but I wouldn't be surprised a bit to hear that it won MOTY, and it deserves to.

I'll admit to not being a religious watcher of ROH or NJPW, but I haven't seen a match for either the ROH or NEVER Openweight Six Man Titles that's as good as this. The Dunne/Strong exchanges were as intense as you'd expect, and I liked the nice touch of Dunne making his own save, by dodging Roddy with the flip off the top and then running to the corner and tagging in Lorcin. I could have done without the stereo submission spot, just because it's so overplayed, but it wasn't anything offensive, and the domino effect of the holds getting broken was cute. The miscue between Roddy and Kyle that led to the finish was cool, and it actually somewhat puts Kyle over, even in defeat, that it took eating the knee from Roddy, Lorcin's blockbuster and the double DDT to keep him down.

Best of luck, Loss!

As of now, they're only missing one from 1983 and only three or four from 1982. I think the purposely leave a few blanks, just to troll us nerds. Sort of like how they took their sweet time uploading the 1/1/96 RAW.