elliott

I'm about to head to work and don't have time for a meaningful response to John but I did want to reply to Jesse real quick... I mentioned above that SuperStar teams created the "right way" don't always lead to a team that I'm a fan of. I pointed to OKC as an example. I actually do think it's pretty great that GS didn't trade Klay for Love and then ended up beating the team that DID trade for Love while Love was hurt watching from the sidelines. If you're a GS fan and a Klay Fan that was really the final exclamation point on that whole argument. You're too focused on guys being drafted to the same team and staying their whole career. This is about chemistry, team work, sacrificing, versatility, how the pieces fit together, etc.

I never said anything about Golden State being a Cinderella story or that they were the underdogs. I mean it from a basketball standpoint. To me, teams like Golden State, San Antonio, Atlanta, Orlando(in 3 years) etc represent the "good" to me whereas teams like LeBron's Heat, The LeBron/Kyrie/Love Cavs, the Kobe/Dwight/Nash Lakers, etc represent evil. Even teams like the Knicks represent evil to me even if they never win. So this isn't an "I hate LeBron!" argument (I don't, I think he's a doofus but as a bball player he's a genius). I am not enamored by the "SuperStar" teams and when they get beat by actual Teams it is awesome. And actual "teams" can be filled with superstars. And SuperStar teams can be teams that were all drafted and grew up together. OKC is a small market team built around guys who were drafted and grew up together. But I found them to be very tedious to watch the last few years (admittedly I think a LOT of that is due to Scott Brooks). I know you're going to throw back at me "but Kyrie and Love were hurt!" And you're right. THey were hurt. So yes, Cleveland was not a SuperStars Team in the finals. I'm not arguing that. We'll get there. I will point out that SuperStar teams tend to make really stupid personel decisions because they are constantly in win now panic mode. A lot of the time that's not playing young guys or trading future picks for that final veteran piece that will put them over the top. For the Cavs, maybe one of their stupid decisions was counting on Love and Kyrie to make it through 82 games and the playoffs every year? Who knows. But "these two guys with a history of injuries" got hurt is a pretty weak thing for Cavs fans to hang their hats on. Just saying. Realistically, if the Cavs were going to win the Finals, I would have loved to see it happen with those guys hurt and LeBron having an all time performance. That would have been fucking awesome. But I've been a fan of this GS team since Curry came along (really I've always liked GS since they beat Dallas in 07) and I have been rooting against Cleveland all season. I'm not going to suddenly switch allegiances because unexpectedly 2 of the SuperStars on the SuperStar team are hurt and they don't have enough around them because they relied too much on the SuperStars during the season. I like to watch unselfish, well coached, great offensive and defensive TEAM basketball. The Cavs haven't been that all season. The Warriors have been. I think it's a WONDERFUL thing that the veteran who sacrificed to come off the bench in favor of a younger (and frankly not as good) player stepped up and had the series of his life and won the MVP (primarily for his defense I might add which is even better). That is a fantastic story and one much more interesting than "This guy took 30 shots a game and is therefore the MVP." For me, I will always root for the team that grew up together and genuinely like each other over the team awkwardly slapped together around 3 superstars in "win now panic mode." I say all of this and fully acknowledge and appreciate the incredible LeBron performance. He is a magnificent basketball player. Stupefyingly great. He's a pretty bad GM and says/does dumb things off the court. But on the court he's a genius and NOBODY else could have won 2 games against the Warriors with that supporting cast and that coach (I defended Blatt all year but he lost me forever when he benched Mozgov). The Story of the LeBron/Love/Kyrie Cavs didn't start when the Finals began. Good triumphed over evil. Sorry I wasn't more clear when I originally posted.

What's your top 10 now?

Awesome. Good triumphs over evil. Between that series and game of thrones ending, I feel like I can breath again.

I've made it to Disc 13 of the New Japan set and I just have to say after having watched a large sampling of Fujiwara over a brief period of time, everyone who pimped him as an all time great was totally fucking right. As soon as I finish this one I'm going to watch the Other Japan set to see more. And I need to add that PWFG set to the top of my list now. I just watched the Don Nakaya Nielsen match and now I want to watch Fujiwara vs Everyone Ever. The weirder the better. Anyway, yeah. Fujiwara. Holy shit balls.

Just in terms of talking about the LeBron cut/probable concussion, Silver did not come off well I thought. It felt like he was 5 seconds away from saying "its LeBron. We're not pulling LeBron out of the game no matter what. People will stop watching. DUH" and Sage was smart enough to immediately change the subject.

The whole LeBron hitting his head on the camera thing and everything that happened/didn't happen in the aftermath was incredibly bizarre. Including Adam Silver talking about it. Very very strange. "We don't want any cameras." What?

I'm really enjoying following along with this. Lots of fun. But Dylan is sprinting away with the "which promotion would you most want to watch" award. Sorry everyone else but holy shit.

Andre the Giant is a wheel of Comte'. France's best selling and largest exported cheese. Both hail from the Rhone Alps. Both known for being sweet and nutty. Both known for being bold yet subtle at the same time. Both frequently seen accompanied by a bottle of red wine or a brown ale. Beloved by hardcore and casual fans alike. Ok I promise I'll stop.

Buddy Rose is a nice brie. Versatile, excellent by itself and as part of a pairing. Can be smooth, creamy buttery crowd pleasing experience or aggressive and in your face. Ace of a promotion with a long history in the profession. I'll stop now.

I know! I'm very surprised. Curry looked like dogshit in the last game. It felt like he was treating it like a preseason game. He was bad Mutoh yesterday. And LeBron couldn't get a call to save his life in that game. Van Gundy was absolutely right about him not getting the superstar calls we'd normally see for players of his caliber.

I actually watched that Murakami match right after I made the post. When I was poking around youtube I saw that and remembered loving it back in 2000. There is absolutely an Ishikawa vs Murakami Custom Comp tape in my dad's house that I wish I had here and was a dvd I'll check out the other matches tonight.

Other than the feud vs Ikeda, what do I need to watch for Ishikawa?

"Precarious is a very precarious word." Dusty Rhodes during Faces of Fear vs RnR Express 11/2/96

Ace of All Japan vs Ace of New Japan. Misawa was considered an all time great before most of us started posting online. Hash was well thought of at the time but people REALLY love him now. Who you got and why?

Just because something is marketed to kids, it doesn't mean the ticket buying parents can't or won't enjoy it. Pee Wee Herman is considered a genius by both of my parents, aunts, uncles, etc. After every episode my mom and our neighbor across the street would walk outside and scream the "word of the day" at each other. Its great that your mom and neighbor were waking and baking on Saturday mornings but what does that have to do with my point? that made it easier when I got older and I was the one waking and baking My point though was that a product aimed at kids can absolutely appeal to adults and make them want to bring the kids to all 3 of the theoretical Spectrum shows. It doesn't have to be one or the other if what you're putting out is good.

Just because something is marketed to kids, it doesn't mean the ticket buying parents can't or won't enjoy it. Pee Wee Herman is considered a genius by both of my parents, aunts, uncles, etc. After every episode my mom and our neighbor across the street would walk outside and scream the "word of the day" at each other.

It's the modern equivalent of "Who wants to sex Mutombo?"

I agree that the LeBron/Kyrie/Thompson/Mozgov core will be the "conference favorites" for a few years, but I think that's more about LeBron+Kyrie+Eastern Conference being really terrible overall. I like Mozgov. I do. Oddly enough probably my favorite "type of basketball player" is a big center who plays team defense really well and is a great passer. Mozgov isn't a great passer but obviously he's really good defensively. But is he realistically one of the 15 best centers in the league right now? Will he be one of the 5 best defensive centers in the league over the next 8-10 years? If I'm signing a relatively limited offensively yet really good defensive center to a major deal and making him one of my building blocks going forward, I want to be sure he's going to be a DPOTY type every year. Are we sure Mozgov is going to be that guy? As for Tristan...I mean, I get that the cap is rising but $13+ million a year is an outrageous amount of money to pay a guy who is the 2nd best PF on the team and will probably never be the best PF on the team. $13+mil per year for a guy who has never averaged 12ppg or 10rpg or 2apg or more than 1bpg, or made 70% of his FT, and has taken 6 threes in his entire career and missed all of them. This same guy who couldn't decide if he was left handed or right handed until 2 years ago, made the switch and averaged the exact same numbers? Yes he is a great offensive rebounder. But do you really want to tie up something like $15mil a year for your 2nd best PF for an extra 2 offensive rebounds per game and zero spacing? Note, I do understand that Tristan is excellent cutting to the basket and he shot above 50% for the first time this year so Lebron has definitely made him more efficient. I also will accept that Tristan is a good defender if you want to make that argument. But its not like Taj Gibson makes $15million a year. Kyrie is great. I inherently dislike him as a former Duke player, but he only played like 8 games there so its not like he's Wojo. He's not good defensively and probably never will be but offensively he is spectacular and is in many ways the perfect sort of player you'd want to pair aging Lebron with. I would like to see a full season out of him. He'll play one at some point. I tried to find out if he had injury problems in high school. I saw a vague reference to a shoulder injury in high school. If that's it then he's had noteworthy injuries in 5 of his last 7 basketball playing seasons. I worry about him being this generation's Kevin Johnson (to Derrick Rose's Grant Hill). Kyrie is great and it would be great if he could move past all these injuries. But 0-4 including college is a real bummer. But he's the perfect sidekick for LeBron. Obviously LeBron is the best player in the world. I agree with John that he will age gracefully because he's incredibly talented and a very smart player. But he's not exactly the best shooter in the world. So, ideally you'd want to put him in the post and run the offense through him with a bunch of shooters around him...except...you just shelled out 100+million for Moz and Tristan over however many years....two big guys who do nothing for your spacing. So that sort of clogs up the lane. And Kyrie isn't a create for everyone else kind of player so....what Lebron is still essentially the point guard as he slows down athletically? So Tristan turned down $13mil per year. Lets say you can somehow talk him into signing a 4yr $55mil deal. That's 13.75 per year. Mozgov is on a great deal that will only pay him $4.9mil next year. But he's a FA after that. He means more defensively than Tristan and he "saved" their season in many ways. So you'll think he'll command more than Tristan. So lets say 4yr $60mil starting in 2016/17. Kyrie just signed a 5 year $90mil contract that will kick in next year. LeBron only signed a 2 year deal with an opt out after this year. Assuming he opts in this year and signs a max deal when the cap jumps in 2016 he'd be eligible for a deal starting around $29mil per year (assuming the cap rises to the expected $90mil). So in 2016/17 you'd be paying those 4 guys roughly $73million of your $90mil in cap space. You're going to start having to spend real money on Kyrie insurance. Since the cap increases maybe it will take $6-8 a year for someone like Ramon Sessions or a Lebron favorite like Napier. Suddenly you're looking at $11mil or less to sign 7 more players (subtracting for whatever draft picks, but lets be real, cleveland won't be drafting again any time soon those picks are all getting traded) and you still only have 1 dangerous 3point shooter and no real way to play small ball. You know, the way the league is shifting. Other than the two nights they drafted LeBron and Kyrie, at what point over the last 12 years has Cleveland the NBA Franchise exercised good judgement? History tells me they'll make a really stupid decision to try and make LeBron happy and it will end up making things worse for him. I just hope this all ends with 1 title and then the next year it ends with a "Timofey Mozgov had sex with LeBron's mother" rumor as the team implodes against the Bucks or someone like that. That way the whole world wins

I'm not sure the Cavs winning a title is so inevitable. They'll have great odds every year because LeBron is LeBron and being in the east is a huge help since they'll have a cakewalk to the finals practically every year. Buuuuuut. If Love leaves this year they won't really have any cap space to replace him. Do we really trust Kyrie to ever stay healthy for a full season + playoff run? Even if Love re-signs, are they ever going to figure out how to use him right? How are they going to upgrade the bench? LeBron is on the wrong side of 30, he's approaching 1100 NBA games (regular season+playoffs) and has surpassed 43,000 minutes played (with 7000 playoff minutes). He needed a 2 week rest in the middle of the season. Just how much longer can we reasonably call him the best player in the world? And then look around the rest of the league. OKC will be back next year. Golden State will bring everyone back and be even better with another year together and the confidence of having just won the title. San Antonio will probably bring everyone back and might add LaMarcus Aldridge. Perhaps Fred Hoiberg will have a rotation that doesn't kill all of his players by the playoffs. Paul George and Indiana will be back. Giannis will make another leap. Atlanta will probably bring everyone back and surely the NYPD will cut them a break next year. Anthony Davis is looming. I'm not saying that LeBron is done and Cleveland won't win a title with him. But. It's not as sure of a thing as everyone was saying last August. I was confident GS would've beaten Cleveland even before Kevin Love went down. It would have been yet another glorious example of a team first culture beating a LeBron led superstar team. But watching prime LeBron and a bunch of role players try to contend with this Warriors team is going to be depressing. As depressing a basketball game can be while you're still laughing and smiling the whole time that is. It's fun to root against LeBron when he's got a chance and his team simply loses to a better and more well rounded team. But this is going to be the basketball equivalent of kitten abuse. Anyway, wrestling comp... I'm not sure Sting tearing his knee out works for this. I was thinking something like NJ vs WAR. Where LeBron is Tenryu and then Golden State has the next 7 best guys. And then Tristan Thompson and Mozgov etc are your Ishikawa's and Kabuki's etc. Cleveland's bench over the next few years is going to be the nba equivalent of WAR 6man teams. Just weird combos thrown together seemingly at random.

I've been waiting for 1984 so I could point out Satanico's 1984 being tremendous. That's the year he had the title matches vs Gran Cochise and Lizmark. He also had the brawls with Atlantis, Super Astro, and Shiro Koshinaka. He was had the tag with Espectro Jr vs La Fiera and El Faraon. He also had a 6 man teaming with MS-1 and Espectro Jr vs Atlantis, Ringo Mendoza, and Tony Salazar. That's just what made the lucha set. Not sure if there's more out there. Even if that's all we have, it gives us a terrific glimpse into what was Satanico's physical prime. I'll go way more in depth about Satanico's 1984 in a few days in the Satanico thread. Also wanted to mention the two Mocho Cota vs Americo Rocca matches were from 84. Villano III probably deserves a mention. He had the singles matches vs Perro and Chicana in 84. The elimination match with those 2 plus El Faraon. Also a trios. Again, not sure what else is out there but his high end stuff from that year is terrific.

Series over. Kyrie-less Cavs vs Warriors is like Stan Hansen vs Kikuchi.

Pete, even before reading this one I wanted to say your yearbook wrap up posts are some of absolute favorite posts on the wrestling related interweb. Thank you for taking the time to do these. They're all really great!

I fucking love that Satanico/Sangre match from 89. I'm rewatching all the 80s work in preparation for a monster "summing it all up" post. You should definitely check out the title match they had from 1983 that I posted in the Chicana thread. It isn't on the level of their 89 match but it's an excellent match worked in a completely different style that took place a day after the Chicana/MS-1 classic.

I was not expecting that sentence to end with Tenryu. Share your thoughts. You got my attention.