Eduardo

He did start off by mentioning two rings:

Not the best week to be comparing Dave Meltzer to Harry Knowles...

I really dug Cena vs Reigns. Worked as Cena, the 40 year old legend and WWE's top guy of this century, running out of gas at this stage of his career. Majority of the match was controlled and dominated by Reigns, with Cena trying to be cute at the very beginning to try to hide the fact that his best years are clearly behind him. Like an aged prize fighter near the end of his run, all Cena could do was try to throw bombs out there, hoping one would put Reigns down for the count. That worked at the Royal Rumble earlier this year against the smaller AJ Styles, but this time he was fighting a bigger and stronger man, the man, and the sequence he used at the Rumble didn't work this time around. As soon as Reigns hit the superman punch and spear, Cena was done. Really liked how clear cut that finish was. Layout was different from what I was expecting, and Cena may have been too silly at the beginning with his facial expressions, but thought this was excellent.

I always felt Ranallo was at his best when working for Showtime Boxing 'cause it was obvious that he knew his limitations there, and was learning on the job. He wasn't going to act like a big boxing expert with Al Bernstein next to him. I don't hate Mauro, it's just that with pro wrestling and mixed martial arts, it felt like (and still feels like) he always wants you to know how much he knows, and it can get annoying.

Kinda hope Velocity is coming up soon. So many fun matches on Velocity over the years, including that great, great match with Jamie Noble vs Rey Mysterio Jr.

The "Yes" chant came from Diego Sanchez as well, and Danielson has been very intentional about where it came from.

Yeah I wouldn't use the word work.

It was obvious when we saw how little punches Floyd Mayweather Jr. was throwing in the first three rounds. He usually takes the early rounds off to get an idea of his opponent and work around what they have to offer, but Mayweather's output was even less than usual. Once he saw that Conor McGregor was getting tired, Mayweather Jr. went for the kill numerous times by rushing forward. He'd never do that against Manny Pacquiao 'cause he respects Pacquiao's skills too much. Kinda funny how for all the talk about McGregor's power, it was also obvious that Mayweather's power was far more significant in this match. I was going to make the Pancrase comparison, since it's the best comparison point, but gordi beat me to it. Not a work, just a world class boxer fighting a guy who is a great athlete, giving him the early rounds by literally doing nothing. McGregor looked good (outside of his cardio issues and hammerfists), Mayweather got his finish (right on time for us to watch Wagner-Clown) and his 50-0 record, UFC fans got to say their guy went 10 rounds with "The Best Ever" (he's not the best ever but whatever), and boxing fans got to point out the nuances of what was actually going on in the ring. Everyone won, especially those of us who saw the fight for free on Periscope on Twitter. Surprised though at the amount of people calling this one of Mayweather Jr.'s better fights. It was pretty fun and had a unique novelty feel to it, but even his fights from a few years ago with Marcos Maidana and Miguel Cotto were more entertaining and fun, and obviously fought at a much higher level.

NXT from the beginning of this year with Roode, Nakamura, Asuka, DIY, Revival as its top stars to current day NXT with McIntyre, Cole, ReDragon on top feels like such a radical change. I do like O'Reilly a lot (his match with Keith Lee earlier this year was one of my favorites of 2017) but say what you want about Roode, Nakamura, but they had way more charisma than McIntyre (who I feel felt like a way bigger and more charismatic star wrestling Lorcan than he looked beating Roode), Cole and ReDragon. Asuka leaving as well, who felt like the best overall performer on the brand and the MVP at the last TakeOver, makes it a lot less interesting to me. But curious what they have lined-up for the Houston TakeOver in November. They got Strong, Ohno, Gargano, Almas, no reason why it shouldn't be a good wrestling card.

By far the best thing I've seen written on this fight is this: http://deadspin.com/floyd-mayweather-vs-conor-mcgregor-is-the-second-bigge-1797272009 Fight is a joke, no way possible Conor McGregor can win this. Article makes a good point about Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s place in boxing history, not necessarily being the best boxer of all time, but more pointing to his legacy of being the best boxing promoter/manager/match-maker of all time. More interesting is seeing UFC break away from so many ideas they said they would never do, co-promotion, etc. I'm going to some cumbia party late on Saturday night, so if I have some time I will probably check it out at a bar, even though I'm sure it'll be dry 119-109 win for FMJ.

This is a great post! A single story that I think encapsulates the shift as well as any that Dave tells from time to time: he had dinner with Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero after a New Japan show once. This was in 1994, so they were respected as good workers, but it was before they really became hardcore darlings at the level they would become. Anyway, Dave thought they had a great match that night and told them they tore the house down. The reaction from both was, "You really think so?" and they both started ripping apart their own performances in the match. Dave's takeaway was that they were perfectionists who were hypercritical of their own work, but I think an alternative takeaway could be that workers who didn't receive much validation inside wrestling because of their size suddenly found someone who would provide them with plenty of validation, so they decided to work for him. That style found a bigger audience, even if it did run antithesis to a lot of things that were happening with top guys in the U.S. at the time. Those guys and others of their ilk like Jericho and Rey became stars and helped push a shift in the working style on top. None was ever truly the number one guy, but they did have a lasting impact on the main event style, which is why by 2003, guys like Kevin Nash couldn't get over at a main event level in WWE. Apparently the match in question was probably the Great Sasuke and Black Tiger vs. Wild Pegasus and Shinjiro Ohtani match, which was really, really great.

Agreed, yeah the whole thing just felt so bad to me.

While it got a big crowd response, the Swagger cash in felt really flat to me and like the low point of all the cash ins. I liked Swagger as a heel rival to Christian's ace run in ECW, but in the lead-up to the cash in, he was so far from a star as anyone who has cash in and won.

Love the idea that Baron Corbin continues to struggle with school boy pins.

Amazing find.

Shinya Aoki? I don't think he really fits with the others. If he gets a good grip of an arm or leg, he's going to try to rip it off.

That match had such great grappling and heel work from Royal. It's pretty cool hearing the different picks MOTN for Night 1. I thought it was Joey Janela vs Darby Allin. I came in most hyped to see Janela that night, as he's such a fun cult figure to me, and they both delivered a totally unique car crash of a match, exactly what to expect from those two. I think Zellner picked Jason Cade vs Curt Stallion, which also had great heel work from Cade. Also saw picks for Anthony Henry vs Gary Jay, which was my number two pick for Night 1, and in my top five for both nights. Some folks also picked Tank vs Matt Riddle for the emotional impact of the match. Still can't get over how great Matt Riddle vs Gunner Miller was. It was the independent professional wrestling version of Marvin Hagler vs Tommy Hearns to me. "The Fight". These two athletic bros just killing one another, bomb after bomb. Laid out perfectly, with a wild believable nearfall in the first few seconds of the match. Ending literally had me jumping. Coming in to the SCI, I thought the right choice and the choice they were going with was Anthony Henry to win. But after seeing that Riddle match, I went up to talk to Pete about it, and was thinking that I was changing my mind to thinking maybe the right choice is Riddle, seeing how the crowd lost their shit when he beat Miller. And at the end of the night, Riddle was the right choice to win it all. The Hierarchy vs Carnies match was also such a great, wild brawl. Great dives, chairshots, stuff on the guard rail, fireballs, balcony dives, all in a high school gym! Anthony Henry is still someone to look out for. Brings such great intensity to his ring work, great subtle facial expressions, has been consistently excellent for three SCI's in a row. Watching live, the diversity in styles really hit you. Arik Royal and Matt Riddle are fucking great, but are so different in style. Darby Allin and Joey Janela are both cult figures known for their crazy bumping, yet are still so different as well, obviously in persona but also in what they do in the ring and how they do it. Jason Kincaid looked like a star on both nights, his shit looks so good live. Joey Lynch man, what a great, great wrestler that deserves more bookings. Shane Marx is so underrated, he was the perfect opponent for Gunner Miller, and I saw some kids pop big for Marx's great bumping, and his well timed comeback, during that match. Both shows are strongly recommended when they get released.

Matt Riddle vs Gunner Miller was fucking amazing. The whole weekend was really. Joey Janela vs Darby Allin made me so happy live. Genuinely the best live wrestling experience I've ever attended.

Bracket has been released: https://twitter.com/SCITournament/status/889636380028141569 So many exciting possibilities. Most jazzed about potential matches with Arik Royal vs Curt Stallion and Gunner Miller vs Matt Riddle. Oh, possibility of Joey Lynch vs Torque would be great too. Also, a new participant replacing Iceberg for the Night 2 streetfight will be announced on July 30th. Curious if anyone else will be added to the scramble match too.

Shaping up to be a great weekend of wrestling. Updated cards: SCI Night 1, August 4th. 1st Round - Matt Riddle vs Tank 1st Round - Joey Janela vs Darby Allin 1st Round - Gunner Miller vs Shane Marx 1st Round - Anthony Henry vs Gary Jay 1st Round - Joey Lynch vs Matt Lynch 1st Round - Arik Royal vs Dominic Garrini 1st Round - Jason Kincaid vs Torque 1st Round - Jason Cade vs Curt Stallion SCI Night 2, August 5th. The Movement vs. Tim Hughes and Kongo Street Fight: The Carnies vs The Hierarchy SCI Scramble Match: Tyson Dean, Drew Adler, Bob Evans, Kevin Ku, Kyle Matthews, and possibly more... 2nd Round, Match 1: TBD 2nd Round, Match 2: TBD 2nd Round, Match 3: TBD 2nd Round, Match 4: TBD SCI Final 4-Way Match: TBD

Not just cause Eddy died. At the time, the story (at least according to Meltzer and a few other folks) was that it was supposed to be Randy Orton getting the title at WrestleMania 22, and they were just using Rey Mysterio and the death of Eddy Guerrero to build up Orton and get heat for him. That changed when Orton got in hot water, and was suspended for 60 days for "unprofessional conduct". Then of course, McMahon was finally convinced by a few folks backstage to have Angle drop the title to Mysterio in that triple threat championship match. Since then, the narrative around this has changed and people forget about Orton's suspension being one of the biggest reasons why Mysterio got the title in the first place. So Orton lost at WrestleMania 22, then quickly lost a singles match to Mysterio Jr. a few days later before being sent away to an anger management clinic. Then yeah, WWE did a bad job booking Mysterio after they won the championship. Amazing how much Mysterio was able to accomplish in spite of bad booking choices.

Last three weeks of NXT with Hero-Black, Asuka-Cross, and Roode-Strong have been pretty awesome.

Lawler had a great standing drop kick too. One he was still breaking out into his 50s Even at 67, it still looks great: Also, he even did at a baseball game recently, five weeks ago: https://twitter.com/NachoHelmet/status/868585786836475904

I haven't seen a thread started on this yet, but thought I would since it's 5 weeks away and it's already shaping up to be a great card, and the last two SCI tournaments have been awesome. These are the announced matches so far: Scenic City Invitational 2017 Night 1, August 4th. 1st Round - Matt Riddle vs Tank 1st Round - Joey Janela vs Darby Allin 1st Round - Gunner Miller vs Shane Marx 1st Round - Anthony Henry vs Gary Jay 1st Round - Joey Lynch vs Matt Lynch Participants that will have their matches announced soon: Dominic Garrini, Curt Stallion, Torque, Arik Royal, Jason Kincaid, Jason Cade. Matches are announced on Monday night. Night 2, August 5th. Street Fight - Carnies vs Hierarchy Dylan did a really great preview here about the whole show and background on the wrestlers involved: http://wrestlingwithwords.com/we-dont-know-wrestling-scenic-city-invitational-2017-preview/ Neat playlist of matches to check out to get ready for the SCI: http://sobrosnetwork.com/2017/06/26/get-ready-for-the-scenic-city-invitational-with-this-playlist/ (Just saw the "First Blood" match and it's highly recommended) The SCI 2015, SCI 2016, and the Scenic City Rumble 2017 can all be viewed at https://powerbomb.tv/promotion/SCI

The Nakamura and Deford pieces were great, need to still read the Keith Lee profile.