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I tapped out on the commentary. This was a nice beginning chapter to their ladder feud but was tough to watch with the WM10 and Summerslam matches so entrenched in my mind. I did enjoy them sort of finding their way on what spots would work with this match though.

Gorilla was absolutely awful in this match. You can be as nostalgic as you want for the guy but at this point and time he should have been banned from the microphone. This match is terrific. I love how some portions with them working on Bret is a precursor to the Royal Rumble match with him refusing to tag out when he has opportunities. Rick was significantly better in this than the Dome match and toned down the goofiness. Competing with the best matches of the month so far.

Fun match although I did prefer the title win. Afa looked really spry for his age. I enjoyed Gorilla calling another referee a goof considering how much grief Joey Morella got back in the day. Gorilla calling the babyfaces lucky and that they stole one is awful.

Really fun match with a great moment at the end. Savage jumping in is one of those little things that goes a long way in putting over people in the company. The false finish would actually work if every other time I saw it, the babyfaces didn't even lose.

Didn't really know what to expect from this since my joshi viewing is limited and I was not very familiar at all with Cutie and Plum, but this turned out great. Ozaki really was excellent as the captain and her and Chig really portrayed a dislike for each other. The look Devil has on her face when she has Cutie in the half crap is so amazing. This was a match with a lot of moves and saves but never left the fundamental of the story being told behind and ended in a great match.

Gene was definitely distracting and I was also shocked that he mentioned Hogan as well as the Fratellos as all people. I assume he was referring to Mike Fratello. Flair does low key interviews real well and they are such a nice contrast to his styling and profiling promos.

Just echo everyone else here that this was a real fun video that did fight DWB character well.

I think it is easy in this mature state of most of our wrestling watching around here to take 1990's AJPW for granted. We have likely seen the big matches at least a couple of times and know the big storylines and pins. That is why this match was so refreshing to me. I am not sure if I have ever watched it before and if I had it was likely in 2002 when I was first getting into puro. It is not an all time classic and might even struggle to make the top 150 if an 1990's AJPW vote ever occurs like the 80's project. That being said, the work and story of the match were pretty great. The heat segment on Misawa I especially thought created great tension. The ending with Kobashi winning felt like a nice progression on his push coming off the 1993 RWTL. I am not sure if this will even crack my top ten All Japan for the year when all is said and done but as a starting off point for 1994 AJ, this got me really excited for what is in store.

Decent match but disappointing. The Muto/Tenryu sections were nice but I was expecting more intensity and hatred. I actually liked the limited Samurai/Tenryu exchanges throughout the match the best.

Even reading the comments I was still alarmed at how small Hogan looked. I have always like Fujinami/Hogan's chemistry. This show seems pretty loaded and I wonder how the other big matches are. Chono/Hash going 28 minutes seems problematic but could still be good, and Choshu/Fujiwara seems really intriguing at this point of their careers to see how much they had left.

Finishing stretch was intriguing and well paced. After watching Tenryu throughout the 1980's All Japan set, it was nice to see him get such a big win in this setting. Inoki jumping on him right after the bell is a big F U moment. What was shown made me want to seek out the full version and if the remaining is as strong as the stretch run, this may be something worth considering putting on in full for the errata set.

I agree with Childs on this match. The opening mat work meandered to much for me. I really hated Rick's opening dog exchange with Muto that fell really flat. Watching a match from the Dome in a yearbook setting can really hurt also because we just saw a really hot crowd for a typical WCWSN main event and here it really took the Screwdriver to wake the crowd up fully. Finishing stretch was very well done but the finish looked a little awkward. Overall, definitely a good match but a match with many flaws in my opinion.

The graphic said Thurman Sparky Plugg? When did that change to Bob?

Enjoyed seeing the callback to Summerslam. One wonders why they painted themselves in a corner with that stipulation anyway, they should have just said if Lex loses the match he wont get another shot since that would have provided an escape for him winning by countout. Lex does a decent job of stating his case.

Very fun tv match. I actually enjoyed the finish as it gave a glimpse of Pillman loose cannon moniker as he couldn't resist hitting Austin when the opportunity presented itself. I also liked how up to the finish, while Austin took some more subtle shortcuts to get over the story of the match and build up sympathy for Sting. Jesse on commentary seems pretty good for someone that was about to be on his way out, minus his little political rant on smoking. The other thing that was nice was that this match got a good amount of time without a commercial break, which no doubt would happen if the match was on Raw or Smackdown now.

I remember as a kid that was only 7 year old at Starrcade 1993 how this video package really showed how important and as much of legend Flair was. IT still is a great video and something that was rare for WCW at the time.

I had forgotten how slow and deliberate Razor used to speak on promos. I also enjoy seeing this interview style as late as 1994. When did they switch from Superstars to Action Zone or whatever with Pettigil hosting?

I plan on posting my thoughts when I get the yearbook. Paypal had my address all screwed up so I am delayed. I am relieved you stopped posting for a little while because I was worried you would be in Sept before I even got mine.

As a cardiovascular stunt, it's pretty amazing. As a match, it's monotonous. They'll sit around in a hold for a few minutes, get up and do a spot or two, then the other guy will get a hold and they'll sit around for a few minutes. I've just described the entire first half of the match. They do some more interesting stuff towards the finishing stretch, but it's still a long haul to get there. Maybe we should call this a Self Conscious Epic, since "holy shit, look at how long we're staying in the ring!" was the overwhelming primary gimmick that completely overran every other consideration. I think you are short changing the beginning portion of the match. Is it completely action packed, no but they did keep the mat work interesting throughout and added little touches that were revisited in the ending stretch run. Is that the one where they both took three different falls from a scaffold into a net of barbed wire? If so, I thought that was the epitome of everything that's wrong with modern American deathmatches. It started out with them both climbing up and jumping off intentionally for apparently no reason whatsoever other than to prove They're Hardcore. And then it didn't even have a finish, the match just suddenly stopped and Pondo gave a speech about how awesome and tough they were. Wait... Pondo? I might be thinking of a different match. That is the match, I don't think anyone would call it good but I included it because it showed how shit crazy IWA-MS could be sometimes with the hardcore aspect. In a yearbook setting, I think at least the bumps is essential because Ian and many fans thought of this stuff as the lifeblood of the promotion even with some great wrestling going on.

Oh Loss, You have spoken to my wheelhouse on this one. IWA-MS is my absolute favorite indy and at its best was a perfect fusion of the indy scene of the 2000's and the old territorial system. I also think IWA-MS gets kind of shafted by the fact that the time they had the most noteriatity (2004-2006) while full of great stuff also is the most indy dream match as the promotion got. I have seen limited stuff from 1997-2001 and then nearly all the shows from 2002-2004. I will C&P below what I wrote in the 2002 match recommendations thread for the yearbook: IWA-MS: I would include Tarek/Ian from 10/4/02 and Hero/Ian from a show in May. I would also include the Tracy Smothers riot from No Blood No guts No Glory. After that it gets more selective. The Eddy IWA-MS matches are good but nothing extraordinary. The 4 way match from night 2 of the TPI would be a good comparison to the Scramble Madness match in ROH from around the same time. Hero/Punk had 3 matches that all have merits (the 55 minute tables, the TPI match, and the 60 min draw). Of those three I actually like the TPI match the best but would probably include the T,L,C match first for historical purposes. Other fun stuff you might want to include: Tracy/Bull 6th anniversary Mdogg/Hero 6th anniversary Drunken Death Match Ian/Mark Wolf vs. Ryder/Corp Robinson Bloodfeast Riot from Bloodfeast Ian/Bull I quit from Christmas Carnage 2002 IWA-MS was an interesting year where they still was a lot of shit, a lot of death matches, and more "workrate" style matches that really set the stage for the "peak" of IWA-MS that most people remember from 2003-2006 of great wrestling, bizarre match ups, new talent uprising, a token death match, and a true territory promotion feel. 2003 is my personal favorite year and they were running weekly in Clarksville. show 300: Ian vs. Bull Pain cage match, Mark Wolf vs. Adam Gooch, Cm PUNK vs. Ace Steel vs. Vic Capri 301 Show: Mark Wolf & KO vs Michael Todd Stratton & Adam Gooch, Chris Hero vs J.C. Bailey Punk vs. Hero 93 minute match ( I actually watched this a few months ago and thought it held up surprisingly well) There are a couple of Ian vs. Bull tags with various partners from around the first few months of 2003 but none of them ring a bell Michael Todd Stratton vs. Chris Hero 2/8/03 Styles Clash Weekend: Bull Pain vs. Corporal Robinson CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave AJ Styles vs. Ace Steel Ian Rotten vs. Michael Todd Stratton Jc Bailey vs. Corporal Robinson ( Circus Death Match, not a good match but clips for a compilation would be appropriate due to the insanity of the bumps) Mark Wolf vs. Mitch Ryder Simply the Best 4 Mark Wolf vs. Mitch Ryder I quit 3/14 Ian Rotten & Mark Wolf vs. Michael Todd Stratton & Mitch Ryder and CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. Chris Hero & BJ Whitmer 3/21 Michael Stratton vs. Ian Rotten I quit, Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley 2/3 falls, mark Wolf vs. Mitch Ryder throw in the towel 3/28 Quote the Raven Jimmy jacobs vs. Alex Shelley hair vs. boot hair, Michael Todd Stratton vs. Ian taped fist April bloodshowers 2003 Ian Rotten vs. Jimmy Jacobs An IWA Freak A Thon 2003 Chris Hero vs. Danny Daniels IWA- Wanted Dead or Alive 5/17 Michael Todd Stratton vs. JC Bailey, BJ whitmer vs. Stan Dupp, Chris Hero vs. Ace Steel, CM Punk vs. Chris Hamrick 5/24 Spirit of 76 Chris Hero vs. Mark Wolf When Good Friends go bad Mark Wolf vs. Jimmy jacobs 6/14 Chris Hero vs. Mark Wolf 6/21 Chris Hero vs. Tracy Smothers, CM Punk vs. BJ Whitmer 6/27 Strong Style Tournament Chris Hero & Alex Shelley b Danny Daniels & Jimmy Jacobs, Double C & Ares b Chris Hero & Mark Wolf, Chris Hero vs. Alex Shelley 7/4 We are Family Chris Hero vs. Danny Daniels 7/12 Chris Hero vs. Mean Mitch Page 7/19 Necro Butcher vs. Toby Klein, Chris hero vs. Homicide, Jc Bailey vs. Necro Butcher, Ian Rotten vs. Balls Mahoney, Jc Bailey vs. Ian Rotten, Chris Hero vs. Danny Daniels KOTD 8/1-8/2 Danny Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs 10/2 Ian Rotten vs. JC Bailey 10/24 Alex Shelley vs. Ian Rotten, Chris Hero vs. BBoy Ted Petty 11/1-2 Chris Hero vs. Alex Shelley, Ian vs. JC Bailey Cage Match Anniversary shows Chris Hero vs. Steve Stone 11/22 Danny Daniels vs. Chris Hero 11/27 Chris Hero vs. B Boy 12-20 This is a real exhaustive list and I would rate every match I listed as at least good a couple of years ago when I watched it. This is also leaving out stuff that was important to the promotion like some Nate Webb and Colt Cabana matches. There is also some pretty good early Aries and Nigel in 2003. This list definitely could be narrowed down to essential stuff for a yearbook, but 2003 IWA-MS is really great.

Loved the latest episode. I really appreciate a show where both hosts can have differing opinions without getting into a shouting match.

It has been a few years since I have watched it but Misawa vs. Williams from 10/11 that was tacked on the end of the commercial tape always felt like epitome of Misawa dogging it match. Just really dull and plodding. With 32 matches and 1997 being a pretty varied year with a lot of promotions being represented, I believe the 30 minutes could definitely be better used elsewhere.

Here is my top ten having not seen Panther/Casas or Tajiri/Finlay yet. 1. El Hijo del Santo y Villano IV vs El Hijo del Solitario y Ángel Blanco Jr. 2/25 Todo X Todo 2. Chico Che vs. Black Terry 1/29 IWRG 3. Blue Panther vs. negro Casas 1/27 CMLL 4. VIRUS/ ARKANGEL DE LA MUERTE vs FUEGO/ VALIENTE CMLL 2/21 5. Negro Casas vs. La Sombra 2/22 CMLL 6. Chico Che vs. black Terry 1/22 IWRG 7. Okada vs. Naito 3/2 New Japan 8. Bryan vs. Big Show 1/13 Smackdown 9. Seikmoto/Okabayashi vs. Akebono/hama 1/3 All Japan 10. Smackdown Elimination Chamber 2/19 Elimination Chamber

Agreed, nice to see Dylan making the rounds on the podcast circuit and he meshes very well with every host.