El-P

Doesn't matter, what actualizes in reality is what matters. It's funny as it's one I don't think I have ever seen, because I did not care for buying tapes from AJW at that time (the Maekawa push was a legit big time turn off). I seem to remember there was an infamous match in a rainstorm too at about the same time (which probably wasn't great but had hype because of the sheer insane context)

That old running gag of me pimping a worker only to have Dan doing a run in and just say "Nope !"

LCO peaked from 97 to 99. After that point they still had some really good matches but they had lost their uniqueness and the smaller crowds also hurt the heat they were working for, not to mention both girls were now physically past their prime, after the grueling and taxing 90's working the hardest style on the planet. Shimoda really came into her own I'd say (from memory) in about 93-94, before that point Mita (who invented the Death Valley Driver, that should never be forgotten) was the superior worker to me. So that's 5-6 years of her being a great worker, with a peak at the end. LCO vs HAMAKino in ARSION is probably the last ride and their best match ever. In 1999 she also had another bloodbath of all bloodbath with Ozaki in single (it may have been at the second Oz Academy show !). Mima Shimoda, top tier working heel ever.

Did IMPACT basically teased Taylor Wilde returning ? That's a nice surprise. Omega & Good Brothers keep on delivering the excellent weekly matches, this time with a little trick to build Swann as a legit contender (got out of the OWA position, maybe would have had the pin on Omega but Callis pulled the ref, got the win on Anderson).

Yeah, it's a typical bullshit economics trick. People pay more and they think they get better because of the higher price. When in fact there's no correlation at all. I was about to continue my post with "Which reminds me that when my MacBook doesn't work anymore, I really need to buy a PC again" and then I see your reply. Well, indeed.

Agreed, it was one of HHH's best performance. Stephy was really good as a valet again too. The Kofi match on the other hand, I really thought watching this that Bryan was just working some magic trick with a "pretty good" worker.

You people are crazy. In a good way, but crazy nonetheless.

You're not the only one.

How dare you call the Andre the Giant Battle Royal "nothing" ?

Ah, the infamous Bulldog Buzz Sawyer.

I like the fact there isn't a barrage of PPV, but they could have 6 per year honestly, that sound reasonable.

But will they honor Freddie Joe Floyd one day ?

I will definitely go back on her case to see the earlier stuff, but I concur, when I was watching 90-91-92, Hokuto already appeared as a legit great worker as part of the Marine Wolves and then when the end of 92 hit with the start of interpromotional stuff , she was on top of the food chain to me along with Nakano.

Well, I've listened to Raymond Rougeau for years and I never got confused. It was all charmingly exotic to me.

Wow, that's interesting. The fact you *understand* the language actually hurts. I would not have thought about that but it makes sense. I mean, Mauro legit kept me away from NXT for instance, whereas the same screaming guy probably would not have bothered me as much if I did not understand him.

No one would ignore his viewpoint if he didn't act like a FUCKING POMPOUS ASSHOLE and talked down to people who disagree with him. (edit : whatever, such a waste of time)

Charlotte is gonna do a run-in after Bianca wins the title a-la Hogan at Mania 9.

Ok, don't sell me on something that won't happen now. That's cruel !

You mean the one thing he is absolutely unable to do himself because he is "objectively right" ? KEKW, as they say... The idea that someone needs help to "really get" Greg Valentine (or whomever else) is the most laughable shit ever. People can figure shit out by themselves. They don't need lectures. And they don't need to abide to whomever's narrow vision of pro-fucking-wrestling. And no, they don't need "thougher skin" (that's the shit you hear in other circles BTW).

You've got to remember he was not doing a course on lucha libre trios matches, he was trying to explain some basic stuff about the culture from the perspective of what was presented on a weekly US pro-wrestling show that pretty much never had any equivalent in term of looks and form, for the audience of a company built on Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair & Sting. Can't fault someone for not doing something he was not trying to accomplish.

It's unfair to blame Tenay, who did his absolute best in the WCW US TV context, where they never ran a traditional lucha libre match (and why should they have ?). It may not have been "the real thing", but I'm pretty sure it was the gateway for many people to get interested in lucha libre. It sure was for me (although I really got into it way later, but the initial interest and curiosity came from there). Whatever works. Also, these guys came from AAA, which was not exactly traditional lucha libre to begin with (much more than it is now though).

Yes, exactly. Which is why just watching the Friday shows on Youtube was such a breath of fresh air to me because I was like, I don't even know who 95% of these masked fellows are, I'm just watching to enjoy instead of trying to "figure out" something specific, and after a very short while it was just flowing naturally. Well.... I'm not sure I would go that far. They absolutely are an ends in displaying that spirit of lucha libre and awe the crowd, and they are very important as a form. But yeah, they absolutely are a way also to make room from what's gonna take place inside the ring next, which is why : no tag needed, people (did you not listen to Mike Tenay on Nitro already people ?) Yep.

True that. I really was looking forward to the Kanyon episode.

The thing with lucha is odd. It's pretty much the last major style I really got into. I never really put much into it for I guess cosmetic reasons (one of which oddly enough was the crowd noise and announcing in Spanish). The "bizarre" pace of the 2/3 falls match did not click with me but the single matches surely caused no issue at all (there was some heavy pimping of single matches back for the 2006 poll and I voted for more luchadors then). Then a few years ago I saw weekly CMLL was on Youtube. It became a habit to just watch the Friday Arena Mexico show and I was like hooked so easily. I really believe there's nothing hard at all to understand about lucha libre, but the talk of it being the "hardest style to get" that has been around for years and years (I blame both people who hated the style and some of the lucha purists who acted as gatekeepers) absolutely convinced many people (including me at one time) that it was and in the long run hurt the perception of it pretty badly. The one thing that struck me with the whole trios 2/3 falls match is that if you find the pace to be a bit odd at first (or the structure too systematical), just remove the idea that's it a 2/3 falls match and watch it as a simple match with dynamics going one way then another, and all of a sudden it's like the easiest pro-wrestling ever. It's no wonder Arena Mexico is basically a tourist attraction. That being said, maybe it's just because I'm Latin.

Yep. Which is why you should never bully a bully : because it's counterproductive. The way he dropped dead surely helped too. People thought it was so eerie because of the timing (the irony of death will never cease to amaze me sometime) that they got all romantic about it. The opposite of Benoit, in sorts, who was probably a pretty good guy his entire life before going insane at the end, so he's being called a monster. Whereas Warrior was pretty much an asshole and legit hate spreading human being for years, but because he looked sympathetic at the end and dropped dead just at the right time, people softened up on him and were willing to gobble the withewashing. Like if the only thing that mattered was the end... I also believe Meltz appears in a few episodes for the first time. So I guess Brucie isn't taking part this time around. Since they touch the Korea stuff this year, I still have some hope for an episode on the Saudi debacle in the future.