El-P

Totally agree about the bolded part, like I said before. But promos to me is not part of the match itself. And to me pro-wrestling is still about having pro-wrestling matches and that's why I watch pro-wrestling and that's what it's all about in the end.

We don't ? Most of them are totally shitty actors, there's nothing else to look for.

Subtitles. And a movie dialogue is not a pro-wrestling promo.

Or maybe you say that because you already know that she was a great wrestler and you've got a confirmation bias. You can't judge the "how" if you don't understand the language, because the "how" is also part of the expression of the language. Of course you can see the intensity of things, but for instance, maybe Onita was a shit promo and his melodramatic stuff in English or French would make me laugh my ass off.

Do you speak Japanese, Spanish, French ? Because if you don't, you just can't judge that element. You can gauge that Akira Hokuto was pretty much great at cutting promos, but you can't really judge. We can pretend that promo matter less in Japan, yet Choshu or Takada's great charisma and personality on the mic surely played a part in how they were received by audiences and why crowds reacted to them the way they did (and why they became such big draws). But as I don't speak Japanese, I can't judge their actual promo ability.

I don't remember, was he still working with AJ when he got back to WWE with Shinzaki or was he settled in the US by then and just served as the WWF interpreter/contact for Shinzaki ?

I had watched the LLPW stuff from the early 90's. It's not very interesting because LLPW had not a very good roster compared to the two other promotions. I mean, there was some cool workers and veterans, but having to watch Eagle Sawaii & Rumi Kazama a lot is not something fun at all. Clearly the main events got good when the interpromotional stuff kicked in. And Kandori was so made for this. Her early work for sure I'd be interested in watching. Megumi Kudo surely deserves a comeback too, she was a fascinating worker. And of course, Yoshida, the marvels of all marvels.

Of course Ozaki. Oz was awesome. You want to watch JWP Oz, not really GAEA Oz (although in the second part of the 90's she was still excellent there playing mentor to her Oz Academy students, some terrific stuff then).

That is true. But even then, Kandori's stuff didn't look like Chiggy or Lioness' UWF influenced stuff, which then stemmed the excellent Yamada and the crappy Hotta. In a way she was like post-comeback Minoru Suzuki, as he's absolutely not representative of what shootstyle used to be (of course he was when he was younger because he worked the regular style then) and really has his own thing going (which is part of why he's so fun to watch usually). Haven't watched it in 20 years I guess, but from memory it was the kind of "statement" match I really enjoy, the statement here being "We're gonna go so hard and so fast for so long until the point we're gonna shoot exhaust ourselves yet still try to go as fast and hard as humanly possible". These women were something else.

Considering how great a team the North was, giving Ethan Page a really good guy to team again is the best option. Could be really good. BTW, did Tony Khan actually bought the rights to "Where is My Mind" ? If so, I want more of this, and Orange Cassidy is de facto the coolest pro-wrestler ever.

Oh, yeah, totally agree, I thought the exact same thing, and I guess that's why he's more tempted to dig into Kandori first actually. I don't expect Matt to go crazy for Toyota or Kyoko. Although everyone should, because they are awesome, Toyota being the apex of absolute go-go-go workers, I don't think there have been anybody even close before or after. Kyoko from memory is a little bit different, although clearly also rooted in the ultimate "We can outworkrate the best men, you patriarcal society !" (and succeeding) mentality.

Oh yeah. As much as I thought last week's promo by QT was a mess, this week's angle was terrific, as was its execution. The rest of the show ruled too. When even Cesar Bononi looks the best he ever did, you know that's a W.

Damn that's right ! Lance was so stiff in this at the end of each episode, explaining this and that. Who else was on that thing ? I also remember watching the Though Enough Austin season with Ivelisse, Matt Cross and Marty the Moth (just googled him, so he is/was a trainer at the Nightmare Factory !). The winner on the other hand showed up on RAW, got humiliated and it was the last of him.

It does. Quite the good match. All running jokes aside, I'm happy to see Christian Cage work again in the promotion in enjoy. The funniest (and honestly awesomest) thing to me is that I picture him during the creative talks about his presentation and he's like "I want my TNA theme." Yeah ! Go Dixieland !

Like, let's talk business here. She spent her entire career establishing her own personal brand and character and now she's "Frankie Monet". And of course she can't use her social medias outlet to do business and revenue on the side like every independent contractor should, because of course the awareness she has online is all about Frankie Monet, right, not the last 15 years or so hustling around the world as Taya Valkyrie. Such stupid bullshit.

This. Plus, Kandori is about the least representative worker of what joshi puroresu was stylistically at that time. She brought something very different, which was great at times, but she was very much her own beast.

Austin Aries vs SrS is like the lamest internet feud ever. The guy who doesn't believe in the germ theory vs the guy who makes up news. No one is a winner.

*facepalm* Pro-wrestling game name. What's betta' ? Franky Monet of TAYA MOTHERFUCKING VALKYRIE ? Also, her gimmick is that she has a dog, apparently. Hey, good for Taya, leaving the dream...

That's funny because when he debuted in WWF, he was clearly part of that new generation of indy guys who were doing odd looking spots (like Edge or the Hardys) that looked totally different from the previous generation to the point you could say they weren't "trained properly" (hum.... reminds me of something). And now of course, him and Matt Hardy are the typical "old school guys" who can do "solid old school matches". Same could be said of Kazarian BTW, who really became famous in TNA doing the X-division stuff and really wasn't the best at it either (never was a fan of his very early work) but now he's a totally relatable veteran worker who's gonna bring the really solid "old school work". Of course they have all matured in their work too but still, they are a very different from "real" old school workers. From the 80's I mean ! But yeah, times makes everything so bizarre.

...from the 00's. That doesn't make me feel old at all when people refer to some post-00's stuff (whatever it is, music, movies, wrestling) as "good old fashioned" !!! I'm such a boomer now, as they say.

Him and Kazarian are gonna have a super solid match that will be fun to watch... and that's about it...

Like you'd think he would considering how he looked the last time he was on TV. Yeah, AMW were awesome.

Why poor Akiyama ? He's certainly a guy who has suffered before and will suffer from the lack of awareness his later career gets, as he really stays in the shadow of Kobashi and even old Misawa in NOAH in the 00's and then his post-peak works (which seem to get a lot of love from some people) in NOAH/AJPW when both promotions really aren't spotlighted at all anymore (not to even talking about Go Shiozaki and the likes).

What is your focus on joshi btw ? I have the AJW Classics on a hard drive so that will be the priority, but I'd want to (re)visit some of JWP and also some of the late 90's/early 00's stuff we talked about (GAEA, Neo, Jd', revisit ARSION), and some "current" names (basically from the last 10 years) eventually (Kana/ASUKA).

BTW : This is very much appreciated.