El-P

Speaking of "obscure" but not obscure at all, is there any footage of Dara Singh ? In the short clip of the match against Rikidozan in 55, that mofo looks great.

Well, as of this year, Kane and Great Khali have to be a toss-up. Both the same year is the ultimate 1-2 punch of suck. People will talk about Torrie Wilson, but she really never was a properly trained pro-wrestler anyway.

The guy had no talent whatsoever and was an asshole about it. Where was Akira Maeda when you really needed him in the 00's ?

The fucking Lou Thesz powerbomb. In 1953. Super cool footage.

Ospreay is banged up, but he works so much smarter than he used to do a few years ago, overall he's a much much better worker, which is kinda scary, as he can still do the craziest shit when he wants to. That counter off the Pumping Bomber is legendary. The match with Ibushi should be off the charts (which is crazy expectations, as if it's just excellent it'll look like a disappointment).

Nope. Genes are a scary thing. That being said, talent has nothing to do with genetics, because Ayako sure was still kicking ass in AAA when she showed up in 19. Unlike good old Sochi. (this really is throwback Wednesday, here I am talking Sochi Hamada & The Bloody on the same day !)

The Bischoff thing is like a bunch of abusive former lovers. The guy gets hired strictly to be a scapegoat, then gets fired in humiliating fashion, then get brought back for an "emotional" HOF speech. "But never mention that bitch Tony Khan again ! You can't see that guy anymore Eric ! I still love you. BUT YOU'RE FIRED !!!! Hey, can we be friends ? I'd love you in my HOF... xoxo"

True. They should have made it a big time Dark Elevation main event instead, in true Thunder spirit. But I'll take the awesome randomness anywhere anyway !

Damn, you know my tastes ! I did not do the Saturday Night shows during my WCW Highway to Death thread, so that little gem just eluded me for ever ! I'm a Raven fan, as you know. Thanks !

I haven't watched her in almost 20 years and I wonder how I would enjoy her stuff today. I do remember the crazy bumps now that you mention it. But yeah, I was all about the Bloody in my last years of following joshi and buying tapes (well, and Yoshida, of course). To me it looked all bleak though. The scene was basically GAEA, which I always found to be overrated in term of output, and a bunch of zombie promotions. But there were really good up and coming workers for sure. I remember Yoshiko Tamura was coming into her own and turning into a really terrific worker then too. I'd fun to revisit some of this for sure. Damn... In other news, Rikidozan, here I come.

Sydal vs Omega could steal the show if the Third Eye manages to channel his old self. Keep on bringing the fresh stuff AEW. The randomness is great like some WCW Thunder main-event with Marty Jannetty that never happened but should have.

Is he gonna wear his mask ? *wink wink nudge nudge*

He can work indies. He's doing his Spring Break Mania week show. But yeah, Janela was so fun doing insane shit in the indies I was looking forward to him in AEW, he had that terrific lights out match with Omega during the first months and really hasn't done much of anything after that. But his team with Sonny Kiss is really cool, they should get featured on Dynamite instead of wastes of space like the Acclaim or the Gunn Club. I never got it. To me the buzz came from people who had never seen Su-Yung, as her gimmick is to Su what Abyss was to Mankind (not that Su is a great worker at all but she does the creepy zombi shit like no one else ever). And they she went and had a bad match with Shida, and that takes Crusher Maedomari's level of suck to do that (yeah, that's a dated reference, I'm 45).

Leva Bates is apparently doing a lot of backstage work though, so her being a JTTS is no issue at all. Is Mel still around, really ?

Shawn Micheals & Razor Ramon went longer than they should at WM X too, and apparently Savage was pissed at them for being unprofessional and therefore having the 10 men match scrapped. I mean... yeah, I really wanted to see that random ten men tag match with IRS & Tatanka (and whoever, don't remember, the HeadShrinkers and the Smoking Gunns probably)...

I did not get that. I just googled him. Ok, now I know why this guy looked kinda familiar. I have no idea why he's on my TV though. Him and Max Caster are huge WTF, they reek of guys who belong in WWE in 2011. AEW should try to do a G1 of sorts. That would be a first in US wrestling. TNA kinda tried in 2011 under Vince Russo, resulting in the Bound for Glory Series, the ultimate dumbest tournament you could imagine, with guys getting points in tag matches, multi-men matches, meeting the same opponents several times, no brackets or blocks or whatever of course. Like, the most Russo thing ever.

I wasn't feeling the Finlay push to the semi-finals, although Ospreay really had a terrific match with him. The final was awesome. If there's something NJPW can bring with regularity despite the booking issues lately, it's great pro-wrestling matches. Speaking of booking issue, the post-match was completely stupid. Yes, and yes. It's funny because for a long time, Gedo had been praised by some because of his love for old-school territory US pro-wrestling. The issue is, he's bringing more and more US bad bullshit to NJPW instead of focusing on building great arcs with Japanese characters (like he did with Okada, Tanahashi and Naito, although you can argue he fucked it up with the later). The never-ending repetitive bullshit in EVIL matches, super dated gimmicks like Great-O-Khan and now yeah, a really dumb mid 00's WWE-like spot in front of a totally unreactive crowd (I will take a wild guess and say they would have not reacted anyway, they looked nonplussed). If that's his idea of growing NJPW has a global brand, especially in the US, well, tone-deaf indeed, in more ways than one. Gedo can still book a mean G1 (although the perspective of having both EVIL & Great O-Khan this year is really scary and pretty much kills the mere idea of it being as great as the last few years, including last year which only had one great Block, really), but to me the last year and a half shows he's going way into the wrong direction. Inspire yourself more from Choshu & Baba already and less from Dusty & Vince.

Yeah, I always was under the impression that people worked themselves up about references to Mid-South (which also has been way romanticized as a promotion). Anyone even only semi-familiar (as I was) with the Elite in Japan and ROH should have known better. Hey, you still got JR. That's very Bill Watts.

Damn. Now that's a name I haven't heard for about 20 years. I was like the biggest advocate and fan of Miss Naomi Kato back in the days. Gotta dig up those old tapes and a VCR !

Agreed. You need guys like them, a solid team that are over to work the mid-card feuds efficiently and put over the bigger stars. And like I said, Trent (Beretta) absolutely can go places as a single guy.

However it should be pointed out as racist, homophobic, sexist and such in public forums, because it was. People rave about Piper's stuff all the time, but a lot of Piper"s stuff was way offensive period.

Funny, that's the first thing I thought about too. But no, it should not be edited. Because it's whitewashing. And where do you draw the line ? Why this and not Akeem then ? Are babyfaces forcing themselves on heel valets gonna be edited too ? Jerry Lawler's entire stint ? Trish Stratus barking ? Racist heel comments ? Homophobic promos during the first Goldust stint (Piper again BTW) ? Pro-wrestling has had a ugly history, like most of the entertainment industry. Pretending none of it happened while making money off the footage is very hypocritical, especially when it's done under the guise of being "unoffensive".

That Don Callis promo last week with Rich Swann was one for the ages. Unbelievably great stuff. That next PPV surely looks fun on paper with two interpromotional title matches, Omega vs Swann & Good Brothers vs FinJuice. I wonder what ROH are thinking... Yep, you've got yourselves outworked and outsourced by IMPACT, guys. Dixie won. Well, kinda.

Well, half-blackface...

I never said that. I said his promo made me think of a joke that I could make relating to the Christian discussion the other day but since it's kinda mean-spirited I won't make it. And no, it's not about what you said for once.