El-P

That's the first thing I thought about to be honest. Which is kinda sad, really. And really, what is the reason for Lana to kiss Ziggler out of the blue ? Well. None. Well, yes. We need two blonde good looking babyfaces together. Are there actual *writers* behind this, or is it just Vince pulling his strings ?

Business is about to pick up. Litteraly. Bret's promo is excellent and you can really see the first steps of his new bitter character showing up there. And then the match, which is a terrific brawling style, with vader looking like Vader because Austin isn't afraid of taking it and giving it back and looking awesome in the process. Then there's the angle, in which Bret kinda looks like a dick, and it's great. Vader vs Austin was a great pairing, it's too bad they never got to work on top of the card together, it would have been an amazing feud. The WWF main event scene is seriously getting hotter at this time.

Okay, so I watched the two matches I wanted to watch. Loved the tag team title match. Really good stuff. Much better than the NJ clusterfucks. I really didn't mind the finish, it was all about the oldest heel trick ever, so why not. Terrific chemistry. Funny how the New Day went from being one of the worst act in the company to actual very good heels. Cena vs Rusev was garbage. First off, the "Do you wanna quit ?" question after every fucking spot makes it annoying as hell and kills the pace of the match. Second, I stupidly assumed it would be about trying to make your opponent submit and not have a mic stuck in the face of your opponent every thirty seconds (I guess I'm at fault for not being up to date with he way gimmick matches are worked in modern WWE). So yeah, garbage over-gimmicky and choregraphed Attitude era match with a ridiculous explosion spot and an awful finish reminiscent of that godawful Mankind vs Rock match in 99. Rusev loses again, and Lana is turning into "Baywatch Babe" soon enough. Ugh.

Not a remarkable interview by any means.

Well, at least that's two match I can watch, although I fear Rusev vs Cena could be infuriating (but nowhere as bad as the chain match though).

That's what is striking here. After losing the belt, the smiling babyface kinda gets passive agressive and talks about having lost his edge in the process and whatnot. Shawn sure wasn't likeable at all here, you could almost swear he would turn back heel actually if not for Jose talking about his heart condition earlier on.

Kitao has pretty much been a disgrace everywhere, including sumo.

Somewhere in the second half of the 80's to me. Fujiwara was past his peak in UWF 2 already (although still excellent at that point). Best opponent would probably be Maeda.

Good debut for Jack Evans, although I question the sanity of doing a 360 from the crowd to the floor in your first match, although I like the fact Aerostar sold it like for a long time even after escaping teh next spot from Evans. Finish looked insane and sold as such, so happy with that. The Seven way cluster was exactly that, but fun for what it was. The right guy won too, and I look forward to the comeback of Mil Muertes (damn, that vignette). The final match was more of an angle, but was pretty terrific. And again, sold as death, so yeah, good stuff. Maybe I'll enjot Mundo as a heel more, although I doubt he'll change his in-ring style much if at all (not familiar with his WWE work). I really hope they won't disapoint the day they unveil Cueto's "brother".

Brodus Clay ? The Young Bucks ? Ok, my interest dropped off a cliff already. Really, Jeff Jarrett should beat AJ Styles in the main event of the first card to crown the first GWF World champion after six Bullet Club run-in and Karen stripping to her G-string. Ok, maybe that's harsh, but still...

The Maria match was pretty much all about her and Anderson, and since Anderson was really funny it worked like a charm. If that camera came closer to Maria's ass, it would have been a coloscopia. The two tag matches were really solid. Yano vs Tanahashi was sloppy as hell at the end though, and I still don't get Yano's gimmick at all. Yujiro didn't do much for me, but his partner vs YOSHI-HASHI and Okada was terrific at times. The main event was great. So yeah, Nakamura is still the best worker to me this year.

Frankly, what did anyone expect ? Old wrestling footage only interests a microniche of a microniche of geeks like us. (the fact that the Springer stuff, whatever it is, is popular is also pretty telling. And sad. The WWE Univ... audience deserves the WWE product they get.)

Watched the first half of the show thus far. The Young Bucks are officialy the most annoying act going today. Followed closely by Kenny Omega doing a DDP circa 95 tribute while he's trying to channel Brian Pillman. I dunno, all those matches with a gazillions death moves that don't even get a nearfall just lose me really quick. Yeah, it looks cool sometimes, it look akward and stupid at times too, but you don't even have time to register what is happening. And doing a million superkicks during a match really makes the move look like shit too. Omega is so ridiculously overracting and overbumping that whatever good he does is kinda negated by his way of working. So yeah, I kinda hate all the Jr. champions in NJ right now, with the Bucks having go-away heat with me. The opener and the young lions match were cool though. And Homna winning is always fun to watch.

Hilarious !

That would be a riot, honestly.

He said that several times actually, including on his WCW Timeline 1996. This is a weekly (?) podcast where he comments on each episode of Nitros and PPVs in order.

His tribute to Terry Funk working in Big Japan in 99 or so against Abby was kinda sad/fun to watch, depending on your point of view. Whatever happened to him anyway ? TAKA has been everywhere, Togo kept on being awesome in the indies apparently, Funaki made easy money in the States, but I have no idea what Teioh's did in the 00's.

Not the best audio quality with Sullivan sounding like he's on the phone, but it can get really fascinating to hear stories about how Nitros were put together, especially all the political stuff involving Hogan. The story of why Hogan put Arn Anderson over was pretty interesting. Kevin says it was all Jim Barnett's idea BTW.

I nominate the Devil, Kevin Sullivan.

Seasons are the future of pro-wrestling anyway.

That's a terrific point. And it also explains why the modern WWE style looks so manufactured and non-organic.

I used to really like fat athletic Gedo (I always enjoy fat athletic guys). Not much of a fan of the Complete Players era Gedo (really, Kaori was my favourite member), and I really haven't seen anything post FMW. I wonder how his match with Tajiri in the final of the Junior tournament in Big Japan in 98 holds up.

The London one ? If so, yeah, it's a riot. I have a hard time not thinking about Raymond first and foremost as the official french speaking announcer for WWF TV in the 90's.

Pretty much. I loved Kanemura too. Oddly I never took the dive into WING, but I'm convinced he peaked in FMW around 97/98 anyway. Always a lot of fun to watch, although he could get on autopilot once he got really banged up. Got #Speakingouted years before the fact too

: Jado