Matt D

I applaud and appreciate that you so badly want it to be good and torch bearing and stigma changing and it's a step on the road, sure, but if you think they're all the way there yet, I fear you have disappointment ahead of you.

Not unless you want to win, sure.

I do wonder if the whole reason Vince created a Womans 30 Rumble just so Stephanie can win the thing. There is 0% chance she is in the Rumble, let alone winning it. Why would you wonder that at all?

Jetlag gave me Masanobu Fuchi © vs. Shinichi Nakano (AJPW 4/16/1989) http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/40991-masanobu-fuchi-vs-shinichi-nakano-ajpw-4161989/ It was well out of my normal watching habits and I got a kick out of Fuchi's attention to detail and control of the match (and Nakano's poor limbs). I'll definitely go out of my way to see more Fuchi Jr. Heavyweight title matches this year. Thanks.

I've seen a bit of Fuchi in Memphis and some of his work in the mix of larger tag matches into the 90s, but I hadn't seen anything of his Junior stuff before this. According to Jetlag, Nakano was a Fujinami trained outsider that tanked his career by leaving with Tenryu in 90. This was one of many shifts of the title in 89. In the first seven months, it changed hands seven times, which seems wonky for me for an AJPW title but the tag belts changed hands five times in 89 so it's not that strange, I guess. This was absolutely a Fuchi showcase, but one that helped to elevate Nakano as well (it better have, since he was winning it), solely through the fact that he survived, didn't give up, and found strength in his desperation. Unfortunately, they put the belt on Momota four days later, but what are you going to do? It actually leads me to wonder if it was the intent or not. Fuchi had such control here. Some of that played out obviously in the narrative. There was early matwork with Fuchi manipulating Nakano however he wanted. At one point ,Nakano locked in a deep headlock (which is really the most basic move in the world, potentially gutsy, but basic), and Fuchi didn't just shrug him off, but was able to get a leg, shift it this way or that, and then toss him against the ropes. Even this was more to foreshadow and set up when he used the leg to escape a move later. The illusion of believing that a wrestler is one or two moves ahead is hard. That's why we don't see it more even though it's not a massive intellectual leap when you think about storytelling, but Fuchi had me absolutely believing it. He shifted an escape attempt into another hold, floating over, snatching up a limb, jockeying, very often making a pointed and deliberate attempt to show the crowd he was doing something (like using his foot to break hands apart so he could lock in a hold) and making futile Nakano's every action. Mastery is really the only word for it. Nakano tried to get the first strikes in since he wasn't getting anywhere matching holds (and this is after Fuchi had given him a supportive clap on the shoulder after a rope break too). All it did was make Fuchi grind down a bit more the second he got a limb back though. Here he was making sure to press his knee in for leverage, or just cut into Nakano's personal space as he had a hold on. Again, mastery, little things you don't often see. Whenever Nakano got in a shot or a hold, it was obviously through desperation. Both wrestlers locked in double wristlocks in the match, but Fuchi's was so deliberate and Nakano's was far more grasping, straining. Fuchi wouldn't just allow himself to get whipped. Everything Nakano did ended up looking earned, often by the skin of his teeth, which, I think, helped the fans get behind him all the more when he kept fighting. Occasionally his athleticism would win through and he'd be able to hit a suplex or even a small flurry, but Fuchi had so many visceral and believable ways to cut him off, whether it was taking a limb or reversing a whip, or just having him walk directly into a straight punch to the face. Towards the end, he was bullying Nakano more and more, including just bum's rushing him right out of the ring. It meant that when the finish did hit, with Nakano desperately leaping across the ring with a shot to the back of the head to prevent a probably overconfident Fuchi from escaping a waistlock and hitting a hail mary German, the crowd popped hard with appreciation. It's a shame that he went and lost the belt four days later. Ah well. Now I need to go out of my way to see a lot more of these Fuchi title matches.

Guys, it's nice you think the women's rumble is that important to them, but it's not. It's hugely telling that neither Alexa or Charlotte are on the card, either defending their belts or at least in a special novelty match (I'd say with a stake but they never realize how important stakes are) against each other. They aren't even announcing. That's Steph. It's just a little bit of exploitation to go on first to start the show. Steph gets the credit/attention. This isn't some massive trailblazing thing or even a trend. It sure as heck isn't main eventing the show.

Ill take stock of where we are people-wise next week and try to include everyone.

I believe it was Bryan vs Sheamus. The fact they were trying to push the Yes chants on to Big Show is telling. I have pretty much zero doubt.

Recency rules?

Watch them rehire Swoggle

Hes their only actual draw?

I do think some things were at least competent for a lapsed audience. The women got a ton of time, which would feel new. The Jordan/Rollins story worked fine. Balor Club did get a rub. Elias got more than a rub. There was a title change which will give Miz some momentum going into the next few months. If they don't know Braun, then after last night they do. But for people following it, it was definitely a snoozer.

Week 4! You guys know the drill. Even if you're behind, make sure to give a match for your partner. I tried to make sure no one had someone they had before but this might be the last week of me doing that. Chad's had to drop out for now at least. Tim Cooke is his mystery replacement. CapitalTTruth Beast Jmare007 Richeyedwards Laz Tim Cooke dawho5 PeteF3 Jetlag Matt D SirEdgar Nintendo Logic dkookypunk43 WingedEagle topropepodcast C.S. Wahoo's Leg concrete1992 Tim Evans Grimmas Migs AstroBoy SPS Matt Franklin southofheavy Rah Jetlag, I think I'm going to PM you with a few options later on today. You've seen so much stuff and are such a specialist in some ways that I might come up with things you've seen otherwise.

I work myself into a shoot every milestone thinking OKAY THIS IS THE YEAR WWE CREATES AN ACTUAL MEMORABLE SHOW...of course I am then let down. Egg and pie on my face. Wait til Mania.

I just checked and Vince giving himself the award for the success of Wrestlemania I at MSG is not online anymore. What a tragedy.

And it starts with Shane and Steph. That's as Raw as you get pretty much. You just need Hunter in there too.

So it looks like there's a Randy Savage: Unreleased coming out at the end of May. They went to that well a bunch of times for this release. Curious what'll be on there.

If they're putting a heel over (especially a midcard one like Corbin or someone), I could see him in the Santino role vs ADR. It's not like any of that actually worked though.

Matt Franklin had me watch Tully vs Kernodle. Very fun match. Great crowd. Great Tully performance as a vulnerable heel (TV) champ. The match is a solid example on how two wrestlers can be so committed to one theme that it works even though it's really just one theme. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32150-nwa-world-tv-champion-tully-blanchard-vs-don-kernodle-www-51185/

Vulnerable heel TV title defenses are one of those staples that I really identify with JCP/WCW. I grew up watching Steve Austin as TV champ barely survive defense after defense against a wide array of opponents. While some of them might have been more dynamic than 1985 Don Kernodle, 1985 Blanchard outpaces 1991 Austin in a huge way and was one of the very best ever as a stooging heel champ. What I loved about this match the most was its purity. It told a singular story and kept pushing it and pushing it and pushing it. Kernodle had Tully's number: he was a better wrestler, he was tougher, he was more resilient, he was more persistent. Tully was tougher than he looked, was underhanded, was incorrigible, was canny and constantly looking for openings. In many matches, Tully will at least try to wrestle his opponent first. Here, they jockeyed for the first touch but Tully immediately gave up on that and went for fisticuffs. He held the advantage for a small moment before Kernodle caught him off the top rope and power slammed him. A good portion of the (consistently hot, as to be expected for 1985 JCP) crowd thought it was over there and then because of how impressive a spot that was for the time, but really, it was there to definitively set the tone. They started the match with an exclamation point and they kept charging forth with it over the next ten+ minutes. It's safe to say that this was a sprint, but it was one with resonance and meaning. So much of that was on Tully's (and to a lesser degree Baby Doll's) reactions. He bumped. He stooged. He sold. He begged off. He was constantly trying to crawl out of the ring, or grab hold of the apron. He staggered about, even when he started to get a little offense (due to an eye rake or a cheap shot to the stomach or using Baby Doll as a distraction) and often times, he couldn't hold on to control of the match because of it. Meanwhile, Kernodle beat him around the ring utilizing just about every move there was to utilize in 1985. He's a more than competent bullying babyface, one that the local crowd has a big connection to. I do think it's their hatred of Tully (and the fact he's constantly on) that drives the reactions, but Don more than does his part. It's the little things too. At one point he's stepping on Tully's face and he makes sure to pump his arm in victory to portray his excitement; he's excited and therefore the crowd's excited too. The nature of a match with this much vulnerability is that the cut-offs are the babyface cutting off the heel's feeble and duplicitous attempts to get back on top. In the grand scheme of things, it's a limited formula, one that puts a ceiling on the match in comparison to matches that tell a more intricate story, but it plays 100% to the purpose of what they were doing. The TV title had just been elevated to a World TV title. Tully had just stolen it (figuratively more than literally). This is exactly the match they needed here. There are things I'd be frustrated by in other matches, like Tully getting one of his best bursts of offense off of a missed elbow drop and not something more dynamic, but here it worked to shows just how opportunistic and desperate he was. It's not like he held it for long and it made his own missed elbow drop that followed resonate more. Make sure to look at how he utilizes Baby Doll. Tully was a stickler for not letting his manager upstage him for heat. She's there, at his instruction (as he directs traffic from the ring) or due to him distracting the ref (as opposed to her telling him to distract the ref like Heenan might do), to menace Kernodle on the outside. At the end, when she interferes, the heat isn't on her but on the barely-saved Tully who immediately assaults a grounded Kernodle. Post match makes Magnum look like a chump for the sake of Dusty (and for a moment Tully) but that's where they were going in the medium term and it's not like it hurt Magnum. This was about as good as a one-dimensional match could be. Excellent performance from Tully.

I wonder if they don't see him like a Santino or Mizdow right now.

Yeah, you're easy right now. I already know what WoS match I'd want to give you if I get you on the random draw.

Had I been able to put together a ballot, I might have considered giving Malenko some credit for 15 years of being a road agent. Probably not enough to crack my top 100 though. Full disclosure: my biggest regret in not being able to vote so far is that I would have pushed Judy Martin ahead of the Jumping Bomb Angels, because Judy Martin was better than the Jumping Bomb Angels in those matches.

Gene Anderson, post-stroke, is pretty hard to watch. I wasn't expecting it.