Matt D

This seems relatively benign, to be honest. If we went back and rewatched the match and what he's describing didn't happen, or if he's overstressing the crowd's reaction, that'd be different. If anything, it almost helps Dave, because he's gone from the guy who "knows nothing because he's never been in a ring" to a guy who served in a director's/screenwriter consultant role on a PPV match. On the other hand, his creditably is shot as a journalist. Now people will say that it is absurd to be a journalist in wrestling but he's making a living off of it. We already knew he had friends in the business over the years, that they were often his sources, that he arguably gave them better coverage, and that he even fielded consultation calls for Vince at one point or another. I said relatively and I mean it. The bar wasn't super high. I don't think this lowers it in the least.

This seems relatively benign, to be honest. If we went back and rewatched the match and what he's describing didn't happen, or if he's overstressing the crowd's reaction, that'd be different. If anything, it almost helps Dave, because he's gone from the guy who "knows nothing because he's never been in a ring" to a guy who served in a director's/screenwriter consultant role on a PPV match.

Moments in time: 75% of the AWA except for Brusier Brody by the WON in 1984/5. (High Flyers by everyone but us, always) Mocho Cota by WON (1993, DEAN 1998) Akira Taue (By everyone but like ten of us, always) Demolition Ax and Earthquake by the Scott Keiths of the world Jose Lothario through no fault of anyone. Most ignorant/ill-informed/shortsighted performance-based opinions in pro wrestling could potentially be more interesting, but it probably wouldn't be all that interesting either.

Not CMLL.

Someone point me to a few free WALTER matches online. I havent seen anything of him at all.

This is a great point and surely, the more savvy board members of WWE will be resistant to it? I know for a fact that a Mr. Levesque will see a massive opportunity stemming from this, if everything pans out how people are expecting. Theres probably money in it though.

I'm implying this is welcomed by the POTUS. I'm even being slightly paranoid about it since it's that sort of week.

You have to wonder if hes got support from the top on this.

This is the real issue. It isn't players protesting or anything like that. CTE and everything we know about concussions and all of the players we've watched kill themselves over the past 17 years is the cause of the NFL's declining ratings. Also. The fact that football is actually secretly boring as fuck doesn't help. Basketball is right there. Go watch that. Or the DVDVR 80s Puerto Rico set. You'll be way happier. You're giving people a lot of credit (or maybe "lot" isn't the right word. How about "too much.")

I can just imagine the tweets.

Yeah, the real problem with that shoot is that it showed Flair knew bupkis about Pro Wrestling.

I'm all for Brock vs Kane. In a world without a Suplex City...

Mooney talked about that on his podcast about Monsoon and Heenan.

Should people make an argument for Arn as an agent?

High school gyms and local armories?

Loss is obviously a huge Hart Foundation fan. Maybe we should reopen that old thread.

I liked this a lot. These two are uniquely matched against each other as both like to take a bunch of the match if you don't stop them. Sometimes (like when Mil and Brody interact) that goes poorly. With these two, it worked and felt like a real struggle. At points they really went at it too. The Backlund high knee, piledriver, and headbutt were some of the best things I've EVER seen out of him. I absolutely loved that Hansen got a revenge high knee later on. (I saw this clipped, btw, and what I saw started with the armbar which made for a slighter match but a better one. That's a weird argument for editing I guess?). Every missed Hansen lariat was just massive and I liked some of the outside stuff towards the end plenty. It's worth a watch.

I'd argue that you can't just jump into Blue Panther without some legwork to prepare you though. I'd argue the opposite. For the most part, you can watch Blue Panther's big matches and just from those get a sense of who he was, what he did well, and what the match was about. Maybe he changed as he got older but in his thirties Panther didn't surround his singles matches with the kind of buildup and followup that make for great feuds and add to the one on one match. I think it works for the Barr match and for some of the fun stuff that's popped up in Japan where Panther's working more broadly as a stereotypical rudo, but in general, you understand what makes Blue Panther so special, you need to understand lucha (trios organization and how he's so good at directing traffic, how title matches operate and why, the role he played when teaming with guys like Fuerza, what makes maestros matches special, etc.). Otherwise, he's just a guy who can get in and out of matwork quickly. I assume Bryan sees more in him than that but who knows? Technical matches are not something unique to Mexico. Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit was wrestled with the same sort of principles as those of a Blue Panther title match, even though the styles were different. Anyone watching Blue Panther vs Atlantis is going to quickly understand what is going on, although some might wonder why Panther does not just kick Atlantis in the leg over and over. The Love Machine matches are the ones where I think you'd MOST want to watch the six mans that surround the famous matches, but then if someone asks for a best of Blue Panther recommendation I'm probably not going to suggest watching him against Love Machine. Have you seen Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit lately? I'm not sure that's the best example. You don't usually see multiple German suplexes in a Blue Panther match. I get what you're saying though and no, it's not completely alien. I'd put it this way and you're free to disagree. What makes Blue Panther so good is clearly evident in his matches. What makes him so great, however, requires an understanding of the nuance. Could you say the same thing about a Jerry Lawler (for example)? Maybe? As for Panther vs Love Machine, there's understanding the story and understanding the style and those are two different things.

I'd argue that you can't just jump into Blue Panther without some legwork to prepare you though. I'd argue the opposite. For the most part, you can watch Blue Panther's big matches and just from those get a sense of who he was, what he did well, and what the match was about. Maybe he changed as he got older but in his thirties Panther didn't surround his singles matches with the kind of buildup and followup that make for great feuds and add to the one on one match. I think it works for the Barr match and for some of the fun stuff that's popped up in Japan where Panther's working more broadly as a stereotypical rudo, but in general, you understand what makes Blue Panther so special, you need to understand lucha (trios organization and how he's so good at directing traffic, how title matches operate and why, the role he played when teaming with guys like Fuerza, what makes maestros matches special, etc.). Otherwise, he's just a guy who can get in and out of matwork quickly. I assume Bryan sees more in him than that but who knows?

I havent been to one since 2004 probably! Thats sad though.