Matt D

I didn't actually watch the Jeff Gaylord match. I watched OMG vs Dibiase and Kozak vs Gino instead. Both were really good.

A man decided the winner in the big Charlotte/Becky/Sasha Mania match too.

I'm going to watch a Jeff Gaylord match instead of the ppv. That's a sign of just how little investment I have in 2017 WWE.

I'd be curious what you thought of Bate vs Gallagher from NXT TV.

I didn't realize there was a Mr. Madness match on there too. That is so great.

I'm actually stupidly excited for a new Demolition vs Colossal Connection match. I love the MSG one.

Candi Devine/Norvell Austin vs Adrian Street/Miss Linda might actually be my favorite match I've seen so far in watching Continental. Not the best, but my favorite.

Gordon Solie: "This Miss Linda is like Charles Bronson in Tough Times. She's a ringer."

Yeah, OK. I think it is time to call for a Special Counsel.

We were watching something on a random channel (I think it was the terrible Wil Wheaton plays tabletop games with celebrity nerds show, because we couldn't believe this was a thing that actually exists and couldn't look away), and there was a NJPW commercial on AXS. My wife, who knows nothing of wrestling other than vague ideas of WWE and how much she despises it, and some vague sense that I watch it and talk about how much wrestlers draw as a flawed metric of something or other asked about how what the hell it was and why there was a WWE in Japan. I explained it that it was based off of the sumo traditional and the desire to assimilate to US Customs during the occupation, like how they love baseball, and that it's generally annoying because it picks up so many of the worst traits of fighting spirit like in anime. Then we moved on. That just made me think of that.

Current favorite wrestler to watch: Probably Ted Dibiase, circa 1986. Don't tell Parv Last fun match you saw: Duggan, Dibiase, Williams vs Murdoch, Masked Superstar, Sawyer Wrestler you want to see more of: Heel Robert Fuller, circa 1985. Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): Still last year's NXT show. Match you're most looking forward to watching: One of these days we're going to get that Barbed Wire Steel Cage match between the Fantastics and the Sheepherders from the night of the UWF title tournament. That's more realistic as a wish than Bock vs Wrestling II or what not. Let's go with that. Last fun interview/promo you saw: Tommy Rich and Johnny Rich introducing the chicken suits was gold. Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: Probably that Bix article on Frank Deford Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: I actually thought Johnny and Pete killed it on their last Space City podcast (the one with said six man above). I also really enjoyed Tim on Mark Coale's podcast talking about his trip to Japan. Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: 85 Continental is sure fun to watch. Favorite recent post on this board: The back and forth in the grumpy "I feel out of touch" thread has been pretty good. Favorite thing about the wrestling landscape in the past three months (if you live in the past, then go with your past three months of time-traveling): Look, we get new, unearthed matches every weekend from NWAonDemand right now. Best thing in years. It really is. The micros in CMLL are pretty fun too though. I'm glad that is a thing.

We're in a world where Rotten Tomatoes scores drive movie advertising and can kill domestic box office. Critics matter and given the decentralized and ultimately amateur (which isn't necessarily an insult, just a fact) nature of wrestling criticism, he's a monolithic force.

100% with you on how frustrating it is to be considered a troll if you don't think Okada is having the greatest year in wrestling history, makes me value this place even more. It just doesn't work for me. I have no reason to dislike NJPW, company with great history that has given me plenty of entertainment and I love seeing the crowds they're drawing, and they give me tons of content for $10 a month. But after watching the NJPW PPV I had this strange appreciation for the Ambrose-Drifter match on Raw. The Drifter actually got heat and "you suck" chants, when he had Ambrose in a chinlock the crowd rallied behind Ambrose, they didn't do a ton of moves, it was simple, it didn't overstay its welcome. I don't know when I turned into this old man. I loved 90s puro, I consider Misawa's guys vs Jumbo's guys to be the best feud ever. Would disagree on wrestling being more irrelevant than ever. The fact that Mania drew 90k last year and Mania 11 was in the Hartford Civic Center says it all to me, that was a rough time. Hogan-Flair in a career match couldn't sell out an arena back then while WWE sells out major arenas regularly now. Oh man, let me just invalidate my previous statement. I went to a NXT house show last year with No Way Jose vs the Drifter. He was just back from injury. This might have been his first tour back. Huge heat and a big portion of the middle of the match was him working a chinlock (really working it), Jose getting hope spots out, and a hairpull cutting them off to huge heat. The crowd was into it. Both guys were working it. These two guys were ideally suited for this sort of a layout because of Jose's charisma and how reviled Samson was. I was digging it and absolutely loving how the crowd (which was hot for everything all night) was 100% into it. The guy behind me starts getting vocally frustrated at all the "rest holds." I can't really even begin to state how thoroughly I appreciate you people.

Isn't the trick just not to talk about wrestling on twitter?

I made it to the Round Robin (Soto, Welch, Fuller) episode. Soto really did have a beautiful dropkick. I loved Fuller on the outside watching the match and reacting to everything and then how he was ridiculously over the top selling his exhaustion after the match.

It really is a great match and people should check it out.

Williams/Dibiase/Duggan vs Murdoch/Superstar/Buzz: This was a ton of fun in a big WWE Dark Match Six-Man with Main Eventers sort of way, the kind where everyone stooges a bit and hits all their finishers and sends the crowd home happy. Of course, the big draw here was the Murdoch stuff at the beginning with the handshake, playing on the Duggan vs Dibiase rivalry. I don't think any other wrestler in history could have done it quite like he did here. I swear, if this is the sort of BS that the Observer complained about in calling him lazy, it pretty much proves every complaint I ever had against the whole idea of workrate dogmatism. There was so much character and story and meaning behind all of this. The fans knew what was going on. They reacted to everything. They hungered for it. They accomplished more by teasing it and paying it off (in a way that made Duggan look great and Murdoch look like a stooge) than they would have with twenty spots. Glorious stuff. Sting vs Gaylord: This wasn't dreadful or anything. Gilbert carried a lot of the load on the outside. They kept it very basic. It got sloppy in the stretch but it was, in general, a testament to how far Sting had come (and how far he had yet to go) as well as the power of just basic pro wrestling. It'd be interesting to see their match from 9 months before and the change. I don't think I'd rather get that one than something else, however. Taylor vs Roberts > Watts, Chavo, Taylor vs Freebirds was just great pro wrestling. Taylor vs Roberts isn't going to win any awards (there's just something so rote about babyface Taylor to me), but it was heated and it led to a great bit of Freebirds stooging as they kept trying to take the win. I loved the camaraderie with Watts and the babyfaces. The heat on Taylor made a lot of sense because he was just in a match and then it all broke down effectively. It was like the world's best possible proto-ECW.

The song of my people: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/04/mlj-sombra-spotlight-27-la-sombra-vs.html http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2015/08/mlj-volador-2015-something-something-8.html http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/05/mlj-volador-jr-vs-mascara-dorada-liga.html

Did anything interest get posted?

I caught Daniels/Lee on the Saturday Night episode. I think it was worked earlier on to play into the parody theme with the over the top stalling, etc. and because of that, it's remarkable that they shifted gears just enough (while not REALLY leaving the theme until the very end) to really get Daniels over as a commodity. At the end of the day, that's going to be the most important thing. As with most Lee matches I've seen, there were a lot of smart call backs and bits of foreshadowing all based around his usual moves and inclinations, which is all appreciated. There were two clear bits of heat and I thought the transition out of the first was hugely unique (I've never seen an Octopus as a transition spot and it worked really well). Likewise, the transition to comeback in the second, being Lee basically hulking up worked really well, fit the match and the theme, and frankly, the promotion. Lots of really good stuff. The last five minutes were downright horrific though. I mean that in a literal sense. It was the pro wrestling equivalent of a Tales from the Crypt story. There was a moment where everything changed. I could feel it coming too. After Lee got cut off after his second comeback, there was one lone woman in the crowd clapping to trying to get him going again (and he's very good at playing into that in a way most babyfaces in 2017 aren't), but no one else was clapping along at a point of the match where it should have been the most organic thing and should have really carried him up into a last comeback and the finish, whatever reversal driven thing it might be. Instead, they went right into this ridiculous strike exchange, the sort where one strike builds the momentum to flip the wrestler around so he can hit his spin kick or whatever, and that knocks a guy against the rope so he can hit his big boot and no one sells any of it for a minute or so. And then, as they brought this twisted bit of ridiculous Japan-inspired rigmarole into a perfectly enjoyable southern-style indy, the crowd, as if stricken by a profane curse started chanting "This is Awesome!" It was a fucking "Indian, surrounded by trash, cries a tear" moment. They spent another four minutes or so trading bombs until the match ended with a belabored STF set up.

I came out of the two matches (and everything else we've seen) wondering in the Fantastics aren't the best team of 86, which is saying a ton.

Part of me wonders just where that new Sheepherders/Fantastics New Zealand Boot Camp match would have landed on the DVDVR 80s set. I could see top 15 (which says as much about the voters as the match).

The one missing from the list is "Heel insults babyface's honor/family/injures family member/friend. Babyface gets revenge." Whether it's Macho and Flair with Liz or the Nightmares injuring Johnny Rich so Tommy comes in to get revenge or what or Sullivan and Dusty's "Sister."

I'm happier with the guy as a Pariah.

Last week's BtS was on 99, and Nash's booking and it's rough. Bischoff's out of touch. This is when they put forward the 10 guys who are real stars (Hogan, Sting, Hall, Nash, DDP, Savage, Flair, Piper, Goldberg, Luger). Nash is pushing Savage down everyone's throat and making all the babyfaces look bad because he's his opponent. The January NBC deal died. With Owen's death, the Bret vs Nash tonight show bit is done and over with. Rey's been unmasked. I know people liked the few weeks of Sullivan (or whoever) booking but I don't see a great way out, looking at it. Who do you even make a star? I know at the time we saw Benoit as the great smark hope but I don't know. Konnan had a ceiling. Booker T was injury prone but at least somewhat viable. Steiner had his own issues, but sure. Rey was already unmasked. I don't think anyone other than a total madman like Russo could have escaped the Hogan/Nash black hole. And he only managed it by blowing everything up to the point of it being unviable. People at Turner resented WCW. Three Hour nitros weren't going away. The merger was coming. Maybe there would have been a more viable alternative at some point?