Matt D

I think, in general, there are times to get heat and to ramp up the heat, and then there are times to give the babyface a win, and figuring out when to do one and when to do the other is pretty much the most important aspect of wrestling booking and something that WWE gets right about once every ten years.

Evolution is finding increasing amounts of appreciation of less extreme things. We solved the mystery.

I think Lady (Mad) Maxine, not any Armstrong might be the most over person in the history of Alabama. That crowd came unglued when she finally showed up (which really has more to say about Street/Linda than anything else). Also fun in that episode was, in the transition from the Bullet/Flame feud to Bullet/Mr. Olympia, Bob messing up and going "My other son.. uh, Bob Armstrong's other son." when commentating over the footage.

Is it watchable? I've never actually seen that, I don't think.

1.) Ken Timbs is not nearly as good as Buddy Rose because he overthrows himself into all of his bumps; Buddy always seemed far more natural (while being hugely over the top). 2.) This stuff is almost TOO good. I really wanted something as background for when I'm working. Memphis TV works really well for that, which is why I was watching 89. But almost every show has matches I want to pay a lot of attention to.

I'm sorry everyone: 32 Second Mark: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/wrestling-match-between-jack-bence-and-nick-kozak-turns-news-footage/594658907 I was just looking for Nick Kozak footage. I swear. (The finish of that match looks awesome by the way) This is something else, but it's got such a cool finish too: http://media.gettyimages.com/videos/wrestling-days-are-here-again-two-wrestlers-in-the-rings-one-man-pins-video-id594666469

I wonder if there really were more good finishes ten years ago?

Really, I'd be happy with just about any of these. I've been enjoying the UWF stuff a lot but my heart's in the earlier footage.

Gino vs Kozak was a hell of a lot of fun. It's really striking how Gino switched up his wrestling given the match. Again, this is stuff I wouldn't expect someone five years older than him to necessarily do. He was blinded a few times in the match due to shots he took (which makes sense given how the mask might shift on his face) and throwing these giant missed haymakers. A different sort of stooging considering he didn't have access to his facial features. The guy with the mask in the crowd was a blast. Kozak is one featured match away from really jumping out of the pack. I don't think we're going to get it from looking at the 78-on results thought. He's got a match vs Thornton and one vs Tiger. He's got a couple of mid-card featured tags that might get time. There's just a way that he dives into his spots with an alacrity you just don't expect from the guy that makes me think he really was something in his day. If we do get footage back in to 76, maybe we'll get that match. I loved OMG vs Dibiase too. It's a shame we never did get that Glove vs Chain moment they teased early on. Tough but vulnerable babyface ace scrapper Dibiase is the best Dibiase no matter what anyone says. I thought the use of blood was really smart here. Gang wasn't really in danger until Dibiase got the knuckle dusters and opened him up (though his belabored blade job was pretty bad). Slightly earlier was a moment that really makes UWF and WWF stand out. Gang was in control, had Dibiase bleeding. They were heading on towards the comeback. They just needed to take the crowd down and up one last time. Gang sits on him and it looks like he's going for the ol' classic WWF chinlock (which is fine; I can't say that enough. It's fine when used well and worked hard). Instead, he course corrects and goes after the wound nastily. They build Dibiase back by having him rail against that instead. It's a great sign that there's not just one way to build a match and also in the stylistic differences between promotions. They could have gotten away with the chinlock comeback there, but this was a no dq match and attacking the wound and Dibiase responding to the sight of his own blood worked so much better in context. Looking forward to the promos.

Judging by the thread, I deserve it? Apparently it's not easy to leave an abusive relationship?

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.