Matt D

This is exactly where I am too. Everything before the kimura (and JR getting pissy about calling it that). The arm came up a few times in the stretch. You can rationalize it's how he fipped out of the top rope Dragon Suplex, etc. There was one lariat blocked because of it, but then he just turns around and does it again. Given how vulnerable Seven was, they went too long in the stretch. That even goes without saying that they made poor JR say "Dragon Suplexes on the apron are debilitating," but I suppose that kind of worked as a late match equalizer to set up a finishing stretch. The stretch was just too extended. Frankly, if they wanted to keep Seven strong, playing into the injury more as why he lost was the way to go. Then they would have had a more viable challenger for Dunne in as there'd be the question of whether a healthy Seven could beat him. As it was, the injury sort of faded away towards the end and Dunne just ate all of Seven's stuff anyway, it made Seven seem ineffectual. Still, Dunne does so many things well for a 23 year old. I just wish that he realized that he's in an age of bad habits.

1.) I went through the Newsletters a few years ago and the steroid stuff week in and week out is so tedious looking back. I understand how important it was at the time and that the general health is important, but it's a slog. 2.) Papa Shango, more than anything else, was the reason I stopped watching heavily in 92. So add me to that list. I think I fall under the "it was just too gross for me." category. The Black Ooze and the Puking. I was fine with the fire and the voodoo injuries. I think Kris tried to get across the difference in that it wasn't necessarily a realism thing so much as an "not entertaining and embarrassingly unpleasant." thing.

What's most striking so far on Drew's return is how natural everything seems. He's doing this incredibly high impact stuff, just whipping guys around, smashing them all over, and it seems like the most natural thing in the world. I always appreciate when something doesn't come off as entirely rote. I can appreciate learned behavior and ritual as much as the next guy, but if you come in at a slightly odd angle and make something seem natural and believable, like it's a unique, one time only occurrence, it stands out. If you can do that and also have it look like a million bucks, all the better. For the most part, both guys had that here. Lorcan flying back into the ring early in the match and just unloading was one such moment, the slaps late in the match (that brought a smile to my face despite myself) was another. The way that Drew maneuvered around Lorcan getting a foot up in the ropes at the very end. The execution on the sit up out of the corner, the way he caught him on the dive and just flipped him over in the most matter of fact way. I didn't love the blockbuster, but other than that, I couldn't find a ton of fault in this for what it was.

Lothario stuff was very cool. I have no idea where he was between 81 and 83 but this was him presented as his first time back in the territory. He gave what was obviously a great promo in Spanish. For a guy who Gary Hart said some pretty choice things about, he certainly could portray himself as humble. The match was a really fun six or seven minutes. Gordman comes off as the world's second best Satanico. He was a guy who was a star in CA and he knows how to work like a star. He really made the King of the Mountain work by being super aggressive with it at two points in the match (including to start out). I loved that Lothario kicked out two tricked out armdrags that you never generally see him do. They worked it just a little more lucha with the push off and rope running, but at the end of the day, the story of the match was Lothario, his ability to seem like the center of the universe in the ring, and those punches. I also checked out Roberts vs Duggan and it was interesting for a few reasons. The first was Roberts' card placement. From our card listings, he was in briefly in 78, and after this match won't be in again until 85. I think he was a nationally established heel by this point, but Duggan was a near top card babyface. It was very much a Jake match, where he does a lot of small things very well but you wonder a bit about the big ones. I love the way he moves in this era, just very premeditated on when he'll lock up and how, stalking around the ring. I liked his selling in the moment but not necessarily long-term. Some of the over the top stooging, especially towards the end of the match, was a bit weird, but I guess that could be because of his opponent. Everything's a little over the top with Duggan, who had all of that manic babyface energy you'd want out of him in late 83. Honestly, my biggest takeaway on this is how much I want to see the 12/30/83 show. That's not me being an ingrate either because I'm glad we got this stuff. It's all about how strong a sell job Boesch does. That's the big post christmas show and probably one of the biggest houses of the year and even though they set records in 83, it had to hit big. He spends a lot of the time in these two matches building it up. Reed vs Lothario is a match that I've overlooked in card-gazing over the last year or two but it sounds awesome. Bracero vs Gordman could be a lot of fun. Mr. Wrestling II vs Bockwinkel's always come off as one of those things that we weren't REALLY going to get, you know? But hey, maybe, and Boesch builds it all up so well, including that at 1919 Caroline, they have ample parking (unlike the rest of the city), will treat you with courtesy, and will have great tickets. Fire up the time machine; I'm sold.

One upside to this is that he is a guy who someone like Sami Zayn (or man, even Tye, right?) could believably chase.

No one's ever been happier to see a Nikolai Volkoff vs JYD match.

Where's Ken the Box?

Watch some Nick Bockwinkel, you heathen.

I suppose it's ok to lose Slater when you start your next show with Flair standing there. Disappointing on the results, but I suppose we're just spoiled with what we have elsewhere. Thanks.

Are there results anywhere? I just saw the Slater turn and I want to see how the tournament after that went.

I think the most important thing is definitely Bret becoming the new Pat Patterson.

The Laugh-in speed cuts between promos (ending with the Austin/Nightmares/Ash/Welch/Brown stuff) on the 8/31 show was really novel. The Stud Stable promo about Fuller turning on Armstrong was great. They go on for five minutes about how much they love to watch the footage on their VCRs. "THAT IS EXCITING STUFF THERE!" This has definitely been the best episode of Continental yet. It's fun how much of a "World's Best Von Erichs" feel the Armstrongs have. Slater coming in as their friend feels just like how the Freebirds were introduced. I really like the Nightmares finish where one's pinning the guy and the other goes off the top with the diving headbutt across the ring. The one pinning the guy then sells the impact of the blow by making it seem like he got knocked a foot up into the air.

What we know (or think we know, mainly from Dave): 1.) The footage was not part of the initial terms of purchase of the NWA. 2.) With that in mind, they redesigned the site and were once again closing in on Roku. 3.) What's for sale wasn't necessarily the footage but the rights to use it(this isn't clear?). WWE tried to outright buy the footage last year but the price was way too low. 4.) Late in the game, potentially due to Corgan's desire to have something to show people to tell them that THIS IS THE NWA (like Race vs Funk), the right to use the footage became part of the deal. 5.) The money hasn't changed hands yet. Most of us are on either an extended subscription or a reoccurring one, so they really should notify us in one form or another. I think it could honestly go either way. They have to convert the reels anyway. If they're going to do that, this is an okay way to potentially get some money back while it's happening. It's also a way to build up some good will and maybe brand. I think it's too early to really say that the service is done and over with. Corgan's a guy who bought all that Chicago stuff (pictures/programs/etc.) with no ready way to make money off of it because he valued it. He could be someone who appreciates the history of all of this and wants to keep getting it out there. I still can't really overstate how unique and cool the footage is, years and years of full cards of Arena footage with high VQ and commentary from periods where we barely have any outside of MSG/Portland/garbage tapes, etc. It's all the more impressive when you get back into the 70s where we have even less. You learn so much about a region, wrestlers, in wrestling itself from watching week-to-week arena footage in from of the same crowd. We just don't know.

The fans coming unglued for Johnny Rich's return is the absolute definition of how you can basically get anything over if you push it as important for weeks on end. Basically putting over Tommy Rich over three guys is a hell of a way to get him all the more over too. I love the sort of Memphis way they keep the storytelling going. Rich wins a check, he then puts half of it up against Fuller.

Not really. There have always been "workrate" (before it turned into an ugly word in the mouth of our brand new crowd of retrohipsters) territories and promotions where doing as little as possible wasn't gonna fly. Hence the differences between Memphis, Mid-south, Mid-Atlantic, AWA, New York, 80's New Japan etc... Doing what is necessary, depending on the context and what you want to achieve. I'd say "as possible" can be flexible. You stick to the spirit of the thing.

What's sad is if Rip can't somehow make money off of this, even if it's through managing some old school sort of protege. Even Vader was able to manage that, and he can barely figure out how to use Twitter.

Part of it is that we've been around this circle so many times. It's a spectrum. One of my bugbears is reading 80s Observers and see Dave basically shitting on "the old tricks" for the sake of workrate. Another is my feeling that everything should have meaning and a third is the primacy of fiction over sport. A fourth would be efficiency. When you combine all the things I value in wrestling, you get a picture that is very different than what's prevalent now in a lot of places (but not all places or not all situations and far more with younger wrestlers, sure). I think the point of pro wrestling is to achieve as much as possible while doing as little as possible, endowing everything with meaning, purpose, and consequence, sustaining it over time, and creating compelling narratives that touch hearts in the process. That to me is the craft of it. It's the art of pro wrestling, of manipulating a crowd. It's a screenplay, directing, and acting over special effects and costumes. You can have a sci fi movie with special effects and costumes that still has a great screenplay, directing, and acting and more power to it. You can have something devoid of special effects that doesn't have a great screenplay, directing, or acting. But if you have a narrative that focuses so much on the special effects over the storytelling, then there are inherent problems with that. We've been around this circle so many times.

I wish we had more of him in ring. He's phenomenal here: I'm still holding out hope that we get the Jay Youngblood and Tiger Conway Jr. (78 and 80 respectively) matches from Houston. But uh, we'll see.

I think Orton should lean into this and start being more of an outright troll on screen.

I think it's easy for him to see the value in Funk vs Race or what not, as a tie to the history and grandeur of the NWA. I hope he sees the value in continuing to allow out (steadily) the undercard matches.

Look at Ambrose? They've basically made him into babyface (not even heel) Doink because of how toothless everything is.

Hopefully nothing changes. There's nothing even close to it in wrestling fandom right now. Not even a tiny bit.

I want him commentating on 205 live.