Matt D

Good that they learned from the Rumble disappointment and once against went with no surprises. Jerks.

I hope they let the RnR work the battle royal.

I can't wrap my mind around the set and the elevated ring (or whatever's going on there) yet.

I always wanted him to feud with the guy in the Ascension.

I've still got to hit the supermarket, elliptical, figure out dinner for the family, and we're going to get Fantastic Beats and Where To Find Them on Demand with the kids, I think. At some point, I'll start tuning in with everyone (probably around 9).

Playing catch up: We received two Fantastics vs Gilbert/Sting matches. We got them out order. The earlier match is interesting. It's basically a very, very long heel-in-peril, primarily on Sting. You got the sense in this one that they were teaching him, that the purpose here was to get him a lot of ring time stooging and bumping for the Fantastics. They had an amazing rapport with the crowd, certainly, but the drama came too late in this one. It was fun for what it was, though, because you really did get to see Sting go to class and some of the lessons he was learning here probably paid off for his entire career as a babyface. The second match Pete covered. It was the 2/3 falls and it was really strong. I thought it benefited considerably from the 2/3 falls structure, which forced them to utilize transitions at appropriate times. You can't do a twenty minute heel-in-peril if you're going to do a fall ten-fifteen minutes in. The Fantastics were absolutely ahead of their time; some of the near-falls at the end of the first fall felt almost 90s AJPWish. Sting had come a long way by this point (even from a few weeks earlier you see improvement). There's an exasperation he portrayed as a heel that was very natural, a sort of "how the hell did I get into this situation?" mentality which was probably how he really felt to some degree. I wish the hot tags had been a little hotter/better timed and obviously the finish was an issue, but I thought this was strong and heated throughout. The Fantastics rousing the crowd with the object on the apron drumming between the second and the third fall was great stuff. In both matches, it's a testament to Gilbert and the Fantastics that they were able to go so long with someone so green. You have to envy these crowds. These matches were the undercard for the first two Doc vs Freebirds cage matches. I caught Dibiase/Link vs Tatum/Victory last night, It was a lot of fun. Odd couple babyface pairing with Dark Journey. The heels had Missy. Dibiase was slumming with these guys to a degree, but the heels (Especially Tatum) were happy to be in there with him and bumped and stooged all over. He was also super giving, with the majority of the match being Dibiase-in-peril. The comeback was definitive and really, this was all to set up the Freebirds coming out and assaulting Dibiase post-match. Pete would use the phrase umbrella storytelling here and he'd be right. The battle royal was enjoyable too. It's hard to keep track of everything, especially without commentary but some moments stood out. Taylor and Koko working together against OMG amused me for some reason. I loved Gang being in the ring with Tatum and co. at the end, and just mauling them when they wanted a heel-heel handshake. Duggan hitting Ring #2 and immediately charging at Gordy was awesome. I don't think we've seen much of them interacting. There was a moment when Duggan had his hand up to punch Taylor blindly, and when he realized who it was, he gave him the big thumbs up instead. The end of the match with Gordy/Buddy vs Chavo in Ring #2 and Dibiase coming out bandaged up after the earlier assault was awesome. That Dibiase/Doc vs Freebirds feud was something else. We have most of the pieces now I think. What a great, lost 80s feud. It was awesome to see Chavo, sort of at the end of his run as a star, get one last big win.

I just switched back to it and I'm amazed they're still going.

It's like a Mario kart race and the authors are the course.

They're working this like a DIY/Revival match with Giant Props. Authors of Pain are sort of like an obstacle course the two teams have to go through. It's kind of amazing, actually.

I like the Cena/Miz two man power trip idea more.

I'll concur that there are a some pretty good JYD performances on NWAonDemand. The Dynamic Duo vs Conway/Dog match is especially worth watching.

I'm going to watch this in bits and pieces over the next two weeks and probably be way happier than the rest of you because of it.

Was it Kevin Owens? Is that the joke?

That's more or less his gimmick though. I do think you have a point about the fact his colleagues got voted worst.

I will graciously give them credit for getting so much up so quickly.

I think there are plenty of entertainment things we wouldn't mind seeing, too. Mr. T or Mayweather added something special. Just having Mary Tyler Moore in the crowd was surreal. Steve Allen backstage with a piano was amazing. The muppets and WWE can be fun. Bob Barker can be even more than that. I think Al Roker ring announcing the mixed tag makes a lot of sense. I'm less enthused about random, non-wrestler related concert acts that are there just because. It's one thing for someone to play Bray Wyatt to the ring or for Snoop to do what he did last year. It's another for Flo Rida or Kid Rock or whoever to take up twenty minutes.

Really strong mainstream Wrestlemania-Timed Big Show Article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2700298-ballad-of-the-big-show-wrestlemania-33-is-the-climax-of-blood-shaq-and-tears?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

I'm double posting but I want the next Elliott and Stacey Journey podcast to a review of the 45 minute (I'm not making that up) video of Steph and Trips going through Axxess. I'm almost 100% sure it's the best part of Mania this year. https://www.facebook.com/pg/StephMcMahonWWE/videos/

I'll probably come in around 9 pm once I get the four year old to sleep, rewind back to the battle royal, watch that and then jump back to where you guys are to join the support group. I'll say this though: I am very much looking forward to the HOF this year though.

Yeah amazing. And not only that, but the Henka of Doom on Kotoshigiku ! HEEL HEAT !! Is Riki Choshu circa 93 booking sumo now ? (I've been watching too much pro-wrestling) The issue with Mania is that it reached the point of being a self-conscious epic event as a whole. From a bunch of Mania Moments ™ by the mid-00's (which was already annoying as fuck) to ManiaMoment ™. The fact that they can't build a compelling card with drive and purpose doesn't help matters.

I think Pete might even be underselling that match by around a half a star. I'll try to write more tomorrow. It was a big surprise to me and kind of makes me wish that we had another big heel Sting run at some point.

It puts them st about the same level as IWCCW when they randomly started airing mid south for a few weeks in the NYC market in the late 80s, but it's something?

To be fair, they did just post nine episodes of Mid-South, so they have that.

Good point. Best to watch the 3 years of Mid-South up on that channel asap in case WWE decides to take it down for the two months they have up now and for the next two months they might put up next year.

So in this case I guess the reason for uploading these is "just because." I'm all for it! Yeah, I just didn't want to be too optimistic! Whole bunch more right here if you want to be more optimistic about something right here and now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKMa9zvx4rQn7-TPewu6zQ/videos