Matt D

Two quick thoughts/questions. 1.) Does the storytelling exist in the text? To this, I say yes. Personally, as I watch things, I try to "find the narrative." That's how I watch wrestling (or devour any other sort of fiction). I try to keep track of how they got to this moment and anticipate where they may be going. If I am going to seriously write up a match, I will take notes. I'll keep track of what happens, what it leads to, where transitions are, how they're executed, hope spots and cut offs, the run to the finish, callback spots (including revenge spots), etc. Then I use those notes as a guide to compile and figure out the narrative. They are dots. You connect dots to make a picture, but you can only ever go off of the dots you see. If a line connects two dots that are too far away, it suggests weaker architecture in the match. 2.) Does Intent Matter? This, I think, is the bigger question here. For #1, either the dots exist or they don't exist (though how you draw the lines between them and how much you value the picture you get at the end, or even certain elements of the picture is subjective). The question then becomes: did the wrestlers intend for the dots to combine to allow for the lines that create the picture? I think the answer to this is a personal one and it matters far, far more in comparative listmaking like the GWE project than it does in enjoying and even in analyzing the match. For the former, you can (and must) find patterns between the match and other matches, storytelling over time and in many different situations, in order to corroborate to the best of our ability what may or may not have been intended. As for the analysis of a match and the story within, even in comparison to other matches, intent matters far less. This is a divide Loss and I have quite often, actually. Matches vs Wrestlers. Analyzing the knowable vs seeking the broader truth underneath it. Both approaches are valid but they have different aims.

Years ago now, I wrote up a lot of Demolition matches. I did this with Victor (Victator). I more or less stand by that project. It was a good experiment and helped change how I look at wrestling. Victor's written a pulpy pro wrestling novella/pastiche e-book set in the late 90s with lots of analogues. I do think some of the people who hang out in this specific armchair booking forum and that have time to read all of the fantasy promotion stuff might get a kick out of it. It scratches some of the same itches, especially for people who like the written dramatization of the matches and what not. He's asked me to post the link here as the e-book is free for the next day or two. So I'm doing so. If you're interested grab it in the next day or so for free. He's on twitter (https://twitter.com/DrVictator), sometimes explosively so, and I'm sure he'd appreciate feedback. https://www.amazon.com/Chairshot-Savage-Sports-Victor-Rodgers-ebook/dp/B01LYCH74A/

I really love Boesch in all of this, by the way. "Committee for Justice, Youngsters, and Decency." How great is that? He's a really wonderful storyteller. I'm not always 100% sure that the stories he's telling are the ones being played out in the ring, but they're always entertaining. He has a moral authority but it's not quite in the same way Lance Russell or Gordon Solie had. He's more Willy Wonka than Bill Watts, but with that same legitimacy of having been in the ring to ground things. He's more like Monsoon than anyone else, but more wry and less languid, with less of a need to chop down the wrestlers in the ring.

I made it through the first January 1981 show. My big take aways were that Valiant's chewing tobacco addiction was gross, that I really wanted to see a Paul Orndorff promo, and that Ron Bass just randomly hanging out in the last tag of the night was weird (even if he didn't eat the fall). They definitely made me want to see the 8-man Texas Death Match. Most remarkable was the Rose/Condrey vs Austin/Jackson tag, though. I love how they worked it with a bunch of hot tags but no sustained house afire comebacks until the very end. It turned the hot tags into hope spots which made the heels seem dominant, never giving up too much, while making the babyfaces look all the more worthwhile as opponents for them. Everyone came out looking better in the end, even more so than if Rose/Condrey just flat out squashed them.

Think the JYD/Bockwinkel match just up is the one from 6/11/82 and not from 83. That card.

I love Heenan during that Bret/Virgil match.

And who they might sacrifice to him to do so?

It's all about how they're worked, like any other hold. It's about how they're sold, the struggle put into them, how they're presented in a larger picture sort of way, and how they're used in a match. Everything is a tool. It's just how the tools are used. A nerve hold can be the most compelling thing in the world if the stars align and it's used properly. I do think that nerve holds are slightly harder to work than other things, though, because they limit facial expressions to a degree, sort of contain the body language of the person taking it, and don't generally allow for much motion in the person putting it on. If someone's constantly repositioning it and letting go and starting anew and grinding down that way, it tends to work better. Just having it on can be problematic.

The majority of the crowd was sure into that match, but I guess they've just got more imagination than you do?

Going to stick this here. It was surreal going to the NXT show. The Jose vs Drifter match was mainly Drifter working holds (including a chinlock), Jose getting the fans clapping, and Drifter cheating to cut off and going back to a hold. They were working them, fighting for them, fighting in them. The crowd, hot all night, was absolutely into it, with the cutoffs getting heat. When Jose finally came back, he got a big pop for it and for the win. The guy behind me was grumbling like crazy though: "Another rest hold! This match is nothing but rest holds!" You guys are the best.

That soda transition is the best thing ever.

Yeah, how the hell didn't they end the show with this?

It's got to be because they feel like Miz has so much heat and that Dolph is such a favorite that they don't want to end the show on what they feel is a huge downer.

In a weird way, every time Bret bitches it becomes slightly more legitimate as a hall of fame.

If we're looking at it as purely WWE, Stu training people gets him farther than the Freebirds as a unit but maybe not farther than Hayes as a producer.

Is the question Cena vs Angle or 2016 Cena vs 2001 Angle? You're framing it as Cena's worst against Angle's best.

I didn't think too much of Madril in the Slater match and it certainly had issues structurally (like no ending while still trying to make Madril look strong which only worked a little bit in execution though they get points for creative effort). He was fairly young here (27?). I actually like him more paired with Lothario a few years later as sort of a beloved local babyface who doesn't take crap. Slater was electric. Watching him in an armbar was hugely entertaining. Even Boesch said he patterned himself after Terry Funk (and this is in 78), but I'm perfectly fine with a guy patterning himself after one of the most entertaining, engaging wrestlers ever. Unfortunately, I don't think there's too much more from this 78 run for Slater, but I'd be very curious to see the (babyface, I think) Gino match that followed this. Obviously, I'm hugely looking forward to any Murdoch and Lothario interaction. (Btw, for the results page: we've got Leroy Brown instead of Murdoch on a show main evented by Fritz vs Krupp. Murodch is way more interesting. Not sure if it's the same show or a different one. If it's the same, then Idol vs Conway Jr, David vs Gino, Dale Valentine vs Barry Orton, and Gary Young vs Jay Youngblood were on the undercard.).

Demos are the only team that could properly contain Napoleon Complex Broken Down Dynamite

Here's the Norfolk NXT card: I'm not sure what reshuffling of that particular crew can create a really great show in Bel Air on Saturday.

Hey, WWE bought some more stuff that they can put online instead of the stuff we want to see. Great.

I'm in the group that is very curious about how this will worked. Goldberg's reticence could rein in Brock's worst tendencies.

The key is Ryan Ward combined with two hours vs three. Look at 2014-2015 NXT. I don't get why this is hard to figure?

It's not about who has the final say or who does the broad strokes. Smackdown's about the detail work: Ryan Ward.

For example, there was a period in 2000 when M2K was doing a gimmick called "the double ring-out committee". Their goal was to internationally ruin good matches by having them finish in a double countout. It was an awesome gimmick. That sounds like Parv's single least favorite thing ever. I need to win a bet with him so he'd have to review those matches.