Matt D

I know it's not 2017 yet, but I'm kind of ready to talk about this stuff more, to be honest.

Let's take a look at what Zenjo said: So he didn't give us a lot to work with here. I think any opinion can be explored so long as it's backed up. "Someone who was never a star, never a draw, and not an influence" and not "a worker who stands out from the crowd." Really, the "star, draw, influence" things, whether true or not, are not major things people voted for in GWE (some voted for all of those but I would think they were a minority). Then, not standing out is a particularly frustrating argument because it's not saying what he does poorly, just implying that he didn't do anything particularly well. It shifts the onus back on the people defending him, sort of from ground zero.

Current favorite wrestler to watch: This is a tough one. Maybe Pat Patterson, due to all of those Richard Land uploads? No, let's go with Marty Jones, because I saw some of his heel work in Stampede and it was a lot of fun and just added another dimension to him. Rey Escorpion is up there too for modern guys. Last fun match you saw: I saw the Kendrick CWC match last night and that was fun but for pure fun, nothing this month beats Escorpion vs Dorada from Elite. It was a dive a minute but still managed to mean something. Wrestler you want to see more of: Raul Mendoza looked like a guy worth seeing more of in the CWC. Let's go with him. Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): Ha. I'm not driving to Joppa to watch wrestling. Forget that. It's like... 40 minutes away. Match you're most looking forward to watching: I know it'll be short, but I'm not spoilered on Dorada vs Tajiri and that sounds like a blast. Past that, Reigns vs Rusev probably? Last fun interview/promo you saw: I really, really loved the Ambrose/Ziggler exchange from last Tuesday. Yes, I get that Ambrose was partially no-selling him and it could be long-term damaging, but I loved the fact that he took Ziggler's completely disingenuous boyhood dream speech and just shit on it. It was cathartic. Marty Jones' promos in Calgary are not all that good though. Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: Probably the saccharine commentary from Foley on the Sasha win? Some of the tidbits about backstage were sort of interesting, I guess? I haven't read much this month apparently. Oh, I liked Dylan's dad's article. When was that? Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: I'm slowly working through the 6:05 stuff, and really liked episode 13(I think) with the second part of the Scott Teal interview an the Ric Ratchet stuff. Did Teal's book on Chavo Sr ever come out? Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: NWAOnDemand, definitely. It's just so great when new matches pop up. You never know what you're going to get. It's like wrestling combined with opening a pack of baseball cards when you're ten. Who knew Bull Ramos was so explosive? It's way better than this "indy wrestling" stuff people seem to be watching. Favorite recent post on this board: What the hell? Let's go with Stacey's CWC post. 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): It's a conservative answer but the brand split (and live Smackdown) does feel like it's shaken things up and energized them a little bit. We'll see how long that lasts. I really like the Rush vs LA Park feud too, just in general.

The reason why Striker was exciting to people wasn't Grisham holding him back but the fact we had a snarky announcer on WWE tv for the first time, mostly unsupervised. He'd reference companies other than WWE or Cure songs or whatever. I think people take for granted how crazy that was in 2009.

I meant that them making Styles support... ah, I blew the joke, nevermind.

I wonder if supporting Trump was a bridge too far?

If nothing else, they should have pushed Barton as a challenger to Shamrock's IC belt in November. It could have been inconsequential but would have probably had some interest and kept him at least partially in view before the Butterbean thing.

What it has, I think, is a very visceral sense of "Sport" in how it's presented. That goes from the round system, to the strategies in matches, to weight classes and title contention, to Kent Walton talking about the other jobs the wrestlers have when not wrestling. Yes, it has its own folds and wrinkles but someone like Marty Jones is able to create a "real sport feel" as well as any wrestler I've ever seen, especially when he's up against other babyfaces.

Come on guys: 1.) Yes, of course he was patterned after Goldberg. Big bald guy who they gave squash wins to in an era where they didn't give them to anyone. He didn't talk except for saying a catch phrase. He had a finisher which involved a suplex position after an impact move (in this case the meathook). They were trying to replicate a specific formula (one that very often works because people love a dominant monster babyface) and that's why there were all the Mania rumors that they'd bring Goldberg back to wrestle him, why Goldberg was asked about him so much, etc. Why the heck are people denying this? 2.) That said, by the end, he had developed into a more interesting wrestler, whether it was implementing some of his more dissonant personal beliefs into his babyface character, or embracing the nasally bully and he ended up being a strong base for smaller wrestlers and much more than his stereotype or the sum of his parts. Just because a guy is a muscle bound goofball doesn't mean he can't learn to work with that in ways that are effective outside of six minute blow-up fests. He was relatively self-aware and dare I say, sensitive, for a guy in his role. I get the impression that some people disliked the idea of Ryback so much that they didn't actually give him a fair shake, especially when it comes to how he developed.

I want to see him wrestle Akebono?

You'll get a kick out of the Boesch matches. Oh, add Brisco vs Spoiler to the list too.

Lothario everything, basically. The Slater/Stomper match was really cool. Did we mention that yet?

I say watch Mil vs Duggan and Dusty vs Patera. I need to look at the broader list.

I am a few weeks behind but I enjoyed Shane Haste, who was new to me, in their first few matches in NXT. He has this way of reacting to every little thing that happens in the ring that I appreciate.

I did a quick write up over at SC: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/08/mlj-la-park-vs-rush-7312016.html

Found this today. Thought of you guys. http://www.apollo-magazine.com/jousting-is-closer-to-performance-art-than-an-olympic-sport/

Last time he was actively cheered it was because Sheamus was a complete heel and not some sort of tweener, smarky "other choice." Rusev is in that same category.

I don't have time to dig back and want to do a proper job of it so I will later, but Dusty vs Brody was a really cool, historical find.

Goc, will get back to you. (But the answer is "everything Gino" for now). So Sting/Steiner vs Taylor/Parsons just went up. I didn't see the card on the list so I did a little digging.

Very quickly, I watched both Jose vs Markus, loved Gino's shirt, remark again how great Lothario was, even when next to nothing was happening in the match (not to mention his cool dropkick and the amazing punch, etc). I did think that it was very interesting to see the lucha pushes here since I don't remember them in any other Lothario match. Just a fun twelve minutes of wrestling. Our air conditioner broke so I'm a bit behind on everything else. I did catch the Gino/Tully promo though and man was that great. Gino was just electric. As for Mil, I do think he's come off fairly well here relative to other territories. Some of that might be the 2/3 fall nature of a lot of his matches which allows for more selling to build into the comeback. It'd be funny if the reason we've been so negative on Mil over the years was because he was mainly shunted inappropriately into single fall matches. With Brody, he's had moments throughout but I've thought him best in the earliest footage before his initial face turn. Bruce, I'm dying to see another list of what's in the pipeline.

Can't wait to catch those tonight. Every Lothario match we get is another piece of gold and every indication we've had so far shows that Mil was more than willing to work with Gino and was probably a great foil for him in another singles.

They're the modern day Freddie Joe Floyds.

If you're not judging Ambrose as a full time top act (and you're in your rights to do so, I suppose), then what other full time top acts does the company even have?

He's going to rebound lariat off of a superkick.

Since Will's moved forward with the 80s sets, I've put my plans to get the NJPW set aside for a bit, so if anyone wants to hear me comically fumble over Japanese wrestling this is the best opportunity for a while.