Matt D

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.

The Tornado Tag was a blast. I asked Pete and apparently neither of us liked the follow up much, which is a shame. Sometimes you just want heated main event heavyweight wrestling, with all the stakes and emotional weight and clash of the titans feel and that was what this was about. Plus how amazing were Reed's shoulder tackles? I'm not sure if it was just Dr. Death taking them or what, but they were dynamic. As for the Savannah Jack tag, I envision this world where Magnum doesn't get hurt and Rick Steiner gets brought in as his understudy. I try not to imagine it too thoroughly though as it's a scary world. Taylor was pretty explosive. That's the main takeaway I had on that one.

Well aren't you special. Thanks for noticing Johnny. In this case, I think I am. I had so little time last night because I was taking care of my family. Wife and 4 year old had a late nap, so I ended up doing the weekly food shopping and was out doing that when the PPV started. Then the dinner plans were all pushed back so I came up with breakfast for dinner and made waffles and bacon. I did have just enough time to go back and check out Bayley's entrance pop between waffles. Cat puked somewhere in there, so I dealt with that. Then I came back and put the kid to bed, not shortchanging her on a story or anything else. Somewhere in the midst of the bedtime process we had a big water spill, so we took care of that too. And it turned out to be right around 10:30 that I was able to turn the show on, expecting the main. Did Jericho probably do a good job being annoyingly entertaining? Sure. Was Orton more human than usual? Maybe Was I entitled to them giving me wrestling at that point in a PPV? No. But it's what I wanted at that point. And I figured I could come on here and gripe a bit and express how great it is that we don't have to be spoonfed what they force us in a world that NWAOnDemand exists. So yeah, thanks Johnny. It's nice to be recognized.

They made a win feel like it really, really mattered. That feels so good.

This is pretty cool, but the Usos raising him seems so dickish somehow.

By the way, I loved Sasha selling her ribs in the plain janes picture from 2013.

Holy geez. The main isn't even on yet? That Duggan/JYD Texas tornado tag was aces though.

I have half an hour to watch now and turned it on for the frigging Orton segment? Screw this. I'm watching JYD/Duggan vs the Russians