Matt D

Pete's itching to get home from work and watch that one.

It was to show that Styles was a hypocritical heel. Cena can come out tonight and call him on it and Styles can call him a loser and they can build to the next match.

Hey, it's Point-Sycophoint!

The protective power of the Flak Jacket.

I dug that strike exchange too. The brawling's been good here.

Rollins is so much better as a babyface. (Even a De Facto one)

Rusev's individual stuff is great. Just the way he moves across the ring and gives the illusion of laying everything in, the way he gets his body behind blows. It was kind of painful watching Titus in comparison.

How big were the rosters in 2002?

I think such a thing existed before we started, to be honest. People view art through schools. People pick theories in order to understand the world. It's just the way of things. As for the initial thought, some people said from the get go the only list that mattered was their own. I appreciate that thought. I didn't go along with it. That said, I didn't think we were making an authoritative list that was going to change the internet either. What I cared about was the people here. When Stacey and I came up with the podcast name, we were told we weren't going to get as many listens because the global podcast audience tends to shy from lucha sounding names, and that was both well-meaning and likely valid, but that was never the point. The point was to produce something for the hundred-odd people here that we were in the trenches with who might have been interested, because that's who we cared about. That said, I have found it a lot of fun to look on other boards where this was posted, like an alien disease. What's great about the list, I think, is that for the most part, it is alien to people not here. It makes no sense to people how Hogan, Andre, and Cena can rate when it feels, in some other ways, like a "wrestling, not drawing" list. Or where Tiger Mask or Brody are if that's the case. Or how Nakamura or Tanahashi or Angle could be so low. Or how Jerry Lawler or Rey Mysterio are so high. My favorites were the big question of Dolph Ziggler! Or a board which had two pages of back and forth about Randy Orton. I think it's a list that is wholly consistent with itself, but in a way that is completely impenetrable to someone that wasn't part of the discussion. I get some sick amusement out of that.

Quick catch up: 1.) I was upset the Bounty Match did so poorly on the mid-south set until Pete told me what we had previously was clipped. The title match wasn't quite as good but that's more of a testament to the bounty match. Babyface Reed is someone I have a lot of time for and he matched up really well with Slater. I think there's something a little unconventional and Houston-y about Reed as a babyface. You don't quite shine/heat/comeback as much, but there's a lot of the crowd getting visceral kicks through him getting revenge. 2.) For Stomper vs Casey, it's still a bit of getting used to Stomper's vulnerability for a monster. It's a great act but it's one that would wear out its welcome fairly quickly in a territory, I think. Boesch really shined on commentary again helping through the long falls. I was cool with them working the holds but was glad to have Paul with us for it. 3.) Haven't seen the Sheik match yet, but it does feel like the sort of history we take for granted with this footage. How much 77 Sheik do we have? How much Tommy Seigler? Someone on youtube named Brandon Seigler posted two matches (one from Georgia in 72 one from Gunkel in 73) but we don't have a lot, right? It's not Funk vs Race but there's a lot to learn in almost every match that gets posted. 4.) I love Battle Royals. There was a tease of Wahoo vs Andre in this, just twenty seconds or so in ring #1 towards the end and I was way too excited for it. The final four in Ring #2 were a lot of fun. I wish we had another minute or two of Gino interacting with Andre but that's ok. The interview was very cool. Talk about history. Five minutes of Andre answering questions that weren't the typical ones.

It's a lot to keep track of. I just thought it was funny since it's something I learned from you guys. Speaking of Night Court, did people catch on the Gerwitz episode of the Jericho podcast and his Wrestler's court story that they actually used Kane as the bailiff? Had we known that before? Because that's amazing.

Kris not knowing about the USWA syndication thing was funny since I learned about it from BTS. Also, nothing else in the world has referenced The White Shadow three times in this decade.

I just don't get what he's saying: That wrestlers are dyslexic at best and that the form of wrestling is, at best, young adult fiction?

I think Tye could be an honest NXT draw. Which means that he's part of the collective act that people would pay to see. I really think that people pay money to sing to Bayley (or to sing Nakamura's song now) or to Do the Gable-Gable, Jordan-Jordan chants. Or yes, to do the "Ten!" thing. It's part of an interactive act in a way that the main roster isn't, and he's an increasingly valuable cog in that machine. If NXT only comes around to your city once a year, you may miss the chance to do the TEN! thing forever. I think there are a lot of people that appeals to, that ECW sense of being an interactive part of something special, like singing to Sandman's music or bringing a weapon for Axl or getting Bubba to insult you.. But it would mean absolutely nothing on the main roster.

I guess you have some more reason to look forward to those Wahoo vs Harley matches? Glad to see we're still in business here. I thought the Jones match was a solid Lewin showcase. If you want to know what Lewin is all about, this match will tell you. He's a one trick pony here, with the chops and nerve holds and what have you, but he's so persistent that it's effective. In general, I thought his cutoffs were very strong. The story wasn't the most exciting in the world, but it was a good use of Hart and of all sorts of tricks to get back to the point of karate thrusting and what have you. I always appreciate solid, straightforward wrestling. Jones worked very well from underneath too. I haven't seen too much of him but he had a good amount of charisma and helped to make both Lewin and Hart look effective. Results say this was third from the top and it was probably a palette cleanser before Brody vs Spoiler. Anyway, It's nice to see a solid showcase match like this now and again.

Nia's come a long way. I wish they would have let that scream settle in for a few more seconds but that's nitpicking.

Alpha is going up for the draft likely. Gargano and Ciampa got an upset on the revival last week to set up a title program.

How great was the Boris Malenko commentary? I want to learn more about Mortier as Montague. It was all a lot of fun and I can never get enough of Boesch's office. As for the rest... I'm just going to keep looking forward to new matches as we get them.

I'm about 1.5 hours in here. It's a sort of duel edged sword. I do think Les is engaged and adds a lot. On the other hand, this has been the most bloated episode so far and a lot of that comes from a deeper-than-usual textual analysis of Meltzer, his motivations, his proclivities, his style that goes way overboard at times, sometimes because it doesn't add a whole lot to make it about Meltzer primarily instead of the story being discussed and sometimes because the points just end up pressed in the back and forth for an extra couple of minutes longer than they should be, even when somewhat valid. I get that it's Between the Sheets and how things are reported is ALWAYS an element of the show, and an enjoyable one, but so far on this episode, it's taken center stage a bit too much and way too in-depth.

Back to Dynamite and Tiger Mask.

The match should have just been Warrior, Hogan, Sid vs Slaughter, Mustafa, Undertaker, no?

There are ways that a manager can be entertaining and engaging and effective without necessarily taking bumps, be it reactions or interference or distractions or crowd interaction. I don't agree with everything Tim said in his post, but I do absolutely agree with him that Hart's on the disappointing end when it comes to most of those physical low-impact things as well, especially when compared to his rep. I burned through Dusty/Patera before bedtime last night so it's all a bit blurry but I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed Dusty's elbows more or if they ever looked grittier. Speaking of Dillon, I thought he was really good here. The fact that he basically does it all with the cigar in his mouth is funny. Patera fed for Dusty's strikes so well, too, and he gave back just as well. Some really solid bursts of brawling. I liked the way Patera went from the leg to the neck to the bearhug too. It was a really well worked bearhug which is not the most common thing in the world. Like I said, it's a bit of a blur but it was a lot of fun. EDIT: Just looking at results, I hope we get the two Brass Knucks title matches between Patera and Manny Fernandez from 81 at some point. Manny has some interesting stuff in 81-82. A Funk match, a few Gino matches, a couple of Tully matches, a couple of Slater matches, Duo vs Chavo/Manny, Ciclon Negro/Manny, and Mil/Manny, one against Black Gordman, and short feuds with Mil and Chavo.

The gif and the reactions to it are much more polarizing than the match. Generalities are much more interesting than specifics here. I caught it yesterday, finally. My star rating would be in the exact same range if I gave them, actually.

I think the only upside to WWE in all of this is if the plan is to put Reigns over Lesnar clean and definitively at Summerslam.