Matt D

I feel like we need to poke at this a bit.

I think there probably is JUST enough footage with Jones and he's better than people would have reason to think. That's the general exploratory mindset (PWO conventional wisdom). Valentine probably doesn't have quite enough though.

If the wrestling is good now, was good six months ago, and will probably be good in six months, then why does it matter? It's not a political party or a union you're a part of or something. It's a pro-wrestling company and you're a consumer of their product, not some sort of shareholder.

We're almost to the end of the matches we know about. Bock vs Brody from the Race vs Halcon night is still on deck, as is Dusty vs Graham? Lewin vs Brody, Lewin vs Gino, Jake vs Humungous, The Valentine/Wahoo match, whatever that is (as well as some of the shared tape like Bruno vs Graham), and Stomper vs Casey, plus that Conway Jr/Sr vs Lewin/Hart, and a few more Gino matches from the previous set.

The dynamic duo stuff has been right down your alley. I'm with both of you on Apolo. He's Hansen to Mil's Brody. Maybe even the other way around. It was still a fun match just for how the heels feed.

I love the heart punch. But mainly used by Stan Stasiak. It's so great in both the Buddy Rose matches and the Andre match. You guys just haven't seen those yet. I hate any move that involves a wrestler dangling from the corner forever, like Dragon Lee's double stomp (which Del Rio uses too). It's okay in trios when they have the partners set it up, but in general, it's stuff that's too obviously collaborative that bugs me the most.

I blame you for jinxing things.

Quick comments. I liked Patera vs Lothario. The bearhug was a bit much maybe but I still think they worked it well. JJ was awesome in his role. He brought so much more to the table than Gary Hart in what we've seen. Patera is a perfect stooging heel to eat Lothario's punches. Good effective wrestling. It's the sort of thing we take for granted because it comes in a sea of matches. If it was the only thing to pop up, we'd value it a lot more. I actively liked Duggan vs Mil too. This is the card with Lucas vs Gino and Tully vs Morton on it so that's cool right there. 82 Duggan feels immediately special. He's just got this reckless heel energy to him. He bumps all over the ring for Mil's stuff with an off-beat charisma that's just electric. He's wild in the way you always hope Brody is (I had a weird Monty Brown vibe from him actually). It's a 12 minute 2/3 fall sprint, basically, but it's well worth watching.

I think I missed this thread before. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it now.

You guys know this. They decide the poster images months in advanced and usually without any idea what the card is, often times with just something that fits the theme. Dean Ambrose is the extreme guy. it makes sense he'd be on the poster. Payback had the Wyatts who weren't on the card, etc.

Really interesting line up of matches. Looking forward to this. EDIT: Potential Houston Bock matches we might still get, just from we know about, in no order: Lothario (at least 1), Rocky Johnson (x3), Dick Slater (x3), Wahoo (x2), Dusty (x2 or x3), Tommy Rich, Mil Mascaras, Scott Casey (x2), JYD (x2-3), Tito Santana (x2-3), Chavo (at least 1), Tony Atlas (at least 1), Mr. Wrestling II (at least 1), Johnny Rich, Ivan Putski, Brody(a few, including one on deck). If we get even half of those... Also, there's an 6/13/86 Hansen no contest. I have no idea if that's been out there before. EDIT 2: That's just from 78 on too. If the wrestling gods are smiling on us, we might get this too: 10/21/77 – Houston, TX @ the Sam Houston Coliseum AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs. Terry Funk Also the 77 card with him vs Lothario AND Funk because Harley no-showed but I'm not sure if that was at the Summit.

For people who did get votes, Thatcher seems like a guy that could end up in the top 100. He has good stuff from when, 09? It's the sort of thing that'll add up. I could see Kamaitachi ending relatively high depending on where he goes next. He didn't get any votes at all, right?

I honestly think it's an accident.

Ok, so on second thought, I found time. There are about two minutes cut out but anyone who's seen a decent amount of Bock knows what it probably was (Brunzell ending the Bock control/KOTM segment with a revenge leg posting from the outside, a minute of legwork, into the figure four that we come back to). I really liked it. There was a point around the 48 minute mark where I thought maybe they should go home, but they transitioned into some backwork a couple of minutes later and Bock being vulnerable made it work towards the finish. It's hard to talk about a 60 minute match in a few sentences and I don't have the time to break the whole thing down. This is probably Brunzell's career match that we have on tape. He's got the Jumbo match and some really great High Flyers matches but he definitely held his own here. The selling was great from start to finish, both the dueling arm/leg limb selling, including in really logical ways while on offense. I think there are discernible chapter breaks that build off of what came before instead of forgetting or ignoring it, with callbacks and selling between chapters (though not where it would no longer make sense or matter, but far more than you'd get from a lot of similar matches, especially from Bockwinkel). The late match selling over the last twenty minutes or so, the exhaustion and desperation is really great. I'm not sure anyone is better at selling of cumulative damage than Bockwinkel and while we see that in 30-40 minute matches,we rarely get to really see it in 60 minute matches and he's the best at it. Very curious what other people think even though I know some people have seen at least part of this before.

I liked how sneaky Park was in that match. He did a lot of canny, sneaky things unrepentantly.

I just watched this the other day too:

Dotdotkins posted a stitched together 58 minute Brunzell vs Bockwinkel match. I do think we've had it in parts previously, but not put together like this. I'm still a few days from being able to check it out though.

Alexa is right there with her Claw and awesome over the top reactions to everything. Carmella too. And Athena in the wings.

Probably still a better draw than Brock?

There's a lot of value in an honest surprise for people who can't get surprised easily. Also, nostalgia, and freakshow dives, and stakes. Which they make meaningless all the time.

I can't even imagine how much I miss by being terrible at Spanish.

You can watch a year's worth of Casas matches and never see him do that on the mat too. Some of the ways he reacted to Hechicero's twisty turny-submissions, both in getting out and selling, and trying to struggle against elements of them was as good, logical, and novel as anyone I've ever seen against Hech.

I'm more inclined towards dull matwork than others. That said, the most fascinating part of the match is constrained Brody. I thought it was effective but a little dull, yeah. Can't wait for the long form Von Erichs stuff. I have my expectations raised by the Halcon/Race and Tully/Mil angles. Who was booking Houston in 78-79? Hart?

I'm going to have to dodge and dive and brave angering my wife on Mother's Day to try to see it today because I can't wait.