Matt D

I don't disagree but I do think they need a bandaid this time and to rebuild from a place of strength, not weakness.

I think he is an effective tool for a smart wrestler to try to use, athletic, willing to work hard, good physical charisma, able to hit moves. He is very willful though and you aren't going to constrain his habits or terrible ideas about pro wrestling. So if you are masterful, he's a great tool, one of the greatest tools in decades. Good luck utilizing him well though.

He wouldn't make my 300.

I'd like to think that my essay on Buddy Rose in 1979 works, on some level, to fulfill that for him (from my perspective at least). Obviously it doesn't cover everything necessary and covers some extraneous elements but it hints at my feelings based on the footage. I'll be happy to write something about Bockwinkel (who to me, fits into an entirely different and more traditional category than Casas and Rose) and Casas at some point soon. My criteria is very different than other people's though, so it may not be entirely satisfying when it comes to what you're looking for.

I appreciate the idea of watching and documenting everything out there. Likewise, I appreciate the idea of watching and documenting him week to week. Finding the best match on tape year to year isn't really something I'm interested in, though, even for the sake of this exercise. That's not why I watch watch in the way that I do. Someone else can certainly try to do that. I'll have Buddy Rose and Negro Casas in my top three. Watching just their best matches completely misses the point of both wrestlers.

Some of it's a footage issue, you know. But I think I've done around 50 Negro Casas matches on Segunda Caida (it's not entirely certain to me since blogspot's not exactly the world's best searchable thing): (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=site:segundacaida.blogspot.com+%22by+matt+d%22+%22negro+casas%22+) And I was going in blind, just trying to find anything I could, really. I absolutely wasn't just going for the touted ones. That's not how I watch wrestling. As a whole, SC has 140 entries tagged with Negro Casas, though I'm sure there's a bit of overlap over the years.

To be fair, I should have taken the Panther match off that list before saying that, but I really stand behind it. There's a lot of Puck on that list and not a lot of Old Scratch. I'm going to make a counter-list at some point soon.

This just popped up and has some things different from what Our Friend in Japan's posted (though I don't think anything not already in circulation, but maybe some things not online) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1sltmMy_dqGb4r6x6ZfZcQ

I need to check out the Stasiak matches there. I absolutely love him in Portland but he his WWWF work has such a bad rap.

He did think this was a good idea. He has to get points for that:

So former WWE writer Kevin Eck posted the following on his Baltimore Sun blog (I think). The part in bold is what I'm wondering if people believe: I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the questionable booking. During my time on the WWE creative team, we actually were told that there really are no babyfaces or heels in the Divas division. It was strongly implied that the Divas are all just a bunch of catty chicks, most of whom are mentally unstable. A perfect example of that philosophy was the booking of the program between AJ and Paige last year. Instead of establishing a babyface and a heel, both characters acted heelish, Their "frenemies" angle was more confusing than compelling. Thus, the rivalry between one of the most "over" Divas of all time and a heralded newcomer to the main roster wasn't nearly as good as it should have been. The audience needs someone to root for. It's really not that complicated. If the idea now is to get fans to cheer the Bellas — and I'm honestly not sure if that's the case or not — don't have them just show up on Raw one week acting nicer and wrestling a babyface style. Tell me a story. What circumstance has sparked this change in their personalities? Speaking of the Bella twins, their reunion last year after Nikki had turned on Brie three months earlier is a textbook example of uninspired and illogical storytelling. Nikki told Brie that she wished her twin had died in the womb and went on to demean her sister for a month due to a stipulation that made Brie her personal assistant. Yet at Survivor Series, Brie helped Nikki retain her Divas Championship. Why did Brie do it? We were never given an explanation. That's not only lazy booking, it's also insulting to the audience. My guess is that either Vince himself or someone in creative threw out a cliche about blood being thicker than water, and that was that. Move on.

This is pretty definitive. I'm going to do one more though.

It's a catch-22. So many people are out that they can't afford anyone to take time now.

That's a Negro Casas who would make my top 30 but not my top 3.

There's value to keeping opponents apart before a match anyway. Part of the problem with modern WWE is that they run the same match so many times on TV in so many different variations. It sort of makes sense to have your champion only work now and again on the road to Wrestlemania.

C'mon, Johnny, the issue isn't Cena. The issue is Cena on top of everything else. They were almost have to rely on Cena in a more prominent role this year because so many guys are out.

Geez. Yeah, something has to give. There's only so deep a well to draw from.

Just humor me. I'm curious how this one will go. It's anonymous so don't worry about Johnny Sorrow coming after you or anything. I think it primarily came from Powerslam, sourced from a former WWE writer. “I remember being nervous the first time I delivered the script to the McMahon dressing room where HHH would dress (he would never use the locker rooms with the rest of the boys). When HHH answered I told him the RAW script was ready for his review. On the first occasion, he grabbed the script, flipped through it but did not read it, and asked me point-blank: ‘Am I f***ing going over?’ This first time that I delivered the script to him, he did indeed win his match, so I said yes. Then he politely gave the script back to me without reading it and said, ‘That’s all I needed to know,’ and walked back into the McMahon locker room. A few months later when Gewirtz had another weekend off, I delivered another RAW script to him on a PPV Sunday. And it was the same routine. He nonchalantly flipped through it and said, ‘Am I f***ing going over?’ This time, however, he was to lose his match via disqualification. He would keep his title. I said to him, ‘Well, sort of.’ Then Hunter froze. He said, ‘What do you f***ing mean, sort of?’ I said, ‘You lose the match via DQ, so you still keep the title.’, ‘What page?’ he growled. After I told Hunter the page number this occurred on, he ripped that page out, threw the rest of the script to the floor in a rage, and slammed the door in my face. Needless to say, the next day during the agents’ meeting, the script had somehow changed and now HHHwon his match – cleanly. This was hardly an isolated incident.”

Do I need to watch that Blackwell vs Bobo singles match?

The Impact Zone comes to the Rumble! Yeah, sure, them too. The Rumble is an event. It's not a normal PPV. I still think they should hold it in Iowa generally, if they want to control crowd reactions.

That crowd would absolutely know who he is and go nuts. Tons of tourists/Europeans, even in FL.

As memory serves there are 3-4 matches. One is to set it up with Brady Boone. Then there's a singles match which is Ax vs Patera. It's got a bit of novelty. Honestly, it's one of their first real feuds that had any storyline behind it, but it's just not one of their better ones. There are two matches from the same day that are virtually the same. Here's my review of the set up: http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/demosjackboone12-11-87review.htm Here's my review of the Boston match from years and years ago: http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/demospaterahaynes11-7-87review.htm And of Haynes/Boone: http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/demosjackboone12-11-87review.htm I guess if you're going to watch one, watch the Boston match? Apparently I liked that but I haven't seen it in years. 2010 was a very long time ago at this point.

Glamour Girls are better anyway.

One thing that's interesting to me is how few second generation guys are in developmental as opposed to a few years ago. Another issue has to be how the rise of MMA/success of other pro sports affected the talent pool relative to 10-15 years ago. That said, they recruited differently even five years ago. The world's become a smaller place.

Just keep Chekhov's gun in mind so I don't have to pan it.