Matt D

I didn't have strong feelings about the Battle Royal, though it was definitely solid. It would have been really ballsy if they had Dusty come back out to cost Volkoff. They could have made an over mid-carder there if they did while still building to the next match. It's not like Volkoff was lacking in heat. I liked Marty's fire at the beginning of the one-on-one segment but I really wish he had 1-2 more hope spots in there towards the end.

So that was the March Breaks vs Saint match. The May match is online as well, thankfully. And this was a blood stoppage. No one in the history of wrestling has ever liked a blood stoppage. You can put a few choice, select ones up there as near promotion killers. I thought this wasn't so bad in that regard though because it built off of the previous match in that regard. Breaks came out far more aggressively and took much more of the match, expert as always with the desperation finger in the mouth pull. One element I absolutely love about these matches is how moves are earned. Attempts early on rarely work but they may later on, not because of specific limbwork but just because of attrition and damage done. Throws are earned, and even some of Saint's fancy maneuvering needs two or three goes to get the full advantage early on. Add in the rounds system and the real sports feel that comes with it and you can get a distinct sense of desperation as a match goes on. Here, after Breaks lost a fall to a Saint counter, he came back at the face, but almost immediately was opened up again (and Saint had done a few choice knees earlier in the match, playing on the previous one). There was a whole round, almost of this, first working over the face, then getting worked over in revenge to the crowd's delight. And that was well and good in a non-title match, but it'd come to cost Saint here. Breaks came out, cleaned up, in the next round and worked over the forehead immediately, leading to tossing him over the top (which is pretty rare in the matches I've seen), a Saint blade job, and the TKO as the ref calls it. The fact that there was two match build around the blood made the finish palatable. Presumably it made for a touring match around the country after this, even if Saint never won it back? I'm just glad I saw these two in order.

Their plans don't always work out. Rock was supposed to be the insurance policy to make sure that Reigns' rumble win went well. That didn't work. If they tried to do it five more times, I'd be surprised if it worked three out of those five.

I usually watch these on the elliptical so there's no notetaking and I get into a situation like this: Jim Breaks vs Johnny Saint, 6 Rounds, Non-Title from 73 I needed to see more Saint. I've seen a ton of Breaks and very little Saint. This was as good as you'd think though. Breaks complained about his mouth early. Saint used his height advantage to keep on top for the most part with Breaks masterfully cheating to get any little bit he could. In the 4th, Saint took a beautiful, beautiful pinfall. Breaks came back in the 5th aggressively, just mauling the face over and over and over. His timing in taking advantage at the very first second is so good and believable. It all came to naught though as Saint fought back and started working over Breaks' nose just as brutally. Here came the blood which paid off the early match crying in the best way. Breaks came into the 6th aggressively, but Saint took it with an arm lift submission to win things 2-0. The crowd (and Walton) popped huge for that since everyone knew it meant that Saint was in line for a title shot. Saint was a great Breaks opponent, not giving him an inch more than he ought to and bringing that aggression in his revenge. --- See, a write up like that doesn't really add much to the world. It helps me for gauging GWE later I guess but it's Saint vs Breaks from 73. People should watch it. You don't need me to tell you that.

We'll all be saying "What a Shame" about Bayley in nine months time.

The crowd will finally turn Johnny Sorrow heel. He'll embrace it, changing his name to "Mr. Terrific" Johnny Quick and creating the Orange Goblin Digest to crap all over the 10 Things from Raw/Smackdown recaps WWE puts on youtube. It wins a Sheety Award. Motörhead goes into the WWE Hall of Fame.

I always play the "What will Pete rate this match at?" game. I had him at 3.5* so I was close.

I'm an hour into this one, ALMOST caught up on all of the BTS episodes. Listening to too many of these my favorite things are Bix correcting something he thought Kris said when Kris didn't say it at all and Kris blatantly BSing that he knows or remembers something that Bix is talking about when he obviously doesn't. I think, of the two things, it's the first that's going to cause Kris to piledrive Bix on the concrete within ten more episodes though.

Fun match. A lot of shine but all entertaining. Just as importantly, the heat on Mascaras meant enough due to how well Superstar controlled him. He had a tendency to fight back no matter what so the quick tags and cutting the ring in half meant all the more here. The hot tag was timed a little weird but I thought the finishing stretch was chaotic enough to set up the upcoming singles matches well.

They screwed up Bo. They didn't restart his arc.

I'm 20% into the Revolution book and have really enjoyed the Jess McMahon stuff.

Demolition is entirely a variety thing. They work differently against different opponents in a huge way. Everything in the match is earned too. The downside is a lot of loose "symbolic" offense.

vs Bubba, vs Demolition (the three house show matches we have, one even has Ronnie Garvin as a ref), vs Sabu. He's really much more of a great consistent performance sort of guy than a great match one, excellent at projecting character and playing his role. That plays better on my list than some people's. I don't want him to end up on Parv's list. I just don't want Parv to be bitchy about revisionism gone too far if someone does go with him or even say that they might go with him.

Parv, I have no confidence that you've revisited WWF Gang matches recently (I've not seen any such write ups) and figure you are instead going off of memory or conventional wisdom. I said he could well make my 100. He could well not too.

I could well have Andre, Vader, Yoko, Mark Henry, Gang, Bigelow, Blackwell, Bossman, and Tenta in my 100.

For people looking for a live alternative, the Arena Puebla card is slightly better than normal tonight:

Right now Virus is still in my top ten.

Better to get the most out of it now then.

Akeem?

Unless Podcast Naylor is in on the work, which seems unlikely....

Berserker was a top 5 WWF guy in 92.

I kind of want to see Ambrose vs Taker. I think that could work, maybe. Sorry.

They should push Miz to the moon again then.

I'm thinking those sweet spot matches for me would be Bret vs Perfect '91 or Bret vs Owen WM, Rockers vs Demolition from MSG in 88, Rockers vs Hart Foundation from Summerslam 88, Arn/Larry vs Steamboat/Dustin or maybe Pillman/Austin vs Scorpio/Bagwell from Worldwide. Maybe Regal vs Christian from 09. I'm not sure I'd call any of those the greatest contenders, but they're personal favorites. I'd actually be curious to rewatch Brock vs Punk. I should do that sometime soon since that's one of the last matches I was really emotionally invested in while watching it in real time (that didn't have Bayley in it). On the other hand, Christmas Eve here is new pajamas and a movie and furious setting up of stockings after bedtime for the kids. I imagine Chad's traditions will be wildly different in a few years given that strapping young lad he's got in the mix now. 1 year old is very different than 3 years old when it comes to this stuff.

I'm high on the Backlund MSG match. And it's a huge testament to Bret that he has it one night away from Survivor Series where he has the Bigelow and Hennig matches.