Matt D

And that's valid, I think. When you get to the top ten and their placement, the difference between the very best wrestlers ever becomes a hard thing to place.

I'm still not convinced on what to do with Satanico vs Casas.

He's in my top 6 I think

He's used the Springboard Stunner to set up the FU at least once. Kind of like the time he beat CM Punk by surprising him with a 'rana first.

For people as high on this, does anyone think that there is a better Wahoo match on tape? It's interesting how many wrestlers Bockwinkel has the best match with.

Remember a year and a half ago when all the talk was about how they were going to turn Bray at some point.

It's be funny if Kane turns on Taker to be the second member.

I think every single indy spot-laden tag team match should be 2/3 falls. That would let them hit some huge stuff, make it end a fall, do a bit of a reset and escalate again.

I liked the MX vs Poffo/Bracero tag. I think we were a bit spoiled by the Blanchard match. This was more about the MX getting a prolonged sort of heat, taking so long to get around the ring, jawing with almost every fan in the building, posturing, Memphis stalling. All of that made the clowning that they did suffer in the opening minutes mean more. I like how matter of fact Bracero was with his mannerisms. I half wonder if he didn't remind people of Cantinflas. I bet most of the adults in the crowd had seen Around the World in 80 Days as kids. Poffo, on the other hand, had this sense of connecting with a crowd where he made it feel like they were in on a private joke together. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Maybe it depended on the heel. Here it worked though. The heat was super solid, with lots of quick tags and the usual tactics, but it didn't pay off as much as I would have liked. The come back was fine, even if it didn't really stand out. I thought Poffo's work in the shine where he was facing off against both guys was more impressive than his post hot-tag run. I wish we had seen Cornette a bit more involved in general, though. This was fun and I'm glad we have it, because it really shows us Condrey/Eaton against very different opponents than we're used to seeing them against.

re Martel. This story is from the Feb 13, 1995 Observer. he shows up at the end:

It'd be great if he interacts with Cornette.

They could pair her with Bo Dallas, then?

If that got any time at all, it could be a ton of fun.

About that I blame Travis Browne. No, really. This does kill any interest in Ronda at Mania, against Cyborg, etc. for me. "and 1" doesn't have the same punch as undefeated. I get why it might kill interest in a fight against Cyborg, but would it make you less interested to see her on Saturday Night Live, hosting? Because that's the sports equivalent of being at Wrestlemania.

The promos were pretty over the top. We must have seen a hundred of them while looking for things On Demand. "RONDA ROUSEY IS A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME ATHLETE. YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN BE ABLE TO WITNESS THIS." etc.

I am glad that Bock was able to do things like the WCW President role and president of the Cauliflower Alley Club. I thought it was unfortunate that his decline came even as the AWA set was coming out a few years ago, as like a far more secure in himself Buddy Rose, he didn't really get to see another generation learn to appreciate his work. I'm not sure how much that would have mattered to him, but it would have mattered to me to have a chance to let him know. He's my #1, the perfect middle ground between bumping, selling, targetted offense, and that damn smile of vicious glee that made you think he was enjoying himself in wrestling the match even more than you were enjoying watching him, which was saying a lot. He's the person I'm consistently most excited about whenever a new match or promo appears.

That was fun to read. Time's an issue right now, but I'll analyze the first Bock in Houston match you put up to the nth degree. Actually, I bet I'll do it for the next Lothario match too.

Absolutely. You can add in the fact that we've gotten and will get some really good looks at wrestlers we don't have nearly enough of, like Gino, Lothario, Spoiler, Wahoo, and even Stasiak and 70s Dale Valentine/Buddy Roberts, a bunch I'm missing and I'm sure some that we don't even realize are good enough to miss yet.

I am a little amused by the idea of a potential reputational risk of publishing my ideas, mind you.

That's all more than fair (though I'm less sure about the idea that we should simply accept the physicality as a necessity in japanese wrestling quality in a comparative look, but that's a broader issue being discussed across the board, especially with lucha right now; I'll gladly grant you the other points and that's why I qualified my statement so heavily). It just seems like every pro-Taue post that does pop up, even now, months after this thread was peaking, seems to follow along the same lines I mentioned.

I still get the sense that Taue does better by 2015 metrics than by 2002 metrics (more broadly portraying a character towards the overarching story of a match vs pure workrate), but I just don't have the matches under my belt to really run with that. It's a heavy generalization and it's not like the other three don't also gain in certain ways due to that shift (which as has been discussed, may mainly exist in my head). I do think it plays into some of what Dylan's recently said though.

I'll agree with that. Even if a work day is going poorly, there's always the surprise of the new upload to look forward to.

Yeah, this was the stuff. What a great sense of struggle between these two. Mr. Wrestling II was just great, really selling desperation in the first half and cruelty and that self same desperation in the need to control and contain Magnum in the second. Every time he took over offense or managed a cut off it was timed so well and so organic and logical. Magnum was just full of fire and aggression and star power. The back half of the match, with the arm work, was really memorable on the strength of 2's tenacity and focus and Magnum's broad selling, aimed at the last row. The comic timing on the finish was spot on too. I'm with Pete. Great match.

I think the visceral impact of watching wrestling matters. If a match can be delivered with effective visuals, that counts for something, even if it's not enough to carry a match on its own. Sure, it counts for the 45th best AWA match of the 80s.