Matt D

Very interesting match, being heel vs heel. I think this brought out some of Harleys' better qualities. The way he took over both in the first and second fall were both very gritty and effective. He gave Gino a lot, but it never seemed as over the top as you'd see in matches where he was putting over a babyface. Absolutely loved the paralled spots on the floor to set up the ends of the first two falls. I'm not sure if I buy into how much the crowd was getting behind Gino, but there was an element to that and ultimately a tragedy that even though he was basically doing everything right and on the level (even the chair shot felt warranted), he lost his shot at the belt due to no fault of his own. Then he had a temper tantrum and all the good work as a competitor he had done was washed away. I do wish it had just a few minutes more to heat up the finishing segment, but the sudden nature of the finish sort of played into that feeling of Gino doing nothing wrong. We're lucky to have it.

I remember being unduly high on Brunzell vs Jumbo but I couldn't tell you why with all of those threads on DVDVR lost forever.

It's pretty ironic: Cena overreacting to the notions that he can't wrestle has done a lot to make him someone who can't wrestle instead of one of the best in the world like he used to be.

This doesn't deserve a thread (and there is the "What are you watching" thread), but today I watched: A really fun Garza vs Shocker match from 2008 that someone posted last week; A Gino vs Race title match that until a day or two ago almost no one had seen in thirty-five years; one of those amazing World of Sport Zolton Boscik vs Jon Cortez matches. And there's a live MSG card on tonight. Sure, it's a sort of lackluster one, but it's what they'd be presenting anyway, more or less, and it's great we get to see it. There's just so much out there right now.

If they had about ten more minutes of the first two minutes, with both guys trying to get the advantage, this would have been great.

Aren't there lower card matches with Team Bella and Stardust etc too?

I haven't watched wrestling on TV once in maybe five years. I mainly watch this on my tablet, and a lot of that is when my toddler is trying to get to sleep and I am laying next to her bed on the ground holding her hand. The rest is when I'm exercising, also on my tablet.

Thanks for these, as always. They're really useful in a world where I maybe have time for one non-Kris Z podcast a week.

They should have at least switched it up and having Rusev/Owens/Sheamus vs Ziggler/Jericho/Sheamus or something. I can imagine how Orton vs Sheamus will go over in front of the MSG crowd.

Dundee and Colon also have a lot of good matches/performances that AREN'T gimmick matches though. I'm not sure that's an agenda thing.

Knowing when to do a crawling headbutt to get the best crowd reaction, the timing between them, etc. There's something to it, though.

The JYD is a bad worker is such WON dogma that it's almost impossible to argue against it when it comes to the WON HOF. I don't really think he belongs in a WON HOF for the same reason that someone like Angle does. In the publishing history of the WON, he was mostly ridiculed. It's not a wrestling hall of fame, it's a WON hall of fame. It's just the best thing we have, unfortunately.

You can watch this whole match again and just focus on what Gino does with his hands while moving. He was very good here but I think it shows how much more confident he'd be a year later.

Whoa. That's a hell of a find.

How can you vote for Bryan's hug it out work that got him over in the WWE when Edge innovated it in the first place?

Basically, I want to not watch anything else for the rest of the year but Puerto Rico. That's not going to happen, but it's where I ended up after listening to this.

I'd put Mike Jackson in over Angle

I am an hour and I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned from this, but then I don't think I have to because everyone else is in the same boat.

Honest question: who in the history of wrestling was better at cutting off babyfaces than Yokozuna? I'm curious who people come up with.

Part of me wants to say that Savage's work is more of a sign of its age and Valentine's is more timeless, but I'm not sure I can back that up right now or if it even matters.

Flair is my working #10 or #11. I don't mind watching matches from a wrestler I would rate over so many of my personal favorites.

Different people will value certain things differently, Parv.

If I had more Bock to watch, I would watch it. There's the IWA at some point right? The "well what do Bock's bad performances look like?" Is a false requirement if he simply doesn't have many.