Matt D

I thought BJH vs Kamala was as good as it could have been for an 8 minute match with 5 minutes of that being a nerve hold. BJH sold well. Kamala looked great in everything but variation of holds. He was really playing up the savvy savage well, which is way better than the stupid savage or the afraid savage. BJH's offense was pretty goofy but that didn't really hurt the match. They worked the under arm nerve hold and all but it was an underarm nerve hold. Low ceiling. I really liked Ladd vs Armstrong as a five minute match though. Brad's comeback was great. It was a good sprint with a decent amount of heat. At the same time, five minute match. I have absolutely nothing to say about Rip Oliver vs I-Forget-Who-Rip-Oliver-Was-Wrestling. According to the list Dave posted last week, we only have King Parsons vs Jack Victory left before we venture back out into the unknown.

And I gif'd the awesome sit out samoan drop that Blackwell did. https://gifs.com/gif/m6YDez

I've watched him in 3-4 of those matches so far and he's just phenomenal in them, especially playing FIP but in shines too. Something that's just crystallizing to me with Terry is the understanding he had of big moments and images.

Going to bury this here for now, but uh guys, look what I found tonight: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV0UiazosYuXyLKN6A6pR5A/videos No, seriously. Look.

Today is Brad vs Ladd. My silver lining on the last few matches being 6:00 or so is that it sort of lets us compare/contrast to modern TV matches in some ways, your Main Event or Superstars match with a couple of mid card names.

But seriously, I have one basic rule. Wrestling doesn't get in the way of family. It fits into the margins. I have a few hours of free time a night. I try to spend that with my wife and/or kids. I have various things I need to hit. I do 3 lucha matches on Segunda Caida a week. I've been writing the WTBBP column on P2BN, generally once a month (though that's slipping and may have to be on hiatus for me, sorry). I'm trying to watch stuff for GOAT. Right now I'm going through Hansen matches too, which is tangential but independent. I try to keep up with WWE at least a little, even if just the key matches and listening/half watching NXT as I'm doing other things. Sometimes a match will come around (like that recent Homna one or various indies) that I really want to find time to watch. The time I can watch things are the following: 1.) When giving the toddler a bath or putting her to sleep. I usually have a 15-30 minute window there where I can't do much but look at the tablet. Good time for a recent lucha match OR more recently, the daily NWA Classics match. 2.) On the exercise bike. I do this 5-6 times a week for 30 minutes. I have my laptop set up and this is when I take notes for whatever match I'm writing up on SC (or something like the Hansen matches). Project time. I can't always get through two matches in this time, so I'll do the back half with something I can just watch and not have to follow too closely, either more classics or something else I meant to see for a while (I did Cena vs Michaels from WM recently this way. I want to watch the Memphis Lawler vs Bockwinkel matches all together sometime soon, etc). 3.) If I have a break at work, lunch break, etc. I can sometimes catch something on youtube or in the rare case I've gotten a DVD. Sometimes I can listen to documentaries/interviews/podcasts in the background, etc. 4.) but most podcasts I listen to I listen in my 15-20 minute drive to and from the commuter bus or if I have to do a long ride. And PPVs and the occasional bits of live lucha (busca) I'll 2/3rds-watch on my laptop while we're watching TV or do something else, on mute, with subtitles on, generally. That's my time. Life just got too busy. I have too many responsibilities.. I wish I was back in college with the sheer availability of what we have now out there. Re: Burnout. Variety helps but projects help too. Even with the SC stuff, I need to break it up into some sort of series and not just watch random matches. That could be Hector Garza in 2010 or it could be every match I can find with Atlantis vs Emilio Charles, Jr. or it could be the build up to one specific hair match. But it has to be something.

Poorly.

Low on time this week, unfortunately, but I'll get to this. Is that O'Connor match the poster child for matches where Murdoch inexplicably doles out the comedy in the third act after twenty minutes of really good pro wrestling? Or is that a different match with O'Connor? EDIT: found my write up from January 2013 (which feels like forever ago):

The biggest takeaway from the Jericho podcast for me was just how young she came off as. She's three years younger than Bayley, five years younger than Becky, and six years younger than Charlotte. Only 23.

I'm still not ready yet. I've seen another the 93 Kobashi match now too. I have notes for all three that I have seen. At the least I think I can refine my argument. I will say that the selling of the first half of 93 Kobashi match was exactly what I was looking for in a way that the selling in the Taue match was not. That's not to say that the selling in the Taue match wasn't remarkable, because it was, but the performances were very different. I'll elaborate when I can.

It's not nearly as good as either Demolition vs Hart Foundation from 88 or the Demolition vs Brainbusters series. Sometimes things are weird like that. You'd expect, on paper, running with conventional wisdom that Money Inc vs LOD would be the best tag match of Summerslam 92, but Natural Disasters vs Beverly Brothers blows it away.

I don't think I've ever agreed with Will as much as I do about his feelings about AAA during the post-Del Rio match rant. I can't imagine Kris giving that same forgiving "well, this is just what it is. I've got to cover it so I'm used to it. At least they worked hard." to a Russo era TNA PPV, though he was obviously frustrated with it all too. EDIT: down to the point where Will had problems with Kris justifying it, which I just heard. I'll stop commenting until I'm done.

Team Dressed to Kill

Get Sami Zayn over as his tag partner.

To me, the best part about it is that it'd hedge the bets. It doesn't put Bryan in a essential role but it still puts him in a valuable one so if he gets hurt again, it doesn't destroy anything; in the mean time he works as a special attraction. And if he can show that he's going to be healthy over time, you can ramp it up.

The post match of Hart vs Lewin was sort of fun but the match really wasn't much. Neither lives up to the expectation. The Keamuka match is just five minutes and you don't get to see much, if any, of Gunkel, which I was kind of disappointed in. It's worth it to listen to Boesch try to figure out what the hell is going on though. Lisowski looked pretty fiery.

And as great as it was for Kris to post the results that he did, they're not at all complete. They also only start in the late 70s.

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2015/02/mlj-enter-king-haku-1-king-haku.html http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2015/02/mlj-enter-king-haku-2-king-haku-la.html Two Haku in CMLL reviews I did. The first match was great because of Casas interacting with Haku. The second one was all about Fiera and Casas to build up their match.

Or at least on youtube.

They should give him a Summerslam jobber match vs Slater or someone if he's back.

I know we've heard about NXT lighting a fire under the main roster before, but I think this could be a case when it actually happens given the venue and timing. Most of the main roster will probably be backstage for NXT.

Wrestlers generally have a different criteria than we do. Likewise, I imagine a huge chunk of us, in 1996, were the same age as guys like Kofi who grew up during that period, would call Shawn the best or close to it. so, 1.) Wrestlers who worked with him have different criteria and 2.) Wrestlers who didn't work with him but idolized him as a workrate champ when they were young haven't had the time or reason to critically reexamine stuff.

He wasn't allowed to leave Florida.

The Bunkhouse Brawl was fun but a huge mess too with guys coming in and out of the ring and no real sense of being able to follow the story. It was lots of fun though. My favorite part was Dick Slater's totally dickish expression after he jabbed Doc with the stick between the slots in the football helmet after Doc had been running around invincible no selling chair shots the whole match. It was a moment that ultimately didn't matter at all though.

For the sake of argument, I'd challenge you to go back and review a bunch of Hart Foundation matches against a variety of opponents to see how they aged.