Matt D

I actually hadn't been too worried about the star power, relative to other people's concerns, but those shows don't have main events.

I love that they call them the "Meta Powers."

Just a taste of what we DON'T have: 2/20/64 Medford Card held at the Armory 1. Tony Borne beat Pedro Lopez 2. Bobby Duranton defeated Don Duffy 3. Mad Mongol & Haru Sasaki defeated Paddy Barrett & Nick Kozak MAIN EVENT In a 2 out of 3 Falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title 4. Lou Thesz drew with Nick Bockwinkel when Bockwinkel tied Thesz one fall a piece and the 3rd fall ended at the 60:00 minute mark to make it a draw --- Bock was going for the NWA title as early as 64. Just think about that.

I just don't think Arn had the size to be a good draw against Hogan. Hogan had beaten so many monsters by then that it would have felt really weird for him to suddenly end up in a feud against Arn especially when Arn was only a tag guy in the WWF. In my mind, the feud is all about trying to take out the leg to get rid of the legdrop/big boot. But yeah. That wouldn't draw with anyone but us 25 years later.

I guess I was mainly thinking of matches I wanted to see. But with Heenan doing the promos, I bet they could have at least matched Hennig. Hogan had feuded on house shows with Bossman, Savage, and Bad News Brown in 89. He basically hadn't feuded with a Heenan guy since Summerslam 88. I bet the crowds would have been ready for that again.

He would have been a great early 90 opponent for Hogan instead of Hennig if he stayed but Tully got canned. Just saying.

I imagine we'll have to at least discount the Brody argument at some point.

For what it's worth, I'm much higher on Demos vs Islanders than Demos vs Patera/Ax/Boone.

I think the GFW model will be to fleece a money mark.

I could see it as an ego/attention thing. The people creating new content want to make sure eyes only fall on their content. Or what not. If anyone wants to put forth another Wacoan-style Hunter conspiracy, have at it.

Jarrett needs to get on Tumblr.

If I was Jarrett I'd jump on the Busisk/Gulag/Thatcher train

DDP had a pink Cadillac

Orton's true calling was as a comedy mid-card face.

Flair probably fucking loves Angle as a wrestler. Angle's actually a good example of what Flair might have been without his preternatural instincts and ability to both read a crowd and (more importantly) define a crowd's expectations

Flair shoots cannot be unseen.

The arm injury happened before the match began. Cena immediately covered it by injuring the arm. When I was a kid and really into basketball, Marcus Webb, a benchwarmer for the Celtics broke his finger cracking his knuckles on the bench. This injury is kind of up there with that.

I should have said "Goodhandmanship" but I can't make that sound like a thing.

It's hard to say since Parv undervalues workmanship.

It was effective, which is sometimes better than great.

Let's talk about Cena vs Zayn. It's looking like Sami hurt himself on the way in(apologies for the sped up gif. That's what gifyoutube does for me): Cena immediately hit two protobombs to start the match (after the commercial break) and gave them reason to portray it as those hurt the shoulder. Sami sold like a king, broadly selling to the back row as if it was a wrestling injury, instead of a legit one. That they still accomplished a lot of what they set out to do given the circumstance was pretty amazing.

He's a guy they can put Rollins over without anyone getting damaged and the size difference will make it potentially striking if they can do it right.

I don't have the evidence to back this up right now, but Jericho seems like a poster boy for not knowing his limitations to the detriment of matches, and if not a poster boy for this, then someone who often times "doesn't get it." The hissy fit over people criticizing his RVD match comes to mind. Hardy on the other hand feels a bit more like "one of the best tv workers of the 00s," someone whose delusions actually make him better. I'm not really seeing this comparison.

Well this sure looks great.

I think everyone has raised good and valid points and backed then up well and I'm not going to disagree with them so much explain that it is more of a personal feeling. To the very last point, it's not about great matches to me. I know I stand out on that. It is about gauging how well someone understands the art of professional wrestling and then how well that person can execute that understanding. Contextual information matters especially as a tool to understand a wrestler's body of work. Subtextual information matters as well. We are criticizing art here after all. We have imperfect information, yes, but we do our best. I completely understand if someone feels differently or if someone feels the same but that it doesn't matter in this case. More later if people want it.