Matt D

He never came back as NXT commissioner either and that was an implied stip of the Rhodes tag match.

We're all amazingly consistent, aren't we?

Is it easier to compare Aja Kong and Vader or Jim Breaks and Vader?

Just caught up with the show.I'm really glad they gave Henry vs Show so much time. They did the singles match now because they'll be on the Survivor Series main, I think. Really fun deliberate match with both guys giving when they should and taking when they should and everything looking like it had weight and meaning behind it. I loved the Big Show elbows to the back and the Toss-Flair-Off-The-Top spot was both unexpected and believable, since you'd think Show would be frustrated enough to up his game like that against an opponent that he knew he had to bring more against. I thought the whole thing really built in violence from sort of a clash of the titans beginning to the DQ on the floor at the end. Good match.

I had caught Tyson vs Sheamus earlier in the night and it amazed me just how bored the crowd looked when on camera. It didn't seem like any of them wanted to be there at all. Also, I really wish they'd do something more with Big E. They should use him for comedy. I know he's huge, but he's also pretty funny. Maybe they could make him Miz-E and have him out there with Mizdow doing the same act. The visual difference would probably be pretty funny.

The main problem is this: how can they make Main Event feel important when they can't make ANYTHING feel important?

Personally I have a way easier time comparing The Glamour Girls and The Rougeaus than Atlantis and Bam Bam Bigelow.

The Taue Revolution

According to Jim Ross, Brian Pillman is pound for pound the best athlete in 1991 WCW!

I was there that night. We were excited. Then we were disappointed. So, so disappointed.

In general, I'm much more impressed by someone who uses limited athletic ability to great effect than someone who uses a lot of athletic ability to pretty good effect.

Khali has a very specific value to the company though, as he's a celebrity in India which is a huge market and can stand out for publicity reasons, as well as has a certain level of credibility just due to his size when it comes to putting someone over. Thanks to Total Divas, I'd actually say the Bellas are more valuable to the company than he is right now, but it's pretty close.

100 heels.

People were pretty high on Bagwell in late 97-early 98 after he'd spend some time in Japan. I remember DEAN for one being so in the workrrate reports from the time. Also, he was a perfectly fine partner for Scorpio in 93.

From what I've seen from the shoot stuff so far, I like the more grappling-heavy stuff, the whole "building off openings that the other person lets me" to create counters and what not, but I have a long way to go. I've seen very little strike heavy matches.

I had a post that I didn't actually go through at one point talking about the general feeling in 98 when he had the phantom TV title win and people's reactions when it wasn't acknowledged but I didn't quite feel up to articulating it

It's partially my fault we don't have likes enabled here but if we did, this post would get one.

Gordy, Doc, Vader I could all see myself going relatively low on. I don't know yet though. I need to see more on each. Basically "hard hitting guys who hit other guys hard in japan" aren't going to innately be high on my rankings. They have a high hurdle for me in that I don't really want to watch their stuff. Vader's US (I've seen very little of his WWF run or 94) and shoot style stuff I'll be more interested in seeing. I don't think I'll have too many guys who wrestled heavily after 00 high on my list. It'll be a smaller percentage.

I'd be also surprised if Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi wouldn't make my list somewhere. I'll see more. I'll probably rank them. But they could well be towards the bottom.

How's his son?

Honky Tonk Man vs Tito Santana - PTW 9/17/87 I feel like I can actually stop this now. There's no way in hell Honky should even be in this conversation. This was an actively good match and an actively good performance from HTM. It was probably about 70% Tito, but unless the crowd noise was REALLY sweetened, the crowd was super into it. You can see them reacting and Hart reacting to them, so I think it wasn't all smoke and mirrors. Honky's stalling was incredibly effective and he put a lot of energy into it. He also RAN right into bodyslams by Tito (I thought he was going to lock up). There are big things he did well, like broad selling, great facial expressions, and putting surprising energy into things like a missed elbow drop off the ropes or multiple chops to Tito's arm before the fans chanted and Tito reversed the hold.. There are little things he did well, like focusing most of his offense on the midsection, using kicks to it to stay on top, and setting up both a grounded double axe handled for Tito to dodge the second time and, in the big transition towards the finish, trying again for the shoulder block to the gut that he took over with in the first place. Some of his offense didn't look great, sure, but I think it fit the gimmick and was even part of why the crowd was against him. Enough of it did look perfectly fine, though, and it was focused enough that it all worked for a vulnerable heel champ. He has a very measured pacing when he's on top but I think it works. The match is also a testament to just how good Tito was I think, and the special connection he had with the crowd. Total BS ending but the fans didn't even seem to care. They were just glad Tito won. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEaLBjImVtI Warning: Your announcers are Monsoon and Mike McGuirk, but they're not quite as bad as you'd expect. Also, this is no MOTY contender. It's a PTW match with a BS finish with a vulnerable heel champ vs a hot babyface tag team act who used to be a singles star. BUT if you watch this and still think that HTM could be the worst wrestler of all time, I would be very surprised.

Having seen a handful of high end Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada matches, I imagine I'll be closer to the low vote on them. I came out of those matches honestly liking Taue the best. I can't promise that though because there is an element of continuity and storytelling and build in there that i know I'm only scratching the surface on. It's something i know I'd appreciate but the idea of watching more matches with those guys to fully grasp it is nothing I'm looking forward to.

I'll do my due diligence on Baba later. I've seen the 1990 Demolition match and maybe one or two singles. That's it.

Jericho talked to someone about that on his podcast recently. I can't remember who, Trips maybe? And the main thing was "storytelling," with both of them indicating that they really knew nothing until getting to WWE.

Ladd is a guy that I know I like a lot, but I couldn't entirely point to matches to show you why.