Matt D

I bet we could get Naimark to write something on the physics of the Irish Whip.

I bet if they let Enzo and Cass do their full entrance on the way to the ring in Philly they'd be super over as a lot of that crowd will have seen NXT.

I'm counting being on top in 02-03 when business really dropped off.

So he has at least two bad runs as a draw? Out of what? Three? Four?

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18026-sting-vs-black-scorpion-nwa-starrcade-121690-cage-match/

I really don't think we have to worry much about that on this site. For one thing, we're pretty heavy on having each other back up what they say (even if not unkind about it MOST of the time). For another, everyone's put a lot of thought into this. That's obvious so far. Most of us know each other and our tastes fairly well by now. Also, look at how the WKO list is received on the rest of the net. The second that El Satanico beats Shawn Michaels or even Davey Richards there'll be a ton of people who will dismiss this out of hand. Screw 'em.

The 60s and early 70s feel like such a black hole when it comes to the physical prime of certain guys.

Their best series is with the Nasty Boys in the winter of 92-93. The Natural Disasters had better matches with the Beverly Brothers.

AJPW: Hansen/Ron Bass vs Jumbo/Tenryu 4/6/85 I'm looking at these as individual performances right now for the GOAT. I can't help it. I haven't seen much of anyone but Bass. Isn't that funny? Jumbo - He'd developed a bit more into grumpy Jumbo by now? He was a definite force whenever he came into the ring, with my favorite parts the big face off vs Hansen early and the begging off by Bass (which felt earned) after the "hot tag." Tenryu - Spirited FIP, great timed back brain kick at a key moment. I need to see more. Bass - Kind of hilarious. He was blown up for 90% of the match, but damn it if he didn't handle it well. He went into rest holds but they were fairly gritty. He toughed it out and ran into shots when he had to. He did BS on the outside when he was called upon it. He made smart, believable tags when on top. And when Jumbo came in and he begged off, you believed him. Hansen: His intensity was amazing. He made a headlock feel like a high spot. That's not even hyperbole. The speed that he cut the distance and drove his opponent down had that effect. That said, every time he came in, it was with that speed, and he'd keep rolling with it, into a pinfall and then into whatever went next. It all looked great, but since nothing ever breathed, nothing really mattered. In some ways, Bass' lack of stamina was the heart of the match, because he had to slow things down which helped everything resonate. I was really surprised by how go-go-go Hansen's dominance felt. Everything looked good and was credible because of what he put behind it but actually pausing to let Tenryu sell would have helped the narrative of the match immensely.

Jarrett/Brown vs Christian/Sting - Final Resolution (?) Let me put it this way. I don't think it's worth looking up when this was. As far as I can tell, I think it was Sting's first TNA match and he was fine. Christian was fine. Brown wasn't even that bad, but my god, if you wanted to define the stink of TNA this would be a good match to find it, and frankly, I think it's not even that bad an offender. The first ten minutes of the match are fine with a nice little shine where Sting got to hit some stuff, a good FIP on Christian though I get the feeling that he didn't QUITE have the real polish he'd develop over the next year or two yet. Little choices seemed slightly off here and there (the one that comes to mind was a pretty poor looking ddt/final shot combo that was just ill conceived, but the timing on his hot tag could have been better too; some of that isn't him). But the back third? Oh man. They put in some really fun flourishes like Christian using the Stinger splash or both of them hitting their reverse ddts at the same time on team canada who interfered. It felt a little like Edge teaming with Hogan in that regard. And SOME of the BS was okay (like the aforementioned Team Canada destruction) but a lot of it was just brutal and went on way too long. Jarrett could only tap (with the ref out) after reaching the rope on the Deathlock (the ref bump lasted forever by the way). In a tag match. Against the big new icon you're bringing back. And that was just the tip of the iceberg with all the interference bs and overbooking. I will say this. Sting felt so iconic that it sort of worked. Him hitting the guitar with the bat felt like a real moment. He just had a crazy presence to everything else going on. Christian was fine and he was able to make himself feel, if not on Sting's level, at least able to be in the ring with him, but this whole thing was a mess by the end.

There are a lot of words to describe RE but I'm not "strategic" would be one of them.

Ok now show them Onita, Hogan, Cena, Satanico, and Flair/Steamboat vs Arn/Larry and report back with your findings.

Are you only into post modern wrestling structures or something? EDIT: I don't mean that in a hostile way, either. I'm honestly curious.

"Big match feel" is probably the single least important metric in wrestling to me. I do think that sometimes Cena is a wrestler who believes that the best creative choices to make for the moment and the crowd aren't necessarily the ones that'd lead to the best match.

I think Honky might be a guy deserving of reevaluation to be honest. A lot of the traditional strikes against him seem to be workrate-heavy ones. I'd be curious how some of his vulnerable heel champ shtick aged.

I'm looking to maybe go to the Rumble. I haven't been to a wrestling show in ten years and not to a PPV since Rumble 02. Just looking at the way the board is set up right now, I think there's a pretty good chance I get SOMETHING memorable.

By definition I don't think either TNA or ROH could be considered indies. They're both corporately owned. You could say that there's Coke and then there's OK Cola though.

It seems like too much to ask for Murdoch and Santana vs the Moondogs from 83. Asking for old man Murdoch vs Vampire Warrior seems way more reasonable.

How much foreign money does TNA take in? Is there any merchandising anymore? Action figures and video games seem so far back now.

Like I said, we're all going to be really freaking smart in a couple of years.

I want to see Murdoch vs Gangrel badly now.

I hated those brawls when I was 17-18 and just wanted to see cruiserweights and Danny Doring/Roadkill vs Nova/Chetti Movez matches. I can't wait to revisit them now.

Welcome Andy, Richard, and Lauren. Richard, definitely participate in the Buddy Rose Microscope note. I really want to get posting there again soon too (though the board reformat a few years ago sort of chopped up a lot of my older scribblings).

A few years ago, I blamed Watts for gutting the light heavyweight division by instituting the no top rope rule and trying to center it around Brad Armstrong. That probably wasn't fair.

Imagine having Dylan as an influence during your formative years. It's a wonder he's not posting from a jail cell. That said, Devon will be running this place in ten years.