Matt D

One of the best sellers of all time and selling is the most important part of wrestling, so…

I'm prioritizing Bryan's pre-wwe work right now but I'll double back and hit some of his WWE run in the next two years (it seems like so long ago that he wrestled). I could probably find my own complaints on the board if I search hard enough though. EDIT: A quick search shows that I did note it during the EC this year.

I want to learn more about a Iowa based territory's US Champ called The Viking

I haven't seen enough of Bryan right before he joined WWE, but I wonder if he wasn't better in 2008 than he was in 2013-14. The reason I say that is not that he had more room to breathe or anything, but instead that he might have cut out an element of his selling when he started to move towards the top of the card in order to seem more credible as a main eventer. I do think there has been pretty big flaws in his selling over the last year, year and a half, and I don't think that showed up in his older work. Anyone with me on this?

It could be that Benjamin was just terrible. I really hate that Jericho KOTR match too though.

During his ECW run, he was MUCH more likely to have a good match with someone like Kane who would rein him in than someone like Jericho or Benjamin.

I always had the sense that the crowd really felt like he was kindred to them in 91, one of their own.

I'll say that maybe my Bock theory plays into my other crazy theories.

PWO will probably keep Patera on the ballot.

I think Bock is better when not working Verne or Hogan. I liked Bock the least the earliest on the AWA set. That I'll say. It's not exactly what you're saying.

Bock is just that good.

The Rude on Regis clip is on youtube and I meant to watch it yesterday because it was mentioned on WWE countdown but I haven't gotten to it yet.

What the hell happened to Al Issacs anyway?

There was huge hype for that, even casual hype. I wasn't watching at all in 1996 but I still watched that in scramble vision.

My criteria ("Mastery (and the proof of such)" ironically, which is different than "skill") probably allows for me to include him. I have a lot more wrestling watching to do before I could tell you if I do.

That Finlay match is awesome. It's a really, really good limb vs limb sort of match. If the finish built into it just a little more it'd be one of the best matches I've seen from the last few years. As it is, it was really good. Finlay is amazing at doing all the little things. He sells his arm consistently throughout. He is so good at little leverage moves. He'll grab a nerve lock just for a half second to immobilize Thatcher so he can lock on a chinlock again since that's what he was working. The way he reaches around to kick the leg out when he's trapped in the corner is such a small thing but it's almost breathtaking. And god does he grind down on everything. He does the broad things well too. Someone in the crowd asked him to work the knee, so he jokes about it and when he finally does go for it, there's a pop. Then the guy asks him to work the triceps and he tells him to shut up. Thatcher plays his part too (he told the guy not to give Finlay ideas). i love how he never quite gets on the arm submission he wants. He sells the leg like a champ. When they're working holds, anytime Finlay hits a kick or something to loosen the hold, he does a great, realistic job of switching positions to prevent him from doing it again. I wish the camera view was closer so we could see him emote a bit more. Anyway, they had some good parallel spots and so many of the small transitions were based around the limbwork and the selling. It only ever picked up a few times but they paced it extremely well, and the finish built off of previous spots (and character based ones in the corner) but not quite enough. I didn't get why he didn't go for the crossarmbreaker one last time after Finlay hurt his shoulder in the corner. Instead, hurt leg and all, he went up to the second rope and paid for it with the match. Past that the thing was really enjoyable. Everyone should watch it.

Is this guy a Vader stand in?

I think I'm not going to revisit it. I was at Royal Rumble 2003. I gave Benoit the standing ovation. At the time, I felt very lucky that I got to see it live. I'm pretty sure I'd despise the thing now. I'll just let that one lay. I still need to watch those Angle vs Henry matches though. I'm actually pretty interested in watching Angle vs WRESTLERS I LIKE AND WILL PROBABLY MAKE MY LIST as well as RVD vs WRESTLERS I LIKE AND WILL PROBABLY MAKE MY LIST just to see how different wrestlers deal with the challenge of them.

Alright, so it looks like 2006 has more of the stuff I'll track down. Thanks.

Given the dates, that list doesn't really have the guys I'm most interested in watching and that might make my list, like Sting (who is a long shot), Jeff Hardy (again, something of a long shot), and Christian. I'll have to do diligence on Styles and Aries, at least; that I admit, but I can't really imagine most of the X-Division mainstays getting much traction since I'm not a big fan of what I've seen or the style. I did see the Storm vs Harris death match at the urging of Stacy and some people on DVDVR and while it wasn't perfect, I still enjoyed it a lot. That's got to be the best TNA match I ever saw as of now, at least. In general, I get the feeling from TNA (and from what people so often highlight and suggest and hold as the best matches) that if you're not a fan of the X-Division style (or Jarrett BS main events), you're sort of out of luck, which I just can't imagine can be completely true for a promotion that's had so many years and so much TV.

You guys missed the memo. The new argument for Sting is that he influenced John Cena's haircut. Cena said as much a few weeks ago on Countdown.

What's his drawing record past his big GA run? You'd count his heel work in Memphis (both runs I guess), but what else? Also, how long was the GA run?

I am going to make sure to watch pretty much every match in this note, that included. Glad you liked the AAA trios. I went nuts for the masks reversal.

Is this a New Breed thing?

Is that another name for Diamond Dust or something?