Matt D

Like when he ate all the secondary and tertiary belts.

I should have gone with Butch Reed/Buddy Landell too. Ah well. B-Sides choices: Thomas Rich/Richard Morton The Flame and Bullet Bob Adonis/Ron Starr John Tatum/Rod Price Black Bart/Ron Bass

Currently, in no order. Bock/Saito Blanchard/Arn Eaton/Arn Demolition Rose/Wiskoski But ask me again in six months and you'll get completely different answers.

They're setting up a Rose/Piper cage match with some great promos including one where Piper slams a beer bottle into his own head. I don't know if we have that match. They ran it for a bunch of towns it seemed, but maybe not for TV. There's also a Rose vs Bastien hair match we seem to be missing. Ah well. Rose/Sheepherders vs Martel/Stasiak/Yaki Joe - 2/3 Falls - Dec 21, 1979 No idea who Yaki Joe is, but i'm expecting some fun FIP stuff with Martel here. Martel vs Rose is immediately exciting. Very few guys we've seen are able to really go with Rose. Martel can and they do a lot of quick shine stuff including a straight up 'rana. It's amazing how great a babyface Martel was, even this early with certain things. Luke and Martel do a test of strength but Williams slowly angles him into his own corner allowing Rose to tag in and take over on Martel for a minute until Martel fires back with Buddy selling huge for everything Martel does. Martel has a pretty good atomic elbow smash and it's a shame he got rid of it. Tag in to Yaki Joe and no one eats wrenching headlocks like Buddy, though Luke, who ends up in eating them too, does a great frazzled flop afterwards. This entire shine is basically the fans counting along to wrenching headlocks, with a few heel cheaty hope spots and a huge highspot of Rose coming into interfere and eating a Martel 'rana while he holds onto Williams with the headlock. I love how the Sheepherders beg off. Finally the heels swarm and start to work over Martel again. Martel's a dervish with his hope spots and the fans really react. A lot of times he flies too far or over positions and the heels capitalize on his over-exuberance due to superior ring positioning. Buddy's flying back elbow is really nice. They do Barr missing a tag due to heel interference in a headlock which I haven't seen much if at all in my 70s Portland watching. They draw out the hope spots until Martel flies across the ring for a great hot tag to Stasiak, who tosses Buddy into the corner pole and gets in a quasi heart punch. Joe comes in and does some pretty lame chops that Buddy sell like death and looks actively lost once before stumbling into the heel corner, getting swamped til he rolls to a hot tag to Stasiak who is frigging awesome with his crazy old man fire. They keep having him bear hug the heels until interference knocks him out from behind for the first fall. Second fall starts with the heels getting Stasiak in their corner and pummelling with quick tags and keeping him in the corner until he fights out. Martel's pretty good cheerleading on the apron until he gets the tag. They're building up Martel to wrestle Harley in January. He trades slams with Buddy with Buddy bumping huge for him on one. At first glance Yaki Joe is not very good but he does sell the shoulder well after running limply into the corner. Heels work over the arm. The best part is Buddy holding onto a wristlock as he eats chops from Joe. It makes me want to see Wahoo vs Buddy from this era. Martel rushes in but only allows the heels to triple team. Then they do a heatless out of nowhere tag to Stasiak which could have been built up a lot better. I blame Joe here. Martel comes out of nowhere with a sunset flip from the outside to give the faces the second fall. This was all a bit rushed at the end. Rose cheapshots Joe between falls and Stasiak chases him back which is a fun little bit of chaos to switch things up. Williams really goes over for Martel's armdrags, as does Buddy (Miller, not as much). They're doing a great job making Martel look good here. One thing I love about Buddy in tag matches is the way he always seems like a threat when he's on the outside. He'll just run from off the screen and do an attack out of nowhere. It backfires here though and the faces work over Williams, including a cool double atomic noogie to the temples by Yaki Joe. We get a FIP on Joe here, with the heels just goozling him in their corner until Rose capitalizes on a missed hope spot with endless knees to the spine and an assisted backbreaker. I love how inevitable Buddy's finishing stretch is, especially when they play with it in some of the bigger matches. Here, though, he just plows through Joe with the Robinson backbreaker and that's it. The story here is that the double backbreaker (basically a backbreaker on a Sheepherder's knee on the outside) was just that devastating. Well, Yaki Joe sure isn't very good. Martel showed some really great flashes here. I liked him a lot more than in the singles match i saw. Being in a tag team is a great place for him to be at this point in his career.

They would have found a way to use Miz to make money in Memphis

Buddy Rose vs Jim Gagne - Dec 1, 1979 - 1 Fall So in between there was a great angle where Buddy runs in to interfere in a Sheepherders vs Piper/Stasiak title match and just mauls Piper's eye again AND an angle where he burns the kilt. I have zero idea who Jim Gagne is. He has a mustache. He is not related to Verne. Buddy starts out with some escapes only to get outclassed, including Gagne doing a flip with Sandy Barr's help. he keeps going back to the headlock/chinlock as a base, with Buddy escapes only to miss a move and end up right back in it. We've seen this a few times from Buddy but certainly not every week and it's always entertaining. Gagne is actually fairly athletic in a world's best Buck Zumhoffe sort of way. At least he's really working the headlock. The headlock grind is something that really got lost as they went into the 80s and it's a shame. Buddy hits a belly to back which is definitely the best transition in a headlock-driven match. Buddy is selling the headlocks great. He's even selling them with his hair. after a slam he locks on an over the shoulder backbreaker, which is something I've not seen out of him but he can't hold it and gagne fights back immediately, even selling the back. Gagne's offense in the corner is pretty good and his dropkick is okay. Buddy sells a kneelift for him like it's a decapitation. Maybe Gagne is more of a poor man's Mike Jackson instead? Anyway, He goes for a monkey flip in the corner. Rose blocks it. He lands on his back and Rose takes over, honing in. Gagne makes a comeback, and goes for another headlock. Buddy turns it into the inside backbreaker and there's the match. Good stuff with a very simple story but well-worked. I'll take good logical wrestling anyday.

I think there was sort of a boyhood dream element with the Miz that they could have played up and didn't. It's also that he won it using the MITB briefcase in a bs manner. He also worked his way up from the tag belts to the mid-level belts, to winning it. In context it's not as bad as "Reality star wins title!"

High Spots.

Next time I buy a wrestling comp, it's that Bock on Tour one Bix apparently did that they mention at the end of that note.

Greg Gagne is so much better than Van Dam that it's not even funny.

Part of me thinks Cesaro gets it. He has the manager. He just survived the depush. He's got the buzz. He'll be super over in Philly.

So apparently, Bryan has a licensing deal with Norelco now. Good for him. Who would have thunk it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLkfoexDkk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6-VigLpeuo

I kind of like the Usos getting the Faces of Fear vs the NWO push. Of course, they're really not the Faces of Fear. And Christian/Ambrose is one of the most fun match-ups WWE could give us right now, so I'd be perfectly okay with that, long-term booking be damned.

That's where Vader's Castle is.

How dangerous is Bryan's diving headbutt longterm?

you should at least do the crazy first crash tv episode of Nitro with all the debuts.

And we have Rick Martel. Not a great promo yet by any means, but then he never was. Story is that the Sheepherders hurt him in New Zealand 8 months ago and he's in for revenge. For those keeping track, Stasiak did beat Buddy in the taped fist match so he got his revenge in the blow off even though Buddy now has the title. This is why this booking is endlessly better than the AWA stuff from the 80s. Rose/Sheepherders vs Piper/Bass/Savage 2/3 Falls - Nov 24, 1979 The Army has matching Green military jackets and Buddy has a whistle. Buddy is decked out as a Kiwi and they make a big deal about this. Immediate story is Buddy dodging Piper, so when he gets a quick hit in after some rope running with Savage the crowd pops. Heels take a powder. Good back and forth shine stuff with Williams and Bass. I like how much of a presence Buddy and Butch have on the outside; Bass really has to keep his eyes on him. Heels try a blind tag but Buddy gets nailed by Savage for his trouble and Piper tags in, causing Buddy to run again. Mini transition is great. Piper leaves Miller to hit Rose on the apron and while he gets a good pop for it, he also lets Miller take over on him. Buddy keeps trying to get cheapshots from the outside as they work on Piper but either Piper fights back or Dutch comes along. Finally Buddy comes in as piper is hurting and hits a great flying back elbow and then an equally good elbow drops, but then puts his head down and gets nailed. They cut off the hot tag with a quick heel tag. Heels are working over the injured eye and keeping Piper in their corner. They're really drawing out this face in peril, with Piper getting a lot of great comebacks. When he finally gets to Savage the place comes unglued. The faces clear house including a nearfall that Buddy breaks up after a Bass bulldog. Piper comes back in too early and is the victim of a pulled down rope and then a Sheepherder pile-driver for the first fall. Good action. Piper has to start the second fall and gets overwhelmed but Rose hits Miller by accident. It's enough for Piper to get his head back and punch-scare Buddy back to his corner to get the tag to Savage. We get a fun heel-in-peril tease as Savage distracts the ref and they try to maul Buddy in their corner. Rose takes some damage until he can atomic drop Savage and get to his corner. It's a little back and forth with the big moment being Buddy going for another pile driver but getting back body dropped, which builds up to the hot tag. Pretty back and forth stuff here as the heels keep using teamwork to take back over on the faces, including a heat segment on Bass' back, which the fans absolutely know is the set up for The Robinson Backbreaker. Roseinstead wants to be a dick and goes for a bulldog of his own on Bass but gets tossed off into the turnbuckle and then power bodyslammed for the second fall. Again, Rose is years above his time with the sort of finishing stealing set ups to finishes. Third fall begins with a bunch of stooging. Rose has to start the fall and he refuses to. Rose can't tag til physical contact is made and Bass taunts him to do just that. It doesn't go well for Buddy as we get some comedy heel miscommunication with Bass taunting them. This is a fun call back since Bass turned after miscommunication with Rose a year or two before. There's a fun celebratory mood from the faces here, which sort of makes sense because they just won the second fall. It's certainly not as much of a blood feud as the start of the match with Rose/Piper made it seem like it'd be, but it has the faces making the heels look like asses so it works. This ends with the Sheepherders getting pissed off and choking the hell out of Bass. We get the sort of headlock/toss off/collision that Dylan hates for the tag. Savage gets drawn right into the corner and things break down with the heels able to double team while the faces are getting pulled out which ends with the pin. I suppose you can say that the faces got a bit too lackadaisical at the end and they lost because of that but there wasn't quite a story throughline here. It was still fun though.

Poor Tyson Kidd. If only he wasn't injured.

Yes, those weekly TNA PPVs are great. Highly Enjoyable. You'll love them. You should watch them all. Then start on GLOW.

As a match, it wasn't great. There were things I liked. Teasing the Bodyslam is a pretty good match story and makes for a fun transition or two. Yoko's cut-offs are great as always. I really liked the transition with the ringpost and Luger's comeback after that. Lawler was pretty fun on commentary. Perfect got a great ovation when he came out. Way too resthold-y though. I understand why it was like that but it hurt the match.

Rose vs Stasiak - 11/17/79 - 2/3 Falls I've really liked their last two matches so I've high hopes for this. Buddy comes out (after a brief prayer) swinging, including a few fun jabs at Barr. He takes a powder and the mind games are on. Opening segment is based around a full nelson with Buddy doing some of his trademark shtick but also getting some more marks than usual for successful wrestling. Buddy does well for a bit through hook or crook but gets shown up. There's a great little hip top point-counterpoint (with a block) spot where Stan just blasts him in the ribs before Buddy hits the outside again. Buddy goes for an arm but Stasiak does a goofy little kip up followed by a B+ for Effort dropkick. Buddy finally drags him below the bottom rope and starts to punch, maul, and bite. Buddy's targeting a gash here, just choking and biting. Stasiak gets some punches back though and Buddy sells it like a Punch Out Character before getting tossed over. Part of why I love Buddy vs Stan so much is how great Buddy makes Stasiak's punches look. This is for the belt so there's a real sense of desperation out of Buddy that's appreciated, and that's even before Stan goes for the heart punch which Buddy scrambles out of. Stan is all over Buddy with huge punches including a haymaker out of the corner to the chest. He lifts him up, heart punch, first fall. Good stuff with Buddy really being logical, vicious, and desperate in his tactics only to get totally overwhelmed by Stan but in a believable way that only helps describe why he was going to such lengths in the first place. Buddy sells the heart punch between falls and tapes up his left fist as well. They have the taped fist match ahead of them still but when sandy goes to take it off (as it's illegal in a title match) Buddy feigns an injury. Buddy stalls big until Sandy just lets him go with it. This goes on and on but Buddy is pretty damn funny in it, pissing off both Stasiak and the crowd plenty until he finally draws Stan in for a cheap shot to the stomach that keels him right over. Buddy tries to convince Barr that he kicked him and the question of whether the hand is loaded enters into things. Stan comes back in and starts working over the hand. Buddy keeps trying to convince the crowd that he's not hurt when he spent so long convincing everyone he was. Great stuff. Stasiak nails Buddy with some more great punches before Buddy gets him in the midsection again. Stasiak gets up a keeps using the side-headlock/punch combo while doing all he can not to let Buddy get that punch in. Everytime they get some distance Buddy nails him in the midsection though. This is simple stuff but very well executed. They go so far as to have Barr keep trying to block Buddy's punch during a King of the Mountain. The gimmicked hand is really over as a threat at this point. It pays off perfectly as Stan comes back in and blocks the KO punch, hammering back a few times til Buddy nails a left out of nowhere for the second fall. Third fall starts with Stasiak's right hand taped. They start out boxing on the idea that both guys' have one hand that'll be instant death and whoever gets the first punch in will be golden. Buddy gets Stan in the ribs first with some cheapshots and we get a rare Portland chinlock with the idea that Buddy is just containing this deadly weapon here. Stan works the position though until he can get one taped fist punch to the leg to get out. Buddy sells it like death. Rose comes back in they tease a Stasiak punch but Buddy runs for it. This time Stan follows him out and nails him on the ring post though. Buddy comes back in with color and we get a KOTM segment where Stasiak keeps nailing Buddy with his taped fisted when he tries to come in. The crowd is loving this especially after he chases him out and pummels. They both end up on the apron with Stan just destroying Buddy as the ref counts. Finally, he gets the heart punch on the apron but Buddy falls through the ropes into the ring and beats the count. It's the most awesome bullshit title change ever. The sheepherders come out an drape the belt over reeling Buddy. This was great both as a match on its own and like almost every single match we've seen in 79 as a match to build smartly to the live show on Tuesday. I don't know if there's ever been a wrestler at building to a life card than Buddy. Even Lawler sort of pales in comparison to this stuff.

I don't think that's where goc was coming from though. I certainly think a MMA fan who's come over due to Lesnar would have a problem with it. That's possible. I think it's true with casual fans as well. I think very few of the core WWE viewing audience, young or old, would have a problem with it. Maybe they should throw out more packages of Punk fighting larger guys as part of the hype for this for the people that haven't been following along, or even put him over Clay/Tensai/Khali/etc as a tweener in the lead up to this?

I do more or less accept S.L.L.'s input as reasonable here and appreciate that I am taking a fairly extreme view. I just don't have much of a gap between those moments. Maybe it's because I don't really watch in a group anymore. Not sure. Most of our discussions here are highly analytical though. In fact my only reason to doubt Punk at all in this role is how he was booked in the last few months in his reign, which has nothing to do with his physical appearance.

So Hunter's new gimmick is hilarious. He goes around on television and passive aggressively tells everyone that the product is meh.

And at the level people examine and discuss this stuff here, is that us? I mean if it is, more power to you, because you can appreciate things on a level I can't really tap into anymore. I'm just not sure how to even discuss that as a personal talking point. We could as a general one.