Matt D

Why the hell did Tatum never make it?

Current Guys Who I am Looking Forward to Seeing More Of (in the stuff I am watching now): Nick Bockwinkel: The AWA set really opened my eyes. He basically does almost everything I like in wrestling. He works smart AND hard. There's consequence to just about everything he does and reason behind just about everything. No two Bock matches are the same. When he needs to be intense, he can be intense. When he needs to stooge, he stooges. When he needs to sell, he sells. Just a brilliant worker and there are still so many matches of his I haven't seen yet. Bret Hart: I've seen a ton of Bret, but very little from 93-96. I'm midway through 93 now and he's had SUCH a year. Three Bam Bam matches. The Perfect vs Luger/Ramon tag. The surprisingly good Flair ironman. The Luger singles. The Perfect match. The Yoko cage. The Backlund match. Etc. etc. Great year so far, and there are some Lawler fancams and unaired matches upcoming that I can't wait to see. Bret is really a wrestler I take for granted. Daniel Bryan: Speaking of great years. He's hit that point where he's practically bulletproof. He gets over in comedy segments. He can be put into a match against anyone on the roster and be legitimate. The crowd loves him and he has bits that are completely interactive. Everything he did all year turned to gold. They can do almost anything with him and it'll be great, so yeah, i can't wait to see what 2013 looks like for him. Buddy Rose: Alright, I'm not really at a point where I'm regularly watching Buddy matches but it's great to know there's so much out there I haven't seen yet and I loved him so much on the AWA set. So at some point soon I'll more actively seek them out. Probably more Jumbo matches too, but that's beside the point. Matt Borne: There are a few stories of 1993 WWF, but one of them is absolutely Borne as Doink. The Perfect series, the two Jannetty Matches, The quick Backlund Match. The MSG Waltman match. The really fun Money Inc/Doink vs Steiners/Tatanka tag. I've seen my share of Big Josh but I've never seen any Borne in Texas and I mean to check out some of that at some point.

Lex and Arn have a really great chemistry in that match.

Would it be too inflammatory to say that Dave has a history of that?

No, seriously, Nord had a hugely varied offense for a 91 WWF heel, would bump so huge, especially for a guy his size, but not in a way that took you out of the match since he was usually in there against big guys like Davey Boy, had this crazy manic energy to him that Brody wishes he had.

I want to call it the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl Award

From listening to way too many shoots, guys seem to like him because he stood up against promoters so much AND helped them stand up against promoters and/or taught them normative things when not a lot of other guys were willing to.

I frigging love 91-92 John Nord

Taylor had a very strong 1991

In some ways isn't that more impressive since he has less of the country's top talent to work with?

Damn it Dylan, your facts are getting in the way of my nice, clear point again.

Are there any PWI pics of Jake as Santa from Florida?

Are there any PWI pics of Jake as Santa from Florida?

God yes. I talk about how much I like what I've seen of Bock in the 80s and i fully believe that I probably would like it more than Bock in the 70s. I was just saying this to Dylan the other day. The match of Bockwinkel's I like the least on the AWA set is the Verne match from 80 or so where he was going all out and bumping huge for the boss. Super energetic, and I have no use for it. When guys are forced not to rely on their athleticism, then you see if they are really great wrestlers or not.

I liked what I saw of Jumbo on the AWA set and against some other AWA guys from that period. He seemed to be trying hard to play against type and I think it worked better than other people did.

Really quite good late WWF Duggan match most people haven't seen:

I really do like wrestling. It's hard for me to find a ton of guys who aren't already on our "list." You guys see me when I go. I'm pretty gung ho about trying to like most things that I see.

I find it funny that we have so opposite a view of analyzing wrestling. It's not like we can't generally have conversations with each other either. I care most about trends over a large number of matches and elements to be found when matches are pulled apart. A segment in a match might mean far more to me than the match itself. And that same sort of segment done differently over a number of matches would mean more to me than the matches themselves. Sorry. It just struck me as interesting.

Does anyone like Raven in ring? I think maybe 1-2 people on the board do. I frigging love Levy in Memphis in 93 on interview/commentary. He's hilarious. I really like the Levy/Sullivan shoot too since he's such a fan of Sullivan and it shows.

Presumably, this is sort of a self-aware/PWO Conventional Wisdom thing thing, so we're not all going to go "I DON'T LIKE DAVEY RICHARDS" as if that's a big deal. Likewise Demolition since a few of us are outliers there. Granted, some of that makes it tough. And then there are levels. I think Flair's great. I just don't like him as the GOAT. For instance. It doesn't mean he's not great at what he does and that what he does isn't very impressive. I don't think the Steiners early 90s stuff has aged very well. OR are we all on the same page with that now?

Agreed, but did Super Astro ever use his as an offensive move? I feel like it'd be unfair to hold Rey to the same standard because he can't go as hard and fast as possible with it without risking kicking the other guy's head in. I like a lot of 1990s WWF, and I don't know why the spot where one guy jumps from the second turnbuckle onto the other guy's outstretched foot had the longevity that it did. It was a near religious moment when I saw a match in 89 where Tully actually hit a second rope axe-handle onto a prone guy.

I've seen a decent amount of Murdoch and I'm not sure I've seen a match I'd consider Lazy. I know the mindset's been around forever. Are there token matches people point to or is it just sort of a "Well, those weren't taped of course, but Dave saw four house show matches in 1983" thing.

I tend to agree though I do admit that a lot of his early match work has teases and attempts but I do find them logical enough, and clever.

The whole thing with the 619 isn't the actual 619 but the set ups. When you actually watch Rey's matches, you see that his entire gameplan is to get his opponents into that position. It's strategy, not powerbombing kidman or whatever. He has matches built around that.

Aw, you didn't include the hype promo for Summerslam where all the wrestlers come down from the crowd with tiny American flags and Yokozuna covers his ears. The best part of that is Rick Steiner and the Bushwhackers interacting