Matt D

Bob Backlund vs. Larry Zbyszko MD: This is definitely a Matt D match: wrestled title style with compelling matwork and chain wrestling to start, full of emotional selling (from Zbyszko who almost didn't stall enough to create the proper payoffs in the early going, but that was 100% on in every moment of the match), a good heel control segment (including a mini-King of the Mountain where Larry just crushed Backlund's head on the apron with a knee and well-worked, if not at all over, heel headlocks), and some callback spots in the comeback (both a revenge pile driver and face splitter/twister). It could have used some more compelling transitions, a babyface that the fans actually wanted to get behind (though most of the stuff Backlund actually did was spot on), and a finish which wasn't so damn AWA. It never wore out its welcome and it was a good Zbyzsko showcase. You watch this and you wonder, once again, at the idea that Backlund was WWWF champ for so long. Even when he's good, which is often, he comes off as such a goof. I will say this, no other combination in the world could have delivered an atomic drop quite as good as these two. Freebirds vs. High Flyers/Tonga Kid MD: This was a unique match up, at least. This was a pretty weird Pro Wrestling USA. Instead of JCP, you get the Samoans and the proto-Islanders and Backlund. It makes sense for the Meadowlands, I guess? This was the footage shown in Highlander, by the way, and you get a zooming camera over the top of the action sometimes. More on the overall camera work later. This was a fun novelty, but I don't think ever really reached any level of greatness. Tonga was legitimately over and his initial exchange with Hayes, with them trading moonwalks, was memorable. Brunzell looked like a world-beater in the shine (thanks mainly to Gordy's basing). Maybe they went heel-in-peril a little bit long, but all the faces had to get a moment and the Freebirds were great stooges. They had a little heat segment on Brunzell and a longer one on Gagne. The crowd wanted Tonga back in but that didn't 100% translate to getting behind Gagne. I thought camera angle from ringside sort of hurt this. Gagne already wrestles at odd angles, but now we were seeing things from odd angles as well. Usually that doesn't bug me but here it took me out of the match. It was the usual elaborate High Flyers build to a hot tag, but maybe they could have removed a wrinkle, even if Gordy's side slam and especially Budro's bulldog looked great. The crowd came unglued for Tonga but then the ref threw it all out a minute too early and it was a lot less satisfying than if he had just waited for the chairs to come in or if it was worked towards a twenty minute draw since that's exactly as long as it went anyway. PAS: This had a bunch of fun moments, but never really came together as a great match. I really enjoyed Tonga Kid, he had some flash which as much as like the High Flyers, they clearly lack. His pop and lock response to Micheal Hayes's moonwalk was the high light of the match. I think Gagne is a good wrestler, but he clearly didn't connect to a Jersey crowd which hadn't been following his family for years. I thought the Freebirds were cool, but this wasn't one of their most energetic performances, finish really was terrible, this match was too long to build to a lame cop-out like that. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/07/new-footage-friday-slaughter-kamala.html

More than five, less than ten thousand?

Never apologize for bumping a Steve Grey thread.

I'm a step further, myself. I'd watch all the TV, complain about people who would just watch Takeovers and try to comment without seeing the build, and thus miss nuance, etc. Now I'm not even watching the takeovers, and I'm only haphazardly coming across the spoilers a couple of days after tapings.

Look, Vince paid a lot of money and made that US Airlines thing go away.

Can we roll back around and regroup on what shows we have good reason to think WWE has that we haven't seen yet. Boogie Jam was definitely one and now we have it. There are the other Crockett Cups, potentially KOTR 86 from the Harley tribute footage (but man I'd much rather they have 85). What else?

So, knowing WWE as I do, I could see them doing some big Undisputed Era vs NXT Champion Alumni (Seth/Finn/Some Other Babyface Like Big E) tag. And calling it a day.

Also, Regal becoming king totally heated him up. It was tied to the Raw where he shut the power off to end the show.

Anyone except for Corbin, Drew, or Elias would potentially be interesting as a winner. That means it's absolutely one of those three guys.

I can't find the thread on this but it looks like Lawler's taken his classic wrestling hosting to youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_bxosJoZaVZCxJ3AQOhdrQ/videos No idea if anything new will pop up here or not.

Look, if people aren't checking out New Footage Fridays on Segunda Caida, I can't be held responsible.

It's new. You've missed the entire Japanese handheld boom.

I mainly meant as the main title holder.

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/08/new-footage-friday-boogie-jam.html?m=1

And it's really cool. Definitely the best look at Babyface Greg we'll ever get.

Look pal, Let's not go do crazy things like bump a three and a half year old Russo thread.

I always assume Jetlag can speak 7 languages myself.

In 2019, the line between creator and audience is definitely thinner than ever. I think we see all the time writers/artists/etc. interacting with fan questions and complaints. I'm not sure we see it with actors quite as much. Wrestling is a fairly unique art form where the performer is involved in the creative element of a match, the actual performance of the match, though not necessarily the result or some of the broad strokes. They have corporate oversight. I think about comic books where a writer might have a corporate mandate but craft a lot of the broad creative strokes, then execute those, but they're not actually portraying the characters in question. If you have a writer/director/actor all in one for a movie or TV show, you might get that, but I can think of few cases personally along those lines. The way Stephen Amell interacts with his fans sort of comes to mind? I don't think it's a black and white situation. I do feel that pro wrestling is fairly unique and presents unique challenges. I know what I'd prefer personally, but we are in a different world in this age of social media with different fans and potential fans who interface with the world in a different way.

I wouldn't call that lashing out.

What if the choices were Ziggler or Seth?

The answer is Shane.

Kevin Smith films.

Around here we call this "selling."

Back to parenting here. We've got more Chamber of Secrets to read.

That was the best possible version of that match. Which is saying a lot because they don't often manage the best possible version of anything these days.