Matt D

Anyone on/off for the week? I'll roll the dice later today.

They found a way to induct Omega seven times at once.

Pete's already lowered expectations on the Ladd vs Lothario match.

Joe gave me the Bret vs Dynamite match from Landover from 85. I'm sure I've seen it but not in the last ten years. I was glad to watch it it so close to Dynamite passing because frankly, the last dozen matches of his I've seen have frustrated me with him eating up the match in the least productive way. I liked this a lot. First of all, Bret's stalling at the beginning is great. They were going to give the fans something they weren't used to. The stalling created anticipation and the anticipation made that first bit of rope running mean all the more. When Dynamite finally caught him, I thought they went into the most dreaded of things, the babyface chinlock, a little too early, but it was probably to call Bret's big bump out of the ropes, so you can forgive it. There was also the snappiest snap suplex here. Bret took over with an eyerake but it was the great kneelift that cemented it. Dynamite was almost too over the top in the way he threw himself into bumps. Hell, I think he was half bumping himself on every offensive move too. It was striking even if it probably didn't help his longevity. Bret's control was brisk, precise, and didn't wear out its welcome. I really liked the callback spots both on the comeback and towards the finish (with Bret ducking down so that Dynamite bumped out of the ring). We basically miss the finish due to a replay but it does stand out that for the time, the things they chose to replay were just really quickly executed exchanges/moments. I loved Monsoon and Alfred here too. I hadn't heard them for a while and it's always a bit like going home. Towards the end, they were honestly getting excited at the kick outs, which you never, ever saw. Glad to have seen this again.

Are these matches all things that have been out there or are some of them new to us? https://www.facebook.com/pg/AJPWClassics/videos/?ref=page_internal

How many subs did MMC 2 ultimately have?

@joeg I'll give you a choice. The criminally underwatched Dibiase vs Hayes Glove on a Pole match from the Houston set: Or the recently unearthed Dibiase vs Tenryu 82 Carnival match.

I'm away for extended family in-law holiday drudgery this weekend but I do have the next pairings. Matt D joe g aaeo_ SirEdger NintendoLogic cad Headcheese boss rock Microstatistics> Jetlag > NotJayTabb (Microstatistics provides Jetlag. Jetlag provides NotJay. NotJay provides MS). Joe, I'll have something for you by tomorrow night. Sorry for the slight delay.

New Rule: If you fail to give your partner a match two weeks in a row, you're out for the next week. Remember, giving a partner a match ASAP is way more important than managing to get your review during the week. FYI, NotJayTabb and boss rock both wanted in so they ended up partnered this week. Anyone else want on/off for the reshuffle tomorrow?

Tragic story of excess, in and out of the ring. I'm glad he's no longer in pain.

Absolutely. Check your Messages..

CWF Mid-Atlantic: Cain Justice from Dominic Garrini from 2/25/17. Two years sounds about right for the last time I really jumped into CWF Mid-Atlantic. My Segunda Caida brethren watched this one and ranked it EPIC and have been high on Justice in general. I've seen nothing from either guy, though I'm pretty sure I heard Garrini on BTS. I don't know if I'd go quite as high on it as they did but, it was a very solid, I'd even say special, match between two talented guys who were still finding their way around the ring. There was so much talent, earnestness, and understanding of basic pro wrestling trappings here that the arguable flaws actually made the match work better. Garrini's ability to switch from one hold to the next was super smooth, just high-level limb manipulation. Justice not being quite as smooth played into a very clear story of the match, whether that was the intention or not. He was far more focused on containment, just keeping his head above water. There were times where Garrini would leave himself vulnerable in scoring a hold and Justice would capitalize with a different hold but it was never quite as flawless and he could never hold it for long. That's why he went to the stomp first and that's why he went to the arm-posting first. Honestly, I'm not sure Garrini would have ever gotten there on his own and maybe Justice would have gotten there even if he had been scoring better on points. It's partially why I would have totally bought Justice going to the ropes for leverage towards the end as a finish and why it made a dramatic half-second of a moment, really setting up the finish with the Triangle that Garrini couldn't hold. The last couple of minutes definitely worked. There were times where Garrini almost looked a little lost and times where Justice didn't quite burst into a move, but it felt accurate to who these guys were and where they were in their career and the match never lost focus because of it. I liked Garrini's visible frustration in something not going his way. Non-impacted selling is a big part of what draws a crowd in. If the wrestlers care, the crowd cares, and Garrini was able to portray that very well. On a process level, I'm curious how many of the counters they worked out ahead of time and how much of it was just shooting with conscious openings. The overall effect was good regardless and played into the story that they were telling, but I am curious how such a thing works in 2018 indies, even with guys with shoot or quasi-shoot backgrounds. Anyway, this was fun and I'm sort of curious to see where these two have progressed to now almost two years later.

For disclosure's sake, I've given aaeo_ the IWE six-man from 72 with Andre the Giant & Franz Van Buyten & Ali Bey vs Isamu Teranishi & Rusher Kimura & Thunder Sugiyama and he's given me CWF Mid-Atlantic: Cain Justice from Dominic Garrini from 2/25/17.

Following from here: Welcome to Secret Santo for the 2018 Holiday Season. Rules are as follows: 1. You let me know that you are in. 2. I use a randomizer to create pairs. 3. You do a modicum of research into your partner using the board and suggest a match. It should be something easily available and not of an unreasonable length. You guys can talk it over via PMs if you want. 4. Your partner selects a match for you. 5. Both of you take the week to watch and review the matches here or in its respective match thread. Because of the time limit, the sooner you guys get each other your matches, the better. 6. I reshuffle the deck and we do it again the following week. We do it until it's no longer working, but definitely though Xmas. From last time, what makes this work is threefold. First, take a couple of minutes and figure out who your partner is. Second, communicate: if you won't be able to watch your match during the week, just let everyone know. It's ok. Third, even if you can't watch your match, try to get your partner one as soon as possible. Easy stuff, right? And for week 1, the random pairings: 1. joeg Headcheese 2. Matt D aaeo_ 3. NintendoLogic Microstatistics 4. cad SirEdger Jetlag Doing it a bit differently this time. Since we have an odd number, there's a group of 3. I think the best way to do this as follows. cad will pick a match for Edger. Edger will pick a match for Jetlag. Jetlag will pick a match for cad. So go check out some of your partner's posts and pick a match ASAP. aaeo, I'll try to have a match by tonight for you. Thanks for participating, Matt

We're looking at nine people right now. That's not a bad number for at least a month of pairings. Still happy to have anyone else however. I'll start things off tomorrow so there's still time to jump in if you're interested and think you can manage the relatively small commitment.

There are a chunk of shows from that period in late 82 into 83 where I don't think we had received that many NWAonDemand matches. This is 16 mins, btw, and up now.

Alright guys, here we go. Secret Santo 2018-2019 is upon us. Welcome. The rules are simple: 1. You let me know that you are in. 2. I use a randomizer to create pairs. 3. You do a modicum of research into your partner using the board and suggest a match. It should be something easily available and not of an unreasonable length. You guys can talk it over via PMs if you want. 4. Your partner selects a match for you. 5. Both of you take the week to watch and review the matches here or in its respective match thread. Because of the time limit, the sooner you guys get each other your matches, the better. 6. I reshuffle the deck and we do it again the following week. We do it until it's no longer working, but definitely though Xmas. From last time, what makes this work is threefold. First, take a couple of minutes and figure out who your partner is. Second, communicate: if you won't be able to watch your match during the week, just let everyone know. It's ok. Third, even if you can't watch your match, try to get your partner one as soon as possible. Easy stuff, right? I figure we do the first shuffle in December 1st. Joe is in. I'm in. I bet Jetlag is in. Who else?

Thanksgiving came early this year. Watch this space tomorrow.

Tag match is really good stuff.

I don't know guys. I found another Singh match that I think is pretty good. Bloody brawl with some in-ring stuff to break it up and Tenryu being awesome both in taking damage and firing back but also Singh really coming off as violent and threatening. The point of comparison really feels like Brody and Brody is rarely as violent and truly menacing (and downright creative: watch for the phone) as Singh is here. Yeah, he doesn't bump a ton, but the match doesn't call for it either and when it does, he bumps. At other points, he takes a beating and responds accordingly. When it comes time for him to do something, he generally delivers here. I'm not saying he's great or anything. I just keep bumping into these really solid matches with him on the deep dive where I feel like he actually brings something to the table. I'm not making Phil and Eric watch this (though I think they'd watch it fine). So you guys watch this one and tell me I'm crazy.

It's not quite afternoon here in DC. I don't know. I tend to love matches that are almost entirely build and payoff with a finishing stretch, your MS-1 vs Sangre Chicana matches with the comeback being the huge punch, the La Fiera matches with the spin kick out of nowhere, Lawler dropping the strap, though that's a little bit of something else; Invader #1 selling and selling and selling until he can manage an opportunity and fire back. I should like these. Usually with those matches, there's a reasonable place for it to go. The beatdown is bloody and compelling and visceral but it leaves room in the match for escalation in the comeback.

I'll take the earnestly appreciated offer to meet me mid-way and turn in now so I can manage the morning commute. I'm sure we can have all of these arguments again the next time Brock wrestles. That said, I may double back for Childs in the morning.

Maybe? I don't know. Would it have done anything but made the match better to give Bryan another 45 seconds to work on it like a bulldog smelling blood (mixed metaphor, sorry) though? This in a match where Brock tossed him around relentlessly for the first 2/5th. Would it have hurt anything to cut 45 seconds off of that and add it to the other end?

And that's ok. I get it. I just don't think I can go on this ride in a real comparative sense. I get sometimes you get something freak that happens, but it's not about there being a one-to-one ratio. I get it. It's wrestling. Sometimes one legdrop can mean more than ten minutes of a beatdown, but it all feels bankrupt. No, it feels like inflation. That's exactly what it feels like. They've devalued one impact/bump/move to such an extent in a Brock match, how can we really feel like one or two much, much smaller things can possibly mean anything in comparison? How does anything else in a match, let alone on a card matter when so many throws don't? I get that freak things happen, but a match with a lot more strategy would have been far more compelling to me in a Raw vs Smackdown champions' match, one with one of the best technicians ever. Brock can slip on a banana peel if he's wrestling The Miz. Let's see Bryan try to solve the puzzle, like in most of the best Hansen matches. This had a hell of a lot less thought put into it. They took the fans on the exact ride they intended but it pales to the sort of rides that wrestling can take you on. There's a cost to what makes Brock so seemingly special and everyone and everything pays for it.

It's all drowned out by the noise and the sfx. There are details. The story that they're trying to build relies on the details. There's a level of consistency to them on paper and even in the performance. They still don't matter because the noise drowns it all out. The sound mixing is all off and you can't hear the skill and precision on any of the other instruments because the drums are too damn loud.