Matt D

You can't blame WWE for being conservative with him to a degree. They should really look at him as an attraction/bonus to cards/programs instead of someone to build around.

I give extra credit for his two PPV main events.

Is that Funk match readily available? I uploaded it to YT as I couldn't see it online; Thanks a lot for posting that. It's so interesting to watch that match vs the 1991 Dustin run and see how differently he was presented. For all the talk about Dustin being shoved down people's throats in 1991, he really wasn't. Funk did everything he could to help make Dustin there, bells and whistles (and plants with triple stacked signs) included. I like how Dustin's shine was basically just dropkicking Humperdink at the start of the match. That meant immediately as much if not more than a five minute in-and-out headlock exchange that he was on top of and it let Funk ambush him (babyfaces should always be punished for that sort of hubris) and start the heat right from the get go. Funk pulled out all the stops. When Dustin kicked out at two early on, Funk made sure to go flying out of the ring. Likewise on Dustin's whip reverse into the corner. Page, despite being the heel on commentary, made sure to put over Dustin's small package hope spot. And so on and so on. Dustin had SOMETHING, connecting to the crowd, showing some energy, selling, I think, quite well for his experience level, but this was the Terry Funk show, from mead ground-charge headbutts to strategically bumping himself through the ropes so that Dustin couldn't punch him to playing hide the tape with Dustin and Humperdink. Glad I got to see it. Thanks.

I may actually end up watching that thing.

Week 19. Alright, just from a cursory look, I'm not sure last week was all that successful, but hey, this is voluntary and life happens, and I enjoyed my match so it's all good with me. Anyone can always play catch up either in suggesting or watching a match. But we shall reroll and try again this week. SmartMark15 is on. fxnj is on. shodate is wished the best in his future endeavors. IpponDropkick oldbirds SirEdger fxnj Tim Evans SmartMark15 HeadCheese jetlag Grimmas Victator JoeG Nintendo Logic DR Ackerman dawho5 Matt D I'm the odd man out and will watch Jun Akiyama vs Masao Inoue from NOAH, 4/23/2006 as Microstatistics suggested. As always, watch your suggested match if you can, but make sure to give something to your partner as soon as you can.

Absolutely. Its not at all a small thing to be the legitimate number three babyface in 1989 WWF.

I enjoy the last year or so of them when Alfred was starting to become more subtly heelish

There's this tangible sense of danger with him wrestling, but there's also this idea that we're cheating something too, in watching, that we're getting something we're not supposed to have. It all feels like it's running on borrowed time and like any match you watch could be the last. Maybe in two years that feeling will be gone, but for now, he'll simply can't be just another guy because no one else on the roster feels anything like that. WWE's created a world where no match ever feels important. Every Daniel Bryan match feels important right now.

I bet Bryan could have a lot of fun working the ten stuff into a match.

Going to give everyone until the morning.

Mauro would be better off if someone sent him some comp tapes. If he's going to lean into that sort of wrestling nerd gimmick, it'd be better if he knew about more than just NJPW.

I'm envisioning 8-page threads on what constitutes "peak." I'm sure we could keep it to 4. Actually, I'm not. That's half the fun though (he says as no one believes him).

If I had infinite time I'd watch all the Virus vs Audaz trios and write them up for SC.

I am still quasi serious that I think we should do a footage-based "Greatest Peak Ever," with a 3 or 6 month period in mind and maybe no arguing between two peaks of the same wrestler. GWE focused on the whole career and GME focuses on one night. This would be somewhat in the middle (though you'd look at everything a wrestler did in that small period). I just think the arguments could be interesting and it could potentially put a whole different group of people at play towards the top (Guerrero becomes more interesting, for instance). I'm probably nuts though.

What's Steve Grey's last great match?

I didn't skip. There were things I found interesting on the fingerpoke episode, though I think it was a mistake for Conrad to source most of his side from Alvarez' book. I thought some of the things he ultimately grilled Eric on were the wrong way to go (like complaining so much about Nash's selling of the fingerpoke instead of asking more about what a NWO Nitro vs WCW Thunder feud would have looked like in practice or about the idea of keeping the belt on Nash instead of putting it on Hogan even if they reuinted, stuff like that). I think he could have pressed harder on creative possibilities that didn't involve ending the streak too. As always you get Bischoff outright countering things (like Sullivan begging him not to end the streak or the fact the lockout had nothing to do with the February WCW on NBC special not happening, some of which was in his book but who read that, right?).

TV (favorite ever, no order, and it changes often): Dick Van Dyke Show Babylon 5 Arrested Development Perry Mason (57-66) Cheers The Muppet Show Batman: TAS Leftovers Veronica Mars What's your Line Favorite shows on now: Magicians 12 Monkeys Fargo Legion Venture Bros Preacher Game of Thrones Guilty Pleasures (as in I'd watch them without hesitation if they were on TV): Lost Welcome Back Kotter Wild Wild West Hell on Wheels Leverage/Hustle In general, I really dislike procedurals (legal/police/medical, especially CBS style). In 2018, I, more often than not, am looking for ongoing storytelling and character development and jokes that build on themselves over time. We only have so much time to watch things.

Is that Funk match readily available?

The Clash tag with Steamboat vs Arn/Larry would probably be his first great one. Nov 91. As a match/angle, there's an argument for the Dibiase 10 minute challenge, and I'm high on the six man with the Young Pistols vs the Freebirds from GAB 91, but "Great" seems a little much maybe?

Next time we have an odd number, Ill sit out and gladly watch it. Speaking of that, I should roll the dice tomorrow night, I think. fxnj is on. Anyone else on/off?

What he really needs a Destroyer mask.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41852-jun-akiyama-vs-suwama-ajpw-champion-carnival-041518/ I watched this on a suggestion, completely out of context. I've seen only a few Akiyama matches from this decade. I'm not sure I've ever seen Suwama. I haven't seen much recent AJPW. These things matter, because here I see these two guys, both in their 40s, one far closer to 50 than 40, the latter being someone who had known real, true glory, battling each other in front of such a small crowd in order to gain points towards an accomplishment that doesn't even matter anymore, not really, but that once was hugely important. It reminded me, oddly enough, of Wahoo and Manny Fernandez killing each other in the late 80s in a dying AWA. Maybe AJPW is better off and more relevant than that, but you wouldn't know it from this crowd or this atmosphere. Despite all that, there was still such mutual, agreed-upon animosity and fury between the two of them. This was a match that had a calf branding from the apron to the guardrail, that had thrown chairs and a thrown rail, with two exploder suplexes (and a transition from a third, blocked one) and a dozen knee variations. It still felt primal and minimalist. I have no idea about the history between these two except for that they have the better part of a decade of it, at least, here in the flagging ruins of AJPW. There was a level of pride to the strike exchanges, but that's not always enough to make them compelling. Here there was also a bitter stubbornness. There was an air of futility of even pointlessness to it, but the only way either of them would be able to recognize that futility would be if they stopped, if they looked down. You got the sense that they were killing each other because if they stopped and thought about it, if they did anything even a little more reasonable, the ground would disappear underneath them and the whole meaning to their lives would crumble. There are moments where you can sense that they can almost see it, that the glimmer of it is there just out of the corner of their eyes, but then one headbutts or forearms the other and the cycle begins anew. I wouldn't want to live in this world, but it's a fascinating place to visit.

I watched this on a suggestion, completely out of context. I've seen only a few Akiyama matches from this decade. I'm not sure I've ever seen Suwama. I haven't seen much recent AJPW. These things matter, because here I see these two guys, both in their 40s, one far closer to 50 than 40, the latter being someone who had known real, true glory, battling each other in front of such a small crowd in order to gain points towards an accomplishment that doesn't even matter anymore, not really, but that once was hugely important. It reminded me, oddly enough, of Wahoo and Manny Fernandez killing each other in the late 80s in a dying AWA. Maybe AJPW is better off and more relevant than that, but you wouldn't know it from this crowd or this atmosphere. Despite all that, there was still such mutual, agreed-upon animosity and fury between the two of them. This was a match that had a calf branding from the apron to the guardrail, that had thrown chairs and a thrown rail, with two exploder suplexes (and a transition from a third, blocked one) and a dozen knee variations. It still felt primal and minimalist. I have no idea about the history between these two except for that they have the better part of a decade of it, at least, here in the flagging ruins of AJPW. There was a level of pride to the strike exchanges, but that's not always enough to make them compelling. Here there was also a bitter stubbornness. There was an air of futility of even pointlessness to it, but the only way either of them would be able to recognize that futility would be if they stopped, if they looked down. You got the sense that they were killing each other because if they stopped and thought about it, if they did anything even a little more reasonable, the ground would disappear underneath them and the whole meaning to their lives would crumble. There are moments where you can sense that they can almost see it, that the glimmer of it is there just out of the corner of their eyes, but then one headbutts or forearms the other and the cycle begins anew. I wouldn't want to live in this world, but it's a fascinating place to visit.

Do not hope and do not dream.