Matt D

There's PWO Welcome Pack level stuff like Savage vs Garvin in the cage or the Archie Gouldie promo about his son or even Andre vs Hansen. Absolutely. But there's also the ability to do this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=midnight+express+vs Yeah, but look at what you get there. The first hit is a really mediocre match with the Freebirds. None of the stuff on the first page is what I'd call intro level MX stuff. There's so much stuff, even on the Network, that it's hard to work through the backlog if you don't have something to guide you. Maybe someone should make some guides.

I said last week, the way to go is to pair them up, keep doing the will they won't they kiss stuff, and then just before they FINALLY do Alexa drops him like a sack of spuds and cuts the all time rejection promo and becomes the top heel. I don't disagree. I'm just not sure where it goes next. What's the payoff? Does Sarah Logan turn face and befriend Braun? Do you reunite Murphy and Blake to steal the tag titles from Bruan/Mystery Partner?

It's always had pretty rare stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if the person who runs it isn't just tossing money at the INA or something. If so, more power to him.

I'm trying to think what was comparable that I've experienced. I was at Royal Rumble 03, but to me (for Angle vs Benoit), that felt like the crowd forcing it, like the crowd wanting to have that connection so badly that they were almost able to will it into being. If you looked too closely, you saw the strings. Likewise Daniel Bryan at the Rumble in 2015 where it was a year too late and everyone wanted to recapture that moment while we could but we were sort of living in the memory of it. Likewise 1998 in Boston with the first Nitro after Flair returned. He was over but we couldn't have what they had a week before in Greenville. I missed out on Foley's first title win, which was on me. I've been to a bunch of indy shows (some major level like ROH, some local stuff like Chaotic or NECW, and some weird spot shows for certain names like seeing Eddy in 02 ten feet away from me work some schlubs), but nothing with that level of connection. Taz in NYC at MSG in 2003 coming out to destroy John Cena when he was doing an anti-Yankees rant is probably one of the top three pops I've ever experienced which is funny to say. Certain the heat Reigns and Rock got after the 2015 Rumble. That was real and visceral even if it was sort of winking. The crowd was really into Monsoon threatening Heenan at the 1993 Survivor Series? Sorry, that was a digression, but it made me think.

I will agree that it probably isn't the best way to go with Braun, but since strapping the rocket to his ass and striking while the iron is hot no longer seems to be in the WWE playbook, it just seems like a direction they could go. As for her character, they have turned worse people with less explanation, and the crowd wouldn't care so long as "cool big dude and hot girl" were funny and kicked ass together. It would work, but should they do it in 2018 is the question I guess? I actually think Alexa could be a very effective babyface. People love to cheer a bully. They love to feel like they're on the bullying side as opposed to the bullied side. It's human nature. If she just shifted to doing mean, horrible things to heels instead of babyfaces, the crowd would die to be a part of that. But boy, is it not a good idea for a company that touts itself as anti-bullying.

That Alexa's character is a reprehensible evil sociopath could maybe be a hitch in that? I mean, I don't know. I get that they were enjoyable in MMC, but... I mean, I guess if it ends with her getting slop dropped on her, but that doesn't seem the way to go with Braun.

The crowd connects with him instead of he connecting with it?

The only way I wanted Bryan turned heel was if he WASN'T cleared and it was all a big swerve on the fans and Shane. That would have garnered real, visceral heat, moneymaking heat at a time where almost nothing like that draws. Once he took the first bump, it was obvious that wasn't the case.

My biggest argument against Misawa is one of excess, and it's tempered because it's style driven and audience driven and a necessity that was hoisted upon him but that was also of his making. I'm not at all claiming Bret is superior, but I'm curious if anyone can anyone point out a Bret Hart match that they'd use that particular word for?

Week 13. So DR Ackerman's on. WingedEagle's back. Tim Evans is back. Sir edgar is out for this week. The mighty shodate is back. rah Tim Evans WingedEagle Jmare007 HeadCheese dawho5 jetlag joeg oldbirds Richeyedwards shodate Nintendo Logic Matt D DR Ackerman laz laz, you're the odd man out this week. Someone might want to double up and if not, I'm happy to do so. Mr. Ackerman, I'll have something for you ASAP. Everyone else, remember, if you can't manage something this week, let us know ASAP. If you're just going to be a bit slow, make sure to give your partner something even if you can't watch a match in time.

There's PWO Welcome Pack level stuff like Savage vs Garvin in the cage or the Archie Gouldie promo about his son or even Andre vs Hansen. Absolutely. But there's also the ability to do this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=midnight+express+vs

The trick with these are to listen to them at 1.5x speed and only in curated situations. For the Bischoff one, the trick will be getting deep into the minutia.

Its been very easy to see these over the years so Im not as excited as I was for something rarer but I am excited for the increased wrestling literacy of younger people more easily getting to see these.

The word I'd use for Misawa's selling is meticulous, and I mean that in the best way.

I said it over on DVDVR but Joe/Bryan vs Owens/Sami is basically the last act of any Marvel movie where the hero faces his evil double.

Your first instinct is correct.

joeg gave me Spinks vs Onita which was very much my kind of match. Simple, pure, visceral; a pro wrestling mythology in two acts. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41426-atsushi-onita-vs-leon-spinks-fmw-052492/ And as a bonus, dawho was kind enough to give me Fujinami vs Nishimura which felt like a self-aware modern match with very old trappings, centered around limbwork and a mentor-student vibe and executed well. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21805-tatsumi-fujinami-vs-osamu-nishimura-muga-092506/ Thanks to you both. We'll reshuffle later on today (or maybe tomorrow morning). Anyone on/off this week?

This match was a pretty interesting mix of old and new. For the most part, everything in it could have happened twenty years earlier (maybe even thirty) with very little change. There were structural flourishes that I don't think would have happened that way though. The 2/3 falls stip made it feel like a 70s match but then I think it's very unlikely you would have seen that first fall (an almost immediate roll up out of a figure four attempt) happen before 1990. There was a certain self-awareness to it all which doesn't exist in the dueling limb battles of the 80s, for instance, and it both helps and hurts the match. I do think it makes it more unique. I liked the fact that nothing was overly tricked out, that they were using basic, straightforward holds and using them well to get across their story. There are a lot of smaller things to look at here. I'm a sucker for the short arm scissors and this match is the most short arm scissory match I've ever seen. Nishimura's is just so good. I love in his armwork segment how he'd use the cross arm breaker not as an end but as a means to get back into the short arm scissors. I really enjoyed the way they transitioned into Fujinami's legwork, as he went after the hand/arm in revenge just long enough to get the distance/control he needed to target the area he wanted to target. Both guys sold well. Fujinami whacking his own hand repeatedly to keep the feeling in it worked. Nishimura has this very stoic face which is a tool he can utilize in showing emotion (as it shifts it completely). I'm very iffy on the finish. There were things I liked. I liked Nishimura gutting it out and really calling out Fujinami for what he was doing with the attacks on the apron. He basically just put his leg there and made the whole world see what Fujinami was doing, basically asking him if it was worth it. It was a very cool moment. The turning over of the figure four as a finish didn't work for me though. Nishimura did get some leg shots in during the last third of the match but having never seen a submission on a reversed figure four in my life, I don't think it was entirely earned in context. I would have liked it more if he reversed the figure four and then used the break to put on some armlock for the finish. Overall, I think it's a unique match well worth watching.

Plus, we've all spoken so much with ourselves about this stuff that yeah, I mean, no offense to the OP who is also new, but if we have to compare Bryan's "Ability" to Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada or go on about the value of realism in pro-wrestling using Bryan and Volk Han as lenses... I guess I know which way I'm going to fall.

I think it leaned closer to incredible than terrible, myself. The punches looked 3/4th legit. I'm pretty sure that Spinks just swung and Onita was happy to lean into them for the effect. The blood came early but worked well. Spinks went up for suplexes. The biggest issues I had were 1.) that Spinks gave too much too soon on the two clotheslines. They were desperation and things that he, as a boxer, wouldn't be used to taking, but it felt like too much too soon. 2.) that Onita went a bit stupid on some of his suplexes/the cage DDT. Simple would have worked, and maybe 3.) the execution of the final submission that probably was supposed to be an octopus but wasn't. I thought the post match with Spinks picking Onita back up was excellent and that in general, Spinks got it for this match. But in truth, I have no idea, because this appealed to the stuff I value. Selling and comeback. Build and payoff. (and peachchaos, I don't think I've seen any of the 90 run. I know a lot is online but that's a gap year for my memphis watching, because it's sort of twice the work).

Is this a rhetorical question or would you like me to answer?