KB8

I had no idea Honma ever worked Battlarts. I wasn't sure how he'd fit coming from a deathmatch fed and all, but he took to the style pretty well and we knew already that he wasn't shy about hitting and being hit really fucking hard. Ishikawa was absolutely world class here, which shouldn't really be surprising but it's been a minute since I've watched him. His exchanges with Usuda were stellar and there was one moment where he countered a headbutt by punching Usuda dead in the nose. Everything he did on the mat looked great as well, just airtight and ferocious. Fujita is still a touch raw but I thought he was a really good underdog, everything was frantic and his scrambling and striking was rapid fast. Other than that goofy fighting spirit part midway through he was more or less on top form, and even the fighting spirit part was more delayed selling than outright no-selling, so lesser of two evils and whatnot.

And this was pretty shit hot as well. I have no idea where it falls in a list of your best TLC matches, but if there's one thing this has over a shit load of the others it's that I truly bought the violence the wrestlers were trying to sell me. It had plunder and they took their time setting up some elaborate spots, but in amongst it all they never let you forget that ultimately these three women did not care a lick for one another. When was the last time anybody made a dumb kendo stick look like a proper weapon? Because these three have been smashing folk to bits with kendo sticks lately and this had some of the most brutal whippings yet. I really didn't watch much of Charlotte during her babyface run this year, though I know people seemed to be mostly cold on it. If that heel turn at Survivor Series promised a return to form then she's absolutely lived up to it because she was outstanding in this. Stuff like that "every man bows down to a QUEEN" bit would ordinarily feel super corny, but for whatever reason it totally worked in this, maybe because as soon as she said it she just slapped Becky clean across the face really hard. Her big somersault through the table looked great as well. It wasn't graceful, especially not compared to her moonsault that she always gets perfect rotation on, it looked more heavy, like she wanted to land with as much mass and inflict as much damage as possible. It also made for a great payback spot because that Becky legdrop off the ladder was fucking lunacy and about collapsed Charlotte's lungs. Her verbal sell of it ruled but then I'm not sure how much of that was selling. Then we got the spear through the barricade, which is a tired spot in WWE at this point, but this one looked as good as any Roman Reigns car wreck. She took off like a track athlete and absolutely crushed Asuka. They also went above and beyond during the parts where they were feebly reaching for the belt. Those moments always come off pretty hokey because, like, just climb another rung and reach up there, you know? But all three of them were desperate in throwing shots at the top of the ladder, sometimes just slapping each other about the shoulder or ear, knocking their arms out the way when someone tried to grab the belt. The finish works for me as well because Rousey's been saying for weeks that she has receipts, and considering how nearly every other babyface in the company consistently looks like a doofus it's cool to see one actually get something done for a change. It sets up plenty of options for where they could go next and they now have four women on the roster who are red hot with a ton of momentum at the right time.

Well Rousey continues to be absolute money and this was totally great, maybe not quite at the level of their first match but pretty damn close. This already feels like a great pairing, they just mesh super well together. I liked the beginning with Rousey popping and moving, getting about as cocky as we've seen in her short career so far. Then Nia inevitably catches her and starts the clubbering. There were a few amazing spots in this, the best ones coming from Ronda climbing all over Nia like some ridiculous CrossFit Games event. The front choke into the suplex was a really impressive bit of strength from Nia to begin with, but holy shit was that transition into the rear naked choke spectacular. That truly looked like Nia just tried to dump Rousey behind her and somehow Ronda managed to contort herself into whatever the fuck position was required to navigate the obstacle that was Nia's frame. At another point Ronda hit a great looking step up knee that was practically a Shining Wizard to a standing opponent, then as Nia was staggered Ronda used Nia's thigh to propel herself into what was almost a delayed superman punch. Also loved Ronda taking to the top turnbuckle. She went up there against Charlotte and kind of sold it like it might be a terrible idea, and when she did it here it was like she was talking herself into it as she climbed. She never climbed no turnbuckles in an Octagon. And her big cross body to the floor looked killer. Nia gets a lot of shit from a lot of people. I really haven't paid much attention to her the entire time she's been on TV, but she was the perfect foil for Ronda in both of their matches. The sit-out powerbomb to counter the armbar initially was cool, and maybe I'm just projecting but it felt like she sold the ever-present threat of it all the way through, like she knew from experience that Ronda could grab it from anywhere so it was important not to overextend. Finish was badass on a hundred levels. Rousey's shit talking is top tier anyway, but kissing Nia's fist before leaning into the armbwas was incredible. On top of that I love how she manoeuvered Nia's body after the takedown, not only to keep her away from the ropes but to make sure she could look Tamina in the eyes while she did it. That girl stuck her nose in once already and she'll think twice before doing it again. I guess if I had one complain it'd be that I wanted them to make more of the arm after the ring post spot, but part of that is because Rousey has become such a ridiculously fun saleswoman that you almost expect it now. That's pretty wild for someone who's been doing pro wrestling for all of nine months.

Are all the PPVs usually four hours long these days, then? Also how many fucking matches are on this show? Good grief.

I've been watching Will's Horsemen set so I'm on as close to a Flair kick right now as I've been in about a decade, and it's put me in the mood to rewatch some of what he was doing outside Crockett. This was pretty great when they were lacing into each other. The arena isn't mic'd up too well so you don't always get to hear the thwack on strikes, but some of these Wahoo chops are audible regardless. Flair has great chops, he always has, but he can't swing that knife edge like Wahoo and he's never had anything close to the overhand, so for once he's basically outmatched. And that was kind of the story. Flair will try and go toe to toe, but not only does it never end well for him, it never even approaches level footing. He'll throw one chop, maybe two at a push, and Wahoo will shred him. Flair simply can't hang. So I guess he decides he'll use the ropes at every opportunity and just cheat his way to victory. Maybe it was deliberate on the wrestlers' part, maybe it was a story they were actively telling, maybe I'm just projecting, but Flair's best friend in this match was the ring rope and if not for that he'd have been fucked. He wasn't only using it to cheat either. There were a few points where Wahoo dropped him with a chop or a tomahawk and Flair only escaped by draping a foot over the rope. Late on he tried to take it to the floor, but that backfired as well and it was him who wound up with a bloody forehead. Still, the ropes weren't going anywhere and they were always there to bail him out. Flair winning via dodgy pinfall with his feet on the ropes wasn't exactly a rarity, but I don't remember it ever being built to quite like that. Maybe that "build" was coincidental. It probably was, honestly. Either way it worked and overall this was good stuff.

This was probably never going to be messing with the '85 stips match, but it's these two in a cage so obviously it was twelve minutes of badass. There was almost a running gag as folk were watching the original Mid-South set about the ring ropes in Houston constantly falling to bits. It happened in a bunch of matches. Maybe it was deliberate, like it was Boesch's way of throwing a curve ball and seeing how they'd persevere. Build character through adversity and whatnot. I don't recall it ever actively derailing a match and I imagine this would've been good had the ropes stayed in place, but somehow the turnbuckle flying apart seemed to make it even better. It happens only a couple minutes in, and as soon as it does Duggan just picks it up and tries to strangle DiBiase with this stray ring rope. Ted has already decided he's had enough of this and tries to roll away, but of course he only gets so far before the cage stops him. His "oh shit what have I done?" reaction as Duggan stands over him with a turnbuckle bolt is incredible. The rope and bolt then become a permanent fixture for the rest of the match. DiBiase uses it to cut Duggan open first and there's an amazing bit where he practically stabs him clean in the face with it. Duggan's comeback is total Hacksaw which means it's all-time level great. Seriously, who has a better walking tall babyface comeback than Duggan? The foot-stomping, the punches, the wild mane, it never fails. The big payback shots with the bolt obviously ruled, too. Ted loading the glove and punching Duggan in the gut was an awesome spot just for Duggan selling it like he'd been shot, but then they started running the two remaining ring ropes and it ended up with Duggan holding the equalizer. This is one of the best match-ups in US wrestling history, right?

I'm up to August '85 now and the booking continues to be stellar. Everything surrounding the Horsemen - still largely wrestling as individuals in Flair and Tully's case, with Arn and Ole being a team unto themselves - has been great TV. I had pretty much no recollection of the Flair/Nikita feud but it's been tremendous. The angle to set it up with Nikita giving Crockett the Sickle on TV ruled, then Flair getting more and more animated on interviews every week has continued to be great. I also like how he's only really babyface against the Russians while still largely being Slick Ric (bit of an asshole) with everyone else. Also like that it's more than just those evil Russians v Flair the American and Flair's spouting way more than your standard "this is AMERICA, JACK!" rhetoric. David Crockett and Flair might be completely different types of people and Dave might not agree with how Flair conducts himself a lot of the time, but they were in a fucking plane crash together so if nothing else there's a bond there. Flair's fighting for a guy he respects as much as anything. The GAB match was clipped up but looked really fun, even if the finish was a total mess (a fan jumping the ring to get at Nikita wouldn't have helped matters, certainly). Then the match from the Omni was just super fun and I liked it a bunch. There's really no part of Flair's career that I feel like I need to revisit at this point; that book is closed, I've seen hours upon hours of footage over the last fifteen years and I know where I stand on him. But babyface Flair still somehow managed to feel kind of fresh and he was a blast in this, even though he honestly didn't change up THAT much in his approach. It was still Flair v your prototype Big Hoss, but there was a babyface energy to it and his strutting and wooing was infectious. The Dusty/Tully feud is full of great mic work like you'd expect, but man. I know the 80s were different and all, and I know Dusty was beloved, and I know Tully was a cheating little weasel, but Dusty has been nothing but a prick to Baby Doll through all of this while Tully has almost entirely been a gentleman (I get that Baby Doll hasn't exactly been innocent, but still). "Baby Doll is now Dusty's" is a hell of a way to pay off that stipulation for the GAB cage match. He calls her a jezebel on the regular and verbally abuses her for doing anything without his say so, drags her around by the wrist and a couple times by the hair, has a few of his ham n egger babyfaces grab her when she tries to run away initially and folk are just losing it for everything. At times it's sort of disturbing. There was an awesome segment where he was making her shovel horse shit at his ranch (while his dog sat there staring at her in I guess bemusement), then got her to saddle a horse so he could show his friend how well he'd trained her or some nonsense. The shit-shoveling she wasn't into but she likes the horses and has clearly taken a shine to this one. She saddles up, gets on and demonstrates how well she's able to ride now. She rides around the yard a few times as Dusty's telling his daft wee buddy that he'll make a proper Texas lady of her yet (isn't she actually from Texas anyway?). And then she just speeds off clean out the yard on horseback! Just fucking steals the horse and bolts! Dusty's like "that damn lady just stole my horse" in disbelief and Baby Doll is flat out gone. It was so great. Tully on TV sort of hints that it may have been planned, but of course you'll never hear him admit it publicly. He's also just won the US title from Magnum with help from a mysterious blond-haired security guard. Tully says it was just a regular security guard who happened to lose herself in the heat of the moment and give Tully a kiss on the cheek, and that gave Tully a second wind. Schiavone asks Tully outright if he had something in his hand when he struck Magnum and Tully asks Tony how the greatest announcer on TV could possibly think that of him (on a side note, I love how the Horsemen are largely respectful of Schiavone. Flair seems to genuinely like him). Tony is diplomatic about it but says it looks like something may have flown out of his hand after the punch, but Tully assures us it was just because some fans started throwing money at him. He is fucking sensational.

A CARBON HOOFPRINT! He’s mega fun right now.

This match-up never fails to deliver. I don't even know how many MX/Fans matches I've seen by now, but from Texas to Oklahoma to North Carolina it's pretty much always money. If this isn't their best match together there's a decent chance it's their wildest. That first little stretch of chaos is so good, tables and chairs and tennis rackets all over the place, like some kind of alternate universe ECW that ran out of a flea market in Greensboro. Cornette was a sensational little irritant, swinging that racket and running for his life, at one point flinging a chair at Bobby Fulton's face, only for Fulton to catch it and send Cornette bolting so fast you expected his jacket to fly off. The heat segment on Rogers might be the best MX beatdown of them all and boy does that cover some major ground. The transition comes when Lane makes the blind tag and they catch him with an awesome chop block/leaping clothesline Total Elimination style, then from there they just run through all sorts of killer offence. Lane's karate was landing with a little extra mustard, Eaton was hitting body slams and a bulldog across a folded table, they rolled out the drop toe hold/running elbow double team, Cornette got involved again by holding up that table as a target for Tommy's head, it all ruled. You know you're onto something special when Eaton's blowing out his arse after running through his bag of tricks and Lane keeps tagging him back in anyway. The Dusty Finish had probably been run into the ground as a concept by this point, but Fulton was going apeshit on the apron the entire time Rogers was being mugged so you can certainly buy that missed hot tag being his tipping point. Extra points for the post-match whipping and this whole thing was the bomb. One of the best US tag matches ever.

I had never heard of this show before. Didn't know it was a thing. Was it Crockett's pre-Clash answer to Saturday Night's Main Event? Was it a one time deal? Did they have several Superstars on the Superstations? The card actually looks really good, with this, Flair/Garvin for the belt, Dusty v Tully and a Road Warriors v Russians match that probably would've been a cool spectacle if nothing else. But even if everything else sucked, this match might've been worth the price of admission. The Midnights get the jump early, and you know the RnRs will go on a run but it's how they manage to get to it that's always fun. For as often as these teams have matched up, the thing that's always super impressive is how inventive they are. We have footage of them wrestling each other on consecutive nights in different arenas in different states, with no TV cameras rolling, having every opportunity to basically wrestle the same match and still send the folks home happy. And yet I don't think I've ever seen them do it. They always have something new every time out. Here the MX slingshot Gibson from the apron into the ring while he's kitted out in his pre-match gear. They try the same with Morton, but Morton flips it and slingshots both Eaton and Condrey out to the floor, which sets up the babyface shine. They end up working over Condrey's knee for a bit and it was really good stuff, lots of quick tags, elbows across the knee from varying heights, a double wishbone here and spinning toe hold there. Cool bit where Condrey hits a big knee to Morton's gut, but just as you think he might be able to scoot over and make the tag he collapses in a heap clutching the leg. It's sort of trite to make note of Robert Gibson not being the face in peril Ricky Morton is, but he's more than competent and the MX can take someone even half that good to a strong heat segment. So obviously the heat segment was good. Condrey's kneedrops are so badass, right into the throat or sternum or clavicle. Eaton also threw an absolute corker of a left hand and so there we have two of my favorite things. I don't have a clue where this sits in the pantheon of Express v Express matches, but it's probably up towards the top somewhere (Sleeze might be onto something about it only being behind Wrestlewar). So yeah, it was pretty great.

If you thought their Starrcade match was disappointing, this is the one you want to see. If you thought the Starrcade match was good then this is also the one you want to see. Either way it's an awesome gift from the Network and a match you want to see. Steamboat was out of this world in it. Nine times out of ten I want to be watching Steamboat in peril, on the back foot, firing back with hope spots, selling a beatdown, EMOTING, playing allllll the way to the back row. That is his game and he's one of the very best ever at it. He was never on the back foot once here, never selling a beatdown, never in any peril. It was Walking Tall Steamboat and I don't remember seeing him work so dominant before, but holy shit was he downright incredible. Straight away he hits a huge atomic drop on Jack and takes it to the floor, cleaning house and lording over his kingdom. His hokey karate never looked better, measured and crisp as it was. But then he got a little overzealous and wanted more than the ref' was willing to let fly, so of course the Briscos took advantage and blindsided Jay. I can't tell you the last time I watched a Steamboat/Youngblood tag, but I'd be shocked if there were many better heat segments on Jay found among them. This was one of those segments where the heels were throwing out all sorts of awesome shit and the babyface was bumping and selling his tail off for all of it. I've never seen Gerry look better. Both of them were vicious, but Gerry took the cake by hitting this fucking ludicrous suplex across the top rope that about folded Jay from heel to earlobe. They spent their time working the back and there was another point where Jay was hanging out the ring as Jack worked Steamboat into a frenzy, so Gerry ran around, picked up Jay and hit a body slam across the apron. It was all kidneys and I bet Jay wasn't pissing right for a week. When Steamboat comes in off the hot tag they don't run straight to the finish, and instead we get a short segment where he and Jay work over Gerry's leg. This little stretch had some of the best stuff in the match, including Jay's Indian Deathlock, Steamboat wrapping the leg around the ring posts, and his awesome falling karate thrusts (think DiBiase fist drops but with karate) to the knee, which I've never once seen before but everyone should be doing. The second heat segment on Jay probably isn't even long enough to be called a heat segment, but it didn't feel implausible considering he'd been the recipient of a much heftier beatdown only a few minutes earlier. And of course Steamboat making the tag was red hot, because how could it not be. How in the hell did that Starrcade match end up being so flat?

After having it sitting in a drawer for I don't even know how long I started going through Will's Four Horsemen set. I've mostly had it on as background noise while I do stuff for work and haven't paid full attention to every match, but so far - keep in mind I'm a disc and a half in - I'm loving Ole Anderson. He's quiet and understated but he looks like the kind of guy who'd stand on his porch with a shotgun and the shotgun wouldn't merely be for show. He's someone who believes in his own bullshit, but his bullshit might not actually be bullshit. He's menacing and you can absolutely buy it, basically. Him and Arn have just paired up to win the national tag belts. This is early '85 before the real formation of the Horsemen; they're certainly a ways away from referring to themselves as that and the interactions between the four of them so far have mostly been down to heel camaraderie and whatnot. Arn is already a fun as hell promo and has quotables out the wazoo, but it's interesting how much of the southern drawl he had then. He sounds a ton like Steve Austin, with the gravelly voice and tone. He's also still using the southern wrestling promo stable - "daddy." He'd drop that later on, but I don't know if there's ever been a wrestler who did his thing in the south for any period of time who didn't say "you can bet your life on that, daddy" in a promo. Tully and Baby Doll are just the best. Tully is a crooked-toothed wee weasel bastard but he's every girl's dream. Baby Doll is not particularly attractive and I don't say that to sound like a chauvinistic asshole because the fact she ISN'T makes the act even better, and man is she fun in her role. She's a perfect 10 and all the men in the NWA want to be with her, including - and maybe especially - Dusty and Magnum TA. It's so carny and great. Flair's promos through the first couple months were pretty samey, in that he's mostly hyping the greatest sport in the world today, professional wrestling. He's hyping the NWA and the world title, which he owns so naturally he's hyping himself into the bargain. He sort of puts over a few other big names from different territories - Race, the Von Erichs, Carlos Colon, Wahoo - but none of those guys have what he has and their names aren't on the marquee. He's mostly pretty respectful, but also condescending, and he doesn't have much time for Magnum TA who's just a jeans- and leather-wearing, motorcycle-riding goof. Flair's never worn a pair of jeans or driven a motorbike in his life because he's custom made from head to toe and drives a Mercedes Benz. His interviews aren't filled with too much hubris yet and he isn't going off on any coked up rants. He'd still ad lib here and there by telling some girl in the crowd to be quiet or she'll never get in line, or a fat guy to shut up or he'll be the one in the figure four. Those are some of my favourite Flair moments so I obviously pop when he does it. I think once he started staying with Crockett full time (or close enough) he got more wild. In those early promos he still felt like the touring champ, even if Crockett was still largely his home base. Then around May the feud with Magnum picked up and he went up a level. There's an AMAZING bit from the 5/11 episode of World Championship Wrestling between the two. The week earlier Flair challenged Magnum to an impromptu match (after ripping him about his clothing and choice of transport), but when Magnum got in the ring Flair just walked away. This week Magnum's out doing his promo about being the US champ and therefore the #1 contender for the big belt. He's not boasting, he's not bragging, he's just answering Crockett's questions and saying how it is. Flair comes out and starts mouthing off about how Magnum needs to learn some respect and not be making stupid challenges he isn't ready for (then chews out a fan for saying something and also drops "daddy" because this, in case you have forgotten, is the SOUTH, DADDY). Magnum reminds Flair that it was HE who made the challenge and Magnum simply obliged. Flair tells him he walked away because he was doing Magnum a favour by not embarrassing him on TV, poking him in the chest and talking about the rinky dink chain Magnum's wearing. Magnum's only been in the greatest sport in the world for five minutes and has to earn his shot at the belt. Magnum says it doesn't matter because he's the US champ and that alone means he's next in line for a title shot. Facts is facts. So Flair just turns to the camera, slicks back his hair and flexes his pecks. "That looks like a world champion to me, daddy." And walks away. Fucking ruled. There've been a few nifty matches so far as well. Arn and Manny Fernandez have had a couple, and while they've been fairly basic they've gotten decent time and worked in some fun stuff. Neither of them work an arm like Ronda Rousey but that's neither here nor there. Tully v Don Kernodle was red hot and Tully gave Don like 90% of a twelve minute match (I'm almost certain Matt D loved this). Ended on a crummy DQ but it did set up beef afterwards with Tully and Magnum. I don't remember how they transition all the way from Tully/Dusty to Tully/Magnum, but it already feels like they're in the process of doing it (Tully and Dusty have been feuding over the TV title for a while by this point in April-May '85). The booking at the top of the card with Flair, Magnum, Tully and Dusty is pretty great, actually. One week you'll get some Tully/Magnum, then the next it'll be Flair/Magnum while Abdullah the Butcher shows up to attack Dusty on Tully's behalf. There's a lot of crossover but it never feels messy or haphazard from the booking standpoint. Magnum is a good promo, btw. Understated, sounds authentic, comes across as a genuinely sound dude. He absolutely feels like a potential top guy. Arn, Ole and Bob Roop v Buzz Sawyer, Italian Stallion and Pez Whatley from TV was a fun six-man. Really fast and hectic like you'd figure from a studio tag, then it settled into an extended heat segment on Stallion. Ole worked the arm in nasty ways even if none of it was flashy. Roop in 1985 looked like an outrageous amalgamation of Donald Trump and Jon Voight. It was quite jarring. Tully v Buzz Sawyer from the 5/25 episode of Worldwide was really fun, too. Buzz is so awesome, biting Tully in the legs and arms, never giving him any peace as Baby Doll is almost in tears at ringside. Flair v Sam Houston from the 5/18/85 World Championship Wrestling was an excellent segment and maybe my favorite thing so far. I'm at the point in my life as a wrestling fan where I've seen enough lengthy Flair arena matches. They don't hold that much interest to me because I feel like I've seen most of what I need to see and that chapter is closed. I'd much rather watch him work the studio or TV now. Here he came out in a brilliant mood, absolutely brimming and already looking forward to whatever spot he was hitting up after the show. "This is five hundred thousand dollars worth of robe, two million worth of good looks in a ten million dollar body." Magnum came out to join Schiavone and Crockett on commentary and that seemed to please Flair all the more. The match itself started out with Flair knocking Houston around and acting like a prick, which is maybe my favourite kind of Flair. He was backing Houston into the corner and breaking clean, then he'd just slap him as if nothing Houston could do would matter in the end. The match got some decent time and Flair probably showed more ass than I was hoping (though it was hardly unexpected), but by the end he'd made his point and there was nothing screwy about how he did it. He even ripped Sam's boot off and went back to the figure-four, I guess to force that point even further home. Magnum then got in the ring and wanted a fight, but Flair had made his money for the night and so he was off to the showers. Later on he came back out and cut another promo, and a lot of these interview segments are starting to blend together a bit but I wish I could remember some of what he said in it because it was fucking great. This builds to the first physical altercation between them a week later where Flair cheapshots Magnum while still wearing his freshest $800 gators, then the week after that he comes out to apologise by offering Magnum a brand new custom made suit (on his dime, of course). Magnum tears it to bits and hits the belly-to-belly, Flair is livid and tells David Crockett to wipe the smirk off his face...most of us have seen the angle before, but it's even better when watched in context. It's been forever since I've seen most of this stuff. It was good, you know.

I honest to god think that Rey/Eddie match might be the best match in WWF/E history. I love every single thing about it and Eddie’s performance is about as good as any I’ve ever seen. The moment he drops his nice guy charade and just shoves Rey off the turnbuckle is one of my favourite spots ever. I want to watch it again right now. Their match from March the previous year is pretty awesome as well. Pretty much every time they matched up, and a lot of the time they did it on Smackdown, you were getting something money. My all-time favourite wrestling pairing.

I watched that Rousey/Nia match the other day and thought it was a pretty awesome monster v underdog match with an incredible babyface performance from Rousey, particularly given that it was only her second match ever. I haven't watched much this year, but if I came up with a top 10 that would be in it. I still think the Rousey tag from Wrestlemania would be my #1 as well.

I did not know Johnny Gargano had turned heel. He didn't really wrestle this much differently to how he wrestles babyface, but there were enough moments sprinkled throughout that it didn't come off like a total exhibition. Just...mostly one. I like Black well enough and Gargano's had a couple matches this year that I've enjoyed a bunch, but this was kind of hokey. The WWE-style melodrama didn't bother me, it was that the match was mostly about striking. Missed strikes, counter-strikes, strikes being reversed into moves, elaborate strike sequences. That poses a couple problems, the first being that I don't think either guy is a particularly great striker. Black will hit a few now and then that look good and those two Black Mass at the end were suuuper crisp (first one especially), but he's not really the guy I want to see in a match largely built around that facet of pro-wrestling. I mean, it’s unfair to compare him to a Shibata or Suzuki let alone a fucking Ishikawa or Ikeda, because at the end of the day this is not Battlarts and it is in fact very much a monkey show, but still, that knee strike was cool and everything but Takeshi Ono will uppercut your nose through the ceiling and when you’ve seen that it’s sort of hard not to have the bar set somewhere around there permanently. The second problem is that it just came off way too choreographed. NXT are usually really good at walking that modern juniors epic line without crossing all the way over into something I can't be bothered with, but this had too much of what I'm not into. I did like the early parts with Gargano coming off super cocky, like he had Black's number for everything, but before long all those reversals lost their charm and it crossed over into Stomp the Yard territory.

I knew going in that this didn't go long. Maybe if I'd been expecting it to I'd have been disappointed - as most generally seemed to have been - but I thought what we got was a hoot. I didn't even know until a week ago that these two switched the title back and forth over the summer, but I've seen a couple of their matches before that and thought they were decent. This had a sort of greatest hits vibe to it, probably because of the length, but I like a greatest hits version of a match-up when it's done well and I thought this was done well. Sane still feels a bit vanilla even though she's clearly over and charismatic, but I liked her fighting uphill against Baszler and her girls. Dakota Kai booting Jessamyn Duke clean in the teeth was wild and Shirai's moonsault, while kind of dumb when you think about how long it takes to set up when she could just punch someone in the face there, looked killer. I actually liked the finish as well. You could see Baszler shifting her weight as she was readying to catch Sane coming down off the elbow, so it never felt like she just shrugged off the move and instantly rolled her into a cradle. I guess this leads to some six-man tags with Kai getting THE absolute shit bullied out of her so I guess that could be nifty.

It always surprises me how little I'm negatively affected by Mauro. I mean, he's woeful and it's clear why folk find his hyperactivity super grating, but I always somehow manage to tune out for the most part and rarely end up being actively bothered by it. I'm someone who usually can't stomach that sort of shit, either. Like, I know he's not deliberately trying to be cringey, but that sort of cringey nonsense would usually force me to mute the TV. I've had to do it PLENTY of times for main roster commentary over the years and that's rarely as bad as Mauro. I've been re-watching episodes of the US Office as background noise lately and I need to mute it for some of the more cringey shit. I don't do well with cringe comedy, basically. And I know Mauro's not doing cringe comedy on purpose but good grief even reading back some of his soundbites I'm shocked I've never reacted to those like I have Michael Scott at Diwali. I'll probably never understand it. And I've probably jinxed it now.

I’ll write more about it after I watch the whole show, but I just finished this and I thought it was fucking phenomenal. Dream is unbelievable and surely a can’t-fail future star...right? I bit so hard on that last Dream nearfall. His Hogan shtick was the very greatest hokey nonsense. Man I love him so much.

I haven't really been paying attention to anything since, like, April, but I've been checking out some clips of Becky the last few weeks and she seems to be fairly killing it right now. That last night was pretty tremendous. If I don't want the full Survivor Series card I'll at least make an effort to watch Becky/Rousey. They seem to have something really cool on their hands with Becky right now either way.

Mitsuya Nagai v Masayuki Naruse (1/23/93) Hey, this was a really nice, spirited little contest. The stand-up was sharp and clean and I dug Naruse playing underdog. He sold getting knocked around pretty well and I loved how he used the ref' to drag himself back to his feet after the penultimate knockdown. Nagai hurled a few mean leg kicks but still wasn't the full crowbar Nagai that I'm used to, as it was crowbar Nagai that was my first introduction to Nagai way back whenever. They sure telegraphed Naruse catching that high kick, but to their credit they threw a curve ball and switched up the finish nicely. Not spectacular by any means, but definitely fun and a super breezy nine minutes. Sotir Gotchev v Todor Todorov (1/23/93) Kind of a poor man's Eastern European grapplefest, but a fun one and with another few fights under his belt Todorov could be really good (I'm sure I've seen later Todorov fights, but I don't remember anything about them). Gotchev had a bunch of nice throws again, almost setting them up via bearhug before heaving Todorov over and practically onto his head. At one point he hoisted him up, walked around the ring and hit a body slam. I'm not sure what Todorov's discipline is, but he had a killer harai goshi and once or twice he almost tied Gotchev up in suitably RINGS fashion. Finish was really cool too. There's something about a shoot style STF that's just aesthetically pleasing. Yoshihisa Yamamoto v Yoshinori Nishi (1/23/93) This was about twelve minutes but it seemed longer than that, and not in a good way. Again it felt like more of an early look at what Yamamoto would become, though maybe that's just me projecting because he's a favourite of mine and what he becomes is fucking awesome. Either way he got a wee bit chippy once or twice and flung an elbow that Nishi didn't appreciate. Nishi still isn't very good on the ground, but I guess he has a somewhat passable takedown defence and so Yamamoto wasn't taking him down at will. But a lot of this went by without much happening. Volk Han v Andrei Ruminezei (1/23/93) I'm pretty sure this is my first time seeing Ruminezei. He's sort of unassuming and looks a bit like John Carroll Lynch with the perfectly balding pate and such. And he was pretty dang fun! His striking is really tentative and once or twice he looks a wee bit lost to the point where Han is trying to guide him, but he has fun takedowns and brings something to the ground exchanges. Han is worth watching against absolutely anybody already, just a little over a year into his career, and this time he was getting tricky with the strikes. He was throwing ax kicks and quick hands and of course his favourite spinning back fist. It came after Ruminezei caught him with a knee to the gut for a knockdown, going straight to the back fist and following it up with an amazing wrist throw into an armbar. This was longer than the previous bout but it sort of flew by in comparison. Akira Maeda v Herman Renting (1/23/93) To suggest Herman Renting is hit or miss would probably be generous. He's about eight parts miss to two parts hit. If he's not in the mood then it's usually hard to care about what he's doing. And this wasn't a barn burner or anything, but he was at least pressing the issue a little and I guess it was a watchable enough bout. Maeda obviously has the aura, but I'm wondering if his knee wasn't still giving him legit problems around this point because he hasn't really been up for doing much in the last couple shows. The fact it's heavily taped up means there's always a bit of drama, though. Renting took a few swings at it and the crowd reacted like it was a big deal, so maybe we're not giving Maeda enough credit for his minimalist booking (or maybe I'm full of total horse shit). Skippable fight in all, but on the Renting curve it was better than his average. Dick Vrij v Chris Dolman (1/23/93) This was never going to be a victim of expectations. I like Vrij a lot and everything, but Dolman is getting on in years and he was never great to begin with and Vrij isn't the sort of guy who drags mediocre to really good. But hey, they upped their game like you and I and anyone with a shred of honour would for the Mega Battle Tournament Grand Final and it wound up being a pretty fun scrap. Vrij is usually much bigger than his opponents, or at least has a reach advantage, and while Dolman can't match up to him in the striking he's not giving up anything in height and could probably use his extra weight to contain him. It means Vrij wants to be aggressive and finish it on the feet while Dolman would rather grind it out on the mat. Dolman isn't expressive at all and sometimes comes off a touch sandbaggy, but if nothing else it made Vrij's first big knockdown feel well-earned and special (and Vrij's reaction to it did as well). I don't know how much Dolman has left in his legs so I guess this was a nice last hurrah.

I started going through everything a couple years ago as well, though I jumped around a bit rather than doing it chronologically and naturally never got through everything. I thought Billy Scott had a couple decent outings in 1992 and I always found Tom Burton at least amusing for the way he seemed to be into everything he was doing. Like he actually wanted to be good, you know? JT Southern is the real stinker. By far the worst of the outsiders from the first couple years.

I'd go '86 for Hogan as well. About a decade ago I watched almost every Hogan/Savage match I could find and I thought those matches from '86 were all really fun (more have probably surfaced since then as well). The Funk match from SNME at the beginning of the year isn't as good as a couple of their matches from late '85, but it's a fun "greatest hits" sprint. There's also a really cool Kamala match from late in the year where he gigs himself huge and Kamala drinks his blood and stabs him in the face with the Shiv of Quan Chi of whatever such nonsense. I'm a sucker for a spectacle so I absolutely love the Rock match from Wrestlemania 18, but there's more meat in '86 and I'd absolutely say he was a good wrestler that year. 1992 for Rude. It's one of my favourite single years for a wrestler ever. He was often really good to awesome in multi-man matches in the first half of the year, a huge part of Wargames, has a bunch of really good matches on TV (the Pillman match especially), the Dustin match from Worldwide that's fucking great, and the Ironman with Steamboat that I thought was one of the five best matches WCW ever had. Would probably go 1993 for Hansen. He wasn't at his physical peak then, but walking tall Hansen refusing to let go of his place in the world and be passed by the young natives is one of my favourite in-ring characters ever. The Kobashi match is obviously killer, but the Misawa match is great and I'd probably have the Kawada match from February above every All Japan match of the decade bar maybe a couple.

I dropped the ball on this as is my wont, but whenever I get back in the mood to write something I want to pick this back up. It's been a while since I saw a lot of that '93 stuff, but I kind of loved that half hour Ishikawa/Naruse bout the first time. Be interesting to see if I still do on re-watch.

I go in cycles with my hobbies. Right now I'm not really watching any wrestling at all and my only wrestling-related consumption is reading and talking about it on a couple forums. But there isn't much of that happening right now, either. When I'm on one of my wrestling kicks, which usually last a few months before I get the urge to focus on something else, I'd say I devote around an hour a day on average to watching wrestling, with maybe another half an hour writing or reading about it. I'm too restless to sit an do a marathon watching session at this point in my life, though there have been points in the last few years where I've burned through decent amounts of footage in a fairly short space of time. It depends how much free time I have, really.

I'm currently about twelve different things and that's basically my answer for when someone asks me what I do for a living. "I just do...sport stuff." I'm a PT, a football coach, I do performance analysis for football clubs, work as a strength and conditioning coach, and recently I started doing some exercise therapy for people with dementia. None of these are full-time jobs as I went back to uni to finish my degree (I was a full-time PT before that), and in September I'll most likely do a Master's in sports coaching. So yeah, what I do for a living is "sports and shit." I don't follow or watch the EPL, but Arsenal fans have really (REALLY) had a tough times they last couple of seasons. It certainly hasn't been great, but three trophies in the last five years has been nice all the same. The club has clearly been preparing for life post-Arsene for at least a season now, though, and while I'll always be a little sad that his time as manager ended without the hero's farewell, there's some excitement over where things are headed now. It won't be turned around straight away, but at this point change itself is important. We'll see how it goes (especially if Arteta's appointed as the next manager, which I've thought would be the case for a while).