Stiva

Real hot piece of business here as CMLL continue to fire on all cylinders. Satanico is an all-time great bastard with my personal favourite moment being when he escaped a pin by just grabbing a fistful of Tarzan Boy's hair. Subtle but absolutely perfect.

Man, I had no idea Chyna was still with Jericho in the run-in to Mania. Really fun TV match that was so completely different to anything we were seeing on WWF TV, even just a few months prior and they were really smart in putting the Radicals in there with the guys they knew could go when given the chance. It's completely reinvigorated the midcard and their TV main events. I've always enjoyed Brian Christopher and Rikishi but I'm struck by how much I'm digging Scotty 2 Hotty on rewatch. Yeah, the Worm is beyond stupid but he's cutting a great pace, he matches up great opposite the Radicals and he just generally performs his role really well. I think 2 Cool as an act have done a lot for me over the past couple of months actually. About as hot a TV opener as you could hope for. Also, I cracked up at Chyna following Jericho and Dean up the ramp too. It's like someone told her that she had to stay within 5 feet of him at all times or she'd lose her heat.

Echo what others have said in that this had some really solid heel teamwork but fell completely flat. There were individual moments where it looked like a spark may light but it's disappointing that the match fell flat immediately afterwards. The first two that come to mind are the initial attack on Winger with the nasty looking table bump which just settled into a solid, yet uninspiring heel control segment and the second was immediately after the hot tag. Rather than being a chaotic finale, the finishing stretch felt oddly disjointed and anti-climatic. Gedo, Jado and Wing all looked good though so I'm hyped to see more of them as the decade rolls on.

I had a hankering for some early SMW and Dutch implying that Brian Lee will shoot up a public space one day will never not make me laugh. It's not enough that he hates the guy, he has to imply that he's a future serial killer.

I dig the (potentially) coke-fuelled, egomaniacal promos from Flair and Luger here. Luger's is definitely better considering it, you know, has a point but I liked Flair saying "I know what camera to look at, I'm Ric Flair" and him really loving the 4% body fat delivery. As said, the match is a big disappointment and another fine example of WCWs status as a total nostalgia promotion. Flair hits all of his spots, we get another poor, confusing finish and that's Nitro.

I increasingly think they should do something like that around a big UK show. They could probably charge a million bucks for the tickets and the UK fans would gobble that up. Bulldogs (or at least DBS), Johnny Saint, Lord Alfred Hayes, Regal, (I was going to say Haystacks Calhoun but he's already in). Maybe Big Daddy? Finlay? I would love to live in a United Kingdom where Johnny Saint gets the massive adulation he deserves but man, that's a crazy pick. Wrestling fans of the last 15-20 years are more likely to know Johnny Storm than Johnny Saint. Big Daddy would absolutely be the WoS pick on pop culture crossover alone but even then, that's reaching for a UK show. It'd be Regal, Davey, Finlay, Hayes, Adrian Street and I don't know, Lord Littlebrook as your inductees.

Kobashi comes into this with a bullseye around his waist and god damn, does it ever suit late-era Vader. After an initial flurry from Kobashi, Vader lands a sweet elbow drop to the ribs and he takes over. With the pace slowed, this really becomes the perfect match for Vader, who was obviously past his prime but when you give him a target, he's clearly still got enough to deliver in spades. That's not to take away from Kobashi who really puts in a masterful selling performance, maybe the best of the year thus far, retaining that stoicism in the face of the task ahead of him. A really simply laid out, expertly executed wrestling match with a satisfying finish. No complaints here.

I'm not able to add much more than anyone else but one of my favourite things in wrestling is watching a guy get made in a big moment and this might be the best version of that match you can have. In kayfabe terms, Jun is just a machine; he has the bit between his teeth and even when Misawa won't stay down, he doesn't stop, digs even deeper and comes up clutch when he had to. A month earlier, he failed with Vader and now he's toppled THE guy and nobody can deny him. An incredible match with no wasted moments.

Big Show will absolutely go in one day. He was a big capture in 99, had the big Mania match with Mayweather, a long run where he was one of the ultimate company guys ever while working alongside the likes of Lesnar, Cena, Eddie, Angle, Taker, Henry etc, thought of highly by just about everyone in the company. He's a total lock when he finishes up for good, I'd say. And he'd have an awesome speech, the dude is super likeable.

I mean, isn't this excellent booking in the long run? The whole narrative of this feud is that Lesnar is a part timer while Reigns busts his ass. Quickest way to get the desired reaction they want at Mania (i.e. Reigns cheers, Brock boos) is to pull something like this. You piss off a great deal of the live crowd, everyone in this thread is pissed at it, the narrative of Brock being a lazy asshole who is running down his contract is solidified and Reigns can win the title to cheers. If Brock is being an asshole, which is probably likely, it's a pretty incredible way of manipulating and working people to get what they want. Did Reigns work the house show? If it wasn't a long main event following Brock, I'll be surprised.

Also, Cena is worried that he won't be at Wrestlemania. Not that he isn't fighting for a major title at Wrestlemania. The very concept of simply being at Wrestlemania is elevated higher than the quest for titles these days.

They always changed angles on impact of moves and strikes to try and sell the effect of them but they always refrained from doing it in big brawling angles. Looks like theyve changed their mind. And yeah, thats completely unwatchable and does nothing for anyone involved.

I haven't seen it yet but I'm kinda surprised they made Ronda talk when she's, by all accounts, never been comfortable or great at it. That's something they used to be way more protective of. Her punking out Hunter is a good spot though, even if I have no interest in whatever it's building to. EDIT: Just watched it and it's clear that the crowd are super into Ronda which is great. But Stephanie is absolutely the shittiest Vince clone ever. Though HHH has found his calling as the world's best 1998 Sgt Slaughter impersonator.

Really enjoyable stuff from both guys here. Skipper looks really smooth, even if he does get struck down by the Billy Kidman Powerbomb virus but Kidman did have these kind of short, snappy TV matches down very nicely. It's heartening to see WCW continue to pluck good wrestling out of a surrounding aura of terribleness.

Raw has been astonishingly good at keeping its momentum going for the past few months and it's the first time since the halcyon days of Shield 6-man tags, that it actually justifies its 3 hour slot. It means the top guys can all have good, long matches and it allows the women to get the focus and time they need and there's so many people on show that are over and being kept strong. I hope they can continue it into Mania season.

Jarrett back involved with WWE is hilarious. Does HHH have a win from 1995 he needs to get back or something?

Jeff Cobb was backstage at Smackdown this week so he might be there sooner rather than later.

Bring in Matt Riddle as Ronda Rousey's stoner corner guy who KOs HHH when he tries to interfere at Mania.

Really enjoyable, simple pro wrestling match with good performances from both guys. I thought the big spots and near falls were earned after some strong work in the opening and the final stretch wasn't rushed to or through; it all felt like a natural scale upwards. The one thing that really frustrated me through it all was the ref. The dude was counting like he was a heel special ref who was trying to get his buddy a cheap win for every single fall. It's hard for there to be any real drama in a near fall if the ref is counting at lightning speed. That's a minor nitpick though and it doesn't take away from a really well constructed match.

Homicide was always one of my favourite mid-2000s indie guys so I'm super interested to see his early stuff and I'm watching this with most of my attention on him. I echo what Loss said about this standing out above the other crowd brawls we've seen so far and Homicide was/is always great at avoiding the head-holding style of crowd brawling. It's also clear that he "got " the brawling style almost immediately as there's a cool sense of escalation with enough little call-backs and shifts to stop this from being a meandering, violence-for-violence sake type of match. As an aside, I have heard nothing but good things about early 2000s JAPW so I'm super excited to see more of this going forward. Another point; it's a simple thing but guys motioning to objects or raising them above their head to build to the use of them will always get a pop out of me and to see that one dude do it with a cheese grater warmed my heart.

They stopped the split PPVs in 07 last time around and the brand split lasted a while after that. I dont see how this leads to it ending.

Totally. I'll pay whatever I need to, to stream that.

It's probably harsh to call Tarzan Boy a 'broomstick' but this is a total Satanico heel performance, encompassing the grand and subtle. Young Tarzan sells the beatdown pretty well (I love how he sells the early slaps) but every single motion from Satanico is filled with pure bastardry and malice. I agree with what others have said, that this needed to be a more violent affair to stand in line with the angles that built to it and that it was far too short. The second fall is a good example; it starts with an urgent Tarzan Boy flurry and then just...ends. Satanico gets his comeuppance after months of being a bastard but yeah, this was disappointing on a larger scale, even if the work within was fine and, in Satanico's case, excellent.

Ziggler to win the belt to get everyone into a tiz about not getting Styles/Nakamura until Styles wins it back on TV?

I'd say being the only (or one of) dude to really shine in the consistent shitfest that was TNA, only adds to his reputation as an elite worker.