Stiva

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.

They had MVP sitting around playing cards at Raw 25 and that dude was awesome on promos when he was in TNA. They could at least use The VIP Lounge on Smackdown.

I dug 205 Live this week. It's not quite the pure "wrestling in a vaccuum" joy of WCW Worldwide since there's angles and the running thread of a tournament but there was two fun matches and I'm a sucker for a tournament. I imagine that they haven't shown a bracket because Drake is going to insert himself and become a sly heel GM (I hope not) or they're trying to get Neville back and want to put him in there.

Throw him on Smackdown and find some excuse for him to team with AJ against The Usos.

Great match that built and delivered in the ways you want a big death match to. At the end, I was about to complain about another Honma match not ending when it should but the combo of the awesome dive into the ring and the instant armbar was enough to make me forget that fucking nutso powerbomb through the boards from Kobayashi. Both guys were awesome here, not only at the big moment to moment stuff but the little things that keep everything together. Honma's facial expressions are just fantastic and Kobayashi does tiny things like bending Honma's finger back during an Abdominal Stretch and giving sly little kicks as he sets up the next weapon spot. All of those spots meant something and the work in between escalated nicely. Great match.

That's a weird one. He always struck me as one of those Bob Ryder types. He worked closely with Hardy on the Broken videos on the production side so I'm assuming they want to do them right. Or Hardy has insisted.

And in even more exciting news, apparently WWE has signed Jeremy Borash.

Not too much to add other than I think the men's Rumble was probably their best one in a decade. Probably exactly a decade with Cena showing up at MSG though I may be blanking on some good ones along the way. The whole show had a great feel to it as mentioned, because it gave fans everything they wanted. Keeping the surprises in the men's to a minimum helped the women's Rumble a lot more but fuck, was it great to see Rey. They need to get that dude on Smackdown and give him and Styles some PPV matches ASAP. Nakamura winning is great and I'm genuinely amazed they had the patience to keep he and Styles apart to the point where this feels like a real dream match at the perfect setting. Loved the Women's Rumble too and you really couldn't have asked for a better way to kick those off. As mentioned, you're going to need to ramp up the signings and pump up the depth if you want to run one next year (maybe get some Women's Tag Belts?) but I imagine McCool, Molly and Trish could all work full schedules now since they looked like they hadn't lost much. I'm also down for Trish being in a comeback match at Summerslam. Was the Beth Phoenix thing a one-time deal? I could kind of dig her putting Nia over in a short spell. Asuka winning was right since, in kayfabe, she really is this unstoppable machine and it's awesome that Ronda let her slap the hand away which was a FANTASTIC visual. It said more than any promo battle ever could. I have a good feeling about Ronda; she has definite star quality. If they handle her right and she can pick up pro wrestling quickly, I think she'll be awesome. Not sure they could have booked a better start to Mania. They're quietly firing on all cylinders at the moment. If they can apply some magic to 205 Live, they'll be scarily consistent.

No idea if we're going to see Ronda but we are going to see COACH who is back on the announce team. The road to Wrestlemania and all its sign pointing has arrived.

Gargano/Almas is just incredible pro wrestling. Every move felt earned, every counter felt natural, it dipped, it rose, it told a fantastic story. Gargano sold like a master and Almas hit that illusive balance that made Flair's title defences so great. Letting everyone know that you're still the man while structuring a match that gives the babyface everything. Almas won but man, Gargano took him all the way. As much as that crowd would have went wild for Johnny winning, Almas needs that kind of win as the Ace of NXT and he has a built in feud with Ciampa. That match was just astonishing work and the pair deserve all the praise they're getting, Two amazing performances.

If Asuka gets dumped before 30 enters, we know whos winning anyway.

For when you require absolutely no actual wrestling and need overbooked nonsense NOW.

Evil GM Neville in a If you dont like it, you do better type slant

Pretty bizarre piece of professional wrestling here, but enjoyable. There were a few good comedy spots; I liked Tobita finally blocking the kendo stick and just getting punched in the face for his troubles. Tobita picks up the board and the crowd reacts like Lawler has just pulled down the strap. Silly stuff but oddly well paced, timed and built.

Nothing else to add other than that I enjoyed this for what it seemed to be, considering the clipping made this feel like a Youtube highlights video. I loved Policeman just kicking his briefcase square off that dude's face though. What a fantastic dick move.

I think they do have an effect which is why they need him out of the Rumble. They want Reigns to win the Rumble and having Braun in there, after every massive production effort they've expended to get him over means nothing if Reigns eliminates him. Granted, that didn't stop them letting Lesnar pin him clean but Reigns/Braun through the spring sounds fantastic and they need to keep them apart.

The one thing I will say with Braun is that it seems he's the vessel for all the outlandish ideas the writing team have. We need someone to pull a lighting rig down? Get Braun. A dude that storms out of the back of an ambulance? Get Braun. I don't blame them since Braun is awesome at getting all of those angles over which, is a credit to him but he's definitely a dude they've been waiting to come down the pipe since Khali panned out and they're getting all of their grand ideas out in one massive blast.

Fantastic match that escalated in superb fashion. Doc and Vader were just all out great here, laying out a hell of an attack on Akiyama and Kobashi, while still finding that perfect balance of selling and vulnerability to make everything matter. The double bird from Vader set the scene pretty great and I loved all of the opening exchanges; Vader and Kobashi exchanging strikes in the corner, the work on the leg (complete with Akiyama hitting missile dropkicks to it while Kobashi had Vader in a half-leg crab!) and I liked how Akiyama and Doc went from trading holds in their first sequence to throwing blows in their second one with Doc catching him with an AWESOME jab. It feels like a duo that could have a great singles match in them (I don't know if it ever happened, hope so), especially since Doc, in general, looks great. Agile, hard-hitting, really motivated.The ending run is suitably chaotic with Akiyama looking amazing, just running about, throwing suplexes and knees with wild abandon until Vader and Doc neutralise him. Kobashi takes a hell of a beating, keeps getting up until finally, he drops after sustained punishment and, to make matters worse, Doc has his partner in a chickenwing, forcing him to look on as they lose the belts. Absolutely great tag with 4 great performances.

Man, I'd say Braun is a total once in a generation talent.

You have a weird obsession with trying to seem above it all, dude.