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WrestleMania Weekend - Everything but Mania


goodhelmet

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Perhaps the only thing worse than watching Thatcher lightly spar is listening to Lenny Leonard pretend to understand grappling.

 

Gulak and Perkins showing off better grappling in the first three minutes than I have ever seen out of Thatcher.

 

AR Fox and Ethan Page didn't do a whole lot for me.

 

I think Busik/Hero is a pretty good technical based brawl. I might actually get what people see in Biff a bit. A bit overkill on the elbows at the end. Would have liked this more if I didn't feel like I was watch it on Real Player.

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Maybe there is more post-production done than I realize, but I don't recall there being a lot of insert promos and other stuff on ROH VOD releases that would necessitate a week turnaround. For an event like this weekend's show, I would think they'd shoot it live to tape and accounting for upload times, could have it available within 24 hours of the show finishing. I know personally, I am a lot more hyped to watch a show when it comes out right away rather than when it comes out a week later and I've already "moved on".

 

 

 

Kevin Kelly noted on his show this past week that he and Steve are voicing over commentary on Monday, so best case is Tuesday. For whatever reason (budget or what not), there isn't a commentary team there live.

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Maybe there is more post-production done than I realize, but I don't recall there being a lot of insert promos and other stuff on ROH VOD releases that would necessitate a week turnaround. For an event like this weekend's show, I would think they'd shoot it live to tape and accounting for upload times, could have it available within 24 hours of the show finishing. I know personally, I am a lot more hyped to watch a show when it comes out right away rather than when it comes out a week later and I've already "moved on".

 

 

 

Kevin Kelly noted on his show this past week that he and Steve are voicing over commentary on Monday, so best case is Tuesday. For whatever reason (budget or what not), there isn't a commentary team there live.

 

 

Interesting - thanks. I just assumed they were doing live commentary like usual.

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Perhaps the only thing worse than watching Thatcher lightly spar is listening to Lenny Leonard pretend to understand grappling.

 

Gulak and Perkins showing off better grappling in the first three minutes than I have ever seen out of Thatcher.

 

AR Fox and Ethan Page didn't do a whole lot for me.

 

I think Busik/Hero is a pretty good technical based brawl. I might actually get what people see in Biff a bit. A bit overkill on the elbows at the end. Would have liked this more if I didn't feel like I was watch it on Real Player.

 

It's getting the point where I now find the Thatcher hate to be really fascinating on a sociological level. People in building were texting me burying Tommy End and the super light nature of Gulak/TJP, while extolling Thatcher. The divide on him is now reaching comically absurd proportions, to the point where I have no clue whether or not I should even seek out this show.

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Perhaps the only thing worse than watching Thatcher lightly spar is listening to Lenny Leonard pretend to understand grappling.

Gulak and Perkins showing off better grappling in the first three minutes than I have ever seen out of Thatcher.

AR Fox and Ethan Page didn't do a whole lot for me.

I think Busik/Hero is a pretty good technical based brawl. I might actually get what people see in Biff a bit. A bit overkill on the elbows at the end. Would have liked this more if I didn't feel like I was watch it on Real Player.

 

It's getting the point where I now find the Thatcher hate to be really fascinating on a sociological level. People in building were texting me burying Tommy End and the super light nature of Gulak/TJP, while extolling Thatcher. The divide on him is now reaching comically absurd proportions, to the point where I have no clue whether or not I should even seek out this show.

He does the exact things that completely take me completely out of matches. I get what people like,mand what he's going for, but his grappling looks so obviously 'fake' that it kills me. I'm sure if you like him, the match was fine. End didnt have a lot of moves, but his timing and effort make up for it a bit.

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Main event was a pretty good spot fest, for lack of a better word. PJ Black was really good here....he flies better than I thought he could, he got awesome new gear and, as he said at one point, no handcuffs. HArd to believe WWE couldn't find something for this guy. Ricochet ain't so bad either.

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I agree with the King of Indies not needing to be a ALL-STAR LINE UP and the being disappointed over that is a bit off base. The thing about DISCOVERING guys would be more interesting I suppose if I wasn't acquainted with almost all these guys to various degrees. Here's the breakdown for me:

 

DON'T KNOW/FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH: Vinnie Masarro, El Mariachi, Luster

 

NOT A FAN: Jeckles, Thornstowe, Ricker

 

COULD BE GOOD, COULD BE BAD, COULD BE IN BETWEEN: BBoy, Brian Cage, Rik Luxury, Lil Cholo

 

GUYS I LIKE(at least from what I've seen): Jeff Cobb, Rey Horus, Jody Kristofferson, Willie Mack, Dylan Drake, Timothy Thatcher

 

The tournament could be honest to god good. But I fear a wrestler that East Coasters are acquainted with, Brian Cage, will be they guy to make to the finals. I can't say the same about Thatcher. Admittedly, have no problem with Dylan Drake coming out of that side but out of the 2 best workers on that side of the bracket, one goes out in round 1. Cage will be working as many matches but Cage is in tags and trios mostly. I think Cobb's stock, and APW's, goes up if he goes far.

 

The "special attractions"? Dylan calls them bizarre. And I can buy that for the 3-way on N1 but that is still a match that adds nothing to that card for me. Have Hero or Kendrick(yeah, I'm ignoring HOODSLAM) or SOMEBODY that has history with APW that can add to this show. Joey Ryan doesn't do that. And Ultimo Dragon vs Juventud Guerrera? Who thinks that is a good idea? How much is it costing to fly in Dragon? There HAS to be a better way to spend money. That is an out an out dumb, uninteresting match. Ricochet was supposed to be in it but that doesn't do much for it either. I am hopeful that they find a way to turn it into a tag match but I don't suspect that will happen with all the advertising for it. Feels like they could have just done what PWR does and bring up a couple lucha cats, which Juice stood them up once, instead of selling me this broken down version of a 90's Nitro match.

 

EDIT: Reviewing these shows on PWP so expect some VERY hot takes.

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Perhaps the only thing worse than watching Thatcher lightly spar is listening to Lenny Leonard pretend to understand grappling.

 

Gulak and Perkins showing off better grappling in the first three minutes than I have ever seen out of Thatcher.

 

AR Fox and Ethan Page didn't do a whole lot for me.

 

I think Busik/Hero is a pretty good technical based brawl. I might actually get what people see in Biff a bit. A bit overkill on the elbows at the end. Would have liked this more if I didn't feel like I was watch it on Real Player.

 

It's getting the point where I now find the Thatcher hate to be really fascinating on a sociological level. People in building were texting me burying Tommy End and the super light nature of Gulak/TJP, while extolling Thatcher. The divide on him is now reaching comically absurd proportions, to the point where I have no clue whether or not I should even seek out this show.

 

 

Well, I think both matches are worth checking out in the sense that neither were bad and both are interesting to look at in the context of the larger US indie mat work scene (for lack of a better term). My personal take is that Shining Wiz's viewpoint and the thoughts relayed to Dylan definitely represent the two extremes. I saw all of that (Thatcher's work, End's work, and Gulak/TJP) in a much more neutral light. There was stuff I liked that Thatcher did and stuff that I didn't. Same for End. The match had its bright spots and overall was definitely watchable if not a bit better than that. I felt about the same way for Gulak/TJP. I do tend to find the vast majority of the current wrestling I watch to be some shade of "okay" so I am not surprised I didn't have an extreme reaction to either match.

 

My biggest gripe was that they put these matches back to back and they were similar enough that they would have benefited from having a buffer in between.

 

 

 

The tournament could be honest to god good. But I fear a wrestler that East Coasters are acquainted with, Brian Cage, will be they guy to make to the finals. I can't say the same about Thatcher. Admittedly, have no problem with Dylan Drake coming out of that side but out of the 2 best workers on that side of the bracket, one goes out in round 1. Cage will be working as many matches but Cage is in tags and trios mostly. I think Cobb's stock, and APW's, goes up if he goes far.

 

Agreed on Cage. There's definitely a real chance he goes far and that doesn't sound too appealing. We'll see.

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I'm in the Thatcher is awesome camp. Best wrestler in the world last year, best wrestler in the world so far this year. His grappling is great both from a match construction standpoint and from a gritty believability standpoint. He has great strikes, great facial expressions, sells great, he's the all around package in my book.

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Nope, not being a contrarian, I just find attempts at "realistic" grappling in pro wrestling only serves to show how much you have to take off holds so as to not actually hurt people.

 

Lucha looks choreographed to an extent, but I prefer flippitydoos to guys who are supposedly grappling experts giving up their backs completely to lightly stretch a knee.

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flippitydoos

Welp, I'm out. *shows both sides of my hands like a blackjack dealer*

I'm sorry. What I meant to say was, "I prefer lucha libre with its topes, planchas and head scissor variations. Lucha libre mat work, while choreographed, is not attempting to resemble legitimate grappling techniques and therefore doesn't ruin my willing suspension of disbelief by looking loose."

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