Handsome Newbie's Sports Entertainment Journey on YT

[cowboy hats]

So I don't think I had ever seen a wrestling match outside of WWE/WCW/ECW before last week. All the GWE talk since the honorable mention list broke got my e-juices flowing and I've been plugging in random matches on youtube ever since. I don't know if I have a purpose here other than cataloguing my viewing. I could forget about the list tomorrow and have this post become the least viewed in this forum. Or...this could turn into the diary of the most handsome GWE 2026 voter and we'll all look back in awe and sexual interest.

 

If I have thoughts and there's already a thread somewhere on the board, I'll try to keep it there. But if not...

 

Accuracy of promotions and dates are not guaranteed!!

 

Terry Rudge v. Rob Brookside - Reslo, 1991

Bryan Danielson v. AJ Styles - IWA Homecoming, 2004-09-16

Bryan Danielson v. Tyler Black - ROH, 2009-05-09

Samoa Joe v. Necro Butcher - IWAMS, 2005-06-11

Crusher Blackwell Promo

Crusher Blackwell v. Bruiser Brody (No DQ) - AWA, November 1984

Ted Dibiase Turns on Jim Duggan - Mid-South, 1983-05-05

Negro Casas v. Mocho Cota (Hair v. Hair) - CMLL, 1994-09-23

Dynamite Kid v. Tiger Mask - NJPW, 1982-08-05

Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon Feud - Puerto Rico, 1986-1987

Bret Hart and Da British Bulldog v. Owen Hart and Bob Backlund - WWF, 1995-02-26

Jerry Lawler v. Crusher Blackwell - CWA, 1981-05-04

Negro Casas and El Dandy v. Mocho Cota and Silver King - CMLL (?), 1994-03-18

Bryan Danielson v. Fergal Devitt - NWA Empire, 2007-07-21

Dory Funk and Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody - AJPW, 1983-04-20

Hiroshi Hase v. The Great Muta - NJPW, 1992-12-14

Tajiri v. Super Crazy (Japanese Death Match) - ECW, 2000-02-04

Lex Luger v. Brian Pillman - NWA, 1989-11-26

Buzz Sawyer v. Jim Duggan (Dog Collar Chain Match) - Mid-South, 1985-12-27

AJ Styles v. Chris Sabin v. Petey Williams (Ultimate X Match) - TNA Final Resolution 2005

Nick Bockwinkle v. Stan Hansen - AWA, 1985-04-20

Kurt Angle v. The Undertaker - No Way Out 2006

Kurt Angle v. Sting v. Christian Cage - TNA Sacrifice 2007

Best of Mid South UWF - Important Angles

Manami Toyota v. Toshiyo Yamada (Hair v. Hair) - AJW, 1992-08-15

WWF Superstar Promos Royal Rumble 1989

[WingedEagle]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Would be great to hear someone's first impressions coming at all of this stuff, be it older or foreign material, with zero frame of reference.

[Cap]

Discovering/watching new wrestling (and new wrestling styles) is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Enjoy this process.

[cowboy hats]

Preliminary thoughts:

Stan Hansen is a hossssss. Loved his stuff with Colon.

ECW house show handhelds may not be a genre into which I dive deep. Although I think I checked out that February 2000 card in Jacksonville and Dusty was on it somehow.

I can now say I've seen a TNA match The Ultimate X Match held my attention, despite the goofy contraption.

Granted it's only been two matches, but no pacing issues for Kurt Angle so far. Of course, the 2006 match with 'Taker was mentioned as one of his better efforts and I was fighting off a nap during the one with Christian and Sting. But nothing egregious...yet.

Of the 90 minutes of Mid South angles I saw, the one that really sticks is the Rock n Roll Express trying on a strait jacket in the middle of the ring. So hilariously dumb and they immediately pay the price when the Midnight Express jump the ring and piledrive the shit out of one of them. First pic is Rock n Roll recognizing their stupidity. Second is the epic piledriver.





About two moves into my first Joshi match (and apparently one of the most famous) I was like 'oh, boy' and could see how this takes some getting used to. But it was good! (is this like saying Hitchcock's Veritgo is good?) I don't know their usual arsenal of moves and finishers, of course, but I was reminded of modern era complaints of bomb throwing and finisher spamming with not much selling. The silent crowd turning raucous by the end was very cool. And so was the post match emotion of the shave.

[Jimmy Redman]

I love that Ultimate X match. It's the best one I've seen, and one of the more fun balls-out wacky stuntfest shows you'll see. AJ is so great in it.

 

If the joshi match you mean is Toyota/Yamada (taking a guess from the clues), then that's a great example of what I keep trying to say about joshi. When you first watch you get hit over the head with the sledgehammers that are the pace and the bombardment of moves and the running around and what looks like no selling.

 

But at the heart of joshi, the most interesting thing about it and what keeps me coming back, is the sheer level of emotion and storytelling they can reach. I think as women they are able to emote in a different way to men when it comes to fighting or sporting contests, which makes it so interesting.

 

What strikes me most about something like Toyota/Yamada isn't the amount of moves they do or the pace or the selling. What strikes me is the aftermath, where Toyota in victory is overwhelmed with what they went through and is hysterically tackling people trying to prevent them from shaving Yamada's head. She regrets her whole life and can't handle what she is now forcing upon her partner. And you don't get to that place without the million bombs and kickouts and headdrops, because they are the markers of the almighty epic battle they go through that results in Toyota's reaction. But the reaction is what it builds to, and the reaction is what you leave with.

 

Once you get past the quirks of the style, joshi is really just as much about the telling of the story as any other kind of wrestling. But they do it in a unique way, both in the ring work and in what kind of stories they tell and how they sell them.