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Did something happen this week? Was a little busy.

apparently today is Bull Nakano's birthday, which is something that it feels like should be on the official DVDVR liturgical calendar. in the meantime, post pictures and call it iconography I guess

Sorry if this breaks the no politics rule so feel to take this down. But Linda McMahon’s PAC contributed to putting together Trump’s event on Wednesday. I will never click on one thing related to the WWE ever again. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/01/09/pro-trump-dark-money-groups-organized-the-rally-that-led-to-deadly-capitol-hill-riot.html?__twitter_impression=true

Also we should just mention Luna Vachon, because Luna ruled

He's actually been working on a ten-star scale this whole time. He has very high standards and his grading is really strict. He only considers a tiny handful of matches in the entire history of pro wrestling to have been even a little above average.

I'm retired and can watch wrestling all day (at night I watch home team sports). I DVR WWC Puerto Rico, Lucha Azteca CMLL, MLW, Impact Xplosion, NXT, AEW, IWS, and ROH Classics every week. I stream most of the full cards shown on Samurai TV and GAORA Sports excluding Dragon Gate, DDT related and am a year behind on NOAH. Sometimes online current stuff from AAA and CMLL. I will admit to much of it as background while I am online, reading or have music on. I go to GCW shows in NJ and Lucha shows in NYC. I see 20+ shows in Japan in around New Years and Golden Week. I'm enough of a regular at the restaurants of Kyoko Inoue, Great Kabuki, and Genki Misae that they know Ka-to san by name.

I imported this New Japan Pro-Wrestling hoodie from Japan last year to England. Go up a size from your usual. I'm a Large and this is a XL, it's not a loose one. Its like a Medium. I've hung my NJPW hoodie up with my UFC Sherpa hoodie. The UFC is Large yet it's a couple of centimetres longer at the waist and arms than the NJPW XL. I asked @El Gran Gordi about Japanese sizing after mine arrived, I meant to beforehand.

Bob Backlund was much flashier as a collegiate wrestler than as a pro.

My 10 year old nephew's folks have just started him with Doctor Who. They started with Eccleston and they're into the beginning of Tennent. He absolutely loves it. He got pissed the other night when his Mom skipped the intro. I asked him, "You wanted to see the TARDIS fly, right?" I'll let this pic of his art project at school today answer that, I guess.. Not bad for a toilet paper roll trying to look square, in my humble and violently proud opinion.

I want to write 10,000 words on the role of false connoisseurship and curated list-making in pro wrestling (and elsewhere), but I'll try to be (my version of) succinct. I love classical music. I got really into it during my seven years living in the Czech Republic where it is absolutely ingrained in the culture. Smetana, Dvořák, and Janáček are among the great, beloved Czech composers, and every Czech person seems to be well aware, and proud, of the connection Mozart felt to the people of Prague. So, I expressed an interest to some students and got a Dvořák's 9th/Smetana's Má vlast CD from a student, a great CD that was a common souvenir or gift for a foreign friend at that time (and possibly still is). The question then became: Where to go next? There are a bewildering number of classical music CDs, so many composers and compositions and orchestras and conductors and performers. For me, at least, this was where curated lists started to become very useful. By sheer good luck, while back in Canada on vacation, I stumbled across a copy of The Insiders Guide to Classical Recordings in a used book shop. The writer, Jim Svejda, is funny and opinionated and vastly knowledgeable. I used his book as a guide and bought a ton of Mozart CDs, and a lot of Dvořák, and some Janáček. I loved almost all of it, and understood why he loved the stuff that I didn't care for so much. I started to get a feel for certain conductors and musicians and what made them stand out in a very crowded field. Sadly, I went through a years-long stage where I kind of turned my nose up at anything that wasn't specifically mentioned in his book. That was insane. He specifically advises against doing that. I think it's all but unavoidable, though. It's a stage a lot of us have to go through when developing our own tastes. For me, that is what false connoisseurship means. But, I eventually took the training wheels off. I could buy records by musicians and composers that I had learned about from Svejda, even if he hadn't recommended those particular records. And, organically, it grew from there. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a true connoisseur, but i have developed my own sense of what I love about Classical Music and it has made my life richer and more enjoyable and has played a big role in creating many great friendships and one wonderful marriage. I don't know if I ever would have arrived here without the help of a curated list, like Svejda's book or the many other books and websites I've devoured over the years. I could tell a much longer version of that story, and I could tell similar stories about wine, Japanese sake, craft beer, action movies, 20th Century French art, post-bop jazz, RPGs... Some of those stories would be more about finding a flesh and blood mentor to guide me than about finding a book or whatever. But the point is that, I think for a ton of people, curated lists and false connoisseurship are incredibly useful and perhaps necessary stages in developing a sense of what we personally love about our special thing(s). Those lists can function like keys to allow us insight into a community we'd like to be a part of (rather than apart from). And the internet makes it so easy now to find both curated lists and to find a community to try and join. I feel lucky that my curated pro wrestling list leaned more toward DVDVR issue #100 rather than, say, Meltzer's ***** match list. I think that helped me to discover some pretty interesting corners of the pro wrestling world. It may have been Scott Keith, of all possible people, who guided me toward DVDVR back in the day. I'm pretty sure it was playing Extreme Warfare Revenge or a similar booking game that guided me toward Scott Keith. And so it goes. I think that anyone who has participated in a GWE or GME type of project will tell you that trying to curate a list is a great way to expand and refine your own tastes. And the truly great thing about hobbies/obsessions like jazz, wine, or pro wrestling is that once we graduate from false connoisseurship into having our own ideas, we discover that our hobbies/obsessions are virtually endless, that we can go our entire lives without experiencing everything and there will always be more to discover (e.g. the fine work being done w/r/t French Catch these days).

Pay attention walking to the ring

What a moment.

Imagine skipping the intro of an episode of Doctor Who.

They call them variety shows. Sensibly enough. I often ask my students questions like, "What kind of TV shows do you like?" and "Variety!" was a very common answer. It took me a while to figure out what that means in Japan. What it means is, well, Reality/Improv/Competion/Comedy etc. Sometimes also Food or Quiz, for example. One of my young male students says he likes "Danger-tainment." SENTOSHA: Battle Wheels very much sounds like what that might be. EDIT: I long ago got used to having no idea what is going on. In my opinion, that is a key to having a happy life here (which I very much do). Further EDIT: @thee Reverend Axl FutureI watched it. One of my students gave me a one-year Amazon Prime Japan membership for Christmas (how nice is that?) and SENTOSHA: Battle Wheels was indeed in my streaming queue as well. Even going in with your description in mind, and even given what I have come to expect from Japanese TV, that was a pretty damned near inexplicable and incomprehensible 35 minutes of cars not actually crashing into anything as the S01 ep01 of a show ostensibly, entirely, about people doing car stunts. Also, since I'm in Japan there were no subtitles (and I also can't remove the Japanese subtitles from English language movies and TV). However, as you accurately put it: It is more important and pleasurable to smoothly survive and experience than to understand and categorize. And I also marked out for Mutoh, even though I knew it was coming.

DAY 110 WrestleMania XXXIV (or Learning To Live With Disappointment) So it's 2018. So... um, let me give you a little inside baseball. When 2018 started, my partner and I flew to Austin to visit some friends. We rented a car for the weekend but I was so big at that point, I was having trouble getting in and out. I weighed 470 lbs. After that weekend, he and I went on Nutrisystem, and in the time since then, I've lost almost 220 lbs. (He's lost about half that much, but frankly he had less to lose.) Doing so allowed me to do many more activities like long 10+ mile walks around the city, hiking in the White Mountains, and just contributed overall to my quality of life. As I said when I started this whole thing, NYC went into a lockdown and I bought an exercise bike that's helped keep me sane until the lockdown slowly lifted. I'm keeping it up a little less frequently than before, because I can actually go outside again, but it's still helping keep me going. And frankly, if I hadn't lost that weight before, I would have been well over the weight limit of this bike and who knows what would have happened. 2018 was a big year for me. Alright, enough mush, let's start with the Intercontinental Championship. The Miz has just become a father for the first time and is riding a bit of a high career-wise. He's running with the Miz-tourage (Bo Dallas and whatever Joe Hennig is calling himself in 2018) and is rolling into WrestleMania as the Intercontinental Champion, his 8th and (so far) final reign. Fun fact! One more and he ties Chris Jericho for most ever. Seth Rollins has spent the last year burning it down. Which means... *checks notes* he was a tag team wrestler who's partners kept getting career-threatening injuries. Hmm. Maybe don't push everyone in Crossfit so hard there? And Finn Balor... well, after his injury comeback, Vince apparently discovered the whole "Demon" side of him. The thing about it though was he wanted the Demon for everything. Including an absolutely idiotic feud with Bray Wyatt that was going to lead to The Demon facing Sister Abagail. (Thankfully, Bray got some horrible disease and the whole feud was called off.) But he's in the upper mid-card and is among the best workers on the planet so... in he goes. This is actually Finn Balor's WrestleMania debut and he's surrounded by a bunch of people from New Orleans wearing his new rainbow t-shirt. (Yeah, whatever idiot said he wasn't 'over' is owed a drink by Balor, because this shirt made a fuck-ton of sales.) And I don't know what it was, but damned if this entrance didn't actually get me. Welling up while riding a bike is a weird sensation. The match is pretty fun. It went about 16-18 minutes, the first half of which was pretty much non-stop because they just kept trading dance partners between each other. They've clearly got Miz's spots very laid out for him because they're clearly giving cues and he's dutifully following along. But for what it's worth, it's very good because everything is laid out intricately and things are building and making sense, and they're sticking to the script. Like I'm sure there's a mind-blowing ROH 70+ minute war between Tyler Black and Prince Devitt out there, but the Miz anchoring them just works perfectly here. Finish is the re-introduction of the curbstomp which he hits on Balor then on Miz by Rollins, for his first IC title. This completes his career grand slam a mere 5 years into his WWE career, so good for him. Both Balor and Miz came out looking like a million bucks here, so nothing to hang their head in shame for. Well worth the re-visit. "Where's Poochie?" count is 1. (more on that later)

This is the DVDVR version of the Eddie Kingston speech on BTE but it really nails the community aspect of wrestling fandom. Well said! I had to find a new Barber about 6 months ago. On my first visit to the new place I was wearing a Janela Spring Break shirt. My new barber saw the shirt and then wanted to chat about nothing other than the 2000-03 Philly Indy scene, old school CZW, Zandig, Ruckus, 3PW and Jersey All Pro, all that kind of stuff that I traded tapes of many years ago. I had never met the guy before but the kinship was there straight away. I was, however, very worried that the dude cutting my hair with clippers, had just spent way too long talking about the Nick Mondo weedwacker spot.

I look forward to the return of your comedic stylings in a week

Thinking about what we were discussing earlier, it's really weird that we went from a period in the late 1990s where major promotions booked as little wrestling as possible on their shows and focused on lots of angles on weekly TV to the current situation, with lots and lots of long wrestling matches. I'm somewhat surprised that modern U.S. wrestling doesn't do more of this - maybe not to the extent that a RAW or Nitro from 1999 did, but to a much wider extent than it does now. I think that's why I enjoyed Powerrr so much; it mixed in lots of squash matches and semi-competitive matches, and it was not afraid to have a substantial amount of time spent on simply building matches, characters, or angles with studio interviews and video packages. It was very balanced. Putting aside the quality of the angles and characterization on those shows, I think they work better than a three-hour show with lots of long wrestling matches. I'd rather have less wrestling and more interviews/video on a weekly show that builds to a wrestling-heavy PPV. By the time I stopped watching WWE, the PPVs and weekly shows felt no different from one another, and I felt that way about AEW before I stopped watching it as well. So my hot take is that in theory, I'd rather watch a weekly show that's angle-heavy with lots of two-to-four minute matches and a main event that is clearly meant to build to a PPV than watch a typical RAW circa-2016 or AEW. My REALLY hot take is that I would rather watch a show like the 1999 WCW which had a first hour of only promos/skits/etc. than a typical RAW circa-2016 or AEW show in theory, provided that the promos/skits are good and actually build effectively to something.

THAT’S IT THATS THE LIST.

Cody should be an excellent heel. Veneer of sleekness, dyed blonde hair, narcissistic entrances & wardrobe choices that feel authentic and organic, a seemingly-rebellious attitude that is really underpinned by a desire to be loved / vindicated (“wrestling has more than one Royal Family”). Positioning himself as a heel-talent that has garnered more mainstream exposure than the rest of the talent combined in 2020 + with the genetic pedigree that much of the young / 1st gen indie-riffic roster could only dream of is material that should write itself. Really missing the boat on that character. RE: show ending - one thing would say is that a lot of value is lost in not having the Bullet Club name. It’s a cool faction name given how corny factions often be. Given all the money splashed everywhere (how much have they paid Snoop to remix Cody’s theme?!) it’s amazing they can’t come to some sort of commercial agreement on that.

How and why did the NFL sign off on the Rams dishwater color jerseys? I ask this question every time I watch them play.

I am just sitting here quietly tempting no football Gods

Next week's AEW Dark has Bear Country against Nick Comoroto and Baron Black, so someone will be entering the win column.

I don't think we should talk about it because the board policy is not to talk about it, not because we need an "escape." A lot of people are unfortunate enough to live through real life without having an escape from any of it, so I don't really believe that wanting an escape - "let me just live in ignorance for a little while," essentially - is all that important a need.

While it is true Nak was booked like a star, let's also not pretend his NXT run was anything but a let down. There is this weird narrative thing fans push about Nakamura like he's this great underutilized talent when every indication has seemed like he's treated the WWE like a retirement plan. He got a big money contract, and can work in 2nd gear and collect pay checks. For the record, I don't hold that against him, but it's felt pretty clear that's what he's doing. Which is why I'm kind of bummed it wasn't Cesaro put in the spot instead of Nak. Cesaro vs. Rey and Bryan would have been hits that Nak vs. those guys just wasn't.

Which is why he's both!

Today I went on Disney+ for the first time since September before WandaVision starts next week. To my surprise I find Agents of SHIELD Season 7 is there, 10/13 episodes! I did a search online to find the first two episodes arrived on 13th of November 2020 with a new episode every week. I'd have started earlier had I known. Great that I'll get to see it!

Also married to Sara Gilbert from Roseanne/The Connors/BBT. Prolific song writer.

Up 18, do this, and lose by double digits. Solid. "I don't even want to describe that." Yooouuuuu damn right you don't. Steph went into based god mode there during that comeback/collapse. This season is wide open for the taking it feels like. Absolute chaos and I love it so much.

I will try to keep this a broad as possible, but what has always been true in pro rasslin' (and advertising and comic books and ketchup choice, et al) is if you get the consumers emotionally involved, you will have them hooked (not necessarily in a malicious manner) for the long term, whereas intellectual involvement, as well as attraction based on price or surprises or practicality, will bring them in for a quick look but may not keep them. Many hours of good matches based on crazy moves is lesser than a well-booked show with wrestlers and feuds and stories that get your heart in it. We may not be able to use nationalism or regionalism or stereotyping or good/evil or bigger than life gimmicks as easily, but putting out spot-fests with ironic characters that the crowd identifies with is pandering nonetheless, and perhaps a less effective kind, bizness-wise. - RAF

Why do they all look like that?

Definitely drinks next time. I also think I was with me wife at that show and we had somewhere to be afterward...

I think that I remember when 1* was average and 2* was good in his ratings. Now it seems like average gets 3* and it goes up from there. Beer reviews are also on the zero to five scale. There are so many beer reviews where the description is of a bad beer yet the rating is like a 3.2. The purpose of modern wrestling is to keep you from changing the channel when there is a commercial break. I grew up when the purpose of TV was to get you to buy a ticket to the real wrestling card at your local venue. I still have a hard time with TV drawing more fans than regular house shows. TV is full of promos, skits, and bullshit. Whatever happened to a card with an opening match through a main event? That's why I watch more wrestling from Mexico and Japan. Gordi-san, If I ever see you again we must drink some sake together. I don't remember if I had to catch the Shinkansen or if I went to meet my Osaka friends after we were at Osaka Pro, but we didn't go drinking. I've lost contact with my Osaka friends, half of them were my senpai and might be dead by now.

I feel the only person that is convinced is Mark Davis. A chip off the old block. He sadly lacks the football knowledge that his late father once possessed. Mark Davis' only football acumen is his purse strings and he's already exhibited a lack of sense there.

I've told this story before; but back when I worked for UPW (while it was WWE developmental), they sent Molly here to wrestle Victoria before she got called up. After the show, she went and helped take down the ring. Even the UPW wrestlers didn't take down the ring.

This really needs to be a format they keep for Wrestlemania.

Jeff Fisher with a Super Bowl win with a team that Tony Dungy built and then largely went into the shitter afterwards. Tom Cable was 17-27 as the Raiders' coach and only one of those two guys was saddled with JaMarcus Russell for two seasons.

I live in a state with two NFL teams. One of those teams is run by Jerry Jones. The other team is clearly more mismanaged. That’s kinda breathtaking when you think about it.

Goldberg

Ric Flair working the high school gym show with the World Heavyweight Championship in tow. I would love to know what bumfuck town in the Carolinas, Texas, Southeastern or Central States area this was.

Duckman...

This thread is for: 1. Any potential USADA violations and sanctions as well as changes to the policies. You can also post commission related drug test failures as well. 2. Discussion of fighter pay 3. The ongoing Zuffa antitrust lawsuit and the trial which is set to get rolling this year 4. All covid positives or covid related issues be they in UFC, PFL, Bellator, etc. If a new fight is made because of said positive or issue, that can be posted in the MMA Talk thread instead. This thread is just for when fighters are announced being positive or also for example, a fighter's cornerman cannot corner them because they tested positive. I am trying to keep event threads from getting cluttered in case certain cards get hit hard during fight week. 5. News and photos of Venum apparel for UFC as they transition to a new global outfitting partner. In addition, you can post news on UFC finding or signing a partner for their footwear provider when pertinent. 6. This is a new one and it's mainly due to number 1 above, but any fights that have been overturned due to drug test failures OR controversial finishes that have been successfully appealed. You can also post news if a fighter is appealing a certain fight. I've had a hard time keeping track of which fights get overturned due to the news usually flying under the radar. So if you happen to find one or see it on your news of Twitter feed, please post it here so I can make changes to the event threads for record keeping purposes. Thanks in advance. Anyway, let's keep these discussions friendly, cordial, and civil.

Thanks, fella. I actually finished that video before seeing this. Hot damn are Darby and Orange's figures next level. Can't wait to get them. Also couldn't help myself and am working on getting MJF so my collection is gonna increase quite a bit soon. Only ones I held off on are first Bucks figures, Dustin and Jericho. Preferred version of Bucks are in series 3, Jericho I got from the bubbly set and I'll take bloody Dustin. So I'm very happy with my choices.

@Craig H and @NikoBaltimore.

I've got a pretty regimented wrestling watching schedule right now. Tuesday evening I have to get the French Catch reviews in to SC. Two shows a week which usually span from 27-47 minutes with a match to a match and a half in them. I tend to catch them Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday mornings depending on when the kids wake up and how much time i can eck out during work mornings. Friday evening I have to get in SC's New Footage Friday reviews, which are usually 3 matches, but can be as much as a whole show. We did a full AJPW handheld show from 96 this week for instance (Misawa/Akiyama vs Sabu/Albright, Patriot/Kobashi vs Taue/Kawada, etc.). I usually catch these in the morning from Tues-Friday. Every other night now (for the most part), I do the treadmill for 30 mins and watch AJPW from 89. All of it, so there are 2 minute matches and 25 minute matches and I try to fit it into 30 as best I can. Then there's Secret Santo until we run out of steam so that's one more match a week I have to fit in. And I can generally, during a week, fit in a little bit more when I'm giving a kid a bath or something. Not too much more though since Rule #1 is that wrestling doesn't get in the way of my family life. It's a pretty satisfying wrestling watching schedule though.

I didn't watch the show until last night and after trying to avoid spoilers all day, I had to go to the Observer site for something totally unrelated and got spoiled by the main story banner. Dammit. Anyway, really great show! Was there a bad match on it? The "MJF is slowly taking over the Inner Circle from within" story is *chef's kiss*. Jericho is on commentary and totally unconcerned with his guys while MJF plays nice guy and courts their friendship. Just excellent. If AEW wants to start every single week with a multiman spotfest designed to thrill people like me and annoy the Cornette stans of the world who think wrestling shouldn't have evolved from 1985 Crockett, I have no problem with that. "HE HAD MULTIPLE BLACK EYES!" -- Jericho "So that's two black eyes." -- Schiavone I don't like Jericho on commentary. It sounds like they're having fun from time to time, but then he's just yelling over everything and the others are struggling to get their shit in. Dude seems like he went full Tony Montana at about 7:55pm Eastern. Just too much. "That's the Navarro Dos Mil!" -- Excalibur "THA HWHUT???" -- JR channelling Hank Hill Moxley's promo was good but not on the level of his other reent ones. But halfass Moxley is still better than a lot of guys. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL of course Cody gets to be in the "we designed this bit of business specifically to get played on mainstream outlets" segment. This fucking guy. And his opponent AND the run-in guys were all nobody special as far as the roster goes, which ensures only Cody and Snoop get the attention. A master class in getting yourself and nobody else over. Absolutley Dusty's son. Abadon/Shida was wacky, bordering on Lucha Underground fun. Nice booking of the finish with Shida hitting a desperation knee out of almost nowhere. That's how you keep someone strong in a loss. Holy shit was Hager/Wardlow a fun MEAN GUY MATCH (tm Vinny V). Wardlow goes over, respect fist bump. Awesome. Omega/Fenix was just amazing. So happy that Fenix got to do all he could do instead of overreaching and getting hurt halfway through and then having to dial it back. Dude's been so snakebit. I wish we'd gotten a better shot of the new TV belt. On TV, it looked like the old belt with some kind of red splotch on it. I had to see it only this morning to realize it's a red banner that says "champion." Once I tell you Will Hobbs looks facially like a young Keith David, you'll never unsee it. I read the Bucks' book over the holidays and was struck by how close they are with Kenny. It made me feel like they would probably team up soon. Funny how things work out. Should be a fun run. I liked SCU's promo and now they'll be coming after the Bucks with hate instead of respect. Miro's outfit was ridiculous.

I, for one, am glad this exists: