Leaderboard

Hang this post in The Louvre

Sid is one of the best pro wrestlers ever. Can't agree that he sucks. I don't give a shit how bad his punches are, and yes, I know that's sacrilege here at DVDVR. He has intensity, he just makes you want to run through a wall when he comes out and starts fist-bumping folks, and he knows how to harness that to get over anywhere. He's one of those guys who would get over in 1970, 1990, 2010, or now. Dudes like that are pro wrestling. Though he's probably number one on that ol' "coasted on charisma and a dope finisher" list I mentioned earlier.

Poor Shawn could have came out with the entire Knicks starting five and the 96 Yankees that just won the World Series three weeks earlier, and he still would have been booed.

Sid is another one of those guys who is enhanced by the fact that he absolutely 100% never winks through the 4th wall. Sid always behaved as though he completely believed wrestling was real. This is why he is the guy who was able to drag the Shockmaster debut back on track and avert further disaster.

Jacques Rougeau [Jr.] is absolutely an all time Top 5-10 guy for me because few things better encapsulate pro wrestling and what I enjoy about it than the semi-delusional obnoxious loudmouth jackass heel who, while mostly ridiculous and in over his head also remains just dangerous enough to remain an infuriating menace. And who never goes away no matter how badly his ass gets kicked. Yet is hilarious all the time. Jacques was pretty much the first iteration of that I saw. And probably still the best. Darsow is another guy who always completely commits to the bit and never allowed himself to be so cool as to wink through the fourth wall. "Comedy Jobbers" yet with some legit threat to win. i think this goes a long way towards explaining why I'm such a booster for Jessie McKay as well.

The whole thing is weapons grade awesome...

It's unreasonable not to be happy about Terry Funk matches

I think I read 4 pages without comprehending a word because I could not believe that folks named DiBiase, Roberts and Rude for their least memorable workers. I don't want it to be my only gimmick, but y'all make me feel OLD. Watch any of those ICON's matches (or especially feuds) BEFORE the WWF and you will learn. Dibiase was over and a workhorse, Roberts was a master of psychology as heel or babyface or tweener, and Rude -- well, he did cruise on charisma, style and a finisher there for a bit, but the man could work and had presence, especially live. Now I like Mike Rotundo but I will not dispute his pick for some. He is of that class of workers that it wasn't that "you had to see his early stuff", it's more that he was more effective, I believe (esp. as a babyface), when he was younger. He grew up, and never really evoved. A young'un who uses veteran moves (the whole technical amateur wrestler gimmick) is great, a vet who wrestles like a vet irregardless of most-recent-gimmick is less charming. The man could go, tho'. As a passionate human, there are not too many wrestlers that I don't have a bit of a reaction to, but I would be hard-pressed to recall when Slick, Axl Rotten, Gangrel, Teijo Khan, or Warlord stirred a feeling from me. However, for workers that delight & inspire & enervate me, I can rattle off many, and then be overwhelmed with regret an minute/hour/day/week later at the many I forgot: The Sheepherders Kevin Sullivan Capt. Lou The Grand Wizard Fred Blassie Stevie Richards Horsemen Era Ric Flair Terry Funk Mike Jackson Eddie Guerrero Jimmy Valiant Sabu Buxx Belmar Perry Saturn Patti Pep Big Van Vader Midnight Express (any iteration, bonus points for JC) Oleg the Usurper Mike Jackson The Great Kabuki w/Gary Hart Claudio Castagnoli Cactus Jack Tully Blanchard w/JJ Dillion Ron Bass w/JJ Dillion Muta (esp. in the USA) Tajiri The Wild Samoans Umaga ... I could go on ...

Minnesota trying to bury this

Most of the crew that worked chikara makes me happy. The new day are all time favorite because i can relate to all three of them, being a black nerdy dude myself. I know im in a minority but i always loved the various degeneration x reunions.

Sid

I’ve told this on the forum years ago, but I love Naomi because of Total Diva. I was on a short life break from wrestling and my gf (maybe fiancé at this point / currently happily married to) was watching Total Divas. I got sucked in and Naomi was about to marry Jimmy Uso. Well, there was issues with Rikishi. Potential issues with his approval but he gave his blessing. Then the day before the wedding he chose a booking over going to the wedding. Naomi and Jimmy cried, then Jay gave a speech about how much he loves his brother and new sister and then I cried. I will always enjoy Naomi because of this. Terry Funk is a legit GOAT but how he will flop around like a golden retriever falling off a couch when he runs into the turnbuckle brings me joy. Same with Buddy Rose’s selling. I just love original selling. How a worker’s body can move and react unlike other’s. Evil UNO’s body folding over as he crumbled to kicks of Bryan Danielson made that a spectacular viewing. Billie Kay holding her ear and dropping down after a head kick was the right move for that moment, because it happened organically. The Rock, Ken Shamrock, and Mankind were my favorites as a kid. The Rock made facial expressions like Jim Carey. Shamrock was intense and I was an aggressive spaz. Mankind talked with a sock. I love Giant Baba on commentary. I don’t know what he is saying but it is like when Tom Thibodeau would yell at the Timberwolves when he was couching here. Deep barely audible tones. I just want to watch Kenta Kobashi repetitively chop people all day. Obviously, great though. Same with Desuke Sekimoto suplexing fools. Darius Martin was Air Wolf at the local fed, F1rst Wrestling, so seeing him and his brother kill it is beautiful. Abdullah Kobayashi looks huggable until he eats lightubes. It is sad that Quackenbush is weird. I loved so much about his weird voice. Black Taurus has a cool mask.

Me: "Brace yourself. Tom Brady just unretired." Cindy: *does legit spit-take I will take to my grave* ?????

I still love that Sid looked genuinely surprised by the 10 foot tall S I D as he enters the ring.

Big Boss Man and William Regal. Both are pretty much guaranteed to do at least one thing a match that makes me smile.

HOLY CRAP!

I can hear Eddie Kingston dedicating his inaugural, two-week reign to Larry Sweeney.

That guy should be Regal. 40 years in the business, long runs with WCW and WWE, years of backstage experience, trainer, etc. Regal is someone Vince should have kept on payroll just to keep him away from the competition.

Bruce Sutter has been getting a million a year from the Braves since 1991. This is the last year and there is a balloon payment check of $9M. He's actually going to end up with something like $15M more off his deal than Bonilla is on his. Sutter's original contract was something like $9M over 5 years and he retired 2 years before it ended. To end up with $47M when all is said and done is wild.

LOVE this shot. So damn happy to have Gori-chan back.

Absolutely. If I was to choose between Cody and Regal to run a promotion- I would be betting my last cent on Regal to make it work. Regal would respect the tradition of ROH and not use it for ego stroking.

Doubling back here, I'd almost argue that it's like god creating a rock too heavy to lift. Even with someone like Randy Orton, he's so beloved by so many other wrestlers that I kind of want to get to the bottom of it, you know? I want to dig in there and make sense of just why they value him so? Is it mechanics? Is it footwork? Is it pacing? Is there something to his strikes that make them particularly easy without actually looking that way? If I'm watching a Randy Orton match, which again, I'm never obliged to watch a Randy Orton match; no one is forcing me; I am not a completionist here... then I'm almost paying more attention and not less because of it. Same with a Rotunda match. I get his background. He wasn't a fan but he had legitimate skills and he was trained by The Destroyer! I want to figure out what he's trying to accomplish in there, how he thinks it's going to move the fans, where it goes right and how it goes wrong. Some of that's me and the brain not shutting off, though. If I'm watching a match and reviewing a match especially, a big part of what I'm looking for is what new thing I can learn that I didn't already know. What does this match tell us about the wrestlers or the moment in time or the promotion or the crowd or wrestling in general? And I don't think the answer is ever "nothing."

Love this question, too. In the spirit of overthinking everything, I wanna focus on "unreasonably" There are a whole lot of wrestlers where I think it's reasonable if they make you maximally happy: Liger, Eddie, Kobashi, Bryan, Savage, Terry Funk, Andre, and on and on. Then there's a special sub-category of pro wrestlers who, if it were not for the Death Valley Driver Video Review, you might think you were alone in loving their work (and at least in my case, might never otherwise have discovered): Johnny Saint, Negro Casas, Volk Han, Shinobu Kandori, and so on. in my case, there are also wrestlers with whom I have a personal connection (like John Tenta, Asian Cooger, Daisuke Harada -basically anyone who was in the Vancouver territory in the 1980s or the Vancouver indies from 2005 through 2009 or Osaka Pro from 2009 through 2012 - and so on) and I mark out unreasonably any time I see any of them. And the famous wrestlers I have met who were unusually kind to me: Abdullah, Hokuto, Chono, Akiyama, Bryan, Bob Sapp, Onita, and so on... So that narrows my list down considerably, if I eliminate all of them. But my list is still at least as long as the good reverend's So, a top 5 of pro wrestlers where I think I mark out more for them than most of you do: El Felino Manabu Nakanishi Bear Country Kantaro Hoshino Les Kellett

I want to say (write) Terry Funk, but him always putting a smile to my face is not unreasonable, is it?

This is also behind my love for New Day. Woods hitting the Final Fantasy victory theme before they introduced themselves is an all-time wrestling moment. In general, I feel like black nerds are having a Renaissance and getting out there and being their best selves. De'Aaron Fox being an unabashed Dragonball fan is another example. I don't even like anime, but I like people living their truth, dammit.

Sid sucks, I acknowledge that he sucks, I recognize that he sucks, but for pretty much my entire life I was happy when he was on my television. For me all time, it is either Randy Savage or Eddy Guerrero. I will never be as big of a fan as I was as a kid loving Randy Savage and jumping off my porch dropping elbows on imaginary opponents. I'm pretty sure Macho Man's elbow drop did more to make me a fan than anything else in all of wrestling. Something about him jumping off the top rope and dropping an elbow spoke to my motherfucking soul. The only other point in my life where wrestling that important was my high-school years which pretty much coincided with the Monday Night Wars. Steve Austin is probably 3rd on this list, but once I got into the wrestling discussions on the internet Eddy Guerrero is the guy who really stood out to me. When he was a generic babyface with the white and red singlet, I wasn't that big of a fan. He was good and all, but nothing felt special about him. Then, he turned heel and everything changed. Instead of having the big bushy mullet, he wet that shit and looked bad ass. He looked like he was standing outside in the rain all damn day, hoping some poor asshole walked by so he could beat their ass and steal their shoes. Not because he didn't have any shoes, but because walking home after you just got your ass beat during a rainstorm would suck even worse if you weren't wearing shoes. My favorite match of all time is Rey vs. Guerrero from Halloween Havoc '97. Fun fact, that is the first PPV I was ever allowed to order. I taped it of course, and watched that match at least 150 times, and it still feels special to me. I used to pack that tape in my suitcase when I went to visit my grandparents, so I'd have it in case I got bored and wanted to watch it again. It's the perfect wrestling match to me, and probably always will be.

Eddie Guerrero Eddie Gilbert Eddie Kingston Southern cult leader Bray Wyatt KO Sami The Four Horsewomen JJ Dillon sliming it up with Tully The Rock circa his Toronto heel turn Stevie Richards FTR Best Friends Miro

What wrestler makes you unreasonably happy? Just seeing them in a match and you can help but smile. Whether how the act or their personality or even nostalgia, just the idea of them brings you joy.

the wife and I watched Loki this week. Damn, what a good show. the interactions between Loki and Owen Wilson were grand. Loki and Sylvie being so narcissistic that they could only fall for another Loki was fantastic, as was the fact that they couldn't trust each other and betrayed themselves. The end of time with all the Loki variants was superb (Alligator Loki FTW). i popped big for the Thanos Copter. Had to pause and explain it to my wife because i was laughing so hard. a Kang who is literally out of his mind with boredom wasn't what i expected, but i'm ok with it because of what it sets up. The Kang statue in the TVA base was aces. Season 2 can't come soon enough.

There’s a lot of concern trolling about dangerous spots in AEW and the indies, but the biggest wrestling company in the world always has to have at least one big goon on the main roster named like Lurch Amsterdam or something who routinely nearly kills themself or someone else doing the basics.

@Gordlow, Giant Baba is perfect. He doesn’t need need big epic matches. I just want to watch him stand there and overhead chop fools. (I’m not saying I don’t like his work. I just enjoy looking at him)

My current unreasonably happies are probably Eddie Kingston, who has been just a revalation to me since coming to AEW, and seeing Brian Danielson get that one last run and just kill it out there. I also turned into the HA HA HA YES sicko cartoon guy when Regal showed up out of the blue.

Perry Saturn’s one of about six people on earth who can work Scott Steiner that snug and not worry about reprisal…

I think the other thing with Sid is that when he lost, he lost credibly. It wasn't like most other big men who got beat by big boots or clotheslines because they were too big to take the other guys' finish. Sid was still able to go up for Taker's tombstone or Nash's jackknife where need be. Alternatively, he slipped on a banana peel and lost because he had half the brain that they did.

3/4/86: Kimura/Koshinaka/Hoshino vs Fujiwara/Kido/Maeda: This was a HH, but it's a bit of a cheat because of Hoshino and Koshinaka's gear. That said, two months in, I definitely have a working knowledge of all of these guys. You know who brings me joy? 86 Fujiwara does. You get a huge chunk of what there is to love about the guy in almost ever match. He comes out just slapping Hoshino in the corner and it's great. The vibe on this one was as follows: whenever the NJPW guys tagged it was out of desperation or to try to press an advantage. Whenever the UWF guys tagged it was because they were bored or wanted someone else to get a turn. It was different because from their actions alone, the NJPW side would have come off as a bit more heelish but instead it all seemed warranted given the skill discrepancy. Koshinaka had a small female cheering section and that made you just want to see him get crushed. Maeda did it a bit but not enough. Kimura definitely had more of an it factor than his partners, but less of an it factor than Fujinami would have. The finish was pretty definitive as Fujiwara pulled Hoshino (I think) away from the ropes and dropped down with the leglock and shrugged and tagged so that someone else could drop down into it and get the pin. Post match they teased Fujinami vs Maeda with some scrapping and it was pretty great. 3/4/86: Inoki/Fujinami/Cobra vs Billy Jack Haynes/Jackal/Chris Adams: Chris Adams was such a welcome part of this match. I kind of dig Jackal here in small doses. He had size, those downward strikes and had interesting ideas (like a slingshot suplex that kind of turned into a slam instead) compounded by an inability to actually execute them that made things look awkward and painful. The big transition here was great as Adams just came in and superkicked Cobra when he had a hold on Jackal and Jackal then hit a big awkward powerslam over the shoulder. Imagine a world where only one guy in wrestling does a superkick and how amazing that would be and you have 1986 and Chris Adams. Haynes hit one big vertical suplex and had some strength stuff with Inoki again but that was just ok. Fujinami and Adams matched up really well. There's a long Adams/Jackal vs Kimura/Fujinami tag later in the month I'm looking forward to. One guy in the crowd with a really raspy voice kept screaming for Inoki and it made me miss Shinro's fan club.

I just disagree. This isn't me siding with "the machine" or anything. It's me seeing one player abusing his power. Sure he has a no trade clause. He should 100% use it to his advantage and only go where he thinks it would be a good fit. But there's a line that can be crossed where you go from this under appreciated player that wants to prove you are a great player in a great system, to an over reaching prima donna just trying to control every little thing because you can. Even the best QB of this generation (Brady) didn't demand to pick the coach of the team his signed with. Sure he wouldn't have gone somewhere with a coach he thought was bad, but he didn't demand anyone get fired to get his guy in there or anything. Watson is coming off a scandal. And a whole year of sitting at home. He's not this all time legend. He won one playoff game. So I just don't think he should be demanding to move all these parts around. Find a good situation. Find a good fit. Have a say in future hires. But don't just say you can't have me unless you fire X, Y, Z. That's bush league.

Right now, the Wrestlers that make me unreasonably happy are Traevon Jordan and Jaelyn Brandon, AKA Waves and Curls. Incredible babyface team. And also Willow Nightingale and Edith Surreal. All time? Eddie Guerrero, Cactus Jack, Alex Shelley, Brian Pillman the first.

I've been thinking about it, and 2014-2016 Bayley might be the ultimate answer to that question about "happy to see them wrestle" for me. My appreciation for fighting, nice person babyfaces has only risen over the years.

I haven't spent money on a wrestling PPV in about 25 years but damned if I wouldn't drop some dollars to watch Dorado stretch Izzy's dad.

Fuck man... A few years ago me and some friends when to a House of Glory show and Hall did a meet and greet before. In the days after I was kicking myself because I would have loved a photo with him and wanted to tell him that I was glad he was doing so well and that Razor was one my favorites as a kid. Bad times don't last, but bad guys do. Me and my friends I watch the pro graps with just adore Hiromu. I love cats and they're big punk fans so he's like this amalgamation of everything we love. His match with Ospreay at WK a few years ago just blew my mind and I love how most of the LIJ guys are all chill almost to a fault but they still love him as the out there one. During the pandemic I got super in Tanahashi. He was having an MVP run of quality matches but also just like, in that darkness it felt like I needed a hero to root for and he just fit the bill. I went to a Rev Pro show 'mania weekend once and it was him and Osprey vs. ZSJ and Suzuki. It was totally a Suzuki crowd (myself included) but when Go Ace hit and seeing him in person for the first time, dude really has that "once in a 100 years talent" aura to him. For past, most of the old guard ECW guys especially Taz, Sabu, Raven, Van Dam, Sandman. Living in Jersey I remember when friends started talking up this insane wrestling show late late late Saturday nights and how it was nothing like Raw or Nitro but had this totally magnetic quality to it. Everyone in my high school was wearing nWo shirts so I got to feel a little cool like "yeaaah but I know when the real good shit is on."

After having to play home games in Florida and Buffalo because of the pandemic, it's poetic that teams will now come into Toronto at a disadvantage beacuse of player who refused toget vaccinated. So pumped for the Jays this year!!

They better bring back Officer Martinez for the sequel.

M's Alliance is suspending activities as a faction. H.Suzuki and Sugiura won the vacant GHC tags. Fujita is the one wearing green now. He now acts polite and bowed in the ring. Masa Funaki vs H.Suzuki for the GHC National is set.

Craven Cottage has a capacity of 25k, I can't imagine the noise and atmosphere when AEW finally comes to the UK. WE'RE RABIDLY FOAMING AT THE MOUTH TONY, I'M GOING TO GO BANANA.

Triple H is like Shlak. Both have a physique that says "I do Press Slams", but neither is actually strong enough to do any power pots at all. Both look at the aesthetic choices of Germans in the late 30s/early 40s and say "Wow that is so cool!". And both have a thing where their match quality is directly proportionate to how much they bleed.