Leaderboard

Man, reading Flair's tweet 75% of it is noise to me but I kind of like his self awareness at the end. If it was legit anybody else I would almost feel sorry for somebody who's in a generation that's very different than the one that he thrived in. But it's Flair and he frankly should only have been there for a couple appearances at most where he's reined in. He is right in wanting to be there for Sting's retirement and he should. But this is what happens when you have a multi year contract and have to use him somehow. Since he's contracted I still think he's best doing backstage promos where they can edit out whatever. But if he goes out there I hope they now know he needs to be on a short leash with a live mic. Oh, and I don't post much in the AEW section anymore because of folks like Vileone. And it saddens me to see Gordlow not as interested as he was before. But I still love AEW to pieces and keep up on the news items on here. I just prefer to watch the shows without looking as much on here before and after. Plus with Dean gone the level of positivity he brought to the threads is very much missed. When people are talking shit it can be a bummer as it's not as well balanced out by his lovely wall of text. I'm not saying it's related to what any one person says about AEW (aside from Vile) It's more just a general vibe more than anything.

TK as Hornswoggle? Is he even Irish?

Ric Flair has apparently killed, skinned and is wearing the hide of a pimp

Gonna co-sign this one as an absolute must-see. Probably the greatest tag team match in Ice Ribbon's history (though I personally think Tsukushi's retirement match, teaming with Tsukka against Nanae and Hamuko Hoshi, comes close).

Everyone knows the Irish devil is Conor MacGregor. Actually... yikes, TK don't do that. (Also, pls tickets for the next Jags home game thx)

I had about four or maybe all five already set, but the honorable mentions was much more tougher to trim down. I kept it at eight since that's a nice round number even honestly about though thirteen or fourteen came to mind instantly once I came up with the top five. It does help that some of my favorites have already been listed or mentioned so that makes feel less bad about not naming them. I also tried my best to go across different eras. My prevailing thought was the matches you would come up with if you had to show someone who doesn't really care for women's wrestling or at best a casual viewer and implore them to seek out as soon as possible. IN NO SPECIFIC ORDER EXCEPT CHRONOLOGICALLY Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka (AJW Summer Night Festival In Budokan, 8/22/1985) Man, it's hard to describe how special both of these women were at the time. I am a fan of the Crush Gals, but I think I like their singles matches a bit better cause honestly it's two great singles wrestlers thrown in tag team matches. In my mind, it was both Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka working two single matches at the same time. They had a crazy atmosphere usually and that's ultimately what made the matches. I would add that probably their best tag team match was against their seniors Devil Masami and Jaguar Yokota, who were basically working heel and were the glue of the match. Here, you see the dynamic of a phenomenal young athlete in Lioness Asuka who is the prototype of many of top female wrestlers today versus another phenomenal athlete in Jaguar who for my money was probably the most gifted female wrestler who understood storytelling. Sure, there have been wrestlers who had a better or more impressive movesets since Jaguar. However, I don't think there has been one who can do what prime Jaguar Yokota did in terms of building a match to the perfect crescendo. Maybe you could argue Meiko Satomura, Arisa Nakajima, Tsukasa Fujimoto, and a select few others come close. My point is Jaguar doesn't do the template of seven to ten minutes of trading random moves, a few minutes of down time, then big move, maybe a few dives, big move, big move, big move, trading nine false finishes, one more false finish that SHOULD HAVE been the finish, and then finally the actual finish. What Jaguar had working for is she was able to work outside that formula because she understood storytelling. That's not to say Jaguar carried Lioness in the match. However, Jaguar Yokota was the perfect conductor for this match cause she played towards Asuka's strength as an athlete and injects an emotion into the match beyond the responses that either of the Crush Gals got. Jaguar just amplified those responses. Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki (Dress Up Wild Fight, JWP Jazz & Soul, 3/17/1995) Of the five matches I came up with, this probably contains the best individual performance. Goddamn, did Mayumi Ozaki bring it here. The raw visceral and guttural scream Ozaki lets go when she finally pins Kansai after basically losing to Kansai in every singles match since the new JWP was formed a few years earlier is stuff you cannot script. You can try but it won't work as well. It was like a three hundred pound weight had been lifted off her little shoulders. The first thing you think about first off is how the hell did these women not make it into AJW when they tried out? Second is why did JWP have a reverse David and Goliath theme going in their rivalry prior to this? Kansai's overall demeanor is babyface, but being the larger wrestler who is kicking the dog crap out of people doesn't work when you have a much smaller wrestler in Ozaki who knows how to work from underneath. Now it helps that Ozaki likes working as a more heelish grappler and also explains why OZ Academy (the promotion) for the longest had a bunch of Russo fetish booking involving her. However, she is an amazing fiery babyface if you put her in those situations. It was the same when she was working with Chigusa Nagayo when Chigusa would show up in JWP and Ozaki was bleeding gushers for the cause. They change it up a bit here cause after they brawl all over Hakata Starlanes, which is a very intimate venue and a perfect setting for this type of match, Ozaki gets a chain and proceeds to beat the absolute Iceman King Parsons "Have Mercy, Yall" shit out of Kansai. From the stiff shots to the face to the combat boots stomps to the noggin' to the insane color Ozaki gets on Kansai (she may have cut Kansai a little bit too deep). I believe the term we have in the black community is she "dogwalked" Kansai for a good stretch of the match. Sidenote: When Ozaki would do the chain spot in later years where she drags people across the ring or on the outside like a literal dog, she would scream something like "doggie doggie good doggie" and that makes the term fit adequately here figuratively and literally. Anyway, the story isn't she hates Kansai as much she HAS TO beat Kansai. She HAS TO. Overcoming Kansai is her white whale. Then, when it looks like she is on the road to doing that, Kansai fires up and returns the beating. The powerbomb on the table laying flat when EVERYONE has to do the powerbomb THROUGH the table is a cool spot. It looked so much more brutal probably cause (1) it likely was and (2) it's a Japanese table so good luck breaking it. They do much stuff here that I feel was missing from ECW in terms of innovation. Lack of innovation is probably what bedeviled latter era ECW. What they do here is little creative things that bolster the match. They also do a course correction by having Ozaki play the babyface in the final backstretch of the match cause the fans are way behind her and have Kansai play the big bully. Thus, when the finish actually happens, they go NUTS. However, their reaction SOMEHOW pales in comparison to Ozaki who goes through a wide range of emotions. It's unparallel in terms of booking to a create a star and makes me wish JWP's roster was bit deeper cause they could have went places with Ozaki and Fukuoka as their stars for the future. CAZAI (AKINO & Ayako Hamada) vs. Las Cachorras Orientales (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda)(ARSION Carnival ARSION 1999, 12/11/1999) I would like to make the argument that in terms of overall consistency (save for when it was the Tokyo Sweethearts instead before Mita and Shimoda came back together full time), LCO was probably a top ten tag team regardless of gender in the 90s. They could be used to work heel against any team cause Shimoda was a charismatic ultra cocky heel and Mita was the big nasty, merciless bruiser. In my mind, they were one of the bright spots of AJW after the interpromotional period. They also did a bunch of great work when they were basically freelance and sort of hired guns. In this match, LCO were basically the Midnight Express or probably Rose & Somers to CAZAI's the Fantastics or Midnight Rockers. LCO dominated about 80 percent of the match especially any and everything that takes place outside the ring. It isn't that squash match domination though. It's that "we KNOW we are the superior tag team and you're on life support cause we allow you to be". They were basically Chinese water torturing Hamada and AKINO. Speaking of cutting someone too deep, the ref does a similar job Ozaki did on Kansai on Ayako Hamada here. It flows like water, my friend. Even the producers of the original Carrie would be like, "yeah, that's a bit too much." It becomes like a boxing match in one way cause you can tell Ayako is legit having a hard time seeing cause the blood is going directly into her eyes and it never clots really. In a more unedited version of the aftermath you can find, when Ayako climbs to the top rope in celebration, you can see she is about lose her cookies because she likely swallowed a bunch of blood as well. The domination and that grisly aspect of the match specifically only enhances the match cause there isn't one specific move or moment that gets CAZAI back into the match and it resets the entire match. Everytime they sort of fire up, LCO immediately cuts them off and continues whooping that ass in humiliating fashion. CAZAI slowly but surely works themselves back into the match. It's like a team that is down by thirty at halftime, you click over to another game that's way more competitive, you turn back to watch the final three or four minutes of the game you were watching, and you see they're only down ten points and driving down the field swiftly to score again. The drama is CAN they get that go ahead score and is there enough time to do that. LCO can win at any time same as a team can seal a game with getting a defensive turnover on a final possession. However, CAZAI refuses to lose simply. Ayako Hamada doesn't have the same type of individual performance Ozaki has in the Kansai match, but she comes off as a star nonetheless cause of the gusher and also being the clear leader of her tag team. She gets turned into the weak link cause she's losing so much blood, and it feels like AKINO is helpless to save her. However, her sheer determination and resiliency is what makes the match work when they get to the finish. You buy into Ayako's grittiness as she seems to be fighting for not only her titles (CAZAI came in as tag champs of ARSION even if the match doesn't feel like it), but her and her tag partner's very lives. Ayako has a moment similar to when Sting was becoming a star in JCP where she fires up, and you can tell she means by gawd business. I believe the kids on the street call it FAFO. At that very moment, LCO is fucked. LCO has to make a goal line stand in a game they spent the majority of putting a hurting on their opponents, and the odds are ever increasingly not in their favor. CAZAI still has to do something to win it, but the score is essentially zero zero now. That's the drama you look for in pro wrestling. Yoshiko Tamura vs. Azumi Hyuga (JWP Climax 2006, 12/24/2006) This one for me was a no brainer. I can go on for days about my love of Yoshiko Tamura in this era cause she OWNED every big match she was in. I said it before that if I had a time machine and be able to transport a wrestler from a bygone era to now so they can wrestle the new generation of female wrestlers, Tamura would be number one on the list. IMO she's nonpareil in terms of brutality and intensity. I could have listed other matches she had, but in this one, she's going against someone in Hyuga that was one of her established rivals in multiple promotions and also criminally underrated. When she was under her real name Tomoko Kuzumi, she was pretty damn good. This is her at her best and several years more experience. It's the perfect recipe for an excellent match. However, it's not an excellent match. That would be insulting. They had a couple other prior matches that fall into the excellent category. This here folks is nothing short of a masterpiece. Why? Cause Hyuga dares to match the brutality and intensity of Tamura and even more ballsy, try to one up her at every turn. FOR SIXTY MINUTES! It's a war for an hour. It's the stuff of legends. Like how older people use to talk about the wars between Carmen Basilio and Tony DeMarco and the wars between the original "Rock" Rocky Graziano and "The Man of Steel" Tony Zale which inspired Paul Newman's first starring role "Somebody Up There Likes Me" or the bloodletting at times between "Sugar" Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta, this is on that level when it comes to pro wrestling. And I am not being hyperbolic. There is a moment early on that sets the tone and tempo roughly five minutes into the match where you can tell Hyuga may legit had her eye socket or cheek bone (probably both) cracked and she's fighting through the pain. She wrestled another fifty plus minutes enduring that pain. That reason alone I have to give flowers to both Tamura AND Hyuga because they could easily have done Tamura's type of epic match or recycled what they had been doing to play it safe. They don't do that. They wrestle like two women who are fighting for the livelihood of women's wrestling in their country. Unfortunately, they probably were IRL cause it definitely wasn't in a good place at the time. There was definite promise and potential it would get better. However, promise and potential just means it ain't happened yet. You cannot live off of that. These two women don't do that. They put their hearts and souls into this, and you can feel every bit of that once the sixty minute mark elapses. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Emi Sakura (Ice Ribbon 10th Anniversary Show, 5/4/2016) Last and certainly not least, there is a reason I picked this one over any of my honorable mentions which could have easily been in the top five. There might be two or three more additional reasons. The main one is that the same respect I give LCO for being a tremendous tag team, I have to give maybe double the amount of respect for Nakajima and Fujimoto just cause they're stellar singles wrestlers who make being a tag team somehow work as good if not better than their individual singles career. They are both dynamic to the point where everything they do is in harmony and fits seamlessly into the match. It's just not random double tag moves they worked out, which everyone feels like they're compelled to do. You can tell they love teaming together and know how to lay out a match where nothing feels forced. Just like the Masami and Yokota example I laid out earlier, they can work more face when they need to or work heel when they have to. So you put them up against anyone be it the smaller or younger plucky underdog tag team or the more abrasive, rugged, and meaner teams, they know what to do it and how to make each match feel a little different. You look at Arisa's style and don't really see her wrestling as a babyface most of the time. You look at Tsukka's face and consider her overall attitude alone and don't see how she can play heel. However, together, they can switch it up and do it in sync. In this particular match, since you have the storied history of all the participants on a big show and I believe this was originally suppose to be Best Friends vs. Thunder Rock, they feel free to just go for the gusto. Nanae doesn't likely inspire people to go out and seek out of her matches, but in this environment, she excels much like she did during NANA*MOMO against LCO. It isn't so much Emi Sakura: Super Worker (now Miracle Worker in AEW) so much as Emi Sakura: Super Tag Partner. She picks up the slack here in a big way and probably cause this is her return to Ice Ribbon. Sakura absolutely puts on in this match. She also doesn't do it in a way that leaves Nanae out in the cold cause Nanae is always in the right spots. The one thing I love about this match is you don't see people waffling or anticipating or just waiting to break up a spot or pinfall. Everything feels spontaneous even though you definitely know they probably laid this out well in advance or at least key parts of it. I am not a big "you have to hide the magic from me" person, but I certainly ain't complaining when you do. Get me invested in the damn match, and I will watch every moment of it. Here you have the components of what should be your average great match, and they elevate it to one of the finest pieces of wrestling you will ever see. For the listamania portion, I will give you the Honorable Mentions also in chronological order: 1987 Team Gold Combo (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki I (2 Out of 3 Falls, AJW Dream Rush In Kawasaki, 11/26/1992) Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. 1987 Team Gold Combo II (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) (2 Out of 3 Falls, AJW Dream Slam 2, 4/11/1993) Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori II (AJW St. Battle Final 1993, 12/6/1993) 1987 Team Gold Combo (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. Double Inoue (Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue) (2 Out of 3 Falls, AJW Wrestlemarinepiad 1994, 10/9/1994) Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo (No Ropes Barbed Wire Current Blast Death Match, FMW Fighting Creation '96 - 7th Anniversary Show, 5/5/1996) Kaoru Ito, Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Las Cachorras Orientales (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda) (Steel Cage Death Match, AJW Women's Wrestling Festival W FUSION 2000, 11/23/2000) Giulia vs. Maya Yukihi (Ice Ribbon Osaka Ribbon 2019 II, 5/25/2019) Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri (Stardom Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special Edition, 6/12/2021)

As I was watching Swerve and Jay White doing their things against each other, headlining Dynamite as part of a mini-G1, I thought “damn, DEAN~! would really be loving this shit” Good stuff throughout. I had successfully avoided the Dante injury until now, and wish I still had. I thought he looked good while still not ready to go full on Dante. Emi saved Julia’s pretty face tonight. Up until that point it was a really solid match. Rush-Briscoe was even stiffer than I expected, and they did a great job adjusting to Rush’s leg. Sting-Flair-Tony was goofy shit that I loved. Christian-Copeland was excellent stuff that really made me care about the feud. And MJF’s promo more than made up for last week’s dud, and put Joe and AEW over big time. Like others, I’m worried the Devil angle is going to disappoint, and I’m ready for it to end soon. I also think the original intention of the original Cole-MJF angle was for Cole to turn on him, but now I’m not sure they can do that.

Canada's title.

re: AEW's Triple Crown i like that it is made up of titles from three companies (albeit two of those owned by the same man), but i kinda wish they could have appropriated a belt from AAA or CMLL to make it from the big three wrestling countries as well (sorry Canada).

Plenty, but I’ve never been a Bret guy.

Can Bret Hart say or do anything that doesn’t just make you think he’s the sweetest nicest old man? https://youtube.com/shorts/0C4btWY3eyU?si=2Bsg7sEyxKO8pxj4

Phew. Considering the last one we saw, that covers not much ground. I'm in, of course.

Jokes on them, he was happy to bleed

I’ve already said multiple times that Ric Flair is wearing designs ripped off of an old person’s couch

Matsunaga already did that in Big Japan back in the day. I think I remember probably Schneider writing about how he was trying to put dry ice in Shadow WX's mouth Oh my god here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcL2FNFPjWY&ab_channel=RaffertyWestmore Oh, oh no. They had not only the ice but Mr. Pogo's sickle attachment on the END OF A DRILL. Shoji Nakamaki shows up wearing a suit (?!). But in a match with that, you know what was the craziest thing? Greak Kojika, who I remember was referred to as "a gaunt and elderly man", busting out a freakin' hiptoss in a death match. The Rick Steamboat of Big Japan, ladies and gentlemen! I keep saying he's wearing someone's upholstery. I hope the furniture store bled him dry for that.

Can't tag folks but Fighting a Man With a Perm: They said on commentary a couple of weeks ago that Chucky T is off TV because he's been injured, so looks like just a temporary absence for the Kentucky Gentleman.

The title of my gym memoir shall be “THERE’S ALWAYS SOMEBODY ON THE FUCKING PEC DECK”

I cannot even begin to imagine what those three talked about.

It's definitely a learning curve. However once you get it down, it's like a bicycle.

Wavishing Wick Wardlow

Oh no doubt, I agree that the nostalgia angle is well-played and not without merit, however, the video LIFTED THE EXACT SAME MOVEMENTS from both games, it was totally blatant. AEW FF did it better IMHO, by saying it was inspired by and made by the folks that made those games we all loved, whilst not being direct copies. Initially once I got a console that could actually play the game (more on that later) I looked into it and decided there wasn't enough in there (yet) to interest me in a purchase. At this point, it's going to take a bit more to sway me to pay full price. As a discount? Maybe. Fire Pro is great not only due to the customization but also BECAUSE it looks like an SNES game. AEW constantly saying Fight Forever was "available on your favorite console" had me always reply with "they're coming out with one for the SNES?!"

Rad Radford, Man Mountain Rock, Freddie Joe Floyd, Waylon Mercy's two-month reign of terror...'95 WWF was sweet.

And the story mode is dumb

I've bounced back to 1992 Superstars. One week out from SummerSlam, Vinnie Jr. claims that fans had hoped for "a scientific matchup" in Warrior/Savage, which is an absurd thing to say even for pastel-suited, bombastic color commentator Vinnie Jr. Though I've written about SummerSlam 1992, the final SNME for about fifteen years (on FOX, no less), and the 1993 Royal Rumble elsewhere in this thread, I think it might be worth stopping to write about Survivor Series 1992 when I get there. I think I might run through this six seasons of Superstars off and on over the next couple of years. I have weird nostalgia for 1995 WWF, so a year of TL Hopper and Salvatore Sincere squashes won't be a deterrent to me!

I love how Don hijacked this lol

This goes especially knowing the story Jim Ross ALWAYS tells anytime Mabel comes up, which is what he would watch in his hotel room non stop. Lets just say his wrist strength has to be crazy alone. And Jim always caps it off with, "...but good ole Nelson wasn't bothering anybody."

update from December 1981 Florida: JJ Dillon looking like he talks to the customers so that the engineers don't have to. I thought JJ was slumming it a tad in JCP before he dropped all his randos and went in with the Horsemen. But it's possible that JJ has like a 5 year progression where he went from looking like a dumpy office worker who steals from his employer to looking like a corrupt elected official. In other words, that mustache.. I'm hoping that was merely a short-term thing.

Oh god, don't get me started. I'll buy records, let them sit there for days, play them once, and shuffle them back into the stacks. But the only time I'll listen to them is drunk. I just got four tapes in the mail (shout out to Headsplit Records) listened to two of them once, and the other two are just sitting there. I went to the library, got three books, already returned one because I just couldn't read about Duterte's murder spree in the Phillipines (I picked it up because the sleeve basically said it would disturb anybody, and I took that as a challenge. It won. Seriously, it opened with detailing the murder of this kid's parents and then just had a huge list of dead people), and used the drives as an excuse to get booze. Other two books haven't been touched. Today was rough but I didn't out myself by throwing up a half dozen times, and managed to at least eat. EDIT: Also, thank you very much Brynn! You're great.

Maybe they can sign Mustafa Ali or Dolph Ziggler I’m not saying that to be a smart ass I mean that. Those two would be welcome additions to the roster put them in the main event scene and let them show everyone what they are truly capable of. I think Nic Nemeth has a Matt Cardona sized or even bigger Indie Run in him. Mercedes Mone would be a big get for TNA if she’s interested, Giulia too.

You know Eddie vs. Athena would be great. She would absolutely whoop on him and he'd sell like a tornado hit him.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7tnbjz I went looking for that and found this instead. Mutoh looks just like Wheeler Yuta here. The match where Maeda breaks Fujinami's orbital bone is one of my favorite NJ matches ever but I forgot just HOW brutal wrestling him is. He rushes in on that lockup at like 2X speed and then proceeds to kick Mutoh right in the face going forward. His idea of a mid-match weardown submission is a Crossface Chickenwing, which is a shoot hold and Backlund's freakin finisher. Then Takada does the same thing with a Tombstone into a Sharpshooter! Really hot down the stretch, and you'll like the finish better. Oh and Mutoh busts out, like, the prettiest moonsault he ever did.

It's good to see you talk about all this stuff, Curt, cause no small part of it is dead-on where I'm at right now. Guilt, bad psychiatrists, nasal drip nonsense... I put every aspect of my personal and professional life in the same place. I'm the center and I'm not holding. I let an addiction that I've romanticized (shit, professionalized) and a deeply negative personality define my entire adult life and I've been sitting around clueless how to act on it because all of my emotional resources either drifted away or up-and-left. And this withdrawal stuff is stupid - I don't know how to articulate the physical aspect of it properly. Psychologically is probably worse. Sober, I just stare at walls. Maybe doomscroll. With my baseline of 10 standard drinks then every game on my shelf becomes fun, every longform internet video is insightful, food tastes good, I can text people, at least. I can't regularly watch pro wrestling sober. It's why I dropped the poll I tried to keep running after DEAN passed. I'd skim IMPACT and NJPW on the DVR, indies and lucha on YouTube, figure out which AEW matches I could barely remember, and sort em all up while getting loaded every time. I stopped doing that months ago as an attempt to tone it down but it wasn't enough. To make a long story short last month I ran the biggest bender of my life and blew well past a fifth-a-day, every day for over two weeks. Called out of work. No outside contact. Some people just live like that, and there is no way I want to be that kind of person. But that's where it's been going for over half my life (and I am not that old) so I guess I'll do something about it. A much better set of professionals are in front of me then whatever the fuck I was grasping at over the summer. I have purpose and a plan. But I don't really know how I'm supposed to deal with the boredom, loneliness and anxiety. And the guilt/shame/loathing? I don't have any idea how to overcome it. But we move forward regardless.

what did I tell you...

That 12/10/83 Mid-South having Ross and Lawler on PBP/color is quite the look into the future. A bad future, mind you, as Lawler is actually decent on commentary in MSW rather than always shrieking or shrilly talking about "puppies" as from the Attitude Era on.

I was hoping to announce that for this evening, Shartnado has entered the Light Heavyweight division, but the scale showed 203,1 lbs, so still missing a couple in order to get there. I wish the 13-year old me could see me now! "You'll be over 200 lbs eventually, kid, but you won't be a wrestler and you will be very thankful for that!"

Slow Horses season 3 just started and to the surprise of non one it's great! So grateful it's on AppleTV+ and not any of the other streamers who'd find a reason to cancel it. With this show and The Gold, I can see why Jack Lowden is 6 to 1 odds on being the next Bond. Fargo season 5 also just started and it's been good so far, really interested to see where it goes, tons of easter eggs from the original film. Gave Bookie on the streamer formally known as HBOMax a shot and I enjoyed it, was reluctant at first since Chuck Lorre shows seem to be the lowest of lowbrow.

I think the final straw with some it seems to be Flair cutting his usual 1985 NWA promo tonight on Rampage. That wouldn't be an issue if it was a 75+ year old man who last on TV looked he has was being held together with embalming fluid talking about only wanting to see 18-28 year olds at the hotel. He is unfortunately a victim of his history at this point.

It's Dec. Some AJP stuff.. A Triple Crown match will be held on Dec 31st. Nakajima (c) vs Kento. The Triple Crown match on 1.3 has been changed up to unknown. Masanobu Fuchi celebrates his 50th anniversary debut and 70th birthday next year, on 1, 14. A whole card for him.

Sounds like he may have been inebriated and done something unbecoming around team staff and corporate sponsors, and is now going to get treatment for alcohol abuse.

Wardlow's hair has been looking like this for a handful of weeks now since it got that point, as Curt mentioned, where he's trying to grow it out but he's also not using any product and not even wetting it down. It's just a big poof of hair until it gets long enough to be weighted down or pulled back like he used to have it.

Goalie goal in Pittsburgh, opps Tampa but you wouldn’t know with all the Black and Gold in the crowd. Also, this is the Penguins first ever goalie goal.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Julia's moonsault was really bad. And she positioned her really close to the turnbuckle which seemed odd to me, props to Emi for seeing it not working and trying to move into a better spot.

Lexie may have gotten a diploma but she deserved a medal for not losing her shit during this:

and Conrad replied to Bix informing him there's a phone setting to autocapitalize words, so nice to see that smartphones can be old person friendly

You've got some Rad Radford to look forward to!

Hi friends! Your friendly, neighborhood one-legged girl here! I just wanted to pop in for a bit and say Hi. I haven't been around for a while (personal stuff ... both good and bad) but things are finally settling down! Hoping to get more involved here as we end 2023 and go into 2024. I've missed ALL OF YOU!!! I see a lot of people right now going through a lot of different things. For those of you who are going through rough times with the holidays coming near and maybe just need a friend and someone to talk with, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm here for you and happy to be that friend. To those of you doing great things, keep doing what you're doing! You have my full support!

Punk being aware of FSW will always be my favorite DVDVR lore.

Show #143 – 01 June 1998 "The one that’s a momentum breaker and that also puts Sting in the nWo, which is nonsense” So, this show opens with a Sting video retrospective that makes me miss Surfer Sting. I kinda wish Sting had pulled a post-Bikertaker move (or come to think of it, a post-Hollywood nWo Hulk Hogan move) and just gone back to Surfer Sting for a little while. Not forever; just for a bit. A limo pulls up. Out pops…J.J. Dillon. That’s boring. Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T., and Goldberg pop out after him. That’s far less boring! I guess these fellas will make their pitch to Sting tonight. Jerry Flynn (w/big scumbag energy) comes to the ring, pulling back on handshakes and ripping up pro-Goldberg signs as he goes. I’m certain he’s wrestled his opponent, Ernest Miller, a bunch of times, including on shows that I’ve reviewed, but I’m not about to go back and find out. I don’t hate this, but the crowd seems pretty lethargic throughout this whole deal. At one point, Flynn does a nice judo toss into an armbar that I think personally the crowd should have enjoyed more. When I’m ruler of the cosmos, I will make it illegal not to politely applaud a fluid judo toss -> armbar. Miller and Flynn fuck up their spacing and blow a sunset flip because they’re in the ropes upon landing. Miller’s not going up top to hit the Feliner anymore – wise! – but I’m not sure he makes anything close to cursory contact with Flynn when he hits is – ugh! Anyway, Miller wins. The crowd probably would have loved one of those high-flying, fast-paced cruiserweight matches that WCW Nitro was known for even though they don’t happen all that often, at least at this point in the show’s existence (Editor's Note: This crowd seems to barely enjoy life itself, so maybe not). Another limo arrives: It’s some nWo Wolfpac dudes. The Wolfpac comes on out after the commercial break. They cut a promo. Nash does his own version of the survey, and I’d say it’s odd that he hasn’t mentioned Hall at all, except that Hall’s probably in rehab/legal trouble and not in a position to really respond. Anyway, Nash wants to see if everyone came for nWo Hollywood (crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO) or the red-and-black attack (crowd: YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH). They talk some more, basically still pitching Sting. Luger’s blathering on and on, and I tune out a bit, but I do catch that Luger and Nash are challenging any two Hollywood members to a tag match later tonight. Raven and Saturn (w/ riot squad, but no Flock) come to the ring to face Public Enemy, who are still in WCW as of June 1998! What an ECW-ass ECW matchup. Saturn and Raven control early, but take it a bit easy and allow Grunge to fight back. Grunge nails a back elbow on Saturn and then PE goes to work, hitting double-team moves and keeping Saturn cut off from his partner. PE’s double-team stuff is pretty good, including a pseudo-Decapitation Device (the elbowdrop from the ropes was there, but not the positioning of Saturn over Rocco’s knee). Saturn finally gets a tag, but Raven whiffs on a lariat attempt and hits Saturn. Saturn’s peeved, but PE is still coming in waves, and Saturn and Raven immediately have to show some fightback. They look pretty screwed, as PE even hits them with the AFCs old finisher. Rocco even drops a plancha on Raven as Raven lies on a table. Actually, Rocco does it TWICE because the table doesn’t break the first time around. I feel like the crowd should be more interested in this because it’s pretty fun, actually. Anyway, Saturn knocks Grunge into Rocco and then hits Grunge with a DVD; Raven slides into the ring and covers for the win. Saturn’s peeved that Raven stole his cover, but technically Raven was the legal man. Post-match, Raven gets a mic and rambles about how J.J. Dillon is employing Kanyon and it’s all sooooooooo unfair. He tells Saturn that as thanks for having his back, he’s re-hired the Flock to watch Saturn’s back. Also, he somehow signed Saturn up to wrestle Kanyon at GAB, which I didn’t know you were allowed to do? Just, you know, sign for a match for someone else who you don’t have power of attorney over? I have questions about WCW legal and what the heck they’re doing in their offices. Alex Wright is doing something other than dancing his way through a Nitro Girls routine tonight, so yeah, that’s cool. Chavo Guerrero Jr. has new music and a new, weird attitude, and is Wright’s opponent. Wright wrestles this like he’s wrestling the Chavo of six or eight months ago and not the Chavo that has apparently lost his whole mind and become a greater wrestler at the same time. Wright tries to casually administer a beatdown of the type he would give opponents during his TV title run, but Chavo chokes him like Latrell Sprewell finally giving that annoying fuck PJ Carlesimo the business, then hits Wright with a great suicide dive. At that point, Wright is wrestling to get away from Chavo; Chavo remains tenacious and beats down Wright. Back in the ring, Wright begs off and suckers Chavo in. He wraps Chavo in an STF, so Chavo taps immediately. He does so because he wants the ref to break the hold quickly and, in turn, because he can wants to go back to beating the shit out of Wright. The ref tries to back Chavo away, and Eddy comes out and tries to calm Chavo down. Chavo is more interested in fighting Eddy, but Eddy begs off. The crowd is so bored by all of this. This crowd stinks. Tony S. is on in-ring interview duty. He calls down Randy Savage, but Roddy Piper’s music plays. Then, after like a good thirty seconds, it cuts off and the Wolfpac theme plays. Craig Leathers, get your truck in order, you total DIPSHIT. Savage and Liz make it to the ring. Tony S. is like, You know Bret Hart was lying about he and Piper being in cahoots, right? and Savage is like OOOOH YEAH, THAT’S PROBABLY THE CASE AND I’LL STILL TAG WITH PIPER, ALSO, DO YOU WANT TO FUCK RODDY PIPER OR SOMETHING TONY, WHY ARE YOU SO PROTECTIVE OF HIM? which I think is unfair to Tony. Tony’s an asshole, though, so I’m fine with him getting shit on here. Savage calls out Piper, who comes to the ring to *sigh* talk. Piper, fairly enough, is confused about why Savage is so pissed at him. Savage is like YOU REVERSED THE DECISION FROM THAT HART MATCH, BUT THAT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR ME, I WANT TO FIGHT YOU AT THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH AFTER WE WIN OUR TAG MATCH, WHICH IS ALSO AT THAT VERY PPV, CONTACT YOUR CABLE PROVIDERS. Piper agrees to do it just to get Savage to shut up about it, but he’s still got a lot of consternation over Savage being fucking weird about this whole thing. He also makes a nonsensical Marion Berry reference that the crowd, being from DC, pops for because that’s a name they know. Man, this DC crowd fucking sucks. Piper starts convolutedly ranting about the Washington Capitals (morons in this crowd: WOOOOOOOO) and Savage has to cut him off and force him to make his point directly, which is that Bret hasn’t ever actually worn an nWo shirt and probably is playing Hogan and Savage at the same time. Boy, when the worst person you know makes a good point, it’s troubling, huh? Anyway, Savage is like THE INTERNAL POLITICS OF nWo HOLLYWOOD ARE NOT MY PROBLEM, OOOH NO, I JUST WANT TO REPEATEDLY PUNCH HOGAN, HART, AND YOU ALL IN THE FACE, OOOH YEAH and then he leaves. Tony S. now talks to J.J. Dillon, who I guess is going to lead the pitch to Sting for sticking with WCW. He didn’t even bring out any of the guys he stepped out of the limo with earlier tonight to help him pitch. So nWo Hollywood has the Hitman pitch Sting. The Wolfpac has Luger pitch Sting. WCW has J.J. fucking Dillon pitch Sting. Oh, WCW, you lovable losers. Dillon basically is like Sting, WCW is not popular or effective, but you should stick with us anyway because something something legacy, something something we like you a lot? Oy vey. There’s another limo backstage! How thrilling! There’s a break, and when we come back, it’s just a few nWo Hollywood guys, led by Hogan, Bischoff, and the Giant. The Hitman’s there too, by the way. Larry Z. tries to make a fat joke about Dusty, but it’s bad and doesn’t land, and in fact confuses Tony S. for a second. Oh, WCW! Anyway, those fellas all trundle out to take up valuable TV time with an interview. Hogan talks a ton, and I basically zoned out. He pitches Sting somewhere in there and agrees to the tag match that Luger called for earlier. He also calls out Savage and Piper, and Bret unbuttons his shirt to show that he’s wearing one of those ugly Hollywood Hogan shirts with the skull. Oooh, t-shirt rebuttal! It’s still not an nWo shirt, which would be a nice way to swerve that Bret’s not really nWo Hollywood down the road. Hogan steals Savage’s catchphrase again *sigh*. Konnan’s back out here to wrestle Lenny Lane (w/bronzer). These fellas do some very slow mat sequences before Konnan hits a sit-out facebuster. Konnan transitions through a couple of submissions, takes a finger to the eye, and then eats a small beatdown from Lane. Lane kicks Konnan in the stomach and then promotes his ab bronzer to the corner camera. Konnan hops over a Lenny Lane charge and then gets a pin with a bridge that gets three because Lane doesn’t kick out in time, but Scott Dickinson calls it two anyway. They exchange a few pinning combos done at glacial pace until finally Konnan hits his signature cradle DDT and wraps on a Tequila Sunrise for the win. Well, that match happened. Oh yeah, Curt Hennig was on crutches when he came out for that first Wolfpac interview, and Tony S. reminds me of this fact because he’s interviewing Hennig now. Or not, as Rude rips Tony S.’s mic away and, along with Hennig, gives us some insight into this whole sudden Hennig knee injury. They cut a crappy promo in which they pretend that they can’t say the word “perfect” because they’ll get sued, and then Hennig calls Konnan out to take his place in a bunch of house show matches against Goldberg so that Hennig can rest up for the PPV. Yeah, sure, whatever, I don’t give a fuck. This sucked. Oh wow, wait, I wrote that before Perfect called Goldberg “Bill Goldturd.” Truly an abomination of a segment. Eddy Guerrero creeps on out here, looking to make sure that Chavo’s nowhere around. He’s got a title shot against Fit Finlay, but, uh, he seems a bit distracted. Dr. Harvey Schiller’s daughter is very bored in the front row, by the way. Finlay overpowers Eddy, who is freaking out between worrying about where Chavo is and pretending to hate the weak EDDY SUCKS chant. I should have written that more appropriately because they’re chanting it like this: eddy sucks. What sucks is this crowd, but I repeat myself. Anyway, these fellas wrestle a solid match where Finlay uses his power advantage and Eddy being slightly off to dominate. Eddy fights back and manages to get a sleeper hold on, but Finlay powers Eddy up and hangs him on the top rope in a cool power spot. Eddy dodges again, drops a tope con hilo, and desperately tries to keep Finlay from catching his breath. Eddy loses control when trying to stand and strike with Finlay, but is able to get a back suplex and go back to work. That’s when Chavo runs into the ring and Billy Silverman, uh, immediately throws the match out? Why? Chavo didn’t do anything. He just tells Eddy that he loves him and asks for a match at GAB. What the fuck? Chris Jericho, in a pre-tape, stands on the steps of Congress. He’s got on a blue suit and has a wild hairdo going. Apparently, no one in DC cares about J.J. Dillon or even knows who he is, and also, they want Jericho to leave the premises. So, hilariously, Jericho leaves the SCOTUS building claiming that he left a note with Clarence Thomas, which SHOOT, NOT KAYFABE might have happened considering what we know about Jericho. Anyway, this sketch is far less funny than I remember it. The idea is great even if the execution is mediocre, though. Jericho flips through books at the Library of Congress and bothers people on Capitol Hill in the first whiffed attempt at pro wrestling goodness that he’s made in a long time, though had you asked me before I saw this again, I would have sworn it was a classic cut. Jericho comes to the ring next and calls out J.J. Dillon. Dillon’s super-bored by this and doesn’t bother coming to the ring, so Jericho gets aggy and makes a few Bloom County-level political observations that barely pass as jokes before Juvi Guerrera comes to the ring to wrestle him. Jericho shuts down an early Juvi flurry with power before Juvi gets going and hits a series of moves that end with Juvi dumping himself on the head while he hits a Frankensteiner from the top to a standing Jericho in the ring. Jericho gets a little room with a double-underhook backbreaker and a cocky pin, but gets rana’d into a two-count in short order. Juvi blows a DDT attempt that gets two even though it looked terrible, then hits a Juvi Driver and goes up for a 450. Jericho gets to his feet, crotches Juvi, and then goes through a sequence that ends with him blocking a rana and going for a Lion Tamer that Juvi escapes by grabbing the ropes. Juvi comes back, ducks a Jericho lariat that spills Jericho to the floor, then drops Jericho with a rana from the apron to Jericho standing on the floor. Juvi gets back in the ring while Scott Dickinson faces Jericho at ringside and counts; Reese comes to the ring, hits Juvi from behind, and chokebombs him. Jericho steals a three-count after Reese leaves the ring. Well, that wasn’t very good. Jericho managed to miss both in a skit and in the ring. Juvi having a clear off night in terms of execution didn’t help. We missed one of the matches in the Booker/Benoit Bo7 because I’m not covering WCWSN. We get a review of the three matches so far: Benoit won match one with a Crippler Crossface last Nitro. Booker won match two, which was FANTASTIC, by hitting a missile dropkick on the previous Thunder Interlude. In match three on WCWSN, Benoit found a way to get Booker up and over on a German Suplex with a bridge that earned a three count. Match four is next! If I recall correctly, which is admittedly the likeliest thing, Benoit went up 3-1, lost the next two, the men drew the last match or Benoit won it by DQ or something like that, and they had an eighth match at GAB that Booker won in the same night he beat Finlay for the TV title. Let’s find out if I’m right! Finlay comes out to the ramp to watch as Booker starts the match throwing forearms at Benoit; he catches a charging Benoit in a floatover powerslam for two. Booker continues to control until, in a transition that I usually don’t like, he tosses Benoit back in the ring after having zero issues with him on the outside and Benoit is suddenly just fine and ready to hit a bunch of stomps to take over. This is a slower-paced match, which makes sense as these fellas are both more tentative, having made mistakes against one another in the past that got punished. Booker gets twos off all sorts of forearm-based offense, then goes to the chinlock. Back to standing, Book whiffs on a side kick and gets folded on a release German. The desk bickers about Karl Malone *sigh* while this dead crowd *sigh* does not enhance this perfectly okay match. They pop for a Booker axe kick and raise the roof to boot, so I'm glad to see they're alive out there. Book is rolling until he goes for a vertical suplex, at which point Benoit struggles out of it, locks on a Crippler Crossface, and gets Book to tap out about three or four inches from the ropes. Benoit leads 3-1. This match was solid, but that Thunder match might be the high point of this series. I should go back and watch the third match from SN, though. I think the idea here behind the “Who will Sting join?” angle that they’ve been pushing all night is a good one. It’s analogous to an elite athlete hitting free agency; everyone wants to know where LeBron Sting is taking his talents to. It’s just not very well executed because it’s done in the same style that WCW does to flog everything else they really want to get over as a central angle. The desk even talked about this being like if Michael Jordan hit free agency as an example, as a matter of fact. Good idea, poor execution, down to replaying the Sting video that we saw to start the show after the desk, which has been talking about Sting throughout the other segments and matches, talks about Sting some more. Scotty Riggs (w/Sick Boy) faces off with Diamond Dallas Page, who hasn’t really been on TV much after that big feud-ending win over Raven in a match that was wildly disappointing considering who was in it. The match layout was more the problem than the workers, though. Anyway, this match is short and gives the crowd what they want. Page fends off both men and hits Riggs with a TKO-style Diamond Cutter for an easy three. Post-match, he slips away from Sick Boy after Sick Boy jumps him and hits another Diamond Cutter. The crowd loves it. Really, we all do. Craig Leathers and crew are on top of things tonight! They play some entrance music that isn’t La Parka’s for a good fifteen seconds before playing La Parka’s theme as La Parka comes down. Park’s being fed to Goldberg tonight, which is a definite step up from Goldberg’s usual fodder. Huge GOLDBERG chant even though I don’t really see anyone chanting. Maybe they’re off the hard camera, who knows. Don’t get me wrong, though, Goldberg signs are everywhere. Dude is definitely mad over. So, in a WILD SPOT to start, Parka threatens to hit Goldberg with the chair. Goldberg is like DO IT THEN, and Parka just wallops this dude with an unprotected shot to the head. Goldberg goes RAAAARGH, spears Parka, and Jackhammers him in fifteen seconds for the win. I don’t approve of the chair to the head, but if you’re gonna have an unprotected chair to the head, that seems like the spot you’d reserve that sort of thing for. I need to give Tony S. some credit for seeing that spear, chuckling in disbelief, and saying “It’s over” in a voice filled with nothing but wonder for Goldberg. That definitely enhanced the moment. Buffer’s out to ring announce for the main event with seventeen whole minutes left on the clock! Aw, yeah! So, it’s Hogan and Giant versus Nash and Luger. They pose, they insult each other’s now logos, they preen, and the crowd is into it because this crowd is into the main eventers and maybe a couple midcarders. I mean, they’re not that into it, but I hear a steady noise above a murmur for one of the few times all night. Luger scores first with a tiny shoulderblock that barely touches Hogan. The crowd really wants to see Nash, I think. They definitely want to see Nash wrestle Hogan. Then again, they’re just sort of tepid for this encounter, which you’d think they’d be hot for, right? Is this the first time Nash and Hogan have wrestled one another in this company? Nash and Giant are a good pairing and have a good segment, but TBH the Giant is far and away the best worker in this match, with Nash a distant second, and so when Luger or Hogan are in the ring, the match is just kind of there. I do like Giant trying to beg off Luger, appealing to their past as tag champs, but Luger’s okay with all that. If I’m putting Giant/Big Show’s best opponents on a list, Luger and Nash are in the top four at worst. I contemplate this as Nash goes to work on Giant and Hogan hits him in the back with the World Championship belt for a DQ. Giant and Hogan work Nash over while Sting rappels down from the sky. Sting unhooks himself, walks past Luger, gets in the ring, and unzips his coat to reveal an nWo Hollywood shirt. Sting and Giant celebrate, which allows Sting to jump both of them, rip off his nWo Hollywood shirt (with some difficulty) and reveal an nWo Wolfpac shirt underneath. Luger hugs Sting (aw, that’s nice). Do you think that J.J. Dillon has the kayfabe lucidity to understand just how AWFUL his pitch was? This show wasn’t very good, and that’s not because of Hogan, necessarily, but I note that Hogan came back and we had a weak show for the first time since he left. Also, I’m taking a quarter splash off this final score because I do not approve of Sting wearing an nWo shirt in any colors, dammit! 2.75 out of 5 Stinger Splashes.

My kid will be out of college by the time 6 drops so at least I won't have to choose between games and tuition knowing that tuition will always win.