Leaderboard

If Buzz Sawyer was a cat

Really good crowd early, for the Collision/ Rampage show. Obviously they burnt out as the night went on, but a few of the wrestlers in the later matches found interesting ways of bringing them back. Top Flight changing their gear from mostly Black to mostly Green is a choice. Looked a bit military, and there's already a tag team doing a military gimmick over there. Good match though. It's pretty mindblowing how, if you didn't know Dante had broken his leg really badly just over a year ago, you'd never be able to tell. The miracles of youth and modern medicine working well. Not sure why Claudio does the Naruto run before the double stomp, he can't be stealing a Kidd Bandit spot, can he? Dante seemed to not know what to do with his hands during the Giant Swing, he went from covering up to limp hanging and back a couple of times. Danielson started cutting an in-ring promo about the match we cannot initialise (because Anarchy in the Arena is not the 'Am I The Asshole?' match) and Claudio walked out, but then they addressed it later in the show. He's not mad, just disappointed. Running a show simultaneously with an NJPW USA PPV, when Mox and Kingston are both booked on the NJPW show, it really makes you realise exactly how stacked the AEW roster is. Because two (or more) of the biggest stars in the company weren't there, and you'd never know from watching the show. Will Ospreay vs Lee Moriarty, that was a good match. Roddy Strong's whole "Yelling the first name" thing didn't come up as much on commentary, because he only does it when directly addressing someone, not talking about them. We could have had him going "Wristlock applied by LEE! but WILL! is able to flip away from the pressure". Lee Moriarty continues to use the Border City Stretch, despite the fact that the MCMG are apparently on their way in. Perhaps we'll get a continuation of the Moriarty vs Shelley rivalry/friendship in AEW though. If it drives people to watching thier 2019 matches, that could boost Lee in a few people's eyes. Mercedes Mone capable of throwing a ball, CONFIRMED! Yeah, I'm never going to understand the Baseball thing. I admire Toa Liona's commitment to having a classic "Samoan Wrestler" look. All of those Bloodline guys with their slender abdomens, running around looking like underwear models. AFA AND SIKA AIN'T DO NO SIT-UPS! Despite them having easily despatched of the Tik Tok Twins and Not Tom Lawler, Swerve Strickland then proved that his former muscle weren't very good muscle by beating the three of them up singlehandedly. Toa Liona ran into the cinderblock shot so fast that it gashed the hell out of his arm. Dax Harwood vs Dynamite Kid Tommy Billington, in a match that was clearly an example of Dax living out his early 90s Hart Family feud aspirations. Young Tommy, despite his extreme youth (Cagematch says he's 23, but he was 15 when he showed up in Defiant Wrestling 5 years ago), does nothing in the ring that's really post- Bret vs Owen. It would be quite interesting to see Billington vs Nick Wayne or someone like that, who is so modern in his in-ring stuff. He might not have earned himself an "IS ALL ELITE" banner based on this one performance, but he's certainly earned a second look at least. It was a pleasant surprise that the match went 12 minutes and was back and forth; Dax could have squashed him in 3 if he'd wanted. Most unsigned guys don't go over 10 minutes on their company debut. But Dax's throwback spots, his "let's do this thing from this one specific Bret match" made it pretty clear why it went that long. The fans were super-hot for the Adam Copeland vs Kyle O'Reilly match. Cope got a big babyface reaction coming out, but he was definitely the heel in the match. Like he got booed for using a rope break to escape a submission hold. Nigel quoting the Stone Roses on commentary, and Tony Schiavone clearly had no idea what he was talking about. The fans really elevated this match; The actual television build to it made it feel somewhat like just another match, but the live crowd being so into it conferred a Big Fight Feeling upon it anyway. Nigel calling the Les Kellet Lariat as the Les Kellett Lariat was good. So much better than the Rebound Lariat (surely that's all of them? What is running the ropes, if not rebounding?), or the Wackyline. Dalton Castle vs Trent had a much lesser reaction, but quite possibly they were exhausted. Disappointing lack of heel heat for Trent's control segments, but they came alive for Dalton's suplexes out of the control segment. Dalton does have really good timing on them, to be fair. Bryan Keith vs JD Drake had a near-silent crowd too, but then JD actually made the most of it with a fucking LOUD chop in the corner. And then they basically sprinted to the finish from there, which kept the fans into it for the whole closing stretch. Now Lady Frost vs Deonna Purrazzo, that's clearly intended as a Purrazzo showcase because she's the one getting the push and so on, but she really didn't do anything memorable. Sometimes it feels like her "Great technical wrestler" thing is more that she's a regular wrestler doing a "Great technician" gimmick, rather than being an actual technique specialist. Whereas Lady Frost, being the super agile ex-gymnast, almost everything she does looks spectacular. She's very precise in her athletic execution, but she makes the actual wrestling move she's flipping into look devastating and painful too. The "Murder Gymnastics" stylistic tag that initially confused Tony is paid off by the way she wrestles. Also I saw her on twitter talking about how she loves all of the support that fans are showing towards male wrestlers who can keep getting it done over the age of 40, and hopes that they'll extend the same support to women wrestlers who are in their 40s too. So I looked up her age, and she's 39. I would have guessed she was in her early 30s tops, but apparently she was already out of her 20s when she had her first match (on WWE Raw, before she actually started training to wrestle). Thunder Rosa brought a lot of intensity with her run-in. Surprising though, that AEW security attempted a pull apart and actually kept the wrestlers apart the whole time. Usually they break free periodically. This was the first ever Johnny TV vs Pac match in history. Somehow they managed to miss one another on their WWE runs (meaning they were almost never in the company at the same time), and nobody ever booked it on the indies either. Nigel discussing how Johnny has great genetics, then segues into speculating what it would be like if he and Taya had a child (implying that said child would be a highly evolved athletic wunderkind), and Tony misses his point and thinks he's doing a "Snobby heel, disgusted at the thought of sexual reproduction" routine. Everyone assumed that Johnny TV's AEW name was Johnny TV because he's Johnny Television, but what if we've all got it wrong? Perhaps he's actually Johnny Taya Valkyrie? The show ended, not with a victory celebration, but with the winner pissed off in the ring because the final segment was a backstage promo cut upon him. That's pretty Sports Entertainment, that. Going off the air on a down note... even though it was less like Rampage was the Third Hour of Nitro (when the NWO show up), and more like it was the Collision after-party.

The guy who says he loves to lie?

If can believe the google machine, Heenan/Jesse called it both The Flying Burrito and the Flying Jalapeño. I think Manny”s wasn’t the flying forearm technically, at least not the same as what Tito and later Terry Taylor did.

Would the Savage/Warrior match with all the Liz/Sherri stuff be considered overbooked? There was a lot going on there with the finish and the post-match stuff, but it’s very well-liked.

Overbooked wrestling matches suck which is why when it's done well, it stands out. What are the best? I've come up with: Raven/Stevie Richards vs. The Pitbulls. ECW, 16th September 1995. Steve Austin vs. Dude Love. WWF Over the Edge 1998. Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes. WWE WrestleMania XL. I'm probably missing some obvious ones.

I actually suggested this idea a couple years ago and wondered why this never happened. IIRC I think I said the sons getting into the business at different times probably mucked it up. But yeah, Bryant in Smoky Mountain was nothing like Ole and the fact Ole for a few weeks was essentially his mouthpiece kinda overshadowed him and highlighted his lack of charisma. However, much older Bryant Anderson/Rogowski is Ole. Between Roop and Bryant, the spirit of Ole was still there. I think my issue with the more updated analysis tacked on to the episode is it's harder to put into context the missing 40 years between 84 and now. It was intriguing cause that part was pretty new for the series outside of just giving a "Where Are They Now" update on where folks are after various tragedies and traumatic events. However, as Dave put it in the episode, territory wrestling was going to be gone sooner rather than later. All the stuff leading up to Black Saturday and Black Saturday was just an accelerant. Hell, funny that Dave's statement is probably buttressed by what Cornette said earlier in the episode: You cannot treat or handle the business in 1983 or 1984 like you did in 1953 or 1954. So when Jimmy says that Endeavor buying the business probably removes the last vestiges of old time pro wrestling...eh...the business was never going to be what it was 40 years ago just like it wasn't in 1984 the same as the 40s and 50s. Some things are going to be same and a lot of things are going to be very much different. That's just the reality of any of these type of money making endeavors. That and you can hop on Peacock or any free streaming site or pop in a DVD and watch old time wrestling or wrestling from virtually any year where footage exists. Worrying about the lineage of wrestling is neat and all, but at the same time, Vince was never worried about that as much he would bring back all these old timers for the Hall of Fame or let them be agents/producers or whatever. If it got in the way of the bottom line, then it could go as well. Welcome to capitalism or at the very least the type of capitalism Vince McMahon subscribed to. And not to just throw Vince in there by himself, that goes for Turner and Tony Khan as well. That's why that part being tacked on would have needed an additional 10-15 minutes to bring everything full circle. BTW The Watts letter seemed like some shit you would get from a Ken Burns Civil War documentary where some guy is writing home after fighting at Antietam.

I quite liked how it turned out with young Dynamite Kid. I’m here for it if they keep it going.

Bryan Danielson who is apparently working in an executive role in AEW? Who cut a promo on how much he loved AEW before leading the crowd in chanting the companies' name just last night?

...bad?

I have finally starting to warm to Ghost of Tsushima. It took meeting a couple of the supporting characters to get me invested.

I liked Moriarty vs Ospreay way more than the Dax match. Wouldn’t have expected that coming in.

That's one of if not the best carry job ever by Randy Savage. Probably #1 carrying a bigoted broomstick. Surreal seeing Warrior kick out of five elbow drops and Savage the big splash. Both firsts.

Good shout, mate. The 5 too rope elbow drops, Savage kicking out of the big splash and the aftermath you detail.

The Vancouver crowd was tremendous, ending AEW's Canada run on a much-needed high note. It didn't hurt that they gave them some damn good matches. The pacific northwest seems to be a really solid market for them overall.

They all look devastating to me watching them because they all are being sold like death and you know no one is kicking out lol. I wish Murdoch and Adonis got to be a team atleast a year longer so we could've gotten some matches with them and the Bulldogs on TV

That's hilarious. "My dearest Abigail, I am returning from the front after months eating hard tack and cannot wait to sample your vittles. Alas, the War for the Georgian Territory was a lost cause, though history will record the depth of our struggle."

Tito's Flying Forearm was a thing of beauty. He hit it fast and clean that it was credible as a finisher and would be today! James

That Robinson backbreaker/kneedrop combo later on in the video is pretty swank, too.

One of the best things about wrestling is how things can change in ways you never suspected and how so many wrestlers get better as they get older. Like how Randy Orton has now become not only one of my favorite wrestlers, but legit is right now the best he's ever been.

I know the discussion is about Black Saturday but I just went nuts catching up on DSOTR the past couple weeks. I picked right back up with the Kanyon episode and went all the way up to the Earthquake episode. I've seen every episode except for ones with Russo and the steroid trial. But of all the episodes my favorite by far has nothing dark at all about it. The Earthquake episode was just proof of what we knew in how great of a guy Tenta was. It also further showed how great a guy Ottman is who took The Shockmaster and everything else in stride. Knowing they would just chill in a hotel room while the rest were partying elsewhere put a huge smile on my face. I just think the world of them both. And my goodness Haku's laugh at the Shockmaster incident! That shit had me in stitches. But the end with him having cancer just fucking wrecked me. The bedside stuff felt very close to home especially when they said if he had it checked sooner the success rate would have been higher. My father in law put off whatever he was feeling and didn't see a doctor until it was way too late. And I just realized they said he died at 42 which is especially fucking me up right now. Between that and the talk about the last time they saw him I am gonna need a bit to calm down. I am thankfully healthy at 41 all things considered but this was another example of why I need to schedule my check-up. I would say fuck cancer but it's such a huge understatement it almost doesn't need to be said. Nah, fuck it. Fuck cancer. I think I'm good on this show for a while. I saw the Sandman and Sherri ones which where were great. But I'm stopping my watching on a high note and will likely watch the others later on when it hits Disney+/Hulu.

This is everything I wanted out of this show, and more. Holy shit that episode.

I was just coming in to post that. He had clearly lost some ability to interact but the mind was all there. By the way, the man's voice to me was always pure ASMR. I got the chills every time I heard him speak and wanted to hear him for hours. This, obviously not the same, but still.

Peace be yours, Papa Roger.

Mark and Tom go by the Billington Bulldogs on the indies and during their stint in MLW.

Nothing should surprise people in the wrestling business.

Just for fun. I'll give you some Memphis stuff for May. Feel free to give me something though.

Zelina Vega pulled from QOTR due to injury. These tournaments are cursed. Shayna Baszler v Maxine Dupri has a decent chance of also being cursed.

Presumably, in 2024, it would no longer be The Flying Burrito.

Got the Platinum for Stellar Blade. I think that it was the most fun I've had playing a non-SRW game in a long time.

I actually like it visually, have a bunch of people behind whoever's doing a promo. It'd be killer with buildings which were full to the rafters. Why not just do it in the ring then? I want Deeb to be a bigger deal than she's been too, shame I never saw the Collision promo.

Does Deonna have any other mannerisms other then that hand wave, or any personality at all? No? Okay then. At least we were spared Rosa yelling about being held down again. I'm really intrigued by the Claudio walk-out. I HOPE it's just that Claudio still doesn't trust Eddie, and not that they're thinking of possibly breaking up the BCC.

He's kinda doing an influencer gimmick before influencers where really a thing. Not sure how that was supposed to draw money but an interesting concpet

Finished Bad Batch last week. Started Tales of the Empire last week and finished just now with my brother.

I enjoyed Space Babies though it was also really dumb. Dug the third episode a lot more.

Looking forward to Kazuchika Omega vs. Dax Harwood and Bryan Danielson/Jon Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb/Kyle Fletcher on AEW Dynamite.

I like how they are switching things up for Jade every time. We seen her in Traditional tags with Belair, and 6 Women's with Belair and Naomi and still work singles. The thing that slowed her progression in AEW was she was working once or twice a month. With her level of experience she needed to be working more. They are doing an amazing job handing her weaknesses but I think she will finally start to actually get better by working more. I don't know about her being in the QotR unless she's going to win. I'd avoid her having to lose as much as I can but atleast it gives them a chance to get her out there against different people every week plus she's working house shows. I know she's over 30 now but she had barely used her bumb card, so in my opinion she has alot of time to actually get good at this. Solo is being booked to well. I'm sure alot of that is Roman Reigns the way they are being very subtle it the Storytelling with Paul Heyman. Solo had the least personality of the Bloodline and he wasn't going to get to show this rage with the others on TV at the same time. A few other people here been pointing out how much Dawkins really been showing out lately. I don't if he'll get noticed because they expect Tez to be the guy out of those 2

8/20/87: Kobayashi vs Takada (c): The first minute of this was the best part of the match. Right at the bell Takada cracked Kobayashi with a kick and dropped him. It was jarring because matches usually didn't start like this and there was a momentary sense that it was going to end right there too. Plus you would have expected Kobayashi to get the relatively cheapshot in, not Takada. They more or less turned it into a normal match after that unfortunately, unfortunate because it was more along the lines of those Takada/Koshinaka matches that I don't love. I had hoped Kobayashi would bring something else to the table and that it was Koshinaka that was the problem but doesn't seem to be the case. The action was good but it was too back and forth without meaningful transitions. Kobayashi got a win out of nowhere at the end to win the belt. Takada stormed off dejectedly while Koshinaka rushed in to make the next challenge. 8/29/87: Anjo vs Nakano: I just struggle with these guys. This didn't have commentary so I didn't have the best sense who was who in the moment (even though one had kickpads). I would have done better with some variety. I'm sure I'll get it eventually, but for now, these are a bit of a chore even if the work is good. I just don't have a hook. 8/29/87: Fujiawara vs Maeda: Well, this was all hook. Super compelling stuff. Maeda would press him towards the corner again and again and that's the last place you want Fujiwara so it was compelling each and every time. You didn't know if Maeda was going to kick him down or if Fujiwara was going to snatch out the leg or come in from under with a bunch of slaps. At one point I swear that Fujiwawra had decided that he was going to wrestle the match with a hand behind his back by only using slap counters, but they kept driving Maeda back. In a lot of ways this was a battle between the ultimate offensive wrestler and the ultimate defensive one. It all built to one last exchange in the corner where Fujiwara finally struck, snatching the leg and kicking the other one out and locking in a leglock to end it. 9/1/87: Inoki vs Murdoch: We just get the last 4 out of 17 or so. It's a GREAT finishing stretch though. Murdoch gets out of a long sleeper by dropping into a chinbuster. He hits a perfectly timed back elbow off the ropes then hits a brainbuster and calf branding. Inoki kicks out. Murdoch goes for another brainbuster but Inoki floats over and hits the enziguiri. Murdoch goes flying into the ropes, choked in them. Inoki hits ANOTHER one, dropping him. Just the meanest thing to do to a guy choking to death. He goes up to the top, the ref delays him. Murdoch snatches him off the top and hits a running power slam but Inoki's in the rope. Murdoch thinks he's won but didn't. Inoki hits one last one right into the face and gets the win. Really good stuff. It's a shame we don't have the whole thing.

I'm in HEALTH, Perebator, Slasher Dve, and GOST

With Dusseldorf getting held, FCSP need 1 point from their final two matches against Osnabruck (already relegated) and Weisbaden (relegation dogfight). For their sake I hope they do the business tomorrow, because otherwise that final day could get insane for everyone.

Willow is nailing these mic reps. Willowmania is tuning up. The Mercedes promo was also good. Each week better. And I’m stoked for the match. So too more Orange v Trent! I really liked chapter 1, and the pace of this story. It nicely set the table for an escalation of tempers. Don Callis’ involvement continues to amuse/intrigue. The highly amusing Rocky/Orange segment suggests to me ‘Roppongi Vice’ heel run. Deeb v Toni has so much potential, but the heel/face dynamic is disappointing. Harley v Mariah was a nice solid TV bout. Pretty remarkable in-ring Dynamite debut. Mariah continues to impress. The Shirakawa stuff deserves some development. Swerve/Christian talk segment was on point. Especially loved the heel camaraderie between the Pats and Bucks. Fun heel turn and beating by Cage/Gates. I like the fun TV matches this angle offers on the way to the PPV. I think we can all agree that Swerve’s entrance clearly missed Nana. Jay White promo on Pac was good and swarmy. I like the matches this feud serves. Jay v Rocky looked solid from a side watch. I similarly watched the Bill/Jericho squash. The Jericho promo that followed was sensational. His hilarity only exists as a heel. The Samoa Joe video seemed a rousing success. Copeland v Brody was bloody fantastic. I feel great respect for the work Cope has put in to win over this AEW audience. Latter day Adam feels like his best run. The spooky House style angles/promos are consistently weak, but I'm very into Malakai v Adam. House of Black would be better served to join the regular AEW backstage-promo verse. The Elite/FTR/Danielson/Kingston angle was a nice piece of business. Helluva bout they've signed for the PPV! I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Such a treat to get 2 hours of Don Callis commentary. He offers such strong talking points. He was this great in 1999 too. Renee was missed, but Arkady is doing very well. AE-luv-a-dub~

Virtual hugs, mate. There's never enough fuck cancer.

I was hoping that this was TV from the Culkin's. Even though it's not it's still good to see a promotion getting some air time.

Deadline is reporting that John Malkovich has joined the cast of the Fantastic Four movie. It still pains me we never got to see his Vulture. But those Raimi movies kind of sucked anyway (he’s overrated IMO).

Thanks for bringing this up, I was planning on it today: I'm not saying you're wrong at all when it comes to this segment (on the contrary - I agree Deeb unfortunately kinda stunk here) but what pisses me off is this: She cut nearly word-for-word the exact same promo on Collision maybe a month or so ago, and it was (not kidding at all) AWESOME. The crowd, though smaller than last night's, was way, way into it and you could almost visually see her confidence grow with each line - she was kinda nodding along with each pause like, "Yeah, I'm grabbing 'em..." - I even posted here after something like, 'Wow, who knew she could talk like this?' So you had this really nice, really natural sounding promo from her, with an awesome baby reaction from the crowd, and she tells this beautiful underdog story about the IRL health stuff - just really checked all the boxes - but it aired in the f'n Hardcore TV wee hours after hoops, so no one saw it! So yeah, nothing to do with your actual criticism, but as a huge Deeb fan it just really annoys the shit out of me that the more widely-seen promo was the (much) worse of the two. But hey, its not all bad: as you mentioned, the physicality was awesome in this one, Toni really saved the day with that sell. I also really like the whole thing with Deeb refusing to touch or pose with the physical belt - kind of a nice touch (especially for any hockey fans sticking around to tune in - I know they've got a similar superstition-type thing around the Stanley Cup)

And then apparently sometime since then, sadly shit hit the fan somewhere; The Tonga Twins are pissed about something and have quit WOW. Update: Vickie Lynn McCoy is also done with WOW following the Tonga Twins out, writing "I wanted everyone to know I am no longer with WOW. Speaking up = Released. Especially after what happened to the @tongatwins, I can no longer be silent. But NOW..... #fuckwow. Exploitation does not = empowerment" Princess Aussie, Wrecking Ball, & Reina del Rey are standing against the Tongas, accusing them of being let go for bullying and injuring others.

Great trios opener with the best pure babyface trios and best pure heel trios. I was surprised to see the faces win but always nice to see Stephy win one and the Mighty Mights have been impressive. Sad for Lil J though to be taking the falls and potentially getting kicked out of the Brat Pack as she became my fav of the group, but she would probably excel as a face as well. Exile vs Ice Cold was a weird setup and fun with Genesis' antics. I was hoping Genesis getting the match stopped was going to lead to them reuniting as a unit but instead more in fighting. Reminds me of the same thing they did with IQ Superior that led to GI Jane getting kicked out. Aussie's unseen partner request had me assuming she went to Tormenta based on who took her to the limit in the past, which could be cool. Gloria looked good in pretty much squashing Pep. Coach putting the bucket on her head was amusing. Solid basically handicap main event win for Tiki and the Tongas.

watching some WOW because i'm gonna rewatch at least some of the Black Saturday DSOTR and Pep Riley is a pretty amazing wordplay ring name

yeah there's a real turf war sort of mentality from the commentators in the womens match to try and downplay how much the Japanese womens wrestlers smoked the hell out of the womens wrestling that WWF fans were used to