sevendaughters

a proper scythe would be CZW as fuck, not that I necessarily refuse to endorse that

I think Cobb could get over huge if he isn't seen as just another Elgin-style versatile hulk. But this should be good and is a good use of the WTL. More than, say, Billy Gunn and Yoshitatsu.

as Cewsh pointed out his blog (a great write-up of Kobashi's reign), when they tried to do a passing of the torch they messed up because between Kobashi vs. Rikio 1 and vs. Rikio 2, they had Rikio doing nothing but mid-card tag matches. It would be like doing a switch to Cesaro now; maybe the right guy in a certain light, but not the right time at all.

I just watched the opening parade of fighters in the Kakihara Return show, all set to the triumphant UWF music, loads of the shoot-style legends knocking about like Suzuki, Funaki, Sakuraba, Fuke, Fujiwara, can't wait to sit down and watch this.

UWF-I pushed Tamura hard thru 92 and 93, put him over Yamazaki and foreigners, but fed him to Takada for a Budokan main event that sold out. Never did anything with that feud thereafter. Sad. General consensus was that Tamura was too small to be getting big wins over Takada and later Maeda in RINGS. With a skillset like his it is moot. imo.

here is all 15 min

Blue Jays. I live in the UK and started watching the two seasons they won back-to-back. I then actually got to see them on opening day 2003 vs. Yankees. I dip in and out.

I'M GONNA JUMP OFF THIS BUS WITH A BIG ASS SHUFFLE...SHU....SHOVEL? Watched because of the hype. I suppose there's two ways of looking at it. We all know here that it is bad long-term strategy whatever the intent was because Cena absolutely SMOKED him. It was the first Cena promo in years where I didn't roll my eyes (mainly because it was devoid of the quasi-militaristic capitalist sloganeering) and he seemed way more animated than usual, like actually motivated to slay Reigns. And it succeeded. He knew that he could and not get any fire back on him and he did it anyway, which is sort of the definition of a bully (which seems odd in this context, but it is). How on EARTH can Reigns come back from that? It's not like he can wrestle his way into our hearts. Guy is toasted. The other way is that it was a very good segment and it was a good quarter hour of TV and Reigns is staying upper card so get used to it. Found it amusing that two guys who are more-or-less pure WWE born-and-bred were calling each other fake though.

the RealHero archive has the Zero1 Fire Festival final from 2001. google "RealHero Archive" and it should bring you to a reddit thread with the link to it. I'm cagey about posting it in case it contributes to it getting pulled.

bottom line shooting on an opponent is wrong but to skirt around some of the points but in no way defending Sexy Star: have wrestlers not taken the object lesson from Montreal where if you have reason to suspect shit might go off, do not compromise yourself in a submission lest they change the finish or shoot on you. I would have thought an idiot with a history of being an asshole trying to stiff three opponents was a valid moment to play the non-cooperation card. Bit of inexperience or naivety here on Rosemary's part, I think. I must confess that I do enjoy tales of liberties/cement/going into business for yourself, it's such a rich part of this crazy business and is such a grey area that naturally arises out of the strange work/shoot worlds that wrestling treads between. Kind of like the spirit world in a David Lynch production, it exists, you sort of have to deal with it like a dog shitting on your carpet; it will happen, it is inevitable, so no need to declare it great or evil. Like I know in so many ways that what Sexy Star did was morally indefensible but also we know that the company, the workers, and even the wider industry can make good story and money out of shit like this...so who really loses? Might be wrong, idk. However, the vanilla "we're protecting each other here, guys, let's be SAFE!" publicly stated by wrestlers online gets my goat. From fans I get it. I'm also pretty sure Cody would never say to Vader or Hansen that they can't step in his locker room.

My preferred two choices are unreliable: Kota Ibushi and Katsuyori Shibata. Obviously it is insane to think of Shibata in a hard G1 when he might never wrestle again so I won't pursue this too much, only to say this: if he can work, do it. With Ibushi you have a total superstar who is pretty flaky. Gedo won't book him beyond a .500 record because he won't commit. Well...would a G1 win force his hand? It's dangerous. He could win and then stay being Mr. Flighty. But it could also straighten him up and make him see NJPW headlining as a destiny that he should fulfill. My expectation is that Okada will be off the title and will win in style. That would also be very popular and produce a lot of solid shows. I'm off on holiday for a bit. I'll probably think about this some more while I'm away.

Exactly. Not long before winning Omega was still doing that chainsaw arm thing. He could have bombed.

worst finish? good one. depends what you want of course. i'd like Mayweather to win with a middle round stoppage after comfortable early rounds. worst: i think probably Mayweather gets bossed and then KO'd down the stretch. one early punch and they'd say it was one early punch to an old man, but being like 99-91 up after 10 and then rocking him would be devastating and just a real bloody nose for the sport of boxing, being able to do what Canelo and Pac couldn't do, brutal.

I'm not sure. Maybe to protect the bigger names from a potentially unpopular winner? That way you can do the briefcase drop angle and you haven't burned Okada, Tanahashi, etc. Maybe also to give Goto the full set of runners-up for 2016 (he failed in bids for IWGP, ROH title, and lost in the NJ Cup final). I thought it was a nice bit of booking with Tanahashi & Okada taking each other out with the broadway. Assuming they book the blocks the same, you think Marufuji would give a good match but then you've got foreigner vs. invader. Ishii would have probably given you a better match with less damage to his own run. Fale is inter-faction and a bit of a turn-off. SANADA was too soon and Makabe is a no thanks. It might have been a great Tenzan's Last Stand but ultimately I think Goto wasn't a bad shout. Okada had the title, Tanahashi was working a back injury angle too.

if McGregor was more like he comes across in that Embedded video then I'd like him more, but then again, he wouldn't be fighting for millions of dollars in a sport he hasn't done since he was a teenager.

yeah this would be dope. Ishii has that cool factor that Goto doesn't, both in the west and in Japan, and I sense that liking AJPW is becoming something that is spreading to wrestling media influencers from the insane people who were loyal all along, and could stand to spread further...

oh, I know, but I guarantee you'll have cheered the heck out of guys of yore who carried on without a doctor's advice, and that there'll be guys working now who are in the midst of it who have gone undetected as yet. i'm not arguing the potential severity or the current issue. by all means wish that Bryan wouldn't wrestle again, but by that extent you have to pretty much hope that no one will wrestle again - or do you wait until they get just a little bit brain damaged but not too much before moral discomfit?

Goto would be a star in NOAH or All Japan, definitely. A credible working champ. If I was Akiyama I'd get him in...and feed him to Miyahara.

the thing is EVERYONE is at this risk, everyone working today is at risk of CTE, be it in WWE or New Japan or the indies. it's just that Bryan has gone past some threshold indicative of what WWE are willing to risk in terms of their insurance indemnity. what steps do we want to see taken that would change this? i'm all for no stiff chairs shots or head-on-head butts, but eliminate bumps? nah. i like them, and wrestlers like them too. hypocritical is too strong a word, I'm not here to fight and I'm not dying on the hill of 'you must support Danielson coming back to the ring', but i think you have to fully join the dots to other at-risk athletes (that is to say: ALL OF THEM) if you want to play the moral angle. for me it's his - and all the other dudes who take bumps - fuckin' life man. sure it sucks for his kid if he ends up spannered but he's loaded and his wife understands the risks too and supports him. there are kids out there with both parents who have it a whole lot worse.

No way does Goto ever win it. Even if Omega leaves and Okada gets injured he's not getting in the mix. Just too much baggage and not over enough.

Possible for Power Struggle in November?

Code Orange's singer really sounds like Zack de la Rocha but it's a good wrestling theme, which falls under different criteria than the music for actual listening. Solid show. I think Asuka will drop to the MYC winner, both potential winners offer a good match and story.

I give a shit, as much as one can possibly give a shit about a person I don't know, about his long-term health. But some people will just put themselves through the wringer because being above the every day whilst in pain is better than obscurity, safety, and health. I'll support him (as best I can, as a person he doesn't know) whichever decision he makes. I quit a sport because of injury and it bums me out that I can't do it...and I was nowhere near as good at it as Bryan is at his.

too right. I mean you've got Goto & YOSHI-HASHI there doing nada, why not go IWGP tag title match on Destruction A between champs and GOD, let's say, #1 contender between CHAOS and KES at Destruction B, winner faces new champs at C, losers also face each other for some kind of wooden spoon prize (break-up, no shots for a year, something to animate these undercard things) on a Road to show. Gedo is a great mind of the business and my favourite booker today but give me a bunch of guys and I could do a better shot of booking this mess. I think. No hubris.