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Having Okada cheat to win when he doesn't have to, to emphasise what a heel he is, is fine in isolation. Doing it in a company where most of the heels cheat to win already, and more matches than not seem to end in interference, is a load of shite and bollocks. He's fucking Okada, just have him beat people clean, because he's fucking Okada, and then be a dickhead about it afterwards.
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Young lion from the class between Tsuji/Ren/Yuya/Shota and the current crop whose names I have yet to internalise, currently excursioning in Noah. I haven't seen much of his Noah stuff, but from what I have seen of him there and in New Japan, he looks like a future star. Good charisma, hits hard, built like a tank, I get no credit for stating the obvious and predicting Tokyo Dome main events in his future.
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Oh yeah, I really like Tsuji and he should definitely be a multiple time IWGP champ, his actual wrestling just doesn't excite me as much as the other four. He's pretty damned good though, and has loads of charisma. Umino also should have enough to be a top guy there, but he needs some sort of heel turn or general grittening up. Plus Gabe Kidd, heavyweight Dan Moloney and Clark Connors and Kevin Knight... The future of New Japan is bright, if AEW doesn't poach all their best dudes.
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One of the mid card titles would be fine for now, but the long term plan for Takeshita should be a face turn and a World Title reign. If not, he might as well go to New Japan and trade the IWGP with Zack, Uemura and Oiwa in a glorious new golden age.
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September 2024 Wrestling Discussion
SturmCRF replied to Dolfan in NYC's topic in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Scurll, always seemed like a midcarder posing as a main event guy to me. The aura of sleaziness was also offputting long before 2020. Shawn Michaels is largely responsible for the only time I've stopped watching wrestling since 1991, I just couldn't stomach him as a babyface main eventer, and when I was 11 I didn't really have the option of migrating to ECW or Japan. More controversially, I was never as big a fan of Eddie Guerrero as a lot of people. I was still delighted when he beat Brock, but I don't think I fully appreciated how great he was in real time, and even though he made the whole cheating routine as charming as it was possible to make it, I'd prefer it if most heels didn't cheat, let alone faces. -
I used to try and watch every WWE PPV live for years, until I realised I didn't have to/moved out and could no longer rely on my parents waking me up for work the next day. Originally it was because I had frenemies at school who would eagerly spoil me on anything significant that happened if I hadn't already watched it the night before. During the Attitude era I didn't even bother to watch the matches a lot of the time, if I hadn't watched live and didn't have three hours spare I'd just zip to the end and see who'd turned on who. There were also several years where I'd watch RAW live, staying up til 4AM drinking Red Bull, eating cottage cheese and Sweet Chilli crisps like a gremlin, and then wasting several doctors' valuable time trying to get to the bottom of why I had really bad acid reflux.
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AEW TV - 8/28 - 9/3/2024 - Strickland of Confusion
SturmCRF replied to Dolfan in NYC's topic in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Unless I hallucinated it, he turned up and wrestled Danielson a couple of years ago. Those two definitely have a better match in them, but I remember it being quite good. -
The bit where Danielson hit the first running knee, and Swerve just leaned into it like an Ishii and did his sicko deathmatch grin was fucking perfection. Talk about a wrestler who knows his character, he played a relentless heel like he needed to without ever being inconsistent with his character up to that point. That's the whole Attitude Era-ey shades of grey thing done right, Swerve as this focused, ruthless, amoral bastard who will accept the cheers and the hatred as they come, so long as his current actions help him to win the match and be the best.
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Vicarage Road. 20,000 capacity will be perfect, get Elton John in to do the Collision theme, and I can walk home afterwards. Maybe a special appearance from Tom Cleverley, managing Troy Deeney in his Wrestlemania 2 style boxing match against Anthony Ogogo.
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I loved MITB for years because it was like a sneak preview of who the next first time world champion was going to be. The MITB winner almost always cashed in successfully, and at least half the time they were winning a major title for the first time. What ruined it for me was, when Big E won it and cashed in, finally having someone point out the pattern that it was their way of pushing someone without actually pushing them. 'Here's our guy, he can't beat Bobby Lashley fair and square and will be soundly dismissed by the first real main eventer who crosses his path, but we're throwing you a bone with something fresh until Wrestlemania season starts'. AEW are always happy to actually push their World Champions, so in that sense it shouldn't be as bad when they do it, but it's still an unnecessary WWE booking crutch and I wish they'd steer well clear of those. Let's keep the mix about 75% New Japan, 20% ECW and 5% WWE.
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2024 in Pro Wrestling Podcasts
SturmCRF replied to Elsalvajeloco's topic in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
That's fair, Joe is an acquired taste, but he seems like a really good guy who loves small animals and appreciates the golden age of HBO drama. The crowing about every time they're right about something can get excessive, but whenever I get a glimpse of general wrestling opinion outside this board and that podcast (which have pretty different outlooks but are both, at heart, fans of wrestling acting in good faith), I get why they can't resist going overboard in opposition to that. -
2024 in Pro Wrestling Podcasts
SturmCRF replied to Elsalvajeloco's topic in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Voices of Wrestling Flagship is great. They're highly critical of everything, and cover the bare minimum amount of WWE they can get away with, but they both love wrestling and will gush over it on the occasions something deserves it. I could do with a bit less talk about the business of wrestling, but they're honest and entertaining and cover a huge range of stuff (except Joshi. I wish they covered Stardom as much as, say MLW, but people like what they like.) -
I think I've seen him live three times. The NOAH Coventry show in 2008, where he teamed with Eddie Edwards against KENTA and Ishimori, which I haven't seen since and remember being incredible. I got him to sign an ROH DVD before the show, obviously seemed like a great guy in our extremely brief interaction, I was too shy for an extended chat and also I felt like a bit of a fraud as I'd barely seen him wrestle at that point and only really knew him by reputation. The second one was his comeback match at Wrestlemania in 2018 (with Shane vs Kevin and Sami) which was not much of a match but hey, it was historic. Then he had a match with AJ Styles on Smackdown the following week, which I remember being a typical WWE bait and switch, give nothing away non finish load of bullshit, but Cagematch tells me was great while it lasted. I would possibly have gone to see him at Wembley on Sunday, but ironically AEW have driven me away by putting such an exciting, must see match in the main event. Last year it was only really the pedantic completionist in me that had any mild regret going home before MJF vs Cole to avoid the Wembley exit hellscape. This year, I couldn't possibly leave before Danielson vs Swerve finishes, but can't leave my parents on babysitting duty till the early hours while we stand in a 50,000 person queue, so we'll be watching it on Fite instead.
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AEW TV - 8/7 - 8/13/2024 - Last Night A JJ Saved My Life
SturmCRF replied to Dolfan in NYC's topic in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Yeah, Mark Davis rules, his New Japan Cup run last year was fantastic. If 'Close Your Eyes And Count To Fuck' was an original name for his disgusting pop up piledriver thing and not just a Run The Jewels reference, I'd say he was worthy of a world title run. It's still an excellent name, but Zack Sabre's cultural references are more obscure and therefore superior. -
AEW TV - 8/7 - 8/13/2024 - Last Night A JJ Saved My Life
SturmCRF replied to Dolfan in NYC's topic in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Jarrett makes me think of the pop up book scene in Throw Momma From The Train. Larry has spent the whole film struggling with writer's block, he finally manages to turn his adventures with Owen trying to murder and then not murder each other's Momma and ex wife into a literary novel, and just as it's about to be published, Owen reveals that he's written a book about the exact same thing, which is coming out first. Larry flips out and tries to strangle him to death, but as he's doing so, a desperate Owen shows him his book, which is a delightful kids' popup book that he will be signing at a toy store. Larry says 'It's a pop up book!' with pure relief, and everybody goes to the beach together. Perfect analogy, just swap out the fear of a rival novel with the fear of 2005 JJ monopolising the main event scene, and a pop up book with some really entertaining old school wrasslin' that works as a perfect counterpoint to AEW house style.