Matt D

Sami vs Rusev is where this is all heading.

It is the one giant hole in my bracket so far, and I now believe AJ is going to the elite 8. Bad mis-step on my part, didn't realize just how good AJ has been. I've made that same exact mistake in years' past.

Why are we running the finals of the tournament in round 2?

I need to see a couple more Nakamura matches.

I actually watched an Okada match last night. vs Nakamura from the G-1 final. And it was okay. He absolutely dropped the arm selling, but whatever. There were three forearm exchanges (the first one was good because it played into Okada's no-nonsense gameplan). I'm not sure who I'd rather see Nakamura team with, Triple H so they could have some kind of double knee team offense or Cavernario. The problem with the Rainmaker is pretty simple. It's fine in and of itself but it follows some really ridiculous offense like the flowsion thing and the inverted suplex drop slam whatever, both of which are way harder to put on someone than Rainmaker. It's not innately an issue. It's only an issue relative to the rest of his offense. I'm still going with UG here.

Speaking of all that, I wrote this up a while ago but never posted it here. It's a recap from the WON cover from early 1996 well before Hall jumped:

I spent five minutes trying to photoshop current baggy pants undertaker into the dungeon of doom before giving up.

I would pair him with Dan Spivey, personally.

Talent show? Counterpoint: Both are outside the voting period of course.

You just want to eat a Jerry Lawler pile driver, don't you.

Screw it. Lesnar. Bryan's April just soured me too much. If he hadn't gotten injured he would have been completely neutered. It's not much but it's enough considering Brock's performances.

So, Gypsy Curse? Check.

Gage once wrote me a bit of Law and Order dialogue at a con for my wife (instead of a sketch, because she doesn't care about comics much but she likes SVU, and he's written episodes of that).

I've not voted yet. I'm sure i will. I will try my damnest best to not vote based on my march madness pick em, but everything I say until I get knocked out of first place is extremely suspect and I am so, so sorry for that. I have to look back at what I picked, but i am leaning towards Brock. I don't think I've voted for him much the last few years because the quantity thing is an issue but he's paired against someone with a very similar quantity issue here. Pound for pound, match for match, Brock might be the most amazing thing in wrestling in the 2000s. Bryan, on the other hand, is so, so damn good and I feel more affinity towards him in general. I still don't know.

Like every single other thing CMLL does, they could be so much better. I agree with you there, but I like the little moments of brilliance. Let me go capture a gif. This might be the single favorite thing of mine that I have ever seen in watching lucha. Just this little moment. Not a dive or a counter or a finish, but this. To be a CMLL viewer is to find your own joy in this world.

Man, I love these. I love watching weirdo match ups and guys bickering. I would not want it every week. And I will be the first to admit that they're not good by normal standards but once a year? I love it. It's not always about the star ratings. Sometimes it is about Rey Bucanero trying to hug Volador before the match awkwardly.

I'm just starting to watch the tournament matches from the last couple of weeks but this stood out: "Here, let me help you with my leg positioning, Titan."

No, I think I was leading after round one and round two but I failed to turn the tide on enough of them. It was all for nothing.

So he was a big Boogie Woogie Man fan as a kid?

Crap, isn't that the premise for The Americans.

You say this as if you don't have enough wrestling to watch.

Aw crap. This is what happened two years ago! I was a total ass in trying to skew the votes towards my bracket. ... as opposed to last year when I consciously didn't do one and was just an ass. I really do know you mooks well though. You can't say I don't.

Bryan vs HHH was pretty damn well perfect for what it was trying to do.

Balor is actually a lot like Final Fantasy 8