GuerrillaMonsoon

I only watched this for the first time yesterday, but I'm struggling to see how it's not a contender. Such an intricate story told and I love the drama told with such simplicity.

I started rewatching it also last night. Chi-Town was great until the stupid fuck finish. I tried rewatching Wrestlewar but parenting intervented, will try again later.

It's fucking stupid, and shows no appreciation for the nuances of the game. Ideally, it should be as simple as if a result is obtained within five days with no declarations made, no penalties should apply. If it's a draw with no weather-related circumstances, 9/10, penalties should apply for over rate issues, but also for the pitch as it's clearly not up to standard. Scoring rates these days, there's no reason for no result, outside of batsmen successfully parking the bus and playing for one. In which case, that's entertaining.

I was wondering about that claim in the doco Cagematch has him wrestling in Canada for WWF in 1995, WCW in 1990 and WWF in 87 and 88.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suERnvHUeOQ Roddy Piper Vs. Jack Brisco for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. JUL. 10, 1982. I love the story that gets told here using mostly just two moves. I feel like this could be useful when they finally decide to end the story of the MJF/Darby headlock takeover. "I beat him with just power. Power and money".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2OLvGT5ROU I am thirty years way too late to this party, and I love it. Everyone plays their role to perfection. I wish more people with lariat/kick finishes used the "grumpy veteran takes advantage of inexperienced opponent not paying attention as he's not tagged in on the apron and hitting him with a big boot" spot. It's effective as hell. The never say die faces took a shit kicking to be put down, and I really wanted to see them win it. That match would have got heat anywhere in the world. Fucking lovely stuff.

https://noodlemagazine.com/watch/-54361599_456245132 (NSFW site hosting Shibata vs Okada). I love the start of this match, the story of Shibata taking Okada out of his comfort zone and dominating the pace initially with the British chain wrestling and counters, and then starts to light him up with strikes and kicks. This is the part where the match falls off a cliff for me - the commentary do an awful job of selling that Shibata is this dominant, and that Okada is in trouble, it barely even registers. The transitions between Shibata control segments to Okada countering and taking over feel unconvincing and rushed. They don't take the necessary desperation of Okada surviving the onslaught, getting a lucky shot and taking over. Finish is fantastic, really puts over Shibata's fighting spirit after refusing to stay down despite getting absolutely smashed with the Rainmaker. A good match that's ruined by the minor details.

I hope Satnam kicks out of the One Winged Angel

Going to be some interesting calls needed to be made, given the age of that line up. I think Starc and Hazlewood need to be limited in which formats they play in. The depth of quicks just isn't there at test level. No idea who will be rolling out next Ashes tour in three-four years time. 2027: Starc 37, Hazlewood 36, Cummins 34, Boland 38, Neser 37, Abbott 35 Jhye Richardson 30, Will Sutherland 27, Steketee 33, Wes Agar 30, Lance Morris 29, Matt Kelly 32 I hope Sutherland gets over his back injury and is fit for the upcoming series. Could be another all rounder added to the set up. White ball set up needs to focus on Ellis and Spencer Johnson as the future. Hopefully Pucovski can go five minutes without a concussion and take his rightful spot at top of the order. Fuck Warner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEIx_5y4tcE Yeah, well, that happened...

Pretty good match. Great series.

Yep, Barbie was fucking amazing. Went in thinking I'd get some kids film with massive amounts of winks to the adult audience, ala Lego Movie, Wreck It Ralph etc. Nah, it's a critical look at hegemony and patriarchial power structures in the context of an existential crisis, and everyone seems to be having an amazingly fun time while they do it. It's a brave movie to make in the context of literal billions of toy sales on the line, and they've done a great job. Nice to see brave script writing be rewarded, when they could have easily done a Super Mario type movie here instead.

TK: "So Bret, we want to do a program with MJF and Miro, any suggestions?" Bret: "MJF should come out and call him a big stupid dummy and then Miro should respond saying he's heard MJF isn't exactly a jam up kind of guy and go from there" TK: "oh, ok then, I guess we can make that work. We're thinking of putting the belts back on the Bucks, how do see that working out?" Bret: "I don't like it at all, to tell you the truth I don't think truckers and lumberjacks who come home from a hard day's work want to see these scrawny little guys do the same moves in the same order, every single match, looks fake y'know, but could also hurt someone, and I know I never hurt anyone I stepped in the ring with.." TK: "Bret, why are you trying to apply a Russian legsweep on me?" Bret: "Sorry, force of habit." TK: "what about the Lucha Bros instead?" Bret: "they could wrestle each other and their twelve other Lucha brothers could be all conflicted about whose side they're on." TK: "I don't think they've got twelve other brothers" Bret: "Use some of mine then. You have Hypnosis and Serpentico side with Rey Fenix, you could call them the high flyers of the highest magnitude on the bill, and on the other side Penta sides with the lousy Bruce and Smith Hart."

Two separate angles. There was a couple of weeks dedicated to Shango saying Bret lost at SummerSlam because he cursed him and that Bret would soon be his own personal zombie. Instead Bret beat Flair, I think they had a match on SNME a few weeks later and it was largely forgotten about. Shango was supposedly due to return in 94 with Backlund but it seems like that may have been a Scott Keith thing given most of the guys involved have either outright debunked it or said it was just an idea thrown up.

They need closure of the angle from 1992 Superstars where he was going to be Papa Shango's zombie but they put the belt on him instead. Have him come out and hit the five moves of doom on job guys and looking at his hands till Charles Wright joins the House of Black or something.

Yeah, Bret shits on everything on his own time. JR is kept around as a voice of authenticity/credibility and proceeded to shit on everything he didn't like in a blurred shoot/kayfabe sense every Wednesday night. I'd be interested to see how he went as an agent because he hated most of the agents when he was around and saw them as stooges for the office. How many pages of his bio were ripping on Chief Jay Strongbow or George Steele? I feel like the best agents are those who are middle managers who are able to push down the views and wants of senior management and make them workable/sensible, rather than anyone who has a particularly good vision for finishes, spots, match layout. I think Bret would have a really set view of what he wanted to see, a section of the lockerroom that would do whatever he said, and a section of the locker room who don't take advice and see it as seriously anywhere near as Bret ever did. I'd be interested to see what he'd pitch creatively though.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkx3fe I finally got around to watching this twenty years later.... - I love that the whips into the ropes have intent, that you can see that it's part of a strategy, it's deliberately setting the opponent up for something that isn't their opponent hitting a spot on them. I love the forearm shots to weaken the guy into making it easier to whip them into the ropes, its a spot I can't believe no-one else uses. - The armwork feels phoned in. I like that there's subtle little bits of selling of it with Kobashi opening and clutching at his hand/wrist to maintain feeling in it, I enjoy the bigger context of the grapple for control and dominance that it leads to, but it feels disengaged. - Enjoying the scouting of the big moves. It does a good job of establishing that these are death, but also in the ensuing 2.999999 fest, it feels out of place. - Jesus, Kobashi just gets nuked on his head with that suplex. I can't tell if the immediate roll out of the ring is just giving it its rightful sell, or the guy is really rocked by it. Assuming the latter. It's a spot that should play a bigger role in the match as it goes on. Three minutes into the match this feels really glossed over. - Misawa's top rope dropkick is a thing of beauty. I love the sequencing again, things have a logical order and progression to them. - The armwork is starting to come through, it's slow, it's methodical, and it's sold well. I love how engaged the audience is in this minor struggle in the bigger battle. - That guardrail spot on the dive fake out into a cannonball looked brutal. I liked that there's what feels like this ad-libbed urgency from Kobashi on Misawa splattering his teeth into the guardrail and attacks him with the ax kicks and really hammers home the advantage. The dragon suplex on the outside was just super unnecessary, both in general, and in the context of what was building. It's a real precursor to spots that hurt like hell and are just a pointless spot in the match. - Love the elbow drops to the head into the turnbuckle, again a spot no-one does, and it looks like it hurts, without actually killing someone. - By the third unnecessary head drop (the DDT on the ramp), the crowd just doesn't respond or engage with it. Then there's the two snap suplexes on Misawa's head into another submission which brings the crowd to life. I hate hate hate the stiff looking chops to the neck. I hate the logic of beating the shit out of a guy for such little return. They look vicious because they likely are. I think that sort of spot works in the end stages of a match, but again as a midpoint transition it gets lost in the shuffle. So much investment for so little return. At this point I probably realise I'm looking for the wrong things - hoping that these guys are wanting to tell a story beyond the very real athletic struggle they're conveying, I can't help but marvel at the point where these guys are clearly gassed, but exchanging a safer form of bombs, until catching their wind sufficiently to resume dropping each other on their head for no real point. - I hate the repeated head drop by this point, and I know I'm in the wrong place, but struggle to empathise with watching a guy get repeatedly dropped on his head, who would years later die from this exact repeated type of spot, it feels low hanging fruit to criticize in hindsight, but without that added layer, still feel that this is a lot of work for little return. I love that the safest of spots seem to extract the bigger pops. The straitjacket suplex off the ramp to the floor absolutely proves me wrong here, and rightfully so, but I can't quite bring myself to fully appreciate it beyond the absolute stupidity of the concept, and the disregard for their own safety. Perhaps, that its the trust these two have in each other that allows them to take these liberties. I hate what it inspires, it feels a gonzo art form that gets overshadowed by death match stupidity. These guys feel capable of knowing better. I don't want to give a star rating, as it's not going to be the ***** most give it, and to do so feels deliberately contrarian. I'm not even sure what context to view it in, but this does little for me. I appreciate the execution, but really have no time for their overall vision of what they wanted to accomplish from this match and how they went about it.

Still on my Superstars rewatch run. I don't know how Jerry Lawler lasted so long as a commentator. He got absolutely no-one over that was an in-ring talent. His entire schtick is shitting on everything. This guy sucks. This guy looks awful. That woman's ugly/fat. What a loser. Him and Savage squabbling on commentary is actively distracting from what amounts to very little going on elsewhere.

I think I want to see Cole/MJF play off predictably with MJF repeatedly turning or attempting to turn on Cole, only for Cole to forgive him each time. Is Cole trying to get into MJFs head by forgiving him for walking out on a tag match, or attempting to hit him with the Dynamite Diamond Ring but missing, or does he genuinely believe MJF can do better? Is the payoff going to be MJF really doing something severe even by his standards to turn on him?

If they can get away with a draw, I wonder what the intended XI for the fifth test looks like in comparison to 2-2. I feel less confident they'll drop Warner for such a crucial game either way. They absolutely should. Australia that needs twenty wickets, I'd play Murphy instead. Australia that needs a draw, Warner stays. Cummins looks shot. But can he justify dropping himself for that match whilst captain? Neser deserves a look.

That segment with Jericho and Callis having a secret meeting being leaked to Alex Marvez surely had to be a rib on Jericho

Sam Kerr a late out and will miss first two matches. Not ideal. Irish have looked good so far.

Honestly, I've thought all three of the Blood and Guts matches have underdelivered. I hate the psychology of them, the layout and the complete disregard for storytelling, either the literal months leading up to the match, or during the match. - If they're going to do the "one team in one ring and one in the other advancing on each other" visual, remove the ring ropes between the two rings. It looks stupid when the fight is broken up by guys trying to cleanly get around the ring ropes. - Agreed with Fozzy, either remove the coin toss advantage, or use it as a better narrative. It got boring and super repetitive watching fresh man in, evens the odds, cleans house by himself and then falls victim to the numbers game once the heels got the advantage again. It makes the heels look ineffective that they can't use a man advantage effectively, and the hope spot doesn't pop the crowd as much because it became so formulaic and predictable. Maybe have the Bucks come in and attempt to overcome the numbers, and just get completely cut down by a team working as a unit and getting swarmed, then have the last guy be the one to turn the tide if you so need to. - Might be going too Pure Sports Build with this, but tactics matter. I think it really puts guys over when you have them be the #1 guy in for their team, why did the teams have the order the way they did, who were they saving till last, could someone not wait to get their hands on someone from the other team and jumped the gun? That stuff matters. 91 Wrestlewar with Pillman insisting on starting for his team and trying to overcome the tag of weak link was such a good story. Didn't like the weapons aspect, largely because you either had stuff that should kill a guy, or you had completely unoriginal stuff (three different guys running out with chairs?) that no sold what was unfolding in the ring. I think you need to have guys react to seeing their team getting fucking nuked out there, and decide they need something desperate to even the odds, or the heels decide to up the ante and really make someone suffer. That spot where one of the Bucks drops thumbtacks from the top of the cage, leading to a distraction and a double backdrop rather than piledrivers was silly too. - You had numerous little programs that gone before it that didn't really seem to matter in the context of the match. Page and Moxley tried killing each other for months, and then they both enter and mix it up with other guys instead. They're just there as a base for other spots. Same thing happened last year when Kingston and Jericho barely interacted despite being the impetus for the match itself. Pac joins the match to get revenge on Omega, but that barely translates in his involvement in the match. Omega and Takeshita still have a score to settle. I probably overdo the callbacks more than anything, but in a match involving months of backstory, surely they call for it. Does Page try to choke out Mox again? Does Mox try to hit another King Kong Lariat and put Page back on the shelf? Do the Bucks try to use the exploding Jordans again only for it to backfire? Does Yuta try to get the cheap pin on Omega again only for Omega to see it coming? - I think I see Blood and Guts as the ultimate feud ender/decider. Instead, we've had it extend Jericho/MJF by an extra match, we've had it transfer the heat of JAS vs Kingston to Kingston vs Claudio that went nowhere, and now we've had this lead to a fairly weak ending with Mox giving up to save Yuta after their two ring-ins disappear. It doesn't end the feud with the Elite, it doesn't give us a decisive victor. I'm all for moving the story forward, but I feel as though there's a LOT left on the table here (Mox/Page never really resolved, does Omega/Callis get resolved if Callis Family/BCC is the direction now, was there much point of Ibushi turning up other than just as a special guest partner, what of Kingston's involvement?) to effectively solve the ROH PPV main event issue and not much else.

Yeah, but there's like 3 games in Melbourne, they've fit A-League and State of Origin around it, especially late in the season with so many dead rubbers. That's not to say I don't believe the AFL tried locking them out

I can't believe how easily tickets sold out everywhere for it. I'm not sure if the MCG was unavailable or what the politics behind not using the bigger grounds was but it's been an incredible show of support for the sport.