Graham Crackers

When Moxley said "top of the mountain" while answering Page's initial challenge I honestly thought that'd be the moment Darby's music hits.

Even Hijo del Santo got mixed reactions in Mexico City in the 80s (see the Santito/Fuerza/Star triangle mask match), while still getting babyface reactions in Monterrey or Tijuana.

Yeah, the Yoshitsune match is great too. I have that Schneider Comp (somewhere, or I had it). Hayato was one to watch back then. The Kanemoto and Kenou matches were memorable as well. I watched the Sasuke match when it happened then again five years later for Puro MOTD stuff. No idea how to track it down for free these days.

If you haven't seen it, check out the Great Sasuke vs Fujita Jr. Hayato match from 6/19/2009. Similarly violent/suicidal old man Sasuke performance but in more of an epic match with an opponent unafraid to cave his skull in.

Our old cat had a dementia diagnosis a few months before she passed away. She'd always been a grumpy loner but she had suddenly become friendly and was always looking for physical contact. We told the vet who said she was old, probably had dementia, and had forgotten why she was grumpy all of the time. She had also developed a newfound interest in human food. I perceived the doctor's message to be that the changes in behavior were best described by dementia because of her advanced age. Coincidentally, my father was diagnosed with dementia a year ago. He too was always a grumpy, miserable man but has become very friendly and mild. My brother often uses the phrase "He forgot he was an asshole." Obviously my feelings about this are more nuanced than simply enjoying that he's mellowed out but it has been nice to hear positive sentiments coming out of his mouth for once in my life.

If you like tactical/strategy RPGs, I think Tactics Ogre Reborn was a really strong rerelease.

My wife and I attended this show too. She was never a wrestling fan but got into AEW during her pregnancy in late 2021-early 2022. This was her second show because we did go to a Dynamite/Rampage at 1st Bank, but this was a much better show. We left later than intended because our babysitter cancelled at the last minute. Her kids have Hand Foot Mouth, which is going around in our community. Luckily our kid hasn't had it yet. Fingers crossed! We got seats just in time for Mox to come out. My wife is a blood mark so she was pleased to see Briscoe busted open (and Brody King later). Her vocalizations were "Gross!" but I know she was having fun. During Storm/Shirakawa vs Hart/Blue the woman next to us filmed the match and added her own commentary, which was basically "Girl fight! Girls are fighting! Baddies!" Repeated over and over again. When it finished she told her boyfriend "That was for my vlog." I thought LFI vs Komander/Knight/Speedball was MOTN. Straight forward rudo beatdowns and big flying comebacks. My wife thinks Rush is gross. International title match was a novel spotfest, the best you can really hope for from a four way. I did a lot of barking. During that match the lady vlogger had changed seats and different woman stood next to us. Visibly drunk and smelling like it too she leaned on me and asked if Toni Storm had wrestled. I said yes and she threw her hand up and shouted "No!" My wife used her Bene Gesserit voice to tell this woman to respect people's personal space. I suggested we find new seats. As a result we missed most of Ospreay vs Lio Rush. New seats ended up better. FTR vs Atlantis Jr/Templario was really good though the crowd was cold for the tecnicos. I forgot what great heels FTR were. Gotta say, I hate when American crowds chant "lucha." I realize it's well intended but like, I dunno, it's not that hard to figure out a wrestler's name. There was a brief "culero" chant at least. Big news: I got to see Hechicero wrestle. That was a very fun trios match. Thekla vs Lady Frost was what it was. I'm curious to see Thekla in something more competitive. ROH TV Title match was a much less interesting example of a four way. We were tired. The prospect of an upcoming Adam Cole match didn't exactly give us incentive to stay. I ate Queso Fritos Flavor Twists on the way home. Good, but not better than the bbq. I could really feel that I'd been sitting on concrete when I woke up the next day.

I meant the part where they said "Nick Patrick would have kicked the glass to make it break." I never saw Fonzie/Tod but I can attest to Randy Hales throwing good punches. This also reminds me that for a few years in the late aughts I used to watch WWE PPVs at the apartment if a guy from whom I bought weed. He wasn't a wrestling fan but after a few shows he learned the names of the referees and would say things like "This shit wouldn't fly with Mike Chioda."

Haven't read that in years (even longer since seeing the match) but once you brought it up I instantly remembered the Mike Chioda/Nick Patrick section.

This my favorite novel, and the one I've revisited the most. I'm currently reading Pynchon's bibliography in chronological order, in anticipation of Shadow Ticket later this year. I'm about halfway through Against the Day, first time read. I like it so far but perhaps at an emotional distance. Then again, I felt that way through Mason & Dixon only for the ending to hit like a ton of bricks.

The Moondogs vs Fabulous Ones Stretcher Match from Memphis is pretty intense.

If we're sharing tales creepy wrestling fans in the wild I only have one because most of the wrestling fans I've encountered seemed normal enough. Fifteen or so years ago some friends and I were tabling at a comic book convention. I was sitting at the table working on a drawing of Rayo de Jalisco Jr. A guy walking past notices and is excited to talk about wrestling, which leads to him ranting about Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior deserving to die because they're body guys who couldn't work. When a friend at the table said that the death penalty seemed a bit harsh for being bad at wrestling, this guy got visibly angry and doubled down on who in wrestling "deserved to die" and why.

Oh man, this really activates a sentimental impulse. Actually Sabu often does that for me. Sabu was not my favorite wrestler as a kid because I hadn't seen him. But I knew about him. I heard about him in magazines and I'm positive I saw him in an ad during an episode of Monday Night Raw (I know I missed the ECW invasion episode, I didn't watch Raw that winter/spring). I had no idea how to watch ECW until it was on TNN. Kids with cooler parents than mine had seen him wrestle at the Elks Lodge. I love when people talk about his mystique/reputation because that actually how I remember it from my childhood. When I first became aware of the idea you could watch older wrestling on tape, ECW shows were the first thing I wanted to find, before I ended up buying a copy of Kawasaki Dream. I was a Foley fan but I finally got to see Sabu. I was a teenager at this point and we had a friend that used to get drunk and "act like Sabu" which basically meant jumping from high places. This was 2004 or so. One Night Stand got me back into watching WWE, meanwhile my friends and I got into puroresu, ROH, and watching lucha libre on Galavision. When the Benoit murder/suicide occurred my friends and I stopped watching wrestling for a few months. I briefly thought that I might be finished until a friend just said "let's watch some Sabu matches." It was a reminder that we still loved this stuff, in spite of the shadows that obscure it. I've been a pretty casual viewer in the last few years. I've followed AEW off and on and not much else. But to me, the Sabu retirement match was something I had to see. And it was a mess! I wouldn't have asked for anything else. Sabu was my number 100 for the PWO 2016 GWE poll and I'm sure I'll put him there again in 2026.

An all time great frontman. Saw a Rocket From the Tombs show where he sat in a chair the whole show and he still came across as menacing.

I wanted to log on and express my condolences and feelings when I first heard Dean passed away. Unfortunately I couldn't remember my password, or even what email I would have used the last time the board reset. Instead I reached out to a few people I met through this board and I watched the tribute show with the now classic dog collar match. For whatever reason I woke up this morning remembering my old password.

Those interested in the discussion of physical media in this thread should consider reading Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper by Nicholson Baker, an upsetting book about the loss of archival resources and the flaws in microfiche systems (and early but outdated discussions about flaws in digital archives). Only tangentially related to the way it's discussed in this thread but I try to recommend this book to anybody and everybody when this subject matter comes up. As far as streaming vs physical media goes, I think a diversity of media options is best. Streaming offers accessibility and hopefully the push for streaming through library systems will continue as we've seen through services like Kanopy. The internet has also created new preservation options, even when it comes to physical media. Rebuilding hardware is still mostly an option for sickos but I have known a handful of coworkers in the last five years who have replaced parts for old video game consoles. I've never known more people with soldering equipment. I'm not saying that this kind of tinkering is especially accessible, but finding tutorials and ordering parts is easier than it was twenty years ago.

I was just about to post the Patriot squash that Lazlo posted. That's my absolute favorite squash match ever. Koko murders that guy. He would have been an awesome New Japan junior.

I'll admit that the gif is hilarious even if I didn't enjoy it in the actual match.

You need to check out the Sawyer vs Duggan matches from the Mid South set. Unfortunately only the dog collar one is online but their first one is just an ugly brawl between two hosses. Totally the kind of thing you'd be into.

Fuck yes! Somebody needs to put that Bull Pain & Todd Morton vs Jerry Lawler & Chris Michaels match on youtube.

Oh yes.

What's the story here? That's a wacky combination of people. I recognize Andre (obviously) but we've also got Dusty, Masked Superstar, Sheik, and Blackman. Is that Skaaland on the far left? The guy under Andre's arm looks familiar but I can't place him.

http://memoryhole.biz/ is my new favorite website. It's like watching someone's wacky out of context homemade vhs tapes.

Saw them in New York in May and I ached for a week afterwards. Absolutely worth it.

I've been waiting for more people to catch up and post more. I'd like to rewatch some of this stuff after hearing some new opinions.