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35 years ago today, Friday, May 4, 1979, my parents let my brother and I stay up late to watch Johnny Carson. We watched the monologue and the next skit and then my brother changed the channel. What I saw was something that I thought was the most ridiculous and stupidest thing my 5-year old self had ever seen. Who would have expected that over the next 35 years other than the “four necessities” of family, friends, faith and office that professional wrestling would be the most important thing in my life. Wrestling has certainly changed dramatically since then and it has changed often. With the exception of the last 10 years, you could never look at wrestling from 3 years prior and think “yep, it’s the same thing”. And I love wrestling for that. Not every change has been great and it definitely doesn’t always get better, but it has kept me in the game, so to speak. We all have our complaints about the current state of the business, but every so often a new character will come along or a storyline will develop that ties me in, that keeps me thinking about wrestling in the middle of the day, and that keeps me emotionally invested in this crazy world. I’m a sentimental guy. I’ve spent most of this weekend watching the WWE Network and reminiscing about the past 35 years and all of the joy that pro wrestling has brought me. Some random thoughts… - Don’t ask me why I know the date of the first time I watched wrestling. Let’s suffice to say that it probably really isn’t May 4, but it is close. I used to think it was the Moondogs that I saw that first time we watched it, but now that I look back at history sites I realize it must have been the Valiant Brothers. I still think they were ridiculous. In turn, I would go on to become a big fan of the Moondogs. - I didn’t really start watching wrestling regularly for another year or two later. The first big angle that really sticks out to me is the Sgt. Slaughter-Pat Patterson angle. - My neighbor was a widow who also happened to love wrestling. She took me and my brother to our first live wrestling show at the Scranton (PA) Catholic Youth Center on August 18, 1982. Andre The Giant beat Blackjack Mulligan in the main event. Later that year we went to see Bob Backlund defend the WWF title against Playboy Buddy Rose. I also remember her taking us to a show involving George Steele…who frightened me greatly. She was a Jimmy Snuka fan, so I also got to see classics with him against Ray Stevens and Magnificent Muraco. - S.D. Jones was my first favorite wrestler. To this day, I believe that if he had just not rushed the corner after throwing his opponent into the turnbuckles he would have won a lot of matches. They always moved when he did that. He should have stopped doing that. - My neighbor also owned a satellite dish, while we did not even have cable back then. Every Saturday night, I would walk over to her house at 11:00 pm and we’d watch Championship Sports on Channel 11 out of Dallas, Texas (World Class). She grew raspberries and I’d get either shortcake or ice cream with her awesome raspberry sauce each week. The wrestling was awesome, too. - She was also the first in the community to get a VCR. When we finally got ours, she would tape wrestling from territories across the country and let me watch it. I’d return the tape and get a new one each week. She didn’t tape the same shows each and every week, so there were a lot of holes, but I was very lucky to get to see some great action from pretty much every territory in a day and age where the only other means for me to follow wrestling would have been the magazines. - I didn’t attend my first tv taping until I was in college. It was one of those 4-hour Wrestling Challenge marathons and took place in Binghamton, New York. Nothing of note ever took place at any of those tapings that I would end up attending…I think three in total, although my friends and I sat in a great seat for getting on camera at a taping in Wilkes-Barre, PA that included great shots of me waving my flag for Hacksaw Duggan, waving a fist at Ludvig Borga, and wearing a clown wig during a Doink the Clown match. - As mentioned, I’m a sentimental guy. I remember fondly attending my first live Mania…24 in Orlando. I got to my seat pretty early. I sat down, looked around at the magnitude of the stage and realized that I had made it to a Mania. I’m pretty sure I shed a tear. - I don’t know if its my short-term memory starting to go or a note on the quality of the shows lately, but I can’t recall the main events of the last seven WrestleManias even though I’ve attended them all in person. However, I can probably tell you about 95% of all of the matches that happened on the first seven. - I’m starting to finally get accustomed to the idea that pro wrestlers die and many die young. It used to really bother me. My family was on vacation in Virginia when I heard that Adrian Adonis had died. We were staying in a hotel that has since been torn down. Adrian was one of those wrestlers that to me at the time, personified what was wrong with the cartoon era of wrestling. I always wanted to see him return to his old style and make a comeback. For years after, any time I was in Virginia - which was frequently - I would stand outside the door to that room and say a prayer for Adrian. - One thing that for me that has not changed in 35 years, is that I am easily amused by new characters. My favorite part of watching the WWF as a kid was the end of the show and watching them say who would be wrestling next week to see if there were any new names. Even today, new wrestlers come up to the main roster and I am quick to jump on their bandwagon. Currently, it is Adam Rose. - My favorite non-televised match I ever saw in person was a Scranton house show match between Ron Garvin and Greg Valentine. My favorite overall match ever was the Chi Town Rumble match between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat where Steamboat won the title. My favorite televised match I saw in person was the first Mania matchup between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Just a classic, as far as I’m concerned. Interesting side story, I was sitting next to a guy and his significant other. He was like me, not saying a word through most of the show while the girlfriend read a book. However, again like me, he became quite vocal during this match. The girlfriend at least watched it. He was clearly rooting for Michaels…me for the Undertaker. After the match he put his hand on my shoulder, breathed a deep breath and said, “That was awesome.” We both sat down and didn’t say another word to each other for the rest of the show. - Ron Garvin was my favorite wrestler for some time. Growing up in Northeastern PA, most of my friends never heard of him. I will always remember the day I got off the school bus, my neighbor opened her door and yelled for me to come over. She gave me a tape and said I should watch it. It was the match where Garvin had won the NWA title from Flair. At the age of 14, I celebrated like I hadn’t before or since, running from room to room, jumping up and down on my parents’ bed and generally acting like a fool. My father returned home from work shortly after, and I put the tape back on to shortly before the finish acting like I hadn’t seen the ending yet. When Garvin won, I recreated my dramatic reaction for my father. - I used to enjoy bringing wrestling into my schoolwork. I wrote a paper on the 1988 stock market crash and included as a reference an article from one of the Apter mags that had a quote from Paul Ellering. My teacher called it the most creative use of a reference she had ever seen. I don’t recall the specifics, but I had a computer course of some kind in the 10th grade where the teacher was doing some programming that required a phrase that would be repeated throughout the process. He asked for a simple one to use and I shouted out, “Hogan Cheats”. He liked it enough to use it for the rest of the week and used it for every class, not just mine. People I didn’t even know were coming up to me asking if the phrase came from me. Apparently, I had a reputation for not being a fan of Mr. Hogan. I had one professor in college I did not like at all. She gave us a project to write a journal that she would read “but feel free to make it as personal as you want.” We argued a lot and I knew she thought wrestling was the stupidest thing ever…so each and every journal entry I wrote was about wrestling. - I don’t follow the indies all that closely; however, my biggest live mark-out moment came at the Chikara World Tag Grand Prix where C.P. Munk revealed himself to be Necro Butcher. I leapt from my seat. So awesome. - I was in Hershey the night Jim Ross introduced fake Diesel and Razor Ramon. I think that’s the closest I ever came to saying I was done watching the WWF and to me is its low point. - I was in Wilkes-Barre the night Vince McMahon blew up. Every time I drive past the arena, I point to it and say, “That’s where Vince McMahon blew up”. I do that even if nobody is in the car with me. - I have a tendency to not show emotion while watching wrestling at a live show. I used to attend Afa’s WXW promotion in PA quite a bit. At one show Afa walked over to me, shook his fist at me (in a playful manner) and yelled, “Cheer!” - I do, however, tend to react vocally while watching at home. In addition to the Ron Garvin title win mentioned earlier, I remember cheering loudly when the Godfather won the Intercontinental title, when Cena returned for the Royal Rumble at MSG, and during Occupy Raw. If anyone reading this ever saw the Bill Murray movie Scrooged, the ending has the Alfre Woodard character doing this great single clap where she’s so emotional but doesn‘t want to really show it. That was me when Daniel Bryan told Triple H that the match between the two wasn’t the only thing he wanted at WrestleMania. - This past Mania weekend was a notable exception to my stoic live reactions. I Yessed myself silly. - I am currently the Chief Compliance Officer of a small financial group. I am one of those people who doesn't take much time away from the office, so I get great joy from telling people that I will be out for a few days because I'm away for Wrestlemania Weekend. The reactions are priceless. - I think today’s WWE is fantastic. The Shield, the Wyatts, Bryan, Bad News Barrett, Cesaro, Emma and Paige are all examples of people I could watch over and over. I’m also still holding out hope that Damien Sandow’s best days are ahead of him. If anybody actually took the time to read all of this…thanks.

That, or after Slater decides to embark on his carbohydrate, sequined-jumpsuit, young-girls-in-white-cotton-panties, waking-up-in-a-pool-of-your-own-vomit, bloated-purple-dead-on-a-toilet phase, he takes over the group and they become Sandow Ballet.

In case anyone was curious, Tomoaki Honma is still crazy.

I guess Little Johnny gave up on becoming Cam Newton's Mom's new favorite player.

Well it was a Catch 22, either the Spurs won or RandomAct got banned. We like RandomAct around here. That would be a travesty of justice.

I'm not going to DEFEND the cage match and how it was worked, but it does sort of show how the Wyatt family is one mind, one unit. There's no distance between Bray and his followers, so the fact that they were basically extensions of his will worked for me. Also, the fact that the fans voted against Cena a few weeks ago seemed to open the door for this, to me. I don't know that Wyatt looked weak so much as the Wyatt family looked strong. Yeah, Cena overcame the odds at the end, but that's what he does. He's Cena. It's part of his narrative. The whole match they basically dominated him and then they broke the Cena narrative with a cunning plan. Works for me.

I was more surprised Bryan got the actual ACTUAL main event slot on the show. Haha, like fuck you, CM Punk

I feel like if you guys looked a little deeper into the NXT roster and saw the talented people they aren't using, you'd start to think it was bullshit a green doughy motherfucker who does diva moves gets so much TV time, especially now that they're having people from the main roster take whole segments (Layla vs Natalya)

@NOTSportsCenter: The 3 key people that helped seal the #Thunder's series win:-Kevin Durant -Whoever wrote the Mr. Unreliable headline -Adam Silver

Westbrook had an amazing game, but I'm gonna be that guy and say that the league practically handed OKC this series with that bullshit Z-Bo suspension.

My youngest daughter's soccer team just finished their season undefeated. She's nine and just now dipping her toes into athletics. The game has been over for three and half hours. She's still in full gear, shin guards, cleats, and of course, the medal around her neck. I may have been the dad roaring from the sidelines and running down the field cheering.

Are you insane? YouTube Sleep's Dopesmoker and check back in an hour.

You ought to see my wife when I hit him with the shooting star press.

There was a little color. I took it and wrote "Die" on my chest. but in like a size 4 point font.

The issue isn't that Cena overcame the odds again. The issue is that Cena proved that he could beat three guys on his own - again - but couldn't handle a kid with a voice modulator singing at him. It may not hurt anyone involved, but it doesn't help anyone either. Wyatt as a compelling cult leader striking out at vanilla corporate America is great stuff. Wyatt as a cartoon villain that has the power to give little kids demonic voices is embarassing.

I just can't imagine anyone successfully defending either the booking or the work in the cage match. Just total garbage with a Black Scorpion-terrifies-Sting-with-magic-tricks ending. Awful, awful stuff.

Bryan explaining how he knows how to use a forklift!!! This is absolutely awesome.

The finish to Wyatt/Cena was the best of all times. Please keep this creepy kid with the family.

Man, I howled laughing when I first saw that. That was such a perfect little touch from Kurt.

We should really make you post something every 15 minutes just so we know you're ok.

As an old school wrestling fan, one of my favorite angles was Pez Whatley morphing into Shaska Whatley b/c Jimmy Valiant said he was the best *black* athlete he ever saw. Loved that.

What I remember about Bossman is him taking a goddamn superduperplex off the top of a cage when he was working with Hogan. And according to house show lore, he was doing that bump EVERY NIGHT. He was an astonishing bumper. Cornette said he originally got hired because he got up so well for Tully Blanchard's slingshot suplex on a TV squash match. His offense wasn't quite as good, though. He wasn't terrible, but he was one of those guys who never managed to get any real big moves that really looked devastating. But I don't say that to badmouth him; fellas from Goldust to Sgt. Slaughter have occasionally struggled with the same problem, simply being better at taking a beating than giving one. The booking of his career, though... man, poor Ray was right up there with Kane in terms of the ridiculous bullshit they just KEPT forcing upon him year after year. Some people might have thought that Pepper or Big Show's dad were funny, but I just found it distasteful and tacky. What works on South Park doesn't necessarily work in wrestling.

I still hate that the Draft is a drawn out primetime thing now. It was perfect for Saturday/Sunday afternoon.

You gotta hang up the gloves and trunks after getting hit with something like that. This sport ain't meant for you.

Raimi's trilogy twice broke the opening weekend record. Spider-Man 3 was 7 years ago, and it's still 8th best all-time opening weekend. From a pure domestic box office viewpoint, rebooting the franchise looks like a fairly big mistake. The first movie failed to justify any reason for doing a new origin film, and generally negative views of that film helped hold this one down, despite this one being massively better. I do hope the scenes they filmed with Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane shows up on the blu-ray deleted scenes. I think it was only two quick little scenes, one of her living next door to Peter, and one of her and Gwen interacting. Of course, now that she has a big hit franchise of her own, and they cut her from this movie, I assume they recast MJ for ASM 3.

Not sure if Raven vs Bray Wyatt would be a great match in the ring but the build up would be incredible

WNBA season is starting this month, and I just got my Liberty season tickets in the mail. We are back at MSG for the first time since the 2010 season. Excited about getting Tina Charles in the offseason. If any of you live in a WNBA city check out a game. It's affordable and the quality is pretty good, so it's a good valuefor your money. And the thing I love most is that the players truly appreciate and are thankful for the fans who comes to the games.

Just ran across this gold watching shit on Dailymotion. Dr. funkenstien here, FUCK THE DVDVR and OLD SCHOOL JOHN.

Even his gi has swag.

I enjoyed her tag work in CMLL with IV Staviano.

- WWE has reportedly made a deal to purchase the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling library. This material was shot in Virginia at ringside next to the ring announcer from Jim Crockett Promotions events. The footage filmed by George Pantas. Unlike previous Mid-Atlantic material that was purchased as part of the WCW library in 2001, the Pantas footage was filmed on Super 8 cameras and was owned by Pantas. Pantas revealed the news in a column for Norfolk Navy Flagship. The footage was also used for a Michael Elliott documentary on Jim Crockett Promotions entitled The Good Old Days, which is currently available on Highspots.com. PWInsider reports that that the purchase was done about two months ago. The footage includes what is possibly the only complete match on film of Ric Flair vs. Buddy Rogers.

All I have to say about the RT score and the like is that the movie was well above 'Positive' until it hit the states. That's all you need to know. Our critics are fucking terrible, miserable people.

Less the result and more how it came about. AJ shouldn't need 6 guys to help win.

I fucking HATE Bullet Club.

DRIVERETTE 512014 Young RIPPA has stated that this will be part of DVDVR 172. Unless this sucks, then this will be part of a mutually shared bad dream. Yes. THE PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING! !@!@!@!@!@!@ OZ ACADEMY- 4/16/2014- (DEAN RASMUSSEN) Oh yes. It is referred to as the Joshi Puroresu. The thing nowadays about Joshi is that it SEEMS to be deader and deader every year, yet never really keels over and dies. It's kinda like a really severe version of wrestling itself- except Joshi could actually fade away forever but I don't think wrestling itself will ever completely go away. I dunno. The only Joshi I ever REALLY got into was GAEA, and that was because Chigusa and company came up with really fun angles, filled with intrigue and suspense and betrayal! Everything else was kinda like a series of house shows for the most part.(1) Oz Academy was a huge chuck of the greatness of GAEA but it has never really picked up any of the steam to rekindle much of the GAEA magic. I don't know why. Anyhoos! ON TO THE Lllllaaaaaaaadies..... SAKURA HIROTA vs KAGETSU: Well, I see that Sakura Hirota still wrestles! Checking the Cagenet.net website, I find that she... JESUS. Hirota is 36 years old? Man, she has been wrestling 17 years now.(2) She looks really good for an older wrestling lady- in that she has put on her womanly girth without actually going to seed- thus she is imposing without being all Wal-Marty. I see that she is still about comedy spots- which is probably why isn't wearing a kneebrace now. Kagetsu is new to me.(3) She is a youth that is not afraid to lay it in in a opening comedy match so I immediately dig her. But it is still a comedy match and IIIIIIIIII find most comedy matches not worthy of my precious time. Let me put on my monocle and move on to the next match.... WHOA! HOLD IT! Hey Man! The finish is stiff AND weird. Billion stars for sheer lesbianic bebafflement. Kudos, aging clown wrestler, Kudos... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1sdpt6_kagetsu-vs-sakura-hirota-oz_sport CARLOS AMANO/ MANAMI TOYOTA vs KAORI YONEYAMA/ HIROYO MATSUMOTO: I've dug all these gals at some point in my Joshi Viewing Lifetime- some memories are more clear- Toyota, Amani, Yoneyama- than others- Matsumoto. I seem to remember Yoneyama and Matsumoto(4) during the dying days of JWP TV- before JWP started running garages and bowling alleys.(5) The last saw of Manami Toyota was a WHILE ago and she had started replacing her haphazard high-flying with pretty effective Old Mean Lady Assbeatingness. She has girthed up even more- which makes her low-grade current high-flying look a lot better- as now it's got some ass behind it. The match is strange. They do all these Gilligan's Island-level comedy spots and then go directly into 57 suplexes. I have no beef with your shitty hilarious wrestling if you follow it up with an endless string of suplexes, so this match is staying above water- even if Amano, Yoneyama, and Matsumoto are not setting the world on fire with their in-ring technique. C'mon, guys Japanese wrestling without Fighting Spirit is the worst of all possible wrestling. Oh man, Manami's Hateful Great Aunt Missile Dropkick is soooo much nastier now but this match is losing steam- and it's losing steam on unforced errors as they do a parade of total goofball spots that totally turns me on this match. Why start building up a head of steam with Manami beginning to start kicking folks asses and then do a batch comedy spots? Many wrestlers in this match should know better- and I just get the feeling that they didn't care any more. Yeesh. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1sdr87_carlos-amano-manami-toyota-vs-kaori-yoneyama-hiroyo-matsumoto-oz_sport TOMOKA NAKAGAWA vs HIKARU SHIDA: Holy fudge! Gottdam, Hikaru Shida is one saucy lookin' vixen- as we say here in the South. OF MY PANTS! Let me rush to Cagematch.net and look at Hikaru Shida's biography- because being a son of the sacred soil of Virginia, even in my HEART, 16 will get you 20.(6) Okay, we're good. Joshi nerds can jack off to their hearts content without feeling any creepier than they usually do. I think the boots bedecked in Invincible Ironman colors is adding to YOUR feeling that this is waay too much overall pathetic creepiness in this wrestling review. Fuck the world, they absolutely rock. But let me apologize for taking you to places I myself want to go.(7) Now, as they lock up, I will move away- well, one more thing. She has a... like a... "If She Were Born In Carolina, She Would Be A Denny's Waitress" vibe to her. There is a part of me that finds that alluring. Okydoke. Back to the thing with the thing. I'm sure I've seen Tomoko Nakagawa but I can't recall.(8) She is wearing leather pants but not in a Catwoman kind of way. They do some stuff and don't really lean into it much. It's kinda like a indie match during the time period of WCW cruiserweights- where it was what you saw on TV but at half speed and 1/2 stiffness. Nakagawa does fruity embellishments to her dropkicks to the sitting opponent- something I think I've hated for solid decade now. Hikaru's offense is a lot more fun and tooth-loosening, though she does the 40 yard sprint to- choose one- [kick/lariat/bash in the head with a light tube] spot that I have hated for a solid decade now. She does hit the nice GTS into a back-breaker which would have to suck to take. They kinda do stuff to each other with varying success of looking good- the pinnacle is good lariat by Nakagawa and really nice spinning pinwheel savat spinning crescent kick by Hikaru. What the hey! A FALCON ARROW~! in the 2-0-TEENZ~! Hey they are still doing the SHINING WIZARDO~! in the Mid-Teenz Of The New Centruy. Finish is fun and rollingaroundy! This match was more about the Youth of Asian ruining quality Under Armour work out shorts than it was about finding a saviour for Joshi Puroresu, Though they may be related? Things to ponder- as we wander- to the next match... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1sdttt_tomoka-nakagawa-vs-hikaru-shida-oz_sport TO BE CONTINUED! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@SINGLES ##############################GOING $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$STEADY What do you knoooooooooooooooooooooow? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ SERENA DEEB vs MIA YIM- PRO WRESTLING BOMBSHELLS- 3/8/2014: I reviewed a Serena Deeb match against that wee Japanese hellion- Kana- from SMASH! and I really dug young Deeb. This match is from last month and she's grown her hair out and is wearing a more- you know, the area that a lady has between her shoulders and her belly button- intensive top, a play which I will back 100%. I am UNFAMILIAR with Mia Yim (probably).(9) They are wrestling in one of the four thousand ballrooms in the Northeast where one can stage a wrestling match- of which I have been to a few in my time. They make with the standing switches early and the announcer is yelling a lot. Allow me to turn him down. This starts pretty basic, but is already a lot better than the three Oz Academy matches I watched earlier. They hit it with a lot more purpose and intensity- even when working a headlock spot. Hey, they work a headlock spot! And Serena makes with a drop toe hold! These gals should go wrestle in All-Star Wrestling in Great Britain. This is fun- what with the endless roll-ups into a weird ass Two Count Rolling Cradle Ball rolling aboot the ring. Then they start beating the hell out of each other with chops to the GIRLPECS~! It's official, I like Mia Yim. OKayOkayOkayOkayOkay, Hold on hold on hold on- HOW DOES SERENA DEEB HAVE THE BEST PUNCHES IN WRESTLING? JESUS CHRIST, WATCH THIS MATCH. Her punches look fucking GREAT. God, this match is awesome. Deeb procures the Leg Based Full Nelson Variation and Serena becomes more and more evil. Serena's offense looks really great and a lot of that is Yim leaning into it. Serena hits the RIB-BRREAKAH! but Yim fights back- and her offence isn't as nasty looking as Deeb's but still is pretty hurty looking most of the time. Finish is weird in that wierd is GREAT here- IN THAT they hit a finisher and the person hit with this finisher is THEN PINNED- in 2014! This match was great. Deebs should just punch people the whole match. She is now fucking awesome. ------------------------------- ENDNOTES 1. I should not generalize like this without mentioning that there is probably 8,000 hours of LLPW somewhere out there that I haven't seen- though I wish it would surface so we could make Rippa watch it. That was awesome. 2. Cagenet.net says Hirota brings her softball and swimming background to her wrestling stylings. If she was in Baptist drunk league softball, I would truly dig a late career ass-stomper bizarre comeback for the matriarch of lady comedy matches. 3. Cagematch sez that Kagetsu is 21 years old, 5'3" and weights 136 lbs. She knows the judo! Oh man, she was trained by fuckin Meiko Satomura. 4. Okay, I'm thinking of somebody else- my guess, Ran Yu Yu. Cagematch tellz me that Hiroyo Matsumoto is 28, 5'6", and weighs 156 lbs. She does not claim to know judo. The bio on Yoneyama is awesome: she is 4'11" and her background is in badminton.(10) She can turn it all around at this point of her career if she wrestles for Shimmer and debuts her ShuttleCock Driver '14. 5. A joshi Beleiber will fill me in if they actually ran a skating rink. Joshi can take your wrestling fandom from 0 to suicidal depression in 3 seconds. 6. Via the Cagematch.net database, Hikaru Shida is 25 years old, 5'5" and weights 125 lbs. One can masturbate furious... I mean... follow her on the internet here: http://ameblo.jp/shidahikaru. Hey, she was trained by Emi Sakura! She knows the Judo. 7. Iron Man= Erotic? Jiminy fuck, Rasmussen, what is your DEAL? I say to myself. Daily. 8. Via the Cagenet.match database, Tomoka Nakagawa is GEEZ! 32 years old. Folks had complete careers that I have completely glossed over. She is 5'1" and weighs 125 lbs? I'm guessing every 94 pound wrestler in Joshi is listed as 125. Hey, she trained by Yoshida! She does not know the Judo. 9. Cagematch sez Mia Wim is 25 years old, 5'7" and weighs 125 lbs(!). Maybe all women in wrestling weigh 125 pounds. She does not claim to know Judo but she does bring a volleyball background to her grappling. 10. Okay I made is all the way to age 48 without realizing its "BadmiNton" not "BadmiTten". One never stops learning.

I really enjoyed Schiavone's WWF run. Especially with Jesse at the SummerSlam and on Royal Rumble '90. They had a good chemistry.

This is dumb but it made me chuckle.

The BO DALLAS/TYSON KIDD match was decent enough. Bo's new entrance video is so ridiculous in the best way possible. I'd write more but I did earlier and then I did something dumb and lost what I wrote. Trust me when I tell you it was scintillating. SASHA BANKS vs. BAYLEY is really, really good. Wow. There's not one wasted moment in this. The agents or whoever told these girls "You have eight minutes so GO" and that's what they did. Bayley controls most of the match with her really fun offense, some of which is based around hugs. She eventually hits the Belly-To-Bayley suplex, but Sasha sneaks out of the ring and necksnaps Bayley across the top rope. She hits BANKRUPT (some neckbreaker thing) for what's the finish... only Bayley kicks out!!! Sasha then wins with a dope backstabber that she rolls into a crossface-type thing for the tap out. Great finish. Huge props to Steven Regal for saying sarcastically calling one of the other announcers "Oscar Wilde" during the Rose/Danny Birch match. This is an Adam Rose squash and it's fun. He has a new finisher which is a cutter-type thing called The Party Foul. SO great. His coterie comes out to party and CAMACHO jumps the dude dressed as a luchador, prompting the bunny to look on in both dismay and concern. This is an A+++ gif, for those interested. Nattie's promo for the woman's title is awful. Ugh. Layla's is a bit better but the face she makes at the end is so hysterically weird. I mostly just watched the GSW/Clips game during this. ADRIAN NEVILLE talks up his match against BRODUS. I really like what he's done since winning the title. He's showing some good babyface spitfire. Short, sweet and to the point. OLIVER GREY is taking on MOJO RAWLEY. Here's the thing about Mojo and the backlash against him and a conundrum with NXT. Mojo's really green. I mean, ridiculously green. He's had less than 20 TV matches, probably. Maybe even closer to 10. And how many house show matches has he had? He's straight up a guy who they grabbed from football and are trying to turn into a wrestler. Everyone else has had years of experience in their craft. Aiden English wrestled in Chicago indies and the like, for instance. Adam Rose has been around for years as Kruger. Bo Dallas, too. The WWE is going to have more and more of these types of guys come up through their system. Guys who come up from the indies don't know how to work a TV match but they at least know how to pace and structure a match. But Mojo? He's learning this right now. As we watch. It's pretty fascinating to see it develop. And he has the important part, the unteachable part, down -- he gets reactions. I do wish he'd get past his ass-based offense, though. AIDEN ENGLISH comes out! "I am done suffering fools!" He demands Mojo leave his "canvas" for a real auteur. He then blindsides Rawley, who sends him out of the ring. This could end up as a fun little feud. Mojo's first, I believe. ADRIAN NEVILLE vs. BRODUS was a blast. It follows the small babyface vs. big heel storyline perfectly. Neville starts off with kicks and a flurry and a crazy plancha to the floor. Clay gets control and looks like a beast in doing so. Clay thinks he has the win after following a really stiff powerbomb with a splash from the second rope. Neville BARELY kicks out. Clay goes to the floor and grabs the NXT title -- it's NO DQ -- and goes to crown Neville with it. Neville instead Superkicks the belt into Clay's face, sending him to the mat. Neville then hits The Red Arrow from the top, onto the title, for the win. Nice touch using the title belt there as the weapon of choice. Good show!

I don't want to tell you what Lana is spelled backwards.

Oh my, Jun Akiyama is the 1001st DDT Iron Man champion. The belt itself was the 1000th somehow after beating Takagi.

Check out Jamey Johnson

I'm re-watching No Mercy 2002 because I wanted to watch Brock murder the Hardys and the crowd does a small, but noticeable "Goldberg" chant during the match. Hilarious.