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USA! USA! USA!

Why? There's no similarity. One of those is a lying, cheating, whining crybaby who was never better than second best and the other is Tonya Harding.

Yep... laughing and crying.

This made a TV guide in Wellington..

Am I a good parent? Well I happened to walk by my 5 year-old daughter's bedroom yesterday while she was playing with her toys, and she had one of her dolls beating up another one while she growled, "Cero miedo!" So obviously the answer is yes.

- John Terry, 2008

I really like Rusev. Obviusly everyone does. But honestly the idea that he was the best wrestler in the world in the time period just boggles my mind. If Zayn had beaten Nakamura-fine. I wouldn't have agreed with it, but he has performed on a very high level and the NXT bias would've made it reasonable (and I'm also a huge ska/punk nerd as well and that's his entire gimmick). If Harper had defeated him-fine. He's an amazing worker and probably the most consistent one. There were plenty of reasonable arguments for him. What makes Rusev better than those guys? A gimmick? Rusev has certain strenghts-like limb selling and using Axe Kicks as dramatic transitions. And I saw glimpses of him becoming as good as some here consider him in the Big E and Sheamus matches. The Sheamus matches, while not hyped much because of happening in a non-PPV setting, showed the true potential of Rusev. They had a sense of struggle and a level of stiffness you don't usually see in WWE. However a big problem with Rusev has been that he hasn't really mastered working long control segments yet which was painfully evident in the Cena match. Looking at his stuff I really liked (as in-I like him killing Heath Slater in Zack Ryder but there's not much merit in that), there's: The Sheamus Title win match (Rusev's best match, almost great) The Sheamus rematch (very good) The BIg E matches (good-very good) The Swagger matches (solid) other matches of his people liked include: vs Big Show (thought it was dogshit and asked myself "Did anything actually happen in this match prior to the finish?" when it was done) vs Mark Henry (better than the Big Show match but still pretty poor, I'll just write it off with Henry and Show being a bad stylistic match for Rusev) vs Cena vs Ryback on a throwaway Smackdown (Did anyone except Dylan actually like this? It was a completely throwaway match) vs Reigns on......Smackdown as well I think (which was solid). So I can't really see anyone vating on Rusev based on the output of quality matches. I'll listen to an argument but I don't see it. I know Titus O'Neil got shit on inexplicably but his best matches were eerily similar to Rusev's and pretty much on the same level of quality. Now he doesn't have anything as good as the Sheamus matches, and I think Rusev has far greater potential and obviusly gets far more recognition due to where he performs, but the biggest difference between the two, whom I both considering good workers, would be in how they are presented and wouldn't have much to do with their performances. For Nakamura you've got: vs Devitt-New Japan Cup (Devitt's faux heavyweight run symbolically ends with Nakamura punching him in the face-TWICE-and then Boma Yeing him into oblivion) vs Minoru Suzuki-New Japan Cup (more of a Suzuki performance but Nakamura carried his end of the match well and brought good looking, believable comebacks) vs Bad Luck Fale-New Japan Cup (as good of a match as anyone could've gotten out of Fale, with some questioning if it would've been as good without Nakamura busting himself open on a Flying Jujigatame) vs Tanahashi-Invasion Attack (a match held in the same esteem as only a few other top New Japan matches) vs Bad Luck Fale-Dominion (Nakamura gets a maybe (in my opinion definitely) even better match out Fale and it's a carry job if there ever was one) then comes the G1: vs Shibata-a somehwat fascinating match, in the sense that they esentially structured it, worked it and paced it like it would've been twenty years ago. In a tournament where one of the strongest complaints was how similar matches were (I swear if Goto irish whips someone onto the guardrail one more fucking time.....) here was something completely unique. It felt special. A criticism I saw against this match was "legwork going nowhere". Well, there was no legwork. They never insinuated legwork was happening. Yes, a figure-four leglock was used, but more as an efficient offencie maneuver than something directly targeting the legs. This was a normal occurrence in New Japan in the past and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Good matches I don't feel inclined to dwell upon match: vs Honma vs Nagata vs Kojima vs Tanahashi-they deserve praise for managing to constantly differentiate in how they work their matches while keeping a certain standard of quality vs Fale-he did it again. vs Ishii-great vs Okada-great a match I forgot to mention earlier: vs Daniel Gracie-this DID NOT COMPLETELY SUCK! Actually it was a somewhat compelling shooter vs pro match. I am inclined to overrate matches that are worked in that vein but THIS DID NOT COMPLETELY SUCK! Which is a huge accomplishment if you know much about Daniel Gracie-pro wrestler. post-G1 you've got: vs Fale AGAIN and by this point I'm just staring in awe at how he's doing everything by himself basically vs Shibata for the IC title the infamous WK match vs Ibushi Honestly the reason why Rusev is getting so much support is probably because of the quality of the show he's on. NXT and New Japan are very hot products and the majority backlash that they get is based on how much people like them and not the actual shows themselves (not saying the shows are perfect, because they're not). Raw is shit. It's not fun. The Raw threads are filled with endless perfunctory debates on the morality of watching a shitty wrestling show. Rusev is good, and has been booked and presented extremely well. Pretty much EVERYONE watches Raw. It's easy to latch onto something good and that's exactly what Rusev is. He comes off as a saving grace. But as a performer he's nowhere near a finished product and definitely not on Nakamura's level. It would be quite ironic if, in the year where the international competitors finally break through, the winner would be as conventional as Rusev, especially after Nakamura went through the best workers in WWE and NXT to get here, both of whom have great physical charisma and mannerisms, which have been brought up as Rusev's strenghts. But, pretty much anything Rusev excels at Nakamura does as well. And, let's take a moment to compare why they are over. Both guys have been super-pushed since day one so that cancels itself out. For Rusev, we have: -circumstances unrelated to wrestling -WWE ACTUALLY CAPITALIZING on said circumstances and modiying Rusev's gimmick -a classic gimmick that will draw a certain amount of heat by itself -other performers getting the most out of his act -good booking and timing in terms of opponent selection (Swagger) -Rusev's performance itself (which is good, no doubt about it For Nakamura, we have: -sheer talent And that's where it ends. And he is the most over guy in New Japan right now. Tanahashi is well respected, but he doesn't really get pops. He isn't given main events against Bad Luck Fale. Part of the reason why he probably isn't on top of New Japan is that he doesn't have to be. He does too much good business as a #2 or #3 without ever losing credibility or popularity. For Rusev we don't even know where goes after a hard working American finally slays him. Finally I will end this with quoting Dylan because I think he raised an interesting point: Right now, there isn't any reason to believe Rusev would turn out any better than Doc Gallows. Gallows is also a very capable brawler, but put Rusev in the same situation he is in and it would highlight his weaknesses a lot more than his strenghts. Yet, if you put Nakamura into pretty much ANY situation right now, I don't see it not working out. Japanese assassin in Lucha Undergroun? Works. International signing for NXT? Works. TNA..........ok nothing works out in TNA, but you get the point. Rusev will probably win. But I'd be interested to see someone make an argument for him over Nakamura. Plenty of arguments have been made FOR Rusev, but I haven't seen ONE that would argue he is THAT good RIGHT NOW. (also apologies for any spelling errors this post may contain but do you see how huge it is? I ain't double checking everything)

Well, he was "Diesel", and he was in black leather...I'm not so sure he wasn't supposed to be a truck.

Pedro Aguayo Ramirez better known as Perro Aguayo Jr. passed away at early this morning after suffering cervical spine trauma" during his match where he teamed with Manik facing Extreme Tiger & Rey Mysterio Jr. in Rey's first match back in his home of Tijuana since being released from WWE. The local commission doctor Dr. Ernesto Franco told the media that he and his associates at the Hospital del Prado in Tijuana did everything possible to save Perrito's life but after an hour of trying to resuscitate him they had to pronounce him dead. Dr. Franco tried to assure the media that Perrito got the proper medical care in the building after it took several minutes to reach him after he fell unconscious in the ring and there was no medical negligence as they also were dealing with two other injured luchadores backstage. Dr. Franco said that there were two ambulances at the building where they were transporting the luchadores to the hospital and that they did everything they could to get to Perrito to give him all of the proper medical attention but in the end there was nothing they could do. Dr. Franco said that as soon as Perrito was inside the hospital all of the specialists and other doctors there did what they could but there was nothing else that could be done. This afternoon, Juan Carlos Pelayo who is the director of the Box y Lucha Commission in Tijuana demanded that there be national regulation of Lucha Libre due to the high risk nature of the sport saying that other sports are regulated by law but Lucha Libre isn't which isn't right because Boxing is and it's just as dangerous if not more dangerous than Lucha Libre. Pelayo said that federal regulation will make everyone accountable for their actions when accidents like these happen. Pelayo also said that there is an investigation pending because he wants to have this issue completely resolved as his moral responsibility to make sure everything is cut and dry without any questions as to whether Perrito's death could have been prevented. After a nightmare week of weather issues, building issues, the wreck that killed Irma Osorno this has shaken not just AAA but entire Lucha Libre community to it's core. Perro Aguayo Jr. made his debut a month shy of his 16th birthday on June 18, 1995 at Auditorio Rio Nilo de Tonala for the 2nd part of the 3-part Triplemania III series for AAA working an "olympic rules" match with Juventud Guerrera where even though he lost you could tell that the kid had potential to be a star. He would go on to become one of the top workers in the promotion which was amazing due to his age and would team with his father helping to rejuvenate his career as they would hold the Mexican National Tag Titles twice taking them from Fuerza Guerrera & Mosco de la Merced on June 7, 1998 and taking them from El Cobarde & El Hijo del Cobarde on February 22, 1999 before losing them to Abismo Negro & Electroshock on May 2, 1999. It was also in this period Perrito would form Los Juniors Atomicos with Blue Demon Jr., Mascara Sagrada Jr., & La Parka Jr. and although Perrito was the only true son in the group they would go on to win the Mexican National Atomicos Titles from Los Vatos Locos (Charly Manson/May Flowers/Nygma/Picudo) on April 18, 1999 before losing them to Los Vipers (Histeria/Maniaco/Mosco de la Merced/Psicosis) on September 17, 1999. Perrito also had some success in apuestas matches in the late 90's as he took Picudo's mask on December 3, 1995 as well as his hair on December 13, 1997 then took Cobarde II's hair on September 14, 1997 and again on November 19, 1999. The 2000's saw Perrito take on a new role in AAA as his father had now gone back to work for EMLL and Perrito was inserted into his first major singles program working against Hector Garza, Heavy Metal, & Latin Lover where they mixed up in various singles, tag-team, and multiple man matches mainly in some of the best matches in the promotion during this period. While teaming with Garza he won the Mexican National Tag Titles again from Abismo Negro & Electroshock on July 9, 2000 before losing the titles to Pirata Morgan & El Texano on September 8, 2000. Perrito would win the Mexican National Lt. Heavyweight Title from Electroshock on April 21, 2002 before losing it to El Dandy on August 31, 2002 in the 1st match of their 6 month long series over the title. Perrito also maintained his success in apuestas matches as he took El Texano's hair on May 19, 2000, The Panther's mask on August 19, 2001 and El Dandy's hair on September 16, 2002. After spending the first 8 years of his career working for AAA, Perrito became an independent contractor after working his last major AAA show on the Rey de Reyes show on March 16, 2003 then would make his entry into EMLL on August 1, 2003 where they hoped to make him their new lead tecnico aligning him early on with Negro Casas but it was in November where he would win the #1 Contender Tournament for Atlantis' Tohoku Jr. Heavyweight Title when he would start getting booed because he beat popular rudos Rey Bucanero & Dr. Wagner Jr. to earn the shot and then on November 14, 2003 when he would face Atlantis he was getting booed heavily by the fans before losing the match. The promotion thought that maybe be putting him up against his father's old rivals Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras/Mascara Ano Dos Mil/Universo Dos Mil) that could turn the tide as well as having help from the very popular Shocker and his Los Guapos cohorts. Perrito & Terrible would take Cien Caras & Mascara Ano Dos Mil's hair at the 2nd annual Dos Leyendas show on March 19, 2004 but it was at the Sin Piedad show on June 18, 2004 where in a multi-man Steel Cage Match, Perrito would pin Negro Casas in a shocking finish to take his hair. One week later, Hector Garza would make his return to EMLL and that same night a new masked character named Mistico was working his 2nd match in the new gimmick and the storms were brewing. Perrito was having issues with Casas causing him to lose to Atlantis in the Leyenda de Plata Tournament then he defeated Atlantis to advance to face Felino in the finals where he would win but when Hijo del Santo came out to present him with the trophy he said that he didn't want any trophy from him saying that his father was nowhere near the legend that his father was and smashed the trophy over Santo's head. Perrito would naturally gravitate to Garza reuniting their team and added former ally Terrible along the way to form La Furia del Norte defeating Santo, Negro Casas, & Shocker on the 71st Anniversario show on September 17, 2004 cementing themselves as the new lead rudos. Perrito would also rekindle his feud with Los Dinamitas this time with the roles being reversed and this time Perro Sr. would come back to help his son in the battle leading up to Perro Sr. coming back for one more match at the 3rd annual Dos Leyendas show on March 18, 2005 where he along with his son teamed up to take Cien Caras & Mascara Ano Dos Mil's hair in what was billed at the time as Cien's retirement match as well. The aftermath of that show saw the birth of Los Perros del Mal with Damian 666 & Halloween joining La Furia del Norte to form this super faction along with other associates and this took the lucha world by storm as they had a tremendous logo along with great theme music giving them the cool factor that an nWo and D-X had at their peaks. April 30, 2005 saw Perrito start a feud with the new rising tecnico star Mistico who was giving the promotion what they had hoped that Perrito would've given them 2 years earlier in a top young tecnico star. These two would feud on and off for the next couple of years in many different types of matches giving the promotion the top feud in the country but like the Santo feud before it there was never the definitive singles match that left the fans hungry. Perrito would take Universo Dos Mil's hair on the 4th annual Dos Leyendas show on March 17, 2006 then would win the 2006 Gran Alternativa with Misterioso II before winning the CMLL Trios Titles with Mr. Aguila & Hector Garza on February 16, 2007 from Atlantis/Tarzan Boy/Ultimo Guerrero before having to vacate the titles due to Perrito & Garza having a falling out causing Garza to leave PdM in February 2008. The fallout culiminated on the 6th annual Dos Leyendas show on March 21, 2008 where Perrito would defeat Garza to take his hair. Five years to the day when he made his debut with EMLL, Perrito would have his last match in the promotion teaming up with old friend now enemy Garza & Dr. Wagner Jr. losing to Mistico/Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla in an Parejas Increibles match and after that match Perrito decided to form his own promotion named after his faction Perros del Mal which was in a way similar to Shinya Hashimoto leaving New Japan to form ZERO-ONE in 2001 as even though they weren't with the main promotion anymore there was some backing from the promotion. Of course like Z1 though there was a breakup and PdM would become full independents running shows around Mexico City before he made his return home to AAA on June 6, 2010 at Triplemania XVIII where he lead an invasion by Perros del Mal aligning with Konnan & Dorian Roldan to form La Sociedad who still reign as the lead rudos in the promotion to this day. Perrito though would start having injury issues as a knee injury would sideline him for a few months at the end of 2010 and on April 8, 2011 which I reported at the time April 14, 2011 April 16, 2011 April 17, 2011 May 2, 2011 Perrito would return to the ring 6 days later where he would work a show in Cancun but had to pull out of his scheduled match at Triplemania XIX due to having an adverse reaction to the medication that he was taking for the treatment of his tumor but would return a month later. Perrito would go on business as usual feuding with all the top tecnicos even winning the Rey de Reyes for the only time on March 18, 2012 defeating Jack Evans in the finals where he would also earn a shot against El Mesias for the AAA Mega Heavyweight Title which he would fall in his challenge at Triplemania XX on August 5, 2012 and it wasn't long after that where Perrito started a big rivalry against Cibernetico which lasted for almost a year with Perrito coming out victorious in the end as he took Ciber's hair at Triplemania XXI on June 16, 2013. Two months later though they bitter rivals would form a partnership and it seemed like Perrito was going to go back to the tecnico side of things but it was all a ruse as he along with his Perros brethren would attack Ciber on the Guerra de Titanes show on December 8, 2013. A new rival would come on the scene on August 17, 2014 at Triplemania XXII as Alberto el Patron made his return to AAA and when he was cutting his return promo with his father Dos Caras in the ring, La Sociedad came down and Perrito attacked both of them with Alberto vowing revenge and in the main event after Perrito won the Copa Triplemania XXII, Alberto would attack Perrito but again like the Santo & Mistico feuds in EMLL, we never got the definitive singles match between these two because Mytzeziz would make his debut in AAA to rekindle his rivalry with Perrito picking up where they left off 6 years earlier. You could tell there were plans moving forward between these two for Triplemania XXIII where we would finally get that definitive singles match between the two as they became the main focus of last Wednesday's main event at the Rey de Reyes show in Zapopan even over the return of Rey Mysterio Jr. after being away from the promotion for 19 years but sadly we were robbed of it last night in Tijuana. Perrito was born 17 days before I was (July 23, 1979) and his death has really hit me close to home...I watched him grow up as a man and as a performer at the same time I was growing up as a man myself. This is a tremendous loss not just for Lucha Libre but for the world in general. I hope now that Perrito and Hector Garza are fouling each other in the sky. Descanse en Paz....El Perrito

It was nice of Renee Young to bring out the writing team for a little recognition tonight.

Be honest. You weren't going to get through it without pot anyway, were you? probably not

Be honest. You weren't going to get through it without pot anyway, were you?

Nakamura has made the finals. Shit is ON now.

I'll catch you yet!

First Kevin Owens, now Rusev. Some people on this board have some really fucked up concepts of babyface/heel dynamics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9NpfjYOYxk

As long as he doesn't wrestle Sasuke, he should be fine.

Gonna cross post this in the .gif thread, I think

Seriously tho the fuck was that shit? Brock and Roman looked like my nieces arguing over a Frozen coloring book...

This thing was a bitch to scan.

No, outside of some entertaining bits on the first NXT, Heel Cole was largely intolerable.

I actually think Rusev could do something with Fale. His selling, especially over time is that good. EDIT: also, in true march madness fashion, I'm finding the NJPW supporters more annoying with their hard sell than the Rusev supporters, so I'm going for Rusev.

That's pretty fucking light.

Before you vote, ask yourselves this: "Could Rusev do anything with Bad Luck Fale?" (Other than squash him like a bug.)

via Zellner on Twitter

Posts like these make me think maybe Hunter is the greatest heel of all time.

Nash's speech really needs to be him and the YouShoot guy shooting the shit for a half hour over a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

That clip is so old, cesaro and Rusev had first names.

The dude gets to bang Lana and we don't. If that doesn't make him a heel, I don't know what does.

I remember I couldn't stand O'Reilly for the longest time. Didn't mind him as part of Future Shock, it was all from his teaming with Richards. I couldn't him or the music and wanted to avoid anything with him in it. Of course the main issue wasn't necessarily him, it was all Davey. Once Davey left I found myself slowly starting to like the guy. His appearance on Colt's podcast certainly helped. The teaming with Fish was the best thing that could happen to him. Now I'm actually a quasi-fan of the guy. Not to make it about me, but I told him pretty much all this at one of the after parties. He was absolutely fine with it and we chatted for a little bit. Nice guy. And Oyaji, it's good to know Kyle is so concerned for our prostates.

I think the underlying point is Vince McMahon's twisted morality bleeds into his top babyfaces and has going back to Hulk Hogan.

Dude, Jack Swagger got huge pops feuding with Rusev. Jack fucking Swagger.

Nakamura - 74 Zayn - 70 Heavy favorite no more...

Ahem...

What joining heists with random teammates is like:

Taker will probably look about that withered and old by the time Vince sees Game of Thrones.

Now I want to see Cavernario in NXT paired up with Enzo doing a Pauly Shore gimmick teaching him how to live in the modern world. Wheezing the Juu-uice buddy.

By the way, it'll be made official later this week, but Brock Lesnar's beard has signed with Bellator.

Relegation? In the MLS? An American league??? Honestly, the ridiculous Franchise Fees along with the costs associated with running a top tier franchise, no owner in the country is going to allow their team to possibly get dropped into the NASL should they come in last. We reward sucking with Good draft picks in America! Nor would Garber drop the franchise fees anyway, or piss off the owners in any way, shape, or form.

Vote Japan! Your country will thank you for it.

Ha! My daughter, who I'm sure only pretends to like wrestling because i do, says her favourites are John (Cena, I guess) & Sexy Star. She also saw Mark Henry on Smackdown and said, "it's Big Ryck!" so she also might be kind of a racist

Okay, now I'm thinking Diesel pulls Vader to the ring on a rickshaw while Vader pantomimes shifting gears. Vince on commentary: "Whatta ride!!"

From WWE.com Oh, yessss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9NpfjYOYxk

I watched Shame. It was one of those films that had lots of long shots that, although they were beautifully composed, ultimately they told a story of a moment in which nothing happened and nobody said anything. And it had a false ending that would have worked as an ending, before actually ending on a scene that said 'nothing has been resolved or even slightly changed about any of these people'. The moral of the story appears to be that you shouldn't They should have had a scene where he kept putting ice packs on his nutsack, because otherwise it's unrealistic how he was able to shoot his load so frequently... unless Michael F. Assbender was miscast and the character was supposed to be 16 years old or something. Also, why was everyone in Hollywood freaking out over his nob size? Haven't they been to Europe?

Plus I think one shouldn't take things that seriously I mean I declared FUCK RANDY ORTON! early and often and no one cares. Of course it helps that Randy Orton stinks