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I kind of hate that idea, but then, I'm already pretty sick of Bobby Fish. I respect guys who commit to a gimmick. Bobby doesn't wrestle like a fish, so to Hell with him.

So, like i didn't have enough to mark out about already today... My friend Juan tipped me off about a pop-up puroresu shop that was set up in a local mall this weekend. Something I'd naively hoped would happen all the time over here, but in fact this was the first time I've seen anything like this anywhere outside Tokyo since Mr. Hito's shop closed. Giant Baba's boots: Giant Baba's t-shirt: Tiger Mask's mask: And I'll spoiler the rest, and post the t-shirts I bought in the merch thread:

Suzuki/Danielson was fucking motherfucking fucking AWESOME.

Suzuki/Danielson was the equivalent of Flair/Funk I Quit 1989. Same dynamic.

Taz had it right during Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki: "If you are not watching this on YouTube you are a dumbass. Sorry. You're as dumb as a box of rocks."

I was really impressed with Bobby Fish. He fucking layed it in, That was a fucking BattlARTS match.

Get a load of these kicking T-shirts I picked up today at a steep discount, in my size (which is rare in Japan) at a pop-up puroresu shop at a local mall. Started the day with Bryan vs MiSu, finished up with buying these beauties: I've been living here 13 years and I've never seen anything like this pop-up shop before. I have been marking out A LOT today! And yes, the AEW Best Friends theme played in my head when I saw the Baba/Destroyer shirt. This is the rest of the shirt: And the backs!! I posted more pics from the awesome little shop in the pics and gifs thread, including these two: Yeah, I basically spent the whole day marking out like a little kid. @The Natural This more than makes up for not getting any wrestling merch for my birthday!

Yep. That was very close to, if not the exact match we would've gotten had it taken place in an NJPW ring. Well...hang on. We'd have to specify "when," as it seems to me that Suzuki moved away from submission/grappling based matches as soon as fans weren't allowed to cheer during the pandemic, leaning more heavily towards strike-based matches. The opening part of this match in AEW featured more grappling out of Suzuki than we've seen in some time, at least in his NJPW work. This leads me to my next point: there is an unwritten rule in modern NJPW where nobody submits Minoru Suzuki, and pretty much nobody gets the better of him in grappling exchanges. Your hope is escape, you will not defeat Suzuki on the mat, period. I liked how AEW bent this rule but didn't break it. Everybody knows Danielson is formidable on the mat in his own right, and therefore he got a lot deeper on his submission attempts than most would on Suzuki. But, Suzuki still had answers and worked out of the holds, despite being in a little more trouble with them as the match wore on. I feel like they struck a really nice balance with that here. Would Danielson have gotten as much should the match have taken place in NJPW? His name and reputation makes me like to think he would've, but it's something to ponder. To me, this was also a remarkable match in that most everyone had no doubt as to what the outcome would be, but the wrestlers drew us in anyway. Two of the absolute best on earth, there is no question.

No, but they did tell him to wrestle with porpoise.

YouTube really was the perfect place for Danielson/Suzuki if you're giving it away gratis. No commercial breaks, no PIP, just those two doing their match and slugging it out for 20 minutes. "A beautiful sonnet of violence," as Tom K once said... the kind of match anyone can get into with a smidge of patience, and boy howdy did they deliver. I felt sorry for Ruby/Bunny because they had to follow both the above match and then Punk/Sydal, another bout that over-delivered on potential that was already high to begin with.

Loved Danielson vs. Suzuki. In terms of my enjoyment level, it felt like five stars. Don't care about star ratings though. It was outstanding and fun. It felt special. Boggles my mind that Suzuki is 53. Dude is a demon.

Yes, Bobby Fish's entrance music was ReDRagon's theme in ROH. Punk/Sydal made me feel like I was watching Gabe-era ROH.

I loved Bryan vs MiSu. Right up there with WALTER vs Dragunov and Ishii vs Moose in my personal MOTY list. For me, the best thing was that the crowd was not hot at all for the two opening matches (even though Fish v Moriarty was excellent and the always-wonderful Tay Conti was in the opener) but then Danielson and Suzuki drew them in 100 percent using only strike exchanges, mat work, and character work. I love that the knuckle-lock got a "this is awesome!" chant. I get that there are people who are philosophically opposed to strike exchanges on principle… but THAT is how they should be done. They were obviously dancing the dance and responding to the crowd, and they really worked those exchanges for all they were worth. Real, actual, pro wrestling in action right there. Loved it. Really enjoyed Sydal vs Punk and Bunny vs Soho as well. My nitpick of the week is that they followed up a “skin of his teeth” match with a “skin of her teeth match” which is a pretty minor nit. Safe to say the ring rust is off of Punk now? Bunny is a really good heel. It was funny that the worst aspect of Dos Santos in the ring was his punches. Presumably, he was being too careful to avoid actually hurting Jericho. I popped for how happy he looked just before hitting the powerslam. I’m still enjoying the ATT stuff, and the sing alongs… I think if someone doesn’t enjoy Lambert’s angry grandpa act, there’s a pretty good chance that they are an angry pro wrestling grandpa. Awesome two hours of pro wrestling action. Maybe the best thing, as @Matt D pointed out above, is how Suzuki drew something out of Bryan that we haven’t seen from him recently. That was great.

Was I the only one distracted by JDS looking like he was hanging by the pool in his gear? Every time I saw his boots I could only see blue flip flops worn over white sports socks like a German holidaymaker or something.

Please note that Jake Hagar is quietly awesome.

Shaq and now Dos Santos. Aging and former athletes taking random table bumps rules ass. Someone go find out if Phil Mickelson likes wrestling!

OH! The Miro thing was fucking awesome. "I will not be with my wife until God makes me champion again." SO fucking great.

And now that we have definitive proof that a Dragon is stronger than a Fish, the next logical step for Bobby is to challenge Taz's son. Because Fish vs Hook is a natural rivalry.

Danielson is the greatest alive. Fucking GREAT Hangman promo. Schiavone was gold during the MJF segment.

Dear god. Danielson goes from the strikefest with Suzuki yesterday to the hurty-TORQUE fest with Fish. That finish looked GNARLY. I mean, from a workrate perspective, within 24 hours he had the match with Suzuki and now Fish.

C’mon, calling Danielson a one-trick pony isn’t fair.

I will like anything that gives me more Leyla Hirsch

Fuck all of these people:

It's even better the second time.

What a fun two hours of professional wrestling!

Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki was well worth losing sleep over. What a match that was!

Gimme Leyla Hirsch in the IC to counter Paige VanZant and ATT. 5v5 mixed tag at Full Gear.

upon further review, the call on the field of "The Sky Is Green" stands. Reality is charged a time out and is out of challenges.

I love this company, but I really wish they'd evolve passed saves being preceded by entrance music. Interruptions preceded by pressing play on the theme music is fine and often great. Big saves I'll never understand the sacrificing of a more natural surprise element. I mean you can always fire up the music after the ring is cleared.

This.

My Tay Conti crush continues on.

Can't believe this was posted an hour ago and still nobody has made enquiries into whether or not you will stop.

Punk laying in body slams like old man Fuchi is legit my favourite thing in pro-wrestling right now

Thank you, Bryan Danielson. Thank you, Minoru Suzuki.

So who had a match on AEW's B show pre show (say that 3 times fast) ending up on moty lists..... Feels like one of those times where AEW inadvertantly overshadows lots of other good stuff by having one thing be like... too awesome and I can't believe that's something that is even possible. Really liked Ruby and Bunny, wondering who Ruby is gonna get as a partner against Penelope and Allie down the road. Fish has been outstanding in his two outings since getting here. I popped hard for the Gunn Club joke during Dark Order's promo too. Man, Matt Sydal has these sneaky moments where he makes people remember how good he can be, he had that banger vs. Kenny earlier this year now this. Really liking how Punk adjusts based on his opponents too. I know the talk of him being "happy" for the first time ever but this is reminding me of modern Tanahashi where the experience is really shining through which is weird for a dude who was off for 7 years. And yes, because I'm sure we all shouted it, Kaze Ni Nare~

What interested me the most in the Danielson match was how Suzuki's bonkers masochism threw him from his sort of overbearing zen confidence and lightness for the first time all year. And that only interested me so much here because it just meant they hit each other some more and harder and that's not really what I want out of a Danielson match, but it was an awesome preview for what's going to happen when he has to face another guy who he won't be able to intimidate or shake or move in the least in Orange Cassidy. Now that'll be something way more interesting to watch than a couple of guys really hitting each other as hard as they can.

I have not seen two guys saunter into a ring and produce a classic like that with such effortless brutality in a long time, if ever. My God, man My balls feel like concrete. And then every second of the actual televised show overachieves. Junior Dos Santos looked like he was having the time of his life. Bountiful amount of pro wrestling joy. My Crockett Cup runneth over.

Yeah, Malakai Black is the darkhorse third great wrestler to come in. This was like his answer to the two great matches 24 hours prior. That's how you get a young guy over without putting him over. The Lucha Bros/FTR match, on the other hand, was a wreck. I loved the Dark Order match. Bryan Danielson is fucking unreal. I love how they are now booking the women as Memphis studio wrestling.

Good wrestling show!!! Also, really loving the different venue choices. It's nice when shit isn't overproduced and cartoonish.

I need a cafe au lait, and a cigarette. Suzuki v Danielson was beautiful. I could watch that again and again. I really liked how much JDS and the rest of ATT seemed to be enjoying themselves. That enthusiasm really comes through and makes it so much better, and covers for the little shortfalls they might have. Though one of them at the end really clocked Jericho on the floor, I thought I sensed Jericho stiffen up and get a bit pissy. But then again he could’ve just been selling and doing a really good job.

Okay boomer.

I'd say that would have to be true every time. ? I mean, what other options are there?

Did the cameras miss something in the six-man? The crowd was chanting holy shit right before JDS got put through the table.

My God I needed to smoke a pack after Bryan / Suzuki and I don’t even smoke. Holy shit!

And? Just with American football and basketball alone, a good portion of them already have been playing organized sports for the more than half their life by the time they're a redshirt freshman or w/e. The regular joe who signs up for a job at that age ain't got 10 years experience in jackshit work related. All a collegiate athlete at a certain level in those respective sports has to do is stay on a track for another 2-3 years (which isn't a given of course cause you're playing against essentially mutants who also have otherworldly gifts) and they're absolutely a professional. Hell, even the corrupt ass NCAA *somewhat* decided these kids are basically pros anyway. It only took forever, but eventually it happened.

so i watched all 16 episodes (via the 4 TNA specials) of Global Force Wrestling "Amped". the overall presentation is low key. the look of the Orleans arena is fine, but there's not much to get excited about. I'm a fan of the six-sided ring, whereas i know many people aren't. The sound (on entrance music, on the handheld mics when in the ring, etc.) is overall pretty decent. The lights were, again, perfectly acceptable. Now that i'm thinking about how to word this, i feel like this phrase sums up GFW as a whole "it's alright" the matches: overall a pretty high quality. there was a lot of talent here, and none of the matches felt rushed. A few were a bit long to my taste, but there wasn't much that was "bad". It was nice seeing them play up the "worldwide" aspect, with Japanese wrestlers (Kushida, Seiya Sanada), and luchadores (Bestia 666, Los Luchas), and the Indian contingent (Bollywood Boyz, Sonjay Dutt). Would've liked to see this spotlighted even more. the tournaments: i love tournaments. Running 4 at the same time was too many. Especially over 16 episodes, you would go a month-plus between seeing or hearing about certain competitors. There were a total of 3 women's matches over 16 weeks. Unacceptable. The World Global Championship tournament finals were extremely obvious from the opening episode- Nick "Magnus" Aldis vs. Bobby Roode. everybody else was fodder. the pacing: these shows were timed horribly. EVERY episode started with a short hype video, followed by an 8 minute match, followed by 15 minutes of videos (sometimes a replay of the opening video) with the occasional in-ring promo, and then a 15 minute main event match, and capped off with a hype video for next week. This was exacerbated for me by watching multiple episodes in a row, but the formula wore itself out, fast. the announcers: Chael Sonnen did a good job of analyzing, connecting holds to their MMA counterparts, and a bit of fan rolled into one. The other guy (Cyrus Fees) was pretty bland, but that's the worst i can say about him. They tried to play up a playful antagonistic dynamic, but it usually fell flat. Not funny enough, not mean enough, and/or not sold enough. The worst part is that the commentary was added later, so they would talk up what the talent was doing now ("you can see him on WWE NXT"). It was off-putting. At one point, Chael spoils the final of the women's tournament (Chael: "from now on you can call her 'Champion'" Cyrus: ".....Yes, that's if she can get by this last challenge") This is also recorded during the time that TNA/Impact merges with GFW or whatever that mess was about, so Cyrus uses each of those names kind of interchangeably. overall, again, this was "alright". i can't imagine how this would have survived on traditional TV. I was ready for this to be over by around episode 12-13, but i toughed it out. I would love to hear Jarrett talk about this on his podcast, similar to his TNA pods. we'll see. P.S. Jeff Jarrett comes out to his TNA entrance theme. On the first chord, i got PTSD. i didn't even know that i had such a negative feeling about it.