Greggulator

If we do, expect a 20,000 word missive from me about this fantastic Rey/Kidman vs. Juvi/Eddie match from some random Nitro in '98 or so that was amazing. I think I might have voted that number one in some poll, too. That and Steiners vs. MVC and Dustin/Steamboat vs. The Enforcers ("HE'S JUST A MAN!) are three of my favorite matches ever.

Clash 19 is one of my favorite rasslin' shows EVER. It's the first round of the NWA Tag Team tournament. It's so great. It features: Doc and Gordy ruining the skeletal systems of an Australian father/son team. Pillman/Lyger vs. Benoit and Beef Wellington in a total barnburner. The FREEBIRDS VS. EL TEXANO AND SILVER KING! And it's later day, Garvin and Hayes awful and slow Freebirds against a lucha team. One of the all-time great WTF pairings. Ricky Steamboat and Nikita vs. Joe and Dean Malenko! (I don't think this match was particularly good but it's the Malenkos!) Barry and Dustin vs. Arn and Beautiful Bobby. (This needs a rewatch today.) The main event is amazing. It's Doc and Gordy vs. The Steiners. This got set up because The Steiner's first-round opponents were "mysteriously injured" at the hands of Doc and Gordy, who wanted some of the Steiners ASAP. They put on a 20-minute match that's essentially an actual fight. Just a potato-fest and brutal and everything great about wrestling. I think in some Best of the 90s WCW poll here or elsewhere I voted it number one.

I'm of the opinion that Tony Parker is the most underrated player of the past two decades. He's so wonderfully and consistently brilliant in every facet of professional basketball. Somehow, he's only made three All-NBA teams. That seems so ridiculously low. He's won three titles and has been the best player on a team a lot of years on the team that has been one of the two or three best teams every year for most of my adult life. He's a historic player and doesn't get his due until he puts up what he did yesterday, and then everyone remembers what he does on the regular.

Yeah, I thought that match was a blast, actually. Tamina has really turned it around. I think she's been secretly very good in her role as AJ's muscle flunky. She looked like really good in this. Paige, of course, is pretty fantastic. I'm really excited for the inevitable AJ vs. Paige match. I think that match has a lot of potential.

WCW was pretty national, thanks to TBS and cable spreading. Also, they had a big foothold in Chicago and had a lot of PPV events there. I'd imagine they ran a bunch of shows elsewhere in AWA country. Also, Flair toured the country with the NWA belt. I'd imagine NWA/WCW fans watched him in places like WCCW (we got that in New York). And there were also all of the magazines, too. I love Bock so much. I sort of loved that he didn't want to travel too much, so he avoided getting the NWA belt or moving to other regions in the late 80s. He got to do his Jack Nicklaus routine at the dying days of AWA and that wouldn't have worked elsewhere. Although the thought of Bobby Heenan grabbing Dusty's legs from out under him so Bock could win the NWA Title and the resulting gloat-fest promo afterwards is something the world really needs.

Annnnnd that's the Big E we need.

Anyone watching the Cesaro/Heyman press conference will see why Cesaro is so friggin' great as a heel. Oh my god, this is a master class in being a smug prick. Heyman is also terrific. "I have nothing but respect for you, ma'am. And I only have a little of that."

Maybe so, but it doesn't do anything for Bray Wyatt. He won via a diabolical, twisted plot. He found Cena's kryptonite.

For the "Cena always overcomes the odds" criticism -- So does Spiderman, Superman, etc. So did Hogan. He's the WWE's superhero. He's there to overcome the odds. But this time, it was one too many.

Okay, here is my review on Wyatt/Cena -- This match wasn't structured like a traditional wrestling match, obviously. This was a classic story format than anything else. It had an introduction, rising action (the villain can't beat Cena on his own so his goons get involved slowly over the match), the superhero who has overcome everything before fighting for his legacy like never before digging down deep, only to get me with the physical manifestation of everything he is fighting for turned against him, leading to his downfall. Then there's the denoument afterwards with the Little Johnny sheep mask promo.

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

This Daniel Brayn press conference that's on now is so, so, so great.

What an incredibly weird, bizarre and somewhat insane show. Kudos, WWE, for really going for something completely different and beyond "A lot of matches with weapons shots." 1) The pre-show WeeLC match was a really fun garbage car wreck. That was the only thing they can really hope for with something like that. 2) The Triple Threat match was fun. I didn't know (and I don't thing anyone knew) it was an elimination 3-way. But there were a lot of fun spots in it. That's the only real way to use RVD at this point -- just to have him do his spots and somehow his opponents have to try and put the actual storyline behind it. But it was solid. 3) The BoLieve promo with the pregnancy test is a high-water mark for comedy. 4) The Rusev match was exactly what was predicted. The "slamming Xavier's face against the exposed steel" didn't look as crazy as they thought it probably should have. A little surprised it didn't involve a Double Accolade. 4A) BIG UPS to Lana giving a shout-out to Vladimir Putin. That is so friggin' hilarious cheap heat. 5) Barrett vs. Big E was a really good match between two guys who know what they're doing. They should turn Big E heel, though. Or put him back to NXT for a little bit and bring him back with something else. But solid match. 6) Shield vs. Evolution was straight up Memphis/ECW and awesome. I think it's a shade down from The Shield vs. Wyatts matches -- the Evolution heat segments got a bit tedious at times, whereas those matches were just crazy throughout. But this was still aces. Rollins taking that dive was awesome. I love Ambrose, so much. 7) I imagine Wyatt vs. Cena will be the most polarizing match in ages. I'll write about that separately because I thought that match was really friggin' epic and crazy and not like anything else, ever. 8) Paige and Tamina REALLY went out there trying to steal the show. Good on them. Tamina swinging Paige into the ring railing was awesome. Paige is so, so, so good. 9) The Main Event was an Attitude Era garbage match. That's not exactly something I thought I'd ever see Daniel Bryan in. I think it's the best possible format for a match with Kane, though. The very end, though, with Kane's music and flames was dumb. Bryan won and should have walked out victorious.

Bray beat DB. And he did so by catching him during his dive and throwing his head against a railing in the best spot of the year, in what would have been the best match of the year if the Elimination Chamber match against The Shield didn't happen. Yeah, but both parties moved on like nothing happened? That's every feud, though. They're not unique in that.

Bray beat DB. And he did so by catching him during his dive and throwing his head against a railing in the best spot of the year, in what would have been the best match of the year if the Elimination Chamber match against The Shield didn't happen.

Talk about an oversell. He's not even close to the Mike Trout of wrestling. I like most of what he's done but I wonder if the Wyatt family really has legs. What's Bray Wyatt in 3 years? Barring injury I'm fairly certain Trout will be one of the top 3 players in baseball. I cannot say the same thing about Bray and the WWE.Plus he better not run this dumb singing into the ground. Bray Wyatt in three years is likely headlining WrestleMania. Maybe even before then.

ALBERTO DEL RIO VS. DOLPH ZIGGLER, PAYBACK 2013 -- This match is great. ADR looks like an absolute monster of a person in this. Not as in "he's a world beater" but he's a ruthless piece of human garbage who goes well beyond acceptable standards of competitive decency in order to win his title. Ricardo is such an awesome, sad little man whose only sense of worth comes form his boss's success. AJ puts in A+ work as the concerned girlfriend. Great booking decision to have Big E get thrown out in the match early (for showing concern) -- it explains why he's not involved early and also adds to the sympathy that Dolph gets. And that's what this match is about. Dolph gets sympathy from the audience. Austin/Bret is the standard-bearer for the Double Turn. But in that match, Austin proves without a shadow of a doubt that he is the toughest SOB who ever lived and you have to come so close to flat-out killing him in order to stop him. Whereas Bret ends the match like a true bully crybaby who is pissed he got outshined even in triumph. This is different. The audience, in this, feels bad for Dolph. It's super admirable he's in this match, and hitting a late Zig Zag. People should be able to earn respect in a battle between two ruthless alpha males. But earning sympathy? That's a lot more difficult in many ways.

Here's an article I wrote about the meanings, mysteries, wonders and juxtapositions of Bray Wyatt!

LINE CUTTER! The NBA is a little bit better when Portland has a good team. Those crowds are great. Such a fun team.

Bo Dallas' new theme song is called "Shoot for the Stars." That is all.

The six-man on Smackdown is ridiculously good. Super stiff, brutal, crazy bumps, etc. The Wyatts lay the faces to waste post-match. Big ups to Jimmy Uso, who was willing to take a year or two off of his life when eating one of the most insane lariats in years from Harper, just a few minutes after he out-Dustined/Rollins'd on a Sister Abigail. Lana talks about the foolishness of sanctions against Mother Russia. AWESOME. I can't wait to write a think piece for Foriegn Affairs about this. Rusev also risks lifelong mobility taking a back bump to the floor. Kudos, Rusev.

I loved it when Carlito poisoned Big Show with his apple. Carlito's shirt was also really cool.

My alma La Salle is chasing this kid hard. He's from Senegal and has played basketball for less than two years. He's 7'5", still growing. He wears crazy goggles when he plays. He's from Senegal. He has a 4.0 GPA. He goes by the name "Tacko." I have never wanted to land a recruit more than this kid.

Bray also had an out prepared to deal with the possible Husky chants. He had some crazy backstory where Husky got possessed by a demon that transformed him into Bray. He even responds to tweets asking him about it stuff like "I NEEDED A VESSEL!"

The WWE After Raw DVD looks fun... But imagine how much better an "ECW After The Show" DVD would have been?