The Man Known as Dan

Would anyone else want a Baldur’s Gate 3 thread when it goes into EA in *checks clock* a half hour? Not sure how much interest there would be.

Just for guessing sake, I’ll take a stab that 3 Marvel movies didn’t make the list, and they are Thor 2, Ironman 2, and Ant-Man 2 (which is a movie I enjoy but have seen nobody else be really high on). I am also regretting not making a ballot, even though I am woefully behind in most movie watching this decade, just to make sure Into the Spiderverse got a 1 vote.

Last community update before Baldur’s Gate 3 before early access dropped on character creation, and I wanted to share. https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1086940/view/2868188053546850136

The best part is you know he’s ranting somewhere about how unjust it is that he god banned and not Metal.

Also, they just had a flood in there main office, so that might be pushed back as well. Fingers crossed it isn’t.

Out of curiosity, is anyone else gonna be jumping on the Baldur’s Gate early access train? I’m more curious if it will justify its own thread on here next week.

This isn't proper context. They were up 16 points with 7 minutes left then allowed 21 points in less then 5 minutes.

Boy Atalnta sure is Atlantaing hard.

No matter what I'm gonna respect the shit out of the Nuggets after this post-season. You just sense they aren't gonna make this easy on the Lakers.

Coincidentally, Unseld is now being viewed by some for the Bulls coaching gig, which, yes please.

I’ll be blunt in saying this upgrade actually does feel like an upgrade and both DarkVelvet and Navy Nights are awesome skins. VaporRun is an awesome skin in a hilarious way.

I've been trying to think of the right way to word my response to the Hogan Bock thing for a bit, but first, Disc 3 results. 13. Crusher Blackwell vs. Da Crusher (No DQ) (2/26/84)- ½ star, 1.0 out of 10. OG Rating: 139th Holy Fuck what is this match. Fuck “Da Crusher” first off. No selling fucking everything, brings absolutely nothing to the table. Blackwell, god bless him, tries. He runs into the post so damned hard he moves the fucking ring. And the finish was legitimately pretty fun. But those 2 notes only give this a 1/4 of a star each, and, well, Fuuuuuuuuuck this match, and Fuck Da Crusher. 12. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Steve O & Buck Zumhofe (2/3 falls)- 2 ¾ stars, 5.5 out of 10.- OG Rating: 133rd This is more an angle then a match, but it was effective at what it was going for. Blackwell is distracted from a confrontation with the Blackjacks, and O and Hofe take adventage to score a quick fall. But since this was non title, Blackwell and Patera are just content that once they gain control, they are just gonna fucking destroy the babyfaces until the ref ends the match due to excessive violence. I liked It better then the last Steve O and partner match, as it’s a much better performance by the heels and a match that hit its points quicker. 11. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Billy Robinson (3/11/84)- 2 ¾ stars, 5.9 out of 10 OG Rating: 85th This is my first introduction to Jumbo in America and one of my very first matches watching Jumbo in a long time. And I came away from this match much more impressed with him then Robinson. And I’m almost pretty happy I’m almost done with Robinson at this point, because he’s such a frustrating worker for me on this set. He has amazing technical sequences that leave me eager to watch forward and then… completely stops working around that. Mostly because he’s playing babyface, I assume, and I would most likely much prefer him as a heel. But it does detract from this match a decent bit. Furthermore, for a guy as talented as Robinson, the choice of having his back getting worked on all match, and selling even basic movement as painful, and then hitting Gutwrench Suplexes. And heavy lifting inside out backbreakers is something I’d be super critical of Seth Rollins for doing on a WWE PPV, so I have to stick to my guns and be critical of it from Robinson. It doesn’t help that the move that set up the back issue is set off by a pretty harmless looking fall to the floor, and that the work on the back wasn’t super inventive, and even the positioning on the backbreaker wasn’t ideal as it was more over the butt. On top of that, there seems to be a noticable fast count on the finish which didn’t make any sense to me. Frustrating match. 10. Rick Martel vs. Brad Rheingans (9/9/84)- 3 stars, 6.3 out of 10 OG Rating: 74th This match had some work I liked a good deal, but between the camera cutting out at various points preventing us from getting a real feel for how the escapes were worked, in combination with the non-finish, I feel like I’m going to have to be lower on this match then I think it really was capable of. Incomplete match out of something that if we got a full version of I would be put higher. But I can’t be frustrated because this seemed to have just been shot by one random fan in 84 and that fan is a live saver. 9. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Blackjack Mulligan & Jerry Lawler- 3 ¼ stars, 6.8 out of 10. OG Rating: 57th Mulligan throws a really good punch and has good presence but adds just about nothing else to match. But Lawler is fucking GREAT in this match at every point, and Blackwell FINALLY having some really strong offense with the Samoan Drop and falling headbutts, and Patera giving an admirable performance. The finish is lacking and it and a frustrating performance keeps this from really taking it to the next level, but it has me actively craving a Blackwell/Lawler match. 8. Jim Brunzell vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (3/15/84)- 3 ¼ stars, 6.8 out of 10. OG Rating: 65th Fun match that kinda played it safe, which is a bit of a bummer, but also a match without any real flaws to point out. It’s just a rock solid story of a match worked safe that didn’t super play into Brunzell’s strengths, but showed that Brunzell can work in this style of match too. Crowd in Salt Lake was hot for him, and Jumbo worked what felt like was a standard match for him at this time (which is good). Not much more to add other then that everything. 7. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (6/14/84)- 3 ¼ stars, 6.9 out of 10. OG Rating: 45th This match to me is a pretty basic baseline good match. Bock does play vet being surprised by the young babyface pretty well, but Hennig doesn’t have much to bring to the table here. I get he’s supposed to be underdog babyface, but he’s kind of a sloppy bumper at points during this, and his offense, save for the one armbreaker spot that was legit good and a couple cool uses of the ropes, felt completely uninspired to me compared to the Martel matches I just came off of. This also felt like a good Bockwinkel performance, but not one of the best of the set. 6. Nick Bockwinkel, Mr. Saito, & Bobby Heenan vs. Blackjack Lanza & The Fantastic Ones- 3 ½ stars, 7.2 out of 10. OG Rating: 63rd A pretty good though not as great spiritual sequal to the Heenan Family against the High Flyers and Hogan, this match felt like an exact clone stylistically, with actually a better heel team overall. But the babyfaces were not nearly to the tier as Hogan and the High Flyers to me, and the match was hindered by the AWA classic too early of a finish. Saito, Bock, and Heenan are a masterclass of what to do in a six man, and this is a masterclass. 5. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (12/8/83)- 3 ¾ stars , 7.6 out of 10. OG Rating: 66th A really fun little match with a really shitty finish. Martel might be the best guy I’ve seen ever at working a headlock in a meaningful way, and this might be the best babyface performance on this set in a singles match not by Wahoo, and maaaaybe Brunzell. If I have one negative it’s that it felt like it ended just as it was really starting to get good. 4. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rick Martel (5/13/84)- 3 ¾ stars, 7.9 out of 10. OG Rating: 41st This is certainly the best Jumbo match of the set, as Martel is a great opponent, and the small stuff in this match all feels big, which is probably one of the biggest compliments I can give a wrestler overall. Martel is possibly the best wrestler ever at making basic holds look as painful as possible, as he goes full effort to make Headlocks and Hammerlocks look like high spots, and I love him for doing so. Jumbo is a game opponent here, and I came away from this match liking both more then I came in. My initial debate was if this match was quite 4 stars, and I ended up putting it just below that level due to a finish that could have been better 3. Crusher Blackwell & Shiek Adnan Al Kaissey vs. Da Crusher & Greg Gagne- 4 stars, 8.0 out of 10. OG Rating: 18th Wow, this really is a miracle match even more so then the Vachon match to me, though it’s 95% Gagne and Blackwell carrying this. Both are bumping like madmen, and Gagne spends almost ¼ of this match on the top rope looking for any way to hurt Blackwell. Great interference from Patera to get involved in any way possible, a fantastic hot tag from Gagne, and an awesome finish. Crusher’s punches are much sharper in this match, and Shiek is a trooper. It’s a match my gut said wasn’t 4 stars, but then I couldn’t come up with an actual argument against putting it there. 2. Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel (9/20/84)- 4 ¼ stars, 8.7 out of 10. OG Rating: 10th A pretty great followup to my current number 1, though it couldn’t quite make it to that tier for me. This match is worked more like a marathon, were both men are pushing with everything they have to gain the win, resulting in both men being absolutely dead tired and looking for pinfalls at any minor thing they could. It’s clearly a great great contest, with two fantastic workers doing there stuff, but it isn’t quite at my super top tier. 1. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel- (8/16/84)- 4 ½ stars, 9.2 out of 10 OG Rating: 28th Fuuuuuuck yes. THIS was the clincher match for Martel for me. This is my fucking dude. Which isn’t to take anything away from Bock, who was great in this. But the biggest moment on this entire set to me so far 40 matches in was Martel getting pumped and basically telling Bockwinkel to fuck his King of the Mountain, you aren’t the King of this place anymore, I am now. Martel is the most full effort wrestler I’ve ever seen in the best way. He tries to make everything he does look big, and Bock is an amazing foil for anyone, let alone him. The finish isn’t amazing overall, but it’s not even close to a botched finish some of the others on this set has felt like to me. Overall, I loved this match, as it felt like the real changing of the guard from the Bockwinkel as King era to the Martel era, and I couldn’t be happier to, at the time of writing, to put it as my new No.1 match overall. Disc Ending Notes: This disc's description can come down to "Rick Martel was amazing". This is also been the best disc so far by a good deal imo.

I'm getting flash backs to the the Chair Shot and AEW basically having to be dragged crying and screaming to agree to not do it again. Then I watch that shit and I'm pretty fucked up.

Point by point for your notes. I had a little Bock and Blackwell experience going in, but only a couple matches. Enough to know both intrigued me, and that Bock clearly was great. I had no experience with Vachon what so ever. The Bock-Robinson match was pretty fun. Robinson in general was kind of a let down on this set for me, spoiler on the other matches I’ve seen with him. For a guy who was hyped as a great technical wrestler, boy he couldn’t sell a leg for shit. Disc 1 was the Jim Brunzell disc in a lot of ways to me. The Bock match was really good, and I was impressed with Brunzell, but I was more attributing that match to Bock with Brunzell being a good dance partner. It was the Adonis match that made me want to deep dive into Brunzells career, as I really enjoyed that match almost entirely from what Jim was doing. Bock/Gagne was a fine match, but didn’t jump high on my scale, but that Bock/Hogan match was something else. I’m not sure if it would resonate with you nearly as much as it did with me, but I can go into more detail on why that match stood out. As stated, it’s inverse Brock vs. Cena. Bock has been the king of AWA for about a decade at that point. Hogan was the new hot shit riding a wave of unprecedented momentum and popularity. But Bock is confident. He’s faced down tons of guys who all had been hyped as the next guy, and he’s turned them all back. Even in the prematch, Bock isn’t intimidated one little bit. And then the bell rings, and Hogan just runs him over like he’s a squirrel trying to cross a highway and a semi truck came barreling in. And it plays into what makes Bock Bock to me. I’ve came up with the analogy between Bock and Flair that the main differential as characters is Flair is a man who is all about false confidence and projection. He claims to be the best in the world but deep down he knows he isn’t. It’s why he has the Horseman, and why his matches consist of him getting his ass kicked a large portion of the time. Bockwinkel, on the other hand, KNOWS he’s the best wrestler in the world, even when he isn’t (in kayfabe, I mean). He’s always supremely confident, and when the faces get one up on him it usually comes down to in his head that they got lucky, but when he regains control his swagger gets back going as his confidence rises. Which is why this match, specifically there first meeting, is special. Bock comes in confident, but rapidly realizes Hogan isn’t just bigger, or stronger, or faster. He’s just straight better. He never gets any offense that isn’t based on him cheating for control, and he can never hold control for long. He is an incredibly talented man trying to survive a Tidal Wave, but even an incredibly talented man is just a man. It’s also sold beautifully after the match, as Bock actively tries to dodge Hogan after this result, because for the first time in his entire career Bock fought a man he had no answers for.

Disc 2 14. Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura vs. Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon (1/16/83)- 2 ¼ 4.5 stars OG Finish: 137th Boy, the babyfaces in this match sure cheated a bunch. Like, Hogan and Mad Dog went to biting the opponents at least a half dozen times. Patera is by far the “Worker” of this match but didn’t have a high end night. Jesse didn’t do much of anything. There was a segment were Hogan worked Face in Peril, which should never be a thing, as he’s a real good hot tag and not an engaging seller TO the tag. 13. Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Steve O and Dino Bravo (8/28/83)- 2 ½ stars, 5.4 out of 10. OG Finish: 129th Blackwell and Patera take some great bumps, Bravo has some good punches, and Steve O is damn good at fighting out of a bearhug. Sadly, that might be where my positives of this match end. This just didn’t hit me in any real way, and it was hindered once more by a bad cut: We miss the heels gaining control of Steve O after a way too long stretch of babyface shine, which is really hindered by a commercial break costing us watching the heels take control. 12. Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Saito (8/28/83)- 2 ¾ stars, 5.5 out of 10. OG Finish: 101st Good god this crowd. The match is nothing in a way, but they basically worked the match the way they had to with this crowd. Everytime Saito got any offense it was with absurd levels of cheating setting it up. But if Saito got long control in this match I think the crowd would have rioted. It’s good for what it’s going for, which is basically a squash match to a degree. 11. Hulk Hogan vs. Adrian Adonis (10/17/82)- 2 ¾ stars, 5.5 stars. OG Finish: 146th This was a bottom 5 match on the set? I mean, it’s not a blow away, but this was a pretty good match, that I have no real complaints about it overall. It’s a good performance by Adonis who doesn’t take any “Okay, reign it in a little” bumps, and Hogan continues to be the Best Worst Face in Wrestling History. 10. Hulk Hogan vs. Nick Bockwinkel (4/24/83)- 3 stars, 6.0 out of 10. OG Finish: 69thth How am I supposed to rank this match? This match is both interesting in the work (Though not nearly as good as the previous Hogan/Bock match imo), and infuriating in multiple different ways. I’m not opposed to ref bumps in matches, but this might be the worst performance from a referee I’ve ever seen. First he makes up a kickout that clearly didn’t happen (!!!), then he completely telegraphs not just 1, but 2 (!!!) ref bumps well in advance. And the Dusty Finish was atrocious. That took away from what had previously been 9. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Mad Dog Vachon (11/24/83)- 3 stars 6.1 out of 10. OG Finish: 97th This match both features an example of why Vachon could be super fun but was also completely done. This is a match were th combined age of the guys in the match is 103, and it is kinda worked that way, especially due to Vachon not being able to take bumps. But he still has presence, and Bock can work around almost anyone and does a good job in this one to do so. This actually illustrates the miracle chemistry between Blackwell and Vachon, as Bock is a much more complete wrestler then Blackwell but just can’t put together a match nearly as good as those two. 8. Mad Dog Vachon & Verne Gagne vs. Jerry Blackwell & Shiek Adnan Kaissey- 3 stars, 6.2 out of 10. OG Finish: 83rd Kind of a breath of fresh air, and it gave me exactly what I wanted out of this: A fantastic Jerry Blackwell performance, Mad Dog punching people, and Shiek and Verne also being there. Verne throws a good dropkick but doesn’t add much else, and Shiek just doesn’t add much at all. 7. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Brad Rheingans (7/3/83)- 3 ¼ stars, 6.9 out of 10. OG Finish: 99th Another fun little episode of “Nick Bockwinkel is insanely versatile” series this entire thing is so far. And Rheingans is a fun little counter for Bock here, as this is a fun little 10 minute draw to establish Brad as a challenger for Bock that does it’s job well. This isn’t gonna be a super high finisher, but it’s a match that hits all the points it was supposed to hit. Brad has some fun mat work, a really nice monkey flip spot, and Brad is game to give Bock good moves to work with. Good fun here. 6. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (3/13/83)- 3 ½ stars, 7.4 out of 10. OG Finish: 54th Solidly good match between two guys I feel can do better. These two do seem like pretty perfect rivals for each other, as Martel is a fantastic working babyface and Bock is a masterful heel. Martel has some strong comebacks and sells like a champ, but my favorite part of this match was actually the King of the Mountain spot, were Bock just kept getting more and more confident and cocky during it. This is solidly in the good not great category for me. 5. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. The High Flyers- 11/24/83. 3 ¾ stars, 7.5 out of 10 OG Finish: 26th A damn fine tag match, with a really strong shine sequence with Gagne and Brunzell working over limbs damn well. The match does drop a bit during the heel control, which I’m noticing is actually a weak spot in Blackwell’s game, as Patera is stronger in that element. It’s a bullshit finish, but the type of bullshit finish I expect and don’t mind at all. 4. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon (Taped Fist Match) (3/13/83)- 4 stars, 8.2 out of 10. OG Finish: 31st First off, Von Raschke and Kaissey play there roles in this very well, and that’s for two guys I had no expectations for. But this match is just Mad Dog Vachon punching Jerry Blackwell in the fucking face and I LOVE IT for that. We get some stuff I wish we had in this match, but unlike the Martel and Santana/High Flyers, it doesn’t bug me we missed it. Outstanding performance from Vachon and Blackwell, and I would assume this is a very safe bet for my top 25. 3. Mad Dog Vachon vs. Jerry Blackwell (Algerian Death Match) (5/22/83)- 4 ¼ stars, 8.8 out of 10. OG Finish: 19th I would have been mighty shocked if you told me I’d watch a Mad Dog Vachon match at the start of this set and I’d be wishing it went 3-5 minutes longer, but here we are. This was a war. Between Blackwell cheating and having what would be an easy win after 3 major bombs early if not for the stip, to Vachon charging back with his amazing punches, to Blackwell taking an absolute shit kicking outside. 2 post shots that would make Nigel McGuinness blush. A chair shot around the head. Then we get back in the ring, and the ass kicking continues, finally finishing with a fucking top rope knee drop that was about as much of a shoot knee drop as possible. 2. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Wahoo McDaniel (8/23/83)- 4 ¼ stars, 8.9 out of 10. OG Finish: 4th So this is interesting because we watched this one twice, because on first viewing we completely missed the No DQ announcement. 2nd viewing was a big improvement, and I already liked it. This is a very grounded match in terms of how it’s worked, and it escalates into a no-nonsense brawl very very quickly. And this is a damned good brawl that tells a simple story very very well. Bock goes for every advantage he can get, using the No DQ stip to use chair shots and throwing Wahoo over the top. Really, this is a classic master of the basics, with a great advancing performance from Wahoo through a damn good blade job. 1. Ken Patera, Jesse Ventura, & Bobby Heenan vs. Hulk Hogan & The High Flyers (3/13/83)- 4 ½ stars, 9.0 out of 10. OG Finish: 17th God fucking damn man. A crowd that is on fire, wrestlers who were fucking pumped to be in there, and strong performances all around. Hogan is a lightning rod, Brunzell also gave a super energetic hot tag and Gagne was damned good, Heenan was a fucking masterclass in this, and I now totally understand why people would rate him in there top 100 wrestlers, Patera was a star all over this, and this is the best match Ventura was ever in, I’m sure. I can’t point out a flaw in this match and it’s strengths are so high. I assume this will be a top 10 contender for me. Disc Ending Notes. No real controversial notes, just really loved this disc. The Vachon/Blackwell chemistry is mind blowing, and I can safely be counted as a Vachon mark.

DISC ONE 16. Jerry Blackwell vs. Billy Robinson (12/3/81)- 2 stars, 4.0 out of 10. Match finished 128th out of 150 in the original project. I had high hopes for this, and sadly they didn’t meet them. The legwork early and the Blackwell using arm drags stuff was interesting. But boy did this fall off as it went going, with a bad finish and inconsistent leg selling, First match I can’t view as “average” on the set, which is a sad case of missed potential. 15. The High Flyers vs. The East-West Connection (3/22/81) (Cage Match) 2 ½ stars, 5.0 out of 10. OG Finish: 33rd. I do wonder if I would be higher on this if we got to see the actual shine. There are elements here that are really fun, with Gagne making a firey hot tag, but it has too many lows for me to put it up above average. The finish is some what nonsensical, as after a chain shot to KO Gagne Adonis rushes to the top of the cage for a splash, that misses. And I knocked this down a LOT over that nonsensical. 14. Big John Studd & Jerry Blackwell vs. The High Flyers (2/20/81)- 2 ½ 5.1 out of 10. OG Finish: 77th This is a match were I was more impressed with elements of the workers in this then I was of the match itself. Blackwell is a great stagger seller, a great asset at his size. Studd is actually mobile in this and his bearhug on Gagne makes Gagne look like a child. Brunzell throws a great dropkick and Bodyslams Studd in a holy shit spot. But, the match itself was Gagne getting Bear Hugs to diminishing returns, the finish was silly as one punch knocks out Blackwell, and this is more just a standard fair type of match. 13. Lord Alfred Hayes vs. Bobby Heenan (1/13/80)- 2 ½ stars, 5.2 out of 10. OG Finish: 110th Fun manager vs. manager match, most notable for a fun heel performance from Heenan and Hayes one upping his heel tactics with his own. It’s a solid match of this style. 12. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Pat O’Connor (3/22/81)- 2 ½ stars, 5.3 out of 10. OG Finish: 144th This is a match that made me wish 2 things. Number 1: We got more of the footage, though I do think it has a place on the set. Number 2: I wish we could see more O’Connor in his prime, cause he looks damned good for his age, and I imagine he looked much better when not in his 50’s. This has some fun ground work sections, very lively selling from Bockwinkel, and a basic heel grabs the tight finish. If I saw a full match it would probably be 20-30 spots higher on a finish list, but with what we have, I can only put it so high. 11. Hulk Hogan, Buck Zumhoffe, & Baron Von Raschke vs. Bobby Heenan, Ken Patera, Bobby Duncum (2/28/82)- 2 ¾ stars, 5.8 out of 10.- OG Finish: 103rd Poor Zumhoffe in here to get his ass kicked and nothing else. Actually, fuck that, beat him up harder. But yeah, this match exists to give Hogan and Raschke hot tags, and get the heels over by having them cheat as much as they fucking can to get even more heel heat. It does it well, but it doesn’t move the needle much past slightly above average for me. Hogan is a fantastic hot tag, Von Raschke is an okay one. 10. Greg Gagne vs. Super Destroyer Mark II (5/1/80)- 3 star, 6.4 out of 10. OG Finish: 89th A few minutes cut from the opening. Destroyer is damn good with his arm work in this match, with a great looking shoulder breaker, whipping Gagne’s arm into anything he can, and even stretching the fingers out to get any damage that he can. I liked this match a lot in the first 2/3rd, and less as we hit the finishing stretch due to Destroyer either being winded or off base. Also, Gagne was a very solid fired up babyface here, and was super consistent with his arm selling, hitting shoulder blocks and taking the bigger bump due to his damaged arm. Distraction finish isn’t my favorite, but it didn’t really hinder the match to any real degree in my opinion. 9. Verne Gagne vs. Nick Bockwinkel (7/18/80)- 3 ¼, 6.5 out of 10. OG Finish: 135th Bockwinkel in this gets to show just how good he is at working the basics, but sadly it feels like he’s working the basics because it’s just about all Verne can do at this stage of his career. Verne isn’t bad by any means at these elements, adding a fair deal in the work on the ground in regards to his counter game. But the basicness of this match does limit it, as even though Bock is doing his best to make everything here count and play to the stadium crowd, it does feel a bit too slow for me. It was a real debate between this and the Gagne/Destroyer Mark II match, were I basically came to the conclusion while the high ends of the Gagne/Destroyer match are higher, the consistentcy of this match gave it the tightest edge. 8. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Billy Robinson (12/25/81)- 3 ¼ stars, 6.7 out of 10. OG Finish: 114th A match that is compelling in it’s work at times and makes you think this could have been better at others. Some of the headlock work was very engaging. And other times it’s just Robinson sitting on it with Bockwinkel not doing much to counter out. There is some very good offense as we hit the closing stretch, including the fantastic Inside Out Backbreaker, but it only getting a 1 count didn’t feel earned, or felt like it was a mistake. The finish would did it’s job as a Dusty, but the camera angle makes the finish weird to me. I understood it on replay, but the hard camera doesn’t make it clear what occurred. 7. High Flyers vs. East-West Connection, (3/1/81)- 3 ½ star rating, 7.2 out of 10. OG Finish: 50th This is a match with a clear purpose of building heat to the pay off match in this feud, and it hits all it’s marks in spades. The babyfaces control early, but not at a rapid pace, and the heels have to run outside of the ring multiple times, seemingly building to the Cage match coming in a few weeks. When the heels gain control for the 1st time, Ventura is obviously not the worker in the team with Adonis, but he gives a solid accounting of himself here, though Adonis is a bump machine at various points, throwing himself into his bumps like a crazy person. Gagne is solid in this match, if not spectacular, but Brunzell has fantastic fire to me, and while I’m not much of a “How pretty is your dropkick?” guy, it’s hard to argue against how nice Brunzells is. The finish, a double count out/double dq, while not the perfect finish for a match, succeeds in making me excited to watch them fight again soon, which makes it convenient that I know they have a cage match coming. 6. Tito Santana & Rick Martel vs. High Flyers (8/29/82) 3 ¾ stars 7.5 out of 10- OG Finish: 11th A match that everyone got to look really good and a match that at the end of the day left me frustrated. And I don’t think any of my frustration came from the workers, but it all came from the people who put the match together for TV. It’s such a frustrating case of just taking out the wrong stuff. They open with 5 minutes of headlocks, which sounds boring, but Martel and Santana keep it engaging. That’s all well and good, but we don’t get to see the High Flyers actually figure out there counter game plan. Late in the match after working over Tito’s leg, Martel came in and they talked about how he also got his leg worked on… but we never saw that. So we lost not one, but TWO vital story telling elements of this match, and that is quite frustrating. But I’m still ranking it high because the work between the four was very very good. Martel and Gagne did these fantastic rope run up spots during the headlock spot that were super strong. That tag transitions were super good overall. And the finish! Brunzell with the bling tag dropkick from hell! The good in this far outweigh my frustrations. But I still only have it 6 of 16 right now because of bad editing and it pisses me the fuck off. 5. Jerry Blackwell & Shiek Adnan Al-Kaissie vs. The High Flyers- 3 ¾ stars, 7.6 out of 10- OG Finish: 14th This is what I was hoping for in a cage match the match against East-West would bring. Brunzell and Blackwell are fantastic in this match, Gagne gives a great performance, and Shiek looked much better then you’d expect. The only think keeping this from the upper end is we get less then 2/3rds. 4. Adrian Adonis vs. Jim Brunzell (6/28/81)- 3 ¾ stars, 7.6 out of 10. OG Finish: 86th Jim Brunzell was really really good. That was legit my main note from this match. You think of him as the great hot tag of the High Flyers, or as a good worker in the jobber team of the Killer B’s, but watching him work big singles matches as a more traditional mat worker is a treat. He’s constantly trying to make his holds more damaging, he jumps on chances to keep the advantage like a pitbull, and I wish we got a larger window to see what he could have done as a singles, or the Mid Atlantic footage from 79-80 was available. Adonis takes some great bumps here, as well as some mediocre “way too big for the move” bumps, but I loved Brunzell in this so much, god damn. 3. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jim Brunzell (6/11/81)- 3 ¾ stars, 7.7 out of 10 OG Finish: 71st A great example of how good Bock could be, and Brunzell was game to give a really good singles match on this night. The mat exchanges were really smartly worked, with Brunzell always winning them until Bockwinkel resorts to cheating. And every time momentum shifted in this match, it tended to be done quickly, especially Bocks transitions to offense. This is flat out my style of wrestling. 2. Greg Gagne and Super Destroyer II vs. Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan (10/3/80)- 3 ¾ stars, 7.8 out of 10: OG Finish: 72nd Very Good tag match, arguably the top heel manager as tag partner match I’ve seen. Bockwinkel and Heenan really are the perfect combo to each other, to the point that I think they are just a legit great tag team in general, with Bock getting to get beat down early before finally gaining control when Heenan gets in the ring, to eventually set up the tag so Heenan can get beat down. Gagne once more looks like a fantastic babyface both working the apron, getting beat down, and making a really fun hot tag. Destroyer would be my “weakest guy” in this match, but that’s more a statement on how high the average level of work was in this one, as he was rock solid wanting to get his hands on Heenan. It’s a really fun finish, with the heels cheating to win, and the angle to follow sends the crowd home happy even with the heel victory. The stooging post match from Bock and Heenan almost pushed this to 4 star, but I think I can only really give the ratings for the match itself. 1. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Hulk Hogan (4/18/82)- 4 ¼ stars 8.5 out of 10. OG Finish: 96th During the conversation, Johnny said that this match is like a Lesnar/Cena Summerslam match with the face and heel dynamic reversed, and I think that’s a great description. Bock is a masterclass here, selling perfectly all over the ring, doing anything and everything he can think of not to win, or even to gain a real advantage, but just to survive the bigger, stronger, and quicker Hogan. Hogan gives a very good Hogan performance, but this is a total Bock performance. The finish is an obvious Dusty, and we can have debates till the end of time on if they should have just given Hogan the belt (At the end of the day, I don’t think it mattered, as Hogan was gonna go to the WWF regardless), but in the context of just the match, I don’t care. Disc Ending Notes Wow, I really didn't agree with the conventional wisdom on this one at all. So, to voters on the original list: Anything you guys think I'm missing? I thought the Hogan/Bock match was by far the best match on the Disc, and it only finished 96th? The Cage match with the total nonsensical finish finished 33rd? Also, everyone has been holding out on me on Jim Brunzell, who is actively really good.

Hey there DVDVR people. So, I've recently been watching the AWA set with my friend Johnny (With also recently drop ins from my other friend Steven), and we are on Disc 4 but I wanted to post my thoughts on it, and what better place then here! I'll be posting my thoughts on matches by Disc, and then give a rundown of the entire project when we are done. I will be posting my rankings of the matches, in reverse order, for each Disc for dramas sake cause I'm that guy. How I rank matches: 5 Stars: Best match ever. I have given zero matches 5 stars in my current ranking style. 4 1/2 stars: Legitimate Match of the Year Contender. High End Match I would recommend to anyone and everyone to watch. 4 Star: Great match, something I would recommend for fans of that style to watch. 3 1/2 Star Match: Good match, Something I might personally rewatch again at a later date, but nothing I think is essential viewing for anyone. 3 Star Match: Above Average Match: A match with good work and something I enjoyed, but didn't feel noteworth enough for me to really consider rewatching at a later date. 2 1/2 star Match: Average Match: It's... a match that exists, and there is either nothing overly wrong with it or it's strengths and weaknesses basically feel pretty even.

Easy. Thatcher Demko. The long and short of it.

I'm super interested in this one, just because I have my own projects like this I'm working on, and AJPW is such a weird missed area for me.

I'm kind of just blindly staring ahead in shock. Like processing this isn't on the table at the moment. Just..... I don't know what to type or say.

What the ever loving fuck.

As someone who enjoys DA:I, no way does it top DA:O for me. Which is at least partially due to the the RPG elements being so much stronger in Origins. Mages specifically have just insane options and playing as a Mage in the games since has been nowhere near as compelling to me.

I just want to say Bill and Ted actually getting favorable reviews warms my heart.

There are a few moments that encapsulate Triple H and why people loathe him in the 2000’s, and him pushing the “you can’t wrestle” narrative while Cena basically wasn’t allowed to counter that point in any real way is pretty high on the list. Also amusing as Cena was a significantly better wrestler then Hunter was. It’s still not my number one on my “fuck this guy” scale (Number one being London and Kendrick saving him from a 3 on 1 beat down, and Hunter Pedigreeing both for no reason, a move in which basically was the final burial of my favorite tag team of that era), but it’s high on the list.

Good to know it’s not just me who felt some what off about it. Might also be my hype for Baldurs Gate 3 which is a game seemingly made just for me.