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Go2Sleep

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Posts posted by Go2Sleep

  1. We are all old.  These lists are written by "millenials" who don't know shit about The Bulldogs,Tully & Arn or Demolition.  They look at these teams the same way we'd look at Frank & Emil Dusek.

     

    When I was young, I'd tout the WWF stars of the 80s and tell my elders that Sammartino wasn't shit.  Now we're the old guys and kids are telling us Dynamite Kid wasn't shit.  And so it goes.

     

    Yep. If it makes you feel better, in 20 years some kid not even born yet will be like "Daniel Bryan? Pffft..." and they will experience the same emotion Bazzil is now.

  2. Did some re-watches today to update my list.

     

    I'm very comfortable with my top 5 as is. Forgot how good Bryan/Reigns was. It looks so much better 6 months down the line when you can forget what a shitty hand they were dealt at the time. No one wanted to see Bryan lose his spot, but the match told the story perfectly. The top 2 are as hard-hitting and action-packed as you want, Brock is pretty easily WOTY in WWE for me. No one has presence like him. Every match, every segment he's been in feel like they're on another level. Owens/Zayn seems like the forgotten great match of the year. Perfect character clash and Zayn's bumping was ridiculous. If you like matches where the heel looks strong, this has to be among your faves this year. Sasha/Becky is a respect match second only to Zayn/Cesaro in recent memory with an impact in wrestling beyond MOTY lists.

     

    There was some shuffling and adding outside of the top 5, though. The first Owens/Balor tv match is a really underrated fighting spirit match. It was the biggest mover for sure. I also realized I short-changed the NXT women by not including the 4-way from Rival on my list. Upon re-watch, that was very well put together, and had great torch-passing finish. Definitely belongs on any MOTY list this year. I added Ambrose/Show for the good pacing and creative finish. Neville/Rollins from Raw moved into the top 10 immediately, on first watch it's easily the best "open challenge" match this year, but I will need to re-visit Cesaro/Cena 2 and the Cesaro/Owens/Rusev 3-way when they hit the network.

  3. Echoing Rollins/Neville being insanely good. Neville busted out some cool shit. Rollins used his balance and agility for bumping purposes, which made Neville's moves look even better. The finishing run was really strong without any real finisher kickouts. It had a "real sports feel" where the likable underdog almost pulled off a big win over the obnoxious dynasty team, but a terrible ref call and a bad bounce at the end cost them. Like if that match was a football game, the gameday thread would be littered with "fuck these refs," "fix is in," and "*insert team* is such overrated garbage" shit posts. Two weeks in a row that Raw has produced a MOTYC. Only thing missing was not using this prime opportunity to have Rollins ditch the terrible forced pedigree and debut some sort of knee-to-the-face finisher.

     

    The tag division might be the most underrated thing in WWE right now. Every week is just really solid output. That dive sequence was really well done. PTPs come across as real champs in the ring and on the mic.

     

    Submission Sorority is an ok name, I'm just glad they came up with something that doesn't start with "Team." Also debuting that team name and giving them two submission wins was such sensible and good booking, I was a bit surprised to see it, although everything with the women thus far has been on point. I think WWE is missing the boat by not using the name "Bella Club."

     

    Owens/Cesaro promo was good too. Cesaro looked like a boss, a nice contrast to Owens DILLIGAF backyarder look. It was also the best he's sounded on the mic in WWE. His smirk when he ad-libbed that rib on Owens getting stuck in his chair was nice.

     

    Kind of an odd choice for the main, but that's the kind of match that needs to close the show more to get different guys that exposure. I liked Sheamus' uncomfortable laugh when he was included in the Wyatts' promo.

  4.  

    Please tell me someone else here played the Virtua Figher games as much as me and immediately thought "Jeffry" when that Valenzuela Jr guy showed up.

     

    His finish should be a kick to the gut followed by a Powerbomb

     

     

    Been a while since someone's used a seated senton too.

  5. I love Sasha and think she should be pushed heavily, but there are still times when you can see her missing a beat in the ring. Not many mind you, but she's just not as smooth and polished as Becky whose gimmick is mostly "good wrestler." I think it's also fair to say that Sasha not just got out of Charlotte's shadow, but actually turned the tables on Charlotte largely on the back of Becky Lynch.

  6. There is no way Paige is worse than Summer Rae. No way. Anyway, here's my 2015 NXT women power rankings.

     

    1. Becky Lynch - She's got the most experience by far, and it shows. No one's better at putting a match togehter and keeping it together.

    2. Sasha Banks - Definitely her breakout year. She's got all the pieces, and is already super good without having all of them in place yet.

    3. Charlotte - She's boom or bust, but definitely more boom over the past year or so which keeps her average output high.

    4. Emma - Very steady, and seems to be better as a heel. Definitely on the right track after not working out the first time on the main shows.

    5. Bayley - Somewhat overrated, but can still have good matches with good opponents. Also has her character down pat.

    6. Alexa Bliss - Shown flashes in the ring, and appears to be solidifying her character as a heel. Blake and Murphy are a drain on her, though.

    7. Blue Pants - The designated jobber is an important and underappreciated role, and she does it well. Probably shouldn't do more than that.

    8. Dana Brooke - Still not there in the ring, but she shows glimpses of being a great heel. Should get better with experience.

    9. Carmella - Easily the worst of the women with regular tv time. Not much improvement with her character or ring work. Gets booed while paired with Enzo...

     

    Jury's still out on Eva, Jessie, and Cassie. Just not enough material from them yet to make a fair assessment.

  7. I think she's had good matches with Nattie, Alicia, Naomi, and Nikki.

     

    And at least one with AJ too. I'm sure she would've looked a lot better if she was in NXT all of last year with their fresh talent, focused booking, and fan support, but Paige has been making the most with what she had. I think Paige/Sasha was slightly better than the last Charlotte/Sasha match. Not as good as the Takeover classics, but well above the usual weekly matches. It was a smooth match where both girls got to show a lot without any finisher overkill, and Sasha got the clean win in a match that was booked 50/50 and could've gone either way. It was really sound structurally and in the context of the angle.

  8. I'm a bit surprised people are down on any aspect of this show. I thought it was easily the best Raw of the year with a couple low-end MOTYC's and no x4 material outside of the recaps.

     

    Nobody has said a word about Ambrose/Show? I know it sounds skippable on paper, but this was really good. Ambrose just constantly moving forward, and Show not budging. Really good character work from both guys and the finish was different and cool. It's like they read my mind about wanting different match structures, and were like "Ok, how about a fading fighting spirit finish built around a count out?" Loved this match.

     

    Paige/Sasha was another top-shelf match, on par with what's been going on in NXT this year. The spots with Paige out-smarting Sasha were well done to the point I was actually a bit surprised Sasha got the clean win. Between the flash win, and Sasha doing most of the talking backstage, I'm glad they seem to be moving her to more of the leader role in her group. I hope Paige doesn't get lost in the shuffle because she's repeatedly shown that she can be great when she gets something to work with.

     

    Lucha Dragons vs. Matadores was fun. Liked Los Matadores working a little more heelish, but still hitting some crisp, flashy offense. Guessing we get a multi-team clusterfuck at Summer Slam. New Day and PTP both still rule, even in limited roles.

     

    The women's tag was fine. Alicia tried to kill herself on a simple back bump, but I liked the effort from her and Nikki. The predictable result of Becky over Alicia was fine, because it's 100% the right move. At least through 2 weeks, the "divas revolution" has been booked pretty well.

     

    Owens/Orton was just ok, but I always like matches where Orton works face but still gets a lot of offense. This was pretty close to 50/50 and I feel like they have a better match in them down the road. One problem here was that Orton dwarfed Owens who's been the big guy in most of his matches thus far, or at least close to the same size in Cena's case. You forget how big Orton is sometimes. I also have no idea why they couldn't let Cesaro get a little shine here. I liked his run-in where he brushed off Sheamus then went straight to Owens, but this probably would've been better with a ref pull apart neutral finish or the faces standing tall.

     

    Cena/Rollins was one of their better matches, and could've been really great if they played up the strategy of Rollins being super high-risk because he has nothing to lose. The finish fit that story arc perfectly. There were still some pretty smooth counter sequences in this match and of course the busted nose added a lot. Cena's STF was tight too. Obviously the WWE champ taking a fall isn't ideal, but they were booked into a corner. That's why I felt they should've played up the loss more as Rollins taking more risks than normal and getting caught. You also need a follow up match where Rollins controls more and outsmarts Cena for the win to set up the title vs. title rubber match. Hopefully they actually build a story here instead of a repeat of the Owens/Cena series.

    • Like 1
  9. Becky's had one truly outstanding match in NXT. That was against Sasha. She hasn't had a chance to follow up on it yet. Before that, she was pretty aimless character wise and didn't do anything really spectacular beyond the Four Way, which everyone else was in.

     

    Actually, Becky had a really good match with Bayley last December I think. It was a short match, but it was really smartly built around Becky going for a leg submission and getting closer and closer until Bayley ran out of counters.

     

    Becky strikes me as easily the most skilled woman on the roster, but hasn't gotten as many opportunities to shine. 

  10. I'm still waiting to hear why I'm supposed to be wrong. Nobody's given a single reason why. Rocky Senior's skin color gives the general vibe that his genes ain't 100% African. Yet even though he's not totally black, a child that he has with an entirely-not-black wife is still somehow considered "black" by society as a final result? I just think that's kinda weird. Dwayne's more Samoan than African, why does the African heritage apparently count for more?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

  11. There were plenty of AJ/NOAH tags that were great without a "true" hot tag, but then again, their face/heel dynamic tended to be more subtle. Of course, they did also have an even more annoying cliche: The Cold Tag... You know, where the vet on one team is rolling, then tags in the rookie while the other team still has a vet in the ring and you can hear the crowd deflate instantly because they know it's over and who's winning.

     

    In the US, I guess there will always be some degree of a hot tag because it's the most logical way for the face team switch momentum if the heels are going to have sustained offense, I just wish there was more variety in the length of the heat segments and some occasional role reversals with a heel just sneaking out of a danger and a fresh partner changing momentum. It's tough for me to get into regular 2 on 2 tags in WWE because there's just this 6th sense for how long the heat segment's gonna go, and there's no credible nearfalls before the hot tag.

     

    Also unrelated to tag teams, I did want to comment on 90s AJ earlier as it pertains to character work. What sticks out about those main event matches to me was how everyone had a clear character that was basically only established in their matches. They had few promos or backstage segments, and I'd guess that less than 1% of the posters here speak enough Japanese to gain any insight from the speaking time they did get. Still, everyone can tell you that Jumbo was the bitter legend struggling to hold onto his spot, Misawa was the class-act generational phenom, Kawada thought he should've been Misawa and had a chip on his shoulder, Kobashi was the ultimate competitor who fought with courage and honor, Taue was the guy who developed a little slower and needed to put all the pieces together, and Akiyama was the stud rookie who only fell short of the others due to lack of experience. All this just came across naturally in their matches with each other, and the occasional midcarder or big bad foreigner thrown in. They were truly telling stories with their characters in the form of matches. The use of body language in addition to the pace, selling, lack of selling, huge moves, etc made it easy to follow. The characters were simple ones that appear in all types of fiction, but being able to tell those stories so clearly through the lens of a professional wrestling match is why those guys should be and are regarded as all-time greats.

    • Like 2
  12. I think a big problem is that there's not enough emphasis on portraying one's character or angle through the lens of a match anymore. Everyone is just going out to have epics (which are great at times, don't get me wrong) whether or not it actually makes sense for a given angle. Like why was Orton/Sheamus at Battleground going so long and having finisher kickouts? A 50/50 brawl with a flash finisher (be it RKO or Brogue Kick) would work so much better there. It's getting to the point where the best WWE matches are the short, simple ones that end on one finisher.

     

    And don't even get me started on tag matches. When was the last non-squash that didn't feature a hot tag?

    • Like 1
  13. Disagree. Parity is never the answer when you're trying to create stars.

     

    I think this is a rare time where even steven booking has a little value, at least at the team level. All 3 factions need to look strong for a little bit until there's a big payoff. I'm fine with BAD going 1-1 this week, but with Sasha getting the decision in the win and Naomi taking the fall in the loss. That's the best way to do it.

  14. WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper was asked about the Hulk Hogan situation during his appearance on Rich Eisen's DirecTV Audience Network talk show on Friday. Piper said he's been fired by Vince McMahon five times. "It is an honor," Piper cracked. Piper started talking about how he is a family man and said his son is his best friend. He spoke about playing the bagpipes and placing fifth in the world.

    "When I would go into Madison Square Garden, I wasn't the most popular guy," Piper said. "Madison Square Garden there's 16,000 Puerto Ricans with knives and great radios and stuff... They pick it up from L.A. ...and that's how they got it, and that's how they knew that I was there." He said fans saw him wearing the kilt at MSG they chanted homophobic slurs at him. Piper was all over the place and told a story about going into a Mexican restaurant that had a gringo burger.

    Eisen asked him what his point was regarding the Hogan story. "That's a good question," Piper said with a laugh. "My point is that, boy, you guys are sensitive. Hang on. I know people who have to get up to walk five miles for water first thing in the morning. I'm just saying this literally happens to me my whole life.

    "With Hulkster, I don't agree with all his choices, you know what, I don't hear people saying all the great things he does. When he was on the Wheaties' Box, all those kids that said their prayers and took their vitamins. I don't hear them saying that. They just want to nail this." Piper started talking about a little boy in jail and then how Brooke Hogan's name isn't Brooke Hogan. "I just think it is a little... I think everybody needs to get a life. I don't think that anybody should just go to hurt your feelings for no reason." Piper then veered off into talk about being on the board of Stand For the Silent charity.

     

    Holy shit, Piper with the unironic "What about all the good things Hogan did?" defense... That's even better than the "freedom of speech" and "black friends" pro-Hogan arguments I was expecting from 80s wrestlers (that could still very well happen).

  15. The best way for her to improve her confidence is to keep turning it decent performances and improving gradually so that she can actually *be* confident in what she's doing. It'll also help when she settles into a role, whether it be face, heel, or the John Cena style "Love it or hate it I'm me." Her match with Cassie showed me that she has enough of a foundation that I'm ok with letting her iron out her act on tv, similar to Dana Brooke.

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