EricR

Ogawa as shitbag twerp with the big belt was sooooo the best. He was such a sneaky weenie and it was so much fun. I got to see him and Misawa wrestle in the states while he was GHC champ. My favorite moment is when I bumped into him exiting the bathroom at the same time, and he was wearing the title belt around his waist, and then he tripped and fell walking up the stairs.

Phil and I had actually planned (still planning) to review every match Ogawa worked while GHC champ, but could only find like 4 of them online. I'm a huge fan of this era Ogawa.

I know they fought a couple times, but I think their fight from June '98 is the famous one.

Wow, I thought this was a pretty terrific 2 hours of wrestling TV. I thought all the matches worked, especially the Aron Rex match and O'Shea/Mandrews. Super fun stuff all around.

I thought this was a really great episode. Dar had his best showing in WWE, more Jack Gallagher on my TV, and Kendrick put on one of his all time best performances. Swann didn't add tons to that match, but Kendrick put on a straight clinic. I think they really messed up by feeling the need to put a title change on the first episode, as it really needs to be Kendrick's belt with strong babyfaces chasing him. Anyway, Phil and I wrote it up: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/12/205-live-12616.html

I remember when The Giant was doing his stupid "edgy" smoking gimmick, and before a match Disco got on the mic and called him a dummy because smoking was going to stunt his growth.

Speaking of Gorilla pairing well with people, I remember really liking him and Johnny Polo. Also liked Quackenbush on commentary. Dry, but insightful.

Tamina is really bad at wrestling though.

This could ruffle some feathers, but I think it's justified and explained well in our review, but Necro/Klein retains: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/12/all-time-moty-list-head-to-head-necro-v.html And yes Pete, the only way into and out of the Cow Palace for wrestling events is through the front gate.

I thought Don West was really great at covering for blown spots, which is a rare and important trait for an announcer to have.

I think they must have had a larger than expected walk-up crowd. They clearly weren't prepared to get people inside in a timely manner. I really wasn't exaggerating when I said the line wrapped all the way around the parking lot. It took us about 40 minutes to get inside, missed the cruiser dark match and made it in towards the end of the Bashams tag.

I haven't watched Eddie/Brock in almost a decade. That's one of the most fun things about this project. I'm really curious how I'll react to it, since I was actually there live for it (most packed Cow Palace show I've ever attended, line wrapped allllll the way around the parking lot). Brock and Eddie were my two favorite wrestlers in the world when it happened, so quite the dream match for me. Really excited to watch it again.

I'm talking about the stuff that wouldn't have been presented to the live crowd, the way the announcers talked about guys, and things like that. They were treating people watching on the Network as people who had never seen these guys before. It's like the show only exists due to the buzz coming off the CWC, but doesn't acknowledge the CWC.

And why does Swann drag guys towards the corner before hitting his standing 450?

Was I the only one who found it weird that they were kind of pretending the CWC didn't happen? Graves kept talking about the guys debuting, and they kept doing introduction videos for all the guys I imagine most of the viewers have already been introduced to. Are there really that many people who are watching this, but didn't watch the CWC?

Inoue didn't work another show for 3 months after this match so I assume the injury was legit. And I liked how that realism played into things. You had Inoue giving his most aggressive performance, taking a misguided attack headlong at Hash (as opposed to his usual no offense cheating you mentioned, which I really do love), and it lead to him getting burnt worse than ever. It was a junkballer blowing one by 2001 Barry Bonds, then being left to watch a 480' bomb after he tried the same thing next pitch.

You crazy. Inoue being a clear weak link is the totality of Masao Inoue, and I love him for it. This was always going to be Honda trying to prop up the castle gates, knowing that once Hash breaks through the walls then Inoue is a sitting duck. The crowd knows he's the weak link, everybody in the match knows he's a weak link. Which is why it's so damn awesome that he rolls so far above his head until he's inevitably disposed of. The way he rushed Hash when he was tagged in, bringing his full chubster attack to him, and knocking Hash to a knee, was such a great moment. All of that totally worked. Oddly, in the AJPW tag, I thought Kawada was a weak link. He seemed a step off in the match, and his segments seemed disconnected from the bulk of the match. I like Kawada vs. Fuchi, like Kawada vs. Tenryu, but it felt out of step in this match. It was too clearly "taking a break from the Araya match story as the whole match just can't be Araya story", but it never really felt like Kawada stepping in to save his partner, it felt more like Kawada getting in the way of the more interesting story.

I think they had a really long Raw match in December that was really good.

And some of you thought this wouldn't be competitive! Well, Misawa/Kawada BARELY ended up retaining. Both Phil and I waffled on this one. I actually landed on the side of Dustin/Vader, but 6/3/94 edged it out in the end. I think Dustin/Vader would have won plenty of other years. This is an internal debate I think I'm going to keep having. http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/11/all-time-moty-list-head-to-head-kawada.html

I have a somewhat similar Kawada shirt that my buddy got me when he went to Japan in 2001.

Also I was at Brock/Eddy live and it's one of my very favorite live match experiences. That one will certainly turn up as a challenger (though all the suggestions in the thread are aces so far).

You're just cross we dumped on your LCO tag And I'm actually the one who pushed through this match, over the match Phil wanted (which is likely the better match and will probably usurp the 2004 title, though it shockingly hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet), so any critiques of this pick can go straight to me. I love this match and think it smokes the 2003 sprint. I think it's maybe the most violent thing I've seen, and perhaps Necro's best all time performance. Yeah it had two shitheads making Reservoir Dogs references like they were the first assholes to quote Tarantino (I'm sure we got a real fresh Royale with Cheese bit later in the show), but I loved all off this match.

I have no clue how they picked a winner, but my friend Josh totally sent in a rap. He would have been 9? And he was VERY confident that he would win. He kept coming up with more and more unlikely scenarios where WCW would contact him in time to fly out to Havoc. Even up to the day of show.

Just send Lawler down there one weekend per month to do a workshop. And find Bobby Eaton next time he disappears and just send him to Florida. Then give Todd Morton a gig. Then give CW Anderson a gig. Then Preston Quinn.

Jade's faded flare leg jeans with white sneakers were tragic. I know TNA doesn't pay anybody but surely we can do a kickstarter so she can retire her jeans from 14 years ago. OBSOLETE!