Octopus

Hmmmm. After a series of naps I think I have this: 1. Dumpster: New Age Outlaws vs Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie 2. Road Dogg vs Gand Master Sexay (great dancing from both) 3. Cage: New Age Outlaws vs Hardy Boyz 4. Hardcore: Road Dogg vs Gangrel 5. New Age Outlaws vs Rock n Sock Connection I haven’t seen a lot of his Roadie days.

So. What is everyone’s top 5 Road Dogg matches?

Reading the name Superbad Death Squad makes me think of Michael Cera and Jonah Hill in Road Warrior attire. Ford could be McLovin.

This morning my wife and I couldn’t be still. We grabbed a broom and headed to Minneapolis, we’re next to it in Hopkins. We stationed ourselves near E Lake st & Chicago Ave. A large effort of people volunteering and cleaning. Started with sweeping glass out of the sidewalks. Then moved to a blown up building and moved bricks with people into the pit that’s the former building. Clearing out bricks while standing on rubble is exhausting. I’m out of shape and had to tag out of the assembly style line for a much more buff gentleman. Going down E Lake we were sweeping the parking lot of the former building of the Family Dollar and a lady runs up and says it’s smoking on the opposite side. We leave and warn people. A few blocks away, I forget the street, is a large effort of free food and supplies being handed out. I didn’t take any of these pictures, they’re all from FB friends. I just couldn’t bring myself to taking out my phone camera. I don’t want the likes of my fallen home. Seeing buildings blown up and burnt down, next to large groups of people trying to clean it. I’m drained. The first destroyed building we saw was a burned down Popeye’s. The last on our walk was a boarded up McDonalds. When we reached there I was sunburned and her legs were starting to hurt so we turned around. Tonight I’m afraid a lot of people might die. I want to go back tomorrow and clean, but if there’s too much bloodshed I don’t know if I’ll be able to. I’m afraid to see where we used to live and see if the neighborhood is destroyed. I know the mall my wife would get her hair stuff has been ripped apart. I’m tired but I can’t sleep. My apartment building’s doors have wood covering the glass. Driving home from her mom’s all the gas stations were closed. Luckily near my place it was still working and I was able to fill up. My wife’s asleep. I think I’ll stay up and drink until I pass out.

Work not too far from there. Other side of the river. An undercurrent of tension has been building for a while now. The killing of George Floyd set a lot off. The Mayor calls for charges to be made and the County Attorney saying the the officers involved are not cooperating. Everything hit the fan. Protesters being shot with rubber bullets, neighboring neighborhoods having looting, cop cars driving around Hennepin Ave spraying tear gas, the 3rd Precinct burning down, mixed information on what exactly is happening in St Paul like Frog Town being on lockdown. If the riot makes it to my work, a camera shop, we probably would have to shutdown. I was about to head to work and got texted not to. The COVID world has business down and the business loan is only for payroll. The Twin Cities are a surface level nice, yet passive aggressive. Gay-friendly, bike-friend, art heavy, clean air, metropolitan yet less hustle. However, large racial inequality, COVID reopening debates getting more intense, old school portion of the police being more tough on citizens when their sheriff Stanech lost to openly-gay Hutch almost to overcompensate, still tense over Philando Castile’s death, racism towards the Somali community (my wife used to work at a Somali owned dentist office as a receptionist and would receive angry death threats occasionally), the fact that Tent City is still a growing thing, resentment over the previous Sheriff shipping police out the the Dakota Pipeline protest, last few years almost every major road seeming like it is under construction, people out of work and either blaming facemask truthers or Governor Walz depending on where your politics lean. Minneapolis with probably burn and St Paul could possibly be looted. One terrible event did not create this. Just like the Rodney King riots, this is a torch on straw. My wife was in the city for most of her time in Mn so she never really needed to get her license. We’re in Hopkins now and use a car more, so she’s getting refreshed on practicing driving. I’ll be honest as a white man with a black wife, deep down it is terrifying. We’ve talked about it but I don’t show it. Typing this I’m tearing up because I know if anything every happens like that to my wife I’ll fucking kill myself and I have nothing to live for.

@Curt McGirt, I’ll give you another Joshi battle. Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori Akira Hokuto has joined Bockwinkel, Hashimoto, and Satanico as my favorite wrestler to deep dive during COVID Times. pre-match Note: Hokuto has had injury issues through her career and they play into that during the match.

Yo @Morganti, I got thrown off by this week being a weird one for me. I’m still going to review your match tonight or tomorrow. This week I got my friend @Curt McGirt! I have a few ideas and I’m going to hit you up with one tonight.

My brother is a kindergarten teacher. He starts his day around 8am and due to everyone’s schedule being different (parents in essential worker positions) he gets emails and video calls until around 8pm. Understandably, parents are worried about their kids not getting individual treatment and worry they’re getting lost in the mess of it all which leads to more emails and video calls. He’s the most upbeat guy and a great teacher, even winning district awards, and loves his job. Everyone seems to really appreciate him. But when he’s done for the day he is strung out and stressed.

Those matches are totally not Herb.

Who is more popular with non-wrestling fans, John Cena or Batista? Cena is the household name, but I’m in the wrestling bubble that I could be way off. Batista has been in very successful movies.

The last season Kevin Garnett was with the Timberwolves before he was traded the games had a thing called KG Cam. It was a camera on him at all times in the bottom right corner of the screen. I expect the same for Okada on Meltzer’s Twitter.

Medium me, my friend!

If you make or have a blog please call it the McGirt Gazette

@Morganti, I’m gonna give you a local match. Fits this week’s theme. Spider Baby vs Rob Justice

Glad you like doing it, @supremebve! I think you pinpointed why I enjoyed it also. Nobuhiko Takada ‘s charisma really drew me in. I was so excited with his comeback. Vader looks so legitimate as a monster, yet doesn’t do anything that would realistically murder-kill Takada.

Right now I am enjoying coffee. Getting used to weekends. Even before the pandemic I didn’t have 2 days off in a row, Sundays and Wednesday. So now that we’re back to work I’m enjoying the idea of relaxing today AND tomorrow. Schedule changed so my store is open Monday-Friday. So this morning my wife and I were watching a few episodes of Recess to get that Saturday morning cartoon vibe going. After a few episodes she left to be on her phone in our room and here I am on the couch, with a coffee and reading about Joshi. Stream of consciousness lead my mind to wonder to this post. I feel eager to type/ ramble as I think. I’m not really making a point, per say. Just capturing a moment so it doesn’t leave me. I remember feeling the same way you did about this match, however still coming away with being blown away by it. I’m chalking a good deal of that to the awe of the being new to the world of Joshi. Maybe like an agnostic walking into a large Catholic cathedral. Not agreeing completely with the message but still in awe of the structure. I think you hit the nail on the head with a willingness to ignore the layout of the match due to how well the performances are. I generally subscribe to the idea of story elements and narrative focusing being done for a reason. If the focus is going after a leg or any body part should generally have a reason for doing that. Not always leading to strictly having to do with the ending, but a clear resemblance of the presence of that focus having meaning throughout. This match in particular has the feeling of 2 movements. Majority of the match is limbwork, than followed by the ending which involves sunsetflips, suplexes, and big swings. I still can manage to buy into the match if I feel the opening has the goal of tiring your opponents down so you’ll be able to execute your power moves with less resistance. Maybe if the offense was the same but the presence of the workers limping would work. Falling to your knees after the big swing, perhaps? I can see me coming off illogic by enjoying this. If I were to give star ratings it wouldn’t be five but an impressive number, while still having those complaints. I feel what makes me a hypocrite is in movies and television when a narrative is uneven like this match I tend to be much more openly critical. Without giving spoilers, the second season of Daredevil is an example of this. The first half seemed more drawn from realism within its MCU world and the shift to the second half’s mysticism turned me off. Twin Peaks was able to do that same shift successfully, but thats because the narrative still had sprinkles of what was to come. All in all, lovely match. I’m on board with you and hopefully soon I can dive into each character. See if their other matches follow the same formula or if that is specific to this match.

Rusher Kimura vs Gypsy Joe (CAGEMATCH) What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object, who happens to be a Gypsy? They smash each other. They smash each other good. Now put them in a cage. They still smash each other, but in a cage. I don’t know much about either competitors. Gypsy Joe is the guy that New Jack beat up. That’s not a good first note, so I’m glad I’m finally seeing something else of his. I have never heard of Rusher Kimura until @Curt McGirt started posting about him being a badass. I’m not sure if this match is a one-off or a series, but I’m all for checking this out. The match starts with clubbings. Both men are tough stuff. Rusher is the strong aggressor with body slams and reversal tosses. With each strike you can tell the pain Joe is feeling. But with each hit and slam, Gypsy gets up. Flashy RVD-style flower singlet and pink boots be damned, he’s getting up. After a sold wallop or two, Gypsy Joe slaps back. Loudly. I’m wincing. Rusher slaps Gypsy’s chest. Gypsy slaps Rusher. Gypsy. Rusher. Gypsy turns his slap to a choke. This gets Kimura to his knees. Not for long, toss! Brutalizing each other. Loud slaps and stuff strikes. Rusher might be tougher but by golly, Joe will bite. Just chomping away at Kimura. Gypsy pulls something out of his tights and the crowd is murmuring, the ref of course doesn’t know. It’s a knife-type-thing. Forehead stab. Cut cut. Forehead forehead. Rusher is bleeding. Head punch head punch. Choke choke. Gonna get between the ropes and the cage? Gypsy gonna smash you. I was gonna plan on rambling on about them both just smashing each other to death. But then Gypsy Joe took off the turnbuckle. Haha, what? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen in a kayfabe non-accident way. And that smart ring-awareness moment is taken away from the worst top of cage miss I’ve ever seen. The crowd loved it though. So hey, it worked! Everyone loves Rusher. Kimura beats up Joe until he can’t get up. Enjoy your trophy. Honestly, first try I wasn’t into the match and stop in the first 5ish minutes. Just wasn’t in the mood. Waiting until I was in the mood for two dudes smashing, worked just right. I think I’ll check out a few more Rusher Kimura matches. I enjoyed the character. ——— Jumbo Tsuruta, Arika Taue, & Masanobu Fuchi vs Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, & Kenta Kobashi (10/19/90) Here they come. Handsome Kobashi, Good Guy Kawada, and Ace-man Misawa. For a moment the three of them are in the ring, ready for battle, and I can’t help but feel it is a beautiful moment in time. Correct me if my facts and memories are off. I hope to one day watch everything chronologically, but seeing these footprints along the King’s Road in random order and piecing together the walk they took has been a special trip for me. This is after Misawa finally toppled Jumbo Tsuruta in singles competition, Kawada was battling his future partner Taue, and Kobashi was still a few years from toppling Hansen and turning the corner from underdog to warrior. It can be hard not to see Past and Future when looking in that ring. The present, however, happened to be the battle for dominance of All Japan. The young attractive Super Generation Army vs the grizzled Tsuruta-Gun. Sometimes when I write these reviews I have a tendency to pause to write things down. For this match I’m more inclined to stay in my bed with my phone and just let it all happen. Hopefully speaking from my heart can produce something readable. *watches match* The first thing that I want to write about is how stellar the selling was. From the beginning, watching Jumbo take Misawa’s elbows and bending his body backwards as he’s stumbling to the corner was just beautiful. Misawa’s pained face as Tsuruta returns the favor. Kobashi just being beaten throughout the match. There’s a segment where he is getting stomped out and I just can’t look away from how his body reacts. Taue’s lanky legs sprawl out as he’s getting kicked. Something about Taue’s body just works for me. Kawada’s sells the whole match by grabbing his back throughout. Speaking of Kawada, this is a classic badass performance. Every chance he gets he’s kicking and striking. Just bringing it. I assumed he was going to be taken out when Taue body slammed him in the floor, but he just used that as motivation to do the same. Even when he’s not the legal man, just kicking Taue numerous times in the head and slamming him to the floor. Kawada and Jumbo had my favorite segment in the match. Running back and forth and just clobbering each other. It was right after Taue had Kawada down and tags in Jumbo. The moment Tsuruta is in, its Elbow City and Kawada is swinging. Jumbo strikes back and throws him against the ropes for a lariat. Kawada ducks and hits Jumbo with a rebound spinning kick. As Jumbo stumbles back to the turnbuckle, Kawada tags in Misawa and the crowd erupts. Bouncing off Misawa’s elbows, Misawa bodyslams and follows it with a flying elbow. So well executed. I can tell Fuchi hates faces. Not just being a bad guy, he literally hates faces. A good deal of his offense was precise and face striking driven. Especially Kenta Kobashi’s face. Masanobu punches Kenta’s face, kicks it, uses the edge of a chair on it, stomps on it, all until Kobashi’s nose bleeds. Kenta Kobashi is something else. So much fire inside of him. At this point he is such a perfect underdog. He can give so much but his key is taking punishment. The ending works well with Jumbo power bombing him and slamming him around the ring. That backdrop driver to end it. Jumbo gets his revenge on Misawa by beating up poor Kenta. I feel like recommending this match to a few of my friends. Thanks @supremebve! I was planning on watching more but I don’t think it’ll be fair to whatever I watch next. So I’ll aim to do that and a few others previously posted soon.

All about having fun and watching something recommended. If you want in the next week and we’re still doing this, you’re more than welcome.

How about for a week we randomize decades. If there is still 8 of us then 2 people get 80’s, 2 get 90’s, 2 get 00’s, 2 get 010’s. You can choose your own match(es) from any area you haven’t seen or ask advice on what to watch within your decade. Cute or shoot?

Thanks @supremebve! I believe I’ve seen the 6-man from the following year but not that one. So I’ll for sure check out that but I like trying to get a few in, so I’ll aim to eventually do both.

Hopefully you like it. This was a match that got me more interested in the style. First few matches I watched I really didn’t get it. Why shoot style? Ya know. But I think Vader made it an easy transition into it. Now I can follow it a little more. Digging through the site I noticed you’re a 90’s All Japan fan. I’ve seen a good deal of the Misawa/Kobashi vs Hold Demon Army type matches. Anything you could hit me with outside of those guys?

Rick Martel vs Buddy Rose procrastinating on things I should be doing. Seen very little Buddy Rose. This was a treat!

@supremebve , here’s my rec for you. If the clip is too long or if you’ve seen it I’ll get you something different. Vader vs Nobuhiko Takada I was trying to think of what to give you and noticed you post in the MMA folder. So maybe something shoot-style? Hope you enjoy.

Going by years was tough. Especially when one years has like 10 favorites and another has like 3. You’ll get an album that you’d put at 6 that if it came out the next or the year before would have been 1 or 2. The 90’s are a good example. So many albums I love and have nostalgic feelings for, but for a brief period there was just so many of my favorite hip hop albums. From around 87-96 my 5’s are majority hip hop, and very little great alt-Rock bands that were killing it around then. Personal preference, but I could see if someone else did those years it turning out wildly different and still being an accurate depiction of good taste of the time. Also, going through and listening to different artists, it’s a fun ride to watch when different music movements and styles take place. I’m sure if the list was more massive it would be better visually represented, but looking at when Jazz and Folk is slowly replaced by pop rock. Or when Hip Hop shows up. That Brotha Lynch Hung album is so good. It flows so nicely, how he raps with the west coast sound behind him makes it a great experience. Then you add on the horrorcore lyrics and it’s a match made in heaven. Some of his albums can be hit and miss but that one is spot on from beginning to end. Death is a group I’d like to check out more. I tend to gravitate more towards Sludge/ Doom Metal, but a buddy of mine that is more of a Metal Head recommended me a few albums and that one stuck out. Death Metal is a genre I have to be in the mood for. Moreso than Thrash, which I can enjoy is multiple moods. Both Kynch and Death albums struggle with being in the same year as 2 of my personal favorites. Liquid Swords is phenomenal and a Top 10-15 GOAT for me and KRS-ONE’s self titled album is in my Top 3 GOAT. ——— @Execproducer, a few you listed I need to still check out. Next go around I do this I’ll check a few of those out. Townes Van Zandt is legit. Doing this he was one of my big discoveries. ——— Yeah, that was one of the reasons my friend and I started doing these. Today singles and playlists are such a convenient and fun way to listen to music. With all this COVID stuff going on, my wife and I had a lot of fun turning on different Spotify playlists and hanging out. My resources were websites like RYM, best ever albums, and decades lists from sites like Pitchfork. I can roll my eyes at some of the charts but it’s nice having a big list in front of you to scroll through and pick out. Just googling a specific year and typing album brings up a lot of results too. Veckatimest is legit. Great driving music. Always fun to revisit. That album and a few in the years around it were right after I graduated high school and was branching out to new things. A few tough things in life started popping up and it was nice that the music coming out around that time had such a chill, relaxed meandering style. Very needed in life to slow things down when things get hectic.