Exposer

My biggest issues with Tanahashi are the first two mentioned above. Cena's strikes are shit too, but at least he can be great at times emoting during a match. The biggest problem with Tanahashi's shitty strikes is that he has shitty strikes in New Japan where guys like Ishii, Shibata, Suzuki, and Nak work.

Prince Devitt sucked in New Japan. He's better in WWE, but Ryback working C-show tags and as a great hot tag in recent 6-mans blows out a guy who has a shitty entrance and middling level ring work.

Oh man. I know Dylan has got to be livid about that flub. Cena is far better than Tanahashi and I don't hate Tanahashi quite as much as others. The Lesnar matches alone are probably better than the Tanahashi matches I saw last year.

I voted for Bryan because I don't think he had a match worse than the Taker Mania match. Not even the Kane ER match was worse. I also wasn't as high on the Brock-Cena singles matches or the triple threat as others even if I thought they were very good. Bryan has had several really good TV matches since he's been back and I was surprised at how good the Reigns match was. The Trips match is also great as well. Bryan won't get my vote too far along this year, but he wins this one for me.

Rollins was too good in the Shield tags from March to May and had the WWE TV MOTY with Ambrose. I've got to go with him. That's not to say Kidd didn't have a good year. The Cesaro team has been a breath of fresh air the last few months and Kidd's been really good as a tag worker. I also liked his matches with Sami Zayn too.

I missed the house show in Chatt tonight. Did you go Patron? Any good matches?

I haven't heard anything about this. I'm a senior at UTC and have lived in the Nooga area since I was 7. The program is certainly improving. The big quarterfinals game is tonight. The national title games are no longer played here. My Dad and brother went to a couple of them years ago. There were major field issues in the last few games here which was probably a major factor in the relocation of the game. It would be cool for the university and city to get invited to a major conference, but I doubt it. Finley is likely too small. Plus, the Chattanooga market isn't all that big. Maybe that's not a huge factor, but it seems like it might be. Still, It'd be neat if it happened.

I'll be gone for three months after this week. Hopefully RVD is long gone by then.

Leonard's full sprint dunk past the defense might be my favorite play so far in the playoffs. That guy is a helluva player.

It's obvious to me the show's done a fairly poor job of some things if last night's reveal about Littlefinger and Lysa was either not caught by show watcher's or looked at as a total afterthought. That was a complete shock in the book.

I'm wondering if that last scene was a glimpse of things to come in book 6?

I LOVE that Barrett escapes the Shield's onslaught.

The Littlefinger scene was pretty great. It was just as I imagined it.

I'm conviced they're holding off on big events because Book 6 is yet to be released. Every new episode feels unique to the show becuase of that.

I missed Matt's heel turn. Was it a slow build to the turn Matt? Dylan seems more like a tweener. I voted Cesaro. Does that make me a heel?

FUCKING 3 BIRDS GOT SNUBBED

I actually thought the tag was disappointing. Cody just doesn't do it for me as FIP. Of course, Goldust is RIGHT THERE to do that but whatever. I also thought Cody looked off in general really. A couple of the counters he tried with Cesaro were initially hurt by Cody then covered up by Cesaro. I will say the finishing run was real good.

This was a better version of the previous match with an even more hectic atmosphere. I loved Lizmark in this being a fucker and doing flippy floppy shit to mess with the heels. Valente has some good exchanges in this with the Blanco's. Chicana was sort of in the background for this but did have some fun exchanges with Mascaras. The mask pulling on Blanco Jr. is great in this too. But man this was hurt by the clipping for sure and it felt all over the place because of that. This had several great individual moments but nothing came together. This is probably right under three stars or maybe right at it.

The best way to sum up this match is "really fun." Santo-Espanto was a blast and their exchanges were seamless and pretty smooth in the first fall, then pretty heated and aggressive in the third fall. Eskeletor didn't do much for me here although I did like him stooging in the post-match. I wish we could have gotten more of the brawling on the floor in the start of the third because it looked great. That body press was crazy. The mask ripping was a blast and the chaos of the third fall and post-match was a lot of fun. However, the finish was abrupt and this didn't reach beyond "fun." I'll throw this just around two and a half stars or so.

This was one of those "short, short, long" title matches. I generally like the "long, short, long" format more because it allows the first fall to be a more crucial part in building the match and that often includes a lot of mat work. The mat work was good here. I'm always a fan of small detailed work so when Talisman was kneeing Rocca in the midst of an arm bar I marked out. However, I really enjoyed the rope running exchanges here. They were given a little more weight here and I thought the fluidity and pacing was great. The finish of the first was well done too. I actually thought the second fall was going to end with Talisman hitting those two dropkicks but they went a few more minutes. I liked the transition into the crazy back breaking submission to end the fall. That hold was wacky as hell. The third fall was really good. The pacing was great here and everything was spread out very well. This wasn't much different from other title matches in the "short, short, long" format as far as what they did but how they did it was better than a lot of others. Rocca sold his back pretty well throughout and stuck with it. The diving sequence was simple but effective. I liked the last few minutes with the missed senton leading to the near fall and two submissions. The pop was nice at the end too. Overall, this was a pretty strong match. The pacing was excellent. Again, this would have built better I think in the "long, short, long" format but I thought it built fine. I might give this roughly three and half stars or so.

This started out just there for me. It got better and better as the match went on. The beating down on Fauron in the first fall was becoming boring a little bit but the action picked up in the second. I loved Fauron kicking at Satanico when he had his arms locked. Egipcio-Morgan was tremendous. I loved the visual of Morgan flying across the floor just barely on screen. It was a total "what the fuck" moment. The best part of this was Egipcio throwing Morgan THROUGH the Corona apron and then beating him with pieces of it. La Fiera was just there in this and didn't seem to add anything at all which is disappointing. He just wandered around and didn't do much at all. The punching exchanges, postings, and brawling in the third fall was great. Morgan's posting was particularly brutal. That back and forth punching exchange in the center of the ring between Egipcio-Morgan was off the charts. The closing minutes were fun and Fiera fucks up horribly on a dive and nearly spikes himself on his head. Fauron's dive was awesome as hell and he collided big time with MS-I. The finish was good too. I liked this a good bit. It was hurt by a middling start but the last five to eight minutes were tremendous. I don't know where this would rank right now. I will probably give this just short of four stars. It could have been better in my opinion.

This was damn good. This match had some nice variables to it. On one hand it was a match between an underdog and the veteran. Technically, it was a match built around body part work and selling which I love. I’m not a big fan of Atlantis’s full body selling of moves. I think one squirm is enough instead of thirty eight. He got better at it as the match went along though. The first fall is the traditional mat based opening fall of a title match. There’s a really nice flow to it and the transitions are pretty seamless. The ending of it was great with Faraon focusing on the neck. The second fall was really good also. This is in reverse with Atlantis working on Faraon’s arm and shoulder. Faraon was awesome at selling his right arm and his forearm clotheslines were tremendous. That submission to end the fall was great and Faraon’s selling and facial expressions during it were great. The third fall lets loose some and we get some great dives from Atlantis. I loved that Faraon kept going after Atlantis’s neck. His submission sitting down on his neck looked painful. The finish is awesome. Faraon thinks he’s won by count-out after seemingly riding the storm of Atlantis’s last comeback. And then bam, he gets hit with the victory roll from behind for the pin. Faraon is livid post-match but Atlantis isn’t shedding a tear. Great match with an excellent build. This is over four stars. I’d call it an A-. Great stuff.

Man, I’m tired as fuck and need to go to bed so I got caught staring off into nothing while watching this. This was a total blast and had some really excellent exchanges from what I know I caught. The early exchanges in the first fall were off the hook. Climax is exciting to watch. Reyes, Cota, and Zavala had some mean punches to deliver throughout this. That third fall punching war was fucking awesome. Once again, Cota was incredible. He’s one of the greatest rudos ever just off a small sample of footage. The crowd’s fucking loathe him and that segment early in the second fall with him being a total chickenshit with the lights going out was marvelous. He capped this off by begging to Reyes but catching him with a punch to the gut. The double submission finish was wacky as hell but I liked it. This goes on the definite re-watch page because of my sleepy ass but I caught most of it and enjoyed the hell out of it. This is about three and a half stars or so. It’s about a solid B. Fun match.

Am I insane or was a big part of the third fall missing from this? They did show the replay to the ending of the second which could have been when Chicana ripped Villano III’s mask up and bloodied him but that only lasted seconds. Anyways, this was worked similarly to the Chicana-MS-1 classic but didn’t have as much heat, meaning, and the Chicana’s comeback didn’t mean nearly as much. Villano bloodies Chicana up pretty good and Chicana is a master of selling so this worked. Villano III has great brawling offense and kept this interesting even if I thought he was in control for too long without a proper build to Chicana’s comeback. As an aside, I like Villano III way better in this match than any other he’s been in. He has annoyed me some with no selling bullshit in previous matches on the set. The brawling style fits him greatly. I loved his top rope senton. It looked brutal. Chicana throws his famous punch and hits a tremendous dive to win the second fall by count-out and officially make a comeback. The weird part comes here where after the replay of the second fall finish we have a bloodied and near maskless Villano III desperately trying to fend off Chicana from taking his mask. Chicana succeeds and Villano is still getting attacked so he awesomely punts Chicana in the balls for the double DQ finish. I loved that finish as it made total sense for Villano to just kick the fuck out of Chicana in the nads because Chicana was trying to expose him. Too bad something is missing or else I’d like this a little more. This is floating right under four stars. Something felt missing and this was a lighter version of Chicana-MS-1. Still, I liked it and it’s about a solid B or B+. Very good brawl.

EDIT: Goc wins greatest troll post of all time on the 80s sets.