cubbymark

Bumping this thread in light of Charlotte’s match with Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania 39. This is Exhibit A of when Charlotte is on her A game, there are few people who are better.

I appreciate Matt vocalizing his criticisms of Omega. I still don’t get Omega, and probably never will. Seeing him in the ring with Danielson and the pronounced differences between their respective approaches is stark. Omega gets the jazz hands critique and part of it is that even though he does all these movements, they don’t mean anything or add anything. Danielson makes everything count, perhaps too much given some of the bumps he took last night.

@Jesse Ewiak I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt empty with the CM Punk AEW debut. If anything, I think Punk’s AEW may have buried a part of my fandom on Friday for the worst. Copy/paste from what I wrote in DVDVR: I understand Punk wanting to wait for AEW to be viable before joining them. But him joining now seems too little too late for me to be excited about. Had he put his money where his mouth was two years ago, the vision of what and how AEW presents wrestling might be different than what it is today. If Punk had signed up as an EVP in 2019, he could have really bridged the gap between people that were sick of Bullet Club/Elite antics then and the current AEW diehards. While The Bucks, Omega, and Cody aren’t my cup of tea, I can respect that they jumped out on their own and done what they have done up to this point. We’ve seen two years of the vision Tony Khan has for wrestling and the influence his current EVP team has had in that vision. I can be honest in saying I don’t like it, even though there’s tons of guys and gals I really like(d) outside the AEW Universe. I know I will be the lone man on this island but I’ve always been an outlier anyway. Punk showing up in AEW last night made me feel empty. I was not overwhelmed with joy and happiness or tears (even if in some ways it was the worst kept secret in wrestling). Punk just showed up. Arguably the worst kept secret in wrestling. Punk then cut a 20 minute RAW opening segment promo while the United Center chanted CM Punk. Everyone else ate it up while I felt empty and hollow. Maybe modern wrestling just isn’t for me anymore, be it from Orlando or Jacksonville. It almost felt like Punk’s endorsement of AEW made me less likely to want to check them out. In a weird way, I felt like Punk was burying my fandom of wrestling on Friday night, or what is masquerading as wrestling today. It’s a real shitty feeling for me since I have been watching for over 30 years. I grew up on WWF Superstars in English and Spanish, WCW Worlwide/Pro, LPWA. I would even watch WOW Women of Wrestling in high school. I’ve gone to local indies whenever possible, ROH shows, etc. I lurked on message boards like here for years, read 411mania and Larry Csonka’s reviews. I subscribed to the Wrestling Observer newsletter at one point and gobble an unhealthy amount of wrestling podcasts. Mind you, CM Punk’s run in 2011 was amazing and it was because of him that I went to my first WWE PPV: MITB 2011. That was an amazing night that I will never forget as long as I live. But that momentum just withered on the vine and pro wrestling is where it is as a result. Things happened, and Punk left WWE. Part of me doesn’t want to go through that disappointment again if the Punk pop turns out to be less than a fad and AEW can’t take advantage of it. But modern wrestling today just makes me feel empty. 2011 me went crazy for CM Punk. 2019 me probably would have gone crazy as well. 2021 me, not so much. And I don’t know why that is.

Bummer I can’t make these because I work nights.

Bill and Buddy Landell in Memphis around 85-86 even though it was a short run was really good.

I mentioned this in the Speaking Out thread, but Chris Benoit will be my #100. Prior to the tragedy, he was my favorite wrestler and was the epitome of what I liked in wrestling. To me, he’s my scarlet letter of pro wrestling in that I can’t ignore all the good and bad he’s done. To pretend like he didn’t exist would be wrong. But he can’t be worshipped in the way he used to be.

I’m with Mos on this one. At best it is a lateral move for AEW. For all the talk from certain outlets (Voices of Wrestling) on how the only number that matters is THE DEMO, the fact that AEW is moving to TBS is interesting. The other caveat is that we don’t know if Dynamite is staying on Wednesdays. No doubt the move to TBS is in no small part because Turner threw a shit ton of money at the NHL. Even though their DEMO numbers aren’t as strong as AEW’s, $$$ talks.The Friday night slot for Rampage sounds like death. We could be looking at a Nitro/Thunder situation, along with the over saturation of programming if you include the YouTube shows. If the plan is to sell all that programming in 2022 to get an NHL or WWE style payout from a broadcaster, we’ll see.

Miro needs to kill I Like Turtles dude in 30 seconds like he did Mojo Rawley in NXT.

Her involvement in this Randy Orton/Fiend nonsense is disqualifying.

Randy Savage is another potential hub wrestler to consider. US Outlaw in his fathers promotion in the late 70s/early 80s. Memphis in 84/85, has some Puerto Rico stuff on tape. His WWF run from 85-93. His WCW run would have him on Worldwide and Pro wrestling the likes of Bunkhouse Buck on occasion. Has some random Japan matches on tape as well, including a match vs Jushin Liger who he gives 85% of the match to.

It’s a shame CMLL went to shit once Rush went to ROH. Los Ingobernables is one of the most influential stables of the 2010s, and Rush being such a smug prick really put them over the top for me. He’s sort of a Lucha Roman Reigns in that the office kept trying to push him as a tecnico, but Lucha crowds just wanted to hate his guts. So CMLL sorta turned him, calling him the most hated tecnico. The rest is history. Like all things, Los Ingobernables got diluted with overexposure and when his dad joined the fold. The current CMLL Version is even worse. But this group doesn’t work at all if Rush wasn’t a part. Rush can be a great Lucha brawler in the tradition of Pirate Morgan, Satanico, you name it. The problem is that Lucha booking is usually filled with fuck finishes, and Rush hasn’t had the right apuestas match to really vault him into Lucha legend status. But most of his brawls with LA Park are fantastic. His ROH run hasn’t set the world on fire, but it could be because of the pandemic. Rush will be an interesting name depending on what happens in the next five years.

I remember not liking the 1976 cage match vs Stan Hansen because Bruno seemingly got 95% of the match, and WWWF Escape the Cage with Bruno walking tall falls flat for me. Maybe I should rewatch it at some point for both Bruno and Hansen cases.

Kaufman really is the most prominent argument in favor of peak vs longevity.

Matt D mentioned hazing, and if my understanding of Japanese dojo’s is correct, they were notorious for hazing trainees. A lot of the Joshi names Grimmas is high on more than likely participated in hazing trainees or were victims of hazing themselves.

To me, Okada is a Japanese Randy Orton. He bores me to tears. His matches are way too long. A lot of the early mat work to drag out the New Japan epic main event style match is rendered worthless. And I absolutely loathe the Rainmaker as a finisher for him. His build is too lanky for me to believe it to be as devastating as a Stan Hansen lariat. And let’s not forget baggy pants era Okada. Not a good look. But I recognize this is a me problem. I have no doubt he will do much better on the 2026 list than he did in 2016, especially amongst most hardcore New Japan fans and Dave Meltzer subscribers.