Quentin Skinner

Big update because I'm very forgetful The Art of Stardom with Dylan Harris https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/psychology-is-dead-art-of-stardom All 4 parts of the top 120 matches of 2017 series with Brock https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/psychology-is-dead-top-120-matches-of-2017-120-101 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/psychology-is-dead-top-120-matches-of-2017-90-61 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/psychology-is-dead-top-120-matches-of-2017-60-31 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/psychology-is-dead-top-120-matches-of-2017-30-1

All three parts of Timothy and I running through our top 50 Wrestlers of the Year lists http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-top-50-wrestlers-of-2017-part-1-50-31/ http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-top-50-wrestlers-of-2017-part-2-30-11/ http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-top-50-wrestlers-of-2017-part-2-30-11-2/

Top 5 probably goes wXw AMBITION 8 EVOLVE 79 ATTACK! Thank God It's (Not) WinterSlam NJPW New Beginning In Osaka NJPW in Long Beach Night 2

Trevor this year doesn't have anything non-CWF that I loved as much as the Hero match from 2016. Closest is the Janela match from ASW 13 but the Hero match is a different level. It's a lot of good stuff but the main appeal is the character work that he keeps getting better at.

Zack Sabre Jr for me. I think variety in opponents, variety in settings and volume are undeniable and hard to argue anyone above him in these areas, but I think he's taken a big step forward in his individual performances this year. Going heel almost everywhere and working more as a tweener figure when he's not a full fledged heel has led to increased nastiness and great vicious control segments which I eat up. Also cuts down what a lot of people view as his weakest area and that's selling.Was able to go between working legends, top flight current names and "lesser" talents without skipping a beat, often times raising the stock of a guy lower in status like a Jaka. I think something I adore about the guy is other than David Starr, I don't think anyone else visibly makes wins and losses look important to them in the aftermath of a match. Whether it be throwing temper tantrums after losing to Gabriel Kidd, Chris Brookes, or Negro Navarro or punching the air and yelling in celebration in victory, he makes it clear he cares about the result of a match. He was close last year but now I think he's found the perfect balance between the cutesy WOS stuff, legit amateur and BJJ transitions and holds, tough guy/macho spots and a Danielson-esque arrogance and mean streak. While Zack is my number 1, it's pretty fitting WALTER climbed his way to number 2 in the last week. He was at 4 on my top 50 WOTY podcast but since then he's added on 6 more matches I've seen that I've given 4* or more, and evenly split between tags and singles. Best tag worker of the year by a mile, MVP of one of the best Carat tournaments ever, plenty of work to choose from as a face and a heel, arguably feud of the year with David Starr. While he has a ton of great matches to choose from and quite honestly zero bad matches I've seen this year, his case really is strengthened by how easily he went from this menacing, dominant, big bad brother of Axel Dieter Jr to the fiery babyface hot tag guy with Thatcher. That's an incredible skill to boast.

New episode on Kenny Omega http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-art-of-connection/

For the most part in the UK throughout in the notable companies other than maybe RevPro who focuses on big super shows more than anything, heels get heat and the desired reaction. Now that isn't to say the crowd can't take to an act and almost force them to turn babyface because they're so likable in the ring (example being South Pacific Power Trip) but from acts like Jinny, Zack Gibson, Sebastian, Jordan Devlin, CCK (although it's slightly changing now), Dan Maloney, The Prestige, The Anti-Fun Police, The Origin and more, the heels all get booed to hell. Even in PROGRESS, British Strong Style is getting tons of heat still. Marty Scurll as champ got heat and this isn't even mentioning how intense the crowd hate was for Jimmy Havoc during his 2013-2015 run. Will Ospreay has managed to get good heel heat in places like WCPW and PROGRESS. Or someone like Paul Robinson who consistently for 3 years was one of the most vile and hateable characters in wrestling. The clear distinction between faces and heels and the crowd buying in to it is definitely a big reason why I'm more in to following the UK scene than most of the US right now.

Latest Psychology is Dead on aging in wrestling http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-the-art-of-age/

Brock and I managed to somehow do a 4 and a half hour podcast on one person, and that person being the Phenomenal AJ Styles http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-art-of-style/

Quentin and five guests go in-depth on the genre of Lucha Libre. He talks to Sam DiMascio, Case Lowe, Rob Viper, Dylan Harris and Brandon Wagemann in different segments about how they got in to lucha, why do they still follow and questions ranging from why might Lucha be hard to get in to, the place of high flying and showmanship and much more along the way. http://placetobenation.com/psychology-is-dead-the-art-of-lucha/

Bryan Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr. - 3/2/2008 Wrestling In Europa. It's Danielson working a green as hell ZSJ in a small bar room in the Midlands and he turns it in to something special. It's a magnificent heel performance from Danielson, picking ZSJ apart, building great sympathy for him and allowing him to get enough shine to make it a coming out party for himself. Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville - 12/11/2014 NXT. Sami Zayn gives the performance of his life in the culmination of a year long build. He conveys the emotion of it being his last chance at the title and leaving if he comes up short. His facial expressions here take you on a journey of focus, self-doubt and eventual triumph. Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa - 4/15/95. Taue's urgency here when facing the ace of the company and his by any means approach is the highlight of his standout 1995 run. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Nobuhiko Takada - 2/13/1993 UWFi. It's the quintessential young punk match to me. Tamura disrespects his boss and gets the shit kicked out of him for it, but doesn't go down without a fight. Team Austin (Shawn Michaels) vs Team Bischoff - 11/16/2003. Shawn's performance as the sole survivor here is something I've watched back so many times at this point and I never get tired of it.

Thank you, just went and fixed that

Yes sir! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OKiXMz-_j5KvSBHnaStdUOlImnP7Mg3ozR7qzt68uXI/edit

Whenever I watch Rush I can't help but think he's came around too late. I imagine him mixing it up with the likes of El Dandy, Chicana, Perro Aguayo, etc having these bloody, dramatic apuestas matches.

This was stellar. KAORU going for the quick start only for Aja to unleash hell on her was a great way to kick off the match. KAORU bleeding all over the place was unexpected but established early on how violent this was going to get. Main thing I loved here though was the limbwork. The brutality and desperation of it really resonated with me. KAORU is essentially stabbing Aja's arm with the jagged side of a broken table and it looks nasty. Aja is writhing in pain and it's one of the only times I can ever remember Aja being that level of vulnerable. At times it almost gets to being uncomfortable to hear those screams of pure agony. To see Aja, someone who had been a star and complete wrecking ball in the joshi scene for more than 10 years at that point, be down so bad, leaves a lasting image in my head. A lot drama, hate, almost uneasy level of violence, excellent work from both of these women.