AshC

They've tended to go through themed weeks, so maybe we're due a New Generation week or 80s house show week, or whatever. Saw they uploaded a Headshrinkers vs Michaels and Diesel tag title match recently, which was interesting as had never seen them work. And... it doesn't, really. I'm not sure Michaels wanted to be there. Seems a Coliseum Video match that got scrapped.

I went back to catch up with Part 1 of this and - I don't typically go for these fantasy booker things - your ideas for the Souled Out 98 and SuperBrawl main event scenarios are excellent. Fun listen, cheers men!

I quite liked them as well, would typically pump out good TV matches. The 'Bottom'-style silhouette entrance was fun as well. Here's another cool gang o' lads.

Junior. Where do you rank him, among the greats? As alluded to in another thread, his longevity has been incredible and he can still go today, 30-odd years after his breakthrough. Perhaps the most synonymous masked wrestler, following more than two decades with WWE. Obviously his in-ring work was revolutionary for its time and his ability to still hit some of those highs is insane. Add into that his influence and the sheer number of good to great Mysterio matches that must be out there, from TVs, PPVs, fucking ECW fan cams... I don't think he has the catalogue of main event matches a Bret Hart or a Shawn Michaels or a Steve Austin has. But his quality of output, week to week, month to month, year to year, decade to decade... who else ever has been that good for that long on a major stage? You can argue he didn't really work heel, beyond the WCW 2000 stuff and that may go against him. And he wasn't a promo guy as such. I don't think focusing on either massively suited his persona anyway. He was typically used to his strengths. Was he involved in enough great programmes, issues, angles? Would he have worked earlier in the time line, even like three years earlier, when it comes to the WWE run? Was some of his success encouraged by the move to a more in-ring, 'action' style... or was he that good that he drove wrestling towards becoming that style? This is a guy you could plug into the opener, the tag title scene or a main event challenge and it'd work. For years and years and years. Interested in thoughts about Mysterio and where he sits among the top lads.

Yeah, literally a character on US wrestling TV before the nWo formed!

If he isn't booked, ask for it!

Ah, I never twigged with Regal... I remember he was Stephen/Steven William Regal for like, a week.

This is fantastic.

Seeing that RnRs match made me think of how it was odd for the time that 'The Rock and Roll Express' was a thing in WWF at the same time as 'The Rock'. I know they changed Rocco Rock to just 'Rocco' a bit later on, but seemed quite unlike Vince for that to slip through the net. Never got that 'Roll Express' singles run.

He's a worker, right?

UKFF gave Grado his big break as well, right? 😂 It's amazing how it's sustained in the social media age; a pal of mine is quite perplexed when I reference things from here, sees it as an anarchronism. But in reality, the UKFF will probably outlive Twitter and all those lads. The NWA TNA of forums. The Hawaiian shirt may be gone, but Tony Schiavone lives on. Thinking about a Grado vs Earthquake match now.

I think Goldberg might well be the best. Roman Reigns' ten-minute unbeatable champion entrance, from the last few years.

The prisoner doing a runner is one of the best bits I've seen in a long time. Howling. Also, the fella who was seemingly unpinnable as his one arm was tied to a helium balloon and it kept lifting his shoulder up. 😂 Never seen a full show or match.

New Jacket

So expensive though, aren't they?

I stuck this on social media after the G1 final, for a mixed crowd of wrestling fans and non-fans. After the best part of 35 years, I had pretty much stopped watching wrestling on TV... Every match seemed the same. All of the meaningless video game fight sequences. The opening dance routine, with stand-off at the end. The 'let's pull my best amateur dramatics face' storytelling. Dives in every match, Canadian Destroyers left and right, kicking out of everything, ever. My favourite wrestler of the last 25 years is Hiroshi Tanahashi. Without speaking a word of English, the man spoke volumes. He was the spiritual successor to Bret Hart, a man who made people care so deeply, without sacrificing the fundamental foundations of what professional wrestling is... A sport. You can have mad angles, I love my mad angles. But the burning sun the entire thing orbits around is the presentation of a competitive sporting universe - even if it's one that accommodates undertakers and repo men as participants at times. 😂 I've gone on a tangent... so, I subscribed to the NJPW streaming service to see the last match of Tanahashi and it was glorious, the best match presentation of the year. This weekend, I watched the final of the G1 tournament, which, to the uninitiated, is the biggest annual tournament in pro wrestling. A star maker and a solidifier of legends. NJPW have lost almost all their top guys, be it to retirement or the American scene. And so, two relative newcomers were given the big final; Yuya Uemura and Ryohei Oiwa. And in this huge, spotlighted match, one of the biggest on the global wrestling calendar, they veered away from how people think we must present pro wrestling in the 2020s and put on this *absolute struggle*, a believable sporting contest, with high stakes and logic. It wasn't smoothly polished to the point was transparent, wrestling wasn't meant to be... what fights are? They're a *struggle*. And, after years and years of this perception that things have to be a certain way, as this particular group of modern fans pops for certain things, it's fascinating to see the reception for it. High, high praise. Huge. Because pro wrestling still works! This match could end up being an outlier. Or it could end up being one of the most consequential matches of the century. Maybe I'll be watching a bit longer yet.

Wonder why they didn't stick it on Wembley, thought it was a lock for Wembley. I guess it made sense to do the E and C vs Bucks match first, but you'd have imagined it might have shifted some extra Wembley tickets.

That main event was probably one of the great modern day wrestling match presentations. As a show, the stretch from the sun setting onwards was what put it over the top, for me. The tag match, the Darby and Sting stuff and that very good Nightingale vs Mone match along the way. As ever, there were hours of stuff that didn't click for me. Tons and tons of bodies, but without much reason to care. It would go up a notch when it focused on a select few at the end. Thought Benjamin and Lashley looked good in their match, actually; a different level. I was quite up for the Big Boom man and all those hijinks, glad they made the trip. In a massive stadium like Wembley, something a bit more... exaggerated (?) is a help. Thought the Gauntlet was a bit disappointing, felt there had to be more surprise entrants after the last one they put on there. It was decent still. There was nothing bad on the PPV at all, I don't think. It was a strong showcase of what AEW is and I think also a good gateway into it, for those who did come on a cheaper ticket. But yeah, the main event is the thing people most will remember and rightly so. Omega was outstanding, especially given his previous health issues, which weren't really apparent at all. And they didn't overthink it or overcook the booking. Local lad over clean and strong. 40,000+ sent home happy. Fireworks indeed.

Instead of the usual 10, 9, 8... countdown, they need to get the rights to this.

Good job I haven't watched that three-hour synopsis video, eh! 😂