Jessie:
okay ECW: Tiffany on the Washington show as bland as ever, but loved Regal's lion like roar while destroying the furniture, Sheamus against Benjamin was slow and didn't really showcase either guy but a solid effort. Christian v. Tatsu was really good though, i think better than Jericho v. Kofi because the finish made sense, the near falls made sense and I loved how Christian prefaced the match by saying Tatsu will come close, but it's not his time, he told the whole story of the match and laid it out. One note of Christian: some of his moves (like that flipping sunset flip) don';t really work as just a move, it should be more of a counter move, but that's a small squabble.
Also saw some more FIP, Spanky v. Kozina was well worked and Kozina was sucking wind big time as Spanky was fine, and it was a very normal match for him, but no charisma during it at all. MVP/ Ring Crew v. Heartbreaks & Don Juan was entertaining, Banks fit well in the role of team leader and threw some nasty kicks, but also had some really showy indy offense that didn't make sense. That fat Heartbreaker Sean Davis is so totally 80's it makes my head spin but his partner is overshadowed because he looks just like a normal indy guy in pink tights. Love the Don Juan sleazy Mexican dude looking to bang any chick, it's very true to life there's a maintenance guy here at Financial identical to that guy. 3 way with Mamaluke, Fury & Rinauro was totally vanilla, Fury looked dumb trying to do London's Drop -Sault, Mamaluke had some fire and a nice array of suplexes, but his and Rinauro's submission work on the ground was so amateurish and boring. okay that's it for now.
Brian:
Sounds like you had a decent night of viewing, Jess. Too bad no Black Tiger got screened. I didn't get as much watched as I'd anticipated, had two papers to write consecutively, and re-watched the Rua vs. Machida fight from UFC 104 and got halfway through Land of the Lost. I also got some Chinese takeout--lemon chicken is the shit! Anyway, wrestling? I started Royal Rumble '90. They're in Orlando and Jesse Ventura is wearing a fucking ungodly ugly Mickey Mouse sweater and Mickey Ears. The crowd seemed super hot, though. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs. The Bushwhackers opened--now, if you recall, Adam bashed The Bushwhackers vehemently awhile ago, I quickly came to their defense, but I think most people just wrote it off as me being contentious as the dialogue went no further. Well, watch this match, and let's talk. Luke's face in peril segment is splendidly done, his selling, while unorthodox, is fucking fantastic. When did Jacques grow a beard? I don't remember that. Anyway, I loved all this. There's really great promos throughout the show, too; Mean Gene will be in the back interviews participants in the Royal Rumble and thus far the arguing Heenan Family interview has been the most rad. The next match is The Genius vs. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake. This is also quite good. Please, tell me, is there a Beefcake compilation out there I can get? I thought his selling was really good, too; reminded me a lot of Hogan's, no surprise, as he sort of tries to power through the pain and shake it off, etc. Genius looked awesome selling an atomic drop by tucking into a ball and rolling around the ring. What I really liked is the aftermath. Perfect runs out and Genius holds Beefcake while Perfect works Brutus' ribs with a steel chair. Beefcake's selling is beyond epic here, just rolling around like he'd just ate a ton of rat poison, squirming uncontrollably and really putting the attack over. Up next is Valentine vs. Garvin in an "I Quit" match I believe and you don't need me to tell you how amazing that sounds on paper.
I also started FIP Unfinished Business. The opener was Heatbreak Express vs. Kahagis and Scott "Black Nature Boy" Andrews. This wasn't bad, but not real good, either. I liked the Express' selling, especially big Sean, wincing and babying as he waddled around. The biggest problem I had is that Kahagis needed to slow down. He brought some welcomed intensity to the match, laying in some pretty stiff strikes to Phil, but its not a sprint, slow down and take time to let things sink in. I'd planned on watching some more of Best of Necro Butcher in Japan but I had to tap out at 2:00AM due to class this morning. In the cafeteria now, only have three fights left on DREAM 11, may try to finish one in-between watching NBA highlights before my next class.
Jessie:
Maybe next time for BT....
okay i'll have to watch that because the Mania match where they wrestled Rougeaus was beyond awful:
"Extraordinarily sloppy match with no direction, in a lot of ways, capsulates most Mania matches. Many are brief, devoid of much action and unsatisfactory, like a frozen Hershey's candy bar, or jerking off to old Sable photos from 98 Raw magazines. Jimmy Hart pulls out his pre=requisite comedy spot and the match became a complete mess 2 minutes in. Luke took a cool bump into the corner in the highlight for me, as this one wound up with bad refing, legal man issues abound and a putrid double clothesline that was sold badly and executed even worse."
maybe that match had more time and care......i am a self professed Genuis follower so am intrigued to see that as well. That submission match sounds tits, to say the least.
Agreed on Big Sean, being 400 pounds with decent mike skills and some good facials, sets him apart in my eyes, something his partner is sorely lacking. Kahagas didn't do shit in the match I saw him against Steve Madison, who I was relishing in his really old school pace of building up to bigger moves, chinlock to a series of well placed kneedrops to back body drop and so forth.....What I was trying to figure out with Kahagas is what he was supposed to be? He was doing these karate thrusts against Madison, but his comeback near the end was total 90's power wrestling, and done sloppily at that.
Brian:
My professor just told a Dick the Bruiser story in class while I'm sitting here reading UFC news. The 12/12 show sounds phenomenal. Not only do we get Sanchez vs. Penn, but now, Guida vs. Florian? I'm sold. Maybe in my burgeoning old age I'm getting soft, but, I genuinely did enjoy the Bushwhackers match. I've also being watching differently lately, and in doing so, have found myself largely enjoying everything I've seen to varying degrees. After the first contact in a match, to the bell, everything is selling; used to, we'd point out a real colorful sell, i.e. D-Von wriggling on the mat, etc. but I'm now completely engaged watching as everything, including the absence of movement, is selling. Every reaction is a sell, or a performance, and what I often used to wrongly mislabel as not selling, is often times accurate selling. You can wince, grab a hurt area, get vocal, or even lay flat regaining your wits, etc. I don't think I can fully explore it verbally here, now, but its drastically changed the way I've watched this week but as a result I've enjoyed what I've seen exponentially more than I would have otherwise. Tonight I'm getting together with Adam and a guy we've befriended from the DVDVR board to watch some YAMATO.
Jessie:
Guida v. Florian? as Mike Myers i.e. washed up comedian, would say "Yes, please!"
I enjoy going over the finer points of performances in these emails and such, it's an element of the sport that's all but been forgotten by the many thousands upon thousands of current fans. It's basically the thing that deep down, if you eliminate the element of surprise, rooting for certain guys, getting togther with friends and all that stuff, that still draws us in. Watching a show at my house at night with no noise or anything getting to hone in on performances, match pace, facials everything is just as captivating as it ever was. BUT, sometimes I think, "Are we seeing things that the wrestlers themselves aren't even aware of?" which you could count in either 2 directions:
1) Most guys competing, the act of being "in character" as well as in tune with the match and performance, is so inherently instilled in them, they don't even realize it, or
2) We're seeing things they are not even thinking of, like if we see this really interesting facial, were they hurt, pissed, or what have you and we think it's this really interesting way to sell something, but if they were to watch the match themselves, they'd be like " i wasn't selling! I was fucking annoyed with my opponent's refusal to give up some heat for me," or something like that.
I say this stuff because sometimes when I think about like the DVDVR board, or the other blogs you send me, even our own, there's so much fine tooth combing over of all kinds of unique footage, it begs the question. Something I find funny, although it would be near impossible to know. In the meantime, all we can do is find ways to keep ourselves intrigued with the performances and such, and I think you've really grasped onto a unique way of looking at stuff, more so like in films, which I believe you've stated before
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