>but it's just Chris Jericho hamfisting attempts to be
>relevant behind up-and-coming heaters. Same as the Inner
>Circle. Same as the JAS.
>
>Agreed on styles. Bryan has gotten REALLY bad about the strike
>exchanges since he moved over. But it's a New Japan trope,
>that I think has gotten lost in translation. It's not
>something to do every damn match. It's something to amplify
>OMG these guys really hate each other and they're calling on
>their FIGHTING SPIRIT to overcome their opponent. (It's part
>of why I dig Orange so much - because a LOT of his act is him
>totally shitting on overused indie spots).

YES! YES! YES! He gets it in a certain way and I've liked him for quite a while. He has even somewhat explained his gimmick at times in interviews.

And over the last year at least, he's gone out of his way to show 'hey idiots, I can wrestle..I just don't want to kill myself doing Steamboat/Flair Memorial strike exchanges and being reliant on dangerous stuff to get myself over just because I'm small'. Even something as simple as the quality of his pins is something that caught me pretty strongly after Regal pointed out the concept on his podcast. I mean forreal...OC does good azz pins! And even more, his pins often improve over the course of matches..like he's doing shitty pins early in matches on purpose..that is nerdy af GOOD WRESTLER SHIT. Maybe he needs to get some pink and black socks or something to make it more obvious to people who have decided that he sucks! Hehe