Yeah. I’m gonna get to this war games. My guess is that UE is amazingly loved in the back. I assume they’re all bigtime hbk fans and he’s back there trying his ass off to position those dudes well. And all of those sons of bitches have MOTORS and can go. That’s the thing older rasslers and bookers seem to love most. When you have guys who don’t blow up easy, you can treat them like action figures damn near. Sometimes it goes a bit far and we get those 25 kickouts matches that can ruin things. But I’m old and nerdy enough to also appreciate the physical aspect of it. That alone turned me around on Adam Cole. I didn’t gaf about him before nxt but from the time he stepped in on those Johnny Wrestling matches to now, he’s won me all the way the fuck over. And yeah, I’m still horrified that he’s tiny and therefore he’s fucked if he ever shows up on raw and smackdown unless someone protects him majorly.

As it relates to going, those Flair/Steamboat matches usually stand up well to me for that reason. The pacing in some of those matches man...when they’d kick it up a notch? Shiiiiiiiiiiid. Then seeing Eddy, Benoit, and that crew try to elevate that with heavier offense but keeping the same speed and crispness AND the free flowing/make it seem real without just slanging potatoes part of it? Yeah. Very good.

I wonder how many current wrestling fans have truly seen the All Japan 90s heyday matches. I think even I need to revisit them. I assume I’d see too many potatoes but ridiculous physical effort and some badass storytelling. it’s been a while. But I know seeing it early 2000s turned me all the way out. Had me paying 80 bucks for Virtua Pro wrestling 2. The thing I remember most is all the main guys having a submission and a ‘hey, quit kicking out, you bitch’ 2nd finisher. That and the limb damage psychology was heavyhanded and dope. Shit, maybe aew needs to watch these all Japan matches.

>Only complaint is they still haven't figured out the camera
>work in the War Games matches. Better than previous years, but
>the production booth was cutting to the wrong angle a few
>times and that was super annoying.
>
>Both War Games matches were fire and had the opposite ending
>of what I thought would happen. Didn't mind the results
>though. I've been digging Raquel lately and she should make a
>good challenger for Shirai.
>
>Maybe the Kings of NXT was just a temporary thing and McAfee
>is leaving? Again, didn't mind the result, it came across as a
>thank you to the Undisputed Era for all they've done. Also
>they would've been 1-3 in War Games had they lost and that
>feels wrong. Would've liked to see Dunne win/get the pin
>though to set him up as the next challenger for the NXT title.
>
>
>I usually hate strap matches, but it worked here. I know a lot
>of people have disliked the Grimes/Loomis feud but I've been
>entertained the whole time.
>
>Triple threat North American title match was pretty good
>although having a thousand people in the scream mask is lame.
>Would've been fine with any of those 3 winning really. Austin
>Theory referencing the "It was me, Austin" line had me
>howling.
>
>Thatcher/Ciampa was good although it was tough to follow the
>women's war games match. Took a while for me to really get
>into it and would've preferred Thatcher winning. The way
>Thatcher looked at Ciampa after with kinda horror/respect had
>me thinking they're gonna team up coming out of this.