Unironic Wrestling Fans

[Jew Heffner]

Oh man. Here is a gem for ya.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYv8z9TVcKY

Do you know Mitsuharu Misawa? In my opinion he's the greatest wrestler of all time. He had a ridiculous run in ajpw, putting on 5 star match after 5 star match after 5 star match. He is the dude in the green here, facing Jumbo Tsuruta, another of the all time greats. Jumbo was THE MAN in All Japan Pro Wrestling throughout the 70s and 80s and wasn't about to let some young punk come in and take his place. Misawa and Jumbo feuded for two years, and the only reason the feud ended was because Jumbo got Hepatitis and had to cut back from wrestling.

Man I could seriously talk about this feud for days. It was so freaking good and it involved SO MANY WRESTLERS. Their feud helped out several of the best young up and coming wrestlers on the roster like Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi and Akira Taue. Those three along with Mitsuharu Misawa went on to become the three aces of All Japan throughout the 90s, every one of them held the All Japan Triple Crown Championship, ajpw's world title. In the 90s All Japan had this revolutionary policy of having their main event title matches end in a clean finish, no lousy disqualification endings or stupid double count outs. It made the championship and the wrestlers and the wrestling in the ring mean so much more. In my opinion the King's Road style that these guys utilized during the 90s is the greatest style of wrestling. I mean, if you look at the matches that Dave Meltzer rated 5 stars it has these dudes all over it. He also rated more Misawa matches 5 stars than any other wrestler.

Seriously, check out this list:

http://starratingslist.blogspot.com/2009/09/wrestling-observer-5-star-ratings-list.html

How many of those matches have you seen? I've seen just about everything on that list, some of them many, many times.

[JeffertonFromTX]

Misawa was a legit legend. I haven't seen a lot of his stuff but I have seen a bunch of his matches with Kobashi and they were always barnburners. I am really tempted to subscribe to New Japan World because I am pretty sure they have the All Japan tape library.

Also, random, but the anime Space Dandy did a wrestling episode and Misawa was one of the main wrestler characters featured.

[Jew Heffner]

Misawa was a legit legend. I haven't seen a lot of his stuff but I have seen a bunch of his matches with Kobashi and they were always barnburners. I am really tempted to subscribe to New Japan World because I am pretty sure they have the All Japan tape library.

Also, random, but the anime Space Dandy did a wrestling episode and Misawa was one of the main wrestler characters featured.

Did you see their match from Noah in 2003? One of my all time favorites. It's got one of the craziest spots I've ever seen in it. Kobashi tiger suplexes Misawa from the ramp to the floor.

[Mike Desert]

this wasn't the match i was looking for, but any Awesome/Tanaka match was soooo fucking good

5-Star Match - Mike Awesome Vs. Masato Tanaka - Heatwave 98'

[Jew Heffner]

this wasn't the match i was looking for, but any Awesome/Tanaka match was soooo fucking good

5-Star Match - Mike Awesome Vs. Masato Tanaka - Heatwave 98'

That match is nuts! Those two always killed one another.

[Mike Desert]

Speaking of which,  did you hear about that recent Ray Mysterio match where he killed a guy? 

[JeffertonFromTX]

I did, yeah. I think it is unfair of people to place that solely on Rey's shoulders, but still, it is a tragedy all the same.

Last I heard, they had ruled the cause of death as a stroke brought on by whiplash because the ropes were too tight. I feel bad for people in the crowd honestly because Owen Hart's death is still burned onto my skull. I watched that PPV live and it was just a horrific experience.

[Greggulator]

The video from that Rey Mysterio thing is absolutely disturbing.

Chikara is the best. There are actually a bunch of total comedy nerds in Chikara. Their ref/announcer dude Bryce is a founding member of Philly's oldest sketch comedy group. A bunch of those dudes do the wrestling show at UCB and the like. Ultramantis also has his own hardcore band these days. And at least some of the members of the great Pissed Jeans were early Chikara wrestlers, too.

I hosted a comedy tribute to pro wrestling a few years ago. I co-hosted with Colt Cabana. Cesaro (then Claudio Castiglione) and Sara Del Rey judged the first annual Alex Wright Memorial Dance Off. That snake dude from The Osirian Portal won. Super fun. All three of them were as nice as could possibly be and really funny goofballs.

NXT is the best. It's just so much fun to watch. Aiden English is great. He's actually engaged to Eddy Guerrero's daughter. I've talked with him on Facebook a few times and he's a huge FOT and comedy geek. Great dude. It's funny because he'll have posts from friggin' Vicki Guerrero on there.

[Eric Fishlegs]

The video from that Rey Mysterio thing is absolutely disturbing.

Chikara is the best. There are actually a bunch of total comedy nerds in Chikara. Their ref/announcer dude Bryce is a founding member of Philly's oldest sketch comedy group. A bunch of those dudes do the wrestling show at UCB and the like. Ultramantis also has his own hardcore band these days. And at least some of the members of the great Pissed Jeans were early Chikara wrestlers, too.

I hosted a comedy tribute to pro wrestling a few years ago. I co-hosted with Colt Cabana. Cesaro (then Claudio Castiglione) and Sara Del Rey judged the first annual Alex Wright Memorial Dance Off. That snake dude from The Osirian Portal won. Super fun. All three of them were as nice as could possibly be and really funny goofballs.

NXT is the best. It's just so much fun to watch. Aiden English is great. He's actually engaged to Eddy Guerrero's daughter. I've talked with him on Facebook a few times and he's a huge FOT and comedy geek. Great dude. It's funny because he'll have posts from friggin' Vicki Guerrero on there.

I got a $25 coupon from WWE for subscribing to the Network since day 1 and the first and only thing I wanted was a VaudeVillains t-shirt. I feel like they reside on earth Chikara, but somehow wandered into the WWE Universe.

And speaking of Chikara, I am proud to say I saw this match live. On the whole it's amazing that they managed to put on the show that they did with such a low ceiling. Apparently they were slated to be in the larger building but got screwed at the last minute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EhmWwX5n0I

[JeffertonFromTX]

I had no idea that so many people in Chikara were into music until I read that John Darnielle article where they took him to a Chikara show. I mean, now it makes all the sense in the world, but still, I never thought that in a million years beforehand.

I'm glad Chikara/NXT has a largish following now. Aside from New Japan, nobody does performance and in-ring storytelling better than those guys. You could argue PWG, but I haven't seen enough to have a solid opinion.

[Jew Heffner]

I had no idea that so many people in Chikara were into music until I read that John Darnielle article where they took him to a Chikara show. I mean, now it makes all the sense in the world, but still, I never thought that in a million years beforehand.

I'm glad Chikara/NXT has a largish following now. Aside from New Japan, nobody does performance and in-ring storytelling better than those guys. You could argue PWG, but I haven't seen enough to have a solid opinion.

Pwg was far and away the best thing going from 2009-2014. I have fallen several months behind recently, so I'm not 100% sure they're still as good as they have been, but for those 5 years you couldn't find anything better. Definitely give Pwg a chance. It's like a rated R Chikara.

[JeffertonFromTX]

I've seen a few random ACH, Kenny Omega, and Young Bucks matches from them, and I've loved them, but I really want to buy one of their DVDs in order to truly see what they have to offer.

I finally saw my first ROH TV show when I visited some family up in Oklahoma and other than the crowd, it was amazing. I've heard nothing but horror stories about the ROH crowds so I'll probably never see one of their shows live unless I'm prepared to fight a misogynist.

There actually is a new promotion that popped up here in Texas called Inspire Pro Wrestling that is co-run by Brandon Stroud from Uproxx and everything I've seen from it is amazing. I'm really hoping I can pop down to Austin for their next show which has their champion Dirty Andy Dalton vs. ACH as the main event. They also have one hell of a women's triple threat lined up with my love and life Deliah Doom in the center of it.

 

[Eric Fishlegs]

I've seen a few random ACH, Kenny Omega, and Young Bucks matches from them, and I've loved them, but I really want to buy one of their DVDs in order to truly see what they have to offer.

I finally saw my first ROH TV show when I visited some family up in Oklahoma and other than the crowd, it was amazing. I've heard nothing but horror stories about the ROH crowds so I'll probably never see one of their shows live unless I'm prepared to fight a misogynist.

I haven't seen any ROH in years, but recently discovered that I can watch their TV show. I've only seen one and a half episodes, but it's good.

PWG is definitely worth checking out. I've heard rumors that ROH isn't letting their contracted guys wrestle there anymore which could be a big blow if it's true. Of course I've also heard that WWE plans a huge talent raid on ROH for when they start doing full fledged NXT tours so who knows how it'll all shake out.

[fonpr]

Austin Aries seems like a thoughtful guy.


http://smellslikehumanspirit.com/podcasts/austin-aries

[Greggulator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3OBltJFjrY

This is one of my favorite nights of wrestling ever. This is when Evolution and The Shield were in their feud. The Shield were THE BEST. The WWE was so great when they just came out and destroyed everyone for two years. I think my favorite Shield subtext was how they made that goof Ryback their personal chewtoy for so much of their tenure.

In this feud, The Authority booked an 11-on-3 handicap match. This touched on the previous year when The Shield were their Blackwater-style hitmen and to cover their tracks HHH/Steph put them in a similar match that they nearly won. I think that was their first loss, actually. Anyways, this is now 11 heels on The Shield. The Shield spend the first part of night just beating the hell out of absolutely everyone they come across in the back to even the odds. Their destruction of Brad Maddox (the power figure of the night) was the best, highlighted by crazy ass Ambrose getting some last deserts. I also love Layla's face when she realizes her man Fandango is about to get his ass whipped. And Wade Barrett worming his way out of the conflict and setting ADR up to take a Superman punch was also an A+.

The Shield were the best. Except for The Wyatts, who were 4-1 against them, I believe.