NJPW on LA TV

Check Stuart’s main page, since NJPW.com doesn’t have it up yet. Now this is a tape I need to get, even before I start wishcasting CMLL guys making the trip. (June 26th is a Saturday, HMMMM.) Inoki Dojo shows are shows I’d actually try to get to if I was in the area, because they … Continue reading “NJPW on LA TV”

Check Stuart’s main page, since NJPW.com doesn’t have it up yet. Now this is a tape I need to get, even before I start wishcasting CMLL guys making the trip. (June 26th is a Saturday, HMMMM.) Inoki Dojo shows are shows I’d actually try to get to if I was in the area, because they have such a high concetration of Guys I Like, so that I might be able to see them without a plane flight would be, as the kids say, neato.

(Duh, there’s an off day, no matches today. Sleep. Now.)

Heat 05/30

Finally got done with Heat. Had an upset stomach, then got a lot farther in a Poker Tournament then I was expecting (67th out of 600 – no Hobbes or Tan, but good for me.) Big news is Coach mentions Christian is out for eight to ten weeks, which I hadn’t seen mentioned anywhere. That … Continue reading “Heat 05/30”

Finally got done with Heat. Had an upset stomach, then got a lot farther in a Poker Tournament then I was expecting (67th out of 600 – no Hobbes or Tan, but good for me.)

Big news is Coach mentions Christian is out for eight to ten weeks, which I hadn’t seen mentioned anywhere. That probably means the Jericho/Christan stuff is dead after this PPV, if only because Christian probably won’t be back in time for the next PPV and there’s gotta be better things for Jericho to do then back to back PPVs vs Tomko.

You know, when Matt was getting his usual (but probably a “we’re really pumped to be here and you’re the first guy we know we’re supposed to cheer for” added) loud positive reaction, I was bemoaning WWE’s reluctance to take advantage of his popularity, even now as a face.

But then I realized – I think that’s why he’s feuding with Kane! They’re not punishing him like Dave and Bryan think, they’ve heard the reactions and it’s a attempt at using ’em and elevating by having him go against a guy way above him. Not that it hasn’t been completely horribly executed, but it’s not like Matt’s any more buried then he was before now (being treated like a jobber on RAW is the same as being treated like a jobber by not being on RAW.) If Matt gets the credible win over Kane eventually in this process, then isn’t at least the non-skit parts of this worth it?

I’m being outrageously optimistic here, I do know. If the philosophy on the SmackDown! side is something the whole company agrees with, then it’s far more likely Matt’s involved just because he looks good being tossed in the air than what chants he gets on Heat. I give the benefit of the doubt because, unlike the cruiserweights, there’s a shred of hope that it may turn out the way I want it.

Anyway, this was a very high end Heat. Rhyno vs Val Venis was a legit MOTW can date, I love Matt Hardy squashes, and Trish made Nidia look far better than she possibly could be at this stage. Nothing to complain about except wanting more and wanting it more often.

It’s 3, so I’m probably going to grab the NJPW Super J results and head to bed. I’ve got no idea what I’m doing tommorow, so don’t stick around waiting for lucha.

Velocity

Recap’s up. If you’ve really been missing the FBI/Spanky/London matches, you must’ve been happy. If you like to watch Sakoda suck, you also would’ve been happy. I hear a rumor a condensed version will pop up elsewhere. (If someone used the correct e-mail address this time.) I’m going for a food break. Probably Heat gets … Continue reading “Velocity”

Recap’s up. If you’ve really been missing the FBI/Spanky/London matches, you must’ve been happy. If you like to watch Sakoda suck, you also would’ve been happy.

I hear a rumor a condensed version will pop up elsewhere. (If someone used the correct e-mail address this time.)

I’m going for a food break. Probably Heat gets done around midnight. Yay for long weekends.

IWA-MS – 05/29/04

Scott went to the show and knows where all the wrestlers eat. Not for nothing, but I don’t like the deal where wrestler(s) change outfits for every match in a tournament, because they always end up wearing all their outfits and it’s a tell that they’re making the finals.

Scott went to the show and knows where all the wrestlers eat.

Not for nothing, but I don’t like the deal where wrestler(s) change outfits for every match in a tournament, because they always end up wearing all their outfits and it’s a tell that they’re making the finals.

RSS/Comments notes

[Listening to: Safety Dance – Men Without Hats – (4:34)] Of course, the tracker the show’s on is down. Boooo. I’ve made a couple changes on things most people won’t use, but just in case it causes problems, here you go. The RSS 2.0 feed for this blog (linked over there and here) on the … Continue reading “RSS/Comments notes”

[Listening to: Safety Dance – Men Without Hats – (4:34)]

Of course, the tracker the show’s on is down. Boooo.

I’ve made a couple changes on things most people won’t use, but just in case it causes problems, here you go.

The RSS 2.0 feed for this blog (linked over there and here) on the sidebar now include the complete posts. So, if you’re using a RSS reader (and suddenly I am), you won’t be stuck with the first 50 words or whatever the excerpt was. I’m also including HTML tags in the feed, so if it starts turning out unreadbly funky, give me a heads up.

The change is only for the main thecubsfan.com blog; no change on the cmll one (yet) and I like the article feeds as is.

Comments are now automatically closed after they leave the main page (and stuff says on the main page for 28 days right now.) That’s to save me from having to delete spam. If there’s something you want to say about a post after it’s left the main page, just e-mail me. It’s not like anyone besides me was going to notice comments that weren’t on the main page now anyway.

Again, this isn’t implemented yet on the CMLL side. But it probably will be.

“Who’s involved? Wait, you and Hawkgirl? Get out! Really?”

I’m so out of the loop of using a VCR, I guess, that I screwed up setting the times. So I got a half hour of Card Masters instead of the last half hour of the JL Movie. And I can’t believe they’re not reairing it again soon. I think there was a DVDVR post … Continue reading ““Who’s involved? Wait, you and Hawkgirl? Get out! Really?””

I’m so out of the loop of using a VCR, I guess, that I screwed up setting the times. So I got a half hour of Card Masters instead of the last half hour of the JL Movie. And I can’t believe they’re not reairing it again soon. I think there was a DVDVR post with spoilers I avoided a while back that I’ll go look for in a second.

If the last 20 or some minutes was as good as the first hour, the movie was some good fun. Fine story, and lots of awesome bits: Batman and J’onn doing an intervention on Green Lantern while Flash is clueless and “Wally West, Clark Kent…Bruce Wayne” were show making scenes, but the part that was the greatest in the history of the series:

GL: “Who’s side are you on?'”
HG: [with pleading eyes] “Don’t you know?”
[pause]
[Hawkgirl KOs Green Lantern with her shield, and her fiance shows up to hug.]

It’s kinda diminished by her not sticking to the dark side but it was all kinds of hilarious when it happened.

Ah, there’s that thread. Thanks Sven, now I’ll go search SuperNova and watch the rest.

GAB Lineup Spoilers

Well, since Dave posted the lineup over on WON.com, they’re not totally unknown and you’ll probably be reading them elsewhere if you’re not reading them here, but since they do give away events of the next two TV shows, I’ll make you click another link. Unrelated: In case you’re looking it up, the TNA show … Continue reading “GAB Lineup Spoilers”

Well, since Dave posted the lineup over on WON.com, they’re not totally unknown and you’ll probably be reading them elsewhere if you’re not reading them here, but since they do give away events of the next two TV shows, I’ll make you click another link.

Unrelated: In case you’re looking it up, the TNA show is listed as Impact! Wrestling on your TiVo Guide.

Continue reading “GAB Lineup Spoilers”

The winged fiery beast of Middle-earth

Chicago Wrestling has a ground breaking interview with LWF’s Bishop. I sure hope we’re not doomed. NJPW Super J standings are updated. I’ll probably just let you look at the date over there and figure out of it I updated or not. No IWA for me, though Scott is going today. I’m heading to single … Continue reading “The winged fiery beast of Middle-earth”

Chicago Wrestling has a ground breaking interview with LWF’s Bishop. I sure hope we’re not doomed.

NJPW Super J standings are updated. I’ll probably just let you look at the date over there and figure out of it I updated or not.

No IWA for me, though Scott is going today. I’m heading to single A baseball today instead.

wrestling of which I am a fan

Listening: “A Little Less Conversation”/JXL I was going to do this thing, where I’d actually talk about wrestling, but now, after getting my heart ripped out twice in the same evening by the same bullpen, I don’t know if I can go on. Let’s try. – WWECorpBiz updated it’s Key Business Drivers file today, which … Continue reading “wrestling of which I am a fan”

Listening: “A Little Less Conversation”/JXL

I was going to do this thing, where I’d actually talk about wrestling, but now, after getting my heart ripped out twice in the same evening by the same bullpen, I don’t know if I can go on.

Let’s try.

– WWECorpBiz updated it’s Key Business Drivers file today, which to you and me means “updated PPV buy rate info in graph form.” As everyone with half a brain figured, Judgment Day did abysmally low. ~200,000 buys, the lowest since they’ve started keeping this chart 3 years ago.

Wrestling Supercards has older buy rate information, but it’s in terms of percentage of the universe (and I don’t off hand remember what the universe was at the time) and somewhat incomplete. But doing some fuzzy math, you estimate the buy rate percent here at .32. Still above most of the death of WCW (equal to Bret/Goldberg Starrcade ’99 – thanks for the correction, person who couldn’t bother to post a name!), but the WWE hadn’t done that bad, percentage wise, since December of ’96 and IYH: It’s Time (Sid/Bret) to get a close percentage.

Note that they didn’t do Sid/Bret the rematch the following month. Although, at the same time, the plan was already set before they knew what number they were getting, which is apparently the same situation here.

– Eddie’s bio on UPN got a low rating, but really not all that different from the low ratings the Diva specials they used to do (which got about the same promotion level), considering the competition. SmackDown got a low rating. I have no idea why anyone is surprised by any of this.

– I didn’t watch SmackDown! Last week’s SmackDown! or this week’s. Luckily, Thomas J. Feely’s got me covered. I’m just out of the habit. And no one really cares where I rate it on a five point scale.

Line I most wish to steal: “We do so.”

– As usual with anything NJPW related, I’m following it via Stuart’s site, and checking in on NJPW.com for hopeful glimpses of wackiness. The one thing I don’t dig is the way the standings are typically listed.

Block A:
1. Masahito Kakihara [2]
2. Koji Kanemoto [2]
3. Wataru Inoue [2]
4. Ryusuke Taguchi [2]
5. Big Boss MA-G-MA [2]
6. American Dragon [2]
7. El Samurai [2]
8. Jushin Thunder Liger [2]

You’re missing half the story – they’ve all got two points, but they’re ranked differently because they’ve got different amounts remaining. As usaul, when things slightly bug me, I spend well too much time in coming up with my own way of doing it. The way too much info on one page effect is also typical.

Looking at the standings right now and guessing. Keep in mind, I think I’ve seen 1 Super Jr match EVER:
Block A: I’m guessing one of the slow starters stars Liger or Kanemoto recovers enough to get into the semis, and one of the lesser important but reiging champions Kakihara or AmDragon joins them. Personal biases force me to pick Liger (1st) and Dragon.
Block B: Guessing 10 is good enough for passage and there’s no way he goes worse than 2-2 with what he’s got left, Ultimo is an easy 1st place here. Since they’re obviously a step above everyone else, 2nd has to come down to Heat and Tiger Mask. Probably a tie breaker match, with Heat taking the win since Tiger won previously, and setting up a title match down the road.

Sadly, that’d make Dragon vs Dragon unlikely. Booooooo.

Otherwise:
* Last day schedule is always a tell – if you’re booking it, you’d like to avoid someone getting in without having a big match on the last day, so those involved are those who probably matter. And they’ve got the top four against each other in Block B: Heat/Dragon and Naruse/Tiger, so obviously it’s going to be up for grabs there. A block has a probable winner moves on Kanemoto vs Dragon match, and a Liger/MA-G-MA rematch from a recent Osaka Pro upset, so you gotta figure Liger clinches there.
* Kakihara’s overall importance has fallen so far since he won this last year, he’s got to make a serious run just to make his win look credible in retrospect.
* Nakajmia is 16 and should lose every single match and then take a sabitical for 5 years.
* After they get a try out here, Rocky vs Daniels is your new Indy Feud of the Year.
* And this has nothing to do with much else, but now that that Reyes is ROH regular and Rocky is otherwise busy, the booking in Chicago Ridge makes a lot more sense.

We’ll see if I’m right. But c’mon, no. I have no idea.

– In a shocking unbelievable unforseeable turn of events, people are saying Ultimo Dragon might stick around in Japan to be treated as a legend rather than come back to the US to job on Velocity. Amazing. I’m pretty sure he’s already gotten more wins in the Super J then he did in the last three months of the WWE.

Like any other released dude, he’d probably have to stay off US TV till his contract was up. I wonder if that includes Galavision. Because he’s on this week. Don’t tell Vince! It’s the case of WWE being completely clueless about lucha actually working to someone’s benefit (me!)

This sounds like a similar deal to what Spanky got, so I wouldn’t bet on him showing up in ROH or on a DVD till after the agreement was over. I suspect he could turn up on some Cali shows next time he stops by in Mexico – that was the expectation before he went on this NJPW tour, and is probably even more likely since he’s got the associations with noted West Coasters Danielson, Daniels and Romero.

– Transitioning back – does Chad Wicks working a NJ tour and getting signed to a WWE developmental deal say anything about the reality of the rumored NJ/WWE deal? It’s probably completely unrelated but fun to stir the pot with, given the spiffy pic of Vince that’s now gracing the NJPW page. It’s kinda weird that he goes from being a pushed part of NJ’s Young Lions cup, a spot which implies “long term deal”, and ends up getting signed with the WWE a month later. Not that the NJPW work likely had anything to do with it – they liked him on Heat and whenever else. He owes La Resistance a poodle or something.

While we’re sorta related: I completely support the idea of sending guys to work Japan tours a bunch, because you need people with solid bases but the experience of working in different situations to allow them to create individual wrestling styles. That’s another way of saying “all them OVW guys work the same way, h’yuck.” Plus, NJ could send it’s younger juniors back this way so Jindrak has a bigger pool of short guys to dropkick. Everyone’s happy!

– Completely silly and dated MMA comment: Good for wrestling people for winning and all, but since the whole strategy behind putting the NJPW title on Sapp was for “NJPW Guy To Be Named” to be the one to finally beat him and that NJPW Guy To Be Named almost certiantly wasn’t going to be Kaz Fujita, wasn’t that the worse possible outcome? Or at least way down on the list. I was kinda surprised about the reaction.

That’s plenty for now. I want to do this things much much shorter if I’m going to them.