Dave didn't give that rating out of the heat of any excitement, he actually went to bed early and didn't see the match live. When he woke up to people raving about it he gave it a watch, and loved it so much he ended up watching it four more times.

It's legitimately one of the best matches I've ever seen by two of the top workers in the world right now. Kenny Omega has stepped up MASSIVELY since AJ left for America and Okada is legitimately awesome regardless of how much the internet likes to pout about him and Bushiroad as a whole.

I think it is stupid to break the rating scale for a match giving it six starts even though the scale really only goes to five. However the match is amazing. I would probably give it about ****1/2. But I am very conservative with the five stars. It was built like I prefer my pro-wrestling. Quite slow and heavy on psychology building up to an excellent climax. More akin to 90's AJPW or early 00's Pro-wrestling NOAH.

I never really liked Kenny Omega but he has developed tremendously. I haven't really been watching wrestling during 2016 so the jump from when I last saw him to now is pretty massive. I remember him being praised a lot early on but I never saw what was so good about him. That said Okada is so great. He puts on great matches with such a wide variety of opponents. He's just excellent.

I finished Wrestle Kingdom about 40 minutes ago and I still am completely amped from that main event. My GOD. And here I was 3 matches earlier thinking Kushida vs. Takahashi was match of the night so far. Every match after that one got better and better and better, and Omega vs. Okada is legitimately one of the absolute greatest matches in the entire history of professional wrestling. That six star rating is 100% deserved.

Well, I guess I know how I'm spending the quiet afternoon after the boss takes off, then.

My exact feelings!
Even with all the botches in the Kushida/Takahashi match, it was an absolute amazing match.
Goto/Shibata was SO STIFF AND BRUTAL. Amazing match and exactly what I wanted to see.
I personally felt that Tanahashi/Naito was a bit of a let down, at least compared to the two previous matches. It was still good, but I was so pumped still lol
Omega/Okada was insanely good. I was in a mini-theater with some people and we were all marking out the entire match. Insane spots. it gets ALL THE STARS out of five.

Just finishing up Okada/Omega now. It's pretty good. There's a lot of little things that stand out as glaring to me. Okada no-selling all of the back/neck work that Omega spent the entire match building up is the big one, but there's also a lot of moments where it's obvious they're helping set up the next sequence. Just like I can't call a movie with Syfy grade CG great, I can't call a match where it's obvious the wrestlers are aiding each other's performance great unless there's enough to cover for it.

It's interesting how this isn't even the best match in WK history yet it's supposedly the greatest match ever.

The only thing about Tanahashi/Naito that brought it down from five stars for me was that possibly botched ending. Naito hits a modified Destino from the top rope, Red Shoes goes for the count, but he doesn't hit the three count and Tanahashi very clearly tries to kick out only after Red Shoes screwed up. Then Naito hits a normal Destino for the win. It was very similar to the ending of Kurt Angle vs. The Rock at No Way Out 2001, where Rocky hits Kurt with the Rock Bottom and Earl Hebner completely screwed up and missed the three count, then another Rock Bottom ends the match right after. Aside from that, it was the usual amazing Tanahashi Tokyo Dome performance, and Naito is possibly the best heel in wrestling today.

In terms of my own personal star ratings, the Jr. Heavyweight title and NEVER Openweight title matches were both 4.5 stars, the IC title match was 4.75 stars, and Omega/Okada gets EVERY SINGLE STAR IN THE ENTIRETY OF REALITY.

I think it's funny how much shit is being strewn about that match. I wouldn't call it awful or great, and it must have been super exciting to watch it live, but it's just funny how much shade gets cast in your direction for saying it's not an instant classic.

IWC in 2017: it's okay to dog on Roman Reigns for all his faults as a performer, but don't you dare criticize Japanese talents with similar shortcomings.

I'm somewhat in agreement with you on this one. While the match was great in my opinion (the false finishes were esp. pretty exciting although a bit excessive) but some people are going just way too overboard with the praise.
Having said that, anything that goes into "greatest match in the history of pro wrestling" territory is bound to have its detractors (me being one of them ). Anyways, I enjoyed it thoroughly & that is all that matters to me.

The only match of the last decade or so that seems to be universally regarded as GOAT material without any real flaws is Shawn vs. Taker at Mania 25. Even stuff like Punk vs. Cena at MitB gets nitpicked on, but that Mania match has pretty much zero detractors that I've ever seen question its legendary status.

Not at some of the DVDVR off-shoots, where HBK is the most overrated wrestler ever and Jerry Lawler's prime is the golden standard.

Oddly enough, I have no fault criticizing the shit out of HBK/Taker WM25. There's a good bit of slop in the latter minutes and I think their rematch the next year (HBK's retirement) was better. It's still great, though, but how much of that is due to the context (lack of quality matches otherwise, two guys who were among the best of their generation, being allowed the right amount of time to work their magic, Taker starting to show vulnerability, etc.) is up for debate.

That said, context is key to any great match, which is why I think most hyped matches from the past few years are mediocre: moves performed don't matter within a few minutes and the finish doesn't matter within a few weeks.

I watched WK11 fresh, no spoilers, didn't read any reviews, I had no clue what to expect, so I had ZERO expectations going in.

It's very common for people to read reviews for something, especially if it was a super hyped match, and then be let down because they set their expectations SUPER high for the contest.

Happens with me ALL THE TIME with music. I'll have friends that will overhype a certain album or band, so I'll buy it/listen to it, and be bored as hell because I was expecting it to be absolutely flawless.

It's all a matter of opinion and what kind of matches you're into. I'm into false finishes, crazy spots, go-go-go action, but then I can also be into slow burning technical masterpieces.

"Superfly" jimmy Snuka has passed away.

Not sure if I can bring myself to say "RIP" since he killed his girlfriend and got away with it.

That UK tournament was pretty fun. Tyler Bate is like if you mixed Jack Gallagher with a traditional high flyer, and he's gonna be a massive star. I hope they sign Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews too, but everyone came out looking great. That main event was quite incredible.

RR and Mania just got a lot more interesting, that is, if Kurt Angle is going to be wrestling.

There's some scuttlebutt about Scotland's ICW signing a deal to be aired on the WWE Network. Nothing's confirmed yet, but the former Fergal Devitt, WWE's Finn Balor, recently made a live appearance at ICW's huge Fear & Loathing IX show at the SSE Hydro, the company's biggest show to date (and largest UK show in decades), and WWE Hall of Fame inductee Mick Foley has served as ICW's on/off commissioner recently.

Pro:
-Instead of having to pirate streams or finagle a way to watch ICW OnDemand beyond a computer screen, fans outside the UK can be exposed to one of the best booked products around.
-Mark Dallas is the Scottish Paul Heyman in the sense that he finds ways to accentuate his talent's positives while hiding their negatives. Chris Renfrew is one of the worst overall wrestlers I've ever watched, but Dallas's booking makes it so that Renfrew is a deserved focal point of the shows.
-Joe Hendry is going to be a star, one way or another, and this increases those odds.

Con:
-There could potentially be a shut-down of ICW's in-house VOD service...
-...not to mention heavy editing of their adult-oriented content.
-Part of ICW's allure is that it's heavily steeped in the charm of the region, and opening it up to a much larger audience has the potential to diminish what helps it stand out.

I'm mixed on this, as more eyes on ICW means more money, but being in direct business with WWE erases their "outlaw" style as they become assimilated with the biggest wrestling promotion on the planet. In many ways, I would've hoped that Progress would sign and not ICW, as the tone of Progress is more akin to NXT/SmackDown and, truth be told, they could use the publicity more than ICW, who regularly outdraw all of their local competitors.

The PWInsider podcast that first mentioned the ICW/Network thing said that ICW won't be toned down for the Network, but that it'll probably be just part of the on demand content and not the live streams, kinda like Camp WWE. The cries of fear that WWE's gonna run all the world's indies out of business are not entirely without merit, but I don't think it'll be anywhere near as bad as the doomsayers are claiming it to be. If anything, WWE partnering up with all these indies while still allowing them to be separate entities will only draw more eyes to said indies.

Now if WWE decides to do a full scale raid of, say, NJPW again, then you can start pooping yourself about the future of a company.

My only issue is that the ECW footage, which is on par with ICW in terms of graphic content (language and violence, not necessarily T&A), has been edited to shit, and that already carries a TV-MA label. Regardless, so long as I can still access ICW without giving WWE a penny...

It seems most of the doomsayers are supporters of, and/or involved with, WCPW, as that's the UK promotion most negatively affected by the UK tournament and the possible future deals. It's an easy conspiracy theory to fall into when you take WWE's history with "competition" into account, but I'm not seeing any positive outcome over the decimation of another territory that could prove to be a farming ground for future talent. HHH seems to be the brainchild behind these expansions and he's proven to have both a good eye for talent and a desire to appease as many fans as possible (since their approval means more money in his pocket).

After watching the RR, my interest in Mania just went to 0.

So I saw Orton won the Rumble? Really? Orton of all people? What does he even have left to prove at this point? I've lost track on how many kayfabe accolades him and Cena have by the turn of the decade.

man I really need to watch more WWE. haven't watched a show in months. I dunno what is it, but I'll watch a show or two or a PPV... and then not watch for a long period. I keep going back and forth with I miss WWE. Shit I've lost a lot of stuff!" and then I watch it and am like "What kind of creative decision is this?! Really?!"

And man, Raw still goes on for 3 hours(well 2h30 hours plus tons of commercials)?

That was one of the worst Rumbles ever.

Even worse than 2014 and 2015? Because that would be an accomplishment.

The best Rumbles to me were 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2004. That being said, I have not seen every Rumble ever.

At least those had surprise entrants iirc.

Lol this year's Rumble didn't even have a single surprise entrant? Really?

The Rock helped Reigns win in 2015. I honestly don't remember who the 2014 surprise entrants were. But Batista winning it was obviously bullshit. Fortunately he put Bryan over at 'mania.

Oh and 2016 Rumble was also pretty bad. I think even worse than those two now that I think about it. As soon as Triple H's music plays I'm like "yeah another Hunter ego feeding trip".

The biggest letdown as far as surprise entrants go was Goldust in 2006, imo. Hell the Rumble went in the middle of the show so that Undertaker could destroy the ring at the end with shitty special effects. that PPV was quite bad.

There was only one real surprise entrant this year, and that was Tye Dillinger, and even then that was only a surprise because people didn't know if they were gonna put him in the match to begin with.

I thought the Rumble match itself was pretty good. Not on the level of last year's, but certainly way better than 2014 or 2015. The rest of the show was incredible too, with no bad matches and AJ vs. Cena being a 5 star instant classic.

As for Randy Orton winning the match, the rumor right now is that Bray Wyatt's gonna win the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber and they'll finally climax the Randy vs. Bray story at Mania for the title. I'm all for it, because that storyline has been incredible and probably the best (intentional) long term angle WWE's done in years.

The last few Rumbles have all been in contention for "worst Rumble ever." The last few WM's have all been in contention for "worst WM ever." The last few years of television have all been in contention for "worst year ever."

To the Rumble, though, we're finding a major problem, and it's all on the shoulders of Vince: he's afraid to push new talent. "New talents" like Punk speak their mind and take off when they know they're being fucked. "New talents" like Bryan throw major wrenches into the booking plans and then have career-ending injuries. "New talents" like Roman Reigns aren't getting over because they're not giving fans a reason to like them. Vince has major abandonment issues and they're obvious when you look at the track record of ex-WWF/WWE talents and the on-air treatment after their departure. Hogan, Savage, and Piper were buried as often as possible, Luger too, Jeff Jarrett may as well have punched Stephanie in the face by daring to ask for money owed up-front, etc.

This is why they don't like to pull the trigger on "new talent" and they keep going back to the stand-by's. Nevermind that Orton has floundered during every ME push he's been given, he's only worked here and never considered leaving, so let's give him the rub that he hasn't needed for a decade.

GAH...see, this is why I don't watch WWE. It's like watching WCW during Sullivan's shyte 2000 booking run stretched out over years instead of a few months.

Vince actually tried to push guys like Swagger, Del Rio and Sheamus. They all got major honours pretty early. He also was about to pull the trigger on Kingston but Orton didn't like his botch. man, 2009-2011 was a fucking mess in the 'E.

I haven't watched a full WM in years. WM 27 really left a bad taste in my mouth. Miz vs. Cena in the Main Event of a WrestleMania, really? And the FUCKING Cole and Lawler bullshit?!

Never been an Orton fan. He improved a lot in the ring from 2009 or so on, but his viper character is so boring. And he seems not to have good chemistry with most people. Batista, Edge and Cena have always been more charismatic than him.

I don't think it's any major secret that Vince doesn't like to push anyone new. The company was on John Cena's back solely for years, and even before he became the only top star he was still the top of the top stars when Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Batista, and Edge were still regularly wrestling. It's only been in the past 3 or 4 years, since the Shield came in and absolutely destroyed everyone, that he's put effort into anyone other than him that wasn't already an indy star like Punk or Bryan. Now we have AJ Styles as the top heel on Smackdown (and the guy who carried that show, along with Dean Ambrose, for most of 2016), and Raw put the rocket on Finn Balor before he got hurt. They're definitely coming out of their shell as it pertains to pushing new guys (and that's really only probably thanks to Triple H's greater influence on the product), but they're still too over reliant on part timers and Roman's never gonna be the guy, no matter how much Vince tries to make him.

When it comes to Orton floundering in the main event, some of that can be chalked up to bad timing (his first WHC win in 2004 came way before he was ready) or circumstance (vs. Cena at RR 2014 or vs. Christian in 2011, and even then the latter feud had excellent matches and picked up considerably once Christian turned heel). I think Orton is way better than people give him credit for since he's a homegrown WWE guy from day 1 and therefore is like 150 in TV years. When Orton is motivated and on point, he is one of the best the company has ever had. His 2009 feud with Triple H before Wrestlemania 25 proved that, even if the match itself was hot garbage. Even years before that, his year long feud with Mick Foley from 03-04 was a masterclass in how to do pro wrestling correctly, on both their parts.

As it pertains to the past few Rumbles and Manias being some of the worst ever, I agree that RR 2014 and 2015 sucked copious amounts of dick (and every Rumble from 2011 to those two weren't all that great either), but 2016 was head and shoulders above the previous two years. This year's match, despite a result some find underwhelming and trolling the audience with Roman again, I felt was as good as last year's from the standpoints of pacing, action, and storytelling. Yeah, there were no major surprise entrants this year, but that put the focus on the guys already in the match and on the roster. Several previous Rumbles were so lame that I think the audience's interest in the match shifted from how it'll set up Wrestlemania season to just wanting to see which retired guy or NXT guy or whatever will show up. For Wrestlemania, the only one of the past, say, 5 years that has been a genuine worst of all time contender was 32 last year. That show was a dumpster fire of a show from a booking standpoint, especially since the show was rendered non-canon completely within a couple months anyway.

Nah this year's sucked too. Having the three main hyped guys (Taker, Lesnar and Goldberg) last a combined 2 minutes was idiotic. Hell even Kofi's spot was lame af.

Meltzer's ratings for the weekend's shows came in. He quite liked everything that went on. To quote from Reddit:



Ultra, ultra happy with the rating for AJ vs. Cena. That's already WWE match of the year, and it'll be very hard to top it going forward, although with the level of talent this roster has, I'm sure they'll find a way to do so.

What did Meltzer give Styles/Cena from Summerslam? Their match at Rumble WAS amazing, but I thought that one was better in its own way.


In other... really unfair news, AAA obviously owns the rights to the name Pentagon Jr. Pentagon left AAA and is branching out more and going under the name Penta 0M..... well... AAA decided they were going to try to trademark that name... AS WELL as his brother, Fenix's, name that he uses outside of AAA/LU. Thats such garbage. I get wanting to own the wrestlers and their characters, but come on, such a dick move.

4.75 I believe. It was a great match. Japanese as all fucking get-out.

He gave the Summerslam match 4.5. That's continuing on the upward incline of star ratings for their matches, as the Money in the Bank match got a 4.25. As much as I loved the Summerslam match, the story behind the Royal Rumble match was a bit better, since now we had 5 months of AJ as champion being a glorious dickbag and the knowledge that Cena could not best AJ before last Sunday behind it, plus the story and structure of the match itself were ever so slightly superior to the Summerslam match (for example, they didn't just rush into the near falls five minutes in like they did at Summerslam).

I love how Cena's style ever since the Daniel Bryan match in 2013, and especially since the US Open Challenges, has been a mix of WWE style sports entertainment and mid-90s AJPW King's Road strong style. Helps that he's extremely good at adapting to his opponent's style. Every single one of his major, classic feuds/opponents that aren't Brock Lesnar (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Edge, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and now AJ Styles) has felt completely different from each other. He's legit a GOAT contender.

It's a dick move but not one without a ton of precedent. La Parka is the most famous example of this (the original La Parka left AAA and was heretofore named LA Park), but even the American companies get this (Ray Traylor couldn't be Big Boss Man after returning to WCW, Razor Ramon/Diesel and their '96 fakes, etc.). It's not going to hurt his career beyond Mexico, if it even hurts it there, because the kind of fans who would pay to see him are the kind who would be aware of a name change.

I won't give Cena a GOAT vote, but I have no problem saying he's top 100. He's great at the big picture and crowd psychology, but it's the little things that always take me out of his matches, even the acclaimed ones (the sole exception being his series with Punk).

Am I the only one who couldn't care less about Meltzer's ratings? Hell, I've never liked the idea of rating matches, personally. I don't think most fans, including me, are qualified or keep in mind what exactly makes a great wrestling match, especially considering the difference in style between different companies and the what each match/event is trying to achieve. The Rock vs. Hogan at WMX8 and Hogan vs. André at WM III are not wrestling clinics by any means, but considering they got the crowd invested into them and put lots of asses in the seats then I'd say they've achieved their purpose.


Cena is top 10 in WWE's history as far as star power goes.

I don't like how I hear Cena making calls at times during his matches. He's gotten worse in the last couple of years with this.

And as good as Cena can be in the ring, what truly matters to me in a wrestler is his character, so I can never be a John Cena fan. And I still think his best year in the ring was 2007. He carried fucking Great Khali of all people to a decent match that year.

Meltz's ratings of Japanese matches (notably the J-Cups and the AJPW crew) directly led to more fans checking out the product, which leads directly to the "US indy style" of early ROH/CZW/IWA-MS, which leads to guys like Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles, Tyler Black (Seth Rollins), Samoa Joe, etc. to being stars. They're one person's opinion, but given his level of influence as one of the only credible journalists in pro wrestling? They carry weight.

Personally, I tend to disregard his ratings, as what I look for aren't always what he looks for. Case in point, Okada/Omega breaking his scale when I feel Tommy End vs. Josh Bodom (the match I posted not long ago) to be better in nearly every way. Star ratings are a good jumping-off point to find new talent, to engage in conversation with other fans, and to determine how a reviewer's opinion compares to your own. I've only given the full 5 to a handful of matches in the ~20 years I've been a diehard, for example, and only two of them are generally agreed to be near that level by most (Cena/Punk MitB, HBK/Taker WM26). The others usually rank high among those who've seen them but not to the same extent as those two, and I've found myself defending giving Black/Richards ROH DBD 8 the full 5 on more than one occasion.

The purpose of a star rating is lost if the reviewer doesn't delve into why it earns that rating, similar to movies, albums, theater, and so on. It's the final grade that catches your eye and the actual critique that justifies it. Hogan/Andre WM3 is a monumental moment in wrestling history, true, but "servings its purpose" isn't the same as "legitimately great piece of work."

Well I don't find the Hogan vs. André match particularly entertaining but I'd rather watch, per example, any Rock vs. Austin match over The Benoit vs. Angle matches, even though the latter ones are closer to being "great pieces of work".

If you asked me what's the best WWF/WWE match I've watched I think I'd automatically say Austin vs. Hart at WM 13. That match really is superb.

Th thing is, while a guy like Meltzer will explain his reasoning behind his ratings, most wrestling fans really don't. They just make a list and give their ratings. I don't see wrestling fans describing that often at length what made a certain match great. It's a lot easier to find reviews for movies, tv shows, games, etc.

I can see that Meltzer might help people get into Japanese wrestling more, but personally I only checked out Japanese wrestling because, a decade ago or so, there were always 3-4 guys in every wrestling forum who were big Puroresu fans. And speaking of which, didn't NJPW mock this year's Royal Rumble on social media?

I'd, overall, agree with you there. Gimme Austin/Rock WM17 over any of the Angle/Benoit matches (save for maybe Rumble '03). You'd be surprised how revisionism has affected the opinion on Angle and Benoit as individuals and as opponents. There's a pretty big board I post at where Angle (along with HBK and a few other "untouchable" talents) is seen as mediocre, and the reasons given by most hold a good bit of water.

Hell yes to WM13. It's the match that solidified Austin as capable of being an ace, it saved what was a very poor card and turned it into something legendary, and it still holds up after 20 years (even standing head-and-shoulders above most "classics" of the past decade).

I was fairly convinced for a very, very long time that half of the internet was dedicated to discussing pro wrestling, especially during the Monday Night Wars. I'll shoot you a link to that board I mentioned, as you'll see people put more thought into the meaning behind a resthold than most people do on college theses.

It's not that Meltzer might help current fans get into puro but that he played a major role in American/Canadian fans getting into it during the '90s. Some of those fans went on to become wrestlers, and those wrestlers (for better or worse) patterned their styles after the likes of Misawa, Kawada, Liger, Hayabusa, etc. ECW played a huge role in puro becoming a staple of the smark diet, too, as their importing of Michinoku Pro and FMW talent (Taka Michinoku, Great Sasuke, Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka, Mike Awesome, etc.) opened more eyes to a style that embodied everything they were missing at home. Think of Meltzer as the Alan Friedman of professional wrestling and puro as the rock n' roll.

I used to think Angle was an amazing wrestler when I was a kid, and tbh, WWE always overhyped him as such and he always was rated very highly in WWE games. The thing is, Angle in his latter WWE years would take the suplex city route very often. Honestly, his feud with John Cena in 2005 was pretty detrimental to Cena. Not only it went on for way too long but the matches between both men weren't really that great. It was basically Angle performing a ton of suplexes on Cena and then Cena countering with a grapple or two, F-U and thus retaining the belt. But I dunno it's been over a decade, I might be wrong.

HBK criticism? Woah that gets you tons of negative rep at any other wrestling forum. Most big wrestling fans consider him either the GOAT or top 5. I'm not a huge Michaels fan, though. As good as he could be, he was never my favourite wrestler.

Benoit was indeed great, but he ha to cut back on his moveset in his latter WWE years. Although I was never a Benoit obsessed fan like many people were. As much of a machine he was, he was a guy I'd rather see in the mid-card than in the main event. And ofc, him killing his family makes it hard for me to enjoy his work nowadays. For years I didn't even bother to listen to his theme song or even check out older promos and matches that involved him. Honestly, looking at the end of WMXX with Benoit and Eddie celebrating in the end... it's kinda depressing, you know what I mean?

Speaking of Eddie, as great as he was, I think people overrate him a little due to his death. No question about his ring skills whatsoever, but he wasn't a "larger than life" character as some people think he was. Also, I personally don't care for Eddie's WWE character until 2004 or so. Hard to take you seriously when you're Santino to Chyna. But anyway, I've always found Eddie more entertaining than Owen Hart. I didn't grow up watching Owen, though, so maybe there's some to that.

A real shame Owen Hart broke Austin's neck. Imagine if Austin had wrestled up until 2006-2007. Also, Austin's character in 1997 was less cartoonish and his promos had more variety. I mean his 1998 and 1999 work is very entertaining, but from 2002 on he's gotten very repetitive. he used to be known for being unpredictable but his promos have been very formulaic in the last 14-15 years or so. But that's a different matter than what we're discussing. I just felt like saying that.

I had no idea Meltzer's influence was so big. Tbh occasionally I'll see a Puroresu fan at a wrestling forum saying he got into it in the 90s and how he waited weeks for a new tape to arrive.

Not North America, but do you know the French/European sports channel Eurosport? Or at least have heard of it? It used to air Japanese wrestling in the early-mid 90s, I believe. makes me wonder now what sort of ratings it had and if it helped get some Europeans into Puro at the time. Although I don't think Eurosport became available in most countries until the 21st century. But for the record, the oldest European wrestling fans I see online, asides form Brittish and Irish, are German and French.

Angle's an odd case for me, because he's clearly capable of having an astoundingly great match (the series with Benoit, anything with Styles or Joe, even the ONS '06 match with Orton) but he needs somebody to work with him that can keep him in check. He's maybe the earliest example of a WWF/E main event talent that works for pops instead of storytelling, which led to fantastic matches and some that can be quite dull.

There were plenty of missteps during Cena's '05 run with the title. Pairing him off against talents who were clearly superior to him in-ring (Christian, Angle, Jericho) and having him routinely go over gave older fans a sour taste, and then he went from "edgy white rapper" to "goofy goody two-shoes" with the quickness. He's still very sloppy move-for-move, but sometimes it makes sense (it wouldn't make sense for his character to be amazing at chain-wrestling).

Eddie's legend grew exponentially after his death, to the point where praise for his body of work can sometimes go overboard. He's a top 20 guy for me, definitely, but the first time he really clicked as having that "main event" aura to him was when he was actually working the ME's in '04. He was a great transitioning point from the old-school ideology (everybody on the card has a purpose to serve so do your job) to the current one (anybody can get huge over at any time, all it takes is a few great performances). I think his match with Rey at Halloween Havoc '97 is one of the most overrated matches of all-time (wasn't even my favorite on the show when it happened, that goes to DDP/Savage), but there's an undeniable greatness to how he could garner insane levels of heat just from his body language. It seems to be a lost art, unfortunately.

Owen breaking Austin's neck is one of those moments in wrestling history that yielded greatness but can be argued as a net negative. With Austin out of the ring for the next few months, he was given plenty of mic time, and that's where the seeds of Austin/McMahon were sewn (as Vince was often the target of his rants and constant recipient of the Stunner). Were Austin to have been perfectly healthy, thereby not getting the limited exposure to how fantastic he was on the stick while biding time for medical clearance, there's a risk that his rise to the ME wouldn't have been as well received as it was. The counter-argument is obvious (Austin was going to be a ME guy anyway and that was the obvious direction to go in), but it's a fun "what if?" scenario.

I'll give you Eddie over Owen. Owen's death is the "Kurt Cobain" variety, where his body of work is judged with a curve due to the premature death. He was great in the midcard snot-nosed heel role, the perfect "annoying little brother" to Bret, and there doesn't seem to have been a single person that worked with him who didn't love him (even HHH/HBK, who weren't fans of the Harts, got along with Owen just fine), but the idea that he could've been at the top of the card for any length of time on talent alone is a bit foolish.

Yeah. Meltzer's influence was that big. His influence in the industry itself, too, was massive, with promoters like Bill Watts known to change their booking if Meltzer criticized the decisions too harshly. The WON also gave workers a way to learn about what was happening in different territories/companies, as well as alerting them to how badly the brass was screwing them over. This is why whenever I hear an anti-Meltzer argument I roll my eyes, made even worse since those types are typically Russo supporters.

Germany and France have long histories of pro wrestling, but they've always been a bit isolationist with their talents. Chris Jericho described one German tour he was part of early in his career and had very few positive things to say about it beyond the networking and travel opportunities, and it's only been recently that footage of classic French lutte has become available, or that Germany's biggest current promotion (WXW) has gained traction outside of the country's borders.