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Wait, does this mean Mei Suruga has broken the top twenty?
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Jan 25, 2021 07:05
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karmicknight posted:Wait, does this mean Mei Suruga has broken the top twenty? That would be amazing and well deserved.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:07
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Yep.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:07
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 Go Shiozaki - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 Nobody voted for him as their #1 pick, and he didn't even rank a mention last year... but in 2020, enough people were impressed by Go Shiozaki to give him small votes that added up to a Top 20 finish. Arguably the most outstanding wrestler of 2020 according to his supporters, Shiozaki has been NOAH's MVP and delivered again and again in the ring. His match against Kazuyuki Fujita was considered a masterpiece by many, a match really only possible in the COVID empty arena era, and matches against Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Takashi Suguira also got enthusiastic MOTYC nods. Matches against Kaito Kiyomiya and Akitoshi Saito also got high praise, though didn't manage to quite get beyond Honorable Mention status. In fact, it was only his match against Naomichi Marufuji that appeared not to really get a lot of traction with the forum's NOAH fans. The point being, almost every single time Go Shiozaki defended his title it was an incredible experience, one that his fans desperately wanted others to see and experience for themselves. He did other things throughout the year too, took part in tournaments and multi-man tags and the like, but it was those matches that REALLY got people's attention, and it was the match against Fujita that really seemed to make people sit up and take notice. To say any more about it would be giving it away, if you haven't seen it, go watch it for yourself.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:18
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Thanks for all your hard work Jerusalem, amazing thread. Can't wait to read the remaining entries.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:24
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Man I don't even watch NOAH and even I still think that's way too low for Go (yes I'm part of the problem)
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Jan 25, 2021 07:28
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One thing I'm glad of is that even though Penta fell a tonne of spots its because everyone finally realised the fact that Fenix is ungodly good, the better of the two, and still hasn't ranked.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:29
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Fenix makes me feel like I felt watching Rey Mysterio in WCW
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Jan 25, 2021 07:31
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Jerusalem posted:Feel free to bring up anything that doesn't get mentioned! britt's whataburger promo was one of the promos of the year right behind the mox/kingston ones (namely the ruthie one)
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Jan 25, 2021 07:37
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Also you didn't mention Hyper Misao's retirement and unretirement and marriage.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:41
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 Hikaru Shida - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 Asuka - 2019 Position: #23 (+6 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 2020 literally started with Hikaru Shida with her eye on the gold, as she was part of a Four Way match for the the title held by Riho on the 1st day of the year. She didn't win that one, and spent the next few months alternating between Dark and Dynamite in tags and single matches, feuding with Britt Baker and having an unnerving experience with a strange monster called Abadon. Come Double or Nothing though, she achieved what she'd failed at the start of the year, winning the Women's Championship from Nya Rose in a MOTYC. Since then, there has been some frustration that despite frequently delivering in the ring in title matches against the likes of Penelope Ford, Thunder Rosa, Big Swole, Anna Jay and a successful rematch defense against Nyla Rose, she has seemed a little overlooked by AEW. She ended the year with a New Year's Resolution to get in-ring promo time, something that seems a little ridiculous for a top champion to need to wish for. But while people would like to see more of her, there is no doubting that she has continued to perform at a high level, and it was a lovely bit of bookmarking for her to end the year facing off with that same monster from Dark near the start of the year: Abadon. One can only imagine how much better things might have gone for her with the benefit of both crowds and a larger contingent of experienced Joshi talent to work against, but she certainly has managed to make the best of her situation so far. Much like Bayley, Asuka continues to be a rare shining light in WWE, which is why she not only ranks this high... she is the top ranked WWE wrestler for 2020. Making it into a Top 20 she was continually just edged out of in the 2019 version of this thread, Asuka blew past her peers in WWE, getting 11 points more than nearest competitor Drew McIntyre on 25 and in 26th place. But what did she actually do in 2020? It was an ignominious start to the year, losing a title match against Becky Lynch, an odd feud that began with Becky claiming to be intimidated by Asuka and ending with Becky claiming that she'd finally stopped Asuka running away from her (  ). With tag partner Kairi Sane (who suffered a bad concussion in 2019 during a match against Becky and Charlotte) soon to leave WWE, they lost the titles at a Wrestlemania that should have been Sane's crowning glory, and Kairi largely became Asuka's enthusiastic supporter before returning to Japan. Asuka won the Money in the Bank briefcase in a truly bizarre show involving her being the only one smart enough to take the lift (the ring was on top of WWE Headquarters, don't ask), only to discover that Becky Lynch was pregnant and Asuka had actually won the vacant title. Asuka feuded with Nia Jax for a little bit and then got involved in a feud with both Bayley and Sasha Banks, losing and winning back the Raw Women's title from the latter. She then mostly had go nowhere feuds with Zelina Vega (since fired) and Lana who she ended up partnering with, and then won the tag titles... with Charlotte Flair instead. It was a bizarre ending to a strange year, and the fact that Asuka managed to not only retain her favored status with so many goons but also top out the list for all WWE wrestlers only goes to show just how good she is.
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 07:42
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Lulu's saga regarding her hat was one of my favorite wrestling storylines of the year. edit: wow. so 16 non wwe wrestlers left. That's surprising and expected in some way.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:42
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TV Zombie posted:Lulu's saga regarding her hat was one of my favorite wrestling storylines of the year. +1. Chris Brookes is an excellent heel as well.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:43
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Senerio posted:Also you didn't mention Hyper Misao's retirement and unretirement and marriage. TV Zombie posted:Lulu's saga regarding her hat was one of my favorite wrestling storylines of the year. These both sound great, and I'd love it if people went into more detail about them while I'm writing up the other entries - part of the purpose of the thread is to make people aware of other wrestlers they might not know about, and telling stories about bizarre and fun things they did during the year is a great way to do that!
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Jan 25, 2021 07:44
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You misgendered Asuka at the end there
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Jan 25, 2021 07:47
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Rarity posted:You misgendered Asuka at the end there That's weird as hell, I have no idea how that happened. Fixed now.
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Jan 25, 2021 07:57
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 Mei Suruga - 2019 Position: #60 (+44 places improved) | Times Voted #1: 0 Chuck Taylor - 2019 Position: #22 (+6 places improved) | Times Voted #1: 1 Mei Suruga managed 60th place in 2019, which was remarkable enough given she had only been wrestling for a year and a half at that point. Now 21-years-old, she has wrestled for a number of promotions but her primary base remains Gatoh Move, particularly in 2020 when COVID severely restricted the number of other options available. Already recognized as the MVP of the promotion, despite her tiny status and love of ridiculous antics she often demonstrates she is more than capable at footing it on a technical level, as she showed during Kagetsu's retirement tour near the start of the year when she more than held her own against the veteran. A big part of her appeal though is that she exudes joy, loving wrestling and being a part of it, an enthusiasm that people simply find infectious. A big part of the appeal of Gatoh Move, particularly during the COVID-era, was that it is a wrestling show that you can simply watch and enjoy, and come out the other end with a smile. Mei Suruga is at the forefront of that, and delivers matches that people just really enjoy watching. Standouts for the forum in 2020 were her matches against ASUKA and a tag match she had with Baliyan Akki against Yunamon and Riho... but the one everybody seemed to love the most was Mei vs. Mitsuru Konno, a wrestler/backstage helper for Gatoh Move which quickly joined the MOTY list for 2020. Chuck Taylor also spreads joy, albeit in a slightly confused, mildly self-deprecating fashion. When discussing Trent? earlier, Chuck got mentioned a lot, which makes sense given they're not just a tag team but spend almost all their screentime together. Of the two, however, he is the more "out there" of the two (three, if you count Orange Cassidy), the one who speaks more or whose (quickly deleted) tweets get so much attention. 2021 will be a very different affair for Chuckie T now that Trent? is out with a pectoral tear, but 2020 was all about the two of them: their Parking Lot Brawl with Proud 'N' Powerful; their efforts to finally get a title shot against FTR (which they finally did, only to lose of course); the culmination of their plot to kill Brandon Cutler (they gave up on it after John Silver agreed to help and then just savagely attacked him instead of coming up with a wacky scheme); their initially accidental and later malicious attempts to ruin the wedding of Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford. Whenever you see Chuck Taylor on the screen, you know something entertaining is going to happen. It might not always work out for him, but when it doesn't he'll just kind of shrug and move on with his life, maybe after making a sardonic tweet about it (which he will then delete).
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Jan 25, 2021 08:16
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Please refer to Charles Taylor by his proper name
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Jan 25, 2021 08:19
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Just to be clear, Maki Itoh did not have a draw with Miyu. Miyu knocked her out and she couldn't get up for the ten count. It was very visually striking because she was screaming in rage at her own body failing her.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:21
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What a duo! 
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Jan 25, 2021 08:22
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Hyper Misao announced her retirement at the end of 2020, and had a dramatic retirement ceremony/final match/etc, and then decided at the end that she couldn't retire and instead would be wrestling as TJPW's first married wrestler. She got married at the end of 2020. I'm gonna go in depth on her match with Saki Akai instead though, because it was great and I love talking about it. This requires a lot of backstory because Hyper Misao puts every part of herself into her matches. It's why she's one of my favorites. To start with, you need to go deep in the Hyper Misao lore, the excellent documentary here will cover basically everything in this paragraph (the backstory to her chocolate deathmatch with Jun Kasai) and the next (Misao) in much greater detail, so I won't labor too much, but basically: Before she joined TJPW, she was a shut-in with no real ambition or goal in life. She ate nothing but chocolate cream puffs, for the ease of eating combined with the high calorie count. One day, she went to a craft fair with her mother, and discovered DDT, in the form of a death match featuring, among the competitors, death match legend Jun Kasai. This led to her acclaimed Chocolate Death Match against Kasai, where the two competitors had to eat a bag of Chocolate Cream Puffs before their pins would be counted. She emulated stunts she was in the match at the craft fair, and the match was considered by many to be one of her best matches. Later, down the line, Hyper Misao faced a returning from injury Rika Tatsumi, and lost. Feeling disheartened, at the end of the night, when French Aristocrat Sakisama (who looks a lot like Saki Akai) was beating down Rika, Hyper Misao grabbed a chair, and ran to make the save... for Sakisama, turning on Rika. Discarding her mask and Superhero persona, Hyper Misao was no more, she was just Misao. She adopted a new finishing move, the Vanitas, and joined Sakisama's faction, NEO Biishiki-gun. The two would run roughshod over the promotion, until Rika, having tried to bring back her friend, won the tag titles off of Biishiki-gun, and drove a wedge between the two. Misao would go on to challenge Sakisama for her freedom, and got as close as anyone would get to a blessing from Sakisama, despite ultimately losing the match. Sakisama even kicked out of Misao's Vanitas. None of this matters for the 2020 poll, it's just backstory for the match. Fast forward to November 7th, 2020, one of the best days in professional wrestling that isn't a January 4th or a Wrestlemania Weekend. Saki Akai is having a special guest match in TJPW with Hyper Misao. The two have a little bit of history, as after discovering DDT, Saki Akai was the first Joshi wrestler that Hyper Misao had watched. The match is a "Fans Bring the Rules" match, meaning that there are special rules that must be followed. When a competitor pushes the button, the rules will change. The match begins. Current Rule: NO KICKING  The match starts, and Saki hits Misao with a big boot. She makes the cover, but the ref argues that the Big Boot was, in fact, a kick, and thus she had broken the rules. Misao attempts to roll Akai up, but the ref catches her feet on the ropes. The button is pushed. Current Rule: PUT YOUR FOREHEAD ON THE BAT AND SPIN 5 TIMES OR YOUR PIN WON'T BE COUNTED. IF THE PIN IS UNSUCCESSFUL, YOU MUST SPIN AGAIN  The ref counts the spins, the two try to wrestle but are so dizzy that they agree to a truce and scramble to push the button. Current Rule: CHOCOLATE DEATHMATCH The two immediately get to eating, but Misao throws Saki out of the ring, and (behind the ref's back) empties her bag of cream puffs into Saki's bag. Misao shows the ref her empty bag, but Saki was watching the whole thing and with an awesome look of disgust on her face, just smashes the button.  Current Rule: EACH WRESTLER GETS A HELPER IN THE MATCH Saki Akai's helper is Eruption stablemate Yukio Sakaguchi, and Hyper Misao's helper is DDT President Sanshiro Takagi. The two brawl a little and then Sakaguchi chases Takagi off as they hit the button again. Current Rule: LAST WOMAN STANDING Saki Akai goes for her finisher, the Quetzal Coatl (in the live action dramas taking place in the Fate/ universe, Saki Akai plays their incarnation of Quetzalcoatl, who is a wrestler) , but Misao reverses it into the Vanitas, the first time since returning to her Superhero roots that she's used this finisher. Despite this, the match would end with Misao down for the 10 count. Afterwards, it was announced that Takagi had managed to smuggle Sakisama into Japan from France, and she would be appearing again, but that's a story for another day.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:22
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Neodoomium posted:Just to be clear, Maki Itoh did not have a draw with Miyu. Miyu knocked her out and she couldn't get up for the ten count. No, that was the 1/4 show, they did have a draw to lead up to it.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:22
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Senerio posted:No, that was the 1/4 show, they did have a draw to lead up to it. Oh right. I remember the draw now that you bring that one up. Good eye!
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Jan 25, 2021 08:25
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e: nothing to see here
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Jan 25, 2021 08:27
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Senerio thank you so much, that write-up rules 
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Jan 25, 2021 08:27
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 PAC - 2019 Position: #17 (+2 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 1 After being forced for so long to suspend his career while waiting out a contract with WWE, PAC returned with a vengeance in first Dragon Gate and then AEW only to see everything crash down again in 2020 when he was left twiddling his thumbs in Newcastle waiting for things to improve enough (or be bad for long enough) to be able to arrange a return to the United States. 2020 had started so well too, with a MOTYC against Darby Allin, a title match against Jon Moxley, and then an absolutely incredible feud and match with Orange Cassidy, a wrestler who seemed the complete opposite of PAC in every single way. After defeating Chuck Taylor in another match, PAC did the unthinkable and found friends, or rather two other people he knew enjoyed hitting people nearly as much as he did: The Lucha Bros. Together they formed Triangulo de la Muerte, a stable that got goons so excited they went wild with new gang tags... only for the promised Parking Lot Brawl against The Best Friends to never materialize as COVID left PAC in Newcastle and the Lucha Bros in Mexico. It would be 8 months till PAC would return to AEW, immediately going after Eddie Kingston who had used his absence to co-opt the Lucha Bros for his own twisted goals. Since then, PAC has found himself unexpectedly surrounded by allies instead of being the surly, angry loner goblin of a man he usually is, and the hope is 2021 allows him to realize the potential that keeps getting undercut by forces outside of his control.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:28
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Jerusalem posted:Senerio thank you so much, that write-up rules Honestly for most of that you have to thank both JoShizzle, the guy who does those amazing TJPW documentaries, and DDT English Update, which provided me the english translations of the rules. I'd recommend watching them, so then you can join us in the TJPW thread watching the new shows whenever they happen. Anyway, Chuck Taylor and Mei Suruga are both great, and PAC is also great.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:31
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Considering he only worked for 25% of the year that's a really good finish for PAC
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Jan 25, 2021 08:31
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 Ricky Starks - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 MJF - 2019 Position: #55 (+41 places improvement!) | Times Voted #1: 0 Ricky Starks started the year in Billy Corgan's revamped NWA, where he was considered one of the real standouts/highlights of a promotion that started well and then quickly went off a cliff for a whole bunch of different reasons, all well before COVID became a thing. Come mid-year, however, Starks made an appearance on AEW Dynamite where he got a shot at Cody Rhodes' TNT title, and though he lost he put in a strong showing that quickly had people hoping he would be signed, and thankfully he was. It wasn't long after that Starks hooked up with commentator/backstage interviewer Taz and his hulking muscle-golem Brian Cage, a team seemingly formed for the express purpose of Taz being petty about getting rejected by Darby Allin. Over time they added Will Hobbs to the team, briefly added Jon Moxley to their list of enemies, and somehow ended up the nemesis of Sting (yes, Sting!). They ended the year as the perfect heels to face off with (and lose to) the babyface team comprised of the favorites of Brodie Lee's son. Ricky is more than just another heel in a group of them though, everything about him from his look to his in-ring skills to the way he talks screams that he is a future star, and Taz knows it. Encouraging and mentoring Ricky in the same way he offered to do for Darby Allin, Taz knows that Ricky - not as young as he's claimed to be but still young - is the future, and will help keep him relevant. Ricky knows that he's the future too, but is smart enough to know he needs back-up, support and experience to get to that position. Right now he's a heel, but it's easy to see how he could become a face with just the slightest of tweakings. Frequent comparisons are made to The Rock when it comes to Ricky Starks, and while you might argue that this is setting him up for failure, it really does seem to be the closest comparison when it comes to pure all around potential. MJF however IS young, younger than he has any right to be for just how loving good he is at being bad. When he started in AEW everybody knew he was a slimy piece of poo poo, and they were just waiting for him to betray Cody. He did, of course, which is what everybody expected, but what few expected was that after goading Cody and forcing him through a number of hoops (including a brutal lashing) to get a one-on-one match with him... that MJF would win. And crow about it, and REALLY rub it in that he won and Cody lost. Since then he has continued to be a complete douchebag with impunity, always confident that his mantra of,"I'm better than you, and you know it!" will prove true. The only time he ever had that blow up in his face was the utter perfection of the ending of his "campaign" to be the new AEW World Champion. Forcing Champion Jon Moxley into a stipulation where he couldn't use his Paradigm Shift finisher, MJF tried to cheat as he always does... and for the first time got out-cheated, as Moxley took advantage of the distraction WARDLOW was making on MJF's behalf to cheat himself and beat MJF. MJF's reaction to this? Find MORE people to help him cheat, and so he set his eyes on wheedling his way into the most successful heel group in AEW: The Inner Circle. His careful manipulations of a savvy Chris Jericho were a delight to watch, the way he has attempted to buy his way into the hearts of Proud 'N' Powerful and Jake Hager, and the clear contempt he has for Sammy Guevara - the only member who realizes that you can't give this sonuvabitch an inch or he'll take a mile - well it's just been fantastic to watch. To harp on a point made often, it's crazy to realize how young MJF is, how he'll be doing this at a high level for well over a decade to come if not more. Nobody this young has any right to be this good in nearly every aspect of wrestling, which makes "I'm better than you, and you know it" sting just that little bit more.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:47
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PAC's face turn promo being this is one of the most hilarious things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAgTs3BZE2A
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Jan 25, 2021 08:49
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Coming to you live from Senegal Alberto del Ria vs The Rocky
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Jan 25, 2021 08:51
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MJF and Ricky Starks are gonna have such a great feud over the AEW title one day
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Jan 25, 2021 08:53
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Also because I glossed over it, here's Hyper Misao's combat bicycle. Also here's Sakisama and her current feral maid Mei Saint-Michel (no relation to Mei Suruga)  Just more TJPW things.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:54
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 Thunder Rosa - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 Another member of the NWA who has found greater success in AEW, Thunder Rosa truly stands out because she was not only apparent as a star on even a show like Powerrr, but because most people knew her before this as Kobra Moon on Lucha Underground... and she was terrible. While she worked her way through Lucha Underground's terrible contract restrictions, she was able to work a little in Ring of Honor, Women of Wrestling and in TJPW. It wasn't until NWA Powerrr that she really seemed to gain much visibility in Punchsport Pagoda though, and then when she arrived in AEW her popularity absolutely took off. Though she is still signed to NWA, and only appears every so often in AEW, most would probably consider her a member of the roster in all but name now. She's been engaged in feuds with top women in the company, including her current feud with top heel Britt Baker, matches against AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida, and even had her rematch for her lost NWA Women's Championship... on AEW Dynamite! Her matches against Serena Deeb were highly regarded, one making MOTYC status, but that's certainly not all down to Deeb as she also had a well-regarded match against Ivelisse of all people (and again, that title match took place on Dynamite)! Like Ricky Starks she is clearly a future star, somebody who you would have to work hard to screw up... so here is hoping her contract with Billy Corgan is over sooner rather than later! Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 08:57
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It can't be underlined enough, she was Kobra Moon. There's hope for everyone.
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Jan 25, 2021 08:59
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It's still wild to me how good Thunder got after that LU run
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Jan 25, 2021 08:59
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I am now officially the forum's Biggest PAC Fan and demand to be recognized as such
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Jan 25, 2021 09:00
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I feel like I'm alone in not thinking Thunder Rosa is really that great. Like, she's fine but I think she gets overhyped cause of how light AEW's women's roster was when she came in
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Jan 25, 2021 09:00
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Rarity posted:I feel like I'm alone in not thinking Thunder Rosa is really that great. Like, she's fine but I think she gets overhyped cause of how light AEW's women's roster was when she came in Watch her International Princess Title match with Maki Itoh. She's a natural heel and I think her face run in AEW isn't showing the best of her.
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Jan 25, 2021 09:02
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Rarity posted:I feel like I'm alone in not thinking Thunder Rosa is really that great. Like, she's fine but I think she gets overhyped cause of how light AEW's women's roster was when she came in she has the aura you can't teach, you can learn to have it like Shinsuke when he was bland Shinsuke vs King of Strong Style Shinsuke, or Okada when... well...  and Rosa has it too, just this magnetic charisma and that feeling of she's going to kick loving rear end whenever she gets out there. Don't underestimate just how powerful being cool is. See also: Rhea Ripley in how to have that and then utterly gently caress it up via booking because drat it Make Charlotte Look Strong.
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Jan 25, 2021 09:03
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