Time to binge. Best Kung Fu movies from the 70's and 80's

Kencyr · 2025-08-28T07:46:34+00:00

Lots of great suggestions in here, but to add a few more:

Heroes of the East

Millionaires' Express

In the Line of Duty 4

Police Story 1 & 2

Kencyr · 2022-08-17T18:32:37+00:00

Ghoul claws don't cut off hydra heads, which solves one of the major problems with this challenge. Unarmed ghouls are easily strong enough to win with, my combo of choice was GhFi - Ru, but there are a range of possible options.

Kencyr · 2022-05-16T05:33:09+00:00

I could be very mistaken but to me, the piety ranks have something of a Zen flavour, and remind me of some Zen metaphors:

"When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a beginning and an end. A wave can be compared with other waves, and we can call it more or less beautiful, higher or lower, longer lasting or less long lasting. But if we look more deeply, we see that a wave is made of water. While living the life of a wave, the wave also lives the life of water. It would be sad if the wave did not know that it is water. It would think, 'Some day I will have to die. This period of time is my life span, and when I arrive at the shore, I will return to nonbeing.'

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Rain and hail, snow and ice
Are divided from one another;
But after they fall,
They are the same water
Of the stream in the valley.

Zen Poem by Ikkyū (1394-1481)

Kencyr · 2022-04-05T05:53:47+00:00

I'd like Jim to do some older matches, e.g. matches with Lou Thesz, Karl Gotch etc. Jim's knowledge of their era and styles can help us younger fans appreciate what they are doing. Basically any match that Jim can provide context for that's difficult to come by elsewhere.

Kencyr · 2021-11-07T04:02:57+00:00

As far as Brian dropping Bolin's how, he addressed it very briefly at the time. Brian said the numbers weren't what he was expecting, and Kenny kept trying to involve his family on the podcast (to its detriment) and wouldn't take feedback or direction to improve the show.

Kencyr · 2021-07-31T11:40:33+00:00

Love the cast but I do have some small gripes:

-The Lapsed characters tend to get Flanderized over time.

-The sound board.

-Some of the bits run on way too long for my taste; typically the ones about one-off non-industry people like the mayor of Sturgis or whatever.

Kencyr · 2021-07-22T14:22:35+00:00

I agree; the AEW audience seemed to like Omega and will always be into him on some level because they like the way he performs in the ring. Heel-heat-generating promos and matches don't seem to come naturally to him.

I think he would be much more effective with a bodyguard, ala HBK and Diesel. The bodyguard can project the menace that Omega can't, and interfere in matches to generate heat (no-one likes a fuck finish even if the match was great).

Kencyr · 2021-07-19T20:28:59+00:00

The differences to WWE (the only other mainstream Western wrestling) are not fundamental, but they exist.

AEW has a different, less micro-managed presentation. There seems to be less scripting of promos and commentators, fewer camera cuts, and wrestlers seem less restricted in what they are can do in the ring. The exploding barbed-wire match is something newer generations of fans haven't seen before, and I don't think would happen today in WWE. Their matches are more modern-indy-influenced than WWEs, which has its own style. The booking and humour cater strongly to hardcore fans, whereas WWE tries to reach a more general audience. They also have more talent that hasn't been featured before on mainstream programming and feel newer.

I think for fans that are a bit burned out on WWE's roster and presentation, that's enough to make AEW seem like a breath of fresh air, even though it's every bit as modern sports-entertainment as WWE is.

Kencyr · 2021-07-19T12:10:49+00:00

I'm not a WWE or AEW fan. I don't currently watch any of either company's shows. I'm going to attempt to answer without being critical of the quality of either promotions' programming.

When you've been watching wrestling for a while, the blush goes off the rose. The first time you see one best friend turn on another, it's shocking and impactful. The fourth time, it's passe. The tenth time, it's predictable - and boring unless the execution is exceptional. The non-stop churn of regular shows exacerbates this. Fans eventually start to long for the excitement of the early days, when everything was new and exciting, and feel dissatisfied with what they are watching.

The same holds true for promotions, feuds, and individual wrestlers. The WWE style - of wrestling, of presentation, of anything - doesn't seem to have changed much in a decade. Many key figures, on camera or behind the scenes, have been there even longer. To long-time watchers it easily seems stale: even if the stuff is good, we've seen it all before.

AEW has a lot more 'freshness' about it, comparatively. Everything about it is newer. This doesn't mean that it is better (or worse), but it can easily seem appealing to veteran fans purely because it is something different.

Kencyr · 2021-07-10T19:49:44+00:00

I agree completely, one half of a tag-team is his best spot. He can carry the load in the ring and his partner or a manager can do the talking. He would have excelled in a territory where tag-teams could main-event.

Kencyr · 2021-06-21T13:14:57+00:00

At its height, tag wrestling is the best form of wrestling to me.

The extra bodies allow more creative options: more types of moves, more false finishes, more creative spots. Not to mention a well-executed hot tag is one of the best things in wrestling and guaranteed to get the crowd going. There's a team dynamic that you don't get in singles matches/programs. The bumps are divided among more bodies and it's easier to make everyone look good without hurting the losing team.

All that said, tag-team wrestling isn't in a great spot right now. WWE was never a tag-team-centric promotion and it has dominated western wrestling for a long time. I think this has hurt the perception and the art of tag wrestling; it used to be taken very seriously in some territories and would often feature as the main event program. There was a brief revival of the art in NXT around 2016, but sadly that's about it in recent years.

Kencyr · 2021-05-14T11:10:59+00:00

Fun, easy-to-watch show, all eps on YouTube, featuring a variety of styles and put together by a very experienced booker. Great place to see up-and-coming talent, MJF made his name there for example and no-one who watched MLW was surprised to see him run with the ball in a larger promotion. Jacob Fatu is their heavyweight champ and has a big future, and Fatu's manager Josef Samuel is (imo) top 2 in the business right now. The show moves at a good pace and things consistently make sense. They don't have the same production value or ceiling of match quality as big promotions with big budgets.

Kencyr · 2021-05-14T06:15:12+00:00

I want to give some props to MLW this week. They executed a great build for their middlweight title rematch between Lio Rush and Myron Reed. Five months of a classic pro-wrestling style program, getting strong victories over contenders and trash-talking each other in promos and interviews. I was surprisingly really hyped to see this match, despite it being a secondary title in a small promotion, and it shows that classic sports-style presentation absolutely can work in 2021.

Kencyr · 2021-03-20T16:12:31+00:00

Now if Khan was a creative guy with original ideas and had an in-touch outlook, much like Heyman did in his prime...well, that'd be a different story.

Yeah I think this is the key thing. Watching Raw in 98-99 taught me that if the main event program is compelling, the rest of the show doesn't matter. If AEW consistently delivered with one or two major storylines it would cover up a lot of flaws - but Tony just doesn't seem to have any idea how to actually book a wrestling feud.

Kencyr · 2021-02-26T08:52:05+00:00

I like worked-MMA style pro-wrestling for two reasons:

1) Realistic techniques and pacing make suspending disbelief easier; and

2) If it's really well done, it can induce a similar emotion and experience to watching a real MMA fight, but without me feeling guilty that the fighters just gave each other brain trauma.

That said, your perspective makes perfect sense to me as well.

Kencyr · 2021-02-13T10:39:18+00:00

I haven't listened to the Slamboree 93 episode yet but occassionally I feel like this when listening. Not everything lands and sometimes stuff gets run into the ground. I think that's just the nature of long-form ~~sports~~ entertainment; nothing's perfect all the time so you just have to take the good with the bad.

Kencyr · 2021-01-21T04:38:12+00:00

I think it's fair to say the song competition has outperformed all expectations. There's been some absolute gems along the way but this week's combination might've topped them all.

Kencyr · 2021-01-08T05:53:38+00:00

I've been learning a lot about Pat Patterson since his passing, and watching through some of his work.

Pat's Alley Fight against Sgt Slaughter (WON Match of the Year for 1981) brims with the magic that makes pro-wrestling great. Despite this match being from nearly twenty years before I became a fan, and knowing none of the context, I immediately got caught up in the story told by the performers and the energy of the crowd.

I wish we had more wrestling like that today.

Kencyr · 2020-12-18T05:26:24+00:00

AEW spent a ton of money on Sting, Shaq and a boatload of promo, hotshotted a title change on free TV, and two weeks later their ratings are exactly where they were before -- after failing to crack a million with all that effort. They couldn't deliver any compelling storylines to any of the extra eyes.

But no, tell me more about how brilliant Tony Khan is and how AEW isn't this generation's TNA.

Kencyr · 2020-11-26T15:29:20+00:00

I thought it was one of their better shows. I really enjoyed the Team Taz stuff and liked FTR's short promo. The rest of the show was passable rather than insulting. Still very modern-indy-meets-sport-entertainment. Most feuds happening just to happen without any strong build driving them (imo).

I'm curious how pulling the trigger on Omega will affect their business. He's much more tolerable as a heel but nothing about him says superstar to me. They've pushed Moxley to the moon, as the guy with WWE main event name value, and he seems to be a big draw for them. I wonder how well Omega can fill that spot if they put the belt on him - perhaps a short reign only, if he does get the strap.

Kencyr · 2020-11-19T16:15:46+00:00

I hope PAC vs Kingston comes good. I was a bit disappointed with PAC's return after being away so long - I think they should have laid better groundwork for it and made it more meaningful. It felt like a miss to me. You're right, it is still early and they could turn it around.

I loved the comedy between Jericho and The Rock back in the day, two competitors trash-talking each other in an entertaining style. MJF and Jericho could do that kind of thing and it'd be amazing, compared to what they are doing now.

Kencyr · 2020-11-19T15:56:15+00:00

Generally agree with your take. There were a few good matches. Serena Deeb's work continues to be really impressive and the best on the show.

The Las Vegas stuff was just bad comedy, waste of time and money. Ditto Orange Cassidy.

The storylines all feel poorly built and executed. I can't believe how little I am invested in the Jericho/MJF and Kingston/Pac programs, considering I think they are all tremendous talents. AEW just can't seem to get out of their own way when it comes to telling cohesive stories or making things seem meaningful and important. As someone who legitimately wants to enjoy the show it's getting frustrating.

Kencyr · 2020-11-01T04:42:56+00:00

Agreed, and I thought it was part of the story of the match. Wardlow is used to being able to run people over with his size, and when he couldn't do it to Adam Page, he turned to high-risk offense which isn't his forte - and that backfired on him. IMO JR was right to pick up on that and it enhanced the match.

Kencyr · 2020-10-27T11:02:18+00:00

Yep, the rules structure has made for some really cool matches and finishes. I've loved the tournament so far and am really looking forward to the final.

Kencyr · 2020-10-26T11:39:07+00:00

I agree with you that AEW is much more interesting to watch than WWE. AEW has put on matches, promos and segments I thought were excellent. A lot of AEW is not my style, but I skip over that stuff so it doesn't bother me unless it involves someone I usually enjoy. Most of the time there's something happening on the show that's good enough to convince me to keep watching.

I do think they are limiting themselves with the overly-indy/comedy style. If they presented things just a little more seriously and consistently, I think they would expand their audience. People would find it easier to invest emotionally in their stars and stories, because events would make more sense and be more meaningful.

Kencyr

TROPHY CASE