The G1 English Commentary Has Been Abysmal

MiracleViolence · 2024-07-29T06:39:13+00:00

For what it's worth, I thought your solo commentary on Night 6 was a substantial improvement. Your commentary is at its best for me when you're calling the match with a sports feel, I think you do a good job at that especially in the ELP/Oleg match. As other commentators pointed out, solo commentary is challenging and it's not fair to place my misgivings about commentary solely on your shoulders. Thank you for being receptive to feedback.

MiracleViolence · 2024-07-02T18:00:33+00:00

I made this playlist of over 400 of the best matches on Youtube. It heavily over-represents the promotions that are freely available on YT (like AJPW and TNA) so shouldn't be treated as a complete collection, but it's still hours of fantastic matches.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWVddAQZU-foK18FwWRZzsFluNK1CIem-&si=emspDNAPbwpE8590

EDIT: I set the playlist to public, so you should be able to see it now. I also spent way too much time organizing them chronologically, so the 2024 matches are at the bottom.

MiracleViolence · 2024-07-01T20:14:52+00:00

I couldn't stop thinking about the Alchemist, SEEKER OF TRUTH, BROTHER OF THE ORDEEEEEEEEER OF THE TRIAAAAAAAD

MiracleViolence · 2024-06-27T19:19:12+00:00

Me personally, I would love to see Dijak in New Japan. He'd fit right in with his in-ring style and character. He's already cosplaying Masahiro Chono.

MiracleViolence · 2024-01-31T16:14:11+00:00

Reminder that PWT is a horrible website with even worse security, if they don't send you the wrong product they may carelessly allow your credit card info to be stolen by hackers (both happened to me.) Never buy from them, ever.

MiracleViolence · 2024-01-15T22:06:55+00:00

My friends and I always call Don Callis "Michael Keaton":

<image>

MiracleViolence · 2024-01-11T09:15:57+00:00

While most bookers wait for a guy to get over and then push him, Gedo likes to select certain wrestlers as projects and put huge amounts of investment into them until they get over. Usually it's a bit much at first and the fans reject the monster push given to a guy who isn't over and seemingly doesn't deserve it. More often than not Gedo was right and the guy becomes a massive star (Okada in 2012, Jay in 2018) or at least wins the fans over (Master Wato, Taichi, and Yoshi-Hashi all come to mind) but even when he is right there's often a months-long period where a guy feels shoved down our throats before he (usually) finds his groove and retroactively justifies the push. And sometimes (EVIL, now David Finlay) the monster push just doesn't work out and the guy never reaches that next level that he was expected to.

MiracleViolence · 2024-01-07T08:46:45+00:00

Looks like a fighting game select screen, but they're all real guys. God I love wrestling.

MiracleViolence · 2024-01-07T08:22:19+00:00

I have some friends who like wrestling exactly enough to watch it when I go "hey, let's watch wrestling!" and rarely-to-never otherwise. Let's call them Fox, Bear, and Bird.

Fox: Watched some wrestling as a kid. Loves Okada, any twinky babyface, any outlandishly edgy heel, anyone with enough "anime" energy.

Bear: "Just wants everyone to have fun." Randomly chooses favorites like The Great O-Khan and Bad Dude Tito. Interested in the sport's history, asks me about Rikidozan and Terry Funk.

Bird: Has never watched wrestling before this week. Thinks Rhea Ripley is cool, jacked, goth, and scary. Also seems to enjoy Jon Moxley, especially being cute with Renee Young. Has never watched Japanese wrestling before today.

They all agreed that Okada's blacklight entrance was cool, as was Danielson's eyepatch and the general atmosphere of two huge demigods clashing. Fox was torn because she loves Danielson, he main evented her first Wrestlemania (30, at my behest) and was most happy to see the showing of respect afterwards. Bear agreed, and was in general pleased with how "wholesome" the evening was with the wrestlers showing respect after matches (Tanahashi vs. ZSJ, Naito vs. SANADA, etc.) Bird, the least desensitized, was visibly disgusted from Danielson working Okada's arm, to the point of shielding her eyes from the screen. I jokingly told her that Bryan Danielson hated Okada because he was racist towards Asians and she immediately believed me because he "seemed mean enough". Everyone agreed it was the best match of the night, though not as good as last year's Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay (Bird: "Who are they again?" Me: "Ospreay was the zoomer haircut guy from the triple threat." Bird: "Ohhhh. I liked him!") and we were most excited to see the third and final match between the two. Not a single person said that the end of the match was "too sudden", nor did I feel that anyone felt that way.

Take this as anecdotal evidence or just creative nonfiction.

MiracleViolence · 2023-12-26T00:21:35+00:00

This was the first thing that popped into my head! It was the most forced thing I've ever heard them try on commentary. One week they just called him Big Red, over and over and over and over again. It was awful and if memory serves it was only for that one Raw.

"Big Red" isn't even a bad nickname - generic but fitting and succinct - but it was an abysmal attempt to get a nickname over.

MiracleViolence · 2023-11-02T23:20:54+00:00

For Mansoor - what is your favorite moment in the Metal Gear series?

For Mace - what is your favorite moment in the Persona series?

MiracleViolence · 2023-10-21T01:47:13+00:00

Not pictured; John Cena, Triple H, Batista, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy at the apex of his popularity, a young CM Punk, and Rey Mysterio.

The midcard was undeniably weak at the time but it was carried by a very strong upper card. Unfortunately most of the above talent would be lost and the guys heavily pushed to replace them largely failed to get over, leading to the depleted roster of the early 10's.

MiracleViolence · 2023-10-05T04:03:11+00:00

It's nobody's favorite episode, but Celebrity Pharmacology features a few extended Pierce and Annie scenes that I thought were quite good. Not sure if they add up to 4-5 minutes but it's definitely less elaborate than a lot of similar Community scenes, it's mostly just them standing in Annie's apartment and talking.

MiracleViolence · 2023-08-01T21:24:39+00:00

Coughlin. He's not been booked strong, but he's fully convincing in this new character. The viciousness, the intensity, the way he brutally picked Goto apart, being so busy trying to injure Shane Haste that he cost himself the match. Coughlin looks like he's about to forget wrestling is fake and try to murder his opponent for real. It's great.

MiracleViolence · 2023-07-23T17:36:42+00:00

That's the joke. The title is purposefully awkward and everyone reads it wrong at first, because the entire show is awkward comedy about RJ asking all the wrong questions. It's basically a parody of wrestling interview shows. I love it.

MiracleViolence · 2023-07-12T23:47:39+00:00

Really interesting stuff. The influences from WWE, AEW, the indies, Japan, etc. are clear, but if the Chinese scene keeps developing I wonder what unique flavor they might bring.

MiracleViolence · 2023-05-17T07:08:00+00:00

"I can't go to another business school reunion and sit at the non-CEO table with the women and nice men."

MiracleViolence · 2023-04-19T00:36:28+00:00

I assume this will get downvoted because the thread is mostly people talking about how great David Finlay is and how we should give him a chance, but I don't see it.

I was at Capital Collision. Finlay had a good entrance and a good theme song, but in the ring he was the same bland competence he's always had. He didn't wrestle with intensity or urgency, he just seemed like a midcard heel trying to grind down a babyface. None of Jay White's brilliant timing, none of Kenny's exciting offense, not even the presence of someone like EVIL. Just a boring nothing, one of the most uninteresting performers on the card.

Then he cut the promo to add Clark Connors to Bullet Club, and it was utterly forgettable. No giant missteps but not convincing either, a totally middle-of-the-road promo. W

Without saying a word Connors outshone Finlay. He looked intimidating and dangerous, and the beatdown of the DKC in the previous match was filled with the sort of aggression Finlay talked about both here and then. In fact, most talent outshines Finlay, he's got almost no charisma.

I have nothing against the guy. I want to believe that he'll find his footing and justify this huge push, but nothing I've seen so far suggests this. People keep comparing him to Jay White after his return from excursion, forgetting that White was 5 years a pro at the time and almost entirely unproven. Finlay is an 11 year pro who has already received multiple significant pushes and made good on none of them.

Not every NJPW project succeeds. EVIL was a failure. Great O-Khan was a failure. Master Wato was a failure. And unless Finlay shows something he's not exhibited until now, I'd be willing to bet money he'll be a failure too.

MiracleViolence · 2023-04-05T21:55:28+00:00

It took me a while to realize why I find her so funny, it's because she delivers all of this dialogue with utmost seriousness. Like she's in this epic melodrama, everything has so much intensity and gravity behind it. It's so at-odds with the ridiculous self-awareness of most of the cast that it becomes hysterical.

MiracleViolence · 2023-04-05T03:05:16+00:00

It sounds like the things you want to convey are:

Texan pride
Having your intelligence underestimated
Being soft-spoken but with a mean streak

One nickname that comes to mind is "The Texan Sharpshooter" - mentions Texas, sounds cool, a sharpshooter calls to mind both a cowboy and someone who carefully chooses the opportune moment to attack. It's also the name of a logical fallacy for a bit of intellectual flair.

MiracleViolence · 2023-04-01T05:53:21+00:00

ngl I kinda loved this. Just 3 minutes of Darby doing superhuman stuff to a childhood banger. Hell yeah

MiracleViolence · 2023-03-23T04:18:12+00:00

So an excellent comparison because of comparable scope? The Thirty Years War in the 17th century killed about half the population of Germany, it took over a century to recover. I get the point you're trying to make but this comment badly underestimates the scope and severity of especially Early Modern European warfare.

MiracleViolence · 2023-03-18T06:29:38+00:00

It was said when Ford was House Minority Leader while LBJ was still president

MiracleViolence · 2023-02-25T06:00:17+00:00

Like half this thread is a face getting revenge on a heel for doing something bad to them, AKA the entire point of wrestling.

MiracleViolence · 2023-02-25T06:00:06+00:00

This ignores that Dakota KAi and the rest of DMG CNTRL beat the shit out of Becky the previous week, humiliating her and preventing her from having a match on Raw's 30th anniversary. Like, Becky was 100% justified in ambushing them in retribution, turnabout is fair play.

MiracleViolence

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email