2017 MOTY Countdown: Honorable Mentions

20. Not 25 nor 13 nor 5. There is no aesthetic reason nor religious imperative to limit our list of best matches of the year to 20. It is simply so. These are the remaining matches that I rated as ****1/4 or higher that are not included on the list of 20. Some notes:


Keith Lee vs. Sammy Guevera: Sammy Guevera playing a flashy and too cocky asshole heel in this match is some of the best character work I have seen this year. There are funny spots, but not nearly as many as this type of match up tends to get played for.

Arez vs. Belial vs. Impulso: This apuestas match is everything you could want from an apuestas match between indie luchadors. You get the blood, the brawling and the crazy dives.

Demonio Infernal vs. Black Dragon: Demonio Infernal was one of my favorite wrestlers to watch in 2017. When he was given the opportunity he had some of the most fun brawls of the year. This match was my favorite of his as it shows off his great bumping and selling as well as the viciousness he can bring to a match. He gets caught off guard to start the match but quickly comes back and slows Black Dragon down with brutal looking strikes and moves. Every spot of this match smoothly progresses to the next until we get to the brutal looking finish. Less than 10 minutes of fun spots and Demonio bleeding everywhere.

Authors of Pain vs. Team D.I.Y.: Johnny Gargano may be the best underdog babyface wrestler on the planet. The character work in this match is fantastic, with D.I.Y. coming in hurting and relying on their experience and trust in each other. The post-match angle was great, but even without that the emotion and story these two teams put in to this match was some of the best of the year.

Caristico & Soberano vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Sanson: Caristico and Ultimo Guerrero are obviously going to work well together, but this match stood out to me because of the intensity Soberano and Sanson brought. One of my favorite things in wrestling is a cocky heel that will show the flashy tecnico that they can flip just as well, and whenever Sanson and Soberano are paired Sanson is able to do this. Soberano, for his part, hits all of this big dives perfectly and his offense has a sort of earnest intensity that the best underdog, flashy/flippy tecnicos have. This match made me hope CMLL lets Soberano and Sanson continue to feud for some time.

PROMOTION NAME	NAME OF SHOW	DATE OF SHOW	MATCH	PROMOTION NAME
EVOLVE	EVOLVE 79	2/25/17	Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin
WMC	Arena San Juan Pantitlan	2/26/17	Arez vs. Belial vs. Impulso	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpV1ZBkkmxk&t=1930s
IWRG		3/19/17	Demonio Infernal vs. Black Dragon	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4OOt_Y9wrs&feature=youtu.be
WRESTLECON	WrestleCon Super Show 2017	3/31/17	Low Ki vs. Shane Strickland
CZW	Best of the Best 16	4/1/17	Matt Tremont vs. Penta 0 M
NXT	NXT TV	4/12/17	Drew Mcyntire vs. Oney Larcan
NXT	TakeOver: Chicago	5/20/17	Akam, Rezar vs. Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa
Inspire Pro		5/28/17	Keith Lee vs. Sammy Guevera	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1rp2aMBqUs
CMLL	Arena Mexico	6/16/17	Caristico, Soberano vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Sanson	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy5gmK4Ym6g&list=WL&index=22
CMLL	Arena Mexico	8/4/17	Rey Cometa, Soberano Jr., The Panther vs. Cuatrero, Forastero, Sanson	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5vPRp_nuEM&feature=youtu.be&t=00h44m47s
WWE	Monday Night Raw	8/7/17	Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
IWRG	Arena Naucalpan	8/9/17	Fly Star, Fly Warrior, Fulgor I, Fulgor II, Glen Calavera, Jerry Calavera, Mr. Leo, Septimo Rayo vs. Alas de Acera, Aramis, Black Dragon, Demonio Infernal, Diablo Jr., Dinamic Black, Eterno, Golden Magic	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqnkuwDaz2w&index=34&list=WL
AAA	Arena Ciudad de Mexico	8/26/17	Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Psycho Clown
IWRG	Arena Naucalpan	9/3/17	Villano III Jr. vs. Imposible	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkmYDcciT7c&index=36&list=WL
The Crash	Auditorio de Tijuana	10/5/17	Demus 3:16, Ultimo Maldito, Steve Pain vs. Mascarita Dorada, Laredo Kid, Arkangel Divino	https://youtu.be/qi6teINeRB0

2017 Match of the Year Countdown: Intro & List of matches

Pro wrestling is good. I have been keeping a list of good wrestling matches I watched but the list is an all too accurate reflection of our human fallibility and likely has many omissions. Here are the top 20 matches I watched in 2017, are at least a close approximation to that. I will be adding longer reviews/reflections about (most of) these matches as the week goes on.

EDIT: I forgot to include the numbers so please know that Dragon Lee vs. Takahashi was my favorite match of 2017, with the rest descending from there. As I write about the matches below I will add a link to those posts on the name of the match. 

PROMOTION NAME	NAME OF SHOW	DATE OF SHOW	MATCH
NJPW		2/11/17	Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi
NXT		6/28/17	Asuka vs. Nikki Cross
WWE	Hell in a Cell	10/8/17	New Day vs. Usos
Bacaral	Gimnasio Olimpico Juan de la Barrera	3/11/17	Rush vs. LA Park	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kvhrNTEeOw&t=11s
Lucha Memes	Coliseo Coacalco	7/15/17	Virus vs. Xtreme Tiger	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPUrE6eMbkI
The Crash	Auditorio de Tijuana	10/5/17	Flamita vs. Rey Fenix	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCGnztz9O6k
CWF		3/25/17	Trevor Lee vs. Chip Day
RCH	Arena Naucalpan	6/2/17	Demus 3:16 vs. Impulso	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riv_hWqXSqQ
WWE	Royal Rumble	1/29/17	John Cena vs. AJ Styles
NXT	Barclays	8/19/17	Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Almas
Chairo	Chairo 9	3/26/17	Black Terry, Negro Navarro vs. Hechicero, Virus	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO23oGSI5Uk
Lucha Memes MDA		4/28/17	Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Negro Navarro	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDXmDP4aHpM&index=38&list=WL&t=10s
Lucha Memes MDA	Arena Puebla	6/4/17	Hechicero vs. Satanico	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t538_VNDUc&feature=youtu.be&t=01h24m03s
WWE	Summerslam	8/20/17	Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
Glory Pro	Spaulding Hall	10/15/17	Penta el 0 M, Rey Fenix vs. Davey Vega, Mat Fitchett
	Arena Coliseo San Ramon	10/15/17	Tigre Rojo vs. Barbaro I	https://youtu.be/frz4KUMtZ0k
The Crash		5/5/17	Daga vs. Zack Sabre Jr.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR1a6LSVsvA
NXT	TakeOver: Chicago	5/20/17	Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate
NJPW		2/11/17	Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin
Lucha Memes	Coliseo Coacalco	6/18/17	Iron Kid vs. Demus	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgmpP0D5WI&t=0s

Every dog has his day, and a good dog might just have two days

A dog that has seen enough.

Debtors' Prisons

The best part about living in our panopticon, though, is how incompetent it is:

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

. . .

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright's estranged wife.

Of course, accidents like this must be allowed when S.W.A.T. teams are looking for public threats, right?

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.

Just call it a "learning experience."

UPDATE: Dale! Cristina! Where did your story go? Alas, much like an h in Cristina's name, we can pretend it was never there. Commenters at Randy Balko's blog found these two articles, though.

Thinking Corporately

I called attention to the phrase "think corporately" last post*, as I am obviously antagonistic to such an idea. Literally, the phrase can be benign, much like an enormous and unsightly growth protruding from your neck can be benign; you just might have to by slightly larger shirts. Anyway, here is a timely example of thinking corporately:

NBC lost about $200 million on the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and anticipates losing about $250 million on the 2012 Summer Games in London.

But that did not stop the new conglomerate of Comcast-NBC Universal from putting in a winning bid of $4.4 billion for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro; and the 2018 Winter and 2020 Summer Games, for which the host cities have not yet been determined.

*not really, but close enough.

Verbating

In the middle of an article in the New Yorker about our wonderful panopticon, I see:

[General Michael Hayde, director of the NSA] then sent out an agency-wide memo, in which he warned that several “individuals, in a session with our congressional overseers, took a position in direct opposition to one that we had corporately decided to follow. . . .

Of course the decision was made "corporately." In 21st Century America, is there even an alternative to thinking corporately? Unorthodox vocabulary seems to be another trait of Men In Power (MIPs?):

Soon after he showed up, he says, Steven Tyrrell, the prosecutor, walked in and told him, “You’re screwed, Mr. Drake. We have enough evidence to put you away for most of the rest of your natural life.”

Mr. Drake will be a free cyborg, though. It is a tragedy, this failure of our legal system.

Never Happen Here

Things are happening in Spain, but I guess it is the summer semester, as BLCKDGRD keeps saying, so only a few people are on campus.

Me accepting me

Not sure why the clip cuts off so aburptly, but maybe it is just me. Via thecubsfan, I find a clip of Cassandro on a BBC morning show. Rihanna, minus her pants, was on Good Morning America this morning. Perhaps I should watch more television in the morning.

Clawing . . . Gasping

Drowning in rain or withering in heat, death is upon us. Bleached bones of a faithful servant, long past useful. Like a Georgia O'Keefe: New Wu-Tang Clan album coming out next month.

Slag

When some scary old guy is shot in the head, people have things to say and I wish I could also join in with something to say. Is it insightful to say "blah blah blah terrorism still?" I will, if needed. Some upper torso on the television was talking to a head. The two were discussing how the military (presumably they meant "soldiers in the military" but they said "military") felt about Osama's death, presumably unaware that the two of them were often referred to as "journalists" and have the entire information collecting apparatus of a large television network at their disposal. How is a rarely updated blog to compete?

Rock Bottom

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

A man seen in a YouTube video being beaten and sprayed with pepper spray by a St. Louis police officer has been charged with misdemeanor assault.

. . .

Joyce said what the video did not show was Ginger grabbing onto Ries's ankles and refusing to let go, even as Ries struck him on the legs with his baton. She said that is deserving of an assault charge, over resisting arrest.

"If you watch wrestling, that's a move that knocks people over," Joyce said.

If you watch wrestling, hopefully you know that the outcomes are predetermined, or as some would call it, rigged.

Dispatches from Beyond

Argentinian electoral politics are the new craze, and our only hope for the future.

If Only I Were a Poet

If I were a poet I could probably come up with some fitting verse about the beauty of this tractor, or maybe use the video to illustrate some point about the cruelty of our world. However, I am too busy for poetry, and too tired.

Bears repeating

Really, it cannot be said enough that "our" government is speeding past the point of hypocrisy into a previously incomprehensible realm of pure contradiction.

On Wednesday, the Army announced 22 additional charges against Private Manning, including “aiding the enemy.”

The charge sheet did not explain who “the enemy” was. . .

I guess they know them when they see them. I await with some anticipation the new ground in legal thinking in which we are told that revealing the enemy aided will grant them further publicity, thus aiding them even more, so the prosecutor has a legal duty to not mention their name in court documents.