The Thread Killer

The only problem with guys like that is that their shelf life is so short, because of the wear and tear on their knees. Or they have to adjust their style so they aren’t quite as flashy, ala Bam Bam Bigelow.

So SmackDown was pretty much hot garbage last night, I don’t know if there was something in the water but it was a total botchfest. I expected the Carmelo Hayes vs. Ricky Saints match to be good (and there were brief flashes of it) but those guys could not get on the same page, and there were some sequences where they were so out of sync they practically ended up standing there, staring at each other. At one point, Saints dropped Melo on his head, which isn’t going to win him any fans backstage. Although he may not have any already, considering he’s been on the Main Roster for 3 weeks and lost twice already. Priest vs. Tama Tonga was also a bit of a mess, highlighted(?) by the sequence where Priest climbed to the top rope and appeared to basically stumble and fall and land crotch first on the top turnbuckle. Both those guys looked rough in that match. I’m not even going to mention the Brie Bella and Paige team, because considering the ridiculous amount of female talent WWE has right now, the idea of those two having the Women’s Tag Team Titles is just baffling. I was really impressed with Royce Keys vs. Gunther, although it bears mentioning that the parts of the match where Keys was in control seemed smoother than when Gunther had the upper hand, which was unexpected to me. But I really liked the story they were trying to tell with Gunther being unable to bully Keys like he does most people. And then Solo showed up. Ugh. Anything involving Solo is not likely to help Keys in the way they think it is, that’s all I’ll say.

As I mentioned earlier, I highly recommend Gangs of London. Done by the creative forces behind The Raid: Redemption and The Raid II. Great stuff, brilliant cinematography and choreography if you enjoy Hong Kong style action, but not as corny. The main villain character has the acting range of a block of wood, but it’s still very compelling.

$30 for an entire year of AMC+ isn’t a terrible deal, considering that they have a ton of really good shows on that service (Gangs of London springs to mind.) AMC+ is available as an add-on channel to Prime Video, and they offered a free trial which I signed up for, and quite enjoyed. They have a good library, including some British TV programming. Having said that…we already get TNA here in Canada as part of the Sportsnet package on cable. Sportsnet started showing TNA when they lost RAW and SmackDown to Netflix. I tried watching TNA for a while and let me tell you, it’s pretty much unwatchable. I can usually find something to enjoy in just about any kind of Pro Wrestling, but that crap is just boring as hell. I wouldn’t pay 30 cents for that garbage, never mind 30 bucks.

Fightful is reporting that he’ll be serving his sentence under the same terms, as per the Mexico Attorney General’s office. “…the convicted individual will serve his sentence while remaining free and may continue to practice his profession, under judicial supervision, and must therefore report every three weeks regarding his appearances, venues, and match cards. As part of the protective measures for the victim, the court ruled that he may not participate in events where she is present.” https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/mexico-city-attorney-generals-office-releases-statement-on-ruling-against-cuatrero/

So apparently he will be serving his sentence “under supervision” which means he’ll be walking around free, and is at liberty to wrestle so long as Stephanie Vaquer is not in the building. But hey…he has to check in with the police every 3 weeks. And I’m sure they’ll be super strict about enforcing that condition and won’t let him fall through the cracks at all. That’s much more like the Mexican justice system we’ve all heard so much about.

Massive thread bump here, but it’s for a reason. The latest season of WWE Biography on A&E started a couple of weeks ago. The Season Premiere was a 2 Part episode called “The Curse of the Von Erichs.” I know what you are probably thinking. WWE already did the “Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling” years ago. Then there was the independently produced “Heroes of World Class” documentary. Most recently there was the Dark Side of the Ring episode “The Last of the Von Erichs.” Because of all of that, I went into this not really expecting much that I had not heard already. I was actually really surprised by this episode, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the production on this episode was top-notch. The A&E produced biographies are done in cooperation with WWE, but A&E handles the production, and it really shows. Over the last few years some of the Biography specials they have done have actually been better than the WWE produced documentaries that were on the network. For example, I think the Bret Hart and Mick Foley episodes of Biography were superior to the WWE DVD’s and documentaries produced about those guys. More importantly, in the case of “The Curse of the Von Erichs” this episode of Biography was produced with the full cooperation of the family, so they have access to all sorts of family home movies which have never been seen before. Even more interesting than that, there are interviews with family members that have never given interviews before, most notably the widow of Kerry Von Erich. I can honestly say that there is family information that is disclosed in this episode of Biography that has never been disclosed before. I know this may sound almost impossible to believe, but the history of this family is even more tragic than we already knew, if you can even believe that. This episode also challenges some of the popular narratives that exist about the tragedies that have occurred within the Von Erich family. Anyhow, my point is that I highly recommend watching this episode if you have an interest in the Von Erich family. It’s a fascinating Biography.

Agreed. I saw it theorized elsewhere (and this theory may have some merit) that Rollins is feeling pressure due to the obvious youth movement that WWE is clearly embracing, so he is trying to stand out by performing maneuvers which are probably beyond him at this point.

Both guys looked really rusty to me. Seth blew a couple of spots so badly, I could barely figure out what he was trying to do. And that spot where he came off the top rope and landed on his feet, but both his knees buckled made me cringe. At least the right person went over.

If Lil Yachty is going to be active on a regular basis in WWE, then somebody really needs to explain to him the concept of selling. Zayn beat the living crap out of him with that Kendo Stick, and he was back up seconds later as if nothing had happened. Then Zayn flattened him with the running kick, only for Yachty to pop into the ring, and start dancing and throwing money around moments later. When it takes your wrestlers longer to recover from things than some skinny rapper, it doesn’t look good for anybody.

The Renegade might turn out to be pretty sad. Hogan pretty much used that guy to be his fake Ultimate Warrior, then he got tossed aside when he wasn’t any good (like the real deal was?) and he eventually gets released and ends up committing suicide. It’s definitely a sad story. I remember the Joe vs Necro match vividly, since they basically stiffed the living hell out of each other, but I thought it was a good match and didn’t know there was really any story behind it. I can see them doing an episode on Necro, because you know, he’s nuts.

So, I don’t know if anybody has actually been watching, but much to my surprise, the weekly AAA show has become a must watch. Partially I think it’s because it’s only an hour so even if it’s not great it’s not a chore to sit through. But in the larger picture, I’ll be damned if they somehow haven’t managed to turn the Americano vs Americano feud into one of the hottest angles I’ve seen in quite some time. Even Jim Cornette of all people had to give them credit after they shot that super hot segment on the April 11 episode, where OG Americano attacked that blind comedian, and then went after the female interviewer (who apparently everybody knows is Ludwig Kaiser’s girlfriend IRL.) At first, I was a little annoyed that they were focusing this feud south of the border and weren’t going to do the Mask vs Mask match at Wrestlemania, but considering what a shit show Wrestlemania turned out to be, and taking the insanely hot crowds and massive popularity of Americano II into consideration, it turned out to be the smart decision to keep this angle confined to AAA. It’s also nice to see acts like Los Garza, Fenix, the LWO and War Raiders get a chance to get some decent ring time there as well. I’ve actually been enjoying the angle between War Raiders and Psycho Circus. @sek69, I don’t suppose you have been watching?

Not quite sure how Ray Traylor qualifies as a “Dark Side” episode aside from the fact that he died tragically young. Aside from that, from everything I’ve heard he was a beloved guy backstage, and actually had a decent career. Kind of reminds me of the John Tenta episode. I’m also not sure we need THREE episodes about TNA. I thought the show was supposed to focus on the dark, seedy underbelly of the business, not so much the gross incompetence aspect of it. Because if they are just focusing on stupid people now, where is the Vince Russo episode?

So the episode list is out for Season 7 of DSOTR: * TNA Wrestling & Jeff Jarrett (Three Episodes) * Paul Orndorff * Big Boss Man * Missy Hyatt * Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher from IWA-MS in 2005 * Zach Gowen * The Renegade, aka Rick Wilson

That vignette they showed introducing him was pretty well done. He’s got a great look and aura.