The Thread Killer

That match didn’t really do anything for me either. And now it’s an Nia Jax match? I think not. I’m out of here.

That women’s tag match was…not so good. Mind you, I had no idea who the “Meta- Four” are, I have literally never seen them before. I hope Rollins/Reed is good, because this show is kinda dying on the vine here.

The opener was just okay. Felt like it never really kicked into second gear. Jacob Fatu is awesome. Can’t say I was expecting that finish.

This is actually a pretty decent card, on paper.

Testify.

True, I think that was two wives ago for DDP lol

It’s funny to see him and DDP sitting so close considering their history.

It’s almost like there’s some sort of bizarre competition or one-upmanship going on. It’s a race to see which Pro Wrestling organization will be the first to design a Championship Title Belt which is so big it begins directly under the chin and doesn’t stop until it touches the tips of the boots.

You can always count on Nia Jax to underdeliver, so I wasn’t at all surprised that match was shite. I also went into Priest/Balor with very low expectations, but I was actually surprised at how that match came across. It was hardly a classic, but I thought it wasn’t bad. And the right guy won.

This whole feud was executed pretty much flawlessly. Punk’s injury actually ended up helping the angle, not hurting it. Just great stuff.

Okay that ruled.

It only occurred to me that both shows were on the same night this morning when I was deciding what I was going to be watching this evening and realized that both were…HOLY SHIT PUNK BUSTED DREW WITH THE TOOLBOX

I think the early start time is because there is a UFC show tonight that starts at 10:00 PM?

YES! Blood in a cage match! Vince really is gone!

I’m watching the first episode and all I can say is that I could have lived a long, full and happy life without seeing Vince McMahon posing in a tiny banana hammock speedo. I kind of want to scrub my brain with a Brillo pad.

The ridiculously low attendance hasn’t helped them much either. On the few occasions I have flipped past Dynamite, it has definitely given me the exact exact same vibe that WCW gave when they were in their death throes. When you have 1,500 to 2,000 fans in a 18,000 seat arena, it really doesn’t matter how low you turn the lights or if you try and cram everybody into one section and film it so it looks like the place is full. It still sounds like the place is empty and looks totally bush league. Look at Grand Slam. First year: 20,000 fans - place is sold out. Second year: 13,800 Third year: 11,000 This year? They’re only set up for 5,700 seats and as of now, they’ve only sold 4,400. Even if they give away a ton of comps and “sell out?” To go from 20,000 to 5,700 (at best) in 4 years? That ain’t good, no matter how you spin it. That’s what insanely shitty booking buys you.

And here’s a picture of all the Pro Wrestling fans who are really excited about this news…

Quite honestly, as far as I’m concerned, the “real” Maple Leaf Wrestling died in 1978 when Frank Tunney stopped booking the Toronto territory independently and partnered up with Jim Crockett Promotions. (Of course, Tunney pretty much had to do that because The Sheik had pretty much killed the promotion by that point.) The JCP version of Maple Leaf Wrestling was the version that was running when I was a kid, highlighted by the epic feud between Angelo Mosca and Hossein The Arab. But then Tunney sold the promotion to Vince McMahon in 1983, and Toronto became part of the WWF. The only part of the classic Maple Leaf promotion that remained was the TV tapings at the Branford Civic Center, the TV show on Saturdays called “Maple Leaf Wrestling” and the biweekly house shows at Maple Leaf Gardens. But it was just WWF content at that point. I think Scott D’Amore trying to resurrect the brand is a kind of bizarre decision, to be honest. As we all know, the most coveted customer demographic is 18 to 49 years old. I assume that applies to pro wrestling fans as well. Nobody that age is going to remember the glory days of Maple Leaf Wrestling or care that it’s coming back. He’s not going to get a lot of mileage out of old geezers like me. Seriously, in this day and age who cares about resurrecting some old territory from the 1970s? That would be like somebody starting up The Sheik’s Big Time Wrestling again in Detroit, or Paul Boesch’s Houston Wrestling or Bill Watts presents Mid South Wrestling. In 2024? Who cares? This really strikes me as a cheap publicity stunt. This essentially looks like D’Amore is just slapping a new name on his Border City Wrestling promotion. And there was nothing special about that indie, believe you me. I have never really bought the hype around Scott D’Amore. I saw him wrestle a bunch on the indies here in the Toronto area and he was nothing special. I saw some Border City Wrestling shows and they were nothing special either. I know that a lot of hardcore fans went gaga over D’Amore’s version of TNA, but I hated it. I thought it sucked. I hate that stupid theatrical “cinematic” style crap, with the undead realm and characters getting killed off and stuff like that. If this is just going to be more of that garbage, then count me out. Not to mention, as soon as I heard he had signed Mauro Ranallo as his play-by-play guy, that was the final nail in the coffin. There is no way in hell I could ever watch a program with him on commentary again. Just the sound of his voice makes me wish I was deaf. So yeah, the so-called rebirth of Maple Leaf Wrestling is going to be a hard pass for me.

Yes, with “Yeet” of all things.

Scott D’Amore got fired and is in the process of rebooting his Border City Wrestling and rebranding it as Maple Leaf Wrestling, of all things. The guy in charge of TNA now is named Anthony Cicione.

I really liked Cody/Owens as well. I agree that overuse of finishing moves is a huge problem, but that’s pretty much an industry wide issue. When people are constantly kicking out of finishing maneuvers, they really aren’t “finishing” moves anymore…but that aside, I found that to be a really solid match otherwise.

Back in early February 1992, I went to a house show at Maple Leaf Gardens that featured a super-rare heel vs. heel match between Sid and The Undertaker. This was before Taker turned babyface by rescuing Elizabeth from Jake Roberts. Actually, this match happened about a month before Taker’s face turn so I can only assume that they were kind of field testing it at a house show to see how he got over. I still remember that match, hardly a technical masterpiece, but it was a ton of fun seeing those two big heels facing off. I got to see Sid live a few times over the years, and I’m glad of it.

Yeah this is sad news. He was always a guilty pleasure of mine, one of those guys who I probably shouldn’t have liked, but I did based on his charisma alone. I will never forget his entrance and performance at Survivor Series 96. I always liked the way that Paul Heyman used him in ECW as well, just had him come out and wreck guys. RIP

I never had any issues with the FITE TV app which has now changed its name to Triller TV…but that’s for international viewers, not in the USA I don’t think. I ordered a ton of AEW and ROH PPV’s from FITE before I quit watching AEW, and I never had one problem. I remember hearing they were buggy when they first launched the app, but I had no complaints at all, aside from the price and that issue was on AEW not FITE. EDIT: Last year I remember paying full price for All In: London ($50) and then saw that they were still charging the full $50 for All Out the following week. When reporters asked Tony Khan about that, he claimed there was nothing he could do. That was bullshit because the NWA used to host two-night PPV’s on FITE all the time, and they offered a discount if you ordered both nights. I just checked Triller TV and sure enough this year, if you order both All In and All Out, you can basically save $20. It’s $50 for each individual show or $79.99 if you order both. Which I’m still not going to do, and it’s still not big enough of a discount, but at least he learned something.