The Thread Killer

At this point I find it really hard to get excited about any Wrestlemania matches, because I know they're going to be on a 7 hour show (if you include the pre-show matches.)

Yeah, that was just plain uncomfortable. I really don't know why JR felt the need to unburden himself about something like that on his podcast of all fucking places. For a guy who is so hypersensitive to criticism about his age and sharpness, he sure does a lot of stuff that pretty much guarantees people are going to question his mental state. Old Conrad couldn't get off that topic fast enough. Knowing Conrad, I'm a bit surprised he didn't use it as a segue into an add read... "Speaking of getting pregnant, you know what helps with that, JR? Blue Chew! Especially if you use it and then take the women to bed on a Purple Mattress! And if the woman does get knocked up, and you have to drive her to the clinic, make sure and get your car checked at Rock Auto first!"

I had the exact same thought when watching that show. The NWA currently features the 500 year old Rock & Roll Express, and the freaking Dawsons as two of their top Tag Teams. If I was them, I'd sign both of the teams featured on this week's show and be happy to do it, I don't know why they need to feature just one team as the "winner." If I had to pick between the two teams, I'd definitely sign Dean & Neal. Those guys are the exact type of talent the NWA should be looking for right now, they have skill, they clearly know what they're doing but they are pretty much total unknowns who the NWA could legitimately claim to have discovered and put on the national stage as original talents. They looked pretty sharp and much more polished as a team than the Dawsons ever have, in my opinion. Luke and PJ Hawx were okay, I guess. PJ is clearly not ready for prime time, though. His interviews were awful, he doesn't look even remotely athletic, and although he seems to have some mat wrestling skills, let's be honest here...his big claim to fame right now is jumping off that balcony in that shopping mall like a total idiot. This stupid clip of him has gone "viral" and gotten mainstream media attention recently, so I have no doubt that the NWA wants to hop on board and use that as free publicity. I can't fault them for that, but I don't see PJ Hawx as much of a prospect, nevertheless. I understand what @Coffeyis saying about the fan reaction video inserts...I really don't much care what some 9 year old kid thinks of the talents featured on this show, but on the other side of the coin, I get what the NWA is trying to do here. They are trying to demonstrate how fan friendly and interactive they are as an organization. They are really going out of their way to engage their fans and make sure that everybody knows that what their fans think is important. I appreciate that, even though the execution of that plan might leave something to be desired.

I really enjoyed this show. While not every match was to my tastes, everybody worked really hard and the level of enthusiasm and energy was great. The hot crowd definitely helped. - I have enjoyed every Lee/Dijakovic match in NXT so far, and for my money this match was easily the best of their series. Hard hitting, high impact and well laid out, I thought. I thought it was a tad on the long side with a tendency toward too many near falls and false finishes, but that seemed to be the theme of the night (and is an issue overall for all of NXT, it's what I like to call "The Shawn Michaels Effect.") But in the bigger picture on a stage like this, I'd rather see two guys overdo it rather than underwhelm. They managed to reel me in with a bunch of the high impact false finishes too, so at least they did what they were intended to do. Great match and a great way to start the show. - The video package did an excellent job summarizing the Nox/Kai feud and I actually really enjoyed this fight right up until the finish. I guess it is sexist of me to say this, but I don't like to see women beating the hell out of each other like that, it made me slightly uncomfortable...but that's just my age showing, I guess. A few of the bumps in this match were really effective and cringe-worthy, especially the cannonball against the trash can and the table spot at the end. To me, the main thing that kept this match from being great was the finish. I for one had no damn clue who Raquel Gonzalez was when she showed up, and I don't think I was alone in that. I wish they had done a decisive finish and had Gonzalez show up to attack Nox after the match, but it was what it was. Still a very good match. - I didn't really enjoy the Balor/Gargano match all that much, but I think that is mostly on me. Gargano is one of those guys who I think is technically very good but I don't connect with his character on an emotional level. I know it's probably just me, but I always feel like he's just running through the paces and isn't capable of convincingly conveying his emotions during his matches. And that was exacerbated by the fact that while I don't mind Finn Balor, I really don't find him particularly engaging either. Balor has always just been kind of "there" as far as I'm concerned. He certainly doesn't do anything wrong, but he also has never really done anything that really grabbed me, either. The only match I ever remember him having that I really liked was against AJ Styles at TLC 2017, or that sprint against Lesnar at the Rumble last year. Considering how long he's been with WWE and how many high profile matches he's had, that's not a lot of distinguishable work. So the combination of both these guys left me kind of nonplussed, so say the least. Much like my feelings towards both participants, this match was well executed and technically sound but it didn't really do anything for me. And it wasn't helped by the fact that it went on WAY too fucking long. I don't know who is in charge of laying out Gargano's matches, but whoever it is needs to be told that the guy can wrestle a match that is 20 minutes or less, and the world won't come to an end. Seriously, this match was 27 damn minutes long, and it wasn't a title match or the Main Event. There were four title matches on this show, and this match went longer than all of them aside from the Main Event. I'm sorry but that's just nuts. - I thought the Ripley/Belair match was excellent, and for my money they managed to do what Gargano/Balor couldn't, in literally half the damn time. I can only assume and hope that Bianca Belair is going to be heading to the main roster soon, because these repeated losses in big matches certainly aren't doing anything for her. Besides, she's amply proved that she's ready for the big stage and I don't see what else she needs to prove or do in NXT. If the Royal Rumble showed anything, it's that they have confidence in her, so let's get her up on the main roster and mixing with Bailey, Becky, Sasha, etc. I'm only wondering if they might not be planning on making the NXT Women's Championship match a Triple Threat, based on this match. I kind of hope not, I'm really looking forward to Ripley/Flair, even though they have totally botched the buildup so far. - I thought the Tag Team Title match was pretty damn good. It wasn't quite an old school southern style tag match that I like, but it wasn't modern chaotic anything goes spot-fu, either. I would like to say that I really like Pete Dunne a lot, and I'm also a Riddle fan...but these vignettes and comedy bits they've been doing with them as a team are absolutely ridiculous, stupid and totally unnecessary. The whole deal with them mocking Fish and their stupid t-shirts and golf cart and all that was just made me roll my eyes. But as I said, the match was fun. Unlike pretty much everybody here at PWO, I really like The Undisputed Era as a stable. I love Fish and O'Reilly and I don't want to see them get called up because we've seen what happens when good tag teams go to the main roster. I selfishly want to keep enjoying their matches in NXT. I know this sounds really dumb, but I assumed Dunne and Riddle were winning when I saw they've gone to the trouble and expense of having custom ring gear made for their team. That seems to indicate to me that they're going to run with these two for a while before their inevitable split. But yeah anyhow, I aside from the "comedy" vignettes leading up to this match, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this match, it was fun. - I didn't hate the Main Event, at all. It was a good match. I thought it was overbooked at the end with all the run-ins and the false finishes, and if you're going to go almost 35 minutes in your Main Event then I'd think a clean finish would be nice. Much like the Balor/Gargano match, to me this match had Shawn Michaels' fingerprints all over it. Both matches were attempts to recreate the kind of overdone "epics" he became famous for at Wrestlemania against The Undertaker. I thought they easily could have shaved off 5-10 minutes and it would have been just as effective and good, because in my opinion when you have that many false finishes it diminishes their effectiveness and pretty much kills the believablilty of the participants finishing manoeuvres. During the last 8-10 minutes of these types of matches, they are pre-conditioning us as fans to not get excited when somebody hits a finish, because based on history, multiple kickouts are inevitable. At one point, when both guys had kicked out of everything (more than once) I found myself saying "well, obviously there's going to be a run-in" and then sure enough, here comes Strong, Fish and O'Reilly and eventually Gargano. I don't hate Cole, so I don't have a problem with him retaining. I also don't have an issue with the Gargano/Ciampa angle at the end. To be honest, I found both Gargano and Ciampa were at their most interesting and compelling when they were teaming and then feuding with each other, so I have no issue whatsoever with NXT going back to that again, with a new twist. I'm not entirely convinced Gargano has what it takes to make a convincing heel, just as I find Ciampa to be much more effective as a heel than he is a babyface, but I'm willing to give this angle a shot and see how it plays out. I will say that I really hope that this isn't paving the way to Cole vs. Balor, because I don't have much interest in seeing that...but time will tell. Anyhow, as I said earlier...I thought overall this show was excellent. There was nothing bad on this show, and there was a lot that was very good. Credit where it's due, I even found that I was able to tune out Mauro Ranallo for most of the night. He did have a couple of ridiculously labored metaphors which made no sense and were just stupid, but I found he wasn't quite as bad as he normally is at the screaming and bellowing during this show. During this show, he was mostly just yelling...which for him is almost like being quiet. I also couldn't help but notice that on several occasions he would actively throw the call to his broadcast partners, as in: "Beth I noticed this" or "Nigel, what did you think of that." I am convinced that somebody must have said something to him about constantly interrupting Beth and Nigel, because it was noticeable last night when he didn't do it and in fact went out of his way to solicit comments from them. So that's good. Don't get me wrong, he still sucks...but last night it seems like he didn't suck quite as bad. Or maybe I was just in a better mood with him, because this was a really good show.

At this point in Pro Wrestling, any wrestler who is over 6 feet tall and weighs more than 220 pounds is pretty much a "hoss." Guys the size of Lee and Dijakovic are becoming more and more of a rarity. The old school fan in me is just happy to see somebody who isn't 190 pounds bouncing around the ring like a rubber ball. When those two flung themselves through or over the ropes last night, it actually looked like something.

This. I am hardly a big Adam Cole fan, but I'd watch a 4 hour "Best Of" Adam Cole Compilation before I'd sit through another one of Omega's goofy epics, with all the bug-eyed pointing, jazz-hands pew-pew motions, dancing and prancing. Both guys are technically sound, but Omega can't cut a serious promo to save his life, and his execution looks so theatrical and ridiculous most of the time that I don't see the comparison with Cole at all. Plus, Cornette worked with both guys early in their careers and it certainly appears that he liked Cole's attitude towards the Pro Wrestling business a lot more than he did Kenny's.

I’d kind of like to punch Sam Roberts in the face.

I hear you @Blehschmidt, but the problem she, Sandra and Boston Rob are facing is that they're almost too infamous and have huge targets on their backs...in my opinion.

I'm going to be watching this show, but then again I'm a really big NXT fan - although the TV show over the past couple of weeks and the buildup has been pretty lacklustre. A couple of these matches have the potential to be very good, I am especially looking forward to the Tag Team Title match, as long as it doesn't devolve into spot-fu. I'm all over Lee vs. Dijakovic again, I loved their previous matches...I love me a good hoss fight. Both women's matches have promise. I am actually kind of ambivalent about Cole vs. Ciampa and Balor vs. Gargano. I'm not a huge fan of Ciampa as a babyface, and neither Balor or Gargano do much for me. But I'm still looking forward to the show. I'm not going to post along as I watch the show because I just want to sit back and enjoy it and not be typing away furiously while I do, but I'll share my thoughts at some point after the show is over. I'm sure everybody will be breathless with anticipation over that.

Ever since I first saw him, I've always been amazed that WWE hasn't been all over Jacob Fatu.

Too bad he can't work like either of them.

I thought that was really weird too. During Cornette's entire rant, Brian Last didn't utter a word. And it's not like Brian Last is afraid to disagree with or contradict Cornette when Cornette says something he disagrees with. He does that all the time, but this time he was conspicuously silent.

Me too. I couldn't resist seeing all those winners from the past 20 years/40 seasons all playing at once. And I wasn't disappointed, either. #TeamYul Who are you pulling for, @C.S.?

I know nobody here at PWO watches NXT UK or cares about it, but I'd just like to mention that Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch are there now, and fought Gallus in the Main Event this past week...and it was awesome. I'm thrilled that not only did WWE settle with Lorcan, but that they kept him and Burch working together...and then moved them to the one brand under the WWE umbrella that they can actually work to their strengths.

I had posted about this in the Podcasts folder, but I thought I'd bring it up it the NWA thread too. During his News Desk segment on Power this week, Sean Mooney mentioned that he'd be interviewing Trevor Murdoch on his Podcast, "Prime Time with Sean Mooney." I checked it out, and it was an excellent interview. If you are a Trevor Murdoch fan, or if you love Harley Race stories, you should check this out. Murdoch talks about his training and background, his path to WWE, his frustrations with working there and how he had pretty much quit the business because was so disillusioned with Pro Wrestling (specifically the political aspects) and his feelings about the NWA. I was already a Trevor Murdoch fan, but this interview really made me like him even more. During the podcast, Sean mentioned that there was some thought being given to using his podcast as a platform to interview and promote other NWA stars, and he asked for feedback about that idea. I emailed Sean telling him that I had really enjoyed the Murdoch interview and that I was hoping he would continue to use his podcast to promote the NWA and add an extra dimension to the product. Sean Mooney emailed me back, and said that the response to the Murdoch interview had been so positive that he is currently in discussions with the NWA about doing a podcast specifically dedicated to the NWA. I think that is a great idea and I'm really hoping they pull the trigger on this plan.

If PWInsider is to be believed, Tony Khan himself has basically taken over the booking of AEW since January when they came back from the holiday break. He is being called the "primary creative force" behind Dynamite and is supposedly getting input from the talent (especially his Executive VP's) but Tony Khan himself is now the final word, unlike before when the talent were basically booking a lot of their own stuff. That likely explains the improved cohesiveness of the shows, the elimination of "The Nightmare Collective" and the scaling back of The Dark Order to just another midcard angle, rather than a major focus or main event level story. Seems like the ratings are also reflecting the improvement.

I thought this week's episode of Power was another very solid effort from the NWA. We're now three episodes into the shows they taped at their third set of TV tapings in January, and it struck me tonight that the NWA appears to have listened to the feedback of the fans. The three biggest complaints I heard after the first "season" of Power from the first set of TV tapings were that the matches were too short, the roster was too thin, and the creative was inconsistent or complicated. Billy Corgan had given interviews before and after Into The Fire and before Hard Times, where he said that the NWA would be making some adjustments based on feedback, and it seems to be pretty clear that they have listened. The matches are definitely longer, the roster has expanded with some great additions, and the major storylines seem very clear. - We didn't have to wait long to see The Dawsons vs. The Bouncers. I thought they'd be slowly building to this fight after last week's excellent confrontation between Pope and Kingston, but here we are. @Migs was right, The Bouncers were much better than I had expected. And all credit where it's due...they weren't exactly The Midnight Express out there, but The Dawsons didn't suck in this match. This was a textbook "big man" match, and I had no problem with it. They didn't go too long, but it was hard hitting and both teams looked good. That Milonas is a monster. Migs was also right, I look forward to seeing what The Bouncers can do against a smaller team that can bump around for them. Good stuff. I also enjoyed the segment afterwards when everybody poured their beer in the Crockett Cup. - They did a good job of keeping the fans up to speed on the ongoing Scurll/Aldis rivalry and using Aldis's appearance in ROH last week to further to story. I am actually going to seek out that ROH Tag Team match with Scurll and PCO vs. Aldis and Rush. Seems like the terms are set for "Aldis/Scurll II" and next week they are announcing the date and venue. - I thought the promo from Thom Lattimer (with Kamille) was excellent. ("He's pants! He's rubbish!") This guy has a ton of potential to do a lot in the NWA, if and when they break him away from Aldis and Royce. He's perfectly fine in his role as one of Aldis's henchmen, but I think he has potential to do a lot more down the road, if they choose to do that. - The Lattimer/Tim Storm match was really good. I was very surprised to see Storm lose, considering he still kind of feels like the #1 babyface in the NWA right now, I was really kind of shocked to see him lose clean to Lattimer. I'm not sure what that means for their long term plans. I hope Tim Storm is not getting pushed down the card, but the post-match appearance of "Mama Storm" seems to indicate that they have something planned for him, at least. - Just when I thought Trevor Murdoch was free and clear of The Question Mark, here we go again. To me, The Question Mark is like a song that you didn't mind the first time you heard it, but now its been so overplayed that you just want to cover your ears. Even the fans in the NWA arena seem to be cooling off to him a bit. Either that, or he isn't getting the reaction from the fans he had been because he's interacting with Trevor Murdoch, who the fans also love. Either way, I can only hope that this whole deal is their way of continuing the Aron Stevens/Trevor Murdoch angle over the National Title, because otherwise I never want to see The Question Mark anywhere near Trevor Murdoch again. Murdoch is taking off, get him away from this guy. - I was really surprised at the TV Title match between Matt Cross and Ricky Starks. These guys had a very good sprint of a match at the Hard Times PPV, and this match was totally different, it was much slower and much more standard Pro Wrestling stuff. I don't know if that was a deliberate choice, or if one of those guys is injured, or what. I love Matt Cross, but he wasn't wrestling like a guy who only had 6 minutes and 5 seconds to win the match. The Zicky Dice promo cracked me up. Not sure what's going on there, Starks has already beat him so I am not sure if Dice is trying to angle his way into a rematch, or what? - The Marti Belle interview and Allysin Kay interruption segment was actually much better than I expected, to be honest. - Then there was something that was just as bad as I expected. I feel bad for Tasha Steelz having to lose to Melina. They should be getting behind Steelz and getting Melina out of the ring, because Melina just sucks, I'm sorry. She's fine as a manager/mouthpiece but when you put her in that ring...ugh. I can only hope that once she gets the shot at Thunder Rosa that they're obviously building toward, that Rosa murders her and puts and end to the days of Melina as an in-ring performer in the NWA. Not good. - The Main Event was what it was. The match was actually a pretty well laid out, standard old school TV Main Event type match, but I'm way over seeing The Rock & Roll Express featured in high profile or even remotely important TV matches. They did the best they could here, and I know they have to stretch the storytelling out all the way to April for the next PPV, but I'm not sure using the Rock and Rolls is the way to do it. I'm a lot more interested in the Lucky 7 stipulation for the TV title. Last month, Nick Aldis couldn't beat Ricky Starks and went to a draw with him. Now if Starks wins five more matches, he gets a shot at the World Title. That to me is a much better story to tell while we wait for the Crockett Cup. My only other observation is that I'm not sure where the hell they're going with this whole May Valentine/Saul Rinauro deal. This can't really be leading to a Sal Rinauro feud with Royce Isaacs...can it? - No new episode of Power next week, because they're debuting the NWA version of Tough Enough, "The Circle Squared" where they will be showing the tryout matches featuring the guys trying to make the NWA roster. So that would be interesting to watch, because it will mean fresh, brand new talent for the NWA and I think that's really important. Anyhow, as almost always, this was a really fun hour of old school Pro Wrestling that was well paced and smartly laid out, it really flew by.

Most people are aware that Sean Mooney is now doing interviews, and a News Desk segment on NWA Power. On this week's episode he promoted the next episode of his podcast, featuring Trevor Murdoch as a guest. I checked it out, and really enjoyed it. If you have time, and especially if you enjoy Trevor Murdoch (and great Harley Race stories) I highly recommend this episode. I am excited as well because he says he is going to have more NWA stars on his podcast in the future, and is also considering an NWA themed podcast. Thought some people might want to check this out.

For those who missed it last week, here is a link to part of the promo we've been talking about. This isn't the whole segment (Pope was excellent during this segment as well) but this little clip is a great indicator of how great Eddie Kingston has been in the NWA so far. They really need to get behind this guy more, they could really do a lot with him.

You're not wrong about his temper affecting him, but I don't think is a new phenomenon or that it's getting noticeably worse. It's getting reported more, especially as he makes enemies out of modern Pro Wrestling fans who want him "cancelled." But at his core, I think he's pretty much always been like this. It's just now he has a podcast and uses Twitter, so his ridiculous temper is on public display for all to see. Like I said earlier, Cornette is unquestionably an asshole and his temper is legendary. But I also don't know that his temper has negatively affected his career. After the whole NWA Power/Fried Chicken Joke fiasco, one of the popular talking points going around on social media was that Cornette had been fired rather than quitting, or just what you said...that his temper and bombastic outbursts had negatively affected his career. On an episode of the Drive-Thru (#116 back in November) by way of a rebuttal he actually went through his entire career job by job and listed what jobs he's been fired from and which jobs he'd quit. The "fired" list is actually a lot shorter than I would have expected, considering his history. I would think his getting fired by WWE for slapping Santino Marella was probably the worst example of his temper costing him work. As far as the effect of his temper on his personal life? He's admitted in the past that he's on medication for his temper...at one point they had him on Lithium which is no joke. Now I think he's on some other form of anti-anxiety medication, he's mentioned it but I forget which one. Most Pro Wrestling fans have heard or seen the infamous Dairy Queen video, which has become legendary. Hell, on the Drive-Thru this week, Cornette tells a story about how his wife Stacy wanted to make some potato salad, so she went to the local convenience store and bought a jar of mayonnaise. (First mistake.) She made the potato salad and when they ate it, the discovered that it tasted terrible, so they looked and discovered that the mayo was expired. Cornette's wife went back to the store to get her money back. The clerk in the store refused to give Mrs. Cornette her money back. She went home and told Jim, who grabbed the jar of mayo, returned to the store and asked for his money back. The manager refused to refund the money, so Cornette ended up picking up the "Take-A-Penny-Leave-A-Penny" tray and literally chucked it at the guy's head. The story is actually really funny, as are most of Cornette's stories...but it's pretty clear that if the story is true (and I believe that it is) then Cornette continues to have problems with a seriously short fuse. That is one of the things that bugs me about how people react to Cornette. I'm not specifically talking about you @C.S., and I'm not singling you out. But a lot of people tend to judge Jim Cornette on the whole based on things they've "heard." Hell, I have a very good friend who is a hardcore AEW mark. He has some peripheral connections to the Pro Wrestling business, and as a result has had occasion to meet several of the Pro Wrestlers who are Cornette's usual targets. I wouldn't say he is "friends" with them, but they've socialized. For example my friend has had dinner with Joey Ryan. So naturally, whenever I mention Cornette or something he said, my friend freaks out and goes on and on about what a great guy Joey Ryan is, and how Cornette is an out of touch asshole who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. My friend doesn't ever listen to either of Cornette's podcasts, but he's one of the first ones to react to re-tweets or stuff reported on "newz" sites about Cornette. On the most recent episode of the Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette actually praised AEW and said their show was better than NXT last week. My friend barely believed me, because he bases all of his opinions on Cornette on stuff he reads online, and I think he was under the impression that Cornette blindly hates AEW and won't say anything positive about them at all...and that his entire shows are based around nothing but bashing modern wrestling. That's just not true, but that's the impression you get from a lot of people who don't actually know what he's talking about. Now of course, I'm not saying that if you already don't like Cornette that you should listen to his podcast. That would be stupid. For example, I can't stand Vince Russo so I would never, ever listen to his podcast, no matter what. Having said that, I don't think you can judge somebody as a whole, based on specifically selected comments they've made or especially by things they've said on Twitter. People who are predisposed to hate Jim Cornette and everything he stands for have been known to go out of their way to comb through every thing he's ever said or done, just looking for ammunition to help "cancel" him. Imagine if people judged Dave Meltzer solely based on his Twitter feed? People would look at him a lot differently. My point still is that if you solely base your opinion on what you read online, and you've never actually heard him talk, you come away with the impression that Cornette does nothing but scream insults at AEW for two hours every week. He does do that, but he does a lot of other stuff too...he is actually quite constructive in some of his criticisms of the modern product and most importantly, a lot of his criticism is 100% spot on...especially when it comes to stuff like booking continuity and the technical aspects of formatting a weekly Pro Wrestling show for television. But nobody ever focuses on that stuff, they just isolate the insults and report them. As a result, you get a picture of Jim Cornette that is either badly skewed or in some cases factually inaccurate. Cornette frequently irritates the hell out of me, but he does represent the opinion of a lot of old school Pro Wrestling fans and in a lot of cases when he is talking about certain aspects of modern Pro Wrestling, he's quite accurate in his criticisms.

If he was in WWE or NXT I agree that might be a problem, but AEW isn't exactly the land of the giants. On a roster that includes major stars the size of Darby Allin or Jungle Boy (not to mention Marko Freaking Stunt, who had a competitive match on Dark last week and pinned a guy twice his size) or workers with killer physiques like Joey Janela and Chuck Taylor, I don't think MJF sticks out all that badly. To me, he's a modern day Roddy Piper. During the height of the Hulkamania era when the WWF roster was populated primarily by giants and steroid monsters, Piper still managed to distinguish himself and he was average sized and had a rather normal physique. In Pro Wrestling (and MMA, actually) an average body and height but a big mouth can carry you a very long way, I've always felt. Not to mention, MJF seems to be one of the few heels in Pro Wrestling right now (Aron Stevens is another) who doesn't mind doing old school stooging, acting like a coward, begging off, etc. One of the many things I hate about modern Pro Wrestling is "cool heels" who we're supposed to hate, but they wrestle the exact same way they would if they were babyfaces. MJF actually acts like a cheating weasel when he wrestles, so that makes up for any lack of high impact moves in his arsenal. I'd actually prefer that he cheats rather than doing a bunch of NJPW "Strong Style" moves. Everybody in AEW does that stuff. MJF actually stands out and works differently.

Jim Cornette does not have a cognitive condition, and he especially doesn't have dementia. If you know the diagnostic criteria for most cognitive conditions (especially dementia) and you listen to one episode of his Drive Thru podcast, you would see that he exhibits literally none of the symptoms of a cognitive disorder. Not a one. Jim Cornette's memory and ability to recall details are legendary. He can remember dates of shows, towns he worked in and even ridiculous minutiae like what color blazer he wore at a particular event. He can remember where he ate after shows that took place over 30 years ago, and can say what he ordered and how the food was. (A topic that comes up with strange regularity on his podcast, for some reason.) Just a couple of weeks ago on the Drive-Thru, Brian Last asked Cornette about a particular promo he had cut when he was a rookie in Memphis, (when Cornette was starting his first stable) that Last had seen on YouTube. Without seeing the promo again, Cornette was able to recall exactly when he had cut the promo, who the promo was directed at, and he even recited it again from memory, practically verbatim. Brian Last was amazed, and that happens on an almost weekly basis - his incredible memory for detail is one of the main features of his Monday podcast. Jim Cornette is an asshole. He might be an exceptionally unpleasant asshole, even when compared to other assholes, but that doesn't make him mentally ill. It just makes him an asshole.

I've found that in AEW a lot of the time people get used on TV a couple of weeks in a row and have big matches and some momentum, and then all of the sudden they're off TV and not even mentioned for some reason. It feels like one step forward, one step back. (Darby Allin and Private Party come to mind.) I'm not sure AEW is the place to be "used consistently."

Maybe I should wait until I actually see them wrestle before I pass judgment. But you have to admit, based on appearances alone and the previous work of the Dawsons, there is some reason for me to be skeptical about the potential of a Dawsons/Bouncers match.

That is one of the things about him which I find hilarious. He's about as politically liberal as you can possibly get, (he is vocally pro-gun control, pro-socialized medicine, pro-abortion, pro-union and anti-big business...plus he never shuts up about how great Obama was) but at the same time his comments on Muslims are infamous and resulted in his previous co-host quitting the podcast. And he reacts to criticism exactly like somebody who is alt-right.