Timbo Slice

In which the Varsity Blonds are vanquished forever

This shit is catnip to me, more head butting Yuta in the face, please.

Yeah, but goodwill and being over was very helpful, along with them helping get Page over the hump. There were good reasons to keep the group intact, but the days of them being a necessary act are long gone.

Sek getting called sex69 from now on and ruining all our autocompletes isn’t something I thought I needed until this moment. And it’s only Monday.

Hell yeah, shaking things up and then some. Love corporate business practices. Because putting talent out on their ass for decisions that were incorrectly made by their bosses? That’s the American way in a nutshell. Love a quarterly update leading to quarterly layoffs.

STOKELY/THATCHER DREAM TEAM 2022 LETS GO

But at the same time, I’m fine with reassessing what the reactions are and booking that way as opposed to shoehorning something just because you need roles to be defined. It also forces the wrestler to be more creative and think on their feet, which leads to more organic reactions. The “outline” vs. “scripted” approach.

The thing about the Elite turn is that once it happens, you have to basically have Kenny return that moment, and I think they want it at Double or Nothing. So then Kenny gets a showcase match at Forbidden Door ahead of the showdown at All Out.

Sek giving the champ COVID, 2022 is wild, man.

My issue with Jade is that they need to decide how to truly present her: If she’s an overwhelming force, she needs to be that. If she’s someone who’s just outright better than everyone else, she needs to do more high-impact stuff that shows she’s better. The finish to the match was a perfect example: It just kinda happened without much leading into it. Too many of her matches are “we need you to go 12-15 because we know you draw” and the matches seem a lot longer than they need to be more often than not. Her going 6-8 on a regular basis while they build up an actual worthwhile challenger is the best possible outcome for both her and the division, but they also have very few female talents that are even on her level from a presentation and talent standpoint, which makes her Asuka in NXT without the depth to make a 15-minute match engaging. She’ll get there quickly, but she’s not there yet and neither is her competition.

That match right off the bat would be interesting, and with Punk more than likely winning the title, him vs. Tanahashi seems most likely, too.

Garcia/Kingston was good shit as per usual. Jade Cargill matches are so weird to me because she gets so much offense in and the matches are 15 minutes long. And a bit disjointed.

Calm down.

Punk tweeted out a photo of a sign on a dressing room “For a special guest” so now folks are thinking Tony’s announcement might have something to do with that.

Well now I’m less confident.

Yeah, Voices of Wrestling’s NJPW pod announced it last week, I believe.

It was more tongue in cheek but the NJPW Show has already been leaked/announced so yeah, AEW acknowledging it would be a step forward. They can’t really push towards it right now due to them prepping for Double or Nothing but something interesting with BCC and NJPW on that show would be worthwhile.

TK huge announcement most likely India after last week.

Vince always saw a tag team as a try out for singles guys due to how Bret and Shawn turned out for him so that’s why actual tag teams have floundered under him. Or as a way to slow burn something until a split and a feud.

Would not be the first time Vince made market-based adjustments to product based on competition.

It’s a dumb way to end a match regardless. Those types of angles never lead to anything meaningful even if they play off a mistake. It takes away from too much in the match. If it was a mistake, move on from it. Making it an angle is making way too much out of something that will have a minimal payoff at best.

Did they really do a fuck finish to protect Ospreay against MOXLEY? Where there’s absolutely no question whatsoever who’s the more important talent in that partnership regardless of home promotion? Good lord.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd let the G-1 speculation begin.

Keith is literally trying to work his way back from COVID-related heart issues that aren’t weight-related. To say he has a regular timeframe of looking his old self or that he ever will at this point is wishcasting.

Yes, but that’s to American fans. What happened isn’t going to make them turn the channel next week here. But it IS going to make them tune in more in India. It’s a really simple value proposition. Tony did it to maximize the impact in India knowing the goodwill he’d lose stateside was minimal.