gordi

Week 4, Oct 30: Halloween, so we got Rick and Morty, Undertale, and Street Fighter cosplay. - SCU won the tag tournament, which probably wasn't the best booking decision. - More good NWA-nostalgia-inducing angles, with the Cody and Tony limo interview and Dustin getting assaulted in the parking lot. -And LAX beating up the Rock n Roll Express! - Dark was kinda "meh" but we did get to see Big Swole in AEW for the first time, and got some interview time with Dr. Actual Dentist and Jimmy Havoc. Week 5, Nov 6 gave us the legendary Jericho promo video featuring Soul Train Jones and Chris' Aunt's friend from church Mrs. Bobski. - Cody also absolutely nailed it with his go-home promo, and we got a Bonzo Gonzo finish to continue the build to Full Gear. - Dark aired on Friday, before the PPV. Shida vs Swole was really good, and CIMA made another appearance. - Full Gear, Nov 9: Young Bucks vs LAX was predictably exciting; Riho had a nice technical match with her trainer, Emi Sakura; MJF threw in the towel on Cody, meaning Cody never gets to challenge for the title again; and Mox and Kenny had a truly crazy 40-minute Death Match. Week 6, Nov 13: We got some fallout from the PPV, including Jericho trying to get MJF to join his heel stable. LAX and the Bucks got into a backstage brawl the highlight of which was a nonplussed Orange Cassidy standing in a bathroom. - Darby Allin answered Mox's open challenge, setting up a great match for the following week. - SCU vs Jericho and Sammy ended with Scorpio Sky pinning Jericho with a small package to set up an I-didn't-see-that-one-coming title defense. - On Dark, Dustin did commentary, Kris Statlander showed up, and Private Party vs Best Friends and Young Bucks vs StrongHearts were both very entertaining tag matches. Week 7, Nov 20: Nick Jackson v. Rey Fenix was predictably exciting. - Billy Gun looked like a giant in the battle royal, which set up MJF vs Page for a fancy diamond ring next week. - Jericho cut a hilarious promo ripping off an old Happy Days bit. - Mox vs Darby Allin was an amazing match, Super intense. Probably my favourite AEW match so far. - On Dark, Trent went over Pentagon Jr. which... I dunno. - Jack Evans vs Kenny Omega for the AAA Megacampeonato belt on AEW Dark was a nice little present for the fans, in my opinion. Week 8, Nov. 27: AEW Returned to Chicago for the Thank You, Jericho! celebration. Jericho's dad made an appearance! - The Jericho vs Scorpio Sky title match was pretty easily the best match on the show. - Omega got his win back from PAC. The Butcher, Blade, and Bunny Connection debuted and attacked Cody. - Dark featured really good Jurassic Express video packages...

I am looking forward to reading along. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Yep. That was maybe the most amazing thing looking back at the past year. It's so easy to forget how, back at the beginning of 2019 AEW still felt like kind of a pipe dream... that really only became a reality in October. It's astonishing how quickly we've gone from pulling for these underdogs to nitpicking every little thing... but that is life online these days. - Anyway, even though AEW already feels like kind of an institution (and the centerpiece of my current wrestling fandom) their very first TV show was really only three months ago. - Cody vs Sammy was a damned good first-ever-TV-match for the promotion, and it was immediately followed up by Jericho attacking Cody to set up their first real TV storyline. A very good start. - There was a lot more storyline stuff, including Mox putting Kenny through a glass table and the hint of a heel alliance between Jericho, Sammy, LAX, and the debuting Jake Hager. With hindsight, we can see how well all of that paid off. - Best match of the show, IMO was the AEW Women’s Championship match between Riho and Nyla Rose. Very good David vs Goliath story. - Tony Schiavone showed that he is still pretty great. - On Dark: -Darby Allin vs CIMA paid off Allin's risk-taking when, this time, he hit the Coffin drop. - Where has CIMA been lately? - We also got the kid in the front row dressed like Orange Cassidy. - Remember how exciting it was when AEW beat NXT in the ratings? - Week 2, October 9th: Private Party beat the Young Bucks in the 1st round of the tag tournament. Still one of my absolute favourite moments from AEW. Stone cold proof that this is not a vanity promotion. I know that there is already some outcry for Kenny and the Bucks to put themselves over more... but I am happy that they aren't HHHing or Kevin Nashing things up. I love how AEW is willing to push younger, lesser-known wrestlers. - Darby wins with the coffin drop, again, to set up a title match for next week. They built it up even more when the (newly-named in an awesome Jericho promo) Inner Circle attacked Dustin after the main event, leading to Darby skateboarding down the ramp to attack the champ. - People had been (correctly) complaining that AEW's TV was all wrestling and they could use some more segment and promos and interviews to build up the characters. On Dark, AEW showed that they were listening to their fans by starting out with a backstage segment to set up the Janela vs Omega unsanctioned match and they also had an interview with referee Aubrey Edwards. - The unsanctioned match was a pretty effective build-up towards Mox vs Kenny. - Week 3, Oct 16: The tag tournament rolled on, Riho vs Baker had some nice learned psychology, the PAC/Mox/Kenny triangle of hatred continued to develop, and Jericho taped Darby Allin's hands behind his back during their Philadelphia street fight. - There were a lot of run-ins on this show. - I don't think this week's Dark was too memorable, but we got a little more character development from Scorpio Sky and MJF, and there was a charming spot in the eight-man main event where Dustin called a time out of sorts to catch his breath after chaining a few athletic spots together. - Week 3, Oct 23: This show featured Dynamite's first really great TV angle: The Inner Circle interrupting a Cody promo, leading up to The Concourse Brawl. I'd forgotten that DDP was one of the guys who joined Cody to even the odds. - Private Party vs Lucha Brothers was plenty entertaining. - This show was where most people started to get sick of Britt Baker the Actual Dentist and also Dark Order. It was also, I think, the start of Goth Witch Brandi, which doesn't seem to be working. - Dustin teamed up with Sonny Kiss on Dark. Also, Cody interviewd MJF and Darby Allin won a hardcore three-way with a chair-assisted coffin drop.

It's January 1st here. My daughters are at their grandma's place in Wakayama prefecture. My wife has to work today (she's a midwife at the city hospital, babies keep being born even on holidays). I had some time to kill, so I have been going back and looking at the year in AEW. It's been pretty amazing. - Maybe a pretty good starting point was back in February, when it was reported that Double or Nothing sold out in four minutes. I remember being really excited to hear that. Like: "This AEW thing just might work out after all!" - Then, in May, Double or Nothing: Glacier's ice mist, CIMA in a six-man tag, Awesome Kong showing up, and AJA KONG! I'd forgotten all about that! - The absolutely bonkers 25-minute non-stop spotfest between the Bucks and the Lucha Brothers for the AAA Tag Team Championship. - Cody vs Dustin in a legit MOTY classic bloodbath with a great story. - Mox showing up to kick ass at the end of the Jericho vs Omega main event. - In June we had Fyter Fest where The Librarians, Nakazawa vs Jebailey, and Spears accidentally busting Cody's skull with a chair showed us all that AEW was not perfect. -There was a fair bit good wrestling and fun stuff on the show as well. My personal favourite was probably Cody vs Darby, which was where I started really paying attention to Darby Allin. - In July we got Fight for the Fallen, a charity show which WWE counter-programmed with the Evolve Anniversary show. Also I think that NJPW had day 2 of the G1 on the same day. - The AEW show had a staredown between the two Kongs (Awesome and Aja), Omega vs CIMA, and the Bucks vs Dusty's Sons. - They announced they were going to be on TNT starting in the fall, and there was much rejoicing. - In September we got the All Out PPV. This was when I really started paying attention to Jurassic Express and Orange Cassidy. - PAC vs Omega was really good and the spot where PAC took the Kotaro Crusher and landed on his feet was really sweet. I was pleased at the result since it provided further evidence that AEW isn't a vanity promotion for Omega, Cody, and the Bucks to just put themselves over. -The Cracker Barrel Clash was sick, in both the good and bad senses. -The Bucks vs Brothers ladder match somehow outdid their math from Double or Nothing. I guess not really "somehow." There were ladders involved. That's how they outdid it. - Riho vs Shida was a very good 女子プロレス match on an American PPV, so that was cool. - Jericho got the belt on this show, too. Which has proven to be the right decision. - Also: Arn showed up ad gave Spears a Spinebuster, which was awesome. LAX showed up, too. - In October we got the first episode of Dynamite. I might go through the past three months of Dynamite and Dark if I have too much time on my hands tomorrow.

You'd think NWA Powerrr might be the promotion or show to fill that niche. I wonder how Corny and his fan base feel about the ?Mark, though. I get a huge kick out of his shtick because it reminds me of the more ridiculous aspects of my days in the Vancouver territory studio wrestling scene, but I can easily see how some folks might be put off by it.

I hope I live long enough to see Cody's son (or daughter) take MJF on as a manager, or Dustin's son ask an aging Jake Hager to watch his back. It's hard for me to think of two veteran wrestlers I'd rather see in AEW than Tully and Arn. There are all kinds of places they can go from here... and: Who better to teach the younger guys about tag team psychology and so forth?

From what I've heard, Meltzer has already reported that the injury a work and part of an angle.

Dragon Gate wrestler "The Speed Star" Yoshino is reportedly retiring next year. If I understand correctly, he's been dealing with a neck injury and nerve damage for a couple of years now and that is the reason he's choosing to retire.

It's true. Darby has been doing just fine getting over without going over. The main reason I'd put Darby over if I had the book would be to differentiate AEW from WWE. Make AEW the place where plucky younger guys can and do sometimes go over the more-established guys. Private Party going over on the Bucks remains one of my favourite AEW moments. You don't wanna over-do it. Then it becomes just as predictable as WWE booking. But I think they could get away with it here.

Real-life combat sports are absolutely chock-full of martial arts and fitness nerds these days. They are generally doing better in MMA than the angry, blustery, tough-man types. The polite, self-effacing GSP and the always pleasant, in-ring-clowning Spider Silva were the greatest fighters of their generation. Most people liked them and wanted to see them win. Kenny's attempts to play a "going crazy" character in AEW have not resonated with me at all... but the video game nerd who delights in his own athleticism, has an endless gas tank, and just keeps coming at full speed? He has won me over wit that one. It is a character I can get behind. I like him and I want to see him win. I was against that go-go-go style for the longest time. I still don't like the risks that these wrestlers expose themselves to so very often. The last Ibushi vs Naito match legitimately pissed me right off. However, that is what pro wrestling has become. If I don't want to watch it, there is an absolute ton of old footage that I can very easily watch instead. Or I can just skip forward to Cody's match or segment, or Ishii's match... I kinda forced myself to give Kenny and the Young Bucks (and Ibushi and others) a chance to win me over because I have some younger friends over here who like New Japan and I thought it might be fun to enjoy watching shows with them without being the grandpa who hated everything. Also there were lots of posters here whose opinions I respect who were really enjoying their matches. And Kenny and the Bucks won me over with their selling and their story-telling (which I hadn't expected)... and with their characters. They are young, fit, athletic, and talented, and they are enjoying that. If seeing young wrestlers express joy in the ring is something that you hate, then it's likely that most of modern pro wrestling is not for you. And that is just fine. For me, it was well worth getting over myself and learning to enjoy it. For people who can't or won't do that, Corny's podcasts are going to be a more enjoyable alternative than Kenny and Young Bucks matches. (Though to be honest I will always prefer, say, Taue vs Kawada CC '95 or the Piper vs Valentine Dog Collar Chain Match - true tough guy stuff with no evident expression of joy at all to anything worked in the go-go-go style - Kenny's style will never be my fave, but it isn't terrible and it isn't wrong). @SomethingSavage I am sincerely happy to hear that you are happy in your life. You sometimes come across as being a little angry on here, but that suits your user name and avatar. I continue to believe that people who like Corny and hate Kenny are mostly people who are unhappy with the state of pro wrestling these days. I don't even see how that's a controversial take. It seems kind of self-evident. It's equally likely that the people who like Kenny Omega matches and don't listen to Corny (any more) are happy with (or have learned to accept) the current state of pro wrestling. It's not that Kenny's shtick doesn't work, it's just that it doesn't work for you. It's true that Omega's ability to put butts in seats doesn't prove that he is great at pro wrestling, but it absolutely proves that his character and style work just fine for an awful lot of people. Corny's large podcast audience doesn't prove that he is right about pro wrestling but it does show that there are a lot of people who are similarly unhappy about the state of pro wrestling today.

What's great about this is that it could really go either way. Anything outside of a squash match would be fine. A clean ending with a show of respect at the end, or outside interference done in a way that allows the story to continue... If I was booking, I'd put Darby over, but I won't be upset if he looks good in a loss.

Corny's character that he is playing - which is probably very close to who he really is - is a relic of the past who is all steamed up that the world has passed him by. He has been left behind, and his way of dealing with that is to endlessly harp on the flaws - both real and perceived - of the people and thing that have passed him by and left him behind. His audience is mostly people who feel similarly frustrated by their place in the modern world, and there are a lot of them. People who are happy with the way things are are unlikely to enjoy what he does. That is OK. We don't have to listen to him. Omega's character that he is playing - which is probably very close to who he really is - is a video-game-playing, manga-reading, Japanophile ubernerd. He's living in a world where nerds like him are being catered to by pop culture and the internet and he's loving it. He's more about joyful expression through movement than he is about aggression and anger. His audience is mostly people who are similarly delighted with their present lot in life. His audience is happy nerds, and there are a lot of us. People who are unhappy with their present lot in life and/or the current nerd-dominant culture are unlikely to enjoy what he does. That's OK. There are lots of other options out there. I am sure that some people exist who can enjoy both Corny podcasts and Kenny matches... but their entire appeal is based on diametrically opposed mindsets. It's cool that both exist. Pro wrestling is for everyone. It's for old men angrily yelling at clouds that the Kaiser stole their string, and it's for young gender fluid snowflakes happily pointing their finger guns at things. And it's for everyone in between.

But of course that wasn't the case at all. Everyone was just as happy to see me again as I was to see them, and they absolutely bent over backwards to make my new friends feel welcome. Anyone who remembers my endless Osaka Pro posts here and on DVDVR and elsewhere from that 2009-2014 period will doubtless remember my old friend Kenji, who was Osaka Pro's number one fan and ambassador and my regular drinking buddy back then. He took a day off from work to come out and meet us. It was great to see him again. Kenjo bought calendars from Kushikatsu Oyaji as gifts from Esteve and Gorge. It's a secret, but the guy under the mask is Japanese indy mainstay Kengo Takai, a/k/a Perro. (Here's me with Perro in 2009): I'm pretty sure Shirokuma is also someone I know working a different gimmick: His in-ring character is truly delightful: A big playful teddy bear, basically. (I'm almost sure it's Mihara a/k/a Yonel Sanders under that mask...): Ah... memories. It was almost overwhelmingly nostalgic for me to see everyone again, and I took a lot of joy in listening to Chizuki, Gorge, and Esteve giggle at the comedy stuff and oooh and aaah when the action picked up. The main event was an absolute corker: GAINA & HUB defending their tag titles against the indy dream team of Gamma & Super Shisa. It was also really cool to see Buffalo & Tsubasa back together working heel as Infinity in their black outfits. The best thing, though, was to share something I love with some new friends, (and also to have my new friends meet my old friends, and also just to see so many old friends again). There were a lot of new faces in the small crowd, but also a lot of people I hadn't seen for about five years and in every case the reunion was a very happy one. There was even one Osaka Pro fan who knew Chizuki from her English events, a very nice young woman named Mie: We all got packages of Wakame (a strong-tasting, in this case dried, seaweed that is quite nice with sake) and after the show (after Kenji and I helped break down the decorations while everyone else waited) we all went to a very nice Mexican restaurant in the Fukushima area of Osaka, a nice 18-minute walk from Noda Citizen's Hall (where the show was held). That was a pretty cool meal, with Japanese, English, Spanish, and French all being spoken at various times by various people (Gorge speaks French fluently. I cracked he and Esteve up with my basic Canadian high school French). The food was excellent, the conversation even better. I caught one of the last trains home.

I didn't manage to make it out to the final Dotonbori Pro shows or parties of the year, but I did make it out to the Osaka Pro revival show on the 28th. The woman to Billyken Kid's right is my new friend Chizuki. She's a web designer who has a side hustle organizing English events and lessons of various kinds. She's set me up with a couple of lucrative gigs in the past couple of months. The guys to his left are, respectively, Esteve and Gorge. As usual when I make new friends, one of the first things that Chizuki learned about me was that I am a crazy pro wrestling nerd. She had told me that she liked pro wrestling but didn't have anyone to go to shows with, so we'd been talking about hitting a show for a while. Esteve and Gorge attend one of her English conversation get-togethers in Osaka. They are both in that intermediate stage where they have been in Japan for a few months on student/work visas and are trying to work out if they are going to stick around after those visas expire, and how to make that happen. Esteve is from France (Imagine! A French guy who likes pro wrestling). Gorge is from Monterrey, home of the Arena Coliseo de Monterrey, but he has never been to a live Lucha Libre show. In fact, this was the first live pro wrestling show for all three of my new friends. A lot of the O-Pro guys think about Mexico the same way I used to think about Japan when I was living in Canada: That far-away foreign land with the amazing pro wrestling that they really love and all that delicious food and unique culture and interesting history and all those slightly-exotic women... and a lot of them have spent time in Mexico on wrestling excursions. So a lot of them were exceptionally pleased to meet Gorge, in a similar way to how I marked out meeting Asian Cougar for the first time at a Vancouver Indy show all those years ago. Billyken, Tsubasa, Matsuyama Kanjyuro, and maybe others spoke to him extensively in Spanish. Gorge was pleasantly surprised and they all seemed quite chuffed to have the opportunity to use the language that they'd picked up over there. I'd bragged to Chizuki about how I knew a lot of the boys from the 2009-2014 period where I'd been a regular at Osaka Pro shows and drinking parties and how everyone was so kind and friendly. It would have been a perfectly poetic kind of Murphy's Law situation if nobody had remembered me or if they'd all been too busy to say hello or whatever.

Come on, man. No well-respected wrestling legend would ever do something as dorky as making finger guns! That is just NOT pro wrestling.

Well... There is the developing angle between Jericho and Tanahashi. Maybe, maybe, maybe that will lead to Tanahashi vs Jericho for the AEW title on the next AEW PPV and maybe maybe maybe maybe breaking from AXS is a precursor to NJPW and AEW cooperating more and more down the line?? The last WotRGRS puts some doubt in my mind about that, though, as there seem to be legit hard feelings lingering over how the Elite guys exit was handled. But maybe (...) that is part of the smoke screen? I know it's unlikely but I would absolutely love to see those two companies partner up in a serious way.

That's a really good question. I sincerely don't think I know anyone who would feel short-changed or disappointed if all pro wrestling TV shows were limited to 90 minutes or less, and huge shows like Mania and WK "only" lasted 3 hours. I think it's understood that RAW goes 3 hours to satisfy network demand for content. Maybe Mania and WK are so interminable because the companies want to get as many wrestlers a payday as possible and let everyone get their stuff in on "the grandest stage"? From a fan perspective, though... Like I said, it's a good question.

Yep. Ibushi came in 2nd. Sho took 1st place. Pieter came in 3rd! Ishimori was 4th, Tanahashi, who apparently organized the show and was inspired by CMLL's bodybuilding contests - which I had no idea were a thing - came in 5th. It's not so much that being all veiny (a/k/a vascularity) is a desirable look in bodybuilding in and of itself so much as it is an indication that the bodybuilder's bodyfat percentage is very very low, which is something the judges reward. Bodybuilding hasn't really been about building an aesthetically pleasing physique since the 1970s. It seems to be very much about combining freakish size with extreme leanness now, with proportions and pleasing lines given far less consideration. Not sure what NJPW's judging criteria might have been.

I absolutely agree that this is a particularly interesting episode of WotRGRS. Every episode is interesting to me because they each give a pretty clear look at the personality of the "real people" behind the characters we see on TV and their history, friendships, and connections. This last one, though, really takes us behind the scenes and gives insight into things we have all be wondering and speculating about on here w/r/t "Why are/aren't they doing this right now?" and "What happened then, and why?" kind of stuff. And the "we have the power, right? Why don't we just book it on the..." ending absolutely hooked me as well. I hope everyone who is interested in AEW takes the time to watch this one.

Thank YOU. Agree that the right team won.

I've never had mamemochi (bean rice cakes) before. I am gonna ask my wife to get and make some for me. That's one of the great things about life in Japan: Even after living here for over a decade, there is still always new food to be discovered. Two days ago, I found a sour cream and onion popcorn snack mix at my local 7/11. Last week my wife cooked tamagoyaki (Japanese omlette) with cream cheese. She makes it for our daughters' obento all the time, but she'd never cooked it for me before. Delicious. Always something. I can totally relate to Kana trying to recreate that in America. I'd be doing the same thing myself. Also, my younger daughter (5 y.o.) has those same chopsticks, but she doesn't use them any more when I'm around because I always praise her for using real chopsticks.

And here is a nice little Christmas present from AEW:

Just gonna leave this here:

This is pretty great. Does my heart good to hear a truly great pro wrestler whom I hold in the highest regard saying some of the same things on his podcast that we've said in this thread. He also confirms a couple of interesting things that I suspected might be true, about stuff like the atmosphere backstage:

That sounds great. I would absolutely watch that.