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Which is funny because AJ is solidly in the "guy getting the large payday for stuff he did years ago" phase of his career since by all accounts he was supposed to do the Lex Luger spot on the debut episode of Dynamite but WWE gave him a stupidly large offer to stay.

I mean, I can honestly see picking Mauro over most of the people they nominated.....but Tony? Maybe it's my particular brand of nostalgia goggles since he was one of my childhood wrestling voices, but voting against Tony in 2020 is like kicking puppies.

I love how Randy has tried to murder Bray multiple times now in WWE canon.

I suppose at least it's a payoff to the "everyone always interrupts Elias" gimmick.

Boo, Elias's racist flunky gets to be on Raw now.

It could be just my recollection of the time, but it seems like the early/mid 80s had jobbers/midcarders who had been around forever by that point. Of course they weren't being featured either.

It really shouldn't be understated how much better Impact became when Don and Scott realized the best thing to do is stay in their lane and embrace their place as the company people may not stay at forever, but are free to do whatever wacky shit they want while they're here. If AEW is "WCW if they never sold to Turner and remained run by the Crocketts", Impact is the modern heir to Memphis and their mix of serious stuff and wacky bullshit. Like other places try to do it, but Impact is the place where they make it work better than anywhere else.

I thought Josh and Callis were a good team in the before COVID times. I don't think he's the best announcer or anything but Josh is way better when he was trying to be the discount Heel Michael Cole he was doing before. Him and Madison have that Gorilla and Bobby vibe where they bicker but you know deep down they like each other (obviously in Josh and Madison's case).

I would disagree that the Mauro we saw in WWE was heavily produced though. I'm sure he was initially because that's what WWE does, but they treated him with such a hands off approach once his mental issues started cropping up. I'd wager what we saw in NXT especially was 100% pure uncut Mauro. I doubt he was being produced to take over the show to the point anyone else announcing with him would have to fight each other just to get a word in. Beth Phoenix is seemingly stuck in "I LOVE LAMP" mode permanently now from having to yell over Mauro to be heard on commentary.

I thought it was interesting that the Marvel gimmicks were played by Lio Rush, Brian Cage, Daga, and Taurus. AAA is the one promotion in the world that needs crowds the most, but I thought the show was as good as it could be given the circumstances. The women's match was a mess, but considering the Copa Triplemania is usually a full out Royal Rumble style match with men/women/minis/exoticos I get the feeling that this was a "plans changed" deal and they just said fuck it and did whatever the could. Also we can add "saving Monster Clown's life" to LA Park's list of accomplishments by doing what he could to get under him on that ill advised dive.

Also Kenny retained the AAA title. No fans lucha is kinda hard to judge but it was the best match on the card so far.

So it looks like Brian Cage was playing the Thanos-themed Purple Terror character in the Marvel themed match at Triplemania tonight.

I don't see why him being in the Japan section was such an issue for some, he was a proven draw and was just announcing him on the card was enough for the ROH shows he was on to sell out. I think you can more than make a HOF case on his New Japan run alone and anything he did in AEW would just be icing on the cake.

I think "JR is not wrong in his criticism" and "Maybe JR should be less of a dick about it and maybe discuss these things with the wrestlers directly instead of burying them on a podcast or TV" are two statements that can both be correct at the same time.

He's still really good at doing those sit down interviews, there's still a lot he can bring in that capacity. He seems disinterested to the point of being sarcastic on commentary most nights. I suppose there might be a feeling moving him off the announce desk might end up being a "Gordon Solie in 1989 WCW" situation where you have a legend past their prime and it gets sad.

Bret has stated before that the whole reason he started the sunglasses gimmick with the Hart Foundation was to hide how nervous he was doing promos. It comes off as something he was never 100% comfortable with doing and amusingly seems to be something that has gotten better with age. I wonder if his stroke played a part as well. It sounds weird, but sometimes it has effects on the personality as well. My mom was a notorious smoker for most of her life, and after she had a mini stroke it was like she never touched a cigarette in her life.

TBF I think dude might have a shot at being a top babyface. He seems like he has some charisma and would probably flourish in an environment where he isn't put in deep freeze when there aren't royals to entertain.

I don't think they believe Mansoor can been a hometown face in India, I was saying he's basically only around so they can have a Saudi wrestler win a match on the Saudi shows.

I think WWE is ribbing me by putting Carmella in the main event of Smackdown. Also Mansoor is there so a hometown guy can get a win on the Saudi shows.

Only WWE could move their TV from an arena to a domed stadium and have it look exactly the same. Even WCW was able to make those Georgia Dome Nitros look special.

Gotta love that Dio Madden is working his ass off to try to get his stupid ass Retribution gimmick over on social media, and his reward is to get sent to extra classes.

If all I saw of Keith Lee was what he was allowed to do on Raw, I might be convinced to believe he needs remedial training too. I just think it's funny that not even a week ago they just premiered a Network Special on his rise from the indies, and now Vince is all "you suck pal".

Zeus was awesome and all, but I'll always think of him as Deebo from the Friday movies. Dude had a lot of relatively small but memorable roles in all sorts of movies, and even as immediately recognizable he was he always was a standout.

Santana posed his stepfather passed away recently so he's been dealing with that.

Raquel vs Rhea is a BIG WOMEN SLAPPIN MEAT match I can look forward to.