Coffey

What would happen if a WWE contracted wrestler just up and went to Japan and started working for them? That would be interesting to see what WWE did in that situation. I assume they would try to sue the individual (or the new company) due to breach of contract or whatever but then if it goes to court the whole Independent Contract things would come up...

Don't forget that for the first week, not only did you have the intrigue of people being interested to see what it was like but you also had them getting put over on Twitter by The Rock. The Rock has 14 million followers, so that's a pretty big deal.

Gotta admit, this t-shirt thing has turned into a lot bigger story than I expected it would.

The amount of people I have seen online today defending WWE over this is mind boggling. You want to know why WWE keeps doing shit like this? Because people always sweep it under the rug like it’s no big deal whenever they do. Oh, that’s not what they meant! Oh, you’re reading too much into it! Oh, that wasn’t their intent! Or my personal favorite bullshit excuse: It’s just wrestling...

I remember thinking that Eddie Graham looked like a young Marlon Brando & then seeing Mike Graham & thinking "what the hell happened?" Am I crazy?

Eh, I think that's overstated. He looked great in the same way that Kevin Green in WCW looked great. He looked great in a "holy shit, he can do some things" instead of turning out like Jay Leno way. Not in a "wow, he's already good at pro wrestling" kind of way. Basically, he's an athlete that has potential. But that's from a pure physicality standpoint. The big issue for me going forward is that WWE is mostly about the non-physical aspect - the charisma, the showmanship, the talking... and I don't think Cain can do ANY of that. He's just going to stand there & look awkward.

My favorite thing about AEW so far has honestly been that they have given fans optimism again. It's refreshing to see people being positive about professional wrestling again. That goes for NWA Power as well. Between Dynamite & Power each week, it's fun to read about & discuss wrestling again. With WWE, for years now, I have been so down, negative & pessimistic toward the product & I feel like I've been a Negative Nancy about them since like 2003 or some shit. AEW & NWA have made wrestling fun again, reminded me of why I've been a fan for so long & rejuvenated my interest as a viewer (and potential customer). And that's not just unique to PWO, you see it on social media like Twitter or even the normally WWE-centric SquaredCircle on Reddit. I don't love everything that AEW does but I do like more than I don't. I could nit-pick the show, like we did before with The Librarians on the PPV preshow but honestly, now that they're doing weekly TV that stuff feels a lot fewer & farther between. I get that not everyone will dig The Young Bucks or Orange Cassidy but they have a lot of acts going right now & there's something somewhere for fans to sink their teeth into. Another big thing for me is that in WWE everyone feels the same. Even though they're all their own unique, individual characters, they're not all that distinguishable. Like Seth Rollins is going to do the same sort of WWE-main event stuff that anyone else in his position, be it Miz, Dolph or whomever would do. The same match, the same promos, the same angles, the same outcomes. Nothing feels different. It's that "WWE style." In AEW, despite only being on TV for a month, people feel different. Like no one is going to say that Darby Allin is anything like Luchasaurus or Jon Moxley. Granted I think a lot of that is because everyone in WWE is overexposed due to the sheer amount of TV time they have to fill every week & in AEW we're still in the infancy phase or learning who each person is. I'm totally out on Britt Baker. I think it's time to pull the plug there. I agree that her getting to shine in her hometown was cool but I came away from that match, which I thought was just going to be a Britt Baker showcase match, thinking that her opponent was better & wanting to learn more about her instead of the person being showcased! Even when Brandi attacked her backstage, I was thinking "oh, I hope she gets her revenge for that." The women's division as a whole in AEW so far has felt pretty weak, so I see that as a positive - making me care about a new, different woman. Like El-P has said a couple of times now, even if she's not a great worker, they need to get Allie on TV too. Just more warm female bodies & see if anything connects with the crowd. If AEW just tells good, old school pro-wrestling stories & don't constantly bait-and-switch the angles or disappoint the fans, I think they can go a long way. Just don't insult the intelligence of the viewing audience, deliver on promises made & keep the Dusty finishes to a minimum & those few things alone will feel super refreshing in 2019 going into the twenties.

I watched WWF Summerslam from 1994 the other night. I didn't remember the show at all. I do vaguely remember the build-up on TV of Undertaker Vs. Undertaker. I gotta tell ya though, that Owen Hart Vs. Bret Hart cage match was money. It was better than their Wrestlemania X match in my opinion. I can't believe I didn't remember that match. Truth be told, I don't think I had ever seen that match before. It was really good. They told a great story. The way they both struggled to get out of the cage & stop the other from escaping was a breath a fresh air. Even without any real violence or blood or anything, that was just great pro-wrestling. Post match angle was fun too.

The 350 Days wrestling documentary is on Amazon Prime Video. It's an entertaining watch. Some of the people in it have passed away since it was filmed, like the great Ox Baker & Superfly Jimmy Snuka. It's cool to see some of these guys talking about wrestling the way they do. Billy Graham talking about steroids & the repercussions he's faced is fascinating.

Well, I’m glad they know because I sure as hell don’t. That announcement on Twitter was the first time in my life where something wrestling related genuinely made me feel old and out of touch.

He reportedly signed a "multi-year" contract with WWE, so I don't think it's a one-off.

The Jericho/Cody stuff was fantastic television. Then they had a Britt Baker match. Woof. Drizzling shits.

I'll put my thoughts throughout the episode in spoilers. And just edit my post to update it.

When I was in high school, Tuesday was always a fun day because I would spend a lot of the day chatting with friends about what had happened the night before on RAW/Nitro. But other than the discussion with friends, I miss the feeling of anticipation working through the week, waiting for the next Monday to come around so that the shows would be on again. There was a buzz & excitement that came from the shows getting closer. They really did feel like can't miss programs to me & my friends as wrestling fans. NWA Power has kind of rekindled some of those feelings now, twice my life later. Which is pretty cool. I've been waiting all day for Power tonight & I'm excited for a weekly wrestling program again & that's pretty sweet. I like AEW Dynamite too, don't get me wrong but NWA Power just makes me feel different. I really like the format.

I agree about PAC by the way & I don't feel like C.S. & I agree on a lot, so it felt noteworthy. PAC, to me, feels like his big thing is doing an awe-inspiring high spot, be it a dive or a move off of the top (or both). Problem is, EVERYONE does that now, including the women & super heavyweights. So PAC hitting a Red Arrow isn't any bigger of a deal to me than Billy Kidman doing a Shooting Star Press twenty years ago. Plus PAC has a bad name, basically no gimmick, isn't a good promo/talker & seems to lack any charisma. Regardless of how athletic the dwarven bastard is, I don't give two shits to watch him.

I don't want to read any spoilers, so I don't want to look it up: can someone tell me how many episodes they taped at once? I'm curious when they're doing another taping & how many they do at once.

I'm in this same exact boat. I did have the open on RAW on until the MNF football game started & saw that it opened with Ric Flair. But I have no desire to watch weekly WWE TV. I have AEW Dynamite & NWA Power to get my modern wrestling fix along with the odd NJPW PPV. I've also abandoned NXT & I'll never care about AEW Dark. But still, that's 3-hours of wrestling a week for me, not counting PPVs, so that's good.

But if the talent starts going elsewhere, they're still fucked. Like imagine Impact right now if Tessa left. Like no one is checking out ROH for Matt Taven. Even if they can offer big money it doesn't mean the talent will choose them, ya know?

Fuck me. First thought was "fuck, he's paralyzed." Thankfully the article cleared it up: "Lucha Central cannot confirm the severity of the injury at this time. We were initially told that the 53 year old Parka mentioned to doctors he couldn’t feel his legs and that the injury was feared to be a fracture in his neck. Roberto Figueroa however has since reported that Parka has regained mobility of his limbs and is at the local hospital to receive an MRI, all while in stable condition." Well wishes for that dude. That's a hellacious video. Rush didn't really catch him as it looked like La Park was short but then some how still hit the barricade behind Rush. Looks like his legs got caught on the rope on the dive. Fucked up. Two things: push the damn barricades back farther - should have been done awhile ago, not just in Mexico. Secondly, can we cut back on all the damn dives in wrestling? We're to the point now where it's not uncommon for even dudes over 300 pounds to be doing that shit. Freakin' 55 year old Ken Shamrock just did one yesterday. It's ridiculous. It's not worth it & they're not even special anymore. It's not just another spot.

As a wrestling fan that hasn't really had a reason to be excited for quite awhile now, this year has been awesome. I mean, before this year, I feel like my wrestling watching habits were dwindling. I was watching old Crockett shows or old Nitro shows on the Network & the occasional WWE PPV & that was about it (other than shows like Wrestle Kingdom). Now though? Man. Between NWA Power, AEW Dynamite & everything else, it's an exciting time to be a wrestling fan again. And the best part? I can get my wrestling fix & completely ignore WWE in the process. Hopefully they'll get their shit together too, as there's a lot of WWE traditions that I still enjoy (such as Royal Rumble & Wrestlemania with friends) but skipping RAW & Smackdown? Easy as hell. There's going to be casualties though. Like SirEdger hinted at. I wouldn't be surprised to see ROH, MLW & maybe even Impact get hit super hard if not fatally by all the ongoing USA wrestling shenanigans.

Wow, I had actually totally forgotten about that part but you're right. Yeah, that's pretty transparent. Shame too because by all accounts Jinder seems like a great dude that's pretty well liked.

I don't know how I would feel about the matches but the MOMENT where he would show up & hit the RKO on someone would be freakin' HUGE. That's definitely bigger than Moxley walking through the crowd to the ring IMO. Can you imagine how loud the crowd would be if he showed up? That would be great.

These last several years, if WWE went all-in on their roster & actually tried to make dudes instead of doing 50/50 booking or getting cold feet/changing their mind on pushes, imagine how different the top of the card would look. They could have made Kofi. They could have made Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt... hell, maybe even Jinder. His new entrance & what not was money but I think he got hurt? They brought back Khali for some reason. Fans weren't buying it. Again, because they didn't build him up first. He just like won a random 4-way match or some shit. Roman should have been THE guy. The next John Cena. They even let him beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania (which would have been a lot bigger deal had they not given it to Brock first), even with the unforeseen cancer but they had Seth leave Wrestlemania with the belt after a stupid-ass cash-in and we had to suffer Seth for YEARS as he failed on top as both a babyface and a heel. UGH

I just don't think you can be booked for a decade as a nobody and then suddenly just become world champion. It doesn't work. It didn't work with Kofi and it didn't work with Jinder. Because at the end of the day, when the bell rings, it's still Kofi & Jinder doing Kofi & Jinder things. Prowrestling should still be about drawing money, not about giving guys "thank you" runs. Look at all the guys on the roster during the late 80's or early 90's that didn't get a shot on top because Hogan was there. Guys like DiBiase, Rude or Hennig weren't good enough? Of course they were. Hogan was just the guy. Like Bret & Shawn both climbed to the top but they weren't jobbers for a decade. They were in a tag team, then went solo, worked their way up & it was credible & believable when they were on top. Kofi didn't even change anything. It was the same New Day Kofi but suddenly he's a main eventer because WWE said so. Yeah, the fans did get behind him, admittedly. His match with Bryan was good, admittedly. And his moment was special. But couldn't that exact same scenario have played out with literally anyone else as well? Daniel is going to have a good match with damn near anyone. If you use 'Mania to make someone it's usually special - WWE for a long time did that with guys. Push an underdog & the fans have a strong chance of getting behind them. But Kofi went from being the guy that did a spot once a year in the Rumble to winning the world title at Wrestlemania overnight & as a fan, it just felt way too forced. It didn't feel organic. And Vince McMahon injecting himself into the story I would argue made it even worse. Part of the issue is also due to how devalued all of the midcard belts have become. How many times has Kofi an IC or US title? And none of those reigns mean anything. That's not on Kofi. That's because the midcard titles have no prestige about them anymore. They're basically paperweights. So Kofi being a 30-time midcard champ isn't anything special. Anymore than Jericho having them 40 times or Christian or Edge or Jeff Hardy or Miz or whomever else. I don't think it's just about Kofi. Which maybe it comes off that way during my ranting but really, it's just more that the WWE machine is broken. And Kofi was a casualty of the broken machine. Because this should have made him. And instead it just felt like he was role playing on top for awhile. That's on WWE.

That's exactly what he is. He's a total jobber geek that never should have won the title.