NintendoLogic

I was hoping Eddie and Taichi would be in the same block so we could get the Kawada-off I've been asking for. They can still meet in the finals, though. Hey, a guy can dream. Looking at the rest of the block lineups, it looks like they're setting up Kaito for an IWGP title shot in the fall. The usual pattern is for the champ to lose tournament matches to establish challengers leading up to Wrestle Kingdom, and Kaito's the only guy in SANADA's block who looks like a viable title contender.

According to the latest Observer, one of the ideas on the table for Cody/Brock at Summerslam is a bullrope match. The last bullrope match in the company was in 2005 according to Cagematch, so that would indeed be something we haven't seen in a while. It's kind of hard to do a match like that without blood, though. You can't really whip someone with a rope like you can with a strap or a chain. Then again, I wouldn't put it past Brock to get busted open hardway by taking a cowbell to the face.

What makes it even more egregious is that he lost the dog collar match. He should be making excuses for his loss, not bragging about being a part of it. Then again, that's not as bad as Cole violating the first rule of promos by saying that Britt could beat the hell out of MJF. If the AEW world champion can be beaten up by a girl half his size, what does that say about the rest of the roster? It's not just the live fans. There was a huge spike in the quarter hour with the MJF/Cole segment. And the video of the segment uploaded to AEW's YouTube channel has over 400k views in less than 24 hours. Like it or not, AEW's fans are eating this stuff up. I will say I thought MJF did a good job at the end of selling that Cole had gotten under his skin. Britt should take notes.

Well, shit.

It's one more for the bad guys as the PGA Tour has agreed to merge with LIV Golf. I suppose it was only a matter of time after Sami Zayn bent the knee. Also, WOR reported today that Cody/Brock III is set for Summerslam and the match will have a stipulation we haven't seen in a while (so not Hell in a Cell). Any guesses on what it might be?

If you think WWE is brazen when it comes to rewriting history, I came across a recent CMLL match where one of the commentators said Atlantis had the most valuable mask in the history of lucha libre.

What makes it weirder is that there are times when WWE acts as if wrestlers' ring names are their actual legal names. Like Undertaker's wife being billed as Sara Undertaker and AJ's wife being billed as Wendy Styles. So in kayfabe, Undertaker's legal first name is The. As with most things in WWE, it's best not to think about it too much.

Looks like we're getting Okada/Danielson and Omega/Ospreay II at Forbidden Door.

I don't think the ones questioning dressing like a character from a show that ended over 40 years ago are the boomers here.

Miz trying to add movez to his repertoire 20 years into his career is pretty lol. Also, all the credit in the world to Ricochet for nearly killing himself trying to make MIz's offense look good. In other news: I guess this means Uncle Howdy died on the way back to his home planet.

There's a subreddit called r/SmartMarx dedicated to wrestling-related leftist memes and vice-versa.

Muta impregnated Yingling with his mist in HUSTLE, so it checks out.

If Punk's body can hold up, a double turn leading to a babyface MJF chasing a heel Punk would be a pretty good way to shake things up.

Come to think of it, the 80s territory wars were a lot like the Napoleonic Wars if there had been no Russia to bog Vincepoleon down. Maybe if he'd tried to take over Japan.

The problem is that anyone who enters the G1 will likely be too beat up to work All In. If you're AEW, the latter has to take precedence.

At one point in 1999, WCW was valued at $3 billion. And even as the the company was in freefall in the summer of 2000, AOL Time Warner turned down a $500 million purchase offer from SFX. It really is astonishing how rapidly and thoroughly the bottom fell out. In a way, calling Vince the greatest promoter of all time is damning him with faint praise considering how incompetent most of the others turned out to be. I think it's likely that if the WWF hadn't won the territory wars, pro wrestling in the US would have gone the way of roller derby.

Claudio will make his debut for the company at Dominion as he and Moxley will challenge for the six-man titles alongside Shota Umino. The dynamic seems a bit off since BCC are heels but Umino is the most obvious loss post. I'm interested in seeing how it'll play out.

Britt isn't good in the ring or at promos (she is a good talker, which isn't the same as being a good promo), but other than that she rules I guess.

There were dealings with FMW in 1997. I don't know the full extent of it to be honest, but Kenta Kobashi and Maunakea Mossman wrestled as a tag team at FMW's Kawasaki Stadium show and Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki entered that year's RWTL. By the way, I find it hilarious for some reason that Kawada was seconded by Masao Inoue in that UWFi match. Of all the guys in All Japan he could have brought along to have his back, that's who he picks.

Kawada was actually in the doghouse at that point, supposedly for publicly questioning Baba's isolationist policies. And All Japan's business had started slumping by that point as well due largely to staleness on top, which made the company more amenable to working with other promotions (Baba allowed UWFi to use Kawada but wouldn't allow the match to be included on the show's commercial release, which is why only a handheld was available until very recently). They tried to sign Takada after UWFi folded, but his asking price was too high. As for the 1996 show, UWFi originally asked for Stan Hansen (going back to the tried-and-true formula of drawing with big-name foreigners working UWFi style and building them up to be eventually vanquished by Takada), but Hansen turned it down. Kawada and Taue were their backup choices.

HHH's matches with Cactus Jack legitimized him as a main eventer in the eyes of many fans. It was mostly Foley taking the risks in those matches, though.

At the end of the day, Punk is still a contracted talent. Is there anything preventing TK from just telling him straight-up that if he doesn't show up for work, he'll sue him for breach of contract? I've seen people speculate that Punk has some kind of leverage, legal or otherwise, over TK that we don't know about. Given how everything has gone down, I wouldn't rule that out. Punk is a draw, but he's not a star of such magnitude that you have to move heaven and earth to placate the guy.

As for Danielson, what reason is there to think he has a great booking mind? Being a great wrestler and being a great booker don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Recall that when he was part of WWE creative, his big idea was for him to put over half the roster. Those of you who want him to be presented stronger probably won't like what you get if he's in charge of his own programs.

Graham and Dynamite Kid are arguably the two most influential wrestlers in North America over the past half-century, for completely different reasons. And their first real breaks in the business both came from Stu Hart. Kind of crazy if you think about it.

Now the reports are that Ace Steel was secretly rehired months ago and Punk was pulled from the Collision announcement after the decision not to use Steel in a backstage capacity led to another blow-up. This whole situation feels like an iceberg where there has to be so much going on underneath the surface because nothing about this seems to add up at all.