MoS

He should not have talked about whether Charlotte herself felt pressured into getting cosmetic surgery without checking with her first. However, yeah, all the pathetic WWE stans and the usual Meltz haters are as usual amplifying this in the most bad faith possible, cuz their entire online existence revolves around trying to show up Dave. It's pathetic, and the fact that Dave mostly ignores them must fill them with fury

She plays her role terribly. A dominant heel champ (since she won clean so many times, often squashing her opponents) who has shitty strikes, offence that mostly doesn't land and looks bad, and who has zero physical presence to make up for all of that? That's the opposite of playing a role well. She is a really talented out-of-ring performer and her character work is often excellent. But there is a reason why the fans were usually dead for her matches

She plays her role terribly. A dominant heel champ (since she won clean so many times, often squashing her opponents) who has shitty strikes, offence that mostly doesn't land and looks bad, and who has zero physical presence to make up for all of that? That's the opposite of playing a role well. She is a really talented out-of-ring performer and her character work is often excellent. But there is a reason why the fans were usually dead for her matches

That comically bad Sting-Luchasaurus punches and "headlock" sequences aside, I thought the main event was excellent. Darby is the man. I dunno what the deal with this Archer shit is, but I really hope they are building to Darby-Archer and not Sting-Archer

Credit to Christian - he is making Hobbes look like a million bucks. Otoh, JR is definitely not looking like a million bucks. How on Earth do you get confused between a spinebuster and a powerbomb

I can watch 2 hours of Mox and Kingston being bros and trying to hunt people and beat them up

The last two minutes of the Jericho promo was excellent. Tony Khan needs to tell him to flat out stop making any jokes or puns or songs or whatever. Jericho has a terrible sense of humour and is far less funny than he thinks it is

These promises of violence would feel so much more impactful if you hadn't spent the previous 5 minutes cracking corny stupid bad jokes, Jericho

I wish they would focus more on Sammy in these segments, but Santana is so fucking cool, and also cuts excellent promos

Tony Khan was asked about this and he basically said something like he was not going to spend his money promoting an Impact PPV and that that is Impact's job. Not sure I agree with his line of thinking. This women's title match has been great so far. Shida has quietly had an excellent tile reign, carrying green, often bad workers to decent to very good matches, and having some fantastic matches with their better talents. Her reign is numbered, cuz it's Britt's time, but I hope she is remembered for pretty much establishing the AEW women's division and making that title feel legit and important.

I am glad MJF is being fully serious now, instead of trying to do the promo equivalent of "getting your shit in", where he would also try to insert witty lines and funny jokes and disrupt the rhythm of his promo. There were still jokes here - and as well as some shooty elements which I always dislike - but overall it was a lot more serious and focused, and as a result it turned out pretty great

I thought PENTA-Trent was a very good match with a stupid finish that made the babyface look stupid, my least favourite trope in modern wrestling

Well that finish was great. I am a mark for wrestlers using finishing moves that are not their trademarked finisher, but that fits into the context of the story of the match

This match is a bit sloppy and repetitive/plodding, but both Page and Starks are really talented and Hangman is over enough that as long as he does some good power spots, it doesn't really matter. Plus, known main event star and ratings mega-draw HOOK is at ringside

Hopefully AEW's hot streak of shows lasts longer than the SUPER LEAGUE did

I wish Bret had done more brawls. It's weird cuz he was always pushed as a master technician, but I found his matwork solid but not spectacular, and often unengaging. On the other hand, he had excellent, crisp strikes, and when you would crack him and get the fire inside him to come out, that was Bret at his best imo. He was always a better brawler than a technician

Ngl though, FIFA, UEFA and all the domestic leagues pulling a Vince McMahon in the 90s and acting like they are the mom-and-pop stores that represent working class, blue-collar fans and who are being robbed by Big Corporation is unqualifiedly hilarious

I am not keeping up with all the business reports of New Japan, but apparently, they drew just 300 in Korakuen, and got outdrawn heavily in that building by DDT and a bunch of other indies like TJPW. I get all the external reasons but this is still terrible news for New Japan and further proof that perhaps Gedo's booking style has jumped the shark

I vaguely remember reading a few months back about this A&E doc series that would start its run with an Austin doc - didn't realise it's already here. Is this series WWE-afiliated or will they actually approach taboo topics for their subjects?

While I understand and largely agree with this point, wouldn't it be fairer to say that this is truer until 1985 or so? I have watched whatever there is of 1970s heel Flair, and he seemed like the protoype of the Naitchurr Boy we all know and love. Then the subsequent face run and the JCP face Flair is a soft-spoken but intense, focused territory ace. Flash forward to NWA World Champ Flair, and as @Loss has said before, one of the biggest appeals of 1981-85 World Champ Flair was that he seemed to be above the usual face-heel divide. Depending on the storyline, he could be cocky, he could beg off, he could be an intense asskicker, a dignified world champ, etc. He finally turns full-fledged heel in late 1985 and becomes the ultimate evolution and iteration of the Nature Boy. He remains that way, in my opinion, really, for the rest of his career. After that, even when he was face, like against Funk, and in his 90s runs, he was still basically the Nature Boy. He was still hyper, he was still screaming like a maniac all the time, he was still punching his own forehead until he started bleeding, etc, he would just do it to other heels instead. I think that monotony is also reflected in how he worked after 1986, even though his work as a face had some obvious differences. It's an extension of the point Loss made about how Flair did not realise that the heel NWA world champion trope was outdated by 1986. Flair is amazing as a heel, of course, and after turning heel in 1985, drew a boatload of money against Dusty, Morton, Luger, etc, but it must be said that when the turn happened, he lost a part of what made him truly special. That character complexity, the presence of different personalities in the same gimmick, the ability to work against both faces and heels, etc. He remained excellent, of course, but in many ways became just another top guy, while it was Dusty who was booked to be the centerpiece of the promotion.

You don't really think of Cesaro as a big guy but when he came face to face with Roman, it was striking just how much taller he was

What also helps Hansen is that brawling is an evergreen wrestling style. Other styles age and evolve, but brawling since the beginning has been pretty much perfect for wrestling.

Is she really an impressive athlete? She isn't bad but I have never found her athleticism impressive

Same here. I honestly thought he was the best wrestler in the world last year. His promo work and character work are stronger than his in-ring work, but his in-ring work is really good too, I like how his matches escalate naturally, and I love how he sets up multiple finishes, something which is a huge weakness in modern wrestling. He was not even an afterthought for me last time and this time, depending on how the next five years turn out, his ceiling is quite high

The colours don't look compatible at all to me. Looks like a mess honestly