MoS

Hahaha I was just about to come here and request you to do one of your excellent recaps.

I usually roll my eyes at stupid terms like 'cancel culture' cuz cancel culture has always been a thing- people just tried to cancel other stuff. However, someone recently tweeted something that I thought made a ton of sense. "There is something inherently sustainable about a culture that constantly demanda atonement but scorns the idea of forgiveness." Of course, this does not apply to many of the cases here, who are complete shitbags whose actions do not warrant forgiveness. On the other hand, as disgusting as Sammy's joke was, it is not something I think he should lose his job for, and it seems as if he and Sasha talked about it and put this behind them. And I will say this: for all we hear about how no one should apologise publicly, because it gives ammo to their critics, I have noticed that in general, an actual sincere apology always works better to put an incident/issue/hurt feelings to rest, than a bunch of vacuous non-apology apologies.

Weird as this might sound, the draw there might be Chelsea Green, who has done surprisingly great numbers every time she has been featured.

I think the interview is from 4 years ago. Regardless, I would like to believe that by the age of 23, men would realise that saying "I want to rape her" is not just digusting, but actual sexual harassment in many places. Clearly, I am wrong.

This is obviously not in the same ballpark as some of the stuff described here, but the fact that Sammy made such a joke and everyone, including the interviewer, just ignored it and moved on really shows that the pro wrestling ecosystem is so toxic to women. No wonder so many wrestlers think they can get away with basically anything.

Joey Ryan's indie promotion is now history apparently. Good. He's clearly come out of this as one of the absolute worst shitheads. Hope he gets prison-time.

The week Charlotte was not featured at all anywhere and Sasha and Bayley were all over their 3 shows, there was a marked increase in viewership across the board. I am not saying anything, but I kind of am.

Dream better hope he can show the screenshots are doctored, because this is textbook grooming.

WWE-contracted wrestlers will also have more institutional backing for pursuing lawsuits against accusers, something both Riddle and Devlin seemed to indicate they are going to do.

I am sure Cornette's wife is no angel, and I am not going to pretend I have not laughed at any jokes made during this entire situation, but I really think mocking her looks during this speaking out completely misses the point. I mean, there are so many other things one can make fun of here.

A few seem to be clearly guilty. Starr sent out a torrent of non-apology apology tweets (including paid promoted tweets) but basically is conceding that the accuser is not lying. Cornette has not said anything but there are corroborations - and Joey Janela had made similar digs at him before all of this had started. There will be a lot of "corrupting" forces in this movement, but I would argue that is the case for any kind of groundswell movement. However, it has at least got a major conversation started about the existing pro wrestling culture, which I think is the most important part. Of course, the follow up will be equally important as well.

Fwiw, apparently Matt Riddle is denying those allegations

That is definitely true. Tangentially related to that, I think this is a great read - https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-slow-death-of-hollywood

One of the FTR dudes is an excellent promo from what I have seen, so he could def play the Arn Anderson enforcer role in this modern 4 Horsemen.

My response to that is that while I definitely see that argument, I would say that the biggest movies are still the ones which have larger-than-life superheroes. Now, what a superhero can do on screen is wider now than it used to be, although not by much: they can be dorkier, crack nerd jokes, don't need to be big and ripped, etc. But ultimately, Captain America, Iron Man, even Star-Lord, are cool badasses who are pushed as such. Wrestlers are no longer pushed as cool by default; like being a wrestler at the high level by itself makes you cool. That certainly has played a role in wrestling's decline.

If Osperey and Bea got someone blackballed for speaking out, then that is a really shitty move on them. Shit like that is exactly why women prefer Twitter to filing official complaints.

Specific allegations aside, the sheer volume of stories coming out and being corroborated shows that sexual harassment clearly remains a systemic issue in pro wrestling. I am glad people are coming out. This was long overdue.

The allegation is that he and Stacey used to force wrestlers wanting a tryout to do sexual acts with Stacey while Cornette watched. I am with everyone in that i don't care what your kink is, but full consent from all parties is obviously a prerequisite.

Are the big Indian dudes worth getting excited for. It's nice to not have my country represented by Jinder Mahal anymore, but I had never heard of these guys before they showed on NXT. Although I try not to get excited about anyone in WWE cuz it never ends well.

Really liked the show overall. Fyter Fest should be great. Jericho-Cassidy is so much better than Jericho-Tyson.

Sammy loses wayyy too much. On the other hand, Orange Cassidy is awesome.

"I hurt my Spanish God" Sammy is the best

Matt Hardy playing his gimmick so seriously is honestly winning me over

Yeah, I completely agree. Really liked that. Sammy Guevera has so much personality. Him and Darby Allin are the reasons I am most grateful AEW exists.

Cage is bad on the mic but he looks like a chiselled statue so he can get away with it