MoS

The only time I think people genuinely became disgusted enough to not watch any wrestling for a good while was after the Benoit murders, but that of course is in another universe of awfulness.

I completely understand your overall point about wrestling being a scummy business populated with shitty people - one of the best wrestlers of his time was a Klansman after all - and that it sucks when we find out more about our favourites' bad side. I also completely understand not caring and watching anyway. Any of us who have been wrestling fans for an extended period of time have done that about multiple wrestlers, simply because as I said, this is a business filled with scummy people. In this case, however - and it's why I quoted only specific parts of your post - Tessa spitting on a black wrestler and using the n-word at least was vouched for by several people. It was also made clear that the woman in question did not come forward at that time cuz she was afraid of getting blackballed, something I don't think anybody would seriously dispute. In this particular case, I don't think we need more than hearsay to draw our own conclusions. Of course our conclusions don't "matter" but when someone literally asks for judgment by posting a bulkshit tweet about women supporting women, I also think it's fair to listen and make conclusions about these allegations/incidents and not just think about them as hearsay and dismiss them. Not saying that this should determine your decision to watch or enjoy her, but she brought this upon herself and if skeletons are tumbling out cuz she left her closet open, I say let them tumble out. I don't think knowing stuff like this about wrestlers is a bad thing; we should at least have an idea about how scummy they are.

Also, do people still do the "Cannot be racist cuz they have a black/POC friend/partner/favourite comedian/whatever thing? Unironically?

Apparently, Roman and Corbin will wrestle yet again at the Royal Rumble. And they will both be in the rumble so there will probably be some bullshit there as well. With every single passing week, Dylan's "political hit" theory seems more and more indisputable.

Hopefully, Brandi understands that it's Riho who is the ratings draw....

No, I agree that he always had a rep for being a snarky asshole. However, that was considered just one factor in his perception; the defiant indy guy who was telling it like it is also made him beloved. Now though, all people seem to think of him is that he is a snarky asshole. Difference is no one seems to take him seriously anymore in my experience.

It's fascinating to think about when exactly Punk's rep as snarky, defiant iconoclast changed to just being a hypocritical snarky asshole. After he got clowned twice in UFC? After he came back to WWE - people can keep saying it's a Fox decision and not a WWE decision as much as they want, I have a hard time believing they could put him on without Vince's approval? After he counter-sued Cabana? This is certainly anecdotal, but unlike 2014, no one seems to like Punk or care about anything he says anymore. The only time he gets some support is when he goes against Seth Rollins, and that is the ultimate damning with faint praise. His comeback to Backstage has also not resulted in nearly the kind of ratings bump they were likely expecting.

I was going to mention Scarface in response, but then I remembered it's two years before the cut-off

The best thing leading out of this show is Meltzer reviewing it and recalling the time when he got double detention in 6th grade because he corrected his teacher when she said "Elvis has sold the most records in history" and 11-year Dave apparently spoke up and said something like "That's not true, as a matter of fact, the Beatles have overtaken them as of this date."

Hopefully this week is a one-off for NXT. The 18-49 rating was low and if that continues, Vince will want to start running it.

Count me in as one of the haters of the Nightmare Collective angle. The Dark Order angle was no fun either - and I cannot believe it happened right after the Nightmare Collective angle - but at least it happened after the match and did not go on for fucking forever. If this bombs in the ratings, then it's a message as clear as any can be that it needs to go away, since Riho is a proven ratings draw. If NXT aired live here, I would have definitely switched over.

The main event of night two was excellent, and KENTA got massive heat interrupting Naito. I also thought Jericho-Tanahashi was nearly as good, and in some ways, even more remarkable, given their age and other limitations. It was a different kind of match from the usual NJPW main event and I enjoyed it thoroughly. They did not go overboard with the smokes and mirrors, and while I don't really like Tanahashi, he was good here. Jericho is clearly having the run of his life. Wrestler of the year 2019 for me and already on his way to make a strong case for 2020 as well.

It is Sunday afternoon here in India and I am saving the viewing of the 2nd night for today evening, and hoping against hope I do not get spoiled as far as the main singles matches are concerned. Any idea what the 2nd night attendance is? I know they did not sell out the 2nd night, at least as of Thursday, but the ticket sales were reportedly very good. Overall, would this 2-night show be the biggest money-maker for NJPW this century? Certainly since the bottom fell out in the mid-2000s.

Ordinarily the no-selling might have annoyed me, but Ibushi no-selling a dropkick and getting right back on his feet right after he had snapped was an awesome awesome moment. It made sense in the context and Ibushi was the perfect guy to do it.

Something related to this I have been thinking about - is Okada the first Japanese star to sell out MSG? The 2018 NJPW/ROH MSG crowd was clearly there to see a New Japan show, and Okada was by some distance the star of the night. I know Japanese wrestlers have been in headlining positions in sold-out Garden shows, but I don't know if any Japanese star has actually sold out the Garden on their drawing power before Okada.

I also want to say that Jon Moxley is already a contender for wrestler of the year 2020 for Orange Cassidy-ing Orange Cassidy.

Maybe I was watching this with a new year hangover - happy 2020 everyone! - but I thought this was one of the best Dynamite episodes in a long time. Certainly the best since Full Gear. Baker turning heel is clearly the only road forward for her - same with Page. That pop Cody got in his match was insane - unless they fuck it up really badly, Cody-MJF will be awesome.

Didn't Shahid Khan say recently that he was "blown away" by how much money AEW was making? And while they have def made some mistakes, they seem financially responsible. They are not going anywhere anytime soon.

If the Liv thing had ended with her being blindsided and disappearing after basically a sneak attack by Lana, it would have left a bad taste in the mouth for me. But she and Rusev ended the segment standing tall, with the crowd cheering them. I am just glad that WWE, which is usually about 10 years behind the current mentality, knows that you can book a gay person professing her love as a babyface.

I came here literally to say just this.

Just switched on Raw to see Charlotte cut one of the most generic paint-by-numbers promos ever. It's weird how right when they are pushing her as one of the GOATs, she has never felt more irrelevant and "just there" in WWE. Becky replaced her as the ace, is doing a brilliant job at it, and the last angle Charlotte was in, she was playing third fiddle to Becky and Asuka, the woman whose undefeated steak she ended at Wrestlemania. And now she is wrestling Natalya for like, the 573858th time.

I would agree normally. I just think that at this point, the Elite have been selfless to the extent it is probably harming them and the company, and I would rather they not be booked to lose except in rare circumstances.

That's pretty funny yeah.

I don't think Cody should be eating any pins unless there is a very good reason for it. He has already been beaten down on far too many occasions. I think a well-fought match with Cody going over will be the best way to book this. Darby can keep getting elevated in losses while the biggest stars in the promotion actually feel like the biggest stars.

As far as that Twitter video about those guys wrestling, I have not followed the controversy, but I saw a tweet from Cornette "apologising" and saying he was wrong cuz he did not see the video with the audio. Was he being genuine or was it sarcasm? As far as criticism of the current product, look, I don't much like Omega, I think he is a bit of a dork - which is different from geek in my millennial mind - but whatever reasonable criticisms Cornette has of the product is drowned out by the sheer volume of over-the-top, ridiculous ranting about the "outlaw mud-show wrestling" that inevitably accompanies the criticism. I also think it is naive to say that Cornette does not "want" to he relevant to modern wrestling; he might hate it but at this point it is earning him money. However, when the messenger makes it about himself as much as the message, then he cannot complain about people targeting him instead of focusing on the message. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you are going to turn it into a gimmick, well no shit, people will react that way. And if that means they stop valuing what you say, then you really can't cry foul. And Cornette does cry foul on way too many occasions. He decries every match Riho is in as outlaw mudshow wrestling, and says that Britt Baker is the one with most potential. This is despite solid empirical evidence that Riho matches increase viewership amongst their targeted demographic on TV every time, while Baker matches and segments do the exact opposite. But he does not stop there. He basically implies that the only reason Riho has a job is because Omega is sleeping with her. It does not matter how correct he is about Omega or Joey Janela if he buries his own valid points under a pile of his own bullshit.