MoS

Starting this show with arguably the biggest star/draw in the world (Becky's quarters are consistently amongst the highest rated and from what I have read, she sells a lot of merchandise) shows that WWE is absolutely not fucking around. The problem of course is that such angles inherently cannot be long-term, so I hope they use today's episode to massively put Riddle and Lee over, because those two rule.

This match is too go-go-go for me to really get into it, but the crowd has been hot for it. Is there a reason J.R keeps picking on Schiavone? I know they had heat in the past but like, it's been 25 years.

Here's hoping they keep giving MJF an open mic every week and let him go crazy.

Also fair, yeah.

It's a very reasonable request/demand, though, in my opinion.

I remember him being criticised for calling a fan the n-word in some kind of altercation in the mid-90s, and he wrote a long letter about how it's unfair, so it was really my bad for expecting any.

Yeah, was just coming to post this. https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/jim-cornette-resigns-nwa-297786?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

It was definitely far more than they had done before though, and they almost beat AEW by casually letting people know on social media that Styles was going to be there on the day of the show.

Looks like Vince got tired of hearing about Dynamite beating NXT in ratings.

Is it too much to hope that Cornette will put forth an unequivocal apology where he says he realises he was wrong and should not have said what he said, and that he is "man enough" to own up to his mistakes (if he wants he can go on a rant here about how Russo never does) and that he will not do this again? What's the point of obstinately fighting and holding your ground when you said something stupid and problematic and there isn't a whole lot more to say about it?

Co-signed

Someone please hack Seth's account and delete his Twitter

The argument against Sting always was that he was the face of a company that always lost money and never drew apart from a brief period when Hogan and NWO were on top and Sting was waiting in the rafters. People's mileage varies regarding how much credit he deserves for that huge Starrcade buyrate. But the aftermath was botched and Sting never settled into the role of the franchise champ of the promotion. The next year was WCW's most successful year on top, and Hogan, various celebrities and ultimately Goldberg were more important than he was. The aftermath is not his fault, but the hall of fame cannot be used to right historical wrongs. If Shawn had botched Austin's coronation at WM 14, who knows what might have happened. Sting then went to WWE, had a perfectly unremarkable run, yet was voted into the WON Hall of fame subsequently. I would not put Orton in the hall of fame personally. I think a hall of fame should always reflect the strength of the industry it honours, and there is no doubt that as far as watching wrestling and paying money for it, pro wrestling is overall in the worst shape it has been since the 2nd world war. It stands to reason then that the modern wrestlers should find it much harder to enter the hall of fame. Again, it's not about penalising them, but about not using the hall of fame to right historical wrongs. I think John Cena is the only slam-duno first ballot hall of famer in the last 17 years. Please bear in mind that I do not have much knowledge of how the business in Japan bottomed out in the 2000s before the current revival, so I am unsure how the resurgence helps wrestlers like Tanahashi and Okada to get into the hall, since I am not knowledgeable enough to analyse their drawing power and box office success.

I am a 26 year dude from India and even I know that talking about fried chicken in this context is an absolute no-no. Surely Cornette knew as well. Maybe he was trying to be controversial and thus get views. I don't know much about Canadian politics but you all have a huge Indian immigrant population so I am sure you have good music at least.

Jericho's run as ace of AEW is up there with the best ace runs I have seen in the last 20 years. It's been a lot of fun to see him run with the ball. Jericho absolutely losing his shit and acting as if his entire world has come crashing down after Scorpio Sky pinned arguably got Sky as over as all the high-flying matches, because not only did he lose, he acted as if the loss meant a huge deal. He's like the anti-HHH in that regard.

Also, Punk tagged Tony Khan. I am not going to pretend Khan was very gracious here, but surely this is what they were expecting/hoping by tagging him? Brandi getting involved was so unnecessary though.

I think Orton as a character peaked in 2004 with the young cocky little shit who was every bit as good as he said he was shtick. His subsequent face turn and the consistently weak booking with Triple H killed his momentum and he never fully recovered. His run this decade is a big negative for me because he genuinely came across as a black hole of charisma who dragged down all his programs. Although I did enjoy him starting Mark Henry's hall of pain world title run.

Thankfully, at least as of now, Becky is concentrating on cutting good promos to build her matches and not stupid shit on Twitter.

Wrestlers fighting and quarrelling with each other on Twitter is the absolute dirt worst. It's fine when Guevera and MJF take shots at each other cuz it is clear they are having fun, but the shit above? Literally no one comes out of this looking good.

Not going to lie; this made me laugh out loudly. Cornette being Cornette is one thing, but what has made the podcast a chore to get through is how Brian Last also seems to have embraced Cornette's gimmick of being ornery and obnoxious, including fighting with wrestlers on Twitter. However, he does not have Cornette's charisma or delivery - not to mention historical significance - so it's a hundred times more unbearable.

The only wrestler who would make a tangible difference in ratings and tickets is Cena, and Cena is happy being semi-retired and being a fixture on Nickelodeon.

I shit on WWE a lot, so in fairness, here's something fun - https://sports.ndtv.com/othersports/wwe-varun-dhawan-teaches-bollywood-dance-moves-to-wwe-diva-charlotte-flair-2133874?amp=1&akamai-rum=off

I wanted to listen to Jim at his best after all his ridiculous nonsense, so I listened to a couple of Deep Dive Omnibuses - the JCP and OVW ones. He's really good when he's telling stories and recapping what happened.

Also, calling someone a pedo used to lead to lawsuits even back in the good old days when people had a sense of humour.

And as Meltzer pointed out, most huge stars of pro wrestling would get their asses kicked by a bunch of unremarkable no-charisma UFC fighters. Pro wrestling is fake. If someone gets over, as much as you might hate him, he is doing something correct. And I do indeed hate Joey Ryan and that dick flip bullshit. Not even going to respond to "ZOMG it's a joke this new generation is so sensitive!!!" because people have been saying that about the current/new generation since the time of Aristotle. You going "My generation needs to have a sense of humour" does not change the fact that it is a hackneyed, lame excuse and a complete cop-out against any kind of criticism. Perhaps all the cutting-edge comedians need to be a bit less sensitive about criticism of their work.