MoS

I agree that the Jay and Silent Bob segment was weird and could have been better done.They should have given a better intro of both Evans/Angelico and Private Party.

Also, Brandi is excellent in the sense that her actions lead to direct heat in the match and on the wrestlers. That was something neither Stephanie nor Shane could ever do, even in 2000-2001 when they would take a lot of bumps as opposed to the last few years when Steph has been treated as the God-Empress of WWE. Vince drawing attention to himself in matches and segments was fine because Vince is arguably the greatest heel in WWE history; Shane and Steph doing that was not. From everything I have seen of Brandi, from her valet act in (or just outside) the ring to her promos, she is excellent at getting the matches and wrestlers over. Hell, Cody gets God-like reactions on AEW shows, and I would argue Brandi has been massively instrumental in getting him over to that level. Even in this particular case, Sammy putting Brandi in harm's way got the crowd massively riled up, and even more invested in the match and Sammy getting his comeuppance. I fail to see how Brandi's actions/booking had a negative impact, honestly.

They HAVE to pull the trigger on Cody. He's by a massive distance the most over guy in AEW right now.

I have purchased the Fite TV subscription and cannot wait. There are a lot of teething issues with AEW and I hope they get addressed, but on balance, the sterile pro wrestling landscape definitely needed - and needs - AEW, and I am happy to contribute to it in whatever way I can. I just hope I can find a way to switch off the live chat next to it cuz I have never come across a live chat which does not make me want to hit people in anger.

One of the languages was Punjabi. It actually sounds cooler in the native tongue

Her response to that was pretty brutal and although it was personal, Seth deserved it for talking about having underwhelming matches - pro wrestlers talking about how great their matches are in kayfabe instead of winning and losing is one of modern wrestling's tropes I hate, and I do not know if it is fair, but I blame Shawn Michaels for it. Seth should avoid trash-talking people; it never seems to work out for him. Sasha-Lynch will certainly be a better match than Rollins-Fiend, although that is not really Seth's fault. I firmly believe that Fiend should not be wrestling for the world title yet, and Seth has been booked pretty weakly leading to the match.

Thanks for clarifying. This might be grading on a curve, but I loved the segment and I hope segments and feuds like this continue on WWE screentime.

I haven't watched Smackdown. But I hope this was aired live and was not one of those "exclusive on the internet" segments. They have done a really good job of building this feud, and I hope they do not overcomplicate it or get too cute with it the way they did with Lynch-Charlotte-Rousey during the build-up to Wrestlemania. Just let these two talk trash and beat the hell out of each other. That's the best kind of pro wrestling.

I came to this (fairly obvious?) epiphany during one of the initial sequences of Cody v. Spears at All Out. Spears is, well, as Cody put it, a good hand, and not really someone that would light the crowds on fire. Yet, during some initial face shine sequence early on in their match, Cody posed on the turnbuckles (I think) and the crowd just went completely apeshit for him. It really was incredible to watch. On another note, Brandi also deserves a lot of credit for the success of Cody. She is a genuinely great promo clearly. I was talking to one of my best friends, who is also a huge wrestling fan, about this, and he said that while he loves Brandi, he would hope that she would stop cutting face promos in one segment while being a heel and cutting heel promos in another segment/angle (in the women's title scene, for instance). He said it is a lot like Triple H at his worst, and I agree with my buddy. I hope Brandi's character is streamlined - not sure it is the right word to use, but feels more fitting - so there are no mixed signals sent to casual followers of the product.

I agree that the anti-HHH part probably does play a big role, but one of the things that has always struck me while watching the AEW shows is just how much the AEW audience treats Cody as "their guy", if that makes sense. He does have the rep of being underutilised in WWE. He is just perfect ace material for AEW right now.

I do agree with C.S on one thing though - out of all the founding fathers of AEW, Omega has looked the least like a genuine superstar, despite all his excellent matches. You can blame the booking for it, but Cody had a pretty mediocre NWA champion reign, and yet, in front of the AEW audience, he genuinely comes across as the biggest wrestling star in the world. Sure, you can blame that on the booking, but it's not as if WWE's booking does the developmental stars any great favours either.

I really don't believe we're ahead of the curve as far as hating Mauro is concerned, cuz he is legit unbearable. I refuse to see how you can listen to him every week and not start hating him and his stupid pop-culture references. Imagine him doing commentary during the time Razor Ramon was debuting. He would have referenced every shitty knock-off and tribute to Scarface there has ever been made.

Lynch v. Banks was excellent, the best match of the night. Becky turned in a fantastic babyface performance; her fiance should take notes.

Your "arguments" have been countered plenty. I was just pointing out facts. No need to get emotional.

We got people who would start whining and bitching as soon as their bullshit was called out, without an iota of self-awareness?

Awwww good for you!

I like how JvK has continued his tradition of saying stupid shit, and announcing he is leaving a thread, only to keep coming back to the thread, and then accusing everybody who tells him that the stupid shit he is saying is stupid of being "emotional" and arguing against "facts". I am just waiting for him to say this bill is objectively wrong because Ric Flair would not like it and it is not fair to Flair. I hope he does a 3-part podcast whining and moaning about it.

I agree. Fantastic article. We do not have a catch-all main site feedback thread, but I just wanted to say that all the reviews and articles have been great and I have loved reading every one of them. I must make a special mention of the Lawler-Snowman article; that was particularly awesome. Excellent work Loss and as a reader and wrestling fan, I am so glad you are doing this!

Bryan is such an excellent wrestler. I really like his new style focusing on limbwork and submission grappling since he has come back.

Cain's weight training videos are genuinely cringe-worthy to watch. His trainer should never be allowed to train anybody ever again. I think Jake Roberts also once said that a lot of weight-training for pro wrestling in the 1980s (with steroids involved of course) was not smart and was very hard and taxing without being smart or effective. I forget his exact words but I think he pointed to a couple of injuries he got while training and said the methods used by pro wrestlers were sub-optimal.

Right now, AJ might be the better wrestler (and is obviously awesome) but I have been really loving Bryan's matches and his more mat-based style since returning from his retirement. It is such a breath of fresh air. I also like the fact that WWE is not using him in the tired role of the ultimate underdog who gets beaten up but wins against all odds, instead portraying him as a highly dangerous grappler who can break the limbs of other wrestlers if he wants to, including certified badasses like Samoa Joe.

I swear I am not making this up - when I was a kid, my mom once told me to go to sleep else "The Undertaker will come". When I asked her who Taker was, she said, "A very bad man with long hair." He had turned face a long time by then but I am guessing his initial image of undead heel zombie lasted for a long time. But yes, he has been enormously popular as a mythical, almost supernatural figure for decades now.

Yeah, Khali would definitely be able to single-handedly draw such big houses on his own. People have not heard of his school or his promotion, but they have definitely heard of him, and he is definitely a draw here. It is why I thought WWE missed a trick by not booking him especially for their Indian event last year. Even with the obscenely prized tickets, he would probably have sold out the arena, even if it was just as Jinder's manager. As it is, the WWE name is so hot here they managed to almost sell out a near-35,000 seat arena with massive ticket prizes, and presumably made a lot of money, so I am sure they are not regretting it, but he would have certainly helped. One of the reasons Khali became so huge in India was that for the longest time, the wrestler who was by far the most popular in India was The Undertaker. He was the kind of wrestler my mom had heard of when I was a kid, and she had never watched a second of wrestling in her life. He was so huge that in a mainstream Bollywood movie in the mid-90s, they literally stole his character, including the name and the gimmick, for a supporting villain role. (This is part of the opening scene of the movie. Poor Crush was not even credited. Vince probably does not know of this otherwise he would have surely sued the makers for this blatant breach of copyright.) Khali debuted and was immediately put in a program with Taker. Not only that, but he was booked as an unstoppable monster who got the better of Undertaker multiple times in the build-up, and in their match, he completely squashed Taker. That was one of the strongest ways they could have introduced a character back then. I remember being stunned by how strongly they booked him against Taker. Very soon, he dominantly won a battle royal and had a cup of coffee with the SD world title. That was enough to make him a permanent star in India and that is why I will forever defend that booking, even though it was criticised severely at that time. India does not have PPVs, and for the most part, we do not have a culture of people going to bars or pubs and watching wrestling or boxing or MMA, or anything at all except perhaps cricket. But clearly the ratings must have been excellent, because their TV rights deals here kept getting exponentially better, and now India is their 3rd biggest market after the USA and England, despite having much less disposable income. Regarding what Jinder said about the political stuff, it very well might have happened, although honestly I do not know for sure. Khali has met the PM (he is a big enough celebrity to meet the Prime Minister for stuff like this, that really tells you something) and might have asked him to let his show happen in the arena in its first few dates. The PM was probably happy to do so because wrestling is really popular in India, Khali is also really famous and a known celebrity, and unlike the USA, there is no stigma attached to wrestling as such; it is considered harmless fun. Supporting it would have probably got the PM easy political points because no one would oppose it and wrestling fans would be happy. By using the Coldplay concert for political ends, I meant the PM had, as a suprise, literally appeared on the stage via satellite when Coldplay were doing a concert here, a few days after he had announced a controversial new policy about demonetisation. https://scroll.in/video/822001/watch-narendra-modi-beams-himself-into-coldplay-concert-and-jokes-about-demonetisation I cannot imagine them doing that with pro wrestling, but what you said about choosing Khali's show to sell out the first few dates of a new arena is very plausible. Thanks for summarising Jinder's appearance on the podcast! It was a very interesting read for me.

I think this is awesome and I will support you in any and every way I can.

Khali's school/promotion is still around and doing well, but it is not that famous. I have heard of the number he did as well, and I do not know how worked it is, but it is not something most of the country knows. I have not listened to the podcast, but some of Jinder's claims seem to be exaggerated. Yes, there is red tape involved in renting arenas and doing shows, and there is probably more red tape here than in the US, perhaps for no other reason than the fact that Vince knows most people who are in charge there, but it is not significantly more difficult. Also, India does not use pro wrestling for political ends. The current Prime Minister did use a Coldplay concert once for political points, which is probably stupider, but not pro wrestling. Most famous and legendary global acts have toured India in the last few years, so perhaps it was hugely difficult to book arenas before, with a lot of loops to jump through, but I really doubt that is the case now. The Indian crowd is definitely more casual and "willing to believe" than the casual American fanbase. I have never attended a Khali show, but I would not be surprised at all if all of them were there just to see him, and to see him victorious. He really became something of a pop-culture phenomenon here.