C.S.

PCO vs. Dustin is the dream match you never knew you wanted.

ACH is back. (AKA Jordan Myles) https://mlw.com/2019/12/06/ach-is-back-in-mlw/

While you do have a point, everyone regarded it as a massive joke and called Corgan a dumb "money mark" when he bought the rights to the NWA. The fact that it now has actual viewers and buzz is nothing short of a miracle. You have to give credit where credit is due: they're doing something right to get to this point, and it's down to more than just three letters.

On the contrary, this dead in the water, dead on arrival act needs all the help they can get.

Shocker of the year? "Major League Wrestling has come to terms on the release of Teddy Hart." https://mlw.com/2019/12/06/teddy-hart-released/

Pat Laprade's book Sisterhood of the Squared Circle is $2.99 on Kindle. The last time it was this price, the deal was already dead by the time ereaderiq.com notified me, so it might not last long. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01M5IK3DQ Note: I haven't read it, but at this price, it was an easy buy for me.

Don't be so dismissive. You're a quality poster, and this is beneath you. You know full well what I mean. It's the NWA's entire approach to wrestling that's "cool." No one else is doing anything like it, which makes it "fresh" and "new" - even though it's a throwback. "What's old is new again" and all of that. That doesn't mean there aren't problems: Their roster of WWE has-beens and TNA never-weres isn't very exciting, the matches generally haven't been awesome, and some of the "local" talent (and I include Bram in that even though he's an ex-TNA guy) feel very bush league. That's not even getting into the Corny stuff or the Austin Idol rape pill commercial and gas chamber reference that everyone ignored because it happened on the same episode as the horrible Ethiopia joke. So, yeah, the NWA is very rough around the edges - obviously - but the things they are doing right feel very special (the aesthetic, set, graphics, music, Aldis as champion, Tim Storm, Momma Storm, Thunder Rosa, etc.).

I'm behind on the N-Dubya-A. Should I even bother watching last week's clip show/empty arena debacle or can I safely skip it and watch this week's show without missing anything crucial? Dave Marquez is wonderful at his job, but yeah, those tweets were extremely shortsighted and paint him as a brainwashed Marco Rubio type IMO. Very disappointing. But that's the thing: Almost none of the people you mentioned are suddenly considered "cool" in and of themselves. Well, maybe Aldis, who I think has done a great job of rising to the occasion of being the prototypical old school NWA Champion. James Storm, Ken Anderson, BOOM BOOM, etc. couldn't be cool even if they were trapped in 30 below freezing snowstorm. What is considered "cool" is the old school aesthetic of the promotion.

I'm afraid I've got some bad news... Jim Cornette's replacement at Into the Fire is Stu Bennett (Wade Barrett).

This I gotta hear... Eddie Gilbert is one of the most underrated and influential wrestlers ever. Joey Janela is Joey Janela.

I mean, I get why they did it, but does anyone really give a fuck about Joey Janela's love life???

It was a holiday weekend here (American Thanksgiving), so I wouldn't put that much stock into these ratings. The only thing I watched last week was Dominick Dickhead (Kenny Omega™) and Keith Lee vs. Undisputed Era. The build with Jericho and Scorpio Sky from the week before had me interested in the match, but I ultimately never tuned in because Jericho keeping the title was such a foregone conclusion and I got busy and sidetracked with the holidays. This week will be a better indication IMO.

That is actually a great idea!

Mauro is back this week. AEW has no chance.

Mamma Mia!

Chris Cruise is a useless troll. Imagine being as utterly devoid of personality and talent as he is, and yet still having a long wrestling career. What the fuck does he have to be bitter about? Yet, he's somehow stupidly bitter. What a loser. I always forget what Joey Janela looks like, so every time he shows up, I mistake him for a generic jobber. I respect that he has a major fan following, somehow, but I don't get him or his appeal at all.

Why couldn't this have been the main event of Into the Fire? Sure, Muta is old, past his prime, and probably broken down - but this match feels like more of a big deal than anything James Storm has ever done in his entire career.

Tony Schiavone Went from burned out WCW footnote and joke after being a respected commentator (if second fiddle to J.R. and others) in an earlier era to once again appreciated, respected, and even beloved in AEW now.

Got home 30 minutes late, saw Bea Priestly on Dynamite, switched to NXT and saw the Tag Title match in progress, so I started from the beginning. Holy shit, I need a gif of that insane Keith Lee-Adam Cole spot. (Edit: It's in the post right above mine! The board gave me a weird error box instead of the gif the first time.) I don't care what anybody else says or thinks - Mauro would've added to that moment! Like him or hate him, his commentary style is custom made for spots like that. I'll probably catch the rest of both shows later.

Much to the delight of many of you, Mauro won't be on NXT tonight either. On that note, Corey Graves apologized on his official WWE podcast: "What's up, everybody? Welcome to After The Bell, I am Corey Graves. A ton to get to this week as we do every week but before we go any further, on a personal note, I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the 'Takeover: WarGames' event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the intention of just stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody undue stress, especially a co-worker. So, I apologize." https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/11/corey-graves-apologizes-for-mauro-ranallo-comments-662764/ Mauro's health and well-being come first, so I hope he is okay.

Probably, but he erased the tweet, so it's odd. Then again, he's odd too.

Got excited when you said Amazon Prime, thinking it would be free to stream. Not sure I want to pay to rent it when it probably will show up on a streaming service soon enough.

It's $19.99 if you preorder it, in case that helps. The long-ass tapings really hurt them in the build to this PPV, because they had no way to accurately gauge what worked and what didn't. James Storm, The Wild Cards, Allysin Kay, Boom Boom, and Mr. Nyqil...Nyquil aren't stars. Nick Aldis, Tim Storm, Momma Storm, Kamille, Eddie Kingston, Thunder Rosa, Marti Belle, Melina, and even Eli "Austin/Rock Cosplayer" Drake and Ricky "His 'Charisma' is Cosplay" Starks are stars. In a perfect world, Aron Stevens and Trevor Murdoch would be the ex-WWE guys that were boosted up.

The problem with posting late at night is that I conflated a lot of what Snow said about Aries with what he said about Storm. With that said, here's the breakdown as I remember it: Austin Aries: Massive ego, chronic complainer, thought he deserved more because he was World Champ. Snow saw his reign playing to half-empty buildings and basically dismissed him as a big fish in a small pond who couldn't draw money. James Storm: Snow went on about Storm "boo-boo-facing" during a loss (may have been the World Title loss, but I can't remember), basically painting him as unprofessional. The PPV just went from something I was definitely going to order to something I now have to think about. James Storm is not a compelling main event act in 2019. I really hope Aldis goes over in two straight falls.