C.S.

Lucha House Party is Mexicools 2.0. Not even Rey is getting treated well these days. So much for wanting to grow the Hispanic audience.

I thought KO and SZ were on SDL? Yes, I know - "Wildcard Rules." "That's some good shit, pal!" The brand split is officially a joke.

I can't stand Seth's "babyface" promo style. I actually didn't mind his heel promos that everyone else took a shit on.

Yeah, I think the STARDOM episode simply focused on way too many people in way too short a timeframe. The owner, Kris Wolf, the 14-year-old wrestler, etc. could have easily each filled up their own episode, so cramming them all into a tiny 40-minute window meant that there simply wasn't enough time to go as in-depth as possible. With that said, I thought it was an interesting overview of Japanese wrestling and culture overall. In a way, it would've been the perfect pilot for a series dedicated solely to STARDOM and/or Japanese wrestling. Alas, that isn't what this show is.

I kinda like the logo. At the very least, it shows more imagination and creativity than 99% of WWE's current storylines.

That's awful. I think the documentary should have gone into slightly more detail then (while still protecting her privacy), because a viewer could easily be misled into thinking Mayu has a criminal past.

I watched Episode 3 of The Wrestlers about Japanese women's wrestling - STARDOM, in particular. "Impenetrable" is the word Damian uses to describe the Japanese culture to outsiders, and I felt the same way as a viewer - even though the show did its best to "crack the code," so to speak. Man, the owner of STARDOM is a real cold fish and pretty much buries his talent on the show. For whatever people have said about Vince, this guy makes him seem warm and fuzzy. But I guess he's okay because he has a bitchin' collection of Lucha masks? Yeah, no. Kudos to Damian though for at least trying to show more than one side. The American representative on this show is Kris Wolf, and it's kind of heartbreaking that she still feels like an outsider even after years in Japan. One of the Japanese wrestlers had an incident with policemen, which was reported in the newspaper, but the documentary didn't go into any detail. I'm torn between whether that was the right thing to do, to protect her privacy, or if they should've explained what she was referring to because it's apparently already public knowledge. (Note: I haven't looked it up, so I don't actually know what happened.) The 14-year-old wrestler selling "revealing" photos of herself to nerd fanboys was unsettling, as Damian himself admits, but the fans apparently claim there's nothing sexual about it. Is that true? I have no idea. The wrestler's mother seemed okay with it, so either she's the worst stage mom ever or Japanese culture is completely different. Maybe both? The owner of STARDOM came across like a total sleaze too, talking about how she's not as popular because she already has the face of an adult and acts more mature than her age. Ugh! A weird episode, but very interesting too. Japan really is an entirely different world.

I think I speak for everyone here when I say you're in our prayers and/or we're all sending good thoughts and vibes your way. Please update us after the operation. Here's hoping Super Showdown ends up being the worst part of this experience for you.

Not ROH related, per se, but I don't know where else to put this... Sinclair Broadcasting's Bullshit Strikes Again This is exactly why, no matter what ROH does, they will never be a major league organization. The minute they get "too big" (hah, fat chance of that), the media scrutiny will be a lot more intense because of who their parent company is. While WWE can withstand it because they have enough money and no one gives enough a shit about wrestling to truly escalate anything they do, ROH is not in the same plum position. With that said, ROH is lucky that Sinclair is so (seemingly) hands-off. Something like Dalton Castle probably doesn't happen if anyone from Sinclair is actually paying attention to their investment.

That gif made me legit recoil. Thank you, BTW, @The Thread Killer, for your ongoing play-by-play. It was very handy for those of us who didn't watch this show (and/or don't have the Network anymore, like me). I hope you put your health issues behind you soon. You're one of the good ones here. (Not that there are really any bad ones, but you know what I mean!)

I can't stand his mugging, but I do enjoy wild brawls and Finlay.

I watched the second episode of The Wrestlers last night, comparing a wrestler at the end of his career (MVP) to wrestlers now starting out (Sami Callihan, even though he's been around a while, and Shane Strickland). Damian does a really great job as a narrator and observer. In this case, it helps that he and MVP are actually friends. MVP has a similar story to Booker T (who also appears in this episode and was a mentor to MVP), and we get to see where MVP grew up. It's really compelling stuff. It also goes into the "generation gap" of wrestling, with old-school wrestlers and fans decrying the new style of Callihan, Strickland, and others - much like a typical PWO thread. (I thought Callihan was the drizzling shits when I saw him in NXT as Solomon Crowe, but I probably need to sample a larger body of his work - even though his facials and persona still remind me of a cross of '99 mugging Jericho and The Blue Meanie.) I disagree with the poster who says this isn't as good as Dark Side of the Ring. To me, it's much, much better. While Dark Side was hit-or-miss from one episode to the next, this has been consistently strong so far. The next episode is about Japanese women's wrestling, so that should be good too.

LOL. Well, I associate BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs together in my mind because of their famous cage match.

Or maybe the Crown Prince only wanted blonde women.

I started watching The Wrestlers last night. I am hesitant to compare it to Dark Side of the Ring too much, because it really is apples and oranges. I've only seen the first episode so far - Gabe Sapolsky and EVOLVE - and it's a fun look at some up-and-coming young talent like Darby Allin, Austin Theory, Fred Yehi, and Ethan Page. Drew McIntyre and I think Keith Lee were in the background for some of it. A.R. Fox was also featured as a trainer. Whether these wrestlers are as good, "groundbreaking," "revolutionary," blah blah as the documentary paints them to be, I can't say, but it was still a fun sneak peak into their characters, methods, and lives. The show almost lost me with a couple of big whoppers at the beginning. I only remember one of them: referring to EVOLVE as the #1 independent wrestling organization. If they're not counting TNA, ROH, and even the NWA as indies (and I do consider them indies), then yeah, maybe. Otherwise, no. That aside, I thought it was an enjoyable hour. The fan narrator actually does a pretty good job. (If he's supposed to be someone famous, I have no idea who the hell he is. But he looks like the average wrestling fan, so I doubt it. Either way, I like him - at least so far.)

Has anyone been watching The Wrestlers on VICELAND? Compared to Dark Side of the Ring, it has zero buzz. I bought the season when it was 99 cents on Amazon but I haven't watched it yet.

It's been weeks of these gibberish Black promos. If this is the first one you've seen, then yeah, maybe I could see how you might dig it. I must be old though, because I have no idea what "stan" means in this context, but I assume it has nothing to do with Lane or Hansen.

Befuddling nonsense. Lars Sullivan, on the other hand, is a surprisingly decent promo. Most beautiful woman in all of WWE, and it's not even close.

Even more bad pub for the trashy Ring of Honor. It's a huge thread, so click on the tweet for more from her.

WWE's lifeless programming has managed to make me not give a shit about Ricochet-Cesaro matches. Think about that for a minute.

Damn it, you saw and responded to my post before I edited Cena to Mysterio. Anyway, yes, this Bully incident is yet another disgraceful black mark against ROH. Even though I suspect everyone involved was in the wrong - Bully, the fan, the other wrestlers, arena security, ROH, Sinclair, etc. - I still hope the fan sues the hell out of Sinclair and makes out like a bandit.

They were more than just a sing along introduction. They were both great promos, especially during the break-up (which never should've happened). Fair enough point on drawing a dime, as barely anyone in WWE does anymore. Supposedly 205 ratings were up under Enzo, but that might be something I imagined or some bullshit he made up. Either way, John Cena Rey Mysterio (may as well use an example of a wrestler who is actually under 205 pounds) wouldn't be able to save that dead-ass boring shit show, much less Enzo. As for MSG, "with NJ" and "when Omega & the Bucks were still working ROH" are your key phrases there. Another promotion entirely, and wrestlers no longer with ROH, are literally what drew that house and made that happen.

That someone was me, and I stand by it. It's still the most exciting and talked about development that's happened in ROH all year (not counting this Bully Ray nonsense, which wasn't part of the show). Nothing ROH is doing seems to working, having any kind of impact, moving the needle anymore. Almost everyone there (with a few exceptions, like PCO and Silas Young) are second-rate geeks. Enzo and Cass can't teach any of the geeks how to wrestle, but it wouldn't hurt ROH one bit if some of their knowledge about character development, cutting promos, drawing money, etc. rubbed off on the rest of the roster. Instead, we're getting some garbage with Enzo and Cass challenging Jake and Logan Paul, who are spoiled, obnoxious, useless YouTube "celebrity" brats. Not my thing at all, but it will probably get publicity and be seen as a smart business move in retrospect. (Again, just to be clear, I can't stand the idea of it.) You're all living in a magical land where we're still in the glory days of Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Jimmy Jacobs, BJ Whitmer, etc. That's long gone.

Debunked rumor.

I wonder if Seth refused to go to Saudi and they're covering it up with an injury angle?