C.S.

Do they really stop wrestling in the arena too?

It doesn't count until it happens in Saudi Arabia.

It sounds like it will be - unless *shudder* Baron and Lacey win.

Nah DAWG, let me dial it up on this boring ass show, DAWG.

I didn't watch this shitbox of a PPV (I don't even have the Network anymore). I'm just chiming in to wish @The Thread Killer all the best.

You guys definitely know more about Deathmatches, Onita, CZW, etc. than I do. It's not a style I've ever sought out, to be honest. In CZW's defense, I was impressed by the storyboarding and architectural designs that went into the Danny Havoc "Viking Funeral" match. That's a lot more planning and - let's face it - thought than I was expecting. I watched the fifth episode - Powerful Women - about female wrestlers, domestic abuse, the Fighting Cholitas, etc. (The sixth episode - The Next Wave of Luchadores - dropped when this one did, but I'll watch it later.) Maybe it was the downbeat subject matter, but I could not get into this episode as much. Still, don't let my mood discourage you, because there's lots of good stuff. A couple of notes: - While never specifically stated in the documentary, JAY RIOS is the USELESS PIECE OF SHIT who abused Mia Yim. His name should be blasted in neon lights, because fuck him, and fuck all of her "friends" who sided with him, didn't believe her, and/or wanted her keep quiet. - Here's the HuffPo article about Mia Yim mentioned in the episode: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/this-popular-female-wrest_b_11269074 - If you're interesting in the Fighting Cholitas, there's a full-length documentary about them called Mamachas Del Ring. I bought it on VUDU a while back with credits, but I still haven't watched it. It's now free on VUDU - with ads. https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Mamachas-Del-Ring/277503

This, good sir, was anything but a disaster!

Lars will be the answer to a trivia question in five years. WWE wrestlers with as many setbacks as he's had rarely get pushed to the same heights afterward. KENTA/Hideo Itami is the most recent example, but even Dolph Ziggler never sniffed the World Title again after his concussion (unless we get a surprise victory over Kofi on Sunday, which wouldn't shock me as much as most).

Is it sad that I think the most interesting feud on Smackdown is the one between Sonya/Mandy and Ember over video games and donuts?

Before I post this, I want to acknowledge the great posts and discussion by @The Thread Killer and @El-P. People like them are why I love this board so much. We can agree to disagree, while still having a civil and quite frankly kickass debate where we acknowledge each other's valid points along the way. (BTW, Savio Vega rules! Met him and Miguel Perez at an airport once, and they couldn't have been nicer. I actually glanced up, noticed someone with massive back hair, and said to myself "that looks like Miguel Perez" before I even saw his face. Sure enough, it was.) Anyway, it looks like there's another controversy brewing for MLW. Click on the tweet because there are more comments below.

What's the story there? I call Cornette irrelevant because he hasn't shown any ability to successfully book a wrestling promotion since 1994 or whenever Smokey Mountain Wrestling ended, and yet he acts like his word is gospel when it comes to a modern presentation. (Someone will mention ROH, but Cornette was opposed to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who - for better or worse - became major stars for ROH and are still stars now. Doesn't sound to me like someone who has his finger on the pulse.) The guy was fired in favor of Vince Russo twice - Vince Russo - so what does that tell you? That doesn't mean he's 100% wrong, or anywhere near that. He does make good points, and some of what he says is worth listening to and applying to a modern day promotion. But is clearly stuck in the past in many other ways too. Contrast that with Jerry Jarrett, who is perfectly content to talk about what worked in Memphis Wrestling without acting like he's an all-knowing guru when it comes to what would work now. Of course, a lot of his approach and philosophy would indeed work now - and should still be used a guide - but he doesn't beat people over the head with his knowledge. He simply passes it on an informative, insightful, and entertaining manner without resorting to a grating "look at me" approach. To be honest, I am tired of Cornette's general personality, shtick, and obnoxious feuds with Russo, Prichard, Bischoff, and whoever else (not that I'm excusing any of them either). But hey, if people are buying the bullshit Corny's selling (and clearly many are, as demonstrated by the stats you dropped), more power to him. I have no problem with that. As for what you said about Corny's commentary vs. Callihan not being a big part of MLW, when you put it that way, I see what you mean. MLW is lucky that they're not big enough to be harmed by any of Cornette's various controversies (Sonny Kiss, Islamophobia, dumb feuds, etc.).

More Warrior insanity:

I dunno. I felt nWo Nash was looser, more witty, etc. than Diesel, who was kind of stiff. Ditto for Hall, who no longer had to pretend to be Al Pacino in Scarface (an amazing gimmick, but not quite the same as nWo Hall).

From SEScoops (I'm not overly familiar with the site, so I'm not sure how reliable it is), "A fan on Twitter accused Bauer of 'ditching' Callihan to appease Jim Cornette, MLW’s outspoken commentator." If there's any truth to that, bad move IMO. I'm not a Sami fan, but even I would take him over the embarrassing and irrelevant in 2019 Jim Cornette. At least Sami's recent buzz has been mostly positive, unlike Cornette's. Bauer denies that it has anything to do with Cornette though. Damaging a venue seems like a weird reason. Work?

Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw to Blackjack Bradshaw (hey, I loved that gimmick) and later APA Bradshaw. APA Bradshaw with a shave and haircut that no longer fit the character to JBL. Kama to The Godfather Mark Henry to Sexual Chocolate Sexual Chocolate to Hall of Pain Rocker Shawn Michaels to HBK Hunter Hearst Helmsley to Triple H Mean Mark Callous to The Undertaker Oz/Vinnie Vegas to Diesel Diesel to Kevin Nash Scott Hall to Diamond Studd Diamond Studd to Razor Ramon Razor Ramon to Scott Hall

I'm not sure which wwe.com article you're referring to, but the Dana picture originated with this tweet: Maybe Dana is sincere in her feelings about the LGBTQ+ community - I will give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she is - but she's wearing the facepaint of a man who hurled vile homophobic comments at the same community for years. It's tone deaf.

The match was restarted. Maybe there's still hope...

If WWE wanted to do something genuinely interesting for once, Bryan would win the title here. Edit: Well, so much for that. This company, I swear! Fucking hell...

Imagine intergender matches between The Iiconics and Enzo & Cass. Just putting that thought out into the universe.

Man, even that match doesn't sound interesting, which you acknowledge. Yes, something needs to happen, but even the scenarios you outlined all feel tired, which is a criticism of the product itself and not your thought process. This is years of WWE shooting itself in the foot by not going with hot acts when they got over organically - Rusev Day, Fashion Police, Miz, NXT call-ups with fan goodwill, etc. Yes, they went with Becky and Kofi at WrestleMania - and overproduced both to the point of oblivion. Their post-Mania trajectories have all been uninteresting as hell (although I kinda like the Dolph "it should have been me" storyline, but not enough to get 2-3 matches out of it). A radical shift needs to happen, and that doesn't mean hotshotting one hot act into the main event. It means changing an absolutely abysmal product from top to bottom. It means revamping the stale format and presentation that has barely changed since 1999. It means doing many little things right again that they've seemingly forgotten how to do.

The Ultimate Warrior Is Not A Gay Pride Mascot Good piece by @Bix, who posts here, so I kinda wish he'd plug his own stuff more. Instead, I found this randomly on Reddit. I do seem to recall Dana saying once that Warrior changed toward the end of his life. Maybe after he had kids? I can't really remember her reasoning. Unfortunately, we only have her word to go on. Either way, very tone deaf by Dana Warrior and WWE.

Talk about a massive wasted opportunity by ROH. Even when they're handed major signings and cool developments, they have no idea what to do with them.

Ouch! That is definitely some real-life sleaze thread stuff. :\

What does this have to do with Ashley Massaro's death? Am I missing something, or did you accidentally post this in the wrong thread?

Episode 4 of The Wrestlers was a pretty compelling defense of the infamous "Deathmatch." Terry Funk is cited as the father of deathmatch wrestling. Whether that's true or not, he obviously played a major part in it. The show does a good job of covering the style all around the world, interviewing Atsushi Onita, Danny Havoc, and others. They talk about how good deathmatch wrestlers are good wrestlers at their core and still know the fundamentals of wrestling. Sami Callihan and Shane Strickland have "cameos" - with Strickland even saying he's wrestling a deathmatch because his generation can do any kind of match and he's doing it because no one would expect him to, and Sami saying there's no CZW without Danny Havoc (at least I think that was Sami). Even the fans, which are usually the worst part of any wrestling documentary (like that weirdo Moolah fan on Dark Side of the Ring), are interesting here - because it makes sense for Damian to find out what kind of people are drawn to Deathmatches and why. I will say I walked away with a newfound respect for Deathmatch wrestling. Danny Havoc created architectural designs and storyboards for his "Viking Funeral" match, which is a lot more depth than I was expecting. While this isn't my favored style, I now wouldn't mind seeing a Deathmatch live, or even checking out some CZW or old Onita matches on YouTube. P.S. I've finally figured out who Damian Abraham reminds me of - Toby from This Is Us (a show that, no doubt, absolutely no one on a wrestling forum is going to be familiar with).