SomethingSavage

Ian is alright, but he's no Excalibur. Shit on the guy's name if you like, but the guy is fucking aces as an announcer. He has a way of expressing excitement, genuine joy, and even concern on commentary that you just aren't hearing from anyone else anywhere at the moment. Don Callis does a damn fine job of emphasizing risks and DANGER involved in wrestling, which is something I appreciate a great deal as well. But Excalibur is a super knowledgeable cat when it comes to every aspect of the business. The guy's got every angle cornered. Blasting a guy based on his name alone seems super shallow and silly, honestly. It's pro wrestling, where the top star on the planet can be called "The Rock." Their headliner is likely going to be called "Kenny Omega", which sounds dumb & fake as fuck to anyone who doesn't already know the guy. Fans can warm up to things like that as they familiarize themselves with the product. It isn't like the sound of the name Excalibur is going to have a repellant or repulsive effect on ANYBODY. Conversely, for the diehard fans waiting to jump ALL OVER this, they're already well aware of who Excalibur is. It would be so stupid (and perceived as such a WWE sellout move to do) to even suggest Excalibur to change his name. ... Unless it was a total tongue-in-cheek deal, like them referencing Generico and Sami Zayn as two different people all the time. Even so, Excalibur is a known commodity to the people who will be waiting to watch everything AEW. A silly sounding name isn't going to turn away the same people who watch 3 hours of Bane Ambrose or whateverthefuck every week.

Kross is good for his experience, but there is clearly still room for improvement. Dude's got a great look, decent presence, and a truckload of potential. Time will tell whether he continues to develop & improve or not. I both like & dislike his interviews at different times, which I realize sounds odd. But it's true. There are instances where he nails it & carries it off like a certified psychopath. And then there are times when I cringe at how hammy he can be. I don't know what the immediate future holds for him in Impact though. I don't expect the deal with Johnny to be too long-lasting, as it looks like they're doubling down on the Cage/Johnny feud up top for now, with Moose and Kross hanging in the peripheral as fall guys to eat some losses and further build them up. I dig Cage, and I actually would've been cool with them putting the belt on him at Homecoming. But Callihan still feels like the hottest act in the company (for a year running now), and it's kind of a waste if he's only going to exist around the X-Division with Swann for very long. Historically, the X-Division has been a direct conduit to the main event at times though. So I ain't mad at it or anything. Maybe this will lead to Sami mixing it up with the top dogs before long. I certainly feel like he belongs there, as the guy's been crazy consistent in getting angles over and making feuds feel like they matter in Impact.

Excalibur is awesome and would feel like a fresh voice to the bigger, broader audience. JR, even at his best, would just conjure memories and thoughts of a bygone era. That's not exactly the look (or sound, in this case I suppose) they should go for.

That Sopranos bit is tremendous. I've had this conversation with co-workers before, but you can absolutely watch the show and imagine the family = the McMahons. Vinnie Mac as Tony, a young rebellious Shane as AJ, Steph/Meadow going off to college, etc. And that doesn't even touch on the warring families/rival promoters, his lieutenants/road agents, and on & on. It's why there's really no need for a Vince biopic. We already got it in peak TV form with the Sopranos. Regarding anxiety attacks, meh. I feel like I'd be the outlier on that conversation. I personally feel like A LOT of "disorders" and "conditions" are exaggerated and over-diagnosed these days. We're all human. We all have issues, fears, anxieties - not everything is a medical condition, nor does every problem require prescription medication or coddling. If your job requires you to publicly perform in front of thousands in your underwear, you may want to make sure you don't have performance anxiety of any kind. Get that shit in check. In that sense, I'd be more inclined to side with the company on this one. The job description is what it is. If he can't get over that hurdle, they're completely justified in moving onto the next in line.

The mishandling of Braun is a fucking tragedy. The guy felt like the hottest act in wrestling back in 2017. That rivalry with Roman, ranging from February straight through that summer, seemed like a total throwback to those epic career-long feuds from yesteryear. It reinvigorated Reigns, and it firmly established Braun as the next big thing. The comparisons to Austin didn't sound absurd, because I never took it to mean he was doing Stone Cold stunts or whatever each week. But, like 1997 Austin, 2017 Braun felt like the next logical champ. It looked like he crowning moment was right around the corner. It seemed like they were just biding their time until Mania. And then the Brock match happened at No Mercy. It's been downhill ever since. There have been moments of recovery here & there, but he's never regained the same momentum or buzz. Most fans told themselves (and anyone who would listen, really) that they were just stalling him until after Mania. But then the comedy tag shit with the kid happened, and his rep & cred were further dented and damaged. Even worse, after Mania had come and gone, it turned out they STILL had no concrete plan or design for the guy. And it's just such a shame. I was so ready to see Braun get this big monumental moment by beating Brock, and they just wouldn't do it. Despite all the backing and building they put into Braun in 2017, they just couldn't bring it all the way home and cap it off properly. The Brock loss is baffling. Imagine how differently Lesnar would have been perceived if they'd debuted him strong just as they did in 2002 - only, instead of having him go over Rock, they had part-timer Rocky go over at SummerSlam and keep the belt. That would've been DISASTROUS for Lesnar back in 2002, right? It would've been a total failure to launch situation. And even if they'd gone back and given him the belt later, if would never have recaptured the same impact. That is essentially what they did to Braun with the Brock loss. They chose to favor the part-timer and stomped out the fuse they'd lit with Strowman's push in the first place. I look around & see some people getting excited for Drew on top, and I just couldn't possibly care any less. And I shouldn't feel so underwhelmed. I shouldn't feel so defeated. I should be stoked, too. ... I'm just not. Drew deserves the shot. Don't get me wrong. But this current presentation & rendering of him isn't the Drew that warrants a run on top. This Drew they're presenting doesn't feel, function, or operate like a top guy. Drew the performer is absolutely capable and deserving of the belt. But come on. Is anyone really clamoring for this? They've basically slapped the Sheamus "League of Nations" character on him. That's NOT an acceptable or sustainable World Champion gimmick in 2019. Even TNA knew to let Drew just be himself. But nah. Let's have him go out and pretend to be the evil Scottish foreigner, like it's something anyone should ever give a shit about.

So, I was sharing my thoughts about Ruins with a friend & fellow comic book fan. He was cracking up at my reaction to the grim, sadistic tone of the book and INSTANTLY offered up another recommendation in response. "If you thought that was something, you've gotta check out Ultimatum." ... And so here we are. Going in, I knew very little about the Ultimate Universe. I mean, it was a thing back when I was still regularly reading. But my attention started & stopped with Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man. That series was aces, but I never made the time or the effort to expand out beyond that. I'd heard about the Ultimates and knew they were basically the alternate Avengers. I knew about the X-Men through their guest appearances in Spider-Man, but that's about it. Anyway, yeah. Ultimatum is insane. It's essentially a giant killing spree of a story. If you like massive body counts and world-changing epics, then this might be the book for you. If you hate change and can't stand to see your favorite characters in different circumstances, then you'll despise this one. Suffice to say, it's very easy to understand why this story is so damn divisive. It's unlike anything I've ever seen - outside of a What If or Elsewords type tale. Ultimatum is wall-to-wall craziness. It's huge stakes, but it's also ALL excess. It's egregious bloodshed and gore. It's gratuitous sleaze and violence. The Blob is a cannibal and literally eats the fresh corpse of the Wasp. Hank Pym, in turn, grows giant-sized and bites the Blob's head off. This is all shown on panel. It's simultaneously cool to see and also grossly over-the-top. Magneto breaks Xavier's neck. Sabretooth murders Angel. Captain America is crushed under a collapsing ceiling. Wolverine is filleted like a fish. Valkyrie has her throat slit. Magneto has his arm cut off, is impaled, and eventually has his head blown off. Giant-sized Hank Pym is blown apart by hundreds of suicide bombers. Doctor Strange has his head POPPED like a grape. Cyclops is assassinated in broad daylight while calling for peace between humans and mutants. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, siblings & children of Magneto, are revealed to be incestuous lovers engaged in a secret taboo affair together. And the book just goes on & on & on this way. It's all so much. It's exciting and unpredictably fun in spots, for sure. But it's all happening at a million miles a minute, and you can't really wrap your head around one nutty development before another is thrown in your face. There are redeeming qualities to be found, but they're sort of overshadowed by the rapid-fire pace and all the "shock & awe" moments. But yeah. Some of the characterizations are fun. There are several refreshing twists & tweaks to characters that we wouldn't (and SHOULDN'T) ever see in the mainstream Marvel universe. Hank Pym has realized his full potential as a creep here. Witnessing the Wasp's death sends him over the edge. He literally starts talking to her half-eaten corpse and promises he can "fix" her. It's insane. It's also REALLY cool to see Magneto completely unleashed. It's always been known that he's shown restraint in the 616, but here he's allowed to flex his best hits and pull out ALL THE STOPS. Dude is scary powerful and capable of literally turning the world as we know it upside down. I dug the chance to see that scenario play out. Overall, this one's extremely polarizing. But I think the majority of fans hate it and simply categorize it as a sort of glorified piece of fan fiction. And I can see that. Even if it's written by Jeph Loeb, it's clearly Marvel deciding there is no personal attachment or commitment to any of these Ultimate characters - and so they can basically slaughter them as they please. Guilt-free. That's basically what this is - a wholesale massacre of the Ultimate line. But I'm honestly not all that bothered by it. These characters are stand-ins. They're replicas. They're "what if" variations. They're not real boys. I'm comfortably detached from any emotional investment or attachment to them or their fates. Unfortunately, that's a problem in itself. Because it dampens the stakes and makes this more like a vendetta film or a revenge porn flick than any sort of a good, solid comic book story. I'm glad I read Ultimatum though. I don't know that it ever would've been on my radar without the recommendation. And, while I wouldn't necessarily say it was good, I wouldn't say it's all bad either. It's just not my thing. And it's not *my* universe of characters. However, I can admire the ambition and the idea of taking this toy box of familiar characters & just BLOWING. IT. UP. To Loeb's credit, he had some fun in getting there and made some imaginative decisions along the way. In a nutshell though, Ultimatum is one batshit banana bonkers story. Not for everybody.

I read some disappointing reviews, but shit. Even the Monster's Ball brought the goods. They went the right route by keeping it short. Abyss is definitely hobbled & broken down nowadays, but he wasn't really out there long enough to overstay his welcome. I appreciate that. It instills confidence when they recognize the limitations of novelty acts this way. Kudos to Drake for manning up and taking that fall into the tacks. Another small thing I liked was the way he bumped off the rolling stage box. It was one of those well-timed comedic bumps, where it's funny enough to offer a moment of relief - but not so hokey that it takes the serious edge away from the ensuing fight. I dug the straightforward simplicity of the finish, too. The mishap with the zip-ties aside, it was just Drake putting the hurt on Abyss & pulverizing the monster to a pulp. It wasn't pretty or fancy or athletic in any way. It was just a BEATING, and then a pin. It's just an emphatic win, plain & simple. That tag title match was INCRRRREDIBLE as far as stunt shows go. This brought back memories of Lee/Everett vs Evans/Angelico or Lee/Everett vs Bucks from 2015 PWG for me. It was just wall-to-wall action. Penta leaping off the back of a pinning predicament to pull off that Canadian Destroyer was sweet. But I thought the real show-stealer was Fenix's double stomp to help spike Penta's package piledriver. They STUCK that landing. Super fun match that's worth seeking out, for sure. And again, it didn't linger around for too long. If anything, I'd call it criminally short actually. And I'm normally someone that overvalues a nice, crisp sprint over these needlessly long, drawn out, time-filler matches. But yeah. This was a blast from bell to bell. Hate to say it, but I thought Tessa/Taya was the worst match of the night. It's the only thing that really left me underwhelmed. Very disappointing after what felt like am excellent first chapter to their rivalry back at BFG. The match started off really rough, with Taya looking a little lost & neither of them syncing up or getting on the same page for a good a while. The middle portion was alright. Nothing outstanding, aside from maybe Tessa's drop kick with Taya's head smashed against the guardrail. The finishing stretch was an absolute disaster though. The whole flow of the match came to a screeching halt so they could focus on the angle with Gail, and things just never recovered from there. There were WAYYY too many silly miscue spots with Gail. The little tug of war deal with the belt was embarrassingly lame. Worst of all? Taya became a total afterthought for the finishing stretch. She was treated like a nuisance or a pest instead of a top challenger. So when she gets her crowning moment by, ya know, actually winning the belt... It just seems so flat. To her credit, Taya wears her emotions on her face and soaks up the celebration. So that helps to galvanize the moment & make it mean something. I still wish they would've found a better way to get there and have it feel wholly earned. I understand they wanted to set up Gail/Tessa, but I don't know. I think this outcome was the one altogether wrong decision on the show. Johnny/Cage was a fine main event in terms of action. But yeah. That finish was another misfire. Looking back at the BFG stuff with Aries, it makes me wonder if they are just trying to do too much of this cutesy/creative stuff in their main events lately. I get the logic. I can understand why they'd want to make waves and try new things. But this idea should have been filtered out & left on the cutting room floor somewhere. The execution was botched, because it was always a long shot that they'd be able to pull it off. And both guys are insane athletes, but yeah. It was just too convoluted and uncertain. Beyond that, it's one of those fluke wins that leaves the company with a World Champion who looks 100% lucky. Beyond THAT, it makes the senior referee look like a naive, clueless moron for being so distracted for so long. Beyond even THAT, it called for Johnny to kick out after the Drill Claw. And fuck, man. I just wish there could be one or two protected, sacred FINISHERS in wrestling again. I'm talking about instant kill shots. And the Steiner Screwdriver should be one of them. I don't care if there's a three-minute delay before the pin. Fuck it. You take that move, you're eating a loss. Lights out. Done deal. End of story. In any case, don't get me wrong. This was still a mostly enjoyable show. I'd rate it comfortably somewhere below All In and last year's two Impact PPVs, but it was still easily watchable and preferable over almost every main roster WWE PPV since 2014. Now just for some random thoughts that struck me throughout the show... LAX are still one of my favorite acts. They don't feel at all stale to me yet. Their work, their entrance, their energy, and everything about their presentation is still FIYAH. Both guys are crazy underrated as talkers, too. This show actually had several strong promos. Drake. Sami. LAX. It's too bad we didn't get a chance to hear from Tessa. Instead, Cage and Johnny both got some time. And woof. I realize that's your main event - and I like both guys just fine for what they are - but they really could have benefited from more attention in terms of production & direction. These guys need to be guided through. Without supervision, we get stuff like Johnny rambling about strict diets & Cage (in full 80s wrestler form) yelling about how he "sacrificed the birth" (!?) of his daughter for the business. The fuck. And gawt damn, y'all. Gail Kim was looking mighty fine. It's only a matter of time before Vince sees her ref uniform & we start to see Charles Robinson's chest meat on a weekly basis.

I made it halfway through the show, but I had to press pause for now. I'll finish it up later, but I'll offer up my thoughts on what I've seen so far. That opener was everything it needed to be. Ultimate X is one of those gimmick matches that can be exciting, or it can just as easily turn into a disaster. But I dug this one. Plenty of flashy, imaginative spots. And everything moved at a quick clip. I can understand the criticism about the Tombstone on the outside, but I think it's more a fault of the layout than the performers themselves. I realize they go hand in hand to produce what we see on our screens, but really. The Piledriver really warranted more room to resonate and register before Swann got involved again. Even so, I'm pleasantly surprised that Swann worked the whole match as a serious, determined baby face. I mean, sure. He danced along to his entrance theme, but after that? The comedy was dialed all the way down, and he just put in the work & remained focus until the finish. Good stuff there. It made his win all the more satisfying in my eyes. I actually enjoyed the Knockouts tag for what it was. The supernatural stuff isn't exactly up my alley (ay!), but I really dug this as a match. The work itself was solid. Kiera continues to improve & impress. She's quickly surpassing the rest of the pack as a fiery baby face, a role previously upheld by Allie herself. I know Jordynne is the darling of the day, and she's okay. Her power spots are fun enough, but I thought she actually looked lost and uncoordinated quite a lot here. Kiera carried her end of things very well though. And damn. Su Yung is still one of the greatest gimmicks going. The music, the mannerisms, the look, the entrance, and everything just adds up to a complete package. And Su herself pulls it off perfectly. She never seems to drop out of character or slip up for even a second. She owns the scene anytime she's on screen. Dark Allie is the other side of that same coin. To her credit, Allie has been a major bright spot in TNA/Impact for years now. And she's basically been doing Bayley better than Bayley for years now as well. I get why people don't care for the angle or the sillier aspects of it, but it *is* refreshing to see her character mature, grow, and change over time. If the alternative is to see her grow stagnant, then yeah. I'm cool with a temporary change. But I'd be lying if I said I want to see it stick. I miss the wholesome, innocent Allie and hope to see her return to form someday. In the meantime? Yeah. Dark Allie is kind of hokey. She's playing it way over-the-top with the constant crawling and laughing and shit. And maybe that wouldn't stand out so much if she wasn't sharing screen time with Su Yung right there next to her so much. But she is, and so it does. Su Yung looks creepy and eerie in a convincing fashion. Dark Allie just looks like she's doing Dungeon of Doom auditions. But hey. I will say it looks like she's relishing the role and having some fun with the chance to do something different. So there's that. The post-match stuff was weird. I mean, I won't lie. I popped huge for Rosemary's return. I managed to stay spoiler free for that, and I'm glad. Stood straight up & threw a mean working punch in the air when I saw her emerge from that casket. But everything slowed way down and seemed to move at half-speed after that. They were definitely going for bigger, broader theatrics. And that works fine for a live audience. But it played out poorly on screen. It was all in slow motion, and it felt kind of awkward there for a moment. I still enjoyed it all well enough. The story has been mainly a misfire for me up until the last month or so, but I think it's actually turned a corner for me now. Maybe it would bother me more if it were strangling the Knockouts division, but as a separate story? It's fine as its own thing - an alternative to the more serious title feud. I honestly thought the Moose/Eddie match was a fucking blast. It kicked off in high gear & pretty much stayed there all the way through. It didn't even stall whenever they had to start introducing weapons, which is something I absolutely hate about almost every WWE gimmick match these days. They maintained a sense of urgency and recklessness from start to finish. Eddie's first dive looked gnarly - falling right across Moose's shoulder blades and flattening him. And that first Moose Powerbomb against the apron looked nasty, too. They just hooked me early on and never let go. I guess I could go back and find small faults in some of the selling or whatever, but nah. This was a super fun, messy brawl in the moment. And the finish felt like a proper payoff. Alisha getting involved is what it is, but it made sense to shut the lid on the rivalry. Oh. And Moose ate that backdrop through the ladder like a fucking champ. The visual of him just lying there like he'd been hit by a truck was pretty awesome. The buildup for Eddie/Moose was bad though. I'll admit that. It was late 90s "wrestling needs crash TV skits" level bad. But I will say - I love all the little cameos they've found time for with these guys from the past. Mitchell, Raven, and even Dreamer. They aren't detracting from anything by popping in here & there this way. In fact, I think it's quite neat as a nod to the past. Callihan/Willie Mack was solid albeit unspectacular. Nothing stuck with me, but nothing was actively bad. My main takeaway was Sami's pre-fight promo. I don't care at all for all the "draw" talk, and hearing the ring announcer actually introduce him as "Hashtag THE DRAW" was all kinds of awful. But Callihan's actual ability on the mic is something I've got time for, honestly. The guy speaks with such conviction and purpose. And that crazed, wild look in his eyes makes it easy to buy in. Dude doesn't feel like an act. He doesn't function like a pretender. Sami strikes me as genuine & authentic as this shitty, horrible person. And that's money. Callihan is also a complete furnace of heat with me, because I know people like him in real life. He's the pudgy, meth-slinging, trailer park trash with the ratty, pencil-thin facial hair & the shitty white trash tats, who gets a few beers in him & suddenly believes he's a cage fighter. They're an infuriating, obnoxious, but very true to life & familiar breed of folk in my neck of the woods. And that's instant heat. I say all that just to say - yeah. Callihan's whole act works for me. I'm surprised they haven't made a move to put the belt on him yet. I like the spot they've found for him, and his feud with Penta last year was right up there as one of my favorites anywhere in the world. But I could seriously see them cranking up the volume on him & crowning him champ at any point in 2019. Eli Drake is another strong promo. I know people knock him for the Rocky ripoff cadence or whatever, but the dude is completely confident in everything he says. He's hit a new stride again lately, although the guy's been really good for a long time for those that have cared to keep up with him. His line about this being Abyss in the monster's ball against the man "with MONSTER BALLS" cracked me up. It's Rocky college humor, but the delivery was on point. Drake didn't miss a beat. I had to stop there for now, but hopefully I get around to finishing the show before the end of this week.

I haven't had a chance to see the show yet due to my work schedule, so I'll reserve comments on anything specific just yet. But regarding Moose, he reminds me of Matt Morgan. Big dude. Should work like a beast. But something is way off. His selling doesn't gel with his look. Plus he lacks presence for his size. And his athleticism is clear to see, but he's also somehow very uncoordinated and clunky at the same time. There are times & instances where I've really enjoyed Moose, to be sure. But his output is inconsistent. Same was said for Matt Morgan in his day, too. Moose is much more entertaining as a character nowadays though. "Money Moose" is one of my favorite character upgrades to come out of TNA/Impact. And, believe it or not, they've had several. I mean, sure. The guy still speaks like Ahmed Johnson. And I'm still not convinced he could lay out a match if his life depended on it. But he's capable of being led at times, and the character can be fun when placed in the right spots. I fully realize that's a list of backhanded compliments & not-so-glowing remarks, but it is what it is. Oh, wait. I dig the Moose music/chant thing, too. Like, I enjoy it to an absurd degree. I offer no excuses either. No rhyme. No reason. Don't judge me.

Yeah. Earth X really was a fun one. I'm going to bypass the sequels for now and get back to some of my regular reading. In the interim, I did check out another quick dystopian future story. Didn't take long to read, but Jesus Christ. It's totally at the opposite end of the spectrum from Earth X. Absolutely no spark of hope or even a heart & soul to this book. Yep. Ruins was this grim, dark, joyless cautionary tale of what the Marvel Universe might look like if shit had gone ALL horribly wrong with every hero's origin. I mean, that's basically the tale in a nutshell. A reporter is going around, interviewing all these heroes or "marvels" with a sneaky suspicion that this world should have turned out better. This is certainly a Warren Ellis story, straight away. And, to his credit, he completely leans into the premise of the project. It's an exercise in excess, in shock & awe, and in horror. With that in mind, it accomplishes what it sets out to do in the broader sense. But damn. It's all just so depressing once you're done with it. Everyone is in a bad way. A real bad, bad way. Professor X is the US President, but he's reclusive and living like a shut-in. Wolverine is a lush, hanging around his favorite bar but being treated like a freak show. In exchange for free drinks, Logan lets the bartender show off his horrifying disease - Wolverine's skin is practically peeling off the bone, courtesy of his adamantium skeleton poisoning his bloodstream. He looks like death warmed over. The entire Kree race are imprisoned on Earth. They're also dying from cancer, thanks to radiation from the Power Cosmic. Because hey. Turns out the Silver Surfer couldn't actually breathe in space, so he went mad & literally ripped himself in half - releasing the Power Cosmic energy and giving them all the gift of cancer as a result. Nick Fury turns out to be a raving, homicidal, suicidal maniac. Jean Grey is a call girl and can be your friend for a night at the low, low price of 20 bucks. Rick Jones is a junkie and a bum. Thor is a delusional bum, who gets fucked up on mushrooms and believes he's actually the Norse god of thunder. Bruce Banner still got hit by the gamma bomb, but it just turned him into a hulking mass of oozing, malignant tumors. This is gross, horrific shit we're talking about. What else? The Punisher tries to become a one-man army against the Mafia, but he just ends up getting sniped right away instead. Mystique is a shape-shifter, but she can't control it when she's off her meds. So she's just constantly growing teeth and eyeballs and shit all over her body. Magneto needs his full concentration to keep his powers in check. So when a nearby citizen simply bumps into him on a runway, his magnetism tears a plane full of passengers apart and sucks the iron from their bodies. It's fucking nuts. Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver are all imprisoned by order of President Xavier. Wilson Fisk is their ruthless warden. Cyke's eyes have been fused shut. Nightcrawler has started eating his own flesh off the bone. Kitty has phased inside a wall, where her organs have slowly started to fail. And Quicksilver has had all his limbs removed. Johnny Blaze is a literal circus daredevil, and he's genuinely insane. He douses his head in gasoline and sets his skull on fire for one final stunt. Emma Frost adopts children and performs surgical procedures on them in some sick attempt to unlock their psychic powers. It's freaky, y'all. It's all very engrossing and terrifying to see your favorite characters in this light. But Ellis plays it well by keeping the story moving at a super quick clip. Things never drag or slow down, and that's essential to finding any redeeming value or enjoyment in this story if you ask me. Because it leaves you wanting to know more about this world. What led to this version of things? Why is EVERYTHING so awful? The artwork adds a lot to the whole deal, too. It paints an appropriate picture of this twisted, ugly, outright GROTESQUE reality. It's not something I'd want to see on a monthly book or anything, but it lends itself beautifully to the tone & the feel of this story Ellis has crafted here. Fits it like a glove. So yeah. I don't know that this would necessarily be recommended viewing for all comic book fans, but I dug it as an experiment and a short detour type read. It's definitely something different to help really shake up your regular routine, if nothing else.

Well played. I find I like him just fine after I've seen the entire catalog of 5-minute videos on his YouTube channel. Before that, I just couldn't wrap my head around his work. Too complex, you see.

Meh. Mutilator Mankind may be my least favorite, to be honest. I think I only dug him for that one month of build where they had him throwing & absorbing fireballs. 98 corporate sellout Mankind was a blast though. And Dude Love is a guilty pleasure, for sure. I'm perfectly comfortable if my tastes are outside the norm though.

Right. Shotgun was a total afterthought by January 99. Whatever value or emphasis it had was already shifted over onto Sunday Night Heat in 98. Bruce clearly has a personal preference & a fondness for the strange, supernatural side of pro wrestling. He's all about some awful 90s Undertaker, he even named his kid Kane, and his favorite face of Foley is Mankind - but not even the charming, sympathetic, comedic Mankind. No. His favorite Foley is Paul Bearer era Mankind. Weird.

I won't go too in-depth with my thoughts or anything, but I will say I loved the opener. Ibushi/Ospreay was a fucking BLAST of a match - by far the most well-rounded, complete Ospreay performance I've seen. Old man Jericho's glam rock face paint is still horrendous, but I've dug this New Japan gaijin reinvention. It's been an awesome chapter to tack onto his career, for sure. And that main event was tremendous. Again, Omega is someone that loses me with his longer performances. The thirty-five knee strikes that amount to nothing (when they all look & sound so wicked that one killing knockout shot would suffice just fine) just grate me. But he kept my attention the whole way through here. I thought Tana brought his A game also, and together they told a fantastic story. Loved it. Callis wasn't consistently strong with his commentary or anything, but I loved his line about Gedo's turn - calling him a monkey swinging from branches, not letting go of one until he has a firm grasp wrapped around another one. Good stuff.

You won't miss anything by skipping the Piper episode. No worries there. He does say heave some glowing praise on Roddy's promo style & influence, but I *believe* that might actually be on the Starrcade 96 episode IIRC. I actually enjoy hearing Eric's thoughts on matches, storytelling, what he wants out of his performances, etc. His gushing love for Dean Malenko is straight out of a PWI 1997 issue or something. I wasn't expecting him to be such a fan of the guy, but I don't mind it one bit. Good for him. His disdain for Raven certainly seems unnecessary & unwarranted, but I get the impression it's strictly due to their personal disagreements. So it is what it is.

Yeah. The Starrcade 95 episode was the most lackluster show they've put out in months, but that doesn't mean it was a bad one by any means. There just wasn't a lot of noteworthy stuff there. I did enjoy hearing Eric's thoughts about a few of the matches though. I feel like he doesn't always dive deep on the analysis stuff, but he went out of his way here to discuss things like egregious blading, the importance of properly selling a finish, etc. That was a highlight for me. You covered most of the high notes in that detailed review, but you're absolutely right. The Jimmy Hart talk hit its apex here. I could feel it simmering for weeks & weeks, and it had reached a point where Eric seemed like he was tired of tip-toeing around the issue. (To his credit, he really did start off rather reserved on the subject.) But it makes total sense. On every level imaginable, Eric and Jimmy appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Eric is laid back. Jimmy is high-strung. Eric is passive and hands-off. Jimmy is a go-getter. And Eric voices his frustrations fairly well. Just on the basis of their personalities, you could understand how they'd naturally clash. But then factor in the idea that Bischoff was pushing for an edgier, more realistic product at the time Jimmy is bouncing off the walls & being 70s/80s wrestling manager. Compound that with Eric just letting shit fly, but Jimmy raising issues with all the little details of how things appear on TV. They're just two very different people with very different approaches to the business. Regarding the Missy stuff, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. I'm not a guy who's easily offended by much of anything. I have a high tolerance for that type of stuff. But I couldn't help but cringe when Eric went as hard as he did in response to Conrad's line of questioning on Missy. That was harsh. Don't get me wrong though. The insults alone wouldn't shake me. But it's all about the context. I felt almost embarrassed or ashamed for Eric as I heard him say those things, because it sounded like a poor decision being made in the moment. If Eric makes those same remarks to Conrad sitting at a bar somewhere, then I may laugh & nod along. No joke. But blasting it out there on a popular podcast platform was just... Not the best look. I'm not too bothered by it though. Eric isn't a guy that's going to get hung up on any kind of backlash anyway. And, to be perfectly fair, I at least applaud his bold honesty. Because I truly do believe he feels that way, and he held nothing back. It would seem slightly hypocritical to bash Bischoff for bullshitting but then be outraged when I don't 100% agree with his honesty, too. The good with the bad & all that... So yeah. I'm in full agreement that the quality of this show has far surpassed Bruce Prichard's for awhile now. But I don't ever really expect it to supplant Bruce's show in popularity or anything. There's something to be said for the strength of the WWF and the mainstream appeal of all those personalities, shows, and memories that come along with it. Beyond that, Bruce is still an entertaining storyteller when he cares to be. His impressions and his shtick can grow old & redundant real fast, but a large portion of people still eat that shit up. Bischoff's pod is pumping out the better show. I just don't know that I have faith in people to find it and stick with it. The business speak and some of the understated elements that we find fascinating or enjoy could feasibly leave some fans feeling bored or wondering when he'll start doing impressions. It is what it is, ya know.

I was cooling down with some isolated arm sets at the gym & needed some noise in my ear buds, so I hit Play on the episode covering Foley's first title win. This was the definition of a Nothing Happening show. Bruce seemed like he couldn't care less. Conrad made no real effort to follow up any of his questions or even challenge Bruce on anything. This 98/99 period has been covered again & again anyhow, to the point where they've really got nothing new to discuss. We get to hear about Shawn's commissioner stuff for the fifty-eleventh time. We hear the origin of Test's name again, in case anyone forgot it since last week or whenever they last brought it up. Conrad tried to make the Tony Schiavone comment a thing, but Bruce barely even goes along for that. Just a very boring, monotonous episode. Something I've noticed though - Bruce has started saying, "By Gawd" in almost every sentence he strings together. It reached Meltzer "Ya know" levels by the end of the episode. Oh. And it was utterly ridiculous to hear Bruce say Shotgun Saturday Night was seen as important as Raw within the company, because it was their only syndicated show. Yup. In 1999. Shotgun. As important as Raw. Riiight.

Christ. I stepped away for 2 days and hoped this clown would be gone by the time I came back. But he's still here, thirsting & begging for a pat on the back or a nod of acknowledgement. Nobody cares if you're connected. Nobody cares who you claim to know. Nobody is impressed by your ability to live like a shut-in and analyze wrestling matches around the clock. This thread began as a means to discuss the AEW deal, but you came in here expecting to impress people with your breaking news or whatever. But nobody knows who you are or cares really, and so I guess you got all butthurt. You've now had well over 3 days to whine and lick your wounds. Enough already. Move on. Every post I see from you, you're constantly trashing this board & its posters. Your snide comments about the posters being old, out of touch, etc. are all over the place. So why the hell are you still here? Go somewhere else. Clearly nobody appreciates your "brilliance" or knowledge here, right? Ain't gonna change, man. We simply don't care about the imaginary fantasy world you've dreamed up in your head. No one's impressed. Besides, why are you even wasting your precious time trying to educate us? Shouldn't you be hanging out with your good pals in the biz? You're a big leaguer, bro. Live it up. Go grab some drinks with the stars or something. I swear. We'll manage without you.

That's fine & well. But - and this is just me being honest - I wouldn't wish that type of life on my worst enemy. Like, I'm a lifelong wrestling fan. But that sounds like a fate worse than death to me. Spending every waking hour hyper-focused on wrestling? Thanks, but no thanks to that. If this means I'm not a true or "hardcore" fan, then gosh. I guess just direct me to the kiosk where I forfeit my fan card. Tremendous. I can't imagine several wrestlers being hardcore enough to be friendly with you. Me thinks you're getting worked, brutha.

Why thank you. My posts are regularly quite extraordinary. Deep dive the forum sometime, junior. You'll likely learn a thing or two yourself. You're in need of a new gimmick though. This thing of you being a well-connected big deal plays much better in your own head than it does here. If everyone on this board is so out of touch and unappreciative of your genius, shouldn't you be smart enough to go elsewhere? Just leave us here to wallow in our ignorance. Trust me, man. We'll find a way to manage without your brilliance & your breaking stories.

Awesome. Thanks for the detailed response & recommendation. Much appreciated, man.

Or maybe some people here just have actual social lives and other priorities that don't relate to them watching and cataloging pro wrestling. This is a hobby. It's cool that folks can immerse themselves in it and produce podcasts or articles for our consumption. But no one is obligated to devote their entire existence to this shit. It's meant to be fun. Keeping up with petty arguments on wrestling Twitter, seeking out clips on YouTube, or listening to 9-hour podcasts isn't in anyway related to my idea of fun. I get that opinions vary on that sort of stuff, and that's fine. We all have different tastes. But when I want to watch wrestling, it usually comes within a restricted window of time. I don't know how you guys spend all this time watching endless hours of footage, but more power to ya. That just doesn't exist in my world. But this attitude of telling people they MUST watch something or else is beyond silly. People are free to choose what they watch. Whenever I catch a couple hours of free time or a day off work, I'm not going to FORCE myself to search for a bunch of fucking five-minute YouTube videos and spend hours watching them, just so I can maybe later watch, ya know, the actual wrestling show itself. Fuck that noise. I've got precious few hours of free time. I'm going to sit down and watch the wrestling show. It's fucking wrestling. The day it becomes too meta or too high-concept to just sit down and watch it is the day I throw in the towel on my fandom.

Earth X was a bit of a mixed bag, but it was certainly more good than bad. When they're told right and approached with enough forethought, dystopian future stories can be an absolute blast. I love it whenever creators seize the opportunity to open up the floodgates & go all out for these stories. And, in its peak moments, that is precisely why Earth X excels. I almost instantly found myself immersed in this new universe. There's some wonderful world-building at work here. I needed to find out how and why things got to this point for my favorite characters. It isn't all doom & gloom though, which is critical. There's this thematic spark of hope within most of the key characters - buried beneath the surface, but still driving their motivations forward. You see it in a weary, battered Captain America. You see it in a grief-stricken Reed Richards. You see it in a cautious but curious Machine Man. You see it in a surprisingly persistent Loki. You even see it in a worrisome, doting dad Peter Parker. This book actually came out back when I was still regularly reading & collecting comics. So I can't tell you why I never gave it a chance then. But I didn't. I made time for Kingdom Come, but this was glossed over entirely for some reason. Oh well. I'm able to enjoy it for the first time now anyhow. Right away, I started to notice a BUNCH of things in this story that would be used later - often in much better, more opportunistic ways. The Celestial Seed is an awesome concept, and Hickman totally borrows from it with the Galactus Seed gimmick in his amazing Fantastic Four run much, much later. The Terrigen Mist/Plague X, of course, goes on to become the endgame of Thanos' Infinity fight with Black Bolt. And, arguably even more importantly, it's the flashpoint for the whole Inhumans/X-Men war - which also came much, much later. Thor is literally transformed into a female here, but naturally I automatically think of the Jane Foster Thor concept when I see this stuff. The characterization of Reed Richards is TREMENDOUS here. It's second only to his rendition in Hickman's stories, as far as I'm concerned. And that's because Reed is portrayed as this OCD-riddled problem-solver. He's compelled and completely engulfed by his desire to fix EVERYTHING. He must solve EVERYTHING. He must. It's such a rich approach to his character, and it's totally true to the core of his personality. I love it. And, once again, it's something Hickman utilizes in future stories. I don't know for sure, but it definitely feels like Hickman drew some inspiration from Earth X. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he recognized the potential in some of these little gems and just expanded on them once he got the chance. The story itself is a bit jumpy and almost indecisive at times. It takes awhile to really start up & running. But, once it does, it's a really fun ride. Captain America is the heart & soul of this story, in my eyes. I especially dug the reveal of the new Skull. Casting him as a naive, entitled brat was pitch perfect as well. Cap and Skull are literally a clash of the old guard versus the new guard - literally a war of the Heroic Age versus this new age - literally a struggle between freedom of will and absolute oppression. It works on so many levels. Norman Osborn plays a pretty cool part here, too. Positioning him as the President was a neat touch - and, AGAIN, it foreshadows his eventual role as Director of Shield. So there's another element that got picked up later. Oh. And Osborn's death scene was a stroke of genius. I mean, yeah. It's hokey and far--fetched in a sense, but fuck that noise. This is comics. You can't convince me President Norman Osborn should die any other way. OF COURSE the dude should fall from a building, get his leg snagged by the American flag, and have his neck SNAP in the exact same fashion he killed Gwen Stacy. Callbacks, baby! Old man Tony Stark bartering his intellect & his inventions in exchange for political asylum makes sense also. I don't know that I buy the idea of him being so reclusive and away from the spotlight, but I guess you could argue that his Iron Avengers are front & center in the public eye at all times. So there's that. Loki figuring out that Asgard and the Norse Gods are all Celestial constructs was one big, bold, bonkers idea. But I kind of dig it. It's not necessarily something I'd ever want to see validated in actual ongoing Marvel continuity, but it's an imaginative idea nonetheless. The notion that these "gods" are only Gods because humans believe them to be - and thus they take on that form - is this really thought-provoking take on constructive evolution. The grand finale based around Galactus was simply fucking phenomenal. So much good stuff there. Where do I even begin?? Black Bolt uses his insanely loud voice to call for Galactus. Then Galactus arrives & wrecks shop. He doesn't just even the odds. He comes in off the hot tag & CLEANS HOUSE. The Celestials take a powder and retreat like a bunch of scolded dogs. But it gets even better! Because Reed is hiding a secret. This isn't the original Galactus. No. Because the FF actually killed the original Galactus with the Ultimate Nullifier back in the day. He was wiped from existence. However, Reed realized his mistake. He quickly recognized that the absence of Galactus would mean disaster for the universe's entire ecosystem. Galactus is the eternal counterbalance to the Celestials. Without the Eater of Worlds, the Celestials would repopulate and reproduce in excess. And so Reed had to - he NEEDED TO - fix the problem. So he convinced his own son, Franklin, to use his crazy cosmic powers to take up the mantle and literally transform into the universe's new Galactus. What a cool fucking moment. I mean, sure. It's out there. But shit. I loved that revelation. So yeah. I mostly LOVED this story. But I mentioned it being a mixed bag, and most of that is due to the artwork and some of the character designs. The art is okay in places, but it's also downright ugly in others. And I'm not an art guy. I mean, I appreciate great art. I recognize the importance of it. But poor art won't ruin a good story for me. If the plot or the dialogue is on point, I will gladly overlook subpar art. But yeah. The design of Cap feels lazy to me. I definitely prefer Clint Eastwood Cap to this bald, wrinkly, barrel-shaped guy. Plus, he's LITERALLY draped in an American flag. And while that might work for a one-panel visual, ugh. Having the dude show up for battles with hundreds of villains like that is weird. He might as well show up in a bathrobe. He's just an old nude guy with a flag tossed over him like a towel. It's a bizarre choice for a character design, especially when he's the soul of the book. Oh. And the Hulk becoming the green apple Grape Ape or whateverthefuck was equally weird to me. I still don't totally understand what they were going for there. At least Namor got a cool design. Having him condemned to spend his whole life literally burning alive was wicked cool. The Skull just being this pesky Aryan-looking punk worked well, too. I thought it was clever to have him just wear this shirt with a red Punisher logo on it. Simple but effective. A lot of the other designs just felt lackluster, to be honest. I dig Alex Ross, but I wish they would've spent some more time on some of those. There were a few things in the story that didn't totally work for me, too. The Machine Man seemed like an odd choice for the hard push to become the new Watcher. Was Marvel trying to launch a solo series or something for him around this time? It just seems like he was dusted off & shoehorned in here - when the Surfer or even Nova would have fit more naturally in that role. Alicia Masters gaining the power to bring her sculptures to life? Meh. That was some borderline Bendis-level reaching there. It seemed like a plot device born out of pure convenience. And then there's Wolverine being this fat, lethargic, apathetic slob. I guess *maybe* there's a morality tale meant to be there - with him getting everything he'd hoped for in a normal life, married to Jean Grey & being careful what you wish for - but I don't know. Seeing Logan and Jean reduced to Jerry Springer cliches just didn't click for me. Old Man Logan this was not. But yeah. Overall, I had fun reading this one. Glad I scoped it out. Didn't even realize it was later expanded upon to become a full trilogy. My friend tells me the two sequels are mostly disappointing follow-ups though, and the synopsis I've seen doesn't exactly inspire me either. So I may take 'em or leave 'em at some point.

The story I'd always heard was that Busa started wearing the mask once he saw how much it meant for the most over luchadores while he was working in Mexico. Did he start sporting the baggy genie pants before then, or did he simply put the whole outfit together all at once? I've been meaning to get started on that podcast, by the way.

Hayabusa is a good shout. The whole Storm Shadow mask mixed with the Sabu pants is a killer combo. Very cool. Ditto for Shinzaki in the full Hakushi getup. The ink all up & down his body adds an extra layer of awesome, but even just the Raiden gear alone is enough to land him on my list. I feel like early Randy Savage pretty much goes without saying. The headband. The shades. The robe. Dude definitely looked like something special, right away. Mileage always varied for me when he switched to the full bodysuits though. The all gold Championship Mode look was probably his best. But that red & yellow look he wore a lot in WCW was the dirt worst. Macho Man & Sting both suddenly started sporting Hogan's colors, and I get the logic. But holy shit. They looked like a bunch of Ronald McDonalds running around, play-fighting at half-speed on my TV most of the time. It was like a food fight broke out, but everybody lost. Just mustard & ketchup for days.