Laz

I'm seconding the push for Luna. She's impressed me a lot from my late spring indie dives into Prestige, WCPW, Limitless, etc.

Oddly enough, this one doesn't bother me as much after so many hospitals have officially changed their name to something like "St. Anne Medical Center."

The same way you don't see many current filmmakers influenced directly by classic movies from the 30s-60s, but rather taking the ball from those whose work in the 70s-00s was impacted by them, is how future generations of fans and talent will view the 80s/90s workers. So expect a retro wave sometime in the next decade.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA REAL PRO WRESTLING v2

I watched both Dynamite and Collision last week in full, probably my first time watching a full AEW show since the lockdown episodes, and enjoyed the hell out of them overall. There were a few things I wish they'd do (space the promos out a bit more, cut down on match time a little more for the sake of pacing, get rid of Lance Archer), but killer double shot overall. The MGM Music Hall at Fenway is a great venue for wrestling. Someone on another board said it feels like Boston's version of Hammerstein, and I'm inclined to agree. My ratings for the matches, for what they're worth: Mercedes/Athena: ***3/4 Hangman/Alexander: **3/4 Hurt Syndicate/Gates of Agony: ** Ospreay/Takeshita: **1/2 Death Riders/Opps: **3/4 Knight/Archer: N/R (fuck Archer) Alexander & Takeshita/Romero & Ishii: ** Cole/Claudio: **3/4 LFI/job guys: ** Komander/Wayne: **3/4 Mercedes & Harley/Statlander & Hart: ***

That's been my biggest gripe about the indies for about a decade, really. Outside of the pure garbage deathmatch stuff, where's the independent company that's looking to do things in a legitimate different way than what we're getting on prime time TV?

I'm very torn on the ID system. On the one hand, it allows WWE to scout talent better while also allowing that talent to continue plying their trade in different settings. ID talent aren't stuck in front of one audience with one mindset of instructors, and having a variety of styles and talents on the radar can only mean good things for the future. The recent announcement that there will be ID titles that are to float around the indies feels reminiscent of the classic NWA territory system, which is exciting. On the other hand, purely as a fan? I don't particularly care for it. This move means that even more indies and talents will adopt a WWE-inspired style, which is something that I've done my best to avoid for years now. We know the garbage promotions won't care about it, but this feels like it will just limit the talent pool willing to do something different than what you'd see on Monday and Friday nights out of necessity due to the expectation by fans all over of expecting the standard WWE flavor of in-ring action. I'm afraid, and justifiably so, that it's going to stifle creativity in that regard, just as any prior "feeder system" deal has.

From what I've read about how he bucked the norms in the Montreal indie scene around the early 00s, it seems that PCO hasn't given a flying fuck since that last WWF run.

I do believe the qualifier of "if he were standing next to a knee-high bush" was used.

HOODSLAM is the cannabis-crazed Adult Swim version of cartoon wrestling. It was started by a few SoCal indie workers who weren't getting booked by other companies, so they started their own company that emphasized insanity and tomfoolery over anything else. And then became the highest drawing of the SoCal scene. The company has featured a gimmick based on the Angry Video Game Nerd, a feud between characters of the Street Fighter video game series and the HOODSLAM roster, Drugz Bunny, and even a time travel angle. I'm sure you may already be familiar with the Insane Clown Posse, but their company Juggalo Championship Wrestling (formerly Championshit) is now running regular shows as the group has limited their touring due to health issues. This is basement-level humor from people who think a Michael Jackson impersonator is top-tier booking, but there's an energy to it that's undeniable. Older tours and video releases are also pretty widely available, so maybe you can even check out the glory of Fat Fuck Barrel Boy. As the commentator says, "he's a big fat fuck in a fucking barrel, what's not to love?"

As someone who greatly enjoyed Joe Hendry during my 5 year love affair with all things Insane Championship Wrestling? @El-P is more or less accurate in his assessment. He's charismatic and has a unique angle to get himself over, but once he hits the ring he's just another guy, and that was the case even when schmucks like Chris Renfrew and Red Lightning were in the main events. He's not terrible, but take away the songs and Joe Hendry is a midcard act in any company. I decided to give Impact/TNA a more serious watch earlier this year, when the rumors of the TNA return were gestating, and enjoyed it. I tried watching a handful of times since the return of the original branding and all I see are reasons I stopped watching WWE over the past 15 years.

In terms of personal preference? Bryan, Joe, Styles, Punk. In terms of overall importance? Punk, Styles, Bryan, Joe.

I love going through the r/JimCornette sub and trolling on folks that willfully ignore how stupid so many of their arguments are. I don't like AEW, I don't care much for WWE, but it's fun exposing their biases.

Ooooooh, good one. Punk, Joe, and Styles maybe?

Hmmm...just some brief spitfire ideas here. -King of the Indies 2001 leads to ROH in the same way that ECW's demise and JAPW's roster leads to ROH. It's a trifecta thing. RF needed a new cash cow with ECW gone, Gabe still wanted to be in, and they saw in Bryan (and others) what was a direct opposite to the majority of the industry at that time. He wasn't a deathmatch guy like you'd find in CZW or XPW, he wasn't cut out to be a Monday night player, and he had credibility with the who's who of available talent. -ROH changes how matches operate throughout the entire western scene, for better and worse. Bryan was a key player early on but wasn't clicking like Gabe probably wanted him to, so I can't say Bryan offered an insane amount of influence here. The lion's share has to be with LowKi, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, and CM Punk. Bryan has an all-time run from late 2005 to 2008, with just so many amazing matches in that timeframe, but he's not THE REASON to watch. Instrumental in cementing ROH as an alternative and elevating its credibility, but it took him a little while to make it work for him. -It's the WWE run that makes Bryan matter. As much as I love the matches with Nigel and Joe and KENTA and Morishima, it's the prime time portrayal of a nerd, that "B+ player," that makes him matter. He capitalized on the public fallout between Punk and WWE in a big way, where the shoddy booking actually did elevate him. It's through this that the indies go into overdrive, IMO, and that's how we get AEW today. Is Bryan the most influential talent of his generation? I wouldn't necessarily say so. Is he the overall best when it comes to in-ring performance? Yes. Maybe that's also a tally in his favor, because he was a major figurehead for an industry shift toward talent being able to work high quality matches on a regular basis instead of relying solely on the angles and big moments to carry them.