Dav'oh

After being on the WrestleMania pre-show vs the Miz some years ago, Wade Barrett gave an interview to PowerSlam saying the boys working PPV pre-shows didn't think it was a demotion, and in fact considered it a great honour to be in the pre-show, because the company was trusting you to bring in those last-minute buys. I hope DB, Big E, Cesaro and crew know how highly they must be regarded. (Yes, Wade's interview was vomitous as a whole.)

I actually like the explanation he once gave, I can't remember where or when, whereby 5 stars was a top-three MOTYC and 4.5 was top-ten. I think 4 stars was "really fucking good" (paraphrasing there). Seems about right to me. It puts a theoretical handbrake on tossing out stars like rice at a wedding.

Well that last half-hour was a whimper. I guess they're going to go with Drew effectively beating four men at TLC.

That Randy/Bray segment was the first time this episode that I thought I should be doing something better with my time on this beautiful 30C/86F Tuesday afternoon (Melbourne time).

That would been my guess, but I wasn't sure if your Strongbow, Jerry Valiant, Swede Hansen, Ray Stevens, Morales types shared a dressing room. Rene Goulet and Garea I know were there forever.

Do Miz 'n Morrison fall under "Nostalgia Act" or "Creative Bankruptcy"? Morrison looked to have horribly mistimed his bump offa the Pounce. Like he jumped too early and Lee barely grazed him.

Can't help but think Lana and Nia would be on AEW Dark having try-out matches and gaining experience if they were in the "pissant" company; certainly not part of a featured main-roster feud.

So of course AJ (who I like) and Seamus (who I don't dislike) get twenty minutes, but Taue/Akiyama is jip and clipped down to six minutes.... Has the average age of the WWE roster ever been higher? I don't expect anyone to quantify that, and I'm not even including Undi, Goldie, Big Show and part-timers, but here's MVP, Lashley and Shelton, following AJ and Seamus to further the impression. *And here comes Jeff Hardy! Old-Timer's Appreciation Night!

...and they're starting with attempted comedy and sub-Poffo poetry. Meanwhile, my Facebook feed is offering me Taue vs Akiyama CC 1999, and they're two workers I really need to see more of.

I tap out reading RAW recaps. Admittedly, there's very few (if any) good recappers out there, but it's not just the prose that puts me off. Anyway, I'm going to see if I've got three hours of masochism in me and try go the distance on a 2020 episode of RAW.

I needed that match. A live, enthusiastic crowd, excellent work for the most part, no tiresome commentary (I had the Japanese commentary, and they might all be Art Donovan for all I know but it was all greek to me, so...), some great camerawork and Hiromu's perennially awesome tights. Just when I started figuratively checking my watch, they kicked it up a gear and a good time was had by all.

Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, C.S. I should have included, "unfortunately", or some other word indicating if not condemnation, then at least a shaking of the head and a sideways "each to their own". Angelo Dawkins looks terrible in his version of Ohno's "awful excuse for gear". I don't think Ohno had spandex leggings or a Bjorn Borg headband, though, so Dawkins probably has him beat.

Couldn't Mox have just pinned him, THEN gotten his justice? It paints him as stupid, which goes against how they've been portraying him. Also, Mox isn't athletic enough to be doing a match full of sequences with Kenny.

And anything that's been near Lana's crotch is going to re-sale for many times its purchase price, so she'll always have a bus ticket home and fifty cents for a phone call.

I read recently that people who sleep on the pavement for five nights for the new iPhone/Pauly Shore movie/Aqua album aren't fans of iPhones/Paulie Shore/Aqua. They're fans of sleeping on the pavement for five nights, because that's what "superfans" do. They're actually fans of fandom itself, and into being the biggest fan they can be - the iPhone is incidental; it could be anything. Ryder being fool enough to pay ten grand for an $8.99 item reeks of this superfandom to mine nose. He's not a fan of wrestling dolls - he's a fan of collecting wrestling dolls. And hey, he couldn't be the best in his chosen field, so why not try and be the "best" at something which requires no skill?

My bad, I meant that those guys were believable and hard-hitting in general, so her patently illogical and flimsy finisher should stick out like dog's bollocks on a site where Stan's work is highly respected. I don't know, but if you remove the adjective I'd say the answer is "every day of her wrestling life". Her bumping is athletic (unless you think, fairly or not, that gravity is doing most of the work )

Sasha's finishing move kills her for me, and I'm surprised there's so much love for her here, the home of Jumbo and Stan and Ikeda.. With the Bank Statement, ALL FOUR of her opponent's limbs are FREE. She weighs less than my balls (slight exaggeration, yes) and people act like it's an inescapable hold. She's also one of those wrestlers who can't run properly, like Cena and Moxley. No shame in that, we're built for walking, not running - even Usain Bolt needs a running coach - but when old and clunky Natalya is a better sprinter than you, maybe you're not the athlete you think you are.

I'm sure Ed Lock has a vote and Libnan Ayoub is a fantastic researcher, but the problem is that the pro-wrestling scene died here in 1978 when World Championship Wrestling shut down. And by "died" I do mean "died" - when it came time for me to become a pro-wrestler (in Melbourne) in 1993, Sydney was running a show every month or three (bit hazy on that), and that was all. So there was work for what, a dozen or so pro-wrestlers here. I'm pretty sure that in 1993, when a lady started a promotion in Melbourne, I became Australia's only pure jobber * Despite the boom in live, local wrestling over the last decade or so with feds popping up everywhere, any WON HoF candidates from Australia are going to be from before 1978 (far too soon for the Rhea Ripleys and Robbie Eagles' et al of this generation), which brings us back to Ed and Libnan - to be an expert on Australian graps, you need to have lived through it and/or done copious amounts of research, and those folk are hard to come by (there's also the Aussie Posse at Kayfabe or Classics who are highly knowledgable). Can someone tell me if Jim Barnett is in the HoF, and if so was he in the Rest of the World category? *I wear that as a slightly-perverse badge of honour

Supremely gifted, charismatic and beloved, with massive drug problems leading to a heart explosion? Not afraid to lie cheat steal? Hmmmm......

I can and do watch early Hogan, I can watch Benoit, I've caught up on some Invader, I can watch Austin, been watching Memphis Lawler (and Dundee) over lockdown - Jim Cornette is small potatoes. He's clearly ignorant of his casual racism, which, like all racism, is a matter of educating people, so he's not irredeemable on that front. I like listening to him - I haven't found anyone "smarter" than him. I don't need his analysis of modern wrestling, I've got mine own eyes for that. I doubt he gives two craps about Kenny once the microphones are turned off. I can't see Jim laying on a headshrinker's couch detailing the emotional distress My Shadow and Me continues to cause him, nor do I believe his quack has prescribed him benzos to deal with Young Bucks-induced anxiety. I'm sure he believes what he says, but Jimbo's wrestling gimmick was "colourful, annoying and over-excitable" so of course he's going to keep being that persona on-air.

How did Tanahashi's "My Dad is a Heel Pro-Wrestler" go at the box-office? Also, are the Tiger Mask comics still a going concern (I know Ibushi played some updated version of it)? If so, would Sayama be more relevant than Rikidozan - not relevant in general, just "more relevant" than Riki - to modern Japanese culture?

In a nice dovetailing of my most recent posts, I couldn't go past Beers on Brody in the 12th at Cranbourne (he saluted). Further winning bets on Rousey (beating home Weasel) and Francesca's Lola (I maintain that the New Day were still dying in the arse before the introduction of Francesca), for the usual amount covered my losing bets on Dandy Place, Dusty Monelli and Windy Winston (I thought the British Bulldogs were the duck's guts as a young 'un).

Holy Demon Lager, for mine. He was "mesmerised" by the Kobashi/Sasaki chop exchange I linked him to (I know it gets grief, but I had my reasons) and he loved how "understated" they were compared to the "WWF drama queens" of his youth, so an Orange Crush gin might not be too far away.

Matt Jones <[email protected]> 6:27 PM (5 hours ago) to me If only it was ! That would be a much cooler story that the real one….Who was your pick? I’m loving the name Kenta Kobashi Matt Matt Jones Co-Founder & Brand Director

Yes, I have e-mailed them asking about the provenance of their name https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine/four-pillars-wins-best-gin-distillery-two-years-running-20201119-p56g4y "Four Pillars has been named the International Gin Producer of the Year for the second year running at the 51st International Wine and Spirits Competition."