Dav'oh

I've mentioned it before, but some people are fans of being fans. The fandom itself is the draw, the excitement; the actual product is incidental.

Plus, one was a going-out-of business firesale, shop-soiled and damaged goods, to be stripped of its assets, vanquished and buried in a lead-lined box. The other is a going concern at the height of its powers.

He's an enthusiastic wrestling mind, a well-funded wrestling mind, a kid-in-a-candy-store wrestling mind, possibly a chemically-fuelled wrestling mind, a romantic wrestling mind. But it's his fourth(?) year - he's still a puppy. Hopefully he grows into his feet.

Nah. What's the point of being a wrestling fan if you don't mark out?

So, Vince selling: is that the end of the Empire? And does Vince bailing mean Tony K won the "war"? I'd answer "yes" to both.

Don't want to derail the Superstar thread, but is "legacy" a euphemism for "ushered in the steroid era"? The list of people he "influenced" includes Hogan, Ventura, Steiner - no strangers to the syringe.

Wrestlers have always been mercenaries. Sami and KO were hiding in plain sight.

Danielson vs McGuinness? May as well make it a three-way with Shibata and have Chris Nowinski as special guest referee.

Thank-you. Roaddogg: Wins and losses don't matter. PWO: Fuck off Roaddogg Dav'oh: Wrestlers shouldn't be losing to septuagenarians or gimp-ass celebrities PWO: but but but but but but Wins and losses do matter, especially who you lose to and who you beat.

That might be a self-fulfilling prophesy, though. Strowman and Wardlow got over squashing schmoes (iirc. I've got a memory like a sieve). Apart from them, it's like they don't even try, due to the accepted wisdom of "fans only want to see star vs star". Fans want to see new stars made, too, and would happily accept Dusty Rhodes - Pizza Delivery guy type vignettes and some fun squashes, in the name of making said new stars.

Vignettes and squashes. It's so simple.

Man their upper card is so fucking old. Nine of the tourny wrestlers are over forty, five are 45+. Brock's 45, Sami/KO/Roman all nudging 40.

Why couldn't it be Scott Keith, dammit? I've seen comments on that feeling when DEAN liked one of your posts; for me, it was like the Pope blessing you or an approving nod from a Godfather. DEAN's passing hit me harder than any recent worker deaths, because DEAN meant more to wrestling than any one worker, in his own way. If someone here told me they've never used a TILDEBANG~! I'd be disinclined to believe them. RIP big man, "The friend you never met". You changed my wrestling world for the better.

Didn't know that, thanks. So my next thoughts were can Darby (not should Darby) work heel if needed? Would AEW fans ever embrace him as a heel? Has he done it before? Like I said, I find him and his potential the most interesting of the four. I'm not against throwing their Lions (I see them as Young Lions rather than Pillars) in the main event. I'm sure they've got an excellent match laid out, it's whether they can time and execute it. They've all got something to prove.

We analyse it in written form but it's a (tele)visual medium and Starks doesn't have a "top-guy look". Perry's look is "top fuckboy babyface", Guevara "third-top shiteating heel". Darby has a unique look and style and appeal and is the interesting one, to me. He can't keep doing Jeff Hardy things to his body without Jeff Hardy pharmaceuticals (light schedule notwithstanding) but I don't know if he can do any style other than "breakneck" nor if he'd be as over if he ever has to curb his...enthusiasm.

Are under-the-radar wrestling movies ok? The Legend of Baron Toa (2020). "In this Kiwi action-comedy, a Tongan entrepreneur returns to his old neighbourhood and inadvertently causes the theft of his late father’s valued pro wrestling title belt. Failing to retrieve it, his only choice is to embrace his father's legacy." 6.4 stars from IMDb. Free if you download torrents, like I'm about to. This reviewer was enthusiastic: "like a bombastic graphic novel brought roaring to cinematic life, where every punch, beat and quotable piece of dialogue is a certified haymaker." We'll see...

Terrible news. Rippa just posted what none of us wanted to read.

It's like for every Curt Hennig there's three Joe Hennigs. My cursory headcheck reckons it's more miss than hit. And, "oh, Hiromu!" Running flat-back bumps on the concrete are not your friend, my friend.

Which wrestlers, industry-wide, are/were better than their (actual) dads? viz a viz Tama vs Finlay; I might be able to make a case for Tama, not for Finlay. Mox returns at Dominion, teaming with Shota and (X) vs Ishii, Okada, Tana.

As resident PWOet Lariat, I should write a Dontaku Haiku but it's a pretty underwhelming card. Usual suspects in the early multi-men, then KENTA vs Hikuleo (don't mind KENTA but pass), Sabre vs Cobb (BINGO! I'm all about this shit), I wish the sorta dreamteam of Okada/Tana/Ishii had someone better than Narita, Despy and Suzuki, Tonga vs Finlay will be solid but charisma-less, and SANADA/Hiromu is a foregone conclusion. I'll have it on in the background (7pm, here), but I won't be offering my usual, insightful, in-depth analysis. Or haikus.

I knew he'd had health problems but I had no idea of the severity. An icon of the online community with his own, inimitable style. Best wishes to DEAN for a full recovery.

I call this one, "FUCK YOU BILLY JOEL AND YOUR PISSY LITTLE SONG ". I hope you like it. Buddy Rogers, MSG, Chicago Wrestling on TV, Anti-Trust, French Catch, Ted the Wrestling Bear. Pat O'Connor, Dory Dixon, families 'round the television, Amarillo, Honololu, Gorgeous George's Hair. Kangaroos, Lou Thesz, Argentine Titanes, Verne Gagne, Dick the Bruiser, every match a double-juicer. Sammartino, Brylcream, Moolah is the new Queen, Ed Kowalski, Reg Lisowski, Hargitay and proto-cruisers. Chorus chorus chorus, Chorus chorus, c-c-c-c-chorus Chorus chorus chorus Chorus chorus, c-c-c-c-chorus Krusher Khrushchev, Ernie Roth, Fritz von Erich, Malenko(v), St. Louis Chase, Harley Race, Mythologies by Barthes. Batman, Wolfman, Arachnaman, Real Man's Man, Best-out-of-three falls, barefoot Rocca, Perez. Graham Brothers, Sgt. Slaughter, Liberace, Cyndi Lauper, Moondogs, Missing Links, Succession of Memphis Kings. Pedro, Toronto, Superstar, Bobo, Bertha Faye, HBK, Niko-lai Volkoff sings. Chorus chorus chorus, Chorus chorus, c-c-c-c-chorus Chorus chorus chorus Chorus chorus, c-c-c-c-chorus Holy Fuck. There's like twenty-five verses. I'm out.

I watched the Philly match and that was 98% crowd, 2% punch kick choke nutshots. I've seen good/great matches in front of dead crowds, but if you took away the audience this match wouldn't be one of them. The steroid world owes a lot to guinea pigs trailblazers like Putski, for certain.

I shudder to think of where Rhea would be without this Judgment Day run. It's been a godsend for her.

Trying to work out if the boos for Dom are panto/good fun, fabled "X-Pac heat" or genuine good old-fashioned bile and hate.