strobogo

Sucks that the Sasha thing fell pretty flat in all aspects. The name is very TNA meme, promo style did not translate at all, and the move was botched. Personally, the thing that was the biggest disappointment to me was that the match with Kairi is going to be in the US. I have absolutely zero interest in any of the US based NJ shows and did have interest in seeing Sasha go full joshi in Japan.

Raven's promos actually fucking suck. ECW and WCW. I will never understand how he got the reputation as this great promo/psychology guy.

I think "fans thought it was real" in other eras is hella overstated. There are newspaper articles going back to the late 1800s/early 1900s talking about the worked nature of pro wrestling. There's no way you can watch stuff from the 40s/50s and truly believe the audiences thought it was 100% real athletic competition. Most of that kind of talk is from old timers gassing themselves up in later eras than the Thesz era anyway. And on the legit whilst also being entertaining tip, there are a ton of Lou Thesz spots that are still regularly done all the way up to 2023, including comedy and high spots.

Vince staging a hostile takeover angle of his own company in real life out of spite is incredible lmao

Coming back to sell. Which I think he could do without resuming leadership of actual on screen stuff.

AAA looks way more foolish than TK in that situation

Finished the show and still felt quite underwhelmed. Ospreay/Omega was something. Certainly not the match I expected, but quite interesting. I do feel like I've seen this story a few times before, though. Same with Okada/White. Really just feels like a reset to right before the pandemic/AEW formation.

Any comparison to WCW cutting Austin is silly because while it was a bad call on its face, no one could have predicted Austin to become such a singular ultrastar. That said, Swerve is definitely a very unique talent that any company would be crazy to let go. Everything he does is so singularly him, he's one of the few guys that are legit cool in a crossover way.

Double J?

Watched up to Anderson/Tama and the show has been hella underwhelming. Have to imagine the double main will pick up, but up to this point in the show its just as cold as 2020-2021 NJPW to me.

But imagine if White beats Okada and the video package is from Chris Jericho

I want to see Bryan vs Darby Bryan vs OC Bryan vs Joey Samoey in 2023 Bryan vs Hook Bryan vs Penta Bryan vs Fenix Bryan vs Bandido Bryan vs The Butcher Bryan vs Brody King Bryan vs both Martin bois Bryan vs Jeff Jarrett Bryan vs Jungle Boy Bryan vs Keith Lee Bryan vs Swerve Bryan vs Takeshita Bryan vs Hobbs Bryan vs Ricky Bryan vs Rush Bryan vs Sting Bryan vs Jade

I think I'm actually more interested in Bryan doing random 15 minute matches with no stakes against guys he's never worked because the random talent he can work with in AEW is truly wild.

I watched so little outside of AEW/WWE PPVs and the ROH PPVs. I think I watched WK but I'm not positive and I don't think I watched any NJ the rest of the year. The matches that stand out in my mind are the Cody/Rollins HIAC, Sheamus/Gunther, all the FTR/Briscoes. I'm sure there were a ton of great matches on AEW tv that I watched and just can not recall. Sami vs Knoxville is a top contender, though.

Viewing it as a cause and effect that they didn't get their Bryan WK dream match that was never announced, teased, or hinted at in any way whatsoever by either company or any talent, because TK just had to book Bryan vs Nese for Seattle is silly to begin with.

No one should have thought Bryan was going to be at WK if there was no video sent in by the end of any of the November shows. If you're mad about Bryan being "kept" from WK when it is clear he was never booked in any way for it, I dunno what to tell you.

I'm almost positive JJ popped up once or twice as part of a mass of agents

There aren't a lot of guys that Savage didn't make bring their A games because you are going to look real dumb taking it easy while Savage is out there like a maniac.

Well that's fucking dumb. It was also dumb 30-40 years ago, but entirely stupid today.

It's almost 2023, who the fuck cares if a guy from one promotion pins a guy from another promotion while heading to another promotion?

I would definitely take Jericho in AEW over Hollywood Hogan in WCW. Everything Hogan was just awful in 1997/1998, promos were dogshit, ring work was the most phony/hokey/embarrassing/boring trash. And being paired with guys who certainly were not going to be carrying him like Piper, Luger, Giant, Warrior, and so on. Jericho at least has guys around him and dance partners that could drag him to decent stuff if he's having a good night. There are certainly similarities but even as a pretty long time bleeeh reaction to Jericho haver, I wouldn't go as far to say he's the same as Hogan in WCW.

How on earth would a promoter in Mexico be a huge fan of Jake Roberts but have never even heard of Terry Funk?

My issue with spooky is shit is that it's just corny now. Guys doing their spooky skullz and antlers and blooooood stuff has been a punch line in the culture for like 20+ years now. It isn't Kevin Sullivan in the 80s with Satanic Panic going around. House of Black would be spookier in the current zeitgeist as demon Democrats trying to get various members of the roster to commit voter fraud (and molest/sacrifice children, obv, but keep it in the background). Although I'd rather have HOB spooky fucks than whatever the C grade horror movie garbage Bray Wyatt has been doing the past 5 years.

I believe Peacock has a pretty significantly higher bitrate than the Network had.

He just gets a new nickname or catchphrase every 3 months and draws attention to "reinventing himself". Still lolling when I think about his NJ run where he just took his opponent's name/look and called it a day. Outside of literally a handful of months, Jericho has been stale and tired since 2002.