Embrodak

I mean I think this is totally fair. Bret and HBK couldn’t even do an iron man match that has stood the test of time, at least going by most “best matches of all time” lists. I will say that a 60-minute iron man match is, on paper, a conceptually HORRIBLE idea for any AEW PPV as long as they insist on having such long fucking PPVs. Danielson could wrestle a newly resurrected Macho Man and not get it over in light of all the burnout those crowds undergo by any main event match. The thing that worked in the tag title match finish btw was that the referees were already out there to throw out Satnam and Daivari, so it wasn’t a total contrivance. It’s a shame that AEW didn’t actually go the “sports based presentation” route, there is genuine creativity that flowers forth from having a consistent set of rules and protocols. The crowd was infinitely hotter for that than they were for yet another JAS beat down. (BTW, Does Aubrey usually wear that much eyeshadow? It was genuinely distractingly much, for me, and I’ve never noticed it on her before.)

Gotta say, the fact that every promotion has been scrambling to get their titles of FTR all at once at a minimum suggests that FTR is playing hardball with Tony Khan, whatever Dax is saying on his podcast. I guess it could just be booking happenstance, but I’m skeptical.

MJF had a MOTY candidate with Darby, a comparably experienced worker, he’s fine.

Caught some Impact when I was visiting my dad for Xmas, and whatever else one might say about it, their women’s division is a lot better presented than AEW’s, despite having worse performers overall.

Darby is better than Wardlow, but blowing the nuclear over-ness that Wardlow had when he beat MJF is a fucking crime nonetheless.

Yeah but do you really think Danielson can’t make it work? Dude got a near perfect match out of Bray fucking Wyatt. I know hating on MJF is the modus operandi of this board, but there is absolutely nothing in his history that indicates that he can’t follow a vet like Danielson to a great result.

Was that the first Corny name drop on-screen?

Bland I just completely disagree with, he’s given me tons of entertainment over the years. Bland to me is Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, the Street Profits, Jay Lethal is perfectly acceptable as a performer. Sex pest I get, though I don’t think the claims against him were nearly as damning as most of the #SpeakingOut stuff if I’m remembering them correctly, but that’s not an indictment of him as a performer.

I have zero clue why Lethal, who is good to great at every aspect of wrestling, has such dedicated haters. Jarrett I at least get, though I truly think he’s the kind of guy who would have been a star if he’d come up ten or twenty years earlier, but Lethal? TNA must truly have an infinite stink for some people.

I don’t actually have an issue with the ending being messy like that, it was better-done than most AEW clusterfucks.

Lethal and Jarrett are both excellent, I have no issue with it.

I don’t think AEW has much of a wellness policy. Maybe a well drink policy based on Jericho’s physique.

The Acclaimed are working too much like heels so far.

Moxley has so much more charisma than Page it’s crazy. And I don’t even like Moxley.

Did Moxley drop multiple F bombs there? My stream juddered like crazy.

I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think charity is anything other than propaganda for the bourgeoisie *as a class, on the whole*, but I also think you drive yourself crazy trying to map group incentives onto individual motivations because they just don’t line up properly.

Charity is bullshit altogether, but it’s what we have to address social problems, unfortunately. I don’t think Jericho is especially cynical, but I do think that it behooves us to understand that it’s not an accident that charitable donations are made by policy to align with the material self-interest of the wealthy. Jericho is not mega-rich nor a corporation, though. He’s making those donations on his phone, possibly drunk (Chrus Jericho is certainly a drunk dialing-type mistake). There’s no need to overthink it.

*Hulk Hogan Chronology Intensifies*

See I think Theory is fantastically talented, good to great at basically every aspect of pro wrestling at a very young age. There are tons of Trips guys that I don’t get, but Theory has basically everything you could want.

I have a feeling I know which people in the locker room you have some contact with, if you do indeed have contact.

What if it’s Tyrus

I’d really like to see Bryan vs Jarrett, but Jarrett unfortunately had instant go-away heat with the AEW crowd.

I like Solo, but I’d prefer Jacob Fatu in the role. Solo is just such a smol bean.

The fact that the new Vince book has a positive plug from Rick Perlstein has my antennae up.

Bryan has earned my faith that he can wrestle a “good match”, but I think he’s stuck in an early 2000s mindset where he’s just interested in how far he can push that, conceptually. The market is glutted with “good matches”, what’s at a premium these days are matches that either have real stakes or that are between genuine stars. Not everyone can successfully do the latter two, but Danielson can.