El-P

And so, Danielson is gonna be at the announcing desk on Dynamite, and Bozilla is the fourth woman in the TBS title match ! Have Grado appear on Collision or something, and Micheal Oku and Amira show up on the pre-show and ROH tapings and that's a perfect.

Of course Hey! EW with Thekla is awesome. "See, all I know about Austria is... " "Hitler !" (gotta love she dropped some Falco too)

Well, maybe Tana has some actual power, but Bushiroad got the checks, and Gedo does the booking, so from there, Tana can only do so much. Totally agree House of Torture are like Voodoo Murders/Makai Club in the 2000 : complete unfiltered shit. (EDIT : damn and now I have memories of those VHS tapes of NJPW shows I used to BUY with GOOD MONEY and that had some Makai Club matches on it. Why ? Just WHY ? Talk about some names from the past you never ever want to be reminded of 😁)

The two RevPro show this week-end have some quite interesting matches, both in term of quality and talents involved considering the dynamics of US wrestling. Most notably on Friday you get Micheal Oku (who's been on AEW/ROH shows before), Shibata, Tanahashi (yeah, these two teaming !), Speedball & Zozaya (who has been under WWE's radar and may possibly end up there, which would be a pity because he's way too good) vs Robbie X, Cowboy Way, Hechicero & Kyle Fletcher. On the Saturday show you got Micheal Oku (who has been on AEW/ROH) vs Leon Slater (from TNA, therefore connected with WWE, although I hope he eventually goes where he belongs after his TNA stint) which should be an awesome match BTW, and Mercedes Moné tagging with Kanji & Dani Luna (also from TNA, therefore, pity, etc..., I'd love Mercedes to sell her AEW backstage because I really like Luna). ZSJ vs Zozaya should be quite terrific too.

Takeshita is actually signed to NJPW. He's got a dual contract. Since he's talking about challenging "as soon as possible", possibly he can get a title reign until WK, then maybe drop the title to Tsuji there. Or something. Also, Tanahashi is the president of NJPW like Jack Tunney was the president of the WWF. As far as people leaving, sure, that's one issue. But it was always gonna be an issue. Gedo's shitty booking of the young talents and his over-reliance on the fucking House of Torture is a much bigger issue, really, since it is legit tanking the product.

Riho was 9 when she started, trained by Emi Sakura. So yeah, she's 28 and almost a 20 years vet. And AEW needs to bring her back (she was injured last year).

"What are you talking about, EVIL is over with the domestic crowds !"

I did not watch it because it's just too damn depressing (before they began using Alberto, Triplemania was one of my favorite time of the year because of the sheer mind-fuckness car-crash quality of the thing) but here's Luchablog review : https://thecubsfan.com/cmll/ "These are WWE matches with AAA luchadors (...) WWE fans seemed to like the show. They got an extra WWE show." In one year (or two at max), Triplemania will mostly be WWE guys with no relation whatsoever to what AAA used to be, working basic WWE matches, mark my words. Konnan telling a fan at ringsde to fuck his mother was the only thing Triplemania-like sounding. Rey Rey acknowledging the Alberto chant by saying "I'll bring him, be patient" was certainly "interesting". Triple H called MAGATaker "a driving force" behind AAA. Ponder that for a second or two. (gotta love the fact they saw Mr. Iguana get over with his puppet at the previous show... so they immediately used his hype to make a puppet... for someone else that on the main roster, because of course) Bye bye AAA Lucha Libre Worldwide. This has been a fun (as opposed to, you know, good) ride.

Nigel vs ZSJ in London. What's not to love ? This is truly the best AEW timeline.

If you told me even two months ago that Takeshita would win the G1 and I would not bother to watch, I would not have believed you. But here we are. The irony is that he's actually the right guy, if his dual contract allows him to commit. But the EVIL stuff. Nah, pass.

Yeah, also that. The heavy focus on a David Finlay (with all due respect, I find him to be really good in-ring) all foreign heel faction, calling a brand new stable JUST FIVE GUYS (might as well call themselves "We're generic", made even more terrible, or funny, by the fact they were led by charisma vacuum SANADA), or keeping a United Empire alive after Ospreay left (and giving the lead to *gasp* TJP) are exemples of what makes the mid/undercard pretty uninteresting indeed. They're also resting on the multiplication of titles which has plagued the promotion for years and has only got worse with the TV title being added. Yeah, there's absolutely a feeling of staleness. There was no surprise in the G1, no outsider, no cool veteran from another era... Now that I think of it, it actually could have been even worse. Imagine Jake Lee coming back and getting the push to the top... (*looks around*... hoping Gedo isn't listening)

So on a JCW (the Juggalo promotion of ICP) vs GCW show, Masha Slamovich tagged with 2 Cold Scorpio and... the Great Sasuke. Yes, this actually happened. (haven't watched it yet though, but the intros are already a mindfuck. Like, this is actually real)

Picture me not surprised. The whole "EVIL is popular" is pure copium to distract from the obvious : Gedo's booking sucks. And yeah, I did love G1 last year and the whole ZSJ ascension. It was awesome. And the Goto win this year was a terrific feel-good story too. But apart from those and the Naito wins the previous year, the booking overall has been bad for a while now. The SANADA title reign still baffles me to this day. The House of Torture shit has been going on for 5 years now (the rumor was at one point that it was Dick Togo's influence, if true this guy needs to be fired yesterday).

Him tagging with Ibushi is really cool too. Ibushi is gonna have to hold the tears. Meanwhile, Tom LaRuffa showed up on ROH tapings. Talk about WCW C-show circa 1999 level of random. Last time I checked he was a conspiracy nut. I guess we can't get a French wrestler that's not embarrassing (remember Shanna ? Damn I really liked Shanna until... oh well).

Aww come on, don't be like that. You don't wanna watch an exciting fight between a South African White Supremacist fanboy and the BFF of one of the worst dictator on the planet ? Why making everything political ? People need their entertainment... 😎 And I mean, Helio Gracie was himself part of a Brazilian fascist movement called Integralism. And you had Renzo tweeting motivational quote from Himmler in 2012. So yeah, MMA is *very much*, in essence, fascism compatible (to say the least).

Well, I sure am glad I didn't bother spending hours of G1 watch to end up *there*. And I know it probably means Takeshita winning the G1 (right ? RIGHT ?) so at least WK main event should be awesome, but fuck me. Gotta love the discourse in "american NJPW fans" (*sigh*) about EVIL being super over in Japan and shit, but the dismal drawing power of the promotion in the last few years seems to indicate otherwise. Since he got pushed to and around the main event spot, it's been nothing but a disastrous run both creatively and business wise. And yeah, Covid did a number on them, Japanese economy is bad (yet Stardom is doing quite ok, Sumo is drawing), they lost their biggest native and foreign stars. BUT maybe, just maybe, the House of Torture up and down the cards, no matter how much merch they sell, has been actively hurting the product ? Maybe SANADA was a complete flop as a world champion when better candidates were around ? Maybe the push of the "New Three Musketeers" (who BTW are pretty much all around 30 years old already) has been completely mismanaged ? For the first time since I got back following the current product ten years ago, I'm not gonna bother watching the G1 final (yeah, it will probably a terrific match anyway, but guess what, I have no desire watching even a terrific EVIL match, and there's always the actual risk he might win, and that has go-away heat with me). Ya know, there's an irony about Forbidden Door not looking that much Forbidden Doorish this year when infact, there's not much you wanna get from NJPW anyway right now, apart from a few cool matches that aren't really PPV worthy (I love Taichi and would love having him involved, but he doesn't mean that much if at all to the Western audience). The CMLL partnership has been much better and there's probably a reason why (CMLL being hot as fuck and great, ya know).

NO ! Damnit, read the thread ! 😂 Scotty 2 Hotty is. DDP is still doing the Yoga stuff and is also sharing idiotic MAGA shit on his social medias.

I really wasn't making any point about Scotty 2 Hotty per say (my entire point was about DDP, which I actively care about since I paid for his app and now he's sharing this kind of shit). I ended by "sadly" because, even apart from the fact he indeed happily paraded in an idiotic MAGA rap video, he's been exposed as a raging imbecile for a while, refusing to work with a non-binary wrestler at an indie show and then whining about being "cancelled" because of it. He's a fucking idiot and I have no idea why AEW would employ a guy like him. (and really now, even if we talk pro-wrestling only (see what I did ?), his resume is doing the W.O.R.M. and having a 3* match with Dean Malenko once)

And so Ace Austin is All Elite. Interview with Alicia Atout on social media, confronted by Ricochet. It's been confirmed the guy has signed. Love it. Another of my former TNA favorites from the last past years on AEW ! Great signing. Young, terrific worker, good look to boot. Can go heel or babyface. The hardest part will be to stand out in *that* roster, but he's exactly the kind of talent fit for AEW.

Screw it, I just jumped to the playoffs, I don't have the time. And so, Takeshita and Tsuji going to the semis it is. Takeshita vs ZSJ should be awesome. I have zero interest in watching even one single EVIL match. Don't tell me they are gonna run EVIL vs Tsuji as a final, because that would be a hard pass. Watching Umino vs Tsuji, two things really struck me : Umino, despite being a really good worker, just isn't clicking at all. Maybe there was a compelling story to tell going from the failed Tokyo Dome main event, but it obviously hasn't been told. He's the same old Umino he was last year; also, despite being quite charismatic, Tsuji is not that great of a worker (technically he's probably the lesser of the three with Umino and Uemura) and the difference between him and Takeshita is *huge*. And that would probably be very obvious in a final between those two, despite the fact the match would (will ?) probably be great.

WWE weaponizing TNA to try and get them opposing Dynamite, and Carlos "Dixie" Silva being opened to it is a car wreck waiting to happen.

😂 One hell of a 1-2 punch these two posts.

Yeah, that Cope/Christian thingy has not been handled very well thus far. Doesn't help I have zero attachement to them as a team for obvious reasons. I for one will be glad when all of this is over and done with. And yeah, that match really doesn't look PPV worthy, especially on Forbidden Door when there is already not that much Forbidden Doorish stuff. No idea what Copeland was thinking asking "Is there any hoes in this crowd" into asking a women if she would go with Stokely. Like, WTF man ? 😂 Speaking of which, Ospreay getting in a cage match with the Deathriders (and... the Bucks ?!) next is kinda insane after he told about his injury. And broken Tanahashi being a part of it even more, really. Omega & Ibushi ? Gabe Kidd (returning from injury after he missed the G1) I did not see that one coming, but holy hell. Disrespected Young Bucks is absolutely hilarious. These guys are just genius at this game. HIROMU ! I was halfway expecting/hoping for him. With G1 still running, it was obvious it was gonna be a junior. Despy would have been cool too. The size difference will make for some fun interactions. Did not expect a vignette with Jay-Jay Johanson for Hook, that's for sure. The MJF vs Hangman page promo segment was super compelling. I feel like there's a babyface turn for MJF at the end of the road somewhere.

The MJF vs Averno match wasn't exactly the greatest, as MJF was in full "cheap heat" mode, which is fun to some extent but only works in a place like Arena Mexico. He also took a terrible looking bump out of Averno's second rope spot and seemed frustrated by the finish (probably a miscommunication with the ref). Averno was awesome playing the "he's our rudo" type babyface. Don't get me wrong, a really good and incredibly fun match thanks to the heat. Plus the fact Jon Cruz (and not Serpentico) was there as his translator/manager got a kick out of me. Cruz is the understated great worker of AEW. The Zandokan match should be something. What's crazy is that this nuclear heat was not just for the main event. El Galéon Fantasma vs Neon, Templario & Titan was just as hot, and a great match to boot. El Galéon are just a ridiculously great trio. Los Herederos vs Blue Panther's sons earlier was also terrific. A card with so many big stars missing and they put on such a great night with insane heat is telling of how hot CMLL is right now. As the other guy said, enjoy it while its last. This week-end is kinda crazy too, as they are loading up the cards opposing NXT Mexico's Triplemania.

An embarrassing MAGA rapper, basically. A few months ago there was this hilariously horrible track called "Can't Cancel all of Us" (because of course) and the video had cameos from Enzo Amore (because of course), Lacey Evans (I'm so shocked, really) and Scotty 2 Hotty (who yes, still works as an agent in AEW sadly).