El-P

Meanwhile, apparently Zayda Steel was at Collision and will eventually appear on ROH. Interesting considering she left the WWEID nonsense of her own. She was a fun character in MLW a while back. Still green as grass from in-ring standpoint when I saw her in Marigold last year (the very few I've watched of that promotion) but definitely someone I don't mind having on my weekly wrestling regime.

This was the best match possible. All this nonsense fake hype about Nakamura was for naught, obviously. The match would have *sucked* too (I've seen Nakamura vs Mutah a few years ago, Nak looked completely washed). At this point, they are going to sell out the Dome. Time to make your new big star in Tsuji too I guess.

I did not expect Saori Anou to get the big match (I really am not following Stardom closely at all), but I sure glad she is. She's been my favorite performer in the promotion for a while now. And then Saya vs Syuri at the (probably) sold out WK Dome show ? Damn.

AEW introducing *another* title : yawn. Hurt Syndicate immediately being involved with it : MAJOR FUCKING YAWN. Funny how they consistently have been about the worst thing in the promotion for a year now. Can we get Ricochet out of this vortex of suck already ? Yeah, it apparently "hurts their brand". 😂 What is their brand exactly ? "Two dumb bitch burning bridges" ? Nixon was complaining months ago about not getting booking. She sure not gonna get much more after pulling out that shit, nowhere in any major promotion anyway. And her MAGA/TERF girlfriend is someone I'm glad I won't have to watch. Honestly, there will come a point where TK is just not gonna even bother with ex WWE people at all (and actually this kind of booking is weeding out the stupid pretty good). Which really sucks for anyone being employed by WWE, because that is a stain that could prevent you from even getting a look from AEW. What a bunch of geniuses, really. Anywoo. The stip for Fletcher/ Briscoe is great, because that way *anything* really can happen. I saw it coming too as it was happening, Stardom classic stip just popped into me head, picturing Mark as SLK or something. Harley & Willow winning was kinda "predictable" after last week, also I didn't expected Mercedes to work twice at the PPV. Tournament is more unpredictable now too, as Willow/Harley are a good fit for first champs too, just as Tony/Mina for obvious reasons. And Sister of Sins could also be considered now (although I very much doubt they will win). I hope they don't forget about that Mercedes/Athena team though, because there's way too much potential for great shit to do. Oh yeah, heels FTR with Stoke are just some of the best stuff they ever did in AEW. I love Brodido, but them as anchors of the division would be pretty awesome.

Speaking of early 90's WCW cheese, that last segment of Dynamite was certainly a fun twist on this. Not too sure what the point of the four way was though, apart from making you want to see a Ricochet vs Hangman match that is not coming (for now ?). The Blodd & Guts match will most probably be terrific, but I'm not crazy about having it the WWE way where two gimmick matches happen on the same show just because. It makes it non-organic, and honestly now the women Blood & Guts will get overshadowed. Oh well. 4-way tag team was awesome. Right team won. Sister of Sins winning is interesting, as I thought they were going for Moné & Athena in the finals, but that would mean heels vs heels in the semi, which of course they could do. Sucks for Penelope though, I was looking forward to see her in B&G. Okada vs Takeshita is gonna be a billion stars, plus a few more if they do it at the Tokyo Dome.

Mistico vs Austin Aries is probably the match no one had on their bingo card this year, and of course it had to happen in MLW because where else would Austin Aries work ? Thing is, even at 47, and despite basically vanishing from consciousness since being a complete idiot during the pandemic, that douchebag is still a great promo and a great worker. And Mistico be like "yeah, I'm totally gonna take TWO death valley drivers on the apron on an MLW show" like he's Sabu or Terry Funk. That guy has to be the wrestler of the year, all things considered. He also busted out a brainbuster because why not. MLW still is basically "CMLL US", as far as the good stuff goes. And then you get shit like Matt Riddle & Krüle vs Dikaj and Bishop Dyers (TAFKA Baron Corbin), which I'm absolutely not watching (I have at least 3 good reasons not to) and WCW circa 1991 cheese (they even re-did the Chambers of Horror match last month, involving CW Anderson's old ass). What an oddity of a promotion. Oh, Killer Kross is showing up next month. All of this endless talks and astroturfing to end up in a match vs Matt fucking Riddle in MLW. Court Bauer makes William Corgan cry, he's a better carny.

A pretty good match bewteen Iyo and Mayu can only been considered as a major disappointment. Meltzer mentionned the match was basically a showcase for Iyo, and Mayu came looking secondary (which is pretty much textbook WWE style "collaboration"). I saw that Mirai already left the promotion too. Well, so much for the forced push she received in Stardom when Rossy was still booking. That show had the daughter of Yumi Fukawa vs the daughter of Michiko Ohmukai, which makes me feel old af. I wonder if "daughter of Chama" just no-sold a bunch of shit before winning (like her mother would, ya know, old ARSION ref here).

Sorry, I didn't notice this before. Yup there is: Still catching up on stuff, just watched that AZM vs Saya Kamitani from Korakuen Hall last month. Damn, if I did not know the results, there's two occasions where I would have actually believed AZM was winning that one. Crazy good match.

Words of a wise man here...

Well, they had her stand there when they announced they bought AAA. She looked elated too (well, about as much as standing all dressed up for the announcing of Bloodmoney-Mania). Hey, who's that jolly fellow next to her ? (BTW, I don't see any outrage and fiery #freeAndrade campaign from the folks who were horrified by the inhumane treatment of Rey Fénix, you know, when he was *paid* to sit at home for a few months. These people are awfully quiet for some reasons)

TNA is hilarious. After that gaslighting of a show, they do not have a TV episode before sometime in November. That'll be almost a month after their biggest show of the year and crowning of a new champ without any new TV. Brilliant.

Well, it's not like he even *could*, since Vaquer actually have a restraining order against La Hiedra. 😄 That's how bad it got.

Ok, that was inexcusable, I reckon. Shame on me ! Yeah, the few I've seen of her she seems to be pretty good, and with a good look/character. She's been paired with the GYV on ROH, inexplicably (I mean, fo no reason they are doing 6 person tags seemingly just for this trio to be pushed as an act), but they are kinda clicking together.

At this point I'm convinced Pac is wearing a singlet only to be able to drop the straps and make showing his ridiculous body a spot in itself. Ace Austin has a fiery babyface has potential, he was getting over despite not being around that much since being signed. Hopefully he doesn't get lost in the shuffle, he's too good for that. I had no idea who those persons where, so there. It's definitely a different, much more cautious approach to signing ex-WWE people, as showed also by how some have popped up on ROH (That Redhead English Girl whose name I don't remember now). As the year is gonna come to a close in two months, it has to be said how the shows have been ridiculously consistant this year, apart from the very first few weeks with the gallery of old guys, a lull in the Deathrider storyline also at the beginning of the year (especially the entire Copeland feud until the hardcore match) and of course the HS (speaking of which, it's amazing how working with FT has rebuilt JetSpeed, and thankfully). Overall, it pretty much has been the top tier year in AEW's history, really, in term of consistency. And with Blood & Guts and the CC coming up, I can say I'm very much looking forward to the next and last two months of 2025.

I dunno. Seems like they already have accepted the fact tag matches are done under american rules already. Remember the "we are gonna present authentic lucha libre" ? The fact La Hiedra, Samson and Forastero worked that event is interesting for sure though...

And the women Grand Prix was indeed, tons of fun. This really has been the year of CMLL. Enjoy it while you can.

The Mania 42 poster reveal is fucking hilarious. MAGA. Democrats for Trump. MAGA actually working with the government. MAGA. Sex predator. CM "sorry if I offended your regime your Excellency" Punk. The fact Triple H is at the center makes it even more hilarious. Like, how fucking insecure is this guy, really ? Not like it wasn't obvious to anyone who had followed his entire career, but still. (women ? what is that ?)

Mercedes Moné vs Persephone was probably the best women match ever happening in Arena Mexico. And one hell of a main event for what was overall a pretty good card. India Sioux vs Skadi was also really good, and Skadi is someone who could certainly be something special with more reps. I could see her in Japan making waves, especially with the new Stardom/CMLL partnership just announced. The 6-women involving all mexican women was also pretty good actually. No Tessa on the show, despite her just making a comeback to the promotion. The Grand Prix should be tons of fun.

I agree it's absolutely an overdone trope, in general (much like the contract signing). But that one was excellent, from Moné Puttet crashing the party to Moné getting the cake and then Athena showing up, setting up their tag team. BTW, Moné & Athena vs Toni & Mina as a final would fuck. Any result works, of course Moné being the first AEW tag-team champ would be kinda poetic justice (and break more deficient brains). That main event also. Okada is still the master. He's just incredible to watch when he's in "ok, this match is gonna be great" mode. The timing, the facial expressions, the set-ups, everything. And Bandido looks more and more like someone who can be that latino crossover babyface world champ. No idea if TK would go in that direction, but Bandido has it more than anyone else than came before

I mean, they HAVE TO at this point. No idea how they'll handle it, but she's having the stint of her career right now. And she doesn't need to do that, going to Poland or Denmark in obscure indies to work with some women who would most probably never would have worked with her ever. When you hear about all those promoters saying how she has been nothing but good to them and their roster (look at that ridiculous crowd for an indie show in Winnipeg), and then contrast with the absolute hate she's receiving online from the worst people (hi Dutch Mantel, ya old sack o' shit, to quote Brody King). She absolutely broke people's "brain" doing this. She just main-evented the biggest (apparently) all women show in forever anywhere in Arena Mexico last week. And damn, that angle this week. 😄

I'm just so behind on whatever joshi I wanna watch. That Unagi Sayaka vs Minoru Suzuki match was a ride though. (see what I did ?). Heel surely is a one kind of a character. She certainly found a way to make her post-Stardom career interesting, to say the least.

For whatever reasons I was thinking about the Canal + version of the WWF shows, which obviously would not have been on the English speaking channel anyway, so yeah. Yeah, it wasn't a preview at all. The first show on TF1 in November 1991 was sold as "the big comeback of catch on TF1". Which was of course a laughable idea. It was part of the Canal + strategy to import some american entertainment that had not been seen in France before. I dunno when they started airing the NBA, but it was a "big" deal (under quotation because Canal's paid audience was not that big, which is also one reason pro-wrestling never became big in France until the 2000's when it moved onto the TNT). They also imported the american talk-shows formats which really did not exist on French TV before, at all. So as far as Canal went, it was clearly part of a global strategy, where the modern TV entertainment was seen through an anglo-saxon, and very much americanized, lens. I think this is something that all private medias all over Europe went through to some degrees during the ending of the 80's and the 90's.

No idea how in the hell some WWF episodes ended up on Eurosport. I don't remember, did Canal + owned a part too ? They must have, since they had the WWF rights until the end of 1997 (then switched to WCW). Fascinating to finally have dates for the NJPW run, which was my very first taste of Japanese wrestling (and really, major non WWF wrestling). I thought it lasted longer than this, but then again. I'm pretty sure parts of the Super J Cup were showed. I absolutely remember watching Benoit and Malenko there before they got to ECW/WCW. As far as New Catch goes, yeah, after two or three ill-fated weeks on TF1, they just dumped that stuff on Eurosport until they didn't. Needless to say, nobody watched that stuff.

BTW, Moné got another belt (defeating TNA worker Jody Threat, mind you). @Coach TK, we NEED Ultimo Dragon making an appearance. Hell, she should just drop him too. Pretty please.

The thing is, some of us who were around the old green-ass DVDVR board probably did chat with him. I mean, I do remember the Sleaze Thread as it was happening. (fun fact, I did have direct interactions with a billionaire's son, although I did not know it at the time. Ans if I knew, I probably should have given him the Mox-to-Darby aquarium treatment, really, consider what was to come) But yeah, I could absolutely have a chat with Coach TK about some nerdy pro-wrestling shit and have a blast.