El-P

As far as the wild card goes, since we're into this UK thingy, just give me Dani Luna. She didn't leave TNA on her own just to go back to RevPro to put Alexxis Falcon over, ya know. Also, this is the peak commentary. Tony Schiavone is living his best life (and so am I).

Great write-up, as always (although with some disheartening perspectives), from luchablog https://thecubsfan.com/cmll/cat/news/

😁 (from the old ECW fan in me)

Holy shit Terry won ! Incredible ! That's pretty much the perfect winner. I'm sure Danielson himself would agree too. The top 25 for each decade is fun. Unsurprisingly, I'm more in tune with the people who started watching in the 2020's despite having started in 1990 myself, considering the last 15 years (more or less) are the best pro-wrestling I've ever seen. Funny (and cool) to see Omega being rated top 20 by the oldest demo ! (and of course not by the 80's/90's people, who really are the peak of the pro-wrestling internet forums demo) Anywoo. The Funkster won. Like he should, really. Funk you all !

Last match on December 2023. Against Brian Cage of all people. Britt Baker on November 2024. Against Penelope Ford of all people (crazy when you check her matches, she debuted in 2015 and has worked only 266 matches total, and she's 35 now) (speaking of people I don't mind if they never show up again, Wardlow is 38 and has had a whooping 190 matches in his career. yeah, no wonder some people never ever progress) So many vanishing acts around...

Oh, I'm all about those ones !

Maybe so, yes. BTW, remember Keith Lee ? Ospreay vs Omega at Wembley would be beautiful. Yeah, the main event scene this year has really been super strongly booked. It's been pretty compelling, and very different from last year too, which is always good. Mix up the dynamics.

Not sure those English fellows would know the words, but it would not matter. Yeah. Do it. How in the hell the ROH version of Volador Jr. vs Bandido has a MUCH BETTER sound mix than the CMLL usual Arena Mexico sound ? If that sound mix is do-able, with clear ring sounds and THE CROWD, why we don't get that on regular CMLL broadcast ? I know about the stupid intro themes being hidden under generic music, but once the match starts, please.

Oh yeah, that too. Any way is fine with me. And yes, she's a born heel and ten times better as a heel, although at one point people will just want to cheer for her because of how appreciative they are. Maybe Mercedes winning it with the shadow of Toni looming is actually the best scenario, yes. Maybe the wild card will be Britt Baker... For some reason, I still believe she will show up once again for one last ride if her health allows it. Or Serena Deeb... Ya know.

Probably gonna see it tomorrow. End of an era coming up.

I'm really curious about if there are gonna be notable changes in NJPW politics once the new ownership kicks in this Summer. Like, how long can Gedo hold onto the booking throne after years of struggling.

Oh yeah, that too.

Not arguing he's part of the booking team or even that he is the "last word" guy. Just arguing that the guy who has been producing and doing dozens of other stuff for 20 years and been credited for being really good at it has probably something to do with it too. (damn, TNA could really use Borash these days)

Wait for the surge of lucha libre in 2036 with all these El Grande Americano votes... Maybe I'll still be around somewhere. 60 years old and shit, turning back into that old version of myself, raging about the good old days of when I was 40 something and the Elite and Tanahashi and Okada and Naito and Darby Allin and how those young punks don't know how to work these days and how they should watch old-school pro-wrestling like 2016 NJPW and 2021 AEW, you know, the old classic shit on low resolution (you know, the old HD 1080p). Hey, maybe the discourse will still be "Wow, AEW is do dead this time, they are done, this is the final straw". Would be funny. Whatever happens, TNA will still be around. Or not. Who knows. Maybe. Probably not. Watch pro-wrestling, people. It's awesome. Well sometime it's not awesome, it's actually really fucking stupid. Which can also make it awesome, in a way. Anywoo. Just drop the 1-2 already.

Yeah, but she's been there done that. The one story you tell about Mercedes when she comes back is the fact she could never win the World title and her quest to do so. But yeah, I don't think it will be her either. If she wasn't part of the plan at first, I don't see them derailing the entire booking that way. Unless Willow was winning. Man. Marina Shafir is unhinged. I love her so much. 😂

Oh for sure. For the longest time, AAA booking was stuck doing ECW and Attitude Era stuff. They wanted to be bought by WWE for a while now. Still, this is almost comical how stereotypical it is of straight forward cultural appropriation served to an audience who wants the US version of their own culture. Although this is way better than the AAA audience cheering Alberto, you know... As far as Taker, considering Jeremy Borash is also part of the project, I would give him most of the credit considering his track record. Hey, maybe Taker *is* booking but... yeah, I'm doubtful.

They sure made up for the lack of blood at DoN with Shida breaking lightubes on Stat's back. We're at this point where stuff that would have been really good PPV matches 7 years ago are not regular stuff on weekly TV. Crazy times. This week's episode looks special already, with Rush vs MJF and JetSpeed exploding. Also, who is gonna be the wild card ? Plugging Mercedes in this would not be the worst idea now, you know...

I mean. There will never not be an issue with the fact that after one year of WWE buying AAA and "not americanized it", they ran their biggest show headlined by two non Mexican white guys doing a parody of a mask vs mask match (I say parody because they were supposed to be a parody to begin with, they are not luchadors, everybody already knows their identity) which is the biggest cultural highpoint of lucha libre, all "booked" (come on people, you all know MAGATaker is not the person to give credit to, be smart) by a Trump supporter gringo. However, on a vacuum and within the landscape that is current AAA and its audience, it most certainly has been received like some all time success, and although I will not watch it, I have no reason to believe otherwise. Whatever that means in the grand scheme of things. Hearing the first night of Triplemania is.... in Vegas. 😂 I won't repost the hilarious Konnan meme, jokes writes themselves. Now, the only thing that really matters business wise is will this get them TV rights in the States. That was the only goal of the buy (that and Levesque shitty Risk board game at least getting one spot on the map. You know WWE Europe is coming ? Oh, it is coming. Like, I dunno, Veer) Wait until the actual "retirement" (I hear the angle is that he's retired.... but still having matches.... yeah, WWE booking in 2026 sounds as funny as some of the shit I reviewed in the past) at SummerSlam. That will be actually vomit inducing.

Yeah, all things considered, this top 3 is pretty much impeccable.

Oh yeah, I know, I watched a bunch for the first two GWE projects. But my days of watching (or listening) anything for "evaluation purposes" are way behind me now, and whatever happens in WWE is irrelevant to me. I would probably have voted him way lower than before because of this, but like I said, I do get why he's this high. He's obviously one of the GOAT workers. Austin & Flair being so close is very ironic, for more than one reason, the most basic and "pro-wrestling only" being Stunning Steve was always that "what if ?" worker in WCW where if Hogans doesn't show up, Flair probably pushes him hard to be kind of his successor. Then cuts him off at the knees when he gets too over of course... There are also other reasons why it's very ironic, on many, MANY levels... Anywoo. Two of my all time favorites (yeah, no shit). I stand by the fact Austin's rise and the Bret feud in 1997 is the apex of WWF wrestling. Tenryu being above all pillars except Kobashi is exactly where I would have had him. In the top 10 too. He's really one of those guy, like Terry Funk or Kenny Omega, where you go "whoever he faces, I'm interested and it's at worst gonna be fucking fun to watch, at best it's gonna be great." It was great more often than not. (that doesn't go for him & Kitao vs New Demolition at Mania 7. Holy fuck imagine this being your first picture of a Tenryu match. And in retrospect, how crazy this match even happened. SWS, more like WTF) Kobashi at 3. Of course. Danielson is gonna win, like I said as soon as GWE 2016 ended. I don't see Terry making it to the top, although he would deserve it. Well, both deserve it, really. A bunch of them in this top 25 do.

That was were I was with AAA. Considering their last few years before they got bought, they could go to hell. The fact WWE has got a bigger piece of the Mexican market and a historical lucha libre promotion sucks, but I have no doubt the product is a 100 times better now than the last few years of legit AAA. Now, how long will this last is another matter.

The one thing I loved above everything about Hansen, is that this mofo never ever stopped doing stuff. He would fill every little space between spots with a petty kick here, a bitchslap there. Must not have been always fun working against him. And yeah, I used against on purpose.

Nothing screams like the biggest show of WWAAA thus far headlined by two non-Mexican guys doing a parody of a luchador against each other. (and yeah, I know, it's really popular with the current AAA audience, which is comprised of basically WWE fans)

Inoki died. That's why.

One of the most telling stat for me is Liger getting on only 72% of ballots while Rey is on almost 90%.