El-P

I feel that there's an entire generation now who has been totally gaslit into thinking Triple H was this awesome worker and huge star and miracle booker when infact he always was a tool who got where he got thanks to politics. He took forever before eventually getting over after everyone and their brothers put him over, he never was close to the most over guy in the company when the company was hot, his reign of terror was unbearable, his wife was unbearable, he stayed overpushed for years because he was the son-in-law of the rapist fuck, he always was an insecure little bitch whom you could not have in a position of weakness in *video games commercials*, booking NXT black & gold was the easiest shit ever since they basically were rampaging indie darlings and putting them in big matches with no pressure of ratings or whatnot while the main roster product was fucking atrocious. He's been exposed over and over again, yet people still thought he was this "savior of wrestling" for WWE. I mean, they got what they deserve.

Yeah, that's awful.

The story is even more crazy. The promoter learned from THE INTERNET. Silva did not even informed him directly, sent him a text before the TNA PPV about "talking later" and never contacted him again. Beautiful, Carlos.

The story of Krule lying about being stabbed to justify beating up a fan is something right out of the sleaze thread. And yet it happened in 2026. Beautiful, beautiful pro-wrestling. (hopefully no one books this guy anymore, no idea why he was ever booked anyway considering how much he sucks)

Way to put over your roster and admit you're complete shit at making new stars in one swoop. This guy is *really* dumb as bricks. 😂

Oh my God 😂

Might as well use someone who isn't a crappy worker that will gave them a shit match (Kamille is the only woman who had a bad match with Stat). There are plenty out there. Better abort those plans, really. (see what I did there ?) On the other hand, Hyan and Maya World sure got tons of shit in against Lena & Bayne, good for them ! (how his that ex-WWE girl and her MAGA girlfriend's "brand" doing these days, uh ?) On the women side, I'm just waiting for that Shida heel turn that is incoming soon.

Oh yeah. And you know that deep inside, that's him. He's a goofball who happens to be one of the greatest and smartest wrestler ever. Remember after his legendary title reign was over, that G1 Climax where he would come to the ring carrying a bunch of balloons. But the big Takeshita match when it's going to happen, and it's happening sooner than later now, man... This. A 1000 times. They are on a completely different level. And the thing is, not only do they put this shit together : they execute it (including when paired with extremely inferior opponents, which of course wasn't the case here). (on a sidenote, I would have gladly done without Kamille coming back, but I'm guessing that's plugging American Gladiator and getting fed to Willow in the process)

Nope. Ospreay is winning the Owen and going to win the title at All In. I'd be *very surprised* if it did not happen like that. Him losing here against Mox is classic Ospreay's storytelling, I 100% expected him to lose this one (although they did got me because they both are so damn awesome). AEW's PPV's have been more and more compact and well put together than before for a while now. The company is getting to a certain point of maturity and knowing where they need to be. The streak of ridiculously great PPV is now, well, ridiculous. Even more impressive when this one was basically a three week build and had absences and injuries derailing some of it too. There was a nice element of meta-booking in this one is that with Jericho and Cage & Cope losing, you could think Omega was winning in the end. Then again, you also had feel good moments with Young Bucks, Kevin Knight and the Conglomeration, so maybe it wasn't so obvious. Omega is the best wrestler ever. Yeah, I sound like a broken record, but he really is. This match was a masterclass in build, dynamic switches, selling (Omega is the greatest seller ever too), fake finishes. It wasn't Okada vs Tanahashi, because nothing can be, but good luck to do better this year. Also, Mox is on such a a streak. Has been for more than one year now. Also, Thekla. Just Thekla. I was pleasantly surprised by Jericho's performance. I mean, the man is 55. Of course, Ricochet was the perfect opponent, on many levels, but still. Same for Cage & Cope, who did end up having their great match they wanted to have. And I actually look forward to the incoming three-ways with the Bucks now. Also, fucking Okada made me legit laugh out loud like I haven't in a long ass time watching pro-wrestling. With Double of Nothing coming up, leading into the Owen/Forbidden Door into All In. Yeah, Summer looks great for here.

So EC3 did debut. And the crowd went mild. (insert joke about losing control of the narrative) One thing you can count on with TNA these days, is really dumb finishes and poor executions. Carlos Silva got booed as soon as he showed up on the pre-show. The ultimate dweeb. One of the dumbest thing is that he's sitting at ringside for all the title matches, so you have those heels cheating and winning via cheating and he sees all of it and apparently he's the president but has no authority over anything. I mean, the cuck-chair man is not a cute line, it's the reality. Trey Miguel vs Mustafa Ali was great. As expected. Main event was excellent until the stupid-ass finish doubled with screwed up execution. Leon Slater vs Cedric Alexander was very good, but Alexander really is a totally WWE coded wrestler. Either that or he's just cruising. Anyway, he's way overrated considering his rep. Moose vs Special Agent 0 was the sleeper match of the show. 0 is the best, least talked about wrestler around. He's basically Mike Awesome. Elegance Brand vs James/Terrell/ODB was basically everything it promised to be in term of being totally ridiculous, absurd and stupid in an entertaining way. The whole bit with Dreamer (and his doggo Carlos Silva, who just can't resist the idea of being in screen, I fucking swear) showing up "impromptu" after the match to announce to ODB that she's going in the HOF was comical. I mean, cool for her, really. But they want SO BADLY be like WWE, it's so pathetic. The Undead Realm stuff keeps on being the most oddly compelling stuff, as it's straight out of IMPACT circa 2021, and the exchange between James Mitchell and Abyss (yes) was legit nice and emotional. Lei Ying Lee vs Ariana was bad. And you could see the Brookside turn come from miles away. Ariana is the sole involvement of NXT on the shows lately, and it really feels WWE has lost quite a bit of interest. No TNA talent at the Rumble. Really no presence nor hype about NXT on the TV show (which is a good thing if you ask me). They know they are getting Mike Santana & Leon Slater but aren't that that keen on using them like they did Jordynne Grace & Joe Hendry in the past. Also, the Hardies are by a huge margin the biggest stars (the only stars ?) on the show. They also are really getting into "dangerously washed up" territory now, despite still knowing what to do to make a tag match watchable, helped by the fact the crowd is still eating up whatever slo-mo, awkward moving stuff they do. The fact the fucking System, including Brian "resthold" Myers, is tag champs again in 2026 is like.... yikes. Like there was no other YOUNGER, FRESHER, BETTER team they could build ? Oh yeah, Bear Bronson is younger I guess, but he's also mid as all hell. Show was apparently papered as all hell too. They have moved Slammiversary in a different, smaller place already. When the Hardies are gone, and they won't last for fucking ever, I can't see this "growth period" going anywhere. They built an audience based on some WWE nostalgia and NXT hype and the hardcore fans are obviously gone (ODB and Taryn Terrell getting tepid reactions at the TV tapings sadly illustrated that point, and KC Navarro coming back on the show got crickets too despite running in on AJ Francis who turned on him few months back).

Oh yeah, I agree. I miss stupidly bad pro-wrestling I can just make fun of for being stupidly bad. I would shitpost nonstop about WWE but the political/social underlying is just too damn important to stay on the surface. Also, that would mean I'd have to watch it, and, no fucking way. On so many regards. The last really simply stupidly bad show I saw that fit the bill was really this Halloween NWA show. Even bad TNA these day is just mostly dull and boring. Although really, Carlos Silva is bringing back some really strong LOLTNA aspects these days, but more in his dealings than in the actual product. WWE is a cancer, that's all there is to it. People consume it like they consume Starbuck coffee. It's the known logo. And will probably remain the known logo anyway. Although really this -25% shit put in promos reeks of desperation. They know the peak is behind them. And since the only thing that matters to Ari Emmanuel, Nick Khan and such is the bottom line, be prepared for some serious shit to hit the fan whenever the peak is way far in the rearview mirror.

Also, the fact the heel is actually telling like it is, both kayfabe-wise and IRL : CM Punk is a performative hypocrite and his fans are either hypocrites too and plain idiots (and idiots for buying high price tickets to see this show). Like someone once infamously said : "I mean, where is the lie ?" As far as MBS goes, sure. But also, he probably has way more serious stuff on his plate right now (in between executing people of course) with the middle-east going into complete hell thanks to Trump and his genocidal war-crime buddy. Also, the fact Trump basically insulted him a few weeks ago, talking about how he should kiss his ass to thank him. With WWE being tied at the hips with Trump, that sure sounds pretty good. Aren't they supposed to go to Saudi in late June again ? Sure. Enjoy this particular ride, ya clowns. And going back to this promo and angle, this is only the beginning and getting worse. WWE is only gonna get more and more TKO-fied and with years passing by, the more it will get controlled by people who don't give a flying fuck about pro-wrestling. Watch it happen. The fact people really though Levesque was gonna "save" WWE because he's that great booker dating back from his overrated NXT run (which BTW, ended by him getting offed for not being able to stop AEW from happening, which is a part of history that is seemingly never being talked about anymore for... reasons) has already been debunked by his two godawful Mania builds. Already you hear some noise about people being nostalgic for Vince (the smell of this fandom, really).

So I've seen the Pat McAfee clips... Oh yeah. I recognize that product. This is WCW 2000. In another life (like, ten years ago), I would absolutely have reviewed this shit.

The advantage of having a "bloated" roster, is that there's such an obscene amount of talent available that they don't even bat an eye when they lose major names/talent to injuries (Fletcher) and while others are going away for a while (Toni, Hangman). Aminata came back a house of fire, so happy she's here again and looking so good. Hurt Syndicate.... not so much. I'm guessing they are adding someone to do jobs. When do their contracts end anyway ? Between that final United Empire vs Deathriders insane brawl and that *AWESOME* promo segments by MJF and Omega (his best promo work since his NJPW days ?), that was one hell of a hot show leading into a supposed "transitional" PPV. AEW is soon 7 years. And so many brains crushed and flushed in the process. Amazing run, really.

Honestly I never bought Tsuji as the guy anyway. He's the lesser worker of pretty much every one of this new generation (apart from Narita, who is in HOT hell anyway). His charisma is vastly overrated and pretty much consists of him smiling a lot. The "Marlow" stuff looks gimmicky and fake, manufactured. It was ok during the LIJ days but I dunno, it doesn't hit it for me now. Uemura is twice the worker he is. And yeah, Yuto-Ice has already surpassed him in pretty much every way. So I really don't mind him losing so fast. He had the worst IWGP title match in eons against Jake Lee, and really this was the booker's fault but it also showed that he's limited in term of what he can do with inferior workers (well maybe it's unfair because Jake Lee was shit before, he's even worse now apparently) No idea what is the political pull of Gedo in 2026. Considering how things never seem to change, I don't see him losing any. Maybe this year's G1 will actually be good. Oiwa or Uemura should win.

How adorable. Despite the board being on life support, there's still some troll posting once every blue moon in "but what about AEW ?" mode. I thought that was the TNA Reddit (one of the dumbest place I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot) for a second. More ignored user. Nice. TNA is just completely isolated right now, they work with no one else unlike in the past when they had relationships with AAA, NJPW, had joshi wrestlers from different companies showing up, and just get D-tier NXT talent. With that kinda shit, some people may think twice before signing with them too, especially those who count on outside booking, which has always been the case. Fuck, Court Bauer might serve a better deal at this point.

I have no words Last time I saw him was at this truly hilarious NWA show which costed them their supposed CW TV spot because of a coke rail (and now they actually got a spot on some Sinclair owned, because of course, Sci-fi channel). The greatest bad show I have seen in a long ass time, you don't do it like that anymore. He looked gassed like crazy and was really fucking bad. Carlos Silva is having one hell of a LOLTNA week.

And all jokes aside (and yeah, I do mean Chase Owens getting a Takeshita title match), if Gedo's brain is not totally fried, looking at Oiwa vs Ice ending stretch of the tag match, it's obvious that *at the latest*, it should be the main event of WK by 2028. Yuto just needs to drop the amazingly cringe pseudo hip-hop gestures aping. Also, I have no idea why the hell would anyone think Ospreay vs Newman is built for Wembley. It's very obviously a Japanese program, and maybe it's speedrunning for Forbidden Door, which is still a joint show, as shown by the fact Newman and his crew showed up on Dynamite, but it obviously should lead to a big match at WK in 2027 basically. All In is most probably Ospreay vs MJF. And yeah, the fact Ospreay shows up and immediately becomes the most compelling thing in NJPW in term of storylines really underlines how much Gedo has been basically creatively bankrupt for so long now.

TNA pulling talents from some Mania week shows because they would be working with AEW talents is hilarious (and sad, really, especially for talents). That shitty cap wearing clown Carlos Silva is the cuck of all cucks. TNA right now, despite still having a few great talents (Ali, Miguel, Slater) is more and more the home of WWE hasbeens and NXT rejects (the women division, my god, seems like 80% NXT rejects, and after that Mada Sade vs Eylana Black, it's obvious why they were let go). Dani Luna asking for her released is quite great, because it means she's not going to WWE (therefore...). Mance Warner also left earlier this year after they wouldn't clear Steph de Lander, and he already showed up on the last ROH tapings. Wasn't a fan of his work years back, but he actually kinda won me over in the few things he did in TNA, so that's good. Anywoo. We could have had Leon Slater vs Ricochet, which was a dream match for Slater, but big bad WWE told their little doggy Carlos that is wasn't happening I guess.

She'll mention her daddy and the audience will cheer. (not a stretch when it already happened last year)

In other news, Alberto del Rio is detained in Mexico. For domestic violence. Remember Konnan booked that MOFO as his champion for two years. Knowingly of who he is. This is why I really can't even sigh for AAA being bought by WWE, because that promotion was a shithole anyway. Wait, La Hiedra is still under contract. Oh well, nobody's perfect.

Dontaku day 1 : Takeshita & Umino vs.... Chase Owens & Yujiro. Dontaku day 2 : Takeshita vs Chase Owens When is Callum Newman's contract up already ? I mean, Forbidden Door was a cool concept when NJPW was worth a shit. Also, the KOB are a great tag team and their matches have been terrific, but damnit Yuto-ICE's gimmick is cringe as fuck. To put it gently.

I mean, I would gladly not have had Jericho come back, but let's be real, it's kinda hilarious to think he saw how the Goldy, Cena and AJ Styles retirement thingys went and thought "Uhhh, can I have Sting's retirement instead ?". Also, the idea that WWE did not want him when they literally teased he might appear before one of their big shows earlier this year is laughable. And yeah, AEW has been mostly awesome, thanks.

See, that's the number two things we can firmly agree on. And well yes. Mauro. Holy fuck. I did watch the show. I swear, it took him 2 minutes before he loudly interrupted Ian. Good thing is that my brain works a certain way that allows me to just mentally block out stuff, so I did end up enjoying the show. Deonna vs Gisele was such a cool throwback to the cool IMPACT years, and you could see how happy Deonna was. But yeah, from time to time, I did hear Mauro again, screaming some shit over the other guys and overselling everything, which BTW kinda forces his co-worker to scream too, which make everything worse, and I was going "man, WTF".

I would vote for him at N°1 if only because he seems like one of the only guy with some decency in this business.