El-P

I didn't think about it that way, but it makes sense. He did call Daniel Garcia "flower", so there's that. I liked how they teased Stadium Stampede but interrupted it in a way that made sense character wise. A blood brawl is what we want.

CM Punk's T-shirt >>>>>> everything. In Texas no less. Speaking of Texas : Yep. Steve Austin really ruined it for everybody when he came up with that. We're in fucking 2022 already. I fucking called Johnny Elite is the AAA Thread ! Apparently he's gonna be Johnny Game Changer in GCW too . Cool that he's there. He's like an RVD, he's a guy you can do a lot with because of his abilities. As long as no one sells his shitty finisher, that's cool. Plus, another one of the Lucha Underground gang ! When is Ricochet's contract ending already ? I for one thought Regal underwhelming on the mic. That comeback was pretty weak. Mox & Eddie saved the segment on the babyface side. I did find the Serena Deeb segment pretty intriguing, more intriguing than most of what they did around the Women's title for a long while, including Rosa elbowing Dustin by accident. Good stuff there. Fénix vs O'Reilly was awesome. O'Reilly's counter of Rey's cutter was next level kinda work. The idea that O'Reilly is a dork is amusing, since he's basically totally out of the Bryan Danielson mold. Page vs Takeshita was awesome. You know Page is one of those guys who wants to do the G1 again. I had not seen any Takeshita before he showed up, because I really don't watch DDT, but the guy has been impressive. When you think NJPW is still pushing guys like EVIL, yikes... Wardlow no selling the lashing I did not see coming and it was a brillant idea. Great execution too. They have totally sold me, especially in the last few weeks, for a program I did not give a shit about. That's good work. Speaking of getting over to an uncaring audience : This. Itoh is an interesting case because it makes you question about "What getting over means ?" in a context that has nothing to do with a promotion strapping a rocket on your ass or using promotional high weaponry, nor having an already strongly established status. She shows up and gets over. Always good to have people like this. I thought it was odd too at first, but actually she was kinda covering her face because she was *that close* to cracking up, you can clearly see it. Made my day. On the other hand that promo by Statlander was yikes. Can I get my alien back ? That certainly was a Jeff Hardy circa TNA 2011 match or something. Even Adam Cole can't work miracles when there's no ladders involved. Tag match should be fun though, because Young Bucks are the GOAT team (and no, I don't throw that acronym as a meme, they legit are). It is. And it is too. Amazing when you think of it. Three years is more than peak Nitro (which lasted about 2 years and a half, really). Three years is the entire Attitude Era. Three years is more than peak ECW. And without even having to think twice about it, these three years have been the best US pro-wrestling TV ever in term of match quality and consistency. By a wide, wide margin. Booking wise in term of big angle, I wouldn't say anything got close to the early nWo or Bret vs US, or even some of the best ECW angles (which really were very niche but also incredibly fresh, visceral and different). But really, in three years, they have accomplished so much more than anyone could have dreamed of when it started both in term of getting competitive with WWE (which they should not be, not with the Coca Cola of the industry) and in term of attracting major names and working with so many promotions around the world. Coach TK, hat's off to you, really, made my last few years way easier than they would have been otherwise, best years of my life as a pro-wrestling fan since 1990.

Thought it was excellent overall, with a great ending stretch, but Hash was sleeping on his ass when Mutoh was controlling at first. Not my favorite Mutoh match and clearly not my favorite Hashimoto match nor performance. Hash vs Mutoh was usually very good, sometime better, but never reached the peak of great Mutoh matches. I mean, of course if you consider his peak to be ten years, then it's not short, obviously. To me his peak is 5 years at best (which honestly is also not that short when I think about it). The Tenzan match was *good* at best to me, obviously Hash was the better guy. Haven't seen the four way with Corino, but those two factors only makes me doubt it can be a great match (4 way + Corino, whom I enjoy but...). The Choshu match at WK001 was very good, and Choshu was as much responsible as Hash to me (again, maybe my Choshu bias, did I mention I love Choshu ?). I will probably end up watching more of his 00's stuff eventually though, but that's really adjustment. Won't hurt him, won't help him that much either I don't think. Zangiev, Vader and Choshu were great then (I totally mean it including for Zangiev). To me Hash really did not figure it out before late 1993 and was the great Hash for the first time at the Tokyo Dome against Sasaki in 94 (BTW, Sasaki is a guy who really got a bad rep for his 90's stuff, but his stock has risen quite a bit, maybe not to the point of getting into my list, but still). And at his very best I'd say until G1 Climax 98. Doesn't mean he wasn't still very good after that point, but not at the same level to me. To be clear, there are 4 guys who will get in my list in solely on their NJPW career in the 90's (and by that I mean that it was enough for them to make it, not that it's the only thing taken in account) : Liger, Hase, Ohtani and Hashimoto. That's a pretty elite company no matter what. Well, I'm glad it doesn't seem that crazy. I'm currently going through Nagata's prime years, and I'm really, really impressed. I liked the guy before but wasn't too sure how his best years would compare... But that's for another thread.

Well, I'm going through UWF-I anyway, so he's not a guy I'm gonna skip, but yeah, not looking for anything specific nor expecting some high quality stuff, although the very early stuff was kinda fun to watch (against quality opponent) with the hindsight of what he would become. Slim, in shape Takayama is pretty odd to watch !

I've been watching quite a bit of early to mid 00's stuff lately and : He was indeed quite the big match worker at this time, really consistent too and could work with many kind of different guys and always make the most out of his own game. Him destroying a young Nakamura at the Dome in 2004 was an ace monster heel veteran performance. I was a fan back then, but re-watching him now (and more than I had previously seen), I've been enjoying him even more. Gonna watch some of his UWF-I stuff too eventually.

It killed Hashimoto dead and he never was the same after this. It hurt the promotion. The work was shit. Totally disagree in them being some of Hash's best performances (those would be against Fujinami, Tenryu and Choshu). He had such an aura that of course it got super heated, but Ogawa was abysmal and Hash himself did not really shine doing the pseudo-MMA bullshit. Some super heated comebacks don't balance taking a dozen FTO in a row until the match dies (very proto Lesnar in term of finisher spamming on repeat, btw). Rewatching them with a fresh eye did not help their case at all, in a way it made it worse because it still pisses me off how they ruined Hashimoto. Their match in 97 was actually pretty good, although Hash really never was that great at the pseudo-shoot-fight stuff, ironically enough.

Well, because I only developed the reasons why he won't be as high in my list as he probably will be in a lot of others (judging from his last rankings and the fact he pretty much gets universal praise and barely any criticism). If I developed the reasons why he will make my list, then you probably would agree with most of what I'd say. But since I don't have a lot more to add in term of why he was a great worker and basically I know I'll be a rather low vote, well, had to explain why. But like I said, this is a case where the GWE process makes it less fun (same thing happened when I was doing the top 25 TNA matches, some matches I really enjoy a lot seemed "lesser" only because they wouldn't get selected in the end, and it would not have been the case if I wasn't worrying about making a ranking list.).

They just publicly buried her. Dunno what's next for her, but "giving her a strong push" would be really odd. It would also send quite the message backstage.

Going through the 90's, and Hashimoto's stock has fallen with me. Which kinda makes the GWE process frustrating, because if you ask me : are you a Hashimoto fan, do you think he was a great worker, do you love watching Hashimoto ? My answers would be yes, yes and fuck yes ! Still, in the context of the GWE, and considering everything else, yep, I probably will end up being a low vote for good ol' Hash (that is, unless you don't vote for him at all). In short, because I'd rather focus on more positive things : "short" peak, basically from late 93 to more or less 98-99 (and if I'm honest, I'd go 94-98). Before that, he wasn't that great, after 99 and the god-awful Ogawa feud, he's kind coasting to me (although if I ever get to watch more of his post prime maybe I'll change my mind). Few matches that are classics, and of course it wasn't his fault in a company like NJPW in the 90's where the great dance partners were few and far between, but the issue is that I don't think I've ever seen a truly great Hashimoto match in which I thought he was the better guy (not even talking about getting a great match out of a not so great worker). Not against Hase, not against Takada, not against Tenryu, not even against Choshu in 96 (and this one may be my Choshu bias). The Fujinami matches are terrific, but again, the awesome performances from Fuji are a big part of why they stand out so much from a usual Hash big match. And then there's the fact he never really had those great matches with Mutoh (who had several, from the very early 90's up to 99 and beyond) because, unlike most Mutoh's opponents who would actually try to work with him during the rather dire matwork sequences, Hash, especially in one match in 96, just laid the fuck around doing nothing forever and showed total disinterest. Which really is a black mark to me, as it occurred then that he was a great one note worker, absolutely awesome at what he did as long as it was what he did. But when confronted with a guy with a totally different approach, he could just lay around until he could throw some kicks and chops. Hash had the huge advantage of being the charismatic top star of NJPW when it was at its hottest in the 90's, so his aura played *a lot* in how he's perceived. Throw him in the dead early 00's for one hour against Nakanishi or useless Yasuda, there's no way he's getting the most out of that the way Nagata did. No way. It was also talked about how he was hurt working in NJPW, and I even mentioned that fact earlier, but it also worked to his advantage to me, I'm not convinced he would have shined as much as a worker in AJPW for instance without the aura of the NJPW megastar. NO idea how he would have fared in post 00's NJPW either. Since this doesn't exist, and from what I have seen, as great as he was, and he was great, to me he absolutely doesn't measure up to the best of the current (Tanahashi and later) generation, nor to Nagata's excellent body of work over 25 years. So there. I could go on and on about what's great about Hashimoto's game and what I love about it, but it would be being redondant with some of what's been said already. So yeah, re-watching Hashimoto has been both fun (because he was great) and a bit less fun (strictly because of the GWE process, which forces you to position yourself on a list while looking out only for what your perceive as the absolute best stuff). Don't hate on me, I still love Hashimoto. One of the greatest theme ever too.

It was the big hype at the time, as was GAEA in general, and back then I never quite figured it out, it was kinda cool but also pretty overrated (then again, in a scene that was totally self-destroying, there wasn't much left to be excited about). In retrospect it really seems it was a huge nostalgia ride in which Chiggy (and Lioness, always in the corner where she can put herself over everyone) reclaim that role of the biggest star in the scene that she had 15 years before. She never really put anyone over, letting Aja, Kansai and Hokuto make Satomura and rode the wave of her past glory in a rather tired Crush Gals comeback. Sure, the big shows were cool because they packed so much big names of the 90's and 80's, but the in-ring stuff wasn't always the most interesting. Again, haven't watched that stuff in 20 years, so I have no idea what I would think about Chiggy's work from this period now (from memory her stuff in JWP in the early/mid 90's was much better). I was much more interested back then in the first years or so of ARSION, which had a cool concept (but didn't draw at all), and it's pretty interesting that, not unlike NJPW which 10's really are way removed from its past, the most successful women's promotion in Japan in 20 years ended up being another Rossy Ogawa creation, with the same philosophy which you can criticize (aka : focusing on mostly attractive young women, which was also one of ARSION's selling point) and seemingly a strong disconnect from the past eras in term of audience.

WTF, really. Wasn't Nia Jax done with pro-wrestling anyways ? And Lana resurfacing here of all places is puzzling to say the least. Cool undercard though. The women tag match is basically an IMPACT match (love those four, too), AOP vs Forgotten Sons in a old-school (see what I did ?) NXT match, Kross vs Jonah vs Del Sol is an interesting mix (I mean, Del Sol and Jonah can do so much cool stuff together).

Those Kayfabe Commentary Comedy Roasts were such a mistake. None of the actual comedians were funny, the Hall incident... Such a mess. Yeah, I can see this turning out bad, or somebody making an offhand remark that will really offend some people, or Flair just making a fool out of himself (that never happens, right ?). The Dragon is smart for not taking place in this match too.

That being said, I'm not sure actual Nazi sympathizers actually cosplay as Hitler.

Not to mention, open an OnlyFan for 6 months and sell pictures that WWE would put in the magazines in the late 90's and make some EZ money.

What a carny. JCP did not "go away", it was bought and turned into WCW. The idea that people really need to "say goodbye" to Jim Crockett Promotion in 2022 is so laughable and transparent. Anyhoo. They're gonna do a roast of Ric Flair too. Should bring Tommy Dreamer in, so he can say "Hey, I almost lost my job for making light of you being a sex abuser.".

Let's put it like this : way, WAY more people around the world have actually *seen* Sasha Banks, without knowing who the hell she is, than people who know who Roman Reigns is.

What "kind of money" ? I doubt Naomi is making the kind of money that makes WWE soooo much better than anything else, if you take everything in account (being happy, being more in control of what you do etc...). As far as Sasha goes, the fact she is making moves outside of WWE without them being involved at all probably plays a part in why she isn't considered a top talent like Charlotte, Rousey or Becky.

The idea that not being in WWE anymore is "throwing your career away" is pretty comical in 2022 too.

I agree. But one issue is that it always comes down to making a lot of noise about he smallest things while the elephant in the room always gets a pass. Usos get several DUI, endangering the lives of other people ? No big deal. I feel like there's always the nice excuse of "Hey, that's whataboutism !" to prevent acknowledging (if you will) the bigger picture, usually because the bigger picture is much more uncomfortable to look at and denounce. It's easy to pile on idiot Wes Carter (and like I said, this whole story reads like a clusterfuck of idiots and toxic people). But he's pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I mean, from what we know to me it absolutely strikes me as "he was an ignorant moron" as opposed to "he's a white supremacist". So of course, there's a HUGE hypocrisy involved when WWE, a company run by a family that has actively supported a White Supremacist president that is absolutely responsible for the rise of racist violence and ultra-misogynist politics going on right now in the US, is firing a guy because he thought doing a Hitler pic was goofy and funny when he was a 20 years old idiot, because they don't stand for this, ya know... (and no, I won't mention MBS again because too easy)

Jade Cargill needs some baddies to feud against. (I know this ain't happening ok ? Just sayin', wouldn't that be the most awesome debut at this point ?)

It's silly. A guy taking a picture of himself with the Hitler face has exactly *nothing* to do with an artist making satirical content (be it a video on Youtube or a feature film) about a political figure. Honestly everyone looks bad here. So, Kim had that picture but it never bothered her apparently ? The guy had to take a leave of absence to "study the horrors of Holocaust" on Google to figure out why this shit was bad ? Just a clusterfuck of idiots, it seems like. Not that it excuses any abuse that may have taken place, of course. That's pretty much what happened too. The abuse story wasn't what triggered him from getting fired. And I mean, we have the guy who's rape charges against him have been dropped *wink wink nudge nudge* working against the DUI Express on weekly basis, so really, the picture was all it took. In other news, while Rollins usually has a very bad Twitter game, but that one is pretty salty :

The line about having eight hours to rehearse the match (unlikely, and what a way to make them look like shitty workers too) and them claiming they were uncomfortable with their opponent (which really reads like trying to rile up the other girls against them) is something else. Gotta love the "characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract" bit also. Those pesky independent contractors... And then they apologize because, THIS TIME and because of two unprofessional bitches, they actually false advertised (which they do ALL THE TIME) and they have such regret about doing that, ya know... Yeah, that statement is one for the ages, everything is off and odd. Sasha & Naomi going all Ibushi in 5... 4... 3... ?

Yeah, sounds like complete bullshit. Jarrett is working AAA again and has been really fun in GCW. I really hope he shows up at Slammiversary too, and honestly I wouldn't mind a short stint in AEW, as the Last Cowboy gimmick he's been doing is kinda cool. Bischoff, oh well, at this point apart from gathering paychecks for cameos on Smackdown, the guy is useless. Funny how he was supportive of AEW, and even got paychecks from them, until they kinda got a bit too successful I guess.

Hopefully it's Athena, too.