El-P

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.

That's one hell of a public burial. So they are running Seth Rollins vs Cody Rhodes in the HITC.... Now now... Will Cody do some blood & guts ? That would be priceless, I have to say. Also, if he doesn't, it would be funny for totally other reasons (after spending years bleeding like a pig, now in the "demonic structure"tm and not a drop of blood ?). He's not gonna beat Seth Rollins three times in a row, no, does he ? And if he doesn't, that kinda makes Seth winning the feud after all. And if he does, that's the crazy push for the AE-"not competition"-W former upper midcarder. So yeah, this match is actually quite interesting for many reasons.

Ishii vs Kingston was AWESOME. If that match happened 20 years ago and people had to pay 20 bucks to see it on a VHS tape, we would still hear about it to this day. But in an era when the average level of pro-wrestling is so much better than ever before, it's like "Great match, next.". Really, I try not to take things for granted, but it's kinda hard sometime, way too spoiled. Honestly that match maybe should have happened at Forbidden Door, because obviously the hype would have been much bigger, as NJPW US is kinda like NXT UK at this point, despite big time players being in the card (Okada was over as fuck, that Forbidden Door PPV needs to have an Okada single match). But yeah, great, great match. And speaking of not taking things for granted, Lio Rush is back soon. Can't wait for his next great three months stint until he retires. (I know, I know, too easy)

Nope. Only one 70 years old sex offender allowed.

His last match was against Sting in TNA in 2011. HIs last *good* match was against Jay Lethal in July of 2010. Since it's supposed to be his actual last match and making a rather big deal out of it, I wonder if the family will be there. With Charlotte taking a leave of absence from WWE for her wedding, it would be something to see her and Andrade next to Ric and FTR...

At Starrcast ? So is the son-in-law somehow involved ?

I've been sold on Eric Young since he showed up back in IMPACT (and believe me, when he was announced, I wasn't thrilled at all as I was right into the *worst* part of his TNA career, before he hooked up with ODB and finally got things working for him again, as he used to be tons of fun in Team Canada). He has been nothing but very good, even having an awesome angle and a terrific match with Rich Swann during the empty arena months. He's been injured for a while, then has been working tags mostly, but lately had another terrific match with Jay White (shocking, I know), so actually I was not criticizing the booking here (I mean, D'Amore is by far the best booker IMPACT ever had, easily one of the best bookers of the last 20 years in term of making the most out of what he has and keeping storylines in check with logical week to week progression). But the guy from Team Canada vs the guy from The North, all Canadian main event, both D'Amore's guys, really. On paper it's an excellent main event.

Can't get a more Scott D'Amore main event for Slammiversary than Josh Alexander vs Eric Young. Having a Queen of the Mountain match is cute, but the match was usually a complete mess (could be fun though). I sure hope the Jarretts are showing up.

If he enters, give a few stiff chops and let FTR do all the work and take all the bumps, he'll be fine. But of course he won't do just that, now, will he ? Bad idea.

People falling from high places in an Owen Hart tournament match was certainly an idea... Jeff Hardy going over makes absolute sense. Adam Cole beats him and the Hardies get fucked by the Bucks or something, as the dream match of Bucks vs Hardies is the PPV match. Darby is fine. It's not WWE, people. I'm guessing we get a rematch eventually too in which Darby beats his idol (shudder to think what he'd do in THAT one). Adam Page is not turning heel. It's a babyface vs babyface feud, so there has to be some heelish tones to it to give more dynamic. Baddy Horowitz just called someone a jobber. MJF was pure gold too. TonI Storm vs Jaimie Hayter was really good, I want more of those two all the time. BCC vs Sports Entertainers ? I'm there. Hopefully Regal calls Jericho "sunshine". I'm guessing we're going toward a three-way for the tag titles, and why not, so many people to book. And then, off we go with Christian Cage vs Jungle Boy start jumping a Jungle Boy single push. Sounds good.