El-P

Cody in charge of NXT 2.0 anyone ? Then at Mania next year, Cody & Brandi vs HHH & Stephy for Brand Supremacy ! I know. I'm shivering just at the thought of this actually happening...

The heel reactions he would get then... Especially if he goes "Well, I've got a new contract, I can challenge for the World Title now", Mr. Liar style.

Since when do we actually believe what pro-wrestler say ? It was going so well for Cody. And then he got the neck tattoo. And then Omega & the Bucks finally got pushed to the top as they should have and the company grew more than when Cody was seen as the guy. And then the baby gender reveal and the Ogogo promo. And then while it was all about CM Punk & Danielson & Adam Cole, Cody was fighting his own audience with semi-shoot promos about "not turning heel". In the end, something had to give, especially if he wanted more money than TK was willing to give him considering his current status on the roster.

Expected reactions from idiotic WWE stans : "lulz AEW iz dEaD". Just give us Cody & Brandi doing the Cardona loop and show up in GCW already. He knows how to take a bump into fire now.

After working in a such talent-oriented company, I have no idea how anyone could bear the WWE toxic cultish corporate environment though.

Mania results : Steve Austin beats Dashing Cody Rhodes with the stunner in 3:16mn. Earlier on the show Brandi appears in a backstage segment being talked down by Charlotte.

Coach Tony K. was giving us the 1-2 punch of Adam Cole & Brian Danielson while Cody was giving us... well... what Cody was giving us. I guess those boos did get to him after all.

Which also begs the question, what happens with PVZ ? Thunder Rosa is going against Baker, but there is certainly potential for PVZ in pro-wrestling and honestly Brandi would not have been the one to carry a match. Time for Red Velvet as a stand-in again ? All jokes aside, I sure hope we get a PVZ match and Velvet wouldn't be the worse choice considering what she did with Jade.

Hum... He's more like Jeff Jarrett in 99 going back to Russo's WCW, honestly. Adam Cole showing up right after main-eventing Takeover was Lex Luger, plus AEW is the WCW of the times, the rising promotion challenging Vince, not the other way around. It would be a total masterwork if that was so.

I'm not 'Murrican and although I'm turning 46 in two weeks my tastes and social habits are no boomer-like , yeah, I've lived through the MNW in the infancy of the pro-wrestling internet community (although really I wasn't active on DVDVR before 99) so yeah, this totally reminds me of back then. Well, of course all the guys signing TO AEW and the NXT debacle was already MNW-like, but this is the first time a major name from the hot new promotion is leaving. I asked the question a few months ago. My answer then would NOT have been Cody, although he hasn't jumped yet (but really now, what else is there to do for him in term of getting fat money ?). Yeah, it makes things more fun for everyone involved and better for the workers because of the opportunities. Even though I don't care one bit about the WWE product, I would certainly watch Cody & Brandi show up just for the fuck of it.

No shit ? Some people are calling this a work already, because pro-wrestling... Anyway, when I thought me finally beating Dark Souls III was the biggest news of the day... (well, it is, really)

There you go. Maybe he wants to get that NWA title back from Aldis, who will most probably get it back from Cardona sooner than later... (where's that Kappa emote again ?) Not gonna lie, whatever people think of him (and her), I'm gonna miss Cody in AEW. Brandi, well, she really never shined at all there apart from a few spots. I guess most of her valuable work was backstage.

If HHH was in shape, they had one "dream match" (notice the quotation mark) for Mania right there. But, oh well... It would be kinda ironic to have Cody & Brandi show up and be treated as huge stars though (and really, they would get a ridiculous pop showing up)... like... So AEW is a big deal after all ?

DA FUCK ?!! Cody @ Mania rumors in 5... 4... 3... Seriously, this is some pretty big news. So, the rumors of EVP's not sharing the same visions anymore really were true.

Austin is 57. (when WWF deemed Hogan and Savage too old to be stars in the mid 90's they were 41 and 42) At this rate, when I'm 65 if I live that long, Roman Reigns is gonna main event Mania.

Next inductee : Samoa Joe. Of course.

I haven't listened to a Conrad podcast regularly in years, and I don't even remember when was my last attempt at Brucie's. But this prompted me to try Jeffrey's, as really, let's be honest, I've pretty much been a Jarrett fan from day one and still maintained a soft spot for him even at his worst (the Russo WCW stint was rough though) and the guy has a fascinating career. I've listened to the WWF 95 stuff, and I'm glad I did. Pretty much what you said, and Jeff is indeed pretty charming. Gonna keep on diving into this, as of course the TNA stuff interests me a lot too. Really good stuff.

Pretty much. True, but the comparison also doesn't really mean much because of the difference in contexts. NJPW was heavy on multimen matches that mattered then (as opposed to now, sadly), whereas Bret always worked in a context where multimen matches really did not happen very much. It reminds me of the argument of worker X (usually Rey) from 00's and 10's WWE being the best TV worker ever. Well, of course he is, because WWE was super heavy on putting on good TV matches (in a very patterned style which was conducive to have those) during a time where they had shitloads of TV programming to fill, nothing was easier than being the best TV worker in that context for a really good worker (not naming anyone specific here), but what does it really says in the grand scheme of things when comparing peak work ? It is tricky. Bret worked at a time where WWE was not structured that way, therefore he could not be the best WWE TV worker, simply because of the context. Which is probably why I tend to lean more toward the peak work. Getting back to Fuji vs Bret, if I only take in account the straight output in term of numbers of very good + matches, I'm probably sure Fuji takes it, but if I look at the peaks, factoring many elements, I would take Bret (which I did). I had not seen it, but if you believe Wiki, when Bret introduced Fujinami at the WWE HOF, he said he always wanted to be the great worker Fujinami was. From one to another, nice. Yeah, Bret back in WWE working against the younger generation or in TNA (I mean, why not) against the Styles and the Joes and Daniels of the world would certainly have been quite interesting and produced some excellent stuff. Fuck Goldberg for robbing pro-wrestling of those years.

So, WWE doesn't want anyone with indy experience, because being a pro-wrestler is not a good thing to become a WWE Superstar (and influencing the world). Meanwhile... See you in 10 years...

Against a salty Charlotte, no less.

Ronda Rousey, the comeback no one actually wanted to see. (and I say this as having loved her first stint) Seriously, she couldn't seem to give less of a fuck. (I know people are gonna and are already putting the blame 100% on Charlotte, but let's be honest, what the fuck was Rousey doing here ?)

A total embarrassment for everyone involved. Sometime it's hard to watch *any* kind of entertainment when you realize most of these people are complete corporate braindead dumb fucks. Not to mention idiotic fans going along with it. Some of this thread is funny as fuck though :

Yeah, I thought that was hilariously stiff ! Those aliens just have no filter.

I guess this is the weekly AEW thread now. Crazy how the Bucks and Roppongi Vice can have seemingly a great match in their sleep. Paying close attention to the Bucks is always fascinating in how they are masters of pretty much every aspect of their game, from the way to occupy space, the little detail selling, the spot to troll the crowd and of course the actual working of complex sequences without missing a beat (Nick Jackson is legit one of the greatest flyer ever not only in term of what and how he does it, but how he works the set-up spots). Just a pleasure to watch. Rocky Romero has to be one of the most underrated worker of the last 20 years too. Hook is the rookie of the year, not even close. Clearly going Thunder Rosa vs Baker at the PPV. Time for Baker to do the J.O.B. Gotta love the Gunn Club total Shawn Micheals's 1992 tribute outfits. They are competent workers, Austin in particular could be more in time. Very good match because Jungle Boy is just that good and Luchasaurus shines in tag, this is really the perfect setting for him. No one believed the Gunn could win the belts though, so Colten "NXT face", as they say, really came off goofy, this stuff only works well when you actually get a very credible false finish or at least very strong near-fall. Still, enjoyable main event to build up the champs even more before facing some high end tag teams. Darby vs Sammy on Dynamite next week is a helluva strong match. Does that mean we get Andrade vs one of them at the PPV (either non title or title, as I don't see Sammy losing the title anytime soon again) ?

Yeah, Jade busting out the Cobb finisher out of nowhere had me pop big time. Obviously she could do it because the other girl was super light, but still impressive.