El-P

Yes. There's no muslim woman in Saudi Arabia that the young girls are looking up to in term of fighting for women's rights. Which is why they cry when they see powerful and free American WWE female Superstars and chant "This is hope" in unisson. This is why Lita is going and is proud to go too... You know Stephy invented feminism in the Middle-East, right ?

I have no idea how it's even a debate that Keith Lee did look heavier than he was before and that it's better at his age and considering his style and the fact he got COVID to lose some weight eventually. Of course idiots on Twitter already are calling "body shaming", because that's what idiots on Twitter do. Actually, it's not. Keith Lee got over by being Keith Lee aka a big guy who was doing some really athletic stuff. Not saying he should not adapt his game if his body his betraying him, especially in a company where so many guys can make him look good, but there are already big dudes who slam fools around (Miro, Wardlow, Archer, Hobbs). Turning Keith Lee into Mark Henry (hi JR!) is just not what is expected out of him, especially since it's basically what WWE tried to do to him, forcing him into being someone else. Sure, he's got tons of charisma too and will have the benefit of a rather long honeymoon period I think. But if he doesn't deliver in the ring when someone is not bumping like a freak like Cassidy did (that alone should assure him of a new contract), things may get tricky in the long run. Look at Ruby Soho. Got huge pop when she debuted, looked like a total star. But she really has not delivered in matches, now she doesn't look half as hot as when she started. Keith Lee may be a huge star for AEW, but there are some questions (like the work-ethic of Andrade was questioned at times). Raising them shouldn't be an issue. Loved the debut, glad he's there, hoping for the best.

Lita's intellectual gymnastic to rationalize the fact she's going to work the Saudi shows a few years after criticizing WWE for going there (reminder : she said in 2018 that the PR was hypocritical and that it was all about the money, and saying it's to move the culture forward was just a cover up) is quite something. So now it's about women empowerment and bullshit like this (gotta love the very colonialist idea of women over there crying because OMG those American women are so strong and show us the way). Of course it is, *now* it's for the culture, ya see, because there are women on the card so it changes everything. I'd rather have people just admit "Yeah, it's business, everybody does it.", really... It's less offensive than bullshit rationalizations and hypocritical takes galore.

It was. Not to mention he was just thrown in there at the last moment to have an actual Forbidden Door appearance.

Damn, he was only 45. He WOULD be a youngster in today's WWE !

True, especially considering what style Keith Lee works (or used to work, Meltz is spot on when he says Lee needs to drop some weight, Cassidy indeed made him godlike today but Lee's style is all about being really athletic for a big guy). That being said, I'm pretty sure some Twitter idiots would have called JR racist if he had done it, because how dare you compare Keith Lee to a white guy and all (when in fact)... Really though, to me it was almost a "Carlos Colon being called a youngster" moment.

I was wondering if she actually was his girlfriend or not during that "spot". Apart from a few minor formatting issues, it was an amazing episode of Dynamite, the best of the year overall thus far. Punk & Mox vs FTR was a terrific match and quite the unexpected alliance. Dream match indeed, and one I had not think about. Page vs Archer over-delivered. Super creative in a good way, with two of the most ridiculous spots I've seen in a while (or not, considering how many insane stuff happening on a regular basis). The ending was so perfectly executed and amazingly thought out considering the entire match was built around the idea Page could not do the Buckshot. The 1-2 Punch of also falling through the tables *because* the tope rope had been removed (to prevent said Buckshot) was brillant and insane at the same time. They really should do a T-shirt that says "I <3" on the front with a cute design and a bloody "GORY SELF MUTILATION" on the back... Andrade vs Sammy vs Darby is a feud I can get behind. Ditto Penta dragging his evil LU character back. Really too bad Cesar Duran and Karlee Perez are in MLW limbo... Santana & Ortiz getting with Eddie and finally getting the tag belts would be a good way to go at this point, with Jericho turning back heel maybe (he really did a good job letting Santana & Ortiz shine as well as Sammy here). The LAX line was pretty stiff ! Matt Hardy walking out on Private Party ? Hum... Can you feel a Hardy reunion in a few months ? Jade Cargill doing that Jeff Cobb finisher after catching A.Q.A (what's up with that outfit with those dangerous suspenders and metallic clippers, I would not be happy working around those) in mid air was something. JAY WHITE !!! Only one of the most brillant pro-wrestler in the world. I marked the fuck out, I won't lie. Meltz had mentioned him so I was thinking he could show up. Keith Lee, of course. Looking like a STAR. JR almost had a Gorilla Mansoon moment, calling him a "young Mark Henry". Yeah, he's 37... Between him and Adam Cole, WWE really shows their complete and total incompetence. And speaking of Cole... This. And really now : This is pretty ace. The guy is paying attention, that's really cool. And it gives me some Jay White in AEW. One day this Omega vs White match has to happen somewhere too. Yeah, pretty killer show setting up so many really cool shit to come.

Jay White is still under contract to NJPW as far as I know. He's showing up here like he does in IMPACT. Forbidden Door indeed.

It's probably Yokozuna, and he's gonna join you know who. Or Kyoko Hamaguchi (no idea who's gonna get that reference though). Ok now, Keith Lee has been pretty much a given for a while now, Meltz has been saying for weeks that they have been talking. Doesn't mean it's him *tonight*, but it's pretty much a Danielson case at this point. Also, TK never talked about two surprises. He said ONE. He said there was other things to look forward, maybe some announcements too. A.Q.A (formerly an NXT girl) debuts tonight against Jade Cargill, so there's that already. I gotta feeling that's if it ends up not being Keith Lee, people are gonna bitch, which is probably why TK did that Tweet about "if it's not one of your guesses, doesn't mean they won't show up later".

Jinsei Shinkazi is maybe the most graceful pro-wrestler ever. Beautiful.

Yeah, that was actually the joke, AEW using Corny's infamous gimmick...

Just do a Forbidden Box, to piss off Corny or something.

I mean, if the whole "Forbidden Door" stuff is just some gimmick line at this point and doesn't actually mean anything specific, Keith Lee is the most obvious choice by far considering the hype he's giving the announcement.

There's no reason why that would bother AEW. Punk was at the Indie Hall of Fame too to induct Dave Prazak. AEW acknowledges other pro-wrestling companies and their history. No reason to oppose this, plus it probably means something to Danielson.

The Forbidden Door reference seems to indicate he's currently working elsewhere as a free agent, so not Keith Lee, which honestly could make a bigger impact just showing up and directly challenging a player instead of participating in a qualifier match. So like I said before, Bandido. You can quote me.

Yeah, I'd love to have Joe in AEW, but it's not like I would expect anything in term of actual matches. And honestly, he's a guy who peaked around 2005/2006. He's not like Danielson or Christopher Daniels (who still had MOTYC in the 10's and just had a terrific match with Jay White last week)) or Aries (who still looked awesome a few years back) or Styles. I understand his motivation got squashed by years a piss-poor TNA booking (no one got wasted more than Joe in this company when he should have been made the Ace from winning the feud with Angle), but if I'm honest about his output (while I'm still watching TNA chronologically), his last legit great performance was in 2009 (of course he still delivered some very good stuff after that point, even at his worst Joe was still always a super reliable talent, which says a lot). Now, I haven't seen his ROH stuff before he got to NXT, but the consensus about his NXT stint is that he wasn't the Joe of old either. He's been a great worker with an awesome peak, but it's been a while, and now he's physically shot apparently. And yet I would still love to see Joe do stuff in AEW.

Thankfully, the goal of Coach Tony K. is to build a financially sustainable, quality pro-wrestling company, not stick it to Vince because "lolz". That's one (big) difference between him and Bischoff, which, in the long run, should pay off. And really, it already has paid off. No idea why anyone in their right mind would want Shane in AEW. Adam Cole showing up just after main-eventing pretty much the last NXT Takeover was a much better "stick it to Vince" moment already while also actually building the future of the company.

Lance Storm just signed with IMPACT as a producer/coach. That's pretty interesting. Totally forgot he actually had signed with WWE only to get fired 6 months later.

Agreed. The reality is that they have way too much really talented people that do, plus they are doing a concerted effort to build for the future and they also listens to their crowds, meaning that something that is gonna get over is gonna get some time. Since they don't do ridiculous 50/50 booking, you also need to short-time build some feuds like the Gunn vs Jurassik Xpress to give the tag champs some wins and momentum outside of bigger matches. And then you got the women division, which surely needs some work (both in term of booking and talents that are being pushed) but is also growing in interesting ways. But you also don't want to put out too many hours of content to not burn out your audience (I mean, there's surely some cool stuff on both Dark, but like I said I just don't have the time/will to watch it if I want to watch other pro-wrestling too, which of course is an outside issue). So in the end, it's tricky, even more so when they keep bringing people in. All of this to say that yeah, Starks feels like someone that could get to the four pillars level (Jungle Boy's at least, MJF seems far advanced by now) pretty quickly if given the same attention.

Yeah, that spot was crazy good. Watched it three times in a row. Unbelievable execution by both. Loving how the plots thickens in the women's division between Martinez, Thunder Rosa (best use of a DQ to further the feud, glad it's just the beginning), Hayter and Britt. The usual spot backstage with Hirsch attacking Statlander from behind during an interview segment cracked me up though. It's almost a running joke by now. Hirsch fits as a heel though, in a Taz way.

Since the announcement talks about a guy who not only is a free agent but also is walking through the Joe Forbidden Door, I was thinking more about someone who's actually already working somewhere else, but as a free agent. So maybe a guy like Bandido, which would be awesome.

Jeff Jarrett had figured it out. At some point he would not even bother to work the leg before applying the hold. And really now, if a hold hurts that much in itself, why bother ?

Serena Deeb's the other week was ok. But yeah, usually looks like shit except for Bret's. Flair's figure four hold on the wrong leg always triggered me once I figured the pressure was actually on the straight knee. Which made the selling ever more bizarre when you think about it. Yet, it was acknowledged as both great psychology and great selling (usually, when the opponent was a Steamboat or Savage). In the end, the point was "twisting someone's leg" + "hobbling" = pain somewhere = ok whatever people are buying it, therefore it must work, where is Gorilla to give a pseudo-anatomical explanation ? Another sign that pro-wrestling is about, well, signs, and that's it.

You want me to leave ? And no, the whole "Bouh ! Moves" lazy-ass criticism is not just here. And a real criticism approach on pro-wrestling more based on the study of forms really hasn't been seriously done anywhere. Ditto one that would take in account some sociology concepts in relations to what "over" means in term of how it's been confused with "psychology" or "talent". I won't go into this at this point as it's a pretty huge Pandora's box, really.

I'm on the same boat, well except I don't do star ratings and no one gives a fuck what I think, as in for instance when I was doing my Taker @ Mania reviews last year (or the year before ?), I rated both Shawn vs Taker matches higher than Taker vs Edge and Taker vs Batista. But I enjoyed those two better than both Shawn's matches. I'l also trying to look at things from the perspective of what the guys are trying to do, and not what I think they should do because reason X or Y (which is why I'm often rambling about "any prescriptive vision of pro-wrestling doesn't interest me anymore"). And really, looking at this from this perspective, I learned a whole lot more than thinking "Oh, I know how it is supposed to be done" (which honestly, is quite a ridiculous statement, despite me having watched pro-wrestling for 30 years). That doesn't mean I won't also project my own tastes about form in them, as form (execution, creativity, pacing and dynamics shift taken in a non-narrative way) is way more important than it's given its due (well, around some places). Narratives and psychological (not "psychology", which should mean more than "character work") approaches are totally overstated, which deprives a large chunk of pro-wrestling of what it is and why it's so unique and great (and the talent it takes to, for instance, execute a complex sequence of moves, which not only is not valued but has been often derided de facto if not clearly ingrained in a clear narrative, although in many cases too, people just don't get it, hence "Young Bucks lack psychology and just do moves for the sake of moves" and the likes).