El-P

Holy shit ! That being said, it almost reads like an elaborate troll. (I mean, I would hope, bad taste as it would be)

That whole "Cody having a Reality TV show is a good thing for AEW" argument, that held no water to begin with anyway, has truly aged like milk. He can have it as part as the trillions hours of "content" WWE will produce with A&E. (content over quality has never been so true when the selling point is the number of hours that are gonna be produced)

That MJF promo was one for the ages, but the one thing that struck me even before he began to talk was when he walked down the ramp. I had no idea what he was gonna say obviously, but I thought to myself "Damn, he really looks like a little boy there, that's different...". With the hindsight of the actual promo, it's amazing how great his body language was to convey that sense of vulnerability that you did not see coming, as a despicable heel no less (it's not like he was a usually bad ass babyface that would show another aspect of his character). He's just on another level. That PPV is stacked as fuck in term of me really caring about pretty much everything on the show (although the Cargill segment this week was a not pretty, with her forgetting to kick out and then talking at the wrong times during Conti's run in, but the match could be pretty cool, all considering they are both still green).

Damn ! Of course ! I'm getting old and confused !

20 years of monopoly on the grand stage will do that. Plus, everything tends to be overstated anyway because of social medias. But people who have lived through Yokozuna joining the nWo know better... Funny how things works, it goes so fast, to me it seems like Cody is already old news. AEW has moved on without even blinking on TV, they have a really hot PPV lined-up on paper, TK has that big announcement this week, Jeff Hardy is gonna show up, TAFKA Cesaro might show up, Shane Strickland will show up, it's not like Cody leaving reversed the flow in any way shape or form.

I actually really want to see this. So much potential for full cringe. Plus, maybe I'll finally get to watch some Tessa Blanchard matches again...

I actually was thinking about that. Kinda sucks for Leila Hirsch and especially Masha Slamovich, who's been killing it in IMPACT thus far. I mean, wearing those Russian colors. You know people on social medias just are gonna be fucking idiots and toxic about it. (I mean, I stumbled into Lana's anti-war tweet and idiots were acting like "Do better !")

Introducing, the biggest stars on the show : Edge : 48 years old. Steve Austin : 57 years old. Vince McMahon : 76 years old. Not one but TWO "celebrity" matches, including one who had a brain hemorrhage. Main event : two guys who have been in God Mode for ever now and who have killed the entire roster. So whoever wins makes pretty much the entire incoming year worthless since the only goal is a match next year (which may not happen) against The Rock : 50 years old. But hey, they sure gonna get Dashing Cody Rhodes feuding with the Miz, that's some game changing shit incoming. That company can really be happy the unrealistic über-capitalistic context works in their favor... My interest in that Mania is at best one of morbid curiosity.

Kane inducting Taker ? Make the Hall of Fame Great Again.

This, a thousand times. No talent as a pro-wrestler, no talent as a human being either. Great geopolitical analysis though. Almost as deep as the random drunken idiot in the nearby café. Yeah, PWO, I know, but some days...

I wonder if TK's next big announcement has something to do with a streaming service. Or using ROH as a farming system. Or both.

The Josh Alexander situation is just bizarre since they have made a big angle on TV sending him back home and then talked about him on the special as "former IMPACT wrestler", which is something they really don't do usually, and it was systematic here. So I'm guessing they're working the situation inside the long-term storyline which should have him win the title back from Moose. If not, then, yeah, just odd. The special was tons of fun, as it usually is. Two MAJOR swerves happening, with the GoD basically ejected from the Bullet Club by Jay White, reuniting with the Good Brothers. Interesting in the NJ front, as Tama especially has been really good last year during the G1 working as kind of a fiery babyface. Finally brings some fresh dynamic for those two and probably the GB back in NJ whenever they can fly there. The other one is much bigger for IMPACT, in that Eddie Edwards turning is about the most shocking you can have in the company. Eddie has been the heart and soul of IMPACT for years, so it's a mini "Hogan turns heel" moment for them. Main-event multi men against the Honor No More crew was terrific, PCO not surprisingly doing the most crazy shit and even making the most out of an exchange with Rhino. TK really should get Mickie James to work a big angle for them. Really enjoying her post WWE sting a lot. That Chelsea Green heel turn is so incoming, especially now that her husband has finally brought his awesome douchebagery to IMPACT, stealing Jordynne Grace's Digital Media title (and having really good matches with her). And of course, well Deonna ruled against ROH's Miranda Allizee. Surely IMPACT is paying her well, because they don't want her to ever go away. 4 men X-div qualifier match was an excellent opener too. Hopefully though the Morrissey experiment is over, as he did the honor clean for Moose. As much as he looked quite ok in multi-men and garbage matches against Eddie, in a straight single match, it was not pretty. Brian Myers on commentary calling him Giant Gonzalez got a good chuckle out of me. Really intrigued in where they are gonna go now, keeping on with Honor No More and Eddie as main heels.

When they talk about the grandest stage of all, is that the Capitol ?

Looks like a bunch of crackers ready to burn crosses. Just sayin'... Would be a good heel group in 2022 though.



Yeah, that's called relativism. And again. Making fun of a promo that he thought was bad = Making fun of depression in front of the guy after pretending to bond with him ? Hum.... "Dripping with insincerity" That shit never gets old.

May have been. Probably another reason why they don't want anyone with any rasslin' experience anymore (when you think about this, really ), because that way they can mold their talent into just accepting what they are being fed. Which also means those people will be way more afraid to leave after only knowing WWE too. Of course, when they'll get fired, because they will, that will be a different story.

It always comes back to Vince indeed (But he loved me !), and Dax may very well have been dickish. But the entire thread reeks of corporate suck-up when Dax basically was giving yet another instance of the Kliq being what they always have been, a bunch of assholes (and hey, I like their work to this day), which really isn't any kind of news. And ok, Waltman probably always was the best of them, when he wasn't shitting on women's sandwhiches (BTW, Sunny is going back to jail, right ?). But you know what I think about Twitter dramas in general. Waste of time.

Making fun of a written promo = making fun of depression issues. Suck-up to the boss spotted. Also, I don't know what kind of contracts writers get, but I don't think they are categorized as "independent contractors". The "second class citizen" line seems pretty ironic. Considering the average level of promo work in WWE, honestly most of these guys should get the axe anyway because they suck and can't write worth a shit (and yeah, I know they are working around oddball WWE verbiage and Vince re-writing shows, but still).

Yep. Omega is always an awesome guess. So well thought out.

I'm all for WWE doing nothing but reality shows and shit and leave pro-wrestling to the people who actually do it right.

Bully Ray's reveal at Lockdown as the President of Aces & Eights is an easy 11/10 on the "It was me all along !" idiocracy scale. And it legit makes Aces & Eights the worst heel ploy ever. I mean, really now, considering the months and months and months of mysteries, manipulation, beatdowns and physical toll paid by Bully himself (not to mention the faction), all of this just to get the world title, the ratio effort/result ends up being quite pathetic. I mean, Bobby Roode also fooled the people but he won the TNA title with one fucking beer bottle after one match. Speaking of Roode though, funny how booking works. After the neverending boredom of his single heel main event push, he's now tagging with Austin Aries (who's at the top of his game still) and he's terrific again because he can now work like he did in Beer Money as opposed to be a dull as dirt Randy Rorton-like in overlong single main events. And the interactions and bickering between the two are actually really good and funny. The only other really good stuff at this time is the Gail Kim and Taryn Terell storyline. Kenny King and Zema Ion in the X-division are also good.

The TNA creation episodes are fascinating, because it really goes in detail into the hows and the whys how creating a pro-wrestling promotion (which still exists today !) from scratch in the monopoly era. Also, there's this little gem, when they talk about the guys from the indies he was gonna book on EP2 : "It annoyed me even back in 2002, "Oh, they're just flippity guys". No, they really aren't." Nice. Really enjoying this show.

When I think about Veracruz, I don't picture cold wind and rain. I guess it's Winter over there too. Probably did not help the show. So, Taya won the fun multi-women match and challenged Deonna Purrazzo. As expected. Lady Maravilla took a spanish fly from the apron to the floor, because of course she would. She's low-key one of my favorite performer, she's always fun to watch, and she's bitchy as hell. Tons of clusterfucks on the undercard, the mixed tag title (which is something IMPACT really should do) multi team strap lumberjack match was as fun and ridiculous as it sounds. The new Sexy Star looks quite good, plus she doesn't shoot on people, so there's that. Nice tribute to Arturo El Rudo Rivera, he comes off like he was the Bobby Heenan of AAA. Also, Carlos Cabrera reunited with Hugo, but no one broke their table. Rey de Reyes match was *there*. Laredo Kid and Bandido obviously were fun to watch, Psycho Clown was absolutely part of this match (I can't remember the last time I actually enjoyed him, he has to be the most annoying pushed guy in the world next to EVIL, for different reasons), Cibernetico hobbled his way into sucking and hey Heavy Metal showed up. What the fuck is this, WWE ? So, Fénix could not wrestle on the show, so it was Dralistico (wait, the first Dragon Lee who became the second Mistico in Mexico, right ? This guy has legit personality issues) vs Penta, and it was pretty okay although Dralistico was sloppy at times. Turned into an angle at the end, with Dragon Lee showing up and beating down Penta while Fénix was held back by security and the medics, really great at selling the despair of watching his brother get killed too. Lee's vs FTR vs Lucha Brothers incoming. I was half-excepting Johnny Lucha, but we got Johnny Superstar. Got a chuckle out of that, how more literal can you be ? Was a total asshole too, which is his best role. Vikingo was out of this world again. One spot that had me die laughing was toward the end as Johnny tried to grab the camera from the guy taking pictures outside the ring, and the guy visibly would not give him, like, he wasn't gonna do it. Johnny had to give up and take a huge-ass light from the rampway instead, which did not look awkward at all. Finish was incredible though, as Johnny took a moonsault bump ONTO the rope rope, which Vikingo followed by a reverse rana from over there of course, before his usual finisher. Just insane looking sequence. Match was quite good all things considered. AAA is such a clusterfuck though. The trios match in particular had Los Mercenarios show up at the end for a crappy DQ (although, La Hiedra, respectfully, as we say now apparently)... LA Park is 56 and really begins to show his age too, although he did a nice tope.