El-P

Never saw Danhausen, don't have the slightest idea of whom he is. But two important things happened when he showed up : 1/ crowd popped pretty big and chanted his name. 2/ announcers popped and recognized him and made him seem like he was someone. So, going by perception only, I was like : ok, I have no idea who this guy is, but he must be someone, cool. On the other hand, I have no idea why Private Party are the n°1 contender when they haven't been on TV for ever. I know it's probably Dark, but the idea that packing victories against JTTS makes you n°1 contender is pretty ridiculous to me. That's the random WCW charm aspect of AEW I guess. I also have no idea why Britt Baker cuts a (entertaining, although all the sports ref flew high over my head obviously) long-ass promo about nothing and no angle nor new feud comes out of it. No idea why Mox & Danielson weren't around on Beach Break. I did enjoy Cody & Sammy having a ridiculously brutal and spectacular ladder match and Cole & Orange having a slow-burn garbage match. Leila & Velvet was also a cool little match, I enjoy those two. When is Vickie's contract getting to its end ? I mean, really now... MJF vs Punk is certainly a super hot angle. Match should deliver. Pretty intrigued about the finish of that one too.

Gory self-mutilation of a citrus. Cody trying to die again in a gimmick match. More CM Punk & MJF promos. Sounds good to me.

Lady of Silence indeed. Holy fuck. The question is, does anyone has some hidden gems to ponder her case for the GWE.

Vince probably thinks Sami looks Irish. That's WWE track record for you, since most of the time, it's actually what they do, when they actually don't do even dumber (just last week with Gunther. A simple Google search before trademarking it would have done the job)

Wait, the idea that WWE would propose a stereotypical gimmick to a muslim named Mustafa Ali is a stretch now ? Of course we don't know, but come on, it's at the very least a very believable possibility. Speaking of guys asking for their release, Brian Kendrick has asked for his too.

Jeez. Dire indeed. Wait until she gets thrown out in 5 minutes because they don't want to put the focus on the IMPACT champion. I wonder if they'll let her come out to her IMPACT theme, which she has said she wants to. Wait, so no Sasha and Bailey either ? Yikes.

Really ? Why do you think so, comparatively to some of the really dull, uneventful Rumbles that have be common in the last few years on the men's side ? Also, who the hell in winning since basically Roman vs Lesnar is a lock for Mania ? Doesn't it make for a secondary Rumble by default ? BTW, the women's Rumble is pretty hilarious considering they have to dig up in the past to get to 30 after they fired so many people. The IInspiration actually said they would not appear. Getting some of the people you just fired to fill up spots in really telling of how unprepared they are. There is gonna be some bad "legends" and some green-ass girls from NXT too. Sounds like a car wreck to me. Of course none of this matters if Rousey just shows up and wins.

The same. I would enjoy a team of big maulers to be pushed, plus they look different. Funny how after that match with the Young Bucks, you had people going about how the Varsity Club should be pushed and given the belts, as they looked like stars and how their work had improved so much... totally not seeing the obvious reason why. I still think they have potential, although Pillman has not looked very good lately, but that one occurence where they looked a hundred times better than they actually are was all the Young Bucks being the greatest US tag team ever and working their magic. Like, it was so obvious.

This show had Jarrett, PCO, Waltman, all of whom where favorites of mine when I was watching WWF Superstars in 1993, so yeah...

Yeah, I always thought the Stroke looked bad 90% of the times (only guys like AJ Styles could make it look really good), but this one looked terrific and really brutal. I loved the ominous remix of his classic TNA theme too, really fitting the character.

Most of Leva's work is backstage though. She has barely been an active in-ring talent forever (I know she just been on Dark, but it's been a long while).

I dunno, I thought that it peaked with Cardona vs Janela. Allie Katch vs Ruby Soho wasn't very good (uh oh...) and the fan HATED the fact Soho won, to the point she seemed upset about that reaction. I really enjoyed Effy vs Jarrett though and Jarrett as the Last Outlaw is really pretty cool to see. I really want him at Slammiversary now. Mox vs Homicide was there. Not even as good as the Ethan Page match on Rampage and not very heated either. So of course with no FTR, it was obvious what the main event would be and it was the right choice, but damn that match ended before it even started (unlike Barely Legal, which had the right timing to actually peak for the finish). And for a GCW main event, it was tamer than a random IMPACT or AEW garbage match, not to mention the gory self-mutilation of the Bunny or Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker. It's a good thing Gage is so over (despite being really, REALLY MOTHERFUCKING AWFUL) because I felt this show was going down the drain with the downer combo of Allie, Effy and Homicide losing back to back to back. So yeah, the real main was his intro I guess, which was fitting because who else to close that show ? First half was crazy fun though. The ladder match was a hot mess with the expected insane spots from PCO and the regular garbage GCW guys. Jordan Oliver and Tony Deppen shined too. The six-men lucha, despite the botched finish, was insanely fun too, some of those spots were out of this world. Lio Rush vs Blake Cristian was excellent, good replacement for Gresham. And of course, of course Janela vs Cardona was everything you'd want from a GCW Janela match. This is why this guy did not translate to AEW, because what you want from his big matches is shit like Marko Stunt & Swoggle showing up for no reason and a cameo from... well you know if you watched. Cardona & Green's entrance was awesome, worth the price of admission alone. They are clearly living their best lives, good for them. Gotta say I loved Fonzie doing his thing later on too, the guy looks great BTW. And Jarrett vs Effy was a pretty cool match as I said. Interesting how Jarrett is seemingly finding new ideas still, after that cool AAA stint in the 10's, he looked pretty good here too and certainly knows how to work for his age, including character wise. The big difference with ECW though, is that there's no way this product translates on weekly TV, which really was the strength of ECW, as honestly the best parts are still the random cameos and oddball matches, as opposed to really strong characters (Gage, Effy and Katch are cult hero though, that's pretty obvious). The landscape is very different obviously too.

It was only 10 buck on Fite, which in the end will only end up being 8 euros or so, and if I'm perfectly honest I'm glad it was. First half was tons of crazy fun which peaked with Janela vs Cardona. Honestly, that Cardona & Chelsea entrance was almost worth the 8 euros alone. The last third was kinda meh honestly, with a completely shitty main event. Also, the production wasn't that good. They AAAed a bunch of big spots and the ring was very poorly mic'd you could not even hear a chop or a stiff boot. But yeah, first half was great fun.

It really had nothing to do with it honestly. He was always gonna be an enhancement talent, he's actually been in that super fun loser feud/tag team with Brandon Cutler which led to that epic draw, which is more than guys like Kip Sabian and most people only featured on the Dark shows can say. But he was just part of the first batch of talent that won't get renewed because the company is bloated right now and really even on Dark there isn't a spot for so many contracted people. Brian Cage is probably gonna be one of the next contracts not renewed too.

Peter Avalon's contract has expired. Remember when The Librarians were gonna kill whatever chances AEW had to be successful and how this was the worst thing ever and the proof the company was a joke ? Fun times (no). Except more of these "contract has expired" as we reached the three years of the company (I mean, does anyone think Kip Sabian has a secured spot with all the new talents signed ? No offense to him of course, but he strikes me as a guy who won't get renewed while Penelope will). This could mean these guys and girls will mean more on the indies now too, so that can be a positive influx on the scene.

Austin Aries may be a douchebag and an anti-vaxx idiot, but as a pro-wrestler, he owned TNA in 2012. He owned period. Between the best Jeff Hardy match ladder match I've ever seen (granted, Jeff's performance was impressive too there) and *that* promo on Brooke Hogan, the guy had every aspect of the game down pat. Just amazing to watch. Funny how Brucie's booking has that absolutely repetitive/neverending aspect to it. After they settled their score once and for all, he still has to put Roode & Storm together for more matches, and of course Storm gets fucked in the process. His inability to see who was the most charismatic of the two is amazing. Also, he has blamed Storm for not being all in on his podcast, but really who can blame Storm when the booking always robbed him of his moment in the end. The Aces & Eight storyline has jumped the shark SO BAD already and it's not even 2013. And now it's time for the romance between Bully Ray & Brooke Hogan. That is pretty promising. Although I must say, Brooke is not half bad thus far. Also in retrospect, the idea of Brooke dating someone her father doesn't approve is hilariously ironic.

I kinda doubt Janela is getting renewed by AEW anyway so he probably doesn't care. He's very much a cult indy guy who does not translate the best in a large scale. Although I would have loved to see a lot more of him and Sunny Kiss on the main shows. I'm actively looking forward to his match against Cardona (who wants to do a Sandman entrance he has said, this guy had turned around his career like no one else's business).

Just watched a Riki Choshu match from 2007, and so at the very least, he was already really fucking good back then. Also, it's fun to watch some of his first matches in WAR not only because it's so odd to see from where he comes from (not to mention the classic 90's randomly colorful japanese indy tights), but because of course, confirmation bias in effect, you're looking for flashes of what he would become. I'm pretty sure no one back then ever saw it coming nor paid attention to that pesky small guy who kinda looked like Nise Ohara. (On a sidenote, it will never cease to amaze me that Red Shoes Uno actually was the WAR referee too)

Court certainly is paying the WWE lawsuits lawyers big-ass money. Meanwhile, his MLZ Azteca "series" is like I said a bunch of Mexico tapings from last December with a few dimly-lighted vignette trying to look like LU, and it's not enough to make me care, despite Dario & Catrina being there...

Yes. I get the Wardlow angle and all and it is obviously working, but as a character and a worker, I have don't have a lot of interest in Wardlow. His match with Punk was very underwhelming I thought, they went way overboard with the powerbombs to the point of making Punk look too weak (really, who has Wardlow ever beat that meant anything ? And he pretty much destroyed CM Punk from nowhere ?). He's a meathead who stick his tongue out and grabs his suspenders. Ok. He's not a very good worker yet, when he's in control he's really kinda meh and only shines in big spots, including big athletic ones. The positive thing is that he's actually quite charming if you ever saw him in BTE, so once he gets the babyface turn he'll be able to showcase that aspect to him personality. Speaking of people not ready for their spots, I was surprised in a good way by the Anna Jay vs Jade Cargill match, although it was pretty shaky at points it was much better than I expected after the really *bad* match between Jade & Ruby. Dunno what that tells about Soho... Like I said, I love Jade's presentation, but she has been exposed by going longer. She's a rookie, no big deal, but she's in a featured spot and it can be dangerous. The good thing is that she apparently is getting quite over and also she displays some really good instincts in term of carrying herself (the way she pins her opponents for instance, she has that body rhythm going along the count and flexing with the 3 which flows along so well) and doing little stuff that makes her compelling to watch (that kiss on the cheek spot was glorious, love the shit-talking too), so I'm pretty optimistic.

Morrison's stint in IMPACT is better than anything he ever did elsewhere, from his match with Aries (apart from the finish of course, which was kinda hilarious in a douchebagy way) to his heel stuff, because indeed, he's an excellent heel. Yeah, his finisher sucks because of how it lands, but he's one of those workers that can be an extraordinary dance partner because of what he's physically able to do, kinda like RVD at one point, in a different way. He's a flippy, parkour guy ? Of course. That's what he does. He even told it itself, he's telling his stories with flips. Had a bunch of great matches in Lucha Underground too. He has MNM too to his credit. Will he make my list ? I don't think so. He's better than a lot of people I see being nominated around though, and I would have no issue with him making the top 100 honestly.

Wild guess, people on Twitter already have : made the never unfunny joke about retirement / made the expected Swole reference to earn their cookie point of the day. Seriously though. The guy said it on the interview just above, he likes his independence. More power to him if that's make him happy. Kinda hard to book around him apart from a few matches here and there though. Would certainly love having him show up in IMPACT now, even for a short stint.

"Less is more" doesn't actually mean anything. I have used it myself in the past, many times, in many contexts, but the reality is that it's a vapid cliché. It doesn't say anything about anything, ignores everything about the social fields it's being used in and pretty much is a cute line to use to make yourself seem smarter than the rest of the crowd who likes "more". Less can be more, but less can also, very often, be less. And more can be more. Much more even. That being said, Riki Choshu is the transcendental "less is more" pro-wrestler if there ever was one. Not that his "less" is "few". But his "less" is very efficient, not just because of who he is (which is a major issue with other candidates whose names I won't drop here, nor in my list) but because of how he does it. Execution matters. A lot. And Choshu's execution is what makes it always fun, no matter what, to watch him backdrop and lariat a motherfucker into oblivion. I don't think I can ever get bored of it, even if he's only doing this. This only really refers to Choshu's 90's, before his retirement (kewk), which really adds quite a bit to his resume (as opposed to his compadre Fujinami, whose 90's added a little bit here and there but really not that much). He clearly made his case in his 80's prime, but his 90's were really a continuation of him being an elite pro-wrestler in all its "less is more" glory. Damn I used it again. But it's through though. But watch Choshu, even in the second half of the 90's. Whatever he was doing, he was doing is a very much "more" way. Apart from the ridiculous squashes of UWF-I guys (that was petty Choshu, I know you hate shoot-style but come on) and the pretty bad Tenryu Tokyo Dome main event in 93 (which was a lot more Tenryu's wrongdoing, really), Choshu was ON whenever he needed to be, be it the legend taming the Musketeers, the NJPW star defending his company against outsiders or the older guy having a last run on top trying to contain the wave that was threatening to submerge him (G1 96 final, people). And when he just had to lariat a mofo, he just did that and it was always enough to get a smile out of me, because of the way he would do it. The intense maneurisms, the short term selling details, the oddball cool spot out of nowhere when the occasion was right and of course, the big-ass power spots (some of the greatest looking suplexes you can find anywhere anytime). So yeah, I did not revisit his prime (done it last time around and can re-contextualize it pretty easily with my 2022 mindset), but Choshu very obviously makes my list, most probably in the top 50 (you never know how things might move around in a few years though, in a way or another), and that's from two decades of being one of my favorite pro-wrestlers ever, one I never ever get bored to see on a screen. (still gonna watch more from past 00's, just for the hell of it)

I will. Eventually. Been going through quite a bit of NJPW 90's, and with the hindsight of what's coming up later in his career which I intend to revisit too (meaning mostly his AJ/interpromotional stuff, as I've seen most of the later NJPW Tanahashi era matches not long ago), including him still having some compelling performances at past 58 years old in NOAH, there's no way he's not going in. A wrestler with just way too many genius ideas and instinct, maybe too conceptual for his own good sometimes, but I'm big on creativity and pushing things forward. And sometimes I'm just in awe on what he's coming up with, and I realize I was SO wrong on some of his stuff before (the two Takada matches for instance). Wizard is not a gimmick, it's a fact.

Hum... People going out on Saturday night ?