El-P

Fucking Omicron will ruin NJ again.

Sure, I'm of all people on this board is out of touch with how current pro-wrestling works. By 1989 thinking I refer to *only* building people that way. Not to squash matches as a mean to an end among others. Ok. What did I say in my last post ? I mean... really now. When did I say "Squash matches are useless" ? I didn't at all. I said that *only* building two guys through squashes to have them meet at a big show was 1989 thinking. Sure, you could still try it once. Not sure that would work well, and if it would, it would take very specific guys to do it with and it would only work (if it would) because it would be an exception to the rule. Then again, I'm not convinced it would work *that* well. Miro was so awesome as TNT champ not because he was doing squashes but because he came off like a monster while having actual great competitive TV matches. Him going Goldy on jobbers would have only get him so far with the AEW audience. And the final big match did not happen against someone who would do the same thing. Case in point, Jade Cargill, who's got an awesome look and presentation, is not exactly getting over like crazy thus far, and really the best reactions she ever got was when she actually had competitive matches, especially the Red Velvet one. (can't wait to see her go against Thunder Rosa, but I'm in the wrong thread) And really, you have squash matches pretty much every week, to a degree or another, and both Dark shows are basically just about that anyway. There are most squash matches and JTTS matches now that there ever was in 15 years during the WWE monopoly/late 90's (and yeah indeed, NXT but also LU to a point is when they surged back on the scene).

There's a huge difference between "Build two guys with squash matches and at some point get them together to collide", which is absolutely 1989 thinking, and what we're actually all talking about with Jade Cargill or the fact Kross should absolutely have squashed some jabronies for a few weeks to make him look impressive or the fact there's actually plenty of competitive JTTS matches on AEW TV (I actually thought Punk vs Marshall was way too long and way too competitive, so there). Yes, squashes matches have absolutely a use to build someone up especially if he/she is supposed to be a monster, but they are only a step in building someone, not the whole process. And can only work in very specific cases. Tik-tok is great to showcase cool sequences I guess. Gotta say, Goldy always bored me. I never thought he was very compelling, especially on rewatch, and he was lucky as fuck to have guys like Raven and DDP to make him look way better than he ever was. Plus he killed Bret's career due to sheer ineptness, so there is that. The idea people are paying to see a 50 years old Goldy do the 50 years old routine he did more than 20 years ago is baffling to me, honestly.

Well done.

Actually, there have been plenty of good reasons why this doesn't exist anymore. The model was tired and died in the 90's during US pro-wrestling nadir when the audience did not want to see that boring shit anymore. Nitro changed the format of the show. Pro-wrestling became less and less of a house-show model and more and more of a TV model (and exclusively one today). And squash matches are still used for some specific people, like Jade Cargill in AEW (because she's green as grass and his portrayed as a monster, although one could argue she won't get better working that style for too long) and of course, Goldy in 98. But building a rivalry using two guys doing squash matches and eventually colliding on PPV, yeah, that was good in 1989 when the audience did not know better and the goal was to sell house-show tickets and PPV's. Pro-wrestling weekly TV shows back then were basically commercials, like Transformers and such. Of course the issue with WWE is not that they need squash matches, it's that they are completely inept at booking.

Riho just used the freakin Gannosuke Clutch to beat Baker. Made my day. Oh, and that Kingston vs Garcia match...

I'll probably check out their Mexico tapings, but really only because of the perspective of more Cesar Durante & Karly Perez doing a low-rent LU act, which, I can't lie, is kinda cool (I mean, it's cool to see them again if anything). There's really something about MLW's production that doesn't work for me, and it's not for the lack of trying.

That NXT2.0 plan really was a stroke of genius.

I haven't watched it yet, but I was so excited when I saw it was actually an entire episode of Wrestle House. And their next special is gonna be a Throwback show too, the first one was awesome. Yeah, the nice thing about IMPACT is that they aren't gonna blow up, that ship has sailed a long, long time ago, but now they are under the radar enough that they can allow themselves to do stuff like this (although really you can credit Matt Hardy for jumpstarting it). Since LU has disappeared (and no, MLW getting Cesar Durante and Karly Perez aka Cueto & Catrina just isn't the same at all), this kind of off-the-wall stuff is always welcomed.

What is Brian Cage doing lately ? Talk about one guy who's AEW stint kinda went awry after a great debut and some cool matches. Honestly I would enjoy Kross & Scarlett more.

Kenny Omega. Amazing title reign, great big match worker, great gimmick worker, great TV worker against a variety of different opponents. Great heel champion, great reign that led to the perfect passing of the torch. The best championship reign in pro-wrestling since the Okada big ace reign. This year has solidified his GOAT contendership.

Only seven figures ? Let's get ready for some more cuts for budgetary reasons. I wonder why Netflix would spend seven figures on WWE programmings to promote their shit though (and I say shit quite literally too).

I wonder when Conrad will do a podcast about Survivor Series 2021 with Brucie. "Listen, we're telling a story."

Mania 45. Aurora H wins the WWE women championship in a 40 minutes main event against Charlotte Flair. You've heard it here first. You can quote me.

Yeah, you know, actually this is WCW 2000 level dumbfuckery.

Isn't that what they are gonna become anyway ? I mean, we've reached the level of them doing an angle basically as a product placement for a Netflix show. They have their huge grossing week-end with Mania every year, they have their BloodMoney shows... and really nothing else matters.

Agree. And the thing is, WWF in 1999 was hot as hell. But it also fucking sucked. Because Austin was Austin and The Rock was getting to that level, people seem to forget that the TV was actually fucking awful. There was mostly no good wrestling anymore, Russo was all over the place until he left and it really showed, I can't think of one particulary great match or even one great angle during that year (no, "It was me all along" doesn't qualify). I can remember tons of really awful ones (yes, "It was me all along" does qualify, so does Bossman vs Al Snow, so does Test & Stephy are dating, so does Sable turns heel, so does everything involving the Ministry of Darkness, so does Shane-O Mac doing his first idiotic stunt). It slowly got better once Russo left and then Angle & Jericho got on TV and then in 2000 the Radicals showed up and boosted up the average in-ring work level, but man, 1999 WWF TV was garbage. It was hot garbage, it was popular garbage, but it was garbage.

Vince had been the N°1 heel in the company for a good year. He was an integral part of the promotion and a top 5 character still. Not a "worker", of course, but still a key character at this point. Arquette was an actor promoting a shitty movie. There's no comparison whatsoever. That being said, I've told the story a countless times now, Vince winning the Rumble 1999 is what killed the WWF fan in me (which I had been since 1990). So....

Rollins talking shit to the guy while he's being held down by four guys is pretty basic heel work but it does the job.

Prosecute ? I say send that mofo to the Performance Center. He can already do a better spear than most. Plus that's a punition anyway.

Kross & Scarlett could be back there too also. They had quite the act in Mexico and Kross could play giant tossing luchadors around, which was one of his best role.

Kinda surprised they haven't announced Deonna defending the Reinas de Reinas championship either. A cool thing would be a surprise match between her and Taya. Wishfull thinking I know but I'm sure Konnan would book Taya in a heartbeat.

I wonder... If Stephy ever divorces from Trip, will she wish him the best in his futur endeavors ?

No offense to him, but considering what he's bringing to the table (not much, although he's better than he was in WWE) and the talent available, like Jonah who had a great debut doing an Invader III style destruction on Josh Alexander (complete with Alexander coughing up blood, kinda gross), sorry Mr. W but I don't have any desire to see more of you in IMPACT Wrestling. But hey, there's NWA and MLW right there, like, over there where I'm not watching... Moose vs Eddie Edwards was quite the spectacle. Brutal stuff. A bit on the long and slower side, especially since they sold so much (but really who will blame them ?), and although Edwards having a notable match really isn't a surprise, especially in this setting as he's got a Dreamer/Foley will to take punishment, Moose really is the low-key great big match worker of the year. He had great matches against Willie Mack (I believe it was this year, right ?), Rich Swann, Kenny Omega, Tomohiro Ishii, Juice Robinson and now Eddie Edwards. And basically is always delivering. He's also got that awesome presence and has become a really terrific seller. Really a terrific year for Moose. Austin vs Sabin and James vs Martinez were also very good. Ultimate-X women match announced for Hard to Kill (this is gonna get tricky), alongside Mickie James vs Deonna return match. Plus I guess Jonah vs Alexander. And I get the return of Wrestler House on the weekly shows. Damn IMPACT, not many people watch but those who do really get some good shit.

So. Judging from this thread, there was no call-back to Montreal. It was all about the Gobbledy Gooker.