El-P

He may be a dick at times, but he's "not a heel". Which is why the celebration after the match was 100% straight forward babyface stuff, which you would never do for a heel-in-denial. He's only a heel on a meta level, and only for a portion of the crowd. He could be what you say he is, and he could have been what I thought he would be at one point (the obnoxious Hollywood type star couple character, which I would have enjoyed quite a bit as Brandi would probably have shined in this role), but obviously that's not where they are now. The booking of Cody is so meta at this point it's what makes it so fun to watch to me. Oh, well. The guy is stuck in 1985 forever. Let him rot over there. I was glad that that awful transphobic shit got pulled and the guy apparently got kicked out. The big feud was really Inner Circle against ATT and Sammy got the match against Ethan Page out of it, but after that point, yeah, he would kinda put in the back. Can't win them all I guess. It's not like he's ruined or anything either.

Malakai has totally came off the Cody feud looking like a star. And he won most of the matches too. It doesn't matter what *kind* of reaction he was getting, what matters is he was getting huge reactions. And he does look like a star and could be pushed tomorrow against Hangman Page and be a credible threat. Mission accomplished. But the issue is that he's "not a heel". You can't call him out for being something he isn't. He's not *actually* a heel. He's a meta-heel for a part of the audience, and that's what they are now playing off on. It's tricky as hell but at least it's fun to watch.

Cody is "not a heel". Just booking him against babyfaces would hurt that perception. Plus, as per Meltz Cody actually gets a lot of cheers too, but the people booing him make more noise. It's the odd dynamic that makes him interesting. No one wants a straight heel turn anymore at this point (unless you're a Corny idiot troll like the ones popping up on shows with idiotic signs now, including transphobic shit about Nyla last week, and yes I realize we don't know if he was a Corny idiot guy but I'm just gonna assume he is considering Corny's idiotic stance on the same kind of subject before, unfair I know). Cody is "not a heel" and is "not turning". Except of course having beat Sammy was gonna get him more boos from the people who hate him, despite the completely babyface-like celebration after the match (because he's "not a heel"). Sammy's reign could have been more, but the matches have been great and he has been over. Interestingly enough, now Cody is gonna get a guy from ATT, much like Sammy. Sammy's gonna be fine. He just need a focused single feud again, which really he did not get with his title reign.

HOOK Really enjoyed Statlander vs Hirsch. Either of these two should get more attention than Ruby Soho does. That goes for many other women BTW (yeah, I have been quite underwhelmed by Soho lately). Cody is the most meta character in pro-wrestling today. Yeah, "He's not turning heel", you see... Excellent match too, Cody has really found back his groove in the last few months. Gonna give another different cool dynamic to the title, and possibly Sammy is gonna chase (and get) it back sooner than later. And fuck yeah to reDragons vs Young Bucks, reDragons vs FTR, reDragons vs Lucha Brothers, reDragons vs Santana & Ortiz, reDragons vs Jurassik Express... So much potential for greatness here.

With all the anti-vaxx demonstrations and propaganda, France is still not that bad after all, with 72% (getting my third next week). Typical French people : complain and bitch about all but still do stuff. I'm sure WWE loved the Thunderdome. Totally controlled audience is their wet dream.

Killing the business with all the unrealistic selling and moves since the beginning of times... In a total different topic, it will never cease to amuse me that DDP's girlfriend (now wife) last name was McMahon. And since her first name is Payge, she's now Payge Page. Can't get more pro-wrestling than this. She's a beast too, not kidding at all when she's the one directing around those DDPYoga workouts.

Well, it is a fun idea for another time and something entirely different indeed, in term of "Most influential wrestlers" period.

The AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Chris Daniels vs Kurt Angle four way ladder match at Hardcore Justice 2012 totally went under the radar before I did my top of TNA matches list. What an incredible ladder match, Daniels being involved in one of the most fun and creative spot I've seen in this setting. TNA MOTY for the year thus far (don't see how anything is beating this). Bruce Prichard's booking still sucks though. The women's titles are treated as a joke, Aces & Eights started off ok but after a few weeks already it has jumped the shark as it got repetitive and goes nowhere, with very obvious swerves and no developments in sight yet. The Bound for Glory series is just as bad and incomprehensible as when Russo booked it.

Yeah, kinda expected after Owens resigned. Again, there's so much people on the market right now and AEW being saturated with great talent already, doesn't change a thing, except it would have been really cool to see Sami actually doing something meaningful and displaying his potential. Good for them for getting the big-ass contracts.

Him or anyone else really. He's been a complete waste of talent for someone who has such a unique kind of talent. It's not like he had any shot to begin with of course.

Well, THAT turn was surprising to say the least. Mayu Iwatani apparently has watched Kurt Angle matches and tried to outdo him in term of scariest/most impressive moonsault ever.

'member when people where having fantasies of big time matches against WALTER when he signed ? That good ol' WWEptimism...

They don't want "indy style" in their product because WWE Style (tm) is the law. However, they hire "indy guy who never worked in the main roster" as trainers. Make sense.

Those multi-men cluster fucks are so much fun. Ford vs Conti wasn't exactly a UWF classic, but it was fun enough, with some cool looking submissions. Yeah, Daniel Garcia should eventually get a more serious push hopefully. This company really has way too much talent already. Cody can't get cheered against Dan Lambert, and even against Cody Lambert can't get cheered either. That's fucking HEAT. If they do a tag match with Dustin vs Men of the Year, the reactions will be fun for every tag. Is Eddie Guerrero the most over deceased wrestler ever ? That's been almost 15 years and people chant his name and pop crazy for every tribute (which are kinda overdone sometime honestly). Picture an audience in 1994 going crazy for guys paying tribute to a 1970's worker. That's pretty telling of how the audiences and the landscape have changed over the last 40 years.

In a perfect world, Randy Orton is one I would absolutely need to get into with fresh eyes and brain. In a perfect world...

That's what I thought. That you mixed it up with Sak I mean.

..... ? They are not tagging. I have no idea how Dick Togo gained any power in the NJPW structure, but he needs to get axed. He's been a disastrous influence on the booking. And here's booking himself during that NJPW vs NOAH show, while Gedo also gets a spot. For fuck's sake.

It's a testament to D'Amore's focused booking that I actually care about a main event involving both Matt Cardona and W. Morrissey. I'll say it again, IMPACT is the best booked promotion in term of getting the most out of their roster. Morrissey has improved since his WWE days, but he still isn't much, but the way he's been booked is very smart in protecting him and allowing him to shine the most that he can. Cardona since the GCW stuff has gained a certain aura and all the angles leading up to the PPV have involved Chelsea Green in a pretty engaging way, up to the last terrific one this week. And Moose may be the best heel in pro-wrestling today, love everything about his game (the way he talks, his demeanor, his angle work, plus he really has killed it in the ring this year). So, the main event should actually be quite good, with Moose and Cardona doing the heavy lifting. Jonah vs Alexander and Trey Miguel vs Steve Maclin should be excellent. Ditto Deonna vs Mickie in a Texas Death Match. The first women Ultimate-X match is a cool attraction, whether it'll be good is another story. Not that bad a start for IMPACT in 2022. And of course this week-end Throwback Throwdown is gonna yet another mind-blowing WTF experience, perfect to watch later during the usually depressing Holliday seasons.

So the NJ vs NOAH card is a bunch of multi-men tag matches. Underwhelming. Hopefully it leads to some real singles dream matches later, as it is it's still kinda cool of course but also not that engaging.

Hangman Adam Page In the last three years, Adam Page became legit one of the best worker in the world. He's still a work in progress in term of career and I admit I am not familiar with his ROH work, although he was already showing signs of being really good in NJPW (or better than signs, actually). But from his tag work with Kenny Omega, which happened to count arguably the greatest tag-team match ever to his latest accomplishments as a babyface singles main event wrestler, at this pace, of course Adam Page makes the list. (going for the obvious) Hangman Page & Kenny Omega vs Young Bucks (AEW - 02/29/2020) Hangman Page & Kenny Omega vs FTR (AEW - 09/05/2020) Hangman Page vs Kenny Omega (AEW - 11/13/2021) Hangman Page vs Bryan Danielson (AEW - 12/15/2021)

Ishii getting EVIL is a big disappointment. What a waste of Ishii. STARDOM getting a legit spot is cool as hell. Otherwise, yeah, pretty solid WK card considering you don't get outsiders and no Ibushi (and no Jay White, so I guess he hasn't been back in Japan, but yet hasn't done anything in eons in the States either).

I totally bought it and thought they could go for the Gedo trick of teasing the draw that actually ends up in a win at the very last limit.

They did after a really hot nearfall around 45mn. Crowd kinda goes quiet for what follows for a (short, admitedly) while, as if they overshot the apex (like it happened in the FTR vs Lucha Brothers title match a few weeks back). They got it back though. Totally disagree. The Hangman getting treated was way overdone, way too long and nothing Danielson did to him was justifiying such a lull. Some people started chanting "bullshit", which is a first in AEW. The work that came afterward, sure, and it's what, more than 30-35 mn of (great) work.

Actually, this entire description absolutely fits every 60 mn Flair vs Steamboat match ever. If I never ever hear the word "crossfit wrestling" it'll be way too soon (dunno who used it first, but it's the worst), but Flair was actually the epitome of crossfit wrestling before crossfit even existed, his entire gimmick was that he could go "all night long, wooooo!". And if we're being fair more than to Flair, the infamous Toyota vs Inoue 60 minute sprint from 1995 was probably the apex of going batshit for 60 minutes (I admit I haven't rewatched it in 20 years though). I will agree that in term of psychological depths and structuring, this wasn't an Omega match (not sure that's where you were going, probably not, but that's were it leads me !). And it's not the first time I see that with Danielson, also happened in the Miro match where they did kinda lose the crowd for a little while and seemed to wandered a bit. Happened here too before the awesome finishing stretch. Mind you, it's a small observation and criticism and like I said, this was MOTYC and we're talking elite level anyway.

Awesome match. Page will be fine. He just had to MOTYC in a matter of a few weeks with two GOAT contender. Meaning : he delivers when called to the task. Welcome to the GWE 2026 list too Hangman. Awesome match, although there was a lull at one point when the doctor was "taking care" of Page, as it went on for too long. The crowd even began to chant bullshit, thankfully Dragon put an end to it but this is a trope that has disrupted some NXT matches in the past and should not be overused, especially when that cut was about 1,7 on the Muta scale. Kinda lost the crowd at about 45 minutes too before getting them back for a hellish finish. La Majistral craddle got a legit nearfall, which was nice. Great finishing stretch. Yeah. What a year for AEW. So happy to watch Danielson in this setting. Love the booking too of having him looming like a shadow over the top guys, he hasn't beat them but no one can beat him either yet. The first pinfall on Danielson has to be special now. I just love Serena Deeb. Hopefully she gets a title reign sometime in 2022, she's too good not to. Final match was very good, Dante has ways to go but damn is he ridiculous in the air. Mix of Rey, RVD, Fénix and no one else before. Brodie King, fuck yeah ! I kinda wanted Julia Hart to get Alexablissed, but Brodie King in AEW is gonna be so awesome. Perfect fit with Black. I love those kinda characters, and yeah you should add some female with them (and no, I don't mean Abadon, all due respect). (Darwin Award of the night goes to that idiotic Corny fan holding his stupid sign for two hours while an all-time awesome show was happening. I'm sure he expected the security to take it off, but nope, he had to get tired by the end. Actually paying good money to look like a complete idiot on TV, job well done. )