El-P

Well, I happened to rewatch some of his best WWE stuff before he showed up, including the HHH match and the Kofi match. Yeah. Not even close to the same level. It's so striking how WWE's house style is just the weakest because of how patterned and restricted it is. And really, although I thought his performance was almost magic trick level at Mania against Kofi (who is simply not that good) it changes *everything* when you work in an environment that allows you to do whatever you want, against some of the greatest workers in the world. So yeah, playground shit indeed.

Don't think the expectations were quite the same, and how could they be. Totally different contexts. CM Punk is slowly getting back into the groove and has been mighty fine. Danielson has had two MOTYC against Omega & Suzuki, one of the best TV match of the year against Nick Jackson and yet another excellent one against Bobby Fish. He's back working at a level that makes his best WWE stuff look like playground shit.

Gotta get that Blood Money, retired or not.

YES ! Deonna showing up in AEW or Britt showing up in IMPACT (preferably both) would have me mark the FUCK out. Deonna winning the TBS belt would be quite awesome in a reverse Christian wins the IMPACT title way. 2021, stop hyping me already. I can't take much more.

Yeah, I hope to see more of Serpentico with 2.0 & Garcia and his new color scheme seems to indicate as much. Great dynamics. Actually, I kinda would want to see Cargill win the TBS belt if Thunder can give her a really good match as the final of the tournament. And then Cargill doing the Goldy US champ gimmick. The thing would be to have enough really good girls to work around her limitations (and teach her) and also a bunch of really quick squashes. Then eventually have someone beat her for the title, which would be a win-win in establishing both Jade (with a strong championship reign) and the belt. I just realized those Dark tapings happen in the former Impact Zone. Not gonna lie, I kinda get a kick out of it.

Well, if WWE doesn't change their way, them getting someone made in AEW will only produce disappointment because of restrictions on match styles, scripted promos and most of all, the fact that they will never push correctly a guy they did not make. I have no idea why anyone would trust WWE with (well, anything at this point, really) making a good use of someone from the opposition. They have squandered the potential of 95% of the can't miss guys they got their hands on in the last decade, and they did not come from a successful opposition either (so there was no resentment involved, although even a guy like Bully Ray could never do Bully Ray when he went back, he had to be the Dudleys because that's all WWE ever knew/thought he could be).

Vince is 76 years old and living in his bubble. He won't change. He can't. It's too late. The company has reached a level of brand awareness and financial security which makes them idiot proof for a long while, but as far as perception goes, they are cursed as long as AEW is around and doing what they do. And if AEW is around long enough (and Coach Tony K doesn't lose his mind and/or burn out), they'll change the perception of what a mainstream pro-wrestling company can be. If you're a 20 year old wrestler today, I have no idea why you'd want to work for WWE. If you're a 20 years old watcher today, I have no idea why you'd want to watch WWE (and they don't, NXT2.0 median age the other week, 62 years old). The kids are the future of the industry, both as viewers and workers, and they are not having fantasies about WWE anymore. Cena was the tree that hid the forest for a while, but the seeds were there a long time ago (the fact that the Attitude Era is still considered like the be all and end all by the promotion is very telling). AEW is basically the result of the culture of the internet pro-wrestling hardcore fandom, people who have not only loved all kind of pro-wrestling but also went through the demise of ECW and WCW and learned from it. TNA could not do it because it was too soon and it was created by the very people who already had fucked it up (not to mention the total ineptness of the owners). It took time and maturation and years of frustration (and of course stars aligning in term of the right guy with the right opportunity and the right workers being free at the right time). The best hope for the future is that indeed, the mainstream idea that pro-wrestling = WWE dies once and for all and we have a more flourishing and diverse pro-wrestling landscape that actually can matter on the big stage.

Not true. Brucie said many times on Conrad's podcast that no one disagreed more than him. Yeah, I know, I need that Kappa emote from Twitch to really make that one work. I mean, really. CHUCKY ? That's the next brillant idea for NXT2.0's first special show. Ponder that one for a minute. *Everything* about this is wrong. Everything. Even I am baffled.

15... 16... 17... 18... 19... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I kinda lost it everytime. Still, I did love the KENTA vs Ibushi match, despite the few oddball happenings here and there (that table spots did look even more painfull that way considering how KENTA was positioned on the edge of the wood)

You're all be glad to know Danielson apparently works the next Dark tapings. The guy is just having the time of his life because the restrictions are gone and he's WRESTLING.

This Bunny thing is gonna become a meme.

I have loved everything about this week-end. Danielson. Suzuki. Bobby Fish. Hangman. The Superkliq. Dark Order. Mick Foley tribute. Kiera Hogan back on TV. Dan motherfucking Lambert aka The Heat. Everything. Awesome week-end of AEW. Oh, and of course, the GOAT : The Bunny.

Don't be mean. He already looked like a complete idiot with his "I can beat up your guys for real" shit, to which Junior Dos Santos apparently replied "Ok, lezzzgo", which I'm sure wasn't the expected reaction. Now WWE hotshotted their two biggest stars in the lead-in for their biggest show of the year (monetary wise, and booking wise too since this it's legit the biggest match and best storyline they have) and apart from a large mass of over 50 fans who have been watching WWE out of habits for the last 30 years, they have tied the allmighty Bunny in the key demo. How is that not a win ? Plus with that brand new super hot and fresh NXT2.0 show coming up, they already have booked the killer angle everybody wanted to see for the last 23 years with the guy who's the son of a guy they can't name but everybody knows this was the peak of his career anyway : the return of Chucky. They clearly are on the right path.

Oh yeah, give us Suzuki vs Alexander already. Hell, Suzuki victimizing Matt Cardona would be fun too. Or a NOAH rematch with Eddie Edwards (I guess they met then). Or a match with Moose (who had an awesome match with Ishii). The summit between Christian & Alexander was really well done in making Cage the subtle heel (which is needed). Using some footage from an AEW meet & greet to stir up the shit was a very cool touch.

Da Big Dog is All Elite. There you have your Mall of America moment.

The "It's great for professional wrestling" is pretty rich when you're playing corporate lapdog for the company that has tried every tactics (and still do) in the book for AEW not to exist. His stuff about CM Punk is hilarious too. "If our audience want to see it and were clamoring for it"... Wait, what ? I guess he never heard those CM Punk chants for years when he was in the ring and while people left Mania while he was main-eventing against the same guy he'll meet at Blood Money... Sure, if CM Punk had come back to WWE, the fans would not clamor for that match at all. And I mean, I wonder what he would say then considering it's obvious Punk would have received the exact insane pop, one Roman has never and will never get. Ponder that one for a second or two... The whole interview reeks of insecurity and pettiness, which is kinda ironic when you speak from a position of privilege (let's get real, Roman got everything handed to him, much like Randy Orton before him, and for the same reasons, and he's working for the Coca-Cola of the industry basically).

He's the biggest star in the N°1 company in the world and he comes off like a big baby. Big Dog ? Lapdog rather...

Yep, but I had to check the old thread to see what I said back then about him (which is worth whatever is worth, although I doubt my opinion would change radically, if anything I'd probably be much less annoyed by the hulk-ups now, not that I would like them either but you get the point) : "Kinda like the mix between a short One Man Gang and a proto-Mick Foley (those bumps as a heel). So yeah, really good worker. Although he had the very annoying habit as a babyface of doing no-sell hulk up/lawler up comebacks, which always suck no matter who you are. So I prefer him as a heel. Better than Bigelow, no doubt. Vader ? Nah." But to be honest, I don't really remember what I had watched when I was into my AWA TV/matches watch. Kinda sucks to realize that your memory is kinda shot to a degree because you're aging !

Honestly it was more me being facetious, I have nothing against Bundy, I always enjoyed those old-school monsters. But I admit he's not close to One Man Gang or Tenta to me, I really enjoy them a lot more (and I have not seen that much of older Bundy).

I concur. And Bam Bam working like a cat was a huge part of his appeal and what made him so fun. That brought something different to the table and allowed his opponent to have different kinds of matches than they would with the usual "monster". See also : Vader. He won't make my list, but neither are OMG (whom I love), John Tenta (whom I love), Mark Henry (whom I enjoy) or King Kong Bundy (who's name is King Kong Bundy).

I have not watched a Shawn Michaels match (apart from the Taker @ Mania project) in eons, and I have not seen everything from his comeback in the 00's, but from memory I don't think I'd put any of them against Omega vs Danielson, his deathmatches with Mox as far as gimmick matches go, or even his draw with PAC. And as far as TV matches, his stuff with Fénix and Jungle Boy are a pretty high level and I'm not sure I could find anything in Shawn resume in a comparable context that even measures up. Not even mentioning the Omega/Hangman vs Young Bucks match from last year, because this is the GOAT tag team match ever probably, so let's be serious for a moment here, I loved the Rockers but come on now... And of course, Omega's NJPW stuff is clearly out of reach anyway. That being said, I'll probably re-visit Shawn's post-comeback eventually.

I love how he kinda sounds like Bill Alfonso at times. Yeah, really good interview. You got my money for Full Gear for sure, Coach Tony K.

Things that we knew already : Moolah was a piece of shit. Dick Slater was a piece of shit. The WWF Office were pieces of shit (the anecdote about the Mania post-match is just disgusting and heartbreaking). Things I did not knew : that she actually was adopted. That she may or may not have been abused by her Aunt. That Dave Heath was not a real vampire ! I thought Dave Heath came off like such a good guy, and I can empathize so much, including when he talks about how he kinda felt guilty after he ended the relationship because he thought it was selfish of him to not take care of her anymore, because who would... It's crazy thinking (like he said, at some point you have no other choice but to leave), but this kind of relationship absolutely leads your there, I know first hand (on a less extreme degree of course, but still, to some pretty bad degrees). One interesting bit in term of WWF culture that was absent in the doc is that when she went to WCW after ECW, she wasn't made a manager and they had her as a worker, at a time when WWF had no women's division left. So again, while the culture was bad, some places where worst than others... The whole Sable debacle is well known, and although Sable probably was over her head and got the big ego and was a bitch about it, it was the office responsibility to acknowledge Luna's work, which they did not do. Of course it was easy to put the blame on Luna's mental issues. Thankfully we've made a lot of progress, although not nearly enough. Also, that Royal Rumble's swimsuit stuff, with Lawler doing the intros and the bunch of old guys (and fucking pimp Moolah) giving notes is cringe as fuck now, on many levels. Pretty striking take that after all of these years of making her ugly, now they wanted her to be sexy, yet basically shamed her during the thing (well, I for one always thought she was beautiful and sexy, but that's way beside the point). Mick Foley's eulogy was quite touching I thought, and it was nice to end with that hilarious impersonation ! Yeah, Luna in 2021 would be a big star, no doubt.

Probably not that much of a hardcore pro-wrestling fan audience since apparently, MLW's ratings following the show totally sucked. Next episode is Luna, right ? Now, this one I look very much forward to. I had been a Luna fan since the very first time I saw her (at Mania 9).

??? Really ? After a post where I actually talk about how I loved Crush's music themes from the mid-90's ? I mean. I can't get much less sarcastic than this... I mean, yeah, I was sarcastic about Crush using the heart punch, since he sucked and so does the move, but... And if you thought that was a response of sort to your Rob Terry post, well, it wasn't, I just remembered than Crush of all people used it during one of his many ill-fated billions comebacks.