El-P

I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while : There's plenty more in the thread, all from the same AI slop channel. I can't.

Indoctrinated is the right word. WWE is basically a cult. It really is. The thing is, TKO doesn't give a flying fuck about pro-wrestling. The day that cow is milked and it doesn't get them enough money for their taste, they'll just dump it. I mean, AI or a Netflix writers room, at this point, what's the difference, really.

I'm telling you, there are gonna be lots of babies in 9 months, just from Yutani and Soberano Jr. facing each others at Arena Mexico 70th Anniversary. The *screams* I swear. Also, Mark Davies and Ultimo Guerrero. That was so much fun. And really the CMLL vs Don Callis Family match was awesome. Mark Davies has one hell of a year thus far, it's so great that while Fletcher is becoming this single star, he actually his finding his way and has not be left on the side, he's been killing it. Including against Ultimo at Arena Mexico.

The fact that he used tweets from 2015 is even funnier. Yeah, sure, that mid 2010's period really wasn't up for criticism from a "vocal minority", it only opened up the boom of the indies, the US market to a the red hot NJPW and eventually led to the creation of AEW, which should have been killed by NXT then booked by the genius booker you're referring to but didn't. BTW, Khan also mentioned that Levesque was actually resigned to a multi year deal. My first thought reading that was "Oh yeah. Like Santos Escobar".

https://www.postwrestling.com/2026/04/27/nick-khan-endroses-paul-levesque-performance-as-wwe-head-of-creative-defends-product-against-online-criticism-in-message-to-all-staff/ Yeah, this is absolutely a great sign of things to come for Levesque, and maybe even Khan. When you have to reaffirm someone's role, it absolutely means everything is mighty fine, you see... And reading tweets from 2015 ? What ?

Amazing that shit nobody ever talks about (apart when Taker pushed for his wife to replace Mickie James) is still around. I checked the Wiki. That girl has been around for 4 YEARS. She had 65 matches. In four years. WWE developmental ya all. (for comparison in term of system, Sayaka Kurara who just beat Saya Kamitani for the Red Belt in Stardom has started 3 years ago. She has 265 matches under her belt)

Considering she apparently said she was more at ease working the ROH shows, I highly doubt she would be the kind to spend a lot of time in Japan at this time of her career. Yeah, she would rule, and I hoped when she did the Mercedes feud she was gonna be a regular on AEW TV, but it has not been the case. It is what it is. That match was clearly the highlight of a show that was cool but also felt a bit rushed and short on actual Stardom, with so many AEW talent involved (although I understand there had been some visa issues too).

Love the latest twist in Ospreay/Mox feud. Mox is gonna be the arch enemy leading Ospreay to actually get over his neck injury and win it all. And then... Mox and the Deathriders really are the most compelling group in pro-wrestling in eons. And they always deliver in-ring to boot. Some all-time great shit, really. Collision becoming "the show with cool ass matches back to back" is really the perfect fit.

I mean, if you are gonna do a title change, gotta do it in front of your biggest crowd ever. Saya's reign has been the biggest success in women wrestling since the 90's. Amazing stuff. (Gedo looking in disbelief)

Ok, thanks for clarifying. Not really. Stardom's early success can absolutely be attributed to Rossy's eye for talent and booking. I'm not sure how influential he was during Zenjo's glory days of the 90's, but I do think he was involved. Of course, it's not like his record was unblemished before Marigold either. I should know, I was an ARSION fan. 😎 Which was a great idea, but bad timing and there was also some shaddy business practices back then and bizarre creative ideas, which led to Aja and Ayako departing the promotion. But even in Marigold, which I don't follow at all anymore (watched a few show the first year), I hear that he is developing some really good talent. But Marigold apparently really feels like budget Stardom. And the supposed WWE partnership really was nothing apart from Iyo coming twice and Giulia staying a while (and getting no one over) before going to WWE (we know how well that is going). And the fact is Stardom did not suffer at all from his departure, as Okada (not this one) did a good job keeping it on the right tracks, and of course that Saya heel champ deal had been a ridiculous success. It made things much more difficult for Marigold, especially since there has been no exodus at all really, and now most of the big time worker who went there are gone already, and I don't think anyone can replace them at their level yet. The one thing about Rossy is that he's the ONLY guy I've ever heard Kenny Omega says bad thing about. Omega basically says good thing about everyone. So there.

Andrade wanting to go back to save his marriage is pretty much what everybody think happened. Also, it has to be said his last months in the company saw him be very professional and he was working very hard and delivered too. The fact he was sent to Arena Mexico (way before everybody went there) and was put in the C2, in which he really shined, tells everything you need to know about how much TK thought of him at the end. Malakai ? He was booked the way he was for a reason... And Miro ? He wasn't booked at all for a reason too. Although if Rusev gets released I don't think you'll see him wrestle anymore since apparently he made a lot of money in real estate in Bulgaria. I think these two are the ones Darby was talking about when he said the cancer backstage was gone... So yeah...

In the midst of the Carlos Silva Wrestlecon show debacle, it's funny to think he really could not prevent Tessa Blanchard from doing the job to Persephone on the CMLL show. This was literally TNA vs AEW too. And the closest thing Tessa can hope to work against in the US against big company talent. Match was quite good too. Of course Blue Panther vs Ultimo was the sensation match of the week especially for those who had not seen it before. They really could re-run this on the Zero Hour of Forbidden Door for instance.

Nothing demonstrated better how AAA has been turned into WWE Mexico in no time than the story on Luchablog about Escobar's debut in AAA, where he shows up as Hijo del Fantasma and gets zero reaction because this audience doesn't know who that is, and they only react once he drops the mask and they realize he's Santo Escobar from WWE. If the guy has bad relationship with CMLL, he's fucked in Mexico now. I have zero interest in him showing up in AEW, as he already was probably my least favorite of the lucha "stars" back in LU. Cool look, mid work. I'm sure years in WWE has not made him any better (at best). Good pick for TNA I guess. Plus that way he can work some NXT shows again. 😎 Aleister Black's situation is quite ironic. The guy grandstanded AEW and bullshited his way into never doing jobs while denying he was never doing jobs, got a release from his big ass contract, went back to WWE to do jackshit and then cosplay Killer Kross and got cut *again* after one year. He would still be under AEW contract if he had not left I believe. And good luck now, because unlike Andrade, I don't think Coach TK would be so eager to take him back in big 2026. And if he saw AEW as beneath his august talents, he's probably not going to TNA either (who knows what they can pay people anyway when their only "big" signing of the year is EC3 and even the IInspiration get paid better doing jobs on ROH). I'm amazed Tanga Loa still has a job. Right family I guess (yeah, take that Rotundo !).

So, Utami is leaving Marigold. Well, it seems that project is not going the way Rossy intended... I dunno how these contrat works, but maybe she shows up at Queendom as early as tomorrow.

Sammy is actually great and living his best life doing hilarious sleazy heel shit in ROH tagging alongside LFI. He just needs to never ever be a babyface again.

If true, per Fightful, the last batch is *insane* Kairi Sane ? MCMG ? That would be excellent signings for AEW. Give me fucking MCMG vs EVERYBODY THERE. Gimme KAIRI vs Mercedes Moné AGAIN. Santos Escobar ? Please don't laugh. They supposedly resigned him one day after he was a freelancer last year, then did nothing for ever, then threw him in AAA. I saw some AI slop announcement about Lucha Underground... ZELINA VEGA AND ALEISTER BLACK ? WOW. Is she gonna be pro-union again ? Is he willing to work a giant program with Killer Kross in MLW ? There's a word called *karma*. And it's a bitch. From the earlier batch, I know Carlos Silva is already salivating at the prospect of Samuel Shaw, TNA legend, coming back to renew his vows with NXT Legend Indi Hartwell, masterfully booked by Delirious and Tommy Dreamer. You know it's happening. Meanwhile, Nick Khan earned 20 something millions, they would not pay for extra security in Vegas hotels and no food for HOF rehearsals because you bitch ass workers don't need it. (also, Tyson & Tyriek from NXT. Which I know off because I have seen them in TNA. Yeah, being sent to TNA has been the black mark of death for many. Ariana Grace should be relieved she's not permanently featured on AMC... yet)

IF I voted, it would probably look like something something like this : 1 : Hiroshi Tanahashi 2 : Kenny Omega 3 : Akira Hokuto 4 : Kazuchika Okada 5 : Genichiro Tenryu 6 : Will Ospreay 7 : Manami Toyota 8 : Kenta Kobashi 9 : Terry Funk 10 : Brian Danielson Ya know...

This. I'm just glad I'm away from most discourse, although I do check bluesky and (gasp) reddit a bit. Darby as short-term world champ working great TV match is awesome.

The irony. Just as I subscribed to MyAEW (quite a deal), Thriller TV informed that it would not carry AEW PPV and AEW+ anymore. And now, Wrestling Revolver is announcing that they'll broadcast their stuff for free on Youtube. Yeah, Thriller is pretty much done. I wonder what that means for GCW.

On a more serious topic, there has been a lot of discourse about how the hotel situation in Vegas with wrestlers being harassed by "fans" everywhere. There was an incident where CM Punk basically slapped a phone off a douchebag who was following AJ Lee & Bailey after they already pushed him away. Apparently TKO can't hire any security for their talent nor book an entire floor because, hey, bottom line is what matters.

Interesting response from Lauderdale to Josh Barnett saying Bloodsport is basically done because it doesn't work on an indy level and he wanted to push further (I'm guessing he was hoping for some WWE backups, considering how the last few cards were clogged with WWE people), stating basically GCW owns the Bloodsport brand and it wasn't ending there. With GCW apparently moving away from WWE (I think the ID show this year was not part of the Collective) and being friendly with AEW again (judging from the number of AEW workers on indy shows during Mania weeks), I wonder... Deathriders Bloodsport incoming ?

Kevin Nash saying there was basically no catering for talent at the HOF is actually funny. Greed has no limit.

I don't care, I'm actually enjoying Lio Rush's Gollum persona a lot. I'm always a sucker for good creepy gimmick, and this one is particulary fitting both this guy's singular body type (he's a tiny mofo) and very singular working abilities (super quick, super explosive). He's doing a great job at it too. No idea if it is gonna get over, but I must say PAC and even Danny Garcia at ringside did a hell of a job selling the character, and so did Excalibur talking about the Great Muta, which is really how you should sell it (it's really a mix of Mankind/Muta, and actually can get over as a babyface). I hope it will get the time to develop and chance to get over, because Rush is so damn talented and so unique.

Not only that, but the fact both his Mania main events were sponsored by Riyadh Season. This will never ever not be funny.

Case in point, that completely absurd sequence of a billionaire crypto-scammer (who went to jail in the 2000 for fraud, because of course) literally *buying* a chair at the announcers table. During Jade vs Rhea no less, giving the whole thing very much a creepy vibe to boot. It was only *two years ago* that the "New Era" (the first of many since then, the Netflix era, the ESPN era, the whatever the fuck era) began, which I called bullshit on since it was all based on "the bad guy being gone", when infact WWE is a systemically rotten company, as demonstrated by the comeback of Lesnar and these *chants*, not to mention Cody celebrating with Nick Khan and Bruce Prichard. Right on your screen. It was all there to see and understand. But back then "Papa Trip" (god that nickname was so embarrassing) was seen as a hero. He was the ultimate good guy, the savior of the company. Sports-entertainment was dead, pro-wrestling was back (wait, it sounds like a CM Punk "genuine" promo now, and actually just as empty and performative). Fast forward two years.... wait, try one year. Triple H was already getting blamed from what was then considered one of the worst Mania main event ever in Cody vs Cena. He was still parading on post-show, spewing his usual nonsense of "what we do, we're telling stories" and all that good shit. Six month later, he was booed out of the building when he got into the ring following Cena's disaster of a retirement show (and run, really). "Fuck Triple H" chants. (hell, even "AEW chants during the post show) He tried to put on a facade "Oh yeah, that's what we expected, that's what we were going for". Sure. Six months later. That would be two years since the "New Era" and the hero's welcome. Once again, one of the worst Mania main event, and *card*, ever. Sure, night 2 may have, by comparison, looked like it saved the facade. Except, it was still 85 or so minutes of pro-wrestling drowned into a neverending slop of adds and cheap-ass intros (sorry but I saw some clips, I don't wanna hear anything about the so-called "awesome production"). There is no pseudo press conference anymore. Actual journalist working for their streaming partner ESPN gets denied the access because he dared give their first shit show on the channel a poor rating (and also wrote about the Janel Grant case). "Fuck TKO" chants at the post-show, but Levesque is not there to hear them. He's not even showing his face on camera. And GAWD he LOVES showing his face on camera. Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are at the top of the promotion. The same two from when it hit the peak. The Janel Grant case has not gone away yet. Details have gotten worse for everybody involved. Vince is implicitly or directly mentioned on TV and at the HOF, in positive fashion. "Thank you Vince" chants. But it's ok. They have idiot proof money. Next year's Mania will be a straight whitewashing show for an authoritarian, slavering, murdering regime. Everything is fine. (LIV Golf may be done. One day, MBS, who has been insulted by Donald Trump, who is tied at the hips with TKO and the McMahons family, may be moving on from that particular bullshit to spend his infinite amount of money in a different fashion) Nah. everything is fine. (AI booker when ?)