El-P

And as I say in the AEW thread that people are too obsessed with ratings (and they are, enjoy what you enjoy while you can), but this little tidbit still is worth telling : so NXT2.0 median viewer age this week was apparently 62. 62 YEARS OLD. Holy shit. People who were 20 when Bob Backlund was WWF champion...

People are too obsessed with ratings and getting an outside audience. The angle is super hot with the crowds (Lambert is just the best, he's amazing). The multi-men matches (if they do more than one) are gonna be fun. Guevarra vs Page and Guevarra vs Scorpio if both happen are gonna be at worst very good. What do people want ? I have no idea who those people are, I don't watch MMA. But the angle being so hot absolutely makes them "somebody" from the get go. If the angle was flat, yeah, you could question it (like the awful build to Cody vs Shak). As it is, it's just good pro-wrestling shit.

Marty Asami is the dirt worst at it. You basically gotta block him out of your mind and train your brain to deflect what he's doing. Taichi vs Jeff Cobb was AWESOME. Taichi is easily the best fourth guy in his block and a top tier worker of this G1. Okada vs SANADA was kinda slow at first (for obvious reasons), but the ending stretch was incredible and a reminder of how brillant Okada is. Ishii, although he begins to show his age (and damaged body) a bit physically, just showed again why he's one of the GOAT. Great O-Khan won't have another match like this before long (although he was indeed game and has shown through this G1 that he could be a better worker if he wasn't doing the goofy mongolian gimmick).

Of course if we play the game of clues... First Dynamite after Full Gear is in Norfolk, Virginia, home state of Hangman. Last year at Full Gear, Kenny Omega defeated Hangman Page in the AEW World title qualifier match, which sent Hangman Page basically into his depressive road before he got picked up by the Dark Order. Full Gear is named after Hangman Page's old skit on BTE. So, in many ways it looks like the perfect timing. Considering it's more than two months, there's plenty of time to do that Omega vs Danielson match before for a big-ass Dynamite special.

Come on now. Pro-wrestling pop culture is not what it used to be, people...

Like I said, people have watched WWE *way too much* to even contemplate that kind of idea. This has exactly 0% chance of happening. Britt Baker.

Page would not look like a paper champ (really now, people have been totally matrixed by 20 years of WWE monopoly it seems). AEW would look like they have not only a great World Champ in a meaningful title feud but also a great dream-match program. You can have both if you're booked strong, it only makes the product as a whole bigger. But like I said, I'm fine either way (because I'm confident it will be great anyway) even though I'd have Omega beat Danielson first.

Nah. That belt doesn't need anything. It has enough value on his own with the only three champs thus far being Jericho/Moxley/Omega. This title means something, unlike in WWE. Plus it's not like Page can't have meaningful defenses after either. Adam Cole is right there. So is CM Punk. And Miro. And Malakai. And of course... Danielson, once he's done with Omega. That being said, I would still do Page vs Omega after Omega beats Danielson. You answered your own question. The title is meaningful. Hangman is over as fuck. It won't be overshadowed. Plus I don't think they are gonna do several other Danielson vs Omega matches either. That's not how Coach Tony K. has been booking thus far. I see one other match, maybe two at the most and then they'll both move on. The peak of the entire storyline is of course the Elite being back together (a few years) down the road as babyfaces. Without Cody, obviously.

Well, can't be right all the time. Considering how hot it was and how he won a very memorable, crazy-ass match (those bumps by Andrade and PAC were horrific), I won't argue it was 100% a success. I told you all that the day he comes back, he would be over as fuck so it did not matter that he was away during all the big debuts. The most interesting thing now is how they figure the whole thing out with Danielson. Maybe another big match on TV before the PPV. Or they do Hangman winning on TV after the PPV, since TV is as important if not more as the PPV's. Anyway, this is quite intriguing. Opener was insanely great too. Those guys (the Elite, of course) are such next level still, it's not even fair. The way they worked around that blow spot was something else too. Hey, I can deal with a salty old guy called Fish kicking your heads in. That Dan Lambert angle was heat. Like, major heat. I don't care that I don't know those MMA guys, when the heat is as such, it's just hot and makes you care about it. Great for Sammy to be included in this stuff, he can go through Scorpio & Page (not the cowboy one, the other one, the Canadian douchebag) in a heated atmosphere. TBS championship. If that means more meaningfull booking and more women characters, good. I'd dig a heel Serena Deeb winning that thing, she's sooooo good especially in that kind of role. Dante Martin vs Malakai Black is gonna steal a show somewhere. (oh yeah, and Cody *is* doing some kind of "redemption" (from what ? stupid promos and TV shows ?) angle apparently. Facepalms galore coming, the crowd reactions should be fun though)

Hey, if he turned heel and challenged for the title it would be quite funny though. Total troll.

Never getting a world title is good. Make the stip mean something. But the whole "I will never turn heel" is kinda baffling considering the reaction he's been getting. Hey, if he can get the crowd back eventually, more power to him. But really for now... I don't see how it's happening.

If he's serious, he has lost his mind. How many kids the Young Bucks have already ? Matt Hardy has en entire roster at home...

The huge announcement is not the Joker in the ladder match. Two different things.

The amount of awkwardness, between the guy on the left looking totally uncomfortable, the girl shouting an untimely and totally forced 'woo!' and the host looking like he realized he fucked up big time .

It's called Performance Center, not Learn how to Wrestle Center.

I don't see Hangman just returning in a multi-men ladder match to earn a shot against Omega. Just doesn't really fit with his storyline and character, which is a long-term, personal relationship based storyline, not "win a clusterfuck ladder match and win the title" kinda stuff. Omega should beat Danielson first, then Hangman shows up and when he defeats Omega, it means even more since there really isn't anyone left.

Chris Hero as the joker would be really cool. Last time Coach Tony K Promised a huge announcement, it was Christian Cage (much love to him), so hopefully he learned his lesson.

So I've been binge watching Breaking Bad, and I can't unsee Nick Jackson as Jesse Pinkman with long hair.

They have no idea what people want in 2021. No idea. From what I've seen thus far; NXT 2.0 is a corporate acid trip to the 90's with workers greener than grass with gimmicky gimmicks having bad matches. Also, this has to eventually die in the ratings. Boudreaux. I know you people are confused by all the French "ou" and "eau" and "x" that you don't hear. Fun fact that I used to give my students, the word "birds" in French, "oiseaux" has NO letter that you actually hear when you say it. Like, none. BTW, where the fuck is Scarlett not Bordeaux anymore ? Talk about someone who has signed in the wrong company (see also Monet, Francky, I've watched her match last week and it's probably the worst match I've seen her in years). Considering we got this whole deal in France where its has been officially revealed that hundreds of thousands of people (about 330 000) have been abused by the Catholic Church since the 50's, it's a rather timely reference. But anyhow, that Joe Gacy shit is godawful. Neo-nazi guy and Bron Steiner of course have potential, but fuck me this show is dying a quick death for me from the snipets I get. How long before someone get dressed as a garbageman or a plumber ?

Understood. I wasn't sure what was your feeling about his heel stuff. Yeah, I used Tamura as kind of an off-topic, extreme example, since other people talked about versatility and there was this discussion in the poll section about shoot-style. Since there really isn't any babyface/heel dynamic usually in shoot-style (although there are other dynamics like underdog/monster, veteran/new young star which absolutely relate to basically every other styles, which is why it's not an alien style that is separated from the rest of the pro-wrestling landscape), he's typically the case for which the question can't be asked. Well, yeah, can't get two more extreme opposites in every way. I have no idea if I'll end up having someone like Dump in my top tier (or top ten) and if he or she would be higher than guys like Terry Funk. I don't think so, but then again, I do not know ! Yes, pretty much.

WTF ? Yeah, exactly like that ! And now I want QT Marshall to use this as a troll (since he was given the Diamond Cutter by DDP when he was still a poor underdog babyface).

It depends what those things are and how exactly great are you at it. Tamura is the best example I can give of an absolute specialist (great at one style period, and who only did this one style ever) who is a lock for the top tier, if not the top ten. That being said, it's absolutely possible that when everything is said and done, most if not all the workers from an environment where babyface/heel matters in my top tier will be those who indeed were great both ways. But I really don't know and I'm not looking for that at all. So I'll probably be able to give a better (and strictly descriptive) answer after the fact.

As much as I enjoy the Horsemen inspired theme from the Pinnacle, that new FTR one is pretty puzzling to me. It's like they wanted to re-do the cheapest version of the already cheap-ass ersatz version the MX used in WCW after they couldn't use Moroder anymore. So it's kind of a tribute to not the original theme but to the cheap-ass one. Like someone who pay homage to DDP using a warped version of his pseudo-Nirvana theme. Without the slightest bit of irony either. In the end I have no idea if I find that pretty cool or if that makes FTR really look more and more like "The Revival". I can so get behind that Sonny Kiss vs Kayla Rossi feud. Agism alert ! Speaking of Abadon, yeah, she doesn't do it for me either. I've watched way too much Su Yung, with the awesome IMPACT production, to be scared by this girl, who looks dressed freaky for the party, not like an actual scary zombie. She has improved though compared to where she was when she first showed up.

What about it ? Do you mean it was not good therefore it would detract from his case as a whole ? I dunno, where I stand now is that whatever good I see add to your case up to a certain point, there's nothing that really detracts from anything, you're just going up to a certain level (which can be top 10 or lower 90's I guess, depending on what I get). Martel's babyface stuff was awesome so that's the crux on what his case is built on. Then he was still a very good worker during his heel stint (and afterward too as I enjoyed his WCW stuff quite a bit), so that's a bit more positive to add, although nothing too notable either so in the grand scheme of things, it won't weight that much (if at all, really, because at some point you just can't possibly weigh in everything about everyone, it's simply not doable and not even relevant because of all the contextual elements that play into the output anyway, so you have to focus on what is the most relevant). I won't look at Martel being a great heel (if you consider him a great heel, that's just an exemple) as something very important if I don't get what to me is actual great work and to an extent matches (of course taking in account he wasn't working in a super favorable environment either). Like I said, the answer to your question to me is : no. Too much of a role-oriented factor.

No. Because it's just too much of a booking thing to begin with, so you can't put the blame on someone to not do and/or never getting good at something they barely ever did for reasons out of their control (are we gonna blame Steamboat or Cena for something they really never got to do ?), plus it's putting to much emphasis on a dynamic that is not always present in pro-wrestling (most pro-wrestling has it, but not all pro-wrestling, the 90's AJ stuff really barely has any of it). Also, is Ricky Morton or Rey Mysterio working heel for a short while really relevant or is it just a miscast (and although I thought Morton was quite good at it, does it really add anything important to his case, as it was nothing but a footnote) ? Too much simply of a role thing to me to be that important. That's a trick question for sure ! I'd say the later, but then again I might disagree because having your own style and sticking to it can also be a sign of greatness when you make it work. There's no right answer, really. To sum up, Kiyoshi Tamura worked the same style his entire career, a style that barely has any heel/face dynamics (UWF-I kinda sorta did sometimes) and he's absolutely a top 10 candidate. That definitely frees up the process for me.