El-P

Like Steamboat's shotgun sell of Flair chops or his über-theatrical karate chops. To me there's no disconnect whatsoever. Earlier in the year when I was watching some Lou Thesz matches I was legit cracking up at some oh-so-obvious theatrical bullshit from good old Lou and I was thinking "This is so great, things haven't actually changed very much, it was the same awesome bullshit back then." Now, where you can actually underline a difference is that, yes, there is a use of meta in the game of some workers today, Omega and the Bucks being obvious ones but not the only ones. They are twisting some pro-wrestling tropes in ways that goes beyond what was done before (the way Matt Jackson was mocking the babyface hot-tag formula in a match recently absolutely had a meta aspect to it, and it's precisely where he's banking on his audience intelligence, because the audience can read and appreciate both layers of the match *at the same time*, everybody knows what they are watching and you can multitask your watching experience).

Funny how he of all people would find a good role in GCW ! Wasn't exactly a given when you think about the first few times he showed up in AEW and even IMPACT, where he totally looked like a guy who had spent way too much time in WWE to ever evolve.

Indeed. The "You can't deny Nikki Ash is doing incredible" is cute... I mean... really now...

May take a while. First time I saw him in 2015 I called him "putrid" and the worst thing in pro-wrestling or something. I'd slap myself. He's definitely an acquired taste.

Hum... no. That's purely projecting stuff. The idea that Omega wants his audience to "see the strings" (really now, people have seen the strings for decades) is a complete projection, there's exactly *nothing* in his work that would indicates this. The whole "Kenny Omega is a post modern worker who's all about irony and meta" is inaccurate. Is there meta in Omega and the Buck's work ? Sure. But it's mostly in term of presentation and characters (honestly, the whole meta stuff is kept onto BTE). Omega's quest to dethrone Okada in Japan had nothing inauthentic about it. He made people in the audience cry when he won the title. So, the whole "he's not believable and all about irony" just doesn't work. People mix up the fact he (and the Bucks) are aware of the ridiculousness of pro-wrestling and actually revel and embrace it in a, yes, very meta way, and the fact everything about them would just be ironic. It isn't. We don't need to pretend we don't know what it's about, no one has to "show us the strings" (even Orange Cassidy, whose gimmick on the indies was entirely ironic, did not need to). Omega & the Bucks are actually banking of their audience to be smarter, but not to be cynical. Post-modern ? The fuck if I know, especially since that term has been overused and abused for years in every aspect of pop culture. Brillant ? No doubt.

So, it's time for a troll poll already ? Ok. Let me do Jerry Lawler vs Art Barr then...

Different strokes for different people. I find Omega to be funny. And yes, he's goofy and kooky. That's him. You say that like it's a bad thing ! He's going for an outrageous and ridiculous (because he's kooky) heel look, so fuck yes Lemmy X Blue Meany is actually awesome. But that's really not the point that was made, Stacey referred to the work style. Danielson & Omega definitely come from the same mindset and culture, with some differences of course, Omega having the heavy legit main event Japanese experience while Danielson only worked a few times over there or against Japanese guys in an US indy environment that was itself very much influenced by it, but the love for modern japanese style is basically what made the match what it was in term of style (hence the exchange of heavy chops and kicks etc...).

Taichi is ON. Gotta love Miho Abe as a straight babyface too. I'm all in on Taichi to go far.

Sounds interesting. And what was Matt Cardona's big announcement ?

I was thinking about that yesterday when I was watching him. I can totally see Vince just getting tired of his new toy eventually, like he does with everyone else that isn't Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar, and humiliating him on the main roster just to prove a point about those Steiner guys who were WCW products anyway. BTW, Curtis Axel hasn't popped up anywhere yet.

He also showed tons of restraint (but not the same kind) working with Christian Cage, because he obviously knew there was no way 48 years old Christian was working the kind of match he would have with Jungle Boy for instance, or any kind of japanese style pacing really. The guy is just a master in knowing exactly what to do depending on the context (which matters too) and the abilities of his opponents.

Yes that's more like it. When I said there was no typical Kenny Omega match, I'd rather have said there isn't a stereotypical or formulaic Kenny Omega match. Totally agree with the "well disguised" point, that sounds very accurate to me (and a credit to that man's brillant mind) Yup. There was no way Jungle Boy was beating him, but he managed to make it absolutely believable it could happen.

No. Kenny Omega has no typical match, although if you know your Kenny Omega you'll know what details he's working in and what sequences he is building and how he is building his stuff. But you'll watch him working against Fénix or Christian and you'll get two quite different approaches (or with Mox in a barb-wire gimmick match, or with young underdog Jungle Boy, or with big-ass hoss Moose). The V-Triggers are just a weapon. Omega's style is stiff Japanese style. Shots look like they fucking kill you, like say Ishii's chops or.... well, Danielson's kicks. So of course you're gonna get a lot of those. And if you believe they aren't doing anything, you're not looking at it the right way (they are not gonna lay down selling forever because of the accumulative damage, that's not what it's about, that's not what they are aiming for, obviously, because if they wanted to do so well they would do it). This match was very much Japanese style when I think about it. I mean, Danielson's big thing was wanting to work that style, he wants to do the G1, so... Yes. Never ever too late to catch up though. I was at the same point in 2015 when I began to catch up with the current stuff. I just did not get it because my mind was programmed and biased toward what I thought I knew. Took me a bit of time (a few years, honestly, I think I really got pretty much in-synch in about 2018) to adjust, and also, and that was no easy thing, to leave behind a bunch of confirmation bias about "how it's supposed to be done" (which always basically come down to "I'm not used to this/I don't get it therefore it sucks", I can see plenty of that in old posts of mine from the early-mid 10's, and that includes guys like Cena at one point then BTW). I mean, first times I saw Omega and the Bucks in 2015 I *hated* them, like truly hated them, my first posts about these guys back then are sadly the most stereotypical stuff than I still see today about them (which of course annoys me to no end because what you hate the most in other people is always your own flaws ). Today I consider Omega as a GOAT contender and the Bucks to me are the GOAT team and probably some of the most brillant workers I've ever seen, like, smarter than anyone, just ahead of the curve on every aspect of the game (which is why they annoy so many people, including me at one point). I'm honestly not sure what to tell you if you did not think it looked like a pro-wrestling match... I mean, I wonder what you'd think about that insane G1 Climax match last year between Ibushi and Taichi which consisted at 99% of *kicks to the legs* ! I kid not not. Of course this was a once in a lifetime experiment and just an out of this world experiment is minimalism (if you can call it that), and that's taking things to the extreme, but that was also a great, great pro-wrestling match. In this case, well, I could understand the question "Where are the moves ?", but then again, not really. The moves are right there. This is pro-wrestling, and really the state of the art pro-wrestling in 2021. Doesn't get much better than that (well, Ishii vs Takagi was even better though, and talk about shots that would kill galore !).

I'm exactly at the same point. I've watched bits and pieces and although yes indeed Bron Steiner is cool and has tons of potential, the whole thing still reeks of good old WWE to me. And WWE's production, presentation and booking/match ideas are so off-putting to me (I don't even want to mention the announcing) that it's just a no no. For instance that Toxic Attraction segment was cringe as fuck, with the awful unnatural WWE verbiage and reference to NXT *2.0* at every corner because it's Da Brand. And really a bunch of average at best two minutes matches is not gonna cut it for me (and how this is gonna teach those guys to learn how to work actual match with content is beyond me, just throw these guys into the sea and let them work it out). With AEW and IMPACT weekly shows plus regular stuff from Japan and some older stuff I watch from time to time, that show has no shot getting into my weekly pro-wrestling regime, which is already way too fat (got way too much time on my hands). The thing is, it looks more like a developmental program, but the flipside is that NXT was put on TV not as a developmental tool but because it was supposed to be a hot "promotion" to counter-act the pissant company. That horse has left the barn. So now you'll get a bunch of green as grass people doing in-front of TV training, basically. For now it's brand new and has caught the attention of people, good for them, but how sustainable is it, especially since, as a "real" developmental tool (as opposed to what NXT had become), how long before Vince just throws whomever he wants in the main roster letting the program high and dry like he did in the times of OVW ? Except this time, it will hurt a show that's on national TV.

All of this is completely ridiculous. He should be Rex and come to this music theme, period, end of discussion.

Tanahashi vs Taichi & Okada vs Cobb actually are two of the most interesting matches on the Block to me, but don't tell me that SANADA vs EVIL actually gets to be the main event. Which would also imply that EVIL would be in contention until the end. Holy fuck, spare me the pain already.

Watching the second day of B-Block, it strikes me that it's much more balanced. The highs won't be as high for the most part, but Tama/Owens is infinitely better/less offensive than Tanga/Takahashi/Yano/O-Khan. They actually had a decent little match together. On the other hand, that building was fucking EMPTY. From the two days available, it's pretty obvious people choose to go see Ishii vs Ibushi & ZSJ vs Shingo and not the EVIL bullshit. There's a lesson somewhere. Hopefully someone pays attention, because this evil EVIL experiment has been and continues to be an epic failure.

Point taken. I'm not versed at all in Meltz ratings (because I don't care), so the joke flew right above my head.

Bron Breakker. I don't care what anyone says, it's a dumb as fuck name when you can be called Rex Steiner. BECAUSE YOU LOOK LIKE FUCKING RICK STEINER AND SOUND LIKE BIG POPPA PUMP ALREADY ! BECAUSE YOU'RE THE SON AND NEPHEW ! I guess they figured the Steiner name was never a WWF/E thing, Rick was only there for a cup of coffee that wasn't very notable and Scott only came back to get HHHed for a minute or two. Still, it's so fucking dumb, especially in a company that is all about second and third generation guys.

I'm not sure, I may have back then. This period is kind of a blur TBH, I don't remember checking a lot of WWE things then (I remember the hype of the Wyatt Family more than anything else from that period), I was deep into reviewing WCW's death march I think and it was a full time pro-wrestling job ! It's on Dailymotion (ya know, the French Youtube , which has sunk so under the radar that no one even bother to send DMCA !), so I may check it out just because why not.

Word. Plus really, it's a rationalized version of one opinion at one particular time. I mean, really now, getting upset over such a thing is just baffling to me. Yeah, that part was actually hilarious. I just want to hear those promos !

Ishii vs Ibushi almost looked like two guys on the verge of breaking down having a BDSM session. It's the first year where I can really see how Ishii's body is wearing its age and damage. He looks different. No idea how he can still go like that, but he sure looks ready to fall apart. ZSJ vs Shingo was a thing of beauty. Yep. There will be some rough days ahead, but that's what fast forward is made for. I already feeling the threat of burn-out !

Complaining about Meltz star ratings on PWO is as boring and uninteresting as people complaining about Fantano's ratings on RYM (yes, such a thing exists). Thankfully we don't have a list of matches where some gets bolded because of rating trends. It was an awesome match between two great wrestlers that would never have happened a few years ago. But people gotta bitch about star ratings. It's certainly better than anything Bryan ever did in WWE. Before he showed up I rewatched some of his highly praised stuff there, and really it's on a whole other level (still loved that Triple H match). And it's not even gonna be their best, as it was obvious they were saving shit for later (hell, Omega saved shit for later with Okada, not knowing if he would ever face him again).

He would pimp a match involving Roman Reigns ? That's hard to believe. Meanwhile, Bryan Danielson apparently wants to have a match with Zach Sabre Jr... Please, yes.

Come on now. Nothing he did in WWE even touches Cody vs Dustin at Double or Nothing. He was basically nothing in WWE, he had zero memorable matches or feuds there. Stardust ? The awkward face protection ? For fuck's sake, Cody was such a waste of time for ever until he got into the indies and finally found himself. Cody's first year in AEW destroys his entire career in WWE. Yeah, to me it was to further Black as a star but also to really begin Cody & Brandi's heel turn.