El-P

That's QT Marshaaaaaall for you. And if you enjoy Tay Conti's work, you can thank him for extracting the Performance Center suck out of her in a matter of a few months.

Yeah, of course, that was understood. Just wanted to get some LUV to the *real* GOAT.

Totally agree. Meanwhile, I still see people jerking off to every Lawler's punches. Sorry, but I take a simple anti-vaxx/MAGA idiot over a guy who "may" (wink wink nudge nudge) have raped underaged girls any day, in term of playing the moral card (which is always dubious when you talk about pro-wrestling to begin with). But again, another matter. Speaking of which, I did not get the "We want Tessa" chants during the show. Well, she's an awesome worker, for sure... Cursed, of course.

He is, but that's also why I love him so much. Maybe because I understand the "being a goof" part (which is deeper than people think, but that's another matter). I can relate. Well, of course but really in singles match he was 0-2. The one brillant things that gets overlooked is that he always talked about "never wrestling in AEW again" if he lost. Which could have meant it was an exit door to still work NJPW or even him thinking he could go back eventually to WWE, which made the stip even more believable. Great use of meta here.

Believe me, Omega will have a great match with CM Punk. He has ways to have a great match with *anyone*. Crazy luchador Fénix ? Check. Up and comer underdog Jungle Boy ? Check. Insane brawler in an Onita-style deatchmatch ? Check. 48 years old Christian Cage who certainly can't go like Okada would ? Check. Omega will have a great match with Punk, because he can. Because he's the GOAT #2 or 1.

I think people take things for granted and if Jericho isn't delivering a billion stars match, he has to be totally useless (like CM Punk, who apparently after 7 years + absence totally sucks or something and already overstayed its welcome). Nuance ? What's that ? Oh, anyways...

You aren't following the product, are you ? The story is "Is Jericho able to beat MJF in a pro-wrestling match", it's not a "blood feud" (which really is an overused term). He lost two times before, he has to prove to himself that he can beat MJF. He's got an injured elbow and MJF's finisher is the Fujiwara armbar, hence the work on the elbow and the focus on submission since Jericho already submitted once to MJF. There is no reason to have a no-DQ match here. It could be Jericho's last match ever, so there's every reason in the world to be methodical, on both part. As far as Jericho's work goes, people seem to forget that he's 50 years old. He's been doing mighty fine for his age and blows away tons of guys who at 50 were washed up shells of themselves, and that includes guys like Flair, who was legit *not good* at the same age. The old-school callbacks were very well executed. MJF is super solid and has improved a lot. The finish was actually brillant. Overall, it was a very good match, really.

Cobb is going to the finals. You can quote me.

There are indeed a few signs since the very beginning indicating that this whole Andrade thingy may not end well... Considering Rush is doing the "Losing my smile" bit in ROH (as opposed to the über-pro Adam Cole who got a short extension on his contract just to end his feud with Roderick Strong because it was important to him) and the fact I doubt Tony K. would give Beastia del Ring a charity paycheck and the fact Charlotte won't leave WWE.... I dunno, as far as Ingobernables goes, I'd rather fly in Naito & Takagi. The guy better have a killer match against PAC (and it's not that hard to have a killer match with PAC), because having subpar performance and a shitty attitude won't fly in this company... Especially not now.

He's an old friend of Gedo, so I guess that's how he got in. Well, I guess we can blame him for putting *himself* at the center of attention now and all these awful EVIL main events. He was a great worker, but his booking ideas are shit and damaging to the company. More EVIL main event push ? Jay White as a babyface (he's only like the most brillant heel worker in the world) ? Send Togo's ass back to some sleazy indy already. What the fuck...

In others news, Ric Flair spotted on BTE. That was pretty funny too. You know eventually he'll show up.

We've reached the Bash at the Beach period. "God I love pro-wrestling" was Schiavone's 2021 version of "Hogan you can go to hell". Because that's what this show was all about. L.U.V. for pro-wrestling. It shows on faces of the audiences, it shows on the faces of the workers (crazy how pro-wrestling is actually becoming more *real*, in every sense of the term, as it matures) and it shows on the face of Tony Khan, just watch the media scrum video, this guy has stars in his eyes when he watches he workers. The one thing that is really great about AEW is that in the long term if they keep up they way they do things, they will change the perspective of the young workers, who may not have this idea that WWE is the ultimate goal in pro-wrestling anymore. That will be the most interesting shift. Of course as far as a mainstream audience, it's another story, you don't dethrone Coca-Cola. But pro-wrestling is made by pro-wrestlers, and if they see AEW as the ultimate destination because the product is a lot better and the company is much healthier (in a personal happiness way), WWE is gonna have trouble attracting the same kind of talent they did during their almost 20 years of monopoly. I mean, you're a 25 years old wrestler today. Where do you really want to go work ?

I wonder if Trip died a little inside when Adam Cole BayBay got that pop at All Out.

Like I said. Coach Tony K. is nuthing ta fuck wit.

And so Mox is the GCW champ. So 2021.

Chase Owens. Yujiro. Tama Tonga. Tanga Loa. Are you fucking kidding me Gedo ? There's no reason why YOH isn't in it considering he's just turned heel. And by that reasoning, put fucking SHO in it too ! As far as BOTH GoD, it's legit go-away heat for me, give me one Bad Luck Fale for the same price, thank you. Great O-Khan looked at least more dynamic during the tag-team match, less gimmicky and using more wrestling power spots, so maybe he won't be as horrible as expected (that being said, he was working against two GOAT contenders). But still. No cool veteran. No outsider. No oddball name. The most boring and worst possible candidates on the roster to fill the gaps. Cherry picking HARD on this one. Night 2 was much better, even the main event was fun. I mean, I knew it was gonna be bullshit and too long, so I might as well find a way to enjoy it since it has Takagi in it. And there was some actual fun bullshit (the revenge table spot, Red Shoes being a douche to EVIL at points). And Takagi is just the greatest, what an amazing worker he is. Best Bullet Club EVIL match, which is faint praise but also a testament to the greatness of Takagi. The three-way I really enjoyed too, despite losing a wee bit of spark near the end. Gotta love the Taue/Kawada tribute spot by Dangerous Tekkers. The way they worked around all those combinations was really cool and compelling. The right team won too. Favorite match of the night for me, and I'm not a fan of three-ways. The tag team scene is SO MUCH better when GoD aren't around. For all the talk about Hiromu's greatness, and I understand why, I always find his matches since his comeback to be a bit unengaging to me. Not sure why. I really like Robbie Eagles, so it's not the opposition. I dunno, something doesn't click I guess. Still very good of course, but not something that struck me as anything special, which you would expect from Hiromu. Maybe the G1 announcement sucked the life out of me at this point. The fact we get another Desperado title match doesn't excite me in the least either. Despi is the definition of *there*. Junior tag-title match was very good but I hope the whole corny loaded shoe bit is over and done with. Again, Gedo's fascination for the shittiest old-school US stuff hurts my enjoyment. Let the juniors work like juniors and leave the stupid gimmicks behind. Watching Kanemaru, crazy for how long this guy has been a good worker (even a great one in his prime). He's just so reliable. Stardom match was super cool too. Am I the only one who find Chris Charlton mildly annoying ? He's really good for facts and stats, but as a straight announcer, he's kinda grating to me especially when he tries to overexplain everything like we're in some overthought anime (who said SnK ?).

Since I fast forwarded it I did not realized Yano vs Owens went that long. Long enough to go longer than a long Okada match (and by that I mean the match, which was excellent don't get me wrong, would have been ever better by scratching a good 5 minutes at the beginning). Totally ridiculous. And yeah, Sho vs Yoh would have been really good at 15mn, shit finish notwithstanding. This has been a real issue with NJ especially since the pandemic, I guess because they book less match per show.

"Where the big boys play. They do play."

He sure looks in awesome shape, the best I've seen in years. His matches with Jeff Cobb have been a true highlight of the year, and that was another. One guy who isn't in the best shape and doesn't move better is Tanahashi. And yet, watching his 44 years old broken down ass having a terrific yet restrained (and so, exactly the right kind) match with Ibushi coming back from Covid, I'm just thinking, he might just be the greatest pro-wrestler ever all things considered (been watching a lot of his peaks in the past few months). He truly still is the Ace. The opening match was very good and really did the job in teasing some incoming greatness for Takahashi vs Eeagles. I too skipped Yano vs Owens, because are you fucking kidding me a piss poor garbage "I quit" match ? No. And then there was SHO vs YOH, which I guess you can rename YAWN now that he's yet another guy cursed by the Gedo US fetish of boring-ass heels and beyond tired tropes. That guy, as great a booker he's been for the big picture in the 10', has definitely spent way to much time with Kodo Fuyuki in the past. It's not like I think either really have the potential to go past the Yoshi-Hashi level anyways, but still. Match got good eventually, really good even, before falling into the trap of suck of ref bump, chairs, ballshot and whatnot. And of course YOH is now joining the Bullet Club B-Team of EVIL, Dick Togo & Yujiro, who apparently go by the name House of Torture, which is fitting. Sounds exciting right ? Don't be shy about it... You know whats coming tomorrow : a brand new run-in. For all the great training NJPW is doing with the young lions, the immediate future still looks very dire, as all the great guys in the main event are pushing 40 (Takagi, Ibushi, Naito, Cobb) except Okada, but I have no idea what's next for him, at 33 it's like he already has done everything. And it's not like the great batch of Young Lions from the past few years are gonna be main eventers in two years. Then there are Ospreay & White, who are awesome, but I wonder if them staying away from the G1 is not them seeing the writing on the wall and thinking about maybe going into another direction eventually. Really, the most exciting things in the future of NJPW is basically.... AEW. And what AEW can bring to them for their big shows once the pandemic allows them to. Overall, I have a much better time watching NOAH big shows these days. Old grumpy asses Tanaka & Sugiura beating the living fuck out of each other is so refreshing. The fact they showed the Stardom match, which was very good, was very cool though.

The same. I believe I watched pretty much everything these last three years (2017 I only watched the final I remember and 2016 I watched most of it), and 2019 G1 Climax is the best month of pro-wrestling I've ever seen (2018 not far behind). But this year ? There's already way too much fun stuff I'm actually following now, I'm definitely gonna cherry pick. There's so much potential with a more open door policy. Even guys from IMPACT like Josh Alexander, Eddie Edwards (who was a top NOAH guy for a long time) or Moose (that match with Ishii was awesome) or NJ Strong. G1 needs some japanese outsiders too, like Akiyama, Tanaka or Marufuji did in the past and it always was a blast. I really have to pace myself in the upcoming days, because I don't want to watch All Out already burned out. Probably gonna spread the watching over a few days and avoid spoilers like the plague. Still probably gonna watch that NJ show tonight though.

Yeah, what a huge bummer that would be. The issue with EVIL is double, not only he isn't a guy good enough for a main event spot but his heel style made him worse than he was before and the Dick Togo shit makes the whole thing totally useless anyway since you know exactly what's gonna happen after 30 minutes (because they always go too long, so that's another issue but not limited to EVIL matches). He's like the worst Jeff Jarrett ever at this point. In the LIJ days Shingo would probably have got an excellent match with him, but these days with Togo doing his stupid bit (and really now, *always the same shit over and over and over again*, please !) it's just go-away heat for me. I honestly dread the G1 this year with this stuff + Chase Owens (he's gonna do job but really now, he's like the less interesting guy imaginable to put in this position) + Great (not) O'Khan (who I'm sure is getting wins a plenty to boot)... yikes.

The four men announcing team is a mess but in a fun WCW way. But a mess nonetheless, Excalibur & Taz by themselves would be so great. I understand the idea of stockpiling stars to make it fell like a special night every week though, but still. Henry speaks in soundbites only, he really should be given another role (like, keep on using his social web to get stars on the shows apparently). As much as I enjoy Statlander, I'm afraid the women match is gonna pale considering all the legit great stuff on paper. Thunder Rosa would have been a much better choice for this show which has "greatest AEW show ever" marked all over. Funny how Miro redeemed (see what I did) his character after confusing first months. I honestly had very few doubt he would, because that's been AEW's track record thus far, but still, he's basically having the best days of his career (sure, the Cena stuff was obviously bigger but it also led nowhere and he wasn't nearly as good as he is now). Hope CJ eventually shows up as Daenerys or something. Also, I've notice an improvement with music production over the last few months, Miro's new music is pretty awesome, with a great Age of Empire vibes (boomer ref I know, but it's a classic game and this horns just reeks of "attack ! attack !"). Dustin vs Malakai should be a blast. They did not screw around with Andrade vs PAC, dropping it as soon as next week on tv (really now, why don't they keep announcing it for the PPV even though they know it won't happen, that's what a professional company who respects its audience would do). That bump by Darby was legit insane. If Mick Foley was a sk8ter boi.... So 2.0 spent time in 205 Live purgatory (can you picture if Kota Ibushi signed with WWE after the Cruiserweight classic a few years back, how it would have killed his career dead ?) ? And they show up here and totally rule and rub off shoulders with main event guys. And they are Quebec boys too like the Dark Order main team ? Pretty cool. Yeah, Rampage has been a blast. The one hour format is soooo easy to watch too. That's what I loved about LU too.

And he's also on the NJ Strong special against Josh Alexander. Needless to say, it sounds like a killer match too.

Yeah he said that it was the same kind of "travel issues" as Sasha Banks.

No shit ? About that BTW, one thing that I really enjoy about IMPACT is that they know their place in the landscape. You don't get the overinflated sense of importance that is kinda annoying in the NWA or even MLW (last time I checked their stuff, they have been AWOL for a while now). They have their little place in history (they'll be 20 years old next year, how crazy is that ?), they have their own totally screwed-up history and they regularly made fun of "themselves" (because really, it's not the same company at all) while at the same time making the best use of the best part of this heritage. Sure, they put over their championship and events as big deals because that's what you should do, but there's definitely this feel of a place where you can have big fish in small ponds (which is cool, Shane Douglas was never better than in ECW) and where some guys and girls can develop their skills or characters, or get cool little cameos. I think they are very comfortable with their spot right now, even moreso now that AEW is around and they are working with them alongside NJ (and AAA, although that has been the case for a long time). No way. Although you don't seem to see it, PAC is one of the best pro-wrestler in the world, has been for years (back when he was main eventing NXT). Which is why he was one of the early signings of AEW. If he had not been signed, he could have gone to NJPW and be the IWGP junior champion in a blink of an eye. He's that kind of talent. AEW has signed people coming from IMPACT like Brian Cage and Ethan Page and neither have the profile nor the talent of PAC (I like both of them, Ethan especially and I'm glad he found a good fit with Scorpio). He's neither Matt Cardona nor Matt Renwholt (who is indeed a super cool worker, unlike his former partner who has been a total bore in MLW). This guy is a total package as an elite, no pun intended, worker.