El-P

It depends from the worker. Bull did not look like the safest worker for sure. Aja always looked stiff but really safe. Hotta was another matter, but I did nor use her as an example of good work either. I highly doubt AEW would pick up someone with such a bad rep. She sucks, she never was a star in WWE despite her push, the only reason she's there is because of her family. And that's also the reason why I doubt she'll ever get sacked. She's 37, she has been working for 7 years now and she's godawful and dangerous. She's not gonna improve at this stage. And yeah, it really wasn't "stiff and intense looking" like the Twitter douchebag says, it looked like idiotic uncooperative bullshit. Koji Kitao level of incompetence and unprofessionalism. Where's Takada when you need him ?

These people are just douchebags. I'm surprised this idiot did not play the racist card to boot. Someone should point to this dumbfuck that Aja Kong worked stiff, watch her destroy Hotta's hand, that Awesome Kong worked stiff, watch her pulverize Gail Kim. Both were great workers. Nia Jaxx is a shitty and dangerous worker, always has been and really only became worse. She peaked at Eagle Sawaii's level (faint praise) and is sub-Crusher Maedomari's level now.

Total WCW in spring of 96 vibes, indeed.

Basic AW trying to get Internet Cookie Points by being Da Wokest (see also : "bouh AEW racist, no colored people in main events bouhouh"). Why even post usual Twitter garbage like this to begin with (the point would be why even look at Twitter to begin with, it's the sewer of humanity really) ? Nia is complete trash, has been pretty much since the beginning, her track record speaks for itself. The clip is hilarious. Well, except the spot where she almost drops Charlotte on her head. Where is Yumiko Hotta when we need her ?

Empowerrred was really cool and totally overdelivered. Then again, it was much more of an interpromotional card. 73 was meh. Speaks volume about the level of traction NWA has when the "big" surprise of the battle royal was.... Murphy. From Gunner & Murphy of TNA fame. Yep. Tyrus, harrasment rumors aside, is absolutely worthless. Chris Adonis, for all the hype about him becoming that really good worker over the years, strikes me as the best and less roided Warlord circa 91 ever. Nick Aldis is doing way to much straight Ric Flair cosplay spots (Nick Aldis runs to the top rope to get thrown off, Nick Aldis gets put into the figure four, Nick Aldis pushes the ref and gets pushed back) and apart from that really isn't a very compelling worker. The main event was quite ok in the end, although it went from said Flair match cosplay to a Sabu-esque spot in quite a confusing moment, but I wasn't very impressed with Trevor Murdoch either (and really, paying hommage to a guy who was rumored to have at least sympathies for the KKK strikes me as pretty tone deaf in 2021, then again his whole family got me "White Lives Matter" vibes, but it's just me being an asshole here ). Best match to me was Mickie James vs Kylie Ray (damn, if she can get her mental balance, I'd love to see her back in IMPACT, she's got so much talent), and the post-match of Deonna attacking James was exactly what I hoped for. This is your Bound for Glory title match, hopefully. Ric Flair cut a rambling promo putting over Vince, HHH, Shawn & Taker for picking him up when he was down but also talking about pro-wrestling needed a place like this and like AEW for guys to work everywhere (he also mentioned having dinner with Tony Khan soon, so don't be surprised when he shows up in AEW soon) and really it was kinda fun to see Ric "free at last". He also thanked his family for putting up with him being the NWA champ and his current wife (several times), so there's that. In the end, it was a cool moment. Empowerred like I said was cool as fuck. Some matches looked a bit rough around the edges, but Deonna Purrazzo vs Melina had no right to be as good as it was (really now, Deonna is that good), Kamille vs Leila Hirsch was quite the big vs small match and I thought Leila looked terrific there (the Kamille vs Chelsea Green match the next day was nowhere near as good), Red Velvet & Kylinn King were on fire in the tag tournament and Allysin Kay is also someone I always really enjoy to watch (Marti Belle being just that, although she does work hard). Cool appearance by Madusa. But the killer to me was Awesome Kong saving Gail Kim from Taryn Terell (btw, she looks terrific in her role, she's someone WWE would jump on today, but I guess she's a "been there done that" case, I wouldn't mind seeing more of her in IMPACT, damn) and her croonies, in what seems to be Awesome Kong final farewell to pro-wrestling. Tears were flowing and really these two should get a ton of credit because they were US women pro-wrestling "revolution" back in 2007, Gail especially is a worker that should get way more credit than she does (Kong too, but she really did not had the best career after her first TNA stint, too bad GLOW wasn't renewed because she killed it in that too). That was pretty damn awesome, no pun intended. Debbie Malenko looked rusty as hell, but who will blame her, I hope she gets more booking and we see more of her, her comeback is so cool anyways. All in all, a terrific feel good show that way overdelivered (I really wasn't expecting much from the card on paper) and was another instance of pro-wrestling being so fun in 2021.

The production footage at the end is insane. Also, it's so neat from AEW to dig some old IWA Winnipeg footage to build the Christian Cage vs Kenny Omega match. Of course the story is pro-wrestling bullshit, but it's neat nonetheless that they are tying up the whole story with actual stuff from 25 years ago that actually happened in an indy promotion in Canada. The Callis footage from back then is quite the visual too ! Funny how I was a fan of Callis when he was the Jackyl in WWF and thought he would be like this main event evil manager back then, and here we are in 2021 and he is this all-time great promo heel manager alongside the greatest workers of this generation (and all, yes sir) in the hottest promotion in, well, 25 years more or less.

Just like I don't remember specifics of shitty WWE feuds, I don't remember specifics of Cena's intimate life ! Same thing. Girlfriend, wife, whatever. Same thing to me. (Hey, at least that constitues some common ground between John Cena and myself : no marriage, no kids, thank you very much )

I wonder how much of "How the hell is he dating Brie Bella ? He shouldn't be dating the twin sister of Big John Cena's wife !" played into Vince's sick psyche... Don't tell me it never played a part. You know it did.

Forgot about the specifics, but like you said it was shit anyway. Danielson feuding with the fucking Miz was a sad joke. The Miz is probably everything wrong about modern WWE style pro-wrestling. He was tolerable for two minutes when he had Maryse at his side (the Lance Storm Theory) and feuding with Cena & Nikki, but that's about it. Danielson making a comeback should have been shot right at the top of the card like a super special attraction if they were afraid for his health. The fact he made a comeback in a tag match with Shane McMahon totally deflated anything special about him from the first minute. I sure hope Roman tweets something about Daniel Bryan being a B+ player for real just before he debuts for AEW. Then let's unbox the ratings together...

aka : they didn't do half as they should have. DB should have been the Man. That is a fact, he was over to that degree. No matter his injuries. Steve Austin got the most over during the period where it was not even a sure thing he could ever work again. His comeback fizzled out super quickly, he ended up "just another guy" in no time. Sure, he worked his magic at Mania to put over Kofi Kingston, which in the grand scheme of things meant exactly zilch (and why would it, Kofi was never a main event talent to begin with, not even at a Jeff Jarrett level) and then what ? The pro-wrestling audience wanted Daniel Bryan in the mid 10's. Even after WWE finally gave in (and reprogrammed their own collective brain into thinking *they* got him over), his first feud as a world champion was against fucking Kane, a feud where he, as a babyface, was running away from the monster, letting his girlfriend alone at danger. That was the genius booking of Daniel Bryan *before* he had that "career ending injury". The fact Daniel Bryan & CM Punk reached their prime during the WWE monopoly is really shitty timing.

Just this : sign Kiera Hogan already ! I was glad she got to be on TV for Punk's debut, even if that was to be squashed by Jade.

Some people who got there at first will get phased out and not get renewed. I mean, Joey Janela really hasn't made any stride at all apart from that one crazy match with Omega. Thankfully Big Swole has vanished into Dark obscurity. I doubt we're gonna get that much of Kip Sabian in the future. And hopefully total failed project like The Acclaimed are gonna vanish (Caster sucks, the other guy is decent enough). There is gonna be a turn over and some people are gonna end up on the indies again. They won't keep everyone, they just can't. Great new young guys like Dante Martin and Daniel Garcia are gonna jump above guys I just mentioned, hell, they already have.

Funny, I have thought about that one for a while now. WWE would kill for a guy like this. But of course the scripted promos would rob him of everything that makes MJF to begin with. Plus he doesn't have the physical frame they are looking for. But I agree this is one guy WWE will probably throw stupid money at and I would not be surprised to see him eventually main event Mania one day (that is, unless WWE keeps on being their old stupid selves).

Didn't think about it, but yep, that one makes sense. Unless Tony Khan throws money to have a last Hardy reunion in AEW against the Young Bucks.

If Alberto wasn't such a piece of shit he would have been brought back too, but he's about a JBL level act anyway. There's nobody left. They have made no one. The only two guys from the past 10 years who could have been huge are CM Punk & Brian Danielson. Wooops.

Rumors. Ya know the deal. They even made fun of it in BTE. Then again, Cody hasn't been on BTE for ever now. Cardona is also having a blast on IMPACT with his girlfriend. It took some time, but he sure seems happy to do different things now. Black is way sooner to even think about what he may do. He was completely wasted in WWE. He can be a big star in AEW. He's not the type of guy Vince & Co understand or want anymore anyway. If Bray Wyatt makes it to the company and doesn't set the world on fire, he definitely has the profile to go back to familiar grounds. As far as Adam Cole goes, I know people on this board can't stand him apparently, I think I've seen exactly ONE match of his a few years back and it was a great one, he sure knows how to get over and has the profile and background (Bullet Club Babay) so he's probably fitting the bill. It would not be even close to Punk or Danielson of course, but yet another sign of the dynamic in place, basically the Ace of NXT for the last few years graduating... to the opposition.

From Vince's perspective ? No. The WWE is idiot proof financially at this point. Vince is dying a billionnaire (you're the richest guy from the cemetery, congrats, you're still dead) and his children and grandchildren can live the spoiled brats life without even thinking about it, especially if they sell to Disney or whomever. From the workers and audience's perspective, of course. Because it has made the product totally sterilized (with the stupidest booking this side of WCW 1999) and they haven't made ONE legit star since 2005 and they have wasted dozens of great talents in the process.

Oh yeah, that match was a killer. They really did a great job with Alexander after the split of the North. Cool to see both guys do well, as Page has killed it too with Darby.

Don't see him going back anytime soon considering how miserable he was there and his wife got fired too. But he's definitely a guy WWE would want back especially after a hot AEW stint. I thought about that too at one point, during the terrible Ogogo feud and the rumors of in-fighting between the EVPs. Not sure if that would cross my mind now honestly.

For the pro-wrestling fans crowd, absolutely. From the mainstream point of view, it won't happen because there's no catching up to Coca Cola, but it doesn't really matter at this point. Also, I wonder who is gonna be the first Jeff Jarrett circa 99. By that I mean the first guy who WWE is gonna sign back. You know it's gonna happen eventually, because they are gonna throw a bunch of money at some people. And although I wonder who in the hell would want to go from AEW to WWE even for ridiculous money (nobody in their right mind need ridiculous money), it is gonna happen. Of course this person is either gonna be wasted because of incompetence or gonna be wasted on purpose to prove that WWE is superior (so yeah, the Jeff Jarrett circa 99 analogy doesn't really work, because he really wasn't a big WWF name when he jumped back to WCW and got what we could call a proto-TNA treatment there, hell, Jarrett circa 99 is precisely what will establish the TNA dynamic).

On last week's show, you had : _clips of the Good Brothers working against Mox (from AEW) & Yuji Nagata from the NJPW Resurgence show and teases of a match against the GoD from NJPW. _clips of Deonna Purrazo winning the Reina de Reinas title from Triplemania (AAA mega show) _promotional clips for NWA Empowerrr, the all women show promoted by the NWA where Purrazo is gonna work against Melina (and the NWA title is gonna be defended against Leila Hirsh, from AEW) _Christian Cage, the IMPACT World champion, who's from AEW You wanted the territory days back ? Well... Also, Madison Rayne pulling out a Terry Funk and coming off retirement less than 8 months after she retired is awesome. Really now, she deserves to go in front of fans, so more Madison until then, I'm so there.

People have been moving the goalposts with AEW since day 1. Fact : they shouldn't even be competitive with a 35 years old (to speak strictly of the Vince Jr. era) juggernaut that has been synonymous with the business in the mainstream culture since Hulk Hogan and has operated basically on a monopoly for almost the last 20 years. Being able to exist and live its life while being relevant way behind WWE would be a success. Yet, they have thrashed NXT so bad that Vince is gonna kill revamp it. And less than two years of them being on TV, they get *those* numbers, and that's after a fucking pandemic that had hurt their early momentum when crowds disappeared. Yet every big success they have is *never* actually a success, it's just Uncle Dave being paid by Coach Tony K. to twist the facts and every missteps/mistakes they make is the imminent sign of their soon-to-come demise. People have been brainwashed. I would feel sorry for them but sadly, I'm too busy having a fucking blast and I'm kind of an asshole with low tolerance for complete dumbfuckery. Well, can't wait until Bryan Danielson shows up. At this rate, fucking Nikki Bella could show up, really, I mean, once the brother-in-law is in, why the hell not ? (and yeah, I'm interested in anyone, well, Kane and a few select others excepted, showing up anywhere out of the WWE system as this company has been a proven toxic waste (remember Bianca BeLair at Mania ? It sure ended well). Doesn't mean everyone will thrive or will be fun or different, but I'm willing to give even guys like *gasp* Bray Wyatt the benefit of the doubt to see what they can do away from Vince, Brucie, Ace & Dunn, the Three Musketeers of dumbfuck booking & production)

"That pissant company" Triple H. 2019. "What goes around comes around" Julie Hart. 1997 I'm not gonna lie, I've been living my best life as a pro-wrestling fan in the last few months with all the crazy shit going on (which is why I'm trying to stay away from spoilers, as I'm not always in-synch). Jay White showing up in IMPACT ? Major mark out moment for me. Probably not "lived" pro-wrestling like this since, I dunno, 1997/98. This of course, was the cherry on the cake. Or the ice-cream. The scene of course was awesome in itself. The ambivalent relationship with reality is a part of what fascinates me the most with pro-wrestling (and the hardest to explain to non-wrestling fan), and this was one of those "well, it *is* real" moment in the framework of an illusionary world. The emotion of everybody (Punk and the crowd) was so real. And of course I'm psyched about all the great moments to come. But even if the entire stint of Punk ended up disappointing after that point, it would be irrelevant because what almost matters as much is the symbolic charge of the moment. For years, people have chanted "CM Punk" at shows including way past the point they actually thought he could come back, as it meant they were refusing the stuff they were forced-fed. Funny how corporate drone Roman Reigns was shitting on Punk the other day, guess who was never and never will be as over as John Cena nor the Rock : well, the guy who had people *leaving the arena* during a Mania main event. And let's not talk about that pop tonight, that he never had and will never get either. But anyway. The CM Punk chant meant more than just "We want CM Punk", it also meant "We don't want this !". There's a reason for that : the utter contempt the company that tried to monopolize the business shows toward the people they are making money off of. I'm not even talking about their emplo independent contractors, which they fire during their biggest gross profit (pun intended, Saudi here we come again, hoping for no lawsuit settlement this time), but the pro-wrestling fans, which they don't call pro-wrestling fans because it's embarrassing. Hell, they don't even use the word itself. Which is why Punk's promo was so perfect when he referred to his departure from ROH to his comeback today, it was more than a cute diss. WWE is self-hating what they are about. So they show contempt for their emplo independent contractors, which they systematically humiliate in their hometown for instance (which is such a bright idea when you're into the business of making stars, which is probably why they haven't made one since about 2005), and they of course despise their own audience which they have trolled and fought for *years* now, actively driving most of them away at this point. Because pro-wrestling fans are *idiots*, I mean, that's what Ronda Rousey said, that's even the fault of the fans when WWE fires people, ya know. Let's call them WWE Universe instead, because you have to stamp a brand name unto them to hide the fact they are, gasp, pro-wrestling fans. WWE is not into pro-wrestling, hell, they even killed the word. They are like Disney. They actually are like Starbucks, they want to kill every other coffee shop in the neighborhood to stamp their brand everywhere, but they really aren't selling coffee (and I mean, I pity anyone who goes to Starbuck to drink actual coffee). And that's really the crux of CM Punk's promo and also the way AEW approached his debut. Instead of treating their fans like idiots, they banked on their fans intelligence, like they mostly usually do (yeah, they have made mistakes before like with the overhype of Christian Cage, but nobody and no promotion is gonna be perfect). The audience knew he was coming. They knew their audience knew. So they just did the smallest teases, banking on the intelligence of their audience. And when time came they did not fuck around and they just threw him out there to start the show and speak his mind, and the guy did the most striking promo, 10 years after he did one of the most memorable promos of the last 20 years. People chanted CM Punk for more than 7 years, and AEW delivered what the fans *wanted*. And this has been the case for most of the promotion's tenure thus far (again, there have been mistakes and misstep but guess what, of course there is and will be), which is why AEW is the best promotion I've watched in my 30 years of being a fan. Because it's so *satisfactory* as a pro-wrestling fan to watch a promotion that understands both the greatness of pro-wrestling but also the silly aspects of it, yet doesn't think they are above their audience and actually want to *reward* them for being pro-wrestling fans. Really, if you pay attention to everything they do including at the meta level, nobody understands pro-wrestling better *as a whole* than the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega, which is why they are some of the very best at it, ever. They understand the greatness of it, but they also know how silly and stupid it can be (and has been). Yes, they *are* geeks. Because they are pro-wrestling fans at heart. Pro-wrestling fans are never gonna be the cool crowd. Never. And why would they want to be, because what's cool is bound to become uncool eventually. It's never gonna be culturally relevant as something "serious" like movies or TV shows. We are geeks, much more than video game players or comics fans. And that's ok, because pro-wrestling can be the greatest thing in the world, as shown tonight. As shown by CM Punk's legit emotional reaction and happiness too, which was shared by the audience, an audience of simple pro-wrestling fans. And wait until Bryan fucking Danielson shows up... @MoS, sorry to hear that, I wish you and your family the best.

Seems obvious now. Also, this has been posted in the AEW thread but what the hell, it belongs here and it is totally hilarious too :

It's fucking hilarious ! Uncle Eric circa fall of 95 would be proud too.