El-P

But will they honor Freddie Joe Floyd one day ?

I will definitely go back on her case to see the earlier stuff, but I concur, when I was watching 90-91-92, Hokuto already appeared as a legit great worker as part of the Marine Wolves and then when the end of 92 hit with the start of interpromotional stuff , she was on top of the food chain to me along with Nakano.

Well, I've listened to Raymond Rougeau for years and I never got confused. It was all charmingly exotic to me.

Wow, that's interesting. The fact you *understand* the language actually hurts. I would not have thought about that but it makes sense. I mean, Mauro legit kept me away from NXT for instance, whereas the same screaming guy probably would not have bothered me as much if I did not understand him.

No one would ignore his viewpoint if he didn't act like a FUCKING POMPOUS ASSHOLE and talked down to people who disagree with him. (edit : whatever, such a waste of time)

Charlotte is gonna do a run-in after Bianca wins the title a-la Hogan at Mania 9.

Ok, don't sell me on something that won't happen now. That's cruel !

You mean the one thing he is absolutely unable to do himself because he is "objectively right" ? KEKW, as they say... The idea that someone needs help to "really get" Greg Valentine (or whomever else) is the most laughable shit ever. People can figure shit out by themselves. They don't need lectures. And they don't need to abide to whomever's narrow vision of pro-fucking-wrestling. And no, they don't need "thougher skin" (that's the shit you hear in other circles BTW).

You've got to remember he was not doing a course on lucha libre trios matches, he was trying to explain some basic stuff about the culture from the perspective of what was presented on a weekly US pro-wrestling show that pretty much never had any equivalent in term of looks and form, for the audience of a company built on Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair & Sting. Can't fault someone for not doing something he was not trying to accomplish.

It's unfair to blame Tenay, who did his absolute best in the WCW US TV context, where they never ran a traditional lucha libre match (and why should they have ?). It may not have been "the real thing", but I'm pretty sure it was the gateway for many people to get interested in lucha libre. It sure was for me (although I really got into it way later, but the initial interest and curiosity came from there). Whatever works. Also, these guys came from AAA, which was not exactly traditional lucha libre to begin with (much more than it is now though).

Yes, exactly. Which is why just watching the Friday shows on Youtube was such a breath of fresh air to me because I was like, I don't even know who 95% of these masked fellows are, I'm just watching to enjoy instead of trying to "figure out" something specific, and after a very short while it was just flowing naturally. Well.... I'm not sure I would go that far. They absolutely are an ends in displaying that spirit of lucha libre and awe the crowd, and they are very important as a form. But yeah, they absolutely are a way also to make room from what's gonna take place inside the ring next, which is why : no tag needed, people (did you not listen to Mike Tenay on Nitro already people ?) Yep.

True that. I really was looking forward to the Kanyon episode.

The thing with lucha is odd. It's pretty much the last major style I really got into. I never really put much into it for I guess cosmetic reasons (one of which oddly enough was the crowd noise and announcing in Spanish). The "bizarre" pace of the 2/3 falls match did not click with me but the single matches surely caused no issue at all (there was some heavy pimping of single matches back for the 2006 poll and I voted for more luchadors then). Then a few years ago I saw weekly CMLL was on Youtube. It became a habit to just watch the Friday Arena Mexico show and I was like hooked so easily. I really believe there's nothing hard at all to understand about lucha libre, but the talk of it being the "hardest style to get" that has been around for years and years (I blame both people who hated the style and some of the lucha purists who acted as gatekeepers) absolutely convinced many people (including me at one time) that it was and in the long run hurt the perception of it pretty badly. The one thing that struck me with the whole trios 2/3 falls match is that if you find the pace to be a bit odd at first (or the structure too systematical), just remove the idea that's it a 2/3 falls match and watch it as a simple match with dynamics going one way then another, and all of a sudden it's like the easiest pro-wrestling ever. It's no wonder Arena Mexico is basically a tourist attraction. That being said, maybe it's just because I'm Latin.

Yep. Which is why you should never bully a bully : because it's counterproductive. The way he dropped dead surely helped too. People thought it was so eerie because of the timing (the irony of death will never cease to amaze me sometime) that they got all romantic about it. The opposite of Benoit, in sorts, who was probably a pretty good guy his entire life before going insane at the end, so he's being called a monster. Whereas Warrior was pretty much an asshole and legit hate spreading human being for years, but because he looked sympathetic at the end and dropped dead just at the right time, people softened up on him and were willing to gobble the withewashing. Like if the only thing that mattered was the end... I also believe Meltz appears in a few episodes for the first time. So I guess Brucie isn't taking part this time around. Since they touch the Korea stuff this year, I still have some hope for an episode on the Saudi debacle in the future.

Well, the only shitstorm thus far in this thread happened because of his usual gatekeeping and patronizing tone. There was a ton of interesting discussions (not talking about my own posting btw) prior to him quickly going back to his old habits. No reason to be well behaved with this kind of shit, really. Anyway. The GWE is not about this. The podcast is up I see, so I guess it's official now. Well, see ya all in five years or something !

I enjoyed Kross as a character in IMPACT (and to a point in LU), he made for a good psycho heel with his crazy eyes and great look, but it's not like he was ever a great worker or anything. The most fun I had watching an actual match of his was in Bloodsport, he seemed really made for the style. I really haven't watched him in NXT at all, apart from the infamous entrance, so maybe the injury really screwed his work up. Scarlett was tons of fun in IMPACT, but then again, it was because of her character, and I always thought WWE would not get that part.

I just learned that a female NXT UK ref is actually from Bordeaux (which is where I'm basically from too). Hey, good for her. Now, waiting to learn she re-tweeted some very stupid stuff. (sad to say I haven't missed Shanna since I learned about it)

He was accused of physical abuse, not sexual abuse. It's obvious WWE doesn't care/believe in the case (see also : Riddle, Matt).

I mean, hopefully they go deep into the horrific hate talk Warrior was spewing for years before the whitewashing.

It's expected more for NXT since they already have the older viewers, whereas AEW has the younger audience but may not grab that much new viewers in the older demo (because of the style). Who knowns though.

That pissant company won (it was not even a contest, really, it's been a slaughter). First blemish on WWE monopoly since 1998. Well done Vince. It did not even had to happen and NXT would have been better for it.

I guess Nick Gage is the token "freak indy guy" of the season like New Jack was. Zero interest on my part, really. The other 5 all look quite interesting.

As far as who I think gets in and who gets out, IN (without going for the obvious NJ names nor names that had been nominated before and which were pretty much spot on) : _Kenny Omega _Sasha Banks _Devil Masami _Ultimo Guerrero _Chigusa Nagayo OUT (same thing, going for different names) _2 Cold Scorpio _Yoshihiro Tajiri _Bob Backlund _Daisuke Ikeda _Atsushi Onita (as far as lucha libre goes, it's been never easier to watch stuff, it's all over Youtube)

Kurt Angle is a brillant worker. Watching TNA totally changed my perspective on the guy (a few years ago I was pretty much hatin' on the guy for annoying ankle hold reversals and flat german suplexes, that's on me). The lack-of-selling criticism (which is just baffling when you actually watch his stuff) just shows lack of understatement from what he's doing, not lack of anything on his part. Then again, maybe people just watched his WWE stuff, which I had not seen in years (from Angle's own admittance, his best stuff was in TNA). He's one of the guys who made me change my perspective on things, like Ishii. Funny thing, for all the shit Angle got for years on the board, he actually gained 12 spots between 2006 and 2016 (I did not vote for him at all), so maybe people had actually watched the TNA stuff.

Wow. Does that mean Agius/Chereau could be back ?