El-P

Ospreay is banged up, but he works so much smarter than he used to do a few years ago, overall he's a much much better worker, which is kinda scary, as he can still do the craziest shit when he wants to. That counter off the Pumping Bomber is legendary. The match with Ibushi should be off the charts (which is crazy expectations, as if it's just excellent it'll look like a disappointment).

Nope. Genes are a scary thing. That being said, talent has nothing to do with genetics, because Ayako sure was still kicking ass in AAA when she showed up in 19. Unlike good old Sochi. (this really is throwback Wednesday, here I am talking Sochi Hamada & The Bloody on the same day !)

The Bischoff thing is like a bunch of abusive former lovers. The guy gets hired strictly to be a scapegoat, then gets fired in humiliating fashion, then get brought back for an "emotional" HOF speech. "But never mention that bitch Tony Khan again ! You can't see that guy anymore Eric ! I still love you. BUT YOU'RE FIRED !!!! Hey, can we be friends ? I'd love you in my HOF... xoxo"

True. They should have made it a big time Dark Elevation main event instead, in true Thunder spirit. But I'll take the awesome randomness anywhere anyway !

Damn, you know my tastes ! I did not do the Saturday Night shows during my WCW Highway to Death thread, so that little gem just eluded me for ever ! I'm a Raven fan, as you know. Thanks !

I haven't watched her in almost 20 years and I wonder how I would enjoy her stuff today. I do remember the crazy bumps now that you mention it. But yeah, I was all about the Bloody in my last years of following joshi and buying tapes (well, and Yoshida, of course). To me it looked all bleak though. The scene was basically GAEA, which I always found to be overrated in term of output, and a bunch of zombie promotions. But there were really good up and coming workers for sure. I remember Yoshiko Tamura was coming into her own and turning into a really terrific worker then too. I'd fun to revisit some of this for sure. Damn... In other news, Rikidozan, here I come.

Sydal vs Omega could steal the show if the Third Eye manages to channel his old self. Keep on bringing the fresh stuff AEW. The randomness is great like some WCW Thunder main-event with Marty Jannetty that never happened but should have.

Is he gonna wear his mask ? *wink wink nudge nudge*

He can work indies. He's doing his Spring Break Mania week show. But yeah, Janela was so fun doing insane shit in the indies I was looking forward to him in AEW, he had that terrific lights out match with Omega during the first months and really hasn't done much of anything after that. But his team with Sonny Kiss is really cool, they should get featured on Dynamite instead of wastes of space like the Acclaim or the Gunn Club. I never got it. To me the buzz came from people who had never seen Su-Yung, as her gimmick is to Su what Abyss was to Mankind (not that Su is a great worker at all but she does the creepy zombi shit like no one else ever). And they she went and had a bad match with Shida, and that takes Crusher Maedomari's level of suck to do that (yeah, that's a dated reference, I'm 45).

Leva Bates is apparently doing a lot of backstage work though, so her being a JTTS is no issue at all. Is Mel still around, really ?

Shawn Micheals & Razor Ramon went longer than they should at WM X too, and apparently Savage was pissed at them for being unprofessional and therefore having the 10 men match scrapped. I mean... yeah, I really wanted to see that random ten men tag match with IRS & Tatanka (and whoever, don't remember, the HeadShrinkers and the Smoking Gunns probably)...

I did not get that. I just googled him. Ok, now I know why this guy looked kinda familiar. I have no idea why he's on my TV though. Him and Max Caster are huge WTF, they reek of guys who belong in WWE in 2011. AEW should try to do a G1 of sorts. That would be a first in US wrestling. TNA kinda tried in 2011 under Vince Russo, resulting in the Bound for Glory Series, the ultimate dumbest tournament you could imagine, with guys getting points in tag matches, multi-men matches, meeting the same opponents several times, no brackets or blocks or whatever of course. Like, the most Russo thing ever.

I wasn't feeling the Finlay push to the semi-finals, although Ospreay really had a terrific match with him. The final was awesome. If there's something NJPW can bring with regularity despite the booking issues lately, it's great pro-wrestling matches. Speaking of booking issue, the post-match was completely stupid. Yes, and yes. It's funny because for a long time, Gedo had been praised by some because of his love for old-school territory US pro-wrestling. The issue is, he's bringing more and more US bad bullshit to NJPW instead of focusing on building great arcs with Japanese characters (like he did with Okada, Tanahashi and Naito, although you can argue he fucked it up with the later). The never-ending repetitive bullshit in EVIL matches, super dated gimmicks like Great-O-Khan and now yeah, a really dumb mid 00's WWE-like spot in front of a totally unreactive crowd (I will take a wild guess and say they would have not reacted anyway, they looked nonplussed). If that's his idea of growing NJPW has a global brand, especially in the US, well, tone-deaf indeed, in more ways than one. Gedo can still book a mean G1 (although the perspective of having both EVIL & Great O-Khan this year is really scary and pretty much kills the mere idea of it being as great as the last few years, including last year which only had one great Block, really), but to me the last year and a half shows he's going way into the wrong direction. Inspire yourself more from Choshu & Baba already and less from Dusty & Vince.

Yeah, I always was under the impression that people worked themselves up about references to Mid-South (which also has been way romanticized as a promotion). Anyone even only semi-familiar (as I was) with the Elite in Japan and ROH should have known better. Hey, you still got JR. That's very Bill Watts.

Damn. Now that's a name I haven't heard for about 20 years. I was like the biggest advocate and fan of Miss Naomi Kato back in the days. Gotta dig up those old tapes and a VCR !

Agreed. You need guys like them, a solid team that are over to work the mid-card feuds efficiently and put over the bigger stars. And like I said, Trent (Beretta) absolutely can go places as a single guy.

However it should be pointed out as racist, homophobic, sexist and such in public forums, because it was. People rave about Piper's stuff all the time, but a lot of Piper"s stuff was way offensive period.

Funny, that's the first thing I thought about too. But no, it should not be edited. Because it's whitewashing. And where do you draw the line ? Why this and not Akeem then ? Are babyfaces forcing themselves on heel valets gonna be edited too ? Jerry Lawler's entire stint ? Trish Stratus barking ? Racist heel comments ? Homophobic promos during the first Goldust stint (Piper again BTW) ? Pro-wrestling has had a ugly history, like most of the entertainment industry. Pretending none of it happened while making money off the footage is very hypocritical, especially when it's done under the guise of being "unoffensive".

That Don Callis promo last week with Rich Swann was one for the ages. Unbelievably great stuff. That next PPV surely looks fun on paper with two interpromotional title matches, Omega vs Swann & Good Brothers vs FinJuice. I wonder what ROH are thinking... Yep, you've got yourselves outworked and outsourced by IMPACT, guys. Dixie won. Well, kinda.

Well, half-blackface...

I never said that. I said his promo made me think of a joke that I could make relating to the Christian discussion the other day but since it's kinda mean-spirited I won't make it. And no, it's not about what you said for once.

You show proper respect to the Total Package now.

The question remains. WHY ? Pretty much, although I really expected Miro to fuck up the wedding himself in a sort of a meta angle. aka the Lance Storm Syndrome (boring solid guy who is not getting over, put a hot girl at his side and all of a sudden he gets a reaction, worked in both ECW and WCW, did not happen in WWE and so he did not get over). I doubt it would work in 2021 though, as you don't get a woman play straight eye candy now. I mean, doesn't work for Sabian.

I believe Jade Cargill has had exactly 2 matches in her entire career. Both on Dynamite. So yeah, total rookie. Obviously the only reason she's featured is the way she looks. Now it can go both ways, either she gets good and it's cool, either she doesn't and it will suck so bad. The issue is throwing her so fast on TV, that could end up detrimental. Swole has been pushed before and it sucked. She's just bad. Red Velvet on the other hand was basically a Dark JTTS bit since she showed potential and charisma now she'll probably get a better deal. Yeah, totally. Su-Yung is not a great worker by any means, but the character and presentation in IMPACT is insane. Abadon looks like someone doing a Walking Dead cosplay in a video game convention. And she managed to have a bad match with Shida. Sorry girl, that won't work for me. If James Mitchell had a son.... (NO IT'S NOT A SUGGESTION !!! I love me some James Mitchell, but I don't want to relive the Abyss storyline !!!) And yeah, Hobbs is soooo Ice Train 2021, for better or worse (I kinda liked Ice Train). Pillman is much better working tag team matches for now too. Yeah, that's a throwback tag-team that has potential too.

Fucking A. Jeff Hardy is someone I will never EVER get. Yeah yeah yeah, people always talk about "back in the days he was the biggest babyface this side of John Cena" but whatever, his work has always been pretty much the shits to me. I've really been enjoying Matt Hardy as a working heel manager lately. And he was mostly fun doing the crazy stuff last year. Hager has done much better than anyone had the right to imagine considering he was the black hole that probably sunk Lucha Underground (it's a metaphor people, I know he did not do OK, but he sure sunk the fun out of it in S4 for me). Now, I don't think he's gonna do much more interesting thing that he's done so far in the Inner Circle, so he could be gone indeed. JR I agree, it almost makes you feel bad about him when you say he should be gone because of the tragedy in his life, but the truth is he shouldn't call weekly matches. One in a while for a big match of a style he's accustomed with, why not, but... Shawn Spears is useful in Pinnacle because you need a jobber to take the falls in midway feud matches. I'd keep Janella as I like his team with Sonny Kiss. Colt Cabana is really good and fun to have around. Best Friends too as a midcard tag team although Trent can go places higher. The Gunns, Sydal, Luther, Sabian really.... they could be gone and I would not blink an eye (I gave Sabian the benefit of the doubt forever). PAC is one of the best worker in the world, simply put. Christian I could make a mean-spirited joke about him so I won't. Let's say I kinda got a kick of his promo being "well I'm a really good worker, even the other guys are saying I'm like a super worker" in reference to some stuff that had been said on this board about Christian... I also love the fact they use some rework of his TNA theme, because it was much better than anything he used in WWE and TNA/IMPACT themes are much better than in-house AEW themes. I would LOVE to have Don Callis tell him shit like "You think you can just show up here and challenge Kenny for the AEW title ? Do I look like Dixie Carter to you ?" Hopefully he has really good matches, because that's what he does, ya see ? He was doing that at the end in LU too honestly. He had that great match with Sami Callihan in IMPACT two years ago. He's got charisma like no one else though. But Fénix is the one they should push to the top. Can I say that Cody, since gaining weight, has not looked the same as he did last year ? I dunno if it's injuries pilling up too, but clearly after his great TV title reign, he just seems to have lost something. So much for "Cody is the real star of the promotion" talking point, that was fun as long as it lasted... Actually it's the other way around. He's a big guy with a funky gimmick who can do funky moves. Take the gimmick away, there's not much to him honestly, he's just a big guy who can do a bunch of moves. I'm not sure I'd even call him a *good* worker. Ethan Page was a terrific tag team wrestler with Josh Alexander. As a solo act I don't think he'll do as well. Private Party & Top Flight have potentials galore. The Acclaimed, not so much. Yeah, I don't get the Atout thing, she was supposed to debut with AEW then did not then showed up in MLW. Deonna & Grace would be assets to the women division for sure. Salina de la Renta should manage Fénix & Penta. Hammerstone would actually be a decent signee but I'm not sure what he would bring to a company that already has guys like Brian Cage & Lance Archer who are bigger and can do more. He's a good promo though. Speaking of managers, as much as it was cool to see Jake Roberts for a while, he's just kinda passé honestly. And Vickie Guerrero is terrible. As far as women who have received some sort of a push that could be let go, Big Swole and Abadon can vanish tomorrow. Please. And SIGN KAMILLE.