El-P

In term of impact and success, for sure. The reactions to both Mania main events is very telling. I know from reading about it that I would have enjoyed none of them, but one got over huge and the other was seen as a complete failure.

Or course. Yet he's still viewed as this creative genius that was gonna save WWE several times (or TNA, whenever that stuff used to came up in the 00's) and how he's the one responsible for WWE's most successful angle of the last decade (Cody "finishing the story" aside, that was Vince's). And he's one of the most powerful guy in the company. And I say that as a former ECW fan. Heyman has been wildly overrated over the years.

The Speedball vlogs really kind bring back that early AEW vibe. Damn, Speedball vs Michael Oku would be so great. Forbidden Door in London...

Well, it's supposed to be his character. When it's really Heyman IRL. Much like Kevin Dunn before him, he probably knows were the bodies are buried too.

Not specifically talking about the storyline itself (which, yes, only got hot once Sami Zayn got involved) which obviously is the most successful (at the very least) thing they did in years, but the style of main event match heavy on high-school drama level acting. As far as Jey Uso getting over, it's funny because when Sami Zayn got over *organically* thanks to his character work and the fact he was also killing it in the ring, they would not pull the trigger on him. When DUI Nepoboy got massively over thanks to the groundwork laid by years of Bloodline storyline and his act basically was reduced to an entrance and mediocre singles matches, he got the title.

When you put all the things together, with how unhinged they are becoming, this AAA stuff is gonna be morbidly fascinating.

Paul Heyman on the Pat McAfee (vomit) show, making comparison between CM Punk and Shannon Sharpe (some ESPN guy accused of sexual assault and such apparently), making jokes about deportation of Latinos... Oh, but "he's working in character". (which considering everything we know about the WWE office, is pretty irrelevant) Sure. Doesn't make it less incredibly shitty in both the current political context and the fact WWE has two lawsuits on their ass for sexual abuse. All that on a show hosted by a MAGA dipshit. Heyman needs to get fucked. He's trash and his vision of pro-wrestling is godawful anyway.

It's funny how Paul Heyman's reputation is totally oblivious to the fact he was always a carny and a crook, a pathological liar, a shitty businessman, an overrated booker and a corporate suck-up disguised as a pseudo-rebel. His vision of WWE main event pro-wrestling, from the Brock Lesnar "suplex city" borefests to the heavy-handed drama with crappy acting of the Bloodline, as successful as it is, is the worst shit that happened to pro-wrestling in the last 20 years stylistically. As far as Paul Heyman in 2025, more in the "WWE sucks" thread I guess.

She did not even find the hard cam. Not properly trained.

I'm not familiar with the entire Tam career (very far from it). Was there a relationship of any sorts with Onita (like training or something) ? Non stuntmen-women doing stunts always freaks me out. Tam's bump looked pretty safe thankfully.

Tam driving away the safest way imaginable killed me. 😂

Holy hell, I had it right about the Orton match. Only it was not Rusev but.... Joe fucking Hendry. Which makes it even funnier. The irony is that 3 minutes is actually the best you'll get out of him in term of what he can deliver in the ring. I lived through it for years in TNA, ok, so I know. Still, it's at the same time incredible this guy memed himself into appearing at the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania and hilarious he was made to look like a complete geek both times. As TNA's world champ no less. Never change WWE. The reactions of the main event seem to be kinda brutal all around. Rock not even showing up after they jumpstarted this with so called "one of the greatest heel turn ever" (which it wasn't) is the funniest part of the entire thing (that and drunk Austin riding into the barricade).

😄 Same absolutely legal russian stream. Yeah this was a terrific match. So much better than anything I saw yesterday to the point it looked like they worked in another company... Nothing has even a shot after this. Might as well end this on a blaze of glory. Done. (I would love to wake up and read the news of Rusev showing up against Orton and taking a RKO in two minutes)

Between this and the Sabu retirement match the previous day, Joey Janela sure knows how to book a feel-good main event that actually *means* something IRL. I mean, as much as you can call that Sabu match "feel-good", but you get the sentiment.

Great write-up by cusbfan : https://thecubsfan.com/cmll/2025/04/20/wwe-buys-lucha-libre-aaa/

No shit. Hell, they already do that. Even CM Punk talked about it this week (which was an amazing moment of lucidity on his part, and he doesn't have many). Plus, they already lowballed Stephanie Vaquer (she got a bigger offer from AEW, bigger to the point WWE told her to take the offer) and she still went with them because it was her "dream" (call that brainwashing rather). I dunno how her dream looks like now that WWE has bought out people who support the man who tried to murder her (even Konnan has talked shit about her I think, and hell, Alberto and all as the champ so...). Another fascinating tidbit, remember how Hijo de Dr. Wagner was supposed to sign with WWE, then signed with AAA. Well, the end result is the same.

They would sure love to kill off RevPro since they are affiliated with NJPW/CMLL and friends with AEW. wXw I'm guessing would work for them. And really, having a fulltime touring company is not even the goal. The goal is to own everything and kill off the rest. They have already infiltrated the US indies with the ID stuff. They are like a cancer, really. It's a global plan. TKO is taking over boxing too and making their best effort to hurt boxers rights. They want it all.

Considering who they are aligned with, if they wanted to use it as dogwhistle they would use it talking about Sami Zayn, really. Remember Sami Zayn, when he was he most over guy in the company last year ?

I mean, honestly I couldn't give two fucks about AAA. This company is horrible, has put a women-beater/rapist as its top star (and as it stands, he still is). They can get fucked. The real issue is the overall effect on the Mexican market, CMLL and lucha libre as a culture in the long run. Gotta love the fact that on the same day, they announce they purchased the #2 company in Mexico and Fénix debut at Mania doing the job to a racist anti-Mexican gimmick that is getting cheered by the American audiences. Yeah, Levesque sure "loves the style". Plus, let's not kid ourselves. They are gonna try to do the same thing in Japan and Europe too. It's most probably in the plans already. Fuck, if they announced on the pre-show they purchased NOAH and in a month Naito shows up there I won't even be that surprised.

I've seen the clip. *everything* about it is terrible. The super slow pacing with ridiculous face expression, the execution, not to mention the fact that it comes after a thousand finisher spam kick outs. If this stuff happened in WCW in 1999, people would make endless fun of it. Since this is Mania, we get "THIS IS CINEMA" cringe comments.

Between Lesveque talking about how he'll keep "traditional lucha" alive (yeah, that's absolutely what AAA was about), Stephanie Vaquer standing her while the company that employs the family of the guy who tried to murder her is being brought in the light, Andrade looking like he fears he's gonna get sent back working to Mexico on a regular basis, this is quite the collective hallucination. This is of course awful for the pro-wrestling landscape, no matter how awful AAA has been lately. I wonder if they are gonna rename it Triple A. I also wonder if they basically are gonna send every malcontent people they have there as punishment (come on, they would TOTALLY do that). No one asked a question about Alberto at the presser I guess, uh ? Maybe he's gonna be fired like Jarrett was on Nitro. Holy fuck ! Speaking of Jarrett, he's kind reliving the end of Nitro ! Of sorts ! Also, Konnan. Proud of himself I guess. What about la Hiedra (against whom Vaquer has a defamation lawsuit or something of that sort) ? What about all the people who CMLL has blacklisted and that WWE don't want ? Anywoo.

😂 There was like 3 matches in 90 minutes. It's a non-stop barrage of adds and celebrity shots between every match. If *this* is fanatastic pace for a WWE show, then I have no word. I'm still shocked at how awful the Gunther vs Jey match was. WWE buying AAA is stuff out of a fever dream.

Well, that was fun sloppy-ass match. I ain't watching MAGA Roman & hypocrite bitch Phil, I have my limits. So that was the most WWE i've watched (and will) in years. That was MAGAMania, and boy WWE is a mediocre as fuck as far as pro-wrestling goes and the events are unbearable to watch. That and well, PWO of course, so shhhh. 'night.

Swerve, bro.