El-P

They should do the same in AEW, except if you're still working your match during the hour change, the ring actually explodes.

This. WCW absolutely was a buffet. I want the buffet. It's not like anything really happens. It's not even like Saturday Nights or Thunder during the Nitro days when you had somewhat cool secondary feuds happening there. It's mainly competitive JTTS matches. I hope they do something different with the Monday show, as Dark is already way too long with so few happening for me to watch every week considering I want to watch other stuff too.

No one knows or even notices who he is. For most people, and that included me for ever, he's just a short jacked up orange referee. BTW, this Andrade thing is the story of modern WWE. Then sign a hot lucha libre superstar. They deprive him of *everything* that made him cool in Mexico. Surprisingly, he doesn't get over. Then he turns heel and gets paired with Vega and magic happens. He has that match with Gargano which was deemed by some as the greatest WWE match ever. He goes up to the main roster. They eventually split him up with Vega. He vanishes because Heyman who wanted to push fresh talent ain't got the book anymore. 5 years after, he asks for his release despite being engaged to one of the biggest name in the company. Meanwhile, The Miz got a world title push and Edge is main eventing Mania.

They should ask Don Callis about stuff (although I do think D'Amore is the brain booker of IMPACT, seeing as he was also the only guy who made TNA a really fun and easy to watch alternative in 2005/6).

That's a good point. The thing with AEW, because of who they are and how young the company is and what they've showed thus far, is that it's obvious they are learning on the job. That last PPV should be a terrific learning experience, despite providing jokes for the next 20 years. AEW brought back optimism as far as I'm concerned, which is something that has been killed dead by WWE a long, long, long time ago.

Wait wait wait. The Big Swole vs Britt Baker angle was awful. Swole is just bad and she still gets pushed. I don't see jackshit in Max Caster, who did not look good at all in that PPV ladder match. Why are Billy Gunn and his annoying offsprings taking time on Dark ? Sure, these are little things, but still. Why is Penelope not pushed seriously yet, it's obvious now (even to me who have showed a lot of patience) that Sabian isn't going anywhere interesting. Well, if you're read my PPV thoughts, I don't think I'm into honeymoon mode anymore either. Like I said, they are rookies with less than 2 years experience doing this. The best is yet to come I'm sure in term of finding themselves.

Ok, ECW was 25 years ago. Since then, we've had at least a good 20 years of lights going out for no reason whatsoever apart from : because. It's a trope. Not a particularly good one, but that's what it is. Like people doing run-ins with their music and videos popping up at the same time. There's nothing more to it. The backstage stuff can be more stupid (like the hilarious "Are you recording me !" from Sammy the other day... while he's on TV), and some actually have worked around it in interesting ways (like TNA at one point when every backstage scene that wasn't an interview was shot from what seemed like a "hidden place", by a cameraman the wrestlers would not see, that was a neat little idea). Most of the time it's a shortcut because people are so used to it. I would love AEW to be more consistent too on those matters, but it's not really an important point compared to a real crappy angle or bad worker getting pushed to me.

Was it ever said that it was really Paul E. Dangerously doing it though ? I know he was the manager but... And how is it different from imagining it's anyone @sek69 mentioned, really ? Like I said, it's basically a trope now. Some people can get the light to go out. Some even have magic powers apparently. I'm not a fan of it, I think it's been overused in AEW. But I basically accept it because pro-wrestling. Like, I would LOVE for the NJPW referees to not be the stupidest human beings on planet Earth. But apparently they are, so I have to deal with this as a NJPW trope and let it fly. One thing I loved in Lucha Underground which pretty much resolved all the issues is that it was presented as a TV show about pro-wrestling, in that the announcers did not see any vignettes and backstage stuff. That was a radical departure, but to me it worked wonders in making me accept the fact murders were taking place, people got shot or kidnapped and tortured and of course, traveling through time.

The "turning off the light" as been pretty much an accepted pro-wrestling trope since about the time Sabu was popping up in the ECW Arena while the lights were turned off by... someone. It's been so overused that I'm actually surprised anyone even thinks about who could turn the lights off. Seems like anyone has walked freely into pro-wrestling TV production trucks for at least 20 years now. There's something to be said about AEW's booking that is pretty much never addressed : the guys booking and writing the shows are rookies. They have been doing it for less than 2 years. Think about it. Of course there are gonna be inconsistencies and misses and messy stuff sometimes. What do people expect ? Still, with that little experience they have, they have basically blowing away the 40 years + veterans on the other channel (who suck and have sucked for a long time, ok). But they are still learning on the job. It's like people have crazy-ass expectations. Yes, some stuff are misses. Yes, some stuff are inconsistent. Yes, I would gladly never see a "lights go out" moment until there's a HUGE surprise in like, 5 years or so. But overall and considering their experience level (less than two freaking years), they are doing quite ok on that front. I still think Scott D'Amore is doing the best job of anyone considering the talent ratio he's working with.

Well, I guess I did my job right then ! I absolutely did not think about it but it actually makes all the sense in the world.

Which means Mox vs Omega in an Onita style match was a draw. Of course there's people that are gonna twist this again because Kenny Omega can't be successful in the real world and whatnot, but hey, one more for the good guys I guess. Makes the absolute disaster of the post-match even more disastrous, but in the long run hopefully it won't hurt them.

Awesome announcement. This is big deal stuff for IMPACT. Also, Ace Austin vs Chris Bey this week was really good.

What ? One has strictly nothing to do with the other. It doesn't matter what company you are working with or what are you beliefs or political opinions. Being sexually harassed is being sexually harassed.

I should write the "Case against selling, psychology and storytelling used as magic words to defend mediocre shit" and the "Case for moves and pro-wrestling as an anti-psychologic, anti-narrative, free-form musical-like way of producing an acceptable form of aesthetic greatness"

There, I stand corrected. What is supposed to be the best match BTW? because from where I stand, this Mania was the complete shits too.

Am I supposed to believe for one second that Cena vs Taker would not have gather more interest ? Come on. The fact that Shane-O Mac was any kind of draw for the WWE audience says everything you need to know about the WWE audience as a whole.

WrestleMania 32 (2016) – Undertaker vs Shane McMahon Because apparently, having two terrible Hell in the Cell matches at Mania wasn’t enough. Talk about wanking off your ego and power. This 44 years old non-wrestler who made a career out of taking huge stupid bumps because he did not have to actually work every day of the week for a living has now managed to get his Taker match at Mania. And he’s there parading with his already annoying offsprings, those spoiled little brats who won't have to work a day of their lives because they are born rich thanks to grandaddy (because you dad is a failure as a businessman, kids). Speaking of awful people, here’s Linda in the crowd, Miss Let’s Re-elect Donald Trump. Ok, I’m going off topic, but still, this is the theme of this match, it’s less about Taker than about the McMahons and the fact the idiot son and godawful performer (at least Stephy has been useful at some points and actually fun to watch) gets a Mania match with Taker instead of say, John motherfucking Cena ? Yeah, who want to see this, people are dying for Shane-O Mac jerking off in public instead. I mean, every other wrestlers including Shawn Micheals and Triple H were intimidated by the perspective of facing Taker at Mania, but not Shane, oh no. He’s here doing his stupid-ass pseudo MMA bullshit and running around while looking blown up and red in the face after only a few short minutes. Shane has always sucked, nothing he ever did looked any good, he’s just good for throwing himself into shit (that's called osmosis). Taker, who has grown his hair back, doesn’t really give a fuck. He’s old, he’s fat, he’s getting the money, he’s getting potatoed by the rich son-of-CEO and is trying to make a late 90’s Attitude Era match out of it. Shane not looking scared one bit is a complete disgrace, it pretty much negates the entirety of Taker’s career, especially at Mania. Last Ride after a few minutes only and Shane kicks out, why the fuck not, *everything* about this match his a disgrace. Shane gets Taker into his own kinda crappy MMA Submission and makes it looks even worse. The announcers talking about Shane possibly defeating Taker is downright pathetic, really. Chokeslam on the steps and guess what, Shane kicks out of course. Shane is the toughest motherfucker in the WWE Universe, Triple H and Shawn Micheals ain’t shit. Taker actually takes a bump on the steal too so it looks like he really wants to make it something. What would you not do for your bosses, uh ? Shane is also not phased at all by the zombie sit-up. I mean, even THIS he won’t sell one bit, he’s just punching Taker in the face. Then Shane the MMA expert reverses Hell’s Gate into a... sharpshooter. I mean, why not, at this point watching this match is like being high as a kite. We’ve finally reached that point were both look gassed as fuck and Shane still wants to do his RVD spot. Because he’s a wanker. Everything has to be about HIM, as demonstrated by the announcers going all SHANE MCMAHON SHANE MCMAHON SHANE MCMAHON all the time. Enough, you already have a job. The replay is funny as fuck though as basically the Coast to Coast spot ends up with Shane kicking a garbage can who is laying on Taker’s beer gut, so yeah, total death spot. Oh wait ! There’s more ! Shane gets a bolt cutter to open up the HitC, like this gimmick had not been abused enough yet. Speaking of which, Taker is pushing Shane *through* the cage now. I have no idea why the crowd is chanting « This is awesome », because this is only one thing : dumb as fuck. And it gets truly pathetic as we’re rearranging tables now. In a Hell in the Cell match, which is like the most open bar cage match ever at this point. Slo-mo brawl toward the crowd now and I miss the Big Boss man getting hung. Taker is now jumping through a table with Shane on his back. Because that damn sleeper was too tightly applied or something. Shane O-Mac, the master of the sleeper, you can’t break it at all, you have to throw yourself through a fucking table to hope he’ll break the hold. He’s also the master of the toolbox in the face... Is this shit happening ? Any other two guys doing the same godawful, pace-less, awfully executed bullshit would get slaughtered, but here the crowd is chanting for Shane-O Mac because he bashed a toolbox in Taker’s face. You know what, these people deserved to watch this godawful Mania, which has been infamous for being maligned as a complete chore. And now of course you know how this ends, Shane O-Mac wants to do « better » than Mick Foley in 1998. Because he’s a wanker. So he does that stupid-ass jump (in front of his spoiled brat children and wife, so he also wants to outdo Foley in the "terrible irresponsible parent" category apparently). I would not have showed any pity whatsoever if he had killed himself, really. Not only was this whole thing only designed to feed his fragile ego of rich kid, but it sent the worst message possible to performers : that this kind of dangerous shit was still « relevant » in 2016. People chanting « This is awesome » are complete idiots (and they were the same shitting on Roman Reigns later on ? Really now ? That’s food for thoughts...). This is easily some of the worst shit I’ve seen in 30 years of watching pro-wrestling. If I had been watching a Shane-O Mac sextape with him jizzing all over the screen, I would have felt less dirty than I did watching this. 12-1-11

Funny that, greatest Cena match to me, by probably a wide margin. The fact he could work such a match against AJ at this point of his career made me re-think about his case (although I doubt I'd call him a great worker in the grand scheme of things, but a guy who could have great matches with the right opponent, absolutely)

You made me laugh out loud legit with this one ! Funniest analogy I've seen in a long loooong time !

Actually, I replied there because Ryan seemed to be under the impression we thought Tony K. said it or something. And I did not quote you nor singled you out, just mentioned it came from the board, not Tony K., so... And yes, it is kind of a fun and harmless running gag (plus I really like Christian). Exactly this !

Apart from a few matches against monsters (yeah, I know about the infamous Umaga match everybody loves), most of Cena's big match stuff (Orton, Batista, Triple H, Orton, Orton, Rock, Orton) was indeed the super-pattern WWE self-conscious epics with finishers kick outs galore. Hell, I coined the self-conscious epic phrase from a famous and typical Cena match (against Punk). And honestly he never was better and more fun than when he decided he was gonna go batshit with the spotfest style to try and catch up with Owens or Styles (who's not a spotfest worker BTW but that's another matter, he just could do stuff Cena had never seen before) later on, despite always having a crappy looking execution. Cena's selling only got him boos from half of the audience after all, while Cena doing Canadian Destroyers got him WTF cheers.

Indeed. And it's not like he was of any value anyway. He was a crappy worker who only got over for a short while because he had two hot dancers doing his intro. This NWA "reboot" is going absolutely nowhere.

Quite the opposite actually. Until now, they always delivered on their promises and more. From that point of view, I would agree. It definitely sends the message that the guy who made his comeback at the Rumble would rather sign with the hot new thing than be at this year's Mania. But from the AEW audience standpoint, it's yet another WWE guy in their late 40's showing up, the second in a matter of two weeks. Which is not something that you want, no matter who they are. Of course Christian is the best guy of the bunch who could have realistically showed up. But still... there's a TNA feel somewhere with this a signing and announcement too, they should be very careful in how they use him if they don't want to send the wrong message (ie : former WWE guy who was never a main eventer there is equal to our best guys, despite also being 47). Someone on the thread tried to justify the fact that Christian was a "huge huge star" (the words of Coach Tony K) because he was a "Top 5 star" during the Attitude Era. Which was rightfully made fun of to no end.

Riki Choshu says hello (followed by Satoshi Kojima).

I wonder what the ratio is of Flair actually winning any important match with a submission though ! The point about submission is just completely dumb, but I would not be surprised to hear the same thing about guys not winning with their finishers.