El-P

WrestleMania 29 (2013) – Undertaker vs CM Punk Maybe the previous year was indeed the End of an Era, because this sure looks like we’ve passed onto the other side of the hill. First, I’ve gotta say, I find the Paul Bearer angle to be really trashy. And Heyman acting goofy with the urn was really not that great either. That out of the way, Living Colour performing live was all kind of awesome. Probably the best musical performance at Mania (ok, that’s not that hard, but they did had Motörhead). And the NYC setting is awesome too. Ok, the match. Well, really after the epicness (for better or worse) of the last four matches, it's gonna be hard to believe anyone could beat Taker. They really have booked themselves in a corner now, and the mythical aspect of the whole thing has been reverted to this personal issue, which kinda makes it a lesser affair in the grand scheme of the WWE lore. And lesser is the name of the game here, it’s the first time Taker visibly doesn’t look the same. His body isn’t as fit, he still works fast and hard but he seems to breathe heavy after the intense beginning and there’s a lot he doesn’t do anymore. Like the previous year, Old-School is countered and Taker takes the bump from the post, as if he can’t (or doesn’t want to) do the rope-walk anymore. He teases the über-plancha but doesn’t do it either as Heyman gets on the apron and stops him as a distraction. He does the leg getting caught but on the second rope, not the top one. And he doesn’t do the Last Ride, which is extremely noticeable as it’s basically his n°2 finisher (that needs to be kicked out of, really). CM Punk really does carry the load of the meat here (see what I did ?) and he’s displaying terrific charisma, does great facials and produces all the big spots of the match including actually doing the Old-School rope-walk successfully, then trying again and crotching himself, doing the Savage elbow both in the ring and outside onto Taker who’s laying on the table (which doesn’t break and you can *hear* the crowd being disappointed by this fact). And it is a really good match and all until the finishing stretch, which pushes it toward the great level, but there’s something about kicking out of the Tombstone which seems almost obligatory at this point, because it’s been kicked out of every year for four straight years now. Anything less would make CM Punk look like a much lesser guy, and this despite Taker aging, which really isn’t being taken in consideration in the context of the never-dying Streak. So yeah, they do work several cool reversals like said Tombstone off a GTS counter, Punk also re-does Micheals counter of the Hell’s Gate, although much more sloppily. And they do this kinda goofy spot with the urn off the now infamous trope of « getting on the corner so Taker can do the Last Ride », and it really shows on this one that Taker has lost a lot of his power. It’s goofy because the urn shot is a bit of a throwback to the 90’s really, and as much as it makes « sense » in the context of the angle, let’s be real now : Taker has sustained a dozen chair shots, a sledgehammer in the face and multiple deadly finishers the previous years, this lame-ass urn shot is kinda weak shit for a credible nearfall. The crowd plays along, but really now... Maybe the best visual of the whole match is Taker sitting up while being in the Anaconda Vice and staring at a petrified CM Punk with his eyes bulging out. Ending is what is expected... for the last time. CM Punk’s heavy load carrying goes a long way into making this an excellent, maybe even great, pro-wrestling match, with an Undertaker who for the first time, looks like he is noticeably sliding down the hill. Which is why it was probably now *too late* to ever end the Streak, unless turning it into a mercy killings of sorts, which would have sucked and damaged its aura . 12-9

A brand new version of the Nation of Domination was in the works for a while. Here we are. The cringe potential is huge.

Really now, this is awesome. Best promo of the year. How can sad Mox with hair on fire stuck in barbwire be so cute ?

We're clearly running in circles now.

I swear whoever shows up now will be a disappointment anyway, so might as well be Christian anyway. Wait, he's signed. And he's not a huge star. But it's him. Unless it's a surprise. Which it is. Unless the surprise is Christian. Which would be a letdown.

That mentality has been absolutely true in the US for the last 20 years too. Kane has never missed a show.

Tony Khan used the words "a huge, huge star" on AEW Unrestricted. Christian is not a huge, huge star, by any metrics. He was never a huge star in WWE. Selling Christian as a huge, huge star to the AEW audience would be a huge, huge mistake.

Damn millennials with their video games. Pro-wrestling ain't what it used to be...

GOldberg ? Sure hope not.

I was thinking about him too, but didn't he resign not that long ago ?

Will they fine Nia and Shayna every time they concuss someone ? This is ridiculous. Kota Ibushi fucking slaps his tighs. I guess he doesn't know how tow work either. It's a simple trope. The best guys and biggest stars would stomp while punching for ever (yes, that includes Bret Hart, The Rock, Steve Austin), that was just as idiotic. Fining the workers is just yet another exploitative bullshit move from the pieces of shit who run that company.

No, you don't get it, *most young pro-wrestling fans* see Christian as a mega-star. And although I like him a lot as a worker, honestly when I did the top 25 TNA match for the Pro-Wrestling Love podcast which you all have listened to of course, I could not get myself to put one single Christian match in there. He did really good there, he had some excellent matches against some great workers, but nothing that would reach the legit *great* level to me. And that's coming from someone who considered him better than Edge from day 1 when I saw him in WWF in 98. Christian is like, a great fucking hand. The best Tim Horner ever.

Ok, he had two *good* matches with Naito & Tanahashi. It's akin to having two *good* matches against Misawa and Kawada. Or Flair and Steamboat. There's nothing to write home about. Lex Luger, who got shit on for years and years for being a nothing worker, had two *great* matches against Steamboat & Flair in 89/90. O-Khan is a joke, the gimmick is trash, whenever he's on offense I die a little inside (the fucking claw on the knee, pleaaaaaaaaaase), that's 0-2 for Gedo after the disastrous EVIL main event push. Where the hell are Ren Narita and Shota Umino already ? And please don't give them stupid-ass gimmick either. Okada should definitely take some time off and come back fresh.

It's like fining people for punch stomps in the 80's. Dumb as fuck. Is Orton getting power ?

Hey, I would love for you to be right about this. I just can't picture it happening (but honestly, I can't picture Cena or Lesnar or Batista showing up instead so I guess I got my hopes to a lesser level already). Totally agree about Christian like I said before. Just, no.

No way. AEW ain't signing the current NJPW champ, come on. (yes, of course, it would just blow my mind) I'm almost surprised no one dropped the "nZo & Cass" joke yet. And so I do. If anything, it's fun to play the guess game. That's something that AEW has brought back which was part of the fun 25 (and now I'm gonna be depressed because I'm old AF) years ago. You know, "Yokozuna is gonna join the nWo" and such. TNA's years of "we know who that is" a week after some guy got fired was not nearly as fun.

Also, the "world of wrestling" makes me think it could also be not-a-worker. Why not ? Honestly, I'd take Jim Johnston, because a lot of the music themes of AEW needs a revamp *badly*, especially most of the new ones (Sting is cool, Team Taz is cool, but most sound exactly the same and have no personality whatsoever).

Spot on.

Batista, Rousey, or some very top NJ guy. Apart from those, yeah, a "huge huge star" I don't see. I mean, fucking Becky Lynch showing up with her baby would be a Lex Luger moment for sure but the odds of this happening are zilch (not that I believe any of those previous 5 are gonna show up either).

Damn, I would give you soooo much shit for that one if we had not done this podcast thingy and I knew you're a cool guy indeed. Come on now ! Open your eyes to the greatness that is Riho !!! Prediction : half of the people on this board will be a bit disappointed. There, you can quote me. Also, if I never hear anyone talk about AEW should do this or that to reach a wider/mainstream audience ever again, it'd be too soon at this point. I'm already watching. Book for me already.

The reference went straight above your head I see. It's not what the AEW roster thinks about Christian as a worker. I like Christian as a worker a lot. But the perception of Christian is absolutely not "HOF worthy big time superstar". 47 years old Christian sold by AEW as an all-time legend would be TNA level shit, and even more because he's actually been through this in TNA when his midcard ass was put over all the main event TNA talent then.

Christian is a mid-card worker from WWE who never ever reached main event superstar status. He's also and most of all in this context the posterboy for the kind of TNA booking that AEW has to avoid at all cost. Although he would be a *decent at best* addition to the roster (but really, there are already better, younger, fresher workers who don't even get on AEW TV each week), Christian would indeed be a Savio Vega level letdown after going HOF worthy announcement.

Easy to watch, undercard matches were fun but nothing special. Kojima vs Cobb was very good indeed, you watch this and there's no way Kojima is 50 years old. Best match of the show to me. Great O-Khan is better than sleeping pills, he's the death of every form of joy whenever he's on offense. Knee Claw ladies and gentlemen, that's next level godawful offense for 2021. The lesser said about the result the better. I shudder to think this guy is gonna be in the G1... Ibushi's performance in the main event was great, as he had a very good match with Desperado, who's really nothing special at all. Desperado was game, but it was totally the Ibushi show in term of trying to make the most out of a match with zero doubt as far as what the result would be. Plus, it was basically the same dynamic as the previous match with work on the knee to try and get a submission, so the difference was really striking and not in favor of O-Khan at all but it also came off repetitive in a way... So really, for a Budokan show, I'd say it was pretty underwhelming. Running two stadium shows in May sounds like complete insanity in this context.

It doesn't matter anyway because it's obviously gonna be Dwayne Johnson.

People would bitch because they would not introduce him to the mainstream audience. Who cares what the mainstream audience understands or not, fuck them. This is hardcore pro-wrestling shit. Everybody should know who Volk Han is anyway.