El-P

Wait, so this universal sign that means "it's ok" is now a white supremacist thing ? Wow, I learned something. The way the other ref are doing it look like they are part of the Triple Threat. But BTW, with Drake's beliefs well known at this point, are all the other refs on this pics complete idiots or complete hypocrites ? I mean, it has to be one of the other...

Yeah, totally agree. I loved Jackie beating up jobbers during Sullivan squashes, she had so much intensity and presence. I remember her brutally bodyslamming a guy outside *while wearing high heels*. She was so badass, and looked the part too.

Totally agree. It's telling people are always using the Mid-South argument, totally ignoring the fact that Bill Watts *was* a racist, and the fact he tried multiple times to replace JYD by random-afro-american-worker, totally overlooking the fact JYD was a huge draw first of all because he was charismatic as fuck, not because of the color of his skin. Cornette's opinion are dated on this too. He's the guy who had such disdain for his own audience in SMW that he thought he could draw by playing the race card with a racist audience, but it failed. I think it might actually be Dragon Gate, but the process is the same, even moreso. Completely agree. There's an odd denial about the *overall* sexualization of pro-wrestling. Tanahashi drew women. No shit he did. Lacey Evans is gonna draw male viewers (older male I guess, considering where she is at right now in term of storyline). No shit. I'm extremely ambivalent about this idea of "representativity" in pop-culture as a whole anyway (which I find usually extremely hypocritical and manufactured), but that's another matter entirely. Right now IMPACT has Rich Swann and Moose feuding on top, last year they had Chris Bey and Willie Mack fighting over the X-div championship, their tag team women champ are Hogan & Steelz. I would be very surprised if that made any difference whatsoever in their audience.

Ole Anderson was pretty adamant on the fact Ric Flair did not know how to work properly and therefore would not draw.

WrestleMania X-Seven (2001) – Undertaker vs Triple H The night before the Fall. The apex of the Attitude Era and the son-in-law is getting Motörhead. The Rock or Steve Austin never got even close to this entrance and you know why ? They did not need it. Meanwhile, Taker is rollin rollin rollin and WWF is rollin rollin rollin on pop culture zeitgeist for the first time since, hell, ever probably by paying for the rights of that awful Limp Bizkit song that was both shit and the shit. Like I said, it was the night before the Fall, the end of History, it’s not surprising they still believe nu-metal is the way to go 20 years later. Taker in full MAGA mode, I mean retrospectively it’s kinda hilarious watching this that anyone would be surprised about his political views. Big mistake to me in term of characterization, I hated it. I understand the Devil Taker really had damaged his aura (cf last year) and some change was needed, but Disciple of the Apocalypse Taker really isn’t doing anything for me. However, this match does, especially in the beginning. Attitude Era means Trip bumps on a table about 30 seconds into the match. He really pinballs a lot for Taker and I had forgotten that Trip was actually really good at this, especially for a guy with his frame, he was so jacked then. He’s really good with his timing too, with some swift counters. As Taker is going for the rope-walk spot, he’s shouting « Old School !» and so here we are, Taker has reached that point in WWF lore where his classic spots are just that, « classics », and doing the rope walk is basically him playing the hits. But he gets countered and thrown off the tope rope as he’s basking too much in his own legacy-wanking, that was a nice touch. Meanhile Trip is in full Flair mode with the pushing the ref/getting pushed spot. You can smell the dog & pony show for miles ahead as Trip goes for the idiotic sledgehammer very quickly, leading to more bullshit with the ref (it is not a no-DQ match), a pedigree tease into a ref bump (like, 5 minutes in) and a giant chokeslam for a good nearfall. The audience is molten, so this shit is working and this has been better than the Diesel match thus far. However, this is where we get to the silly part. Another ref bump and it’s time to walk around in the crowd and brawl toward the elevated hard-cam area. It’s fine and makes for a cool visual. That’s really what they are going after : a visual. The visual of Triple H beating Taker with chairs on a scaffold tower and then, Taker holding Trip by the throat and throwing him off. We’re getting a Mania Moment tm, see ? But the bump is actually not showed, which kinda feels like a production fuck up. Except it’s really not, as when they do kinda sorta show it on the replay, you can see Trip bumping off a mattress and this is where it is silly because it’s so obviously padded (and the fall not nearly high enough) that it loses quite a bit of its effect. When Taker throws a big elbow off the tower onto Trip, you can see the landing is bouncy as fuck. From there, the match really had lost its pace all for the sake of visuals and Mania Moment tm, and now they have to walk back toward the ring where the ref is STILL DOWN ! Really now, this is silly as hell, this is the most fragile ref ever. Bullshit aside, they work a nice stretch of more dog & pony show toward the finish, with Taker teasing the sledgehammer only to get a balls shot, then a Tombstone reversal spot (basically both old school Taker match trope at this point as well as an old WCW staple) but the ref is STILL DOWN (come on, really now ?) ! So Trip doesn’t have to kick out of the Tombstone (when you think Kane kicked out of two, how ridiculous was that in retrospect). Then probably the most memorable spot of the match as Taker goes for his brand new spot, his big time Last Ride powerbomb (hey, he’s dressed like Diesel, might as well steal his finisher too) with Trip countering with the sledgehammer (yeah, I know, but at this point you either accept the stupidity of it or you don’t) leading to a legit great nearfall, with the terrific frustration sell afterward. Taker bleeds again from this which is a nice detail touch too, which also allows Trip to work another good logical transition as he’s now punching the wound in the corner but stupidly climbs the ropes for a higher, more efficient placement, which allows Taker to do the Last Ride. It’s clearly overproduced in the sens it’s mostly a dog & pony show with a ridiculously long ref sell and the match suffers from the middle part where they sacrifice the pace for the sake of a visual aka a Mania Moment tm, which really is typical of this era (crowd brawling / big spot) and also foreshadows the style of the bigger over-scripted matches to come. As it is, I can’t say it’s better than the Diesel match (which was less ambitious but had a much better organic flow), but it’s still absolutely watchable and quite fun overall, if you don’t mind the bullshit. 2-7

Odds of Vince getting pissed with Lacey getting pregnant just as she was put into the main event scene of the women division ? One year after losing Becky for the same reasons ? Especially since she was probably aiming toward Mania against Charlotte again.

Understood. Then again, Jaxson Ryker is still employed.

And you know what, this is a very interesting point and probably, if it's true, part of why I'm so at ease why the new generations, because I'm not a sport fan at all. Nothing aggravates me more than Good Ole JR talking about college sports background when I watch a pro-wrestling match. I don't give a fuck. I'd rather have the current anime/video game crowd rather than the jock culture of the past. Sure, some of it is still there obviously and will remain there, but the lesser we go in that direction, the happier I get.

Sure, some Twitter stupidity from one year ago... I mean, WWE employs Qanon idiots, homophobes and bigots of all sorts already, I don't see why this would make any difference whatsoever, it wasn't even a story last year at all. He's apparently a big idiot, oh well... One in a crowd of many.

These people are insane. Batshit insane. I'm sure those people working for them must be so proud and happy that they represent such a wonderful company. Uh, Daniel Bryan ?... (I mean, I'm sure some actually do because that's what brainwashing does to you)

Ok. Glad you have talked to Tony and Don about it...

Political analogy : neither heel nor babyface / tweener (apolitical) = heel

I thought it was gloomy as fuck, just totally out of place. Bossman sold it well, that's about as far as I can go.

Holy shit. At this rate, Jericho is like the Clint Eastwood of pro-wrestling. He's so cool and great as a pro-wrestler that everyone loves him even though... YIKES !!!!

Totally forgot about that one ! Hey, I did not call any of this good. I mean, as far as building up a rivalry between Taker and a monster, from a strictly pro-wrestling standpoint, yeah, there was more work into this one than any other before. But like I said, it as still trash. Right you are. That storyline was soooo bad. Really. Yeah. And he sexed the mother, while lil'Taker was watching. Kane Origins... No wonder his career ended up 20 years of shit matches and angles ! So, anyone for a defense of the Bossman hanging ?

I mean from a pure pro-wrestling booking standpoint, yes the build toward Mania XIV was good BUT the angle was trash (really, Taker's little brother who murdered his parents by burning the funeral house down and who was also the son of Paul Bearer and who was burned so badly he was hidden for 30 years, come on people), the worker was trash and the match was trash. Well built trash is still trash. And like I said in the review, the match was also pretty damn heatless, actually, so it's not like the audience cared. Maybe if the work had not been so bad, they would have.

As said before, fascinating stuff. Really interesting to see the american/european influence on Jumbo and how it had permeated the whole classic AJ style, as opposed to what Choshu would do in the 80's, which really is entirely Japanese in spirit. Ok, I'll go straight into goofy-ass analogies, Jumbo was more Kurosawa, Choshu was more Mizoguchi (well, Choshu was more Fukasaku probably, really...)

Lucky you. (unless you end up not enjoying them of course, but...)

Funny how everyone jumps to conclusion, hey ? IMPACT's booking for the last two years and a half that I've followed them as been the most coherent, accentuate positive, make-the-most-out-of-your talent booking I've seen in eons. The idea that Sammy would have been thrown out there doing stupid stuff just doesn't register with me, not with D'Amore & Callis at the helm. So there, I'm sure they all dealt in the most intelligent way possible, and maybe what they had in mind wasn't the best for Sammy, on the other hand Sammy should be aware of the fact he doesn't want to be that guy who's perceived as "hard to deal with", as AEW is developing more and more relationships with outside companies, especially NJPW.

Wow, I would have never figured Asuka was 39 ! I mean, sure she's blonde, tall and athletic looking, but this is the company who had Micky James be "old" at the same age, so...

With Eli Drake showing up on NXT, is there *anyone* left with Corgan's NWA apart from Kamille & Aldis ? Also, as pretty much expected Taya apparently has signed. Kinda disappointing on a personal level as I would have loved to see her in AEW, but hey... She's 37, so that tells you as much about how far she'll go if she ever make it to the main roster.

WrestleMania XV (1999) – Undertaker vs Big Boss Man No. Just NO. Ok, I’ll do it because it’s part of the game, but come on... Hell in the Cell is a gimmick that kinda produced Taker’s two most famous matches : Shawn Micheals (for good reasons) and Mick Foley (for bad reasons). So, Hell in the Cell at Mania should, has to be, something special. WRONG. There’s so many wrongs about this but you can basically sum it up to two words : Vince Russo. That being said, he was working under McMahon's infamous « quality filter », so there you go, maybe the two words be Vince & Vince. It’s Ministry of Darkness Taker. Judging by his vampiric look and gravely talk-over on his theme’s remix, it seems he was auditioning for a spot in Type O Negative. And he should have thought about moving on, because if that match was any indication, his pro-wrestling career was done. Oh yeah, there’s the Big Boss Man too. Poor guy, he was such a big deal during the Hulkamania days. He’s just a washed up minion of McMahon no one cares about anymore here facing a guy who’s basically a satanist who abducted and threatened to torture a young girl (fresh as a daisy Stephy). Yeah, you know what, the more I’m reminded of those "classic" Taker storylines, the more I think people are kinda mean to The Fiend... Not to mention it's basically a heel vs heel HITC match, because "shades of grey", bro. Ok, so the match is terrible. Just bad, plodding, boring brawling inside the cage. At some point Bossman uses handcuffs and of course they break when Taker falls on his ass. It’s so bad that there are some « boring » chants. It is SO BAD the zombie sit-up spot gets no pop at all. I’ll say it again, the ZOMBIE SIT-UP SPOT GETS NO POP AT ALL. Taker fucks up his flying clothesline in a comical way as he does a complete flip over Bossman basically, barely touching him with his open hand. He bleeds, like my brain does watching this shit. Hey, Bossman cuts off the rope-walk spot and that gets a mild reaction. Way to waste a cool counter (for the first time at Mania) on this debacle. And speaking of waste, way to kill what had become a legendary gimmick too, synonymous until this point with incredible spectacle. So, Taker wins, people pop because they want to see Austin vs Rock, but of course they don’t get to see that yet. Because now the Ministry (ya know, Edge, Christian, Gangrel) show up on the cage and they literally hang Bossman. Like, in a public hanging, with a noose and stuff. And as Bossman basically is publicly executed, complete with the body going all numb and shit after the neck snap (really gloomy), Micheal Cole, who was calling his first Mania, delivers the classic line « Could this be SYMBOLIC ? ». No Micheal. It’s just pure dogshit. 1-7

Honestly, I'm not sure it was a good thing ! But yeah, crazy how quick the things moved back then compared to post 2000. I believe JR had been fired twice already.

Oh yes, my bad, JR stayed in my mind because he was already saying it during the Gonzalez match... a few years before.

And I'm gonna eat my words on this one, and I'm so glad I am. Not only was the match good, but it was so good it had no business being this good. Mutoh looked like he could barely walk a few years ago at that Mania weekend, and here he is having some snappy moves, doing pretty much all of his classic "bald Mutoh" stuff, taking bumps like you take bumps in a Japanese main event at Budokan. With the structure being a classic Mutoh main event style match and not some old guy match with mainly fan service and the opponent being gentle, as Shiozaki, who was great, worked stiff and crisp. Of course, Mutoh being 58 shows at time, but the worst occurence actually could play into the fact he is 58 and selling a lot of punishement so it did not hurt the match to me. An awesome tease and some legit nearfalls, and a classic Mutoh finish. Fuck, I'd go so far to say this was a great match, all things considered. Rating on a curve ? Maybe, but not nearly so if I'm looking from the perspective of "Did this accomplished its goal of being a legit Budokan main event title match ?". I honestly can't remember anyone at 58 having such a good match, especially in this context of *having* to deliver a legit main event style match. That's another one for Mutoh I guess, that old bastard who everyone me included thought he was done years and years ago. Also, he came to the ring to his old 90's theme, so that was mark out city for me. (Mutoh was not the only old guy delivering the goods, as Funaki looked awesome, Akiyama is great as Grumpyama, Ogawa can still do his thing and was part of a terrific junior tag title match. The junior title match was great too BTW. It was also super refreshing to watch a japanese wrestling show without american style bullshit and NJPW kinda stale tropes)