El-P

Yeah, Fascist Berzerker was awesome. Living the gimmick. Cool Valknut tattoo too (hey, it's a viking tattoo, nothing to do with extreme-right at all "wink wink nudge nudge")...

Camp Auschwitz Guy was a nice touch though. That's a true heel. I wonder if the Harris Bros were somewhere in the scenery.

Has Linda Tweeted something stupid already BTW ? I mean, she has said they had won the election before...

So, Trump books a better Invasion angle than Vince apparently... That's counter-programming at its best.

Dustin has credited Russo for many things about Goldust, including the vignettes. Russo was already working in creatives at the times, he was just not writing TV yet. The "best" TV Russo ever produced was TNA when Dutch Mantell was still around sharing booking/writing duties. Much better than the Attitude Era which is mostly unwatchable today and much better than WCW 2000 (and late 99) because, well, everything is. As soon as Corny and Mantell get fired, the product goes into the toilet again.

Yeah, Russo is more of a broken clock. I give him credit for the Goldust vignettes (which I loved) and that's it. And before anyone says anything, I dare you to watch every WCW Russo TV shows & PPV and every TNA Russo TV shows and PPV.

Defending Vince Russo in 2021. The dumbest dumb fuck ever. So yeah, this thread is also 23 years behind the times.

Angle. He would own AEW. But he's got the NJPW Lifer profile (he's a dojo product) and why not, he's assured to be a huge star for years to come. He's just beginning (although that match was stuff of legend, really). Winner of G1 Climax this year maybe.

Well, I just have to eat my words about night 2 and I'm glad. Shingo vs Cobb was simply awesome and I would probably have it higher than Ibushi Naito from yesterday. Best Cobb match and performance ever. I hope Shingo is not gonna be the next Ishii aka the best worker ever who never gets to the main event level. He was godlike in this. Well, he was his usual self. And then SANADA and EVIL actually have a really, really good match, with ton of cool psychology of them knowing the other like the palm of their hands, the best use of Togo yet (taking about him being countered on his senton, not his goofy-ass bump on the table which would be a laughing stock if a WWE green woman would have done it), a really excellent ending stretch to a perfect finish. As I was watching Hiromu vs Ishimori, I was thinking how Hiromu was having the best performance of the week-end. If only I knew... Yeah, great match, although to me they may have gone 2 or 3 minutes two long, I felt some of the stuff at the end became a bit redondant. Maybe that's me getting tired, I dunno. That part where Ishimori was blasting Hiromu with elbows was insane. However, I did not get tired during the incredibly long yet always compelling Jay White vs Ibushi. First, Jay White... That guy, people, is a pro-wrestling genius. He's just SO GREAT at what he does, and no one does what he does. I never ever get bored during a Jay White long-ass match. And then, fucking Ibushi, whom I'm not the biggest fan of, but still, there's just no way of denying the jaw-dropping back to back performances. This is legendary, really. So, I don't know which match I think was better, this or Okada vs Ospreay, but this demands a bunch of rewatching to truly enjoy everything. But at no point I thought this was going too long or this was getting redondant or not compelling. The post-match really had this very unique, special aura of truth that few moments in pro-wrestling have. Glad SANADA is gonna be the first one challenging, after his impressive outing today. Job well done Gedo. Ya did it again, despite a mostly underwhelming 2020. Here's me getting hyped again. (of course, the wet dream is Ibushi vs Omega next year, but let's not get crazy and enjoy the moment)

So that's where WWE is in the 2020's : a 54 years old guy from WCW, a company that died 20 years ago, is the best thing they can come up with for Mania season. I have no idea how people even rationalize this. Also, no wonder younger guys aren't sure to re-sign. The writing is on the wall.

Wow. So, the answer is Goldberg. Shouldn't surprise anyone, really. There's a sense of irony that the desperate booking of WWE in 2021 is bringing back the only guy WCW managed to get over during the Monday Night Wars. Like, they have reached WCW 99 level of ineptness and they are reaching for the last of the WCW guys.

Actually, #SpeakingOut was kicked off with accusations of rape against David Starr.

No kid watches RAW, people. Only people who actually have watched Tatanka in real time watch RAW nowadays. Well, I did and I don't, but...

Gross has nothing to do with legal or not, it's a private matter. Yes. He says it wasn't. She says it is. That's about it as far as we know. If it was rape, he should be sent to justice and condemned for his crime. If it wasn't, it's nobody's business. Also, there's no way in hell Scurll ends up in AEW with this accusation on his head.

Because evidence are always extremely difficult in rape cases, because most of the time it's just the word of the victim vs the word of the accusee. Which is why most rape case don't go nowhere, which is why most victim don't even bother go to justice (not to mention the victim shaming that goes along). The Speaking Out movement was sad but necessary. Sure, some cases probably were just rumors and evil people trying to manipulate others. But most cases probably were true, because that's the reality of things, sadly. Which is why it was long overdue, and hopefully it doesn't stop there in term of raising awareness of everyone on the topic and will encourage victims to speak up.

Yeah, because people never ever have consensual sex after drinking... I'm not saying anything about the Marty Scurll case because I know exactly nothing apart from what has been said. But I'm sorry, and this is totally off-topic and not meant to get into a debate, but having sex while being drunk doesn't equal rape (and rape doesn't need alcohol, although it can absolutely be a factor in more ways than one). Either that or me and one of my ex have both raped each other repeatedly for years. Really now, let's be serious.

No, he did not. He admitted to consensual sex with a girl whose age was legal in the UK when it happened. She has accused him of rape.

After Ospreay vs Okada, which is an easy MOTD candidate already (yeah, I said it, after 4 days), I had forgotten about the undercard, which was actually quite fine but did not exactly set the world on fire to me. I'd say Hiromu vs Phantasmo was very good and tons of fun, but it's obvious Hiromu was basically preserving himself for tomorrow. Phantasmo is the best heel, he's a riot. The tag team match overachieved thanks to the excellent work of Taichi & ZSJ, but damn those titles for the seventh time around the waste (see what I did here ?) of the GoD shows how much they mean nothing. I sure hope Taichi (BTW, no Miho Abe at the Dome show ? That's bullshit !) and Zach go back to do meaningful stuff in single matches. Great O Khan looked "ok" against Tanahashi, I'm glad the right guy won. Seriously, the gimmick is trash, he looks like a drunken magician during his entrance and that's not scary unless you're the girl he's supposed to cut in half. The worker behind the gimmick is mediocre at best and has zero charisma nor presence. JTTS 4 Life. Hope Tana gets some cool stuff to do in 2021. The 1-2 punch main events were awesome, with Naito vs Ibushi not being quite as awesome as Okada vs Ospreay, but still pretty clear MOTYC level to me. A few little miss here and there but overall Naito looked good. The ending stretch is what took it over the edge of just "excellent" to me. Great post-match with Naito handing over the belts. Odds of White winning tomorrow ? To me : 0. And if by chance he does, that would not only make Ibushi look really bad but also be a complete downer. So, no. They also have no shot of following the two big matches of the day. Two Tokyo Dome shows back to back really is not a great idea, the second night looks way weaker. I'm actively dreading SANADA vs EVIL (so I guess it can only be better than I think it will ?). I guess Hiromu steals the show tomorrow. Cobb & Takagi could be great or not, depending on Cobb's level. I don't even remember what other match we get apart from the useless four-way.

Still one of my all time favorite promo from one of my all time favorite pro-wrestler. Yeah he's the guy who basically carried it back to some sort of relevance (that is, working with ROH and Cody at first), that's his identity (more than the other way around, as the "brand" Nick Aldis probably is of much more value than the NWA). Although you're forgetting that the biggest star in the NWA right now, by sheer virtue of being a semi-regular on AEW TV, is Thunder Rosa.

You realize he represents nothing but himself, right ? The NWA is barely an acronym that was last relevant 35 years ago. The current form of NWA is not even MLW in term of having a roster, the current NWA basically *is* Nick Aldis. I get a kick out of "Nick Aldis represents the NWA with respect and class" used as some kind of argument, because it's basically a catchphrase, like saying Bret is "the best there was, the best there is and the best there ever will be". Oh yeah, sure, he would have learned so much working years in front of a studio of a controlled audience of 200 with all the glorious roster of the NWA, now he's stuck in AEW working on TNT in a roster filled with guys like Jericho, Dustin, Omega, Cody, the Bucks... damn...

I think there's footage of this, announced by Gorilla Mansoon and Raven, no less.

No, but Savage & Flair were way past their prime, Hennig was completely washed up. And he had good matches against all of them. The DDP stuff probably was the best. Malenko & Finlay are overrated (yes, I said it) and not at all on his level on the totem pole, so the matches would not have been competitive anyway. And really now, Bret was also past his prime and most of all not motivated one bit because of the booking. I do love the jaded, snarky style promo Bret was doing at the time though.

No. No one can. Ever. Not in this universe nor in any alternate universe. Talking about shit booking, first feud Daniel Bryan worked as the Babyface World Champ was him running away from Kane who was threatening his wife. So yeah, he wasn't helped at all by the booking, to say the fucking least.

Owen was a JTTS before the Bret angle. After that point, he won King of the Ring, was basically featured in the biggest and most memorable feud of the year 1994, then yeah he did not became a main event guy but he sure was a name that was always featured somewhere. Then as part of the Hart Foundation in 1997 he was put up against Steve Austin, who was basically already the N°1 guy in the company despite not being pushed as such yet. He got screwed by HHH after Montreal but what else is new ? Kofi's status as part of New Day was much much higher than Owen (New Foundation, High Energy anyone ?). Him getting the title at Mania meant what in the long run ? Nothing. He went back to the exact same spot, whereas Owen was basically a non-factor (and would have stayed there) that became a "star" and fixture of the product for years. In the grand scheme of things, Owen's career in WWE is much more memorable than Kofi's, who apart from that great match at Mania (which was Bryan working his magic, let's be real) is basically the guy who does the funky spot at the Royal Rumble (which has been fun at first and then became a bit dumb and redondant).

In term of importance, Bryan vs HHH was a super fun moment (a Mania Moment, there you have it) that capped off WWE finally giving in after months and months of being in denial. It was also the feud that taught them everything they do wrong today as far as booking babyface. Bryan vs Kofi was a fun moment that happened from nowhere and led to nowhere. Kofi got his "Mania Moment" and that's it. He sucked as champion, his status did not move an inch after he lost the belt. Sure, you can blame that on booking, but context plays a role in everything : context also heavily favorized Bryan in so many more ways like it's been said (a shitload of good to great workers to work with, a much more "good match" oriented environement). The change of perspective on guys coming from the indies is much more CM Punk than Bryan. Punk was pushed harder and much more straight-forward than Bryan and to this day, he still has way more aura in term of WWE canon than Bryan, whose comeback they have completely squandered. Meanwhile, Bret vs Owen made Owen. And Bret vs Austin was probably the most important match of the last 30 years until Omega vs Jericho in NJ in term of influence (one made Austin, the other made AEW, to say it short and sweet). Again, context helped Bret in that back then, booking was actually good (at times excellent) and not rotten dumb, but on the other hand, Bret was fighting the fight of good work in a company where the idea of a main event even by 1995 was Diesel vs Sid and yet was booked in kiss-my-feet matches and had to fight evil dentists in the same era.