El-P

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.

Wonderful tribute show. The John Silver part was the hardest to watch to me, poor guy was obviously crying his eyes out on the mat after the pinfall. The video piece at the end was perfect, great choice of music, great montage of John Huber's actual entire career. This is how it should be done.

Hey. I'm in 2021 already. Guess what, it still sucks. Happy new year anyway PWO People !

I think I remember that face... I'd say early 90's.

It's basically me either cheating my way out of not finding the right English words at times or me just being not-finishing-sentences-regular-me. I also use "gnééé" WAY too much when I want to express not getting what's so special about something. Hey, thanks, glad you enjoy it ! Oh yeah, none of those made the list for obvious reasons but she was always tons of fun in those and surely made them way more fun than they should have been on paper. Yeah, Callihan to me has been the MVP of IMPACT in 2018 and 2019 (along with Tessa), always bringing his opponents UP in term of having the audience caring about them. Funny that some people who are not necessarily fans of more go-go-go style fail to see this about him, he's a great character/angle/feud driven worker and always deliver for the big matches (and is never afraid to show ass while playing 200% straight heel). I like the analogy with Bully Ray, indeed. 2020 has been more hit and miss for him, but working with Shamrock and in empty arenas has not done him any favours. I won't spoil things. But if you paid attention to the matches we have mentioned but not talked about yet, well, there is some cage stuff there... Thanks for the feedback!

For some, diving into work is the best way to cope, because it forces your mind out of your grief for a few hours.

I've been away for a few days and I'm coming back to the pro-wrestling world to this godawful and tragic news. This is so absurd and so sad. Brodie in those BTE bits with the Dark Order brought so many laughs out of me in the last few months.

IMPACT wrestler of the year as voted by the fans : Deonna Purrazzo. Super cool (she won best knockouts too of course).

IMPACT guys are gonna show up.

See what you did ?

That's the thing that has been totally ignored by the "poor ol' Roman" crowd. Roman as a top guy has been a complete and utter failure from day 1. He's been shoved down the throats of the audience for years despite the audience not wanting him (and let's not go into the "but the Shield was over"... sure, well, Mox has been a success in AEW, so there), which contributed to the trolling policy of the company, which has tremendously hurt them in the long run and has drove people away. And now that he's having his best run as a character, he's not drawing jackshit either (sure, the context doesn't help, but it helps no one). Whatever one thinks about Roman as a performer, the fact remains that he's been a miserable failure on top and *his years* are those of the WWE totally losing the sense of its own audience.

Yeah, this was the second taping and it was better than the first one ! Some really cool discussion here. That was really fun to do.

BTE Xmas episode was just glorious from the beginning to the end, from the Young Bucks popping for each of Kazarian's line on Dynamites to said Kaz meeting the ghosts of Xmas's past, present and future (of course) to the awesome Dark Order musical (funny as hell that Stu can't sing for shit and then Anna is even worse !). And really, when you think about what the Dark Order gimmick was last year and what it is today, it's amazing what they have done with it. It's literally the unit you'd want to be included in now. Anna Jay pretty much every week having to bite her lips at some point to not burst out laughing makes it even better.

50 years old single guys buying toys. That make sense. WAIT ! That actually does !

Here's Alfonso just setting the record straight about this "much ado about nothing" thingy.

Because one is fun and self-aware of its campiness, the other is shit is self-important. Well, after re-thinking about it, I have better things to do with my day actually... Like, taking a shit and stuff. Reading the thread, this show looks like the absolute pits.

As far as Brucie goes, there's basically two ways. Either he's exactly what he has always been accused of being (before a large crowd began to buy his bullshit when the podcast got hot), a transparent yes-man who gives Vince what he wants. Either he's complete shit as a booker, as this stint demonstrates in spades. Either way, he's been totally exposed.

The morbid fan in me wants to see that Firefly Inferno Match.

Stephanie.

So yeah, Mil Muertes indeed. I wonder how this is gonna fare in MLW context. Mil Muertes with Lucha Underground's production values looked like the greatest killer in pro-wrestling for a few years. A few years older (he's 45), against not exactly the same caliber of workers... hum... not too sure. It is kinda cool to get Mil Muertes & Salina together though (well, in IMPACT it would be killer) and I will check it out when he finally shows up.

Bill Alfonso addressed it a long time ago in a shoot interview. It was all basically a misunderstanding and it was blown way out of proportion by folklore and urban legend. If this happened today, it would be blown out of proportion by Twitter dweebs posting gifs and making up drama for a week and would be forgotten.

I don't get that one. How is "The Collective" significant ?

Mika Akino (then AKINO) in ARSION. Very first match, she already looked like a legit very good worker. The usual suspects : Owen Hart, Kurt Angle. Also obviously, Ronda Rousey. Yes, she worked in a super controlled environment, but you can't hold that against her.