El-P

I do not romanticize anything. I loved her character work and I enjoyed the matches, which were nothing special but quite good enough for me to enjoy.

Well, thanks to Youtube I have actually watched that segment, I mean, you people made it sound like it was so wacky I could actually enjoy it. Holy fuck. This is wretched. Everything about it. I loved Alexa Bliss years ago when she was rolling over everyone. What have they turned her into ? Seriously, Bray Wyatt's ideas are like the worst shit ever. He's Russo with ambition in term of having "ideas". EDIT : and I had not seen the match where Alexa is basically inhabited by Wyatt ! This is all-time WCW level "This is not hot" garbage.

No wonder he looks as good as he does in the ring.

At first I remember it was a good two months behind. It might have gotten a bit better after a while. Usually the Royal Rumble was around the Winter vacations (which was great) which basically happen the soonest in mid-February. In the mid 90's maybe it was only a month or so behind, Mania was usually in early May or something.

Canal + was not a free channel though, so although we did not have to pay for the PPV's itself it was still not free of charge either. We did not get the IYH PPV's either, and I think when they switched to WCW they only showed 5 or 6 a year too (might be wrong on that). We did get some Saturday Night's Main Event I remember. Also, I started to watch around the fall of 1990 and the first PPV that was showed was Survivor Series 91 (which I missed because we were on the road to my grandparents place and I only saw the last match !). Maybe some had been showed before, not sure about that. First PPV I saw was Royal Rumble 92 (lucky me !).

Hum... now that you mention it, maybe I'm just mixing things up as I do remember watching some WCW in German on DSF indeed, including I do believe some German house show (I think ? Or was it a WWF show ?). I remember watching ECW on an English speaking channel called Bravo. Not sure if I ever did in German now that I think of it. I think I watched WCW Souled Out 97 in German !

Even back in the DX days, HHH always struck me as the kind of guy who thinks he's funnier than he actually is. Which is always the worst kind and often gets cringe because of it. (there's something pretty similar to be said about his actual wrestling and promo abilities too of course, it's one and the same in term of overrating yourself)

The reptilians ? Fuck, they should do a Reptilians tag team in NXT. As far as running a Stadium show in the spring of this year... yeah, seems like a stretch. WrestleKingdom had about 13.000 people I believe, but it's Tokyo (just before the situation worsened). This sounds like ClusterMania to me...

Well, that ship has sailed. Crowds will come back whenever, Kross is a body guy but he's not that big and the day he steps in the main roster you know what is gonna happen after a while : spitsville because that's what they do whenever an act can get hot, and especially if they are a real life couple. Remember that Aleister Black guy with that great entrance ? Whatever happened to him ? Memorable is maybe a strong word, but it was a fun stint. The Fallah Bah angle was quite cool and she did get to shine in intergender matches (which WWE won't do). She was tons of fun in backstage vignettes. Since I don't follow social media really I wasn't aware of that aspect of Page's game. So... Was fun while it lasted. Meanwhile, Alexander lost in the pre-show...

There used to be some old video of Hauray as a heel being ridiculous during the shows introduction, but apparently this was taken down. Someone uploaded him and Carpentier in 1991 (in front of a green screen, there were not at the Trocadero !) a few months/weeks before the heel turn, so he was straight as an arrow there. Like the guy says in the description, they really were like two lovable older uncles, very "vieille France" by the standards of time, Carpentier often talking about French wrestlers from the 50's and 60's (basically some you can read about in @ohtani's jacket thread). Carpentier was also bullshitting a lot like any old carny would. I probably still use some "Hauray-ism" in my everyday life without thinking about it (fuck, I know I learned the word "intrinsèque", which is fairly high level vocabulary, listening to Hauray during a Haku squash !!!)

Ethan Page is very talented and I have enjoyed him a lot in IMPACT I found the Karate Man vs Ethan Page "match" was a very funny little absurd segment like I said. So, there... It's not the first time IMPACT gets criticized by someone on their way out though. Did not always turn out for the best either creatively, remember that girl Scarlett Bordeaux who in her short time in IMPACT did so many memorable and fun stuff ? She's been in NXT probably longer now and has been doing exactly nothing apart from being an animatronic for her guy's intro. I don't know about Ethan Page's reputation, but the guy was in his way out, the Karate Man on TV was actually cute I found. I guess the "Ethan Page was not hard to kill" bit was a bitter pill to swallow, which I can understand.

That's kinda crazy when you think they kept the French market during the 90's when business was down. They lost Canal + when Bischoff got it for Nitro in late 96, wo then we got WCW with... gasp... Blondin & Letourneur which from memory were godawful. But by 97 I had switched to satellites and English channel so I got both WWF and WCW in English (which basically helped me a whole lot with my English as I spent countless hours listening) and ECW (at first in German !). I know that in the early 00's Rougeau was announcing the PPV's with another guy whose name I don't remember. Too bad. They are clearly very differents from the guys from the previous generation, Chereau being a legit sport broadcaster (he was still doing other sports while doing WWE) and Agius basically a superfan, but damn they got *great* judging from the PPV's I was watching in the mid 10's (just for the live threads here, really). For the generation raised on John Cena, they are the voice of pro-wrestling in France. WWE really fucked its audience when they stopped doing the PPV on TV two years ago. Agius constantly refers to Carpentier & Hauray's catchphrases and idiosyncrasies.

Hauray and Carpentier were French (well, Carpentier was born in Poland I believe) but they lived in Montreal, so as long as they were in charge, I don't think there were much differences (apart from promos for house shows in Quebec). I'm not too sure how it worked in the 00's and on, as French announcers Agius/Chereau work for a French TV channel and I think Rougeau/Brassard (whom we got in France after Hauray left) got put back on for the Quebec version in the 2010's. I have no idea if Agius and Chereau were the announcers for Quebec TV during the 00's and 10's. But yeah, we all speak French but there are big time differences. The other day I was watching a Quebec movie (from Monia Chokri) and some parts were subtitled, and thank god because when quebecers speak slang, I get about half the words at best.

I want to say he turned heel in like the Fall of 91... I think. He was so damn funny in this role, and Carpentier acted so annoyed. "Tu rêves en couleur Carpentier !" No shit. I never could stand Brassard, really. Hauray leaving in 94 almost made me quit watching, it was really hard at first to get used to Brassard's annoyance. I can't believe they got Rougeau & Brassard back in the 2010's ! (well, it's absolutely fitting with their demos and obsession with the past though). Also, Christophe Agius must be quite sad, because he's absolutely the spiritual son of Guy Hauray as a heel announcer.

I got aware of this stuff years ago when someone (but maybe it was even on the old Smarkchoice board, to say how long it is) mentioned meeting Carpentier and how he told him that Hauray had turned into a sort of "guru". So I checked back then and found the infamous "neuro-coaching" site, which really reeks of stuff like Neuro-linguistic Programming, which is basically complete bullshit. Doesn't surprise me that much, really, Hauray always had that super convincing tone and deep, charming voice when he wanted too, he probably was one hell of a salesman and public speaker as showed by his talent on selling me fucking Boris Zhukov vs Nikolai Volkoff as some kind of super hot feud when I was 14 ! Anyway, he was truly one of the greats, for sure.

That part that is all over his Wiki, I always kinda suspected bullshit. I mean, the "neuro-coaching" stuff is totally in the realm of fake science that is all over "coaching methods" and whatnot. Wasn't there an instance of Carpentier saying Hauray turned into some sort of "guru" (as in coaching guru rather than cult guru, but still bullshit though) after their relationship fell apart (for a reason that never was clear to me) ? I kinda remember that from some board a long time ago.

Wow. Just learned listening to Meltzer that Guy Hauray died at 77. For us French fans from the 80's and (as far as I go) 90's, he was basically the equivalent of Gorilla Mansoon/Jesse Ventura (the later when he turned heel in the later years). Great talker with a smooth as silk elocution (and great vocabulary too). My favourite memories came with his heel turn, he was just godlike at it, Ventura/Heenan level of greatness to me. To this day with my father we still refer to the routine he did during Royal Rumble 93 when he asked about a hundred times about Bob Backlund "What's his name already ? How old is he ? I can't see him...", to the exasperation of Ray Rougeau (and of course he only managed to identify Backlund at the very end when he was getting squashed by Yoko and got into a maniacal laugh while Rougeau was totally appalled, just classic stuff). Although I also was a fan of Carpentier, it was Hauray who was really was the glue to me and it was never the same when he left after WM X. Hauray pretty much turned me into a pro-wrestling fan, as the announcing was what made you a fan then (come on, squash matches with the Bushwhackers and Brutus Beefcakes, you know the announcing was 90% of the job).

I expected the main event to be quite good, but certainly not that great, but who am I to doubt Kenny Omega ? Everyone looked terrific in this, Moose clearly took the ball and ran with it. Omega pinning Swann is so interesting because now this probably insures a title match between the two with Omega maybe capturing yet another belt. Plus I guess Moose, whose basically built up to be the next champ, can now go all out on Swann too for losing the match. With that said, fun conspiracy theory : Hint 1 : Don Callis introduced Kenny Omega as "The God of Pro-wrestling". We know who declared himself the God of Pro-wrestling two weeks ago, right ? Hint 2 : Omega & the Good Brothers all wore Bullet Club garments to the ring, hell, Doc Gallows wore straight Bullet Club tights. Hint 3 : the announcers did mention the relationship between Omega & Ibushi at one point So yeah, it will probably not happen or not that way anyway, but next year, WrestleKingdom, Omega as AEW, AAA & IMPACT champ vs Ibushi as IWGP & Intercontinental champ. DO IT !!!! Eddie Edwards vs Sami Callihan was one hell of a bloodletting in old Onita fashion, with lots of teasing/selling and a fair dose of brutality too (although it probably looked worse than it was). Taya vs Purrazzo was really, really good and now Purrazzo needs another opponent since this was a straight loss for Taya (who I guess could be on her way out, which would be sad but she's been in IMPACT for years and referred to going to Slamtown after her win...). Deonna is having one hell of a stint. Ethan Page vs Karate Man was a fun as hell FMV video game sequence, basically. Ethan Page got his heart ripped out in a fatality. A bunch of fun stuff on the undercard too, Hogan & Steelz won the tag team titles in a decent match (Steelz & Nevaeh aren't that good, the match was straight carried by Hogan & Havok), they got the new belts from Gail Kim & Madison Rayne, which was pretty cool. Matt Cardona fits much better here than in AEW if he wants to try something new, but from what I see he's there to do the J.O.B to Ace Austin, who's a future star. Going back to Madison Rayne, yeah, she basically announced her retirement and going home to be a mom. Good for her to get out of her terms. I'll certainly miss her a lot though, she was so much fun in any role she was doing. They really should induct her into their HOF eventually, she's the most valuable woman worker they had this side of Gail Kim and has been a staple of the company. Interestingly enough, IMPACT is running a PPV in April, so they are adding another one to the schedule, so it shows they are certainly serious on not dying...

So, Alex Shelley can't make the PPV for undisclosed reason (of course everyone is going COVID! COVID! because that's how it goes) and he's replaced in the main event by... Moose, who's basically on his way to challenge Swann as the N°1 heel built these last few months (and they did a great job at it). That's intriguing to say the least. Totally changes the dynamics of the match, I'm curious to see how they work it out at the PPV because obviously Willy Mack would have made much more sense, but IMPACT doesn't do random stuff. BTW, Callihan vs Edwards could be the show stealer in an old-fashioned barbwire blood-bath.

And now time for the unavoidable "Jay White at the Royal Rumble" rumours...

She probably hasn't done as much coke though. Can you picture the WWE run by an 90 year old Vince ? Holy shit, the disaster !

Come on, Raven vs Tommy Dreamer was the main feud of the promotion for like one year and a half at its creative peak.

Sure, but that's another time another place. And honestly that wasn't really enforced past the generation of the 70's, the big stars of the 90's who came up the previous decade kept on working (well, Zenjo was almost killed in 97) and even Chiggy and Jaguar came back eventually. Still, the fact remains the biggest and mosts serious female promotion ever did not need a woman as a booker to draw, and draw the biggest female crowds ever (until they switched to mostly male crowds in the 90's). It's not a matter of gender when you're talking about booking. It's about being a booker with the right ideas for the times and the talent you have. Agree, but the bolded part is true of all talent though. That's getting rid or the idiotic 40 writers, and yes in this specific case it's also allowing female workers to not do stupid shit no female would do or say and also prevent the truly embarrassing stuff Russo booked in WWF and TNA (the era of every female promo being "slut, skank, bitch", basically). As far as appealing to a wider audience, again I don't see why it's related. Even the female performers themselves don't aways appeal to females, and why should they ? In Japan Chiggy did, because the product was geared toward young girls while Aja & Toyota (and their generation), much less so because they were all about out-working the guys in AJ & NJ at the time and that was for the hardcores. Anyway, I'm rambling. There's no way to know what former female wrestler would be good in the role, really, because unless you do it... Gail Kim I believe does agenting in IMPACT. Considering the work they have done, maybe she would be good in that role, but who knows. Yeah, same here. I can see Shane as an agent though. Raven probably would still be good in creative in some sort though. But booking ? Nope.

AJPW was booked by men. Having a woman booker for the sake of it (and only booking the women side of it) because #feminism is window dressing. If you're a great mind, either man or woman, just have the book and book the promotion, gender has nothing to do with it. With that said, Missy Hyatt sure could probably have been part of any booking team at one point.

Quite the main event indeed. I did not remember about the crucifix deal although the move attempt looked familiar. Best Brian Cage match since the last Sami Callihan match in IMPACT, in a totally reversed role (he was a fiery babyface there). Darby is kinda the best mix of Mick Foley, Raven and.... even Jeff Hardy (yeah, that's me saying this) ever. Loving every minute of the Bullet Club/Elite drama. As soon as Callis got the mic, I saw the thing coming. Brillantly done. I love the reaction by Matt backstage, going "ok, whatever, you got us this time, that's cute". Of course The Bucks aren't gonna "turn" on Omega just because of this. And they did not "join" anything last week either, it's the Bullet Club, it's years and years of history and relationship, plus the stuff on BTE last week hinted at the direction they are going into (Bucks unsure about the Good Brothers real intentions). This is layered booking with people acting like human beings not simplistic heel/face turns and that's exactly what you're gonna get from the Elite everytime. And this is what I wanted from AEW, as opposed to... ...Jade Cargill. Ok, I get it, the whole "amazon look" thingy + mainstream star program. That being said, that ship has sailed as far as I'm concerned, in today's landscape (especially in a promotion like AEW) if you can't work, you won't get over. Has Cargill even had one match yet ? She's a total rookie, and usually people with her kind of body aren't the best suited for being good workers (yeah, I know, Brian Cage is right there but he's an oddity). She obviously can't talk worth a shit as it's been shown, so at this point she's basically a bodybuilder/fitness model body. In 2021 ? Hey, maybe she'll learn and be a good worker, but she has no business being on TV *now*, much less in a major angle. Serena Deeb owns this women division, just give her the belt that matters. Really good match with Tay Conti, who's still learning but looks like money already. Her and Anna Jay are definitely the young girls to watch, they both got huge potentials. It's kinda cool and expected that the Dark Order is de facto becoming some sort of "babyface" group, or at least the group we saw on BTE. Tully posting Marco was such a dick move. Come on Tully ! The whole Inner Circle segment was gold. "Come on you're booing food ?", "Sammy Hager ! Sammy Hager ?! Ok nevermind...", and at the end Hager almost burst out laughing when MJF did the "Championship !" bit.