El-P

Ok, there's some misunderstanding here. By "stiff" I don't mean "stiff" the way we refer (or used to refer) as crappy workers. I meant the way he used to do athletic spots. You could absolutely feel it was not natural for him and that he was putting a lot of effort into it. Compare it with Mutoh for instance, who looked like he was literally sliding in the ring (or Windham, or Owen). But that doesn't mean that he wasn't already excellent as a worker and showed potential as a futur star. He never ever looked like Misawa either in the ring, but then again, Misawa is one of the most fluid wrestler ever. But yeah, like @NintendoLogic said, Taue was a former pro-sumo, he had to be a great athlete to get to that level. You simply don't make it otherwise.

Different context though, it's really hard to come off like a big star in IMPACT in 2020, without a crowd. Swann with the IMPACT crowd going batshit insane would maybe change your perception. Tessa sure came off like a total star. I don't know if I would go that far, but I had been clamoring for a Rohit push forever and now that he's getting it he's been awesome at it. He reminds me of Chris Candido in some ways. Tenille has struggled for a long time before she finally hit it with this current character, which is absolutely great. Taya, Tenille, Deonna, Grace, Su Yung, Rosemary, Hogan, IMPACT's women division is just stacked with talent and cool characters.

Except you are not interested in these guys because you know them from... well, WWE, and not "a different promotion entirely". Case in point, you mentioned two specific context which were 205 Live and RAW.;) I wasn't a fan of Myers at first, but as always with IMPACT I just waited for it to developp and I enjoy him ok now. Hey, at least we agree on Eric Young (and Rohit Raju, who's terrific). BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS !!!!! AND THAT'S WHY IT'S COOL !!!! Like it would have been super cool to have, well, not Hogan because blah, but for instance Bret Hart or Randy Savage working with Tony Anthony in SMW in 1994. Would have been fucking awesome too ! Or like, if Flair had actually worked Shane Douglas in ECW in 95 or 96 ! That would have been sooo fun. Of course there's the big fish in small pond effect, because it's the case ! But that doesn't make it less cool. Well, that was the point.

He and Madison have a terrific chemistry. Whole > sum of the part. His team with Callis was also excellent. Put Matt Striker with him... uh... nope. It's only meaningless because you don't follow the product. Nothing to do with WWE style booking. Also, the North and MCMG are stars in the promotion and great fucking workers. Precisely what I said illustred right there : Confirmation bias and WWE reference. "I would not have cared if this match would have happened in WWE so I don't care here." Like, precisely. Swann is a great worker and had some of the best matches in IMPACT (and everywhere) this year and the year prior. Terrific babyface, elevated by Callihan last year, memorable performances before and after his injury. The idea that he's an opening card guy is ludicrous to anyone who's followed him this last two years. For fuck's sake. Indie's rasslin tatooes ? That's how far we've gone now ? I guess you've got guys with great looking mainstream promotion tatooes and guys with geeky indie rasslin' tatooes now. Can't wait for the MOVEZ tatooes argument. BTW, are Eric Young and the Good Brothers tattooes indie geek ugly ones or because they worked in NXT and WWE/NJPW they are considered the right kind of tatooes ? And yeah, this totally sounds like "they aren't WWE looking enough" to me, really, on that matter !

Totally agree. Taue was awkward looking, but so was Kurt Angle, I put them both into the "great awkward looking workers" list. Both were great high level athletes. Glad someone around here gives some sumo love ! When I talked about "limited physical abilities" before, I should have clarified my point, as sumo does not make you an "elegant" pro-wrestler (cf Tenryu), because you're not gonna jump high not do fluid acrobatics and/or matwrestling or great looking running of the ropes. And yeah, Kobashi was stiff as a rod during his formative years. Which is probably why it really did not ampered him that much when he couldn't move anymore because he would always figure ways to work around that anyway.

Don has been Omega's friend for 27 years. Callis sneaked his way on AEW's announcer's desk once for Omega's big match at the PPV and everyone was all respectful and happy, so they invite him again to announce Omega's title shot. Omega told to Mox it was gonna be a clean match. In the end Omega lied and cheated with Callis' help. They fly away without celebrating with the rest of the Elite. They show up with the belt (ahhhh, the old WWF/WCW stuff) on Callis' promotion's TV show, so Omega winning the AEW title profits... to IMPACT. Like... What's not to understand ?

Yep. *cough* Nia Jaxx *cough*

Hum... that was actually the appeal of ECW. The freak show. The mad scientist lab. The outcasts promotion. That is part of the fun of it. Who wants to fit to WWE's mold anyway ? But in all honesty, the top women of IMPACT could show up on AEW tomorrow and they would, well, show up their entire women roster (both as workers and characters). And The North, MCMG, Moose, Swann, Callihan, Mack could all be players, easily. Hell, even Swinger would fit on Dark and BTE.

After the passing of Road Warrior Animal, Dreamer paid hommage by getting the Animal haircut (and make-up). He's now growing his hair back to usual. Glad you watch the show without a bunch of confirmation biases and WWE references in your head while fast-forwarding a bunch (fast-forwarding Taya !!! Crazy you !!!). Anyway, Swann vs Omega is indeed a dream match for any self-respecting pro-wrestling fan ! About Callis, yeah, it's crazy to think this guy was never given a chance in WWE and was bullied around by that idiot JBL. In 2020, he looks like the smartest man in all pro-wrestling. I WAS FUCKING RIGHT ABOUT HIM BACK IN 97 !!!!! Honestly, I did not expect anyone unfamiliar with IMPACT becoming a fan overnight, especially during this time of empty arena stuff, but I hope it helps their brand-awareness level to some degree. At worst it gives us ME a bunch of stuff I could only dream about, so I'm all in (pun intended). There is a clear sense of irony that AEW would end up working with IMPACT and not ROH. Looking back like 3/4 years ago during the GFW debacle, who would have thought IMPACT would get in bed with the hot new thing (or even exist) in 2020 ? Life is sure full of surprises, and good ones sometime.

I know. But if you give me an opportunity to shit on Randy "Black Hole" Orton, I will take it.

None No No No

I would put him higher than all of them. Maybe not Hase... not sure though. Probably higher than Hase too actually, if I think about it for more than ten seconds.

To me that is where the vast overstatement about Taue begins. I can think of maybe two or three great singles match Taue had in NOAH period, one of which against Kobashi when he was the Ace of the World while being actually way more physically broken down than Taue. Taue had his way of working around his own limited physical abilities, but to say he was smarter than Misawa, Kawada and late Kobashi (who was fucking brillant), no way in hell. If he's not thrown in with these three again and again and again, he's not having even close to the same career. He was the smartest Taue ever, for sure, and one of the best awkward looking workers ever.

So, on BTE this week, Evil Uno is playing a game of Uno while wearing a cool-ass Jushin Liger Motörhead-style T-shirt. What's not to love. Anna Jay trying her best not to laugh during the Dark Order bits is always adorable to witness.

"Roux" means "redhead" in French. It's the masculine form of the word too (Becky is "rousse"). And no, you don't pronounce the X at the end. It also pronounces exactly like the word that means "wheel" (roue). Basically, "ru" in English, like Ruth, but without the th... So there. I guess in the US it's exotic or something (that girl is gonna hear the question "How do you write it ?" a billion times). In France it would sound pretty stupid/odd, like someone called "Blonde" or something. Back in WCW, Lash LeRoux = Lash TheRedhead.

You are. There was absolutely nothing dismissive about Becky, he only has Rousey higher because of her unique status (no Rousey, no women main-eventing Mania, that's a fact not even Becky can change), but he put Becky over super strong as a surefire HoF in the future because of her being the key person in the promotion last year and getting over at the level no one was then. I have no idea where this "Meltz is disrespectful to Becky" stuff comes from. It's juts not the case.

Nothing can possibly be as terrible as the 98 edition. Three teams. Stevie Ray. Warrior bullshit. Can't possibly be worse than this.

It was one of those "Mark Henry is a better worker than Shawn Micheals" hot takes... I mean, I love Taue, but for fuck's sake. The funny thing is that Taue really was never downplayed at all, honestly.

You have no idea how much that actually defines my whole life. Thanks for listening, glad you enjoyed it. The best episodes are yet to come. I think.

Tony Schiavone has said that he hated the submission or surrender rule, because it always came off anti-climatic and visually lame, and this is something I was so glad to hear because it was always by N°1 criticism with the concept. The yearly gimmick PPV has always been a totally dumbfuck idea. I guess since they were doing the Royal Rumble (which is a totally different beast) and to a lesser extent Survivor Series, WWE figured it would work the same way for big dangerous gimmick matches, expect it doesn't for a number of reasons. It has only got worse now that the women have to do the exact same thing as the men, always, because #womenrevolutionthankyouStephanieinnovatoroffeminism, as it waters down the gimmicks even more.

Thanks a lot for asking me to do this with you Martin ! It was indeed tons of fun ! (I do have as bad of a French accent as Miss Kittin though)

"People’s thoughts and misperceptions, their perceived knowledge of what we do and how we think is often greatly misinterpreted and not accurate." Holy shit !

So... AEW and IMPACT are gonna have a relationship... IMPACT contracted guys TJP & Chris Bey in the Super J Cup, promoted on IMPACT TV... Mention of NJ guys like Suzuki on AEW TV... Don Callis, former NJPW announcer and IMPACT executive, basically "managing" his old friend Kenny Omega, AEW champ... Ok, don't get me salivating like that, it's still COVID era and such. Still. Soooo much potential for cool stuff opening up.

Answer to this topic in 2020 again : Yes. And Don Callis is the smartest man in pro-wrestling. I wonder what Jeff Jarrett (and Dixie Carter) think of this little twist that happened today. Anywoo, IMPACT rules people, and I will do without condescending LOLTNA comment on MY FUCKING FANBOY THREAD ! Sorry. You're all welcome. Late to the party, but welcome

I haven't read the thread yet (because I expect the bitching about IMPACT this, Sting that, whatever (EDIT : I was right )). Just want to say this : I was a huge Nitro era fan. I was a Don Callis fan dating back from 1997. Kenny Omega is one of my favourite pro-wrestler ever and gave me the three best matches I've ever seen in 30 years of watching pro-wrestling. I've been a big fan of IMPACT Wrestling since Slammiversary 2018 and it was basically my own little promotion before AEW appeared. This December is basically marking (in a few days) my 30 year anniversary of being a fan of pro-wrestling. So, basically, it's almost like it all came full circle and I just recieved a big-ass gift to celebrate. Almost to the point that I could say, you know what, my pro-wrestling fandom life is now complete. Whatever I get after that point is just bonus. Yeah, AEW made me a very, very, very happy pro-wrestling fan today. Of course, you could also put it like this : Triple H at Mania 31 : Sting, the war is now over Sting in 2020 : hold my beer Mark out city.