El-P

There you go : AEW doing a show at Arena Mexico on June 18. That is pretty fucking awesome. Can't wait for the eventual AEW show in Japan too. It has to happen.

Holy shit ! That's the end of an era for sure. He had been my gateway to modern NJPW. It's insane to think he's gone*before* Tanahashi's retirement. And yeah, I don't see WWE or AEW showing any interest. The guy is *shot*. He's actually a lot more shot than Tana, who has showed he could still have some terrific matches on his way out. Naito being Mutoh leveled shot could end up in NOAH of course, but still. Bushi is the most never happening guy in NJPW this side of Yukihiro Takahashi. Well, he was better (yeah, hard task), but still I think I have never ever seen anything that I can actually remember from him. Apart from a bunch of cool masks. Maybe he was a cool junior worker years ago. I dunno. Anyway, maybe a blessing in disguise for Gedo, as now he just has to push the fuck out of the younger generation. He has no choice.

Balor from ten years ago, sure. Balor after spending a decade in the machine, not so much, considering how well that stuff usually turns out. I would have loved the MCMG in AEW for sure. Perfect fit. (btw, remember when the Grizzled Young Vets showed at at Wembley last year ? No idea what the hell happened with them. They are not even featured on ROH) Nattie ? Please don't. Well. I would, for sure. 😎

The more time passes, the more they are getting at ease with the fact they are full-on MAGA. Wait, am I talking about WWE or their audience ? But this is it. TKO is 100% a MAGA company, obviously WWE also is. There's no more attention to garner at this point. People are either in denial or they are ok with it. It makes wrestling as a whole incredibly dirty, because everyone is tainted. Guys like CM Punk and Chelsea Green can post stuff about trans-rights all they want, they are taking a fat check from a company that is tied with a fascist government that wants to eradicate trans people (and are actually putting every effort in doing so). So there. MAGAMania is running wild indeed. The irony of the "Vince is gone now, the bad guy is gone, everything is fine now" discourse is that TKO is infinitely more evil as a company than McMahon-run WWE ever was.

The bloated roster is for monopoly purpose, really. Likewise the TNA "relationship" and WWEID. Yeah, that FTR segment was awesome. Dax Harwood is not only a great in-ring worker, he's one hell of a promo. Nigel being protective of Tony despite being a heel is the kind of stuff that really makes this kind of segment better. Very WCW in a good way. Since Hurt Syndicate are basically babyface, you know what needs to be done, right ? FTR gets the tag titles back and have a great heel run with them. Fucking give Blake Christian a push. Any kind of push. See also : Brody King. I love Athena & Billie on AEW TV. It was about damn time. So, Wednesday has Takeshita vs Ospreay and Mercedes vs Athena ? Plus the wildcard which is hopefully Josh Alexander. WrestleMania what ?

Two other guys I absolutely expect to jump (which may explain why they aren't around at all and haven't been for a while) are the Gunns. I mean, they literally dress like Shawn Michaels circa 93 ans Austin does the Road Dog shitty dance routine spot. If I'm Coach TK, I have to devise very precisely how I sign people and who I build considering what time I got on their contract.

I think Swerve is signed until 2027 or something. But yeah. Of course, if you're a talent, there's no way you sign for 5 years. That's not your interest. Also, Harley Cameron is probably next as she wanted to go to WWE initially I believe. Some of the long term booking decisions sure get a bit more trickier. On the other hand, WWE's roster is becoming ridiculously bloated, not to mention them trying to dry up the indies with their WWEID shit. There's just so many spot on the main roster, and that's where you make your money. It will end up fueling frustrations at one point.

*facepalm* Yeah, it's appalling. Both were responsible though. Foley just had to never get up. But Dwayne was fucking awful. The fact Noelle Foley talks about how she has no recollection of seeing her dad wrestler is telling of some traumas.

Mariah May already leaving for WWE, seemingly, is disappointing. She sure was gonna end up there anyway, but I was hoping to have one year or two more of her in AEW. Oh well.

On a much lighter note, the Mania week craze of indie shows really has lost its luster with me. The fact so many of the hot indie guys of the last ten years have been signed by the big companies and the whole Forbidden Door stuff made japanese wrestlers and luchadors popping up much more of a normal thing sure doesn't help. Plus now half of the people on the Bloodsport card are WWE guys, GCW is hosting a WWEID tournament (they really have tanked whatever was left of their rep as a "rebel" promotion), TNA is chockfull of TNA talent too, so the "counter-programing" feel is not what is was anymore. No traditional ROH show (which honestly is a good move, really). The Mark Hitchcock & Joey Janela shows will probably be quite fun (the Sabu retirement match should be cool, although probably a complete trainwreck which would be fitting), and I'm sure there are other fun stuff around (although the Stardom cards are really disappointing), but yeah, it's nowhere near what it was a few years back.

Well.... 😂

Well, after Shibata they still do legit headbutt spots in Japan. Which in itself is completely dumb because it's not even a spectacular spot. But keeping doing it *now* is beyond ridiculous.

Gotta love WWE wanting the Miz to defeat Joe Hendry as part of a program that in the end was denied by the TNA office. That says everything about how WWE considers their partnership.

So NJ gave Jeff Cobb the tag titles in hopes he would stay. And he doesn't. Therefore, yet another guy who just vacates his title before going to WWE (that'll be the 4th one in a one year span basically). With the rumors of him leaving out there, why the hell would Gedo do this anyway while Cobb was not under contract anymore ?

The fact it was Benoit of all people, who had been pictured as "one of the actual good guys" for a long time (despite hints), especially after the death of Eddie, made it a very particular context which absolutely played into the perception of the whole thing. Not to mention if was before#Metoo and there was no discours aboute feminicide then. Same thing here. Dark Side really did a good job paying hommage to her and putting her front and center in the story. The irony being that TKO is probably going to control boxing too in a not so long distance. So yeah, all of those under the same MAGA/Saudi loving umbrella. Not a pleasing thought at all.

It's actually the same systemic issue. It happens a whole lot more than society wants to admit.

The thing is, and you answered the question yourself, it did not need to help him. There was indeed case of domestic violence before the murders. And he was also very much into the locker room bullying scene alongside tasteful people like JBL and Bob Holly. To me whatever his health issues were are totally irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

The Omega & Bucks promo spot was absolutely fine. Not only Mike Bailey is a great wrestler, but he's a super interesting person as well (which you know if you've ever heard him on Twitch).

Except it didn't. It's something that has been ignored over the years, and the discourse back then had no shot even alluding to it, but the reality is that women get murdered by them companion/husband *all the time*. It's a daily occurence, it's not an exception at all. Pro-wrestling fans still don't wanna see this and it's more "comfortable" to talk about Benoit either being a "monster" (hence something that has nothing to do with us normal people) or someone who did what he did because he had lot of concussions and a fried brain, but again, men kill their wife *all the time*. It's one every three days in France. It's called patriarchy. The Benoit stuff was shocking to the pro-wrestling community because Benoit was the greatest wrestler ever this side of Eddie and there was a huge emotional connection that had been built over the years, but it's ignoring no fan knew who Chris Benoit was. Did he had factors that played in like depression and concussions ? Sure. But not every concussed guy nor every depressed guy kills his wife and kid. It was and still is an easy cop out to ignore the ugly, much more banal and systemic truth. The "spectacular" and unique aspect of the crime really distracted from the fact that what Chris Benoit did, *lots* of men do. Nancy wanted to leave. Men would rather kill women rather then let them go. Again, one every three days on average in France, that's the official stat and I doubt it's different (and certainly not better) in the US.

Looking strictly from the outside, reading news and reports and whatnot, apart from a few clips here and there (like Cena's turn and the Charlotte/Tiffany trainwreck), it absolutely feels that way. The reality is that Levesque is still coasting on whatever Vince/Nick Khan had started (Bloodline/Cody + TKO/Netflix/Saudi on the business side) and got handed CM Punk over. He's playing the easiest easy mode ever in term of booker and whenever they aren't that hot anymore (because that's how wrestling has always worked), then it'll get interesting... This. I wouldn't watch it anyway, but I honestly look at the card on paper, and there's absolutely zero match that would make me apart from Charlotte vs Tiffany for very wrong reasons (and I guess Jade vs Naomi to see how much Jade has improved with proper training, ya know...). Also, the Cena heel turn has not bumped Netflix numbers in such a significant way. WWE probably has hit a plateau, which makes sense. They have been hotter than ever in term of selling out big-ass shows (and financially obviously, but for other well known reasons) for a while now. But at one point, you just reach your own limit.

The Vader episode was really good. Really learned nothing much out of it though, but there you go. The story of a guy who got caught up in his own character. Interesting to hear Joe Thurman tell his version of the story.

It was him. It was him all along...

So, they actually had that racist "comedian" doing guest announcing. It's amazing how the MAGA-ization of WWE is already totally normalized.

The Young Bucks still triggering people in 2025 is a beautiful thing. I would have ended Mox there, but the whole Hangman Page and Young Bucks thrown into the mix I gladly take now that it's obvious Mox is losing at All In (especially looking back at the few interactions the Deathriders and the Elite had months ago. "You're a sweet kid" line to Jack Perry and all...). Some chaotic multi-men fuckery at Double or Nothing ? Hangman vs Swerve for the last time at All In ? Omega vs Ricochet vs Speedball was ridiculously awesome. Part of the fun was watching an audience who were not all familiar with Bailey react to what he was doing (and seeing it coming). Omega vs Okada is obvious now. Speedball vs Ricochet at Double or Nothing ? Mercedes did an excellent job with Julia (the way she saved that fuck-up shows how great her instincts are). Timeless Toni did an excellent job with Bayne (she also told a dirty story at the press conference about a Man From Nantucket. Toni Storm being the crassiest promo ever is hilarious) Fletcher vs Briscoe was awesome. Ospreay vs Knight did a great job showcasing Knight considering he was just a placeholder for an injured Jay White (and he's spending the next few weeks in the NJPW Super Junior tournament alongside Nick Wayne). Deathriders vs FTR & Cope was terrific (sneaky little shit Yuta rules). Excellent angle at the end. I'm guessing FTR vs Cope & Christian. And then, maybe we can have FTR in the tag title picture ? Pretty please. Cole vs Danny was very good (although I enjoyed their last TV match more I think), nice to see Garcia getting more like old Red Death in term of style. Let's see what Cole can do with it now. Hopefully Garcia is not forgotten. Jericho's mind is still there, but his body shows his age (he can still do a few impressive shit like that reverse rana), it has really shown this last year or so. It has to be near the end of the road. Bandido sure has the potential to be something, but the ROH title means nothing right now unless your name is Athena. Have him work with guys who actually can go against him, there are plenty on the roster. Anthony Bowens did the perfect comeback. Hopefully he's getting a good push. Hurt Syndicate are still the piss-break match. Lashley is legit stealing money at this point. End this shit yesterday the tag titles have been dead for too long now. (and really, I take what I said before back, I would only have signed Benjamin out of the two, he at least puts in some effort) Show was long and yet the crowd was into it at the end. Therefore show wasn't too long. Now I can have the build to the two big shows, leading into G1 Climax season. Bring out Josh Alexander. Bring back Jack Perry. There.

Parts of me wants Britt Baker to show up in WWE just to have a promo battle with Charlotte...