El-P

Wow ! I would never have guessed ! That's crazy, I thought he was like 30 or something. He sure doesn't look nor work like his age (or maybe at times he kinda does which now explains something to me, as I said he does not come off as anything special to me and his matches are often pretty disappointing honestly compared to the hype) *sigh* Oh yeah. Salina is wasted in MLW to me and I miss Dario. Hell, Whatever happened to Catrina ? I knew Drago was already 40 in LU, so no surprise here. But Fatu ? I'm pretty stunned.

And so I watched the Taker farewell, because after all I used to be a huge fan and I basically became a fan not that long before he showed up (we got stuff way behind the times back then in France, so I basically began taping pro-wrestling 30 years ago, sometime before the Christmas Holidays of 1990, and we got the TV shows from around SummerSlam then !). Well... The waxwork and stop motion lines are spot on, I thought exactly the same thing. He looked *fake*. And people wonder why anyone under 50 ain't watching ? This is the guy putting the shows together people... Holy fuck, the Godwinns look like a bunch of grandpas. Savio Vega is not a surprise, since I've watched him last year on MLW but still, around those guys he looks like basically he got a wee bit heavier and that's it, the guy looks pretty much the same (and it's not like he's hiding behind his glasses, he does look the same). Nash & Foley look happy as hell, I wonder why... Kane looks like an idiot. So, no Steve Austin and no Bret Hart (which is ironic, because really now, JBL and Booker T mean jackshit in comparison). I felt Stephy should have showed up too, her angle with Taker was the very first time thing you remember about her. Well this was the coldest, most devoid of any human emotion send-off ever. Of course you can say it's not their fault because of COVID and shit, but actually, they could have done a cool send-off with actual human warmth with, let's say, ALL THOSE FUCKING OLD GUYS PAKCED IN THE RING DURING COVID PANDEMIC !!!! The whole "keep the gimmick, alive" was done after the absolutely perfect send-off at the conclusion of the AJ match at Mania. Having Taker talk in gimmick and doing fake reactions to fake chants was pretty sad. I did pop for the Paul Bearer hologram though, that was a nice touch. Hey, like I said, I was a HUGE fan of Taker until about 99 (that damn year). But I felt exactly nada. I was like "okay, can't wait for the notification for the next BTE" while watching this. I'm not a nostalgic guy anyway, I don't enjoy nostalgia, but still this was Taker's send-off after all, but nope, there was nothing there but a cool video package and a Paul Bearer hologram. Kinda crazy when you think of it that Taker & Liger retired the same year. One was definitely not like the other though...

Thinking of Sami Callihan as solely a guy who can do garbage match is not knowing Sami's work well. Yeah, for sure, he's excellent at it, but that's not why he should be signed. He's a great heel, he's unique, he can work any kind of style (from serious hate feud to lighter comedic stuff) and his track record to me is impeccable in term of making you care and elevating anyone he's been involved with in in the past 3/4 years I've followed him in LU/MLW/IMPACT. The only guy who made me care about a Jimmy Havoc match, elevated Rich Swann, made me care the most I ever did about Brian Cage, who doesn't have a whole lot of personality as a character (Melissa Santos helped a lot too), had the best feud with Tessa Blanchard (and worked wonderfully with her in a way that it neve looked contrived) , of course Tessa rules but still) etc... His stuff with Shamrock has been the best you could hope for a Shamrock feud in 2020. Callihan is a terrific worker (great brawler, great bumper and feeder, shows ass like no one else business, can go with pretty much anyone in term of modern pace and intensity) and a terrific angle worker. Easily one of my top guy to watch in the last few years.

Come on, the announcer just said it was a "dual brand" Battle Royal. BRAND MATTER DAMNIT ! IT'S REAL TO THEM.... in November of each year. Miz kicks still look like shit.

I just bat an eye on Youtube. Holy shit. And people were making fun of AEW pre-shows. Is that Nakamura somewhere in that JTTS Battle Royal ? Wow. Hard to imagine this guy used to be a huge star. He went from main-eventing the Tokyo Dome to being Funaki. And as a LU and IMPACT fan, John Morrison is sooooo sad to watch here. DItto RIcochet... From "Can't miss prospect" to "some guy".

Oh yeah, sure, he felt bad about himself and not giving Roman the match he deserved, that's why he came back to have some even way worst matches (the Roman match was actually decent thanks to Roman) in Saudi Arabia against washed-up guys from his generation, not a matter of fat-ass paychecks from humanitarian MBS at all.

Totally different beast, lucha legend and crazy good worker still for his age. But hard to do business with. Still would be the coolest thing though, especially with Schiavone announcing.

I guess so. To me it doesn't make any sense at all. Brian Pillman also worked AEW while on MLW contract btw.

He should have never come back from the time he left his hat or something in the ring at Mania, that was the perfect send-off. Having his farewell in front of no one seems kinda anti-climatic for such an iconic character.

..... That's total backward thinking. These people, who are *signed* by AEW, are by default more mainstream than anyone on IMPACT or ROH. Private Party, Best Friends, Kip Sabian, Super Smash Bros, Hybrid2, Luther, Marko Stunt, Joey Janela and co have been on AEW on TNT for a year now. The idea that they are "indy" is ridiculous. They are the AEW roster that has been *signed* and *featured* on TNT, which is more big time by essence than appearing on ROH or IMPACT or, yikes, MLW. Sure, some of those names would be great addition to the roster. Some, not at all, for different reasons. AEW has already way too much talent honestly, guys like TH2 have barely been featured yet and it's been a year. At this point, I'd pick Callihan, Dragon Lee, Bandido, Pillman and Aldis and that's it. Fatu maybe, although he's way overated considering his actual output (granted, MLW is not a good place to shine unless you're working against LA Park apparently). LA Park showing up would be super cool, but would he be worth the headaches ? But like I said, AEW has too much talent already. They really should focus on what they have now and only pick up some really good catch when opportunity shows (Zelina as a manager, for obvious reasons).

Why would they ? They are supposed to be a mainstream alternative, not a super-indy using people from small promotions. They have to be their own brand, using tons of people that also appear in smaller promotions would make them look like total second rate. MJF was basically transitioning, Thunder Rosa is on AEW TV but NWA doesn't even *exist* as a promotion these days anyway. And Pillman was used as a jobber on Dark before getting a few wins as a tag worker. I would be all for The North showing up to challenge the Young Bucks though. (and if we're being technical, Swoggle is currently working IMPACT and Konnan MLW, so this week's episode had workers from 3 other promotions if you also consider Rosa )

Actually, it was bringing back the topic into way more topical things. But what would be an AEW weekly thread without some bullshit drama, right ? Yeah, Pac coming back is awesome, good thing they are going back with the Triangle of Death, makes for a great feud against what's left of the Fam. Deeb and Rosa absolutely killed it, and it's quite interesting they are throwing Baker with Rosa. Honestly at this point, they almost make the NWA title more important than their own, but in the end you know it's all about Thunder Rosa (despite her contract, who can still call her a "NWA talent" at this point ? The NWA isn't running any shows, she's been a fixture from the AEW women division for weeks now, now she's paired up with Baker... Corgan, let her go already). Best part of the Vegas stuff was Wardlow and Hager having a punching jabronie contest and Konnan showing up (fuck, just sign him and have him manage Santana & Ortiz eventually). And the Young Bucks absolutely worked their magic, considering one of those brothers was the pretty crappy Air Wolf in MLW (indie guy playing third rate luchador). And Omega looked awesome.

So basically, AEW has a killer show but all people are talking about is some Twitter drama over a complete racist homophobic dickhead nobody making a fool out of himself ? Ok...

Plus, I don't really care that much, honestly (aka, "at all"). But I remember an interview with Dutch Mantell where he basically said Cornette was impossible because he just took things way too much at heart when it came down to pro-wrestling.

That comparison was made on this board before (hell, I even made the same exact remark as a joke a few posts above). Yeah, what sucks is that Dave & Corny were old friends dating back from the 80's, but Corny has to drive everyone away from him because HE HATES KENNY OMEGA AND THE YOUNG BUCKS WHO CAN'T WORK AND ARE KILLING THE BUSINESS !!!! It's sad.

No way they have a full crowd in April. No fucking way. Whatever the situation is in the US at this point, there's no way people are gonna fly in from around the world (and even the rest of the US) to get packed into a stadium in fucking Florida. It will be very interesting to see how the Tokyo Dome looks in January, but again, Japan is very different.

Understood, but what I meant is that it was *shot* like a movie, with retakes and stuff, and was made to look like a "real" match in the end. Which basically is kinda "cheating", as opposed to say, the Stadium Stampede or Taker vs AJ Styles or the multiple Deletion stuff, which don't pretend they are anything other than a cinematic match. So yeah, this is a pretty odd case.

Hum... the only match that was infamously heavily edited was the Penta vs Vampiro finale. Other stuff was probably edited too as far as cutting out some of bad looking spots (like they always used to do back in the days) but it's not exactly the same thing as shooting the match the same way you would a movie, like Edge vs Orton apparently was.

More on that soon, probably... I'd love for the Bucks or Omega to google PWO, find this board and make a fucking reference on BTE. Probably won't happen. Still.

Yeah, the election was rigged or something. Wait... Hum... Yeah, Corny is so far gone at this point. I was a huge Corny fan for so long. At first I found it sad and too bad, now it's just plain pathetic and I don't give a flying fuck anymore.

Hi ! Omega is easily one of the GOAT and the Young Bucks are easily one of the GOAT tag team. That's after 30 years of watching pro-wrestling too.

I have honestly no idea how you can put on a 1 hour show with basically so few actual content, this has been a complete chore to watch to me. About 25 minutes (at best) of actual pro-wrestling on a one hour show, the rest being a bunch of recaps, hype videos and commercials. No real vignettes that has any actual *content* or angle to it. Pillman vs Reed wasn't very good at all, Pillman was clearly working at half speed and looked like he wanted to be far away. DBS vs Fatu was a decent little match, did not came off as a main event or a world title match at all, I see much better stuff on IMPACT undercard or even Dark every week. DBS also did the straight job, so there, the guy wants to go back in WWE anyway. So yeah, hard pass on this MLW restart. I would not call it a disappointment because it absolutely picks up where it stopped, so maybe those who enjoyed it then will enjoy it now. I did not then, it's the exact same stuff, so there... I still wish Salina would get picked up by IMPACT or AEW, she'd be so great in an actually fun company.

Well, MLW is exactly the same as it as before. 15 minutes in and *nothing has happened*, between never ending recaps for stuff that happened 7 months ago, a three seconds squash, same old lame Contra glitches, a lame fake start for Pillman vs Reed (who is *still* wearing the stupid chest protector) for no reason, a "coming soon" vignette (really ? First show in eons, they taped like 16 weeks and we get a "coming soon" vignette ?), commercials for fucking podcasts. Having Mr. St Laurent at the announcing both only makes things worse. Yuck. I had gave up on MLW and was thinking about giving them a chance for this restart, expecting maybe something a bit different, but nope.

On the Dark front, some interesting stuff like a new segment for Britt Baker, the Waiting Room. Nowhere as good as Locker Room Talk in IMPACT, but it has potential thanks to Baker's character. Talk-show format with fake crowd reactions and Reba doing the worst fake laughs ever. Interestingly enough, Baker made jokes about the Young Bucks, Cody and... Eddie Kingston, so yeah, the babyface turn is incoming... Also, TNT have been there these last few weeks and they are D-Von's boys. Damn, I feel old. They really remind me of their father too. More potential than the Gunn Club, I'm honestly kinda baffled the whole Billy Gunn family got contracts, I mean they seem ok but nothing special at all and don't scream "potential great workers or star" to me. On the women side, Leila Hirsh getting a win, so they got this going, and the debut of Lindsay Snow, now here's one girl I'd like to see more off, always enjoyed her on Bloodsports. Also, Ivelisse vs Alex Gracia was one of the better women's match in a while, with Gracia looking really good. Granted Ivelisse's intensity is gonna make the match look better anyway, but still, she impressed (lot of style too).

Let's be honest, the anti-Meltz obsessives are a special breed of creeps.