El-P

Fuck me, I loved pretty much everything about this episode (the Miro/Sabian bit, Vickie's promo and Shida backing down from Abadon I wasn't crazy about). Excellent opener, John Silver looked terrific out there and I like the idea of Hangman being chased by the Dark Order once more, especially now than the DO has become basically the best gimmick in the entire company and gets new people over (Silver, Jay). Kinda crazy that Jericho & Daniels have never ever faced before and you could see Daniels was motivated as all hell, he looked the best he has maybe since the debut of AEW. I'm totally in for a Young Bucks vs TH2 big title match, could be a great one. Anna Jay has improved a whole lot already and she totally looks like a futur star. Wow, Taz's kid is getting involved now, I feel old, people. But yeah, Taz has been so great in his role and this was yet another occurence of it. Loved the main event and the Archer attack, which made sense dating back to that Battle Royal, had a very WCW Nitro feel to it, with several feuds and storylines crossing path together. Next week looks stacked and Omega vs Mox should be awesome, not matter what they do with it (funny how people have been conditioned by WWE to always expect the worst).

I have been watching South Park S22, and the fact they brought back so many old characters from the "glory days" (remember when Road Dog was wearing South Park T-shirts and Tenta was carrying a Cartman doll ?) definitely made me think about WWE booking (was much better though, some episodes were really funny... others, not so much).

Well, that was one hell of a send-off that IMPACT gave to the Rascalz, the main event spot, Matthews & Rayne basically spent 25 minutes putting them over as great guys that everybody loves. If you consider they never won any title in the promotion (I thought Trey would have got the X-div at one point but nope) and basically never went above mid-card (upper mid-card for Trey) level, that's pretty telling. It was actually legit moving. I sure hope for their sake they got some great contracts (and since it's NXT, probably not *that* great) because to me they were much better fits for AEW (characters, work style, size). That one sure is a loss for IMPACT, they were good workers and fun characters.

This thread is like when it's the World Cup and everybody around you is talking about something you don't give a flying fuck about in a context where usually you don't have to listen to it. (damn, I wish that Covid thing had hit on a World Cup year instead)

Wow, that's a name I have known since probably day 1 of my online pro-wrestling fandom. That's sad.

I'm watching some Dark and in the very first match, Big Swole nearly drops Vipress straight on her head in a total careless fashion, Tiger Driver/Ganso Bomb style. That girl is the Nia Jaxx of AEW, her work sucks and she will end up injuring someone with her sloppy looking shit.

The issue with that argument is that Meltzer only "sacrified his reputation" from the point of view of the people who refuse to even *consider* that Omega and the Bucks might actually be great and successful and don't even try to understand why they *may* be in the wrong. There's no "in crowd" to be part of, there are only people who love what great pro-wrestling has become in 2020 and are establishing the current canon, which doesn't have to refer to the past as some kind of untouchable monument (because it would be ridiculous). Like in the 80's when Flair and the MX were the "best thing going today" (and you know the rest).

So, odds that this is stuff from those UWN shows no one watches ?

Where's the facepalm emoticon ?

Well, until he asks for his release to go to WWE. Can you picture anyone with talent staying with MLW that long ? Pillman & DBS wants out already apparently.

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.