El-P

Talk about guys who were pushed like killers in NXT and "da future of da buziness" and did jackshit once they left Full Sail... Yet another casualties.

Is Matt Riddle listed ? "Matt Riddle. Former MMA star. Made waves in NXT then shows a lot of promises in the main roster. May or may not have raped an ex-lover." What about Velveteen Dream ? "Velveteen Dream. Came back form injury, did not show much improvement. But he did show his dick to some underage boys." (EDIT : damn, a few seconds too late !)

We really don't know what he was *supposed* to do. It's a long term story that has evolved organically. And yeah, he did get over when he began to drink and not give a fuck (on the surface), and even before he showed signs of badasserie (as we say in French ). But to me the current stuff is just adding another layer to the story, it doesn't detract from his character at all. He never really completely got back to the Elite. So it's not "going back to the initial insecurity", because it never really went away, it was just hidden for a while. To me Page did not come off like an idiot like cartoony Sting would, he just got manipulated by bad people who used his one big weakeness, and the kinda strained-already relationship just blew off because of it, at least with the Bucks. I can see at one point the Bucks & Omega going full fledge heel eventually, because they, especially the Bucks, are awesome at it.

That's where you got it wrong. Page wasn't Steve Austin. Page drank beer and basically became the Sandman because he was insecure within his own relationship to the Elite. Yeah, for a while it worked after a very shaky start when him and Omega won the tag team titles despite him wanting out of the Elite, but FTR using the insecurity that was *always* there to screw the Bucks just made a crack in what seemed to be a unit but really was never one. The on/off chemistry with Omega, with him growing frustrated and slowly showing signs of the Cleaner character coming back is what will eventually lead to the split, the feud and Omega, I guess, putting Page over at the very end. I love how they make Page kind of a tragic figure on his way to the top.

Seriously now, did Brucie bought his entire roster at Complotists'R'Us ?

So, Big Swole vs Britt Baker will be a cinematic match from Baker's "office". If they manage to make something good out of this mostly terrible angle (and with Baker involved, they may be able to), I'll never question AEW again because that's really making chicken salad out of chicken shit. It's also probably a good idea on paper considering Swole really is not gonna have a good match at all with Baker anyway inside the ring. Would love some surprise for the Battle Royal. And no, I don't mean Lesnar.

The Page/Omega/Young Bucks storyline is the best stuff going on in pro-wrestling, has been for a long while. Because they are real human beings with real complex emotions you can relate to, as opposed to "bad guys vs good guys" or gimmicks. And they are all so good with little details, like Page looking like he has not been sleeping in days, Bucks not doing their usual pose during their intro and basically acting pissed and frustrated. It's so above anything else in term of long-term storytelling, it's ridiculous. The match with FTR has MOTYC written all over it on paper, to the point anything less would be a disappointment. The "lawyer" is a pro-wrestler, right ? I mean, he was really good. And yeah, total Cornette outfit. Total Cornette act, really. Thunder Rosa vs Serena Deeb was excellent. As expected, Rosa came off looking like a star like she did in NWA, and Deeb looked better than 90% of the women roster. They sure should signe her, as she must have been a pretty decent coach too. But keep in on TV working with the girls. The shape she's in too... The whole thing gives NWA some great visibility, but honestly I wish AEW would just get Thunder Rosa. Can we get Kamille to show up also ? Yeah, Britt better win that feud and move on, this is really not good at all. So Matt Hardy gone already (Sammy would need to win a big one) ? And coming back as another schyzophrenic incarnation ? The "battle royal" clearly had no direction whatsoever to the point it was almost comical Like, ok, how to get those people out of the ring ? Meanwhile, that show lacked a Dark Order in-ring segment. Yeah, that's how far the gimmick has come to me. JR's line of the week : "These women aren't afraid to break a nail." Yeah, that's how you put the women division over, JR... PPV looks terrific on paper with the three title matches, Jericho vs Orange, Sammy vs Matt in a blood feud match, a cool multi-match with Dark Order vs Cody's "family" and Young Bucks vs Jurassik Express (or Lucha Express if you listen to JR) which could be the sleeper.

Oh for the fans who want to watch both live, sure, it's a win/win.

Well, not really, since the only reason NXT was put in front or AEW was to hurt them and prevent them from finding an audience. They don't want *everyone* to win. This move shows that they have actually lost and this is them registering that loss, although of course they'll try to twist it into some sort of bold positive move... The beauty of it is that Impact is so under the radar that I don't think he can be hurt anymore. But yeah, if you look at it that way, it's hilarious. They tried to compete with AEW and now revert to "counter-program" Impact !

There's no problem with Mox. He's great. Terrific worker, great promo. There you go, don't search no further. I do and I can totally connect with Moxley. I love the fact he's got a bit of Terry Funk and Bret Hart in him, as they were two of my all-time favourites. It always amused me the way some people just did not get Raven *at all* for instance. Not on any level (which included the more humorous side of his later on). Maybe you gotta have the same ridiculously high IQ to really enjoy it, I dunno... To me that sentence has become an overused cliché lately. It certainly has a part of truth in it (tons of great exemples in the greatest stars like Austin, Flair, Rock, Bruno), but I see it thrown around a lot as some kind of authority argument, usually to criticize contemporary wrestlers or guy who never clicked for whatever reasons. And sometimes, it's just plain wrong, either way you look at it. Brucie's rant on Nick Aldis for instance, is a total case of not getting it at all. Yeah, he is "cosplaying" the old NWA champion. But he's doing this routine better than anyone since, well, Flair in the 80's. On the other end of the spectrum, the Undertaker is probably the most successful gimmick of all time (and I'm not talking about the MAGA Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' version of it), but I don't think Mark Callaway has anything about him that's about being a living dead who build caskets and buries people alive and doesn't feel pain. Also, that famous sentence is always convenient but strangely never seem to apply in the multiple cases of "the guy did not put all his energy into the gimmick that was given to him, that's why it did not work". And really, if you listen to Mox in interviews, he's really not that far off the guy he portrays in the ring, so I for one would think that definition actually works pretty decently in this case.

Yes. There's no reason why AEW would throw out silly money. They ain't WCW. (why is this thread not in the AEW folder ?)

WCW 2000 level. I WOULD watch NXT sometime now that Mauro is gone, but I WON'T try this week.

Wonderful !

Mike Rapada wasn't available after all ? Damn.

So, Excalibur is back on Dark this week. Good.

John Silver on BTE is a riot. The Dark Order have been stealing the shows for weeks now. Also, the very last shot of this week's episode is another tease in the long road to Omega becoming the Cleaner again (or maybe something else ?). Yes, I am excited for what's to come.

Please AEW, please, PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE !!!! Don't sign Mauro. Please. Like, really. Don't. I'll gladly keep grumpy JR instead. Hopefully he goes back into the MMA world or something. (okay, apparently he's one of those "WWE was a childhood dream" crowd, so...) Lesnar, well, for a one shot, why the fuck not. I mean, Mox vs Lesnar in a who gives a fuck what happens match, I'm all for it. But I don't want Suplex City bullshit on my AEW TV either.

Yeah. When JR is like mumbling and confusing names of the *workers* and being grumpy about not holding the leg and not going for the pin, Tony is like "POISONRANA INTO A CANADIAN DESTROYER ! I LOVE THIS !". But Tony at his peak was better than JR anyway. JR is a name of the glory days of WWF when wrestling was hot. He brought credibility to AEW because of it. But as an actual weekly TV announcer now, yikes. Add Veda Scott to the bunch. She's been good on Dark with Taz & Tony. I would guess Excalibur is back either this week or at the PPV. He's been sorely missed as the glue of the announcing, honestly (although I love Taz).

Been catching up with last two weeks, with the awesome Dark Order angle last week, my girl Ivelisse winning the tournament with Diamanté (well deserved too), the great MJF/Mox and Orange/Jericho build-ups. The Omega/Page/Bucks slow-burn feud is the best thing going on. Anyone thinking this was the payoff and Page is just "turning heel" is completely missing the point, this is just another step in a long story. And this is the most compelling stuff happening today in pro-wrestling. It also totally makes sense in Page's arc of him wanting to take time away from the Elite because of his insecurity last year before ending up winning the tag team championship with Omega. Speaking of which, can't wait to see his reaction, as he was already kinda losing his mind lately with the FTR bullshit and was showing signs of being the Bullet Club Cleaner again. Dark Order has totally turned the corner, they are awesome. They also finally displayed some of the stuff they do on BTE this week. Tay Conti joining is gonna add more fuel to their fire. Brodie Lee finally got out of his shell, finally, he's made. I can watch Archer kill jabronies every week. Matt Hardy vs Samy Guevarra was brutal, I don't like this gimmick match but they made the most out of it in a short while to boot. Thunder Rosa showing up with NWA footage to boot is super interesting, guarantees a really good match against Shida and also, hopefully, opens the door to Aldis vs Cody III eventually. Just a great deal. However... that Swole vs Baker stuff is getting worse each week now. I realize that it's not supposed to be serious, but it is not funny either, the work sucks, Swole is not good and her character is annoying as fuck (and really, she's been abusing an injured woman for months now, she's a terrible babyface). Total waste of Baker and Ford here. I've been watching some TNA 2011 and the idiotic Winter & Takerlina Love storyline (and matches) is *better* than this. And there you have some really cool women working on Dark every week. Let's not even mention IMPACT which had Grave vs Purrazzo going 30 mn and killing it this week. Come on AEW, gotta work on this. Also, JR, JR, JR... Messing up names all around, saying Brodie Lee is AEW champ, has to throw a fucking college football reference about Lance fucking Archer who's just a giant psychopath who likes to kill motherfuckers. Again, sorry, but he's just painfull to listen too at times. Schiavone & Jericho calling the show by themselves would have been much better. Been mostly loving the show lately, they really have delivered constantly lately. The crowd chanting "delete", finally, was quite cool to hear.

No shit, she looked great in this. Loved the match, the ending stretch was terrific. This two week Emergence thingy sure delivered. I like that they finally do something with Rohit Raju. The North vs MCMG was really good again last week. And honestly the Wrestle House stuff I wish goes on forever, although I feel like we're getting toward the end of it, with Taya vs Rosemary next week. Also, they are doing an amazing job with Eric Young and EC3. They both feel important and already compelling as characters. The Heath vignettes also are working with me thus far. Bryan Myers on the other hand...

So they do this Slammiversary XV episode on July 6, which included the infamous rant on Nick Aldis not having "it" (which got a scathing response from Aldis) and they talk about Alberto like they don't know he got arrested for raping and beating up his girlfriend last May, and how he had great potential and was a pro and shit. Wow. Do your homework people. What was interesting here and that I forgot about, is that basically Brucie landed a job in IMPACT because of the podcast. How tragic that is that TNA at that point was reaching for Bruce's podcast audience to gain new viewers... Again, considering the hot mess this company was during those years, the work of D'Amore and Callis since 2018 has been quite a feat.

i.e. WWE whitewashing.

Like he always does. I don't buy the "PPV fatigue" theory. Or they really are in complete denial about their audience. AEW's core audience doesn't watch WWE. WWE's audience is more susceptible to die from COVID. If anything, they'll fatigue their own audience (I mean, another "PPV" already ?) Das 5 stars rating ! Negative 5 stars that is.

Wunderbar.

Ah ah ! But at least, Dirty Dog Roman Reigns sounds actually like a decent pro-wrester name.