El-P

Hyped as fuck. Yeah, it's Omega time.

As far as Lana goes, it's as simple as this : money don't buy you happiness. Of course, there's this glorious picture with glossed-up Lana in her 100k outfit and this totally influence the perception we may have of her life, but the truth is, no one knows CJ Perry. The fact is she came off totally depressed and distressed in the WWE doc, talking about feeling lonely without her man and crying about social media harassement, you know what, you can make all the millions of dollar you want and speak 100k a year on your outfit, if you're unhappy, you're unhappy. Slight tangent : I remember when Chris Cornell killed himself, Cornette went on a especially stupid rant (yeah, shocking, I know) about this guy having nothing to complain about because he was rich and famous and successful and how committing suicide was a cowardly thing and whatnot. Here's someone not understanding jackshit about mental health issue (hey, I can use that term too, for a change). And honestly I kinda feel like most people blabbing about mental health this mental health that actually never experienced the urge of throwing themselves under a bus, literally I mean. I know that's a digression and no one is saying Lana is actually depressed, but I just wanted to throw that out there... And yes, that too. They should be employees and that's it.

That's pretty well put. I mean, 10 fucking grand ? That's obscene. Capitalism fetish lunacy.

So yeah, first episode = NWA matches from the first UWN PPV from months ago (is that still going on ?)... Will they show Thunder Rosa lose her belt too when she has been on AEW TV for weeks and weeks ? That would be awkward. Old school in a way (like, WCW 1993), but awkward.

Two huge news from Dark that no one is talking about, and why ? Last week, Pretty Peter Avalon won his first match ever in AEW. This week, Shanna is back !

Working Mexico doesn't seem like the brightest idea considering how bad they are doing. Would really suck for AEW if Omega would get sick or even test positive because of this. Also, if there's one promotion where the idea of empty arena match don't appeal to me at all, it has to be AAA. I can't even picture the usually terrible matches that only go by because of crowd heat being watchable in this context. I would be only half surprised if Daga & Tessa Blanchard would show up. Isn't this on the same day of the Super J Cup, the NJPW tournaments finals and that IMPACT monthly special ? Damn, that 12/12 is stacked with stuff.

I don't remember, did you watched NWA Powerr last year and if so, did you enjoyed it ? As much as I criticized the cosplay aspect of the thing at first, and especially during the first season which I really did not like, I actually enjoyed the second season but to me, there was kinda of a tongue-in-cheek or at least a bit meta feel to it especially during the commercials stuff. From that perspective, it was more "21th Century" than MLW which is going for a more straight forward approach. And actually this has struck me the other week : the one thing I don't enjoy at all about MLW is that it's what I'd call, for lack of a better term, "fake serious", and it's something I usually can't stand about anything. For instance, I love the wacky stuff on IMPACT (which really comes from LU in a way) and I have no problem believing that people were stuck in Wrestlers House or that there is an Undead Realm where Allie was murdered and that Su Yung is a zombi and Rosemary is a demon assassin and that someone shot John E. Bravo etc... I totally buy it and am willing to play along. On the other hand, watching MLW, I don't buy for a second that Contra is an evil terrorist organisation of whatever and that they "invaded" MLW's headquarter (whatever that is !) and that I should give a flying fuck about the oh so prestigious Opera Cup. Because those are gimmicks that absolutely echoes the old territory days where basically they were overselling bullshit all the times, because they had to. The issue is that MLW is playing it totally straight, like 100% straight. So, the whole Opera Cup deal totally comes off like an NWA title match in 1994 at a crappy indy show where announcers where talking about Dory Funk Jr. and Harley Race in a gym of 200 people. I just don't buy it at all and I just feel they are selling me bullshit. I did enjoy MLW at first, but at the time its appeal was much bigger because you had guys like MJF, the Lucha Brothers, Sami Callihan, Swerve, tons of cool guys from AAA showing up regularly, Salina de la Renta was all over the TV and one key for me was Tony Schiavone announcing for the first time in 18 years and marking out watching crazy-ass indy matches. And there's so much less people I actually want to watch now : Holliday, Hammerstone to a lesser degree (much better in vignettes than in the ring), Salina... Jordan Oliver & Myron Reed have potential but #Injustice is such a trash gimmick. It's odd, I was already quite bored by the TV for a while last year when they had that one PPV which actually came off very well and had that great Fatu vs LA Park match (and Salina taking that awesome bump), then the TV became worst while NWA Powerr was getting a lot better (although I did watch that much later, during the first lockdown here).

Heel Rey Mysterio. Yeah, this is WCW 2000 level.

That's fucked up. And depressing. That being said, it should not matter. Aren't there actual proofs of his assault ? Shouldn't that be enough ?

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.