El-P

To me it was bullshit from the get go, terrible writing, complacent shocking violence for the sake of it, it was only saved by a few really good actors (Dinklage, Clarke) and a few cool characters (well, the same, plus Sansa in the latter seasons, Arya until her booking became dumb as fuck). Gotta love all the parents naming their little baby girl Dany from the first few seasons because she was such an empowering female character and whatnot and then... wooops BTW and to go back to pro-wrestling, am I the only one who coud not unsee Chris Jericho when Jaime Lannister was on screen ?

Come on now. From the very first season it was all mindless violence, tits, ass, constant misogyny (rape as a gimmick) and "swerve bro". Game of Thrones was booked by Vince Russo from day 1. Yeah, I was never a Game of Thrones fan at all, but watched the whole thing, WCW style.

Well, can't argue that.

Come on, he's the smartest, he's practicing social distancing.

Yeah, it makes accessing to the forum a total pain.

Just the use of "cosplay" makes his reply completely dumb.

Yeah, he probably was a good guy and he had talked in lenght about how he always got stiffed on paychecks (including as late as 1995 in WCW while other Dungeon of Doom goons were getting more money... I wonder why...), but damn that gimmick was a complete embarrassment (it wasn't any less racist than Saba Simba). It's sad his health had deteriorated so much in later years.

Watching Victory Road 2011 is notable for two things mainly : _the Young Bucks & Kazarian (and Robbie E, who as usual did not bring much to the table) stole the show in an Ultimate X match. It's really crazy to think TNA had these people back then when you look back from the 2020 perspective with AEW going on. The idea that the Bucks were killing it on PPV in early 2011 (and already the previous year) and people *now* are acting all bitchy about them are not just behind the times *now* they were behind the times in 2011... _and of course, the main event is an embarrassment of epic proportion. It's insane to think they got the point of ring introduction and they had to send Bischoff to talk to the guys inside the ring and basically had Sting shoot pin Hardy. A fan shouting "This is bullshit !" and Sting replying "I agree ! I agree !" is a crazy scene, Sting looked pissed as fuck-all. Both Hardies were a mess at the time, as Matt, who had the second best match of the show with AJ Styles was month away from getting fired for substance abuse or something (and to think Jeff had problems as soon as last year and they actually make light of it in WWE these days). Crazy times... Brucie worked in the company at the time too...

Daniel Bryan, heel eco-warrior, of course. Can't wait for the anti-vax female babyface tag-team called Debbie Homeo & Patty Belle.

Holy shit, I should't laugh but yeah, this is totally Trump's "Antifa are the new fascist" extreme-right propaganda. Gotta love them threatening to gang rape that woman at some point too or something... Yeah, you know what, it makes Raw Underground look like the DX Invasion of WCW. And politically speaking... ouch... That's BAD.

That's all valid but that's from the outsider's perspective while we're taking about from the inside of the business perspective. The point that is being talked about stands : Vince did not create Hulk Hogan. He gave him the platform and polished his act, but he did not came up with the worker nor the gimmick. Hogan is not a Vince creation, which is also funny to think when referred to the old "Vince only push what he creates himself". Well, he sure did not create Hulk Hogan at all. He absolutely picked the right guy for his plan, but did not create it.

The BonerYard match from Talkn'Shop'AMania was yet another amazing WTF moment of 2020. It included among other insanity NZO taking a bump on the Rock'n'Roll Express gimmick table, Chavo Guerrero chasing Chico El Luchador to murder him, appearances by Brian Myers, Heath, the Bennett couple (IMPACT should sign them, really) and Swinger. The "flashback" segment with the Young Bucks was an apex of making fun of yourselves, as Doc & Anderson agree to sign with AEW, but then mark out when they receive a text message from Trip so they decide to re-sign with NY. So the Young Bucks superkick them and Matt goes "I bet they'll end up in TNA anyway", while Anderson is moaning "Nooooo, not TNA !!!!". The most amazing thing maybe is that Doc & Anderson where actually part of the actual Boneyard match just a few months ago, it's like some legit Hollywood actors showing up in a porn parody of their own movie.

Wow. Gotta catch that on Youtube. That being said, a bunch of sloppy white guys with dreads and playing djembe, yeah, they're fucking heels to me.

Wow. Sounds like downright Trump propaganda then. ANTIFAs as heels ? Really ? What's next ? A White Supremacist babyface ? A fun-loving Nazi ? A happy-go-lucky rapist ? A heel ecologist ? Oh, wait, that we already had...

With the success they're having after one year, not really worrying. It would be such a shame if anything bad happened because of corporate bullshit.

Hum... yeah, ok. I got Henry O. Godwinn in 1995, ya know.

The thing is, this stuff has been done before. So, it's not even new or original. It's been done good before. WWE just does it poorly. Like they could never re-make the Broken Matt stuff from IMPACT for instance.

Because they were into Hogan/Rock/Austin first and foremost. When the entire program is hot because the big star on top is hot, everyone *seems* over. Yeah, Val Venis, Too Cool or Brutus Beefcake were getting monstruous pops back then, but to argue they were, out of themselves, "big stars" is ignoring the entire context of when and where. That's because you were young and became a fan then. I can give you every match and angle happening in the mid 90's. That includes TL Hoper vignettes, angles like Crush & Doing, Henry Godwinn vs the Million Dollar Corporation and shit. Also, there were a lot less angles back then because the TV did not work the same way. Again, context changes everything, both personal context of the watcher and the context of the business structure. It's a fact. He was lucky Steve Austin and The Rock got themselves over despite the terrible ideas they were given. Of course then he was really good at promoting them, but he stumbled on those two, especially Austin. The one thing no one should ignore is that the one thing Vince was the most lucky about is something he could not do anything about : the people running WCW were idiots. Because on paper, Vince doesn't win that fight. Only gigantic idiots could run that operation into the ground like they did with so much talent, money and great TV spot. Vince was definitely very lucky on that one. No one is saying Vince was never a great promoter, but ignoring the fact Hulk Hogan was a huge star before he ever got to WWF is revisionism. Verne did not have to make him an international name, Rocky III did it for him, and Inoki made him in Japan, which was the richest territory then. It's like pretending WWF made Hogan in one day and people got crazy because of the genius work of Vince when Hogan showed up and beat Sheky Baby. Nope. On a way smaller scope, same thing when AJ Styles shows up at the Rumble. "No one watches TNA" and NJPW is "japanese shit", but when the guy shows up, people give him the Warrior pop, because he is already made. How odd.

Indeed. It's been mostly great, actually. I'm gonna say this : I don't miss crowds. AEW could go on with their little cloud of wrestlers on the first row and I'd be happy watching it in that format forever (IMPACT should do the same because their totally empty studio stuff can get kind of a solitary feel to it). Sure, crowds makes it better (or worse). But pro-wrestling as an aesthetic works for me on its own, I guess. Who knows when people will gather in large masses again ? And who would want to, really ? (yeah, I know, some are already doing it, with terrible results too)

Exactly. Pus he said it himself, the IWGP belt was the only belt that mattered... All jokes aside, Hogan could have been an Inoki guy forever indeed. And we'd have had Vader vs Hogan, japanese style at the Dome instead of those awful 95 matches.

You really don't need to justify yourself. Not anywhere, and not on PW-fucking-O !

Actually, a fan group "for women" is exactly the definition of "exclusive". Also, not all women are fans of heels (like, not at all)... And I mean, "paying" for being in a group fan to do what exactly ?

After not even a year on TV, starting from scratch. And that's with the RAW demo going way up (from zilch really, but that's another matter) thanks to Shan-o Mac brillant idea... That Bruce Prichard comeback to the company really will be one for the ages. Of course, blame COVID and senile Vince, but still... RAW is sinking like never before in 27 years, and Bruce is the guy "in charge". Maybe should have stayed at home doing Jerry Jarrett's impersonnations, really...

Yeah, that's a big one. Hogan was huge *before* he even step foot in WWF. It's one of the big "what if" of US wrestling history. What if Hogan doesn't go to the WWF, stays a while in AWA then gets a check from Crockett/WCW in the late 80's ? Vince got Hogan when everything about him was made (the look, the match style, the entrance, the promos). It's like getting Goldy in the Summer/Fall of 1998.

Yeah, that "retirement" angle was terrific. IMPACT is great at doing dramatic heat angles like this (the wedding of Brian Cage & Melissa Santos). Speaks volume of their booking ability when they can get me invested in this EC3 deal when he has done exactly one angle and a bunch of vignettes, yet everything makes total sense and he goes against Moose who has been built for months now. The North vs MCMG angle promos were very good too. Strong episode this week, I can totally get behind a Chris Bey vs TJP match and Wrestler House is really cool silly stuff again. I can't get enough of the Bravo/Taya/Rosemary storyline. Kylie & Swinger are great in these too.