El-P

I mean, Scott D'Amore's plan with going back to the TNA name was "invest more, think bigger". Anthem wasn't going for this. Meanwhile, under the NXTNA deal umbrella, they are booking arenas they would totally sink in before (and maybe still do in 6 months from now, who knows), while rumors of guys being asked to take pay cuts. So yeah, there's this impending, floating idea that WWE is kinda using them like puppet masters, helping to fill the cards with more NXT people (we'll see how that goes or doesn't go over the next few months) as Anthem is slowly disengaging themselves from the process, while WWE also tries to push deals with their former TV partners worldwide to get them to block off eventual AEW deals (which would sound crazy if we were not talking about WWE and really, TKO, with their background of predatory tactics in the MMA world). Anywoo, I honestly would not be surprised if this ended like every other WWE "relationship" ends. Which, again, would be a sad end and a bad thing for the landscape. Meanwhile, "Papa Trip" is going into the WWE Hall of Fame. This is HILARIOUS how everything revolves around this guy jerking off at the screen. Yeah, he really doesn't want any spotlight, ya know... 😂

That first live episode in 8 years surely was something. I can't remember less actual wrestling on IMPACT in eons. Dry talking segment after dry talking segment. With a overlong, dull-as-dirt main event marred with stupid (and repetitive, how many times is JBL gonna show up to lariat some dude without any kind of actual development to it, it's been 7 months now) booking. Countless "NXT this", "WWE that". TNA, dropped.

Their audience is chanting "NXT!"... The ultimate irony for a promotion that was born out of the idea that a monopoly was bad for pro-wrestling. WWE is killing them softly, leading them to the slaughterhouse to eventually get gutted (this part is gonna be even more evident if Josh also joins WWE at the same time Jordynne does). And they follow the leader with a smile on their face. Right now they're in that phase of getting a massage with a happy ending, so everything is great and shiny. They really are being weaponized against AEW (let's be real here, it's another way to dry up the talent pool and multiply the ways of access to WWE) and to prevent another case of MLW anti-trust based lawsuit. They are enjoying their best business in years despite their product being also the dullest and most TNA-lite in years. The interesting part is the post-Joe Hendry era. Once either people get tired of his gimmick (both main-events back to back against Nemeth and Cardona and it's SOOO dreadfully samey and limited), or his contract runs up and he ends up in WWE (I mean, he's gonna show up at the Rumble and get a giant reaction, everyone knows it) before the end of the year, and once the novelty of NXTNA runs dry. THEN, things gets interesting. Does WWE just gets bored and forgets about the relationship ? Do they buy TNA (which would really sucks) ? Does TNA's new "glory days" quickly dies after Henry is gone and the WWE relationship goes away/fades in the background, or do they actually get to keep some sort of momentum ? TNA really never ceases to be a fascinating story.

I wish I had that private line with my former fellow DVDVR poster, ya know. I'm just that smart. (sometimes) Yeah, that angle on the show was perfect, complete with Tony acting like Mariah did when they first met. And really, the entire show was tons of fun and felt *right*, from the angles, the matches (most of them, Gates of Agony I don't care about and at this point never will, although Liona has potential still), the backstage stuff, the vignettes (loved the Callis one and the tease for Renee's Youtube show with her husband). It does. And yes, there's a sense of nostalgia about it too because in a very odd way, my favorite overall time in AEW probably was during the pandemic. Totally carried me through it too. And yeah, Okada's back was getting thrashed in NJPW already. There was this entire period where he carried balloons to ringside after his long-ass reign. The guy doesn't look like it, but he's got serious mileages on his body. Whenever he needs, he can switch on to be one of the best ever on the big stage, and that's everything you want from him at this point. I wonder who Callis was teasing as a fifth man... Anyway. This Collision felt more like the AEW I loved than any TV show this year (and a whole lot in the previous 6 months).

And this ended up with vacating the titles... 🙃

I used to watch MLW too back then, and I thought both were overrated. The only great match Jacob Fatu ever had there was that LA Park brawl (at the PPV which pretty much ended the stint of MLW being a fun watch). Then again, I have learned over the years that MLW is the worst place to gauge talent, as pretty much no one has great matches there. That being said, Hammerstone did nothing to disprove my feeling in TNA. He had by far the lesser Josh Alexander matches this side of Joe Hendry. Then gets injured all the time. He really has nothing that special going for him, especially when paired with Jake Something, who looks just as big but can work like a mother. The guy looks like Lex Luger ate Shane Douglas, and his work is right in the middle too. In 2025, that doesn't cut it. If you haven't watched in a long time, you don't want to know. It's just be a sad, cheap-ass telenovela stuff that is really a pathetic attempt at getting some LU nostalgia. MLW's only selling point these days is CMLL talents. (unless Matt Riddle is considered a selling point, which is kinda gross) I always thought Salina would end up in a bigger company, even TNA. He's awesome in G1's, he won titles. He probably will never get the big one at this point, but he's been awesome all these years. His style is picture perfect for Japan. I for one am glad he choose this path.

This is actually what he's saying. Speaking about the opponent's leg. (why the hell do we hear the horloge parlante in the background ? What the hell is this ?)

Indeed. I also never said it was. I only mention Russo because of the "handing out a belt to another guy". I could have mentioned Vince also, this they did the same shit at one point. Well, I think it is hilarious and does make NOAH looks like idiots, basically. Giving out a belt to some other guy is always awful, no matter the circumstances. One of my most hated shitty booking trope. If their business has been helped, good for them. Likewise TNA...

I don't see any evidence it has helped them in any way. You think people in Japan know who the fuck Omos is ? It's one thing when they send Nakamura to face Mutoh for a big show, but Omos... But honestly, I don't think it is gonna hurt them either, I don't think it makes any difference one way or another, really. NOAH is a small company, but it's bigger than AJPW. It just cracks me up that WWE sends a guy to win a title and then not even do a match to lose them (it's not like he even had to take the pinfall).

You realize I can still read your posts, right ? 😂 Jeeez. Like you haven't exposed yourself enough by now.

The Jacob Fatu case is a perfect illustration of how nepotism works. For years, they haven't touched that guy because of his bagage, whatever his talent is. Then, the Bloodline gets hot and then have to bring every family member in to milk it to death. The guy never did anything in pro-wrestling apart from indies. MLW is the biggest place he ever worked for (not even TNA). And he got put straight into main event matches with Roman Reigns. The same guy, with the exact same amount of talent (in-ring, charisma, promo, what have you), not being a part of the family, probably never ever get signed because of his past, and if he does, I swear he spend 2 years in NXT to "learn the style" before getting moved up on the main roster and probably stays on the midcard forever before eventually his talent gets him higher. Classic stuff.

NOAH having an outsider win a belt and just give it away when he leaves without doing a job is good for NOAH ? Ok. I didn't talk about a partnership with Russo era WCW. I mean having a guy just hand a belt over to someone else is WCW Russo level shit booking.

The guy worked 6 matches, won the tag titles, and now he going back to WWE, so he just relinquish his half of the tag titles and gives it to another guy. Way to go NOAH, you don't come off looking like complete fools in the process, and the handling of the tag title is now full Vince Russo era WCW or something. Yeah, that TNA partnership is surely gonna end well too...

And so TNA got Mustafa Ali. Who is awesome. And Mance Warner. Who is not. That's one + and one -. But the hilarious news is that the biggest merch sellers at Genesis and the live IMPACT were Joe Hendry, Hardys and... Tessa Blanchard. Never change pro-wrestling fans... 🙄

On the positive side, I've been enjoying the Toni Storm angle a whole lot. I expect the revelation at the end to be that it was a master acting job by Timeless Toni Storm and that she really never had amnesia at all, and she returns as herself at the Australia show and get the title back. Also, giving Harley Cameron a match with Moné at Grand Prix is the best decision. She needs to break through, and Moné working her magic with her can only help.

Yeah, JTTS is too harsh but whatever. It doesn't change a thing to my point about either of them, really (although when he was at IC/US level, these titles did not mean much anymore). I just hope they actually work a good meaty match against the Hounds of Hell and drop the belts. I mean, that's an upgrade over being thought of at mention of Jinder Mahal or something... The age thing is... last week on Collision there was a Dustin Rhodes "competitive" squash. No promo. No angle. Not leading to anything. Dustin is not even a singles wrestler at this point, he's ROH tag champs with Sammy. So, WHY ? There's no way you're giving 6 minutes of your TV time to 55 years old Dustin Rhodes winning a squash. In 2025. (I won't even get to the fact he's still ROH six-men tag champ alongside the Von Erich dudes despite the fact they haven't been around in like 6 months, whereas the Gunn Club had to vacate trios titles as soon as one guy was injured. It's not like the ROH titles mean anything) What about Christian Cage *still* holding that ridiculous briefcase. It dates from Wembley. I hope they get rid of this WWE-lite angle at the time Mox vs Cope happens. They did not do the whole "can cash in at anytime" before, and it was a whole lot better. One *big* flaw of AEW's booking is that they drag stuff for way too fucking long without any good episodic development. And then they either forget about stuff (remember the awesome Takeshita & Okada tease ?) or do it way too late, without a proper build, because "well we have to do it now" (the bad and heatless Hook vs Cage match last week). There's a clear total escalation of commitment bias/issue going on with Coach TK's booking. It has happened before (lately with MJF vs Adam Cole), it is happening now with the Deathriders, and it hurts the weekly shows.

Considering his style in the ring, let's just say Pierre Carl Oulette doesn't give a single fuck about anything.

Will Ospreay can do any style, and any style better than most everybody ever. He can still do flippy junior stuff better than Ricochet. As demonstrated by the brutal garbage and bloody brawl with Omega, he can do that also. Put him with ZSJ, he can do european submission matwork up his ass. His match with Micheal Oku at Rev Pro last year was a masterpiece of heeling up like a bastard and building an underground babyface sensation like nobody's business. Put him in Arena Mexico and you'll see the result. Not to mention he adapted to US TV wrestling format ridiculously quick, including in term of promo work (he was great in Japan in his own way, but that was very different). And also : Young Bucks are the greatest ever. There is not even a discussion about it. Remember when they had this match with Griff Garrisson and Pillman Jr. and then people were clamoring that these two needed to be pushed as tag champs because they were so good already ? Same thing happened with Private Party. They got them handed out super cold, from being beat down by the Deathriders. They had not been pushed nor featured forever. Matches started cold because of it. And twice, by the end, the crowd was going crazy for Private Party, were invested in them winning. That is called great work. There's a reason why AEW was at his hottest *it itself* (and by that I mean, before the disastrous CM Punk signing) when Omega & the Bucks were finally pushed at the top acts in 2021. AEW was born out of a particular context, at a time when a certain audience at a certain desire. You can't just declare that you will "restore the feeling" magically by pushing this or that guy. Context has changed. The audience has changed. But still, there is an underlying sense of what AEW was build upon. That is what needs to be found again and adapted to what the context is today, if that is even possible. This is why I have lamented that AEW, after a while, became "just another pro-wrestling company". Then again, the great and important things only come in bursts.

The Deathriders stuff is not *bad* per say. It's just not clicking because it has started as super compelling and petered out as generic heel faction doing generic heel things. I really like all of them too, PAC as the killer, Claudio as the gatekeeper, Marina as the silent bodyguard and Wheeler as a despicable little shit (he's been awesome, really). But the compelling part has vanished after the Orange Cassidy match, and it just isn't getting over. Copeland being next in line (and already way too much time, and hopefully it is the Australia match and not the next PPV) has made it worse, really, because it was about Mox and the original spirit of AEW (which is why Orange & Darby were perfect).

PAC is awesome and has nothing but bangers. He could have a great match with a corpse. I could watch PAC have a match on every show for the next 10 years. This was the worst PAC match I can even remember. So no, not a good look at all. Hangman, Omega and Ospreay are the only guys who should beat Mox right now. AEW wants to restore the feeling ? FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.

No one here is arguing that they should have beat Hurt Syndicate in the current context. The Private Party AEW tag champs stint was doomed from the start and they have done jackshit with them after then won the titles. It is not about Private Party. It's about the Hurt Syndicate being a symptom of a lot that is wrong about AEW right now. Hopefully their run ends up being about *making* younger and better tag team important. I have no faith this will happen. Honestly, I would just have them lose to Buddy & Brody really soon, then have Swerve beat Lashley to a pulp. And then move Shelton to ROH or something and do whatever with Lashley. Also, speaking about too many 50 years old ex-WWE guys getting pushed, Cope looked *old* and out of breath for the first time since he's been in AEW. Having a boring match with *PAC* is not a good look. Overall, this episode was mostly enjoyable, really, glaring issues aside Chris Daniels retiring without much flair at all but in a last great match is the definition of his career. Underrated and understated how great and influential he has been for 30 years. Respect to the Fallen Angel.

Whatever one thinks about Britt Baker as a performer (she is not nearly as over as she used to and hasn't look very good at all during her latest comebacks), this is turning into a straight harassment and hate campaign though. There's nothing *concrete* about what's been said about her in term of how much she's liked or not backstage, despite some obvious issues (her suspension a few months back). This is going so far now as some dumb fuck pseudo "insider" spreading shitty rumors about her personal life, and of course Konnan jumping on it and spreading it even further, to the point she felt she had to address it publicly. Konnan is such an old piece of fucking shit, really.

After arguably originating (or popularizing) the "This is awesome" chant, the TNA audience comes up with another unique one. A pretty sadly ironic one considering it happened one day before Trump coming back to power with his click of fascists billionaires. But hey, I guess the Tessa experiment went bad pretty fast. Also, the two best matches involved two people who are leaving. I could not possibly give a flying fuck about Joe Hendry. I was tired of his act *before* he went viral. Him in 20 minutes main events on every big show is just a torturous thought. And then, there's the WWE relationship, where basically everything in TNA is about who is showing up in NXT next (see what I did ?). And when you don't want to hear about WWE nor watch any of it, well, it kinda ruins the entire deal. I will surely miss the days of IMPACT wrestling being this cool little small pond alternative with bizarre backstage angles and goofy fun stuff, and workers not so fit for the other bigger company finding a place there.

And your tag champs are now two 50 years old ex-WWE guy, one of which being a JTTS 4 Life. Wonderful. It was obvious it was happening but still. Private Party have been done dirty. Never pushed forever, they got the title without any build, Young Bucks working their magic made it seems they actually got over in two great matches, then squashed by the Hurt AEW Syndicate essentially. How low has this sunk since the days of Young Bucks / FTR / Lucha Brothers... This. His entire arc in AEW is some of the most compelling pro-wrestling character work ever in pro-wrestling. Oh yes. And I'm glad I still get this kinda shit in AEW, because right now, that's the only kinda thing that keeps me watching, as I'm totally disinvested from the promotion as a whole. At a point where TNA is becoming yet another WWE-adjacent product, it would be nice if AEW would pick up their game.

I mean, from this day on, it's gonna be hard to argue that one is much worse than the other. Nazi salutes on day one, uh ?