El-P

The main event was kinda bittersweet : excellent match but it would have come off so much better in front of a real crowd going insane for Orange. The 8-men tag was awesome and the way they are planting the seeds is masterful. Glad to see the Lucha Bros back and Butcher and Blade hanging on with the other three teams was nice. Remember when Britt Baker was a highlight of the show ? Now she's been totally watered down in this useless angle with equally useless Swole, who also comes off like the heel, really, as she's basically harassing an injured woman who hasn't done anything to her. Bad WWE-like stuff. Funny, I totally guessed both "big announcements", which really weren't big announcements at all. I never really liked the "self-proclaimed champ" apart from DiBiase, but Taz digging up the old ECW belt was kinda neat, and he's doing a great job as a manager. Speaking of which, Nyla sure needs one because her promo was a complete mess. "All these guys with a manager also have something in common : Arn & Cody : champ... and.... uh.... Taz gave Cage a belt so he's a champ I guess... uh...." yeah and Shawn Spears & Lance Archer sure are champs too... somewhere... Count me in the "please no Vicky Guerrero" crowd. Does not fit Nyla at all and it evokes modern WWE way too much to me (a cameo here and there is ok). I dunno, if you want to think out of the box, Missy Hyatt is right there, plus you already have Jake Roberts. Nyla's squash match was quite fun though. I'm enjoying the whole Dark Order & Colt Cabane angle. And man, those bruises look brutal ! 6-men tag was quite solid, Stu Grayson is underrated as hell. Archer vs Janela was good stuff too, I really want more of Janela & Kiss on TV. The opening match was quite okay I guess, but yeah Private Party still are in the "potential" stage of their career. They need to learn to do more than cool spots, quickly. Leva Bates singing Jericho's song was adorable. Then again, Leva is always adorable, such a lively character in the crowd, always doing great reactions to the action. Kip Sabian with his stupid socks was the perfect picture of Millenial Douchebag. I wasn't too sure at first, but considering Ford's massive improvements, yeah, he's Marc Mero... No one mentioned Darby Allin doing some really stupid stuff ? Hey, the other day he was on DDPY too BTW. Next week is quite loaded again. Lucha Bros vs FTR already ? Kinda hotshotting to me but it will be awesome. Hopefully Cody's open challenge ends up being another cool thing... (Rusev I would love).

Actually she was fired over confronting Bubba when he worked in TNA because he said stupid shit about Haiti. Bischoff marking out about it (about Kong slapping him I mean) on his podcast was quite endearing. Yeah, Kong rules and Bubba is a piece of garbage.

Wow. That asshole still exists ? And yeah, why would you go *there* to begin with, much less I guess to address rape accusations ? With all the shit with Hogan stemming from dealing with this human piece of garbage (Bischoff's promos on the TNA episodes were worth the listen alone), this is a really piss poor choice.

I guess this comes on the verge of the woman (can't remember her name) posting pictures of them together. Doesn't mean that she hasn't gone psycho on him after he broke up that relationship or something. Doesn't mean that she isn't telling the truth about the rape either. Either way, it's very bad.

The April Hunter interview with Meltz is very interesting in contextualizing the whole thing. Her "hiring" story with WWE visibly still upsets her (understandably). Needless to say, what comes off of it is not very optimistic...

This went south pretty quick. And yeah, whatever one thinks about Corny's opinion about someone's look (which is quite ironic in itself and I won't go any further), shit like "thin-skinned social justice soyboys" has no place here. Really, why would you even say something like this here ?

So Brian Pillman Jr. basically did a competitive squash with Spears... okay, kinda odd to me. I wonder if that was some sort of try-out match but even then, it's not like he's any worse nor less marketable than Ricky Starks (he's actually a better worker)... Avalon & Cutler are a highlight of the show every week and Avalon really is the most underrated guy in the company at this point. Good showing by Serpentico, Scorpio Sky gave him a lot. Nakazawa is a one trick poney, but the reaction shots were pretty funny. Luther vs Kazarian & Big Swole vs Raché Chanel were legit bad matches though. Chanel's gimmick is amusing to me, but Swole is just sloppy as hell and hasn't improved one bit.

Yeah, I've been aware of some of it, moreso than most random French guy I'd say since I was familiar with Trump from pro-wrestling... But yeah, when you think it can't possibly get any worse, it actually does.

Gotta love completely senile Vince for thinking anyone over 40 is old but 34 years old Riddle is young. Also, that means the rape accusation "isn't an issue"... Riddle can get a premier spot on the new French governement.

Off topic but not really and I'm really depressed/pissed off about it : our new Minister of the Interior (basically the first cop of the country) is a guy who has an ongoing investigation for rape and sexual harrassment. And it's apparently not an issue at all to be promoted to this function. He's also an homophobe who spoke against the right for gays to get married and adopt children. And our new Minister of Justice is a sensationalist lawyer who was against the #MeToo movement and think street harrassment isn't real... So yeah, girls, go talk and file charges now... you'll be heard. As far as Pillman goes, good, MLW has lost every bit of whatever luster it once had.

That's awesome. Was the match any good ?

Ok so last night I dreamt that Buff Bagwell, who was actually Randy Savage's son, stole money from Savage's locker room, and I was there to witness it. Then Savage was going wild and Miss Elizabeth went to me and told me I had to tell Randy about Buff. And so I go to him and he's Randy Savage going crazy so he tries to attack me but Lex Luger runs in and Savage kicks him in the balls, while a second Lex Luger comes from behing and manages to calm Savage down while I tell him about his son Buff Bagwell stealing his money. Ok, I have not watched any WCW in 7 years, haven't watched wrestling at all yesterday and I don't do drugs. Go figure.

I would not call that deliberate in a "that's the way people worked back then" way but deliberate in a "let's put crappy, super limited workers for the first half of the show" way. That's also what I was referring to as far as bad stuff really sucking a lot more then than now. I can watch a stupid MLW six men sloppy spotfest and be at least entertained at some point by some cool spot. Give me SD Jones vs Iron Mike Sharpe going 15 minutes and a die out of boredom. For all the shit I say about Baron Corbin for instance, obviously if I get to choose between a match of his today and some I.R.S. vs Henry Godwinn stuff from 1995, I take the Corbin stuff as far as objective in-ring quality.

Also one thing that is very seldom talked about in reference to the "everything called in the ring" : a lot of matches really sucked back then too. Of course the great workers were having great matches, but man, watch a random WWF or NWA big card from the mid 80's and the bad stuff is sooooo bad. Nothing today is as bad as the bad shit from back then. Like, not even close.

Honestly, this was already the case 20 years ago.

I believe all the big All Japan matches from the 90's were carefully laid out beforehand too. There's no way you put that much deep psychology and so many intricate sequences without planning them. Too me there's a total over romanticization of the "call everything in the ring" stuff. It's easier to call everything in the ring when the matches and the spots are that much simpler. I also don't believe for a second the whole "every night was a different match because we listened to the crowd" discourse. Sure, it may not have been *exactly* the same match moves for moves but really, when every match is built around super simple spots (headlocks, dropkicks, armdrags) and a shine/heat/comeback structure, it's not like you're playing free jazz either.

So yeah Tessa was totally ghosted on this week's show, which is kinda old-school. The company does hurt though, because Elgin & Tessa were two of the main-eventers and Tessa had been their biggest and hottest name, and all of a sudden these are not there anymore with zero mention on TV. And then you get a Super Eric tease at the end of the show, which is probably the worst tease they could have done with me... Highlight was Locker Room Talk with Bravo, Taya and Rosemary. Slammiversary still looks like a pretty good card on paper.

This is all a matter of perception and bias. No one can watch a Hogan match and pretend it looked like anything other than a complete cartoon. All of John Cena's big matches totally came off scripted as all hell, no matter how good is selling was. Once you've done an irish whip or done a spot off the ropes, it's completely ridiculous to talk about struggle. Some worker bring more of a sense of struggle, for sure, but as a form as a whole, pro-wrestling always kinda looks like a dance, because that's what it is. The major difference is that spots have became much more complicated and athletically demanding. And there's also a lack of learning the basics in the US, whereas in NJPW those Young Lions are just hammered with it for years, which is why there are so above everyone else. I mean, I do like Private Party, but I gotta chuckle at the guy doing a standing moonsault as his very first offensive move in a match !

Pimping ain't easy. Really, that's the first thing that come to my mind. I mean, "available" for WHAT ? And.... "finance" a relationship ? WHAT ? Not to mention the obvious elephant in the room here in term of racism. Honestly none of the women in WWE has really talked yet (and probably won't). I mean, those stories about Randy Orton hazing and harassing women should have resurfaced, right ?

Really enjoyed the show. Opening tag match was excellent, Penelope Ford really has improved by leaps and bounds and her match with Shida was as good as it could be at this stage. Hager did a good thing by having his wife at his side, because he canno't look more bland by himself (WTF were those trunks ?). A good gimmick for them would be the annoying parents. You know, the kind who just can't shut the fuck up about their kids. hager has been at its best during those vignettes and I thought the "We love you" spot was quite funny, therefore this idea. Plus Catalina the Uncrown Miss USA is gold as a gimmick, kinda Debra McMichealish. Match was really good too and I like Cody going all Bret Hart on the finish. Private Party vs Santana & Ortiz was much better than expected to me. I credit Santana & Ortiz, because PP still are spot workers basically. Improving though, but there was no reason to push them after they upset the Young Bucks months ago, just not ready. Glad they got new music. Taz dropping "we're not running a sloppy business" had me pop hard. This is vintage Taz from 1997. That Darby Allen spot was insane. The guy is gonna hurt himself outside of the ring though at some point doing this stuff... Main event was very good too, Page looked like a star again, and it's obvious that's the whole point of this whole tag-team anyway. Omega is just great doing what he does but not overshadowing anyone. Understated best worker of the year, really. As always, enjoying the old "Bash at the Beach" feel of the show with the set ups and Schiavone & Ross wearing the flowery hawaiian shirts. Jericho on announcing was gold, but yeah 4 is too much. They've done a really good job with the first night. Felt like a bigger show than the usual TV for sure, everything seemed special and important, and *different*.

Damn, I tried my best when you were all down on Asuka. Then you got to your senses. Then you said Mauro Ranallo was the best announcer. I tapped out right there ! For sure, I've always hated that look, no matter who wears it. A fucking bulletproof vest in a pro-wrestling ring, really ? Roman is a clear case of being both underrated and overrated to me.

So, Kane also sucks as a mayor. Yeah, I have no idea where that whole thing come from, really. People in the US will fight for the "freedom" of carrying a gun and not wear a mask during a pandemic. And then wonder why the rest of the planet think very poorly of them... Force et courage to everyone having to live alongside those people, really...

And Aries would get up right after the finish. That is, if he could.