El-P

So since we got in confinement (last days for us in France BTW, after 55 days), there's a sports TV channel which has been showing a Mania every Sunday on prime-time. SO I watched bits and pieces every week. Tonight is WM 28. Holy shit. Daniel Bryan infamous 20 sc loss. Randy Orton vs Kane followed by Big Show defeating Cody Rhodes in about 5 minutes. An awful women's match and then there will be that atrocious HHH vs Taker neverending HITC with more Shawn Micheals' stupid dramaqueen acting (I won't rewatch that, ever). Wow, that card was completely wack. I think Punk vs Jericho stole the show, and of course you had Cena vs Rock I on top, but still...

The feeling was that he was a guy who had been underpushed and deserved better than his spot. Because he was a fat guy who could do a moonsault, basically. So yeah, he was pretty much shot when the push (because there was no one else anymore, really) came, but to me he was totally exposed as a guy who was a bad promo (the gimmick sucked, ok, but still, he sucked on the mic, shouting like an angry Duggan clone) and a mediocre worker at best. Lance Storm (and to a lesser degree Douglas) totally carried his ass to a bunch of decent matches and of course we got stuff like "Oh, Hugh Morrus is so good" because people thought Douglas as a washed-up guy and Lance Storm as a boring dude who did not kick hard enough (yeah, absurd, thoughtless opinions are nothing new). The fact he was exposed later as an abusive piece of trash only complete the picture... But hey, he did a good looking moonsault for a fat guy on Nitro for years.

Well thank you @The Thread Killer for pimping those shows, I really thought they were very interesting and well balanced overall. With very few Meltz bashing (and really, it's sooo obvious he's working at times). I really enjoy the fact Bischoff has tons of *good* things to say about TNA (when in the past he mentioned he had nothing good to say about his experience here) and the talent there. His analysis about the differences between AJ Styles and James Storm are quite interesting I thought (never noticed the boo-boo face about James Storm before though, I'll definitely try to spot it now) and it's very true of AJ, whose always been a trooper no matter how bad the stuff given to him was (and really, apart from a few times, it mostly was, from being Christian fanboy to being turned into El Hijo del Flair to the upcoming Claire Lynch storyline) and who always managed to make the most of it too. I love the idea that Lacy Von Erich had a mouth like a garbage truck driver. Anyway, apparently they are gonna do more TNA shows, so that's good, since it's probably the less talked about topic of the last 20 years period (the Brucie podcasts were very good too, back in the days). The funny thing is, the last Bischoff podcast (and the only one in a very long time) I listened before those two was the one about Eric signing with TNA months ago.

Agreed about those. Booker T, yikes, the guy is one of the most overrated guys of that time period. I would call him barely good and it took really super solid worker to get something decent out of it goofy ass then. He surely got better in WWE. Yung Dragons were fun too. 3 Count, only two of them were worth anything though. As far as Douglas goes, he was super banged up but he was a detail worker. He made that completely ridiculous scafold match watchable. Hell, he had a watchable match with Konnan, whom I consider one of the worst in-ring worker I've seen. He also worked his magic with that piece of trash Hugh Morrus who, despite the popular feeling at the time, was overrated as fuck, was completely shot already and really was not a guy who deserved to be pushed ahead of his JTTS status. And he managed to try to make Torrie Wilson, who by her own account was completely clueless, to do *something* during his matches. It's not like he was a young guy in shape anymore, he was a banged up veteran and worked like one. But hey, I've been there in details years ago in the greatest thread of the history of this sport, so what am I doing pimping circa-2000 Shane Douglas in 2020 again ?! Don't make me talk about that period ever again !

Actually, although he was already very banged up physically, Douglas made the most out of the least in 2000 in the pits of hell of then-WCW. By the time TNA was around, he was completely shot though.

One fascinating tidbit of the last few weeks told by Meltzer is how it's because he bumped into Eddie Mansfield and his girlfriend in a store sometime in the early 90's that the Argentino Case resurged. Basically Mansfield's girlfriend approach Meltz and told him she was... Nancy's sister. And that Snuka had killed Nancy. And so Meltz talked about what she told him to Irv and that's how things got started. Reading that article, it's crazy Vince basically got away with covering a murder, got this guy his job back and honored his death on TV, and people are still debating whether this guy is a complete piece of trash...

Hey, I've been there before. He remains one of my all-time favourite wrestler. I wish he would pop up in AEW in some agenting/interviewer role. I have no idea if they are still available, but back in the days of the Austin podcast (early/mid 2010's I'd say), the two Douglas episode got tons of acclaim and it was indeed a great interview. The part where he talks about kicking out his addiction while he was in TNA is brutal (and brutally honest) I recall. So if you can grab those somewhere, I definitely recommend them. Also, by all account, Douglas seems like a super friendly guy IRL.

Well, Douglas was also working a character for the ECW audience that looked as WCW as "The Enemy". That was part of the charm of the promotion. The idea is that Flair did not only pushed back guys like Douglas but also Austin, Pillman and such. Either way, in 1995, it was a work already anyway even though Douglas hostility was real.

I didn't know it was used toward Quebecers too. It's the classic English talking about French insult. But REGULAR FRENCH PEOPLE DON'T EAT FROGS !

Yeah, kinda wrong stereotype. Quebec... France... not exactly the same thing. But really, I still don't know where that "frog" thing comes from ! Like, yikes !

This is only a guess, but since we have these two English-speaking Canadians, using a stereotypical French sounding song to me was a way to make fun of their French counterparts, also the workers clearly weren't quebecers from the way the one guy spoke. Anyway, I thought the whole thing was really funny and it's stuff like this I'm expecting from IMPACT during those times.

And so it was bullshit. And the highlight of this week's show, as really the totally empty arena stuff gets a bit sad. Absurd shit, I'd bet Ethan Page is responsible for this. 3 dummies as the "crowd", totally overhyped announcer, ridiculous "chanson réaliste" in French (a jab to Quebec ?) as the theme song of the two jabronies, and the best line of the night : Ethan "What match you'd like ?" Josh : "Kurt Angle." Ethan : "His 90 days are not even up yet !"

Of course it is. It doesn't sound trashy at all, because her character is not trashy unlike the BPs (which is why the BPs did not work very well as babyfaces).

It sounds even closer in French (bordel), but there's no link whatsoever and to make any kind of analogy between the two is mind-blowing. It's like saying you can't call anyone Dick because... you know... dicks. The idea of the name Scarlett Bordeaux evoking anything other that red vine is so stupid. I mean. Scarlet... Bordeaux.... FOR FUCK'S SAKE. Oh anyway.

Yeah, sorry but I've seen no trace whatsoever anywhere that could link that name to a brothel. This just seems like usual WWE random fucking with your gimmick. Hey, good for her, when she leaves eventually she'll be able tu use Bordeaux again. My city ain't no whoreshouse !!! I have every confidence in the world in WWE to NOT understand what her character is. Scarlett can be the slutty bitch heel a-la Beautiful People (way more classy though) but she really shines in the Maryline Monroe-like character, meaning she's actually super good in working comedy while still coming off bad-ass. So yeah, no chance in hell they won't fuck that up.

Care to elaborate ? Is there something specific about that name that evoques a brothel ? Or is it just like Angelina Love (or Alexa Bliss BTW), which totally sounds like a random pornstar/hooker name ? Because from where I stand, it evoques red wine more than anything else.

So I watched it on Youtube. Well, I don't like it for the simple reason that it makes sure there will be nothing, ever again, organic about Scarlett's entrance. She has a great personality, it's her strongest point, and now she's already been turned into a complete animatronic entrance. The lip-sync in itself is not the issue, really, Taiichi made an art of trolling out of it, but it's just overproduced. Well, it's WWE. Doesn't give me the itch to follow them in NXT (and they were favourites of mine), really, but then again, I would probably quit after two minutes of Mauro... More power to them if they are successful...

Crazy to think Mox was barely a year ago. Meanwhile, the Reviv the Revolt was on and they basically said they'd like to work a bit of everywhere, IMPACT (the North), ROH (Briscoes), NJPW (GOD, FinJuice) and AEW (Young Bucks). That sounds pretty damn cool to me. Not surprisingly at all, their main influences for tag team wrestling is the MX (Dennis & Bobby) & Arn & Tully . Interestingly, Dax/Dash favourite wrestler and most influencial to him is Bret Hart. They really sound like this new generation of guys whose dream in not "WWE" but actually "professional wrestling" as a performance art, which is why they wanted out because they had no interest in getting money to do jack shit. Can't wait to see these guys pop up here and there.

You know what, call me a mark, call me a fanboy, call me a stan, I don't care there's so much to love about that show I probably forgot half of it because every sequence was better than what preceded it. But yeah, love the fact they are having Shawn Spears (who's got a great personality as showed by his shit at ringside and the one time he did commentary on Dark) be a dick and trolling Cody about his brother. I'd love a dramatic heel turn for Dustin, the guy can pull off anything. I love the little tease of Darby & Taz getting into some sort of relationship/angle. I love how Brandy is such a bad-ass promo and how she did not sell (well, she did, but didn't) the fucking snake in her face and between her tighs (now I sound like Type O Negative). I love that Britt is my favourite female character this side of Madison Rayne and how that whole shoe running gag actually ended up meaning something. A match would not be great, but angles and promos from those two, can't wait. I love salty JR at times "Awww, where's Kenny, where's the Kenny Omega that faced Okada... Well Kenny's here and he's doing fine.". And I loved, really loved the hell of that main event. Matt Hardy on ice ! I was so hoping he would come out of it transformed again and HE DID ! The Sammy bump off the cart was insane. Omega's moonsault was some crazy on the spot shit. This match was MOTYC, I don't care, the whole thing just killed me. Easily the best show since the pandemic started and this is why I have nothing but trust in AEW. Also, they can run Daily's Place as long as they want, and this place is gonna be iconic in a few years if nothing bad happens. Yeah, loved this whole thing. (and yeah, I chuckled at the Corona advertisements all over the walls of Daily's Place)

Wow, I had no idea l'Elysee Montmartre was owned by Delaporte. I knew it was the place where old pro-wrestling took place though. It became a super famous concert place later on, which burned down in the early 2010's. It reopened a few years ago. Some really good memories here. It still is. The most famous one. Although it became pretty gentrified in the 00's. The idea of bumping into young Andre doing bodyguard work for the Pigalle hookers kinda blows my mind. I really need to read this book.

And their you go. Scarlett Bordeaux had a unique flair to it, it was an awesome name (and yes, the fact I basically come from Bordeaux made it even better to me, if only for the way everyone tried to pronounce it). Well at least that way she can use it back when she leaves/gets fired eventually. Stupid people. Hey, good for them if they get main event money. Then when Vince decide this killer looking guy with odd tatoos can't be with the hot girl, good luck...

Agreed. Once you get past of the point of realizing that you don't actually *miss* something (or someone, mind you) and that you're caught into new routines and stuff, that thing (or person) is fucked.

How ironic. After years and years of bashing the "idiotic fans and their idiotic chants" and other "bad crowds cheering for their indy darlings"... I agree some shows have been pretty rough and there's a sense of emptiness. AEW with only a bunch of guys on the stands making noise has been quite watchable though.

So what ? It was still a whole lot of nothing from a totally anecdotical figure in pro-wrestling history. Half of it was totally uninteresting : he did coke, was paranoid, fucked hookers. So compelling.

Well, if anything else, Bischoff answer to the Bubba vs Kong incident being "Go Kong. I hope she drew blood." won a big point with me.