El-P

Agreed. When I mentioned Eddie vs Dean earlier on, it was in reference of the contemporary US scene. And Eddie vs Dean, like it's been said, is basically an upgraded (barely, honestly) version of Tiger Mask vs Dynamite. When you realize Tiger Mask ended up being part of the first UWF and helped creating japanese shoots-style, which basically also leads to more or less to MMA, Satoru Sayama may be considered the most important pro-wrestler ever (of the modern era, meaning the last 40 years).

So, Meltz mentioned Mansfield was actually genuine in wanting to make things better, just awkward doing it by speaking like a pro-wrestler and doing stuff like showing the blade to mainstream medias who were only interested in the stupid "real vs fake" issue, which was a moot point anyway at this time (I don't believe for one second that a third of people watching pro-wrestling in the mid 80's thought it was real, sounds like complete bullshit to me, and surveys aren't reliable at all anyway).

I believe I coined the term Self Conscious Epic about Cena vs CM Punk in 2011 (SummerSlam, right ?), but these two matches certainly were the template. I remember not being nearly as hot as everyone else on those two matches back then, but I was much more removed from current pro-wrestling at that point too. I wonder how I would enjoy them today... I also believe they were more Michaels than Taker, although they always worked well together. Speaking of which... "Sorry I love you". For the better and the worse.

Apart from the fact every HITC match had to have a stupid bump from the top of the cage, it really did not change pro-wrestling on a large scale I don't think. Jumping off cages was nothing new. It took it to ridiculous and stupid lenghts, but I don't think it had much on an influence in pro-wrestling as a whole. TLC was much more influencial, because ladder matches with huge stunts became a go-to everywhere in american wrestling after that point. HITC stayed a very WWEesque gimmick only and was used only a few times.

Gypsie Joe, Killing da business. Hilarious spot. He did not even jump nowhere near Kimura. Fucking summersault though, so much more impressive than Girlfriend Killah.

Because everything has to be about the brand. That's their strategy. The Brand is bigger than all, so everything has to rely on the Brand, much like every build for Mania is now about pointing to a sign and have Mania MomentsTM.

I wouldn't be surprised if you found a table spot somewhere earlier than this honestly.

Hum... It was 2002. The endless strike exchange really wasn't prevalent until much later.

Probably, yes.

This.

Totally agree. Plus it's a short listen, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Aubrey is so cool though, she's totally someone you'd want to hang out with, drinking beer and talking shit.

Agreed on both point. And that's coming from someone who *hated* Havoc the first time I saw him doing half-comedy/half-harcore matches with paper cuts spots and stuff. Havoc the actual worker is better than I thought he would be, plus he's got potential as a character and promo, as he showed in MLW when he was paired with Salina de le Renta (whatever happened to her ? Just just vanished from MLW TV and only does the announcing I believe. What a shame.)

I do think that ship has sailed some time ago already. Speaking of Roman, how much money one really need ? The guy is pretty much already set for life. If I was him, I'd say fuck this bullshit and call Harold Meij. 4 matches, big paydays. WK 21 : vs Suzuki. Roman wins. Dominion 21 : vs Okada. Roman loses. MSG 21: vs Tanahashi. Roman wins. WK 22 : vs Mox. Whoever wins. and then... Double of Nothing 22 : Roman Invasion, return match against Mox. And I am by no mean a Roman fan (but interested in what he would look like outside the machine). But there you go. Book it.

Because NXT worked in a bubble. For all the talk about AEW "not trying to expand their core audience", NXT was always the pseudo-indy WWE show, filmed at the same place with the same crowd. Full Sail is the modern version of the IMPACT zone. He never had to make people think "I've gotta see this" because he was preaching to a choir in a bubble. Going head to head with AEW they probably thought that the WWE brand was enough to kill the other guys even with their secondary brand. And it failed miserably. On paper, AEW should have been squashed like a TNA bug...

And that was part of the illusion of HHH being this great booker. He never had to care about long term. And from the point they had to work long term, well, the magic trick was exposed.

Best empty arena show since the beginning of the thing. The last few weeks really have been carried by Jericho & Schiavone's awesome announcing, but this week had three really good matches and some terrific vignettes to boot. Darby vs Cody was very good. Nice finish, straight out of a Bret Hart match from 1995 (which is great). The right guy won. Cody needs to be the first TNT champ, as the man makes the belt first, and they need to make it such as Shane Douglas made the ECW TV title as important as the World Title back then. Darby will be fine, he's just improving by leaps and bounds. Loved the garbage tag team match and to me Havoc (whom I wasn't a fan of at all when I was watching him in MLW) was the star of the match with his timing and screwed up charisma. The fact he reminds me (facially) of an old friend never cease to be odd to me. Orange & Penelope as always got their cool shit in but I thought the whole thing was fun. That footstomp thingy looked brutal. Terrific main event. Archer carrying on the Suzuki-Gun tradition of killing a ransom jabrone on the way to the ring is cool. The way he was countering every Dustin signature spot early on was a very nice touch. Archer was one of the highlight of last year NJPW's Climax, and considering it was the greatest pro-wrestling event, like, ever, it says a whole lot. He's not gonna have the "crazy gaijin" appeal, but he's got the looks, the work and a manager who can cut promos. Yeah, Archer is a terrific catch for AEW. Loved the ending, just perfect booking. I'm glad Brandy is back managing too, she's so good at it (although she'd be ever better as a heel but unless Cody turns, and it won't and shouldn't happen, there's no way we get any of that anytime soon). Speaking of monsters, next too Archer and Brodie Lee, Wardlow's presentation really comes off cookie-cutter like. Apart from the lack of tribal tattoo and very, VERY late 2010's haircut, everything about him reeks of mid-00's WWE monster guy. There's plenty of time to evolve, but for now, he's just there. Someone who isn't, however, is Britt Baker. She almost stole the show with a single vignette. What an awesome character she has turned into. Line of the night : "He was twerking ! He was twerking !". Tony Schiavone, 2020.

Because she seemingly jumpstarted the "writers" era when she worked in creative. Because of the 9/11 promo. Because "charity is the new PR". Because she made herself mother hen of all thing female pro-wrestling, scratch that, female pro-sports. Because she's been castrating every babyface on screen for 15 years. Yeah, she was at one time a good performer as a valet (like, in 2001 or so) and had some really fun (overrated because of the context and pendulum effect) performances at Mania alongside the King of King of Kings, but she has been mostly a detriment to the product as a whole forever now. Shane O gets a pass because he's seen as the "cool" McMahon despite the fact he's always had ego-driven performances (going toe-to-toe on the mat with Kurt Angle anyone ?) and that he's a terrible, TERRIBLE worker whose stuff looks like complete shit (never understood why he got a pass on that, really, even from the MOVEZ-hating crowd, I mean come on now at some point when everything you do looks godawful you gotta call a spade a spade).

Indeed. You forgot the part where Cornette says he'd want to murder Omega with his bare hands though.

Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko, ECW, 1995. The Eddilenko pinning sequence (you know the one, which they got from Tiger Mask vs Dynamite anyway I believe) which ended up everywhere after they did it. The pure workrate approach which was mind-blowing in context of the dull-ass and super mediocre (in term of in-ring work) mid-90's. The pretty much non-character driven aspect of the match which came right from their NJPW tours work, again a stark contrast with WWF and WCW at the time, which were at their all-time low in term of shitty gimmicks. One of the most influencial match(es) of the last 30 years, when you think about it.

When your champ is not available, have someone get an old belt somewhere and proclaim himself a champion of something. That's pro-wrestling 101. I can live with Moose as the "TNA World champ" during those tapings, leading to I guess a match against Tessa whenever they can. If Tessa is still signed (doesn't her contract run off sometime this summer ?). That main event was though though. Hernandez is a guy who never ever put things together and he looks just as clumsy as he did when he was a greenhorn. Homicide carried his ass for so long... A single Elgin vs Moose match would have been so much better. Really, the women had the only really good match again. A gimmick garbage match with actual characters with a story works so much better in those circumstances. Love Rosemary's new look too (she also looks to be in great shape).

I thought the same thing. It looks like an intern did that shit with Paint.

Trolling collective health disaster. Classy as fuck.

Long term selling.

I'm not really following what Disney does, as I'm not an avid huge blockbuster watcher anyway (I skipped the last Star Wars after all the terrible feedback), but I trust you on that. Hollywood is another level of fucked up I guess.

Well, there is that. Disney is not exactly better than WWE anyway.