El-P

Naito vs Mox for the IWGP title is promising. I could honestly see Mox winning and have a stint in Japan for a while. Ishii vs Nemeth. Ishii is Ishii, so there's no way he doesn't have a great match with Nemeth, who just did have a great match with Alex Shelley in TNA. Hiromu vs Mustafa Ali. Ali is just another kind of awesome. Terrific match on paper (although I'm never quite as high on Hiromu as most people it seems) Stephanie Vaquer vs AZM. Vaquer shined last year against Mercedes. AZM is awesome. Maybe the title goes back to Stardom ? Anyway it goes, this is cool. Kingston & friends vs Gabe Kidd & friends depends on who the friends are. But the premise rules. So yeah, that NJPW US show looks like tons of fun, actually.

The idea that it makes Punk looks cool is completely ludicrous. The guy clearly initiated the physicality. He's obviously an unprofessional douche and that's a pattern (the other day on Jarrett's podcast they were talking about an altercation between Punk and Teddy Hart back in early TNA, and Punk basically was the same unprofessional guy initiating physicality, and really, think about that, being *more* unprofesional than Teddy Hart). Apart from that : TERRIBLE idea all around, and it does reeks of WCW 99 booking, when all has been said and done. They just should have ignored the interview, which really no one really cared about anyway (obvious with the lack of reaction last week to Copeland rah rah speech). Ospreay should not have replied to Levesque either. WWE had their biggest Mania ever and AEW can't pack any serious houses right now. Read the room in term of perception. Of course the public discourse should be about all the awful thing WWE has been and may be stil about (Saudi show in two months, hi) instead of shitty-ass angles like this, but since success erases everything, it won't be. Trying to punch up while you're weaker and failing at it is just a terrible, TERRIBLE idea. Just focus on being a healthy alternative #2 and deliver what AEW fans (overall) actually want. Great pro-wrestling, cross-promotion dream matches, funky randomizers and innovative stuff. Leave the rest of it behind.

Considering what has been said about the rumored footage (basically, Jack Perry taking care of himself and CM Punk looking like a goof), it could be a deal of a total troll-like "vignette" about Jack Perry and how he can handle himself against some guy who attacked him backstage, and how he's the new Elite member, while never even acknowledging the other guy is CM Punk (when of course, it's *all* aboute exposing CM Punk both as an unprofessional shit and a shitty-ass fake tough guy, the kind of guy who talks about "chocking someone a bit" and being a pro for not "murdering Hangman"). But it's almost TOO funny for their heel characters. Then again, they are expert at meta-trolling anyway. The thing is, it is supposed to build for their match against FTR, so on paper it's tricky as hell no matter how you slice it. As long as it exposes a douche, I'm fine with anything, really. When this is the "big issue" in the company, well it's really completely irrelevant comparing to... well, you know what...

That Chris Colt episode was fascinating on so many levels. Gotta say those promos in those gay porn videos looked pretty awesome. "I'm gonna run you off and then I'm gonna fuck you !". You don't say.

The answer is very obviously : no, they don't. Apart from Eric Young. He's a shiny, as they say. The rest of them, well, this : And yeah. The Nick Khan hug. Whatever you wanna say positive about Nick Khan. The guy was still praising the hell out of McMahon *after* he came back the first time around, when all the NDA's and the settlement of rape lawsuit with Rita Chatterton had been done. A few weeks before the Janel Grant lawsuit he was still talking about Vince like he was the greatest of all time. And as far as Stephy goes, I remember Meltzer talked about how the Ashley Massaro stuff (ya know, being fake sympathetic leading her into that meeting with officials where she was told to no-sell being raped, because the militaries where too precious for the company) really turned lot of people off. And she was put right at the beginning of Mania Night 2. Also, last time she gave a big speech was the "Thank you Vince chant". New era my ass.

You most of all don't thank Bruce Prichard, who's been Vince's pet dog forever. And you don't thank Paul "I did not read the lawsuit" Levesque while lying your ass off about how *he* made you come back to WWE, when Vince is the one who hired Cody back. This part was legit embarrassing, and the Levesque ego stroking doubled with hammering down the fact that "VInce is gone, forget about everything, this is a new era" on RAW is already unbearable.

"I love professional wrestling !" sure came off like something he has been wanting to say for a quarter of a century.

I only watched the main event, and yeah, she sounded fucking awful to me. But hey, what do we know. Micheal Buffer. From Bret Hitman Clark fame. Also, gotta say this, Bubba Ray Dudley getting a Mania gig after being a complete douchebag about AEW forever is some hilarious WWE pettiness.

For all the talk of Naito being way past his prime, he sure had one hell of a long match against Yota Tsuji. And he's still over as fuck. I actively look forward to the Mox match next week-end. Also, nothing can stop Takagi from having a great match, not even House of Torture fuckery. The EVIL match was another level of clusterfuckception with not one, but two gimmick referees and more House of Torture bullshit. Of course, it only works when at the end of the day, they get fucked, which was the case here. Funny how EVIL is actually a much better pro-wrestler than SANADA, it's just the gimmick that sucks. Jack Perry with a beard doing the CM Punk elbow and Young Bucks trademark spots is total trollbait, and it's pretty fun. Time to bring his ass back home. Junior tag multi-team was a blast too. And then, that Gabe Kidd promo would gave made Brian Pillman proud. That guy is already a great worker, he can be a major player.

Sure. My original point is that money was neither in the chase nor the dominating babyface. Of course the brand had a bunch of key players, but who they were was much more important than their role in a pro-wrestling sense. Hell, Roman was a heel, but before Sami and Cody exploded, he was basically the most popular wrestler on the roster anyway. Oh yeah ? Not popular in Brazil ? I gotta say this, based on the last time they were around, the crowd at Backlash is gonna be MOLTEN. Last time they chanted Rollins theme for TEN STRAIGHT MINUTES. And if they get the idea of introducing the announcers Agius & Chereau during the live show (which they should, honestly), these guy will get a Rock/Taker/Austin level pop, I'm telling you.

Fun fact, out of the next 6 PLE, only SummerSlam is happening in the US. That's unheard of. And the more they'll go, the more they'll probably book toward those "territory" figures, Drew in Scotland, Gunther in Germany, Priest in Puerto Rico since I guess they'll eventually go back. So the heel/face dynamics will also depend of where those shows happen. Gunther is gonna be a babyface in Berlin, no matter what. Drew is gonna be a babyface in Glasgow. Now, maybe the main title will not be defended on every PLE, although one would hope Cody is around a whole lot more than Roman was the last two years.

Except I did not say that at all, plus you gotta know I'm going for an absurd example here on purpose. I said the deals are done, and the deals are done because of the overall brand, no whether you have a heel or babyface champ. The Saudi deal was made years ago, when they were on the decline. They have been financially idiot proof way before they got back hotter than (maybe) ever. Fox got them a huge deal because of Ronda. The Saudis got them a huge deal because of the stars of the past. Things weren't clicking then, and they still made huge-ass money deals. Of course the Roman vs Cody match was a huge draw in itself (if you look at the monetary aspect, their biggest ever, plain and simple). Of course the product right now is hotter than it maybe ever been (again, in financial terms, not in term of mainstream pop culture) because of the Roman/Cody/Sami stuff going back 2/3 years ago now. And of course Karrion Kross is a goof, even moreso with hair and stache.

Money is neither in the chase nor the reign, not anymore. Money is getting rights deals for a popular brand's content. Which they already have. They have Netflix for 10 years (or 5) and they have bloodmoney for whatever long. That's were the crux is. They could book Karrion Kross as a heel champ for two years, it would not change anything to their current money deals. (BTW, Karrion Kross with a stache and long hair is the weirdest visual ever). That being said, this year's Mania was the biggest ever. And it was all about the chase (two years in a row, really).

Cody Rhodes was literally recruited by Vince, who personally flew with Bruce Prichard to meet with him and tried to convince him to come back. His mega-push started under Vince. Him winning at Mania was basically what Vince promised him. Gunther is definitely a Levesque guy. Iron crosses and all. He COULD beat Cody in Berlin. Don't think that's the best thing to do, although maybe, heel Gunther against whoever hot babyface at Mania next year (Cody again ? Sami ?) doesn't sound like the worst idea.

Went straight to the main event, because whatever. I understand what they are aiming at, and for that, it's totally the apex of the style they want and absolutely perfect for this kind of setting. I'll say nothing about the match itself, because really it's way secondary. It is very much a big-ass spectacle with giant stars run-ins with music and such. I find the execution to be so fucking heavy-handed still, but I guess it goes along with the territory. Everything has to be totally underlined. It's blockbuster shit at its most ridiculously bloated and streamlined, so yeah, it's totally fitting for Dwayne to be part of it. Not my thing at all. Does it work for its audience ? Sure. Totally a peak modern WWE Mania kinda match, and lining-up the stars with Cody winning at the end totally felt like he got that rub, kinda like Austin ran-in to help Foley win his first championship. The feel-good party at the end is halfway heart-warming with the talents/family, half-way ridiculous and even gross in its corporate tear-jerker aspect (seriously, Bruce Prichard ? Like Stephanie opening the show wasn't bad enough). I don't think it's no way near the best *matches* in term of Mania style epics. I do think it's a great epic *overall spectacle* in term of Mania epic spectacles, and in such, exactly what it was supposed to be and aimed to be. I personally have no time for it nor for the company, but that's neither here nor there. I did saw the teaser for the Lyon PLE too though. I facepalmed myself so hard. There's about three stock footage shots and they managed to have a girl with a beret holding a baguette, while playing this godawful sappy pseudo "traditional" chanson française music which would be at home in a presidential campaign clip for Marine Le Pen. Part of me hope they get some really shitty special guests like TiboInShape for the event. Make my day.

This is glorious

So the show started with Stephanie McMahon and ended with Bruce Prichard in the ring ? "This is the same picture." Yeah, that is fucking gross. Ronda is 100% right. (EDIT : I checked who the hell that Speed guy is, so he was banned from Twitch for sexual intimidation on a woman a few years back. Sad jokes writes themselves) Anywoo, main event sounds like an Attitude Era Avenger-like clusterfuck, which on paper certainly sounds much more fun than the previous night (if you care bear MAGATaker of course). Gotta watch this sometime in the week probably (too much damn stuff to watch). So now the next two PLE's are in Lyon and beautiful, progressive Jeddah. There's a joke to be made here for sure. (joke explained : because Lyon is infamous for being the worst big city in France for extreme-right violence, and France really is taking a turn for the worst overall, it might very well become another extreme-right led country like Italy or Hungary in 2027. Then again good luck for next November, people) Cody's arc is surely fascinating. There is no way, when you look at where he has been his entire WWE career the first time, he was gonna end up at this level. It took him leaving, hooking up with the Elite in ROH, doing All In, doing AEW and then coming back exactly at the right time. After years of Roman style main event and never-ending Bloodline angle, the creative surely has to shake things up and change the formula now (never had a babyface champ like this one since, well not even Cena since half the buildings were booing him). They can't go for a neverending title reign again, but at the same time, Cody losing even in 6 months would be kinda disappointing after such a landmark win (it is the biggest Mania ever, with the biggest main event ever). He probably should be champ until next year, really, at the very least.

They already have teased an alliance of sorts (or at least an angle) with Jack Perry, so it might be this actually. I don't care. Whether it's a troll-bait that will make the shitposter in me laugh my ass off or a legit WCW 99 idiocracy moment, I'll enjoy it either way. Whatever it is, it can't be as bad and dumb as that Billy Gunn vs Jay White segment anyway.

Judging by the reactions around, it sure is tedious city. Greatest Mania Ever not even close thus far in term of feedback, and the best match on paper already has happened. I wanna watch the whole thing for historical purpose, because it really is the first Vince-less Mania (or is it ?) and a landmark in term of opening a new era (or is it ?), but everything I read about the main event makes it look like my personal idea of pro-wrestling hell.

It's never not gonna be funny that, apart from the fact Vince's legacy in the end belongs is the sewer alongside the Harvey Weinstein's and the Bill Cosby's of the world, speaking strictly on a professional wrestling level everybody is like "Oh, yeah, we're glad this fucker is gone, we're so much happier without him and everything is so much better for everyone". Only Bruce Prichard is secretly crying in a corner somewhere, not understanding why his genius boss is now being disrespected (why is HE still employed BTW ?). If karma existed, he would infact be a bitch. Be strong on Sunday night bubba. It's the rule of life. Everybody has to do the J.O.B. eventually. (jeez, haven't even watched the ROH show nor most of the indy stuff I wanted yet, while trying to avoid any spoilers)

Bloodsport was quite the show. Usually the idea is better than the execution, although there always is a few really cool matches, but I thought this was the best and most fun Bloodsport show overall. The crazy part of it is that it actually had talent from both AEW and WWE, not to mention TNA and NJPW. Talk about a forbidden door.

Meanwhile, WWE did not let Lex Luger, that super relevant TV character in 2024, appear on camera for Sting's retirement. If I'm Tony Khan, I don't give a shit. Just be better (it's not hard at all). Plus, really, Keith Lee really is not exactly a big part of AEW's programs anyway and probably won't be either in the future. I would not be surprised if the guy ends up retiring soon, so many health issues. He's also one guy I could see jumping back to WWE as soon as his contract ends (if WWE wants him back).

Ospreay has never been in WWE. So he's early in his career from the point of a WWE brain. Whatever he did before doesn't matter. He's not talking about Okada (or is he ? ) and certainly not Mercedes. The funniest part is that in three years, WWE will probably throw a shitload more money if they want Ospreay and by then they'll have no issue whatsoever giving him a lighter schedule if he wants it. Also, WWE is promoting Logan Paul. DAS GRIND

They are so petty and insecure it's crazy. They are in such dominant position, with idiot-proof money for years, and yet they just can't help themselves. It's so fucking pathetic. Also, there was a big MJF chant behind Levesque at one point.