El-P

So they are gonna induct Hulk "I guess we're all a bit racist" Hogan, again ? Really ? MBS in the celebrity wing when ?

This. Doesn't surprise me from known bully and stooge JBL though. The more I know about Taker IRL, the less I care about this guy. That's the issue with knowing too much about performers. Then again, maybe if performers were less of bullies and assholes in general, everything would flow better for everybody involved. I sure hope the younger generation is aware of this and things are only get more mature in the future. Funny how you can't win anyway. If you're not a pro-wrestling fan, then you're just in for the money and you don't respect da business and da boys and shit. If you're a huge wrestling fan, you're a mark and a geek. Ok.

Thanks. Agreed. The Wild Cards stuff looks just thrown together and Eddie did cut a promo about the Rock'n'Roll, so maybe infact he's just not working there anymore, because it seemed logical for them to challenge for the tag titles. The Wild Cards seem quite ok now that I've seen a bit more of them. I've also seen Royce Isaac on a Bar Wrestling show, and he looked like a decent worker in that context.

Not keeping track at all anymore. So much greatness in pro-wrestling in 2019, I mean the G1 Climax only was ridiculous. From the top of my head, for how big it came off and because of which show it was on and how unique it was, Cody vs Dustin strikes me as a good candidate, although obviously some of the NJPW stuff was out of this world great again this year. Young Bucks vs Lucha Brothers ladder match was insane and maybe the greatest car crash match ever too.

Well, like @Alucard is saying, there's a thing about finding the little gems in the pile of dogshit. Plus I find TNA to be a fascinating case. I mean, the fucking Young Bucks stealing the show ten years ago on PPV. How crazy is that ? Also, this won't last, since there's only a bunch of Monday Night shows. Plus, I'm not doing it because I'm legit depressed like I was when I actively dove into TNA some years ago. So, it's just for the heck of it.

And I love Ricky Morton and consider him as one of the greatest worker ever. But yeah...

So against whom are the Rock'n'Roll Express working then ? Yeah, either way that's odd. Although Homicide looked bored as hell. Man, AEW should jump on Kingston and pair him with Ortiz & Santana. They worked against each other in IMPACT so they are familiar, it would be the perfect act with Kingston on the mic working a match once in a while (since he wanted to retire).

Yeah, it's interesting to hear him say that despite spending 18 years in the E, he never really thought he found his place, or even that they made a place for him, often demining his opinions and experience. Also interesting to hear basically what Meltz says often, is that they basically are doing the shows for an audience of one. Yeah, love the show, Arn is a pleasure to listen to.

It's been that way about AEW since the very beginning. People are irrationnal. I dont remember that kind of reaction about any other promotion ever. It's like all of a sudden AEW threatens what people are used to and they fear it will ruins pro-wrestling "as it should be" forever if they become a successful promotion. For the very first time, I kinda feel a real generation gap. I get a feeling of "that techno shit is not music, these guys don't even know how to play real instrument" at times. It's been brewing for a while now, but we are reaching a point where most of the workers are from a completely different generation from the "old-schoolers" from the 80's and 90's. AJ Style is a 40 something year old. That's the guy who was pro-wrestling in the future in the mid 00's. 15 years ago. We're past that generation too. For someone discovering pro-wrestling now, a Canadian Destroyer is a super cool spot but not a finisher. Like, a big vertical suplex 30 years ago. And it's fine. Superkicks are like clotheslines. You can do intergender wrestling. So ? They know what's up. I truly feel something happening like never before, as the last remains of the 80's and 90's are slowly disappearing, and guys like Jericho & Dustin embracing the futur like Terry Funk did in the mid 90's. Up until, let's say the early to mid 10's, you could still feel the presence of this entire previous generation, people from the 90's were the big legends. As we're turning into the 20's, the landscape is washing itself clean of this era, much like there was barely anything left form the 60's and 70's in the 90's (yeah, you had Backlund tearing it up in WWF in a style that looked alien and was cool because of it, but no one then talked about the good old days of 70's wrestling, because the fans were younger then and brought up in the 80's). Because most of what constitutes the pro-wrestling fans of today still are an heritage of the "glory days" of the 80's and late 90's, tons of these people seem to be scared shitless of what's coming up. Those damn millenials and their movez and looking like geeks and not understanding selling and heat and such. At one point, if AEW catches up, after a while most replies to the critics will end up being : ok boomers.

Next NWA tag team champions. Hopefully Scurll and Harper end up in AEW doing Villain Enterprise, so people can bitch about the finger breaking spot and yet another cult-like stable and whatnot.

You mean, pro-wrestling is not about promoting yourself to get people see you work at a show ? Damn... I must have misunderstood something then... No but, seriously, we get your point. But your are trying way too hard to rationalize your distaste for Janela. I understand why he's not your type of wrestler, and like I said I'm not sure if he's gonna successfully translate well in the long run, but he's not nearly as bad as you make him to be (I find him actually quite good in his own way).

Destination X was kinda crazy in that it painted a perfect picture of TNA. On one side, they had the Motor City Machine Guns vs Generation Me totally stealing the show in an Ultimate X match. Awesome stuff that totally precedes the style of the 2010's by a few years. Throw this shit on Dynamite, and it's still an amazing match. And also, the fact TNA signed the Young Bucks and showcased them in their signature match on a PPV in 2010 shows how progressive this company could be. Much like they were in the 00's when they were running AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Chris Daniels, which was the state of the art pro-wrestling emerged from the most advanced indies like ROH at the time. Much like when they were putting women in position to have strong serious match and draw viewers as early as 2007. This match is the same, it's basically the wrestling of the future. But then, the main event concluded with this infamous sequence : Which is funny as fuck, but also tragic in the grand scheme of things, because it sums up what TNA really was instead of what it could have been.

Yeah, because you're absolutely not trying to paint a personal opinion and bias as a fact. Janela may be not everyone's cut of tea, but to say he just sucks as a pro-wrestler is ridiculous. He's had shitloads of excellent and memorables matches, including a few in AEW already. He's a successful indie show promoter and as such, had more buzz and drew more than say, Nick Aldis (just grabbing that one off the hat for shits and giggles) ever did thus far. That's being a good pro-wrestler too. Also, saying Mick Foley was a collegial athlete to try and argue your point is extraordinary ridiculous, I'm sorry to say. Foley got over by taking stupid-ass bump like the nestea plunge on the concrete. That's how he got over. That's totally because he was a collegial athlete and not a masochistical loony who jumped from his roof when he was 16. Really now, people are totally grasping at straws to justify their own biases. The whole "He can't throw a punch" argument (about anyone) is something I need to never hear again in my life and it will be too soon. Do people even realize that throwing a punch was considered by the older of the old-school, as in before the old-school people are usually referring to, as a total shortcut for shitty workers and totally business exposing ? Because you see, if you throw a bunch of punches and the face of the opponent doesn't get black and blue and swollen, then the business is exposed and it's not "realistic". That's also probably why closed fist punches were historically "forbidden". Clotheslines at one point also were considered business exposing shortcuts for shitty workers (just listen to Larry Z.). Now people are bitching because that cowboy guys doesn't do just lariats, because that's realistic brawling old-school pro-wrestling. Guess what, it isn't. Back to the punches : Hulk Hogan's punches looked like shit. The Rock, oh man, The Rock and his open slaps looking punches were ridiculous. And Steve Austin was a decent stomp-hard-on-the-mat-with-both-feet-because-that's-realistic kinda puncher. Come on now. None of this stuff flies. It never did. So yeah, Joey Janela doesn't throw good punches. Guess what, it's not what can get him over, so no one cares apart from people who don't like/don't get him and have to justify their own distaste by trying to rationalize it with "objective facts". The problem is that very often, rationalizing biases makes for poor argument and discussions. I'll say this about Janela, he may very well be a guy like Sandman or Mickey Whipreck (hell, or even Tommy Dreamer, who is respected by all) who will not translate the best in a mainstream context. Have good matches and cool garbage brawl, sure, but maybe not get over to the cult status he reached in the indies, because his nature is being a guy from the indies. We'll see.

TNA LIVE on Monday Night ! Week 2 Flair is bleeding like a pig cutting a promo. Gross. Hey, total hotshotting of Jeff Hardy vs AJ Styles sounds like a good idea. No ? What the fuck is Hardy mean by "breeze" ? Did I miss something ? Corporate Mick Foley ? That's a fresh idea. Straight from 12 years ago. The Nasty Boys. With Jimmy Hart. In 2010. DA FUCK. Spike Dudley Brother Runt. Oh, fuck me. This show is getting worse by the minute. FOLLOW DIXIE CARTER ON TWITTER !!!! Did Knobs ate Brooke Hogan ? No, not that way. Fuck me twice, Jimmy Hart is part of the match. WCW 2000 heaven. Seriously, poor Team 3D, they have been nothing but troopers in TNA, they did not deserve that shit. WTF JIMMY HART PINS BUBBA ???!!! I have no words. The show wasn't good since Hogan showed up, but it's like going live on Monday made everything ten times shittier. Amazing. I wasn't ready. I have watched way too many good/great pro-wrestling TV lately. Waltman legit shitting on the company was kinda funny though, saying "We've been kicked out of better places than this." No fucks left to give I guess. Desmond Wolfe & Mr. Anderson vs Kurt Angle vs D'Angelo Dinero was a good short TV match. No complaint. Could have been much more with actual time. Anderson stayed the fuck away from the three good workers and honestly did not look bad when he was doing stuff in the post match, work or promo wise. Whatever happened with the Pope ? Quite a good worker, shitloads of charisma. Went nowhere I guess. TNA... I guess this segment will end up being the only good one of the show... Angelina against one of the Beautiful People. Of course, they choose Daffney, because it really doesn't make any sense. I like those girls though, less of a match than an angle. Daffney getting a tool box was cool, the beatdown was ok, much like the save by Tara. Title match for Daffney, which I can get behind. Ok segment, but once again, women are totally rushed. Racist Hogan cuts a promo, jack ! Hulk confronts Sting. He's in the catwalk. WCW circa sometime in the late 90's... Meanwhile, we're one week away from John Cena vs Batista at Mania....Meanwhile, in the IMPACT Zone, RVD jumps Sting from behind like any babyface would. Hogan is gonna use the bat and Bischoff interferes like he's still the boss of the nWo. He talks about Hogan's daughter > reaction shots of Brooke. Yay. "5 minutes challenge" match between Nash & Hall. Write the jokes yourselves. Waltman mock-facefucks Eric Young. Girls in the audience laugh. Almost sounds like a haïku. Ok, so Beer Money are heels, because. Against Hernandez in a handicap match. With Jeff Jarrett as a special ref. Not enough stip if you ask me. Plus, Matt Morgan is now basically turning heel on his partner (and tag team champ) too. No, no overbooking at all. That doesn't sound like the worse of Russo in 2000 at all. Eric Bishoff wants to cut Foley's hair now. Seriously, I don't think TNA has been that bad, like, ever. Not even during the weekly PPV era. Mr. Socko in the mouth of Uncle Eric. Then shaves his head. Whatever. Bischoff's hair kinda looks like Flair's now, only grayer... Motor City Machine Guns cutting a promo about Generation Me. aka, the Young fucking Bucks. This is surreal to think the Bucks where part of Hogan era TNA, but here they were. They really look like Young Bucks too. Brian Kendrick was also on the payroll. Crazy X-div roster, when you see Amazing Red showing up too. And Daniels. And Kaz. All these guys in an Ultimate X match is the stuff TNA was built on, so at least we'll get that at the PPV. Of course they have to already do stupid dives on TV from ladders, because Russo. Abyss using Hogan's old WCW theme (Jimmy Hart trademarked) is mind blowing, honestly. How transparent can you be ? Gotta love the announcers talking about how reckless Jeff Hardy is as he's grabbing a headlock 30 seconds in during a TV match after one offensive move. Apart from that, this was a good TV main event, considering how much I think of Hardy as a worker. Styles in 2010 was just ridiculous. Abyss counts three. I guess the power of the Hulkamaniacs contained in the WWE HOF Ring that Hogan gave him (yeah, the entire angle is based around a WWE HOF ring, I'm not even kidding) also allows him to referee any match. Holy shit, Abyss chokeslamming Flair INTO the ramp was an awesome spot. Idiotic, but awesome looking. Ok, so although mostly really terrible, it was not as terrible as the previous week, thanks to two good matches and a decent build to the PPV. Still, this show, which has been pretty poor anyway since the beginning of 2010, has totally fell off a cliff. And people are nitpicking every little things AEW does ? Comparing it to TNA in some respect (yes, Meltz actually said this, funny for someone who got so much shit for being "AEW's boy") ? Like, really ? You have no earthly idea.

EDIT : nervermind. I said everything I had to say about that matter. About MLW, I wonder what are the plans with MJF. How long him and Jimmy Havoc are signed with them ? It can't be sustainable to appear on both shows for too long. As far as DBS Jr., I'm sure either IMPACT (aka the Canadian mafia) or AEW would want him.

I know you weren't. Just making a broader statement about something that kinda annoys me.

On the other end, I'm so sick of hearing "oh, he's got mental health issue" as an excuse for every guy acting like assholes. Sorry. Fuck that. I HAVE had mental health and anxiety issues, including mental breakdowns. Not an excuse. Explanation maybe, but not an excuse at all. No sympathy whatsoever. Work on yourself. Seek help. But don't act like an asshole. I know the drill. I've been there, on both end of the stick. And that's all I'm gonna say about it.

Ask and ya shall receive.

Because if there's ever a time to revisit the last Monday Night War, it's now. Plus it's only 8-9 weeks I believe, so there. TNA LIVE on Monday Night ! Week 1 Oh yeah. Dixie Carter sighting. She was such a daddy's little girl money mark. I'll give her credit, she had that really hot cougar thing going on. So, TNA's plans (Russo on creative, mind you, it really is fake-WCW 00) for pro-wrestling in 2010 was Hogan vs Flair on TV basically, with TNA originals as tag along. Abyss is a Hulkamaniac, he's basically Evad Sullivan. GENIUS ! Hogan even has a fake NWO theme. Hey, Brooke Hogan in the crowd ! Things are setting up to be really good. I'm glad I'm not watching this shit in HD, Flair in tights in 2010 is gross enough in shitty resolution. AJ Styles with a Flair style robe is yet another ridiculous idea. I won't even mention the earring and the blondie stripes. He doesn't look like the TNA World Champ and ace, rather like El Hijo del Charles Robinson. Sting shows up three minutes after the match begins. If I says I guessed the swerve from a thousand miles, would you believe me ? So yeah, Sting turns on Hogan. 10 minutes in, and you have pretty much the worst of WCW 2000 already. This is so awesome. That's a nostalgia show people ! Backstage, Brooke Hogan and a bimbo friend of hers showing huge cleavage. Or maybe that's her mother. No idea. She's officially a character too now I guess. Holy shit, Kazarian looks young. Daniels looks pretty much the same. Yeah, TNA had talent, that's the saddest part. They have a really fun three-way with Doug Williams for the X-div title. Although it's pretty tame by today's standards, I'm sure people back then complained about too much movez and such. Shannon Moore with his cyberpunk look shows up. Well, this is quite ok. Dixie Carter is also an on-cam talent now I guess. Russo is such a perfect suck up. So, the women tag team champs of Hamada & Kong are no more because... basically because Kong slapped the fuck out of useless racist shit Bubba the Love Sponge who only got his job because he's a wife sharing friend with some other racist shit. Huge loss for TNA. Taylor Wilde & Sarita, really good workers. Beautiful People, really good gimmick. I love their music theme. Lacey Von Erich is clueless yet still worth more my time than either Ross or Marshall, since she's supposed to play clueless. Tara is an overrated WWE product, Angelina Love is miscast as a babyface and... yeah, ok, short nothing match, Daffney fucks over Tara, Beautiful People are the new champs. These women matches aren't the priority of the new regime, obviously. Post match, JB ask to "bring in the bubbly" to celebrate. Damn. RVD is the surprise appearance everyone knows about apparently. Can't hate that one, although he's still kind of a WWE stapled guy short-circuiting the entire promotion. Pins Sting in 3 seconds. Sting beats him up forever. Hogan does a walk-in. Bubba the Love Sponge sighting. Look at those two racists shit. Bat shots galore. Gawwwwwwwd. This IS WCW 2000. And now, Kevin Nash and... Eric fucking Young as Vincent or something... calling Hall & 6-Pac... The Battle of fake-NWO vs The Band aka Hall & Nash aka the Rehab-Wolfpack. This IS WCW 2000. Yeah, that was the plan for TNA going live in 2010. Well, Young vs Waltman was a fun very short match at least, as these two can go, but really... Kurt Angle was then working this whole patriotic, sucking up to the army gimmick. So Republican of him. I always hated jingoist shit, so this is a huge pass for me, thank you. Although Angle is good at *every* kind of promo, he really is. Brawl with Ken Anderson. Yeah, it seems like Angle can carry anyone, in any kind of angle. I'll admit too, Mr. Anderson does carry himself like a star and does take a good beating. Still, jingoist angles don't work for me brother. Speaking of which, more of the Racist Wife Fucking Friends. Earl Hebner sighting, because 12 years old buzz is the way to go. Jeff Jarret is pissed because he's not the chosen one anymore. Beer Money (babyfaces turning heel ?) beat on him. Mick Foley special ref. Ok what the fuck ? Was this set up during the commercials ? Could be a really good match or something, it kinda is actually all things considered because all three are super solid workers, but, WCW 2000 people : barb wire bat, second ref run-in etc... Brooke is a TERRIBLE actress. I wonder if she cries because she realize she doesn't make the best choices of boyfriends... Main event : AJ Styles & Flair vs Hogan & Abyssmaniac reboot. Old-ass Flair juicing like a pig. Really disgusting. He can still throw mean chops. Apart from this, Hogan vs Flair is pretty damn pathetic. Like the worst Nitro main event imaginable from 95, with guys 15 years older. Ok, nice, old-ass Hogan bleeding again too. I wonder why Styles ended up in NJPW, why would he want to work against Tanahashi in the Tokyo Dome ? Desmond Wolf was there too. (how many talent did TNA waste ?) And the Pope (who had been a highlight of the previous month). And... fucking Jeff Hardy, because we need MORE WWE rejects. So we're in the era of Jeffrey having been a huge star, which I never ever got, but whatever, so I guess he's a name. Pathetic show. The only good segment was the X-div match. 90% of the rest was trash. The focus was all on Hogan. Brooke on camera. Dixie on camera. Bubba the fucking racist Sponge on camera. WWE rejects Jeff Hardy & RVD shot to the top of the cards. NWO redux angle. Jingoist shit because when in doubt, get some american flag out there. The women, once the highest rated and hottest part of the show, were a complete afterthought. Yeah, WCW 2000, only even worst because of the wasting of great young talent. At least in 2000, WCW had barely anything to waste.

The momentum issue is interesting. To me you have to take in account that they are not only working for the long-term, but also working at a slower pace than WWE in term of how their storytelling is put together because they only have four or maybe five PPV a year. You can't work at the same frantic pace when you have to stretch the biggest issues and feuds to build to those PPV matches. You have to take it slower. Thus far they are not doing as good of a job as IMPACT is doing (same structure of a few PPV's a year with an even more limited roster) and it seems like they do have trouble keeping momentum sometimes for their hot acts like Allin. They are also learning on the job, while D'Amore and Callis are veterans (at least D'Amore as a booker who has been responsible for the best year and a half TNA had in the 00's in term of actual product). They need to find the right pacing for their main event feuds and the best way to fill up, structure (as in, not do *three* kinda cultish act/promos the same week, although I enjoyed the three of them) and keep midcards feuds going quicker, while also building the most important people with the most important matches for the PPVs.

He wanted to buy IMPACT from Dixie ? It's interesting that Corgan was interested in getting a pro-wrestling promotion when he was involved in ECW back in the days and may even have been interested in buying ECW at one point. The guy clearly wanted to be involved in pro-wrestling forever. That doesn't make him smart about it, but he at least knows what he's getting into and has a love for it.

This is confusing to me. People (maybe not you, I have no idea) have been complaining forever about the WWE TV being what it is, and now that AEW clearly is not using the same formula, and I think you're absolutely on the right track when you talk about older WCW programs or even Nitro (which had that revolving doors of characters and feuds mixed up together instead of guy A married to guy B and guy C married to guy D without anyone crossing paths which is WWE style booking), people are gonna complain about that too ? I'm definitely getting that older-school way of booking from Dynamite, where everything is not systematic, underlined and overproduced/overexplained. More space for the audience to actually think, fill up the blanks and breathe. It sometimes seems to me that a lot of people react and think about AEW like they are WWE and like the WWE way is the only existing way (as far as booking, working big matches, looks etc...). For instance, Shida doing a job this week doesn't mean it's 50/50 booking nor the fact they have "already given up on her", which is typically the WWE way of thinking. You want a more sports-like approach as far as win/loss mattering, well, this is how it works. NJPW worked that way for ever. You can have people winning some and losing some, the difference is that the wins and loss have to matter, whereas 50/50 means nothing ever matters.

The dream match of the 50 years old. Hell, PCO vs Jericho would kill it too. Damn, PCO is gonna stay in ROH or go to NXT and I'm gonna be all disappointed about those now.

He'll cut a promo next week, he'll be fine. BTW, two things I haven't seen talked about : As Nyla was putting both the ref and my girl Shanna through a table, they cut to Dr. Baker in the crowd and Excalibur said in a very matter-of-factish way "That's Dr. Britt Baker. She's Adam Cole's girlfriend". That was pretty funny. Also, just as Jericho's hilarious promo was interrupted by the Jurassic Express, was he about to say "Marty Scurll" ? I swear he said "Marty". Also, as I am rewatching the Lord of the Ring trilogy, pretty much like every Xmas seasons now, it just hit me : Marko Stunt looks like Frodo. And also, Luchasaurus namedropping Chretien de Troyes and Eleonore d'Aquitaine on a pro-wrestling show might be the most bizarre and awesome reference ever. What's up with all this French stuff on this show anyway ? (and I also have a master's degree in medieval history, so I have that in common with Luchasaurus, how cool is that ?)

Totally agree about the first point. Don't tease me about MLW. Salina coming back already has me hyped up a bit. If they do get their shit together, they could be one hell of a cool promotion as demonstrated by their PPV (and some ridiculous stuff I like like the GTA Vice City Death Match the other week).