El-P

I'm wondering if this is even possible in today's context. These three became stars because of the power of TV. They were TV stars. Today, are teenagers even watching TV anymore ? I have a 16 years old nephew, he's always watching stuff on Youtube on his phone, he very seldom watches TV I believe. The way of consumption of entertainment has changed a lot in the 15/10 last years for the new generation. It's not a wonder why WWE's demographic is so old. Everything seems to be more scattered than ever before, there's not the TV that is getting all the families & friends together around one program. In that context, I don't see how it's clear what the next big thing in pro-wrestling could be. Pro-wrestling exploded thanks to television. It had to evolved from the kayfabe era to a form of self-consciousness to keep the interest of new fans alive, which means more toward performance art with the focus on matches-for-their-own-sake as the main point of drawing interesting. Which is why also real feats (of strength, athleticism, stiffness, stunts or comedy) have become way more prevalent. Whereas the perception of pro-wrestling has never leaned more toward the fact it's a performance (hence, "fake" from the old standpoint of "hey, this is a sport"), the actual performances have never been more real, and as much as people like to make fun of "movez" and "flippity flips", pro-wrestling has never been a more difficult task in term of actual athleticism and in-ring talent (and so it is an actual sport now way more than ever before). In a way, pro-wrestling has never been more real, which is why what passed for "realistic selling" (which really wasn't realistic at all when you think of it more than three seconds) is now taking a backseat to the actual, real, extremely arduous kind of action that is becoming the meat and bones of pro-wrestling today. Maybe it's just a necessity out of an entire context evolving. Anyway, just ranting...

That's really a dumb as fuck argument though. But yeah, you're probably right. Which really paints a dire picture of pro-wrestling fans average intelligence (well human beings maybe). "Hey, the company I like is better because more people watch it bro."

There is that, yes. It's funny because for years and years now we've heard from WWE fanboys how ratings never mattered less and how the ratings going down and down and down didn't mean shit because people were streaming and watching Youtube and how social medias actually were the real indicators. Sure… The one thing that is for sure : there isn't gonna be a boom period. On the contrary, the market seems saturated (thanks for nothing WWE). The fact AEW exists is awesome. But pro-wrestling isn't hot. That being said, I would probably take a context where AEW can exist while pro-wrestling isn't too hot over the Attitude Era when WCW and ECW went to hell while WWF became unwatchable despite being the hottest its even been. If AEW can stay healthy, that's all I ask. And I mean, IMPACT is still on the air, so...

The thing is, I never understood the fascination of pro-wrestling fans with ratings. I mean, do you know any other kind of entertainment where people care about whether the show they watch is doing big ratings or bigger ratings than the program on the opposing channel or whatever ? I mean, yeah, it's fun for the whole "wrestling war" narrative, but honestly, I was shocked the first week when AEW trumped NXT. WWE is such a huge machine with unlimited budget and huge-ass roster of talent, there's no way AEW should even win, really. As far as I go, I'm fine with AEW losing in the ratings every week as long as they are existing and providing ME with a pro-wrestling show I really enjoy. For the business as a whole (workers, mostly), it's better for AEW to be really successful of course.

Big ass drop for AEW. Then again, their target audience is younger, so, maybe the DVRed the thing this week while getting wasted at the bar. Maybe NXT won because no Mauro means people like me who can't stand him watched the show his week. Anyway, gotta love WWE fanboys already shouting "AEW is dead" and stuff...

To me the rankings will make more sense and will be useful for storyline purpose after a few months when the win/loss records will be deeper. That is, if they keep both of those items.

I for one love Arn's soft tone voice. I could listen to him talk for hours.

Mutas can't work a lick anymore. He can barely walk. He can do a tag match and do a slow Muta elbow and spit mist, but that's it, basically. I know he worked a match with Marufuji at NOAH's last big show, and it was sad. So, against Aldis ? Ouch. If the NWA show really can't let go of the past, they might as well get the two Von Erich kids. That would get them away from MLW at least...

Yep. Worst episode since before the Crash ones. No idea who King Mo is nor if he should be considered a big deal, since I don't follow MMA. That Stinger Splash was picture perfect though. If Mance & Havoc are gonna work *again*, I hope they do something even more ridiculous, because I have seen way more than enough about that feud. The main event was fairly poor on many levels. First, I don't care about the Von Erich. They aren't very good, they aren't over either (ok, MLW's crowds often suck and sound dead anyway, but they just aren't). Nepotism is fine in a context where it at least makes sense. These guys in the main events because their last name is Von Erich in 2019 is ludicrous considering their level of talent. And the claw is dumb as fuck. Also, despite all the hype he gets because he does a bunch a cool spots, I've cooled down a whole lot on Fatu, for the simple reason he has never delivered any real good match apart from LA Parka, which doesn't count for obvious reasons. I have found every matches of his super underwhelming. Not even approaching the consistency of Fallah Bah having very good matches against Moose and Micheal Elgin on IMPACT, if you wanna talk barefoot islander gimmick kind of worker. And the nerve hold was a lazy-ass annoying rest-hold by 1990 standards, so in 2019, really... Of course, it's not like he's gonna have a great match with Ross Von Erich, but still, he doesn't strike me as anything special at all at this point. He's still green, so the potential is there, but let's not get crazy yet. The heel turn was like the most comically telegraphed ever, but Lawlor is better as a heel, so that's cool. Salina comes back next week. I hope this means more quality AAA luchadors and cool promos and vignettes.

Agreed. Hell, even if he showed up as the Frankenstein monster of the Dark Order, at this point, it would be cool as hell. Plus, you know, the Quebec connection.

...and back to being a complete afterthought because he's working in ROH. I hope he shows up somewhere I would actually watch him do his stuff once his contract is up.

That's disgraceful. Both I mean. The salary, and this piece of crap item.

Well, they did anti-bullying campaigns, which is absolutely laughable considering their company culture, so...

Yes, but what I got from Schiavone doing those ECW watch-along podcasts with Conrad is that he's way more open minded than most of his generation's counterparts and loves to actually have fun and make what he's announcing fun. Which, if you listen to JR's podcast, is really not JR's case. You can feel Tony is legit having tons of fun calling those insane matches of today, like he has a blast watching these old ECW shows. And it comes through. Meanwhile, JR is making stupid calls about "orientals" and flubs people's names, just like he was mixing up Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in 2000.

That's understood, but he's paid to do a job. If he can't do it properly, he has to pack his bags and fucking contribute in other ways. I mean, Tony Schiavone went to make the greatest call in the history of our sport (you know the one) to be super enthousiastic calling garbage matches with Mance Warner in MLW. So there. To me Excalibur & Tony together would be just great. If AEW proves anything, is that JR is and always has been an overrated announcer (including in Watts, including in WCW, including in WWE) and Tony Schiavone, in the grand scheme of things and on a day to day basis, always has been much better.

I guess Vince thinks depression means weakness. As much as I can't stand Mauro as an announcer and he may be an asshole, fuck Vince and his office stooges. Corey's tweet was a total dickhead move.

So, what I got from the Jerry Lawler episode is that really, most of the stuff he's been involved in in WWE has been pretty bad apart from the first Bret feud (not the 1995 one) and that he had "legal issues" in 1993, which was resolved. I understand JR and Lawler are best friend, but I dunno, it came off like a huge cop out to me to just say "legal issues". Conrad basically sent people toward the Survivor Series 93 podcast with Brucie. I mean, I understand why, but it did not come off well. Also, did you know once JR had a lunch with the Rock when they were hiring him, and every waitress came to the table wanting to serve him because he had a tank top and looked like a God ? No ? Because I think that's the fourth or fifth time he's telling that story already. The SS95 episode was ok and I was interested in the topic, but really, JR is grumpy, ranting, repeating himself a lot and not very compelling at this point.

Yep. He was right on point with that one. The one thing about these AEW people, is that they are smarter. They have studied and learned, which has not been the case of people in WWE or the old TNA (apart from D'Amore). For instance, one thing that cracked me up, during the break after the Young Bucks showed up, Nick challenges Proud & Powerful & Hagger to a six-men tag for *next week*. And of course, it doesn't get over well with the crowd, as these things never do. And would you know ? Matt jumps in and tells his brother "I told you not to say that, I told you they are gonna boo that one !", which was so funny and smart. These people are aware, and they aren't afraid to show you and don't want to insult their audience intelligence, and that's a huge difference. Considering your audience is smart can be tricky sometimes, as the idiots are gonna complain, but it's way more fun and rewarding when it works. And it usually does, because when you talk to people like they are actual intelligent people, it stimulates their intelligence. I never got why "smart marks" was an insult. We all are the product of the smart mark culture. We are pro-wrestling geeks, so I dunno why we should not enjoy the fact a promotion is being done by and for pro-wrestling geeks.

Callis was so great getting that one over. Also, Tessa invented the DDT. Yeah. Classic stuff. That's how you book a babyface. (to me they all shined as performers in this, but I want to say how great Ethan Page was)

It's this weeks show, so from 11.26. It was called IPWF this week, because that's the name of the territory they were pretending to be... Some Canadian territory, sometime in the early 80's, when Grandmaster Flash was a thing and such...

This. See : the Dark Order vignettes, which are terrific and actively turning what was a complete miss into something you can actually sink your teeth in now. I feel like 20 years of WWE shit booking has messed up some people's mind. Mystery can be good. The only thing odd about The Butcher & The Blade debut is that Excalibur acted like he knew who they were, yet didn't explain. But of course we're gonna get the explanation and story-arc. It's not WWE, they do things for a reason and will change the directory if things don't go well. People need to get back some patience/faith, I do get after two decades of mainstream US wrestling that has made no sense, it's not always easy. As far as Allie turning into the Bunny already, great. Yeah, I love the Pieter look, although much less strippery. Hell, as much as I know the character, she may show up as smily Allie next week and pretend not knowing what happened, since Allie's thing is that behind the smiling babyface, she's basically batshit crazy. Anyway, a team looking like characters from Gangs of New York managed by the sexy Bunny, I'm all in. I wonder if Marty Scurll is that far behind, because as far as look goes, he totally fits with the three of them... PAC vs Omega was the equivalent of Guerrero vs Benoit on Nitro. Give me PAC every week. DDP should get Waldrow & MJF do an extreme session of DDPY. They would die even trying Living in the Red Zone. Which I'm doing without dying (although it's close). Statlander was on Dark the other week. Yeah, she has shitloads of potential. Sakura is awesome when she channels the inner Taichii. The women division is shaping up slowly but surely, with girls like her and Shanna being thrown in the mix. Jericho may be the wrestler of the year, between this AEW Le champion stint and his NJPW big matches. Ted Irvine was quite funny. I guess Janela tweeted one week too early and then realized it, because they indeed did not show how he was eliminated. They need Tony Schiavone back and have him every damn week. That's all I'm gonna say about the announcing... (fucking oriental...asian... JR, really ?)

Sorry to hear that. But hey, if you have to watch one last show, this is a love letter to old-school pro-wrestling and the camp of it. Yes, it's pastiche, but to do a good pastiche, you have to legit know and love what you are parodying, which is why this show is so awesome to me. There's as much fun stuff in the second half of the show, but I don't want to spoil anything anymore.

Not since April apparently. I though the episode was pretty interesting, as Terri Runnels is always a compelling interview to me, even if it did not adress much in term of pro-wrestling content. I'll keep on listening when a guest I like pops up.

That's all well and good, but when did Taker really became a legendary character as opposed to a geat gimmick ? When he began to have really good matches, around the time Cactus showed up and pushed him further from his first way of working. He alreay had some good matches before has he was slowly transitionning to a more workraty style (for the time and WWF, absolutely), as showed by his match with Nash at Mania. Before that point, less was less with Taker, honestly. The gimmick was great (and not believable one bit, and totally "goofy performance art" too), but the matches were often dreadful (not his fault he was often paired up with shitty workers too though).

I'm not the one being upset, since I'm absolutely fine with it. A package piledriver on the apron as "just a spot" doesn't bother me anymore. Less can be more, but less can also be less. And more can be more too. There's not just one way.