El-P

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.

Meanwhile, IMPACT's show this week was a love letter to old territory wrestling (and a bit more) in all its campy glory. Just brillant stuff.

Ok, this show is a must-see. Easily one of the most fun show of the year for me. Right up there with GLOW.

Except Pro-wrestling has never been believable. Ever. Or maybe, just maybe, in some forms of the UWF in Japan, way before MMA became an actual sport. A Canadian Destroyer is a basic nearfall in 2019 while it was a deathspot in 2005. Much like a vertical suplex was just a basic spot in 1990 while it was a finisher in the 70's, and a DDT was a transition move in the 00's (unless you are Raven, but that's another matter) while it was a killshot 10 years before. The only difference is that we lived through the last 30 years and we were conditionned to think what we saw when we learned how it works was the norm of forever. Except it wasn't. It was just a singular point in time in a given cultural context. Meltz talked about how the mexican guys he met when he was young thought US pro-wrestling looked faked as hell while lucha looked real. If I'm 15 today and discovering pro-wrestling, I have no issue whatsoever with how the matches are worked because that's the norm of today. And it doesn't make more or less sense than the norm of 10, 20 or 50 years ago.

Ok, I won't spoil anything more, I promise. Just that one because it's an obvious one : Dreamer paying tribute to Terry Funk, which you know is so totally heartfelt. This show is pure joy of being an old pro-wrestling fan and having fun with the camp of it all.

I'm half-way through and it's the most absurd pro-wrestling show this year since the Penis Party during Mania Week-end. It's also actually the right way to pay tribute and have fun with the territory era. There's SO MANY little references beyond the obvious ones. From Callis being Sexton Hardcastle to Sami Callihan being basically Cornette and Ethan Page doing a better Ric Flair than Nick Aldis, to the big-ass stain on the mat, the squeaking sound of the ring, to four Horsewomen (basically) with Jessica Havoc cutting a female version of Flair-banging-rats promo, to the rare appearance of Bill Ding (so he WAS a thing) teaming with Jim Nasium, Tim Burr and Ray Strack, nods to Dusty promos & Austin promos, Fallah Bah & D-Lo paying hommage to Tazmaniac/TNT/HeadHunters while referencing the Demolition theme song, Cody Deaner being a perfect Fabulous One Steve Keirn (and he could be a Freebird too), Johnny Swinger being himself (of course) and an innovator of moves and maybe my favourite : Madison Rayne as Jazzy Fitbody in a classic angle (although that wicked second rope splash was way too dangerous for my likings, this diving shit is gonna kill the business, there's no need for this movez insanity, and then what do you do next ? Top rope splash ? Seriously...). And that's half-way through. Seriously, IMPACT is killing it.

The two best matches I have seen this decade, and ever, pretty much : Omega vs Naito, G1 Climax Final 2017 and Omega vs Okada 2/3 falls from Dominion 2018. Okada is pretty easily the wrestler of the decade. Most important promotion, to me : Lucha Underground. It got me back into the groove of modern pro-wrestling after pretty much 12 years of not caring anymore, opened my mind to look toward the future instead of the past. Best development : the creation of AEW.

Don't kid yourselves, Omega is gonna be the AEW champ eventually. They really should bury the hatchet with NJPW. Omega vs Ibushi in AEW would break the Internet.

The thing is, Cornette being here or not doesn't change the booking and the end result one bit. This is where they were going since the start. I guess the whole storyline is unfolding at the PPV, but yeah, like I felt this whole deal was kinda going nowhere for weeks now. However, the fact this show is getting almost as much dislikes as likes on Youtube is totally the result of the Cornette debacle. With idiotic comments polluting the entire feed. So, if there's only one thing to learn from this whole deal, it's that Cornette is indeed totally toxic and shouldn't be touched with a ten foot pole. If the NWA had not hired him in the first place, this week's show (if it had happened under this format, which very well may have been) would have merely been dismissed as a missable recap show. Instead, you're getting a complete backlash because Corny has built a cult of hateful, behind-the-times followers with an agenda (and who also don't mind racist and homophobic stuff and whine about "SJW"). The irony is that in he end, the most faithful NWA Powerr watchers may end up being the crossover section with the hardcore AEW fans, since Meltz reported 1/3 of Powerr's audience came from Dark. And these people are not crying over Corny being gone... (somewhere, Court Bauer is breathing with relief, having dodged a bullet)

Honestly, I have a hard time thinking of Kenny Omega as a geek, since I saw him sell out (almost) the Tokyo Dome and the Ryogoku Kokugikan and have the two best matches I have ever seen in my 30 years of fandom. And since it's all a matter of perception, I see Omega as that guy. The quirkiness/meta aspect of his personality has always been there, including in Japan. Maybe when all is said and done, he'll be one of those "He was bigger in Japan" guys (like Brody, Hansen, Dr. Death), and it's perfectly fine.

Ok. Corrected. Booker was not from Harlem either, so my analogy is even better that way.

Yeah, he's making good points, get the match over, can be funny. Well, I hope they noticed, because he sure can make a transition when needed. Loved this episode, best Dark thus far. Shanna vs Swole was a fine match, with Swole showing more personality and looking more comfortable. And then don't even expect me to be objective on Shanna, but she's quite good anyway and I'm glad she seems to be in their plans. Awesome Kong's new presentation is glorious. Leva Bates & Peter Avalon getting squashed will never get old. And then they go overtime for a really good title match. Evans can do some crazy looking stuff. Not on par with the Janela match, but a cool showcase for Evans in singles and Omega is just a pleasure to watch anytime.

I dunno. Omega basically is like Bret Hart or Chris Benoit, he is canadian and he's a great wrestler. That's about it, he doesn't need to be a "character" beyond this. Oh, and he's got kind of a quirky personality and loves video games and Japan. As far as Page, same deal. He's a young, good looking workhorse pretends to be (corrected) from Texas, hence the cowboy look. What was Barry Windham's "character" anyway ? I mean, if you take some of WCW's comparable workers in term of status on the card, what was Booker T's character apart from being a workhorse from pretend Harlem who said "sucka" a lot ? Well, Page is a guy from pretend (corrected) Texas who says "cowboy shit", uses a bunch of lariats and has ridden a horse to the ring once. Works for me thus far...

Terrific little TV match. Also, Spears is quite good at announcing. A feature on my girl Shanna ! AEW listened to me. Yes, they did.

I loled too. Yeah, no one did the split to enter the ring before, and for that she has to be commended. She was awesome at it. And yeah, this bit on Thunder Rosa is what AEW needs to do with their women. I like James Storm, so I'm ok with it. Still, he lost the NWA US championship yet still gets the title shit ? What ? Also, the Cornette's sycophants burying the show under dislikes and asking for his return is pretty pathetic. Cornette ASKED YOU to support the promotion, it's not like the PPV is gonna be any different as far as booking and presentation goes.

Ok, so I'm not crazy ! Thanks ! Melina can sure talk. Not sure what her "accomplishments" are though. Last time I saw her, she was helping her ex-boyfriend in LU. Kinda cool to see her back, she was a good manager back in the days. No idea how well (or not) she works inside the ring.

Empty studio match. Just to empty Jim Cornette. I admit this is kinda funny as fuck. Stupid, but funny in a super meta-ironic way. The segment is shit though. Really, Corny fucked them up real good, because I don't see how this helps them get any momentum for the PPV. Get Melina out there already !

Yeah, they are totally working around Corny. His cult of dickheads going wild on the Youtube feed. Idiots. Ok, I enjoyed Thunder Rosa as the Queens of Snakes in LU, but I'm a legit fan now. Really cool piece on her.

@SirEdger, is it me, am I drunk (highly unlikely), or Eli Drake kinda looks like a young Jean Brassard ? It just struck me right now. Is this show a way to edit the fuck out of Corny ? Have they exhausted their tapings ?

Let's be honest, everything about AEW is totally overscrutinized. Even when you think about how it's said that their female roster doesn't even scratch WWE's. Well no shit. WWE has been the N°1 in the business for most of the last 35 years. They have almost unlimited ressources at this point. They have signed and developed women for a good 6/7 years now and have grabbed most of the most promising/talented girls out there in the last 3/4 years. And then people act like "Aww, AEW's women roster is so weak, it's embarrassing blabloubli." Well, they are not even a year old company with barely two months of TV. Hey, IMPACT has a better women's division than AEW. They have been in this game since 2007. In what universe could AEW's women's division be up there with WWE's ? It just makes sense. AEW is still green as shit as a company. People seem to forget they are not WCW in 1995, coming off 5 years of existence as a national company with the heritage of the Crockett territory. The fact they have been as good as they have is simply amazing, which is what makes people lose their mind. How dare they ? So, every little stuff that isn't connecting yet, every gimmick that is not over, every match that is not great (despite the fact we're told all the time that great matches don't matter, go figure), every quarter in the ratings they don't win is just painted as a miserable failure that has to be corrected NOW or even impending doom.

Like I needed another reason to love the guy. He said it himself, he still is in the process of figuring how to work in a weekly US program. So he's perfectly aware of the fact he does not have the same aura he had in Japan. It's a work in progress. It's not like he has Cody's experience on this matter.

Kenny Omega vs Jack Evans for the AAA Megacampion title ? I'm hyped.

If you listen to the interview with Meltz, it's obvious he's more interested in doing different things, like having a match with Janela, having a crazy deathmatch (done), becoming great at intergender matches in Japan etc... He's less focused on getting himself over than trying to make other people right now (that is, as a producer too). As far as big matches go, he more than delivered each and every time, be it against CIMA, Janela, PAC or Moxley (or Janela). Plus let's be honest, he's still one of the most over guys on the roster.

Aldis vs Drake at the PPV. Drake wins with help of Kamille. Forms an alliance withe the tag champs. Aldis pushes Tim Storm to challenge. Screws him. The PPV is in three weeks ? They really need to push forward those storylines. More Trevor Murdoch. Less Aaron Stevens. The fact the Youtube comment section is already full of Corny sycophants is sad, when himself asked to support the promotion no matter what.

Wow. Bischoff trying to make himself relevant by replying to Corey like he's Dixie Carter piling on Cornette last week, only to get bitchslapped. This stuff is crazy ! (can anyone elaborate on the story that apparently Conrad was not happy about then ? If anyone is still listening to that show, that is ?)