El-P

I would agree it's hard to give any of these guys any sympathy when they come off like corporate empty shells with no character whatsoever.

Agreed. That's why I called it cosplay. They are re-enacting a process of work that existed and worked in a context that doesn't exist anymore. Nick Aldis is the world champion in the void. He's not the great worker you send from territory to territory to make the regional star look good. He pretends he is, while there's no territory. Tim Storm is not on the list with Ric Flair, Lou Thesz, Terry Funk and Dusty Rhodes, he's on the list with Colt Cabana, Jax Dane and Joseph Samael. IMPACT can say that Ken Shamrock was their first champ, or that Brian Cage is up there with Kurt Angle and AJ Styles, because it's true in their own context. The only context of NWA Powerr is a re-enactment shell, which is why it comes off faker that any other pro-wrestling product to me. Yeah, the promos are very good, but I don't buy Nick Aldis as this great world champion, because he just isn't, in any way shape or form. So there's a feel of "let's pretend" that I don't get from any other promotion, because of the context they are acting into. In a way, I'd enjoy the product way more if that went as absurdly into Retro as they do in their commercials.

Worrisome ? IMPACT still exists after 18 years. AEW had what ? 6 episodes ? Come on people. On the other hand, all sign tend to point to : absolutely no boom period at all. Which means the niche audience that is pro-wrestling today has to be split between all those promotions trying to get their part of the cake, instead of a growing audience making pro-wrestling stronger as a whole.

Except Cornette is not relevant at all in 2019. He was barely relevant in the 90's honestly, when he was bashing ECW while not understanding what was happening and was still booking race baiting angles in the South (and for the record, I liked a whole lot of SMW). And no, doing some announcing gig on a cosplay Youtube show main-evented by old TNA guys (sorry, but it is what it is) doesn't make you relevant in today's pro-wrestling landscape. And that is why it's sad. Corny to me was actually a whole lot more relevant 10 years ago when he was doing shoot interviews with KC, because that's what he was great at, doing historical pieces and talking about a business he had studied, loved and had a passion for. Not work a gimmick to please a crowd of mindless social media fanboys while shitting on a business he doesn't get, or want to get, anymore.

MJF on commentary is gold. Tully BLanchard swept on Nakazawa's baby oil. Send a GIF to Corny. That women's match had tons of clipping, again. Sadie Gibbs doesn't look to be ready to be featured, honestly, it seems quite a bit of editing is done when she's in the ring. I can't hear Big Swole and not think about the No Limit Soldiers. Janela/Havoc vs Jungle Boy/Stunt was very good. Hey, remember when people went apeshit because of Marko Stunt ? Yeah, that was last week's "let's get offended" from that crowd, no one cares anymore now, they moved on to some other stuff. That finish though, how brutal. Janela vs Spears at the PPV maybe ?

I made my point earlier in the NWA Powerr thread. Always been a huge Corny fan. Defended him for years before he had a cult following on social media. Right now, it's just sad. 2019 has been an amazing year for pro-wrestling in term of content, pro-wrestling is evolving and tons of old-schoolers sem to be perfectly fine with that and have tons of fun with it. Corny has turned into a bitter carny. Just sad.

Only Corny is embarrassing (well, he's actually working, we know that, but it's a sad case of working like I said before). The Rock'n'Roll Express worked for Bar Wrestling aka Joey Ryan. Ken Shamrock, a bad mofo if there's one, doesn't mind bumping for the dick flip. Yesterday on AEW Dark, Tully Blanchard didn't mind taking a bump for Micheal Nakagawa's baby oil gag. You know, nevermind the holier than thou pro-wrestlin' fans crowd, if guys like Ricky Morton, Ken Shamrock and Tully Blanchard think there's no issue with Joey Ryan's promotion and some of the most out there comedy today, well, that's enough for me. (not that I need anyone telling me what's acceptable of not, I don't give a flying fuck, but the fact guys like them get it is just refreshing)

Damn. Also, he's doing the same thing he was doing as a "journalist", commenting Tweets from WWE accounts.

Thunder Rosa looked good stiffing the fuck out of jobbergirl. That was the highlight of the show. Cornette saying they put "her picture in prison to cure sex-offenders" shows how far-off he's gone, we're in 2019 Corny (ditto "pearl-harbouring" people). I dunno, the heel turn afterward from Belle seemed kinda stupid since we don't have established one bit of a relationship between her and the champ anyway. Kinda cool to see the ex-Kobra Moon reappear somewhere though. Not sure were this is going, but this is going slow. Aldis vs Drake I would guess. Or Tim Storm vs Drake and Aldis vs whoever (hopefully not Anderson). Aron Stevens is basically the Genius. I dunno, he's not that funny either to me and he takes a whole lot more time of the show that say, The Librarians on any AEW broadcast. I mean, give Trevor Murdoch some TV time... Storm vs Cabana was a decent little match, old Cowboy still looks like a decent worker. I would not blame anyone for finding that Cabana's stuff looks out of place. Corny trying to put him over is never gonna get old though. I give them credit for going all the was with the Retro thing with that video game commercial.

I've been very critical of MLW in the last 6 months, to the point I was ready to drop it off, but damn that PPV overdelivered. For a company the pretty much was always underwhelming as far as putting on the important matches together, this was the opposite. Only The Von Erich was Dynasty underdelivered to me. The Von Erich guys are just there to me. Take off their name and they are basically two guys. Not bad. Not very good either, nothing special about either and nothing notable really, save for the fact their name is Von Erich. No Aria Blake, so that lacked in Dynasty's presentation. Interesting to see Aries & Ki matches back to back, because these two have a long in common, most notably to being professional malcontent and burning bridges left and right. And also, they are damn great pro-wrestlers. Aries got maybe the best single Teddy Hart match I've seen, this was quite good, while Ki worked a very fun short, really stiff match with Pillman, who was sporting his dad's Hollywood Blonde outfit. I also enjoyed a lot how you got very different kind of matches. Then followed the 6 men lucha/indy crazy spotfest, and although I couldn't care less about Gringo Loco, the other two made up for him being a souless spot monkey, while Injustice, despite the goofy gimmick, are very good at that stuff too and showcase character. Koto Brazil is such a joy to watch too. And then you get Lawlor vs Tatcher in a shoot-stylish match which I really, really liked a lot. Stiff as hell, looked like a struggle, sweaty and brawly and agressive. Tatcher is awesome and Lawlor works much better in this context than in classic pro-wrestling style. And then yet another completely different style with the ECW Stairway to Hell match. Again, I'm slowly warming up to Havoc because I noticed how he does some little things, like putting the stapled dollar bills on his pocket, which was amusing. Warner is a total vampire worker, bleeds like a freak. And then Bestia looked good too. And then yet another style of match, with DBS Jr. vs Hammerstone, which totally overdelivered as a hoss match. Best I've seen from Hammerstone, who's been really good on vignettes woth Dynasty but still comes off like a Thunder JTTS to me otherwise. DBS Jr. should be somewhere in the major leagues (no pun intended). Main event was everything and more. Old-school double bloodletting intertwined with some crazy-ass highspots (including by LA Park, which twisting senton from the top after an inverted jump from the second rope looked impossible, especially for a guy his age and size) and booking fuckery involving both managers. I've gotta say that about Samael, he's got a great look and is a very good promo so this is his best role. And Salina was like the hottest La Catrina ever, and did she contribute, and more than with her expressive acting... Yeah, that main event was exactly what you'd want from these two (Fatu is still green in spots during his control segment, but he's gonna be big, LA Park is just ridiculously good). Salina selling her injury on Twitter is kinda cool too BTW, in a old-school-on-social-media kind of way. MLW working with AAA is interesting. Now AAA is working with AEW, IMPACT and MLW. Also, a women division is gonna be cool, I wonder who are they gonna use from the indy scene since the talent seem scattered these days.

Why am I not surprised AJ Styles is a corporate stooge ? As far as Meltz apology, yeah, it was, but the "I don't want to spread misinfirmation" clearly had a very tongue-in-cheek dry humour aspect to it, because of the choice of words. So it had the best of both worlds. I apologize, but fuck you nonetheless. That's how I red it anyway (maybe because that's the kind of thing I would do myself). Is Seth a worst world top-of-the-promotion champion than Kevin Nash in 1995 ?

Right, and it's true of every topic in society sadly, which is a major problem that is already having effects (the rise of populism across many nation on the planet, including that good old Europe who's been there already; the puritanism that goes along with a fake progressism spread from american colleges across the world via cultural imperialism; conspirationism and whatnot…). But let's keep it PWO. Yeah, it's crazy how much people are acting like little soldiers, while the reality is of course way more complicated. For instance look at all the Youtube comments (yeah, I know, when Youtube comments are an instance of people not being dumb, we've fell off) under NWA Powerr looking forward to the show AND to AEW Dark, so obviously there's no disconnect between being a fan of the two shows, unlike how some people would want to represent the situation of X vs Y. Everything is not polarized. They already are, honestly. They get shit all the time for doing actual journalist work. Ah ah. Yeah, I'm sure of that. People know. How ? Doesn't matter. They just do. Hopefully yeah we can maintain some space of actual share and exchange, and not validation-seeking posting and hive mentality that is inherent to social medias.

Maybe Seth is just lying his ass off, like he always does when towing the company line. At this point, he's got about as credibility as Brucie. Of course they are. TBH, whenever Meltz retires, I don't know what happens with pro-wrestling journalism. I mean, actual journalism, not vague people on Twitter with "connections". People doing actual journalist work. Kind of a scary thought actually. It seems crazy he still has to be so important to this day.

Pull the plug on his Twitter, like, now. Then again, if he didn't make a speech, I guess he can be a whiny bitch on Twitter without contradicting himself. Gotta love the fact Meltz's extremely dry reply flies over the head of most people it seems.

Considering Satin was all "This is a fuel issue" a few days ago, well... He pretty much was considered a joke anyway I believe. Might as well officially become one. Also I'm sure he'll get the respect of Seth Rollins as a journalist.

This guy is gonna go down in history as one of the biggest stooge ever.

Ok, now you've got me seriously hyped up about this one.

Word. And so... Exactly. This guy has become the symbol of everything rotten with WWE culture. I mean, I'm sure we can find more qualities to Terry "World renowned stooge" Taylor at this point. Well, Taylor was a much, much better worker, for a start.

Vomit. About the Saudi relationship. And about Seth Rollins. Vomit, vomit, vomit. Fuck these people and fuck Seth Rollins, the ultimate corporate sheep who's a proven failure and WWE's official social media little whining bitch.

That really puts things in perspective indeed. I wonder what someone like Scarlett Bordeaux was making in IMPACT then, since she asked for her release because basically she couldn't make meets end. Damn, I was making twice as much hourly as a French teacher when I was in Paris (well, I was working very few hours a week, so I was earning zilch at the end of the month also, but that's another issue ).

Terrific show. The undercard was stronger then usual thanks to cool junior matches involving the luchadors, then Naito & Taichii can have a very good match in their sleep, and the big matches all delivered. In a way, I thought the junior tag team league final was the lesser of the "main events", as it was indeed very good but nothing special. Hey, here's Jericho, this guy is on top everywhere. Also, Suzuki vs Takagi will be all kind of awesome. Ishii vs KENTA was just MOTYC material. Ishii is simply brillant and one of the greatest wrestler ever. KENTA has never looked better since he came back to Japan, it's kinda shocking to think he was that NXT guy. WWE is such a great company at killing talent. Bushi vs Ospreay wasn't great, but it was very *fun*, and I take that over some overlong, overthough, over toasted epic. The poison kiss was a stroke of genius. The post match with Hiromu was awesome in every way. Goti vs White was great. I'm all for a Goto vs KENTA match at WK now, as he really has delivered in big matches since the G1. It really looks like Shibata wants to do one more match, but after the G1, the talk was absolutely not, so who knows. Still pretty cool to see him interact. I'm intrigued about this two days WK. It has the potential to be crazy, because no one delivers great long cards without any dead times like NJ.

That's exactly where I'm at. I've listened to countless hours of Cornette during the shoot interview craze, all the stuff he did with Highspots, KC, his early podcast days. I was always a Cornette Head. And I've reached the point where he successfully has alienated me in the end. Agreed. It's too bad, he could actually have so much fun in the current landscape, where the new generation of workers seem to be bigger pro-wrestling geeks (and in effect, just like he is), than ever before. He would get crazy love at Starrcast if he only let his guard down and be more open minded. Great post BTW.

I also totally agree with this. Usually the guys crying about censorships are the guys whose opinions are actually making the most noise too. That's pretty sad, considering the two have been on a friendly rapport for decades. The guy is simply gonna end up isolated in his bubble of own little cult group of bitter, negative, hateful fanboys, instead of being a respected and loved (as he should) part of the pro-wrestling landscape. The fact he's boo booing an event like Starrcast for these reasons is pretty sad, as it seems like everybody have tons of fun there, and it's a gathering of real pro-wrestling lovers of all eras. Yeah, SAD is the only thing that comes to mind when I think of Corny in 2019.

I for one truly hope that all the dirt will eventually come out. The tone of Meltz makes it sound pretty bad to me. Considering it's pro-wrestling, it probably won't though...

Wow, that's spot on actually. This. This whole situation is ridiculous and unacceptable. The boss leaving his faithful troops behind and trying to twist the entire story is just disgusting. These people are awful human beings. You're the captain of the ship, you leave fucking last.