El-P

Brucie on the infamous HHH vs Booker T feud. "We were telling a story." It's not like Triple H had been doing any blackface parody in the past...

That sure puts a different perspective on "Putting smiles on faces".

That's too bad. She's been such a great valet for Cody. And she isn't a particulary good pro-wrestler. Then again, Cody really can walk on his own now, and I say that considering she was a big part for me to help make Cody a much better act and worker. She's a great promo, so maybe that will be enough to make her feuds character centric. Yep. Plus she's a dentist (did you know ?). That's a pretty cool story to tell. It's not like she's gonna be thrown the title yet though, apparently Emi Sakura is gonna be the next challenger.

On the previous page I had posted the one with Masa & Joey Ryan, and it's a really cool edition too (where they spend like 10 minutes putting over Candice LeRae, Ryan's ex partner, who's working NXT now).For anyone who doesn't like Joey Ryan, it could be an eye opener to how much this guy actually thinks about his stuff (not his stuff, well, his stuff is actually a good chunk of his stuff but I mean his stuff in a more general sense), and he comes off like a really cool guy and another one who just loves pro-wrestling.

Priceless. Matt : "What are the guys watching us now are gonna do when they become wrestlers ?" Chuck : "It's gonna be : lock up, 630. And were going to be the old guys like, I can believe they're doing too much." The last story is gold too BTW. Did I mention I love this format ? I think I did.

Not to mention presenting Dr. Baker, no matter how not-very-good she is, as the biggest star in front of her hometown audience and having her win to a huge reaction. So she *comes off* as a star on TV. Crazy, how did they think of something like that ? So creative.

Loved Private Party vs Lucha Brothers, Janela vs Omega, Young Bucks vs Best Friends and Mox vs PAC. The angle was terrific, they are really doing a great job with the build of their main event. It does make the entire undercard an afterthought at this point though, compared to how well IMPACT builds every little match for the PPVs. Also, it must be said that the limited roster appears that way after four show. Not their fault and they deliver one hell of a TV show + youtube B show thus far. Hayter needs to be on my TV every two weeks, at worst. She had this match by herself. The issue with Baker is that working one or two matches a week won't allow her to improve, and she has a lot to improve on... They need to drag Allie on TV soon, they can't stay focused on Baker, she's miscast if they want her as the big american star. Brandie attacking Hayter backstage felt like "Hey, you carried Baker to something watchable, so you can sure carry my ass too, bitch !". Dark Order badly needs a tweek, at the very least. There's no way I will unsee Fat Sharkboy. They obviously are good workers, but yeah, that gimmick as it is is never get over. I feel like SCU going to the finals after last week's angle was the result of them realizing this, because before TV, Dark Order seemed to be the main focus as a heel team. I thought the announcing threesome worked better this week. Maybe because I felt Schiavone got more space.

That's really an enlightening story indeed. As far as older people being more open, I love the fact Tony Schiavone is saying that he's having more fun calling pro-wrestling now than ever before. The "senton atomico" exchange on Dynamite was pretty revealing I thought, as Tony really sounds like he's having a blast watching these 2020's kind of workers do crazy-ass shit and *learning* all those new moves' names and such. Who would have ever thought, of all those guys from the previous generation, Tony "Oh he hates pro-wrestling now.." Schiavone would be one of the most open to new stuff ? Like it's been said before, if Conrad has to be commended for one thing, it's the rebirth of Tony Schiavone, great pro-wrestling announcer. Love it.

The whole "Vince Russo is the only guy with real heat in pro-wrestling in 2019" bit is pretty eye rolling material. Seems like Oliver is another one that has been passed by the business, in some bizarre ways. So he's like bizarro Cornette I guess.

Agreed, the heel turn did wonders for Kiera as far as character and in-ring works goes. She has improve a lot and the frenemies angle with Madison is the surprisingly fun angle of the last few months. Good dynamic with the announcers too (Callis is awesome, there's no ways around it).

After 18 years of monopoly and brainwashing of an entire generation of US pro-wrestling fans, I do think some of us have the right to lash on what's left of WWE when finally, finally a fun alternative shows up.

She has no ties whatsoever. But In the last few weeks, Don Callis has been pretending she's been training under Stu Hart at the Dungeon, calling her the Excellence of Execution and whatnot. He's also gone crazy with how many title reigns she has won. I'm actually pretty pumped for the new AXS version of IMPACT, especially with guys like Joey Ryan and Ace Romero being signed to deals. The Kross/Scarlett debacle is really a sad state of affair, because they really had something with these two. But they do have an eye for talent (their women roster, as it is, is much more interesting than AEW's) and are usually making the most out of everybody, out of necessity. I mean, they made Swinger the most fun he's ever been.

The Madison Rayne's matches are made better by the fact the announcing is usually pretty damn funny during those. And now she's actually wearing pink like a true Hart family member. That's glorious. Also, the fact they named their next PPV Hard to Kill shows a rather dry sense of humour from IMPACT's management.

It's funny when you think *IMPACT* is still alive, yet some WWE fanboys are predicting death for AEW after one month of TV.

The fact is, everyone should just shit on those shows, how of pure principle, really.

Can I make fun of Meltz for a change ? Can I ? Can I ? Ok. So, him saying that using "thumbtacks" in the context of Callihan vs Cage "takes off from the realism of a fight" is pretty hilarious after he spent the week defending (rightly so) Marko Stunt.

Thanks for keeping me posted, I had no idea. Gonna watch that one (I was surprised Madison wasn't in the Gauntlet match).

Meanwhile, IMPACT had yet again a super fun PPV no one is talking about. Cage vs Callihan was great. This is how you do a grudge match. Blood, great garbage spots, a dirty heel, a fiery pissed off babyface whose final comeback kicking at one actually makes sense with his character and the story (he's a machine and he's pissed off) and at the end the babyface wins and celebrate with his hot wife who had been injured by the dirty heel, and the announcer says this feud is over. Pro-wrestling ain't that hard to do right. Callihan again delivers an awesome performance, this guy has been consistently excellent for at least two years straight in every feud he's been positioned. Moose vs Shamrock was ok was a while then it kinda died out, going too long and just not being very good. Shamrock doing a no touch plancha was crazy, and he still looks incredible and has the same kinda charisma he had 22 years ago. That's the only match that wasn't too good, really. Marufugi (lolIMPACT) vs Elgin was a very good G1 Climax 1996 match. That's really Elgin's calling, as he can't do much more with his consistent constipated body language. I dunno, he showcased character in Mexico, maybe he should work there all the time. The ladder match was one hell of a clusterfuck. Ace Romero is a great signing for IMPACT. If he's not dead from that last bump though. The build to the finish was excellent and I really didn't it coming. I hope they have other big plan for Tessa. It does make Austin a really big heel. Daga looked really string here, he's a guy I hope they keep on booking. Taya vs Dashwood slowly build into a very, very good match I though. Taya has developed into one hell of a worker and Dashwood, although she really wasn't that hot coming into this, truly is a super solid worker too. I hope IMPACT locks Taya into a GOOD deal, because she's a star. The tag team match was all action and better than I expected considering the old ECW guys. The North and Swann/Mack I love to see against each other. The RVD turn is interesting, that's something different for Van Dam. Curious to see where they go with this. I guess the six-men was a dark match ? That's too bad because I really wanted to see this one. The gauntlet was mostly fun with two great surprises, Joey Ryan was apparently has been signed too, which I love. And Kylie Rae ! No one is talking abouT Kylie Rae showing up on IMPACT ?? She looked great, AEW really lost something with her. If IMPACT could sign her too to a GOOD deal, that would be quite the catch. I really look forward for their debut on a bigger station, hoping they can go on presenting their cool product with an actual audience this time and maybe more procution values ? And by that I mean not depending on Matthews' Iphone to stream a PPV ? Anyway, IMPACT remains that little fucked up promotion that could.

Sounds like the actual TV Show too...

Ah, the yearly Jamal Khashoggi Tribute Show. Does decapitation counts for a DQ ?

Honestly, once the novelty wears off, I don't see how this show will keep the hype it first had. This third show really was light on everything. No good wrestling at all. Women's match was bad. Konley vs Parker, whoever they are, was two indie guys who look interchangeable doing stuff, the kind of match I already don't care for in MLW. The Josephus/Cabana/James Storm was just plain bad. The main event was "ok" by 1993 standards. I mean, the Dawsons legit look and work like two guys who would be jobbers in IMPACT today, hell, they look and work like two guys who would do jobs in SMW in 1995, slaughtered in three minutes by the Gangstas. Bring on the old-ass RnR Express already. Highlights were Kingston's promo, including the bit about Corny stealing his heat, the Spiritual Adviser commercial which had me legit laugh at the WTF nature of it (and the acid drenched visuals), Tim Storm & Eli Drake doing total SMW/mid 80's promo segment (anyone noticed how Storm kinda look like a jacked up Jerry Lawler ?) and the Aldis/Kamille segment. Yeah, this. She's a trooper too, she takes great bumps. This girl could go some places. Anyway, it's easy to watch, fun in parts, but the lack of actual good wrestling really showed this week. No idea where this is going...

True that. Ok, I'll give him that. Just don't let him book jackshit. And ROH.... well, ROH has a bunch of cool people under contract and a NJPW relationship (for now). Of course, who are we kidding, none of this will happen, but yeah, the talent is there, both in the ring and in production/booking.

He did in the first show, which is why I went on a long-ass rant. But he probably don't get what it really means.

Apart from being super athletic, Rollins as exactly nothing to do with Omega in term of work. Omega puts shitloads of thought into his matches and it shows. He also has connexion with crowds. Rollins is spot monkey working WWE self-epic style in a void. One also packed (not exactly sold out, ok, point taken) the Tokyo Dome and was an active part of NJPW being as hot as it was while he was there, while the other, despite being pushed by the WWE machine, has been a proven failure on top of his promotion. I mean, the comparison ain't fair, on any level, really...

So, on the new BTE, Joey Janela signs an autograph on someone's wife's tits. But there"s a twist. And it's actually pretty cool. Not gonna spoil it. The "Do ya ?" spot always cracks me up.