El-P

Until the divorce.

I could not disagree more. Park was ok and actually did quite a bit of stuff, but it was still a terrible, slow, plodding, no intensity, no impact Jimmy Havoc match. I thought he looked ok in the AEW six-men where he actually worked a bit, and Sami Callihan actually got an enjoyable crazy brawl out of him (what a testament of Sami's talent, really), but this one was back to the usual Havoc dreadfullness. He can't even make his death bumps spectacular. The constant use of the dumb balsa wood boards really hurts the perception of violence too. I guess it's some Kevin Sullivan fetish. The post match with Warner showing up with a chainsaw was another kind of idiotic too. Also, why can't Salina have Park & Havoc just beat up Konnan in the locker room and take back her phone ? He has no one in his corner. Hell, honestly, Salina looks like she could push Konnan down just grab her phone with no trouble... Did MLW announce a partnership with some.... scientist lab ? WTF ? Let's see. Apart from that episode with Park vs Wagner, which really was a AAA lucha brawl anyway, this whole summer has been a complete disappointment on the front of MLW. Salina, the Harts and MJF (and to a lesser extent Holliday) are the life of the promotion as far as regulars go. Losing Sami Callihan was, as predicted, pretty bad as far as getting grudge matches that actually deliver (Warner can be ok, but I don't care for his gimmick which is, well, way cosplayish). Contra sucks and they have done nothing of note with Jacob Fatu, it's telling there's zero match to recommend, really. I have forgotten about Tom Lawlor, who worked best as a heel anyway. Low-ki has been doing nothing but squash matches lately, because we really need to establish that guy who has been around for 20 years and was the Champ for the longest time. The Von Erichs have done nothing yet to show they deserve to be in that spot (they have not sucked either, but have not shown much either). Savio showing up was a letdown. Aries showing up has been a letdown thus far. At this point, I'd just hope for the few cool guys and Salina to show up in either IMPACT or AEW (apart from Havoc, whom they can keep), because I'm having a hard time even wanting to keep up with this promotion. Not sure I would bother anymore if it wasn't on Youtube...

Actually, Meltz mentioned several times statistics about either AEW PPV buys or tickets sales (not sure which one, so don't quote me on that) and how it barely overlapped at all with WWE buys. The overlap was mostly with UFC events and also partly with NJPW events. But basically, the people who bought AEW PPV/tickets were not the same people who would buy WWE events. And yeah, add in to that the approach by Cody, Omega & the Bucks on BTE, which is from where the audience has been built in term of the core of the core.

To me the odd thing is that people seem to forget that AEW's audience, for now, at its core, is a total anti-WWE crowd. It's not like there's a fight to get "these" people. They are ether people who are pro-wrestling fans who are not WWE fans (aka me for instance) or guys tired of the WWE product. It's not like putting NXT face to face with AEW is gonna drag *those fans* away. And as far as grabbing the mainstream audience, for AEW we don't have any idea yet, but for WWE things are very clear at this point : they don't draw the mainstream audience at all. They can't even keep their own audience. So, I dunno, to me the whole NXT move should not worry AEW too much as of now. There is gonna be a saturation of WWE product on the airwaves, and that can't be any good for a company who already has this "uncool" feel about it from the hardcore audience. Not to mention the risk of destroying what was NXT's special appeal to the hardcores with turning it into just another WWE weekly night of TV.

So, their big idea for Sasha's big return is feuding with the never over Nattie and saying her father is in hell. Ok. Great job...

Seriously, who would want to watch this ? I mean, pro-wrestling is a hobby. It's supposed to be fun and light. If anything else, it's gonna make Mania even more of a death march than it already is. Maybe they just want to kill Meltz via work overdose.

AEW Monday Dynamite Parties. Soon on Youtube.

I should not laugh though.

Ah ah. Most French announcers these days are awful. The only thing I was listening in French was the WWE PPV because Chereau & Agius are that good and always made me crack up at some point. Holy shit. Ok, so Sacrebleu is the most old-school cliché possible and also a cool album from Dimitri from Paris. Damn, France was Johnny fucking Halliday, now we're the Gilet Jaunes ! Well, Les Gilets Jaunes would be a great heel brawling team though. Recognizable look too. Honestly, that's me trying to watch the Takeover before Mania :

Fuck no ! I hope WWE locks him for life. It would be the worst signing possible. Last time I tried to watch a Takeover, I was legitimately wanting to shut it down five minutes into the very first match. Give him a lifetime contract WWE. Give him a job for life on the Network. Money. Hoes. Whatever he needs. Keep him away from any promotion I might want to watch. Please.

Both Bischoff and Schiavone have stated that Thunder is what killed WCW. Because it was the beginning of the overexposure. WWE presenting RAW, NXT and Smackdown every week can't be a good thing really in the grand scheme of things. Especially when your product is not hot to begin with.

I didn't realize things got so bad so quick in Brazil... Hang on man !

This. It would be disheartning to see the first big time true alternative in US wrestling in 20 years quickly fail because WWE can't stand the idea of not being a monopoly and has to put every ressource they have to put every bit of alternative out of business. NXT UK was designed to fuck the UK scene and it did exactly that, apparently.

The "WWE bound" Tony Schiavone. Yeah, and I'm so glad. When I was watching MLW last night I was thinking how cool this was to have Tony back in the field and how he would fit perfectly with AEW. Really cool signing. Tony at his best is probably my favourite play-by-play guy (I realize he probably won't do that though).

I respectfully disagree. MLW shows last at best 50mn and they drag like hell because of endless replays and complete waste of time with super short squash matches. Plus MLW really never builds to anything, as the best thing they have is put random cool guy X vs random cool guy Y, as showed by that DBS Jr. vs Timothy Thatcher match, which was really solid and a cool change of pace. Plus, the old wrestling geek in me marked out at Davey saying he was gonna *procure* the crossface chicken wing. But really, out of 50 mn, it always looks like you get at most 15 mn of actual good content every week. Meanwhile, IMPACT has a 90mn show (without commercials) that flies by, and they do pretty much nothing but competitive matches. But they don't all look like a main event style match, there's a sense of purpose and hierarchy, and their show actually builds to something. To me it's the perfect formula. And it seems easy to do. Maybe D'Amore & Callis are that good but still... Anyway, last week's show was nothing to write home about indeed. The entire Contra vs Von Erich stuff simply doesn't work. The whole Marshall going to the hospital reeks of forced 80's wrestling cosplay. Apart from Fatu, Contra are lame as fuck in the ring (Samael is soooo cosplayish too). No idea who the new guy is, maybe he'll make the average talent go up. I thought Savio looked ok for a 55 years old version of himself, but he's not gonna do that much and Hammerstone is generic as fuck and works a mostly dated style, so there was not much to look at. I wonder what blown spot the super rough edit was hiding. Straight ouf of a Superstar match from 1995. Also, it strikes me how much of a star Rey Horus looked in Lucha Underground, and in MLW he's like a small luchador who does jobs. His match with Bestia was ok though, and Salina vs Konna still carries the promotion right now (doesn't say much really). An LA Park match this week, well, that could be fun, but with Havoc I should not get my expectations up too much... I dunno, MLW strikes me as mostly wasted potential and way too much of a retromaniac promotion in essence. Would love to see Salina in IMPACT or AEW, honestly. Or in a Lucha Underground last season which will never come, most probably (and really, with what cast ?).

Mariko Yoshida. Feather hat wearing mid-card classic workrate-style tag-along in Zenjo, getting injured, coming back in ARSION in the coolest, sexiest, fittest arachnoid outfit ever and becoming a mix of Tamura & Volk Han and my favourite pro-wrestler ever.

Not to mention workers too. Scott Steiner on Twitter in 1998 ?

The two things that are gonna be quite interesting when this war goes on full speed is this : _first time AEW does something that is not a big success, doesn't sell out, gets a mediocre rating. We're gonna hear the hordes of WWE fanboys and drones go on and on and on about how AEW is dead. You know it's gonna happen. _if ever AEW beats NXT in the ratings, it's not gonna look good for Trip because it doesn't matter if NXT is the secondary brand, WWE is still the global juggernaut that conquers all, while AEW is the young fresh and new upstart working from under.

The Billionaire Khan vignettes are gonna be something else. These big corporation people are trying to get food off the table of his humble family business.

I have no idea how they work out those things, but thus far, those promos are just on another level, every time around. Now it's Brandi's turn to look and sound awesome. They sure are making the most out of that Cody vs Shawn Spears feud.

Agreed. When you think that at SummerSlam, Austin was in the pre-show against then JTTS Yokozuna (isn't this Yoko's last match in WWF ? Pretty sad how things turned out for him, he was awesome). Bret made Austin.

Buried is a big word for a simple, short delay of the upcoming big push. He didn't win KOTR in 96, but a few months later he won the IC title anyway, then got Chyna, won his feud with Goldust at Mania then got the KOTR in 97. It was really more of a shortly interrupted push than anything else.

Trip never had to "rehab" his career. He was groomed for big things just as he was signed. Rehab should mean a career went down the tubes (what tubes ?), then got back to be successful, hot, or whatever.

For sure. But maybe some of these guys would actually enjoy the opportunity to perform in front of a large crowd and be appreciated for their own talent and show what they can do. I doubt KUSHIDA will be able to do so very much. In NXT maybe so. In the main roster, no chance in hell. AEW would have been a much better fit considering the audience, but it wasn't even a thing then.

To me these two elements are linked, indeed. And it works for KENTA too. I would agree about the KENTA being "liberated" from NOAH by leaving and making himself basically a free agent when he came back, but to me what is overstated is the WWE factor. The main selling point is "KENTA was gone from Japan, now he's back as a free agent.". He could have gone anywhere, really, especially considering what he accomplished. Now, if he had become a legit star or even let's say upper-mid card talent in the main roster in WWE, I would say otherwise. Despite the fact WWE probably means jackshit to Japanese fans, they still are the biggest global promotion in the world. But spending your time in NXT or wallowing in 205 purgatory really sounds like a non-factor in Japan, I would guess.