El-P

Yeah, thought about that one too, honestly it might actually be the biggest one, but the matches have been so bad thus far... I wonder how much smokes and mirrors they'll thrown at Triplemania to make this fun.

Maria doesn't remember...

Both, probably.

I have no idea where that comes from. Kenny has always been positioned in the bigger match on both shows and is the key player in the N°1 angle/feud against Mox. His character may not appeal to you, but to say he comes off like a geek is simply not factual. Unless if by geek your mean "video game fanatic", in which case, yeah. And actually, Cody never came off like a geek in NJ either. Hell, it's watching him over there with Brandi that made him look like a star to me for he first time, much to my surprise, as I never saw shit in him before.

Ok. MLW has officially jumped the shark with me. They're probably going the way of ROH in my weekly pro-wrestling regime. I watched this week's show live, and it was terrible. Again, very very few actual content in an entire hour. The shows drags like hell. The two only enjoyable moments were Fatu killing jobbers, he's terrific but needs to go the fuck out of this purgatory, and Salina calling Mance a "goat fucker". Aries big debut. Now he's got a beard and shaved hair on the sides, so he looks like every guy on the planet in 2019. With plain black trunks, to look even more generic. And they re-debut him in a long, drawn out, competitive guy against Adam Brooks, who''s as generic himself as his name indicates. 50/50 match with a guy no one knows, including some death spots like an almost botched death valley driver on the apron. I mean, Aries is a great worker, but that looked sloppy and useless in such an irrelevant match. And then, a promo in which he talks about the "wrestling war"... Against "sports-entertainment" but also "cosplay wrestling". Oh for fuck's sake Corny... Because of course, it can *only* come from Cornette and his ridiculous stance on modern wrestling. Anyway, talking about "cosplay pro-wrestling" is pretty rich in a promotion which itself has done more actual "cosplay booking" than any other current promotion and which includes Mance Warner aka a guy playing Bunkhouse Buck and Josef Samael aka a guy poorly doing some Sheik cosplay. Except cosplay is supposed to be fun and self-conscious, not being taken seriously and actually pretend it's 1994 or something. Speaking of which... The main event of Lawlor vs Samael was awful. Like, awful, boring, dreadfully boring mid-90's pre-ECW brawling style, on which the crowd totally shit on BTW. And ending with a DQ. Which the crowd shit on even more. This has Corny's footprint all over it. The guy didn't get ECW. He didn't get ROH apparently judging from the people who followed his stint as booker there at the time. He doesn't get Omega and the Bucks today. And MLW has turned into a sad parody of crappy mid 90's TV pro-wrestling, with lesser and lesser content, poorly defined character and poor matches. It's not like it's hard to have a really good TV show even with a somewhat limited talent pool, look at iMPACT (granted, they have much better talent overall). What was fun about MLW was Tony Schiavone calling crazy indy spotfest and marking out to LA Parka brawling all over the place and cool luchadors fighting the fight of Konnan vs Salina de la Renta. This time has gone. So am I, I'm afraid.

Come on, you loved the match with the magical girl. Which is great. You don't like chinese guy flying around ? Maybe you'll like Dustin & Cody working a story based bloodbath. You don't like that ? Maybe you'll like the japanese women taking on the american monster. Not your thing ? Maybe you'll like some good solid tag-team action with SCU or Best Friends. You prefer crazy spotfest ? Lucha Brothers vs Young Bucks is your thing. You want some rough grudge match ? Mox and Jericho are here. Classic heelish and great dickhead promo ? MJF says hello. Anyway, yeah, I like this approach. As far as the demographic, I dunno. I've been watching pro-wresling for almost 30 years, my tastes have evolved during that time, right now I probably enjoy current pro-wrestling more than I ever had and feel like I'm more open than ever to different kind of stuff, so... This. And this.

BTE this week has some fun stuff, including the usual little jabs at WWE ("I should have gone to NXT", and Brandi being told how to look at a monitor backstage), and some actual cool backstage footage like Kenny Omega trying to set up his intro or a camera guy falling straight on his ass into the pool while filming the post-main event angle.

Yep, great look into the deranged psyche of Vince McMahon. JR talking about his wife is heartbreaking though.

When too many podcasts is too many podcasts ? At the same time, how long can he sustain doing the Bischoff one now that Eric is a big shot (lol) in WWE ? As far as Arn goes, jury's out. If he opens up and is as funny and insightful as he's supposed to be IRL, this could be great. If he's the same guy he was 20 years ago on interview, this is not gonna be good. Since I was not down with JR's and it won me immediately, I'm willing to give this one a shot too, especially since I've basically quit Bruce & Bischoff's at this point (Bruce because it was becoming too samey and boring and Bischoff because the ranting was getting unbearable and it can't get better with his current position, considering how much Meltz buried his ass lately).

I had to google that one to understand what it meant. And it come from an Eminem song ? You learn something everyday.

Oh, ok. Since there doesn't seem to be such cases around here, I wasn't aware of those ones either. Oh, yeah for sure. Social media don't help at all, because people remain in their own little bubble where they validate each other all the time and can't handle any other different opinions without screaming for a safe space. BTW, I wonder what the "Metlz is AEW" crowd will say now that he stated how much he hated the pre-show and that he made quite a bit of reservations of other stuff like the chair shot and running Janela vs Mox cold instead of it being the culmination of a feud...

I guess, but thus far what is out there is mostly people in denial of the actual success of what's happening until now, and/or who display an irrational desire to see this fail. Which is really odd, really. You can't blame people (including me) to be really excited because something *new* is happening on the big stage...

Between WWE fanboys, professional haters and people talking about it without even bothering to watch, I feel like AEW as a topic will soon become pretty fucking insufferable, sadly...

I had to search my own posts to remember all the MOTYC I watched, this is a crazy year again... (most closely followed promotions : iMPACT, MLW, NJPW big shows, AAA big shows, CMLL Friday shows, AEW + some stuff from you-know-where and then some) Match of the Year : Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi (SJ Cup final) Best Major Wrestling Show : AEW Double or Nothing Best Promotion : iMPACT Wrestling Best on Interviews : MJF Feud of the Year : Sami Callihan vs Rich Swann (iMPACT) Most Improved : Jordynne Grace Wrestler of the Year : Will Ospreay

Ok, let's be honest, since when people apart from hardcores who can't get enough pro-wrestling in their lives actually watch pre-shows anyway ? And since when people watch pre-show and think "Hey, I'm gonna buy this PPV/event because that pre-show was really excellent !" ? Come on now, let's be real. Pre-shows are a joke, especially these days. Either you're interested in the real deal, either you're not. If pre-show mattered, WWE events would sink (Wait, well, they do but that's not what I mean).

Agreed And why is it different from Dustin, who hasn't done jackshit in eons and was pretty much a JTTS in his latest WWE years ? Who also in 50 years old. Spears is 38, has a history with Cody, never could really showcase his stuff in WWE because he got over when he wasn't supposed to (wasn't he a really solid worker ?), he probably won't be a main event player after this feud with Cody anyway (hell, that feud is probably not main event to begin with either). People just want to hate throwing the "It's like old TNA" card, it seems. Like I said. It's their second show ever. Thus far, I think it's pretty safe to say it's been pretty damn good and successful overall. Some stuff won't work (Dark Whatever surely doesn't seem like a very hot idea thus far), some stuff will fail, some stuff will suck, like in every pro-wrestling company ever. But going all up in arms because "Tye Dillinger is getting a main event push, LolAEWTNA" is kinda ridiculous at this point of development of the company.

I noticed a way to show disdain toward a worker is to use his former name. Plenty of people do it in various context. Funny that. And well, apparently Spears was a mentor to Cody when he started in OVW, and Cody never forgot. So yeah, maybe he want to give back now that he can.

And now he's doing the G1. Yeah, you feel the guy really wanted to get the fuck out and try as many things as possible because it's fun to him.

Meanwhile, Will Ospreay had an excellent match with Robbie Eagles in Australia. The interesting thing was to watch Ospreay heeling up and antagonizing the crowd. So, he's also good at this. I thought the match ended maybe a few minutes too late, as Eagles was beginning to look spent, honestly, blowing some kicks and a standing spanish fly. Also, the guy announcing with the NJ regular (don't remember his name) was comically bad, made me chuckle a few times. G1 is gonna be insane. Crazy to think Mox will come off that crazy garbage match with Janela to work the G1. It would be like having Yukihiro Kanemura in the G1 in 2000.

Agreed. She's awesome.

I love how salty some people are, all because of an undercard comedy gimmick and a novelty match that was there because it was a joint show with a video games convention, on a pre-show (of a free-streamed show) mind you. Two of which contains subtle jabs at WWE btw (Leva Bates used a pedigree which was kicked out like it was a transition spot / "No untrained guy would beat a professional wrestler, now that would be embarrassing"). I admit the Dark Order is a miss thus far. I have no idea who these guys are, still. Show was terrific. Let's ponder for a minute, it's only the *second* show for the promotion. Compare that to ROH or TNA's second shows. Or ECW's. People are nitpicking and comparing everything to WWE, but what was so similar ? Stupid backstage segment ? Corporate talk ? "X is trending !" ? A zillion different angle shots per minutes ? Putting on stuff the audience doesn't want to see ? Patterned matches ? Exactly none of that. Of course it's gonna look similar to some degree. Unless you're doing Lucha Underground or shooting like NJPW. The 6-men was easily MOTN and bordering MOTYC to me. Just crazy, insane spotfest, with the cool video games references (I'm not even a gamer, but come on, Street Figher 2 outfits and hadoken spots ? I'm there). Cody vs Allin was excellent and a great way to establish Allin. It was not supposed to be an even match, let's have some hierarchy and establish characters. Yeah, Darby wants to die apparently, that bump was sick. He named himself after G.G. Allin, ok ? Post-match angle was efficient (although you could almost feel something went wrong). Shawn Spears is already more meaningful than his former WWE character ever was. It's not like he's gonna be a main eventer either, let's settle down, salty people. Let's forget the WWE for a while and just see what they do with what they have. Super solid opener, which is what you want. Loved the women's match, which took some time but built into something really good. Rose is still green, but those two big spots were impactful in term of getting her over. Love that they are gonna push japanese women too and not use them just to put over their monster, who still need to learn (and hell, that's even the angle). That 4-way was excellent, and MJF's promo was gold. Glad to see him showcase his talent on a bigger stage. I wonder for how long he's stuck with MLW. The guy is a star. Jungle Boy is Sam Houston. Hopefully he turns out better, but that's him, he's gonna draw the younger audience. Havoc not doing paper cut is a much better version of himself. The result was predictable, as Hangman is gonna be a star of the promotion, as he should. Mox vs Janela was exactly what you'd want. Too bad Penelope wasn't with Janela, but I guess they have other plans for her. Anyway. I remember that Renee Young twitted something about Mox asking her if she had ever see a Necro Butcher match before. Soooo, that was the reason I guess, taking inspiration. Bad Boy Hido was doing the same bit in the early 00's already, walking on tacks. Janela is a sick fuck, but he's fun as hell because of his personality. Mox spitting tacks was quite the visual. Post match angle was perfect. I really like the fact they are announcing the time for every match like in Japan. Good idea, that. Makes your occasional draw not awkward (well, I guess they had the idea because they wanted a draw). Yeah, second show only, people. They have all the time in the world to improve and correct their mistakes and missteps. Believe the hype...

Self-awareness is exactly what they sold on BTE, including how crappy the Librarian gimmick is. Some of the irony is flying over people's head. That being said, audience making shhhhhhhhh noise reminds me of Tenzan, so it's pretty cool. Glad to see Allie again. I wonder how many weeks she's gonna go without freaking the fuck out and become dark again. That's the Bunny, you know she's batshit insane. Bates is not exactly a great worker, but then again, she's not supposed to be.

"Watch the documentary !!!!" DIdn't watch it, but read about that debacle, so the references are fine with me. I wanna watch it eventually though. Mr. Hughes looked in great shape.

Gonna catch the buy-in on Youtube. And well. Ocean Center, Daytona Beach. That cool setting with tents and beach stuff (which is promising for what's to come). Yeah. This is the spirit of what was cool about WCW.

Nothing demonstrates the complete inability from Elgin to show the slightest bit of character than his empty look and facial expression when Brian Cage slowly got up and threw the neckbrace away after being thrown through a table outside the ring. It's almost comical. Elgin has exactly one expression on his face, and he's just breathing heavy to show that he's intense. He looks constipated all the time, basically. Apart from that, the show is still really good. Terrific angle/promo with Callihan & Tessa after a very good match against Fallah (I'll miss you Scarlett), crazy spotfest by LAX & Laredo Kid vs the Rascals.