El-P

Roman Reigns vs Authority figure. Wow. So creative. How many writers already ?

That thread just got Papa Shangoed.

Nice to see Callihan get some love ! The one thing also that bothered me is this. Elgin's whole thing is that he's BIG Mike. He's a super powerful muscular guy who also does cool athletic spots. Problem is, when he showed up and stood before Brian Cage, he looked like MEDIUM Mike, at best. And it also happens that Cage, as freakingly roided up as he looks, also can do much more impressive athletic spots than Elgin. So there, Elgin basically comes off like a smaller, uncharismatic, lesser on every level version of Cage. I hope they do go toward babyface Tessa vs heel Taya at Slammiversary and that they beat the shit out of each others. Could steal the show.

Not going into much details, as it would be redondant with what has already been said. Terrific show. Better than Homecoming. A nice build with a fun and varied undercard, with the multi-man spotfest (but nothing as crazy as what would follow), the Scarlett Bordeaux match which was a cool little bit as always (BTW, is Fallah getting in better shape ?), the six-men which has an excellent dynamic (gotta love Moose, although I agree the spear doesn't need that flip at the end, The North are gonna be really cool to watch, the Razcals you can do so much with them), a solid, rugged women's title match (glad Taya won too, it solidifies her as a heel champ). Then the last half of the PPV had really four excellent (well, would have been if not for Cage's injury) matches, which all felt important. That's the thing when you only have a PPV every three months or so and you actually put some thoughts and work into the builds, when the final clash happen they feel like important matches that you will remember. Swann vs Callihan was one hell of a brawl. I guess it's not the consensus opinion, but to me Callihan is an MVP everywhere he went thus far (LU, MLW, iMPACT). He makes the feuds seem important and intense, the big matches are always memorable, he's distinctive, he's a full fledge dirty heel and he's one hell of a worker too. And Swann has improved a lot too, and this feud and match really took his game to another level. Someone mentioned how he looked dead serious during the introduction. Yeah, attention to detail. Loved Tessa vs Gail. Tessa is so, so good. She also looks so, so much like Tully, it was obvious when they were together. I have this match above the Mania main event easily, on every level. Gail was probably thinking these were the last bumps she would ever took, so might as well go for broke. Terrific match. The post-match actually made sense to me, they really built the match as an agressive passing of torch of sorts, and it didn't come off like a "curtain wall" at all. This is the kind of stuff you'd see in joshi puroresu regularly, so yeah, more of a sport's like, enemy from different generation finally respecting each others after a war, with an antagonist kohai/senpai relationship. Anyway, great stuff. Just like in LU, Johnny is about a hundred times better as a heel. The match would probably have been excellent, judging by what they tried to do, but it's obvious Cage was in real pain and couldn't do much after the injury. Interesting to look at the way they communicated and tried to win time, and work around it. Elgin showing up was as dull as it sounded though, the guy has zero presence or charisma. I wonder what they'll be able to do with him, but yeah, not enthralled at all by this guy signing. Main event was batshit crazy. Fenix falling straight on his head on that insane spanish fly (most dangerous spot of the night) was scary. iMPACT will really miss the Lucha Bros, as they apparently will soon be working only for AEW and AAA. Over this last year, LAX have been the MVP's of the promotion I guess, with the two most memorable feuds and matches. No idea how long they'll be able to work that style though. Is that the most spectacular company rehab ever, from a quality standpoint ? Speaks a lot for D'Amore, who was responsible for the best stint of early TNA in the 00's too. Yeah, great job. They deserve a ton of credit. The title of this thread was done in jest, but really, as a weekly TV show with a few PPV a year, iMPACT actually is the best american promotion today, as been for a good year I guess.

I got a kick at this being the first thing you'd report about the show. Well, at least it means we're not gonna have to deal with another "fuck Meltzer" gimmick.

Sounds like fun. Funny, I did not even know about that website until a few days ago when I checked a company's name before sending a resume. Well, I ended up not sending my resume after all.

Mark Henry is a product of corporate culture brainwashing. He's spent his entire career in the E. He has no other point of reference. And as far as "eating shit", well, first off it's complete bullshit that it is still taking place, second of all, no matter how "hard" it has been for Henry in the locker room, the guy was signed to a ridiculous contract (back when money was dim) as a rookie, and it took him years to become even decent at his job. So he should probably shut the fuck up instead of playing veteran stooge.

Oh, of course, totally agree. In Kevin's context though, I thought it made perfect sense. It probably took him a whole lot of courage to make the choice of living.

Yeah. Completely toxic. Meltz mentioned some time ago that friends of his living in the real world told him WWE had the dirt worst reputation, like it was the shittiest place to work (and I mean as an employee doing "normal" jobs). One day, the curtains will have to fall down.

I dunno, I didn't find it depressing like Heroes of World Class (which was much more complete as far as telling the whole history in its context, obviously). The whole "It takes courage to live, not to die" bit resonated with me, it's very true. Kevin seems like he's in a good place today, finally, despite all of this. He's one peculiar character too.

He wanted to re-do the Godwinns maybe. Let's be honest, Vince has lost what was left of his mind a long time ago.

No idea why anyone thinks they are gonna do any sort of drastic change on FOX. Funny how the weekly thread as turned into fantasy producing though.

Agree about Manning kayfabing the fuck out of Fritz, painting the picture of all the boys desperately wanting to be pushed out there. Lack of drug issues while in Texas was also pretty rich, you almost get the feeling Kerry barely got drugged up before his accident and going to the WWF. It was still excellent overall, and very much about how Kevin coped with all of this tragedy.

WWE is a dinosaur. They are too set in their ways. RAW was 3 years old when Nitro showed up. It's been basically more or less the same presentation for nearly 20 years.

And really, it's neither here nor there. It's well established now that MBS had a journalist killed and dismembered. You're going, you're working for him, basically.

Great promo. Amazing to think it's the same guy who for years in WWE couldn't buy charisma. The shot at Trip was brutal and very accurate too.

No shit. I mean, Goldy, really ? Also, the idea that the product is gonna get magically good because they are doing surveys (yeah, our "beloved" Macron just did the same thing as a reaction to the severe social crisis happening these days, which led to "Well, your ideas suck, I'm gonna do what I want anyway" basically) and because they are gonna get on FOX is comical. The same inept crew of people will be at the helm. They can't book write for shit, they can't make a babyface, their production sucks (epillepsy warning should be obligatory), the announcing won't get any better, no magic star will be created from now to then (Stone Cold Becky was a nice little joke for a while), Ronda is trying to get pregnant so she won't be around, and the morale in the locker room apparently is pretty shitty if you think about all the people who want to leave and the pettiness ensuing. You know what's coming ? More Shan-o Mac, more Baron Corbin, more wasting Roman's emotional comeback (seriously, how the fuck do you fuck THAT up ?). Plus, if AEW does sign a big TV deal and debut roughly at the same time, the hype in the industry will be all about them, not cold-as-ice WWE moving TV station. Also, by gaining visibility by sheer virtue on being on FOX, maybe those wonderful Saudi shows will not be ignored as much, which could be an issue.

And don't forget what's coming next. The fucking XFL. Vince trying to do both will drive him insane (I mean, insane for someone who's already proven he's a sociopath).

Dunno who produced this, but it makes him look like a bigger star than he ever was in WWE. And the symbolism is hilarious too.

Between Luke Harper getting royally fucked for politely asking his release publicly and the Revival being humiliated on TV for simply not signing a new deal, Sasha's "taking her shit and going back home" stuff doesn't look like the worse idea in the world after all. But yeah, they let 50 years old Dustin go. Good guys they are. It's crazy they are getting all this money when their product is sinking to the lowest lows of popularity. This company is WCW, except with two awesome (uh uh) money deals.

The Korea episode is quite fascinating, for obvious reasons. It's not like a lot of people can talk about going on a trip to North Korea in the mid 90's. The "going for a run across the city" anecdote is something else. (and yeah, I second most of what Thread Killer & Something Savage say)

I got a kick out of that title. Yeah, for fuck's sake, King Useless. You ain't gonna get no Iron Throne after this.

I guess this is the place for the Crockett Cup, as this was basically an amped up ROH show with outsiders. Some really good matches. PCO & King vs Briscoes was the best tag match of the tournament, to the surprise of no-one. Stuka Jr. & Azteca Guerrera Jr. vs Bandido & Flip was also quite good, although a bit sloppy at points (and Flip looked the lesser of the four). The Rock'n Roll match was nowhere near as good as the LAX one. The booking was kinda puzzling though, with the tow random dudes going to the final only to get slaughtered. PCO was easily the star of the tournament, as always. Cabana vs Willie Mack was really good. James Storm showing up as the next challenger I guess means another really good match. The women's match was decent. Madusa's promo was brutal, it looked like she had no idea what to say. Main event was excellent and well worth watching, the best I've seen Nick Aldis looked, but it's obvious Scurll is the terrific worker of the two and made it *that* good. Not sold at the NWA concept though. Still looks like a convention show. These belts are all fine, but there isn't an actual promotion with a roster and stories to follow. So these are just new belts named after old belts, and a bunch of workers from other promotions are trading them. The whole lineage blabla is forced as fuck, no one actually believes it, it feels like a giant cosplay. As far as production goes, I have no idea what you'd want to make it dim on purpose. I mean, that ugly ass NWA logo in the ring, straight out of the 80's, is just retromania. It's not even cool looking, it just looks old for the purpose of looking "like it used to be". The last time the NWA belt actually meant something, of sorts, was when Shane Douglas threw it away and it's because it created something new. Give me the stuff of tomorrow, not the stuff of thirty years ago that don't actually mean anything anymore despite Corny giving history lessons during the entire event (which gets tiring, honestly, as much as Corny rules it on color) . Give me Lucha Underground, give me AEW, give me something different. The obsession with the past is boring.

Not watched the show yet. Going through the Crockett Cup before. Well, if Callis & D'Amore manage to get me even somewhat interested in anything involving Micheal Elgin, who was the worst part of last year's awe-inspiring G1 Climax (yeah, I was more interested in Tama Tonga or Bad Luck Fale), they truly are working some magic.

Yawn and yawn. Elgin thrown straight into the world title scene against Brian Cage (who hopefully is allright) just brings my interest down big time. Why couldn't Elgin go straight back to ROH anyway ?