El-P

Favourite of that kind this year thus far was LAX vs Lucha Brothers from that iMPACT PPV. Spotfest ? Hell yeah. Great match ? Hell yeah.

Because storytelling can be overrated and actually an excuse for dreadful matches Because selling doesn't always get in a way of a good car crash Because a dive sequence with a million flips can be fun as fuck Because we all popped for a stupid, nonsensical, dumb-as-fuck matches with a zillion of great cool spots This is time to have fun with it. Yes, pro-wrestling does not have to be a Rocky movie. It can also be an orgy of incredible cool spots, insane bumps and jaw-dropping pure action sequences. There you go, you favourites of that special kind go there.

Except Kenny Omega is all about in-ring psychology and character, his matches are chockfull of this, his feud with Okada is like the greatest piece of detail storytelling in pro-wrestling ever. Again, I wish this kind of stereotyping would dissapear, it's so wrong. You may not like his style and character, but to say Omega is a guy who just does a bunch of moves without ryme or reason is the exact opposite of what he does.

Well, that's another issue. WWE's gravitation pull is so huge that for most fans, it's basically unthinkable to not watch WWE if you watch pro-wrestling. The reasonnable thing to do would be indeed to stop fucking watching and go to events (and honestly, it is slowly happening, but Mania is a special case alltogether). If their business would crumble like WCW did, maybe they would kick themselves in the ass. But I'm afraid with the FOX & Saudi deals they've reach the "too big to fail" level, financially speaking.

That type of stereotyping is so lazy, annoying and quite frankly, stupid. First, yeah, for instance, NJPW has guys marked as "tag in japan". No shit. Japan is an important part of the pro-wrestling culture, including, and I know it may shock some people, to JAPANESE. I know the MOVEZ crowd (by this I don't mean people who like pro-wrestling moves, because every pro-wrestling fans like pro-wrestling moves, but people still using that stupid meme to show how "smarter" they are) and the anti-Meltz culture propelled by Brucie's gimmick podcast loves to shit on everything Japanese like this wrestling culture was about snowflakes and Observer awards, but at some point, just let this nonsense disappear, please. And yeah, people love exciting moveset in pro-wrestlers. Like, Ric Flair (yeah, for an 80's guy, he was totally workraty), Steamboat, Savage, Hart and whatnot. It is absolutely not the point here. The point is, WWE has trained its audience to not care and spent years trolling them to death. So the audience either do not care and acts like asshole at times. Also, built-in Indie Cred ? Like.... Kofi Kingston, the guy who got the biggest ovation at Mania ? And yeah, other company, which are more indies, have tons of built-in indie cred, for sure... And finally, yes, Roman Reigns just recovered from cancer. Great for him. Fucking A. Then what ? The audience is not gonna sustain that wave of positive emotion forever. Roman Reigns the pro-wrestling character is still the same Roman Reigns who they didn't care for as the guy on top to begin with. They should just carry on the real-life emotion of "cancer survivor" forever and project it on the character ? First, there's something kinda sleazy when you think about the whole "Well, it took recovering for leukemia to get over" thingy (and let's not pretend WWE is not banking on it, as Drew's promo was full of "You beat leukemia, you won' beat me" bullshit). Second, the emotion is simply not sustainable forever. Like I said, I doubt he's gonna get booed (he wasn't at Mania, like it's been said it was about people not doing the wave, which BTW speaks about how much they care about the character at this point), but I also doubt he's gonna be accepted as The Man now just because of this fact, he's the same guy, same character, same work and he already has been seen for too long doing the same thing. (EDIT : well, if he was booed out of the building during the RAW post-show, well, that means the emotion is totally gone already and nothing has changed, which in a way is still better than the audience not giving a shit anymore at all now that they don't boo anymore) Anyway, I'm just ranting, but I'm quite tired of the blame being put on the fans, especially with non-argument like "they want MOVEZ and indie guys", when in fact it's all the fault of years and years of stupid, incompetent, and deaf booking.

WWE is the only company I know of where this stuff happens. You usually deserve your audience.

Hasn't Bruce already referred to Corny as more of less the guy behind the idea already, at least indirectly ?

I have been critical of the promotion lately, but Battle Riot II was a very good and very easy two hours to watch ! And it looked slick as fuck too, awesome production, easily the best of the Mania week-end this side of NXT. The Battle Riot itself ran a little long, and there weren't any crazy surprises, although Dan Severn showing up in the beginning and actually throwing some people around a bit was really cool, also one unexpected tag team showed up to a huge pop. Much better than the Honor Rumble. The backstage vignettes with Salina chasing for better spots for her guys were very good and funny, she's really the life of the promotion in term of character. The first hours flew by with two good little matches. Myron Reed turning heel did wonder for him, he paces himself much better and shows character instead of just flying around. Minoru Tanaka ! Damn, they just don't age in Japan or what ? Wonder if she's still married to Yumi Fukawa. Havoc vs Lawlor I enjoyed a lot, for once, probably the first Havoc match I can say that about. The fact it was about brutality and not comedy papercuts and stuff helped a lot I guess. The Contra stuff attacking him at the end was also quite heat-seeking in a very old-school style. Lawlor vs Fatu could be really, really good. Also, more Daga vs Low-ki on the horizon, which looks excellent. And the right guy won Battle Riot And finally, Corny is awesome. Finally got into his groove, and he's like the best color man today. I liked the fact he didn't hide his distaste for Havoc's style, but he worked it inside the story of the match. So yeah, well done, I recommend this show.

For all the talk about Becky Lynch being Stone Cold, Roman Reigns coming back from leukemia probably making him The Man for good, this product is COLD. As far as Roman goes, considering the tiedous reaction he recieved at Mania, I think people have romanticized the idea of him finally being accepted as the Man simply because of the emotional factor. The emotion of him beating cancer just was not gonna last forever. They probably won't boo him ever again, but he's still plain old Roman Reigns, a guy that has been fed to them for years. They've seen everything from that guy already. Did FOX really signed that ridiculous deal because they thought they were getting Ronda BTW ? At this point, it's like they won't get neither Ronda nor big ratings... Meanwhile, XFL !!!!! SOON !!!! The futur is gonna be *interesting*, if anything else.

Yeah, I remember that, the whole not-getting-along partners who end up getting along. Anyway, as far as makeshift tag team, they really end up working very well together. Crazy Cesaro never got above tag-team wrestler level though.

Oh, so that's the meaning of the Bar ? Fuck me, I thought it was about drinking or something. The Bar. Like… lowering the bar. Damn.

Latest episode is called "Pissant". No comment. Cody cut one hell of a promo on Samy Guevarra. Brandi and MJF are gold together.

Yes, really. The idea that fans should just shut their brain and be corporate drones and eat whatever they are served is ridiculous. BTW, they are the same fans who were "awesome" during Gargano & Kofi's wins, so...

Better : they sign PCO now that he's a cult hero and put him back under the Jean Pierre Lafitte gimmick.

HHH's next entrance.

"Welcome back ! Welcome back ! Welcome back !"

It hasn't been called TNA in years now and current iMPACT is actually really good. So yeah, give them some credit and let that Russo-esque acronym behind. But yeah, apart from that, pretty hysterical story. And yeah, I have no idea how ROH is the second (soon to be third) company in the country with such a boring product and presentation. With Marty Scurll probably leaving as soon as he can to join his friends, their roster is completely depleted. No idea what Rush & Bandido are doing there, but at least that way we may get them work some NJ shows. The best part of the ROH part of the show was PCO working MSG and stealing the show during his match. Terrific for him. Enzo & Cass ? For fuck's sake, that old-TNA booking indeed. And Matt Taven as the champ sounds worse than Justin Credible reign of terror in ECW.

Wow, so glad I went to bed when I did, I would not have handle the rest of that card well... That Trip vs Batista match was the drizzling shit. And then, Angle got the worst send-off imaginable. Fucking Baron Corbin ? And he does the job to that useless Pascal Obispo look-alike ? Angle deserved so much better. I gotta say though, Lashley & Balor deserves some credit because they worked a good little match that instilled some life back into that dead crowd. That being said, Demon Balor looks like a goofy white motherfucker with dreadlocks. You wanna give him a djembe and a stackline. Alexa Bliss looks about a thousand times better in that Sheamus workout video with no makeup on, just sayin' YEAH ! I can fast forward through shit now, so no Carmella & R-Truth wasting more time. The main event delivered for a three-way, which is not conducive for greatness. I'd bring it down to this : Ronda had the coolest spots and moments (and that scary bump); Becky was the most over, but Charlotte clearly was the best worker of the three. That finish came out of nowhere, which is okay and totally Bret-Hart-ish (as was Charlotte Figue Four on the post BTW), so I'm fine with that, but the ref totally screwed up by counting one when Ronda's shoulders were nowhere close to the mat. Those refs should spend less time doing radioactive tanning sessions and work on their craft. I do think the out-of-nowhere nature of the pin did hurt Becky's moment, then again the whole three-way was not the way to go for a true epic match and coronation. Also the crowd was probably totally spent. Overall, a rather weak Mania, totally dying after the awesome Kofi win (thanks to a genius performance from Bryan) and not much before that. That Trip match was brutal, the Angle retirement was a disgrace. Mania needs to be four hours at worst. Enjoyed shooting the shit with you people tremendously, once more that thread made Mania a whole lot more fun that it actually was. So there, thanks for that.

This match is death. I tap out. Trip is the worst.

This crowd cares about as much as the Saudi princes. Drag Becky & Ronda over here already.

Shane vs Miz was fun bullshit. Bryan vs Kofi was awesome. Since then, everyone seems bored out of their mind.

WTF ?

Feels like the time it took for Trip's entrance too.

HEY ! It's almost 5 in the morning and I am still alive (not for long, with Trip in the ring) ! Cool to see you show up.

Hunter's entrance delivered in its own way. Expect it's not complete without Steph as a S&M sex goddess. Ok, the bell rings, POWER NAP.