El-P

So, Tom McGee looked like Chris Walker. Ok.

I thought about that. It was terrible enough last year though. Taker should never ever wrestle again, he has looked pathetic for a few years now, it's sad. Apparently he will though, for the upcoming Saudi shows, so who knows...

No, because I have fond memories of it too. Probably mostly because it was the very first time I would get to see Mania and it was very special to me back then. I don't think I really got the same build anyway, since the french TV show (which was weeks behind) was just Superstars + some MSG-TV and Toronto house show matches sometimes (Shawn Michaels vs Virgil from MSG was the main event of the last show before Mania 8). So yeah, probably not the whole actual build (we didn't get the big angles on TV), but I loved it back then.

This week's episode was all about Mance Warner vs LA Park. Not sold on Mancer just yet, at times his gimmick appears too... gimmicky to me. Still, very fun match, with LA Park being his impressive self, at 50 years old and overweight as he is, he still does the best spear of anyone in pro-wrestling today, does a totally explosive plancha and more or less doesn't give a fuck. Lacked blood to me, which is odd considering they've been using tons of blood in angles before, that kind of match should be the time to get out the blade. Salina doing the strut during the intro was quite cool.

Well... At this point, it's obvious WWE is nothing but a retirement pension for Nak. Remember when he showed up three years ago at Takeover and had that great match with Sami Zayn (whoever he is) and looked like a total star ? The "Never knew they were still employed" crew. I like that I'm gonna get a Joe vs Rey match, but really, Andrade in this waste of time after the stuff they did on TV... And... Ali ? ALI ? JUST ALI NOW ? It's amazing. WWE guys just just be called by a first name. Steve. Joe. Daniel. Roman. Brock. Triple.

I'm going through the NJ Cup right now and I'm happy as can be as a pro-wrestling fan. And pretty excited about the insane amount of insane (literally, with 2 Spring Breaks) shows next week too.

If the card was only those matches (assuming Orton shows up), yeah, it would be a a pretty strong and fun card.

Worst Yokozuna ever (never won a basho, no idea how he was even promoted) then acted like a dick (and got fired). One of the worst pro-wrestler ever then, and acted like a dick (and got fired). One of the worst shoot-style wrestler ever, and acted like a dick (and got served by Takada for doing so). Great track record, that guy. A "legend" for all the wrong reasons.

Honestly, yeah. I mean, I don't pay attention to posts that talk about how New Japan is MOVEZ and crossfit-wrestling and whatnot. I mean, whatever good you can get out of the WWE stuff, good for you. Some of us are gonna bitch, other are gonna ignore, well, it's just pro-wrestling in the end.

David Arquette winning got a pop. And mainstream media presence. It was great. Anyway, it's just ridiculous at this point. And really, people moaning about shitty WWE booking have every right to do so. Moaning about moaning won't get anyone anywhere, as showed by how far from the initial subject we have strayed, talking about Goldy vs Kevin Nash being a great moment for WCW and shit...

Can we not go into "fake news" when talking about bad pro-wrestling booking ? Yeah, WCW losing a historical amount of money because of their incompetence has nothing to do at all ever with the fact they went down. Yeah, it's *all* about evil fusion and shit, Bischoff & Russo say so, so it must be true.

Well, it tremendously hurt WCW. Which is much more important than "It got a pop".

"acted as a proponent for the Republican tax cut package" No shit, considering how much money that trick made for her family.

Sorry but, WTF does it has to do with anything ? First, it's only one of the most in-famous matches of one the hottest period ever in US pro-wrestling, so yeah, most people of that generation probably have seen it. Second, it did kill the golden goose dead, Goldy never recovered. Sure got a pop, and the match sure was pretty good. And ? What's the point ? Charlotte got a big pop ? Sure. She's terrific and she's over. And ? So what ? It's still useless to put the belt on her.

"If you don't listen to entire 4hours podcast series about Ric Flair, you can't comment about Ric Flair in the thread" Yeah, that's about the same thing… Of course, witnessing the execution can change the perception a bit, but still, you can absolutely comment on booking without having to subdue yourself to a hundred hours of dreadfull WWE programs every week. Of course they totally have. The G1 Climax last year was only the best series of pro-wrestling matches ever because the booking made the entire thing even better. To say booking has nothing to do with why pro-wrestling can reach greatness makes no sense whatsoever. Just watch a bunch of matches in a vacuum then, which basically seems like the only way to be able to enjoy the really good in-ring matches WWE presents anyway at this point.

Except : _Mania won't be 15 minutes shorter, they will just make the HHH match longer or have another bullshit segment with Elias or Lacy Evans walking down the ramp and going back up. _at this point, Mania is too ridiculously long anyway, when you reach 7 hours, 15 minutes more or less is irrelevant. If you consider worthless workers like Corbin, Jaxx & Tamina working the main card, it kinda sucks for Asuka she can't get a spot when she was positioned as her brand's champion. Totally agree. Especially when it comes to booking and business decisions.

Pro-wrestling fans commenting about the #1 pro-wrestling promotion having the #1 pro-wrestling show of the year on a pro-wrestling board is crazy behaviour, I know...

Yes, especially since he was hired back in 96 anyway. Agreed. Good stuff on that episode.

He wasn't in WCW at the time (he just showed up at Slamboree the following months for that one match), so maybe he was just visiting. That's my take, I don't see why Bruce would just bullshit about that kind of detail. The fact he said "I think Barry was doing the Blackjacks" shows he was confused about the Barry timeline, but it came off like trying to make sense of Barry being backstage at Mania X. Barry was at the first Mania, he wasn't doing anything at the time (still injured), so why not.

Oh, of course. I love Charlotte, especially as a heel, she's terrific. But the feud was Becky vs Ronda, it simply didn't need anything else.

Hijo de Fantasma, Joey Ryan, Ivelisse & Kobra Moon have been granted releases from Lucha Underground. I guess Ryan has ties why AEW already (he's been all over BIT). WWE apparently had interest in Fantasma (because they did such a good job with Andrade). I would love to see Ivelisse and/or Kobra Moon land in iMPACT/AEW.

I was wondering why there was no hype whatsoever for this show. Even the Takeover didn't get much reaction around here. Well...

This year's build to Mania has been pretty much awful on all accounts if you consider the good and fresh stuff they stumble upon (Becky vs Rousey, Kofi/Ali as the ultimate challengers). They just mess everything up and make everything worse than it should be. The same company in 1997 certainly wouldn't be able to make Steve Austin vs Bret Hart what it was.

Uh... proven how ? She wasn't given anything to do after winning the belt, now she's taken off the show so Charlotte can parade with a title in a main event she shouldn't be involved with in the first place. Asuka is off the show, yet you'll get people no one really wants to see like Baron Corbin, the Ilconics, Nia Jaxx & Tamina and so on... It's just stupid booking. Asuka is being totally wasted, like many others, that's pretty much the only thing this last minute decision "proves". As far as her being off the show not changing anything, it's pretty much the case for everyone not named Ronda Rousey (and Becky Lynch to some extent).