El-P

Yeah. Does that mean Charlotte does the job, and then titles vs titles at the next PPV ? That's kinda dumb indeed, Mania should be the end, not a vehicule for the next thing. Reminds me of the switching of IC/hardcore titles before Mania 15... "Hey, they don't expect THAT". Poor Asuka.

Steph as special referee, special ring announcer, special commentator at the same time, also special guest to present the belt and she'll also be the timekeeper. (remember, women's wrestling barely existed before Stephy. Hell, women in sport finally are getting a chance thanks to Stephy)

That got a laugh out of me.

This. Twitter (social network in general) followers mean jackshit. I'm sure Roman Reigns has more followers worldwide than any semi-famous talk-show host of each country. But I can assure you no one knows who the fuck Roman Reigns is in France apart from WWE fans, for instance, whereas any semi-famous talk-show host on French TV is, well, at least semi-famous in the mainstream. Yeah, that's stuck-in-the-bubble talk. The Real World doesn't care about WWE (which is why they can get way with the Saudi deal, mostly, and try to portray themselves as "innovators" when they are 20 years behind the times).

They should have announced their next Saudi show at the same time.

Wait, the situation has got so fucking bad that some people are actually remembering Jinder Mahal's push "fondly" ? That Indian Guy main event push was god awful and totally flopped on every level. Can't believe it was two years ago though, seems like yesterday, kinda.

Ok, so the WM X podcast was much better than the XX I thought. Solid episode to cover what was an old favourite of mine back in the days. I guess if I consider my "complete mark" days, Owen winning is probably one of my favourite, legit mark out moment of that period.

Back to the topic, really good iMPACT show this week, with a good opener OVE vs Swann & Mack & Dreamer, Tessa vs Jordynne being really good, a nice heel turn by Johnny & Taya at the end (with Callis calling it like it's still the 90's, which I loved) and fun stuff to fill time (Kikutaro vs Glenn Gilberti on my weekly TV show ? Hell, it's more random than a WAR match ! Love it). I really enjoy the "back to basics" approach to the promotion, they are doing basically a better job getting me interested in Tessa vs Gail than WWE has done with their convoluted McMahon suckitude infused Becky, Ronda & Charlotte stuff. Give me something basic or give me Lucha Underground insanity, basically, and I'm happy to follow you.

Good for him. Kane is in my Top 10 of the worst, most boring workers I've sever seen. WWE big man style worker indeed. You can spot awful matches and performances in the 90 up to the 10's. Sucked then, sucks now.

That's the effect of being there FOREVER, even though you suck and your angles have sucked forever. Just being there FOREVER makes you someone.

And they are cold as fuck too, ratings and attendance are plunging (not that it does because they are legit MMA fighters, either). Two of WWE's biggest stars ever were Hulk Hogan and The Rock. Two larger than life comic book characters, basically. The "realism" element doesn't matter. The "star power" element does. Whatever works. Hell, when Ric Flair got the belt the first time, some old-timers didn't agree and thought Flair sucked because he wasn't a shooter and his stuff looked goofy and too cartoony. But we're stretching away from whether intergender stuff works or not. To me it does, at this point I have zero issue with it, honestly.

It's odd, but this Mania kinda feels like the end of a cycle for me. I pretty much got interested, to some degree only, back during Daniel Bryan's rise to the top. There we are, five years later, and I kinda feel "obligated" to watch Mania despite having no real interest in doing so. I guess years of Mania becoming a giant chore didn't help. Last year the two Saudi shows killed any bit of interest I had, and I know the same shit is gonna happen again later on. Despite some of the best talent in the world in the roster, it's like I can't be bothered to care even about the really good matches. I guess this has been a transitional period in my life too... I dunno, at the same time I really am interested about the first AEW show. I guess I want something exciting and new, in wrestling and otherwise...

That card was kinda crazy when you think about the fact it had both Jeff Jarrett (WWE), Killer Kross (iMPACT) and Cody & the Bucks (AEW) on the same show. The fact every damn match is a garbagey brawl does get tiresome after a point, but I did like the cage match. It's still amazing to me that the biggest star of the company is basically a guy doing the Doink gimmick. Super Porky is sad to watch. Jarrett is fun to watch in this context. The Fabi Apache face turn was well done. Superfly didn't die and he's lucky, because it was one of the most horrendous bumps I've ever seen. Lucha Bros v Young Bucks was quite the spotfest, the match at Vegas could be great with more time. AAA is still an odd company with all these guys dressed in military/anti-riot squad outfit (a look I really can't stand), a dozen factions and the fucking urn being presented at the beginning of every show. The woman is kinda freaking me out BTW, she looks like Medusa.

Cool signing. Honestly, the Su-Yung storyline with Dark Allie was going nowhere at this point, but she is very solid and charismatic and can work both side of the fence too.

Pro-wrestling isn't a combat sport. It's a fiction. Was Hulk Hogan, Sting or Dusty Rhodes more comic book or simulated athletic contest ? Jim Cornette working comedy spots with the referee was a simulated athletic contest ? Jerry Lawler hiding *nothing* in his tights pretending there was a "foreign object" ? Abdullah the Butcher isn't comic book material ? The Undertaker anyone ? John Cena and his Five Knuckle Shuffle and fist bump that wouldn't hurt a fly ? Should I go on ?

Mania XI had Razor vs Jarrett, Shawn vs Diesel and Bigelow vs LT which was a cool spectacle, kinda. And it was over in less than three hours. I take Mania XI as a whole over any overblown Manias of the last few years. It's supposed to be fun, not a chore. (hey, attendance is down, ratings are down, the product is cold as hell, people, don't let the Mania show itself or the FOX deal fool you, WWE is only buried under money because a criminal regime wants propaganda shows and a TV channel wanted some live shit with Ronda in it (which is another issue I guess))

Tell me that's Joey Ryan's show.

Realism and pro-wrestling have nothing to do with each other. Nothing in pro-wrestling is realistic, unless you go for the most hardcore shoot-style stuff of the late 90's (the best Tamura stuff against guys like Khosaka, not Volk Han of course). Once you accept a woman's body is equal to a man's body and the only criteria is the size and what goes along in the realm of pro-wrestling, you're absolutely fine. This. Especially with so many small guys (and I mean *small*) today working super fast lucha style flying. I can *realistically* believe Tessa Blanchard could beat up Sami Guevarra for instance.

Half-way through the Mania XX podcast and it is so nothing. If that's what the podcast is gonna be now, might as well shut it down, really. Compare it to the PPV edition Bischoff has been doing lately... "We're telling a story" "They were telling a story" "It was about the story" Ok. I think we got the point. (no joke, no story, no funny stuff either)

No chance in hell Trip vs Batista isn't closing the first half. No, what would be really hilarious would be Trip vs Batista as the opener. "Hey, good luck later on..."

All about the insanity that is Mania week now. ROH, iMPACT and MLW already have threads of their own to talk about their shows, but there is so much more to talk about until the complete and absolute incoming burn-out.

Samoa Joe vs Rey Mysterio and the Triple threat main event should be really good. But yeah, staying awake all night long and suffer through shit like Miz vs Shane, Angle vs Corbin and 50 years old Trip Epic of the Year just doesn't sound very appealing to me.

Meanwhile, CMLL last Friday had a legit MOTYC with Los Guerreros Laguneros vs Caristico, Volador & Dragon Lee. Just awesome from start to finish. The hair vs hair main event was good but nothing special, Bestia Del Ring just isn't that kind of epic worker, and while I like Terrible quite a bit, Ange de Oro & Niebla Roja are not gonna have that great of a match against those two. Seems like part of the crowd was shitting on the technicos too, I guess the Ingobernables are that popular. And really, if Angel is Pillman, Niebla is definitely Z-Man, not overly charismatic. Excellent show overall, best CMLL Friday night show of the year thus far.

AJ Styles is about as indie as Daniel Bryan at this point. If that's the storyline they are going for, it's yet another totally dumb as fuck piece of writing.

Yeah, best episode in a while. Last year I said MLW looked like SMW to LU's ECW, and really with Corny announcing and this Contra squash/slaughter with people cosplayingly throwing shit in the ring, he did look like some old territory stuff re-enactment. And Jacob Fatu is impressive. Plus I like the fact he's wearing the old SST kinda outfit. Teddy Hart is just comically goofy, cutting insane promos, selling his ribs like crazy walking to the ring them not so much at the beginning of the match, then puking, then getting annoyed at Holliday not taking a bump right. MJF is just awesome, there's no two ways about it. That promo about Stu Hart, short as it was, just Heenan-like funny. Yeah, DBS is much more at ease working that US style and he looked really good here with bumping people to beat up. The lucha opening was quite good too and Mance vs LA Park could deliver something really cool. And damnit, Salina's outfits are just getting better and better. And believe me, that shit she was wearing tonight is expensive. She's still the best character on this show.