El-P

iMPACT does it again with an excellent special edition. Strong angles (Tessa & Gail, LAX & Lucha Bros), a very solid Taya vs Jordynne Grace match, leading to another, more conclusive one in the future. Grace still looks green at times, but Taya as a heel is even better than as a babyface (that's also true of her husband). Scarlett Bordeaux vs Glen Gilberti was as expected really fun and actually a lot more solid than expected. Really, 50 years old Disco Inferno is better than 50 years old Kurt Angle. He's also still better than Baron Corbin or Nia Jaxx. Kross vs Cage was a nice bomb throwing match, although they really need a better main event babyface, Cage just doesn't do much for me in that role. And really, what put this episode over the top was the whole Undead Realm sequence. They don't give a flying fuck, they just want to do cool shit. I guess that's the influence of Lucha Underground and the Matt Hardy stuff they did before. Three things in particular about this. First, I really got a kick out of Luchasaurus getting killed *again*, after his brutal murder in the Temples of Snakes in LU. Just too funny (although I hope we'll get to see him again, he's being wasted in ROH dull-land). Second, well : Yeah, I do think we can all recognize that the best we can say about Hogan's acting here is : it's not hot. And yes, the leader of the Undead Realm. When I saw that silhouette coming, I hoped for an instant it would be... bam, they delivered. Just perfect. So yeah, it's goofy, it's kitsch, it's pulp, it's not nearly produced as well as LU (not the same budget either I guess), but it's fun as hell in small doses. It's pro-wrestling in 2019. Why the fuck not ! iMPACT is the best, people.

Wasn't she accused by Randy of being kinda responsible for Liz straying away from him ? Yeah, could be fascinating.

So, Allie was on BTE already, and there's tension between her and Brandi. Cody doing an entire movie monologue was kinda Goldustian, if you catch my drift. How cool would it be to see Dustin landing in AEW for a last stint ? They teased Marty Scurll as a ghost... The Librarian is gonna be the biggest unveiling since the Narcissist. Micheal Nakazawa ? Sorry, couldn't help it. This guy is gonna be OVER at Double or NOthing, is nothing else. "Dollar Store Tom Selleck". MJF is the best, between this and his MLW stuff, he's already the best old-school douchebag heel today.

Speaking of people leaving, Tenille Dashwood is now free agent, so here's another one who would fit either iMPACT or AEW's roster. Meanwhile Madison Rayne is going back to iMPACT (which is cool, she was the third Beautiful People). Well, I understand why the women's division came off like an afterthought in the TV shows. Only one women's match at the garden. And isn't Kelly Klein AEW bound too anyway ?

Agreed. I couldn't care less about most of the ROH side (apart from PCO/Brody and Rush & Bandido, but they aren't exactly "ROH" kind of talent) but the big time NJ stuff at the Garden should be amazing if anything else in term of atmosphere and image for NJ. Just hope Gedo won't americanize Okada vs White too much with run-ins and shit. Jeff Cobb vs Ospreay should be an awesome match too, and at this point I really hope Cobb works more and more in Japan. Especially since... Oh I care. He's probably my least favourite gaijin in the company, if not my least favourite guy in the company (he sure was the worst worker in last year's G1 I thought), so him going away is a good news. Hope he lands back in ROH or NXT (aka places I don't follow). Hope Cobb gets his spot and works G1. Now that would be a terrific new element in the mix.

John Oliver on AEW payroll rumours on Twitter already ?

Amazing piece. Yep. Gotta love the fact he made it clear he was a wrestling fan too. It's nice to hear someone from outside the bubble on those ridiculous matters.

The NJ Cup was amazing. So many great matches, from the very first rounds with Ishii vs Nagata, Ibushi vs Naito, Ibushi vs ZSJ, Suzuki vs SANADA, Tana vs ZSJ, Ospreay vs Okada and then just awesome semi-finals and final. Ishii vs Okada was just a MOTY level match, Tanahashi vs SANADA was one of the smartest match I've seen in a long time (Tana is brillant, he's up there with Misawa) and then the awesome final, another MOTYC. Despite Omega leaving, NJ is still ridiculous in term of big match quality. This whole stuff was really designed to make SANADA go up to the next level as a single star and it worked. Now let's see how he does in the G1. Ishii is still the greatest wrestler ever not getting a major title. (I did not enjoy the run-ins and bullshit in Juice vs Owens, their first match was much more enjoyable; if there's one thing I dislike about Gedo's booking, it's the old american influence in a japanese context; and really the Bullet Club is beyond tired as an act) Now, Okada in a packed MSG, that's gonna be something...

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.