El-P

OMG I didn't noticed the first time, but when they showed the replay of it I CRINGED hard.

They have gone dark for a month after that show that "made them look like the N°2 promotion" (per Chris Jericho), and which had classic LOLTNA booking and the embarrassing Hardies vs Dudleys shitshow, they come back for a Full Say university taping (I mean, if you're gonna book sitting in the cuck chair) and THIS ? 😂 I mean, they *could* do it, considering the entire TNA thing right now is being astroturfed by WWE to look like "the N°2 promotion" (I love to repeat this stupid shit), but they don't have a PPV before early 2026. Still, in the end Mike Santana comes off as such a fucking geek. Did not win in his hometown. Gets his big win at a show where a bunch of people left before his match (BTW, gotta love Bubba Ray burying their match on the infamous podcast too, way to go dipshit). Company goes back to black for a month. Loses the title in the worst WWE trope day one of his reign after getting beat up by a bunch of NXT people. In the end, it doesn't matter because he's ending up in NXT soon enough (Joe Hendry is still under TNA contract and he's basically been a NXT worker for a while now scratch that, Hendry has signed with WWE). TNA becoming WWE's toy really is sad though, in the grand scheme of things. (BTW, if anyone wonders, Kaz has been dull as fuck in the ring since he came back to TNA. He's "solid", at very best. He's also 48 years old; so yeah, WWE booking in effect)

By the way, I'm convinced it flew over 90% of the audience's heads, but Timeless Toni using a *pearl necklace* as a weapon totally cracked me up. She's just hilarious.

Yeah, the flux and pacing got all goofy because of the commercial breaks, and you could easily cut off 10 minutes from the men match (the entire sequence of going on top of the cage was really not needed, although I'm glad they did not drop anyone off this high, hopefully we're past that). And yeah, those tables were even less cooperative than Nixon Newell & Miranda Alizee. Apart from that, holy shit Blood and Guts, did they delivered loads of this and that. Of course Skye Blue was the first one of her team and of course she bled two minutes in. Mina did her best Mima Shimoda tribute. And damn Marina, ya crazy bitch. They peaked like crazy for the last period for sure. Hangman vs Hobbs managed to follow that with even more hardcore shit, although of a different kind. Of course Cage match, perfect time to set it up. The FTR/Stoke vs Steamboat angle was just perfect. Damn, that FTR/Stoke alliance is the best thing no one even thought about. Kyle O'Reilly certainly deserved that one. Holy hell, Muta would be proud. It has to be said how insanely *great* Claudio is in his role. And really, Mox and the Deathriders, all things considered, it has to be repeated, really fucked all year long (yeah, apart from the early days and Cope and shit, I know), such an awesome heel faction. The story arc of Mox repeatedly ending up taping out after All In is quite great. BTW, that time where Renee was reporting in a very "newsflash" way while her husband was on screen butchering O'Reilly with broken glass had me rolling. Oh yeah, and Darby went through flaming table, because of course. Tell me he had some protective liquid on him before he did that stupid stunt. That's certainly how you do a fucking TV special. For the sickos, indeed.

That would be unfortunate. I still see potential in Top Flight, especially Dante, but they have been running in circles for years, sadly. I don't see the alliance with Scorpio Sky & Leila Grey going much further but you never know. On paper this is a pretty decent faction. CRU, I forgot they even existed. Lio Rush should have been used in a different way, he's a very singular talent.

Meanwhile all this worthless drama, Collision was one hell of a TV show, with terrific TV matches in Mox vs Strong and Fletcher vs Austin, who is getting over by sheer force of his in-ring work. FTR vs the other Austin & Juice was very good too, Hayter vs Blue was solid as hell and Thekla vs Cameron made up with heat what it lacked in clean work, as Harley still is basically a rookie. I'm thoroughly enjoying the Caster/Bowens angle, leading to the inevitable real Acclaimed reunion (damn, they really are the NAO of the 2020's, except much better in-ring of course). And ROH had a terrific Komander vs Lee Moriarty 10 mn draw leading to a championship match at the next special. Also, the Swirl needs to get a serious push, if only because Blake Christian is such a great wrestler. Insane in-ring and slimy as fuck character. Eventually gotta make his way into the "main roster", as they say.

Well, the more you know about lots of them, the harder it is to care one way or another. Meanwhile, AEW has been delivering with fun adds lately.

Queen Aminata was a jobber for like three years. Doing 3 minutes and less jobs on Dark and Dark Elevation. The Youtube shows. Worked out ok for her. (and damn I am gutted about her getting injured just as she was gonna go into Blood & Guts, she would have ruled in this. Penelope and her worked so hard those last few months, it's really too bad)

They've been hired for enhancement matches. That's what you do. Lose in 3 minutes. The rest is irrelevant. There were two other women matches on the same show, that went 10mn +. Also, there are regularly men squash matches on TV on Collision. It has *nothing* to do with how the women division is handled and everything to do with a WWE coded person and her dumbfuck gf having an overinflated sense of ego. And it's drama for social media engagement that everyone will have forgotten in three days also, really.

Damage control being that they wanted "more time for their match". Sure girls, you're brought up to put someone else over, not get your shit in. Apparently Leila Grey (actually Taya Walkyrie too) pointed out plenty of workers *under contract* would love more TV time too, which is actually a great point, that is if any point needed to be made. In the end it's still two dumbasses with an overinflated sense of themselves playing the "that doesn't work for us, brothers". Let's not pretend Nixon has to be the smart one just because she's not a MAGA shithead (why is she dating one then ? oh well, people. Maybe she shares *some* of her beliefs, ya know). She was complaining months ago about not getting bookings, but I never heard anything about her from her WWE tenure, and now she thinks she's some big shot that needs to be competitive with two actual member of the roster who have been there for years and are taking part in a tournament for new belts. And yeah, fuck Miranda Alizee and her hateful views. (EDIT : and now Nixon said on her Twitch that she got a bunch of death greats, which of course is completely abhorrent and awful. What's up with dumb fucks sending death threats to people, especially women ? Internet was a bad idea)

Meanwhile, apparently Zayda Steel was at Collision and will eventually appear on ROH. Interesting considering she left the WWEID nonsense of her own. She was a fun character in MLW a while back. Still green as grass from in-ring standpoint when I saw her in Marigold last year (the very few I've watched of that promotion) but definitely someone I don't mind having on my weekly wrestling regime.

This was the best match possible. All this nonsense fake hype about Nakamura was for naught, obviously. The match would have *sucked* too (I've seen Nakamura vs Mutah a few years ago, Nak looked completely washed). At this point, they are going to sell out the Dome. Time to make your new big star in Tsuji too I guess.

I did not expect Saori Anou to get the big match (I really am not following Stardom closely at all), but I sure glad she is. She's been my favorite performer in the promotion for a while now. And then Saya vs Syuri at the (probably) sold out WK Dome show ? Damn.

AEW introducing *another* title : yawn. Hurt Syndicate immediately being involved with it : MAJOR FUCKING YAWN. Funny how they consistently have been about the worst thing in the promotion for a year now. Can we get Ricochet out of this vortex of suck already ? Yeah, it apparently "hurts their brand". 😂 What is their brand exactly ? "Two dumb bitch burning bridges" ? Nixon was complaining months ago about not getting booking. She sure not gonna get much more after pulling out that shit, nowhere in any major promotion anyway. And her MAGA/TERF girlfriend is someone I'm glad I won't have to watch. Honestly, there will come a point where TK is just not gonna even bother with ex WWE people at all (and actually this kind of booking is weeding out the stupid pretty good). Which really sucks for anyone being employed by WWE, because that is a stain that could prevent you from even getting a look from AEW. What a bunch of geniuses, really. Anywoo. The stip for Fletcher/ Briscoe is great, because that way *anything* really can happen. I saw it coming too as it was happening, Stardom classic stip just popped into me head, picturing Mark as SLK or something. Harley & Willow winning was kinda "predictable" after last week, also I didn't expected Mercedes to work twice at the PPV. Tournament is more unpredictable now too, as Willow/Harley are a good fit for first champs too, just as Tony/Mina for obvious reasons. And Sister of Sins could also be considered now (although I very much doubt they will win). I hope they don't forget about that Mercedes/Athena team though, because there's way too much potential for great shit to do. Oh yeah, heels FTR with Stoke are just some of the best stuff they ever did in AEW. I love Brodido, but them as anchors of the division would be pretty awesome.

Speaking of early 90's WCW cheese, that last segment of Dynamite was certainly a fun twist on this. Not too sure what the point of the four way was though, apart from making you want to see a Ricochet vs Hangman match that is not coming (for now ?). The Blodd & Guts match will most probably be terrific, but I'm not crazy about having it the WWE way where two gimmick matches happen on the same show just because. It makes it non-organic, and honestly now the women Blood & Guts will get overshadowed. Oh well. 4-way tag team was awesome. Right team won. Sister of Sins winning is interesting, as I thought they were going for Moné & Athena in the finals, but that would mean heels vs heels in the semi, which of course they could do. Sucks for Penelope though, I was looking forward to see her in B&G. Okada vs Takeshita is gonna be a billion stars, plus a few more if they do it at the Tokyo Dome.

Mistico vs Austin Aries is probably the match no one had on their bingo card this year, and of course it had to happen in MLW because where else would Austin Aries work ? Thing is, even at 47, and despite basically vanishing from consciousness since being a complete idiot during the pandemic, that douchebag is still a great promo and a great worker. And Mistico be like "yeah, I'm totally gonna take TWO death valley drivers on the apron on an MLW show" like he's Sabu or Terry Funk. That guy has to be the wrestler of the year, all things considered. He also busted out a brainbuster because why not. MLW still is basically "CMLL US", as far as the good stuff goes. And then you get shit like Matt Riddle & Krüle vs Dikaj and Bishop Dyers (TAFKA Baron Corbin), which I'm absolutely not watching (I have at least 3 good reasons not to) and WCW circa 1991 cheese (they even re-did the Chambers of Horror match last month, involving CW Anderson's old ass). What an oddity of a promotion. Oh, Killer Kross is showing up next month. All of this endless talks and astroturfing to end up in a match vs Matt fucking Riddle in MLW. Court Bauer makes William Corgan cry, he's a better carny.

A pretty good match bewteen Iyo and Mayu can only been considered as a major disappointment. Meltzer mentionned the match was basically a showcase for Iyo, and Mayu came looking secondary (which is pretty much textbook WWE style "collaboration"). I saw that Mirai already left the promotion too. Well, so much for the forced push she received in Stardom when Rossy was still booking. That show had the daughter of Yumi Fukawa vs the daughter of Michiko Ohmukai, which makes me feel old af. I wonder if "daughter of Chama" just no-sold a bunch of shit before winning (like her mother would, ya know, old ARSION ref here).

Sorry, I didn't notice this before. Yup there is: Still catching up on stuff, just watched that AZM vs Saya Kamitani from Korakuen Hall last month. Damn, if I did not know the results, there's two occasions where I would have actually believed AZM was winning that one. Crazy good match.

Words of a wise man here...

Well, they had her stand there when they announced they bought AAA. She looked elated too (well, about as much as standing all dressed up for the announcing of Bloodmoney-Mania). Hey, who's that jolly fellow next to her ? (BTW, I don't see any outrage and fiery #freeAndrade campaign from the folks who were horrified by the inhumane treatment of Rey Fénix, you know, when he was *paid* to sit at home for a few months. These people are awfully quiet for some reasons)

TNA is hilarious. After that gaslighting of a show, they do not have a TV episode before sometime in November. That'll be almost a month after their biggest show of the year and crowning of a new champ without any new TV. Brilliant.

Well, it's not like he even *could*, since Vaquer actually have a restraining order against La Hiedra. 😄 That's how bad it got.

Ok, that was inexcusable, I reckon. Shame on me ! Yeah, the few I've seen of her she seems to be pretty good, and with a good look/character. She's been paired with the GYV on ROH, inexplicably (I mean, fo no reason they are doing 6 person tags seemingly just for this trio to be pushed as an act), but they are kinda clicking together.

At this point I'm convinced Pac is wearing a singlet only to be able to drop the straps and make showing his ridiculous body a spot in itself. Ace Austin has a fiery babyface has potential, he was getting over despite not being around that much since being signed. Hopefully he doesn't get lost in the shuffle, he's too good for that. I had no idea who those persons where, so there. It's definitely a different, much more cautious approach to signing ex-WWE people, as showed also by how some have popped up on ROH (That Redhead English Girl whose name I don't remember now). As the year is gonna come to a close in two months, it has to be said how the shows have been ridiculously consistant this year, apart from the very first few weeks with the gallery of old guys, a lull in the Deathrider storyline also at the beginning of the year (especially the entire Copeland feud until the hardcore match) and of course the HS (speaking of which, it's amazing how working with FT has rebuilt JetSpeed, and thankfully). Overall, it pretty much has been the top tier year in AEW's history, really, in term of consistency. And with Blood & Guts and the CC coming up, I can say I'm very much looking forward to the next and last two months of 2025.

I dunno. Seems like they already have accepted the fact tag matches are done under american rules already. Remember the "we are gonna present authentic lucha libre" ? The fact La Hiedra, Samson and Forastero worked that event is interesting for sure though...