El-P

"We know who that is." Well, I wouldn't mind him in the next season (hopefully) of LU either.

Wait, Ayako Hamada retired from pro-wrestling after a drug sentence ? Wow, that totally flew under the radar, I haven't seen anyone here reporting it. That's pretty sad.

The Smackdown episode is highly recommended, like most of the time an episode is all about behind the scenes and production stuff. The whole argument about the word "wrestling" is another deep dive in Vince's psyche. Really good stuff this week, best episode in a long time to me.

Well, who am I to doubt Lucha Underground. Really loved E9. Although I'm gonna Miss Mala Suerte and his legendary top rope attack. A oddball team of Joey Ryan & XO ? I'm there. Mariposa jobbing quick was just the appetizer for what's coming with Marty, so I have no beef for that, but it did seemed rushed. Tha Atomicos match was maybe my favourite since the beginning of this season. And well, as far as straight babyface turn go, this was one hell of a 1-2 punch for Mundo. Taya crying because she didn't get the wish was goofy as hell I thought though. The proposition worked and although I wrestling wedding always suck (and hell, I don't like wedding IRL either), if there's one promotion who can do it right and make something cool out of it, it's LU. Immediately cutting to Ricky and his doll was the perfect set-up. So we get the closure of an old angle and the beginning of another one, all tied up in one sequence that made sense. Yeah, it can be written, crazy, uh ?

Don't tease KawadaSmile like this. It's cruel. We almost lost him this week already.

I popped. Honestly, it's the highlight of this season thus far. That and the Catrina/Mil intrigue (hell, Mil has been the best character & worker in the company since the beginning). I'm at E8 and I admit I'm less into it than the previous seasons. Maybe the very indieriffic nature of the matches kinda wears down my interest at this point. I do enjoy Dragon Azteca Jr. being put into the main event mix (which is very underwhelming to me, as I never cared for Cage and I'm down on Penta). Too bad for Vibora indeed, but the vignette was pretty cool. That's the kinda nonsense I want from LU. And less tigh slapping matches, and more garbage ECW-like brawls.

Don't comment on John Cena's body, please. Leave his body alone. But yeah, that's disgusting. He also looks old as fuck here.

Well, Slammiversary 09 ended up quite the fun show despite a tepid build. Mostly good/fun stuff, only Sting vs Matt Morgan and Angelina Love vs Tara really weren't much of anything. Morgan is a mystery, he got everything you'd want for a pro-wrestler, yet never seem to put it together. Something just doesn't click above the "ok" level. Plus Sting really has looked pretty washed up since day one in TNA. I know he was 50, but I have no idea where the good rep from his stint there comes. As far as Tara goes, I have no idea what the rep is on her, as I've seen nothing before, but she did not impress me thus far. I guess being trained solely by WWE in the 00's, when Lita & Trish Stratus ruled the world isn't exactly the best basis. She sure can bitchslap a stiff one though. Jury's out. The two King of the Mountain matches were really fun, the X-division being the most spectacular and the heavyweight one being exactly the kind of clusterfuck you'd expect, with people killing themselves in ridiculous ways. First time Mick Foley looked useful since he showed up in TNA too, as he did drop a stupid elbow from the top of the penalty box. Angle with hair & beard (almost) is quite a different sight. The finish was a "too clever for its own good" Russo swerve, but apart from this, yeah, fun car crash stuff. Speaking of car crash, the most notable (and fun) match to me was Raven vs Daffney vs Abyss & Taylor Wilde in a Monster's Ball match. It warmed the vampire fan in me. Fat Raven still could go, which was nice to see. Dr. Stevie is yet another fun Richards incarnation. And damn if Taylor Wilde is not a trooper, that girl has been the fire of the women's division since Gail Kim left. Way underrated. As far as Daffney goes, well, she ended up through a table, then took a bump into the tacks, so what's not to love ? Ozaki would approve. The right team won too. Team 3D vs Beer Money was really good and slowly build into a hot finish. I can't stress enough how much Team 3D were valuable to TNA, they just did everything *right*. Last appearance for Shane Douglas on PPV I guess. He didn't look too bad for a 45 years old banged up former junkie (I think this came after he painfully dropped the habit. Maybe not, not so sure, but if anyone wonders, just listen to his interview on Austin's podcast, it's fascinating and terrifying). Well, he still had the old-school psychology and mic ability... Easily the best PPV since the very first one of the year, and probably the first enjoyable show top to bottom they produced that year, which has been pretty pathetic in term of booking, with disastrous results on the TV and PPV's. Seven years after they debuted, and after a strong 2008, 2009 looks like the time when TNA really totally fell into the Russo trap of trying to be WWE-lite, with only older WCW/WWF guys on top and a women division that regressed badly after being on fire for nearly two years. The ratings may have gone up (Foley maybe ?), but the product had lost whatever was left of the uniqueness of TNA. When you think the best idea Dixie came up then was to reunite the all-time disastrous team of WCW 2000... What a waste of talent this company was. (I can't believe I went through seven years of TNA in the last three years and three months...)

From this thread, looks like I would enjoy Joe vs Styles & Ronda vs Alexa quite a bit. So, Roman is the Ace. And now that Brock is gone, you think he's not gonna be booed again ? Not that it matters, but... I think Matt kinda summed up what the current WWE was all about though.

The fact he can genuinely love pro-wrestling matches that much after more than 30 years of watching and covering it is actually a pretty refreshing thought. Better that than to be a salty mofo bitching and moaning about snowflakes on a weekly basis.

I thought it made Conrad look like a juvenile douchebag.

You don't say. Maybe Bruce is finally getting tired of it. The show was pretty nondescript, which was a surprise considering the era we're talking about. It's notable Conrad didn't go into weeks of build-in before tackling down the show, which I guess did not help this time around, there was not much in term of context. Still a funny story, JR getting pissed off because Bischoff was holding his fridge hostage.

I expect a great thread tomorrow morning when I wake up, at least. Make it entertaining, people.

It just occurred to me that SummerSlam 98 was 20 years ago. It was probably my highest point of being a WWF fan, as it got on a downward slope all through the following year until I quit. It's kinda crazy when I think about it. It seemed *so* important to me back then. Interesting that the show was the topic of Prichard's latest podcast, and it was done without any excitement nor interesting story. Odd, as it was a time where the WWF was getting red hot. Fast forward today, despite a renewed interest in (some aspect of) the product around the mid 2010's, at this point I feel like I'm missing absolutely zilch by not bothering to watch. The company is making more money than ever thanks to the ridiculous TV fee bubble and, well, those neat checks from you-know-who, they sign every damn talent available to feed their system, yet the product has probably never been so sterile.

Hot blonde character of 15 years ago vs hot blonde character of today. Says of lot, actually.

Wow. Is the bloom off the rose with NXT ? It's the first time I remember such a tiedous reaction thread to a Takeover. Especially considering Gargano/Ciampa was like the greatest WWE thing ever just a few months ago. So Matt Riddle showed up ? When you think he was on Joey Janela's show against PCO just a few days ago. Quite the transition.

Oh fuck the jokes writes themselves ! Even if I wasn't removed from watching WWE stuff, that SS card has absolutely nothing I would care to watch. The biggest match is two guys who feuded 13 years ago in TNA (and had MOTYC then). The only thing I'd actually be interested in is Rusev vs Almas in a "Can we ruin another hot duo" on a pole match. The only way I'm batting an eye at the main event is if the crowd does the 10 count to a buzzer sound then leave during the match. That would be classic.

Quite funny. Who he is facing at SS ?

Regular people call that "lying".

Wait, when he talks about the "Brotherhood", he doesn't imply shit like the Grand Dragon and stuff ? (just kidding, ok)

He's 65. He got obscene amounts of money from the lawsuit. >>> Retirement. Who the fuck wants to see that guy do anything in 2018 anyway ? Childhood memories are the lamest thing anyway (not even talking about mine, I was never a fan).

Damn, it just clicked with me why he was so big on "Brother !".

Men's physique and body have never EVER been subject to comments in pro-wrestling. EVER. Especially in WWE. As far as "making a difference", well, I would hope Fatu would have talked about how the #WomenEvolutionPPV was a non Saudi Arabia exclusive... Keep taking your vitamins, folks.

I do think he also defended DeMott back then. I guess that's expected out of someone who's stuck in the past on these matters, but it's disappointing nonetheless.

Post of the day.