El-P

That all well and good, but this is a company that declared John Cena old when he was 40. Cody also was in WWE for ten years before he came back. And no, I don't believe anyone watching WWE today thought Cody was "a new superstar" coming in out of nowhere. He either was Cody from the old days, or Cody Rhodes from AEW, and mostly the later, hence why he got so over. Of course TV age is more important, and hell maybe they'll make him the new face of the company for the next 5 years or so, who knows. Wait, didn't Cody said he was retiring at 40 or something a few years back ?

The actual irony of the thing is that I actually totally agree with you about the fact Nick Nemeth is a perfect signing for TNA, once they got rid of "one of the biggest signee we ever did" hype. That being said, thinking he's not gonna put Moose over is totally in contradiction with how they've been operating for years now. That being said, maybe Nemeth has the biggest profile of anyone else coming from WWE (although his world title stint was years ago, right, back when everybody and their mothers got a WWE title, including Jake Hager and shit), so that's a slight difference there. Still, if you look at how their booking works and has worked for years, the first thing that comes to mind is that Nemeth is putting over Moose. I would be surprised if Nemeth did not became TNA champ eventually if he's there for a while, and I don't see anything wrong with that either. As a regular viewer since 2019, like I said this show was like "another good IMPACT years PPV show", but nothing that different or special either, so I can totally see why that show was not really an incentive. The best way to watch TNA to me at this point is binge watch two or three months at a time using their Youtube channel, that way you get several bigger shows at once, plus the shows are an easy watch. Yup. And not everyone wants to be in a huge corporate machine either. I for one would be a lot more happy in a smaller company with actual human rapports. AJ Styles did not really "bet on himself" (I fucking can't stand that new empty cliché saying everyone is using now BTW, it's even worse then "finishing the story" !). Dixie fucked up with the contract negociations. Those were the days.

Short term, for sure. They have an easy plate. I was more thinking about long-term, after the Roman Reigns reign is over, like the next 10 years of so. BTW I just realized why bubba @KawadaSmile doesn't want Roman to lose the title anytime soon. It's because obviously, the day he does, it's probably the beginning of the end for him in term of being the face of the company. I'm guessing he got some Hollywood envy, which is why the Rock match is also meaningful. So yeah, I feel ya bubba. Enjoy every bit of it while it lasts !

At this point it's kinda like Taker's streak. It wasn't supposed to be that long, and it's on the verge of overstaying its welcome I guess. I mean, whoever wins the title from him, does he really get that legendary rub for ending such a long-ass title reign, or will it rather end up being a case of "Well, this was time" ? And how do they build the following years after they had such a successful run under such a patterned booking ? Not to mention the two things that turned the company were the Bloodline storyline getting hot thanks to Sami Zayn and Cody jumping from AEW. One of those is done. It's crazy when you think of it how one year ago he was the hottest guy in the business, and what could have been. So, once Cody gets the belt (arguably), how do they go with that ? Their business model has been "push John Cena forever" then "push Roman Reigns forever" for the last, say, 15 years. Then can't do that with Cody, who's the same age as Roman. He is just gonna be a transitional champ toward the next chosen one, whoever that is, or since Vince is out, will Lesveque have a different approach ? Also, Jade Cargill is debuting at the Rumble, right ? I mean, this was always the easiest way to make her look like a big deal. Then again, does she win (in which case, does she enters late) ? Does she get eliminated by a big star to set-up a big match in the middle of the thing ?

Pro-wrestling and hip-hop, kinda. Anyway, that was quite unusual.

Well, no, I actually meant a bunch of people. Well, not that astounding, really. Did I just kinda made fun of myself by tripping over my own feet ? Yep. Shit happens when you write as you'd talk, as the thoughts go along. It doesn't bother me at all. I'm like, whoopsie, just contradicted myself from what I was saying two sentences ago. But then again, did I say "Her work is so and so and that's the way it is" ? Nope. I just mentioned what her rep was. And in the end, I just don't know because I just haven't seen her in eons. That's quite different from people who most probably don't watch the product and still gives their evaluation of what it is about, if not pass harsh and dismissive judgement on it (and on this particular case, yep, I mean you). It sure is, it's been established years ago already. But it's more than that too. There are people who made their career (if not spent most of it) over there too, and who should not been dismissed as second-tier talent because of it.

And this, this is pretty cool :

Last time booking was dumb in TNA was in 2017. That's a long-ass time ago. It's a different lifetime it seems almost. If he signed and gonna be around for a while, there's no reason not to do him vs Shelley too eventually. I could see Shelley turning heel again, he's great at it. Well he's great at everything. I'm not even sure I watched more than ten Dolph Ziggler matches in my lifetime, so it's pretty much a clean slate for me. Rock rock don't stop 'til ya drop. Or, something. Some would argue it's old-skewl. Others would it's corny (see what I did there ?). I have no idea, like I said, I haven't watched him at all basically, I vaguely remember a guy doing his best Shawn Michaels tribute show while wearing Billy Gunn kinda boots or something.

The Rock's last match ain't happening anywhere but at Mania. And no, there's no reason for Roman Reigns not to lose clean. Anything else would cheapen whoever wins the title. After that neverending long-ass eternity reign, it would be completely ridiculous. For booking politics alone, this is quite the fascinating Mania season, really. Doing the Australia show : one too many that would endangered his health, most probably. Doing the next Saudi show : I'm willing to bet there's no issue at all.

The guy is already everywhere. NJPW, TNA, now GCW too. It's obvious he's one of those guys who really wanted to do something else while he still could.

Roman losing the title without getting pinned would actually be a complete disgrace and a total joke. Even with Cody pinning Dwayne. A three-way actually makes it a lesser match, but then again, it makes Cody's profile even bigger by the mere fact he's in there for Rock's last match at the biggest Mania ever. So, why not. Plus, Dwayne needs to beat Trump at the next election (I mean, someone, anyone has to do it, right ?), so he can't do the job here anyway. You know what match would have been hilarious ? Rock vs CM Punk. Main eventing Mania instead of whomever. First guy's body breaking down first loses.

I'm not hating on Roman Reigns the performer. I couldn't care less. How he's booked and what he's the symptom of, on the other hand, is very interesting. And pretty dirty. Still, did anyone really thought you'd get Rock vs Roman in Australia ?

He sure *deserves* jackshit. He's the poster boy for privilege, has been since day one. At this point I would not even be surprised the Mania main event to be a three way with Dwayne and Cody, and Dwayne eating the pin out of respect for Dusty, while Roman gets protected so he gets to the next Bloodmoney show unstained. By the booking I mean.

That Jack Perry thingy is actually pretty intriguing. That's a nice little twist and hopefully making the best off that NJPW/AEW relationship. Gimme Jack Perry vs Takagi, Ishii and Taichi already too.

Ok. I mean, it's not that I take anything I hear for granted anyway, but it's true I really haven't heard lots of good around here (and elsewhere, really). Then again, it happened before that I watch someone I only heard bad things about and I go "WTF are people smoking, that guy is perfectly fine". The idea I got from her name was that she was... a perfume ?! I have no idea where they are going since she has had no vignettes. But TNA have been very good developing characters and letting performers developing their own.

Yep. Classic stuff right there. Direct link to THAT week, which was also the last match of Bret Hart's career, which sucked, and the last of Russo's first booking stint, which also sucked, but in a different way.

Roman Reigns is not even working Australia. That guy is basically Brock Lesnar as the World Champ now. Sorry Aussie WWE Universe, Roman Reigns only gets to be acknowledged by authoritarian regimes and at Mania (for a while) now. Soon they'll have to do Mania in Djeddah or he'll be defending his title only once a year.

This. Threads reeks of so many people in "tell me you don't actually watch TNA without telling me you don't actually watch TNA" mode. I wonder if they thought they could actually get Mercedes at some point, which is why they made the announcement, and then moved away from it when they could not. Nemeth is an interesting case, because it's obvious he's one of those "fuck WWE, I'm gonna hustle like crazy now and go everywhere". Now, how his work is gonna look outside of WWE, that's always the question (hey Metallik, how it's been going ?). As far as Nemeth fatigue, well, one great thing about not watching WWE is that I have none, and people acting like the guy should go away because they're tired of him, well, here's a tidbit for ya : don't watch. Won't be too hard since you weren't watching TNA to begin with. I did not even thought of this. But really, when I saw her I was like "Who the fuck is that ?". It took the announcer to tell me she was Dana Brooke. She has.... changed. Of all the people being fired from WWE, that's not who I would have picked, considering her rep (of, you know, not being good at all after years and years). Then again, TNA has worked wonders for some people, so, who knows. But they just lost Deonna. That's a hard one talent wise, you just can't replace someone like that talent wise. Production wise, yes, it looked really good. And the change of look makes it fresh. As far as the Show went, I'd say it was pretty much an IMPACT big show from the last few years. Which says a lot about how good they've been on average, but I clearly have seen shows with better stuff. I've gotta say I was not overly impressed with Hammerstone. He's fine. He had a very good match with Alexander, but a dead horse would have a very good match with Alexander. I dunno, I don't get the hype about the guy at all. Again, he's *fine*, not a knock on him, but. He still doesn't strikes me as special though, and that's working against Alexander, so you won't get any better than this. I agree. I was kinda bummed about MK Ultra losing the tag titles, these two are so cool together. Decay being back almost feels like a nostalgia act now. It was cool and all for long time fans, but I dunno. Jordyne winning was expected, Gisele is soon gonna be there too I think. Trinity had a super fun run there. I really would have liked Shelley to jumpstart the rebranding era, but if they want big bad heel Moose vs big time babyface Nemeth, I do understand, although I was not a fan of the decision. Moose is a surefire trooper, and a damn good worker, and he's now aligned with a new heel faction. He's also really identified with the company. But yeah, kinda reset booking feeling of sorts too, although Sabin keeping the X-division and ABC keeping the tag titles is nice continuity. Overall, to me the show kinda felt like "just another IMPACT PPV" with better production (although it was always good), and not that much newsworthy happening, Nemeth being kinda "oh, ok" rather than "OMG !". The upcoming tapings with Ospreay and Okada actually sound more intriguing, really. So, TNA is back. Hard to kill indeed.

One take from those last few weeks has been this : Queen Aminata (who's been all over every show) & Zak Knight (that's Saraya's big brother, working ROH) : sign them. They are really good.

That was Jake Hager.

She wasn't going anywhere. Plus to me she's been much better as a heel than as a babyface as far as her in-ring stuff goes. She kinda has a good chemistry with 2.0, although really it seems they get good chemistry with anyone, really. She's in a tough spot, her injury set her back quite a bit, she's not the most athletic and she got passed by all the young newcomers like Willow, Julia, Skye and the likes. Maybe she can find the right thing to get over, I dunno. Probably going back to more of a babyface now (Danny Garcia & Daddy Magic already having turned, really).

I mean, there are subtler ways to do so, bubba. Like noticing how Anna Jay, while mostly in character still, low key says that being paired with Jericho really hasn't done anything for her. She probably didn't expect *that* question though, because she totally breaks out.

subreddits don't count. It's an automatic DQ. It's cancelled. Jeez, I just looked at it. MY EYES MY EYES !

Is there such a thing as a House of Torture fan ? Such a unthinkable concept that even HP Lovecraft would not have been able to even approach its infinite horror.

They actually did an angle where EVIL "forced" NJPW internet crew to delete Tama Tonga from the database, so he would not appear on the NJPW sites anymore. Everything about EVIL is so fucking dumb. Gedo not being totally washed at all...