El-P

Abyss. Yes, his gimmick is a rip-off, but as a worker, he's actually pretty consistently carryable to very good/excellent matches, and he does bring tons of goods to the table himself. AJ Styles worked a MOTYC with him in 2005.

Yeah, from memory of the AJPW TV show taped that day, which showed at least the tag title change and Bulldogs vs Rock'n'Roll, the matches were super underwhelming. Pretty much sucked to be honest.

That was my exact thought. That Asuka PPV debut makes even LESS sense now and it didn't make any to begin with. Dumb. As. Fuck. They could have something in her and fucked it up completely. Hope Emma lands somewhere she gets happy and makes money.

I think the debate about "not doing a job" became broader, and Nia has simply become a case study at this point. There actually could be an entire thread about "Refusing to do a job" in the Military Industrial Suplex, makes for interesting discussions of different cases and contexts.

Well, I have nothing against her, the person, obviously. As a worker, I find her to be not very good at her role as I've stated many many times (the comparison with Amazing Kong blasting on TNA in 2007 is murderous). She got her current spot solely because she's from a famous wrestling family and because she's big. So yeah, that makes this kind of selfish behaviour way more grating to me than say, a girl who would have struggled for ten years in indies scrapping for every buck she can make. I mean, good for her that she got the spot, but acting like a prima dona when everything was basically handled to you reeks of Warriorism, if you will. That being said, refusing to do a job when you're basically a midcarder, whether you're the greatest worker ever or a complete tool, just doesn't set well in general, especially in the current form of what pro-wrestling is. Now, for instance, Austin refusing to do a job for Lesnar on free TV when PPV still mattered, that's another kind of case.

That part was obviously sarcastic on my part. But non-usage of smileys makes things difficult sometimes...

I'm absolutely not worked up over it. People bitching about the fact someone made light of Nia for being a puss (if she did refuse to do a job) get worked up about it. So it's kinda fun drilling the point home. Not wanting to do a job on TV in 1985 an not wanting to do a job on TV in 2017 is not exactly the same thing. And really, I guess all of this talk makes Shawn Michaels a great professional in the mid-90's after all... I find it totally juvenile, immature and the sign of having an unwarranted ego, but whatever. And again, it takes two to dance. So, what about the one you refuse to do the job for ? It's a big fuck you to that person, whose been working putting your sad ass over before and taking bumps for making your average offense look deadly. What about that part of the deal ? Funny how the whole thing is twisted into "Good that she stands up for herself against the evil office that wants her to do a job (god forbid)", without taking anything else into consideration. Selfish thinking all the way.

Not feeling this feud at all. Garvin actually drags Flair down in his idiotic slapfests matches, and the other Garvin really still shows nothing good to me, he's definitely useless. But damn, those interviews get creepier and creepier.

It really has nothing to do with "disagreeing with WWE or Vince" per say (really, doing a job is the basics of pro-wrestling), it's the fact a midcarder (who really is only where she is because she's been a corporate favourite to begin with and not someone who has been on the roads by herself trying to make a living for years) refusing to do a job, in 2017 mind you, is completely ridiculous. Plus, it's kinda insulting toward Sasha Banks. So, Sasha, who has done jobs left and right without complaining seemingly, isn't worthy of you doing your job ? Now, wanna talk about "disagreeing with Vince and WWE" for real ? Let's have someone try to bite into that ridiculous "independant contractor" bullshit, now this would be interesting. But being pissy about doing a job when you are 2 years and a half in the field ? Yeah, fuck that. Pussy, mark, diva, whatever. Then again, if that's all rumours and she only wanted to get off the grind for a few weeks, well... kinda... wanna talk about the eighti... ok, I'll stop now. It's gonna be way too obvious I don't particulary care for Jaxx at this point.

Yeah, I don't care much about the usual Meltz kinda-obsessive bash-fest, but that kind of comment is so overtly ridiculous that it's hard to take anything seriously.

Nia is basically a rookie with very average talent at best who has done jackshit in "Da Biz" and who's only where she is because she's big and from the Family. So yeah, if she indeed had an ego booboo because she had to do a job to Sasha Banks, who's been working her ass off and killing herself for a while now, she's a big pussy with an oversize ego. That's not "standing up for yourself". Seriously now, where are Chiggy and Satomura to kick some of these people in the fucking teeth ?

The Jeff Jarrett episode was absolutely fascinating stuff.

For fuck's sake. What I said about Kane yesterday. Again.

For a while, this was the most watchable WWE PPV in a long time. Enjoyed the two women's match a lot, although Asuka should have been put over much more strongly and the fact they played the "old" card for James is beyond stupid. The tag cruisermatch was very fun too. Didn't watch Enzo & Elias matches, because life is short. AJ Styles vs Finn Balor was legit great, and yet another proof Styles is one of the greatest ever. Balor really should binge watch every Great Muta match ever, because the Demon character is a bunch of cool looking paint and nothing more. The main event was like a fun clusterfuck of a match that turned so-bad-it's-good in a WCW 95/96 way (glad I'm not the only one who had Uncensored flashbacks), then the whole Kane kills Braun thingy happened and it became legit offensive. When you put the ratio of TV Time / terrible matches-angles-pushes together, Glen Jacobs has to be the all-time least enjoyable wrestler ever. Why the fuck is he on a PPV main event at 50, and getting the best of fucking Braun ? Anyway, Kane is one the worst ever and then the match became just awful and stupid as opposed to fun and stupid. Then Kurt Angle came back, as every guy who has to be carried back half-dead always does (how lazy can the booking get at this point with this shit ?) and at least they sent the fans home happy. I guess overly bloated garbage brawls are the brand new thing now, it's like a 1998 revival mixed with self-conscious epic or something....

Bret vs Shawn for the title was always the plan. It's been discussed at length before, including by Prichard on his podcast. Sid getting the title after the debacle was only a way to pass the belt onto Taker at Mania after all got fucked up.

As much as I love LU, this has become a pet peeve of mine. It really gets ridiculous at times.

Come on. Where's Savio Vega when you need him ?

I laughed.

Angle ? In a TLC match ? Seriously ? Wow. I wonder how that makes Daniel Bryan feel... AJ Styles vs Balor = sleeper match of the card now. This card suddenly looks more *interesting*.

Yes : Death of WCW match of the week : Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan Bear with me people, this one is a definite checkpoint in a Death of WCW road. Ric Flair says it's a first blood match. That's news to me. Flair was the babyface until he began to act kinda heelish. Hulk is the super heel. Hogan kinda works like a face. Flair works like a heel. Flair bleeds 5 minutes into the match. Match doesn't stop. Hulk works like a babyface. Hulk wants a pinfall. Referee doesn't count because it's a first blood match. Hulk signals Flair is bleeding. Referee doesn't know what to do. Flair bleeds like a pig after Hulk uses razor wires. Flair uses a foreign object that he *hides in his knee pads*, in a barb wire cage match with a referee who obviously is biased toward him. Hulk hulks up. Remember Hulk has been the super heel who beat the shit of of David then turned him against his father. Flair bleeds like a stuck pig. David Flair and Torrie Wilson showed up. they are heels. Cheering for heel Hogan working as a babyface and getting cheered like crazy. Arn Anderson, babyface who helped babyface horsemen win earlier on, shows up and hits heel David Flair who cheers for heel/babyface Hulk. Arn hits him after spending the last few weeks telling Ric that David was a good kid who was manipulated by heel Hogan (who works face). Babyface Arn passes on a tire iron to heel Flair who beats up heel Hogan acting like a babyface. Ric Flair puts Hogan into a figure four. IN a First Blood match. Referee counts three. In a First Blood match. Crowd is silent. Heel David comes into the ring to check heel/babyface Hogan while heel Flair doesn't get a celebration for winning his 14th World Title and the control of WCW, as he leaves the ring with babyface Arn. THIS IS AWESOME !!!!!! Line of the night : "Well... uh.... are we told this is a First Blood Match ? .... Allright let's just forget about that." Tony Schiavone, dumbfounded.

My review from the WCW Highway to Hell thread : Shit booking match of the night : Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. The match itself is pretty good, even then Hogan was working harder than he did in 1995. What's interesting is that he's basically working almost like good old Hulk Hogan here, no chickenshit stuff, no begging, no stalling, just a more agressive and heelish version of his former self. Kinda odd. Flair is coming up very collected and calm, which is a nice touch. So yeah, match is actually good, but the ending reminds me of the infamous match they had in the Fall of 1994, in reverse (well, almost, since Hogan still wins) : stupid post match involving a woman (Torrie Wilson, hot and useless at this point) and a masked man who reveals himself as the closest man to Flair : David !!! More tazer stuff. Man this was getting old. David Flair had no business in the ring at this point, and his involment and stupid turn ruins the ending what should have been a cool grudge match. Another point, don't give me that Horsemen shit about Benoit & Malenko. They were nowhere to be seen here, they didn't jump the ring to defend Flair. Horsemen my ass. And where was Goldberg ? Hey, those guys stole your title, remember ?

This. Even by early 1999 they drew the biggest WCW PPV buyrate in a long while, and were still working quite decently together, with Hogan carrying the bulk of the work at this point (yeah, I said it, Hogan was better than Flair then). The first match in 1994 is everything it should have been and one of Hogan's best matches.

Well, fucking A.

Complete misuse of Kane. Should have been brought up to SD to feud with Jinder. Punjabi Prison. (I'm not even joking, that way maybe AJ Styles would not be the next victim of Fucking Stupid Business Plan Booking) Still... Kane... wow. 22 years of sucking on WWE TV.