El-P

Yeah, the image of happiness right there on his one-eyed face. It was awesome to see. Match was awesome, surly Okada is the best. Tama vs Takagi, Hiromu vs Despy and the opening junior tag match were also terrific, and the three-way was an excellent garbage clusterfuck. President Tana vs ZSJ was very good, because it always is, at the very least. Main event was what it was, they had some issue at one point with Destinos but the ending stretch was great, and Naito being that charismatic mofo carried the whole thing the whole way through. The post-match run-in was infuriating at first by it actually had a reason, being giving SANADA the chance to save Naito and therefore get some of that rub. Naito got to end the show and it was a great feel-good moment indeed. Tsuji and especially Umino losing was head-scratching at best (man, Narita being in House of Torture is such a kiss of death, what an horrible idea). The Nemeths showing up was kinda cool in a very much WTF is happening now way. It's not like I spent the last 15 years watching Dolph Ziggler matches, so at least whatever they do will be fresh to me.

Just sign Deonna Purrazzo and book her in a best of seven vs Serena Deeb and everything is forgiven.

The other way to have Cody at Mania is to get Roman vs Rock the first night and then whoever wins (wink wink nudge nudge) against Cody the second day. Which won't happen, if only because Roman only works once every four months now, that lazy greedy ass that he is. But it would be hilarious to have CM Punk NOT main event mania AGAIN. Because of the Rock showing up as the special attraction. AGAIN. Fuck, if I'm Levesque, I'm booking this shit for the sheer pettiness of it.

Dynamite Kansai's illness totally fucked her up too now that I think of it. From "awesome worker" to "oh wow, she kinda lame now" in no time.

Up-and-comer is more than pushing it, Ibushi was 39 and peaking (or arguably already past his physical peak) when he got hurt at G1. But yeah, I was wondering the same thing when I was watching the match and could not think of any comparable instance. A guy who was so damn great and came back so diminished, I can't think of. Hopefully he has a good support system, because it must be mentally crushing.

No ropes. And that's been super obvious, he's been gun-shy about jumping to and off the ropes. He's been screwing it up (almost ?) everytime since he came back. The Bloodsport formula allowed him to stay on the mat and kept him from running too. And Mike Bailey. Well, 'nough said.

More a case of being at EC to build for Mania I would guess. Doing Roman/Rock at any other place than Mania would be completely ridiculous. That's the biggest match in the company's history (by sheer numbers). Meanwhile, Naomi is gonna be back. So, basically dropping the TNA title to Jordynne Grace at Hard to Kill and show up at the Rumble, uh ? Well her IMPACT stint was tons of fun.

At the very least, he needs to heal his injuries completely before entertaining working a match again. And something has to be done for his confidence, because it's been completely shot, and it's really sad to see. Maybe he can hook up with KENTA, who's NXT stint almost destroyed his career. Ibushi has enough character, charisma and ability to be creative to still be a really fun pro-wrestler in a different way than he used to. I could dig a Kota Ibushi doing nothing but chops, punches, kicks and intimidation. Who would have thought sometime in 2017, that 6 years later, both Shibata and Ibushi would be under contract with the second US promotion, the first still being awesome and the later being a tragic shell of himself.

It's sad, but Kota Ibushi probably should consider retirement. He fucked both his ankles in the NOAH match against Marufuji. He couldn't even stand at the end of the match. The guy was gonna be NJPW biggest new stars, he was one of the greatest worker in the world, then the G1 injury happened and it's just been disaster after disaster from that point on.

Kevin Dunn departing is as good an indication as anything that Vince has lost his power. I wonder how long Brucie is for the ride, still. I mean, the guy is a leech, so probably for a while still, but he's the last of the old guard in the higher hierarchy.

Sami vs Cody in a "Finish the story" on a pole match at Mania, beneath Nia Jaxx vs Jade Cargill.

Like I said before... Now I really want Dwayne vs Roman and Punk vs Austin. Those are Mania main events that would take the breath away of the audience, among others.

Apart from the Continental Classic related stuff and the main event, this PPV was easily the worst in AEW history. And hell, even with the good stuff, it still is, by a wide margin. The CC eight tag and the final were both excellent, and Eddie winning was a great moment. The main event was much better than it had the right to be considering MJF's shape, I fucking love that Joe is a world champ, and they did not fuck around with the Devil by trying to be cute, it's the expected people and it "makes sense". So everything's fine on that side of things. Like I said before : Joe > Swerve > Ospreay at Wembley. Easy as a Sunday morning. Andrade vs Miro was good and fun and all, and it's obvious Andrade is a goner. He quickly did his CMLL stuff as he still could. Now time to go back to Ashely's house. Swerve vs Dustin made no sense whatsoever. Dustin got booed during his big babyface spots after Swerve tried to maim him. Newsflash : Swerve is a babyface. But he's Austin too, so let's not try and make him cute and nice either. Riho vs Toni was pretty good. Not as good as I thought it would have been though. The gimmick is over, but it's still gimmicky. Julia Hart vs Abadon was rotten and dead, pun intended. Abadon is not very good and not over at all. Meanwhile, Athena and Billie Starkz are on ROH alongside plenty other worker who would give Julia a much better match. Ok. Someone really loves the Walking Dead or something. The 8-men tag was hilarious for all the wrong reasons (crowd chanting Judas then booing Jericho, but then cheering his opponents as if they were not working together ! Pro-wrestling fans be really fucking dumb. Just boo the guy as long as he's *performing*, otherwise you're just being fucking worked you dumb fucks. Plus really, would they have booed Flair the same way ? I would hope so, but I don't buy it since it has not happened until now). Poor Sting. That retirement tour is cursed. Poor Sammy. And most of all, poor, POOR Ricky Starks. That guy can't catch a break. He's probably a goner too, that run is never gonna not get cursed in one way or another. Cage vs Copeland was a very good WWE garbage match until the finish, which was awfully botched. Poor Nick Wayne barely got through the fire and almost broke his neck. Good job Copeland. The post-match angle was AWFUL WWE TROPES AND BULLSHIT. The last thing AEW needed was shit like this. This feud keeps on delivering the awfullness, I don't care how great of a performer Cage is. Everything about it sucks. First PPV without any member of the Elite, and must I say it showed. Worst AEW PPV ever. The last hour did deliver a glimpse of hope in term of what's to come, although with the CC behind them now, Eddie is just "another champ" in a company that had already way too many, it will all depend how he's gonna be booked. Samoa Joe as World Champ is awesome. The Devil angle ended the best way possible all things considered. Swerve is gonna be the next champ and you gotta build a supermatch for him vs Ospreay at Wembley, in what should be a fresh looking AEW with fresh people on top. That's for the good stuff. Oh, yeah, I thought this was gonna be 2024 already. So, happy new year again (although you all know it's just gonna be even worse all around, most probably, that's how things go).

This is the end, beautiful friend, the end of our elaborate plans... Pre-show : 20-men Battle Royal - yeah, whatever Hook vs Wheeler Yuta - WTF is FTW rules ? Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale - probably should be on the main card Main Card : Ricky Starks & Big Bill, Takeshita & Hobbs vs Sting, Darby Allin, Sammy & Jericho - Flair should probably be ringside. I mean... BCC & Mark Briscoe & Daniel Garcia vs Brody King, Jay White, Jay Lethal & Rush - G1 final day undercard match at Ryogoku Miro vs Andrade el Idolo - loser leaves town to go to WWE, winner has to wait for the end of his contract to do so Swerve Strickland vs Keith Lee - long term booking y'all Christian Cage vs Adam Copeland - hey, Adam Copeland is in AEW, crazy, uh ? Julia Hart vs Abadon - would have made sense at Halloween Havoc, but now... Timeless Toni Storm vs Riho - wait, what, two women matches on the main show ? MJF vs Samoa Joe - "It was me all along !" Eddie Kingston vs Mox - 5 star at the Budokan That's all I have. Break on through to the other side, or something. Happy New Year, as they say.

Now now, that guy would get no nostalgia pop at all. We're talking about a guy from 20 years ago that was only notable to the audience then because Trish Stratus was around the ring. Lord Tensai on the other hand...

Ok, this is funny. Brutal, but funny.

Media Scrum be like "And a happy new year of course !". I'm so taking a break from it all after this last big show. I managed to last until the end of the year thanks to the CC. But my brain needs some pro-rasslin' rest, for sure. (I say this and everytime something crazy drives me back after a month of two)

Actually, not really if I remember right. The thing about Callis, is that there was rumors going around when Scarlett and then Kross (Scarlett's bf) asking to leave the company. But nothing was ever said or even implied by any parts. Plus the timing coincided with Callis being on the leave already, as he clearly was going to AEW eventually. Not saying there was nothing there, but it has not been publicly expressed. Maybe some NDA's were signed, who knows, these are popular in pro-wrestling. Well, if there's some development to this (and if there's any weight to it, then oh well AEW needs a good new year house cleaning), I wonder who is gonna be the narrator on Dark Side of the Ring about Jericho though.

Or... Dwayne coming back to set up the long play with Roman. And make Cody sadge.

It happened in 2017. That's 6 years ago. There was never any mention of dementia back then. Breaks reportedly confessed to assaulting her during an argument after his arrest. So there. "Threw great punches, loved underage girls, got the "puppie" chant over. The Gerard Depardieu of Memphis wrestling."

That's one hell of a write-up. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/maxwell-jacob-friedman-aew-wrestling

So Giulia is apparently WWE bound. Sucks for Stardom, but interesting on many levels. First, will Giulia be allowed to punch people in the face and drop them on their head ? It's not like Gunther has been working extra-light, so under Lesveque, who knows ? Also, apparently there would be some interest of working with Stardom, which would be highly beneficial for WWE and the japanese women signed there, and even the american ones who could be send over there. Since Stardom is owned by Bushiroad, how would that affect AEW's relationship with NJPW (if at all) ? So many things to unpack about what can potentially happen.

I'm guessing Gedo still has quite a bit of power and pull backstage, although he's living off his rep by now considering some of the really bad choices made in the last 3 years. If anything, get rid of Dick Togo immediately, he's been called responsible for everything House of Torture and EVIL since the beginning of his ill-fated main event push.

And so Ohbari being replaced by Tanahashi appears to be at least partly a way to appease Okada and maybe prevent him from leaving. Pot thickens.