El-P

I don't remember he did. He mentionned the Pillman incident once and that Bobby was scared shitless because of his bad neck. But yeah, on the last issue (Q&A), Tony mentionned that he couldn't play golf anymore after his neck injury/operation.

Funny you'd mention Orton, because there's one thing absolutely comparable to me : the boring entrance. Orton and Reigns have that deliberate, devoid of any charisma, forced "supposed big star" entrance. With Orton I guess he's supposed to look evil and shit, while Roman's supposed to look bad-ass and impressive. I don't see get shit from either. Roman's just a big, good looking guy with a bullet proof vest (which is a look I can't stand, why can't he just show his body ? I mean, seriously). He's neither Goldy nor Taker. Hell, he's not even Lex Luger, who had this bodybuilder look that was unique back in the days. You see he's "supposed" to the the Man, and he's just not. Kinda like HHH, but HHH did had the ridiculous entrance with lightnings, spitting water and fucking Motörhead. Reigns is just boring. I can't stand Lesnar anymore as his matches are all garbage, but he *looks* special. Hell, Samoa Joe looks much more special and a big deal than Reigns, who's a complete robot coming out, much like Orton has been his entire career.

There's that movie deal going on too.

"Check her bag, she’s got all the coke in it, it’s all hers." Stay classy... Again, GWF, great choice for a World Champ as you reboot the company.

And employees. Wasn't TNA the company where some women workers had to get part-time jobs to make it while getting the best ratings quarters ? Foley surely had nothing but good things to say about Dixie personnally, but she is one if not the main reason why TNA never got past the point of irrelevancy. Wanna give any credit for TNA existing and giving guys a platform to work and show their stuff ? Credit Jarrett. Fucking Dixie Carter, please...

The Tag match was really *good* overall (by that I mean, the last ten minutes were very good, the body of work was solid, the storytelling was nice). I enjoy a *good* match, including when on paper it didn't look good at all (watching Matt & Jeff for 30 minutes, yikes). But *good* doesn't get close to great or even MOTYC (both of which are thrown around for whatever good or fun stuff now). Alexi vs Sasha I really enjoyed too. Would have been the best match with a good finish. Rest was nothing. The car crash was junk. So, all in all, yeah, pretty bad show when your best match is around ***1/4.

Yikes. With the whole story of him and Paige apparently splitting up then getting back together before the PPV, this strikes me as a very bad sign. And TNA… well GFW, is kinda fucked. Again. (and Paige should run away if there is domestic abuse)

Mundo vs Mack, falls count anywhere, last falls of the match was just as terrific as the whole-show match. Death spot to end the match. Looked brutal, no cutesy shit kicking out of it. The trios title changing hands with the reptiles gaining it thanks to Drago switching team mid-match. Anywhere but LU, that would bother me, but in LU, it's fine. Drago is under Cobra Moon's spell. That huge guy with the freakish roses tatoos is gonna go places probably. Cueto Cup, with the winner getting a title shot ? Hum… You've done better than this Dario. Mundo vs Rey Rey, I can get behind though. Puma vs Muertes was yet another terrific brawl. I have the feeling I'll never enjoy Ricochet more than I did in LU, because I don't see him do that kinda match in NJ nor in WWE. This is how you do people trying to kill each other, not by lumbering through a bunch of ringpost spots. Terrific use of 44 mn watching pro-wrestling.

Complete yawnfest of a show. And I did ff through Bray vs Seth freakin' Rollins (that's not me being sarcastic, that's the work of the creative people backstage) and Enzo vs Test Hoyt (seriously, come on, please) Tag team match was quite good. And for a 30 minutes Hardy match, that's a feat. I never got the love for the Hardies. Jeff is still doing the sloppy flying shit he was doing 15 years ago, only slower. Matt is moving like Terry Funk when he was 50 but his crazed looks and goofy antics makes him kinda fun (he sure needs the Broke gimmick to be really fun though). Cesaro shined through and through. Sheamus was good too. Keeping the things moving with tons of pinfalls made it work, as really nothing much was happening in between falls, but they keep the flow going with the story of Hardies being behind on falls. Very good match overall with a hot finishing stretch. Sasha vs Alexi was really good I though. Ah, that funky arm thingy. Kinda fell rehashed though at points, but I enjoy the dynamic, there's plenty of "character work" as they say, and plenty good work to go along. I love Lil Bitchy Alexi. The Money Inc. finish (AGAIN) doesn't bothet me that much since we get a nice post-match angle and spot and it means this feud is going on. From there. The real yawnfest begins. I've enjoyed Miz work over the last year, but this was pretty much a nothing match. Not enough Miz being a chickenshit an too much spot working stuff, in which he's exposed as not very good mechanically. Ambrose is Ambrose. I kinda don't care but I don't think he's bad like many do around here. The Miztourage is so not needed. Sorry, but Roman Reigns vs Braun Strauman was so nothing, right out of late 1998 Austin vs Taker pedestrian brawl with stupid gimmicked up spots. Worst Braun PPV match in a while, this guy has always been very fun to watch until this one. But this was nothing. A bunch of throwing themselves in the post and the stairs outside, wich have been routine WWE clichés spots since the Attitude era. And Reigns selling is stupid because he's not a babyface worth a shit. The only funny part was Braun doing an inverted Hulking up, no selling the chair shots. Of course it didn't made a lick of sense, but whatever. The ambulance part was awkward. If I don't get Shaggy 2 Dope sliding off the ambulance roof like a slimy corpse, an ambulance gimmick is pretty much not worth my time. Post-match angle was the kind of retarded shit I hated in 1999. Still completely idiotic in 2017 guys. And please, make it the official Reigns heel turn (how could not that be ?) because he's such a complete bore (yeah, I totally echo Thread Killer on Reigns, as a whole). Braun should be let loose and kill people in an organic, chaotic way. This was a boring, nothing happening, carefully gimmicked-up WWE brawl. Joe vs Lesnar. I didn't get my hopes up because Lesnar's matches have been terrible in forever now (expect when he was being speared by Goldy). Damn. Suplex City. Low-blow. Sleeper. Suplex City. Sleeper. Finisher. YAWN of YAWNS. Another Lesnar zero star match as far as I'm concerned. Sorry, but Asuka & Nikki Cross on NXT the other week made me feel like they were killing each other a thousand times more than the four hosses in the two last matches. Very boring PPV with a downright bad last hour. Much to my surprise, a 30 minutes Hardy match in 2017 was basically the high point of the show, along with Sasha vs Alexi. (and how shit, they actually got Ray Rougeau back ? With Jean fucking Brassard ? Just so they can do the *Quebec* broadcasting ? Hey, when I told you people that the French spoken in Quebec was not the French spoken in France… still, I'm amazed they got Ray to come back. And Brassard on WWE TV in 2017 is complete WTF) Next PPV in… 2 weeks ? Damn. I'm not cherry picking enough at this point.

I always liked the HHH feud back in the days. Not watched these in forever, but last time I checked these were solid and pretty fun.

KOTR was terrific in 1993. Past that point, not so much. Owen winning was cool, but the matches were definitely throwaway already that year. So yeah. But I was thinking a tournament in general. Then again, they can't book worth a shit.

JR used to mix Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in 2000. It's not like he needs to be drunk or to call a product he's not familiar with to mix up stuff. Timing-wise, well, not so great I guess.

I spent ridiculous money 17/18 years ago getting tapes from Poughkeepsie to my little town in France so I could watch japanese wrestling. Good for him he's still going on !

Indeed. That being said, with the Network, it's easier than ever to run such an event.

FWIW, Tony Schiavone, close friend of both Flair & Arn, recently said on his podcast that he thought it was hilarious and whatever bad blood came afterward was just misplaced bruised egos.

That Tama Tonga tweet is quite funny... (has he been called Tonga Kid on the show ?)

Being happy > Being in WWE. These people don't need the WWE anymore. They can have a career without having to deal with their shit. And unless WWE manage to kill the indies, the hardcore scene is stronger than ever, so...

Really good stuff here : https://www.cagesideseats.com/2017/7/7/15933046/globalization-and-homogenization-pro-wrestling-njpw-wwe-kenny-omega-okada-dave-meltzer-star-ratings

He wants to work in a place where people actually care about his matches so he can sell some merch in the process maybe...

And Russo will get even more pissed.

Interesting take. I tend to agree with it too (as far as US goes of course).

Yeah but Bill Watts is old-school and shit and a genius and booked the greatest pro-wrestling territory that ever was. Or something. FWIW, I remember when I was going through the Mid-South TV back then (like ten years ago), the feeling I got was that there was a lot of really good stuff but that it was also overrated in the grand scheme of things. Especially the UWF days.

Ambulance stip always takes matches down. It's a shitty gimmick. But anyway. I do enjoy caustic Meltz, even when I disagree with his tastes (which is more often than not) or takes. And there's a world of difference between Braun/Rusev/Tenta/Bossman and fucking JYD, who basically sucked in Mid-South too (and yeah, I went through all this shit on TV years ago, JYD was more mobile and moved a bit quicker than he did in WWF, but he was still one hell of a crappy worker).

He didn't say WWE wrestling was terrible. I know people around here love that narrative of Evil Meltz Hates WWE, but he very regularly pimps WWE matches as great. As much as I don't care at all about Meltz's tastes for finisher kick out spamming orgies (which also happens in WWE, mind you, as it's the staple for the company's big match self-conscious epics), people being all boo-boo because he loves NJ never ceases to be funny to me. Or, actually, pretty sad actually. Get over it already. Who the fuck care ? People and their need to be validated has gotten even worse it seems these days. Maybe because of the social network shit and the culture of "likes"...

Mariko Yoshida.