El-P

Couldn't have said it better. I dunno if I have said it in one of my annoying posts yesterday, but i sure wanted to say this : pro-wrestling expresses nothing about nothing. (of course, through pro-wrestling you can read a lot of things about lots of things, thanks to the signs, but this has nothing to do with any artistic content, signs are everywhere. Hell, Roland Barthes' pages about pro-wrestling are still relevant today and a joy to read.)

What is baffling is with the average quality level of TV series these days, they are so behind the times on about every level imaginable. That's why Lucha Underground, with its B-movie/comics/pulp aesthetics and a guy like Dario Cueto looks a zillion times more relevant and cool, whatever you may think of the actual quality of the matches (of course no-one seems to be watching it either, but that's another issue)

That's the whole problem right there. The issue with WWE. They got 20 or so "writers", and apparently, none of them are worth shit. As much as some matches can be great these days, the booking, sorry, "writing" is dumb, uninteresting and overall, pretty awful (going back to the "art" argument, if we judge WWE by its stories, acting, dialogues, it's barely above your classic 90's porn in term of quality). Has been the case since WWE became what it is in the very early 00's. No one should "write" Bayley. They should just let her be, and work around that. Easy as fuck. "Creative writing" is the worst thing that ever happened to pro-wrestling. (again, we can credit, at least in partly, Vince Russo, who was the first non pro-wrestling guy "writing" pro-wrestling TV)

I made a long, boring post that I basically erased in which I actually talked about that fact, the whole validation stuff. To me that's exactly what I get out of the neverending argument (from hardcore pro-wrestling fans only) that pro-wrestling is an art. It's simply seeking social validation, or actually simply self-social validation to feel justified about spending sooo much time on that hobby. Because if it's an Art (with the capital A), then you see, it's much more respectable and intellectual and shit. When in fact, it's not. I mean really. It's not. And it's no big deal. I sure don't give a shit about seeking validation because I've spent the last 20 years writing stuff about pro-wrestling. I don't need pro-wrestling to be ART to love (and hate) it. It's great for what it is when it is great. There's plenty of stuff to get out of it as it is. No need to try to stuff pro-wrestling in the Temple of Arts. It doesn't belong there. But hey, if people want to convince themselves otherwise, fine. Doesn't matter.

Not to me. I don't give a shit about pro-wrestling being an artform. I've loved pro-wrestling pretty much my whole life and spent 20 years writing about it. It doesn't have to be an ART to be great when it's great.

Nevermind.

A classic Horsemen extensive compilation to wash out the bad taste of Russo's TNA Redux in late 2006/early 2007. Tully, Arn, Ole, Ric. What a breath of fresh air.

I've finally reached the point of when this question was asked. And although the D'Amore era (2005/2006) was excellent, since Russo came in the TV has become unwatchable. Still some good stuff on PPV because of the talent, but the booking is wretched. If you consider the ratio talent available/quality of the product, then yes, TNA, at that point, is the worst promotion I've seen. It's actually worse than WCW 2000 (and I should know) overall. That Sting vs Abyss feud is the pit of hell. Big matches and pinfalls are thrown on TV in 5 mn throwaway stuff. The VKM shit with Chrystie Hemme is eye gouging material. The X division has been turned into joke material. Kurt Angle, woman beater. Anyway. Russo… Yeah. Worst promotion ever in a matter of a few weeks.

You mean, like a 10 mn gonzo clip on Pornhub ? Anyway, this : Indeed.

I am. For the most part. But hey, after almost 20 years of writing bullshit on the Internet about pro-fucking-wrestling, in a borrowed language to boot (which has been a great way to learn and practice, although maybe that's why my English isn't always the most elegant and why I'm better at slang than I am at some of the more usual vocabulary (my cross to bear)), I've reached the point of only looking for enjoyment and having fun with this ridiculous shit I've been watching all my life since I've been 13 or so. I may think some of the matches out there are dumb as fuck or boring to death, but I'm certainly not gonna judge anyone because, hell, they love the shit I don't care about and think what I consider great ain't worth their time (yeah, I'm still a Raven fan). I still have my scale of judging what's good for me, but whatever works for each of us, really. That being said, I'm perfectly happy to come off as personable as Tully Blanchard in 87 to those who take things way too seriously…

Pro-wrestling isn't an art form. Yeah, I know, I've said it a zillion times on this board and took shit every single time for it. But there it is. It's not, never was, never will be. Unless we reach the point of the Mike Oles Prophecy accomplishing itself. Which is "Pro-wrestling as figure-skating", for those know are too young to remember Mike Oles. Actually we're getting closer and closer to that point. And then again, figure-skating is not art either. Pro-wrestling is a fun carnival form of entertainment with its own self-sufficient value. Pretending to "elevate" it through critical discussions (which mostly consists of opinions and taste, really, let's be honest now) is complete jerkofferie, really. Love it for what it is. Discuss it for what it is. But elitism is pro-wrestling is indeed ridiculous, especially when it goes down to "oh, this guy is part of our little club of *WE* who know what good work is, awesome are we not ?"

After spending way too much time watching TNA from mid 00's, I'll say this : I like the Canadian Destroyer. Yes, the physics are all fucked up (but way less stupid than people just standing outside the ring to catch people during jump sequences, for instance), but it looks cool as shit most of the time and is sold like a death spot. So there.

Yep. Not crazy about Juice being there. Can't stand the guy's look. Give him a djembe already. Kojima… hum… if he only does his annoying routine after selling for the whole match a-la Savage circa 96, he'll be a waste of space. If not, hopefully booked better than Tenzan last year. Suzuki and Ibushi being there is cool.

This.

Her new angle is that she's a virgin who never even kissed a guy apparently. That'll do wonder...

For the luge spot alone, Mack vs Mundo All Night Long gets 7 1/2 stars from me. Sexy Star, maracas playa, diving off the balcony adds up a quarter on its own. I'm so glad this bullshit is back, despite the ridiculous delay between the tapings and now. Hope we get a season 4 right on time next year. So yeah, this match was fantastic fun from the moment they really got on with the dog & pony show.

Yeah, that too. I loved how SMW made the most sense out of everything that happened there.

I don't know Chuck Taylor, so no comment on that from me. A fake exploding grenade spot does sound funny as shit in a comedy match context though. Then again, I like Joey Ryan's dick spot. I'll say this, those completely absurd yet amusing spots are nowhere as idiotic and annoying as say, the fucking Worm.

The Mummy wasn't Corny's doing. The financial backer of SMW wanted a mummy because he fan a fan of the old wrestling mummy when he was a kid. It turned into a vehicule for James Mitchell to say the most obscene stuff on a southern TV, so it was fine with me. The whole dust flying off was great too. A wrestling mummy is always great. Even when it's called a Yetay.

Maybe so. Doesn't change the fact Reigns should know better and be above that kind of stuff. Well, as a matter of fact, it's even worse if the guy is that irrelevant. It's like Reigns has nothing better to do. Really comes off as an insecure mark if he *has to* reply to these kind of people. The HHH school of learning how to work I guess.

Agreed. But I don't think NXT would have become the hip indy brand if not for CM Punk & Daniel Bryan's adventures on the main roster before. I may be wrong, but I see a link there.

I'm not feeling very good. Current favorite wrestler to watch: AJ Styles (in TNA 2006/07) Last fun match you saw: AJ Styles vs Rhino (last TNA PPV of 2006) With Styles pulling off a terrific fake injury spot that I *almost* bought. The guy was turned heel for no reason at all, but he's so great that he just made it fun from the very beginning, with this chickenshit heel strategy. Wrestler you want to see more of: Alexa Bliss. Although I find the booking of her feud with Bayley stupid as fuck, I really enjoy the petite bitch heel. Wanna see more of her. Match you're most looking forward to watching: Samoe Joe vs Kurt Angle from Final Resolution 2007. Yeah, I now I should say vs Brock Lesnar, but I haven't seen a good/fun Lesnar match in forever, so for now I'll settle with the third Joe vs Angle match, especially after the terrific brawl they had on the first iMPACT of 2007. Gotta cherry pick. Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: What Happened When with Tony Schiavone. Truly the best podcast in the history of our sport. (easy, but true) Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: Last few WWE PPV. Not because of any of the matches, but because of Agius & Chereau, the French announcers, who never fail to crack me up. I think Vince & co have no idea what these two are saying. Favorite thing about the wrestling landscape in the past three months (if you live in the past, then go with your past three months of time-traveling): The comeback of Lucha Underground, which I'm pilling up on an USB so I can binge some of that.

The only dumb ass mark is Reign himself for acting like, well, a dumb ass mark when he's a corporate chosen one. How dare anyone in Da Business say that not everyone want to work for WWE ? Damn these guys...

Since Dolph is more or less a Billy Gunn clone, probably Road Dog.

Remember when American Alpha were the greatest thing on NXT PPV's and looked like can't miss success for the main roster...