El-P

Pro-wrestling is goofy. So, this is a lights out match. It is announced before the match : this is not sanctioned by the NWA. Ok. So why is Tommy Young in the ring, checking for foreign objects and all ? How can it officially be a TV title match ? Doesn't make a lick of sense. Pro-wrestling has always been crass. "This match is for the TV title and Baby Doll". Wait, what ? So, a woman is officially the same thing as a piece of luggage. They could have said "Dusty gets the services of Baby Doll for 30 days." Nope. "Baby Doll is his." Women as property. Ah, the good old days. As far as the match goes, it's okay. Let's be honest now. Dusty is just not very good. He shows glimpse of goodness, but he's not bumping very well, his stuff looks sloppy most of the time, and you can give so many elbows before it gets boring. He's also not very good as building a match at all. People dump on "Your turn My turn" as if it was a workrate invention. This match is pretty much all "My turn Your turn". Dusty never sells for long enough to build a meaningful comeback. He sells, then simply goes back on offense whenever he sees fit. Ok, it's a brawl. Not a particulary intense one because Dusty is just moving at a snail pace and not selling very well. No drama, no sense of building toward a finish. It ends when Dusty simply wins. Blanchard is very good here. Dusty is ok at best. Since Dusty is basically doing what he wants, the match is ok. On the same show, big log Nikita Koloff showed a much better sense of selling and putting over the offense of Flair, along with the cumulative damage.

Just listened to the Prichard podcast, him reacting to the insane claim of Russo being responsible for everything (while at the same time pretending not wanting to take any credit) was quite funny. The extracts from the book are downright insane at times and they paint one hell of a mental image of this guy. Pathological liar, contradicting his own versions, complete drama queen with a victim complex while at the same time being totally offensive to people (gotta love the idea that he had AJ Styles throw a "fuck" at him) and then some. The killer being the stuff about the Warrior, whom Russo describes as the "most intelligent guy he ever met". As dumb as he is toxic. Well, maybe Corny's not that far gone after all (just kidding, but I can understand wanting to slap the fuck out of the guy, still). Russo being a pervert narcissic of sorts wouldn't surprise me though... A rather fascinating listen.

The first Horsemen episode was awesome. Everyone needs to listen to this.

Come on, Corny doesn't need to "get himself over" in 2017. Nor even to get paychecks (from WWE mind you, which still seems unbelievable !). Bt yeah, whatever that idiot Russo says, there should be an "Ignore" function.

I agree Corny sounds way off his rocker when he goes on those kind of rants. Although parts of me thinks Corny is just cutting a promo, because that's what these old-school guy always do.

One hell of a freak and a terrific heel in FMW. Despite the cliché, he had shitloads of psychology and he wasn't just about crazy bumps and gore. Some of his matches with Onita are classics. I sure enjoyed some of his work a lot, and he was one of the first glimpse of Japanese pro-wrestling I had seen (as Onita's best off was part of the first batch of tapes I got back in the days). Puerto Rican fans surely have some memories of the guy to share too. As far as bloodletting monsters, he has been one of the all-time best.

Oh yeah. When I went through my infamous WCW Highway to Hell, I reached the point where I understood why a guy like Cornette would go insane. It was toxic stuff as far as pro-wrestling goes. Russo is clueless. And lately, I've reached th point where he came back to TNA, and it's even worse since the promotion had so much talent and potential still. He fucking turned this stuff upside down in a matter of a few weeks and ruined *everything* with god-awful angles, the disappearance of any good wrestling on TV, awful comedy, inane WWE trolling and horrible treatment of women : in a matter of a few weeks, we had Tracy whoring herself to have Eric Young sign a contract with Bobby Roode (which doesn't make any lick of sense anyway), Kurt Angle abusing two women (So Cal Val & Samoa Joe's girlfriend whom ankle he broke) while still being considered a babyface, Chrystie Hemme being called a slut by Kip James (also a babyface). (I don't have any idea how somehow, Russo fanboys still exist in 2017. Well, people are dumb as fuck, but still…)

That's classic !

Fantastic post ! The kind of which has me work on my English too to get the whole of it. (this is where I reach my limitations too, sadly) Just this : I would agree with this, with emphasis on the bolded part. I would also use the word "craftmanship" as far as to describe what pro-wrestling is. But again, terrific post.

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.