El-P

Yep. Old-school baby. I do love the set-up. As always. Love giant outdoor set-ups.

That's for Shane to take a bump. I guess.

DAMN !

I'd sooooo do that if I got the English-speaking broadcast. Thankfully for my liver, the French announcers don't do that shit so much. I'm kinda frustrated I don't get to see the pre-show though. Aries vs Neville will probably end up being the best match of the night...

I have lived in Paris for 15 years. Never saw one flower, I don't think. Funny stuff though

Fuck it. I'm gonna open a bottle of red wine and get me a nice cheese plate (yeah, clichés, but so true)..... in the middle of the night... to watch WrestleMania 33.... Ok, when did my life went astray exactly ?

Honestly, I do hope they bring out Das Racist for that New Day feelgood sequence. So much promises.

Only a bunch of goofballs made it a "theme". The re-occurence here is a mere running gag. See you later. Enjoy the show. (or not)

If I had coke, I'd probably snort a line just to stay awake and do this Mania thread (I'd probably enjoy Mania more too). Show starts at 1 in the morning here...

FWIW, I don't really look forward to this year's Mania.

I don't think you get my point. Of course *I* get that he's supposed to be a satanist. It took me about three seconds. But it's obvious they won't use the term "satanist". And since like you say, the WWE is the least subtle company there is, if they don't spell it out, then, well, I guess he's not really a satanist. He's just "dark". Just say it Nigel ! He's a fucking Satanist ! You said Ring of Honor, you can say whatever you feel like saying after that screw-up. Talking about screw-ups, I noticed a pretty awful one toward the end of the tag match. The camera missed the (I guess) DVD in the barricades outside, then pretty much missed the same spot on the ring corner too when they cut back in the ring. I felt like I was still watching a TNA PPV. Odd.

On the contrary. I'm absolutely amused by the fact they'll say shit like "darkside" and "somber life experience" and maybe even "cult", although that would be Wyatt gimmick infrigement, but will probably never outright say "satanist". Not everybody knows who the fuck Aleister Crowley is BTW. But it's like, you take CM Punk, you switch "straight edge" with "satanist" in all of his promos, and you get quite the funny reboot character.

Destination X 2006. I just watched that two days ago. I see. But they're not gonna say he's a *satanist*. Because then people would think he's sacrificing goats or something. And Bray Wyatt's gimmick would be dead. Well, a satanist CM Punk I can live with. Especially if he's got a dutch accent.

I was thinking how Nikki Cross sounded kinda like a porn actress name, and now you're telling me Ruby Riot's indy name was Lovelace ? Damn. I do agree one short exchange looked like they were quite cool workers and then they went AWOL from most of the match, so, no idea how good they actually are from watching this. I do like they have different looks at least.

Don't worry Charles, I won't reply. (I do hope some do get the irony and humour of this very post, though)

Well, I did watch it. And now I'm gonna give my two cents. I don't know some of these guys name because I don't watch the TV. So, be offended if you will. Hey, Trip fellating himself in the intro. Nice. Doesn't need Steph anymore. Sanity. Hey, I like freaks, so these guys are okay with me. The robotic intro are ridiculous though, especially when you're supposed to be some crazy weirdos. Fun, as I'm deep into TNA 2006 these days, and Roderick Strong looks exactly as he did back then. Eric Young, not so much. Fun opener. I like the fat bearded hairy guy. The one dressed like Mo, I dunno. The girls are kinda cool, especially the punkette with tatoos, but from what they do here, no way to know if they are any good. Young still bumps like a freak, nice to know. Hey, who's that fat guy in the shirt ? So yes, that's my very first look at Chris Hero/Cassius Ohno. And yes, he's fat. He's got a Barry Windham 93 kinda look, with a beard, because every guy has to have a beard. It's like the tribal tatoo of the 2010's. Hey, I loved Barry Windham, so it's all ok for me. The announcers, one of which sounds eerily like Michael Cole, say that he's "deceptively agile". He's not implying that Cassius Ohno is fat, is he ? Well he is. And that's cool, I love agile fat workers. His last name's only purpose seems to do awful puns though. Well, this was fun. I hate to quote Johnny but : Glad I'm not the only one. Except he's kinda like a lame CM Punk replacement. The intro is so forced. Is he supposed to be a satanist ? I mean, the kabalistic symbols, Aleister... Just say it, he's a satanist follower of Aleister Crowley. Of course they won't because Bray Wyatt is in the house, so he's just *dark*. With *tatoos that symbolizes his beliefs and life experiences*. Fuck, he's totally a satanist version of CM Punk. Not impressed though. He looks like every hipster tatoo parlor employee from the 11th arrondissement in Paris. Who practice yoga. I'm not afraid. The kind of guy you order a vegan burger from. Anyway, he kicks a whole lot. La Som... Almas does a Naito big up. Cool. Match was kinda there. Almas is just not working. Jury's out on Crowley, he looks to have some potential, but nothing special. Might as well give him some Deefheaven track for his intro though. Three-way dance is already overrated as fuck in this thread. It was good. Not great. Way too long. Too much cutesy spots which come with the 3-way style (and are why I don't usually care for this gimmick). Whenever the AOP are in control, the match drags a whole lot as they just aren't very good. The samoan guy especially looks lost at points. The other four look great, so I longed for those great, classic matches they delivered the previous year. AOP aren't bad, but they are like the worst Head Hunters ever. Or the best Master Blasters ever. Ellering is useless. Anticlimatic finish. Hey, I'd totally have a drink with Asuka at the swimming pool and talk shit. This girl seems like the coolest. Okay, so this is the best match on the show thus far. Like Ember Moon quite a bit from what I see here. The look, the work, the attitude. Too bad she gets your typical generic bad WWE music. She needs to come to Princess Nokia's "Kitana". Not sure those "I don't give a fuck" and "you can suck my dick" would sit well with the PG bullshit, but it would be so bad-ass and fitting. Anyway, this felt like two girls beating the shit out of each other. Kinda rough in spots, but at least this didn't look like a dance or manufactured "epic" (see later). Got better as it went, with a nice escalation in the violence and bitchiness. Hell, Asuka cheated to win ! That was cool ! I'm totally there for a rematch, this was very good/excellent. Nakamura is nothing special anymore. His entrance is verging on self-parody, because he's always the exact same. The less said the better about Roode's, which is forced as all hell. The Glorious bit is awful and doesn't even get boos from these idiots in the crowd. Pandering-to-smart-audience theme song to get a sing-along reaction is the worst. And I don't buy Roode's Rude/Orndorff cosplay for one minute. He's just not a main event player. Never has been, even in TNA. Super solid undercard worker, but not a top guy. He's so Triple H/Jeff Jarrett in 2000. This is dull. And long. Nak is soooo cruising. Oh man, the worst NJ elbow exchange ever now... Ends in a very obvious "look at us having an epic" mode... I fear the exact same stuff for every big Mania match. Mixed bag. Opener was fine. Tag match was pretty good but too long and cutesy. Women's match was really good. Main event was boring.

I did forget Sable's awesome punching ability though. These days she would probably open Jackie's forehead hardway with an elbow.

You have to do it while conveying that amazing annoyance that Sable's voice and intonation were though. Not an easy feature. Well, and now I have it in my head despite not having heard it for ever. Thanks for nothing, really. Go do the fucking Grind already.

Well, it was certainly much better than all those Money in the Bank match. Entertaining bullshit for sure. Ginger Mahal. Ah ah ! Well done.

I just googled Wee-LC. Holy shit. What the fuck was that ? Well, I certainly would have remembered the fucking midg... Well, the participants. The guys running around the ring, maybe not.

Clumsy ? "Hum, Rusev was feuding with that godawful worker at the last PPV... Can't remember his name... well, he was Indian I believe." Sorry but that's not clumsy. That's just making sense of the infos I have. But I know you don't mean bad. I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. 3MB ? Wee-LC ? Those are probably the lost years of WWE to me. I've been following more closely in the last few years but... This doesn't ring a bell at all.

Yes I would if I didn't know the name of a japanese guy. Contrary to what you imply, I don't know the name of most japanese guys these days since I don't follow the japanese scene and haven't watched one NJ show since the Dome. It's neither here nor there though, if you can grasp the fact I didn't remember the name of that useless Jinder Mahal and only designated him as "Indian" because it's convenient, and if you think saying "he's that indian guy" is offensive, well, there's nothing I can do, really. As far as re rest of your post, well, I'll apply the PWO rules here, it'll save me some time. And venom. I don't need to "defend" myself. And no, I haven't seen this guy ever before that Rusev feud because I don't watch 20 weekly hours of WWE. Shocking, I know, I dunno the faces and names of every JTTS that came around the WWE in the last 15 years (I understand that he's a guy who was there at one time and whom they called back last year to fill the roster after the brand expansion ?). Believe me, don't believe me… I don't care one bit, really. Plus, it's not even the fact I know him or not. I just couldn't think of his name. For fuck's sake, people. So, in other Mania news, so the SD women's multi-match is on the show and the cruiserweight match down the pre-show apparently. Well, not to start this again, but the women being reduced to a bunch of multi-women matches, no big face-off at Mania. Not repaying very well the best part of their product for the whole past year. At least they're all on the main show now. I wish we got Aries vs Neville instead of the three-way dance/ladder tag match.

Seriously, this is hilarious. A movie reviewer over here got the same kind of bullshit because he didn't know the name of two unknown debuting actress and said "the black and the arabian girls". Well, fuck that pc bullshit, hard. If I don't remember the name and if it had been PN News, I'd have said, that fat white rapper guy. If it had been Sheamus, I'd said that pale redhead guy. If it had been Nakamura I'd said that japanese guy. And in case of Jinder Mahal, it doesn't matter what his name is, to quote that afro-samoan blockbuster actor who was a pro-wrestler once. He's godawful, but since he's not the first godawful guy Rusev had to work with, you gotta find a way to identify him. Seriously people : get a fucking grip. (gotta love the idea that "Indian" is a fucking "ethnic minority" too… talking about offensive (and stupid) stuff, now we're really into it)

Well, the fact he got reduced to such nothing on the roster (that great feud with… that godawful indian guy) makes the injury kinda irrelevant though. I admit it flew under my radar (heard about it but forgot about it), but like I said, he was doing zilch for months anyway. Sucks for him to not get a Mania paycheck.

He'd made enough money that he didn't care and just wanted to run his own vanity promotion. Well, not exactly that. At this point, NJ was going through the infamous Inokism era, with the worst shoot-style stuff ever, useless and dangerous guys like Fujita being pushed to the moon, Tadao Yasuda posturing as an MMA fighter to repay his gambling debts, Nagata being thrown into a legit MMA fight so he get slaughtered while being Da Man for NJ. And Mutoh hates shoot-style to begin with. He was already working a lot with All Japan at the time, going through his rebirth as a worker (after his stint with Russo's WCW basically made him sick), so when the opportunity presented himself, it was a perfect career move for him, flying away from the pits of crap that was NJ at the time and positionning himself as the "savior" of All Japan. He was not friendly with Misawa. He probably felt he had to stay to remain true to Baba's memory too, as did Fuchi. Although in the end he got to deal with Mutoh, for the better and the worse. And he did get both.