El-P

That ADR Youshoot where he was all "good husband and family guy" looks like complete comedy now.

I don't find anything you said to be creepy material. Then again, I'm European. Hell. I'm French. I do think that creepiness, like many things, in in the eyes of the beholder sometime. Then again. Mick Foley is a guy who was listening to Tori Amos' "Winter" minutes before getting willingly slaughtered and bleed like a pig for little to no money at Kawasaki Stadium. And took hundreds of chairshots to the head. And jumped from the Cell into a table to get his moment of glory. I mean. That this guy is kinda weird is not exactly a newsflash either. Talking creepy, yeah, subjecting his little childrens to the chairshot massacre at RR99 with the complicity of his (then still) beautiful wife, well, yes. That was creepy. And shitty. So, maybe I'd watch Holy Foley and find that this guy looks like the Red Dragon now. But from what I now or heard, I don't quite see it. (Jerry Lawler was way creepier with women, in general. Foley just seem super enthousiast with the girl's work, and why not ?)

"I am going to try to get some sleep" is an extremely polite way to say "Ok, fuck this". But yeah. That conversation is kinda odd. The fact the guy made it public makes it kinda like looking at a sextape, in a way. Now, that's creepy.

Oh. I didn't realize he has been creepy for so long.

So, "Foley is all creepy with women" is the new trendy gimmick I guess. And with "the way he looks", he managed to get a model for a wife. People should just settle the fuck down. The guy has been an active RAINN supporter for years too.

That they do the old-school matches is nothing more than banking on nostalgia. Like bringing Goldy. The brand vs brand feud has no leg. Zero. Zilch. Most of these guys have all worked against each other all the time already. And it's been what ? Four months ? It's just nostalgia branding.

Twitter should be deleted.

They picked the one PPV that was split in three. Very odd choice to debut a serie focusing on detailing a supercard, really...

They're working a xenophobic Brexit angle, hopefully. Damn those racists coming out of the woods seemingly everywhere in Europe now.

They should just get ADR back and make him & Paige a heel couple. Play on the pro-wrestling heritage, the age difference and the sex & drug attitude and shit. They money.

Day 17 - A-Block. Kokugikan ! SANADA vs. Tenzan So, is that gonna be Tenzan's last G1 match ever ? Probably, also he showed he had still enough in the tank to have a bunch of good matches. This was no different, with SANADA showing good fire. Still, Tenzan's booking was puzzling at best. What was the point of him flopping that badly ? Makabe. Vs Ishii Makabe has the worst Vader-like forearm shots, just floating over Ishii's head. Apart from this, it was two bull going at each other, and it was a spectacle it should be. Ishii's so good. I've really come to terms with him not being a simple one-trick poney. Best Makabe match of the G1 probably. Fale vs. Tonga Tonga's story in the G1 is most compelling than Tenzan's, especially since it looked like actually improved along the way. This was a good match, with nice Bullet Club hierarchy bullshit at the beginning. Tama playing babyface against monster Fale kinda reveals himself better in that role too. Tama grew on me and the win worked very well there. Goto vs. Marufuji A bomb throwing exchange, with Maru looking superior to the energetic samurai warrior, working from underneath to maybe qualify himself for the final. highspot based match, and Maru looked amazing most of the way here, with some really nifty stuff. Say it again, he's been the best and most compelling "creative" worker post 00's. Excellent match. Tanahashi vs Okada Great beginnings with Tana being a dick to somewhat heel (I guess) Okada. This is the ultimate japanese blowjob match. Okay, so they go long. Nice focused, repeated attack on the knee by Tanahashi, which wasn't sold the best by Okada, especially after Tana always went back to it with some brutal looking stuff. Still, built to one hell of a match, but Okada was too short on selling to me to get above excellent-to-great match, which is earned a good part thanks to the drama during the finishing stretch and some legit great moments (Tana has the knack for making them happen). Tanahashi is still a great fucking worker despite some execution issues. Okada can work great matches, but I would not call him a regular great worker, from what I've seen on this G1. One hell of a first Kokugikan show, with a fun undercard too.

Beckett is just as fun when I read it. I've seen Cap au Pire on stage though, it was insane.

And ? That's the only worthy purpose. I love Beckett. I couldn't give a flying fuck he was a Nobel prize.

The Nobel prize is politic if anything else. Because really, art doesn't need prizes at all. And to give a Syrian poet the Nobel right now would have been, if anything else, a signal or sorts. Maybe put back some focus on what's *still* happening in Syria while the world doesn't give a fuck anymore, unless it is to close the frontiers because to hell with refugees. But oh well. I have nothing against Bob Dylan, really. It's just that, like you say, they can give it every year. They can give it to Dylan if they please some other time. Now ? This leaves kind of a sour taste. As a non-fan especially. Now, I understand why fans would be delighted.

I won't do a 14 years Highway to Hell thread, I warn you. I already gave up after I reached the end of the weekly PPV's era.

How is fucking Bob Dylan relevant in 2016, no matter how great you think he is (which is heavily subjective), when on the other side you got a Syrian poet who is considered as the greatest Arabic poet today, who tangles with issues like Islam and violence, the arabic revolutions and such while, if you believe the specialists, bringing news forms in the entire field of arabic poetry. Times, they are a-changing, ya know. But anyway. Such goes the world. Star Power, as Sonic Youth would say.

Damn. I was pretty much saying the same thing five years ago, only in a more assholish way. At least I've been pretty consistent on this one.

"Storytelling" is the most overrated aspect of pro-wrestling criticism. Really, those guys don't tell very complicated stories, and not a whole lot different stories either. Time to dig up that quote about luchadors not doing anything that old grandma at ringside couldn't grasp from the get to.

Yeah, Bob Dylan is really relevant in 2016. Meanwhile, current Syrian poet Adonis, and I mean *current* in every sense of the word, doesn't get it ? Really ? It's somewhat a travesty actually. But whatever. I mean Obama got the Nobel prize in 2009, so it really means shit. Except some would benefit more from the worldwide media attention (not to mention not being washed up rock'n roll glories from 40 years ago). Senile gibberish hippies indeed, all respect due to Mr Zimmerman. Yeah, whatever.

Wait. What ? Mickie James ? That certainly is appealing to me.

Wow. And Dixie Carter will leave one hell of a legacy too.

Shoot-style, obviously.

A Block B Block MOTYC Ishii vs. Okada ****+ as they say Marufuji vs. Tanahashi Elgin vs. Naito Naito vs. Shibata Honma vs. Naito Naito vs. Nakajima YOSHI-HASHI vs Naito Quite excellent SANADA vs. Tanahashi Nakajima vs. Shibata Okada vs. Marufuji Nakajima vs. Nagata SANADA vs. Okada Shibata vs. Omega Tenzan vs. Marufuji Ishii vs. Marufuji Tanahashi vs Goto Ishii vs. Tanahashi Damn fine Tenzan vs. Ishii Nagata vs. Naito Fale vs. Goto Shibata vs. Honma Ishii vs. Goto YOSHI-HASHI vs. Honma Fale vs. Marufuji Omega vs. Yano Goto vs. Okada YOSHI-HASHI vs. Nagata Fale vs. Tanahashi EVIL vs. Nakajima Tenzan vs Okada EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI Tenzan vs. Goto Nakajima vs. YOSHI-HASHI Ishii vs SANADA YOSHI-HASHI vs. Elgin Goto vs Makabe Nakajima vs. Honma EVIL vs. Naito Shibata vs Nagata Good it is indeed Makabe vs. Tenzan Omega vs. YOSHI-HASHI Tonga vs Ishii Elgin vs. EVIL Makabe vs Marufuji Honma vs. Omega Naomichi Marufuji vs. SANADA Shibata vs. Elgin Okada vs. Makabe Omega vs. Elgin Tonga vs. SANADA Omega vs. EVIL Fale vs. Makabe Honma vs. EVIL Tanahashi vs Tenzan Shibata vs. YOSHI-HASHI Okada vs Fale Nagata vs. Omega Omega vs Nakajima Honma vs Elgin Unoffensive Makabe vs. Tanahashi Yano vs. Nakajima Ishii vs. Fale EVIL vs. Nagata SANADA vs. Makabe Naito vs. Yano Tonga vs. Tanahashi Honma vs. Yano SANADA vs. Goto Shibata vs. Yano Okada vs. Tonga Yano vs. Nagata Tonga vs. Goto Yano vs. Elgin Marufuji vs Tonga EVIL vs Yano Not good Makabe vs. Tonga Nagata vs. Elgin Tenzan vs Tonga SANADA vs Fale Fale vs. Tenzan

DAY 16 - BBLOCK Omega vs Nakajima Is it me or are they rushing Omega to the top already ? Seemed kinda rushed as a match too, with Nakajima seemingly out of fuel against goofy Omega. Good match, but at this point I kinda expected better. EVIL vs Yano Funny, Yano does look like he can win at any time, in an sleaze-bag Yoshi Ogawa way. Short. Non offensive. Kinda funny. The usual Yano deal. YOSHI-HASHI vs Naito An escalation match in that first, you go, this is very good. Then minutes are passing and you think, it's actually excellent. And before it ends, you're like, great match. Naito goes after YH's injured shoulder for a while, which is a nice change from the usual knee attack. YH really grew on me despite some of his offense, I do enjoy the stiffness. And he comes very very close to winning that one before eventually falling down to the master. That Naito is a piece of work. Shibata vs Nagata Old kicks vs Now kicks. Perfect pairing. Nagata is grumpy and doesn't shy away from zeroing on the bad shoulder. This is crisp, doesn't get goofy (always a risk with Nagata) and really gets focused on the kicking and shoot-style attacks of both men, including some neat mirror spots. Very good match. Honma vs Elgin Totally srpint style. Would be perfectly nice for ten minutes or so, but it kinda goes on forever without building to anything. And Elgin rushed through dangerous spots like they are bodyslams, a typical terrible indy mentality. Honma doesn't reign him in, so it never goes beyond good, it's an inflated match without direction and too much kick-outs. Proof ? The ending seemed like a relief and not very climatic. Elgin has lots of potential, but can get silly quite easily. Finally, the road to Kokugikan is over. Quite the ride with a bunch of great matches and tons of good stuff. Still, it feels like it's way too long.

Holy shit : http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/10/FERNANDEZ/56422 I haven't read it yet, but this is pretty amazing. Le Monde Diplomatique is like the best, most detailed newspaper in France, it's only monthly and it goes pretty deep into issues (and it's the only real intellectual, left wing newspaper too). One page on lucha libre and as always, it seems pretty well documented and has something to say about the americanization of lucha since the inception of AAA. I love that newspaper.