El-P

PPV 53 Pathetic even by TNA’s standart. A bunch of horrible stuff involving Russo, Jarrett, Legend & D-Lo, with beatdowns on the babyfaces galore. This stuff is killing the main event scene and AJ’s reign. A bunch of awful undercard crap including the debut of Edward Chastain, the fat Mantaur look-alike who sadly got Norman Smiley to put him over. And Don Callis is infact doing the same corporate gimmick he was doing in ECW. How creative by Russo. The X-division is officialy turning into indieriffic spot-monkeys heaven, with another bad Sabin vs Kazarian match. Sabin looks like big potential and Kazarian at least sold his injured ribs, but every move he does has to be contrived and over-complicated. He must have learned to work by watching RVD, as judged by his hairdoo. The finish was amazingly shitty too, with idiot referee coming from the back to reverse a decision. Of course everyone is cheating all the time but nothing never happens, except *there*. Just because people don't expect it, I guess. Another awful finish kinda ruined the only good match of the show, a Last Man Standing match between Jerry Lynn & Justin Credible. Credible’s setups for moves is pretty shaky at times, as he anticipates too much, but I like the fact they didn’t rush through pinfalls like idiots because of the gimmick. The pinfalls actually only occured after credible (and Lynn’s too) finishers. Good bloodletting with nice selling, but the finish made no sense as BOTH GOT UP before ten, Lynn just pulled Credible down and the ref still counted ten. But BOTH WERE STANDING YOU DUMB FUCK ! Anyway. More catfight incoming with another porn actress-like costume, this time a schoolgirl. BTW, Tracy and her girls are called Bitchslap. Yeah. Classy. Well, Tracy isn't here anymore actually, so I guess that's why the schoolgirl, as this was kinda Tracy's gimmick. More useless comedy by 3 Live Krew, this time in the streets making fun of rednecks I guess. Kid Kash called Trinity and Goldilocks « working rats ». Yeah, Goldilock was back along Eric Watts who said « Eric from WCW » was gonna be there the following week. And Goldi said she doesn’t wear panties. Don’t ask. In his interview segment, Sting basically said that Ric Flair carried him in 1990. How long before « He’s not following the script, what are they gonna do, improvise ? » angles ? The only decent segment was Raven doing a super babyface run-in on Simon & Swinger who were beating on AMW only to get a beatdown himself from Douglas & the Disciples. With Brian Lee in the ring, I half-expected a Thriple Threat chant. Terrible, terrible show, the booking is killing everybody at this point, with a beatdown every twenty minutes. Raven vs Douglas is the only feud I look forward to even though Douglas looks pretty rough physically. 2003/07/16 Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible.

Tequila on a pole for all those Mexicans and woman abuse for all. Yep.

I don't think you are. There was a lot of noise a few years ago in the french online gaming community after a long article by a feminist blog writer about sexism in that community. And she did talk about the fact that she would choose neutral or male usernames/characters just so she wouldn't be bothered or even harassed by sexist remarks (including some pretty hardcore stuff) and that it was pretty well known fact across the board, that women had to "hide" somewhat to prevent that kind of behaviour.

It was not. It was as good a Flair match you'd see in 1998. Plus Flair & Hart never gelled to the higest level, for obvious reasons (they have very different ideas of what a good match is). It was a very good match, only insane expectations make it disappointing. Flair was not a great worker by any stretch of the imagination in 98. Bret got the best out of him like he did with Luger later in the year (hell, Luger gave a much better effort all thing considered too).

How many actual French guys have there been though in US wrestling besides Andre. Most of the guys portraying French guys are from Quebec Yeah, that was part of my point. It's like a guy from New Zealand portraying a New Yorker. Eddie Carpentier was french (born in Poland, but still French) Andre was from Grenoble, in the French Alps. This always cracked me up as I guessed people in the Madison Square Garden must think this was some kind of wild and exotic place. Grenoble. The home of Miss Kittin & the Hacker : I'm not sure there were any true frenchmen before Lefort showed up. He's from Nice (pronounced Neece). The gimmick writes itself. God, there is so many french heel gimmick I can think of that would not be stupid stereotypes.

EXACTLY

Rick Rude vs Masa Chono, Halloween Havoc. These are the same two guys having a MOTYC at the G1 climax earlier in the same year.

Fiving ?

I actually liked Berlyn. Well, of course the name was stupid, but the whole Rammsteinish image was kinda cool. Although Alex Wright the euro-trash dance gimmick was much much better. Loved his music theme. Do I have to go into how xenophobic and completely idiotic La Resistance was ? Two CANADIAN playing French. Using the monicker from the Second World War from the people who were fighting against Nazis in an occupied country ? People who were on the same camp as the USA ? Stupidest gimmick ever this side of Iron Sheik as an Iraki sympathiser. Not to mention the xenophobic pettiness of it, just because France didn't go into that disastrous Iraki war, which was the only good thing Jacques Chirac did during his second presidential stint. And then, in NXT : Sylvester Lefort. A name straight out of the 50's Halles strongmen. Well, if that's your gimmick, kinda like the Vaudevillains, ok. But for fuck's sakes. Sylvester Lefort ? Do anyone has any idea what French people are in the WWE ? I mean, HHH's real name if Paul Levesque, he should know *something* about it, he's from french origin. (reminds me that hilarious FOX News reporting about the No-go zone in Paris two years ago. It had us living in Paris rolling with tears of laughters.)

That'll teach you to let Youtube on autoplay. And no, I'm never going to watch Batista vs Great Khali in a Punjabi Prison Match. Ever. Talking about pain... PPV 52 The bad is so terrible that it’s hard to focus on the good. Russo as a performer on TV is kinda like herpes. Disguised as Jeff Jarrett circa 95 in a long, awful segment ending with yet another brutal beatdown by Joe Legend "of WWE fame" (that cracks me up every time) on Jarrett. The crowd doesn’t give a fuck, and neither do I. And then, Russo-in-a-cage during the good but too short AJ Styles vs D-Lo Brown main event, a cage from which even I could have gotten out of. Russo in those wrestling tights is a pretty repulsive sight too. Anyway, the match itsef again showed how amazing Styles is in term of athleticism and inventing spots that are actually cool, like sliding under the metalic barricades outside. D-Lo’s execution is top notch too at this point, but this was very much an excellent short Nitro main event. Trinity is now back doing the man’s duties so she did a twisting moonsault on D-Lo. Russo trying to have sex with the cage where they put D-Lo in at the end was nightmarish. No wonder this guy has issues with women if he fucks that way. The opener was pretty good too, AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger in what was probably Swinger’s best match ever (false praise). I’d say they still overdo the nearfalls a bit at the end, but Diamond & Swinger are supposed to be tag team specialists with an experience edge, plus the escalation worked. AMW still go through spots too quickly at times. Slow down a bit people, especially you Storm. Shane Douglas vs Julio was decent, but Douglas should not do sprints where he has to run between spots, he really looks out of shape doing it. He should settle into an Ole Anderson pacing. Julio is very much spotty, but as a JTTS match pushing the veteran, it worked. Douglas is using the belly-to-belly finisher again, not a good idea, the Pittsburgh Plunge was so much better. Alexis again takes some hard bumps and a fireball in the face from James Mitchell, who cut a very good promo ealier on with Tenay, basically deriding Raven for being a rich kid whiner playing with the Darkside, while he’s the real deal. Quite articulate. Jerry Lynn vs Kid Kash, not too good, way too rushed and Kash didn’t bring much to the match except being dressed like Lynn circa 98, which the announcers didn’t even notice. It was also the second time in the show that idea was used, after Russo cosplaying in Jarrett circa 95. Shows the level of attention to details these guys have, which is about zero. The Abyss gets a hurricanrana from the top rope. Yep. This is your monster, being bumped like a bitch every week. He already has no monster aura left. Bad matches involving one HarrisS vs Shark Boy, a multi-man cluster X-div with a bunch of indy guys that have no idea how to work followed by Sabin vs Kazarian in another yawner. This X-division needs an anchor who knows how to fucking work, and Sabin in single hasn’t proved me that. More Sting interview, more Tracy & Veronika vs Lollipop teasing. And the debut of Don Callis and some guy looking like Paul Neu crashing the Sandman’s Hard Ten Cup ceremony. So, Callis is playing some corporate asshole like he was in ECW. I like the guy, but the Network stuff was pretty back then, and of course, Russo being clueless, it seems like he’s just redoing the same gimmick. We’ll see. Goldilock is gone. Hudson is in. He's good, but I'll miss Goldie. The two Mexican guys promised last week didn’t show up. Konnan, Killings & James which are 3 Live Krew did another parody, this time of a broadcast team, and they actually plugged WWE’s next PPV. Yes. In a deriding way, as Setphy vs Sable sounds awful indeed, but still. They plugged the PPV of the N°1 company, while they aren’t doing any money at all. Vince Russo. 2003/07/09 AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger 2003/07/09 AJ Styles vs D-Lo Brown

To me it's more about "these stupid people won't know the difference anyway" than anything else. The idea that hawaiian playing japanese would fly seems pretty racist to me. Iron Sheik playing an Iraki sympathiser was particulary hilarious though.

Black people really are lucky that white people in America didn't take this stance when it came to being Abolitionists Yep. It should be everyone's struggle. Human beings' struggle.

Why ? I, for one, as a huge Aja fan, never thought of her differently than, say, Vader, since he's the easiest comparison.

About this, I must say I was totally offended by someone who said during the GWE process that basically people voting for joshi workers did it because of creepy reasons. Well, yes, part of Takako Inoue or Cuty Suzuki's appeal and character was sex-appeal. It actually played into the way they worked too (either vulnerable babyfaces or heelish bitch). But I don't think Aja Kong (the highest woman in the Top 100 BTW), Bull Nakano, Dynamite Kansai, Shinobu Kandori or Kyoko Inoue get points for being hotties. Now, pro-wrestling is about selling a procuct. And sex sells. It's nothing new. And we're getting back to the "blowjob" babyface in US territorial wrestling and the fact they drew tons of female fans. What's the difference between Stan Lane and Trish Stratus ? Apart from the fact Lane fucked a thousand of his fans while Stratus probably didn't, I'm speaking strictly in term of promotional tactics. (and really, if Stratus had fuck a thousand male fans, I'd have no issue with that either, to be perfectly clear)

Not even close. Bad yes. But not even close to Russo at is worst.

SPOILER MOFO !!! (ok, I'm not actually mad, but still, spoilers are welcome. Plus, Sexy Star is just not a very good worker. Ivelisse winning it would be awesome though !) And yeah, LU is pretty much a live action comic and presented as such, they do the best work possible with intergender matches.

The name cracks me up.

Blowjob babyface is something that probably should be adressed, but maybe not in this thread.

Everything is political. Plus, it's more fun to think. Not everything is political. In the cases where its not, its imagining rather than thinking. But whatever works. you don't think Hulk Hogan waving the flag of the United States and fighting the evil foreigner heels is political ? You don't think ethnic babyface Bruno Sammartino is political ? You don't think JYD being made a blakc babyface in the traditionnaly racist South is political ? You don't think Korean born Riki Choshu and Akira Maeda representing the rebel forces in 80's New Japan is political (I asked the question before, no one answered) ? There's so much political and social comments we can make out of pro-wrestling. It's actually fascinating. You don't think women like to watch some sports because they like to see athletic good looking young men getting at it ? Tennis is not sexualized at all with all the young women in short skirts ? Every sport is about the body, although some body are more desirable than others, following the current social norms. I wouldn't follow weightlifting if I was a woman. As a heterosexual guy I would follow beach volley if I had nothing else better to do.

It's true in every sport though.

Everything is political. Plus, it's more fun to think.

This really has nothing to do with feminisn though. Chyna beating up men was basically a freak show. Plus she was a shit worker, the matches were horrible. Only Jeff Jarrett managed to get something pretty decent ot of her. The fact she wouldn't work with other women because she felt it was "beneath her" says a lot. Chyna was pushed that way because she was basically a man. That what got her over. She had the body of a man, yet no one would hit her because she was a woman. It played on social taboos, despite the fact she was almost as big and strong as the guys. Which was brillant, at first. When she became "just another guy", it negated everything unique about her gimmick. The fact she sucked as a worker was even worse, as it was painfull to see. Pretty much. The fact Bailey is not oversexualised makes her a positive figure since she's also the underdog finally getting to the top (or course you could push it even further in term of social commentary about the whole "getting to the top" aspect of the game, but that would be questionning the entire sports realm). Then again, there's nothing wrong about sexualization in itself, as long as it's assumed as such from the point of view of the woman. Plus, one could argue that Bailey and her imagery are un-sexualized because it refers to childhood. I mean, the giant… stuff (dunno the name in English, well, in French probably either) during her entrance, her whole outfit have somethig "childish" about it. Well, not childish. But something refering to childhood, that's for sure. So. I dunno. I could probably deep deeper into this.

Pretty much. Probably why I enjoy it too.

The Lynn vs Credible matches have been fine thus far. Just too short. Enjoy it while it lasts, people. PPV 51 Shane Douglas is the best promo in the company already. The fact he can't rely on F-bombs surely helps him focusing and not go into self-parody like in the end of the ECW stint and what followed in the indies. Since they teased a Raven vs Sabu feud that never happened, I want my other ECW dream match, although Shane's in-work looks rough at times. Good little Clockwork House of Fun match against CM Punk though, who's trying to impress Raven. On the other hand, the Jarrett and Russo segment was awful. Jarrett sounds so third rate on the mic following Douglas, and Russo is simply unbearable. Hey, more big surprise with... Joe Legend from WWF fame. What ? Joe Legend ? WWF fame ? Anyway, brutal beatdown on Jarrett, split blood and shit, but no one cares. Turn him heel already. Wait, some really good stuff from AJ Styles again, having a good match against Frankie Kazarian. Styles impresses the hell out of me, he managed to get the best out of Frankie who's a sloppy indy spot monkey. His heeling is excellent, he slows the pace down, teases a dive to piss off the crowd, builds hope spots and then bumps like crazy to make Kazarian offense look big time. Amazing how far this guy has come in one year. Runs-in from Chris Sabin & heel Trinity (no explanation of course, but there really can't be any that would make sense). And Kazarian, since he's green and stupid, tucks his chin before the Styles CLash, so he gets dropped straight on his head and neck. Scary spot. Post match was efficient enough in building the title match against D-Lo, which will be a transitionnal feud on top I guess. AMW had a pretty poor match against David Young & Sonny Siaki. Where is Desire ? She was the only element that brought these guys any character. AMW work too fast here and go through too many spots. Too many nearfalls too, no sense of hierarchy. Not a good showing. Sandman vs New Jack in a stupid Hard Ten match, hopefully the last ever. New Jack thrown off balcony into table, how shocking. Mike Sanders vs Shark Boy in a mediocre little match. Konnan, Ron Killings & BG James seem reduced to a comedy trio, making fashion statements. Tracy & Nurse Veronica challenging guys and getting Lollipop and her ass-shaking friend instead. Lollipop looks even hotter when she's not dancing BTW. What a girl. She also showed concern for Jerry Lynn who got beat up by Justin Credible after their Russian Chain match (well, Dog Collar match actually, but Russo is too dumb to know the difference), which they worked really well actually. Well, I give a lot of credit to Jerry Lynn who reminds me that he's really versatile and knows how to work a good brawl too. Nice surprise this match, and Credible is still quite solid too. Funniest match of the night was Erik Watts vs The Abyss (as Bret Hart named him I guess). Introducing your monster against a guy who's almost taller than him is the greatest idea ever. Add the the fact he got powerbombed from the top rope already. His finisher is the oddest too, like a reverse Big Bubba side slam where he's the one running into his opponent and then acting like the momentum comes from the other body. Dunno how to describe the oddness of it. The Abyss really does look like the exact cross between Mankind & Kane, only with a third rate generic look. I think I'm gonna love getting into The Abyss. Goldilocks seems to be gone, which is too bad, I kinda liked her, she wasn't taking shit from the boys. Sting gets to do some kind of shoot interview with Tenay, talking about his career, which is nice, although I'm not sure he's coming back anytime soon. Douglas is a more than welcome addition. Everything involving Jarrett sucks because he's basically feuding with Russo. Mexican legend Negro Casas and Shocker are coming next week. Tequila on the pole anyone ? 2003/07/02 Shane Douglas vs CM Punk 2003/07/02 AJ Styles vs Frankie Kazarian 2003/07/02 Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible

It's not a matter of "respecting" all style. If you really get bored shitless by shoot-style, which I can understand, I don't see why you should try to watch it, even for GWE purpose. I've been watching pro-wrestling for 25 years. I never got into pure lucha. Not too sure why. Never tried that hard. Never was truly drawn to it either. Also, yeah, at some point, I never could quite figure out what was happening in those trios matches, which I found formulaic, devoid of excitement. Maybe, probably, it's just me not getting the way they work. Maybe it's the cultural gap. Probably not considering how many people not from Mexico love it. Maybe it's just that I really never cared for the style, whereas shoot-style came more naturally because it was closer in form to what I was interested in : japanese guys pretending to fight in martial arts tournaments. Blame Saint Seya & Dragon Ball watch when I was 11. Never liked the lucha announcing, much like the match I thought it was an annoying background sound. Maybe because it sounded like soccer announcing to me, not speaking spanish one bit. I don't give a shit about soccer. Japanese announcing never bothered me as a background sound, I found it charming although I didn't understand anything. Me being interested in Japan much more than Mexico (or hispanic culture as a whole) ?. Maybe. Probably. But in essence, I'm pretty sure if I watched enough, I could rank guys fairly. Like the famous quote said, "X luchador doesn't do anything that the old grandma at ringside can't understand". It's not rocket-science. it's not philosophy not free-jazz, nor serial music. It's too guys pretending to fight, one is the bad guy, one is the good guy. At the end, one wins. Not sure where I'm going, but… well, basically, pro-wrestling is mostly the same thing everywhere. The form changes a bit, so does the presentation, but I don't think there are some grandstandings to make about great cultural differences that would make a style totally impossible to get. Unlike, for instance, try to differenciate Turkish folk and Turkish classical music if you're totally unfamiliar. Or the dozens different romani dance musics that a gypsy orchestra from Eastern Istanbul can play. Pro-wrestling is basic stuff.