El-P

I dunno, in a WWE thread maybe ? This has nothing to do with AEW, because there are not competition, you see.... Fuck the Berlin right-wing municipality for giving money to this shady company (because I guess they are doing the "buy a WWE event" deal that they did in Whales and such, as opposed to WWE just running an old-school house-show). They also have been threatening the techno club culture in the city. Fuck those assholes. Hey, I'm hearing Paris is also probably gonna get one too. Jeez, like getting the Olympics weren't bad enough ? So glad I'm not living there anymore.

Strictly as far as a worker, I'd say so. When he showed up in IMPACT a few years back, he worked a lot with Eddie. Like, a LOT. Which was really a way to make him look the best he could, which at first wasn't that much. After a while, you could see what it did for what he brought to the table and his confidence. Of course he did not work only with Edwards, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that working so much with a guy as good as Edwards will eventually rub off on you if you are willing to learn. And that's because he looked so good against Wardlow in that one-off appearance (he was still with IMPACT then) that he probably got the job in AEW.

Plus he's tall enough they'd actually want him back. "Hey Cass, we have a great idea for an angle. So, Lexy is hot as fuck and you're a cuck. Here's Bobby. Remember Bobby Lashley, right ?' This guy has quite a story. From being a joke of a worker 4-Life and a alcoholic/junkie, whatever he was on, to cleaning up, improving by leaps and bound to the point I actually look forward to watch him every time around and being in couple with Lexy Nair. Man, Eddie Edwards sure deserves an invitation to the wedding... Yeah, she's gold interacting with Maria too. It makes such a difference in that you actually want to watch all these little backstage bits and not miss any.

If you watched the product, you'd know why Bully Ray has been a positive. Also, Bully Ray is not an ECW tribute act, at all. They did a Team 3D reunion for the 1000th episode, and why not, it was a special case, and Team 3D has been a big part of the good years of TNA. But Bully Ray ? That's actually 100% a TNA character.

Gotta say this about Bully Ray too. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at all when he showed up last year, especially since he said some really dumb things in the past. But I gotta say, he's been nothing but a positive. Great at promos, great at angles, knows exactly how to work with his own limitations and get the most out of it, puts other talent over and has no insecurities about his character at all (was dead afraid of PCO, can do a dance-off with Sonny Kiss, can sell for Josh Alexander's wife, can do a job for Jordynne Grace). And really it has to be said, it's pretty much in synch with what Team 3D did during their entire stint in TNA. So yeah, whatever one thinks of him personally, I have all the time in the world for Bully Ray in a promotion I enjoy.

Lexy Nair is such a treasure. Best backstage interviewer in eons, and that's because she displays so much character and actually react organically to what happens. Above everything, the fact she is more often than not on the verge of cracking up makes her even more fun to watch. Hopefully AEW does what they have to to keep her, because she's one non-wrestler I could see WWE jumping on as soon as they can. Plus she has so much potential as a performer too, as showed by the on-going Minions-in-training angle with Athena & Billie in ROH. Yep, she's a keeper.

He's office. And although I don't really need to see him in the ring in 2023, he still can cut one hell of a promo, as demonstrated twice over the last few months. Him winning the Digital Media title from Kenny King was actually a legit real feel-good moment, and damn this guy sure needed one after losing his mother and Terry Funk in a very short time. The ex-WWE guys are used exactly how they should, really. Even when Nick Aldis came in, as a former TNA World Champ and with the "NWA hype" (yeah, lol, I know), they basically used him to put over Shelley, and then Eric Young, and then bye-bye. Maclin has been slowly built to winning the world title and it felt warranted, he's been such a great worker since he showed up (with a heavy sense of both Foley & Austin circa 1996, which I love). Guys like Heath, Brian Myers and the likes are good veterans to have around and they are filing spots that is ok for them to have, they don't outshine anyone (and really, if you consider the current regular roster, that's 3 people out of 20 in the Battle Royal, so it's a small minority). Booking is very conscious of the past mistakes. Trinity coming in a star is pretty much the exception, but in her case it make sense that she would be pushed that hard, and she sure has over-delivered to me. IMPACT TNA works wonders as a "big fishes in small pond" company (which is maybe what I like the most in pro-wrestling after all, as a old ECW fan), and I sure hope they keep in the direction they have spent the last 5 years to rebuilt the perception about them. If Dolph Ziggler shows up at Hard to Kill and challenges Shelley for the TNA title and wins it, then you know the bad TNA is back, but I highly doubt that's what they are gonna do.

It better be a slaughter, if not then it's not even worth doing. Here's hoping this shit is so offensive that the TKO stocks drops a bit more and Vince gets fucked a little bit more by Ari Emmanuel in the end.

So was Jade Cargill. Yeah, it's different, I know. Of course he could turn around and in 5 years he'll be terrific, and more power to him if that's the case. But in a company where they have soooo many already terrific wrestlers, both young and veterans, that don't any serious time, what was purpose of an Brock Anderson at this point ? The guy is better off moving around and finding himself and more importantly his own style. Cosplaying his dad is not gonna work. Unless you're called CW Anderson.

Bound for Glory was a terrific show, delivering on all front. The Ospreay vs Speedball match was as awesome as it sounds (really, Ospreay in 2023 has been completely ridiculous, the guy's output is untouchable, not even by Danielson who is having a career year, but whose schedule is not nearly as heavy), some cool surprises like Sunny Kiss and Juventud Guerrera (who was already announced for the next show which will honor lucha libre), PCO winning basically "his" match and shining through and through (how long can he go like this ?), tons of very good matches up and down the card, with both main events delivering. Mike Tenay's speech was GREAT, this guy is such a class act. As far as the TNA brand being used again, I guess it's part of a global strategy of reclaiming their most popular name, streamlining the product as a whole (went though two name changes in the past, which kinda was confusing I guess for some partners), playing on nostalgia (and before anyone laugh at this idea that TNA actually has produced both fans and workers themselves think again, hell, Will Ospreay just said TNA made him a pro-wrestling star, which is mind-blowing when you think of it) and obviously get some attention before they obviously put more ressources in the thing as told by what's un store for next year. The story of this company, which for the last 5 years has consistently been at the very least good and fun, and with a lot of actual great stuff, and a great place for talent to find a spot where they could express themselves the best (latest example being Trinity, who's having the run of her life right now), is fascinating. I hope they eventually get the Jarrett AEW crew for one Slammiversary angle and match now.

Those CMLL Friday shows are just incredibly fun again. Talk about a rebound from the post-COVID slump.

Jeff Jarrett is having one of the best stints of his entire career, and maybe the most plain fun and absurd. Not everything hits the mark (the ridiculous sponsored deal for Texas Chainsaw Massacre was "so bad it's good" level), but his entire group (which really digs deep on the TNA roots, which is kinda nice tbh) has just been mostly a hit.

He never showed jackshit even for a rookie, really. Even less than Pillman, which wasn't much. If he wasn't his dad's son, he would never have been signed to begin with. You can't win all the time, at least Daddy Ass' kids improved greatly to the point of not looking out of place at all on the main shows, despite their relative inexperience. As far as Brock goes, he would be a perfect fit for William Corgan's NWA, now on TV. He's got the look and the talent to challenge for their World Championship...

I don't know what's worse and more stupid. The bump he took on those stairs during the Christian Cage match, or this. Ok, who am I to judge ? Plus, that bump really got a pop... Also, I must say, it kinda sucks that Darby goes the route of "rich celebrity buys his way into getting atop of the Everest".

It's obvious from interviews even before she got in AEW that she's very attached to ROH, and it's possible she asked to be used over there to help get some talent over. I really enjoy the dynamics between her, Cole Karter (ponder that for a second, she makes me care about Kole Carter, who admittedly has a great slapable face, and the "I love hot moms" T-shirt makes him so obviously over-the-top douchebaggy) and Griff Garrison. I would love her to be involved with the OGK thingy going on though. Hopefully eventually she does.

If Ospreay is really "testing the waters" with IMPACT, they sure are serving him the best they can possibly deliver. "Hey, have a match with Mike Bailey. Hey, have a match with Josh Alexander. Hey, Have a match with Eddie Ewards". And that's a bunch of dream matches for the audience too. Whatever happens, this little Ospreay in IMPACT stint is the gift of the end year that I did not expect. The idea that he may up end there is not as absurd as it would have seemed some time ago. The fact Trinity choose to sign with them instead of AEW (which she could have in a heartbeat) is saying a lot about how that company is seen in term of getting a fine productive stint with creative freedom and not too much pressure. Catching up on the shows, Eddie Edwards vs Frankie Kazarian was brutal, in a good way. It really picked up with Eddie just bloodiing Kaz chest, and that was quite gory. Terrific match, and this is why Kaz left AEW to sign with IMPACT, he would not have that kind of matches over there (not stylistically, but in term of spot on the card). Ace Steel is getting a try out as a producer at BFG, uh ? Come on Phil. DO IT.

After the last two weeks, this has been a great rebound episode, which felt like what AEW should be. The Adam Copeland bit was good I thought, and it did not take the focus out of the Nick Wayne/Christian vs Darby Allin feud later on. This is absolutely inspired by Owen/Bret, with the big brother/little brother kinda relationship, one having been more successful than the other and always there for him, and the little brother being a jealous and bitter little shit was is only now having his share of big time success. As long as we're not going into "Adam Copeland is bigger than anyone in AEW" mode or that this feud takes the main focus of the show, why not if they do it in a compelling way (and there's more than enough real life stuff to make it that way). A Wardlow heel turn is the only thing that may made me care a bit about this guy. Schiavone is so valuable in that it's so easy to use him to get heat. He's so beloved, anyone treating him poorly will get a big reaction. Then again, when you have Lance Archer on the same show (I hope it wasn't just a one off to please the Texas crowd), I just wonder why the hell are we even talking about Wardlow in the first place and why he has been pushed and protected like he has, when much better monster workers have been around. The rest of the show was excellent, with three bangers (White/Penta, Shida/Sakura, Omega/Fletcher), very good interview segment (Callis), the usual fun Cole/Neck Strong/Kingdom vignette, a very fun Battle Royal at the end with good booking (the use of Dustin, the focus on Dany Garcia's eventual babyface turn, the Caster/Juice rivalry for the ring), a pretty fun Toni Storm vignette (they sure do love that pearl necklace joke, Maria Kanellis did it on ROH too), an excellent angle with Darby, Nick Wayne and his mom, respectfully and all (damn, they should go straight into TeleNovela shit in term of directing in the future, yeah, let's pick up stuff from Lucha Underground !) and of course the stuff no one is talking about and I'm baffled, Sting announcing his retirement (gotta love the reaction to Hogan's name, not so much the reaction to Flair's), which they should make the biggest event possible. Dropping the roll of coins immediately was wise. And yeah, Jay White is absolutely the guy who should take the belt away from MJF. Cole was the right choice before, but there's no telling when he's coming back, again, and how he's gonna be doing in the long run with such a banged up body. White is a long term plan, he's a brilliant worker, and he's gotta be established as a main-event player. A heel run with him on top would be so great. I do enjoy a lot the fact MJF sees it coming from everywhere, White, Joe, Omega. I prefer when characters are not stuck in only their own little world and that there is an entire ecosystem with interactions from different people and crews together, that's one thing that fun was about WCW at its peak too.

The expansion of the G1 has really hurt the content, because in the end it doesn't change there's only a handful of guys who can win it, so it's just adding NPC's for the heck of it. It totally dilutes the tournament. Of course it's been done so it's less tough on the workers bodies, so from that point of view, it's understandable, the G1 was hell. Bullet Club I guess is still selling loads of merchandise, which is why they don't want to end it. If not, then it's just Gedo being way too conservative/lazy/stuck in his ways. That being said, if the new genius ideas are stuff like TAKA Michinoku's awfully named "Just 5 Guys" (oh, the irony because SANADA absolutely comes off like "Just One Guy" as opposed to a world champ level guy, he's been such a bust in this role), keep the Bullet Club going, really. Plus the current faction really has some good young foreigner workers. David Finlay is what he is, he's not coming off as a main eventer at all, and he's a big step down from the previous leaders, but he's doing a fine job at it. Meanhile, the Copperbox show was quite a load of quality wrestling and fun. Bad audio notwithstanding, which does hurt some matches, both main events especially. Well, hurt their perception, but of course Ishiii vs Takagi was awesome (Ishii looks older by the day, yet his work remains all-time great level, it's incomprehensible at this point) and Ospreay vs ZSJ was probably some of the best counter-wrestling I've ever seen. Just ridiculous, never seen before stuff. Ospreay is probably the most ridiculously versatile wrestler ever, and not on a small scale either, he's versatile at the biggest main event scale possible. He can do everything, and can do everything better than most. His last two years are possibly the greatest I've ever seen. I sure hope I get that Danielson match in the upcoming months, because as of now that's probably the last biggest dream match that's not happened yet. ZSJ has also been peaking at the same time so when stars align, just enjoy it while you can. You could see how much it meant for Ospreay too after ZSJ kissed him on the nose of something (yeah, he did, ZSJ be ZSJ), he was visibly emotional. The sign with the Wembley Attendance being brought in the ring was quite funny too (for those who don't know, Ospreay had the Wembley attendance tattooed, before the controversy about the real number popping out).

I googled it. Ah ! They signed LIV Golf. Ya know, the bloodmoney sportwashing league. Hilarious. So fitting to host the company that had a Fox News sex pest immobile trashbag as its world champ.

So many more people now are gonna be excited about stuff like EC3 vs Thom Latimer for the prestigious NWA title now, how great is that ? The "territory system coming back" announcement was absolutely priceless (yiipee, they are working with... EC3 promotion, whatever that is, they are controlling their narrative that's for sure though). Nick Aldis must be livid he's not there anymore...

Since he's Rated R, they should nickname him Edgy. Edgy Adam Copeland. We call him just Edgy.

Yep. And he did so after buying the hottest new star in the business (and arguably the best heel of the time as his antagonist), who already had appeared in Rocky III thanks to Terry Funk, and who had the connection to Mr. T because of it too. Mr. T which was key in the mainstream success of WM, among other things (Cindy Lauper, which is an entire different story). The myth of the entrepreneur who had the instinct and the genius ideas and who started from nothing and bet everything he had and changed the world is, as always, complete bullshit. The Attitude Era was pure luck. Steve Austin never was supposed to get over and WCW self-destructed because of their own incompetence. How many "genius" creative ideas Vince really had over the years ? How many how his best ideas where actually Pat Patterson's ? How many truly shitty ones he had ? How many years of his company treading water despite being the #1 company in the US ? Vince is the most successful promoter ever, for many many reasons, but he is also wildly overrated in so many aspects. Not even talking about his outside of wrestling ventures of course.

While they're at it, they should go straight into WCW classics and find ridiculous ways to call him Edge, as was done with Ray Traylor when he was The Boss. "That's a big Boss, man !"

This is what is being talked about : An R-Rated Rebuttal ? What is he gonna do ? Say "shit, fuck, cunt, ass" and expose his dick ? This kind of gimmicky verbiage is exactly what you'd expect in WWE. Plus, what does R-Rated Superstar means in 2023 ? That came from the angle with Lita, right, when they were making out in a bed (didn't Lita said years later that she felt uncomfortable doing it too ?) 15 years ago. What is R-Rated about Adam Copeland in 2023 ? What does this means ? Probably more long-ass promo showing your ass to the hard-cam. Oh, well. I don't care as long as I get Omega vs Fletcher and Penta vs White. And Toni Storm in hopefully a good segment. Oh, and Nick Wayne's Mom too. I kinda like Nick Wayne's Mom. And I like that she's called Nick Wayne's Mom.

It's weird that it's not been discussed more. Vince basically already lost his power as far as creative goes what, one month after the fusion ? This is pretty big, since he basically came back and orchestrated his little coup for the sheer reason of remaining in complete power. Which I guess is a very good news for WWE fans as far as the product goes. But if I'm Nick Khan or Lesveque, I'd not feel super safe, it's obvious there's one guy who has the real power around here, and his name is not McMahon. This Emanuel guy sounds like a piece of work. Pulling out of the Saudi deal after they murdered and dismembered a journalist in an embassy, then going back because, hey, no one really cares and other companies are doing it so why not us ? He won't give a fuck cutting anyone if the results aren't what he expect. You can always find someone more cynical and powerful and you. Also, one day, it will have to be told how the Vince story is a lot of embellishment. The guy was the most privileged pro-wrestling promoteur in the game. What made WWF the #1 company in the world is a mix of luck and predatory tactics. Vince is not as incredibly smart as people think he is, and as we are being told he is for 40 years by the suck-ups (hi Brucie). The idea that he got kinda fucked out of his power one month after he sold his company is pretty fucking funny.