El-P

Oh, you mean having a match named "The Greatest Match Ever", editing galore notwithstanding ? And I don't even dislike Adam Copeland, apart from the shitty spear and his goofy bulging eyes. I'm fairly indifferent and I think he's one guy who probably has been rather underrated around these part, probably. But I'm just, well, not that interested in watching Adam Copeland in AEW (or Adam Copeland period). Randy Orton playing full fledge entitled "WWE LIFER" gimmick, complete with total douchebagy attitude and Mick Foley anti-hardcore style trolling kinda in-ring work would have been a whole lot more interesting actually. The attitude toward Copeland from the established AEW stars should be "Hey, welcome to the real deal, your status don't mean shit in here, and we wrestle on another level entirely, do you think you can hang with us, so-called legend ?". That's how AEW should positioned itself, always, as the realest place (and the coolest place).

I never watched his WWECW stuff, I gave up on my WWECW watch years ago before I got to the good parts, but It's striking how much of the current Christian Cage is pretty much the evolution of his TNA character. And really, he's even using his TNA music theme. Speaking of which, Metalingus doesn't help my perception of Copeland in AEW's. It's a pretty hard reminder of the John Cena days in WWE, the peak of Edge's singles career, and it's also a really shitty stereotypical 00's, behind the time WWE style generic nu-metal. Yeah, I've seen this explanation before, but really, he's on TV. Him turning his back on the hard cam makes him look like a complete amateur. Funny thing, I thought Booker T in TNA was not nearly as bad as he was accused of being. Then again I was never very high on Booker to begin with, so maybe there's that too. But he was fairly amusing when he got into full King Booker stuff even in TNA. But yeah, the bolded part. Metalingus, doing the exact same maneurisms during your intro you've been doing all the WWE singles career, dropping WWE references likes you're some old guy who starts every sentence with "Back in my days" (you know the kind).... There's something to be said about AEW supposedly being an alternative. Not just "the other big wrestling company", but, an alternative, in that it offers something different to an audience who doesn't care about WWE. And yes, sadly, the audience is much more split with WWE now than it was when it started and when it was hot (hey, wonder if there's a link there... hum...). But still. I know that as someone who DOESN'T CARE about WWE and DOESN'T WANT to watch WWE stuff, this kind of stuff, like I mentioned after the 4th Anniversary show, it a legit put-off. So yeah, jury's still out, but I sure hope the focus gets on White vs MJF as the main event of the next PPV.

No offense, but you realize that talking point has been around for like at least 15 years now ? Yeah, good call, I heard that too. Good for him, the guy was talented and I would guess he only got better since he was in MLW years ago.

I gotta say this about Copeland, he moves quite allright for his age. I never realized before he was ten years older than his tag partner. Never realized he was that much older than Jericho too, that's kinda odd. He's like, almost the same age as Sting then. Something is not adding up... Oh wait, I'me being told he's actually 49. Holy fuck. That's why it's better to be ugly than good looking, at least it last forever. Time is a bitch, uh ?

You've got a point there. It's like he does not even understand who Nash was referring too back then. Also, Copeland walking around while talking and more often than not just having his back on the hard cam triggers the fuck out of me. And when Tony or Renee is holding the mic, INTERACT you bunch of dumb fucks, instead of grabbing the mic and telling them to hit the bricks and cut your long-ass promo for 15 minutes like you learn to do "the right way". WWE style is so fucking lame. Just get on with the program already or punch someone in the face backstage and get fired. I did get a kick out of Myron Reed and Jake Crist being security guards. Maybe they'll work the ROH tapings ? But who was the douchebag in suits ? Just a poorly thought out segment, really, and reeking of WWE-lite (Ricky Starks being the *only* guy of the bunch not coming from WWE too)

Skye Black Hart. Would be fitting. I love this angle though, and I've been loving to see Skye Blue grow from that enhancement talent back in the Daily's Place days to where she is now, she has improved a whole lot. That House of Black mist really is working. Also, Willie Mack on TV makes me happy. So does old-ass Chris Daniels, always looking good.

I'm eagerly waiting for the "These young workers don't know how to be stars and don't listen to advices" interview, which will sent all the old geezers to heavens they can't reach anymore through more healthy means. I wonder if, ironically enough, Adam Copeland will end up being the beginning of the end for me and AEW. Nah. As long as Omega, White, Danielson, the Bucks, FTR and the rest of the crew delivers bangers after bangers, I'm still there. But I've never felt so much TNA vibes before, not even close. And I don't mean post 2018 IMPACT. I mean TNA. You don't want a special reviewing thread on PWO from me, Coach TK, do ya ?

Wow , yes of course, obviously. But I answered thinking about guys who actually had some great matches, not dogshit workers (and dogshit human beings) like Glen Jacobs.

More late WCW/TNA feel, with references to WWE as where the huge stars are/were. CM Punk kinda did it too at one point and it was bad also. This is why WWE lifers aren't a very good idea either way you slice it. I had no preconceived feelings either negative or positive about Copeland showing up, but between the spotlight being put on a feud between him and Christian, which reminds everyone that "Hey, these guys were big during the Attitude Era 25 years ago" and stuff like this (beautiful combo of Kevin Nash idiotic phrasing and namedropping the biggest star in the world who was just on WWE TV a few weeks back), I feel AEW gets in a very dangerous path now, and something I'm really not interested in. I feel AEW has officially entered the "These guys used to be in WWE" phase, and this is exactly what they should have avoided, the least of which right now. Hopefully they correct this trajectory very fast.

The fact Flesh Gordon and his crew was around in the 80's and 90's doesn't mean it was part of the popular culture in any way shape or form. TF1 had a bunch of episodes in 1988 and 1991 for a few weeks at about midnight during the week. Pro-wrestling in French popular culture was non-existent. It was a thing of the past, of the 50's and 60's, which is also the period referred to by Eddie Carpentier on WWF shows, because that's what he knew. That's when my father as a teenager was sneaking in with his friends to watch some L'angle blanc or Le bourreau de Béthune. The closest thing to Flesh Gordon getting pop culture "credency" was his appearance on one episode of "Strip-tease", which is amazingly cringe (because that was what the show was about). Pro-wrestling in France was thought of something from the pre-Mai 68 period. Lino Ventura was the big movie star that used to be a pro-wrestler in the post-war period. Robert Duranton's most famous thing ever is probably his appearance on the classic comedy "Le Corniaud" in one scene alongside Louis de Funes in 1965. Did pro-wrestling disappear in France in the 80's and 90's ? Obviously not. I saw Flesh Gordon, Zephy, Jesse Texas and some other guy (don't remember who) at a festival in around 1991, wrestling in a ring set-up in the middle of a fucking harbour. Yes, a floating ring in the middle of the water I mean (before FMW did it, hey, here's FMW again). They were around. Were they part of the popular culture, in the sense of most people being at least aware of them ? Hell no. Was it relevant in term of keeping a scene alive. I guess, to an extent. You can find a bunch of names who came to France at this period. Hell, you can find Flesh Gordon vs "Future PCO", which makes the six degrees of separation game quite mind-blowing, really. So yes, it existed. It sure did. Was it relevant to French popular culture overall ? Nope. And really, neither was WWE before the Catch Attack era in the late 00's (although they did a few big shows in France during the Hulkamania days because Canal +, despite being much smaller in term of audience, was also very much the hype of these years, but WWF did not come to France for years after 1993, whereas they were all over the UK and Germany). That was the peak of pro-wrestling in French pop culture in the last 50 years. In 2013 not one but two French pro-wrestling movies were released. One as an art-house homage to the "old-school" of the 50's and 60's. The other one a mainstream comedy directly inspired by the popularity of WWE then.

Damn. I actually posted this match almost ten years ago on this very board. Probably late 80's judging from Flesh Gordon's wonderful outfit and overall look and shape. Also, Flesh Gordon is the one doing the announcing here, pretending he's not Flesh Gordon. So he's putting himself over while pretending to be just an announcer. Carny mofo. Well, I dunno if it's been posted on this thread before but, for something different (or not so much considering the latest dramas) and absolutely offensive, here's some EWF genius, which was showed both on one of the 1991 TF1 shows (the very first I believe) and Eurosport : Gaby Lailee vs The Kapo Woman. YEP. How about THAT for a gimmick ? And of course Gaby is native american squaw or something, because why the fuck not.

It was pretty much dead in popular culture way before that point anyway. WWF on Canal + was only a "niche" thing also (which did not prevent WWF from drawing in big arenas like Bercy of course, because WWF), because Canal was a crypted channel you had to pay to get sports and movies (and pro-wrestling... and porn). Only a limited amount of people had access to it. The high point of popularity of modern pro-wrestling in France is in the late 00's with the Catch Attack show on AB1, which is why the French wrestling community is pretty much WWE centric and was at its peak during the Cena/Orton/Edge/Jeff Hardy stuff.

He was basically the exact counterpoint to his babyface acting, which also was cartoon dogshit, really. I always thought Hollywood Hogan was the perfect iteration of the character, since Hogan was always a piece of shit at heart anyway. Even as a babyface, his in-ring style was bullshit, with back scratches, threats to the referee and cheating galore. Perfect guy to represent Reagan's USA, really. As far as his in-ring stuff during the nWo era, some was really bad, but he did a very good job carried the corpse of Piper around at Starrcade, and by 1999 I'd argue he was better than Flair. Yep, I said it. Which is kind of a backward compliment anyway, since Flair in 1999 was yikes, but still. That being said, tons of stuff was really bad too, but I dunno, I'd rather watch Hollywood Hogan rather than Hulk Hogan anyway. Well, I'd rather not watch any Hogan anymore at this point, but, oh well.

I was talking about the match in Switzerland, Zefy vs Richard. Then again, maybe even this one is early 00's despite the font and the look of the people around. It's the Swiss countryside after all (yeah, sorry Claudio). I had not watched this thread in a long time, since it was all about stuff from the 60's and stuff. The most shocking thing to me is not that there was actual pro-wrestling on Antenne 2 in 1985 still (I was way too young to know though), but that Bernard Menez had been a guest announcer. Bernard fucking Menez. Also, no wonder it had been washed away clean by Canal displaying WWF programs. Jeez, it was soooo franchouillard. I almost can't bare.

In the last 30 years, probably not. Especially since his best and most famous in-ring work came after his physical peak (so he only worked a very limited schedule), which happened before the notion of having really good matches on top got almost systematic in WWE (basically with the 00's, whatever one think about what WWE considered really good matches then). Bob Backlund was only 43 years old when he made his comeback and was presented as a relic from a bygone era. Seems totally crazy these days.

50 is the new 40, which was the new 30.

Fuck Paris 2024, a tool to instore even more illiberal surveillance tools "as an experiment". Students are gonna be kicked out of their studios during the games because they need place for the people who work (for free) for the organization, homeless people are gonna be kicked out of the center of Paris, traditionnal book-sellers are gonna be kicked off their spots alongside the Seine. Fuck this pathetic flag waving demonstration of the pseudo "values of sports", fuck Macron, fuck Darmanin. Fuck Paris 2024 and fuck the Olympics in general. Fuck de Coubertin who was a simp for the Nazis and their Berlin games. Fuck Paris 2024, another step in the way of France becoming a police state, served on a plater to eventually become a fascist state in 2027. PARIS 2024, GET FUCKED. Ok, got that out of my system. Back to PWO !

He's the oldest looking 36 years old since Arn Anderson. Not in the same way of course, but he doesn't look a day younger than 45. His much more talented wife, who's 44, looks younger than him. I checked the video debut on Youtube, because Aldis is a guy I've seen quite a bit of during my TNA watch (and the "glory days" of Corgan's NWA) so it was kinda intriguing to see his face on a WWE program, and they managed to already make him vanilla as fuck. Not that he is *isn't* vanilla as fuck once out of his NWA Champ cosplay role anyway, but still. The really funny thing about it is Bruce Prichard working with him, considering how badly he buried the guy in the past.

They thought Mistico was some kind of Rey Mysterio Jr. because "small mexican under a hood be like". Except that wasn't at all the appeal of Mistico and why he was such a huge star. He wasn't a flashy underdog type. He was fucking Mistico, the king of Arena Mexico. The fact they also wanted him to work "WWE style" just fucked his confidence, which is why he ended up injured (see also : KENTA). That plus the fact they were shocked a guy who was a huge star in his home-country expected to be treated as such and not some guy who they could reprogram made it sure it was gonna be a failure. Of course Mistico's ego did not help, but it was a clear case of WWE not understanding at all who they signed.

Everything screams early-mid-90's, believe me. And at one point there's a clue in the commentary that gives up the fact that it is probably early-mid-90's (the most unexpected clue too, as one announcer is talking about how the new thing in Japan is barb-wire replacing ropes. Yep, someone actually referred to fucking FMW during *this*) The answer appears at 9:44 it's written on the screen where this is taking place : Foire de Lavaux, broadcasted live on two regional televisions. It's not in France, it's in Switzerland. And since the two regional TV began respectively in 1993 and 1995, there it is (maybe at the same time Flesh Gordon appeared in the infamous and hilariously cringe Belgium documentary TV series Strip Tease). I figured it was some kind of fair or festival (or *gasp* works council party) because the audience are actually at eating tables. De rien. As far as catch on French TV, I don't know when it appeared the last time on Antenne 2 in the early 80's, but as far as I know there was none anymore until Canal + bought the rights to WWF, I don't remember exactly when (1985 if you believe Wiki, but I did not start watching until 90). I remember Flesh Gordon's promotion was on TF1 for very few weeks in about 1991. Then maybe showed up on Eurosport later in the decade for a little while, but I don't remember seeing this (not that it was of any interest to me).

CMLL making the official announcement too. Hopefully this means more to come !

He's also not showing up in IMPACT. What I'm saying, is that Mr. "Everything I do is a love letter to pro-wrestling" who also does not need the money, could make a bold move and show up in a smaller promotion, just for the heck of it, instead of feeding his ego and wallet. Eddie's chops have always been super impactful (see what I did ?).

Tomorrow at the Copperbox, Ishii vs Takagi followed by Ospreay vs ZSJ. London is better served than Tokyo these days.

Why not, they are still way more reliable than most twitter and reddit "insiders". I also don't care one way or another about whether they end up being worked or not and I just don't give a flying fuck whether Punks ends up in WWE or not. If he does, then I'll laugh my ass off at his complete and utter hypocrisy for a minute or two and move on. Meanwhile, I appreciate the irony of Nick Aldis being brought in as an authority figure. Even WWE recognizes that although the guy is a really good promo in the right setting, he's also boring as fuck all as a worker. I for one am glad he hasn't showed up in any show I actively watch, apart from that super short stint in IMPACT where Alex Shelley carried his boring-ass to a legit excellent match.