El-P

I'm an ECW fan. And there are lot worse things than chants that came from ECW. And really, the most annoying "chant" ever is "What ?".

With which move did John Cena defeated Owens already ?

Curious about this last part from people critical of the match. Did you just take issue with what they did or found it silly? Or did you really not like the match? I can't tell from some of the comments others are posting if they actively hated it, or for all I know thought it was great but didn't like how they got there. The match was a spotfu. Move/kickout move/kickout. Like I said, they worked a good mindless X-Division match, going overboard with the kickouts spamming at the end. I enjoyed it to some degree, for what it was. I enjoyed Cena's antics (as I often do). I don't think it was a very good match, because at some point that formula gets old. But for what they were aiming, it was good. Not as good as the previous one, which I thought was very good. That's pretty much what I think about the match itself.

Talking about forming your own form of narrative, saying that the move was used right in the context of the match because it fits the "storytelling" is quite funny. Because really, the match was a spotfu. There was not much in term of storytelling apart from : move kickout, move kickout, try AA kickout, try powerbomb kick out, try submission escape, try AA again kickout, etc… That's the definition of a movez (for you haterz) match. Which can be fine if you dig that. Now, if we're assuming the idea that Cena had to dig up and use new moves to beat the younger generations (and really ? He beat Rusev with one AA at Mania), then why would he use a move that apparently, in WWE context, has never even been a finisher (as Loss said, used as a thrown-away spot in Zayn vs Cesaro before, used by JTTS Goldust since 2013) ? The answer is simple : because it's a cool looking move that pops the crowd, even more since it's a shocker to see Cena use that move. Period. It's just a cool (although stupid) indy looking move used for a kickout (let's not say nearfall, because it wasn't) in the middle of a dozens of other moves/kickouts. There was no great thoughts behind it other than : "Fuck, Cena just did a Code Red !". And that can be perfectly fine. I, for one, found the moment quite cool in the context of a mindless spotfu. I wouldn't try to pass this as a proof Cena was a brillant worker reinventing himself (well, and they did botch it up too, although apparently even that fact was a positive… okay…), nor that it was great psychology or anything of that ilk. It was a cute/stupid move that popped the crowd because it looked cool and surprising. And that can be enough to enjoy it for what it is. But apparently, everything has to pass for some great psychological ploy these days when favourites are involved. So yeah, "forming your own narrative" definitely applies to some stuff around here. And again, I didn't hate the move nor the match. And I like Cena.

People said it was cool that Cena did a Code Red/Canadian Destroyer (apparently, Will who watched the match wasn't sure of the move either) in a match that was praised as "indy style movefest". I was amazed by that and found it funny. That's all. I never once alluded to the match itself before watching it. What I find funny is the argument itself. (and for the record, I don't take all of this that seriously, there's no means spirit on my part)

Seriously, the whole Code Red isn't a big deal as far as the match itself goes. What is funny to me is that Cena working a good little X-Division match, with some execution issues (I mean, the first few minutes were so telegraphed that it was ridiculous in a total RVD way), all of a sudden is praised for it when infact the same match would be brushed aside in many other contexts. And the Code Red is a cute but stupid move (and the fact they kinda blew it didnt make it better, no). Seriously, the whole match was basically : move, kick out, move, kick out,, move kick out, repeat, rinse ad libitum. And there's nothing wrong about that if you like that style. But let's be somewhat consistent. For the record, I don't care about that kickout-spamming style, but for what it was, I did enjoy the match. Not great or anything, but Cena, despite his obvious flaws (sorry but his STF is laughable), is always someone I enjoy watching when he's not in full WWE Epic mode, because his interactions with his environment are always cool (in this case, yeah, getting frustrated with the ref). The Dusty hommage was cool (and sad, I was moved, Dusty seemed immortal). The finish to Nikki vs Page was idiotic, but the match was pretty decent.

It's Cornette's formula anyway.

This is way too meta for me if this is seriously the kind of "storytelling" they were aiming for. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Cena. I also find it funny that all of a sudden, Cena busting out one of the most idiotic indieriffic offensive move of the last 15 years gets praised. It's certainly good for the WTF aspect of it though.

No. Terry Funk doing a sloppy moonsault in his 50's fit his character of being totally insane. John Cena doing a stupid indy finisher while still not being able to apply his own finishing hold in a convincing way after 15 years is both cute and idiotic. The kind of stuff Kurt Angle would be murdered for around here. But hey, if Ric Flair was doing Shoji Nakamaki in 2006, I guess Cena can do RVD in 2015.

Ok. I see. Code Red is less worse. But it' still a very stupid indy spot.

So let me get this straight : people are praising John Cena for turning himself into an indy-like stopfu artist, doing a lot of new moves, including the Canadian Destroyer (which has been rightly ridiculed for years) ? That's what I'd call consistency.

Hell, weren't most of those guys pro wrestlers anyways? Wasn't Jamie Dundee part of the cast at some point ?

Episode 16 finally has another match I really enjoyed : RVD vs Hardcore Holly began on shaky legs, because of RVD's awful work (really, why did he begin to use clotheslines since he looks worse than Lex Luger throwing those around ?), but slowly developped into what I'd call a very good (for RVD) match, with the help of an impressive performance by Holly who badly cut his back after an insane spot outside the ring (the one criticism I have is that they cut to commercials right after the spot, not too smart). One of the most gross injury I've seen this side of FMW, really, blood was pouring of a large gash. Holly's selling was excellent, and he was almost babyface like here to the point he got a round of applause after the match. He was the glue that hold the match together too. RVD must be the shittiest wrestler to have so many good matches, because of what he can bring to the table in term of bumping and impressive spots. What a paradox. Big Show vs Sandman wasn't too bad for a Big Show match, as Sandman's energy and selling (again), kept me interested throughout, despite Show's boring offense. Show's sole strong point to me is his demeanor, if he had the execution and offense to go along, he would be fine. But the truth is, I wish I had The One Man Gang in all those matches instead. Matt Striker screws Sandman by taking his cane away. Earlier in the show, Striker had been caned by JR (we're in Tulsa, amazing that JR didn't get humiliated instead) with the help of the Sandman. Continuity. With a watchable main event and a really good match (which took some time), I can't complain too much about a useless catfight between Ariel & Francine. I do think it's Francine's last appearance on a TV wrestling show (she made that ECW nostalgia show when she was pregnant as hell later). Good for her that she left the business and got herself a family like she wanted. We get an interaction backstage between CM Punk & Mike Knox, of course about Kelly. Guys talking about women like they own them always bothers me (in 2006, jeeez), but CM Punk is obviously the most interesting guy in the promotion on the mic too, thanks to his strong personnality. Extreme strip poker in two weeks. Really ? 2006.09.26 Hardcore Holly vs RVD

PPV 13 The best match was AJ Styles vs Low-Ki, 2/3 falls. Styles quickly took up the heel role pretty well despite having an offensive moveset that screams "babyface". Low-Ki I felt was the better of the two again, mostly thanks to his selling. I was surprised again by how composed they were, not going insane with spots and reversals and such. They made the most sense out of what they were doing, and kept a good pace without rushing through stuff. Lack of heat was a bit surprising, and it hurt the match a bit, likewise a somewhat anticlimatic finish. That being said, I thought this was really well worked overall. On the other hand, other X division matches like Jorge Estrada vs Kid Kash and Sonny Siaki vs Amazing Red were really on the indieriffic side of the specter, which means I didn't think they were any good, Kash and Estrada looking by far the spottier and sloppier. On the "not worth my time" pile, the tag match between Lee & Harris vs Harris (no, not this one) & Storm in a tables match was pretty bad. Plus they teased a Harris vs Harris (yes, the other one) feud. Might as well renamed them A & B, and have them cut themselves open with pieces of glass, otherwise, I won't watch that (like I still don't watch any Miss TNA crap, yes, it's still going on). Rematch between Jerry Lynn & Ron Killings was better than the previous week, this time a lumberjack match (although it really didn't play much role except setting up a Killings vs Ki match), still nothing that got my full attention. Best Ron Killings single match thus far I guess. On the other hand, the promos Killings & BG James exchanged were really solid stuff. I especially liked the way Killings made the audience shut up after they began to do that awfully annying "What ?" chant, first by stopping his promo and acknowledging them, then by not giving them the time to do their stupid chant. By the end, the chant died and they actually booed Killings because of the heelish things he said. Really good job. The match between James & Jeff Jarrett was disapointing though, going straight from chairshots to sleeperholds, and then to two run-ins. The Scott Hall matches were better. Did Armstrong became that lazy after years of NOA ? Brian Lawler & Elix Skipper vs Scott Hall & Syxx-Pac would have been decent if not for Lawler's annoying jealous boyfriend's act. Wait, he's not a jealous boyfriend, he's downright psychopathic. They hint that April was actually physically abused by Lawler. Mmkay, that's really shady territory here. 2002.09.25 Low-Ki vs AJ Styles.

Marc Mero had a garanteed contract in the WWF before Nash even jumped. That's usual Nash bullshit. And really, Hulk Hogan anyone ?

Yeah. How dare these people not respect da business ? Seriously, pro-wrestling has some really screwed up "values" that just need to go away.

Corrected. That's Trips' background. Anyone thinking he won't go into that route is delusional. The whole "raiding indies" is an opportunity to make himself look good on a smaller scale, but Trip is a bodybuilder/fitness model jerkoff to begin with.

There's a reason some talented girls flew off GAEA's dojo too.

People shit on Parker (with good reasons, he sucked), but wasn't Orndorff in charge of the Power Plant ?

Episode 15. Interesting special guest this wekk, with King Booker facing RVD. On paper it looked like a disater of a match, and surprisingly it was actually pretty decent, despite RVD actively sucking on offense, as it's often the case. I have no idea if Booker became better with age, but I enjoyed him here more than I did during his overrated single WCW stint. And the King Booker gimmick seems to be gold. CM Punk squashed Shannon Moore again, but this time Moore got a little bit more offense, and also looked worse in the process. Kelly Kelly wants CM Punk, it's obvious. Her jealous boyfriend Mike Knox teamed with Test & Matt Striker, who's sporting the gayest outfit I've seen since, well, since Rene Dupree's debut the previous week. Striker works a decent chickenshit act though, and we're building to the moment the Sandman will cane him. The match against Sandman, Dreamer & Sabu, again, was watchable, but Test really brings nothing to the table at all. More generic big roided guy I canno't think of. And finally, we get Twilight Boy vs Balls Mahoney in a short match of the freaks, which took a backseat to the fact Francine was there working with Balls. You know how it ended up. "Catfight !!!!". I think she showed up twice before she got released (or asked to be released). I think they mentionned she hadn't been on TV in 6 years, which means TNA doesn't exist. Not the worst episode, as there wasn't anything offensively bad, and the main event was actually kinda, good, considering who was involved. And King Booker walking around the locker room was kinda funny. Seems like the best Booker T gimmick ever, and Sharmell looked quite good in her role too. 2006.09.19 King Booker vs RVD

Episode 14 had the "best" Big Show vs Sabu match yet, coming close to being "pretty good". But Big Show is working such a lumbering style that everything looks deliberate, even when you'd need some actual quick timing. They did bo a decent job with the table spots build though, but the interferences of Heyman's henchmen are ridiculous (even worst than that when you consider they wear riot helmets yet still sell chairshots and punches to the face). Kinda same old same old, with Big Show winning again. What a dreadfull title reign, really. CM Punk did kill Shannon Moore in his debut match. Wow, this guys had less offense than Stevie Richards or Justin Credible. At some point huge CM punk chants resonnate into MSG, and they sounded piped to me, as the rest of the match didn't get much heat. In another terrible debut match, Rene Dupree beat Balls Mahoney thanks to the Twilight Fan. Oh, man they say Dupree comes from Paris, France. Do they realize it sounds ridiculous for anyone with any clue about teh world ? And the presentation, man, plain white tights, white boots and no kneepads, he looks like a parody of a 60's wrestler. I guess that's the point. Joey Styles even vomits the oldest xenophobic stereotype about France (ya know, surrendering and such). I always try to forget that he's a neo-con Republican dumbfuck because I enjoy his announcing more that most modern WWE guy, but well… Anyway, Dupree looks like crap mostly, and not because of Balls, who, awful and dangerous gimmick aside, can still be pretty solid. Another winner on the roster I guess. Talking about shitty worker, RVD looked pretty awful against Bob Holly, who to me works really snug at this point because he believes his gimmick. I don't remember that kind of stiffness when he was Thurman Plugg. Bad match, ending with Test, Richards, Dreamer & Sandman jumping in. So I guess tag team matches are on the way. What else ? Another overwritten promo by Matt Striker and Kelly Kelly hitting on CM Punk, telling him she wants to go out with him in a club but she's only 19, in the sluttiest way imaginable. I wonder if they fucked. Oh, it's CM Punk, they probably did.

He looked like a neanderthal man, and worked about as well.

Agreed. It's one of the symptoms of the titles not meaning anything anymore.

The dark days of New Japan, Inoki fucked it up with his shitty MMA guys, that's what I think when I think about Fujita. What happened to him anyway ? Still working Inoki's show I guess.

PPV 12 had some interesting stuff, mostly the debut of BJ James and Syxx-Pac. In the see of somewhat interchangeable indy spot artists, these two, with the addition of Scott Hall who was back in town, really come off as big stars, and it's not just because they are coming from the WWE. The way the carry themselves and the promos they cut just put them on another level in term of aura. James promo in particular was really good, tying off his feud with Jarrett with their relationship back in the WWF in 95 (Waltman and Hall also talked about the WWF, which was less necessary but didn't came off as pointing out to the other product, since it was a reference to them in 93, more historical than anything else, really, and was kinda cool). The way he gave himself his new in-ring name (his actual name) also worked really well. Good promo, and I actually look forward the James vs Jarrett feud. AJ Styles vs Kid Kash was the worst AJ match thus far. Kash does impressive stuff, but he's really only interested in doing those impressive spots. So it catters to the indieriffic instinct of AJ, thus drags him down. Surpringly, we get the debut of CM Punk tagging with Ace Steel in quite a cluster of a mtach involving the Hot Shots and Jimmy Rave & Wylde. Punk looks like a skinny Steve Corino and isn't anyone to the audience yet. He also works very indieriffic, like Rave and his tag partner. The Hot Shots are decent, especially O'Reilly. Not much of a match. Then we get the Tag Team Gauntlet, which was a pretty decent battle royal, but again, the difference between the veterans and the indie guys was striking. The match ended with Brian Lee & Ron Harris vs Chris Harris & James Storm, which never developped into anything really, as Storm was destroyed outside while Harris pinned Lee (kinda botched). I enjoy the fact that once again, they choosed to put the tag belts on guys carrying the identity of the promotion instead of already established veterans (especially Lee & Harris, who I couldn't care less about, although Harris didn't look too bad). Main event of Jerry Lynn vs The Truth was watchable too, with Lynn bleeding a gusher and putting on a decent babyface performance, but Killings just isn't a single worker yet. The whole match turned into a backdrop for an angle as all the X division guys came down the ring to cheer for Lynn, until AJ Styles & Sonny Siaki betrayed him and cost him the match, which makes sense considering their characters. A bunch of crap with some boxing match and Miss TNA bullshit that I refuse to watch. Not the best episode in term of actual wrestling, but I did enjoy the DX/nWo reunion at the end, with Syxx & Hall saving BJ James from another Jarrett beatdown. That blonde cage dancer with the lollipop is way better than Kelly Kelly (yeah, blame me for watching 2006 WWECW at the same time, makes me do some odd comparisons).