El-P

Because it's a stupid spot that goes pretty much against everything about Lana's character. Oh, I forgot : Naomi's changing color neon shoes = greatest piece of wrestling outfit ever. So obnoxious.

That Russian chain match was pretty awful. And got no heat to boot. The chain was ridiculously long, which made the whole "touch the four corner" gimmick a joke. Not that's it's a really good gimmick anyway, but still, when you can just walk around the ring it makes for really stupid and awkward spots. And that Lana spot… ugh… Staight out of Sable/Debra playbook, and totally out of character. Rusev has lost so much of his appeal since Mania. It was to be expected, but still. I guess Lana turns face at some point. Blah... The tag team match was a lot of fun. The New Day gimmick has basically been saved just by turning heel. Cesaro was awesome here (well, "as usual"). Gotta love Natalya's funky outfit too. I can live with Kidd/Cesaro chasing the New Day and getting the belts back eventually. Of course they'll probably get split up because how dare they get over without Vince's benediction…

The trios match between Puma's team and Cuerno's team was pretty good. Cage & Mundo are better in this setting as they can do their spot and get out of the way. Excellent vignettes building to the final of Drago vs Aerostar, which was a very good match, although that incredible table spot just bieng another spot in the match just hurts, but I guess that goes with the style. Dario was on fire during this episode. Good angle between Pentagon Jr. and Melissa. I liked the fact Sexy Star and not a guy saved Melissa, who's reaction to Penta attacking her was pretty damn great, she really fought for her life here. Vamp thinks Pentagon Jr. is going a bit too far and almost got involved, almost. Wonder what that foreshadows (uh uh…). The three-way was a three-way, and by that I mean I didn't care that much for it although I love The Mack. Amazing spot too when Cage just caught Havoc who was doing a plancha through the ropes and got him smoothly into a vertical suplex position. Really good episode.

It's a little bit more than three hours. Just contain yourself. It's like those people in trains and airplanes who just have to go to the bathroom and bother you every hour or so. Fuck those people.

ECW matches at Vengeance 2006 Kurt Angle vs Randy Orton Pretty much the same match that at One Night Stand, without the funny crowd chants. Orton is such a nothing worker and actually kills the already luckwarm heat that they got at the beginning with his usual restholds. Angle goes crazy with 8 suplexes in a row. Then the usual ankle lock reversal into a finish. Nah, this was worse than the ONS match. Angle looked pretty good (although goofy at times), Orton looked like the black hole he's always been. Edge vs RVD Surprisingly good. At first I thought Edge was gonna try to Jerry Lynn his way into an RVD spot match, but on the contrary he stayed very basic and provided a good base for RVD's spots. RVD himself did some interesting stuff in terms of using some of his key spots (like the Rolling Thunder when Edge was still on all fours). Of course there was bad punching galore on his part and sloppiness too, but that's to be expected. Lita didn't really interfere before the end, and I thought she was effective again at doing it at the right times. No, really, surprisingly good, Edge was solid here. Nice match. Sabu vs John Cena This is a lumberjack match which negates a lot of Sabu's cool stuff outside, but I guess we get Sandman caning Cena. This is really nothing, Sabu does some of his trademark spots, Cena sells and sells but never really gets into trouble, then wins after almost killing Sabu by throwing him on the edge of a table outside. They really made Sabu look like a jabronie here, since he did all of his stuff and Cena really never was in danger, and he got beat after two moves in a bunch of minutes. It kinda reminded me of the babyface Savage TV matches in 95/96 in WCW. Cena didn't look good at all and the way he through Sabu outside was dangerous as hell. Waste of time appart from the novelty of watching Sabu in a WWE ring against Da Man. The rest of the PPV looked like complete shit BTW. Maybe the multi-man IC title was decent, but outside of that, Kane vs a fake Kane, Umaga vs Eugene... It's interesting that although RVD vs Edge was the WWE title match, it got positionned third to the top, before the Cena match and of course the godawful DX reunion vs Spirit Squad which was the main event. It also struck me how everything looks *exactly* like today. Nothing has changed a bit in the production and presentation (except the HD and the constant references to social medias). JR was still announcing and it's amazing that although he was way past his prime, he still sounded amazing compared to the shit we get today. That's how bad things have became, and it's not like they were very good back then. 2006.06.25 Edge vs RVD

WWECW TV Episode 2 (06.20.06) Match of the week : Sabu vs Tony Mamaluke. Basically a competitive squash, but there you go, this is the best stuff this episode has to offer. The FBI's hot valet is named Trinity and she throws a mean high kick, showing her panties in the process. Nothing special here, just your standart fun Sabu stuff with Mamaluke doing the honors. Squash of the week : Big Show destroying Tommy Dreamer. It's not even a match. Big Show looks like a monster here. If it keeps going that way, it's indeed how he should have been booked since 1999 instead of being just another guy. Throwback sexist angle of the week : The jealous boyfriend covers up his sexy girlfriend's body. This is right out of 1998 Vince Russo booking with Debra and Jeff Jarrett. I liked Debra's body better BTW. No idea where this is going, but probably not in a "good wrestling" direction. I have no idea who the guy is either. Poor Kelly, she really wants to show you her tits and ass you know. Poor main event of the week : Kurt Angle & RVD vs Randy Orton & Edge. When RVD is the second best worker in a match, you're in trouble. Orton & Edge don't show me shit. The match is only tolerable when Angle hits the ring. RVD does his goofy spots and bumps, at least that's something. Orton & Edge are sleep inducing. They cut Angle's offense by clipping a knee, even the announcers are making a big deal out of it, then don't even try to work on it. Lita is actually pretty efficient in a Sherri way, and she takes an Angle Slam at the end. I wonder if woman abuse was still common back then or if it was only an WWECW thing. The end sequence was decent with a timely Edge counter, but that's it. Test is coming. Feel the excitement. All the backstage stuff is awful, with that stale and dull WWE directing and delivery. There was also a fake and fat "luchador" imitating Randy Savage getting squashed by Sandman. In 2006 ? How petty. Poor TV show again. The PPV matches all look pretty dreadful except Sabu vs Cena which is at least intriguing on paper.

Prince Puma vs Cuerno was decent, but not even getting a nearfall out of that insane neckbreaker spot was totally idiotic. They also totally fucked up toward the end and both looked lost. Not exactly a bunch of ring generals. I don't get Puma's reputation as a great worker, and he doesn't show much charisma through the mask. In short, he's not Rey. Sexy Star vs Super Fly was idiotic. A mask vs mask between a man and a woman with no build. Russo like stuff. The trios match was easily the best match of the week, tons of fun and nice interactions between the characters. Ivelisse refusing the hot tag was perfectly timed and quite funny. Cool to see Son of Havoc get over like that.

I ain't commited to shit, especially at this point of my life. WWECW TV Episode 1 (06.13.06) Match of the week : I guess the Battle royal, totally by default. Big Show decimates a bunch of original ECW guys (Balls & Dreamer coming out to generic version of the themes sounds sooo WCW), including throwing Tommy Dreamer through a table. I'm sure Beulah was glad Tommy quit his office job to do this kind of shit again. I have no idea what the feeling was about the Big Show at the time, but to me, watching it today, he already looks like past news. Then again, he always looked like past news in the WWE to me. The ending is cute though, and they actually put Sabu over. Nice. Now he gets a match against Cena on a PPV. I can totally watch that. Ass of the week : Kelly's ass. She's an exhibitionnist, so she strips. That's a whole segment. She doesn't do a great job stripping actually, Kimona was much more of a professionnal, but her ass looks great, so there you go. That was probably the highlight of the show too. The FBI came out with a really slutty looking girl, but she really wasn't acknowledged. That slutty element really is the sole thing linking this product to the ECW of old, as everything looks and sounds like any other WWE TV to me. Jobber of the week : Aldo Montoya, I mean Justin Credible. Squashed in two minutes by Kurt Angle. As a matter of fact, he used to get much more offense as Aldo on Supertars in 96. Poor PJ Walker, he deserved better I think. There was also a boring talking sequence at the beginning with RVD and Edge, and Lita looking slutty (that's the ECW touch, I tell you), so we're reminded we're indeed watching a WWE TV show. Oh, and the ECW Zombi crashed by the Sandman, who's entrance is totally negated by the fact he doesn't get Metallica. Pretty shitty show if you ask me.

Keep on binge watching LU. Johnny Mundo reminds me of Nova. His match with Angelico was everything I don't give a shit about. Looked like a dance exhibition, not a wrestling match. Drago vs Aerostar was nice, as always. The vignettes were killers this week, with Big Ryck and his new gang threatening Dario, the amazing Kill Bill vignette and the whole putting Angelico/Yvelisse & Son of Havoc together as a threesome. The trio match was a lot of fun, despite Killshot doing some really goofy spots at time. Sexy Star worked well with everybody. No idea who this Mack is, but I love me some flying fat guy. Striker made the stupidest analogy ever refering to a young JYD while Mack was doing lucha sequences. And why always compare black guys to other black guys ? Isn't this a bit, you know, racist at this point ? But super fun match nonetheless.

Still catching up. Well, that El Patron vs Texano bullrope match was very disapointing. They just rushed through spots, never really worked the gimmick except one time Alberto bashed Texano's face with the bell, and the finish was idiotic (a submission on the ropes). And that main event… Sorry, but Cage still has zero charisma and is just an indieriffic jacked up High Voltage look-alike. Sure, Puma does some amazing flying spots, but I don't get what is so great about him as an actual worker. Fenix was a much better babyface the previous week against Mil Muertes. The crowd was also über annoying this week. I hate indie crowds chanting "This is awesome" every two minutes, when they's not chanting "What ?" during Dario's promos and "We want table !" like it's WWF 2000. So yeah, the highlight of that week was Son of Havoc finally winning a match after dumping Yvelisse, then Yvelisse kicking Angelico in the face.

Watched One Night Stand 2006. Where do I begin ? The crowd is a mix of old ECW mutants and post-modern 00's meta-fans. Yuk. Some kind of angle/match with Lawler getting jumped by Joey Styles before getting choked by Tazz. Okay. Funny thing is, Styles probably could have knocked Lawler on his ass in real life actually. Angle vs Orton Orton is good at stalling, has decent timing during the ending sequence which I guess was careful put together, but outside out that, ugh… Awful on offense, poor bumper. Angle is pretty fun bitchslapping Orton and being insane and looking like his heart will explode at any moment. Shitty anklelock reversals aside, this was decent thanks to Angle. FBI vs Tajiri & Super Crazy Little Guido still rules. A slower version of the matches they had in the original ECW, but still quite the good match. Tajiri wears Hustle pants and actually does the hustle at one point. Post-match sucks, as the Big Show just make the four guys who just had a blast of a match look like shit. Yeah, that never gets old. Rey Mysterio vs Sabu Damn, Sabu looked old, but he's still fascinating to watch, and actually has a terrific match with Rey. I'm sorry, but Sabu remains one of my all time favourites, and this match is another proof that the guy can deliver whenever he's given the opportunity. Rey is the World champion, so of course he can't win the match. Shit finish, with both men getting carried out after an insane spot that had my jaw dropped. Sabu was still insane, yet knew exactly how to get the most out of everything he did by this point. Then we get a pointless, boring JBL promo where he talks about bashing the Blue Meanie. Mick Foley & Edge vs Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer God, those scripted promos with this awkward modern WWE delivery just don't suit Foley at all, although the "I sold out… I sold out Madison Square Garden" line was funny. Edge and Lita's promos were… well… WWE scripted promos. I didn't realize Lita slut it up a notch that much during that time, but I really didn't watch WWE at all back then. Okay, insane garbage brawl that gets quite fun when it finally turns into an IWA Japan tribute match, with barb wire boards and shit, with Foley as Foley, Terry as Terry, Dreamer as Nakamaki and Edge as… well, Crypt the Keeper ? Terry takes some ridiculous bumps he really should take, bleeds like a pig, while Foley kills himself a few times too. This is really IWA style between those two, which is cute. Idiotic, but cute. Beulah is there too, so you know it has to culminate with the obligatory boring catfight. Then Edge… hum… goes doggystyle on Beulah ? Really ? Then we get some more woman abuse, although Lita can take it as far as I'm concerned, and Beulah takes a shitty spear like a trooper. I love Beulah. Okay, now Edge pins her and mimick fucking her in the process. That's what Edge's gimmick was all about ? A rapist ? I'm really not comfortable with this. The match was fun though, as an IWA Japan tribute match. Balls Mahoney vs Masato Tanaka Stiff unprotected chairshot to the head. Balls is the stupidest and most dangerous wrestler ever. Why is Tanaka still going for that shit in 2006 ? Then we get another stupid segment with Eugene (holy shit, this stuff is embarrassing) getting caned with the Sandman. But really, Sandman's entrance without Metallica is worthless. RVD vs John Cena The pre-match with people throwing back Cena's T-shirt to him is terrific. Then we get the match. Which is Cena in 2006 vs RVD. At some point they do a punching exchange. These two really shouldn't do a punching exchange, as they can't punch worth a shit. Okay, I'll admit, I fast forwarded. This is RVD, doing what RVD does best, which is suck and do stupid spots. He wins thanks to Edge. Okay. The first half was pretty good up to the garbage brawl. The WWE originals (Orton, Cena, Edge) looked the worst of the bunch, except for Balls and RVD, who plain suck. I have no idea why I watched this, but I was glad to see Sabu, Guido and a good IWA Japan match of sorts. 2006.06.11 FBI vs Tajiri & Super Crazy 2006.06.11 Rey Mysterio vs Sabu 2006.06.11 Mick Foley & Edge vs Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer

Russian chain match without blood ? Fail.

Catching up with LU, and yeah, pretty much this : this episode, with also the third match between Aerostar vs Drago and Big Ryck vs the Crew was easily the best LU show in term of in-ring action. The casket match was quite the terrific brawl, and they really didn't work the gimmick the way Taker used to do in the 90's during all those awful matches, only keeping the casket spot for the very end and basically brawling until then. The production before the match was also great.

I don't want to discount what may very well be the guy's actual feelings, but didn't HHH torpedo the big post-Montreal push Owen was supposed to get by telling HBK he shouldn't lose to a guy like that? Just seems disingenuous to put a guy over that strong after he passes away when you didn't think he was on your (or your buddy's) level when he was alive. HHH never did a job for Owen in the Euro feud they had either...

Poor Melanie, one year later, she would be again on WWF TV in yet another (and way worse) "most disgusting promotionnal tactic" moment.

That line was funny. I love Terri Runnels. Easily the hottest valet to me at this point.

Tough Enough ? Really ? Why would anyone give a fuck, considering how useless it's been proven to be over the years ? How creatively dead are those guys ?

10/21/1996 The day when the push that never ended began. The match was so-so, a far cry from what Mero did with DDP a year earlier. HHH Had no momentum going into this, and it really falls flat to me, as the angle is both kinda nonsensical and predictable at the same time (yeah, a Russo staple, although I doubt he had any pull yet at the time). It's just too bad Hennig would leave the WWF, because he would have been much better as Mr. Perfect there during 1997 than he was in WCW, where he really never found his right place.

Yeah, that was strange. Terrific interview here, Bret comes off like a big deal and a his come back as turning point for the company to get back into the right track. Vince selling Bret's announcement is quite funny. We see Bret already building a deeper character for himself, with the little shots at Shawn making him look like somewhat of a subtle heel at points. Austin turning back toward Pillman who gets a little bit too excited is a great detail also, foreshadowing what's to come. Really, this segment is looking like WWF making a serious move toward fighting WCW with star power and a first attempt at really building Austin up to main event status. And Bret deliver what may have been his best interview thus far to kick off his best year ever.

Blew away Mania seven ways to Sunday (not that it was difficult). Really enjoyed the IWGP junior match (first time I enjoyed Omega, as it seems he finally toned down the goofy character in favor of just working, which he did in spades here), the IWGP tag match (nice change of pace, and I liked the outside stuff involving Maria as it's different in Japan, and she's a good valet), the six-men (nice interactions between the rivals here, although Naito mainly stayed in the background), the semi-final (not that great, but a good monster match, Okada was a tremendous babyface), and the main event (excellent, Ibushi is awesome and AJ Styles smokes anyone in the WWE, I'm sure he's so sad he's not working "the big stage" against Kane or Ryback).

You a Rick Bogner fan ?

*chuckle* I feel your pain. (and I really like Mempis wrestling. I mean, I actually would take Memphis wrestling over Mid-South or WCCW. But maybe that's simply because of Lance Russel. I felt that way for years and years. And then, it slowly came back, although not nearly like it was before, but I aged also, which plays a part. Some stuff in the WWE (Daniel Bryan, Rusev & Lana, Brock), Lucha Underground, the current NJ craze, I finally was able to watch and enjoy some current stuff again.

The spear. Stop doing it. Everyone. It was cool when Goldy was doing it 17 years ago. I was 22 years old. I'm 39. This spot had sucked since. From Edge to all the others, you all basically suck at it. Especially when you're rolling out of it. Stop doing the spear. It's awful.

Interesting, I could agree with pretty much everything there (except I don't watch NXT TV, and I think Trish was actually okay for WWF style, but just okay) About the Young Bucks, I have no idea either. So much about them is downright awful : the Hardy Boys circa 96 look, the suck-it DX gimmick in 2015, the gazillion superkicks. Brutal. Either too indie, too meta or a combination of both.

Reality Era ? Oh fuck me... Good luck people.