El-P

I'm speaking directly to Coach TK, as a fellow former member of the DVDVR light green board. I mean, I'm SOOOOO bored with the endless, meandering drama discussions about Punk and Dax Harwood and The Elite and Jericho and Meltzer. So completely over it. Whatever happens happens and I'll enjoy whatever good/great shit I get as it happens. So, if I can't get Punk vs Omega (and really now, the ONE thing no one seems to realize nor talk about, is that Punk had two major matches followed by two big time injuries that took him out for a while, his body has been falling apart, and I wonder how long he could go at a high level), fuck, I'll gladly take any other great shit they can book, and Punk or no Punk, they can book so many great stuff especially if they get some NJPW talent. Gotta say this though, I don't think there has been anyone who, because of his social media/podcasting game, went so quickly from "OMG this guy is so great and he loves pro-wrestling so much he's awesome" to "Yeah, great worker but what a fucking passive-aggressive whiny pain in the ass, can't he shut up for a minute or two ?" as Dax Harwood did. I can almost picture Cash sighing heavily every time Dax is tweeting something, really... I LOVE to watch him wrestle (really, one of my favorite wrestler anywhere these last few years, and maybe my favorite period last year) and I am glad he stays in AEW so I can watch him for the next few years, but really, talk about making a rep for yourself...

And that it means "daddy". But at this point, bubba is canon in US pro-wrestling linguo.

Well, let me rephrase this then. Can I get Omega vs Ospreay ? Or Ibushi ? And no idiotic internet drama and rumors and tribalism and conspiracy theory ? Like, just a great fucking match for a Stadium (which won't sell out and OMG AEW is dead lolz they can't make a Dome show like WWE Mania was much bigger lol, yeah, ya know all of this is gonna happen anyway and the goal post moving and bad faith is gonna be ridiculous whatever number they do) Please ? PLEASE ? PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE ???????

FTR & CM Punk vs The Elite at Wembley Stadium. Please ? PLEASE ? PLEEEEEEEAAAAAAASE ???????????????

You're welcome. Nothing to be mad about though, it's only right to ridicule Endeavor for keeping a sexual predator in power and allowing him to make a ridiculous amount of money while making him sign a completely hypocritical "morality clause" contract.

Is it like the Code of Honor ? Does he have to shake the woman's hand before and after he sexually assaults her ? Or only after she signs the NDA ? It's still crazy to me that Vince is back and mostly talked about in term of "oh but he's gonna ruin the booking, booo". Mind blowing, really.

So, new season debut May 30th. Chris Candido & Sunny (that one will be depressing AF), Magnum TA, Abby, Marty Jannetty (I shudder to think what's gonna be said in that one, considering some of the stuff that's out there in various shoot interviews)...

That's the kind of stuff I was thinking about, especially for a promotion like The Crash, based in TIjuana. As far as the main event goes, I'm sure they want Omega for one of the upcoming Triplemania show, and I'm sure he wants to do it too.

I'm just wondering, is there a history of criminal organisations involved in pro-wrestling in Mexico like there have been in Japan with the yakuzas (I'm guessing now less than ever, especially since the NOAH debacle which costs them their TV) ?

I could not care less. There are hundreds of genuinely good to great workers across the globe, who don't and won't ever get close to the same opportunity to display it on the same stage. He's also amazingly overrated if you consider that he's only working a match every six months, in the most cuddled and privileged context possible (if people don't think his matches are rehearsed like crazy, think again), he's basically Shane McMahon if Shane McMahon was ever good. He's not even a mover in term of ratings and such, this has been demonstrated over and over again, so there is a lot to say about why a guy like him gets this kind of contract, only because of his already established status as a trashy "celebrity". Hey, he has some great performances ? Whatever. I don't even have time to watch all the legit great pro-wrestling matches that are happening these days. I don't miss anything by not watching this trashbag having a 5* matches three times a year at giant commercial shows disguised as pro-wrestling cards. What would AEW gain from having a guy like this ? Nothing. Literally nothing. Keep the Youtube trash, NFT/crypto bro garbage away from what should be an alternative to WWE and their celebrity based approach. Sure, maybe he's good, even great at it. But then again, if pro-wrestling evolves so that guys like him become the norm in term of big time celebrity contract, yuck. Sure, some (many ?) pro-wrestlers also are trashbags, but at least it's not established beforehands, ya know. Let him cater to the Saudi regime in the company run by the sexual predator, he fits right in.

Is it a failed tentative at humour or he is being serious ? I for one am glad he signed with WWE again. Not that there was any fear he would end up in AEW or something, but this gives me another reason not to care about this company.

I knew the Bettlejuice version. The current pro-wrestling version would be Joe Hendry in IMPACT. "Say his name and he appears !"

Actually, I'd argue the complete opposite (as far as him needing a stable I mean). Because he was in a stable in WWE, now they seem to think he got to have a stable in AEW, which is again kinda lazy thinking on their part. In fact, he doesn't need anyone, really. He's charismatic as hell, he's a terrific worker, he's an excellent promo, he can fly solo. You know the only thing Swerve really "needs" ? Get him this music back, let him do his thing without anyone ridding on his coattails, and fly Swerve to the top.

Vickie Guerrero. Vickie Guerrero. Vickie Guerrero. (did I get something wrong here ?) He was a self professed anarchist. And he loved shoot-style. What's not to love ? You don't make them like this anymore. Buuuuuuuut he was unbearable.

I have no issue with Hobbs hooking up with QT and the crew. For the simple reason that we already have had 3 TNT champ of the exact same type in Miro, Wardlow and Samoa Joe. Hobbs would have been the exact same mold. A big monster guy destroying people, oh well, we've seen that already a whole lot, give me something else. The more heelish, cheating act gives the entire thing a different dynamic, it's a nice change of presentation and doesn't take anything away from Hobbs. Plus, I always enjoy QT anyway, PWO hate notwithstanding (see also... oh, nevermind). Super solid worker, good promo, the vignettes are actually effective in establishing the character of the whole group (and Harley Cameron seems like a good get too). I absolutely enjoy the whole thing thus far. You wanna talk about something that has been a mess ? Well, here you go, the Swerve Strickland single push. First he comes with some tatooed dudes, one of which being an NXT 2.0 reject. Then one dude disappears without explanations nor angle, barely even named and never working, then Boudreaux shows how *not fucking ready at all* he is (and maybe he's just a case of not having potential nor the will to improve, who knows) then apparently disappears too, then Swerves hooks up with the lamest ROH people in the Embassy (well, I do enjoy Brian Cage's work to some degree, but the other two, especially Kaun, are the definition of meh). Meanwhile, no match against Keith Lee in the horizon, so the guy is wandering from crappy entourage to lame alliance. Jeez, just give him a cool female sidekick or something a-la Zelina & Andrade in NXT, and off you go with a big push. Oh, and I've seen people POINTING AT FUCKING SIGNS ! That can't happen in AEW, I won't tolerate that kind of WWE-lite shit there. Stop it now, please. But overall, I'm quite enjoying what the company is doing (coming off maybe their greatest PPV too, and an excellent ROH one), thank you very much. That plus the ROH show has delivered some really cool as hell stuff (and I mean, Shibata is a champ, that enough should make people go batshit insane)

Main event actually looks really cool. But then again, they did book Alberto. Jeez Konnan, really ? And as of now, no women's match at all (barely a presence on the card in the copa match) ? That's highly unusual. It's not like Taya can't work AAA anymore either.

Honestly, this kinda crap makes me miss shodate. I mean, almost. Him and his odd tastes...

If I did not engage with you earlier, it's because I found most of your points to be either really bad, missing the mark or at times quite ignorant (which is a polite way of saying "really fucking dumb", especially all the stuff about the sexual abuse case). I totally got all of what you meant the first time around, really, including the "joking parts". I did make the first "pattern" comment, which funnily enough you did not get was about you and not WWE (yeah, I'm a tricky bastard and I did it on purpose so it could be understood both ways). Holy shit ! Now that's pretty fucking rough. The Jim Cornette Facebook group ! Damn, man, you are ruthless.

Josh Alexander surrendering his World Title was one, if not the best angle of this sort I've ever seen, between the amazingly heartfelt promo of Alexander, which has so much of real life into it (hell, actually mostly real life) and the kid grabbing the belt and running into his mother's arms as Josh was handing it out to D'Amore. If that happened in AEW or WWE, people would say it was an all-time classic angle. Also, the ongoing feud between Eddie Edwards and PCO, more Frankenstein's monster than ever (Frankenstein was not the monster people, he was the Doctor) has been solid gold. Their match at Rebellion should be quite the insane display.

"I'm not defending WWE against the Auschwitz Memorial BUT I'm not defending Vickie Guerrero victim blaming her sexually abused daughter BUT Why am I being cancelled ? / oh it was only a joke Fuck the mods / oh it was only frustration I guess you can only criticize Trump here Grow up insecure snowflakes" Seriously, it looks like a fucking bingo card. Posturing as the one guy being rationale and wanting to have adult discussions would work a whole lot better if you weren't saying the dumbest trashiest dumbfuckery shits like "If I was cynical I would say the Auschwitz Memorial is trying to get attention" or "in 5 years drunken sex will be considered a crime". Ya know... pattern and all, like I said before. Your choice of topics to get heavily involved with, your choice of arguments, your choice of how you addressed people around you.

I still listen to Jarrett's podcast, which is by far the best thing he's done, by virtue of having a great interview (Jarrett comes off both really smart and charming, which explains a whole lot about his long-term tenure in the business) and dealing in topics you just don't hear about anywhere else, since apart from the few WWF episodes they did, a lot is about TNA, which is a fascinating story to me. I have no idea what the audiences are for most if these things, although don't doubt Prichard is still doing big numbers. The multiplication of podcast really reeks of sucking the whole thing dry by recycling the same thing over and over again until either the audience or the host completely loses interest.

It's less a matter of him becoming The Guy, which he'll never be, rather than shaking things up at the top and trying to make a new main eventer in the wake of losing both Ibushi for good and Jay White. EVIL did not work, on any level, and one can argue it sucked the life out of what he was in LIJ, and although SANADA lacks charisma, he's got a better chance with this new presentation as a more streamlined, good looking, Muto offshoot (which he was in his early days, and really I'd give him back the classic YMO remix track he had when he was young in AJPW, so he pays hommage to Sakamoto and Takahashi too). The El Phantasmo babyface turn was also a welcome change. When he's not doing comedy, the guy is a great worker and knows how to get over.

Mercedes Moné living her best life working against Japanese women is some of the most happy-inducing stuff I've seen in a while. Match was terrific in a very High Speed way, a context in which both AZM and Hazuki rules hard, and Moné was right there with them. Enjoy it while it lasts (amazing how Kevin Kelly even dropped the legit fact she costs a lot of money into the dynamics of the entire thing, but more on that later). Shota vs ZSJ was terrific, Aussie Open vs Bishomon was the match of the night (damn, poor Fletcher though, that cut was brutal), so cool to see Aussie Open finally get to this level (and get over big with the Japanese crowd), Hiromu vs Eagles was excellent (damn, that fan in the first row with the Australian flag got more than she wished for, a damn Robbie Eagles foot in her face, they actually gave her a pack of ice) although I still don't get as high on Hiromu as many, and watching Okada vs anyone is watching a master at work. Not sold on SANADA at all, but hey, it was time to pull the trigger if they ever did, if EVIL could win the big one, why not him. The Muto references were nice, his new finisher certainly is more dynamic than the damn neck stretch. If anything, NJPW feels very refreshed right now, which is something they have been needing for a while, even before the pandemic hit. And Kevin Kelly is such an amazing announcer. He puts so much subtle elements in his storytelling, is great at drama but also knows when to get light and humorous, knows when to shut the fuck up and let the action breathe. When all is said and done, this guy is right up there at the very, very top.

If you see a pattern, good people, it's because it's there.

Mercedes indulging in her love for classic joshi puroresu would have made the 2000 me very happy.