El-P

That was a heartbreaking video for sure. Gotta feel for them. Brave of them to speak out and share their experience.

I'm pretty sure Vince sexually assaulting/raping multiple women over the years beats whatever Dana did. Then again, I did not follow Dana's career either. Both are useless waste of oxygen. Fuck, it would be kinda funny in a way if Cody did not win the title in a "That doesn't work for me brother" Samoan dynasty moment.

The amount of denial about Vince has been completely insane. If we believe what's out there, Vince would be co-president of the brand new company that would control both UFC and WWE, with Dana as UFC president and Nick Khan as WWE president. He would gain even more power and money than before. A true conglomerate of dirtbags, really. Yup. Not that I care, really, but odds on Randy Orton being the one showing up to answer Lashley's challenge ? (of course, it could be Uncle Howdy still, why not)

Fuck that. Lesnar TONIGHT comes out after Cody wins the title while Roman signals for him to get in the ring... and you know what happened 30 years ago.

Can't wait for next year's SlapfightMania though.

Not if the Endeavor people are smart. Despite Vince's weazely ways of trying to get more and more inside with Mania approaching, it's obvious the overall creative success of this Mania should be credited to Trip. They have no reason to get rid of him other than "Well, we bought the company, we'll put our people everywhere now", which of course could happen.

That's for stuff like these that Mania week-end is actually great.

One "only" slapped his wife in public, the other most probably sexually assaulted/raped many women. Wonderful corporate conglomerate indeed. Yep. This would have been good for no one. That being said, as long as Vince the Rapist and Saudi deals are in place, fuck WWE. From what I've seen in term of presentation, the one thing I can say is that I hope AEW never becomes that big (probably has no chance of happening). This is not what I want from my pro-wrestling product. It's like there's some pro-wrestling getting in the ways of the constant bombing of commercials and sponsors. It's a visual nightmare of gaudy über capitalism sterile aesthetic. The NOAH big shows production feels big, but in a totally different way. This is just, yuck. Gotta give it up to Jim Cornette, that pro-wrestling visionary who thought not only AEW had no chance of succeeding, but also that El Generico and Kevin Steen did not have what it took to be superstars. Odds on Cody crying tonight ?

I can't wait to watch Mania, it's gonna be my favorite show of the year for sure ! So excited.... ok, April Fool everyone. In all seriousness, this has a WM17 feel all over it. Make that what you will. It's already the biggest Mania ever in term of gross (no, not in THAT sense, not yet), and by sheer power of how it's been broadcasted, it will be the most viewed Mania ever. And that's without relying on mostly special attraction matches, as the biggest matches are all long weekly-TV centered storyline involving regular characters. In that sense, it's definitely a peak for the promotion creative-wise. As far as in-ring goes, honestly if you look at it on paper, it also has the potential to lap most Manias and pretty easily considering for years and years the show was a chore to get through. That being said, in a totally oversaturated market in term of great pro-wrestling, if I look at the card as a non-WWE fan, do I really want to watch it, after spending the last few days watching a shitload of fun and great stuff ? The answer is no. I don't feel I'd miss anything, I already had more than my share (hell, way more actually, I feel the burn out). Especially since WWE style big-show wrestling, no matter how greatly it's done, is probably my least favorite style. Sure, on paper I'd love to watch Asuka vs Bianca, the Usos vs Sami & Owens, Gunther vs Drew vs Sheamus, and even the two main events (I'm guessing Charlotte vs Rhea is one) for the heck of it, but my brain is already saturated at this point. There's only so much you can watch before just wanting to do something else. Maybe in a few days time (through Very Legal Means always, who am I kidding). One interesting thing about this show, is that it's the very first time the main event is disputed between two WWE system-bred Nepokids. There has always been a fair amount of second generation talents at Mania, and since WWE has developed its own farming system in the early 00's, some of the second or third generation people have been signed and developed outside of the pro-wrestling landscape, hence deserving the Nepokids tag (the very first one being Dwayne). This year marks the first time the main event is disputed by two of them (Cody, despite leaving for a while, was clearly a WWE-bred Nepokid, even though he was given up on after a while). If the women title is the other main event, that's 3 out of 4 people (with Charlotte). If the tag match is, that's 4 out of 6 (with the Usos). If you add the fact the other hot feud on the mid-card is the Mysterio father and son stuff, then there's another one, in the most literal sense since Dominik is feuding with his father. Add the fact the face of NXT is also a Nepokid (and oh, what a great father he has from the latest news), well, I think in a few years, things will get interesting in term of who will get most of the *legit* opportunities in WWE (my prediction : WWE-bred Nepokids and established influencers only). Needless to say, alternatives will be as badly needed as ever. Then of course, there's the fact the company is pretty fucking gross, and has the potential of being even more gross in the months to come (and really now, the fact Vince being BACK is so undersold is both appalling and hilarious, it's no wonder why pro-wrestling is still seen as a low-rent freak show, no matter how much money WWE makes) as it's most probably the last Mania before the inevitable sale, and despite what Nick "I don't know how to twist things around about Vince anymore" Khan says about having a shitload of bidders, well... Not that most WWE fans would care about the Saudis buying the thing, but what would the Saudis do with it (apart from being a soft power propaganda machine of course) and how the outside world would react (announcers and such) are concrete issues. So yeah, it definitely feels like this Mania will be a peak Mania, in many more ways than one. Whether that's a good thing for pro-wrestling as a whole (you know, as opposed to just WWE), that's an entire different story. But it feels like it will be a landmark show.

And I guess I can now officially answer to the question that was asked sometime in 2007, as I don't think anyone is more qualified, very objectively. Sometime in March of 2016 (although I really started the previous year, but it was more a quick and dirty follow-up to the death of WCW project by then), I started this idiotic (not always) idea of watching TNA, as a distraction from very depressing times in my life then. And I kept up until I managed to catch up to the time, two years later, when I actually started to watch IMPACT Wrestling (what, 5 years almost already ?). And so the answer is : NO Absolutely not. From a viewer's perspective, the reason is simple : too much great wrestling scattered over its existence. The fact AJ Styles was a mainstay for so long in itself should justify this answer. From a business perspective, as much as the promotion has been derided (for good reasons), it gave so many talent a platform to express themselves and get paid (sometime, not nearly as much as they should have, this has been well documented). No matter how you twist it, TNA was the only "mainstream" alternative to WWE for a long time. ROH was always the biggest indie. That's another thing completely than being on national TV. There's so many workers who had the opportunity to shine more there than they would have (or eventually will) anywhere else, and that's including some former WWE talent, the most obvious being Kurt Angle (who had his best years in TNA and watching his work there was big part of me understanding that I was actually an idiot about many things I thought I knew). TNA certainly was the biggest missed opportunity company ever, because they could have been successful as an alternative, had they focused on what made them different, and really Jeff Jarrett had it right : the X-division, woman's wrestling and the fact they weren't afraid of getting their hands dirty (to contrast the more and more children friendly image of WWE). But they were cursed by the most inept people since WCW. Wait, some actually were the same. And they were cursed by the graviationnal pull of WWE's style and aura (which even AEW struggles with at times, as showed by the debuts of Christian Cage and Saraya for instance). If I would give three key moments why TNA was actually an important company for pro-wrestling, I'd point out these : 2005 : Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels. This was the avant-garde of pro-wrestling, right there from ROH into a national TV product. This was the peak of pro-wrestling at the time (alongside some of the NOAH stuff). WWE was lagging years behind in term of style. YEARS behind. 2007 : Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong. Best US women wrestling ever at this point. And they drew ratings too. Put these matches in 2023, and they still stand out as great. At this time, WWE was having Ashley Massaro, Melina and Candice Mitchell in "lumberjills" matches and shit (sure they had Beth Phenix too which was a clear case of "good for the Diva era"). Gail Kim remains one of the greatest female US based workers I've ever seen, and Awesome Kong at her peak was just, well awesome. TNA was YEARS in advance on the women's wrestling side of things (although of course Russo and others would make sure they would revert back regularly). 2016 : The Final Deletion. The entire Broken Matt arc is legit one of the greatest and most fun stuff I've seen in my 30+ years of pro-wrestling fandom. And although there have been cinematic matches and mini-movies before, no one was ready for this. This was so great that WWE immediately jumped on it and made a shitty version (two words : Bray Wyatt), despite TNA being completely under the radar then. This is the staple for every great cinematic match to come, most notably the first Stadium Stampede and Undertaker vs AJ Styles (think about it, Taker's last match ever). This was taking the absurd of pro-wrestling to an entire new level, with the self awareness of its inherent goofiness (in a way, it's a pure product of the 10's and the influence of acts like the Young Bucks and programs like Lucha Underground has to be mentioned). If pro-wrestling had a future out of its restricted area (the ring), that was it. Of course, *most* of TNA was marred by bullshit. But its story is absolutely fascinating to me. In short, TNA was actually a mostly good company at this various points : 2005-2/3 of 2006 (the peak of the Russo-less era) 2008 (the peak involving Russo) The last months of 2009 (the carefree months before the apocalypse) 2013-2014 (a fun rebound after years of being a complete chore) Beginning and last half of 2016 (during Corgan's stint) Last third of 2017 (the post Jarrett take-over) And then after 2018 and on aka the true IMPACT Wrestling years. The moment things fall apart completely really comes with Hogan and Bischoff in 2010. Surprise surprise. That's the point where it quickly gets hopeless, and things gets worse and worse until the company is pretty irrelevant. Then gets fun again, but at this point, they are done. Worst bookers, well : Vince Russo, obviously. He's one major reason why TNA got into the dirt. Hell, they lost their major TV deal because of his presence. When he shows up back in 2006, he literally kills the promotion dead (this is his most deadly work, worst than WCW 2000, because then there was nothing to kill anymore in term of quality). It takes a while for them to get better in 2007 and actually a balance sets in and by 2008 we get the best product ever involving Russo (let's be real, the Attitude Era was mostly crap). Dusty Rhodes. He gets power in 2004 and HOLY FUCK this is bad. Bad and boring. Jeez, this guy's rep has been cleaned up something fierce by NXT (to which degree of WWE revisionism and confirmation bias by stans, I have no idea) Bruce Prichard. Ok, I'll give the devil his due in term of production and streamlining of the product. He made things better from that point of view. You can see his experience running things in WWE. BUT. His booking ideas were the shits. The Bobby Roode reign of terror is endless, boring, endlessly boring, with shit finishes after shit finishes. They missed the point with James Storm. They wasted Aries momentum. And then the following year, Aces & Eights is the drizzling shits of hell. Yeah, I know "We're telling a story". But your stories suck. Best booker, oh well that's obvious : Scott D'Amore. Was responsible for the best period in 2005/06. Then look at what he has done with it since 2018 (and started a turnaround in 2017 already). Interestingly enough, he was a younger guy, not a fossil from another generation with dated concept and ideas. That's what pro-wrestling needs : fresh minds. Well, it's been fun. Wait, I gotta say, TNA also had some great music themes. Ok, it's been fun. Kinda. And kinda took me forever too. 7 years ? Are you kidding me ? What the hell did I do with my life. Well, I watched some great pro-wrestling. And tons of really fucking shitty pro-wrestling too, but that's the name of the game. I guess that's it for me. For now.

Well, the last unexpected surprise of this run was that actually, TNA, IMPACT, GFW turned the corner some time during the later tapings of the Jarrett comeback. Now, I'm not sure how much Prichard was involved creatively until that point, but the fact remains it happens right when he's getting the boot, literally speaking as Jim Cornette shows up in a somewhat funny segment to fire his ass. Two cranky, outdated old fuckers from a bygone era having a last fun angle together (the idea that when both ended up in MLW for a cup of coffee, Cornette was thought of as "more in tune" with current pro-wrestling, ponder that one for a minute or two). For the few weeks he did the authority figure, Cornette was unsurprisingly excellent at it, although at some points his mannerisms screamed 80's wrestling, and no, it's not a de facto good thing unless you're hopelessly stuck in the past (or a 25 years old with the average mentality of someone twice your age). But anyhoo, by then, creative turns things around and the TV product becomes the best it's been since the fun 2014 run. With some good mix of actual good in-ring stuff and some efficient vignettes/cinematic work (mostly involving LAX and the fun wrestling vs MMA feud with Dan Lambert already displaying his awesome promo skills). One cool feature of this time was the international feel with sometimes matches airing from the Crash, AAA and even NOAH, as Eddie becomes the GHC champ. People from LU fame show up, most notably Johnny Impact, fresh of the best work of his career and pushed at the top in Mexico, El Hijo de Fantasma (who reminds me quickly why he was never a huge favorite of mine in LU, he's pretty good but not even close to their best in-ring and/or most charismatic guys), Texano Jr. and on the women side Taya Valkyrie. Also, they actually quickly turn EC3 back babyface, which was the right thing to do, smartly using the real-life issues with AAA (Rosemary getting injured on purpose by the piece of trash Sexy Star, Jarrett and La Parka having a scuffle backstage at Triplemania) to develop somewhat of an interpromotional storyline. X-division gets even more time and focus, with a mix of TNA originals like Sonjay and Petey Williams (talk about a guy who definitely was one of the TNA originals, he definitely was one of them, for sure he was), Trevor Lee and his crew, Garza Jr. from AAA, Matt Sydal and up and comers Dezmond Xavier. They'll have the best (and opening) match at BfG. On the women side, Gail Kim is having her very last (until she came back to face Tessa Blanchard) claim to fame, and she sure deserved it, 10 years after the debut of the division she pushed for. She really was their Bret Hart, especially after she came back, they always relied on her everytime around to carry the belt when they had no other ideas/options. Taryn Terell came back but sadly only for a cup of coffee, that girl really is one of the biggest overachiever I've seen (considering she was a Diva Search contestant), too bad she left again so soon, but other interests in life (she would show up again for a while in NWA in 2021, then retired for good last year). For the few weeks she was there, she really shined again. With Allie and Rosemary, they had a good crew of strong characters who were over. Oh, and Laurel Von Ness, again going for broke in a goofy but fun angle with Grado, in which he's trying to marry someone to not get deported (running this angle during Trump's presidency, imagine that), and of course only batshit Laurel is open at this idea, only for him to get grossed at and scared. And when he's about to leave the country, she shows up all cleaned up and sexy AF (I mean, Chelsea Green) and asks for his hand. The punchline being that she's actually Canadian. So Grado ends up leaving her, so she flips her lid AGAIN. Fun stuff indeed. They actually carry on with the storyline, giving it a new twist of Joseph Parks signing Grado under a talent contract, so he can stay and work in the US. But now Parks is actually stealing all of his money as the carny that he is (I was thinking Paul Heyman), in a series of pretty fun vignettes (in one of them, we get the future Salina de la Renta actually delivering the "is he the meal ticket ?" line that sparks the end of the storyline, that's a trivia for ya). All leading to a godawful match at BfG between Grado and Abyss, whose sheer highlight was delivered by Laurel and Rosemary. Giving the title to Eli Drake was not the worst choice, and he actually made the most out of it, getting into a more serious style of promos and really delivering in-ring, with quality opponents but mainly focused on feuding with Johnny Impact. That gave the product a fresh feel after the months of terrible Alberto stuff. Sadly, el Abuser would show up back in BfG, and they actually do a shit finish during the main event, like they did not learn the lessons of the last 15 years. Maybe that's why the very first PPV of the D'Amore/Callis regime the next year would be called "Redemption" (and they sure did, not to mention Alberto finally got fired for no-show, good fucking riddance). And that's pretty much it. It's interesting to see how they slowly phased away both Jarretts on TV with each week passing by, with less and less emphasis on the GFW brand, and by BfG, it's back to IMPACT with no one saying a word about it. But the PPV was not very good and felt very much like TNA of old. This would be the last of Jeremy Borash working for the company too. It would take a few tapings left with the six-ride ring and in early 2018, D'Amore/Callis would get the control of the company and the true redemption would begin, indeed (and hence a new thread).

The build to Slammiversary (15 years) was an odd twist of fate in that, a few years after a GFW invasion angle that was basically destined to write off Jarrett from the company for good, this was the IRL takeover of GFW, complete with a slow rebranding of the entire company, starting with the titles. Which meant double sets of belts, unifying deals and whatnot. And a bunch of Jarrett boys getting on TV, like Magnus who was as dull as ever ( I for one can get why Prichard never saw shit in him, and really apart from his NWA champ cosplay days, he never clicked in any way) or Sonjay Dutt who was gonna get his day as X-div champ during the cool Mumbai tapings. Got a bunch of tepid matches involving scrubs like Matt Morgan coming back for a cup of coffee, or the former Crimson in a very MAGAeseque military tag team gimmick. The one good influence of Jarrett was a legit refocus on the X-division, with TNA original Low-ki showing up, in full Hitman dress-up (no, not that one, Agent 47). And damn every time it's the same thing, he shows up and holy shit that guy is a GREAT pro-wrestler. They also got quality new guys like Dezmond Xavier, Kaleb (with a K) Konley, plus veteran Matt Sydal, so there's a lot of talent there + you had Trevor Lee who is finally gonna get more of a serious push eventually. By the summer they even bring back the Super X-Cup (and old 00's TNA yearly event), with guys like Taiji Ishimori (thanks to their new NOAH connection), Drago (thanks to their AAA connection) and even Sammy Guevara (damn he looks even more like a kid). Those interpromotional connections would produce the great opener at Slammiversary, a four way tag team match with guys from the Crash too, a very much LU flair to it (hey, Hijo de Fantasma !). There would be more to come on that front, something the D'Amore/Callis regime would really take advantage of. So, that's good stuff. On the women side, it's very much carried by strong characters like Rosemary, who finally turns babyface after the end of Decay and not surprisingly gets over big as such, starting her storyline with Allie who's still developing as a worker (in storyline) and... Laurel Von Ness. Ok, there's something to be said about people going for absolute broke with ridiculous gimmick, and Chelsea Green certainly did that with the Hot Mess absurdity, she makes it entertaining to watch if anything. The pairing with Kongo Kong really has a 80's gimmick feel to it, for better or worse (let's be real, the idea of a Missing Link gimmick in 2017 is very much on the cringe side of things, and the underlying stuff of the relationship with Laurel aka a big black beast called Kong with a hot blonde girl... yeah, you get the idea, although all of it was very much über-cartoonish). Sienna is quite ok, really. Hey, Ava Storie aka Brandi Lauren as a young JTTS, last time I saw her she was an undead bride of Su Yung. The announcer vs announcer storyline was of course unbearable, until the point of the training vignettes of JB & Joseph Parks (I guess that was a Prichard call, and honestly Abyss is just doing his best character work under this identity, so why not) which were pretty fun. The match itself which was highlighted by the presence of Scott Steiner (looking old and not so Poppa Pump anymore, but still throwing some mean-ass suplexes and with good comedic presence), was basically a mix of in-ring stuff (which honestly was quite fun, from all part including douchebag heel Josh Matthews) and some cinematic stuff. I wonder how much of this was JB's vanity project of wanting his own Total Deletion, since they lost the Hardies. In the end, it turned into a fun spectacle, but damn the weeks of build-ups were a complete turn-off. The "Make IMPACT Great Again" thankfully was short-lived, Dutch never appeared as his WWE self again, and Prichard basically was fine in his babyface authority figure, although with a tendency of bossing around too much (and unlike D'Amore much later, without that exasperated deadpan sense of humor which made it work). Karen Jarrett was there a few weeks, then was gone, then showed up in vignettes. Just a sense of inconsistency on that front. Jeff only appeared at Slammiversary, thinking he had gain the control of his promotion back I guess. Can't wait to hear the next podcasts about 2017, as he mentioned that it was the year his alcohol abuse got out of control. The highlight faction clearly is LAX, the entire package : two young Santana & Ortiz and their entourage, plus LU-like vignettes. I think there's something to this as why they never looked as big in AEW as plain "Santana & Ortiz". In IMPACT they had all the production, the LAX name and music, the separate entrance, the lights and sirens, Konnan cutting promos and at this time Homicide & Diamanté around too. That plus the terrific in-ring stuff made them stand out big time. Sadly after Slammiversary they feud with Alberto, so that's FF material. Yeah, I'm not spending a minute watching that piece of trash, I feel dirty enough just knowing he was pushed as their top star, for whatever reasons (WWE reject, failed as a main event guy, underdelivers in the ring most of the time). That would really bite them in the ass, as months and months of building the rebranding around this piece of trash and a few weeks after Slammiversary, he was suspended after his domestic violence incident at an airport (with Paige). It's kinda baffling he was even brought back a few months later, although that would eventually bite them in the ass again with him no-showing in 2018. Anyway, fuck that piece of trash and fuck Konnan for booking him in 2023 (still hoping this wont happen in the end...). Oh, yeah, LAX. Terrific act. And then there was those fun tapings in Mumbai. Surely refreshed the atmosphere a lot. Great lively crowd (plenty good looking people too, that was noticeable, sorry Orlando tourists), a cool moment with Sonjay winning the X-div title for the first time, although in a okay only match. That led to an excellent 2/3 falls match with Low-Ki at Slammiversary. The best feud during this entire time was Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards, who had a terrific heel presentation with Angelina Love (so reliable whenever she's a heel). A bunch of really good and violent matches and angles culminating at Slammiversary in a short, messy but intense garbage match involving Angelina & Alesha Edwards too. That's the really good stuff of this period. Kinda puzzling decision to turn EC3 heel again, which felt like a re-tread. He was so hot as a babyface, and his in-ring work was better as such too. His feud against James Storm (turned babyface from nowhere after the end of the DCC, which was going nowhere indeed) was fine, as Storm is always good in those kinda intense and personal angles, carrying those with his charisma and connection with the IMPACT audience, and really both are troopers for taking insane amount of belt lashes (30+, both of them). Match at Slammiversary ended up in a confusing way tho, with Storm apparently getting legit concussed, but also working some angle around it. EC3 as a heel doing very much WWE-like skits and cutting borderline racist promos in Mumbai just wasn't the right fit after his very good babyface work. I guess they did not wanted him to steal the spotlight from Alberto, but still, that wasn't the right kinda booking, he never felt as hot as he was before. So yeah, very much a mixed bag, a TV show marred with a slow-as-hell pace with way too much video pieces and re-showing what just happened (a Prichard stample, very WWE-lite), with things getting better in term of in-ring quality as the Summer moves along. Once El Patron is gone and they soon detach themselves from drunken Jarrett and GFW, the product is gonna foreshadow what the D'Amore regime will be the next year, and that's finally when IMPACT gets its fresh and current identity. One more PPV to go, a few months of early D'Amore/Callis and this is done. What a ride.

First, The Miz comparisons are totally out to lunch. The Miz is a fucking joke, has been for 15 years. He had about a handfull of semi-enjoyable matches in his entire career, most of them being only smoke & mirrors dog & pony shows, straight comedy, carry jobs by all-time greats and the sheer presence of Maryse. If I had to say "What's wrong about post 2001 WWE style in one word", I'd say : Miz. About MJF's stint thus far, I think people are ignoring the two elephants in the room : no one wanted MJF to turn heel when he did, he was over as fuck all as a babyface. The other, is that the entire feud designed for him and Danielson was built around Steven Regal. Two lessons : don't go against what your audience wants when they deliver a hot babyface on a plate (sounds familiar); don't let a guy out of his contract to go to the opposition when you build your main event angle around him to begin with. Without having watched the show (as I won't for a while), I must say the PPV to me doesn't look super interesting on paper, with the only match I'm really excited about for now being The Elite vs House of Black, because it's a brand new potentially awesome match, exactly what the trios title were designed for. Mox vs Hangman (I read he has a new music ? NOOOOO!!!! WHY????) I've seen already. Each time was terrific and I have no doubt this will be too (although I'm not a fan of Texas Death matches), but it's gonna be the fourth match in a short while. AEW went from having no rematch to having a bunch. Hopefully we have Danielson vs Omega too then, soon. And speaking of rematches, I don't get Jericho vs Starks. I don't hate it, but I don't get it and I'm not into it at all (and I say that as not a part of the Jericho Hate Club at all). Hopefully Starks wins clean. But, just move on now, and hopefully we get some movement with the JAS too, I want Sammy & Tay doing cool heel shit, I want Daniel Garcia going forward. Where is Anna Jay ? She ok after that awful bump ? Then we have the stuff I absolutely don't care about aka Samoe Joe vs Wardlow. Joe was doing so great, and we're going back to Powerbomb Dude ? Fuck me. I'm so tired of hearing about Wardlow as he's some big potential star. IT WON'T WORK, NOT IN AEW. He was over like Virgil was over, ok ? And where the fuck is Will Hobbs anyway, he got all those vignettes about the Book of Hobbs, and then never showed up on TV. Don't be WWE, please ! And speaking of which, the fucking women three-way. Poor Hayter, that's all I'll say. That should have been a hot Hayter vs Baker match, or another stiff Hayter vs Storm match at the very least. I've defended the dubious effort of the women division enough to say that this booking is complete bullshit. Ruby is just not very good (sorry), Saraya has been a complete mess thus far. Why can't we have Hayter against ANYONE ELSE ? The Bunny, Tay, Penelope, Athena (that ROH title made her vanish into thin air, just wonderful), Marina fucking Shafir ? I don't care. I actually dread Saraya winning "for heat". And speaking of winning for heat, the four-way tags led by the Ass Boys, and I dunno who's gonna be the fourth team, is probably gonna be a fun clusterfuck (count me as a fan of the Jarrett & Lethal team), but really now, we went from Omega & Hangman vs Young Bucks, one of the greatest tag match ever anywhere, to this. And then of course that main event, which is gonna be "interesting", and maybe it's gonna be a make-it or break-it moment for MJF as a worker, as you can't ask for a better dance partner than Danielson, but I dread gimmicky shit as they often do in Iron Man Matches, which is also one reason I'm not a fan of this stip at all. If they make it a compelling pro-wrestling match, great. If they make it WWE-like, then, well, don't complain about poor ratings trends and such. But I guess I'll only know in a while (unless I just purposefully spoil myself by checking results and reactions).

Wasn't that CM Punk's saying this at a media scrum ? Well, no further comment.

They are in a wrestling war. If they don't retaliate, they get trampled. Of course, there's ways to do it, and for instance, the first Saraya promo was pretty much everything you should not do. The Max Caster's lines on the other hand, are great punchlines. But they are in a position where they can't just ignore the attacks. WWE put NXT right in front of Dynamite from day one (even before actually) to prevent them from even having a chance at existing by hurting their ratings and chances to get a new TV deal. Triple H made the "pissant company" comment. They can't play nice. The one interesting thing is that of all the people involved, it seems like Cody was the most vehement about going to the wrestling war, hence the throne breaking, whereas the Bucks & Omega were all about having an alternative wrestling promotion (it was confirmed in interviews when Cody left AEW). It's like Cody's frustration with WWE's handling of career fueled a desire to build an anti-WWE, all to get back home once he wasn't getting over like he imagined in his new venture. Never trust warmongers. That's what I'm thinking too. Despite all the overreactions about the always impending doom of AEW if they don't get that million every week, it seems like TK is not that worry about it. There's no trickle down from WWE getting super hot (quite the opposite, it's actually bad for pro-wrestling overall). No need to hit the panic button. Stronger TV shows would help (and again, it's two weeks out of 52 for now), but maybe he figure he would cool things off and get whatever he gets from that PPV and that's perfectly fine (I mean, he can't ignore how weak the line-ups of these two weeks are, he's not an idiot). One thing the podcast is absolutely right about is that ridiculous constant fear of AEW disappearing if ratings go down for a few weeks or if a promo is bad or an angle doesn't work. It seems like some people are just in constant panic, this is indeed exhausting.

Agreed. And there's this constant overacting to everything whenever a show is not as good. And really, it's not like I'm praising the booking right now, I've said for a while that someone like D'Amore, with a more streamlined vision and a knack for details and follow-ups (although obviously it's much easier booking that way in a much smaller company) would be needed. Then again, it's not like TK is the only guy involved with creative right now either. Dusty... you know, it's funny how the discourse on Dusty basically changed when WWE rewrote it. For years and years he was the Dusty finish guy, the egomaniac who killed Crockett with his shitty and self-centered booking. Then from the time he gets to NXT when the thing was fresh, and especially after he died, OMG Dusty was such a creative genius, he's one of the greatest booker of all time OMG what a legend he was the GOAT. Well. Ok. Fun fact, Dusty's stint as a booker in TNA around 2004 is some of the worst shit the company ever produced, easily one of the lowest point in its history. I'm talking about a company that had Vince Russo as a main writer for almost ten years. But anywoo, I haven't listened to the whole thing, but yeah, they make a lot of sensible points. As far as Dynamite's card on paper, yeah, I agree it looks even weaker than last week. Basically, Orange Cassidy vs Wheeler Yuta sounds excellent, hopefully a really good Danielson promo, and the rest is kinda meh. They better have a cool team win that Battle Royal (don't get me started on that whole "two battle royal to add two teams to Guns vs Acclaimed" thing though, I just hope it will end up with a cool result in the end, and by cool result I mean FTR winning the belts or something).

Last week's show wasn't awful. It was a C-show in term of star power/matches, but it was absolutely a fine pro-wrestling show. The Texas Tornado brawl was very good, the MJF & Chris Daniels promo segment was excellent (Daniels really nailed it), there was no bad match on the show (the Triple threat match was quite ok, likewise Jungle Boy vs Brian Cage). The worst thing by far was Christian Cage's totally random comeback, this feud just has been a complete miss since the turn (which itself was great). I feel like people really have forgotten was *awful* pro-wrestling shows are. I've reviewed the death march of WCW, I've watched most of TNA's TV (soon ending that one). Believe me, I've seen PLENTY of awful pro-wrestling shows. Last's week Dynamite was fine. Kinda there but fine. This week will probably be the same thing. I feel like there's constant overstatement about everything when AEW is addressed, and really this has been this way since day one. Like I said, there's booking issues galore right now. There's plenty of stuff going on I don't care about. But out of 52 weeks of TV, it's not like it's gonna be awesome all the time. Like I said, it's been just ridiculous in term of great matches (and sorry, yes, I enjoy watching great fucking pro-wrestling matches) for almost two months straight, basically starting with the best of seven series (which was awesome). I can take a few weeks of TV that is gonna be just there. And actually, since I'm not gonna be able to watch current stuff for a while, I wonder how much I'll enjoy the stuff more by not caring about news and the "need" to immediately react to everything, just binge watching it weeks after the fact. The trick is not to get spoiled, although really I wonder what TK's announcement will be (and I kinda dread a "oh, ok" kinda announcement, he kinda Dixie Cartered himself with those lately). I just hope nothing crazy happens at the PPV or something, as FOMO is always looming.

There's a cultish aspect to modern capitalism. You see it with every major brand, be it Apple, Starbuck or whatever. Both people working for them and customers are brainwashed to the point of believing they owe something (their fame, their money, their day to day joy) to companies. That and their moral compass being very low, if not non-existent. Lita could have gone to AEW, they had talks (not that I ever would have wanted to see her pop up there, strictly speaking for myself), but she rather went to work a Saudi blood money show. So, hey, Vince with his sexual harrasement and rape accusations notwithstanding, it's WWE Then, Now, Forever. And really, although Saudi buying WWE would be hilarious for the lolz of it, in the grand scheme of things, it would be a terrible thing for pro-wrestling as a whole that the most powerful promotion in the world would be turned into a full fledge propaganda soft power outfit. It's bad enough they work for them already, but that would change the paradigm in term of who, both fans and workers, will draw the line and say "fuck that shit", and sadly I doubt there would be that much movement. Very selfishly, I don't want it to happen, not because I care one bit about WWE, but because I don't want to deal with impossible levels of cognitive dissonance. I already have my fair share of it.

Yeah, that one was terrible, NJPW level of dumbfuck refereeing. The guy literally slides in as Jimmy is leaving the ring, and he does not even do a gesture of "go the fuck away !" to him and instead goes straight into the count. Marty Asami has nothing on this guy. Because they needed a post-match feel-good moment and babyface pop after Sami got beat in his hometown in front of his family. That's basically it. Whether that makes any sense or not storyline-wise is totally secondary.

He can be glad Jacques Rougeau wasn't around. Even Hogan could not beat The Mountie in Montreal.

Imagine if they don't have Cody. He did not came back from AEW. And they don't have the Rock either. Whoever gets Roman at Mania, I dunno. But for the sake of the argument. Now, apparently this storyline is not about Sami & Roman and it's so deep and intricate and shit. Ok. So they do the *exact* same booking. I'm pretty sure that then, most people would disagree with Sami not getting the title at Mania. And now, imagine that Cody is not as over as he is. He's not rejected, but he's getting so-so reactions and the ratings don't move at all for his segments. But he's still put in the Mania main event because he's Cody. Again, this storyline is not about Sami & Roman and it's so deep and intricate and all. Ok. And they do the *exact* same booking. Again, I think most people would then disagree with Sami not getting the title at Mania. Or at very least the match. Maybe I'm wrong, but to me most of the justifications based on "oh but it's not the storyline, it makes more sense this way" and all that good stuff only derives from the fact you have Cody being over as hell too right now, so in the end they really aren't about the storyline itself (I find none to be convincing on that matter, sorry) but rather a defense of the booking overall because the context right now is just super positive for WWE in term of ratings, hype and attendance.

Well, I forgot to add the Heyman factor into the WWE Epic tm formula. That's where the repetitions comes from. The Kevin Owens match at the Rumble was the same (expect it was completely "there"to me for the most part, whereas I thought this one was a great WWE style match, even though I don't care for the style at all). People will talk about how minimalistic and efficient it is, when in fact it's simplistic and efficient, which is not the same thing. And it also can only be done when you have a certain scale and level of overness aka status. This is why Taker vs Micheals (and even the "first" HHH vs Taker, not talking about Mania 2001) were awesome epic matches whether you care for the style or not (I don't, but I can't object their greatness either), but also worked because of whom worked those match and in a specific context that also allowed them to do so in that specific way. Two elements (status/context) which are usually more or less completely forgotten about when matches and workers are talked about.

That's WWE epic main event style. Straight from the Taker vs Micheals and Taker vs HHH series at Mania, which are only gonna be more influential than ever. It fits the promotion and its global blockbuster scale, but it's the least interesting style ever to me.

Totally agree. Hence the "They booked themselves into that corner", of delivering a downer in Sami's hometown. It's the same conversation. It should have been Sami at Mania. Since it could not be, then they booked Sami vs Roman in fucking Montreal. And since Reigns can't lose before Mania, Sami got beat in Montreal. Clap clap clap. I don't care if they make great ratings still, but to me nothing has changed at all. It will always remain the same old same old. Drew got beat in Whales. Sami got beat in Montreal. Better be fan of whoever they chose, because if not, then it's just not worth your time. Speaking of which, good luck with the next 20 years of Austin Theory.

I commend the effort of trying to convince people that there's such an intricate storytelling going on with deep interpersonal relationships and emotional ties justifying the fact that after losing to Reigns in his hometown, the biggest babyface they had in 10 years's arc is gonna actually peak with some tag match involving Solo Sikoa or something. Basically, they made it about Roman vs Sami since the Rumble. It was the biggest and most successful angle in eons. It was all about Sami vs Roman. They booked the match in Montreal, Sami's hometown, and made a huge deal about it being there (with references to the Montreal screwjob and all during the promotion, so no, there's no overstating how important Montreal was). They had Sami's family at ringside. And Sami still lost after a shit finish with two ref bumps and two run-ins, sure, he got a "visual fall" (let's talk about "putting over" without putting people over, that's some level of bullshit argument) but really, in the end, it was a downer. Oh, the Montreal crowd got a Kevin Owens run-in. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. If I had been involved in this storyline for months and pulling for Sami, you can rest assured this would have turned me off big time. As far as Sami remaining over at that level, hey, maybe he will and great for him and good for them. Still, he should have been the one to beat Roman. Instead, he lost in his hometown. And the Elite guy (yeah, you're in 4 Life, much like the nWo or the Bullet Club) is gonna defeat Roman. The irony.