El-P

We were talking about stupid shit like the chairshots to the head in the late 90's already. I hated Mick Foley doing the HITC jump and to this day considers it one of the worst thing that happened in term of influencial spot in modern pro-wrestling. It did not take Benoit murdering his family for people to actually think about these kind of issues 10 years before. I mean, this : As far as WWE style evolving into a duller style, it has everything to do with them going public and choosing advertisers for the entire family as opposed to protecting their workers. The 00's and early 10's was also a period of Money in the Bank every year, ladder matches galore, HITC becoming a staple of the promotion. The debate of "safe vs unsafe" is something that has a place of course. But it doesn't equal the issues of stylistic evolutions. Tanahashi and then Okada for instance, have clearly taken the Japanese (well, NJPW) style into a direction that is a whole lot safer than the previous peaks of NOAH and AJPW, while having arguably even greater matches. Also, safe is a matter of controlled risk and personal tolerance for what you can do. What is risky for some ain't so much for others. Some terrible injuries (or worse) happen doing pretty mundane shit (Perro Aguayo Jr.), or stuff you've done hundreds and hundreds of time (Hayabusa). In the end, pro-wrestling isn't safe. Roddy Piper had no hip left at the end. Roddy Piper.

The one thing I learned the other day is that McMahon's family shares did not had the same voting power as other shares. How the fuck is that even legal ? Capitalism as a whole is just a fraud, but this entire WWE thing reeks more and more of ridiculously carny shit. Also, the one mystery question remains : who from the board leaked the story ? I'm guessing he/she ain't on the board anymore, but still. Who did it ?

One thing is for sure, this entire deal really has exposed Nick Khan as a piece of shit lapdog.

David Starr. Talk about some random appearance. Gotta say, the entire Broken Matt stuff is amazing to watch even all those years later. Complete insanity and legit funny as hell at points. "Obsolete mule" ! Ok, Mike Benett is basically the Honky Tonk Man. It wouldn't be so annoying if he just wasn't so overexposed. Him being awkward as hell working X-division matches is actually funny. They are doing a good job with the Eddie Edward single push, and the matches against Lashley (who by that point really has developed into a complete deal, promo included) are terrific. No idea Rosemary actually got an origin story ! They really were doing cool things with the outside the ring stuff, probably the influence of LU, which is something I would gladly have a lot more. Hey, Moose debut. Summer is actually getting better.

It's amazing how McDevitt has been neutered. The only reason they are still denying the rape accusations with Chatterton is because it's an old case and they had denied it back in the days. But apart from that, it's "Hey, take a whole lot of money please" with zero fight. Yeah, MLW getting a shitload of money because of all this would be hilarious. Them getting none would be even funnier though.

There would be a lot to say about how the Benoit murders has affected the mentality of a part fo the pro-wrestling fandom (what I have called half-jokingly "Post Benoit workrate guilt" in the past), but WWE absolutely had developed a dullard style before it happened. The thing with Benoit, and it's even more apparent today, is that it really has nothing to do with pro-wrestling and taking hard bumps and everything to do with systemic patriarchal violence (men killing their wife along with the family when they want to go away is something that happens a whole lot). The entire discourse about "safe work" (aka "smart work", which really said nothing of the work itself but was a sign of distinction for those who had said discourse) that got really in vogue after that point had a bizarre pro-wrestling bubble pseudo moral stance (when you think it led to the massive rehabilitations of guys like Lawler and Invader I in our circles, what a joke, really) doubled with a heavy dose of gatekeeping, which to some degree is still in effect today in term of prescriptive views of what pro-wrestling "should" be. All of this happened at a time when there was not the same perceptions of violence either, Benoit not only was revered as the GOAT (as they would say today about a dozen guys) but also a great human being in a sleazy business, ignoring some of what would be considered red flags today (in term of backstage hazing for instance, during the wonderful days of JBL and Taker running the locker room, and of course, domestic violence). But anyway, I just drifted. As far as WWE style went, it would take a stylistic study to see when the dull style got really prevalent and with which workers, and probably there's something to be said about them not feeding themselves into other sources because, well, there were none anymore (none that they would touch for a while at least) after they had dried up the territories and WCW/ECW (which basically were the remains of the territories) days. The style evolved past that point when they got interested in other sources again. Bray Wyatt, to get back to him, is a product of the former period.

I hope Nick Khan explains us how it's a great move for WWE that Vince has paid off yet another woman who has accused him of rape, I really do. The amount of mental gymnastic would be uncanny valley level of cerebral twists.

The amazing outpour of love from the pro-wrestling community is a pretty telling story of how much this guy was universally loved. It's really heartbreaking.

"Who remembers him ?"

The same. I had this brief moment of "Is that Gerry he means ?", because it made no sense otherwise. Life is absurd.

WTF ?!

You really want a 27 parts podcast on Bret Hart, don't ya...

Despite the good premises, TNA in 216 was actually mostly dreadful in term of output. The only people holding the thing together are the Hardy family (Jeff, Matt & Rebi) doing their crazy thing, and do they go crazy, Maria Kanellis as a complete unbearable entitled delusional Karen (meanwhile, the try-hard overpush of Mike Bennett is giving me retroactive PTSD, and I do like Bennett today but this was painfull as all hell) with Allie at her side (damn, she was so great in her role, give the Bunny some food already, she can do so much) and Lashley/Galloway/ECIII as top guys. But WAY TOO FUCKING MUCH talking all the time, an X-division rendered into an afterthought (I guess Corgan did not like the flippy dudes, uh, I mean, Tyrus was right there, that's talent), Decay was a cool presentation but it was still Abyss & Crazy Steve, mind you.... Slammiversary was actually a really good show, but the weekly TV is just a complete drag to get through most of the time. Al Snow with two French assholes (legit) doing goofy shit with Grado & Shera is everything you need to know about the undercards, alongside Eli Drake lame as hell "talk show" segment which made his entire gimmick so tired back then already (dummie, yeah, gawwwwd shut the fuck up).

Let's say the timing of him showing his wrinkled dick face just a few weeks after Vince gets back in power despite you know what, all of it makes it one hell of a story to tell in term of how much "the culture has changed". That's the same company that could not keep Mandy Rose for "moral issues" that was deeply detrimental to its image, ya know...

Ya know, AAA is maybe taking the whole "We'd like to work with WWE instead of AEW now" a weee bit too far now...

No shit he has already taken over.

The ultimate irony is that, the ONLY reason it can happen is because of AEW happening. If Cody doesn't come back from a red hot AEW, he's the former Stardust who had a bite in ROH, IMPACT and NJPW. He's not even close to a main event star to their eyes. Even after All In, there's no way Cody comes back with this kind of status. Their star making process has been so broke over the years that it took a strong competition to actually build one of their former whatever talent to a legit star status in their own eyes. I'm not convinced he's beating Roman. They probably should do it and shoot their shot with Cody while the iron is hot, but I'm not convinced it happens.

And in this case, really being the lesser choice. The Rumble is already sold out and breaking gates record. They don't need to sell a PPV. It makes it kinda plain. There's nothing like the pop of "we know it's happening even though we haven't been told", and Cody coming back unannounced would have blown the roof off. The pop will still be gigantic (I guess), but yeah, not the same feel. What is totally a Vince creative world is bringing back older stars for the 30th anniversary (30 years, and people still are trying to compare a 3 and a half years old show with it in term of public reach and awareness, yes they do) show, including Ric Flair of course. Because ya know, flight attendants and tanning bed salons employees notwithstanding, gotta get that pop from this always wonderful audience.

He already has taken over, really. It's just a game of pretending he has not.

No one would do anything. That's the pretty pathetic reality of it. And that's including all the women on the roster. I may be wrong, but I'm most probably right.

"Nothing is changing, Vince is not gonna run creative ever again, everything is fine, it's great for the company, all of you matter a lot, don't be worry, WWE Universe is then, now, forever, together" And then...

Bray Wyatt's in-ring work is the definition of mid, dull, there, whatever you want to call it. And it was obvious since the start. He was put in that big match with Big Match John Cena and the result was meh. He got that big Mania Taker match (granted, never a guarantee but certainly an opportunity to shine) and it was meh as fuck. The thing that's undersold because he's been so big with the characters, is that Bray is basically a product of black hole era of WWE, late-00's dullard with shitty tribal tatooes. Look at the guys in NEXUS with him. Apart from that Daniel Bryan fellow which came from "the indies where they don't know how to work", no one amounted to anything in there. Mason Ryan ? Ry-fucking-Back the Shittiest Goldy ever ? Even Heath, who by WWE standard was considered a really good worker, well, look at him today in IMPACT and he totally looks like " a good worker by 2010 WWE standard" (see also Cardona for instance, although he did much better as a pure character especially in GCW, but his in-ring work is what it is). WWE was so behind the times stylistically, and it would take the Shield which consisted of two hyped indy guys to carry greenhorn Roman and then the next mentality of NXT (and signing of AJ Styles and such), thanks to the gates opened by Punk & Danielson, for WWE to catch up to some degree. Bray is a product of this era, but the Wyatt stuff at first was so well produced and fresh that it kept the illusion, especially in 6 men tags where you had some great guys (from the indies, mostly, with Brodie Lee on Wyatt's side too) to carry the load of the work. And unlike other WWE-bred guys like guys Cody or Lashley, Bray never went away to get better. Under the lore galore and all the production tricks, he's still a dated, dull worker with shitty tribal tatoos from a previous era. And really, really shitty creative ideas which are the equivalent of the most ridiculous pseudo-deep "elevated horror" (what a laughable term) shit that's in vogue today. From what I've seen, this Uncle Howdy stuff is by FAR the worst shit he ever did. The Fiend at least was kinda funny. The clown hammer, ya know.

The powerbomb bump ain't that bad. The gap between the ramp and the "floor" isn't big, Anna takes a pretty clean back bump without much whiplash at all, the surface of the structure doesn't look too rough. The inside the ring stuff from Willow was more sloppy and dangerous though, so between this and the poorly table placement, hopefully she learn a thing or two about protecting her opponent better in these situations. She did not look at ease out there in this context. Also, I'm hearing how thus was a great performance by Ruby... ok, she bled a lot, but really she did not stand out otherwise to me. Tay totally was the stand-out, on every level, the offense, the bumping, the selling, the attitude and facials. Not nearly as good as the last one (Bunny & Penelope were much better than Willow & Ruby I tought), but enjoyable piece of clusterfuck for vampire nonetheless. What struck me the most in that show is how smaller Malakai looks. Especially the legs. Did not hamper his performance at all, but he really looked way smaller.

Because of how they built the angle, whatever the result was would work (cool to see Raven pop up to acknowledge Mickie, as he brought up in his stable when she debuted in TNA). Just a tremendous booking work from them. Terrific match too, super cool presentation. Mickie has one hell of a last run. I'm guessing either Masha or Deonna will dethrone her eventually (depending on whom they trust the most, Deonna having resigned lately too I believe). Grace really had a star making year in 2022 too. Same for Bully vs Josh. At this point it's safe to say Alexander had been one of the best thing in pro-wrestling for these last two years. And whatever one thinks about Bully, he was A to Z perfect from start to the end, and the consummate pro. Put over the Alexander couple without getting anything for his character, perfect pay-off. Maclin may be the one to beat Alexander. This guy is such a great worker, he has been killing it since the very day he showed up. He has some pretty strong Austin/Cactus 1996 vibe in his work. Great falls count anywhere match against Swann, who can do anything and be great at it. Edwards vs Gresham was excellent too, with the very logical post-match and the return of PCO too. Kaz asking of his release from AEW after he resigned last year to come back to IMPACT to actually do some interesting stuff says a lot about the confidence the company has built. Hey, more Kaz the better. Lots of fun stuff on the card. I kinda expected the Bullet Club to win the tag titles, but I'm guessing a basic tag match will happen against the MCMG, which on paper is gonna be awesome. Center stage had a cool atmosphere. Undercard was mostly quite fun too.