El-P

The first actual Lesveque Big Four (SummerSlam was the last Vince's booked big show). That's quite interesting that there is none of the traditional Survivor Series match but instead two Wargames matches, which Vince would never use on the main roster. Needless to say that if Cody had not been injured, it would be a cryfest about his father and such. Next year I guess. I'm only following from afar, but judging from what I know, on paper it looks like quite a strong card. I wonder if they'll do blood & guts (if Cody was not injured.... yeah, he would cry, but he would probably want to bleed several buckets too). First year I watched an entire Survivor Series was thirty years ago. Man... High Energy vs HeadShrinkers. Simpler times for sure. Back then a Berzerker was only that, a goof in a viking costume and furry boots, now you know it's actually MAGA Valkyrie and such. Ignorance is bliss, in a way.

I would have said rather late 1998 WCW. Which... is not as positive (despite me loving some of the stuff still, obviously). The elephant in the room is ROH. Either TK can get the ROH stuff its own show and they can focus on this over there (won't mean I'll watch it though, Rampage is such an afterthought already) either this needs to be downplayed big time anyway on the AEW TV. Of course the injuries and drama have hurt the booking a lot, but if I can pinpoint a moment where things really got unfocused, it's when ROH stuff began taking way too much space in a company that already had trouble making all its titles important (and that was before the All Pacific even existed). There was a FTR vs Top Flight match in Rampage for the ROH titles, and it was just there, not even that good really. Then Athena cut that scathing promo on Mercedes Martinez, the ROH woman champion, like there was some actual issue there, when in fact no one cares about that title and Martinez has never been over the rare time she's been on TV. And don't get me started on the Gates of Agony or something. Buying the ROH library was cool and all. The first ROH PPV was cool. But to me it has really diluted the product and distracted the booking, which was never the most focused to begin with.

As Spinoza said (well, KINDA SORTA, you know) : you think you judge something as good and that's why you like it, whereas infact, you first like something therefore you judge it to be good.

Dutch Mantell ? Not sure but it could be.

Why haven't I watched this before ? Talk about people I would like to see more on TV...

I believe Martel and Callis came up with the gimmick themselves. Not WWF's idea at the time. Also, back then WWF was big on "New" something. New Rockers, New Blackjacks, LOD 2000, New Midnight Express. All huge success too.

To this day Thanksgiving is a special episode of my pro-wrestling weekly show. I have no idea what is that fixation with stuffing turkeys or giving random thanks (to whom, for what, I dunno). Plus, Survivor Series used to be shown just before Xmas, because there was that much delay, so really it's just confusing and exotic to me. Hey, enjoy it nonetheless, 'murican PWO people !

This. The thing is, "how to make money" has been used as a cop out whenever something you don't like stylistically is out there being successful. The Elite have triggered people (and still do) for years because they have been exceedingly successful doing stuff that "they should not do". And that success is part of why they are so hated by a part of the pro-wrestling audience. Their success has been met with moving the goal posts and denial galore strictly because of this, a stylistic disagreement. AEW was never supposed to be competitive with WWE. Now that they are not as hot as they were (and despite the fact their most successful year in term of growth, leading to the signing of Cole/Punk/Danielson, happened when the Elite was on top of the cards) it's easier to blame it on a style you don't like, even though it has no actual basis (mergers and financial strategy of big ass media companies are what can kill AEW, not the fact someone is doing "too much spots") As far as "workrate" being a poisonous word, actually, pro-wrestling criticism totally losts its way when "workrate" became a dirty word and "psychology" got mixed up with "status on the pro-wrestling social field". Which leads to stuff like "Oh, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega (or Will Ospreay, to name another one) don't understand psychology", which is the most hilariously wrong take anyone can make about them (and really, I get not getting it at first, I went through the phase of thinking they were the worst thing I ever saw, all three of them, but it's 2022 now, they have been around long enough for people to actually sit back and think a little bit more about it). Or the fact some people wanna talk about pro-wrestling *needing* CM Punk on a stylistic basis. Listen, pro-wrestling needs CM Punk like I need a blowjob, it's a nice feeling (can even be great) and it's been a while, but I can very much climax without it, thank you very much. One interesting thing is that stuff like Young Bucks vs Lucha Brothers is by far the most appealing stuff you can show to absolute non fans (I know, I've experienced it). Anyone can watch this and have fun. Apart from grumpy-ass pro-wrestling fans yelling at clouds about "how it's supposed to be done". (there's a reason why lucha libre, despite being supposedly "hard to get" (a fiction) is also the most acceptable and cool form of pro-wrestling in mainstream pop culture, and why Arena Mexico is basically a tourist attraction)

I must say, this was pretty awesome Maybe I should try it. Too close to a wrestling burnout though, but I admit lots of GCW shows have cool stuff happening.

Yes and no. Technically yes, but every match was a different gimmick match, because Vince Russo.

What a dickhead move.

I'm not a WWE fan. I only follow what happens there because I follow the business aspect of it. I barely watch anything anymore from them since they are knee deep with "his excellency Prince LGBT Killer". So not sure what you are referring to, really. What type of exact same (funny, I guess) shit ?

Nope. Because I was pretty much ready with the perspective of the Elite being gone and ending up at the Royal Rumble or something at one point (early on after the debacle I mean, I really thought this would be the end for all of them basically), and as an old CM Punk fan I would have popped at his promo too, just like I laughed at the in-ring trolling. Again, I'm a fan of ALL involved. I just don't take this stuff either too seriously nor, god forbid, personally.

Masters at work. Of course it is. I'm not gonna lie, I say I think there's 0%, but deep down inside my pro-wrestling fan heart, there's still a little voice that says "never say never" and a minuscule hope that maybe, one of these days, when his injury has healed up, we hear Cult of Personality again and we get those Punk & FTR vs Elite matches leading to Punk vs Omega. Just a tiny, little, small voice... Anything bigger would lead me to disappointment. In the meantime, I had a good laugh, and it's much needed. I take whatever I can.

He fucking did it to Hangman Page and that was the first occurence of him being unprofessional on live TV ! The amount of triggering Omega & The Bucks proceed to produce is absolutely fascinating.

The joke is just awesome, that's all. My God, all of this is almost worth it by the incredible amount of salt by Serious Sams everywhere. Also, let's be real for two fucking seconds. If the situation was reversed and the Elite were gone, is there ANY doubt whatsoever, considering his track record (including what he did in AEW in his last months), that CM Punk would have dropped some bombs on them during a promo, totally unrelated to anything, and all the Punk fanboys would be like "OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST PROMO EVER, THE ELITE ARE OWNED !" despite the fact it would lead to, well, nothing either ? Come on now.

You forget something more important. They were gonna get booed. They knew it. They did what pro-wrestlers do. They worked the crowd. And boy did they. And there are two levels of people booing them : the ones who chanted "Fuck the Elite !" yet probably had fun being triggered by all the trolling and then chanted some more, and had a blast doing it; and the ones who were legit annoyed and guess what, they got worked to boo even more, that's old-school pro-wrestling. And then there's the entire other part of the crowd, who died laughing and had a blast just because it was funny as fuck. Worked on three different levels already in term of the actual night and audience that was there. As far as turning people away, my guess is that most of the hardcore Punk fans are gone already. And you always hear the most vocal people who complain anyway. In the grand scheme of things, I doubt it matters much. And really, if that kind of stuff offend some people *so much* that they quit watching AEW.... well, again, don't think it'll represent much of the audience, really. If Punk comes back, it would be incredible, but to me the odds are about 0% (but of course, as it happened I was thinking "Wait.... what if ?" which is also part of the beauty of pro-wrestling, but in the end I took it as old-school MNW era troll job updated). And really now, sorry but this guy is a fucking genius. The GOAT, as they say.

Well, the demo was more about Sable and Debra in skimpy outfits, really. MEAT was a miserable failure, and even in his case, the real draw were Jackie & Terri. The fact I even remember it kinda makes me sad, I'm just old and remember useless stuff from 30 years ago but hardly anything precise from three years back.

*search Wiki* Oh. Wow. Seems like she's dating yet another wonderful dude. But yeah, antisemitic shit Kayne West's song is not a good idea. Especially just as he's gonna face MJF, ya know.

Martel got offered big money by WCW, so he opted for that instead. Hence Callis ending up as whatever he ended up being in WWF. Kinda screwed Callis, because he was too small to be seen as anything other than a manager. Wait...

There's a super toxic attitude going on with "fans" acting like they own whoever they support, like they were owed something. Maybe it comes from this social media era, but it breads a culture of entitlement leading toward massive harassement campaigns and such. People do act like they own part of their favorite artists now, maybe because the social media kinda creates a deeper parasocial context. They also act like they are *part* of what they consume, which is why we get absurd and unhealthy tribalism with people declaring "victory" whenever their favorite show/company gets a rating, and hoping for the "opposition" to fail (in the case of pro-wrestling it's absolutely appalling to see the large amount of WWE fanboys actually wishing death on AEW, showing that they absolutely do not care about the actual pro-wrestling business as a whole and people wanting to make a living off what they love doing). Newsflash, you're just consumers. You won't get a raise for sucking up to whoever is not even your boss. And you're not part of the company, you're not fucking soldiers either. You're just consumers buying products. This.

In other news, pro-wrestlers being, well, kinda dumb. Awesome timing. Even just saying it on a podcast right now makes him look dumb, really. Like, read the fucking room already.

Ok. Gotta give credit where credit is due. This had me rollin.

I died at the CM Punk trolling. These guys are just on another level. Especially a few days after Omega had that "I wish people would let it behind" interview. They are just the master shitposters meta pro-wrestlers that elevates the entire thing into an artwork. Oh, the match was awesome too. As was Jericho vs Ishii. For a second I thought they would go into Taichi vs Ibushi territory, but hey, awesome nonetheless. Glad we're done with the interim stuff. And now we're setting up the split with Baker again. Okay. Good. The Danielson promo was too much WWE-lite to me, and it did not get over one bit. Moxley was terrific. For a second there I thought Regal was actually done with the company too. House of Black comeback. Yes ! Here's hoping they get that big-ass push. Jake Hagger's calling is comedic matches and vignettes. The two highlights of his AEW career as single talent have been this match and the vignettes before the big Mox title match, with his wife and kids.

NJPW X Stardom show was just tons of fun. We need more crossover shows like this. Totally makes you want to follow both promotions, as it freshens the perception, although really Stardom doesn't need it right now, they look hot enough on their own. And NJPW looks better too already with Umino coming back, the new women's title, Omega vs Ospreay at the Dome. Hopefully things pick up in 2023 after the very dire and depressing pandemic years.