El-P

So you're not excited about the idea of CM Punk main eventing Mania in 2024 ?

If MJF hesitates and finally decides to cheat and stay heel, it's pretty ok, although honestly right now I don't see why they would not pull the trigger. If they pull a Survivor Series 1998 kinda swerve, I'm fucking done. Recycling the most annoying tired WWE tropes is precisely what AEW needs to not do right now (well, ever), especially as WWE is getting hotter (for both good and bad reasons). They have lost enough credit and goodwill altogether already in this last 6 months.

Wow, TNA in 2015 was some other level of bullshit. Bound for Glory was a pretty depressing show, despite the nice X-division opener and a good main event marred by a shit finish. But the show itself was pretty heatless, Kurt Angle looked like he was on the very last string, Awesome Kong vs Gail King really underlined how Kong was banged up, as it was nowhere near as good as their great matches from 2007, although Kong did the best she could and Kim was just her great self. TNA had 2 PPV and none mattered. Slammiversary was like a TV special in passing (because the TV was already taped). And Bound for Glory happening in late September while the entire TV left for the year had been taped in late July, which is pretty much unheard of. So after the Matt Hardy win on PPV, he just relinquish the title because of a bullshit injunction angle, and they basically run the World Title Series for the remainder or the year. Total AWA in 1990 vibe. Funny though, to see that Corgan was already pushing Tyrus back then...

Amazingly enough, I.R.S. ended up not the most boring worker nor the worst gimmick in the family. What were the odds ?

I'm honestly almost at the point of not bothering with Rampage anymore, I'm already watching it out of habit more than anything else, and most of the time lately I feel like I'm mostly wasting my time doing it (especially when I'm catching up with the product later on, as I often do). This kind of hot trash is exactly what could push me even more toward not giving a fuck anymore. That and more Gates of Agony matches I guess.

Creeeeepy Windham. Probably Bo Dallas though.

Hilarious how he totally cracked the whole three of them.

I love that every new character of Wyatt is way worse than the previous one. Are people seriously thinking this shit is any good or compelling ? This is Z-level horror movie shit. And it's not like there's a *wink-wink* element to it either. It's straight up LORE. It's also straight up "Sullivan my son !" level of Wrestlecrap. Honestly, I thought the best version of Bray Wyatt's character ever was.... Alexa Bliss. As always, moving ratings or selling merch doesn't mean shit in term of actual quality, but that's not exactly news either. And yeah people, the shitty matches will come up soon too. And considering where this is leading, they will probably be shittier than ever.

That Swerve Strickland/Billy Gunn stuff made me die a little inside. It seems like no matter what you do, the US pro-wrestling mental landscape has been irremediably polluted by more than 20 years of shitty WWE TV in term of stupid backstage segments and angles. As much as I enjoy the more out there stuff like Lucha Underground actually killing people or the Undead Realm and Wrestler's House in IMPACT, this stuff is just completely cringe. Not the fault of Swerve, who actually came off creepy enough and will be a really good heel (already is), but the idea of him maiming Billy Gunn's hand is just dumb as fuck. Call the police and have him arrested. Anyway, this was SOOOOO WWE. Just, don't do this kinda shit in AEW. And I have no idea what they are doing with poor Madison Rayne. My heart is sinking everytime she goes out there in complete silence, working mid matches and displaying exactly ZERO of what makes her such a fun performer. Newsflash : SHE IS A FUCKING HEEL, not a vanilla babyface doing a non-existent coach gimmick. She's such a fun promo & little details worker as a bitch heel. That's what she does. And I have to watch her never getting over and not getting any of her stuff out in this setting. It's infuriating, really. Great for her to get a position in AEW and hopefully helping people backstage (and really now, there have been a lot more good matches on TV lately, no idea if she's having an influence, pun intended, with that but nevertheless), but she can be such a fun TV character if you actually let her do what she can do best. What an awful miscast thus far. On the more positive side, Matt Taven looked great against Wardlow, and maybe it's just him working against really good people lately, but I'm warming up to the work of the big guy. The Kingdom is such a well oiled heel group, if you want three people who are expert in stooging, feeding off the crowd/their opponents and each others, they are the ones. And they can absolutely cut promos too, especially Maria & Taven, and inside the ring they can fucking go against anyone (Mike Benett is actually a really solid worker). Great signings who can get over, work in pretty much any kind of setting against anyone and make the stuff look good, veterans who can also help develop younger talent. Just tons of upside to these three being there. Of course losing your first match is more than questionable, but they come in as a tag-team and losing to Wardlow really isn't that much of a big deal. Oh, the Gates of Agony are still around I guess... damn... oh well... JR is giving me late Gordon Solie vibes. Which is both cool and, not so cool at times. Hope the guy is feeling good though.

Bandido is a huge catch. Hopefully he gets used well aka don't make the same mistake they did with Andrade. Juice, well, he could be something really good, just have him ditch the lame Bullet Club kinda heel persona that has totally plagued his return to NJPW and killed whatever he had before. He was tons of fun in IMPACT when he was over there with Finlay as a babyface, and he's a really good worker that fits their mentality (plus the japanese experience of laying it in).

Not to mention, unlike Jarrett, the Elite have no share in AEW at all, whereas Jarrett was booted out of his own company via shares buyouts in the end. With their current contract status, they could have ended up in WWE (still can, although it seems less plausible now) sometime next year.

In a perfect world, in 2023 we get Punk & FTR vs Omega & Bucks, then Punk vs Omega (Punk wins), then Punk vs Hangman (Page wins). But this is not a perfect world.

I am not sure, but I feel there's a good chance it's a fake turn. Although the crowd is really hot, and sometime you really need to read it and not miss the right timing. But I would not be shocked if after he wins the title, he straight up goes back to being a heel. Also, Mox is a babyface, Omega will be a HUGE babyface coming back, Danielson is a babyface. Jericho is probably used to build ROH for a while as a heel champ. There's no really strong heel left right now as far as the AEW World title scene goes. I'd love to see Miro come back in that role though. Also, hopefully Brody King is brought back sooner than later, he really got a raw deal with Black & Matthews wanting to leave.

Not to be mean with my fellow pro-wrestling fans crowd but... yeah, not really at all. I thought she totally came off like a star and brought so much personality with little things, like the way she would react to the interviews, her body language and all. She very much needs to be what Gene was in WCW. As far as her wardrobe goes, on the contrary, let her do what the hell she wants with it, that totally goes along her personality and that's a plus.

Chris Jericho took a risk with AEW. He could have kept on getting big checks from a then super hot NJPW, especially as they were losing the Elite and he would have been special attraction foreigner #1 and then get yet another big-ass check from WWE, which unless you're in complete denial you know he would have gotten, especially with a new opposition in town. There was no garantee AEW was gonna work, and *a lot of people* wanted them to fail so bad, for many reasons (and still do). At first TK wanted Omega, Jericho & Punk to build his company. He did it without Punk, and they managed to be more successful than anyone could ever dream of all things considered ("indie geeks", "don't know how to work", "don't know how to get over", "money mark", got stuck with NXT right in front of them). Successful to the point Punk finally agrees to come back, once all the base work had already been done by all these guys he totally shat on at the press conference, those guys who don't take advice, don't know how to run a company, don't know how to work and be stars. Well, newsflash boubou, those people who apparently aren't worth shit built that company that got hot and big enough for you to come back after 7 years and make shitload of money in the process. And Jericho was a big part of it, as with Mox he was the mainstream (as far as pro-wrestling goes) face of the company. Jericho did not just came in to cash a check with AEW, he took a legit risk of being the face of a failed jumpstart company, which would have hurt his value quite a bit in the market in term of perception. Hell, even Danielson made a tough choice when he left WWE, it was not an easy choice for him to make on several levels. CM Punk had it super comfy. And still ended up a toxic fuck.

No chance. Taven is a heel and faces Wardlow on Rampage. Mystery guy means it's a mystery. I would love PCO. And considering he's signed with IMPACT, it can be done in a heartbeat.

Of course he's not afraid of Hangman. The broader point is : Punk's camp is full of shit on this one and they are doing a piss poor job of damage control just when the Elite is being brought back after the investigation is over. Like working with Hangman Page, of all people, was some kind of unsafe working environment, sure. (maybe Punk is just salty he could not do that buckshot lariat twice, he sure sandbagged himself there) None of it make any sense at all. It's just plain embarrassing now.

BTW, Jericho is facing a former "ROH champion" next week, but it's not mentioned it's a former world champ. As a fellow former DVDVR shitposter, I would SO TOTALLY book Colt Cabana vs Jericho. That would be the most amazing troll ever.

That narrative is a total cop-out. Meltzer BURNED AEW and TK for their handling of the situation. Let it rest people, it's barely above the "A billion stars at the Tokyo Dome" meme by now. What Meltz reported as coming from Punk's side was the same as the other reporters. Stuff like the door being "kicked in" was retracted a while ago too. This is also the same "leak" that mentions the dog getting hurt. So, one part is legit and the other one is not ? Depending of whether that works in Punk's "favor" I guess... Seriously... Let's be real, if it was *anyone* other than the Elite on the other side (apart from maybe Sammy in the last few months), there would not be half the debates about this mess.

CM Punk being afraid of Hangman Page shooting on him is absolutely bonkers hilarious. How can anyone can take any of this bullshit seriously anymore ? Fuck, Coach TK should go on TV and do a "I have no sympathy for Phil Brookes. CM Punk screwed CM Punk" interview, in the spirit of Bret Hart tribute spots... (and then MJF can be Steve Austin)

Handshake agreement still mean something to some people. See also, Mox. WWE booking Anderson on a Saudi show no one cares about (or should care about, at the very least) says everything you need to know about their "new" approach.

Oh, don't tell me. I'm so outta there. And I hate to be that guy, whatever the story is, but your pet dog has no business at the workplace to begin with. And yeah that last part is like... really now ? Who thought that one was a good idea ? This kinda stuff really make them look like complete carny bullshiters... which... oh well...

Eddie Kingston tagging with Okada on NJPW's NYC show tomorrow, against Jay White & Juice Robinson. Give me Kingston vs Jay White all day, every day. Aussie Open vs MCMG and some people I don't know should be really good too. Some women's matches on the show too, so that is beginning too. And Muta having a last match at a NJPW show (the STARDOM joint show no less) in a rather random three ways (but then again, don't want him in a shitty singles match) that should be quite the celebration anyway. He's the last of his generation (well, with Sting I guess).

Yep, I'm impressed, best stretch of shows in IMPACT in a while. And Emergence had that Sami Callihan vs Steve Maclin, Jordynne Grace vs Mia Yim and Josh Alexander vs Alex Shelley combo that was pretty awesome, with a super solid undercard. Also, PCO being there was one more year is so cool. I believe he's the oldest guy still in action that I used to watch back in 1993 in WWF (with Billy Gunn, but he's not exactly having the same schedule or matches).

Pierre Bourdieu knows. (and I mean, of course they would, why not. Still, it's not like she won't have more opportunities than anyone else, while not really even needing to work to begin with. Not her fault either obviously)