El-P

The fact that Katsuyori Shibata is gonna make his official comeback match on Rampage in a losing effort against Orange Cassidy at Atlantic City, announced by Mike Tyson, is what we call in France a Kamoulox.

To me it's too soon to see the long-term effects of Vince being outed. It's still his company at heart. They are still getting lots of money to do propaganda for a criminal regime. They are still idiot proof because of how much money they make thanks to their status in the game. This is a company with an amazing amount of inertia. Creative being better on the short term (thus far) is one thing, but the company was on the upswing already while Vince was still there. I'm sure some are gonna try to twist the narrative into "Triple H saved the company and turned the business around", but it's not factual. It's still very possible the company gets sold to some major media company, then everything changes. To me the long-term effects of Vince being gone will be more apparent in 5 years or so. Then, we'll be able to talk about what really has changed following Vince's departure.

Well, apparently Shibata wants the same thing. Danielson vs Shibata reads like a dream match, but there's no way Shibata can work like he used to. Danielson is that great that he can make it safe for Shibata I guess. Hey, if we're getting it, they should get KENTA at ringside. They both come from his mold (well, there is also that other guy but he probably won't be around anymore).

Billy Gunn is gonna teach what ? How to get over thanks to someone else's catchphrase every 22 years ? And I'm sure NO ONE in that locker room is listening to whatever Brian Danielson has to say. Anyway, if you want to learn psychology today, the best pro-wrestlers at storytelling in the world are about 30 years old anyway. If I'm Jungle Boy (for instance), I'm watching those guys rather than sitting under the learning tree of Billy Gunn, no offense Daddy Ass.

*this is awesome* clap clap clap clap clap

Congrats Brazil ! Giving the world a much needed bit of hope.

I just hope we get a new show called Global Force Elite or something. Jarrett is a good catch. Talk about a smart guy who can teach the youngsters some old-school tricks all the while having the ability to actually listen and learn from them too (in his podcast you can see how smart and open-minded he is about some stuff, and people can shit on TNA all they want, they had the X-division which was the pro-wrestling of the future and they featured serious women wrestling 8 years before WWE's "revolution"). I'm not sure how instrumental he was in WWE getting better house-show business (the product getter hotter probably had quite a bit to do), but he's certainly not a bad guy to have as an office role. And he can be a fun on-air character too, as showed by his latest stuff in GCW. And yep, TK getting more people with experience to assist him is a good thing. Hopefully it pays off in the long run.

That's J.E double F, J.A, double R.E double T, that's Double J Jeff Jarrett, the smartest guy in pro-wrestling. And if you don't get why Jeff Jarrett in 2022 is awesome, you better ask somebody. That guy started the year in WWE as an official, got on GCW shows, on AAA shows, did the best job imaginable with Flair's corpse, and now ends up in fucking AEW. I REALLY HOPE we get Karen appearances too. That guy is just the smartest mofo. Cold Cabana. I fucking died. It's bringing out "midget Bret Hart" after Montreal level of trolling, expect in this case it's totally wholesome (considering how the locker room is reacting on line, that guy sure got a whole lotta love). Fucking A level shitposting booking. Speaking of trolling, that line from the Acclaim about not going to the reunion was glorious. KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs ORANGE CASSIDY ? This show is legit insane. Shibata vs Danielson will probably never happen, because also Shibata can do some stuff, you probably wanna stay far away from his head and any high impact stuff. Orange is probably a very safe opponent for him. Elite vignette. House of Black vignette. Jungle Boy fucking up Luchasaurus like he should. Hobbs fucking up Wardlow like he should. This was a totally wacky in a good way episode, and really now, Jarrett/Cabana/Shibata alongside fucking Rick Ross (who indeed would make a great celebrity manager for Swerve, he came off really good). That's awesome pro-wrestling randomness. Ok, get Nyla Rose away from Vickie and Shafir (I had hopes from watching her in Bloodsport, but really now, she needs a trip in Japan or something) and we get something. That one segment was bad. But this was the AEW I love, with the very old-school WCW chaotic feel to it, again, in a good way.

For all his shortcomings and the legit criticisms about him (and I had quite a bit at times), Chris Jericho understands what pro-wrestling is in 2022 better than CM Punk, in probably every way (inside and outside the ring). In the end, who do you think will have *actually* helped more people in their career ? Hell, by the sheer fact of being there at the beginning of AEW and being its most mainstream star and contributing to it getting off the ground and stay sustainable, he was very instrumental in making the US pro-wrestling landscape better for everybody. What has CM Punk done ? He could have jumped from the beginning and help build a second strong company for everyone if he cared that much. He did not. He jumped on the then hot company for a shitload of money and then got grumpy when the guys who actually had built it did not listen to his sage advices. Newsflash : they did not need him, nor his brillance on working a pandering work-a-limb porn with Dustin to actually federate an audience and change the landscape of pro-wrestling. As far as TV rights go, who the hell knows what will happen. But having or not having CM Punk would never have been a deal breaker (he has been their biggest draw, but he was never a game changer kinda biggest draw). Same thing if he goes to WWE. He'll pop ratings and merchandise for sure. But WWE doesn't *need* him per say.

Clark Connors vs Minoru Suzuki was something else. The post match with Shamrock was also something to watch. In the main event, Jay White working against Kingston was a thing of beauty.

I don't think it would change much. Nak is happy living in the US, cashing what I guess is nice checks (such a boomer, me, who cashes checks anymore ?), going surfing and not breaking himself in half in every big match (truth be told, he always kinda was a "big match only" worker before, well in WWE he's been a "one match only" kinda worker). I'm sure he would pop a crowd if he was back in NJPW, but likewise KENTA, his US stint and aging has changed the worker he used to be. I really think it would be underwhelming anyway and a sad reminder that, well, it's not 2015 anymore.

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.