El-P

I was off the news so I had no idea about Gresham. I get it better now why he came to the ring without his gear and why the match felt like a pretty good semi-competitive prolonged squash as opposed to the great match it should have been. Bummer about Gresham, I love his work. TK really has an issue with communication it seems, whenever someone is not gonna be used. I would be pissed too honestly. Dunno if it's Daniels fault, but they need to address this issue, there's a clear pattern of ghosting people. Enjoyed the six-men match. Dalton & the Boys are a cool act. The other 3 (I only knew Vincent from watching him in IMPACT) looked interesting as well. The Pure Title stuff is so cool, like an updated, pro-style take on UWF-I. Enjoyed the match a lot. Ditto Rush vs Dragon Lee, in a totally different style. I sure hope Dragon Lee gets signed tomorrow. Martinez vs Deeb was good, but I gotta say I hoped Deeb would win, so I was kinda disappointed in this. I always come off a bit underwhelmed with Martinez. I can see she's good, but there's something not clicking. The fact I've heard insane level of pimping for years about her probably doesn't help, sadly, that's what ridiculously overrating "cult" figures do. Deeb is always a pleasure to watch. Joe vs Lethal was very good, but I admit I got tired by then, so I wasn't into the match as much as I should have. Joe looks like the best Old Joe he can, and Lethal has looked nothing but excellent since he showed up in AEW. Right guy won. The main event was awesome. Probably not at the same level as the first match, I dunno, but still easily in the MOTYC category for 2022. This is an all-time great feud we're witnessing in real-time. What an awesome year for FTR, this is all they ever wanted and could never have in WWE. Great for them ! If the show ends up a success, that's really a good news for this ROH project.

The irony of Flair getting a last "moment of glory" after basically getting "cancelled" (I mean, everybody expected him in AEW when Dark Side hit) for sexual harassment one week after Vince retires covered in shame (I mean, he should) for sexual harassment is pretty amazing. Flair thanking Vince is like "From one to another"....

Honestly Eddie losing is not even in the top 5 of what was wrong with this week of AEW. Between the awful tag team champ celebration (yeah, the cake shot looked good, but for fuck's sake), yet another waste of time of Christian Cage/Luchasaurus segment (Cage is really making the EZ money at this point) ending with a puzzling swerve, some NXT2.0 NPC who just got fired for failing a drug test showing up on TV (and looking crappy too, is there no quality control at all anymore about who shows up ?), Athena having to carry 3 person at the same time (gotta be honest, as much as I enjoyed Kiera Hogan in IMPACT, she has looked lost a lot on live TV), Acclaimed vs Gunn Club rap battle with WWE references galore, Claudio cutting a *brutal* promo (I love watching him in the ring, but never let him go alone without Regal to cut the promo for him), Rampage overall looking like a chopped up show with way too much segment for its duration... Like I said, I know they're in the rough right now with all those big name out with injuries, and they choose to build a ROH PPV with people who are not necessary over nor present (Briscoes anyone ?), but the last few weeks have had some really rough spots to me. Loved Darby vs Brodie, Best Friends vs Mox & Yuta and most of the main event, and of course Dax promo, so it's not like there isn't some great stuff still (and three really good matches on Rampage too, and the Baker/Hayter squash was fun).

This thread should be like the infamous "Is Teddy Hart in Jail ?" Twitter account, with a daily answer. No. As far as things changing, it depends on so many factors. It can go so many ways. There's the inertia of that huge-ass company that is WWE and a corporate culture that has been established (by Stephanie, among others) for like 20 years now. There is gonna be power struggles for a while, which may disorganize things quite a bit. There is gonna be different approaches clashing and most probably Vinnie in the shadows with puppet strings (never forget that Stephy was supposed to "take time away to spend it with the family" just a few weeks back and that Trip is a guy with serious heart issues which doesn't go along well a super stressful job). There is gonna be that "Do we sell" issue probably thrown around. In the mids of this, Vince not being around will make some people's jobs so much easier and less stressful. One thing is for sure, this is gonna be a super fascinating period as far as backstage politics go. It could go pretty much every way, including becoming a complete car crash or becoming a much better pro-wrestling promotion.

As long as he's holding the majority of the shares, he's not done. I believe he's done when he's either completely out either completely dead.

I guess this has to live in infamy : Stephy leading a chant for a guy who's such in deep shit with sexual harrassement stuff (at best) that after spending weeks waving his dick on TV can't even show up to say goodbye himself. Shame on each and every person in that building too who chanted along. And yes indeed, Stephanie McMahon is a repulsive human being (but what else is new ?).

I wasn't happy about the result when I spoiled myself, but watching the match, first off it was just a terrific bloodletting that warmed my old FMW fan heart, the clusterfuck was fun because it actually was just that, with Tay not being able to open the cage and people just going through the bars (through WCW moment here !), and really now, Eddie got fucked seven ways to Sunday by the JAS. Win/Loss meaning something doesn't mean it's the be all/end all either in term of perception, as it's never been in pro-wrestling. Especially when really, the rankings make no sense whatsoever in relation to the win/loss ratio, which itself makes no sense because beating 20 jobbers on Dark should not equal beating 2 big names. Watching the ending, with Jericho going to the spiderweb, shaking in convulsions (and doing a stretcher job later) while Eddie looks with a sadistic smile, although I would have rather Eddie win of course (I thought there was no way he wasn't winning), I did not think it was that bad in the end. Again, knowing the result in advance also allowed me to care more about enjoying the match itself than being focused with the booking. In the end, just a matter of perception. I really wonder if this is the end though, I don't see what more they could do after that one...

Shit's happening in real time, people reporting what's happening in real time. That's simple. As far as "Thank you Vince" chants, of course they would. It's disgusting, pathetic and appalling. But hey, next week-end people are gonna honor Ric Flair, who got "cancelled" after everybody saw that flight attendant tell her horrific story on Dark Side, but now everybody has forgotten about it and really only Tommy Dreamer got a tap on the hand for saying something really stupid about it (and really now, the more I think about it, the more I think there was dishonesty from the directors putting him in this situation, I would bet he did not even see the footage of said flight attendant telling her story). The same people who are quick to send some indy nobody to the gallows because they are so concerned on social media are now clapping with crocodile tears in their eyes for a sociopathic piece of thrash who very obviously did terrible things to many, many people. But hey, thanks for the Mania Moments tm I guess. I've seen everything, from people posting "RIP wrestling" to "Wow Trip is gonna bring pro-wrestling back and Stephanie is gonna bring the Woman Revolution back this is awesome", so really you get a morbid, cult-like atmosphere from these people. It's not a good time to be a pro-wrestling fan, really, because so many brainwashed idiots are showing up as part of the crowd. I became a fan via WWF Superstars in 90, but really if that had not happened, I would surely have stumbled onto NJPW on Eurosport a few years later (like I did), and you believe for a second I would not have become a fan then seeing fucking Jushin Liger, Muta, Hiroshi Hase, Hawk & Sasaki and those martial arts guy beating the fuck out of each others in huge-ass Dome ? Sure, I loved my early fandom as a teen and young adult, I LOVED 1997 WWF and I LOVED Mr. McMahon vs Steve Austin in 98. But today ? Sorry, fuck you and go away, piece of thrash. I owe you nothing.

Fuck, I can already picture the "Thank you Vince" chants from a sea of fucking moronic drones willfully ignoring that he's stepping down because he's been exposed as a sexual predator, harrasser and most probably rapist. The Stephanie Lesveque-McMahon promo I can't even fathom, this is beyond my imagination. I'm gonna enjoy the board tomorrow though for sure...

And as always, everybody has forgotten about J-E Double F, J-A-Double R, E-Double T sneaking around Titan Towers amidst the chaos. King of the Mountain match at Mania next year ?

As I predicted. Not that it was very hard to guess. Trip would have gladly made a comeback and beat Roman in a heartbeat... Wait, wrong formulation here.

I was referring to what I posted next. Which should surprise no one. Also, it's obvious Kevin Dunn was in on it too. But yeah, he pretty much admits to it without admitting to it. A former minister in France who used to be a TV star basically did the same thing, retiring from all public life after a wave of accusations.

Probably should post that here too, while we're at it, because all this shit is funny and all, but really it's not, because it's shit like this that it is about.

Wow. It's kinda crazy how "little" it took it term of mainstream attention to get him the fuck out of the picture. Two articles in a mainstream outlet and he's a goner. If pro-wrestling was not seen as this under the radar, third tier kind of entertainment, it would have happened way sooner. As far as the creative go, the company is thoroughly unprepared for such a scenario, as the last few years have demonstrated.

Also Titus : "WWE is for everyone. Except Vince McMahon"

Steve Bannon guilty and Vinnie Mac retiring on the same day ? Coincidence ? I think not.

Yeah, I posted it in the AEW thread should have shared it here. Coach Tony K. in all its sleaze thread glory.

Goldy is available. They made their bed, now they lie in it. They are completely unprepared because they have made zero stars over the last 10 years and they have never prepared the post-Vince in term of running the company. Chicken are coming home to roost.

I was thinking, with Vince out of the equation, what if Brock pulled a "Doesn't work for me brother" ? I guess that's the answer, although I guess there's one week to milk the WWE cow like there's no tomorrow for Brock.

I hope they have Titus show up at SummerSlam to introduce the "Tell me a lie" video with Vince.

Take over the company, fire everybody related to the McMahons and have Dwayne buy in. If you smeeeeeeeeeeelllllllll.....

Stephy is incompetent. I mean, they said it themselves a few weeks back. I guess they changed their mind. Dunn is god awful. Triple H has been exposed a long time ago. Brucie is... You know Vince is gonna write the show from his home anyway.

I am legit DYING ! Still a DVDVR green board shitposter at heart.

They are beginning to fall. Slowly, but it happens. Harvey Weinstein fell. Some people in France are going through the same process (for rape accusations). Yep, but more is probably to come. I mean, I'm neither shocked nor think it will immediately change anything. But I'm not shocked. Now, I'm just waiting to see (and hoping) if there's an actual killshot coming.

Vince McMahon trending on the French Twitter. Insanity.