El-P

Agree. I've said it before, I thought Shawn Spears also was GREAT during this time, the best he's been in AEW. He easily was more fun than Wardlow himself during those segments. Also, in what ways is he special ? He's a big jacked up dude that does a bunch of powerbombs in a row. Even by Goldy's scale, which is what it is, it's not special. Especially not in 2022. Also, honestly I've been thinking this for a while now, but the entire "This is WAAAAAAR" stuff kinda strikes me as kinda bad taste right now. Maybe because here Ukraine is in the news everyday and I'm actually reading about it too much, but still. Kinda cringe to me too.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, more than anything else Wardlow needs to be able to actually work a great match by AEW standards. If he can't, there's so much goodwill for a guy who's game is basically sticking his tongue out and doing a bunch of powerbombs in a row in a company where they got Keith Lee or Miro (who are better at *everything*, work and promos, and way more charismatic), for starters. To me he's still absolutely unproven and MJF was the sole reason he ever got those great reactions. I don't look forward to his title reign at all if he's gonna be another Goldberg clone, because he's nowhere as unique as Goldy was, nor does he have the freakish looking intensity (not to mention I was never a Goldy fan to begin with, but back then he was pretty unique in every way possible). Not saying he can't be something, but as he is now, with the lame-ass "Wardlow's World" line to boot, my interest in him has dropped back to zero after the MJF feud.

You're talking about what you perceive as superior "working" skills. I was just referring to the straight athletic abilities displayed in modern matches, which are more "real" because, well, they actually are what they are (in term of flying, very intricate and quick sequences with tons of counters, also feats of strenght too although to a lesser degree). Whether this is taking less "working skills" or not really wasn't the point I was making. Strictly speaking about the spectacle of legit athleticism that has become more prevalent.

When did they plain stop blading in WWE ? 2008 ? Later ?

Was that really a lot worse than during the Attitude Era or do we just remember stuff like the infamous Eddie vs JBL bloodbath because it was so striking ? Honest question, this was not a period I was following the promotion nor its business anymore and although I have watched most of its most famous stuff after the fact, I don't have any precise contextual recollection of it. But yeah, I was thinking more about the post Benoit murders era, when the company really got deep into the Cena/Orton era and really went PG, so this is more than just "going public", a lot if not most of it was about going after advertisers and changing their public image.

Yes. Yeah, I thought about this before. But not only correlation doesn't equal causality (obviously), in the end the correlation also doesn't work that well I thought. For instance, AEW is by far the bloodiest mainstream pro-wrestling promotion since JCP (or WWF during the early Attitude Era), and it's also the heaviest ever in term of high-risks and crazy bumps. Blading really stopped in the US mainstream not because it was replaced in term of producing a spectacular visual (or because the average athletic level got better, or the influence of guys like Micheals, or the influence of lucha-libre in WCW) but because of WWE going public and looking for big time advertisers. It's also notable the style of WWE wrestling at the time was also much tamer in term of high-risks spots and bumps than it has been a few years earlier (Attitude Era and the following years) and than what was happening in ROH or TNA (which also had the bloody Abyss style matches, as one way to be an alternative). There are really a multitude of factors playing in, a lot of which have really nothing to do with actual in-ring style tendencies, but rather political and economical. There also are cultural factors (VIH and hepatitis awareness) and yes indeed, certainly a switch toward a style more impressive in term of moves (aka a much more real demonstration of actual physical skills) also played a part for sure in why some old tricks were seen as less needed. Interestingly enough, the latest cage matches in STARDOM worked wonders without the use of blood, and it's not like joshi doesn't have a history of bloody matches, but the politics of the promotion probably plays a big part in why this was worked the way it was (let's not kid ourselves, looks play a big part in that company and how they promote their talent, which doesn't detracts anything from their in-ring talent). And they really did a great use of the cage gimmick, much better actually than plenty bloody matches which have blood only because cage = blood (and much better than WWE ever did in term of escape cage match rules).

I have legit no idea how people watching WWE endure this kind of directing To me it's completely unwatchable and totally hurts what the workers are doing. I'm amazed people actually got used to it (well, you can always get used to the worst, sadly). There is apparently 72 cuts in two minutes, it cuts every two seconds or so. For no reasons whatsoever. I have no idea why Kevin Dunn is still considered any good at his job.

Abdullah dropping the infamous greco-roman hepatitis on his opponents wasn't exactly the safest spot either. It was also a very different context where "freaks" were still drawing people. I mean, Abby was actually a good worker, but the Sheik was a perennial novelty act.

Don't you wish pro-wrestler had seasons ? I actually liked that about Lucha Underground. I'm at the point I would gladly take a month off and benefit from the anticipation of the beginning of a new season, with a fresh mindset.

Hopefully the Rose/Shafir unit means it's over for Guerrero on TV. And I mean, if she's a positive element backstage, cool. But she brought nothing positive as a character. And Nyla Rose absolutely doesn't need anyone to cut promos for her. Glad they are trying with Shafir, I really like her, probably because of her uniqueness and shoot-style tendencies. Really good match too, Toni Storm is the one, there's no doubt about it. I like what they are doing with the announcing team, getting Taz doing Dynamite and having only JR show up for the second half (I will miss Taz on Rampage though). Very WCW of them, likewise this double battle royal deal, which was short and fun, with enough booking element to build for future matches and the cool fakes by Silver and Hangman (never saw that before, that was nice).

It's a long time ago and I really don't care about this stuff anymore but I'm guessing when he was hot in WCW, WWF could have snatched him then and he absolutely could have been thrown in major angles against Austin & Foley. The Invasion stuff was cursed, so by then it was probably too late anyway. Although as showed by his TNA and CM Punk feud, he actually was in better shape by then and had tons of great ideas left. One could argue that actually, his best match was against AJ Styles. But was it his best match or his best match (in a kinda pro-wrestling Tinder way )? The second question is also pretty interesting, but that's even more taking wild guesses about how other people think. My question really is, who do you think never had their best match, if such a thing even exists (someone extremely rationale would tell you that it doesn't). Part of me believes that the actual best match is always the one that never occurs, and that there are only "best possible" matches in given contexts. By this reasoning though, everybody had their actual best match and that's it.

I stand corrected. But yeah, what deathmatch workers do now, and have done since about more than 20 years now, is far removed from the ideas of Onita. The US indy sleaze scene from the early 00's is much more to blame. Well, and Great Kojika I guess.

I thought exactly the same thing when I asked myself about Orton. Then again, is having your best match necessarily about being in command or expressing your own style ? Maybe having your best match for someone in particular would be being the greatest dance partner you can be.

He regrets not having been pushed as a top guy in WWE, as he feels he could/should (and I agree). But again, that doesn't mean he would have had his best match in this context, in the end. You're reducing what you think his best match may have been by saying "I can only imagine", which shows that you are putting your *own* idea of what Raven's best match could be above what it actually could be, which is someone no one, including Raven, knows. Which is why it's a fascinating question and why I asked it on the board. In essence, I don't really care about what Raven meant for himself. The idea of a guy who never had his "best match" (putting aside like I said the obvious of a career cut short by injury, illness or death) is quite fascinating, because it goes against the very idea of rating matches in some sort of order from the best to the worst, as the top match actually still isn't the best, a best match that never actually happened.

Not really. It's a pretty deep question that goes way beyond "opportunities". As far as being able to, of course he was. Everyone can have their "best match", whatever it is for each different worker (not a matter of scale, the best match of Barry Horowitz may have happened for him, as far as we know). Regal absolutely fits the bill to me, and maybe he would even agree (considering his self-deprecating tendencies, I would not be surprised). Another one that comes to mind is Randy Orton.

Charlotte is not impressed. (and yeah, of course)

Well, considering she wants to go back to Japan, not sure there's any money to be thrown. HOWEVER, I absolutely talk to Rossy Ogawa about bringing her (as I expect she would sign back with Stardom) and/or KAIRI to do shots in AEW.

There's no other promotion that you could do it with that reaches the US audience. And even then, Meltz reported that the audience of the last two PPVs were very different, not overlapping as much as you'd think. A lot of people who did not buy Double or Nothing bought Forbidden Doors because of NJPW. And a part of the audience who did not buy it gave the reasons that they don't watch NJPW and this is minor league stuff. So, it's a bit more complicated (and interesting). FWIW I don't want AEW to run more PPVs a year. I'm fine with 4 + a special NJPW joint show.

They absolutely have to do another one next year, and this time hopefully it won't be snakebit by injuries. Plus, there is a precedent established of a great show now, which should help the perception, as would NJPW guys popping up from time to time on AEW TV, making them more familiar faces. Considering all the negativity leading up to it, pretty good result indeed.

Watched the promo. Don't see anything wrong with it. Stiff but to the point. But hey, if people aren't satisfied with Ronda's social game, WWE signed former MMA star (I guess, I dunno, I don't watch it) Valerie Loureda. And judging from that video where she is already whining about people "not knowing her story" and "just being a girl with a dream" who "has trained every day of her life" in the most cringe way imaginable, all the while already throwing some WWE corporate love, well, I hope they train her to be a heel from the get go. I dunno. Social media, influencers and this kinda shit has really damaged people's mindset.... I wonder if in ten years WWE will basically be a bunch of influensports-entertainers (I should copyright this shit right now).

I was listening to a recent Raven interview (after seeing him popping up on IMPACT) and he made quite an interesting comment about his own career : "I never had my best match". Which of course can seem absurd since de facto, one of his matches had to be the best of all the matches he worked. But what he means is that he never had the best match he potentially could have had. And that's quite a thing to say I thought, in a time where everything is deemed GOAT every two seconds. And so I was thinking, who are other pro-wrestlers who "never had their best match" ? I can think of many for obvious reasons (died too early or having way too much health/addiction issues), but as far as guys with an entire, well rounded, life-long career, this becomes a much deeper question.

Oh yes please ! Tay Conti is another one who would benefit from a Japanese trip. Plus she wants to do it. Also, isn't this the greatest pic ?

I guess you haven't read a lot of my posting then, since I made very clear 2021 was the peak of AEW to me thus far (basically the reign of terror of Omega & The Bucks), certainly not this years weekly TV. I always loved Orange Cassidy, as soon as I saw his indie stuff which legit killed me. I have enjoyed Danhausen to some degree, but he's way more hit and miss, and inside the ring thus far he's not doing anything that special to me, including in term of funny/bizarre. The Acclaimed, well, there's our disagreement. Max Caster is an entrance. When his lines are funny, that's cool, when it's not, and I thought this week was really weak, then it's just nothing, he's a mediocre at best worker. Anthony Bowens is a terrific in-ring worker and really no different on that matter than the tons of terrific in-ring worker they have. Caster I have zero use for in a match, once his rap is done, he brings nothing to the table. I have plenty of time with modern comedic stuff, I LOVE the Young Bucks going batshit crazy with the meta-comedy, I love Orange Cassidy. I wish they would bring back Maki Itoh on a regular basis. It's really not a matter of serious vs comedy. I just thought this week was not a very good episode, the Luchasaurus squash was a waste of time and doesn't bode well for his character in the long run (he's a guy better used in tags, he's not that good of a worker otherwise, and turning him into Kane would be a terrible idea), the Jade Cargill stuff is been there done that at this point (and that's coming from a big supporter), the tag match was neither very good (with FTR involved mind you) nor very funny (apart from one cool curse spot, I don't see what Danhausen did in that match that warrants the "ah ah funny" label, he was just kinda there to me). And of course the main event was problematic for reasons stated earlier. And really, that episode was absolutely all about that main event, which really wasn't about comedy/lighthearted stuff. The rest was filler. Again, who needed a Luchasaurus squash ? I don't care if he's wearing a dark outfit now, he's the same guy we've seen for three years. We know him. Not a big fan of Christian Cage "You daddy is DEAD, I wish your family were DEAD !" stuff either. Cage as a heel works better though, it also suits his in-ring style better. Also, and although I don't mind Tay Conti running around like she does, I sure hope they don't forget she's actually a worker. She needs ring time and reducing her into a valet for Sammy would be counterproductive. I want Tay kicking people in the face, especially now she's a heel. Hopefully she does it with Soho soon and work from there.

Raven popping up on IMPACT to promote the House of Fun match made me wayyyyyyy too happy. He looks like a happy grandpa too. Still the best, better than the rest.

The gimmick drew. That's it. Also, maybe the overly positive feedback from the PPV, coupled with Claudio debuting, helped give a dynamic. As always, next weeks rating is more telling in term of what people thought of this show. By far the worst episode in a long, long time to me, I can't remember when I ended up being legit annoyed by an AEW show (really, the Orange match was cool and some moments of the Wargames match were super cool, but it was basically a really good 20 minutes match turned into a 40+ monster with a terrible finish). But hey, I do remember that godawful "MMA" cage match between Wardlow and Jake Hager doing a big ratings way back when too.