El-P

Wardow powerbombs a hundred people and the crowd goes mild. Guess what ? Because the AEW audience is all about what followed : Ospreay vs Dax was awesome. As expected. Ospreay vs Orange. Well, fuck me, this is the greatest match I did not know I wanted. I understand Tana can't cut a promo in English, but the JAS run-in felt way unecessary and made Tana kind of an after thought. Then again, Tay Tay Tay... Baker's selling of Storm hip attack (which was WICKED in slow-mo) totally fooled me. Good match, and Tony Storm vs Thunder Rosa has to set a new bar. If I'm TK, I'm making everything possible to have some Stardom talent show up (since it's all the same parent company and Storm has a history there). Just picture KAIRI challenging the winner... Bucks winning is absolutely the right move. They are the top stars, and whoever beats them (FTR ?) gets more out of it than beating Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy. Awesome match too, of course, and the Christian Cage turn was a great angle. You could feel it just before it happened it was the right moment. The booking of the PPV is hurt by injuries and bad timing issues, that's beyond their control. So sure, it's not the mega-joint PPV it could have been, but still, in the end it is slowly building toward something really cool.

Because Sasha Banks & Naomi quitting before RAW and getting buried publicly, Kota Ibushi dropping bombs on NJPW management, MJF no showing and going Pillman, Cody Rhodes working with a torn pec, CM Punk getting injured just after winning the AEW title, Jeff Hardy going DUI and getting suspended AIN'T SHIT ! Trip says "Hold my beer" and goes "Hey Vinnie, remember the Curtain Call ?". I mean, this is too good to be true, really. But the very thought of it is hilarious.

There SO MUCH shit hidden in the closet with Vince. Remember the old rape accusations back in the early 90's. The entire Diva era is probably filled with creepy shit in term of how recruitment went and backstage stuff, and I'm not even talking about what actually made TV (that infamous Trish barking stuff, among other things). And you know the plans are all about those authorized biographies (aka completely revisionist and full of lies) of Vince coming up too. Fuck. Isn't this the time to just blast the old fucker out of his pedestal already ? Yeah, the timing of Stephy's departure, with the burial that followed, looks even more "funny" now...

Oh, for sure. I was baffled when they booked that ladder match after learning Jeff was out during most of the Young Bucks match.

This. He wasn't working a super hard style in TNA either before the most infamous incident. Sure, at times he was doing stunts, but Jeff Hardy in TNA at this point was mostly by the numbers matches where he would sell a lot and do his token (sloppy looking), very usual in-ring spots. And he was much younger and way less banged up, and he still ended up completely fucked up. Also, getting fucked up is one thing. Driving while being fucked up is another completely. Even drunk as fuck, you can still have the conscience to get a taxi or an Über. Jeff Hardy apparently doesn't. This has nothing to do with whatever style of pro-rasslin he is doing. That's *entirely* on him. The guy has severe issues. Oh, and all the people going tribalist shit with this posting "Vince was right" forget a tad bit quickly that actually, Vince tried to lure him back with the promise of an HOF induction to prevent him going the the opposition. Jeff simply did not take on the offer, but Vince was all about signing him back and honoring him in the process. So there. Also, having been in her situation *many times* over the years (and therefore I fully empathize with her, because it SUCKS on its own quite enough without having idiots pointing fingers), she's 100% right here : People who don't know anything about what actually goes on should just shut the fuck up.

"We need hot girls to draw that young males demos damnit ! She can't possibly fit into those plans ! Put her in a onesie !"

Well, good. (that Reby Hardy TikTok is next level)

Regal really sounds like my kinda guy. Still not sure I want to try this pod though thus far.

Mike Tyson added to Flair's Roast cast. They really should get Lawler at this rate, ya know...

Not that convinced about the whole sandbagging stuff. This is always hard to gauge from the outside, and a bunch of gif don't consist of evidence of anything. I remember some people pissed about Jade so-called "no selling" of Shafir too, so maybe it's just a bunch of idiotic toxic Shafir fans making up drama (which would suck for her). I mean, Twitter be like... That being said, it would be ironic if Rosa ended up a difficult talent to work with in the end considering what happened with Ivelisse.

Just have the match between the Bucks & Jurassik, it will be much better that way anyway. Yeah, trying times for sure.

It was on Windy City Riot, which actually was a PPV and it was awesome. Kingston was obviously living his best life against one of the greatest pro-wrestlers ever. But yeah, Ishii vs Miro or Ishii vs Malakai was be much better than a 4 way.

Well, it's been (somewhat) fun. Please AEW, don't Uso his ass and ignore he put other people in danger. Apparently he was fine when he left WWE after all. Or not. But now he's back to his old "habits". So there. And BY THE WAY, you people remember he and his brother were supposed to headline AAA's Triplemania show in 5 days ?

When I was watching Eddie Kingston vs Jake Hager, it occurred to me it was exactly a symbol of AEW's global approach (with a few exceptions like Satnam Singh which honestly could disappear from view already) vs WWE's approach. Jake Hager is 100% what they search for with this program : a tall jock looking guy with legit athletic background. Whereas Eddie Kingston is a pro-wrestling nerd with a beer gut. One is awesome, the other, much less so, in no particular order. WWE turning into Jocks-Influencers Entertainment in the future makes it even less appealing than it already is (of course there will always be exceptions, Bianca Belair being the obvious one right now).

Taichi vs Sammy with Tay being a bitch to Miho Abe and Sammy outdouchebagging Taichi, who would respond by kicking the fuck out of the other douchebag, would be such a personal favorite of mine. Of course won't happen, but hey. Keep EVIL and any Togo affiliates far FAR away from this PPV, thank you very much. Naito/Shingo/Hiromu vs either Death Triangle or House of Blacks would be ridiculous. Considering how underwhelming, to say the least, NJPW big plans for the 50th Anniversary have been thus far (that joint NOAH show with zero follow-ups, that Japan Cup with 78 guys, now a G1 with a dozen blocks and as many jobbers), I have lessened by hopes for a full card of awesome dream matches though. If I can get Danielson vs ZSJ, White vs Page and Mox vs Tanahashi, that would already be quite cool.

Yeah, no shit, I saw that one. And I mean, Clark Connors is great and all, but nothing screams "Big dream matches PPV between AEW and NJPW" like a 4 way with the sole NJPW guy being Clark Connors. And honestly, even with Ishii, that's a waste. Why not Ishii in a dream match instead ? That's the only selling point of the PPV, Dream Fucking Matches, not multi-people clusters with 3 AEW people for a stupid new title. Gotta say though, making up yet another title is very much a NJPW move. Not a good one mind you, but very NJPW in spirit.

Watching Dominion, yeah, the undercard is SO there, Tana vs Goto was on cruise control, SANADA had his "I'm doing the job" boots (ok a bit harsh, but it was very much Ospreay working a low-key match that had no suspens, SANADA did not even try to go the extra mile I felt), but Taichi vs Takagi was a very fun different kind of gimmick, very well worked, Anderson vs Tama way overdelivered (Tama as a babyface is so much better and Anderson looked elated to work a big single match in Japan again, hasn't looked that good in forever) and White vs Okada was, well, just a classic. Jay White is by far my favorite pro-wrestler today, he's been such a joy to watch all year long. Ospreay has had the most impressive pure big performances (the Tokyo Dome matches, the ZSJ mat classic and the Micheal Oku England match), Danielson and Adam Page have been great, but Jay White has been the best pro-wrestler this year night in night out whether in small of big context (his stuff on NJPW Strong and IMPACT was terrific). He's just so compelling, the amount of small details in his game is ri-di-cu-lous. And what a classic promo he cut after this match too. He's reaching a peak in 2022, and I'm loving every single second of it.

Jonah in the G1 is awesome. Aaron Henare actually is really cool too (he's gotten really REALLY good). Tom Lawlor will probably get over because he's a douchebag, but as far as match quality goes... But inflating the numbers of participants and matches so much to end up with so few actual added value is pretty deflating. Of course you got White and Ospreay back this year, to this is a HUGE plus (let's be real, it still will end up being a ridiculous amount of great matches). But come one. Archer is like Scott Norton from WCW coming back to NJPW. It's cool, but it's not new or different. Hopefully Pieter comes out with Takahashi this year again. That's his only saving grace. No cool Young Lion, no cool veteran, no junior apart from Phantasmo (who is excellent, but will probably end up doing jobs for Takahashi), no odd surprising entry. But yeah, guys like PAC in the G1 would have been so awesome. Not to mention Kingston. Now, I must say, a long, meaningful Jay White stint as IWGP champ is not the worse thing. He's sooooo great now. And if ZSJ vs Danielson happens. Holy shit. Dreams are made of this.

Lot to love as far as in-ring stuff, as always. Give me KOR every week in a big match. The guy is terrific. Funny thing, I'm willing to bet everything Regal & Danielson would say he's terrific and love his work. Matthews vs PAC was everything I want from AEW. Kris Statlander has finally figured out what works for her the best. Cool match with Red Velvet. Storm vs Rosa hopefully bangs hard. That Will Ospreay & Aussie Open vs FTR & Beretta match, holy shit. Ospreay in AEW seems both surreal and makes total sense. This opens an infinite number of awesome possibilities. On the other hand, now that the MJF feud is over, sorry, but I could not care less about Wardlow powerbombing 20 guys. And the day he's put in the main event mix is the day I watch AEW PPV's through Very Legal Means too. That promo was shit too, although not his fault. Yeah, let's bury the interim champion deal we're building as the main event for Forbidden Door and bury the TNT title too with the dreaded "The title has been disrespected" stuff which *never works* and *always underlines bad booking*. I know, I've seen countless promos in TNA about "rebuilding the X-division" and "rebuilding the Knockouts division". And really now.I think this is the very first time when I legit lol at AEW for making a really stupid decision. Nothing about this All Atlantic title works. Not the name (gotta love the NJPW announcers at Dominion making light of it by saying technically every ocean mix with each other), not the tournaments ending at Forbidden Door with a 3/1 ration of AEW/NJPW guys, not the fact that the LAST thing AEW needs on its TV is another title. Expect for the trios, because it would be different. But adding another midcard single title is just completely useless and dilutes the value of the TNT title even more. Damn Tony, what were you thinking with that one.

Waiting until it's actually confirmed to go all "Well, it's been fun."

Page getting involved in this whole interim stuff would be a waste of time (not to mention him doing a job to Mox right after losing the belt would be to much big loss). They have two weeks to build a PPV with NJPW. Page has to have a big match. He's facing a NJPW guys this week. Priorities, people.

There's nothing wrong about cooling off the former world champ after he lost the title, especially if you don't want him to job again on his way to not regain his title immediately. The Dave Finlay match will be one thing : excellent. Plus it may be the platform to an angle building to the match for Page at Forbidden Door (like being attacked by Bullet Club or something). They have two weeks, so they can't focus all their guys in that bullshit interim champion deal, they have to build the card as much as they can (while "waiting" for the Dominion results in the meantime). And I would guess Page gets a big match there, so that's the priority.

Adam Cole is injured and won't work until the PPV I believe. No idea why they don't just do Mox vs Tanahashi. I never cared for battle royal to determine n°1 contender for major titles. Plus this is basically just gonna be "who does the job to Mox", unless they do something creative in term of facing Tanahashi. Or Goto. Ah ah ah. Goto. Sure.

Meanwhile, in Paris Can we get a baguette on the pic too so we can get even more cliché ? I mean, it's not their fault per say, it's the pathetic influencer/Instagram culture, but still. No wonder regular people get a traumatic shock when they come off the RER train at Gare du Nord, this gives such a totally warped idea of Paris... And really, there are so much more cooler and nicer place to go in the city than those awful luxury arrondissements full of awful people (as it was demonstrated by the last election).

Sledgehammer really ? This is weak shit. I'm sure Cody asked for WAL Gunther to give him a good one then twist his nipple but alas, Vince was having none of it.