El-P

And yet, pro-wrestling is not nearly as mainstream as it was during the late 90's or even the Hogan years. No one in the real world knows who the fuck Roman Reigns or Cody Rhodes are.

Watching from apart and really only following the business side of it, in term of the product : Cody Rhodes jumping from AEW + Sami Zayn lighting up the Bloodline. + AEW losing the favors of a part of the audience who really did not want an alternative but "WWE becoming good again" (which I think is a wildly overrated notion, considering the snipets I've seen over the years, WWE style and production is still the worst). The funny thing is that Triple H is over-credited for very minor changes, really. Both the Bloodline + Cody "finishing the story" were Vince's booking plans (likewise the Saudi deal which has made them idiot proof financially, the TKO sale and the Netflix deal). Everything about the company on the largest scale is still very much Vince. Triple H's stuff is incidental in the grand scheme of things. And like he has been exposed when he was running NXT, he's been already exposed by this atrocious John Cena heel retirement run.

Triple H saying he was proud of CM Punk for apologizing to the Saudi people (sure, it was about the people, not the government that has paid WWE 600 millions over the years to whitewash their regime) is the final exclamation point of the absolute annihilation of Phil Brooks entire character after a week of complete (self-inflicted) humiliation. It's been amazing to witness. And when you consider WWE's political inclination (BTW, more of the same hilarious comedy show with deportation jokes incoming for Summerslam, for those who care), I absolutely believe a part of it was about "owning the libs", in their twisted minds. CM Punk made his bed when he crawled back to WWE. There's nothing there anymore.

Funny because watching Dominion two days ago, I kinda thought Goto's title reign was losing steam. But yeah, this was quite the surprise. ZSJ IWGP champ during the G1 and at Forbidden Door certainly up my interest.

Hikuleo is actually super easy to pronounce. For French people. (imagine debuting on a Bloodmoney show)

There's nothing fancy about Celsius. At 0°, water turns into ice. At 100°, water boils and turns into vapor. IT MAKES SENSE ! Fahrenheit is like temperatures booked by Vince Russo ! "Bro, water becomes ice at 32 degrees." Why the fuck 32 ??? "Nobody expects it. It's a swerve, bro." The temperature in the day actually doesn't matter as much. It's the night that does. (no AC here) Ok, off to watching CMLL.

It's now 11pm, still 28° outside but I opened everything now, because otherwise it's just immobile hot air in the house and it's getting unbearable. During the day yeah, it's everything closed. It's only gonna get worse in the three days to come, which is... I guess only live during the night hours until about 7-8 am.

Bye bye dignity, we hardly knew ya...

I you watch only the non House of Torture match (which is what I did), it was actually quite a good show (nothing out of the ordinary great though). But yeah, the HoT shit is insane. Why ? Really, why ? It's such a complete turn-off. The G1 on paper doesn't look special either. Sure, it will have its share of awesome match I'm sure (enough great workers in it), but no outsider nor surprise. More of the same old same. (no idea why SANADA is in there this year. There's zero kayfabe reason why, not to mention his fall from "grace" has been spectacular. That makes THREE HoT guys, insuring a bunch of shit matches) There's no way it can top the ZSJ story of last year. Taichi & Ishii winning the tag titles were the highlight for me, that was terrific. Hopefully they get an actual reign with actual cool matches.

I obviously am not watching this particular shit, but just wanted to say it's 10pm and it's still 29° outside (try 84 or so of your bizarre degrees). And it is only the beginning of a 3 days heatwave from hell. I'm going to fucking die. And that's already the THIRD one. IN JUNE. FUCK. Anywoo. I read the results. Some hilarious shit apparently. Also, apparently John "I can say how much I still love Vince in Mandarin if you want" Cena vs CM (C is for Cuck) Punk (bwahahaha) had a 26 minutes atrocity of a match. Interesting how eons ago they had the "first" Self-Conscious Epic (a concept that I have since refuted; plus it was really not about the match at all, I just woke up grumpy and all) and now they just had a Self-Conscious Epic Fail it seems. I would watch some CMLL, but the heat is melting my brain.

I. FUCKING. CANT. 😂

This is gonna be insane. I'm so glad the Bucks get a major match again. Bucks vs Omega/Hangman remains one of the best match ever in the history of the promotion. Also, they just passed 19K apparently. So, all in all (see what I did ?), should look pretty decent.

Still two weeks behind (yeah, I know), got spoiled the awesome "Abolish ICE" T-shirt and the Ibushi comeback. And this. Really now, MLW is the last company you wanna be associated with unless you heart Matt Riddle matches announced by Austin Aries (yeah, yikes indeed, Court Bauer is one hell of a carny), but I'm guessing this was way more of a CMLL thingy (since CMLL and MLW work together too, for whatever reason, and really MLW's only watchable stuff are the CMLL guys). Mistico vs MJF at All In ? But yeah, the same. Give me Cesar Duran AND Salina de la Renta in AEW yesterday to be the Bobby Heenans of the luchadors. Gotta watch those three CMLL shows now. Damnit.

😂 LOOK IN MY EYES ! WHAT DO YOU SEE ? A CLOWN WITH ZERO DIGNITY ! (imagine if BTE was still a thing, the stuff that would be out there) "It had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia, I was just waking up in a bad mood" Holy shit. Like. FUCKING REALLY ? Hey, BTW, a journalist has been executed a few weeks ago for tweets that criticized the regime so ya know... Anywoo. The complete cucking of CM Punk has been entertaining to say the least. (really now, sex workers swallowing for a 100 bucks are 1000% more dignified than Phil Brooks. The idea that *anyone* is still supporting this guy is mindblowing. Cult indeed)

Yeah, still two weeks behind and not catching up. Fyter Fest was awesome. The Dynamite part being some of the best two hours they did, again. Can't wait to watch that Swerve vs Ospreay II match.

The fact Beast Mortos is actually a lawyer now and he and Mercedes Moné are dating is funny as hell. That picture. Pro-wrestling only.

Finally watched that Maclin vs Young dog collar match. That Maclin bladejob was a crime scene in itself. Two weeks after the insane Callihan vs Warner deathmatch, you "almost" figure why they would want to cut back on blood. Then again, blood matches always were part of the TNA charm.

Because WWE has always treated their audience like pavlovian dogs, dating back to the Attitude Era. (which is why the Hurt Syndicate theme in AEW is a mistake when they are supposed to be heels)

These aren't errors. They are just open about it because they feel untouchable. (I mean, they are literally making sportswashing-a-brutal-authoritarian-regime an actual angle where the heel is pushing the babyface to renounce his "principles", to promote the sportswashing-a-brutal-authoritarian-regime show. The level of cynicism is insane. As long as people are willing to gobble this kinda shit...)

There's a joke somewhere about how RFK should have been the one defeating Roman Reigns, since apparently measles is the only thing that can stop the Bloodline. But it's probably a bit dark... Oh well.

When I say shit is piling up https://x.com/TripleH/status/1933662710413341152 Can't wait for the "Headlock on Vaccines" PR campaign. (they absolutely don't care anymore showing who they are)

TNA actually showing Joe Hendry being made to look like an geek at Mania and making a big deal out of it on their TV show is peak LOLTNA. The fact that the audience absolutely were elated about it really demonstrates how far the company has got in term of being The Cuck Era. It's actually quite interesting to see how things are working and how the company is slowly being gutted from the inside. The NXT presence is basically part of the show now, I have no idea how much of it, but I'd say easily 1/4 of the spots and TV time is about NXT talent, a time and slots that could be about more TNA contracted people. Nothing screams more "Our roster is getting depleted" than Cody Deaner getting TV time (nothing against the guy, he's actually a decent performer). Big time talent leaving not being replaced (unless you consider Elijah a worthwhile replacement for Mike Bailey and Josh Alexander, although the funny thing is that he's actually Joe Hendry but much better in pretty much every way except for the fact he never got viral), the best and/or most over talent getting coopted by NXT making their TV time more and more about what they are doing in NXT (and the outside discourse being "they'll go to WWE at the end of their contract"). There are still really good stuff happening though, like the Ali/Santana and to a lesser extent Young/Maclin feuds. Heel brother Nemeths is actually much more entertaining than it looked like on paper. Leon Slater is awesome but he's a guy who will surely not stay there for too long in the current context (would love him in AEW). Masha is great in the ring, but they really have totally neutered her character by making her average English-speaking babyface champ instead of Russian psycho bitch, and she really had it rough with feuds with (ex)NXT talent like Cora Jade (who despite being a heel was getting cheered over babyface Masha, because the audience is cucking) or washed up WWE hasbeens like Victoria Crawford (Alicia Fox for those who wonder). And of course there was the Tessa feud, with the audience derailing it because, ya know, Tessa (who seemingly takes the "she's a racist" chant as heel heat, but then again, these strikes me as really performative by now). At nearly one year of "partnership", the damage has been done. Oh, of course they are drawing better than they did *for now*, but between all the ridiculous restrictions (legit or not, at this point it almost reads like a running gag), the screaming lack of new top quality talent and more and more reliance on NXT contracted people and ex-WWE rejects, Hendry (whom I can't wait to see disappear into WWE ether, and BTW his booking once he got the title has been pretty much abysmal) and probably now Santana leaving as soon as their contract ends, no idea how the long term will look like. TNA's story keeps on being fascinating.

BTW, speaking of funny, Jade Cargill is making her long awaited acting debut. On a movie with Jonathan Majors. The guy who has basically been cancelled for being a wife-beater. I mean. The jokes are writing themselves at this point. No effort needed.

Yeah, I figure 20K would be really good for AEW in a stadium in the US right now, all thing considered. It's already one of the biggest gate I believe. Anything above 20K really can be considered a big success.

Pretty funky to avoid spoilers and post anything while being two weeks behind. Still, I'll gladly have some more toxic spider lady in my pro-wrestling watch. Adam Cole vs Kyle Fletcher Will Ospreay vs Swerve at All In ? I would gladly have too. And yeah, I know they are indeed running Okada vs Omega, as expected. Which apparently sold 1.7K tickets more in a week, so there ya go. Trying to catch up before the Arena Mexico show while not getting overloaded.