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Kendrick just dropped another song straight up calling Drake a Pedo.

Oh absolutely! My Dad was very much about voicing his displeasure to your face James

I wouldn't be too surprised if they decide to go with SummerSlam in Minneapolis over WrestleMania, just based on their booking trends of using the summer events to take a chance on stadium shows outside of top-20 population (Nashville in 2022, Detroit in 2023, Cleveland in 2024). Minneapolis would fit that criteria.

I think what has had bigger effect on the fly in/tourist crowd period for AEW is the fact they're running more PPVs. It's no longer a novelty especially when there still touring around the country and going to more markets. Plus, I think that's had a more hurtful effect on their overall live attendance. You no longer feel the need to fly across the country when eventually whatever amount of fans that live in your region will get the same quality of wrestling when they come there. You're essentially creating a smaller pool of people who want to see your show. That said, WrestleMania several weeks earlier isn't going to discourage a person who was likely going to be attracted to whatever the hell AEW was going to put on either way. We're a year away and we don't know the card any of those three nights. At best (on the WWE side of the ledger), just some rumored bouts that may or may not get changed.

NBCU synergy, just like that picture of Seth and Becky at the Derby today.

I was not expecting a promo in the lead-up coverage to the Kentucky Derby to be how I found out that Mania was going to be in Vegas next year.

I'm watching the "last" (???) ICW show. Dr. Redacted is going to die in the ring someday, isn't he?

Hey! We have big events..... sometimes. Maybe. I mean, RAW is coming. And we got that one episode of Collision. I'm just being stupid. I get your point. It does kind of seem like they want to cut into the fly in crowd for DON though. It'll be interesting to see what happens next year.

I think it may be the fact that they were suppose to get a WWE card before the sale, but it was too mid level for a venue of that size and it got switched to the MGM Grand. That stadium was always in the running when it opened up. Minneapolis will probably get one eventually as it is a relatively new venue as well. Gotta have the "record" attendance in every stadium.

Drake is a massive fucking creep and on top of that he's one of the most blatant clout chasers I've ever seen. Impossible to take him trying to go after Kendrick fucking Lamar seriously.

The amount of pro wrestling fan debauchery over that weekend is going to be disgusting. More than usual levels if you can somehow believe it.

I just think it's silly to think people are gonna want to conserve their money in Vegas of all places

I loved the part with Inoki shadowboxing there, egging him on. Hoshino was always a highlight on the '80s set. He was kind of the Kikuchi of NJPW in those days, little fireplug of a wrestler. Re: Fujiwara

Every time there is talk about Hulu contract with the WWE being up I get excited at the prospect of the delay on Main Event and Lvl Up going away.

I really do take back my thinking that they needed to add another match or two. Each match having plenty of time to tell a story is really nice and I like that the Smackdowns before PLEs tend to have at least one or two matches that could be PLE matches. I get why the miscommunication in the Women's Tag Title match is probably going be the most talked about thing but the crowd reaction with the sequence Jade used to get into Jaded was amazing. They need to have different international cities make videos of how loud they can get as a competition each year in an attempt to get Backlash in their city.

Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid at MSG in 1982.

Is there are talk of RAW going back to 2 Hours when they go to Netflix?

I just finished the show. I thought every match was sold the women tag was a little off but I part with the ref not counting because of the legal women on one it led credibility because it was like trying to treat it like a shoot but it seemed to really confuse people for a second. I know some people hate the pacing of these current era PLEs but I enjoy it because they seem to be structured to give a handful of matches a decent amount of time. I enjoy shows like this where you don't try to have the whole card on a PLE

Is the bulk of TK’s attendance for ppvs locals or super fans traveling for the show? You’d think there’d be enough of the latter for wherever a PPV is held, bonus if it’s also a tourist destination (UK/EU fans especially).

This is basically how the match starts. Hoshino is awesome here.

Rey Jr & Psicosis or Tajiri & Super Crazy in ECW maybe?

Man, bronze nothing, that match was Gold. High-speed potato festival with everyone getting their trademark stuff in with some creative eliminations. Mutoh doesn't quite have a coming out party but it's clear they think highly of him. Hoshino rules, too. Stiff!

Keep in mind, UFC will likely have a major PPV card there a week or two before Mania and there will be a huge boxing match weeks after that on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Probably not as big as tonight cuz it's Canelo vs. baby Canelo and probably a $20 million gate. However, that's essentially what...two $10 million+ gates each at T-Mobile Arena especially if it's Canelo fighting on Cinco de Mayo? That's a conservative estimate not knowing what's planned. It also helps that AEW is going on Memorial Day weekend which brings a flock of tourists to Vegas. If anything, it just gives TK incentive to load up that card.

8/19/87: Takada vs Yamada: Hey! Yamada is back. I had read this as Yamazaki at first and this is much more interesting. Yamada had grown his hair out and really presented himself as Takada's equal in a way that would have been more dubious a year before. This is clipped, but when we come back, he really presses him down the stretch with a butt butt, a superplex (super rare in NJPW at this time and it's Takada taking it!) and the diving headbutt. He then valiantly tries to get the crossface chicken wing on, but can't fully get it. Takada turns the tables and gets one but Yamada gets free. Takada's still in charge and plants him with a jumping tombstone and then a half crab for the win. They were building that move up it seemed. 8/20/87: Inoki/Muto vs Choshu/Fujinami: Pre-match Inoki seemed to be ready to face them two on one. All of NOW came out and Inoki eventually picked Muto to be his partner which felt like a big deal. This was back and forth for the most part. Muto kept trying submissions. There was a lot of fighting over the Scorpion Deathlock and it felt established like one reason why is that it's much harder to roll out of than the Figure Four and that you can't reverse it as easily as the UWF kneebar/leglock. Muto got both after he couldn't get the scorpion on Choshu and both ended up reversed or escaped from. Eventually they started to work on Inoki's leg for a while and then on Muto's. Fujinami and Choshu did an awesome tandem move, a belly to back knee drop off the top combo and maybe Muto recovered from it a little too quickly? They went into the stretch soon after with Muto missing a dropkick that let Choshu put on the Scorpion. Inoki broke it up, but Choshu hit a belly to back for the win immediately thereafter. Good elevation for Muto though. 8/20/87: Kobayaki vs T. Goto: Goto actually came off like Kobayashi's equal there, both in the early slaps and then, post clip (we only lose two minutes or so) just hanging in there. Kobyashi had an advantage for a bit but Goto got a German and then the Cattle Mutilation of all things. Some nearfalls down the stretch where you really thought Goto was going to get it but Kobayashi hooked him with a body scissors sleeper combo for the win.