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I was talking about Then, not Now. The Claudio vs Ricochet match specifically was a case of them ignoring what the crowd was doing, and instead doing the match they'd planned out in the back. But presumably once Ricochet got backstage, someone gave him a talking to (or he had a good think by himself) about maximising crowd involvement and existing in the moment, and that's what shifted his performances. It is interesting though, how he never learned that lesson before. Although considering his WWE run, in NXT those fans were super into his super-indie tendencies, and then the main roster fans were apathetic to him completely. They weren't doing Bald chants at him to give him something to respond to and work off, they were waiting for his match to finish so they could get to the next segment where someone did a ring entrance or said a catchphrase.

Two good wrestling articles today. Brandon Thurston's From Defiance to Dignity: CM Punk's Redemptive Turn Towards Nihilism & Mike Johnson's Someone is Going to Die: A Warning

I know they did an angle in Knoxville when a masked babyface was in the territory and then left. But then a new guy under the mask came in a heel and then the original came back and said, “hey that’s not been me here the last few weeks.” And they eventually feuded.

I watched RAW after it was over which was great since the replay has no commercials. I thought Sheamus vs. Rusev was the match of the night. I could watch them hit each other all day long. Judgement Day vs. New Day was good, but the heel vs. heel dynamic made it weird especially with Judgement Day wrestling as faces for most of the match. I was surprised they won though. But it's not like this New Day reign was setting the world on fire. Can't wait to see Gunther recreate Lord Steven Regal's match with Goldberg in a week. The El Grande Americano bit was great. I love how Ludwig has at least five inches on Gable which makes it even more ridiculous. I like the idea that maybe American Made were not in on it with Gable. Well, Ivy might have been but Brutus sure wasn't which made it funnier. Main event was also good. I love that the Sami/Kross feud will continue and Sami is always good as a face in peril. Overall a good match. Like I said, watching the show on delay is great. I saved an hour tonight.

On Wednesday, I'm heading to Seattle for the 2025 Rubik's Cube World Championship. At 2000 entrants, it's the largest competition ever. They sold something like 4500 spectator tickets for it, too. I'll be competing - poorly - and mostly staffing. ESPN will be there for a segment for their "50 States in 50 Days" thing they're doing. Kevin Negandhi will be there, presumably interviewing folks. In round 1 of the main 3x3 event, I'll be in the catbird seat, judging the world record holders in the event with a decent chance of being up close for a world record. To say I'm stoked about the whole thing would be a gigantic understatement.

Adding Mark Briscoe vs. Ricochet (AEW, 5/25) to my list.

Any thoughts from Ed O'Bannon?

Mitch Marner to Vegas on a sign & trade deal. 8 years, $12m AAV on the new contract. By signing first, he got an extra year on the contract. Haven't yet heard what Toronto got in return but doubt it's much. Red Wings traded Vladimir Tarasenko to Minnesota for...a broken rubber band and 3 boxes of air AKA "future considerations". Minnesota is taking the full contract for Tarasenko - $4.75m for one year - and Detroit is happy to be rid of him. He was awful for Detroit this year and never found his groove.

I presume you havent seen the original BW version of Man Who Knew Too Much (since i dont think you mentioned it). Prob better, but not seen both in a good while. Movie tangent: how does the Daily Burgle game not have the word tattoo as a clue for The Night of the Hunter?

I liked the Cruise version, but the Ritchson version on Prime feels so much more right. I never even read the books, but the series hits much better.

I enjoyed Steiners/Harts as well but I don't think they were going 100% all out. Still it was a lot of fun and Vault has been dropping some heat.

Should I just do a whole Road Report even though I didn't go to the actual show tonight?? I've got some more Penthouse Forum letters to share. lol In all seriousness, ended up seeing Vaquer and Giulia again tonight. Roxanne joined them. A couple of creepy guys tried to say hi to them while they were eating but Drake Maverick(!) played heel and basically told them to fuck off. (Seriously, do NOT bother anyone while they are enjoying a meal). I took care of their dinner for them and they were super grateful. No Dave Parker shirt tonight but got a pic with Roxanne(Drake took it.. lol) and she was a complete sweetheart as well. https://i.postimg.cc/Hxmb7QkN/IMG-7170.jpg Also had Punk walk up next to me at the bar and ask the bartender for a bottle opener for his sparkling water. Asked him if the jet lag was hitting him yet and he definitely agreed. Met Bron Breakker at a Wheatley signing earlier in the day. Super cool guy as well. https://i.postimg.cc/2yqDn9Tj/IMG-7163.jpg

Tim Kurkjian told a story about Dave Parker on his podcast about Parker wearing the Star of David. When asked why he did that, Parker responded, "well, my name is David, and I'm a star." There are now officially two days where Dave Parker was the coolest motherfucker on the face of the Earth.

Movies today....not as much due to work and rehearsals. Do The Right Thing (Netflix, leaving on 6/30) - 5/5 stars The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) (Netflix) - 3/5 stars

I mean they were in the main event, but I'm pretty sure most of the tickets were sold before there was a single match announced. It would be interesting to see what would have happened if he remained healthy as I'm pretty sure the Devil was bad enough to have killed whatever momentum they had regardless (TK so far has just not been good with these big angles) but like... ...and let me just state for the record I'm not happy when people suffer horrible injuries that take a year off their careers.. ...but... If Cole stays healthy Swerve and possibly Danielson are never AEW champ (Joe too, but that was largely a gold watch reign so whatever). It would require an amazingly persuasive argument to convince me that getting those instead was the bad turn of events.

I'm sorry, but if they play this Kaiser/El Grande Americano deal the way it appears they might (Ludwig has been skulking around and with Gable out saw a chance to seize control of a group of dangerous idiots by putting on the outfit because Gable never bothered to smarten them up) is so amazingly silly that I can't help but be on board with it.

Steiner/Harts was really good, but I think I beat my record for the number of times I said JESUS CHRIST GORILLA SHUT THE FUCK UP in one match.

Awesome!!! Thanks!

The opening with Rhea and Io wasn't particularly interesting but did what it needed to do in setting up their match. Thought it would be the direction they would go though I was partially hoping we might get Asuka/Io. I assume Rhea finally gets her big win over Io though I hope Io retains. Was not sure what to expect from Finn/JD vs. New Day given both teams being heels, but it was nice to see the crowd gradually fully turn on New Day and get behind Judgement Day just to see New Day lose. Thought this ended up pretty good with the crowd getting quite hot by the end. Was surprised to see Finn and JD take this one. I don't hate it as I think they gave the New Day the titles way too later after their turn but it is just a pinch disappointing since this run hasn't been what it could be. I did like Finn later using his win to push Pearce and Aldis to keep the women's tag belts on Raquel and let Roxanne replace Liv as champ. Roxanne getting the official vote into Judgement Day was nice as well. Sheamus/Rusev was good though it still feels like Rusev has no real momentum with the crowd. All the stuff with American Alpha backstage was fun. Its a shame Gable is out though I love that he immediately placed Ivy in charge. Kaiser getting the nod for EGA was surprising. I don't hate or love it though I suppose I'm happy he finally has something to do. Bayley/Lyra was rough in parts but good. The roughness kind of added to it a pinch as emotions were running hot going into the match. I assume the draw finish means we get a triple threat with Becky. Just curious if its on Evolution or SNME. Sami/Penta vs. Bron/Bronson was good. Post match went as expected though its nice to still see Jey with high role as he came in for the big save. The wrestling was good here though 4 matches in this time frame is still too little. Tag titles match was probably MOTN though the other three are worth checking out. The build to SNME an Evolution was in full swing here with some solid matches being set and other general stories moving decently forward. Pretty solid show, arguably even good though the small match count still keeps me from going fully that direction.

Wasn't it Rude that told Vince about Percy's funeral background? It would make sense with Percy managing Rude in World Class. Or was Rude gone by that point?

I never read Snow Crash.

Twice your boy was the beneficiary of WCW's papering practices. I was there in the Ga Dome for WCW's best moment and worst moment on television.

The ring announcer is utterly convinced that Arn is Gene.

I am persuadable.