Leaderboard

He really wants to be my favourite wrestler. Well done.

Bruce Prichard: "Well, he's actually quite short. People in the back called him Shorty. So, I figured we're on to something here. Short. His last name is Gable. So, G stands for Gable. Shorty. G. It makes perfect sense. It was a brilliant idea. He just didn't like it."

WWE.

OOOH Yeah, hold that cup of coffee for the Macho Man, there ya go Mea-[CATHY KELLY] just like that yeah, UNJUSTIFIABLY IN A POSITION THAT I'D RATHER NOT BE IN! THAT BEING THE GRAVE! OOOH YEAH, DIG IT, call up The Undertaker, yeah, BUT LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING [Seth Rollins] COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING TO THE MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE YOU ARE NOTHING BUT GARBAGE that's what you are, yeah, and I'm gonna do the thing in the ring, TOO HOT TO HANDLE, TOO COLD TO HOLD, TOO DEAD TO BEHEAD, CADAVEROUS MADNESS, the best thing going in the [WWE UNIVERSE] and you just can't measure up [Seth Rollins], if you want to brawl the Macho Man can brawl, if you want to fly of the ropes the Macho Man can do that too, yeah, and if you want get on the mat and [SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT] the Macho Man can out-[SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT] you too, ooh yeah, the Macho Man Randy Savage is going to make the most of his [Title Opportunity] in front of all these peop-[WWE UNIVERSE] and ONCE AGAIIIIIN, dig it, be the World Wrestling [ENTERTAINMENT] [TITLE HOLDER] OOOOOOH YEAH FREAKOUT, YEAH

Man, the singer from Ghost looks like shit.

They didn’t play his music so he refused to come to the ring.

That damn Penta

And Bobby Heenan

LOL.

WHAT WWE HEARS Chad Gable: Hey kids, you're tough and strong and what people make fun of you for is a superpower! Mine is such a superpower it gave me a cool new name! WHAT WE HEAR Chad Gable: Hey kids, if you allow your employers to present your only presumed personal fault as a target for bullies, you too can be nicknamed like an '80s rapper!

How to get back to 1998 or 1985: find a Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan. That's it, that's the whole game. When you have the guy at the top that draws new viewers, and is red hot, everything gets hot. The longer time goes, the more convinced I get that you can't book a company to a boom, you just need that guy. And WWE is specifically set up to not let anyone become bigger than the company ever again. 1999 might be the single worst booked year in WWF history, and it didn't matter because Austin and then The Rock drew people. This year is giving it a serious run for worst booked, and it matters because, I mean, Seth Rollins is no major star whether or not you like him.

It's not working for me and it should be, I'm 100% that audience.

I almost said "Football Lawful Metal depends on what idiotic thing Bill O'Brien has done at the moment"

Shorty G? Fuck this company.

Janella - Omega is a fireworks show. Lots of explosions that could realistically be cut up in any order. There is no flow from point A to point B. A dragon suplex on the apron might as well be an arm drag since it doesn't matter as soon as Joey takes control again. It really suffers from a loss of continuity and purpose. Stunts issue is that they seem to have cut out the natural first steps of the angle and we're jumping into the middle. He should have been introduced. Then gain sympathy getting his ass kicked. Then form a bond with Jungle Boy. Then he could be where he is now. But that would be after months of television and instead we need to immediately accept him.

Looks like someone's been drinking a little bit of the bubbly.

Take a page from Marvel or DC. Realize what originally brought you to the party (comics, actual wrestling) doesn't appeal to younger audiences enough. Create a true universe with larger-than-life characters with stakes on the line (championships, winning money for an orphanage, whatever). Use their resources (WWE Studios, deals with toy companies, etc.) to create content and merchandise that may appeal to a bigger group. Be honest about who can be pushed mainstream. I'm sure WWE has this information in-house. Groom those people and market them consistently. Better use social media and digital tools to create mini-franchises for these possible stars within the larger WWE Universe. There are several wrestlers on the roster who could be superhero types. Roll the dice and see where it goes. The biggest problem for not only WWE, but wrestling at large, is absolutely no growth in the fanbase. There is more wrestling than ever for everyone to watch. No one outside the diehards care. No one even talks about it. Every show is shedding viewers, no matter the promotion. There's being niche, then there's being off the grid. There are two full-time people among the 250+ wrestlers WWE has under contract who are even sniffing non-wrestling success. If wrestling is to grow, a few will need to make it outside the bubble in some way to reach a new audience.

It was a trap game since next week they go to Ohio State for the Big Noon FOX Game. Them not covering the spread is not surprising but losing outright is a different story. My biggest shock was Lovie Smith using his timeouts correctly.

TJPW spoilers

Stakes, Surprises, Serialized Storytelling. Even one of the three would be nice.

Jared Leto isn't a happy bunny.

Let’s just say that matches long enough that they go through multiple breaks probably isn’t a crowd-growing experience if it’s done every show. No live sport goes to commercial during action. If you’re a predetermined live sport, then you have the power to not have to deal with that as a regular thing.

To Caley’s point, Gable’s promo was good and was probably actually inspirational to kids in the crowd rather than a bunch of jaded old men.

the most important show of 2020

The card looks interesting enough. I'm way out of the Impact loop but I'm looking for new wrestling to watch, this might be a good time to get into it.

Man, Beterbiev beat the shit out of Gvozdyk. I mean I picked Beterbiev to win by stoppage, but I expected Gvozdyk to dominate the first half of the fight. What happened was the first five or six rounds, they were basically even on total punched landed with either guy being ahead by 1-4 punches in any given round. Gvozdyk would land some flashy combos here or there, but outside a few headsnapping punches in the middle of the fight, nothing seemed to affect Beterbiev. He just continued to march forward and forward. Once Beterbiev started going to the body and caused Gvozdyk to slow down, it was just a matter of time. In between the ninth and tenth round, Teddy tried his best to summon whatever Gvozdyk had left, but it was pretty apparent Gvozdyk was absolutely done. I hate to second guess Teddy, but why send him out for the tenth to take an epic beating? Gvozdyk kinda had his head down in the corner as Teddy was giving his fire and brimstone speech. That should tell you his spirit is broken. If he wasn't able to keep Beterbiev off him at the beginning of the fight and the middle rounds when he was close to full strength, the likelihood Gvozdyk would do that in round ten was slim to none. Beterbiev just savaged him, and Gvozdyk was just looking for a nice spot on the canvas to fall.

I saw all these tapes under the blue tarp behind the table of rusty tools at the Mexican flea market. If Uncle Dave wants, I'll gladly pick them up for him on Sunday - $5 each, 3 for $10. - RAF

Baseball Lawful Metal >>>>> Basketball Lawful Metal

I doubt there was anything better than this on the show...

Yes! And all of the booing for it when they came out and bullied small children to 90% cheers. Steve Austin before he became a caricature was a giant dickhead and was hugely over as a babyface too. They are way too awesome/over with the crowd to be heels. There's no point pretending. They're just aggro because Cero Miedo or something. I'll admit the booking for them has been a little confusing but there's not fuckin' chance they're heels.

If that’s the case, then you people are monsters. YOU DON’T DESERVE WHAT NATURE HAS GIVEN YOU!

Firmly believe Stunt's future is as a weasely heel, maybe hiding behind a bigger guy to do all the dirty work then picking up cheap victories. Eye pokes, low blows, make him the US Ogawa. I've seen him work semi heel against Rich Swann in ICW-NY, and it was his best match IMO, get him flossing after an ill-gotten victory and let him bask in the hate.

I'm going to post more after I watch the show OnDemand and see how things came across on tv vs. how they came across live. There were very loud CZW chants for both Janela and Moxley, both of whom bowed to the crowd and seemed genuinely moved. There was also a very loud ECW chant for Taz when he came out for Dark before and after the show. I thought Darby Allin should have gotten more offense in. At times, the title match almost felt like a squash. Rather than Darby shaking his head and verbally giving up, his head should have just hit the mat as he blacked from pain and Aubrey call for the bell. Either way, Darby was very over with the Philly crowd. Prior to the Leva Bates/Nyla Rose, Peter Avalon brought up the Washington Nationals going to the WS while Bryce Harper and the Phillies failed to make the playoffs. He also brought the American forefathers moving the capital from Philadelphia to Washington. That and SHHHHHHHHH'ing the crowd got the Librarians HUGE heat. Brandon Cutler also got huge heat. He didn't do anything in particular other than being a "squeaky clean nerd" that plays D&D and being against an area favorite in Janela. It was surprising that there was a squash match, but it absolutely worked in making Santana & Ortiz look like killers. They are very over as well. MJF teased a dive to the floor, but ended up flipping us off. He and Brandi were great trying to interfere. The negative: There were a few groups of schmucks in the upper deck that were seemingly there just to heckle. It wasn't creative, funny heckling. It was chanting nxt, 'We want Brock", chanting Goldust during the 8 man tag, "Lets go Cena", and other dumb shit. They were shouted down several times. They did get the Brutus Beefcake treatment and have "Kill Yourself" yelled at them amongst other things.

I agree but that's not how quite a few people interpreted it and the announcers didn't really address it either. Missed opportunity but Darby comes out of that match looking like a star still so it's not a big deal... Perhaps these small attention to detail things improve as time goes on. I think it was largely just a timing issue. Edit: as for the rope breaks, that's fine but Jericho shouldn't have released it because although he couldn't win while Darby's in the ropes he himself can't get disqualified.

I liked that Scorpio Sky wasn't dressed to compete. The details of him grabbing the tape out of the bag to do his wrists and then wrestling in his jeans and sneakers. Why would he be in his ring gear, right? He wasn't scheduled to compete. Something I always hated about other promotions. These people walk around like Bart Simpson.

Adam Page & Dustin Rhodes forming a tag team, with Page turning on him way down the line, could lead into a Cody/Page feud pretty nicely. I dig it.

Finally got an interview for a tenure-track job, after five years of adjuncting after my PhD and writing a(n award-winning) book. They gave me super short notice, so the interview is on Tuesday, and I have a long-planned trip with my wife scheduled for this weekend, so I'm not gonna get to prep much, but they'll recognize my value or they won't, I guess.