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One of those people involved was doing their job, though. The other was being a crotchety old man.

If JR was hired to shit on things and people he doesn't like or know about, then he needs to take a walk to the unemployment line. As it is, though, I don't think that's the case, I think he's just given too much free reign compared to his time in WWE. He had Tuesday and most of Wednesday to come up with something to say about Butcher & Blade that night, it's not like their debut was a legit surprise to the announce team, and he chose to go with "WHO?". Excalibur is the wrestling nerd fan, Schiavone is the guy who can be a color commentator and is obviously rediscovering his love for pro wrestling every Wednesday night live in front of us, and JR is.... just a bitter old man who doesn't get what's going on, can't keep up unless he's calling a match like Dustin/Cody, and doesn't do his homework on people beforehand (even dating back to his time with New Japan). I understand that JR supposedly is an ear/eye catcher to these fabled casual fans (pssst they don't exist), but he's actively taking away from the presentation on-screen. If these "casual fans" actually do switch by, hear JR or see him, and he's shitting on how the Lucha Bros or whoever aren't holding the goddamn tag rope, he's either going to give off the impression that these two guys don't know what they're doing, or the fan isn't going to care one single bit - which, in that case, why even bring it up if only the purest and most hardcore fan would care about something like a tag rope, or guys being in the ring with their partner too long, or how the referee needs to do this and do that, etc.

Excalibur is very good. I fucking hate when announcers pretend no wrestling exists outside of This Company You're Watching and we have no way of knowing who these new people are. It's 2020 we all have access to the internet.

Another example of the pitfalls of having a company running on the whims and fancies of an out of touch senior citizen.

a) This conversation dating back to the beginning suggests no improvement on JR's part. And if the rants on his podcast are any indication, he has no interest in taking any criticism seriously. b) I like to think I have a sense of humour about this, in that I find clumsy, cranky JR-isms to be hilarious in the Botchamania and WrestleCrap vein c) I do blame Tony.

So what my stalwart friend of 15+ years, Mark, was indicating is that I can always put you on ignore. I don't think I have anyone on ignore right now, and I'd probably only do that to people who are downright vile, and you're hardly that. What I can't put on ignore is the waves of Snyder interviews and attention that are controversial so sites know will get clicks, and since they announced this things as the incel trolls basically won (which again, is not something I'm saying you are or it'd be a lot easier to ignore you; just the vocal majority on this one). That said, I don't think the movie should exist. The very last thing we need at this point in history is a DARK SUPERMAN movie, and waves of commentary by Snyder about the thing that will make Superman interesting (for the first time) is exploring his darkness. Maybe we need The Boys (though I don't think we do) or Watchmen (yep, that we need). Maybe we need the upcoming Invincible show. Maybe we need an Irredeemable movie or a Squadron Supreme movie or Kid Miracleman, but the last thing we need right now is some sort of backwards corporate celebration of a Superman movie that explores his darkness. So yeah, I don't think the thing should exist. Especially not in a world that isn't engaging and opposing, cinematically, the darkness outside our doors with one of the best and brightest symbols of light that our pop culture has created over the last century and a half.

"On today's episode of Japanese Jerry Springer, our topic is "Gurl, the Power Warrior ain't enough man for me! - You, Me & He""

Friend of mine came across this gem:

With all due respect, I think that complaining about Excalibur wearing a mask is nitpicking. In my opinion, I think that he's doing a good job doing what Tenay did with luchadors on Nitro being the "current/indy/moves" counterbalance to JR and Tony.

We really don't need another belt.

Not only does Lou Williams have wings named after him at Magic City, he has the lemon pepper wings named after him. He is operating on a level the rest of us can hardly imagine.

He don't really need your slack because I'm pretty sure it's not him out there freestyling. His job is to be the intercessor between the two old fogies, which right now, he does tremendously.

RIP, Regis Philbin, a friend to the wrestling community.

Ghost of Tsushima seemingly took RDR2, re-skinned it as a samurai game, made it look even more pretty than that game was, and improved basically everything (except maybe the English voice acting). I just did 7 hours in a single session, and I meant to quit about 2 or 3 hours ago. I’m really enjoying it, although my only real complaint so far is that there are like 6 different “skill trees” to upgrade, and you don’t get upgrade tokens all that often. At least so far, I’m not even all the way through Act 1 yet. My favorite thing is getting the Ronin outfit, getting the white variant (with the Death headband, because it matches) and then going on a killing spree. That outfit barely looks white when you’re done because it’s so stained with blood.

One of the promos of the decade. I know I missed out his run in the late '00s but it really feels like we only got to see glimpses of how great Regal could be throughout his career in WCW and WWF/E between personal problems, booking, and timing. He touches on that here. What a beauty. Fatalistic promos > *.

The President has backed out of throwing the first pitch of the Yankees game on 8/15.

Volleyball also doesn't get a ton of mainstream television coverage. Going over the rules for the casual viewer is a good idea. JR should not be pointing out whenever someone fucks up a tag, or when the refs are made to look like idiots on a live telecast. Sounds like something that whoever is agenting the matches should go over with the participants after the match.

I’m not convinced this is the way. Isn’t the best path to get someone pushed to insist they’re a failed Vince project who’s getting X-Pac heat? I call this the Corbin Principle.

This is when you run. Fast.

"One-album band", but what an album.

How is there no Kawada leg stretch taunt yet? Outrageous.

I can't be too specific at this point, but my next Airedale (a little girl that will tentatively be named Mischief) is one of these little ones. They are two weeks old, and just starting to get a handle on this whole 'walking' thing.

This JR-DVDVR beefing has been going with the exact same points since near the beginning of the promotion. There are certainly some valid points. There's also just plain personal hate. I don't find it so hard to get over with a sense of humor, but I get why some do. I pretty much stopped watching ROH DVDs at the height of the promotion because of Sapolsky's commentary. I can say the same about a lot of promotions. Anyway, maybe the conversation oughta move towards his employer. If it's such a problem then why isn't Khan, who clearly is a sharp guy with an attention to detail (mostly), not having this conversation with Ross? He's the man in charge, let him share the blame. Give him the marjority of the blame. What is he scared to lose JR? I can't imagine, with all that Jim went thru at Titan Sprots, that he wouldn't be receptive to a conversation about the tonal direction of his commentary from his generous employer. I agree, but that kind of misstep is not exclusive to debuting wrestlers, He has a tendency to overhype and sound hokey. That said, he's gotten a lot better and will continue to do so. I'm aware he has many years of experience with PWG, but national TV is a whole other thing.

The intro to that one sounds SO MUCH like the intro to cheesy 80s ballad ‘Lady in Red’ that by the time the guitar riff kicks in I’m too busy laughing at Vampiro coming out to “Never seen you looking so lovely as you do tonight” that it’s game over, man

It’s kind of stunning how this flies in the face of the adage, “Successes have many fathers, but failures are orphans.” JL is like the Kramer vs Kramer kid of shitty movies.

491. ‘Alternative Ulster’, Stiff Little Fingers (1978) Influenced by: Ulster • Sham 69 (1977) Influence on: Church of Noise • Therapy? (1998) Covered by: London Punkharmonic Orchestra (1998) • Voice of a Generation (1999) Other key tracks: Suspect Device (1979) • At the Edge (1980) • Listen (1982) I love the opening riff for this song – that’s worth noting right at the start. A song coming out of Northern Ireland, this focuses mainly on the punk themes of feeling alienated and not really having anything to do. If you like your music in keeping with the punk side of things, this is a song for you. For me, it never quite recaptures my interest after the opening, but I can easily understand its merits. 492. ‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais’, The Clash (1978) Influenced by: Police and Thieves • Junior Murvin (1976) Influence on: Jah War • The Ruts (1979) Covered by: 311 (1999) • Fighting Gravity (1999) • Manic Hispanic (2001) • Built to Spill (2003) • Colin Gilmore (2004) Our first and I’m guessing not last engagement with The Clash. This was considered by Joe Strummer himself as the best song he wrote and was an attempt to mix punk with the reggae roots sound that he so enjoyed. Alongside a rock guitar and reggae beat, Strummer’s lyrics are very political, calling on wealth redistribution and white/black youth coming together. He also questions that rise of the National Front. I particularly like Mike Jones and his harmonising; it is simple, but adds an effective additional layer to the vocals. There are other Clash songs I much prefer, but I get why Strummer held this in such high regard. 493. ‘Ambition’, Subway Sect (1978) Another UK punk act, but one cut from a different cloth from a lot of the other bands that have been spotlighted so far. Vic Godard wrote this song and provided the vocals, ones that are nasally and whiny especially relative to the pretty robust guitar work. It creates a catchy, some might argue poppy, take on punk. One of the odder additions to the tune is the sound effects from what I can only assume is the computer game Pong in the background. They aren’t even used subtly, as they take prominent space during the chorus and are the last sounds you hear as the song fades out. Decent, if nothing more. 494. ‘Hong Kong Garden’, Siouxsie and the Banshees (1978) Named after a Chinese restaurant and aimed to celebrate Chinese people in general after Siouxsie saw the owners of said restaurant abused by skinheads, this is a really punchy piece of what they call post-punk. The electric xylophone gives a suitably ‘Chinese’ sound to the proceedings, whilst Siouxsie’s vocals almost feel like calls to arms in her insistent delivery. This song packs a punch at just under three minutes – I’ve talked about momentum with songs in the past and that is how this tune feels. Some of it sounds a bit hackneyed now, but the overall sound of the band is one that intrigues me. 495. ‘Being Boiled’, The Human League (1978) Influenced by: Showroom Dummies • Kraftwerk (1977) Influence on: Just Fascination • Cabaret Voltaire (1983) Covered by: Beborn Beton (1994) • Heaven 17 (1999) • Simple Minds (2001) This is an interesting song as it was first released in 1978, before rising to interest at a time when the majority of the band had left and moved on to different things. You can see where the Kraftwerk influence comes with the sparse electronic instrumental, whilst Phil Oakey’s vocal delivery isn’t monotonous but doesn’t do much beyond delivering some rather spaced out, pro-vegetarian (apparently) lyrics. This is especially interesting when you contrast it to the more popular ‘Don’t You Want Me’ – you can hear the embryonic ideas, though that chose to embrace the poppier side of things in a way this doesn’t quite. I really like it, truth be told. 496. ‘Rock Lobster’, The B52’s (1978) Influenced by: Beach Party • Annette Funicello Funicello (1963) Influence on: Hey You Girl • Pitbull (2006) Covered by: Dead Horse (1991) • Boy Division (2008) Other key tracks: 52 Girls (1978) • Planet Claire (1978) • Party Out of Bounds (1980) • Private Idaho (1980) • Summer of Love (1986) There’s a barely suppressed mania behind all of this, with the insistent electronic organ chords sounding like the prelude to a mental breakdown. Couple that with shrieking female vocals and barking delivery of the lead vocalist and this has an undercurrent of something a lot darker than it is. That they manage to take this to seven minutes in length is almost impressive, though there is the underlying surf-pop tone that makes it an enjoyable listen.

the only time Excalibur's shtick bothered me was when "deathmatch legend Luther" debuted and X made it seem like a huge revelation. Luther sucks.

You're an absolute degenerate wrestling nerd though. And I mean that in a good way.

I feel like if it was Maury and not Jerry Springer, the last person I would want running backstage due to whatever paternity test result was announced would be between the trio of Suzuki, Hokuto, and Kensuke Sasaki. I would want no part of that inevitable bloodletting.

I wonder how Boser deals with a guy who can offer resistance back. He's already 0-1 against capable high level fighters. I don't really hold the Gane loss against him since that's his first taste at that level, but I do question how his output will look against other talented prospects. Lins is a good, solid fighter...Pessoa not as much. Prior to the UFC, Pessoa only had faced two people with winning records: Wagner Pezinho a mid level Brazilian regional HW and Brian Heden a regional Midwest gatekeeper who has been fighting long enough to have fought in Minnesota MMA staples NFA & EFX, and the midwestern go-to, take on ALL comers (trained fighter or not) promotion Extreme Challenge. Not exactly a murderers' row. Can Boser do that against a Tom Aspinall for example, who looks like a hell of an athlete? Time will tell. We might need some regional Lonsdale and commonwealth type titles at this point because they're stocked with fighters from certain parts of the world. James Ellsworth? That's cruel, man. ? If Lil Nog/Minotoro hadn't showed up looking like someone who survived the fallout from a nearby bomb blast as well as something off an evolutionary chart (he is in need of a hair replacement system, STAT), I would say Massaranduba was the oldest looking fighter on the card. With the help of a DeLorean, he might have traveled to the future to fight Saturday night after fighting Archie Moore in 1952. What makes him scary is his pressure from the top is better than most fighter's pressure using their feet to move and easily travel around the cage. McKee had no place to go or roll to. Every (perceived) option he had was bad. I don't see too many people signing up to fight him on 8/15 unless they really need the money amid the pandemic. Don't forget, Fitz. He is the most point A to B to C commentator you're gonna find in MMA, which is refreshing considering everyone has decided to go the Mike Goldberg route or the Schiavello route or even the Rogan color guy but for PBP route. He might not be thrilling to listen to, but if you watch the NFL or NBA or whatever, that's whose usually in the booth especially on your regional channels. Carla Esparza is the most mid 2000s MMA wrestler/top control fighter you're gonna find in this era of MMA, especially for female MMA. It makes sense cause she's a Colin Oyama product. Before the fight happened, I pictured a fight where Esparza spends a little bit too much time on the feet but has a respectable showing enough to lose a 29-28 3x decision. Turns out, she wanted a grappling match as soon as the horn sounded. @supremebve might have said it better, but I say it's tough to get a read on her fights because they always rely on the one variable of wrestling. If she successfully implements it, she can win easily. But then the question is can she fight effectively enough or do enough when she has top control? If she doesn't get takedowns, she's likely gonna lose. However, if you look at the fight with Claudinha or some of her other recent fights, she can make it rather unpleasant and overachieve with some of her striking ability. It could end up being a split decision with both her and her opponent getting 30-27 scores w/ a 30-27 deciding score/tiebreaker or a unanimous decision win/loss with 29-28 scores across the board with alternating rounds from the judges. You never know. And oh, yeah, it was bad night for refereeing. If a guy is "running away" from you, the only thing that matters is if you can punish him for it. If you can't stop him from doing it, it's your fault. 55 is being unabashedly nice of you. I feel like 60+ is a nice starting point. I didn't mind the fight that much, but it was all the evidence and proof in the world (in one side of your Venn diagram or any column you so choose) for not having a seniors division in MMA. Adesanya is just a naturally bad matchup for Whittaker cause Israel is fast enough and deceptive enough to constantly exploit Whittaker's lack of defensive responsibility/dipping his head down and leaving it in a very vulnerable position. As you know, it's like what Jose Torres said in Unforgivable Blackness about the potential dangers of pulling back. Guys like Anderson Silva and Adesanya rely so much on their reflexes that the only way to get to them is to catch them pulling back since they believe innately they can get away with it. However, if you don't catch them (i.e. A. Silva vs. Forrest Griffin and other Anderson maulings and most recently Whittaker-Adesanya), they're going to have a field day feasting on your over aggression to stop their counters. That's going to be Whittaker's equivalent of a puncher's chance if it is indeed a rematch. Borrachinha would still be a super tough fight, but Whittaker like tonight and his previous encounters (namely against Yoel Romero) have shown he can survive and win a war of attrition.

I still remember Bobby Lashley’s debut in OVW, when he destroyed some fools and Cornette screamed, “OH MY GOD, IT’S BLASTER LASHLEY!” This was his first appearance, no-one knee who he was, but Cornette instantly made him feel like a big name. Excalibur does that well.

Spoilered due to blood, file size, and Heyman hitting Sherri really hard. The pull apart and promo building to it ruled but holy shit Paul E.. Great music video with Lenny Kravitz on one episode of ECW TV. Shane Douglas had never been a bigger star in terms of presence than this feud. That promo vid of him and Sherri in front of the fire? FUCKING COOL.

Delayed thoughts. Sorry if I'm repeating shit, which I'm sure I will: Tanner Boser is part-time UFC heavyweight and part-time Edmonton Oilers checking line winger. That guy could be a legit star in Canada if he can put himself into contention. Would love to see him fight in front of an Albertan crowd. He's not a throwback pure brawling heavyweight either. Light on his feet, smart, good leg kicks, solid enough defence, AND the powerful haymakers with killer instinct. Grundy is a good British wrestler, though looked a flat-track bully, fading after Evloev survived that initial flurry in the first (that choke looked deep!), though he found something of a second wind in the third. However, Evloev's defensive grappling was so good and Grundy couldn't keep him down. Evloev is an awkward striker, not sitting on anything and changing to south paw inside after throwing the straight right. Clanked heads and some really weird inside exchanges but it worked for him. But his gastank, defensive grappling, and high output striking will be problematic for a lot of people. Lol, Aspinall looked like a star, not missing the lob thrown his way. Between Boser and Aspinall we've got some Commonwealth heavyweight prospects. Dalby was a bright prospect years ago and looked good until getting caught by James Elsworth. Story of his career perhaps. Jai Herbert looked really promising. Fluid foot work and striking, good groundwork, excellent energy. Trinaldo caught his breath though and caught Herbert. Dude was out on his feet answering the phone, slowly falling back. Herb Dean has always been overrated but he got exposed tonight twice. I know refereeing is tough in any sport and people complain of early stoppages but man... Both Hardy and Felder gave him shit, rightfully so. Herbert though, huge potential. Trinaldo is like the ultimate gatekeeper/TV champion. Such a pro, so tough and a smart vet. Chimaev smash. Time to give him a real test. Two flawless victories. Like last time, the frequency, power and accuracy of his strikes from the top are incredibly high level along with his top control. Deadly combination. Paul Felder feeling himself on commentary. That's a great team though. Once Rogan retires, they'll have a great crew (though part of me will miss Rogan. Bisping will take the torch being the overreacting, shouty guy). Anik is solid, Gooden is very knowledgeable for a play-by-play guy, Felder is a natural at this, Hardy is great, Cruz is clever though awkward, DC is entertaining and insightful. Did that person not use an enswell on Esparza after round 1? That was a huge hematoma. Her bulldog routine is a lot of fun to watch. Damage > octagon control. 5" difference is massive when we're talking 5'1" v 5'6". Good on Esparza for trying to maintain the streak of leglocks but ouch. What the fuck is up with this referee? Esparza mule kicked Rodriguez in the face while she was down. Cool, PRIDE RULEZ! Really good fight and the kind that elevated both fighters. Gustafsson forever the fleeing gazelle seemingly. Rua/Li'l Nog, it feels like both of these guys are 55. Rogerio looks it too. I was really enjoying Hardy and the commentary team nerding out over PRIDE during this dogshit. Two karate stance fighters in the main, kinda neat to see and with both guys jumping in for attack, that counter elbow that dropped Whittaker, shit like that is bound to happen. It's like waiting for the big explosion. Whittaker is the more well-rounded kickboxer, but Till's got more technical hands, whereas Whittaker is looping in a lot of his shots. Advantage straighter, quicker punches in round 1. Whittaker adapts and is sneaky aggro. God, this fight rules. Till fell into completely counterfighting until the 5th, maybe in part due to the injured leg. Little difficult to judge depending on how you scored the 4th (Whittaker outhit Till but Till landed the better shots, particularly that one loud counter). Till is lacking a bit of variety in his attack. He's not far away from being a real title contender if he can use some more than just countering and jumping in with the 1-2 down the middle. Whittaker hoping for a big Paulo Costa win. Card was fucking great as a whole with the co-main being the only thing to skip.

I think he should just do some matches against top guys from other promotions. It feels like stuff with Kiyomiya has been slowly brewing in the background.

Jigging while gigging.

As someone who listens to What Happened When, I would call bullshit on Schiavone knowing who anyone is given he has forgotten whole stretches of time he was in WCW when he moved his family back to Atlanta in 1990 from Connecticut. Granted, it's gotten better as time has passed and he gets refreshed on a lot of stuff.

I think Werdum was very consistent when he finally started clicking with Rafael Cordeiro. He looked like a whole different fighter. When a guy is getting up their in age even if it's heavyweight, I don't expect his second birth to last forever. He went on a very good run then it was someone else's turn. That's the one advantage Fedor kinda had. He didn't come into the sport late and basically took very little punishment early in his career. Fabricio started at 25 but really didn't go full time until 2006/2007 at almost 30 whereas Fedor was 23 when he was in RINGS. If you have guys go on these long Olympic bids before coming in or come in after years spent in submission grappling or kickboxing, it's going to be hard for them to put together resumes comparative to heavyweights we've seen in boxing (for example, Wladimir Klitschko was a high level and then eventually elite boxer from 98/99 ish post Olympic gold medal in Atlanta until 2017). Hell, they have trouble putting together resumes comparative to their MMA contemporaries from the lower weight classes. It seems that we're just lucky to get five or six good years out of someone before it starts crumbling down.

Excalibur should have responded with, "JR, he's Jim Sorgi to Jericho's Peyton Manning" and I bet he would have understood immediately.

The only thing about Excaliber that I don't like is he'll react to someone like they're this huge name and we all should know who it is. The biggest example was him all OMG IT'S LUTHER and JR was all "who?".

ghost of tsushima sounds nice but you ever play Mario Golf on Gameboy Color? I need new glasses. I cannot read the distance between me and the pin for this speed-golf wedge challenge.

I'll agree to disagree. You may enjoy him, I don't. But that's okay! One thing I can say about this company is they have something for everybody.

RE: Lee as double champion I think it would've been more effective if there was some sort of rule that if the NA champ wins the NXT title, the NA title is automatically vacated, instead of what they did with Lee and the two titles.

I saw a video on IG from I believe the 2 ring battle royal from Wrestlemarinpiad '89 where the members of Prison Gate Party/Gokumon-to (Bull, Aja, Bison, Grizzly, and maybe Condor if she was still around by then) angrily stride to the ring to the strains of Pat Benatar's "Invincible". Wild shit.

From Russia with Love is a genuinely excellent movie, and Goldfinger is great fun. Most of the other early ones, even though I like most of them, are pretty disposable fare.

"Selling for a goddamn cameraman! What kind of outlaw mudshow bullshit is this?"

The reason I dislike Cody and JR is because both are examples of harmful aspects of wrestling that I'd hoped would go away with this new progressive company. Cody is the guy with power who does whatever he feels like, regardless of whether it makes sense, is entertaining, or is good for the company. He's just out there cosplaying Flair, or dressing in Star Trek gear, getting his wife and friends put in angles nobody likes, gaming the system so his title sometimes comes across as more important, etc. There's nothing to Cody except for Cody pleasuring himself. He goes out there with his stupid hammer and smashes that throne when really he's no better than HUN-TOR was at his worst. Ross was the guy who carried out Vince's worst body guy wishes in an era where all the men were pressured to be gassed up and dying and all the women were pressured to have big fake titties and be nothing more than eye candy in lingerie matches. On commentary he praises guys who are getting more muscular, buries guys who are softer, and says things about women's looks. I'd hoped for better in AEW; it's the only national company I watch. So this stuff bothers me a lot.

Regal's challenge of Triple H for Eugene is better than any Punk promo I can remember.

Hey everyone. The closing down sale went on longer than expected. I was asked if I wanted to do a shift and the one I picked, today turned out to be the final one. I began the first date of the closing down sale with the same people and there I was today at its end. I’m thankful for that. I wish I’d started sooner and I’m already missing it, man. Thanks for reading xxx.