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Caption time!

Re: exec shakeup This reply to Meltzer is pretty much my thoughts on the comparison. Even though most boxing fans thought HBO Boxing (World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark) would be around forever, realistically, they had been in decline ever since the bullshit political split of Al Haymon vs. everyone else. That was almost a decade ago. HBO Boxing was still #1 in the market, but it would like comparing WWF in 1990 to WWF in 1995. It wasn't what it once was. The more fragmented boxing became (Top Rank on ESPN, PBC/Floyd Mayweather on Showtime and Fox, and Eddie Hearn's at the time small stable in the USA and Canelo/GGG on HBO and DAZN), the less likely marquee bouts would be able to be made. Right now, especially in the pandemic when promotional companies and platforms have completely tightened their purse strings, that decision looks absolutely genius. For a company that hasn't been on TNT a whole year, AEW has completely overachieved. I think a lot of this is much ado about nothing.

"...and, personally, that's why I've always thought the Hegelian Dialectic was fatuous and why I also have no use for the self-congratulatory cynicism of Nietzsche..."

Me Tarzan, you Jane!

[w.r.t. christopher.annino's point, it's never fun to have another reminder of how full of scumbags wrestling is, nor that some of your favorite moments/personalities mean you were in a position of cheering for a shitty person all this time. The jokes are more than a little bit of distancing/denial, certainly on my part, and probably a selfish bid to not let good art get too tainted by contemptible artists who made it]

Yeah. I mean, Russell Dalrymple left NBC to join Greenpeace just to impress Elaine Benes. ?

don't be so comfortable Ancient Aliens Arn Anderson THE SIGNS~! ARE THERE~!

How much was that Seinfeld free forum.again?

The way so many underestimated Orange Cassidy might be a good reminder when any one of us jumps to a weekly knee jerk dissenting opinion (ex wwe guys automatically being labelled jobber stink cast offs, etc). Even the best things take time to mature. I heard about Cassidy leading into the inaugural ppv, checked him out on YouTube and thought this guy is really unique and interesting. I’m not a comedy guy, but when you play for serious and not laughs while generating laughs you aren’t breaking any cardinal rules in my book. Or, as mentioned, Jericho’s well crafted play book. I never saw any reason with him to have to further suspend my disbelief which is always a problem (eg. Something like the ridiculous dick flip). OC’s been beautifully booked all along. That, okay I like him but they can’t book him every week or it’ll get stale argument seems to have vanished as well. So happy for Cassidy. What an Incredible talent.

his own fault for trying to dive through it to escape then.

Apparently in THE DEMO, AEW actually beat RAW this week. Jericho is a better Demo God than Shano.

Man, I wish my high school yearbook photo was half as cool as that.

Ah, so he's a sociopath.

I'm not a huge Brandi fan or anything, but if fans have run her off Twitter by being nasty to her, I think that's pretty horrible and mean-spirited.

Between StevieNippz and Shartnado, this has been an excellent week for random usernames on this board.

@Ultimo Necro, you're welcome.

Oddly prophetic as the double post was imminent.

I'm not saying it was Andersons ... but it was Andersons.

I thought you were referring to the Ibushi pic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

"Now presenting this life-like wax sculpture of professional wrestler Tarzan Goto, auction beginning at $3500. Can I get $3510?"

Obviously, this is totally unthinkable direction for Vince, but they wouldn't really have to break up the IIconics in order for Peyton to have a singles run. Just have Billie as more of a sidekick/ mouthpiece. They are undoubtedly more entertaining together, anyway!

Jannetty's homophobic language is certainly disappointing, and I'm sure extremely hurtful to many in our community here, but from a psychological standpoint, it sort of makes sense that he might hold that belief after having *** allegedly *** killed an attempted child rapist in self-defense. It's wrong, it's gross, it has no place, but I see how it could happen. And I'd like to shout out @BobbyWhioux because I think he hit the nail on the head with our (or at least my own) tendency to use humor (dark, dark humor) to kind of deal with some of these things. How else do you digest something so mind-blowing?

It's a silent gif but you can hear that thud in your head I bet. Also this is definitely on-topic AEW discussion now that Eddie Kingston is signed.

I was gonna bring this up in the How to Cut a Promo thread some weeks back, but Sid had a promo on the go home show for Royal Rumble 97 IIRC where he quoted Nietzsche (“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... ). To say I was taken aback would be a fucking understatement.

I know you're joking and all that, but the biggest problem people have trying to replicate Arn's spinebuster (namely Triple H) is they pick a guy up and try to slam them through the mat like it's a fucking shoot. It's like they're trying to run through a tackling sled at football practice. Arn picks em up light and then basically puts them down light taking all the impact on his arm. That's the beauty of the spinebuster.

Cross posting: Tully and Arn are on jericho pod today.

Great photo of Hiroshi Tanahashi.

If Goto was presented as the real father of Beulah's child (one of my fave in-ring angles) instead of Dreamer, I would have truly lost my shit. - RAF

We're getting the good stuff out of the way early, folks.

"I like Bears." Beulah: "Yes, me too."

Say Yeah!

I’ve never seen Zack Ryder, but Matt Cardona seems worthy of a shot at getting over. Why not? Is the argument still over his WWE run? That seems like the wrestler equivalent of slut shaming.

* Last week I was all, how wasteful is a Sammy Guevara vs Matt Hardy feud, and how little excitement anyone could have for it. Well, COLOUR ME STUPID because this week they made me care, and it took both men pulling out all the stops, including a savage colour job from Matthew. Maybe I should listen to Briley sometimes? * Still no Excalibur and although the commentary wasn't bad, there's absolutely no way that Tony "I haven't watched wrestling for a while and I'm just happy to see such fun" Schiavone should be leading a commentary team in 2020. JR kinda disappeared for a while, and given how good Tony & Taz were as a duo on Dark, it might not be the worst thing. Hopefully Excalibur will be back next week, though. * That opening TWELVE man, and the important milestone that is the first victory for NINE. Furthering the storylines for a whole bunch of shit, it was a hot opener that didn't even waste time on ring announcements, and played to the strengths of everyone involved, including the aforementioned Nine. Interestingly, Brodie Lee has 6, 7 & 8 crossed out on his tights so sucks to be those guys. The Dark Order are a highlight of stuff lately, and their BTE skits are awesome. Who knew, eh? * Matt Cardona is *fine* but he's also incredibly unnecessary, taking time away not only from other people who could fill his spot who are already on the roster, but also leaving us with no open challenge. I mean, I get it, and part of me really likes that they remember who their pals are, but sometimes it's just not needed. * Jon Moxley's run as champion has been a bit odd because of the whole virus thing, and there have been as many misses as hits, but this week was a great example of someone on the top of his game, with an A+ promo and a great main-event with Darby Allin, who actually looked like he was killing himself at times. As much as I love Mox, though, it's time to pull the trigger on MJeff, surely? * Sue's car got fucked up BAD. * The debate was SWEET, and I'm still pinching myself that Orange Cassidy is having a top line run with a TV promotion and loving every minute of it. Jericho has done nothing but make stars from day one in AEW and it's massively refreshing to see an "old timer" do that. OC HAS to win next week, yeah? * No Underground. Boooo.

Yes?

I’m amused at how many people are buying into this story that Matt was busted open hardway and Sammy has heat for throwing the chair too hard. I can’t tell if Alvarez is a geek getting worked or if he’s just co-opted media being co-opted media.

I can't imagine a bigger difference in using old, established names on a show then the one between Jericho and JR. Jericho has established himself as an all-timer, really a unique career and has added so much to AEW. I know they have JR for the name value, but he comes across as an old, out of touch grouch. When the hell did he decide it was ok to talk about business exposing stuff? Bill Watts would punch him right on the throat if he heard that crap. At this point, they just don't need him and it's time to cycle him "down the card".

Too bad there was no main character on B&B by the name of Pat, because then McAfee could have teamed with Shane THORNE and RIDGE Holland as the Bold, Beautiful and Bunghole, maybe? Hell, those three even resemble each other facially somewhat, so they'd even look like a team.

IMHO if you don't like it, don't pay for it. I subscribe to Disney+ but I'm not paying $30 to watch Mulan.

@piranesi you're being paged...

Jericho is a really unique guy at walking the line between comedic stuff while also getting over angles in a serious way. It really started back with "The Man of 1004 Holds" segment in WCW as far as I can remember, but his best of on that front is something else. The latest chapter being completely furious and dead serious that he's going to make Cassidy pay for ruining his $7000 jacket.

Nice takedown by Duranton: I love how weird this is. He shakes the hand and immediately rakes his face against the ropes: Full on 1958 STF: /

No lie, I still get warm fuzzies every time Arn embraces his inner Southern babyface and pitches to "Ricko."