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I'm sorry, gentlemen, but it is my understanding that... "Wrestling... has more than one... royal family"

Kenny's character is that he is a nerd. He's a soft-spoken, curly-haired, video-game-loving, anime-obsessed Japanophile. He just happens to be a nerd with a perfect physique, high-level athleticism, and next-level pro wrestling skills. I love that character. It's a great idea for the nerd-culture-ascendant world that we now live in. I am always baffled when people point out individual examples of Kenny acting like a nerd as if it's a bad thing. That is his deal. That is what he does. I am, admittedly, a total mark for AEW. I have been waiting for something like this for a good long while. I love love love that they are constantly trying to stretch out the boundaries of what can work w/r/t pro wrestling characters and stories. They don't always succeed but I very much would like them to keep trying. They are, first and foremost, the company where people can have fun at work, with their friends. They are also the company that gets their hardcore fans and does their best to make them happy. The last thing I want them to be is a company where things are done by the book. A proficient wrestling nerd is a relatively novel kind of character. Obviously, the reason it suits Kenny Omega is that he is, in real life, a nerd who is very well-built, athletic, and good at pro wrestling.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

30 years later..

Like a lot of the guys from this era, he was a better worker than you would think, if you were judging him solely on his push. Honestly, guys like Batista, Cena, and Orton were lucky, because they could have just as easily turned out like Damaja and Dinsmore and Conway. People complain about how guys like Ricochet and Black are used once they make it to the main roster, but the WWE has been doing shit like this for 20 years.

I want to give the people involved in putting together the women's title match last night a lot of credit and I'm sure the ladies themselves for their participation in that process too. While the execution ranged from poor to okay, they did a fantastic job of making me bite on several near falls and a large part of that is the presentation. They had the hype video that highlighted Anna's growth. They played up Shida's record and often times companies will only do that before a big loss. The interference. The chair/kendo stick. The sleeper sold as a death move. They really went out of their way to build Anna as a legit threat and make Shida seem more vulnerable than she's been presented and it worked. They also gave Anna something to move on to with Taya and the Abadon belt lick was great too setting something up for Shida. We've rightly shit on both the talent level and the booking of the women's division but that was a perfect TV title match that seemed important, gave both women shine, and set up the next beats for both parties. More of that please.

Hey, yeah, welcome. I'm glad for anyone interested to follow along and chime in. The social aspect is what's keeping me going as much as anything else. You guys will note it's been about a week and a half. I had a little setback with something which felt like sciatica on my left side. No idea what happened (probably me picking up things and/or small children). I'm still maybe a little concerned that I did something I shouldn't have but the pain has been receding steadily over the last few days and I pushed it today on the treadmill. I'm definitely down about 30 pounds here but also crashing into Thanksgiving, so I pushed it today. Kicked my butt but I really wanted to watch... 6/5/89: Jumbo vs Tenryu: The #1 match in the DVDVR Best of the 80s AJPW set. It feels like a long road for me to get to here, but it's really just been a couple of months. This match unmistakably sums up 1989 AJPW and its style: hard-hitting, consequence-laden, familiar, deeply full of pride and emotion, with a crowd that understands the weight of what they're seeing and that may have a favorite (Jumbo) but relish in Tenryu's struggle and triumph as well. Jumbo, both technical Jumbo and grumpy Jumbo, are easier to understand than Tenryu. He's stoic and tough and hard hitting, but has that Funk-imparted vulnerability that drives meaning better than anything else in pro wrestling. Here, just through his resilience he pushes Jumbo into areas that he wouldn't normally go. It's different than someone like Hansen because it's not about surviving but instead about containing (early, with the cobra clutches) and escalating past the point of comfort (later, first with the big boots and then with the kneedrops off the ropes) because he's so hard to put away. I love that Jumbo's hurt leg is just a matter-of-fact and has been for basically a year, just a narrative tool like any other. Without going back and watching all of the lead up, it wouldn't have meant nearly as much to me. It's part of the match but not the key part, just like the strike trading or the complex spots and counters early, Hansen being the only focused-upon figure watching from the outside, and even the kneepad-dropping. None of it was necessarily the element that defined the match, but all of it came together to create something larger than the sum of its parts. The finish was definitive and meaningful, clean and clear, Tenryu finally surviving Jumbo, finally out-toughing him, finally owning the narrative so that Tenryu being Tenryu becomes more prevalent, more dominant, more focused, more defining to the All Japan ring than Jumbo being Jumbo. The finish wasn't flashy or complex. It was all about the struggle of Tenryu outpowering Jumbo to hit the second powerbomb. Nothing was given. Everything was a battle. Of course it was. The post-match is great, with Jumbo, frustrated, going for the handshake too soon, before the win really had a chance to settle in for Tenryu. You get the sense that if he could bring himself to wait, Tenryu would have embraced their old team and taken the hand, but if Jumbo had to wait, he wouldn't have extended the hand in the first place. It's interesting in that I don't actually think this was necessarily superior to a lot of the other matches I've been seeing, but it was in many ways the clearest representation of the style and all of the footage I've seen so far, and that's as good as reason as any to rank it #1. I have watched a few more things, so more later.

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends from across the pond xxx.

What if it's... ,,, ,,, ,,, Ibushi???? I am Gordi's Shadow

Also wanted to note the first three matches, which took us past the first 45 minutes of the show were John silver, will Hobbs and top flight, all virtual unknowns just months ago. And all are people that it seems like the majority of us want more airtime. Good stuff.

That's Roman's uncle, Luther.

All of this. It's about the execution, not the idea. Don't shoot for Mulholland Dr and give me Southland Tales.

I hear you. But at the same time, I'm focused on what they're trying to do (what I'd called "too much") and the results ("muddled, confusing personas where people don't know quite what to latch onto"). To use your own analogy regarding prestige TV, if they were serving me up The Sopranos (or hell, even The Deuce), I'm not going to complain. But I don't want to see shows or movies try to be that, crawl up their own butt, and fall well short. If all you can make me is a decent Tom Cruise action movie, I say K.I.S.S. and be as good at that as possible. I find that more respectable in a lot of ways than pretending to be something you're not and I'll love you if you can just make me one of those every year. And recently, I think we can all point to the Elite doing too much to so-so results, with the FTR-Bucks build probably being the most egregious example. If they want to try something new, that's fine. But all they really did was dampen anticipation for what should have been a slam-dunk build. I don't quite buy your notion of Dark Order as being representative of an outdated type of pure bad guy. There were more problems there, specifically them being too goofy and low rent for anyone to really buy as a threat in that way. Turn the dial to them being goofy low rent goofs who got sucked into something and steering away from the supposed gravity of the original vignettes and premise and I can see why it's easier for people to get into that. The Dark Order sucking as conceived doesn't really dispel me of any of my notions. They were just horribly miscast for something that was a bad idea. As TV analogies go, I hope they're one of those that shows that allegedly gets better mid-way through season two. The crime drama thing is fun. I worry that you think I'm asking for something as outdated as Dragnet...

Thunder Rosa's mask game is on point

I dunno, man. 1) In real life, and in the "prestige TV" era of entertainment, people and characters are very rarely purely good or purely bad. Obviously: Good people and heroic characters sometimes do bad things or make bad decisions. Unlikable people and villainous characters sometimes behave in a merciful or helpful way. It's certainly more interesting, in my opinion. For example, I am way more entertained by Dark Order as a collection of sympathetic goofs who have joined an evil cult than as the mysterious force of darkness they were originally portrayed as. 2) In pro wrestling specifically, pure heels vs pure faces doesn't really work any more. Everyone's a smart mark these days. People are going to cheer for whomever they like, regardless of affiliation or behaviour or story lines. When I'm watching old school pro wrestling, I love it when good guys do good guy things and bad guys do bad guy things. However, I get that it's no longer a necessary part of pro wrestling story telling, just like it's no longer a necessary part of crime drama storyntelling. At one time, a wrestler's ethnicity pretty much defined their character. At one time, an ugly guy could never be a good guy. Pro wrestling keeps changing and evolving. It's not a bad thing. I still like pure good guys vs pure bad guys, sometimes. And, there are old movies, old TV shows, and a ton of old matches that can scratch that itch. I think it's OK for AEW to try something different, though.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, please keep those less fortunate in mind.

In Mox's defense, it's not a very original catchphrase so I wouldn't accuse him of stealing it from Balor. It's Omar Little's best line from The Wire which is actually a paraphrased quote from Ralph Waldo Emmerson ("'When you strike at the king, you must kill him.")

Let's get Matt Patricia fired today

Can't wait to see how much they fine the Raiders

Did Taz seriously name his son Hook? And he's ginger too, which technically makes him Red Hook.

Somewhere in the multiverse that main event match/angle happened in 1987 and when the Winter is Coming Tour hits Baton Rouge on Friday night, Death Triangle and Archer take on Kingston, Butcher, Blade and Friend of Eddie Kingston The One Man Gang inside Blood and Guts. Tickets available at the box office or your nearest Kaybee Toys

Hall couldn't keep track of who was in the NWO any better than the rest of us.

In the eyes of internet conspiracy people, Bix is Paul Jones going after Drake Wuertz's Jimmy Valiant. The Boogieman's street people are actually the kids he rescued from the traffickers daddy. Handsome Jimmy will bring out JFK Jr to be his tag team partner at Boogiejam 2020. You might think QAnon Jimmy Valiant would ruin your memories of Jimmy Valiant, but the WWE Network's awful overdub of "Boy from New York City" already ruined the memories

Greetings, by the way. I'm a recent PWO member who the OP pointed here, and I made an account to participate.

New Masa shirts

Thought the show was good, but man, MAN I am sick and fucking tired of Taz's ECW style "shoot" bullshit. Fuck all that. Last night was the peak of that. Stop fucking name dropping Tony Khan. Stop name dropping other executives. Stop talking about Cody and others as VPs. Just fucking stop. It's so incredibly cringey too me and it doesn't work. Also, fat fuckin' Taz can't even get his sausage arms around skinny Cody for a proper Tazmission and Cody has to look stupid as fuck selling that lame shit. Just, ugh, just stop. The moment Taz became a manager I fucking knew this is where we would be headed and shoot stuff doesn't work because no one thinks it's a shoot. No one. We're now probably a week or two weeks away from Taz coming out and being like, "You wanna shoot, brotha, then I'll shoot." That was the worst shit about WCW and I just don't want to see that ever again. It worked in ECW because ECW was the outlaw fed and we were all, like, 14 and 15 and shit and thought that was real and cool.

Luther Reigns AKA former DVDVR favourite Horshu! “There’s no business like Shu Business!”

I largely agree but still feel like there's definitely a place for largely unmuddied good vs. evil in wrestling and it can even be in the majority of stories told. But I am glad it's not the only story offered. My preference is more for developed/clearly defined characters evolving over time through adversity, whether they be good or evil. All Japan did this without the use of many or any angles. But stuff like Kofi vs. Bryan was a masterclass of modern babyface vs. heel storytelling. It played up Kofi's real life career arc as the foundation, and in that regard it was more modern or even post-modern and meta, but the match itself was worked just about as purely as you can have good vs. evil (and yeah, I do find it hard to consider Bryan's ecowarrior character an out and out heel even if it was cartoonish).

This is probably the best version of blown up Rock

For those that are interesting https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/history-pro-wrestling-thanksgiving-dave-meltzer-326076 That is the History of Pro Wrestling on Thanksgiving recap that was in the WON years ago (10 years to be exact)

"The Hangman has beaten the meat, man!" - Jim Ross.

I felt the dad line fit the character. He comes of condescending while thinking he’s clever. I really enjoy this Tweener-Heel thing he’s doing now. The personality clash of him and Mox is great. Confident prick-nerd vs combat boots on a treadmill. On a related side note: AEW does an interesting job at having characters that are so mixed reviewed (at least on here) of not hitting some but super-loved by others. Kenny being this example, but that fits Cody’s over the top showmanship, Hangman’s moodiness, JR’s sassle-frass, etc. All come across as valid reasons to dislike them, but at the same time are why they connect with others. Good character depth with some of the guys.

You call them whatever Jake Roberts wants to call them and you'll like it

I generally tend to turn off my most critical tendencies for AEW and just enjoy what it is, for however long it ends up lasting, but ... stop with the entrance music playing during run-ins. We all make fun of WWE for doing it, and it's not like there are a lot of fans there to pop, which is the only reason to do it.

I think the whole video game shtick is Miro's choice. It doesn't work as a heel thing, especially with somebody as loveable as Miro, though. They really need to pull the trigger on the wedding so he can fuck Kip up and just be a brutish nerd face like he should've been from the start if that's the slant he wants his character to have. And thank you for explaining the Omega character. I am out of energy defending him.

The video game stuff and being best friends with a jobber is pretty lame but I’m not sure anything can be worse than being portrayed as a cuckold in a storyline with your actual real life wife.

Good stuff from Shida and Anna Jay. The video package beforehand was a nice touch too. Looking forward to the eventual Shida vs Abadon and glad to see Abadon back and healthy.

I'm now imagining that Manny Fernandez had no prior involvement with either Valiant or Valiant's opponent, and that stipulation was just added so he could act as, I don't know, decoration or something.

Jimmy Valiant is seered into my brain because of his match at i think it's Starrcade 86. My wife walked in the room as it is announced "per the contractual stipulation Manny Fernandez will be suspended in a cage above the ring". She said, why would anyone agree to that? I said I assumed it made sense at the time.

Shit yeah, the true workhorses of AEW, our boys Blade and Bunkhouse Butch win a Dynamite main event! Moving up the rankings, daddy! Babyface Archer with the save! Continuity! This whole thing was just fantastic as hell. Elsewhere, man they packed a ton into this show. So much to digest. Not sure how I feel about the Taz/Cody angle. Like that was a very well executed segment of a type of angle that I don’t want AEW to run ever. What is TK gonna wrestle Taz now? Stop it. No shooty stuff, no execs on camera, no mentions of execs on camera. Just no. Hobbs with the Worlds Strongest Slam finish was note perfect. So good.

No, I've always deeply hated Jimmy Valiant, so this tracks. The best thing about Jimmy Valiant in wrestling was when Pez Whatley whipped his ass for being a condescending racist with that "best black athlete" remark. The second best thing is any other time that someone whipped Valiant's punk ass. And fuck his shitty dancing. Boogie Woogie Man my ass. EDIT: And yes, I know that I ranted about this before, but like an old man telling stories about his youth, I will always take the chance to hate on Jimmy Valiant as a wrestler. If you'd like to wrap the human being up with that, go for it.

Spiderman vs a Monkey BJPW 1999

Saki Kashima

While I would love to try wacky recipes for Thanksgiving I'll be going to my mom's. They're all more about the traditional food so we'll be having so it's things like turkey, stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes, green beans (I hear they're a delicacy /BrokenMatt), cranberry sauce, etc. I honestly love pretty much all of that and toss in some pumpkin pie at the end and I'll be a happy camper. My hope is to hike the trail beforehand as long as it doesn't rain so it doesn't do as much damage. But we'll see how it goes. I do worry with COVID going on about going to her house. On top of that she also invited an elderly couple which had us worried. But my mom's taking every precaution we can and we got our COVID tests done (both were negative) So as long as we know what we're doing it should hopefully work out.

My uncle's back for the first time since he got out of jail and been allowed out of state in a decade (fraud in case you wondered) so mom's making the standard Turkey Pecan/Lemon/Pumpkin Pies Dressing + Gravy Cranberry whatever Green bean whatever Dad's rolls (100% greatness) If I can convince them, garlic mashed potatoes. Need to write that down. I hate going by the book Xmas is always ham and I despise the thought... then get drunk and eat it anyway and it's always great. I will insist on eating Chinese on Friday because fuck having leftovers immediately. EDIT: I've been trying to convince them to fry another turkey again for years. They ALWAYS say no. "Too dangerous"... sure. We have way too much of a back yard with no trees for that. EDIT II: Reading that back, you know what I don't sound like? Thankful. And I am. Without my family this year I'd be in the street. I'm happy to have whatever they make if it makes my mom and uncle happy considering both their parents are gone and they need to be together and feel something familiar. And food brings us together. This is a holiday only really necessary for bringing us together, so whether you come together or can't, treasure the people you still have.