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The next AAA mixed tag team?!?!

Farewell to the Image Thread, "THIS IS PRO WRESTLING MOTHERFUCKERS", one of the first things I recall leading me here years ago.

No mention of Bobby Roode and "Glorious" yet? Roode was a decent hand, but he was never anywhere near as cool as that song.

Samoa Joe (c) vs. Darby Allin: The first one was one of my favorite AEW matches of the year and a match that made this Joe run feel like it was worth it. I've probably said it twice, but think back to poncho joe in the rain and then extrapolate forward to the King of TV. It must feel amazing to have a run like this still in him with new opponents and the trust of title belts and getting a reaction. Darby's the perfect opponent to pinball off of him and for him. You know in front of the hometown crowd Darby's going to turn up the notch even higher. Something insane will happen in this match. The Acclaimed (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal for the AEW world tag team belts: Some real nasty insults in the build here with the last rap. Jarrett knows he has to deliver. You know they're going to do everything they can to get as much heat as possible and the hot tags are going to be explosive. Ricky Starks vs. Chris Jericho: Jericho has a massive chip on his shoulder, even after basically the best in-ring year of his career, with a bunch of tweeters getting under his skin lately, even with the Andretti loss. Starks knows that he had his big title match but he has to nail this program. On a physical level, Starks is probably the best fit for Jericho out of all of his opponents of the last year so hopefully they lean into the narrative and just make people feel. Kiera Hogan and Skye Blue vs. Jade Cargill and Red Velvet: Hey, you know who I'm high on? Skye Blue. Did you know that? She has great chemistry with Red Velvet and they'll probably beat the crap out of each other. I imagine Hogan still feels like she has something to prove here too as it's maybe her last chance to make a mark. AR Fox vs. Swerve Strickland: I think this could have main evented a Dynamite in six months with enough build. Instead they're giving it no build at all. I hated Killshot vs Dante Fox! Boy did I ever hate it. But I have faith I'll probably like this to a degree. Probably. Since I like Swerve as a heel a lot more and in his current character. More importantly, a lot of people will love it and I am happy for them. They're going to try to show everyone else up. Bryan Danielson vs. Tony Nese: Speaking of chips on shoulders, Nese has so much to prove here. He's going to give Danielson everything he could possibly want. Hopefully this still gets some time on a stacked card. I think Nese is amazing at showing ass and playing into other people's strengths. I think he's very good at finding the middle ground between getting under people's skin and just wrestling a high workrate cardio fest. I'm looking forward to Danielson interacting with Sterling. All this plus Bock vs Jumbo match 8! It's really a hell of a show.

Via cubsfan: Ayako Hamada held a press Friday to announce the opening of Dojo Dinastia Hamada, a Mexico City gym/training center. She’s doing a contest where the best student of a four month training session will win a trip to Japan. Hamada also announced she’ll open an OnlyFans next week.

The WWF choosing to licence that awful Uncle Cracker song for X-Pac actively harmed him career. He was still a good worker at that point, would be for years afterwards, but that song made him synonymous with extreme suckitude.

"Vince...brother, the rights to "Life in the Fast Lane" cannot be that high...I mean I use to hang and bang with Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and all those guys..."

Going to see Danielson live after I saw him retire (also live) and thought it was all up for him... ...and he's having a Very Good Match with Tony Nese. Somewhere, the index finger of a cursed monkey's paw curls inward.

Bray Wyatt

A good 8 months of 1985 World Wide just dropped on youtube this morning. Happy new year.

All the Justifiedheads on the board are going to be cracking their knuckles and licking their lips as soon as they read your post

Thought it was time for an update. Long read. After telling my Dad and Sister about having suicidal thoughts for the first time, that was a huge moment as I'd kept it from them for ages because I didn't want to cause worry/upset. Takes a lot to open up to someone as I've had good and bad experiences doing so. I knew Dad/Laura would be there for me as my much missed Mum would. My Dad/Laura thought I could do with speaking to a doctor that week preferably my assigned one, Dr. Jundi. Thing is she's hard to get appointments for and I wasn't able. I spoke to Dr. Markey who thought I needed switching antidepressants so Dr. Jundi did in September. Full disclosure, I'm not the best with medications going from thinking they're not working to wanting something different. Depression is an illness of highs and lows. I was taken off Trazodone to Fluoextine. I tried preserving with it even though I was getting muscle twitches and singles down my limbs. I had a really bad three days and by chance I spoke to Dr. Gupta my long term pain specialist who thought it was Serotonin Syndrome. Serotonin Syndrome sucks. Got an emergency doctors appointment to be put back on Trazodone in December. I will say I miss the buzz of the first few weeks back on it and March of this year. That buzz hasn't come back but I seem to be better on Trazodone than others. One was great, Venlafaxine but had to stop taking it as it messed with my heart. Dr Jundi wanted me to try My Wellbeing College again but I was reluctant to having the bad experience with Ben. I started my therapy with Rebecca on the 1st of November, 6 sessions. I liked Rebecca, thought I was making progress...and then came my fourth session with her on the 20th of December going in a direction I didn't expect. Rebecca felt she wasn't helping me and I can't move to the next step, step 3 with someone else despite me doing all but one of the things she's given me to do outside our sessions. The one thing I forgot cost me. I said to Rebecca that it feels like my openness, honesty and progress was getting put to one side over reliance of a questionnaire score, hate those damn things. Didn't take Batman, the World's Greatest Detective to figure out how upset I was. What's disappointed me with Rebecca more than Ben and other healthcare professionals is that I clicked with her as noted felt my progress was looked over by that stupid scoring system. It's the "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" from your family kind of feeling. As noted earlier, when you have a bad experience confusing such secrets, it puts you off and you can't row back on it. It's the most I've been upset talking to a healthcare professional on the phone in five years, even when upset I was still polite. Rebecca must have been concerned how our conversation ended as First Response rang me twice afterwards while I was asleep with one saying it had come from My Wellbeing. Always put off ringing First Response for years but did the next day to tell them I'm okay. Least I could do. Call from Jacqui O'Riordan went good, she sides with me over Rebecca. I'd have really gone to town with the self-harm because I was so distressed but didn't mainly because I wanted to and I very rarely say this, stick it to someone. Rebecca rang me back the next day saying I can go to the next step but there's a wait. I never forget when someone has hurt me, I find it hard to forget. I've written a letter to Dr. Jundi this week letting her know before my appointment this Thursday. I need to get back to the healthy eating and exercise again. Done little of both due to depression and physically I'm in consistent pain. Weight gain through the medication and poor food choices as well. I was stunned when my neurologist told me having Cerebral Palsy, my body has to work four times harder doing the same thing as someone who doesn't. Right taken aback when I heard that. I'm so stiff. The spasms. Mental health issues, depression and grief, your thoughts and feelings in mind. Please keep this to the board only and not on Facebook. Only the board, my Dad, Sister, Adam and Alyson know the true extent about the self-harm/suicidal thoughts. I trust you too. Thank you, Paul xxx.

Here is your new thread

Since new trailers are slim pickings right now - here is just a list of, theoretically, notable 2023 releases (obviously not all releases listed). I also didn't include anything without an official release date. Knock at the Cabin (Feb 3) Magic Mike's Last Dance (Feb 10) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Feb. 17) Cocaine Bear (Feb 24) Creed III (March 3) Scream VI (March 10) Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March 17) John Wick: Chapter 4 (March 24) Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (March 31) The Super Mario Bros Movie (April 7) Renfield (April 14) Evil Dead Rise (April 21) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (May 5) Fast X (May 19) Little Mermaid (May 26) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2) Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9) The Flash (June 16) Elemental (June 16) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One (July 14) Roosevelt (July 14) Oppenheimer (July 21) Barbie (July 21) The Marvels (July 28) Blue Beetle (Aug 18) Equalizer 3 (Sept. 1) The Expendables 4 (Sept 22) Kraven the Hunter (Oct 6) The Exorcist (Oct 13) Dune: Part Two (Nov. 3) The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Nov. 17) Trolls 3 (Nov 17) Wonka (Dec. 15) The Color Purple (Dec. 20) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Dec 25)

This is generally true of most workers from Japan who got the WCW or WWF "generic Eastern music" treatment, with one exception: The Great Muta's '89-'90 theme was COLD. Then they never used it again when he'd pop up in WCW throughout most of the '90s, IIRC. What a waste. I also have beef with Hunter bringing Liger in for a match and not spending all the dollars on "Ikari no Jyushin," which should be some type of crime.

Taka and Kaientai were way cooler than the stereotypical Asian shit that WWF gave them for theme music.

I will say that as frustrating as WWE Network/Peacock overdubs can be sometime, the piano-driven ditty they came up with for the Boogie Woogie Man is a joy that fits his vibe perfectly, and I say this as someone that loves him dancing to The Boy From New York City. And while not quite matching the intent of the original post, I will take this time to say that I HATE that the sweet Megaman knockoff Titantron graphic/entrance was wasted by WWE on frigging TJ Perkins.

OC/Trent was a banger. TK is an admitted e-feeder as am I. This was such an e-fed match and a damn good one. Loved they leaned not just into the shtick but a story as to what happens when the competition of wrestling gets in the way of (Best) friends. They had good over-the-top emotional beats, which is what I want in my emotional beats in wrestling. And an evil soap opera villain like Kip Sabian (who I sorta love?) stirring things up was a chef’s kiss.

I went with Trent vs OC because damn it sometimes I like my wrestling to be fun and wholesome! Also Danhausen kicking OC and the tope into hug both made me legit laugh out loud. Trent is secretly having a career year.

Send CM Punk to ROH.

I stumbled upon this blog site looking for information about the backstage fight between Kandori and Hokuto at Big Egg Universe. The blogger often includes excerpts from interviews and books when doing his match reviews -- http://konjyaku.blog.jp/

I am trying to weed out threads that are a decade old so he is your new thread

Here is your new thread - I dream it goes better than *waves arms* all the previous ones

Kenny Pickett is far from a top 10 QB but fuck he is clutch when he needs to be. Some great throws in that last drive Every time people think they can finally put a nail on the coffin on Mike Tomlin as a head coach for the Steelers for whatever stupid reason, he pulls off a run to a winning season and hell even a playoff berth. And not one of the 4 teams have to fuck up scenarios either.

What - and I cannot stress this enough - THE FUCK????

This is an unusual way for Kirk Cousins to get his revenge on Washington but I approve

She started doing judo in the 4th grade of school, in high school she was a famous sports powerhouse in her hometown. When she was with her team she advanced to the top 8 of the national tournament.

The only answer is Lance Storm coming out to "El Phantasmo And The Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama".

That and it was super catchy.

Giants are officially in the playoffs That is a statement I get to start 2023 off with

SEAdLINNNG 12.28 Korakuen main event, Beyond the Sea Championship.

if the CFL can have Roughriders vs Roughriders, surely the NFL can have the Albatrosses vs the Albatrosses

First match first. Second match later. This was a fun way to start the year. I only ever dabble in modern Joshi, but I know enough to tell you that I'm much ore of a TJPW kind of guy than a Stardom kind. The later probably has better 'workrate' and higher conventional star ratings and whatever else, but it's all too loud and too much for me. Miyu is real good at letting things breath and settle in and it's all more methodological and ... yeah, a little more sports entertainment-y, but in a good, balanced way. They really telegraph the meaning of things before and after something happens. Maki lets everyone in the world know she's going to go for the falling headbutt, but so long as you're willing to go along for the journey, everything just means more in the end because of that. The crowd was a little chant happy early, but they settled down and got into things and it meant that the wrestlers were able to respond to a fight forever chant and adapt accordingly instead of it just being this detached, gratititous thing (which honestly, may be something I've never, ever seen before; you could see Maki sort of switching on a dime as she heard it). Maki's reactions are great in general. She's a performer through and through and she completely inhabits the character. As much as anything else, the story of the match was Miyu knowing she needed to crack the skull in order to take Maki out but bouncing off of it as she chipped it down. It meant that she'd go for the stomach instead to create opportunities and Maki's selling of it was quite good. She couldn't put her away with that alone though, so things built to the kicks, backfiring right until she was able to push past the resistance and pick up the win. Again, it's never quite the smoothest thing you'll ever see, but the effort's there and the meaning's there and the heart's there. This went on a while but never wore out its welcome. It kind of made me want to track down Maki vs Yim at least. Hopefully we see her on Elevation next week or the following. Thanks!

Thank you. Appreciate that. Thanks also to @gatling, @JLSigman, @Matt D, @twiztor, @Zimbra, @Execproducer, @NikoBaltimore and @Log xxx.

The lying fucksticks at Paradox Interactive insist that there is a possibility that VtM: Bloodlines 2 could be released in 2023 and like a total moron, I pray that holds true. I am a sad old man. I suppose you can add the Cyberpunk 2077 DLC, Phantom Liberty, to the THINGS LABELLED AS JUST 2023 list.

Fun show. The big title match has one crazy dive and one crazy top rope spot that are already on twitter. It was streaming free in Japan so I think they really wanted to make an impression on the people who usually stay in on New Year's Day - a lot of places are still closed on January 1st, not as much as before but the 2nd is when all the sales and lucky bags are really begin in earnest.

@The Natural you said you haven't seen much Joshi, then let me hip you to Sendai Girls, Meiko Satumura's promotion. This is my OVERALL 2022 match of the year- Ryo Mizunami vs the unbelievably great Chihiro Hashimoto.

I wouldn't be opposed to CM Punk returning at all provided everyone is on the same page and either stays away from each other or hashes things out so they can all be one big happy family again. And also Tony Khan doesn't let the wounds fester and actually addresses the problems if one comes up. Secondly, I think if Punk were to return, you have to be realistic about using him again. He has to be a special attraction type player. Basically like what MJF is now except even LESS matches maybe. Even if Jericho doesn't like it, tough. It's not his call. He doesn't have to share a dressing room or TV with Punk if he doesn't want to. If Jericho can get over Goldberg trying to big-league him in WWE that they actually came to blows and still worked a match against each other on PPV, then Jericho can live to work with Punk coming back. Tony Khan owes it to his company to try and work something out with Punk. Let him lick his wounds and heal from his injury and give him a call.

So, yeah, if anyone had tried to tell me, "Hey, Gordlow! The first match you watch in 2023 will have Horace Boulder in it, and also you will LOVE that match," I believe I might have been sceptical. Gotta love DVDVR and Secret Santo. Where else you gonna hear about stuff like this? Hulkster's nephew is UNRECOGNIZABLE in this, slender and long-haired. He and Atsushi Onita IMMEDIATELY brawl into the crowd, and all over the gymnasium. In the meantime, EL HIJO DEL SANTO and NEGRO CASAS are having a Santo vs Casas match in the ring! And the crowd is going CRAZY. And I am thinking about Tim Patterson. I am assuming he has this in common with Rick Fuller: a guy who was "just a jobber" in WWF/WCW but a main event local hero in their home territory. He seems to be here just to bleed and do one "malfunction at the junction" spot with Santo and Boulder. I wonder, when he's at the bar, does he talk more about the time he shared a ring with Casas, Santo, AND Onita, or about that time he did the job for Hacksaw on Superstars or whatever. Here's my memory of him: Jesse or Brain or someone jokingly asking if he was Pat Patterson's son and me and my friends having a hearty "we get that reference" laugh about it. And before I finish that thought, the match is over. And I am thinking , "That was extra succinct," but it turns out the match is 2 outa 3 falls which makes me unreasonably happy. More craziness! If I have a complaint, it's that the match is mostly Onita and Boulder brawling FMW style while Casas and El Hijo del Santo play the hits. If they crossed over more, the match might have been even more insane. It's still pretty nutzoid. For example: there are two refs (I think 1 Japanese and 1 Mexican) and their poorly synchronized double-dive-to-the-mat three counts are a genuine highlight. And there is the insane indeed visual of Santo standing high in the corner triumphantlywaving a JAPANESE flag at the end! What a way to start the New Year! Thank you, Curt.

I'll be there too!

When he first started in TNA, I hated West and wished like hell they would have gotten anyone else to replace him. But damn if he didn't win me over to the point that when he left and was replaced with Taz I was disappointed (and I like Taz as an announcer). West just had such a magnetic personality. He was at one of the TNA house shows they ran up here and dude was a machine getting people to the merch table. Hell I went up and bought a shirt even. West was just impossible to resist. I'm pretty sure he could have sold you the shoes you were already wearing.

Aww man, I'm going to Dynamite in Seattle. I really hope Maki is there!!

Punk got two injuries in short succession, one in a freak outside-the-ring setting. Him catching so much shit for his wear-and-tear when people like Omega and Christian are hanging around strikes me as the usual crowd just looking for any reason to show him the door. Even younger guys like Adam Cole can suffer two injuries in quick succession. It's a weird physical business, you've got to be careful how much you hold that against people or label them. Maybe AEW knows more about Punk's health than us that might give them a scare, but based on publicly available information at most he ought be told firmly that his days of jumping the rail like that are over. But there's not enough there to justify being ready to move on. Re: Battle of the Belts, this is what it is, it's likely not changing, and I can't see any purpose to adding a taping for such a sparsely-viewed show. Just be happy you potentially get one or two more matches worth seeing that week. Re: Jericho not wanting to work with Punk, I never got the sense Punk was in a rush to work with him either. Or that anybody was clamouring for it. That should be an easy enough situation to resolve.

In the ideal world, Punk will come back to tie up loose ends (certainly some potential there for hot matches if all parties can play nice) but he shouldn't ever sniff the title picture again. He's just too injury prone and untrustworthy, make him a special attraction for PPVs and the bigger Dynamites and let him focus on "blood feuds" rather than anything title related. I don't know if he will be able to smooth things over with The Elite and Jericho, or if he even wants to, but it would be nice to have a better conclusion than what we got with Punk in AEW at the moment.

My buddy who is visiting from Japan for the holidays gave me a pretty baller gift he won from a claw machine or something: a sexy Kota Ibushi pillow!!! Look at those pecks, that actually stick out. Pretty awesome.

酒ましておめでとう!ことしもヨロヨロしくおねがいします！

Well said, Michael Cole. Well done, WWE.