Leaderboard

Shit dude, that's nothing. When I was 10 I made my dad buy me a copy of Fraggle Rock magazine bc I had a crush on the one hippie, trippy muppet. That he did that for me and did not enroll me in military school is a credit to that late great man.

Can we please not do this again?

I could talk positively about all that lovely blood and violence but I gotta get something off my chest: this whole Kingston/HOB deal is the most Vince-era WWE angle AEW has run in ages. The defining trait of such an angle is at least one participant having to act like an utter moron for the narrative to not instantly collapse, and unfortunately Eddie has drawn the short straw here. Ortiz is someone Eddie has had a relationship going back what, a decade or so with, who he has gone to war(games) with in this company within just the past year. He's got an anger management problem, not a delusionally paranoid problem (I believe that was Punk >_>). The event that started this all off wasn't even a good fake out as no one else in HOB acted like they were thinking Ortiz was with them, just that Black called them off for some reason. Black then dropped a confusing to follow (even for him) promo a couple weeks later that was supposed to plant the seed for this dissension but left most people going "wait, what?" and then in this match... if you think you can't trust your partner why are you even asking for this match but much more importantly... if you are worried Ortiz might stab you in the back leaving him on the apron leaves you vulnerable and with your back to him all match, you let him wrestle and spend all match hesitating if you trust him on the apron (he did that briefly early on, which was fine). Refusing to tag out to Ortiz because he can't trust him doesn't make a lick of sense given the situation they set up, and the whole end run was overly complicated but at least not as bad as everything else. HOB are cool, I love eddie, ortiz is fine but this angle has been a dumpster fire.

I hope whoever the buyer is has a sense of history. I really hope that the last McMahon show ends with Ted Dibiase and IRS knocking on Mr McMahon's office door, an assistant letting them in, DiBiase looking into the camera and deadpanning "well, everyone's got a price" and closes the door behind him as the screen fades out.

"I've worked countless bears in territories all over the world over the years, all of whom went out of their way to thank me afterwards for a great match, and allowing them to get home safely to their bear family. That was always something I took great pride in. You walk into any locker room, and you look up on the wall, and no matter which bear your name is listed next to, you know what you're going to get. I don't think any wrestler could say the same if they saw their name next to Bill Goldberg at the Summerslam for example"

But how else can we do out wish fulfillment of AEW being WWE with a different thin skinned billionaire running it, but he used to post here so he's cool.

My favorite part of his ring intro was when he was announced as “you guessed it - Frankie Kazarian!” as though that was anyone’s guess.

Yeah. It really is beautiful. Thank you, Dean. If I were to rank all the professional wrestlers I have ever watched in order of how much joy I experienced while watching them, Survival Tobita would rank very high. And that is kind of how I rank professional wrestlers, personally. So it's reasonable to say that Survival Tobita is one of my top 20 all time "wrestlers I have never seen live." I'm pretty sure - but not 100% sure, that I have not only seen the guy "playing" Bauxite Medium live, but have met him, spoken to him, and been drinking with him. The same way I kinda rank wrestlers by "how much joy they spark in me" I tend to personally rank matches by "how much pro wrestling love and individual creative expression are shining forth." But not exclusively. Everything from Nifty Moves to Realistic Striking can count, as well. Also, I like when they tell a little story. This particular match doesn't rank very high in terms of Nifty Moves or Realistic Striking. It ranks EXTREMELY high in terms of Love, Creativity, and Storytelling. Beautiful. Incredibly, this is the first time I have seen this particular Survival Tobita match! I think I might have skipped over it before because I thought it was the Tobita vs "Automatic Warrior" match. It is not! This match is FAR superior! I genuinely enjoy thinking about Survival Tobita. I find it amazing that (assuming I can count DEAN as someone I "know") I know at least TWO people who own Survival Tobita t-shirts. Like with Ebessan vs Kuishinbo Kamen, or Choco Pro, or Invisible Man vs Invisible Stan, or even Les Kellett matches, it's such a highly specific idea that I find it rather amazing that it caught on and found an appreciative audience... And I also feel MUCH less alone in the world because it has. The first Mokujin Ken match, which was the first Tobita match I saw, plays out in front of a handful of people inside a tiny gym. The re-match, which has an absolutely brilliant twist that I will not spoil here, takes place in front of a large and noisy crowd in an actual arena! The Bauxite Medium match takes place in, it seems, the same small gym as Tobita vs Ken One, but there are WAY more people there and they are VERY excited for this match. Bauxite is the rock that is the world's main source of aluminium. Tobita's foe appears to be some kind of aluminium robot monster. At first, the monster declines to engage with Tobita, and Tobita sits down and drinks a beer. When he finishes his beer and tosses the aluminium can away carelessly, that ENGAGES Bauxite Medium. BM batters ST mercilessly with his massive box-shaped aluminium hands (which look like empty industrial-sized containers of cooking oil). It's a massive beat-down! Bauxite Medium wanders into the crowd and they flee like he's Bruiser Brody swinging his chain. Tobita finally gains the advantage by dismantling the bare mats and using them to detach the monster's boxy hands. He then hits a nice FISHERMAN'S BUSTER and covers Bauxite with mats before climbing atop the pile to earn a hard-fought pinfall victory. It reminded me, very much, of the ending to the Panamanian Giant match that Matt gave me to review. The tossed-away-beer-can psychology, in my opinion, was something approaching pure genius. This match sparked SO MUCH joy in my heart.

This I believe was brought up to compare to Goldberg who could not follow the same signals.

AGGRESSIVELY adorable.

So I thought Willow had almost killed Anna with that DVD on the apron but then she proceeded to actually murder her with that jumping powerbomb right onto the floor. Holy fucking shit, poor Anna. Tay came off great, she really sold her character here and seemed to take control of the whole match. Ruby’s crimson mask was AWESOME looking, like I was ready for her just to pull out a chainsaw near the end because she looked straight out of a horror movie when the final girl just says fuck it and destroys the villain.

That was pretty much perfect. I told my wife it was going to be an intense first episode and sure enough, she cried. Kind of breaks my heart to know what comes and not want to spoil it for her.

Now I know who @Kevin Wilsonwas talking about

If Justin Herbert isn't a top 10 quarterback, I'm going to need a list of the quarterbacks better than him. I think almost everybody thinks that Josh Allen is a top 2 quarterback in the league, and if they lose this game it will be mostly his fault. It won't change the fact that he's still a top 2 quarterback. Herbert isn't perfect, he hasn't performed in the biggest games, and still he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I'd rather have Herbert over anyone not named Pat, Josh, Joe, or a healthy Lamar. He's that good in a league full of dudes who aren't.

This post is even funnier if you read it in "Incredulous King Booker T" voice.

I don't want to admit how long I thought the apter mags were legit. . .

I gotta say, reading the last page and this one was real funny.

Well, Al Michaels sucks and Sanctimonious Gasbag Tony is even worse, so...

Also, Trevor Lawrence has still never in his life (high school, college, pros) lost a game on a Saturday.

Sting is one of my all time favourite wrestlers growing up with my #1 in Bret Hart, The Undertaker and Randy Savage. The bright colours and blonde hair. What a transformation going from Surfer Sting to Crow Sting, the best iteration. Fuck Hogan and Bischoff for WCW Starrcade 1997. Fuck Wolfpac Sting. Sting's TNA run was hit and miss. Liked the all too brief hybrid version of Surfer Sting/Crow Sting/Wolfpac Sting which debuted at TNA Bound for Glory 2006 when he beat Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Joker Sting was a favourite of mine for obvious reasons. I hated Sting's WWE run particularly vs. Triple H at WWE WrestleMania XXXI for a number of reasons: Sting vs. The Undertaker was the money match, Sting who never left WCW vs. The Undertaker who never left WWF, the n.W.o helping Sting and Sting jobbing. Sting thought the cinematic match Taker had vs. AJ Styles at WWE WrestleMania XXXVII was the avenue to making it happen but no. Sting getting hurt to Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions 2015. So upsetting that having to retire. Sting's AEW run has been amazing, his team with Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks/Brian Cage in his first match for 6 years at AEW Revolution 2021, a cinematic one on my birthday weekend. Sting/Darby Allin vs. #FTR is the best Sting/Darby match at AEW Grand Slam Dynamite 2021. Sting no selling Superkick Party by the Bucks at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2021. Old man Sting fucking jumping off shit. So glad Sting is having this run going out on a high, one of his best in his long career.

Normally the Vikings win one playoff game before the embarrassing loss. Pleased to see them trying new things

The Vikings bowing out early feels very not-surprising even if they finished 13-4

HOLY SHIT!!! THE CRAZY SON OF BITCHES DID IT!!!!

This was a fun little 8-man tag. I'm pretty familiar with the Japan squad. I think this was right around the time that Zeus was making his run towards the Triple Crown and so he was the big showcase hot tag. Douki takes most of the heat for the Japanese squad. I remember Vinnie Massaro being a competent job guy in Lucha Underground. Jungle Boy was more of a Jungle Toddler here. He got a small amount of offense in and a dive at the end but was largely a non-factor. But even then you can see that he's got that intangible star quality to him (read: he's very attractive) and obviously he's going to go on to bigger things. Things break down in the middle. Eventually Zeus gets the hot tag and runs wild. Jun Akiyama gets tagged in after some more chaos and hits the exploder 1-2-3. Some highlights: Vinnie Massaro's basic fat guy offense and big ol' "VIVA ITALO!" before he drops the elbow. Zeus' hot tag being 4 scoop slams. Eat your heart out CM Punk. When I reviewed the Combat Toyoda/Megumi Kudo match earlier for Secret Santo I wondered why no one does that Argentine Backbreaker like Toyoda any more and then Jungle Boy busted out a totally rad looking single shoulder version of that. Thanks for listening to me 4-years-ago Jack Perry! Does he still do this move at all? But let's talk about what I enjoyed the most about this match: The cinematography. The whole match is shot with one handheld ringside on the apron facing the entrance ramp, but it's not a fancam? Like clearly they could only afford the one camera/camera man. Or maybe this is just the one camera's feed? Anyway. One shot, no cuts, one angle. It's a weird way to do it and I kind of love it? Truly this is the Cinematic Match. When stuff starts to break down or get chaotic the camera man is panning around trying to catch all of the action. He'll pan left and you just see Zeus get sent into the guardrail with no idea of who sent him there. You hear commotion in the ring and the camera pans back to the right, on your way to see what happens mid-pan you spot Jungle Boy going over the top rope and when the camera man finally turns to see what happened, we're just treated to the aftermath, Vinnie Massaro standing over Jun Akiyama and you have no idea how. The entire thing has a wonderful chaos to it. It's almost like Found Footage wrestling. Blair Witch Lucha. I don't know if I'd want to watch a whole show in this style but it was a cool way to view what might have otherwise been a by-the-numbers 8-man. It was fun to see future AEW up-and-comers Jungle Boy and Jun Akiyama work Mexico before either man hit it big. Thanks for sharing this match @porksweats!

We got rid of the fixed games conspiracy guy, right? Because i don't want to go through that shit again.

I think he looks like Drew McIntyre. A bit. Man's from Fife, Scotland, UK. He is 6' 0" and 205 lbs and he is 29 years old. He came from the Scottish Indys.

Who is Jack Morris, and why does he look like the lovechild of Seth Rollins and Juice Robinson?

Bun B is by far the least sleazy of all of them. Man is a college lecturer and restauranteur. I can't think of any legal trouble he's ever been in? Other than shooting that guy that tried to steal his car.

I like this discussion about head coaches pretending that the Bears and the Colts don’t exist and are both exhibit A for fucking awful and milquetoast head coaches.

Maybe but my counter has nothing to do with the fanbase yelling for a scalp (since all fanbases do that the second a team loses a game) is you have Justin Herbert for only 2 more years on a rookie contract - can you really afford to let Staley "learn how to coach"?

In no particular order Sean Payton Jim Caldwell Steve Wilks David Shaw Dan Quinn Raheem Morris Wink Martindale Brian Flores And that isn't even taping into folks like Eric Bieniemy and DeMeco Ryans

I went with Elite Vs Death Triangle again. I would of gone with Kenny Omega Vs Will Ospreay but I don't class that as a tv match as it was a ppv match repeated on tv.

Darby

BECAUSE OF THIS. THAT'S WHY. NEVER IN DOUBT. NEVER SAID A BAD WORD ABOUT TREVOR LAWRENCE. HE DEFINITELY DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A CREATE-A-WRESTLER BROUGHT TO LIFE. THIS RESULT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO HAPPEN. TRUST ME. I KNOW A GUY WHO KNEW THE FIX WAS IN.

27-point comeback and Al Michaels and Tony Dungy called it with all the energy and excitement you'd expect from a quarterfinal match at the World Badminton Championships.

Justifiably Accursed for bailing on San Diego.

Vince wouldn't like the name Francis, he would insist on making him Big F.

Pretty great show overall! Josh/Bully had some wild bumps, pretty great chaos. 4 way tag was pretty fun. Welcome home Frankie Kazarian! Hendry/Moose was great. Totally bought the first finish while being shocked that Hendry was gonna have such a disappointing short run but liking the reboot/boost it would give Moose and forgetting Moose's ties to Atlanta heading in. Santino was a nice unexpected surprise twist. I was thinking Raven would somehow replace D'Amore. I believe in Joe Hendry! 4 way was awesome as expected. I like Masha's newer theme. So glad Killer Kelly got to be back in the mix as a last minute add, actually thought she could win since she would be the freshest challenger. Also awesome was Maclin/Swann. Loved them starting in the back and outside before ending up ringside. Both guys looked great here and champion level. Maclin's liger bomb on the outside was killer. Maclin is the man. Eddie/Gresham was excellent. Loved the fast pace towards the end, I was buying every near fall. Great stuff. Nice Friday the 13th return for PCO. Main event was fittingly epic. I loved the little moment with Raven and Mickie in the back, call back to The Gathering. I figured Mickie had to win once Masha won and all other champs were retaining, but I was still on the edge of my seat for it with the near falls and it was gonna be tough to buy Jordynne going down to anything less than what she went through in the Masha matches. Speaking of which, I would hope Mickie wouldn't win it just to lose it right away now after all this but at the same time I can't see Masha losing a third straight title shot so the booking is all crazy here. Looking forward to the follow up as it felt like a ton of stuff happened on this show. Only thing missing was some Tasha Steelz! Apparently the scheduled trios match happened but mysteriously did not air for some reason, hope it pops up on Impact. Full results Impact Hard to Kill 2023

That's damning with faint praise, lol.

I just cut the chord and am not good at it yet and am pretty old so I am watching some asshole on youtube who watches the game and yells what is happening at me. Like I would have in 1915 but different.

Tony's looking around to see if any of the recent WWE releases can play QB

Did people not notice Ruby slapping Willow in the chest when they walked out and saying “Willow, GET THE TABLES”? Ruby bled enough for everyone, Willow almost killed Anna twice (DVD on apron very close to a dangerous botch, power bomb to floor was a dangerous botch). I feel like the announcers were sort of mocking the bag of tacks which I kind of agree with, it’s been done a lot now. Still, glad to see Ruby get a big win finally and I need the Willow-Ruby t-shirt. HoB is not for me and this whole angle sucks, so I didn’t pay much attention. Free Brody King. Jarrett as the classic Memphis shit heel is starting to work for me some, as long as he keeps taking Ls and putting people over. Still, I’d rather not see a celebrity angle and I’m still waiting for Jarrett to angle himself to the top of the card. Acclaimed/Gunns was a fine cheap comedy bit that didn’t go too long and reminded us that, at some point, Daddy Ass is going to have to return to his boys. Missed the opener.