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This story fucking rules.

I drove three plus hours yesterday to watch my alma mater Illinois get their asses whooped by my wife’s alma mater Indiana in basketball. So, the pregame starts and Braun Strowman comes out to hype the crowd before starting lineups. He was there promoting a WWE house show in the building next month. They had him doing all the timeout bullshit like the t-shirt cannon and trivia stuff. I swear he worked harder last night at that game than he has in any match he’s ever had. They were running his ass all over the place.

AR Fox vs Swerve and now Brian Cage vs Willie Mack. Tony's developing an addiction to booking Lucha Underground rematches. Before we know it, Angelico will be getting TV time in the trios division and diving off the top of Tony's office. AEW respects its legends!

Quick word of advice: look for a college near you that's closing or remodeling their cafeteria - I did a job for a state school system like 15 years ago, and they got rid of 5-10 of them from each school. Some of em, it's weird, when I tossed them into the dumpster they bounced right into the trunk of my car

I have a waffle maker at home, but I swear, the best waffles I ever have are when I stay at a hotel and they have those waffle makers like that there with that name branded waffle batter (can't remember the name). That shit is the best.

Family Friend Gives Update on Jay Briscoe’s Daughters

Low Ki in 01 and 02 was so clearly a future star. His round robin and the theeeway with Daniels and Danielson, it would have seemed like a safe bet that Low Ki was the one with the brightest future. As for a worker, in 05ish he was a vital part of me staying a wrestling fan when I was getting tired of the WWE. Now fantasy talk, would Vince had looked at his intensity and drive as a plus, or would his stiffness and size be too big of a detriment? Maybe he’d be in the lower midcard with a Podiatrist gimmick.

I 100% agree, and I'll go a step further and say that I think the matches could be legitimately good. Taker and his fandom of MMA would understand exactly how to sell the leg kicks and would probably be down to put his offense over. Low-Ki is an underrated seller and bumper and he could get all his shit in before Taker kills him dead. We don't get nearly enough good David vs. Goliath matches, and Low-Ki had the exact type of offense and the right persona to make him credible against much larger opponents.

Well, boy do I have news for you. Using your Golden Malted pancake mix for the low, low price of $445 this too can be yours! https://www.hotelrestaurantsupply.com/war-wwd180x.html And yeah you're not kidding about hotel waffle makers. As long as the hotel's up to par if I see something like that that ends up being my go-to for hotel breakfast.

I've been behind on catching up on various board topics so apologies for not seeing this until now. But going off threads on weekly shows it kind of bums me out seeing your enthusiasm drop quite a bit compared to when AEW first started. But in an attempt to be positive I look at what AEW is doing and think back to what was initially presented to us. The ratio of indy/relatively unknown wrestlers to "Superstars" was a bit different to say the least but the basic structure was still there. You had Young Bucks and Kenny but there was also the likes of Cody and Jericho who while they were former WWE stars they were there for themselves as well as to help out those that were not as well-versed in TV wrestling. One person that comes to mind is Sammy who when they were doing PPVs before Dynamite he didn't find the camera nearly as much as he does now. But fast forward to not long after the start of Dynamite and he's gotten pretty good at getting his punchable-yet-handsome face on the screen when possible. Same goes for Britt who never really found her groove that much as a face. But once she turned heel it seemed to magically click. And she credits the likes of Jericho who you would think is her Yoda with her how much she got from him. So what changed? Well, a lot did but at the same time not much. Yeah, there's been a lot more former WWE stars who have made AEW their home and that changed the ratio quite a bit. But the basic idea is still contributing to AEW as a whole, especially for the likes of Paul Wright and Henry who do a lot to help talent. And goodness me Darby would have been mega popular anyway but having Sting with him has helped tremendously. Looking at the champs they're all homegrown or indy talents that have also managed to make a helluva splash with hardcore and casual fans alike. That's the combination of them being that damn good but also having the old heads backstage/on TV helping them out. Until it changes to it being mostly former WWE stars with belts or featured I think there's little to worry about. Now as for the types of matches and who is brought in that really hasn't changed at all. AEW's never been afraid to have people like Aja Kong come in or any available talent from Japan and Mexico. And the intent was always to have those partnerships to allow for cool-as-fuck matchups. The pandemic definitely impacted that but even then there was an attempt with Impact that year. Now that things have opened up you can have Minoru Suzuki one week and some time later Jun Akiyama helping Eddie live out his dream. The match types have been a bit different from the start with things like the Casino Battle Royal. But they're still doing wacky things like having a best-of-7 series go full NBA Finals or having a women's tag street fight that is bloody and violent. Again if things like that stop and it goes strictly conventional wrestling then yeah that'd be cause for concern. I tried to not make this a bunch of word salad and boy do I hope this makes sense considering I got three hours sleep and am running off caffeine that I hope doesn't kill me one day. But the tl;dr on my end is this: AEW's changed in many ways for better or worse. But the main essence of what makes them special is still there. It took a weird turn last year but they managed to right the ship. And in the end it's still the AEW I know and love. Do I wish the likes of Sonny Kiss were featured a lot more? Of course. But at the end of the day unless TK changes everything about his mindset the company will always have that something that appeals to us. It might be more evident on Dynamite for some or you might have to stick with Rampage and/or Dark/Elevation. But in some way it'll always be there. As long as they don't lose that then I hope you keep finding those things in AEW that still appeal to you.

A woman wants to have control over how her sexuality is used? She has to go. If we want to exploit her sexuality, we'll put her in our hall of fame and/or pay her millions of dollars.

I guess this goes in here, but: I've had this idea for a good while now, but I was thinking that if you still had like a really BIG tag team, physically, they should have their introduction go: "at a total combined weight of a proverbial metric shit-ton" (you could bleeb the s*it if necessary). Then, they could feud with another huge team, who could be heels and get heat by claiming to weigh "a literal shit-ton" which fans would obviously reject, because that's not possible. Anyway, that's all.

Settle down, Bryan Danieletico.

Hot dog! Danielson vs Bandido had what I love about wrestling. Struggling for position where everything feels earned, strikes that make slapping noises, and charismatic likable taunting.

To go with Bryan Danielson vs. Brian Cage and Darby Allin vs. Buddy Matthews next week on AEW Dynamite.

The world is fucking awful. Let's enjoy some professional wrestling. OH NO! Ethan Page doesn't get to dance! WHAT THE FUCK! To hell with the Jack Perry theme! LET THE MAN DANCE! Page is AWESOME pulling Isaiah Cassidy into Perry's Tope! So fucking assholish! Ethan Page is the Nouvelle Ted DiBiase- WWF version now. Perry counters Page's ICONOCLASM! Hathaway CHEATS and Page takes over! Ethan Page is so fucking great. What a total hilarious HEAT MACHINE. Perry bumps big to make Ethan Page look like a killer. MAN! Perry leans into the ringpost! BLOOD! WE WANT BLOOD! Ethan Page is so fucking good and Jack Perry is so fucking good. Perry is a Budding Darby Allin, dying on top of his skull in the corner in picture in picture. I love that Hathaway is yelling at Cassidy for Cassidy acknowledging that Perry goes on offense. PAGE HITS THE ICONOCLASM! Ethan Page IS CIMA! FOR TWO! TWIST OF PAGE! Countered! TWIST OF PAGE AGAIN! Countered again! Hathaway CHEATS and Ethan Page hits the TWIST OF PAGE! Perry with the feet on the ropes! Page CHEATS by grabbing Matt Hardy's aging ponytail! Hardy slaps his hand away and Perry rolls him up for the pin! POSTMATCH, they set up JungleHook versus Hardy and Page! So fun. That was quality storyline driven Memphis style wrestling. So Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho run AEW now. Eddie Kingston is sporting the Bunny/Butcher/Blade/Garcia sweat shirt. Ortiz and Kingston have a talk and it doesn't go will. WHOA! Darby Allin vs Buddy Matthews should fucking rule. WILLIE MACK! AGAIN! BRIAN CAGE! AGAIN! I assume this will rule. They go total Arena Mexico at the start! Cage starts beating on Mack! MAck is driven onto the HARDEST PART OF THE RING! We REVEL in picture in picture! Mack bumps like a PSYCHO for Brian Cage. Cage tells a little story by fucking around between each big move. They need to sign Willie Mack to put over Takeshita, Bandido and whoever else the Blackpool Combat Club beats into overness. GREAT KICK TO THE FACE by Willie Mack! The crowd gets behind Mack's comeback! NEARFALL that makes the Fresnoians CRAZY! DRILLCLAW! And that's that! That was fucking good. It's the Vanity Twins! I saw them wrestle the Renegade Twins a few weeks ago. Leila Grey looks pretty good. Jade is fun being the Tribal Chief. They kind of took care of having too many women's belts by pretty much making the TBS the FTW title and having ATHENA~! and motherfucking Jamie Hayter be out fighting champions. I notice they have stopped feeding anyone to her that they can push. They can definitely premier a women's tag titles. I cannot wait to see the LEATHORRR PAUNTS! HEY! They gave away the finish of the match! LEATHORRRRR PAUNTS! It's Action Andretti! In the Main Event! He was main eventing MCW in Maryland like six weeks ago. He is totally laying it in! He looks fucking great as Daniel Garcia makes him look a million bucks. Garcia starts beating on him as we head to the GLORY of picture in picture! Garcia hits a wad of Yakuza Kicks! Andretti makes a COMEBACK! FUN NEARFALLS! HEY! ANDRETTI WINS! ANDRETTI WINS! ANDRETTI WINS! I love that AEW fooled us by giving away the wrong finish. Top shelf. That was good if a bit forgettable episode. All the wrestling was good but compared to Wednesday's bonanza is pales pretty enormously. I loved Page/Perry, Mack/Cage and Garcia/ Andretti but all the superstar power was burning up the atmosphere on Dynamite. AEW RULES THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD!

I've disliked him since he was the coach in Tampa. Lots of high horse preaching while never accepting fault for anything, like their having a terrible offense year after year. He goes to Indy, consistently underperforms, gets a lucky Super Bowl win over a miracle Bears team, and suddenly he's Saint Tony. Cue the sermons from on high telling everyone how to live. Then he outs himself as a homophobe, the networks and NFL don't care, by saying Michael Sam couldn't play for him. But, hey, Michael Vick & Ray Rice? No problem! He's a two-faced homophobic POS who got lucky with Peyton vs Flexy Rexy and lectures everybody on how they should live. He can go rot in a corner.

People in hotels waiting for others to get ready.

I know this tl;dr doesn't capture the totality of your post, but I find it such a strange distinction to make. I'm assuming you don't mean it this way, but we should be careful when maligning people whose sensibilities we don't enjoy or who are clearly marks for themselves as NOT loving wrestling. Maybe some of them don't. But both of those things (love of wrestling and presenting as "being a mark" for yourself) can and do exist in a lot of people. Sometimes people who succeed at wrestling might not love it, but my sense is in 2023 we're batting for a higher average than ever in terms of people being in the wrestling business because they love or have loved wrestling. As an example, I personally bristle against Chris Jericho's seeming self-importance in the way you do Jarrett's. I wouldn't think "being a mark for himself" disqualifies him as someone who loves wrestling. Everything I've heard him say on the subject and everything I've seen him write on the subject speaks to a love of this creative outlet. I also have a question about who's in the In bucket and the Out bucket as far as who's being named and labeled and who would or wouldn't be in your ideal AEW and where the line is. Is it possible Chris Jericho and the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are excepted from being specifically painted with the "being marks for themselves" brush (when all have conducted themselves many times over the years in ways that would meet many people's definitions of that phrase) because you prefer their work and perceive their sensibilities as aligning more closely with your own? When do or don't people who are "marks for themselves" belong on the roster? At what point does markishness cancel out their love of wrestling in your judgement? Perhaps controversially, I'll also stick up for a certain amount of self-importance and even arrogance presenting as compelling in some showbiz performers. To eschew such types outright would deprive a showbiz presentation of the types of performers many people find appealing. And that's been baked into things that have been presented successfully in AEW since day one. Regarding Tony's use of the phrase "challenger brand," I have to insist that I'm not sure the mission has changed. To my mind, its the same messy, largely-disjointed, often-fun, sometimes-not smorgasbord its been since day one. People come and go, fortunes rise and fall, different talent become available, but spiritually I'm not sure it's all that different. OC and the Best Friends are still hanging around, they brought in Danhausen, Darby remains prominent, the Bucks and Kenny and Adam Page continue to put their stamp on things, Moxley's out here bleeding everywhere and cussing like a maniac, tacks and barbed wire show up now and again, etc. Plenty of what people characterize as that "original recipe" "non-coporate" AEW abounds. Wednesday's show featured Bryan Danielson vs Bandido and was headlined by Kushida. I don't think the quality of the smorgasbord has been altered to any serious degree just because Jeff Jarrett managed to get a job or MJF got a push. Though I do see a lot of people, here and elsewhere, trying to wrestle with some of the ideas you're working through. There is certainly a perception that there has been some huge change over the short life of this company. And a lot of people are trying to put their finger on just what that is. My theory has long been it's the honeymoon period coming to an end. People wanted to be as in as possible because they wanted a challenger brand, they were personally invested in its success, it was new and exciting, people felt a certain way. That always stood to cool over time, especially as AEW's footing within the industry came to be seen as firm. And I believe I'm not perceiving the same grand philosophical changes because I wasn't bought in as hard as AEW's most enthusiastic fans did from day one. Less of a fall for my excitement level to take if I never got as high as some other people did in the first place. To try to make myself clear, I want to look at your own admitted dream for a promotion. I can't speak to your sense of community, but I see AEW regularly, and maximally, doing a great deal to fulfil many of these desires. Is someone being forced into a narrow, corporate role? Denied freedom of expression or creativity? Perhaps, but I have to imagine they're minority in this bunch. We've got all manner of styles of wrestling represented, all manner of styles of storytelling, promos aren't scripted, etc. The Luchas Bros are still maximally Lucha Bro-ie. Hangman Page is still being awkward about his feelings. Darby still does his weird pre-match videos he likes to make sometimes. FTR are allowed to emphasize their own preferred style of wrestling at the expense of nobody else. Luther and Serpentico and Emi and Cutler and other Youtube darlings seem to be hanging around and doing their thing. Tay and Anna Jay are seemingly trying to style themselves as occasional bloody plunder match people. Looks like a lot of what you say you want, a lot of expression and creativity, not a lot of narrow. And anyone can come in and get that exposure at any time. Dragon Lee and Kushida and United Empire and Jay White can literally come in and headline any random episode at the drop of a dime. Dalton Castle can come out of nowhere to be a battle royal highlight and get a grand entrance in a career match against a decades-long WWE main eventer. Konosuke Takeshita has developed a natural connection to AEW fans to the point where he's seemingly earned a sustained push in the future. Definitionally this seems like what you say you want. I'm just trying to wrap my head around it, same as you're trying to work through what feels different or less fulfilling. Maybe you want JD Drake on Dynamite. Maybe you'd like to curtail the freedom or creativity of people who rub you wrong expressing themselves as big stars like MJF and Britt. Probably not that part, but maybe. Is Saraya's existence that egregious? I don't know. They're already turning her heel, so it's not like Tony's letting himself get too out of step with his audience on this business. Maybe I'll finally see it down the road when the top babyface is a flag-humping, America-loving muscleman who needs to defend his title and his country's honor against Satnam Singh, who seems to be getting a sudden main event push because of his height. But for now, things strike me as... mostly fine, just AEW being AEW. That was a lot of words of me sniffing my farts. Sorry.

HOLY SHIT! A THREE WAY TIE FOR FIRST! Athena vs Marina Shafir- AEW Dark And these two fine matches: Jon Moxley vs Hangman Adam Page- DYNAMITE Konosuke Takeshita vs Bryan Danielson- DYNAMITE

Mei Suruga makes a waffle.

If your smart TV browser is anything like mine they can be highly unwieldy and not worth the hassle. I tried IWTV many times on there and it was frustrating navigating around. But I would say your best bet would be the ROH app on your phone and there should be an option to cast to the screen. As long as it finds the TV it should ideally work. I've been using that method and so far it works pretty well. Now if this takes off once the show starts then I'm hoping they have one for smart TVs assuming it's not hot garbage.

Did Braun Strowman make train noises? .

https://deadline.com/2023/01/reelz-official-home-major-league-wrestling-1235228530/ MLW to premiere on Reelz next month.

I've added "Ken Shamrock vs Kurt Angle" to the time machine dream match list now

I loved that show when they reran it on ESPN in the late 80s.

Mickie James attains MAXIMUM TASSELS! SO FUCKING AWESOME! I fast forwarded and stopped when Santino Marelli showed up. AND THEN ERNEST THE CAT MILLER! Then I fast forwarded again. Tasha Steelz lays it in. Savannah Evans is becoming EPIC but Jordynn Grace is all BODYSLAMMY! Evans then lays it in. This goes totally HOSS FIGHT! Micky James is not wearing the coat so her TASSEL POWER is highly diminished. Evans is fucking awesome beating the crud out of a tassel-less James. Bully Ray- THAT SCUMBAG-CHEATS! Bully Ray beats on Micky James! Bully Ray is a HEAT MACHINE! I assume Nick Aldis is showing up soon. James is a fun Ricky Morton. Oh man, Savannah Evans is so good. Bubba Ray leaves after Frankie Kazarian enters the fray and James wins with a Toprope Lou Thesz Press! POSTMATCH! Masha comes out and heats up the title match! That was fun. AWESOME! It's Ashley Ambroise! She's a ballerina! Deonna Purrazzo is awesome. IMPACT! should sign D'Ambroise. She can lay it in. She hits a fun Neckbreaker! GNARLY GOTCH STYLE PILEDRIVER by Purrazzo! That was fucking great. It's Taylor Wilde! It's Killer Kelly! BATTLE OF THE PSYCHO GIMMICKS! SWEET Dangerous Backdrop by Kelly! Wilde is hitting all the high impact stuff. Kelly hits a Yakuza Kick! This is great Knock Outs Division wrestling- LAY IT THE FUCK IN. AEW should steal both of these gals. And Masha Slamovich. And Savannah Evans. And Deonna Purrazzo. And JesSICKa and Taya Valkyrie. And Jordynn Grace. Hell, just do an IMPACT! invasion angle. That would be fun. KELLY CLUTCH! So Kelly beat Wilde. Wilde beat Slamovich. Slamovich beat everybody to be number one contender. That's good booking. It's Dirty Dango! He gets to get murdalized by Steve Maclin! Dango has been wrestling for like 20 years. Dango gets in a lot of stuff! THEN! He gets murdered. But Dirty Dango does a lot of GROINAL UDULATIONS! This match is way better than I thought it would be. Oh man! It's a PIT FIGHT! I hate that this is the same week as Danielson/Bandido and Allin/KUSHIDA because I'm figuring that this would win any other week. BattlARTS rules! No ropes! IMPACT! IS BLOODSPORT! Speedball IS Carl Greco! Kenny King IS Katsumi Usuda! This match is fucking GREAT! It is Alexander Otsuka vs Mohammed Yone in 1998! FUCK YES! SPEEDBALL BLEEDS! GREAT EXPLOIDER by King! GREAT DRAGONSCREW by King! KEY LOCK LIFT! Kenny King is fucking awesome. Speedball is AWESOME taking the Dragonscrew from the ring to the floor! Oh man, this match is so good. They do a GREAT Figure Four thing, taking it to the floor. Speedball with a running Dropkick to set an INSANE Spinning Ryder Kick off the ringpost! Kenny King then fucking CRUSHES Speedball against the side of the ring and they go TOTAL BattlARTS with King hitting a Kneebar that Speedball escapes by hitting King with a chair! Then Speedball beats on King and THEN puts a chair over his head and does a TOTAL Bruce Lee FINISHER! That was fucking great. GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! You should all watch this. It's GREAT!

Cage vs Mack and Action vs Garcia were both exciting matches of the gogogogo go go type style, with clean finishes. Hopefully some wrestling grandpas were upset that big men were working like little athletic guys. That's always fun, to read about. Schadenfreude, baybay! Darby vs Buddy and Brian vs Bryan are both matches I look forward to. JR kind of seemed to me, today, to be more like a guy doing a parody of a "grumpy out of touch rambling JR" but maybe that was just me. I'm going drinking with my wrestling buddies in Osaka tonight for the first time in a while. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures to post later.

Might be Darby Allin's best TNT Championship defense in his second reign.

Yes please.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP is one of the worst Marvel movies IMO. I was shocked that they let Reed come back after that. And even more shocked that they let him make…this.

All I got out of that was Satnam Singh main event push. Do it, Tony, you coward

Say what you want about Low-Ki being a mini-egomaniac, but he was legitimately talented and could have been a star if he'd took his work more seriously than he took himself. With that said, his absolute buy-in on himself is probably what made him as successful as he was.

I have never even heard of a company over hiring, this sounds like nonsense to me. I'm not saying it's impossible or that you are lying, I'm saying you shouldn't trust any company that laid off 10K people because they accidently hired 10K extra employees. Who the fuck has accidently hires a small town worth of people while every other company on earth has never hired enough people to actually work efficiently?

Pretty much since he combined "Ray Rice deserves a second chance" with "I would not want Michael Sam on my team."

Bound to happen one of these days! Not before 50-0, though!

Idk y'all, Peyton Reed shitting all over the concept when he was brought in to babysit the first movie, wasting the sequel on a two hour sitcom plot, then demanding an epic third movie sounds a whole lot more hilarious than whatever this turns out to be.

STARDOM! NEW BLOOD! STREAMING!

I think I'd prefer it during the dying days of Impact if anything else.

I thought Jarrett was gone by the time Jericho jumped over but they coexisted from August to October! Sidenote of missed opportunities: Ken Shamrock left just so shortly before Kurt Angle debuted, we could've gotten that.

These go hand and hand. That said...Rhea Ripley's booty shorts: The Match. The Movie. The Wrestling Promotion. $17.99 on PPV.

I'm starting the Den of International Combat. Do one show for the heavyweights (BIG DIC) and one for the juniors (SMALL DIC), eventually the fetishists are going to make you some money and you're probably going to expose some predators along the way.

Who is going to cheap pop for a shitty looking fighter ship from movies that were widely panned? I read it more as needing to "de-power" Din a little bit. He already has nearly invulnerable armor, he can bust out just about every trick in the book, he has a baby Jedi tagging along with him, and he had a crazy awesome ship with a, as previously mentioned, a carbonite freezer on board. It's almost like they thought that they couldn't take away the armor, Grogu, or all of his weapons, but let's give him a really shitty ship. It's also reflective of his transition, for now at least, of not being a bounty hunter. While season 2 really made me fall in love with the series, I do wish they'd find a way to get him to do bounty hunting work again.

If your offensive plan is to have your 500 year old quarterback set an all-time record for attempts during the season, you should be fired. Their offense was a mess and Leftwich didn't have a Gronk to hide behind.

We have to get Bandido/Takeshita now. What a killer Revolution opener that would be. Why? Why not?

I go back and forth on who I think dies in this movie, because Kang is definitely going to do it. All I know for sure is that it's going to be either Janet, Hank or Hope. Other shit I think will happen: Scott (and Hope?) will be stranded in the quantum realm. Cassie makes it out, warns what heroes are left on Earth about Kang. Possibly starts to form a Young Avengers group. MODOK will be where most of the comedy in this movie comes from. This movie will be fucking awesome because the previous two movies were fuckin' awesome - fight me

Jets WR coach Miles Austin has been suspended 'for at least a year' for gambling. There is no evidence that he bet on NFL games, however. This suspension news was brought to you by Caesar's, who reminds you to be a Caesar.