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Matt Taven is awesome.

of all the times to bring back the wrestling manager who reads the Wall Street Journal daily

Sometimes I think I would rather watch wrestlers doing silly shit like this than the actual wrestling. What a bunch of good people.

The people who don't like the MJF "Run the gauntlet" gimmick must just ignore the level of awesome we get with each one. It's the schtick that has given us weekly Danielson matches, Wardlow powerbombing "Big Bill" and got us Nick Gage on live TV with a pizza cutter. I hope he never steps using it.

We need Danielson/Jarrett with JJ in full-on Memphis bullshit mode. Danielson as Lawler might be a Danielson we’ve never seen.

My first profile! I got to chat with Muto over email and had a call with Sting for this one https://www.theringer.com/2023/1/22/23566293/keiji-muto-great-muta-pro-wrestling-legacy

On the other hand I'm in Lexington and I'm taking my boy, but at least we won't have that long drive home. First wrestling live event I've attended since college. I'm facing the hard cam in row B above the floor seating so we might even make it on the TV quite a bit.

Ok, after watching the Muta farewell match, I *really* want to see a one off Darby vs. Marufuji match.

Microsoft should buy the WWE so that two userbases that hate their companies while continuing to spend money on those companies can unite.

You know what I realized looking at your list? My top 3 AEW Womens matches are all bloody, hardcore matches Rosa/Baker, Ford/Bunny v Anna Jay/Tay Melo and Willow/Ruby v Tay/Anna Jay. I'm not sure if it's because I'm sleeping on some other matches but I ahve to say, the women in AEW absolutely rise to the challenge when they have to get violent.

Apparently the Bella’s are spilling the tea on Instagram Live (or TikTok?). Trashing WWE over the lack of coverage for the “women’s revolution” in stuff like videos, seemingly only one female legend there (Madusa), and they theorize that Charlotte didn’t mention Sasha because she wasn’t allowed and/or she’d get too big of a pop from the crowd.

I’m sorry but, IMO, this Bloodline stuff isn’t compelling TV. And it definitely didn’t need to eat up a half hour of the commercial free block. Hell, I really only tuned in for the cage match, and, well… But this is the first full episode of WWE TV I think I’ve watched in year, unless I’m forgetting something. So maybe I’m not qualified to speak on the Bloodline angle. But it’s cool to see Sami Zayn so over with the crowd, I love that.

That's such a good finish tho, just not with Hogan. Reigns gives Sami the orders that if he wins The Rumble he is out of The Bloodline and his sworn enemy. Sami is number 30 and everyone is eliminated before he even enters. He comes out and is immediately declared the winner while begging the refs not to raise his hand and having a panic attack. He had no control over it. It's not his fault. Don't kick him out of his family. Instant sympathy.

My third article in three days! Weekly best matches https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2023/1/23/23567968/bryan-danielson-bandido-aew-dynamite-best-wrestling-matches

I expect an Angelico match any week now. That seems right up Danielson’s alley.

The best is that the first comment you see on that tweety from Skip is from Sheiky Baby calling him a jabroni.

LOL this is the Cowboys official account. Request a trade Dak

Meltzer: As of last night, the Okada-Kiyomiya angle, which builds to the 2/21 show at the Tokyo Dome had more than 2.5 million views which is a good number for a WWE angle, a great number for an AEW angle and an unbelievable number for a Japanese angle.

Really great write-up of Bryan-Bandido, added even more color to one of my favorite recent matches.

That Zoe impressed me so much. It’s takes a lot of smarts to be inspired to use Black Swan as the bases of your wrestling persona, while everybody else is on auto pilot, with shiny short tight gear, and the only persona being wrestling sex kitten, or worse, a nerdy crazy goth lady. I would slip her a contract if I was an agent who watched that match, and let her use that character on TV. Edit: She appears to have no other matches. This match is all that comes up. That’s very impressive if that’s all she’s done.

Zoe Dubois gets in a lot stuff. I wonder if she is friend of Skye Blue. It's the Butcher and the Blade take on BEEF CANDY~! CWFH in the hizzouse! Ritchie Slade is your worker of Beef Candy. I forget the name of the Stevie Ray dude. ATHENA! YUKA! I'm gonna have to get the ROH PPV. YES! It's RUSH! It's Preston Vance! PAPACITO BLANCO and NEGRO! Oh man, RUSH will lay it in. POSTMATCH, they take the masks! It's Brooke Havok! She is (Alan) Angels main squeeze and she's coming off a knee injury. EMI tells a little story! SPANKYBUTT! THEN they start laying it in! EMI is so fucking great! MOONSAULT for the WIN! EMI! EMI! EMI! It's Jordan Cruz! He was a CWFH lesser champion! He's good! Smart Mark Sterling is a HEAT MACHINE! Neese gives Cruz wads of stuff! Big Fonz is GIGANTIC! PRETTY PETER AVALON- THE PRETTIEST BOY IN AEW! SERP! RYAN NEMETH! JOHN SILVER! EVIL UNO! ALEX REYNOLDS! Nemeth and PPA BRING THE GROINULAR UNDULATIONS! So does SILVER! Reynolds ducks three guys and Luther CONNECTS! PPA needs to jump the LFI. All he does is workout with RUSH and Jose. Evil Uno is feeling it! I think he fired up because Adam Cole might join the Dark Order- which would completely RULE. SERP kicks out of Uno's finisher! FUN NEARFALL as PPA hits the Big Body Splash! GREAT NINE PART FINISHER! YAY! PPA RULES! That was great. Everything else was fine- with EMI telling the best story.

Hiromu Takahashi's ALL STAR JR. FESTIVAL 2023 in Korakuen Hall NJPW World pay per view. And powered by LEC. Promotions below sending players and fighters: 2AW 666 Pro-Wrestling All Japan Pro-Wrestling Big Japan Pro-Wrestling CMLL DDT Pro-Wrestling DRADITION DRAGON GATE GanbarePro-Wrestling GLEAT Just Tap Out Kyushu Pro-Wrestling Michinoku Pro-Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling Osaka Pro-Wrestling PANCRASE MISSION Pro-Wrestling BASARA Pro-Wrestling FREEDOMS Pro-Wrestling NOAH Pro-Wrestling SECRET BASE Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 Ryuukyuu Dragon Pro-Wrestling

29 men in, 29 men out. Voodoo Chile hits, Hogan walks in and wins his record-tying third Royal Rumble. Brother.

That's a good point. That gimmick has given so much, "Wait! He's facing who?!?!" moments in the last couple years. This week's show is taking place about an hour from me. Closest AEW has come to us. I can't believe I'm not going. Little man is not happy with me, but I can't justify him being out that late on a school night.

Cody seems like the clear favorite. Hoping its a red herring, but there's not necessarily someone I'd prefer aside from Sami Zayn. Rollins is always an option but I'm not intrigued in another Rollins/Reigns feud regardless of the history. I don't see anyone else even being in the running from the current roster. As for the women's rumble, Rhea Ripley should win...but I'm not sure she needs to win. She's got the best storyline going on RAW right now and it has the legs to last until Mania as I can easily see them going with Rey vs. Dom on Night 1 and Edge & Beth vs. Rhea and Finn on Night 2. Or throw them all in one match. Or add Damien Priest to one side and AJ to the other. The point is, Rhea Ripley is killing it without the title. Which is another reason why putting her up against Bianca Belair might not be a great idea. Belair managed to stay babyface and popular with crowds in feuds against "smart fan" darlings like Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, but Rhea is slowly but surely becoming the villain we all love to hate. Even when a heel wins the Rumble, unless they cheat, there's a natural "feel good" story to it because its a huge accomplishment and a show of dominance. Its hard to boo against a cool badass heel who says they're going to outlast 29 other competitors and then does. In this scenario, Belair is still the babyface and -EST, but there could be a segment of the audience who would see a Rumble win as Rhea getting her due after a stellar 2022. There'd also be some who just want somebody fresh at the top of the RAW Women's Championship scene. Ripley is so valuable as a heel right now that it could be a dangerous move to give her big victories and not expect the fans to start supporting her.

Hey Sammo~! I gave you the WRONG Jaguar vs Galactica match. Not that there is any such thing as a bad Jaguar match, as far as I can tell... but the one I gave you has absolutely AWFUL English-language commentary dubbed over it (though that might actually make it more interesting to write up, in some ways). Also it's not an apuestas match which makes my "Is this Joshi or Lucha?" "joke" (even) less funny. So, after I finish this write-up, I will also post a different, mask vs hair, no shitty English commentary Jaguar vs Galactica match. Feel free to choose. Kellett vs Czeslaw is one of my absolute favourite matches of all time. It's either The Greatest or Second Greatest Comedy Match of All Time (in my opinion) with Ebessan vs Kuishinbou Kamen 2 out of 3 falls the only real competition. It's almost certainly the greatest European comedy match ever. Ebessu vs Kuishin is the best from Japan. Maybe the Don't Spill Your Beer match or maybe Marella & Emma vs Summer & Fandango for North America? Anyway. It's a match I can watch again and again and find enjoyable every time. Even more so this time, as it's all on one file and the sound quality is much improved so I can get a few of the verbal jokes I missed the first dozen or so times I watched this. The main thing, though, is the superb timing of the physical comedy. Kellett is pro wrestling Buster Keaton. And Czeslaw is damn near his equal here. And the ref is every bit as crucial here as Matsui was in the Ebessan match. They make it look effortless. It's all funny, particularly the interactions with the ref, Kellett hiding behind the ring like a little boy trying to hide from trouble, Kellett and Czeslaw getting knotted up at the end of the first round and the seconds being unable to pry them apart before the start of the second... They "rake gag" a few jokes (Czeslaw's knee, Kellett almost vomiting...) to great comic effect. But it's also a really good European professional wrestling match. They don't do anything, in my opinion, that would violate the accepted laws of that Universe. It's an astonishing display of the Art of Wrestling. In a Desert Island scenario, this would undoubtedly be one of the ten matches I bring with me. Let's see: Kellett vs Czeslaw Ebessan vs Kuishinbo 6/9/95 Canadian Stampede Main Event Hokuto & Kandori vs Bull & Aja Tenta & Vader vs Albright & Yamazaki Andre & St. Claire vs Hoshino & Sekiguchi? Andre & Franz van Buyten &Ali Bey vs Rusher Kimura & Thunder Sugiyama & Isamu "The Carpenter" Teranishi? Maybe Kenny vs Ospreay? Bryan vs Hangman? Bryan vs MiSu! MiSu vs Ishii... It's VERY hard to just pick ten. But 100% Kellett vs Czeslaw. 100% that one. EDIT: Also: Thanks to EVERYONE who picked a match for me! I enjoyed every pick, a whole bunch. Great choices, every time.

Meltzer: As of last night, the Okada-Kiyomiya angle, which builds to the 2/21 show at the Tokyo Dome had more than 2.5 million views which is a good number for a WWE angle, a great number for an AEW angle and an unbelievable number for a Japanese angle.

Lance and Purdy are both still on their rookie deals so one will be backing up the other next year regardless Handsome Jimmy's off to be the latest journeyman QB to defraud The Jets seek his fortunes in free agency.

i would still like to get that Bills/Vikings someone has to finally win Super Bowl one of these years

Was thinking about the JAS promo where Jericho called his team with Garcia "garciacho" when Jeri-Garcia was right there. Also want Sammy to keep giving Garcia gear until he has a full demolition gimp outfit.

Kind of surprised this hasn't been posted here yet. But I figured since I'm having a couple shots of Wild Turkey for Jay why not put this gem here.

Hook has the best entrance music in AEW.

I wrote up some Jay Briscoe hidden gems https://www.theringer.com/2023/1/21/23564815/slug-jay-briscoe-the-briscoes-ring-of-honor-five-lesser-known-pro-wrestling-matches

I don't buy that at all. The same company ran Hogan/Piper twice in the same time frame the year before, and ran Hogan/Luger twice in one week earlier that year. They could've easily written a "Hogan uses his connections to pull some bullshit and get a quick rematch" angle. Sting vs. Hall should've gone on the lesser Souled Out ppv in between with like Bret vs. Savage while he was still in "dream match" mode (I agree that Bret vs. Flair should've happened at Starrcade). Yeah there's a million other reasons WCW folded, but the finish of Starrcade 97 consolidates a few of the big ones into a singular extremely hate-able moment. Also, the rest of the show sucked too. Didn't even deliver quality undercard action like most WCW ppvs from the time. There was a 15-minute Luger/Bagwell match for god's sake. Just a total choke job when the company had the most people watching that they ever had.

Hogan vs Sting in TNA was better. I mean, it still sucked ass, but not as much.

And so we're down to four... SUNDAY JANUARY 29TH FOR THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP 3:00PM ET AT (-1½) FOR THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP 6:30PM ET AT (-1)

Hey, if the Cowboys would rather craft a dolchstosslegende around their QB letting them down and that’s why they lost, than entertain the idea that the 49ers are still 1TD their better and that’s why they won, I sure won’t stop them. They would rue running Dak out of town in Very Short Order, I think

https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/jay-briscoe-reach-for-the-sky-100-of-proceeds-go-to-benefit-the-pugh-family.html

Kazuchika Okada: https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1617371544669372419

Rooting for skinny Daniel Craig!

Big Sam can save them! 4-4-F'n-2 baby!

Never in doubt, Humanoids never in doubt

how many Atlanta United tickets could one get with the money of a refunded AFC title game ticket. Although in all seriousness, I suspect a lot of the tickets sold were to people way outside of Georgia, so the airlines will 'suffer' making slightly less money than they usually make from people cancelling their Atlanta flights. So this AFC title game is the first repeat since Broncos/Browns in 87/88. Other AFC title game repeats: Steelers/Oilers (79/80), Raiders/Steelers (75/76/77). Steelers/Oilers was the only one at the same site both years. Last time the road team won back to back AFC title game: 2005/2006 (Patriots at Steelers, Steelers at Broncos). The same team hasn't won back to back AFC title games on the road. Dolphins were home/road/home in the 70s, Steelers home/road then home/home, Broncos road/home vs Cleveland, Bills home/home/road/home for 4 years in a row, Broncos road/home in the 90s, Patriots home/road, then home/home in the 2010s, and Chiefs were home/home in 2020/2021. So the Bengals will be the favored team soon enough, the line narrowed quickly, because of previous history and Mahomes' ankle.

@John E. Dynamiteit said in your list of things you wanted a lot of stuff I'm pretty deficient in too. LUCHARESU! though! Here is the Great Sasuke vs Negro Casas from 7/7/1996 for the CMLL Middleweight title! This is several shades of great.

of all the things to become catnip for idiots, the litterbox thing bringing out idiots who'd believe anything they read in their inbox is something else

The best part about any "Ant-Man is great!" versus "Ant-Man is garbage!" argument is that both groups are equally wrong.

This. Love is love. My cousin is a lesbian, she's engaged. Hate discrimination of any sort.

I don't think it'll have much of an effect. My understanding is that WWE doesn't use non-compete agreements per se, rather their contracts have a 90-day notice period for termination, which is paid. Getting rid of non-competes is an unequivocal good for pretty much every other employee in the country, though.

Pro Wrestling Revolver has announced Jonathan Gresham vs KUSHIDA for their March 4 show