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Toni Storm's script from last night

I'm actually pretty excited to attend my first live wrestling show since the Pandemic. I've had the worse luck for getting seats for AEW shows and New Japan seems to hate having US shows less then 7 hours away from me. But there's a new group called DaiKaiju Pro doing a show in Worchester next month and I've got front row seats to it.

For real. Somebody said something about how it made zero sense to them that Nick would align himself with Christian over his mother. Apparently they've never known an 18yo before. Total shithead energy.

It was my greatest fear as well, but I can safely say I've dug his mic work in AEW. He's exponentially benefitting from the lack of WWE scripting. His mic work thus far has been fun and kinda infectious. Fun Collision. With an especially excellent first half hour. The FTR portion of the opening montage set the table incredibly well for the title switch. The body language alone suggested these guys are fucked up. That said, I still didn't see Starks/Bill over FTR for the title switch. Is Big Bill the secret top star in the making? I loved Nigel rubbing it in at the end, standing nearly over Cash proclaiming 'top guys out, thee guys in!' I'm so thankful Riccaboni's too-quick-sending to the next package during the celebration took a few to switch over. Also, providing a replay later and giving the champs a celebatory promo really assisted this title switch. Bryan Danielson v Kyle Fletcher did exactly what it needed to do and more. So fun. Fletcher's tope was Darby-esque self endangerment. Fletcher's another guy who suddenly seems like the future of the company. Oh, and that gnarly submission Fletcher applied that Nigel called for the replay on. BCG v Angelico/Metalik/Gravity was also pretty fun. Metalik looked a lot better here than he has on ROH. Angelico and the Asses looked great here too. Juice is making the most of his minutes, but goddamn is some of his offense complete dogshit - see that awful looking weak leg lariat. I also dug the post match Jay White promo. Jay's seemingly always been great in ring and blessed with special charisma, but his mic work has gotten a lot stronger since joining AEW. Nice Nick Wayne promo. That dude oozes lil dickhead heel. I skimmed Acclaimed v Savages. Impressive feat of strength from Caster. I'd love to see the trios title find a new home. I've had my fill of Dad Ass regularly featuring on TV. Let's get back to the duo chasing gold. Warms my heart to see Toni Storm finally connecting with the audience. Toni v Kiera did what it needed to. Kingston v Komander was fine if a bit forgettable. Ha, JR talking about Eddie's bod pre-match. ADAM!!!'s Main Event Promo segment, tho not particulary great, set-up the Tuesday bout fairly well. Lastly, just stating the obvious here, Nigel McGuinness is a fucking awesome commentator.

And like most open world games he's going to be crazy OP when he gets back to the main questline

That kid is so punchable looking. I can't believe I'm agreeing with something JR said, but Nick needs a trip to woodshed.

How fucking cool did Lashley and the Street Profits look? Damn. They're gonna be heels who people love real quick. And big ups to Ford, who worked heel the entire match in the " This guy is an asshole" way.

Cody Rhodes doing side quests till the main objective.

Have you seen Arn & Barry vs Doom from Starrcade? Such a great brawl Also you NEED to find the video of Teddy Long checking out Flair's limo and yacht. Tremendous stuff.

What's fascinating is this was a time period before the world was connected. And you have these wrestling nerds scattered around that don't know each other and arent following any guide. Yet, we were all doing the same things. If you asked me as a kid what the highlight was of my yearly trip to Grandmas, it was getting my hands on WCW 92-93 ppvs at the Florida rental stores. This was a time when homes had one tv. I still remember sitting in a room full immediate and extended family sitting 18 inches from the tv watching cactus v. sting. In retrospect I can't tell if this was good or bad parenting. Meanwhile, my kids are so spoiled, they don't know what a commercial is.

*Kiera Hogan gets a 2 count off a legdrop* Nigel: "Oh no! Oh the humanity!" Luchasaurus really murdered Copeland with a... bulldog? Kyle Fletcher is really athletic, tall enough to be billed over 6 feet, and only 24 so he's got a lot of upside to say the least, and I think he was quite good in his match with Danielson too. In 6 years I could see Fletcher being a high level singles guy. I'm not sure why Aussie Open doesn't hit with me as much as both guys individually but with Mark Davis down maybe this a chance to give Fletcher a little undercard feud to see how he can fare on his own

HOLY SHIT A TD. A passing TD even. I didn't know Matt Canada knew that was possible Ravens should be disgusted with themselves

I'm glad I got to be a part of early Chikara. I did play-by-play for the Best of 2002 DVD, which included the first YLC tournament and the first main event between Reckless-Quack-Montoya and Punk-Cabana-Hero. I also did YLC 2 (Larry Sweeney's army hilariously grew larger throughout the evening) and Best of 2003. I ring announced one show for Chikara in Wall, PA, which I remember for Eddie Kingston shouting "I hate lucha!" during his match, and I cracked up laughing while introducing Private Eye, because I didn't see the full outfit in the locker room.

I wish I could remember the name of the magazine, but I know it was a British one. Slam or something like that? This was probably 1999-2001, since WCW was still around. I got it in a book store inside of the Nashville airport when I was a kid. I only ever had that one issue, but it was decidedly better than Pro Wrestling Illustrated. As far as official magazines go, ECW had the best for my money. But I just fell in love with all things ECW come 1999 when I discovered them, so I’m a bit bias. In reality the magazine probably wasn’t that much different from the WCW or WWF mags. EDIT: oh hey look at that, @Cleavy just mentioned that mag I was talking about. Power Slam, yeah!

Pleased as hell for Big Bill. Sort of floated around a bit aimlessly on the card for a bit, but he did good things with Moriarty and (briefly) Cage, & now he's got a much better Enzo to work with. Whilst he's good as a big heel, I think there's a lot of untapped potential there and he could still get a world title run as a babyface. In either company.

Yeah, I think pre 1998, we got the one off Apter picture mags with some decent frequency (like $6 or $7) with really crappy pics of WWF guys from when they were in another promotion. The official WWF mags or the PWI usually turned up every second month, and were just shy of $20 a pop. Given the newsagencies that had them always seemed to be well stocked pornographers it was probably in the same batch. In hindsight, those newsagencies were really good to not enquire too much about what I was turning their store into a library with.

yes, we did get Apter mags in Australia.

Someone needs to be fired for that like what happened after the Miracle At The Meadowlands where the offensive coordinator got sacked the next day.

Finn/Priest vs. Cody/Jey built into something good by the end. Not big on Cody and Jey winning the belts though I'll be ok with it if they go back to Judgement Day or to the Street Profits within a month or two. LWO vs. Lashley/Profits was solid though mostly just something to build to a big Carlito return. Kind of so-so on that as Carlito doesn't feel like a big deal in 2023 outside of Puerto Rico. Still done decently well and not a bad win for Rey and Santos. Io vs. Charlotte vs. Asuka was mostly the usual solid WWE 3-way. I really dug the beginning and end. The mist was just a nice surprise to start things out, and that moonsault/F4 finish always looks nasty. Glad Io retained. Knight/Cena vs. Solo/Jimmy had to be the longest Cena match in years. It was good seeing Cena play FIP to setup the big LA Knight hot tag. This was pretty solid match all around and a nice boon for Knight. Seth/Nakamura was pretty damn good and probably MOTN. Nakamura showed so much swagger and was wonderful dick at times, especially early on when he was playing with Seth's head a bit. Those false finishes almost angered me because they made me want to believe Shinsuke might actually walk out of this as champ, but alas it twas not to be as I figured long before. The actual finish worked well despite not quite being the level of what Shinsuke pulled off earlier. I do like that Seth just barely survived. Solid B PLE/PPV.

No. I was just using him as an example of a person who was so not in the building anymore, so to speak, same as Joey Janela. No connection to the first two creeps.

One thing I love about AEW is that they’ll throw the shock squash out there every once in a while when you don’t see it coming That ruled

Wasn't a promotion yet and shit hadn't come out about some of those folks yet but all means don't let facts get in the way of your weird agenda.

I truly hope video stores make a comeback in some form or another. I want socially awkward kids to learn social skills by recommending rom-coms to help other guys get laid, or overstating the importance of Eyes Wide Shut, or knowing who to try and pull late fees on and who not to.

My local had a copy of an ECW show with Sabu and Cactus Jack on the cover that I just assume explained where Headshrinker Samu went to. And a WCW Bash At The Beach 94 tape that made no sense to me contextually as there was no WCW coverage in Australia and assumed it was one in the same as the Jim Barnett 70s era promotion that my uncle used to watch, and somehow I'd totally missed Hulk Hogan working PPVs locally for the past few months. Oh and WM IV was cut into two tapes, and almost every store only ever had the second half. I remember going on holiday when I was about 8 to Brisbane and the video shop next door to the hotel having literally every wrestling tape ever and ruining our holiday because I just wanted to stay in the room and watch them all instead.

I’ve read that a few places but that’s not the most uncommon play. I think the Lions have ran it a few times under Dan Campbell. I think I remember John Lynch saying the first thing he’d do as a 49er was build a top defensive line. People with no GM experience get it…why don’t GMs.

Backing up a bit: there is some truth to "you can't run any coverage against a great QB." The only way you consistently stop great QBs is by getting a consistent pass rush with four defenders. It's how the Giants beat the Pats both times in the Super Bowl, it's how the Bucs beat the Chiefs and Rams beat the Bengals. You need good pass rushers, and hopefully one elite one. Then you need to switch and disguise your coverage behind them so it can confuse the QB long enough to get in his face.

Somewhere, Sven Goran Eriksson is crying tears, and the Special One (Very nice) is telling him "Shut up, Sven" (or he's telling Sven not to be doing the pimping all over the place to take Wayne's job) (if you don't get the reference, don't worry. Although Joe-say (as he was sometimes called) will be very disappointed with you. (yes, I want them to bring back Special 1 TV, so what?)

Lol, get ready for a lotta “Shake it Off” jokes tomorrow.

Those Broncos "Color Rush" uniforms are something to say the very least. I can't tell if they are trying to be Oklahoma State or Miami

Giants first TD in the first half this season comes on a 102 yard pick six

I did build one very basic outpost on my first character but never did much with it after that. I watched a couple Youtube videos and I definitely missed out on some stuff that way, maybe I'll do a high Science tree character at some point just to focus that. I'm honestly baffled by how much hate the new lockpicking minigame has gotten online. Personally I actually think it's a perfectly fine little bit of puzzling that makes me pay attention, but doesn't stress my stupid ass brain too far. Weightlfting 4 is honestly totally worth it just for the stagger protection. It's an S tier perk. There are a lot of enemies that will rush you with Rescue Axes and whatnot and it's one of the few combat scenarios that actually gets gnarly. Also virtually all the wildlife uses melee so avoiding 50% of staggers is a serious nerf to them.

Are they sure they want Jey drunk on camera?

^^^That's pretty much what it looked like to me, but they kinda played it both ways.

I need an oral history of that Cody and Jey were drinking before the scrum because holy shit they are enjoying themselves way way way more than that scrum deserves. Frankly they should all be drunk for these scrums if you are going to have "reporters" ask planted questions about Taylor Swift

It's Canadian Thanksgiving so I'm playing catch up a few matches at a time. Loved Starks and Bill winning the tag titles, especially Ricky directing Bill on the chokeslams. If they're just transitional champions that's a shame, if they can hold the belts for a while it's a nice way to rehab Ricky a little after losing to Punk and Danielson before moving him back into singles contention. I think he can still be a firey babyface champion, maybe his size means he's destined to have more success as a heel. The promo later was really good too Fletcher's youthful exuberance launched him face first into that guardrail. Goodbye, brain cells Still need to see Storm/Hogan and the Copeland promo Sorry to be a bummer but some of those crowd shots were rough. Looks like Maverick Centre can be set up for 12,000 and they had about 2300 there

Had the Mania tag probably at #11, and the Zack Sabre Jr match probably in my top 20. Will give the Dragunov match a watch.

Over in the UK, WWE Magazine was always available as a kid. Less so WCW Magazine. Remember PWI was there. Power Slam was my favourite. Now the only ones are PWI, Inside the Ropes and WrestleTalk.

That Christian match and the conchairto to the arm might be his swan song for awhile, so we’ll see. Of course, as soon as I say that, watch them announce Darby versus Nick Wayne in a cage match or something for two weeks from now

Thank you.

Someone needs to be fired. Out of a cannon. With no net to catch them.

He’s climbing Mount Everest in April. He hired guides that told him he’s required to do months of training, so next month he’s going to Switzerland, November he’ll be in China, and in February he’s going to New Zealand. He talked about it on a podcast a little under a month ago, and mentioned it again at the WrestleDream scrum.

Also Miami lost for a hilariously stupid reason

Yeah, very happy with that. Maybe it was Ricky (and Bill, who deserves it more arguably) getting thrown a bone, maybe it was due to the injury, but so what. Let them run roughshod over everyone. The Aussie Open dude almost killed himself on that tope. Not too bright, boss. Toni stuck her ass out to get slapped to tease the pervs again! This has gotta be part of the gimmick. No idea why Komander doesn't wear camo...

MOVING ALONG... I really don't have much to say otherwise. Dragon/ZSJ was as good as anyone's said it is. They've got a longer match that ends with a submission in it though. I skipped both tags due to lack of interest (yeah, again). Christian/Darby was as good a spectacle as Dragon/ZSJ was a straight wrestling match. They both hit two different sweet spots very very well. The final Darby bump on the stairs was close to the most disgusting thing I've ever seen on a wrestling show, up there with whoever getting their bones broken or set on fire or sliced near to death. So nasty.

Rhea Ripley is going to go down as the GOAT. She does everything. 1) Awesome in-ring and one of the best unstoppable badass forces ever. Has had bangers non-stop. Lest we forget she just a few weeks ago had the best match of Nattie’s career. 2) She’s a great intimidator/second at ringside when her crew are wrestling. 3) Her comedy stuff with Dom is so good. She is able to do that stuff and still more than retain her credibility as a badass. 4) She was more than convincing in staring down Heyman in their battle of masterminds. That is so hard to pull off. Heyman is a really great performer and very giving but you still need the other party to act the part of someone who can play chess. Rhea did that perfectly. What an incredible talent.

Big fan of the Nyla/Marina team since they were with Vickie on Dark every week. Loved the match too, but you're spot on with the 'foregone' part. It's funny there are 90 belts on TV and not one of em is a women's tag - maybe they should go on excursion to Impact

I’m in the middle of watching the first episode now and I’m laughing my ass off. This is still the best of the MCU TV shows. I also think Hiddleston may be the funniest actor in the MCU.

Happy belated birthday, @AaronMLuke. Hope you had a good un!