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Kofi Kingston scholar and all around wonderful human being...

I told my daughter two years ago that if she could read a particular book by herself by the end of the year, I'd let her choose my first tattoo. She ended up finishing it in three weeks. I now have a Bluey half sleeve.

Fun, fun, fun while Tony tweets the haters away! No Promo Montage, well, that’s no fun. Copeland/Christy-Ian/Danielson/FTR/Ricky/Bill talk segment was excellent. Tho, I’m sure the fun police will suggest 'uh, so WWE'. WWE doesn’t move along at that pace, nothing dragged here. There also wasn't 10 minutes of catchphrases before the point. Also, great chance to meet our fantastic TOLEDO crowd! Samoa Joe v Willie Mack was a nice little TV match. Joe allowed for Mack to look like a worthy challenger. CJ Perry/Andretti promo was mildly amusing. I had no reason not to skip Juice v Daniels, and of course did. The post match promo was a bit middling, but happy there wasn’t any more antisemitism for cheap heat. ‘HE’S DUSTIN RHODES!!! AND HE MEANS BUSINESS!!!’ Promo was not unwelcomed. Nick Wayne is a beautiful bad boy! Hotly anticipating this next JR sitdown. I’ve dug ‘Mom’ Wayne each time out. I’m interested to see if she can promo too. Kyle Fletcher v Boulder made for a nice win for the young Aussie. Fletcher v Omega! Fuck yes! Fun Acclaimed segment which I haven’t been able to say in what seems like a long while. I like this Max/Max thing, and Daddy Magic is really killing the promos, as one would expect. I liked hearing them call to attention that they're in Memphis next week. Look forward to that trios bout. And fucking Dave Brown, yes! He was so underrated sitting next to the greatest commentator whom ever lived. Love you Lance! Stat v Skye was a nice little TV bout. Willow v Stat? Let’s do that, and put the deserved rocket on Willow! Terrific ROOOSH promo! Yeah, let’s get him back to killing folk. Turbo Floyd v Keith Lee was better than your average In Action – Thank you Turbo! Miro promo was alright. Do we really need the Andretti match when he seems to already have him in hand? Rocky Romero/Mistico package was excellent. Nice job Rrrrock! Christy-Ian Cage v Bryan Danielson was every bit as wonderful as one would expect. Shitty finish, but not exactly a surprise. Thank you Toledo! Fun show. AEDub rules the... fuck do I ever miss Dean's posivibes and spot on reviews.

So here’s the Octopus-gun as we know it. Me - Octopus My Son / lil Octopus - El Hijo del Octopus My future grandson - El Hijo del Octopus jr My replacement (I’m voting for Japanese Letters aka the artist formally known as DZ if he wants a new name and would bring honor to my gimmick) - Octopus II DZ’s kid - El Hijo del Octopus II DZ’s grandkid - El Hijo del Octopus II jr the pattern goes on from there. We can also include other variants like Blue Octopus, Red Octopus, Steel Octopus, Octopus D if @Matt D ever gets tired of treadmilling on land , etc.

So, yes. Sabre/Danielson is as good as advertised. I’m not big on long match write ups, but I’ll say that a technical wrestling match, worked mainly on the mat, had my six-year-old living and dying by every little change of momentum. Same kid who asked to fast-forward through the Swerve/Hangman match because it was “boring”. Am I living with a tiny @Matt D?

This is worth mentioning! I’ve always been impressed with this about AEW. Although I’m not huge on the amount of belts we regularly see from other companies, it is very cool that AEW is very much in the Wrestling Universe and actively referenced rivalries and wrestlers from other companies. Kingston vs Shibata being King’s Road vs Strong Style was cool as hell. Seeing AAA stuff and now CMLL stuff is wild. New Japan guys like Ospreay and Sabre jr is very very cool. The Suzuki pops still make me so happy. AEW is a beautiful thing.

I'm all for Miro squashing guys who get flirty with CJ.

The second I saw Andretti getting flirty with CJ, I knew it wouldn’t end well for him.

I think we all assumed that anyone involved in HH had already seen it. She was also in the Dario Argento campy giallo classic, Trauma, in addition to Carrie (for which she was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). I was elated when she won the Golden Globe for her role in Twin Peaks. RIP.

I'll be ZenOctopus

I think he stays just long enough for his sons to graduate, because I believe they would have to sit out a year if they transferred again. But I can't imagine him there any longer than that. He's gonna get a big time high profile job somewhere.

We've already seen Octopuscito, you'll have to get permission for that after he grows up.

The Bills playing another Barnburner with the Giants. No, I'm not saying it's a great game, I'm saying I want to lock both teams in a barn and burn it down.

Eagles fans I’d relax. I didn’t see the whole game but what I did see was a scrappy team finally catching a break this week after missing so many all year in the Jets. That wasn’t some game the Eagles weren’t ready to play. That throw on the first drive when Hurts was tackled by 3 guys was 1 of the best throws I’ve ever seen that will be forgotten only because it happened at the start of a game. The run he had to score on that drive was no gimmie either. The 49ers game wasn’t the same after that screen pass that went haywire on their second drive. This will sound far fetched but hear me out. They went right down the field on that first drive without attempting 1 pass except the shovel pass at the goal line. Then they get the ball again off of a turnover down there and what Kyle Shanahan thought was best was not only to call a pass, but a pass that was behind the LoS which made the fact that the OL was controlling the LoS irrelevant. The pass also took forever to develop by design. It wasn’t just the opposite of what was working before, it was the opposite Xs 1000. I mean they might as well be coached by Jimbo Fisher I swear to gosh sometimes.

Mike Utley flashbacks are not what I want when I watch football. I hope he's okay.

That opening promo was one of the cringiest promos I’ve seen in AEW. Edge really stunk it up by first calling Starks a Rock ripoff, then fumbling over his words and landing on calling Starks a “vanilla…midget.” Can we please get some kind of mandate to not fucking bury the talent you’re trying to create by comparing them to bigger stars? I liked the retort from Starks, but damn, that shit annoys me so much. Rest of the show ruled and was once again better than Dynamite.

Holy Shit - I have never seen a team as bad at clock management as this Atlanta team And I have watched A LOT of Andy Reid games

Washington/Atlanta is the battle of two teams who have no idea how to win a football game

Who is Talon in the Calling? He is basically the whipping boy in the group and also has no problem at all being it. Also his goofy selling of being "electrocuted" in the chamber match was top notch I get why RSP vs Manders was set up that because it is obvious that the new Arena isn't set up for action all over the building but man that is shit if you are there live. Good to Janai Kai get exposure and even the title. Has really improved in the last year.

Skye/Stat was really good, easily Skye's best match to date. Stat doesn't get enough credit as a workhorse, she routinely gets the most out of everyone she works with. Even though, Skye is teasing a heel turn, this was her best fighting spirit performance where it looked like she had winning chances. She brought the heat, but Stat always had an answer for her. Reminded me of Jungle Boy's first crack at Kenny Omega.

Chris Hero’s comeback match is apparently going to be for West Coast Pro, vs Timothy Thatcher. EDIT: On November 17th, in San Francisco

This was my favourite part. The fans willing the face to get back up is a wrestling cliche, but seeing them actually tangibly contribute to his getting back up was neat.

When these Pac 12 teams hit the Big 10, it is going to feel like the invention of color TV for teams like Iowa and Wisconsin

Octopus Black/Darkness Octopus upon his heel turn.

Growing up, my only exposure to pro wrestling was the WWF. i didn't see WCW until the Nitro era, and had no experience watching AWA or anything else. So it started out as a very narrow view, and if i'm being honest with myself, i still take a very focused approach to what i want to watch. My favorite wrestler was (and is) "Macho Man" Randy Savage. the look (the tassles! the colors! the....cowboy hat?), the voice (oh my god, the greatest voice in the history of wrestling!), the intensity, the catch phrase (ooooh yeah!). Plus he put out some excellent matches. Just a complete package. Almost all of my other favorite wrestlers were also these larger than life characters with a lot of these same characteristics. Ultimate Warrior. Legion of Doom. the Undertaker. a few years later, Shawn Michaels (not so much the Rockers, but his solo run with Sherri and beyond). Pro wrestlers were/are real life superheroes. they perform feats of strength/agility/flexibility that are unreal. There are a lot of parallels between the costumes of both. Most of the story is told in broad strokes, but if you pay attention close enough and/or long enough, you'll find so much more. Motivations, specific actions, nuances, all that stuff. your typical kid viewer doesn't catch these things, but as you grow with the sport, you appreciate them more and more, and they are what keep you invested. i think that is such a big reason that i enjoy stuff like gimmick matches so much. I don't care if it's a ladder, a cage, something on a pole, or exploding barbed wire death matches. an added gimmick makes my interest level rise. i want to see these spectacular stunts. these are what separate pro wrestling from the actual combat sports like MMA, Boxing, Karate, or Jiu-Jitsu, all of which are legitimate competition and therefore have inherent real meaning or stakes. But none of them can offer that adrenaline dump that the best pro wrestling can offer. i'm constantly chasing that childlike wonder and intrigue.

Silver King was Black Tiger after Eddie, but before Rocky.

When I retire, one of you can take up the gimmick of Octopus II.

The Giants absolutely do not have a functional offense (outside of that bizarre second half against the Cardinals) but the defense played great for three quarters.

At least his actual first name is Kofi.. meanwhile some fan who wasn't a fan during his Jamaican years is figuring out the reason why he's Kofi Kingston Now if Jamaican Kofi had worn rastafarian colors and then switched to being from Ghana, he wouldn't have had to switch his gear up, well, aside from Ghana's flag being Red/Gold/Green and Rasta flags being Green/Gold/Red

It's not Terry Bollea's Pastamania!, brother.

Wow what the fuck who called a run?

Justin Pugh, straight off the couch. Last week he was literally selling real estate and doing a podcast.

The Eagles absolutely deserved to lose this game

I feel like Justin Tucker might be my fantasy team’s high scorer today

I don't know who came up with the idea, but according to a Jim Cornette story, the reason why the thing was dropped was that Stu Hart did not like the portrayal of his daughter on TV:

Cheers.

My armchair booking theory is that Starks and Bill join Christian and Sons in a stable for the fall/winter. Once Cope wins the blowoff with Christian, Starks and the rest of the group Conchairto Christian out of the group and Starks assumes control, bringing to fruition Cope’s warning to Christian in the first promo. Christian returns to save Cope during a Starks beat down, and we get the reunited E&C chasing Starks and Bill for the tag titles.

Whose idea was it to put Diana Hart on TV? I'm assuming it was a favour to Davey Boy, but also, she's just horrifically wooden - they already knew this from 1992, and the angle gets dropped without any real resolution beyond just the commentary team deciding that she had to be making it all up. Just seriously weird.

OCTOPUS D~!

I can see them. <shrug>

Never Hike Alone 2 was released today, and it’s the best fan film I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how I’d rank it among the Friday films, but it’s legit enough that I’d consider the question in franchise conversations going forward.

They weren't playing the USC defense.

Which gave us one of my all time favorite CMLL skits and the first video I ever posted to YouTube.

Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero were also Black Tigers at various points in time.

There is also the active heir Super Tiger 2. And another guy went by the name The Great Tiger in Sayama's RJPW. MMA fighter Kozo Urita dropped the Tiger Shark gimmick and renamed himself Blue Shark. He was "excommunicated" from RJPW.

They gave Finn Jones plenty of time to train Martial Arts for Iron Fist and he couldn't be bothered to actually go and do it. Should have had him in the full costume and mask, so they could have his stunt double do all of the fighting. And the acting.

Me and my new pal. Her name's Miyu.

Yeah, this feels a lot like the time Human Tornado told Excalibur it would be fine to call him the N-word in a promo. Like just because MJF was in on the angle doesn’t make it less boneheaded.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f-AECxvqObs On the subject of Mortal Kombat, behind the scenes footage of Mortal Kombat (1992). I'm in the camp preferring Mortal Kombat to Street Fighter.