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Why were there so many Big Al's in WCW?! I knew Big Al with Tank Abbott and Big Al (911) were not the same person, but I always thought Big Al (911) was the same person as Big Al (Who became The Dog)! But it turns out Big Al Green who played The Dog was neither Big Al (911) nor Big Al (Tank's friend). So at some point WCW had three (!) different incarnations of Big Al, none of whom were the same person?! :hair-tearing out gif By the way, I hadn't seen it in years, but Big Al Green had one of the funniest vignettes in WCW history as The Dog when Brian Knobbs caught him drinking out of the toilet, then drove him out to the middle of nowhere and abandoned him, leaving Green to howl in sadness at being abandoned. I've never been sure, but I've always felt like someone was watching the Simpsons Barbershop Quarter episode when Homer was tasked with getting rid of Chief Wiggum who had his head out the window panting and saying "Where we going" before Homer abandoned him in the countryside leaving Wiggum to howl as he drove away. https://www.wwe.com/videos/brian-knobbs-catches-the-dog-drinking-out-of-the-toilet-and-then-ditches-him-in-the-desert

I believe you mean a threatened cutting off of one's invisible beard.

This is why we need more super over kangaroo kicks and less yawn-inducing tornillos.

Feels like the median age of the roster is higher than it was 20-30 years ago, that also has to factor in somewhat.

So this motherfucking beauty of a figure will be coming at some point as a shopaew.com exclusive. I'm beyond excited for this. https://wrestlingfigurenews.com/2023/10/14/eddie-kingston-bloody-shop-aew-1-of-3000-unrivaled-figure-coming/ And goodness me I might actually keep this in the box because look at the back!

She's out of surgery and in recovery. Surgeon removed "an impressive amount" of disc material that was "basically wrapped around her nerve", hence the ridiculous pain she's been experiencing. I am very relieved.

I wasn't able to concentrate on everyone's wrestling takes with this shit festering in my mind. So sorry, you're going to have to show your workings here, because if your main takeaway from the last couple of weeks is 'Israel eviscerates children', you might be advised to seek out news somewhere other than Al Jazeera or The Canary. If you just didn't like the Juice/MJF angle then sure, not many people did, wrestling probably isn't the right medium for that kind of thing, but seeing as reports of antisemitism have gone up sixfold in the UK and probably similar or worse elsewhere, one might argue it's actually the perfect time for Max or anyone else to fight antisemitism. It's gotten pretty bad out there, there are Nazis, Islamists, arch wrestling board contrarians, more anti semites than you could ever need or want. And if you didn't mean for your brief 'Let me tell you why I skipped Dynamite' snark to be taken that way, maybe don't suggest that it's inappropriate to discourage people from hating Jews when the Jewish state that they created after some people tried to kill all the Jews is killing people in its desperate attempts to stop the terrorist group whose founding document is heavily themed around Jew killing. Apologies mods, I know this is why we don't have a politics folder, but this garbage has been sitting in the thread for a day now. Anyway, I liked the V Trigger in that finishing sequence. Max Caster getting distracted like an idiot when he had the match won was stupid.

I'd be happy with Rampage being a matchup of international talents doing wrestling for the sake of wrestling, main evented by the women, with the occasional squash in there. This was pretty much what I want out of rampage every week that is realistic.

If it's Blue Panther/Danielson...

"Or you think they're okay" -Mitch Hedberg

150 hours in Level 47 And I just went to my first temple I might have taken “don’t rush the main quest” a little too far

This is just anecdotal, from my own brain, but I feel like there are a ton of injuries now in not just pro wrestling, but all major sports. I think it may be one of two things (or, most likely, a combo of both): 1. Today's athletes are stronger and faster than ever. In wrestling, this is true, and you have to add in the fact that the fans demand more action, maybe more "danger" in their matches than in the past. 2. I think today's athletes are less likely to play through an injury. I personally don't see this as a bad thing at all.

Based on what? He managed for 12 years and had 2 good years and was under .500 five times. I know he's got the two titles but, man, he did basically nothing else. Lemme put it another way - he's a guy that should be in Toronto's Ring of Fame or whatever. Local legend for two titles. Celebrated constantly, never has to buy a beer again. But an all-time great manager? Nah.

Would Juice be known as Edward “Juice” Robinson as a movie stahr

I’m guessing that the Quebecers didn’t last long in WCW because Doug Dillinger was already stealing the things that PCO wanted to steal

JD Drake should wear one of those to the ring only for PCO to revert to his old ways and steel it! This hot angle will fix AEW attendance woes

Yeah, movies. eXistenZ - Here's what I wrote for Letterboxd; I think I may just end up taking nearly all my reviews from here and chucking them up there at some point, because at least it would sorta-kinda preserve them, but anyway, the movie... This is what happens when you get super-baked, listen to "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai on repeat far too many times, and then suddenly you think you have something important to say about technology and the future. Also, David, your gastrointestinal tract is effectively a convoluted doughnut hole and not at all analogous to your idea of "bio-ports", but please, whenever you have any more ludicrous thoughts like this, be sure to cast Jennifer Jason Leigh in your films so she can open her mouth for us and tell us by proxy, "This is one of Mr. Cronenberg's badly thought-out ideas." Additional notes: God this sucked. That Criterion tried to call it a "spiritual successor" to Videodrome is insulting. And there's one other thing this gets horribly wrong about VR or AR and probably always will: People. Don't. Like. Pain. Sorry, C-berg, but you're a lot more alone on Masochism Island than you think, and any altered "reality" can only be "deformed" as far as can be taken without pain and suffering as the natural leavener of our happiness. The best games, et al, can manage to do is merely manipulate our dopamine schedule, and denying pleasure through operant conditioning isn't truly the same thing. Massive fail on the part of this movie to have skipped reading, I don't know, ANY actual psychology or game theory (and plenty of it existed by the late 90s). No, let's just, I dunno, have Jude Law lick some surgery holes instead. The Green Knight - OK, other than *that* scene, this was EXACTLY what I've wanted from an Arthurian tale for so long. The only director besides David Lowery who could have pulled this off is Robert Eggers, which you can probably guess from the prominent roles played by Kate Dickie and Ralph Ineson. Jesus tapdancing Christ this is just a stunningly gorgeous movie; there was one of the forest scenes that looked a bit rough - I think it may have been because my TV is probably 60Hz and if the scene was shot at 24, it would have likely played better on a 120Hz screen - but otherwise it's just a gob-stoppingly beautiful piece of work. On more than one level, it may also remind you of Justin Kurzel's Macbeth from 2015, which looks too good to be real and yet too real to believe it could be so pretty. But what this has that Macbeth didn't is a better grasp on the subtext, even as the end of this film goes the "Macbeth" route in one sequence. There's so much to dig into about masculinity, courage, history, vulnerability, truth...they could have called this The Onion Knight and it would have been apropos, too, since there is a lot to peel back and think about. Still not better than Drive My Car, but possibly a step or two ahead of everything else from 2021. The King of Comedy - This is available on Youtube for FREE, for God's sake, so you should watch this at your earliest convenience. We're all familiar with "cringe comedy" nowadays, what with Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, BoJack Horseman, Rick & Morty and a dozen other things that have littered the landscape over the last 20+ years, but this, in its own way, is truly the king. I have a lot of, um, feelings about Robert DeNiro, and most of them end with "Man, I am so sick of him being in everything and being *praised* in everything." Some of his most famous roles - such as the clearly influential Travis Bickle - are things I can take or leave. But Wow WOW WOWOWOWOWOWOW is he good here. I don't think this is a better film, start to finish, than Raging Bull was, but DeNiro is at least as good here as he was in the former film. It takes a tremendous performance - and maybe an even more tremendous script - to take a delusional comedian and make him quite possibly the least funny person in the history of film. You truly get more laughs out of every protagonist in every Dumpster Fire film I've ever talked about, even if all you're doing is laughing at instead of laughing with. You don't even get the opportunity to laugh at Rupert Pupkin. It's too absurd. And that goes on and on and ON for nearly the whole movie, and yet you never (or, I should say, you *should* never) lose your empathy for the character. He's so pathetic, so broken, so deluded, that Rupert becomes a barometer of your own humanity: the longer you can watch the car crash happening, and the longer you can still feel how terrible it all is, moment by moment as it spirals out of control, the more in-touch with your fellow man's plight you probably are. But, I think this might also be where "Robert DeNiro as" basically starts, in the same way "Al Pacino as" happens in, oh, The Devil's Advocate or "Jack as" stinking up The Witches of Eastwick and every rom-com he's done as a gross old man. Because yeah, you can see Robert pulling a LOT from Travis Bickle and repurposing it. It works, but he also pushed as hard as anyone to get this movie made in the first place, so you can tell it comes from a place of caring about the authenticity of the performance. Afterwards? Well, uh, nobody needed 3 "Meet the" movies, buddy, but I guess you never saw a paycheck you didn't like. But anyway, the rest of this is pretty special, too. Jerry Lewis was inspired casting, playing 1000% against what you think you know him as to end up as this bitter, furious guy whose life, frankly, is just as broken and just as lonely as Rupert's. There are a couple of times where Lewis oozes so much malevolence that you're certain he's about to go berzerk. And the ending...I'm still kind of in awe of it. The film really, truly, entirely commits to a bit, and it ends with quite the punchline. This is one of the most uncomfortable things you could possibly watch, but it's also somehow just as revealing and compelling as it is hard to stomach.

Don't be bringing facts into my nonsense arguments. I'm just bitter.

leaving aside that I think Brian intended to post about Leyland in the other thread... Brad Ausmus managed the 2014 Tigers, not Jim Leyland. There's other playoff failures that you can pin on Leyland. 2014 was Brad Ausmus living off of what he inherited.

Two things I love about WALTER: he beats the fuck out of people and he finishes his matches with whatever he damn well pleases.

Hey now, the place I bowl at has jackets if you bowl a 800 series during league. It's a long term goal of mine to get one.

It's disappointing but man they're old. They ain't coming to Chicago so there's no chance I'll ever see em. It'll be the same feeling I get not having seen Manilla Road before Mark the Shark passed away. At the very least we have the new album coming out and they'll still be recording, I bet (and are as good as ever).

Awesome opener from Angelico vs Gravity this week, maybe match of the night. Nice job building up Angelico a little bit considering it feels like it's been years. The weekly highlight with Athena and Billie continue the greatness. Billie/Diamante was a fun little match with Mercedes and Athena excellent in their roles at ringside. The post-match chaos ruled, great visual with all the refs. Billie always having the greatest expressions/reactions to everything. Tony Nese actually beating Ethan Page shocked me, didn't see that one coming so it made for a nice surprise upset for a change. Pat Buck looked good in his brief showing against Josh Woods, stood out as unique and digging the theme music too. Surprisingly quick squash from Cole Karter & Griff Garrison as they become more on the same page. Always love to see Kiera Hogan in action, nice short match vs Allysin Kay. Good to see Marti Belle again as well. Only disappointed that one of my favs Zoey Lynn/sky got the shortest squash of them against Lady Frost. Komander/Metalik was an epic spotfest with non stop action for just under 5 mins. The triple threat tag team main event came and went almost just as quick.

I'd love to see that again. There really should be a DVD or BluRay called The Bloody Best of All Elite Wrestling with all of these https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1076670/the-10-most-brutal-aew-matches-in-the-promotions-short-history/ on it. And this should probably be on the cover. .

Yeah, for me, The Matrix ends with Neo zooming up into the cyber sky and Wake Up by Rage playing during the end credits.

TIL the NCAA bans scouting future opponents in person, and has done so for almost thirty years.

I collect AEW figures, it's my vice since i stopped drinking. This past few weeks I grabbed Walmart Exclusives - Jericho and Kingston, the LJN Punk, the LJN Darby Allin, Target exclusive Samoa Joe, a Riho that i thought I'd never find on the shelf, Danhausen, and the latest Mr. Brodie Lee in the red suit. I'm really on the look out for Butcher, Blade and The Bunny.

Oh lord those jackets probably smelled like Marlboros and lube.

Seriously, was he putting fig jam on his PB&J? Unconscionable. I did notice that Roddy's socks have his wife's face on them, which is pretty cute.

I sat with this one for a moment: as a single, probably Kurt Angle. The goofy wig shit really helped give his character another dimension (IIRC anyway). As tags? You could probably get away with putting damn near every WWF team from '99-'01. Granted, its probably more supportive of your point than mine that I had to go back to friggin' middle school to pick some names, but like Taz, I digress.. As for the show, I thought this was a hella solid edition. @GordlowI thought of you during the Edge sit down, I'm glad you liked it! I was sitting there thinking to myself, like "Man, I'm digging this way too much, what am I missing?" I don't know if it's a skill she learned doing pods or when she was covering hockey or what, but Renee kicks ass at these. I won't be surprised if at some point a character *really* breaks out in one of these with her, like Goldust and Mankind did with Jim Ross in the late '90s. And J.R.'s sit-down with the Waynes was good too, but it was DEFINITELY a little more rasslin' in tone with the "Son! Please!" - Christian, despite being a multi-time world champion there, was ironically the only thing that saved this from treading into TNA terrotory IMO. Sting! My god, I hope Revolution is somewhere on the east coast, Id love to be in the house for his last one - he's always said he's not doing any singles matches, but I could see a 1v1 with Darby (not putting him down WHATSOEVER for this, but Darby's not exactly a huge guy - he might be built ideally for Sting to have a singles with without getting blown the fuck up immediately). Apparently, I'm the kind of guy you want to play poker with, because despite not saying word, I got an '...are you okay?' from my better half after that segment. I'm sure some of you will understand and are in the same boat: I am a massive WCW fan who thought I was never going to get to see Sting wrestle, and now I've gotten to see him wrestle 3 times (and appear with Darby a couple others) all within this last few years. I say this in all sincerity: I cannot thank AEW enough for giving him this run, and Sting for being up for it. Obviously, I have no proof that this is the case, but I was absolutely over the moon to see that it seems TK used some attendance-improvement ideas we were recently discussing: frequent on-sale graphics, frequent references to both the building and city for next week, hyping guys who will be there even if they don't have a match lined up yet (You *will* see Hook and RVD in action!) - and on that note, I think the idea of using 'localized' big names (such as the aforementioned RVD in Philly, as well as his recent Collision bout in Michigan) could have some real legs. I just read apparently they moved 2100 extra tickets for last night once Mistico was announced for Rampage (because Texas) - so at least there's a bit of 'proof of concept' there. I'm real curious and excited to see if they can make it a winning formula in other cities.

Tank Abbott vs. Big Al - Superbrawl 2000

"those matches were Daniel Bryan vs Andrade Almas, this match is the first ever match between Bryan Danielson and Andrade El Idolo"

Manhattan Baby was so bad I couldn't even sit through it when I rented it as a kid. Bob from House was so irritating too. It's really sad: the same year Fulci made The New York Ripper, probably the most misanthropic, misogynistic film I've ever seen, which feels like the ultimate pessimist statement from him. Then he does Manhattan Baby and it's just over. The whole career. The only film he made worth a shit after was A Cat in the Brain which was basically just a collection of gore scenes anyway but also a seeming coda for said career starring him as a director. If any of the films he made in between or after were worth it, I haven't heard anything about them. Unfortunately I haven't seen his early giallos aside from Don't Torture A Duckling, which is very affecting, or his western Massacre Time. Another western of his, Four of the Apocalypse, is highly recommended surrealism. The last one I want to pimp is Contraband which is a badass Mafia flick starring Fabio Testi as a cigarette smuggler* and Marcel Bozzuffi from The French Connection. Great cinematography and some nasty splatter as always. *...which was apparently a big time mob hustle because Italians wanted American smokes that were enormously taxed instead of subpar domestic brands. Until I read that years after I first watched the film, I thought they just made him a smuggler because it seems lighter than the hero being a brutal murderer or drug dealer or something. Maybe that WAS the point, but the economics of it make it a neat reality that isn't made clear in the film. And hey, here you go! Full movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lkTPI3yXo0&ab_channel=GunsN'Drugs

Just reading this very old post by mistake but... well, visit the Discord haha.

Yeah but they're established Capital-F Finishers. Busaiku Knee, Yes Lock, roll up or, I dunno, some other tricky pinning combination like an O'Connor Roll or small package (he uses these more than you'd think) are the big three. The Cattle Decap too? You know I guess GUNTHER's are more just old finishers -- powerbomb, lariat. But still finishers.

Mark just out here not caring about spoilers anymore

It was wierd, where the Elims just kept 911 on the outside and avoided the Chokeslam like the plague while doing an extended FIP sequence with Rey, the 2 times 911 got in, one was a snap suplex on Saturn, then I think he eventually got in, Chokeslams, and then Rey did a splash off his shoulders (which was funny, as 911 was only like, 6 foot, which made him a giant in ECW at the time.

WALTER doing anything should be sold like that.

The year after your contract expires. . .

I mean Arizona fans weren't going anyway so all that's really doing is putting money in the D-Backs pocket but okay

I will try to catch this tomorrow after work and then try not to set anything on fire or punch anyone in the face while figuring out what I am going to do about dinner.

In the 1970s, the Gulf Coast territory often had individual champions in each town. And instead of belts, they had satin jackets for the champs.

Stringer Bell in the Wire

Tangentially, I’m one of the MX fans who doesn’t hate the JCP knockoff of Chase.

It's amazing. To summarize: Vince is removed from power because he's a rapist Vince muscles his way back in by holding any potential sale hostage Vince decides to sell to Endeavor because Ari promises to let him stay in creative A month after the ink is dry, Vince is removed from creative It's awesome that the "I'll owe you one, pal" guy, who built a career on empty promises, ends his career on someone else's empty promise. The "secure the bag" crowd will say "at least he got paid," but that wasn't what Vince wanted. He specifically maneuvered for his position in creative and he got out-carnied. Reminds me of Kanye getting fucked over by Nike. That's what happens when "rich" gets into a showdown with "wealthy." It feels good to see it. Not that I'm one to root for any corporation or billionaire. But in this specific case, where a detestable small time carny finally got his comeuppance, I'm cool with it.

There would be a logical reason for JJ Dillon to manage Yokozuna vs Lex Luger. It’s just that the 1993 WWF wasn’t in the business of acknowledging things that happened 5 years ago in their own promotion much less other promotions

Jon Moxley vs the Iron Sheik in a high school gym 50 miles outside of Cincinnati would have been an amazing main event in 1981. I don't think Sheiky gets much of a death bump but he'll probably get a little bit of a death bump.

Mom: "Why am I with Christian now? Because Nick's father is dead."