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Just on my way back from Power Struggle in Osaka. It was one of the very best pro wrestling shows I have been to live, both in terms of match quality and atmosphere. My only complaint was it was a.very long show. The Frontier match, featuring Mochizuki's kid, Mochizuki Jr. started at 4:30. Meanwhile, the Japan World Series Tigers vs Orix game started at 6:30. The baseball game was finished before the wrestling show was! I love Hiromu, but I was burned out by the time the semi-main started. Main event 100% brought me back into it, though. It was a GREAT match, certainly for everyone there live. You can hear how hawt the crowd was. Hope the microphones picked that up well. Hope the energy and drama come across watching it on a screen. At the start of the match, the crowd was at least 80% pro-Ospreay, which genuinely surprised me. There were several little Japanese kids who screamed "AWE-SOO-POO-REYYYYY!!!" over and over again for the ENTIRE 40 minute and sixteen seconds. To the point where I was literally laughing out loud. But for the last third of the match the crowd was SOLIDLY behind young Shota. So, to me, that is GREAT crowd work, from both guys. And that table spot was far from the #1 highlight. There was a double cut-off spot that got the greatest double-pop that I have ever been a part of. The trios match was also excellent, in that "everyone slotted into the perfect role" way New Japan sometimes nails. Mox vs O-Khan made me lose my mind! I ran down to the railing and sat on the floor to watch it. OK. Home now. What else? Naito gets so much more love than Sanada, in Osaka. It is funny in a kind of cruel way. Even Tsuji gets WAY more love than the champ. Mochizuki Junior looks like a blonde Japanese Hook-style dangerous cutie and... There were a TON of cool and good things set up for Wrestle Kingdom. The best of which was an AEW favourite doing a video to challenge Okada after which the crowd... But... THE ATMOSPHERE was even better. It was my friend - who, a few years back, got me to pull my head out of my ass w/r/t Kenny & The Bucks & Modern New Japan, thus opening the door for me to get right into early AEW - who got me the ticket. More specifically, his new girlfriend got three tickets and suggested he invite me. She is really nice! My good friend has a really nice girlfriend who likes wrestling! I am happy for him. Also, I am happy for her because he is a great guy. On the train there I saw a guy around my age wearing a Desperado t-shirt. We got to talking. Ended up walking to the arena together and drinking beer outside the venue together, while waiting for my friends (and his son) to show up. I like getting there early. Soak up THE ATMOSPHERE. SO MANY people wearing New Japan gear. Particularly LIJ, but by no means exclusively. (Almost) Everyone is friendly, because we all have the same weird hobby. Best was a very tall and muscular Japanese guy wearing a BCC t-shirt. I said "Nice t-shirt!" at the same time he said " Nice jacket! " while pointing at my AEW hoodie. We laughed and fist bumped. Also met up with an internet friend of a friend who is touring Japan. We went for yakitori after the show. Pretty good day. That's Kazu, the nice guy from the train. (I'll post a buncha pictures now) By showtime, Edion Arena/Furitsu was PACKED. It was a GREAT crowd, even by Osaka standards. Reacted to EVERYTHING for FIVE HOURS. Friend of a friend. So, basically, a friend. Losing my mind during Mox vs O-Khan Mochizuku Junior. He seems like a super nice young man. One of his tag partners was dressed like a Machine. Like Super Strong Machine, I mean.

Tony Atlas approved ;).

You know if you're my HOA president you have to say you are, right? I'm pretty sure that's how the law works.

Alvarez is a tool and Sempervieve is wet lawn clippings.

You'll get a "Corner Choke with Boot" and you'll like it.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 spoiler...

Thank you! I'm glad you like my posts about a niche promotion lol. Ice Ribbon is very good about keeping folks cycled through and letting people have their opportunities. They're basically a promotion built on the mindset of "if this is something you want to try, we'll teach you how to do it and have fun", rather than "we'll turn you into an international star". Take Yuuki Mashiro, for example. She originally joined Pro Wrestling Circle (which is Ice Ribbon's amateur class that teaches exercise techniques if you want eventually become a wrestler) to get in better shape. She decided to train to wrestle and only wanted to do a career of three years before she retired to become a nurse. Mashiro was very timid in the ring, didn't like getting hit, quit out of matches a few times (she ran out of the ring and refused to return after being chopped by Ibuki Hoshi once... and I mean after literally one chop). Ice Ribbon not only pushed her, she got to retire as the Triangle Ribbon Champion, because they knew her career was going to be short and wanted to give her as much of a ride as possible. That's not a promotion that's for everyone, and that's okay. It's very much a niche promotion, and I totally get why on the surface people see a lot of talent leave or cycle out and think "this promotion is in turmoil!" or "Ice Ribbon is on the verge of death!" because I think there's a built-in expectation that if you're a promotion, you're supposed to try and be the best. Ice Ribbon is a promotion made of people who are part-time wrestlers, students, and moms who want a weekend hobby. That means you're going to naturally see some roster churn, especially as things significantly relaxed after 2021 with the Prominence departure. I see people say "how can a promotion like that stay afloat", and well... they own their own dojo, so anything they run there is almost pure profit. They rent that dojo out a few times a month for other groups to run shows there. They sell shows to small localities and festivals and make profit there. The only time they really are in a risk is when they run Korakuen, 176BOX, Yokohama... places like that. But that's how. You bring up the DATEs and they're another good example. They wanted to give wrestling a shot, and I don't think any other promotion would've been willing to do it. Ice Ribbon is the one that would say "sure, come in!" Ice Ribbon's history is loaded with people who only have a handful of matches, because that's all they wanted out of wrestling. I think there needs to be space for a promotion willing to give people those kind of chances. Or take Giulia. There's all sorts of theories about why Giulia left, but when you get down to the heart of the matter, Giulia wasn't a fit for what Ice Ribbon does. That's just the honest truth of it. For what Giulia's goals and ambitions appear to be, Stardom is a better fit for a promotion for her, and I'm glad she sought out a fit for her. I see these strange arguments of "Ice Ribbon wasn't going to push her" or "Ice Ribbon saw nothing in her", and it's like... that's not anywhere close to true. Anyone who says that has sour grapes about how she left. You'll see similar comments popping up now about Asahi now that she's left, about how Ice Ribbon saw nothing in her and wasn't pushing her. Asahi was in the main event at Ribbonmania last year. That's a push with some significant plans. To say otherwise is ridiculous. But Asahi felt she needed to go elsewhere for her goals, and if she's happy, then I'm happy for her. Another criticism of current Ice Ribbon from Western fans is inconsistent pushes and too many outside talent winning, but I don't agree with that. There are a few very loud people who get absolutely furious any time Sumika Yanagawa or Misa Kagura win a match, which I've never understood. Rydeen Hagane beating Yappy the day before Yappy was to wrestle Totoro Satsuki for the Infinity Title back in June was also criticized, but to me, that was a logical booking. Yappy beat Totoro on a fluke in a tag match to earn her shot, and Rydeen is historically pushed strong in Pure-J and elsewhere, whereas Yappy had been losing a lot prior to her fluke win and needed a match to show that she could at least appear capable. Did she lose to Rydeen? Yes. Did she look like she could beat Rydeen? Also yes. Would it have been better if she had won? Sure, but she got a lot out of an almost win, and I think if people just go by results, they don't get that context. (Spoiler: a lot of people who complain about Ice Ribbon's booking don't actually watch the shows, because the matches do contain context behind them, and there's more to what happens than just the results.) With all that said, do I recommend you check out Ice Ribbon shows? Totally. I think Ibuki Hoshi and Kaho Matsushita are fantastically talented, and there are rookies like Mifu Ashida and Nanae Furukawa who, once they get more experience, are going to be special. Should you expect Stardom or TJPW? No. It's a different kind of group, there are matches that aren't very good, things can be a little strange sometimes because it relies on some Japanese cultural knowledge like when they do matches where you have to do moves that start with a certain character and I'm not that good at Japanese. I'm comforted knowing it exists, though, and it's worth my $10 a month. If you have a spare $10, it's worth giving a try for a month to check the back catalogue, I think.

Happy Humpry v Haystacks Calhoun a hoss battle that will likely never be topped

It feeds in too how a lot of the MJF/Cole story was MJF not knowing what to do with having a friend and that letting people in is a real challenge for him. He put his pride aside for a second to accept help that he desperately needed. It's character growth for him and says a little bit about The Acclaimed too. Bowens and Billy didn't want Caster helping out MJF but they're a tight crew so are gonna back up Caster.... because that's what good guys do. When AEW is really clicking it's because the babyfaces feel like faces, guys you want to root for because they're complicated and have their struggles but find support and face their own bullshit and grow from it (SEE: Hangman). And this is why.... Everyone Loves The Acclaimed

They need to do a big Penta match in LA. I wonder if Penta v QT ends up on Full Gear or the night before

Watts said in his book heels should do it behind the refs back to get heat which is stupid because a top rope move is a high spot

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that heel Skye Blue and babyface Marina Shaffir would have one of the better women's matches in AEW this year... I probably would've believed you because that kind of stuff happens in AEW, but it was still nice to see. Is there anyone even close to Skye for most improved this year? I also like the totally off-the-wall possible love story with Angelo and Ruby. Paul Wight was great on commentary all night.

Thank you for noticing.

Christian will still be better than 80% of the roster in 5 years.

About the only thing I found interesting was Kairi's return.

Yeah this is one of the few show-long storyline angles they've done a good job of selling, and Max Caster has had this one-sided, unrequited love for MJF for a long time.

Does Chad Fortune have a daughter? Prepare for Tekno Team 3000!

As long as she doesn’t use the STF

Just went to Google and here’s some basic Sydne Watts info: She’s a 6 foot tall college basketball player at the US Naval Academy (not sure what sort of obligations the women athletes have at the USNA). She’s the daughter of Erik Watts. Hopefully she will be able to learn the Oklahoma Stampede as a finishing move.

You need to paint your shutters.

Yes.

What he said. I know the negativity generated by Majors's life drama is affecting things adversely, but there's no need to screw up everything with knee-jerk reactions. Just handle the Kang situation the best way possible, with or without Majors, and establish Doom in a manner that gets people excited about the MCU again.

Obviously, Vikingo vs Komander vs Penta was going to have some spectacular and creative spots. But that match had some SPECTACULARLY creative spots. Guns vs X Division Legends was fun. Skye vs Shafir was stiff and nasty. Garcia vs Trent managed to combine stiff, nasty, AND fun. Effectively. The giant funny guy on commentary is named Paul, right?

MJF vs Garcia on Weds.

looking like she tried to rob a band

Bringing in Flair as a one-off "thank you" for Sting is maybe excusable (maybe), but signing him to a multi-year deal...

Movie #2 is David Carradine “classic” DEATHSPORT (1978)

WFAN has been shit for a while now, pretty much ever since the switch to FM. But those two are just fucking trash that makes Carton look reasonable and makes me pine for the days of fucking Russo and Francesca, and I fucking HATE Francesca.

Holy cow. That was...something. Trashing your own radio station, trashing a program that ran for twenty years on your own radio station, trashing a class act like Carl Banks...man. It won't happen but that dude deserves to be fired.

For fans of The VVitch

May I vent for a moment? You know, there's probably plenty of valid criticisms to make about this show (even though again, I thought it was a good one, but I see I'm in the minority there, which is cool by me) - but i'm pretty irritated watching Alvarez and Sempervieve talk about "Why would MJF *suddenly* team with the Acclaimed without explanation?" - it's like they entirely missed the fact that the story was they were his last resort, and there was a show-long angle about it. Again, probably plenty of legit things one could take issue with on this show (which I would of course be willing to entertain, and I think we've had a couple good conversations here about it so far) but shit like that really annoys me - perfect example of why nothing in wrestling can ever be subtle, it's always gotta be a beating-over-the-head with story beats. Nothing can breathe or just be a little moment, lest someone like these guys miss it entirely. Its obviously a tiny sample size but something like that almost, in a way, proves WWE's hand-holding, constant-replay mentality right

I felt bad for @Just Dave's neighborhood when the Bucks lost the belts. Like he's out there celebrating, flipping cars, throwing trash cans through windows, setting shit on fire... Will Claudio possibly gaining begrudging respect for OC, being a little bewildered about Mox's beatdown, and hesitant to get into it, become something? @Log yeah man, those times where your kid is like "HOLY SHIT THAT WAS THE BEST EVER THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU" are few and far between, especially with the workload and overall hellscape that parental life can be, but are so incredibly worth it.

Not very Karagias of him, heyo.

I read that Arn Anderson didn't resign with AEW so any interaction between him and Flair won't be happening here. Honestly I'm torn on this signing. I mean I like Ric Flair. But the thought of him doing anything physical scares the hell out of me. It would be nice if there was an old school booking committee and Flair was maybe part of it because Tony I think is out of ideas that he gleamed from playing EWR. But I don't want to see Flair try to take a bump, bleed, and God help us take any of his clothes off on live television.

It's bad that I was like "there are a lot of people who meet that definition, and I legitimately can't remember which fuckface this is", isn't it?

Listening to Werner Herzog giving his thoughts on Wrestlemania/WWE was not what I expected on Conan O'Brien's podcast!!! Even better is Werner referring to Linda Mcmahon as Vince's "Alleged Wife" and the commenting on "Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo"!! James

Fox vs Swerve, Darby vs Archer, Emi vs Willow and the main were great. Samoa Joe vs Keith Lee is going to happen and one of the jobbers in the Kingdom squash literally had my first and middle name thereby making this the best episode of any pro wrestling show ever. Sorry Mid South with the Flair-DiBiase-Murdoch angle, you've been replaced.

I missed the last couple days so I'm skipping ahead. After about the halfway point of Collision everything got super fun. Emi/Willow is a match that needs to be ran through two or three more times, ending in a death match like KAORU/Aja Kong. Putting Mark Briscoe with Dustin Rhodes and Keith Lee was such a WAR move from Coach Tony that Dean would have wept. And on top of that he put them against Sabien and the Workhorsemen, jobbers extrordinaire. Beautiful. And then at the end we get a taste of what has to be a big time main event, Ricky Starks versus ROOSH. First half of the show (sorry Jake, but you sounded awful -- and Fox, please remember to sell and not just get up and play to the crowd when you get kicked in the stomach) wasn't the best but that second half was right in the sweet spot.

There was a pretty significant culture shift at the end of 2021, as Hajime Sato was planning on closing Ice Ribbon and was talked into keeping it open by the talent still there. There wasn't really a structure in place to support the growth that they were trying to push towards, so it's either return to the ethos of what makes the promotion work in the first place, or there is no promotion. That means dropping deathmatches (which had no place there anyway), not trying to run so many larger buildings when you can't fill them, trying to be efficient with what outside gigs you take, et cetera. People can be annoyed if they want, but if it comes down to "this had to happen or there's no promotion", we can either accept the change or move on to find something else we do like. Complaining about it on the internet incessantly doesn't change the reality of the situation, and unfortunately, the people annoyed by the change tend to complain incessantly instead of finding what they do like.

Old school wrestling promoters would jump on the “Gunther has been banned from wrestling outside of the United States for 6 months” claim. As for women’s wrestling moves that they might give to the lady wrestlers with long legs, an enzuiguri has potential too

Cool finding out you attended NJPW Power Struggle 2023. Thank you for sharing, my friend.

No, but I listened to the 2 episodes of BTS about it. Nice to at least his version of stuff. Rather than the Paul spin we heard in the newsletters at the time.

I don't know if this is considered a hot take or not, but I find the kids in this game shockingly endearing and not awful shits like most video game kids. The List kid was funny, and I actually like Sam Coe's kid too.

Are they just being intentionally obtuse for clicks? It’s a classic wrestling trope/story arc (which we know MJF loves) that those guys have seen 1000 times in their lives. Not to mention that his issue with The Acclaimed was Caster’s obsession, not whether he could actually trust them or not. They were the only team who genuinely wanted to help him with no strings, and in the end, he went with the team that has the one person other than Adam Cole who likes MJF.

Tonight might be the first time in 6+ weeks that I go to the gym on back-to-back days. This bronchitis shit is still awful, but at least it's about a 2/10 instead of the "stand up and get winded" garbage it was this time last month. I get to find out just how much Pull day relies on my lungs; haven't decided if I'm going to try to deadlift or not. I probably will. Maybe just do my Religious Experience workout and leave it at that.

There's an article in the Guardian today where they asked viewers what scenes scared them most in movies, somebody brought up The Thing ('82 of course) and said the theater operators turned down the heat in the building for the movie. Brilliant.

Well, I already did this once about 2 minutes ago, and then fat-fingered the list away. That's what I get for insisting on italicizing things. Should be quick, though. No particular order: Seven Samurai Ikiru Pulp Fiction The Big Lebowski The Piano Do the Right Thing Videodrome Amelie Children of Men Pan's Labyrinth Blade Runner Alien Insomnia (1997) Godzilla (1954) Lawrence of Arabia In the Mood for Love Being There Citizen Kane 8 1/2 Secrets & Lies More than a little front-loaded on modern stuff, probably super obvious and crusty, more than a few honorable mentions to what I have seen out of Ozu and Scorsese and Villeneuve, but yeah. Bolded the ones I have talked about. I also have massive, John Ford- and Bergman-sized holes in my viewing. The latter is particularly bad since I still have the Criterion box set sitting here unopened. First ones out if I changed it would probably be, I dunno, Blade Runner, since there have been 80 different versions and I don't even entirely like the choices made in the Final Cut, and Insomnia. I could just as easily flip them for Late Spring or The Lighthouse or Drive My Car.