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Obviously, I am pretty stoked about this tournament. Announcing Dragon and only Dragon as the first and only announced entrant is pretty genius, in terms of getting us all to think about it excitedly. My dream finals: Bryan vs Kingston. My dream 12: Something like Bryan, Kingston, Hobbs, Keith Lee, Claudio, Bandido, Dustin, Brody King, Briscoe, Rush, another younger guy (maybe Starks) or a guy to play the Yano role, and also squeeze in one outsider to add spice (Suzuki, Ishii, Ospreay, Cobb...) even though it's a small field, because it's a G1 tradition. There are at least 30 AEW wrestlers whom I'd be utterly stoked to see in a mini G1, and only a tiny handful I hope are kept away from it. I am also curious how much of a G1 clone it will be, other than the way it's structured. Three key questions there: 1) What about MJF? The G1 is to determine who is The Strongest, so the champ has to step up... But Friedman already has a TON of stuff going on. Doesn't really need to set up more challengers right at this moment. 2) Will you have crazy upsets? It's absolutely a feature of the G1. One of the best things about it. ANYONE can, and will, lose to ANYONE at any time. There are ALWAYS some utterly unpredictable results, but never TOO many. I feel like Punk spread the disease of "giving a shit about wins and losses" in the AEW dressing room, and a G1 style tournament provides a lovely opportunity to re-set that bullshit. Particularly, because you are starting with Bryan and hopefully building around Bryan. Be like Byran! Err on the side of being TOO giving. I will be bummed if it plays out 100% predictably. Also, if you book it NJPW style, but scaled down, you maybe don't NEED guys who are there to eat losses. The guys who are there to eat losses can be ANYONE at any time. But I would also be more than OK with Nicky Boy or JD Drake or Bear Boulder in that role, particularly if they get at least one juicy upset. 3) Do you want a guy to play the Yano role? (A guy to do off the wall, creative, comedic stuff so that not every match is two guys killing one another). Obviously, I hope they do. I LOVE Yano in the G1. And who could play that role? I don't think you want Orange doing that, at this point, (and more on Orange later), but you could slot in Danhausen, Evil Uno, Serpentico, QT... But you kind of need someone credible enough to get a believable upset or two over a top-level guy... ...So I am.kind of thinking Jarrett might be the best guy for that slot! Also: 6 wrestlers times 5 matches times 2 blocks, plus finals. Nine towns. From 11/22 through 12/27. So I am kind of expecting AEW TV to be like the COVID-era G1 shows where it's just one tournament match after another. Which: Awesome! Presumably squeeze in one woman's match per show and some angle advancement toward the PPV. I am also assuming that dudes who kind of have PPV matches/angles building up already (Orange, Mox, Kenny, Jericho, Takeshita, Joe, MJF, Acclaimed, etc etc) will be left out of the tournament. But that might be way off. You can use the tournament to build to stuff, through upsets and controversial finishes and so on, but hopefully they keep that to a bare minimum. Final thought: I figure they are actually better off booking this straight for the hardcore maniac fans. Because we exist, and we actually watch AEW wrestling. Rather than the "casual" fanbase. Which does not exist and even if it did they wouldn't watch AEW anyway. So go all out! Give us match after match after match of your best available guys going as hard as it's possible to go. Leave us drained and on the edge of being burned out! We all have experienced that with the G1, and/or other "projects" and we are still here, eager for more. Don't hold back! Don't stop when we say, "WHEN! " Also: The NJPW tag league looks sick this year! Ishii & Yano! Suzuki & Nagata!! Archer & Zayne!! A NOAH team!! GATES OF F'N AGONY!!!!! I am going to be doing too much tournament watching over the next couple of months. AJPW RWTL going on, too. Won't have enough time to follow that, sadly. But mainly I am stoked for E1. It's been a running joke with some of my friends for years, and now that it's really happening we couldn't be happier. I, personally, can never get enough tournaments or battles royal. And I am stoked to see who Tony K's Dream 12 are... And I am always stoked to see Bryan Dragon fight ANYONE so it's already a success as far as I'm concerned.

Amazing.

The devil is gonna be Andy Kaufman you’ll all see. TK finally found him and convinced him it’s time to payoff the angle and show the world he’s still here, one of the henchmen will be Tony Clifton obviously.

Ahem. It was TEENY WANGERS.

Buddy Matthews is sort of the perfect guy to put in this. Are they doing anything with him right now? Not really. Can he go 2-3 without being damaged too much? I think so. Do I want to see him in a bunch of singles matches? Absolutely.

All I know is that I switched to showers after the first time I saw My Cousin Vinny, because elementary school me knew it was time to put childish things away and Marisa Tomei needed a man.

Look, I hate his guts and all, but he has no right being this good, this quickly: The road to Survivor Series continues!

The first half of this sentence now makes me really REALLY want to see Denzel in a Silence of the Lambs remake.

Casual fans absolutely exist and we want to like AEW

All this Hansen bathroom talk had me trying to find his scene from No Holds Barred where he inspects the two corporate guys “Teeny Weenys” in the bathroom but no luck and besides who could forget that?!

I was thinking the other day that they can only get away with that tax write-off thing so many times before it starts affecting public perception of their movie slate and makes it harder to get talent to sign on to their projects.

I hope this movie makes a billion dollars for Universal or A24 or whoever.

I watched this over the weekend and enjoyed it enough. I, of course, just through my life experience approach this from another POV from the majority of y'all. So, I need to acknowledge the massive lesbian undertones in the movie. There's a weird, unacknowledged tension between Photon and Cap. The movie like half-glances in that direction when they're having their moment together on the ship. But in a larger sense, I think the films main issue is the overall tension between those two just in general is mentioned and then... just let go? Like "I loved you and you just left" and "um, sorry but I was dealing with some shit" just -- I dunno sort of left me flat. Like that scene could have used another minute or two of them having a true moment of catharsis without Kamala coming into it before it can go anywhere. And speaking of which... I know they're presenting it as Kamala being a "fan girl" for Carol. She is not. She is *CRUSHING* hard. Again, this is completely unacknowledged, but there's a difference between being a fan, and being in love. Kamala is *thoroughly* in the latter category. Also... yay Beast!

That reminds me of the time when they were playing out the Exalted One mystery and Raven was in the crowd to low key tease that it might be him. Announcers didn't mention it and nobody really called attention to it, which was cool.

TK could bring back Ole. That would be unexpected.

For some reason I couldn’t pull off a trade with Dan Snyder when he switched to Commanders

Boy am I glad the Jets got 93 prime time games this year

There are 2 groups of 6 wrestlers. Call them Group A and Group B. Everyone will wrestle a singles match against everybody else in their group, so everyone will have 5 matches. At World's End, which will be after everyone has wrestled their 5 matches, the person with the best record in Group A wrestles the person with the best record in Group B. The winner of that match is the winner of the tournament. To answer your earlier question about whether this is the same as the G1 in terms of length and matches - the G1 has changed over the years, but in general this AEW tournament is shorter and easier. This tournament has fewer people in it which means fewer matches, and people will have more days off in between matches.

So obviously the ideal would be quick shower-bath-shower but who has time for that? I'm shower after since I got an office job and usually aren't stinking too bad when I get in. Also you and your friends are missing out, a nice soak is my favorite small indulgence. My wife got me a bath pillow and a silicone can holder that sticks on the wall, I got a 5 gallon bucket next to the tub I can set the ipad on for wrasslin. Just pick a random show and have a beer and maybe a pinner and zone out for an hour. Treat yo self, buddy.

Saying the quiet part out loud, jesus. Getting injured is part of his game hahaha

Mendoza will wear #28 on his uniform. When asked why at today's presser, he said "Because I'll lead the Mets to a World Championship before the Yankees get their 28th ring." In other news from Queens: ....step right up and greet the Mets!

If we're guessing the field, I think there should be a "King of the Ring" mentality where this tourney should showcase your young studs, but champs should generally stay out. The winner of the tournament getting a guaranteed world title shot as another thing on MJF's plate would be fine. My field would be Danielson, Yuta, Garcia, Fletcher, Swerve (winner), Kingston, Darby, Matthews, Hangman, and Takeshita. The luchador would be Vikingo if available. If not, then Fenix. If he's not healthy, then Penta. The Euro spot would go to ZSJ if available. Claudio if not, I guess.

Don't forget that immediately following Raw tonight is the season two premiere of BARMAGEDDON

The dookie line was from No Holds Barred, Hogan said it to the Richard Belzer looking chauffeur.

That's awesome. It's so vile and late stage capitalism that a film can get made, get good advances, but get shelved forever for a tax write-off because execs figure it'll make money but not as much money as we want it to.

Not enough calling them “Jock Asses” though.

Hansen trying to fuck in a bathroom stall would be like a bull trying to hump a doe in there. Besides, he never left his hotel room after the shows.

You get a buyout! And you get a buyout!

Okay, hear me out: Tony Khan is revealed as The Devil. ("It's me Austin.. er.. Friedman!") He lets everyone know he was afraid for his life so he had to let that "one guy" go, not because of what that guy would do, but what he would do. And that this company needs Order and he introduces the Tony Khan Order (T.K.O) introducing the other guys under the masks (The Elite maybe?) MJF then spends the better part of the year fighting against TK and his Elitist group until a mysterious financial backer from Warner Media shows up to re-sign MJF and shift the balance of power... GOLDBERG! This is satirical mind you, but given the historical significance here, its plausible in tying up what happened with TK and MJF during Double or Nothing 2022. Editors note: meant to post this in the TV thread above this where it was more on topic, but it was early and i was on a ladder.

I am once again asking for Yano/OC, put Mox in the same block why the heck not?

They're a lot like Michigan State. It doesn't matter what they do, they'll always be second fiddle in their state. Period. Sparty went on a run of dominating the head-to-head with Michigan, won 11+ games five times in six years and what were people saying? "When will Michigan be back?" There was never a question of "If", it was always "when". A&M is in the same boat. They can do whatever they want - pull off a miracle against Alabama, win a Heisman with one of the most exciting players ever, snag a coach who's won a national title, recruit "the greatest class ever", buy any player they want - and none of it matters. They'll ALWAYS be second fiddle to the burnt orange in Austin. Their most legendary coach.........left for greener pastures. They've won 10 games once in the last 25 years. Northwestern has done it THREE times in the last 11. They will always be second fiddle. Having said all that, they SHOULD be better for all the reasons you mention. Their facilities are great, they will spend whatever it takes. That should be enough to snag loads of talent and do better than 8-5 every year.

The pros to taking the TAMU job: they have top notch facilities, are in the most talent rich state and the most talent rich conference, their boosters spend more money than anybody else and the NIL collective allows you to recruit as well as anyone. They will give you fully guaranteed contracts with no offset language and then fire you without trying to claim cause. The cons: no coach since RC Slocum has made it through their sixth season without being fired. Despite having absolutely everything necessary to be a major power, haven't won a conference title in 25 years or a national title in 84 years. Bear Bryant was the last coach to leave voluntarily, everyone since has been fired.

Texas A&M is so weird or something. They’ve been as all in at football as Alabama and what have they done win a Cotton Bowl game in the early 2010s? If I had their money I’d burn mine.

Why would anybody go after Deion? He hasn't shown he can actually coach (yet).

Problem is, Lanning (if he’s the guy) would probably require one of those insane fully guaranteed contracts. I’ve seen some ridiculous names thrown around today. Deion. Kiffin. Swinney. Meyer. Kingsbury. Dan Campbell.

Commander State University

It was fun. I thought the leads had good chemistry. The action looked good, and Iman Vellani's personality as Ms. Marvel was perfect. That said, the film definitely had some storyline and script issues that kept it from being something more. It glossed over many of its more dramatic and emotional moments. Leaned away from what could've been for some more interesting dramatic moments where Kamala realizes that Carol is a real person and doesn't fit all the ideals she created in her head, along with Kamala also coming to understand that as heroes they sometimes fail and can't save everyone. Those moments were definitely there but jettisoned quickly. Not to pile on because there are so many people gloating over this film's "failure" right now so much that it disgusts me because I find it distasteful. IMHO the actors and Nia DaCosta were not at fault. I put this mainly on Kevin Feige and Victoria Alonso. Secret Invasion makes even less sense after watching this film. Watching this film, it's almost like Secret Invasion never happened. What's bad is that Secret Invasion would've made more logical sense if it was set AFTER the events of this film.

Dude, my current gym has a class that younger kids need to take if they want to work out. I’m like shit, they need to make everyone who joins go through a gym etiquette class. So much ridiculous bullshit. On the plus side, I ran 8 miles today, finishing 8 straight days of alternating weights and cardio since last Saturday. I think I’ll take tomorrow off.

I was down for a "Lauren Boebert's mom" joke, until I saw where he actually did a paternity test to prove it wasn't true. Which actually makes me sad.

Marisa Tomei in that movie had 6th grade me showering 3x a day, but I digress. Also not putting Zimb down as childish for the record lol - I pictured it as a very luxurious, zen-filled situation. A little candle light, maybe smoke a nice J, and you fire up a bull rope match. That sounds straight up delightful.

Matt out here with flowers and a box of candy looking for the tapes.

Are you secretly the Houston wrestling library tapes?

I AM assuming this means that they offered to give them 8 super rare wrestling action figures for the TV deal.

2/5/87 Inoki vs Bigelow: This was pretty cool. They start off by showing Larry Sharpe on the street, maybe outside of the Diet building(s), handing out tickets to people and then they claim this is now Bigelow's cheering section. Wait, let me find what the translation said after that: "Can Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow really cook? He is a monster chef. Will Antonio Inoki be able to go sightseeing as planned?" Your guess is as good as mine guys. This started awesome. Pre-bell, Bigelow rushes the ring, hefts Inoki up in a fireman's carry, gorilla press slams him, and then tosses him out of the ring. Inoki heads to the back with his retinue as Bigelow menaces everyone (after a couple of cartwheels) and Sharpe gloats. Eventually they cut to the back and he comes out, shoulder hurting. Bigelow tries it again and Inoki uses his own momentum against him and back body drops him over the top. Great start to a match. Just pure iconic Inoki drama. Then Bigelow starts going for these sliding low kicks as Inoki goes for high kicks before they settle into grappling. Inoki works hard for a Fujiwara but can't get it so he turns it into a cross arm-breaker but Bigelow really, really makes him work for it and he's right in the ropes once Inoki gets it. Bigelow is able to mostly dominate, with Inoki fighting back valiantly, until the finish where Inoki starts to get the octopus, but can't, hits the enziguiri, dodges a Bigelow dropkick, and then finally locks on the octopus. The crowd goes nuts when he pries the arm off and he goes down with it, Bigelow fading. Sharpe rushes in and causes the DQ, then holds Inoki down so Bigelow can top rope splash him, but everyone knows Inoki was the true winner. Very fun match and it almost feels like a precursor to what we all know is coming at the end of the year. I'll upload it for you guys so you can see the beginning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fNORi0D5pMKOFhX9c8DOSnQS8UKgw-cS/view?usp=sharing

I don't know if I'm going through a mental thing or what but I just can't find a game I want to play. Games I've tried and discarded after one session recently: Doom (2016): dull, no plot (don't know what I was expecting). Walk. Kill. Walk. Kill. Repeat. Gotham Knights: not in the same league as Arkham Asylum & City, janky destination points and unintuitive layout/camera, complicated level up system House Flipper: not much to it, not as fun/relaxing as Powerwash Sumulator Dead Space remake: I've already beaten Dead Space (original), not enough new to bring me back. And how do you make changes to an old game but not remove SAVE STATIONS in 2023? Somewhat complicated level up system Like a Dragon Gaiden Game With Too Many Words In The Title: First sitdown consisted of two very short "missions" and some VERY LOOOOONG cutscenes. Then I'm treated to the worst, most disorienting minimap I've ever encountered. Also complicated level up system What is it with this trend of managing the act of leveling your guy up via some sort of crafting system, choosing what to level up, and learning all this stuff? Holy shit is it not fun, yet so many games have it today. How about having my guy just get better passively or through some method that's, you know, fun? Like a Dragon shows you all the stuff you can spend XP (or something) on to level up and it's just daunting. I really liked Crackdown 3, where you get stronger by punching people, jump higher by collecting orbs (which are fun to collect!), shoot better by shooting people, etc. Or RDR2, where you just get more stamina, better Dead Eye, etc. through just playing the game. I don't want to choose between, say, upping stamina or Dead Eye, then worry I've made the wrong choice. Anyway, thanks for reading.