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They told Hogan that Flair was with the NWA and Hogan forgot which NWA that Flair was with

"DOOOOODE" "LEMME LAY SOME STREET RAP ON YA BROTHER" He's like your dad mocking you for bringing home a Fresh Prince tape and a Rap Pages from the mall.

Now you're just encouraging a series of An Evening With Bret Hart college talk tours where he goes for four hour long tangents and reveals he once wrestled Prince - "he was a jam up guy" - but the footage is somewhere in the Paisley Park vaults never to be seen.

“Okay Hulk, let’s talk people into seeing this dream match with Ric Flair” “YO HOMEBOY, RIC FLAIR, WELCOME TO THE HOOD”

"...and so Vince Russo tells me that he wants me to wrestle a giant mechanical spider. And so, so, I'm at home because Goldberg, who couldn't wrestle y'know, recklessly ended my career, about a year later, and I turn on Nitro, and what do I see? Sting and Lex Luger wrestling Jeff Jarrett and a giant mechanical spider in the main event."

To quote the Deadlock boys, “This is the least cool man in the history of wrestling, how did he change the industry twice?”

Still one of my all-time favorite AEW moments, and not just because I was the only Raven fan in my class as a kid - it had been a really long time since anyone did 'red herring' in wrestling that effectively and subtly. Love @Cobra Commander's idea a ton for that reason, be it Mitchell or anyone else who could fit. It almost reminded me of watching Lost back in the day, with the watch thread here on fire the next morning with "OMG did anyone else notice..." Edit: should also mention that I finally watched Collision, it was another Monday Nitro edition for us. Really solid show - everything clicked for me. Even the Righteous, who I cannot get into at all, were largely inoffensive here. Love that we're getting a handful more Sting trios on TV before he hangs it up, and on a personal level, I thought it was pretty easy to see that Copeland was having a blast out there getting to team with Sting - I'm certain he had that combo Scorpion Death drop/elbow drop spot planned in his head since grade 5. The big takeaway: Hobbs, Big Bill, Starks, Darby, Willow, Dutch, and JD Drake are all future world championship material in some fashion - it's a good problem to have. Great end to the AEW week

Your Dolfan is attending his first NFL game in Miami in a decade this week. #FINSUP baby!

And then you have Bret Hart in his WCW-era giant shorts and backwards baseball cap, and all I can remember thinking was "oh sweetie, who told you that was a good look".

Konnan was also SEVERAL years younger than Nash, Sting, Luger, Hogan, and bunch of other guys who were in the NWO save for Sean Waltman. That said, a lot goes into that cause Nash was starting to get gray hairs in by 98/99 since he was already 40 and not that much younger than Hogan. However, he considered himself of another generation cause he's pop culture savvy and he went to see Hogan several years before he got into wrestling. In one respect it's weird to consider Hall his contemporary of the same generation when Hall was in wrestling a long time before Razor Ramon, but it makes sense cause their rise to stardom happened at almost the exact same time. I mean folks always thought Arn Anderson was older than he was but Arn considered Tully the veteran of the tag team cause he was. Yet, most would consider them of the same generation when technically they aren't. A lot of this is just perception. Just by listening to a bunch of podcasts, a lot of these guys are way more well rounded than you think. However, just cause they look the way they do, you're not going to get that vibe.

Cause the boys in da hood are always hard, Come talking that trash we steal your Vitamins and make you say your prayers Knowing nothing in life but to be legit don’t quote me brother I ain’t said DOOKIE

Curt constantly stuns me with the movies he has never seen

And @(BP) wins the grand prize: I'm guessing someone whose last name happens to be "Gunn" (who actually wrote C vs A) probably let his thoughts be known too.

He was the coolest guy in pro wrestling until his fanbase started to age out. Then, he was able double dip cause those that despised him post Zahorian/Arsenio Hall appearance came around to seeing him portray himself as a heel they thought he should be. It ain't the most complicated thing to figure out.

there it is, folks. the best thing ever written about the "Be A Man" album. And i say that as someone who enjoys (parts of) the album, and also bought it the week it released. one of the 14k or whatever its sales ended up being. Also of relevant note, they just pressed this on vinyl for Record Store Day earlier this year. i did not buy this one. i think this nails it, completely. He felt his ring work was good enough (which it was, for his role as a midcard tag team with flashes at the top of the division), so he stopped trying to improve. Once the "Buff" character gave him the outlet, he took it and ran. Leaving his ring skills miles behind.

My partner loves the first one and told me not to worry about the other two because, and I quote, "I know you and I know you're not going to like them". I, being stubborn, did not listen and watched the other two, then tried to find a way to be MORE stubborn and not tell him that he was right, because JEEZ.

From Have a Nice Day:

Things I remember from watching Starrcade 1987: Hey, the computers updating so let’s watch some wrestling. Lively crowd for the opening match. TWN is on the ring curtain? Love the ring announcer’s voice. The ref looks like Abe Vigoda. I’m not sure if the refs are wearing handkerchiefs or outlines of the state of Illinois. JR saying the place is sold out seconds after we see 3 empty rows on the hard cam. Why is there a time call. They’re hot for Sting. Steiner looks good. Hayes spiked Larry’s head into the mat on a bulldog that was almost a three count. Wait a minute. We’re approaching a time limit? This is a time limit draw. We’re opening with a time limit draw? This isn’t Madison Square Garden in the 70s. Nobody could job there? Not even a DQ? Feels like a life lesson can be learned from Windham vs Dr. Death as Windham doesn’t take advantage of a groin shot on a leapfrog. Then Windham flies into a table and Williams beats him with a cradle to retain a title that’s about to not exist anymore. Skywalkers in the third match? Well there’s not a lot you can really do up there. They tried and the people sounded excited. Eventually the Midnights drop to the canvas and lose. Then Bubba goes up there and Ricky Morton slaps him in the balls and escapes. I forget, was this when Bubba got fucked on pay and left the company as a result? Michael Hayes has a nice suit and tie on. Jimmy Garvin talks about the card. Steve Williams talks about his match. That long break was necessary to take down the scaffolding which makes the place look nicer. Nikita vs Terry Taylor is what it was. Not sure if I just haven’t seen the good long Nikita matches because I’ve seen some Nikita matches that went long and blew. Terry Taylor headbutts Nikita for some reason. Terry and Eddie miscommunicate and Nikita Koloff wins both TV titles. Time for the tag title matches. This was sorta worked as a different pace. Eventually chaos ensues, the Warriors get the pin, but Tommy Young says he saw an over the top rope DQ. Thus completing an infamous finish where the card moved out of North Carolina fucks over Chicago fans too. Tully and Arn retain. Nikita Koloff is backstage with both TV titles. Eventually he drops the UWF TV title and we never see it again. JJ Dillon has comments about his matches tonight. Of course the gap was because we gotta setup a cage. Luger/Dusty had more arm work than I was expecting. Dusty seemed unsure of how to respond to Lex’s pec dance. Back to back title matches where the Chicago wrestler loses. I think Dusty almost did a kimura. Why is the ring announcer doing time calls why would this promotion open the door to a time limit draw in a cage match. Dusty bleeds some as is required. JJ just pops Johnny Weaver, drops the key, and decides to heave a chair into the cage (which somehow made it over). Lex bends over onto the chair and Dusty hits a comedic looking DDT onto the chair to win the title because he wasn’t going away for 90 days babeh. Now it’s main event time. Mixed response for Flair. Mostly boos for Garvin. This was a good match if you want guys to hit each other hard in the chest over and over. They just fumbled the bag so hard on Garvin’s reign that at least the fans closest to the ring mics were ready for him to lose. Ronnie Garvin looks like Dad The Pro Wrestler. Flair bleeds as is required. He eventually bleeds quite a bit. Why is the ring announcer doing time calls for a no time limit match. Ronnie Garvin gets a near fall on the sunset flip. Flair wins with some sort of move into the cage to win the title. This match is remembered more for things like being predictable and fans booing the face champion. But these dudes just hit each other hard over and over and the world wasn’t ready for UWFI Ric Flair. They really should have turned Ronnie Garvin quickly after this instead of in mid-summer because he had a legit gripe with fans. Even if it was mostly booking that screwed him over. This was a card with multiple “this fucking promotion” finishes. It probably earned a certain amount of its reputation. Some of the matches were better than the reputation. Some were not.

I don't mean to offend any NJPW fans, and maybe this is a little AEW homer-ism talking, but I think the NJPW crossovers stay more special if you leave them for Forbidden Door time. Totally personal opinion, but outside of an Okada rematch, the in-house matches that are possible for Danielson are infinitely more interesting to me than what NJPW has to offer currently. It's a great "excuse" to get him in there with guys like PAC, Angelico, OC & BFs, maybe another Moriarty or Garcia bout, all three HOB guys - a couple more 'methodically' paced matches with not only Brody but guys like Dustin or Jarrett peppered in would probably be a nice changeup - maybe some David vs Goliath action with your Hobbs, Brian Cages, JD Drakes, Miros, etc. Fuck it, do a pre-taped non-tourney 'exhibition' in an empty building with Flair or Sting, and edit the shit out of it. Nick Wayne could certainly use some 'office hours' with him. Basically, I want this tourney (edit: and the months beyond!) to become a vehicle for Dragon matches that have no real story reason to exist, but really need to happen before he's done full-time.

Nah it's the deep south. I have had a few times in a Waffle House late at night people looking at me cause I am reading a book. Feels like living a Bill Hicks bit.

The call and response thing was clearly over though. Over time, it's going to wear on you cause Konnan didn't do much improvising. Road Dogg to his credit, even when he would fuck up or didn't get the response he wanted, knew how to change it up or cover it up. Konnan knew had something and wasn't deviating. The problem was once you had six or seven guys doing it on the same show, it's groundhog day.

He's so lucky that Vince didn't find out about his lunchbox collection, we missed out on Lunch Pail Pete or something similar.

Reminds me of when at the old house I was renting, a friend of mine looked at a bookcase I had and said "I can't believe you have Bret Hart right next to Nietzsche".

Just saw this on Netflix. Goddamn, what a blast that was. Not even concerned with Part 3, 'cuz I gotta watch this at least two more times; One for posterity's sake and two on shrooms.

With the stupid hat with his face on it, that skipping pose into the double-bicep flex, and the catchphrases and passable (for the shouting catchphrase era) promos, I think Buff would have been over huge for a little while as a face, the crowd REALLY wanted to cheer him, he could've maybe been a toned-down WCW version of Val Venis . I also think there's a good chance his babyface run would be interrupted by an upcoming heel just SHREDDING him in a promo (say, Jericho...as he's one of the few young heels who got promo time...I could see him unintentionally stopping Buff's face run with a good mocking promo/nickname) or the crowd tiring of him in a "So this guy is good-looking, girls like him, and he kinda sucks, why are we cheering for him" kind of way.

As ill-advised as the look may have been, I can't hate on Bret's hockey jersey/jorts because they gave us that kick ass moment with Goldberg and the steel plate

The Buff Blockbuster was a cool looking move that maybe wasn't always logical but.

And decided to have half the work ethic. Someone mentioned Buff in tag teams, but part of the issues though is they kept throwing has ass in tag teams and doing it when one imploded. Scorp and Bagwell break up cause Scorpio resents him for being a lesser worker and also Scorp fails a drug test. No problem, let's put him in a tag team with The Patriot and call it Stars and Stripes. That goes on for awhile before Del Wilkes decides to go back to Japan and do whatever. Okay, let's put him with a guy who has been doing good work in enhancement talent matches over the last good while in Scotty Riggs and go back to the male escort/dancer route. Fuck...how long are you going to hide him and match him with a better worker? Take the training wheels off and let him go on a TV title run or go for the US title. That's four to five years of hiding him when he should be trying to develop something past his look. Then, when he joins the NWO in late 1996, the group is so over that he doesn't really have to do anything. The only net positive was it allowed him to come out of his shell as a performer on the mic. However, it stunted his growth as a worker. I just saw that rewatching stuff throughout 1998. It's the week before Halloween Havoc 1998. Yes, it is indeed amazing. Never has one feud that went on as long had the ups and (mostly) downs as the Steiner vs. Steiner feud. Each week is a grab bag of either great or absolutely terrible because WCW is starting to falter in terms of creative momentum and the continuity is becoming nonexistent. I will say that Scott is always a part of the ups cause Rick is not a natural babyface. If Scott wasn't such a great heel, this would be a candidate for all time worst feud ever. Remember in 1996 and maybe slightly before, they use to have him wrestling ANYONE on Nitro. Like for example, he has to wrestle still awkward babyface Eddie Guerrero and Ric has NO CLUE how to attack that. He is lost but they still have a good TV match. When he went back to WWE, somehow he did better cause I am safely assuming the agenting/producing of the matches was much better. However, you want to talk a styles clash....watch anytime they would put him with someone who wasn't like a Brad Armstrong, who was great and already had worked him before. You were going to see something that was totally spontaneous both for good and bad reasons.

You let this man wear his hockey jerseys and shorts, dammit, he's the G.O.A.T. So what if he has the style of Kevin Smith? His in-ring execution is flawless.

He was my dark horse pick for Owen Hart Cup winner this last year for the same reason (plus he's one of a few still active who actually wrestled Owen). It's a fucking bummer Dustin's probably going out around the same time as Sting and Danielson. Don't get me wrong, this roster is built for 'next man up' - AEW will be fine in that regard - but on a personal level, all three guys careers were timed just right to be near-perfect representations of my various peaks of fandom from the '90s to right now, and I'm really sad to see them go. Edit: I keep going back to my post earlier, and I'm just coming up with name after name. How do you not do Danielson/Joe one last time? Does Nigel lace them up again? Will he and Shibata ever get to make us all clench our b holes trying to outdo each other? There's not a ton time for ALL of this, what do you leave on the table? AEW is still 'running a fucking business™' do you go for the sure-fire hits in some of the rematches, or the fresh, albeit maybe less wide-appealing dream matches from a money POV? Edit 2 ADHD Boogaloo: That's kind of something I struggle with looking at AEW overall, really - as an example: I have basically less than zero desire to see Danielson vs Edge, but I can't really deny that'd probably be a hella good match to plaster on a Time Square billboard for World's End. I just don't know if the show can grow with what I/we want anymore...

I don't think it's a coincidence that before 1999 was over, he was back to the red and yellow.

Would it have been that big of a deal? 1. Foley was talented and unique to the point where he would gotten at least a portion of it over. 2. They would always be able to pivot away from the name like they've done with countless others. Thus, it would probably be a Kane the Undertaker thing where he's only Mason the Mutilator working a dark match versus Spark Plugg Bob Holly or Aldo Montoya and the name never makes TV.

The Producers really was more documentary than satire, I guess.

It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't actually hand those out to new hires prior to their debut, like a dating quiz or work application or something. Likes/dislikes, former occupations, etc. "Choose the profession that most describes your personality. Is it: A. Clown B. Law Officer C. Repossession Expert D. Mortuary Technician E. Other"

I bet Vince still kicks himself for using the name Virgil for a black bodyguard and not a wrestling plumber.

I want my two dollars

For the record - I always liked One Crazy Summer more (though I do like Better Off Dead)

Hashtag Brazzers

Opening segment was a little long but solid, and I dug how it led into Seth/Sami vs. Dom/JD which was pretty good and had a nice chaotic feel atimes, especially with the post match brawl. Shinsuke/Otis was pretty solid with Otis looking good despite the loss. Piper/Tegan was ok. Ciampa/Kaiser was good. The finish with Vinci coming back after being kicked out is one I'm not normally a fan of, but I did enjoy how it led to the later segment with Gunther giving Vinci his props while looking Kaiser shamefully for trying to take credit. Xia/Indi was decent up until the finish. I still hate these loopu ends to Xia's matches. They never hti the way I think WWE wants them to. if they want Xia to win by KO then actually let her win by KO. These finishes are not really effective in making her seem dangerous. The post match stuff with Becky did a lot more for Xia as a heel than the match anyways. Dug the Creeds and Alpha Academy forming a bit of friendship backstage, particularly Maxxine & Ivy. Miz/Ivar was pretty damn good with the two meshing well and Miz busting out a bunch of stuff outside his norm to showcase just how seriously he is taking the coming match with Gunther. Dug the building a big man war between reed and Ivar that came into play earlier backstage and during the post match. Priest being the one to let JD know he was officially in Judgement Day was a nice touch. Even the crowd cheered that a bit. Cody/Jey vs. Finn/Priest built into a good match as expected with a decent surprise finish with Drew getting involved. Curious to see if Drew is joining Judgement Day or just forming an alliance to get the World title. The matches in the women's side were weaker than normal, but the men had some worthwhile stuff with the tag matches and Miz/Ivar. Was nice to see a good amount of building to War Games, Survivor Series, and some general Raw stories for now and after SS.

“Now, we didn’t cheat but remember that if America didn’t steal signs during World War 2, we’d be speaking German right now”

I really want to hate AI on general principle, but I swear "There I Ruined It" is finding the one and only good use of it.

Holy shit. I certainly didn't expect that particular story to come so soon in the season. Really well done though.

It is a double entendre. 69 + 8 = 77 Girls like 77 because they get eight more.

Gym people are the worst. Whoever broke one of the handles on the GHR machine ought to be sterilised for the good of mankind. Noone even uses it except me! Ok, so been about 3 weeks since I posted. Last week for life reasons, I only had 2 lunchtime workouts scheduled.....and then I got a cold on Wednesday. And it's funny, Sam Sulek (lol) recently said something about a viral infection not stopping you from working out 'if you have that dog in you'. And yeah I do know what he's saying, & somehow someway I went in and did my Thursday workout, which was mostly stiff-legged deadlifts of all things, and felt great afterwards. And then on Friday I felt knackered grocery shopping. So I'm sort of experimenting with a technique I picked up from a 531 critique; Fazlifts 853. Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEpNjc9nKwU&ab_channel=Fazlifts So basically right now I'm doing this for 3 exercises, & for now this means 3 x 8 adding 2.5kg every time: stiff-legged deadlift (105kg today), overhead press (42.5kg), hack squat [low foot position, essentially emulating my narrow squat stance] (55 (+ 48kg for the carriage according to Reddit) - I suck at hack squat). Last week, I actually just did the hack squat (& extra feet-fwd hack squats & low row machine, plus hammer curls) on the Tuesday and the SLDs (& Chest Press, plus some cable arm work) Thursday. The Friday before I did all 3, and the same again today - I also did the 2 sets of accessory feet-fwd hack squats, plus GHD (once I worked out how to jimmy the mechanism), plus 1 set of lat pulldowns (erm I don't seem to be getting on with those rn), & 2 sets of pushdowns. The feet fwd ones I can do for more reps (12s for my 8 rep weight on the primaries) but man they work the core a lot - I was borderline pukey by the end. I managed to get the ohp down to my chest today though, which I had been struggling with so I was very happy with that. As per above, I seem to have tweaked something in or around my left lat. Vertical pulling feels bad, & is now off the table for at least a few weeks. I'll try some dead hangs maybe, get my gf to wield the massage gun. Partly for this reason I am using a slightly wider than optimal grip on my SLDs, going narrow seems to really activate the lats for me but if anything I'd rather load the traps anyway as I don't really like doing trap isolations very much. I'll probably end up in a different gym in December with no hack squat, so I will probably rotate these out in favour of SSB squats. The OHP should obviously stall out quicker, though my current gym now has microplates so that opens up some possibilities (though tbh I am expecting them to get nicked even if it is an office gym). SLD should take a while to cycle through though, and I may decide to let it become a normal deadlift as the weight keeps going up. Wednesday will be a much more hypertrophic-focussed workout, mostly upper body but maybe some leg extensions. I haven't flat-benched in weeks, and I'm not sure that will change. Probably Friday I'll try to do the SLDs, hack squat machine & OHP again with added weight. 45 tomorrow!

This would also be a great opportunity to re-establish Miro or Malakai.

The first half of this sentence now makes me really REALLY want to see Denzel in a The A-Team remake.

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

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

I know you mean this in a demeaning way, but The Black Scorpion was fun. The payoff wasn't good but the journey to get there was (for 1990 WCW at least). Except for the bad live magic skits lol. I know Ole slapped it together as a mockery, but he ended up proving the point he was mocking. Who was The Black Scorpion was a lot more compelling than the normal shit he was booking. Hopefully they already have the destination figured out and don't have to have it be Ric Flair too.

Just realized this AEW G1 is happening during the NBA In-Season tournament. Is it possible to have a special ring canvass for G1 matches like the IST courts?