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When Jungle Boy returns he should come out to Cult of Personality

Over the next couple of months Hayter, Thunder Rosa, Deeb, and Tay (and maybe Ford) all likely come back. The division needs an influx.

There have been at least three people from here or SC or PWO who have made it out to Osaka for drinks and wrestling and it was ALWAYS a GREAT time. Ohtani's Jacket, who helped me out with advice when I was moving here, The Cobra 2, who has become one of my closest friends in real life, and Dangerous A, who co-wrote the EXCELLENT Scott Norton book and who came over with the Osaka Holiday Paradise crew. I am probably forgetting somebody obvious, too. There have been a LOT of wrestling/drinking parties over the past 14 years. Of course it's fun to hang out and talk wrestling, etc, with fellow wrestling nerds. But,so far, it's always been even more fun than you'd imagine. And so far my Japanese wrestling friends have always gotten along with and enjoyed meeting my gaijin wrestling friends. And I'd love to keep that streak going. I imagine we'd have a great time, Infinit. Really, if anyone who can drink without being a dick makes it out to Osaka/Kyoto/Nara and wants to hang, send me a pm. Preferably well ahead of time. (If you don't drink, wrestling and food might still be do-able). Sadly, Osaka Pro no longer runs daily shows, so there's no guarantee... There are shows almost every day in Tokyo, but it's generally too far and too expensive for me. Will probably head there for a G1 final or Dome or Budokan show one day. And a Korakuen show is 100% on my bucket list. Anyway, the invitation is open, and sincere. (at Bodybar with Cobra 2) Japanese style Chinese food might be my single favourite genre of food. Generally it's not deep fried, and generally there are no gloopy gloppy sauces. Though, the two pictures I posted are of deep fried chicken and tofu in gloppy spicy sauce The spice is a lot milder than "real" Chinese food, and the dishes are lighter than American style. The sauces are never overly sugary. Fried gyoza (potstickers/dumplings) fried rice, shrimp in (mild) chili sauce, tan tan men (spicy sesame taste noodle soup) and shredded beef with green peppers and onions are all mainstays. And I was REALLY happy they had that shirt in my size. Might be fun to go to Oshyo Gyoza or Kemuri and Flower one day with a DVDVR crew!

Yota Tsuji, who is king of the world and everything. Ren Narita, who is ready to rise up out of his mini-Shibata role and *god help me if they fuck him up offa this House of Torture shit*. Yuya Uemura, who had a damn fine run in the states. I would by far put Shota Umino at the bottom of those ranks but that might just be me. Obviously there's a lot of in-house gaijin on the come-up. I still have no idea how WAR DOGS Bullet Club is gonna break, outside of It Ain't Finlay. I'm glad I watched some Tag League shows cause yknow who's really putting it together? Hikuleo. He's being asked to do more and he's doing it. Speaking of NOAH, the best pure Young Lion I've seen in awhile is Ryohei Oiwa and he's doing his excursion as Kiyomia's understudy under the green lights. Very much one to keep an eye one.

Good job everyone. Here's Week 2. @The Natural Matt D --- @Curt McGirt @brynn9292 --- @porksweats @Zimbra --- @Casey @Gordi the former AEW fan --- @Sammo~! >>> @John E. Dynamite >>> @HeadCheese (Which means that HeadCheese gives a match to Sammo~!). John joined in and we ended up with an odd number anyway, but hey, the more the merrier. Paul, got a match in mind for you later today.

All criticisms and nitpicks aside, enjoyable show tonight. The Continental Classic tournament continues to be a good showcase. I like the whole vibe of the tournament so far and the post-match interviews where you have the guys stewing in their losses or Danielson acting quietly intense while meditating. Nice touch on that Wardlow/Willie Mack match with having Wardlow walk away after that filthy powerbomb and not even waiting for the ring announcement. It was like the wrestling equivalent of a Mark Hunt walkoff KO. I hope Wardlow is getting back on track here and he's put on the path of Joe or MJF next.

He should be a Gentleman. "Real Class" Jack Perry.

I love the Opening Promo Montage, but a mixed bag on the quick promos this week. 'One of the biggest Canadian showdowns in history' says Ethan Page. Hmmm? One of the better 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' opening vids. Kingston v Castagnoli was so good. That's how you do a worthwhile flash pin finish. I like that they keep flirting with a draw, but have yet to do one. Moxley Promo was solid. Hook/Yuta promo was fine. Yuta's come along on the mic, but let's get him a breathing coach. Willow v Mercedes was a fun TV bout. Mercedes is such a good hard nosed heel. Weak finish there, but it's nice to see Willow get back on the winning track. Judging by the recent crowds, she's clearly been hurt by the lackadaisical booking. The Stat save coming from the other side, and with music, was so illogical. Let me get this straight, she was hanging out on the other side of the arena just waiting, knowing the heels would attack? If so why did it take her so long? Curious how she signaled to the truck to play her music? Hager/Menard/Parker promo was good. Filtering in some arena sound under these pre-tapes in post might be something to consider. Swerve promo was fine if a bit silly. A good writer to help with bullet points would be a real help. Wardlow v Mack was pretty good until the rotten finish. The ref stoppage gimmick, as in this case (and most), always comes off so awkward. Why bother? Just put a foot on the chest and count the three for 'crying out loud'. Complaints aside, I like Wardy working competitive squashes as opposed to quick meaningless local talent squashes. He does some impressive stuff made all the more impressive against a big Mack truck like Willie. Kenny Omega v Ethan Page was a terrific TV bout. Kenny is poetry in motion. Page's cut off cutter was excellent. Page looked good here. I was excited for this match, but it's a bit of a headscratcher while selling Page v Nese on the ROHPPV as something significant. Nice Big Boot from Big Bill. CJ Perry/Miro promo was ridiculous and tone deaf. Kommander/Penta v Mendard/Parker was pretty solid. Nice reaction for the Quebecers. Keith Lee/Shane Taylor video was alright. Very interested to see how that one plays out. Danielson v Andrade was nasty fun. Andrade's fall fashions are hilariously awful. Kind of an 'American Males' look there. Not a big fan of the finish. I really like Andrade's work, but I don't see much of a point having a WWE bound midcarder going over Danielson. Looking forward to Claudio v Andrade. Might be of assistance to the audience to announce some matches for next week, no? Still, alotta fun was had over the course of this 120 minutes.

Taking one? Aloha Arn

FWIW, for that particular project, I ended up settling on doing a variation of just that: a third national TV promotion based out of NYC/the northeastern US named Empire Ring Alliance (E.R.A.) I was smugly proud of myself for that backronym (despite its unoriginality, with Empire Wrestling Federation being both a CA indy and a fictional promotion from the THQ games). I wanted to try to somehow monetize it on a stream or something, but I thought I might have trouble trademarking it. @Gordi the former AEW fanI have still yet to fly on a plane in my life but if I'm ever able to get a month off work to hop on a freighter, I promise to buy you a round up in the cheap seats at the Dome. Great pics as always man

The problem is that Miro is DEFINITELY the heel in this situation now. Jealous husband who wants the woman to stay at home and clean instead of having her own social life and career is not a face.

And it’s not that division was the early 80s AL East, with Baltimore, Toronto and Detroit, where you could win 100 games and miss the playoffs.

- Eddie looked more like a zombie here than he did with the gas can; you could just not put the fucker down. Rollup is a passable finish I guess. The ladies steal it (and basically the entire match structure: heel beats and beats on face until fluke pinfall) later on. - Omega/Page was passable. I think Page had a better match with somebody I can't recall back during the pandemic. Omega definitely has a different gear than other wrestlers and here it really showed. Still, the crowd loved it and Ethan got a moment in the spotlight. They also ate up the tag match. Loved the "Daddy Magic" chant that stopped Penta in his tracks. - Miro's new role as sexist asshole husband is just woooonderful. Yuck. Whoever's idea that was needs to be spanked. - The American Clamdigger (TM Nigel) is indeed certifiable. Not only did they cut the eyebrow, not only did he bust his nose, not only did they work the eye but they tossed the patch entirely and he threw headbutts! Now I know these guys are professionals and they know what they can and can't do but one slip-up could fuck him up worse than he thinks the risk is. The end with Andrade going completely HAM on him and wrecking his shit was definitely the way to make Bryan drop a fall. You forget that Andrade, like some of the other guys, has three finishers too: the figure eight, the back elbow, and the DDT. While not as good as the Garcia match it's pretty apples to oranges as Dragon had to work off his back foot the entire time.

@Curt McGirt I’m good with independent stuff, WWF/E (plus anything on the Network), Impact, ROH, etc. Lucha and Japan stuff (as long as it’s in YouTube) is something that’s a bit of a blind spot for me. @Sammo~! I’ve been sick as hell the past few days with strep throat but starting to feel better so I will get to the match you sent me either tonight or tomorrow.

I love Mark Briscoe, and will endorse a proper slapping for near anyone in Stamford at any time, but I always figured they got it from the Boyz N Da Hood song

I always thought Johnny B. Badd's was great, especially considering the difficulty level of doing it from the top.

Heres a comment that doesn't warrant a thread if there ever were one: I'm killing time before the games and WOW is on local TV - the ring announcer (Lauren, but I didn't catch her last name) is one of the most beautiful humans I've ever seen, but her delivery sounds like "It's Raining Men" karaoke. "From the Booooooooard of Edu-CAY-tion, the CLASSMASTERRRRR." It's gotta be heard to be believed. No AJ on commentary yet this week btw in case anyone cares

Jamie Hayter is the standout. You're right, the division needs an influx and much better booking. Thunder Rosa: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/aews-thunder-rosa-i-am-ready-to-return

They desperately need Hayter back for sure.

Danielson is a psycho. He’s making sure this is his last year wrestling at this pace. Andrade ostensibly being a face now while doing a ton of heel stuff, and then trying to be a face afterwards checking on Brian was weird. Also, weren’t Rampage and Collision taped the same day? Did Brian wrestle two matches? Eddie-Claudio was great, I was a little drunk watching it last night and got totally sucked in to it. Again, the storytelling going on in this tournament is aces. Willow-Mercedes was very good but they made the mistake of basically having the exact same finish as the match before. Kenny-Ethan Page was one of those Kenny matches he gets critiqued for by some where there really isn’t any “heart” or heft to it, just “we are going to wrestle a match with a lot of moves and reversals that will get highly rated”. I couldn’t get into it, other than the perfect timing on Ethan’s first cutter. I’m not sure Wardlow can be salvaged at this point, at least for me. I watched for Willie Mack, otherwise I would’ve FFWD. Tag match was fine, good for 2.0 to get a TV match in their hometown.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tiUQMiaGgJg Katsuyori Shibata on Hey! (EW).

Eddie vs Claudio was very good as expected and I dug the roll-up finish, that is something it feels like we haven't seen in any of the CC matches yet (unless I missed it). Working a match around Andrade attacking and busting open Bryan's legitimately injured eye socket was a fucking choice. Good gravy. That said, I actually thought the first match they had was better once they got past the initial horror of the injury. Hopefully this is a heel turn cemented for Andrade leading to him vs Miro, because if not, what was the point of all that.

I'm also old so I understand. I almost said FMW instead of FMV. Why the hell would FMW make video games I don't know. When GTAVII is out, I may be having to take arthritis medicine and use dentures.

The funny thing about the "Our Season Never Ends" ads is that they started airing those, and Randy Savage was gone like two weeks later and on WCW TV. THE BEST.

I really do miss the days where any respectable wrestling company used the “geographic reach + WRESTLING + organization type” naming convention. World Wrestling Federation. National Wrestling Alliance.” Political unrest, stabilize society, yeah!!

I absolutely know I'm going to forget some stuff, but im going to give my best at an updated list. 1. Danielson/ZSJ, WrestleDream 2. Hangman Page/Swerve Strickland, AEW Full Gear 3. Omega/Ospreay, AEW Forbidden Door 4. Danielson/Starks, Strap Match, AEW All Out 5. Danielson/Kingston, AEW Collision, 12/2/2023 6. Hangman Page/Jon Moxley, AEW Revolution 7. Bullet Club Gold v FTR, AEW Collision July 15, 2023 8. Danielson v Okada, AEW Forbidden Door 9. MJF/Adam Cole, AEW All In. *I have an asterisk on this one because it's not in the top 10 best matches I watched this year in AEW, not close. But why I'm including it is because MJF and Adam Cole had an almost impossible task of main eventing AEWs first HUGE stadium show in a foreign market. The pressure and expectations were off of the fucking charts and they both not only delivered a great match, but they delivered pitch perfect story notes on, and your mileage may vary, an incredible, organic storyline. I didn't want to put it above any of the other matches, but it deserves a top 10 nod. 10. Anna Jay-AS and Tay Melo v Willow Nightingale and Ruby Soho, AEW Rampage, 01/13/2023 *I have an asterisk for this one as well. There were "better" matches throughout the year, even in the womens division, but I can't overlook how amazing this match was and what all 4 competitors put themselves through. It's a sentimental favorite because i Loved the pairing of Ruby and Willow(I am STILL so heartbroken I can't find their merch shirt they wore in this match for my daughter and I, if anyone has a link, please drop it here. Honorable Mentions: MJF/Danielson, Garcia/Danielson, Danielson/RUSH, Danielson/Bandido, any of the other Mox/Hangman matches, FTR/Young Bucks(All In), Swerve in Our Glory/Acclaimed, Mox/Orange Cassidy 1. EDIT: I'm sitting here and just thinking of more and more and more matches i would include. Lull in the product or not, AEW never fails to put on amazing matches.

Win.

Another excellent bonenkai (year-end party) all you can drink and Japanese style Chinese food, with my old drinking buddy Asian Coogar and a bar-full of friends. Including some wrestlers, like Tachibana, Moriya (ex-FUCK, whom I met at the Nepalese rooftop BBQ party), and Taiyoto Kamen (whom I maybe last drank with at A-Toys MMA bar in 2015). It's always great to see everyone and I was very happy to hear my name shouted out joyfully again and again, by my old drinking friends. The food was excellent, the beer and umeshu flowed like wine, three hours passed like ten minutes. I am one lucky prick. Also, the Gee! Store around the corner from the back-alley party location had a neato t-shirt in my size.

God - Dean would have fucking loved this

They feel like they are better ring wise but don't have the natural star element/aura outside of Yota.

So, Ohtani is going to be the Dodgers Bobby Bonilla.

Dude, this whole storyline with Miro, Andrade, and CJ makes me so uncomfortable. We said this forever ago when Miro and CJ did something similar in WWE that they need to heed Macho Man’s words when it comes to working angles with your wife. As it is, the whole storyline feels like it needs a Brazzers or other porn company watermark on it. Even down to the acting. CJ and Miro are so insistent on acting and they’re just not close to being good at it. Anyway, if in a year from now Andrade leaves Charlotte for CJ I won’t be surprised. In fact, when was the last time a real life couple working an angle with each other actually worked and was good?

Thanks for reminding me. Whenever I see anybody do nunchucks, it's always Bruce Lee first, always then Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fun fact, it was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles over here.

After really liking the first 2 specials... I didn't care for the 3rd. They refuse to move on from Tennant and I think that is a real problem BUT I think I'm going to enjoy Gatwa despite that. James

Maybe something that's not from a PPV but more of a TV match. Otherwise, whatever you like. As for you I'll give you a choice. Familiar or less familiar. Bret's a guy who had some disappointing matches against Japanese talent over the years. This is one that I think is one of his better ones, against George Takano. Less "Exhibition"-y than what we'd get against, let's say Tiger Mask II.. And if you want something more familiar but still cool due to the locale, here's the Hart Foundation as "de facto heels" in 1991 against the Rockers from right before that in Japan. I can't upload it to youtube, so here's the file itself. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14wLOXdr1dVPXhgN0dapTSm19C0-hTiDi/view?usp=sharing

Check that timing out, Gordi!

Its never going away since the owners want the ability to do it and the players don't care when they get their money (though most aren't going to the extreme Ohtani is) That being said - because of reportedly how much Ohtani is deferring, don't be surprised if some limitations start being put in place when the small and mid market teams start bitching (especially if it happens a few more times this offseason or next)

Casey, after really getting into the Bull tag that Curt gave me in Week One, I wanna take advantage of getting paired with our resident Bull Nakano Expert this week, and get your informed opinion on one of these sub-30-minute Nakano title matches. 100% your choice, which one, whether it's one you know well and have strong opinions on or one you are somehow not yet familiar with. I would just like to read your take. For me, I prefer a weird, interesting, or violent match to a Meltzer/Keith *****+ "great" match, but really any non-WWE, non-NXT YouTube wrestling video you think I might enjoy or you'd like my take on would be fine, please & thank you. Now that's a bunch of Bull!

I had started firing up the reply to mock before scrolling to read the rest of the thread I am old but I will always be younger than JT

Imagine telling someone a few years ago that not only would Okada come back to TNA (much less that they rebranded back to that) but that he’d be facing The Artist FKA Curt Hawkins. Wild. Would’ve preferred Shelley/Ospreay and Alexander/Okada honestly but hey, whatever. I might be watching TNA come 2024? What???

Axiom/Frazer from the kickoff show was pretty good. Was nice to see Frazer slow down a pinch and display a little attitude. Glad Axiom won. He has needed a good victory for a while now. Dom/Dragon was another fairly good match between the two. I'm not big on Dom losing the belt to Lee, but that was probably the original plan anyways, just to Wes instead of Dragon. Women's Iron Survivor took a bit to get going, but was pretty nice from Kelani's entrance and on. Lash really made the most of it and looked the most impressive she has sans slamming Otis on Tuesday. Kelani got no points, but had a good showcase with the impressive stuff she pulled off. Was happy to see Blair win though this wasn't her best performance. The match with Lyra will hopefully be better. Hayes/King was pretty solid though I felt King needed to sell his hand better. Men's Iron Survivor was great with tons of neat action and everyone looking impressive. Loved the tease of things ending so poorly for Trick only for that ending stretch to take place. Honestly with how hot they got the crowd this probably should have been the main event. Roxanne/Kiana was pretty solid but lacked any decent heat. Going Trick's match didn't help, but I also still think Kiana just has nothing behind her charisma wise. She has also probably reached the limits of her business gimmick. Ilja/Corbin was good. It has been nice seeing Corbin showing off more of what he can do ring wise in NXT. Dug the finish with Ilja murderign Corbin the way he did. Only change I would have done was to use a diving H-Bomb instead of Torpedo Moscow. I like the latter well enough, but the former always comes across as more brutal and would have fit the story more. The matches were all at least solid with some really good stuff coming from the men. I think the Men's Iron Survivor match was MOTN and great overall. Probably would give it to Ilja/Corbin or Axiom/Frazer after that. One thign that was noticeable though was the crowd heat. Could be good at times but also patchy or straight up absent at other times. As much as I enjoy NXT I really do think once again that they need to let them start touring again even if on a small scale shows and buildings wise. I don't think the talent is doing things wrong most of the time. I just think the larger audience at times don't really know them. They also should try to keep these shows down to five matches. Axiom/Frazer, Hayes/King, and Roxanne/Kiana did not really need to be on here despite being solid-good matches. Minor complaints aside this was a good show. NXT continues to be the most consistent thing in WWE when it comes to quality.

If Okada could do anything in the world as a wrestler, I'd like his matches more...

Yep. I know he's short, but the money is in the Bowens single run. He has such a connection with the crowd and is very smooth.

He should have used real names for maximum non pop.

Starkz has to be the youngest person to ever main event a PPV right? If we include Takeovers is that still true?

Yeah, I play it (and I'm a member of a discord from another big name forum that runs tournaments and the like). My personal favorites: Empire : Bit of Shooty, bit of melee, bit of everything. Dwarves: Anvil and Hammer, and some of the best damn war machines and infantry in the game. You pay for it in speed. High Elves: Holy shit, they have units that can excel at anything, and their economy can go Warp 5 once you get the donut setup (the donut being the high elves island) Orks: I hate playing as them (the troops will break fairly easily, but reform quickly), but you gotta love an army who one of the war machines is flinging a Gobbo wearing wings into the enemy army.. and you can control said gobbo to crash into the enemy units) Bretonnia: If only because when you pull off a "FOR ZE LADY" Knight Lance formation charge, it's a beautiful thing

Handling the Undead (listed on IMDB as Håndtering av udøde) It is based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Lindqvist is who wrote Let The Right One In

I don't think anything tops MS-1 / Sangre Chicana, and Villano III / Atlantis is another really good shout, but I am pretty partial to this Santito / LA Park match as well. Santo hits a goddamn GUSHER, but both of them end up just absolutely covered in blood. All white outfit on Park is a dead giveaway of what we are getting, and man oh man do they deliver.