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Since I get a lot of stupid BS here from some a-holes here who say I'm always negative and dislike everything: I frelling loved this show. I felt everything clicked relatively well for WK18. Up and down everyone looked solid and ready to bring their A-game. You saw fun entrances and great ring attire throughout the show. It definitely felt like the right shot in the arm that New Japan needs right now. From start to finish, I haven't liked a big wrestling show this much in quite a while. The first couple of matches were short little sprints, and they didn't go that long. That worked though because they kept the pace fast and they didn't feel like there was any filler. I think having President Tanahashi win the TV title now is fine. He can have a couple of defenses and transition the belt to someone else hopefully. Sabre got to run with the title for a whole year, so he had a decent run with it. I think Sabre is very underrated as a heel worker sometimes. Those neck twists were brutal. Kind of surprised that Uemura beat Yota Tsuji at WK since everyone seems so high on Tsuji as a future ace right now. Tama Tonga and Shingo Takagi also had a fun match. If Tama Tonga is leaving the company I don't get putting him over with a victory here. Does he relinquish the belt? Is he going to stay and defend it a couple more times? I don't really get that booking decision. I've seen reactions on Reddit saying this was done as a reward for all the time Tonga put into New Japan. No doubt Tama Tonga is a hard worker, and he's underrated as a singles talent, but dunno, having him win over Shingo in a title bout especially when he's leaving seems like an odd choice. Regardless, this was a fun match, and both guys looked like they were ready to put on a show tonight. Everyone from top to bottom felt like they were trying to outwork one another. Happy that ELP and Hikuleo won the belts. I think it's probably time to merge the Strong titles or drop them already. It feels like Strong is kind of irrelevant as a sub-brand at this point, and I'm not sure what purpose Strong or the Strong titles really serve at this point. ELP is actually one of my favorites, and I'm happy he picked up another title but I feel like he could be doing more in singles, which I hope he does at some point down the line. Still shocked he never won the junior heavyweight singles title. El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi was cool. However, I do kind of want to move on from this matchup and see some fresh faces and matchups for the Junior Heavyweight division. Shocked that they never got El Phantasmo in there for a title run. But another good Despy/Hiromu match. Hiromu's entrance attire was fire. Okada/Danielson topped their match at Forbidden Door. I think it went just about the right length and didn't need to go any longer. Visual with the UV color-changing attire for Okada was a neat concept. I do feel you could run this match one more time as a tiebreaker now that Danielson and Okada are 1-1. You could tell this was an emotional experience for Danielson. I feel like Okada is really good at trying to keep it very cool and stoic even when his opponents are clearly trying to make him angry and you can see it getting to him. You can see the change when his fuse is about to blow and he's had enough. Global title triple threat felt like the 2024 NJPW version of Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles from TNA Unbreakable. Moxley looked fired up and was moving like a junior heavyweight. Whatever he does to maintain his cardio and stamina definitely came through for him here, especially since he had the long travel and was coming off a pretty physical, grueling match with Eddie Kingston on PPV. It's on YouTube, but he also did a great job putting over David Finlay in his press conference. I'm not a David Finlay hater like some people. I think he held up his heel role fine in this match, and Finlay walking away with the win and the title is the right decision for right now. It is crazy to kind of see how far Will Ospreay has come over the last 7-8 years. You can see the little changes and things that have improved his overall game, and he's also put on more muscle and mass. But the Triple Threat just had this epic, big match feel that was cool. Even though this isn't goodbye for Ospreay and New Japan, this is sort of like a goodbye for Ospreay as a full-time "New Japan guy." But it feels like he truly hammered out and discovered himself through his matches and run in New Japan. Through the ups and downs, Ospreay has found himself and become fully formed, so now it's time to see what he can do in AEW. This may not make sense, but it kind of reminds me of the changes Styles went through after leaving TNA and only becoming an even bigger star from there. It was nice to see Moxley reminiscing about Fit Finlay and saying he respected David for smashing the belt because it took balls. For Moxley, it makes sense that he'd respect a guy smashing titles since that's the kind of rebellious, anti-authority shit he goes for. Nic Nemeth I think is a good pickup for NJPW, and I hope it's one that sticks. AEW is overcrowded right now, and where would he even fit in there right now? NJPW can use him, and it could be a way for Nemeth to easily reinvent himself and give the veterans on the roster someone new to face. The brawls with Finlay were fun, and this could be good for everyone involved. Sanada's transition to being champion and headliner has been impressive to watch. I'm glad he dropped the whole unkempt hobo lion mane look. Now he looks super clean-cut, wears custom suits and looks every bit like a main event champ. He carried the match here very well for Naito, and the fans were all in for Naito winning the big one one more time. Not sure how much time Naito has left as a top guy, but enjoy it while it lasts I suppose. At first, I was ticked when EVIL interrupted the post-match speech, but they got it well with Sanada rallying back and helping Naito, paying tribute to his senpai. Naito clearly has an emotional connection with the fans and the fans were rabid to see him get the win, so it was the right decision to end things. I think going back to one night this year was the correct decision. And even at one night, this year's card didn't feel overstuffed. I think they can go back to two nights if it makes sense, but it worked out well this year. Man, I've always found Chris Charlton to be a good, solid analyst who knows what he's talking about along with acting as a translator for the English-speaking audience, but this is the most switched-on I think I've ever heard him for an event like this. Charlton sounded really fired up throughout the show. Usually, Charlton sounds really level, but he was very fired up throughout the event. I nearly lost it when Sanada and Naito retaliated against Evil and he said something like, "Ain't that a kick in the dick!" Good for Charlton he brought it to this show. I don't know what it is but it was like everyone drank some espresso doubleshots or Celsius before the show started. Charlton doesn't have to bring that level of enthusiasm every show, but he definitely shined on commentary. Walker Stewart isn't quite there yet, so it felt like Charlton had to pull a little more weight, but I think Stewart will get there eventually.

I do remember that because it was the same episode with the Saturn/Mike Bell match. Low Ki and Xavier wrestled that show, too.

There's probably no guy in wrestling I dislike more in-ring than Bailey. I'm not even sure it's a rational thing. If you turned him heel and paired him with Alex Abrahantes, you'd be able to get absolutely amazing heat. Amazing. He's just got such a punchable face. It's just everything. Somehow I can buy Kenny Omega's FFVII bullshit more than Bailey's and I barely buy Omega's. I disliked this crowd way more than I dislike Bailey though. They spent most of the match chanting and singing in a manner that wasn't engaged in the match at all. This was during the parts where I actually thought Ospreay and Bailey were doing a good job. The fans just wanted to chant. They just wanted to see big memorable spots and be part of a dream match. When they're taking each other's heads off, you really don't want a Both These Guys chant. The bits I liked most especially were how Ospreay kept going back for the Os-cutter and how Bailey had an answer for it again and again until Ospreay hit it on the apron. That let Ospreay take over until Bailey toughed it out and started firing back in the middle of the ring. That was a pretty solid grounded story for about 1/3rd of the match. Everything else was just fireworks. In a bubble, there were a number of good individual spots and a lot of very good selling in the moment. I will say this: they sold much more in the first half than they did in the second and the hits they were taking in the second half were much bigger. But then the fans were just being goofs all through the actual selling and they were responding big for the no selling (listen to that pop for the Styles Clash set up, for instance) so, what are you even going to do. There was a certain expectation for these two in this setting and even in trying to overcome it in a way that was, in my mind, correct, they just got swept under. In that case, they shouldn't have leaned into an animosity that wasn't going to get over and wasn't going to be bought into by the crowd and wasn't actually going to go far enough in any one direction to matter. They probably should have wrestled an even stupider/less grounded match. So much so that Curt wouldn't have given it to me. That said, I think better wrestlers could still pull it off. I don't know, TNALOL?

New Years Dash just finished: Tanahashi had his first defense of the TV title against Taguchi. After the win we got a video and it was...Matt Riddle. Western fans on Twitter went (rightfully) "WTF NJPW?" and Japanese fans and Tanahashi were all like "Who?" Bishamon beat Oiwa and some jobber from NOAH. G.O.D. beat Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube. I think they're going on excursion (the Young Lions, I mean). Chase Owens attacked El-P and challenged G.O.D. to a match. His partner will be speed walking enthusiast KENTA. Twelve man tag with H.O.T. on one side. Umino pinned Togo but the main thing that happened is that EVIL cuffed and then cut Tama Tonga's hair. Tonga is leaving at the end of the month so it's almost a lock EVIL gets the NEVER belt. At least he's staying away from Naito. Kanemaru and SHO attacked Despy the night before so there's probably something there too. United Empire and the Bullet Club had a wild brawl that ended up with Will challenging them to what ended up as a five on five cage match in Osaka, which will also be Will's last match in NJPW. J5Gs beat LIJ. SANADA asked for a rematch but Naito tranquilod him. SANADA also wanted a..something between J5G and LIJ. Ishimori won the KOPW. TMDK beat a team of Ishii/Okada/Danielson/Moxley. TMDK want the six-man titles. Okada vs Ospreay was announced as the main event for Battle in the Valley. They also announced a Chicago show for April.

I got a few lottery tickets here too from my friends party. Won ten bucks on a scratch off so not bad. Aside from that … nothing major. Just some blu-rays, AirPods, a cup holder for my crutches (may not sound like a big deal but it is!), some clothes and also several Visa gift cards, one of which I turned into an IWTV subscription for a few months. The main thing for me was that I drove home for Christmas and my girlfriend came with me, which means she got to meet my friends and my sister so I was happy about that!

1. I forgot how jacked Blackman was. 2. It's always jarring seeing how much offense was Irish-whip based in attitude era matches. Pro wrestling hasn't changed as much from 2000-2024 as it did from 1976-2000, but there are some very noticeable stylistic differences that date those matches without even getting into the obvious entertainment-side tropes.

i've been pretty down lately on Dynamite (in specific) and AEW (in general), but i loved this episode all the way through. a few random thoughts: i had not made the connection that Sting was undefeated in AEW at 24-0 (25-0 counts Muta's retirement show) i have never seen Mariah May, but Queen Aminata impressed me more in their match. make her a regular! Takeshita/Allin was awesome. I even called my wife in to watch the match (she doesn't follow wrestling but enjoyed s1 of Lucha Underground, FWIW). she was enthralled. i popped big for Kingston calling Bryan Keith's headbutt "Luigi-esque". there are not nearly enough Super Smash Bros. references made in general. i wasn't expecting it to happen, but i was salivating at the thought of Vikingo vs Kingston in a titles unification match. Trent should make for a fun match too. a damn shame he's never won a title in AEW whatsoever yet.

My wife got me a cool cassette player so I can start a ridiculous cassette collection to go along with my vinyl addiction. https://retrospekt.com/products/we-are-rewind-portable-cassette-player-serge?_pos=1&_fid=ca209d243&_ss=c (It's this, but in blue) Also, Santa brought the kids Mario Wonder, but I'm the only one who's played it. It's a blast.

OK. This is completely amazing. I actually know the back-story to this match! But first: I don't have a computer, I just use tablets. So for me the only option is to use Firefox to post videos and/or pictures. (I am on Firefox now, and I am going to post a TON of pictures to explain why this match is such an AMAZING pick for me. Then I will have to switch to Chrome to write it up, because I can't do paragraph breaks on Firefox). w/r/t embedding: Apparently on a PC you can take the "s" out of "https" and posting works fine. So, on Firefox, or if you can change it to http, you just need to copy and paste the video link to embed. Second thing: Don't know if you're aware of my posting history here and elsewhere but I was a regular at Osaka Pro shows, events, and parties from 2009-2012 and still take part in various Osaka indie wrestling events, barbecues, and parties when time permits. Billyken and Spider are guys I have known for years. Both of them have gone out of their way to invite me to events, make me feel welcome, engage me in conversation etc etc since the days when I first moved to Japan, even when I could barely form a sentence in Japanese and being friendly toward me involved real effort. They are great guys. Could not be nicer. I really like both of them and it always makes me happy to see them again. Here are a handful of pictures of us, over the last FIFTEEN years: Third thing: I KNOW THE BACKSTORY! This was probably from 2019, (maybe February?) the first anniversary of Bistro de Ramekin, which I have been told is a nice place to go for lunch, a few minutes walk from Namba Station in Osaka. If I understand correctly, Spider's brother has connections to the restaurant. The card was: My good drinking buddy Osamu vs freelance joshi wrestler Itsuki Aoki (If you are reading this, Stefanie, I am 99% sure Aoki also works for Ice Ribbon) Then the Billyken (not Billy Ken. Billyken, after the Billiken good luck charm statue in the Tsutenkaku tower which is an Osaka landmark) vs Ultimate Spider Junior match that you gave me. Then they had a battle royal! I would LOVE to see how they made a 4-person battle royal work in that space! And that is just CLASSIC small-show booking! Last thing: All of it on tiny shiny elementary school PE class gym mats. In a space even more enclosed than Gatoh Move's Ichigaya Chocolate Square. If you look at that picture (from Billyken's blog) and watch the video (which everyone reading this REALLY should) you get a very clear picture of how tiny the space is. And Billy and USJ work a pretty stiff and competitive match in there! So obviously the challenge is how do you work in such a limited space? Particularly considering both of these guys are known for their speed in the ring and there's no easy way to use that here. The answer at first seems to be mat work and chop exchanges. But eventully they throw caution to the wind and bust out some rapidfire exchanges and a couple of big moves! It's too much fun. I was literally laughing in delight. But also with the entire audience so close to the action, you can't let any light show, so they are working really tight. So I was both delighted and impressed. Going to a ChocoPro show is 100% on my bucket list. I think I am going to have to try and finagle an invitation to a show where Billyken breaks out his gym mats as well. Thank you so much for this! Really, everyone should watch this match. It's well under ten minutes and it's really very interesting and clever how they work around the limitations of the tiny space. PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE I JUMP BETWEEN BROWSERS AND FINISH THIS!

You should have took the $200 and then called out on Friday to spend it. Chess not checkers.

thinking that the whole "not including Chris in Iron Claw because it would have made the story even more tragic" thing is sort of the tragedy version of how they had to tone down Audie Murphy's achievements in the movies because his real achievements were too unbelievable (or the time that test screeners reacted to file footage of Joseph McCarthy in Good Night And Good Luck by noting how over the top the actor was who was playing McCarthy)

http://youtube/vBFGFLhzyxE?feature=shared&t=291 Dracula vs Robin, from Chile in 1981

Until the latest ABEMA deal, RAW and Smackdown were not being carried by anyone in Japan for about a year so it's possible that casual fans were not quite familiar with Riddle. The way he was presented probably didn't help.

That was (I think) the same promo where Adam explicitly tells Roddy that he's just biding his time until he can screw MJF over and it's kinda weird they haven't referenced that at all.

Man for real, I've been swearing by an insulated cup for years now, just for water and occasionally coffee. It's a gift where it's like "this is just a cup" until you realize it comes in handy so often. And a holder for Brynn's crutch not only seems logical and the most obvious idea in the world, but I bet they only came out with one in the last couple years because, you know... people aren't that bright and probably don't think about how differently abled people are affected by things we take for granted. I was at the dentist yesterday and we got to talking about music and my vinyl collecting and he said "I bet tapes are gonna come back, and Walkmans", told homie "they already have" haha. I really need a new tape deck because 1. it's a double-deck, you know with a recording side and a non-recording side, and the non-recording is blown and 2. I've been buying a LOT more cassettes just because vinyl has skyrocketed.

They only have seven shows but I kinda want to watch and write about them all: https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A"Kasuichi" MiSu/Takayama vs TARU/Fujiwara? Yes please.

I'm sticking to my guns.

JAVIER "MONARCA" CRUZ VS. CICLON RAMIREZ - HAIR VS. HAIR SECRET SANTO: THE FINAL CHAPTER. (Well, for now. Like the Friday the 13th series I hope these go on forever.) This one is a seriously play-by-play review so let's call it Pete- or Ray-style. Enjoy. I'm well familiar with Javier from the '80s Lucha set. Ramirez apparently didn't have any matches after a short search, and I can't recall any CMLL from the '90s I've seen him in, so this is a fresh match. One thing I'd like to note immediately is that if Monarca doesn't have padding under the studs on that glove, punching anybody with that shit will HURT. I had a studded glove once and tried it (on an inanimate object, of course) and it was not pleasant. I'm unsure how anyone uses a knuckle-duster or brass knucks and doesn't just shatter their fingers in the process, but someone with a better understanding of physics and anatomy can probably explain that to me. ANYWAY. Una Caida! We start with Ciclon getting jumped and Cruz going after him. This includes the oft-used "guy hanging off the apron gets his face bashed into the boards covering the bottom of the ring" to which I said out loud, "Clasico~!" Ciclon is bleeding from up by his temple in moments and it taking his time in the selling and beating blowing a ton of air trying to get the juice to pump. He hits a quebradora into a PLANCHA ENORME on Cruz that smashes him way back into the crowd and I'm having nostalgic flashbacks to the '80s set and remembering all those hours laying there drinking with a broken arm eating this shit up. Spinning Atlantida and we have our first fall! Segunda Caida! Huge missed senton to start. That... all that happens, because Cruz immediately grabs the second fall with a big missile dropkick and a standing senton. Tercera Caida! Ciclon smashes Javier's head into chairs and the post so he takes an opportunity to drag cold steel against warm flesh, immediately gaining highly better results than Ciclon at same. Ciclon tosses Javier out and hits a Mortal, which I guess means an over-the-top rope tope, that takes him completely vertical as he blasts into Cruz. Cruz is COVERED in blood now. Ciclon tries a Joe-esque walk away from a dive so Monarca just smashes him with a missile dropkick from the apron. Then Ciclon tries stretching him with various camel clutches and tapatias and Atlantidas but Cruz keeps slipping out cuz he's so bloody; finally Ciclon just pushes him off the top rope when he goes for something and he falls straight into the cameraman! "Ah-hahaha, wipe-out!" Corner plancha! Blood on the camera lens! Another plancha crushing Cruz against an empty row of chairs! But! He gets in the ring, grabs Ciclon from behind from a powerbomb-position flip over his head by Ciclon's chin and starts spinning him around just hanging in the air by his neck which is a finish no matter what you call it, and there you go. Cruz is jumping for joy and Ramirez is checking to make sure his vertebrae haven't disconnected. Surprisingly we get very little hair loss shown. Cruz refuses a handshake before he gets his pound of flesh, so to speak, so the electric razor takes a long hunk and Ramirez sportingly raises his arm with hair in hand before the replays start to roll. Very high-impact match that hits all the notes you expect from a hair match, including mid-size una, short segunda and long tercera. And the barber has the shiny scissors print on his fucking jacket so it gets the full Hair Match Star. I would have preferred a bit of shit-talking and maybe some slaps before the scalping began but Ciclon Ramirez is apparently a Man of Honour so we can excuse that. ****, Curt Bob says Check It Out.

THIS IS JUST A SCRUM TOO.

Meltzer: Catch 22 vs. War Dogs, ***3/4. Tanahashi vs. Sabre Jr, ****. Uemura vs. Tsuji, ****. House of Torture vs. Umino/Kiyomiya, **3/4. Tonga vs. Takagi, ****1/2. Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Bishamon, ***3/4. Desperado vs. Takahashi, ****. Finlay vs. Moxley vs. Ospreay, ****3/4. Okada vs. Danielson, *****1/4. Naito vs. SANADA, ****1/2. Natural: Catch 22 vs. War Dogs, ***3/4. Tanahashi vs. Sabre Jr, ****1/4. Uemura vs. Tsuji, ****1/4. House of Torture vs. Umino/Kiyomiya, ***. Tonga vs. Takagi, ****3/4. Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Bishamon, ***3/4. Desperado vs. Takahashi, ****. Finlay vs. Moxley vs. Ospreay, ****1/2. Okada vs. Danielson, *****. Naito vs. SANADA, ****1/2.

I also got a new mug that says Best Grandpa ever! I'm old!

There was a funny line when the MJF/Cole friendship first started that referenced that. Roddy is talking to Cole on camera about MJF and asks if they should talk in private. Cole says, no, he (MJF) never watches the show.

Wardlow will be fine. Per the rules of wrestling logic, wrestlers never watch the shows. They also never talk to each other outside the shows.

Oh yeah, one of the new guys in my office got all the admins those Stanley tumblers and then was visibly disappointed that none of us knew they were some kind of big deal. Nice cup, though.

My highschool colors were purple and gold and our biggest rival wore green and white, so somebody who hates purple and loves green is basically my mortal enemy. Though I'm much less fond of purple this week than normal...

Thank you!!! Excited to watch!! May you please teach how embed videos on here too. I'm giving you Billy Ken Kid vs. Ultimo Spider Jr https://youtu.be/TT1AcxbFrME?si=Sqp0a71aWXRmxJXv

CARLOS COLON VS. ABUDDA DEIN Dein is billed as being from "Pal-ee-stine" by Hugo... over and over again. I guess that's special to him. Meanwhile he looks like Johnny K-9 wearing Abby/Sheik boots. This is basic as you get but that's Puerto Rico for you, and why it can be so entertaining after watching the dense skill of current wrestling. You get your early shine with Carlos busting open Dein (of course), including piledriving him on a stack of baseboards. Dein gets his heat by clubbering his way back into control and plays "hide the object" for awhile. Carlos kicks him in the nuts, goes back on offense, cartwheel, backslide, win. A blueprint for PR wrestling. I noticed that by '89 they finally figured out that they needed to put up fencing around the ring/baseball diamond area, but there are still nosebleeds so you can see stuff thrown that makes it over the fence anyway. CARLOS COLON VS. JASON THE TERRIBLE THE DANGER~! PR-style barbed wire was single strands between the ropes back around the posts and lengths of it wrapped around all three ropes diagonally. It looks pretty cool. Dick Slater and Ricky Santana are mercifully on commentary instead of the absolute misery of Buck Robley. Dick is quite the chatterbox and kinda sounds like Steve Austin on speed. Carlos gets tortured for a long time, even low-blown (another PR staple, Mexico too of course) until he finally turns the tide by tossing Jason into the different sides before ripping off the mask and putting it on for some of his own headbutts. Karl Moffat -- I guess it's him? -- is revealed to be just as much of a blade freak as the guy who wore the mask in W*ING and was actually Puerto Rican by hitting a gusher for the boss. It frankly gets rather ghastly as at one point you can see that Carlos has left a bloody handprint on Jason's back from pushing him into Irish whips. Jason hits a big flying knee from the ropes, misses a second, and Carlos leaps on him for the figure four. They battle with a turnover by Jason but Carlos flips him back for the verbal tap. Camera men know where their bread is buttered as they get some gnarly closeups of the dripping visage of Jason. If you want to know why PR has its rep as a bloody territory, here you go! Simple, but wild stuff.

I'm asking that about this and Christian/Copeland. Where can they go from where they've gone so far?

Lots of squashes this week. Enjoyed Archer's, a nice showcase match/win for Queen Aminata, and Red Velvet looked awesome in her ROH debut against Alex Gracia. The traditional multi-team match was a quick win for Shane Taylor & Moriarty this time. Mercedes/Diamante over Leyla/Rachael was pretty good coming off last week's build. Kyle Fletcher vs Willie Mack was awesome, great match. Fun trios main event with the usual crazy spots from Vikingo and Komander.

Shannon Sharpe explains the territory system to Gilbert Arenas:

Ha! My mom got a scratch-off that won her $20, too.

A pair of Nike runners, some boxer briefs, socks that don't fit, cookie trays and a scratch lotto ticket that was a 20 dollar winner. I also got a default victory over my nephew in checkers, because he closed the board when he realized he wasn't going to win.

Taker had a real Fire Pro-ass name.

Alan Boom's Blood and Thunder Vol. 2 book which I highly recommend you pick up from him in the wrestling book thread Viktor Vaughn (AKA MF Doom) - Vaudeville Villain on vinyl Sortilege - Metamorphose and Heros de Larms on vinyl Autopsy - Severed Survival T-shirt Amazon Chromecast and some crap I didn't really want or need -- they love to do that shit. Like, a whole pack of 3XL T-shirts that I don't need and won't wear. They ignored either of the really big items I wanted this year, one I had told them about months in advance (one of those 10,000 video game consoles that plus into your laptop with a USB drive; the other was a Boss Heavy Metal guitar pedal knockoff). I don't care after the fact though, and should just be glad they put up with me at all.

Maybe she's had 26 matches, but she lost almost all of her matches on Dark & Elevation.

That Osaka Pro match was fun. I'll leave further comments to Gordi but just the ability to wrestle a full match (though they did have a cut for some reason) in a what, 8-by-8 foot space? surrounded by people with no barrier on nothing but gym mats is super impressive.

Is the world ready for Mickey in "Hot Dog...The Movie 2: Even Hotter?"

I plan on watching tonight - we were a day behind on Dynamite so everything got kinda bumped up a little. Like you (and many) I didn't love that sell at FD but at the same time, I sort of thawed on it a little after digesting his 'bag of tricks' comments from the scrum after. Looking forward to it!

-hugs if its okay- hope things got/get better soon. Its alright to got at your pace

Here's a very good episode WWE C TV - it's the Velocity before Wrestlemania XX. Outside of my shitty high school's drama program falling apart, it was 2004 Velocity that called me to the backyard oh so long ago... so I had to check if it was still great television and sometimes it really was. The first match on the broadcast is the match in question. and it is Jamie Noble vs. Paul London - Savannah, GA 3/2/04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wroCYa9p57U Golden Age ROH INVADES~ WWE programming. They're given twice the amount of time you'd figure they'd have and the crowd is full of pre-Mania hype. The whole episode is quite a bit of fun.

@porksweats I know you like to give out A-Pre-W matches, so I got one for you with a couple of up-and-comers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdQKbSlnh-A

For all you Gulf Coast residents on the board

Random notes: It wouldn't be AEW TV without a random audio botch. Good to see Quen back, though. Orange/Dante was really good. Really, just great in-ring all night. Will anyone care when Luchasaurus decides to break free? And good lord, don't also build Wardlow to that. Luchasaurus is not Batista and we already had a "Wardlow breaks free" angle that got fumbled for various reasons. Hangman grew his mustache thicker and now looks like a cowboy in a 70s porno. Great move switching up Cole's music. He's a heel now and having the fans still sing along would be dumb. Looking forward to seeing Purazzo in the mix. Bryan Keith didn't get an entrance and that sucks. DANCEOFF BRO For a split second I envisioned Garcia joining the Embassy and dancing on the ramp with Nana as Swerve made his entrance. Falling off the table with the sharpshooter was brutal. Fuck the fans who think it's still the late 90s and chanting "you fucked up" is cool. Hangman/Swerve is fine, but where do you go after a Texas Death Match? I know if it was WWE where feuds run backwards, we'd get a straight wrestling match, but not here, right?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_y2aHDV8U You need to see all of this but especially 03:17, Eddie Kingston promo.

This is all about my promo style preference so not a judgement on the man, but it's good to see Bryan like this hyping a match without any forced smile/laugh and only a fleeting appearance of his raised 'grr I'm intense' promo voice. The guy's smart and he loves to lie so just sit him down and let him do what he loves I'll buy it all.

Not really. Then again, it's seven in the morning here so any damage assessment will be done throughout the day plus technically the coast is still under a tsunami advisory. But the epicenter of the quake was not near Tokyo and it seems like everything there will go on as normal.

KNOCKED LOOSE MOTHERFUCKER

For a variety of reasons, my wife & I didn't exchange gifts this year. I may go shopping for myself. Have seriously considered picking up a Steam Deck, ROG Ally or Odin 2 handheld gaming system. We'll see. Got an Amazon gift card from work, a tin of Cougar Gold cheese* , some lottery tickets, and an as-yet-undelivered Etsy gift from Mom. The lottery tickets turned out well - won $150 on them. All in all, a pretty quiet Christmas which is fine by me. Main thing for me at holiday time is to rest and recharge and I'm doing just that.