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Just got back from the show. We had a fucking blast and it seemed like TK was genuinely appreciative of the response. Danielson/Hechicero was everything I hoped for and that's even with the janky finish.

I'm so happy everyone is finally getting a chance to see just how great Hechicero is. That was the type of match I watch where I felt butterflies beforehand because I wanted the performers to succeed so much. I have nothing but admiration for Danielson for recognizing and highlighting the greatness of others. The beautiful art of wrestling on full display. The first two matches bleeding into one another and being so top-notch, I could've easily stopped there. But damn, Deeb, Aminata, Swerve getting deep on us, Daniel Garcia's continued ascent, what a show. So much more I want to see now, too. Claudio vs. Hechicero? Yes, please. Garcia vs. Christian, of course, but Garcia vs. Wayne sounds equally fabulous. Awesome crowd.

I’ve never seen a run of “matches I didn’t even know I wanted to see” like this. 2024 Coach Tony is an absolute madman!

That was one of the best episodes of television wrestling in a long time! First two matches were just beyond amazing, both very entertaining! Also, HUGE PROPS to that CROWD. They were hot for the right times and dead for the right times also. One of the best crowds I've seen in a while. Y'all made Texas very proud, making up for some lackluster crowds we've seen in the past (looking at you, Arlington)

This BCC vs. CMLL angle is the epitome of “ give them what they didn’t know they wanted.”

Kingston/Keith and Danielson/Hechicero were both fucking BANGERS.

Actually now it's "billionaire who should be in jail".

I'll have to write some stuff up tomorrow, but Collision was obviously a blast. It's so great going from a Kingston match right into a Danielson match. Best weekly thing in wrestling this decade so far. Loved Deeb's cool little trip. Love the big long double heat trios main events.

I'm starting to see talent posting on Twitter about this. Logan Paul tweeted " We Want Cody". That shit gets my "We're getting worked " senses tingling.

He won't do it because his team and himself are too worry about his image these days, but the Rock embracing the heel role (if they make it a three way) and trashing this lame "Poor Cody" movement would be a fun way to go here. So many ways you could go with it.

What a Delight! Kingston v Keith was excellent. And loved everygoddamnthing about that post match. Another fun Moxley promo. Yeah, the transitions from Kingston to Danielson matches is a simple ingenius way to build to their big blowoff. Danielson v Hechicero had a high artistic quality to say the least. Truly poetry in motion. Nice FTrcia promo. Would've liked a Christian rebuttal, but not complaining. I hate booking Handicap matches, and this Hook v Outrunners bout wasn't any different. Ugh, can't they have a modicum of credibility for the teams they job to? Mark Briscoe promo was great until the typical House of Black bullshit. I like the idea of Mark running thru them. Good solid Cope Open video. Following up on the stories dormant for the week is a crucial. Small, but effective dear AEDub! The Serena v Amanita bout was alright. Things got a bit dicey in the break and to the finish, but no harm no foul. I enjoyed watching Deeb lead the Queen on thru. The Swerve promo was fuckingfantastic. Great, great stuff from Stickland. Perhaps his best promo to date. And then another fun Toni/Mariah/Luther promo. Looking forward to the exhibition. Velvet v Vertvixen left a lil to be desired. Total whiff on the finish. FTRcia v Patriarchy was an excellent TV main event. Great character work, great wrestling, great storytelling, an A plus segment. Harwood's back-super-plex is fantastic. Nick Wayne looked good here. I sense he's paying close attention to the boss' tricks of the trade. Love to Mrs. Wayne and her wonderful enthusiasm for her son's bad boy antics. The Trio Danny Dance is gonna get over huge if they want it to. Joyous, joyous pro wrestling for all!

Finally caught up. I thought the 8-man on Rampage was a little underwhelming and didn’t really showcase the CMLL crew other than Mascara Dorado. Willow-Aminata was maybe the best match of the night. I didn’t really care for the Top Flight-Private Party match, basically too similar, Private Party is trying to be cool heels so the traditional tag structure didn’t happen and the match felt lifeless. Ricky-Bill versus DO was fine but again such a foregone conclusion. Kingston-Keith was amazing, Eddie gave him so much that I wouldn’t have been surprised with a shocking upset. Congrats to Bryan Keith for signing, I’ve seen people online fantasy book a trio/faction with Hangman Adam Page, Bandido, and Bounty Hunter Bryan Keith. Danielson-Hechicero kicked ass, like others have said it really had the sense of Bryan being in over his head and hanging on for dear life. I think Nigel said “Bryan Danielson escapes with the win” and that was a good way to describe it. I want Claudio basing for Mistico and Dorado! The Hook-Outrunners thing was dumb, just because Hook popped a rating is not reason to give him some Superman push where he goes over two guys, even if they are comedy jobbers. Aminata continues to be the new Skye Blue, and soon she is going to get that big win. I like Deeb more so far this time around. And then Red Velvet vs. Texas indie star Vertvixen was a nice squash to heat Red up for Toni’s public workout. FTRCia-Patriarchy was excellent, Nick Wayne looked the best I’ve seen so far (and appears to have added a little mass), Daniel Garcia is becoming a superstar. Also the only match without a foregone conclusion. The Briscoe promo was so great, and then the HoB part stunk up the joint.

I am now through February 1987 of my Mid-South/UWF watch project which means I have watched the UWF Tag Team Title Tournament after Hacksaw Duggan lost a loser leaves town match to One Man Gang, thus vacating the championship held by Duggan and Terry Taylor. The tournament was broadcasted over two weeks of UWF Power Pro Wrestling. I noticed these episodes weren't on Youtube so I went ahead and uploaded them myself, and honestly the booking of this tournament feels like it should be as famous/infamous/notorious as the "All three championships change hands" episode of TV from November 1986. UWF Power Pro Wrestling - Broadcast Date 2/14/1987 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWdFhnO-9mA UWF Power Pro Wrestling - Broadcast Date 2/21/1987 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTZseUQ2m3s (note: source video quality is a bit rougher here) Thoughts/observations on the tournament (spoilered here in case anyone flying blind wanted to watch the tournament first): Other observations of UWF through February 1987: Ted Dibiase - goddamn he is incredibly over in his quest to defeat One Man Gang for the UWF Championship, and seems almost as over as Hacksaw Duggan was during his peak. The UWF live crowds are incredibly loud and ready for him to be the next UWF Heavyweight Champion. Given how over he was at the time, I absolutely don't blame him for bolting immediately after the JCP sale. I think if most wrestlers found themselves in that position, went to Japan for six weeks, and came back not only to find out that the UWF was sold but that Dusty put the championship on Big Bubba Rogers, the majority of those wrestlers would have bolted too. Sting - The rising star is starting to get face pops from the TV crowds and on a trajectory where you pretty much HAVE to turn him at some point. Since joining up with Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert, he is finally evolving into the franchise player that we would see one year from this time tearing it up with Ric Flair at the Clash of the Champions, and the TV crowds are reacting accordingly for what's been a fun evolution to watch. The departure of Hacksaw Duggan - Duggan was THE top dog in Mid-South Wrestling after JYD left in 1984. The second half of 1986 was a bit rocky for him, as his own Japan bookings and reported money disputes with Bill Watts saw him sidelined to being more of a "special attraction" type wrestler, but he still felt like someone that could have been heated up instantly if someone decided "let's put the UWF belt on Duggan". Him and Taylor are made the UWF Tag Team Champions, but he apparently gave his notice that same week, as the actual title change isn't shown in full and is limited to a clip of the last two minutes, with the only real notable moment being a very awesome tag team match between Duggan/Taylor against Sting/Steiner. Duggan leaving though really does feel like a final blow to the UWF as we know it, even if Dibiase is picking up the slack on the babyface side. The debut of Steve Cox - oh man, the UWF TV debut of Steve Cox is one of the biggest Poochies that has ever Poochie-d. For his debut on UWF TV, he is heavily featured in THREE segments throughout the show. (1) being introduced as the protege of Dr. Death Steve Williams, who advises him to sit at ringside for the whole show and study everything that is happening in the matches, including Dr. Death's match where after he bodyslams his opponent, he pantomimes the motion of showing Cox what he did with his arms on the bodyslam like an instructor (2) Cox staying at ringside for Ted Dibiase's challenge of One Man Gang for the UWF Championship, and jumping into the ring to help Dibiase after interference from Skandor Akbar and counts a visual pinfall for Dibiase. (3) getting challenged to step into the ring by Bill Irwin and Eli The Eliminator, and fending them both off with a little help from Dr. Death and Dibiase. And oh boy, Steve Cox is really rough around the edges with his movement and selling. Watts seemingly thought he could create another Oklahoma-based star like he did years prior with Dr. Death but Steve Cox needed some more cooking before coming out of the oven in such a spectacularly-pushed way. This episode is on Youtube as well and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krXtG70Z2bw More "proto-Russo" booking - the amount of "we're outta time" matches does seem to be tempered a bit, but that has been replaced almost every week by this run of the UWF finding new ways to just not deliver matches that are advertised at the beginning of the show. One episode includes hype at the beginning of the show for a Duggan/Taylor tag team title defense that gets mucked up by a pre-match attack by Devastation Inc. and the UWF doctors declare Duggan and Taylor unable to wrestle (admittedly, at least this is a call back to the Gordy/OMG angle where they say that Duggan and Taylor don't have to forfeit the match and title because it was UWF doctors that examined them), and a Dark Journey/Missy Hyatt match doesn't happen due to Missy feigning an injury (though Dark Journey attacks her anyway so the crowd still gets some sort of physical confrontation). But every week now it's either "advertised match doesn't happen" OR "we're outta time" and that happening so often I can see that playing a part in people NOT wanting to come out to see UWF live at all, which ties into... A lot of empty red chairs in the crowd at TV - By February 1987, the fans that do show up are lively and loud, but the art of "put ALL the fans on two sides of the building and only shoot those sides" hadn't quite been mastered yet. It is starting to get very visible on both the main UWF TV taped in Tulsa and the Power Pro tapings from Fort Worth that anywhere to 25-50 percent of the floor seats are empty, and while the bleachers are mostly darkened, there's a few shots here and there where you can tell there's not that many folks up there either. I do honestly wonder how much money they sunk into making Power Pro a separate "pro-shot" TV show in Fort Worth. I'm sure the mindset was "more TV equals more stations equals more fans", and I am guessing the strategy of going into the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex was "World Class is losing them, we can win them back" when all these TV tapings really seemed to confirm was that Dallas as a WRESTLING city was officially dead. From the footage of this era that is available, the only market that seems to be doing decent crowd attendance for the UWF is Houston, and we all know how that goes once the JCP sale goes through. Overall, at this stage the weekly TV is still fun to watch despite the more negative aspects noted above, but it's very much the in-ring effort of veterans like Dibiase, Dr. Death, Terry Gordy, and One Man Gang, and the week-to-week growth of Sting and Rick Steiner that are doing that heavy lifting as opposed to strong booking. I had initially planned on stopping my watch with the first JCP-booked episode of UWF TV where Bubba wins the title, but I poked into the weeks that follow and there's three important events that happen on UWF TV in May and June that feel like additional "epilogues" to some stories that start to get told during the final weeks of Watts-era UWF:

Yeah, this time it was pretty clear CJ was hoping to have her own success as a wrestling manager and trying to find the best athletes to manage and make her own name. She wasn't looking for new male suitors here. At least how I understood that story, anyway.

Just another great fn show from the AEW crew. Loved getting two women's matches with Red continuing to look crisp as hell and Deeb/Aminata getting seemingly extra stiff and nasty at the end - that's how you make up for a lil miscommunication.

...So like a bank?

You guys have no idea how lucky we are that HHH isn't able to wrestle anymore for health reasons, as he'd 100% have inserted himself into... something.... if they felt that WrestleMania needed to be saved. Not saying he'd have taken the Rock spot but maybe the GUNTER or Seth match. I am intrigued to see if the fans turn on it like they did Goldberg/Lesnar and Batista/Yes Movement. Or even Roman/Rock at the Rumble so long ago. I don't know how much the fanbase has changed since those events happened, if fans will just go with the flow or be vocally against it at live shows. If nothing else, I do think The Rock has to be at the top of his game. He can't stumble through a bad promo or look out of place, I think one way or the other fans won't be amused if it looks like he took Cody's spot but wasn't prepared for it.

Collision is my A Show. Dope wrestlers having dope matches because that's what wrestlers should do. Hechicero got pyro. Tony Khan you were on the fuckin' ball tonight. Queen Fuckin' Aminata. Brian Fuckin' Keith. Two women's matches. The Garcia stuff is absolutely clicking. This was a DEAN episode.

update: i am home. still alive and in one piece. temps were lower than expected and there were no major issues. fishing was OK as well. the drinks were (as always) my highlight.

I think if they want to keep Cody from looking like a doof for giving up the Reigns match in the first place, he could cut a promo saying "I thought I was giving the people what they wanted. The People's Champ. But if you want me vs. Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania then the people have spoken." Something like that. But with more words like "abundantly" and "apropos".

I dunno, Rocky Johnson's statutory rape charge and multiple similar accusations being glossed over as "took bookings in Saudi Arabia for a rival promoter" is hard to beat.

There were rumors of Rock vs. Roman night one and Roman vs. Cody Night two, months ago. So I'd imagine that has to be a potential plan. It doesn't really matter what Cody said, because he made it clear after the Rumble he was going for Roman and here we are, so pivoting back and forth isn't an issue. Punk said during their little pre Rumble promo battle that Cody was going to have some returning star take his spot at Mania. Of course Punk meant himself, but regardless it's clear that WWE is aware of the optics. I truly just want to see Cody beat Roman. That's it. I just want to see that moment.

NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka is big next Sunday. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr II, Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the last time and the first NJPW Steel Cage match in 20 years as United Empire vs. Bullet Club. Think it's Will Ospreay's last NJPW match. Our very own Gordi will be in attendance. Enjoy, mate xxx.

Considering everything in WWE-land has been absolutely miserable the last few weeks, Collision continues to be the best wrestling show going. Just keeping giving guys like Kingston, Danielson, FTR and Garcia big spotlight matches every week and you can't NOT produce an awesome show. It feels like those periods when Smackdown was the 'B Show' that didn't have the top tier megastars but had all the workrate guys tearing shit up every night. I haven't seen anything from Keith before tonight that made me buy into the hype around him, but he stepped up in his biggest showcase so far and looked like he belonged. Credit to Kingston for shining him up too, just a really good match that made both guys better and felt like a hard fought match. I actually was a bit underwhelmed by Danielson vs Hechicero. It's been a few years since I've seen Hechicero, but from memory he's either at his best against smaller guys who he can base for, or in matches that get heated. This felt too much like an exhibition with Danielson allowing him to show off a lot of his cool spots and holds, which are cool, but I wish there was a bit more spice. Still, great to see him get his dues and hopefully we get more of this crossover. Main event was another homerun from FTR. I am here for FTR/DG, and all the heels played their respective roles very well and differently which kept things interesting even when it was all go-go-go. Cage vs Garcia should be a lot of fun.

Not quite that, but still my favorite entrance for my favorite team.

Man, Bryan vs Hechicero was beautiful pro wrestling. Too bad the ref almost screwed up the finish as that *briefly* took me out of the trance I was in, but the match itself was *so* cool. Nice creative variations and counters and even some nifty stuff I have never seen before! Just the pure joy of "pro wrestling as an art." The whole first hour just flew by! A 90's Japan style slugfest, a technical masterpiece, then a fun Outrunners match! My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Then we got TWO women's matches! It seems like the new AEW singles TV match template is that the winner is a foregone conclusion but the wrestler who is going over is going to bump and sell so hard for their opponent that there's going to be some moments where we almost believe it's going to be an upset. I am fine with that. It leads to some pretty entertaining matches. And it looks like Matt is going to get Christian vs Garcia! The rest of us are going to get that, too, but Matt specifically asked for it. Speaking of getting what we ask for: Congratulations, Bounty Hunter!

The true effectiveness of Jerry McDevitt is revealed when a transfer of power document for Jerry Jarrett circa 1994 is revealed to be still legally binding and all further creative meetings are just Dewey Foley working an ouija board.

Let’s focus on the positives. We’ll get a couple of out of breath promos filled with vagina innuendos and 90’s catchphrases.

The Rock bought a certain envelope from one Nickla "Baby Doll" Roberts and told Cody what would happen if Cody didn't do the right thing

So one thing to note, FIFA requires all stadiums who host a game to have natural grass surfaces, so MetLife will finally be forced to change. ...And quite possibly solve the problem of all those blown out knees and ankles.

One of the little touches I liked in the Iron Claw was them replicating the WCCW graphics package, even if it was for years before it actually debuted.

The Punk Card (hehehehe) being in their back pocket is one they can play if they do indeed decide to pivot and they could do it as early as Monday. Cody comes out, does his “so…what do you want to talk about?” thing, gets into how the Rock convinced him to let Rock go after Roman and even though it didn’t sit well with him he didn’t want to deprive the people of that match. Seth comes and says something and then Punk comes out. Tells Cody this isn’t happening again, rehashes his history and says even though he’s cool with the Rock now that Cody needs to finish this story at WM like he intended and the difference here is that over 10 years ago there wasn’t much Punk could do about it but now…WM is two nights. Then seal it with if Cody is more of me than me then you need to take what’s yours and finish your damn story. Hell, you can even delay Cody’s answer to his only other booked SmackDown appearance this month where he says the Rock is right…but CM Punk is right too, so I’m sorry Seth, I need to do this and I need Roman at WM. Crowd explodes and chaotic tv ensues all the way up until WM. That all plays very, very heavily off of HHH booking these shows as serialized TV with giving you a taste so you come back the next week followed by an even bigger taste followed by the whole slice. It’s the best way to play this all out and keep things interesting until WM or at least recapture the entire feel of the Sami/KO/Jimmy/Bloodline saga again.

They could have brought down the bleacher folk to the floor seats to fill up room. Then again, Watts was probably of the mindset that "they paid for the cheap seats, they get the cheap seats".

Perry has been out with some kind of skin infection that required an operation, and her only managerial charge, Andrade, left the company. So I can see how their angle is on hold. There are absolutely times we can be critical of TK, but this isn’t one of them.

Hold up. Granted, I wasn’t paying SUPER close attention that Miro/CJ angle, but I’m pretty sure the point wasn’t that she was fucking all those guys.

Schiavone: Look at the face of Danielson. McGuinness: I prefer not to.

This was my first exposure to Hechicero and he didn't disappoint. It seemed like he had a counter to anything Danielson tried to throw at him on the mat and really made it look like Amdrag was in over his head. Team CMLL vs BCC trios match at the next PPV? It also made me wish they used Angelico more as I really want to see him and Danielson just tie eachother up for 10 minutes. It's good Keith finally got signed. He's been a great workhorse over the past several weeks. Speaking of people who need to get signed, Aminata put in the work once again. I wasn't expecting as competitive a match as that for Serena's comeback but it was good stuff. The main event was fine but kind of by the numbers.

I only watched the first 2 matches tonight because I am up to my armpits in COVID and Like a Dragon, but those 2 matches were both fun as hell. Very glad to see Keith get signed as he's torn it up every time they've used him as a freelancer. I'd never seen Hechicero before, and holy shit. The people who've talked him up were not exaggerating. Also, I will always mark out for a Romero Special, one of my favorite submission holds because it looks silly and painful at the same time.

Awesome show. Loved the all action opening going Kingston/BK to Bryan/Hechicero, both were epic. Glad to see Bryan Keith become ALL Elite, been an amazing couple months for him. Serena/Aminata was excellent. the Queen is on fire on every show. When the vignettes for Serena's return started, I definitely did not expect her to be coming back as a face but I love seeing it again. Huge fan of her previous face work. TWO women's matches, always love to see Vertvixen and another nice win for Red Velvet. Another fun trios main event ruled.

Danielson is dreaming about a Danielson/Moxley/Claudio vs Blue Panther/Blue Panther Jr/Dark Panther match, i'm sure.

Mascara Dorada was actually Panterita del Ring Jr. first. It's worth mentioning because some of the last free CMLL episodes on YouTube were when Panterita Jr. was establishing himself as the new tecnico hotness, and people should look it up maybe. This should and probably is leading up to a match where Claudio bases for Dorada. Like Claudio and YUTA vs Dorada and Hechicero. My God, man, the mere thought...

Not for nothing, but the mask in the pic is Mascara Sagrada, not Mascara Dorada. The original Mascara Sagrada spawned a bunch of lawsuits when he originally left AAA, as Peña claimed he owned the gimmick. They put other folks under the mask thru the years after that. Mascarita Sagrada was the OG mini superstar, and had the same mask. When he left AAA he kept using the gimmick, but AAA put another guy under the mask who was damn good too. By the mid-00s CMLL was looking to reboot their Mini division, and the replacement mini jumped to CMLL and was re-cristened "Mascarita Dorada". He was hugely popular, and when a young prospect out of Guadalajara named Gran Metalik was getting the call up to Mexico City, they introduced him as the full sized counterpart, Mascara Dorada. Eventually the mini left to join WWE as Torito, and later the full sized version went to NJPW, and then WWE. The current Mascara Dorada started off as Hijo del Panterita Del Ring - his father is longtime CMLL mainstay Ephesto, who used the "Panterita Del Ring" name early in his career. When it was pretty obvious that Panterita was going to be a big star, CMLL brought Metalik back in for a short stint, and passed the Dorada gimmick over to him, as "Mascara Dorada 2.0". Almost immediately the "2.0" was dropped. The current Dorada mask is virtually the same, except 2.0 has eyeholes, while the original had a solid mesh face.

Good job finally signing Bryan Keith, but the next step is to run Mike Jones his money to use Still Tippin.

“Why are these attractive young women trying to date these attractive young men and not the gross old men that came up with this contest!!?!?!” - Johnny and Vince, probably

So after a lot of reading this morning, yeah, this looks like a total power grab and ego stroking move. If you’re intent on doing the Rock vs Roman, then fine, but give people a better story for it than this. Not to mention, for the millionth time, Rock vs Roman doesn’t need to be for the title, it could be on night 1 or night 2, but whatever night it’s on you could still do Cody vs Roman on the other night for the title since Roman works like 10 matches a year. But instead we got Seth and his title getting buried, Cody getting cucked (and I really hate that fucking word but that’s the only one that fits), and shoehorning in Rock. I just think you could have done something better creatively if this wasn’t ego stroking and a power grab. And if I’m wrong and this is the best creative they could come up with then everyone in creative fucking sucks.

Never seen a promotion work as diligently to cool off their product as WWE has over the past year. I mean, plenty of other promotions have done it quicker and more spectacularly, but no one has matched WWE’s steadfast commitment to not giving their red-hot fans what they want circa Elimination Chamber 2023 to Now. They haven’t actually achieved it yet, but I have full faith in their ability to keep their nose to the grindstone and get the job done, eventually.

This is what we all get for not watching Black Adam, Young Rock, and the XFL.