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https://twitter.com/WrestleACTION1/status/1759729245155201320/video/1

Dominos also got into the Big Pizza Wars with the Dominator, which is an insanely horny name for a pizza.

I think it was one of those cases where we cannot have you wrestling on the house shows and being on tours internationally while telling folks you're hurt. So he got paid to sit at home. Good work if you can get it. There is also a point, but it's very brief, where Mabel raps himself to the ring and we don't see Oscar for weeks. Then, he magically shows back up. It's all very weird. Mabel rapping is terrible, but Oscar's raps don't even really pop the crowds anymore until he gets to the Whoomp There is It part. It's intriguing as a black person watching the ascent of Men on a Mission, Harlem Heat, AND the Gangstas at real time after there being ZERO tag teams that are black of consequence outside of Doom. It's also HILARIOUS watching Booker and Stevie Ray talk about being New Jacks when there is literally a guy named New Jack acting like someone in the film New Jack City. However, I would say if Bruce saw Booker and Stevie Ray in Global and didn't try to get them in WWF, he guessed wrong cause they clearly have improved since 1993. This goes especially that they spent the back quarter of 1994 trying out these crazy ass tag team moves looking for a finisher. All of them MASSACRE these enhancement talent guys giving poor Bobby Heenan a heart attack every time. If someone started doing that now, it would be considered nuts. I am at the week when they finally settle on and introduce Booker doing the Harlem Hangover. They still need help having good matches but at least you can say they have one solid worker in Booker T whereas M.O.M has two guys who need to be carried. I also would estimate they've had a dozen good TV matches once they started to get a push and looked serviceable in the rest. M.O.M has been around for almost two years and giving them credit for two good matches may be being generous. The Gangstas ain't super workers at all, but they are over as a big time heels and New Jack every week is hilarious. The other week when he's making fun of the Armstrong kids was spectacular. You can see in the WWF cartoony world that Men on a Mission is so one dimensional and even that one dimension isn't good once Oscar's creativity with raps stopped (this may or may not run parallel to certain present day acts). Mabel shows a tiny bit of promise, but if they're looking for a new Yoko, they probably should have realized that Yoko was around two years and they had to send him somewhere to go get his weight under control. Mabel started out being too big. These two things are happening at the exact same time. Nash ain't great, but he could be hidden with the right talent across the ring and still was very mobile. I can't say that with Mabel because the trial run as a singles didn't work cause he had ZERO important or halfway notable matches. Same when the tag team came back together. They had him do a two man Rumble match (yeah I know) on Raw with Bundy after they both were in the Rumble match and did nothing, and that was hideously bad. He's batting well below the Mendoza line on things he can actually do. I dunno how you can look at any of that and say "title challenger" for one of the major PPVs. They're already at the point where each PPV is doing worse year over year, and we're not talking difference between 1990 and 1992. We're talking last year was low and this year is somehow is even lower. Things look extremely bleak.

So I had no idea who Blackblood was and checked the YT comments and learned, but also learned that there are a handful of VERY passionate Kenny Kendall fans (and that's not including a number of comments that seem to be deleted praising him!) Bret Hart Oscar/MOM stories from his book. So very Bret ("New rap sound") "One of [Owen's] latesst victims was Oscar, the fat rapper manager of a new black tag team called Men On a Mission,or M.O.M. Three hunderd pound Mo was cool and mellow with a dyed-white buzz cut and carried the team. Mabel was a 450-pound mass with a white mohawks, who didn't do much but stand there in hideous, baggy purple silk pants. But their gimmick capitalized on the new rap sound,and when Oscar came out shouting on the live mic,"Get your hands up in the air!" he really pumped up the crowd. Owen egged on the 1-2-3 Kid until he tried to seize the heavy, out-of-shape Oscar in close quarters. Kid expected to manhandl Oscar and jumped right on his back but Oscar panicked, charged back and forth into the walls and knocking Kid silly!" and "After the show that night, I asked one of the locals where there was a good rock 'n' roll bar and he suggested a place called Lizard Lounge. I told Oscar, the manager from Men On a Mission, to meet me there, but when I showed up with Kid, my faithful sidekick of late, it turned out ot be a heavy metal hangout with neo-Nazi skinheads guarding the door. Then Oscar strolled through the front doors, oblivious to the slack jaws and scowls of the doormen. When he said "Wassup Bret?" I told him to stay real close. Only then did he check out the place and realize he might as well have come to a Klan rally. But Oscar was a man, and he wasn't going anywhere. So we had a few beers and Oscar confided that he was afraid that something was going to off between him and Shawn, Razor, and Diesel, who'd made it clear that they didn't like M.O.M. I told Oscar it it got serious to tell me and I'd keep an eye on things. Then Oscar shuffled out, nodding politely to the skinheads at the door, who nodded back dumb-founded, no doubt wondering whether he had brass balls or no brains!"

"....Like they're from mountains since they're mountain men. Henry is from Arkansas where Bill Clinton is from. He is more like Jethro and the Clampetts." "...so you mean they're not hillbillies?!" "I mean hills aren't really mountains..." I'm literally waiting for the moment Jim snaps and just says, "Fuck it...just ask Vince. He came up with all this shit."

I dunno know if it's even arguable several years removed and multiple insane shoot interviews later. There is nothing left to dispute. If there is, I would love to see that argument. But yeah, if SMW wasn't running their shows in those places, they probably would have been babyfaces there. If New Jack called Scott and Steve Armstrong "Sleepy", "Dopey", etc. now, that's a babyface pop. It also helps them that they're coming out to an energetic songs like "Can't Truss It" while mostly everyone in Smoky Mountain has this generic safe song choice from some classic rock station. I am trying to remove all the bias I have as a black person, but you can tell in early 95 there is a ton of sameness in Smoky Mountain. Unfortunately, the promise of delivering wrestling the way you like it or whatever tagline Cornette was using doesn't really work if there isn't variety. There is just too much overlap when WCW, WWF, and certainly ECW as the hottest North American promotion are more colorful and diverse. Smothers, DWB, RnR, and some of the other acts are solid or more than solid, but they running out of ways to insert folks like Lawler and this and that person coming in for one shot. Eddie Gilbert comes in for a quick sec to introduce Unabomb but apparently skipped town after one taping cycle. The last episode I watched where he gets fired off camera was the day he passed away. If it wasn't for the Gangstas, I probably would watch USWA or Lucha and puroresu from that time than Smoky Mountain.

The Godwins did not (to my knowledge) have SS tattoos.

You know the famous cartoon showing a New Yorker's view of the world from Ninth Ave.? That cartoon explains Pettengil. Loud NYer who thinks everything outside of NYC is New Jersey, Florida, Texas, or California. The idea that white folks from the Appalachians and white folks from rural Arkansas have any differences are too much for a guy like him.

You mean Reginald Denny? They didn't have to be from LA to do that. Most of their attitude wasn't Los Angeles centric. That's my point. It would be like taking a slice of Pizza Hut and saying, "yup, this is straight from the heart of Brooklyn." Yeah, it's still pizza but it certainly ain't from Brooklyn. But I mean that's where all pizza is made right...Brooklyn? No one else makes pizza. I mean black people been in the country since 1619 but apparently tag team wrestling in 1995 tells you they only reside in Harlem or South Central. All 30 million+ of us were just in those two places magically.

They're a tag team largely based on shit like NWA and movies like Colors and Boyz in tha Hood, and the whole public idea of a 'black street gang' is tied into the Bloods and Crips with is also heavily tied to Los Angeles. Admittedly, I'm from Los Angeles, so I'm biased, but it doesn't really make sense for them to be from anywhere else. It was an attempt to add credibility, just like it was for Public Enemy. Also, in Smokey Mountain, California is easy cheap heat, too. They wouldn't need it, because New Jack is like, the perfect heel for SMW, but it didn't hurt.

Holy SHIT.

"Hakushi's First Seder" would dethrone Fuji Vice as the greatest WWF skit of all time! James

Instead of trying to teach him the ways of America, Barry converting Hakushi from Buddhism to Judaism would have been the angle of the year for 1995.

I would like think that Michael Hayes, despite traveling the world over, didn't run into a Jewish person until his 40s and then had a list of questions ready just in case.

I do like that this Bucks heel turn (Were they faces before? I honestly can't recall.) has given the Sting/Darby match some actual heat. I would've been fine with them facing someone like FTR with the idea of having a "good match" for Sting to go out on, but I personally kind of like the bad guys trying to ruin his last match thing better. Now, would I like it more if it was someone besides the Bucks? Possibly. But, I'm cool with it if it was Sting's choice.

The WWF missed out on a great gimmick when Henry and Phineas stopped being pig farmers and became Jeff Jarrett's henchmen. Why call them Southern Justice when they could have been "Godwinns Law".

I see the comparison. I’ve come to believe that AEW creative loathes all the elements of ‘the authority figure’ that I do. Er I hope. The Bucks heel work doesn’t make me think of McSex pest or Russo or or Steph or D’amore or anybody that has eaten up large amounts of the weekly broadcast with decision making matters. The Bucks playing into their evp roles feels like a response to the largely unwarranted hate they receive for having said roles. Wednesday’s angle entertained me. Disrespecting Schiavone felt like a line crossing event. I liked the energy of the Darby run in. I don’t think of Darb as a great mic worker so I never have expectations. I generally give him a pass for not hitting all the notes if he’s somewhere close. I thought he was. I totally get why somebody wouldn’t like the Cody reference or relevant history being used, but the ‘pitiful’ Meltzer/Alvarez rant felt unwarranted. To me the Bucks v Stang/Darby feels hotter each week. This week was no exception.

He does. I've been following him since his X-Entertainment days and remember when he bought expired Pac-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pasta from a bodega, then twenty years later revealed that he still had it. Nothing about him surprises me.

Asking Jim Cornette to be nuanced is a losing battle. That's all I'm saying.

In the 90s, the only place where you could bill a team of black gang members from and have them feel legitimate would either be South Central or Compton. Early 90s had the LA Riots and then Death Row took over pop culture for a while.

SMW is the perfect example of Cornette's booking philosophy - "well by golly, it used to work, give it to 'em again!" This is the same guy that thought running Rock 'n' Roll vs Midnights for six years straight was a great concept, and his new great concept was running Rock 'n' Roll vs Midnight with a new coat of paint. We're asking for a bit much to ask for variance.

Yeah, I don't think you're going to see anything where the players or team management goes "this is an exhibition game, we're not taking the risk on participating in this when we have the entire rest of the season to go". If they're going to sit players for regular season games that count for something, then I don't think the All-Star game will require a second thought. I'll say that I enjoy the All-Star game. As a basketball game, it's trash. As the NBA's take on the Harlem Globetrotters, it's fun, and seeing the players goof off and launch ridiculous passes or half-court shots once a year is fine for me. I prefer things like the skills competition and the three-point contest (Reggie Miller suggested Steph Curry and Dame Lillard against Sabrina Ionescu and Caitlin Clark in a team shootout next year, and I started to salivate), but the game itself is a nice waste of two and a half hours and that's probably all it's ever going to be at this point where everyone's obsessed with managing their minutes and getting their players as close to full strength to the playoffs as possible.

My favorite is still Ms. Marvel because I’m a huge Kamala fan. but Hawkeye is really, really good. Like, shockingly good (because it’s about fuckin’ Clint Barton) but also not surprising because of the cast, the characters they play and how they absolutely embody them and their chemistry. Kamala & Kate together onscreen has the possibility to rival or even be better than Kate & Yelena onscreen. I can’t wait.

I mean how many times did he and the Birds headline the Hanukkah Star Wars from Reunion Arena?

Secret Jewish person Michael Hayes debuts and trades in the stars and bars for the Star of David. It writes itself.

"I wish to protect the Environment" (fans prematurely cheer) "From the international bankers seeking to destroy the Ozone" (cheering ends)

Alex "The Pug" Porteau!

Okay, I take that back cause I just remembered a story. So yeah, I was watching wrestling with a black female friend of mine several years back now. This had to be when Booker T returned to WWE. She was a casual at best. All I remember is Booker was up on the screen and we started talking. Then, at some point, she couldn't recall his name. I think she may have confused him with R-Truth since both were in TNA. Me: "Yeah, he was King Booker with Sharmell not too long ago." Her: "Ohhh...was he the dude feuding with the n***** eating worms?!" Me: **very long pause** "Uh...I guess? He wasn't eating worms so much as he was...it's a very long explanation."

They didn’t tie *everything* up…

I've known people who have tried to build a PC and fucked it up with expensive consequences, so the idea that you can practice via a video game before doing it IRL is pretty great. All the cleaning simulators are comforting podcast games for people (like me), who enjoy scraping gunk off of things and making them cleaner, but not to the point that we want to actually get up and do it. (I get satisfaction to the point of endorphin release after I floss and water pick every night.)

Farooq’s favorite pizza

The newer Hitman trilogy are the best puzzle games ever made. There were so many missions where I, or my daughter and me, would just sit there wondering, ok, what do we do here. Ok, let's try this. And then try this. Ok, that worked, so let's try that again, but then do this other thing differently. If you were a streamer when those games came out, it was just endless content you could milk. Plus, if you had a decent following, that's just more help you could get from people.

What if it was a slice of the Big New Yorker pizza from Pizza Hut? AUTENTICO! ESPECIALLY WITH PEPSI!

When I have spare time I sometimes search 'Bret Hart vs' on Youtube and pick a random match. They never disappoint, even the bad ones are at least interesting in how they are bad and the timeframe their in. Bad news is Vince is the lead commentator on a lot of Bret's matches and hearing his voice makes me nauseous https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8IXXAcZl6c&ab_channel=WorldofWrestling Bret Hart vs Rocky Maivia (Intercontinental Title Match - March 31st, 1997) This one seemed timely since Rocky has just turned and this match takes place right after Bret turned at Wrestlemania 13. Weird start as Rocky backs Bret into a corner and holds him there so long he should have been disqualified twice. Eventually, Bret just bails on his own. Tony Atlas is in the crowd, nobody is kicking him in the face so he looks a little bored. Maivia gets the early advantage with his superior athleticism, Bret takes over using a more aggressive style and heel shortcuts. Hart's systematic dismantling of Young Rock drags a little, Bret hasn't spiced up his in-ring heel work yet so it's a lot of punches to the back. Right before Rocky hits a nice fisherman suplex for 2 we are assured that no matter how long this match goes we will still be able to watch all of La Femme Nikita. Rock with a body press off the top but Bret rolls through for a close 2. Finish comes right after as Bret lures Maivia into the figure four around the ring post for the disqualification. Steve Austin comes out to break up the hold but Owen and Davey Boy are there for the triple team. The Road Warriors come out to even the odds and the not-yet-named Hart Foundation bail into the crowd and exit past a fan in an NWO shirt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Gxz63ax54&ab_channel=ToomuchWrestling Bret Hart vs Dr. Tom Prichard (Feb 21, 1994) The difference in audiences between 94 and 97 is stark. Technical exchanges to start and Hart grinds Prichard down. Nikolai Volkoff is in the crowd and Donnie Wahlberg calls in to promote his album, it's a real who's who. Tom takes over and it's not the most exciting heat segment, the crowd still gets way behind Bret. Cornette tries to hit Bret with the tennis racket but Randy Savage steals it, in the process Jim falls head first into the steps and is out cold for a few minutes. Owen comes out to taunt his brother but Bret gets the Sharpshooter anyway for the win. The Hart boys almost duke it out but don't, thrilling! And I just realized this match is the beginning of the Bret/Owen feud and the previous one was right after the reconciliation so I went full circle in reverse

They had to be from LA because of the riots. The Rock'n'Rolls getting beat down was a direct nod to Rodney King.

I think I may have a little bit too precise. LOL. It's kinda understood if you have a mafia gimmick that everyone doesn't have to be from Sicily. They don't have be the Black Hand. Literally pick a city on the map in the United States. Let's just stay in the region. There is Inglewood, Pomona, Pasadena, Long Beach. Snoop would have already been around repping Long Beach as this was when he was really hot and already gotten into legal trouble. IIRC Jack shouted him out in one of his promos. Yeah, the clothing and style is Colors, Boys in the Hood, and Menace II Society. However, they incorporated a lot of black nationalism especially with Farrakhan and anti NAACP rhetoric that was on TV on Donahue and other talk shows. They are heavy on the Malcolm X imagery. The latter I understand cause the Spike Lee movie came out around that time, but how much of that is from those coming of age in LA movies? None of that. A lot of that was Cornette trying to incorporate anything he knew about black people and what Corny and Mr. Pop Culture Bruce Prichard would have been watching on TV. New Jack, being from Atlanta, is attacking it like a black Baptist preacher from the south based on his speech patterns. They are also coming out to New York rap at a time black folks from LA had their own music and weren't really fucking with New York rap like that. PE was probably the exception but if that is the gimmick then walk the gimmick.

The lack of ROH on Honorclub engagement here suggests this program leaves a little or a lot to be desired. This week’s show was challenging and required the aid of FFWD. It is nice to see them ramp of the Women's Division. Patience is a fair request. I also love that the wrestlers are given promo time. But... second takes aren't a bad idea. Having more of a plan isn't a bad idea. A lot of really bad community theater on this show currently. It's a low budget show, but a keen eyed writer (so to speak)/producer wouldn't be the worst idea. I skimmed Aminata v J-Rod. Nice to see the Queen pick up the victory. The Infantry v Midnight Heat felt a bit sloppy. Infantry have looked good, like in the Taylor/Moriarty bout, but other weeks look a bit out of place. I'm pulling for this team, but hoping they shed some of the corniness. I skimmed Leyla v Ellering. I sorta liked the finish, but didn't have enough invested. Nyla Rose/Athena segment was alright. I really like this feud pairing, and the fresh start for Rose. Outrunners v locals was fine, I guess. I really like the Outrunners, but Floyd/Truth seem almost uncomfortable being on offense. A hole in their game perhaps? Infantry/Moriarty promo made the Infantry look like boneheads, but I'm all for Lee getting reps in. Bryan Keith v Slice Boogie was fine. Keith needs a better finisher. A somersault stunner is not gonna cut the mustard in a company where stunner/cutters are so prevalent. I skimmed Mercedes Martinez v Adora. Mercedes is a total pro. Rachel promo was awkwardly bad. Archer/Righteous squash has me wishing for a Dutch/Archer tag team. Please! Both need direction anyway, and they have nice chemistry. Vincent might be better off on the floor managing - if we can't have Jake. Infantry/Outrunners segment was pretty shitty. Dalton Castle v Kenny King was going alright. Kenny King is a good hand. The post match Taya/Johnny insertion was pretty terrible. Johnny/Taya/Dalton are capable, but this is all incredibly lame and does not provide nearly enough laughs to justify the attempt. Nyla/Athena promos were kinda shitty too. I love that Nyla is playing more to her wacky personality. And again, here for the big match. Second takes and a couple more interesting matches would've served this episode a lot better.

I'm with you on 'Team No Heel Authority Figure', but the Jacksons gimmick doesn't quite feel a part of that trope for me. Not yet at least. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the endgame is they actually have no power of authority.

Ah, but yes, if you do all those things in real life, you get sweaty and that's gross. Also, I live in an apartment. How am I supposed to mow a lawn?! Thank YOU, Lawn Mowing Simulator!

The incredible thing is that they went to ECW and by January were essentially huge babyfaces from that point on. If you were making a list of biggest babyfaces in ECW history New Jack is just about at the top of it. If he had not been a complete madman he would've been a huge star because his promos and charisma were off the charts, but it could be argued the fact he was a complete madman made him so believable as being violent and dangerous.

Legit scary midcard WCW stables were always a thing

What a terrible All-Star weekend for the NBA. What use to be a highlight.

God, just give me a job, RogerEbert.com. I can watch movies and shart out 2000 words that make more sense than that.

They tried too hard to do the fat guy coverup, which is hilarious cause Bundy is walking around like a giant unpeeled potato. What they cover him up in is way too slobbish. With it being recorded in Stamford, it's likely that Bruce producing them both. Pettengill's whole entire schtick was just to be more wacky.

Helldivers 2 doesn't interest me in the least but I'm still super happy that it's going over so well with a huge chunk of the gaming population. I felt the same with Baldur's Gate 3 - I love seeing people enjoy something, I guess?

The Jets are attempting to trade Zach Wilson However, they do not plan to release him if unable to trade him since the cap hit would be too big

I've gotta say, as a super latecomer to the modern Hitman trilogy, I expected it to be good but not this good. I haven't had this much fun with any game that used stealth mechanics of any kind in years. Almost all the maps having several different "stories" you can go through gives it a ton of replayability, and that's not even getting to if you play on the hardest difficulty where you can't load back mistakes. Almost all the maps are genuinely fun to explore. It's wild how the game can alternate between extremely serious and deeply unserious based totally on how you feel like playing at the moment, and both absolutely work within the same space. If IOI's next game is supposedly the liscenced James Bond game I'm all in on seeing what these people do with that, because they certainly have all the tools already to make that completely sick.

The uncles from both sides of the family cutting up at a wedding.

I wish I could watch all wrestling with Japanese commentary. The seriousness, and emotion where needed, allows my focus to flourish. Especially away from the generally distracting talk I hear on US TV. Fuck yeah, Danielson v Sabre! The future of pro wrestling on display (I hope).

I forgot to the mention the funniest part of night 1 of Fantastica Mania which is that since they didn't have the rights to his Kamaitachi entrance music (Maximum the Hormone's Benjo Sandal Dance), viewers on NJPW World got to listen to a pre-recorded Hiromu humming/scatting the song instead. He must have recorded the whole song because he coughs at one point when he is out of breath.