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So the story of how Darby Allin came to be hit by a bus came out. He saw Raymond Pettibon about to be hit by a bus, and ran in and and took the hit for him. https://vxtwitter.com/DrainBamager/status/1785338829404016873 Yes, the Raymond Pettibon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Pettibon He who designed the Black Flag logo, amongst lots of other things.

Not every single match needs a story. Any time I hear someone edging toward the argument that they do, all I can think of is:

The way you’re describing this makes me think about how bands who’ve been on the record-tour-record-tour grind for long enough inevitably make a record about being on tour that is almost completely impenetrable and unrelatable to your average person. Always a reliable sign that the band probably needs to take a break. It actually makes total sense that by the 00’s Vince would be so far up his own ass that he’s making a show about making his show.

Okay, 51 pages is enough when nothing new has come out in weeks. If the old man is indicted (hopefully!), we'll open a new thread.

Shit. I thought you were talking about Jasmin St. Claire, the famed neurosurgeon.

Literally in 2001 at a party had a guy trying to convince me to buy apple stock the day the Ipod dropped by showing me a goddamned Ipod and I was so impressed with my new "MP3-CD player" that I had bought the week before that I told him he was an idiot and that this was the future. This is it. Man the more I remember these things the more miserable I get. But my SLimX is still working and hooked up and about 7 ipods of various sizes and types are stacked away somewhere...but that's what they call a "Pyrrhic" victory I think.

Every damn time I read her name, I hear Eddie doing his Cosby impression.

Off topic, but these posts make me super happy. Me and a few buddies just went to the Hatebreed anniversary show the other week, and had an awesome time - I'm one of those people who's "good with faces" so it was kind of crazy to look around the room and realize man, I've probably been to hundreds of shows with some of these people, and never interacted once, yet somehow I'm glad to see them after 15 years. Like a HS reunion of total strangers or something lol

Which is where I think some of the "What is the backstory?" criticisms levied at AEW have their roots. People cannot wrap their heads around the idea that wrestling is supposed to be a sporting contest, and quite often fights, games, and matches just happen because they are on the schedule, and there isn't a backstory. Ohio State vs Michigan has a backstory. Ohio State vs Rutgers doesn't. Both games are played.

"In conclusion, WCW killed WCW"

I'll submit that we live in a reality that is much less ripe for parody than 20-30 years ago. I mean, how can you possibly "parody" someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert? It's not possible to make them seem dumber or more insane. I do like the approach someone mentioned above, and I said it a few weeks ago; AEW is a wrestling show. It's okay to have wrestling matches on your wrestling show. Not every encounter needs to be preceded by 30 minute lore dumps...

I got so many feelings about going to a hardcore punk show last night for the first time in quite awhile, after a lot of people moved and I had to break away from others. Something I realized really was that not everybody else went away -- I went away. And it's great seeing everyone again, and being just a people watcher instead of the guy with the guitar trying to keep it together and play while I'm sweating straight vodka. If it helps, Maximumrocknroll still has new reviews on their website, btw! And keep up with the Sorry State Records newsletter that they put on their page every week. Or just ask me. I keep a firm index finger right on the prostate of hardcore.

I remember a long time ago I read something where they were talking about SNL, and how everybody always says "It was so much better back when 'X' was on the show" or similar thoughts. They then compared SNL to Mad Magazine, in that the 'golden age' for it will be when you first discover it, and get into it, and that as time goes on, it won't ever seem as good as it was when you viewed it for the first time. I think that really does apply to pro wrestling too. To a lot of folks my age, nothing will ever be better than Hogan vs Savage, or Dusty vs Flair, or whatever their memories are from the 80s boom. To folks in their 30s or whatever age, it'll be the Monday Night Wars, and the NWO, DX, Stuff like that. So, to folks that are in their 20s now, when they look back on wrestling from their childhood, it is stuff like Super Cena, and "going 1-on-1 with the Undertaker playa". WWE was the only 'major league' in town, and for the 5-10yr olds that discovered wrestling in the '00s, that stuff is the good shit from their childhood. When you mix that in with how media consumption changes more and more the younger the demographic is, well no wonder people go to wrestling shows and don't boo or cheer.

So are people mad because he's wasting time or because he's saving time? Make up your minds!

Max Caster's rap was super cringey this week. Good to see the GYV got to keep all their original stuff. The Parking Lot Brawl was good stuff. Quick and violent. Rosa/Deonna was good too, and it's nice to see a women's feud that isn't about a title. Those two should have a good hardcore type of match at some point.

Stat, Bayne, Kamille, Stoke. That’s the play.

Even though I prob shouldn't, I still say Kamille's name the way Bill Cosby used to say his wife's name in his act.

Got my Criterion 4k of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and it is just as delightfully batshit insane as I remember it being when I saw it in the theater lo'those many years go. It might be my fave Gilliam movie. James

AEW women's roster gets another addition

Well, I absolutely shrieked when I heard Wes's music. I hope he's genuinely okay, we were told he'd miss the whole year, but if he's good to go then I'm thrilled.

As my friend said, an article that is both criticizing him for wasting time AND not wasting time.

Four rectangles vs a dead bug. Undoubtedly iconic in both cases, but neither is too complex or creative.

Carpet picking is hilarious to watch, until you're the one doing it.

So the argument you're essentially making is "I had a bad vacation once, therefore all vacations are bad, and we should never take them". Everything has the risk to be bad, and the way around that isn't just to abandon doing it altogether. Deep down, we all need a reason to care about something. For some, the wrestling itself is enough. Someone earlier referenced watching football for the sake of watching football because they love football that much. That's great! Some people can sit there and watch a 2-8 team play a 3-9 team and be perfectly happy, and that's great for them. Others are going to need something more; maybe a race for the division title, maybe they don't check in until the playoffs, maybe it's just the Super Bowl that they start watching, whatever. But to say that only one method of enjoying football is valid? Ehhhh. Kinda shitty, don't you think? And I think that's what the folks who are asking for more story are asking for. If the primary thing thrown out there is "and here's a great match!" or "here's a five star classic", then ehhhhh. 2-8 vs 3-9 football games could be great games too, but if there's nothing really on the line aside from draft position (which you have to be bought into those teams to care about), a lot of folks just aren't going to care, and that's the reality of life. But if it's "this person hates that person and they want to beat the living heck out of each other", or "this person can make more money by beating the heck out of this person", now we're getting somewhere. For those folks, that carries a lot farther than "this is a tape trader's dream match!" That has more to do with having actual emotional investment in the people watching. Whenever I see someone make that point - and I'm just speaking from my own experience because it's why I don't watch as much of the show as I used to - I read "I want to care, but I haven't been given anything to care about". Those viewers are either going to find something or they aren't, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to give them more of a hook than how high of a rating people give it on Cagematch, or how many stars Dave Meltzer tossed out.

How are the shareholders supposed to get their beaks wet from that!?

The NXT drafts are always good to see because they seem to be shoots. I'm sure they aren't clued in to who's getting called up. I'm sure most expected Dragonov to get called up but even he didn't know for sure. I'm cool with not so much changes this year. It seems alot of times people get moved just because they feel they have to because it's a draft. It's alot of people injured right now anyway that they can account for after they get off the shelf.

Big same. With the women, I think the closest we've come so far was probably the (too) short-lived Nyla/Marina team. On the men's side, I was REALLY hoping for this for Gates of Agony. Not sure what the status is of the Mogul Embassy with Swerve now being a de-facto, if not full-blown, babyface, but hopefully his time on top means good things for those guys as far as being featured and pushed in earnest. Also, many of us have sorta fantasy booked this one so it goes without saying almost, but man, the Dutch Righteous/JD Drake super team is right friggin' there.

Live from Riyadh, it's Saturday afternoon...

I facetiously apologize for using the same gif twice. That said, my response, in full:

I kinda feel this is coming back in vogue, both with people going out of the way to yell and boo the heels and even with people I see posting online as if it was real

Isn't it time that the draft is actually a draft and say you can draft from NXT or for people outside the WWE bubble (like Giulia or Jade, etc.), and the movement from Raw and Smackdown is trades or free agents? Y'know, like real sports?

Movies seen today.... Kin (leaving Max this week) Recorder: The Marion Styles Project (leaving Criterion Channel this week) Deal of the Century (leaving Criterion Channel this week) Alien (saw at the theater) - It's game over, man. Harry Dean Stanton does Harry Dean Stanton things and there's a cat.

I think there's also a fine line between "the audience playing their part" and "trying to hijack a show/make themselves part of the show." Things like the past post-Mania crowds, the regulars at TNA and NXT are prob examples where it's not good (to me). Things where the metatext or fourth wall are already broken, like Chikara, are prob in a gray area, where people (including me at the time) played along with Things like the Slo Mo Spots and "PG swearing".

They should bring Megan Bayne back, create a Women's Tag division and make Bayne & Brick into the distaff Skyscrapers.

That's an excellent point too, and one that I wish I saw before I made my last post - like, look at your point about how many people fondly remember Teddy as SD GM. The period you're describing is what I always refer to as the "Muppet Show" period of WWE: a good 90% of the show, was just about running the show. GMs, Commissioners, CEOs, EVPs, guest "hosts" - who they want on top, who they don't, who's good for "the brand," the Board votes "no confidence!", Trump buys Raw, draft after draft after draft - there is legitimately a generation of people out there who really think the matches, titles, angles and all the other devices used - are only there in support of a larger story about whoever is in charge.

EA sale on Steam, so I am now the proud owner of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen and the remade Mass Effect trilogy. Maybe I'll actually figure out how to play ME this time....

Opening segment with Becky, Liv, & Nia was alright. Gunther/Woods was good stuff. The finishing stretch in particular was some nice drama. The whole Logan Paul/Judgement Day/Jey segment was a pinch long and kind of dumb though an enjoyable kind of dumb. Jey's reaction to JD getting hit by the Super Bowl rings was kind of perfect. Dug Sami getting some vengeance on Gable before his match with Reed. The match with Reed was unsurprisingly good though it ended in another non-finish unfortunately. I assume we get a triple threat soon. Candice/Maxxine was an alright showcase for Maxxine before Candice cheaped her to another victory with Indi's help. The Drew/Punk segments were good fun. Liv/Nia II was good. The Tiffy/Naomi appearances were nice surprises and continued the feud well. Curious to see if the upcoming title match stays a triple threat or if Nia turns it into a 4-way. Awesome Truth vs. Otis/Tozawa was decent from what was shown. Dislike the match starting during commercials without picture-in-picture. Judgement Day vs. Jey/Ricochet/Andrade was solid. The Draft wasn't much segment wise outside of the Punk/Drew stuff, but I think the moves were generally good. Felt like both Raw and Smackdown got solid refreshes, especially the women's divisions which both needed. Apparently Dijak got moved to Raw post show so there is another NXT call up. Hopefully this run goes better for him than the last Solid enough show though too long. Highlights were easily Gunther/Woods, Liv/Nia, and the Drew/Punk segments.

I see where you're coming from with some of the other stuff, but being a stripper does not automatically make a person a "gross person".

Lol that reminds me: The city it's in almost shut Roma's school down a while ago! He either made a mistake on the paperwork, or was trying to do some creative accounting, and so he registered it as an "adult entertainment" business. Which was fine - until they elected a new mayor, who immediately made it his mission to ban strip clubs and porno stores... I think Roma ended up squashing it by running a charity show for free or something IIRC

Prob safer than some of the bumps he has taken.

The weird thing is despite all his craziness he did seems to keep it in check, never really went off the the deep end

(stole this off Reddit) lol

https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Spider-Man-Meme-Pointing-Featured.jpg

So I will only attend wrestling events if they are in one particular arena, because its close to my house, parking is easy, and I don't like going into DC. Well AEW is FINALLY running it in June for Dynamite so I get to go to my first AEW show, very excited.

She even stopped a second time at the energy drinks and replaced them in a nice order on the desks. Right then is when it became obvious.

Finally watching the pre-Dynasty Rampage. The way that Emi stooged at ringside while they checked on Yuka and let her try and walk off the ankle injury was genius. Grabbing an action figure and pretending to throw it to the audience, only to fake it out and cackle. Doing the same with the energy drinks, except looking in the camera, shaking her finger saying “Nooooo”. And then the match slows down, giving Emi a sustained heel control segment where Yuka could still hit an occasional hope spot, ending with her out of the blue through the ropes suplex for the pin. It’s always a joy to see Emi but this really showed just how great she is.

Thank god Rita Moreno is still alive. I had to look and find out. She is 92. You know it's gonna be very very dusty even if you watch that trailer. And let's all say that two word phrase all together: **** ******

I just got back from being at the Chris Hero Mixtape show live. Chris Hero vs Kazusada Higuchi started off as a one-on-one match with every shot stiff as fuck and being some damn fine heavyweight wrestling, but then morphed into the tag team match of Hero and Bryan Keith vs Higuchi and MECHA MUMMY. At first I was disappointed that this hard-hitting singles match with some of the grossest "sounding" wrestling I have ever seen live (maybe 2nd next to seeing Walter vs PCO live at Spring Break 2018) became an oddball spectacle of a comedy tag match, but then as it went on it crossed over into being one of the most gloriously sublime live wrestling experiences of my life and circled back around to being awesome again. Well worth cycling through the Youtube stream for that spectacle, I do however desperately now want Hero vs Higuchi to be run back as a proper singles in a Bloodsport setting. Arez vs Angelico 2-out-of-3-falls submissions-only match is worth checking out as well, they really committed hard to the submission-wrestling aspect of lucha with that one. A LONG show, but he really did a great job of committing to the "mix tape" concept with a little something for everybody. A mini-CHIKARA reunion with Jigsaw and Hallowicked teaming up in a trios match (with Matt Makowski as their partner), a mini-EVOLVE reunion with a triple-threat main event with AR Fox and Jason Kincaid (with Alpha Zo being the third competitor), a lucha three-way that despite being very sloppy at times still won the crowd over with their ambition, a good old "local faces" vs "out of town heels" Los Angeles vs San Francisco trios match, a rock-solid women's triple threat, and to top off the madness, Biff Wiff's Cosmic Gumbo Rumble featuring (1) Hero's fellow IWA Mid-South alumni Jimmy Jacobs and Trik Davis (2) fellow Wrestle Factory alumni like Colin Delaney and Tracy Williams, and (3) a nod to the mid-2000s SoCal indie scene with an impressive appearance by Zokre capped off by the winner being deemed a fellow "Shirt Brother" by Biff Wiff for those that are dedicated fans of Tim Robinson's I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE series.

NWA 75 ROAD REPORT~!! this is a lot. and long. and broken up by pictures. I'll spoiler tag each day so as not destroy this whole thread. I haven't went back and watched the PPV version of this, so it is completely by (faulty) memory. Friday 8/25/23 Night 1: Saturday 8/26/23 Night 2: Sunday 8/27/23 Monday 8/28/23 whew! this took like an hour and a half to type out. never again!

I manifested something similar more than once today