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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.

LeBron has informed the Lakers he's opting out of the last year of his contract and become a free agent.

The greatest thing about WWE Crush Hour is they run Edge's Japanese Shampoo commercial.

Just inviting people to shine a spotlight (or should I say black light) on your company

Robin Hood was right about Nottingham.

Gives me flashbacks to my youth that fuckin Necro Butcher and Mad Man Pondo are doing tag team deathmatches in Japan. Wrestlers never retire, they just get too broken or too old.

I forgot to mention Chuck wearing the "Dustin & Greg Forever" shirt was a wonderfully heartbreaking Easter egg.

EDIT - Phil Simms is also out at NFL Today. Matt Ryan is in

Yeah, I've had thoughts along this line before, though I don't know that I've ever posted them here. Modern wrestling audiences are reluctant to engage with the story the performers are telling in part because, on some level, they're worried doing so would give the impression they think it's real. One of many ways the ghost of kayfabe still haunts current wrestling.

Chuck v Trent tops the week of AEDub TV for me. Fun, simple, bloody! If this wasn’t the highlight of the week it was Don Callis admiring Barretta’s work from the monitors. Yes! The Women’s Division had a pretty good week. Mina and Toni v Jay were both terrific fun. So great to see Toni figuring out how to balance the character. Jay’s getting consistent and quietly preparing herself for the next level for when it arrives. Deonna v Thunder was perhaps the strongest of all. Deonna embracing her natural heel feels so right. Good Deonna/Thunder twitter promos that nobody will see. I really liked Willow’s celebration. I forgive her for the camera miscue and focus on her very good mic work. Things are slowly starting to feel right with Mercedes heeling. The Casino Gauntlet provided some fun with all the Ospreay combinations. So into Ospreay v Roddy. I loved the Ospreay/Callis/Fletcher promo following. Don Callis is the quintessential example of making the most of your minutes. I loved him reprimanding Ospreay for not using the Tiger Driver and Fletcher for losing. So great! Big week for Swerve v Fletcher/Claudio. The Claudio match in particular – a bit unfortunate it got no build prior the show. Jericho/Bill promo provided the lifting of a great weight. Heel Jericho is totally acceptable and sometimes kinda awesome, babyface Jericho never. I sense this could be big for Bill. Sad night for Hobbs v Mox. A bit unfortunate that they couldn’t find some time to promote the returns of Rush and Fenix, but pleased to have both back in the fold. Fenix v Mortos was sensational. Mortos is currently one of the best in the world. The presentation may be too goofy to get behind with a push, but it won’t get in the way of him having weekly TV classics. Nice debut from the Grizzled Young Veterans v Acclaimed. Bowens/Caster have looked a lot better in tags over the past couple weeks. Great to see Billy back on the floor. Garcia/Shibata v Taylor/Moriarty was excellent minus the ridiculously lengthy double teaming. Glad Nigel called it out. I really wish they’d let Daddy Magic join Collision regularly. Schiavone’s best as part of a trio. Let’s get STP a couple wins, no? Shibata seems to be getting some buzz for his Siri promos. Khan/Perry/Bucks angle was very amusing to me. As was Tony bluntly suggesting ‘WWE is the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling’ and wearing the neckbrace all around on TV. And quietly on top of all that we got a very fun Top Flight/Andretti v BCG bout. So relieved to have proper defending Trios champions again. White’s incredible talents have really lifted the Asses whom looked great here. Loved the Gunns playing fans spot. Andretti is another quietly ascending star in the making. So consistent. There’s still a need for selling more of the sizzle, but the video packages are becoming consistent. The Switcher and Camera Operators could use to improve. So many hits. So few misses (that aren’t amusing). I’m having a little too much fun to care about the ups and downs of the money metrics. I sense we’ll be okay without my worry about it. AEDub world ruling!

Watched the Ex Mrs Bradford, an RKO picture with William Powell and Jean Arthur as a divorced couple where she is a mystery writer who kept getting her husband mixed up in plots. As TCM said, the only of the 5 movies Powell made in 1936 that got no Oscar nominations. There’s also a radio version with Powell and Claudette Colbert. it’s fun, but it’s no Thin Man. (No shame in that)

My point is that "owner wanting to be one of the boys" isn't a new Tony Khan phenomenon.

I'm not sure we're on the same page. If the younger wrestlers are going to smaller groups for experience, I'm not sure it needs to be "special". Venues like Ice Ribbon's dojo or Post di Amistad barely seat more than 60 anyway. If you're saying that they shouldn't be on the dojo-level shows, then fine, groups like Ice Ribbon do a larger venue like Skip City or 176Box each month, run... I dunno, Lady C vs. Totoro Satsuki there. Or Pure-J typically has an Itabashi Green Hall show each month, send someone to that. It seems realistic.

Watching One False Move for the first time in years. Still as good now as it was then.

Treated myself to a month of PS Plus, so I can finally play certain games, even if 8 don’t finish them.

I am so unbelievably tired of the sports gambling ads. And incorporating lines and similar into the broadcasts.