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Wow. First post. Coming in HOT.

OK, so which banned former poster got a new IP? Is that bloody Thibs again?

Yeah. I strongly believe Willow needs to beat Mone in their first AEW match and have that be the catalyst for MM's full turn. Best thing for everyone involved, hopefully they see it that that way

Hey, I haven’t noticed him around lately, but he was actually a good poster here within the past couple years.

I told my lady the same thing. "Fritz got off light."

You thought Kingston coming out all bloodied and trying to set Danielson on fire last time was crazy? Wait until FTR Hair comes out with a Glock and holds Matt Jackson at gunpoint.

To the left.

I'm going to need the unofficial 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. "You're unemployed, bro/sis" ad block to step their game up and get on the level of the YouTube ads where AI Steve Harvey that sounds like a white man doing a horrendous Steve Harvey impression telling people they're a dummy for missing out on this $5,000 government benefit everyone is entitled to.

I think the interesting thing to do is see the quality of products you're seeing during the commercial breaks. Are you seeing ads for common products or niche products? For example, if you're seeing ads for sodas or fast food or cars? You're probably doing okay. If you're seeing ads for mesothelioma settlements from a shady lawyer, you might be in trouble.

If it's most cost effective to do so, yes, and that's the thing people need to be concerned about. Remember, this is an ad game. If you get a better return on investment re: rights fees/ad sales by running movies than you do running pro wrestling, someone who slashes budgets as much as Zaslav is going to run the movie. The amount of ratings literally don't matter. If you're getting $50,000 in ad sales on a $25,000 movie, and you're getting $120,000 on a $100,000 wrestling show, you're getting $5,000 more to run the movie. If it draws a tenth of the audience of the wrestling show, that doesn't matter. All that matters is the balance sheet at the end of the month.

I wonder how much that screenplay (or probably the rewrites) was altered by the fact that none of the Von Erichs were really atypical good guys and it's much harder to find a redemptive story. I say that because Jeff Jarrett's podcast on the World Class/Memphis merger paints Kerry and Kevin in a light that doesn't do any of them favors especially as businessmen and professionals. And while the film paints the picture that the family's star transitioned from Kevin to David to Kerry and Kevin was passed over after David's death, Kerry spent a long ass time in Dallas when the territory and town was on its ass. So by the time he took the WWF offer, it was basically a last ditch/only available option that hadn't been explored yet. When you look back at WWF from 89 to about 93 or 94, the people that didn't come over in the first and second waves of ex territory superstars picked off by Vince eventually came over after all the juice had been squeezed out of their home base or either in Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Japan. That's why a Lawler eventually comes over in late 92 even though he still does stuff in Memphis all the way until the territory is officially dead in the early 2000s. So for a guy like Kerry, who still has personal and professional struggles on top of essentially missing a limb, it's hard to paint him in a light other than Fritz is living vicariously through him. In addition, I think people in charge of the film likely struggled with, "Is the movie suppose about the boys or is it about Fritz?". It's extremely difficult to convey certain complexities in 2 hours when the story spans several years. I am guessing there was a chunk of the story that didn't make the final cut.

*stares in motherfuckerly* First post eh.

Incredible drive-by, OP.

Opening segment with Drew and Priest was pretty solid. Curious to see how that match goes down if it happens with both as heels currently. Io/Shayna was great. Loved the sneak attack opening by Shayna and both taking advantage of hurt limbs to retake control. Io playing defacto face was neat to see and worked better than her playing heel would have. This is easily the best match these two have had with each other and the best match Shayna has had since she left NXT 4 years ago. Kofi/Gunther was fantastic, maybe even better than their last match. I loved Kofi getting far more offense this time around as he was pissed and out for vengeance. These two work so damn well together, and it was nice to see the crowd think Kofi had a decent chance here with Gunther's air of invincibility slightly down after the IC title loss. Tozawa/Reed & Otis/Sami were mostly non-matches as they were more about furthering Gable's heel turn and heat. Both did an excellent job in that regard. When Otis turns on Gable the reaction is going to be massive. Lyra/Zoey was pretty solid. I liked that Zoey worked more heel here as it did get some of the crowd behind Lyra. In general though neither of these two are super over with the audience yet. Becky/Dakota was mostly solid though there was definitely an off moment that threw them and the crowd off just as things were heating up in the earlier half of the match. They surprisingly went for a screwy finish with Damage CTRL just straight up causing a DQ. It did serve as a nice hero moment for Lyra and good heel moment for Liv to get some vengeance after Becky's earlier sucker punch. NCR vs. Creeds vs. Finn/JD vs. AOP was a fun car crash style of match with everyone getting their moments to shine. Not sure why, but I didn;t expect the Carlito interference. Made for a decent surprise and another decent addition to story of Carlito trying to join up with Judgement Day. The follow up backstage meeting Priest was nice. Jey/Ilja was good though not quite the war Ilja tends drags opponents into. A part of me is disappointed Ilja lost here, but I also want the next encounter with Gunther to be something bigger at the same time. Was generally pleased with most of this show. The segments were decent and didn't overstay their welcome. And most of the matches got decent some time with the only weak ones being squashes meant to put over Gable's heel turn more than anything else. Only minor complaint I have is that they probably should have saved Gunther/Kofi for the main considering how great it was. Honestly, I kind of felt sorry for the rest of the show having to follow it and Shayna/Io. Those matches were wonderful. Still Jey/Ilja was good and pretty over with the crowd. It was nice to see Ilja showcased off as top star getting a main event with Jey. Good show.

The darkest one, apparently.

I've known Brittany(SHOOT NAME, BROTHA~!) since she was a server at the Pittsburgh bar/restaurant I was a regular at back in the late 2000's-early 2010's so I'm obviously biased here but it's SO cool watching her improve a ton in the ring over the past 5 years and legitimately make a name for herself in the business. The sky truly is the limit for her.

This is wonderful but I'm glad she didn't come in a second earlier when they were chanting for Athena.

I don't think AEW has gotten me to cheer for anything like I did when Charles Barkley beat Kenny to the board a couple weeks ago.

I can't see WBD letting go of AEW. I mean what are they going to put in those times slots? Run The Meg another couple of times a week? Seriously though, AEW does pretty well for them and I can't see WBD letting them go unless Tony does something stupid and over values their worth or something.

If they renew the NBA, they won't have enough money left for a good deal for AEW If they don't renew the NBA, it means they're eventually giving up on sports and they won't care enough to give AEW a good renewal deal Shrodinger's shitty contract negotiation

If TNT loses the NBA, Barkley is put on AEW shows until he can get out of his contract

TK is nuts if he derails Willow-Mania.

Honesty, just have Lady Frost watch Batman & Robin on loop until she develops a skill for cold-related puns and it's a license to print money. WHAT KILLED DE DINO-SAWAHS? DE ICE AGE! AH AH HA HA HA HA

I never knew I needed Chuck talking about how he couldn't stand those no good Fullers until now.

It's that he can opt out if Turner Sports loses the NBA rights, so he'll be around for next year. Maybe Kenny's being sent to Galveston.

That sounds both horrifying and fascinating at the same time. Kind of like watching Birdemic.

Probably not as much as we think. The NBA has wanted full control of NBA League Pass (the current model is a joint venture between the NBA and Turner Sports, same with NBA TV) for a while, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's very little interest from WBD on maintaining a venture with the NBA that doesn't also include NBA League Pass and NBA TV. It wouldn't surprise me if Disney or NBC Universal are willing to make some pretty huge offers to bring League Pass/NBA TV under the ESPN+ or Peacock banners respectively, and that's what will cut WBD out. Disney already did this with NHL.tv so it wouldn't be entirely out of the question.

Turner isn’t getting out of the sports business for awhile. I’m pretty sure they’re locked in with the NHL and MLB until 2028 and beyond for both. They might go after the WNBA, too. And just because they’re losing the NBA doesn’t automatically mean they’re going to loosen the purse strings and give a lot of that money to AEW.

Today’s 2K24 patch broke(?) tomorrow’s DLC and made it playable today. Punk, Dudleys, Sandman, Funk and the new weapons: light tubes, doors and barbwire bats.

Now I'm going to be disappointed in the build when this doesn't happen, dammit.

Oh, "Hades II". Those wonderful bastards have me hooked all over again and I'm liking how the new stuff mixes very well with familiar territory. I got it yesterday and barely scraped by to the second realm. But it just feels so damn good. Also, unless you don't like cats I can't recommend enough "Little Kitty, Big City" It is incredibly, incredibly adorable and in my case is a nice chill game to do after dying so many times in "Hades II".

I watched Ilja/Yeet Man live out of morbid curiosity to see if Ilja could be the one to finally drag something decent out of Yeet Man, and I honestly was not surprised that the answer was a resounding no. How little juice must one have to not be able to at least show some fire against Ilja? No good wrestling can escape the Jey Uso Vortex. In fairness, it’s also clear that the general WWE audience has no idea what to make of Ilja’s act or how they’re supposed to feel toward him, as he was just introduced as “that guy who was NXT champ, and that’s supposed to mean something to you.” Which is easier to hide vs. Ricochet because they just go out and get pops for working hard and fast. Much harder against Jey, who absolutely is not going to work hard or fast and brings nothing to the table but the yeet stuff. And Ilja ended up getting stranded in a sea of polite indifference, even when you could tell he was trying to go subtle heel to squeeze something out of the crowd.

It was a shit case from the get-go.

They can be part of the Me TV cartoon channel.

As someone who didn't have a Queen on his money growing up, I wasn't aware of the difference. Please accept my facetious apology.

Alright so I gotta say this here, I don't have anywhere else. I'm fuckin mad. My uncle (it's always an uncle, isn't it? If not a father? Or maybe worst of all, a mother?) is a fucking piece of shit. He went to jail for nine years for fraud. We had a private investigator call us out of the blue when they found out he was supposed to move in with us, because he sexually assaulted a 16 year old babysitter in his forties before he went to jail. I have no idea how this man had knowledge that this guy was moving in with us, but according to my parents he told us. BUT. My mom loves him. His SIX children -- three male, three female, both from different mothers, and both wives have divorced him -- will have nothing to do with him insofar as letting him live with them and support him. He is a beat to shit burning wreck of a human with non-existent hips and no teeth due to the system pulling them out instead of health care in prison. That would make me feel some sympathy (except for the fact that he's a child molester). But now this fuck, who I have told them many times "I do not want to live with this man", is harassing my mother with hang-up phone calls and text messages that I don't know what the contents of are. Her mood is shifting, to where she is talking shit about my therapist, saying said therapist hasn't done anything to help me when I know it's just her venting over her problems which she won't tell me about after I vetoed for the second time the uncle's acceptance into our household, and I have to hear about this from my father instead. So she is taking it out on me, which I told both of them, "this is gonna land on me because I won't let him in here". Jesus fucking Christ. AND. I have a Facebook friend who apparently I have seen in person but (and I haven't told her this) don't remember speaking to in person because I was fucking drunk for 20 years of social interaction coming over to look at my record collection and hang out on Thursday. The folks are going out of town on Thursday for a friend's birthday. Please let me just be able to encounter another human being sympathetic (because she's also recently going through a divorce after being beaten by her husband) with my situation. Please, Fate, or whatever. God doesn't exist, so just let something be nice to me, just this once. For. Fuck's. Sake.

I watched it with my wife this weekend. She had the same reaction and I was like, oh, it’s actually worse than how it’s told in the movie. There’s another son that also meets a tragic end and Fritz was probably a bigger piece of shit than this portrayal.

...bad?

Pardon the Interruption became insufferable when it became the "Mike Wilbon complains about millennials not getting sports" show, where everything Wilbon hated was the fault of millennials. This was not helped by Tony Kornheiser refusing to watch anything past 9pm or acknowledge anything that wasn't personally airing on his TV. Re: Chuck, he said he wanted to retire when he was 60. He's 61 now, so I'm guessing he decided to stay because he was enjoying himself with the Inside the NBA crew. If WBD loses the NBA rights and Inside the NBA ends, him hitting the golf course for the rest of his life would be the least surprising thing in the world.

I have probably said this a few times, but I haven't seen late '00-'01 WCW since original air, when I was watching WCW consistently again. I remember REALLY loving that stuff as well, and I'm very curious to see how it's aged or if I still enjoy it as much as I did. Maybe it's just nostalgia building this up in my head, but I would swear to you that Shane Helms chasing Chavo Guerrero Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship is legitimately one of the great WCW feuds.

2001 really is some great stuff (in my humble opinion)

I do vaguely recall/assume that the Sin-SuperBrawl-Greed trio in 2001 actually ends up being solid because of course WCW would look to be righting the ship right before it gets cancelled and sold.

For a few reasons, some obvious, I’d think there’s some correlation between the players good at exit velo and bat speed. While hitting the ball at a high exit velo doesn’t guarantee a hit, players usually hit better at a high EV than a low EV. Ratio-wise, for every Arraez who checks in as slow with bat speed, there are several players with slow bats who are googling post-retirement careers in their free time. In theory, if they have pitch velo and bat speed velo for the same pitches, there should be a formula for “expected” exit velo if a ball traveling X mph is hit by a bat traveling Y mph. Which I guess would have value for figuring out who makes harder than expected contact and who doesn’t. I think they might use the bat data to figure out swing paths one day which might be interesting. Especially for figuring out if any high Whiff guys have hope of reducing their whiff rate

Regarding good overbooked matches, Raven vs. Saturn at Fall Brawl '98 doesn't get really good until the overbooking. It depends on well-executed overbooking to go from "solid match" to "great match." Then again, if something has a lot of ga-ga, but the ga-ga enhances the match, then it isn't really overbooked. It's well-booked. I submit that we change the term overbooked match to the term gagaful match. Or jibberjabberful match, I'm not picky.

I quite liked how it turned out with young Dynamite Kid. I’m here for it if they keep it going.

GCW 1983 11 06 1983 Omni 4 Buzz Sawyer vs Abdullah the Butcher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3thvXLxRzVo

I really hope that Willow/Mone steals the whole show because that would be a massive homerun for the company.

Why would anyone invite the Curse of Claypool on themselves?

This is solo Dave!! This is Van Hagar era!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!!!! Honest question: do you at least like him as a promo??