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Their are probably some negatives that could be found in all this inter promotional stuff but wrestling has been so closed off and up its own ass for so long I just hope people will appreciate this stuff now because it won’t last forever.

Dollar Store Wyatt Family Wyatt 6 run in, murders Gable again, Mox walks off from embarrassment.

Honestly, go back and check it out or at least find some highlights and see the finish. I get he's Taz's kid, and the idea is that he's continuing the family tradition with the Red Rum, but a renamed Judas Effect seriously ought to be Hook's new finisher going forward. It was way nastier than anytime that Jericho has ever done it.

Yeah, when you have to go on the game's subreddit and find a link to a spreadsheet that lays out all the possible plotlines, which you have to follow to a tee to even have a chance to get all the unlockables, that just sucks. Nothing was more disappointing than finishing one storyline and then seeing the next one is one you've already beaten for its unlockable so you're just wasting your time. I reach a point with a lot of games where I'm just like, "am I enjoying this game or am I just grinding to be a completionist?" Don't even get me started on how horrible tag matches are. I thought I hated tag matches where AI controls your partner; then I got a PS5, played Fire Pro, a game where your partner acts like he's actually trying to win a wrestling match and tags you back in when it makes sense, and realized I just hate terrible AI.

Lol, Gable should be the one walking off in embarrassment. He’s a former Olympian. Now he’s cowering in fear of dry ice and rubber masks.

Mox bleeds out. Obvious one.

Barnett is an interesting cat in that if someone told him, "hey, don't do a match with Moxley cause he works for the competition and we won't send Shayna and the other folks anymore", he would definitely tell them to fuck off. That's been Josh Barnett for the last 25 years. The man ruined his own damn MMA career cause he refused to listen to people. He isn't the guy you make pick and choose, which is an interesting situation for them.

Here’s my take on Danielson vs Shingo: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2024/07/aew-five-fingers-of-death-624-630.html?m=1

I have a tinfoil hat theory on the whole thing that I won't bore everyone with, but long story short, I think this is a mechanism to undercut stuff like the NWA/CW deal or ROH possibly getting TV soon. Think something similar to when they started NXT UK just to get ahead of the WOS reboot, or showing EVOLVE on the old Network against AEW DoN I.

Wrestling wise, I think Hook is close for as young/inexperienced as he is. For someone his size, he’s strong as fuck. He should be positioned as the giant killer and get in a feud with Brody or something. Promo wise, he needs a lot of work, but pairing him with Joe is brilliant in the way that pairing Batista with Benoit was brilliant. You can already start to see Joe rubbing off on him in ring. I think if you can have Joe try to influence Hook’s promos and presence and Hook takes to that, then man, thethe sky is the limit for him.

Show #186 – 19 April 1999 “The one where some of the wrestling is SO GOOD that it easily overpowers the stench from the awful Ric Flair insanity angle” Apparently, damn near everyone in this company is injured: Hall, Hulk, Luger, Scott Steiner. Even poor old Wrath blew out his knee on the previous Thunder. Well, it sure is a good thing that WCW nurtured the next layer of stars to step up in this time of need like the Giant, Chris Jericho, and Raven instead of booking them nonsensically until they all decided to leave! Goldberg steps out of a car holding a briefcase and declares that he’s getting the next shot at DDP’s World Championship, and it’s goin’ down TONIGHT. Tony S. tells us that Scott Steiner is defending the U.S. Championship against Konnan, so then again, maybe Steiner isn’t injured and Tenay got confused by Stevie Ray getting confused and naming the wrong injured Scott. A couple of Armstrong Boys, but not the one who got over with stupid catchphrases or the one who peaked back in 1991-1992 WCW and has entrance music that fucks, come to the ring. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (w/Arn Anderson) are their opponents. This seems like it should be a reasonably decent opener. The Armstrong Boys take over and stomp out Benoit, but Benoit comes back with a little misdirection and sends one of the Armstrongs, I get Scott and Steve mixed up, out to the floor. Arn and Malenko put the boots to him and get a big pop because we’re in Florida, where everyone loves the Horsemen. OK, it was Steve they did that to, and Benoit and Malenko brutalize him during a series of tags. In between popping for Arn doing stuff, the crowd chants for GOLDBERG, who must be a superstar because he’s survived a lot of wonky booking lately. This is a classic WCW match that goes on a touch too long, but I’m not offended. Benoit’s in-ring reputation as some technical master when he’s really a pacey, upper-tier striker continues to baffle me. I guess we’re all using the nebulous term “technical” in different ways, but Benoit tends to try and mow right through his opponent rather than tie them up in knots (finisher aside) or play possum, target a limb, etc. Anyway, the Armstong Boys get a hot tag, but Scott falls victim to a double-underhook powerbomb and a Texas Cloverleaf while Benoit handles Steve at ringside. Hey, it’s that secretary from the previous Thunder! I guess she’s under the employ of Roddy Piper, who sees that this moron Flair signed all the forms and is derisive about Flair losing his mind and actually signing something that he didn’t read. It strikes me that it would have been cleaner just to have Piper show up, remind everyone that he’s still commissioner, have a power struggle with Flair, and then convince Flair to put up his presidency against Piper’s commissionership. The vaguely off-putting title sequence plays. Macho Man and Gorgeous George show up to the arena. George is wearing overalls because it’s the fucking ‘90s, baybee! Doug Dellinger makes to stop them from entering since Ric Flair barred them from the building, but Piper walks up and offers them safe passage. Diamond Dallas Page enters the ring to talk to Gene Okerlund. Page again disingenuously wishes Hogan the best with his surgery on his injured knee, rips off the Armstrong Boy who got over with stupid catchphrases, and then downplays Goldberg’s challenge from the top of the show. As much as Page says he’d love to face a kindred spirit like Goldberg, unfortunately, he’s just not available tonight. It is at this point that Goldberg’s music interrupts. I cannot express to you just how over this cat is. Goldberg walks up and is like FUCK YOU, GIVE ME A TITLE SHOT and Page is like OK, SHIT, COOL. So, get this – GET THIS – Piper’s sitting in the back with David Flair (w/sunglasses, bottle of Surge) and the papers are to institutionalize Ric Flair. David’s basically like, Hope the old man enjoys his 72 hours in the bin and signs the papers. Can you even do this as someone's son when legally, the decision should go to their spouse? That's a rhetorical question, by the way. This is dreadfully fucking dumb. Okerlund catches up with DDP in the back and verifies that Page agreed to put the title up against Goldberg. Okerlund also has questions about this frankly innocuous (in the context of a competitive match) ringpost Figure Four that Page slapped on Hogan back at Spring Stampede, which we see video of, but Page blows him off. Blitzkrieg enters the—wait, that’s not Blitzkrieg coming down to the Hollywood Blondes theme. That’s Psicosis…and then after that, Blitzkrieg comes to the ring to the same theme. You know, I’m not even going to think about it too hard. OK, I see, it’s a Four Corners Cruiserweight Championship match that also includes Juventud Guerrera and the champ himself, Rey Misterio Jr. I have no idea why they couldn’t locate and play Psicosis’s music, though. Do you want to know who else is extremely over? Rey. I can’t deny that the Nash feud basically made him look like he was three steps above the other cruisers and a potential main eventer. Hey, it’s Alex Wright Berlyn chilling out in the front row! I dig that look, I have to say. Meanwhile, the match in the ring explodes immediately into life. Juvi and Psicosis whip Blitz and Rey into one another and they smack the shit out of each other when they collide, my goodness. Maybe this isn’t going that long because everyone is moving at Smackdown 2: Know Your Role pace. Rey takes a huge bump off a back body drop, and Juvi and Psicosis, who worked together to get rid of the champ, now turn their attention toward destroying Blitzkrieg. This early story, where Juvi and Psicosis are trying to keep Ray out of the match, is quite good. Finally, Blitzkrieg wriggles out of an overhead backbreaker position while Juvi tries to land a top-rope legdrop, and Juvi drills Psicosis. That ends that partnership, as Psicosis pretends to make up, then lariats Juvi. Rey manages to crawl into the ring, and while Juvi catches a beating from Psicosis. Blitz manages an agreement with Rey, and they hit stereo baseball slides and then alternate on moonsaults to the floor. This match is straight up video game fun. With their opps on the ground, Blitz and Rey go at it. Blitz gets two on combo standing somersault splashes, but Juvi’s able to get back to the ring and springboard dropkick Blitz from behind. This leaves Juvi and Rey in the ring: Rey hits a headscissors and gets a HUGE FUCKING POP, holy shit. Psicosis makes the save when Rey hits an Asai moonsault and covers, and Rey returns the favor when Psicosis covers Juvi. Blitz and Psicosis tangle outside the ring; Juvi lands a bulldog on Rey inside the ring for two. Juvi takes a lot of time to follow up, and though he manages to hit Rey with a neckbreaker, Psicosis follows up with a splash while Juvi is recovering and gets two before Juvi breaks it up. Rey manages to stay in the ring and land a top-rope bulldog on Juvi while Blitz stomps Psicosis on the floor. Rey gets another two count on another moonsault, and we see Blitzkrieg hit a dropkick to both Rey and Juvi as we go to break. Well, I was wrong! We are getting a longer match, which is fine by me, as this has been very well worked on everyone’s parts. Back from break, they all work a double Irish whip spot that ends with Rey dumped outside and Juvi hitting Blitz with a wicked dropkick that dumps him to the floor. Juvi hits a somersault plancha to the men on the floor; Psicosis follows up with a corkscrew splash from the top onto all three of them. Juvi and Psicosis make it back to the ring; Juvi hits Psicosis with a diving rana from the top for two, but the pinfall attempt gets broken up. Rey spikes Juvi with a powerbomb for another two count that gets broken up. Blitz locks a Figure Four on Psicosis, and Rey busts that little move up with a springboard legdrop to Blitz. Juvi decides to copy Rey and hit one onto Psicosis, but only gets two on his cover. I’m nearly breathless here. Rey gets another two-count, then another after he covers Blitzkrieg off of Juvi’s powerbomb. Rey sits Juvi up top and hits the top-rope Frankensteiner, but Psicosis makes the save once more. Then, he goes over to Blitz and hits a vertical suplex that no one is in the position to make a save on, but alas, Blitz kicks out at two. Juvi hits Blitz with a neckbreaker, but gets cleared out by a Rey basement dropkick; Rey hits Blitz with a follow-up Bronco Buster, which seems like a luxury move in a Four Corners match like this. Rey does the same to Psicosis and then celebrates on the ropes. That allows Juvi to hook him from underneath and try to powerbomb him, but Rey escapes with a headscissors. Everyone tries La Magistrals, anything, to get a pinfall. I was thinking that flash pinfall attempts might be the kayfabe easiest way to sneak a win in this type of match. Chalk it up to my wrestling video game multi-man match strategy. Juvi and Rey end up outside, so Blitz takes the chance to hit a Sky Twisting Moonsault for two, but Juvi clambers back into the ring and breaks up the pinfall. Juvi follows up with a Juvi Driver on Blitz, but Rey breaks the pinfall up at two. Rey and Juvi get tangled after an exchange and Rey ranas Juvi (and himself) to the floor. Psicosis charges Blitz in the corner, whiffs, takes his wild corner bump, and gets set up on top. Psicosis blocks Blitzkrieg’s offensive attempt, shoves him down, and drills a guillotine legdrop while Rey and Juvi are indisposed outside the ring! YAY, PSICOSIS! That match was pretty fuckin’ sweet, man. I usually don’t even like these types of matches, but that was a Four Corners match with high spots and pace all the way through, intrigue, a lot of good near falls, and it somehow felt like an actual contest, even the more complex spots. I have to put that on the Favorites list; these fellas earned their way there by balancing high spots with drama and intrigue and even some solid kayfabe strategy sprinkled in there to make it feel like a competitive contest. And Psicosis won! He deserved the hell out of it; he’s been so consistently good for WCW for the last three years. After Tony S. does a pretty good read of some ad copy for Wendy’s, we kick it to the ring and+ Gene Okerlund, who introduces Ric Flair. They didn’t even run the “Flair is mad with power” angle for long enough to make any of this angle make sense! If it were seven months from now and a group of babyfaces and tweeners worked together to take the gold off him, and then he acted more and more erratically over a months’ worth of shows after losing, then yeah, this would still be dumb, but at least it would be logical. Flair is a massive babyface in Gainesville, and he’s wearing a UF shirt. Oh, and he will challenge any and all of the students in the crowd to a drinking contest, and he’s paying. So imagine what happens when Roddy Piper’s music hits. He’s supposed to be a babyface, but his music gets a mixed reaction. Roddy Piper calls Flair “the Dennis Rodman of WCW.” No, Dennis Rodman is the Dennis Rodman of WCW. Piper has also seen Sling Blade, just in case you wanted to know. And that Patch Adams movie. Piper alludes to a bunch of crazy stuff that Flair has done in the presidency off-screen that no one in the crowd or at home saw at any point. Piper is now drawing boos even though he’s the babyface. Piper keeps talking, and talking, and talking. He drops his dumb “reality check” catchphrase. OK, you know what? It’s time to add Roddy Piper is a Pop Culture Wizard to a review for the first time in a long time: Dennis Rodman, Sling Blade, Patch Adams, Al Bundy, President Clinton (maybe we should just stipulate going forward that he's mentioned Clinton every time he’s on television). Piper complains about Ric taking his pants off all the time and says that it’s a sign of Flair being nutty. Arn: “Listen, I’ve seen [Ric] with his pants off many times. It don’t mean anything.” Hahahaha, wow! Flair strips to his skivvies and his skivvies have the Gators logo on them. He yells a ton, and Piper yells a ton, and then Piper is like, So yeah, I’m still Commissioner of WCW and I got you committed, stupid, and also the judge says that you’re not President of WCW anymore. This is another point at which a) we read a document in the ring, and b) WCW does something that seems to me, in retrospect, to mark an indelible downturn in its creative and therefore financial prospects. Apparently, you can make someone have a wrestling match before you commit them, so Piper is making Flair fight Nash tonight. Flair responds by saying that he is firing Piper, but they’ll fight at Slamboree, and if Piper wins, Piper can have the presidency for life. Who the hell knows how WCW will handle the presidency going forward. They continue yelling and end up in a scuffle in the aisle. The B-Teamers surround Konnan in the back as he minds his own business. Stevie Ray, who washed his hands of Nash on Thunder, is now carrying messages for Nash on Nitro, so who the fuck even knows what’s up with them. Konnan doesn’t give a damn about Nash or his messages considering their recent past and tries to go on his merry way, so the B-Teamers beat him down. There’s a new set of graphics to promote the Goldberg/DDP match later tonight. Oh no, it’s Brian Knob(b)s. I went with double Bs for the spelling earlier in this thread, so that’s what I’ll go with tonight. Knobbs is wrestling Hardcore Hak (w/Chastity) in a garbage match. Point: Knobbs is the perfect guy to bring back for a spot in WCW’s nascent hardcore division. Counterpoint: Knobbs sucks ass and has sucked ass since about, oh, 1992? Well, I’ll give him since 1995 since he had that classic match teaming with Sag(g)s against Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne in ’94. These fellas hit each other with a bunch of crap in and around the ring for the first three or four minutes. I’ve come to the conclusion that these matches are now zeroes until someone either goes through a table or busts out a spot off of/onto a ladder. I can only see guys hit each other with different objects for so long. Actually, I need to revise that: It works in the free-flowing brawls that Sandman had in ECW, where the brawl felt like a real fight druing which they just happened to grab nearby weapons. In WCW and WWF, they feel more like staged “let’s hit each other with this item, and then we’ll do the same spot, but with this item instead.” Hak bulldogging Knobbs onto a closed ladder is the first move that I thought was notable in this sucker. Hak tries the senton through a table, but Knobbs rolls away and then comes back and covers for 2.9. Knobbs wears the ladder around his neck and swings it, nailing Hak; Chastity jumps in when Knobbs follows up with kendo stick shots. That distraction allows Hak to jump Knobbs with a trash can, then hit a guillotine legdrop to Knobbs as Knobbs’s head is laying against a chair. Hak goes up top for the coup de grace, but Bam Bam Bigelow sneaks down and shoves him off the ropes. Knobbs follows up with a trash can-assisted elbowdrop for three. Randy Savage cuts a promo in the locker room area to hype Gorgeous George versus Charles Robinson at Slamboree. Man, did it all fall apart quickly! There was reason for optimism for this company's creative direction just three weeks ago! So, Savage notes that George has never had a wrestling match and needs some training, so he went out and, DAMMIT, brought Madusa back. FUCK. Kevin Nash confronts the B-Teamers in the back and is like, I didn’t have a message for Konnan, and you said you were on your own anyway, what the fuck? OK, it's not a plot hole, just the B-Teamers scheming. It’s hard to tell with WCW. Nash is about to pontificate on the B-Teamers’ bullshit, but Scott Steiner comes up to him and demands that they talk right now. What they talk about is that Steiner wants Nash’s title shot at Slamboree on account of the one he got last week was partially decided by Kim’s spot-on chair shot. Nash is like, Um, no? and Steiner is like Um, yes, or I will ‘roid rage on you, so think it over carefully and leaves, to paraphrase it all. Nash and Stevie Ray mean mug one another before Nash also leaves. Then, Stevie decides to bring Scott Steiner in line by sending Scott Norton out there to send a message. I can’t believe this, but I think there is a tiny bit of intrigue in Stevie Ray of all people making a power play on the A-Teamers. Buff Bagwell comes to the ring. Ah, remember when it was nWo for life? Now dudes are just splitting the group every other week. Bagwell grabs a mic and notes that everyone’s calling their own shots, so he’s calling out Scott Steiner for a U.S. Championship match at Slamboree. How logical! There are moments of lucidity in this booking, which makes it all the worse when it suddenly goes off the rails. He sticks around to face Disco Inferno, who is in the Wolfpac still, maybe? Yes, he’s wearing the shirt. Disco jumps Buff at the bell, but Buff turns it around, rips Disco’s Wolfpac shirt off, and chokes him with it. They bring some pace in the opening, and Buff gets the best of Disco with a body slam and a dropkick that sends Disco bailing to the floor. Buff dances. Disco looks shocked at the offensive outpouring and says, confused and in pain, “What the hell was that?” Heh, Disco is so good at the little things. Disco rushes back in, tangles with Buff, and once again ends up outside the ring, deposited there by a Buff arm drag. When Buff tries to follow up, Disco yanks his throat down into the ropes and takes control. Disco hits his weird little stomping dance and then a swinging neckbreaker. Disco targets the neck with chokes and elbows while the camera cuts back to Berlyn sitting there. Dammit, Wright deserved a better career. Oh yes, the match. Disco goes up, shakes his booty, and badly misses the second-rope elbowdrop. Buff comes back, unloading with punches and hitting a back bodydrop. Buff lands a power slam, then goes up…and gets crotched. Disco tires to press his advantage with a Chartbuster, but Buff shoves Disco out of it and hits a ground variation of the Blockbuster for three. Decent stuff. Scott Steiner and three captive women (???) ladies come to the ring. Steiner does his own catchphrase roulette and then makes fun of Bagwell for being a stripper and says he kicked Marcus Alexander, not Buff out of the nWo and no one disagreed with his decision. He declares that Buff “has toys in the attic” because his mom actually wanted a girl. I don’t even know if that’s a real euphemism or if Steiner is just saying random shit. Steiner says that the Wolfpac is what made Marcus “Buff,” but now that Bagwell is out of the nWo, it’s time for another name change. He decides to call Buff “Boy,” and I’m glad he didn’t decide to bust that creative idea out for his feud with Booker! The crowd chants STE-ROIDS while Steiner does some typical toxic questioning of Buff’s manhood and then poses. Recap: Gorgeous George facilitates Randy Savage’s extremely obvious midlife crisis in general, slaps Charles Robinson specifically; Flair and Piper face off from just, like, a half-hour ago. Billy Kidman and Raven (w/Saturn) face off as the Flock POST-EXPLODES. They go at pace to start, and Raven just cannot deal with Kidman’s speed. Raven tries a powerbomb and gets facebustered almost immediately. Raven takes over for a bit with a front suplex and eventually kneelifts Kidman over the top and to the floor. Raven takes this opportunity to grab a chair and toss it in the ring, where he lands his chair-assisted drop toehold, then legdrops the chair as it lays across Kidman’s head. Raven tries to follow up with a superplex, but Kidman blocks it and drops Raven face-first into the chair. He tries an SSP from that position, but Raven grabs the chair and holds it up; Kidman crashes into it. Benoit and Malenko run down, clobber Saturn, and then attack Raven and Kidman. Rey Misterio Jr. soon follows and helps a recovering Saturn make the save. OK, that explains why that match was paced so quickly; it wasn't lasting very long. Rey and Saturn have an argument over who will help Kidman up, and Saturn attacks. Rey and Saturn tangle, and Kidman and Raven get involved, and in a neat spot, Benoit and Malenko see an opening and come back and attack all four guys while they’re beating each other up. They show clips of the Flair/Piper stuff from earlier again as we go into break. Come on, fellas. Scott Steiner faces Scott Norton in an impromptu matchup. Why not have it when Steiner came out earlier? I see: The B-Teamers jumped Konnan, who Tony S. reminds me had a U.S. Championship shot, so that they could get Scott Norton inserted into that spot when they injured Konnan. Huh. Yeah, that works. Oddly, they’ve handled the B-Teamers finally accepting Stevie’s leadership really well. He has credibility with them for uncovering Nash’s double-dealing with Flair (by being the only B-Teamer who apparently started watching the replay of the show) and then helped them execute a plan that got one of their own a shot at the second-most valuable singles title in the company. I think that if you put Nash on a booking team, but gave him an editor and much less power, he probably produces television that is at least solidly logical and interesting. But whatever you do, you don’t let him put this “Flair gets committed” crap on television or beat Goldberg first thing on his agenda. Steiner comes out, shakes hands with Heenan, and then threatens Tony S. That’s pretty funny, actually. I want to see some quality clubbering, and I get some from Steiner early. They stand off after a shoulder block, and Steiner yells DO IT AGAIN. Norton does and just runs the guy over, then lariats him until Steiner has to bail. OK, that was a fantastic spot. Steiner jaws at the crowd and recollects himself; he tries to get back in the ring, but Norton meets him with forearms immediately. He tries ten punches in the corner, counter’s Steiner’s attempted inverted atomic drop counter, and lands a lariat. He pounds away until Steiner can finagle a ball shot, and then we take a trip to ringside for an obligatory ringside brawl. It doesn’t take too long, and Steiner gets back in and controls with punches. Steiner poses, whips Norton to the corner, and charges right into a Norton boot, which sparks a comeback. Norton gets two off an impactful side slam, then signals for the end, which is when this match goes off the rails because Norton signals for the powerbomb by putting his arms straight out from his body once. Then he peeks to his right and puts them out again, looking for Johnny Boone to hurry up and walk into his hand so that Boone can feign an eye poke. *sigh*, these fucking ref bumps get dumber and more poorly executed all the time. Steiner hits another ball shot, lands a belly-to-belly suplex, and gets a pinfall with his feet on the ropes. I liked this match, but that ending was so crappy that it soured my opinion of what came before it. Kevin Nash speaks before his match with Ric Flair. He modifies his call-and-response: WOLFPAC BIG SEXY’S IN DA HOUSE. He promises to destroy Flair tonight and Page at some point if not at Slamboree, then wants a rubber match from Goldberg for the title at Slamboree if Goldberg wins the gold. The crowd chants GOLDBERG, indicating that Nash is the clear number two babyface in the company. Number three? I don’t know if he’s more over than Sting. Maybe he and Sting are tied. Nash ends his promo by telling the crowd that they have good taste. He’s being bitchy because they booed him when he said he was going to take down Flair and then chanted for Goldberg over him. Recap: This Flair/Piper segment stunk and won’t keep anyone from switching over to RAW, you imbeciles. Flair comes out here with Arn Anderson at his side. Hey, WCW refs wearing striped shirts with ugly WCW logos on them is a new thing that I just noticed. Anyway. Charles Robinson is the ref for this one. I think you know how most of this is going to go: Heel Flair tries a bunch of moves that don’t work and that Nash no-sells. It’s the typical heel Flair match. I’ll just tell you when we get to any key match points or narrative. Oh, wait, here’s one: Robinson gives Flair a time out when Flair bails and doesn’t start his ten count at all. Basically, Robinson surreptitiously cheating is the story in this thing. He yells WATCH THE HAIR at Flair, but immediately ducks down to check Nash’s headlock so Flair can yank Nash’s hair. He doesn’t count when Flair is chopping Nash in the corner, but he counts quickly when Nash has Flair trapped in the corner. It’s actually very well-timed stuff on his part. Nash tries a boot choke, so Charles Robinson pretends he’s been poked in the eye in a more convincing way than Johnny Boone did so that Arn can grab Nash’s plant leg and trip him. They post Nash crotch-first while Robinson “recovers.” Flair draws Robinson over so Arn can stomp Nash out. Flair targets Nash’s knee. He asks Robinson to check the match time, so Robinson yells at Penzer to check his watch while Flair winds up and boots Nash in the nads. OK, these ref spots are admittedly pretty creative. I’m liking this match in spite of myself, and that’s all thanks to the heel control segment and these crooked ref spots. Flair and occasionally Arn continue to work over Nash, with Robinson reffing in a way that gives him the thinnest veil of plausible deniability. It works so well that Nash actually gets some cheers on his comeback. Nash gets two on a side slam, then clotheslines Flair off the apron after shooting Flair into the corner and over the buckles. Back in the ring, Flair begs off, giving him room to land a counter back elbow when Nash charges in. Then, of course, he presses his advantage by going up top. You can guess what happens next. Arn gets on the apron to yell something at Robinson and eats a Nash forearm. The straps go down and Nash sets up for a Jackknife, which he hits. Robinson doesn’t even bother counting. He backs away from the ring, and Gorgeous George runs out, strips him of his ref shirt, and then counts a slow pinfall for three. If you like matches that go off the rails, this last hour has been for you! Some doctors in white coats are coming to take Flair away, haha, they’re coming to take Flair away! We see Flair get rolled out and into a special van and whisked away while Arn and Robinson demand neck braces and life support (!) for Flair. Piper closes the doors on the van, which read CENTRAL FLORIDA MENTAL HOSPITAL, and he crows about getting Flair sent away, and oh BOY, do I hate this fucking angle. Fuck this angle. Dusty Rhodes joins the booth and immediately improves it! Run him back out here every Monday if he’s willing to do it, please! We recap this Flair angle, and I both can and cannot believe how badly Nash and Company bungled the hell out of this Ric Flair heel turn. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me with this shit. And fire Eric Bischoff already! He’s mismanaged creative for about eighteen months now. A wrestler or two will come up with a great idea and then Bischoff, Hogan, and/or Nash dismiss or mangle them – or worse, let them on TV and then fail to follow up when the wrestler gets well over as a result. Goldberg faces DDP in the main event. Page got close to a victory the last time they met for the big gold at Havoc ’98, so he should feel confident theoretically. Hey, cool spot here: Page rushes in to collar-and-elbow twice and gets shoved back twice, but instead of that being because he’s a kayfabe strategic idiot like Flair, it’s so that he can do it a third time, but use his quickness to arm drag Goldberg and show him that he can out-quick him and bait him. Great spot. Unfortunately for Page, Goldberg is still Goldberg and thus is capable of mooting attacks simply by powering out of them. Page tries a Diamond Cutter early, for example, and gets shoved away. Page just struggles to deal with Goldberg’s prodigious power, really. He gets shoved around and knocked down and flipped into armbars and shit. They even fuck up a rope running spot that Page saves by stumbling up and shoulderblocking Goldberg, which surprises and angers Goldberg enough that Goldberg hits a spear. Page is able to yank Goldberg into the buckles when Goldberg tries to follow up, and he gets some control: a swinging neckbreaker here, a belly-to-belly there. He lays on Goldberg with a front facelock, but it’s not just a rest hold, but also that he’s trying to smother the guy and keep him from exploding up. It doesn’t work, and Page ends up getting suplexed for two, then side slammed. Goldberg works Page, who reverses and tries a Diamond Cutter again. He gets shoved away again, rebounds off the ropes, and gets drilled with a power slam. Goldberg shoots Page into the ropes and tries another side slam, but Page hits a headscissors to escape and ends up clotheslining Goldberg to the floor. He dumps Goldberg back in the ring and hits a flying clothesline from the top for two. Page is doing whatever he can think of, just unloading on this guy, but he just can’t keep him down. Goldberg comes back with a jawbreaker and then a sidekick, the latter of which sends Page into the corner. So, this match is fucking fantastic, let me tell you. It’s so fucking smartly worked. The spot they do next is an example of that. Usually, guys will stumble out of the corner and get speared by a waiting Goldberg. This time, Page slumps in the corner while Goldberg waits, so Goldberg decides to take the bait and try a spear that Page avoids; Goldberg goes crashing into the post. The only minor criticism I have is that they might have drawn out the spot a touch too long because you could feel the heat from the fans wane a bit as they were confused about why Page was in the corner for so long. This match is predicated on Page thinking back to the last match he had with Goldberg and deciding that he lost because he didn’t bait his more inexperienced and somewhat overly-intense opponent into making enough mistakes to land a Diamond Cutter. The layout in this match is a quite logical extension from the previous one: Bait Goldberg into mistakes, always threaten a Diamond Cutter because either a) you’ll hit it and you can win with your death move, or b) you’ll have it on his mind and maybe that gives you more space to hit some offense instead of always having to be on the defensive. Page also measures his offense so that if he hits one move, he’s following up immediately. Even the way he’s pacing his offense makes it clear that his strategy is to come in waves that might finish Goldberg or at least get him disoriented enough to actually land a Diamond Cutter. Back to the action: Page’s plan works! He hooks Goldberg after Goldberg post himself and hits a Diamond Cutter for one…two…and Goldberg powers out at 2.9, pressing Page onto the ref. Page is prepared, though: He has a contingency move for Goldberg kicking out of his deathblow. He grabs knucks from his tights, puts them on, and then positions Mickey Jay in front of him as Goldberg tries a spear. Jay cushions the blow, and Page rolls outside the ring and waits for his chance. Goldberg comes over and blocks Page’s punches on the apron, then Jackhammers him back into the ring. Jay is completely out, though, and Page is able to recover and hit Goldberg with his loaded fist; then, he dumps Goldberg on the floor and repeatedly punches him with the loaded fist. Page grabs the stairs, props them against Goldberg’s leg, and uses a chair to slam Goldberg’s leg against the stairs. Someone in the crowd yells at him after he drops the chair, so Page stops, yells ALRIGHT and grabs the chair, then swings it again. Johnny Boone runs down to try and stop the carnage, grabbing the chair on the apron as Page lifts it, so Page yanks the chair and sends Boone crashing from the apron all the way into the guardrail (!!!). This is some wild shit, reader, it’s fucking amazing. So, Page puts Goldberg in the ring and starts to lock on a ringpost Figure Four, but Kevin Nash runs down for the save. Nash punches Page away and starts to help Goldberg up, but Page comes back with a belt shot and slumps Nash, then makes his way out of the arena like the KING he fucking is, what a fucking performance on his part. If this match was mostly Page’s idea that he laid out in the back before he had it, well then BRAVO because it was even better than their Havoc match. You’d need to see the Havoc match and understand that Page went from face to tweener and is now about to go heel to get the full effect, so I think that’s one big reason why people remember the Havoc match more than this one. Obviously, WCW was also hotter in 1998 and the first match was on PPV, and this match didn't have a definitive finish, etc. But yeah, this match is a masterpiece of layout, IMO, and even the stuff that didn’t come off perfectly still worked incredibly well and I could see how the spot fit into the greater whole of the match narrative. Congratulations, Nitro! Somehow, it took until 1999 for any single Nitro to have two matches that hit my Favorites list. Also oddly, I’ve put four matches on that list in the last eight days of shows. This is like a sudden burst of in-ring excellence that’s maybe been spurred by the cosmetic overhaul of the show or the changes in the format or something. I would never have guessed that April 1999 was some sort of banner month for in-ring action in WCW, but here we are! Even as much as I hate the Flair angle, think that they’ve totally misfired on Flair’s heel turn, etc., etc., there is no way that a show with two matches like the Cruiserweight Four Corners match and Goldberg/Page can do worse than 4 out of 5 Stinger Splashes.

I finally got to sit down and watch "The First Omen" last night (on Disney+ for no reason other than to say I watched a horror movie on there). I've always been a fan of the franchise. I think that the original is a masterpeice, and that the second and third ones are both underappreciated. I haven't brought myself to watch the made for TV fourth one yet, and I felt like the 2006 remake is OK. To me, this one felt like "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" in that it gives the backstory that nobody felt like they needed or were even asking for. That said, this was a pretty damn good movie, and I'd probably rate it just under the original. The lighting and set pieces made it look and feel like the early 1970's (aside from the CGI fire at the end), and the twist as to whom the intended birth mother is definitely caught me offguard. At some point I'm going to do a double feature and watch this back to back with the original to see how well they go together.

To the second point, I agree. To the first, I like and accept most wrestling AEW puts out aside from the multi-person matches and main events that go super OTT like that one. My wrestling interests are hard-edged, stiff, bloody stuff with strong stories. Both of those guys can pull that off with the right opponent. Together, they give you that.

Imagine dropping a popsicle under the couch and putting it back in your mouth

This could go elsewhere but more eyes will see it here, the Creed Brothers have been named for the next Bloodsport event. As much as anytime WWE gets involved with an indie it worries me, I really hope that these events can remain neutral ground. Huge nod a respect from all companies to Josh Barnett.

Back to wrestlers who did roids Jackpot! This is the next Paul Feig movie so if you hadn't gotten sick of his movies yet... here ya go

You should read X-Terminators v 2 instead because that comic has those things and Blood Hunt does not

The Creed Brothers are the next WWE guys to do Bloodsport at the end of the month.

The Jey/Gable segment was solid. Loved Jey's entrance, and I like the Wyatt Sick6 messing with Gable continues to be a thing. Woods/Kross was decent. The heel beatdown from Final Testament was better. Liv/Zelina was good. The two worked far better than expected with them playing more into their size difference. The added Rey/Dom drama played into the match just enough, and I like how Dom keeps playing into Liv's hands every time. The Balor/Seth/Priest segment was another solid one. Curious to see how things unfold with clear hints of Finn being jealous. Zoey vs. Dakota vs. Ivy was solid. Wasn't sure what to expect here with none of the 3 being terribly over, but they worked well together and built up a nice showcase for Ivy. Was happy to see Kairi, Fyre, and Dawn get involved as a follow up to last week. Same with the later backstage brawl with Lyra and the KCs attacking Damage CTRL. The Uncle Howdy VHS was another good one. Dug some of it hinting to why Gable has been a target. Dom/Rey was good. Dom is always such a little shit and knows how to piss a crowd off while Rey knows how to respond well to Dom's bs. The Liv drama played out well here and gave Zelina a nice chance at revenge. I really hope they do Dom/Rey in a big Mexico show at some point. That Sami/Bron segment was good stuff and a nice way to showcase Bron as heel against someone the crowd fully loves. Sheamus vs. Ilja vs. Drew was exactly what you would want and expect from these guys going at it, good and rough. The three beat the crap out of each other like expected, but I was particularly pleased to see both Drew & Sheamus trying to make sure Ilja had a good showing with everything they took from him. Kind of so-so on Drew winning, but it does leave me curious at just how Punk screws him over again come MITB. The matches were generally decent, but there were some nice standouts in Liv/Zelina, Dom/Rey, and the main event. All 3 were good and well worth watching. Liv is someone I don't think gets enough credit ring wise, especially when she can get matches like this out of Zelina. Dom continues to get better and better and its nice to see his growth in big singles like this every time. Segment wise I thought this show delivered as well in building up so many people and angles in good and/or interesting ways. Once again if this wasn't a 3 hour show I would call it good. Still pretty solid and worth catching if only for the 3 standout matches and bigger segments alone.

Thanks for this! I had decided there was enough stuff coming up that I would finally succumb to getting Netflix after avoiding it all these years and I was going to do it starting July, specifically to watch X before MaXXXine comes out. Luckily I saw this and went ahead and got it a week early, otherwise I would've been pissed to have gotten it today only to find out X was gone lol. Also saw Rite Here Rite Now at the theatre and was awesome! Loved it. Have had the songs stuck in my head ever since, so many great ones. Saw it back to back with The Bikeriders which was very enjoyable as well.

Liv/Zelina was so so so so good. Where did that come from? Liv has had good matches when in the ring against the top end of the division. Zelina has had fun moments but I don’t remember her having a full match that was anything above okay. Never expected those two to have an absolute banger that also tied in different story arcs throughout. Bravo to whoever put that all together. Liv absolutely rules in her current form. Stealing the show every week. Sami/Bron was awesome. Can’t wait for that match. The Jey opening was almost as epic as Sami’s iconic entrance in Montreal. It made Raw look like the most fun thing you could possibly see live. Felt borderline out of control in a great way. The Uncle Howdy stuff is just so well done and weird and not like anything else. Falling asleep before I watch the main event but this was a fun few hours of professional wrestling.

The seizure spot vs Okada poisoned this well for many, he can do whatever he wants but whether he wrestles for another day or decade he will lose a portion of the audience every time he does this moving forward. I doubt he cares but if he does it's a mess he created for himself.

Re: Danielson/Injury I'm not sure I understand this beef with selling to the point of potential injury - is there a tasteful cut off to how much one is allowed to sell the pain of a move/attack? Looking over Cagematch, I can safely say Danielson doesn't do it in every match nor does he do it in even 5% of his matches. I trust the Dragon's instincts and am fine with buying whatever he has to sell.

The thing about Bryan selling like he's injured... firstly, Eddie Kingston sells like that too, and I don't see anyone complaining about that. Secondly, his current career arc is telling the story that he's an old and broken down wrestler in his last fulltime year. So showing that wrestling is destroying him on a match by match basis is just a good bit of overarching storytelling. Now obviously having a man (who is younger than a lot of us here) illustrating his fleeting mortality and the depredations of ageing is going to be a little close to the knuckle, but... if he were to read your concerns, he would think that you were complimenting him on the strength of his work. The one thing I did like, when Ospreay missed the OsCutter on the apron, Prince Nana went over to him and shouted "Stupid Stupid Stupid", making the spot a strange Kofi/Orton tribute.

Idk if Vimeo embeds, but this is the trailer for THE WARRIOR:

I've got a group I've been running D&D for over the last few years and I don't think any of them really care about moving on to the next edition. From what I've been told the new edition is still very compatible with 5e, but none of my players really talk about it. I think there's a sense of just "let's stick with what's working."

I love King of New York so much! You get prototype Caruso and prototype Snipes and Fishburne is just so I tense and unhinged! James

Yeah, the early books are great. It gets real bad as it goes long, mostly because it becomes much more obvious that Sim is a misanthropic misogynist and the book just reflects that more and more. Ending is genuinely Very Funny though. Probably worth the $18. Curve that slider to give Sim less and charity more and you're golden.

Oh, no reason. Why do you ask? Louis the Sixteenth was the King of France in 1789 He was worse than Louis the Fifteenth He was worse than Louis the Fourteenth He was worse than Louis the Thirteenth He was the worst since Louis the First King Louis was living like a king, but the people were living rotten So the people, they started an uprising which they called the French Revolution, And of course you remember their battle cry, which will never be forgotten You went the wrong way, Old King Louie You made the population cry 'Cause all you did was sit and pet With Marie Antoinette In your place at Versailles And now the country's gone kablooie So we are giving you the air That oughta teach you not to Spend all your time fooling 'round At the Folies Bergere If you had been a nicer king, We wouldn't do a thing, But you were bad, you must admit We're gonna take you and the Queen Down to the guillotine, And shorten you a little bit You came the wrong way, Old King Louie And now you ain't got far to go Too bad you won't be here to see That great big Eiffel Tower, Or Brigitte Bardot To you King Louie we say phooey You disappointed all of France But then what else could we expect From a king in silk stockings And pink satin pants You filled your stomach with chop suey And also crepe suzettes and steak And when they told your wife Marie That nobody had bread, she said "Let 'em eat cake" We're gonna take you and the Queen Down to the guillotine, It's somewhere in the heart of town And when that fella's through With what he's gonna do, You'll have no place to hang your crown You came the wrong way Old King Louie Now we must put you on the shelf That's why the people are revolting, 'cause Louie, You're pretty revolting yourself!

That Naito-Mox match should be enough for TK to put the Forbidden Door concept on ice for a couple of years. I know little to nothing of Naito and I’m assuming he’s washed now, but whatever appeal he might have had is non-existent now. Him being the best they have to give the rub of the Mox win doesn’t reflect well on NJPW. AEW’s existence over the last couple of years has sort of negated the need for FD as a standalone show, and NJPW really don’t have enough stars with any buzz for it to be a ‘dream match’ show anymore. That said it was still a decent show. All the other singles matches delivered to some extent, although the multi-mans were skippable filler.

Then they'll just make ANOTHER belt. No.

For as much as AEW loves tournaments, they should do a U25 one. Mainly because I'm interested to see Hook pair off with Nick Wayne.

I think the story of the main broke down -- to me -- to running through all their finishers, building to super finishers, then lapping theirselves with basically a restart given to them by the screwdriver BS, and going through the same thing a again before ending with a repeat of a lower level finisher again. It's not my thing. I don't like the concept of "super" or even multiple finishers in the first place. It feels like video game stuff to me. You can do it and make it work, yes, but this felt egregious.

I am as AEW All In starts at a great UK time unlike: WWE RAW. 01:00-04:00am Tuesday morning UK time. WWE NXT: 01:00-03:00am Wednesday morning UK time. AEW Dynamite 01:00-03:00am Thursday morning UK time. WWE Smackdown. 01:00-03:00am Saturday morning UK time. AEW Rampage. 03:00-04:00am Saturday morning UK time. WWE PLE. 01:00-04:00am Sunday morning or Monday morning UK time. AEW PPV. 01:00-05:00am Sunday morning or Monday morning UK time. UFC PPV. 03:00-06:00am Sunday morning UK time. UFC TV. 03:00-06:00am Sunday morning or Monday morning UK time. AEW Collison. 01:00-03:00am Sunday morning UK time.

I thought this was a good episode of RAW. The Uncle Howdy segment once again was amazing. This stuff would have never worked with Vince still around. I'm amazed Triple H is letting it go full out like he is right now to be honest. Liv vs. Zelina was a really good match. I loved Liv using Rhea's move to try and get a submission. Zelina smacking Dom with the chair and Liv getting super pissed was a nice spot. The Sami vs. Bron segment was pretty good. Sami outsmarting Bron's second spear was awesome. The main event was really good. I was hoping Dragonov would win, but they've invested a lot of energy into Drew's chase to be champion so I would not be surprised if Drew does win and ends up cashing in and winning the title that night.

I was there live for the seizure spot and was momentarily frightened, but I can't say in the end the whole thing wasn't thrilling. I'm frightened by pro wrestling often, spots are attempted and done that I sometimes wish weren't, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't part of the excitement. To each their own.

Its mainly just ok. It hasn't reached the highs of any of the other shows, but the latest episode was probably the first time it had an arguably bad episode. Before then it hadn't really reached any of the other shows' lows. Even last week's wasn't such a problem it necessarily killed the potential of the show.

I’d think for most people, in Danielsons case, selling a life threatening injury and/ or playing off his concussion history would be theline not to cross. So, don’t fake being knocked out from a move/chair shot to the heads don’t fake a seizure, etc.

A few copies of The Iron Sheik biography made it out. https://www.facebook.com/WrestlingBooksAutobiographies/photos/a.711119585589054/4455144501186525/?type=3

Somewhat of a tangent, but that is kind of my philosophy on how the main singles title for a company should be booked. The two workers in that match should be leaving everything in the ring when the biggest prize available is on the line. You can do shenanigans and such in other spots on the card.

there were some parts of this week's BTS that were really tedious.. but I think the whole "people just want to be mad" argument goes much farther beyond wrestling than one would wish to realize

Looks suspiciously in Octo’s direction…

It really had a touching ending. Sheik could be his own worst enemy, but he did it his way. Dude deserves a statue in Detroit just for history's sake. Highest recommendation. EDIT: I went ahead and just ordered my own copy to keep even if I don't read it again, so there you go.

Putting aside the widely reported power grid/environminetal consequences of what AI is up to, none of which are good, literally all AI is built upon theft of other people's work. It's absolute, complete, indefensible trash begging for legislative control.

At one point they were gonna have Barbara/Batwoman not exist. Like how Kara was erased. Batgirl Special Vol 1 1 punlished in 1988 takes place before the Killing Joke, and was considered and published as the last Batgirl story at the time, Barb there is basically the pre-Crisis but also post Crisis Secret Origins Secret Origins Vol 2 20 version and not her post Killing Joke revised version. There is also the matter of whether Killing Joke was originally meant to be in continuity, the story ended up mostly being in continuity. Nu52 made her Jim Gordon's biological daughter again. And they stuck with that revertion after all the other reality changes after.

My one hope for this year is that Aaron Rodgers plays all year and is just ass awful. Not injured or sick, just plays every game and plays like shit. The Bills can do whatever they decide to do but Aaron Rodgers farting his way through his last year and tanking the Jets in the process would be fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPUGgxf3tx8 COBRA KAI returns for the final season. Described as a "3 part event" with 15 episodes instead of the traditional 10. Part 1: July 18 Part 2: November 28: The Grand Finale in 2025.

But what I really wanna know is, how's the story mode? I hope it's not too, for a lack of a better word, dumb?