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There’s no way Hangman would lose again. I can’t express how much I’m looking forward to this Hangman heel/tweener run. Basically a Hanger driven by absolute hate for Swerve to do things he doesn’t want to do, like joining the EVP side for B&G, shunning all friends to do everything for himself and the livelihood of his family, etc. Basically a modern day DTA Hangman Page. Given enough time, he’s going to be a bigger face than he was before.

That's the problem with trying to intentionally "make moments" sometimes - the urge to go back to the well, or make something overly epic can be too much to resist. On a side note: I may have mentioned this on past 4ths, but that Lex/Yoko slam is the first time I ever saw pro-wrestling in any form as a kid, so happy anniversary to me

"Smuggler's Blues" and "You Belong to the City" are bangers and I won't hear otherwise.

let's have a little more respect for crockett and tubbs most trusted ally

I don't think those two should face each other again for a long time. It should just fester and fester and when time comes, there's no match, Hangman just kills him.

Bad America! Go to the corner! That'sright. No buts. You know what you did! Better yet, you know what you need to do to make it at least a little bit better!

And the Coyote-Roadrunner feud was massively popular! You may be on to something here.

Greg drops diss tracks. Verne kills a guy. Is the daughter still in jail? Whole family is as gangsta as Minnesota gets, I suppose.

I need to start calling my Iranian friend "The Iron Chic."

Rewatched Logan to psyched for Deadpool & Wolverine. There's way too much dust in this room, keep having to wipe my eyes... It's just a great movie and everyone is bringing their A game. It also makes me wish the Quesolupa was a thing! James

Nice rib on Luger. Who knew Greg Gagne had diss skills on the mic?

Horrible trigger discipline, all three of them. Is the photographer still alive?

“I’m Greg Gagne and I’m in a rage! I want Brody, and I want him in a cage!” Yeah Greg, imma call bullshit on that one.

I like the alliance of Briscoe and KOR, but I don't like them being positioned as possible guys for Blood and Guts. There's just no natural heat with the Elite, no original-ness, and to be frank, no star power. The Elite already beat the FTR/Darby/Danielson team at Anarchy in the Arena, so you need better team than that for Blood and Guts, and Briscoe/KOR just don't fit the bill right now. The Acclaimed are at least originals and could use a rub like this to stay relevant, but the other 3 guys need to have some real firepower. Swerve is obvious, and Kenny should definitely be there if he's healthy. I could see a case for the 5th being Ricochet, Darby, or Hangman, but I'd pick Darby. He's a natural babyface who can sell choosing his loyalty to AEW over his feelings about Swerve, which highlights Hangman's personal failings for making the opposite choice and joining up with the Elite. Ricochet would have the instant gratification pop, but lacks the long-term story beats imo.

Wasnt that Phil Collins?

My guess is MJF vs. Daniel Garcia at All Out which will be in the same city as last night so the crowd will be jacked.

Topicalish point: sometimes it feels like wrestling booking (at least recently) would have decided to do the Yokozuna slam challenge on the Intrepid every year even if he gets bodyslammed by a new guy every year.

I don't like Cornette, but that is great on seeing him as a 5k donation there.

If you think about it: Wil E Coyote was such a great heel he was able to constantly get jobbed out and still keep his heat. A fun little known fact is that early in their feud ECW ran a house show and one of the main attractions couldn't make it so Dreamer beat Raven clean as when a big no show happens the face always wins the main event to make up for it.

It was a hip toss.

I wasn't watching ECW but from the general outlines of stuff I remember happening, Dreamer and Raven also had other feuds that would go on during their longer feud so they weren't fighting for 2 1/2 years and doing nothing else, so their feud would go to the backburner and then resume later on and so on

And even then, Dreamer/Raven was a feud where the face could never quite beat the heel. Having a feud where the heel can never beat the face is booking the wrestling equivalent to Wil E Coyote and the Roadrunner

Now I'm imagining spraying America with a spray bottle, like a cat, every time we do something boneheaded.

I immediately envisioned Jason Vorhees as a Sith when I read that. Lightsaber machete!

Never seen the Jason guy before but it’s hilarious that the Sith dude is an impossibly good looking underwear model with dreamy eyes and pouty lips. Did he turn because the Jedi tried to restrain his mojo? Was Yoda like, “this rizz, contain it we cannot?” He was totally trying to distract Osha with his other lightsaber when he got out of the water.

Actually, now that you say that, I wonder if they would try something along the lines of an "exploding death match" between them, since it is outside? Maybe not an exploding ring like the failed Mox/Omega match, but more along the lines of the exploding barbwire boards and whatnot...

Well, if you want to tell your fans you’re finally going significantly forward and not then taking two steps back like you usually do, that is how you do it. I’m fully on board with this way of thinking.

My guess is Hangman is the Elite's 5th if Swerve is Team AEW's 5th.

I love Renee opening the broadcast with a rundown, but it'd be 10 fold better in the live arena. Can we get a set off to the side of the ramp or on the otherside of the building, please? And give Renee the match graphics to introduce as well. Death to distracting ADD graphics during the matches. The Garcia/MJF/Daddy Magic promo to begin was punchuated beautifully by Danny making such a lofty play on his mother's life. Total pro! Danielson v Pac was every bit as great as I imagined it could be. Loved Pac's elevated elbow drops. Danielson put a selling clinic on for all students of the game. Magic + Chess to close! Pac never wins the big one, but @DEAN taught us better than to care about such frivolous outcomes. The Willow promo that followed was completely on point. I loved her laying out why she smiles. So smart - further babyface connective tissue! No one better, but Mark is close. Speaking of which, the Briscoe promo and angle that followed was perfect for getting us all thinking about Blood n Guts. 'Who's gonna be in?' We all wanna know. I love shitheel Perry. I love Okada. I love Losing Streak O'Reilly. And then to the back for the Toni/Mariah promo - alotta talk, but no one's complaining when the pros give us the beatiful prose. I'll be sad to lose this pairing. Stat v Willow started strong with that awesome ramp rush and pounce, and it never relented. Love Willow. Love Stat. Tastes great, and refreshing! The Britt Baker promo was touching, she was understandbly nervous, but it was good. If I'm truly honest I wasn't so into the cliched motivational speech to close, but before I could bellyache, there was wonderful heel Mercedes mixing it up with the Jacksons. Perfect! The Mone-Baker confrontation was tremendous! Britt had the fire she needed and Mercedes' gots her groove. I love how excited everybody is for this, but let's keep expectations realistic. Promo-wise we should be good, but Mone's gonna need to do some heavy lifting in ring - she is clearly capable. Happy to have the Doctor back, but can we get the Rebel? The Callis/Ospreay/Fletcher promo was fantastic. Even if it defied the logic of the story told Sunday. It's Wrestling, a Dash of a Pass granted. I loved the Jericho promo. He still needs to reel this character in a smidge, but overjoyed with his continually use of 'That doesn't work for me, brother'. Great heel chicanery throwing Taz out. Love it! Joe/Hook/Shibata v the Jobbers of Agony was a good TV showcase. Give the Gates some credibility now. The angle that followed was rockin'! Bryan Keith is slowly becoming a star before our eyes. Give him time. Bill too. I unashamedly popped for the Fireball later on. Jarrett v Hanger was totally on point. I need an encore viewing after writing this. I'm not sure what I think of Hanger's new theme, but I certainly missed the giddyness his previous always provided me. What a nicely worked match. Even notorious Hanger Hater @MattD got down with this bout! How far can we run with babyface Colonel Sanders-Jarrett? He's gotta at least have one more Stampede in Calgary, yeah? Garcia v Ospreay closes this near perfect broadcast. Ospreay's acorbatics had me daydreaming him getting the call from Hollywood to take the torch from Jack Chan. I loved all the shenanigans to close. Matt Menard is a beautiful bleeder. MJF channelled some serious prime Franchise vibes there. It was like he was transported to 1995 shaking Gary Wolfe's halo clean off his shoulders. Easily his best use of the Avalanche Piledriver! Mia Wallace says 'Goddamn, Goddamn'. I can see the endless scroll from the King on this one. And closes with #AEWrulesTHEmotherFUCKINGuniverse.

It was unreadable with the trolls and the gimmick posters and Scott Keith clones. There’s a reason that some of the roots of the DVDVR forums come from the RSPW-M (moderated) group.

I'm house-sitting for somebody and they have cable so I was actually able to watch Dynamite and I picked a great episode to watch. Bryan/Pac was a great start and it didn't slow down after that. I didn't even mind Chris Jericho that much

We've also got Thunder/Deonna and what's looking like Riho/Serena. They have certainly come a long way.

That was the best Adam Page performance I’ve ever seen.

DYNAMITE. Only one day later! This is less elaboration than usual, so look at it as Dynamite Short Cuts.

Why do you fucking tag him every time? Why is THAT the thing that's important to you? Jesus fuck dude, we get it. We know you don't like her and find his fandom offensive, and we know that he will rise to your hate-tag. And as someone who missed her entire career until the show where she broke her foot, this is RSPW shit. You are doing RSPW shit.

We’re now about two months in with really good to great episodes of Dynamite every week. Like I said before, just keep doing what you’re doing, don’t flinch at ratings, and don’t change it up. And last night ruled. I like that Hangman isn’t purely an attack dog for the EVPs. I was getting Steve Austin vibes from him.

lol, Holiday weekend is off to a great start. We’re visiting family and staying in a hotel for the weekend. Checked in Wednesday but basically just checked in, crashed on bed, then got up early yesterday to go visit family. When we came back, it was after dark. We did wonder why we saw a few people dressed in animal costumes, but neither wife or I gave it much thought. Overnight, there was a (checks notes) sword attack in the hotel. And a lot more people dressed in animal costumes. Finally turned on the news and learned there is a furry convention in town and the dudes involved in the sword attack were furries. Great. No idea how serious the swordplay was, but police were called and I overheard a hotel employee say there was blood on walls and floor. Already made arrangements to stay elsewhere next several nights. Hotel away from convention center. No one dressed as a Pokémon or humping a stuffed animal when we checked in, so that’s a good sign. Lol, 15000 weirdos at a convention. Why wouldn't there be a sword attack?

Is it ridiculous to think we may get a Ospreay vs Garcia vs MJF three way? Also, Mariah May vs Toni Storm seems to make sense for a storyline pov, but Willow winning the Women's title at Wembley makes a metric shit ton of sense too. Unless they start going Dreamer/Raven where Page can never be at Swerve, then Hangman has to win the next one, and I think he will. I would love to see them in a good ol' fashioned cage match, but I am not seeing that happen in Wembley for logistical reasons, since it is outdoors.

Gutted for Taichi, he's been the head of my boy stable (thanks OSW review) for a long time but I can certainly accept it if its pushing forward this agenda of change President Ace has been speaking about.

So Ryan Garcia has been banned from the WBC based on him being a racist piece of shit. It is clear that he has some serious mental issues as well as being a racist piece of shit Right now Dana White must be salivating at their next big star to push. They only need about 5 minutes of his shit to make him the most popular guy in UFC

That's not rap. That's rock. Says so right in the name.

Just finished reading Swing of the Blade more stories from Metal Blade Records Brian Slagel's follow up to his first book for the sake of heavyness. Talks about working with Ghost, Gwar, fates Warning, Armored Saint, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate along smaller acts like Lizzy Borden that never quite got to that level. Also good bit about running a record label. A fun read if your interested in the subject matter

What's RSPW?

Very heel heavy show, but it was a good one. Britt/Mercedes segment was good stuff. Mercedes getting a little heat rub from the Bucks, then going out there and big-timing the AEW original to massive heat. The facial expressions from both women as the crowd chanted DMD (pure disgust from Mercedes, and a nearly tearful appreciative smile from Britt) literally made the whole feud. Jarrett, that sly old dog, just pulled out one of the better TV matches this year. I think Dustin has been trying to get that "one last shot" type of match for like 3 years straight to mediocre results, and Jeff put on a master class. Hangman was great here too, don't get me wrong. Both guys deserve credit for shaking off the "welcome back" pop for Hangman quickly and getting the crowd to pop big for a couple babyface Jarrett spots. The desperation Stroke on the apron, and ducking the first buckshot into the sharpshooter were both excellent spots. Goes to show you can get a great story out of a match with minimal build. The Learning Tree group finally got one over on Joe's School of Hard Knocks. It lacks the right irony level for the "Jericho vortex" meme, but match-wise, there's still some juice there. Main event was solid, and MJF heel turn was well done. Now that Ospreay is there to carry the top babyface mantle, MJF can go back to his natural habitat, though I think his face work was underrated. Garcia is finally breaking through with this angle, but I hope they run MJF/Ospreay with a completely over-the-top face/heel dynamic at Wembley.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ikftpOaE3-U Bret Hart's the best. NSFW.

Back in January/February, I watched the first 6 episodes of the First Mae Young Classic. Then I forgot about it. So, since every baseball team is playing a night game today.. The Mae Young Classic (Season 1/Episode 7) - The Quarterfinals Our final 8: Abbey Laith, Mercedes Martinez, Candice LaRae, Shayna Baszler, Toni Storm, Piper Niven, Dakota Kai, and Kairi Sane. Our commentary team is Jim Ross and Lita. The matchups: Kairi Sane vs Dakota Kai, Toni Storm vs Piper Niven, Candice LaRae vs Shayna Baszler, and Abbey Laith vs Mercedes Martinez. So in the reverse order of their intros to start this episode. Match 1: Abbey Laith vs Mercedes Martinez. We got a tale of the tape for this one too. It's real graps. Dueling chants. This is really happening in an alternate WWE universe. Mercedes hitting hard. JR insisting he's seeing something with Mercedes' shoulder. I'm guessing that chops in womens matches hit a bit higher than they do in mens matches for two obvious reasons. It's a harder landing on the apron than in the ring, then Mercedes gets knocked off the apron to the floor which is presumably a hard landing. Man that ramp is close to the ring. Nice German Suplex by Abbey. Mercedes wins with the Fisherman Buster. Match 2: Candice LaRae vs Shayna Baszler: Can I consistently spell Baszler right? well, we'll see. Johnny Gargano is here. Ronda Rousey and a friend are here. For some reason, I just realized that if you had to guess about any Mae Young Classic competitors working a goth gimmick in a few years, you might have guessed Baszler before Ripley. Not sure if internet weirdos could have gotten into that look though. That diving tope into a DDT on the ramp by LaRae is crazy looking. Multiple submission moves by noted shooter Candice LaRae. Baszler gets a side slam to break it up. JR talks more about potential shoulder damage. Baszler wins by countering a bulldog off the top into a rear naked choke. Well that was a fun several minutes. And we get some actual villainy in this mostly "all babyface" tournament with Shayna not releasing the hold immediately. Baszler will take on Mercedes Martinez in a battle of arm tattoos. More heel work by Shayna. JR is unsure if he's ever seen a woman as intimidating as Shayna Baszler. Rocket League getting their plug in. Lita insists someone has to stop Shayna. Lita vs Shayna would have been an interesting match although not sure which era of Lita you pick since she wrecked her neck pretty quickly. Match 3: Piper Niven vs Toni Storm: Did Mariah May get custody of Toni Storm's tiny hat? Unlike the last match, we get a prematch handshake because neither of these competitors are evil, at least not yet. Aw yes, an early test of strength with pinfalls. How low on the pecking order would you need to be to job to a test of strength (aside from Chavo in mid-98). Double bridge, it's more British than the King. Having Toni just doing a backbridge leaving herself open to a splash is a fun spot. Not sure which wrestler is a better example of a monster heel with nice hair between Piper and Nia Jax. Not entirely sure about having so many near falls on splashes since in theory, that move should be a finish for Piper. I haven't watched enough Piper to know if she's had a good elbow drop for years. Piper misses a somersault splash into the corner and gets hit by the running ass attack. Michinoku Driver by Piper for 2. Toni German Suplexes Piper off the top in a wild spot. Toni wins with the legdrop off the top rope. Some baseball announcers talk a lot about the perils of walking batters. JR talks a lot about the perils of leaving your feet while wrestling. Postmatch hug. Ronda Rousey and friends are so proud of Shayna Baszler. Only for another group of women (Bayley, Charlotte, Becky) to show up because it's an exclusive look into Women Gang Warz (that I don't think ever happened on WWE TV which might be on the list of legitimate grievances Ronda Rousey has with the WWE). Also Funaki is in the house. Match 4: Kairi Sane vs Dakota Kai: Hey now JR, there's lots of pirates, some of them might object to you calling Kairi Sane the World's Toughest Pirate. Also that's the nickname for someone doing both a Pirate and MMA gimmick at the same time. Mean looking running knee by Kai. Lots of fun back and forth. Kairi with a series of moves near/off the ropes. Kai takes a long way to kick Kai. Kairi wobbling to sell a kick. Kai taking the long route again to miss a kick. Is Kai doing kicks in the same sense that rugby players punt in college football. That was a loud sounding slam by Kairi. Kairi wins with the Elbow Drop. That elbow drop still looks cool, as long as you don't care about her ribs or hip. So our matchups for the next upside are Martinez/Baszler and Storm/Kairi Out of those 4, I actually enjoyed Baszler/LaRae the most even if it was the shortest of the 4 matches. Now onto.. The Mae Young Classic (Season 1/Episode 8 ) - The Final Four I love how the exterior shots of Full Sail make it look like a community college after sunset. According to Lita, Toni Storm is young, free-spirited, and dangerous. Shayna and Mercedes with some prematch comments. Match 1: Shayna Baszler vs Mercedes Martinez: Shayna accepts a handshake. Mercedes laying it in again. This pairing is a lot of fun since it's essentially doing a worked shoot, although there are also irish whips. Nice visual of the gutwrenches on a limp looking opponent. This really is the least Vince/Johnny Ace style of WWE womens match possible. This is really a fun sort of matchup if you're into this sort of thing. Shayna gets Mercedes in the choke until she taps out. I probably could have typed more PBP but this was a fun matchup. Hey, the finals for this are gonna be in Las Vegas. Stephanie and Hunter and Sara Amato joining the party. Hey here's a bouquet of roses because you're in the finals now. Some prematch comments from Toni Storm and Kairi Sane. Match 2: Kairi Sane vs Toni Storm: This match can be fun even if they don't try to work an MMA fight with each other. Toni Storm getting the offense in early. Kairi wobbling to sell uppercuts. Kairi Sane with a dive to the outside that is dangerously close to her landing face-first on the ramp. Kairi hits a spear and we get to see a little cut on her chin that might have involved that dive. Kairi almost worked a Macho Man WCW TV match by taking a bunch of offense before hitting the elbow only Toni got up before the elbow. Toni hits the Storm Zero for a 2. More peril for Kairi with a bridging armbar that looks painful for an armbar. Kairi gets out and gets a rollup for 2. And after all that peril and some arm work, Kairi hits the elbow and gets the win. So our final is Shayna vs Kairi for all the Doritos. Stephanie and Hunter watch on as Kairi and Toni hug it out. Also Sara Amato and a bouquet of Roses are there. Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler are face to face and Shayna won't shake hands. Instead it's posed fists. Now let's wrap this one up.. The Mae Young Classic (Season 1/Episode 9) - The Finals Let's get some words from Kairi and Shayna as I check how long this episode is (31 minutes) We're live in Las Vegas as we have escaped Full Sail. Renee Young is here. There was a red carpet. Hunter and Stephanie are just so proud. The stars of GLOW (the Netflix version) are here. Shayna's friends are here. Rocket League is here. Alundra Blayze (because we use WWF gimmick names here pal), Dana Warrior, Beth Phoenix, and Mauro are in the crowd. Jim Ross and Lita are still here to commentate for this one. Hey, it's Simone Johnson and others in the crowd. And here are some of the wrestlers that lost in episodes 7 and 8. So it's match time Shayna Baszler vs Kairi Sane: Lillian Garcia is here for this special occasion to give the crowd a little backstory since this is Vegas and not Full Sail. Should be fun to see where the middle ground is between the styles here but I'd think Kairi could at least have a fun one with Shayna's style. Nice sounding kick to knock Kairi to the outside. More arm work on Kairi that may or may not be relevant in the end. I might need to suspend disbelief a little on Kairi's spear, but some skinny dudes do spears too, so. Kairi with a series of spears. Shayna running just behind Kairi to hit her with a knee coming off the ropes is a fun visual. Kairi's shoulderblock looked pretty good which might contradict my stance on her spear. Kairi Sane leaps off the top into a Shayna Baszler choke. Kairi gets out of the choke though. Kairi goes up for the elbow again but Shayna counters again. Man the camerawork for this one feels more Kevin Dunn-y than the Full Sail matches, so many camera changes on strikes. Kairi Sane with the elbow and she wins the tournament. That was a fun one and the crowd didn't feel like people waiting around for an episode of Smackdown/Raw. I wouldn't call women's wrestling a strength of mine when it comes to watching/opinionating but this was a fun tournament even if feels like HHH NXT has a tournament style that you notice quickly. But it's also a difference from the 2010s WWE style which is good. I didn't spend much time watching NXT in the 2010s to be honest. But now that i've wrapped up this tournament, I can take time to not go back to the 2013 NXT that I started watching and then stopped.

2 minutes into Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and "The Heat Is On" opens it and it feels like I just put on a warm pair of slippers! James

Here's a passage from the Sheik book that I have to share. He had just shown for a tag with Pat Tanaka against Kevin Sullivan and Taz(maniac) for the only time he ever wrestled in the ECW Arena. Couldn't even get in the ring because there was no steps, but brawled on the outside with Sullivan and threw fire twice. Crazy old bastard!