Greggulator

Wrestling Degrassi means I have to carve out time for NXT. That rules. Speaking of ruling: Smackdown tonight was absolute fire. Tiffany won in front of the hometown. Bianca and Piper Niven had a banger with an awesome ending. The KO/Cole Carpool Karaoke segment was so fun and weird and the end with KO saying “Get out of my rental car!” before doing the window bit was aces. Cody/Gable was predictably very good. But major tip of the cap to DIY stealing the titles via a long con. You can see how they put the plan in place a few weeks back. “Hey, you know MCMG watched when we had our issues back in NXT. I used to complain about you all the time to Alex. They trust me. Let’s tease animosity to get them to put their guard down. We’ll lure them into a match, will tease a breakup, and then use the distraction and become champs!” I always love that sort of scheming you can see happening without actually needing to see it happen.

The devastation of The New Day overshadowed that really fun Gunther/Dom sprint. I loved that Dom wrestled face-ish (using a bunch of topes and counters.) That was a great test run for when Dom eventually goes face. He can be the heir apparent to his real father and lie, cheat and steal. Gunther is so great at being dominant and also making his opponents look terrific. I can absolutely get behind these guys getting 20 minutes or Dom having the briefcase.

The New Day segment was a masterpiece. We knew our heart was going to get broken. But we didn't know how. They somehow figured out that the most devastating way to do so was by having Kofi and X act like total dicks to Big E. No violence needed. Just two dudes who felt slighted and unleashing their anger on the injured, vulnerable E. (The same day that article dropped just to add to E's vulnerability.) That was cruelty at its peak. It really felt like when your best friend from middle school starts sitting with the cool kids freshman year and tells you that you have to go sit elsewhere. Or when your college girlfriend tells you "we need to talk" and it turns out that she and your roommate are now an item. A+ and something I never want to see again.

I was at the Raw all those years ago where they officially broke the streak for longest tag run. It was so great and fun to see in person. They barely even were getting started with their run, which is wild to think about. I think one of the real turning points for the WWE creatively came during the pre-Sami Bloodline days. The USOs had the belts and were eyeing up breaking the New Day’s streak. So, the New Day stepped up to take a final stand to keep their record. Those four can throw out a four-star match with each other in their sleep. But when you put in stakes that go beyond the usual and it touches in on the world building the WWE has done over the decades? That is really awesome. It’s one of my favorite WWE TV matches ever. Another peak moment of storytelling was when The Usos forfeited in the gauntlet match against X And E with Kofi’s spot on the line. Absolutely fantastic moment during Kofimania.

How are we all prepping for a possible New Day breakup at their 10th Anniversary? Man — what a great piece of long-term storytelling they’ve had with the tensions between the group, even when they had to audible when Odyssey Jones got cut. I think this really shows the magic of The New Day. They were pretty much lower mid-card tag filler the past year but at anytime they needed someone heated up they could have a banger like Kofi or Woods vs. Gunther. Or even the tag matches — they had a lot of really good TV matches against dudes like The War Raiders. They have been absolutely invaluable the past decade. Things like “quality 15 minute tag matches” are really important on a 3-hour show. Three hours is a lot of time to fill, and having people who can do quick, entertaining promos and segments and a good match after are absolutely invaluable to keeping a show together while other characters and stories get highlighted. Kofi and Woods and E being able to being fully committed to that type of work while also being main event level talent really shows their talent more than anything else. And that’s even considering Kofimania, which is high on the list of most beloved wrestling storylines ever told. They’re also really important in terms of representation. I listened to their podcast during all the George Floyd stuff and it hit me more than anything else during the era about the fears Black Americans have when interacting with law enforcement. It made me also confront my own listening skills and priviledge since I live in Philly and have black friends but never truly appreciated what a difficult situation it is until I heard three goofball wrestlers talking about an issue that I knew was important but never felt it until Kofi was talking about jogging in a hoodie being a potentially fatal act for him. X’s Up Up Down Down stuff isn’t for me (I haven’t played a video game in decades) but that stuff also feels like a great way to build culture in the locker rooms. They talked about this in a recent YouTube thing the three of them did. It let out everyone’s nerdy stuff. Wrestlers aren’t bodybuilding lunkheads anymore. They’re really athletic nerds, which I like a lot more. I am bracing for a breakup that may actually lead to tears tomorrow night. But The New Day have been something really special for a decade, and I hope we get a decade more.

Take all the stuff Adam Cole has done but reimagine him as Ricky Starks. Ricky would knock it out of the park as a slimebag manipulative heel so much he’d become a face in months. I love that guy so much.

Some more thoughts from the show, even though I was distracted by playing Jurassic World on the floor with my kid. 1) The Women’s War Games match was a blast. It’s a hastily put together grouping of women made for the sake of the match. It had a lot of plunder and violence and crazy spots. I really thought Tiffany was going to cash in. Would have been epic. Fun end highlighting the best women’s feud going. 2) I had to run some errands so skipped on LA Knight and Shinsuke, assuming LA was going to get the win. Now I might have to check it out. I think the bloom has fallen off the LA Knight rose. Guy is perfectly fine at that Upper midcard spot. Happy Shinsuke gets at least one last title run and has an awesome new persona. 3) Triple threat was everything we expected it to be and was awesome. Ludwig Kaiser needs to get his flowers. Guy really does great shtick throughout every match he has. He was the star of the match for me. But I want to see these guys fight every week for the rest of my life. 4) Priest/Gunther was awesome throughout. I hate the end. Not because of heel slimebag victory but I really was hoping Priest would be able to get some distance from Finn and the JD. 5) War Games for me was a perfect match. Great storytelling throughout. Incredible spots. Jacob Fatu is a madman. The end where everyone got their licks in on Solo was fantastic.

That main event was pretty much a perfect match. Loved it so much

I love the Dom World Title shot. At some point in time, Dom is going to be in the Final 3 at the Rumble to a gigantic pop or he’s going to get the “try to run the Gauntlet but just come up short” Kofi type of push. I always want to boo him since he’s such a great sleazy heel but he’s also a really friggin’ great professional wrestler. He’s just so good at what he does — the right type of panic whenever Rhea gets his hands on him, etc.

Man, that main event was really great. I fell for a lot of the falls — especially Jey’s big splash, since I thought maybe The Bloodline came down to help him to try and woo him to the cause. The Jacob Fatu/Braun tease was incredible and man that’s a possible WM Main Event in two years. Bron licking his chops when he realized he had Jey dead-to-rights was awesome. This stuff with Sami beating Bron and then Bron slipping up against Jey to get it back is really great. They just had a dominant Gunther run with the IC strap and you need to differentiate. Bron being ascendant but able to lose and willing to take shortcuts makes him so incredibly interesting.

Shelton needs a heel title run. He’s always been great when he’s had TV time. But surly 49-year-old Shelton looking to wreck everyone to show he still has it is money. Deserves way more than to be Bobby Lashley’s heel buddy.

Oh, the ultimate “there is no hope” ending is Dump shaving Chigusa’s head. Duh. That’s the peak.

I can’t remember if it ended the show but Jerry Lawler and co beating up a bunch of ECW dudes and hitting Tommy Dreamer in his testicles with a Singapore Cane comes to mind.

I didn’t see the show. But the end sounds incredible. Wheeler the conflicted protege doing the “et tu, Brute?” backstab? The BCC just tried to end not the career but the life of their founder, who is a beloved icon. They’re the evil force and now you need a hero (Darby, OC, etc.) to overcome the odds and put Mox away. I hope they just Keep It Simple Stupid and not get involved with any high power hijinks or anything silly. Mox is a big enough personality on his own to make it work.

Sami/Gunther was absolutely fantastic. Nobody makes me jump out of my seat like babyface Propoghandi fan Sami. Great 2.9 after the first powerbomb. The one count and Gunther’s look of utter disbelief had me flipping out. I thought for sure Sami was going to survive the sleeper (great camera angle to show the “just inches away” rope grab) but for not. Sami’s the best in-ring babyface of the century. He sells perfectly and knows how to turn that into comebacks that make you always think he’s going to pull out the win. Gunther is of course masterful in all aspects of pro wrestling but I was especially impressed with how well he did arrogance to lack of confidence to shock to smugness with his facial expressions and body language. I love how he sits on the mat like he’s thinking things through. Fits him so well. Great main event. The Sheamus/Pete Dunne match was a great, very stiff garbage brawl. They’ve been very big lately on having one big spot on every show — it helps make things viral and get passed along and potentially driving interest. The table spot of the whiskey barrels was really imaginative. I love professional wrestling.

Chelsea Green rules. She truly gets it. I don’t want to see her get a title push because they have more than enough women who can have title matches. They don’t have anyone else who can take a table bump in a garbage dumpster and show ass amongst the heel tag teams like Bobby Heenan. That 15 minutes an episode of excellent wrestling midcard stupidity is so badly needed on a show or else wrestling starts to take itself too seriously. Keep Chelsea Weird. Naomi and Tiffany was a really good match. I really wish we got to see Naomi if she started her career a little later when she could have had her earliest reps in wrestling with The Horsewomen and not as a Funkadactyl. She’s so athletically gifted. It’s just that the in-between moments of her matches — the actual storytelling components — she struggles with at times. Tiffany is also athletically gifted (duh) but also learned about how to do a lot of those little things. Kind of fascinating to see them paired up in that way and a fun match. That main event was something special. I loved the bookended story of DIY and the Profits both hating The Bloodline, but The Bloodline figuring out how to take advantage of that at the end. So many really great spots in this, too. Very imaginative stuff.

Bronson Reed vs. Braun was A+++++ and a MOTYC. One of the best big-men battles ever. We all knew there was going to be a "ring gets destroyed" spot because it's mandatory. But I wasn't expecting "fans seriously hurt at ringside" spot (I totally bit for it) or Brock flying to the floor or the second move of the match being a chokeslam through a table. This was such a great match in terms of the staging and the blocking (the theater term for where you need to hit your marks on stage and etc.) Even though I'm not a fan of the run-in ending so much, I'll give them major points for how organically it came off with Reed getting his head on the steps. It looked so good with the ropes gone. Bronson has a few main event PPVs in him and I could totally see him becoming the US champion or something like that the next time they do a show in Australia. Dear lord was that match fun. I wish DEAN~ could have seen it, he would have loved it. Other stuff I saw when I could: 1) The end of Xavier vs. Mysterio was something else. Did they ever run an "accidental" unmasking thing with Rey ever before? Definitely was very shocking and well-done. 2) The KCs with a mean streak is a fun twist. The Unholy Alliance looked like each of them had Wemby height in that segment. 3) Jey Uso's start of the show made Evanston, Indiana look like the most fun place on the planet. I love that we're getting a face Breakker because he's just way too good. Love the tease for him against Gunther. I hope that's still a ways away but I can see it absolutely on the table for WM. Fun night. Wrestling rules.

Also, thanks for all of this man! This is my crash course into 80s AJW and it's a really awesome introduction into joshi, which I should have done a long time ago.

The first scene of Part 6 where he talks about his multiple brains and one is thinking about sex... that's so fucking chilling. His absolute lack of empathy about the multiple wrestlers who died early and refusal to take accountability is fucked. While it's good they're taking concussions and addiction seriously, Vince flat out says it's all because it's good for business. I mean, he's not wrong... but you should be doing this for the well-being of your performers before anything else. The stuff about Taker and Lesnar is so fucked. Even though we know almost all of this stuff already, seeing Vince and etc. comment on what they participated in is something else. The thing that comes through all of this is that Vince is a very disturbed and damaged human being. He went from having a horribly abusive childhood to becoming involved with his father's business, which is built around gigantic personalities and kayfabe and backstabbing and lawless. When you have that type of lifelong desire to win, and you do win, and you're now the master of a universe you created that also somehow falls under the radar, and you managed to even beat the feds in a trial... you're just going to think that accountability isn't even a thing. That's going to lead to absolutely disgusting behavior, like what's in the lawsuit.

Hahaha! Man, the chicken thing at a press conference is absolutely batshit. I can’t even imagine the brainstorm session when they were putting that together.

No way do I have time to rate anything, but I'm skimming through a bunch of this and I could not be a bigger fan of Dump and Bull Nakano assaulting teenage Crush Gal fans in the comfort of their own home or Dump's song "Extreme Evil." I'd imagine that IRL Dump has to have a ridiculously great sense of humor to pull off her act. All of her stuff rules. Do you have video anywhere of her and the chicken?

The new production has really been used for all of this. The entrances from the hallways through the crowd really help make Raw look like the most fun thing in the world to possibly see live. It really exemplifies the joy that should come from watching something as inherently dumb as wrestling. Jey Uso has been one of the best parts of the show for four years now. He really got to show what he could do in the early Bloodline days during the pandemic. Then he really stepped up with his complicated relationship with Sami and then through the rest of his story arc with Roman. I get that people have been down on his in-ring work, but he’s connecting at such a high level right now. He’s also such a fantastic tag worker that he was bound to start having high end matches and he just had one of the best Raw matches in a really long time with a still relatively green (but awesome) Bron Breakker. But all of this really boils down to a lot of the production being awesome.

I only caught the main event because I was watching my Phillies clinch the NL East. But man, that was a fucking great main event. One of those Raw MOTY levels and was not expecting that ending. Bron is going to be fine.

AJW 80s question. Was there any explanation given why Dump in her matches can just do anything she wants, along with her minions? I am not complaining because Dump is just the greatest. But just wondering why she never took a DQ in what I have seen even if she’s blasting someone with a kendo stick as the ref watches.

Yeah, the show fell off for me in the second half. Presenting AJW as a shoot promotion and that Dump was legit stabbing other performers with forks was really weird. From what I know — my joshi knowledge is limited — but the actual backstage dramas were a lot more interesting. Dump actually trying to reduce bullying backstage (due to what she endured) while portraying the ultimate bully on screen is a way better character note, along with the promoters doing a divide-and-conquer to ruin her relationship with the Crush Gals. It’s still a fun show. At the very least, I just watched the Lioness vs. Dump match from AJW and it rules. Jeez, you can see how much influence Lioness had on people like Finn Balor and Claudio and Danielson.