Just Dave

I… didn’t hate most of this. Again, I just don’t think I have much of an appetite for “sports entertainment.” Why did no one tell me how fucking good Logan Paul is at this? I probably actively enjoyed Iyo/Bayley the most. I don’t think Bayley has ever gotten the credit she deserves for being as good as she is. Happy for her. The Drew stuff popped me. Seth Rollins has to be on his way out. Completely bitchmade tonight. Holy shit is Cody over. That main event was a big stupid overbooked mess, but Cody is so earnest that it still kind of works. That finishing stretch was some shit I would’ve booked with action figures when I was ten, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. I’ll never watch wwe regularly again. They shit on guys I like way too many times. But I’ll be browsing the clips of raw on YouTube tomorrow. Also, and I mean this from the bottom of my curmudgeon heart; fuck cm punk. That narcissistic hypocrite grinned like the king of bootlickers while exchanging polite greetings with the “doofus son in law” and the king of the “nonsensical, glad handing, douche bag yes men.” Fuck that pretentious, grifting crybaby.

Baron Corbin on Jinder Mahal

Hey, I was minding my own business, and that burlap sack full of unwashed dicks came back after six months to talk shit.

I am the hardest on the things I love the most: the Atlanta raves, pro wrestling, batman movies. I’ve been that way since I was a kid.

There seem to be fewer midmatch camera cuts. The TD is missing fewer big moves & moments. I don’t watch regularly, but I watched last night & during the Dunn era and there were some stark differences. I’d be interested to see what you think…

I missed you, buddy. I figured you’d hate wwe as much as anyone, seeing as how they knew early on that adam Cole was never going to amount to anything on a show people were actually paying for. Idk why you would say I don’t like AEW. I love AEW. I just get upset sometimes with the glut of skinnyfat dorks with shitty hair and third rate cosplay ring gear throwing too many super kicks who have no idea how to sell. Whoever you think I’m talking about, you’re right.

I’ve talked about the shit I didn’t like, but in the interest of good faith discussion, I’ll say that someone should win an Emmy for that continuous shot of Sami Zayn backstage where he was running into his family and Gable & Owens. As someone who’s done camera work & production, that’s not easy and deserves kudos.

I think they’re gonna do something silly. Like the young bucks doing something in character, or having the whole screen blurred out or something. It would pop me, but I’m to the point where it’s AEW or nothing as far as regular wrestling consumption goes, so I’m probably not the target audience…

That’s probably fair. For whatever reason, I NEED everyone to know how bad this show was. Also, I did say from the top that wwe’s product has never been less “for me.” If I want a concert, I’ll watch a concert. If I want an action movie, I’ll watch an action movie. If I want to watch pretty people emote poorly, I’ll watch “Outer Banks” on Netflix. For months all I’ve heard about is how good the in ring product has gotten in wwe. I saw the same overproduced, overcommercialized nonsense as when Vince was in charge, only now brought to you by DudeWipes.

Right. The problem is us being “oppositional nerds” and not the show being dogshit. Gtfoh with that…

Ehh. Have her squash people on tv every couple weeks until she’s ready for longer matches. This idea that she HAS to be a great worker is nonsense, especially when you’re dripping with “it factor” the way she is. There’s a mile of difference between her and Maxxine Dupri, who I literally couldn’t pick out of a police lineup full of fitness models.

I agree with what you've said about her ability, but you don't hire Jade to have good matches. You hire her to be a star. The fact that Triple H couldn't get her in the ring on day 1 is a pretty blistering indictment of him, IMO. I think Tony's booking of her is one of his strongest examples of his prowess. She looks, talks, and acts like a star. Who gives a fuck if she can bump? She doesn't need to.

It makes me happy that y'all aren't shamelessly fellating this steaming pile of prison ass like they are other corners of the internet. I love you all. Fuck this company, and fuck the people running it who covered up human trafficking.

I preface this by saying that WWE's presentation has never been less "for me" than it is currently. I don't give a fuck about moments. Having said that, I really thought this was fucking brutal. Other than Gunther/Sami, which ruled ass, there was not a single genuinely compelling moment on this show. Triple H might be better at diplomacy than his father in law, but the idea that "we will tell you how to feel" is as alive as ever in WWE. Becky/Rhea was okay. I don't have much feeling about either woman. Rhea is cool. Becky appears to be on her way out. Andrade/Rey vs. Santos/Dom was so counter-intuitive. It feels like Andrade was promised a prominent 'Mania spot as part of his WWE return. Wrong team went over. Carlito should've turned. Some cool moves, but again, no genuine emotion. Just being dictated to about what a big moment it was for Rey and Andrade. Santos Escobar deserves better. He's so fucking good and is stuck. Angel and Berto, too. Tag Team Ladder match was what it was. Theory and Waller are the embodiment of what's wrong w WWE today to me. Great look. Good athletes. Not one speck of realism. R-Truth getting a moment was cool. Maybe the only truly earned moment on the entire show. I tell a lie. Sami winning was cool, too, even thought this feels like a huge demotion from where he was last year. Great moment, though. Women's trio match was cookie cutter. Handful of badass entrances, though. Match did it's job, even if it was as vanilla is it gets. Main event was fucking dogshit. Just awful. Whoever laid this match out wanted it to feel epic so bad. Multiple staredowns to silence. An indecisive, dead crowd. Heavy handed, plodding, devoid of genuine emotion. It's not a good sign that Roman felt like a complete afterthought. I've always known Seth Rollins isn't a star, but holy hell did he disappear during this. This match could not have gone off worse than it did. That's not true. Everyone involved could've torn an ACL. Besides that, this was worst case scenario for Triple H. What's really galling is that there are Wweeboos in certain corner's of Beyonce's internet who will insist that Triple H was "cooking" and that this is "cinema." I'm gonna watch the 8 man tag from CMLL a couple weeks ago to cleanse my pallet from this generic, overproduced nonsense.

I mean, Cope is so goofily earnest that I'm kind of okay with his promo. He comes off like a dude that really loves pro wrestling, and I think he's earned the right as a 25 year veteran to express that. The Jay White booking seems.... sus. It does help that Billy is ginormous, and the size disparity somewhat explains Billy just whipping his ass. BCG really, REALLY needs Juice Robinson to come back. Hobbs/Ospreay was dope as hell. My GF called Don Callis "Evil Howie Mandel" and now I can't unsee it. Danielson/Archer was also dope. That match at Dynasty is gonna rule. Toni Storm is a national treasure. She popped me 3 or 4 times. I called it a night about 915. I watched the rest of the show this morning. The Jacksons are such unapologetic asswads that this gimmick change really works. I've never thought Best Friends were as important to AEW as some other folks around here, but that heel turn worked, and the crowd was hot for it, so kudos to them. They still should've lost Arcade Anarchy and the Parking Lot Fight against S & O. I'll die on that hill. That final segment was some wild shit. Swerve is a madman. Strap him up at Dynasty. Samoa Joe has been a noble, credible champion. Give him a few weeks off and then send him on a quest for revenge. Good show. With all the discourse regarding AEW's future this past week, they just need to keep having strong episodes like this.

For me, it's definitely the ascension of Swerve Strickland. Samoa Joe is doing a hell of a job as champ, but this is Swerve's time. It feels like they have to pull the trigger at Dynasty. Ospreay and Okada coming in have created a new world of fresh matches for the tv show. As much as I don't like the Bucks, sticking Okada with them was genius. Jay White is orbiting around the peripheral. I get the feeling they're waiting for Juice Robinson to come back to push Bullet Club to the forefront. The future of the company feels pretty solid to me, at least long term. They really, REALLY just need to get to the next TV deal. There are probably a dozen guys who could be a titleholder within six weeks if booked properly. If I had to pick one guy that I'm certain will just be an absolute stud, cornerstone, lottery pick guy, it's probably Takeshita. He's big, athletic, agile, handsome, and has become a really effective shitbag heel. Wheeler Yuta is another guy who's shown way more versatility than I thought he had. I enjoy the product jsut as much now as I ever have. I wish they'd get House of Black going to the tippy top, but you can't have everything.

Ahh. That makes sense. It's always been kind of a clue into CM Punk's psyche to me that Punk never publicly called Mox out after that interview Mox did. Someone reported that there was a tense moment in an airport between the two guys, but again; Punk doesn't pick fair fights.

Nah. Don't help your competition make their team better. BPJ didn't renew his deal. He wasn't let go early. Don't make it easy for Hunter. Just do a better job keeping some of the (alleged) malcontents in your tv rotation.

Just to break up all the Punk talk; I went back and watched the HOB/Elite trios title match from Revolution last year. A few thoughts; For guys who (allegedly) don't want to be there, Black and Matthews are in top form here. The pace is breathtaking and all the strikes are snug. Matthews takes a couple bumps that make me question his sanity. No one wanting to tag in against Brody King popped me. I wish they'd have played that up a bit more moving forward. He's a truly one of a kind animal. It occurs to me that The House of Black look exactly like the kind of people Papa Buck was hoping his precious sons would avoid by keeping them out of public school. The pagans took the church kids behind the movie theatre and whipped that ass. I still think the Jacksons are incapable of telling a story that involves anything other than sprinting from spot to spot. There were several times down the final stretch of this match where I thought the Elite guys were gonna inexplicably go over a stronger, more credible unit. You know, because they can. I've come around on Kenny as a worker. He held things together for his team. It's a shame he didn't get stateside full time five years before he did, but I have no doubt that WWE would've made him do a bunch of stupid shit. He's still kind of a dork, and his pretentious view of what wrestling is and isn't bugs me, but when he's between the ropes he's pretty special. I wish he'd cut down on the tap dancing and the full body "fighting spirit" shaking and stuff, but in big matches like these he's still pretty dope. It feels like AEW TV is getting ready to feature House of Black again. I'm hopeful Malakai gets a singles title and the two other guys get some accolades, too. Buddy Matthews has "Owen Cup Winner" written all over him, and I'd love for Brody to find his way into a big singles program too. I'd also love for them to hold the tag titles and defend them Freebird style.

The only reason BPJ is getting this treatment is to show less established AEW performers that they’ll be given a look in nXt. That dude is as mid as mid gets.

Could you clarify this a bit for me? I'm not seeking out conflict, I promise. I'm just not sure what you mean.

I don’t think there’s much to read into these releases. Just housekeeping.

You could always get two extras to do that…

Apparently he got hurt working an Indy…

Preston Vance changing his SIM card like Stringer Bell…