JLowe

Yeah, I feel like they used to have 4 matches!

None of the top QBs are top 10-15 talents and yet at least 3 of them will go in the first 5-7.

Got my order in, only caught a little bit of the trios pre-show match. RJ City is like Gilbert Gottfried crossed with Ed Grimley.

I said Emi-Riho would have my vote, and it has been cast.

as I said before, opener was two good tag team feuds smushed into one match. Did like the ending a lot, smart move by my future hometown hero Yuta. It’s about time to fucking give Top Flight a legit push, run a tourney and let them beat The Kingdom for ROH tag titles. I didn’t know about Riho-Emi before the start of the night and that’s going to win my vote in the Match of the Week poll. I know Riho is a former champ and a crowd favorite but Emi deserves a big win. Anyway the match was great, wish Riho had that level of stiffness in her strikes and kicks against Toni. Neat that after all the ass-kicking we get a wacky but awesome finishing sequence. I should make more time to watch more joshi and also try and manifest Emi-Meiko Satomura. Hobbs squashes Serp, a foregone conclusion. The Takeshita-Jackal storyline progresses and we are going to get the Lard Lad-Hobbs feud we didn’t know we desperately needed before this past Wednesday. Dean had the same reaction I did to the main: Parker is not ready for prime time. Woof, he was local enhancement level selling and just fucking awful on offense. I’m thinking this is the end of the horribly failed Mogul Affiliates experiment, and it’s about time. Keith Lee getting to embrace his nerddom is fun, but I worry he’s going to get lost in the shuffle again. Dustin still throws great punches and bumps like much younger man. Conspicously absent from TV this week: your TBS champion. Was Jade on the Tuesday YouTube? Are we only getting one women’s match on the PPV?

HAPPY DE LA DAY! 3 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER! De La Soul's classic early Tommy Boy albums are finally available on the streaming services! RIP Trugoy.

People watched for the matches and tuned out for the talking. Interesting that the 18-49 gained 4k in the last 15 minutes while the overall rating dropped 45k.

I will never fully trust Jarrett in a title scenario. Not saying that he's going to shoot, just that I can see him talking his way into being the team being chased in that scenario (hey Tony, if we double-cross the Gunns then you have us feuding with them, Acclaimed, and Best Friends, you're booked for the rest of 2023!).

I think they did the Mox thing to "capture the moment" cinema verite style. I thought it was a nice touch to match his character. Page also had sound problems being under that weird construction awning.

That's two interesting tag team matches (not including the one that already happened with BCC and Top Flight) that are not going to make for nearly as interesting a 4-way, but I assume they gotta make sure the crowd gets their money's worth

Got my Austin tickets, not bad seats on the side of the ring opposite the entrance area, not on the floor but in the fifth row of the lower level. $50 plus 40% in fees...

One of the legs got badly bent on the move before he climbed, I don't know why the refs didn't yell to get the other ladder in the ring.

I definitely agree with this part, several times where guys chose to do a sick move instead of just trying to win (although I did enjoy some of the sick moves). There were also at least 2 instances (one with Komander) where someone was near the top and could easily have grabbed the ring and won but instead had to just kind of hang out there looking like an idiot waiting for someone to show up for the next spot.

It's funny @Matt D, I feel almost the complete opposite of you, although you have gotten me to come around on Jarrett. I do agree about Jericho-Starks and especially Christian-Jungle Boy. Mox-Page and Bryan-MJF are what is selling me this PPV, and I'm truly pissed that The Acclaimed, their hottest act, is being relegated to a comedy 4-way.

Here's a really great story about a small local Wisconsin fed from the mid-80s that started with an almost-unlabeled VHS from an estate sale. https://milwaukeerecord.com/sports/the-best-jobbers-in-the-country-the-mystery-vhs-that-unearthed-milwaukee-wrestling-history/

I’M YOUR HIGHNESS!

Opener was fun, classic David-Goliath wrestling. Big Bill is a cross between Sid and Nash right now and it’s working. Ladder match had its share of me holding my breath and hoping someone doesn’t get seriously injured spots. I was really wanting Takeshita but Hobbs works too and like others I’m now really stoked on a Hobbs-Lard Lad feud. AR Fox is nuts taking multiple nasty ladder bumps. Komander is awesome. Action Andretti is a guy who is on my TV and took some big bumps. Sammy played it safe, thank god. I didn’t think PPA would get 4 minutes of offense on Jericho, which was fun but then losing on one move negated the buzz. HOB-Elite is a major snore from me. I’m sure the match will have moments but I really just want to see Kenny Omega and Brodie King in singles matches. I’m not a “size queen” but I’ve always had a hard time buying Riho as a champ or a threat despite being quick and resilient. I know I just pissed some people off. We’ve gotten used to stiff AEW women’s matches and this wasn’t really that other than one killer Wrecked Em. Mox and Page sell the shit out of their match. Take my money and buy some mops. Hook-Hardy was more than I expected, I enjoyed it. Stokely rules right now. Battle Royale has me looking forward to some feuds but not the PPV 4-way. BCC is above Dark Order but makes sense in the context of the Mox-Page feud. I thought the Joker was a given but apparently not. Danielson sells the PPV and I didn’t have to hear MJF? I’ll take it.

I saw Springsteen a couple of weeks ago, my first time. He was great. Only other thing I currently have on the calendar is Taylor Swift in Houston, because my wife got 2 tickets and wants me to go with her. But she's also considering selling them and maybe we'll go to Punk in Drublic Fest in Austin. South by Southwest is coming up but being 51 and not listening to new music much, I don't know if I'll make any effort to go to day shows. I'm still having a hard time paying $25+ for shows, and triple digits for some of the huge reunion shows. For all the shit Taylor Swift got, she had lots of $50 and $70 tickets to her Houston show.

<cringe.gif>

Right now we're getting a lot of good to amazing matches but some of the angles and charcacters aren't very compelling, and some of it also feels like reruns.

Jimmy Hart was in a band for years, had a single (that was a cover and that he didn't sing on but still) go platinum and hit #4 on the top 100. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gentrys He would then go on to write many iconic themes for WWF during the 80s and 90s. Plus this classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxdCJV_T4I

Was able to watch Elevation, and mostly enjoyed it. Another excellent, hard-hitting, slightly more serious Emi match. I forgot how much I cracked up last week when she kept calling Billie “baby” while chopping her. Didn’t get anything quite like that but I love her standing on the ropes and yelling “I’m Your Highness!”. She might not be able to stay heel much longer, and I want her and Athena to have a 15-20 minute battle. I kinda forgot about The Kingdom, I guess they’re saving them for ROH but honestly I wouldn’t mind them in the regular tag scene. And not just for Maria. Womens trios was fine, some good comedy moments, Shafir showing some improvement and the submission drag to the corner was great, but she also had some reckless moments. I’d like to see more of Nyla even though she’s salvaging Shafir’s signing. Hobbs kills a dude, and finally realizes that it works better to bring the book to the downed opponent instead of crouching behind it in the corner. Mens trios didn’t have enough Zay, but the enhancement dude sold the shit out of Page’s big boot, dropped like he’d been smacked with a baseball bat. I think Takeshita-Johnson was great, although I think it was a little more competitive than it should have been given Takshita’s rise and push. Of course, Danielson, Mox, etc. are also extremely giving with the undercard guys and it did make Takeshita have to do some extra work to finish.

I bought a carrying case of random 45s at an antique store for $25 last year. This was one of them, had never heard of them. It's in the "to-sell" pile. I had also never heard of Donnie Iris before I went to college in central PA and all of the DJs at our radio station that were from the Pittsburgh area would play "Oh Leah."

Texans are already having people float that they're thinking of waiting until next year for their franchise QB

All this build for Andretti is perfect for him to take the fall and then become an RoH regular where he can work on his promos and be more of an upper card guy.