JLowe

Billy Gunn is still terrible other than his punches and his somersault sell, but his role in this angle has been great and helped get a lot of people over.

Yeah, although that one time ended with Ospreay getting the knees up so I’ll give them that. I also will say that Penta and Ospreay were competing for the “even by lucha standards, that’s a goofy ridiculous oversell” prize.

Tony is trying to make the YouTube shows more meaningful by cross-running angles and giving people win streaks on them for the TV shows.

Yeah, my only minor complaints were Britt’s cheap shot at Rosa then botching like 3 moves, the main event ending, and the big Aussie guy’s pathetic forearm and elbow strikes.

Mentioning great dropkicks and leaving the Rock and Roll Express off your initial list should be grounds for a board timeout.

To go into more detail, beyond "JLowe truly hated the damned New Age Outlaws and especially that entrance". First, there's no reason for AEW to pay tribute to the WWE Attitude Era beyond the Bret Hart in-ring stuff. It goes against the house style. Second, The Acclaimed were already getting way over without Billy Gunn, it might be argued that it was the Acclaimed who got Gunn Club over. Yes, "scissor me Daddy Ass" is funny but in the long run they don't really need Billy Gunn, especially if they are going to be a face team. Third, The Acclaimed already have their signature entrance. If Max wanted to work the line "Oh you didn't know" into one of his raps, sure, that would fit his mischievous diss rap style. But adding one of the corniest dudes from the corny ass Attitude era would be a huge anchor. That said, if you really want to do a one-off (and I personally really really don't), you have Road Dogg come out with the Ass Boys at the PPV and do the entrance with them.

I didn’t even get the pun the first 2 times I saw it.

Knowing nothing about the character, the comics, etc., I liked it although some of the CGI is a little off (but since it's mostly a comedy it's not a huge deal). Definitely a different tone. Having Smart Hulk probably gave it some comfort notes too.

I liked the first time they sang the “he’s a bastard” song, but it does/would get old. Then again, so does dueling chants and Fozzy.

Fair point, although Emocore is more tolerable than Nu Metal. And a lot of wrestling looks are still stuck in the early 2000s so it matches. AEW has some good stuff with some variety out there. Keith Lee’s theme has a contemporary trap beat (even though I hate trap), Ricky Starks, Jade Cargill, Toni’s mash-up of Heart and a 70s mecha anime theme song. They had a number of good themes for black history month and then everyone ditched them,

To be clear, I enjoyed the Trustbusters match but their role is JTTS who main event YouTube and occasionally get heated up to put someone over on TV.

He did a Dark match in his hometown a few months back and yeah, he can barely move at this point.

Yeah, Claudio-Dustin was something I didn’t know I wanted until it’s happening. Nice backstory. I also ended up looking up to see if Dustin wrestled Steamboat only to learn they were a surprise tag-team who won the WCW World Tag Team titles, which sort of goes against his narrative but hey it’ll still be a good stiff match. SitG and Private Party was fun, good storyline, we had some screams, we had a huge yeet , Quen sold the pounce like he got hit with a goddamn wrecking ball, Swerve’s finisher was NASTY and I liked the respect (at least from Lee) at the end. All that build for a 5 second squash was a letdown on the Hook match, but 2.0 will make that better. Buddy-Serpentico was a decent Dark squash. Britt’s extensions looked like they were meant for horses. She’s wearing on me. Rebel is stealing money. Athena-Ford, on the other hand, was maybe a little more competitive than it should have been given the circumstances. Athena is fun though, moves and personality in the ring. And did y’all note how dead the crowd was for Jade? Was it because the sledgehammer is the dumbest fucking thing in wrestling and associated so heavily with HHH? Are people tired of her and the baddies? Just a long night? Main was fun, as expected. I talked shit on Boudreaux’s look and don’t regret it, but he has some skills. Slim J took a bit of an ass-beating. A story was told. Great finisher.

Yo HHH, we’ll trade you Ethan Page and Tony Nese for Dempsey.

This time, the FBI are the bad guys!

People always forget that the Junction Boys went 1-9 that season.

I wish Pro Wrestling would move on from Nu-Metal one of these days

Tangentially, there has been a big QB battle at UT, with people hearing that Coach Sark was going to be naming a starter after tomorrow's scrimmage. But all the sites started reporting that Hudson Card had the better training camp, and they were hearing that he was going to be the choice. Some called their shot, some hedged. But today, out of the blue during a player media availability, a UT football PR guy comes out and makes an announcement that Quinn Ewers has been named starter by Sark. And now, people are wondering if their info was bad, if Sark was trying to find moles, basically if they were being worked. As a wrestling fan, it's kind of fun to watch.

Excalibur covers for botched moves, JR points them out.

I was wondering if I had missed his release and got super excited for a second.

Yeah, and dehydrating your players to that point is bad for their body and has a long-term, cumulative effect.

This is one of the reasons why it feels very much like a work. It's very similar to political leaks, you always have to look at the source and their agenda. Sometimes they're even "trial balloons", to see what kind of reaction a potential decision or policy might get. The best works, the best leaks, the best lies always have some element of truth. MJF is pissed about money and wants a bigger contract. Punk has a penchant for being a little petty and airing his grievances publicly.

Slim J has the look of a late '90s/early 00s douchebag trying to roofie drinks at shitty clubs, so he's someone who I want to see get his ass kicked on the reg. So if he takes a good assbeating, I could become a fan. Parker Boudreax looks like a 4th generation Xerox of a page from a Brock Lesnar coloring book where someone drew on their own tattoos. Sonny Kiss is awesome and I'm glad she is getting some actual TV time (again, I guess). I think TB-BF will be a fun match. I think all the matches tonight will be good matches. For once, I want to see Hook just throw a dude around and choke him out.

Is WWE the hot promotion? Has there been a substantial shift in direction so far? I find it unwatchable so I can't say, but I don't know that it really has more than people wishcasting so far. 1: I think there won't be the kind of misused talent that has been making the jump since HHH is said to favor different styles/people and will fight harder to keep his people during the next (not the NXT) round of budget cuts. So the question becomes will Tony K continue to sign WWE castoffs just to try and show up HHH? The wild card is Sasha Banks, what bridges she burned, what bridges they burned with her, and how much Tony K will pay. She seems like someone who would like the reduced schedule and the ability to keep more of her related revenue. 2: Being that I don't really watch because I don't like the house style, it's hard to say. Do we need more people who are "over" due to a catchphrase and a singalong theme song? Most likely fits are people who were indy stars before signing with WWE, so they don't have that performance center clone factor. My dream, mentioned on the main board, is bringing in Meiko Satomura to add to the new, stiffer Women's division and also help train. I'd love to have Regal's kid just so they can work together. Walter/Gunther would work, but I think he's going to get a huge push in the E. Nakumura would likely do a lot better in AEW.