JLowe

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.

Since you brought this up, did you watch the clip of Omega addressing the crowd after Dynamite last night?

Not to do fantasy booking or be paranoid, but one possibility is that this is a work, and the have Page jump Punk next week, busting him open and/or "injuring" his foot. Punk tries to wrestle but Mox makes short work of him, ref stoppage.

I'm allowed to have my dreams!

Free Meiko Satomura!

Saw on another board that 11 games allows him to get paid for a full season.

I watched the series knowing nothing other than Kamala Khan being a Pakistani-American Muslim teen from New Jersey. My wife didn't even know that. We both loved it. Felt very personal, very much a hero's journey, was especially interesting since for us (and many) it was through a different lens than our own experience. I don't think I knew anything about the partition other than it happened, so the pain from that and the flashbacks added a lot to her and her family's story. It also makes sense that Damage Control would be a villain, since American Muslims, especially of Middle East and Indian Subcontinent descent, have had to live with aggressive spying and harassment from DHS and TSA since 2001. That was very intentional, a reminder that for many people the villains don't have to be super-villains.

I'd guess I'm about 13 years older than you and the Reign of Terror combined with TNA being pretty sucky made me fall off wrestling until recently.

Kenny worked the second half of the match without the shoulder sling/brace, and the knee was obviously an over-the-top sell since he was able to turn right around and hit the triple dragon suplex (and maybe at the end he was apologizing to Dragon Lee for dropping him on top of his head). I think he's going to be sore and not 100% but I don't get the feeling from that match he came back too early.

What if they have MJF sneak in and cost Punk the belts? But then who do you have Mox fight at PPV?

Fair points. With Ricky Steamboat there, it was like having three of my favorite wrestlers from different generations at the same time. And I love seeing the guys like Mox, Punk, Danielson, and Jericho making the next generation of stars.