JLowe

Rax was my favorite place as a kid in Ohio, especially after Burger Chef closed. Arby's had the jamocha shake (and the horsey sauce which my Grampy liked but was too spicy for young JLowe) but the Rax Roast Beef was way superior. Next time I'm visiting family in Ohio I have to track down one of those Rax and see how it holds up.

It does seem like the only way to bring him back is by having Tony Khan as an on-screen character feuding with MJF and I really really really really really really don’t want that.

Dean’s Saturday thoughts on Kingston-Takeshita mirror mine (also coincidentally on Saturday but not a rewatch). This was a super fun very stiff match that would have all-time classic potential with 30-40 minutes to give more time to build, and then more time between the huge move sections. A nice small touch was Lard Lad barely making the 10 count after the Exploder on the floor. Really do hope they give them a 30-minute main event rematch. Also hope we get Takeshita-Danielson. I was thinking Faces of Fear for Gates of Agony (yeah, probably a little racist there...) but Road Warriors is a great comparison. Gresham with Tully will be better than Gresham on his own, but ROH is a great place for a guy like that. Lee Moriarty really needs some kind of signature win. Mercedes-Deeb will be good. Tony Khan’s determination to get Deeb over is how I know he was a DVDVR board member. I do agree with whoever posted that having the token Rampage women’s match be an angle squash is getting old. I didn’t expect much out of Nese-Cassidy and they ended up really having a great match. Paired well, with Cassidy both selling Nese’s big moves well and having enough charisma to get Nese some heat. And then Nese sold Cassidy’s moves like a million bucks. Those DDT sells made that sequence look huge without looking silly. Cassidy is on a run, but not sure where they can go with him right now.

I was honestly thinking that’s where they were going with the Dark Order promo. Speaking of promos, I forgot how great Moxley’s backstage promo was. WOTY candidate. Roosh-Penta was my favorite Penta match. They brought the hate and some relative stiffness. Going to be a fun trios match when Alex and Jose face off. Bowens being hurt apparently gave the Assclaimed the build it needed to really make the heel turn a big one. That was also my favorite Shafir match, but I’m still just not seeing it. She took and sold a stiff beating, Toni seemed to really relish blasting her with forearms. She also showed a bit of personality as a second on Friday. Thunderstorm are off to a good start, hope they stick together once there’s a women’s tag tournament. Main event was definitely a stiff brawl, shocked there wasn’t blood. Ending was interesting in concept but a little rough in delivery with Mox popping up a little fast from the cannonball and the broken bulldog choke...at least in. Y opinion. Friday looks really great.

For various reasons (including finally watching the 7/1 Rampage [which was pretty awesome]) I only managed to watch the first hour of Dynamite, stopping right after the Penta entrance. Went ahead and read the spoilers, and it all was pretty much what I expected and won't affect my watching of the second hour. Wardlow got his heat back. Fun match, was obvious the ATT guys were enhancement since they didn't bother naming any of them and most were more roided and less cauliflower ears, lean muscle, and DV convictions. Thought briefly that the confetti being so thick would be cover for a run-in (likely He Who Shall Not Be Named), still thought so when Wardlow was backing up the ramp. But they didn't go there. Christian is going to get himself stabbed. If it weren't for HoB, having Dark Luchasaurus spit black mist as part of his dark gimmick would work in a dinosaur attack kind of way. Hardy reacted well to Christian's very personal attacks. Like DEAN, I wanted some blood, it'll happen soon enough. Swerve in the Glory vs. Butcher and Blade (and my dear Bunny), as others have pointed out, wasn't as smooth as it could have been but had some good hoss fight moments and more good tease of a Swerve-Lee split. I assume the Upstate NY crowd (upstate being anything north of Yonkers) was cheering B&Bw/B for their Buffalo connection. Starks was heated, definitely channeling classic Flair energy. Another three-way surely will have different results, but then that takes away from the money Bucks-FTR for all the gold match. Kingston was great in his 1 minute of mic time. Tony was being weird during the in-ring interview segments. Poor Ruby! Think that's about it.

"D-Von...get the door!" - Mama Dudley, when the doorbell rang

The Big12 minus UT & OU taking in UH, Cincy, and UCF was dumb and desperate at the time, and even more so now. Bet they wish they could call take backs on that.

I’m cracking myself up watching this and imagining “Running Up That Hill” as the background music.

I had to look it up and it technically has neither, but it has some kind of air cooling system but is basically open air with a retractable roof.

I’m not doubting you but my brain cannot currently wrap around the idea that the LWO only lasted 2 months.

My wife wants to go to the Nintendo theme park so bad.

Wish we had the “wow” reaction here.

Spoiler

Yep, to the point that they realized they could sell even more/keep it “fresh” with the Red-White split, and then having LWO. After the first few months NWO only existed as a brand to sell merch.

Other than the Smackdown 6 era, I think people read spoilers to decide if it was even worth the time to watch or tape. With AEW so far, that hasn’t been a question.

Wheeler Yuta went from “job guy in Best Friends”, known mostly for crawling through opponents legs, to asskicker and third most over guy in Blood and Guts. He’s my AEW WotY nominee.

I’m rooting for Takeshita, I think it would be fun to actually have Starks win. My only prediction is that Keith Lee dumps Swerve this time.

That’s what I got, with the suspenders as well. The hats were more fedora than bowler but otherwise that was the look I think they wanted.

Yes she was Marina’s second in the Storm match. But I am in agreement with those calling out AEW for having Nyla and Sonny prominently in their Pride ads while not featuring them on TV.

Yes, but the big elephant in the room is TV rights. ESPN has been driving the SEC expansion and foreseeing the future, FOX jumped in to push the B1G-PAC 12 expansion as a counter.

Also, wondering if there is going to be some ACC poaching. What if the Big Ten goes after UNC, UVA, and Duke? SEC takes Clemson and FSU.

In terms of the big money sports, the only attractive Big 12 candidate is KU basketball. Sure, Baylor has had success but there is a well-deserved stink on that school. The scraps of the Pac 12 and Big 12 are going to basically form a slightly better Mountain West. Long term, would be interesting to see if some schools decide to scrap football entirely and focus on the smaller/Olympic sports.

They started working that back when Texas and OU first announced they were leaving the Big 12. Would fully expect that to happen in 2024, if not 2023. No way are they going to be able to hold the Big 12 together until 2025 the way the dominoes are falling.

Man, she was one of my huge teenage crushes in the 80s.

Not only that, but they recycled so many scripts from that onto their various other short-lived 70s properties.