John from Cincinnati

Getting back into WWE for Punk purposes has me reckoning with the fact that they’ve handled Gunther very well. And a wrestling podcaster with some connections has suggested that the WWE pitch for Okada is “Gunther with subtitles.” Not sure old rematches are the metric for success. But I think I know what Okada in AEW looks like, whereas there’s a curiosity factor with WWE.

They’re going to air the SAG awards live on Netflix next month. Me and dozens of other people will be watching.

Am I crazy for thinking Netflix is ubiquitous enough that it’s at worst a neutral move in terms of visibility? Among streamers, I think it’s the only one you could credibly make that claim about.

SRS seemed to hint at the OVW docu-series making an impact. Will be interested if he does any reporting on that.

That was a very qualified answer while also speaking a great deal about the stiff football competition. I think if they were moving, they wouldn’t make that clear until closer to the move so as not to confuse people. It’s eleven months away, why rush to announce such a move?

I guess that’s fair in the sense that the main streamer I kept hearing people bring up as a possibility was Amazon.

Is it that random? Streamers looking to get live sports or sports-adjacent content has been a long developing story.

No time for that shit, gotta talk about OVW.

Hell yeah, let’s get those undercard guys with paper records into the top five so we can pretend their matches against the real stars matter.

Yes, I assume Curt was cracking wise.

Are we still doing Wire references?

Astros signing Josh Hader. Five years, $95 million.

Danielson’s still planning to work multiple times a year once he winds it down as a full-time guy. Think he said a dozen or so times a year, I can’t remember the exact number of matches he said. I worry how max effort he’s gonna go to make those feel special.

There’s something funny about Christian and Dustin being the examples cited in a post that devolves into a grievance against guys who do barely anything and take the night off when their match this past week had (off the top of my head; but I’m happy to go back and rewatch if necessary): -a superplex -a splash -a dive over the post to the floor -a destroyer on the floor -a finisher kick out -very physical collisions This is a TV first promotion and when the red light is on, I frankly don’t see many people assing off or taking the night off. I see a lot of people giving it their best effort every time out. Not everyone’s max-effort is equal, but are we holding it against people for making the most of what they have by deploying it shrewdly? Not being on the most extreme end of the maximalist bombfest scale isn’t a reflection of a lack of effort or a sign the performers think they’re taking advantage of the audience. I don’t want to go as far as to say it’s disrespectful to engage in work like that in this way, but I think we can do better. All of that said, I understand that the Bucks’ promo was repugnant and it was meant to provoke extreme opinions, so I blame them for all of this.

Just going to take the strange developments in this thread as proof that guys like Dustin don’t need to be hitting destroyers on the floor (which I don’t necessarily mind them doing), because the people they’re trying to please with that will still want them to go away.

What’s your desired Okada destination?

First time I’ve watched Impact night of instead of letting them pile up on the DVR in a long time. Long live the re-brand! Long live TNA! Great showcase of all flavors of what this brand has been. A multi-man X scramble, a women’s showcase, a warm-up for the future tag champs, a PCO squash, and an inspirational main event with the face of the franchise and someone who was inspired by the franchise. Punctuated by a very effective motivational speech from someone I don’t tend to consider a great motivational speaker. This was great wrestling TV. Dolph should have done this a decade ago. Maybe he’d be headlining Mania this year. Excited to see what identity he finds and where.

That’s Rated FTR, thank you very much.

The Spade show rules. Clive Owen has his snappy dialogue fastball in midsession form.

Surprised you enjoyed something so worked-shooty. Not trying to score points or anything, just happy to see you got something out of it. Not what I normally associate with your taste.

Hi, I’ve been in a coma since mid-August 2023. Just woke up. Glad the Bucks are finally starting to lean into it. This is gonna be an all-time great build. Love it.

HOOK teasing a Luigi Primo appearance. This is huge.

Considering the state of the place and the unresolved issues? Not really. But that’s not what I said. And I hate to break kayfabe, but Octopus is clearly doing a bit.

Drag Race has fully taken the “this always wins in the middle of the Emmys” crown that once belonged to The Amazing Race.