(BP)

I don’t think we should underestimate how much more nihilistic and amoral people are on average than in 2011, especially in my neck of the woods. Max was a hero last night, a slimy cheating hero. As Bob Dylan sang, “In Jersey everything's legal as long as you don’t get caught.”

Rrrrrrroad Report! The Prudential Center is perhaps the nicest sports venue I’ve ever been in. It still sucks, but not as much as the ones closer to me. It appeared to be close to a sell-out. Most of the empty seats were on the suite level. We were in the loft area hanging from the rafters and the rest of the lofts were packed too. In fairness to the negative Nellies, there were folks around us who haven’t been following the promotion closely and didn’t know some of the talent, which indicates either papering or the television programs are turning people off. On the other hand, the crowd was more eclectic than most I’ve been in for wrestling, but they had a hardcore energy. There were women in their early 20s in front of us so invested in their favorites (The Elite and Mox specifically) going over that they were heartbroken when they lost. Pre-show opener was fine. Love That Dark Danhausen. Not much to say about Starks/Cage besides it didn’t quite look like Cage sandbagged him on the finish, but he didn’t really do him any favors taking it the way he did. I’m going to watch Eddie and Akiyama again because the general chaos of everyone getting seated was distracting. The acoustics and shitty sound meant we heard nothing anyone said all night, so I had no idea what Eddie was saying until I watched a clip of it. Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus was a hot opener that delivered. There were people talking about the spots that were lifted from Shawn/Taker’s HIAC match, which got me thinking about whether wrestling matches can truly work as pastiche pieces or if it’s too distracting when we can clearly see references. It didn’t ruin the match for me, but it was something to chew on. The sound screwed us again with The Elite entrance. We couldn’t hear the song at all and didn’t know what it was until the crowd on the lower levels started singing. This was super fun and Kenny looks better than he did when he came back, so the extra time off worked out in that regard at least. The “Fuck CM Punk” and “Colt Cabana” chants were some of the loudest all night. It reinforced just how badly Punk screwed up to have such a uniformly negative response from people who were presumably ecstatic about his return. The young Elite fans in front of us were devastated at them losing and livid about the Death Triangle cheating. It was such a pure reaction, great stuff. The bathroom migration during Jade/Rose was insane. I’ll watch this one back because the indifference was palpable and killed it for me. The ROH title match was what I expected, great work between people I want to see in singles matches and then a lot of laying around. They did some cute stuff and I liked it but it’s not my kind of thing. Sammy is a wonder; the crowd started the match with powerful “Fuck Sammy” chants and then went apeshit for all of his offense. The Saraya match had a weird energy in the building because everyone was happy for her but did not care about the actual match at all. It was nearly as dead as Jade/Nyla besides a bunch of murmuring and occasional Good for Her type of cheers. Britt and Saraya are both better matched with larger opponents that work different styles than them. The TNT title match was another one I’d rather see as a singles with any combination of Joe/Wardlow/Hobbs. Our section spent most of the match yelling, “Meat! Meat! Meat!” I assume they’re going to run some kind of title unification rematch and Wardlow will be AEW TV Champion. The old guy tag was barely a match, but we loved it. We had fun with shouting A Man Called Singh. Sting is God. It’s still Jeff Jarret’s world. Lethal looked great and felt like the glue of the match. Darby should be up at the tippy top of the company, he’s one of the best wrestler’s in the world. Hayter got some of the best reactions of the night, probably behind only MJF and The Acclaimed/Daddy Ass. Storm has been one of the most consistently good performers in AEW since she debuted. Britt’s better as Hayter’s second. I know that’s dismissive, but I enjoyed her spots in this more than in her actual match. It’s probably my match of the night. I’m so happy I was in the building to be part of it. The Tag title match started off on a down note since we had no idea what Caster was saying. The match itself was pretty good, but I don’t think it touched their previous encounters with Swerve and Lee. A lot of the weird reactions towards the end of it that were perhaps audible on tv were due to a fight breaking out in a lower level. Security took forever to get it settled down and by the time they did the finish was happening. We were fried by the main, but the crowd being molten hot for MJF got us reinvested. They kept it mostly simple, which was the right call on a night with a lot of tags and gimmick matches. We almost thought the timekeeper table was going to survive the entire show. I know this is antiquated in 2022, but it was weird how the roof came off for two title changes where the winner cheated like a motherfucker to put away their opponent. We were out right after the finish, but on the venue screens in the hallway it looked like some of the BCC came out to console Mox. We had a great time. I guess my biggest overall criticism is how much it felt like nearly every match toyed with traditional structures in some regard to stand out, but when everyone does it on the same card it’s taxing. Too many tag matches with barely any actually tagging and no disqualification matches. It created some great visuals and reactions though. Special shout-out to the guy in our section who never sat down and tried to scissor everyone, and I mean everyone, for five hours.

I mean, in that case they’d be right because he clearly needs fiber.

We had a good time. I don’t know if it made tv, but one of the best parts of the night for us was when one of the security guards tried to follow Sting after the dive by climbing down the railing and fell. He landed square on his ass and then he popped up into a karate stance to try to make it look cool.

What’s your favorite wrestling match?

Bret didn’t have anything even approaching a Royal Rumble ‘92 moment in WCW.

It’s not likely at all, but somehow Punk vs Austin is more possible now than it’s been in the decade since they teased it.

Nothing But Trouble is a movie I intellectually understand is bad but I find compulsively watchable. It imprinted on me as a kid when it was in constant rotation on HBO.

I loved it as a kid and the book it’s based on is pretty good. It’s been a while, but it’s probably a decent curiosity in as much as it’s the studio movie that broke John Carpenter’s spirit and began his transition to underachieving video game grampy. The score by Shirley Walker is fantastic though. I believe it was the first solo composing credit for a woman in the history of Hollywood, which is crazy. Chevy Chase is a famous asshole, but he uncharacteristically used his clout to get her the job despite studio pushback. She also scored Batman: The Animated series and the rest of the 90s DC animated series, and the film’s music has that energy to it.

Aside from the other stuff I’ve mentioned, the set pieces, especially in the first half, have a very cool Donner Superman vibe. I think it’s because they’re often about the impression that Namor and his tribe leave on regular people, kind of like the Kryptonians in Superman II.

I regret not including a trigger warning just in case. Outside of the goofy kills and Buckman’s breast’s it’s not a very graphic movie, but the dialogue makes it gross and distressing anyway. The incongruity between the Fragrasso parts and the reshoots is really apparent when they talk about victims being abused for hours after we just saw the killer do a Mortal Kombat punch through their chest killing them instantly. Here’s a pretty succinct NSFW review for anyone just looking for the laughs.

I’ve definitely pushed myself a lot more than I should have because I lift at home, but having to drive places discourages me from doing lots of things so I’m happy I just have to walk downstairs. I lost about two weeks due to some weird digestive issues compounded by the kids passing around a stomach bug. I was mostly just relieved my symptoms weren’t from a hernia. The only thing I managed to do was one day of chest/back, but I kept up with my cardio boxing. I lost about ten pounds because of my loss of appetite so my lifts are down. I need to sit at 170-180 lbs or I feel incredibly off, but it’s the perfect time of year to bulk. Time to get to work.

It’s very real, reaching back to the CIA’s predecessor, the OSS. There’s plenty of fascinating stuff out there about it. One little chestnut is that during Ted Kaczynski’s time at Harvard he was part of a private undergraduate program with a professor whom he thought was mentoring him. Eventually he found out he was actually a guinea pig in a CIA-subsidized MK Ultra experiment involving psychological torture. It was basically designed around building up his self esteem and then destroying it over and over again for a year. I’m sure it didn’t do any lasting damage to his relationship to society or the sciences that’s relevant *shrugs*.

Relax, you’re allowed to be wrong.

Nah. This nonsense that they become more racist and fascist because everyone else forces them do it is pathetic abuser ideology. They can come into the house when they stop rolling around the backyard in their own shit.

Either way it prevents every shit sucking bottom feeder with “wrestling news” social media accounts from using the pic to report on nothing.

My seats are in the upper atmosphere, the Webb telescope may have a better view of of me than I will of the ring, but I’ll be there. As someone who became a crotchety old man at 20 I hate that I committed to being out past midnight, but these AEW shows are the only time my brother and I get together and have any real quality time. Plus, this card has fun written all over it.

Don’t forget Larry’s teeth, even if we know it’s bullshit (he’s definitely just trying to cash in his Lloyd’s of London policy!)

I sent you a movie @RIPPA but it’s a real stinker and I’m not sure if So Bad It’s Good is your kind of thing, so I’m kind of relieved you didn’t end up watching it.

It’s not something that comes up often, but Owen was probably never sniffing the top of the card again after he almost killed the prospective golden goose. Not even necessarily as a punishment, but Austin wanted nothing to do with him which was why he was solidly midcard after Bret left.

I’ll take your word for it. We tapped out on Elvis because my wife doesn’t like Baz’s style, and no one’s going to make me care about the Air Force. I’ll see Tom Cruise when he’s being interesting again, which for me is when he’s throwing himself off of buildings. Edit: I also don’t care about the Navy, which is the branch that I guess those movies actually take place in.

Once Avatar is out they’ll probably close up shop and stream it on Christmas or New Years.