Octopus

Just think: at Wrestlemania, Cody is gonna pin a guy who pinned The Rock.

Maybe The Rock will be for Elimination Chamber: Perth?

Instead of Dragon Dragon is it Strapon Strapon?

I should say failed to give him the ring in time. He was pretending he couldn’t find it and gave him it when Joe was already there.

Fun note I made in the Navel-Gazing thread. I like that Max won the title by Regal betraying Mox by giving him brass knuckles. Year goes by yada yada yada. Then losses the title by Adam Cole betraying by not giving him the Diamond Ring.

Just checked out the darkAngel tapes (now suckmet?) and it looks sweet! Only tough part is not having prices listed. But I can email. I’ve been searching for a way to see Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa from Big Japan 3-31-2015 for a while now and that might be the best option for that and others on my wish list.

NOAH has lost Muta, Nakajima, and now KANG. Can they survive 2024? So I was scrolling through TikTok and saw a mv edit of last nights Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara and it looks amazing! Where do people watch All Japan?

Poor guy sold his soul to the Devil for revenge

Wine drinking. This has been a tough year outside of wrestling. lil Octopus having a few medical things (breathing issues on Father’s Day with an overnight in the hospital) that was expensive (he’s healthy and happy now, now need to worry) car theft that put us in a really tough spot and made me a little paranoid of the constant car sirens etc going off at night, a close friend going through a bad moment and taking it out on me (everything is good now and he wasn’t in a good space), a tough move due to finances that was stressful and physically beat us up pretty well, etc. Wrestling World: I’ve been off and on watching and enjoying wrestling. A lot of the drama was silly and involved good memes but was ultimately a bummer. One constant was Bryan Danielson. Hot dog, what an interesting year! A solid year of absolutely excellent matches and depressing injuries. Even with the time off I have him as my Wrestler of the Year. My match of the year is him vs Zack Sabre Jr (Which I rambled about here). I have it at my All Time #2. I can see it revolving around my top 4 though. Holy smokes I’m feeling this wine. I’m gonna pour myself more. lil Octopus is asleep and now so is wife Gazelle. The back rack is an underrated move. I really appreciate Mox bringing it back into the fold last year (I believe) he really dogged in there. Nakajima is out of NOAH. I’m not deep enough into the Puro scene to wax too poetically about that, but he was my main desire to watch NOAH. Does this mean I should become a kinda All Japan fan? Do you think I can pull that off? Oh, this is an AEW thread. Let’s talk about WWE. I love the improvements. They’ll prob win promotion of the year and arguably rightfully so. Still, I’m more of a clips based watcher and occasional big events for them. Gunther is cool. I was a holdout in thinking he was always a Walter, but he earned respect as a Gunther. I enjoy the Bloodline matches to the level of appreciating it as a marker of the wrestling cultural times we are in within the ever turning wheel of history. Several matches stopping the action to prolong the story with a cutscene-esque moment that creates ramifications for the story going forward. MJF as a face started doing this whether mimicking what was working or merely moving along as a cog in history. So far though, even with so much I enjoy about WWE, it doesn’t give me the electrolytes I crave. There is a level of magic to the E that no one else can provide, but that physical struggle I see between Mox and Kingston grappling (even when a little sloppy) is what tickles my fancy the most. Even going from dudes chopping off and then going to unnecessary flips and then going to wild violence, etc, AEW is a lovely buffet. The Sports Entertainment is perfectly appreciated by me, but I like mixing it in with everything else. AEW THIS YEAR: MJF started the year with the title he won by having the current champion’s mentor betray him. Then tossing it aside to show his distain for personal relationships (really, Regal was leaving but they came up with stuff to make it work). He was a heel that regularly cheated to stay on top. Amongst all the company drama, his reign was mostly unaffected. We hit the second half of the year and he starts his story with Adam Cole that slowly turns him face. The joke at first being who will turn on the other, it builds to actual friendship. Adam Cole’s injury possibly prolonged it, but like when Brit was in a wheelchair, lead to some beloved segments and character development. MJF is now a face. Clearly an underdog that is outmatched and outmanned to the point he can’t even hold on to his title physically. Despite being a very fiery babyface and able to withstand enormous pain and not give up, he still needs to cheat to win. We point to the Jay White match as a burial (maybe it was) but on paper it took a deadly elbow from the top rope to the outside floor, a diamond cutter flying over the top rope off the apron to the outside, and a diamond ring that is a super finisher. (The ambulance stuff for that event could be vacuum fun but was unnecessary to the story that was already told). Then the Demon stuff. Yada yada yada. He doesn’t trust Joe but has to. Joe proves untrustworthy. The match happens and MJF is clearly outmatched. He tries to cheat like he always does and Cole drops the ball by giving him the diamond ring that he always cheat with late. Joe proves superior. MJF is on his knees and Adam Cole is consoling him just as MJF consoled Cole the same exact way after All In. Only now MJF’s best and only friend betrays him with the same mask he got his title shot with, surrounded by a group of masked Jackie’s that did all the work. Just like how MJF poisoned the friendship of Regal with the BCC to gain gold, he lost gold because of poisoned friendship. A year long storyline that albeit very clunky and in a company that seemed like it was struggling with a vision to do bad PR and drama, managed to tell a great on-paper story. A lot of the wrestling wasn’t for me, but I admire that it was told. The Continental Classic was my favorite thing of the year. I really hope every year they manage to do this. We got Rush matches! Great Danielson bouts! Kingston fun. Brody is sweet! The in tournament arcs were what really tied it all together. Daniel Garcia’s inner Dance or No-Dance with Daddy Magic on commentary was a treat. Danielson being a competitive dick the entire time to be Kingston’s mid-boss was awesome. Kingston coming from behind to win it all after putting the titles on the line. Jay’s losing is going to likely continue as something to keep an eye on. The build up to the 3-Way semi-finals was cool. All in all, great booking. Maybe the best booker thing this year for AEW. Up for debate though. I need to rewatch the FTR vs Bang Bang Gang. Hot diggity dog. Christian’s dead dads and mom flirting persona has been top shelf enjoyable fun. Plenty of things I didn’t like, but I’ve talked about them enough while they were happening. A lot of good this year in AEW. I’m glad they’ve ended it strong and with me being more positive. I will not autocorrect or re read. I do not have a belly button. But I have a beak and nine brains.

I like being listed with my wrestling E-friends.

Tony should rebook the Romain/Edge/Bryan feud but now with Samoa Joe being the one draping a battered Copeland with Danielson’s broken body. All hail Samoa Joe!

And yet you didn’t like the one dinosaur part of the PPV? Something here doesn’t add up…

I’m a Nigel fan. But out of respect for @Kev I’m watching Samoa Joe kick Nigel and squeeze his head with his thighs:

I think we’re all still learning what it means. Hopefully we get great matches out of it.

Triple Crown Champion, a belt I thought I wouldn’t care about, held by the least clam-digger on the roster, Eddie Kingston. Just give me unnecessary choppy and exploder suplexy dream matches. Daisuke Sekimoto, Katsuhiko Nakajima, more Ishii, Shinto Takagi, Barbaro Cavernario, maestros like Satanico and Negro Casas, Masakatsu Funaki, Timothy Thatcher, and CHRIS HERO.

Hey guys, Samoa Joe is champ

Maybe Christian has an amulet that controls all dinosaurs

Different feelings on this one, friend. I was kicking my tentacles so hard when these shenanigans started happening. Christian is such a stinker. If this was a Dusty Finish than I am joyously coughing from moving beloved family heirlooms around in my dusty attic.

Matt and I: two peas in a pod

I was cracking up so hard at that. At least two back to back moments like that. “He bud, let’s do the splash. We’re friends” and “he bud, beat your chest. We’re friends” only kinda saved by Hobbs and I think Bill beating them up. Very funny and awkward.

I loved it and I’m not a Cole guy. Lights go out, he’s sitting. I love to sit! Relatable content.

Woah, @GuerrillaMonsoon. I just realized this. With AEW moving towards monthly PPV’s do you think QUAKE BY THE LAKE will be one of their bigger PPV’s going forward? Book it, Tony!

They had hard times after that peak. But now that Joe is champ I’m sure they are again worthy of QUAKE BY THE LAKE

“Are you saying ‘Y2J’?”

If Jungle Boy was the Devil I would’ve been an Angry Hank