[AEW - MAY 2023]

I think AEW is being sold to the Saudi government and Rampage will base its airing day on an oversized novelty wheel. 

[Stuff. Not good. Not bad. Just...stuff.]

@The Natural will become so buff he’ll have to change his name to Big Poppa Paul!

[2023 MOVIE DISCUSSION THREAD]

Derp. Time for some shameful plugging.

My film, Ode to the Whale of Christ, is officially available on YouTube! 

CLICK HERE for the link to the film, so I don’t bog down this site with a big 30 min embedded video

This was the abstract silent film that was completed right before I created my film fest, Octopus Marquee Independent Film Festival (sheesh, I’m plug whoring hard). For a little over 2 years it had a fun run on the festival circuit. Now with the Octopus putting more focus on family (lil Octopus is now running around the house and climbing on the couch, future filmmaking endeavors (shooting the next film soon), and spending time highlighting independent Auteurs and unique filmmakers through the OctoMarqIFF, it is time to end the films run on the exclusivity festival circuit. If you’d like to watch this 30 minute experimental b&w silent film , please click the link provided above or CLICK RIGHT HERE.

Quote

Ode to the Whale of Christ 

A Modern Silent Film, by David Matthew Johnson. A black and white film with a rhythmic abundance of text that scatters across the screen and a meditative pace that creates a visually compelling sensory experience.
She carries He, a man eternally asleep. We witness She’s struggle carrying, feeding, bathing, and caring for He, until She can lift He no longer.

Reviews:

Spoiler

“A stylish short movie that dares to be black & white and silent. Yet, it is never silent.” – Luminous Void

“[David Matthew] Johnson succeeds in one of the most difficult creative operations: making aesthetics and content coincide. This homogeneous creative act is a film of rare fluidity of writing, original but discreet, intimate and lyrical, up to the disturbing finale. The breaking of modern conventions allows Johnson to free himself from the burden of structures and the film, in its frequent written parts, seems to urge the spectator himself to compose his vision. A rare and precious work.” - Prisma Rome Independent

“ ‘Ode to the Whale of Christ’ is an extraordinary film that has a deep influence on the viewer. David Matthew Johnson makes an inventive use of silence.
By silence he totally captures the attention of the viewer, pointing out that very important, sacred acts take place here. Furthermore, he introduces a tension, which at times takes your breath away. The silence severely intensifies the viewer's emotional involvement in the drama.” - Dr. Konstantinos Akrivos PhD - Short Encounters

"“Ode to the Whale of Christ, minus its explicit religious symbolism, is also an account of everyday human toil, the kind fated to simultaneous perseverance and utter absence of reward. The mercilessness which She subjects herself to is easily a representation of self-harm masked as service. Her care in the absence of his response is easily an account of historical emotional and physical labor in empty marriages.” - Indie Shorts Mag

 

This was the film I posted here about the theater screening late last year. It can be really tough putting myself out there and for so long I’d never finish anything for that fear of failure and timidness to be front and center. But to hopefully make a living making the weird movies I imagine I have to be brave and active at working on my dreams. 

Here was pics of the screening from last year’s thread:

[AEW Dynamite - 5/10/2023]

7 minutes ago, jaedmc said:

I gotta disagree here with the conclusion you've come to about this Mox/Omega pairing. Because your analogy, while a little off, is also the story they've been telling with the on again off again rivalry of Mox and Omega. Omega was portrayed as the athletic, technically skilled wrestler who was never pushed to the kind of violence that Moxley brings. And every time they've wrestled, Omega has had to "go there." And I think every time he's given it his best shot.

I actually think Moxley vs. Omega is the most compelling in ring storytelling that Omega has had since AEW started, in part because it's about whether or not he can survive outside of his comfort zone. And I think he's done well in every type of match they've done.

At the very least he does change the way he fights. The layouts feel different than his regular matches.

A very interesting use of AEW’s type of storytelling where a running narrative can be dipped back into as time passes. One of the company’s oldest feuds that can be reasonably revisited as the characters evolve over the years. 

You pointing this out has been the spark that has swayed me into loving BCC vs The Elite. Thanks bud!!!

[AEW Dynamite - 5/10/2023]

I think the conversation of specific wrestling styles in terms of how an individuals move or operate in a match is a fair and potentially enlightening one. @Niners Fan in CT using the term “goofiness” to describe Mox is both commonly held (on Reddit and other sites joking about all the bleeding and his overall swagger) and ironic as @just drewpointed out (be it with questions verbiage that some of us learned from and talked about), given Omega’s criticism that some would label as “goofy” (Phil on Segunda Caida referenced the type of wrestling style as “2010s style CrossFit wrestling” in 2017 and has had pushback of silliness elsewhere). Neither are wrong and just sharing opinions.

I like the idea of this discussion in preferred styles of wrestling beyond singular genre terms. What makes an Omega match different? What makes a Mox match different? How do they blend with others that have their own personal identities in their movements and match structure beyond the booking of character and plot? Assuming wrestlers are in an environment that allows them to not wrestle a singular style where the promotion is the style.
Example: How are Komander, Hijo Del Vikingo, and Rey Fenix matches different? We see them all described as “lucha” style but beyond the genre, what specifically defines their matches. 

I like both and find that as one of the fun things about AEW. On the same show I can see a tense arm bar, a spectacular flip, a stooging heel, a bloody brawl, and a sprinted sequence all in different matches done in different ways from the previous weeks.

I usually shy away when discussions get too negative so my online presence can be in specific areas. Usually here is good but can lead to a Stone Cold Stunner and Johnny Cash sighting like the other day.

[AEW Dynamite - 5/10/2023]

12 minutes ago, porksweats said:

He did not, Bix questioned it on Twitter himself and TK quote tweeted saying "No Bix, I definitely said TNT on purpose"

 

Looking more into it, the announcement will be on TNT rather than Dynamite.

So the announcement will happen on TNT or the subject matter will be about TNT?

[AEW Dynamite - 5/10/2023]

Or he introduces a new faction, Don Callis’s Callous Dawn

[WWE Network Conversation]

20 minutes ago, Sparkleface said:

Might work if you were an octopus. Or @Octopus.

...

Heyyyyyy!

That’s how I set up the Octopus Stretch

[May 2023 Wrestling Talk]

This reminds me when I was 10 and missed a majority of Raw but showed up just in time for a sweet Stone Cold moment or the Rock doing the eyebrow. 

Btw, fantastic Steve Austin spit take in that gif!

[Wrestling Podcasts - 2023]

The Billy Robinson tribute episode of Brisco and Bradshaw got awkward and I wish covered more about Robinson and less about one of the guests going on about his attempt at a shoot style company and Bradshaw saying you can’t argue with successful people. That’s an over simplification on my part, but still not enough Robinson talk. 

[AEW - MAY 2023]

No sleep lost, @John E. Dynamite. One of many silly misfortunes of a Mn Sports fan. Most rambling and a bit to joke on parallels. But to continue on it, Steph stated he didn’t want to come here and didn’t train here during scouting, so it never was going to happen and is way overplayed. Maybe a draft and trade but the team isn’t that savvy. 
You from Mn?

[AEW - MAY 2023]

3 hours ago, elizium said:

Am I crazy or is the BCC so much better without Regal? Love Lord Steven, but they are way more interesting as a pack of attack dogs, rather than Ringkampf-lite.

That said, I do miss Regal on my TV. In a different timeline, he's currently Daddy Arse

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

This sort of felt like the moment where things went wrong for AEW:

 

I agree and disagree. I will say, the twitter picture of them having fun behind the scenes gets a bit overplayed when the company was basically founded on Indy wrestlers goofing off backstage and traveling on YouTube. 
 

For no rational reason other than sheer repeated elbows and the aesthetic, BCC was my favorite thing in wrestling at that time and maybe even personal favorite stable. But the booking was clunky on occasion. I loved a lot about the JAS feud but key moments weren’t capitalized on.

The Kingston dynamic with the group was a missed opportunity. Friends with Mox but hated Claudio. Kingston almost burns Danielson with the gasoline at Anarchy in the Arena but not really capitalized on. We get a who is Garcia’s dad feud instead with Jericho when Dragon returns from injury. Claudio beats Maynard(?) before Kingston can beat Jericho, but that isn’t continued with. We get a convoluted gimmick match with Kingston and Jericho instead of treating Blood and Guys like a blowoff. We could have seen Kingston against Claudio with a split Mox who is respecting his friends fighting, but it’s spun off into a Guevara feud that turned into more BS backstage drama.

Regal leaves and they awkwardly didn’t know what or how to do it. He turns on them, he gets betrayed, then he knew he would get betrayed so it’s all cool. Maybe in a longer time frame it could work but so many of those steps seemed awkward. 

Regal being a father figure to Danielson it makes sense for that to be the lead in to Danielson vs MJF (a feud that you could point to as things could have been different but I think was top quality AEW style storytelling). But, it was glaring throughout that Danielson and the rest of the BCC was separate for this portion. Maybe it was addressed but I don’t recall it. With Mox the clumsy Regal exit felt somewhat awkwardly  blown off and I’m sure he was just in a F this let’s go to the next thing. The Hangman feud was interesting and it was cool seeing Mox’s tweener presence get more aggressive and heel-like. 

Now we got the Dillionless Four Elbowmen back together to face the Elite. I was excited with the Danielson’s return but I haven’t been feeling this feud. Maybe I’m burned out. @John from Cincinnati pointed out that it hasn’t had the crazy match ups yet like we see in these AEW feuds. Maybe that’ll be this week with Omega and Mox. A lot of backstage assaults and segments. I want a story to be told through continuation of in match moments. I feel that goes into @Gordlow’s Sports Entertainment points. This feels like a vehicle for more of the Elite friend drama, which a few years ago was the best storyline in wrestling. It might be external factors in my life that’s just making me less excited towards something I might like in a better place, it could be the awkward Brawl Out news continuation that makes me less excited to cheer a storyline where the Elite get sympathy being beaten up backstage, could be booking decisions being more segmenty then matchy, I don’t know. 

At almost every turn in the BCC existence I have been both blown away and also underwhelmed. Very human and it happens. My issue with AEW and WWE can often be my own fault where I imagine what all could happen. As an Octopus I technically have 9 brains, so my imagination and ability to use logic is far superior to everyone else and I can create situations where others can’t reach the bar. With my 3 hearts I just care so much more, which is why I’m so compassionate and humble, but my hearts just get so wrapped up into what does and doesn’t happen. I’m at a weird spot in my wrestling enjoying life where maybe I’m just not in the right spot to enjoy things right. It’s not you, Tony. It’s me. But maybe not, I did love the MJF v Danielson feud and the Hangman v Mox series. Maybe I was better then? I don’t know why I’m still typing. I’m sure I didn’t actually make a point. 

I’m glad we got what we got with the BCC over an alternative of Mox and Danielson becoming Professor X and Magneto shaping the minds of young technical but needing to be more hard hitting wrestlers and eventually battling each other for the fate of professional wrestling: A group lead by a wild brawler that will fight anyone but also loves his family and will make the right choice for him to better himself when it is at an important point in his career vs a perfect wrestler who will stomp on heads, bend people, pick on larger wrestlers in the back, eat salads, and talk about flaccid penises. Oh shit, maybe that would have been sweet.

BUT WAIT. You’re a Timberwolves fan, Octopus. Be unreasonably reasonable and logically identify my poor logic. We could have drafted Steph Curry. Twice! The Wolves got Johnny Flynn and Ricky Rubio. Rubio wouldn’t join the team for years because of playing in Spain yada yada yada. The reason we didn’t pick Curry, The GM, David Khan (yes, his fucking name was fucking Khan) said we needed a point guard. Fucking Minnesota’s Rasputin bullshit artist David fucking actual name fucking Khan and I Want to be the Zen Master but I’m Actually a Strip Mall Office Building Transcendental Meditation Hustler Curt I Think We Should Run the Triangle Offense Because MJ and Kobe Did It So it Must be The Right fucking Fit For Every Team Rambis thought that the guy that became one of the greatest point guards of all time and changed the landscape for how teams try to score couldn’t be a point guard. Even if we didn’t think he could be a point guard which in hindsight is like the caveman that thought trapezoid would be the more influential shape over Wheel, we didn’t have a good shooting guard. It was dumb not taking him and I was mad in Nate’s basement. We had chips though.

Minnesota should have drafted Curry. But let’s be honest, we would have fucked him up. We would have had him in a shitty offense with less talented shooting coaches and a less able medical team that would have likely not been able to get him to ride through his early injury years. Mark Jackson had a soothing voice that kept him in his path. The Minnesota accent is draining when outsiders listen to us for too long. If we drafted Curry, the world would not have the Curry we know now. Mediocrity and occasionally bad decision making says “you’re welcome.”

Lets not think about how if the BCC was recruiting more youngsters would be good, but what awkward misses and slightly off booking decisions could we have seen. Maybe a weird hazing segment? I like to imagine JD Drake as a spy for Jericho, which sounds great, but it actually would have been and while typing this I’ve disproven the point I stumbled into. Damn my 9 brains and their ability to book perfectly. 

In summation, Regal was cool. I like the mean streak the BCC have now but I had more fun watching them before. Maybe Regal yelling while Yuta pulls out each of Matt Jackson’s teeth would have been cool. Idk. I won’t spell check.

 

[Ring of Honor - 2023]

With ROH having its own streaming service, it’s smart to keep it going with good matches and roughly it’s own brand (Athena being a badass). If WBD is happy enough with Rampage becoming more like Velocity with a marquee main event, especially with the addition of a CM Punk lead show on a different night, that’ll likely work out well enough. AEW’s Dark branded matches will become literal dark matches or a rise of house shows to give the young guys reps. It’s also likely we see less Dark talents’ contracts not being renewed. Annnnnd/Orrrrr make deals with local feds to be the AEW farm league.

[AEW - MAY 2023]

9 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Tony got cute and ran Willie Mack vs Ninja Mack last night.

@Octopus, Verne is my second least favorite Bock opponent. The matches are all way to one sided. I really should look at all the other Martel versus Jumbo matches now that I understand Jumbo far better. I’ll wait until the soft brand split forces them to do another series I don’t want to watch though. 

Out of my love for you, we can burn the Verne and switch it to any Bockwinkel & Saito tag. 
______
and so this stays on AEW topic, 

Forbiddin Door - Time Machine edition! Any current AEW wrestler with any wrestlers and from what time? 
Who do we want to face prime Lyger!?!?!!

[AEW Dynamite - 5/10/2023]

I am very excited for this show. I’m praying it has the level of great wrestling that can bring us back our beloved Little Gordphan Annie, @Gordlow. You got this, Tony Khan!

[AEW - MAY 2023]

21 minutes ago, Matt D said:

That’s my fault for jumping the gun but it’s an exciting card.

Your forgiveness will be accepted once you complete your penance. 
Review all available Nick Bockwinkel vs Verne Gagne matches and Jumbo Tsuruta vs Rick Martel matches. 

[AEW - MAY 2023]

I wish I thought of booking Wembley first. I probably could have sold it out.

[AEW - MAY 2023]

2 minutes ago, Dog said:

Seen it 100 times. Give me Nigel vs. Sabre.

Their 101st match is going to be pretty great though.

[AEW - MAY 2023]

18 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

You heard the man, keep going

 

Give me Danielson vs McGuiness!!!!!!

[AEW/ROH Finances, Ratings, etc.]

Way to go Willow!

[RIP DEAN RASMUSSEN]

Absolutely heartbreaking. Dean is a legend and I’m grateful for our conversations. I’m so sorry and I send my condolences to his close friends and family. 

[Wrestling Podcasts - 2023]

I do miss my Wednesdays with Dax. 

[Pro Wrestling NOAH]

I am all on board for AXIZ fun. Kick all the heads.

[The Really Swell News Thread]

Sittin on my stoop saying hi to uncomfortable neighbors walking by.

[AEW - MAY 2023]

49 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

I started listening to his podcasts a few days ago. I'm not as familiar with his work but that's definitely a great move. As a black man myself it's great to see him in that role , Especially with his knowledge of pro Wrestling. WWE has so many people in creative roles without experience or the love or much knowledge of wrestling and even if they do , they can't apply it which is why I don't understand why they are finally getting law suits like that 1 former writer got on them last week.

I’ve mainly listened to him with Denise and they had a really fun show where I’d see if there was anything I needed to check out that I missed or of a company I normally don’t watch. 
I like the idea of bringing in fresh voices. I’m not sure of the specifics of what his day to day would be, but you couldn’t bring someone in better who comes across levelheaded, has good taste and opinions, and an all around kind person to have on the team. I haven’t met him personally but he seems like a good dude and people say he is nice. Good for him and good luck.