Gordi the BJW fan

Imagine choosing between, say, Sting, Steamboat. Terry Funk, Terry Gordy, Negro Casas, Kawada, Barry Windham, Bobby Eaton, Bret, and Aja Kong!

I am definitely a mark, and proud of it. I believe that originally the term applied to carnival workers surreptitiously "marking" the clothing of carnival-goers who could easily be fleeced. Targets for the con. Then, it meant the locals who would be fleeced out of their money by gambling on "fixed" wrestling matches. Then for a long time it meant a person who attended pro wrestling matches but was not aware of the worked nature of pro wrestling. Someone who believed that the matches and outcomes were genuine and not predetermined. What does the term mean now? There are likely still a few people for whom the prior definition holds true. The very young, some of the very elderly, certain people who are cognitively impaired, perhaps... I think maybe these days marks are fans who (choose to) buy into the characters and emotional beats? Someone who chooses to use their disposable income on tickets, streaming memberships, and merch? These days, a pro wrestler trying to insult a fan by calling them a "mark" is kind of embarrassing. You have devoted your whole life to "the business" pally. Who is the real "mark" now? Wrestling fans trying to insult other pro wrestling fans by calling them "marks" is the saddest of the sad. Frankie Kazarian angrily yelling "Mark!" at people, however, is hilarious . While we are it it: I am not generally a fan of "worked shoots" but I do not understand using "business exposing" as a criticism thereof. "Exposing" to whom? The marks? We're all "smart" now. And we, here, are all marks.

And then furiously deny being a WWE person. I really appreciate not having to choose between Bryan, Kingston, Ishii, and MiSu. So far. Will there be an "Ultimate Survivors" round? Some day I'll have the time to watch all the footage and see what I have been missing. It is really cool that you have been able to put so many of these together without a single nominee who feels like bullshit. Pro wrestling, right now, is amazing.

So you start out with BHAS and somehow get better from there? Some Ace guy from The Orient comes out! MJF has lost his smile. He dropped an MJF Bomb. Then Miro comes back. Good Lord what a show! If the Wizard gets a buzzcut does he become the Buzzard? Matt Hardy and Christian teaming up is kinda cool. Hikuleo has been studying his Darby Allen tapes! I saw Kyle O'Reilly wrestle in tiny halls around the Greater Vancouver Area at the start of his career. Oh, really? No. O'Reilly. JR with the bowling stats! "He has a family!" Last two matches topped it all of perfectly. Hard hitting. AEW loves those crazy stair bumps. Bux vs LB and ... Finlay in AEW coming up!! Hopefully they'll all get together backstage and watch videos of the great TV matches his dad had with Regal.

1) Go to sleep 2) Wake up 3) Find out Punk & FTR vs Ass Boys and Wardlow vs JD Drake have been added to the show 4) Smile

I never get excited for Hikuleo in New Japan. So why do I always get excited for Hikuleo in AEW? Have they really only announced 3 matches? Awesome! Time to start "manifesting"!! Workhorsemen and Chaos Project vs Bear Country, John Silver, and Big Shotty! Brock Anderson vs Nick Comoroto! FTR vs Butcher & Blade! Emi vs Athena? Red Velvet vs Statlander? Lee vs Hobbs? PAC vs Buddy? What you got in mind? Edit: Takeshita vs literally anybody on the roster! Maki Itoh, too!

Do you know the sad tale of the Paper Bag Cowboy? Similar story. Lost everything in a fire, which also disfigured him. Wore a paper bag hat, paper bag chaps, paper bag gloves, paper bag boots with paper bag spurs. Made his way into town to get his revenge... only to be arrested and hung by the neck until he was dead. For the crime of...

Oh hell yeah! Thank you very much for the heads up. I might very well have missed that otherwise. Hunter and Titan obviously need more experience and seasoning in the ring, but a 2020s version of a hypothetical Barbarian & Berzerker team-up is definitely something I am delighted to see. They seem fully committed to the gimmick, too, which feels like the correct choice. They are tall and muscular enough to pull it off, but built more like UFC heavyweights without the insanely roided and pumped and massive shoulders and arms that guys working a similar gimmick would have needed in the 1980s or early 90s. Hunter Grey and Paul Titan vs Bear Country is immediately on my list of YouTube dream matches. Wouldn't mind seeing them in the same ring with Toa Liona, either. It might make sense for them to show up in Tully's stable in ROH.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Had a good day at work. (Show was Monday morning here). Managed to avoid spoilers. Watched in two parts, taking a break for a Zoom meeting about two hours in. Four and a half hours is a LOT of pro wrestling. In my world, though, that's a good thing. Time flew by. It's almost midnight here now. Let's see how much I can remember: I found the "Hat of the Night" competition and the Festival of Awkward Sharpshooters to both be wildly entertaining. Best Hat is a three-way tie between Martha, Tay, and Rosa. Smart Mark gets Gear of the Night. I also dug the red, blue, green colour coordination in the tag title match. Reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's Ran. Move of the Night and OMG moment of the night (which is really saying something here): That stiff piledriver onto the steps. Rolling Elbow was pretty sick, too. And that knee on Darby. Actually, both of those knees on Darby. And Darby going full speed head first into the floor then doing another tope immediately afterward. Jeffers is a human OMG moment. Loved that the Bucks put the Hardz over, and loved MJF putting Wardlow all the damned way over even more. Taunt of the Night goes to Starks on the top rope. Also possibly my biggest laugh of the night. IHOB vs DT was maybe my MOTN. Like a big, stiff, Toryumon main event trios or something, with a crazy finish. New Jacking Wild Thing, and directly referencing Owen vs Bret, Piper vs Bret, and in particular the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl all warmed my heart. I love that kind of stuff. I feel a connection to the wrestlers and agents and bookers in that it shows they are fellow obsessive tape-trading, old-match-studying, fantasy booking nerds somewhere deep in their hearts. Sublime pro wrestling nostalgia. Also lol'd at JAS's matching all-white boy band street fight gear,and it somehow failed to occur to me that of course all that white would end up bloodied (until, like, literally seconds into the match when the red red krovvy started to flow). Hard to pick between Viva Los Superkick Party and that great Rancid performance for Song of the Night. Sammy and Tay were incredibly funny. The Owen belts are gorgeous. Swerve in Our Glory (hope I got that right) is a GREAT name for that team. And I got the big dude showdown I was hoping for. I bought into Punk's emotional reaction at winning the title. Hangm'n had a great reign and I am excited for all the dream matches and rematches we are going to get with Punk on top. I keep remembering stuff, and I know there is a lot more... but I think I'll stop here. Enjoyed the hell out of that show.

Has to be Bryan for me. He is great in big matches or small. He is riveting to watch in a tag match with zero story and zero build, or in a main event championship bout. ZSJ has been having a whale of a year as well. I personally would vote for him over most wrestlers... but not over Danielson, Kingston, MiSu, or Ishii. Hoshi is on my radar now. Hopefully fate will conspire to allow me to catch her at a live show some day.

Between the beer and the cinnamon roll centers, Takeshita is gonna look more like Takeshi Morishima by the time his excursion is done.

"F--- buyrates and million-dollar gates and everything," Punk said. "That's what this s--- is about. What's the best part? The best part is making these new relationships and showing guys what a lot of guys never showed me but should have: to not be a d--- to these kids who just want to be pro wrestlers." Damn straight.

Got really busy in the middle of the week. Let's see if I can remember my thoughts from Thursday morning. I'm worried about my memory. Recently, if I close a window/app on my tablet I immediately forget what I was gonna do next. If I open the fridge my mind tends to blank on why I did so. But, I can still remember the date of my favourite tag match. (6/9/95, obviously). Anyhoo: Cage match was just tremendous! Road War(dlow)riors pop. Busting the cuffs. Yeeting the security guy. Too much fun. Punk vs Page is a tough match to pick! There's something to be said for using the belt to elevate guys. There's something to be said for having your biggest star be the champion. Bronx Combat Club is the best thing. FTR vs RPG for the ROH TTTs. THAT is how you do a fuck finish without disappointing Gordlow. Jeff Cobb is one of my absolute favourite guys to watch in all of pro wrestling. I was undecided on O'Khan but his "amateur" match with Yano and his real life heroics (and enjoyment of Las Vegas) have me firmly in his corner now. Khan on the Cobb vs FTR at Forbidden Door? Oh hell yeah! Yes, please! Absolute Jurassic Swerve was indeed very fast-paced and exciting. If Limitless House go on to take the Tag belts after Swerve winning here, that would be a nice subversion of predictable WWE style booking. I liked Rosa's hat. Both Owen semi-final matches were stiff and hard-hitting. My kind of wrestling. Or,I suppose, one of the kinds of wrestling that I really love. Joe just beat the hell out of Kyle. That was great.

She's a One Woman Gang!

Here's my hawt take: Game seven of a conference finals is a pretty big deal for a lot of sports fans. Taking that into consideration shows respect from AEW toward their larger fan base. There's something positive to be said for leaning that way as opposed to arrogantly insisting on some kind of "it's us or them, make your choice." Although, yeah, it's a very good point that pro wrestling fans are going to care about the whole card and not just the main event championship match.

Danielson vs Bourne had so many nifty reversals! That whole Young Hardyz presentation was just beautiful. Particularly the Matt Facts and Brandon dressed as Lita. I was too impressed to actually laugh. SCTV used to do that to me, sometimes. Caster vs Dante suffered a bit for me because I couldn't help comparing it to the Danielson opener. That being said, I love seeing AEW's younger wrestlers getting time to shine on the network shows. Everyone gets the chance to look good on TV. I was kinda hoping for Stat to win because I think AEW Originals should go over WWE refugees more often. I feel like I wasn't alone in that today. On the other hand, Statlander is leaning kinda heelish now and Ruby vs DMD is a more classic good vs evil match-up. Also, the wrestling was good! Stat is the Terry Gordy of AEW's women's division. I really want the faces to win the Owen tournament matches. An online friend disagreed because "Owen was the best heel" which is true enough... but for me when I think of Owen it's Stampede Owen, not WWF Owen. And he was a hero in Stampede. Go Joe! Go Ruby! 13 matches is a lot. Hooray! More pro wrestling! KOR vs Darby should be sick! Here's to American Team of the Year winning and putting an end to the Sammy feud. Although, I guess I wouldn't mind if it set up Tay vs PVZ and Sammy & Kaz vs MOTY... or maybe Sammy vs Kaz next? That could be really fun. Regal on commentary is a treasure.

Rampage 7:30 am tomorrow, Japan time. Check your local listings. Don't you dare miss it! Lock the windows and bar the doors! etc. Ruby vs Statlander to see who meets DMD in the ladies Owen finals. I am digging this powerhouse former alien version of Statlander! I am not buying into the "Britt and Bay Bay are both gonna win the Owen" predictions trend. I gotta work on Monday so I will have to avoid spoilers and try to catch Double or Nothing after the fact. AmDrag vs Evan Bourne! I feel like that has to have been a dream match for someone at some point. Young Bucks vs A Mystery Tag Team Who Will It Be I Hope Workhorsemen or Bear Country. Or maybe Silver and Reynolds? Plus we get to see Scorpio Sky's new belt! My autocorrect wants his name to be Scorpion. Weird, because my autocorrect is full of wrestling names. If I type American it assumes the next word will be Dragon. If I type "Ka" it knows that "wada" is probably coming next. Oh, hey, @John from Cincinnati you are quite correct in pointing out that expressing a preference is not the same as complaining. That's an excellent point. Also, to be clear: The joy I take in pro wrestling is in no way performative. Watching and discussing AEW and Japanese wrestling and old matches and so on very often genuinely and sincerely fills my middle-aged heart with true happiness. So do lots of other things. I suppose I am quite easily amused, and also quite frequently delighted by relatively simple pleasures. I had a cup of green tea last week that damn near brought tears of joy to my eyes. Enjoy the show! Edit: Had a look on cagematch. This will apparently be Danielson and Sydal's third singles match. (FIP 2006, ROH 2007).

I know I am always stoked for every AEW show every week, including the YouTube shows, but... dang! The go-home Dynamite is fully stacked.I We get two Owen semi-final matches, two PPV set-up/preview matches, and a legit low-key dream tag match. Also, to pick just one example of how amazing wrestling is now, Wheeler Yuta is over here participating in a very entertaining NJPW Super Juniors tournament. It continues to be a genuinely great time to be a pro wrestling fan. Owen semi #1: Storm vs DMD! Storm hits so hard! Storm hits so hard, and she seems to be having the kind of effect on the womens division that Bryan and Kingston had on the men... In that everyone seems to be bringing it just a little bit harder now. That is a good thing, in my opinion. Owen Semi #2: Joe vs KOR! Owen semis: I love KOR but I am pulling for Joe because I want a good guy type pro wrestler to win the Owen, and in my opinion Kyle is a bad guy type. I suppose they could have him beat the emaciated yet somehow popular bay bay in the finals in such a way (Future Shock explodes!) that O'Reilly becomes a good guy. That would also satisfy me. Premium Live Event preview: Bungle Joy vs Swerve vs Starks. The odds of this being insanely fast-paced and exciting are very good. I hope we also get Dinosaur vs Powerhouse vs Limitless on Rampage... but we'll get to see those dudes slap meat on the PPV anyway. PLE set-up: Wardlow vs Spears The Giant Killer INSIDE A STEEL CAGE with a guest referee who is better than you and you know it Spears is now a giant killer, having slain Giant Bernard last week (if I recall correctly). It would be kind of funny if Spears won and Wardlow didn't get to face Friedman at Double or Nothing IV. That might calm down some of the "too many matches" complaints, right? What a world we live in, when people on the DVDVR message boards are complaining about getting too much wrestling! Also, people are complaining because we are "just" getting Blackpool Combat Club matches every week? Really? You need them to be in some kind of program? It's not enough just to watch them fight? And, yeah. I know that complaining about people complaining is idiotic. Don't let that stop you from complaining about me complaining about complaints, though. It's the circle of (internet) life. Which is, in part, why I'm trying to cut down on my internet life somewhat. I am starting to think it might not be healthy. PPV set up (non-match division): Punk/Hangm'n confrontation. People pre-emptively complaining about the outcome of this match, on both sides, is also very funny. Human nature is pretty damned funny, sometimes. My own included, obviously. THE MATCH I AM ACTUALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THE MOST: FTR vs Roppongi Vice. Hot dang. AEW keeps giving me dream matches I never even considered before. I hope they get a fair amount of time and a clean finish. (If not, I will complain). Rocky and Trent are so good at pro wrestling. Bald and Mullet are among the very very best. We are lucky. Pro wrestling rules!

They oughta tag Sonny up with Danhausen, as The Kiss Demon. Bring in Dale Torborg to manage them.

I'm really really hoping that Maki Itoh is the Harley Quinn. Her, or Lulu Pencil. Here's hoping Hangman makes a star out of young Konosuke! He's so good, and there are so many good to great natch-ups for him on the AEW roster! I really enjoyed Takeshita's matches with Danny Limelight (where has he been recently?) and Jay Lethal last time around. I want to see him fight Garcia, Wheeler, Starks, Sammy, Dante, Serpentico, Angelico... and eventually Bryan. It's actually hard (impossible?) to think of anyone on AEW's roster I don't wanna watch fight Takeshita. Can't wait to see who the male Joker is. Count me among those hoping it's not Gargano. I feel like there are enough NXT guys who everyone kind of identifies as such on the roster already. I'd prefer for him to bounce around for a year or two before joining AEW. I'll be stoked if it's Claudio, though. I personally identify him as an ROH guy. And I wanna see him and Joe beat the hell out of one another.

Who else am I gonna vote for? Gordlow and Ishii = tshirt buddies! I'm going to buy a black elbow wrap and white wrist tape and cosplay as him for Halloween. I'm genuinely grateful I didn't have to pick him over MiSu, Bryan, or Kingston, too. Which brings this to mind: There are an UNSANE UNPOSSIBLE UNCREDIBLE number of pro wrestlers who belong in this discussion. 2022 is shaping up to be one of the great years in pro wrestling history.

Is it too soon to start fantasy booking Banks and Naomi in AEW?

Will you stop?

I am mad because I am legitimately too busy to watch all of these matches even though I am pretty sure I would love all of them quite a lot. I feel frustrated that, even though the number of "wrestlers that I love watching" is ridiculously high, higher now than it has ever been, there are still wrestlers like Aoyagi of whom I have only seen a handful of matches and others like Alexander and Kamitani where I don't think I have ever really paid close attention to even one of their matches... and even though my internet friends have provided a free curated sample, that sad fact is unlikely to change any time soon. Mainly because the time I have budgeted for " watching and discussing pro wrestling" is already stretched very thin. I think about that... ...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world!"