Gordi the recovering AEW f

My actual birthday is not until October 7th, but Dragon/Rainmaker Bruv/Ricochet DMD/Deeb and Hangman/Juice sure feels like the best present I'm likely to get this year. Unless maybe one of my daughters or one of my students gets me my favourite pickled plum flavoured gummy candies (Otoko Ume). Then Dynamite will maybe be #2. And... AEW don't even realise they are giving it to me! Either way, best present or second-best present, I'm gonna go WAY out on a limb and predict we get some good pro wrestling tomorrow. Claudio has new entrance music! His old theme was based on Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and the new one mixes in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Which makes it more minor key and dark. Which is suitable for his new character, which is "Swiss muscleman who approves of murdering your friends with plastic bags." To be honest, I have always felt that Claudio should use Hocus Pocus by Focus as his theme music: (Insert video here) The lyrics are: Yodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodo yodeadodoyodeadodoyo-bab-baaaaa Ahhhhhh-aaahhhh-aaaaaa-aaaaAAA! Ohhhhhh-ooohhh-oooooo-oooOOO! Yodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodo yodeadodoyodeadodoyo-bab-baaaaa Ahhhhhh-aaahhhh-aaaaaa-aaaaAAA! Ohhhhhh-ooohhh-oooooo-oooOOO! umdub-adaoh-segel-ungucur-ungetu-hungetur-hupreyu undubea-unpedurl-humpelilly-luptodoro-licktetor-ulumpadero umbader-lickatine-lupator-lackatera batickatheplalera theblumpalumpadera ho? ho ho ha haaaa! Yodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodo yodeadodoyodeadodoyo-bab-baaaaa Ahhhhhh-aaahhhh-aaaaaa-aaaaAAA! Ohhhhhh-ooohhh-oooooo-oooOOO! Bom bom bom bom Bom bom bom Bom bom bom bom bom bom bom Bom bom bom Bom bom bom Bom bom bom bom bom bom Bac bac bac bac bac backaaaaa! Yeeeeha! ba um um um um um ba um um um um um ba oooohhboooobooboboboooo! Yodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodo yodeadodoyodeadodoyo-bab-baaaaa Ahhhhhh-aaahhhh-aaaaaa-aaaaAAA! Ohhhhhh-ooohhh-oooooo-oooOOO! Yeaah! Whoooo! So you can see why I think it would be a good fit for him.

I am going to go ahead an assume that Bryan vs Okada is intended specifically as a birthday present for me. And, for the record, I appreciate it.

In a recent Ranmaru Fest show, there was a spot where they used a weapon in what struck me as a near-perfect way. (Also, arguably, the best turn-things-around punch since Sangre Chicana vs MS-1). Keep in mind: This is coming from a guy who is on record as having been put off by the plastic bag/cinder block/hypodermic needle stuff... I'll put it in spoiler tags for those who are at work, or sensitive to ultraviolence: Hopefully we can all agree that clip points the way forward for AEW. Also, seriously: AEW should DEFINITELY bring Irie in for a run. I'll edit in my brief Collision thoughts: The BEST POSSIBLE GUY answered Jungle Full Grown Man's open challenge! The finish was lame. The post-match was PERFECT. Nice job using the strap match to set up Juice vs (literal) Hangman without being too obvious about it! Rick-a-boney spending MINUTES of commentary time trying to get the rest of the team to agree with him that Sammy needs to use his speed because Okada is not used to fighting high-flying wrestler (like, say, I dunno, oh, how about... Omega, Ospreay, Ibushi...) was INSANE. Then he absolutely capped it off perfectly by using Tanahashi as an example of the kind of grounded power wrestler that Okada is used to fighting. It must have been awkward a.f. for Tony and Daddy Magic because obviously the unwritten rule is you should always agree with and support your fellow commentators. Yet another in a long string of overall enjoyable shows... including at least one thing I can enjoy bitching about.

Bryan vs Nigel was great. Beautiful pro wrestling. Everything I love about AEW. The rest of the show had some spectacular wrestling. Darby winning the Rumble to get a shot at Bryan only to drop that shot to Jon "Cena" Moxley is the worst sort of bullshit. Seriously bums me out. Hurt Business coming in is exciting and will lead to a lot of good matches. It also means the upper card is going to be clogged up even further, making it that much harder for home grown talent and indie wrestlers to climb the ladder. The rise of Orange, of Darby, of Hayter, of Swerve... To me, the MOST compelling thing about AEW... Hopefully Swerve won't be the last one we see make it to the top of the ladder without having previously been a "big name" in WWE or NJPW. I'm still excited for "Stop the Moxunaga" though. Maybe slightly less so, but still... Hopefully he doesn't "That doesn't work for me, brother" his way out of putting someone deserving over at the end of the story. Darby, for example. That would be a pretty sweet pay-off.

As much as I hated Bryan's friends "shockingly" turning on him and (in particular) trying to nostalgically murder him with a plastic bag, and as much as I don't believe that obviously very nice guy Jon Moxley has suddenly become eeeevillll... I am 100% down for Stop the Moxunaga. 100%. It's obviously going to be tremendous. And as much as the way it started was NOT what I want out of AEW, I have all the faith that they will nail the rest of the story, including the ending. Speaking of "What I want from AEW: (Insert picture here later) OH BOY did I ever have fun at the Big Japan show in the small hall in Osaka yesterday. EVERY match was stiff and violent but also funny and clever. In particular, the Astronauts match and in particular how Fuminori Abe picked up on one lady in the crowd yelling out "Abe-chan!" and reacted to it in such a way that soon EVERYONE was chanting "ABE-CHAN! ABE-CHAN!" and then seamlessly worked that into his struggle with Aoki during the tag match, needing the crowd to pump him up with the chant every time Aoki gained the advantage. Later on, during the break, Abe saw my Stan Hansen t-shirt and asked me to take a picture of him with a fan who was struggling to take a selfie with him. Over the next few minutes, during which another fan took a picture of me with Astronauts doing the Stan Hansen pose, Abe referred to me as Stan Hansen about 20 times, just constantly coming up with reasons to say my name but saying Stan Hansen instead. So I 100% believe that Fuminori Abe is legit a clever and witty guy in addition to being one of the best pro wrestlers alive. And I just absolutely LOVE how that aspect of his personality got to shine in the tag match. Turns out Abe (and also Nakanoue) are friends with my new friend Yuki the karaoke bar mama-san. Either by very good luck or because they were waiting for me I ran into Yuki and her sister Michi at the train station in Shonai. We went shopping for snacks and drinks before the show. Yuki spent WAY more on gifts (snack pan bread and rice balls, mostly) for the wrestlers than she made off of Yoshiki and I combined, on Saturday. Just two big shopping bags full of snacks. She also remembered my favourite beer (Yebisu, becausd Ebissu) and that I love karaage, and surprised me with a present of both those nice things, which made me unreasonably happy. Then the folks working the door and taking photos at ringside were almost all old friends from the Osaka Pro family and it really struck me how these smaller BJW shows have a very similar sense of community. Particularly considering I was hauling in bags of nice little gifts for "the boys" like it's the most natural thing in the world. Even though Big Japan is a national promotion and not a local indie. Then the whole entire show was f'n AMAZINGLY entertaining. Literally every match. Every guy going HAM even though it's a tiny house show. And watching m'f'n DRAGON FUJINAMI from ringside seats in a tiny hall! And he was in amazing shape. It was 100% believable when he muscled Sekimoto into the ropes. And in a match with Daimonji, Hashimoto's kid, and a living Strong BJ legend and two death match legends, Fujinami was the stiffest f'n worker. Then after the match I think he literally shook hands with everyone in the building. Then I got to help stack the chairs. The atmosphere with just the young boys and my friends and I tearing down was so pleasant. I could feel a small part of things, which I love. Not a VIP, but an "insider." I got to cross an item off my bucket list by having a pose-down with Sekimoto, who could not have been nicer. What a f'n memory! Sekimoto also called me Stan Hansen. There was a guy whose post-show job was to tear the barbed wire off the boards and roll it up. I chose not to take a picture, but that was a VERY specific "ONLY in this particular time and place" kind of image if I ever saw one. Then we went for coffee to wait for 1) Yoshiki to finish up his backstage work and 2) the izakayas to open (show started at noon on the holiday Monday) and by chance Bother Yasshi was cooling down in there as well (he got the absolute shit knocked out of him in his match against the Brahmans). There's a guy whose in-ring character makes it seem like he might not be the nicest guy... But: Nope. Super friendly. The day went on and on in somehow increasingly enjoyable ways until finally I caught the last train home, exhausted but very happy. Anyway, I don't mean that I want to help tear down after AEW shows and do muscle posedowns and drink coffee with the wrestlers. Although of course, who wouldn't want to do that? But what I loved out of early-years AEW was (among other things) that they seemed to want to create a similar sense of community despite being a massive multinational pro wrestling company, and also that they used to put a huge emphasis on letting their wrestlers show bits of their real personalities in clever and amusing ways, particularly during the matches. i wouldn't argue that either of those elements have been ELIMINATED from AEW as it grows more polished and corporate and mainstream... But obviously they have been de-emphasised. And I think that's both a shame and a mistake. Viewer numbers and live crowds were both generally bigger when AEW was weirder and less corporate. The argument for being more professional and less indie is that it's the way to grow the company. But I sincerely believe that's a huge mistake. tl/dr: Really enjoyed the BJW show. Continue to persist in my sincere belief that AEW would be better off and more successful as a big indie rather than a secondary corporate monster. Also the Astronauts, Yasshi, and Sekimoto pictures are in the general September wrestling thread. Also, a full Road Report includes an accounting of food and drink, so: Pre-show and show: Yebisu beer, karaage, takana onigiri, cheese bacon snack pan. Post-show in Shonai: Ice coffee, draft Asahi super dry beer, Wakayama citrus sours, sashimi, grilled lemon pepper chicken, yakitori, dashimaki tamago, cabbage, etc Birthday party in Minamimorimachi: Umeshu, cheesecake, jasmine shochu

ELEVEN (11) HOURS of Nigel in ROH. It's no secret that I think Nigel bullying Tony S and relentlessly ladling out heel cliches and misusing five-dollar words on commentary is the absolute dirt f'n worst and I hate it so much that I basically can't even watch Collision most weeks. On the other hand, I LOVE watching him fight and this is an absolute f'n treasure trove. Good Lord, it's excellent of them to put this up on YT for free. It's not like most of us here need to get MORE hyped for Nigel vs Bryan... But if anyone needs reminding of their truly great ring chemistry, there is PLENTY of that here.

Wrong thread. I saw Fujinami and Hashimoto's kid tonight. So:

She was very nice to me, both times I met her. She looked like a pleasant, chubby grandmother without the makeup on. When she put the makeup on, though, she was still absolutely terrifying.

Edit: though, to be fair, I agree they are playing it up some. But I also think there's more than a degree of aggrieved egos and jealousy involved as well.

So, here's what I did tonight: There's a guy named Yoshiki. He's Cooger's friend. Therefore, Yoshiki and I are also friends. He's an extremely warm-hearted person and we have always gotten along very well. He also does promotion, set-up, tear-down, etc etc for Big Japan, Marvellous, and I think other indie promotions. Sometimes I get free tickets. From him, because we are friends. Sometimes I also get to help with teardown or promotion, which I sincerely get a kick out of. He lives in a lovely quiet area of Osaka called Minamimorimachi. Masakatsu Funaki is one of his neighbours, more or less. Takes me an hour to get to Minamimorimachi from my place but it's well worth it because there are a ton of really good little restaurants and bars and even on a Saturday you don't have to wait in line to get a table because it is a quiet area and tourists don't go there. Tonight, Yoshiki and I went for very delicious ramen and karaage with two very nice lads from Mexico City (Oscar and Gabriel) who have (among other things) been to shows at Arena Mexico. I speak a little Japanese and fluent English, Yoshiki speaks pretty good English and fluent Japanese, Oscar and Gabriel both speak a little English and fluent Spanish. It was slightly challenging and very fun communicating about wrestling, travel, slang, food, etc etc. Then we went to Yuki's karaoke bar. It's Yoshiki's local. Yuki and Yoshiki are old friends. The other customers were all in their 70s and all obviously regular customers, except for one guy's daughter who was in town for two weeks from Florence, Italy, where she now lives. I'd guess she's in her early 50s. Anyway, they were super friendly and welcoming, probably because we came in with Yoshiki. Yoshiki and I stayed there drinking and singing after everyone else had gone home, not leaving until I had to go catch the last train. The bill was ridiculously reasonable. There's no way Yuki made any money off of us tonight. But she's a fellow wrestling fan. There were Big Japan posters outside, and a calendar on the wall. I'm Cooger's old friend therefore I am Yoshiki's friend and therefore I am now also Yuki's friend and will apparently never pay full price if I go to her bar. She's coming to the show on Monday and, after teardown, we're all going drinking together. Probably in Kyobashi. Maybe in Shonai. We're all stoked up because we get to see Fujinami in a small hall. I really really enjoy being a pro wrestling fan living in Japan. ANYWAY. My point is: Stuff like this happens to me ALL THE TIME. Friendship and connection and nice things and good times all flowing out of being a fan of professional wrestling. And my navel gaze on the train home was about how in, say, 2021, AEW seemed to frequently reflect that experience (what with the kayfabe good guy wrestlers having friends who they could count on and who had their backs in kayfabe and also, like, Being The Elite showing "the boys backstage" playing Uno and whatnot and it seeming genuinely happy and fun) and to quote myself from this here thread in 2021, "the move in AEW away from broad caricatures of machismo and masculinity and towards more nuanced, vulnerable, damaged, and otherwise relatable characters (which in my opinion) is a genuine change for the better." Anyway, I really miss that and really wish that they'd bring joy and friendship more to the forefront again. And for sure a huge part of that is because I FIND THAT REALLY RELATABLE!! IT REFLECTS MY OWN PERSONAL PRO WRESTLING EXPERIENCE!! Like, for example, what I did this evening. And presumably what I am going to do on Monday. And: I personally don't find fiends constantly turning on each other and stabbing each other in the back relatable. I do, however, find it tired and cliche. I don't find myself more excited, at all, ever, for matches that have an OMG! THEY USED TO BE FRIENDS BUT NOW THEY ARE BITTER ENEMIES, DUE TO BETRAYAL build. Particularly when SEVERAL matches have that same build. The Barbershop Window Incident, for example, was shocking to me at the time. Since then, I think that whole deal has been warmed over rather too often. I honestly feel that doing a take on it once every couple of years might be WAAAAAAYYYY more effective than doing it a couple of times a week, almost every week. My other navel gaze is that I sincerely hope that the people who think AEW's storytelling is better now than it was in 2021 think so because you place a very very very high value on nostalgia (e.g. "It's good that he tried to murder his friend with a plastic bag because it reminds me of when Terry Funk did a similar thing") rather than because it more accurately reflects your own life experience as a fan of professional wrestling living wherever you do (e.g "Yeah,that's just like how my friends always try to murder me! I can totally relate to that situation!")

There was a whole lotta spectacular pro wrestling on this TV program today. Really enjoyed that. Pretty crazy when the roster is so stacked you can jerk the curtain with Orange vs Tree! Got a good Beavis and Butthead/Celebrity Jeopardy laugh out of "J Dink" (Note: I am 58 years old) Private Party wanted a title SHOT SHOT SHOT but got a hammer SHOT SHOT SHOT Who do AEW think they are fooling with this false "will Bryan show up to fight Nigel?" drama. That being said, I hope it pays off with a MASSIVE pop. Also: Grand Slam is NEXT WEEK?!?!?! No time to take a breath here. Speaking of: Ospreay vs Takeshita, Takeshita vs Okada, and Okada vs Ospreay ALL incoming. Good Lord. And Ospreay vs Ricochet May being the worst tag partner was really amusing. I wouldn't mind Mina vs Sakazaki at some point. Mortos and Ricochet had pretty good ring chemistry considering it was a first time match up. Speaking of: Main event tag in the GLEAT show in Osaka involves BOTH Ricochet and Vikingo!!! (and CIMA!) Day before my birthday! (i am going to be 59 years old). Plus Funaki vs Nakajimmy in a UWF rules match!! Plus: PARKER BOUDREAUX! In a title match!! I wonder if his buddy White Umaga will accompany him. I am legit stoked for all of this. Somehow it will be my first GLEAT show. Also my drinking buddy Yoshiki has (free) tix for a BJPW show in a tiny hall (176 Box in the Shonai neighbourhood in Osaka) with special guest FUJINAMI!!! That is one seriously WAR-ass looking six man! I am f'n STOKED! Tatsumi Fujinami fighting Ryuji Itou is NOT a thing I ever expected to witness! It's Sekimoto's Anniversary Tour. I'm assuming Fujinami is one of his heroes. So, cool. So cool. Seeing a legend like Dragon Fujinami in a tiny hall is going to be a real treat. Plus Abe and Nomura in a tag match! I think I may have mentioned this before, but I am one lucky prick.

Dang. Found something we can agree on! Although sometimes I go out drinking on Thursdays, too. (Pics from this past Sunday. More pics and details in the September general wrestling thread) Having friends is the best! Pro wrestling should reflect that more.

Why does Brody King love Pantera?

Another Asian Cooger drinking party yesterday, a rooftop BBQ in Osaka's Shin Sekai neighbourhood with several Canadian wrestlers. My old buddy Salty the Seaman (and just after he left Seth Knight showed up), TKO Cody Smith, Riea Von Slasher, and Slave from Thrash Wrestling. Always great to catch up with Seth, and I very much enjoyed meeting Cody, Riea, and Nick. On the Japanese side there was Cooger (of course), Moriya from Fighting Ultimate Crazy Kings, and Hiroto Okubo whom I think of as a young boy but actually he's a 10-year veteran, and Popo-chan. The BBQ was interrupted by a sudden torrential downpour, and we all got absolutely soaked to the skin before moving to an empty room in the building. It's a very Osaka thing to have buildings with multiple little bars and restaurants on every floor. We eventually went back upstairs once the rainstorm passed, and then ended up in Kathmandu cafe, a Nepalese restaurant where the staff all wear Dotonbori Pro shirts. (You may recall my stories from last year of drinking with the wrestlers from Nepal). The other party-goers were all old friends, including Kenji (!) and it was straight up joyful to see everyone again. There were also two American teachers whom Cooger had recently befriended and they fit right in. Cody and Riea both know my good friend Verne who is a stalwart presence on the Vancouver wrestling scene, so that gave us an easy connection. I sent the picture of me with Slave to my small chat group of wrestling friends and one of them IMMEDIATELY typed "Slave!" and another later said that he's known Nick for years. Connecting with people through wrestling is absolutely one of my favorite things. I was wearing my Stan Hansen t-shirt, Slave was wearing Macho man, Salty was wearing a very cool Killer Khan t-shirt that he got years ago at Khan's restaurant, Moriya had Bruiser Brody, and another guy had Hayabusa. Tons of Cooger t-shirts and also several Salty t-shirts. Riea had a Cope tank top (not Adam Copeland. A Vancouver indie wrestler). Cody is a massive dude with a shaved head, covered in tribal tattoos. He could NOT have been more friendly or more positive. Everyone was begging he and Riea to come back next year (or just to stay in Japan). As always, the atmosphere was amazing. Just a huge diverse group of happy drunken wrestling fans, with the bonus for me of having lots of people to speak English with. We traded war stories and talked about tattoos travel food wrestling and how grateful/lucky we are to be able to enjoy nights like that and to have a friend like Cooger who can bring us all together. Joshi wrestler Popo-chan. Also super nice and friendly. Seth always seems to show up after Salty leaves. The man who makes all these memories possible for me. My drinking buddy for 15 years, Asian Cooger. I am one lucky prick. Merch! We played a Russian roulette game with dumplings at the Kathmandu cafe. Guess who picked the fucking fucking spicy one. My sinuses are still burning. Totally worth it.