Gordi the BJW fan
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Posts posted by Gordi the BJW fan
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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.
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Wrong thread.
I saw Fujinami and Hashimoto's kid tonight.
So:
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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.
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1 hour ago, Ziggy said:
I don't think Eric or Cornette is Anti AEW as people think.
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.
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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!")
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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.
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2 hours ago, just drew said:
Also, to whomever it may concern, I only drink on weekends, with friends. That’s what people with friends do.
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.
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Why does Brody King love Pantera?
SpoilerBecause he works fucking HOSS STYLE
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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.
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1 hour ago, The Natural said:
The use of the needle and the plastic bag on Bryan Danielson soured me on AEW.
Agree with you there, buddy.
I can really only speak for myself and I am sure a lot of people super enjoyed this entire show and if so I am happy for them.
Speaking for myself personally, I would have LOVED this show without the plastic bag, cinder block, and needle.
I mean, PAC vs Bruv and Stat vs Willow! The grappling in MJF vs Dancy Pants! Some of those complex sequences and crazy spots! All the storytelling! That HAWT Chicago crowd! American wrestling fans marking the hell out for Okada and Takeshita facing off... And so on.
WITH those extra steps... Yeah, me too. A little bummed out. A little soured. Glad to know I am not alone in feeling that way. I
I would have been SO HAPPY if they ended the Dragon match with him and Mox hugging. It's not like Bryan lacks challengers for the belt!
Related, but...
This is maybe more JUST me but I might as well get it off my chest here:
In particular, I LOVED that AEW used to be all about good guys being friends and having each others' backs and I mourn to see that they have shifted entirely to stale WWE "strong men stand alone" and "your friends will always betray you in the end" trope booking. I LOVED the loose hang-out feel of the TV shows with the commentators just kind of being themselves. But, nope. Can't use pronouns. Need to have bullshit heel commentators... They really had something special going, a chance to "change 'the business' for the better" but nope. Have to do it the way it's always been done. Breaks my heart. "Because that's how it has always been done" is the WORST reason to do something.
w/r/t the ultraviolence, maybe I'm just getting old. I get free tickets to Big Japan when they come to Osaka. I have seen all kinds of crazy shit live... I dunno. Was NOT in the mood for that much of it, this morning.
Little bummed, little soured, glad to know I am not alone. Still love wrestling. Still well-entertained overall, today.
Anyway, going to a BBQ party with Cooger tonight! That'll drown my minor old man sorrows!
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Looks like we are getting a 3-hour Ramplision special including all the Continental Challenger matches (9 am tomorrow J-time. Check your local listings)!
There is something to hang one's hat on with each of the matches that have been announced thus far.
To whit:
Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoil & PAC) vs The Elite (Jack Perry, Kazuchika Okada, Nicholas Jackson & Matthew Jackson)
Continental Contenders Challenge: Orange Cassidy vs Bryan Keith
Continental Contenders Challenge: Lance Archer vs Mark Briscoe
Continental Contenders Challenge: Konosuke Takeshita vs The Beast Mortos
Deonna Purazzo vs Hikaru Shida
MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden) vs House of Black (Brody King & Buddy Matthews)Dang.
Kind of hoping it doesn't mean having to endure listening to Nigel bully poor old Tony S and misuse fivedollarwords for three straight hours. Possibly just a me thing, but I really can't find my way into enjoying that at all. And I really like Nigel as a wrestler and i marked out seeing him in the ring at Wembley. But boy oh boy does his heel announcer act ever rub me the wrong way.
On the upside, though... Takeshita vs Black Taurus?!?! Dang. They just keep banging out those "Dream Matches We Didn't Even Know We Wanted"
Also Briscoe vs Archer is one of those where I feel like they are booking matches specifically to spark joy in the smouldering husk where my heart used to be.
It's amazing in a very specific way how this insanely talented roster keeps wringing fun and excellence out of foregone conclusion matches. I mean that as an honest compliment, which I hope makes sense.
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A LITERAL House Afire.
How much further can you take it after actually drinking the other guy's blood? Guess we're about to find out.
That trios main event was a whole lot of fun, too. Love how they are just turning on the firehose of awesome matches full blast and refusing to slow it down at all.
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Way to Bungle Joy, AEW! Look at all these disappointed faces.
I figure it's just because Bryan's first defence will draw no matter who the challenger is.
And for sure they are quickly building a very compelling show to support the main event anticlimax.
Plus: OBVIOUSLY Bryan is gonna give us The Best Jungle Boy Match Ever.
Anyhoo: Excellent show over all. AEW on quite the roll at the moment.
Grit... Your... TEETH is a delightfully weird catchphrase!
Hangman vs Ishii felt like a gift to me and to my specific brand of "sicko" specifically. Hot dang, did I enjoy that slugfesr! And they gave them adequate time, too!
Plus, and I cannot overstate how happy this makes me, they FINALLY stopped calling him Ishii-EE
(The (double) ii means a slightly longer "i" sound, not a whole extra syllable and DEFINITELY not and emphasized extra syllable.
It's been driving me nuts for YEARS.
Ex apparently couldn't help himself, and Taz(z) went back and forth on it... But still. Overjoyed.
Edit: I really want one more Bryan vs Kingston match.
Either Kingston, really.
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I hope they have the willpower to hold of on Hayter's return match until the PPV. Presumably vs Saraya.
Probably, and understandably, they'll give her a (couple of) TV warm-up match(es) first...
But...
I hope AEW understands that they have got something really special with Hayter. Putting her return on the Zero Two Hours makes me kind of wonder if they do, though. But that ENORMOUS pop she got in London maybe reminded them?
Me and my wrestling buddies have been dying for her to return. I know we aren't the only ones.
Holding off on letting us watch her fight until Chicago might pay off with a rabid, foaming at the mouth crowd. I'm all about that right now. I LOVED those British crowds going nuts (and I legit lol-ed at the Big Bill love and some of the chants, etc). Keep it going! Count on the delayed gratification paying off! Treat her return match like the fn special thing it is.
EDIT: Fuck. Oh well. Whatever. Nevemind. This week's Dynamite:
Chris Jericho & Big Bill & Bryan Keith & Roderick Strong vs. Hook & Orange Cassidy & Kyle O’Reilly & Mark Briscoe – All Star 8-Man Tag match
Jamie Hayter vs. Harley Cameron
Ricochet vs. Kyle Fletcher
Bryan Danielson will address his future
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That was a really really good professional wrestling show. Super enjoyable, and the hours straight up flew by. Start time was 2 am Japan time, so rather than watching "live" I woke up early-ish this morning and just managed to squeeze the entire extravaganza in before starting work. Chatted through the whole thing with my good buddy who lives in Tokyo (used to post here as The Cobra 2). We synchronized our delayed-watching start times.
Hook vs Jericho and Mone vs DMD were the only matches I did not get super into. The former felt more like a TV match for whatever reason (perhaps because I was really kind of hoping for a crowd reaction like the Large William match on Collision) and the latter kind of came off as a crowd killer. But I didn't *dislike* either of those matches or anything. MJF vs. Bruv and the main event both hit me as MOTYC-level and hugely enjoyable.
I wonder if it's hard to get spearmint toothpaste green sneakers in Big Bill's size. Or maybe that was the only colour available in his size? Either way, I really enjoyed those sneakers.
Needless to say I am fn *delighted* with the way the main event played out. It's good to know I am not the only one who was getting a little emotional watching that.
Work started 7+ hours ago and I still have a markout buzz going as I type this out.
That had to have been one of the all time great pro wrestling live crowds. They made EVERYTHING better by their reactions. Even the tbs title match, because I felt less alone in not being able to find a way into it. Some of the chants and reactions had me legit laughing in delight. (Edit: and it's fn cool that a couple of "us" were part of that crowd!)
I mean, *literally* I laughed out loud, gasped out loud, and I was on the verge of actual tears... From watching a professional wrestling event.
That'll do, AEW. That'll do.
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Great crowd. It's really too bad they couldn't have brought this guy in, considering they are in Wales:
Spoiler
Too much blahblahblah this week, for my personal tastes. That endless back and forth between MJF and Ospreay made me (personally) ZERO percent more excited for their match. Bryan's brief talk to Ospreay was a million times more effective. To me. Personally. I am legit curious why anyone would legit prefer a long blahblahblah segment to one more fun wrestling match. I also preferred when most of the wrestlers in AEW were pretty much allowed to be more or less themselves, or to be goofy and original, rather than portraying cliched "face" and "heel" characters. I don't see what the appeal is to doing things that way, other than "That's what we have grown used to." On the other hand, and more importantly, the actual wrestling was all excellent and entertaining and the PPV is going to be non-stop bangers for hours and hours. Unfortunately for me (personally) the start time is 1 am Monday Japan time so I won't be watching live. I'll be able to catch half of it after waking up before going to work, then the challenge will be avoiding spoilers (Oh golly! Did Will Osoreay actually use the Tiger Driver?!?! The fn suspense is killing me!) All irony aside, I am fn stoked for the show.
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Best professional wrestler of his generation, by a mile. Which is REALLY saying something. I have only met him a handful of times but in my experience he's just ss good of a dude as he is a professional wrestler. We'll all be a little worse off, as wrestling fans, without him around as a full time wrestler. But I can confidently say that most of us here certainly appreciated what we had in terms of enjoying his matches etc etc. Not a case where "You don't know what you got till it's gone." We knew. And how lucky, how blessed, are we that we got that whole rich AEW chapter of his career to enjoy? Just look at Natch's list. Good Lord! What a body of work. And we got to enjoy it.
Thank you, Bryan!
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The opening trios match was a perfect demonstration of maybe my favourite thing about pro wrestling. All three of Orange, Briscoe, Ishii have such distinct and well-defined characters that there is good reason to mark out every time one of them is tagged in to the match. You know what you are going to get, and you know it's going to be good. And you know what The Outrunners and The Butcher are bringing to the table, too.
Nyla immediately squashing Leigh after the match was good character development too. I was wondering what she might bring to the ring during the trios match, and got to find out right away.
The Saraya segment was also illustrative. She and Cameron are just so phony. EVERYTHING they do and say just rings false. Then Toni comes out, and even though she is OBVIOUSLY playing a ridiculously arch character... It all rings completely true! Not sure how to explain that. Might be something and simple as Toni being GOOD at acting?
Kip Sabian does nothing for me. Unsure about why that is. I'll always be into Nick Wayne and pulling for him to succeed, because I knew his dad, but Kip has negative heat with me to the point where I was bored by that match. And I know it's pretty much traditional pro wrestling, but every bad guy win being a fuck finish makes things boring and predictable from my personal perspective. O how I wish AEW had the balls to stick with Giant Baba 90s-type booking and educate their fans to appreciate that instead of falling back on tired tropes.
Speaking of!
Username already nailed it, but the 80s Vince-ification of Top Flight got a 100% legit lol outa me. Delightfully ridiculous. I mean, I SHOULD hate it too... but I was entertained. Leyla/Leila Gray/Grey (I know I could look it up but it is more fun to speculate) doing Summerslam Megapowers stuff in Sexy Cabin Attendant cosplay was just sooooo stoopid. Mansoor being torn also made me lol. I think ultimately I just like Airplane Spins very very much.
Damned entertaining pro wrestling, and MORE hawt G1 action on the way in a few hours.
SpoilerTakeshita vs Tsuji
(G1 match) was EXTREMELY EXCELLENT. They worked a deliberately paced BMMSM style, so you know I loved that. REALLY looking forward to both semi-final matches.
EDIT: Almost forgot ROOSH & Fletcher! El Nose-O Hook-O getting his violence back is great stuff. And apparently Fletcher's body responds very well to clenbuterol or maybe the locker room got hooked up with some ozempic pens? Or they are just dieting and working out effectively, maybe. i have no idea. In my days the locker rooms were like THAT scene in the Micky Rourke movie. On the other hand I myself have dropped more than a few kilos recently without exogenous chemical assistance. And I am a lazy 58 year old with a sedentary job.
But, you know, Fletcher and several others on the roster are looking noticeably and impressively leaner recently. Good for them. VERY good for them if they are doing it the hard way.
Did you know Bricoe and Black Taurus had an ROH title match recently? I JUST heard about it. AEW/ROH keep tossing out those dream matches we didn't even know we wanted.
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Well, now we know what Shane's involvement with AEW is! They brought him in to teach ground and pound to Swerve.
Every match was good but the show felt pretty sports-entertainmenty to me, what with all the fuck finishes and video packages. Hopefully the folks who were demanding "more story" from AEW are enjoying this.
G1 has been REALLY good this year. Exceptions: 1) the usual HOT BS (The Shida vs May finish was VERY House of Torture. Not my bag at all) 2) a meh showing by Jake Lee. Everyone else has exceeded expectations. Fun, interesting Japanese baseball playoff structure with six good wrestlers making the playoffs.
Takeshita has been really excellent, every bit as enjoyable as Eddie Kingston last year. Which is REALLY saying something!
Dynamite (even if some aspects of it were not to my particular tastes) plus G1 tonight makes for a pretty great day of watching professional wrestling.
Edit: While I am complaining about too many video packages, etc... That Bryan video package was EXCELLENT. Do I contradict myself? Fine, then I contradict myself.
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At the Olympics.
Tall muscular guy walks by.
"Excuse me, are you a pole vaulter?"
" No. I am Austrian. And my name is Gunther now. "
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My theory about the lights going out in the main event? Shane McMahon backstage sabotage.
Remind me: Brie is... Whose spouse?
I kind of want Dragon to beat Swerve just so years from now I can watch an "Every AEW World Champion" video on YT and be like " Oh, yeah. "
Enjoyed matador Orange. Hope that surprise finish leads to Bull vs Chicken for the ROH title.
Who could have predicted, back in 2019, that bringing in Paige and Banks would actually NOT make the AEW Women's Division any stronger?
Just realised Dax and Cash rhymes with..
SpoilerAxl and Slash
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OBVIOUSLY if you are bringing him in it has to be in order to teach everyone on the roster to throw ultra-realistic worked strikes
Also if Shane signs with AEW I can see a CLEAR upside in that it would free up 5+ hours per week for me, personally.
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14 minutes ago, mystman said:
To everyone who keeps saying he doesn't want to be AEW champion, I'm going to leave this quote here:
"I don't know if you guys know this, this is probably something that the boys know, but I'm a big-time liar. I love to lie. "
Yeah, but...
when he said that...
HE WAS LYING
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AEW Navel-Gazing Thread Number Two
in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Posted · Edited by Gordi the recovering AEW f
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