Dog

Oh, people yelled themselves hoarse about Riho fighting Rose, too.

How many pies will be thrown in that match? Or do they need All Japan escalation, going up to nose bonks and the Curly Shuffle?

There's a big gulf of possibilities between "Garagano appears in AEW next week" and "Gargano re-signs with NXT in March to be a wrestler." Not an either/or.

I don't mean to single this post out, but I think it's emblematic of how a lot of us think about the meanings of "innovation" and "success." I have never liked Vince McMahon as a person or WWE as a product, but I will give the devil his due that he has ALWAYS seen two steps ahead, and that includes the innovation of the WWE Network. It's hard to remember because it all happened so fast, but that was one of the FIRST hyper-niche (i.e. non-Hulu or Netflix) streaming services. Everyone has one now, but it was a risk then. Vince saw the trend coming and was eventually able to cash in with Peacock. We don't like what the current product is, just like oldheads probably hated VKM for turning wrasslin' into cartoons. But it was immensely successful FINANCIALLY, which is all Vince cares about, and probably all he should care about. According to Wrestlenomics, WWE is more profitable now than it's EVER been. And the streaming rights for next-day Raw and Smackdown are up in the latter half of next year, so expect 2022 to be another record-breaker. For his company, I think Vince is right to turn the clock back at this point in time. In a world with lots of pro wrestlers and pro wrestling companies, it's probably smart to cultivate guys who no one else will want (to avoid bidding wars at contract renewal time), and who aren't marks for themselves -- a league of Barry Darsows who will work with any dumbshit gimmick you give them. Gimmicks which can be marketed (like Marvel characters; yes, I know, ugh). I hate him, but Vince really is a genius. Even 40 years in, he's still innovating and ensuring his company lavish financial success (with a little help from less-empathetic Khan).

Take another look at those pictures from after the show Tuesday. Those were "I'm never gonna see this place again" tears.

A couple things come to mind here. I was gonna say if the Haitch really wanted to keep them, he would've made it happen, since he reportedly threw a bunch of money and promises at Dunne to get him to stay. BUT the timing is such that might have been BEFORE his heart thing. Also ... was HHH really not there on Tuesday? Haven't seen him in any pictures. You'd think if he COULD have been there for Gargano's finale, he would have been. If he's not allowed to travel ... maybe the issue was/is worse than we've been led to believe?

Vince 100% does NOT want good wrestling. Or, at most, it's incidental (i.e. if it happens, it happens). He wants characters he can market and "actors" who don't care about the art and will do whatever they're told, as long as the check clears. That sounds like *I'm* judging Vince, but for the WWE, it's probably the right way to go, especially in this business environment. "Pro wrestlers" get mopey and angsty when you put hockey masks and suspenders on them; folks just in it for the money will go along and not make a stink. I'm wondering if the average career-length of a WWE "wrestler" is going to get shorter as time goes on. Like, they get in, build their "brand" a little, and move on to something else when Vince gets tired of them. That's probably a positive change, when you think of all the guys who had no idea what to do and were lost after being wrestlers for 25-30 years.

TNA signed Mike Bailey, for what it's worth.

Work, right?

Unusual, for sure, buy why is it worrying?

You'd think he'd know then that despite the popular name, orcas are dolphins, not whales. ?

There's an Iraq War II analogy in here that I'm just going to avoid.

Given his initial reaction, I feel like Punk went out there with two loose frameworks of what to say, depending on what the crowd did. He got slightly more boos and we ended up with 15 minutes of hockey talk. Also, let's put a fine point on this: Taz' big tease, his nuclear option of retaliation after Dante burned him ... was to have Hook wrestle Fuego on Friday.

It makes you wonder why so many more people turned up for this than Raw in the same building, since they couldn't really give a shit about anything that happened. Anywhere else, the roof would have blown off for that main.

If it were 2004, I'd make that my ringtone.

I think the crowd kind of sucked, honestly. It's like they were spent after responding to Punk's 127 Islanders slams.

Too bad the same can't be said of his lawyers.

All the ragging on Johnny over the years honestly made me think Super Dave and Funkman were the same person.

Well, add in that "Bron" came up with the name himself. Vince doesn't let stuff someone else came up with on his big shows anymore. The person will do fine, the goof-ass name will never be heard again.

Alvarez thinks Gargano's contract goes through Friday. Don't know about O'Reilly. ?

I mean, if Freddie was serious, I'm sure he could lure a Finlay and/or a Steamboat or something. When was he on the booking committee? If WWE was doing well then, I think that would be enough to convince someone to invest.

Wrestlenomics says Netflix wants sports-type stuff, but they want to own it. Which should make the investment from a wrestling type even cheaper!

It's even worse once you've actually been there.

If the end is near, Dragon has to fight each of them on YouTube. For very different reasons. Who else remembers "Ong Jack"?