Kevin Wilson

I'll have to see where this is going. I hate heel authority figures more than anything else in wrestling, if this is the YB's way of "taking over" the promotion. Nothing will make me stop watching a promotion faster than having a heel making matches, setting up the good guys, etc. Not saying that is where they are going but I'm just afraid they are looking to "spark" interest. To me the heel authority figure hasn't worked in over 20 years, I have zero interest in that. So I'm hoping it is just a way to get over The Elite as heels and not a sign of them literally taking over the promotion.

I know mock drafts are mostly done for clicks/engagement but the latest one on nfl.com has SIX QBs going in the first 13 picks. That's crazy, right??

Unless I mis-read it, I don't think he's back. To add a real life element to it, I know someone that last summer had unfortunately a very similar injury to Adam Cole, to the point he had to go in for a second surgery it was so messed up. Today he is walking just fine, if you met him you wouldn't know his ankle was fucked, but he still can't even run, let alone jump off a turnbuckle and land on it. He said he's still at least a few months away from doing anything more than walking around as there is just more healing it needs to do. Now everyone heals different and no two injuries are the same so I'm not saying its a 1:1 to Cole, but I read it as "he's well enough to appear at shows again to further storylines" not "he's healed and will be able to wrestle in a month." I could be wrong, my IRL example may be clouding my interpretation, but I saw it more as a positive step than a sign he's close to an in-ring return. I mean while everyone else jumped on the apron, Cole carefully went up the stairs, I'd be shocked if he's wrestling by Wembley still.

Assuming still its all a work, I enjoy these comments from Ospreay: I like it because he has probably been doing the move too much so now he has a reason to "retire" it, plus now if he needs a super finisher in six months or a year he has it in his back pocket as the move that always wins for him. Good stuff.

I thought Jericho/Hook was a solid ** match. Making it plunder-based was the right way to go as it helped cover for Jericho's speed and Hook's lack of experience. Jericho was having some decent matches not that long ago so I haven't "given up" on him like many on the Internet. Since he won't take a break, I am hoping this FTW storyline rejuvenates him a bit as to me his main issue the last few months is he's just kinda been floating around with no storyline and that lack of interest has bled over into his matches. I don't mind "old wrestler that can't let go and thinks he is awesome even though he isn't" as a character but they need to be smarter about his opponents/match types or no one will be interested.

That crowd was amazing, I had no idea St. Louis was capable of such a thing but it was the best crowd I've heard in a long time. They had unique chants but always about what was happening in the ring, not to put themselves over, and were involved in every match. The matches were great, no doubt, but having a hot crowd always helps and they were into it start to finish. Good job, crowd.

I'll always have a special place in my heart for Arisa Nakajima, as due to when she peaked I don't think she gets the recognition today that she deserves. Unfortunately, she was the best wrestler in a smaller promotion for many years before streaming was used by smaller promotions (JWP), and since leaving JWP and Joshi got easier to watch, she kept a pretty light schedule as she hasn't topped 50 matches in a year since 2016. I guess she'll probably be best remembered by Western fans for her tag team with Fujimoto (which was excellent of course) but her matches with Kana were so, so good. I do think in-ring she's one of the most talented Joshi wrestlers of the last 15 years, easily in my Top 10. But I'm always glad when wrestlers can retire on their own terms, maybe her last injury scared her a bit and she decided to hang it up.

I don't watch WWE weekly TV so I can't comment on the show content, but I do see clips on Twitter and while I think on one hand the 'Kevin Dunn is gone so WWE is better' line of thinking is focused on too much, on the other hand it is indeed so much more watchable without his methods. I love the 'backstage to stage' shots, the one-take shots in the back, all of it. Presentation is so important and while I knew I didn't like Dunn's style, the changes are just so obvious that I do feel they deserve credit. Whoever they hired in his place is making much better decisions, I thought at WM they missed a few spots which will happen in wrestling but overall its night and day.

I think they made Bucks/FTR a ladder match so that FTR can more easily lose via shenanigans without taking a pinfall loss. Not that I've ever gotten the impression that FTR refuses to take pins, far from it, but it will give the rematch an easier justification and maybe will make the anti-Bucks people more chill as grabbing titles from a ladder has always felt like less of a direct loss than pinning someone. Anyway, I assume Jack Perry makes his return to help The Young Bucks win.

Keep in mind it is pronounced MA-ruh-gowld, not MEH·ruh·gowld. Say it wrong and GIulia will get ya.

I'm always fascinated by QB Quarterback contracts and where the next contracts will slot. The contracts will keep going up of course, as the cap keeps going up and QBs will always be the most valued position. But where does Dak slot in the top 5? Tua? Look how much Murray, Watson, and Cousins are making, Tua and Dak would slot over them but will either set a new Avg Per Year record? I'm definitely thinking Dak will, especially if he signs next offseason, but I have no idea where to slot Tua. Who I think is really good but I don't know if he's "make more money than Lamar, Herbert, and Burrow" good.

Anyone else find it a bit odd that Sareee has a big match in Stardom and then a month later has a big match in Marigold? Not that the wrestlers themselves seem to be on bad terms or anything but with how Rossy left I just assumed they wouldn't really be sharing Freelancers. Although now I figure there is no way that Sareee beats Mayu, not that I expected that anyway but I can't see the IWGP Women's Champion wrestling on the debut Marigold show. But wrestling is wacky and weird so who knows.

Either way I think we can all agree that anyone invoking a recently passed wrestler to push their own thoughts on a situation are probably pretty shitty and should stop doing that. (I don't mean you since you are just responding to it, but anyone that brings it up in the first place) I'm still a little unclear if the former AgZ wrestlers are officially signed with Marigold, will be Freelancers with Marigold as their main home, or they will be signed but it was such a late development they haven't signed but are going to any moment. I say that partially because Marigold's website roster has all the other wrestlers including Nanae and Nao, but none of the former AgZ wrestlers.

I can see that with older games but new games shouldn't have that problem. I mean if there are skyrim and fallout mods that make infinity carrying capacity I am sure developers can do it if they wanted to. I think they think it presents more "tough" decisions to the player, its just not one I enjoy haha I am not even going to play fallout 4 next gen update unless I am sure the mod for carrying capacity is compatible. I just wanna kill stuff and make shitty settlements.

As I play Dragon's Dogma 2, and its a good game, I come across a common complaint I have about some games like this. I hate, with a capital H, games with very limited carrying capacity. I get it, they are trying to add an element of realism. But in a game I'm battling dragons, not eating regularly, and going days at a time sometimes without sleeping, can we focus on what is *fun* and not what is realistic? Having to spend time giving things to pawns, running back to town to use storage (when there is no easy/cheap fast travel especially early in the game), not being able to pick up things I want while deep in a cave isn't fun. I want to have fun. I don't use mods often but one mod I do use for skyrim/fallout is the mod for unlimited carry capacity (or something similar). I don't mind some realism in games, for example I have no issue with games that have "weight" matter when equipping armor like FromSoft games as that adds an element of strategy. But if my guy is carrying two swords, two suits of armor, two tents, 20 potions, and 5 pieces of iron ore, what's a few more items? Anyway, I like Dragon's Dogma 2 a lot, I just hate the inventory management.

It's not for me, but I will say I am in the minority here in that I don't mind the super long PPV cards. I have no kids and nothing better to do, I have no issue sitting with my brother and watching five hours of wrestling while we shoot the shit and eat pizza. So if TK wants to add another ***1/2 star match, I won't complain, give me all you got for my $50.

About time, I've been holding off my re-play for at least a year waiting for the next gen update. My backlog is too deep right now to dive right into it day 1 but I'm looking forward to playing it again, its been awhile.

I had checked to and honestly its impressive how much Cody Rhodes is wrestling. And not just wrestling but putting the extra effort in being the super friendly fan favorite at every event (at the house show I went to, during intermission he signed autographs for anyone close to the guard rail). While I think Cody is a little carny sometimes (who isn't?), the work he is putting into his current run is top notch, definitely maximum effort to show he's ready to be the face of the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

Not sure if this is new news or old news, but Diana now has a monthly streaming service for recent shows as well as a backlog going back to the start of 2022 called EveryDiana. 990 yen which seems a little on the high side. I'm surprised they didn't just go the Youtube route like PURE-J, Ice Ribbon, and Marvelous since I would assume they have a pretty small fanbase and it would be easier, but who am I to judge without knowing the financial details. They also still air live shows, so I imagine there will be a gap from when the show airs to when its added to the monthly service (last show had a 30 day wait). Honestly, if they added events from when they started the promotion I'd buy it in a heartbeat but I don't know who even owns those older shows or if they were taped. But a lot of lost gems for sure in their early days I'd love to watch.

That's kinda the thing. The footage didn't make Punk look "good" as he got physical with someone that was literally fixing his hair and had made no aggressive movements. Punk was clearly the aggressor, both by going up to Perry and getting physical with him. BUT no one really cares about that just due to how AEW went about it. If this footage was released the following week to further a Perry storyline the reaction wouldn't have been nearly as strong. The fact is most wrestling fans know Punk is a whiny malcontent asshole so this video didn't change anyone's opinion of him, it just made most people shake their heads that TK thought it helped AEW in some way to show it.

I was hoping showing the video would be funny or amusing in presentation but it really just came across as dumb. One can nitpick but its 90% how Punk described it, and the TK "feared for my life" part looks silly since while Punk did yell at him (it wasn't mentioned but you could tell when it happened) it didn't look like he was going to attack him. Then they sent out boring ass shitty promo FTR to further kill the already confused crowd for the next hour. TK needed a good friend to tell him showing the footage would only "work" if it was presented ridiculously almost like a cartoon, or it showed a very different version than what Punk said. Neither happened. They should never mention it again and hope everyone forgets.

I can understand why TK offered Matt Hardy a contract as he still seems to dream about "one last run" for the Hardys, but I hope now that Matt declined it that TK takes it back and moves on to someone else. I think Hardy would work ok in a producer/backstage role but if he still thinks he has value as a wrestler I'd just let him go and see what he can find. With AEW's stacked roster I just don't think he has anything to offer in-ring anymore. Since Matt turned it down, I'm thinking it was probably a pay decrease, or he told Matt he wouldn't be a featured wrestler.

Everyone in my office building went outside to look at it and stayed outside for 30+ minutes, at least 100 people. I couldn't tell if people were really THAT interested (it was about 80% covered where I live) or people were just taking the excuse to not work for a bit.

Seth is the ultimate company man, looked like the biggest goof all weekend but went all-in on the bit. Even being the last one up during the celebration. I don't know what direction he goes in next, maybe a break if his back is really an issue, but I hope he gets something nice in return.

NO FUN AT ALL