Zakk_Sabbath

Sting is just traumatized from what happened last time he showed up without a tan.

I had the same thought when it happened, and after having slept on it, I truly think the story they're going to tell is that feuding with Malekai has corrupted Cody's soul, he's gotta tap into the "dark side" to win, etc. I'd bet money that the eventual blowoff with Malekai features Cody looking at an international object like "Should I...?" like Jungle Boy with the chair a couple weeks ago, or the Sami Zayn/Pac NXT title match a few years ago.

You make a good point, it's a different era now. Most of what I watched as a kid was centered around cartoon or live action fighting anyway, so wrestling really wasn't a huge transition from something like the Power Rangers or X-Men, for example. I don't know that many of those kinds of kid shows are getting made anymore, so something like wrestling might come off as completely foreign. Ive been trying for years to meet someone who attended an actual Nitro party in college, but it's not happened yet

I'm so glad you wrote this. I have a brother who's many years younger than me, and I very purposely avoided introducing this to him for the same reason, and I wasn't sure if that was the right thing. Things like DSotR and AEW's general vibe of "good will" have changed my stance on it somewhat, as people actively seek to avoid repeating the same mistakes. If he came to me now as an older kid I'd probably show him the good stuff, but he was born pretty shortly after the Benoit tragedy, so at the time it made me think about getting the news about Pillman, Spicoli, Owen etc. as a kid.

No filler on this one, absolutely great show. The only nitpick I have is that didn't love Britt losing on TV, but the match itself was great.

I'm with your 2nd paragraph, here. Wardog is way, way too good for that. It'll be more of a Diesel or Batista feel, I think. And the long term stuff has been so well done, it truly wouldn't surprise me if they let it simmer longer until MJF one day becomes champion.

I'm really into the fact that Tully also manages Spears and Wardlow when they team on Dark and they use the Horsemen-style theme and everything still. It's a nice touch even if it's not acknowledged on the TNT shows

A quick question for those much more knowledgeable about Joshi than myself: what's the best one on one Hikaru Shida vs Kana/Asuka match out there? Thanks all!

Non Active/All time: Bret, Savage, Foley, Bossman, Austin, Undertaker, Vader, Funk, Guerrero, Bigelow, Taz, Hennig, Raven, Malenko, Regal, Finlay, Kanyon just way too many to list Current: Danielson, Serena, Kingston, Punk Sting & Jericho make both lists somehow The people I miss the most from WWE are definitely Cesaro, Styles, and Asuka Edit # 1024: I forgot Owen and Dustin! There's too many. I should have never started this list. Blame the Steelers.

Rampage week after week is just a super fun hour of wrestling. We had Sting and Billy Gunn facing off in 2021 - tell that to 10 year old me and watch his head explode, a surprisingly good Jade/Velvet match, and a great main event. I loved Cole yelling "Bobby! Bobby, no!" over and over on the stage, his facial expressions had us dying. Edit: I do want to add, I'm serious when I say I liked the Gunn/Darby match. The classic David/Goliath shit was there, the coffin drop to the outside ruled, and we got the aforementioned 1998 fever dream face off.

This might be the Sports Collectibles fan in me speaking, but Don West was underrated just based on delivery alone. "JEFF HARDY, ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THISSSS!?!"

I don't know if it's pride, or the dumb size of the dumb stage, but WWE would probably do well to run smaller buildings at least in certain markets. TV-wise I'd rather have a loud sellout of 7000 than the same 7000 people with 10-12,000 empty seats behind the hard cam.

I'll agree on that one, they were truly great (and it's been nice seeing Callis having a bit of a resurgence). JR/King was getting a bit tired, and IIRC this was when WCW were trying out various incarnations involving Mark Madden that were less than stellar, so they were a huge breath of fresh air. I wonder how that stuff would hold up if revisted, I avoided most ECW when I had the Network due to the music rights stuff.

@HarryArchieGus I think the issue with Styles was more to do with willfully not following explicit direction, moreso than anything he believes or supports in his personal life. If Gabe said "Don't talk about McDonalds" and he hit the ring with a Big Mac joke, I'd expect the same result.

This is fucked up to say, but J.R. probably isn't gonna be on the road much longer. I get that he wants to work around his illness, but eventually, someone involved is going to realize that flying a 70+ year old immunocompromised cancer patient around during a (still very ongoing) pandemic is no bueno. Whether it's his doctors, himself, TK, some insurance company, his kids, who knows. But 18 rounds of chemo, I would imagine that knocking even a much younger person on their ass.

I don't watch a ton of lucha and had forgotten what the mask looked like so I googled it, and now I feel like an absolute idiot for not knowing Halloween and Ciclope are the same person. The more you know!

@eikerirhard agree. Even something as small as Danielson saying "When I fight Hangman, whenever that will be" gives a clear indication that things are a bit different. I could see why that might frustrate some, but I welcome the unpredictability

Agree! He's really amped up the mugging/reacting during Caster's raps lately and it's been a lot of fun to watch.

Was going to say, I have a Hayabusa mask from them that is shockingly good quality for how little I paid. I've had it for probably 15 years at this point

I was thinking about Sammy's massive table bump and got to thinking, it's really cool how AEW has the timekeepers table at ringside, but the announce booth next to the stage. It's truly the best of both worlds. You can do big main event table bumps like Sammy's and Hangman at the PPV, but you can still have a pissed off Cody or Team Taz or whoever storm the booth and grab a headset.

Total conjecture on my part, so no one take this as fact, but it would not surprise me if the original plan was for Hangman to feud with Brodie during that time.

Its kind of weird, I haven't even watched WWE in a long time, but I just have this gut feeling Vince is going to love Walter's no nonsense style. Part of me wonders if the Cesaro matches were not only just for the European fans, but also a clandestine main roster tryout of sorts.

You all have reminded me of my shame in having not started the new season yet. I don't even have those 14-hour episodes of Dark as an excuse anymore.

If that's the case, it's been within the last month. He was brought out by TK along with Jericho, Lynn, and Taz after the Philly Dynamite/Rampage to speak to the fans

I'm really torn on that, because I like his heel stuff a bunch. I wouldn't mind a "wily veteran who does heel shit to a baby response" type situation. I don't know if I'm describing this right, but think of like late-era Eddy or Flair stuff where the cheating is kind of endearing, for lack of a better term.