Brandon Bones

Rosa had a hard time keeping her laugh down. Had to have been improvised.

I stopped watching the show before the main event. Greatest PPV EVER!!!

I wasn’t as impressed with the overall show as I was with the closing angle. Which was pretty great. Cena played the whole thing to the back row so that when it came time to make the heel turn face. Everyone saw it immediately. I’m pretty sure Cena and Rock are vampires now. Man oh man did Punk kick out of everything before finally doing the pass out to an STFU. Liked the sleeper clinch to illustrate at least something could overcome the power everyone’s favorite locker room leader. I also couldn’t help but ruminate over how dead the old part-timers argument is now. I guess guys like Drew and Damien can look up at the top of the card and wonder. I do agree that there is money where they are going. Just not any room at the top to break through it seems.

They’ll likely remove back stage segments to squeeze it in. But yeah… there will no 25 minute epics.

Derp

Rodrick Strong was the fucking king in that trios match. If I ever meet him I owe him twenty bucks. They beat the snot outta him but he made them earn every bit of it. He made being in a chin lock look like a fight. I’m pretty sure I saw Adam Cole out there too. I could be wrong. Hangman isn’t tv. He is HBO. I’m all for May/Toni closing the show. The MAIN event, not the CO-main event. It’s going to be so awesome. I know they got some SHIT planned for this one. More squash matches. Not JOBBER matches mind you, no. Murder. Joe is correct. I want violence too. More Joe promos committing criminal threatening. Jerichos stage graphics spoil Loki Season 2. Jericho really is Randy West levels of cringe at this point. Problem for him is taking a break at this point basically means it’s over. I can’t begrudge the guy that much. He has to have at least one more banger in him, right? I’m told this episode was edited overnight. Fine. Show was zippy, squeezed a lot in, and got a lot done. Makes you wonder why killer episodes of RAW in the second or third hour at tapings in 94/95 weren’t more frequent. Going live is a tall order. Because even if everything you’ve planned generally hits its marks. There’s always going to be those invincible nitpicks that a second chance to shave off the margins really produces gains for the show. Energy! Dustin selling his ass off. I’m pretty sure the guy in the “I’m a Poor” shirt is that little dweeb giving the black power fist to The Nation on RAW all grown up. Pretty good pull apart, I guess. I’ll watch MJF and Hangman put on a MOTYC. That was two women’s matches… right? I like the Death Riders more than an Edge title run. Sorry about that.

Hologram, before I forget. Not a fan of the gelled lights during matches but for a run in car crash return plot twist? It actually helps to maximize the gimmicks “impression”. It was already a pile on ton of big splashy media to help reintroduce him. But count me in on more Blitzkreig and less Sin Cara. Keith Bryan vs. Bandito might be my match of the year at this point. Bandido made that crowd rememmmmmmmber! So much fun. Harleys segment did its job with expertise. I’m not as into her act yet as her overall reaction suggests. I ain’t mad at it tho. Booking her title shot certainly has a lot of wrong answers. Moné skates on thin ice over the debate in the ROI value of former and rebranded WWEbots. YMMV in that regard and Moné isn’t solely responsible for the inconsistency in their collective output. That has improved a lot thanks in large part TO Mercedes so I’m looking forward to this. I’m glad to hear the Aussie show is going to look good from at least an after show optics perspective. I doubt now that’ll be a dull crowd sitting on its hands. It’s still not looking that great for some hometown payoffs in match results. Unless there’s some hot shotting belt trades upcoming? That usually doesn’t get over too well with the critics historically.

The opening segment with Will and Kenny was a nifty lil sketch to bring our hero’s together. Bring on the Golden Assassins or whatever. Fletcher getting his ass kicked in his hometown will fit in down under when every other Aussie on the show will probably get a positive highlight. I really liked the Private Party squash. Worked in a way that had PP only hanging on by their finger nails due to their teamwork. But couldn’t shovel sand against the tsunami. Now squash The Bucks too. Of course… you know… that match would be 45 minutes of them being slammed off the top through a thumbtack table, piledrivin off a balcony, and something with a super kick bomb shoe. I’m lukewarm on the Jarrett stuff as I never really got caught up in this late career renaissance. Thing is I can see a MJF match being kinda fun. But I really don’t want to see Claudio lose to a slip on a banana peel. Thanks to spell check for filling in “renaissance” for me. Camera work throughout the show has really been good. I saw a lot of great visuals that helped support the narrative being told. When Kenny pulled away during his part of the promo (with Will seething in the background) or the intros for the tag title match. Also went a long way towards making that room look huge. Applause. Julia is looking very sure footed for someone with her experience. Like when younger wrestlers are getting started and their movements in ring look a bit off timed? Put Hayter over and still came across a bit better. That’s a win. I tend to lean in favor of The Death Riders because I like all of them individually. Hate the theme song, still love crowd entrances. Cope sure looked like he escaped with half his ass even though PAC died on this hill to make him look gooder. Not to damn with faint praise. Edge IS trying hard enough to highlight a deficit in ROI. Not that enthusiastic about a match with Mox. So many of Mox style gimmicks have been done to death that I wonder will even something as awful as thumbtacks or glass really move the needle at this point? I love you, AEW.

The last GCW show at the Hammerstein I bought and was hugely disappointed. So I kinda get the stakes involved. I have been pulling for them ever since. Mance, Allie, Effy, and Cardona all bright spots in an otherwise dim wrestling landscape. I assume the deal with Triller must be keeping them afloat to some degree. But things have been better back when a Janela Spring Break used to get what… 2000 tickets sold? The death match/light tube stuff gets waaay overdone. But it’s still something of the market to largely corner for themselves. So I hardly can blame them for keeping it up front. I got up to the Allie injury and just said “fuck it, I’m out”. That shit just sucks. But it isn’t dissimilar to all those ROH on-line PPVs failing numerous enough times that you gotta just let it go. Nobody is there that I want to blame in particular in either case. But it’s a failure all the same.

Yeah. I’ll have to admit it. I’d always wanted to see a trios division and I did. While it had its moments, it doesn’t warrant a division. It really is novelty stuff like cage matches and battle royals. Nobody wants a division of THAT shit. It sucks up too much of your roster, time on the show, and because it’s so crowded… nobody gets over. I hate that it’s true. And like Fist said. It already dilutes an already established division that now has no room to breathe. Just ask Private Party. It couldn’t be a worse time to be tag champs. It’s so bad I’m pretty sure their doorman guy rope guard fellow is about to stop letting them through the velvet rope the act is so lame at this point. It’s not entirely their fault either. Hopefully, they can turn it around. But really I blame The Shield. Those matches were so fucking awesome so frequently that it really drilled it in my resin covered brain that a trios division would be viable. Stupid bad Brandon. Get your shit together.

I might have watched Ethan Pages vlog once or twice. But since I’m really not a merch hound. I wasn’t too interested in toys. Seemed like a good guy from what little I saw. Meh. Moved on. I’m thinking more in the direction of some underutilized talent that use the platform to up their profile. Being that the lane previously occupied by others has been left vacant. It’s seems like there could be room to exploit there if you’re not on traditional television. Just not Dark Order. They can’t do shit with BTE.

I remember that complaining too. I also zoomed past Peter Avalon stuff as it never seemed to have much weight to it. Plus, autograph signing interactions with fans is total cringe. BTE was never really intended to be anything other than a travel VLOG by bored dudes in the road entertaining themselves. But they did start experimenting a lot and did stretch its relevance a lot further than I bet even they expected. So you don’t think that some supplemental content delivered through an alternative couldn’t have some merit? Maybe to an underexposed talent that could parley that onto TV? I mean it’s YouTube. All-In or that Hangman/Omega vs. The Bucks tag title match had so much more going for it if you’d seen BTE. For example. But I wasn’t necessarily suggesting BTE specifically be brought back to prominence. Just that the work done on the show week to week did a lot of heavy lifting in getting things over. I also do agree that for the fan watching the TV with a blind spot to whatever shenanigans are happening on the internet won’t exactly get what’s coming. But many would and that is a start that just isn’t there anymore. Edit: Maybe it’s ironic. But I never watched any control center stuff. They didn’t have to sell me a line-up of matches since my ear was to the ground enough to know what they were.

Walked away from WrestleKingdom disappointed but a lot got made up for with Wrestle Dynasty. Don’t sleep on Takeshita/Ishii. Ishii was trying like hell to drag his old self from 10 years ago into this one. A couple of suplexes he took forced me to remind myself that you can’t break a neck you don’t have. They have plans for the lard lad. Omega/Kidd was incredible. Fifty stars because it was in the Tokyo Dome.

Something that I think is missing from the current AEW landscape is the presence of alternative media supplementation. Yes, I’m very proud of how I phrased that. When AEW started. Several of their visible acts had YouTube shows that often would support or comment on angles and matches seen in the official narrative. For example “Being the Elite” really gets overlooked in how much heavy lifting it did in laying the foundation for AEW to not only exist but hit the ground running. Because what do you book with a start up company? A bunch of cold matches? Maybe something that’s on paper a “dream match” but the competitors are probably coming from polar opposite of where they’ve been. While I personally resent over branding and commercialization. I still credit its power and can recognize how much work it got done for WWE over the years. BTE was the antidote to a cold start up. Week in and out you were introduced and familiarized with a set of characters that at least a portion of the audience would know from the first show. Plus it was often very creative and funnier than it had any right to be. Noobs would have better access to understanding what’s going on when the announcers more to say about the wrestlers than “He’s athletic” or some other vapid attempt adding color. Even after AEW was chugging along for a while. Several others in the locker room picked up the ball. Thunder Rosa, Sammy’s VLOG… all began as small inexpensive ventures that you could see evolve with more production applied (intros, sharper editing) as everything built. TR would do personal interviews over Tacos and Sammy would hang out with his friends and be goofs. Sometimes even bleeding over into each other’s stuff. You know… FUN! But this stuff has absolutely withered on the vine. It is baffling to me how much of a void it’s left. Is no one sitting in catering interested? Has no one noticed? FFWD to now and AEW is in its awkward adolescent phase where the cool factor is out reach. Time to grow.

I straight up have a Harry Potter scar in the middle of my forehead because I tripped over a BB gun and went face first into the edge of the tv stand when I was 6. The results were an impressive score on the Muta scale I bled so much about the face. My pillhead gun toting grandfather was certainly alarmed. Especially since HE gave me the BB gun about 10 minutes prior. I did get to see my face in the mirror and thought I looked fucking bad ass. Grampy applied what he called a “butterfly stitch” and I never saw that BB gun again. Mum was super-pissed when she came to pick me up later. I run like an artist to this day.

I liked the show a lot. I was glad they didn’t have Osprey and Fletcher go out a do another epic. Both guys were used well here. Osprey gets the win yet he got visually wrecked by the guy that beat him last time. Its 2-1 Osprey at this point IIRC. Moné/Stat was another banger that really helped cement Monés shedding of her skin of this unfortunate situation many expats from WWE experience. The injury killing the momentum of a new popular hire. Someone here called it “getting her sea legs” but I fear there is more to that hill being climbed. Punk getting dinged in the Rumble suggests those problems would have continued to haunt AEW had he stayed there. But this string of really great matches and their frequency really has her growing out of it. Knock on wood. MJF/Cole really exceeded my expectations but it really shouldn’t have. Max works hard and is very reliable to produce a good to great match. Cole should probably go back to WWE. At least there, when he is lost in the shuffle, an injury won’t derail a years worth of work. I see and understand many of the criticisms laid upon the guy. I just don’t see it as a death sentence to his career. Clearly the guy has something to offer if given the correct role. Just not sure it’s AEW. I was pleased with many of the extra curricular segments of the show that did a lot of heavy lifting in table setting for the future. There are a bunch of matches on the horizon to look forward to. Shoot Omega/Okada into my veins. Didn’t realize Mox vs. Copeland was even possible. Any one want to gander at the marquee value? Two famous wrestlers (yet not selling tickets under their probably more familiar names) burdened with being a draw in a vacuum doesn’t sound promising. But I guess if it’s in the correct town, right? May/Thunder Bae was solid. May exceeds my expectations every-time, since she is a rare occasion of a fresh act getting some good early in the career momentum. Rosa seems a half step slower of foot since the injury comeback. But no less game for doing anything and everything to make it work. JR didn’t say anything notably stupid or cranky. This time. Just a production suggestion for the C2. I like how concise the smaller block tournament is set up. But I think for the sake of investment in the tournament itself that eliminated competitors should be highlighted during the semifinals and final match. It suggests an attachment to the prestige of the tournament and gives a built in motive for everyone to want to be in it. So yeah. Have Shelton back stage. Have Briscoe watching in the locker room with his friends. Darby can watch from the rafters. Brody can hang upside down like a bat in an undisclosed dark room with the rest of his crew. Over the years, similar to the Rumble its status and importance will build. Otherwise another likable show from my favorite set of underdogs. It has and continues to feed the need so I can continue to not watch WWE.

Darby vs. Osprey was really great.

Beat me to it. It’s pretty great.

Holy shit.

Punk often seemed to (maybe unintentionally) speak out of both sides of his mouth pertaining to working with younger talent. On one hand he did seem glad to be back and genuinely interested in sharing his clout and giving the rub. But don’t you fucking forget how important it is the 1 Bil Phil is in just BEING there. He was the guy that walked out on WWE ya know? Like… if you’re Jack Perry. What fuck are you supposed to with that? To be FAIR! Getting advice from older more experienced people can be kind of a boon. However, if somebody hears that experience and decides to do something different than expected. It’s so funny how fucking butthurt the old heads get when they are heard but the advice wasn’t taken as an order. It’s the reason that Punk, confident in his skills didn’t walk away from Perry like he should have if that’s where the argument was going. But he invited it. Because boo-boo face. Nevermind that his comeback was a clusterfuck due to the injuries. This also did not improve with a switch back to the “place that made him sick in the first place”. +1 for style points. -12 on principle. He sold out. Plain and simple. Stick a can of Pepsi in his hands and tell him to smile for the check… erm I mean camera.

I love this so much. I love Gay Kane. I love CoKANE. I love drugs. Got any?

https://thehardtimes.net/blog/opinion-hulk-hogans-political-beliefs-are-irrelevant-to-me-because-i-havent-forgiven-him-since-he-joined-the-nwo/ The Hard Times

Nigel remembered to wear his “smedium” shirt. I’m cautiously giddy about Jericho and Ishii. I hope Ishii straight up tortures him. My opinions on Cole have somewhat eroded over the past couple of years. But I was expecting a lot worse from this match in contrast to whatever media I’ve consumed over the week. But man, Cole’s spray tan has never failed so spectacularly. Jaundice pee drinker is not a good “look”. I’m probably going to have to apologize for that one. Sorry Bay Bay. I often wonder if recent face paint designs used by HOB aren’t somehow influenced by Max Casters “Black face” call out in that entrance rap a few whiles back. I doubt Caster wasn’t saying anything beyond satire about it as it concerns a group of evil devil people garb equating to some racist ga ga ca ca. It sure doesn’t hurt to not invite that attention. Brandonetico is going to require assistance in remaining calm the more Mina Bae is on my screen. Because it’ll need to be a heroic dosage shot out of a tank to sedate me. Glitter. It’s good to see Rush have this run as I was almost putting him in “a damn Low Ki/Amazing Red shame” that he didn’t become a bigger deal. Banger after banger is cementing his position where hopefully he can finally call some place home. He’s got Tiger Mask potential. Wowing kids into seat tickets and t-shirts is right there waiting. Swerve sold that Poison Rana on the floor where he (thoughtful pause) was so much larger and stronger, he ALMOST stopped Lios momentum and set it up later when tries it a second time being the fatal mistake. Nice. Security guard guy that has always pumped up Private Party is my favorite character on the show. He always brings something to the gimmick with his “back off” hand motions and never gets in their way. I guess that even if there was a big misunderstanding about Blacks status in the company. If it translates into him being more active on tv. So be it. HOB overall has gone overlooked long enough. Spend here.

This is for bad people only… like me. NSFW. But if you know who GWAR is? You KNEW that already.

Ha! You guys a killing me today. That Yuta as Marvin shit had me rolling.