EricG

They would have just kept it to one night. No way they would have rescheduled Takeover on Saturday just to split WM into two nights. Would have been just one entirely too long show as usual. If we're talking hypotheticals, there were only three notable shows Saturday evening/night: Supercard of Honor, Freedoms, and Joey Ryan's Penis Party.

I thought the 13/Mercer match went a tad too long, but it was good. Agree that the opener was good. The Allie Cat/Cogar match—Cogar is from the Cleveland area and has done some stuff around the indies, and he's part of the 44OH! (get it, the Cleveland area code, so creative they are) group with Page/Iron/Only that are part of the feud between RSP and Gage (also explains some of the negative comments by Janela on commentary). I thought the match was a bit rough at times. I only watched just more than half the show, but Janela's has some small bits that are intentionally or unintentionally hilarious. On the "secret" location: ""There's Blake Christian, he beat me last week in this buil ... not in this building."

Dragging their feet? It's been less than 24 hour since the announcement was made. They're trying to come up with the best solution. And while it may have been somewhat obvious that it wasn't going to happen, why would they make a decision before WWE made the WM decision? You're expecting them to have a specific date and specific venues for 20+ events already, with the current situation the country is in? They're trying to make up these shows for all the fans that were looking forward to these shows. On top of that, at least one promotion has announced you can either save the ticket for a make-up show or can get a refund by processing it through eventbrite. No one is stopping any of the ticket holders for requesting a refund through the ticket site for any of the other events. It's unprecedented territory and they've been fairly transparent through the entire process.

He can, somewhat—saw him in December. Obviously not his old self, but still had a decent showing in a mid-card four-way. Singles might be a little slower but this looks like it'll be decent.

Bought one. I'm not exactly sure why.

So much interesting stuff on this show. I might be so inclined to add this as a 7th show while I'm down there. I don't exactly know why but the Killer Kylie character seems like a must-see.

There won't be an end—there's always going to be some type of "video game" type stuff on a card, in most markets. However, there's already a decent amount of workers who are mostly character-based, not working anything close to the gymnastic style, and managed to get pretty over. Half the WM weekend shows are even centered around character-based workers. It's already starting to reverse, I'd think, at least in some way.

Great stuff, but yeah, Shaul's story of the last time she saw Eddie and Vicki's and Chavo's quick story of the night before/morning of is pretty tough to listen to. Probably something a lot of people can relate to. Definitely worth it to hear.

Has anyone told a first-person account of what he sent them, or what he did? I haven't seen anything other than "my friend received ..." type stuff from a person or two. Not defending, just curious. Plus I like reading about wrestling gossip. Didn't something happen a few years ago with Condron and Quack?

Yep, sad. Smothers posted about it early last week and a few of the news sites covered it briefly. He also had a heart attack some time ago but didn't realize he had one.

Dude is on fire all over the indies. Pretty great stuff, transitioning from a few common gimmicks into this.

I finally got around to reading this. I'd recommend it if you can get past the rough translation, it's essentially just a bunch inside knowledge without a narrative. Some random information and thoughts:

Has anyone ever gotten to a translated version of the Jun Izumida book regarding the Yakuza's involvement in NOAH from 2012? I have very limited knowledge of the situation but the entire Yakuza involvement in pro wrestling has me interested. Anyone ever read the translated version of the Shoichi Arai book? I see there's something on Bahu's site but I can't access it while at work.

This is probably the best description of Teddy Hart I've ever read. I enjoy him popping up on certain shows, e.g., random WM weekend stuff that's just wacky one-off stuff, but in no way does his style belong in an episodic week-to-week TV promotion. Yikes. He COULD be really good, but he just choses to want to do a few highspots a match and nothing more.

The one they announced today was probably my top choice ... I hope his stuff translates to the larger audience.

No more weekly Art of Wrestling, announced today. There's going to be a few live shows posted that he taped in the last few months, and he's contractually obligated to do one each month until the end of the year, but that's pretty much it. He's moving the archives to Patreon and may do some occasional stuff there if there's enough support. I pretty much tapped out when he made the format switch a few months ago, but that's the end of a pretty decent run.

Bought one, too (thanks for posting—I had no idea about these). Hard to find interesting wrestling tees that aren't the standard black.

Am I the only one who thought Moxley just ran through Janela? Maybe rightfully so, as they're polar opposites both in looks and in size—one just looks like a star. Maybe I was expecting too much, as the previous Cody vs. Allin match elevated Allin while keeping Cody pretty strong. I thought at a few points his selling (or lack of) was almost into Teddy Hart territory. Janela's on the ground for a lot of the match, just watching Moxley do his angry pace around the ring a majority of the time. I found it odd after Moxley going off on WWE for the last month or so about things being so illogical, then being set up in an 'unsanctioned' match (complete with dramatic intro!) and then just rolling through most of the hardcore spots. Probably nitpicking here, but I thought it was the perfect chance for Moxley to have an "epic" brawl with a guy who can really go in that situation, but it came off to me as somewhat of a squash. /Rant over. I loved the majority of what I saw. The six-man was bonkers.

Not excusing the language ... but was his reference toward CIMA? It's possible he just confused CIMA being part of the Oriental Wrestling Federation and just blurted out the term. But ... yeah, yikes.

Yes, do tell ... EDIT: The hot dog incident ...? I'm trying to look up anything on Google and there's too much drama to even narrow it down.

Anyone read this? I was thinking of grabbing an auto'd copy.

So, I wonder which one of the performers on the show have HIV and Hep C?

AIW running their annual tournament next week in Cleveland with some interesting names: Savio Vega, Colt Cobana, Eddie Kingston, Nick Gage, Dominic Garrini, Joshua Bishop, Tim Donst, Danhausen A.D., Louis Lyndon, Flip Kendrick, DCR, Pat Buck, Lee Moriarty, MJF, KTB, Matthew Justice, Mance Warner, Zach Thomas, AJ Gray, Swoggle, Tre Lemar, Marko Stunt, Erick Stevens, Kid Kash. Night two gives you some really interesting 4-ways with the winners from night one. Plus the tag team tournament on Saturday afternoon with The Spirit Squad (Kenny & Mikey). They're bringing in Sekimoto on July 25, so I'd expect more dates for him over that weekend if they haven't been announced yet.

I was a little ... perturbed ... when they didn't announce Fenix wasn't showing up until after the card had started. I was looking forward to getting something signed and a photo with the Lucha Bros, and I almost never buy merchandise at a show, and very rarely get a photo with anyone. Didn't even care a few matches in because the entire show was great with a great atmosphere—one of the best in the AIW's history. After hearing the podcast, what a sh*t move by Fenix. As they mentioned in the podcast—Fenix is "untouchable"—bitching about it won't have any effect as he's already got a contract and likely won't need the independents to make a living. I guess he'd rather spend time in Mexico than fulfill an advertised commitment. I'm guessing the promotor is out the cost of the flight (Sid still owes for the cost of a flight from last year). The worst part is that it was a great opportunity for the Jollyville F*ck Its. Two guys who are highly underrated, never miss a show, and really could have used the exposure.