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I like Cone as a ref and all, but his kid was the wrong call for Braun's partner. Little JJ was right there and he was the most charismatic person on the entire show.

I'm liking trolling ass Nak so far.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I figure some of it is heartfelt advice to her fans 1. Don't hug me there! 2. Neckbeards tickle! 3. Deodorant is your friend! 4. Showers are important! 5. Why does everyone ask me if Eric Bischoff is my uncle? 6. Tumblr is gross! 7. Nobody likes bronies! 8. It could be worse. I could be a body pillow.

Kurt Angle has some nerve saying his tag division is full, when his tag title match the night before featured a ten year old kid.

Samoa Joe is the character everyone wants Roman Reigns to be. Welcome back.

The next time they're in Minnesota he can throw Bray in Lake Minnetonka and see if that makes a difference.

Daniel Bryan is still the shit, y'all.

No, no, it's natesfriendinetico, I swear!

Dasha is Braun's mom?

Speaking of, Charley Steiner would make a great wrestling announcer.

Lay off Paige, she had to do a video announcing she had poisoned the Gotham City water supply.

This company doesn't push Becky Lynch because why? She can wrestle, she's gorgeous, has personality, she's Irish...

In case you were wondering

Got some time at work so going to jot down some Mania weekend notes and observations. This was my 3rd Wrestlemania but the first time I’ve had the ability to do independent shows. By and large, this was my first exposure to any of these guys live this weekend. Thursday: Wrestlecon Supershow: - Great crowd and atmosphere. Sell-out crowd so spent most of the night standing and jockeying for position. One of the more fun shows of the weekend. Venue was great with reasonably priced beer. I’m kind of bummed it was so early in the weekend as I had just come off the road and was rushing to make it. Would have been nice to watch it in a more relaxed state - Joey Janela carries himself like a superstar. - Jeff Cobb had an overall great weekend. Fantastic, G1-level match with Ishii. I’m often cold on Cobb’s stuff but he showed good intensity. He really should have an NJPW spot. - Fenix/Horus vs Bandito/Flamita was a fantastic spot-fest. Sound was a little spotty during the intros so it was hard at first to keep everyone straight. I mean, I know three out of these four guys from LU and other indies but not being a lucha watcher per se it gets pretty hectic following it in a live-setting. - Ospreay comes across like the biggest star in the world live. What a gutty weekend. Also, he’s a great seller. Was glad to see Adam Brookes, though I don’t recall him standing out. Your usual quickie four-way flippy match. - People lost their mind when Suzuki came out. He was going to be the one guy I was going to miss that weekend so great to experience him and Kaze Ni Nare live. Tanahashi has an aura about him as well. What surprised me was how good Juice comes across live. Good charisma and size and also carries himself like a star. David Starr’s entrance always amusing, too. - Chuckie T was the star of the main event. Great promo work and worked hard. Omega and Ibushi, obviously, didn’t kill themselves but just seeing them live is a trip. This was a hot, fun crowd. People fucking with Flip about being a flat Earther always fun, too. My hunch is Evolve was a better show but this is such a good smorgasbord of the top wrestling talent in the world. Friday: PROGRESS: Mardi Graps: - It’s very easy to bag on Smallman’s monologues before and during the show, but, man, seeing it live I loved it. He gave just the most lovely speech that basically culminated with him stating that pro wrestling was the greatest thing in the world and that if you liked pro wrestling you were his friend and that anyone who likes pro wrestling will always be your friend, as well. This was Heyman-levels of inspiration without the “take unprotected chairshots for no pay and slam Klonopins after” underdone. This was such a fun, emotional, hot crowd. - Venue in Kenner is great. Awesome sight lines. Reasonable prices. Great vibe. The hotel that everyone was staying at was next door so you could dip over a coffee or beer in between shows or sit in the lobby and charge your phone. There was a riverboat casino across the street as well. I’ve been to New Orleans a thousand times but obviously never go over the bridge much. Was very impressed with the whole setup. - Mustache Mountain is a full-on comedy team now but they do it well. Grizzled Young Vets are sneakily great. I feel WWE is going to take all the fun out of Trent Seven. Pre-match bants was the highlight but the action was good. - Ospreay continues his insane weekend and has a nifty match with the very short Mark Haskins. Haskins is billed as 5’10. There is no fucking way. - Seeing WALTER live is something. More to come with that. Seeing Keith Lee live also something, too. - Maxwell Jacob Friedman is good on the mic. He got an EC2 chant, which basically sums him up. - Riddle vs Havoc was fun but too short. Sometimes Riddle’s sprints comes across a bit flat to me. It comes across less as “what a war” and more “Riddle has to get an Uber across town” sometimes. This was Riddle’s like 1st match of four of the day so it was a bit perfunctory. - Dunne turning was one of the most authentic holy shit pops of the weekend. - Travis Banks might be the most over-pushed in wrestling. Evolve 103: - Everyone went to Rev Pro so it was barely half of PROGRESS in the crowd. I enjoyed being away from a jam-packed crowd for a bit and made plenty of visits to the bar during this show. - Theory vs Lee was good with a surprise finish. - AR Fox has a fun superstar gimmick. - WALTER’S chops are something to behold. - I was unfamiliar with Sawa but really enjoyed his work. - Riddle vs Sekimoto was a goddamn war. Vicious, nasty, brutal match. Mercury Rising: - First time seeing Sabre Jr. As I’ve noted, sometimes the submission, grappling stuff turns me off. Him and Sawa worked hard. This is a match I want to re-visit. - Work Horsemen put on a fun garbage brawl and managed to stand out on a loaded day. - Sekimoto and Lee was a good hoss fight. - Riddle and Ospreay was maybe the match of the weekend. Just a fantastic match between world-class wrestlers in front of a crowd losing their mind. Saturday: PROGRESS: Bourbon Is Also A Biscuit - Will cut a speech basically explaining how fucked up he was and if he could have a nice fun intergender match. Ospreay/Kay Lee Ray and Jinny/Austin Theory proceeded to tear the fucking house down. Definitely a match to watch. Just a ton of fun and everyone worked their asses. Jinny and KLR looked great, too. - WALTER vs ZSJ another contender to match of the weekend. WALTER batted around Sabre like a bear playing with a rabbit. Stiff, brutal, nasty match in what may have been Zack’s swan song to the indie scene for a while. - Banks laid an egg against Cobb. Nothing with his stuff is working. His promo to start was cringe and the crowd that cared was pulling for Cobb to win even though he’s very much an outsider and PROGRESS fans are nothing if not loyal to their guys. ROH - Hated the venue. Way the fuck in the middle of nowhere and expensive. - Hot, hot crowd who fucking pops huge for Cody. I mean, Cody was more over than Omega for this crowd. There’s a whole discussion about the differences between ROH fans, WWE fans and independent fans. ROH is really hot but with a unique audience. - Ishii and Martinez was fun and stiff. Martinez is still rough but Ishii can carry a broom to a great match. - Hangman vs Ibushi was fantastic. Page is having a fantastic few weeks and is turning the corner on his work. He’s starting to get over, too. - Ladder match was your ladder match spotfest. Not as crazy as some others you’ll see. Bucks did their Bucks thing. Flip is still very hit and miss. Overbooking was a little ridiculous with this but, like Mania, halfway through the show this show is looking like a thumbs up. Unfortunately, we still had many, many hours to go. - Briscoes vs Tana and Lethal didn’t much. First major disappointment of the night. Something just didn’t click and the intermission post-ladder match started to flag the crowd. It was also starting to get late on a rainy Saturday. People were very eager to see Omega vs Cody. - Young vs King went on forever and no one cared. This is where ROH is doing the weird WWE-style of match arrangement where you’re putting matches in dead spots. The only thing that could have followed that ladder match was Cody and Omega. - Bully Ray continued to kill the crowd dead with that nonsensical, endless segment. At this point, I’m actively wishing harm on Delirious. - Cody vs Omega was great. Everything the first chapter needed to be. It was very much a Cody match, which the crowd was fine with. Good finish in what is the best story in wrestling. - Castle vs Scurll was TOO FUCKING LONG. Legitimately, this weekend should provide the final lesson that cards don’t need to go past four hours, tops. It’s death for the live crowd who is probably cold, tired and, if not willing to shell out a ton of money at the concession stand, hungry, sober and thirsty. These guys could have worked at a Kobashi/Misawa level and I would have hated it. No clue why this went on last. I know that the title should be held sacred but, like WWE, you have to realize what the actual main event of these shows are. The crowd that did stay for it was pretty hot. At this point, I had gone into the lobby to stretch my legs and charge my phone but did walk back in to catch the last few minutes, which seemed pretty hot. On the whole, though, just a way too long, overbooked match to cap a way too long show. Wrestlemania - Show was too long. First few hours were great and, like every other year, it falls off a cliff. Entrances were excellent all the way around. - Overall, I liked the booking as it set things up moving forward. Charlotte winning was a surprise but it was always gonna either be Rousey or Charlotte ending the streak. Charlotte vs Rousey the more attractive match-up promotional-wise and could very likely headline SummerSlam or Wrestlemania next year. - The Superdome FUCKING LOVED Rousey. Superstar pop. Bigger reaction than all but maybe the Undertaker. Any doubt that she should be pushed as the top star should be dispelled. - Cena’s squash by Undertaker was hilarious. Kudos for Cena for going along with this goofy angle that saw him humiliated at the end. - Crowd by and large stayed hot through the Bryan match. Shane was in the ring way too long and started to flag the crowd. - It would be easy to blame Nak and Styles for being flat on the dead crowd but they were hot for Braun. They should have put the WWE title match on earlier in the show. By that point in the night the crowd didn’t have the patience to see moves being exchanged. Moving forward, put your wrestling matches on early and the spectacles on late. - Roman and Brock seemed to work really, really hard. Match layout was absurd, though. This was one of those things where the crowd had this idea in their head that wasn’t actually what was being presented to them. I liked Brock winning as you set up the next big show and establish uncertainty in the direction. Wrestlemania 2000/Backlash 2000-level booking.

Where's the Uncle Leo eyebrow gif?

The eventual feud these two are going to have coukd be epic

Tolerance for one another makes the world a better place.

Well that RAW After Mania crowd was certainly the quietest one I can remember. Mountain Dew and Doritos finally caught up.

Fuck - Coach is awful

No.

Rippas birthday present sorted

Backlund looks like a ventriloquist puppet that has gained sentience

This one was way too easy.

Kahn Souphanousinphone Nakamura is the best Nakamura

So many awful choices. "Hi, I'm a non-fan and presumably of sound body and mind, I am aware that pro wrestling exists, but choose to ignore it as it's not really my thing......WHAAAAAA, grainy Youtube footage of two Japanese guys trying to drop each other on their head without any context unless I also happen to speak Japanese? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE? SIGN ME UP FOR A NJPW WORLD SUBSCRIPTION YESTERDAY"

If Miz is going to SDL and they're axing Bo and Curtis, the easiest thing for them to do to advance the Bryan feud would be to have Miz sign KO and Sami to personal contracts as his new Miztourage. They'd do a good job getting over the idea of them having to swallow their disdain for him as a wrestler for new jobs that would allow them to get revenge on Bryan and Shane.

Well shit, now I wish he'd picked his Dad... who should've come to the ring armed with his trusty baseball bat

I love Elias talking about not being booked on NXT FL loop shows and just showing up and playing outside the arena as fans were coming in.

Speaking of Lashley, that Elias segment was incredible. You can see the absolute glee in his eyes. I swear to god, when I saw him in NXT, I did not ever expect this idiot with a guitar to get over like this. Good for him. Also, the NWJ jobber was John Skyler from Resistance Pro.

Coach should be traded to espn for a dvd compilation of This is Sportscenter commercials.

Rough headline translation:

Feelings.

2018 is weird

Also I've never seen those AOP blokes before. Is one of his name Rezar? As in one half of these two?

Miz is def going to Smackdown. I'm also thinking both the US and IC titles are going to be switched. Can we draft Coach to the unemployment line in place of Kevin and Sami?

From looking at the photos in last 2 or 3 days, there may have been better talent in the upper deck of the Superdome then in the actual ring Speaking of legends. And Stephanie McMahon

7th entrant the rest of 2 Cold Scorpio's penis.

I hope for his sake there aren't any Flair grandchildren around ready to break the ten year streak.

"This could be the biggest card since [pause] WrestleMania last night" Yes the next ppv will be the biggest since the last one. Amazing.

We're ignoring the best announcement: Deonna Purrazzo‏!

If he's looking for predators he'd spot Lawler first