Leaderboard

Guys, come on, work with me here. We can all agree that this was great. It is the great unifier.

#FTR. Best tag team in the world since 2016.

Yeah, that story always sounded kind of bullshitty in a real smark-baiting way. Your scenario is so much more likely than the alternative, that Bischoff and Hogan conspired to make sure Hogan got ALL the toy profits, then they somehow got the toy company onboard with this whole plan and everybody had no problem with putting the same Hogan SKU on every figure. Like nobody in the toy company would say, "hey guys, this feels kind of skeevy." Wouldn't it have been easier to tell the toy company, "forward us the profits and the numbers and we'll distribute the merch money as we see fit" and then just give it all to Hogan if that was then plan? I agree with Karl Stern when he talks about conspiracies. Big conspiracies rely on large groups of people not being incompetent and also being able to keep their mouths shut, and when has either ever happened? I'm more a believer in Occam's razor and the axiom "never ascribe malice when stupidity is a valid explanation."

Andrade has to be the new wrestler that when you see his name posted next to yours you instantly cower in fear. So this Dark Elevation had roughly 10 matches on it, and it was 47 minutes long. They are getting better at timing this thing out, while having so many matches on it.

Man, Dark felt a lot like an episode of WCW Saturday Night. Good main event with Isiah Kassidy screaming like a little girl! Serpentico is the best wrestler in AEW? Daniel Garcia was awesome leaning into the Scorpion Deathlock on Fuego. QT Marshall and Nick Cammorano were very much a nouvelle Texas Hangmen. That rocked. And a lot of squashes.

My dude, if you're this caught up on size, maybe AEW is not for you. Vanilla midgets...lollipop guild. Come on. Honestly, I mean no offense by this. I'm just restating something I know I posted a while back: if you don't like watching smaller wrestlers, or if you find smaller wrestlers getting over on bigger wrestlers offensive/unbelievable, you're going to have a bad time watching a wrestling company built around smaller wrestlers. Even Punk and Danielson, who you are seemingly giving a pass, are two small for today's WWE.

I definitely believe that they Fedexed Jericho a box containing nothing though

Sonny Kiss lays it in.

I've said this before about house shows, but the death of the C-show is another thing from prior eras that has saddened me with it's disappearance. So many of my weekends as a kid were spent with Superstars, Worldwide, Pro, Shotgun, etc. It's nice having the Darks and (now again) the NWA to kind of fill that void a little, but it loses some charm not being syndicated on random local stations.

This post totally confused me because it looked like everyone involved used the wrong abreviations for Dairy Queen, A&W and IHOP.

This perception is indeed YOUR issue, and I can guarantee that the vast majority of people here don't think it matters as much.

I laughed.

@supremebveDon’t forget WWE didn’t even have anything to do with Rock or Austin breaking out. Vince’s initial ideas for both, Rocky Maivia and The Ringmaster, were garbage. The best thing Vince did for them was get out of their way once both men found their groove. Now everything is so controlled, these current guys will never have room to figure it out like Rock and Austin did. Nobody is allowed to go out there and cut their own promos, let alone radically change their character on their own. So what hope do they really have of ever having a breakout superstar again? Maybe to put it more succinctly, the biggest stars WWE ever had developed on their own, usually in spite of creative, not because of it. Now WWE doesn’t allow that. They’re fucked.

For the first time in a couple months, I feel like myself again. In July, I started a new position at my company. It was a promotion and pay raise but also meant switching back to a manager that can be kinda challenging. I was definitely stagnating in my old position but the manager was great and definitely cared about the people on his team. Just a genuinely good guy. I should mention that the job entailed doing stuff I'd never done before. I was told to expect that it would be 6+ months before I'd be useful and that there was a learning curve. No problem there. In September, we started a project to retire an old system and migrate all of its functions and code to an entirely different platform. For reasons that are unclear to me, I was made the de facto lead in charge of that project. Except I wasn't put in charge of estimates and, given my inexperience, didn't even know enough to know what I didn't know. As time rolled on, the work was divided up between myself and two other developers with me being assigned the 1/3 of work that was easiest and the other 2 being assigned the tougher stuff. We were all tasked with testing our own stuff. And a fourth person was assigned vendor and client coordination. Well, we fell behind and myself and another guy ended up taking on the vast majority of the work. I did my 1/3 of the development work plus reworking a bit of the stuff from another person. AND I did 100% of the testing for everything. AND I ended up doing about half of the vendor and client coordination when the other person went on vacation. It got assigned to me and then I was left in charge of it because I "had momentum". Myself and the other guy did all of the deployments as well - him doing about 80%, me doing the other 20%. During the month of December, it was basically me and one other guy doing the work of four people - while getting grief for exceeding budgeted project hours and missing deadlines. Lots and lots of stress and pressure. While all that was going on, my wife got ill with kidney stones and was basically bedridden for a month. She didn't pass it and had surgery to remove it - but they didn't find any stones. She's back on her feet but still struggling a lot, not feeling good at all. And our two pets have serious health issues. Our cat (10 years old) was very ill and stopped eating. He was behaving nearly identically to a cat that was he had to put down a decade ago. It came out of nowhere and I was very upset about it. And our dog, my black lab constant companion who LOVES me (feeling is mutual), is nearing the end. He's 12-1/2 and has bad breathing problems. So, between these four situations, I found myself pretty stressed in November and December. I am never stressed. I don't bring home work with me (though I work from home now, LOL). Stuff just doesn't bother me. But all this stuff did. I found myself having trouble sleeping. When I did get to sleep, the dog was waking me up a couple times a night. He'd get nervous or scared about his breathing and wake me up to let me know. I'd have to either take him outside and walk him around or just comfort him. As you can imagine, this meant I wasn't getting much sleep. Exhausted all the time. So I started just trying to survive and get to my vacation. Had 10 days off at the end of December. People were asking me what I planned to do. "Sleep", I would tell them. "Haha, no seriously", they would respond. "No, seriously, that's all I want to do". And so I did - somewhat. The dog still kept waking me up and I was so far behind on sleep that I just didn't get caught up. Until Saturday. The cat issue ended up being pancreatitis, fixed with a couple doses of medicine and different food. He's back to being his normal jerk self. After a couple of medicine adjustments, the dog is much more comfortable and breathing better. He's not waking me up multiple times a night. My wife is feeling a little better though she's still having back pain like she had with the kidney stones (doesn't have any though). And me? Well, Friday night, I got 9-1/2 hours of sleep. Interrupted once by the dog because he need to go to the bathroom. I woke up pain-free - a miracle for me after sleeping so long - and the fog of exhaustion had lifted. Felt like a new man. So, yeah, for the first time since probably September or so, I feel like myself.

Tay Conti's German Suplex!

JD Drake vs Orangey Boy was a GREAT YouTube match! I loved everything about it, from the Wingmen in disguise working as goons, to the (apt) Rayo de Jalisco reference, to Orange folding to the mat after a single big chop, to the sublime bodyslam based storytelling. You can have your Danielson vs Page and Nakajimmy vs Go matches. Give me more Drake vs Orange!! The only things keeping me from recommending it for the list was that JD's heel heat couldn't match Cassidy's massive face pops, presumably because the big man is just too lovable, and that I wish they'd go back to Drake's original Dick Murdoch style ring gear which was perfect for him. On the other hand, the way Orange sold for the ring rope ricochet strike on the outside, and the way he got all fired up after finally hitting the slam were perfect YouTube pro wrestling. I'm also loving Powerhouse just Road Warrior squashing dudes and using the torture rack as his finisher. And Fuego vs Garcia was an excellent, all-action set-up for the Sammy title match. And: JB making the tag while diving out of the ring!!! I also liked that: Supremely enjoyable show overall. 102 minutes just flew by.

The court proceedings will be broadcast on Youtube. No, Fite. No, Vice. No, beIN. No, DAZN. No, Fubo.

Oh so now Hogan is against people putting “untested” things into their bodies! Hey Hulkster how much testing was done on those chewable vitamins that you sold to kids, or your energy drink, or your nutrition line, or all the coke and steroids, brother.

I’m glad you made it out of there safely. So @just drew, just look at Matt Jackson as a goose and Nick Jackson as @Stefanie the Human’s friend’s chihuahua and you should start to see the appeal.

It actually drives me a little nuts when they bill an AEW guy at 198 or whatever. Just give the dude 3 extra pounds.

BTW, not to kiss any ass, but @Phil Schneiderpodcast is legit good and a breath of fresh air from the rest of the cookie cutter wrestling podcasts out there. I listen to a fuckton of podcasts. Pocket Casts says that since September 2015 I have listened to over 300 days worth of podcasts. A lot of the time it's background noise or I'll stop paying attention to it. The ones that I'll actually pay attention to and remember and tune out the other thing that I'm doing tend to be the better ones and Phil's is like that for me.

You mean there's no special lady in your life who wouldn't want a Hulk Hogan marital aide?

Ok Dark Elevation 1/10/22 Lethal/Kiss vs Valo/Steeler: Not sure this should be a permanent thing but Kiss and Lethal worked well here. Kiss' forearm on the outside around the finish was pretty mighty. Valo has a look that reminds me of dollar store HOOK. On the one hand, someone should tell Tony the name of Lethal's finisher. On the other, every cutter should just be called a cutter to prove a point. Rose/Sakura vs San Antonio/Blue: Not a good placement for Blue. It's sort of like when you'd have a mid-carder teaming with an enhancement talent on old Crockett TV. You knew who was going to eat the fall but not a good look. Rose and Sakura mesh well together by this point and the corner stuff worked exceptionally well on this night which is the definition of whether an Emi match works or doesn't for me. I'm increasingly convinced that they should probably turn Rose. FTR vs Brinks/Hawkins: Cash is the third best guy in the company on a week to week basis. Hirsch/Velvet vs Mimi/B3CCA: Nice to see B3CCA here. I know they're going with dissension but it's a shame as these two really balance each other well. I won't go on more about that out of the corner Saito suplex. I actually don't like it as a finish (it's Devlin's someone says) as it is too easy to counter and takes just a bit too much cooperation, but as a surprise once in a blue moon sort of move, it's excellent. I like this wrinkle on Hirsch going heel where she was still buddy buddy jock pride camaraderie with Velvet over the chip on the shoulder version she's been going with when Statlander is in there. Velvet tends to have one speed move in every match that's very impressive. Hobbs vs Clancy: I kind of missed this because I was writing about the Saito Suplex on the board but I don't think there was a lot to see. Hobbs put him on the top rope. Hobbs broke him in half. Etc. Hobbs vs Martin should be a lot of fun. Marshall vs Clayton: Couldn't give Clayton the win here? Are they building HOOK vs Marshall? The Jersey Shore people seemed mostly annoyed to be called out by QT Marshall and not someone higher on the card. Clayton's only 27 and has size. There are worse investments. No superplex/fisherman buster combos though. None of that. Andrade vs Good: Part of Good's farewell tour. You wish that he got a chance to show just a bit more on offense, but if he was in there to take Andrade's stuff, he did an admirable job of it. The crowd was on Andrade over Flair (both) things, wanting chops in the corner. I wanted Andrade's back elbow. No one ended up happy. Then later they chanted for Charlotte and he teased the Figure Four before locking in his horrific arm destroyer submission. Generally he builds to it in the match so I wonder how much was an audible responding to the crowd. He's really on the cusp of being a legitimate contender for Page now. They should put him over Darby and give him a shot. Acclaimed vs Matthews/Ace: Another match, another good Bowens performance. I liked the punchline on the rap on Matthews working in IMPACT. Kingston and the match structure built to him coming in but he didn't get a chance to show much. Acclaimed feel more ready to be title contenders than they were a number of months back when Lucha Bros won the titles and they were the first defense. Martin vs Andretti: Andretti kept up for a couple of spots there. There's potentially a world without Dante Martin where they could use Andretti in that kind of a role. This is a world with Dante Martin though, so he ate the moonsault, which was so high that it was almost like an upside down clothesline. HFO vs DO: I feel like we haven't seen a lot of Quen in the last few months. Commentary was leaning in to Private Party making mistakes, which is ok but they've been around a couple of years now and have Hardy guiding them and maybe it's best not to do that. I love the finish but you have to be a little careful on the camera angle. It films way better from the side than the front or back.

While not around for the 80's era of wrestling live, thanks to the power of VHS, the 80's sets here, the Network, and Youtube, I've seen a lot of 1980's wrestling (unfortunately did not get Portland set though). I have previously compared the Bucks to a modern version of the Midnight Express, they kind of an amologation of the MX (Lane/Eaton version), Rock and Roll Express, and the Rockers. Them and FTR are two of my favorite teams this century, and helped revive tag team wrestling as a top of the card act and integretal part of a company.

Cena was also almost fired, until writers happened to hear him rapping in the back of a bus.

Devil-inside, clever. Devlin Inside, gross.

Whereas you constantly bitching and moaning about The Young Bucks remains eternally fresh and interesting. ? .

Isiah Kasidy did the little girl scream again. I will spend the next twenty minutes watching it over and over.

I 100% agree with all of this. I was just talking to my friend about how looking for the next Steve Austin and/or Rock is like looking for the next 2pac. We haven't found the next one, because there isn't a next one. You can't manufacture once in a lifetime figures, even if you had two of them at the same time. This is the biggest problem with WWE in my opinion. Instead of looking at the massive amount of talent that they have and using it to the best of their ability, they pick apart everyone who isn't immediately a cross over phenomenon and undercut them before they can actually build a following. The amount of talent that has gone through NXT and was eventually squandered is an indictment of the company not the talent.

One of the things I really liked about Riho is that she works her size into her matches by being quick, agile, "you can't catch me". Minus one time she did a forarm exchange with Stratlander. I would be more into the Bucks if they worked more like this or worked more cheating into their matches and less get hit and pop up to hit their stuff.

To be specific - it rewards white guys being mediocre

Overheard this at lunch. Laughed a lot. "Judge won't last the week. Mediocrity is almost never rewarded in the NFL." "What does mediocrity have to do with Joe Judge? I wish he was just mediocre. Our team would be in better shape." Savage. Honestly, i started laughing when the first guy said the NFL doesn't reward mediocrity. I think fans in several cities would disagree. Heck, I know a lot of Steeler's fans that think Tomlin is a mediocre coach.

"Hello ladies, I'm Billy the Kid." (Boston Garden, March 1978)

I got news for ya, Kyle O'Riely would beat the absolute shit out of Sheamus in a real fight. Muy tai / jujitsu trained athletes are always gonna be able to tie weight lifters up in a pretzel. Sheamus is portrayed as this bar fighting hooligan character. But it's a character. He's a body guy that would gas out quick in a shoot fight setting. I say this as someone who agrees with you and doesn't really like watching O'Riley. I wasn't a fan of Bobby Fish either, until his AEW run. Something about the singles matches he's been working have been clicking for me in a way his matches never used to. But yeah man, Sheamus is built for show not for go. So your eye test is failing you here.

Oh Ric.

NXTeat?

Looks like NXT finally became the third brand: ??

Finished my second run through FF XIV's Endwalker expansion. I will probably write up a Tumblr post at some point, but the tl;dr version is that it's very good but not as great as the previous expansion, tries too hard a couple times, and leaves you with good feelings and lots of great hooks for future content.

re: Young Bucks at their worst, @just drew is right. the Bucks no sell, mug for the camera, and are the epitome of "get our shit in". i can't stand them. at their best, they can pull off some fantastic matches and great storytelling. they're pretty great. i see more of the worst than the best, but a lot has to do with their chemistry with opponents (they're best matches have been against long time friends Lucha Bros and Omega/Hangman). and for me, whether it's a straight tag match. I find that the Bucks excel in matches that don't have to follow a structure, but their shit looks dopey when they just ignore the rules of the match (lots of blame to Rick Knox as well- i roll my eyes when i see he's the official). re: A&W we have an A&W restaurant in my town. it's delicious. the fresh brewed root beer on tap is amazing. Danhausen would be way better than some of the service i've gotten there tho. also, i had no idea Svengoolie was still around, let alone nationwide. We've come a long ways, baby!

Here’s Nakajima v Shiozaki for free

Yeah, I would not go the full five for that match, but probably 4 1/2 or 4 3/4 stars, and it's the second best women's match in AEW history behind the Rosa/Britt Lights Out match (though the Britt/Statlander match at All Out 2021 is not too far off either, and Deeb/Riho at the Double or Nothing Buy In was a shitload of fun also).

so i've heard this story a bunch of times, but my history in retail gives me a potential different view of that scenario: There's a very real chance that WCW only had one SKU of action figures per line. So every figure did ring as Hogan, but not in some underhanded "Hogan steals everyone else's action figure revenue", but due to WCW's very new merchandising department only buying one UPC, to be sold as "assorted". I've never seen solid claim that Hogan had a specific % of action figure sales, or even if this would prove/disprove that, but i feel obligated to point out that it may not be some 'bury the young guys' plot. but, as @The Natural would say, Fuck HH.

We didn't want to tell you, but he's been doing this in every match for years.

this idea might not fit Shinsuke but clearly the best way to heal a hand injury is to wear a loaded black glove on the injured hand and knock people out with punches correction, that's the best way to heel a hand injury

Here ya go.

Any coach willing to take an HC opening while the GM job is still open is exactly the guy you DON'T want as your HC.

There’s only one way to settle this. AEW presents, Brawl For All 2: Judgement Day.