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You know how The Beatles needed Billy Preston in the studio to be more productive towards the end because they all liked him so much that they were too embarrassed to fight with each other in front of him? I feel like if Takeshita had been at All Out shit could’ve gone down differently.

Meanwhile, in Japan.

OK, that is an interesting matchup.

My favorite out of place Undertaker thing was when Vince made him appear at a press conference about New Jersey deregulating pro wrestling, and he had to present Governor Whitman with a construction paper tombstone for the previous wrestling tax bill. He looks like he wishes he was actually dead.

Jericho versus PCO in Canada for the ROH title. Book it you cowards!

After the match, Bandido could join the JAS and tag with Jericho, as “Chris Bandido”.

Had to explain to my wife this morning why my son keeps going on about "the ocho".

On the other hand, Every Time I Die have made a much bigger imprint on the heavy music scene than God’s Hate have. So it evens out.

He just shows up smiling everyday with Cinnabon for everyone. I love it. The roster ends up fat and happy. Beautiful.

Bray Wyatt repping Brand Supremacy is very silly-looking

This is pretty cool. As far as I'm aware, only two matches have been announced for Dynamite and both are top AEW guys vs "outside" wrestlers in matches that appeal pretty specifically to hard core pro wrestling fans. Mox vs Juice Jericho vs Bandido I'm not into "Attitude Era offence" Juice Robinson but I am really into "slugfest" Juice. I'm guessing Mox might drag him into slugfest mode. Bandido in AEW is even more exciting, to me, than Juice in AEW. I keep hoping we'll get Vikingo in AEW some day. Just putting that out there. Of course, Mox and Jericho are both big names. But their opponents are maybe unfamiliar to """" casual"""" fans? I often get the sneaking suspicion that AEW are running a heat check. Following up a loaded card and a million -plus same-day US viewers with something that appeals more specifically to their core fanbase. Usually I don't give the slightest bit of any kind of shit about the ratings, but it will be interesting to see what happens this week. Particularly if they don't announce more matches. Also Saraya and MJF are gonna speak. And JAS are reportedly gonna celebrate again. I am stoked for the two announced matches. I like when my obsessive wrestling nerd friends and I are clearly the target audience.

I, for one, am all for it

Maybe I overrate Black because it's a dope gimmick (I'm pretty simple to please, rip off as much Kevin Sullivan, 'Taker, Raven, and '97 Sting as you can, and I'm a happy camper; see also Wyatt, Bray) but I personally am of the opinion that if his back were healthy and he was mentally healthy and willing to work, he could have been slotted into a world title feud tomorrow and it would have worked fine.

I hope Jericho goes through ROH champions, including RUSH in Canada.

Agree with all of this. Would also add that Black and HOB should stop the spooky shit. You're all a bunch of scary-looking dudes. You don't need to disappear and shit. Just walking to the ring should scare people. I'd like to see them pivot to "people who look scary and like heavy-ass music".

I feel for a guy like Butcher. Who knows, maybe he's perfectly content with his spot in AEW. But here's a guy who already had an awesome look, but kind of shitty cardio. Then he gets in ridiculous shape, starts wearing those sunglasses, looks like a star, and here comes Brody King who basically blows up Butcher's spot and does everything Butcher does and then some. I know it sounds crazy, but I'd really like some kind of hoss title or tournament or something in AEW. It's something that's never been done before, to my knowledge, and AEW's roster of hosses is awesome. Let Butcher have a go at that or something. Shit, get Butcher in a singles feud with Hobbs and let those two monsters destroy each other. Blade just feels like dead weight and only drags Butcher down.

Y'all saw this, right?

...and decides that Buddy can "Go Your Own Way"? This pic is giving me very decent Fields of the Nephilim-vibes, actually! I mean, it's also the hat (and long coats), but still...

Very nice, very wholesome.

All problems really stem from having hired Cole and O’Reilly, of course.

My main takeaway from Raw tonight is how loaded the roster is. Every match was good. They had a main event match with Damien Priest against Matt Riddle. Neither of those guys has been on the main roster for all that long and it was a really well-done 15-minute main event TV match. Sami/AJ was really great. KO/Gargano against Alpha Academy, too. The opening match between Bianca and Io absolutely blew me away. That was a PPV-quality match. I am prone to exaggeration, but when was the last time a WWE woman's match without any of the Horsewomen in it was that friggin' good? It felt like a match where Io leveled up because Bianca had to level up and break out a few new tricks. Great great great match.

I only agree with the "especially" part. Letting Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly walk would be genius management, for example.

I'm of a similar mind. I always felt Black did a good job of putting his own spin on the satanic wrestler gimmick.

Tony Khan would be the biggest moron in the world to just let people with years left on their deal just walk away. Especially useful people like Black & Murphy.

I feel like 50% of nfl quarterbacks are just a random adjective version of Kirk Cousins. Dak Prescott is biracial Kirk Cousins, Ryan Tannehill is Texas Kirk Cousins, at this point Justin Herbert is, big armed Kirk Cousins, Mac Jones is the next Kirk Cousins.

This raises the darn good question as to why Brodie and Butcher aren’t already a tag team. They’re tatted up dudes, they’re hosses, they’re in legit metal bands. Why aren’t they steamrolling the Ass Boys or throwing Top Flight around already?

I think that was for Survivor Series when he was on a team facing a bunch of "foreign menaces". It was like a colonial-era flag, wasn't it?

I love Butcher, but he’s the same age as Punk and just as injury prone. Starting his wrestling career in his late 30s and making it to a national promotion is remarkable, but he’s almost certainly hit his ceiling.

Can we call them The Meatslappers?

Yes, which is something else people gloss over. His back is still all fucked up and he's relying on something called "dry needling" which looks like a more painful version of acupuncture. He's says it's helping, but he's still hurt, so who knows. I like Tommy End a ton, but my dude, go get a fucking x-ray or MRI or something. Whether you're working for AEW or WWE or indies or whatever, I just want to see the guy be healthy and not have his career be at risk.

Wasn't Malakai's back messed up for a majority of his AEW run? Not sure he had enough time healthy on the roster to have that many promises broken.

Random bit of fantasy signing/booking while I sit through yet another meeting that should've been an email: I would like to think that we're heading to Brody/Wardlow for the TNT title, but in the event they want to continue HOB as a trio (plus Julia) - what would you guys think about an all-hoss supergroup of Brody/Rowan/Damo?

RIP Pro Bowl

I will never forget someone I know calling Jimmy G "Italian Kirk Cousins" and honestly nothing over time has ever been proven more true

What is House of Black if not a group of three people who, uh, hold on here... represent the words House and Black? Replace Buddy with Powerhouse Hobbes. New leader? Obvious. Negro Casas.

Why or how is it that everyone keeps glossing over Black saying promises weren't kept to him over the last two years? That's referring to WWE and AEW, not just AEW. And in any event, Brodie is the real motherfucking deal.

This man gets it…

So, I can't feel my face after having this weird thing called a "smile" on it while watching the Jaguars play football.

Sami has been GOAT level with this persona. But Jey Uso also really deserves a ton of flowers. He is doing an awesome job telling his side of the story without much mic time at all - just sneers of confusion and anger and jealousy. A+ work from one of the best and most underrated character performers around.

He’d be so much better as a face.

Memphis TV from 11/14/87 with an eight man tag with the Midnight Rockers and Bad Company on the same team.

This is the Cousins Connundrum. Kirk is not good, but he's absolutely better than anyone available. Getting rid of Kirk Cousins is like quitting your job to play the lotto. He isn't what you want, but the odds of you getting something better are so low, you're much better off keeping him. You know who knows this better than anyone? Kirk. There are only 5-10 good quarterbacks on earth at any given time, and Kirk is somewhere between 12-15. If he was #17, you'd talk yourself into dropping him. But he's just on the positive side of average, so he keeps getting them checks.

There’s the subjectivity issue, plus the voters were all actors, showrunners, and critics, so it was a panel of freaks.

Lucy as low as 36 is eye-popping. Succession benefitting wildly from recency bias.

Welcome to every weekend for me Dalvin.

It have been funny if Taker had a flag from the 1880s, which would theoretically fit the timeline of a guy with an Old West Undertaker gimmick.

Meltzer:

Listens to Fleetwood Mac once....