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If AEW is playing The Price is Right, it would only be natural for Claudio Castagnoli to be the mountain climber. https://youtu.be/YHv5jgXz9I8

One dollar...?

A gimmick's only as good as the guy doing it. Orange Cassidy works because the person playing Orange Cassidy is a top-5-in-the-world-worker (or he's become one, anyway).

1. Punk vs Page was very good so I can't imagine Christian vs Page not being good, though it'd be better as babyface vs babyface probably. 2. I can see the idea that Page was overshadowed by Punk vs MJF. I think a bigger issue was that Cole was a uniquely poor opponent for him. There were Bullet Club/Elite elements to it and he was fresh after the jump, but Page really needed to be up against monsters (like Archer, sure; or the Big Bill match from over the weekend). He needed to be Anxious Millennial Bruno or Anxious Millennial Hogan. He needed a Stokely before they had a Stokely, or maybe, I guess Tully in the meantime? They had a plan for Page to win the war, but never to win the peace. Again, and I've said this three times, but here it is again, there's something compelling about the guy who wins the big one then having to live with what he'd done and the weight on his shoulders. If they played to its logical conclusion the Page As Champion stuff the way they're showing the strain on Cassidy now (though more melodramatic given the stakes and the differences in personalities) there would have been something hugely compelling there and I think something a lot of the fanbase could have really gotten behind.

TWO DOLLARS, BOB! The only dick move that's on par with with one person bidding one dollar higher than the previous person and the next person bidding just one dollar more. I always thought the audience should boo that.

I dunno man. I tried that last week and still ended up with 13 videos with guns.

Ah man, should've been clearer - you are correct, I was seconding that he's a top five guy as it stands today; I've been really, really enjoying the hell out of this reign. On your second point: I'll agree there too. The wrong guy doing the OC schtick (for example) could kill it dead in the water. OC happening to be a fantastic worker is what makes it work and separates him from the (no offense to the guy) Luigi Primas of the world Edit: But to your point, Danhausen is a great example I think of someone who's elevated tenfold by the gimmick - I'm not trying to come off as one of those weirdos who think Rick and Morty is like a Bible story or something, but I DO think his Gimmick hausen is a little more high concept/cerebral than people give it credit for

And yeah. Star-Lord went from "We are not killing anybody." to "We're killing everyone." pretty fast when Rocket's life was on the line.

https://twitter.com/VRTLPROS/status/1657822455405113344?t=H1FL-WYKDeHsFGRUZrS_-A&s=19 Mike from VRTLPROS podcast has converted dvdvrs to pdf

Something else to consider is that WBD is going all in on sports and reality content. And with a writers strike currently happening and now an actor's strike likely to happen in the next month or two (I may be off on that timeline because something tells me it may be September, but I'll have to check with my friend in Hollywood), WBD could be sensing, shit, let's pay them what they're worth and lock down our content that isn't going to get interrupted by strikes.

Continuing to put all the blame for Punk's narcissistic scorched earth temper tantrums and subsequent total bitching out when his punk card is picked up on the one throwaway line from a Page promo is cute.

Second to High Evolutionary being a fantastic villain. I'm guessing based on us not actually seeing his death that we're going to get some timey wimey fuckery by our buddy Kang and we'll see him again at some point. Hopefully they'll get Chukwudi back (assuming he's not busy being John Stewart). I'm really glad though that Gunn decided to make a team movie that wasn't just about the leader. Like we've had two Star-Lord movies, now we've had a proper Rocket Raccoon movie. Very good and definitely felt like Gunn leaving with a friendly note to his remaining friends at Disney saying, "Top that."

The irony of the Evolutionary not knowing how his creation knew was fucking great. The relationship between The Evolutionary and Rocket obviously runs parallel to Mary Shelly's back and forth between Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, even down to the part where the Evolutionary sets out to destroy Rocket out of fear of what Rocket may become.. Mostly because the creator feels inferior in relation to the creation. Chukwudi Iwuji hammed it up awesomely in that scene and it still did not feel like he went completely over the top. His overall performance was tremendous. Even though he was totally chewing on scenery at numerous points in the movie, it looked natural.

Punk is 45 and injury prone and has less matches left than what he's put in. There's no reason for him not to put over Hangman at some point.

Don promoted him for 12 years even counting the years in prison. There was shit going on before 1998 where it's clear Mike had signed his life away to Don. That's why I mentioned Don already three fights for Tyson lined up even before he became a free man. He was essentially his manager AND promoter, which thanks to the Ali Act, is illegal. I know some of Mike's friends and entourage were "his representation", but those dudes weren't going to be any match for Don King. Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton (his managers) were largely responsible for the rise of Mike Tyson. Jim Jacobs died suddenly of cancer in 1988. Bill Cayton and Tyson basically went at it until Cayton got fired. Then, Tyson eventually fired Kevin Rooney who took over as his trainer when Cus D'Amato passed away. Really Rooney and Teddy Atlas (another student under Cus D'Amato just like Rooney) from the get-go were responsible for training Tyson in the Catskills area where the D'Amato family home/training camp was. Atlas, around the time Mike started to gain some notoriety, left after he had a heated confrontation with Mike after supposedly Mike accosted a female relative of Atlas. So there was no intermediary between Tyson and Don King anymore. So Don King preceded to royally fuck him over for the next decade until it all came apart. Then, Mike signed with Dan Goossen and money man Matt Tinley under the short lived America Presents promotional banner right after the WrestleMania XIV stuff. However, Mike never really recovered from that. Realistically, Mike ALWAYS knew Don couldn't be trusted. However, the first part of his career, he was too young to realize what was going on. His life was way too hectic with a lot of that being his fault. When he got released from prison, he tried to change his image and was acting like he was this new man. However, the way he was being covered and the circus that came with it, he was going to be the villain no matter what. What was going on started to bubble over.

the report from March 1998 https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/24/sports/boxing-big-money-big-fallout-for-tyson-ex-champion-blames-promoter-for-financial.html

I made this point at the time of the brawl and have occasionally been making it since to push back, but I think there is a distinction. Eddie and Max were both taking stiff shots about things from the past or Punk’s ego or suggesting Punk should/would quit or that nobody wanted him in AEW. Hangman’s line was accusatory regarding Punk’s contemporary behind the scenes conduct in a manner nobody else had come close to. People use the Max and Eddie promos to make your point regularly, and I think it does good to watch all of it back because not all shooty bullshit uttered is equal. To be clear, I’m not accusating Hangman of any malicious intent. In all likelihood, he probably thought it was fair game to get a little edgy with a guy who’d made his bones that way in an effort to gin up interest in the match. Likewise, if people want to level “will dish it but can’t take it” at Punk, have at it. I just think the Hangman remark was unlike the Max/Eddie stuff.

Yeah...I've heard that it's Punk with the legal threats, I've heard it's the Bucks that have made legal threats, I've heard Punk wants to apologize to the Bucks but the Bucks don't want to speak with him, I've heard Kenny and Hangman are fine with Punk, and on and on and on. It's hard to keep track of it all. I've heard so many different things that it's hard to even make a half-hearted attempt at seeing which of these is the most likely. For me, what it comes down to is that these are all adults in the wrestling business and they need to stop acting like babies. Should Hangman have cut his workers rights promo? No. On the other hand, that seemed far less inflammatory that anything Eddie or Mox said in their promos. Should Punk have blown up during the media scrum? No. It makes everyone, Punk included, look bad. It never goes well for pro sports teams when that happens. It certainly didn't go well for Punk, Tony, Hangman, the Bucks, etc. Should the Bucks and Kenny and fucking Brandon and Nakasawa of all people gone straight to Punk's locker room even if Punk said if you have a problem with him than come speak to him about it? No. Give that some time to breathe. Immediately going after someone who is already heated isn't going to turn out well. Should Ace Steel have even been there? No. Should any of the suspensions happened? No. And finally, should all of these guys just sit in a room and hash their shit out with an open mind? Yes. No one pissed on a family member's grave. No one did anything unforgiveable. All of them are grown ass adults who should be able to apologize for their role and get back to ground zero. None of them have to even like each other. Punk doesn't need to go to church with the Bucks. The Bucks don't need to go to...ok...Punk is pretty much a shut in with a few exceptions. All you need to do is just come to work and work with each other and have each other's backs to make the most money you can. Shit ain't hard. I also realize that there are some personality issues at play here. The Bucks seemingly always being cocky and jock bros and sneakerheads don't seem like they'd mesh well with Punk's personality. That's fine. Again, it's not high school. People can be who they are as long as when they're in that ring they're all protecting each other.

Doc’s drawing up plays ?

I like JD Drake a lot. In another era he seems like a guy whose Worldwide matches we would be gushing about.

Which part of the quote are you talking about? It sounds like you mean the OC being one of the best in the world, in which case, sure, absolutely. But circling back to "A gimmick's only as good as the guy doing it" - that part is debatable IMO. I would say the right gimmick can in fact lift a mediocre or even poor worker to something fun and entertaining. Hell, even OC without the gimmick would just be a guy who wrestles really well in a promotion full of guys who wrestle really well. Great as he is, I doubt I'd think much of him if his fun gimmick didn't give me a reason to care.

Yeah, all this. It's implied far more than it's shown, but to the film's credit, you're made to care so much about these CG creatures that you maybe leave sort of thinking you saw more than you did, if you catch my meaning. But yeah, it's not like this is the Requiem for a Dream of animal cruelty or anything. It's more like those god damn Sarah McLachlan commercials. Oh man, the "BUT HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" scene was amazing.

I'm pre-emptively quoting this for TRUTH. Anyone arguing/disagreeing has not watched nearly enough of this awesome Int'l Title reign. OC is running out of stuff he *can't* do IMO.

This is nonsense. I’ve seen this injury prone stuff pop up every time he’s discussed since the gripebomb. He’s was injured twice in 2022, and only one of those was from a match. The first injury was from his (cool, but stupid) pseudo stage-diving, and the second was during the Mox match at All Out. Hangman should apologize before anything happens between them again in-ring. Again, whether you want to admit it or whether or not you understood it at the time, Hangman took the first shot.

Not really a hot take, but people complaining about the animal cruelty in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 realize the ones committing the acts of cruelty are the bad guys right? I respect people loving animals and not wanting to see animals get hurt on screen, but the point is to show that the Guardians value the lives of these creatures and The High Evolutionary does not. The movie is the opposite of pro-animal cruelty.

Dammit, Gordlow!!!

Oh, and one thing that really did get to me was Nebula, Drax, and Mantis realizing Rocket was okay - especially Nebula nearly breaking down. I'm getting misty just thinking about it.

the heat-getting dynamic of Baby Doll being taller than Tully probably wouldn't make it to the 2020s either, instead Baby Doll would have been more of an asskicker while a heel hell, this might be perspective, but Baby Doll is taller than Abdullah (or close to it), so by today's standards, she'd be booked like Rhea Ripley

Seriously. Thankfully, someone reuploaded the Wrestling Challenge episodes from the mid 90s when they were being dropped from syndication in many markets something fierce. The wrestling generally is nothing to write home about. However, the commercials are still attached and usually are amazing. For example, because it's taped off the Fox 5 affiliate, you had a commercial for The Wiz (the store, not the amazing Diana Ross/Michael Jackson movie with Nipsey Russell). The commercial suffice to say doesn't age well cause it's hyping up how awesome their sales were cause of the ridiculous cheap prices you can buy CDs for versus their competitors. Yeah, they been out of business now for 20 years. Anyway, my larger point was about the two Skittles "How Many Combinations" ads with all the teenagers in them that air damn near every Challenge episode where I am at timeline wise. One features Marty Belafsky. You will know his face if you don't know the name. The other one features Dante Basco, who for five or six years straight, played the young, racially ambiguous hip kid in virtually everything. He had that market cornered. They were both either 17 or 18 when those commercials were shot. They are both 47 (!). Holy fuck.

To show you how little some people understand laws and employment (probably people that have never had a steady paycheck), I've seen some people online say in essence "its illegal for a job to punish you for something you did outside of the workplace" uh what.

It zoomed by in the montage but everyone saw A-Holes and laughed hysterically. I will miss Gunn being able to blend mirth and heart seamlessly in the MCU and am looking forward to what he does with DC. Superman not being an emo douchebag anymore would be a step in the right direction.

Justified: City Primeval July 18, FX Hell yeah

Oh man, that's super sad news (if not entirely unexpected given his status as an organ transplant recipient). I got Graham's book as a tip on a job I did for WWE years ago, and having been a little too young to have seen him live, I thought it was a surprisingly great read (especially some of the parts covering his time preaching on the tent-revival circuit, and talking about Vince riding around with Dr Jerry Graham in his Caddy as a kid). I get the impression, as Dolphman alludes to, that Superstar suffers from the 'Seinfeld Isn't Funny' trope a bit with modern audiences who might've grown up with Ventura, Hogan and late-era Scott Steiner doing the cover versions

If Graham passes, I'll have a bit more to say, but we've been doing a bit of a reevaluation of him as of late. It's hard to get the image of 80s Kung Fu Graham out of your head and easy to see him as a certain way in the 70s (large than life body/strength guy). Graham isn't just selling for the back row in this one. He's selling for somewhere in Newark. But more on this later if need be.

I think an important thing to keep in mind in regards to the Punk/Bucks/Hangman/Omega stuff is that no one here knows anything that they haven't heard third, fourth, fifth or more-hand from someone probably reporting it at least second-hand. And even then, the news would have come from a very self-interested place. Now, I'm not saying it's not fun to speculate, but let's not take any of this as fact.

100000% this,especially when that manchild made his bones on "toeing the line" in his promos. He's an absolute child and the quicker he goes away, the better. I'd also like to point out, that while I'm not a Bucks guy(love Omega though), they're not out there throwing caution to the wind being publicly petulant and drawing attention to themselves in this situation.

I'm looking forward to seeing this again on D+ now that I've had time that really think about it all, and especially how just badass and cold it was when Quill told Groot to kill them all.

Did you notice that Denerian Saal's GotG line "What a bunch of a-holes..." was taken from the script and pasted into Marvel Studios opening montage for GotG3?

UPDATE: I resisted for a day, which is pretty good for me.

Phil doesn't strike me as a "greater good" kind of person.

I love that they did what was basically the Daredevil hallway fight one-shot, but through a James Gunn lens.

WWE In Possession Of International Championship Wrestling Tape Library

I went with both of my kids this weekend. They both loved it. My son (6) did comment afterwards that it was really sad, and my daughter (12) cried multiple times. Neither, however were referencing the animal cruelty. There are a ton of emotional beats in this movie that will get to you. Like @J.T. said, I liked how they handled breaking up the team. Going in knowing (or at least hearing the rumors) that this was going to be a few cast members' last time in the franchise had me expecting a death or two. In the end, I'm actually happy they didn't kill off any of the main characters. The biggest surprise to me came at the very, very end:

Yeah, anyone who thinks that movie condones animal cruelty is an idiot. Not only is all of the evil science being conducted by the bad guys, the Evolutionary never acknowledges Rocket's sentience or respects his right to life. He never refers to Rocket as Rocket. He only uses Rocket's serial number. Rocket and the other creations, even Ayesha and Adam Warlock, are just test subjects to the High Evolutionary. The Evolutionary is so much of a dick that he is completely baffled by how a "thing" like Rocket could solve a problem his advanced intellect couldn't. "There is no God. That's why I stepped in," has to be the best MCU bad guy line in a long time. Rocket is now officially Rocket Raccoon. Now if we can get him in his green combat skeinsuit from the comics instead of the ugly blue Guardians coveralls. The saga of Cosmo is a bad dog is the bestest.

I think AEW is being sold to the Saudi government and Rampage will base its airing day on an oversized novelty wheel.

That’s ignoring the fact that the Rampage card is usually advertised with full screen graphics and they include the time the show airs. I dunno, just seems kinda weird to complain about not knowing what time a preempted show is airing when you admit you aren’t paying attention to the show earlier in the week that gives you that information.

All I can think of when it comes to Jay White is when a friend of mine said "aioli is just mayonnaise they want you to pay an extra dollar for". I will leave it to you, gentle reader, to decide whether Jay White is the aioli to Adam Cole's mayonnaise or vice versa (or to insult my friend's taste in emulsified condiments as I have on many an evening). That said, having watched both Jay White and Adam Cole for close to a decade I'd rather have guacamole.

I am so happy this line exists because this was the EXACT way Dean gave me directions to his Richmond house the first time "You will turn left at Arthur Ashe threatening children. If you see Jefferson Davis throwing in the towel, you have gone to far"