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A lot of bad things have happened to pro wrestling in the last decade or so, but gimmick fans would have to be at or near the top of my list.

Doing a title change, especially a pretty monumental one that ends a 'longest title reign ever' run on a regular TV after a PPV, that's a bold move. Especially on a show on NYE, when you would expect a lot of regular viewers to not be watching live. Really helps the whole 'Anything can happen'-ness of it all.

Fun fact, there's a World champion in this picture and it's not Austin Theory or Carmelo Hayes.

Back. If I had to describe the experience it was like having a nice hotel room where you have a roommate you don't know, they feed you Valium and other stuff and take your blood pressure every hour or so to make sure your heart isn't exploding. You get a DVD player and a house menu where you can order grilled tilapia with your choice of veg where room service brings it up (I am not joking.) They put me with a guy who I got off gangbusters with and guess what... he was a wrestling fan, so I put on a Schneider Comp to watch, because I knew we got the player and thought I was gonna have a solo room so brought a bunch. It was strange. I don't think it accomplished anything aside from getting my blood pressure properly down. I promised them to go to outpatient stuff like a good boy and they let me go. They said, no, thank YOU for being such a good patient while everyone else is so difficult. They even sat through all my degenerate stories from my life and gasped and laughed at the appropriate moments. Well, I'm sober for now. The depression will receed. And we'll go from there. Happy New Year, I guess.

Here is a full list of celebrity fans who are awesome: Vladimir. That's it, that's the list.

Holy fuck, Mone vs Willow was so great. What a match to end the year on and a great payoff to the journeys of both women this year. Could they have made it mean more? yes, but the amount of times we've seen big plans get made and something go awry, I'll take these moments where we get them.

Instantly got an achievement for petting cats so that’s my 2026 GOTY sorted

I hardly ever post outside of the wrestling sub anymore but fucking hell they nailed this finale. I didn't love most of Season 5 but this was an epic and magical 2 hours that brought everything together. Fine with the ambiguity. The graduation scene and then one final D&D campaign was incredible stuff. I was born in the 80s but didn't quite grow up in the 80s. I can't imagine all of the tears shed over that final scene. The girl who plays Holly is going to be a star.

LOL. We were all on the edge of our seats thinking I was about to get my big ask for the finale. Thought they wrapped it up perfectly. Actually I don't think.... I believe.

Well, I enjoyed it. Spoilers:

unpopular statements inbound: 2025 will be remembered as the year TK became obsessed with making various people double champions. I just don’t get what this accomplished. Willow didn’t need that. She’s already one of the few people to have beaten Mercedes already. Has already held the TBS title, was currently a champion before this match. Good for Willow, I love her, but I’ve always felt it should be someone that needs the rub and that isn’t Willow. You could have her win the Women’s World title tomorrow and it would be justified.

We're all getting old. When I started watching wrestling on Saturday mornings and became addicted to it the only way I could learn my history is by going to the video store and renting out all of there NWA/WCW and WWF VHS tapes. Some of them I rented many times. I even begged my parents to buy some of the videos that they'd have on sale in the magazines. They were not cheap. Like $35 for one VHS.

In case anyone needs more evidence that confirms my "wrestling is better when it's geared towards getting kids to shout things at a mean heel", here you go. EDIT TO ADD: I will also accept getting a grandma to swing at a mean heel. Same thing, really.

The two moments from this season that got me to pop the loudest were the following: 1a. Will's moment in Sorcerer. 1b. Steve being a little league coach. They were of equal importance. Ted Wheeler actually defending his family with a golf club, even though they eat all his bacon, was up there too. Unsung hero of the show.

to be honest, I didn't know what Brock Lesnar Guy looked like, so when I saw that headline, I thought it was the black guy who was reacting to the end of the Streak in 2014

It's weird because TK loves to have a face chase a heel champ and he passed up a big opportunity here. Whoever is putting together these mixed tags has clearly been watching their Kaientai and I am very, very here for it. I hope they do a million of them.

It probably won't happen but I am fully invested in Miami and Alabama in the Fuck Notre Dame National Championship

A lot of things you see on the internet or in public (to be consumed on the internet) are for clout. This travels across everything from wrestling events and wrestling fans to people live reacting to TV shows like the 'Stranger Things' finale and on down the line. Fame is a drug for people. Social media made it 100x worse.

Mercedes Mone's AEW TBS Championship reign comes to an end with 584 days with 25 total defenses against 23 different women including 9 defenses on a PPV. Thank you, Mercedes Mone.

I like where they're taking the Moxley angle. When you consider Orange Cassidy's epic International Championship run, where he accumulated damage in every match, and was physically destroyed by the end of his title run, it was Moxley who ended that run and took the belt off him. And then a year ago, Moxley wins the World title and starts retaining it thanks to Death Rider interference every time, and only loses it because enough credible threats are prepared to unite to stop the Death Riders and let Hangman beat him one on one. And then Moxley enters the CC, where he can't have anyone at ringside... and wins the belt, but hurts his leg in the process. So now he has to wrestle under CC rules for as long as he's champion, but he was hurt when he won the belt, and got more hurt in the Josh Alexander match (which wasn't even a title defence, just an eliminator). And the first thing they announce for next week is another title eliminator, this time with Shelton Benjamin. So his reign as Continental Champion is seemingly already going the same way as Cassidy's run as International Champion... perhaps Orange will be the man to eventually dethrone him. Also, that Willow vs Mercedes match was incredible. It started out great, and then rapidly ascended to being awesome in the closing moments. It was funny, it started with ten minutes left in the show and Jen in the Discord was upset that it was going to be such a short match, but then the five minute overrun happened and the match went the perfect distance, for what it was. I have to say, this show was top to bottom the best wrestling show I've watched all year long.

My family has watched every episode together. My oldest son is heading to college this fall so this probably the last series we'll watch together like this ever. I really can't be bothered with any online opinions of the show because they mean nothing. The flaws of this show have always been the same. If you made it this far you probably should've made peace with it by now. But if it's really bumming you out, I'm sorry - that sucks. I'm having Stranger Things New Year's Eve Celebration. Upsidedown Mocktails. The eggo monstrosity that Eleven ate in season 2. Pepperoni and pineapple pizza. I think the season finale is set up to be pretty straight forward, they'd have to put in an insane amount of effort to fuck it up in 2hrs. All I ask is for Murray to blow up like Randy Quaid did at the end of Independence Day.

Starting the New Year off by discovering Power Wash Simulator 2 hit Game Pass this morning so I know what my first game is

Happy Death Year!

WWEs style won’t kill pro wrestling it might hurt it but it won’t end it. AEW is there as a national brand and the internet will help fans who want more out of it find different stuff. It might become more niche than it already is and might end up hurting WWE but pro wrestling will live on in some way

More. Our robots are stupider.

I just recently got caught up on World's End and Dynamite, and can now brave this folder without fear of spoilers once more. A year or two ago I'd have emphatically agreed on Fletcher, but I don't see how you can call him "nondescript" at this point. His heel mannerisms and emoting are off-the-chart great, in my opinion. Interfering in a Continental match gets you fired, though, so it would require some booking finesse to have Takeshita show up during the match and explain why he was still around the next week. The music thing might work, but it would still annoy people. That would imply that Callis was in on the plan to use the screwdriver on Takeshita, which I don't think is the storyline they were going for. It seemed clear to me that the family's plan was to plant the screwdriver so Fletcher could use it on Moxley, but Okada said "Screw it, I'm going to stab Takeshita.". Or at least that's what they wanted viewers to take away at this point - it's entirely possible once Takeshita officially breaks away from the family that Callis will reveal that he gave Okada the go-ahead or something. But I doubt they planned to make that obvious yet.

there's a fine line between being part of the show (we all love a wrestling show with a hot crowd) and trying to BE the show

I look forward to the madness of Mercedes now that she has dropped the TBS title.

So why is Brock Lesnar guy “retiring” from shows? And also why do I care he’s not going to shows anymore?

Echoing what others said, in that the definitely stuck the landing. Steve becoming the little league coach is one of the most weirdly satisfying character beats I could ask for. The ending circling back around to the kids getting to be kids again, and passing the torch to Holly and Dipshit Derek was really sweet. Agree with Niners that the girl playing Holly is going to be a star. Last thought is that I was worried that they were going to forget about the Mind Flayer, so I'm glad it circled back around to that being the true evil.

A narcissist is someone with an excessive focus on themselves, characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a deep need for constant admiration, and a profound lack of empathy for others, often masking deep-seated insecurities and reacting poorly to criticism. This self-centered pattern, known clinically as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), involves traits like arrogance, entitlement, manipulation, and exploitative behavior in all areas of life, stemming from complex factors like upbringing and environment, and requiring professional therapy (like CBT/DBT) for management, though change is difficult.

And yet the absolute worst neck-related injury in wrestling history, Misawa’s death by internal capitation for fuck’s sake, happened in Japan. I think extensive neck training just makes wrestlers think they can take more dumb head drops. I remember watching AEW a while back and there was a guy at ringside with a massive amount of signs, and he kept his eyes glued to the big screen all night just so he knew exactly when to hold up a sign. It was sad because the guy paid good money for front row seats to great wrestling, but all he cared about was getting his signs on TV. I’m no doctor but there’s clearly a mental health issue with gimmick fans.

Watched Bugonia yesterday. I thought it was a lot of fun. Probably Yorgos’ most accessible movie, which is pretty funny. I just love that people keep giving that weirdo millions of dollars to make his movies.

As a non-fan, this was way overdue. Also, a TON of folks are overlooking the fact that it appeared that Willow and Stat finally made amends. That was a huge part of the story. And it was amusing to see how happy Speedball was! What a great dude.

They know their marks, that's for sure.

take your pick on what's preferable between "lots of titles and each is held by a different wrestler" and "some wrestlers hold singles and tag titles at the same time" because there's certainly people who criticize the former 2020s wrestling promotions kinda book all tag team wrestling (male or female) like it's doubles tennis happening in the background of the singles action, so yeah I could see women's tag team titles having some rough spots for being booked as meaning something but I suspect there has to be a slight Mercedes lull of losing various things before she wins the big title in a few months

I watched it at a nearby AMC multiplex with my wife and daughter. It was terrific fun to enjoy something like that with 150 other people. Everyone applauded happily when but hilariously it was more like an opera-clap of approval, like we were all going “I say there, old sport, nice work.”

Yeah I do disagree because the tag titles are new and it's simply not the same as a big singles win over your arch rival and someone who had been on a roll like Mercedes. The win over Mercedes probably didn't do too much for Toni Storm but it was the right choice. Statlander and Willow getting their wins back on Mercedes solidifies their status as made women in the company. I don't think there's anyone else who could have been made right now in that spot. Maybe Athena. Hard disagree on anyone who says Harley Cameron. She's just not that good in the ring. She's over and she's awesome but to be TBS champion you should probably be able to go 15-20 minutes a night in a wrestling wrestling company. Harley being in a tag team protects her.

What a fucking match to end the year. Willow was the one who I thought might beat Mercedes a while back but as time went on I wasn't sure. Willow becomes the first double champion in AEW history. Mercedes reign as longest TBS champion comes to an end and she was legit the Wrestler of the Year from beginning to the very end.

I can only speak for myself, but there were folks I rode in a car with every weekend that were some of the best friends that I ever had when I was in the wrestling business. We beat the hell out of each other, took care of each other, bled together, and were brothers in every way but by blood. A couple years after getting out of the business, I hardly had any communication with anyone, aside from social media. Now, over a decade after retiring, I barely talk to anyone from those days. Shit, a number of the guys are dead, but a lot more just moved on to other things, had families, and have priorities elsewhere. Not very different than my buddies from college - we all went our separate ways and just lost contact. This is key, I think. I spent a lot of my career in the PA/WV area, and those are the guys I was closest to, but for the second half of my career, I'd moved back to Ohio. When I hung up the boots, I wasn't in close proximity to the guys I was closest to. When I wasn't around anymore, it was like when the one guy in the friend group goes off to college, and the other guys in the group stay at home and get jobs, and still see each other in the neighborhood all the time.

My goal in life is to die without making everyone who loves me have to justify loving me. I'm not of the opinion that we should forget people are awful because they died. If you don't want people pointing out all of the awful shit you do did throughout your life, you probably should limit all of the awful shit you plan on doing.

Happy new year! WWE Vault posted Hennig-Rhodes going at it in a dark match for 10 minutes: First ever 2 night Royal Rumble is later this month.

Would the Front Row, Section D guys be considered super fans or gimmick fans? Same with the Atlanta Boys (Hudson, Prazak, Horton).

Ah yes. Maybe she's the first woman to be double champion.

all spoilers here

Match of the year: Mike Santana vs Mustafa Ali (falls count anywhere)?!? Holy shit, I need to see this!

I think this season has been pretty good. It's not the best. It's better than the second season. Probably on par with the third, not close (so far) to the 4th season or the 1st. The first episode of this season was maybe the worst because there was a boom sound effect every other second anytime someone opened a door, grabbed a paper, sat down, or just did basically anything. Someone from the gang explaining the plan has been beaten to death and I'm not sure how they didn't pick up on that being repeated way too much given how long they had to write this thing. Overall though it has been pretty good and the r/strangerthings subreddit has been about as toxic towards that show as r/television has been towards Pluribus or r/pluribus has been towards Carol. Just downright awful, misogynistic shit being said...towards both shows...to the point where I said fuck it and unsubscribed. The ST sub was basically either shitting on Will for coming out, shitting on him for who he came out to, shitting on making him gay be a subplot when Will being gay has been a story beat since the first fucking season, or whatever. I mean, people are so fucking dumb they didn't even pick up on Jonathan and Nancy breaking up. I don't know how much more that could have been spelled out. I think people in that bubble just think anyone who breaks up does so in an antagonistic way. It's not all the time, but more than enough it's amicable. That said, that moment shouldn't have to be explained. If anything, my biggest issue is with how jarring the end of season 4 was and the beginning of season 5 was just, well, we covered the shit with metal plating. I mean, that was some real end of the world type shit. We eventually got to Dustin pointing out those 4 cracks that opened up were what Henry needed to begin to merge the two worlds, but still, season 4 ends with what looks like the world ending and season 5 picks up nearly two years later. I wanted more of that shock and horror out of this season and they more or less downshifted into the tension you'd see in the first 3 seasons. People need to stop treating this shit like it's as bad as the final season of GoT. It's not. Not even close. That doesn't mean I wouldn't have liked more urgency and more exploring how fucked up the end of season 4 was and instead it was hand waved away with Robin's explainer at the start of the first episode.

Nyla's spot in AEW for a good while after her title run was, whenever the Women's title changed hands, they would usually give Nyla the first shot at the new Champion. As a way of legitimising them as Champion, by having them defeat a) a former Champion and b) a Monster. But that seemed to end eventually.