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How is it possible WWE was better under a serial rapist than under hardcore capitalists? Was Miramax better under Weinstein than Disney?

Last night I watched the first screening of Elvis Presley in Concert in IMAX with my dear friend, Alyson who is a massive Elvis fan. Watching this you see why there's such love for Elvis. My favourite thing from the film was Elvis talking about his life and the backstage footage. Try and see in IMAX if able.

I don't know, but that's a lifetime of bad decisions staring back at him in the mirror.

His name is Tattooed Dickface.

Malachai Jackson certainly doesn't look like the youngest buck anymore. Aging fucking sucks.

Nice to see Thunder Rosa back. I think she and Thekla can cook up something fun.

Nothing in puroresu is cooler than winning a tournament, and being handed a big ass brass trophy and a bouquet of flowers.

They made a mistake by not doing Ronda vs. Becky as soon as they could. Royal Rumble would have been a good time for the match. But they had to throw Charlotte in at the time because they wanted her to win/lose the title so many times so she could catch up to her dad's title reigns in record time.

All I can say is they better have a lot of black curtain.

Understatement of the century. We smoke the Reagan '80s like a cheap cigar. Re: Our Body, it's funny going back and watching The Sopranos again recently and seeing how they just barge into doctor's offices and hospital rooms without any blowback all the time. You take one step beyond a waiting room door without a chaperone anymore and you'll be dove upon by doctors or security.

It's so fucking funny every time TKO does something shitty that even Vince wouldn't have done from a business perspective. Everyone stinks.

Tama/Ilja was solid. Jade's promo felt unnecessary and didn't really add much aside from the lead into the Elimination Chamber qualifier with her and Charlotte at odds. Charlotte vs. Kianna vs. Nia was solid. Was pleased to see Kianna get some chances to impress. Was surprised she got the win as they have been hinting to Charlotte/Jade for months. With this it feels like Rhea is the only choice to win the Chamber match. Will be interesting to see if they surprise again or not. Kit/Oba was more of a fun segment than match. Tiffany/Alba was nice. Felt like a decent showcase for Stratton while still giving Alba some shine. Chelsea even managed to get some minor involvement. Honestly it felt like the best Tiffany has looked in a while. Carmelo vs. Trick vs. Priest built into something pretty nice even with some off moments. Kind of dug how much of a beast Priest was in the first half. Was pleased to see Trick get the win. That Io/Giulia graphic was a damn lie, but I can only bitch so much getting Rhea/Giulia instead. Thought they worked well together and built up something good here before the non-finish with Nia and Lash's attack. It was good to see Giulia fight it out as a equal to Rhea and not shrinking back at all the way Rhea's smaller opponents typically would. I was ok with the non-finish as Giulia really didn't need to take a loss here and it fit with the current feud RhIyo is having with Lash & Nia. Dug a lot of what I caught from Orton/Black though I'm not sure how well it all came together since I was tired by this point. That is one of the drawbacks of running a 3 hour show. The wresting was solid. Not sure anything really stood well above the rest though I enjoyed Giulia/Rhea & Alba/Tiffany the most. Story wise was a bit more so-so. They did their job in building Elimination Chamber though Wrestlemania feels less clear. Have to say it does feel more and more like they need a Cody turn either at or post Wrestlemania. Feels like it could be a decent moment and maybe even the feud to finally build a Sami title win on. Anyways pretty decent-solid show that was mostly dragged down by the length.

It's unbelievable; he's just got shit scrawled on top of other shit. Why? How? What?

Weirdly they had Deonna doing Pure Rules squashes all the time leading up to the title win/while the tournament was ongoing, against various unsigned/lesser used talent like Ashley Vox, marti Belle, Rachael Ellering, Viva Van, etc. then that stopped with the title win. Part of me wonders if Aminata was originally going to be champ before injury. The length of the show does seem to be just whatever they want any given week. A couple years ago, 2 hours was more the norm while now a little over 1 hour happens more often.

Please don't tell Jon Moxley that.

With his recent "retirement" it made me think, has AJ Styles been the MVP of the WWE for the past decade? The angles he was involved in weren't always the best or highest profile, but I can't think of anyone else who was as consistently good in-ring.

gonna be some redactions when they release the White Castle Of Fear files. but that all had the energy of "somebody saw a Prince music video and decided to do it in wrestling" sadly, they couldn't get Prince to add lyrics to the Vader WCW theme.. but we did get to hear part of the Vader Slam Jam theme when they released that 1993 UK show

Saturday is Song Stuck In Your Head Day because @Dolfan in NYC just had to put this in his Instagram

Oh this will be fun

The Owen should have been a Trophy that he could carry around

They threw Charlotte in because Wrestlemania was originally her match in the first place. It was well known they had been planning a Ronda/Charlotte main event for a year prior. Becky catching fire and getting that visual massively threw off those plans. I agree that they should have switched it to just Becky/Ronda, but I also kind of get not wanting to fuck over the person they had been building up and probably had made promises to prior to that. Still was a mistake, but Vince had already lost tons of sensibility as a booker by then.

The first leg(ATL) of the flight to Baltimore was superb. We landed and I headed from terminal B to terminal A to catch my connection and some coffee. Then I get a text saying the departure gate has changed to terminal B, so I went back the way I came(walking the whole way, not bothering with the tram) and got a Venti dark roast with a shot of espresso and a chocolate chip cookie. Both hit the spot. When it was time to board I got to check a bag for free(vs. paying $40), Take off was pretty damned turbulent as Atlanta had a thunderstorm happening. It eas interesting as we were on an Airbus 321 and I'm trying to imagine how rough it would've been on the smaller Embarqer I'd flown in on. Other than some tossing and turning on ascent, it was smooth sailing until the descent had some bumpiness(but less than half as much when climbing). When we landed it was an adventure to find the car rental counter(hint: at BWI it's three miles off site), while waiting for the rental shuttle I ran in for a pitstop and came out to see the shuttle leaving. So I waited a few minutes and here came the shuttle. I got my Accord rental and headed to the hotel. The hotel wasn't ready, so I hit up Chap's Pit Beef in Glen Burnie for a Jennie Special and a large mac-n-cheese. Then I looked for a liquor store nearby(and there was one directly across the parking lot)(I read their reviews and headed to another(Christo's). I picked up a sixer of Natty Bo and a pint of Wild Turkey 101. The night is set. Then I found out they're expecting 3-6 of snow by Monday morning. Glad I'm just riding shotgun this week. It's supposed to be a cakewalk in the park...unlike my next stop, The next stop is Anchorage, AK(the second week in March). Instead of a Sunday-Friday week(four work days/two travel days), it's a Sunday-Monday(five work days, two travel days, one day to sight see). The return flight is a redeye leaving at 9 PM and arriving at 10 AM(including time zone changes/layovers). Barring some sort of Snowpocalypse I plan on hitting up Primanti Bros. tomorrow.

one of the better parts of the whole White Castle of Fear video: Harley Race wearing a turtleneck like he's a beat poet

Amen. He's insufferable.

Jesus Christ. Am I really going to Get 2K26 just because Miseria Cantare is in it? Yes. I probably am.

So he was a baseball pitcher, then flamed out, then got into wrestling and wasn't good at it and now is just an actor appearing in random stuff. But yeah, hard to get consistent work with that look.

They also did it for Mania 3.

Being really bad at one of the few things you can do and make good money looking like that is unfortunate. But I suppose he could always become a rapper, or a country singer.

Machine Gun Fury Contra, Jackal and Rambo and Shock troopers and ikari warriors and Commando and Mercs and Guerilla wars and Heavy Barrel and total carnage and BattleCity and Metal Gear combined into one game...

Watching USA/Slovakia like...

Ariel and Pablo did a really good discussion on this a while back

This is a good distinction to note. The injury time added on is what I find most unethical. But even tho Jericho more likely than not asked for time off, it could also just be TK icing him out like everyone else it feels like is leaving. Jericho asking for time off to play with his band is not the same as Rey Fenix having injury time added to screw him on the way out. I can see the difference there. But Jericho also did *so much* for AEW in the early years. In this case it feels extra slimey to me even if not quite as bad as other instances we've seen.

If I'm trying to get back to sleep? One of those 20 minute HHH promos from an Aughtes era RAW. Be out like a light in no time

His autobiography is one I would classify as a must read, very honest and insightful.

https://thehardtimes.net/blog/nice-this-non-alcoholic-ipa-tastes-just-as-disgusting-as-normal-one/

This. There's absolutely a difference between "I hurt myself in your ring, that shit shouldn't count against me" and "please don't count these dates against me as I go back on the road with my vanity project Stryper tribute band to keep my never-ending midlife crisis going."

“Mr. Backlund, parents are complaining to the school board about you requiring the recitation of the Presidents in order to pass your PE class”

But to bring up a point somebody else made earlier (sorry, I forget who) - it seems in this case, the contract wasn't frozen because of an injury, but because Jericho voluntarily took some time off to do some concerts or something. If that's accurate, then in this case contract freezing seems fine to me. If Jericho wants to take some time off from wrestling, then I don't see what would be unethical with AEW saying "Fine, but those months won't count towards the X years you signed for". Heck, they could just say "No, sorry, we need you" and I don't see that as unethical.

Parker has actually made a decent go of it post AEW, he showed up in GLEAT and recently became a champ in India.

Re: HOOK. I think it is pretty obvious that the greatest 2nd generation wrestler BS is supposed to be absurdly heelish hyperbole. You can't help but to either boo or laugh at a statement like that. What I am not sure of, however, is that DID Joe actually put HOOK in charge of things or has he decided to go rogue in Joe's absence? It would be funny if Shibata comes back from Japan with a couple of killers and HOOK recruits a couple of douches and Joe eventually comes back doesn't have a clue what's going on!

Hook promos often ride this line, and there's definitely some fun being had. The best was the promo he cut, just as he was returning, stating he didn't need back-up, or the Opps, or 'maybe I do' (insert Hook graphic).

Hook is going to turn the Opps into a cadre of goofy-haired fuckbois and you're all gonna love it When Swerve was beckoning to the back for someone to come out, I had the faintest glimmer of hope we'd get the return of Parker Boudreaux and TRENCH

Good opening tag match with Animal Instinct vs. Xena Phoenix and Sierra Sands The promo segment for Drucilla Blade was nice. Of course she loses to Scout Parker so I wonder if we're getting Scout vs. Genesis eventually. Also Scout won two in a row! The finisher is still wack though. Extending that Monsters and Metal/Top Tier feud out a little bit longer. Will the no DQ match actually end it?

I am a huge fan of everybody on that list. All of them have great matches. FTR and Ospreay are the best promos on that list. Mox is easily the most consistent. Mone and Stat are skim passed promos, but I look forward to all of their matches. Fletcher is so good - who is even pushing back at this point? I understand that ppl have some personal thoughts on how Gabe Kidd conducts himself online. As a talent I think he's amongst the best young performers to come along in awhile. Very believable. I am very excited for his rise in AEW. Also, very cool to see he versus Omega from the Tokyo Dome get some renewed attention as a great match to see. Very happy to have Ciampa in AEW thus far. FTR were collectively my 'Wrestler of the Year'. So consistent and at such a high level - every talking segment, every match.

I saw a tweet today saying this Wuthering Heights is worst thing that happened to Emily Brontë since she died of TB. And it’s a close race. if you had told me 25 years ago that Naomi Watts was in an Emanuelle film, I’d have bought the VHS sight unseen.

Happy 94th Anniversary to Freaks to those who celebrate. One of us. One of us.

Which is funny since Eva is certainly passable if not better than that on Green Acres.

We start off with a contract signing with a brawl because it's pro wrestling god damn it. As Booker T would say, Sibley Scoles was looking reeeal jack baby! Genesis and Ashely Blaze have a good match and no one got hurt. Veronica Varoom costs Catalina Speed her match with some mistimed interference so hopefully that should lead into something for them. The Dojo Defenders continue to slowly explode. Gabriella Cruz and Lil J Boogie had a good tag match. Ariana Gambino getting on the mic to say The Alliance dominates week after week is worth a chuckle since she took a loss the last time they were out.

Scout Parker with the most ridiculous Buckshot Lariat variation I've ever seen for the win was hilarious. But she won a match! If she jobs in the next 2 weeks I'll be sad. Also I don't understand her presentation this season, her vignette makes her seem face, her mannerisms are neutral as worst and she didn't wrestle heel in this match (or the last one) but the announcers allude to her being heel. Tag title match had the predictable partner miscue. Classmaster and Santana have a good match with a lot of shenanigans.