Craig H

Why the fuck doesn't Cena ever bring up how he found the love and respect he deserves in Hollywood, which is why he aligned himself with the Rock? Also, why the fuck has the Rock disappeared from this storyline except for Pat bringing him up for a second? What fucking sense does it make to want a corporate champ who will give you their soul and do everything they tell you to do and then go with...the fucking guy who is leaving wrestling for good in a handful of months? Also, WHAT SENSE DOES IT MAKE TO WANT A PUPPET/CORPORATE CHAMPION AND A PERSON TO GIVE YOU THEIR SOUL WHEN THAT PERSON IS NOW GOING TO WIN THE TITLE AND RETIRE WITH IT?! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!? Fuck this. What a bunch of stupid fucking booking.

It's possible? That Venn Diagram has some overlap. Good god. I need a video of Josh Barnett, Post Malone, Henry Cavill, and a fourth playing some ridiculous diplomacy table Magic with stupid horse trading and alliances, but each one of them has a Rhystic Study out and you constantly hear them all keep asking, "are you going to pay 1 extra for that?" The game takes 5 hours and essentially ends when someone combos out.

Josh is the War Master though, and is a good dude. At this point, I'd much rather hear him talk about Magic the Gathering or have a YouTube show where he plays table Magic or busts out this ridiculous cube that has the Power 9 in it or something than see him wrestle. I still enjoy Bloodsport though. I fully believe Josh has to own the Power 9 unless he's gone to the dark side and plays Yu Gi Oh or worse, collects Lorcana.

I noticed something this week watching Dynamite on Max. I too re-subscribed to Max and cancelled my Triller AEW Plus subscription thinking the experience would be the same. Truth be told, there have been many times I thought about switching back to AEW Plus because watching ads on Max when I'm not even watching Dynamite live and them not even doing a PIP is fucking lame. So I was pleasantly surprised this week when I started watching Dynamite just before it ended at 10 PM and it was already skipping commercials, kind of like what happens when you watch Raw on Netflix once the live taping concludes. It's still nowhere near as good as hearing the commentary during commercials, but it's a huge improvement over having to sit through ads or fast forward through them and miss whatever happened during the break.

He left out cricket balls, baseballs, hockey pucks, Lego, a spike, fireballs, plastic bags…

I watched the most recent Your Mom’s House Live and the spikes in Moxley’s back tonight had me screaming more than the “heavy” segment did during the YMH Live show. Good rasslin show all around. I really liked the format for the show too with the match order being what it was.

Legit shocked by the end of episode 3. Damn. This series goes hard.

And Speedball reminded me of Warhorse. And not in a good way.

After how awesome season 1 of the Punisher was and how fucking unmemorable and bland season 2 was, I hope this season and the follow up for Frank make good on whatever the fuck they were trying for with season 2. Too bad that Ebon Moss Bachrach is a huge star now and is back in the MCU as the Thing. I loved him in season 1. It was a massive improvement over his Desi character in Girls where everything about that series was fucking awful. Amazing that EMB and Adam Driver both made it out of that as bigger stars.

If Swerve wins the title then Ospreay winning the Owen to get a shot at Swerve at All In would be lame. Swerve and Hangman are the closest they have to Macho/Hogan, Bret/HBK, Austin/Rock, etc. If you have your biggest show ever in the states then I think you need to run with Swerve vs Hangman for the title at All In. You can still do Moxley vs Darby. It doesn't need to be for the title. It can be the final nail in the coffin for the whole DR angle. Hell, you could do a coffin match where it's the death of the DR vs the death of Darby's career on the line.

I know Shibata is probably going to lose, but he is the best person against Ricochet in the sense that if you want to see someone bitch slap the shit out of Ricochet then Shibata is your man.

God. I can't believe it has been seven years since she passed. Also, I'm really looking forward to how well Charlie Day does as a wrestler, but Mortos should be able to carry him to a good match.

Fuck that. Hair vs Mask. Or...Hair and Mask vs Hair and Title?

Mariah May vs Toni Storm Hollywood Ending is up there with the first Best Friends vs Santana/Ortiz parking lot brawl. Just such an amazing match. Like EVA said, all killer, no filler, which is EXACTLY what the main event should have been. It was so long, drawn out, and plodding that only got interesting when Christian cashed in and then immediately became something to laugh at because they had to protect Edge. I did think Christian, in the Bulldog Choke, putting a hand on Cope to pin him was the move of the night. It's the little things and Christian is one of those guys who has a PhD in that shit. Lots of questions coming out of this though. Based on rumblingz, we're likely headed for a unification match between Kenny and Okada at All In. I'm not sure where that leaves Ospreay then, who is one of the most over acts in the company and one of the tippy top babyfaces. I'm not particularly interested in him and Kenny feuding again as a stop gap to Kenny vs Okada, but maybe they start building towards Kenny/Okada/Ospreay 3 way at All In. Even then, Kenny and Okada make sense in that match. They're both bringing gold into it. Ospreay is bringing nothing into it. I just don't know what you do with him in the immediate future aside from maybe going after Takeshita to finally bring down the Don Callis Family. Another question I have is if Lashley is on a pitch count or something. His involvement in tag matches has been fairly limited. I know he's had some injury issues, he's older, and roids and age don't mix. I guess we'll probably get HB vs Murder Machines next. I really expected the Bucks to make an appearance when Kenny was walking back with the title, but they're still on the shelf and it's practically their hometown. I can't say I'm missing them and I feel like AEW has sort of moved on from the Young Bucks. Out of the Elite that are still in AEW, I think Hangman and Omega need to be locked up there for life. The Bucks I think you could do without. Yuta is the most worthless Jey Uso ever. Someone made the point that they thought that maybe this was building towards Yuta getting his soul back and building him up for an uber babyface run. Yeah...You're going to need to have him stop being the Sickboy/Billy Kidman of this group then. And fast. Again, Toni Storm is one of the best acts in all of wrestling right now. She's so fucking awesome and hit 1.0+ Muta last night. Hoping her back and May's back are both ok because they both looked like they hurt their backs early on in that match. As I watched Zero Hour I started to think of how far Adam Cole has fallen from when he was first brought in. A mountain of diminishing returns on him, which sucks because I really like Adam Cole. He's starting to become the epitome of a AAAA baseball player. Too good for AAA, not good enough for the majors. Dude should start watching his old promos on Honor Club and start getting back to that Adam Cole instead of Sports Entertainment Adam Cole. I really think NXT/WWE broke him. Conversely, I can't give enough props to Ricochet. Came in, started out slow and looking like he couldn't shake the NXT/WWE off of him, started getting his footing back in the ring, and then becoming the Drake of AEW is one of the best character developments ever for a guy who could never cut a decent promo and was fairly milquetoast outside of a flashy in ring style. This is probably the best Ricochet has ever been in his career. He's finally put it all together. As for his match with Swerve...Fucking fantastic. Yeah, I was one of the people wondering why Nana just didn't run off with the robe early on, but I dealt with it. Nana really sold just how many bullets he's taken for Swerve and took 3 or 4 last night. Loved all of the storytelling in the match too between Nana and Swerve. These guys are clearly great friends and business associates and who hasn't been in a situation where a friend pissed them off and then quickly cooled down and was like, "I don't want to be like that, I'm ride or die with you." I gotta say though...The seamstress that blended Ricochet's logo into the Embassy robe did an amazing job. That was a fucking awesome look. So good that Ricochet should develop his own, dark version of the Embassy robe with his logo. Final thoughts...As much as I loved the show, aside from the main event, this red lined my danger gauge. Way, way, way too many dangerous spots last night to the point where in 4 matches with top stars you could have had someone with a broken neck or something else severely fucked up to put them on the shelf for a year. MJF damn near ganzo bombed Hanger (which immediately brought me back to how Starks landed from a Hangman German suplex and got a broken neck), an Angel Wings on MJF when MJF got his neck cranked on the landing, too many risky spots to mention in Swerve vs Ricochet, Kenny isn't going to be bleeding out but for a guy with a history of hernias...taking a bump onto the edge of a table seemed way too reckless, there were at least 2 or 3 other moves in that match where Kenny could have been super fucked up which just seems like it's Takeshita's style (I'd love to know how that guy works that stiff but isn't that stiff), and obviously the Spanish Fly off the top of the cage. I mean, Kurt Angle cites the moonsaults from the top of the cage as what destroyed his knees. I already hate the Spanish Fly because 1) it looks like death for both wrestlers and 2) there have been way too many close calls with wrestlers nearly killing themselves on that move. And these two did it off the top of a cage. At least the cage isn't monstrously tall anymore. And I say all of that because all of those moves clearly added to their matches, but also look at Mariah May vs Toni Storm where neither one of them were hitting ultra permadeath moves on each other and added more to their match where they would both walk out unscathed aside from scars if not for some awkward landings/bumps early on in the match.

He'll feud with Jay White, which when I was younger, the trope of someone's friend accidentally hitting them leading to dissension and then a feud was fine. Now that I'm out of my teen years, it's the dumbest fucking bullshit imaginable. Like, if my friend accidentally hit me, I wouldn't start doubting them. That's why I liked what the Young Bucks and FTR have done as a tag team because there have been a bunch of times where those teams have accidentally hit their teammates and they didn't get pissy with each other because of it. They all also have the benefit of watching this shit back. But clearly we're going to get Edge and White feuding, which at least will make White a heel again.

Fuck Darby. I like the guy, but he’s not reliable and he’s nowhere near as over as Swerve or Hangman. Mox loses to Swerve and then you build to Swerve vs Hangman at All In where each guy has to confront their past and demons, how they’re not that person anymore but they’re still dangerous, Hangman especially has to fight hard to beat back the ultraviolent tendencies Swerve brought out in him. I mean sure, have Swerve defend against whoever at DoN and Forbidden Door, but build to Swerve vs Hangman for the title. Hell, you can still do Moxley vs Darby as a singles match. This PPV fucking ruled until that main event. 12 million stars for Mariah vs Toni, Kenny vs Takeshita was a different kind of Kenny match than we’ve seen before, Brody vs Okada was fucking awesome because it’s the first time Okada has fought a monster like Brody and both guys were excellent, Ospreay vs Fletcher was one of the damnedest and wildest matches ever, and even when the main event was over you had Swerve bringing the crowd right back into it. I had a good friend at the show where for $180 he was basically on the hard cam on the right hand side in a white Bills hoodie all night. He said the crowd was hot for everything except that main event and the main event was probably the worst thing on the show match wise. I texted him at one point that the ring crew should all get bonuses and he texted back laughing saying that it was hilarious for how fast they were struggling to change the canvas and clean everything up repeatedly. He also said no one was really leaving during the main so at least people stayed. Also, lord, can we please get Leslie Jones in attendance for every PPV? She was awesome.

That’s probably the best way to thread the needle on Naomi/Bianca/Jade even if the idea of having sympathy for a monster (even though Jade is far from the monster she was in AEW) is weird. Naomi’s acting really helped sell it. The Cody stuff is…ugh…I hate sad, dramatic Cody.

I don't think Sting is under any kind of a firm AEW contract and for something like this and for as big of a fan of WCW he was, I can't see Coach stopping Sting from inducting Luger.

Regarding Portland, might as well throw in the obligatory "please watch the Battered Bastards of Baseball documentary on Netflix because it's fucking fantastic." Now if only there was a way to somehow get Kurt and Wyatt Russell involved if it did happen.

I had a feeling Padalecki was going to be involved for the final season and Ackles had hinted at it a year or two ago.

TK is way too fucking stubborn to have Cope beat Mox. Jay White is going to turn on Edge and we'll see that the DR still have the numbers game. I could see TK maybe not being stubborn enough to decide to move the title onto Hangman (which is what SHOULD happen) or Swerve (still unlikely because his title shot will come before DoN if he beats Ricochet) instead of Darby, but he's not going to loosen up that much to have Edge win the title on Sunday. And this is why hinging everything on Darby and his whims is fucking dumb, and why making All In their WrestleMania set all the way in August is dumb. You're dragging out a heatless DR angle for another FIVE MONTHS just to do Darby vs Moxley and that's if Darby is ready by August and if he can stay healthy. If All In were earlier and everything weren't pinned on Darby then you obviously do Mox vs Hangman at DoN or an earlier All In. I have a feeling we're in for a lot of lolmoxleywins when he beats Copeland, Swerve, and probably Hangman before we get to Moxley vs Darby. Or you say fuck it and have Hangman vs Moxley at DoN anyway and have Hangman win there and forget whatever the fuck Darby is doing and for All In you just look to put on the best wrestling matches. Hell, you could do Darby vs Hangman at All In.

Man, after Toni's promo, I really want and think Toni vs Mariah should go on last at Revolution.

I'm not going to post this in the EC thread because we're days away from that now, but I wanted to say something else about Cena. Keto has really fucked up the way he looks. It's pretty clear he's not on a keto diet now and has bulked back up again, but when he first did it and lost all of that weight and was basically just lean muscle and veins, his face got really sunken in and bony too. That's kinda what happened to me when I lost a ton of weight doing it and I've seen it with other people too. And then when you gain the weight back it's like your face and head don't change with it and so you have this head that doesn't look like it belongs on that body. I think that's what bugs the most about how Cena looks. The hair still sucks and it's probably the shittiest hair this side of Edge in wrestling, but with Edge I can at least point to him being Canadian and a hockey fan and so his hair style doesn't look that much different than a lot of hockey players. Cena's hair and face are all just way fucked up now and have been for years. This is just a long way of me working in a Step Brothers reference. https://youtu.be/M3lGKMXYOG8?si=2S-AuNBvpgBk-ICW

Man... That was one of the best openings to a Raw in the history of Raw. Holy shit. I was out of my seat when Punk was talking about the Rock's bullshit goosebumps, which was something I had said awhile back. And the brawl fucking ruled. And then to close things out...IO!!!!!!!!!!! LET'S FUCKING GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for Cena, if you want to solidify him as a heel, have him come out in one of his awful, oversized, Steve Harvey brand looking suits, and talk about hustle, loyalty, and respect. His hustle is in Hollywood. That's where the money is, that's where the fame is, and that's where his hustle is at and WWE isn't his home. Loyalty? You fans are so gullible to be so loyal to me. I said I'd be here forever, then left, and you fans loved it. My loyalty is to two people - My agent and the Rock. And respect? Respect is about me, taking what's mine, a 17th world championship and putting Cody into the dirt. I'll get my respect in the history books and the records I set. So right now, I have more important business to take care of here on set than to be there in front of you chumps. As the saying goes, you can't see me, because you don't deserve to see me unless you're paying a ticket to see me in theater.