Iron Moose

All Elite Wrestling: where the ring doesn't collapse from regular use.

This is a really good, insightful post.

Both of these things can be true at the same time. To extend on what @NoFistsJustFlipssaid, I'll add that a rhythm of seeing hometown favorites lose, extinguishing their crowds, probably has a downstream effect of muting the enthusiasm of future crowds. Besides, it's not like the story of Ali and Mansoor desperately needed *this* loss, or set this loss up to matter more than any other.

For a company that likes putting smiles on faces, it sure was dippy to job out Ali. In terms of smiles, there is also a case for bothering to hype Ripley/Jax before running it.

There's an interesting nuance to this, which is 'change in show presentation' versus 'lack of audience'. I'm not sure about the latter, but for the former - Drew and Shayna come to mind, as well as the Mandy / Otis angle's derailment. This is a good take. If anyone wants a grim data science side project, graph the outbreaks two weeks after a WWE show rolls through a town.

the phrasing here is unclear. Do you mean that "hopefully they aren't stupid and therefore have her pin RIpley" or "hopefully they aren't stupid and therefore don't have her pin Ripley"? TBF, wasn’t he was given promo time after that insult and got flustered after he said he was the best inside the three sides of the ring? Aaaaie, that was a painful slip to watch. Three ropes, four corners...

1. The little Madonna reference in the New Day's finisher is brilliant. (Midnight Hour - > Feel the power!) 2. Head of the Table Roman Reigns is a character that actively repels me from his parts of shows. Samoan supremacist - sure. All-smothering godfather figure, also good. Doing both at once connects them in a way that I think unintentionally positions the latter as a consequence of ethnicity, or as an authentic extension of the ethnicity, and that makes me really uneasy. Also the matches are plodding and the nutshot-kickout spot should be scouted by any subsequent challengers.

The first episode of Off Her Chops, a podcast from Cassie Lee (FKA Peyton Royce) and Jessie McKay (FKA Billie Kay) will be available on Friday May 21

Apropos of nothing - I'm guessing you're Canadian?

Going by UUDD and her out-of-character bits on Youtube, she's old-school geeky enough to be a bridge to the G4/Syfy-type networks. Really hoping she stays visible somehow.

For these three in particular: if they wanted this, I'm glad its happened and I wish them the best. If they didn't, DEATH TO WWE.

As a big fan of Rhea and Asuka, that was a really off night for both of them. I'm guessing it's at least partly because it's Rhea's first night in Thunderdome (her finger-wagging at Asuka's back was ... not something that really made sense in this context, but it would have worked if there was more of an audience to play to, and it looked like she was not positioned correctly on the electric chair that worked - that was a bit more back-to-the-hard-cam than usual) ...but that doesn't explain Asuka's dropkick botch or the electric chair slip or the sliding knee going over Rhea's head or whatever happened with that Samoan Drop-Crucifix... thing.... ... the faceplant after the cloverleaf rope break was cool, at least? On a character level, it might have been tough for Rhea to grasp her motivation in the match?

Ricochet, Mustafa and Cedric/Shelton could all be doing something.

Asuka, the Horsewomen, Shayna... Nattie, Mickie? Possibly Rhea, Nikki and Mia?