Technico Support

Honestly, I wouldn't call Cole injury prone. In AEW, he suffered a bad concussion, then later rolled his ankle jumping off the entrance ramp while doing a run-in. To me, "injury prone" denotes something like tearing a muscle while just doing regular-ass wrestling, like tearing your quad while walking across the ring, or a guy like Punk who tears his triceps just putting on his gear. Oh lord Dax and his fucking promos. The forced stammering, the hand on the head and other weird hand gesticulations. I know he's trying to sound homespun and genuine, but it's so cringeworthy.

I remember a Mania 3 lead-up promo when Bobby was discussing the trophies Hogan and Andre had been given and he described Andre's trophy as being "littler" than Hogan's. How could someone called "The Brain" make such a grammatical error? I was destroyed. In seriousness, I feel like heel commentary might be something left in the past. I don't know if it's this post-kayfabe world we live in or what, but it just feels forced and fake. Maybe it requires a more subtle approach, which I feel like NIgel is trying to work toward but is sort of missing the mark right now. It's funny because a straight up wrestling heel who joins the commentating team for one match and just acts like a prick, like Don Callis does, works fine.

He'd need to remove the "my character can't lose or get punched more than he punches the other guy" clause from his contract for that.

Nigel makes a few decent calls. When Shane Taylor hit Garcia with his finisher, which is just a hard punch, and Garcia kicked out at two, Nigel protected Taylor's finish by saying that Garcia must have seen it coming and tucked his chin. But yeah, for every really good call, there are about seven instances of overbearing shit. I'd still take him over JR any day, though. Watching old PPVs and TV, I find myself saying "oh god JR shut the fuck up" a few times per show.

Brody yelling WE’RE EATING CHICKEN TONIGHT while he had Mark up for the Gonzo bomb was some cartoon monster heel shit and I loved it.

I vote for the any bump he did where his opponent herked him through the air while in a body bag. I mean unless the bag was somehow gimmicked, not knowing when you’re landing, and thus unable to brace for it, sounds really dangerous.

Christian’s reign of terror will be ended by Dan the Dad.

Dumb enough from a "don't say racist shit" perspective? Sure. Dumb enough from a "you'll get your ass kicked" perspective? Nope. This hillbilly used the N word to Henry's face and Henry didn't do shit. Mark Henry ain't shit and, in later years, only existed to back the company in public whenever a black wrestler was getting uppity.

Make it 3x more complicated, have eliminated wrestlers somehow come back, and then end with Hangman & Swerve as champs, and it's the most Russo idea ever! Hell yes it did. Hangman going over the edge and hating Swerve so much that he'll sacrifice a title shot just to make sure Swerve can't have one is amazing storytelling. Meanwhile, I was 13 and traveled what would turn out to be my future college, Towson State University, to watch Mania 4 on closed circuit. Truly a tale of two fandoms.

If Vince coerced Grant to meet Lesnar in another state for his gross approach to “contract negotiations,” I believe that qualifies as well.

Yes, I believe I heard or read that example given when this first broke.

Tribute to the Troops is a hilarious reminder that 2003 WWE rode a wave of post 9/11 jingoism and pro military PR, and then just about a decade later started holding shows in the country responsible for 9/11. What a ride and what a testament to McMahon's absolute lack of humanity. In case you needed more ammo for that one.

Absolutely. I gave Impact a chance when the AEW crossover first started. As soon as I saw D'Amore running around with a headset on making storyline decisions on camera, I noped right the fuck out of there. Dave picking up female fans by pretending to be Brian Adias is some Saul Goodman/Kevin Costner shit.

I wish Kamille would change her name. I know it's an old reference, but all I hear is Eddie imitating Cosby: "MY WIFE CAAAAAMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIILLLLLLE"

Baker's Covid/Daily's place run: she was booked as a babyface and was just kinda meh. Not a great worker, either. Got injured in May 2020 and then came back a better wrestler in September, which was a pleasant surprise. Her heel character carried a limited division. Now she's pretty banged up and the company has many workers who are better and have far fewer miles and injuries piled up. She still has the star power and can get people to chant "DMD," but I'm not positive what she can bring to a division that has passed her by. I do like the idea of women's tag belts and teaming her with someone who can go, where she could be hidden a little better, working to her strengths while taking it a little easier. I'd suggest Hayter but I selfishly need to see what Hayter can do with this new crop as soon as she's back.

Also said being right wing in America is like being Jewish during the Holocaust.

Every damn time with these chuckleheads. “My political views are being stifled by the woke powers that be” while the “political views” in question are just the most abhorrent shit that has nothing to do with politics (except the sad fact that this is what politics has become in some circles). Like she’d be fired from the show for pushing conservative fiscal policy or something similar.

I'm just really happy that only one of these matches, to me, is a foregone conclusion.

Oh no, it's totally understandable that you'd miss it...the quote is so worky-shooty that it's easy to take it as real. I mean, in kayfabe, where this is supposed to be a legitimate sport, what does "handed the ball" mean? Why would a competitor care about the fans being sick of them? They should be concerned with winning titles. The Patriots didn't take a step back to see who else could carry the NFL when we were sick of them winning every year. A wrestling character giving that sort of quote makes no sense.

That has to be a semi kayfabe answer, right? In an effort to be not so cynical, I need to believe nobody is that far up their own ass. I mean I have seen many examples of the Dunning–Kruger effect in my lifetime, but god damn.

We leave the joycons attached to the system permanently. My daughter was raised on Xbox so the Pro controller is more what we're all used to. The A & B and X & Y being flipped (compared to Xbox) screws us up every time.

I don't watch lucha, due to time and availability limitations, but watching Hechicero taunting like mad last week made me wonder if this is just a lucha thing. Not a good or bad lucha thing, mind you, just a thing. His "conjuring" taunt kinda reminded me of older Charles Manson's wild gesticulations. Or maybe just Bob Odenkirk's Manson impersonation.

I think being incredibly literal is Dave’s schtick. I hope so, anyway.

I swear I looked at it three times before posting. Carry on then! :D

Are Bret and WWE on the outs again? I can't see why he's not on there. Also, why is Andre doing the Duggan taunt?