13 hours ago, DMJ said:

I don't understand the discourse around Ospreay's entrance "not making sense in kayfabe."

Because some fans are WWE-pilled like a motherfucker and once someone turns, their only allies should be whatever side they're on.  Despite any kind of shared history and mutual respect, guys like Ricochet and Aussie Open shouldn't wish their longtime friend well because "they're bad guys now!!"  and the inverse is also true, to some.  Once a hated rival turns, you're buddies.  It's simplistic and cartoonish.  It was stupid in the 1987 Survivor Series when Steamboat teams with not one, but two guys who tried to kill him in the past year, and it's stupid now.

People just need something to nitpick.  

13 hours ago, The Green Meanie said:

A CLT match 
 

Too bad Russo isn't involved.  He'd find a way to get irons, IEDs, or ironing boards involved just to have a dirty acronym.

51 minutes ago, zendragon said:

That match is up there with Hogan's SNME match with Harley Race (IMO one the short list of best Hogan matches). Terry really bumps big for Hogan and gets him out of his "Hogan plays the hits" routine

To be fair, I feel like Hogan hadn’t hit on the formula all the way at this point, right?  Any time you see him in gear that’s not yellow and red, that’s earlier Hogan who is still making the transition to 100% cartoon character.

Funny how Funk was described as “middle aged and crazy” in 1986.  He still had a hot WCW run in a few years and ECW was still a decade away.  RIP to a great one.

Just now, Elsalvajeloco said:

This might draw the ire of Cornette, but fuck him: The Midnight Express Cup. That works as well. Have the finals in the Carolinas or Dallas or New Orleans.

Call it that and the over/under on Dax teary-eyed promos at tournament time goes through the roof.

17 hours ago, Stefanie Sassypants said:

What'd Hootie ever do aside from let her cry, anyway

Hootie traumatized me indirectly because there was this guy in the dorm across from mine in like 95/96 who would play acoustic guitar and sing only two songs: Cumbersome by Seven Mary Three and Hold My Hand by Hootie.  And they guy could not sing, but he was good at mimicry, meaning he had no style all his own, he could just imitate these singers well.  After hearing I'M GONNA LOVE YOUUUU THE BEST THAT, THE BEST THAT I CAAAAAAAAAAN through two doors and one hallway at all hours, I have long term PTSD specifically for 90s cheese rock.

People actually called him "Hootie," which was great because you'd invariably hear from someone in the quad, "HEY HOOTIE SHUT THE FUCK UP" after hearing Cumbersome for the thousandth time.

1 hour ago, (BP) said:

I’ve seen enough Nature Boy Ric Filler broadways to know he’s full of shit.

Seriously.  I’m guessing “standard Flair match + more talented opponent than the typical territory slugs Flair usually worked = a billion stars.”  These non-taped Flair/Steamboat matches are like your girlfriend who goes to a different school and lives in a different city that none of your friends know.  
 

I did a Crockett/WCW rewatch a few years ago and I honestly found myself bored and fast forwarding Flair/Steamboat 2 and 3.  
 

Things weren’t necessarily better when you were younger.  You really just miss being younger.

Copliot is a Microsoft product but can't read or create Microsoft Visio diagrams.  So I can say "Copliot, look at this diagram (after I re-save the fucker as a jpeg like some kind of god damn luddite) and let's make it look more professional."  It gives me a lot of great suggestions but then I have to do the actual work to change it.  This is no the AI-enhanced future I was promised.

54 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Huh? What’s the story? 

WWE or Netflix pixelated blood

1 hour ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Given that 99% of them aren't using their real names either, at the very least they understand Shawn Michaels likely isn't his real name. 

 

The NXT kids are probably taken aback by the lack of Y’s in his name.  If he came up today, he’d be Shywn Mykylz.

The TKO model for WWE is going to be a handful of old guys, proven top guys, on top making a lot of money, and then a massive lower class of guys getting paid nothing, proportionally speaking.  They’ll either take pay cuts or get gradually released to get to that point.  In TKO’s mind, it’s fake so the top guys can draw for a long, long time.  Enjoy, guys!

4 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

so currently it's CM Punk/Roman Reigns

That's hilarious considering how salty Phil got back in the day over what he perceived to be management's constant harping on him to keep Roman strong.  

 

First Kenny turns his back on the gay community, now this

26 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I love Bryan Danielson on commentary. He's always a mix of legit reaction and kayfabe. I see nothing hypocritical about his lies. His best of the night was selling Kenny's limp arm after the Tiger Driver. 

Oh for sure.  When he's sticking to the story being told in the ring, he's great.  It just puts me off when he strays into "don't do shoot headbutts because those are bad" territory because an announcer shouldn't be low key telling me that all this stuff is fake but that one thing is real and dangerous.  

13 hours ago, Serious Darius Bagfelt said:

Missy said in her book she went out with Tatum when he told her he was Jewish too

"If you're committed enough, you can make any story work. I once told a woman I was Kevin Costner, and it worked, because I believed it."

Back to the PPV, for fuck's sake.

Everybody's sleeping on Daniel Garcia's amazing heel stooging.  He entered the gauntlet with Marina and had her slap him to fire him up, like she does with Moxley, but he almost fell down after the first slap and then staggered away, selling it like he was on rollerskates, like "yeah, nah, I'm good."  That was fucking amazing and I legit lol'd in my living room.

Mark Davis' piledriver rampage, including hitting the dreaded Close Your Eyes and Count to Fuck, was king-sized.  If you don't love Davis, I don't know what to tell you.

 

Kenny protected his finish.  He let Ibushi kick out to put him over, then he protected it again until it was time to really, really put over somebody else in a big way.  That's pro wrestling 101.  Everything else is just stuff a section of the fanbase has chosen to believe, i.e., something they essentially made up in their heads.  "The power of gay defeated Kenny's finisher all those years ago and the fact that he's protecting his finish now means that he's supporting LGBTQ+ via his match layout choices!"  Holy fuck, that is literally just something someone came up with and it's no different than believing the characters in your soap operas are sending you secret messages or that Catcher in the Rye is telling you to shoot a dude.  You can fantasy book, but please try your best not to fantasy believe.  A subset of a subset of a subset of a marginalized group chose to interpret a wrestling storyline in a certain way.  Cool.  Please, interpret art any damn way you want.  But when the art it takes a turn that doesn't match your interpretation, you can't get angry about it like your interpretation is fact.  This is no different from shippers getting irrationally mad at a creator for writing a story in a different way than they liked.  Fuck, this is some Annie Wilkes shit.  I'm pretty liberal but holy fuck I'm getting so sick of this world today where everyone thinks they're entitled to their own reality, where everyone is the main character in their story and their subjective bullshit is actually objective truth.

Kenny distancing himself from the gay community?  AJ Styles to AEW confirmed!

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

 

The Contra code was always my go-to move on dates

5 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Hey, at least I didn't say THAT. (FWIW I honestly just don't like the ending of the match, and that's the only part. Everything else is just fine)

Funny, I was just thinking all the match was missing was Kenny rubbing Ospreay’s face in his armpit.

I forgot to mention, I really enjoyed the initial spot where Kofi avoided falling out of the ring, where he hooked his toes under the rope and hung there.  But I hate any and all spots where the wrestler hits the floor but is able to get back in because "both feet" didn't touch.  Lawler doing that shit, hopping around the ring on one foot, was a heel gimmick.  Deadbugging on the floor and letting someone else pick you back up and put you in the ring goes against the kayfabe spirit of a battle royal and AEW should be better than that dumb sports entertainment shit.  

Here are some thoughts on the stuff I watched, enjoy!

Maya World vs Persephpone: half-watched this in the car on the way back from some errands.  It was fine.  I'm really glad Persephone won the belt and is going to be figured into the division more moving forward.  Britt Baker?  Eh, we'll see.  Have her health problems cleared up?  Have her attitude problems cleared up?  Talent-wise, she's another worker from the early era of AEW who was good and necessary for what they had back then, but has been lapped by far better talent since.  Maybe she'll be an Eddie Gilbert style manager/wrestler who only does matches once in a while.  That could work.

Tag team royal rumble thing: Convoluted and too long, but inoffensive.  Really, the whole purpose of it was as a vehicle to get to the New Level payoff.  Sucks to see Hangman and Swerve relegated to the preshow but what can you do?  

Birds vs Dominion: Decent enough opener.  Cool to see the Birds win the titles in their home country.  Clunky in spots but fine.  I did enjoy Danielson trying to get the story across that, while the Birds are brawlers, they're outmatched here by their bigger opponents, and need to be using speed and finesse instead.  

Mox vs Nigel: Very good technical match.  Moxley has really elevated the Continental title just by being a guy who defends it in great matches.  It means something, more than the other secondary belts, it feels like.  Nigel just barely not being able to get to the ropes and needing to tap was great.  People thought he'd leave his boots in the ring and I'm glad he didn't.

International title three way: I really liked this.  Fun storyline match and you can tell this was just the beginning and that there's a lot of meat left on the bone here.  No need to do a ton, just get the story across.  That being said, what they did was really good and they worked well to mostly avoid the multiman match trope of "one guy lays on the floor forever while the other two have a one on one match."  Okada being a shitheel, going out of his way to pin Fletcher, and then mugging after the match, was wonderful.

Casino Gauntlet: incredibly fun!  I enjoyed some of the weird, unannounced entrances like Nick Wayne and Mark Davis.  I believe that's something they haven't done in this type of match before and it definitely added something.  The Kommander/Mistico flub and recovery was amazing.  I saw Jericho interrupting Ciampa's entrance coming.  Danielson screeching about Ciampa needing to run to the ring and pin someone, which had to be hurriedly covered up by the other announcers, was annoying.  More on him later but he's rapidly approaching Monsoon and JR levels of detracting from matches.  I never noticed until this show how slow and clunky Mistico has gotten.  I thought that was Tanahashi under the hood.  Andrade or MJF winning was always a foregone conclusion and I'm glad it was Andrade because MJF clearly needs time off.  Side note: I need Andrade to shrug his shoulders and take a pic with a good looking guy at ringside sometime, in the name of inclusiveness.

Cage & Cope vs Bucks: I loved the Bucks' video package (and gear) and their tribute to the places they've worked and the people they've worked with.  Kevin Steen sighting on their tights!  What if the Bucks had been allowed to work a Bucks match with these old guys instead of working down to their level in this old time, pseudo WWE style?  Slightly above average match.  Hindering the best, most exciting worker in the match with an injury angle because you're too old and slow to work with him is certainly a Hoganesque choice.  Christian is fine, I suppose, but Copeland has lost multiple steps and his crispy old man hair is an embarrassment.  Their finisher is shit, too.  Copeland doesn't even run for the elevated spear, he just does a jumping hug.  Funny they brought all these talented teams out for a faceoff after the match when any of them vs the Bucks would be miles better than working these washed old dudes.

Darby vs Knight: More a disjointed collection of stuff than a match, but we knew what we were getting and it was good for what it was.  The stuff with Sting and his son was great.  Darby is a fucking lunatic.  Nice callback to Knight's original betrayal at the finish.

Mercedes vs Willow: Incredible match.  They fucking brought it.  Wow.  My only nitpick is calling for the bell before Mercedes got the chance to stomp Willow's hand.  Aside from that, God DAMN.

Ospreay vs Kenny: Great video packages and I loved Ospreay's walk to the ring.  Obviously these guys' match style isn't for everyone but fuck it.  Wrestling changes.  Lou Thesz looked at Harley Race the way critics look at this match.  I loved it and the ending run was so good.  Ospreay kicking out of the One Winged Angel was perfect.  I wish they had more time to linger on Ospreay celebrating.

On Danielson's commentary: I understand how wrestling goes and how the old guys get battered and beaten down, they tell the young guys to not do what they did, the young guys don't listen, and then they become the beaten down old guys.  But Danielson just constantly yelling about guys hurting themselves, when he built a career on that shit and damn near wanted to fist fight HHH for calling off a match (which I believe happened relatively recently, like in the last decade), is hypocritical.  It also detracts from the match because he's actively calling out the workers for their work and not enhancing the story being told in the ring.    

I loved the pace of the card, no filler, just a quick package to summarize the upcoming match build, and then right to it.  Amazing show.

1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Well at least he's not in the Casino Gauntlet I guess.

 

 

Working the pre show with the ROH regulars and Collision jobbers, teaming with memes.  Yeah, maybe don’t be difficult.  

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Days of Thunder sequel officially adds Anne Hathaway

Claims Summer 2028

Isn’t she too old to play Cruise’s love interest?

Eddie seriously needs to stop smoking and start taking care of himself.

1 hour ago, Sublime said:

Which is the right question:

Which match will have an homage to Hitman/bulldog?

or

How many matches will have an homage to Hitman/Bulldog?

Who has the guts to make it a true tribute and get just completely loaded before the match?

”Kenny, I’m fooked!”