Technico Support

Counterpoint: it's a creative endeavor. The booker writes the stories and the wrestlers execute them. How often does an film or TV actor change things to protect his character or whatever? Aside from The Rock and his dumb bullshit? How long does a QB last if he says "nah, fuck those plays the OC just sent in, we're doing THIS!" It's not the old days anymore, where a wrestler has to protect himself and his moneymaking ability for when he moves on to another territory. The fans know the score and nobody is saying "oh man, Whateverhisnameisnow Black is back in WWE, but hey, he lost some matches in AEW! Fuck that loser!" Who the hell is Malachi McSpookyface to say, "I know you have a story, but I'm not doing that." Also, Miro was built as a monster. He was protected as fuck in that blowoff match with Sabin vs Best Friends, for example. In one well-known instance, he was booked to go to the finals of an eliminator and lose. Which is pro wrestling 101: monster wins, then monster loses. He refused. Fuck that guy. Look at how AEW does things: Darby Allin is the champion now. That dude's first year in AEW was something like a 50/50 record. Kyle Fletcher did nothing but job when he started as a single. Same as Willow. If Black or Miro had just gone along, do you have any doubt they'd be in a better spot now? Everything else you're talking about is based on your preference for bigger guys and distain for smaller guys who are "not believable," which is a separate issue. But I'll remind you that Black and the Bucks are probably the same size right now. In general, this timeline is amusing to me: WWE fires Black Black goes to AEW HHH contacts Black and says "Vince is gone, I need you to come back." Black thinks HHH will take him in and give him a job for life I guess Black is Rick James and AEW is Eddie's couch Black goes to WWE WWE does fuck all with Black and fires him and his wife a year later Please note that steps 4 and 5 are where Black fucked up, but insert Big Damo quote here.

I'm just really happy that it was an angle all along and not just "this guy has a weakness now and we're booking him like a chump."

Right! And it’s so insane to me that these guys burned bridges like that. Unless you want to grind like crazy on the indies or work outside the US, AEW and WWE are your only options. To be unprofessional in AEW when there’s only one other option, and WWE has shown time and again that they can and will fire anyone any time…man, that’s madness. I also think some of these guys got used to Vince specifically and also just the general domineering, abusive, and controlling atmosphere in WWE that they had no idea how to act outside that system. Punk himself said AEW was unprofessional. Was it really, or was it that he didn’t know how to be in an organization that wasn’t abusing him? “Tony Khan is a pushover! (Because he’s not an asshole)” It’s like released convicts committing petty crimes in order to go back to jail because they have no idea how to live on the outside.

I think for both Black and Miro, it was more along the lines of some ridiculous perceived difference between doing jobs in the #1 company vs doing jobs in the #2 company. Like “I’d rather be on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad than be the 2nd stringer in Nashville.” They’re fine with doing jobs if it’s for the top company.

@Kevin Wilson well said. Don’t forget that HoB vs Daniel Garcia and friends cage elimination, feud blowoff match that was mysteriously changed to “first to escape wins” right before the show.

WWE putting their entire machine behind making Danhausen the uber meme wrestler of all meme wrestlers is so fucking tiresome and I don’t even watch their shows. They have never been able to be subtle or grow anything organically or slowly. The public is going to tire of his one note bullshit faster than they did The Macarena. Since he likes stealing from The Simpsons so much, I’ll put it in easily understandable terms and say that WWE has Poochie’d him. Danhausen will die on his way back to his home planet before too long.

I have a wife and daughter myself. I should lead off every meeting at work with a promo about them. It’ll either get me over or get me fired, we’ll see.

Werner: JR, can you tell me more about the time your father punished you by making you drown a bag of puppies? I find it endlessly fascinating. Did that affect your approach to wrestling? JR: (throws down headset and runs off crying)

Yeah man, I don’t know. It’s probably just me, but “I have a wife and kids and fight for my family” is cheesy and weak. Don’t almost all these guys have families? Why do Dax and Ciampa specifically get to hold themselves up as paragons of fatherhood? It’s just such a Hallmark Channel, unimaginative motivation. Again, just my own tastes.

Maybe Moxley and crew have had a change of heart, mellowed out, and have become The Life Riders!? Aside from the "I fight to feed mah famleeee I have a wife and daughter imma girldaaaad I luv mah kid" promos," I dislike Ciampa's beard, which looks filthy and gross and makes him look like the neighbor from Home Alone. He looks 60 when he's actually 40. Aside from those things, he's awesome. Seriously, he's a damn fine wrestler but I don't watch WWE, so to me, he disappeared from a hot run on the indies as The Sicilian Psychopath and came back years later as a mushy sap who won't stop talking about his wife and kid.

He was great as Tommy End, badass Dutch kickboxer who had a slight occult bent that was never outright expressed. When all the occult stuff became explicit, it got lame. I’d say no to the MCMG. They already have The Rascals, who are just MCMG with like 15 fewer years of wear and tear.

It’s a strange malady that only affects wrestlers, where some just can’t be on their backs for more than two seconds. I should ask my orthopedic doctor about it, maybe there are scholarly articles on it. Ah yes, the 2026 version of “Vince loved me, but that goddamn JR/Johnny/Bruce/etc…” No way. Brody is doing great now and the last thing he needs is to be second banana in the Spooky Time Friends again.

It’s monetizing mourning. It was a crass idea from the start, IMO.

You’re right, I had to look it up and there was some overlap. I still think it was a cynical gimmick.

I always got the ick from the Wyatt revival gimmick. This was a company who fired Bray Wyatt once, they clearly gave no shits about the man. So they hire his semi-retired brother, a guy they clearly saw zero value in, to run it back after he dies? Firing these guys so fast just exposes it for the gross, cynical cash grab it was.

Or like AAA just last year or maybe it was the year before, where they straight up licensed the Triplemania name to various Mexican indies. Lauderdale holding a Patreon to get enough money for "GCW Wrestlemania" from the Ukraine Cultural Center would be amazing.

That video is so old, I know the first time I saw it, I was watching on Windows Media Player or maybe RealPlayer. I mean it's at least 25 years. I was going to say I wonder what those kids are doing today, but odds are pretty good they're no longer with us.

Schedule and weather messed with my standard "alternate days full body lifting with running" plan, so Sunday through Wednesday were hour long splits in the gym instead -- back, biceps, legs one day, chest, triceps, shoulders, core the next. 7 miles running outside yesterday. I have some extra time today, so I'm going to do a half hour upper body in the gym and then some kind of run later.

Aw man, let me tell you, my local water company is "cutting back on fluoride in water due to supply chain issues" and the only news story I can find about these alleged supply chain issues is...local news organizations "reporting" my local water company "cutting back on fluoride in water due to supply chain issues." And by "reporting" I mean, "just reprint the press release and call it a day." The government and companies lie to us and the press just passes it along without question. And I'm in suburban DC, not some conspiracy nut backwater.

Nah, they'd do a 16 city Wrestlemania if they could line up enough civic leaders, politicians, and assorted money marks to make it worth their while. This is the TKO era. Quality, fan experience, logic, good product < money.

“AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH” ohmygod “AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH” “get some help dude” (Butthead voice from off-camera) “You guys okay?” I did that from memory

Ciampa feels like he went to the Dax Harwood school of babyface promos, and that's not a compliment. I hope the Lio Rush thing is something they get behind and push, because it's weird and fun. Mina might have been hurt, but she's always been a little sloppy, clumsy, and slow in the ring. Anything she does that's a little bit acrobatic looks like she's putting a ton of effort into it. Mark Davis rules.

This is the pedantic content I live for!

I heard “Tomato Chomper” a long time ago, which is hilarious. I don’t think I’ve really enjoyed him since he got off the indies and into the Gargano Vortex.

Watching Forbidden Door 2023 and Jericho’s entrance video is listing the names of the JAS and it shows Jericho’s nickname as “The Influence” and Hager as “Right Hand of the King.” Is this some Mandela Effect shit? Am I 51 and intoxicated? I don’t remember this shit at all.