Custos

To quote Bart Simpson and CJ Perry, ‘Oh, my ovaries!!!’

Seconded ‘one of those people’. DS3 is the only game I have ever platinumed, I’m not the collectible obsessive type but any excuse to keep playing. Apart from Black Flag and Spelunky over the past year I’ve mainly just cycled through Sekiro,Bloodborne, DS1/2/3 (mostly DS2 for the variety of weapon options and atmosphere) with different builds, no death, lvl 1 challenges. To say I’m fucking hyped about the Jan 22 release date for Elden Ring would be putting it mildly.

Further to RIPPA’s linked PWInsider info, which was an extension of comments made by Tommy End in speaking with Renee, I listened to the whole thing (End being an eloquent and engaging speaker) and I don’t think there’s a more perfect distillation of the multiple simultaneous realities that you have to reside in current WWE: - I am going to put my heart and soul into bettering myself and come from every angle to succeed AND - I am dying a slow death feeling creatively hamstrung and wasting my best years BUT so thankful and grateful for achieving my dream AND - I will maintain my self-esteem and pride despite being put on the shelf as the unwanted toy for multiple months and sat ignored outside Vinces office for 5 hours at a time AND - I will jump on board with whatever whim Vince has, leaving aside my honed instinct and experience of what work, to show I have some value in this crazy world AND - Everyone across the board is working so hard and in it all together with so much attention to detail as a coping mechanism to manage the old man’s whims which utterly undermine the big picture, but we’re such a GREAT TEAM that it’s all worthwhile. I realise none of this is new insight but this conversation just has it all in a neat package, I just wonder if End realises himself how utterly insane it is all is, taking a step back.

Pretty flat show, which is shame considering the high of the PPV. Not flat like a deliberate downswing in spectacle but still effective, it was flat like a lot of awkward, off and questionable in the decision making and the execution (do I lose my simp status???) Highlights were the Bucks match and the taped promos, with Miro, Team Taz and Best Friends all coming over strong. JB was great at the PPV and the YouTube show (I forget which?) but didn’t feel at that level of ‘on’ here. Two takeaways from the women’s match was the further argument for reserving the topes for the top athletes, and the redness of the Blade. He’s the reddest wrestler I’ve seen in quite some time. I’m positive about what they can both bring but was an awkward debut spoken introduction for both Mark Henry and Andrade. The Bullrope match was A to B to C with Dustin trying his best to elevate but Comoroto is not much yet beyond a good look and solid fundamentals. Some big stuff coming up over the next few weeks, hope they pull out of the funk back to the hot run they were having for the past couple of months more often than not.

So torn between the like and sad emote. Bittersweet that Jacks successful enough to have a figure too.

For Murphy, I would add in the Australian PPV match in 2018 (unless that is assumed to be part of the Cedric 205Live collection).

Some Jethro Tull, maybe Living in the Past? No that’s more Cody, judging from the last few weeks.

Thinking further on it and the ‘lot of ideas’ point, although you’re talking about TNA here, I feel that what TK needs more than anything else at this point is a Pat Patterson to finesse and play devil’s advocate.

For all their openness to pivot and run with what’s hot when it comes to wrestlers and angles, there seems to be some stubbornness and misplaced pride when it comes to ploughing ahead with AEW-grown gimmicks that can be too cute and ill-designed logistically. I caught the first half (up to Britt’s win) before tapping out last night and am with the folks who are highest on the tag match. The full Wild Thing entrance, the dipshitness from the Bucks (a charisma switch has flicked on in Nick to go with the septum ring), it was all so great that I could overlook the officiating. Was disappointed in the placement and role that Miro/Archer played in the overall card but it would have been even more of an exhausting night if they went all-out. Ogogo has potential, Cody made the green guy look competent but all the decision-making that let up to this match and angle was so misguided that it’s a moot point. Brian Cage doesn’t do much for me but for a video-game bomb throwing, finisher stealing match and for Hangman’s reaction it was great. Using Christian in the right way to showcase JB in the battle royale, such an authentic moment with him in the ring and the crowd chanting, he surely couldn’t have wished for anything better.

Can’t wait to get home and watch the show. I had planned to hang out in Discord (hence my blink-and-you’ll-miss-it drive by in the chat) but alas work got in the way. Just wanted to say, I watched You Cannot Kill David Arquette with the missus last weekend and it had reminded me afresh of how proud Luke Perry was of his son’s career progress and, looking at the Battle Royale results, how he’s doing his Dad proud tonight.

The ‘Impact gimmick’ TK promo calling out Nick Khan linked on the first page of the Dynamite thread was so bizarre. That’s the first time he’s expanded out of Impact ‘ads’ right? It’s like he was drunk/high and just had to get it out there, and who’d say no to the boss? Or is this his interpretation of the friendly rivalry stuff that HHH was pulling with the ‘marathon not a sprint’ comments?

Watched virtually live but was having issues getting onto DVDVR (maybe an Aussie thing?), so hyped for tomorrow after this show. Too bad the white pant suit didn’t make a re-appearance but Shida looked and sounded nothing but class. I can’t believe that racist fuckhead on commentary, it boggles the mind what he was thinking. The crowd were really into Darby and OC, good to see them still on board with the ‘homegrown’ stars. And Miro’s got to be happy about getting the Samoa Joe ass-kicker reaction to validate the recent unhinged Kip stuff and amazing title match. Cannot wait for the hoss-off with Archer though the crowd could very easily side with Miro. Kilynn finally got to perform in front of a crowd after the past year on Dark and Elevation and was solid in her role with Jade, although a curious choice having the one woman on the roster matching up to Cargill height and stature wise. Cody’s gonna Cody, grandiose in every facet...next segment please! Actually, I am intrigued by Ogogo and how much of a wrestling match this will be, whether his sight limitations means he’ll lay his shit in Hansen-style or what. PAC has some too little too late promo involvement so he’s not quite a complete afterthought. I do think he’s got potential near the food but not with this programme. Striking observation from the end segment was how Hager’s quietly become engaging and authentic on the mic. That and they all but told us Inner Circle-Pinnacle is going last based on the placement of the hype in the go-home show.

And then she’ll judo toss you until your arm comes out of it’s socket. Everything you could ask for, really. Thought both of the NJPW-repped matches were good stuff, with the feel good reunion to top it off. Always felt Narita was bland even for a young lion, lacking the edge of Uemura or the Andre-fro and attitude of Tsuji but he’s coming into his own. Johnson and Garcia was solid while it lasted. I thought Scorpio’s Crash Holly like transition into the heel hook was pretty sweet, hadn’t seen that before.

Kudos, I’d make a decent ‘Before’ version of you lol. You guys have inspired me to get back on the wagon with the fitness. Consistency is my issue, as I’ll be in ‘working towards something’ mode for several weeks then I’ll reach a point where an hour of doing something else is more precious than training, then fall off the wagon and repeat again when I get to the point of feeling like ‘2kg of yoghurt in a 1kg bag’. Being 5’11’’ with a slim frame and 170lb at my absolute heaviest, it’s more varying degrees of skinny-fat than obese per se but still feels like shit. I tend to do variations of the Convict Conditioning with a bit of free weights and stop soda/ chips/chocolate/cookies and that’s enough to get trim and defined but putting on muscle has always been a real chore for me so pretty much gave up in my 20s (37 now). Anyhoo, I’ll watch from the sidelines impressed by @El Gran Gordi videos and the rest.

With his rep for being a total arsehole backstage, wouldn’t MLW be the natural fit - the bridge-burner’s promotion of choice, if you wheel (apparently also the soon-to-be home to DVDVR favourite Davey Richards)

To @Zakk_Sabbaths point, we haven’t yet seen enough of a sample of unopposed AEW viewership to get a sense of the swings, so it’s hard to determine whether drops are indications of more permanent erosion or if there’s a subset who are dialled in to the goings-on enough to be aware of a hot card versus a ‘breather’ card and avoid the latter. As for the show itself, my favourite part was probably The Accliamed interaction with Mox and Kingston and Deeb being amazing. Seeing the Varsity Blondes start to come into their own is a pleasure too.

Hey I’m out here, walking the line, saying everything without saying anything, leaving it all open to interpretation. Just like Cody orates at the marks on politics ?

From an elementary school teacher, no less. I used to listen and read him regularly on the Torch and he gave quality insight and solid historical context, albeit with some quirks (e.g. his stubborn assertion that every single thing that WWE ever did with black wrestlers had racist motivations) and his rambling speech wasn’t necessarily conducive to the podcast medium (much like another prominent wrestling historian). But I couldn’t stomach anything involving him now

Boo! I feel so short-changed! Seriously though, it’s nice to not live in (too much of) an online echo chamber ?

With a packed 9-match card is it going to be another patented AEW 5-hour extravaganza? I hope not, but who knows, the crowd might have enough pent up post-COVID energy to keep hot until the bitter end anyway. Shaping up to be a great show either way. As stated before, praying for the TNT hoss showdown to be a showcase for Lance as much as Miro. He looked okay on Dark with Jake hyping him up so hoping for something good on the big show. Edit to add: disappointed they haven’t been able to juice up another women’s feud to warrant a place on the show, and instead opted for the live (hopefully turnbuckle bomb-free) Sting nostalgia experience, which will no doubt be entertaining in its own right.

Seeing my crypto in the toilet this morning, I check Cameron Grimes’ Twitter and sure enough he’s living the gimmick there. Booking him in a ‘Falling Down’-esque unravelling would be pretty entertaining.

So you’re basically asking for 5 Jimmy Del Ray clones to be inserted into each promotion? Im on board, but it might be a bit too much for the female demographic to take.

On balance, I enjoy Jericho’s stuff more than I don’t. That said, I feel he often falls into bucket 1 of my arbitrary 3-part recipe for AEW (maybe to be expanded in the navel-gazing thread): 1. Tony’s love letter to his favourite childhood memories e.g. 90’s ECW, FMW, Attitude Era WWF 2. ‘what’s old is new again’ things that fell out of vogue but feel fresh e.g. genuine veneration for veterans plugging them into roles where they can shine, blood and guts/high drama feuds but without the overwrought histrionics of a Gargano, emphasis on W/L to determine future opportunities 3. Genuinely fresh stuff (for mainstream US consumption) e.g. aforementioned Darby style, the ladies bringing the brutality, ‘state of the art’ high flying spectacles, Jericho’s ad-libbed post-win promo that spawned ‘a little bit of the bubbly’, (judicious use of) cinematic matches a la Sting/Darby/Team Taz I would personally love less of 1, more of 2 and 3.

How could you do Cody like that by putting him bottom of the card? America First = Cody in the main, Brotha /s Seriously though, this PPV is definitely a good candidate for pushing a non-AEW Men’s Title match to the main event, considering star power and story for those involved.

I had heard some innuendo and scuttlebutt that things were not all rosy backstage but I don’t think anyone said anything concrete recently. It feels painfully apparent that Cody is just forging ahead with his own personal vision divorced from everything else, and not in a ‘something for everyone’ way.