HarryArchieGus

RIP Butcher. A hardworking and cool guy that everybody seemed to agree on. He will be sorely missed.

I totally agree on the need for underdog upsets. That's wrestling and everything else. But I defintiely had similar feelings during the time to the previous poster. I ultimately liked the Acclaimed getting a run and opportunity. That first match in Chicago against Swerve/Keith Lee was one of the most exciting moments in AEW history. It was insane. Of any match I've ever heard ppl say 'they should have pivoted', it was that one. They got there though, and the act was hot. They just didn't have enough follow through. Max's raps were generally amusing. Bowens yelling got to be a little much as a babyface. There were a host of dreadful house show promo segments that tore into their goodwill. That's what lost them for me, but I was hoping for a heel run. The breakup and reuniting storyline was odd to be sure, but the ECW Arena angle they did with Jerry Lynn was ridiculously fun. A forgotten Collision relic. From what I understand Lynn was meant to be their next manager/mentor. Has anybody heard what happened with that? Bowens and Caster went hard with the fighting partners thing, but it made for some challenging viewing. Max Caster's absence could absolutely be an 'iced out' until his contract ends situation. I think he'd be a very interesting pickup by WWE. He may even have a higher ceiling in WWE. I may be way off, but I always got the impression that Tony and Max have some sort of familal bond or the like. I kinda assume he'll be back. I wouldn't be surprised if the idea is: 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'. It's definitely in The TK playbook.

Yeah so many. Love Cat. I liked Suddenly last Summer, but it was a bit more hit and miss. I also love Sidney Lumet’s the Fugitive Kind. Baby Doll and Sweet Bird of Youth with Paul Newman are both pretty terrific too. I really want to see John Huston’s Night of the Iguana.

Yeah totally on Max’s ability to get over a historically bad gimmick. It is a bit different when there isn’t a McMahon pulling the strings. I suspect they collectively thought Max could get it over with a modicum of mic time. Something outside of what we were seeing fell apart as Bowens and Caster came back together. A falling out? An actual want to leave behind the tag team? All said, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to Caster returning. I’ve always saw a lot of potential. I agree with the previous poster - it currently looks a lot like an ice out the door. Tho, Anna Jay and Jericho both returned after a frosting. I suppose you could say Aew didn’t know how to make money with Danielhausen, but it’s not so simple. There was a conflict of interest. There was something that seems unclear about booking dates, etc. Also, I respect that Tony didn’t spam him all over the place and let comedy take priority. That said, from an on screen perspective, clearly there was much left on the table, but it also feels like WWE is the more appropriate place for a comedic ghoul. I know what you’re saying about aew and the lower card not knowing what to do with a less work based character. I believe it’s in part due to the objectives or wants - for the in ring work to lead. I support this. It’s helped them push towards always having an incredibly talented lower card with numerous great hands - Ace Austin, Priest, Dark order, AR Fox, (dare I say) Beast Mortos etc.

I think your assessment is totally fair and worth noting. I do think ZSJ casually sitting there representing the beginnings was perfect. How casual the bump ins were then onto more and more important ones made for a great build. Baba O’Reilly stirring in the background would’ve made it even if it wasn’t as well staged and sequenced as it was. It’s talked about much less, but I loved Kenny’s video being narrated in Japanese. I like the International Feel!

Nice Streetcar review. I’ve been thinking about that movie/play recently. I only saw it once, but at an impressionable age. I was a bit shaken by it - in a good way. It also made me seek out every Tennessee Williams’ work. I’ve yet to be disappointed. I remember the first thing I saw following Streetcar was a stage rendering of the Glass Menagerie (at the Stratford Festival) which hit equally as hard. I’m reminded writing this that I’ve yet to see the film adaptation with screen giants’ Jane Wyman and Kirk Douglas. That ‘Ordinary men…’ doc looks fascinating.

Baker’s last run was marred more by the as mentioned backstage drama and a milquetoast babyface act than the in ring. She was better against Mercedes at All in than almost anything in her title run. That match was maligned for not getting the crowd, but it was perfectly fine otherwise. Not suggesting it was great, but it was more a matter of being criticized for not reaching outsized expectations. During her title run she had a lot of bad to mediocre matches, but the expectations were - ‘more women’s wrestling please’. Nonetheless, Britt was far more consistent than a number of regular talents working then and now. Her best trait had and has always been her mic work. The last run didn’t provide a lot of opportunity in that regard, but she was also an aimless babyface (which she was before the injuries as well). Ppl forget the most maligned Baker ever was - just before her name making heel run. A lot of ppl shat all over the (excellent) Schiavone/Starbucks promo. It’s still kind of astonishing to me how over she got after such hate and the weak babyface beginnings. Curious to see where this goes. Hoping it keeps her on the mic more than in the ring. I’ll go against the group think - I missed Gabe Kidd. I rate him as high as Tony does. I like his nutty charisma and terrorizing in ring game. And I like how committed he is to it. I say that mostly based on his NJPW work. In AEW he’s yet to fully find his legs. I think the outside criticisms and pressures have played a part, but that’s a consequence he has to deal with. Further with the Dogs, David Finlay has been really good since arriving. I don’t blame Finlay for the ridiculous and unnecessary dog collar match. Mostly his matches have been very good. As have been his promos. Having a legendary beloved father to compare to has been challenging for him. Really tho, the majority of ppl watching WCW in the 90s (not on here) rated his father less than a lot of Aew fans do David. I don’t expect him to be World Champion, but I really like him in the midcard. I wanna know if Myron Reed can talk too. Yeah, I’m all for seeing what he can do with a bit of steam behind him. Totally with you on Davis and love the want for the Claudio Lucha base comparison. That Darby match was ‘UN-B-LEEVABLE!’

The Acclaimed were an over and solid team, but the fuel ran out largely over their awful non-wrestling ‘sports entertainment’ talk segments. See long and pointless anniversary (of nothing) and other non-celebratory celebration talk segments leading to… a good scissoring. Hurray! That bullshit is what killed a lot of the excitement. There was a Bang Bang Gang association/feud that I’ll always nominate as one of the worst feuds in the history of the company. All that said, I like the potential of both guys, but I wonder if an act with their specific upside traits wouldn’t be better off in the lighter style character forward WWE. I don’t expect Bowens there, but Im curious if Caster might be a consideration. If nothing else his social media would be better monitored, which would at least make a few ppl happy.

Fantastic! I had a feeling they had some new tricks up their sleeves. The wonderful Allen Texas audience provided the fuel - especially on the Mox-Ospreay All Out reveal. Good camera there indeed, and thankfully not as awkwardly wide on the hardcam as last week. The Ospreay promo off the top was strong. Completely sick of 10 and 12 man overloaded tags (trios are good; you even have a division), but a nice setup and strong follow through. Newman, Akira and Henare all looked great. I continue to wonder, will always wonder, how much better lesser known guest wrestlers would come off with a competent video intro. I liked that they went to my curiousity so early-Henare v Toa. The Swerve/New Level-Rascals opener was a lot of fun. Myron Reed with perhaps the highlight of the night. Would've loved a camera on him for his reaction. Creed/Kofi look inspired. I love Tony's love of the exit interruption - nice tease for Bucks/New Level. The Bucks/FTR/Cage-Cope segment was on point. A short hiatus, but I've dearly missed FTR. Heel Dax brings me such joy. This feels like the first time in a long time that a 'Ladder match' stipulation is appropriate. The Ospreay/UE/Andrade segment was terrific. Darby-Mark Davis was typical excellence from both. Darby is consistently the best Champion. Great to see Josh Alexander back. For a second I thought he was Don's twin. Maybe he could be morelike Don's admiring son and wear matching suits and red-tinted glasses. MJF promo was fine, but this fake Champion stuff continues to be a fail. Bayne/Windsor was pretty good. Both Windsor and Hayter are so much better as singles. The match felt like a weak booking considering Hayter/Windsor just won the 'Tag Team' championship. Why not have them defend? The Women's Tag titles continues to feel like a mistake with the current lack of teams. I liked the Nick Wayne/Jericho segment. Jericho really showed ass there for cocky Wayne. Very fun Mercedes/Thekla segment. Looking forward to that match. Baker/Persephone promo was good. I'm all for Baker as a heel, where she works best, but after such a long delay and interest, it's seems strange. Especially with the Rebel show coming up next week. I expect we get a one week babyface run from DMD. Also, Persephone really doesn't need a mouthpiece. Still, curious to see where it goes. Mox-AR Fox was a fine little showcase. Fun Knight/Fletcher/Okada/Callis segment. I love seeing all the matches for Collision announced, but why can't we have a quick little segment inbetween the Matches - stop splattering stuff all over the screen while I'm trying to focus on the, ya know, match! Nonetheless, very much looking forward to Gabe Kidd-Andrade. I dug their heated brawl to close. Also looking forward to the Swirl-MCMG bout and Komander-Nick Wayne. Also curious of that Persephone-Vert Vixen match. Fun lineup.

Thanks for clearing this up. So pleased, outside of reposts here, to avoid the stuffy and pompous kneejerks on Twitter/Meta/Reddit/etc. @SovietShooterwhat's with the Kingston beef? Curious where this criticism is coming from: 'out-of-shape wrestler coming off of a career threatening injury that maybe didn't have their heart completely into rehab'? Kingston's shape hasn't really changed much in at least 5 years and I don't quite get purporting the negative gossip, unless of course you have some inside info? Also, 'in front of a group of fans that had no interest in seeing him'? Harsh. I've never been to a show where the ppl weren't stoked for Eddie even in a throwaway squash. I'm with Matt's assessment of his return. Especially liked that Joe match, but even the recent Doyle bout from the Cup tournament was very good. I see Eddie Kingston as a guy coming off a tough injury who's working with his body and confidence to get back to where he should be. I think it's kinda admirable that he'd slide off regular TV to ROH Honorclub to get there.

Curious to see the recent (and much maligned) Kingston-Hechicero match from Arena Mexico. The highlights look perfectly fine, but obviously there's more to the match. Sad seeing/reading so many ppl suddenly hating on Eddie. It seems pretty clear, from his working Honor Club regularly rather than AEWTV, that the injury that took him out for over a year has continued to present a challenge.

Re: Collision Another fun throwaway lost weekend edition of Collison on Saturday. Very good Skye-Harley bout minus the lame finish. Yeah, Skye needs to stick to singles. She's improved far more than her matches alongside Hart would suggest. At Harley's rate of improvement I suspect she could be the top star in the Division at some point. Still a long way to go, but her steady improvements are inspiring to see. I also liked the Mercedes showcase match against Isla Dawn. The Ciampa/Wayne/Davis-Komander/Speedball/Jericho bout was a lot of fun. I do wish trios bouts featured less stereo spots. There's few things I dislike more than watching a wrestler hold off from doing a move in the corner to make sure their teammates are ready to do there's. Somebody needs to sit down Jericho and screen for him his incredibly weak looking top rope punches. Despite not winning a lot of matches, both Speedball and Komader feel like their on the rise. Both provide a spark to any match or show their on. Ugh, please Tony stop with these multiman matches over 3 aside. 12 man tag sounds and looks like a joke. Takeshita-Beast was strong while it lasted, but could have used another 5 minutes or so. Nonetheless, strong for what it was. Terrific Don Callis promo on Darby and Steven Borden. I sense Borden would benefit from some ROHTV time away from the pressures of AEWTV. There's clearly some potential, but I don't sense he's quite there yet. I'm usually not clamouring for more Wrestling on a Wednesday after these marathon PPVs, but even with not much of a lineup I find myself interested to see where we go next. Rascals-Swerve/New Level sounds like a blast. Also, I love that ASAP Ferg entrance music for New Level. Well done.

I had pretty low expectations going in, but really enjoyed what I saw of this show. Lethal Twist-Outrunners/Castle was very good. A far better showing for the now former Champions than the rotten STP match from Supercard. I like crowning the much deserved Twist. Blake Christian continues to make the best of everything he's given. Lee Johnson is starting to show a wee bit of character (a weakness for Shoddy). In ring he's pretty solid and continues to improve. This trio has been a great fit for veteran Jay. Fun opener. I skipped most of Deonna-DeLander. Deonna did the best she could. Steph's got character, but needs a lot of work in ring. She looked incredibly sloppy. I've never quite understood the booking of Deonna as a babyface, which has been the case for most her ROHAEW run. She's a very natural heel. Velvet-Shafir-Zayda-Skye bout exceeded my expectations. Zayda works hard in there, and is getting better and better. Shafir looked good, and I wondered if she might find the win there. I'm ready to see them move on from this Velvet run, and give somebody else a shot. Moriarty/Shibata was okay if a bit underwhelming. I really enjoyed Priest-Garcia. Something is starting to cook with Daniel Garcia. Even with a lot of big names in front of him in the line, I sense this next year could be a good one for Danny. I wouldn't mind if that were beside Yuta in a successful tag team. Andretti-Lio was sorta hit/miss followed by some weak overbooking. I kinda liked the idea with Hook, but the overt interference was a yawn and ffwd. I like Andretti getting the title. As much as I dig Lio finding his stride as a character, I don't think this gimmick ever needed a belt - especially not the ROH TV Title. Lio looked good in the Sabu gear. The Tag Title 4 way featured some nice spots, but kinda dragged for me. I wish first fall multi-ways could be banished from ROH for the sake of tradition (er maybe I'm mistaken; ROH was generally elimination style, no?). Bandido/Wayne was strong. Yeah, I'm with everybody riding on the Wayne Train. This guy has really come into his own since returning from injury. That said, unlike the clickbait Alvarez video I chose not to watch, no AEW does not need to quickly 'do something with Nick Wayne'. I like a slow trajectory for the Prodigy. He's still so young with lots of room to improve. I couldn't get into the lengthy and meandering (despite some nice spots) Athena-Hazuki main, but enjoyed the final stretch. I wonder if maybe the 'Minions' don't need to be involved in every big match? Starks really should have had a match - maybe she was injured? I really enjoyed the Zero Hour of this show. Adam Brooks-ELP was very good. I hope both stick around. The Komander-Fox-Soliel match was also a lot of fun. The Hechicero/Cage-Oliver/Price tag to close out the Zero Hour was also very good. A bit of an unfortunate loss for the upstart babyfaces. I was kinda hoping Oliver/Price were being built to the tag titles. Obviously Hechicero/Cage are bigger profile wrestlers, but with Cage being a designated enhancement talent on AEWTV, it wasn't the most progressive decision to have Oliver/Price drop the fall. Anyway, really fun Zero Hour and some fun stuff on the PPV.

1. Kill Em All 2. Ride the Lightning/Master of Puppets 3. $5.98 Garage Days Re-Revisited EP 4. And Justice For All 5. Lulu (with Lou Reed) 6. Metallica 7. Load/Reload/St Anger/Death Magnetic Kill 'Em All is the one I return to. The Burton years are all I'm concerned with - outside of the fantastic documentary 'Some Kind of Monster'. Such an entertaining and sometimes hilarious watch and a clear example of why this once great band isn't quite so great anymore. As a kid, I came in on Justice thru the One video. Kinda blew my young mind. I was ready for and loved the massive self titled album. The Enter Sandman video really captivated me as a kid, and was a little less terrifying than One. I truly became a fan when I discovered Master and the back catalog. During that era I had all the albums on CD except for Garage Days, which was out of print and seemed pretty rare at the time. I loved the Misfits and Killing Joke covers especially - both songs I hadn't heard prior at that point. @Curt McGirt Curious about the '98 set addendum. I do have a soft spot for their Seger cover. Strangely to some, Lulu is probably the Metallica album I've listened to the most in the last decade - the odd and underrated collab with Lou Reed. Certainly not an aughts Metallica album, and all the better for it. I especially like some of the non-album live cuts - like their blistering take on White Light, White Heat. I've had cursory (somewhat forced) listens to Anger, Magnetic and Reload, but none really stuck nor were for me. I liked Load when it came out, but it didn't age particularly well.

Huh? What’s the story?