Shartnado

After that performance in the Coffin Match, I don't see how Gabe Kidd could be "divisive" anymore? You just have to respect that in so many ways. Goddammit, Michael Jackson may or may not have done "Presidential" things during his life but that doesn't stop me from appreciating Beat It, Billie Jean and Dirty Diana! No matter what I think of the person, some performances just demand respect. Also, Okada's character work is outstanding right now! That promo on Bucks (and never miss an opportunity to shit on Takeshita) was so good! If he ever learns how to wrestle, he's going rule American wrestling !

Zero Hour was ok, with the TBS title match being the high point. One of the least shocking things I have ever heard on commentary was that Lena Kross used to be a runway model . Nothing has ever made more sense. Ok, you don't have to start EVERY PPV with a match already underway, you know? Jack Perry winning the National title with Tarzan Boy playing in the background was way nicer than his previous singles title wins as a heel. The next three matches were all awesome but were overshadowed by the returns afterwards. I'm so glad that Ospreay is back and apparently can still fly. Oh, and Okada is going to have a fucking field day talking shit about Takeshita for coming up short in the Continental title match! CopeCage returning was actually a surprise and "Literally Worst Woman On the Planet" returning definitely would have been, if it wasn't for a YouTube notification spoiling it for me! Also, Stokley. I just knew that son of a bitch could walk. Probably could this whole time! The women's tag title match was a foregone conclusion but still a bit surprised how badly Babes got their asses kicked here. Sucks for Penelope but really awesome for Kross who was really at the perfect place at an (un)fortunate time. Brody-Swerve next! Ok, this wasn't quite the classic I hoped for but still very good with some vicious stuff from both sides! Ok, Kenny is back so Darby isn't moving onto Swerve just yet, it seems. Women's world title match was high impact but I was a bit surprised how easily Thekla eventually did get the better of Statlander. Visual pin aside, Stat does not have much of a claim to any rematches for a while after that! Both Trios matches were excellent and I was actually surprised by both endings as I was thinking heels were gonna take both matches and ended up taking jack shit! Andrade vs Bandido was amazing, even if the disrobing of the pants took a tad too long. It was good that Andrade used Bandido's wardrobe malfunction to his advantage pretty quickly. When it was on, everything in this one was insane! Main event went too long but it was sufficiently brutal and I was thinking it would be funny if a kick in tha dick ends this one, and it almost did, twice but not quite. MJF winning other people's speciality matches against them is almost a thing now, but he has lost enough of them that we're not quite there yet. I guess you fucked up here, Hangman! Maybe he'll turn into a zombie and can then challenge again on a technicality?

Completed 30 minutes of bicep/tricep combo with 44lbs. Sweating like a hog by the end of it, but I made it. I'm not sure if I am going to attempt the same with 48,5 next week or not?

The much hyped Andrade vs Dorada 5*+ match seemed way more structured and coherent than I would have ever expected for a supposed 5*+ match! And I mean that in a good way, even though one might I don't. It just seems that when a match gets a snowstorm rating it usually isn't because it was psychological masterpiece with an intricate and coherent story from start to finish. Not saying that this one did, either but it was way more of an actual match than just a mind blowing super spot fest!

How do you feel about the blimp demand though? For me, it wasn't so much the blimp itself, more the fact that I wasn't sure if he wanted it for promotion or transportation purposes?

Well, one out of two is at least feasible, so we'll see how the day will pan out?

Well, it's nice to see I'm not alone in thinking that it was spectacular. It ended up being the best match I saw the entire day!

That is most likely absolutely true. Miz had no problem putting over Grumpy Cat back in the day, I believe this will not phase him in the slightest.

Shotzi's kid sister?

Considering his father isn't exactly GQ cover material, his mother must be quite the vision. Kinda like HOOK's mom!

Work week was a total shit-ass, leaving plenty of calories on the table as I was too swamped to eat properly. As I'm writing this, I'm forking down a batch of creamy chicken pasta with broccoli, carrots and babycorn that I was supposed to eat AT work, not home. Anyway, workout week was decent, against all odds. I did a heavier than last week squat machine day (still not really heavy, though), a lat pulldown pyramid and Arnold Press/ barbell overhead press day, regular bench pyramid day (11x230 and 7x252 are worth mentioning, both on the way up) and regular deadlift day last night. 2 new PR's, as I lifted 402 with double overhand grip (with thumb lock) and 484,5 with mixed over/under grip (after lifting 468 before that). That took enough out of me to ruin the Versa Gripps lifts, but I'll take what I can. The thumb lock method of gripping has helped me improve those particular lifts for more than 70 lbs in like a month's time (well, over 50 lbs, anyway) but it's so painful that it might as well be called "the thumb screw-method"! I need to go to sleep now, so I can start cleaning once I wake up sometime in the afternoon.

Well, Goddammit! That sucks. At least there's the 90 days to adjust, though!

It was super neat to see how Hechecero and Takeshita were absolutely the faces in the opener even when facing the A++ tag team of Death Riders (of course, Don Callis wasn't at ringside, so that helped). You can imagine what the reaction would have been if they were facing PAC and Yuta, instead. Adds a different level to the DR-DCF feud. Fletcher-Bailey was one of the most spectacular matches I've seen today (so far)! The belt shot missed so badly that Fletcher didn't even cheat to win, basically. I guess (almost) scraping Bailey's forearm with the edge of the belt distracted Speedball enough to be able to hit the finisher for the win? Still, a match like that on non-PPV setting is crazy (was going to say "free TV", but I am paying for this) The tag match with The Dogs and Darby/OC was good use of Darby, but this needs to come to an end pretty soon. I was thinking what could be next for Darby after this and I'm seeing Swerve in his future. Roddy coming through when it counts once again was cool! The high five to OC was way more intense than Cassidy was expecting, though!

Who in their right mind would ever shit on Thea F'n Hale? There's something wrong with them!

That's one long-ass tunnel! But in Norway that's where the trolls live, so that would make sense.

Kendal, are you sure that cake was all just for you, tho?

Vengeance Day was pretty damn awesome! All women's matches delivered! I do like the storytelling of Tony D'Angelo vs DarkState, as they started by destroying Tony's life, family and career and sent him into exile. He takes the time to refocus and comes back to absolutely annihilate all of them. All we'd need is a montage and this would be some serious action flick-energy shit! During the Saints' pep talk to Page, as soon as Ethan said "two-time" I knew he really meant the NXT title, not North American. NXT's Women's roster has so many amazing characters, it just sucks that most of them will probably not translate to the main roster. Some of them probably will, but not without some tweaking and that's pretty heartbreaking, since many of these characters are F'n spot on at the moment!

On top of their impared vision!!! I think they take the most fragile, legally blind prospects from any wrestling schools and say "Look, you probably won't make it as a wrestler, but if you really insist on getting in that ring for a living, you just might have a future as a pro wrestling ref!"

Finished a 28-minute bicep/tricep combo with a 39,5 lb dumbell, so I think I can do 30 minutes with a 44. Anyway, I noticed over the weekend that both of my arms were at 42 cm (16,5 inches) flexed, not pumped, so I knew I had to also measure them pumped the next chance I get. That was after those 28 minutes and a couple of push down sets and yes, they were at 45 cm (17 and 3/4 inches?) again, as I suspected! That's not normal, but it is cool! Weight is around 200lbs, reaching 205 on weekend evenings, so there is that to consider, but it's not like the arms are any less defined than usual, so it's not exess fat in those parts, my midsection is another matter, though!

A day late, but wishing @The Natural a belated happy birthday, I hope it was well worth the wait!

5 workouts this week, but nothing earth shattering. Was able to complete 26 minutes of bicep triceps combo with 44 lb dumbell at the beginning of the week and closed it with a 396,5 double overhand grip deadlift without Versas. Nothing else was anything special but getting good pumps and quite the DOMS afterwards, so certainly worth something. I was finally able to figure out the YouTube app, so here's my new deadlift video that features an awesome track by Lex Luger and my biggest lifts from last fall to this February: https://youtu.be/c6pkkGd3ve0?is=G0BrPLbDaYWic7Eg

R-Evolution purchased via Triller. Had 4e worth of Google Play money, so I ended up paying 17e. When I said that Swerve vs Brody and Bandido vs Andrade would be worth the PPV price by themselves, this is exactly what I meant!

I was somehow under the impression that David Finley was more likely to be heading to WWE, so this was definitely a surprise and I finally got my wish and he goes after Darby right away, too! Also, the off the top rope, neck first onto the apron bump by Darby was absolutely disgusting, and I loved it! The IInspiration was hilarious, well amusing anyway, but this was not their night the way they got their asses handed to them. All the title matches were cool, but rough night for Kevin Knight!

I have 4 live wrestling shows under my belt at 48 and counting. 2002 WWF (SmackDown) debut show in Finland. Ridiculous amount of talent on that show, so I saw pretty much who's who of WWF at the time, aside from people on RAW side at the time (except Booker T, who was subbing for Undertaker against Brock). In 2003 there was a short-lived indy fed in Finland that used 85% of international talent. AJ Styles, Shane Douglas, Steve Corino, Kid Kash among others. I saw their second (and close to their last, probably big event). 2017 I saw Over The Top Wrestling's Wrestlerama with Jordan Devlin, Ricochet, Matt Sydal, The British Strong Style, Jeff Cobb, War Machine and a couple of cancelled guys, who were both wearing pretty cool goth get-up during their respective entrances, you can probably figure out who those guys were. This January, I saw Slam Wrestling's Frost Bite event with some current Finnish indy stars as well as some current European indy stars, who I didn't know previously. Most impressed with "The Orbit Breaker" Daz Black. So, not that much, but I have seen many big stars for such a few shows, so I consider myself lucky.

Wow, that was some serious let's do things Punk's way event! Good title match with Finn, though! Becky has really gone above and beyond in putting AJ over. Funny how that has been a lot more effective than what she was attempting to do for Lyra. And Punk even brought over his one friend he had left in Punkhausen. I was cheering for Tiffany and especially James, who had a hell of a showing. Rhea winning makes for a match between two former powerhouses and Jade may actually get to defend the the title one time. Orton winning, Rollins returning and Logan Paul having an MVP level performance, the main event was definitely good enough and I don't know if Orton and Drew have had that many big matches against each other, so at least it seems fresh?