Gordi the former AEW fan

Yeah, to be honest, "Mayo nashi" was one of the first phrases I learned after moving here and it has proven very useful. What a GREAT main event title match! Tough choice between that and Kenny vs Shinno for DEAN's poll! It set a high bar indeed when Hayter brought up 90s AJW. They lived up to the hype. Awesome. Hayter is a main event wrestler for sure. One of my wrestling buddies watched this show with his dad, in town for the holidays,who hadn't watched wrestling in YEARS. Imagine how absurd that trios opening match must have seemed to him, with Christmas tree spots, barbed wire brooms, Brandon's costume, dudes flipping through tables... Of course, to people like us it all makes sense, (maybe?) but it must have seemed surrealistically absurd to my friend's father. I got a real kick out of imagining it through dad's eyes. Was this the first time AEW had someone come out to interrupt a promo? I can't recall it ever happening before... Nice job on holding out on the appearance of Jake Hager's hat! I hope Starks and Andretti run through 2.0 -> Hager's hat & Garcia -> Les Sex Gods THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! Bryan vs Ethan should be pretty great. LOVED that promo from Joe. Exodus Prime is a good name for a Transformer, but an even better name for a Christian streaming service. During Mox's entrance, did anyone else think the dude holding two cups of beer looked a little like Shane McMahon? Gunns coming out in Hart Foundation gear was A++ trolling! That Rick Ross segment bombed badly with the live crowd, but I am looking forward to seeing who teams with Keith Lee vs Boudreaux and White Umaga.

All y'all need to be more open-minded about food. Unless in this case wtf means, "Well, that's fine." (And also, some of y'all need to be more open-minded about pro wrestling). Anyway. AEW World Trios Championship “Best Of 7 Series” – Match 5 (No Disqualification): Death Triangle (3) vs. The Elite (1) AEW Women’s World Championship Match: Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Hikaru Shida FTR vs. The Gunns We’ll Hear From Bryan Danielson Live Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland Face-To-Face Meeting Ricky Starks Will Appear Live The Next Chapter In The “Book of Hobbs” Very stoked for all three matches. Will match 5 of 7 go long? Will we get THREE last minute surprise matches? All of the talk segments are intriguing. I guess they'll set up Bryan vs Friedman. I wonder if Shane Taylor will show up during the Lee/Swerve segment. I wanna know what's next for Starks and for Hobbs. I hope we get Kingston & Ortiz vs Workhorsemen or Bear Country or Boudreaux & Slim J! Elevation was excellent this week! Well worth checking out of you haven't already.

Yeah. Thanks for this. Pistachio is literally my second-favourite flavour of ice cream, after green tea. This pistachio as hell match was genuinely beautiful, but in a really crazy and specific way. This is 100% certainly a match that I NEVER would have seen without it being a Secret Santo recommendation. And, to be clear, I am extremely glad I got to see this. There is a moment at the end where that was *genuinely* moving. Also moving and simultaneously very funny: The crowd chanting "Arigatou!" for Miyamoto after Pondo calls him back out to the ring, but mispronouncing it like in that Styx song. The announcers! You are not kidding. If two non-southern wrestlers used those exact voices doing a southern gimmick, it would come across like an offensive caricature. Also very funny and irresistibly charming: EVERY SINGLE THING TERRY FUNK DOES HERE. I got to see Miyamoto live in July in a nice smallish arena in Osaka. Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto) vs Abdullah Kobayashi & Jaki Numazawa in Tables and Thumbtack Death Match that ended with a top rope piledriver through a (Japanese) table. Calling him maybe the greatest death match wrestler of all time is NOT hyperbole. Dude is amazing. He's a good wrestler,in terms of all the in-my-opinion-important aspects like bumping, selling, telling a story in there, interesting and believable offence, pacing, creativity... and also apparently an insane person who has zero concern for his own well-being who is also cursed (?) with a deep deep love of working death matches. No fooling: I almost gave you an Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) vs Strong BJ tag match, because Abe was my favourite guy I saw live for the first time at that Big Japan show in Osaka. I have a different Abe match in reserve, that I will maybe give someone else in the next couple of weeks. (And for sure I would have LOVED to have seen young Okada in there with Tigers Mask)! Miyamoto was my #2 guy on that show. He could probably be successful working straight matches. I don't think Pondo could, to be honest. But he has found his niche and he's apparently cursed with the same deep love for it. He can deal out and absorb shocking amounts of punishment. And he has a unique charisma. I try to imagine it sometimes. Being a death match addict. Have you seen the movie "Crumb" about the cartoonist? It's pretty great. There's a scene where he talks about how somewhere there's a person who only wants to ride another person around like a horse and somewhere else there's another person whose deepest desire is to be ridden around, and if those two people are lucky enough to meet then that's love. Or something like that. Imagine loving, really loving and being addicted to throwing people through panes of glass and also being thrown through panes of glass yourself. Wanting nothing more than to fall off ladders into barbed wire, in front of people who are super-excited to be watching that. How fortunate you must feel to meet other people who feel the same way, who are not psychopathic assholes. Pondo really does come across like he has a good soul. It's a long inconvenient journey from Japan to West Virginia, I am certain. But I can see why Miyamoto made that journey to get cut up with barbed wire in front of a hundred people in a crappy little building. It's beautiful that he did. And this is definitely putting too fine a point on it, but Terry Funk being there almost sanctifies it.

2007 through 2015 lucharesu, you say? Well, since 2009 through 2012 Osaka indies are my very specific particular very favourite bag, I might just be able to.dig up something to scratch that particular itch. I'll copy & repost my "please don't" request here, even though I doubt you would ever give me that sort of match: NO "GREAT" MATCHES FOR ME, PLEASE! No ***** Meltzer/Keith-style epics that go long, have tons of (empty) flash and multiple finisher kick-outs. I have seen too much of that. I am here for interesting/weird matches. I love Kenny. I love Okada. I loved Kenny vs Okada at Dominion. I DO NOT WANNA WATCH THAT KIND OF MATCH HERE. I wanna watch Kenny vs Little Girl. Gimme weird. Gimme crazy. Gimme violent. Please don't gimme self-consciously epic and flashy. Also do not give me Sports Entertainment. No WWE. WWWF is fine, if it's weird and/or involves Andre. Also, unless you specifically ask, I won't be giving out great matches, but rather weird or interesting or nostalgic ones. AND SPEAKING OF WEIRD AND NOSTALGIC: I have VERY specific memories of this match! It was my 46th birthday. There were a handful of very friendly folks from Cirque de Soliel KOOZA at this show, on their day off. We got drunk together. This match blew their mind! Imagine a pro wrestling match that could blow the mind of The King of the Clowns. They were marking out really hard. Konaka = Pale One teaming with Black Buffalo and Naoki Setoguchi also doing Pale One gimmicks vs my special friend Apple Miyuki and the Shirai sisters in cute cosplay! This might be the MOST 2007-2015 Osaka-style match of all time. Thanks to my other special friend Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru for posting this on her most excellent YouTube channel. While I was posting this, I got a pop-up notice that it is referee Matsui's birthday today! I'll take that as a sign that today is a good day for Osaka nostalgia. Hey Matt! You should watch this one, too. It's pretty weird and entertaining.

I haven't seen Vikingo vs Laredo yet. But. Action vs Ocho was not a technical classic or a bloody brawl or (thank gawd) a lotsa-flash epic multi-finisher-kickout Meltzer-pleaser... But... ...it made me +and *the crowd*) mark out so hard. I think I'm just going to pick my FAVOURITE match this week. Even if it's easy to assume the Vikingo match was "better."

Startin out HAWT! Best bloody ear since Misawa '94? Tay with blood on her face after making out with Sammy was a SICK visual. Mox and Hanger gonna give us one HELL of a brawl. Dax broke his ass bone LOVED Shida's red suit! That dude took the MOST AWESOME bumps for Wardlow's powerbombs! Joe vs Wardog also.gonna be crazy. Dustin handing out powerslams, Orangehausen Eddie Guerreroing... What a fun, feel-good main event tv match! I would love to see Kip & Seven vs Workhorsemen.

New theme song confirmed:

Trent on Trent AND Seven on Seven violence in a four on four match? Oh, you KNOW that's a paddlin'! Will The Blade blade? Will Sabian try a kip-up? SO MANY STORIES TO TELL! Plus also a dentist vs a colour, which is a natural match-up (assuming she is the kind of dentist who makes a lot of money out of whitening).

I am gonna enjoy me some プロレス　coffee while watching Rampage tomorrow. Then I am gonna enjoy crushing and trashing the Koji Kitao can.

Crazy day today. Looks like I have finally arrived at my down-time, though. So: Kip Sabian vs Tony Deppen and Kingston & Ortiz vs Slim J & Jeeves K of The Trustbusters were both REALLY GOOD and VERY FUN Dark matches this week! Winter has already arrived here in Kansai. It was 6 degrees Celsius outside while Dynamite was going on. 13 years ago, that would not really have seemed cold to me. I get a little more Japanese every year and a little less Canadian. I bet that Kenny Omega can relate to that. It's one reason why I am inclined to like the guy. LOVED the crowd today, obviously. The Elite needing to overcome the odds and win three straight is EXACTLY how I would have booked it. But (as has been said) now that the seventh match has been announced as a ladder match, it would be INSANE for Death Triangle to win match # 5 or 6. HOWEVER we just saw today that AEW is DOWN WITH THE INSANITY. So anything is possible. Holy fuck do I ever hate seeing Jeff Jarrett in AEW. Not a big fan of seeing big Cass in AEW, either. Maybe I need a whole post over in the Navel Gazing thread to get into why? Jungle Boy vs Brian Cage, Hook and Jungle Boy teaming up, Mox,Claudio and Wheeler? Those are things I LOVE to see in AEW. My suggestion for JBJP & Hook's team name and theme song: I miss singing along with Malakai's old entrance theme, GRZNFLRGNTROOST. Am I stoked for Hayter vs Shida? Yes. Yes indeed I am. I honestly legit joked that Action was going to pull the upset. Good HEAVENS! I popped like a madman when it happened. That was GREAT. Jericho is GREAT. ANYTHING can happen. Crowd was SO HAWT for all that, too. Oh boy was that FUN! Nice HEATED brawl between Tay and Ruby! Great promo from Hanger! DUSTIN WITH BESSFRENS!! SO MUCH GOOD WRESTLING COMING UP! MJF totally looks like a dude who takes tons of PEDs but doesn't really train heavy. Which is a PERFECT look for a cowardly heel. And hats off to him for not holding back in that role. Bryan chasing him off at the end was pertmuch CLASSIC pro wrestling.

I would, absolutely, stop watching if AEW split into WWE-esque "brands." Possibly, I would go back to only watching live shows (in Osaka), Secret Santo matches (matches I am given and matches I'm considering giving to others), and WK and select G1 shows on streaming services. Which is where I think I was before AEW started up. Maybe I wasn't doing Secret Santo then? But I still would have been watching semi-random weird matches on YouTube that were recommended by friends or that showed up in my feed. Which is pretty similar to Secret Santo, minus the mandatory write-ups. That would free up a lot of time every week, so once I got over the shattering disappointment over AEW turning into WWE I think I'd be able to spin it as being for the best. Edit: I will also stop watching if they do an AEW vs ROH PPV where wrestlers on either "brand" put aside their differences, don color-coordinated t-shirts, and battle to determine "brand supremacy."

Aw, man! I LOVED this. Jeff Cobb is absolutely one of my favourite current pro wrestlers. The 80s and 90s were full of big strong wrestlers with enormous steroid-feuled bodybuilding and/or powerlifting muscles. Some of them had impressive offence. A precious few of them could sell and bump a little (like, for example, Butch Reed). But Jeff Cobb is probably functionally stronger than almost all of those roid monsters we grew up watching. He's freakishily strong. (Keith Lee and Claudio are, too). And he has amazing offense. And he apparently does not mind letting the other guy(s) in the ring look strong against him. He's really, really good at bumping and selling and making it look believable even when he's (almost literally) twice the size of the dude he's fighting. Darby Allin is absolutely one of my favourite current professional wrestlers. I love the Morton/Kikuchi/Yamazaki/Xavier Woods tier of wrestlers whose speciality is bumping and selling and making the other dude look amazing and dangerous. I love the Mick Foley guys who take genuine risks to entertain us. I think Darby has studied all those guys. I think he really genuinely doesn't give a eff about his own well-being. He's the world's best bumper right now, which is REALLY saying something. So... what would you expect, putting the freakishly powerful legit Olympian in there with the literary fearless ragdoll? I expected exactly this. Cobb f'n RAGDOLLS Allin. But what I didn't expect was that Cobb also puts him over. Believably. This match might have been the match that MADE Darby, there in that particular indie promotion (in Maine?) Maybe without this match we wouldn't have Darby Allin the International TV Star to enjoy today. Certainly this had to be a big step for him on the road to where he is today. I got to watch Joe ragdoll Darby already this week, and Cobb ragdoll Dorada earlier today. And I also got to see Darby keep coming at a bigger stronger man and Cobb making a smaller dude look amazing TWICE this week. And it was awesome and delightful. And this particular match was succinct, which I appreciate. And it's only, like 4, 5 years ago but they both look SO YOUNG. But you can see the seeds of who they are now, it's already there and it's so cool to see it. Thank you, Porky McSweaty!

All right then. Having had a nap, finished the choring, and played with my daughters for a few hours, it is now time to go through that amazing, worth - getting - up - early - for PPV more thoroughly. It will help fix it in my mind, if nothing else. I was delighted by Cobb vs Dorada. Although it was in fact the second-most-delightful match I watched today where Cobb ragdolled a smaller-sized insane bumping machine (thanks to porksweats). I love how Cobb is a) freakishly strong and b) totally fine with,and really good at, letting the other guy shine in there. He's absolutely one of my favourite current wrestlers. So I am glad I didn't turn my alarm off. I had miso soup with pork and vegetables, smoked chicken breasts, potato salad, and two of the reduced-calorie Japanese energy drinks called Jungle Man that I can buy from the vending machine around the corner. They have become my go-to morning-or-afternoon wrestle-watching beverage. That, or green tea. I almost always do a conbini run the night before PPVs or big Dynamites. The convenience stores over here are THE BEST. I chatted online throughout the show with my old friend who used to post here as TheCobra2, who now lives in Tokyo and also woke up before 5 am. Also his friend (now also my internet friend) who does jiu jitsu and was able to join us because open mat was cancelled today. Cheeseburger! Seeing him always makes me feel like it's Wrestle Kingdom. 2.0 worked straight southern tag heel style, except I think they didn't do the spot where the ref misses the first hot tag, driving the fans crazy. That spot used to work like a charm. Speaking of crowds, oh boy do I love how organically over with the crowd Pure Babyface Willow Nightingale has become! What a joy! And I definitely remember Trish Adora from Dark and Elevation, fighting ladies like Emi Sakura. She eventually gets murdered with a pounce and a Doctor bomb. Willow vs Athena, eventually, will be molten. Both of my chat buddies thought that Top Flight going over counted as an upset. Not I. I expected the AEW homegrowns to win, and was delighted they did. The result also led to me winning the picks contest. Great preshow! Every match in a different style. Strength vs speed, southern tag, hard-hitting, pure speed and athleticism. I think this is the first time I have seen Dralistico working as Dralistico. I like that there were at least three teams of actual brothers on the show today! Also, I was delighted that there was a theme of "dudes catching other dudes" and marked out EVERY TIME it happened. Speaking of marking out: SPECTACULAR FINISH to Top Flight vs Kingdom! REPORTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL FINISH to the Roosh Brothers vs FoxHeart. Which I missed. Due to streaming issues. (As in, I had to go pee). A.R. Fox is, in my opinion, a very good addition to the AEW roster. Preston Vance cleans up real good. Good Heavens Athena is a GREAT heel. That was nasty. Hell of a fight. I like how they held off on the Lee vs Taylor BMMSM portion of the match. Reminiscent of the Kingston/Akiyama dynamic in their tag match. Interesting story, and some insane strength spots. Hopefully Taylor shows up on AEW TV again! Keith Lee vs Jeff Cobb, please!! So: Cages have gates. But so do Castles. Some castles have cages. Not all castles or cages have boys, but some do. And if boys are in a cage in a castle, it's likely that agony is involved. I loved that match, by the way. Cage, Liona, & Kaun are such great big walls for all the little speedy trios teams to throw themselves against. Long may they reign! I am stoked that Toa Liona is a champion. I have been a fan since he first showed up on YouTube. At this point I was physically pretty sleepy though my enthusiasm was by no means waning. I don't wanna be controversial but in my opinion both Wheeler and Garcia are very good at pro wrestling and also they match up well. Maybe it was the sleepiness plus the energy drinks but Daddy Magic's nipple talk gave me the giggles. 2.0 are really entertaining,he said, bringing on the controversy yet again. I thought they made excellent use of the Pure stipulations. I was kinda shocked that Double Dog Collars wasn't the main event, and I felt kinda bad for Juice and Joe and Jericho and CaesaROH that they had to follow that. It was great. Every match that FTR and Briscoes have fought has been straight-up great. Hats off. And thank you. All time crimson mask, all time sick bump, feud of the year. As Ian said, a violent masterpiece. I felt bad for Juicy Boy, but I guess Toni Storm can comfort him. Heel Joe is great. This was the second-best Heel Joe match this week, which isn't actually faint praise. My favourite juice is probably pineapple. Or sparkling barley juice. Also: Good job on quickly laying a new ring canvas after the blood bath, AEW ring crew! Oh! The crowd! Bless them for being able to keep it up after that tag title match! I liked Jericho's jacket. I loved the various OCHO! chants. We got an all-time cool reversal in the world title match as well! Jericho continues to make his case as an all time great pro wrestler. And Claudio is going to be a geat champ. I love professional wrestling.

In an INSANE year for great wrestling, FTR and Briscoes have easily 3 of the 10 greatest matches. Maybe 3 of the top 5. Straight top 3 is not unreasonable. Unreal. I woke up at 4:30 am for this. Worth it. Loved the whole show, from Cobb's insane strength to the Giant Swing tapout. Crowd was amazing. Ocho!! Final thought before nap-time: Dalton Castle should team up with

Yes! Right up my alley! Let's do an AEW before they were AEW exchange here! Did you know Arn and Regal were pro wrestlers before they were managers? I also make a "whatever happened to stunning Steve Austin?" joke.

The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennet) vs. Top Flight (Darius Martin and Dante Martin) 2.0/Jericho Appreciation Society (Angelo Parker and Matt Menard) vs. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger and Eli Isom) Mascara Dorada vs. JEFF F'N COBB!!! Added as preshow matches during Rampage, as well as: Blake Christian & AR Fox vs Ingobernables (Rush & Dralistico) on the main card. In addition to: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Singles match for the ROH World Championship & If Castagnoli loses, he will have to join the Jericho Appreciation Society Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta, Pure Wrestling Rules match for the ROH Pure Championship Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Athena, Singles match for the ROH Women's World Championship Samoa Joe (c) vs. Juice Robinson, Singles match for the ROH World Television Championship Swerve In Our Glory (Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor and JD Griffey) Dalton Castle and The Boys (Brandon Tate and Brent Tate) (c) vs. The Embassy (Brian Cage and Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona)) (with Prince Nana), Six-man tag team match for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (c) vs. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) DOUBLE DOG COLLARS, BABY!! It's at 5 am tomorrow my time, so that means... I'll be going to bed early tonight! if it were up to you, would you put the World Title or DOUBLE DOG COLLARS on last? I figure if you're ever gonna main event the tag belts over the world title, now is definitely the time. I COULD see them going with FTR vs Briscoes to open HAWT, as well...

Never thought I'd see the day where Gordlow & DEAN both vote for an Impact match over stuff like Mox vs Takeshita (and everything else), but Speedball and Alexander really earned it this week. If enough people see that match... Would this be the first time Impact wins DVDVR MOTW?

SEVEN on Seven Violence! Yesterday I had NO IDEA Trent Seven even existed. Now I am STOKED for a potential Orange & Dustin vs Trent Seven & Kip match. Amazing. Dude has a great bulky and hairy old school heel look, hits hard, can play along with Orange's shtick without looking a fool, and has Octopus-level facial hair. Looks like Mox & Takeshita saw Speedball vs Alexander and decided they weren't going to let Impact steal DEAN's poll this week! Wait! Hook has already been around for A YEAR?!?! EVERY TIME Moriarty's music plays I think it's gonna be Magical Girl. Markhausen made me lol. JEFF COBB on Final Battle! Yeah!! Such an exciting hour! Also: NICE KOBASHI T-SHIRT THERE, EDDIE KINGSTON!

@RIPPA@Dolfan in NYC@Peted @DEAN

Oh. So now Sammy is piling on the "make fun of CM Punk and Larry" bandwagon, too? Shameful.

Is it Shaq?!?!

They should run Joe vs Darby Best of Seven but, like , one match every six weeks or so to give Darby time to recover.

F'N HELL WHAT A MATCH THEY JUST ADDED TO FINAL BATTLE! Just sold a bunch of buys I guess. What a show! So much wrestling! So many excellent things set up for the near future! I hate fake injury angles. Hate em. BUT: A Battle Royal with both Dustin and Dalton involved? Way to win me back over IMMEDIATELY, AEW! Fuck Big Cass, though. That looked legitimately dangerous. Cool finish to the Battle Royal! Who could have predicted Starks DEMOLISHING Friedman in the promo battle? That was great stuff. Joe nope-ing out of a Darby tope was EXACTLY what I wanted out of these lads. Bits of this were reminiscent of the legendary Nero Butcher match. Like that sick powerslam. I was bummed out by Joe's heel turn because I LOVED Ward-joe, but HEEL JOE IS SO AWESOME! TWO GREAT, CREATIVE FINISHES IN A ROW! That truck bump was SICK. CLAUDIO SNITZKIED THE HAT! In my books, that's a pure heel move. Hager should wear the hat next week, but it has a hole in it. SHIDA VS HAYTER! I hope my heart doesn't explode. My heart survived Baddies vs Goodies so I guess it's strong enough. That was a really good trios match. Pretty classic structure. MOX VS LARD LAD!!! GOOD HEAVENS!!! I was legit surprised that the crowd reaction was not more divided during the main. Hats off to FTR. They have no problem putting another team over clean. What a show! DOUBLE DOG COLLARS!!