Zakk_Sabbath

I’m probably at serious risk of being doxxed if I share what exactly my function is, but in real life I file arbitration A LOT. In addition to the obvious (private hearings as versus a public trial) there are, in my opinion, three other crucial reasons why Vince and his team would prefer this case be heard by an arbitrator: 1) Arbitration awards, to my knowledge, usually expire after a stipulated amount of time depending on the jurisdiction and dispute forum. If the filing party (Grant) isn't able to collect from the respondent (Vince) within that period, and also isn't able to have the validity of the award confirmed by a higher court order in that period (which is often difficult not only due to the legal costs, but also because judges don't like to step on arbitrators’ toes since many, if not most, are retired judges or prosecutors themselves) then guess what?? She gets nothing. A judge doing so has definitely happened a couple times in my specific field, but this is a much, much different animal. 2) Again, depending on the forum, there's also a strong likelihood that Vince’s team would drag this case out F O R E V E R - the arbitration discovery process is not really what it is in the court system; It's more of what I would describe as a ‘tit for tat’ kind of thing. Unless there is an agreed upon time limit when parties enter into the agreement to arbitrate, or some other statutory limitation wherever this is heard (it may not necessarily be Connecticut due to the interstate stuff, but we’ll see what Vince's team argues) then he could easily just try to wait out the clock, and keep throwing shit at the wall (pardon the phrasing). 3) Arbitration awards, to my knowledge, can't be enforced outside of wherever the dispute forum has jurisdiction (unless Vince were stupid enough to agree to international arbitration). So hypothetically, Vince could lose, and immediately flee to Antigua on the Sexy Bitch without any mechanism for her to collect, while he just, again, waits it out on the beach This would not be a good thing.

Same here, I remember we talked about it in whatever month's omnibus thread, but it was more in the context of if/how it would be affected by NXT moving there, whether it would be on their streaming app or regular ass channel 9, etc.

This is way off topic, but I have to say it: I've been mobile-version-only for years now, and due to the smaller screen I have legitimately thought that was a jokey Bill Murray headshot this whole time. And speaking of guys from Chicago who I liked a lot more as a kid (how bout that segue?!): https://blabbermouth.net/news/billy-corgans-adventures-in-carnyland-a-new-unscripted-series-set-to-premiere-next-month

I'm a big fan of recessed lights, which I guess kinda explains why I'm a Kinsey 2

Seconded - as fantastic as he is in his current role, I've been a strong proponent of Callis in the booth going back to the ECW/occasional Shotgun SN days. I definitely wouldn't hate having him be more of a fixture at the desk on Fridays and Saturdays. On this note: I've gotta give credit where it's due, we re-watched the last few matches last night because my better half was falling asleep Sunday, and J.R. actually sounded pretty fresh. I think the rest/break has done him a lot of good - just on a human level, I'd like to hope his health improving could also be a factor but who knows. But yeah, he sounded great, and limiting him to big matches like this definitely lends a bit of gravitas to the proceedings.

Yo, great shout. I think I like this one for the same reason @Go2Sleepliked Ospreay/Danielson: great mix of killer work and again, that liiiiiittle eye dropper full of sports entertainment at the end with the 'maybe' buckshot tease (and the awesome 'Wait.. did I.. did you guys just see...nevermind' call from Schiavone that accompanied it)

I'll say this: since Danielson/Omega, I think Danielson/Ospreay is the only other match I've seen in recent memory that got a "holy shit!" before they even locked up. I thought that was kind of an interesting parallel when we were watching Edit: I went back and read @Matt Ds post (excellent as always) and given his take on the crowd I guess this post became slightly prescient

Slightly off topic, but I happened to catch Impact from the first week of April on the YTTV channel, and they're pretty quietly building kind of a cool roster - like, I definitely didn't have Mustafa Ali vs Rhyno or Ziggler vs Alexander on my bingo card this year (at the f'n ECW Arena, no less). Don't get me wrong: I'm always down for more fresh faces in AEW, but dare I say it, I'm beginning to think TNA is no longer quite the death sentence it once was post-Hogan & Friends

It's this one for me - but I acknowledge the bias I have from being in the house, and that whole show overall being probably the literal peak of my 30 year fandom. If I lived in St. Louis you might get a totally different answer.

This is a tough one because since the airing, he's really only been in front of smart-leaning crowds with yesterday and NJPW the other week - I mean no disrespect to Perry or the promotion as a whole in saying this, but I think the real test is gonna come when he appears in front of a smaller TV crowd. And this goes without saying, but a LOT depends on how the follow up is actually handled - continuing on like last night for a few months, and playing the "what's he doing here?" game every time might be a bit insulting, a 20 minute promo chock full of insider references explaining the machinations would 100% kill him dead, throwing him out there for a random match with no fanfare is a shit idea - I'd say I'm equal parts excited, and worried they won't stick the landing.

Yo, same - the only thing I'm kinda stuck on is this: I read a while ago that a lot of the stop/starting with them is because of Malekai's recurring back issues - with that, I'm kind of wondering if it might be better for both his health and the longevity of the reign/story to give them another big Trios title run instead. Another advantage in doing that instead would be that taking the titles off of Bullet Club would free Jay White up to start taking it to the next level as a single himself - I mean no disrespect to the Gunns or Acclaimed, but he's way, way too good for this material; we ought to be talking about him in the same breath as Ospreay, Danielson, PAC, and Okada IMO. Ultimately though, if injuries weren't a factor, I'd be fully on board for a TNT reign or possibly more - even a losing effort as the first Hogan-esque 'monster of the month' challenger to Swerve would be a great position IMO. -- ETA: @Phantom LordI too was waiting for Hanger, but even if he IS available, I get the sense it might've been a little too close to what they did with Sideshow Luke Perry's boy running in on the tag match

I 100% get where everyone who didn't like the Danielson sell are coming from, don't disagree, and there's no right or wrong answer - but personally speaking, I didn't think this was anything approaching the seizure sell at FD, and I'd actually go as far as to posit that this particular sell was possibly even performed with the feedback for that one in mind. Yes, it was similar to the FD one in that it played off of a legit injury history (which, again, no argument with anyone who felt uncomfortable) but for me, it had enough hallmarks of being a work that I never really got that same "Ohhhh, poor taste" feeling: Ospreay's music having been re-started, the ref (of all people) shooing him away, the announcers rushing to the next segment with a somber 'The show must go on, as they say...' as well as emphasizing that Ospreay must be wondering whether he went too far on someone he ultimately respects, with him looking back unsure a few times while celebrating. My read on the sell was that we're likely building to a rematch where Bryan sneaks by because Ospreay isn't as vicious as he was here, and second guesses himself to avoid inflicting such a "serious injury" again - think back to that NXT title match with Sami Zayn and PAC where Zayn almost cost himself because he wouldn't stoop to PAC's level and crack him with the title and hesitated - something along those lines

Seconded huge. This one and Ospreay/Danielson were worth the 50 bucks alone - my expectations were high, and they far exceeded. The Bastard is just a nasty mother, straight up, and I thought that they were almost perfectly positioned as the opener (though it could've closed for the title and no one would've batted an eye) - if I had the pencil (or Tony's ear) I'd be pushing to open at least one of the 3 weekly shows with a PAC match on the reg, be it with Buddy, Komander, Sydal, Andretti, one Young Buck, whoever - his shit is just such catnip for the eyeballs.

You know, I'm sensing a pattern: Jericho, despite his current staleness, can still go at a fairly high level; just a year or two ago was among his best ever in the ring IMO. But it seems like every now and again, he will have one of these plunder matches that are just simply well below standard. And on that note, candidly, I thought he and Hook looked like Steamboat/Savage out there compared to that Cole match from two summers ago. He also had one or two notable stinkers with Mox when they were still in WWE. Not saying I loved the match but I thought 'please retire' was a little unfair when he has been having these kind of matches once or twice a year for a decade now. ETA great call on the WWE 24/7 division "violence" @Craig H- perhaps that's part of why it's a bit of a shitty formula. He never looked that rough in any of, say, the Blood and Guts matches

Lmao talk about a lob over the plate - well done. This is probably going to be a little repetitive in terms of discussions had on earlier pages, but catching up on this NYP story, I keep thinking back to some of the insight Gregg and others gave and some of the great conversations a bunch of us had about media literacy and that sort of thing early into this breaking - like, this article may as well have had Vince or his attorneys name on the byline, right? Like, I'm almost guffawing out loud at the of the idea of he/his team so nakedly obviously planting an article that emphasizes 1) giving away puppies and kittens rescued from overseas!! 2) maintaining contact with top WWE stars Rock and Cena, and 3) subtly planting the seeds for a 'total witch hunt' defense by mentioning his friendship with Don Trump. Whoever mentioned this the other day: the cats are so the new neckbrace

I'll agree with that - I think another part of it is also that there are somehow four women's singles titles between AEW/ROH but no tag belts, so even though her team w Marina was a lot of fun and gained some nice momentum there for a while, there was really nowhere to go with them unless they were gonna send em on excursion to TNA like I and a bunch of others here have floated

This is awesome, I'm a big Connections fan. I got purple and blue right away, but I'm stuck at "one away" for the next two

You make an excellent point, and I think I really gotta count myself among that group

I agree, there's been way, way too little turnaround lately on the ol' "Tony Khan has made it official!" - I'd like to see them hold those graphics back until the usual Excalibur pre-main event card rundown for the weekend shows and the next week.

I'm looking forward to this completely inapropos of the bullshit going on in OK. She's another Chuck Taylor type in that she rarely gets to be as personality driven on TV as she is on socials and interviews and so forth, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she brings here (and who knows, it may end up being a net positive and adding another dimension to her character if she's able to parlay this spot into branching out a bit more from just the traditional Nyla 'breaking-of-bitches' - which I must stress, I am also a fan of!) Man me, Sue, and Mike are gonna annoy the shit out of the other B-Dub's patrons

It's obviously very serious and sensitive subject matter that affects multiple of us on a personal level, but I do have to admit: it kinda tickles me that depending on how this shakes out moving forward, a legitimate court may be forced to issue a decision working with only two options: A) trans women are women, or B) wrestling is a legitimate sport. Going by the state's own internal logic in those minutes, one and only one CAN and MUST be true, right??

Ah jeez, I feel like a huge jerk now, thank you for the link - I live in the northeast, and forget that despite dealing with a lot of the same idiots spouting the same crap, we really do have it pretty (socially) decent in a lot of ways compared to other regions of the country. I might have kinda "blue state bubbled" myself a bit on that one

I'm glad you touched on this - not to sound like one of those nutcases with the fake license plates, but taking the prejudice out of the equation for a moment, it just seems like massive government overreach to tell ANYONE when and where they can work if it's against the employer's wishes. (Or I guess "Contractor" in this case, since it's wrestling). Like, I don't think it would be right for the state to tell someone "Hey, you can't pump gas at the Tiger Mart in Tulsa" either. It's not like she's a felon or has some kind of 'crime of dishonesty' that precludes her from having the privilege to earn a living publicly - it's the state doing this shit, not the business itself (like, AEW isn't sitting there going "We refuse to bake a cake for two women" you know what I mean? She's a former world champion FFS). Imagine hiring her to paint your house, and some dudes with badges show up and pull her off the ladder - people would lose their fucking minds.

The last time we saw Hayter on TV I think she and DMD were still aligned - maybe a situation where Britt talks that shit, and Hayter backs it up for her could be the best of both worlds? At least until Baker is healthy. I didn't even know she was hurt until someone mentioned yesterday, I thought she was just taking a break and possibly aiding in Cole's rehabbing and so forth

Dude if you told me this was a line from like an early '80s Dr. D promo id have totally believed it. That's tremendous