kafkonia

Truth is great. Does his TNA/NWA run hold up? I don't remember.

Just as long as she dances on the sand.

Yeah, any Canadian city other than the big three probably have a million dudes who look more like Eddie than Eddie does.

I don't think I've heard that story before. Are there more details? Did the stop-and-start ever see the light of day?

I'd argue that running two defenses against Cole was the first sign he was in limbo[1], since there was no real reason for the rematch, especially in a company that generally runs fewer rematches than the WWE. Although at that point the writing may have been on the wall about him dropping the belt. Then the build to his match with Punk was weird - who knows now how much of that was because of backstage issues? - with him being positioned as "defending the company from Punk" when there'd been no indication (outside of Eddie's promo, and he's Eddie so of course he'd say it) that there was any such problem. It made him seem out of touch and almost felt like he was leaning heel, since he seemed to be telling a different story than everyone around him. From the meta side, the Elite/Punk debacle has also hamstrung him, obviously. If people take Punk's side, then obviously they'll be less inclined to cheer Hangman. If they think the Elite were in the right, then they might think Hangman let them fight his battle for him. And if they're like me, they're just tired of all that nonsense and he's collateral damage. [1] Confession: The Cole feud was so bland that when I was first writing this I completely blanked on all of Page's other defenses.

Wow. Those comments are somehow both completely meaningless and horribly damning at the same time.

TBH, before everything kicked off at the press conference, the Trios Finals match kind of felt like they might be inching in that direction, since he seemed more focused on protecting the Bucks and Kenny than trying to win the match for his supposed partners - and then in the end cost his team the match. Now normally that angle probably would have led to a DO/Hangman split with DO as the heels for daring to want to win a match. But it felt to me at least like it was being treated as an actual flaw in Hangman's character - and it wouldn't be that hard to pivot that into full blown heeldom if they need to. Dark Order was always there for him while the Elite treated him like garbage, but in the end he valued the Elite more because they were cool and he's too preoccupied with his own low self worth. This is one of the downsides of long-form narrative in the professional wrestling world. Page's character arc was neatly wrapped up when he finally overcame his doubts and won the big one... but unlike a movie or a novel where that would have been The End, he still has to stick around after his journey was resolved. And so you wind up retreading the same ground with diminishing results.

Clearly it's going to be Pitbull.

I mean, he's a step up from her last husband. Did you lookat this photograph? In other news, how about that, uh, local wrestling event?

The problem is that when you're booked as this dominant force, like Jade is, it really limits what skills you get the chance to develop in the ring, because there are large swathes of things you're not really doing. It's hard to get better at selling or feeding into offense when you're eating your opponent's lunch for 90% of the match. On an unrelated note, I hope we get to see more of the MCMG in AEW. I was always a little bummed they didn't get signed during early NXT's super-indy phase. Especially Alex Shelley who I feel has been underrated forever. Give me the Guns vs FTR and the Guns vs. Best Friends and I will be a happy viewer. Or bring back Jack Evans and let them wrestle TH2 a couple of times.

Lost in all the hullaballoo was how disappointing the ATHENA/Jade match was. How long was Jade just bent over in the ring while Athena was dealing with the Baddies outside? It kind of feels like her progress has stalled.

I say BattleBowl is the way to go. Also, I feel bad for Claudio. He's finally won a world title! For a promotion that basically doesn't exist. And he's defending it on the Youtube show against a guy who, well, should be on the Youtube show, while opening a pay per view in a multi-man ladder match that ends in a schmozz. Kind of feels like a lateral move.

I don't care if it's a work or a shoot. I don't care if it's a shirt I can buy on Woot. I am not interested and it makes the whole company look unprofessional. Between that and some of the booking decisions last night I think I'll just return to the Dark and Elevation corner of the internet and pretend the rest of the company doesn't exist for a while.

See, I thought the Kip/PAC match was better than I expected, and any flaws were equally attributable to the Bastard. Until the very end with the Kip talking to the box. That didn't seem to fit with how he was presented.

It does seem bizarre. Maybe the game's focusing on singles matches? That'd be ironic.

One thing to keep in mind, also, is that by and large AEW is a promotion where, when it comes to the big names, the faces tend to win. Every title other than the TBS title is currently held by a face, and strictly speaking the last 3 world champs (including the interim one) have been faces. Hell, even the ROH titles are all held by faces right now. I think that's one reason why the shows are as enjoyable as they are - certainly it really stood out when Kenny Omega was bucking the trend. By and large it's been sort of the opposite of WCW's "Well how will the nWo fuck over the faces this month?" doldrums. They want to send the fans home happy.

I agree that she's being overlooked, but she is regularly on the Youtube shows. Same with Ruby Soho. I kind of feel for her more because she got lost in the shuffle much faster. The women don't get enough tv time, but they get a lot of Dark and Dark Elevation time. Some shows they make up 80%. Speaking of, where's the Bunny? Butcher and Blade have been in action without her, and Penelope came back recently so Allie is even more conspicuous by her absence.

I like Hangman, but this is the most attention he's gotten in months. Of course he didn't come out to defend himself, he was busy hanging out in the back not getting on tv with his friends in the Dark Order. Seriously, it's not such a big deal. Even if it was an ad lib, Punk might have thought he was doing Page a favour - at least he got the guy's name back in the same paragraph as the World Title. I'm pretty sure Ethan has been the Page with the most tv time lately. And calling Punk a "part timer" is rich. The guy was hurt. Nobody's calling Miro a part-timer. What about Joe, or Hangman himself? Was Danielson a part-timer until he came back to lose to Garcia? I'm sure if you look at the number of matches guys had over the period between when Punk came in and when he got hurt, he'd be well within the bounds of normal for this overloaded roster. Now, in the interests of fairness, if he really did basically force Colt out then that's an assholish thing to do. And if he really told Hangman "I am never ever losing to you" then that's an asshole thing too. (Personally I think if anything it was more likely "I am not losing this title match to you" which is not great but not nearly as bad.) I'm sure Punk can be a miserable bastard. But I'm also sure that he can give journos the impression of being a more miserable bastard than he actually is.

So Thunder Rosa has to be hurt, eh? She didn't even tag in during the Dark Elevation main. Also, were they running long during the tapings? Because the match was WWE Divas length.

After my "Dario Cuerto is Chairman Kaga" comparison the other day, I got to thinking about how you could structure a wrestling promotion around an Iron Chef style conceit. It couldn't work as an exact port since it would be hard to have ongoing angles if it was always a "on the roster vs. outsider" set-up, but it could be something along the lines of having a handful of wrestlers who represent the promotion against challengers from elsewhere, while the rest of the show consists of people on the roster competing to get that position.

Luckily the Slapjack was also the name of his finisher. It was the Pedigree, in yet another of iteration of WCW's "take a WWF main eventer's finisher and give it to a lower midcarder".

I'm running a bit behind. Kip the Box sighting in the main event of Dark!? Is this ever going anywhere? It's kind of a dadaesque anti-angle. I assume the Trust Busters will be a Dark-only stable that will eventually fizzle out. Not a huge fan of Dollar General Brock Lesnar - his tats make him look like he's wearing a turtleneck pulled up over his shoulders. Was nice to see Pretty Peter back in action. How much of a delay is there between taping Dark and airing it these days?

Yes, nobody had more swag or drip than <checks notes> Ole and Arn.

Marina looked way better in that that six-person than she has in any other match I've seen. Put her in their with Storm every week.

Hey man. Next you're going to say something bad about Kim Mitchell, and I won't stand for it.