Beech27

Grain of salt and all, but pwinsider is saying the positions will essentially have the same level of autonomy as Triple H does with NXT. So, a lot, if true.

Might point to a hard split coming back.

If he had a choice in the matter, there's something deeply poetic about Triple H opting to stay in NXT, rather than be promoted to one of these main roster roles. Anyway, we've got a Rhodes running a wrestling company on Turner, Heyman and Bischoff booking... I'd be a little worried to drive by a movie theater, and see Toy Story on the marquee.

On different mornings, I could have clicked the laugh or cry emoji response to this. I would recommend The Slow Regard of Silent Things to anyone who, for some reason, wants to hang out in the universe a little longer, though. Rothfuss' strength is his prose, whimsy, and metaphor, and he gets to indulge all of those in a novella without stumbling over his plot troubles. I'm finishing up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which is Murakami doing very Murakami things. You know how everyone dresses and the narrator makes pasta while listening to specific jazz or classical, and there are awkward descriptions of women and weird sex things, but it all comes together for me. I have a few epic fantasies on the docket after that, but may instead opt for Woe to Live On or Cult X. I'm leaning Western (aside: I'd be happy for non-McMurty/McCarthy recommendations here), basically, or staying with weird and digressive in Japan.

It's not especially surprising, but here's at least one data point suggesting Tanahashi is still the most popular wrestler in Japan. Adjacent note: Moxley noted in an interview that Tanahashi/Suzuki from 2012 KOPW was one of his favorite matches, mentioning specifically the lack of rope running transitions. Though he'd seen VHS tapes before, that was what drew him in to the modern product.

None. He’s the current NEVER champ, so he’ll slot in at 4-5 or 5-4, setting up some challenges. (I’d say sorry, but the matches will be really, really good. It’s just likely that his IWGP challenge against Kenny last year was as high as he’s ever going to get.)

Well we’ve just got one EVP taking a shot at the Blood Money concept and counter-programming. So.

This doesn't really prove anything, but it's still hilarious.

I know the Misawa thread got closed for a reason, but one of the things many who are--consciously or not--heavily influenced by that King's Road style tend to miss is that the move escalation was generally not sudden, and basically always significant. Baba--and later, NOAH--tended towards tighter, Tokyo focused tours, so you had many of the same fans, seeing every step of a story, with repeated try/succeed/fail cycles with wrestlers and their moves. So when the violence escalated or something new was introduced, it was often foreshadowed, made sense in context, and got the pin. And it doesn't even have to be flashy or dangerous. It's become a meme now, but Okada's "wrist control" moment on Tanahashi is basically a perfect example of this going right, while his cobra clutch use in the Naito build is an example of doing something new just to do it, with an ineffectual result.

Orton has also liked all of Ospreay’s tweets on the subject.

I'm a Tolkien dork before I'm anything else, so Nightfall in Middle Earth scratches my otherwise nonexistant power metal itch. There's a 10,000 word essay to be written on the adoption of Tolkien nouns by black metal bands, given his devout Catholicism that suffuses his work. But I'm not going to write that. Instead, here's a former Venom cover band that plays around with the mythology and I happen to think is really fun. Also, Darkthrone has a new album. I imagine those who are interested have listened. If not, it's what you'd expect, following Arctic Thunder. I liked it. I like this.

I know less than nothing about the Japanese stock market, but maybe this is a newsworthy thing.

It's probably the most encouraging thing you could say about Kenny that he hasn't wandered into a petulant "best in the world" twitter debate--especially considering its largely between the guy New Japan slotted into his old spot, and another guy who has name checked him a couple times while swiping moves.

Redundant and thus redacted post.

That's fair, and that is often the case. I'm sure among his myriad replies many people are just being awful. But among those with more than 18 bots for followers, everything I've seen has been reasonable. And I think this board has been as well. Anyway, Seth should think highly of himself and his coworkers; he should give voice to that however he wants. People, if they disagree, can say so. I happen to disagree with him, and think he comes across as defensive, and a rather poor reader of the room, given the show that just happened, and the match/angle he took part in on it. As noted, though, that is somewhat Seth's affect. Regardless, I don't see a problem with any of this.

If think that's the key point: he posted a debatable point on social media. That is, almost literally, the definition of inviting criticism. (If not of him and his company directly, the argument itself.) This is how the whole thing is supposed to work.

It is, insofar as people are responding to him, and he's responding to them. He created a debate on his timeline, in front of his followers, where there wasn't one. (At the very least, he made it more explicit than it otherwise would have been.) Maybe that makes the brand look stronger; I would argue that--given the present reality and that many people seem to disagree--it does not. But it doesn't stand to reason that he had to initiate this conversation, in either case. Of course he can, and he can also feel however he feels. But people can respond too.

I mean, he could have simply praised his coworkers without inviting comparisons that are, right now, not favorable, and starting an argument he's not equipped to win. I don't think anyone is being needlessly hard on Seth for being a company guy; he's just wrong. It's fair to point that out.

I remember when he left DDT that Irie wanted to avoid being tied to one promotion and to work in the United States. STRONGHEARTS gives him a cross-promotional affiliation and maybe a shot at AEW, so this seems a pretty natural fit.

This quote, combined with the fact that the Junior Heavyweight title won't be defended for months, could be... something. (Probably isn't. But.)

Doesn't look like Cornette is done.