EVA

Don’t think the Jeff Cobb presentation could’ve been much worse. The new name is NXT slop, and having him wrestle in street clothes just made him look small and unimpressive compared to LA Knight in his gear. Like, this was the weakest someone doing a bunch of power spots has ever looked.

Serious proposal: Disney should let Tony Gilroy remake ROGUE ONE. Like, fully make it the way he wants, not just Frankensteining his ideas into Gareth Edwards’ finished movie. I NEED to see that version.

I don’t see any way they don’t make it to Abby arriving at the theater. It would be insane narrative structure to introduce a major antagonist and then have them disappear for the rest of the season. Very little of narrative importance happens to Ellie on Day 3. It’s her finding a boat, piloting the boat to the marina, then doing the deal at the aquarium, followed immediately by the theater scene. You could skip/ffwd most of that and have plenty of episode to spare. It’s also worth noting that Tommy sniping Manny and the actual throwdown between Ellie & Dinah and Abby don’t happen until the second half of the game (The first half cuts to black shortly after they come face to face). Given how tightly the show has followed the structure of the game (in terms of sticking with Ellie’s POV), I don’t think we’ll see either of those things. Also Lev or Yara are at both of those events, and neither of those roles were cast this season, as far as we know.

I can’t post Twitter links anymore for some reason, but there’s a clip making the rounds of Cena running the classic drop down, leapfrog, tackle sequence, and he is moving SO BAD and has no snap on his bump for the tackle. They're gonna need to put him in cryosleep until Saudi.

Jeff Cobb is a solid in-ring dude but an absolute charisma vacuum. He was at his best under a mask as Matanza in Lucha Underground, but even then he was not as good as The Beast Mortos. He’s also going to compare poorly to Jacob Fatu in the “short thicc boi who does agility spots” category, as he is way more agile AND has a personality. He’ll do fine as cannon fodder for Solo’s group, but this is a Tama Tonga replacement level signing,

It’s funny how cyclical wrestling is. The bungling of this Cena heel turn can’t help but call to mind the WWF circa 2001–when coming off of one of their hottest boom periods, they decided to pull the trigger on a dream storyline (WWF vs. WCW) and turned it into a colossal fuck-up.

I dunno. They made it all the way through Day 1 in Seattle in that episode, and they’re clearly getting through Day 2 next week. They could knock out a day per episode the rest of the way and get to the showdown by the finale. Only question is if they break up Ellie’s story by doing a Joel/Ellie flashback episode (which I’m pretty sure they are) or do an Abby-centric episode (less certain about that now).

The thing is, the wrestler has to be smart enough to negotiate that for themselves. Years ago, Curt Stallion 100% signed over his gimmick name to WWE and then had to become Stallion Rogers after he was released

Days like yesterday make it extra-unfortunate that TNA has given up on being a competitive 3rd promotion in favor of being a WWE proxy. Used to be a solid landing spot for people WWE/AEW didn’t want, but now they’re slashing payroll and using NXT scabs to fill out their cards (presumably cleaning up their books for a sale). A lot of these releases are REALLY gonna have to hustle to make ends meet, if they can even stay in the business at all.

Not sure about where they’ll finish in the present action, but I would imagine the emotional climax of the season will be the flashback to Ellie learning the truth.

Unable to even lift his leg high enough to kick Miz in the head.

Shedeur is a Day 2 developmental prospect. But for developmental picks to pay off, they have to be coachable. When you spend the entire draft process loudly broadcasting that you’re not coachable, you shouldn’t be surprised when teams lower their valuation of you to a Day 3 “sure, we’ll buy in cheap and spin the wheel and see what happens” pick. Compare this to Jalen Milroe, who—while far less ready to play as a rookie than Shedeur—has a reputation for being immensely coachable and a great locker room guy (and has the highest ceiling of any QB in this draft *if* it all comes together for him), and as a result probably went exactly when he should have.

I dunno. As time has gone on, I feel like Black is one of those guys Vince was right about. Just not a good singles guy. Only consistently looks good when he’s either getting to just squash somebody or working another guy who can go shoot style with him (like the KOR match last year). Otherwise, he just rarely clicks with people because his ring style is so weird, and also probably because his body is cooked, no matter how much he denies it. The match with Velveteen all those years ago seems more and more like a minor miracle as time goes by. (Hooray for rehearsing matches at the PC, I guess.) Good tag guy, though! Which is why I think AEW ultimately had him accurately slotted. But even then, he ended up being, at best, the 3rd most over person in his own stable.

Very cool news. I’m hopeful that, even with the influx of AEW talent, the cards will be as eclectic as the original event last year.

Watching the first two episodes of season two of ANDOR has just reaffirmed my belief that I really should’ve rewatched the first season beforehand. SO MANY characters and relationships to remember, and the show is NOT holding your hand.

Bill Hader’s next project for HBO will be a series about Jonestown. Which is deeply hilarious news coming so soon after the first episode of THE STUDIO.

After AJ Styles kicked off a minor online firestorm earlier this year because of his newfound belief that moments matter more than matches, I have a profound respect for his efforts to bring both sides of that debate together by having a Mania match that was neither good nor had a single moment anyone will remember.

Dom winning the IC title was also the exact same finish as the women’s title match. Where is the quality control?

I was really liking Cody/Cena until the Travis Scott saunter-in. Liked the second-rope double axehandles for Cena’s control. Liked Cena very deliberately going through his moves of doom. But the closing stretch was absolute dog shit. Both nights of Mania ended on heels winning with a low blow and a weapon shot btw. Get a new finish, you unoriginal bastards.

The women’s 3-way was incredible. By far the match of WWE’s weekend. They told a strong story through ACTION, not corny melodrama and monologues by sub-community theatre players. HELL YEAH.

This probably also explains why he seems to be carrying more weight around his midsection again. Cake is back on the menu, boys.

Obviously it’s The Fucking Ryback. I remembered Heyman managing Axel, but going down the Wiki rabbit hole, I did NOT remember him getting all those non-decisive wins over HHH that went nowhere.

So winning the World title was ultimately a net negative for Gunther’s career, right (I mean, aside from the money, presumably)? Went from stoic badass that has bangers with everybody to being your typical WWE Bitchy Heel who has kind-of-okay matches with the likes of Damien Priest and Jey Uso, and ultimately got completely clowned in losing the belt. Like, did not even get to kinda look tough in losing that match. The “aura,” as the kids say these days, is gone.

I’m far from a lucha expert, but Cubs recently went into detail on how CMLL has reorganized their business around tourism, to the extent that it hardly even matters who’s on their shows at this point. I don’t necessarily think that WWE engaging in their usual tactics of signing away talent would work for them against CMLL in the same way it historically has against competitors in the States. The one guy who probably makes a significant difference in business is Mistico, and…well..I sincerely wish WWE good luck in convincing him to come back. The one AAA guy I’m curious how this affects is El Hijo deal Dr. Wagner Jr. He was heavily rumored to WWE when he left NOAH, but he ultimately chose to sign with AAA, presumably to clean up in Mexico and make big money on losing his mask before going to the Fed. Those plans may be off the table now.

Just don’t let him behind the wheel again.