Timbo Slice

A motherfucking tractor actually got used in a wrestling match, gimme all the damn mouse traps.

If the talent WWE had was good enough to fill Paul’s spot? They’d use that talent. Instead they pay Paul a ton of money because they know they at least get some of the investment back using him. Don’t get how that’s me getting silly about it given that’s what business is like right now. The “paying dues” part I talked about was more about someone being forced into a spot where it wasn’t merited. The guys El-P mentioned weren’t forced. There was an organic growth for both Hook and Cargill with a much better starting point, especially in Hook’s case, as he had been over for months without even wrestling a match.

Cole isn’t a great example here because his error bars are too wide in regards to charisma. It’ll work in some places and not in all. Paul is a good fit with his particular character in the WWE environment currently. He would not do as well in AEW for the reasons laid out about folks “paying dues” and what not. There’s a reason why they didn’t take to Satnam Singh, and it’s the same reason why Paul works where he does. It’s not the worker; it’s the work environment.

And if that real band was good enough that they’d do well enough on that same stage as the celebrity band, the celebrity band wouldn’t be there because more than likely the real band would be cheaper to bring on. It’s late stage capitalism and celebrity being more targeted as opposed to wide-spread today.

I think people are missing the forest for the trees here: There are many paths to pro wrestling. Much more than other industries, which have specific machinations that can churn up and spit out talent on the other end. That is how pro wrestling is. WWE’s goal has always been to break into the mainstream come hell or high water. They will team up with any entity they feel gives them an opportunity to get more eyes on the product. Hardcore wrestling fans who are into the product expect a certain output for the work folks put in on the indies. They get over in certain atmospheres and feel they should be able to translate. That’s just not the case for a good chunk of them unless the atmosphere they end up in is accepting of that wrestler. The reason AEW works is because it’s based on that concept; WWE has never really gone down that path and won’t go down that path. The fact we’re still having this discussion in 2022 when it’s been the case for literal decades is mind-boggling. It’s not that WWE hasn’t evolved; they serve a different master than AEW does. AEW literally got to start off with a clean slate of what they want to be and are doing fine with it. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal to folks when an actual alternative is thriving. We need to stop putting the round peg in the square WWE hole.

It made ESPN, so I’d say mission accomplished, even if the mission was a sham.

Here’s the bottom line: If more people got over in ways that stuck, you wouldn’t need the celebs to come in. It’s a harsh but honest truth. There are myriad reasons why it hasn’t worked in that company, but at the same time, you go that route when you don’t do a good job getting folks over.

Cherry picking through the card: -Bianca and Becky had good ideas but the execution was sloppy more often than not. Bianca has a tendency to just move through her cadence, which takes away from the flow of the match sometimes. It was like they were on two different paces throughout. Becky's Joshi Outfit Update: Dynamite Kansai at DreamSlam II. -Paul/Miz was one of those things where they tried to tell a story, but the crowd wasn't buying it. Even when Paul hit the big splash, it led to kind of a dull reaction when he did win. I agree that he had a good performance, and his athletic background really showed out, but he needs to figure out how to connect to the crowd more. -Meanwhile, McAfee had the crowd behind him and while I don't think it was his best performance, Corbin held his end together pretty dang well. McAfee knows how to string things together better than Paul, feeds into Corbin's offense better, but at the same time, his spots were a bit sloppy here, whereas they were much better at WM. The slippery ropes probably didn't help him. -Brock/Roman was actually a bit paint by the numbers in regards to the big spots that led to counts, but was executed well. Kind of a natural progression: Brock dominates early, Reigns progresses through his stuff, then Brock does his. Once the tractor ring lift spot happened, things got a bit more interesting. Brock as Jason Voorhees works for me most times, though, and this was one of those times. Middle tier of LMS matches, leaning upward, but they should have mixed in more of the more creative elements as opposed to just progressing through things. Related to story and execution, it was really well done, but it didn't really hold much drama or suspense.

Somehow I missed this but a good point: Savage matches are probably the closest to that. I think in Japan, he just never found his spot. A man who had the tools but couldn't use them correctly in that particular setting.

It's not even Roman's best LMS match, as the Big Show match is one of the best uses of the gimmick with a fantastic finish.

I don’t think any of this will matter because with stock prices going up, a sale is more than likely imminent. Which means basically nobody is safe. It’s not rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but everything right now should have an “interim” title.

Two things can be true here. One is to say Gresham did himself no favors. And he didn’t. The other is that we now have multiple examples of Tony ghosting talent because he has no infrastructure in place to deal with talent relations. You can have it set up like any other company and make it happen. But he has not done a good job of doing good by people who he decides not to bring back. Especially folks who do it on good faith. It’s obvious Gresham did not, and should be treated as such, but Tony still isn’t in a great spot.

It’s all on production. If Dunn leaves, that’s enough for me. I can’t imagine Bruce gets to stick around. Paul coming back is not a coincidence. It’s now Khan’s choice to see which way they go.

Mauro Ronallo: The Big Dog. He’s fine. He has an enthusiasm level like Excalibur. Excalibur can get a bit too Inside Baseball just like Mauro gets too Inside A Metaphor Factory. There aren’t any Good Wrestling Broadcasters anymore. They’re all flawed.

Kingston posts New Girl stuff all the time, glad he has good taste.

Titus does a lot of community outreach with WWE as his main conduit, and so I am betting he feels he wants to stay on to be helpful in some ways. It’s a weird spot to be in. But I feel like he has done enough where he can do his own thing at this point where he doesn’t have to sacrifice moral standing.

Guess SmackDown! was just shite last night?

It picked up for me after a slow start and finished strong. Totally sucks that Claudio is his opponent because it’s now apparent Bryan was gonna face ZSJ and Gresham back to back. It should be a great match, but given how strong Claudio is being presented, he can’t possibly lose.

I think there’s a lot of people mistaking being in their best match for LEADING their best match. Which takes away a ton of wrestlers.

First time in AEW where Keith Lee looked like KEITH LEE to me. Heck of a match.

NFL has way more protections, is considered “too big to fail” like most corporations, and if they do it to Snyder, all the other owners can be gone after due to their other indiscretions. Vince is on an island in a business with very little respect from the public at large no matter what he’s done, and doesn’t have the leverage he had when he was first trying to go public given his enterprise is being run well enough by a consortium, not just himself.

Seems bad.

And tonight we find out “Scissor me, Daddy Ass!” was the Acclaimed being asked to be cut off.

Rush is on el jugo, good lord. The acne pops off in 4K.

Brother El-P gonna be amused at Big War.