Al

I feel like the problem is no one in wrestling wants to be the one to hold Ric Flair to the fire. There's stories of Flair sexually harassing people for DECADES. But no one in power acts because it's Ric Flair.

A woman ended up married to Uncle Elmer. That counts as ruined.

Real "put him over Flair in five minutes in the main event of Starrcade" vibes here

It's still amazing to me how 30 years ago they dragged the Dynamite Kid out of traction to drop a belt, and now so many championships are vacated due to injury. It's probably not a bad thing, except that when a wrestler comes back it's not even a point of discussion.

It seems like everyone wants to share their 9/11 story. But WWE trying to put themselves in the story… In retrospect that show isn’t anywhere close to the important stories of that week.

The first two Gargano/Ciampa matches were great. But by the end of the second one it was apparent I didn’t need to see it again. That spawned an era of 30-40 minute main events where it would hit 10:40 with a match left and I’d say “fuck it, my kid’s gonna wake me up at 6am, I don’t have the patience for this.” So I’ll share my distaste for Adam Cole with the caveat that I didn’t even see him work half the time. You hear about promotions getting burned out because of blood or violence. I think Gargano/Ciampa burned out their style on the audience.

The painful thing is sometimes you see it coming and you're utterly powerless to help.

Apparently not. This is gutting.

I was looking through 1984 MSG a couple days ago and yeah, the talent infusion is insane. It reminds me of AEW now where every month there’s someone new.

I imagine since Fox was the latter deal signed they had to make explicit promises they didn't have to make when they signed the USA deal. It all makes me wonder how much input the networks have on the day to day operation of the shows.

To be honest I'm amazed that a wrestler has the kind of job security that they can opt out of a weekend show to attend another company's show in another country. In the 1980s that would've been utterly insane.

I'm fine with Adam Cole as a worker, I just don't want to see him doing 25-30 minute main events. I could see someone like Lance Archer jumping. Someone who's had the best of their AEW run and fits the WWE mold.

WWE as the draw makes sense if their main business is house shows. But of course there's a limit to that and you still need to create marketable stars. And the pandemic has sent that spiraling anyway.

I'm one of those people who haven't been able to get into shoot style wrestling. I dug this match. Masakatsu Funaki is impressive, he looked like an absolute star. This was brutal, probably in a way that's unsustainable if you did it every time out. Certainly Nakano can't get his nose smashed every time out. Completely with you guys on time of matches. Not everything has to be an epic and I struggle to devote my full attention. I have a wife and seven year old and to carve out time is a chore!

I think AEW has reached the point where talent benefits more from joining AEW than AEW benefits from the talent joining. That's not to disparage anyone individually. But they're selling out now, they're currently building up multiple main event talents and every person they add is someone else they have to cut from a card. They get diminishing returns from each person they add.

Gina Linetti as a wrestling character. I like it.

Whether they sell or not, they’re clearly placing the company in prime position for a sale.

Guessing Becky isn’t capable of bumping yet

I recall at least one Helmsley/Mankind match being a cruel slog, maybe King of the Ring.

Agreed. It’s off putting and it also strains credibility IMO. Perhaps because in order to use it safely you have to apply the weapon in a way you never would in a real situation. I’ll even go back to Sheik’s pencil on that.

I like freestyle better than Greco-Roman. It feels like top wrestlers in greco-roman are so dominant that it's a matter of technical application of the rules. Or maybe I just need to stop watching heavyweights. I will admit Wilfried Dietrich suplexing Chris Taylor is an all timer. Greatest Throw Ever - YouTube

It's her telling her story and I don't think one can dismiss that or belittle that. I do agree that publicizing Priscilla Kelly's own sexual assault without her consent is dubious, though it was unsolicited.

"Dubious consent" is really something we need to emphasize more. Often in wrestling it involves power dynamics (promoter/worker, veteran/rookie, trainer/student), but really it applies here. Coercion is not full consent. But it's been accepted so long that it's difficult to break and incredibly difficult to prosecute. This doesn't seem like a difference in fact as much as a difference in interpretation. Even if Darby Allin views it differently, there is nothing in this accusation that appears implausible in the slightest. The problem is there is nothing to pin Allin here, unless he shows a pattern.

That's one of the amazing things about Eaton to me. We know he's a great worker, possibly the greatest tag worker of all time, and we only have half of his career on tape.

GABLE!!!