Al

Loving your hometown when it's a crummy place is still a charming quality.

Danhausen spoiling the Wordle each morning would be the hottest heel in the country.

Ditto. I can get behind a Simon and Hecubus rehash.

I'm still waiting for them to give Mimi Lesseos a call.

Agreed. I have no desire to see Sting go out on his back. (I do like Loss's idea of one more title shot.) This doesn't need to be any more than it is.

That feels like something where the whole point is just to kneecap the other indie shows running that weekend.

I figure the reason they got Mickie is that it's one thing to fill the match with names but she's a person who can actually direct the match, especially with Sasha and Bayley out.

I went to an Impact/PPW show at the Steamtown Mall in Scranton two years ago. I wasn’t well versed in Indy wrestling, didn’t know who Jimmy Jacobs was. When I went to the bathroom he ended up at the next urinal and all I knew is he was one of the Impact crew and apparently wearing heels. If I knew who he was I would’ve told him they rocked. But there’s really no good way to have that conversation anyway. Most of the industry people are difficult to interview. Julius Smokes especially was guarded from a kayfabe perspective. Jacobs is absolutely the best guest on the part this far. Absolutely tremendous.

Seriously. Walter would be a great heel challenger for Drew McIntyre or Big E. Even Brock.

Impact has risen to a point where even if it's not must see tv week-to-week I'll rarely be unhappy that I devoted an hour or two (or three) to watching them and I'd gladly attend a house show.

No disrespect to Lita. But my goodness there's so much female talent in wrestling right now and they can't promote any of it?

The issue with AEW isn’t the ratings as much as their existence driving up the pay scale. Pre-AEW Vince could pay guys whatever the hell he wanted, just enough that talent couldn’t make more money by quitting and working at Bennigans. Now he has to pay his talent something closer to their actual worth. His only concern with AEW’s ratings is whether it keeps them on the air.

It always struck me that if you aren't well remembered five years after your prime, that probably does not say much for your Hall of Fame candidacy. I have long thought the age requirement was too low. The problem is that changing it results in a 5+ year dead period where no one new becomes eligible, and HOF interest starves without new inductees. But you can't have that low age requirement and then drop people their first year. Dave likes to copy baseball's system but it just doesn't work. I like to use Sgt. Slaughter as an example. If the Observer Hall were around in the '80s he would be eligible in 1984. Year after the Greensboro cage, fresh off the WWF run, no way he doesn't get in, right?

If an indy promotion did an outdoor show on the fourth of July and promised fireworks, they'd draw 5,000 almost anywhere. People are nuts.

Just watched Backlund/Koloff. I’m not a repository of star ratings but I’d consider it in the **** range. It’s a good match in a way that’s quite different from most modern wrestling and that’s great.

The company was started with people in power who are also active wrestlers. If they book their friends they piss off workers outside their bubble. Outside the bubble they destroy friendships. How much does Tony get involved? These are all rhetorical questions, the point is you can only push so many people and there are bound to be hurt feelings. It’s a minefield that I’m not sure Tony is prepared to navigate. Also if this is a ploy to make Tony an evil boss, that’s also a bad idea. The evil authority figure is beyond played out and it would only create more bad feelings to give that spot to Tony rather than an experienced worker.

I don't necessarily disagree with the assessment. We tend to overrate working ability when it comes to drawing fans, especially casual fans. But the advantage wrestlers with indy backgrounds have over raw PC trainees is that the indy wrestlers are more likely to tolerate the grind because they've already done it.

Always good stuff. Maybe at this point in his career Pirata Morgan does hair matches less for the payday and more for the free haircuts.

This is probably coincidence but I’m watching 1983 at the Spectrum. John Studd grabs the mic and tells Arnold Skaaland “the only way I’m gonna let him (Backlund) go is when you throw in the towel!”

It reminds me of Gargano/Ciampa. The first Takeover match was great, an epic. Then they went out next time and did it again. At that point I know Gargano and Ciampa could have a great match, but I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to invest myself emotionally again. I can get into a match where I don't know what to expect and they end up dragging me in for however long it goes. But when you KNOW it's going at least 30, why even bother paying attention for the first 15-20 minutes?

I read it more as frustration that their personal lives are out there for public consumption, which is understandable.

Wish Hardy the best obviously but he shouldn't wrestle again.

Today’s One Man Gang is an NFL offensive lineman.

It's kind of the same dynamic as Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn. At their best they fill in the lulls while you're waiting for the peak. Ironically Kal's wife Lucille passed away two days after her husband. They had been married 63 years. Legendary South Jersey music business insider Kal Rudman and his wife, Lucille, have died (msn.com)

The 2013 Marlins. Fire sale, loud colors, garish sculpture in center field, 100 losses.