NintendoLogic

The very first time? Is Jannetty a serial killer?

In another case of being slow on the uptake, I literally just now realized that the name of the Stone Cold Stunner was partially inspired by Austin's previous ring name.

I thought Conti showed a ton of potential in whichever Mae Young Classic she was in, so I was pleased to see that she looked really good in her match. I think she can be a huge star in AEW. On the other hand, I couldn't even finish the Nightmare Sisters match. Diva-tier dreck.

If Shane's big idea is to bring back Brawl for All, that's more evidence that Stephanie is the smart McMahon.

He'd be a better champion than Braun tbh.

Ratings in freefall? The solution is obvious.

Becoming a star in wrestling is lot like becoming a rock star. It takes a combination of talent, charisma, and luck. While there's no foolproof formula, athletic ability and technique seem to be the best starting point. WWE has the athletic part down pat with all the NFL Combine crap they do at the Performance Center, but their creative process removes a crucial part of the equation. Even if the ideas the writers came up with were any good, most wrestlers are terrible actors. If they were any good at acting, they'd be in Hollywood and not at the PC. So they're not going to be nearly as convincing trying to get over a persona created for them as one they came up with and developed themselves, to say nothing of all the unnatural scripted verbiage that even Olivier would have trouble getting over.

It seems just as likely that they'll have a hair match to set up a straight-up wrestling match.

Smackdown isn't an action movie. When I watch a wrestling program, I want to see fucking wrestling. This isn't pro wrestling. It's not even sports entertainment. It's low-budget horror schlock. If I want to see WWE-produced horror, I'll watch See No Evil.

https://shop.wwe.com/motörhead-x-triple-h-hhh-black-t-shirt/028818D2F4.html Triple HHH?

Why should anyone support any of the male babyfaces on this show when none of them had the courage to come to the aid of a defenseless woman?

Remember that before Punk walked out, Bryan was set to face Sheamus in the midcard of WM30 with the main event being Batista's glorious coronation.

I watched EVIL/Hiromu. Seeing Dick Togo as EVIL's second upsets me because I can't help but think how much better it would be if the roles were reversed. Also, the vibe I got from the crowd is that all the Bullet Club bullshit was generating the wrong kind of heat. That stuff has been a staple of the product for a while, but you could usually count on the IWGP title match to deliver serious wrestling. The crowd seemed to be upset in a way that leads to them saying "fuck this shit" as opposed to wanting to see the heels get their comeuppance. It was rather WWE-esque.

The New Japan and AJW dojos and Verne Gagne's training camp turned out plenty of stars, and they all followed the same basic model: take the best natural athletes you can find, weed out the ones not willing to push themselves to the limit, and drill them in the basics until they become second nature before letting them do anything character-wise. That model only seems to work if you have enough world-class athletes applying to allow you to pick from the cream of the crop.

Cena is a story in itself. He was on the verge of being future endeavored before Stephanie heard him freestyling, which led to his white rapper gimmick. The gimmick sucked, but it saved his career.

It's a case of WWE thinking that what worked with one wrestler (Daniel Bryan) will work with anyone even remotely similar. Every subsequent wrestler they've tried the Bryan approach with has been killed dead, and it's questionable whether what they did with Bryan was really the most effective approach. It's tempting to chalk it up to the creative team being filled with soap opera writers with no knowledge of or interest in the sport's history, but the buck ultimately stops with Vince. And he thinks he was completely vindicated in his approach with Bryan. Dave noted that he thought he took a great worker with a bland personality and taught him how to be a star.

In other news, it seems that Excalibur is the latest casualty of woke capitalism. His absence from this episode of Dynamite was apparently related to footage of him using the n-word in a promo in the early days of PWG making the rounds on Twitter. In this case, he appears to be simply laying low until the the heat hopefully dies down as opposed to having been suspended. In any event, the key fact of the matter is that Human Tornado, the black wrestler at whom the promo was directed, was the top babyface in PWG at the time and frequently requested that heels cut race-baiting promos on him, including the n-word. That obviously doesn't excuse it, but an in-character heel promo at a wrestling event is a far cry from something like the Hogan tape. Companies need to stop allowing obvious bad-faith actors to weaponize outrage.

Baron Corbin. The joke writes itself. Then again, FCW was no great shakes in the talent development department either. They haven't had a developmental system that actually developed talent since OVW.

It's more an issue of them not wanting bikini streamers attracting subscribers and donations by showing skin on a platform used by minors. Companies like Blizzard aren't going to want anything to do with them if they become a glorified LiveJasmin.

What if I told you that both were shit?

William Regal once said that the 1978 Rocco/Jones match was his favorite of all time. That should be all the endorsement you need.

The important thing to remember is that revenue this quarter was actually below expectations. The profit was all due to reduced TV expenses. It's also worth noting that most of the wrestlers enjoy doing house shows (and to be quite frank, a lot of them need every opportunity they can get to rehearse their matches). Still, the past few months have hopefully opened their eyes to the raw deal they're getting in having to cover their own road expenses. *cue video of Bayley trying to explain to an incredulous interviewer why it isn't covered by their CBA*

Zack has been on gear for years. Remember: traps don't lie.

Here's Tyler Reks giving Ki and Aries a run for their money in COVID dumbassery. I checked his Twitter account a while back, and he's a major QAnon chud. If the stories about Cena burying him are true, he most likely deserved it.

You can't be serious. Other than a reprehensible race-baiting cheap heat gimmick, there was absolutely nothing distinguishing him from the legions of juiced-up muscleheads who had a cup of coffee in the business in the early-mid 2000s.