NintendoLogic

It's gutsy because of the risk of Chicago fans hijacking the show. You have to think there's no way TK would run that risk unless he felt his hand was absolutely forced. You know, the mentality that an eight-year veteran is a snot-nosed rookie might be part of the problem here.

If nothing else, suspending Punk right before a PPV in Chicago is certainly a gutsy move. TK must want to make it clear that no one is above the law. That, or Punk pushed him to his breaking point.

I thought Sammy just called Eddie fat in a promo without clearing it with him beforehand. My understanding is that Sammy wasn't suspended in the Eddie and Andrade incidents because he didn't fight back either time.

Fenix and AR Fox both had to be pulled from All In due to visa issues, so it could be the travel coordinator is just really bad at his job.

The Hogan spots killed Joe/Punk for me. They turned what up to that point had been a serious title/grudge match into a joke.

There was an article about Cassandro in the New Yorker a while back. One passage in particular stuck with me: "The character who interested me the most was Platanito, the referee. He did a fine job of being diabolical. He would seem to be imposing order, keeping the rudos in line, but then, at a critical moment, he would fail and reveal his weakness, his corruption. A técnico would be getting unlawfully stomped by a three-man tag team, and Platanito would suddenly jump in and join them, unable to resist the fun. Lucha libre referees have complex, only semi-managerial roles. They are much like the Mexican government, only funnier." It got me to thinking about a possible connection between the role of pro wrestling referees in different cultures and the culture's broader views of authority figures.

Not gonna lie, that tribute video hit me right in the feels.

I thought Patterson was blowaway great in that first Backlund match. Between offense, selling, bumping, and psychology, he was the total package. That match is probably the best example we have on tape of the Roy Shire formula of every match containing elements of technical wrestling, brawling, and high spots. I thought the ending was brilliant as well as it left plenty on the table for a rematch without feeling like a total cop-out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CwOMKtJP9Cd/ Looks like Cora Jade has become enhancement talent, if you catch my drift.

The Shield/Wyatt Family feud was unquestionably Bray's in-ring high point, but drawing a straight line from it to the Bloodline feels like a pretty big stretch.

There are no words. No father should have to bury his son.

I'm pleasantly surprised the NYT obit didn't describe his time as Chainsaw Charlie as the high point of his career. Have any of you ever heard anyone offer a contrarian take on Terry Funk? I know I haven't. People may have argued that other wrestlers were better, but I've never seen anyone even attempt to claim that he wasn't really that great. Just about every other serious GOAT candidate has been picked apart to some degree, but not him. Says it all, really.

Bryan sounds like a typical dumb wrestler whenever he speaks out of character, so that's very much on-brand for him. In other news, the Torch is reporting that Edge is believed to be AEW-bound once his current deal expires. His last WWE run was mostly trash and Edge and Christian vs. the Hardy Boyz in 2023 sounds like a nightmare, but I'll admit to being intrigued by the prospect of E&C vs. FTR. By the way, Metalingus is like Cult of Personality in that WWE licenses it but doesn't own it, so TK can acquire the rights to use it if he so chooses.

Just yesterday, I was rewatching the time he got kicked by a horse while wrestling Chris Candido in a stable. What a career he had. Truth be told, the writing was on the wall with the announcement that he had been placed in assisted living with dementia. And by all accounts, he wasn't the same after his wife died. Relieved isn't the right word, but I can take a measure of solace in the fact that his suffering is at an end.

Dustin Rhodes was in Maui during the wildfires. It might have something to do with that.

Boring isn't bad if it works. Some of the most successful bookers in history (Sam Muchnick, Giant Baba, Vince the Elder) were incredibly formulaic and rarely if ever ran wild angles. A booker's job at the end of the day is to generate business, and HHH's recent track record in that regard can hardly be faulted.

He clearly took Arn's Glock promo to heart.

That reminds me:

The Becky/Lacey feud was the shits. Nearly killed Becky's title reign right out the gate. I still have nightmares about that mixed tag with Corbin and Seth.

It just goes to show that sometimes you either have it or you don't. She seems like she'd be a can't-miss prospect on paper with her looks, athletic ability, and life story. But her in-ring never even reached the point of passable and she wasn't nearly charismatic enough to compensate. I suppose she can always go to AEW and make sure Sammy Guevara's working on his forward rolls. They hired Madison Rayne as a coach, so the bar obviously isn't terribly high.

Punk cutting an unscripted promo on Hangman isn't backstage hearsay. It happened in the middle of the ring and was caught on tape. By the way, let's rethink the notion that every instance of Punk lashing out is in response to some secret provocation by the Elite. The only public acknowledgment of the situation by the Bucks and Omega was the match in Chicago where they did the spots mocking Punk, which was childish and lame. I refuse to believe those clowns are such diabolical puppet masters that Punk just can't help repeatedly stumbling into their sinister traps.

It's one thing if everyone agrees to treat Collision as Punk's personal sandbox that is off limits to anyone who has made it onto his shit list for whatever reason. But if he's kicking people out after they've already been flown in, he's costing the company money for no good reason. TK needs to nip that in the bud with the quickness.

It's increasingly obvious that Punk really wants a program with the Elite. And my understanding is that Omega and the Bucks continue to rebuff him privately and he's contractually prohibited from calling them out publicly, so picking a fight with Hangman is his best shot for opening that door.

He doesn't sound so much unhinged as gotten to by some petty annoyance. Making fun of Hangman's toy sales? And complaining about the HOB chopping him after he told them not to? Just bizarre all around.

I mean, Dandy was a jobber in WCW. There wasn't anything more to it than a cowardly heel building up a much lower ranked opponent as a challenger because he wanted to avoid a real challenge. I remember Dandy favoriting a bunch of Bret matches on his YouTube channel when I came across it a while back, so there were evidently no hard feelings over the promo.