NintendoLogic

In his apology, he said that he was tweeting from the perspective of the redneck character Jay Briscoe and wasn't expressing the real-life views of the person Jamin Pugh. I don't know if I buy that, but the people who heard his apology thought he sounded sincere. Either way, he hasn't done anything of the sort since, which is what really counts. If he isn't espousing hateful rhetoric and is able to work with gay people without issue, does it really matter what his personal views are?

Keep in mind that most laymen get their ideas about how the criminal justice system works from shows like Breaking Bad.

ROH has felt like a zombie promotion to me ever since the MSG show where they looked embarrassingly bush-league compared to New Japan. It does suck that the company that was the most responsible in responding to the pandemic ended up getting hurt the most by it.

He's from the Italian province of South Tyrol, which is primarily German-speaking. But multilingualism is a way of life for Europeans.

From the Observer daily update (emphasis added): This company is falling apart and it's awesome.

Of all the reports of the incident that have come out, the only one that paints Charlotte in a positive light is from a guy (Alex McCarthy of Talksport) she has a history of feeding stories to. It's easy to say that her job is safe because Vince would never hand top tier talent to the opposition, but it seems just as likely that AEW would steer clear of someone who's such a head case that Vince let her go in the middle of a wrestling war. They kicked Ivelisse to the curb for far less.

Also, you generally have to work a cut over to produce a full-blown crimson mask. In boxing and MMA, most fights would be stopped well before reaching that point. Also, those sports have breaks in between rounds that allow cuts to be treated. Blood in wrestling was a selling point for guys like Bill Watts. He'd say that a pussy like Roberto Duran might say "no mas" after coming down with stomach cramps, but Ted DiBiase has the guts to fight through severe blood loss.

I'm not going to lie, this whole situation is the most interesting thing that's happened in WWE in I can't even remember how long.

I'm a bit surprised to see Akiyama's amateur career described as rather lackluster. Wasn't he an Olympic alternate? I don't know if the author made an error or Akiyama simply misremembered, but Misawa and Kawada faced Gordy and Williams on 12/6/91. Jumbo and Taue faced Hansen and Spivey on the same card. Also, this is a common misconception, but the RWTL didn't have an official final for the first two decades of its existence. The last match was usually a de facto final in that whichever team won it would win the league. A tiebreaker match was necessary in 1986 and from 1995 to 1997 due to a tie at the top of the standings. 1998 was the first time that the top two teams regardless of points went on to the final.

What do Charlotte and Nia have in common (besides being obvious beneficiaries of nepotism)? They're both WWE products who've never worked outside the company. Another bang-up job by the Performance Center.

Charlotte is a known source for Alex McCarthy, so anything he reports about her has to be taken with a grain of salt. Also consider that whenever a women's match or segment completely falls apart, it almost always involves the same person, and it ain't Becky.

Leaving bruises and welts is part of convincing the audience. How believable would it be for two guys to seemingly beat the hell out of each other and not leave a mark? Obviously, blading your chest like Tenryu did against Kobashi is the way to go.

Punk/Garcia vs. Danielson/Fish is the closest thing we have to an apples-to-apples comparison. They're matches of similar length centered around leg work from a lower-ranked opponent. I don't think it can be denied that Punk's performance was clearly superior in terms of selling and storytelling. Danielson literally did not sell the leg at all when he went back on offense. I suspect audience expectation was a big part of that, though. The fans by and large don't want to see Bryan project vulnerability, they want to see him kick people's heads in. Also, fans have been conditioned to view limb work as a time sink with no real significance. When it does factor into the story of the match, it seems to go over their heads. I've even seen people claim that the Garcia match had no story, which is mind-boggling to me. Recall that Bryan/AJ at the 2019 Rumble, which was built around dual limb work and featured pretty impeccable selling from both men, went over like a lead balloon. Maybe that made Bryan decide that trying to get modern fans to appreciate limb selling was a fool's errand.

Danielson/Suzuki losing out to a Seth Rollins match for match of the week honors in the Observer is almost as big an L as Roman losing in the demo to the Bunny. It feels to me like the folks trying to argue that the strike exchanges were appreciably different from the norm are bending over backwards to give Danielson the benefit of the doubt. There are ways to do strike exchanges intelligently, but "two rams colliding with each other to establish dominance" is the exact opposite of that. It's just as dumb as SANADA releasing skull end on an unconscious opponent so he can miss a moonsault. I think brother funkdoc hit the nail on the head when he said that fans as a whole are into strike exchanges because they're stupid and they want wrestlers to be big dumb anime heroes. I'm afraid that's something I'll never accept in pro wrestling or any other medium. Suffice it to say that the valorization of stupidity is one of the main reasons the country (and the world as a whole) is in the shape it's in.

I haven't listened to Cornette's comments, but I imagine it was something to the effect of WALTER using tricks for stuff like blows to the head and directing the really stiff shots at safe places like the thick parts of the chest and back.

WWE sounds like the worst place on Earth to work for. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if this is where Roman's "acknowledge me" catchphrase comes from.

I've seen it suggested that NHL fans aren't like NFL or NBA fans because they tend to follow specific teams rather than the sport as a whole. So someone who's, say, a Penguins fan isn't necessarily going to tune in to a Bruins or Maple Leafs game just to watch hockey.

Who would be considered the biggest Japanese star who wrestled primarily under their real name? Rikidozan, Inoki, Baba, Choshu, Tsuruta, and Tenryu are all out. I believe Fujinami is as well because his ring name is written with different kanji than his real name although the pronunciation is the same. Who does that leave? Akira Maeda? Chigusa Nagayo?

So, wrestling... Several years ago, JBL on commentary called Heyman the greatest manager of all time. Ever since then, I've periodically wondered who really deserves that title (in kayfabe). Heyman is an obvious candidate, as is Bobby Heenan. Lou Albano topped Bruno when he was seemingly invincible and managed a boatload of tag team champions. The Grand Wizard deserves consideration for what he did with Stan Stasiak and Superstar Graham in the WWWF and Sheik in Detroit before that. Who else?

I recommend revisiting the 2/3 falls match against Sheamus. Off the top of my head, I'd say he looked about as dangerous there as he does in AEW.

I liked Punk/Garcia the most out of all the matches either man has had so far. Punk coming back as a Bret Hart tribute act has been the most pleasing wrestling development of 2021 for me. I especially appreciate the fact that he maintains a degree of subtlety about it and doesn't quite beat you over the head with it the way, say, Eddie Kingston does with his All Japan tribute stuff.

I thought WALTER was adamant that he had no desire to relocate to the US full-time. Then again, the wrestling scene in Europe seems to be in pretty rough shape now, so maybe that changed his perspective.

You mean the same Austin whose heel turn virtually single-handedly killed the last wrestling boom in America? Yeah, great example.

Someone posted this on the F4W board in reference to the Rampage ratings and it's too hilarious to not share.

Yikes.