MoS

I have loved whatever Rocky Johnson footage K have watched. A star wherever he went. His son is renowned for his charisma, but Johnson was an extremely charismatic performer who succeeded in a business that was far more racist than it is now. RIP Soulman.

Dynamite airs early Thursday mornings here; I could watch live last year but I've had some work this year so I catch up on it later. - The Elite are treated on TV as bigger stars than they are, but they absolutely are over huge to the live crowds and that makes their matches hot. I liked the atoryline progression with Page and the Elite as well. That's a slow build that's being done well. - I honestly did not like Cody making inside references about old-school heels and being appreciated by a minute section of old-school wrestlers and others. I understand that 2020 is a very different time from the Monday Night Wars and the AEW core fanbase is familiar with these terms, but I am never a fan of doing this shit on TV. It's Russo-esque worked shoot bullcrap. Apart from that bit, though, Cody cut another excellent promo. I like how he is not portraying himself as just plucky, but also as smart and intelligent. Modern wrestling has too many faces that are plain stupid. He does not need to be another Sting. - This week has to be make or break for the Nightmare Collective, doesn't it? Tony Khan says every week that they are listening to the fans. Well, as TTK pointed out, this entire match died in front of what was otherwise a very hot crowd. NXT airs much later here and I haven't seen it yet so I don't know what the cross-programming was, but I would have absolutely switched over if I had the option. If viewers tune out in droves, I hope they kill this stupid angle. Just make Brandi Cody's babyface manager against MJF. And I find it amusing that the Nightmate Collective and Dark Order segments are almost always booked back-to-back. Like there are trying to get rid of all the unpopular parts of the show in one go. - MJF is great. DDP looked good. Can't wait for MJF to respond to Cody. - Mox-Guevera was good, but the spotlight was obviously on the post-match, which was absolutely brilliant. Because I am also a fan of bad puns, I loved Jericho's subsequent backstage promo as well. Jericho is doing a brilliant job of maintaining his heat and cred as the world champ while often showing ass and making others look great. Given the fact that in the last couple of years, he has got multiple angles and matches over in multiple promotions, can an argument be made for him to be one of the GOATs? It's something that would have never entered my mind 3 years ago, but as I have said multiple times, he is having the run of his life. - PAC-Allin was excellent. Mox is best when used in short bursts, so I liked the fact that he did not get another interview today, but got a brief moment where he kicked open the ambulance with an eye-patch on and told PAC to shut it. It helped end the episode on a great note, which means the damage done by the Nightmare Collective was contained at least. - I would also like to point out one of the little things AEW does that helped them this episode. They have always made a point of having faces rush to save fellow faces from heel beatdowns, something WWE doesn't really care about. When no one came out to Mox's aid, the commentators pointed that out and talked about how one of the disadvantages of being a lone wolf like Mox is you won't have any allies in situations like this. It made the angle feel bigger and more important. They have also used it to get over the Elite's story with Page. Again, a little thing, but little things do add up.

They are also getting another show apparently. From the WON website:

WWE would have been such a better place the last two decades if Triple H was actually as funny and good as he clearly thinks he is.

Wrestlekingdom was intensely memorable, but not just because the wrestling was amazing. It was also because all the wrestlers and their characters, motivations and stories had been built and the fans cared about them. When Okada made his entrance on the first night, the roof blew off. I don't think I have ever heard a reaction like that in a dome/stadium - where noise dissipates more - in the last 15 years. At that point, he could have had a 10 minute sprint and the fans would have still gone apeshit. Meanwhile, NXT last week had a couple of excellent matches and I don't think they will be even focused on tomorrow because every show on TV has multiple excellent matches.

Leo's best acting performance was in The Aviator.

Having never seen Brian Cage, how is he? I read he has signed a multi-year contract, so they must be really wanting him.

What really killed Roman was not beating Brock in the WM rematch, then receiving another shot because he...cut some promos about being held down, and once again not beating Brock at the Saudi event. Like sure, they said he was screwed in the match, but after a point, why would anyone care? Roman had been in main events for years by that point and he had still not been coronated. It just made no sense and then they booked him like an afterthought after he came back from cancer.

My hope is that she crossbodied Luther instead of directly attacking Statlander in the match and then rushed to her defence after the pin - showing babyfaces coming out to help each other is one of the little things AEW is nailing - so there is no residual resentment by viewers. Watching it, I felt bad for Riho, cuz after the first bit of interference, she had the crowd chanting her name and then she and Kris put on a really good couple of minutes of wrestling and got the crowd back in the match. Then Kong interfered yet again and the finish got ruined.

This really shows what being in a bubble can do, because I genuinely thought it was mostly a meme now.

The only time I think people genuinely became disgusted enough to not watch any wrestling for a good while was after the Benoit murders, but that of course is in another universe of awfulness.

I completely understand your overall point about wrestling being a scummy business populated with shitty people - one of the best wrestlers of his time was a Klansman after all - and that it sucks when we find out more about our favourites' bad side. I also completely understand not caring and watching anyway. Any of us who have been wrestling fans for an extended period of time have done that about multiple wrestlers, simply because as I said, this is a business filled with scummy people. In this case, however - and it's why I quoted only specific parts of your post - Tessa spitting on a black wrestler and using the n-word at least was vouched for by several people. It was also made clear that the woman in question did not come forward at that time cuz she was afraid of getting blackballed, something I don't think anybody would seriously dispute. In this particular case, I don't think we need more than hearsay to draw our own conclusions. Of course our conclusions don't "matter" but when someone literally asks for judgment by posting a bulkshit tweet about women supporting women, I also think it's fair to listen and make conclusions about these allegations/incidents and not just think about them as hearsay and dismiss them. Not saying that this should determine your decision to watch or enjoy her, but she brought this upon herself and if skeletons are tumbling out cuz she left her closet open, I say let them tumble out. I don't think knowing stuff like this about wrestlers is a bad thing; we should at least have an idea about how scummy they are.

Also, do people still do the "Cannot be racist cuz they have a black/POC friend/partner/favourite comedian/whatever thing? Unironically?

Apparently, Roman and Corbin will wrestle yet again at the Royal Rumble. And they will both be in the rumble so there will probably be some bullshit there as well. With every single passing week, Dylan's "political hit" theory seems more and more indisputable.

Hopefully, Brandi understands that it's Riho who is the ratings draw....

No, I agree that he always had a rep for being a snarky asshole. However, that was considered just one factor in his perception; the defiant indy guy who was telling it like it is also made him beloved. Now though, all people seem to think of him is that he is a snarky asshole. Difference is no one seems to take him seriously anymore in my experience.

It's fascinating to think about when exactly Punk's rep as snarky, defiant iconoclast changed to just being a hypocritical snarky asshole. After he got clowned twice in UFC? After he came back to WWE - people can keep saying it's a Fox decision and not a WWE decision as much as they want, I have a hard time believing they could put him on without Vince's approval? After he counter-sued Cabana? This is certainly anecdotal, but unlike 2014, no one seems to like Punk or care about anything he says anymore. The only time he gets some support is when he goes against Seth Rollins, and that is the ultimate damning with faint praise. His comeback to Backstage has also not resulted in nearly the kind of ratings bump they were likely expecting.

I was going to mention Scarface in response, but then I remembered it's two years before the cut-off

The best thing leading out of this show is Meltzer reviewing it and recalling the time when he got double detention in 6th grade because he corrected his teacher when she said "Elvis has sold the most records in history" and 11-year Dave apparently spoke up and said something like "That's not true, as a matter of fact, the Beatles have overtaken them as of this date."

Hopefully this week is a one-off for NXT. The 18-49 rating was low and if that continues, Vince will want to start running it.

Count me in as one of the haters of the Nightmare Collective angle. The Dark Order angle was no fun either - and I cannot believe it happened right after the Nightmare Collective angle - but at least it happened after the match and did not go on for fucking forever. If this bombs in the ratings, then it's a message as clear as any can be that it needs to go away, since Riho is a proven ratings draw. If NXT aired live here, I would have definitely switched over.

The main event of night two was excellent, and KENTA got massive heat interrupting Naito. I also thought Jericho-Tanahashi was nearly as good, and in some ways, even more remarkable, given their age and other limitations. It was a different kind of match from the usual NJPW main event and I enjoyed it thoroughly. They did not go overboard with the smokes and mirrors, and while I don't really like Tanahashi, he was good here. Jericho is clearly having the run of his life. Wrestler of the year 2019 for me and already on his way to make a strong case for 2020 as well.

It is Sunday afternoon here in India and I am saving the viewing of the 2nd night for today evening, and hoping against hope I do not get spoiled as far as the main singles matches are concerned. Any idea what the 2nd night attendance is? I know they did not sell out the 2nd night, at least as of Thursday, but the ticket sales were reportedly very good. Overall, would this 2-night show be the biggest money-maker for NJPW this century? Certainly since the bottom fell out in the mid-2000s.

Ordinarily the no-selling might have annoyed me, but Ibushi no-selling a dropkick and getting right back on his feet right after he had snapped was an awesome awesome moment. It made sense in the context and Ibushi was the perfect guy to do it.

Something related to this I have been thinking about - is Okada the first Japanese star to sell out MSG? The 2018 NJPW/ROH MSG crowd was clearly there to see a New Japan show, and Okada was by some distance the star of the night. I know Japanese wrestlers have been in headlining positions in sold-out Garden shows, but I don't know if any Japanese star has actually sold out the Garden on their drawing power before Okada.