C.S.

Credit where it's due, they're selling the hell out of this match.

Broken Skull Sessions with The King is good fun. Probably my favorite episode yet. Likely nothing new for most of us, but still a fun trip down memory lane - especially the Andy Kaufman stuff and stories about Jim Carrey and Man on the Moon. King's obvious plastic surgery is a tad bit distracting at first though. Also, it may just be me, but his accent seems slightly more Southern in this setting. Despite him being the King of Memphis Wrestling, he's never really sounded like a Southerner to me before.

My impressions after 24 hours: This week's Torch Newsletter was 90% show and PPV recaps, with a main story (the Reigns turn), two columns, and a tiny section of forgettable news tidbits. I get that the show results need to be preserved for historical purposes or whatever, but there has to be a better way go about it. Overall, I found the latest issue very disappointing and lacking. Has Keller even done a Torch Talk in a long time? He's very mistaken if he doesn't think that's still his bread and butter.

Was talking about this with a friend last night... I hope AEW didn't sign Matt Sydal. To me, guys like that are a colossal waste of money - no matter how cheap they work, because that budget can still be used better elsewhere. Do I have anything against Sydal? Not really. He's...fine. But they have a lot of guys already who can do the same style, and they're younger and flashier than Sydal is. IMO, if AEW had to do it all over again, they wouldn't have opened the purse strings for Shawn Spears (who I like), Pac, Jake Hager, and people like that. Sydal is on the same list in my mind. I can at least justify Zack Ryder because he always got far more over than his push and station would dictate. If Sydal is just a once-off (or maybe a twice-off so he can make up for "Shockmastering" the first time), that's fine. Even as a surprise, I think the majority reaction was "oh, that guy" and "that's nice, I guess." But okay, still a fun use of him. More than that, why bother? My friend mentioned Chris Hero as someone he'd like to see signed. Even though I thought he was useless in NXT as Kassius Ohno and he's also someone I don't necessarily think AEW should hand a contract to, I can understand that more than someone like Sydal. At least Hero has a cult following of sorts, unlike Sydal, and a unique look, also unlike Sydal. The fact that it hasn't happened yet makes me wonder if AEW just isn't interested in Hero, or maybe Hero isn't interested in AEW for whatever reason?

Just curious: I understand you had to leave for work, but why would you buy a show and then read the results for the second half instead of just watching where you left off? Or did you watch a live feed through *ahem* alternate means? (If that's why you couldn't see the rest of the show, then that makes sense. Otherwise, I am genuinely baffled.)

Who?

It's ROH, which is easily the sleaziest promotion of them all. They've handled Covid remarkably well compared to every other U.S. company, but they've handled everything else so poorly. Remember Bubba Ray dragging a fan backstage and intimidating him? And let's not even get started on Sinclair Broadcasting.

Pretty sure Enzo debunked that by saying he found out when WWE did. Whether Enzo was being truthful is another story. How Swann still has a job anywhere, and why Su Yung is still with him, is beyond me.

Not sure, but at 99 cents, I'd say it's worth the gamble to find out. Update: I gave it a try. No real impressions to report as of yet - I haven't even checked out more than a few lines of the latest newsletter at this point - but it does seem to run well on mobile. Is the Observer site design still outdated hot trash? I don't care about audio, so that's not a draw for me on either site.

People in the U.S. should bitch about the price because it's $20 in the rest of the world. That has been a massive turn-off to me from day one.

As awful as that sounds, I don't want J.R. to retire. But bring in Mauro. A J.R.-Mauro Dream Team is something I need at least once in my life.

No way. Conrad can barely feign interest in '80s NWA, according to you guys, so what makes you think he gives a shit about SMW?

It's a shitty point though, because Vince would definitely make an example out of a few lower carders. Doubt Punk will be paying their bills after doling out such irresponsible trollish advice.

Thought this deserved its own thread... Shit just got real! Politician Andrew Yang goes after WWE. Actress Lea Thompson responds.

UPDATE Batista just responded. ANOTHER UPDATE (9/14/20) This isn't going away... Andrew Yang On How A Joe Biden And Kamala Harris Win Could Help WWE Wrestlers

Agreed, @clintthecrippler. It's not like "workrate" had any factor on PWI's rankings in the '80s, other than their pro-NWA, anti-WWF bias, which was obvious and embarrassing. In the end, Blair was the more successful of the two anyway - kayfabe and otherwise. Brunzell was legitimately a Brooklyn Brawler/Jim Powers-type, "who the fuck is this?" no-name jobber by the early '90s - Blair probably saved his money and wrestled for the love of it by then. He later became a politician and may still be one today. No idea what Brunzell has been up to.

Not a chance. There's official UUDD merchandise on the WWE Shop website, including a facemask. It's not going anywhere.

Oh yeah, Jesus, that's horrible.

What is so much worse about that bio than the others you listed?

What is there to apologize for, at least with the Scurll listing? Considering the lack of space, I thought they did a fine job summarizing the situation. Obviously, the PWI 500 is not the place for a nuanced description of these issues, but not mentioning it would've been criticized too. I guess I'm not seeing the problem here or missing some greater point.

Can't help but think you're all going to be very disappointed when Thatcher is called up to the main roster. After winning a starter feud with Ziggler or Corbin, he's going to be an opening card guy.

Did Vince tell him he got it from Paul Heyman?

He has something like this on his own site if you're a subscriber - Confessions of a Hitman. I can't remember if it's a podcast or video series. You can probably find recaps on various newz sites. Conrad isn't involved though.

What a waste of fucking time that was!