Dav'oh

This love triangle between Brock and Roman with Paul E in the middle is gold.

Very good main event with great near-falls and the right winner (I don't think anyone expects in-depth analysis from me ).

Osprey rocking the Diogo Jota hairstyle like a girl.

Okada last night reminded me that the space between his moves is waaaaaay too long; hopefully Osprey can make the match a bit more dynamic in the first 2/3rds.

Kenta's ladder's so big it doesn't fit in the screen on the hard cam. Lol that he had to build it like it was a Meccano set.

Well, that delayed vertical suplex into a gorilla press by Cobb certainly woke me up. Watching Cobb progress was one of the better things about pro-wrestling in 2021.

Night 2 promises to be better - Robbie Eagles is on it (plus some interesting singles match-ups).

Any Japanese bookies lurking here? What odds for a one-hour draw tonight leading to a three-way tomorrow? Hey! Okada's jacket is an easter egg in the five minutes I've seen of the WWE Studios co-production, "Rumble". Shoulda watched that instead of RAW this morning...

Thinking of adding EVIL vs 1989 Dino Bravo to the "vs" thread on GWE. It's a tough one...

Could go either way, but Tanahashi seems to be made of ever-thicker granite and R-Truth of elastic.

A-ha. No Cheering, Only Clapping Permitted.

Yeah, I was happy to see what looked like a good crowd. The Sho-Yoh feud has been underwhelming, for mine. They try hard but where's the hate?

Fifty not-out is a great innings from Fujinami. 7pm here so this show is an easy watch for me.

It hasn't changed. He tweeted on Christmas Eve basically saying what a pussy/bunch of pussies Nyla and AEW were for getting upset about a sign. Which conveniently completely ignores the context of said sign. “Boy, times have changed. When wrestling drew big crowds, fans got tossed out if they committed physical assault or pulled out a knife. If you’d tossed them for saying horrible things & hurting the wrestlers’ feelings, the buildings would have been empty–like they are now.” I'm not going anywhere near his "empty - like they are now" brainfart.

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Dexter Lumis' original tatts must've been unbelievably shite if blacking them out is a preferable look. Like Hitler shagging Jesus shagging a small boy, or something. I do like how a serial killer is essentially a comedy act, though.

...as AJ Styles heads to NXT, to face Grayson Waller of all people. So he's lost Omos and been demoted to Developmental 4.0 or whatever the real number is (FCW, early-NXT, super-indy NXT, 2.0, game show/ tough enough seasons of NXT, OVW?). It might just be a cameo but It's not a good look.

It's possible that the words "death match" act as modifiers for some fans (me). Like urinal, motor and techno change the meanings of cake, sport and music, respectively. Plus it's a niche within a niche within another niche, so it's an uphill battle to get some broader love for gentlemen like Abby Jr.

How did Daniel Bryan (sic) appearing in a Coca Cola commercial go unmentioned here? It's been out since April and I think it's a pretty big deal - Coca Cola's bigger than Slim Jims. Granted, DB (sic) isn't actively endorsing the product, and the WWE, not DB, most likely received the money for his likeness, but still, it's our boy leading off a worldwide advertising campaign for possibly the most famous brand in the world. Rubbing shoulders with Einstein, Beethoven and Bela Lugosi (and Beavis and Butthead (and Jack Black)), no less. Blink and you'll miss it here:

I was going to do Killer Kowalski vs Volk Han, but was worried it would be seen as trolling. I think contemporaneous accounts and contemporaries' accounts, as well as the historical record in all its forms, can paint just as big a picture of someone as the video vault can, if not bigger. It's how much one trusts the sources, I guess. We know Kowalski travelled every tent, barnyard, high-school gym, armory and town hall, getting over with a new audience every night after night after night after night. We know he graduated to worldwide heeldom, stardom and main-events, and there's enough footage of him (barely) to give us a glimpse as to what he did to convince every crowd he worked in front of that he was worth paying to see next time. I think we can say the same for Johnny Valentine (for the longest time - and I may be wrong here - it felt like Johnny was primarily known as "Greg's dad"; I think projects like this have turned that around). Volk preached to the choir once every two months on average. Johnny and Wladek are better wrestlers to me precisely because they were thrown in at the deep end every night and did triple fucking Lindys for nearly three decades apiece.

NJPW president Takami Ohbari gave an interview to Tokyo Sports and talked about WrestleKingdom. "I would like to have around 10 matches on both days. I want to make the content and amount suitable for the beginning of the 50th anniversary. I want to build it.” Do they have the cattle for twenty matches?

The more I learn about Inoki, the more I wonder how much weight to give "Insanity" when making his Greatest Wrestler Ever case. It's a huge part of what made him whatever one thinks he is, and thanks for this peek into his nascent lunacy.

Shifting from Vince as Mr. Burns to Vince as Homer, I think it goes "Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins". "Vince McMahon, smiling politely". I thought "Baron Corbin" was one of many names on a list, but I didn't think Vince had any input on the NXT random-name generator. I'm happy to be wrong, though.

I don't know...given how rehearsed NXT big matches are (I couldn't stand the acclaimed Dunne v Bate match from a few years back, it was so inorganic, ditto Bayley v Sasha), it only tells me he can remember his spots. Not having seen the match yet, I may be being a bit harsh, but TakeOver matches in the past have never felt like they were listening to the crowd, rather listening to an agent through an earpiece.

There's Just One Problem: Inside the WWE with Demented-but-True Stories of Mayhem, Metal Chairs, and Major Insanity Here's the blurb for Brian Gerwitz' book (nothing exciting, it's almost kayfabe (the blurb, not the book)):