El-P

Yeah. I'd say up until 97, Joey was awesome. Much like the entire promotion (I will never ever cease to love ECW). I never thought his team with Cyrus worked that well either, but maybe it was because of the stupid Network gimmick. Joey worked better solo anyway to me.

Understood, but I think I've stated that fact on PWO an regular occasions in the 10 years + I've been here (damn, I STILL sound old). Basically, the more I have watched and re-watched stuff, the less I thought of JR. His peaks are all time great, no argument.

Come on man, you know better than this. I was calling JR overrated 20 years ago (fuck me I sound old). He was downright insufferable at times, like during the UWF days when it seems like he was on coke. His best stuff was his WWF work in the mid 90's (up until let's say 98 ? I was downright poor as early as the early 00's), Mid-South before it became UWF and times in WCW whenever Watts was NOT in charge. He's not been good at all in AEW thus far, and actually is getting worse and worse.

Yeah, that's why he was so annoying at times too.

Joey Ryan was a founder of PWG. As such, he's had a much bigger impact on pro-wrestling as you'd think. And he's by all accounts a good guy and an excellent worker who knows how to get over, no matter what you think of the dick flip. And honestly, after this latest homophobic insults toward Omega, well, I hope Corny gets booted the fuck out of NWA. At some point, you just draw the fucking line. I just did. I made excuses for Corny for way too long now.

I do think Corny has been insane for a long time now, but some of us (well, I plaid guilty on this one) did not want to admit that because all of his rage was focused on Vince Russo, basically the antechrist of pro-wrestling. Still, when he said on one of the Vice documentary last year that he wish he would outlive Russo to piss on his grave (which he had said before in shoot-interviews where it was thought to be ah ah because it was in the bubble), I was like... wow, really ? On an actual documentary. I know he is working, but still, the amount of bile and hate he is spewing is just ridiculous. Dutch Mantell who worked with both he and Russo in TNA back in the 00's talked about how Corny's hatred was gonna eat him from the inside and that was stupid. I mean, who needs that amount of negativity in his life ? Yeah, he's toxic.

The AXS shows have been really strong I thought thus far. IMPACT is on a roll, they may be at their best since I've been catching up with them from Slammiversary 18. Honestly they are actually better at creating characters than AEW, who are indeed reliyng too much on the idea everyone is already familiar with their workers (it doesn't bother me, but it's the case). IMPACT delivers the little promos and silly vignettes that I want from my weekly US pro-wrestling. Also, the announcing is my favourite. Callis is awesome and he's got a great chemistry with Matthews. It's more relaxed and fun, and very efficient when it's time for actual big serious angles. RVD having a total midlife crisis is brillant. The fact he now teases his big spots but doesn't deliver them is a great callback to Cactus anti-hardcore gimmick in ECW. Been having a lot of fun with Madison Raynes Locker Room Leader stuff. I hope Taya never leaves, she and John E Bravo have a great act and she's just awesome at this point. Lot of good matches this week, and The North vs Marufuji & Edwards is actually my second favourite match of the week (behind Lawlor vs Thatcher on MLW). I just can't wait for the 1983 show… It'll never get emphazised enough, despite the discutable business pratices of the promotion and lack of hype, Callis & D'Amore have done an amazing job rehabing IMPACT in term of the actual product.

I agree 100%. That's absolutely the issue. I disagree 100%. Joey Styles was absolutely a big part of getting the ECW talent over. He wasn't screaming at the top of his lungs all the time. He had the smarky smart-ass references but these were cool and different in the 90's context. He also was alone doing announcing for most of his stint (especially for the best years of ECW), so he had to carry the excitement by himself (and yet, he knew when to amp it up and when to just talk normally). But he knew how to work with a color guy and play off of them, he never buried anyone under constant yelling. Yeah, "Oh my god !" became synonymous with Styles and eventually kinda turned into a gimmick, but it's a simple exclamation, not something that is in essence totally gimmicky like Mauro's annoying "Mamma Mia" or his out of nowhere barrage of pop culture reference. Mauro is a vocal Twitter feed of memes. NXT talent never needed Mauro to get over and he doesn't help. Styles definitely knew how to get people and angles over.

Oh, and by the way "Omega is making a face like his butt plug just fell out." (it was on the same video apparently, I got it from the comments). Ok. No homophobic tone to this stuff at all...

If Corgan is smart, Corny won't be at the next taping. I mean, seriously, he's just losing his mind. Yeah, Memphis has always been the laughing stock of the territories. The style had always been derided for being a bunch of bullshit and gaga by workers who couldn't make it anywhere. And as fun as it was, there was some truth to that. Worst paying territory too. Corny is just being ridiculous.

Do you think it's because they.... trademark hair colors ???? Just joking, but yeah, I wondered why every girl had to have crazy ass hair extensions. And I think Britt has some too. And Brandi. And Tessa now (I think, not sure). Is that the equivalent of every guy in the 80's doing the bleached blonde thing and every guy in the 00's getting awful tribal tatoos ?

And so, Scarlett Bordeaux first appearance on NXT is some random backstage segment. Nice. Anyways. I wonder how they are gonna fuck that one up. She's got everything WWE should love : super hot blonde, she can work, she can be funny. I wish she would have ended up in AEW instead but hey... IMPACT did fuck that up big time, and I would guess Kross is next. I will probably check it out whenever she does her real debut though.

Have you seen the "I'm salty" video ? She's just a rotten actress. Not that even a great one could make this awful angle and script bearable, but she's not bad on purpose. She's just bad at acting. She was really good at cutting wrestling promos with a fake russian accent.

Like he had any choice.

The guys from the 50's thought they couldn't work because they did too much flashy spots and weren't credible enough.

New boom period. Seth Rollins = asses in the seats.

Matching fanny pack. How cute. That's love.

Interesting. I don't see him in WWE at all. IMPACT might grab him. I guess ROH would be interested. AEW, no idea, for some reason, I don't see Tom Lawlor as a super hot free agent. He might also just do indies.

Considering the history of WWE booked invasion angles, that's not very surprising. Yeah, this is really what I thought with this week's show. They are doing the exact opposite of what WCW was doing when they began to lose. No hot-shotting, focus on your own product, build and listen to your own audience.

Well, since we're at it, I guess it's time for this gem. And no, I don't use it when I give French courses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD_rXE9GyyY (sorry for going off topic, although I guess curse words are in line with Corny losing his shit)

I think "putain" is more or less the equivalent of "calice" in the way it's being used and how it's perceived. Maybe it's more vulgar, maybe less, I'm not sure. I say those two words (putain & bordel) all the time (which is why I use "fuck" a lot on the board, because I tend to write like I speak in everyday's life. Like Tony Schiavone once said, I use "fuck" as a coma.)

Funny, because we (I guess younger people do it more ?) tend to do the same thing at times, as "fuck" is gonna sound less vulgar than "putain" or "bordel", only because it's English (much like we say "black" instead of "noir"). I had heard "fucké" before, it sounds sooooo québécois and awesome.

Oh, I totally agree. It was more of a sarcastic take on the somewhat puritanistic climates that sometimes prevails even in (mostly ) intelligent hives like PWO. As far as the Leva Bates character, no idea. It seems like she's really taking into the shitty gimmick, while Avalon is mildly annoyed by the whole thing. I guess at some point she'll do something else.

Glad I'm not the only one not getting the right feel about that main angle, so I don't feel like such an idiot. Kamille is like those old-school valets, Precious or Baby Doll. She doesn't do much, but if she's not there, there's a void.

And they are doing a "Wargames" match with that mentality ? Won't be pasteurized at all...