El-P

Picture me not surprised. The whole "EVIL is popular" is pure copium to distract from the obvious : Gedo's booking sucks. And yeah, I did love G1 last year and the whole ZSJ ascension. It was awesome. And the Goto win this year was a terrific feel-good story too. But apart from those and the Naito wins the previous year, the booking overall has been bad for a while now. The SANADA title reign still baffles me to this day. The House of Torture shit has been going on for 5 years now (the rumor was at one point that it was Dick Togo's influence, if true this guy needs to be fired yesterday).

Him tagging with Ibushi is really cool too. Ibushi is gonna have to hold the tears. Meanwhile, Tom LaRuffa showed up on ROH tapings. Talk about WCW C-show circa 1999 level of random. Last time I checked he was a conspiracy nut. I guess we can't get a French wrestler that's not embarrassing (remember Shanna ? Damn I really liked Shanna until... oh well).

Aww come on, don't be like that. You don't wanna watch an exciting fight between a South African White Supremacist fanboy and the BFF of one of the worst dictator on the planet ? Why making everything political ? People need their entertainment... ? And I mean, Helio Gracie was himself part of a Brazilian fascist movement called Integralism. And you had Renzo tweeting motivational quote from Himmler in 2012. So yeah, MMA is *very much*, in essence, fascism compatible (to say the least).

Well, I sure am glad I didn't bother spending hours of G1 watch to end up *there*. And I know it probably means Takeshita winning the G1 (right ? RIGHT ?) so at least WK main event should be awesome, but fuck me. Gotta love the discourse in "american NJPW fans" (*sigh*) about EVIL being super over in Japan and shit, but the dismal drawing power of the promotion in the last few years seems to indicate otherwise. Since he got pushed to and around the main event spot, it's been nothing but a disastrous run both creatively and business wise. And yeah, Covid did a number on them, Japanese economy is bad (yet Stardom is doing quite ok, Sumo is drawing), they lost their biggest native and foreign stars. BUT maybe, just maybe, the House of Torture up and down the cards, no matter how much merch they sell, has been actively hurting the product ? Maybe SANADA was a complete flop as a world champion when better candidates were around ? Maybe the push of the "New Three Musketeers" (who BTW are pretty much all around 30 years old already) has been completely mismanaged ? For the first time since I got back following the current product ten years ago, I'm not gonna bother watching the G1 final (yeah, it will probably a terrific match anyway, but guess what, I have no desire watching even a terrific EVIL match, and there's always the actual risk he might win, and that has go-away heat with me). Ya know, there's an irony about Forbidden Door not looking that much Forbidden Doorish this year when infact, there's not much you wanna get from NJPW anyway right now, apart from a few cool matches that aren't really PPV worthy (I love Taichi and would love having him involved, but he doesn't mean that much if at all to the Western audience). The CMLL partnership has been much better and there's probably a reason why (CMLL being hot as fuck and great, ya know).

NO ! Damnit, read the thread ! ? Scotty 2 Hotty is. DDP is still doing the Yoga stuff and is also sharing idiotic MAGA shit on his social medias.

I really wasn't making any point about Scotty 2 Hotty per say (my entire point was about DDP, which I actively care about since I paid for his app and now he's sharing this kind of shit). I ended by "sadly" because, even apart from the fact he indeed happily paraded in an idiotic MAGA rap video, he's been exposed as a raging imbecile for a while, refusing to work with a non-binary wrestler at an indie show and then whining about being "cancelled" because of it. He's a fucking idiot and I have no idea why AEW would employ a guy like him. (and really now, even if we talk pro-wrestling only (see what I did ?), his resume is doing the W.O.R.M. and having a 3* match with Dean Malenko once)

And so Ace Austin is All Elite. Interview with Alicia Atout on social media, confronted by Ricochet. It's been confirmed the guy has signed. Love it. Another of my former TNA favorites from the last past years on AEW ! Great signing. Young, terrific worker, good look to boot. Can go heel or babyface. The hardest part will be to stand out in *that* roster, but he's exactly the kind of talent fit for AEW.

Screw it, I just jumped to the playoffs, I don't have the time. And so, Takeshita and Tsuji going to the semis it is. Takeshita vs ZSJ should be awesome. I have zero interest in watching even one single EVIL match. Don't tell me they are gonna run EVIL vs Tsuji as a final, because that would be a hard pass. Watching Umino vs Tsuji, two things really struck me : Umino, despite being a really good worker, just isn't clicking at all. Maybe there was a compelling story to tell going from the failed Tokyo Dome main event, but it obviously hasn't been told. He's the same old Umino he was last year; also, despite being quite charismatic, Tsuji is not that great of a worker (technically he's probably the lesser of the three with Umino and Uemura) and the difference between him and Takeshita is *huge*. And that would probably be very obvious in a final between those two, despite the fact the match would (will ?) probably be great.

WWE weaponizing TNA to try and get them opposing Dynamite, and Carlos "Dixie" Silva being opened to it is a car wreck waiting to happen.

? One hell of a 1-2 punch these two posts.

Yeah, that Cope/Christian thingy has not been handled very well thus far. Doesn't help I have zero attachement to them as a team for obvious reasons. I for one will be glad when all of this is over and done with. And yeah, that match really doesn't look PPV worthy, especially on Forbidden Door when there is already not that much Forbidden Doorish stuff. No idea what Copeland was thinking asking "Is there any hoes in this crowd" into asking a women if she would go with Stokely. Like, WTF man ? ? Speaking of which, Ospreay getting in a cage match with the Deathriders (and... the Bucks ?!) next is kinda insane after he told about his injury. And broken Tanahashi being a part of it even more, really. Omega & Ibushi ? Gabe Kidd (returning from injury after he missed the G1) I did not see that one coming, but holy hell. Disrespected Young Bucks is absolutely hilarious. These guys are just genius at this game. HIROMU ! I was halfway expecting/hoping for him. With G1 still running, it was obvious it was gonna be a junior. Despy would have been cool too. The size difference will make for some fun interactions. Did not expect a vignette with Jay-Jay Johanson for Hook, that's for sure. The MJF vs Hangman page promo segment was super compelling. I feel like there's a babyface turn for MJF at the end of the road somewhere.

The MJF vs Averno match wasn't exactly the greatest, as MJF was in full "cheap heat" mode, which is fun to some extent but only works in a place like Arena Mexico. He also took a terrible looking bump out of Averno's second rope spot and seemed frustrated by the finish (probably a miscommunication with the ref). Averno was awesome playing the "he's our rudo" type babyface. Don't get me wrong, a really good and incredibly fun match thanks to the heat. Plus the fact Jon Cruz (and not Serpentico) was there as his translator/manager got a kick out of me. Cruz is the understated great worker of AEW. The Zandokan match should be something. What's crazy is that this nuclear heat was not just for the main event. El Galéon Fantasma vs Neon, Templario & Titan was just as hot, and a great match to boot. El Galéon are just a ridiculously great trio. Los Herederos vs Blue Panther's sons earlier was also terrific. A card with so many big stars missing and they put on such a great night with insane heat is telling of how hot CMLL is right now. As the other guy said, enjoy it while its last. This week-end is kinda crazy too, as they are loading up the cards opposing NXT Mexico's Triplemania.

An embarrassing MAGA rapper, basically. A few months ago there was this hilariously horrible track called "Can't Cancel all of Us" (because of course) and the video had cameos from Enzo Amore (because of course), Lacey Evans (I'm so shocked, really) and Scotty 2 Hotty (who yes, still works as an agent in AEW sadly).

After winning that longest match ever (21 hours plus) on Mystery Wrestling, AEW needs to get Stu Grayson back (and use him WELL). He's just that great. (no I haven't watched the entire thing, but I saw parts with OC, Speedball & Veda Scott, Dalton Castle, Johnny TV showing up to guest announce and it was super cool)

The Karrion Kross news spamming is now reaching a comedic level.

The fact he passed on the infamous letter at Christmas is legit sociopathic behaviour. Who would do such a thing ? Now Bubba (the Love Sponge, not the other grifter) apparently said it was to put money on Paul Wight as a boxer project or something (a Bischoff idea no doubt), but the chronology don't add up. So much crazy shit already uncovered and probably more to come (the Scientology stuff ?).

The Corny idiotic "arguments" about AEW were shit that were all over the place 6 years ago. They were stupid then, they are absurdly idiotic now considering the history of AEW thus far, both in term of impact on the business for the workers, ridiculous quality of shows and just plain business standpoint. As far as the rest goes, yeah, SMW was marketed as "pro-wrestling as it used to be" back in fucking 1992, so that's how stuck in the past Corny was already then. And the irony is that as much as he paints himself as progressive, he's basically acting in the pro-wrestling landscape like the guys he despises politically. There you go. Anywoo. Hogan, dead, ya know. Wrong thread.

Bolded = most delightfully random namderopping on this forum ever ! I love me some Big Black. And yeah, poptimism has overstayed its welcome a while ago. And the myth of meritocracy is also dying, as it should in pro-wrestling too. The reason why Gunther has been pushed so much is just because Triple H is a sucker for iron crosses and shit. Let's be real, he probably thinks there's a chance the gimmick is legit...

And so it's Tsuji vs Umino and the winner gets EVIL for the semi. And it's a major *yawn* on paper, although the one occasion the HoT shit works is on those kinda matches (if EVIL loses, of course). And Takeshita vs Finlay and the winner gets ZSJ. Which is much better, although Finlay getting that high again is repetitive by now. Final better be Takeshita vs Tsuji. Either one winning would be fine, but obviously Takeshita should be the guy (the double contract probably hampers this from ever happening, and he's not gonna go full time to NJPW). Honestly at this point Uemura is more interesting than any other new generation guys (save for Fujita in the junior division).

Imagine paying any attention to whatever Jim Cornette has to say about current pro-wrestling in 2025 (or at any point in the last 15 years, to be *extremely* generous). So in the Netflix doc, Vince said that "Hogan was not a racist. He said some racist things, but he was not a racist". Which to Vince is probably akin to "I am not a rapist. I did some rapist things, but I am not a rapist". He also looks like some cursed IA version of his animated drowned corpse.

Nostalgia is the worst drug.

Yeah. In Saint-Rémy de Provence. ? The fact they just included the Eiffel tower in it makes it even stupider, really. Imagine the dumb-ass prompt.

"We accept bookings" ? You mean the GCW which has ran WWE ID Tournament during both Mania and SummerSlam week-end ? And Bloodsports show now are basically a bunch of WWE people beating indy guys too. I honestly wouldn't be surprised at all to see them pop up at Emergence on Friday. Meanwhile : Yeah. Inspired by the absolutely not French painter Van Gogh and a painting that has nothing to do with Paris (and is not at the Louvres either I believe). Not only this is IA slop, but yeah, thematically, you're all wrong. I mean, idiots gonna be idiots. The news is they are gonna run a PLE opposing All Out with Cena vs Lesnar. SexTrafficMania indeed.

I feel that eventually that will happen. Let have them work this new heel/babyface dynamic and at one point, the people will want that Acclaimed reunion. It's basically what happened with the New Age Outlaws, and the Acclaimed is the closest thing to the NAO that ever happened (except they are a much better in-ring working team). Unless one of them just decides to leave (Anthony Bowens could do well in TNA if they aren't complete idiots about it, which, well, TNA, ya know, but he has no shot in WWE after that point (for many obvious reasons)). I do love that Jane's Addiction track though.

Honestly the end game will be : nothing. Anyone gives a flying fuck about R-Truth these days ?