El-P

Well, I admit I probably didn't pay attention to most of these people. I did learn some vocabulary I don't even know in my native language. Braids, rows, undercuts, pompadours… Isn't Ruby Riot kind of a "goofy girl", though ? (true question, I've seen her twice)

We should do a whole thread about WWE makeup. Really, we should. It's pretty awful. I'd bet my ass all those girls look better without the WWE makeup. The hair. Interesting point you make there. However, and funny as it is, I saw Princess Nokia on stage the other day and she got that song about "do not question black women about their hair and how it's fake or not, it's prejudice and offensive and we do what we want about our hair". Well yeah. Princess Nokia, as talented as she is, is also a bit annoying with the constant moralistic stuff at points too. And she raps over her own voice, which is really lazy, especially when you don't need it, because she could kill it without a net. But anyway. That made me think about that song from a artist witha strong feminist stance. On the other hand, I totally agree that the image of the woman-with-the-long-flying-hair forced by the WWE totally comes from a stereotypical, patriarchal representation. When was the last time you saw a black girl with some kind of afro or dreads or whatever style a man worker can wear, without it being a gimmick too ? Or a very short hair girl that wasn't some kind of "freak" ? Well, this probably has its place in the M.I.S., it's actually fascinating when you think about it. Anyway, I had no idea this was an obsession of crappy boards. Glad I'm not going anywhere else. As far as Roman goes. Well people do seem to be obsessed with Roman here too, with the whole boring "damn those idiots WWE fan" routine that has become incredibly tiresome in the last few months. Get over it. Accept the fact the company is rigid and could do much better with this guy with a wee bit of creativity. But anyway.

This whole ECW Arena show, as a counter product to the brand new WWECW, was quite the fun deal from top to bottom. Of course, this was the killer match. Not a MOTYC quality match, but still a great three-way, which is always an accomplishment. You get the feel these three could work a great match together in their sleep. Gotta love the ECW Arena atmopshere too, although I wonder how much of it was the old ECW crowd and how much was just posturing. Still, a refreshing bit of revivalism, much better than any of the WWE produced stuff and certainly better than most revival show with tons of sad, way over the hill guys showing up pretending it's 1996 again.

Cop-out. Because when WCW and WWF were drawing huge numbers (of both TV ratings and people in the arenas), the nWo and Austin didn't sell osbcene amounts of T-shirts, you see...

When all is said and done, Bray Wyatt will be the Kane of his generation. Which is a shame, the character had so much potential when he debuted, with a terrific intro. As it is, he's already been both totally boring/useless as a character and a black hole of dullness in big matches despite his potential. I'd rather watch a good old Captain Rotunda match. Bray needs to go. Go elsewhere and come back fresh. Oh, but you can't do that now. Look at Randy Orton.

This. Crying about "those idiots WWE fans" and "indy darlings" and "Meltz and his NJ fetish" is the new MOVEZ !! annoying niche meme today. Boring and repetitive as fuck by this point. I may wanna watch that Reigns vs Strauman stuff, the women and tag match (no, not Enzo & Cass, the other one). House of Horrors sounds "so bad it's good", then again, with Orton & Wyatt involved it's probably so bad it's awful, so I'll probably pass. I do love the fact that Indian guy is getting a push, only for heck of me (and other people) saying so on the board.

Say what you want, I get a kick out of the fact Billy fucking Corgan is a pro-wrestling super-fan.

Caring about the legal guy in the ring in 2006 is looking for trouble when there's none, especially since the whole ending stretch was all about blasting out big spots and kick outs anyway. Yeah, Rudy Charles is a piss poor referee, but it didn't keep the match from being excellent because the work was. Granted, with a stricter dynamic it could have been great, but these four delivered as far as putting together a hot match from the get-go. Gotta like teh matching outfits from Styles & Daniels, always loved that attention to detail. When it's said and done AMW is easily one of the most underrated US tag-team ever, as the exact body of work in the WWE would have them pimped as a great one. Not as good as the cage match but still a really good garbage match. As he's working babyface underdog champ, Christian did take a lot of hard bumps on the ladder and table, but everything built well. I take than over the WWE stunt-fest he's been famous for any day. Nice payback spot on Mitchell, who's doing an understated manager role in these godforsaken 00's. Christian doesn't do great matches like AJ Styles, Daniels & Joe would earlier in the year, but he totally refreshed the World Title scene and proved he could work at this level. Shame WWE would rather push his taller, goofier, nowhere near as good tag team partner. Good job by TNA, who's on a roll still at this point. The tag match between Jarrett & Steiner vs Joe & Sting was also very good, with a nice piece of booking in the post-match and a shocking clean job by Jarrett to Joe. They were onto something with Joe, he could, he should have been their big star alongside AJ. But we know what's coming that will prevent that...

"Jake is trying to get back to New York !" Tony is gold. Greatest podcast in the history of our sport. (yeah, I know)

Christian is not the most spectacular worker there is, but he's clearly what had been lost in the 00's, a really solid babyface working as underdog without doing a zillion spots. He is gonna deliver the huge spot form the top of the cage, but with the right timing and a sense of purpose, as opposed to "stunt !!!!". Abyss is looking excellent in a big match again. I'm really eating my words about this guy. In a matter of two years, he murders guys like Kane over their entire career (easy, but I made an unfortunate comparison before). The use of the thumbtacks is now a staple of Abyss, but why not after all. In context, it doesn't look like systematic overkill, it just looks like it's his gimmick weapon. It sure beats a fucking sledgehammer and they work around it quite well again. I felt the post-match was a bit flat though, with Abyss getting his heat back immediately. Plus the idea that a cage match with thumbtacks not being the feud closer is typical post-Attitude era booking (complete with the idiotic gimmick themed PPV, which wasn't too bad actually here, with mostly good matches worked in different ways), but with Abyss they can do a lot of different stuff, so maybe a chain-match can be the real bloodletting this match wasn't, as they kept it rather minimalistic (not a complaint) until the gimmicks. Oh, and TNA cage has a hole. For the camera. So you can snuck in any weapon easily. Yeah. TNA still being TNA even at its peak (which has been really really good. Russo is showing up back in a matter of a few months though, so the honeymoon is coming to a close soon enough)

If you see that excellent documentary "Team Foxcatcher" you will see that he played John du Pont fairly realistically. Like KawadaStyle said...creepy as hell. I'm aware of that. I don't care if it is "realistic" or not. It was simply not good nor interesting, and totally overdone. Like the entire movie, which was boring as all fuck and way too conscious of its effects. Typical Academy Award plea wankfest to me.

Totally overdoing it from the very first second he appeared. He was as subtle in his acting as.... well, yeah, I guess he could play Vince being Vince after all.

He was already terrible in Foxcatcher. (hey, BTW, in French, "catcher" is pronounced "catcheur", which means "pro-wrestler")

WWE is. Need I say more ?

No. They deserves all the shit in the world. I would blast the fuck out of them if I was him.

It's been known for a good 15 years that JBL is a bully, a gutless coward (aka, a bully, as you can say it that way too) and a corporate kiss-ass who does Vince's dirty job. It's not just Mauro. Searching for excuses for JBL at this point is both pathetic and missing the point. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan were best friends IRL. And it showed on the air actually.

In the end, this has nothing to do with Mauro being annoying or not (which wouldn't excuse the hazing anyway). It's about the culture and why it should be exposed. Interesting stuff.

That damn Indian guy...

JIP. Well, that's a blast from the past, when you could only guess what happened before and get thrown immediately into the action. And what action it is. MOTYC on TV, which probably wasn't happening very often (WWE in 2006, yuck). The only questionnable thing is putting back the X-div title on Joe so soon after figuring a way to take it from him without having to beat him in the Ultimate X. On the other hand, it makes for a dramatic and exciting moment to open the new iMPACT programming, so it was good from that perspective. What can you say about the match ? Joe & Daniels are world class workers at this point and they just deliver a classic match here. Again.

Good. I hope it doesn't stop there. WWE deserves so much shit for this.

I admit I have no idea where the Tanaka hate comes from on (I saw it regularly on this board for a while). He was always super respected and well liked back then until the failed Heat gimmick in NJ. I remember liking this quite a bit, mostly the lucharesu stuff. AKINO & Idaka got so well together. Well, so did Tanaka & Fukawa, but I don't think it was quite the same dynamic.

FWIW, they were two judo girls.

In what thread were we talking about "boys" thinking it was still 1984 and those damn millenials already ?

Exactly. His homophobia is so transparent it's ridiculous. "Bro, I have nothing against homosexuals. But really, if you're at NXT chanting This Is Awesome at Finn Balor, you have to be gay or in the closet." And ? What if ? It's Orlando after all. Why not. AND SO WHAT ? The kiss of death is "men do not react to other men that way. It’s not a normal function." Mmmkay. What exactly do you imply by "not a normal function" ? The idea than some indy still employs his services is absolutely mind-blowing. He's just not the worst booker ever, he's a despicable guy.

He's probably trolling anyway. I mean, his use of "bro" sounds like he's working his gimmick. He's a chauvinistic pig anyway (cf WCW Highway to Hell thread). So, yeah, he's most probably an homophobic idiot too. He's desperate for attention. Poor guy.