El-P

Josh Alexander surrendering his World Title was one, if not the best angle of this sort I've ever seen, between the amazingly heartfelt promo of Alexander, which has so much of real life into it (hell, actually mostly real life) and the kid grabbing the belt and running into his mother's arms as Josh was handing it out to D'Amore. If that happened in AEW or WWE, people would say it was an all-time classic angle. Also, the ongoing feud between Eddie Edwards and PCO, more Frankenstein's monster than ever (Frankenstein was not the monster people, he was the Doctor) has been solid gold. Their match at Rebellion should be quite the insane display.

"I'm not defending WWE against the Auschwitz Memorial BUT I'm not defending Vickie Guerrero victim blaming her sexually abused daughter BUT Why am I being cancelled ? / oh it was only a joke Fuck the mods / oh it was only frustration I guess you can only criticize Trump here Grow up insecure snowflakes" Seriously, it looks like a fucking bingo card. Posturing as the one guy being rationale and wanting to have adult discussions would work a whole lot better if you weren't saying the dumbest trashiest dumbfuckery shits like "If I was cynical I would say the Auschwitz Memorial is trying to get attention" or "in 5 years drunken sex will be considered a crime". Ya know... pattern and all, like I said before. Your choice of topics to get heavily involved with, your choice of arguments, your choice of how you addressed people around you.

I still listen to Jarrett's podcast, which is by far the best thing he's done, by virtue of having a great interview (Jarrett comes off both really smart and charming, which explains a whole lot about his long-term tenure in the business) and dealing in topics you just don't hear about anywhere else, since apart from the few WWF episodes they did, a lot is about TNA, which is a fascinating story to me. I have no idea what the audiences are for most if these things, although don't doubt Prichard is still doing big numbers. The multiplication of podcast really reeks of sucking the whole thing dry by recycling the same thing over and over again until either the audience or the host completely loses interest.

It's less a matter of him becoming The Guy, which he'll never be, rather than shaking things up at the top and trying to make a new main eventer in the wake of losing both Ibushi for good and Jay White. EVIL did not work, on any level, and one can argue it sucked the life out of what he was in LIJ, and although SANADA lacks charisma, he's got a better chance with this new presentation as a more streamlined, good looking, Muto offshoot (which he was in his early days, and really I'd give him back the classic YMO remix track he had when he was young in AJPW, so he pays hommage to Sakamoto and Takahashi too). The El Phantasmo babyface turn was also a welcome change. When he's not doing comedy, the guy is a great worker and knows how to get over.

Mercedes Moné living her best life working against Japanese women is some of the most happy-inducing stuff I've seen in a while. Match was terrific in a very High Speed way, a context in which both AZM and Hazuki rules hard, and Moné was right there with them. Enjoy it while it lasts (amazing how Kevin Kelly even dropped the legit fact she costs a lot of money into the dynamics of the entire thing, but more on that later). Shota vs ZSJ was terrific, Aussie Open vs Bishomon was the match of the night (damn, poor Fletcher though, that cut was brutal), so cool to see Aussie Open finally get to this level (and get over big with the Japanese crowd), Hiromu vs Eagles was excellent (damn, that fan in the first row with the Australian flag got more than she wished for, a damn Robbie Eagles foot in her face, they actually gave her a pack of ice) although I still don't get as high on Hiromu as many, and watching Okada vs anyone is watching a master at work. Not sold on SANADA at all, but hey, it was time to pull the trigger if they ever did, if EVIL could win the big one, why not him. The Muto references were nice, his new finisher certainly is more dynamic than the damn neck stretch. If anything, NJPW feels very refreshed right now, which is something they have been needing for a while, even before the pandemic hit. And Kevin Kelly is such an amazing announcer. He puts so much subtle elements in his storytelling, is great at drama but also knows when to get light and humorous, knows when to shut the fuck up and let the action breathe. When all is said and done, this guy is right up there at the very, very top.

If you see a pattern, good people, it's because it's there.

Mercedes indulging in her love for classic joshi puroresu would have made the 2000 me very happy.

Nothing will ever beat WCW "not being aware of what The Final Solution means" though. Ahhhh, WCW, how we miss ya all.

Holy fuck you can't make up shit like that ! Let's be real. The McMahons family, the entire family, are supporters of white supremacist Donald Trump, they are in business with a ruthless authoritarian theocracy. You tell me some far-right people would work for them ? No way ! Now, as to say some of this shit is conscious dog-whistling, I dunno, but it's pretty fucking embarrassing any way you wanna look at it.

This is not some random Youtube video by some schmuck. This is WWE. If you can't even check the sources of what you put in your WrestleMania promo videos, that's speaks highly of the actual level of professionalism going on here. (obviously this is not on purpose, just like the first new WALTER name was not on purpose. I mean, one should hope and plead stupidity) Then again, maybe Brian Kendrick just got an editor gig. (thankfully Dom was not working against "Iron Crosses everywhere" Triple H, because that would make the whole thing really fucking awkward )

News of the week : Vicki is a complete trash person. Shaul is not that much better apparently ("yeah, my sister was sexually abused BUT, and making this public is really bad for the Guerrero BRAND tm"). Force à la victime. Nice to see Chavo is supporting her.

Which will be the exact same as the RAW one, most probably, like they did a few months ago when Vince retired. "Everything is great, WWE Then Now Forever yaddi yaddi yadda". Or maybe...

Imagine that, being called shameless by the Auschwitz memorial.

FTR are staying. Jay White is in. Say no more, just a great episode for me for these two reasons alone. Three of my favorites workers in the world. First stadium show, in England ? Well, TK ain't playing. That was the most "very big" announcement of his big announcement (since the buying off ROH). Considering whatever mistakes and bump in the road happens on weekly TV, AEW is pretty much always slaying for its big show, this is sure very intriguing, because this is gonna be their biggest show ever, so it has to be on paper too basically. Will All In be their tentative at a Mania/WK ? Hopefully yeas, this builds to some inter-promotional stuff to help. Gawwwd the teasing is almost too much to handle. Hopefully Will is back this Summer and you know what re-match could happen at Wembley ? Omega vs Ospreay.

(Ok, I admit it, I kinda put it there knowingly it would trigger you) #NotAllBusinessLawyers

Sakura Genesis has an interesting series of big matches line-up. Okada vs Sanada we've seen before, but it's a "new" Sanada, maybe he'll approach his match with a different twist, although I highly doubt Okada is losing to him. But Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles, Bishamon vs Aussie Open and ZSJ vs Shota Umino are really excellent on paper and seem fresh, which has not been the case for a while in NJ. And then of course we have Mercedes debut in Japan against Hazuki and AZM, hopefully they get enough time, all three are terrific workers and I look forward to this one very much.

Creatively. And therefore, yes, in ratings and such. Financially they are idiot proof and have been for a long while now. Blood money on its own is enough to carry them for seemingly years and years. When you add the TV fees and Peacock overpaying, they could book Disco Inferno as WWE champ it would not hurt their money for years. The fact they are basically run by a giant sports agency now (sports agents are some of the worst parasite of society this side of business lawyers, insurance sellers and happiness managers), it will only get stronger.

This on the other hand, is quite heartwarming. (and yeah, I know some entitled little shits cookie getters already posted idiotic shit about it, but what are you gonna do, the only thing that matters is what those two said to *each other*, privately. No idea what that means for Tessa in term of pro-wrestling considering she had issues in every locker room she was, plus she's back to university anyway, but if at least she grew out of really shitty views or if it was just a misunderstanding, well that's good enough to rejoice either way, the less hatred the better)

I'm sure they already miss QR codes and Karrion Kross comebacks. All joke aside, Triple H's booking has been way overrated anyway. Vince is the one who set the most successful storylines in motion (and Heyman was credited for most of the Bloodline stuff) and the company got hot again during his watch, months before he was ousted. Trip streamlined the product and corrected many mistakes, but his qualities were vastly overstated anyway. It's easy to ignore it when the product was carried by two (even three in the last weeks leading to Mania with Dom vs Rey real getting momentum) super strong and heated feuds, but let's be real, Triple H is not, and never was, the "savior of WWE", much like his booking of NXT ended up being exposed after a while. I'm sure now every little positive thing will be credited to him while every bad stuff will be credited to Vince, but it's really akin to "Vince liked me, it's evil JJ Dillon, JR, Laurinatis who hated me" mentality in term of confirmation bias. As far as broader audience not sustaining their interest, well of course they probably won't. WWE snuffed their two hottest babyface in eons and missed their peak already. They have not learned a thing from Danielson nor CM Punk. Triple H was a lot better than late Vince overall, but he was still Triple H, the guy with the track record of the most boring, babyface killing mega-push of all-time. Pattern.

Vince being back in charge doesn't mean shit for the broader audience. No one cares about the ethical issues, as demonstrated by the (embarrassing) success of the Qatar World Cup or the Hogward Legacy game. And the casual viewer is not ingrained into "booking issues" like the hardcore niche is. It was the biggest and most seen Mania ever, it makes sense Raw drew a giant rating.

One very interesting thing Meltz said about the nature of the new company is that it will basically be a TV right's selling company. That may change a whole lot in the long-term in how things get approached. The feeling is the workers have just lost a whole lot of bargaining power in term of bidding wars and such, because the new machine won't need to sign everybody under the sun nor give ridiculous contracts. The morale plummeting in WWE because of Vince coming back is only the beginning. The first and main thing should be the ethical point, but I'm guessing no one really gives a fuck (and it's pretty sad, really), although there's no way most women, especially the younger ones (there's a generation gap in term of how they think about those matters, as demonstrated by what someone like Madusa said lately which really was quite cringe), can be happy about this. Then the booking/creative standpoint. Then the way the company will manage their talent.

I don't expect the same kinda collapse, especially since there's no such highs to collapse from, but when I stated before the fact this show had a very WM17 feel to it, I did not know how right I was.

Yeah, anything relating to women while trying to put the company over is utterly pathetic, really. "Hey, we're all working for a sexual predator who sexually harassed and assaulted several women and paid them off so they shut up, but look in the ring, two female wrestlers plus a female referee, wow, that's a Mania Moment tm, WWE is influencing the world !". This company is a complete trashfuck clown show and only getting worse with the merger in term of toxic culture.

Whatever happened to Bray Wyatt ? Where the fuck was LA Knight this week-end ? Will Endeavor fire Bruce Prichard's ass quick and dirty ? So many questions.... And when is Jay White debu... oh well Now that's an awesome news, because I love me some Jay White. Jay White vs Danielson... Jay White vs Omega... Jay White vs Mox... fuuuuck....