El-P

I guess my point was really more attached strictly to the business side of things, which I don't think would have been that different if Vince had stayed in power on the TKO board. But surely, WWE audience working themselves into thinking Papa Trip (yikes) was this great booker who really cared (yeah, that aged like milk in the age of "Just enjoy the show") certainly is a defining part of this era.

We're talking about the biggest, era defining names. Austin and Rock were mainstream names. Austin 3:16 was everywhere. Reigns and Cody are the two biggest stars of this era. They are Austin and Rock. They are John Cena. They are Hogan. Except they are not. Not even close.

Not really. The upswing started *under Vince*. There was no reason why it would have been different if Vince had stayed in power once the Bloodline/Samy and the Cody storylines got hot. (EDIT : of course it did play a role in term of perception, for sure, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it is that important. He's the one who shaped WWE as it is today with the TKO merger and the Netflix deal (which may also be a double edged sword in the long run)) If the audience cared that much about awful things linked to this company, the Saudi shows would have impacted the audience greatly. Last time Vince got on TV, he got cheered. When he "retired", they chanted "Thank you Vince". His name was cheered this year at the HOF ceremony.

They became a big stadium show business. And that's what has been carrying (and defining, really) this era. The last previous successful era was John Cena's (and it was not nearly as successful, hell at first it was not), and it was defined by John Cena (which is why he is more akin to Hogan or The Rock despite the fact his era was not even close). They have reached the point of WWE becoming the "cool" thing. WWE. Not Roman, not Cody. WWE. The capitalistic evolution of the brand replacing the actual product has taken a while before being a thing in a very much star driven (and carny) business like pro-wrestling (No Logo by Naomi Klein dates from 2000 or something, and it was all about this), but WWE is very much there. It has been the point for ever and they *apparently* succeeded. For now. But whose to say, maybe the fact they're a god awful MAGA supporting company will end up costing this business model, because the LOGO will be forever stained. Well. Probably not, because they've cultivated a cult-like audience (and workers). But who knows. I sure hope they'll get theirs eventually for being such a shitty company.

And yet, pro-wrestling is not nearly as mainstream as it was during the late 90's or even the Hogan years. No one in the real world knows who the fuck Roman Reigns or Cody Rhodes are.

Watching from apart and really only following the business side of it, in term of the product : Cody Rhodes jumping from AEW + Sami Zayn lighting up the Bloodline. + AEW losing the favors of a part of the audience who really did not want an alternative but "WWE becoming good again" (which I think is a wildly overrated notion, considering the snipets I've seen over the years, WWE style and production is still the worst). The funny thing is that Triple H is over-credited for very minor changes, really. Both the Bloodline + Cody "finishing the story" were Vince's booking plans (likewise the Saudi deal which has made them idiot proof financially, the TKO sale and the Netflix deal). Everything about the company on the largest scale is still very much Vince. Triple H's stuff is incidental in the grand scheme of things. And like he has been exposed when he was running NXT, he's been already exposed by this atrocious John Cena heel retirement run.

Triple H saying he was proud of CM Punk for apologizing to the Saudi people (sure, it was about the people, not the government that has paid WWE 600 millions over the years to whitewash their regime) is the final exclamation point of the absolute annihilation of Phil Brooks entire character after a week of complete (self-inflicted) humiliation. It's been amazing to witness. And when you consider WWE's political inclination (BTW, more of the same hilarious comedy show with deportation jokes incoming for Summerslam, for those who care), I absolutely believe a part of it was about "owning the libs", in their twisted minds. CM Punk made his bed when he crawled back to WWE. There's nothing there anymore.

Funny because watching Dominion two days ago, I kinda thought Goto's title reign was losing steam. But yeah, this was quite the surprise. ZSJ IWGP champ during the G1 and at Forbidden Door certainly up my interest.

Hikuleo is actually super easy to pronounce. For French people. (imagine debuting on a Bloodmoney show)

There's nothing fancy about Celsius. At 0°, water turns into ice. At 100°, water boils and turns into vapor. IT MAKES SENSE ! Fahrenheit is like temperatures booked by Vince Russo ! "Bro, water becomes ice at 32 degrees." Why the fuck 32 ??? "Nobody expects it. It's a swerve, bro." The temperature in the day actually doesn't matter as much. It's the night that does. (no AC here) Ok, off to watching CMLL.

It's now 11pm, still 28° outside but I opened everything now, because otherwise it's just immobile hot air in the house and it's getting unbearable. During the day yeah, it's everything closed. It's only gonna get worse in the three days to come, which is... I guess only live during the night hours until about 7-8 am.

Bye bye dignity, we hardly knew ya...

I you watch only the non House of Torture match (which is what I did), it was actually quite a good show (nothing out of the ordinary great though). But yeah, the HoT shit is insane. Why ? Really, why ? It's such a complete turn-off. The G1 on paper doesn't look special either. Sure, it will have its share of awesome match I'm sure (enough great workers in it), but no outsider nor surprise. More of the same old same. (no idea why SANADA is in there this year. There's zero kayfabe reason why, not to mention his fall from "grace" has been spectacular. That makes THREE HoT guys, insuring a bunch of shit matches) There's no way it can top the ZSJ story of last year. Taichi & Ishii winning the tag titles were the highlight for me, that was terrific. Hopefully they get an actual reign with actual cool matches.

I obviously am not watching this particular shit, but just wanted to say it's 10pm and it's still 29° outside (try 84 or so of your bizarre degrees). And it is only the beginning of a 3 days heatwave from hell. I'm going to fucking die. And that's already the THIRD one. IN JUNE. FUCK. Anywoo. I read the results. Some hilarious shit apparently. Also, apparently John "I can say how much I still love Vince in Mandarin if you want" Cena vs CM (C is for Cuck) Punk (bwahahaha) had a 26 minutes atrocity of a match. Interesting how eons ago they had the "first" Self-Conscious Epic (a concept that I have since refuted; plus it was really not about the match at all, I just woke up grumpy and all) and now they just had a Self-Conscious Epic Fail it seems. I would watch some CMLL, but the heat is melting my brain.

I. FUCKING. CANT. ?

This is gonna be insane. I'm so glad the Bucks get a major match again. Bucks vs Omega/Hangman remains one of the best match ever in the history of the promotion. Also, they just passed 19K apparently. So, all in all (see what I did ?), should look pretty decent.

Still two weeks behind (yeah, I know), got spoiled the awesome "Abolish ICE" T-shirt and the Ibushi comeback. And this. Really now, MLW is the last company you wanna be associated with unless you heart Matt Riddle matches announced by Austin Aries (yeah, yikes indeed, Court Bauer is one hell of a carny), but I'm guessing this was way more of a CMLL thingy (since CMLL and MLW work together too, for whatever reason, and really MLW's only watchable stuff are the CMLL guys). Mistico vs MJF at All In ? But yeah, the same. Give me Cesar Duran AND Salina de la Renta in AEW yesterday to be the Bobby Heenans of the luchadors. Gotta watch those three CMLL shows now. Damnit.

? LOOK IN MY EYES ! WHAT DO YOU SEE ? A CLOWN WITH ZERO DIGNITY ! (imagine if BTE was still a thing, the stuff that would be out there) "It had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia, I was just waking up in a bad mood" Holy shit. Like. FUCKING REALLY ? Hey, BTW, a journalist has been executed a few weeks ago for tweets that criticized the regime so ya know... Anywoo. The complete cucking of CM Punk has been entertaining to say the least. (really now, sex workers swallowing for a 100 bucks are 1000% more dignified than Phil Brooks. The idea that *anyone* is still supporting this guy is mindblowing. Cult indeed)

Yeah, still two weeks behind and not catching up. Fyter Fest was awesome. The Dynamite part being some of the best two hours they did, again. Can't wait to watch that Swerve vs Ospreay II match.

The fact Beast Mortos is actually a lawyer now and he and Mercedes Moné are dating is funny as hell. That picture. Pro-wrestling only.

Finally watched that Maclin vs Young dog collar match. That Maclin bladejob was a crime scene in itself. Two weeks after the insane Callihan vs Warner deathmatch, you "almost" figure why they would want to cut back on blood. Then again, blood matches always were part of the TNA charm.

Because WWE has always treated their audience like pavlovian dogs, dating back to the Attitude Era. (which is why the Hurt Syndicate theme in AEW is a mistake when they are supposed to be heels)

These aren't errors. They are just open about it because they feel untouchable. (I mean, they are literally making sportswashing-a-brutal-authoritarian-regime an actual angle where the heel is pushing the babyface to renounce his "principles", to promote the sportswashing-a-brutal-authoritarian-regime show. The level of cynicism is insane. As long as people are willing to gobble this kinda shit...)

There's a joke somewhere about how RFK should have been the one defeating Roman Reigns, since apparently measles is the only thing that can stop the Bloodline. But it's probably a bit dark... Oh well.

When I say shit is piling up https://x.com/TripleH/status/1933662710413341152 Can't wait for the "Headlock on Vaccines" PR campaign. (they absolutely don't care anymore showing who they are)