El-P

Jeff Hardy is 6.2. He's not a small guy by any stretch of the imagination. I doubt Kross is that much taller (supposed to be 6.4), but the thing is, he doesn't have a very huge frame either. He looked like a monster in LU next to smaller luchadors. In WWE, he's mid in term of size. EDIT : I just watched that promo. Yeeaaaaaaah, it's lame. And it's REALLY WWE too, still. He was better than this in IMPACT. Scarlett just looking at him and not saying a word is kinda... I dunno, Scarlett being part of the presentation is cool for him, but again, she on her own is a different kind of character, and apparently she won't be able to do it either. Yeah... I can understand people not feeling this.

Dixie Carter finally put through a table by Bully Ray at the Manhattan Center in front of a totally rabid crowd was legit one of the best angle TNA ever did. And really, those tapings are even better than the previous ones, with the Hardy reuniting (yeah, I know, but back then it was a big deal, kinda, and would lead toward Broken Matt), SANADA turning on Great Muta, Low-ki coming back, Aries vs Lashley, Taryn Terell being back too. Not everything was good of course (the Samuel Shaw "babyface" turn with Gunner), but overall the product was so much better and fresher than it had been during the last few years. It's sadly ironic that it was too late and Spike would just get rid of it. To get back at Dixie, yeah, I just said it, Dixieland >>>>> anything during the Prichard era. Dixie/EC3/Rockstar Spudd had great chemistry, the angle was well built, with things actually progressing (as opposed to Prichard booking which went at a snail pace) toward the apex at the best place possible. Dixie at the Manhattan Center was getting Cornette at ECW Arena level heat, and by then she had developed into a really fun performer. And DAMN, that bump she took. Bully protected her from the table, but she bumped really hard on the mat. Looked brutal. They replayed it about a thousand times, from every angles. The thing was masterfully built, with the kinda cute use of WWECW rejects (Snitsky & Big Zeke) to troll Team 3D and Tommy Dreamer, they had Al Snow come off retirement to work the 8 men brawl, complete with heads distributed to the audience for the 1997-like visual effect. EC3 & Spud was such a great duo, EC3 being a trooper despite his in-ring limitations (he's ok) and Spud his great comedic self. Great cherry on the cake with Dixie trying to run off at the end and being blocked by the entire TNA roster showing up to block the ramp (very meta if you ask me), leading to that hellacious bump and that insane pop, really reminiscent of old ECW atmosphere indeed. Seriously a great, GREAT angle, during a time where the promotion looked to be on the right track creatively (but the damaged had been done).

Conrad saying that he got positive feedback from Flair faking a heart attack shows how much of a carny sleazebag he is. Sure, he got positive feedback from this. Hey, Flair should do another match, just to fuck with Conrad and this entire debacle. I mean, if he dies in Puerto Rico, Carlos Colon can play the "I did not see anything, I'm not responsible" game again. What an embarrassment.

And who looks like an idiot for pimping Madison Rayne after she had two bad matches in a row ? I do. Then again, I never pretended she was a great in-ring worker (she's much better than she showed there thus far though, no idea what happened, maybe nerves of being on live TV in front of a big audience after spending most of her career in IMPACT), I always said she was a great performer aka she's great at character work and little details. The thing is, Madison Rayne is a bitchy shithead funny heel. I have no idea who thinks it's a good idea to introduce her as a cold babyface. I wanna see Madison do stuff like Locker Room Talk, that's where she shines. They made her a big disservice by miscasting her like that. I feel I said the same thing the other week after the Yuta match, but people may think whatever about Jericho, but it's totally undersold that he's actually 52 years old. There aren't many 52 years old who had a match like he just had with Mox. The guy is on fire right now, and although some of his stuff can be hit and miss, he still delivers on a high level regularly. At 52. Awesome main event, great clean finish to boot. post match was of course awesome and All Out already feels like a big deal now. Omega is coming back next week, right ? Darby vs Brodie King was amazing once again. Ridiculous violent feel, like a horror movie (and I don't even like horror movies). The finish was inexplicably perfect. If the prospect is House of Black vs Darby, Old Age and Crazy Sting & Miro at the PPV, this is going to be something special for sure. Lucha Brothers vs Ingobernables was terrific in term of Penta & Fénix getting the other two caught into their clusterfuck of action. Rush has looked good thus far, pleasantly surprised by how he's been presented and how he's been handling himself. Garcia vs Danielson 2/3 falls needs some time, hopefully they don't rush it, there's nothing a lot more annoying than rushed 2/3 falls matches (although I understand it's TV, but they did long-ass matches before). I definitely can get behind that Parker Boudreaux guy as he obviously watched a lot of Vader matches and stole his finisher from Taue. Plus he looks different. On the other hand : yeah, that angle with Ari Daivari is lame. This is the kind of stuff I would expect from, I dunno, NXT 2.0 or something. Pro-wrestling needs to move forward, not backward. Daivari looks better than his amazingly dull older brother, but really now, Stu Grayson was never given any real time but this guy gets on TV ? Same goes for whoever the fuck Zack Clayton is. I mean, a Broman gimmick in 2022 ? The Jershey Shore shit is still a thing ? I mean, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but AEW throwing people out of nowhere on TV like this really is an issue when they are not even known or cult indie guys (I mean, I can get why Mance Warner was ok, plus they did air a promo, but Zack Clayton, what ? Who ?). Why don't they do vignettes, even short ones. Vignettes are cool. But fuck yeah, give me JD Drake instead of this or Erik Redbeard showing up for no reason whatsoever (not that he did not look good, but again, they have a zillion people signed already that they aren't using). Well, no one saw it coming since she's not been on TV probably since the Cody match. Which really is too bad, the Janela team & feud was the best stuff AEW did that no one saw. Long overdue, and hopefully she gets featured now. I wish it didn't came off that lame angle though. But give me Boudreaux & Kiss as a tag team maybe and push them on TV like you did the Acclaim. Is Tay Melo the first pro-wrestler changing her wrestling name following a wedding ? The mixed tag match was really good, as good as it could be with annoying rules of no men/women interactions (which doesn't even make sense in this context as the AAA mixed tag is defended in true intergender fashion). Danhausen is totally uninteresting once the bell rings. He's over as fuck because of the cult thing, but please keep him out of matches, I have yet to see him show me *anything*. That's the HUGE difference with Orange Cassidy, who not only is a much funnier and better meme wrestler, but is a legit great worker to boot. Danhausen is Santino Marella basically. Which is good to have I guess, but matches ? Nope. I hope Brian Pillman turns on his partner next week. He looked way better as a heel during Ric Flair's retirement show than he ever did in AEW. So, if there's something to be done, well.

We know why those "financial cuts" have been made now. To reimburse Vince hush money for sexual predation at his workplace. Doesn't keep corporate drone like Cena to wanna have Vince as the lone figure in his Mount Rushmore (such an american trope, this). Would you picture Tarantino for instance say something like this about Weinstein ? These people are so embarrassing. Meanwhile, Kane is at it again, never forget this guy was just at SummerSlam celebrated as a legend of the company (and giving away a fake-ass number, because lying what he's only good at). Kevin Dunn is still there. So yeah, things are gonna change... but maybe not as much nor as quick as people want to believe. Also, the final destination still has to be a sale, right ? If not, why make all these cuts in the budget, that's been Nick Khan's job since day one. This is glorious.

The pathetic never ends.

Agree with this. I actually thought they would go that way, as Battle of the Belts would be better if some belt actually changed hands. Hayter as champ and Britt being jealous si such a logical and easy feud. And it would be terrific too. Match was very good. Rosa sure made the day of that little girl in the crowd at the end. Takeshita vs Claudio was great, despite a very much WWE "let's kill the pace during commercials" optic which I guess is Claudio not shaking off 15 years of working the E. Takeshita NEEDS to win now, because he's been so organically over working great matches. Regal on commentary was so great again, especially the part he just stopped talking as Claudio was in dire straight. But Takeshita, that guy should be in the winning half of the G1 or something. On the other hand, Wardlow is not. And don't give me "But he's with Lethal", Lethal actually gave him probably his most compelling match thus far with all the powerbomb escapes and that beautiful bump off the lariat. But there's a reason why the Wardlow match and win got the least response of the three, if the guy was as over as people think, he would get those huge reactions no matter who he's in with. Also, Wardlow vs Satnam Singh is precisely what I don't want to see in AEW. I wasn't sure but yeah, of course it is. With Levesque taking over, hopefully it sparks a new flame in TK and changes will be made.There are some stuff right now that just aren't working, and for a while all the hype will be on WWE's side.

Disclaimer : I wasn't watching his NXT stuff. I liked him in LU and IMPACT, but I never considered him more than a "pretty cool monster guy", and he was never pushed as a main event act in neither of those promotions. So I guess people have PTSD from later NXT, but by that point I had moved on and did not even bother watching the Takeovers (I had AEW + IMPACT to fill my wrestling thirst). As far as his presentation, using "Tik Tok" in 2022 seems kinda wrong, because now people think of something completely different than in 2016. Also, the hair makes him look way less menacing (and younger). I mean, in IMPACT he pretty much looked like a Gestapo officer, really. To me he looked the best in Bloodsport actually, so I was half-hoping for a NJPW stint, throwing people on their heads with Saito suplex and such. From what I hear, he's really nice IRL, so there's that.

Marvelous Marc Mero's entire gimmick was that he was an idiot and Sable was the star. And he was actually great during that entire stint as a character, absolutely helped Sable too. Before that point, he had to deal with "Well you can't be Johnny B. Badd so we don't know what you are" booking by WWE with the "Wildman" stuff, and he still got good babyfaces reactions because he actually did cool shit and had Sable by his side. I must admit though, this whole "Killer Kross is the worst" running gag is kinda funny to me, because it's WAY overstated. He's absolutely a pretty good talent. Nothing *special*, ok, but absolutely not a bad worker at all. So when I saw the news, I kinda chuckled. You know Gargano is coming back too, people, right ?

That probably played a part too. His promo skills basically came down to repeating the same two words. Also, when Angle debut in late 99 and then the Radicals shows up (and the Dudleys, and the Hardy getting their first big push alongside E&C), guys like him (and Val Venis and a few others who had been pushed during the first part of the Attitude Era) are done. Much better and/or much more charismatic workers take the spots of the 97-99 crew. The New Age Outlaws as a super hot act lasted what ? A year and a half ?

He sure is fixing some of the stuff he probably disagreed with Vince. Getting people back who had been fired just a while ago is quite interesting in term of what message it sends. Funny how timing is everything. If the Vince stuff happens one year ago, Adam Cole doesn't leave most probably. Samoa Joe doesn't get fired. Steven Regal doesn't get fired. Not sure people like Athena get fired either. Now Trip is getting back some of those people who are available, and really now, whatever people think of him, Kross never got a fair shake on the main roster, so good for him. And of course, he's paired up with Scarlett again (that was the most mind-blowing thing to me, alongside the gladiator outfit of course, why the hell would you not keep him and Scarlett together on the man roster, with the elaborate entrance and such ?). As far as being a geek, sure, that guy walking around with Scarlett Bordeaux as his IRL wife comes of like a geek, sure people, sure... The next 6 months are gonna be the most interesting WWE has been in more than two decades if only for what moves Levesque makes. Of course there's gonna be a honeymoon period, and people are gonna overstate every little positive thing like it's the greatest thing ever, but it's obvious that Vince was a HUGE problem for the company, in more ways than one. Is Kevin Dunn done yet ?

The thing is, Madison really shines as a heel character. She can work babyface, but that's not where you're gonna get the essence of Madison's work, which is all in details and maneurisms and reactions as a heel (not to mention promo work and angles, she went through years of making the best out of questionable TNA stuff and has been fun as heel in contemporary IMPACT, Locker Room Talk was always a terrific backstage segment, her team with Tenille Dashwood was tons of fun too). I don't think Leila Grey was a great fit for her, as really, after the entrance was done (cool theme song, great Red Velvet impersonation), she did not look very good, she was out of place many time, she showed no intensity to the point even the announcers talked about it. Mance vs Mox was a fun little match, but also by far the lesser Mox match in a long while. Ol' Mancer, well, he's basically the guy I remember from MLW, and by that I mean, whatever. Maybe his promo style and garbage bumping can get him over, but I don't look forward to more of him at all, sorry. Never did much for me and apparently still doesn't. Takeshita getting a quickie win reeked of "Fuck, we gave him a title match but he never won on TV" booking. That's the thing about this match, on paper it looks awesome and probably will be, but Takeshita has never won a big match and there's basically no way Claudio is losing, so that's another loss after a great match for Takeshita. This guy has gotten organically over in the shortest time more than anyone, but he's basically is the guy who loses great matches. He should actually *win* that title really, or the TNT title instead of that big powerbombing oaf, because the audience is already ready for him. Tony Neese & Mark Sterling have low-key became one of my favorite act in the company. Want more of Josh Woods, who apparently is still alive after *that* spot (so is Keith lee, but really he was cushioned by Woods). That being said, there's a reason Rampage gets killed in the ratings. For all the talk about not being a B-show, it has absolutely became a B-show. A fun B-show, I like the randomness of it sometimes, but a B-show nonetheless. One year ago the debut show had Kenny Omega losing the IMPACT title to Christan Cage, which was huge because it was Omega's first loss, of a title no less, since he won the AEW title from Mox after a long reign of terror. Now we get Josh Woods & Tony Neese in the main event, Mance Warner showing up, a squash thrown on TV for a guy who hasn't won a match but stil gets a title shot for the ROH title... It absolutely feels like Thunder in 1999. They probably would need to re-think their strategy for this second show, including make it look a bit different.

And Sabin, Shelley, the Bucks, the Briscoes.... Billy Gunn is not anywhere close to any of those guys. Let's be real, he's not Marty Jannetty nor Tom Prichard either.

There you go. That's what we need : Transformers death-matches ! I mean, Lego death-match were a thing a few years back. Why the fuck not.

AEW and current IMPACT weekly shows (apart from Dark) and big shows, yes. I do not watch everything on NJPW and Stardom big shows, it depends on the card, mood, time available... I definitely ff stuff during my still ongoing older TNA watch.

You have strange ideas about me. I was all about Transformers. And no, I did not realize the cartoon was basically a toy commercial.

That's one reason, among others, why I will never even follow that promotion again. 3hours Raw + 2 hours Smackdown is just NO from me. AEW adding Rampage was already not a good news to me for my viewing habits, but it' still pretty ok. But really now, one show a week was just fine. Just like IMPACT or LU. No way I get involved in watching 5 hours of weekly show to follow a promotion. If things really change, I may watch some big shows (through Very Legal Means, let's not kid ourselves), but the weekly TV is just nope.

Plus : "The One" Billy Gunn. Seriously.

Thanks. Pretty interesting. I wonder how much % is actually happy of having bought that after the fact.

Wow. I would be interested to see the overlap with the last AEW PPV (not ROH not NJPW joint show) and IMPACT PPV (especially since IMPACT had a lot of talent involved plus the production crew, which is why they promoted their next special during the show).

Don't remember. I'm either too European or too young. Lance Armstrong was the best heel ever though. Everyone saw through him, he was detested.

And the reason is : he never was that great. The Smoking Gunns were probably the best team he was a part of in term of pure work, and they were an pretty good tag team at best, at a time WWF was about the Godwinns, Men on a Mission and the likes. Not exactly much to talk about. And I liked the Gunns. Their peak probably came in 1996 when they turned heel and were managed by Sunny too, as it was the first time Billy really showcased some personality. The NAO was an intro. Most of the matches *sucked*, that's something people tend to forget. The audience was hot as hell for sing-along the intro, then sat on their asses while a boring match with the Head Bangers happened, Billy Gunn did a bunch of routine spots while JR talked about how he was the best pure athlete in WWF and then Road Dogg did his two or three routine spots and a finish. That was 90% of the NAO stuff. And Billy & Chuck, well, I guess the less said the better. Their peak was a "lol gay wedding" angle, which I guess was less offensive than most gay stuff up until then in the company, but then again, no one will confound Billy & Chuck for anything more than a questionable comedy tag team with zero notable matches to their resume. So yeah, no one talks about him because, well, there's not much to talk about. He's been doing the same boring routine work since about 1999 too, although I guess his AEW work has been more entertaining than anything he did since the peak of the NAO.

Ok, sorry about that. Overall, like I said I think it's a good feud for Jungle Boy. He needs to win that one clean.

Scott Armstrong became a big star ?

See how it goes ? I just make a comment about Christian Cage's stint being underwhelming to me, and it goes to "Christian Cage bashing" to "complaining about Christian Cage taking the time away from younger talent". I said nothing like this either. I said there's probably 50 people I'd rather watch right now, I never said I only wanted to watch the younger talents. I know what the point of the feud is.