Wednesdaymania 308: A Wrestling (Very) Brief

In Which I'm A Bad Wrestling Blogger

Full disclosure, guys - my internet went out this morning and I've been playing catchup with emails and social media. I also haven't been watching as much wrestling as I usually do - but that's more because I'm a sleepy birb lately.

Here's what I *do* know about wrestling this week:

• Nyla Rose as Women's Champ in AEW is awesome and I'm looking forward to it
• I also dig the Being the Elite stuff with Kenny and Hangman vs the Bucks.
• I need to watch more Powerrr because it's awesome
• I have a lot of catching up to do on MLW
• NXT is still awesome and Bianca Belair has it. She's got herself all figured out and it's a treat to watch her in the ring.
• Liger is still being adorable online
• I should watch some more New Japan soon

So not a lot to report (despite a lot going on, I'm sure), but wrestling is still cool, I'm still enjoying my shows, and I like that I can access most of modern wrestling via my Roku... except for NJPW.

Seriously, NJPW, get on this. It sucks to have to hook up a phone or laptop to a tv to be able to see what's going on!

Anyway, I hope that NJPW doesn't go through too much trouble due to Coronavirus, especially since it's battering Japan the way it is and with so many businesses trying to limit exposure.

Hopefully this year will be the death of the handshake and public health will become more of a focus for everyone.

I think that'll do it for me, guys

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Wednesdaymania 303: The State of Wrestling in 2020

In Which I Blather About Wrestling

It's a new year, and wrestling is... very different than it was in January of 2019.

Let's go through, company by company, and see what's up on the Wrestling front as of 15 January, 2020!

WWE:

• RAW and Smackdown numbers are down pretty badly
• NXT has massively risen in popularity
• Local people are actually talking about wrestling now in my home town
• The Big Show is back in the ring
• R-Truth isn't a punchline, he's throwing the punchlines. And he's great.
• There is a lot more money being funneled to the talent.

ROH:

• The outlook is pretty grim, actually :(
• Due to talent being gobbled up by pretty much every other promotion, ROH is struggling to keep their roster up
• They managed to keep Marty Scurll by:
• paying him a ton of money
• making him booker
• telling him he only needed to wrestle a few times a year

NJPW:

• Despite losing a lot of talent (Kushida, the Bucks, Cody, Kenny, etc), NJPW has managed to really soup-up their roster with some amazing Young Lions (Karl Fredericks and Clark Connors) and really pushing their great talents (Naito, Ibushi, Shingo, Takahashi, etc)
• The LA Dojo and the US shows are fantastic
• Jushin Thunder Liger retired
• It's really fun, but there's a definite change in how matches flow. It's both more and less western, and the only way to explain that is to see it.

MLW:

• Holy mole, they lost a lot of talent when AEW formed
• Still, they have held onto some great guys and worked well with their roster to create interesting programming
• Also, they signed on with ICM Partners with an eye to better TV deals in the future, which could be huge.
• There's a lot of upward momentum, I think, despite the blows they took to their roster.

NWA:

• Oof, the Cornett stuff was bad, but they handled it fairly well, once people pointed out that there was flummery afoot.
• Dat roster, tho - it's both one of the best and worst rosters in wrestling, with some of the most charismatic and fantastic wrestlers... as well as some who I don't get why they're popular, but that's my own opinion, and you should really see the show for yourselves.
• Question Mark. That's all I'll say. Make your own judgments.
• I love, love, love the commercial segments, the cheesy set, the music... it's the real deal, and I love how corny it is. It's its own beast.
• Nick Aldis continues to be a National Treasure, and having Big Poppa Pump show up is amazing.
• Yes.

AEW:

• From their inception and debut, AEW has grown by leaps and bounds
• They have one of the most bizarre and interesting rosters of any show right now
• The seamless blending of internet content and television content, along with the way both storytelling mediums mix, is fantastic and definitely sets it apart as a new creature
• They just got renewed through 2023
• I really, really, really want to see more every time I watch
• I still don't really get the appeal of Britt Baker in the ring, but I like her as a person. Same with Brandi.
• I'm not 100% behind Riho as women's champion, because I feel like the storytelling is fairly lackluster with her.
• I'm 100000000% behind Kris Statlander, and I am beyond thrilled with the interactions between her and Orange Cassidy on BTE.
• Oh man, just... I love this company, and I hope they continue to grow and improve.

IMPACT:

• It's last here because I know next to nothing about it
• They employ some of my favorite workers, but I can't watch the show (legally), so I have no idea what's going on there.
• Hope everyone's getting paid!
• Hope everyone stays safe!
• Have fun, guys!

So those are my thoughts on wrestling as it stands today!

Any companies I should look into and cover more? Anything anyone would like to add? Let me know!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Wednesdaymania 248: Wrestling Is Awesome

In Which I Like Wrestling

So last week kind of was a bummer on the wrestling front with Cornette and all of that badness. And yes, there's badness this week with the news from ROH firing their women's champion while she's concussed and spilling the tea on her ridiculously crap pay. Yes, there's badness this week with Corey Graves maybe having beef with Mauro Renallo and Dave Meltzer.

But I want to talk about things that don't make me sad.

It's cloudy and I have a sniffle. I don't want to feel bad. I want to feel like wrestling is awesome.

And it is!

Wrestling is still awesome because the bell-to-bell is awesome. The promos are awesome. The shows are awesome. In spite of the crap people keep giving each other, wrestling is still, as it has ever been, awesome.

So first of all, I haven't watched Powerrr since the Cornette awfulness, so I cannot speak to its continued quality of both wrestling and promo work on the part of the wrestlers, but I have to commend Nick Aldis for his cool head and strong presence in the face of a really bad time. He provided a classy face to a very unclassy problem and he's really good about that. tl;dr: Cornette bad. Nick Aldis good.

Secondly, I hear that the NXT guys are really getting popular when they storm RAW/Smackdown, so that's pretty great!

I also keep seeing good stuff from MLW Fusion, though it's been a while since I've watched any. I've been pretty distracted lately, and I apologize for that. I'm sure I've missed some awesome matches, especially since they just created their women's division!!!

Speaking of women's divisions, holy cow I'm loving what I'm seeing from AEW's shows. This week's Dark episode was dominated by the Big Swole/Shanna match, and it was pretty spectacular. While Big Swole was clearly the better wrestler of the two, Shanna has a lot to offer in the ring, and I'm excited to see them both work more with other wrestlers.

I love Leva Bates. I love the Librarian gimmick. Leva is maybe not as dynamic in the ring as many of her contemporaries. Do I think she's a bad wrestler? Not at all. She could definitely work on her flow of movement, but that will come as she wrestles more often. It's been a while since she's had regular matches after all. On a character level, however, I don't know if anyone else is as good at filling her role as Leva is at being The Librarian. It's adorable, it's awesome, and she's great to watch. RIP The Librarian after her match vs Awesome Kong. And Peter Avalon worked perfectly in that moment :) Great match.

I hope the Inner Circle aren't mean to Leva. They did kidnap her, after all...

...

I'd be down with suddenly-evil Librarian Leva. After all, Jericho has written a book...

The Trent vs Pentagon match was insane. I knew Trent was a great wrestler, but I didn't know just how toe-to-toe he was with the best there is out there. If Scorpio loses to Jericho (which I feel would be a probably bad move, but I've been wrong many times) then I could absolutely see Trent becoming a champ. This roster may be too loaded with greatness. It's mad.

I wish I could say the Kenny match vs Jack Evans was amazing, but sadly, since the internet in my town is notorious, we ended up with an overall 12 minute delay for that match and missed the finish. I will go back and watch that match again today, but for now, I will have to tell you that what I saw was still mindblowing, and if you haven't watched this week's AEW Dark, then do it.

So yes, wrestling is still awesome, and pretty much every company out there right now (even IMPACT!!!) has something incredible to offer. Definitely go on a hunt for the good stuff and try a little bit of everything. This is a good time to be a fan of the sport!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 244: HOO BOY...

In Which I Discuss Much Wrestling

I promise, I did an actual Talk About Tuesday last night, but I fell asleep before posting it, so here it is, lol.

With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on wrestling this week/last week:

• AEW
• I finally posted my live reactions bc I'm a derp and didn't realize I'd hit "save" instead of "post"...
• I am so looking forward to both tonight's episode and also Full Gear. It's gonna rock.
• I hope the internet doesn't poop itself tonight like it did last week during the Joey Janela vs Kenny Omega match. I'm still fuming that I missed that :(
• NWA
• Powerrr continues to not be everyone's cup of tea.
• I dig that - it's wrestling for a very niche group of people, but it's a group who have been utterly ignored for years now, and I love studio wrestling. I love the way fans interact with the program, the slightly-terrified and by-the-seat-of-your-pants nature of the booking... it's very dynamic
• Aldis is continuing to be God's gift to wrestling, and I love this petty, stupid storyline with Kamille.
• Aron Stevens is a treasure and must be treated as such, which is hilarious because he also keeps losing. But it's the kind of failing upwards that a true theatrical heel does, so it's hilarious and builds his character rather than diminishing it.
• The Jobbers on Powerrr continue to be awe-inspiring. Lovely.
• This is good stuff.
• MLW
• Not much to report, bc I'm still not caught up, but I understand that there are some injuries :( That sucks. I like these guys.
• They did hire a new guy for the writers' room, though, and I hear he's great!
• WWE
• Oh man. What can I say that hasn't already been said?
• The Jordan Myles shirt is inescapably racist, and to have that abomination come out right around the same time as the "I don't care about your stupid feelings" shirt should tell everyone that the WWE are racist as heck and still support the abominable Saudi government and its horrific overreaches of power. This is a Bad Company.
• I had no idea that ACH (Jordan Myles) had so many problems with Jay Lethal. I could've lived without knowing just how huge a problem ACH has with Lethal :|
• ACH is absolutely not going to AEW - the Office Boys like Lethal too much
• While ACH is 100% right to be furious with the WWE for backing him into a corner and basically telling him to like the shirt before revealing it on a black background and solidifying its racist image, he probably shouldn't have turned it into a blast session about everything he's annoyed by.
• One fury at a time, dude. Let us process each one so we can properly side with you against the obvious racism of a company that thought blackface was okay in the 1990s.
• On another note, the Rusev/Lana/Lashley triangle storyline is wretched and needs to die a death. Seriously, what is Vince's big issue with letting wrestlers be fricken married?! Leave the Lana/Rusev relationship alone!
• Also the writing just sucks on this storyline. It's not edgy. It wasn't edgy in the 80s when they tried it with Macho/Ms Elizabeth/Hogan. It's just dumb.
• Let people have happy relationships. We don't all live in the trailer park with your abusive stepdad, Vince. That's literally just you.
• IMPACT
• Where the heck is all this money coming from that they keep buying wrestlers from MLW?
• Seriously, who is the money mark?
• And can I get a job? lol

That's my brief take on the wrestling landscape for today. I hope it was at least somewhat coherent!

Hopefully, tonight, I'll be able to write my "Live Reaction" notes as I'm watching and not have to retype them when I get home and then forget to hit "post" again lol!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Wednesdaymania 242: Wrestling Is Awesome!

In Which I Blather On Wrestling

I haven't been keeping up as much with pro wrestling as I have been, I'll admit. I've been very tired lately.

However!

I did wind up watching AEW Dynamite last week and actually wrote live reactions to the episode from my phone. I posted them just after the episode, and I'm planning on doing that again tonight. We'll see, lol!

Here, however, I'm planning on just running down things I've learned this week about wrestling!

• AEW
• Jungle Boy has 0 problems with Jim Ross repeatedly calling him Jungle Boy Jack Perry/Jungle Jack. If the dude himself has no issues, then we should all just let it go. Chill, peeps.
• I love that Marko Stunt became "Babysaurus" during this week's BTE
• I'm excited to see both AEW Dark and Dynamite tonight. Yes, Dark came out yesterday, but I was le tired and have not seen it yet.
• Darby Allin is a god
• Kenny Omega went to AAA and got his first title win since NJPW! He's the Megachampion. Also, he got his picture taken in an alley with a dude peeing behind him, lol.
• NWA
• I like Powerrr, despite the fact that it's not really my style of wrestling.
• I like that Damien Sandow is back, though I'm not sure about the Anglicized name he's rocking as Aron Stevens. I get that Aron is his actual name, but... Stevens?
• Speaking of Aron, he's got possibly the best gimmick and best hold on the crowd in the NWA right now. If you haven't watched the episode yet, go do it so you know why "HE SAID NOT TO LOOK HIM IN THE EYE!!!" is so funny!
• It's kind of the antithesis of AEW, WWE, Impact, etc - slower Southern style with a lot of great wrestlers and a very different feel.
• NJPW
• I don't remember hearing a lot about New Japan this month :| Sorry!!!
• WWE
• Looks like I'll never be picking up any of the 2K games... they've got more bugs than a Thanksgiving feast hosted by Timon and Pumbaa...
• Also looks like the shows are getting even dumber, somehow...
• And why, why, why would ANYONE DRINK PANCAKE BATTER?!
• Yeah, I'm probably done with modern WWE.
• MLW
• I need to catch up on MLW. They're bleeding talent to Impact, and I'd like to watch some before everyone's gone...

So that's this week in wrestling from yours truly.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC