Guys…
he’s a father of newborn triplets ok?
and he survived cancer, AIDS, and celiac disease, rebuilt his house after it got swallowed by an earthquake, and rescued the president’s daughters from being held hostage by ISIS.
So when are they going to merchandise Sheamus’s “Kiss Me Arse, I’m Irish!” shirts?
Well, slap mah head and call me Sally! <slap> Hey, Sally. Dean Ambrose steals anything on wheels. Ambulances, paddy wagons, hot dog carts… next time the Pope visits, he’ll steal the Pope Mobile.
WWE is having a pretty good run of RAWs here in the last couple weeks. Not all of then have been home runs, but we have at least one dinger in there as well as a couple doubles and a single.
This episode FLEW by for me. Before I knew it it was 10:30 and I had no idea what the main event would be, all despite nothing really earth-shattering happening. The matches were good, the pairings worked, and it continued to build up the best PPV of the year Elimination Chamber.
The only really annoying thing to me continues to be the Rusev/Lana BS. This whole situation is helping literally no one and it’s just stupid. Even when Lana stands up for herself and says “you don’t own me” she is (rightfully am I right guys?!?!?!) put back in her place with Ziggler coming out to kiss her cuz, you know, women still aren’t people and are sex bunnies for men:rolleyes:.
#wegavedivasachancebutweredonenow
Oops, hit the wrong button: I wasn’t feeling the Dean Ambrose arrest angle, that ended really stupid, but I love that WWE keeps up the kayfabe by these “leaked videos to YouTube”. They did it with Hideo getting mugged in the parking lot, and they did it here. It’s funny and theatrical and just perfect. Plus HE HAS NEWBORN TRIPLETS! WE’RE A CARING COMPANY!
’
I haven’t watched all of the LLWC yet - the replay was glitchy when I tried to watch it yesterday, and it conked out for me near the end of the first match when Alberto hit THE SAME KICK THAT WON HIM THE CHAMPIONSHIP MAGGLE on the one Japanese guy outside the ring.
The site says you have seven days to watch the replay, so I’ll try again on my day off.
How do you watch the Trios megathing?
http://internetvluchalibreworldcup.com/
With a bit of perspective: It’s longer than it has any need or right to be, and the audio production issues definitely detract from the experience–they addressed the issue with the English and Spanish language feeds both being on at the same time by dropping the level on the Spanish feed, which took most of the crowd noise and sounds of the in-ring action with it. You’ll either love Striker and Vampiro or hate them, and Jarrett is painful (and he sticks around for both semis). But I had a good time with it, and would go for it again if I had the chance. Hopefully AAA will do more iPPVs and work out the kinks.
…So, as if Wednesday night wasn’t crowded enough, it’s just been announced this morning that Ring of Honor is going to be airing nationwide starting next week, on Destination America in the same time slot that TNA was going to be moving to.
TNA has apparently been pushed back an hour to make way for ROH. Honestly, this is good news for both promotions - ROH has good street cred right now and they’re going to be a lot more accessible now than they have been airing in local syndication at 1 AM, and just maybe some people who tune in for ROH will keep watching to see whatever it is Billy Corgan &c. can come up with to try and salvage TNA’s reputation.
I’m not sure I can handle three hours of quality wrestling from three separate promotions in one night, though. It’s enough to make one look forward to LU’s “off-season” in a few months. 
OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!
heart is pounding
Maybe DA is testing which show gets better ratings and plans to throw their weight behind the winner, which will be RoH. At this point, I don’t even care if TNA floats in the toilet like a forgotten turd. They have nothing that compares to the other three. Maybe they can sell their six-sided rings at the flea market to pay off some salaries.
Well, it looks like all their talent is bailing anyway. Rumor that Austin Ares won’t re-sign next month, Christy Hemme leaving, Joe gone… Last one left will be Angle, because no one else wants him and he’s taken too many blows to the head to admit that he should retire.
Good on JR for calling out Dixie as being irresponsible for not communicating with her talent. Too little too late, but there we are. Eventually I guess they’ll end up selling their video library to WWE for about a buck sixty, then maybe we’ll see a “The Long Slow Death of TNA” single episode special on the WWE Network. With of course, everyone who worked there now freely able (and paid) to call Dixie all sorts of names that she likely deserves.
DA moved the girlfriend into the guest bedroom without telling the wife the marriage was in trouble.
Grasping at straws here, but what if DA was trying to build an “indie” wrestling network? Start with TNA and ROH, throw in some CZW, Jeff Jarrett’s GFW, maybe some Japan stuff, grab the second season of LU, some of the NWA regionals (do any of them have TV? I have no idea of the status of the NWA today) or any other regional willing to produce a show and get the national exposure.
Of course later tonight monkeys might fly out of my butt, but you never know.
Well no, the whole cancellation thing was letting the wife know you’re getting a divorce. The girlfriend moved in the next week.
Interesting idea, but I’m not feeling it. GFW was a promising idea, but at some point it became a joke. JJ is now this dude who hangs out, uninvited, around other people’s events, wedges himself into their commentary booths, puts himself over, and leaves after getting random heat with people. CZW, PWG, Chikara–none of them are probably ready for prime time. I doubt English language LU will move away from El Rey–it’s a tentpole program for them. I don’t think the old NWA really exists in any meaningful sense. (You may be able to trace the NWA title up through TNA, but… well… LoL. tNa.)
It’s hard to figure out what’s going on between DA, TNA and RoH. RoH has its own interest in continuing to be a viable product and draw on Sinclair networks. Nobody know what the hell is going on with TNA any more, at least until September gets closer.
Personally, I’ll figure DA’s left TNA dying by the side of the road and RoH is the newly crowned 2nd american promotion, but we’ll have to wait to see.
(I’ll be down here, being a fifth column for AAA’s invasion of the American territories…)
There’s been no confirmation that DA has cancelled TNA. According to Dixie on the conference call she held today with TNA talent there is an opt out clause that DA can invoke come September. If DA had cancelled TNA they wouldn’t have mentioned TNA in today’s press release.
So I guess it’s more like telling the wife you want to have an open marriage while the girlfriend is standing on the front porch with her bags.
I read the last several posts without realizing that DA = Destination America, and was wondering when Dean Ambrose had time for a wife and a girlfriend.
I mean, they don’t call him the Titty Master for nothing, right?
*BWANGAWANNNNGGGAWAAAANNNGGGGHHHH
BAAAAANNNNHHHHH*
No Dario Cueto this episode, for his seeds of discord have been planted and borne fruit. This episode opens with Chavo Guerrero confronting Black Orchid and pledging his protection to her, which she doesn’t seem to buy. He says Malanza has killed Guerreros too, which is why he agreed to join forces with her.
Johnny Mundo makes his heel debut vs Aero “Glad I didn’t win the best of 5 series and get banned” Star, no relation to Sexy. Mundo’s been a heel before in WWE/ECW, but it’s not much different from his babyface side. He still does the rock star poses and dazzling parkour maneuvers. I remember when Zack Ryder used to show his dad being and obsessed John (then) Morrison fan. This is a segue to Mundo’s eventual rematch with Alberto El Patron, so Mundo gets a slightly less then inspired win. Not a bad thing, because it will make a huge difference later.
Vampiro has a Star Wars translator droid conversation with Sexy Star — he asks questions in English, she answers in Spanish. The Univision version will have it all in Spanish of course, but I just thought this setup was funny. Sexy comments without making any points on her rivalry with Pentagon Jr and the fallout of her mask vs mask match with Super Fly. If she ever learns English, she wins ladies wrestling, ALL promotions. She’s so used to working with men, it’d be easy.
Prince Puma vs HerNashdez: HerNashdez actually looks pretty good, but it’s because Puma is so fantastic, he could wrestle a mop and make it a five star match. Puma actually does a heel thing and hits HerNashdez with a chair while Konnan has the ref distracted, and Vampiro goes ballistic. Some day, LU’s going to have to do some kind of retrospective on why Vampiro hates Konnan so much. Konnan’s the tough love mentor to Puma for sure, but so far hasn’t done anything particularly vile as far as I remember. He even took a blade for Puma during his war with Cage and wore the Crimson Mask. Puma does the 630 Splash 3 or 4 times, and finally connects at the end to score the victory.
Final match, Fenix vs the returning Mil Muertes. Catrina led Muertes and three Disciples of Death (goons wearing black masks with confused-looking skulls on them) out from the foggy stygian depths of the underworld. DIOS MIO! I considered their previous contest LU Match of the Year, but this one topped it! It was heart stopping! Normally, anybody who no-sells is frowned upon, but in this case, it worked beautifully when Fenix tried to ambush Muertes early and bounced off his hulking form. This was a Death match, meaning no DQ or countout, so a lot of the action took place outside the ring, with both luchas smashing each other’s head into the folding gates.
This led to the bump of the year, which ranks up there with Mankind’s fall from the top of HIAC vs Undertaker. Muertes carried Fenix on his shoulders up the temple steps, around the back of the audience, to the top of Cueto’s office. Is he going to throw him off the top? No, but it’s just as bad. Muertes Power Bombs through the friggin’ ROOF! Cueto’s office is demolished every week! As the audience collectively gasps, they take a commercial break. When we return, the 3 DoDs crawl into the wreckage and bring out Fenix’s body. Muertes gets the pin, and Catrina licks his face. WOW! But it doesn’t stop there…
Cueto finally makes an appearance. He’s underground with The Crew, in front of Malanza’s cage. “Now it is time,” he tells his minions. “You have embarrassed me and committed sacrilege to this temple, so one of you must pay the price. Choose which one of you will be the sacrifice.” The middle guy gets chosen because he’s closest to both, and gets pushed up to the bars. Next we see a struggle and blood flies everywhere. A drop lands on Cueto’s face, and he suavely wipes it away.
back to work…
*BWANGAWANNNNGGGAWAAAANNNGGGGHHHH
BAAAAANNNNHHHHH*
KO starts wrestling on regular shows, Bayley continues to lose for no goddamn reason, and THE RETURN OF BAGELS*! Let’s get into it…
MATCHES:
Superhappyfungroup vs Jobbers who’s I can’t remember: My main takeaway from this match is that Alexa Bliss looks like she is wearing the confederate flag. I do have to hand it to NXT though, I never saw this much in the Superhappys and I think they are taking this role and running with it. It might be bleeding over from their “happy to be there” mindset, but they are doing well. I also give credit that they are obviously setting up for a mixed tag match.
Bayley vs Emma: I’m not one to notice these things, but is this the first week Emma has had new music? It makes sense since she’s doing a heel turn and isn’t fun anymore, but it’s the first I’ve noticed it. As for the match? Sigh…I just don’t know anymore. Bayley’s constant losing and in terrible ways (tons of submits that don’t involve her knee) just makes her look beyond weak. And not storyline weak, but just weak for no real reason. I don’t even really get excited to watch her wrestle anymore…and this is ME we’re talking about. They need to do something with her soon or the crowd will abandon her
Finn Balor vs The guy he faced: I’m gonna need to start remembering the jobbers names because I kinda feel bad about it. Finn won because of his stupid finisher that I hate.
KO vs Solomon Crowe: I’m enjoying how they are playing KO. Keeping him off tv (so to speak) and bring him out only for PPVs, but now that half their starts are on the DL you have him wrestle. I thought the choice of Solomon Crowe was a bit random, but it’s a name that KO could beat and it’s whatever. Another appearance by Samoa Joe teases something.
PROMOS AND OTHER THINGS:
Bagels is back! It was only a promo, and it was just a tease with JJ, but I think that means we’re close to Bagels back in the ring! I’m so excited. It was also a pretty decent promo too on his part, with his towels and stuff.
Alexa is trying a bit too hard to be heel. She needs to attack more random divas (or just Carmella maybe) to get some genuine heat on her vs. just cheap heat
KO is a great heel. His whole “righteous heel” bit is something that’s fun and interesting too. Did he play heel a lot when he was in the indies?
Last random thought: Why is Alex Reilly not doing commentary? I know he’s hurt, but he broke his body not his voice, why can’t he just sit there in his sling or whatever and do commentary still?
*for those who don’t know: when he first premiered Gable had his name written vertically on his singlet and I couldn’t read what it said and I thought it said bagels. I can’t even remember who he was wrestling, but I thought he looked really good and I was impressed, so I’ve been looking out for bagels ever since. Long live Bagels!
OLAYYY OLAYOLAYOLAY
Kevin Owens in enjoying a meteoric rise and eventual pwnage* of all things WWE.
When I saw him in RoH before, he was OK on promos and incredible in the ring. I don’t know who’s coaching him on the mike, but he’s nailing it. When the crowd took his side and started chanting JOHN CENA SUUUUX, he said “I haven’t heard you say that for Sami Zayn yet. He sux too.” He completely turned the crowd against him by maligning the NXT savior.
Samoa Joe’s now got his own entrance video and music. Methinks he won’t be moonlighting with the Indies for long.
Super Happy Fun Group is now transitioning to heel, and apparently it’s a learning experience. Sparkly girl’s addition with red and black tress tips at least makes them pretty, but they need to do a little more in promos than grunt in agreement. Despite the import of Indie talent, NXT is still a development project, so these three probably won’t be making main roster any time soon.
Finn uses the low-budget version of his entrance to take on Tye Dillinger.
Heel Emma has darker hair and lipstick now, but at least the pointy dance is now kaput. Poot STC’s heart breaks as Bailey jobs again.
- Apparently this term is now officially English lexicon, as it gets no red wavy line.
And a memo from Destination America leaked in which they said they are canceling TNA after the third quarter. Ratings were strong but the audience was not, plus a bunch of sponsors put TNA on their DNA (do not advertise) list.
After this I hope Panda has a DNR on TNA.
He’s actually just been announced for a Ring of Honor show on the 20th, where he and AJ Styles will be fighting the tag team champions. Apparently, he’s been given a very juicy deal along the lines of the ones Rhino and The Brian Kendrick have (except for a lot more money) - he’s allowed to work the indies as long as he stays off their TV shows.
Also, I’d just like to say again how absolutely great William Regal is as GM - you wouldn’t see a Brad Maddox or a Teddy Long or even a Kane stare down Kevin Owens and be completely unintimidated.
I’m the same way when I buy a new truck. Hard to let go of the old one. I’m sure all the WWE perks will win him over.