RIP Bullet Bob Armstrong. I mostly remember him from his days in Georgia Championship Wrestling feuding with Roddy Piper and other faces, and often teaming with his son, Brad.
Great face back in those days. All four of his sons wrestled. Road Dog was the most successful I think. I first saw on CWF show with Gordon Solie, he was Bob “Arms” Armstrong and sported some bulging biceps and triceps. In GCW he was a contender for mid-level titles for a while. He and Brad tag teamed there also. He was a popular wrestler for almost 60 years before the final bell tolled, that’s a pretty good career.
Well shit, Mauro Ranallo is leaving WWE. Too bad. He was one of the few to stand out on his own and not be a WWE recite bot. He could have been one of the greats alongside Gordon Solie, Jim Ross, Monsoon & Heenan et al with his enthusiastic play calling, pop culture references, and vast knowledge of combat sports.
Maybe I’ll start watching Bellator just to hear him shout MAMA MIA!
That’s a shame. Ranallo is hands-down the best commentator WWE has had in decades and easily one of the best commentators in any sport. He could do commentary on a round of Donald Trump playing golf and I’d be enraptured.
This is a brilliant but devastating Benoit doc.
I feel sad about Mauro, but only to a point. He needed to be either the only one who was on commentary, or with only one other person. His boisterousness was SO overwhelming that anyone he was with was immediately drowned out. I’ll miss him, but he just didn’t fit WWE and it was a miracle he lasted as long as he did.
Speaking of announcers, Taz and Excalibur are killing it on AEW Dark. Taz comes across as a know-it-all, and Ex gets in a few subtle digs. One match had a jobber named Rembrandt, and Taz non-sequitured about the painter Rembrandt and dropped some obscure facts about him. Ex replied “You can put the phone down now.”
Vince has now told his “independent contractors” that he owns their real names and they’re now forbidden from streaming on their own time.
I expect a pretty big backlash.
AEW All Out was a lot of fun. Every match delivered, and was thrilling to watch.
It seems like when I watch WWE events, I check the time and wonder “When is this going to be over?” With AEW, it’s all the sudden midnight. “What, it’s over already?”
I’d say as far as newish talent goes, I’m digging Reynolds and Sylva. They’re talented in the ring and make good patsies for Brodie Lee’s abuse. They really tore it up with Private Party.
Darby Allin figured out how to take another freakish bump. Brian Cage stuffed him in a body bag full of thumbtacks, then tossed him over the top rope in the Casino Battle Royal. Poor Matt Sidal, he made his surprise debut as the last participant, then slipped off the top turnbuckle and committed El Bocho. Still, he’s a great addition to AEW and knows how to work main event-level matches.
just a question doesn’t that law in ca that has uber up yn arms cover places like the WWE also?
Rusev has been reborn in AEW as Miro with dyed blond hair. He’s now The Best Man, presumably Best Man to Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford in their upcoming in-ring wedding. What could go wrong?
Both he and Sabian made it a point to promote their third party social media presences, like Brodie Lee did as faux Vince ranting to the Dark Order. It’s a huge departure from his WWE character. It seems like a weird pairing, but then again Rusev and Aiden ENglish somehow pulled it off.
Miro Day! Miro Day! Miro Day! Miro Day!
“That’s got a nice ring to it.”
AEW’s making good use out of two of my three favorite released WWE guys in Miro (Rusev) and Matt Cordona (Zack Ryder), while Impact is giving my third guy, Heath Slater, something to do too. I love it.
One thing I like about AEW is their back matter. They have shows on YouTube that contribute to Dynamite and PPV storylines. On Being the Elite, they had the Jacksons and Omega discussing the “upcoming” Casino Battle Royal. Nakazawa was lurking behind them, thinking they were going to designate him as the Joker (last surprise participant), but they proclaimed it would be Matt Sydel. Nakazawa sold jealousy.
Next, they show Nakazawa dousing the corner turnbuckle with baby oil before the event “started.” Then, they spliced in Sydel making his grand entrance, jumping on the turnbuckle and slipping off, almost breaking his neck. Afterward, Nakazawa confessed to the deed, thinking it would impress the higher-ups, but it didn’t. So, they covered for Sydel’s botch by making it look like a work, even though everybody knew it wasn’t.
Just found a hilarious short film that stars both John Morrison and Dolph Ziegler…
The Stem Cells thing is for real. He told Chris Van Vliet he gets stem cell injections in his elbows and knees. And yes, that was his rl dog.
Well, I can be on Thunderdome tonight…for the last 15 minutes of Raw. 
Usually I’m asleep by then, waiting to catch the end on Hulu sometime Tuesday. So, we’ll see if I make it. I want to, if just to get a better time slot in the future.
And now we must also say goodbye to Road Warrior Animal. 60 is simply too young, especially considering my own proximity to that age. Official cause still undetermined, but currently being classified as “natural causes”. It especially sucks as he was celebrating his wedding anniversary that day. 
I remember how the Road Warriors terrified everybody in NWA and AWA, but that changed when they came to WWF. They went by “The Legion of Doom” and their spiked ring gear looked like something from Toys R Us. I don’t know if it was booking politics or Vince’s efforts to make wrestling a family-friendly product, but they had lost their intimidating presence.
Sami Zayn, adopting a Che Guevara look, wins CoC. Usually, it’s Jeff Hardy who takes the sickest bumps, but Sami’s back looked like freshly-ground hamberder after a few ladder assaults. Hardy often plays it by ear, but he could no longer do so when Sami handcuffed his earlobe to a ladder. Aaack. Ew. Eeeek. He then handcuffed AJ to the ladder he was climbing to get to the belts, and easily grabbed the titles himself.
I thought they were going to have two of the participants each grab a belt, further extending the IC title controversy, but Sami will genuinely get to gloat gregariously about his glaring genius. Glad he’s back, and glad Vince didn’t decide to bury him for staying home and as AJ so eloquently put it, “growing his neck beard.”