My problem isn’t that they’re making noise, or that they’re shitting on the match…by all means go ahead and voice your displeasure over that match…but do it relevantly.
Boo, say “this is bor-ring”, same old shit, make things dif-frent, something like that. Don’t start asking for divas, or sami zayn, or JBL or something that has literally nothing to do with what’s happening in front of you.
Shit I’ll even take yes chants or call out ziggler or something.
Vince probably has the same issues.
I don’t mind crowd chaos. It keeps things interesting. I’m sure WWE is fine with *any *reaction. Kofi Kingston stayed in character when the crowd chanted “New Day sucks,” even though it was the exact opposite of what creative intended.
It’s been announced today that CJ Parker has been released, at his request.
It’s a shame - I liked the character and what they were doing with him awhile ago, but he pretty much got buried under the avalanche of new talent that’s come in over the past year and it was becoming clear he wasn’t going to be anything other than a jobber. Perhaps he’ll fare better in ROH or LU.
Yeah, kind of a shame–apparently he had really good relations with pretty much everybody behind the scenes. I thought his character was a fantastic heel–you immediately wanted to see him get his ass kicked, as he was such an condescending, holier-than-thou fuck.
Meanwhile, I need to go get his theme before they take it down.
ETA: Dammit, too late! 
As always, Youtube has you covered. Turns out it’s by an indie band (from Turkey, of all places!) called “Suspect Parts”.
Apparently his message of saving our planet and caring for the environment made the higher ups uncomfortable and they couldn’t confront their own guilt over destroying mother nature. That and the patchouli smell.
Whoa, thanks! I just assumed it was another CFO$ and/or Jim Johnston creation. Who’da thunk the E would license a tune for CJ Parker, of all people? (Though I suspect licensing out a tune by a Turkish indie band ain’t too hard on the bottom line, so that may’ve played a role.)
Well, expect to see the next wave of releases within a week or three. Place yer bets on who you think is gone. There’s a rich crop of under utilized talent to choose from!
I don’t think anybody heard of Mark Crozer either until Bray Wyatt used his song, so licensing deals pay out for the unknowns.
How cliche would it be to say Heath Slater and Zach Ryder, since they’re ALWAYS on these lists?
I wonder if Ryder would do good in the “veteran midcarder” role in NXT? Otherwise, yeah, he may be done.
Adam Rose may be a lemon soon.
Rose would be better sent down to NXT, for either a repackaging or a continuing role as a bitter veteran, a la our new Dark Emma.
Until… oh, a week or two ago? I would’ve pegged Bradley Maddox as the odds on favorite to be released in this year’s Black X-day, but the word on the street is that he’s been working house shows. I’m both happy for him, as I’m sure he wants both the paycheck and the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage, and (hopefully prematurely) disappointed, as WWE has done nothing to convince me that they have any idea how to utilize his creativity and charisma. Naturally, this meant I wanted him to go to Lucha Undeground, even if the character he’s shown on his YouTube videos would not be a natural fit for that darker’n’grittier promotion.
(OTOH, Hunicara, you seem to’ve gotten lost in the shuffle at WWE, and I can think of a few other folks who had the same experience who reinvented themselves in Lucha Underground… and obviously you’re just a sacrificial veteran for your “friend” Kallisto, so…)
*BAWANGAWANGAHHHHH
BAAANNNHHHH*
Tonight is chest slapping night. SMACK! Everybody gets chopped, even Sexy Star. She’s one tough muchacha.
LU likes to throw in a new thing every few weeks to keep from settling down into a set format. This time, they’re putting together the Trios Championship tournament. Unlike typical six-person matches, they selectively ignore the “legal man in the ring” concept. Two competitors may vault themselves out of the ring at some point, so their partners will run into the ring without tagging and continue the match.
At the show’s beginning, Ryck Fury introduces his cousins to Dario Cueto, Mack and Kill Shot. Mack reminds me of Rufus R. “Freight Train” Jones from the old days: husky and cauliflower ugly, but amazing in the ring. Kill Shot wears a lucha mask and wrestles like a technico. Cueto sets them up to take on Superfly, Sexy Star, and Pentagon Jr. Before the match, Pentagon grabs the mike and calls his partners weak, and refuses to tag them in during the course of the match. Ryck, Mack and Kill Shot get the win, and Pentagon turns on his partners. He threatens to break Superfly’s arm, but Sexy comes in for the save. Looks like a feud is imminent.
Johnny Mundo takes on Angelico next. Not an ounce of fat on these guys. I thought Mundo might dominate the match, but Angelico seems to predict everything Johnny does and counters his offense. Angelico didn’t get off his cross-diagonal overhead charge, but still a good technical match between the two. Mundo gets the win and later confronts Alberto El Patron backstage. “You’ve shown you’re really good at beating guys you already beat,” says Mundo. Alberto shows a little of his cocky heel side and taunts Mundo back. Should make a for a good feud here. I don’t think these guys were in WWE at the same time, but they should be able to work well together.
Black Orchid’s story continues to develop. She narrates a silhouette series of her and El Testico (whatever his name is—Smapti, help!) training together, explaining that she has to learn lucha to properly confront the Monster In The Basement who killed her parents. I’m sure with Robert Rodriguez in charge, they’ll come up with some scary-looking Dusk Till Dawn-type monster, but will the latex makeup hold up in the ring?
Dario Cueto has Son of Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico in his office and tells them they’re going to be a Trio team in the tournament. Should be fun, as they all hate/love each other. SoH reminds me of Chris Elliot in a way. Elliot had this way of talking like he thought he was a really amazing stud, but his voice and mannerisms were too goofy to convince anyone of those qualities. Before leaving, SoH tells Cueto, “For the record, I dumped her!” in that same dorky macho tone of voice.
Drago and Aerostar tie their series at 2 apiece, and have an aggressive handshake after match’s end. Next week they won’t be so nice to each other.
I feel like I’m missing another match, but I’m sure Smapti will fill us in.
*BAWANGAWANGAHHHHH
BAAANNNHHHH*
NXT happened and I honestly can’t remember much of anything since I was job searching at the time.
Bayley faced Emma, it was a slooooowww boring-ass match and I honestly can’t remember who won. I want to say my girl Bayley did because it’s kind of pointless to put over Emma, but Bayley is also being shit on so no idea.
Luchas faced the superhappyfungroup. I’m assuming superhappy won, but I didn’t pay one inch of attention to this match cuz I thought “well who cares cuz the Dragons were called up”
Breeze and Itami had, by all accounts, a good match. Breeze won cuz he’s getting a good push, if NXT had an IC title he would be the champ no doubts.
Oh yeah, Rhyno was there. His arms are FUCKING HUGE HOLY SHIT
that’s all I got.
Wasn’t exactly paying a lot of attention myself.
Bayley won, then tried being nice to Emma, who ended up just standing in the ring alone smiling angrily and unhappy about losing to Happy Fun Girl.
SeizureMusicGuys won their match, I believe.
Itami won the first fall very quickly. Prince Pretty played wiped out in the corner and then when Itami went after him, he got hit with a beauty shot for a quick pin, evening it up at 1-1. The third one went a bit longer, with Breeze taking some stiff shots, then hitting another (stiff looking) Beauty Shot out of nowhere for the third fall, taking the match 2-1. Not a huge fan of him, but given how long he’s been stuck in development, I think it’s about time they build Breeze up for a main roster appearance.
Sami came back, Rhyno interrupted his promo to tell Zayn that the line for title shots starts behind him.
Between Balor’s weird bullet kick thing, and Breeze’s regular ole kick finisher NXT seriously has a finishing move problem.
Yep, NXT was pretty much a lull. There was also a match between Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger, which Jordan won. Both guys used Kurt Angle’s move set.
There was also a Solomon Crowe promo, but I have a feeling this guy is going back to the slush pile in a few weeks. He ain’t all that.
That’s actually how trios matches work in AAA - if the legal man leaves the ring, either of his partners may jump in and take his place without having to tag in. It keeps the match flowing faster and eliminates the “hot tag” drama that can get repetitive when it happens over and over again. I’m surprised they didn’t have Vampiro bring it up since he’s the “explains the history of lucha libre” guy and he’s been wrestling for 731,000 years (back when Drago was still an actual dragon, no doubt).
Killshot is formerly Shane Strickland (of Tacoma, WA!), a former TV champion in CZW, a hardcore “guys beating the shit out of each other with whatever the fans hand them” type promotion that runs out of New Jersey and pretty much took over where the original ECW left off. You may have heard of one of their former world champions, Dean Ambrose (seen here taking an electric saw to the face).
The Mack is Willie Mack, a PWG guy who the crowd is clearly already very familiar with since they started chanting for him when he showed up. He’s another former tag team partner of Sami Zayn’s (for some reason, their team name was “2 Husky Black Guys” and has had rivalries with Kevin Owens and Cage on CA’s indy circuit.
It’s “Black Lotus” and “El Dragon Azteca”. I can’t tell you anything about him, unfortunately - the only hits I can find on the name are in Spanish.
This was a really good episode. The backstage scenes gave us a lot of new plot points to think over, and I’m really looking forward to how the tournament plays out.
WWE has really dumbed him down. Here’s a absolutely insane promo he did as John Moxley, where he practically molests the ring chick.
I’ll give you the Beauty Shot, but Finn jumps from the top turnbuckle onto dudes’ chests. It’s not flashy, but I have no problem believing it’s effective, which is priority number one in finishers.
Also, I loved the women’s match–provided that Emma is not in fact as dead inside as she seems to be. It told a great story of bitter Emma trying to give Bayley the Hard Truth ™ about what it takes go survive in this biz and Bayley not having any of it, but hating having to fight her friend.
Opinions round the net have been mixed on this one, tho.
