colossal-niamh

[colossal-niamh]

if you voted, please remember to share this post

My friend Mosab's daughter, Lama, has been injured in a bombing in Gaza and is in need of donations to help save her life.

His family doesn't have money for food or medicine and there is no cooling system to shield them from the scotching heat.

Please help this family meet their basic needs so they can escape this genocide. They have survived through hell the past nearly 2 years. Please don't let them die now just because of hunger.

Vetted by GazaVetters #520 and shared by @/90-ghost.

[colossal-niamh]

Ok so due to how my AC is in my house my room in particular gets stupid cold in the summer. I’ve have a couple throw blankets I throw on if it gets too cold. One of them is this Scooby-Doo Hex Girl’s blanket. So I’m sitting at my desk rn and look down and see this

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Happy Hulk Hogan goes to Hell day for those who celebrate (me)

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A friend watching through Evangelion got me thinking about Shinji and Kaworu again...

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Need Help with Joshi Wrestling Research

So I'm putting together a series of playlists for a group of friends and I'm working on some for some classic (pre 2000's) Joshi wrestler. please reply or DM with essential matches for; Manami Toyota

Chigusa Nagayo

Devil Masami

Megumi Kudo

Combat Toyoda

Dump Matsumoto

Aja Kong

Akira Hokuto

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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In hindsight maybe I should have updated my list after the massive weekend of wrestling shows… god there’s still the DPW Tag Festival too

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this was fun last time

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Perhaps I was too hard on you Mox's 4th title reign...

A long vent on MJF's world title run shaped like an essay

There's been a consistent debate about the quality of MJF's title run post mortem and I think I fully stand on the side that it was terrible. Possibly even the worst world title run AEW's had yet (aside from CM Punk's nonexistent 2nd run). Overly lengthy, rarely defended the belt on tv (a total of 5 times in 406 days), diminishing returns on title matches (the Double or Nothing and Full Gear matches are especially bad) and I grew more cold on him as he turned more and more face.

In retrospect I fully believe he should have dropped the belt at All In. obviously creative didn't have the booking foresight to plan around Adam Cole's ankle exploding, but I don't think we needed another 4 months of MJF title run. They should have started the big betrayal and new heel faction at the biggest show the company's ever run and not when both sides of the big feud are too bruised and beaten to work an angle. but that's more fantasy booking than proper analysis.

The Length of MJF's run felt excessive and unnecessary considering the lack of anything substantial for several stretches on TV. A lot of the builds for his title defenses were him being challenged by someone and then MJF sets up a bunch of stipulations to get that match like a gauntlet his opponent would run through. This led to some solid TV matches like Bryan vs Rush, but left the show devoid of MJF himself outside of being essentially a talking head. AEW prior had made sure the world champ was on the card and the belt was a hotly contested prize. Without those regular matches on TV it felt the world champion was distant from the product and was what the world title scene had avoided up to that point, avoidable.

The actual matches MJF did have were inconsistent in quality and in particular his pay per view matches steadily got worse as his run went on. I will say up front I like the ironman match with Bryan and the match with Tanahashi is the only title defense I haven't seen, so maybe that one might be some hidden gem I missed. As for the others, they either range from alright like the Mox and Samoa Joe matches where he won and lost the titles respectively, to legitimately the worst PPV world title match AEW's had in the 4 pillars 4-way. A match where 4 guys nowhere near skilled or experienced enough to put on a quality world title match, which also floundered due to the build up being MJF failing to bounce off of 3 guys with sub par promo skills (side note, Sammy Guevara is the worst promo in the company, bar none). I think the main factor for this is a borrowed observation from Joseph Montecillo's review* of the Jay White match from Full Gear

"This match with Jay White is a strange mix of good and interesting ideas shaped into the entirely wrong fashion. It’s an unwieldy uncanny valley kind of creation–all the elements of “good” wrestling are there but in the wrong order, mutated and warped into an ugly whole. Everything about it feels discordant, unpleasant to behold.

MJF knows all the words, but not the music."

MJF knows what a good match looks like, but doesn't know how to pace or structure one. he's like a artist with some cool OCs and a story in his head, but he doesn't get the mechanics of panel flow and puts too many speech bubbles in the panels.

I found his heel work as champion standard practice for him but good, however as he pivoted to being a face I was fond at first but progressively soured on him. He's an excellent chicken shit heel and capable of some absolute bastard behavior, in fact he's too good. Face MJF comes off as disingenuous mainly for two reason. Number one his entire AEW run was defined by how heinous and untrustworthy he was, literally in the same run he turned face he hospitalized William Regal and shoot threw a drink at a kid on live PPV. Number two is that once he was portrayed as a face, he kept doing shit the exact same as when he was a heel, but now with a cheep city pop and a "I'm your sucmbag!" Once he had a friend AEW portrayed him as a loveable scamp for stuff commentary would curse him out for over half a year ago. He kept the sleezy prick routine and the body shaming and the only real noticeable change is his name calling somehow got worse. The big example of how face MJF doesn't work is the Jay White feud. Lizzy Flanagan at The Sportster* makes the point I'd like to make exactly.

"MJF’s go-to tactic to being a babyface has been garnering sympathy, but his sob story about being bullied as a well-off middle-class child in Long Island has been repeated three or four times now. He then resorts to humor, but the best he can come up with is calling Jay White tofu. Then, he tries some crowd work. This usually works fairly well, as the AEW crowd wants to see MJF succeed, but the promos can’t help but come across as cheesy and cliché. You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. You can put a t-shirt and a smile on MJF. MJF is still a heel."

His face work feels fake and undercooked, so when put in a program with a fully realized and, frankly, better character like Jay White, Face MJF falls flat. The guy who's supposed to be the man of the people who recently turned over a new leaf is the same guy that flipped of a child at a public autograph event and mocked Darby Allen's dead uncle. The only thing that's changed as a character is now he has crocodile tears.

MJF's run as world champion was an abject failure. A spotlight that exposed the weakest parts of one of AEW's most popular performers during a creatively frustrating time in the company's short history. An example of many flaws in the modern wrestling landscape and the creative short comings of the man himself. As I write this I assume once Max recovers he'll take up the vengeful babyface role, chasing Cole and his faction. Do I hope it works? sure, but to I expect it to work? No, the experiment failed and it's inevitable that MJF will turn heel again. He has nothing without the bitter chicken shit heel persona, as a face he's a dog with no teeth. All bark, no bite.

*(Links to articles referenced in the replies below)

[colossal-niamh]

I get why they started early but why’d you have to start the show WHILE IM AT WORK AEW?!

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Damn it Bandido I JUST updated my 5 star list

[colossal-niamh]

Update Circa 7/10/25:

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Nick Bockwinkle, 2/14/79

Chigusa Nagayo vs Devil Misami, 8/22/85

Nick Bockwinkle vs Curt Hennig, 11/15/86

Aja Kong vs Chaparita Asari, 12/11/95

Aja Kong vs Senka Akatsuki, 4/17/25

Violence is Forever vs Grizzled Young Veterans, 4/18/25

Bandido vs Mascara Dorada, 6/17/25

Lee Moriarty vs Blue Panther, 7/11/25

Bandido vs Konosuke Takeshita, 7/11/25

Saw Kenny Omega talking about rating matches and it reminded me how dumb Meltzer's star ratings are. So now I wanna list of my Totally Better Than Dave 5-Star List of matches that cap out at 5 because who makes a serious ranking system then breaks it 59 times:

Macho Man vs Ricky Steamboat, Wrestlemania 3

Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat, Chi-Town Rumble

Ric Flair vs Terry Funk, Clash of the Champions 9

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jumbo Tsuruta, 6/8/90

Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong, 11/14/90

Super Generation Army vs Tsuruta Gun, 4/20/91

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 10/21/92

Sting vs Vader, 12/28/92

Shinobu Kandori vs Akira Hokuto, Dream Slam 1

Bret Hart vs Owen Hart, Wrestlemania 10

Terry Funk vs Atsushi Onita, 5/5/93

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 6/3/94

Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa, 4/15/95

Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong, 6/27/95

Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Misterio, 3/9/96

Kaientai DX vs Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Masato Yakushiji, Super Delfin, and Tiger Mask 4, 10/10/96

Bret Hart vs Stone Cold, Wrestlemaina 13

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 6/6/97

Rey Misterio vs Eddie Guerrero, Halloween Havoc 97

Vader vs Mitsuharu Misawa, 10/30/99

Kenta Kobashi vs Vader, 2/27/00

Atlantis vs Villano III, 3/17/00

Steve Corino vs Yoshihiro Tajiri, 5/14/00

Triple H vs Cactus Jack, Royal Rumble 2000

E&C vs The Hardy Boys vs The Dudley Boys, Wrestlemania X-7

Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa, 3/1/03

Brock Lesner vs Kurt Angle, 9/18/03

Eddie Guerrero vs Brock Lesner, 2/15/04

Samoa Joe vs CM Punk, 10/16/04

Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania 21

Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki, 7/18/05

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 7/18/05

Necro Butcher vs Samoa Joe, 6/11/05

Kenta Kobashi vs Samoa Joe, 10/1/05

AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe 12/11/05

John Cena vs Rob Van Dam, 6/11/06

Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness, 8/12/06

KENTA vs Bryan Danielson, 9/16/06

Samoa Joe vs Takeshi Morishima, 2/16/07

The Briscoes vs El Generico and Kevin Steen, 8/10/07

Nigel McGuinness vs Takeshi Morishima, 10/6/07

Undertaker vs Edge, wrestlemania 24

Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle, 4/13/08

Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson, 11/22/08

Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima, 12/27/08

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, wrestlemania 25

KENTA vs Ricky Marvin, 10/15/09

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania 26

El Generico vs Kevin Steen, 12/18/10

Eddie Kingston vs Claudio Castagnoli, 3/13/11

CM Punk vs John Cena, 7/17/11

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton, 6/24/13

CM Punk vs John Cena, 2/15/13 Daniel Bryan vs John Cena, 8/18/13

Sami Zayn vs Cesaro, 2/27/14

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton vs Batista, Wrestlemania 30

Sami Zayn vs Adrian Nevile, 12/11/14

Bayley vs Sasha Banks, 8/22/15

Atlantis vs La Sombra, 9/18/15

Shinsuke Nakamura vs AJ Styles, 1/4/16

Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura, 4/6/16

Kenny Omega vs Hiroki Goto, 8/14/16

DIY vs The Revival, 11/19/16

Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada, 1/11/17

AJ Styles vs John Cena 1/29/17

Katsuyori Shibata vs Kazuchika Okada, 4/9/17

Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada, 6/11/17

Allister Black vs Adam Cole, 1/27/18

Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada, 6/9/18

Undisputed Era vs Danny Birch & Oney Lorcan, 6/16/18

Brock Lesner vs Daniel Bryan, 11/18/18

Briscoes vs SCU vs The Young Bucks, 12/14/18

WALTER vs Pete Dunne, 4/6/19

Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan, Wrestlemania 35

Cody vs Dustin Rhodes, 5/25/19

WALTER vs Tyler Bate, 8/31/19

Jon Moxley vs Kenny Omega, 11/9/19

Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page vs The Young Bucks, 2/29/20

Cody vs Brody Lee, 10/7/20

WALTER vs Ilja Dragunov, 10/29/20

Wheeler Yuta vs Daniel Garcia, 8/8/21

WALTER vs Ilja Dragunov, 8/22/21

Bryan Danielson vs Kenny Omega, 9/22/21

CM Punk vs Eddie Kingston, 11/13/21

Hangman Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson, 12/15/21

Hangman Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson, 1/5/22

Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta, 4/6/22

FTR vs The Briscoes, 4/1/22

FTR vs The Briscoes, 7/23/22

Bryan Danielson vs Daniel Garcia, 8/17/22

Jon Moxley vs CM Punk, 8/24/22

El Desperado vs Jun Kasai, 9/12/22

Atlantis jr vs Stuka jr, 9/16/22

Pentagon jr. vs Villano IV, 10/15/22

FTR vs The Briscoes, 12/10/22

Hangman Adam Page vs Jon Moxley, 3/5/23

GUNTHER vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus, Wrestlemania 39 night 1

Athena vs Willow Nightingale, 7/21/23

CM Punk vs Samoa Joe, 8/27/23

Jon Moxley vs Orange Cassidy, 9/3/23

Eddie Kingston vs Claudio Castagnoli, 9/20/23

Takuya Nomura vs Fuminori Abe, 10/12/23

Sting & Darby Allen vs The Young Bucks, 3/3/24

There's a few big gaps in my watch history, namely 90's NJPW, 10's Noah, most joshi post 2000 and anything wrestling pre 80's. I'll edit this if I find a new 5 star match but not rn because this took me literal hours I'm beat

[colossal-niamh]

ZOHRAN MAMDANI!!!!

DROP A 5-STAR MATCH LIST AND MY VOTE IS YOURS!

[colossal-niamh]

For those wondering the song Mistico used as his entrance.

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Bobby and Shelton are kinda giving Unus Annus tonight

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MISTICOOOOOOOOOOOO

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Happy Arena Mexico Dynamite day to all who celebrate

[colossal-niamh]

Having actually seen all the main Evangellion stuff I find it kinda weird how much the common conception of Eva is “dark subversion of mecha.” Like it exist as a synthesis of the real mech and super robot sub genres (with a splash of Ultraman) that tells a really gripping character study that develops into an introspective conversation about self worth, nihilism and the desire to be loved. It feels a little superficial to focus on what the series appears to be rather than what it has to say.