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malakaie · 21 days ago

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the thing is it's kind of frustrating being a malakai fan sometimes. not bc of anything he's done, not even because of anything booking has done, but because the snippy little attitudes are relentless

about every six months the news outlets have some fresh bullshit speculation about his contract - which always has a clickbaity title, and always reads as empty dross that's you hearing from your friend who heard from another guy who heard from another guy - and they can never decide whether it's malakai asking to be released or aew trying to release him. and i'm like. well, he's booked onto aew's main show, and involved in one of the three major storylines (if we posit that the other two are mox + mvp/swerve). does that look like someone who's being fired or quietly quitting, to you?

we know what it looks like when someone is either being released or has asked to be released. no one's even mentioned death triangle's name in weeks, not even a passing mention of the fact that pac has quite suddenly been absorbed into a new trio. from what i can tell, aew doesn't book guys who are leaving or who are stuck in contract negotiations onto dynamite and into major storylines. it would just be poor business planning and use of resources, you know? if someone's contract status is uncertain and they might be quitting, you don't put a complex storyline with many people and moving parts involved on their shoulders and have to clean up the mess when they leave partway through.

now, of course, unexpected things can happen. i'm not saying that i know the status of anyone's contract because i don't, and there are always personal life and health factors that none of us as an audience are privy to, nor should we be necessarily. but it would be an incredibly weird choice to trust malakai with supporting adam cole's return to work if ... he wasn't someone aew trusted to stick around.

these articles nearly always come out when things are going well for malakai, by the way. they don't come out when he hasn't been on tv for a few weeks. i don't want to assume someone's mad at him for doing well... but...

as for the "heehee malakai black refuses to job": here's the thing. he's been wrestling his entire adult life. the difference between him and adam copeland is 10 years and earlier access to tv wrestling contracts. he was personally scouted into nxt by william regal (not to sound like knowing the right people is the only way in, but like... your contacts do help, and people take william regal's opinion quite seriously in terms of recruitment).

he's consistent, he's committed, he's passionate, he's constantly learning and evolving and trying to better his craft. and yes, he's a professional who's willing to follow the booking where it needs to go - but he also knows how good he is.

it's not even necessarily an ego thing. if you watch any match of his from the past 3-4 years, the single consistent factor is that commentary always and without fail presents him as a special talent who has something unique. it would be deeply tonally inconsistent to talk about him like that every time he's on tv and then also have him lose matches on a regular basis. if you constantly highlight someone as special and unique and someone to be afraid of and then also have him regularly lose, people will lose faith in your commentary to have half a fucking clue what they're talking about. people will lose confidence in the wrestler you keep talking about as being special. and the simple truth is that malakai isn't afraid to lose when it makes sense. he just also knows his worth and his experience and doesn't want to job for free. if you want to beat him, square up and get it done.

beyond that, he's friendly with a lot of the locker room - he's trained with will ospreay, he's friendly with darby, he's been wrestling against adam cole since 2014, etc etc - and people respect him. while it's true - by his own admission! - that he's rubbed people the wrong way at times because of how he has sometimes communicated his ideas or tried to advocate for himself, he's a reliable source of talent and storytelling. his work is internationally respected and he actively puts hours and hours of his "free time" into working with and training aspiring young wrestlers.

no one complains that orange cassidy rarely loses - they're very close in age and have very similar experience as wrestlers and as performers. orange cassidy has also been trusted with one of aew's major storylines. the only difference, the only difference, is that malakai managed to continue having a life after wwe tossed him out on his ear, and i swear it's for that reason alone that the IWC will not shut the fuck up.

#julian.txt

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anthonysstupiddailyblog · 10 months ago

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Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (640): Sun 17th Dec 2023

Today while I was working on the trucks one of the guys who started at the same time as me started chatting to me about the workflow for the rest of the day. After a while he told me that his contract was up in exactly one months time and there was no sign of it being made permanent like mine had. I told him that I had been convinced my contract wasn’t going to be made permanent for ages but it turned out they’d sent me one via email months ago so I advised him to check his emails. He told me that he regularly checks his emails and the current contract he’s on is the most up to date one. I then said that if he’s trained on multiple processes then they’re less likely to let him go but then he said that he’d enquired about this possibility before but HR had told him that the amount of extra voluntary processes you learn doesn’t go towards making you permanent as they look into factors like quality and punctuation. Slightly feeling like I was clutching at straws now I still pressed on telling him that as long as he hadn’t been taking the piss with his attendance and hasn’t had any issues with his behaviour he should be fine and immediately he shot back telling me that in the last 18 months he has been given no less than FOUR written warnings about his behaviour. At which point I really felt like saying “…yeah, looks like you’re fucked then mate”. I mean come on, I was trying to be reassuring but what can I do when every time I try to be comforting and see the good in people they peel back another layer and reveal that they are actually just a massive tool? To be fair though the position he’s in now is precisely the position I feared I would be in just a few short months ago. I can be flippant about it now but since starting at this company up until I was finally offered a permanent contract I was in a constant state of paranoia wondering how I was going to cope if this all went tits up and if I had to face another prolonged period receiving unemployment benefit. Things haven’t worked out the way this guy hoped they would but if I hadn’t taken the opportunity to switch processes when I did then my rates probably would have slipped down and I would be on the chopping block next to this sorry sack of shit. I think I might give AEW All In a skip next year. I enjoyed last years edition of the event but it was such a pain in the hole. For starters the train company didn’t release tickets until about a month before the event and right out of the gate they were selling for over £150 which was twice the price of the ticket for the fucking show! (Personally I think the reason that the train tickets were so high because Vince bribed the train company tossers to try and sabotage AEW). This meant that I had to get a fucking coach all the way down to London which took ten god damn hours. Honestly the amount of time and money I’ve put into scratching items of my fucking bucket list is insane. Finally although I’m glad I got to experience WrestleMania and All In I have to say that watching wrestling in a stadium is a torturous experience. Not only do you just end up watching the action on a giant screen because the ring is so far away but you also have every cunt and his mother in the stadium trying to get a chant started which is annoying as fuck. So while I’m glad that I attended to of the biggest wrestling events of all time I won’t be in a hurry to attend another enormous show any time soon.

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gdwessel · 3 years ago

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Moxley Defeats Kojima, Challenged by Suzuki at AEW ALL OUT, Mox v. Suzuki on AEW Dynamite Wednesday 9/8/2021; Other NJPW Activity In Chicago Last Weekend; Kidani Gives Not-Very-Inspiring Interview to Tokyo Sports About Poor Attendances

Once again, technical issues prevented me from posting this yesterday, and it's obvious something needs to be done about the computer I'm using, one way or another. I wasn't even able to finish a podcast yesterday I needed to. So I may be taking a few days off from this thing in order to get my tech issues resolved. Try not to miss me too much?

Sunday night at AEW's ALL OUT PPV from Hoffman Estates, IL, former IWGP US Heavyweight champion Jon Moxley defeated the visiting Satoshi Kojima in the second match of the show, and it was very good. Of course, Kojima isn't a huge name among modern wrestling fans necessarily, so the AEW commentators did a very good job explaining just how decorated Kojima's been through his career to build him up, and Kojima was over with the live fans in attendance. Moxley did defeat Kojima after two Death Riders, and then cut a promo saying he was irritated that a certain someone wasn't answering his challenges (Hiroshi Tanahashi).

Cue "Kaze ni Nare," and Minoru Suzuki appeared, officially kicking off his US tour. Suzuki made his way to the ring, and got into an elbow battle with Moxley, getting Mox's blood on him as Mox skinned his elbow at some point in the match, probably due to his activity on Saturday night (more on that below). Eventually Suzuki got the better of Mox, and hit a Gotch-style Piledriver on him to end the segment. Of course, Mox v. Suzuki had the potential to be a feud of the year in 2020 before the pandemic put a stop to that, so it's good they've decided to revisit this whilst Suzuki is on his tour of the indies this Fall. Mox v. Suzuki is now booked for this Wednesday's AEW Dynamite, from Moxley's home town of Cincinnati, OH. This was of course the first of four shock appearances, what with Ruby Soho, Adam Cole and, critically, Bryan Danielson all appearing. This was a very, very good show, and I highly recommend it.

(Another date to Suzuki's tour has been added now, as Premiere Wrestling Xperience in Concord, NC, has booked Suzuki v. Anthony Henry for their All Hail The King event on 10/2/2021, so that will go on the itinerary now as well!)

That wasn't all Moxley got up to this past weekend. As of Saturday night, Mox is now the Game Changer Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, after quickly defeating Matt Cardona (yes, the former Zack Ryder, who beat Nick Gage last month in what has been a masterclass of getting heat that should be studied by wrestlers and fans alike) via Death Rider onto lighttubes (which might be where the cut came from that opened Sunday). Afterwards, Moxley laid out the belt as a challenge to Nick Gage (something that has been building since Wrestlemania Weekend), which was accepted, and will take place at GCW's show in Atlantic City, NJ, on 10/9/2021.

Elsewhere, the NJPW Strong Openweight champion "Filthy" Tom Lawlor is now Tommy Two Belts, as he defeated the Black Label Pro Midwest Champion, former Time Splitter Alex Shelley, for that title at the joint GCW/BLP show 3 Cups Stuffed late Friday night, and then defended it the next day at BLP's Ground Control to Filthy Tom, defeating Daniel Garcia (late of both AEW and NJPW Strong) in the main event of that show. Juice Robinson also got involved with the proceedings this weekend, defeating 1 Called Manders at AAW's Destination Chicago show on Thursday 9/2/2021, the company's return to the Logan Square Arena for the first time since lockdown. AAW frequently books Impact talents on their shows (Josh Alexander and Jake Something still regularly feature for AAW), so that's likely how that booking happened.

All of the above events, even AEW ALL OUT, are available for purchase on FITE TV right now.

Yesterday, NJPW (and Bushiroad [and STARDOM!]) owner Takaaki Kidani gave an interview to Tokyo Sports, acknowledging the relatively poor attendances for the two nights of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome this past weekend (barely over 2000 each night), even in light of reduced capacities due to states of emergency. Kidani recognized that attendances are down for the promotion, and even said if something does not happen soon, the three nights of Wrestle Kingdom 16 may be "duds." What's worrisome is, Kidani's solution in light of "foreign talents" not coming over (well, except when they are -- Zack Sabre Jr., Jeff Cobb, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens and KENTA are all booked for G1 Climax 31), appears to be "booking more matches," which I suppose could also be read as "booking more events."

There are a few problems with NJPW right now. The amount of matches on shows is not one of them. Indeed, I daresay the reduced number of matches has shined a light on just how ponderously endless a cycle the prelude tag matches can be, and the extended Summer Struggle tour showed that as well. The problem is a lack of compelling ideas and storylines happening with the talents they have right now. No, not every feud will be Okada v. Tanahashi, but then, they don’t need to be in order to be something the crowds can get behind. SHO v. YOH has the potential to be something worth watching; lazily throwing SHO into yet another sub-faction of the Bullet Club is not the way to build interest in it. That only sort of worked last year with EVIL, because their backs were against the wall immediately following lockdown. EVIL hasn’t amounted to jackshit since. Why they went to that particular well again is beyond me.

The debacles regarding the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship loom large in this equation too. From the initial unification that got rid of a beloved belt, even among the attending fans in Japan, not just Western internet fans, to the failures of Kota Ibushi and Will Ospreay as champions, have only served to heighten the malaise among the fans. Shingo Takagi is a great champion so far; that match v. EVIL on Sunday, eh, was not. Ospreay’s absence from Japan has completely derailed the United Empire, the first new NJPW stable in over 5 years when it was formed, and now Great O-Khan, the most interesting new character in the NJPW setup in the last year, can barely get booked on shows. Sure, perhaps “book more matches” might help that, but not if it’s just endless tag matches when Jeff Cobb nor Aaron Henare can’t be counted on to be on every tour in this pandemic age. It says something that the longest serving champions in NJPW right now include YOSHI-HASHI as part of that tandem.

Long story short, there are issues with NJPW, no doubt. Kidani acknwledging the slumping attendances, especially in light of announced a three-day Wrestle Kingdom 16, is good. I don’t think he’s going about this the right way tho. More matches is not the answer. More better storylines and feuds, that might be a better idea to try first.

Well, that's all for me, for now. See you on the other side of these laptop issues.

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wrestlingisfake · 3 years ago

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Triplemania XXIX preview

This is traditionally the biggest show of the year for AAA. For the first time since the pandemic started, AAA is doing an indoor show with fans in attendance. The show starts at 9pm EDT tonight, but it's only being streamed within Mexico, because AAA's international broadcast rights are tied up in a lawsuit. Noted lucha libre reporter thecubsfan plans to get around that, though, so you might want to check out his Twitter for more info.

Psycho Clown vs. Rey Escorpion - This is a lucha de apuestas, so if Psycho loses he must unmask and reveal his true identity, and if Escorpion loses he must have his head shaved in the ring. There are no higher stakes in Mexican wrestling that putting your mask on the line, and the only thing that comes close is risking your hair. So if you're wondering why this is the main event and not Kenny Omega vs. Andrade, that's why.

The backstory here goes all the way back to 2013, when Escorpion was in CMLL and defeated Psycho's father, Brazo de Plata, in a hair vs. hair match. That was supposed to lead to another of Brazo's sons, Maximo, getting revenge on Escorpion, but the match never came together. Escorpion ended up going to AAA in 2017, starting a long-running feud with Psycho. So now Psycho has a chance to do what his brother couldn't, and avenge his father. Coincidentally, Brazo de Plata (aka Super Porky) passed away a few weeks ago, and I assume that will be incorporated into Psycho's motivation here.

I don't follow AAA closely enough to keep track of the regulars, but I know Psycho Clown is one of the biggest stars in the promotion and he's no pussycat. I would expect a wild brawl between two guys who can't afford to lose. Of course, in a match like this, I tend to think the favorite is the guy defending his mask, since hair grows back. So look for Escorpion to finally get his comeuppance after all these years.

Kenny Omega vs. Andrade El Idolo - This is Omega's fifth defense of the AAA mega championship since he won it in October 2019. Kenny went on to win the AEW men's world title in December 2020, and the Impact/TNA world title in April 2021, becoming a triple champion with four belts. However, he lost the Impact and TNA belts to Christian Cage yesterday, which has him looking particularly vulnerable. If Andrade wins the AAA title tonight, Omega will have lost three of his four belts in about 24 hours.

Andrade was best known as La Sombra in CMLL until he joined WWE/NXT in 2016. After requesting his WWE release in March 2021, he appeared on a May 2 AAA show and challenge Omega to this match. A month later he debuted on AEW, in a baffling storyline where nobody seems to understand how anything works. As far as I can recall, AEW has never once mentioned that this title match is happening, even though Omega, Andrade, and the AAA belt appear regularly on AEW programming.

Andrade's post-WWE career has not impressed the pundits, raising questions about whether he can reclaim the greatness that got people to care about La Sombra in the first place. If he can't have a great match with Omega, that discourse is likely to dog him for a long time.

Within the world of AAA, Omega has planted seeds for a match with Hijo del Vikingo, and Andrade has teased the idea of a match with Psycho Clown. I would think AAA would rather have the title involved in Andrade vs. Psycho, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll go that route, or that they'll start setting it up right now. I'm leaning toward a title change happening, but either outcome won't surprise me much.

Faby Apache vs. Deonna Purrazzo - Apache is the AAA women's champion, and Purrazzo is the Impact women's champion. Both belts are at stake, so it will be champion versus champion, title for title. Deonna is already booked for a title defense on August 28 against Melina Perez, so it's not clear what would happen to that match if she loses here.

There's not much of a story here--Purrazzo just wandered into an AAA show to confront Apache and issue the challenge. This comes across as AAA's big idea to get their belt on international TV by putting it on a top foreigner, similar to what they did with Kenny Omega. It doesn't really feel like Impact is even involved, outside of their office approving the booking. I'm not sure Impact has promoted or even mentioned the match, although I haven't kept up with it lately.

Apache is a big star for AAA, but Purrazzo looks to be the heavy favorite to win. She's gotten a lot of buzz for her in-ring work, and Impact recognizes that and presents her like a big deal. It feels like they've got a destination in mind for her later this year, and I can't believe they'd disrupt that to have her lose her title in Mexico. I can believe, on the other hand, that AAA would send their women's title to the US and forget about it for six months.

Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix vs. Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid vs. Taurus & ? - Hey, remember when the Penta and Fenix defended the AAA tag team title in the ladder match at AEW All Out 2019? They've had those belts this whole time! I totally forgot. Anyway, they're defending them here in a three-way, so whoever scores the first fall will win the title for his team.

Vikingo and Laredo were once teammates in Los Jinetes del Aire, but that was a couple of years ago. Taurus normally teams with Crazzy Steve on Impact Wrestling, and he holds the AAA trios title with El Texano Jr. and Rey Escorpion, but for this match he's got a mystery partner. It remains to be seen if this is the kind of mystery partner that's a big surprise, or the kind where it's just some guy that wasn't worth advertising ahead of time.

I don't keep up with AEW's Youtube shows, and Penta and Fenix haven't teamed on Dynamite in months, so I haven't seen those two really go nuts in a long-ass time. Vikingo and Laredo have a lot of buzz, and I keep assuming they're about to sign with a major American promotion, but they still haven't from what I can tell. So this could get pretty flippy and wild, especially with Taurus there to, like, be huge and catch people and stuff.

If I thought AAA gave a damn about keeping their belts on regulars, I'd expect Vikingo and Laredo to win. If I thought the priority was to deliver a big surprise to pop the fans, I'd expect a win for Taurus's mystery partner. But as it is, these belts belong to the Lucha Bros., and I expect that's where they'll stay.

Pagano & Chessman & Murder Clown vs. Puma King & DMT Azul & Sam Adonis - Azul used to be Diamante Azul in CMLL, but he recently jumped over to AAA to team with Puma and Adonis, who are also ex-CMLL guys. Together they're La Empresa, an unofficial CMLL invasion group. So the other team is fighting for the honor of AAA, but Pagano and Chessman are nuts and hate each other, so the big question is CAN THEY COEXIST~? My guess is that they can't, and La Empresa will pick up a win to build steam for this storyline.

Copa Triplemania battle royale - This is basically an undercard battle royale featuring everybody that isn't booked for some other match. The rules are kind of like WWE's Royal Rumble, but frankly I've watched several of these and I've never been able to figure it out. "Copa Triplemania" translates to "Triplemania Cup" but I can't remember if there's an actual trophy or any kind of stakes to this. As I recall it always comes down to a babyface and a heel and then somehow the heel referee is always in there, but somebody clobbers him and the good guy wins anyway.

Marvel Lucha Libre something something - For some reason Marvel has a promotional deal with AAA, wherein AAA books matches featuring wrestlers dressed up as Marvel superheroes. It's hard to believe this is going to sell even one extra ticket to a Marvel movie, but okay. Anyway, I remember seeing one of these with Captain America and Spider-Man vs. Thanos and Venom, which you'd think would be awesome, but it didn't really hold my attention. I don't know which characters will be represented this time, although if AAA wants to book the Loki and Sylvie vs. Kang and Renslayer, I promise to mark the fuck out.

#aaa #triplemania #triplemania xxix #psycho clown #rey escorpion #kenny omega #andrade el idolo

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thedreadvampy · 4 years ago

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please keep talking abt wrestling. i've kinda fallen into this hole recently and, since you're cool af, I would love to know whatever you have to say about it

Well I mostly watch AEW although I was very into Progress before the pandemic (which is a London-based indie promotion that's also basically the feed source for NXT UK) but idk whether or in what state Progress will come back not just bc of the pandemic but bc this year's wrestling abuse scandals involved a lot of their management and core roster so they've had to really reshuffle.

anyway that's an unnecessarily grim diversion let's talk AEW (I'm a few episodes behind bc I watch on Zoom with my pals and it's easy to fall behind while trying to line up our schedules, we're gonna watch Winter Is Coming tonight)

This blog's opinions are:

Women's wrestling is severely underrated and that's the fault of the promotion not the fans, AEW has a phenomenally talented women's roster with a big fan following but consistently gives them no air time, very little space to develop plots, one match per episode that the commentators half-ignore, and only ever one plot at a time. I love Hikaru Shida, Nyla Rose and Britt Baker as characters but there's a huge women's roster of compelling characters who only ever show up on Dark or for a single bout not tied into any particular plot on Dynamite and it's very wearing. When they launched AEW they made a big deal about equal pay for the men and women's rosters and paying the same regardless of gender and fan status, purely based on card position, but that means absolutely nothing if there's only ever one women's match and it's always at the same mid-card position. Sorry to open on a negative but it makes me so mad that WWE, the company which is notoriously misogynistic and whose director had to be shown Asian schoolgirl porn to accept that the audience would find Japanese wrestlers "sexy enough" to put in the ring, is somehow a better venue for women's wrestling than AEW. like fuckkkkkkkkk just treat the women's roster like you would the men's!!!!

on which note, AEW Heels, the Paid Fanclub For Women Who Like Wrestling, is the most half-assed attempt to court the female wrestling audience I've ever seen (and I watched WWE's Revolution pay-per-view where the line was 'isn't it nice that the men have allowed women to have their own PPV thanks to all the men who made this possible'). like ok I COULD give you money to Be A Female Fan OR, wild concept, you could do more than one women's match per episode on your flagship show and not relegate the women's tag title to YouTube

Relatedly, There's Too Much Wrestling. As you can probably tell from the fact I'm 4 episodes behind on Dynamite, I struggle enough to fit 2 hours of wrestling into my week, but AEW also expected me to keep up with Dark, BTE, and sometimes other side projects? and now also Impact and NWA and sometimes NJPW. and then if I want to recognise big names they're bringing in I would also have had to watch WWE which like. there's even more WWE than AEW. idk I'm a completionist and it's simply not possible to watch All The Relevant Wrestling bc that would be like. 20 hours a week and I have a job and a life and stuff. like I watch AEW Dynamite and BTE and that does me.

this is all very negative but I love wrestling! I got into it a couple of years ago and it's absolutely incredible to me I love the artistry I love the athleticism I love the creativity and the fun people have with their characters. and the reason I gave up on WWE as soon as AEW started up is that it feels so much like the wrestlers are given space to play and to find the stories they want to tell.

MJF is a DELIGHT he's like one of my favourite heels he's so loathsome and so much fun! and there's like a really good consistent emotional core to his overall storyline of desperate insecurity I'm so into it and I'm so hype about when inevitably Wardlow's gonna turn on him. I love the resonance of his relationship with Cody vs his relationship with Wardlow and also the extremely strong gay unrequited love vibes that keep popping up here.

Hikaru Shida is AMAZING I love her. did u know she makes her own ring gear and learnt to speak English pretty much from scratch when she joined AEW a year ago and is now cutting full promos in English? also her facial acting? 😘👌👌👌👌

Sonny Kiss is phenomenal I hope they're on Dynamite more bc not only is she a phenomenal character in their own right but when she started tagging with Joey Janela their in-ring chemistry actually made me LIKE Janela for the first time. also it warms my heart that JR, despite being kind of an old fogey, is regularly correcting other commentators on their pronoun use and vocally acknowledging that Sonny is nonbinary.

honestly JR does just warm my heart in general like he visibly struggled early on with getting out of the 2000s mindset on Female Wrestlers Are Sexy Divas and he accidentally misgendered Nyla Rose one time but he's been really open to criticism and often gone to bat for the trans and queer members of the roster. he seems like a nice guy and I'm glad he's here, which I didn't think I'd be saying a year ago yk?

I know I already said this but Chris Jericho is a phenomenon. he just makes everything FUCKING FUN every story he tells is wild and hilarious. The Inner Circle gives me life (on this blog we stan Ortiz) and his beef with Orange Cassidy was pure gold.

Also Matt Hardy is here!!!! I love Matt Hardy, I think his Ultimate Deletion match with Bray Wyatt was what made me realise how fun wrestling can be and he always brings the creativity. He's been through a lot of shit in his life, I'm really happy that he's able to work with a promotion that gives him room to be as hogwild as he wants because Matt Hardy's great strength is being absolutely off-the-chain weird. I love him.

Speaking of Matt Hardy and the Inner Circle have you seen the Stadium Stampede from this summer? honestly worth buying the whole PPV just for that it's wild choice after wild choice for 45 minutes it might be the best wrestling match ever. idk if I like it better when Matt Jackson Northern Lights suplexes Sammy Guevara the entire length of a football field, when Matt Hardy chases Sammy with a golf cart, the whole bit where Adam Page just goes off and gets drunk in a bar and has a brawl with Jake Hager, the bit where Proud & Powerful try to drown Matt Hardy but every time he goes underwater he comes up in a different costume and persona - holy shit it's just amazing it's everything I love about wrestling

Moving away from AEW, the best wrestling storyline I've ever seen is Progress' story with Cara Noir and Ilya Dragonov. They're both phenomenal wrestlers but also the raw power and emotional weight of the story? it's simple but it's heartachingly beautiful I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the second of 3 matches in the story and I was nearly in tears it's so theatrical and balletic???? Check it out if you can it's in Progress' video archives (those are all pay-to-watch though. I think they're also on Amazon Prime for American viewers?)

Cara Noir is probably my favourite wrestler, although Nyla Rose, Charlotte Flair, Chris Jericho, Luchasaurus and Adam Page are all up there. He's just the most phenomenal physical performer and he really gets how much theatre is in wrestling, his facial acting is impeccable and he's not afraid to take hard bumps and really sell. also he just seems like a very sound person out of character (touch wood), he's very principled and takes his work and the wellbeing of his colleagues really seriously which is what you want in a wrestler

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beingallelite · 5 years ago

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When patients go to their dental appointment with Brittany Baker, D.M.D., there may be some added motivation to floss and brush regularly. That’s because when Dr. Baker isn’t filling cavities, she is kicking butt in the pro wrestling ring. So, you might not want to get on her bad side.

The 28-year-old known to fans as Britt Baker has been positioned as one of the cornerstones for All Elite Wrestling’s emerging women’s division. Baker has been front and center walking the red carpets flashing those pearly whites representing the brand. She finds the opportunity an honor and privilege.

“I think it’s no secret and surprise that being in the world of dentistry puts me in a different light,” she said. “I have the educational background. I have the degree, the doctorate on top of being a wrestler. Not to brag or boast, but it’s impressive.

"I appreciate very much AEW recognizes that because it was so much hard work. For me, the biggest accomplishment I will probably ever have in my entire life was completing my dental degree and signing a wrestling contract to a major company. So, to have that acknowledgement and recognition means a lot to me.”

Baker scored a big win on AEW’s inaugural show Double or Nothing in May, sending a strong statement out of the gate. However, the momentum came to a halt at Fight for the Fallen almost two months later when the star suffered a concussion in a tag team match. Since then, Baker has followed up regularly with Dr. Michael Sampson and other AEW officials.

“They had me follow up with a neuro-ophthalmologist because I had some post-concussion vision problems,” Baker revealed. “Since then my vision is fine. I feel great. I feel awesome. This week was the first week that I have been doing some very simple bumps and rolls in the ring. I feel good. I’m hoping any day now to have a hundred percent clearance and return to the ring.”

Baker's wish came true not long after uttering those words. For her, it’s the first serious injury since lacing up the boots for the first time more than four years ago. An experience that can affect a performer mentally, especially mere months away from AEW’s big debut on TNT.

“You have the severity of the concussion itself, but what rattled me is I never had the feeling that, ‘Oh my gosh, something I love brought me some pain and agony,’” Baker said candidly. “It’s a lot of mixed emotions. It’s a nice reality check of how dangerous the sport can be and how we put our bodies on the line every day for entertainment and professional wrestling. It all circles back to when you love what you do, it’s all worth it. You just have to be careful.”

The night of the incident, WWE NXT superstar and Baker’s boyfriend Adam Cole was appearing on another event. With each accolade and accomplishment attained, she can see moments that are, in a word, bittersweet.

“We are both so excited for each other. We’re each other’s biggest fans and support system. Then you can’t help but be sad that you’re missing out on some of each other’s biggest nights and accomplishments,” Baker said. “When you have a show on the same night, we can’t be watching each other’s shows since we have our own obligations to fulfill.

“No matter what, he backs me one hundred percent. He loves what I’m doing and is so proud of me. And it’s the same with me for him. I feel really lucky because this could be a really difficult relationship to be in if we got too caught up in the ‘us versus them’ mentality. We are not like that at all because at the end of the day we want each other to be successful. We really want everyone to be successful.”

The positivity extends throughout the women’s locker room in Baker’s eyes. The AEW ambassador believes what separates their division from others is the diversity of the roster when it comes to culture, background and varying styles. Though with only a handful of shows under the organization’s belt, she gets the sense they’ve only scratched the surface of their capabilities.

With the first women’s champion crowned on the first AEW live TNT broadcast, that fuels Baker’s motivation. However, before getting there, all eyes are on the next big pay-per-view, All Out. It was revealed she would participate in the Casino Battle Royale.

“We want to be the top of the game,” Baker said. “We want to be the women’s roster everyone is talking about. There is pressure more than anything, but pressure is good. If we weren’t nervous and had this feeling it would mean we didn’t care. Right now personally I’ve been trying to slowly take it all in as much as I can. I know it’s going to pick up really soon, so I’m trying to just relax and smell the roses.”

The driven individual isn’t one to rest for very long. After all, she spent a day recently communicating with her dental office and AEW trying to figure out her hectic schedule. Baker wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s going to be a lot to handle and juggle,” she said, thinking about what’s to come starting in October when AEW hits the road with its weekly series. “But it’s something I’m not used to, as I had to do the same thing through dental school. That was actually a million times harder because every time I left and got to go home for the night, I had hours and hours of homework to greet me when I walked in the door.

"I don’t have homework anymore, so that makes it a little more manageable. For the most part, I will be in the dental office Monday through Friday when we aren’t filming. When I fly home the morning after TV tapings, I will get off the plane and go straight to the dental office.”

Baker is actually in the middle of helping decorate her new office and deciding what personal pictures to put on the walls. There were thoughts if she wanted to put up wrestling photos or not.

“It’s definitely a conversation piece,” Baker said. “It definitely would make the office visit memorable, but at the same time, not everyone is a huge wrestling fan. At the end of the day, it really defines who I am and is a huge part of my life and what I love. I think the decision is to hang a couple of pictures up, especially the AEW ones because I’m so passionate and happy that’s where I am now.”

So, if you happen to sit in a waiting room and see an AEW women’s championship sitting on a table in the near future, know you’re in the capable hands of Dr. Baker.

AEW All Out, Saturday, August 31, 8/7c, pay-per-view and B/R Live. The Buy In pre-show airs at 7/6c.

All Elite Wrestling premieres Wednesday, October 2, at 8/7c live on TNT.

#britt baker #all elite wrestling #aew #posted on: 8.23.19 #article #tv insider

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wrestlingisfake · 5 years ago

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The New Beginning in Osaka preview

Tetsuya Naito vs. KENTA - Naito is defending both the IWGP heavyweight and IWGP intercontinental championships. He became a double champion on January 5, but before he could fully celebrate his big moment at the Tokyo Dome, Kenta blindsided him to ruin everything. That doesn’t seem so sacrilegious from my perspective as an American fan, but the Japanese fans seem to really really despise Kenta, so I guess it works.

Naito is hardly the first person to hold two major-league championships at the same time, but it feels like it’s been a long time since a double champion put both titles at stake in the same match. (The last time I clearly remember was Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe at TNA Hard Justice 2007.) Since New Japan has actually made both titles feel very important, the significance of winning them both at once has not been lost in the storyline. The question of whether Kenta truly “earned” this opportunity (since he’s coming off losing the NEVER title and was basically rewarded for beating up Naito) keeps coming up.

I’ve been watching these two in the tag matches they’ve had during the current tour, and I’m noticing that the action is pretty dull. Kenta has really stepped up the mindgames of slowing down the pace to frustrate his opponent and the audience. The problem is that Jay White (Kenta’s frequent partner and Naito’s last big opponent) does the same general stuff, and Naito is still doing it from back when he was a total heel. I’m hoping this doesn’t become a slog like Naito vs. White, but signs are not promising.

It wouldn’t be totally ridiculous to put one of the top titles on Kenta. But giving him both of them, right now, at the expense of Naito’s long-awaited push, coming off of him ruining Naito’s big moment, might be insane. I can see Naito dropping one of his championships down the line, but if he’s going to lose both of them in a single match, it needs to be a lot bigger than this. Naito will almost certainly retain.

Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki - Moxley’s IWGP United States title is on the line. He regained the title on January 4 and successfully defended it on January 5, but then Suzuki suddenly appeared to issue a challenge. Suzuki went on to pin Moxley on February 1, to cement his right to go after the championship.

On January 15, AEW ran an angle where Chris Jericho “stabbed” Moxley’s right eye, to build to their AEW championship match on February 29. Moxley has been wearing bandages and/or an eyepatch over his right eye ever since. For some reason I was surprised he used the eyepatch in his recent New Japan appearances. I guess that’s because I thought the idea of fighting Minoru Suzuki with only one good eye is suicidal. I suppose it’s no different than New Japan wrestlers competing with one shoulder heavily taped up. But Suzuki projects the feel of being a legit fighter, which forces me to think about how Moxley would never be cleared for this fight if it weren’t totally fake.

Logically, Suzuki should target the eye, get Moxley to the ground, and just grind his knuckle into the eye socket until the referee stops the match and awards him the title. However, we’ve already seen them face off in a couple of tag matches on this tour, and they’ve mostly just done the same spots they’d do if the eyepatch wasn’t there. Maybe they’re saving all that psychology for this show. But I think it’s going to be tough to maintain Suzuki’s credibility as a sadistic shootfighter if he doesn’t at least pretend to shoot on the eye, and then it’d be tough to maintain the credibility of the match if he doesn’t win. I suppose Moxley could overcome all the odds, but I’ve convinced myself that he shouldn’t.

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryu Lee - This is Takahashi’s first defense of the IWGP junior heavyweight championship since he regained the title on January 4. Lee, as Dragon Lee in Ring of Honor, is the current ROH television champion, but that title is not at stake. Interestingly, Takahashi is a member of Los Ingobernables de Japon, an official spinoff of Rush’s stable in CMLL, while Lee is a member of La Faccion Ingobernable, which Rush started in ROH after CMLL fired him. New Japan has alliances with ROH and CMLL, so I’ve been real curious if/how they acknowledge that.

Obviously the story here is that this is the first meeting between these two since July 7, 2018, when Takahashi suffered a devastating neck injury from a botched dragon driver by Lee. Hiromu managed to finish the match and retain the junior title, but he collapsed backstage and spent over a year recovering. As soon as Takahashi recaptured the title, he requested Lee as his first challenger.

That last encounter in the Cow Palace would have been one of the best matches I’d ever seen, if I didn’t have to deduct points for “wondered if one guy died for a minute.” Based on their history together, you’d figure Takahashi and Lee will pull out all the stops and have another wild intense flippy match. Based on how worried everyone has been for the past 19 months, though, you’d expect them to gear down a little, especially against each other. But it’s pro wrestling, and I’m pretty sure they’re counting on the audience being terrified of another accident, and they’re going to work a close call or two to scare us. (Here’s a dragon driver spot from 2017, if you want to see the move done correctly, so you’ll know when to be afraid.)

I have mixed feelings on this one, because I’m not sure I want to see these two scare me to death, but they kinda have to do this rematch and I’d like to get it over with. Assuming all goes well, it should be very good. It’s just, well, we already know things might not go well. I kinda have to pick Hiromu to retain, seeing as he already beat this guy with a broken neck.

Jay White vs. SANADA - I’ve forgotten if there was any particular reason these two are fighting. As I recall Bullet Club faces LIJ on January 6 and White targeted Sanada for some reason.

White obviously wants back into the heavyweight title picture, but the story is that he’s graciously tabled that so Kenta can chase Naito. On the other hand, the story with LIJ is that they’re all a bit jealous of Naito winning two titles, and he wants them to keep him on his toes. (As it happens, Sanada is currently the only man in LIJ without a championship, and there aren’t a lot of titles he can go after without challenging his buddies.) They haven’t said the winner of this match will be the #1 contender for the winner of Kenta-Naito, but it would not shock me if that happens.

White’s whole deal is that he’s a prick that doesn’t care about having a fun match, and Sanada’s whole deal is that he always looks like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world. So I’m not sure this combination is going to be all that exciting. If Sanada does all his cool moves and dismantle’s White’s array of heel shenanigans, that’ll be great. If he just falls for all the shenanigans like every other face (“oh, Gedo is standing on the apron, so I’d better completely ignore Jay while I see what that’s about”), I’m going to get pretty bored.

A win for Sanada would be a big push that would shake up the topcard, so I’m pretty sure Jay wins.

Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. & Taichi - We already saw Okada vs. Taichi and Sabre vs. Ospreay earlier in this tour, so this is sort of a last look at those feuds. (Although Ospreay has already secured a rematch with Sabre at a RevPro show next week.) I’m sure the announcers will put over what a valiant effort Taichi gave in his loss to Okada, because New Japan is determiend to push him without putting him over anybody. I’m thinking Okada will just pin Taichi again.

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi - These guys are just back from the US tour, where the Guerillas of Destiny (Tonga and Loa) won the IWGP heavyweight tag team title from Robinson and Finlay. Tanahashi and Ibushi seemed to be trying to get in line for a tag title shot, but things got messed up when Ibushi had to miss the whole US tour. Ibushi has been suffering from Mallory-Weiss syndrome, and while he could be ready to return for this show, there’s no guarantee of that. Assuming Ibushi makes it to this match, I can easily see him or Tana pinning one of the tag champs. Otherwise, they’ll probably just punt and have the other team win.

SHO & YOH vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) won the IWGP junior heavyweight title on January 5, but then El Desperado pinned Sho the next day, so his team earned a title match. The heels worked over Sho’s left knee on February 5 and 6, so that looks to be a major factor going into the match. This is something like the 300th time these teams have faced one another, and I’m pretty sick of it. I could see the champs making the heroic babyface comeback to retain, but then again if they dropped the title they’d make sense chasing the junior singles title or the NEVER openweight belt. The only thing I’m sure of, though, is that they’ll never let this feud die.

Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare - Nakanishi is set to retire on a February 22 show, so this is one of his final matches. Everybody else in this match are guys who regularly team with and/or against Nakanishi in the undercard. They’ve got all the oldest guys on Nakanishi’s side, so that suggests the other team will get the win.

#njpw #the new beginning in osaka #tetsuya naito #kenta #jon moxley #minoru suzuki

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beingallelite · 5 years ago

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On October 2, 2019, All Elite Wrestling will officially kick off the latest pro wrestling war. It’s yet to be said how much they will lean into their new weekly live television series being a “war” with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment—a federation which has run professional wrestling in the United States since I was in kindergarten—but the upstart pro wrestling company has a number of factors that can put it ahead of the current pro wrestling landscape.

When AEW kicks off its run on TNT this fall, the landscape of professional wrestling could shift. Or it could just make things more fun. Or they could tank, although judging by the moves Cody and company have made leading up to its television debut, we don’t see a total failure on the horizon. If you want proof, here are some reasons why.

Wednesdays could be a fire night for pro wrestling

Monday nights are an institution for professional wrestling; the WWE has been occupying that night for decades, in a number of iterations (and channels). Their second brand, Smackdown, has hopped around; it currently airs on Tuesday nights, but will be making the jump back to Fridays when it debuts on Fox this fall (it’s also occupied Thursday nights for a time). Wednesdays are interesting altogether; it’s known as the night for NXT on the WWE Network, airing at 8PM ET. That crowd, who loves the more indie-minded brand, might be interested to hop over to TNT to catch a bigger production, indie-minded federation in AEW. And since NXT is on-demand, not catching it live at 8PM won’t be that much of a trip; they’d just watch a replay later that day.

Plus, with no other established pro wrestling on that day, AEW’s got a wide-open field when it comes to wrestling-related competition on television.

Cody is Dusty Rhodes’ son

Dusty Rhodes was not only one of the biggest pro wrestling stars of the 1980s, but he also helped book the NWA during his heyday, as well as the early ‘90s at times. He was so famous (infamous?) for his booking that the term “Dusty finish” was coined to describe Dusty’s tendency to have matches end where a winner’s hand was raised, only to be informed that due to something small, they lost. He’s a legend in the game and judging by how Cody cuts promos before matches, but for the old school “big match feel” of his modern-day bouts in AEW. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and with Cody settling into the role of star on-screen and creative mind behind the scenes, those Dusty influences should will help dictate the feel of the storylines and, more importantly, the tentpole matches and shows will make AEW a true force.

Wrestlers won’t have scripted promos

If you grew up in the era of The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and the other best talkers in the squared circle, you were treated to promos that were basically improv. Back in the day, pro wrestlers were given a few bullet points, then let their personalities turn them into entertaining speeches that would not only tell their opponents how they would be beating their ass, but letting fans know where, and how to see it. As WWE grew, they shied away from that aspect, making their superstars stick to scripts when it came time for cutting promos. Usually, this practice has lead to embarrassing segments, or stars sounding more wooden in the ring because they are much better when they aren’t memorizing lines. Moxley himself spoke about the ills of this practice, and rumors of guys like Kevin Owens being allowed to come up with their own material during promos is seen like the WWE is trusting in his performance.

In AEW, they have made it a point to say that they would be allowing their stars to cut unscripted promos. People like Chris Jericho and Cody will have a field day with this, as will MJF, who has become a true phenom on the mic.

Wins and losses will matter

One of the biggest problems many have with today’s WWE product is that it doesn’t usually matter who wins or loses; it’s a common occurrence for a title-holder to regularly lose to a challenger, only to then demolish them in a title defense. The “even Steven” booking of this era can be mind-numbing, as it’s hard to tell what the pecking order of the roster truly is. All Elite has made it a point to specify that wins and losses will matter and that the ranking of their talent roster will help determine who’s being given title shots.

The ramifications of this should be felt immediately; instead of just watching a match, waiting for high spots or moments to cheer, AEW’s going to foster a sense of unpredictability with their programs. If every win and loss matters, that can make most matches must-see television, keeping fans in suspense throughout a program. It’ll make AEW feel closer to real-life professional sports than any form of pro wrestling has been able to.

Tag team wrestling will be on full display

It shouldn’t be a surprise that tag team wrestling will be put on a pedastal in AEW; the world-renown Young Bucks are a part of the federation’s executive team. That said, it’s something that the WWE lacks; they have solid teams like The New Day, The Usos, The Revival, and others, but they have neglected their tag team divisions for long spells. On Day 1, AEW will be kicking off a tag team tournament that is set to eventually crown the first AEW Tag Team Champions. It’s something that’ll help differentiate their product from the WWE, and with teams like the Lucha Bros in competition, it will set a new standard in professional wrestling.

Access to talent

This is where things will get interesting. During the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s, one of the wildest games to play was seeing which stars would defect from the WWE to WCW (or vice versa, with some ECW thrown in the mix). The nWo storyline was initially based on WWF (at the time) stars returning to WCW to wreak havoc. While the amount of ship-jumping might not be that rampant (we’d assume the WWE has learned a lot from that war), the possibility of AEW’s pluses allowing pro wrestlers more freedom in a less-strenuous environment could be intriguing to WWE superstars who are up for contract renewal and just unhappy with the current product. This also translates to former WWE stars—Jim Ross currently has an active role in AEW, and guys like Bret Hart and Diamond Dallas Page have already made appearances on AEW-branded pay-per-views. Two of their biggest acquisitions, Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley, got their biggest looks in the WWE, and have quickly been pushed to the top of the AEW card.

With a few more key signings and surprises, AEW could continue to pull WWE fans over to see their favorites get to express themselves in a new environment.

The "fresh" factor

Ultimately, everything AEW does right now is newsworthy, for good or ill. Lucky for them, they are saying all of the right things for fans looking for an alternative to the WWE and making a number of interesting decisions. As you can see, they want to make their diversity known from the beginning, be it signing wrestlers from the LGBTQ+ community like Nyla Rose and Sonny Kiss or working with the OWE to bring more Chinese performers in front of an American audience. AEW is leaning into being different, and that's going to be successful for them...in the beginning. They are still learning, and are willing to amend the six month-to-one year's worth of storyline plans they have mapped out already.

It's up to Cody, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and company to now execute on the tools they've laid out to achieve ultimate success.

#all elite wrestling #aew #article #posted on: 8.6.19 #complex

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anthonysstupiddailyblog · 2 years ago

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Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (157): Thu 18th Aug 2022

Checked out last night's AEW Dynamite which featured some great action and not much else which honestly is becoming a problem for me but I'll get into that later. The show opened with a brilliant match as Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia tore the house down in a great 2/3 falls match. I was initially dismissive of this rematch taking place so soon after Garcia beat Danielson and there's been very little build to this rematch other than Garcia declaring himself "The Dragon Slayer" but I cant deny the match itself was really good. The main event featured Andrade, Rush and Dragon Lee taking on The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega making his triumphant return to AEW after an 8 month hiatus. Omega was a bit rusty but ultimately it all came together in the end with him looking strong and getting the win for his team. As usual a great show in terms of in ring action but as the ratings displayed this week AEW selling itself on great wrestling and not much else is starting to negatively effect them. I'm team AEW all the way but the reason fans are sticking with WWE is because regardless of the quality of the matches they put on they always have multiple storylines unfolding throughout the night to build up the main event matches. Even though the in-ring product and the character development is much better than WWE I think the reason more people aren't tuning in regularly every week is because the show doesn't take the audience on a journey the way WWE does. With AEW it's "this is our main event, it'll be on in 2 hours and you wont see or hear from the wrestlers until bell time". Watching AEW is like watching a sketch show where as WWE is like a sitcom. The jokes in the sitcom may be shit but at least there is a plot and audiences want to stick with it to see how it ends. With AEW you can watch a great match after another great match and after realizing that all you have to look forward to is another great match, you might decide that you've had your fill and switch off. Instead of just teasing that Omega might be the mystery partner I would have had La Faccion Ingobernables beat up the Young Bucks at the end of last week's Dynamite who then grab the mic and say that next week will see the return of Omega. Confirming that Omega would definitely be on the show would have guaranteed more viewers. Then what I would have done is have the show start off with Omega being introduced to the live crowd then being jumped from behind by LFI. The rest of the night they could keep cutting to Omega being treated by the doctors throwing doubt on whether he'll be cleared to wrestle. When the main event approached The Young Bucks could start things off alone but then Omega could join them and help them win and end the night by delivering his return promo. That's just off the top of my head but it's at least an example of a story arc that fans may stay tuned to see the conclusion of rather than a single match / segment that only get's mentioned in passing throughout the night by the announcers. Tony Khan seems like a great guy but he, like everyone, has his blind spots and hopefully he'll soon learn that to succeed in wrestling you need to find the right balance between in-ring and entertainment.

Looked after Luna this afternoon so my sister could do some marking for university. If I'm going to be working non-stop Friday to Wednesday with Thursday being my only day off then I want to make it as fun as possible for me and the Pest. I tried to get her to play Pie Face but she would only play on the condition that I remove the whipped cream from the little contraption when it was her turn. So basically she agreed to play as long only I got splatted with the whipped cream. Later in the day I put Ponyo on because Lauren said she'd recently watched and enjoyed My Neighbour Totoro so I was hoping she'd enjoy some other Miyazaki. She liked it fine but got distracted several times meaning it's probably not going to become one of her favorites in the way Shrek and The Grinch has because when those movies go on she stays fixated at the TV until they are over. It was a nice little play session with Luna and she was mostly well behaved for the whole day I might start buying a new game for us to play every week as I want this to be a day that she looks forward to every week.

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