#undercard and more"

[jupiterjunebug]

Theres something incredibly funny about TJP going "its fine that im not in the g1 because now I can focus all my energy on supporting my factionmates, especially Callum" and then he like. Went home and is the only member of his faction not present. Like, did you mean sending them motivational texts, kapitan?

[danwhobrowses]

AEW/ROH - Predicting the Next Champions

Okay so Collision is in the books and I totally didn't forget to do one of these after Jade dropped the title at DoN XD

Including ROH but unlike my past ones just gonna make it more brief, also no FTW title because it's not official, just a small bit of fun too. Also just to not go too into fan booking I'm only using people currently hired by AEW, so no Kota Ibushi.

Spoilers for AEW Collision's debut just in case (18th June 23)

AEW World Championship (MJF) Next Champion: Eddie Kingston Alternatives: Adam Cole, Darby Allin, CM Punk Reason: He is the perfect people's champion AEW needs, I don't expect him to do it first time but he's the antithesis of MJF's young prodigy character.

ROH World Championship (Claudio Castagnoli) Next Champion: Mark Briscoe Alternatives: Eddie Kingston, Bandido, Hangman Page Reason: I know people have him set on the TV title but I feel like this is the better destination.

AEW Women's World Championship (Toni Storm) Next Champion: Jamie Hayter Alternatives: Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale, Thunder Rosa Reason: Because she only lost it to injury, and AEW would be foolish not to put it back on her during or in time for Wembley.

ROH Women's World Championship (Athena) Next Champion: Mercedes Martinez Alternatives: Red Velvet, Leyla Hirsch, Willow Nightingale Reason: You need someone who can match her aggression as well as her technique, but you also want to pass over that honour to someone who can use it as a launch pad. Honestly this was the toughest one to figure out because of how great Athena's been, so I went back to her more storied opponent.

TNT Championship (Luchasaurus) Next Champion: Ricky Starks Alternatives: Keith Lee, Roderick Strong, Ethan Page (face) Reason: One is hoping that Christian and Dino hold for a long time through shenaniganry to keep the heat, which is why you'd need a babyface to finally wipe the smug grin off of Cage's face, Ricky needs gold too so he's the best for the job.

ROH Television Championship (Samoa Joe) Next Champion: Dalton Castle Alternatives: AR Fox, Shane Taylor, Bandido Reason: It's no easy feat to defeat Joe, so I went with the man who oozes enough charisma (and can throw a Boy or two at him) to carry on the entertainment value.

TBS Championship (Kris Statlander) Next Champion: Serena Deeb (BCC) Alternatives: Emi Sakura, Ruby Soho, Athena Reason: Whoever takes the title off of Kris will have to be able to handle the heat they'll get because of how beloved she is, this is why you'd need a physical kind of heel who can carry that level, plus Deeb is overdue her plaudits and I want her in the BCC.

AEW International Championship (Orange Cassidy) Next Champion: Miro Alternatives: Konosuke Takeshita, Jay White, Kip Sabian Reason: Whoever takes it off of OC needs to either be brutally dominant or a sly opportunist, I picked the former since we all want to Belt the Redeemer, Champion of All Nations, plus the man really needs to see his hot flexible wife.

ROH PURE Championship (Katsuyori Shibata) Next Champion: Bryan Danielson Alternatives: Daniel Garcia (BCC) Reason: It's a dream match and you need a person of pedigree or endorsement to beat Shibata's legend status, since Pure rules prevents heel shenaniganry. I don't have much other options since Moriarty has already been beaten but if Garcia were to beat Shibata it'd have to be under Bryan's wing, not Jericho's.

AEW World Tag Championship (FTR) Next Champion: Aussie Open Alternatives: 2point0, The Hardys, Bullet Club Gold Reason: It feels like this was the intent before Davis' injury and if they waited months for Statlander they'll wait for Dunkzilla. 2point0 is an option only because I want them to get a taste of da titles! Plus I want them used more.

ROH World Tag Championship (Lucha Bros) Next Champion: The Butcher & The Blade Alternatives: The Kingdom, Iron Savages, BCC Reason: The duo are due a title run, and with shared history of 'Eddie's friends' ROH is a good place for them to finally string some dominant wins together.

AEW Trios Championship (House of Black) Next Champion: Blackpool Combat Club Alternatives: Death Triangle, Best Friends, CMFTR Reason: They are the most dominant trio for a reason and I think they're the only trio who can match the House for their aggression and brutality.

ROH Six-Man Tag Championship (Mogul Embassy) Next Champion: The Righteous Alternatives: Dark Order, Iron Savages (& Jacked Jameson), Mack Attack (plus one other ally) Reason: There's not a lot of trios in ROH outside of whoever AR Fox or Blake Christian is teaming with, but I went with the Righteous mainly since they have stolen Stu from the Dark Order, and thus need to profit from it.

[glass-needles-and-futurisms]

Woodstock was great fun, but it was immensely hot there, I got sunburnt. The festival was badly laid out in my opinion, the stages were 2 miles apart and there was no atmosphere like you get at Glastonbury. I think the riots started because people were getting treated like cattle... We saw something brewing while we were there i.e. lots of people crowding together and chanting and banging drums, it was like a football crowd.

-- Matt Bellamy on Muse playing at Woodstock '99

watching the woodstock ’99 documentary and they picked the wrong generation for all of that. of course a mass gathering of gen x ended in destruction and chaos lmao like okay to be fair elder millennials would have been so SO annoying about it but also nobody would have died

[theanticool]

So you watched #PaulTyson, saw Amanda Serrano vs Katie Taylor, and now you want to watch more women's boxing? Here's a quick guide!

I have been beating the drum of women's boxing for over a decade at this point, so I feel uniquely qualified to help people who might want to get deeper into their women's boxing bag. So here are a handful of fights to help you jump into the sport!

(I've kept it to recent examples because these fighters are still active)

Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 1 - April 30, 2022

I'm sure most people who saw Taylor-Serrano 2 on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul card did not get to see the first fight. And they should. The 2nd fight picked up right where the first one left off, with these two getting in the phonebooth and getting to work at a torrent pace. Absolutely fantastic fight. Worthy of the Fight of the Year honors it got from Sports Illustrated. Was lucky enough to be there in person and it is one of my favorite memories as a combat sports fan.

2. Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall - October 15, 2022

If there is any woman who has claim to the title of best ever outside of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, it is the 'GWOAT' Claressa Shields. She is a 5 division champion who was also the undisputed champion at 154lbs. She's a two time Olympic gold medalist, winning her first one at the age of 16 year old. And through her pro and amateur career, only one woman had ever beat her (on the amateur circuit) - knockout artist Savannah Marshall. Marshall has a claim to being the biggest puncher women's boxing has ever seen and has a style unlike any ever seen in women's pro boxing. So a professional meeting between the two was always going to make for a fun clash.

3. Alycia Baumgardner vs Mikaela Mayer - October 15, 2022

Of the fights on the list, this is probably the least exciting but it carried significant weight and I still found it incredibly entertaining. Mayer is a former Olympian who was on her way to unifying all the belts at 130lbs to become undisputed champion. She had marched her way through the pros, earning a 17-0 record at the time and taking out former champions like Maïva Hamadouche, Erica Farias, and Jennifer Han. Alycia Baumgardner was not that. She was a pro boxer who was in the wilds, trying to cut her teeth at a time when no American promoter was investing in women's boxing. It wasn't until Matchroom (UK promotion) gave her a shot against a different super featherweight champion Terri Harper did Baumgardner finally breakthrough, knocking the champ out in an upset victory. That set these two on a collision course for unification

4. Gabriela Fundora vs Celeste Alaniz - November 2, 2024

This one is a little different. It was less a great, competitive fight than the ascension of the next great women's boxer. Gabriela Fundora comes from a boxing family. Her brother Sebastian is a world champion up at 154lbs. So her winning a world title at only 22 years old isn't too crazy. But fighting for the undisputed (all four belts) kind of is. Celeste Alaniz is a fellow young up and coming boxer who had just knocked off former two division champion and Olympic bronze medalist Marlen Esparza. The fight between these two was fun, while it lasted. Keep an eye out on the winner here. They're going places. Like the top of the P4P list.

5. Yesica Nery Plata vs Kim Clavel - January 13, 2023

Felt wrong not putting any Mexican boxers on this one so I'm going with the light flyweight champion, Yesica Nery Plata. At 30-2, Plata has built up an impressive run as a pro. She is the WBA and WBC light flyweight champion. Sadly, the fight I most want to see from her is a rematch with Kenia Enriquez and with Enriquez up a weight class, that ship has sailed. That said, would love to see her in there with a Yokasta Valle.

[pinky-the-bunny]

My thoughts/reactions to the underevent 2024 fan game showcases.

Bleeding hearts - WOW! this looks gorgeous! I might check this one out. I really like how the characters look and how beautifully animated they are. I can't wait for this one.

deltarune alternate chapter 3 - it looks like fun! All the new characters designs look official but also really unique. I can't wait to see how they do with toriel in this one.

DeltaFALL - (I thought it was gonna be a 3d game for a second lol.) The new fighting gameplay looks really good and overall the trailer makes it look VERY promising.

Deltamon - deltarune but with pokemon! Sure, why not?

deltarune missing souls - a fan made origin game with dess and asriel? Cool! I really like how the other characters look in this one too. Can't wait to see how this goes.

Deltarune hypothesis - (A lot of deltarune fan games here) A mystery fangame! All i'm going to say is that sans is shrek in this one, so obviously its gonna be a 10/10 game.

Undercards - might be a fun game for people who like card games.

Undertale CALL OF THE VOID Placek's take - this looks very, very interesting...(also GREEN SANS MENTION!!!)

The pre-show undertale green - An undertale game with mostly humans is new.

Undertale build project - Undertale in mincraft! But in all seriousness the amount of detail in this map is crazy!

Dusttale TD - a duststale fangame. I've seen a bit of a review on this one and so far I think it looks good.

Undertale soul's link - An AU where asriel joins frisk in the underground is very interesting. I can't wait for it to come out so I can read it to see how different the story will be.

Undertale plus - What fun choices. I can only imagine how chaotic it will get with the multiplayer gameplay.

Underswap echoed - I was about to say how this one reminded me of ts! Underswap lol

Desktoptale - YES!

Dusttale reimagined - Another dusttale fangame, Looks like flowey is the killer in this one.

Undertale together next soul - more multiplayer!

DEPPER JAR the test experience - OFF!?!? (This looks like a funny game)

Deltaruined - Oh my god...

Undercreator - Oh, this is the big one. The possibilities are endless!

Sonic 3 X deltarune alternate chapter 3 - pretty interesting.

NOSTOPHOBIA under verse animatic - OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!

Undertale red and yellow - cute! I love to see the interactions with both clover and chara.

Edezetale - WOW THIS LOOKS SO COOL!!! Definitely seeing this one.

underswap S the reckoning 2 - blue isn't FUCKING AROUND ANYMORE!!!!

The UPPERHAND - erm, what the sigma?

Nightfell - this is like a mashup of every indie rpg all together, I love it!

Undertale kindred spirits - YEAH BABY! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT!

Dusttrust - OOOOOOHHH, PRETTY ANIMATION!!! this one seems quite unigue compared to the other dust games!

Insomnia - i...I have no words....THAT GENUINELY GAVE ME CHILLS!!! OHMYGOOOOOO- (MULTIMEDIA!? Bitch is this an ARG!?!?)

WOW! Okay so those are my thoughts on the recent under event. These all seemed pretty cool and i LOVE to see some of these.

[lambmakesbacon]

A SHOCKING UPSET! THE 250TH TITANOMACHIA ENDS IN TRAGEDY!

The masses of the Tripartite Privateers' Union were shocked last tenday, as mysterious Union-affiliated newcomers with no prior tournament experience eliminated our beloved local champions PLANETARY GO, ending their five year streak of victories ever since their explosive debut.

Questions also swirl regarding the interference of an as-of-yet unnamed fifth party during the finals. An official statement from Undercard League Pankrati that the interruption was initiated only after the tag team duo of PLANETARY GO and their mysterious partners from the Cradle-First Front had conceded the victory, and that the interruption ties into an upcoming storyline on their 2/3rds scale scripted league has done little to quell a muted and even negative public response.

"Like, the stunt work was impressive, man, but you can't just mix the scripted stuff with real competitions... people were panicking and shit! We thought that we'd literally just seen some people get smushed!" Local confectionary enthusiast, Jim Speckler (26M), had to say on the shocking conclusion.

In other news, Omnitube smash hit series Finger Woman comes to the Long Rim with a new bakery collaboration and gacha game tie-in, but do the swirling rumours that the production company is wrapped up in a cyber-terrorist scandal have any truth to them? For more on this...

(Been a while since the last one, so I'm hopefully gonna catch up on the backlog of hostage notes I owe the campaign 💀

Wonderful sprites from the assets done by the amazing folks over at Retrograde Minis, do check them out!)

[spacey-jazz]

Alright here’s the post up!! You can send the asks over there OR over here, whichever is fastest/more comfortable for you (I know a couple people already sent me some asks over here)

INBOX OPEN!!!! JXBSJSBSN! - SPINDRAX

(This is for a quick QnA that’ll last until I think I’ve had enough, here’s some guidelines;

- there will be oc x canon themes (not with Spindrax and undercard though) please be respectful of it, and I’ll ignore any questions that are being rude

- this is based in an au I’ll be making a fanfic for, this is to get to know the settings and the characters so you can ask them anything you want as long as it’s appropriate (keep it PG)

- THERE MAYBE BE MENTIONS OF SPIDER DEATH!!! I will be tagging the posts that mention these accordingly, as I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with that

- this takes place after S4 of LMK, and may be a bit canon Divergent because of it

- SilkTea will be a thing in this universe

- this won’t be the only time I’ll hold a QnA maybe but I can’t guarantee I’ll get to every question)

[axel-mania]

tagged by @wunderwirker for the wrestling 2024 meme! tagging @sonastarson @nakanotamu @myrmica @happyendingsong @fallynleaf @antediluvianapocalypse @bang-bang-gang @stardomtrash @emerald-truth

mvp/wrestler of the year: I'm gonna have to say shinya aoki. I know, the joshi fan is saying that. but his work in ddt this year has been insanely cool and he has popularized a finish that is literally just a hammerlock. he's able to build high tension, any moment could end the match vibes derived from his sports background with comedy derived from his.. everything flawlessly.

match of the year: the first mirai vs miku aono was really cool, a break out moment for technical wrestling as a focus in joshi wrestling again. but it could also be maika vs natsuko tora at the end of the year for breaking the taboo on gorey sadomasochistic death matches between women on live tv for all the sad old idol otakus to freak out about.

favorite feud: saori anou vs natsupoi and mika iwata. these two feuds were completely intertwined. anou initially attempted to use iwata as a stepping stone on her way to the perfect stage to consummate her love with her wrestling soulmate natsupoi, and then lost badly to iwata because of it, leading to a nervous breakdown and rocky relationship with poi. then both iwata and poi supported her and brought her back to herself, leading to a recapturing of the white belt from iwata and a passionate meeting with poi just like she wanted. she's selflessly able to support poi as the new white belt champion, poi's ultimate dream, but the way iwata caused her to stumble becomes an obsession that she feels she has to excise. she tries to end their relationship and forever forget about iwata at the end of 2024, which is very upsetting to iwata, who has grown to love her. and we will see where that goes next year.

favorite tag team/faction: wingori (hanan and saya iida)!!! rough hard hitting sacrificial hero iida x dramatic flying suplexing suffering babyface hanan. they have made tag team wrestling for me in stardom. but I've also been loving the entire saga of tag team champions in sendai girls, particularly bobomomobanana.

favorite show: probably the five star opener. it was such a return to form for stardom in-ring and had so many exciting matches, including with names that previously hadn't gotten a lot of attention: hazuki vs manami, mei seira vs tomoka inaba, hanan vs suzu... and the big hitters going crazy like azm vs momo w, mayu vs tam, maika vs poi. there was also an incredibly memorable storyline moment in the undercard, with thekla frustrated that hurting kurara only plays into her hands and makes her more of a tam-style idol, leading into thekla trying to cause her permanent damage.

breakout star: so many people I could say but I think I'll shout out chi-chi. she has It. that perfect barbie look combined with this cold, polished meanness and the skill to carry it out in so many little moments, and then make the match into a crescendo of tension at the end like someone with her low level of experience shouldn't be able to. big bumpy ajpw if they had girl power!

horniest moment: everything veny does, ever, but especially this:

[under-lore]

The absolute state of Undercards

This isn't the kind of post i usually make, but well, theorists can make call out posts too. And regarding this topic, it seems that no one else is going to do it if i don't so...

I need to talk about Undercards. And particularly what's been going on behind the scenes in this fangame & its community and that it seems no one wants to speak up about. I've been thinking of doing this for a while and at this point i think i should just go ahead and explain it.

Okay, before we get into the controversy, i'll present the game a little bit for those who haven't heard of it. (And for those who don't care about this part, just scroll down a little bit until the next bold text.)

Undercards is an online multiplayer Undertale/Deltarune fangame which is basically just Yu-gi-oh or Hearthstone, except that cards, spells and such are all Undertale & Deltarune themed. It was popularised a few years ago mostly by youtuber Merg.

The gameplay looks something like this :

This game has a bit of a Gacha side, but it is entirely possible for any new FTP player to climb the ranks quite quickly or to obtain anything a P2W player could obtain somewhat easily, making it not unfair in that regard.

The game has an entertaining mastery curve and progress in ranked leagues (the main part of the game) is primarly decided by improvements in one's strategy regarding synergy of your deck, artifacts & soul, which are all to be chosen by the player to get the best chance at victory.

So, this all sounds like a pretty neat fangame, doesn't it ? So what's wrong ? What is the point of this post about ?

The issues

Whilst the game itself can indeed be quite fun, there exists a very serious problem regarding its community, and particularly its moderation team which sabotages its own game.

I'll start with some of the more minor issues before moving on to more important ones. I will also mention that i will not cover personal experiences (as much as i want to) and rather focus on larger trends to avoid biases or fallacious generalisations of individual cases.

The balance bias

The game has a very severe balance issue, which is nearly entirely caused by the moderators serving their own interests over that of the game.

Because here is the thing :

Many of the moderators (and by that i mean, the ones who's opinions seriously count for the balancing, really) are also the game's top players.

This game not only has greater rewards for achieving higher ranks every month, but even beyond the highest rank, it also has a live public leaderboard of the top players of each month.

However, if you check the monthly rankings of the game in any given season, the top spots are practically entirely monopolised by the moderators and by the alternative accounts of the moderators. (Some have had up to 5 accounts at once)

In other words, those who decide which cards should be buffed or nerfed are also the same people who will benefit or suffer from rebalancing their own cards, or know what tiny change to make to a card to suddenly make it very valuable in their specific decks.

This leads to some pretty silly situations, such as moderators buffing cards that genuinely deserved to be nerfed to secure their own interests. Or, on the other side of the issue, there are regularly cases where 9 out of the top 10 players all use the same clearly overpowered card in all of their decks, but the moderators will continue to deny that the card needs to be nerfed, because they do not want to have to nerf their own decks.

These things are all still happening, and they have been for years.

Because, well, they are the moderators, they have the authority and some of them have been here for up to 7 years, who is going to monitor them ?

After all, moderators are the law, they can do no wrong, right ?

Moderator incompetence and toxicity.

See, the team isn't just biased, they are also frankly incompetent at handling their own game in a facepalm-inducing manner.

For instance, remember how the main entertaining thing about this game was the strategy aspect of how to select your cards, artifacts and soul in order to get the best possible deck you can create and use it to make progress ?

Well, the game also has a spectating function. Which isn't a bad idea at all in itself. But it does have some major issues, like deck copying.

It is extremely easy for anyone to spectate the games of a very high rated player, and simply note down all the cards they play until you have their whole deck figured out. After this, you can easily copy it, and just play with this stronger person's deck and rank up that way, skipping what is quite literally the main interest of Undercards.

Not only does this ruin a large portion of the point of the game for the person that does it, but the more people do it, the more everyone everywhere starts running around using copies of the same few decks and making the game incredibly blend for everyone else overall as the thousands of possible way to make interesting decks slowly get reduced to no more than a dozen considered "viable" possible decks as you climb up the ranks.

...So what did the Undercards team do about this ?

...They created a hub menu where you can publish and downloads decks.

Yes, this is completely counter-productive.

Yes, this means that anyone can publish any deck for any player to find and use, they don't even need to copy the deck, it does that for them automatically.

Yes, this means that someone else can spectate your games, note down your deck, and publish it online for everyone to see, copy, or specifically prepare counters for. And they do.

Not only has the team not fixed those issues, but they have added features to make things more convenient for the perpetrators. They are actively encouraging people to be copycats and anti-fairplay, severely damaging their game's main strength on the way.

Oh, talking about stalking people and anti-fairplay...

The spectate feature has another massive problem : Sniping.

See, a game in Undercards lasts around 5 minutes & involves just two players, and there is rarely more than a couple dozen games going on at the same time. The game also has a very large matchmaking pool, meaning that you can pretty easily be paired against somebody considerably higher rated than yourself.

What this all means is that, by spectating somebody and then entering the playing queue right after this person's game ends, it is very easy to purposely stalk somebody in order to have a match against this particular person.

So, not only can someone stalk you and post your decks and/or strategies online, but anyone even much lower rated than you can look at it, build a counter deck that exists specifically to crush your particular deck, and then stalk you to repeatedly beat you and leech off your rank points.

And there is absolutely nothing that you can do about this.

The only solution is to log off and come back online when the sniper won't be present, or stalk the person back yourself to make sure you only launch games when you know they are already playing and can't be waiting for you, which is quite tiring.

Okay, well what did the team so about that one, then ? Surely even they wouldn't like the idea of being sniped, right ?

Heh... Well, its a bit trickier.

Officially, the practice is not allowed and a couple of them are actually against it. But in practice, most of them actually do not care, for the simple reason that part of them are guilty of doing such things themselves, and simply only take action when someones tries to do it back against them.

In fact, while i actually do not actually have proof for that one, i do also suspect that at least part of the moderators who have several accounts decide on which account they're going to play at a given time by checking which other players are online right now, and picking a deck/account accordingly for easier wins.

Their crappy behavior does not stop at only in-game things, though.

For instance, one person brought up to me that members of the staff have called his religion "garbage". Which needless to say, is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful.

Beyond being scummy, the team also just doesn't know how to handle their player base in general. For example, not so long ago, they shot themselves in the foot by creating two new ranks despite the fact that their player base was already too low to fill up the many ranks they already had. This means stretching up the rank differences between the players, which makes rank gain/loss disproportionate compared to one's actual current level and renders progression even more frustrating for medium level players, as well as generalising higher differences between players for matchmaking, which thus makes all the previously mentioned problems like sniping even worse. (All of that just to make things feel a bit more comfortable for those at the very top like the mods, who won't have to match with lower rated players as much.)

There could still be a couple more things for me to say, but i think the picture is already fairly clear. The team is purposely throwing the quality of their own game under the bus for little more reason than to stroke their ego by seeing their own names at the top of their leaderboards and overall just don't make very good decisions for their game even outside of all that.

Okay, but that was a whole lot of speaking, now how about i give an actual direct example of what the situation is currently like ?

Consider the existence of a user named "Sktima".

Skitma plays the game every day, but practically only ever uses the public chat to either :

Trash talk his opponents either during a game or after a loss.

Complain about the game's RNG, calling it "rigged" or "scripted".

Condescendingly mock and talk down on players rated below 2200 ELO (that is, over 98% of players) for being bad at the game.

If ever called out on this behavior, Sktima will infantilise the whistleblower, calling them a "whining little kid" or similar term before painting them as the bad guy instead, and attempting to bully them into leaving the chat. (and holding grudges against them later on, too.)

All the while, of course, being arrogantly mocking and acting like he considers himself as superior to others.

The question is : How long do you think it took for this player to be banned ?

I encourage you to think about this for a second, before continuing to read.

...

...Okay, have you made your guess yet ?

Well, it was a trick question..

Sktima was never banned at all, for the very simple reason that Sktima is a part of the moderation team.

He even has a YT, too. And it kinda speaks for itself, honestly.

For those interested, here are a couple extracts from a conversation he had in the comments with somebody pointing out that with the size of that community, issues like sniping or hand peeking (another big problem i didn't bring up caused by another bad feature that allows you to directly see the opponent's hand with another tab via the in-game friend option) were bound to happen with the way the mod team handled some features.

Be warned, a good amount of rudeness as well as lying & manipulating to try and turn the situation backwards...

Im not going to analyse or detail more any of that nor point out some of the blatant irony in this conversation, but what i will bring up is that throughout all this, they've made their stance rather clear :

None of this is the fault of the moderator team, they consider that only the player base itself is to blame for the current state of the game, not them.

The underground status.

The thing is, a lot of players aren't oblivious to this, but won't speak a word when staff is present.

In just a couple weeks for instance, at least three separate users have admitted in the chats they thought Sktima was insufferable, including one which claimed he was "the most toxic person on the site." But all this was only at low activity times when the team members were offline.

This was even more obvious on discord, where the only results you could find when searching for "Undercards" in the history of other Undertale/Deltarune related discord servers were people complaining about how toxic the Undercards staff was.

People frequently complain about a lot of the previously mentioned gameplay issues like sniping, but it seems nobody dares to speak up about the actual responsibles, likely due to their position of power and because they consider it as a fait accompli.

Undercards is a great game with has the potential to be very fun, but it and its community are practically being held hostage by the game's staff, and yet it seems the community has just given up on itself and mostly accepted this unfair status quo. This kind of thing shouldn't be allowed to continue.

[kopw]

i feel like people (and by people i also mean myself about a year ago) have this misconception that it's hard to get into new japan. or, not even that, more so that it's harder to get into new japan than any other promotion out there. which is just not true

part of it is definitely because of a preconceived notion that if you were to start watching you wouldn't understand what's going on because of a language barrier. which, again, not true. there is consistent english commentary and translations for even smaller tour shows nowadays. it's easier than ever to get started!

speaking of tours, i think another thing is the formatting. it's definitely not for everyone, and it takes a bit of time getting used to if all you've been watching is american tv wrestling. but you have to remember that just like with any other promotion, you can pick and choose which storylines or people you want to focus on. you don't necessarily have to watch upwards of three hours of wrestling a day, just like how you don't have to watch entire episodes of, say, dynamite—unless, of course, you decide to tune in live. but, even then, new japan typically has really solid undercard tag matches, squash matches are replaced by much more entertaining young lion matches, and it doesn't even have a dead spot

the njpwworld site itself can be difficult to navigate at times but there is a schedule that you can check out that includes all upcoming events, their start times and links to the cards

another complaint i hear at times is that the roster is too large and there are too many belts to keep track of. excluding njpw strong (american tv sub-brand), cmll (mexican sort-of-sister company) and wrestlers over on impact, roh and aew, there are currently about 60 active performers. however! all of these guys are in distinct factions that makes it very easy to keep track of who does what and where. like, factions actually have a meaning and a purpose in new japan. a portion of these wrestlers are also older talent who only really perform undercard matches nowadays and aren't involved in major storylines. and, as i said earlier, you can literally pick one guy or faction and stick to them to start with. whichever guy catches your attention. i think that's the most organic way of getting into a new promotion

it's not hard! stop saying it's hard! if you have the motivation to get into it you will find that it's not hard at all

[wrestlingfaves]

Royal Rumble Marathon: 1996

We’re rumbling into 1996.

Spoilers for past Rumbles.

Sunny, from her bathtub, warns us viewer indiscretion is advised. The Attitude Era doesn’t officially begin until 1997 but hints of it began way back in 1995 with the Pamela Anderson skit and continues with Sunny’s vignettes.

The undercard:

Jeff Jarrett vs Ahmed Johnson. Meh.

The Bodydonnas (Chris Candido/Tom Prichard, accompanied by Sunny) vs the Smoking Guns (Billy & Bart) for the WWF Tag Team titles. More meh.

Billionaire Ted skit with a fake Hogan, Savage, and Mean Gene. We’re wasting pay per view time on this?

Recap of the Razor Ramon – Goldust feud. Mr Machismo doesn’t appreciate Golddust’s flirtations.

Golddust (accompanied by Marlena) vs Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental title. Was this Terri Runnel’s debut for the WWF? The commentators refer to Marlena as an “unknown woman”. Golddust and Marlena’s gimmicks are forerunners to the Attitude Era. Marlena causes a distraction as the 1-2-3 Kid attacks Razor, allowing Dustin to pin Ramon and become the new Intercontinental champion.

Hype vignettes for Royal Rumble participants: Owen, Jake Roberts, Jerry Lawler, Vader, Shawn,

For the first time the Rumble does not end the pay per view – we still have a Bret/Taker match for the World championship. I never like when the Rumble itself doesn’t end the pay per view.

The entrants, in order of appearance:

Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Henry Godwin

Bob Backlund

Jerry Lawler

Bob “Spark Plug” Holly

Mabel (accompanied by Mo) Mo remains at ringside – there doesn’t seem to be year to year consistency on whether seconds are allowed to remain at ringside.

Jake “the Snake” Roberts

Dory Funk Jr (Vince notes Terry was also invited but is watching the ppv from Germany)

Yokozuna

1-2-3 Kid (spends his first few minutes in the Rumble attempting to avoid an angry Razor)

Takao Omori (Vince actually mentions All-Japan by name!)

Savio Vega (formerly known as Kwang)

Vader (accompanied by Jim Cornette)

Doug Gilbert (Henning & Vince mention both USWA and Eddie Gilbert, Doug won a tournament in Memphis to qualify for the tournament)

Squat Team Member #1 (1/2 of the Headshrinkers)

Squat Team Member #2 (1/2 of the Headshrinkers)

Owen Hart

Shawn Michaels

Hakushi

Tatanka

Aldo Montoya

Diesel

Kama

“The Ringmaster” Steve Austin

Barry Horowitz

Fatu

Isaac Yankem, DDS

Marty Janetty

Davey Boy Smith

Duke Droese

 Winner: Shawn Michaels

Longest performance: Hunter Hearst Helmsley

First-time Rumblers: Hunter, Dory Funk Jr, 1-2-3 Kid, Omori, Vader, Doug Gilbert, the Headshrinkers, Hakushi, Aldo Montoya, Steve Austin, Barry Horowitz, Isaac Yankem

Surprise Entrants: Dory Funk, Omori, Doug Gilbert, the Headshrinkers

We have two “clear the ring without eliminating everyone” spots: Henry Godwin with his slop bucket (Backlund and Lawler are the recipients) and Jake Roberts using Damian (his snake) – Lawler gets covered with Damian. Was Lawler on someone’s shit list?

Vader does the “eliminate everyone” spot but as he was previously eliminated none of his eliminations count.

Lawler is the first participant in a Rumble to hide under the ring.

1996 is the first year all participants receive entrance music. Finally! A small thing but it adds to the presentation.

The pay-per-view ends with Bret Hart vs the Undertaker (accompanied by Paul Bearer).   Diesel causes a disqualification, costing Taker the match. The match was fine but I’m not a fan of Taker.

Interviews with Gorilla Monsoon, Shawn, Diesel, Vader, and Jim Cornette.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Wrestlers and others who have passed on: Howard Finkel, Curt Hennig, Chris Candido, Razor Ramon, Mable (Visera), Yokozuna, Vader, Owen, Paul Bearer, Gorilla Monsoon

Total number of deceased individuals: 10 (down 5 from the previous Rumble).

[dalekofchaos]

Jey Uso is not that guy

I'm gonna be real with you and this is just my opinion.

Jey Uso is not working.

I know the Shockmaster reenactment was meant to be a work, but this is just stupid.

Jey Uso has been faltering in his quest to dethrone Gunther, not just in storyline, but in the perception that he simply isn’t up to the task of hanging with a world champion on the biggest stage WWE has. After a white-hot start in February, things have cooled off considerably in recent weeks.

WWE’s solution? Turn Jey’s stumbles into a storyline. A literal stumbling storyline.

Monday, the Usos reunited to take down A-Town Down Under, only for Gunther to appear and dump Jimmy Uso before turning his attention to Jey. The two brawled momentarily before Jey got the upper hand and set up for the spear… only to slip and fall, allowing the Ring General to flatten him and drive elbows into his WrestleMania 41 challenger’s side until Jimmy chased him off with a chair.

Later, the Usos were backstage with Jimmy asking what fans have been asking: What’s been up with Jey these last few weeks? He keeps messing up, and if it continues, he’ll lose at 'Mania. No shit.

The difference here is that in recent weeks, the faltering has been in the form of poor matches, lackluster brawls, and looking out of his depth. This isn’t some elaborate, weeks-long nuanced storytelling that bubbled over in the spear stumble. The stumble was akin to WCW acknowledging that the Shockmaster wasn’t the “next big thing” and turning his debut tumble into part of his actual gimmick.

Jey’s “not ready for primetime” reveal is being parlayed into the story. The difference here is that, unless Uso and Gunther perform a Vegas-worthy magic show at WrestleMania, it’s going to be obvious that this wasn’t “all part of the act,” but rather was a desperate attempt to cover up a hole in the wall with a flimsy poster.

Uso should be winning undercard matches in convincing fashion to make believers out of everyone, not doubting himself while his twin goes to fight his battles for him. Just a colossal disappointment here.

Honestly? Jimmy should have been the Main Eventer.

Jey at times, he feels as though he's forcing the role on himself. Once the entrance, the hot dogging and the flash is over, that's all she wrote. Again, the time to do this was against Roman. But now it feels dumb and they are retreading the underdog story of Sami vs Gunther for Jey.

Jimmy feels real. He is the real underdog. His promos feels real. He didn't need a catchphrase or an entrance to get over. Big Jim is Him. Despite the 50/50 booking, I believe in Jimmy a hell lot more than I believe in Jey.

Also? Jimmy slapping the shit out of Gunther did more for his career than Jey stumbling and being booked like a geek instead of being a convincing future world champion.

[thistledropkick]

Thistle how is it going in Japan?

How is different watching NJPW live in person vs watching it on NJPW word?

Hello! I'm back in America now, but Japan was great! Thanks for asking!

I think the biggest difference between watching NJPW on World and watching it live in Japan is that the undercard is a lot more fun to watch live. The types of matches that might have only half held my attention on TV were much more engaging when watching them in-person with an energetic and focused crowd. We could always see something fun going on during these matches that I think the cameras don't always catch.

In general, the pace of the shows also feels much faster and breezier when watching in person. Watching NJPW live in Japan made me realize just how much the shows are designed primarily to be watched in-person, and how well the pacing and card structure works when they're seen live.

Also, the Japanese wrestling audiences really are much better to watch a show with than American wrestling fans. There weren't any "open mic comedian" types trying to draw attention to themselves at any of the shows we saw in Japan like there are in American wrestling crowds. Also, people also don't stand up for no reason and block everyone else's view like they constantly do in American wrestling crowds. (I did see one guy get in trouble for filming videos with his phone at one of the NJPW shows we went to though.)

Korakuen Hall is an especially great venue to watch wrestling at. We sat in a couple very different areas but both were amazing, and I get the feeling that almost every seat in the venue is a great one.

[theanticool]

Trying to make this a more consistent thing so here is me talking about my 10 most anticipated fights of the week (7/19/2024-7/21/2024). No particular order.

Chantelle Cameron vs Elhem Mekhaled - Less about it being a competitive match up and more about liking both fighters. I feel a bit for Chantelle Cameron. Beat the P4P best boxer in the sport in her own backyard. Took a rematch for big money and basically got jobbed by the referee (and herself). For Mekhaled, she jumps up two weight classes after the loss to Baumgardner. She's won two since and is now fighting for the interim super lightweight championship. Mekhaled is a fun fighter and I can't imagine she doesn't turn this into a firefight.

Junto Nakatani vs Vincent Astrolabio - Junto Nakatani is now a P4P fighter in the sport. And rightfully so. Fantastic talent. Fun style and one of the more skilled finishers below the featherweight division. Vincent Astrolabio isn't a straight walkover, he fought Jason Moloney to a tight decision, but with some of the talent at the top end of bantamweight atm (and them all being in Japan) you'd hope Nakatani was getting those fights. I believe this is a mandatory though, so what can you do but hope for a good fight. If Nakatani really wants to fight Inoue, the fight he should be chasing is against Takuma Inoue.

Kosei Tanaka vs Jonathan Rodriguez - One of the big fights on the undercard of that Nakatani card. Kosei Tanaka was a hot shot super flyweight prospect that got turned away by grizzled vet and champion Kazuto Ioka. Tanaka has won 5 straight since the loss, capturing the WBO super flyweight title in the process. He is now set to face off with Jonathan Rodriguez, a Mexican boxer that failed to win a world title a while back. Tanaka is a fun fighter and Mexico vs Japan fights tend to be absolute head. Looking forward to it.

Tenshin Nasukawa vs Jonathan Rodriguez - A different Jonathan Rodriguez btw. P4P kickboxing great Tenshin Nasukawa continues on his quick ascent up the rankings in boxing. While Jonathan Rodriguez is coming off a loss to Antonio Vargas, he also had knocked out Khalid Yafai in his previous fight in the 1st round. He's not an easy fight for anyone to have in their 4th professional boxing match. Will be interesting to see how Tenshin manages.

Losene Keita vs Predrag Bogdanović - OKTAGON 59 - Losene Keita is possibly the most interesting prospect in Oktagon MMA atm. Fighting out of Belgium, he's got all the physical tools to be a real killer at featherweight. But he's competing up at lightweight for this big Oktagon LW tournament. He did not look great in his previous fight, getting badly hurt by Sardari in the process. So he'll be looking to reaffirm himself. I haven't seen a anything from Predrag Bogdanović outside of his loss to Will Brooks, but he's apparently a strong grappler. Should be interesting.

Doo Ho Choi vs Bill Algeo - UFC on ESPN 60 - This fight will be good for exactly 4 minutes. Either one of them, probably Choi, scores a KO in that time or Algeo will beat the hell out of Choi as he fades and stops him in the 2nd or 3rd. Choi just isn't a very durable fighter, despite his athletic gifts and I don't trust those gifts to still be there at this point. But it does have me invested. So it's on the list.

Amanda Lemos vs Virna Jandiroba - UFC on ESPN 60 - Of the fights on the list, this is the one I could see sucking. Lemos is a strong fighter but not a strong anti-wrestler. Jandiroba is a small grappler who's extremely skilled on the mat but can be scared off wrestling. Could end up being a tepid kickboxing match or a boring, one sided grappling match.

Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 vs Kento Haraguchi 3 - Glory 93 - 2023 was a rough year for Petchpanomrung. He went 2-2. He defended his Glory featherweight title twice but lost his two bouts up at lightweight. First he got stopped by Tyjani Beztati. Then he lost a 5 rounder in December to Chad Collins for the RISE title. So now he's defending that Glory featherweight title again. And against a guy he's 2-0 against - Kento Haraguchi. Kento has won 4 straight since losing to Petchpanomrung in 2022, including 3 stoppage wins.

Tyjani Beztati vs Endy Semeleer - Glory 93 - Endy Semeleer is no longer Glory welterweight champion. His reign cut short by a TKO stoppage where Chico Kwasi dropped him 3 times. Tyjani Beztati is also no longer Glory Lightweight champion. But because Glory decided they no longer wanted the division and cut it loose. So now Beztati is moving up to welterweight, possibly in anticipation of a yet to be announced upcoming Glory Welterweight Grand Prix. A very good fighter. Two former champions squaring off, with a possible shot at the welterweight title on the line.

I was really tempted to pick a random fight off the KSW card or Oktagon card but it felt inauthentic. Just did not have a 10th fight that felt super noteworthy. Maybe Jeong Yeong Lee vs Hyder Amil. So imagine an amazing fight that is happening this weekend and put it here. Maybe the start of the Olympics. Go watch some amateur wrestling or boxing or judo. I'm sure there's some great Muay Thai that I'm missing. IDK. Let me know.

[colossal-niamh]

Overall Thoughts on Revolution 2025

Revolution rarely disappoints each year. this year (mostly) keeps that trend going, with an undercard that keeps itself at a decent to great level all show. There are 2 matches that I'd consider good but could have been great if tweaks were made, and 1 genuinely bad match on the card. Here's my thoughts on everything from top to bottom

Komander & Hologram vs Lee Johnson & Blake Christian- I completely forgot about this match until I went to double check the card. Hologram and Komander were cool, I find Blake Christian very boring

Undisputed Kingdom & Daniel Garcia vs. Shane Taylor Promotions- alright warm up match with a bunch of guys I enjoy. I'm not 100% on board for Cole/Garcia mainly because I'd rather Kyle or Roddy in his spot against Danny. wondering if this will also lead to another Garcia/Moriarty at the next ROH PPV (mostly cuz I want that)

Conglomeration & Big Boom AJ vs MXM Collection- really funny, I'm so glad Orange got a straight up comedy match for the first time in what feels like forever. I find Mason and Mansoor to be really good comedy stooges. also Rizzler Orange was so good. give it 5 star Meltzer

Hangman vs MJF- so I'm a little conflicted on this match. On one hand I think this is one of Hanger's best in ring performances ever, he feels like a man determined to learn from his fuck ups and be better. On the other, I find the back half of MJF's performance mired in his usual trappings. A little too all over the place ringwork wise and I find the "why do they want you, not me?" breakdown at the end too mellow dramatic for my tastes. I think overall it's positives outweigh it's negatives, but still feel there's room to be better

Momo Watanabe vs Mercedes Mone- pretty solid, I feel I might have been more invested if I was more familiar with Momo's work. not a lot else to say except I liked it

Swerve Strickland vs Riccochet- really good grudge match with some solid Prince Nana drama in the middle. this might be my favorite Riccochet match in AEW so far, with maybe the Darby CC match as a close 2nd. Shout out to Leslie Jones in the front row who feels like the most ride or die Swerve fan in the world, half the energy from that match was from her alone

Outrunners vs Hurt Syndicate- better than I was expecting, I like the Outrunners but I'm not super crazy about them in ring. I think this hits a good sweet spot of them getting some decent hope spots in before the semi-truck that is Lashley and Shelton flattens their hopes

Mariah May vs Toni Storm- Wow. A sprint of a bloodbath that keep me and the friend I was watching with howling in shock and excitement. when both of them pull out the tape and broken glass I swear you could hear us from the next town over. What a beautiful, bloody finale.

Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takashita- fucking killer match, despite a stacked deck Kenny snatches victory out of the jaws of defeat. Soup spends the entire match trying to destroy Kenny's torso and Kenny in kind looks like death. I also really like the dual Hajime No Ippo reference with both guys' gear

Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher- This is my other "could be better" match of the night, mainly because I think they had 5 would be ending spots and decided to do all of them. I think both men and doing some solid work but once Mark Davis gets knocked out of the cage I feel the match goes 5 minutes too long. it feels like when you play one of the 2K games and instead of ending the match you spend all the finishers you stored up at once to overkill your opponent

Cope vs Jon Moxley- wooooof, this was not good. Even if this wasn't following 3 high octane matches, this still would have struggled. both men are sluggish and uninspired. Cope gets a little energy near then end but is mostly dry. It's so sad seeing a bloodless Mox match, it's watching one of the best in the world lean away from what works best about him and lean into heel champion tropes that just don't work for him. Also Christian Cage just feels wasted here, like he's just here so Cope doesn't eat a pin and at this point I would rather have a Christian title run then continue this flop of a Mox run. A true disappointment

Worst match of the night- Cope vs Jon Moxley

Best Match of the night- Mariah May vs Toni Storm

[wrestlingisfake]

The People vs. GCW preview

Mance Warner vs. EFFY or Allie Katch - This is essentially a two-part main event--Effy and Katch will wrestle one-on-one, to determine which of them will challenge Warner later in the show, for the GCW world championship. Katch is seeking to become the second woman to hold the title.

Anything goes in a GCW ring, which doesn't mean every GCW match will become a blood-soaked battlefield strewn with broken glass and barbed wire, but when it comes to these three, you can count on it. I would not be shocked if these two matches go back-to-back, blending seamlessly together. I would also not be shocked if the first match ends in a non-finish, and the title bout becomes a three-way.

Effy and Mance were teammates in the Second Gear Crew, until Warner turned on Effy in December 2023. Over the next six months, Effy went 2-1-2 in a series of grudge matches, but ol' Mancer got the last laugh by winning the world title in June. In October they met in a four-on-four double cage match; Effy's team lost after Allie ran in to turn on him. In November, Effy finally challenged Warner for the world title, but Katch ran in again, laying out both men for a no-contest.

GCW does two things well. One is crazy deathmatch spots, but the undercard is probably going to give us our fill of that. The other is ridiculously overbooked clusterfucks in the main event. I sometimes reference an old HOT NEWZ~! column from 20+ years ago that predicted a WWF show would end with a zillion run-ins, and everybody would take their shirts off to reveal a different shirt before they turned face/heel. That's what it feels like when I casually check in on GCW once in a while. These two matches are literally about all of Effy's friends crawling out of the woodwork to stab him in the back, and I'm pretty sure more will show up to keep doing it. And we're at the point where I'd buy it if Mance's heel allies turned on him for no reason, just to keep it fair.

It would be pretty cool to see Allie win the big one, and I'm pretty sure the crowd would chant "you deserve it" even though she's basically been a heel for years. It would also make sense if Warner stands tall at the end, to firmly establish him as the face of the promotion going forward and the man to beat. But I guess I'm an old softie, and I think it's overdue for Effy to get his flowers. With Nick Gage gone, this guy is Mister GCW, and even when Nick was around, Effy was the franchise player. The theme of this show is that it's a do-over of their first Hammerstein Ballroom show in 2022, but this time they're going to get it right. I can't think of a better way to do that than for Effy to go out with the gold.

Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku vs. Alec Price & Cole Radrick - Violence is Forever (Garrini and Ku) are defending the GCW tag team title. I watched the official hype video for this and I could barely tell any of these guys apart, so there's not really a convoluted backstory or anything. It's just two teams I don't know, going at it to prove who's the best, and also the champs are heels. That would be perfectly acceptable on a New Japan show in the US, so I'm sure it'll be good here too. I could see this going either way, but I'll pick the Gahbage Daddies (Price and Radrick) to get the sentimental title change.

El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Sidney Akeem - Akeem is probably best known from his WWE run as Reginald, where he was Carmella's sommelier until Vince McMahon figured out that gimmick sucks, and then he was just "Reggie," the guy who can do cool flips but nobody takes him seriously because the sommelier gimmick was death. Anyway, he's reinvented himself on the indies somewhat, and I've seen him in ROH a couple of times. He wanted to prove himself against the best high-flyer on this show. Well, Vikingo fits the bill. This should be a good showing for Akeem to establish him at this level, but I have to think Vikingo will win.

Maki Itoh vs. Brandon Kirk vs. Matthew Justice vs. Rina Yamashita vs. Matt Tremont vs. John Wayne Murdoch vs. Dr. Redacted vs. Drew Parker - This match is for both the GCW ultraviolent title (which is currently vacant) and the GCW extreme title (Itoh is the defending champion). It's billed as a "doors, ladders, and chairs match," which basically just means it's a ladder match but they're bringing extra junk to the ring for the wrestlers to fight with. Both belts will be hung above the ring, and the first participant to climb a ladder to retrieve them will win the match and both championships, which are apparently going to be unified.

Kirk has announced that--win, lose, or draw--he is retiring after this match. He lost the ultraviolent belt to Sawyer Wreck, on the night of her retirement, which is why the title is vacant. So there's a chance Kirk could end the vacancy and then immediately create a new one. Parker, Murdoch, and Yamashita are also former ultraviolent champions. I don't know who the hell Redacted is, and I'm pretty sure I forgot who Justice is.

This one match should have the highest concentration of light tubes and glass panes and shit, on top of crazy ladder spots. That could be a problem, considering Maki Itoh is a tiny little Japanese idol girl out there with a bunch of big mean guys. Yeah, I don't know what those chumps are gonna do about my girl Maki, so I'm picking her to win.

Megan Bayne vs. Atticus Cogar - Bayne won a battle royale last month to earn future GCW world title match. Cogar is mad that she eliminated him in said match. This would be pretty basic except Bayne looks like Wonder Woman and Cogar is a skeevy indie wrestling mega dick heel, so he's being a creepy weirdo about it.

I expect this will mainly be interesting because earlier this week Bayne reportedly signed with AEW, and I would imagine the GCW faithful aren't really happy with AEW lately. So even though Cogar is one of the most reviled guys in the promotion, Megan might end up being public enemy number one. Assuming Bayne is really All Elite now, she should probably finish up with GCW tonight, and that should probably mean doing the job on the way out.

Joey Janela vs. Masato Tanaka - So I remember the rivalry in ECW between Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka, but every time Tanaka comes back for a nostalgia spot I realize I don't remember anything about him, specifically. He's 51 now, and I'm sure he's here mainly so the Hammerstein Ballroom gets to see an ECW legend. It feels like I only hear about Janela anymore when he's wrestling an old-timer to prove he can make anybody look good. I'm not sure it matters to anyone which guys wins, so I could see this going either way.

Matt Cardona vs. ??? - Cardona issued an open challenge for this show, claiming that GCW had several different matchups planned for him that fell through. I was under the impression he'd be facing Ricky Starks here, before Effy provoked Tony Khan into pulling all AEW/ROH talent from GCW. I'd like to think GCW found somebody good, but if it was somebody really good, I think the would have advertised them before the show. So I'm expecting somebody who can get a good pop but not a needle-mover. Cardona could win or lose this, depending on who they get.

Josh Barnett vs. Tom Pestock - This match will be contested under the rules that GCW uses in the Josh Barnett's Bloodsport shows. Which is kind of weird, since on those shows the ring is set up without any ropes or turnbuckles, which sounds like a headache for the ring crew to do for this one match. I'm actually not sure the rules are that different--it's just that on Bloodsport shows, the wrestlers stop pretending that flips, throws, and haymakers make sense in an actual fight. The idea is to more closely simulate a legit grappling contest, with an emphasis on defending against holds and staying out from under one's opponent.

Pestock is best known from his 12-year WWE run as Baron Corbin; as far as I know this is his first match since they let his contract run out. They're hyping this up like Pestock has legit fighting credentials, and I don't doubt that's why Barnett wants the match. But it's going to be touch to erase the stench of some truly awful heel gimmicks that WWE gave to Corbin throughout his tenure. I think Barnett won't have a problem jobbing to Pestock to make him look good, but I expect it'll go over about as well as Ernest Miller jumped from WCW to ECW to tap out Taz in the Hammerstein.

Richard Holliday vs. Charles Mason - This is a steel cage match, so the ring will be surrounded by a metal structure to keep the participants locked inside, and everyone else locked out, until one man scores a fall.

I only know Holliday as the other guy from the Dynasty, a stable in MLW that included MJF and Alexander Hammerstone. I guess about a year ago Holliday turned on Hammersone and aligned with Mason. Then in August Holliday turned on Mason and, in an impressive twist, produced evidence that Mason is a serial killer, and had him arrested. As best I can tell the story is that Mason escaped from prison in November, and nobody in GCW gives a shit because they're letting him have this cage match. So yeah, I'm never buying an MJF storyline from Temu again.

The whole "escaped convict" thing is particularly silly in GCW, because I can't pretend they're above or beneath the law, considering the first Nick Gage Invitational almost got screwed up because Nick Gage had a legit parole violation. As far as the match itself, it'd be pretty dumb if Mason went to all this trouble just to get beat with a cheap heel finish by Holliday, so I bet that's what will happen.

Tajiri & Super Crazy & Little Guido vs. Arez & Gringo Loco & Jack Cartwheel - Tajiri's team is clearly representing ECW. Arez and Loco are fixtures of "GCW is throwing a random lucha tag match in the middle of the show." Cartwheel is more of a "GCW is doing a scramble match in the opener" kind of guy. Regardless, those three should be able to bounce around to distract from the old guys' limitations. If Tajiri doesn't spit mist in someone's face, I'm not sure what we're doing here. Team ECW for the win.

Homicide & Grim Reefer & Amazing Red vs. Tony Deppen & Griffin McCoy & Kerry Morton - Deppen, McCoy, and Morton were attacking Reefer at some show when Homicide made the save. They issued a challenge for a trios match, and at some point they announced Red as their partner. Homicide and Red are living legends from the post-ECW indy scene. I don't know if Reefer is on that level, but he's old as balls and likes weed, so that'll do. I'm thinking Deppen pulls a cheapshot to steal a win from Reefer, but then the good guys clear the ring for a post-match happy ending.