#wrestlers need to look like this again imo

[marikoyoshida]

Lady's Gong vol. 54 (レディースゴング54) - 2000.09.13

[openedskull]

Not necessarily your favorite wrestler, but who do you think is genuinely the best wrestler working right now? In terms of technical skill/promo work/whatever yardstick you wanna measure by.

oh man ... that is a great and really tricky question. full disclosure i don't think i can earnestly pick just one (i'll get into why a little bit more below)

also i'm gonna keep this aew only because i don't feel i know the wwe folks well enough yet to have an informed opinion there, but if that ever changes i'm sure i'll start yapping lmao

for aew men it's a real toss-up between bryan danielson, swerve strickland, and darby allin, for me. bryan is i think in many ways the gold standard - he's committed, he's incredibly versatile as a wrestler, he does what he does for the love of the sport and the art form; he's deeply technically proficient but also very quick to adjust to whatever a match or an opponent needs most, and very happy to do what needs to be done to make sure his opponent has a really good showing and looks great going forward, even if it's a match he's booked to win. his promos are always impassioned but never excessive or distracting, and my guy sells like a motherfucker both inside and outside of the ring. if i had a single criticism it's that he might have a *little* bit of an ego problem - i think swerve got a little close to talking shoot when he got on bryan's case about trying to reappear in another promotion under another name because he loves being in front of an audience too much to quit - but it's an extremely mild criticism.... at the point that your career is this long and distinguished, i don't think having a bit of an ego about it is all that surprising or even necessarily bad, and it's very much tempered by how much he wants to see younger generations of wrestlers thrive and succeed.

speaking of swerve, he's very similar to bryan, while also really making his work distinctive and very much his own. he has charisma for days and has come so far from being underbooked and handled weirdly in wwe, his promos are impeccable, his ability to play heel or tweener or even something close to a face based on what's needed most from him is so impressive. there's nothing wrong with having a singular gimmick that you know you can consistently perform and sticking to it, but i'm personally most impressed by wrestlers that are both physically and emotionally/mentally versatile, and that describes swerve to a t. i do sometimes worry about his work-life balance, but i know he's doing what he believes in and loves, and i do find his dedication not just to his own improvement but also to the stability and thriving of aew really admirable. his wrestling is once again very impressive, both deeply technically proficient while also being quick to adjust, and he makes it look easy. effortless, even, again while making his opponents look great and having their time to shine. good wrestlers are a bit like magicians, to me: i want to watch someone and go, "holy shit, how did he do that?"

darby is one i feel strongly about. for a lot of very similar reasons to bryan and swerve - in a lot of ways i think these three guys are reflective of two distinct but connected generations of wrestlers (bryan in one, swerve and darby in the other). i find it really disappointing and disheartening when people only see darby as a high-flying risk-taker, because he's *so* intelligent and deliberate in the things he does, he's such a fucking workhorse and if you've never seen him do more grounded, technical wrestling you're definitely missing out on something really special imo. he took a little while to find his footing when he first came off the indies, but he's grown and learned so much in the past few years both in terms of his athleticism and especially his ability to give absolutely banger promos; i think we can definitely credit some of that to his time working with sting, but it also shows a real jump upward in maturity and a desire to help carry the promotion on his back that really warms me to see. i love that he spends time for himself and pursues the things he loves outside of the ring but is also ready to jump in and help at a moment's notice when they need someone stable and reliable to fill a gap or take over a storyline, and i love that he works with both passion and humility - i think it's going to take him far and i can't wait to see how the future of his career shapes up.

for aew women it's a hard split between toni storm and willow nightingale, for me.

toni's wrestling is phenomenal to watch - she's brutal and versatile and such a quick thinker, always makes her opponents look great, and her character work is fucking unparalleled. i'll admit it took a while for the timeless toni storm gimmick to click for me, but once i understood what she was doing it's been amazing ever since, and i just find her so compelling and magnetic to watch. i'm also really drawn to her because of what it means to see an openly bisexual performer in the wrestling industry, and while i am frustrated by commentary often hamstringing the obvious romantic story between her and mariah, i can't stress enough how awesome it's been to see a love story (however toxic, lmao) between two women be one of aew's biggest or longest running narratives.

willow is so compelling to me as well, though in a distinct way. she always makes me smile and i love to see a fat woman thriving and succeeding in a line of work that, while it's developed a lot, still in many ways does incentivise both male and female wrestlers to be somehow both thin AND muscular, even if that lacks long-term sustainability for their health. her wrestling is something that i think is quite unique in the women's division, both really powerful and really flexible, and i love that her promos have a real emotionality and complexity that her "nothing matters, smile anyway" gimmick might not immediately suggest. she's tender and passionate and sad and exuberant and loyal and refuses to take shit, and i think she's such an amazing example of fully experienced femininity in sports. and she's so fucking dedicated to showing up and being ready for whatever storylines or matches or curveballs come her way, and so keen to bring up other women - and international promotions - along with her, and i just love her to bits.

[theanticool]

Watching the Fury-Ngannou fight now.

First off, it's cool to see Ngannou not moving around like a stiff board. I think the Gane fight (in which he had entered with one or both of his knees torn to shit) messed with my memory or him. While I wouldn't call him fluid, he is mobile and reactive.

Speaking of reactive, some real growth moments from Ngannou. One of the few fights that you could really draw any comparisons for Fury for Ngannou in MMA was the first Miocic fight. Miocic absolutely cooked Ngannou with the jab. Had him reacting horribly on every jab feint. A lot of his takedowns were set up by showing the jab and then ducking under as Ngannou swarmed forward looking to counter. Fury feinted hard early and it worked at setting traps a couple times but Ngannou wasn't out there swinging like Miocic had him doing. Also no idea why commentary is trying to make Ngannou sound like a one handed hitter. Man has turned folks inside out with both hands before.

So the knockdown in round 3. I don't know what Fury saw but he literally stood directly in front of Ngannou in mid-range and fired off 2 3-2s in a row. No hard feint or change of distance in between. Ngannou, who has some of the best eyes in MMA and best reflexes at heavyweight (with his hands), saw this and countered with the left hook accordingly. Just good sound boxing to capitalize on some real laziness from Fury.

Fury tried leaning on Ngannou and is struggling because Ngannou is a better clinch wrestler than him.

Fury recovers 4-6 imo. The jabs starts landing. You can see Ngannou loading up on shots more trying to find a big counter, though he's throwing them much more thoughtfully. Fury is moving better and his punches have a little more snap on them. Ngannou got away from the body punching too. That's the thing that was keeping Fury in front of him early.

Ngannou comes through big in rounds 7+8. Fury is tired cause he's trying to tie Ngannou up to stop him from coming forward but all he is doing is giving Ngannou opportunities to hit him. Ngannou started off by punching to the ribs when the tied up and then realized he could use his lead arm to frame and just t off on Fury. I know Fury got knocked down in the 3, but that 8th round is probably the one he should be most ashamed of. That jab is completely gone. He's getting into swinging exchanges with a bigger, faster puncher who is also more durable. He's not moving laterally, and when he does Ngannou is beating him to the angle and making him pay. At one point he tries to explode in behind a big shot and push away like he did against Wilder, but Ngannou is a big, strong sturdy MFer and holds his ground to fire back a big left hand that lands clean. By the end of the round he's not even punching anymore. He's trying to tie Francis up. His bag of "be bigger" tricks just isn't working.

And again, Ngannou gets away from what works in the 9th and 10th. Too patient looking for a homerun swing. Needed to just keep attacking the body with his lead hand and the hook around the guard. Fury seemed re-energized and got the jab working. At least in the 9th, both were exhausted in the 10th. Shouts to that cheeky superman punch that whiffed though in the 10th. Good stuff Francis.

I had it 95-94 Fury. Gave Ngannou 2, 3 (10-8), 7 and 8. But the most dominant rounds were all won by Ngannou (3 & 8), no question. Ngannou wins by Pride Rules. Had Ngannou spent all those off rounds attacking Fury's body with those power punches, he'd have won it easy imo. Fantastic work from Ngannou. Legacy defiling performance from Fury.

[destinyc1020]

Z and Kaia arent at the same career level or status, i dnt see why folks compare them. The only thing thats the same is they both dated the same messy ass man and Kaia is a gf to Zs coworker. Thats it lol, they aint friends n havent even been photographed together.

I doubt they go for the same roles, besides AHS (which i think she/her team learned from not to start with a leading role 👀) Kaia is always a side character and is doing more comedies (and again a few side character roles roles in drama) and Z has been 1st or 2nd billed when it comes to a variety of genres-drama (Euphoria), action (dune 1 n 2) and drama/comedy (challengers). When yr a side character sometimes u may nt b needed on set as much as the main characters, so yea, it makes sense why Kaia got more roles rn (along with other obvious reasons), she might nt b on set long and can jjst move onto the nxt job quickly. Z acts, produces and shadows her directors- that requres her to b on set more and b involved (probably) pre n post production. I doubt Kaia is doing anything bt acting rn (and thats fine). Folks acting lik Kaia getting more roles mean smthn-it dnt lol good for her for being booked i guess. Bt if folks goimg to compare Kaia to someone, it makes sense to compare her to other model/actors lik her friend Camilla Morone or Lily Rose. Nt Z, who is literally the IT girl rn lol

I totally agree Anon. 👏🏾

Z and Kaia shouldn't even be in the same sentence imo. They're on totally different levels.

Z started from the ground up. Kaia did not. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Z's fanbase is humongous.... Kaia's is not. Kaia was born into privilege, Zendaya was not. Plus, Z has been acting since she was a kid, whereas Kaia has been slowly phasing out of her career of modeling, and doing what EVERYBODY seems to want to do these days for some reason lol, which is ACT. 🥴

We've got models acting, former wrestlers acting, singers acting, etc. It's almost like everybody and their auntie wants to act these days lol 😆 It's funny lol.

Look, I have no issues with Kaia wanting to act, or even that she's a nepobaby (Hollywood is FULL of them, and you can't control who your parents are 🤷🏾‍♀️).

All that I ask is that if you're a nepobaby, PLEASE, for the love of God, get some acting lessons! 🙏🏾😩 Work on and hone your craft. Otherwise, you're basically taking a perfectly decent spot/role in a film or a TV show from an actual REAL actress who actually knows how to act, and it's really kinda sad. 😔

So yea, like you said, quantity doesn't equal quality.

I don't even know why some ppl would even mention Kaia or Sydney (for that matter) in the same sentence as Zendaya. That's like comparing apples to birds. 😅

Re: Lily Rose....

Yes, she's a nepobaby, but at least she can halfway act. She's actually a pretty decent actress imo. It makes sense too, cuz her dad is an awesome actor.

It's just a shame she sold herself to the devil with that role in Sam Levinson's disaster "The Idol". 😬

She didn't need to do that show imo. She already had acting talent as far as I'm concerned. 🤦🏾‍♀️

[stardomtrash]

Hear me out on Club Venus...

I've seen a lot of people feeling negative about the Club Venus split from Cosmic Angels, saying that it seemed like a move purely because a sub unit can't sell t-shirts. But I'm genuinely really happy about the move. I think it was a good idea. Why? *slaps head* Here's why...

Firstly, as Stardom opens back up and gets in more foreigners it gives them a ready made unit they can slot right into. In the past that was Oedo Tai, but that forced them into being heels even if that was against their character. What's better about CV though is it's a group full of English speakers, something that I'm sure is greatly appreciated by those coming into the promotion, knowing that they have people there to make sure the language barrier isn't an insurmountable obstacle. Surely that helps them assimilate into the roster better and makes them feel more comfortable and at home in the promotion, which is never a bad thing.

Also, as Stardom expands into the Western market, not only do these performers have recognisable names those new to Joshi can follow from Western promotions into Stardom, but by sake of the fact this is a big English speaking group, with even Japanese wrestlers incorporating English into their promos, this does break the ice for those who might be a bit put off getting into Stardom because of the lack of English being spoken. It's just that little bridge to help people get into it, like a gateway drug, which is a terrible comparison but my mind is blank right now 😅. It's like how K-Pop songs have an English hook. There. That's a better one.

A lot of wrestlers talk about wanting to bring their unit and Stardom as a whole worldwide, but Mina shouted the loudest. She wanted to get the SWA belt (hey remember that?) so she could wrestle overseas and bring CosAn to a different audience. Now she has the chance. She is best placed to integrate Stardom into the wider wrestling sphere. Maybe it should be Tam, or Giulia, or Mayu, or Utami. But it's going to be Mina. And you know what? She deserves it.

Maybe more controversial, but imo Cosmic Angels was getting pretty damn crowded. I know Colours are part time, but even without them, adding up all the CV members as honorary Angels, there was a LOT there. Remember when DDM had about 50 people and they just HAD to split cos they became to OP? Yeah, something had to give here too. I know for a hot second they had only... oh gosh yeah for minute they were just a tag team weren't they. If you just look at the full time members that is. But now with Saori joining, and with everyone holding championship gold, it did not take long for them to pick themselves up again and look like a formidable unit, even if they were lacking in numbers.

As for Mina being a leader, we'll have to see. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Mina - but if you look at all the other unit leaders, they're certified main eventers, undeniable final bosses. Okay, Oedo Tai less so, but they have lineage to make up for it. Mina's not at their level, but having the White Belt certainly gives her the backing to justify a leadership position. Is it too early? Yes, I think so. But would it be a mistake to wait any longer? Yes, it would. Club Venus needs unit status now, and Mina is best placed to lead them. It helps when a unit leader can cut a good promo, and Mina is one of the best.

I'm interested to see where Club Venus will go. I think it depends who sticks around long enough. Mariah seems to be pretty happy there. Perhaps an Artists reign is in their future, but not any time soon. No need to strap the rocket to them yet. A feud with Cosmic Angels seems plausible. Mina is already fighting Natsupoi for the belt, and she made hints at challenging Tam to become a double champion. Tam seems... hurt but also solemnly chill at the split. After all, she did the same thing to Mayu. A bit like when Gods Eye split from DDM, I don't think a feud is necessary. The split isn't as amicable as that was, but even so.

Tl;dr: Stardom don't need to make a unit to sell more naff t-shirts. They don't need any reason. They just need your credit card information

[ambreiiigns]

gay wrestlers are a gift 🥰🥰🥰 but GENUINELY it is always so so lovely to see you on my dash, i too have so many fond memories of back in the day it's. insane to think it was like almost half a decade ago now GODDD

SCREAAM bc i have this horrible habit of watching films in the wrong order. i did actually start watching 3 from hell without watching the other two first and could not get into it after like half an hour so. good to know that's the one i don't need to bother with<3

and TYYY i will indeed give skinamarink a try it does look so so fun 🥺 i'm the same like. as much as horror is my favourite genre i do Not get the fear from it (takes Very specific things to scare me so it's rare that any media hits those points) but it seems those of us who don't get scared have a whole different sort of appreciation for horror which is nice<3 also makes it very entertaining to watch with people who Do get scared lmaoo

anyway i have MISSED YOUUU it's so nice to talk again 🥺🥺🥺🖤🖤🖤

DON'T EVER SAY AGAIN HOW LING IT'S BEEN I CAN'T BARE TO THINK OF THE PASSAGE OF TIME!!!!!!!!! BESTIE FR dms & askbox ALWAYS open you can always come say hi i care you 🥺🥺

hajdkand JESUS christ i can't even. imagine how insane it must seem if you start w 3 from hell ?!?!?! how did you even END UP THERE BESTIE i Must say it's not necessarely a BAD movie it's just. more of the same yk it's a bit unnecessary after the first two but if you love the first two as much as i do it won't bother you too much to see more of the same yk.. i was just happy to put my eyes on baby firefly for a few more hours. i love her soo much

i AGREEE it's so delightful to watch w my little coward friends 🥰🥰🥰 just a weird pointless boost of confidence ajdkakf also i guess it just 🥰🥰 makes it easier to pick up on other aspects of the movies when you're not shitting your pants 🥰🥰 like imo you LITERALLY appreciate them more yk !?!?!? i love it

i wish i was scared tho!!! like not disturbed not jumpscared i wanna be too afraid to sit in the dark yk!!!! >:((( like when i was little!!! aerugh keep me updated if you ever find something that puts the fear of god in you

[tea-and-finalfantasy]

different aew wrestlers i think need belts (or more narrative support), other than like. the more ppl with belts the more threatening your entire roster looks, the more variety the better, etc, also other than like. most of the ppl on this list, if not all, don’t get the respect and dedicated time they deserve

sonny kiss - faced cody so early on, is just so entertaining and fun and i think like, this rose that’s faced adversity in storyline tag team partnerships deserves to come out on top

abadon - presented as a horrifying powerhouse, should continue to be presented as such/not just thrown to the side when the other/“real” top wrestlers come in

best friends - ideally as tag team champs bc they’ve done so much, had great matches, have such a great and important dynamic BUT i’d also take like. greg beating someone or like dustin beating OC where greg didn’t? which would create a whole storyline thing?

same w dark order--even though i’d’ve preferred him and stu to win something together--because they keep getting close but aren’t allowed to win

i wanna put danhausen here bc i haven’t seen his actual aew matches but i worry that he’ll get put into the category of good-for-the-initial-signing where he’s good for fun stuff (which is good! which works!) but never gets wins

same for fuego where the intial signing is emotional but if that person never comes out on top or improves in the narrative to the point where they’re a real threat, they’re just being used for the one emotional thing

kilynn king should/should’ve been touted as a hoss/big threat

willow eventually, like i hope she doesn’t get pushed aside. i’m totally fine w waiting and i want her story to build but there are so many groups or ppl where the story has just plateaued imo

and like again, i’m not up to date, i love the ?low?consequences matches where like it matters narratively, it matters that they win like i don’t want to call the best friends street match low consequences but like. those are my fave kind of matches! BUT i do hope that for a lot of ppl, they get belts or get more of these narratively important matches, not just matches where they lose

[onepunchmiss]

OPM s2e5 Live blog

“The Martial Arts Tournament”

Alright I’m back to the regular live blog schedule and theres 2 things before we get started. 1) OH MY GOD DO-S IS THE EPISODE THUMBNAIL WE GET TO SEE ALL THE MONSTERS POPPING UP and 2) DOES THAT MEAN WE’LL SEE ZOMBIEMAN TRAILING MARTIAL GORILLA BECAUSE IF SO I sincerely apologize in advance yall must be aware by now how that’s going to go down on this blog. Anyway, as always I’m watching this from the perspective of someone who is caught up on both the manga and web comic. Los geht’s!

Yup the centipede movement is still creepy as hell. I saw people saying it was cgi last week which I didn’t catch right away, but regardless it’s done so well because it looks unnatural.

EYYYYY ok actually I kind don’t care about Metal Knight. What this episode is actually going to be is me screaming about all the monsters liKE RHINO WRESTLER AND PHOENIX MAN GUYS I LOVE THIS STUPID BIRD SO MUCH HECKING HECK. I’m gonna vomit like him and Do-S PLUS Garou vs Bat PLUS the other S Class heroes (Tatsumaki and Flashy Flash??) I am not physically mentally or emotionally prepared.

Yo this seems to be a trend with the monsters and me, I am evidently never prepared for the garish color schemes they get. Not mad just surprised every time?

hhhhhhhhhhhhh Ok the fight! I’m… I’m gonna try really hard to not pause every 2 seconds because I will inevitably have many words to say and screen grabs to take but that would be more than excessive sooooo ok here I go

Lol I failed immediately. I love that they’re going shot for shot with the fight. I’ve said it before, but I really think Murata captures movement and action sequences so well in the manga that if the anime were to try and deviate, it just wouldn’t be as good (especially with all the flack JC staff has been catching). Also I ADORE Metal Bat’s theme music when his fighting spirit comes out??? It’s so corny and triumphant and bad ass at once it fits him so well?? Ok wait a second I thought that after metal bat hit the manhole cover it ricocheted and came back at Garou what the heck??? That was such a cool move on Bat’s part and demonstrates he’s not just brute force, but tactical too. Why’d they leave that out??OH COME ON THEY DID WHAT THE HELL WHERE IS THIS??

This is actually my least favorite thing about season 2 biggest complaint what the fuck they did my boy dirty here. Oh thank god Zenko is here to quell my anger. Also Bat’s glowing eyes of murderous intent. Look at her. A legend.

Garou: “...haa?” Yup still love his voice actor. Perfection. Also Zenko. Just. Metal Bat and Zenko. Moshi moooshi? Just. This whole thing was almost perfect. So close. The fight felt so short, and it was because they cut out some good stuff. So close to perfection uhg

AH MY STUPID BIRD MAN he sounds exactly like what I wanted him to I’m so glad and HAH the fuckin hand I forgot about that. Side note, Anyone else play Arkham Asylum? The monster association logo looks like Scarecrow’s symbol in that game…. ANYWAY I need to take a moment to appreciate that little Phoenixman chuckle it was hella cute ok

Rh-Rhino Wrestler basically just said “Then Perish”

Oh Fuck

Oh God

Martial Gorilla  

Oh fuck

O H F UK

oh false alarm im ok my heart rate skyrocketed for nix Oh Maiko Plasma!! I love her voice wtf its cute? Phew ok the tournament. Wait that’s not giving me a break either because MAX AND SNEK M A X AND SN EK

I love him and his stupid hair omg. I’m REALLY hoping that the anime branching out and giving other characters more spotlight will help them grow in popularity a bit. Every single character in this series is underrated imo. Even the popular ones like geNOS LOOKIT HIM clapping for his sensei. Genos is baby boy I lov

“Dark Corporeal Fist?” Isn’t Void Fist just easier to say? really now. Oh My God Sourface chanting “I’m ok I’m ok I’m ok” is literally my daily Mood™. Damn look at Bang taking out some frustration I’d hate to be that monster. Me too my dude Smile Man.

WHOA I was NOT expecting that transition!! Heart! Hard! HIT! It’s the Monster Wife!! And She definitely looks more monstrous in color oof those eyes ❤❤

OH FUCK OH GOD WAIT MARTIAL GORILLA AGAIN DAMN IT I WISH I REMEMBERED EXACTLY WHEN Z SHOWS UP MY BLOOD PRESSURE CANT TAKE THIS ofuck ok false alarm again but I’m low key freaking out as they pan through all the monsters because the S Class is so close like we’re about to get Child Emperor, Flashy Flash, Pig God, Drive Knight, Darkshine and so on who got next to no screen time in season 1 its giving me anxiety im so pumped??

OH FUCK GUYS PUREBLOOD OH SHIT FUCK I FORGOT WE SEE HIM THIS EARLY CAUSE HIS DESIGN KEPT CHANGING he looks stupid with his hair behind his ears and his voice is NOT what I imagined and that manga panel redraw I did was way off with the color scheme but I don’t care I have read and re-read that fight countless times this monster just grew on me by default oh no UHG and look at Super S again it looks like they’re going panel for panel here with her and I’m not complaining

They keep hopping to the tournament but I don’t have much to say about it until the shit starts going down….. and like I’m so excited for that Snek and Max moment (you know the one) but until then I’m just so overwhelmed by all the other plotlines happening I don’t have much in the way of comments for it

I lied ok that eye twitch got me. But see then it cuts away too quickly and the episode is over. I get that there’s a lot happening at once but the tournament feels dragged out a bit. It’s different when you read the manga at your own pace but cmonnnnnnnnnnnnn gimme moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

HAH THANK YOU POST CREDIT STINGER YOU DELIVERED MY WISHES AND ZAKKOS IS SOME WEAK SAUCE.

NEXT WEEK GUYS ITS HAPPENING

Final thoughts. Um. I wish the Garou vs. Metal Bat was a tad longer just for that ONE moment. I’m still heartbroken over it. But otherwise? I’m so excited for next week, I can’t convey my excitement without being excessively obnoxious? this episode was pure hype. There are no buts about it- we are getting the S Class next week. I… think I’m going to leave work at noon to catch the episode right when it airs. I was saving that for an episode with Z but I don’t think I’ll be able to function at work if I stay. At this point every character is a fave and now we’re getting all of them, I feel so overloaded and we haven’t even seen anything yet. I don’t know what to even say about the future of these crap ass live blogs- they have no structure as it stands right now, but like they are going to devolve into just me screaming. Not even real words. just something like keyboard smashing and tears, probably. I’m so sorry, but anyway, as always thanks for reading, see yall next week assuming I survive

[breadclubrising]

I am hearing news about Kota Ibushi actually signing with NJPW (instead of being a free bird)... does this mean... he will finally be the heavyweight champion?

OFFICIALLY, it’s still a rumor right now—we haven’t heard an official announcement from NJPW. So, because Kota… I’m going to wait until something official is announced. Keep in mind that he did the entire Cruiserweight Classic and was in NXT during that time, but still hadn’t for-sure signed in time to win the tournament. He then continued to be in NXT for a couple of months, even though he didn’t commit, and WWE kept offering him shorter contracts, better schedule flexibility, and more money. According to him, after all of that, he physically attended a secret hotel room meeting with WWE for the sole purpose of telling them no, never, and that his mind would not be changed by any money or promises they could make.

I’m not even really saying the rumor is dubious—I think it’s likely he has done exactly as he says—I’m just saying I’m gonna wait for actual official confirmation with this guy.

That said, I’m going to write a long thing about his character arc. It’s what I do.

Let’s start with the obvious: Kota Ibushi is really fucking good at wrestling. He could show up on the doorstep of any wrestling promotion in the world and be welcomed with immediate upper-card booking, open arms, and a fuckton of money. He’s just that good. He’s pretty much universally admired by other wrestlers and wrestling critics. Very few people would argue with you if you called him one of the greatest pro wrestling talents of all time.

And if breathtaking natural ability isn’t enough (it’s not), Ibushi has all the magnetism, star power, and understanding of emotion needed to make a wrestling superstar. Sure, it often gets missed or overlooked in light of his talent, and yeah, sometimes he really sucks at promos. Still, you don’t get to be ace of a company like DDT on flips alone. Don’t let the dumb jock act fool you: he’s the whole package. Let no one tell you otherwise.

In sports, a reputation like Ibushi’s usually comes with a small museum’s worth of titles, trophies, and accolades. But Ibushi doesn’t have the trophy case to back up the praise he’s earned. And that’s because in most sports, talent usually translates directly to winning and becoming legendary—but not wrestling.

Because, of course, in wrestling, the outcomes of matches are not decided by talent, they’re chosen based on the best interests of the wrestling promotion. Ibushi has been a freelancer since 2016, which neatly coincides with when he stopped winning stuff. 

Because he’s just that good, he’s gotten far better booking than most freelancers could ever dream of. But he hasn’t gotten serious pushes, because no matter how talented someone is, it ultimately doesn’t make good business sense for a wrestling promotion to have a champion who only works for himself, to invest money and reputation in someone who can’t—explicitly will not—promise your promotion a return on your investment. Which is why Ibushi’s trophy case is so empty compared to his reputation.

He obviously knows all these dots are connected. Titles never really mattered to him, back when he had titles more often. Now, he knows the reputation he has, and he knows that all he has to do is want to be the best in the world. Ibushi doesn’t love making choices, but this one he cannot avoid: achievement or freedom. His dazzling talent grants him access to both, to an extent that’s simply not available to others. And he’s actually had a really impressive amount of cake-and-eating-it-too as a freelancer; much more than most could hope for.

But since 2016, he’s deliberately chosen freedom, knowing that the cost is achievement. 

The truth is, when you’re as talented as Kota Ibushi is, sometimes your gifts feel like a burden. No matter what you want out of life, your talent is so obvious and striking that it demands you account for what you’re doing with it, both to yourself and to other people. Your talent is bigger than whatever it is that your heart wants, and you will be obligated to answer for that, to yourself and others, constantly—wherever you go and whatever you do. And that will remain true even if fulfilling your potential has a cost you don’t want to pay.

Ask Kota Ibushi. His amazing talent meant that NJPW and DDT were both willing to give him full-time contracts at the same time; he was the first wrestler to have two home promotions. Someone as good as he is almost has to accomplish unprecedented things like that, right? No one else can, and no one else would be allowed to even try—who else would be worth that level of accommodation; two promotions both willing to not only have a guy who spends half his time making money for a rival promotion, but both push him as far as he wants to go, and work their scheduling so he could successfully maintain two schedules? And even before that, he won Best of the Super Juniors as an outsider. He was the first. He was the only one. He did that. 

Buuut, the cost of fulfilling that amazing potential was his mental and emotional wellbeing. For one, it meant he had to give up one of the things that made him happiest—being a Golden Lover. For another, his life was not his own. He later said that he learned that even one schedule is incredibly draining for him, and that one of the hardest things was how little emotional investment he was able to give his performances and the storylines happening in each promotion. 

His surgery in late 2015, the reason he left both DDT and NJPW, was for a cervical disc injury he’d been living with for a while. It probably sucked, but it was also a way out of his contracts, because the bigger and more grindingly burdensome issue was that he was horribly emotionally and mentally burned out from answering to two promotions. 

In other words, to Ibushi: dismal failure. Leaving your job for mental health reasons in Japan is not a thing. He felt like he just couldn’t hack it, didn’t deserve the acclaim he receives. In his mind, he’d failed his fans and critics, and exposed himself for being the flaky, emotionally weak weirdo he always saw in the mirror. When he was well enough to wrestle again, he left Japan, a bit humbled and humiliated. If being exceptional in Japan didn’t work, maybe just one contract, but with the world’s largest and most famous wrestling promotion, home to the majority of history’s greats, would be a way to live up to all of that potential.

And just like NJPW and DDT did, WWE was willing to make accommodations they rarely make for anyone else—a major reason WWE organized the Cruiserweight Classic was to try to sign him. Not only did they famously beg him as I noted above, they offered him contract flexibility—WWE does not do that; the vast majority of WWE contracts are quite exclusive. They let it be a pretty open secret that Kota Ibushi was definitely going be the ace and crown jewel of their new Cruiserweight division. And when he didn’t sign in time to win the tournament he was going to win (if he’d signed), they didn’t tell him to fuck off. They let him stay as long as he was willing to entertain the idea of signing. 

But he ran up against the same problem: he doesn’t do well in a tightly-controlled, heavily scheduled environment. So he told WWE no, definitely not, never. And he went home, forced to come to terms with the fact that some people can handle the schedules that come with a full-time contract, but for him, it’s too emotionally taxing. 

So this perception of him that’s out there, that ‘haha that’s our fantastic dolphin son, what a ~free spirit,’ is a little unfair.  Dude isn’t a freelancer because he’s flighty, unserious, or afraid of commitment. He’s a freelancer because he quickly gets burnt out when he has to follow someone else’s rules/schedule, and his talent gives him the privilege of naming his price. It’s not that he just doesn’t feel like being serious, it’s that he hates his life when he has the kind of commitments that come with a full-time contract. When he talked about saying no to WWE, he said “I don’t wrestle for the money anyway.” That didn’t mean I don’t care about money because I love wrestling, it meant I literally can’t function as a person if I start to think of wrestling as the thing I do to get money.

That means that when he came back to Japan in late 2016, he did so on his own terms, because that was the only way he could. His solution to the problem of burnout and emotional health has been controlling his own time; deciding where, how much, and how he works (he has a school now apparently, and he does stunt work on the side too). 

But now, as the grim march of time eventually comes for all of us, his back is to the wall and he knows: if he ever wants the titles to match his talent, if he wants wrestling history to remember him as something other than a could-have-been, it’s now or never. 

So, it’s now. He’s clenching his teeth, apologizing to Tana, going back into Serious Wrestling Star mode. He even said last night that he’s still trying to get his feet back under him, and IMO that’s because he’s still readjusting to being Professional Working Guy again. ‘Cause that’s who wins titles, and he knows that now.

Back in baby Golden Lover days, Kenny looked at Kota and saw all the things he wasn’t: natural, easy talent, and the booking to match it. Kenny was jealous and felt lesser; he worried he’d be a footnote in the history of Kota Ibushi. So when the Golden Lovers broke up, Kenny chose achievement, and achieve he did. Now, Kenny has a legacy: a huge pile of best bouts, worldwide fame, a name that will never be forgotten by wrestling history. The only titles he hasn’t held in NJPW are the NEVER Openweight Championship and the Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

Now, Kota looks at Kenny and sees someone who didn’t have the burden of obvious easy talent, but did do all of the things you’d expect of someone who did. He’s not jealous like Kenny was, but he thinks: what have I done with what I’ve been given? Kota hasn’t held a Heavyweight singles title in NJPW. Kenny’s had all of them. Kota feels overshadowed now, irony of ironies.

Now, Kenny’s choosing freedom, and Kota’s choosing achievement. But it’s not a simple swap, because there’s a third element here: happiness. Both Golden Lovers are quite obviously happiest when they’re together. The first time they were apart, they both tried to fill the void where happiness belonged; Kenny with achievement, Kota with freedom. Then, they came back together, and happiness was so important to Kenny that in the end, when he won the biggest prize, he managed to tell a story in which all that he sacrificed and fought for was ultimately, distantly, secondary in importance to being happy. 

Now they’re apart again, but don’t mistake it for the same story. Before, they thought they could replace happiness with personal fulfillment. They learned, after years of unhappiness, that they couldn’t. This time, the Golden Lovers aren’t under any illusions that they’re going to replace happiness with what they’re doing instead. Bittersweetly, the lesson is the same as before, but from the other direction: personal fulfillment isn’t compatible with happiness right now. Now, both of them are setting their sights on accomplishment, but it seems pretty clear that they’re doing so with the intention of being back together as soon as they can be. 

Serious Wrestle Guy is explicitly not personally happy. But Ibushi’s at his best when he’s happy, even if he’s not winning titles. Titles make him feel fulfilled, and he needs that, but being a Golden Lover makes him happy, and I think he’ll always return there, and so will Kenny.

In fact, I’d guess that’s why there’s been no announcement about Kota’s contract: even from the interview posted the other day, there were some allusions to the possibility of working with Kenny again in the future. I would imagine that NJPW is still trying to figure out their relationship with Kenny, and Kota’s still trying to figure out how involved he can be with AEW. (I think I just outed myself as a Golden Lovers Truther—yeah, I think it’s somewhat likely that they’re an IRL couple, and as many IRL wrestling couples do, they’re working on separate continents.) My guess is Kota’s contract won’t be final until those details are ironed out. I don’t think they’d do all that work to get back together only to close and seal the door on it.

Only time will tell, but Kota hasn’t changed: fundamentally, he is still motivated by happiness. It’s just that he was happy long enough to know he can have it forever if he wants it, but he only has a few more years to get the trophy case his talent demands, to be the Kota Ibushi he thinks wrestling history deserves.

[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven DVD Commentaries: 3.13 - Thanks for the Memories.

Commentary with Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn, Co-creators.

[I gotta say, this one is full of interesting stuff imo]

SE: “This episode in many way finally pays off on the first episode of the series” in terms of who the Colorado Kid is and what happened to him JD: “There were so many questions that we raised in the first two seasons that we were having trouble getting to,” because it’s hard to explain everything that’s going on in an episode with the case of the week and also to “find room to explain what brought Audrey here and what’s gone on in her past and all of that.” So we thought it “would be very satisfying if we could find a way to bring all that together” in terms of answering the questions about who the Colorado Kid is - questions that go back to the Stephen King novella - and bring that together with who Audrey is and “find a way to make a full season out of that.” SE: “And it’s interesting how far the show has come because in the beginning, the powers that be were a little reluctant for us to talk too much about the Colorado Kid, because they didn’t want to confuse the viewers. But then of course eventually it worked out that the viewers wanted to know what was happening” and so that became more important.

As Nathan and Duke are in Audrey’s apartment realising she’s gone, Sam talks about how he was on set for this, and some of it is on location and some on the set and watching it back he can never tell which is which. SE: “We actually re-wrote this scene on set;” where Duke hits Nathan. “That was a great moment that we came up with on set because it fixed all the logic.”

As Duke and Nathan talk on Audrey’s balcony, the red house on the hill in the background is the house from episode 3.03 - The Farmer.

JD: [Talks about how there are a lot of questions raised about Howard, but we don’t really know much about him yet.] “We were really dedicated to the idea of bringing Howard back in this episode, as the fairy man - the guy who stands between Audrey and her various lives, and shepherds that transition.” SE: At the start of this scene when he’s looking through the binoculars “talking about the birds is one of my favourite Howard moments and it’s really an element of Howard that we’ve been trying to do and it always seems to fall away” or it doesn’t work out. But it made it in here and [he jokes that] “what really pisses me off is that it was written by Matt McGuinness. He wrote it and I was like, ‘That’s genius” That’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do with this character for three seasons!’” JD: “It is good. And it’s good because we want him to be enigmatic; who knows what he is or what he does - but it’s very easy to take that to some kind of really arch, bad 60s sci-fi kind of place.” SE: “Morris, who plays Howard, is just like him; very calm and matter of fact. And it’s funny; Emily was pregnant when we were shooting this, but no one knew. The great thing about shooting in Nova Scotia is even when you’ve got this scene with two people just talking, you’ve got this crazy awesome barn in the background and the fire and everything - can you imagine if we shot that here in Los Angeles?” JD: “We’d probably need some kind of special air pollution permit just to have the fire. And it’s one of those things; the show does feel timeless and placeless in a way. It doesn’t feel like the modern, urban, consumed-by-electronics world.” SE: “Right. Even though every one of those actors goes right back” to their phones between takes.

JD: “There were so many details to figure out for this; we spent a lot of time working on this episode, there were a lot of drafts. And perhaps more importantly, even before we got to the stage of drafting scripts, there was a lot of time spent trying to make sure we found the right ideas to make all this work. Because it’s very complex; we’re trying to convey a lot of things that have been kicking around - either me and Sam in our heads or in the whole writers room - over the past several years. And, how do we get it on screen in a way that’s going to make sense to people and as part of a story that you want to watch on TV.” SE: “And I will say that whether or not we were successful in that is up to each viewer to decide.” JD: “I vote yes.” SE: “And for me, - Oh there goes another lighthouse. There is no more dangerous place than a lighthouse in Haven. Except maybe next to the drummer in Spinal Tap. - but, this is the 39th episode, so this is a big arc, and it worked. It ultimately paid off what I wanted and I think what you wanted …” JD: “Yep.” SE: “... it to pay off in the beginning. We didn’t know exactly how we were going to pay it off.” JD: “There’s new elements; things we never really predicted. But that’s part of the fun, rolling with the changes, and absorbing all the good ideas that come out of the writers room and the other people who collaborate on the show. It expanded the world in ways we never anticipated.”

[As we see Dwight walk up to Vince by his car (where Dave is in the trunk)]: SE: “This scene originally was a lot longer and really funny. Richard Donat is so funny and Adam Copeland was a great straight man. And then you have John Dunsworth in the trunk and when he pops out, originally it was longer and funnier. And behind this here was Adam’s girlfriend, Beth Phoenix, who is also a wrestler, and the thing with those two is it’s a contest not of who’s stronger (that’s close, but Adam’s got her in height), but who is nicer. They both beat people up for a living, or used to, and yet they’re both so nice; I don’t know how that works.” [As we see Audrey and Nathan talking to the waiter outside Haven Joe’s Bakery] “Oh there’s me!”

[As we see Arla looking after James in bed] SE: “Now this we shot on a practical set, meaning it actually exists, immediately behind the Haven Herald.” JD: “I was wondering if that was the back room of the Herald; it’s been various things over the years.” SE: “It has been in a lot of things. And this is the last scene we shot of the season. And it is just so satisfying that we managed in these episodes to take the Colorado Kid which was a mystery in the original novella that we read, and we took that and spun this entire series off of that guy.” JD: “Yep. Because we knew from the outset that he was Audrey’s son. And it was just a question of when we were going to reveal it and how it was going to come out. And it kept getting pushed further and further down the road.” SE: “The fact that Nathan was the father, that was a change. That was something that came out of the time travel episode.” JD: “Shall we reveal the original father?” SE: “No I don’t think we should.” JD: “Maybe we should keep that hidden.” SE: “Yeah, because that’s part of the larger mythology and that stays the same.” JD: “As satisfying as this is, 39 epsiodes to get here, there’s more to come.” SE: “With the mythology it is amazing how much we’ve revealed and it’s also amazing how much there is left to go.” SE: “Nick Parker, our writers assistant, has to remember all the drafts of the scripts; I don’t know how he does it. I can barely remember what happened in the final versions, especially the ones I write. My nephew was telling me about an episode he really liked and he had a question about it, and I actually said; ‘Let me get back to you; I’ll call the writer and find out if that was their intention in the scene.’ But - not only had I written it, but I wrote it solo, so it wasn’t even something I had written with Jim. But he was asking in the middle of the third season and I had written it in the middle of the first season” and I didn’t remember the details by then. JD: “Well and it’s funny because I would say there are scores if not hundreds of pages of potential episodes for every episode. There are so many ideas and plot lines and concepts and there are things that get set aside because they don’t work for us or for someone else, or because we can’t produce them or there’s some other obstacle to it working out. And by the time you’re done; how exactly it worked out and what exactly ended up on screen gets awfully fuzzy.” [in terms of remembering the details] JD: “And even when you have the final shooting draft [of the script]; just because it’s there doesn’t mean you’re going to get every moment. Or you get extra moments that just happen on the set; improvs or whatever. And then you get to the end and you’re editing and it changes again; you’ll drop things, or imply things that weren’t in the script.” SE: “Right; you can manufacture moments out of looks, or throw a line over someone’s back and suddenly, it’s a different scene.” JD: “If you were really responsible, you’d sit down and watch the final cut of every epsiode, to focus on it and lock it in your memory. The problem is that by the time it gets to the screen, I’m so tired of looking at it, and there are so many other episodes that are happening, that it’s hard to force myself to do it. And even then I’m not sure I’d remember. I think you just have to have good script co-ordinators, production assistants, writers assistants, to tell us exactly what’s happened.”

SE: “So Laura Vandervoort was great, and the thing that’s so great is; she’s obviously a beautiful woman, someone who has played beautiful women because that’s all she can play because she’s beautiful. I don’t mean to imply - I’m saying that any role she plays she will be beautiful in. But we scarred up her face and made her look terrible and she was totally into it and wanted it made worse. Those are the kind of actors you want; someone who’s game for anything.”

[Talking about the inside of the barn] SE: “That was great. And that really looked that way, it just wasn’t that long. We just extended the length of it digitally, but otherwise it looked exactly like that. It’s an old military barracks that is on the peninsula that the Grey Gull is on. And the production team decided it should be all white and they just spraypainted the crap out of it. And that’s one of the joys of shooting up there is we just have access to so many cool things.”

[As we see the flash of light that takes Audrey and Nathan from inside the barn to Sarah’s 1955 memory] SE: “That was a good effect right there. This moment, we always had; we always knew we were going to do this. Not from the very beginning when we conceived the series, but when we sat down in the room for this epsiode we knew that we were going to go back in time becasue that’s what the barn was about; it was about her identity.” JD: “We had a lot of ideas that we kicked around about exactly how to do this and what to see.” SE: “Well the one that we lost that I thought was cool was in the West, or the late 1800s, and Audrey Parker, or whatever her name would have been back then, screams up on a horse and she’s being chased. But that didn’t make the script.” JD: “And Emily is a big horse rider, so she was excited about that.” But it didn’t make it because of the production challenges of getting a horse up on set etc.

Both agree that the actors playing the young Vince and Dave look amazing; it was hard to cast for but in the end they look great.

SE: “Emily is so different when she’s playing Sarah. The energy off of her is just completely different.”

[As Howard comes out of the 1955 barn] SE: “I remember we had some discussions about his uniform. Of course we were just trying to duplicate the uniform that we saw in that era. And [once we’re back inside the barn] they wanted to put him in uniform here and we had to argue strongly for his suit, because that’s what he was in in the pilot and that’s what we wanted it to go back to. I’m not sure if it’s the same tie from the pilot but I wish it was. I think it probably is.”

[As Audrey and Nathan flashback to the 1955 beach] SE: “This scene we shot and it was one of those incredibly perfect Nova Scotian days in August or September.” JD: “Is that the Colorado Kid beach? Where the body was?” SE: “No, it’s not. It’s not far from where the inside of the barn was shot, not far from the Grey Gull.” SE: “And there’s Lucas and Emily, and they’re kissing, and I gotta tell you, just between you me and everyone who’s listening, I was very awkward during this part because these two are friends, and they had to go for it and it was really good, but these guys are good friends, they’re both married … they’re professionals, it’s more me being awkward than anything. And then we had major conversations in the room about this because I am a proponent of saying that Nathan is taking advantage of Sarah - he had superior knowledge coming into the situation and he took advantage of that. It’s manipulative and wierd.” JD: “I was on the other side of it because I felt like it was OK because he didn’t know if he was ever going to come back. So it’s, ‘Can I love this version of Audrey? Well she wants to love me and it’s still the same woman in there somewhere.’ And you could argue this stuff forever.” SE: “And we did. And while we’re arguing, we’re like ‘If we’re arguing this hard about it then it’s good.’ Because it’s grey and you can make your own decision. I mean of course, it’s Nathan, so everyone’s going to be like ‘No, he loved her and it was real, and she approached him’ because Sarah, it turns out, is a real vixen.”

[As Nathan meets James] SE: “This is a hugely powerful scene. This I think is one of my favourite moments of Lucas’s in the series. … the moment where he introduces himself, he just nailed the perfect blend of awkwardness that is Nathan but he’s also forthright; there are so many colours to Lucas Bryant. He’s not a ‘big’ actor - he can be, but in this role, he minds all the shades and I think it’s amazing.” JD: “Yeah, Lucas squeezes so much out of a role that was designed to be constrained. We wrote this very compressed, repressed character who didn’t even want to admit that what he had was a Trouble.”

SE: “I love these two [Audrey and Nathan] and they could tell each other, ‘A blue elephant just flew out of my nose and went out that window’, and they’d be like, ‘Really, which window?’” JD: “And it was so gratifying in the first season when we first started getting feedback from the fans, that our instinct was to do that with them. Instead of having the Mulder and Scully relationship of the constant sceptic and the deep believer and all that. I mean there is definitely an X-Files element to the show, but we felt like it’s ridiculous in this setting; if you’re going to live in this town, you very quickly have to know that there’s something going on. And if you’re not recognising that, you’re out of your flipping mind.” SE: “Exactly.” JD: “And it sort of opened up the next level of it, in terms of, how do you live with that, how do you live with the repurcussions of that stuff?”

[Outside the barn as the Guard have their guns trained on Duke] SE: “In this moment, I was on set and saw them getting ready and the guys pulled out these guns, and they were all like assault weapons. And I was like, ‘Woah where did these guys get assault weapons?’ Now, I’m sure they could get assault weapons pretty easily (it is America) but I was just like, these guys are not mercenaries; they’re not those guys. These guys are gonna pull out hunting rifles, pistols maybe.” JD: “More of a genuine militia.” SE: “Yeah. They’re not the guys who are planning for world war three. I mean you could argue it; it’s not a question of logic, for me it was just a question of tone.”

[As we are back with Nathan and Audrey inside the barn] SE: “This episode has so much plot stuff but it also has so much character stuff; it’s really a nice balance between the two.”

SE: “And what I liked about this and I thought worked well is that Howard is in control, but not completely in control because Audrey has to choose to go into the barn.” JD: “Yes; putting that limitation on it made him [Howard] not-God. And bringing in that aspect of free will and the questions of why does Audrey go away, why does she come back.”

SE: “Steve Lund who played the Colorado Kid did an amazing job. Because it was like ‘Hey Steve, we’d like you to show up and become the title character of the book this is based on, and it’s just going to be a few episodes but you’re hugely important.’ And by the way, we hired him for episode 3.04 I think where he’s on the beach, dead, and he has no lines. We flew him in all the way from Toronto; no lines. We had auditioned him and knew he could act of course, because we knew we were going to bring him back at the end of the season. And I thought he just nailed the role. And there are actors we’ve had on the show who did not nail the role, so it’s not true for everybody.”

SE: “Vince and Dave are characters that people have always asked us, what’s going on with them. And it’s an important question and we’ve definitely peeled back more and more.”

[As Audrey takes Arla into the barn] SE: “This is a great moment and we came up with this moment very early on” where the Troubles don’t work inside the barn. “And the make up was so good, we had a special guy we brought in just to do this make up on Laura, and he was really meticulous about it.” JD: “I hope everyone enjoyed this as the culmination because we worked so long and so hard in the room to make all these storylines come together for this.” SE: “We had pictures of the big grid that plotted all the plot lines coming together; I would love to post that except I’m afraid there’s something in there that’s still hidden” that we can’t reveal yet. [And then apparently in response to something said away from the microphones] “Oh it’ll be on the DVD set? Oh well there you go.”

[As Arla’s knife ends up in James] SE: “Considering how short this moment is, we shot it like 19 times. All the choreography where they fall on each other. And Emily’s doing all this stuff while pregnant, though it was very gentle.” JD: “Yeah, it looks rougher in the finished cut than when you’re shooting it.”

[As Nathan carries Arla’s body out of the barn] SE: And here is the part where one of my favourite moments that didn’t make it into the final edit. “Audrey is with her son, and it’s really their first moment together. Where they’re actually together and there’s no chase or conflict. And he’s dying. And she has this moment, and the thing Emily is just crazy-good at is putting all the emotion right on her face” and it still looks natural. “And after this moment, James is dead or dying, and she starts singing to him. I was on set and Emily improvised it; she just started singing to him and it was so beautiful and the whole crew were so quiet. I was completely moved; it was wonderful. But the episode ran really long so it didn’t make it in.”

SE: “So here’s the moment where Audrey has to make her decision and it’s good because it shows that she’s not going to let that [James’ death] happen to any of the men that are outside right now.” JD: “We spent days walking through the logic of which choices to make, and why. And you can argue for so many different reasons why she should stay or go, or favour Nathan or Duke or - everyone can take so many different positions about the things that are happening here.” SE: “Right. Well and we knew fairly quickly that Duke was going to say ‘You need to go’. But I remember we flipped it back and forth between these guys because you can make an argument that the selfish side of Duke could say ‘Screw everybody; do what’s best for yourself’. And so that’s why it’s almost better that he doesn’t.” JD: “And that’s why we went there, right? To have Duke saying ‘serve the greater good’.” SE: “Right. And it’s Nathan - who is always trying to serve the greater good - saying, ‘No, don’t go, screw everybody else.’ And why is he doing that? Because he loves her.” JD: “And I think that was our starting position and we walked through 20 evolutions of it how it could be different ways before getting back around to that, because of the character simplicity of that.” SE: “Knowing where we’re going to first see Audrey Parker in the first epsiode of season four, and coming out of this scene, it’s awesome I think. I’m very excited.” JD: “Yeah. I love playing the tradegy of this. This is the tragedy of her character; making this choice as different women, over and over again. For different reasons sometimes.” SE: “Right, but always coming to the same conclusion of: I have to go.”

JD: “I don’t remember when we settled on the idea of Howard being the barn, as a way to change the equation, but I really like that idea. It preserved a lot of very interesting things, by making them part of the same thing. And gave Nathan a way to make a second-order change to the situation that no one had every thought of before.” SE: “Yep. Look at that, the backlighting is perfect [as Audrey is saying goodbye to Duke]. This was a wonderful day. And of course here, we’re chasing the sun. Because everything looks fantastic, but the sun is going away and we had a lot to do. This day ended at night; we didn’t mean to but there was a lot to do.

[As Audrey is handing her gun to Duke] SE: “Now this is probably the hardest buy here; the idea that Duke was actually going to fire on Nathan. It was the best answer we could come up with as to why Nathan doesn’t go into the barn, but it’s like - come on; he’s not going to shoot him.” And “we call them frenemies but it is a real friendship; it’s a real love affair.” JD: “It’s very complicated.” SE: “It is complicated.” JD: “They’re more like brothers than friends.” SE: “Yeah.” JD: “They’re bound together somehow.” SE: “And that’s not a secret signal that they are brothers. We do know the history, just so you know. We understand - we have the origin story and how these two came to be doing what they’re doing. But we’re hopefully not going to reveal that until season seven. That would be my preferred time to do that.” JD: “I still have the secret master mythology file, that we sent to Stephen King to get approval.”

[As we see Nathan turn his gun on Howard] SE: “Now this is great. And we argued about this for about a minute, about whether Nathan would pull the trigger. Of course he would.”

[As the barn collapses] SE: This effect is great. “And it’s white, did everyone notice that it’s white just like the inside of the barn? Totally not planned.”

[About Nathan] JD: “The man who feels nothing is feeling everything right now.” SE: “Yeah. And that was night time as we filmed that; that was a digital cheat.”

[thesportssoundoff]

DWCS Season 3, Week 2 Preview Primer

Contract totals thus far:

Signed:

1 HW

1 MW

Victor Reyna (10-3, 32 years old, Pro since 2012) vs Miguel Baeza (6-0, 26 years old, Pro since 2015) Welterweights

Victor Reyna Where He Fight At? Like a lot of dudes from Texas, Reyna has pretty much stuck to that region of the United States. He fought a few times in Legacy Fighting Championship and has been primarily fighting for Combates Americas as they've undergone a bit of a growth spurt since 2017. Who’d He Ever Beat? Evan Cutts has some MMA name panache I suppose. Cutts was a part of Bellator's attempt to make a TUF and he's also known as the dude who ended Reagan Penn's brief pro MMA career. He also has a win over Daniel Rodriguez; a then undefeated fighter who has an 8-1 record and a few Bellator appearances. He's even got a key loss on his resume vs Kevin Holland. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? Reyna's fought A LOT of guys who fight quite a bit and so his record of opposition is 80-40. That's pretty damn solid! TUF veteran Marc Stevens was 20-10 when they fought (also Reyna's last loss) as well as 4-0 Kevin Holland, 6-2 Evan Cutts and 6-1 Andrew Parker. Reyna's last fight was against 16-10 Heyward Charles. Why Is He Here? Well he's the beneficiary of an injury!  Fortis MMA's Ramiz Brahimaj got hurt and on 10 days notice, Victor Reyna gets the call up. Reyna has bounced between 170 and 185 lbs a lot in his career so I'm a touch concerned about the chances he makes weight on short notice (although on some of these fights, he weighed as low as 174 lbs). Reyna is here because they needed a Contenders Series main event and he was available. About it. This doesn't mean he CAN'T  get a deal! It just feels more like a case of needing a guy on short notice and having the right number to the right matchmaker or so on so so forth. Reyna's interesting in that he kind of embodies the prototypical MMA prospect tester on the regional scene.

Miguel Baeza Where He Fight At? Florida and only Florida. Places like Fight Time and Titan FC adorn the short resume of Mr. Baeza. Who’d He Ever Beat? Nobody of note! At 6-0 and fighting primarily out of Florida, Miguel's pretty limited in his opposition. The most interesting/insightful factoid is that he holds wins over a pair of brothers in Florida (Gus and Mike D'Angelo). Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 14-10 is the record of Baeza's six opponents at the time of their fights. Gus D'Angelo was 2-2 and Mike D'Angelo was 3-2 when they fought. 5-2 Leo Valdivia is probably his best record opponent who he beat by split decision. Why Is He Here? Baeza was originally supposed to face Fortis MMA's Ramiz Brahimaj in what feels like one of those DWCS fights that's name prospect from region A vs name prospect from region B and whomever wins gets a contract a la Austin Tweedy vs Te Edwards. Baeza has limited footage out there on the interwebs but from what I've seen; he fits the Contender Series model. He's an athlete young guy who seems to hit really hard or at least hard enough to overcome his sometimes apparent flaws. He also fights with an air of composure about him and being composed and knocking people out gets Dana White excited.

Alton Cunningham (7-1, 26 years old, Pro since 2017) vs Tony Johnson (7-2, 32 years old, Pro since 2007) Light Heavyweights

Alton Cunningham Where He Fight At? Alton Cunningham is a former DWCS guy! He fought last season vs Bevon Lewis. Beyond that? Cunningham has a few LFA cameos and a Pure FC spot or two (a developing little regional promotion in Wisconsin). Who’d He Ever Beat? Nobody of note. Cunningham's toughest opponent was the aforementioned Bevon Lewis who he was finished by in the first round. He's beaten a few fighters with winning records but nobody you've heard of beyond that. The most interesting bit of Cunningham's record is that his last four fights have been at LHW, MW and HW. Dude's been all over the damn map so far. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 54-39-3. Is that good? Bad? I'm kind of not even entirely sure. The undefeated Bevon Lewis at 5-0, 16-27 BJ Lacy and 4-1 Eric Murray Jr in his last fight at LFA are pretty much his best opposition. Why Is He Here? Well there are a few things I suppose. For starters, he's an under 30 guy at 205 lbs. That on its own gives him a secondary chance at the Contenders Series. Most of the guys who get second shots on the Contenders Series are fellas who fight at the bigger weight classes because need trumps value sometimes. Cunningham's also a pretty solid regional prospect at LHW which adds to his value. He's also, when he's on, a really good action fighter. Alton Cunningham struggled with the power of Bevon Lewis which is horrifying since Lewis is a natural 185-er and Cunningham is a big dude 205 lber but all sins can be forgiven I suppose. They literally found a dude who fought twice since 2015 to fight him in hopes he'd get a win. Cunningham is here because there just aren't a bunch of dudes like him here.

Tony Johnson Where He Fight At? Tony Johnson has been boxing and doing BKB stuff more than he has been doing any sort of MMA. Case in point, Johnson has STRIKEFORCE (and not the version of it most of us are familiar with) on it. The headliner for the Stikeforce card he fought on? Babalu Sobral vs Bobby Southworth. He did fight on a Bellator card in 2018. Who’d He Ever Beat? Justin Baseman in 2013 (!!!) is a pretty quality win from a regional perspective. Johnson also fought Clifford Starks and lost back in 2011. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 31-25. His two losses are a combined 12-2 which means his victories are 19-23. Not a very pretty record. Why Is He Here? I'm not entirely sure? I hate to be negative when it comes to stuff like this but Tony Johnson is 36 years old, has fought infrequently since 2007 and has more highlights of his exploits in boxing than he does in MMA. I cannot believe anything other than "Tony Johnson is just here to get finished by Alton Cunningham so Alton gets a deal." Fine if so but this still feels awfully transparent. Maybe I'm wrong though and Tony Johnson is here to pull off an upset. He's a guy who has fought for over 10 years in various sports and Cunningham was rocked and hurt by a MW.

Zach Zane (12-7, 29 years old, Pro since 2015) vs Justin Gonzales (9-1, 28 years old, Pro since 2016) Featherweights

Zach Zane Where He Fight At? ALASKA FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP, BABY. I'll never not be amused when somebody from AFC winds up on a UFC platform. Zane's fought primarily in Hawaii, California and other Northwestern states but has reinvented himself fighting dudes down in Alaska. Who’d He Ever Beat? Decky Dalton is probably the best win to report; an Irish dude who fought primarily out of BAMMA. Zane's got some reputable losses though! Former DWCS fighter Joey Gomez (lost a split decision to Kevin Aguilar), former UFC fighter Chris Avila (the Diaz Bros training partner dude) and undefeated AFC fighter Nick Novelli are some of his seven losses. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 56-36 would be the record of opposition at the time Zach Zane's opponents fought him. Zane is currently riding an eight fight winning streak and of those wins, his opponents were a combined 16-10. So if you want to get even MORE math-y, you remove the eight fight winning streak with the opponents at 16-10 and focus just on his 4-7 record prior to the winning streak and his strength of competition THEN was 40-26. Why Is He Here? On paper a dude with a 12-7 record who is about to hit 30 isn't exactly DWCS worthy. Dig deeper though and you're talking about a guy who has an 8 fight winning streak with all 8 fights coming by way of some form of stoppage. Kane has also been fighting across four different weight classes across 145, 150 at a catchweight, 155 and a short notice call up for 170 lbs. If the big goal of the Contenders Series is to collect raw athletic dudes with upside then I'd argue it's secondary hits should be experienced dudes fighting out of nowhere who are lost in the cracks. He also has sort of fixed his career while spending more time at Blackhouse MMA. He also just sort of looks like the kind of guy who the Contenders Series would look; a reckless striker who attacks subs consistently in grappling situations. Also of note is One FC signed him and was going to use him but he fell out on them at the last minute and I guess they just axed that deal right away.

Justin Gonzales Where He Fight At? Justin Gonzales has fought out of one place every single time. He's fought at SCL; a promotion that's held over 70 events in Colorado. Big fan of the name Sparta Combat League. Who’d He Ever Beat? The resume is actually pretty damn good for regional MMA. Gonzales has wins over then undefeated Derek Brenon (who was making some noise with CFFC and LFA), 8-1 Bruno Ferreia and Combates veteran and then undefeated Enrique Gonazles. Throw in regional veteran Drew Brookenshire at 18-8 and there's damn good competition here. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 54-15 is what Justin Gonzales has faced in his undefeated career. Again among those were 18-8 Drew Brookenshire, 6-0 Derek Brennon and 3-0 Enrique Gonazales. His last fight out with a win over 8-1 Bruno Ferreira. Why Is He Here? He's the kind of guy who should be here. Justin Gonzales is an undefeated high level wrestler who has finishing chops on the feet and on the ground. He fights at a weight class of power where the top talent really does shine through. He's here because if you made a show LIKE this, you'd want a guy LIKE this on it. Gonzales IMO is the one dude who is a near lock to get signed if he wins.

Michael Lombardo (8-1, 29 years old, pro since 2016) vs Kyle Daukaus (6-0, 26 years old, pro since 2017) Middleweights

Michael Lombardo Where He Fight At? An ATT guy and a Florida native, I suppose it's no surprise Lombardo fights primarily in Florida and Louisiana. He made a few appearances in Titan FC and also pinch hit at a Bellator card too. Not the world's worst places to ply your craft. Who’d He Ever Beat? A whole lot of fluff. There's nobody here you'd know of but who he could've fought (Punahele Soriano) is the most interesting bit of the resume. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 25-25-1. Lombardo's strength of schedule is not exactly his strong suit and that kind of record speaks to it. His best opponent is 6-3 David Mundell who he lost to decision against. Why Is He Here? Gym, record and weight class! Lombardo is an under 30 middleweight as the division is undergoing a bit of a renaissance in the UFC. He trains with ATT and so you know the good word has probably been put in a time or two. He's 8-1 and comes into this fight with five straight wins and four of those before the final bell. Lombardo's got some fights out there on youtube and he doesn't really strike me as anything but a middleweight-y type fighter. He's big on takedowns, he clinches a lot, he's a brawler in space and he tends to fight in spurts. He's not a bad fighter and we've seen middleweights find homes  in the UFC before and stick around with that kind of style. Just not sure if THAT gets him signed.

Kyle Daukaus Where He Fight At? CFFC and ROC! Those are really good regional promotions on the East Coast. Who’d He Ever Beat? Daukaus enters the UFC with pretty much much the best win of any Contenders Series guy so far; Jonavin Webb. Webb is a former UFC flame out but a pretty high level East Coast fighter well worthy of starring off on a resume. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 27-12 is the record of opposition for Kyle Daukaus. The fact that Webb was 12-2 when they fought means that his opposition outside of the toughest fight of his career is a not too pretty 15-10. Still not entirely awful. Why Is He Here? Beating a UFC veteran can/should always make you somebody of note to promoters and matchmakers. Jonavin Webb is a super reputable high level win worthy of flexing about. The fact that he's a fight finisher who hasn't seen the judges in his career and fights at 185 lbs makes him all the more intriguing.

Richie Santiago (7-1, 26 years old, Pro since 2016) vs Miles Johns (8-0, 25 years old, Pro since 2014) Bantamweights

Richie Santiago Where He Fight At? CES MMA. The former home of BATISTA has become a pretty reputable East Coast regional organization that's churned out Contenders Series guys and  quality fighters. Who’d He Ever Beat? NOBODY! I guess his best win is Billy Giovanella who had a few Bellator appearances in 2015. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 31-32-2. His record of opposition is not exactly going to get mounted on anybody's wall. It's somewhat skewered by a very rough opening to his career (his first four opponents were a combined 8-17). His pro loss was to a 3-2 fighter. It also was last year so it's like it happened in the deep past. Why Is He Here? Well for starters, watching Santiago suggests that he's not a bad fighter and the sort of dude the UFC SHOULD have an eye on. Maybe it's the face and the bald-ish head but dude reminds me a lot of Eddie Alvarez from an offensive standpoint. I've seen him hurt, rocked and then rally back with some surprisingly crisp striking. His big performance is an LFA fight where he got hurt a bunch, wobbled a few times, landed a big knee and then scored a RNC sub almost within the blink of an eye. He also is a part time flyweight as well which sort of gives him a leg up if that division is going to stick around.

Miles Johns

Where He Fight At? LFA mostly. He's the current LFA bantamweight champion to be exact. Who’d He Ever Beat? A lot of really great fighters on the regional circuit. Wins over Levi Mowles, Adrian Yanez and Caio Machado may not be super big wins or the kind of stuff that gets you shuttled up to the UFC but they're impressive enough that his DWCS spot almost feels a little unncessary. Win an LFA belt and you get into the UFC; thems the rules. Record Of Opposition At The Time Of Their Fight? 40-12 would be the record of opposition for Miles Johns. Wins over 11-3 Caio Machado, 7-2 Adrian Yanez and 6-2 Levi Mowles stand out big time.   Why Is He Here? I mean the Contenders Series really should be based around THESE sorts of fights. Two guys with pretty records on paper, both big deals of their respective universes, fighting for a contract. Johns is clearly ahead of the curve though vs Santiago. Primarily or namely speaking, Johns trains with an elite gym (Fortis MMA is DWCS royalty at this point), he fights with the bigger org and he's fought the better competition. He also has the sort of style I can see Dana liking a lot. He's here because he belongs here.

"Who Might Get A Contract?" Rankings

1- Alton Cunningham 2- Kyle Daukaus 3- Michael Lombardo 4- Miles Johns 5- Justin Gonzales 6- Miguel Baeza 7- Zach Zane 8- Richie Santiago 9- Tony Johnson 10- Victor Reyna

[6ad6ro]

it would be really cool if wwe went back to tv14. but a lot more still has to happen for it to actually become watchable.

first off, they need to get rid of michael cole and everyone who mimicks him. commentators are the backbone that holds shows together, but the "cole style" is scoliosis. i'm not saying you have to be as good as a jim ross, a gorilla monsoon, a vince, a jim cornette, or a lance russell (tho that'd be nice). the person just needs to have some personality. be likeable. so the opposite of michael cole or anyone who tries to impersonate him.

second, drop like 80% of the writing. let wrestlers talk. let them be themselves more. not everything needs to be scripted. this drama club dropout shit needs to go. you can tell most of the writers don't give a FUCK about actual wrestling. they'll write so much convoluted stuff that make the wrestlers (and announcers) seem super fake, but in the end the stories are still as basic as they come. so what's the point of sacrificing the credibility? there's a reason wrestling had been so successful for so many decades, but it's been doing nothing but go downhill since writers took over.

i'm mostly fine with all the highspots, outside of that horrible thing where one guy dives onto 5 others at once (always cringey). but it's all made worse by the editing. and by that i mean the camera shake stuff. like come ON. everyone knows they aren't superhuman. a punch won't cause an earthquake. just STOP. they zoom in the camera on a move to try n look stylish, but we miss the actual move. it's the most braindead hollywood schlock ever... we don't need wannabee michael bays directing this shit. it gives me secondhand embarrassment.

there's other issues, sure. but imo if they could modify a handful of these to be a little bit better, they might have a chance of reaching new fans. wresting might get out of the awful rut it's been in since the 2000s. it would be nice to watch an actual GOOD wwe compete against aew. bc i'm actually dying to start watching wrestling again.

[openedskull]

who is your least favourite wrestler, but what could they do to improve your opinion of them?

i'm going to kill chris jericho in minecraft (real answer below)

serious answer though: i'm not sure what would improve my opinion, practically speaking. unfortunately his readiness to take the things that people hate about him - the jericho vortex - and make it into a deliberate bit circles around far enough to be briefly funny... but then it drags on for too long. "hi guys!!!! i am the learning tree!!!!" was funny for a week or so. the hard and sudden pivot to being malicious and unhinged (cf samoa joe forklift incident) had the same tone as a horror movie villain reveal and it genuinely startled me, credit where it's due - but now it's not going anywhere again, and it's stifling the careers and growth of the wrestlers that are being booked to work with him. it reminds me in a weird way of *younger* and less experienced wrestlers having clumsy promos or not knowing when to move on from a bit that isn't working or taking too long to set up a move - and jericho is too seasoned a wrestler to get away with it imo.

(frankly, i also feel really gross about bryan keith's career being somewhat stalled by association with someone who has jericho's politics.)

it doesn't help that jericho is visibly slowing down, but insisting on having matches like nothing has changed. i think about sting - granted sting is ten years jericho's senior but he was very honest with himself about his limitations, was able to put on really great cinematic matches or work closely with a younger wrestler who both needed putting over and could take most of the bumps. i think jericho needs to take his ego out of the picture and give some real thought to how much he can not just practically, physically do - but how much he's able to *sell.* i'm not *convinced* by him, and it's undercutting the reputation he has as a big deal or a major contributor to the establishment of aew. it doesn't make him or the promotion look good, and he's not succeeding very well at putting the younger wrestlers around him over, imo.

complaining aside - i think he would probably benefit from going back to basics. change up whatever he's doing in terms of working out and training... be more honest with himself about what he can feasibly and convincingly do. i don't think it would make me LIKE him, because i do just find him very grating and i find his politics deeply alienating - but he's here and there are people in aew who respect and value him whether i like him or not, and i think if he approached wrestling with more humble and realistic expectations he might get on my nerves less.

[theanticool]

My Most Anticipated Fights of March 2022

I actually wrote this list out at work and just forgot to post it. Just in time for the first big fights of March tho. Good thing too cause a few fights have already fell apart. Warning - this is a ONE Championship heavy list.

Superbon vs Marat Grigorian - ONE X (March 26) - Marat kind of back doors his way into a title fight after getting hurt and missing his semifinal against Chingiz, but this is still an amazing kickboxing bout. Superbon is coming off one of the biggest singular wins in kickboxing history with his KO of Giorgio Petrosyan. Marat has looked fantastic since he finally beat Sittichai. How can you not love this fight?

John Lineker vs Bibiano Fernandes - ONE: Lights Out (March 11) - this is a fight I never dreamed we’d get 5 years ago but now it’s one of the fights I most want to see. Crazy styles clash. Should be great. Hopefully it happens cause I’m pretty sure this is the 3rd time it has been booked.

Nong-O Gaiyanghadao vs Alaverdi Ramazanov - ONE X (March 26) - this fight is so high cause I’m just excited to see Nong-O again. Ramazanov is a good really good fighter but I haven’t seen Nong-O fight in forever and he’s so good and fun to watch.

Askar Askarov vs Kai Kara-France - UFC Fight Night (March 26) - Yeah, this is the best fight from the UFC this month imo. A proper #1 contender’s bout with two guys coming off huge wins over JoeB and Cody Garbrandt. Both hit hard as crap and can push a pace. Should be fantastic if KKF can’t stay off his back.

Artem Vakhitov vs Luis Tavares - Glory 80 (March 20) - a LHW title fight from Glory. I like Vakhitov despite others complaints about his style of fighting and what I’ve seen from Tavares (not a lot) has been pretty damn good. Excited to see how this shakes out in the ring.

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez vs Julio Cesar Martinez - March 5 - the original fight was Chocolatito vs El Gallo 3 and that was my #1 anticipated fight of this year. Unfortunately, Gallo got the covid but I think we got a solid replacement. Martinez was a beast down at flyweight and was planning to move up for a big fight eventually. Now he’s got his shot. And considering how Jesse Rodriguez and Fernando Martinez have come thru in ‘22 to grab gold at super fly from two big time players like Cuadras and Ancajas, nothing should be taken for granted.

Marina Rodriguez vs Xaionan Yan - UFC 272 (March 5) - Probably a curveball to those of you who don’t know me. Rodriguez vs Yan is just a fantastic striking affair. Both were on great runs outside of a hiccup vs Carla Esparza. Both could put their names back in title contention with a win. And Marina’s aggressive style should make this one an intense fight.

Demetrious Johnson vs Rodtang (mixed rules) - ONE X (March 26) - another surprise. Cause it’s so low. I’m not opposed to weirdo special rules match-ups but I prefer it in fights where dudes are obvious specialist. DJ is good everywhere. This is not Aoki vs Nagashima. Still DJ is my fav and Rodtang is as exciting as anyone in combat sports. Can’t not be interested, you know?

Alex Caceres vs Sodiq Yusuff - UFC FN (March 12) - I just like this match up. Bruce Leeroy is a on a run against young but talented fighters and Yusuff checks those boxes. It’s a win Yusuff needs if he wants to show he’s still a burgeoning contender. Good match making.

Adriano Moraes vs Yuya Wakamatsu - ONE X (March 26) - it’s time we all put some respect on Moraes’ name. Dude is phenomenal. He’s coming off that huge win over DJ. And Wakamatsu is a fun fighter who’s finally putting it together. It’s what you want in a good title fight.

Some honorable mentions

Alex Pereira vs Bruno Silva - UFC FN (Mar 12) - Pereira is an elite kickboxer and Silva is a banger. We know how this goes and I’m looking forward to it.

Mike Grundy vs Makwan Amirkhani - UFC FN (March 12) - Grundy is a great wrestler and so is Amirkhani. Expecting five minutes is scrambly chaos to start this one.

Mads Burnell vs Adam Borics - Bellator 276 (March 11) - if Borics was a better defensive grappler, this would be higher.

Thiago Silva vs Magomed Ankalaev - UFC FN (March 12) - I don’t think this one is happening and I have some questions about Silva that have stopped me from investing heavily into this one, but has huge violence potential.

Angela Lee vs Stamp Fairtex - ONE X (March 26) - an earned fight on Stamp’s part but I can’t imagine she’s able to stop Stamp from subbing her. That’s why I didn’t have it in top 10. Hoping it’s competitive though.

Capitan vs Hiroki Akimoto - ONE X (March 26) - don’t know enough about Akimoto to put this higher but Capitan is a STUD. Watch him fight folks. My #11 if I had to pick.

Tiffany Van Soest vs Manazo Kobayashi - Glory 80 (March 19) - I don’t see this being competitive but I love the effort to go to another promotion to try to find a challenger for TVS. Kobayashi is good but the size is concerning.

Jessica Nery Plata vs Yesica Bopp - March 11 - not convinced Bopp is still an elite fighter but definitely a fight that’s going to tell us if that’s the case as Plata is still one.

NCAA Wrestling Championships - March 17-19 - I don’t follow college wrestling but I make the effort to tune into the championships every year because they are always some of the most entertaining combat sports I watch all year. Just crazy athletics on display.

What fights this month are you all anticipating for March?

[ss-trashboat]

for the wrassle asks, just lemme know when you want me to stop lol. 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 37 ~

i will probably never tell you to stop tbh lol

also lemme do a read more cause this is gonna get long lol

11: Favorite Champion

am i biased, probably, but also it beeb. that's it that's my reasoning lol

13: Best looking diva female wrestler

there's many i can put here but lemme throw anna here right now because she's cute af. like look at her come on now

14: Best looking superstar

also have many for this one lol. for now tho, current token of affection that makes my heart do the uwu, the one who came out of nowhere and made it to husband status, my murder boi daniel garcia. he gets an extra edge after celebfest he's even cuter in person

16: Best gimmick

this absolute adorable alien. it’s not a gimmick you see too often and i just love how she plays it so much. the make-up and attires are so nice, and the boop!!

18: Best feud

there’s so much aew on here i don’t care. but right now it’s what maxwell and punk have going on. the promos have been so good and i love whenever they interact with one another. punk chasing maxwell around the arena had me laughing so hard, and tbh watching wardlow through all of this has been such a highlight too. it’s been such an entertaining ride

19: Best mic worker

this bitch right here. like, he could be rambling off a fucking diner menu and he would have the people eating out of his hand. his mannerisms just add to his promo work for the better. it all just flows naturally for him (imo) and i could listen to him for hours. he’s fucking fascinating

22: Worst entrance theme

i don’t know if i consider it the worst, but i’m not big on jonah’s theme song. it works i guess but it’s just not my thing

23: Worst gimmick

i’ve been looking at this question for so long and i still honestly haven’t got a clue. there probably is one, i just can’t think of it lol

26: One unpopular opinion of yours

i’m so glad one of your gifs popped up first of all, but yeah. i love will ospreay, which seems to be an incredibly unpopular thing anywhere i go LOL. i get it, not everyone’s cup of tea or whatever, it is what it is. i still like him and enjoy watching him, sue me

27: Who do you consider underrated?

incredibly underrated and we’re fucking over it. kip needs so much more love and he better get it whenever the fuck he actually geTS IN THE RING AGAIN

28: What about an over-rated wrestler?

i hate that he’s on my blog now ew. but cody, always. i’ve never gotten the hype, never will.

29: Someone who you think would be great with some ring improvement?

jade is gonna be amazing. she already has the look, the gimmick, and can talk. she’s only just starting out so i know with improvement her ring skills will get there

37: If you were on the original NXT who would you choose as your pro?

this is also probably a cop out, but absolutely mickie. it would be a great story with the inspired fan to wrestler thing, and i’ve just admired her for so long that yeah i would absolutely pick her to be my pro.

wrassling asks ~

[anxiety-trademark]

The week in review:

Raw 12/07 NXT 12/09 NXT UK 12/10 Smackdown 12/11

Raw:

Nia hyping up Shayna. That’s nice.

Shayna vs Asuka should’ve been a ppv match during Asuka’s reign. They don’t seem to care that much about protecting Shayna in tag matches, as she always eats the pin, so I’m not sure why they protect her so much in singles. She submitted Asuka (along with everyone else) in the elimination chamber, Asuka should want to prove herself better than Shayna. This is why I liked Becky’s reign, I loved the aspect of her collecting her debts against people who had wronged her, and the sideplates of the former champions she beat. That jacket was dope. The story was dope.

Man Shayna is so strong, that girl is built like a bull. I swear her bmi must be as low as Bayley’s.

How did Shayna of all people make taking a release German suplex look better than like a dozen other women in the past year? Good for her. Knows how to actually jump.

Lol so Lana willingly jumps onto Nia’s shoulders in the position of a powerbomb, and as Nia is walking her over to the announce desk, Lana sends Nia into it with a headscissors takedown. That’s great.

Lana’s just running away lmao.

Shayna just ate an L via rollup. See? Protection.

I was gonna force myself to sit through Dana’s backstage segment with Ricochet, but then Riddle popped up, and honestly? Can’t be bothered.

Welp I don’t do mixed tag matches unless they’re compelling... which this is not.

Hate: Asuka being a cheerleader for fucking Lana. She is the Raw women’s champion, does anyone remember this??? Terrible stuff.

Love: Asuka leaving Lana with some stupid mantra to repeat to herself before Lana turns to find herself face to face with Nia. Great stuff.

Nia just shaking her head as Lana slowly, oh so slowly, backs away. Fantastic. See this would all be a compelling midcard feud if the Raw women’s title wasn’t involved, is that a fair complaint? I feel like that’s a fair complaint.

Points to Nia for not breaking.

Highlight: Nia intimidating Lana backstage by merely looking at her

---

NXT:

Toni claims Ember stole her thunder, and honestly? I can see it. They both moved (back, in Ember’s case) to nxt the same night, and which one was given the promo time in the middle of the ring to start off the following week’s show? Not Toni. Who was propelled into a feud almost immediately against Dakota, a top player? Not Toni. Who got the opportunity to share the ring with former nxt champion Rhea in the main event? Not Toni.

Well apparently Io doesn’t like Toni lmao.

Io sets Toni up for the moonsault, and Toni rolls out of the ring. I criticize wwe for being predictable, but I’m gonna be honest when I say that I did NOT predict Ember running down from out of nowhere just to topple Toni. That was great. Shame this is absolutely leading to a tag match.

So Ember rolls Toni back into the ring and Io hits the moonsault... and then proceeds to pin her before she realizes what she’s doing and rolls off lol. Should’ve just committed, crowd would’ve counted to 3 for her and it would’ve been great.

That’s right Raquel, go destroy Ember in the name of Dakota. Can’t believe my second favorite performer on that roster isn’t there tonight. BLASPHEMY.

Xia out here striking wooden pegs and I can actually see the purpose. Boa getting the shit beat out of him? Not understanding the point there. They call it penance, but Wade is right, looks like torture. Guess it’s more of a mental thing though, right? Break the nerves and sensitivity?

*The Way celebrates their TakeOver victories* No.

Wow Ember gets the main event match again? Man, yikes for Toni. Cool for Raquel though, this is the furthest she’s gone in her singles career without Dakota.

That Eclipse onto those 2 chairs was brutal, Dakota is a trooper.

I really dislike Ember’s persona, and I would love to see her be humbled. She did jack shit on the MR and has the audacity to run back to nxt beaming with arrogance?

Nice, Raquel hits Ember with a boot to the midsection as Ember’s in midair, and she flies back a few feet. Impactful.

Why is Ember selling her lower back? Is that genuine? An ongoing injury, or something from WarGames?

Kind of a slow moving headscissors into a tornado ddt, but it’s such a beautiful move that I don’t even care.

Does Ember typically do her suicide dive through the bottom and second rope? If so, I’m beginning to understand why hers looks so friggin brutal. Peeps going through the second and top rope always kind of gracefully land on their opponents. Ember looks like a missile.

That’s cool; Ember’s crazy ass was climbing up some metal thing, Raquel goes over and pulls her off, Ember lands perfectly on Raquel’s shoulder in a one armed fireman’s carry, then Raquel tosses her face first into the ring post. Ember landed perfectly on the apron, too. Good spot.

Raquel is dangling through the ropes with her head near the ring post and Ember charges at her on the apron. Raquel eats a knee to the side of the head but puts her hand up between her and the ring post so she doesn’t accidentally smack her head against it. She’s very safe and aware of her surroundings, I’m noticing. That’s gonna take her really far.

That was a good match. I can see why Raquel is getting set up for a push. She’s safe, strong, sells well, has an intimidating look, and is serviceable on the mic. I can see the appeal.

Toni’s come to deliver a receipt to the receipt she received herself.

LMFAO Toni goes to pull up Ember and jumps when she hears Rhea’s music. That history runs DEEP. That was hilarious, she genuinely looks shook.

Oh that focus in Rhea’s eyes is great. Man she’s come so far this past year.

Rhea is such a solid babyface. She does all the right things as a leader of the division would without going overboard and coming off as a doormat. Asuka is the complete opposite; does nothing to help her division from unfair shenanigans, and when she does, she come off as an idiot.

Man that tension between Rhea and Toni is thick. They’re like the same age too, right? Their futures will be heavily entwined.

...Alright well honestly I was more enchanted by the concept of a Rhea/Toni feud, even though we’ve seen that like 3 times, than a rehash of Rhea/Raquel. I knew this was coming, but you’re kind of killing my vibe, here.

I actually really liked the Raquel/Rhea fight but I feel like they have subzero heat outside of an actual match. They suck at hyping a future fight between each other. Basically they’re the exact opposite as Rhea/Toni, since Rhea and Toni have like... never had a good match, yet always know how to sell one to me anyway lmao.

Highlight: Ember vs Raquel

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NXT UK:

Jinny out here calling Piper a wild animal lol. Her in-match dialogue sucks, but I’m here for her as a promo.

“[Isla] has yet to really kick out of first gear [...] what does Isla Dawn need to do to keep her momentum moving forward?” She needs to literally move out of first gear and work on her stamina, holy shit. She’s one of the weakest in the cardio department imo.

Since I’m already being critical, Xia is super overhyped and I need everyone to calm down. She has a lot to work on before she should even be considered midcard.

Yes sure, Xia has technical fundamentals and literally nothing else. Oh she’s only 22? That makes more sense. Man the UK stars are young lol.

We’ve finally moved past wrist locks, miracles have occurred.

Imagine being a kickboxer and not utilizing that in your arsenal. Look at that, suddenly I’m actually being entertained by Isla for the first time. More miracles have occurred.

Xia “look at my fundamentals” Brookside, can you please explain who you’re yelling ‘come on’ to? There is literally nobody there. Are you hyping me up? Hm?? Hyping me up for another hurricanrana???

Xia very obviously helped roll Isla out of the ring there.

I really need announcers to stop assuming every wrestler is about to do a suicide dive/is gonna fly/do a high risk move. It’s seldom they toss out this assumption and are wrong, but every time I’ve seen it the performer went to do a mere baseball slide beneath the bottom rope, having typically never performed a suicide dive before.

That was awkward. Isla did no offense as Xia went to grab her off the ground, but Xia backed off and just looked at her. Then Xia no sells a punch to the midsection. ???

Oddly enough, suitcase luggage being delivered ring side isn’t the strangest thing I’ve seen in this match.

So they’re props for a mid-match promo from Nina meant to distract Xia. Distracted Xia turns around and eats an awkwardly slow kick to the neck, which she awkwardly sells, before Isla wins with a... back body drop?? What a finish :/

Highlight: That fleeting moment where Isla entertained me

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Smackdown:

Sasha gets to kick off the show? That’s a first.

Saw someone today say that Sasha only works as a babyface if she’s an underdog or if she’s generally more of a “fun” character. Said there was no positive energy around her as a babyface right now. Honestly her character sucks.

Also saw someone claim Carmella was a better version of Sasha and I’m not disagreeing with that sentiment. They should probably be on different brands in their current characters.

“How fast can I make Carmella cry” Sasha sweetie, you are the last person that should be mentioning making someone cry.

God she even has that stamp. Why is this girl not a heel? What the hell are wwe doing pushing Charlotte and Sasha as babyfaces? They gonna try to turn Becky heel again if she comes back before crowds return? Imagine a world where Charlotte and Sasha are babyfaces while Bayley and Becky are running around as heels. oof. 75% of the way there.

Carmella is great, truly. One of the best promos in the women’s division, probably in my top 3 tbh. Glad to see her relevant in the spotlight once again.

They really are 2 sides of the same damn coin.

Sasha shouldn’t need Bayley to prop her up anymore. Enough of that well. It’s bone dry.

To be honest, it does still feel like Bayley’s show; it does still feel like she runs things, and that’s a testament to not only her booking and her massive success over the past year, but also to how she carries herself and how far her character has come. She’s absolutely on par with Becky and Charlotte now imo (which is why I wanted her to win the Royal Rumble and potentially main event night one of WrestleMania, but I digress) she’s beyond the need of having a title to be the main attraction. I never thought the 3 of them would all surpass Sasha in accolades, star power, and promo skills... but here we are.

Bayley back there talking shit about Bianca rofl.

Omg that captain thing was great. Bayley is creative and fun, and knows how to keep herself from becoming stagnant or dull. Points to Bayley.

Oh Bianca kept those insults from last week’s online exclusive. I love when wwe tests shit in online exclusives, sees the reaction, and then has the talent run that same promo/interview on tv the next week. This happens constantly. Love it.

Friggin love Bianca’s shirt. wwe should’ve printed out a ton of them. I would’ve copped the coin for it.

Girl has legit receipts rofl alright.

Called Nattie the boat. Subtly hyping up her coworkers. Solid.

Lmao Bianca ran Bayley off with her receipts. This is fun. This is a fun feud.

“I’m gonna beat the disrespect out of Sasha,” that’s a good line.

See Carmella has been doing that cackle long before Sasha started it up, and she’s better at it too. Sasha just needs to change things.

Why is Carmella calling Reggie ‘Tommy’? Is this like a dig at his name not mattering or was that a screw up? Couldn’t have been a screw up, she would’ve improvised. Do I have his name wrong? Am I the dumb one???

I need to start watching Raw Talk and Talking Smack. They won’t be a part of these “reviews” (ramblings) but still. I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of fun.

So I know this partnership between Nattie and Billie Kay is super temporary, but I still find it curious.

Okay so Liv tags in Ruby, runs to her, and Ruby sweeps up Liv into a wheelbarrow before Liv rolls through and trips Ruby, driving her into Billie Kay’s midsection. I’m gonna be honest guys, stuff like that is cool to see, but you could’ve literally just speared Billie Kay and saved everyone a ton of time and effort. Work smarter not cooler. Maybe situationally that potentially wouldn’t be terrible, but that was terrible tonight.

“Natalya probably the most powerful in this matchup” lol SIR. Natalya is probably the most powerful in the entire main roster, and only Bianca could be a contradiction. Curious to know which one is stronger, pound for pound and in general.

...Is Ruby okay? I’m concerned. She goes to give Billie Kay a Riott kick before Liv even gets her part of their combo finisher in, and then after she delivers her Riott kick, she crawls over to Natalya’s corner. Was Natalya not in place for a spot or something? Is Ruby on 4 shots of espresso too many??

This match was serviceable. Obviously it’s meant to merely advance Billie Kay’s storyline, so.

*Mario Lopez weighs in on Sasha vs Carmella* I’m good thnx.

Was... was that sheet real? Does Carmella actually dance behind a real sheet that drops down for her to walk down the ramp??

Man I gotta hear Sasha’s awful remix twice tonight, shame.

Lol how is Carmella being a WrestleMania battle royal winner more impressive/important than her being a champion for like 100 fucking days??? She has wins over Asuka, Becky, and Charlotte. THAT is more impressive than winning that stupid battle royal. 

I guess I can see why Sasha being Snoop Dogg’s cousin is more important than some of her previous accolades, but jfc Carmella resume to casual viewers is dumb.

Someone in the audience had their camera pointed up to a ceiling fan and you know what? Points to that person.

I like the countering of each others’ submissions. Both scouted their opponent well.

Carmella will always be such a natural trash talker with a snappy attitude in the ring. I’m not saying her current gimmick is bad, but the trash talking princess of Staten Island will always live inside of her.

Minor petpeeve: I dislike when wwe cuts to commercial during a 10 count.

Sasha was not manipulated into tonight’s match, nor was her hand forced. Her ego spoke for itself.

Sasha has really graceful footing. She reminds me of a cat.

“Banks might have a dislocated shoulder after that,” “and if that’s the case, there’s no way Sasha can lock in the bank statement,” fun fact: Sasha went into her elimination chamber match in 2019 with a fucked up shoulder. She also ended that match the victor by locking in a modified bank statement using one arm and a bent leg. It was creative, it was cool, and it worked.

History tells me that when Carmella starts letting her frustration in a match show, she will lose rather soon after. That’s where we’re at.

“vintage Sasha” SHE’S 28 YEARS OLD WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT

Peep that Sasha slid herself back so Carmella could grab her as she climbed up the turnbuckles. Knows her spot.

Don’t do a jackknife cover on Carmella, you’re setting yourself up for the code of silence so damn easily.

Good transition into the bank statement though.

Good progression into a dq by Sasha as well.

OH SHIT Carmella just broke a fucking bottle of champagne over Sasha’s back. Is that gimmicked? Holy hell. It has to be right? That’s why it was a different color??

What a sound effect, oof. Oh Sasha’s selling that real well.

Lmao Carmella goes over and pours herself a glass, says “that’s good, really good,” before shaking the bottle all over commentary and Sasha. Carmella’s great at every character she plays, lesbireal.

Carmella needs to hop on down to nxt and teach those women how to trash talk in a match without fucking up. She’s fantastic.

Wow here’s Greg to FINALLY announce the winner. Yikes announcer, yikes.

This was fun.

Highlight: Carmella in general was fantastic tonight

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*Smackdown easily shined the brightest. Everything was vastly entertaining and women dominated throughout the entire show. Loving the progression of everyone’s characters sans Sasha, but her match with Carmella was fun nonetheless.