They're saying the number again! Take that, Vince..you ole nasty mfer!

Let's see:

- Vince is bigtime gone. Who knows how wild the deets go and what % of it we will ever 'know'. What we 'know' is plenty wild enough! You have to figure at least a few more people might end up gone too. We'll see.
- Brock is at least temporarily gone too.
- Kevin Dunn is gone and now the camera work can finally attempt to evolve at least a little. Ain't that nice!? Its nice!
- Cody inches closer to finishing his story. And they're going to make him earn the shit out it.
- THE ROCK AND ROMAN REIGNS are together now? NICE.
- Rollins is hurt but will make Mania allegedly. He's gonna be fine and I'm not worried. He's dope, they love him, and he's EXCELLENT when he has anything coherent to do.
- Big E is still out.
- Punk is out. BOO. But he can still instigate!
- Charlotte out but she's a damn hoss so she'll be back.
- Randy and AJ are back! Whooo! Now, what in the eff are they gonna do!?
- Stone Cold is being coy about doing another match. I WANT IT. His match with KO was gorgeously simple and fun but it still felt 'complete'. Pros wer Pro'ing.
- Whoop That Trick (YEAH!) = one of my favorite things in rasslin right now. And Williams himself is good too. He's gonna kick all up in Carmelo's ass and its gonna be GREAT for both of them. Yes, he's my replacement Velveteen Dream. No, I don't feel guilty about it.
- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
- WALTER Gunther is still out here beating people tf up and I love it.

- TNA is 'back' but they already have shenanigans with the Scott D'Amore. Seems rotten but who knows..its TNA.

AEW is sneaking around trying to be good at certain things but they're cold, so many people are 'done' with giving them a chance. Still:

- Swerve and Hangman are doing good work.
- Smo'a Joe...same thing. He's a fun champ even if he's almost certainly not gonna be a long-term champ.
- Prince Nana's multi-purpose dance antics might be my favorite non-'jimaveli is in love with like 20 women wrestlers' thing going.
- On that woman thing, Broken Toni Storm works on me ~ every single time. She's ridiculous, funny, and a good rassler. She's dropping some A+ promo work vs opponents and the random obscure sexual stuff she's 'sneaking in' is a hilarious touch. She's blowing up announcers almost weekly! History will be kind to this run for sure.
- The Bucks are fun but late af with this jerk heel run. They're gonna cheat their azzes off to beat/retire Sting fo sho. But Darby will be there to dive at them really hard and I'll like that.
- Dalton Castle trying to get to Johnny is also great times.
- Sasha is gonna be fun but I wish she was headed back to WWE to print money with Bayley for the summer.
- Okada might be better off in AEW FIRST but I still want him in WWE at some point. Rainmaker pose tshirts would be easy munny for WWE.
- Ospreay is a wonderful rassler. I hope he stays healthy. He's done a great job of 'getting big enough' for the spots he's gonna be in. Add him to the 'he'd be big fun in WWE at some point' list too.

I hope like hell that AEW forces a title onto Danielson at some point before he's done as a 'full-time act'.

Besides that, MJF has been shutting all the way the fuck up in a corner somewhere, Adam Cole is still not right and it is killing his new group, and Kenny Omega did good to go the doctor when he did or he might've died. Whew! And Ibushi...gees dude...sit your goofy azz down somewhere! And take Jeff Hardy with you!

because they're REAL CLOSE to having a bust-ass program going. But!

1) This turn was way too late
2) This program is with the wrong damn guy


If they were going to lean into their EVP status, they could have had a Modern McMahon Austin saga on their hands with Punk. Shit, Colt Cabana as Mideon Elite would have been PERFECT.

Instead, they're mucking up Sting's retirement with this shit, and it's not at all impactful because they're not really talking TO Sting, they're talking past him. When MJF got covered in Punk's blood, it worked like gangbusters because there was a storyline (and real life-ish) reason for him to do that. And he didn't wear the same t-shirt the next week. This- other than "wanting the titles," what reason do they have to go after Sting and Darby? Darby's one of the guys that they wanted to build the company around and Sting gave them legitimacy before the Punk return. The whole thing is JUUUUST a bit outside.

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Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

...people can believe that they'd lose to. People have to believe that Sting **might** lose that final match, and that their opponents are the most repugnant and obnoxious SOBs ever.

I agree that the lead-up isn't completely working, but I think the pay-off match with Sting riding off into the sunset as a champ will be fine.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

>I agree that the lead-up isn't completely working, but I think
>the pay-off match with Sting riding off into the sunset as a
>champ will be fine.

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Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

For their 2023 PLEs, there was a mix of good builds to excellent PPVs (Revoltion and All In) and virtualy non-existent builds to great PPVs (All Out and WrestleDream).

I'm "old school" in the sense that I don't care as much about the build-up as long as the event that you're spending money on delivers. It's preferable to "good build to so-so PLEs." (cough, cough, WWE since WM 39, cough).

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

Shout out to R Truth, one of the funniest people on the planet quite honestly. Every time he’s on my TV I’m happy. It will have to end at some point, but right now I can’t get enough of him being “in” the Judgment Day. When he retires I hope he starts acting in movies.

>Shout out to R Truth, one of the funniest people on the
>planet quite honestly. Every time he’s on my TV I’m happy.
>It will have to end at some point, but right now I can’t get
>enough of him being “in” the Judgment Day. When he retires
>I hope he starts acting in movies.

He’s killing me every week for sure yes. He’s on a HOF-level run of actin a fool and adding value to everything he’s involved in.

We eatin!

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Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

<--- Big Baller World Order

He could’ve fried for 30 minutes

https://youtu.be/nttqzW7IjbY?si=yeNg1DDRxY7hyyGJ

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

https://youtu.be/H_Oa8UF9ifU?si=JRALdnPKCAQwwYva

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

<--- Big Baller World Order

The polished:

Dwayne’s charisma and presence were elite.

Making Roman look and feel like the little brother is an incredible feat, and Dwayne does it effortlessly.

I agree on that much.

All of that what makes him who he is. You can’t teach that shit.

And it sons everyone who isn’t Austin, though I’m not sure Austin has this gear anymore.

The mannerisms, the body language, the voice, all that was still as good at it was at his peak and he’ll be old and decrepit before it even begins to decline.

Here’s the mediocrity:

The content. The content of his promos was never all that good. We were all in on the moment, but that shit aged poorly and got badly exposed by Cena and Punk a decade ago.

I’m not tripping on the cheap crowd heat either. That’s always enjoyable whenever any good heel does it.

He’s The Rock, a god on the mic- but the best he could come up with was… crybabies?

Bunch of crybaby bitches?

That shit is trash. People we’ll say “but it’s working!”, but that’s immaterial. A lot of things would have worked. Things that aren’t generic retorts an old lady would say to a toddler would have worked too.

But nope, we got two more months of “crybabies”, the weakest bit of name calling we’ve ever seen in pro wrestling at this level since Cookie Puss- also a Rock/Gowertz special.

And no, this isn’t a kayfabe reaction. I’m not being “worked”, brother.

It’s just weak material that’s getting by on the charisma of the person saying it. And we’re stuck with at least two more months of this shiny mediocrity.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

Seems like it’s all been said and done by this point.

I had fun watching him shit on fans for the first time in forever.

Dwayne’s presence and charisma are god tier.

His content? Not so much. We bought in at the time but that shit aged badly.

“Crybaby bitches” is just embarrassing. It’s not funny or clever, it’s corny and unimaginative.

It’s bad, and not in a mega heel, only the hit dogs will holler way.

It doesn’t have to be new to be good. But this is getting by largely on The Rock’s natural charisma and catering to the nostalgia of older fans.

But some of that content? It’s trash that wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, get past NXT.

I am having fun with the way this is turning out overall, but I’d rather be booing The Rock than rolling my eyes at the stunted attempts at creative from Dwayne and Gowertz.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

I was beyond tired of the Bloodline. Rock joining makes it interesting again.

There are a lot of little things they’re doing well since they pivoted, but there are still problems.

Rock completely overshadowing Reigns is one, but it shouldn’t be this prominent this early and that makes me worry that they’re going to rush that angle and try to cram it into 40 instead of giving it a slow burn that allows it to breathe, build, and crest in time to build to a proper climax heading into 41.

My other concern is that they’re going to do a cut & paste job of Rocky’s turn on The Nation.

Ao that’s the other reason behind my “nothing new”, is that it feels like a textbook Vince hotshot program, which is what if felt like when Dwayne first showed up a few weeks ago.

The Bloodline was the best executed long form story in wrestling *ever* because they gave it time and nuance and added elements strategically, until the aftermath of 39.

Reigns vs Cody II had all those ingredients to give us an epic showdown at 40, but they tried to shoehorn Rock in a way that turned it into a mess.

And while they’ve wisely pivoted, everything they’ve done since Cody introduced Dwayne feels like the creative direction is 75% “It’s The Rock, just have him go out and play the greatest hits they’ll love anything he does”.

I think my concerns will largely be proven correct, even if they have a few high points in the process.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

Pre-singlet for both of em! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2tGh5WpCFk/?igsh=MTRkcDhoc2dtc2RvMQ==

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Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

>Pre-singlet for both of em!
>https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2tGh5WpCFk/?igsh=MTRkcDhoc2dtc2RvMQ==

Wow! It’s crazy how much better both of em got.

Varsity club was my shit as a kid. When Mike Rotunda showed up as IRS, I recognized him right the fuck off! Haha.