I’ve still got an inkling Cena might not only win #17 but #18 too. PLE in Boston at the end of the year is a great idea. I can see it being a major show and maybe even starting a new December tradition.

Today I learned that in 2005, Chuck Palumbo and Bull Buchanan wrestled to a 30-minute draw in AJPW. I have morbid curiosity to see that now because I cannot at all imagine how those two guys filled 30 minutes of time.

5 star matchup

It was in Japan, so most of the match is probably them standing around begging the other to forearm them in the neck.

Vengeance Day was a good show. I really enjoyed the tag match. Loved the spot where they took the piss out of puroresu strike exchanges.

So who's winnin the chamba?

They could both really move. 30 minutes though.....yeah. I hate matches that go longer than 20.

Was going to mention the Armageddon back body drop into a powerbomb here the other day. Then Briggs & Inamura did it at Vengeance. Good stuff.

https://i.imgur.com/rWv0uqP.jpeg

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This might change your mind.

Well, that settles it. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle is no longer my #1 match.

I'm man enough to admit my mistakes.

I checked out some TNA from this week. Check it out if you want to be surprised.

Can’t remember if I mentioned it here or somewhere else, but I’ve had a weird inkling that Cena might win one of his World Titles in TNA to help give them a boost. Cena being giant fish in TNA might be the closest he comes to turning heel and squeaking in some stuff that way.

Hendry is dropping Cena hints pretty hard. Not in the sense that it is obviously going to happen, but in the way that it’s got “hype” with that audience beyond it just being “omg Cena!”

Rock going for the role of Shang Tsung.

Someone reading the dirty sheets and using their exact words

Triple A hasn't been here for almost 14 months now :(

Good. We don't need him. We have Noid.

Now fix the server, Noid

Fix my chicken coop.

I tried to get into New Japan. It wasn’t all bad, but overall the product lacks oomph. I had to switch Zack Sabre Jr vs. Hirooki Goto off. It was so boring. I generally like Goto and I’ve tried to give ZSJ another chance. It was just so boring. They were working like they would have a hot crowd too. Maybe things picked up towards the end? I won’t know.

TNA has been cooking though.

Where the fuck is Paul Titan?

Paul Titan for WWE ID.

It looks like Jeff Cobb might have signed with WWE. Smart guy. He was one of the clear standouts trialling New Japan. He was probably the best gaijin next to David Finlay — who I imagine will be going in 2026.

Thought I’d give TNA Sacrifice a go. So far so good. The guy who plays the Personal Concierge of Ash & Heather cracked me up. Tom Hannifan is great on commentary.

Really solid pro-wrestling show to this point. I haven’t seen the main event yet. Mustafa Ali seems like a guy who is probably going to get picked up by WWE again soon.

TNA and NXT have done a good job of making me care about The Hardys again.

EVOLVE has been a really easy watch. I’m surprised how many stories it has developing. The show only being an hour helps tremendously.

Luca Crusafino is quite the talent.

You know who ruled: Mike Enos.

I wish he had an ounce of personality.

He'd also be over way more nowadays.

WCW Vault has a Thunder marathon on right meow and Enos somehow wrestled a squash match and looked amazing.

The world has Enos Envy.

Modern wrestling makes stuff that used to get scoffed at look amazing. Give me a squash with guys who know how to work over a 20 min hand-holding routine any day.

I was thinking the other day that Thunder might even age well because it had less storyline-specific context than shows with serialized relevance at the time. Hell, it’d be new to most fans.

It’s similar to how the WWF UK PPVs used to be glorified house shows in many ways. But Rebellion 2001 is a hidden gem based on that.

Dude there's FAR too many Brian Adams and Bulldog/Neidhart matches for that to be true lol.

Especially when those two awful entities faced each other.

Bulldog fell off faster than any wrestler I've ever seen, and I've always maintained that Adams is the worst pushed wrestler in history.

Bulldog is a sad story. I actually used to hate him, just because my first introduction to him was jean shorts, awful music Bulldog. That was a steep drop indeed.

Lol, I actually came in here to say how positive I’ve felt about wrestling lately. WWE has been the most consistently good it’s been in…a really long time. I’ve been enjoying TNA too. I’ve got too many things I’ve started watching and haven’t finished lol. I’m watching Unbreakable ‘05 from TNA bits at a time. I gave that promotion such a hard time, but man has this show had some good wrestling.

I’m at risk of falling down a Memphis rabbit hole too. I got the urge to watch Jerry Lawler and Ric Flair again, and that just whets the appetite too much.

The modern New Japan product didn’t do it for me. There’s some good guys out there, but it all feels pretty dry, but I’m going to try and watch some Shinsuke Nakamura stuff before I completely give up the whole thing, because the recent rumor he was getting shit-canned annoyed me because he’s such an awesome wrestler.

Lol, Kronik in the WWF in 2001. Memories.

Random thought: I’m a little surprised to find myself enjoying Penta in the WWE. I’ve noticed he’s cut down on his taunt and only does it when appropriate now. He reminds me a little of La Parka when he’s making his entrance. La Parka vibes are always welcome.

He doesn't do his taunt after every move anymore?

Nope. Hated that in AEW.

EVOLVE was really good this week. Show seems to be finding a groove.

It was indeed excessive

I was calling him Pantogon for a while.

One thing WWE has going on that is just better than AEW, is that they have it set that their wrestlers are trying to win matches. So when you flash your taunt in someone’s face, you’re going to get swiped at. When Penta did it in the Rumble against Jacob Fatu, he got stopped part-way through because Jacob was have none of it.

It’s all about context. I’ve got no problem with Penta letting the world know his philosophy is to suppress fear or whatever. Just don’t have everyone he’s wrestling stand around like dorks.

https://i.imgur.com/aI8LPSX.jpeg

Referee Jessika Carr made her debut at WWE Evolve as "Kalyx"