Professor

Took a minute (or two days) to catch up on things. I really hope that the AEW vs. WWE thing is kept to television. Both running shows on the same day is rough. So, All Out. It was a good show with some really good wrestling. But they have issues. That main event was not good. I may be on an island, but I have not enjoyed Jericho post-WWE. I get that having him is good for the company, but I don't think he should be the headline act. Speaking of not enjoying a post-WWE run: Cody. He is fine. The crowd loves him and I cannot deny that. But all of his AEW matches have been so 'old school' that I cannot enjoy them. So many cheap shortcuts are taken. It worked then, and maybe judging by the crowd, it still does. But I'm out. And they need to sort out their camera work/production. Singles matches were fine. Anything with more than two people: So many missed spots. And having a ladder block the hard camera for most of that match is just poor planning. Will give then credit for better commentary. JR still isn't great (His name is Jungle Boy, not Jungle Jack. Stop it.), but he worked better with Goldenboy. Last thing: They really need to be careful about these long show. I've heard them in interviews knock WWE for long shows and state they won't do that. Well, by my count they just put on a five hour show. Not exactly short. Now, the show I liked more: NXT UK Takeover Cardiff. It was a tight three hours that built to an awesome main event. Cesaro showed up and did Cesaro things. Tag Title match was so much fun with an very lively crowd cheering on their hometown boys. And the main event was my favorite over the two shows. Tyler Bate is only 22 and putting on matches like that. If you chose AEW over Takerover, at least watch the main event. Well, watch the amazing Target special they did first, then watch the main event.

This week's NXT UK is the best I've seen Chris Hero in a while. Nice to see.

For whatever reason I clicked on the WWE watch along. Matt Riddle is on the stream for the Goldberg match. Fun times.

With the seemingly endless hate some people have for pineapple on pizza (I am not one of them), why is it universally accepted that black olives go on pizza? Because they don't.

So, is Kofi a double champ? Thought never entered my mind until I watched Kofi & Truth rewatch their SummerSlam match. where he says a much. As someone who doesn't watch the weekly shows, has this ever been mentioned?

Finished up the Vice documentary series The Wrestlers. Host by Damian Abraham, the show goes around the globe exploring the non-WWE world of wrestling. I quite enjoyed this. I generally have a problem with documentaries on subjects I know. And three of the first four episodes (Indy talent, MVP & Death Match) fall into this: I gained very little new information. Yet, I understand why they went with these first for a wide audience. Easing them in with something familiar to a WWE. But when they leave the United States, this series shines. 2 in Mexico (Indy Lucha & Exóticos) & 2 in Japan (Stardom & DDT) went into topics that I knew on a surface level, but went deeper. The three best episodes (Fighting Cholitas of Bolivia, Canada's Reserves & Voodoo Witchcatch in Congo) show wrestling in ways that I had no idea existed and was fantastic. Seriously, if you only watch one episode, the Congo episode in a must.

Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller - A documentary on Mauro Ranallo and mental illness. I cannot say there is any new (to me) information here. I heard quite a few interviews Mauro did on the promotional tour. That said, in this case seeing has a bigger impact that hearing. Showtime uploaded it to their YouTube so worth the 70 minutes.

I fell hopelessly behind on JR's podcast when he relaunched last year. Since I have a bunch of mindless work around the house, I figured I would try and run thru these quickly. One thing: He started in 4/18. Or, right before the Greatest Royal Rumble. I know this might be a bit of hindsight, but he does not come off well. At all.

Took the weekend to run thru season 2 of Cloak and Dagger. Overall a better season than the first. A lot of the series takes place in a 'psychic realm' so to speak. About halfway thru I had a thought of "this is getting like Legion, but good". Meaning while Legion became an exercise in pretentious 'look at how smart and weird we are', I always knew and understand what was going on, even in fantasy land. Also, I think it is in the 7th episode, the Streets of Rage fight made the show.

If you haven't already, watch Takeover: Chicago for the finals rematch which I think was even better. Also, the 2018 UK Championship Tournament shows, while not as great, have some good action, Zack Gibson being hated and Mustache Mountain vs. Strong/O'Reilly.

Why not?

Perpetually behind on NXT UK. I mostly enjoy the shows, but every time I hear that damn Gallus theme I get so damn sleepy.

Go in blind. Everything you need is in the video before the 'match' starts. Also, Delete or Decay (the follow up) is really fun.

Randomly heard today that Steven Tyler is 71. And that kinda shocked me. The punchline for old rock band has been The Rolling Stones for so long that Aerosmith has just kinda flown under the radar.

Still going thru my VHS collection. Finally found a keeper. Even had the typed out match listings. Thanks Mike.

Not textbook example of anything. D2 is the superior Mighty Ducks movie. It gets rid of all the useless kids and replaces them with more memorable players. Except Guy. Who is still there. For some reason. And you get the brilliance that is Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson.

Went and saw this early today. Instant take is that I liked the two Perlman films more, but it has been forever since I watched them. Action was a little underwhelming. Still, fine way to spend a couple hours. I was a little skeptical of the 2 hr run time, but it never dragged and I never clock watched.

I just broke my permanent retainer while eating a sandwich. Not really a big deal, I'll get it fixed Monday. But damn does this feel weird.

Last year I had to deal with the ER for the first, and second, times in my life. With that, it was also the first time dealing with the billing. Now, I have to say that being below an income threshold has granted me free treatment. I cannot understate how awesome and lucky that is. However, I went to the ER in May and Nov. Today, I got my 1st bill from Radiology from my May visit. 11 Months later. 1st bill. Not only that, this bill has already be resolved in December after they had sent the thing to collections, I made payments, the hospital got it out of collections and I was issued a refund check. And then they bill me for it again. And in the course of settling the May visit, they now say the Nov visit (which was resolved in Jan) is still open, with no record of anything despite confirmation numbers that state otherwise. The one saving grace thru all of this has been one amazing woman in the financial assistance office. She has taken care of everything on more than 1 (probably 17) occasions. But it really shouldn't come down to that.

Finally 'finished' WrestleMania. I use quote marks because I skipped a lot. 7.5 hours is way too long. The G1 Supercard was too long at 5.5 hours (still haven't gotten to the main event and I skipped things). Of what I saw, the Kofi/Bryan match was the best moment. After reading some reviews online, I have completely differing views on the main event. I thought it was very sloppy, disjointed and overall boring. The lack of crowd didn't help (not their fault) but I don't get where the love is coming from. Oh, and it took me way too long to figure out Mysterio's costume.

It was fun. It has its issues, but it was fun. All I can ask for.

Just finished about an hour ago. The last ten minutes of Gargano / Cole had me biting on every near fall. Screw Mania topping this, I don't know how NXT will top this. But damn if it won't be fun to watch them try.

Getting rid of my massively useless entertainment center soon, so I figured I might as well get rid of most of my VHS in the thing as well. They are mostly Smackdowns that I taped, only keeping certain matches. Which I have extensive records of in a notebook (dates, match times, stipulations, what I should keep (I had much better handwriting back then)). The network makes all of these things rather useless. But might as well give them a quick look. First tape I put in starts (well, after a telethon and Kanye) with the Smackdown Fist, Pyro and Eddie Guerrero (in a I'm Your Papi shirt) vs. Rey Mysterio (looking older here in '05 than he does now in '19) in a steel cage match. This will be fun. Edit: The back half of the tape is the Eddie Guerrero tribute episode. Suddenly, not much fun at all.