The Heat and the Shine

"You see all these churches?" the wise man observed, on a Memphis to Little Rock road trip a dozen years ago, "They were all started by the same guy...  Some guy who thought every other church sucked." And so we have All Elite Wrestling.  The promotion that began because a wrestling scion, two dreamers from the California desert, and the son of a car bumper magnate thought that every other promotion sucked. WWE, suck?  Who can count the ways?  From Vince's whims to PG to scripted promos, everybody has a complaint. New Japan?  Too afraid, I'm afraid. ROH?  Too thrifty.  No vision.  Too fat, dumb, and happy with their lot in life. PWG?  What could have been...  Maybe if Danny were born with Cody's ambition, it would have happened.  There is honor in being the template; just not much money. And does Impact still exist...? Impact, it could be argued, is AEW's greatest inspiration.  It had so much potential...  if only it didn't suck.  

Names matter, and the name "All Elite Wrestling" matters a lot.  The promotion authored by Cody & the Young Bucks and owned by Shad Khan's son will be Elite, or it will die trying. The term "Shad Khan's son" is hardly music to the money man behind All Elite, Tony Khan.  Sons of successful entrepreneurs rarely enjoy discussion of the fact that their dads made a lot of money.  There is a perception that being such a son comes with inherent advantages.  Vince McMahon says that Shane had to work twice as hard to reach his position, but many fans and journalists simply don't believe it.  Dynasties like the McMahons of wrestling or Rooneys of football are spotlighted.  Cases where the family business is not handed down -- the Denver Broncos' present ownership drama, for example -- are ignored. Shad Khan is relevant to AEW because he is a remarkable man, with a remarkably American success story.  He emigrated from Pakistan, and simply decided to

Dave Meltzer appeared on " The Jim Cornette Experience " podcast recently for a discussion on modern wrestling promotion.  Meltzer's position was that indy wrestling is hot, and thus the current, wink-and-nod style works.  Cornette's position is that there are more lapsed wrestling fans than active wrestling fans, and that's evidence that the business should go back to the way it used to be. In this blog's view, they're both right.  If indy promoters booked the way Cornette wants them to book, the indy scene would be nowhere near as hot.  But if a disciplined, ambitious indy promotion took cues from Cornette, they'd offer stronger competition for WWE than Impact, ROH, New Japan or anyone else. One area where Meltzer's argument trumps Cornette's -- again, in this blog's opinion -- is that the kayfabe cat is out of the bag.  Wrestling fans wouldn't just going to roll their eyes at Smokey Mountain Wrestling style booking, they'd

Five days ago, New Japan and Kenny Omega collaborated on an adventurous, cutting edge project.  It was a twenty minute, sit down interview in which Omega used a mind-bending mix of shoot and work to respond to questions about his then-forthcoming match with New Japan’s world champion, Kazuchika Okada. Dave Meltzer called it, “[a promo that] looks at wrestling in multiple dimensions, with a Jake Roberts delivery.”  It was certainly that.  Omega would tout his seven new kilos of muscled physique, then mention his six ‘Match of the Year contenders’, all in the same soliloquy.  It was a work/shoot medley, almost as if Omega watched the movie ‘Split’ and decided “Yes, I can do what James McAvoy did.  I can change personalities on the fly, leaving a puzzle for the audience to re-watch and solve.” Two days later, a very different New Japan personality emerged.  For, as risky as Omega’s promo was, the promotion's next big move was decidedly staid.  The day after Omega went to a time

The most underrated match in wrestling history; to my eyes, at least, is Randy "Macho King" Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII.  Everything about it -- the build, the match and the resolution -- worked. The Build: Warrior was WWF Champion and Sensational "Queen" Sherry, at the time Macho's valet,  demanded a title shot .  Warrior declined.  Savage then got Sgt. Slaughter -- Warrior's title challenger at the 1991 Royal Rumble -- to agree to make Savage the number one contender if Slaughter won.  Savage interfered multiple times on Slaughter's behalf, eventually causing Warrior to lose the title after a scepter shot to the noggin. The Match: Art Barr & Eddy Guererro vs. El Hijo del Santo & Octagon  often gets cited as the greatest match in the illustrious history of the Los Angeles Sports Arena, but I'll take Warrior vs. Savage at WM VII.  Both had huge stakes.  Barr & Eddy lost their hair in a match where Santo &

A favorite movie quote of mine comes from Jules Winfield, played by Samuel L. Jackson in PULP FICTION (1994): "I can't usually get [burgers] 'cause my girlfriend's a vegetarian, which pretty much makes me a vegetarian." In my case, it's not about burgers.  My lady is a carnivore.  For me, it's wrestling and other televised sports.  "I can't usually watch WWE 'cause my girlfriend's an HGTV fan, which pretty much makes me an HGTV fan," is my version.   What I can do attend is attend live events.  My lady loves the heat of the crowd.  (Get your mind out of the gutter, pervs.)  I go to as many WWE and UFC events as I can, even though I skip the vast majority of their televised shows. The WWE live event that came to mind today is the Monday Night Raw/WWE Superstars taping of October 3, 2016, held at Staples Center in Los Angeles.  Dave Meltzer recapped it in the October 10, 2016 issue of the Wrestling Observer as "the best R