The BlackBear

Head hair, I just don't understand it. I had awful hair, I looked like a hobbit half the time. I regret never growing a mullet because I could absolutely have done a Jaromir Jagr. There are plenty of professionals who will deal with that, they just aren't hairdressers.

My one step trick to cheaper haircuts is male pattern baldness, your mileage may vary. But seriously hair is such a nebulous, peculiar and specific arena, I refuse to believe anyone can truly conquer it.

I have heard it theorised that wwe don't really want stars to get too big anymore, because they're worried they'll do what the Rock and Cena have done, piss off to Hollywood. I can't imagine Sasha appearing in the Mandalorian helped that fear.

Been watching AEW week to week and I gotta say, enjoying week to week wrestling again is great. It's not perfect but it's a breeze of a show that fits real well into my schedule. And in the interest in seeing if this thread has any life in it still thought I'd throw out some random thoughts on the last show:

Getting your ears syringed is what I'd normally say. Gratz, my hearing is awful. Good luck MoT on the vaccine, getting my second on the 30th.

Well sadly I have seen them twice since the new year, at funerals. So mainly looking forward to seeing them in a different context.

Fingers crossed! Going to Yorkshire for a hangout with my sisters and cousins, various other halves (and my month old nephew!) We've booked a big house for the bunch of us. Then (hopefully) South of France for Lady Bears best friends birthday, where the plan is to drink a lot

Any of you been affected by these awful floods? Looks really horrible. Looking forward to things was really missed last year, but now we're planning holidays both in the UK and in France. We'll both be vaccinated by then, but might still have to isolate, which would nix that, but you have to hope. Just hoping some more bands start touring over here.

Hello, what's new?

New thread, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, or whatever your jam is.

I did watch Summerslam, not live but later, and I didn't totally hate it. Fine to have on in the background. I do agree the virtual fan thing did work well. I approve of the guy who got the 'Fire Velveteen Dream' sign on, less so of some of the others, Benoit etc.

So if any of you are interested Okada's bizarre KOPW2020 tournament title thing, ((which btw they still haven't said exactly what KOPW stands for (one assumes King of Pro Wrestling)) has now put the first round up for the fan vote. https://twitter.com/njpwglobal So each wrestler proposes a stip, then the fans vote. They are: Kojima - Finishers only El Desperado - No Finishers Yano - 2 Count Pinfall BUSHI - 5 Count Out Okada - 1 v 3 Handicap Yujiro - Lumberjack, with Leather Belt Death Match Sho - Submission Match Sanada - Forgot to / Didn't realise he had to propose a stip, and just kind of accepted a submission match The whole thing is extremely odd, especially coming from New Japan. It sort of feels like Okada is trolling all the workrate guys, and I love it.

WWE are massively cutting their staff. Names include: Mike Chioda, Lance Storm, Heath Slater, Drake Maverick, Anderson and Gallows, EC3, Lio Rush, Kurt Angle! Fit Finlay. And they just keep going. What a fucking disgusting time to do it at, every time I think Vince has hit his moral rock bottom, he just keeps digging.

I'm not discounting your point, I do see where you're coming from. I guess I'm just seeing it as the perfect example of how Vice sees his roster. He can't see what he's got because he's too focused on what he once had. And got a bit worked up about it. Also maybe it's just me, but I feel like I would have liked to see what Styles could have done to make Taker look good. He's past his prime, but AJ was objectively one of the best in the world during his peak. YMMV Tangentially related: The XFL is bankrupt. Also was hoping to go to a NJPW event in London during October, that was the planned slot, unofficially of course. Whether it goes ahead now is of course anyone's guess, but I'm hoping like hell it will.

Then he should retire. And more than that, how does this help things going forward? Literally burying AJ, to put over an old man.

I watched night one, it was mostly fine, up until the Boneyard 'Match,' which seemed to go down well online, but I hated it.

Worked my way through Revolution, I liked it generally. Didn't particularly care for the Hager/Goldust match or the Nyla/Statlander one, they felt both a bit off the pace. I did enjoy the Orange Cassidy match, but it did end fairly anti climatically. Moxley will do well as champ, he's still NJPW's US champ also which is odd, since he can't compete for them in the US. I'd like to see the Bucks go full heel. They kind of dick around being half heels, but I want them to go all in (that was unintentional) on it. Speaking of heel move's: Cody's tattoo.

Fuck you COVID-19, all events from 1st to the 14th of March cancelled. On a funnier note: Any of you see SSD? Because I have seen twitter losing it's mind.

So not really been watching much American stuff, but been keeping up with New Japan since late last year; Holy shit the New Japan Cup looks great: In Round one: Jay White / Okada Ibushi / ZSJ and Ospreay / Shingo!

Glad Owens has gone Face again. It doesn't really makes sense, given how he turned on the New Day, but that was dumb anyway so... Folk love him, and his skills on the mic are off the charts, he's got everything a Tweener champ needs. Imagine, if you will, him taking on AJ, but this time with the roles reversed.

I actually watched an episode of Raw for the first time in months, because everyone said it was a marked improvement. And it was pretty good actually, still some poor stuff, but alright. Them weirdly fumbling around commercial breaks is very odd, the Kanelis stuff was peak Vince, this Wild Card rule has to go, and I'm not sure if you knew this but Becky and Seth are in a relationship! Worried for the Street Profits, just because I like them and call ups seem to be getting shafted. But AJ heel turn especially was good, and the Tron getting smashed up was silly fun. And this 24/7 nonsense is charming, and I'm so excited to see Spud getting to express himself properly.

At this point I'd say the sell-out buzz is worth more than actual ticket revenue. Hindsight's a lovely thing, but there's merit to being cautious, the market for AEW is still very unclear. It's magnified in contrast to WWE's poor sales for Stomping Ground (originally backlash, until they realised it'd look like Saudi Arabia Backlash...) Also here in the UK, they're (WWE) trying to run an NXT-UK show in Cardiff on August 31st, when not only is there a New Japan show in London, but there is a Wales/Ireland Rugby World Cup warm up game in Cardiff. Hotel prices are already through the roof.

I can only imagine it's loyalty to Vince.

Didn't watch it, but heard it was terrible. There's footage out there of Goldberg collapsing outside the ring after the match. It's terrifying stuff, both guys need to be done, the problem is will either want their final match to be in Saudi? It took a damn long while, but I finally cancelled my Network subscription. It hardly makes a difference but I don't want to support what they're doing. I'm clearly in the minority here, but I couldn't care less what Punk does.

Yeah, had to watch it over the course of two days due to timezones. But it was a damn good show, standouts for me were Cody/Dustin (holy shit that was a lot of blood,) and SCU vs the Chinese guys. I'm not nearly as impressed by Jericho, as Jericho seems to think we all are, but whatever, he's the big name star. Jack Whitehall was an odd appearance, but then FUCKING BRET HART! It's a lovely belt. The Bucks aren't really my type (enjoyable but not too special,) but the Lucha Brothers are incredible. For a first (I kind of think of it of the second though) PPV it's a great start. Really looking forward to Moxley cutting loose (have you seen his after show promo?,) Hangman getting a push, more good Tag Team matches. Also super happy to see Jimmy Havoc up there.