Back in the Saddle: A Fine Song Title for the Disgruntled's Real World Champion(s) of Wrestling

*This blog post was started on February 1, 2024.

Lets see if I can at least get my blogging back on track. It seems my life or at least my mind is more of a mess than pro-wrestling. I better get right into the title histories right now.

The Current Disgruntled's Real World Champions of Pro Wrestling
Title Histories from September 24, 2023 Forward.

The 104th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Champion (Men)
AEW World Champion: Samoa Joe (2nd Reign)

His second reign began after defeating DRCW Real World Champion/AEW World Champion MJF on December 30, 2023.

Samoa Joe is a surprising champion. This is a bit ironic because there has not been a more legitimate looking heavyweight champion than him in the past 20 years. Brock Lesnar is now persona non grata to the business, but his reigns after his return to the business seemed very artificial. Kurt Angle should have solely put over Joe instead of being used to try and make TNA look like a competitor to WWE.

The biggest advantage to Joe as the champion is that whoever beats him will be a made man. Who cares if Cody Rhodes finishes his story? Roman Reigns is not going to be around to chase for the championship. Is there anyone in WWE right now who makes you legitimately fear for Cody's title reign?

Tony Khan should be declared the best booker of 2023 because he managed to course correct wrestling for all of those who knew the importance of the Ring of Honor style.

*This blog post was resumed on February 8, 2024.

I suppose I am pretty busy between Thursdays. It was my long night at the secondary job was Wednesday, so blogging was not my top priority. Friday was the eve of #FreePubTrivia's Tournament of Champions in Wrigleyville, so saving my energy was the goal of the night. Sunday and Monday were devoted to dealing with the sense of alienation and futility of existence that was featured in the prior blog post.

Of course, we can save the current head trip for next time. Though my memories from my wrestling career could lead to triggering events. Fortunately, I do not actually know any of the people who will be written about on a personal level.

It was a good thing to establish that Seth Rollins is not the Disgruntled's Real World Champion.

As an aside, I ended up composing this blog under the wrong blog (ninetyforchill.blogspot.com). This means that I copied the HTML to put this blog in the right location. Unfortunately, the original draft was deleted before I realized that I did not copy and paste the title. Thus, Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle" was not my original choice.

The 52nd and Current Disgruntled's Real World Champion (Women)
WWE's Women's World Champion: Rhea Ripley

Her reign began when Toni Storm defeated the AEW Women's Champion Jayme Hayter on May 28, 2023.

So, perhaps I am losing my credibility at least when it comes to talking about wrestling. WWE is not a product that I go out of my way to see. If *title/name redacted* did not need Peacock to catch the Buffalo Bills in December, I would not have watched the Royal Rumble.

I will fully acknowledge my tribalism. Personally, it is something that I think is necessary. If there are not rabid supporters on both sides demanding that their beloved product remains on TV, there would be no noise. No noise, no interest from the media conglomerates.

All I can say about women's wrestling is that AEW was a little too concerned with getting pops than building a strong champion. They did not want a heel to win the title from another heel in London, so they put the belt on Hikaru Shida to trade it back and forth with Saraya. And then it ended up back on Toni Storm to get over her new character.

As for WWE, Ripley is the most influential person in the best faction. There have not been many spectacular defenses, but she has left a mark. When it comes to the Smackdown side, I think they are lost since they are not focusing on their top athlete, Bianca Belair. Iyo Sky and Asuka are great champions, but they are only there to give Bayley a moment.

The 48th and Current Modern Poser Champion:
WWE Undisputed Universal Champion: Roman Reigns

His second reign began on August 30, 2020, winning it from Bray Wyatt.

The 155th and Current Real World Tag Team Champions:
TNA World Tag Team Champions: ABC (Chris Bey & Ace Austin)

Their reign began when they defeated The Rascalz for the Impact World Tag Team and DRCW Real Tag Team Championships on October 21, 2023.

This is a tough one to figure out. The build to Sting and Allin versus The Young Bucks makes the Bill/Starks reign worthwhile. I think it made sure we knew that Bill, the former Big Cassidy, was a force to be reckoned with and Starks will be treated as a top AEW guy. They were a frankenteam, but they were a fun team and actually allowed for more focus on the experimental American trios divisions.

The problem is that the Judgement Day first reign and FTR's most recent reigns ended on the same night. And, they both lost them to Duos instead of teams.

Chris Bey used his "Feast or Fired" to gain him and the partner he defeated the Motor City Machine Guns with another shot at the Impact Tag Team Championships. It was not a surprise cash in. They issued this challenge at Bound for Glory, and they were successful 16 days after issuing the challenge.

The 154th Real World Tag Team Champions
The Impact World Tag Team Champions: The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz Trey Miguel)

Their reign began when Big Bill and Ricky Starks defeated FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Champions on October 7, 2023.

This blog was resumed on February 25, 2024.

Let me get this typed and see what I need to recap. I last worked on this blog nearly three weeks. There was definitely the time to finish this off, but that was paid vacation from my primary employer. You bet I was going to sleep and drink as much as I could. Until B-Fest, my Letterboxd (cmdarth) demonstrates how much (or how little) that I accomplished.

But, it is good to take a break, and then be told I owe the Feds $400. It is a pain to correct that for next year (My secondary employer telling me that it would be easy to do from home proved false.). My research suggests that my accountant may have been wrong, but I do not want to argue with the guy footing that bill. And, to make a one percenter pay taxes...I do not feel too butt hurt.

All I can say that besides getting my Bluesky (@catbusruss.bsky.social) account set up (fun content, but not as friendly as Mastodon), I have this years promoting of "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss" figured out. If Reedpop would have communicated better, I may have gotten a panel set up for the show.

I was about to call that my only loss recently, but a good man was murdered by a coward with a gun. Brandon Hardway, let alone anyone, should have suffered like that. If you want to take a life, you better have the dignity to put your life on the line. We need stop giving the gutless a means to destroy with risk.

Please quit voting Republican.

Manic Monday: @CMPunk (bka CM Skunk) & The Current Disgruntled's Real Pro-Wrestling Champions

*This blog post was started on September 4, 2023.

I know, the title is a simple association. My attempts to be Penn Jillette clever can be weak at times. But, if you have read "Sock" by Jillette, his little pop song references can be too subtle for their own good.

It is a bit ironic to use the word manic in the blog post title for myself. My head feels like it screwed on fairly well right now. I say that as I wonder if I sent the wrong emoji to a girl that I have been chatting with the past week from Bumble. She has COVID right now, so obviously, to get immediate responses should not be expected. Ghosting has not occurred with this lass, but, has the corona virus ever been used to get out of a date? Times have only been made weirder since the Trump administration killed the study of infectious disease.

These odd times might be getting to me. If I do something that comes off as stupid, I can see a customer losing their cool and insulting me as a customer service representative. Being "felt sorry for" because I wear a mask and am triple boosted by a moron from Tuscola, Illinois (Wouldn't you know that the big city Angie Zindars group up near and Marissa Embry found work), who does not know how to read receipts expecting me to wait patiently on really got on my nerves recently. It makes me consider wearing my lanyard that has my keys to the building around my neck. "Ask me my pronouns," would at least make that cocksucker (Jillette says this word either represents an awful man or an awesome woman.) genuinely uncomfortable.

To be insulted, $25 an hour seems to be a fair wage. That is the price of a lap dance at Big Al's in Peoria, my preferred strip club. Sadly, my friends from that industry can attest to the treatment they receive.

I wonder if I still have any friends in that industry. Perhaps my attempt to out grow Peoria has finally concluded. There are rumors that I have been chasing down about good friends who are still in the industry, but the last couple of visits, there are hardly any girls dancing on stage (Two shows in one hour was the rate last time.). To the Al's credit, a double Johnny Walker Black on the rocks only costs $12 before 2 am on Sundays.

I have kind of scattered my mind talking about employment. But after this weekend in wrestling, the transition between my employment and that industry is fairly easy.

Pinterest @nsvos92

The Current Disgruntled's Real Pro-Wrestling Champions

Title Histories from April 16, 2023 Forward.

Before I get going, I kind of wish that Cody Rhodes would have defeated Roman Reigns back at WrestleMania XXXIX. If I would have known that asshole CM Punk would try to claim that he was undeservingly stripped of the AEW World Championship, he may have been able to claim the DRCW Modern Poser Championship.

I was working (obviously) on Saturday, September 2, when CM Punk was terminated from All Elite Wrestling. Not wanting to deal with the crowd (and maybe not spending money so extravagantly), resulted in me deciding to watch the show from home. If my little brother was more forthcoming that he was attending the show, my decision would have been different. No date for Monday (which she has since responded to this morning's text), energy was not something I would need for today.

When I found out that was his plan, we discussed Punk a bit. Basically, I determined that he was the most insincere person in the wrestling industry, dating all the way back to 2011. Returning to WWE after the pipe bomb promo essentially ruined indie wrestling until the Bullet Club was formed. Lets face it, it was Being the Elite starting in the middle of 2016 that made Americans look for WWE alternatives. Maybe Jeff Jarrett started that ball rolling in 2015 by allowing for the American broadcast of Wrestle Kingdom 9, but having dealt with a friend who just would not put the effort to find indie wrestling, I do not give that much weight.

Punk should have stayed away from WWE until he worked somewhere else. WWE could not afford that. Punk knew this and took a payday and headaches for it. He was right to walk out of WWE, but he had no intention to put in any effort to save the business like he implied when returning to WWE in the first place. If anything, "The Art of Wrestling" podcast was an attempt to burn television wrestling down to benefit the UFC. When he realized he had to pay to do that, it resulted in him throwing his best friend under the bus.

I did not care if CM Punk ever returned to wrestling. Was I happy that he did? Yes. It showed how influential AEW was becoming. But did I feel like it was a slap in the face of all the indie talent he spat on when I was very active in the business? Yes. Did I expect him to continue doing that? Yes. Did I want him to be the face of the company? Fuck no.

He was a man who thought the business should revolve around him. Great matches is the reason that I watch AEW Collision. A man who has never been humble a day in his life deserves no eyes on him.

After all of this venting, I guess it is a good thing that Reigns went over in April's main event. We can forget that the Real World Championship ever existed.

Time (Clock of the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship) and the Disgruntled's Real World Champions

  *This blog post was started on April 16, 2023.

It is funny. As I typed that time disclaimer, the number pad on my new HP laptop was not used. I guess that I have played around with my Chromebook enough that I do not need the extra inches. If only the ladies would agree to that.

Resisting cheap humor like that can be tough. I am confident in my equipment, but have to swing at softballs. Lets get off away from my joys of using double entendres. We are here for wrestling chatter that have been lacking from my writing since the new Reign of Terror had started.

Try and focus Russ. Quit being impressed by having a PC with speed to optimize your Spotify playlists. But mentioning Spotify, their Spotify for Podcasters product (formerly Anchor) has been working out fairly well. You have to be careful with the Apple app (nearly over wrote...well I did...one of my episodes, but was quick to restore it), but quality is there and easier to connect to other podcast apps.

That should be enough of me bullshitting about my life without mentioning much of it. Anyhow, I need something to fill in the space of my podcast blogs, so best save it for then. But speaking of podcasts, it was "Wednesday Worldwide" on The Ringer Network (also a Spotify product), that put further emphasis on a need to write this blog.

For my sanity sake, and to coincide with the upcoming WWE Draft, they may be better served to break up The Ringer Wrestling Show feed. There is only one must listen to podcast, "The Masked Man Show". As long as Peter Rosenberg is hosting "Cheap Heat" instead of Stat Guy Greg, that show is solely for WWE shilling. It is bad enough that The Ringer give Ariel Helwani a platform. But, to the Wednesday crew, I can appreciate their hot takes on the other shows' hot takes. Of course, if their take about Roman Reign's was correct, I would not constantly allow my 2Do app on my iPhone to keep the reminder to write this blog.

On "Cheap Heat", weeks before WrestleMania 39 (perhaps even before the Elimination Chamber), Bryan Diperstein made the comment that the length of Roman's reign does not matter. Since Brock Lesnar held the Universal Title for over 500 days to spite CM Punk (Who deserved it, but that was not Vince McMahon's place.), I whole heartedly agree.

As a kid who grew up on Hulkamania, I can see the counter argument, but that reign also made professional wrestling what it is today or, at the very least, put it in a position to be that. Once the one day title reigns became a thing, WWE titles are just props.

I think we all know that Triple H (hopefully just him) wants the 1000-day reign, but when you have a part-time champion (like Lesnar was), we should all know that the legitimacy of the title is fake. Sadly, the least appreciated team of The Ringer dropped the ball and challenged the reasonable to create their own hot take.

The problem with this blog will be that his reign is still continuing. It should not be surprising since Cody Rhodes, the man who tried to usurp WWE's reign on the business, lost on the grandest stage of them all. I really need to pay for NJPW pay-per-views to help them reinstate Wrestle Kingdom as that stage.

Again, WWE decides to just tell the Disgruntled Wrestling fans to shag off. Because of this, I am not afraid to declare these champions regardless if they have built the resumes greater that Stamford's product.

The Current Disgruntled Real Champions of Professional Wresting (As of April 16, 2023)

The 103rd Unified Disgruntled's Real Men's World Champion
AEW World Champion:
MJF - Maxwell Jacob Friedman

His reign started on Jan. 4, 2023 when Switchblade Jay White was defeated by Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

The problems with ranking MJF's title reign above Reigns was he lacks the big televised wars. His feud with Punk was great, but when it came to winning the title, we knew he would walk away from his first challenger Ricky Starks in what I think was an under-booked affair.

Nobody expected him to lose without at least one pay-per-view defense. We were all frustrated that it was going to be Bryan Danielson because what good would the championship do for the challenger. But, the feud was brilliantly booked and his 65-minute iron match was awesome. More importantly, none of Reigns's defenses can match it.

The 50th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion
Raw Women's Champion: Bianca Belair

Her reign began on September 4, 2022. She was awarded it from AEW World Champion Thunder Rosa vacating her title.

We are definitely in the "Belair Wins LOL" era, but there is no one that is as athletically gifted as she is in the ring. Her WrestleMania matches (I have not seen 39) were or close to the best that the shows had to offer. The problem is that her story has no adversity. As long as she is champ, the Raw Women's division lacks interest (unless they do something great with the tag team titles).

If they are working towards Rhea Rhipley as her next Mania opponent (Bayley needs to leave WWE because she deserved a Mania angle with Belair.), we should have another banger, provided she is not the champion.

The 48th Modern Poser Champion
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns

His second reign began on August 30, 2020, winning it from Bray Wyatt.

The length of his reign is only there to cover up the fact that as a performer, he does not really work. I would say creative deserves the credit for interesting television (not interesting enough for me to dedicate time to it), not his in ring ability. If he did not have Paul Heyman, he would not be worth anything.

The 152nd Real World Tag Team Champions
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions: Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens

Their reign began on April 1, 2023 when they defeated The Bloodline: Jimmy and Jey Uso.

I really want to put FTR in this spot, but the means a Gunns title reign. They are nowhere ready for that.

It would be easy to declare Zayn and Owens the Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions, but that would ignore their history of breaking into the business together. They are essentially brothers, so they are a true team, not two guys holding the straps.

The 159th OCHO: The Secondary Champion
Ring of Honor World Television Champion: Samo Joe

His third reign began on April 25, 2022. He was awarded it from AEW TNT Champion Scorpio Sky.

He is coming up on a year. It is a pity that he will probably never get to another Real World Championship, but his existence as champion keeps ROH relevant. He might get back there once Eddie Kingston dethrone Claudio Castagnoli. It would be great to give Mark Briscoe win this belt in his rematch.

The 166th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions: GHC Tag Team Champions: Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba

Their reign began when they defeated Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima on February 12, 2023.

Kitamiya has held the GHC Tag Team Title with four other partners, thus a good hand to support other talent.

The 167th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions: Impact World Tag Team Champions: Ace Austin and Chris Bey

They were awarded the championship on April 16, 2023, when Kitamiyan and Inaba lost their GHC championship to Takashi Sugiura.

Austin and Bey defeated the Motor City Machine Guns to gain the title. That will put you ahead of most team 6 out of 7 days a week.

It is about midnight on April 16th, and it feels like a very productive day. I got to see "John Wick: Chapter 4", got my parents tech needs resolved, and wrote a blog. This shows me that I have no excuse when it comes to writing blogs.

So, anime next week? Or, how about a movie podcast? If you want to record one with me, send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com with a movie, director, actor, or theme. Just try to focus on sub 100-minute movies to fry up a slice of gold.

New Year's Day: Easy U2 Reference, Difficult Championship Declarations

 *This blog post was started on January 5, 2023.

Right now I am trying to get caught up on the wrestling scene. I am still a bit ashamed that I missed AAW Wrestling's year end show. It is tough acknowledging that I am getting older, and of course today I realize year 43 is less than two months away. This leaves me to ponder if I am going to have the strength to handle all the events I am taking time off for.

This month is Joe's on Weed St's Trivia Tournament of Champions. Next month is B-Fest. The line up has not been issued. AAW in running back in their base building in Berwyn after B-Fest closes. That will be a challenge to sneak into the venue like the good old days. After the raffle at B-Fest, the features were very much skippable, so I might be able to swing it.

But, what if ThePoeticCritic wants to come along? When will I get to be the indie mark that I fancy myself as?

I guess I need to get into better shape to be able to manage this frantic life. The lease does not run up till May, so moving to the Windy City is not the ideal shortcut. If I got up there, everything would be nearby. With that, the drives home will not be that depressing. There is no time to sulk about my loneliness.

It feels like a pipedream, but if a friend who I never met in person can get people like myself to help with spur of the moment moving expenses, maybe there is hope. And there is always cashing out my retirement. I am in retail and not retail management. What is retirement?

So, that is where my head is at. Aside from seeing my current funds dissipate this week to pay them bills, there is no real pressure on me. I suppose I should just appreciate that. Perhaps I can resolve to write something every week beyond my blogs to promote "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast". It would be considered more appropriate than eating something Buffalo flavored daily or partaking in Snoop Dogg's philosophy (Smoke Weed Everyday). Then again, quit being so judgmental. If I will not let a god tell me how fucked I am, why am I doing that?

The Current Disgruntled's Real Champions of Professional Wrestling (As of January 3, 2023):

Let me be upfront. I am writing this as the preshow of Wrestle Kingdom 17 is playing in my peripheral. That is my biggest getting old moment of the past two weeks. Skipping a trip to Chicago for wrestling due to a hangover, that could be considered a fiscally wise move. Failing to watch WK17 because of the joy of sleep sounds kind of pathetic to me. Again, quit being such a harsh judge.

Please believe me, I made my best effort to watch it live. My workday for January 4 would start at 7:30 am. The January 3 agenda was to leave work, make dinner, smoke a bowl, and go to sleep. I was in bed at 6 pm. If I would have slept uninterrupted to wake up at 1 am, that would be seven hours of quality sleep. Too bad I woke up at 10 pm.

Another bowl was partaken, and I probably went back to sleep around 11:30 pm. I guess I was still stoned by 1:00, so bed sounded better than Omega vs. Ospreay. WrestleTalk said otherwise.

We are just getting through the match rundown for WK17. Honestly, kind of a lesser all around card than usual. Or, it only being one night limited the opportunities to be on the main card. Did we need the Keiji Mutoh match on the primary card? Jushin Thunder Liger was limited to the preshow. Give me LIJ challenging The House of Torture for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

I love the sheer amount of championships in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This means to be on the Tokyo Dome show, you have to be of championship caliber. If UFC can have 12 championships (excluding interim belt holders), why complain about eight in AEW (14 if you include ROH)?

Pinterest @MyDarthPrince

Spellbound: The Wizard and the Disgruntled's Real World Championships

*This blog post was started on November 2, 2022.

This blog post should serve as evidence as a proper, productive day. Oil change done, fat thawing out to fry up some wings therefore ending my four-day chicken fast, and my health benefits for the next year have been fulfilled. Hell, it seems I managed to stop Eva the Queen Kitty from licking her allergic wounds. What protein should she change to from chicken?

As I say that, she is taking another go at her scabby backside. It is like I am ironically writing that in to fruition.

If you want to know where my head is out, you best check out the blogs at MainEventOfTheDead.com. Hopefully, those rants will lead you to NinetyForChill: The Podcast.

But, with my Eva observation, I may as well bring up another coincidence. Driving to get my errands done, my iPhone decided to play Siouxsie and the Banshees instead of "Scream Drafts: High School Horror Mini Mega Draft". The song was "Spellbound". Spells are magic, and witches and wizards are masters of that. Here is hoping by the time I finish this post, the Disgruntled's Real World Championship maintains an association with wrestling's warlock. Otherwise, Alanis Morissette may as well have wrote this.

The Disgruntled's Current Real Champions (11/06/2022):

The 101st Disgruntled's Real Men's World Champion:
ROH World Champion Chris Jericho (3)
Reign began September 21, 2022.

So I had my issues getting back to the keyboard since the last Dynamite. My trivia excursion was a success on Thursday. As for Friday, it was difficult enough having the energy to make it to Rampage after the successful trivia night. Saturday was dedicated to paying my bills and then visiting my folks. That maybe a common theme with Mom heading to England, and Dad may enjoy the company.

After all of this, it is quite the relief from a blogger standpoint that Colt Cabana failed to defeat Jericho on Wednesday.

Do I have a bias against the WWE? Yes. If I did not, I would not have this blog maintain. AEW has had the best product from their inception until the Triple H regime took over. When I only have so much time to watch professional wrestling, do you think I would change my focus because Hunter is rearranging the board while maintaining the same pieces?

You can argue that Roman Reigns is currently the biggest star in the business. That is to WWE's detriment. He is rarely on TV and takes every other pay-per-view off. Turning him into a movie star will not help your company. WCW worked because of Hogan's failure.

Chris Jericho has defended his championship in less than two months enough times to equal half of Reign's challenges in the past two years. And with the number of defenses, he is the most active world champion.

You can say the AEW World Championship is more important, but it does not have the history of Ring of Honor and Moxley is focused on drama. This is a blog about praising wrestling over narrative. I am an indie wrestler. With a show a month, the wrestling better be good. Jericho is doing that biweekly and still delivers the drama.

The 49th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AEW World Champion
Thunder Rosa (Her reign began on March 16, 2022)

Non-Murderous, Undisclosed Desires and the Current Disgruntled's Wrestling Champions

 *This blog post was started on May 31, 2022.

Nothing seems to be going right in starting this post. I looked up songs by The Smiths to come up with a title for the personal part of the blog only to look at my previous posts to find that two posts ago was called "Pick Your Smiths Songs". That is a real kick in the teeth because "Suffer Little Children" would be fitting for the past week.

If it is any consolation for us Americans who have compassion instead of homicidal desires (Are these what Matt Bellamy was singing about?) and the need to defend their past, Twitter has not been too bad. Prior to Uvalde, I was still getting some gun nuts coming out of the woodwork in regards to my call for them to practice their aim instead of buying semi-automatic weapons. Those tweets were sent during WrestleMania weekend. Did those cunts just get out of Twitter jail and had to catch up on whatever those who are more careful in their echo chamber had to disparage?

They are probably just laying low right now because the cowards they voted for are taking the heat for the bullshit they would spout in their stead. If being in power cannot stop you from being an embarrassment, what can your anonymous ass do? Once the house passes their legislation, they will probably express their paranoia again because racist assholes like Rodney Davis had failed them, so red state senators cannot.

I thought I would get around to writing about my own struggles (like trying to find something to enjoy that is not dependent on the influence of others per my therapist), but after naming an incompetents racist, memories of his anti-woman stance come to mind. It has been so long since I wrote for the sake of writing, I did not get to express my anger over Roe v. Wade's inevitable overturning. Should I be writing just to get my rage out? If Mom cracks down on the therapy bills, that maybe my only option.

There is a part of me that thinks I maybe adding even more stress into my life by going to therapy. We are developing a good report, but can it help me? I think that I maybe focusing more on my problems, so that I will have them to talk about. Hence, my troubles seem like they are on my mind more now. With rent going up $60 and a credit card interest coming do, working short shifts with few friends leaves me focused on the lack of money. Sticking around before/after my shift was scheduled to begin/end may help the pocketbook, but it is only more time to think about how few pages are in it.

When it comes to finding outlets to be social, my big sister finds it in Twitter. With her personality, it is easy to see why. She gets to chat with fellow ignored souls. To cope with the assholes she had to endure, being ignored meant a good day. I suppose my problem is that I cannot stand just being ignored.

And the world's problem is not developing a thick skin where they can ignore silly statements. I have probably left people more upset by calling Johnny Depp menacing and claiming that people who ignore their dogs on walks to focus on their phones are closet cat people. People want to be heard, but not interacted with. How dare anyone make them think of the trivial (and occasional dim) things they have said.

Then you get assholes like @daykyle who want to remind me how Cody Rhodes return to WWE is improving rating for McMahon's promotion while the needle only moved once for CM Punk's return to wrestling. I guess this blog will piss him off. Maybe it will get him to write blogs because 280 characters cannot offer him an argument.

The Current Disgruntled's Real Wrestling Champions (May 31, 2022)

With that said, we already know who is going to be named the Men's World Champion. How is Cody going to top the CM Punk story? He is not going to be the guy to unseat the DRCW Interim Champion. Winning Money in the Bank and then cashing in after Roman Reigns beats The Rock is the only way I think his story can be better than what Punk's comeback has been.

He might get a brief reign before WrestleMania, but unless McMahon is going to make the turncoat their top guy and abandon the 10-year build of the Chris Hero stand in, it is not going to mean a damn thing. A reign where Roman just gets the belt(s) back is nothing more that a shallow means to claim that WWE has shown the upmost respect to The American Dream.

Foolin: My Life and a Summation of Tag Team Wrestling?

  *This blog post was started on March 15, 2022.

It does not seem to have the power some of the more silly Def Leppard tracks ("Rocket" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" come to immediate mind.), but it seems more complex than those "sing over a drum beat" songs. The title also works to describe my state of mind.

Another rough weekend. How will I survive once the weekends are only one day?

Maybe that is what I need. Less time to get myself pumped up for an inevitable let down. Both weekends that I spent in Partial Hospitalization for Depression led to me being on Suicide Watch the following Monday. That is a bit of hyperbole, but lengthy conversations with Catholic counselors did not help. How were things going to get better than wrestling training, interviewing the stars of AAW (and usually being humiliated by them), having a few drinks, and getting $20 to make sure I had the gas to get home?

I guess you can say this past weekend was adjacent to that. My family is doing well aside from my mom's allergies. With her being under the weather and my big sis and dad being mature adults, it was easy to slip out to the Peoria bar scene.

Was it exciting, not really, but I thought every turn had potential. Too bad the 8-Bit Beercade's last call was midnight. I was denied the time to complete "Turtles in Time". The only other bar of interest to me (Pizza was the family dinner, so Hoops seemed redundant.) was Big Al's. It was too crowded for my taste. Who would have thought the Indoor Demolition Derby would be such a draw? But, I thought the night was turning around when an old friend saw me there.

Needless to say, the tax refund was about gone, but I do feel a bit cheated in terms of debauchery. She asked if I wanted to go to VIP, and I said yes. Too bad it took forever to scrounge up the funds to do so. What was worst was that she was running the clock instead of the club. Time is money. It just happened to be dedicated with her wanting to focus on the past six years since I left Peoria instead of grinding on me. I suppose that is about the cost of therapy.

She was kind to me and we did enjoy some "Highlander: The Series" conversation. Of course that means she had no respect for the films or movies in general, so no Podcast number boost from that.

She did her best to ensure me that I am doing fine. There was an expression that me being single for the past two years shows my strengths. My life style of appreciating strip clubs was also applauded regardless of my age. I think she was encouraging me to give the Silver Bullet a chance. In the end, my comfort was what she seemed most concerned about.

It is great to know that people want me to be happy, but it feels like they expect me to just accept that it is as good as it will be. Ambition is frowned upon. This makes me feel like a bad bet. My friend mentioned how she wished that we had rich parents. Well...mine were not when I grew up.

Outside of my wrestling career, I cannot say that I have had a chance to fail. And when it comes to my wrestling career, I cannot say that my parents were supportive of that.

It is not just my folks, but my friends before I moved to Champaign-Urbana ignored my efforts to make a bad movie and the time I put into the wrestling career. I am either socially inept (probably) or a broken person.

Ally was great to me this weekend and wants me to succeed, but she just came up with a lot of wishful thinking. Or maybe I am just too good at arguing. Blue Chew will not sponsor me because I ask was one of the things I had to explain to her.

I did visit Stacia's grave and left with some wisdom, I think. Help is something I am desperate for. It may not be towards my art, but I think I found a way to try and be better that is affordable/justifiable.

With that said, if you brain is where mine is at, take Marty & Sarah's advice and visit nami.org. That is my best effort for a transition towards the draw of the blog.

WRESTLING! YAY!

The Disgruntled's Real Men's Tag Team Power Rankings (03/15/2022)

The Number 1 Tag Team in the World:
SmackDown Tag Team Champions:
The Usos: Jimmy and Jey Uso

• They had successfully retained their championship against WWE's greatest tag team, The New Day, to start the year. The New Day is currently out of the scene after Big E's broken neck.
• The SmackDown Tag Team Championship has been previously recognized as the Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Championship.
• They did vanquish the other remaining tag team of significance on SmackDown, The Viking Raiders.

The Number 2 Tag Team in the World:
AEW World Tag Team Champions:
Jurassic Express: Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus

• The AEW World Tag Team Championship was the most recent DRCW Real World Tag Team Championship.
• This was well booked, but it is a team with a Shawn and Marty vibe. They will need to beat all comers (the dream opponents for the Lucha Bros.) to make this reign stand the test of time.
• They have met a greater challenge than any The Uso's have faced after defeating both ReDragon and the Young Bucks. But with Fenix injured and Santana and Ortiz embroiled with the Jericho Appreciation Society, I do not know who is available and worthy to take the titles off them.
• They are the DRCW Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions.

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It's My Life: Employment Drama and the #TagTeam Power Rankings.

 *This blog was started on January 18, 2022.

We are going on eight interviews in one week. So far, Three of them were for "NinetyForChill - The Podcast". Two have been for a job that is too good to be true. Tomorrow will be for a couple of jobs and hopefully one will be with an IDES agent to appeal my previous, primary employer protest's of my unemployment claim. Needless to say, I am stressed out.

The stress is more from just wanting my drama with that employer to end. I have so much to say about getting screwed over for expressing what they were doing wrong which creates poor morale and how to resolve this. I think I am going to have to invite the interviewee to visit MainEventOfTheDead.com...but I might be exposing too much of my life.

What I am disappointed in right now is that I have not found a goofy sounding song title to give this blog post. I say that, and I think of Talk Talk. Don't you forget.

Here is to hoping the next blog will be "Hella Good". I have a feeling No Doubt lead to fuzzy memories.

I am on an emotional edge. My retailer is treating me great, but I need a guaranteed 40-hour week. After my previous employer's treatment, it just leads me to feel my life is just bound to be hopeless. It really sucks that I got muzzle my emotions.

I am not ashamed of who I am and I cannot afford therapy. Again, resolution of the drama with my past employer would be nice to elaborate past realities. This was and hopefully still is my emotional outlet. Sorry that I do not make friends easily. And yet again, I got to stop and not elaborate until my fight ends. The cruelty to have to fight.

It is ironic that real life is where I have to stand up for myself. When I was in the wrestling locker rooms before AAW, all the fighting is outside the ring via verbal jarring while I could count on one hand the Peorians on the top of the card who could actually be a challenging physical fight. You can say that wrestling is more of an art than sport, but it is frustrating being a Mid-South Pink Slip. Things would be so much better off if it still needed to be "real (to me)" damnit.

I guess that is a good enough means to transition to something fun to talk about. Something that is obvious to place in the title. How would anyone think that I was even trying to break confidentiality when the past six months of blogs could not indicate anything about any employer who was not Tony Khan or Vince McMahon?

The Disgruntled's Real Men's Tag Team Power Rankings (01/18/2022)

The Number 1 Tag Team in the World:
SmackDown Tag Team Champions:
The Usos: Jimmy and Jey Uso (Up 2 Spots)

• They had successfully retained their championship against WWE's greatest tag team, The New Day, to start the year.
• The SmackDown Tag Team Championship has been previous recognized as the Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Championship.
• The Lucha Brothers losing to Jurassic Express left the division with a lot of dream tag team bouts unfulfilled (Young Bucks rematch, Santana and Ortiz, redDRagon, Sting and Allin, etc.).

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The Number 2 Tag Team in the World:
AEW World Tag Team Champions:
Jurassic Express: Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus (Up 5 Spots)

• The AEW World Tag Team Championship was the most recent DRCW Real World Tag Team Championship.
• This was well booked, but it is a team with a Shawn and Marty vibe. They will need to beat all comers (the dream opponents for the Lucha Bros.) to make this reign stand the test of time.

The Number 3 Tag Team in the World:
ROH World Tag Team Champions:
The Briscoes: Jay and Mark Briscoe (Down 1 Spot)

• They also hold the Game Changer Wrestling Tag Team Championship.
• The ROH World Tag Team Championship was previously recognized as the DRCW Real World Tag Team Championship.
• They are working towards a program with FTR, former AEW Tag Team Champions and current AAA Tag Team Champions.

Bumbers Over Fascist Syndication and The Current Men's Doubles Champions

*This blog post was started on November 3, 2021.

I am coming off of a three-day weekend. Was the time off very productive? If only I would have listened to "Marty and Sarah Love Wrestling" last Friday morning, road trip tales would be told. But come on. How often do you get to sleep in on a weekday?

The Berwyn Eagles club is a venue that I miss, but purse strings are wearing thin. There is still C2E2 to attend (Flood these inboxes at Reed Pop to try and get NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast a panel [Do not feel guilty. They got my $97.50.] Chris@ReedPop.com; Kristina@ReedPop.com.) and I have a Disney World trip and you know I am planning to grab a custom light saber. If anything, the weekend showed me to appreciate stinginess. Saturday was dedicated solely to the apartment and Sunday just saw me spend $30 on a movie ticket, popcorn, and a D.P. Dough calzone.

That day was a winner because I got a podcast out of it, and I see the D.P. is still doing the punch cards. It is good to know that I can just walk in once again and save five bucks. I hate delivery/carryout apps.

After the weekend, I should at least get more out of the money I currently spend. The NJPW World on my iPhone would not let me use Chromecast and the Airplay was dropping in and out with my Apple TV. So I now have a Fire Stick, Apple TV, and built in Chromecast to my 4K TV (The Fire Stick was a necessary purchase so I am available to troubleshoot everyone I purchased a Fire Stick for.). Saturday this week is my return for the holidays at my retail gig. Perhaps I have just made myself the ideal candidate for the home theater department.

The getting more for my buck is based off of having easy to access NJPW available to me. If I can kick the YouTube habit, I can just place a card on and relax. With the new Pokemon game coming out this month, Young Lion and 10-man tag matches can provide the background noise as I detach the Switch from the dock. My challenge is kicking that YouTube habit. It will be tough.

With TopTenz.net and "Today I Found Out", weird World War II facts are hard to pass up. If only the turn of the century programs on A&E had more British accents, the channel would have never become the shit show it is now. I am sorry to say that about Peter Graves.

Of course the irony of this is that Ring of Honor is going on a hiatus after December. Not to say I was watching much ROH (Fuck the assholes at Sinclair Broadcasting.), but it is sad that the promotion I was striving to work for during my career hay day (I had just come up with a championship for guys who get in the ring every five years. We just need to start up a promotion for it.) possibly vanish.

You cannot make a TV show out of an indie fed. I have seen some OLD ROH TV and I have seen what the local marks have produced for public access. FireFighter is such a silly mark since you do not necessarily have to pay to put stuff on YouTube. It is rare to run into someone who is a self-proclaimed smark who does not display that smart mark is an oxymoron.

It turns out that networks cannot produce wrestling. If history is repeating itself, I would be afraid if I was Impact or AEW. Not only did WCW go down. ECW followed (technically).

In the end, I am amazed that vehicle bumpers are a more lucrative business than syndicated television. Are there that many Toyotas out there? I believe they are supposedly the most popular car in the world, but I know more people who are aware of ROH than own a Toyota. Then again, who is not busting their ass to make Lexus money? Surely the duos below are.

The Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Championship

The 141st Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

Raw Tag Team Champions

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre (9/3/18 to 10/22/18)

 

Shudder: The Streaming Service and WWE Tag Team Booking.

*This blog post was started on October 13, 2021.

Here is to hoping for an exciting weekend. I am just waiting for the Chicago Wizard World Comic Con schedule to be released to see if I get to catch any All Elite Wrestling live. There are so many YouTube recaps that I will need to watch Sunday night, provided I am up for it after 4.5 hours of driving. If it is all pushed back to Monday, how will I have the time to drop my latest episode of "NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast"?

I guess that means I really need to watch something on Shudder tonight to warrant the charge that is coming Saturday. After looking through their line up, no justification is actually needed. With HBO Max, Disney+, and Peacock giving me three studio catalogues worth of movies, Shudder is the final part of the puzzle to capture the joy of 2010 Netflix, a service that was once dependent upon classic films. For me, Peacock is free and Disney+ is "taken care of". HBO Max and Shudder are the only things costing me any money. Amazon Prime feels like an essential and the free shipping is nice.

Hulu is about the only thing I consider cancelling, but you get some weird moments. When "Possessor" from Brandon Cronenberg was discounted on iTunes, not enough to demand I buy it but enough to ask Siri if there was other ways to watch it, the streaming app that should be dedicated to Touchstone's R-Rated material came through.

Shudder will end up saving me money because I did not realize that most of the cheap, newer horror iTunes places a more than reasonable discount on, they are already on Shudder. I imagine films like "The Columnist" will be rotated out, so I need not worry about watching them whenever I like. But from last Saturday forth, I know not to get so trigger happy when it comes to making a purchase based solely on a cool gimmick.

Gimmick, a word associated with my preferred profession, pro-wrestling. Pro-wrestling is a sport that I am paying $15.98 a month for, $10 of which goes to New Japan World. It is a service I do not watch enough of, which is sad because I do have the time without cable TV. But, with the purchase of a Fire Stick so that I may troubleshoot those of my friends and relatives I provided, there is really no excuse no to access it. 

The only one that I can come up with is there is just too much plugged into my primary TV. NJPW's Fire TV app is so much easier than using a Chromecast. It just feels wrong moving my Nintendo Switch to the port saved for my Classic video game systems.

I who has too many unnecessary accessories. This leaves me fearing that I will return from Wizard World having spent too much and further exasperating the lack of space in my apartment. Just like the Men's Doubles World Championship, its better to have them than to wish for them I suppose.

It is not about it being a weak transition. It is about being able to transition at all. The world needs fewer arguments anyhow.

The Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Championship:

The 121st Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd (4/18/2015 to 4/26/15)

The 122nd Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

Open the Twin Gate Champions (Dragon Gate)

Masato Yoshino and Shachihoko Boy (4/26/15 to 6/13/15)

The New Day dethroned the WWE Tag Team Champions and are one reign away from starting the longest WWE tag team championship reign. ROH's champions were Kaz and Daniels. TNA's champions were the Hardys. IWGP's belts were being fought over by the Kingdom and the Good Brothers. It came down to determining the best of the three remaining Japanese championships.

*Blog post started on September 30, 2021.

I Miss Sunday Night Heat & More of the Best Men's Doubles of All Time.

Professional wrestling eventually brought the excitement to my week. Where would the business be if it was not for AEW?

In Japan of course. I kind of wish it was that way just to justify my NJPW World subscription. The G1 Climax tournament's A Block has kept me busy the past week, but now that the schedule is picking up, I ponder how many shows that I am behind. At least the B Block being filled with matches that are easy to recall (Tanahashi vs. Okada), means I will not have much to catch up on.

I guess my problem with AEW being established (before the Forbidden Door was open) was that NJPW was the one stop for the best wrestling in the world. My blog "The Disgruntled's $200 Wrestling War and Its Current Champions" told you how expensive wrestling fandom is, provided you are not an Xfinity customer. That price point was wrong because I did not include the approximately $10 a month for access to NJPW. But with all their gaijins moving back stateside, is NJPW now in the same boat WWE is? Do I really only need the service for Wrestle Kingdom?

The answer is that I need more friends who think the WWE is the end all be all. That way, I could just pull up some classic Okada and Great Muta to see if the reluctant can be saved. It is a lot easier than pulling out my indie DVDs.

Well, I say it is easier, but the lack of streaming apps and the joys of WiFi can make using Chromecast a chore.

Of course, the last person I was trying to sell that there was better wrestling beyond Vince McMahon's narrative was the most insecure asshole in Morton, Illinois. I knew that guy for 30 years before I had enough of his bullshit, so it maybe wise not to let people like that into my life. A WWE preference may be a red flag.

How can you even have a WWE preference now? After AEW established that you can run for two years and only have two disqualifications on TV, how can anyone support a promotion with a DQ finish and a ring malfunction that determined the outcome of you main event. At least AEW waits till the action had concluded to leave the crowd questioning their television production.

Jungle Boy versus Adam Cole and Sammy Guevara capturing the TNT Championship gave us the excitement that WWE withheld from us. With that said, is Sammy Guevara not only the TNT Champion, but the holder of the DRCW OCHO Championship?

The 154th and Current DRCW OCHO Champion:

(WWE and IWGP United States, Intercontinental, National, X Division, Television, North American, TNT)

AEW TNT Champion Sammy Guevara.

The TNT Championship is the premier secondary title because we know that it will be defended most often. Unless WWE goes back to having secondary shows for their brands, there is no time for four titles over two hours. If they had "Heat" and "Velocity", they would have championships that would be the focus of a brand's extra hour. They would also be able to use all the talent they have. I think it is the only way to justify maintaining the brand split.

Fox owns Tubi. Give the platform a show (Samantha Bee has made it clear there is no reason to know of the app, unless you have a movie podcast that requires a source of films to binge.). You just need to tolerate the conservative commercials and you can have your own podcast like the excellent "NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast".

 

WWE "Allegedly" Paying Google Off and a Brief Men's Doubles Installment

*Blog post was started on September 23, 2021.

It has been a slow week. I was debating if I should put another movie review from my 2010 notebook, but if we can keep it more wrestling themed for Disgruntled's Real Championship Wrestling, that is the more appropriate way to go.

This means I should get back to the Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Championship title lineage. It was kind of disappointing that I could not declare that when I listed the current champions in The Disgruntled's $200 Wrestle War.

And I will say, after Sting and Darby Allin defeated FTR last night at Grand Slam Dynamite, the doubles scene may become more interesting than the tag team. Tony Khan is a mark, so would it not be cool to have Sting immortalized with your brand?

The Bloodline is not really doing anything with the belts on Smackdown while Randy Orton and Riddle need to at least be kept busy. Here is to hoping Omos is still too green to break from A.J. Styles.

Speaking of slow, Blogger is having difficulty even proccessing the list. Is WWE paying attention to my lack of repsect towards Roman Reigns that they are paying Google off to prevent my influence on the Internet Wrestling Community? I should tag all those conservative assholes just to show them how to come up with a feasible conspiracy.

 

Bleacher Report - WWE

The Unified Gnarly Men's Double World Championship

The 92nd Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Unified World Tag Team Champions

Chris Jericho (2) and The Big Show: Paul Wight (2) (9/17/09 to 12/13/09)

 

The 93rd Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

TNA World Tag Team Champions

Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus (b.k.a. Nick Aldis) (12/13/2009 to 1/17/2010)

Everyone wants to think of D-Generation X as a tag team, or at least Triple H does. Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards were essentially what the Rockers should have been after their break up.

The 94th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

TNA World Tag Team Champions

and Hernandez (1/17/10 to 4/5/10)Matt Morgan

The 95th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Unified World Tag Team Champions

and The Big Show (3) (4/5/10 to 4/26/10) The Miz

Matt Morgan and Hernandez split while champions.

The 96th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

GHC Tag Team Champions

and Bison Smith (4/26/10 to 9/10/10)Keith Walker

Both of these gents need to be recognized because Smith was not too much longer for this world and the reign ended because Walker chose to lose his job to pay his respects to his father.

 

The Hart Dynasty were the WWE Tag Team Champions. Ring of Honor was under the reign of the Kings of Wrestling. Yujiro Takahashi and Tetsuyo Naito were the IWGP champions, but having been IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions prior to this, I would consider them to be a team instead of a set of doubles.

 

The 97th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

Open the Twin Gate Champions

K-ness and Susumu Yokosuka (9/10/10 to 11/23/10)

Keith Walker was one-half of the NWA Champions, but the lenght of The Skullkrushers' reign indicated too much chemistry. The IWGP's Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) would have a 500+ day reign, so again, to close. The Motor City Machine Guns were on top of TNA.

The 98th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions

Justin Gabriel (b.k.a. PJ Black)and Heath Slater(11/23/10 to 12/6/10)

The title returns to the States in this lineage because WWE is about to go into a dead period when it comes to actual teams being champions. Gabriel and Slater were the go to "team" for the Nexus/Corre, but that is a case of creative has nothing for them.

The 99th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions

Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov (12/6/2010 to 2/20/2011)

 

The 100th Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions

Justin Gabriel (2) and Heath Slater (2) (2/20/11 to  2/21/11)

 

The 101st Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions

and The Miz (2) (2/21/11)John Cena (2)

The 102nd Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions

Justin Gabriel (3) and Heath Slater (3) (2/20/11 to  2/21/11)

 

 

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