AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
Why do we need pride?
At around 2:00 am June 12, 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen
murdered 49 LGBT people, family members, and allies and
wounded 58 in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in
Orlando, FL. The club was hosting a "Latin Night", with most
of the victims were of Latino descent. It was the deadliest
terrorist attack in the United States since September 11. In
a 911 call made shortly after the shooting began, Mateen
swore allegiance to the then-leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi, and said the U.S. killing of Abu Waheeb in Iraq
the previous month "triggered" the act.
That very night, playwright Lin Manuel-Miranda gave a moving
response to that morning's horror, with his acceptance
speech for winning the Tony Award for Best Original Score at
the 70th Annual Tony Awards:
"When senseless acts of tragedy
Remind us that nothing here is promised, not one day,
The show is proof that history remembers;
We live through times when hate and fear seems stronger,
We rise and fall and light from dying embers,
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is
love, is love, is love.
Cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love and pride.”
In even wider distribution of AEW content, the FOX-owned
TUBI now has old episodes of Dynamite as part of its vast
library. The free service has around 100 episodes of the AEW
flagship show from the first three years. So far, these are
the only AEW-related content on it. It's not the only pro
wrestling content as Tubi also has episodes of NXT WWE
Biography: WWE Legends, WWE Rivals, Dark Side of the Ring,
and other wrestling-related programming.
TUBI launched in 2014, and currently has 100 million
subscribers and includes more than 40,000 movies and
television series from 250 different networks as well as
tons of FAST channels. It's available to stream on browsers,
mobile devices, and TV-connected devices. No sign up is
required; availability differs from country to country (but
there are always VPNs).
In one of the negatives of the week, Sareee’s scheduled AEW
debut was canceled at the last-minute on Wednesday because
she was not medically cleared by AEW doctors due to ongoing
neck issues. She was still advertised up to 90 minutes
before Dynamite went on air. She had been scheduled to face
Skye Blue in the opening round of the Women's Owen Hart
Foundation Cup , but was replaced by Maya World. Maya World
has had to deal with the death of her brother earlier that
week. She insisted on coming to Wednesday's taping, despite
the tragedy. Tony Khan decided to fill Sareee's slot with
World to help her deal with the tragedy.
I said this online, and I'll stick by it, social media name
calling notwithstanding.... Maya World was not a replacement
for Sareee. Period.
Syuri was available to replace her, having appeared on the
ROH Global Wars taping that same night. She would have been
an appropriate replacement. Instead of the Chris Jericho
Comedy Hour that opened up the show, Tony Khan could have
easily booked Maya World with an opening match on Dynamite
with a higher level AEW talent, say Queen Aminata. It would
have allowed Maya World a moment's peace and a chance to
work off her grief as best she could.
There were more very loud "Fuck ICE" chants at the Dynamite
tapings during the main event with Brody King. You wouldn't
exactly expect Cincinnati to understand the assignment.
According to reports on BlueSky, there was at least one
confrontation with right-wing folks confronting those
chanting. Security did little or nothing to help those
chanting. The same was not true on the second night for
Collision, as those causing trouble at Dynamite weren't
present and security was made aware of the issue the
previous night.
Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling and TSN, Canada’s Sports Leader,
announced Last Thursday the new weekly professional
wrestling series Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Mayhem premieres
on Wednesday, July 15 at 12 midnight ET / 9 p.m. PT on TSN2,
with new episodes following each week in the same timeslot.
The show will be the first Canadian promotion to have a
program on TSN in nearly 40 years.
“We can’t wait to debut Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Mayhem, an
all-new, high-energy Canadian-based wrestling series,” said
Scott D’Amore, President of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling .
“This partnership with TSN ensures Canadian fans will
have nationwide access to connect with MAPLE LEAF PRO
Wrestling’s homegrown Canadian talent and stars from around
the world.”
Calling the action on Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Mayhem will
be renowned combat sports broadcaster and BC native Mauro
Ranallo alongside Winnipeg’s Don Callis, a longtime
wrestler, manager and announcer currently signed to All
Elite Wrestling. Inaugural episodes of Mayhem were taped in
Windsor, ON this past weekend.
Limitless Wrestling is one of two latest independent
promotions to join the MyAEW streaming service.
First, the Maine-based promotion announced last Friday that
content will be streamed on MyAEW with “free matches,
wrestler collections, and full live events drawn from more
than ten years of Limitless Wrestling history, with new
content released week to week."
Limitless Wrestling joins QT Marshall’s 1 Fall Wrestling and
Orange Crush’s PRODUCE as outside promotions joining the
MyAEW streaming platform. The press release pointed out the
promotion's deep archive, featuring current AEW performers
Daniel Garcia, Kris Statlander, and MJF. Six matches have
been uploaded from the Limitless library, including MJF vs.
Matt Cross and Darby Allin vs. Zachary Wentz, Brody King vs.
Christian Casanova (now WWE's Carmelo Hayes) all from 2018,
and Myron Reed vs. Alec Price from 2021.
Then, yesterday, the Ottawa, ON, Canada based Capital City
Championship Wrestling (aka C4Wrestling) announced it is
joining MyAEW.com
For nearly 20 years, C*4 Wrestling has delivered an exciting
brand of wrestling in Ottawa while building a reputation as
one of Canada's top independent promotions. Over the coming
weeks and months, lots of classic (and some newer content)
will be added to this great service.
The company is noted for its annual "Fighting Back:
Wrestling with Cancer" charity events. The promotion’s
cancer-fighting initiatives are deeply personal and have
raised over $700,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society over
the years.
If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my
bobmagee1@hotmail.com account or to through Facebook
Messenger at https://www.facebook.com/bob.magee.180, direct
message me at https://twitter.com/BobMage70323520, or
contact me at BlueSky at
https://bsky.app/profile/bobmagee940.bsky.social
