Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! Hope you all are having an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. Maybe you had all three days off, or maybe you’re getting one day like me. Either way, we take our good times when we can get them.

I’m not going to lie to you, there were a couple of days this week where I wasn’t sure what was going here. Sad events of the past week made it hard to care about the stuff that doesn’t matter as much. This happens a lot when I’m covering the news of the pro wrestling world, but the circumstances of the death we’ll be talking about this week hit a little harder than most of them do. I wasn’t really sure if it was worth banging something out this week, but then I realized that writing about it, along with a couple of the other things going on in the wrestling world, was necessary. For my mental health, if nothing else.

That being said, I still haven’t decided what other writing is necessary from me this year. As you know, I’ve been doing the fantasy football thing for quite some time now. Used to have a podcast, then had a column, then had a column I read for a podcast. The site I did that for is on hold, which in itself isn’t much of a problem. The bigger problem is the motivation level & my level of interest in football, fantasy or otherwise. Maybe I’ll find it by Thursday. I get randomly motivated at strange times. Stay tuned to thechairshot.com for the answer to that, all your favorite podcasts, reviews & more.

All Out Thoughts

I took the plunge for you, the good reader! The last time I tried to order an AEW show didn’t go to well, but I can figure out how to use FITE. $50 is a lot for one PPV, but I just had a feeling that something big was going to go down tonight, people were going to ask me about it, and I was going to need to talk about it. So I’m calling it a business expense, if that’s ok with everybody.

The Buy-In Match was won by the good guys, as expected. The big story, however, has to be the return of The Butcher. You gotta love a guy with a monocle, am I right?

Miro retained the TNT Championship against Eddie Kingston: I didn’t know how much I wanted Miro & Eddie Kingston to wrestle until it was announced. Talk about two guys that make you believe they’re in a fight. These two just beat the crap out of each other like one of them owed the other money. Bryce Remsberg picked a fine time to be an actual official, costing his buddy Eddie the match. AEW referees tend to make silly decisions, so this one was actually good even if the fans hated it. We can only hope Bryce somehow set up a rematch so those nuts can get redeemed.

Jon Moxley beat Satoshi Kojima: The new GCW champion represented his outlaw mudshow with his hoodie. Nice touch. I was wondering if Jim Ross had a deal with Skyline Chili, or was getting one. (Gold Star is more convenient for me, but Skyline does taste better, in case you were wondering. You probably weren’t.) Moxley & Kojima had the type of match you’d expect, hard hitting & Moxley getting the win after a good battle. Not quite as fun as Kingston vs. Miro, but business picked up when MINORU SUZUKI showed up to kick Mox’s ass afterward.

Here, please have this pic.twitter.com/rUdSQFPI07

— B×B Dee 👹| WORLD-1 (@DeeZee_Story) September 6, 2021

As it turns out, Suzuki will be facing off with Moxley on Wednesday in Cincinnati, which I find interesting. I love me some Minoru Suzuki, but I wonder how much name value he has in the Greater Cincinnati area. Maybe AEW wonders the same thing, and figures Mox will get plenty of cheers against a foreigner.

Dr. Britt Baker defended the AEW Women’s Championship against Kris Statlander: One main observation about this match was how much Orange Cassidy was into it. I’ve never seen that guy show that much emotion over anything! He should be proud of his alien though, she did a nice job for the Good Doctor.

The Lucha Brothers defeated the Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team Championship: I tweeted that the Bucks & Brothers were going to do all of the things ever done, and maybe some other stuff too. I should have left out the “maybe”, because these boys went absolutely insane. I don’t have the words to do this thing justice. Definitely some moments that the old school part of me would complain about (The chop circle was ok, the superkick circle was stretching it.), but it was some pretty amazing stuff all around. Nice to see Penta & Fenix get the big win, there aren’t many more deserving tag teams out there.

Ruby Soho won the Casino Battle Royale: I don’t know if I’ll ever be huge on the Casino Battle Royale concept. Probably not, but the women tried and kept things going pretty well for the most part. Good to see Ruby back on television. I don’t think I’m saying anything controversial when I say that Ruby was never going to be somebody that Vince McMahon got. I can see the argument that having her win was bad based off where she was on WWE’s food chain, but one of the things people tell me repeatedly is that wrestling is about Moments. Ruby Soho debuting and earning a shot at AEW’s Women’s Championship is an All Out Moment.

Chris Jericho defeated MJF: Yep, Jericho’s still going to wrestle. I enjoyed Chicago totally buying into the Countdown clock being some callback for Jericho when it was obviously MJF working the people. MJF’s an interesting character, I get the feeling he’s capable of doing all the flips & stuff other wrestlers of his size bust out every match, but he doesn’t have to since he has more charisma in his ring finger than most people do in their body. Must be nice! The ending with Jericho sneaking his foot on the rope was a little cute, but the people got to sing along with Judas so it was what it was. MJF loses nothing here because he can get on a microphone Wednesday or Friday or whatever and make you want to see him lose again.

CM Punk returned & beat Darby Allin: These boys slowed things down and told a bit of a story. Punk was out there doing the basic wrestling moves and feeling his way back into things. Darby took a crazy whip into the ringpost that looked like it killed him, but since it’s Darby Allin there was no reason to worry. Darby had some spurts, but compared to most things on this show it moved nice & slow. Nothing wrong with that. Punk did all the little things, Darby hit his big moves, and the hometown guy got the big win. Losing doesn’t hurt Darby Allin at all, because nothing seems to hurt him for too long. Sting got to come out too and help Punk give Darby that post-match rub.

Paul Wight beat QT Marshall via chokeslam: I went to the bathroom. Got some water. What do you want from me? QT’s tights are sparkly. Wight’s song sounds like Big Show’s song. That’s all I got.

Kenny Omega retains the AEW Championship over Christian Cage: As expected, Christian put on a heck of a show. The poor guy split his side open on a spear through the table, that didn’t look fun. Some Elite shenanigans with Gallows & Anderson, but not enough to say they had anything to do with the finish. Then the Bucks came out to help with a little post-match beatdown, probably leading to something big…

Jurassic Express? Nah, they got beat up too.

ADAM COLE BAY BAY…oh, wait, he’s friends with the Elite! Aww, sucks for the poor babyfaces, but I guess that’s life. I think your reaction to this is based off of how much faith you had in WWE to actually do something with Adam Cole. If you thought they were going to make him the focal point of Raw or SmackDown & make him WWE or Universal Champion for 403 days, maybe you’re disappointed that he chose to go somewhere else & chill with his friends.

Me, I see the potential. Kenny keeps talking about how he can’t work at his level forever. Kenny also seems like the type of guy that won’t hang around the ring forever. When he leaves, who gets his spot? Most likely Adam Cole. So I must say it was a pretty exciting PP-

Oh, there’s more?

Yes! Bryan Danielson! With a beat! And Brock Lesnar’s hair! Now the bad guys get their clock cleaned. A lot happened there. Adam Cole Bay Bay is with the Elite. Bryan Danielson is leading the charge with Christian, Jungle Express & all the other AEW do-gooders. Sounds like a good time to me!

Not gonna lie, AEW hit a home run with this one. They gotta keep it rolling, but there’s some momentum going. There’s some needle moving. There’s all the things you’d like to see from AEW at this stage in the game. All I ask as a fan of professional wrestling is to be entertained more often than not. If there’s any kind of bias that I carry, it’s that I’m biased in favor of folks that entertain me, and biased against people that don’t.

Simple, right?

Anyway, worth the $50. Definitely moreso than $50 of the bourbon I’m cutting out of the ol’ diet. (Not that the bourbon isn’t quality, it just doesn’t last long enough with me around, which is part of the problem…)

NXT Changes Update

A report came out last week that Vince McMahon & Bruce Prichard would be producing NXT going forward. We all jumped to conclusions over what that would mean, given that Nick Khan already told us the brand was being overhauled, we’ve seen a new logo, and most of the recent cuts have been focused on the NXT crew.

The latest reports indicate that Vince & Bruce won’t be writing the shows, but pretty much back up what we assumed was the situation going forward. Big decisions regarding NXT will be made by the same people making the big decisions regarding Raw, SmackDown & everything else in WWE. I continue to not have a major problem with it, though I understand that many of you had quite the connection with NXT and feel your pain.

If nothing else, all these news reports about NXT changes are getting the brand more attention than it has in years. Maybe New NXT flops & NXT Classic comes back? Probably not, but it’s something to think about.

Daffney

Shannon Spruill, who was known as Daffney in WCW & TNA, died last week in an apparent suicide at the age of 46. She did an Instagram Live video that basically served as a suicide note, talking about how she had written a will & she wanted her brain sent to Boston. Boston is the location of the Concussion Legacy Foundation headed by Christopher Nowinski.

Daffney suffered a number of concussions during her wrestling career, particularly during her time with TNA Wrestling. She suffered a concussion & an arm injury during a match pitting Abyss against Mick Foley where Abyss chokeslammed Daffney off the apron through a barbed wire board. Why was Abyss chokeslamming Daffney off the apron through a barbed wire board? I don’t think there’s an answer to that question that I would find acceptable. Shortly after returning from that, Daffney suffered a concussion, a stinger & a bruised sternum during a match with the woman that went on to be known as Sage Beckett during her time in NXT from 2017-18. Back in 2010, she was quite green. Didn’t make her a bad person or anything, just provided an unsafe working environment for a co-worker.

Let’s go back to the good times. Daffney debuted in WCW in 2000 as the somewhat unbalanced girlfriend of David Flair. Daffney, David & their buddy Crowbar formed quite the trio and had a lot of fun together. Including when Daffney pinned Crowbar to become the Cruiserweight Champion!

I mean, Madusa & Oklahoma had already held the championship a few months back, so you couldn’t really get mad about the business getting exposed. Daffney’s reign as champion lasted two weeks before Chavo “Lieutenant Loco” Guerrero Jr. defeated her in a three-way match also involving Disco Inferno. I would make note of how that was the match of the year, but I actually gave that honor to Daffney’s Wedding Gown Match with Miss Hancock at Bash at the Beach 2000. It was a pretty stacked year, what can I say?

I don’t know too much about her time in the indies, but there were some interesting stops along the way with XPW, ROH & OVW. There was also a stint with NWA Wrestle Birmingham where she was managed in matches against men by Col. Robert Parker, who kept calling her his “Million Dollar Baby”. I’ve never seen any of that, but it sounds absolutely tremendous.

Daffney’s second major run in wrestling was with TNA, and had an odd start when she came in impersonating Sarah Palin. Once that was through, we saw more of the Daffney we remembered from back in the day.

As mentioned earlier, some of Daffney’s matches led to some bad results. She sued the company after they let her go, and the lawsuit ended up being settled out of court. After leaving TNA, Daffney made some appearances in indy wrestling & tried to help the next generation of female wrestlers however she could.

Mental health is a tricky thing that I’m not qualified to discuss. We all have different things going on making us what we are. What triggers you might not trigger me, while the problems I face might not be something you can relate with. Then there are outside factors affecting some that don’t affect others. I don’t have a history of concussions, but I can understand that repeated blows to the head aren’t a good thing for one’s brain. Any problems Shannon Spruill had with her mental health were likely excaberated by the concussions suffered during her wrestling career. She knew this, and it was one of the things that led to her decision.

I’m not the right person to be sending this message given my own psychological makeup. I have a very difficult time being “nice” or “friendly”. I’m prone to being a sarcastic asshole, it’s my nature. However, the fact remains that we as a species need to try to be more understanding of our fellow humans. This is a tough message to send out during a time where politicians sow the seeds of discord & judges do whatever they can to make life difficult for the largest number of people possible, with the support of people that mostly don’t care to understand fellow humans. During difficult times, folks need to try and pull together, or at least try and not get in somebody’s way.

It’s not going to prevent suicide from still making the news more than necessary, but every little bit helps, & niceness is far less likely to provoke tragedy than meanness. There’s not much else we can do to affect things either way.

Thanks so much for reading, if you’re here you’re one of the real ones. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.