Hi everyone!

I wanted to sit down and just type out some updates.  This is probably going to be very unorganized, but hopefully it all makes sense.  There are various things I want to talk about, so I'm just gonna talk about a bunch of stuff, and hopefully it comes out coherent and understandable.

First of all: I have been taking a break from WWE.

Sometime around Money in the Bank, I stopped watching the weekly shows.  I still sometimes check out the PPVs (I didn't watch Stomping Grounds or whatever the last Saudi show was, but I haven't watched ANY of those, so I guess that doesn't really matter).

I had been kinda half-heartedly watching Raw and SD up to that point.  I honestly hated Raw, but MITB is one of my favorite PPVs, so I kept watching, just to see the buildup to it.  I hated SD a little less, but that seems to be Shane McMahon's main show, so it still sucked a little bit.

But then Brock Lesnar won the men's Money in the Bank match, and I just went, "yep, that's it, I'm done."

I honestly thought the year started off kinda strong; a lot of things seemed to be going well, it seemed like WWE might actually be listening to us (not counting the Saudi shows), and I actually really, really liked WrestleMania this year.

Like, I remember everyone being like "WWE won't give us THREE feel-good moments, Kofi/Seth/Becky is losing!" but then they ALL won.

And then after that, it all sorta went downhill.

I'm about to list all the problems I have with WWE, but before I do, I want to say that after that, I am going to tell you about a lot of good things happening in wrestling, too.

-The Women's Tag Team Champions haven't had a single title defense on a PPV since winning the belts.  I fucking LOVE the IIconics; they were two of my favorite people in NXT, and I've still loved them since coming to the main roster, but WWE has been doing a VERY bad job at booking them.

I've read that they were apparently supposed to feud with the Bellas after Mania, but I think Nikki had to officially retire due to neck issues, and instead of coming up with literally any other ideas, they just did nothing with the IIconics.

I get that they can't really feud with any of the women they faced at Mania; Sasha's taking some time off, Beth Phoenix isn't a full-time wrestler, and Nia Jax is injured.  The only main roster teams left are Sonya/Mandy and Kairi/Asuka (yeah, definitely not calling them the Kabuki Warriors).  You also have Aliyah/Vanessa and Marina/Jessamyn down in NXT, as well as Tegan/Dakota whenever they come back (though I'm hoping for some Tegan/Rhea and Dakota/Shayna feuds).

You even have women who are currently doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Why not pair some of them together and have them be a team?

-The women's division as a whole sucks right now.  I hated how the women's division was booked/treated when Ronda Rousey was there, and I've hated it just the same since she left.

The WWE built the division around Rousey, who can barely wrestle, just because she's a household name.  Instead of building up one of THEIR OWN women, they decided to make the transphobic, Sandy Hook denying Ronda Rousey - who ran away from the UFC when she learned what losing felt like - the face of the division.

They literally had her debut by coming out, overshadowing Asuka, the winner of the FIRST EVER women's Royal Rumble match, and just pointing at a fucking sign.  Y'ALL COULDN'T HAVE WAITED ONE DAY? WHY COULDN'T SHE DEBUT ON RAW THE NEXT NIGHT?

Speaking of Asuka: how did the WWE manage to fuck her up?? She was the top dog in the NXT women's division; nobody could beat her.  She had to vacate the title in order for somebody else to finally win it.

She had amazing feuds with Bayley and Ember Moon.  Up until Pete Dunne, she was the longest-reigning champion in NXT history, and is still the longest-reigning NXT Women's Champion in history.

She had the undefeated streak!!

And honestly, I was fine with her booking up until WrestleMania.  Not only did she lose (to Charlotte fucking Flair), but she TAPPED OUT!  Why?? Why would you have her tap out?? Why wouldn't you have her pass out or something?? (I get that you probably can't pass out to the Figure Eight, so maybe - just maybe - she should've lost to somebody else).

And then after that, they booked her horribly (having her lose to Carmella and James Ellsworth), and then she just disappeared for a while.

By the way: Carmella's great, but she's not on the same level as Asuka.

And then she won the SmackDown Women's Championship (kinda out of nowhere, but it was still welcome), and I thought things would turn out okay.

BUT NOPE.  Again, she had to lose to fucking Charlotte, on a random episode of SmackDown, and instead of getting an actual match at Mania, Asuka was put into the pointless pre-show battle royal.

Because obviously the winner of the first ever women's main event needed TWO FUCKING TITLES.

AND EVEN NOW.

If the women aren't in the title picture, they don't really do anything.  I think Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss are the only women not in the title picture (even if they were just in it) that have some kind of a storyline.

I'm actually looking forward to the two women's matches announced at SummerSlam.  Becky Lynch and Natalya are both amazing (I was hoping it'd be Naomi, but Nattie is my girl, so I'm not upset), and Ember Moon is the one I've wanted Bayley to face since she won the title.

I'm hoping we get IIconics/Kairi + Asuka, and also Nikki/Alexa at SummerSlam, too, but we'll just have to see.

Also, did you know Becky Lynch is dating Seth Rollins??

-I really don't care that much about the men.  Honestly, going into Extreme Rules, I didn't care about ANY of the men's matches.  Yeah, I was interested in Ricochet/Styles and Kofi/Joe, and even the tag team matches, but I wasn't invested in them, if that makes sense.

And it is definitely because I haven't been watching the weekly shows.  But I'm not going to watch them until they get good again.  I think next week, they're bringing back a bunch of legends?  Yeah, I'm not watching that.  I didn't start watching wrestling until 2010, I don't give a fuck if Stone Cold is coming back.

I know I said I haven't been watching WWE, but I have been watching NXT.  They are SO much better at storylines, and getting + keeping me invested in them.  I think the ONLY complaint I have about NXT is that Shayna Baszler is still champion; either Bianca or Io should've beaten her for it by now.

(Ooh, give me that triple threat match, please!)

The main roster should take a hint from NXT, because NOBODY is interested in seeing Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans main event a PPV in 2019.

(By the way, up until the last few minutes, I actually really enjoyed Extreme Rules.  Even the matches I wasn't looking forward to/were dreading were pretty great)

(Also, Ross from Cultaholic called Roman and Undertaker's team "Big Dog, Dead Dog", and it's so fucking stupid but also so fucking hilarious, and it's all I can think of now when I see/hear either of their names lmaooo)

-Brock Lesnar. That's it.  I'm not elaborating.

-Shane McMahon. Y'all, I remember when I actually liked Shane McMahon.

I knew NOTHING about him until he returned in 2016, but he was already better than Stephanie and Authority Triple H.

And then the brand split happened, and Shane/Daniel was a million times better than Stephanie/Mick and Stephanie/Kurt.  It was nice to see an authority figure who wasn't just a heel that hated all the faces.

And honestly?  I didn't hate the whole Shane/Daniel vs. Sami/KO feud, and I think a big part of it was that I just kept thinking OH MY GOD DANIEL BRYAN IS WRESTLING AGAIN!!

But then Shane won a tournament he wasn't even originally in, and he started doing something with The Miz, and I haven't been able to stand him since.  I wasn't a big fan of the Shane/Miz team, and I absolutely hate everything Shane's doing now.

It is 2019.  We shouldn't be getting a 20 minute Shane McMahon segment every. Single. Week.

And honestly, there's probably more things I don't like, but I'm gonna stop there. 

Here are things that I DO like.

-Wrestle Circus.  Last month, Wrestle Circus ran a show the same night as Stomping Grounds, and I mentioned on my profile here that y'all should check it out.

It was such a good show!

Wrestle Circus is such a good slice of independent wrestling in 2019.  They have established names (Scorpio Sky, Tessa Blanchard, Brian Cage), they have the newer up-and-comers (Private Party, Alex Gracia, Will Allday), and they have their usual regulars (Gentleman Jervis, Christi Jaynes).

Tessa Blanchard is the Lady of the Ring Champion, and she has the match of the night EVERY. SINGLE. SHOW.  I don't watch Impact, so I try to see Tessa elsewhere, and she always delivers at Wrestle Circus.  She had some great matches with Rachael Ellering.  She's amazing in intergender matches, specifically with Brian Cage and Scorpio Sky.

You've got Leva Bates cosplaying as a different wrestler every show.  Sometimes, she's not even booked for a match, she just comes out anyway.  Last month, she came out during Orange Cassidy's match dressed as him, and it was freaking hilarious.

They have everything; good technical wrestling, good hard-hitting matches, good comedy wrestling, good high-flyers.

If you've been keeping up with AEW at all, they've signed a guy named Sammy Guevara, and he got his start at Wrestle Circus.

Speaking of...

-AEW.  Their last two shows have been free, so I've been checking them out.

The Fyter Fest pre-show had some kinda eh matches, but the rest of the show was solid and I really enjoyed it.

Fight for the Fallen wasn't as good, but it was for a good cause, so I can't complain. 

I really, really hate to complain, and it's a stupid thing to complain about, but here it goes:

I'm not trying to pay $50 for a PPV.

I get that's how WWE did it before the WWE Network.  That's why I never watched their PPVs until they started putting them on the Network.

I'm hoping AEW will have some kind of streaming service that I can purchase/support.  I get that they might not be able to do just $10 a month like WWE, but even $20 is better than $50.

And I don't want to watch it illegally; I want to actually support this new promotion by giving them my money, but I'm a broke college student, I only have so much money to give lol

-NXT.  Like I said, NXT is doing a whole lot better than the main roster right now.

You can pair literally any two people, and you've got an amazing match right there.

I'm also hoping (praying to all the gods for this) that we get two women's matches at Takeover.  The last time we got two of them was for Brooklyn 2; we got Asuka/Bayley and Ember/Billie (it was Ember's debut).

We can have the title match with Shayna and (SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LAST TAPINGS) Mia Yim.  And we definitely need a match between Io Shirai and Candice LeRae.  Bonus points if it's a hardcore match or something.

And then we can have some men's matches, too.  But it's been a LONG TIME since there was more than just faces vs. Horsewomen, so I'm glad to see another women's feud.

(watch them put Io/Candice on the preshow/next episode of NXT lmao)

***

Okay, I need to get past all that because I have actual, like, Wattpad updates lmao

Whenever I finish "Irresistible" (which WILL be this year, I swear to god), I'm posting a new story about one of my favorite wrestlers called "Don't You Go." This is based/named after a song by All Time Low, so if you listen to it, you might get an idea for what it's about.

And when whenever I finish another story, I'll publish "Defying Gravity."

And then here are updates on two drafts, that y'all may or may not even know about lmao

First, I was working on a book called "Hero" and it was gonna be a Marty Scurll story.  I have since changed my mind, and though I haven't started making these changes yet, it is no longer a story about Marty (sorry, Marty lmao).

It will have the same plot, though, but it will not be about an indy wrestler. (I mean, he was on the indies at one point, but it's been a few years lmao)

This might be in my story ideas book?  I can't remember; if it's not, I know it is definitely somewhere in this book, in a chapter where I talked about upcoming books.

Anyway, I'm not gonna tell you who he is, but here's a hint: he, uh, definitely ruined my life at one point.

Okay, the next book!

I've got another book I've been working on called "Burn" and it was supposed to be about Corey Graves. (actually, it's supposed to be a love triangle, but I don't think I've ever mentioned who the other guy is; I will say that he's still in the book lmao)

Well, his personal life just recently got kinda messy, and I'm not trying to get involved in all that, so I'm changing the love interest/time frame.

The book was supposed to take place in 2015ish in NXT, when Corey was still a commentator there.  It is now going to take place in 2018 (still in NXT), and just like with "Hero", I'm not gonna reveal this love interest either.

He didn't ruin my life like the other one, but uh, he's more than welcome to lmao

And then a new book I've recently been working on!

I'm not gonna go into too much detail, but here's what I will tell you: it's called "Dynamite." It's not gonna have the same format as my other books (as in, the main story is not gonna be "OC/love interest" if that makes any sense; it's gonna focus on other things).  It's based on a book I recently read, and I decided to try it out but with wrestling.

Also!  The OC in this book is a wrestler's sister.  I very rarely write OCs that are related to wrestlers (I think maybe 2 of my OCs have been related to someone, and that's not counting the book I recently unpublished).  I am giving y'all NO hints about her relative, so you'll just have to find out when I decide to publish the book.

And then here's an idea that I need help deciding if I should publish it or not.

I was thinking of doing book reviews.  Originally, I was just gonna do whatever books I've been reading, but then I thought, "what if I reviewed y'all's books, too?"

Obviously, I'm not the best writer on Wattpad, but I know some people might actually want someone to review their books?  I have like 900 followers (for some reason), so hopefully I can get new eyes on your books!

But I need to know if anyone would be interested?  I don't want to publish it, and then no one asks for me to review anything.  And I'm not gonna review random people's books without permission.

***

Um, let's see...

I recently opened up one-shot requests again, but it's super super important that y'all read the newest chapter because I've changed the way I'm doing things.

I only open them up to five requests at a time, so if you've ever wanted a one-shot from me, now's the time to request!

And then here's a question regarding Instagram (you can skip this part if you don't have an account lol).

For those who don't know, I've been keeping an account for this account: mychemicalrollins (same as on here, minus the hyphen).  It started out as some kind of WWE fan account that my brother and I ran, but then I sort of just took it and it's mine now lol.

Anyway, what if I went live some time?  Or did the questions thing in my story?  I think it would be cool to interact with y'all, and Instagram seems like the best way to do it.

While I'm talking about this, you should follow me on Twitter, too: garganoescape_.  You can experience such tweets as

and

I'm on there during nearly every PPV, and if I actually watch Raw or SD, I'm on there, too.

I have a personal, more political/random nonsense account, but there's literally 0 wrestling.

(If you see tweets about wrestling, I was either talking to Kalina and didn't want to switch over to my other account, or it's me mentioning the wrestling challenge on RuPaul's Drag Race).

Also, I feel the need to tell y'all that my two favorite drag queens are Bianca Del Rio and Adore Delano, and there are other queens that I really like (Sharon Needles, Yara Sofia, BenDeLaCreme, Joslyn Fox, Nina West, Naomi Smalls, etc), but those two are some of my favorites, and season 6 is the best season.

Oh my god, I have to tell y'all about this hella random moment from season 6 that still makes me laugh to this day lmao ("to this day", I literally watched this a few months ago oof)

Okay, so normally, before Ru comes out to tell the queens the challenge for the week, he shows up on a TV screen, and talks about nonsense, but it's always full of clues for what the challenge is. (Ex: this past season, they did a challenge honoring Judy Garland, so he referenced movies she was in)

He finishes up what is said, and before he comes out, the queens are guessing what it could be (for some reason, I don't remember what it ended up being?), and Adore is just like "oh, we're doing a boxing challenge!" And everyone else is like "what?? How did you figure that out??" because Ru said NOTHING about boxing.  And she didn't explain it, and the challenge ended up having nothing to do with boxing lmao

This was a season with BIANCA DEL RIO, but the thing I think about the most is Adore's random boxing comment (also, I do think about Bianca and Joslyn's conversation about the "apartment numbers" in her quinceanera box lol)

Anyway, uh... I guess that's it?  I can't really think of anything else y'all really need to know.  Y'all didn't even really need to know about my favorite drag queens, but here we are.