More like Sky Red amirite. #AEWDynamite

This is the first time blue sky has appeared as a site referring readers to one of my wrestling posts. 2% of readers clicked from here. So, thanks.

What do I, a professional writer with lots of fancy books on the shelf, use as a bookmark? A randomly selected #wrestling card, a pile of which sits loose in my bedside table for this specific purpose.

I've done a lot of translation for book projects focused on Japanese fighting and wrestling. I'm sharing pieces at Hybrid Shoot. In 1984, a band of renegades created a new wrestling that would eventually birth Japanese MMA. This is their origin story. hybridshoot.substack.com/p/the-sermon...

Update on me: over here interviewing Tugboat and Bob Cook and Mark Mero. Malenko adjacent guys. My commercial instincts remain singular. Doing it for the culture.

I get so bored by projects about halfway through. Any creative types have a strategy for getting through this? I'm talking specifically about personal projects. Obviously work-for-hire is motivated by a check.

Want the real history of Japanese #wrestling? We're telling those stories one match at a time over at Hybrid Shoot. Today we follow the revolutionary first steps of Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki as they broke away from New Japan. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Some news I'm excited to share: I'm telling the Malenko family story in cooperation with Joe & Dean Malenko. From Boris's heat-seeking territory days to Joe's journey with Karl Gotch & Dean's mastery of the craft—the definitive story of wrestling's first family of "shooters." #wrestling

Reality Is a Work: The Unbreakable Man Who Had to Break Jonathan Foye's new book for Hybrid Shoot has me thinking about NOAH. This is the story of a match I loved. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Attention to whom it may concern: We're going to read all the Christies.

We have a new pro wrestling book for sale at Hybrid Shoot. Would appreciate your support. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Neat flowers randomly appeared in the yard.

New piece of art for the home office. One of the most successful pro wrestlers of the 1990s and a formative figure in establishing MMA in Japan. #PRIDEFCBook #MMA #Wrestling

What are your favorites so far? Listening to it a second time and right now Opalite, Actually Romantic, Cancelled and Wood stand out to me. #TaylorSwift

Joe did nothing wrong. #AEW

"I watched Great Sasuke do it and then invented it. Next question." #wrestling

The People's House Was Built for a Brawl From Andrew Jackson’s inaugural riot to Teddy Roosevelt’s basement dojo, the White House has always been a stage for our most savage instincts. #UFC open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

I interrupted all my current work to write a novel. I'm like halfway done. It's a noir set in the world of 1940's wrestling. I just started on a whim and wrote for hours. I have tens of thousands of words and a real clear picture of where I'm going. No one asked for this.🤣

Do you run a wrestling or MMA site that uses art to illustrate your stories or videos? Which artists do you recommend? How do you manage costs? Or do you steal other people's photos and cross your fingers that it will be okay?

I'm looking for someone to provide a single illustration for a secret #wrestling book project. In the style of Norman Rockwell. Or at least that old-time vibe. Please email [email protected] with a quote for the exclusive editorial rights for the image. No AI generated art.

Not sure if there are any rasslin fans on here, but WWE Vault has announced they've found a new house show taping from Atlanta. This is not a drill.

The match was the match. But Ibushi shoot punching the cage to try to get in and help Ospreay was ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #forbiddendoor

Thank God they are starting with Edge. Plenty of time to finish lunch.

The Golden Lovers appear this afternoon at #AEW ForbiddenDoor Want to know more about them? I wrote something about their beautiful, complicated history for Hybrid Shoot open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Many know the great Tom Gerbasi from his many years running the #UFC's editorial apparatus. But he's also a long-time #boxing writer and has a new book coming out September 9th. Tom is a great guy+ this book really looks sharp. Giving me some ideas for an MMA version.

🤼George Hackenschmidt snaps down Joe Rogers, 1908.

For @leecasebolt.bsky.social and with apologies to both Conan Doyle and the gentle reader, I present an #MMA mystery. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Big find at the used bookstore today. #comicbooks

The UFC isn't selling pay per views anymore. Instead, they're selling a tribe. It isn't pretty. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Flashback to the mid-90s, when two standouts battled for the right to represent America on the world stage. Two wrestlers. Two divergent paths. One sad destination. #wrestling #mma open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

Fell into a little Mark Kerr vs Kurt Angle #wrestling rabbit hole that is Pride book adjacent but not really for the Pride book. Will figure something out and write it up.

It's Wednesday night. If you know what that means, you're the exact person we had in mind for "Way of the Blade: AEW Edition." It's a new book featuring #AEW's bloodiest matches, with new insights from the wrestling geniuses who created them. amzn.to/4m4yXkQ

"Don't use the machine that can create art to your exact specifications. "Steal things from the Internet that kind of meet your intent like God intended." Just FYI, this doesn't seem to be a very effective anti-AI message.

I really want to start a physical zine. The Paris Review of fighting. Or something. I've never read The Paris Review. But I miss physical media and I bet some other people do too. #wrestling #mma #boxing

I’m writing a book about PRIDE FC and having to make tough calls about what needs to be cut. This story, setting up Nobuhiko Takada’s retirement bout against Kiyoshi Tamura in 2002, was a little too much for a book. But I wanted to share it here. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh... #wrestling #MMA

One of AEW's founders talking about his experience with the company and why he left is inherently interesting if you are curious about the promotion. I honestly don't understand wrestling fans.

I’m writing a book about PRIDE FC and having to make tough calls about what needs to be cut. This story, setting up Nobuhiko Takada’s retirement bout against Kiyoshi Tamura in 2002, was a little too much for a book. But I wanted to share it here. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh... #wrestling #MMA

We were out and had to rewind, but man the Young Bucks are looking good. Physically fit and wrestling like they have something to prove. My Founding Fathers. #AEW

The original belt collector: PRIDE FC and UFC legend Dan Severn #mma #wrestling

The original belt collector: PRIDE FC and UFC legend Dan Severn #mma #wrestling

Two Japanese biographies translated—now time to write about my favorite pro wrestler Kiyoshi Tamura and his reluctant entrance into the world of mixed martial arts. This PRIDE book is really catching a lot of my interests. #wrestling #MMA

Ever actually look at the option to manage cookies when you visit a website? The number of groups tracking you obsessively is pretty frightening.

If you see this, post some Jack Kirby art People always forget Jack was a prolific creator of romance comics.

We went to see Superman and it was perfect. Everything I loved as a comic reader in my youth. Weird 70s stuff like super robots, the Fortress of Solitude, a super dog....and just a sense of "goodness." Anyone being political about this is nuts. A delight for anyone.

What perfect album came out when you were 16?

Surprised I was the first person in the #wrestling media to write about Hulk Hogan today. Some thoughts on his history, death, my favorite match and his influence on the industry. open.substack.com/pub/hybridsh...

🤼1989 worlds, John Smith stuffs Stepan Sarkisyan's shot, jumps over him, and suplexes him. Rough sequence for the '88 Olympic silver medalist.

Something funny I found in the paper about Bret Hart's retirement from #wrestling: this didn't age well.

I just finished the first draft of my new Bret Hart #wrestling book. 163.390 words and no longer counting. Nervous about people reading it. Really nervous about Bret reading it. 😬