We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin. All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds Collide. Yeah, that should work.

Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.

Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I tried.

Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer non-title work no lie.

The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like it.

Edge is trying to do his part again too.

In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.

And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough. And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches depending on how they get reintroduced.

AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15 titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows' is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.

ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).

NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough pretty lady match.

NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.

Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to 2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them chops.

I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

Man I fuckin hated that

First bad thing Punk’s done in AEW. That whole segment was as silly as how we ended up here in the first place.

>Man I fuckin hated that
>
>First bad thing Punk’s done in AEW. That whole segment was
>as silly as how we ended up here in the first place.

It was convoluted in a bad way. And a little Ace Steel at ANY POINT BEFORE LAST NIGHT would’ve been cool. But the crowd ate it up so I’m not going to be too upset with them. Punk is losing and/or trying to turn heel in Chicago because he thinks he can do anything? IDK. I’ll just watch.

I liked the show quite a bit for a go-home show. Kenny got less crippled pretty fast for my taste unfortunately but he probably didn’t want to look in any way reduced with Will O around. They played ball and it looked spicy enough to buy that they don’t like one another ‘for real’ so I liked the energy of their interactions. And the tag teams both handled their damn biz. The Bucks were on a roll with the 6 hit combos and Aussie Open showed really too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FljGi6jzDmM

Triple Haitch comes back and gets a prime role. WWE gets super coherent because of course it does! NXT B&G wasn't an accident! Fun is obviously being had at several levels of the card. And even the complaining azz innanet is generally like 'yeah, this shit is pretty good'. And he's bringing back all sorts of people who had been cut.

So OF COURSE the story now is that some of AEW's roster is looking back at WWE like 'shiiiiiiiiid, I can be not champion in front of 10,000 people instead of 3,000! And what is this foolishness between The Elite and CM Punk? I don't want any of that if its real! I'm focused, maaaaaan. Tell Triple Haitch to holler at me, maaaaaan.'.

If Strowman (LOL) is really coming back to WWE and Bray Rotunda is too, it makes total sense that folks like Miro Rusev and Tommy End/A. Black might want to show back up to WWE too. And if KOR is getting neck fusion AND Adam Cole is hurt and/or trying to get off of the block of ice that him and Hangman are on AND Rod Strong is stuck in NXT, I can't imagine a Bobby Fish type would want to sit around and lose solid matches 2x a month in his 40s either.

I REALLY hope FTR is not about to have to roll out too. On the other hand, Haitch would probably have those dudes randomly main eventing weekly shows. And the inevitable Uce vs FTR match would be a damn good time.

I wonder who is really trying to sneak off? HOPEFULLY, AEW gets it straight, lets the people go in some reasonable way if they don't have some big plans for them, and then move on with the people they DO have plans for. I didn't love it when WWE was putting people in closets and not using them for 6 months or more and then being shocked when they wanted to leave. Or putting people on ice BECAUSE they said 'hey, can I just go?'.

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

He's been making his grievances known on his podcast, and was either granted a release, turned down an extension, or wasn't offered one.

Only other thing that's been close to confirmed is that at some point (no one can say when) Malaki asked for his release, citing mental health and unhappiness with his character's direction. But apparently the same people have also said that things were smoothed over. He's on a five-year deal regardless.

Miro asking to leave has been debunked too. He re-signed a five-year deal last fall, and got a lot of $ in the process, and has said he's happy. The speculation came from him "liking" a Twitter post by someone else grumbling about how he was being used.

Also, no rumors have said ANYTHING about FTR. I don't know if people are trying to construe them not being in the video game with them wanting out. It should also be noted that they have gotten along with HHH or Michaels.

As for Cole, it sucks that O'Reily is on the shelf for a while, Fish is gone, and Strong is apparently sticking around with WWE, but he's never actually given any indication that he's not happy. Again, it seems to come from speculation after he's said in the past how him and HHH are close. When he's healthy, he's been near the top of the card, and has always indicated that he's happy theere.

Granted, I’m sure there’s plenty of people who thought they would be used more/have better creative when they joined, but I don’t believe that practically everyone is asking for their release just cause AEW has a couple down months and WWE has a few good weeks.

>He's been making his grievances known on his podcast, and was
>either granted a release, turned down an extension, or wasn't
>offered one.
>
>Only other thing that's been close to confirmed is that at
>some point (no one can say when) Malaki asked for his release,
>citing mental health and unhappiness with his character's
>direction. But apparently the same people have also said that
>things were smoothed over. He's on a five-year deal
>regardless.
>
>Miro asking to leave has been debunked too. He re-signed a
>five-year deal last fall, and got a lot of $ in the process,
>and has said he's happy. The speculation came from him
>"liking" a Twitter post by someone else grumbling about how he
>was being used.
>
>Also, no rumors have said ANYTHING about FTR. I don't know if
>people are trying to construe them not being in the video game
>with them wanting out. It should also be noted that they have
>gotten along with HHH or Michaels.
>
>As for Cole, it sucks that O'Reily is on the shelf for a
>while, Fish is gone, and Strong is apparently sticking around
>with WWE, but he's never actually given any indication that
>he's not happy. Again, it seems to come from speculation after
>he's said in the past how him and HHH are close. When he's
>healthy, he's been near the top of the card, and has always
>indicated that he's happy theere.
>

Right. It IS funny how those rumors fly around. And we know enough to know how it can go now: sometimes, its gonna be bigtime untruth (C) Mary J. Other times, there'll be a little fire around some of the smoke. IE: Malaki is allegedly struggling personally in some way.

Of all of that stuff, I'm most ticked that KOR appears to be bigtime hurt for real and it'll be a good while before he's back.

Besides that, I'd like to see Malaki doing something cool SOMEWHERE. He's not young and his character is the type that can go bad pretty fast because the gimmick can teeter on the edge of being silly if everything doesn't go great and/or he isn't kept pretty strong. It is easy to forget/gloss over NOW, but let's not dare talk about some of Taker's shakier stuff.

House of Black hasn't been exactly horrendous to me, but its touch and go from segment to segment. I love Malaki's finisher still. I assume there's something up with Buddy Murphy that has nothing to do with the wrestling part (if I'm right and/or some of the rumors are true, at least he's getting to wrestle still..for now). And Brody King has been better than I expected..poor man's WALTER maybe. I hope they can get something going a bit stronger. I'm fine with them not winning the Trios deal. Kenny and Bucks as the first Trios champs makes entirely too much sense and they're GOING to have good azz matches so its fine.

FAMJ(Fine Ass Mickie James) is now claiming she's gonna pull a Ric Flair going into Mania 24. AKA she's retiring (from Impact?) on the next loss. In the meantime, I'ma be winning every time she shows up anywhere doing anything. She's had a long and solid ass career. And she's pretty high up the list on Impact of people who had pretty killer runs. And don't even start me on how on and poppin her feud with Trish was.

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

The card is good. The crowd is good. This is gonna be good.

Enjoy!

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

>

Rumor keeps floating around that he’ll lose them one at a time somehow.

At least this time he won Ric Flair style and Drew shouldn’t be ruined.

i like it

>

Rollins vs Omega before they both get too old would be excellent. And Rollins has proven that he can heat up a story before a match, tell a story with/during a match, and he's still a freak physically with some of the shit he can pull off.

I'd be down for some Rollins vs Will O too.

Jade v Bianca might be THE one tho. Bianca is already crazy good and Jade, at least to me, is somewhat obviously getting better and listening to someone who knows what they're doing. Mainly, she's gotta a lot better at being her character in between moves instead of the thing where you can basically see a wrestler thinking 'okay, we just did this spot. Shit, what is the next thing I'm supposed to do? Ahhh yeah, this thing..yeah. Let's go'.

The main event program is gonna be a good time. Predictable can still be good.

And the main event tonight was physical and solid.

And all the love to Keef and Swerve for doing their part to help The Acclaimed steal the show as much as it could’ve been with the guarantee of something cool coming at the end.

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

and they turned it into the most genuine "good guy bad guy" dynamic AEW has ever had outside of Cody or MJF

>and they turned it into the most genuine "good guy bad guy"
>dynamic AEW has ever had outside of Cody or MJF

A bunch of people working now and before can’t heel a situation no matter when the call got made. But it’s all went great here…especially the injury work. And the commentary even did their part to overtly call it out and explain it.

Keef and Swerve we’re making the right faces, bringing heel stank to what they were doing, and other little ‘we are good at wrestling’ shit that the older folks claim they want to see. So they just got it. In large quantities.

And since everybody loves the Acclaimed, they were great for their part of the deal..just excellent work on a weekend with a bunch of fun and/or rock solid rasslin.

Too bad it’s gonna be all about Punk vs EVP cuz folks love their drama and negativity.

Only possible way to make him seem bad is to make him a diva

The incumbent Day 1 guys are adored (even though I’m personally not fond of any of them really)

So if the former-WWE millionaire guy is a jerk , yea I guess you could get heat that way. Now I don’t know how they intend to portray MJF but If Punk seems really real and MJF just keeps being really real then you’ve got the first program in AEW’s young history that feels really real. They may even be able to switch roles if they’re savvy enough.

Punk/MJF 3 whenever they do it will easily be the most important and anticipated AEW main event ever. So there’s no harm in making as much noise as possible in the run up to that match. Hell maybe the Elite guys cost Punk the match even.

>Only possible way to make him seem bad is to make him a diva
>
>The incumbent Day 1 guys are adored (even though I’m
>personally not fond of any of them really)
>
>So if the former-WWE millionaire guy is a jerk , yea I guess
>you could get heat that way. Now I don’t know how they
>intend to portray MJF but If Punk seems really real and MJF
>just keeps being really real then you’ve got the first
>program in AEW’s young history that feels really real. They
>may even be able to switch roles if they’re savvy enough.
>
>Punk/MJF 3 whenever they do it will easily be the most
>important and anticipated AEW main event ever. So there’s no
>harm in making as much noise as possible in the run up to that
>match. Hell maybe the Elite guys cost Punk the match even.

But that number is going down little by little. I'm trying to NOT investigate too much (even though I had to go see when Ace Steel actually started working with AEW..March 2022 allegedly).

Really, I don't want to believe that the EVPs would really WILLFULLY fuck up the magic carpet they have with Punk (and the parade of other giveaways they got from WWE).

But then...I think of how Jericho seems to keep his distance and is usually off to the side somewhere doing his own thing. And Cody...well, you know.

This is where Cornette is already wrapped in a 'Fuck the Elite..especially that Twinkletoes!' flag and ready to take a victory lap if this is NOT a work. And Punk is the PERFECT guy to go all in on those dudes if so. He has the right mix of DGAF, money, and general wrestling world goodwill independent of The Elite/2010s indies/younger rasslin fans who have been internetting almost their whole lives.

And if Punk was willing to pull a Seth Rollins's's's old music (Burn it Down) with WWE when they were 'the only game in town', imagine what he would/could do with AEW if he really felt like taking it there. Maybe he's actually holding back cuz he appreciates Tony for throwing up the money to get him back in a ring in front of some people.

Either way, it is interesting/scary/something and they should be able to somehow turn it into at least some money and 'what is gonna happen!? Let me watch this shit to see!' energy if people can get/keep it together.

But they are playing a dangerous game either way. Cuz we all know how quickly a 'worked shoot' can become 'work yourself into a shoot'. And I'm going to keep saying it, but Punk being a huge Bret Hart fan should register with people as a good thing AND a bad thing for situations like these.

AND there's almost certainly some people who have mostly kept their mouths shut who weren't wild about Punk when shit was going bad with WWE. And some of those people have pods BECAUSE DAMN NEAR EVERYONE HAS A POD. And even if not, someone somewhere will throw a mic in their faces to get a 'yeah, dude was a bitch back then too' quote/clip.

The MJF shit still has me wondering, but I and others (probably here) have said throughout this that MJF probably returns when Punk does, and we were right about that.

I cannot imagine them executing that- or saving, depending on how serious it was- so perfectly, and then pivoting to a program with The Elite.

We should be talking about MJF and Punk now.

If this is a work, it’s absolutely terribly booking for all involved.

That, combined with the wealth of information that’s come out, plus Punk’s surly, confrontational disposition- which seems to have gotten worse- not to mention Cody’s exit now seeming prescient, points to this being a real and serious problem.

They have a plenty of horses to run in their absence, but that’s still a huge chunk of top guys to get mixed up in this.

Most outlets are reporting the same, or similar, stories.

Hopefully the pivot quickly. But I don’t think this is some Pilman 5.0 shit.

because no promoter with as hot an angle as Punk/MJF would want THIS mess to be the story instead of that hot angle

Bucks/Omega/Hangman are twerps. But Punk could've been WAY more professional after the show. Bad look for a top guy, bad look for a babyface, confirms what a lot of former WWEers have said about him...just all around bad. He fancies himself a leader but that isn't good leadership by any measure.

>The MJF shit still has me wondering, but I and others
>(probably here) have said throughout this that MJF probably
>returns when Punk does, and we were right about that.
>
>I cannot imagine them executing that- or saving, depending on
>how serious it was- so perfectly, and then pivoting to a
>program with The Elite.
>
>We should be talking about MJF and Punk now.
>
>If this is a work, it’s absolutely terribly booking for all
>involved.
>
>That, combined with the wealth of information that’s come
>out, plus Punk’s surly, confrontational disposition- which
>seems to have gotten worse- not to mention Cody’s exit now
>seeming prescient, points to this being a real and serious
>problem.
>
>They have a plenty of horses to run in their absence, but
>that’s still a huge chunk of top guys to get mixed up in
>this.
>
>Most outlets are reporting the same, or similar, stories.
>
>Hopefully the pivot quickly. But I don’t think this is some
>Pilman 5.0 shit.

My current guess at this is even worse: they were trying to use real bullshit to pull off a 'worked shoot' (as many people are suggesting they do right now). But oops, they smooth worked their silly azzes into a helluva shoot because someone somewhere along the chain got more mad than anyone expected them to. AKA Shawn and Bret all over again. Elite is Shawn-obsessed. And Punk can't wait to be Bret over something. And Colt Cabana seems to still be a big enough thing to lead to it sadly.

MJF loosely referenced Cabana and got away with it without getting laid to rest verbally in a scrum or hit with a chair. Maybe he cleared it first? Maybe Punk likes MJF more? IDK.

It sure seems like Hangman did his Cabana shit WITHOUT CLEARING IT and its been a shit-show ever since. And per compiled rumors, Hangers has been pissing people off on the low in the back for a while in different ways. Of course, the best way to tick people off is to ignore old man advice when you're obviously missing some shit in your game and folks are trying to talk you into being better at something. And making Page champ at all probably didn't help ANY OF THAT. But hell, there's so much inferring going on...especially right now!

I hope like hell that the rasslin media stays the course of saying 'its a shoot, folks' even if they get all sorts of info making it clear that this is either a shitty work OR if they guys can make themselves turn this into a work 'for the business' or whatever.

>The MJF shit still has me wondering, but I and others
>(probably here) have said throughout this that MJF probably
>returns when Punk does, and we were right about that.
>
>I cannot imagine them executing that- or saving, depending on
>how serious it was- so perfectly, and then pivoting to a
>program with The Elite.
>
>We should be talking about MJF and Punk now.
>
>If this is a work, it’s absolutely terribly booking for all
>involved.
>
>That, combined with the wealth of information that’s come
>out, plus Punk’s surly, confrontational disposition- which
>seems to have gotten worse- not to mention Cody’s exit now
>seeming prescient, points to this being a real and serious
>problem.
>
>They have a plenty of horses to run in their absence, but
>that’s still a huge chunk of top guys to get mixed up in
>this.
>
>Most outlets are reporting the same, or similar, stories.
>
>Hopefully the pivot quickly. But I don’t think this is some
>Pilman 5.0 shit.

Punk sits down, adfter having a bloody and grueling match, and seems "triggered" just by seeing the guy who used to be friends with Cabana, then goes the fuck off. Still pissed off about an inside and unnecessary remarked Page made back in fucking November that went over the heads of at least 95% of the audience's heads.

Sometimes I feel like it's a work, because otherwise it was so random. Like, if they hadn't just executed the MJF comeback, it would have been the perfect way to start a new feud (aside from the fact I hate worked shoots in general).

I'm still a bit leery of the shoot-I-ness of it all. The same people reporting how "it's all real" are the same people who swore up and down that the MJF drama pre Double or Nothing and the following Dynamite was real too. And that all is almost certainly to have been bullshit.

But now... I dunno, seems like they've at least suspended every one who was in the room, including the Elite hanger-ons (Cutler and Nakasawa) plus the two agents. And of course the rumor is that Steel is almost certainly gone, and Punk expects to be fired.

Waiting to announce it until Dynamite seems fucking strange. They're not going to be able off some Sasha Banks "Punk really let us down" shit. I'd also imagine refocusing everything on the Elite is also not the right move. Probably piss off any Punk fans who stuck around.

I guess the move would be to have Moxley and MJF fight for the title in Queens, and also putting the tag belts on the Acclaimed there as well just to give the fans something to make them happy.

I can't call it. Shit is a fucking mess.

from Nick Hausman's website referencing Meltzer gossip

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2022/05/backstage-update-on-colt-cabanas-aew-status/

also from Nick Hausman's website referencing Meltzer gossip, this one from the week before the PPV

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/980459/backstage-news-on-cm-punk-influence-over-colt-cabanas-aew-status/

im gonna give everyone the benefit of the doubt that we dont need to hash out who talks to Meltzer the most.

so then when Punk gets in front of these people cycling these damaging lies, he tells them, the likely source of said lies, the person who spread them on live TV, and the subject of said lies exactly what he thinks of all of them.

thats not weird at all to me. thats what a man with pride does. he's the only person out of the whole sordid lot of them that acted with any integrity at all, saying exactly what he had to say in front of cameras on record without playing the "thats what so and so were saying" game.

Hangman’s “worker’s rights” line was so vague it went over most people’s heads (is it even confirmed that he was referencing Colt? Could be just a reference to how he carries himself), but Punk was worried it was going to jeopardize PPV buys? Give me a fucking break. This is where he takes his grievances too far and becomes way too self-serious. He even takes a question about veterans as a chance to shit on a tiny thing Page said in an interview.

And the journalist reported on the rumors AND reported that they’re not confirmed/disputed by Punk. I don’t really see how that’s brings his journalistic integrity into question. I also don’t think Punk has any evidence that the Elite spread these rumors. He just needs someone to blame and they make the most sense.

All of this is besides the point. Even if his grievances have legitimacy, he’s the most work-shooting guy in the history of the business, and he MUST have said some shit people thought went too far a few times in his career. But now he’s gonna get worked up about a vague line that was POSSIBLY about his former friend? Ridiculous. And if he really expected no one in AEW to ever bring up Colt or speculate on how their relationship affects Colt’s career, that’s even more ridiculous.

and for another, he knows what modern fans are like. if they decided he's bullying one of their indie faves and they decide they're gonna tank his first main event PPV, the history books reflect badly on him. he cares about professionalism and he cares about making money, which seems to be the last thing most of his goofball colleagues care about.

and im sorry, but once Adam Page goes off the rails on TV he deserves all of the shitting upon him.

as Royce 5'9 once said "you open up that can of worms i hope you ready for the dirt thats in it"

>and for another, he knows what modern fans are like. if they
>decided he's bullying one of their indie faves and they decide
>they're gonna tank his first main event PPV, the history books
>reflect badly on him.

And they were still excited he came back. And there’s no chance a tiny reference by Hangman is gonna tank an entire PPV. Only in Punk’s paranoid ass brain is that a possibility.

he cares about professionalism and he
>cares about making money, which seems to be the last thing
>most of his goofball colleagues care about.

Does he? Or does he just want everyone to know that he’s right? If this was about professionalism or making money, he would’ve realized that that wasn’t the time or place to air his grievances. Least of all when no one asked him about it.

>
>and im sorry, but once Adam Page goes off the rails on TV he
>deserves all of the shitting upon him.

A brief and vague reference to something Punk said and calling him a hypocrite is not “going off the rails.” You wanna say it’s in poor taste, fine, but again, Punk is the work shooter of the millennium, someone was gonna go there with him eventually.

>
>as Royce 5'9 once said "you open up that can of worms i hope
>you ready for the dirt thats in it"

So his punishment is Punk makes him look like an idiot on tv a few weeks ago. Okay cool… then why is Punk still bringing it up out of the blue when Page hasn’t said a thing about it since this one vague reference back in May.

theyre pro wrestlers, so thats a given

but they dont all care about doing business

>theyre pro wrestlers, so thats a given
>
>but they dont all care about doing business

If the Elite did indeed spread lies about him, then fuck them, but he’s had 4 months to handle that through the proper channels. Instead, he chose the worst time to set the record straight, and now the company is left to pick up the pieces. His grievances may be legitimate, but his tirade was more selfish than anything the other parties involved have done.

It certainly has everyone talking, for better or worse. Not sure if that "helps" or not. But it doesn't hurt.

I think it remains to be seen how it will effect the ratings. If Punk is fired or even just out with injury, that will effect things. Possibly the Elite being gone for a bit as well. But that all could be counter-balanced with the return of MJF.

Like I said earlier, I think the injury probably helps matters, because it may force everyone into a cooling off period, allow Punk to "make amends" (if he wants to), force the Elite into re-thinking how they operate, and figure out how to turn this in something that gets everyone paid.

>
>Like I said earlier, I think the injury probably helps
>matters, because it may force everyone into a cooling off
>period, allow Punk to "make amends" (if he wants to), force
>the Elite into re-thinking how they operate, and figure out
>how to turn this in something that gets everyone paid.

They may very well recover from this, and I certainly hope this forces Tony to get creative (or hire people that will come up with great ideas). But either way, what they had on the table was Punk-MJF for the title, and I have to think that was gonna be bigger money than whatever they can piece together in the next few months.

and Punk is injured AGAIN.

Kenny and Punk both just returned from long absences.

Both represent yet another plan that didn't come to fruition for one reason or another.

All of these things hurt business, to some degree, because it hurts momentum. Maybe it doesn't tank the ratings, but who knows how things play out if these programs actually happen according to plan, and we actually got some long term stability out of it?

the build to Punk's first title win was a huge deal.

He's won twice, in two attempts, and was gone immediately after, each time. That's bad for business.

>Like I said earlier, I think the injury probably helps
>matters, because it may force everyone into a cooling off
>period, allow Punk to "make amends" (if he wants to), force
>the Elite into re-thinking how they operate, and figure out
>how to turn this in something that gets everyone paid.

That would be a side effect at best. A pleasant surprise.

And Punk hasn't exactly demonstrated himself to be a water under the bridge sort of guy.

Yes. That's weird.

Just to be clear, I'm more on Punk's "side" here. What Page did was dumb, especially if Punk has made it clear that people shouldn't go there re: Colt Cabana. And I don't doubt that the EVPs were the source of the story. Or, if not them, then their close friends.

All that said, Punk had made his point three weeks before when he called out Page on Dynamite. In general, he knows these scrums are there to be Khan's victory lap, which is a game that Punk has happily played before. As I think I mentioned earlier in this post, Punk shilled HARD for AEW at ComiCon, with no controversy at all, and that also happened after Page's remarks.

I'm not even expecting it to be water under the bridge after that. I just expected that he'd keep it in the lockeroom.

Hell, I would have even understood if Punk had made the comment if someone had asked him about it. But that he did it, apropos nothing, and it wasn't a work, is just weird.

Again, it doesn't really matter now, because as Jim has said, he's hurt and is going to have to drop the belt again, no matter what. I honestly hope that it buys them time to chill everyone out, and figure out a way to co-exist so they can make tons of money after the smoke clears.

but that being said, they (the "media") were speculating and spreading rumors all summer, and hes got them all in the same place at the same time. what could anyone have expected?

TK was sitting right there and he could have shut it all down at any point, and instead he kinda just looks like Punk is saying what TK wished he could say about his "executive team".

these media scrums are a terrible idea in the first place, and if TK is blindsided by Punk wanting his reckoning with those "journalists"...hes a bigger fucking moron than I already thought he was.

There certainly not going away now. And I really hope that TK doesn't start using them to stage angles.

>from Nick Hausman's website referencing Meltzer gossip
>
>https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2022/05/backstage-update-on-colt-cabanas-aew-status/
>
>also from Nick Hausman's website referencing Meltzer gossip,
>this one from the week before the PPV
>
>https://www.wrestlinginc.com/980459/backstage-news-on-cm-punk-influence-over-colt-cabanas-aew-status/
>
>im gonna give everyone the benefit of the doubt that we dont
>need to hash out who talks to Meltzer the most.
>
>so then when Punk gets in front of these people cycling these
>damaging lies, he tells them, the likely source of said lies,
>the person who spread them on live TV, and the subject of said
>lies exactly what he thinks of all of them.
>
>thats not weird at all to me. thats what a man with pride
>does. he's the only person out of the whole sordid lot of
>them that acted with any integrity at all, saying exactly what
>he had to say in front of cameras on record without playing
>the "thats what so and so were saying" game.

Yeah, Punk went hard to the hoop. And MAYBE he took it kinda far.

But I too am kinda down with Punk doing something like what he did if he thinks they really tried to fuck with him on the low via lackeys and sheets. Everyone can't be diplomatic like Cody. And not everyone should have to. And I dig the EVPs in the ring quite a bit so I'm not hating just to hate. If they're pulling this Mean Girls shit, they deserve to get called on it as publicly as possible.

Now I'm thinking Punk knew he was hurt AGAIN and he just decided 'fuck it, I'm about to drown these bitch ass dudes'.

I'm guessing we'll get SOME answers tonight. They need to put the title on Danielson.

. Everyone can't be diplomatic like
>Cody. And not everyone should have to.

this is really casting Cody's last year in the company in a whooooooooole new light. is there any possible chance dealing with these little brats didnt factor into his decision?


>And I dig the EVPs in
>the ring quite a bit so I'm not hating just to hate. If
>they're pulling this Mean Girls shit, they deserve to get
>called on it as publicly as possible.

yep

>Now I'm thinking Punk knew he was hurt AGAIN and he just
>decided 'fuck it, I'm about to drown these bitch ass dudes'.

yeah the injury might have sapped away the very last traces of his last spare fuck

>I'm guessing we'll get SOME answers tonight. They need to put
>the title on Danielson.

i actually bet we dont. i see this show going on under the pretense that none of these people actually even exist in this dimension

>this is really casting Cody's last year in the company in a
>whooooooooole new light. is there any possible chance dealing
>with these little brats didnt factor into his decision?

He might not have been getting along with the other EVPs, but he sure made a lot of shit decisions those final months. Mostly in service of him refusing to turn heel when the crowd was getting sick of him. He pretty much derailed the pushes of both Malaki and Andrade. His "feud" with Sammy was a fucking mess. He managed to get the crowd to cheer Dan Lambert.


>i actually bet we dont. i see this show going on under the
>pretense that none of these people actually even exist in this
>dimension

Before the injury news, I would have bet on them having to say SOMETHING. With Punk hurt, they can afford to just not having everyone on TV for a weeks (Punk longer), and then hopefully hash everything out.

Yes, absolutely.

He could have said, "I'd rather discuss my win tonight" or something along those lines to the Colt question.

But he chose to reel off shots about other guys.

Cool. It sounds like they needed a wake up call.

This was neither the time, place, or platform to do that.

That's some backstage shit that should have been dealt with back stage.

Punk did everyone- himself, Tony, Mox, MJF, the company, everyone- a serious disservice by choosing to focus on airing his personal/professional grievances after that night.

For all his talk of Paige undermining the a babyface trying to sell tickets, he just nuked two top programs because he decided to be Mr Swingin' Dick on a public platform.

None of this absolves the obvious fuckery going on with the idiot Bucks/Omega and the shit they pulled. But Punk undercut the entire night in a serious way, and got himself injured AGAIN as the result of a poor choice (even he realizes the dive after the last one was a bad idea).

He didn't show an ounce of actual leadership.
He just threw a barrel of gas on a dumpster fire.

So while he's not responsible for the stupid shit the Bucks and Omega responded with, he absolutely escalated what was clearly an already tense situation.

He's a lot of talk.

He may have offered substantial advice, had valid issues with what was going on, but he's shown himself to be an absolute dog shit leader.

The person I feel worst for is MJF. Young with his whole career in front of him and his moment was ruined by a guy who should’ve known better than anyone else.

>
>He could have said, "I'd rather discuss my win tonight" or
>something along those lines to the Colt question.
>

He simply saw the writer that used to do improv with Colt and went off. People asked some follow-up questions later, but he’s the one who brought it up initially. Even when they had moved on to other topics he brought it back to Page and Colt.

whose website was publishing the gossip all summer

>whose website was publishing the gossip all summer

Punk was not asked a question about anything. He went off the handle cause he saw a guy who reported a rumor (while making it clear that it was just that) without disclosing that he used to do improv with Colt. This is what I mean by he's too self-serious. Just do the press conference, man. Who gives a shit about any of that? And who cares that Colt shares a bank account with his Mom lol?

>And who cares that Colt shares a bank
>account with his Mom lol?

Nothing about that was addressing anything of substance.
It was about trying to emasculate Colt.

He said something to the effect of, "that just tells you what kind of character this guy has".

Which was mind boggling to me. What?

He really tried to portray that as a character flaw.

That he’s a mama’s boy and should be embarrassed? That his mom pays his bills? That he’s taking advantage of his mom somehow? Family members can be listed on each other’s bank accounts for any number of reasons, so to throw that out there without having any context is just petty

Like I said, his grievances may be legitimate, but he fucked up his whole point with this tirade. It’s incredible that he laments working with “children” when his rant makes him look like a petulant child.

Typically, mom/dad, sometimes an aunt/uncle/grandparent, have their kids/etc on their accounts for sheer security purposes.

Or the adult child/etc is simply a payee for things like social security, and the joint account simplifies that process.

If it's a character implication, the first one I jump to is, he's making sure she's not getting screwed over on one front or another.

He's fucking hurt again. Elbow. So, no matter what, he's losing the title.

Here's a thought: THEY NEED TO QUIT FUCKING AROUND, put the fucking title on Bryan Danielson, and get shit back on the rails. Far less drama, killer matches, he can go with ANYBODY, and oh...he's pretty clearly the best wrestler on the roster so there's that too.

>Only possible way to make him seem bad is to make him a diva
>
>The incumbent Day 1 guys are adored (even though I’m
>personally not fond of any of them really)
>
>So if the former-WWE millionaire guy is a jerk , yea I guess
>you could get heat that way. Now I don’t know how they
>intend to portray MJF but If Punk seems really real and MJF
>just keeps being really real then you’ve got the first
>program in AEW’s young history that feels really real. They
>may even be able to switch roles if they’re savvy enough.
>
>Punk/MJF 3 whenever they do it will easily be the most
>important and anticipated AEW main event ever. So there’s no
>harm in making as much noise as possible in the run up to that
>match. Hell maybe the Elite guys cost Punk the match even.

I think that's the move the right this ship

AEW originals
This is their DDP/Goldberg pair

That angle was incredibly hot, and this was the obvious, eventual play anyways.

I think it's best to jumpstart Wardlow and let MJF run with the ball. Maybe give MJF another opponent initially, while Wardlow warms up, and start that chase after Full Gear, culminating in another Double Or Nothing win for Wardlow.

>I think that's the move the right this ship
>
>AEW originals
>This is their DDP/Goldberg pair
>
>That angle was incredibly hot, and this was the obvious,
>eventual play anyways.
>
>I think it's best to jumpstart Wardlow and let MJF run with
>the ball. Maybe give MJF another opponent initially, while
>Wardlow warms up, and start that chase after Full Gear,
>culminating in another Double Or Nothing win for Wardlow.
>

I dig that too. Have MJF’s new crew help him beat Moxley or whoever gets to stand in for Punk. Let MJF do the show-starting promos most weeks and draw out babyfaces from every corner to try to take him down. That works.

esp since my BR decided to stroke out during the main event 😑

>

When he’s on, it’s on. And the stuff with Sami is choice too.

Side: I love Dexter Lumis. He’s ridiculous but that fool is great with the faces. Him stalking Miz has me rolling. And the shot that showed us seeing Miz see him? Heartwarming like Ricky Steamboat doing speech therapy after getting his throat crushed by Savage and the ring bell.

In NXT, pretty much everything related to his wedding had me for real laughing. Him showing Gargano how to throw an ax for instance..I couldn’t take it.

>

It is crazy how WWE basically dropped a whole fed worth of wrestlers and they still have a wealth of talented people who can do great stuff as long as the show is..I keep using the word..coherent.

I don’t need to agree with every finish. I don’t need my fav folks to always be in the main event. But I really dig it when I watch a wrestling show where it seems like everyone is allowed to look good enough to be on the damn show. And right now, it’s like they’re overtly trying to make a bunch of people look good. Imagine that shit!

AEW has tried to do that too and they try to show and prove with keeping up with the records. It’s really good too and it probably isn’t appreciated enough. Too many people are like ‘well, I only watch Dynamite 3 of every 5 weeks and it’s on AEW if I didn’t see Jay Lethal win 20 matches’. That doesn’t make any damn sense! That’s the whole reason why they’re telling you the record! They’re assuming you don’t have time to watch several hours of AEW every week. Still, a bunch of people in AEW need to be steered away from their worst tendencies in ring and on the mic more than they are. To me, nobody can compete with WWE in that regard when they’re on point. They try not to let/make people do a bunch of shit they’re horrible at with any regularity.

>But I really dig it
>when I watch a wrestling show where it seems like everyone is
>allowed to look good enough to be on the damn show.

And indeed the "latter Vince" era. Remember when Claudio was coming up at first, and he looked like a really promising dude that people were starting to get hyped about? Then Cena came out, said something about "pepperoni nipples" and signaled to everyone "don't worry about this guy, we're going to make him a joke from here on out." That's not even the most egregious example, but it's a stark one for sure.

im over her and her Kevin Nash fake-heel routine

>im over her and her Kevin Nash fake-heel routine

Worst, she was damn near on her Triple Haitch Reign of Terror shit. Or even LOLCenawins type shit. You can hear and feel dread from the crowd any time she's anywhere near winning a match. Like..over the weekend, people are all about (fine ass) Hayter finally Wardlowing Baker and taking the title. So much so that nobody cared when (also fine ass) Toni Storm won the match to set up Storm vs Thunder (who will almost certainly turn heel) some day.

is the best thing for everyone

Storm is good and if they are going with her for now, she doesnt need people clamoring for Hayter, which is real.

instead people can invest in her getting her revenge for whatever despicable thing Baker should do to her VERY soon.

then at Revolution we can have heel Rosa and face Hayter and they can go forward with Jade getting into the mix next summer, and she BETTER not lose before then

New Trios champs already!? Aight. So much for EVP privilege.

And a champions tourney for the big belt!? With MJF basically functioning as a chickenshit money in the bank briefcase holder? Aight!

They even scrubbed all of those people off of the intro graphics. Damn! They WWE’d those dudes. Aight.

And Tony kept it about as short as he could while still getting the info out on some Jack Tunney shit. Aight.

And of course MJF is the right person to start with. And Mox did his adulting too with a ‘fuck the silly shit. I want ti be the fucking champ again!’. Aight!

They didn’t fridge Hangman but he gets Danielson out of the gate in the tourney? Interesting. Aight! I hate booking shows but he better fucking lose! Hehe.


>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

What a miracle that would be for them

watching the show now. Goddamn man I just cannot stand Moxley.

and it wasnt "heel" heat

seemed more like "oh it turns out youre kimd of a bitch" heat

>and it wasnt "heel" heat
>
>seemed more like "oh it turns out youre kimd of a bitch" heat

It is cool that the crowd seemed to be on the same page with the idea of 'let these people do the damn show they want to do'. AKA we weren't getting CM Punk chants. And that Elite sign with a bite taken out of it was especially choice.

I too noticed Hangers had a little disdain put on him. He had that coming. And really, I consider that a good thing for him to experience. Because the ideal here is that all of these people learn something. In Page's case, he has to be more careful about the games they play with these sheet people and don't let bullshit with your friends mess up your career. Dude isn't an EVP, he isn't some untouchable star, and the last thing you want is EVP stank on you when you aren't even a damn EVP!

i dont really have anything to add tbh lol

the more you learn the more Punk looks like Will Smith at the Oscars.
Another hyper talented personality who reveals himself to be a petulant weirdo and ruins everyone's night.

Cold Truth has nailed Punk throughout this thread. I think there's enough "smoke where there's fire" noise about him. There's A LOT of good wrestling vets out there who are on the record saying he's an asshole, so maybe he just is.

Guy talks a lot of shit about the old school and leading from the front but he may have once and for all revealed himself to be a fraud. I mean it's hilarious and sad how many times he says during that presser "I'm here to draw money" while he COMPLETELY NUKES THE HOTTEST PROGRAM THE PROMOTION HAS EVER HAD AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

they talked shit to the media anonymously

he talked his shit to the media on record

if that were the end of it, it starts the hottest program on the last 25 years

is any of that untrue?

But he literally asked for that… “if you have a f–king problem with me, take it up with me.”

Welp, they did! Congrats bud.

and then act like the words they acted upon are the "thing"

its *all* words until they, as a group, bust into one guy's locker room like people havent been conspiratorially murdered in the wrestling business in our lifetimes. i got the 1988 PWI Year in Review in my xmas stocking, so Im not talking about Tennessee in the 30's.

i dont think Punk would or should do anything differently at any individual point in this chain of events, but I bet the Jacksons would. Nick would still have stereoscopic vision and everything.

Everyone involved deserves to be punished, especially EVPs involved in a fight, but if Punk thought his tirade and an invitation to come find him was going to lead to calm discussions about the matter at hand, then he’s an absolute idiot.
.
>
>i dont think Punk would or should do anything differently at
>any individual point in this chain of events, but I bet the
>Jacksons would. Nick would still have stereoscopic vision and
>everything.

Lol, so your stance is Punk did *nothing* wrong? Cmon dude. I realize you hate the Elite, but that doesn’t mean everyone who disagrees with them is right about everything. His whole rant was petty as hell.

Remove the fight, and we’re still talking about how his bullshit distracted from a great weekend of wrestling and how he should have just stuck to answering questions about the PPV. If we put all the blame for the fight on the Elite, that doesn’t change the fact that this was an AWFUL look for him. Criticizing others for being children while he acts like a brat? Getting hung up on what writer does improv with Colt Cabana and how Hangman doesn’t take advice properly? All he did was expose himself as an asshole. Nothing about this comes across as some righteous crusade that he NEEDED to address on Sunday. Again, he was not asked about this. People were ready to ask about the Mox match and MJF return and Punk derailed the thing before it started.

>Everyone involved deserves to be punished, especially EVPs
>involved in a fight, but if Punk thought his tirade and an
>invitation to come find him was going to lead to calm
>discussions about the matter at hand, then he’s an absolute
>idiot.

hes not in control of their choices. he didnt make them come for a physical confrontation, and he didnt prevent them from waiting outside. those were choices made by twerps masquerading as adults.



>Lol, so your stance is Punk did *nothing* wrong? Cmon dude. I
>realize you hate the Elite, but that doesn’t mean everyone
>who disagrees with them is right about everything. His whole
>rant was petty as hell.

That is correct. Colt Cabana knew the rumors were out there, he let them fester. The EVPs of the company AT LEAST let them fester, but much more likely were the source of them. Tony Khan himself let them fester for three months, and then did one limp print interview last week where he finally said something about it. Said leadership sat on their hands while the rumors were propagated on *live TV* and kept on doing fuck all. THAT is unethical. THAT is wrong. Lying is wrong. Allowing lies to circulate when you know the truth is wrong. Ambushing someone with an amplification of lies on live TV is wrong. Three guys initiating a physical confrontation with one guy is wrong.

The guy handing out the receipts in a public forum with what appeared to be the tacit approval of *everyone's* boss might be petty, but its not unethical. Its certainly not wrong from a moral stance. And obviously, being outnumbered and sending your aggressors out holding their faces is 100% NOT wrong.

I feel like i stepped into the fucking Twilight Zone.

>Remove the fight, and we’re still talking about how his
>bullshit distracted from a great weekend of wrestling and how
>he should have just stuck to answering questions about the
>PPV.

i dont think thats true. i think we spend 3 days anticipating Dynamite with an unseen level of enthusiasm, and competent leadership could've turned that into a license to print money.

>If we put all the blame for the fight on the Elite, that
>doesn’t change the fact that this was an AWFUL look for him.
>Criticizing others for being children while he acts like a
>brat? Getting hung up on what writer does improv with Colt
>Cabana and how Hangman doesn’t take advice properly? All he
>did was expose himself as an asshole. Nothing about this comes
>across as some righteous crusade that he NEEDED to address on
>Sunday. Again, he was not asked about this. People were ready
>to ask about the Mox match and MJF return and Punk derailed
>the thing before it started.

The idea that the subject of lies is an asshole for handing out the receipts on public record *at any time* is so foreign to me that I dont think we are ever going to come to any common ground. This is a very cut and dry situation for me: a man with principles dealing with people without principles, who gave ample time for resolution before taking his own action. There would have to be a LOT of new information for me to come off of that.

It might be a personal or business problem for Tony Khan, but to that I would say that he had months of opportunity to deal with that and he fucking failed. He miserably and completely failed, and its 100% his own fault that this situation exists.

>>Everyone involved deserves to be punished, especially EVPs
>>involved in a fight, but if Punk thought his tirade and an
>>invitation to come find him was going to lead to calm
>>discussions about the matter at hand, then he’s an
>absolute
>>idiot.
>
>hes not in control of their choices. he didnt make them come
>for a physical confrontation, and he didnt prevent them from
>waiting outside. those were choices made by twerps
>masquerading as adults.
>
>
>
>>Lol, so your stance is Punk did *nothing* wrong? Cmon dude.
>I
>>realize you hate the Elite, but that doesn’t mean everyone
>>who disagrees with them is right about everything. His whole
>>rant was petty as hell.
>
>That is correct. Colt Cabana knew the rumors were out there,
>he let them fester. The EVPs of the company AT LEAST let them
>fester, but much more likely were the source of them. Tony
>Khan himself let them fester for three months, and then did
>one limp print interview last week where he finally said
>something about it. Said leadership sat on their hands while
>the rumors were propagated on *live TV* and kept on doing fuck
>all. THAT is unethical. THAT is wrong. Lying is wrong.
>Allowing lies to circulate when you know the truth is wrong.
>Ambushing someone with an amplification of lies on live TV is
>wrong. Three guys initiating a physical confrontation with
>one guy is wrong.
>
>The guy handing out the receipts in a public forum with what
>appeared to be the tacit approval of *everyone's* boss might
>be petty, but its not unethical. Its certainly not wrong from
>a moral stance. And obviously, being outnumbered and sending
>your aggressors out holding their faces is 100% NOT wrong.
>
>I feel like i stepped into the fucking Twilight Zone.
>
>>Remove the fight, and we’re still talking about how his
>>bullshit distracted from a great weekend of wrestling and
>how
>>he should have just stuck to answering questions about the
>>PPV.
>
>i dont think thats true. i think we spend 3 days anticipating
>Dynamite with an unseen level of enthusiasm, and competent
>leadership could've turned that into a license to print
>money.
>
>>If we put all the blame for the fight on the Elite, that
>>doesn’t change the fact that this was an AWFUL look for
>him.
>>Criticizing others for being children while he acts like a
>>brat? Getting hung up on what writer does improv with Colt
>>Cabana and how Hangman doesn’t take advice properly? All
>he
>>did was expose himself as an asshole. Nothing about this
>comes
>>across as some righteous crusade that he NEEDED to address
>on
>>Sunday. Again, he was not asked about this. People were
>ready
>>to ask about the Mox match and MJF return and Punk derailed
>>the thing before it started.
>
>The idea that the subject of lies is an asshole for handing
>out the receipts on public record *at any time* is so foreign
>to me that I dont think we are ever going to come to any
>common ground. This is a very cut and dry situation for me: a
>man with principles dealing with people without principles,
>who gave ample time for resolution before taking his own
>action. There would have to be a LOT of new information for
>me to come off of that.
>
>It might be a personal or business problem for Tony Khan, but
>to that I would say that he had months of opportunity to deal
>with that and he fucking failed. He miserably and completely
>failed, and its 100% his own fault that this situation
>exists.

Before Sunday night, yeah...it is an easy call to say The Elite and Tony were slipping to let any bullshit rumors related to Punk and Colt stay out there. They could have AND SHOULD HAVE squashed all of that way before. Because Punk is himself and it has been obvious forever that him and Cabana are a done deal.

Still though, if Punk said absolutely nothing to any of them before Sunday night? Like not a peep? C'mon! He could've said just about anything directly to damn near anyone on the roster BEFORE the scrum. AKA he could've hit somebody up on some old 'hey, what's up with this Colt shit...I don't have a damn thing to do with that. Who thinks otherwise?' the same way he was asking someone to hit him up post-scrum. Is that too much to ask of Punk if he was sooooooooooo ticked about the sheet bullshit while he was rehabbing his foot?

I could even see him being ticked at the media folks and then waiting to give THEM all the business as an intro to start the scrum. And really, that's kinda how I saw the scrum when I heard it. AKA I viewed it like he was skewering the media folks for what they put out there on the Colt situation. And, almost in a collateral damage manner, he was like 'fuck Kenny, Hangman, and the Bucks too..cuz I know they cozy up to you mfers with some of this bullshit I see getting reported'.

fuck all this shit.

and all these nerds rehashing HHH killing punk on Raw thinking they have a point are morons too. He was right then and hes not wrong now. Probably a dummy, but in this crazy world hes justified.

Now I’m just picturing you working for the Kool-Aid company and getting fired on your first day.

Fucking tub of tropical punch takes out my door and it’s somehow my fault!!??

Foh

Those were your words, what did you expect to happen?

>the more you learn the more Punk looks like Will Smith at the
>Oscars.

The Bucks casting themselves as perfect Boy Scouts is a little rich. "Oh yeah, we showed up with more muffins for Punk but he just started swinging the second we walked in, and Kenny was only trying to save the dog!"

>Another hyper talented personality who reveals himself to be a
>petulant weirdo and ruins everyone's night.

And at the same time, I get where he was coming from- he finally got to where he wanted and then he had to spend an extended time out (and now he realizes that ONCE AGAIN he got hurt winning the title), during which Uncle Dave and Hausman are amplifying this story about him getting Colt kicked to ROH. So from that perspective, I think he was trying to get out in front of another long inactive period full of dirt sheet bullshit. He just went WAY overboard. At the same time, while he was out he watched the Bucks parachute out of what would have been a certified moneymaker with his new boys FTR to make their own titles just for them, which smacks of "thinking they're still in Reseda." With that said, the Bucks did a lot during the early phases of AEW to get guys on, and on big money, that were on the indies, and the timing was just a bad coincidence that they're taking their victory lap now with Kenny finally coming back from his own injuries for it to look fishy to Punk.

>Cold Truth has nailed Punk throughout this thread. I think
>there's enough "smoke where there's fire" noise about him.
>There's A LOT of good wrestling vets out there who are on the
>record saying he's an asshole, so maybe he just is.
>
>Guy talks a lot of shit about the old school and leading from
>the front but he may have once and for all revealed himself to
>be a fraud. I mean it's hilarious and sad how many times he
>says during that presser "I'm here to draw money" while he
>COMPLETELY NUKES THE HOTTEST PROGRAM THE PROMOTION HAS EVER
>HAD AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

The best case scenario is everyone comes to their damn senses, TK lets things cool off, and they all realize they've created what could be a game-changing, money making dynamic if they can all set aside their bullshit and work together.

Punk doesn't quite seem to able to handle business without being extremely confrontational

None of what they did seems to warrant his media tantrum

Him saying come say it to my face doesn't warrant the way the approached him

None of them know how to deal with their conflict in a healthy, productive way. So we can't talk about him deserving the axe without addressing Bucks/Omega for their part. It's all bad.

Punk gets the lions share of blame IMO for blatantly instigating things in an extremely unprofessional manner- particularly in light of his typically self-righteous rant, talking about how they were trying to undermine him despite him turning his second title win into bully pulpit to bitch about his coworkers.

He tries to play the wise old vet, schooling his disrespectful underlings, but he doesn't walk the walk at all.

So yeah, Punk gets a huge share of blame.

But they can't do what they did. Period.

So to me, either they all go, or nobody does.

The balance of blame isn't even a percentage split IMO, it's a mixed up bag of shit from everyone.

If nobody goes, everyone needs to straighten the fuck up, and TK needs to grow some fucking grapefruits to fucking chin check ANY of them if they step out of line.

I buy into the idea that Punk was going to say SOMETHING at the scrum no matter what. But him getting hurt AGAIN pushed him over the edge and he went into 'worst version of himself' mode.

I also buy into the idea that The Elite were hilariously ill-equipped to roll up on dude right after that scrum with any kind of conversation and expect ANYTHING reasonable to happen. But sometimes man, dudes dude themselves into idiot dude situations. And once you're there..in the bad situation..almost nothing is going to save people from something bad happened. The closed door TRIED to save them all but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

I'm so glad TK didn't fire anybody. Not even biting ass Ace Steele. I like the direction now that Punk is hurt AND there didn't appear to be an easy path to getting people to calm down and start making money immediately.

Sooo...fridge The Elite for a while (figure out how you're going to reintroduce them). Let Punk curl up at the house with another rehab to do. Focus on the available roster we constantly hear referred to as 'bloated'. Listen to the fucking adults on staff. Put reliable people with solid histories at the top of your top shit. BCC and Jericho seems like a good base to me! Mix in some more of the kids so they can learn (they've been doing that already). Figure out the MJF stuff as much as he'll allow (and if he pulls some shit again, fridge his ass too). AKA do the shit people have been clamoring for them to do since they started. It should be easier with Danielson, Moxley, and Jericho as the main shit on the show.

>The best case scenario is everyone comes to their damn
>senses, TK lets things cool off, and they all realize they've
>created what could be a game-changing, money making dynamic if
>they can all set aside their bullshit and work together.
>
>Punk doesn't quite seem to able to handle business without
>being extremely confrontational
>
>None of what they did seems to warrant his media tantrum
>
>Him saying come say it to my face doesn't warrant the way the
>approached him
>
>None of them know how to deal with their conflict in a
>healthy, productive way. So we can't talk about him deserving
>the axe without addressing Bucks/Omega for their part. It's
>all bad.
>
>Punk gets the lions share of blame IMO for blatantly
>instigating things in an extremely unprofessional manner-
>particularly in light of his typically self-righteous rant,
>talking about how they were trying to undermine him despite
>him turning his second title win into bully pulpit to bitch
>about his coworkers.
>
>He tries to play the wise old vet, schooling his disrespectful
>underlings, but he doesn't walk the walk at all.
>
>So yeah, Punk gets a huge share of blame.
>
>But they can't do what they did. Period.
>
>So to me, either they all go, or nobody does.
>
>The balance of blame isn't even a percentage split IMO, it's a
>mixed up bag of shit from everyone.
>
>If nobody goes, everyone needs to straighten the fuck up, and
>TK needs to grow some fucking grapefruits to fucking chin
>check ANY of them if they step out of line.

Two matches at Survivor Series!

I'm imagining we'll get the Bloodline vs. Team Sami/KO and Damage Control against Becky and Bianca, perhaps with a returning Boss?

>Two matches at Survivor Series!
>
>I'm imagining we'll get the Bloodline vs. Team Sami/KO and
>Damage Control against Becky and Bianca, perhaps with a
>returning Boss?

It seems like that's where we're heading. I can get down with that!

I can also get down with Sami hanging on until something happens at Survivor Series that forces a breakdown once and for all to get us into KO/Sami vs Uce Empire.

Just keep giving me Sami involved in things that matter and not just 'this dude can have good matches, so let's give him a story-free 9 mins on match 2' show fillers.

>Two matches at Survivor Series!
>
>I'm imagining we'll get the Bloodline vs. Team Sami/KO and
>Damage Control against Becky and Bianca, perhaps with a
>returning Boss?

The Raw vs. Smackdown thing was really only exciting when they involved NXT. I think this will breathe some new life into it for at least this year because there are actual feuds that will fit War Games nicely. Hopefully it doesn’t become like Hell in a Cell where they’re shoehorning it into storylines that really don’t deserve it.l just cause that PPV is on the schedule.

the good guys coming together like the seven samurai bc they all had individual beefs with members of a bad guy stable, usually the Horsemen

>the good guys coming together like the seven samurai bc they
>all had individual beefs with members of a bad guy stable,
>usually the Horsemen

Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance in 1992 is the GOAT WarGames. Also first and best usage of "Let's tear the actual ring apart""

and the squadron wasnt really a group

the just all had separate issues with dangerous alliance members, and nikita was reinforcement

same for 1996 with the NWO, like oh shit...these War Games enemies, and former Horsemen coming together even tho they didnt really run together as a unit at that point.

that was part of the excitement, seeing my guys come together for WG was cool in and of itself. thats totally lost when its group vs group, aside from all the other reasons stables of good guys dont work for me in general.

and totally agree about the ring. one of the things I've hated about AEW war games so far is the idea that they went through 10 years of subverting the structure of the match the very first time out. escaping the cage, fighting on top, destroying the rings, weapons in the cage, bump off the top. aside from the bump off the top any one of those things should be enough to matter after youve done 3 by the book. now it's like...whats left? unscrewing one turnbuckle was exciting once, now its a "here we go again" moment.

women also get to do. It's a quick way to oversaturate a gimmick, and honestly, I can't think of a single women's cage/hell in a cell match that felt like a violent grudge match, so not sure how a women's War Games match is going to seem necessary.

Now every year we have 2 Rumbles, 2 MITBs, 2 HIACs (at least) and now 2 War Games.

Also, like mentioned before, I hope this just doesn't become another match on the calendar and they only do War Games when there are feuds that call for it.

Go watch that. You got a spectacularly violent heel turn and Ripley with a starmaker of a face-in-peril performance.

they started mixing AJ into the Judgment Day story last night

what crowd wouldn't go insane for AJ, Edge, and Rey altogether

if you wanna get wacky add Beth Phoenix and Rhea Ripley. It'd be fun.

somebody at Comcast would shit a plutonium rod if they broadcast Damian Priest kicking Beth Phoenix in the stomach

and if they cant show that, they shouldnt even entertain the thought

It seems like either Max really got hurt and they had to improvise or everyone was out of sync for a couple minutes. Hope it’s the latter, of course.

Epic end, haven’t heard a well-earned pop like that since I don’t know when

Massive pop. Hopefully this forces TK to write some better stories for the division.

>Massive pop. Hopefully this forces TK to write some better
>stories for the division.

And hopefully she's healthy.

that's the finish? Really? Packed stadium show and one guy just laid on top of the other. No build up to a tapout and no triumphant 3 count.

Moxley AGAIN?

Was there supposed to be some angle there and they ran out of time?

Again, Moxley AGAIN?

And even then their match wasn’t half as good as last time. Should’ve won then

and i actually came around to hoping Swerve and Lee won again

the acclaimed are now in the same situation adam page was this time last year

they got their title shots for no reason just so they could have a "moment" and now they have to work backwards to validate it with wins after the fact

Like, match seemed fun. Everyone was HYPE AS FUCK for the Acclaimed. Two years ago they were on Dark, they spent time out with injuries, and now here they are.

And I know Twitter isn't real life, but all the talk about them today is about how people woulda gotten themselves suspended in high school for shouting Scissor Me Daddy Ass in the cafeteria and otherwise talking about how fucking over those guys are. So yeah, they got their moment, and now they're headed to Full Gear with the crowd WELL behind them and either a third match against Swerve n Keef or a defense against FTR that will put them into the stratosphere.

there's been -a lot- of instances in AEW of a guy getting a belt and there being no obvious plan after that.

Acclaimed ARE over. A rematch will be fun (I'd think about a ladder), and an FTR match will be wild too (though I don't want FTR to be heels anymore). I'm there for either of those matches too.

But it's fair to be skeptical too. There wasn't a plan for Hangman and he didn't deserve the shot. And what is this big dumb belt Pac carries around? And do we really need a trios title?

So I think you're both right.

as of right now they cant wrestle FTR unless New Japan and AAA both agree to have their champions job to the acclaimed on TV

this all ties in to what i said months ago that they needed to be winning matches. they had won on TV a grand total of twice this year before last night, and NJPW is going to let them pin FTR on TV? cmon lol.

im not disputing that last night was a feel good moment. but i wont agree with the idea that it was the best thing for anyone long term...just like it wasnt with Hangman.

We need an Acclaimed FTR match

>that's the finish? Really? Packed stadium show and one guy
>just laid on top of the other. No build up to a tapout and no
>triumphant 3 count.
>
>Moxley AGAIN?
>
>Was there supposed to be some angle there and they ran out of
>time?
>
>Again, Moxley AGAIN?

Yeah, they did the NXT 'weird match endings can happen on any match' thing. Depending on the characters involved, it can work really well. Shayna's NXT work was mostly supreme and she was the master of 'ugly endings' for my money.

Still, my inner and outer mark was pulling for Danielson pretty hard. I saw somewhere opine that BD is turning into Mick Foley almost..where his 'unselfishness' might be on the verge of being abused. I want him to go heel again very badly because I think it would be awesome.

But its MJF's time as champ has to be coming soon. For that, they at least kinda needed a babyface champ who can get beat/screwed over without it 'damaging' them. And that's pretty much Moxley right now. So we shall see.

I was gonna enjoy the hell out of that Punk/MJF double turn. I couldn't imagine Punk turning down a chance to do the Bret/Austin thing with MJF given the chance. But oops: injuries, BS, drama, sheets, Colt damn Cabana, and silly EVP stuff looks like its gonna take all of that off the table.

The only obvious move and best business move last night was to have Danielson go over and then have him defend valiantly for a few months before MJF screws him. So you're right, Danielson must not want to be champion. That's fine, but man am I all set on Moxley. The next time I see a great Moxley match will be the first time I see a great Moxley match.

I'm sorry to keep saying this week after week but I just never would've thought AEW would cool down this much in 2022. It just seems like such an unorganized mess too often, and based on what we've learned about their backstage scene I sense that's because it is just actually an unorganized mess.

Dozens of Ls all around for blowing the hottest wrestling angle since the Pipebomb. We may still get MJF/Punk 3 one day, but we'll never get it with a similar momentum.

>The only obvious move and best business move last night was
>to have Danielson go over and then have him defend valiantly
>for a few months before MJF screws him. So you're right,
>Danielson must not want to be champion. That's fine, but man
>am I all set on Moxley. The next time I see a great Moxley
>match will be the first time I see a great Moxley match.
>
>I'm sorry to keep saying this week after week but I just never
>would've thought AEW would cool down this much in 2022. It
>just seems like such an unorganized mess too often, and based
>on what we've learned about their backstage scene I sense
>that's because it is just actually an unorganized mess.
>
>Dozens of Ls all around for blowing the hottest wrestling
>angle since the Pipebomb. We may still get MJF/Punk 3 one day,
>but we'll never get it with a similar momentum.

Reality set in on those mfers, man. And here it is: backstage is pretty much ALWAYS gonna have SOME kind of bullshit going on. ALWAYS. EVERYWHERE.

Just think of all of the silly shit WWE had go down WITH FUCKING VINCE on-hand. What real chance did TK have to completely avoid that even if he had done a better job of filling in the gutters/putting up guardrails/whatever analogy fits here. Hell, even NXT had plenty of shenanigans and it was overtly a good ole classic rasslin time for several years with experience indy dudes who generally loved each other, had worked together everywhere, and were making more money than ever.

Someone is gonna swear they're underpaid (MJF..he wasn't wrong, but still).

Someone else is gonna swear they're underutilized (Aleister Black..jury is out on that. Dude got 'I might have to retire' hurt, kept missing his damn mist spots, and went a little heavy on the 1994 Taker shit).

Cliques/Kliques are gonna form, big shit stars are gonna try to hold shit hostage. Both WILL DAMN WELL abuse whatever power they have and it WILL SOMEHOW fuck up stuff. *spreads arms out like Bret Hart's entrance taunt and looks around at The Elite on one end and Cody/Punk/others on the other*

Name brand vets are gonna come in, make big money, and piss off the younger people who haven't hit their strides yet. And some will kill it, give other vets the idea to come over, and help other people like crazy (Bryan, Punk, Regal). Others will underachieve until they're put in the right spot (Christian). Others might eat up a bunch of scenery and damn near never lose (Moxley). Others will not have anything physically to give anymore (Big Show). And then others still will be a mixed bag of all of that shit rolled into one (Jericho).

And with AEW, they have the extra bullshit of having ROH with no TV deal AND a shitload of their people on deals where they can work in other feds. We see how that could be impacting FTR. They're the best tag team out but now their expedeeetion of gold has potentially landed them in political hot water where they can WORK almost wherever but they can't lose without all sorts of backstage bullshit going on.

>I'm sorry to keep saying this week after week but I just never
>would've thought AEW would cool down this much in 2022. It
>just seems like such an unorganized mess too often, and based
>on what we've learned about their backstage scene I sense
>that's because it is just actually an unorganized mess.

Business-wise, they're still doing great. And the PPVs themselves having maintained their level of quality. The backstage "chaos" only really seemed to start the weekend of Double Or Nothing, with the MJF ticket drama (which appears to have been a dumb work), and carried over into the issues with Punk and the Elite.

However, if we're going to buy the backstage chatter that things were a mess leading up to All Out, we should also believe the chatter that things are apparently much better now, with neither Punk not the Elite around. People seem to like it with Moxley, Danielson, and Jericho running things, which I imagine is at least partly why the Elite aren't off suspension yet.

...but they seemed to be striving for great last night, and didn't quite hit it.

I'll say that one thing I had zero problem with was the Moxley/Danielson match, and Moxley winning. MJF's promo last week absolutely telegraphed were this was going. It was basically a giant flashing billboard that read, "I'M GOING TO BEAT MOXLEY AT FULL GEAR." MJF gets his win back from a few years ago, which makes sense. Then he holds the belt for another year or so, until someone like Wardlow beats him.

It does kind of suck for Moxley that he's become the place-holder champ, after he carried them through the pandemic, but it comes with the territory with him being their "Ace." He'll get his vacation after November.

I was also fine with Jericho beating Claudio. They also telegraphed it the entire match, what with the ROH announcer repeatedly saying how Jericho's goes against everything ROH stands for, and then Jericho assaulting Cary Silkin at ringside. I will say that it certainly appears like they're about to launch ROH as a weekly show with Jericho as champ, and have Garcia serve as the built-in challenger that can personify the brand moving forward.

As for the tag team titles... Look, I love the Acclaimed. They have worked REALLY hard and gotten themselves completely and totally over. And the pop that came from that winning was HUGE and classic "feel great" moment. All that said, Lee and Swerve completely carried them last night. The Acclaimed sure didn't wrestle like a team that had any business beating the champs. The most impressive part was Lee dong the hurricanrana. As mentioned above, that three minute stretch near the end was a mess, and it's not clear if Caster was hurt/knocked silly or just weirdly selling the knee.

Now, I'm aware that very little was going to top their Chicago match, and regardless, the Lee/Swerve pairing was always living on borrowed time. But I wish the match as a whole was stronger. Because otherwise, calling the audible and having the Acclaimed win in Chicago might have been the move.

The MJF promo served it's purpose. They are desperately trying to get the crowd to hate MJF, so doing this in NY was a tough sell. But them deciding to have him attack Schiavone is about the only close to sure-fire way to turn any crowd against him. And Tony sold it like a champ, both during the segment and on commentary afterwards. And Yuta being there also gives MJF an opponent that he can go over during the build-up to Full Gear.

As for the other matches, the women's title served it's purpose: Toni pinned Britt, and had the shock Paige/Saraya debut. Which is a good get for them.

I've been reading people say Cassidy should have gone over Pac, and though I like Cassidy a lot, I'm fine with it. Besides, AEW needs heels, and that match seemed like the start of a turn.

I'd also like to say that I found it hilarious that the commentators in no way acknowledged Westside Gunn standing clearly in the front row after he'd been on the broadcast two fricking weeks ago. All while hyping the shit out of fucking Fabolous and DJ Whoo-Kid. I guess like with the WWE, if they don't comp you tickets, they don't acknowledge your existence.

if that's the case, then putting the ROH title on Jericho is actually the smartest decision they made all night

show is all over the place now and has been for months. Guys like Miro and Aleister Black aren't made guys like Moxley and DB and Jericho. They came over looking for tranquility and opportunity and they're right back in the mania.

This is a smart way to restart the “pure” wrestling company with a big heel in a sports entertainer gimmick as the champ. Jericho’s not at the top of his game anymore, but he’s big enough and entertaining enough to help this thing get off the ground. And it’s about damn time, there are SO many people on the roster with nothing to do.

I just hope Claudio doesn’t disappear from TV now.

...there have been extenuating circumstances.

They botched Miro initially with the "Best Man" gimmick, but course corrected with "God's Favorite Champion" and giving him the TNT title. But then he got injured. Twice. I do think now he should be made one of the companies mega-heels.

As has been said here before, Malaki should have been running over the mid-card. And I liek the House of Black with him as the leader. However, that loss to Cody fucked up the momentum. And, honestly, given when appears to be serious mental health concerns, he might have had to step away even under the best conditions.

That ceiling is maybe a little higher than what AEW showed, however, I think he has the same problem as Bray Wyatt (nonsensical promos) but without the charisma that Wyatt has to make up for it. Maybe Hunter’s guidance is what he needs, cause he was definitely at his best in NXT, but I don’t see him as getting much bigger than he is rn. All that said, he IS a really talented guy, and first and foremost I hope he gets his mind right before he worries about wrestling.

Miro, after the Kip Sabian stuff, has been booked really well when healthy, so I’m kinda surprised to hear he’s unhappy. The injuries definitely hurt him though.

There was all that dumb ping-ponging of the title between Cody, Sammy, and Scorpio Sky at the end of 2021/early 2022, and things might have been better served with Black as the champ.

If nothing else, I really though he was going to win the title that Pac currently has. That also would have worked.


>Miro, after the Kip Sabian stuff, has been booked really well
>when healthy, so I’m kinda surprised to hear he’s unhappy.
>The injuries definitely hurt him though.

Is Miro actually unhappy? I thought the story was that he's been good since he got the big contract.

Idk, tough to tell how serious stuff like that is anyways. There’s a wide range of “unhappy.” There’s “unhappy that TK isn’t communicating well” which is easy to fix, and there’s “unhappy enough to ask for a release,” which is not. I think rumors of a wrestler being unhappy are often interpreted as the latter even if it’s more often the former.

>That ceiling is maybe a little higher than what AEW showed,
>however, I think he has the same problem as Bray Wyatt
>(nonsensical promos) but without the charisma that Wyatt has
>to make up for it. Maybe Hunter’s guidance is what he needs,
>cause he was definitely at his best in NXT, but I don’t see
>him as getting much bigger than he is rn. All that said, he IS
>a really talented guy, and first and foremost I hope he gets
>his mind right before he worries about wrestling.

Yeah...his gimmick has to be managed a certain way or he's toast. And even with that, it isn't always a good time to show up with that style of stuff depending on the tone and pace of the show. IE: if the title is vacant and people are buzzing on about who is gonna take it, random dudes showing up in shadows talking about anything other than that are gonna look like ayyholes. So you at least have to throw in a 'there will be a time for titles later..for now, I need to rid *insert company* of *insert adversary*'. SOMETHING!

>Miro, after the Kip Sabian stuff, has been booked really well
>when healthy, so I’m kinda surprised to hear he’s unhappy.
>The injuries definitely hurt him though.

I don't know how some of these guys don't get that you can get hurt, 'miss your time', and then have to wait to find another slot no matter what company you work for.

Miro is a more straight-forward/easy sell..that is for sure. And it must suck to get lumped in with something as it is dying off/not doing well. But it is what it is. And if he can stay healthy, I think Miro is gonna be mighty fine. He's just gotta know that it might not be immediate as AEW tries to set up MJF and ROH.

On that, MJF 'hiring' Miro to take down Wardlow could be a good time..a good ole Vince-friendly hoss fight.

IE: if the title is vacant and people are buzzing on
>about who is gonna take it, random dudes showing up in shadows
>talking about anything other than that are gonna look like
>ayyholes. So you at least have to throw in a 'there will be a
>time for titles later..for now, I need to rid *insert company*
>of *insert adversary*'. SOMETHING!

There’s too many titles, and yet, no one seems to be focused on them??? That Stokely Hathaway faction intro was awkward, but the one thing it did well was establish the goal for each wrestler (except Cass). Usually AEW botches this. So many wrestlers and 80% of them have no goal.

The main title has been up in the air a couple times in recent months, and yet, we don’t get any promos from people arguing they should be in such and such tournament or battle Royale, why they deserve the title etc. Shit, after Punk/Mox 1 the title match contract for All Out was an open one, yet Ace Steel is the only one who cares? Everyone, particularly heels, should be scratching and clawing each other to grab that thing.

Zooming out a bit, I am READY for that Acclaimed pop when they show up next week with the titles for whatever reason and we get them harsh raps.

As a side note: I'm also interested in seeing what NXT is about to re-re-boot themselves into now.

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

Sami especially, but all those dudes need to be celebrated when this story wraps up. The dynamics between Sami and each of the other members of The Bloodline? This is impeccable work.

I was DYING at Sami dapping with Jimmy when he got his shirt.

>Sami especially, but all those dudes need to be celebrated
>when this story wraps up. The dynamics between Sami and each
>of the other members of The Bloodline? This is impeccable
>work.
>
>I was DYING at Sami dapping with Jimmy when he got his shirt.

I love it all so much. It really is excellent work from all parties involved. And even better, they're not taking a bunch of bumps to get this done. And duh, the matches are all gonna rock whenever they go down.

I was smiling harder than Roman damn near the whole time. They left Sami on the hook of despair for just a long enough for me to think 'oh no, they're going to end this right here? Noooooooo!'. And that damn Sami plays it all perfectly. Just wow.

WWE's video package people are looking at each other and nodding their heads at all of the material they're going to have for the inevitable moments when Sami gets got.

This segment was also an amazing heat check to make sure the crowd WILL BE BIG SAD/MAD when Sami gets got. Now, they know for sure that they're doing this thing right, the crowd is in on it to the max, and they're in control. I'm enthralled. Excited. Elated.

Now with the way Trips is killing it with the booking of KO and Sami, I wouldn't mind them both dethroning Roman for each title. Especially Sami for the Universal title.

>Now with the way Trips is killing it with the booking of KO
>and Sami, I wouldn't mind them both dethroning Roman for each
>title. Especially Sami for the Universal title.

It is wild how we already have 'reasonable candidates' to dethrone Roman since Haitch showed up and said 'hey, let's act like more of these people are important and see if the crowd buys it'.

We have Killer Kross showing up with his wife and being taken seriously..even with the weirdo promos that can wear on people. And now he looks FORMIDABLE. When he was looking like tacky Demolition, people were saying he was small and unbelievable as a threat to even interchangeable mid-card people. Now he's choking out Drew and nobody is batting an eye. It is the same damn dude! Thank you, Haitch.

Sami has clearly been amazing as the Honorary Uce and people might for real cry when The Bloodline finally turns on him. By people, I certainly mean me cuz Sami is the shit to me. And any kind of title shot vs any of them afterwards is gonna slap like a mutha cuz Sami might be THE white meat babyface of the last decade or so. He does all of that good guy shit RIGHT. His NXT run was a glorious display of babyfacing. His arrival on Raw to challenge Cena...excellence. And now, he's positioned to do it again on a bigger stage like he's deserved for years. I'm amped.

Kevin Owens is good at wrestling. He can talk too so the lazy 'no personality' slags people throw out on 'indie guys' don't apply here..never did. He just has be to be given something that isn't totally rotten and he can make it go. Ezekiel showed that. And what do you know..it doesn't matter if he's still pretty much fat even if he looks at least a little bit better now.

Seth Rollins is set. Cody is set too.

Bray/White Rabbit/whatever he's gonna be this time looks to have a crew already set up. And people are waiting for him. I imagine he will be protected. He won't be wrestling all the time. And we'll get to see him at his best as long as they figure out how to book his shit without killing everyone else off. Haitch is good at that too so I'm hopeful.

And hell, Bray's new group might have a list of applicants making a line outside a door somewhere. Malaki and Buddy are both pondering their lives and almost certainly headed back to WWE whenever they can escape their AEW noncompete setups.

Of course, it is a least kinda funny to buy that Bobby Fish was trying to rig it up to get UE back to WWE and he ended up in Impact when that didn't fly. It is far less funny to think Kenny/Bucks/Punk might never end up back in AEW as they were before All Out. And AEW is stuck trying to not let Hangman be further iced out because he wasn't there to bite/punch/throw a chair at anybody. It is like a reverse HHH/Curtain Call situation. And I don't know if he's gonna make it out. But hey, I didn't have much hope for Tera Ryzing either. And look at how he ended up!

Then the “cmon mannnn” look when Sami was hugging Roman. Just comedy gold.

The Muta appearance in the Sting match was bonkers (and had me trying to explain to my wife who he was/why he was so awesome in WCW). The Battle Royale finish was obvious, but still worked. Joe & Wardlow vs. Nese and Woods was barely a match, but the pay-off was a crown pleaser. It was fun to watch Kingston beat the shit out of Sammy, even if he only got the moral victory.

Hook/Bronson vs. 2.0 was more enjoyable than I ever expected. Bronson certainly has the shoulder tackle thing down, and his "running" powerslam looked convincing enough (you could tell he was pretty blown-up after that spot). I'll add that Bronson's head tattoos look fucking awful.

Jungle Boy vs. Fenix was the match of the night and defied expectations, as the did a long battle with ups and downs, rather than a spot-fest. And Starks vs. Hobbs was a dope main event and probably a good place to finish the feud.

Only thing that didn't work that well was Jade vs. Diamante. I know the aim is to keep feeding Jade opponents to crush, but things have felt stagnant ever since Kris Statlander got injured. And they keep running out of people to feed to her.

A whole lot of hip-hop representation over both nights, but Bronson's was the only "official" one that worked well. I'm glad they had Jericho acknowledge WSG in the front row last night. It felt silly on Dynamite to keep ignoring him.

cant BB bring attention to WSG wearing the same clothes in the same seat 48 hrs apart

Jericho is making some of the worst television of any format, on any outlet, of all time.

i beg you all to watch the dainty way Moxley floated over that table and landed on his feet before going down and coming up bloody. what a fucking idiot.

Keith Lee drops a logic dump on The Acclaimed and correctly reminds everyone that they couldn't win without Billy Gunn getting involved for no reason. cool. glad to see they couldnt wait a whole 2 weeks without overtly sucking the legitimacy out of their reign and making the heels into the noble side of that dispute.

possibly the worst lumberjack match in the history of professional wrestling, and certainly the least necessary. I also loved Saraya summoning the champion out like a common lackey and surrounding her with Youtube jabronies just in case anyone might've thought Toni Storm was big deal.

ricky starks squash, 2.0's part of the opening half hour (incl the match), and MJF were the only palatable parts of the show. the rest was truly truly wretched.

Swerve, Samoa Joe, and others were supposed to be there, but were dealing with a hurricane and stuff. So I'm willing to give them a mulligan.

And you're putting too much on it with Jericho.

>And you're putting too much on it with Jericho.

We're reaching Cornette levels with Moxley.

next great Moxley match is the first great Moxley match

way he talks is straight cheese

It’s wild he’s the one we all pegged right away when the Shield got on. All of their runs are impressive but the least evolved one between Reigns, Rollins, and Moxley is Moxley.

where even a light scrape turns into a gusher

but he just sucks the life out of things for me. hes not the performer he thinks he is; hes not the creative mind that he thinks he is; and he has no idea how to edit himself, so his self-indulgent tendencies operate without constraint.

That “I’m a wizard” stuff was some of the worst stuff I’ve seen. But I’m liking wheres he been the last couple months, plus he got himself back into shape.

But him as the “sports entertainer” crapping all over the “true wrestling” company is enjoyable to me. Gonna be great when he eventually puts over Garcia.

he looks like a teenager who cant muster up the courage to tell his dad he wants to go to college instead of working at the family business

thats a major part of why this is so painful to watch for me. i actually liked him before this. he still had the personality of a potato, but 2.0 could do his talking for him and he could be the bulldog they kept on a leash. but putting him in set pieces and in position to play a role...not working for me at all.

youre right about Jericho's physical condition, but he aint in good enough shape for me to watch him beat Claudio and Bryan Danielson without rolling my eyes, so that only goes so far.

if he had retired right after he lost the title to Moxley, my opinion of him would be entirely different. almost everything after that has just been so self-indulgent and overwraught.

>he looks like a teenager who cant muster up the courage to
>tell his dad he wants to go to college instead of working at
>the family business
>
>thats a major part of why this is so painful to watch for me.
>i actually liked him before this. he still had the
>personality of a potato, but 2.0 could do his talking for him
>and he could be the bulldog they kept on a leash. but putting
>him in set pieces and in position to play a role...not working
>for me at all.


I understand that but I feel like they could just have Jericho really do him dirty, have him go away, and then have a surprise return where he beats the fuck out of Jericho like Malenko did in ‘98 and it would be all good though?

My guy, you're in the ring with Danielson. Have the decency to make your strikes look not like utter shit. Especially if they're light little arrogant heel stomps.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjNeWBKM88i/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

What a capstone on their year. Like, I know this is a small little indie show, but to get to help one of the GOAT workers get back to the ring… man.

>https://www.instagram.com/p/CjNeWBKM88i/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
>
>What a capstone on their year. Like, I know this is a small
>little indie show, but to get to help one of the GOAT workers
>get back to the ring… man.

FTR is certainly having a good time with their indy dates.

I hate wondering how much they’re caught up in the backstage foolery in AEW, but I can’t help thinking there’s something going on. I don’t care about knowing what it is but I’d love if these folks can figure it the fuck out before more silliness goes down.

If Jeff Hardy hadn't relapsed and changed AEEW's plans to give the Hardys the belts, I'd have bet that FTR would have the belts by now. Heck, I'd have bet they were the ones were supposed to take beat Swerve and Lee too, but The Acclaimed being so over at All Out forced them to change plans again. And they're clearly going to keep them for a while, leaving FTR odd men out.


The only backstage politics I can see FTR really involved in is **if** their apparently close friendship with Punk might put them at odds with other factions backstage. But we'll see. It seems like if nothing else, they're setting up them to fight and beat the Gunn Club.

pretend someone put "Ucey Hot" in their drawers or wear little green top hats. They just put on a banger with Aussie Open, they've got THREE titles and are on track to be one of the cornerstones of ROH programming once that gets going. Yeah, they should have had a big title match with the Bucks, but those children wanted to play with Kenny instead.

>pretend someone put "Ucey Hot" in their drawers or wear
>little green top hats. They just put on a banger with Aussie
>Open, they've got THREE titles and are on track to be one of
>the cornerstones of ROH programming once that gets going.
>Yeah, they should have had a big title match with the Bucks,
>but those children wanted to play with Kenny instead.

Yeah, the ROH factor could be interesting. They have enough people to run another fed...especially if the concept is 'here's these wrestling ass wrestlers as a base with a few anti-wrestler heels..check it out'.

FTR was getting massive crowd reactions for months before All Out and rarely on TV

theres no good reason for them to put out rankings with FTR as the number 1 contender while they do like 5 title changes

the idea that the Hardys factored in at all is evidence that he has no idea what hes doing

How will the Bloodline end up turning on Sami?

Will Jimmy or Solo consider trying to save him when it goes down?

Will they heat check themselves for real and have it happen in such a wild way that even Jey feels moderate sympathy for him?

Or will they go the other way with it and have it be that Sami REALLY WAS somehow trying to do something shady. AKA what if Jey was right the whole time, Uce!? Whooooooo!

Whatever it is, I assume a good time is forthcoming. In the meantime, these people are all shining. Everyone gets that Sami is good shit now, Solo is already over like rover, the tag titles are constantly in the light AND the Usos can damn sure deliver the goods when its time to wrestle, and good ole Tribal Chief is having the best run that any reasonable person could have predicted for him. Even Vince is at the house thinking 'this is better shit than even I had lined up for him'.

Even KO gets to duck into this every now and again. I love love love it all.

that we're in for a very very good time.

Imagine a world where Sami Zayn does an angle with The Rock and Kevin Owens with Stone Cold haha

I was thinking about this when reading about the Andrade/Sammy drama. Not that this story is the biggest deal, but this is not how people act when they have any fear of losing their job. Every couple weeks some bullshit is popping off and TK’s just sitting there still trying to be everyone’s best friend.

Obviously, I don’t think he should become Vince and have people so afraid that they’re walking on eggshells all the time, but Christ, dude just lets his roster do whatever they want.

>I was thinking about this when reading about the
>Andrade/Sammy drama. Not that this story is the biggest deal,
>but this is not how people act when they have any fear of
>losing their job. Every couple weeks some bullshit is popping
>off and TK’s just sitting there still trying to be
>everyone’s best friend.
>
>Obviously, I don’t think he should become Vince and have
>people so afraid that they’re walking on eggshells all the
>time, but Christ, dude just lets his roster do whatever they
>want.

It’s tough because Tony PROBABLY thinks he can just say ‘hey guys, let’s get back on the rails and cut the bullshit out. Cool? Cool yawl.’. But he’s finding out the hard way that some habitual line steppers are on the scene in AEW. And yes, at some point, he’s gotta look at one of these mfers and say ‘yeah, you’re out’. And not in a passive way either. It’s gotta be something like what you’re thinking a ‘look here mfers’ moment.

You would think that the EVPs and Punk getting at least temporarily erased would be enough for folks well bellow that level to cool it but I guess not!

And yes, at some point, he’s gotta look at one of these
>mfers and say ‘yeah, you’re out’. And not in a passive
>way either. It’s gotta be something like what you’re
>thinking a ‘look here mfers’ moment.
>

He needed to start doing this the second Punk and The Elite were gone. I feel like once he realizes he’s gotta be tougher it’s gonna be too late.

>You would think that the EVPs and Punk getting at least
>temporarily erased would be enough for folks well bellow that
>level to cool it but I guess not!

It seems to have improved morale a bit, but also, all the guys who think they should be champion are gonna be even madder that they’re not.

There’s literally like half a dozen guys in AEW who are over and they almost all came up in WWE. DB, Mox, Punk, FTR, and yes even Chris Jeriatric. Obviously MJF is the one homegrown success story. Almost everyone else seems to think and act like they’ve done something and none of them have ever done anything.

If I’m Darby Allin, MJF, or jade Cargill I’m out of there on the first train smokin

https://twitter.com/altonbrown/status/1577761103035174926?s=46&t=clNzLV3v-T27P3WpinQyJg

You can say The Acclaimed are over. It’s okay.

Honestly have a hard time paying attention to the shows these days - im on my phone half the time. Been trying to give WWE a chance since Vince left. AEW still catches my attention far more often in their shows. *shrug

There’s plenty of AEW homegrown that are over. If anything I wish TK would get some of these WWE guys out the way for them

people whose presence moves numbers

its wrasslin for wrasslin fans. they dont need to be over w/ the general public. AEW isnt trying to be that.

if those people dont want to be wrestling in sold out NBA arenas then i guess they're doing a great job

most of the year their shows are half full

This isn't the late '90s/early '00s. No one is selling out basketball arenas consistently. As BW said, even the WWE is doing those type of numbers on a non-PPV basis. Most TV tapings for either get anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000, depending on the size of the arena and how often the fed comes to town.

AEW will do big numbers for markets they haven't to before or the PPVs. I imagine a lot of people will be there for Toronto. And in SF when they show up for Revolution next year. But other than that, professional wrestling isn't drawing basketball numbers on a week by week basis.

if they arent trying to do that then they arent trying to be in packed NBA arenas

thats not even a talking point?

but beyond that, these shows suck. AEW booking is atrocious and WWE TV is boring and fake. im of the opinion that they could have 10-15K every week if the shows were good. perhaps thats not true, but until the shows are good and still not drawing, that remains to be seen.

https://www.cagesideseats.com/aew/2022/10/6/23390662/more-details-aew-backstage-fight-andrade-sammy-guevara-sent-home-not-fired-altercation-wwe-tampering

did last night feel like they're kicking around the idea of rebranding AEW entirely?

perhaps not having the company named after talent that aren't there anymore?

their big anniversary was thoroughly saturated with Ring of Honor

>did last night feel like they're kicking around the idea of
>rebranding AEW entirely?
>
>perhaps not having the company named after talent that aren't
>there anymore?
>
>their big anniversary was thoroughly saturated with Ring of
>Honor

There sure does appear to be another shoe potentially dropping with AEW. AKA I too have suspicions. Whether there's some kind of lawsuit OR a set of lawsuits OR even if it has already been turned the foolery into a forthcoming storyline, something is damn sure 'feels like' it is in limbo.

In the meantime, it looks like they're trying to be 'stable' on the air even if it can be a tad 'boring'. But, at least to me, that's mainly because the 'main stars' they appear to be building a base around are 'old folks who have already had their best runs some other place and time'. AKA it reminds me of a better version of WCW's main event scene from like 91 to 96 before Bash at The Beach 96/nWo turned everything onto its *body part of your choice*. I guess that makes Hangman a really shitty Sting, Jericho is Hogan (Punk was supposed to be but oops), Danielson is Savage, and Moxley...uuuuuuum, is Rick Rude? A less drugged up Jim Duggan? A more reliable Hall? Okay, I'll stop. One more: is Christian the Nash? Yeah, money, lots of mic work, limited rasslin..sounds kinda like Nash to me!

And, as most of us have known the whole time, AEW can't fuck with WWE when WWE is even kinda on-track. Even with WWE throwing away 2 feds worth of talent, throwing talented people in closets and bad shit, and failing to build damn near anyone up, they still have a ridiculous roster of players who just need half-ass decent plays to run. They have every damn thing: young folks with promise (Theory, Carmelo, Steiner), old folks who can still go when asked nicely (Sheamus, Nak, Edge, Orton, Styles), people in/near their primes who are the best characters and wrestlers (Rollins, Reigns, Cody, YES Sami and KO, The Horsewomen), and even some people who are getting their 2nd go of it (Drew, Lashley). And when they fuck up badly enough, they just call Brock to main event against Roman again. Oh, and their midcard is still strong.

The thing that I kept seeing was that WWE was NOT ON TRACK, Vince was fuckin up NXT folks on a reg, and Reigns was stuck as the obviously chosen guy with no Foleys around to make his shit go. So AEW had a window to at least show up and be fun. And they did some fun shit, some shaky shit, and also some 'we're working on it yawl' shit that fell in the middle.

At worst, AEW blew their window as the reality of starting a fed set in. AEW was and is sadly still a new company with a utopian if not flat out naïve idea of how the rasslin business works, a bunch of newer people are making big money and getting 'spotlights' they aren't ready for, a bunch of the older people are getting another check without having to produce a podcast (or good results on the show), and a lot of the people in the middle are finding out...NOT EVERYONE CAN BE CHAMP AT THE SAME TIME...that isn't a WWE problem!

Oh, and bonus! The guys who allegedly started the damn thing weren't all on the same page with how it should go. The most WWE-friendly one said 'I'm not gonna hate on you assclowns publicly. But fuck this. I'll go back to WWE and wrestle the other two Shield dudes in front of 80k people instead of losing to every free agent signings we get in front of 5k people'.

And then, that SOB rose from the floor at Mania, got treated like the king shit for months, and got hurt before the story and act could wear thin. So OF COURSE, AEW people saw Cody ball out and said 'shit, I wonder if I could call up Vince?'. And AEW's structural/ideology shortcomings became a much more immediate issue damn near overnight. People who were prone to acting a fool acted a damn fool. Someone got bit. Shit got wild. Some of these mfers can't stop tweeting. MJF got paid. And now, Hunter is on desk doing logical shit with WWE? OF COURSE AEW HAS PROBLEMS!

Now its just a matter of what they do, how it gets supported, how many people they lose to WWE, and what kind of shows they put on while its all happening. Also, they have to hope Tony doesn't say 'man, I'm too busy and rich for this bullshit anyway. I'm out this bootch.'. I'm assuming his dad wouldn't let him but crazier things have happened.

And it hasn't. The shows have been really good since All Out. The only "down" show was due to a natural disaster. Otherwise, one of the big benefits of having a deep roster is that even when the Elite is suspended, Punk is hurt/otherwise suspended, Cole and KOR are hurt, Black and Matthews are off dealing with whatever issues their facing, and Andrade can try to get himself fired, there's still more than enough talent to make really good TV.

Last night was generally great. MJF and Yuta obviously have a ton of chemistry. Allin vs. Lethal was a lot of fun. Wardlow and Cage was a dope Hoss fight. The Women's match was given time and wasn't put in the Death Slot (plus set up Willow as a credible opponent for Jade). Page vs. Rush worked well and lead to a dope little Moxley promo. And National Scissoring Day was over the top and ridiculous and awesome. I may not have loved the match where the Acclaimed actually won, but they've taken the ball and fucking ran with it. And super, super over. Only thing that didn't quite work was the ending of the main event, but I liked the match well enough regardless.

And regarding the back stage stuff: If Andrade is really trying to get fired, he needs to knock it off. And Sammy needs to grow up. Andrade could probably tell that it's easy to push his buttons and decided to pick a fight.

I am hopeful Sammy can pull it together. As someone pointed out, Orton Jr. was a dumpser fire outside of the ring at Sammy's age. And now he's one of the most respected guys in the game. So there's time.

>And it hasn't. The shows have been really good since All Out.
>The only "down" show was due to a natural disaster. Otherwise,
>one of the big benefits of having a deep roster is that even
>when the Elite is suspended, Punk is hurt/otherwise suspended,
>Cole and KOR are hurt, Black and Matthews are off dealing
>with whatever issues their facing, and Andrade can try to get
>himself fired, there's still more than enough talent to make
>really good TV.
>
>Last night was generally great. MJF and Yuta obviously have a
>ton of chemistry. Allin vs. Lethal was a lot of fun. Wardlow
>and Cage was a dope Hoss fight. The Women's match was given
>time and wasn't put in the Death Slot (plus set up Willow as a
>credible opponent for Jade). Page vs. Rush worked well and
>lead to a dope little Moxley promo. And National Scissoring
>Day was over the top and ridiculous and awesome. I may not
>have loved the match where the Acclaimed actually won, but
>they've taken the ball and fucking ran with it. And super,
>super over. Only thing that didn't quite work was the ending
>of the main event, but I liked the match well enough
>regardless.
>
>And regarding the back stage stuff: If Andrade is really
>trying to get fired, he needs to knock it off. And Sammy needs
>to grow up. Andrade could probably tell that it's easy to push
>his buttons and decided to pick a fight.
>
>I am hopeful Sammy can pull it together. As someone pointed
>out, Orton Jr. was a dumpser fire outside of the ring at
>Sammy's age. And now he's one of the most respected guys in
>the game. So there's time.

I hope he doesn't get big hurt more than anything else. I have no reason to assume Sammy is 'gonna get it together' short-term. He didn't seem to take it well when tha innanet gave him the biz for ending things with his girl and rolling up with Cheeks McGee 'shortly' thereafter. The girl IZ fine but c'mon mane! They went out of their way to be like 'Us!? fuckin!? Don't be silly! Why would we be doing that!? C'moooon!'.

He also seems like the wrong person to be getting into backstage foolery with any of the more 'that is a grown man' folks, but there he is. Doing/saying silly stuff with Eddie and Andrade.

I like that the plan appears to be making 'stable' shows instead of going Russo with it, doing big obvious 'everyone against the wall..let's redo all of the heel/face alignments out of nowhere' type 'we know everything sux so let's do a RESET'. But I am fine with solid/basic/decent wrestling shows so maybe they just stumbled into my range right now. I can admit that I'm not on the edge of my seat watching these shows but still..it is okay for now!

Like I laid out before, I DO get the idea that there's something cooking in the background that we aren't fully aware of. But maybe it is as simple as:

- There's an ROH show coming
- The title is going to MJF and we know how and when we're going to do it
- There's some resolution forthcoming with the Punk/EVPs/Ace Steele deal that is for real held up in legalities.

I wonder what the gag order discussion was like whenever TK had to roll up on that roster. Let's go with something way nicer than 'hey, STFU about CM Punk and the EVPs..there's legal shit at play and speaking on it right now could fuck up EVERYTHING, including your paychecks and the future of this company and business. So hey, zero tolerance. STFU. For real. Keep your feelings to yaself.'.

>I hope he doesn't get big hurt more than anything else. I have
>no reason to assume Sammy is 'gonna get it together'
>short-term. He didn't seem to take it well when tha innanet
>gave him the biz for ending things with his girl and rolling
>up with Cheeks McGee 'shortly' thereafter. The girl IZ fine
>but c'mon mane! They went out of their way to be like 'Us!?
>fuckin!? Don't be silly! Why would we be doing that!?
>C'moooon!'.

Eh, even though the stuff with Tay is what appears to have gotten the fans to turn against him, it's one thing I don't hold against him at all. Relationships are complicated things, and we don't know what happened between Sammy and his ex-fiance, and we're in no place to judge him ending with Tay, no matter how "quick" they went from dating to married.

Still, it's a trip to think that Sammy was absolutely beloved as the TNT champ less than a year ago. And now the "Go Home!" heat is vicious. I'm pretty much ready to blame Cody and Dan Lambert for Sammy flaming out; his proximity to both of them in late 2021 was the death knell for his old character.

>He also seems like the wrong person to be getting into
>backstage foolery with any of the more 'that is a grown man'
>folks, but there he is. Doing/saying silly stuff with Eddie
>and Andrade.

The more that comes out, the more that it appears Andrade was the asshole in this particular situation. Given that Tony warned them not to fight, they both said that they wouldn't, and then Andrade went on to try and fight Sammy. For whatever reason, Sammy keeps ending up in the middle of all this shit, but Eddie admitted that he was in the wrong, and the dust-up appears to be Andrade's way of trying to secure a release.

>I like that the plan appears to be making 'stable' shows
>instead of going Russo with it, doing big obvious 'everyone
>against the wall..let's redo all of the heel/face alignments
>out of nowhere' type 'we know everything sux so let's do a
>RESET'. But I am fine with solid/basic/decent wrestling shows
>so maybe they just stumbled into my range right now. I can
>admit that I'm not on the edge of my seat watching these shows
>but still..it is okay for now!

And that's why the show worked last night. Yeah, it was ROH heavy, but just about all of the AEW "pillars" were either wrestling, involved in a matches, or cutting monster promos (in the Acclaimed's case). Plus, it involved all three of the current backstage leaders. Hot-shotting and steering into the chaos would have been dumb long term.

And, hey, even though i'm sure some pundits and people within the IWC are convinced that AEW will be dead by Thanksgiving, they were back to a million viewers this week. So despite what some might say, the ship isn't sinking.

the show isnt going anywhere in terms of being on television, but chaos is its core essence, from the matches themselves all the way up to the creative direction as a whole

You’re right on Andrade. Looks like he’s trying to get out however he can and Sammy was the plug and a reasonable target. Ridiculous! He might be a guy who gets the Brian Cage fridge treatment.

And yeah, I get that AEW didn’t take over earth when Punk, Danielson, and Cole showed up. And even Kenny’s return was cool to most people who haven’t been programmed to hate him but the world wasn’t exactly set on fire over that either. But they appeared to be headed into a decent direction as long as people weren’t expecting a Mania 3 crowd anytime. Now, they’ll PROBABLY maintain where they are and that’s fine for a while. I don’t see them being up a creek if they ‘only’ have a million-ish viewers of Dynamite every week per however that gets counted now. They just aren’t going to get beyond ‘fine’ anytime soon. And that’s what some people can’t seem to get over. Seems like some people want them to be 97 WCW without the years leading up to it or the parade of bad shit that went down after Sting/Hogan.

And yeah, Sammy has had a rough azz year. The relationship in of itself is whatever to most grown folks. The lying about it seemed slimy but even before that, I like Sammy a certain amount that wasn’t likely to increase dramatically. He’s like a raw Ricochet or something like that. Or a less good Neville/Pac. But with better height. And now? I’m about in the same spot on him as before and he’s getting that XPac heat.

>>I hope he doesn't get big hurt more than anything else. I
>have
>>no reason to assume Sammy is 'gonna get it together'
>>short-term. He didn't seem to take it well when tha innanet
>>gave him the biz for ending things with his girl and rolling
>>up with Cheeks McGee 'shortly' thereafter. The girl IZ fine
>>but c'mon mane! They went out of their way to be like 'Us!?
>>fuckin!? Don't be silly! Why would we be doing that!?
>>C'moooon!'.
>
>Eh, even though the stuff with Tay is what appears to have
>gotten the fans to turn against him, it's one thing I don't
>hold against him at all. Relationships are complicated things,
>and we don't know what happened between Sammy and his
>ex-fiance, and we're in no place to judge him ending with Tay,
>no matter how "quick" they went from dating to married.
>
>Still, it's a trip to think that Sammy was absolutely beloved
>as the TNT champ less than a year ago. And now the "Go Home!"
>heat is vicious. I'm pretty much ready to blame Cody and Dan
>Lambert for Sammy flaming out; his proximity to both of them
>in late 2021 was the death knell for his old character.
>
>>He also seems like the wrong person to be getting into
>>backstage foolery with any of the more 'that is a grown man'
>>folks, but there he is. Doing/saying silly stuff with Eddie
>>and Andrade.
>
>The more that comes out, the more that it appears Andrade was
>the asshole in this particular situation. Given that Tony
>warned them not to fight, they both said that they wouldn't,
>and then Andrade went on to try and fight Sammy. For whatever
>reason, Sammy keeps ending up in the middle of all this shit,
>but Eddie admitted that he was in the wrong, and the dust-up
>appears to be Andrade's way of trying to secure a release.
>
>>I like that the plan appears to be making 'stable' shows
>>instead of going Russo with it, doing big obvious 'everyone
>>against the wall..let's redo all of the heel/face alignments
>>out of nowhere' type 'we know everything sux so let's do a
>>RESET'. But I am fine with solid/basic/decent wrestling
>shows
>>so maybe they just stumbled into my range right now. I can
>>admit that I'm not on the edge of my seat watching these
>shows
>>but still..it is okay for now!
>
>And that's why the show worked last night. Yeah, it was ROH
>heavy, but just about all of the AEW "pillars" were either
>wrestling, involved in a matches, or cutting monster promos
>(in the Acclaimed's case). Plus, it involved all three of the
>current backstage leaders. Hot-shotting and steering into the
>chaos would have been dumb long term.
>
>And, hey, even though i'm sure some pundits and people within
>the IWC are convinced that AEW will be dead by Thanksgiving,
>they were back to a million viewers this week. So despite what
>some might say, the ship isn't sinking.
>
>

Nice production on the reveal

Hoping Hunter can focus Wyatt creatively.

Btw I’m loving these 6 match cards WWE is putting on for “ppvs.” The show doesn’t overstay its welcome.

>Btw I’m loving these 6 match cards WWE is putting on for
>“ppvs.” The show doesn’t overstay its welcome.


Trips make these secondary PPVs into major joint shows and he makes the big 4 plus 1 (MITB) an event. This was perfect cause you had great matches with only one being a true banger of a match (Brutes v. Imperium) and everything else wasn't filler per se, but they were paced great and I have no qualms about any of the booking decisions.

I gotta give Sheamus his flowers now. I've been teetering on liking him since he's arrived. He's not terrible, but I've never looked forward to seeing him in any of the matches. He and Gunther have been low key the best part of WWEtv, sans Bloodline and Honorary Uce, the past month. He's elevated not just Gunther, but Imperium AND Dunne and Holland by himself. That's some good veteran leadership there. He's earned collecting that IC title in the future to secure winning every single title in the company.

>>Btw I’m loving these 6 match cards WWE is putting on for
>>“ppvs.” The show doesn’t overstay its welcome.
>
>
>Trips make these secondary PPVs into major joint shows and he
>makes the big 4 plus 1 (MITB) an event. This was perfect cause
>you had great matches with only one being a true banger of a
>match (Brutes v. Imperium) and everything else wasn't filler
>per se, but they were paced great and I have no qualms about
>any of the booking decisions.
>

Yep, he's NXT-ing the hell out of the main roster: doing shit that makes sense, doing finishes that aren't scared to give someone a win unexpectedly without shenanigan, and yes...cutting the card down when plausible.

And even better: giving every Extreme Rules match a stipulation. Are you kidding me!? That boy Triple Haitch is out of control with the coherent shit.

>I gotta give Sheamus his flowers now. I've been teetering on
>liking him since he's arrived. He's not terrible, but I've
>never looked forward to seeing him in any of the matches. He
>and Gunther have been low key the best part of WWEtv, sans
>Bloodline and Honorary Uce, the past month. He's elevated not
>just Gunther, but Imperium AND Dunne and Holland by himself.
>That's some good veteran leadership there. He's earned
>collecting that IC title in the future to secure winning every
>single title in the company.
>

Yeah, Fella has thrown Febreze on a bunch of shit over the years. He's PHYSICAL and they've finally got him in the right mix with the right opponents. And it is wonderful to see. And it is so cool that as soon as you see something like him being matched up with VAULTER, it was OBVIOUS that the shit was gonna go hard. And then, it just did. I love it.

his matches never deliver.

tons of noisy spooky acting and a bunch of clumsy matches

silly me I thought the Orton payoff was going to culminate in a great Wrestlemania match and it was a cluster

the most provocative thing Bray Wyatt could do now is wear a lot less shit and barely talk. No masks or costumes, barely any mic time, just be a haunting normal looking guy. That'd be so much more exciting and unsettling.

Yes, it wasn't just him. Yes, it had a lot more to do with the Shield JUMPING out. But he played his part.

When he's on it, he's intense, he's crisp, and he's DIFFERENT. When he's not, he's crabwalking for no reason and his opponent isn't helping him at all.

I think given the constraints of Covid having just hit and the story they were able to tell, they hit the ball out of the park there. I imagine Wyatt was hugely instrumental in putting that together and kudos to Cena for being a willing dance partner.

Lose all the supernatural stuff. Go back to the original character. The crabwalk is absurdly stupid - get rid of it. He should just have basic, hard hitting matches, with a finisher that is always lights out that he can hit out of nowhere….I’m thinking Jake Roberts type stuff. And then, yeah - make him “dangerous” to beaten opponents simply because he’s crazy and will do brutal things if he can…..no need for the spooky, over the top, supernatural stuff and the absurd origin stories.

>Lose all the supernatural stuff. Go back to the original
>character. The crabwalk is absurdly stupid - get rid of it.
> He should just have basic, hard hitting matches, with a
>finisher that is always lights out that he can hit out of
>nowhere….I’m thinking Jake Roberts type stuff. And
>then, yeah - make him “dangerous” to beaten opponents
>simply because he’s crazy and will do brutal things if he
>can…..no need for the spooky, over the top, supernatural
>stuff and the absurd origin stories.

Yes, he needs something sneakier/quicker that HITS. That alone would make a big difference for his work. I just don't know what it would be since RKO is totally taken. Could he get a hotshot over enough to work as a finisher? Sting-style reverse DDT?

As for the monster stuff, I just hope he keeps the explanations shorter. I don't need 10 minutes of him dropping weird riddles from promo closets. I'll get all upside my fast forward button if he does.

Do the QR codes. Do a few cryptic sentences here and there. But more than that, yes...HE NEEDS TO BE DANGEROUS. Have him showing up at odd times to get at people unexpectedly. And then, eventually, have him come at someone big out of nowhere. Print the money. Haitch can do this.

The thing I'm not sure about is how to do matches. He's physical. This is good. But he's not a great candidate for having long segments with him having the advantage in matches. He needs to be on some Vader shit. Or even now, some Brock shit...2-15 minute matches. No 28 minute 'epics'. That's not his strength. At all.

he can hit a snap version of it, or he can use it "low and slow" to showcase his dominance. The NXT/early Family version with the forehead kiss was menacing as fuck.

she Karries that whole gimmick

Trips throwing it all on the table Crown Jewel and beyond

>Trips throwing it all on the table Crown Jewel and beyond

And these shows are COHERENT! And fun! And good! And the wrestling has the nerve to be good too!

This Bloodline shit is gorgeous storytelling. I’m gonna be a sad mfer when they finally turn on Sami. I wonder if they already know for sure how and when they’re gonna do it.

Maryse is standing out on a show with a parade of attractive women. These getups she’s showing up with are out of hand.

I’m glad that DX still has this many living members. And I love that they know how damn old they are and are willing to clown themselves over it.

>Trips throwing it all on the table Crown Jewel and beyond

They could get both Cody and Randy Orton back early next year? It’s gonna be supreme. Throw in Becky and Charlotte too!? Shiiiiiiid. They’ll be setup to have a completely ridiculous Mania. Now we just have to hope no one does a scathing press conference about Colt Cabana and ends up in a backstage brawl that get like 6 people thrown into the deep freezer.

I’m excited for AJ vs Finn too. I could do without Good Brothers but they’re fine enough for now.

like the kind of thing that will never actually be right even if he never wrestled again

>>Trips throwing it all on the table Crown Jewel and beyond
>
>They could get both Cody and Randy Orton back early next year?
>It’s gonna be supreme. Throw in Becky and Charlotte too!?
>Shiiiiiiid. They’ll be setup to have a completely ridiculous
>Mania. Now we just have to hope no one does a scathing press
>conference about Colt Cabana and ends up in a backstage brawl
>that get like 6 people thrown into the deep freezer.
>
>I’m excited for AJ vs Finn too. I could do without Good
>Brothers but they’re fine enough for now.


And hell, you didn't even mention Banks and Naomi, lol. Trips has a chance to play with a hell of a roster by RR time

>>>Trips throwing it all on the table Crown Jewel and beyond
>>
>>They could get both Cody and Randy Orton back early next
>year?
>>It’s gonna be supreme. Throw in Becky and Charlotte too!?
>>Shiiiiiiid. They’ll be setup to have a completely
>ridiculous
>>Mania. Now we just have to hope no one does a scathing press
>>conference about Colt Cabana and ends up in a backstage
>brawl
>>that get like 6 people thrown into the deep freezer.
>>
>>I’m excited for AJ vs Finn too. I could do without Good
>>Brothers but they’re fine enough for now.
>
>
>And hell, you didn't even mention Banks and Naomi, lol. Trips
>has a chance to play with a hell of a roster by RR time

In my mind, I am protecting myself from disappointment on Banks and Naomi. AKA in my mind, they may as well be CM Punk before that fever dream year of him we just got at AEW. AKA in my mind, they're going to keep getting more and more popular by not wrestling, showing up at random stuff looking good / trapping the thirsty, and leaving it open ended on whether they'll come back or not.

If I had to guess, I assume they'll both make it back AT SOME POINT, but they may not be in anything resembling a hurry.

No bs

There will never be a “perfect” Raw since it’s 3 hours, but damn that was a special show . It’s virtually impossible to get these crowds up and keep them up but they achieved it last night

The sequence of Brock coming back / Rollins telling Lashley he’s not patriotic;/ Rollins winning was just a colossal 10 or so minutes

Bloodline excellent again, shocker

>No bs
>
>There will never be a “perfect” Raw since it’s 3 hours,
>but damn that was a special show . It’s virtually impossible
>to get these crowds up and keep them up but they achieved it
>last night
>

And the 'nothing' matches that any weekly wrestling show is bound to have were ALSO VERY DAMN GOOD. Johnny Wrestling vs Theory and Bayley vs Candace for instance. If those are matches you can just throw on a show, you probably have a good azz show going.

>The sequence of Brock coming back / Rollins telling Lashley
>he’s not patriotic;/ Rollins winning was just a colossal 10
>or so minutes
>

Yeah..all of this was excellent. Haitch is actin a fool by making an NXT type of show with WWE best on earth talent getting more shine. And its all just 'basic' wrestling shit.

And Brock coming back and hitting a Fire Pro Wrestling critical on Lashley was a great way to get Rollins a heel title win AND set us up for Brock/Lashley in Saudi or wherever they're gonna do it. And if you're telling me Brock is gonna wrestle someone other than Reigns, I'm not going to be too upset about it.

>Bloodline excellent again, shocker

I laughed and couldn't stop laughing when Sami interrupted Reigns and went on to tell Jey is wasn't acting 'Ucey'. He's damn near breaking Reigns every show now. And Jimmy is in the perfect spot cuz he can just laugh his ass off everything Sami says something ridiculous. This is just excellent stuff that is gonna be all up in Sami's HOF video package. If this stuff is 'just filler', this is the best damn filler anyone has had in a long azz time.

At the beginning of RAW when DX was about to go out and Trips said "AND NO FIGHTING!!!!" LMAO!!!!

This was a great RAW. Trips is making a 3 hr. almost seamless to watch. There wasn't a point in the show where I felt the need to change the channel. Even the Omos match! That was the best he's looked in a squash match ever.

I've always wanted Brock/Lashley with no belt on the line. It would be just two dude absolutely annihilating each other with powerful, hard hitting moves. That's what I'm hoping to get at Crown Jewel from them.

There was not a better way to put the belt on Seth than that sequence you mentioned. *chef's kiss*

I'm predicting a swerve in the Bloodline/Sami turn. It won't be Jey who finally lays out Sami. It will be Jimmy. That would garner the most heat cause of how close they are and it would be a better story mover. But I need MORE of their hand shake they have together. That is hilarious.

Pac sold that last punch like death, and my god that pin was PERFECT (thanks Lord Regal).

>Pac sold that last punch like death, and my god that pin was
>PERFECT (thanks Lord Regal).

Orange has some good azz pins! Match after match. And his pins get better as the match goes on. Good times. Dude can work.

>

Yeah. They killed it. I assume Regal is gonna turn and I’m down with it. I watched that last 10 minutes of Dynamite sitting up..wondering what the hell was gonna happen. That’s a great sign. MJF is wonderful. His ability to create gorgeous stories with basically anyone he can put together a ‘past’ with is supreme.

Is going to be exceptional.

>>
>
>Yeah. They killed it. I assume Regal is gonna turn and I’m
>down with it. I watched that last 10 minutes of Dynamite
>sitting up..wondering what the hell was gonna happen. That’s
>a great sign. MJF is wonderful. His ability to create gorgeous
>stories with basically anyone he can put together a ‘past’
>with is supreme.

He appears to have been shoot knocked out? Yikes. Hopefully dude is alright. I pretty much assumed it was a way to have him lose without getting pinned/submitted. And then I was back to wondering how MJF was gonna show up and what he was gonna do with Regal/Moxley.

the ringside attendant rolled him over onto his back in a rather careless looking way, and they did an angle as soon as they scraped him up off the mat just in time for the show to end at its regular time

also, regarding that angle...why do the announcers have to pretend they have their own lingering brain injuries. MJF is gone from the skybox and everyone is completely dumbfounded. "MJF...hes gone...what could that mean???"

my wife was shitting on the commentary SO hard, all night, except for when Riccaboni was out there. she paid him the ultimate compliment and said "he sounds like a real sportsball announcer". thats an exact quote btw lol

>the ringside attendant rolled him over onto his back in a
>rather careless looking way, and they did an angle as soon as
>they scraped him up off the mat just in time for the show to
>end at its regular time
>
>also, regarding that angle...why do the announcers have to
>pretend they have their own lingering brain injuries. MJF is
>gone from the skybox and everyone is completely dumbfounded.
>"MJF...hes gone...what could that mean???"
>
>my wife was shitting on the commentary SO hard, all night,
>except for when Riccaboni was out there. she paid him the
>ultimate compliment and said "he sounds like a real sportsball
>announcer". thats an exact quote btw lol

All he contributes is "boy what a great match" which is fine every now and again, but not every other match. And usually it comes at the price of letting a moment breathe. I mean it's good that he's no longer filling good rasslin matches talking about the nWo and whatever they're up to, but not by much.

I think Excal is fine though.

when commentary was Tony & Jericho during the lockdown era shows...that was great. conversational, relaxed, and capable of setting emotional stakes.

but Excalibur's lack of education and experience in media communications, and total buildup of bad habits from dubbing his indie DVDs, completely prevent any sort of flow and rapport. its just a string of non-sequitors from everyone, trying to say words like a normal human being before Excalibur's next outburst of sing-song growling or whatever other dumb fake voice he's using.

If he fell off the face of the earth tomorrow, the show would instantly be 25% better.

im asking honestly, idk what her role was in WWE

I mean that as a compliment. I can’t stand obnoxious announcing

And when he has the chance to do in-ring interviews, he still is really fucking good. As we discussed in one of these threads, his in-ring interview with Christian after he turned on Jungle Boy was one of the best straight interview segment I've seen in years.

"You still got a lot to prove" was the perfect ending to that segment

Given that they’ve established that MJF can cash in at any time. This was a brilliant way to do it. MJF has taken the challenge.

I expect MJF will play it straight through 99% of the match, people will be getting on his side, then he’ll cheat at the very end and the boos will be thunderous.

>Given that they’ve established that MJF can cash in at any
>time. This was a brilliant way to do it. MJF has taken the
>challenge.
>
>I expect MJF will play it straight through 99% of the match,
>people will be getting on his side, then he’ll cheat at the
>very end and the boos will be thunderous.

I think SOMETHING is going to come up beforehand where 'MJF could cash this in RIGHT NOW and be the champ cuz Mox is down bad rn' comes into play. Maybe Regal is still going to have the chip with him. He will call MJF 'Sunshine' and hint that he's a bitch if he cashes in during that moment instead of honoring what he said before about 'earning it'. Great content and face-making will follow. I will be enthralled.

I'm still in love with that segment earlier this week. MJF tried to 'get' Regal the same way he 'got' CM Punk to feel some kind of sympathy for him..at least temporarily. The crowd bought it huge..even after all of the stuff MJF has pulled. Regal, being the king shit vet and villain he is, was not having any of it! It is basically perfect verification of who both characters are. Just..wow. And now, we wait.

And I'm gonna be amped if/when Regal somehow turns/helps MJF win the title.

Is good shit to me. He’s just about big enough, the gimmick is a hoot, and it seems like he can go even with his bad back. I pretty much love him like I love an Elias. Or Rick Martel. Or Rick Rude. Or like Randy Savage but not nearly as much cuz I barely like anyone as much as I liked Randy Savage.

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

id rather see him than a few of the guys who seem to be lynchpins of the show

got me realll good last week.

He always did fantastic work in ROH, but, as is the case with anyone in ROH, there was a ceiling to how big he was gonna get. Here’s hoping they can find consistent tv time for him and Bandido (if he’s officially on the roster?). They both more than deserve it.

>He always did fantastic work in ROH, but, as is the case with
>anyone in ROH, there was a ceiling to how big he was gonna
>get. Here’s hoping they can find consistent tv time for him
>and Bandido (if he’s officially on the roster?). They both
>more than deserve it.

The way he uses the boys like assists from Marvel vs Capcom is my favorite. Those fools can be darts, stairs, or chairs. And when they fan him every time he's out of the ring? I love it all. And it is the type of stuff that can be played with quite a bit if he were to be around even a little bit more. Even better, he doesn't need to be out there every week for 20 minutes to be/stay over.

I was a huge fan of his match with Jonathan Gresham at, I believe, the first Battle of the Belts. It was completely different than anything AEW or WWE was putting on TV.

He's got a great look. He's got charisma and is great on the stick. And everything with The Boys is awesome. And now with that entrance? I can see him being s star.

I'm hoping that they follow the lead that they did with Bandido, and offer him a full-time contract. And I also honestly think he's a better fit on the AEW roster than on ROH.

Just a Diamond in a pile of dogshit

MJF had a moment in his promo with Renee that is the funniest I’ve laughed at anything in lord knows hoe long

The one thing I REALLY don't like about MJF's promos though is his propensity for breaking the fourth wall (i.e. "this is real fuckin life" last week; "now it's time for my super-over catchphrase" this week).

And, like I get that I'm the guy who's telling people in this thread how awesome Orange Cassidy is. But for the "generational talent" to have such a glaring gap is a concern.

>The one thing I REALLY don't like about MJF's promos though
>is his propensity for breaking the fourth wall (i.e. "this is
>real fuckin life" last week; "now it's time for my super-over
>catchphrase" this week).

pushing MJF over the top. ESPECIALLY given how hard Regal went on his podcast this week and how much MJF loves a worked shoot.

>Just a Diamond in a pile of dogshit
>
>MJF had a moment in his promo with Renee that is the funniest
>I’ve laughed at anything in lord knows hoe long

Maaaaaaaan! 2014 Impact!? Anything but that!

It is wild how wrestling works online. There's almost a slot for 'show that sucks sooooo much and people hate on it more than they enjoy whatever the good show is supposed to be at that time'. And right now, that slot is taken up by AEW. Triple Haitch pulled WWE off of that internet cross by bringing some darlings back, making some 'coherent' shows, and openly and obviously resetting other people (Eli Drake being rescued from MMM is my fav of those).

To be reasonable, AEW set themselves up for SOME of this. They talked a big game and spent a gang of money. What I don't think they could've accounted for is getting donated basically an entire roster of allegedly badass wrestlers from WWE.

And then, as even most of the most fervent AEW people would admit, things were NOT perfect..not at first and not now. They never were going to be perfect but that doesn't matter now that AEW is in 'the slot'. And sure, some things went VERY wrong. Some of the people who were begging for visibility didn't do well in the light. And what do you know: another wrestling company has backstage bullshit spill over onto the show until we got to where we are now: Punk is allegedly done with AEW. I'll believe it when I don't see him for a year or he shows up on WWE TV and melts the whole wrestling earth.

And the EVPs and Hangman have never had this type of shit on their names ever..don't assume that the bad faith hating that they've had from pods and bots is anything like what they could be dealing with when they return. Before, they were basically unknowns having athletic matches in the corners of wrestling...that's an easier environment to thrive in! Now, they are influencing things happening/not happening on the 2nd biggest wrestling company and they're looking like the jerks in these situations (which is at least mildly adorable considering what most of us are willing to accept about Phil Punk).

And really, even with MJF doing great work, and there being a small parade of really good wrestling going on (tag team bangers keep on happening), the show feels off. They've done a decent job of trying to 'calm things down' after everything went off the rails after THE Scrum. Still tho...there's too many people 'missing'. There's too many people being fixtures who might not be 'the right ones'. Rampage is too B show. Too much bad stuff is making it on air. The (fine ass) women are still struggling to get and keep heat on anything they're doing.

i dont really care who or where

just let him BE

Main event of Royal Quest Night 1. It on New Japan World now. I was not an Aussie Open fan when I saw them a few years ago, but they have really sharpened their game. And FTR is on top of the world right now.

>Main event of Royal Quest Night 1. It on New Japan World now.
>I was not an Aussie Open fan when I saw them a few years ago,
>but they have really sharpened their game. And FTR is on top
>of the world right now.

I have that on a growing list of things I want to check out. I have no reason to believe that it isn't the jam. Aussie Open won me over bigtime the last time I saw them. It looks like they have a lot of that 'right place at the right time' stuff that Cornette talks about with FTR that is super noticeable once you're looking for it. It is also pretty clear when it is off...usually with singles wrestlers who are working in a tag.

Part of a tournament for a new belt. The gimmick of the belt is a 15 minute time limit, so the matches have been very fast paced. This one was off the chain. Hard-hitting and told a fantastic old guy vs. young guy story.

I was thinking this was the day. It was way too serious. Then Sami. I did not expect that to end up as one of the most unintentionally funny segments the WWE has produced in a while. Jey couldn't quit laughing. Sami is gold.

I wonder if they kept Solo off screen cause he couldn’t control it either.

It’s gold every time this crew is on tv. Sami has been the star these last few months, but everybody plays their parts perfectly, and the way Roman is able to laugh with the crowd and turn around and go right back to Tribal Chief mode is impressive. Dude is at the top of his game. Even something as silly as renaming Sami becomes a huge plot point for the Sami and Jey relationship.

Then when WWE replayed it on YouTube that part was edited. I think they're trying to protect his demeanor. Also plenty of people online that was at the show said that he broke character as well.

Lol shit was hilarious.

>I was thinking this was the day. It was way too serious. Then
>Sami. I did not expect that to end up as one of the most
>unintentionally funny segments the WWE has produced in a
>while. Jey couldn't quit laughing. Sami is gold.

I couldn't stop laughing either. When Jey stepped in it, Reigns made THE FACE, and then hit him with the super slow 'I know the fuck you didn't but we're about to see right now if you did' turnaround, I was enthralled, excited, and elated. I mean, just wonderful stuff. And they got me again..thinking that maybe THIS was the moment it all went wrong. But nope! Keep everyone on the hook for a bit longer!

And that damn Sami..he's the only one who gets away with interrupting Roman (right now), and you damn near know its coming every time now.

I was laughing at them laughing. I watched it multiple times to see who cracked when, who got it back together (Roman) and who just never got it back together (Jimmy).

They know they're all killing it too. That makes it all even better to me. If they get this right, pretty much everyone is made for years to come off of this.

>And that damn Sami..he's the only one who gets away with
>interrupting Roman (right now), and you damn near know its
>coming every time now.
>
>I was laughing at them laughing. I watched it multiple times
>to see who cracked when, who got it back together (Roman) and
>who just never got it back together (Jimmy).
>
>They know they're all killing it too. That makes it all even
>better to me. If they get this right, pretty much everyone is
>made for years to come off of this.

Sami's heartfelt apology being amplified by Heyman's pat on his back and the fans applauding? Subtle greatness.

When Jey turned around and tried to walk off laughing and Reigns brought him back? I damn near did a spit take

When they zoomed in on Sami when Roman told Jey he'd make Sami a full blown Uce? Not gold. PLATINUM

The way Roman delivered "SAMI USO Y'ALL!" with such conviction and Sami's and Jey's reaction with Jimmy losing it in the background? Flawless

>>And that damn Sami..he's the only one who gets away with
>>interrupting Roman (right now), and you damn near know its
>>coming every time now.
>>
>>I was laughing at them laughing. I watched it multiple times
>>to see who cracked when, who got it back together (Roman)
>and
>>who just never got it back together (Jimmy).
>>
>>They know they're all killing it too. That makes it all even
>>better to me. If they get this right, pretty much everyone
>is
>>made for years to come off of this.
>
>Sami's heartfelt apology being amplified by Heyman's pat on
>his back and the fans applauding? Subtle greatness.
>
>When Jey turned around and tried to walk off laughing and
>Reigns brought him back? I damn near did a spit take
>
>When they zoomed in on Sami when Roman told Jey he'd make Sami
>a full blown Uce? Not gold. PLATINUM
>
>The way Roman delivered "SAMI USO Y'ALL!" with such conviction
>and Sami's and Jey's reaction with Jimmy losing it in the
>background? Flawless

No one is sadder and/or more shook than Sami when things are about to go badly. And no one is happier/more relieved when things settle back down.

His face when Roman was making him take the Bloodline shirt off pretty much made this whole thing automatic goodness in the weeks since then. And the crowd was AMPED when Roman gave him that Honorary Uce shirt instead of beating him up. And JEY!? In the background mad AF about the HU shirt? Just wow. This stuff is gonna be in all of their HOF video packages.

It was on the latest episode of WrestleRoasts.

Key takeaways:

- He legitimately isn’t friends with Colt Cabana. They had a falling out just like Punk and Cabana did. No wonder Punk’s callout didn’t work.

- Punk found this out and apologized to Hausman privately.

- I was kinda suspicious of the dog story and how it happened to come out on the day that the Elite’s return was teased in AEW, especially where the wording of the story was really weird. I’m less suspicious now as it seems Hausman contacted Punk’s camp and not the other way around.

- Cody really did hate it in AEW towards the end there, and his promo about not having a contract basically opened the floodgates for talent to voice their displeasure with no repercussions.

>

He had that nervous excitement rolling. I was horrified of what could happen the whole time he was on camera. I saw him in the crowd earlier on and figured SOMETHING was coming.

he felt real and he felt invested

he could be great at this

>

And you need False accusations in parenthesis too.

so fuckin good

i need more

Hope it was worth it

>

That would be bonkers. They could do it almost any way they want and it would be great.

Sadly, I think the main thing is that Punk can't be all up on the scene. He's gotta show up, do his thing with whoever he's dealing with, and then be out. I can't imagine WWE would want to risk Punk getting his feathers ruffled or him ruffling someone else's feathers and then ending up having to fuck off some big plan because of backstage bullshit.

YES, I get that Punk didn't dance with himself in the AEW foolery. But still, when you get a bunch of dudes together, ask them to fake fight, and then someone else has to decide who wins, gets pushed, etcetera, it is always a slippery slope. ALWAYS. Even in WWE.

And Punk OBVIOUSLY isn't above acting a fool if he doesn't think he's getting what he wants. And he doesn't need the money, he's damn near Brock-ish in that he can walk at any time and not come back until he feels like it, if ever.

Oooooh that could be interesting.

Which was the source of this whole mishegas in the first place.

But yeah, Colt got to give his symbolic speech last night. I hope it works out for everyone, since it appears that everyone involved isn't willing to work past this.

Ironically so did I the first 3 times I typed that out.

and instead is actively ensuring there is going to be no attempt to do so.

Colt Cabana lol.

I now officially want Punk to go to WWE just to spite The Elite.

>and instead is actively ensuring there is going to be no
>attempt to do so.
>
>Colt Cabana lol.
>
>I now officially want Punk to go to WWE just to spite The
>Elite.

I'm betting Tony was lowkey happy about the scrum before it turned into all of the shit it has most likely turned into.

AKA he probably got told multiple times by multiple people that everyone would calm down and then turn it into a way to make money at some point. And he probably told himself the same damn thing!

And now, if he knows it is damn well not the case, he's probably the saddest man involved in this whole thing. He probably thinks he tried EVERYTHING. And every time he tried something, the bitch in all of those dudes came out more and more. And now, he's sitting up here with Cody in WWE, Punk getting a buy-out, The Elite (and Page) needing a ridiculous amount of rehab, and a slew of people on his roster that he needs to figure out going forward to prevent a repeat of this shit-show. And yes, he has to know that people are trying to use this whole thing to their advantage. MJF. Jericho. Random other dudes that don't come up on the pods nearly as much..but Tony knows their bullshit. Boo.

I'm REALLY afraid that the Elite's return is gonna be done in a way that sucks. And by that, I mean this: it will be so self-righteous and weird that even people who don't hate them (like me) will be like 'these dudes are bitches..fuck all of em'. I'm hoping like hell that the Elite don't make a lame situation worse by reading the room wrong AGAIN.

And I'm going to try to treat this Colt Cabana showing up thing as an overly cute one-off. AKA I'm not going to be amped if I look around every week and see dude on AEW.

But he’s going to be getting “symbolic” TV time now and it’s going to suck.

Bloodline: Reigns & The Usos

Vs

The Rock, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn


Sami wins the Rumble. Reigns tells Sami to “do the right thing for the family” and forfeit the title shot opportunity, Sami stands up to the bully and says no. Sami is beat down. Owens gets involved at a later show, maybe costing the Usos the tag titles. Eventually Owens and Sami challenge the Bloodline at Mania, and they’re bringing the Rock.

Rock returns and tells Reigns he’s embarrassing the family and disrespecting “the people”. Sami and Owens represent “the people”, they aren’t blood, they weren’t born into this.

Rock/Owens/Sami issue the challenge - if they win, Owens and Sami each go back to Raw and Smackdown with one of Reigns titles (splitting the belts). Reigns tells Rock if Bloodline wins then Rock has to bow down and acknowledge the tribal chief.

Rock/Owens/Sami go over at Mania, triple pin by all three baby faces at once. The roof is blown off of Sofi stadium. The WWE prints cash. Sami is a made man. The belts problem is fixed. Rock can work a match in a safe way not having to carry a full load for 20 minutes, and the program can move along without him even being around much.

I thought it was a way to get the rock match but not make Rock work too hard, and split the belts and make 2 guys in the process

I don’t think Rock/Reigns is gonna happen

That Logan v Reigns match had no business being as good as it was. Reigns is a G for taking that announcing table spot though.

(c) Brett hart , I’m sure

So expertly laid out , makes you take good wresting for granted when you see it

the matches with the Usos are always good.

>
>So expertly laid out , makes you take good wresting for
>granted when you see it

Yes. Whenever they feel like having a banger they just throw them together, give them time, and let them roll. Awesome stuff.

what a fall.

He was acting like he wasn’t in the middle of the biggest bidding war in wrestling in 20 years. Struck gold with people like Ricky Starks and Thunder Rosa, but wanted to pay them next-to-nothing as their star was quickly rising. Only person he offered a serious deal was Aldis and then Aldis held the title hostage lol.

Whoever is producing it, like actually sequencing the show, should be cast out of television permanently

I checked out maybe for good last night and I’m not sure when I’m coming back. I’ll illegally stream Full Gear Saturday and catch up on Dynamite via DVR but I’m not gonna make an effort for AEW anytime soon.

There was a part of the show last night that recapped the Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus feud then immediately went into a Saraya promo. This was like a 5 long minute stretch of haphazard editing, rushed promo delivery, a bunch of bad acting - none of which was in ring. And when you watch so much noise it’s like a sensory overload , everything is coming at you so loud and fast and I just sat through that and thought “who likes this?” It’s like when my kids watch a Minions movie or Batman Lego movie , shit is just so aggressive and hyper. Volume is on 11, pace is breakneck, one thing after another with no effort to slow down and give the audience time to process what they’re seeing and hearing.

Watching AEW devolve from where they were a year ago is a tragedy.

I don’t know if I let the innanet get me or what, but the drama and bullshit behind the scenes ate up so much scenery that it just seems like everyone in AEW is catching hell just getting through a show and/or a segment. Maybe that’s how Tony feels and it’s bleeding into the product? Maybe I’m making it all up/I’ve let myself be internetted out of enjoying something that could be better but isn’t really all that terrible?

IDK but…

I fucking hate that FTR isn’t on the scene strong.

I hate that MJF might be about to win the title and it won’t be great if they don’t have a twist of some kind coming. Cuz him just winning and being a babyface AEW mascot all of a sudden might not be the thing. UNLESS THERE IS A TWIST COMING.

I don’t love that motherfuckin Saraya Paige showed up, is somehow cleared, and is gonna beat DMD in her first match back and it still doesn’t feel right.

I don’t like that fine azz Jamie Hayter is wrestling also fine ass Toni Storm and it doesn’t feel like it’s fucking ON. It should feel like it’s FUCKING ON!

I wish I liked what Jericho and DB are doing better. Maybe something is coming and they’re trying to lull us to sleep or some shit. But rn, it hasn’t been as fun. Jericho going through ROH champs..I like the concept, but if it doesn’t end with Adam Cole showing up and kicking his ass, what are we even doing!?

And the way they announced that the Elite are coming back? Fuck that shit. I hate it! A lot! And I didn’t go into it wanting to hate them coming back. I really didn’t. I like all 3 of those dudes in the ring for the most part. But if they really are somehow fucking me out of CM Punk, Cody, AND FTR, I’m gonna have a hard time not being a mark about it and at least somewhat hating those mfers for years to come if they’re going come back in some passive and shitty ass way because they’re scared of pissing people off. Again, maybe it’s me. And again, maybe something is coming, they’re playing shit a certain way, and it’s about to be on.

But it doesn’t look or feel ‘on’. Not at all. And I hate watching a wrestling show hoping for a twist or a surprise to rescue it.

>
>Whoever is producing it, like actually sequencing the show,
>should be cast out of television permanently
>
>I checked out maybe for good last night and I’m not sure
>when I’m coming back. I’ll illegally stream Full Gear
>Saturday and catch up on Dynamite via DVR but I’m not gonna
>make an effort for AEW anytime soon.
>
>There was a part of the show last night that recapped the
>Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus feud then immediately went into a
>Saraya promo. This was like a 5 long minute stretch of
>haphazard editing, rushed promo delivery, a bunch of bad
>acting - none of which was in ring. And when you watch so much
>noise it’s like a sensory overload , everything is coming at
>you so loud and fast and I just sat through that and thought
>“who likes this?” It’s like when my kids watch a Minions
>movie or Batman Lego movie , shit is just so aggressive and
>hyper. Volume is on 11, pace is breakneck, one thing after
>another with no effort to slow down and give the audience
>time to process what they’re seeing and hearing.
>
>Watching AEW devolve from where they were a year ago is a
>tragedy.

including 20 min of bryan danielson. thats how bad it is.


>Whoever is producing it, like actually sequencing the show,
>should be cast out of television permanently

QT Marshall

>I checked out maybe for good last night and I’m not sure
>when I’m coming back. I’ll illegally stream Full Gear
>Saturday and catch up on Dynamite via DVR but I’m not gonna
>make an effort for AEW anytime soon.

so uh...lemme holler at that lol

>There was a part of the show last night that recapped the
>Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus feud then immediately went into a
>Saraya promo. This was like a 5 long minute stretch of
>haphazard editing, rushed promo delivery, a bunch of bad
>acting - none of which was in ring. And when you watch so much
>noise it’s like a sensory overload , everything is coming at
>you so loud and fast and I just sat through that and thought
>“who likes this?” It’s like when my kids watch a Minions
>movie or Batman Lego movie , shit is just so aggressive and
>hyper. Volume is on 11, pace is breakneck, one thing after
>another with no effort to slow down and give the audience
>time to process what they’re seeing and hearing.

idk if youve ever seen any of this, but when i was watching JCP/NWA growing up, Flair/Dusty/Midnights/etc would be out to talk 2 or 3 times per show, absolutely HAMMERING home what mattered. then obviously during Raw/Nitro the announcers woud talk about things. they would have real conversations like real people watching real things. Excalibur chokes ALL of that out with his insistence on calling every match like Flair/Funk 89 and his OHHHHHHHHHOHHHHHOHHH.

Hes the absolute worst presenter on national American television, on any type of show.

>Watching AEW devolve from where they were a year ago is a
>tragedy.

we have Chris Jericho to thank for much of this.

All of these feuds should work, and as always, I’m sure the matches will be great, but bad creative has soured almost everything here. If you told me a year ago we’d have Wardlow, Hobbs, and Joe hossing it out for 10 minutes, sign me the fuck up. Now??? Meh. I’m like 10% excited for Death Triangle/Elite, which is a sin. Counting down the days until Lucha Bros split off from PAC.

They were in a tough spot RE: MJF’s ascension with Punk not being on the other side of things. But if they had JUST focused on Mox/Regal/MJF, they could have salvaged it. Unfortunately, The Firm has mucked up this whole program. We’ll see how it plays out, but it seems beyond telegraphed that MJF is still with the firm. Regal aligning with MJF would certainly be the way to go, but even then, I don’t have enough confidence in the creative.

Like all their big cards, there are several matches that do not benefit at all from being the 6th or 7th most important match on a PPV. If you move something like Jungleboy-Luchasaurus to the main event of a Dynamite, it becomes more important and memorable. Plus, the feud, and Jungleboy himself, as much as I like him, needs more time in the oven to be as meaningful as it should be.

Ring of Honor shit is weighing the whole company down. Just merge the titles with AEW’s and get rid of some of these clowns. I already didn’t enjoy Lethal and his crew, and then adding Jarrett to the mix? Oof. I will be walking my dog during that match.

Besides Acclaimed vs. Swerve/Lee, I think the best build has been Britt/Saraya, and even that has been a little weird. Who is the face and who is the heel?

Because Mox was the only person in the tournament that didn't have other shit on the grill. And he was supposed to take time off. AND Jericho was convinced that MJF had to ride the babyface wave that his comeback was going to engender, rather than just cold crushing it and letting the Firm kick everyone's asses for him.

The Regal thing could have been done in the aftermath. Let Will pop up every time Max is celebrating a title defense to talk about how much he's letting him down while Moxley is out. You can even let Mox take until February. Let him SELL that ass-whooping until February, and come back in the runup to Revolution. And THEN you have Regal turn and help MJF defend.

>They were in a tough spot RE: MJF’s ascension with Punk not
>being on the other side of things. But if they had JUST
>focused on Mox/Regal/MJF, they could have salvaged it.
>Unfortunately, The Firm has mucked up this whole program.
>We’ll see how it plays out, but it seems beyond telegraphed
>that MJF is still with the firm. Regal aligning with MJF would
>certainly be the way to go, but even then, I don’t have
>enough confidence in the creative.
>
>Like all their big cards, there are several matches that do
>not benefit at all from being the 6th or 7th most important
>match on a PPV. If you move something like
>Jungleboy-Luchasaurus to the main event of a Dynamite, it
>becomes more important and memorable. Plus, the feud, and
>Jungleboy himself, as much as I like him, needs more time in
>the oven to be as meaningful as it should be.
>
>Ring of Honor shit is weighing the whole company down. Just
>merge the titles with AEW’s and get rid of some of these
>clowns. I already didn’t enjoy Lethal and his crew, and then
>adding Jarrett to the mix? Oof. I will be walking my dog
>during that match.
>
>Besides Acclaimed vs. Swerve/Lee, I think the best build has
>been Britt/Saraya, and even that has been a little weird. Who
>is the face and who is the heel?
>
>
>
>

This sounds like something that would’ve been fun.

>Because Mox was the only person in the tournament that didn't
>have other shit on the grill. And he was supposed to take time
>off. AND Jericho was convinced that MJF had to ride the
>babyface wave that his comeback was going to engender, rather
>than just cold crushing it and letting the Firm kick
>everyone's asses for him.
>
>The Regal thing could have been done in the aftermath. Let
>Will pop up every time Max is celebrating a title defense to
>talk about how much he's letting him down while Moxley is out.
>You can even let Mox take until February. Let him SELL that
>ass-whooping until February, and come back in the runup to
>Revolution. And THEN you have Regal turn and help MJF defend.
>
>
>>They were in a tough spot RE: MJF’s ascension with Punk
>not
>>being on the other side of things. But if they had JUST
>>focused on Mox/Regal/MJF, they could have salvaged it.
>>Unfortunately, The Firm has mucked up this whole program.
>>We’ll see how it plays out, but it seems beyond
>telegraphed
>>that MJF is still with the firm. Regal aligning with MJF
>would
>>certainly be the way to go, but even then, I don’t have
>>enough confidence in the creative.
>>
>>Like all their big cards, there are several matches that do
>>not benefit at all from being the 6th or 7th most important
>>match on a PPV. If you move something like
>>Jungleboy-Luchasaurus to the main event of a Dynamite, it
>>becomes more important and memorable. Plus, the feud, and
>>Jungleboy himself, as much as I like him, needs more time in
>>the oven to be as meaningful as it should be.
>>
>>Ring of Honor shit is weighing the whole company down. Just
>>merge the titles with AEW’s and get rid of some of these
>>clowns. I already didn’t enjoy Lethal and his crew, and
>then
>>adding Jarrett to the mix? Oof. I will be walking my dog
>>during that match.
>>
>>Besides Acclaimed vs. Swerve/Lee, I think the best build has
>>been Britt/Saraya, and even that has been a little weird.
>Who
>>is the face and who is the heel?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

It’s a damn shame that this random mma gig is getting more out of whatever the hell happened with Punk and AEW than AEW.

But this was gold. There’s one line that had me on some lol shit

https://twitter.com/wrestlingnewsco/status/1593798767169490945?s=46&t=ljclc64GT_HiF7zeHZvUtQ

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

but of course, “this is awe-some!”

>but of course, “this is awe-some!”

I’m glad everyone appears to be in good physical shape. At least they knew couldn’t show up looking shaky.

And yeah, they’re dead serious about making sure their ‘pick up the pace’ speed is ‘elite’. I’d love to see what WWE would ‘force’ them to do with their sequences to tighten them up.

They gave the fans a little bit of everything. The old school brawl with the cage match. The high impact "flippy shit" with the trios match. The Hoss Fight with Wardlow/Hobbs/Joe. The crazy Attitude Era in the stands match with Jarrett/Lethal vs. Sting/Allin. The "pure" wrestling match with the four-way for the ROH title. And the psychological brawl with the World Title match. And the three women's match all did what they needed to do, included finally putting Hayter over.

Only drawback for the night for me is effectively breaking up the BCC. I think it's too early, even if you could see the Regal turn coming. I think they could sell it with Regal getting pissed that Moxley wasn't taking MJF seriously (which they conveyed through the match) and ultimately paid for it.

And yes, give me six more Death Triangle/The Elite trios matches, with the Elite inevitably going over in Los Angeles. They have a shit ton of chemistry and will never be boring.

Also very hyped that Revolution will be in the Bay. Already got the crew together for the events. Just deciding how many of the shows we want to go to that week.

Haha! Yeah, the got some good stuff done.

That Hayter/Storm match was wonderful. They put some stank on a lot of the shit they did. It was almost certainly Storm’s best match in a good while. I loved it. And not just because of lust. They laid shit in and showed their talent as no nonsense wrestlers. AEW needed one of those.

>They gave the fans a little bit of everything. The old school
>brawl with the cage match. The high impact "flippy shit" with
>the trios match. The Hoss Fight with Wardlow/Hobbs/Joe. The
>crazy Attitude Era in the stands match with Jarrett/Lethal vs.
>Sting/Allin. The "pure" wrestling match with the four-way for
>the ROH title. And the psychological brawl with the World
>Title match. And the three women's match all did what they
>needed to do, included finally putting Hayter over.
>
>Only drawback for the night for me is effectively breaking up
>the BCC. I think it's too early, even if you could see the
>Regal turn coming. I think they could sell it with Regal
>getting pissed that Moxley wasn't taking MJF seriously (which
>they conveyed through the match) and ultimately paid for it.
>
>And yes, give me six more Death Triangle/The Elite trios
>matches, with the Elite inevitably going over in Los Angeles.
>They have a shit ton of chemistry and will never be boring.
>
>Also very hyped that Revolution will be in the Bay. Already
>got the crew together for the events. Just deciding how many
>of the shows we want to go to that week.
>
>

They put on a hell of a live show that's for sure, but this felt like one of their best PPV efforts in awhile. They really touched on every element.

Can't really see how people could complain about what they got but I know I got more than my money's worth.

hopefully 2023 is a better one for AEW cause this year was a fucking shitshow and a half

Do not give that guy a live mike during a segment with any stakes to it. TWICE during that Regal/Dragon/Mox segment he took me RIGHT out of it.

>Do not give that guy a live mike during a segment with any
>stakes to it. TWICE during that Regal/Dragon/Mox segment he
>took me RIGHT out of it.

I’m not sure how people forgot that Tony was occasionally super terrible in WCW. And it wasn’t just ‘oh, WCW was terrible so it wasn’t Tony per se’. His worst crime usually was treating everything like it was the craziest thing ever. When I pay attention to critiques of the dude in the mask, it’s usually the same complaint..that and the talking too fast to fit in a bunch of info instead of just saying the shit in a more concise way.

The rough Michael Cole years and a bunch of meathead pandering football announcing have led me to mostly tune out announcers on stuff that I watch. So maybe in my case, they aren’t positioned well enough to ruin too much for me. But I get the point..sometimes the tone is way the fuck off and/or they don’t let stuff breathe nearly enough. And who knows if anyone is ‘producing’ those folks.

>We're headed towards a weekend with a boatload of rasslin.
>All Out (what is the main event!?, Clash at the Castle, Worlds
>Collide. Yeah, that should work.
>
>Triple Haitch is byke and large corners of the internet are
>mostly pleased if they've actually watched the stuff.
>
>Roman/The Bloodline/Sami/KO...chef's kiss. It is all just
>wonderful times. Everyone is killing it. Its best days NXT
>stuff with king shit ultra star during his best run Roman at
>the head of it all. Errbody knows I love me some Sami when
>he's doing something of note. I couldn't love it more if I
>tried.
>
>Rollins vs Bro is ON. Rollins is out here doing killer
>non-title work no lie.
>
>The Miz is out here helping people get over again and I like
>it.
>
>Edge is trying to do his part again too.
>
>In general, coherent WWE is on a roll. Its taking me longer
>and longer to watch these shows nowadays! And whenever Cody
>comes up from the floor again, it is REALLY on.
>
>And relax, folks. Sasha and Naomi will be back soon enough.
>And they're lined up to have some NXT-level good matches
>depending on how they get reintroduced.
>
>AEW is allegedly having the inevitable issues that every
>rasslin company will have to navigate. Bookers who are
>wrestlers, hurt folks, everyone can't be champ (even with 15
>titles), a young owner who is just 'trying to make good shows'
>is finding out that there's more to it than just the E-Fed
>styled 'making good cards' shit. I'm not super scared for them
>yet though. And really, good luck figuring out who is actually
>mad, sad, down bad, and/or hoping for Haitch to call them up
>on the low. Their existence is still an obvious net gain. Cuz
>TNA, ROH, NJPW, and the others weren't forcing WWE to do
>anything better anytime soon. If nothing else, WWE moving off
>of multiple talents was good for all of us in most cases. And
>it got us some more CM Punk, which has mostly been wonderful.
>
That was fun. And they were smart enough to know they needed to lose. Whether they’re gonna lose this thing with Death Triangle or not, losing 2 to start is smart. Losing in Chicago is also as safe thing to do..at least for now.

Punk clowning at the mma announce desk was also a good time.

I hope they figure out a way to get it to a ring someday. If they don’t, I’ll try to enjoy the way they dig at each other/play to crowds waiting for them to say SOMETHING about whatever the hell happened.

Kenny doing the bite really had me rolling. Hilarious!

I would’ve loved to have been there for that locker room scene. Cuz I have no reason to think we’ve heard anything resembling ‘the whole thing’. And really, the part I would’ve wanted to be there for the most is the alleged long convo that Kenny and Punk had after the ‘ruckus’.

>ROH is still a no weekly show-having rasslin outfit with some
>badass champs (FTR, CeClaudio, Smoa Joe).
>
>NXT UK is going away. I'm guilty of barely watching it if it
>wasn't VAULTER/GOONTER whooping someone's azz or some tough
>pretty lady match.
>
>NXT 2.0 is still trying to get and stay coherent. They have a
>few sure shot stars. Richochet vs the kid Carmelo Hayes (he's
>shorter than I thought) is gonna be a good time this weekend
>fo sho. Reminds me of Rico vs Dream.
>
>Yes, I'm openly sad that V. Dream can't seem to get/keep his
>shit together. I mean, he was IT. And he's still young af. I
>don't love that he's one who is being held most sternly to
>2022 standards for shady shit done offsite. But hey, who knows
>what people really know about that dude. Meanwhile, Flair just
>got hella resources put down on his *some number here*-th
>retirement match/tour. I love his work, I figure 4'd my
>brother regularly, whoooo, stylin and profilin, and all of
>that but IJS. I tried to chop my brother too but he wasn't
>down to take those after a while. I was too stiff with them
>chops.
>
>I don't know how Eli Drake is gonna make it out of this models
>thing, but he still looks like a star waiting to happen if
>Haitch can rescue him then get him mixed into something that
>he doesn't have to make chicken salad out of.

I have no idea if the Elite deciding to revert to be being asshole heels was an on the fly thing due to the crowd reaction, or was a Chicago only thing, or is going to be the state of affairs moving forward. I kinda think it's the former, as they started the match with Omega trying to sell being pissed at Fenix for "cheating" at Full Gear, and just leaned into the crowd reaction. Omega biting Pac and doing the GTS was a nice touch.

And I know everything seems to be leading to the Elite winning the best of 7 in Los Angeles, but man, it would be awesome if Punk comes back to cost them the match in the Punks home-town. It give Punk a '97 Bret Hart "heel everywhere except Chicago" thing.

The sole thing that didn't work about the match was after the bell, where they focused on Fenix getting frustrated again that they had to cheat to win. No one is going to buy that the Elite got cheated after that particular match.

What a feat in storytelling they just achieved

The build to that point, the timing of the finish, everyone being in their right places, the emotional payoff … been ages since they achieved a story like this



is Sami Zayn gonna win the Royal Rumble? Sounds crazy I know, but why pay Daniel Bryan if you can just make another Daniel Bryan?

That’s one of the most beautiful shots in wrestling in the last couple of years.

>is Sami Zayn gonna win the Royal Rumble? Sounds crazy I know,
>but why pay Daniel Bryan if you can just make another Daniel
>Bryan?

But hey, I wouldn’t mind that one bit. He’s more than earned it. And if he tells Roman he’ll win the Rumble to forfeit the title shot, and then doesn’t forfeit it? Even better!

It’s top tier in terms of long form storytelling in professional wrestling.

From the moment we saw Reigns and Heyman sitting with each other, throigh tonight, I can’t think of a single story that rivals it in terms of consistency and quality over such a long stretch of time.

Yeah, we’ve had great feuds.

We had Savage-DDP as an amazing feud.
Shawn-Jericho II was incredible, a true GOAT.

But story wise? Those didn't last long enough to rival this.

The Shield from their inception to their breakup was incredible.

The initial year or so of the NWO, and Austin-McMahon were complete game changers.

They did this story with Reigns through such a long stretch of time, with so many quality twists and turns and/or just straight up consistency of execution, it stands in a pretty prestigious class IMO, even without the added benefit of elevating the business in the mainstream. The Sami addition turned it on it’s head and gave it a new peak- with more to come.

It’s hard to speak in such superlatives without coming across as hyperbolic, but I don’t think that’s the case here. I think they’ve executed a masterclass in how to build a proverbial top guy, how to build a faction, how to breathe new life into both as they age, build new stars (Solo) and how to elevate the status of all the major players in the same breath.

Sami was cool but treated largely as a second tier player. He had a nice lil career prior to this, but this is legacy building material here, work that puts his earlier work in a whole new light.

His NXT run was, to borrow from Austin, hellacious, with a superb feud with Cesaro and an all time great match to introduce the WWE audience to Nakamura.

Even if we zoom in to the match itself, this was extremely well executed.

KO is back in a high profile spot. Sheamus has been immaculately resurrected, though not just because of this recent Bloodline feud. It certainly helped that rise though. The Usos are tag team standard bearers now.

It feels like all the key players leading up to this match have been either made, or elevated as a result. Or, as in the case of Drew, not damaged in the loss.

Yep. It has been wonderful.

I have no aim to be even remotely not biased here. I’ve thought the world of Sami for a long time and this run is going better than I could’ve ever imagined when he was skinny mask-wearing El Generico doing a few of my favorite moves, having great indy matches, and constantly getting his ass kicked by frenemy Kevin Owens.

And yes, he showed A LOT in NXT. He was my trigger to treat NXT like something that needed to be watched regularly. He had the killer facials and in-match storytelling chops on display there too. His refusing to cheat to beat Neville/Pac run was great. Immediately being fridged by Owens was another good time too. And to me, it was the inspiration for DIY’s all-time breakup as the credits were rolling.

And yes, he validated Nakamura to whoever hadn’t seen him before in ONE match. You have to be damn good to do all of that.

I was overjoyed when he showed up to answer Cena’s US Title challenge. And broken up when it seemed clear that he had hurt himself in the silliest of ways during his entrance (Punk later beat it with his jump into the crowd tomfoolery).

But this shit now..yeah, it’s amazing usage of everything Sami is capable of. He can make a ‘nothing’ match have stakes. He makes opponents win or lose (cuz he’s a fucking good ass wrestler..people love to act like it doesn’t matter but it does and Sami is proof of how well it can go when you properly position a good wrestler).

He’s wonderful in big spots. He can do roughly everything you’d want someone to be able to do. And unlike a lot of indy legends from that era, he’s an efficient in-ring worker and his main moves aren’t 3-parters. And he does all of the ‘other’ stuff amazingly well too. Making the right face at the right time all the time.

People might cry when the Bloodline finally turns on him.

Also, I’d lose my shit if he every hits anyone with a brainbustahh. But I’m not holding my breath on that one.

>It’s top tier in terms of long form storytelling in
>professional wrestling.
>
>From the moment we saw Reigns and Heyman sitting with each
>other, throigh tonight, I can’t think of a single story that
>rivals it in terms of consistency and quality over such a long
>stretch of time.
>
>Yeah, we’ve had great feuds.
>
>We had Savage-DDP as an amazing feud.
>Shawn-Jericho II was incredible, a true GOAT.
>
>But story wise? Those didn't last long enough to rival this.
>
>The Shield from their inception to their breakup was
>incredible.
>
>The initial year or so of the NWO, and Austin-McMahon were
>complete game changers.
>
>They did this story with Reigns through such a long stretch of
>time, with so many quality twists and turns and/or just
>straight up consistency of execution, it stands in a pretty
>prestigious class IMO, even without the added benefit of
>elevating the business in the mainstream. The Sami addition
>turned it on it’s head and gave it a new peak- with more to
>come.
>
>It’s hard to speak in such superlatives without coming
>across as hyperbolic, but I don’t think that’s the case
>here. I think they’ve executed a masterclass in how to build
>a proverbial top guy, how to build a faction, how to breathe
>new life into both as they age, build new stars (Solo) and how
>to elevate the status of all the major players in the same
>breath.
>
>Sami was cool but treated largely as a second tier player. He
>had a nice lil career prior to this, but this is legacy
>building material here, work that puts his earlier work in a
>whole new light.
>
>His NXT run was, to borrow from Austin, hellacious, with a
>superb feud with Cesaro and an all time great match to
>introduce the WWE audience to Nakamura.
>
>Even if we zoom in to the match itself, this was extremely
>well executed.
>
>KO is back in a high profile spot. Sheamus has been
>immaculately resurrected, though not just because of this
>recent Bloodline feud. It certainly helped that rise though.
>The Usos are tag team standard bearers now.
>
>It feels like all the key players leading up to this match
>have been either made, or elevated as a result. Or, as in the
>case of Drew, not damaged in the loss.
>

multiple stories on WWE TV:

Bloodline/Sami/KO - DUH!

I like the set up and execution of the repackaging of Austin Theory. He's got a bit of a PG MJF to me. And to have him and Rollins feud is money

Big fan of everything Gunther and Imperium's been doing. They're old school foreign heels

Dom's character (not promo or in-ring work) is growing on me. He and Rhea are good together. The Thanksgiving twitter video was surprisingly good.

My only gripe is I think its time to take the belt off of Belair before she grows too stale. She isn't there yet, but I think they need to take the belt off her at RR and it should be Charlotte. The Women's division needs a hard reset and Charlotte is always a good champ when they need to reset. Plus I need a heel Sasha/Bianca tag team.

general observation - Raw needs more stars. Maybe the company as a whole needs more stars too, but over the course of 3 hours there's not enough wattage. It's Bloodline, Rollins, Owens, and Becky, and then a bunch of random people who get little to no reaction. Austin Theory got NO reaction. I'm sure AJ Styles enjoys being around his friends but I'd be featuring him more as a singles act because he could really help the situation. And the decision to replace Edge with Balor in Judgment Day remains one of the greatest headscratchers in wrestling history.

everyone's entrance music sucks in 2022. I haven't been to a WWE show in so long, but I just remember the music being such a big part of a character's presentation. I know they got rid of their in-house composer a long time ago but his record speaks for itself. Jim Johnston did Austin, Taker, Mankind, Rock, and HBK...the entrances are PART of the characters. Now everyone just has some type of loud bad metal or obnoxious rap-rock song.

Rollins is a big deal. Probably a bigger deal than you think he is, certainly bigger than I thought. (that he transitioned back to acting like a heel last night makes me think Cody's return is imminent)
Owens is the only other guy of comparable stature. I hope they eventually split the titles because the show would make a lot more sense if guys like Owens, Rollins, and Cody were competing for a bigger prize.

But no one is a bigger deal than The Bloodline. Like, not close. They're over like rover, as over as any Attitude era guy I ever saw , legitimately comparable to Cena. Not being hyperbolic. I'd say 1 in 15 people had some type of Bloodline merchandise on. "Ucey" and "my dog" get huge laughs/pops. Crowd exploded for their entrance and was hot through their whole match. The decision to open the night with Bloodline was a curious one, maybe influenced by MNF? The air gradually let out the building from there.

Seeing how wildly popular Zayn is makes me really wonder if he's the Royal Rumble winner. You've got the Daniel Bryan momentum of 2014 if you want it, and I'd probably rather see that than Rock anyway. My hunch is they're doing Owens/Zayn vs Usos at Mania though.

And all worked so well for each character; they were EXCELLENT successors to Johnston, who himself fell into a generic butt-rock rut during the Ruthless Aggression era. Nakamura's original theme, Roode's Glorious theme, Sami's ska track, MFing ASUKA's theme tune, Becky's classic theme (WOAH OH OH OH OH)

>And all worked so well for each character; they were
>EXCELLENT successors to Johnston, who himself fell into a
>generic butt-rock rut during the Ruthless Aggression era.
>Nakamura's original theme, Roode's Glorious theme, Sami's ska
>track, MFing ASUKA's theme tune, Becky's classic theme (WOAH
>OH OH OH OH)

I can't wait for that Zayne theme to return.

I loved the Roderick Strong one too, before they changed it to this current one.

>Nakamura's original theme, Roode's Glorious theme, Sami's ska
>track, MFing ASUKA's theme tune, Becky's classic theme (WOAH
>OH OH OH OH)

Shinsuke’s theme song/entrance got a friend of mine into wrestling. I had been trying for years to get him into it, and that did it.

There's some modern emo bands PISSED they didn't write that.

GREAT main right there. And it wasn’t all FTR carrying it either.

Battle Royale was fun. But the real heat was the promo "battle" afterwards. Starks gave the mic performance of his life, and sold next week's main event huge.

Joe vs. Allin was appropriately brutal. Allin took some insane bum, and set up Joe well as a heel.

Enjoyed the BCC vs. JAS tag match quite a bit. Plus, you get the bittersweet farewell of Regal. Also sets up Claudio finally beating Jericho and the JAS once and for all.

Only slow spot was the women's six man. They need to find something to do with Jade, because having her just squash the division isn't working. She's getting better and she clearly has the look, but she's still working the same match over and over, even on the PPVs.

The tag match was fucking great. And it was also the best match of the Acclaimed's career. As said above, it was like FTR carried the entire thing. Both of them were operating at near peak levels.

So, in terms of providing dope combat and setting things up for the future, I was vert satisfied.

where it's so tonally different from everything else for weeks that it seems like someone else wrote it. really good, and since i didnt sit down until 9pm eastern i didnt have to watch anything i didnt want to, which wasnt much.

>Battle Royale was fun. But the real heat was the promo
>"battle" afterwards. Starks gave the mic performance of his
>life, and sold next week's main event huge.

im numb to battle roayles at this point, which is kind of a shame, but there were some entertaining moments. i dont care for the people on the outside being involved, and i hate the spot the Boys did with Castle, BUT in general i find the Boys really entertaining.

Starks...man. i dont really think his promo is something he cant deliver on a weekly basis, but he got his pitch and took a big swing. AEW has had a babyface problem for a long time in that there is no one to get heat on, so the heels get smart-fan applause and the crowds are usually split. Starks tho...thats a real babyface for the modern era with a little bit of edge and enough glitz that you never wonder what side of the guardrail he belongs on. this needs extended time, and i wouldnt be mad at all at a non-finish next week. let him keep getting over and then the rematch in 6 months...its not so clear who comes out with the belt.

>Joe vs. Allin was appropriately brutal. Allin took some insane
>bum, and set up Joe well as a heel.

really really really good TV match, and Joe is operating on a level that 90% of that roster will never reach at any point in their careers. really good from beginning to end and both guys came out better.

>Enjoyed the BCC vs. JAS tag match quite a bit. Plus, you get
>the bittersweet farewell of Regal. Also sets up Claudio
>finally beating Jericho and the JAS once and for all.

i skipped this. i just cant do it with Hager.

>Only slow spot was the women's six man. They need to find
>something to do with Jade, because having her just squash the
>division isn't working. She's getting better and she clearly
>has the look, but she's still working the same match over and
>over, even on the PPVs.

i didnt skip this with fast forward but i grazed in the kitchen.

>The tag match was fucking great. And it was also the best
>match of the Acclaimed's career. As said above, it was like
>FTR carried the entire thing. Both of them were operating at
>near peak levels.

yes it was. they didnt carry the whole thing, but the setup of the match was very clearly FTR's. Acclaimed just doesnt have the experience yet to conceptualize what they did. but they mostly nailed their spots, and FTR did more to legitimize them in one night than the entire rest of the Acclaimed's time in AEW. the booking was hurting them and the titles, and it was obviously hotshotted off the PPV reception given the complete lack of direction over the last 10 weeks. having FTR as fixers is a luxury AEW doesnt really deserve, but they did something for The Acclaimed's careers last night that the booker wouldnt have known how to do otherwise.

Bowens really needs to chill on the thigh slaps tho lol.

im not a fan of setting up the Briscoes match still in the ring after a loss. could have done that two weeks ago and had last night's match with that looming over their heads. Would have allowed the match to have an entirely different backdrop and given some depth to FTR's tv presentation. Gotta assume the PPV wasnt selling well.

on the whole tho, it was the best episode in months, and noteworthy for who wasnt part of it.

.

.

So basically Final Battle was a reset to prep ROH for Honor Club broadcasts.

That said, FTR/Dem Boys delivered as always. Yoots/Garcia was booked pretty damn well, and having Jericho tap to the swing was a lot of fun.

Maybe they pitched that to TNT/Warner and they didn’t go for it, but that would make the most sense for everyone imo. It would give Rampage some stakes, which would likely increase ratings a tad, and it would clean up Dynamite a bit too.

Because nothing huge happens, the ratings are bad. And because the ratings are bad, nothing huge happens.

With AEW's roster expansion due to all the WWE cuts, there was a need for it (Dynamite was getting crowded even before they started pick up the 2020/21 free agents). It worked with Christian beating Omega and CM Punk making his debut. And it's been helpful for more experienced wrestlers like Jade and Hook to learn on the job in pre-taped segments. But 10 pm on a Friday is just an awful slot. It works for me, because I'm washed, but I'm certainly not the prime demo.

I will say that it seemed like they were leaning into making it an ROH show from a programming perspective for a weeks/month or so, but they kept on using in for the wrong acts. The Embassy has turned out to be Flaming Ratings Death, no matter how entertaining I find the Prince. And there was a stretch where those guys main evented for four weeks straight, and dragged Wardlow down in the process.

EDIT: I'll add that some of the episodes as of late (the non-Embassy ones) have been really good, mostly do to the occasion Moxley/Claudio/Orange Cassidy appearance. Last weeks' episode was thoroughly entertaining and flew by.

We'll be at the Cow Palace for both the Dynamite and Rampage tapings, as well as the Revolution PPV at the Chase center. Should be fun.

Supposed to be an awesome venue for rasslin

First live wrestling show I ever went to was at the Cow Palace. Back in like 1986/87. It was on the WWF's B or C shows, so it wasn't that good. I think it was pretty much all heels going over and double count outs.

But yeah, it's was a great venue to watch a live events.

Hope it happens. That would be the hoss fight to end all hoss fights.

Pretty much the personification of "Big Meaty Men Slapping Meats!"

just hope he gives for Gunther. When he wants to work Brock is still the best wrestler in the world not named Bryan Danielson.

(Kofi being the exception *single tear rolls down my cheek*) Cause the story of those matches is they are able to surprise him by going at a breakneck pace until Brock finally puts them down. Not to say he hasn’t had good hoss fights, but Bryan and Styles were probably his best singles matches in that time period. I think he’ll respect Gunther and his skill though. Gunther ain’t Strowman or anything.

The weird thing with the bigger guys is that they get an advantage, get going, then Brock hits an F5 and then it’s done with no real build(I’m thinking the match with Joe at the Lugz show specifically)

Or rather, Vince’s booking of the F5 was fascinating. It’s either instant death or a spam finisher. I think that Joe match fell in that period where Vince was trying to reestablish the F5 as the ultimate one-and-done move, so that when Roman or whoever eventually kicked out of it, people would go nuts. The problem is, plenty of people who aren’t as tough as Joe or as big as Strowman have kicked out of it in the past, and the audience didn’t forget that like Vince was hoping they would lol.

For as long as Cena’s run was, his best matches were against guys who posed a contrast to him physically and aesthetically. The best Cena matches are not against Triple H, HBK, Orton, or Rock they’re against Punk, Bryan, Owens, and AJ Styles.

Every match was fantastic. I saw them wrestle on a house show at MSG during that time and it’s easily one of the best matches I’ve seen live. They blew the fucking roof off the place.

For as much shit as Cena has gotten for being a “5 moves of doom” guy, he was an awesome “canvas” for the more athletic guys to create a masterpiece.

He's kind of corny personality wise, but he's probably the pinnacle of top guys who knows exactly what he needs to do in a given situation.

Cats like Hogan generally gave you the same shit, regardless of who he faced. It's part of why I'm such a huge fan of HBK's sellathon at SS.

It's not like Austin or Rock had many more gears during their time on top either. Reigns isn't really doing that, despite having one of the more remarkable runs we've seen in that spot.

Cena, like Brock, showed an ability to adapt to his opponent to a degree that is, by and large, rare for that spot.

Can you imagine any other top WWF/E guy before him agreeing to get absolutely demolished for 10 minutes, not getting in any offense? Hulk would never. Stone Cold would never. I doubt Rock or Bret would either.

>Cats like Hogan generally gave you the same shit, regardless
>of who he faced. It's part of why I'm such a huge fan of
>HBK's sellathon at SS.
>

In all fairness, this is at least 50% Vince’s fault. Someone sent me a match of his during his Japan days and… the dude could work and sell, but the Hogan character in WWF called for a different style (plus he wanted to lengthen his career by simplifying his moveset, and I can’t blame him for that). That’s as far as I’ll go with Hogan praise though. That felt icky lol

>It's not like Austin or Rock had many more gears during their
>time on top either. Reigns isn't really doing that, despite
>having one of the more remarkable runs we've seen in that
>spot.

I’ve heard some people say Roman>>>>Cena over the past year, and I always tell them to pump the brakes on that shit. From a character standpoint, yeah, the Tribal Chief is almost certainly better than any iteration of Cena’s character. But from a match standpoint, Cena has MANY classics that Roman has not equaled, and I don’t think he will. But time will tell on that front.

>
>Cena, like Brock, showed an ability to adapt to his opponent
>to a degree that is, by and large, rare for that spot.


Also, for all the “LOL CENA WINS” talk, that all falls on Vince. I think I’ve only heard one rumor that Cena refused to lose to a certain wrestler (might have been Sandow???). Cena didn’t seem to have much of an ego compared to the other top guys we’re talking about. And when it was time to give back and put some new guys over, he did so gladly.

And a few Reigns classics come to mind that I think are as good as anything Cena ever did -
Extreme Rules against AJ Styles, Wrestlemania against Edge and DB, Clash at the Castle against McIntyre. Plus, the Shield 3v3s against Wyatt and Evolution (if you want to evaluate those)

He’s a markedly more athletic and smoother performer and he’s way more convincing as being physically dangerous than Cena

Again, Cena was great when he had opposite-seeming dance partners. But against other meatheads his stuff was rough. Meanwhile, every Reigns match not against Brock is good. Yes, every. That Logan Paul match had no business kicking as much ass as it did, and that’s because Reigns sold believably and seems legitimately imposing and violent. Like, do we have any doubt that whenever the Sami match happens it WON’T be a MOTY candidate?

I’m team Reigns on that one.

for as little as we got of him, was immaculate. The match vs. Cesaro was about as good of a performance as you could get. The way he stalked Cesaro, the way he talked shit not just to Cesaro but also Bryan, just 10 out of 10. And not that I don't think Cena could handle that role, but I don't think he has it in him (debut aside) to be that intense anymore.

The main difference to me is this: Cena carried the company in the main event for years, whereas Roman struggled in that spot for years, and has just come into his own during this run. They were certainly both booed as faces, but the tenor of the Roman boos was more go away heat.

>And a few Reigns classics come to mind that I think are as
>good as anything Cena ever did -
>Extreme Rules against AJ Styles, Wrestlemania against Edge and
>DB, Clash at the Castle against McIntyre. Plus, the Shield
>3v3s against Wyatt and Evolution (if you want to evaluate
>those)

Clash at the Castle is an instant classic, but a lot of that is the atmosphere too. Put that match in the states and it’s not quite on that level. The Mania triple threat was great, but is it as great as Cena/Brock/Rollins? Nah, not a chance. And I’d take Cena/Styles over Roman/Styles any day of the week.

The Shield vs Evolution or Wyatt Fam matches were great for sure, but that’s like comparing an ensemble movie to Castaway lol. I think Cena actually would’ve benefitted from starting out in a faction early in his career, a la The Rock in NOD, but he’s basically always been a singles guy.

>
>He’s a markedly more athletic and smoother performer and
>he’s way more convincing as being physically dangerous than
>Cena

I’ll give you more athletic/convincing, and maybe even smoother, but to me, Cena just had an intangible (after the Word Life bullshit) for a decade plus that made his matches feel pretty epic fairly often. Not always, but often. Roman has only had that intangible these last couple years.

Even though Cena was corny as hell a lot of the time, I think people cared more about his programs as a face than they did with Roman. Roman as a face was boring, and while I don’t think he will be as boring the next time he turns face, that’s still a possibility. We’ll have to wait and see.

I will say that there’s a lot of Roman PPV matches that overdelivered during his boring face days though. He actually got a good match out of Big Show a few years back! The problem was, once Monday rolled around, we were right back to square one. People even got bored with cheering him a few months after he came back from cancer treatment!!!

>
>Again, Cena was great when he had opposite-seeming dance
>partners. But against other meatheads his stuff was rough.
>Meanwhile, every Reigns match not against Brock is good. Yes,
>every. That Logan Paul match had no business kicking as much
>ass as it did, and that’s because Reigns sold believably and
>seems legitimately imposing and violent. Like, do we have any
>doubt that whenever the Sami match happens it WON’T be a
>MOTY candidate?

Still, I think the ceiling on most of Roman’s matches is really good/great, I just struggle to call a lot of those matches classics. He could very well get there by the end of his career,, I just think there’s a recency bias at play when people say Reigns is already better than Cena all-time. Cena has a LONG resume, and there are more classics than people like to admit. It ain’t just that Punk match (but while we’re on the subject, nothing Reigns has done is as good as Cena/Punk at MITB).

I’ll give a major point in your favor for this though: the thing that really annoys me about Cena’s career is WWE has acted like Cena/Orton was this great feud that rivals all the other great feuds in wrestling history, and it simply wasn’t. It’s really just a bunch of alright matches no one really remembers. While Brock/Roman singles matches are probably more disappointing overall because of how overhyped they were, Cena and Orton wrestled about 1,000 times lol. There may not have been beach balls and they didn’t rely on doing their finishers a million times, but like, I don’t know anyone who gives a single fuck about the Cena/Orton feud.

And for the record, I hope I’m on your side in the end, I just don’t see Reigns as better RIGHT TODAY. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of Reigns’ career and I like that they’ve made him a special attraction while making sure he’s a constant presence on TV. That will benefit him moving forward.

>Even though Cena was corny as hell a lot of the time, I think
>people cared more about his programs as a face than they did
>with Roman. Roman as a face was boring, and while I don’t
>think he will be as boring the next time he turns face,
>that’s still a possibility. We’ll have to wait and see.

Was that Face post-Thuganomics Cena felt more like that classic "you turned up to 11" gimmick, whereas Roman's work pre-tribal chief felt more scripted (see: "sufferin' Succotash son"). This current gimmick feels more "him," and that's why it's working so well.

>
>>Even though Cena was corny as hell a lot of the time, I
>think
>>people cared more about his programs as a face than they did
>>with Roman. Roman as a face was boring, and while I don’t
>>think he will be as boring the next time he turns face,
>>that’s still a possibility. We’ll have to wait and see.
>
>Was that Face post-Thuganomics Cena felt more like that
>classic "you turned up to 11" gimmick, whereas Roman's work
>pre-tribal chief felt more scripted (see: "sufferin' Succotash
>son"). This current gimmick feels more "him," and that's why
>it's working so well.

The more 'self-aware' versions of both characters are my favorites.

IE: When Cena generally 'knew' that everyone expected him to win every match? And WWE was smart enough to play on that and Cena was too? That's a good ass John Cena...like the last 5-ish years of his run. When he'd eventually get a chance to AA someone, the look on his face was always wonderful. Like 'yeah, bitches...I'm about to do this dude in too. Just like all of the other ones before'. It made all of the jobs he did hit even harder too. And man, he did a lot of jobs towards the end there.

And this Tribal Chief shit works on me for a similar reason. He's like 'yeah, I'm the chosen one. And all of those mfers chose right! I'm the man. Nobody is beating me. I'm gonna take my time coming out here. And all of you are gonna fuggin wait for it because EVERYONE KNOWS I AM WORTH THE WAIT'. And whenever he gets inconvenienced in any way, shape, or form? His faces in those situations just hammer the points home all the more. And he's almost always like 'oh, I get it. You're too dumb to get how this is gonna go so let me clear it up for you'. I love it all.

https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/65453_v9_ba.jpg

Though I guess Trump "learned" from Vince.

Anyway, WSJ is reporting that Vince wants to make a "comeback" and take control again, asserting that he never should have stepped down in the first place.

This **after** WWE is facing more lawsuits from women regarding sexual misconduct.

.
>
>This **after** WWE is facing more lawsuits from women
>regarding sexual misconduct.

I don’t see the Board/Shareholders allowing the decision to be reversed, least of all when buzz is really good and the stock is doing well, but it should be fun watching him try!

That would be great lol. Have him going outside every arena where Raw, SD, or the PPV is at saying why he should be back. LOL!!!

>That would be great lol. Have him going outside every arena
>where Raw, SD, or the PPV is at saying why he should be back.
>LOL!!!

They could have definitive proof that he committed sexual assault dozens of times, and he’d turn to his lawyer and say “Well goddamn pal, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

Had her drop the NXT title last night, the cut her soon after.

Apparently they're justifying it by saying that she posted some "questionable" content on her OnlyFans-type page.

Still sounds like some bullshit.

I have to think this wasn't the first offense and they'd warned her in advance that this was a possible consequence

...for years about this type of thing.

We can even ignore that 20-25 years ago they were showing whole-ass titties at their events and all but requiring their "Divas" to pose nude for Playboy (with the company getting paid on the process).

They're constantly pushing their women's talent to be more "sexy" and risque. That's how they've been marketing Toxic Attraction. Pus, they explicitly asked Ember Moon/Athena to be more like Mandy Rose, then stopped using her when she balked.

It's wrong that they released Rose for posting photos behind the walls of her own FanTime page, when they likely would have gone along with it if they were getting a cut.

EDIT: Not to mention the optics of releasing the same day that new sexual assault allegations come out against Vince is REALLY bad.

Is it that the photos were risqué?
or
Is it the issue of using an outlawed third party app?

I don’t know, but violating the latter seems more detrimental to their business interests than the former. So if she’d been warned, which she probably had, and still persisted in using it she may have left them no recourse. That’s not to say I agree with the move because I actually think it’s a gross policy.

There’s a way bigger issue in firing her for using the app than firing her for posting scantily clad pictures. In the end, the boys and girls are independent contractors but there’s hardline limits on their independence. The anti-labor hypocrisy is the fucked up part, not anything to do with sexualizing women (which we all have to admit they’ve tamped down 100-fold in the last 10 years.)

"We're cool with you following your passions in a public manner, but only if we get a cut."

But that anti-labor bit is going to get lost in contrasting Mandy dropping super consensual heat while Riddle gets chance after chance despite some credible allegations that came up during the Speaking Out period.

>"We're cool with you following your passions in a public
>manner, but only if we get a cut."
>
>But that anti-labor bit is going to get lost in contrasting
>Mandy dropping super consensual heat while Riddle gets chance
>after chance despite some credible allegations that came up
>during the Speaking Out period.

It seems like she was making better money on her page than she was making in NXT. So if they rolled up on her with the cease and desist, she might’ve replied with ‘oh, I’m gonna stop alright. I’m gonna stop wrestling.’. And that’s 2022 for you. And of course, she might end up getting an offer she can’t refuse from AEW or wherever and we’ll end up seeing her again.

Hopefully WWE didn’t hit her with the 90-day non-compete after this too. She showed up and looked at the lights on her way out. That should count for SOMETHING.

I know someone better let me know if Gigi Dolin comes out with some kinda nekkid page.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the HHH regime will either get looser with the outside revenue streams, or just forgive and forget like they did with Zelina Vega.

Still, this leaves a bad taste in a lot of fans’ mouths for the reasons you guys mentioned. Even if you put aside the fact that they were practically doing softcore porn during the attitude era, they have specifically presented Mandy Rose as like the sexiest woman on the planet or whatever. So she wants to cash in on that? Big whoop.

Get on the phone, Tony Khan. She wouldn’t be as big a get like Saraya was or Sasha might be, but she could be a solid addition to AEW’s women’s roster (not that TK would know what to do with her or any other woman).

>Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the HHH regime will either get
>looser with the outside revenue streams, or just forgive and
>forget like they did with Zelina Vega.
>
>Still, this leaves a bad taste in a lot of fans’ mouths for
>the reasons you guys mentioned. Even if you put aside the fact
>that they were practically doing softcore porn during the
>attitude era, they have specifically presented Mandy Rose as
>like the sexiest woman on the planet or whatever. So she wants
>to cash in on that? Big whoop.
>
>Get on the phone, Tony Khan. She wouldn’t be as big a get
>like Saraya was or Sasha might be, but she could be a solid
>addition to AEW’s women’s roster (not that TK would know
>what to do with her or any other woman).

They have been so over the top about how hot they think Toxic Attraction is. But more than that, they need to figure out how they want to play the games with people getting their money.

And the ship has long sailed on them trying to present themselves as some kind of 'morally upstanding' outfit with some of the stuff they've at least kinda sorta 'forgiven' depending on how much it got out and/or how the Twitterverse reacted to it at the time.

I mean really, if Velveteen could've at any point stopped sending/taking dick picks, doing hella drugs, acting a fool, being hurt, and/or getting arrested, he'd be on the scene right the hell now. And there's no telling how high up the card his awesome ass would've been by now. He had to do MULTIPLE things to finally get tossed away. And you know it must be bad if you basically can't book the dude anywhere. At first, I wanted to think maybe some 'cism was mixed in, but now? Ehhh...dude was doing the fool.

Idk what she thought was going to happen

That crowd was EXCITED for Action Andretti. And Jericho showed all sorts of ass for him. AND Andretti felt like a more complete version of Dante Martin in this showing last night. I mean that in the best way btw.

They did a grand job of teasing multiple viable finishes before actually pulling the trigger on a fun and surprising loss for Jackass Jericho. Doing this right after he got caught slippin and tapped out to the giant swing is just good stuff.

I remember loving it when Flair would 'fuck around and lose' sometimes back in the 80s. Or even when he came close to losing until pulling something out of his ass (or trunks) to end up winning. Or even when he'd somehow get disqualified in an impressively bitch ass way to avoid losing his title even if he lost the match. This reminded me of that type of deal. And it was grand execution.

And I'm not even gonna fuck it up by wondering where they go from here with it. Nope. Not this time. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Also, at least to me, it helped MJF look like even a bigger bitch for how he had to get by Starks in the main event. And how he was running away from Danielson afterwards. Good stuff overall.

As for AEW in general, I like heel champ MJF and his ridiculous list of people he's claiming won't be able to beat him for the title. Kenny looks great physically. I guess not being damn near crippled helps with that. And yes, I still want Phil back because it could be a damn blast to see they played it up but I'm kinda resigned to my assumption that it isn't happening any time soon if ever. And The Acclaimed is still pretty much a good time and they need to continue getting fucked with/occasionally ambushed and beaten up by some heels in order to stay as over as they've gotten.

I love a good 1-2-3 Kid type win every now and again. I wasn’t even paying attention to the first couple minutes cause I assumed it would be a squash. What a blast. That crowd went nuts, and Jericho’s reaction backstage was perfect.

There were like three or four legit fake-out spots where it could have ended with Jericho winning: the Judas spot, the Walls of Jericho spot, the Code-Breaker. Hell, they could have ended it with Andretti missing the shooting star press or have Jericho wallop him with the bat and had it be a basic, "Jericho is getting sloppy, but he pulled it out."

Andretti was also a damn near perfect choice for getting the upset. He wasn't a local guy that the fans all knew. And he had already had an established track record of losing on Dark (he's lost all four of his mathces there). Production didn't even give him a Chyron. Still, the Texas crowd got behind Andretti from jump and was red hot the entire match.

And I know people tend to have beef with the AEW announce team, but Excalibur, Tony, and Taz called it perfectly too. There was never a hint of, "Well, if Jericho doesn't take this kid seriously, he might lose!" They played it like a Jericho winning was a forgone conclusion right up to the end. And then sold the hell out of Andretti winning.


>That crowd went nuts, and Jericho’s reaction backstage was perfect.

That was honestly even better than the 1-2-3/Razor match. If I recall, Razor laughed off losing to the future X-Pac. Jericho having a tantrum was great.

>That was honestly even better than the 1-2-3/Razor match. If I
>recall, Razor laughed off losing to the future X-Pac. Jericho
>having a tantrum was great.
>

I don’t remember any post match interview, but I remember Razor losing his shit in the ring after he lost and then getting mad and yelling at the fans when they kept chanting “1-2-3” at him in the following weeks, and then he put up a big bag of money to bait him into a rematch….that the Kid stole and ran away, lmao.

Cena’s so corny man.

But That’s a hell of a match for free TV. Won’t miss that.

Also, Bray Wyatt sucks

>Cena’s so corny man.
>
>But That’s a hell of a match for free TV. Won’t miss
>that.
>

Yeah. That’ll be fun. And I kinda think we might get Dwayne soon too.

KO/Sami is still beautiful stuff too. KO is gonna be the end of Sami in the bloodline somehow and it’s gonna be awesome/ucey/great.

>Also, Bray Wyatt sucks

LA Knight is killing him almost every time out too.

>

And it was just as absurd as I could’ve expected. Seems like they should’ve known to not let him out there in front of the live crowd. But they did it!

Hayter had a good match AGAIN and they crowd still had something left for her by the time she came out there. I was worried about that with how that 7-match series is batshit early in these shows. They’re clearly going 7. I’m interested to see what they all get into after that series. Death Triangle kind of needs something like this to give them an excuse to have these matches. And the Elite pretty much need to get some Elite-related people on-hand to fight them since Phil is probably not walking through that door. But shit, Adam Cole and KOR are basically out so shit.

Maybe we get a CMFTR trios run when the elbow heals?

I remember at Starrcast a few years ago during a roast someone said to Jeff, the best angle you've ever been in was Karen. I laughed.