They're saying the number again! Take that, Vince..you ole nasty mfer!

Let's see:

- Vince is bigtime gone. Who knows how wild the deets go and what % of it we will ever 'know'. What we 'know' is plenty wild enough! You have to figure at least a few more people might end up gone too. We'll see.
- Brock is at least temporarily gone too.
- Kevin Dunn is gone and now the camera work can finally attempt to evolve at least a little. Ain't that nice!? Its nice!
- Cody inches closer to finishing his story. And they're going to make him earn the shit out it.
- THE ROCK AND ROMAN REIGNS are together now? NICE.
- Rollins is hurt but will make Mania allegedly. He's gonna be fine and I'm not worried. He's dope, they love him, and he's EXCELLENT when he has anything coherent to do.
- Big E is still out.
- Punk is out. BOO. But he can still instigate!
- Charlotte out but she's a damn hoss so she'll be back.
- Randy and AJ are back! Whooo! Now, what in the eff are they gonna do!?
- Stone Cold is being coy about doing another match. I WANT IT. His match with KO was gorgeously simple and fun but it still felt 'complete'. Pros wer Pro'ing.
- Whoop That Trick (YEAH!) = one of my favorite things in rasslin right now. And Williams himself is good too. He's gonna kick all up in Carmelo's ass and its gonna be GREAT for both of them. Yes, he's my replacement Velveteen Dream. No, I don't feel guilty about it.
- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
- WALTER Gunther is still out here beating people tf up and I love it.

- TNA is 'back' but they already have shenanigans with the Scott D'Amore. Seems rotten but who knows..its TNA.

AEW is sneaking around trying to be good at certain things but they're cold, so many people are 'done' with giving them a chance. Still:

- Swerve and Hangman are doing good work.
- Smo'a Joe...same thing. He's a fun champ even if he's almost certainly not gonna be a long-term champ.
- Prince Nana's multi-purpose dance antics might be my favorite non-'jimaveli is in love with like 20 women wrestlers' thing going.
- On that woman thing, Broken Toni Storm works on me ~ every single time. She's ridiculous, funny, and a good rassler. She's dropping some A+ promo work vs opponents and the random obscure sexual stuff she's 'sneaking in' is a hilarious touch. She's blowing up announcers almost weekly! History will be kind to this run for sure.
- The Bucks are fun but late af with this jerk heel run. They're gonna cheat their azzes off to beat/retire Sting fo sho. But Darby will be there to dive at them really hard and I'll like that.
- Dalton Castle trying to get to Johnny is also great times.
- Sasha is gonna be fun but I wish she was headed back to WWE to print money with Bayley for the summer.
- Okada might be better off in AEW FIRST but I still want him in WWE at some point. Rainmaker pose tshirts would be easy munny for WWE.
- Ospreay is a wonderful rassler. I hope he stays healthy. He's done a great job of 'getting big enough' for the spots he's gonna be in. Add him to the 'he'd be big fun in WWE at some point' list too.

I hope like hell that AEW forces a title onto Danielson at some point before he's done as a 'full-time act'.

Besides that, MJF has been shutting all the way the fuck up in a corner somewhere, Adam Cole is still not right and it is killing his new group, and Kenny Omega did good to go the doctor when he did or he might've died. Whew! And Ibushi...gees dude...sit your goofy azz down somewhere! And take Jeff Hardy with you!

because they're REAL CLOSE to having a bust-ass program going. But!

1) This turn was way too late
2) This program is with the wrong damn guy


If they were going to lean into their EVP status, they could have had a Modern McMahon Austin saga on their hands with Punk. Shit, Colt Cabana as Mideon Elite would have been PERFECT.

Instead, they're mucking up Sting's retirement with this shit, and it's not at all impactful because they're not really talking TO Sting, they're talking past him. When MJF got covered in Punk's blood, it worked like gangbusters because there was a storyline (and real life-ish) reason for him to do that. And he didn't wear the same t-shirt the next week. This- other than "wanting the titles," what reason do they have to go after Sting and Darby? Darby's one of the guys that they wanted to build the company around and Sting gave them legitimacy before the Punk return. The whole thing is JUUUUST a bit outside.

...people can believe that they'd lose to. People have to believe that Sting **might** lose that final match, and that their opponents are the most repugnant and obnoxious SOBs ever.

I agree that the lead-up isn't completely working, but I think the pay-off match with Sting riding off into the sunset as a champ will be fine.

>I agree that the lead-up isn't completely working, but I think
>the pay-off match with Sting riding off into the sunset as a
>champ will be fine.

For their 2023 PLEs, there was a mix of good builds to excellent PPVs (Revoltion and All In) and virtualy non-existent builds to great PPVs (All Out and WrestleDream).

I'm "old school" in the sense that I don't care as much about the build-up as long as the event that you're spending money on delivers. It's preferable to "good build to so-so PLEs." (cough, cough, WWE since WM 39, cough).

Shout out to R Truth, one of the funniest people on the planet quite honestly. Every time he’s on my TV I’m happy. It will have to end at some point, but right now I can’t get enough of him being “in” the Judgment Day. When he retires I hope he starts acting in movies.

>Shout out to R Truth, one of the funniest people on the
>planet quite honestly. Every time he’s on my TV I’m happy.
>It will have to end at some point, but right now I can’t get
>enough of him being “in” the Judgment Day. When he retires
>I hope he starts acting in movies.

He’s killing me every week for sure yes. He’s on a HOF-level run of actin a fool and adding value to everything he’s involved in.

We eatin!

He could’ve fried for 30 minutes

https://youtu.be/nttqzW7IjbY?si=yeNg1DDRxY7hyyGJ

https://youtu.be/H_Oa8UF9ifU?si=JRALdnPKCAQwwYva

The polished:

Dwayne’s charisma and presence were elite.

Making Roman look and feel like the little brother is an incredible feat, and Dwayne does it effortlessly.

I agree on that much.

All of that what makes him who he is. You can’t teach that shit.

And it sons everyone who isn’t Austin, though I’m not sure Austin has this gear anymore.

The mannerisms, the body language, the voice, all that was still as good at it was at his peak and he’ll be old and decrepit before it even begins to decline.

Here’s the mediocrity:

The content. The content of his promos was never all that good. We were all in on the moment, but that shit aged poorly and got badly exposed by Cena and Punk a decade ago.

I’m not tripping on the cheap crowd heat either. That’s always enjoyable whenever any good heel does it.

He’s The Rock, a god on the mic- but the best he could come up with was… crybabies?

Bunch of crybaby bitches?

That shit is trash. People we’ll say “but it’s working!”, but that’s immaterial. A lot of things would have worked. Things that aren’t generic retorts an old lady would say to a toddler would have worked too.

But nope, we got two more months of “crybabies”, the weakest bit of name calling we’ve ever seen in pro wrestling at this level since Cookie Puss- also a Rock/Gowertz special.

And no, this isn’t a kayfabe reaction. I’m not being “worked”, brother.

It’s just weak material that’s getting by on the charisma of the person saying it. And we’re stuck with at least two more months of this shiny mediocrity.

Seems like it’s all been said and done by this point.

I had fun watching him shit on fans for the first time in forever.

Dwayne’s presence and charisma are god tier.

His content? Not so much. We bought in at the time but that shit aged badly.

“Crybaby bitches” is just embarrassing. It’s not funny or clever, it’s corny and unimaginative.

It’s bad, and not in a mega heel, only the hit dogs will holler way.

It doesn’t have to be new to be good. But this is getting by largely on The Rock’s natural charisma and catering to the nostalgia of older fans.

But some of that content? It’s trash that wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, get past NXT.

I am having fun with the way this is turning out overall, but I’d rather be booing The Rock than rolling my eyes at the stunted attempts at creative from Dwayne and Gowertz.

I was beyond tired of the Bloodline. Rock joining makes it interesting again.

There are a lot of little things they’re doing well since they pivoted, but there are still problems.

Rock completely overshadowing Reigns is one, but it shouldn’t be this prominent this early and that makes me worry that they’re going to rush that angle and try to cram it into 40 instead of giving it a slow burn that allows it to breathe, build, and crest in time to build to a proper climax heading into 41.

My other concern is that they’re going to do a cut & paste job of Rocky’s turn on The Nation.

Ao that’s the other reason behind my “nothing new”, is that it feels like a textbook Vince hotshot program, which is what if felt like when Dwayne first showed up a few weeks ago.

The Bloodline was the best executed long form story in wrestling *ever* because they gave it time and nuance and added elements strategically, until the aftermath of 39.

Reigns vs Cody II had all those ingredients to give us an epic showdown at 40, but they tried to shoehorn Rock in a way that turned it into a mess.

And while they’ve wisely pivoted, everything they’ve done since Cody introduced Dwayne feels like the creative direction is 75% “It’s The Rock, just have him go out and play the greatest hits they’ll love anything he does”.

I think my concerns will largely be proven correct, even if they have a few high points in the process.

Pre-singlet for both of em! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2tGh5WpCFk/?igsh=MTRkcDhoc2dtc2RvMQ==

>Pre-singlet for both of em!
>https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2tGh5WpCFk/?igsh=MTRkcDhoc2dtc2RvMQ==

Wow! It’s crazy how much better both of em got.

Varsity club was my shit as a kid. When Mike Rotunda showed up as IRS, I recognized him right the fuck off! Haha.

I never understood cheering for a heel you like

All it does is undercut their efforts

Much as I roll my eyes at some of Dwayne’s mediocre barbs, he’s still delivering like a great heel.

So reward that work by booing the ever-loving shit out of him, because that’s what he’s trying to get.

Kingdom:

https://youtu.be/9lAaGGqO6pI?si=XADCuVcv2Sfr6xOn

Thuganomics (Cena’s old theme)

https://youtu.be/QHZiQZ3LctA?si=9LeeVvEWTOaNm9gH


My Way (Limp Bizkit):

https://youtu.be/94AWhB6V7c0?si=yhCecAvVKAdZg8We

This Fire (Punk’s Old Theme):

https://youtu.be/-NTX42_--mE?si=X5d8XpQp1ZSzDZTM

that was a complete reversal of the last 20-25 years of the evolution of WWE programming

interviewer pitches in, leads it with the microphone in hand, Logan Paul looks into the camera to promote an upcoming sporting event and why it matters, and Saxton pitches back after its done instead of standing there with WWE announcer face looking at someone as they walk off

if the whole show was matches, interviews like this, and 2-3 monologues for the true stars, it would be an instant massive improvement. when endeavor was talking about making it more sports-like i have to think this is a big part of it

...tonight in Berkeley. It was held at a local brewery and was a "packed" house (75 or so people). Which is pretty good, considering it was pouring rain at the beginning of the evening and there was a WWE house show going on in Oakland.

It was pretty good. Perfectly entertaing indie wrestling. A lot of the guys from Jacob Fatu's dojo, plus other wrestlers from around the state. Juicy Finau (Jacob's protege) was the "host," and Journey Fatu wrestled in the main event. Some of the young guys looked solid but far and away the best in the ring was Titus Alexander, who's pretty universally considered the best young indie wrestler in Northern California. I expect he'll end up somewhere in the next few years.

They run events monthly, so I'll probably go again in March. Should be even better during the spring and summer.

>...tonight in Berkeley. It was held at a local brewery and
>was a "packed" house (75 or so people). Which is pretty good,
>considering it was pouring rain at the beginning of the
>evening and there was a WWE house show going on in Oakland.
>
>It was pretty good. Perfectly entertaing indie wrestling. A
>lot of the guys from Jacob Fatu's dojo, plus other wrestlers
>from around the state. Juicy Finau (Jacob's protege) was the
>"host," and Journey Fatu wrestled in the main event. Some of
>the young guys looked solid but far and away the best in the
>ring was Titus Alexander, who's pretty universally considered
>the best young indie wrestler in Northern California. I expect
>he'll end up somewhere in the next few years.
>
>They run events monthly, so I'll probably go again in March.
>Should be even better during the spring and summer.

Nice! That sounds fun. I want to believe that we’re getting Jacob Fatu in WWE at some point.

It’s been way too long since I’ve been to Booker T’s ROW. Last time I went, they did the thing where a heel keeps on yapping until Booker came out and kicked his ass. It was obviously coming and it was still awesome and fun! And it was so long ago that Booker still hit the Spinarooni. And of course, he looked HUGE cuz he’s a big man.

I was down with him since GI Bro so I loved when he started getting shine..even when WCW was horrible and they had him doing a fake ass Rock Bottom as another finisher. His TNA run and the King Bookah stuff was also grand.

>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!

cause im not gonna lie at least 50% of the reason i make a point to watch NXT over any other wrasslin show is the women. we are truly in a blessed era for eye candy. i have always held Trish Stratus and Layla as my gold standard historically but NXT prob got like 15 women as fine them lol

so here we go. this gonna include some AEW people cause they got em too

Honorable Mentions
1. Lash Legend - literal brickhouse. it shouldnt be possible to be that thick at 6'
2. Rhea Ripley - i'm not really into the goth thing IRL but she carries it sexy as hell and she was always very pretty before the character transformation
3. Anna Jay - honestly the first time i saw her i wondered why she even wrestled. she could just be a real model.

Top 5
5. Gigi Dolin - best ass in the biz
4. Tiffany Stratton - i thought she was kinda cute before but the implants really completed her look. cold af in the ring too she got the best moonsault in the business
3. Jade Cargill - nothing needs to be said here
2. Leila Grey - total package she just cant wrestle but if you on TV next to Jade and can catch my eyes you cold
1. Jaida Parker - this how i knew HBK really had the vision***. get fine, athletic women that's already popping on IG and coach them up. but she has taken to wrasslin way quicker than i expected

***IDK if she will stick around long enough to make waves, but if she does Jazmyn instantly is going in my top 3.

and that aint even mentioning some of my other favorites like Skye Blue, Roxanne Perez, Fallon Henley, Elektra Lopez, Jakara Jackson, i could go on. we are in blessed times.

Layla and Trish are two of my favs ever. Layla was out of this entire world to me. Mickie James too.

And yeah Anna Jay has EVERYTHING.

And don’t start me on Molly Holly or Pamela Paulshock either. I’m not the right person to ask about AJ, Aksana, and a bunch of others. Sarita and Zelina Vega back in TNA as a tag team!? Yes!

And yes, NXT has lots of women segments the way people claim they want them. And yes, there’s fine all up around that show every single week. A lot of those women are already decent rasslers with distinct characters. WWE’s women’s rasslin is in position to cook for years to come.

When Skye Blue kept wrestling Toni Storm, I felt like I was witnesses booty history! Haha. I was watching them shits like it was Steamboat and Flair. I was hoping they’d do a Booker T/Benoit 7 match series! Red Velvet is serious too. It’s so many good looking women out here rasslin! Lola Vice! Sheesh!

And it’s wild that people ‘figured out’ that Bayley was holding all of a sudden. I was in on her for a loooooooong time. Naomi is still gorgeous. And Sasha has some stuff too. I hope she does good stuff in AEW for a while then Haitch can talk her back to WWE for a bit before she retires to act or whatever.

>>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
>
>cause im not gonna lie at least 50% of the reason i make a
>point to watch NXT over any other wrasslin show is the women.
>we are truly in a blessed era for eye candy. i have always
>held Trish Stratus and Layla as my gold standard historically
>but NXT prob got like 15 women as fine them lol
>
>so here we go. this gonna include some AEW people cause they
>got em too
>
>Honorable Mentions
>1. Lash Legend - literal brickhouse. it shouldnt be possible
>to be that thick at 6'
>2. Rhea Ripley - i'm not really into the goth thing IRL but
>she carries it sexy as hell and she was always very pretty
>before the character transformation
>3. Anna Jay - honestly the first time i saw her i wondered why
>she even wrestled. she could just be a real model.
>
>Top 5
>5. Gigi Dolin - best ass in the biz
>4. Tiffany Stratton - i thought she was kinda cute before but
>the implants really completed her look. cold af in the ring
>too she got the best moonsault in the business
>3. Jade Cargill - nothing needs to be said here
>2. Leila Grey - total package she just cant wrestle but if you
>on TV next to Jade and can catch my eyes you cold
>1. Jaida Parker - this how i knew HBK really had the
>vision***. get fine, athletic women that's already popping on
>IG and coach them up. but she has taken to wrasslin way
>quicker than i expected
>
>***IDK if she will stick around long enough to make waves, but
>if she does Jazmyn instantly is going in my top 3.
>
>and that aint even mentioning some of my other favorites like
>Skye Blue, Roxanne Perez, Fallon Henley, Elektra Lopez, Jakara
>Jackson, i could go on. we are in blessed times.

I remember for the longest by boy kept saying Bayley got the best ass in the business during her hugger gimmick and me and another friend couldn't see it and thought he was buggin. Then its like when she turned heel we both got on board with him lol. I didn't know she had it like that!

Hugger-era Bayley was all about looking up to her colleagues and being a starstruck kid in there who loves wrestling. So while she had that high pony and streamers, you could have been forgiven for feeling guilty for looking.

i remember watching wrestling w/ my dad and he pointed it out to me and i just flat out did not see it at all. and he took its as an opportunity to give me a lesson in scouting and i have to say he was 100% right and it helped my eyes out lol

Now it’s Sasha.

It took me way too long to bring her up but she is my jam all the way. And it’s like she figured out that people were into her and got the exact right gear for herself. And it’s been over ever since. She has at least one gif every big TNA show she’s on.

https://x.com/thisistna/status/1761211818075111781?s=46&t=vl1il0YiRG1vMyv_ruViqg

The positive is obvious! Hehe

>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
>
>cause im not gonna lie at least 50% of the reason i make a
>point to watch NXT over any other wrasslin show is the women.
>we are truly in a blessed era for eye candy. i have always
>held Trish Stratus and Layla as my gold standard historically
>but NXT prob got like 15 women as fine them lol
>
>so here we go. this gonna include some AEW people cause they
>got em too
>
>Honorable Mentions
>1. Lash Legend - literal brickhouse. it shouldnt be possible
>to be that thick at 6'
>2. Rhea Ripley - i'm not really into the goth thing IRL but
>she carries it sexy as hell and she was always very pretty
>before the character transformation
>3. Anna Jay - honestly the first time i saw her i wondered why
>she even wrestled. she could just be a real model.
>
>Top 5
>5. Gigi Dolin - best ass in the biz
>4. Tiffany Stratton - i thought she was kinda cute before but
>the implants really completed her look. cold af in the ring
>too she got the best moonsault in the business
>3. Jade Cargill - nothing needs to be said here
>2. Leila Grey - total package she just cant wrestle but if you
>on TV next to Jade and can catch my eyes you cold
>1. Jaida Parker - this how i knew HBK really had the
>vision***. get fine, athletic women that's already popping on
>IG and coach them up. but she has taken to wrasslin way
>quicker than i expected
>
>***IDK if she will stick around long enough to make waves, but
>if she does Jazmyn instantly is going in my top 3.
>
>and that aint even mentioning some of my other favorites like
>Skye Blue, Roxanne Perez, Fallon Henley, Elektra Lopez, Jakara
>Jackson, i could go on. we are in blessed times.

i dont really watch TNA like that.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/john-cena-on-his-relationship-with-vince-mcmahon-i-love-the-guy

Not as bad as Kevin Nash’s, but still. He’s talking about it as if it’s an obstacle being put in Vince’s way and Vince will surely redeem himself. Yeesh.

The key difference between Cena and Rock is I think Rock at least is not an idiot. Cena’s a meathead moron. And if you actually just -hear- him talk he just bloviates. He’s so uncool.

>The key difference between Cena and Rock is I think Rock at
>least is not an idiot. Cena’s a meathead moron. And if you
>actually just -hear- him talk he just bloviates. He’s so
>uncool.

I know he loves Vince, but I still expected better than THIS.

“This man changed my life but this is horrific” is really all there is

He will no longer be R-Truth’s childhood hero

I haven't watched Dynamite in like two years, but scrolling Twitter last night I saw some bits that I thought were excellent - and it was all promo work, no flip around unsafe indie bullshit

Sting + Darby:
What an authentic way to put even more heat on a match. Sting comes off like a pensive old Samurai. This rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfqrcm-o2Rg

Wardlow:
just about everything Wardlow says is right. He needs to get to NXT asap, or at least be deliberately solo. He's a raw diamond that needs polishing but I was reminded that his upside is still so high
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48TSZaNfwRM&pp=ygULYWV3IHdhcmRsb3c%3D

Christian:
this Garcia kid has the personality of a throw rug but Christian's viciousness here is a blast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFwQxBdbWM4

Consistently the highlight of the show.

>Consistently the highlight of the show.

Yes. They set up his heel turn very well. And since he turned, his mission to have 'no redeemable qualities' has been gorgeous work that should be studied by future would-be heels. Its a party of absurd villainous activity and I love it. If he was like 10 years younger, he'd NEED TO BE the main champion. As is, I still wouldn't hate it. The issue with his run is that he can only lose the title once his 'family' finally tires of his shit and turns on him. But hey, that's working out amazingly for WWE! Hehe

I realize Nia was born in Australia and all but nah

Mami deserved a better opponent tonight

She cane right down on one of the monitors on that table spot. I hope she’s ok because Mami vs The Man is as marquee as anything else on Mania IMO.

The rest of the show was cool.

The Grayson Waller show actually served a purpose. I wonder if we get Rock vs Cosy on night 1.

Both EC’s had their spots but nothing particularly memorable. The AJ/LAK spot was whatever. I’m cool on Knight right now.

I will say Logan Paul’s brass knuckle shot looked incredibly stiff.

>I realize Nia was born in Australia and all but nah
>
>Mami deserved a better opponent tonight
>
>She cane right down on one of the monitors on that table spot.
>I hope she’s ok because Mami vs The Man is as marquee as
>anything else on Mania IMO.
>

I think Rhea's gonna have the reign Roman's had, with the difference being - barring injury - she's going to be on TV plenty. She's going to be the first female MEGA star ala Reigns and Cody, or H, Rock, Austin etc. She's the perfect female wrestler. My daughter is just obsessed right now. It's so cool that the first pro wrestler my daughter is into is a woman.

>
>The Grayson Waller show actually served a purpose. I wonder if
>we get Rock vs Cosy on night 1.

I'm starting to think this is a Departed/Internal Affairs situation - Rock's aligned with Cody, while Seth's a Roman plant.

>I'm starting to think this is a Departed/Internal Affairs
>situation - Rock's aligned with Cody, while Seth's a Roman
>plant.

I just had a "YES!...wait...NO!" moment with that. That would seem a bit of overbooking to me, but this is right in line with how Trips and Rock would do things in the Attitude Era so this wouldn't surprise me one bit. I'd prefer it to keep it the same, but if the lead up to it is compelling and really surprising I'd be into it.

Dude's behavior in the pod was hilarious. I mentioned how well Cody walks the character a few months back. KO has gotta be up there.

2) Logan Paul is just so good at this. I'm glad this is the only forum I encounter him in though.

3) Tiffy is going to be a massive, massive star once she gets a story she can sink her teeth into. Every other part of her act is outstanding.

this is, like, the funniest WWE thing I've ever seen hahahaha
https://x.com/_kennythoughts/status/1761542631639695786?s=20

>this is, like, the funniest WWE thing I've ever seen
>hahahaha
>https://x.com/_kennythoughts/status/1761542631639695786?s=20

This was grand tomfoolery. Logan Paul is staring in the face of making a bunch of money with this rasslin thing if he can stay his meathead azz outta trouble long enough.

He's really good (like Orton, like KO, like Cody) at things that play well for the crowd and on TV.

Dude had a great run while in Memphis as Soul Train Jones. I really thought he'd go up to the WWF and at best be a tag team champ a few times in his career but it didn't pan out.

>Dude had a great run while in Memphis as Soul Train Jones. I
>really thought he'd go up to the WWF and at best be a tag team
>champ a few times in his career but it didn't pan out.

After he paid off the three-year storyline by having him beat DiBiase at the 1991 Summerslam, they never figured out what to do with him, and by the Royal Rumble, he was a Jobber to the Stars.

His work as Virgil was legendary. And his rebirth as social media personality certainly got people talking.

First time I’d seen wrestling live. Virgil was so over, I remember him getting the loudest cheers of anyone that was on the card that night.

imagine being a coke-blowing , porn star f*cking, MMA-fighting pro wrestler

that's a wild boy

if he had any brain cells he could actually leverage all of this into a new age Nature Boy gimmick. But he's probably just a more violent Jeff Hardy.

I KNOW, you can't talk about Sting without talking Ric. I KNOW after all this time Ric does not know how to walk away. I KNOW Tony Khan does not know how to keep his talent in line.

But Ric Flair double-turning in one segment and selling a nut shot in Year of Our Lord 2024 is something that we did not need for the go-home of Sting's last match. I hope like hell he is not involved in the actual match but KNOW he's going to figure in the finish.

Descends from the rafters and destroys the Bucks. That's a great final TV appearance.

Unfortunately, it leads me to believe that Sting and Darby are going to lose. Which would be the worst booking decision AEW ever makes if they go through with it.

Mania will be a blast, and having heel Rock around has been a treat. But it’s just -so- time to get off of Roman Reigns.

Crowd seemed really into it.

Cutting other things short as a result.

It’s funny because my reaction when I watched was, this is cool but it could have been done to greater effect in half the time.

It was his best segment so far (which isn’t saying much) but goddamn did he milk that shit.

They’ve managed to pivot quite well after initially shitting the bed with it, but there’s still too much sloppiness and far too much overlooking that sloppiness because “but it’s The Rock!”.

Among everyone involved, he’s still executing the worst even if he’s getting all the praise, because a lot of that praise is still based in nostalgia, not his current work.

His heel work is cheap heat 101. The same, low common denominator “shit on the city!” bullshit🥱. It’s a crutch that works because of presence and charisma, but that’s rookie shit and he leans way to hard on it. He’s a well polished hack right now.

Conversely, Drew is working absolute magic as a heel right now, keeping his Punk feud alive while dealing directly with the goal in front of him

Roman is doing great work with body language and facial expressions.
Heyman is doing great Heyman work.
Seth is intriguing because he’s almost to eager to have Cody’s back.

Cody’s had some questionable promo moments “I’m not taining fire in Rock because I was a fan!🤦🏼‍♂️ But he’s still doing actual storytelling and has done great outside of those moments and his last segment- minus that stupid line- was fantastic character work.

Rock is all style, no substance, playing to the lowest common denominator and he’s being outworked by everyone except maybe Jimmy right now.


That’s literal

Rock’s been a blast to me

It’s an opinion about pro wrestling

Not a life or death proposition.

This is a really weird context to use that phrase.

But hey, if you’re super impressed and excited about other, current performers getting their time cut so that a guy twenty years past his prime can take ten minutes calling people crackheads- OMG THAT’S SO HILARIOUS AND CLEVER😂-cool.

First it was crybabies
Now it’s crackheads.

Where does he come up with these brilliant insults?

But it’s all good. Whatever makes you happy.

But it’s still just an opinion about pro wrestling.

Not a “hill to die on”🙄

.

If I were an influencer or podcaster catering to middle aged nostalgia, then yeah

Pointing out that Dwayne’s done nothing but pick the lowest of low hanging fruut this entire time would be a hill to die on, because I’d lose subs, clicks, then advertisers.

It’s dumb to use it in the context of an inconsequential opinion.

“I disagree” makes sense in this context

“If you want to die on that hill” is just melodramatic nonsense

I’m seeing they had all kinds of problems tonight.

I almost ordered it, but paying $50 for one event on a janky ass platform stopped me.

When we can watch Wrestlemania for $6, they gotta figure something better out than this.

now im extra glad

that said, paying for this never crossed my mind lol

The commentary is also embarrassingly amateur

They need to sign the streaming deal with Max ASAP.

Possibly one of their best ever.

First, for the main event, it was great. And it ended the right way. Darby is fucking insane and really did look like he killed himself with the broken glass spot. Sting fighting off the Bucks to end it was great stuff. Sting went out with nothing left in the chamber and let everyone go home happy. As he should.

Osprey vs. Takeshita was great. Osprey was the most over non-Sting wrestler of the night and already the biggest babyface in the company. They need to strap a rocket to his ass and have him win the belt at All In.

The World Title match was sandwiched in a weird position, but it there was some great wrestling and psychology going on, especially with Hangman continuing to loose it as things progressed. There was no bad choice for a winner, but I do think Joe was the best choice. I do think Swerve eventually deserves a dolo championship program. Maybe as Osprey's first challenger.

Other really good matches: Kingston vs. Danielson, BCC vs. FTR, Christian vs. Daniel Garcia. Women's title match was solid. Strong going over was the right choice, and I'm happy KOR is back.

The only thing that was a mixed bag with the eight man scramble match, which was messy as fuck at times. Would have been better if they real could have done "Meat Madness," but... injuries suck.

So, yeah, a lot of great stuff, and a great way to end Sting's career.

Joe, Ospreay, MJF, Okada, Danielson, Swerve, Hangman, Wardlow, Hobbs…this should be the stable of serious singles wrestlers who at different times vie for the title. If storytelling is AEW’s weakness then just make the story high-level competition.

Their women’s wrestling is generally poor. I don’t know that even Mercedes can help that. The Toni Storm gimmick is fun but that match last night nearly derailed the night’s momentum.

There’s still so much stuff I can’t stomach - Cassidy, Darby Allin, “BCC”, and most importantly Jericho…and the pace of these matches with less experienced talent is just way too reckless.

But people complain that there's not enough story or build-up.

>Joe, Ospreay, MJF, Okada, Danielson, Swerve, Hangman,
>Wardlow, Hobbs…this should be the stable of serious singles
>wrestlers who at different times vie for the title. If
>storytelling is AEW’s weakness then just make the story
>high-level competition.

I'd add Christian, Daniel Garcia, Mark Briscoe, Takeshita, Claudio, the HOB guys, and a few others to that list.


>Their women’s wrestling is generally poor. I don’t know
>that even Mercedes can help that. The Toni Storm gimmick is
>fun but that match last night nearly derailed the night’s
>momentum.

Eh, I think it is getting better. I'd go as far to say that Toni Storm is currently the best "character" since the OG Broken Matt Hardy. But something isn't **quite** working out once she hits the ring. But they have some interesting young talent as well.

>There’s still so much stuff I can’t stomach -

>Cassidy
As I mention below, I've like the guy. Overall, his run from the first Forbidden Door against Osprey to his rematch with Moxley was pretty impeccable. But I ageree he needs a break.


>Darby Allin,

Don't know to tell you there. He's consistently entertaining and has a lot of great match.

>“BCC”,

I agree that overall, they were better when Regal was there. I understand some people really don't like Moxley. But Danielson and Claudio are impeccable to me.

>and most importantly Jericho…

Jericho was very important in the beginning of AEW. I'd say that he peaked around Double or Nothing 2021, and whenever they've tried to put him in the top of the card since, it's been very diminishing returns. And some of his feuds have been BRUTAL (Adam Cole, the Don Callis stuff). That said, he does put the right people over all the time time now. And has gotten his ass kicked clean by guys like Hobbs, Takeshita, and Action Andretti.

>

AEW has some grace with me for a while now based on Hangman’s work to help Swerve’s borderline inevitable title win go over huge and how The Bucks showed their asses to make sure Sting went out right. The whole run, Sting got treated like a special attraction and it was mostly fun as all get-out. And he tried to pay if forward by taking some risks and being very complimentary of the company all the way through. Everyone won out on that deal for sure.

I’m bored of him but I like OC well enough. His ‘barely winning matches cuz he’s better than he gets credit for being and he’s a tough dude who cares’ story is REALLY GOOD. But it was time for him to get beat and boy did he!

Possibly one of their best ever.
>
>First, for the main event, it was great. And it ended the
>right way. Darby is fucking insane and really did look like he
>killed himself with the broken glass spot. Sting fighting off
>the Bucks to end it was great stuff. Sting went out with
>nothing left in the chamber and let everyone go home happy. As
>he should.
>
>Osprey vs. Takeshita was great. Osprey was the most over
>non-Sting wrestler of the night and already the biggest
>babyface in the company. They need to strap a rocket to his
>ass and have him win the belt at All In.
>
>The World Title match was sandwiched in a weird position, but
>it there was some great wrestling and psychology going on,
>especially with Hangman continuing to loose it as things
>progressed. There was no bad choice for a winner, but I do
>think Joe was the best choice. I do think Swerve eventually
>deserves a dolo championship program. Maybe as Osprey's first
>challenger.
>
>Other really good matches: Kingston vs. Danielson, BCC vs.
>FTR, Christian vs. Daniel Garcia. Women's title match was
>solid. Strong going over was the right choice, and I'm happy
>KOR is back.
>
>The only thing that was a mixed bag with the eight man
>scramble match, which was messy as fuck at times. Would have
>been better if they real could have done "Meat Madness,"
>but... injuries suck.
>
>So, yeah, a lot of great stuff, and a great way to end Sting's
>career.

it was nice to see AEW get it right and let him go out strong. His entire run there was handled well. Respect.

Also, the commentator mentioned Sting a little earlier on Raw, and as soon as the other guy started to talk about it being a good match, the subject was changed very quickly lol. But at least they mentioned it.

...were being really weird. First of all, Sting WANTED and REQUESTED to work with them at the end. Second, as I said in this thread they were the prefect heels foils for this feud. You couldn't pick a better team that fans would absolutely HATE winning. The Bucks are 100% aware of what some fans think of them, and they absolutely played into that, not even vaguely attempting to be "cool" heels. They were assholes, showed a ton of ass on Sting's last Dynamite and in the final match, and took the very clear and unambiguous loss to send off the Icon right.


I think OC as International Champ peaked when he beat Moxley in the re-match. That was been aeven more epic if not for the acccidental Fenix reign. But most of his second reign was pretty forgettable. And they've been build to him losing THAT way for about six months or so. It's time for him to take a break and be off of TV for a while.

The Bucks hate I suspect was a lot of the Cornette crew just wanting something to complain about. You're right, Sting could choose whoever he wanted to and he picked The Bucks.

The man got to go out however he wanted to in an extremely entertaining way at that. They sold their asses off for him. AEW has its faults for sure, but the straight up hate is just weird.

and had the better “story” to finish with the Bloodline.

I can see and respect that argument, particularly given that his story was an integral part of the Bloodline.

That said, the payoff to his story was arguably perfect with a Night One win with KO.

The biggest (and only real) problem with it was the dog shit storytelling they did with both teams since that night- but they can flip that into a pretty good overall arc for Sami if they give him the significant honor of dethroning Gunther at Mania.

I think Cody’s a better overall personality and promo, though, and I don’t think it’s particularly close. As far as straight up wrestling goes, I give Sami the edge but I don’t think there’s much of a gap, Generico indy cred and all.

I’m curious to see your thoughts on what makes Sami better though.

Either one of those dudes would bring the house down at Mania, and a Gable/Gunther Mania match has the potential to be up there with Taker/HBK and Savage/Steamboat. (Hell, I thought the Triple Threat last year was the match of the weekend)

On Cody vs. Sami, what I will give Sami is that he can be a good promo when he doesn't have a clear opponent. Whereas when Cody doesn't have a focus, or his motivation isn't the big prize, we get that Ogogo promo where he solved racism.

BUT! Cody is among the very best at walking the character in between beats, and the dude even sold Stardust hard when he wasn't feeling it.

I enjoy his matches and mic work more. I don’t know - Cody is fine but just isn’t that interesting to me.

I was just wondering if you had more specific reasons.

I love Sami too. I just see him as a notch below.

But I think he needs to be the one to dethrone Gunther.

In my fantasy booking brain, I’d love to see him do it as his NXT iteration; trim the hair and beard, go back to the pork pie hat, and come out to his dance. I doubt that happens, but still.

I think giving him the win over Gunther would be a massive Mania moment. Gable could pull off an incredible match but nothing would be more emotionally or creatively impactful than Sami getting that honor.

It would be as memorable as anything else we get for 40.

>and had the better “story” to finish with the Bloodline.

I'm not the right person to ask for disagreement on this. Sami is ~ my favorite 'whitemeat babyface' in the last 15-ish years. His NXT run is part of why I still watch this stuff. He was purely excellent. His work with Claudio/Cesaro. His title win. His inevitable loss to KO. His red carpet treatment of Nakamura. All of it.

And cuz he's such a nerd, his injuries and false starts on the main roster played well into his heel run having 'reasons' and weight. And duh, I'm a sucker for the conspiracy theory stuff (Jericho and Sami btw).

And then, when he got in with the Bloodline....*Lil Wayne shaking his head meme.gif* or *Vince almost crying over Andre The Giant.gif*. His inner Sami would not let him keep going along with Roman's bullshit. And when he got that chair, I sat up in MY DAMN CHAIR cuz I 'knew' Sami was gonna at least think about 'doing the right thing' cuz HE IS FUCKING SAMI ZAYN...he's a good fucking dude who went along with some bad shit because he thought nobody cared about him (but KO..kinda). And there it was. My heart grew 50 sizes even though I knew Sami was gonna get his ass kicked and he wasn't gonna win the title.

I am VERY strongly of the opinion that Sami's part 'made' the Bloodline story last longer than it would have otherwise. And hell, even with Sami, the last year of Roman doing the 80s Southern rasslin heel who always cheats thing has been brutal. Still, they have us right where they want us: big show coming up, a path to Roman finally losing is here, and most of us are ready for it. BUT after the last 25-ish years of rasslin, most of us are at least a little scurred that Roman could somehow leave Mania as champ still.

But again, I am very guilty of crediting Sami with these feelings. He is, at least to me, THE WWE wrestler who pushes on everyone to do more sensible things with their characters. Him and KO really. Now look at us...McIntyre is on the run of his life because his character did sensible shit questioning Punk/Rollins/Jey (and he took it too far cuz heels gotta be heels damnit). Rollins is doing what makes sense to him (fighting Roman cuz he feels guilty for turning on him).

Never seen that before! Jey’s character’s IQ must be about 75, right?

This shit is so corny. And lazy. And boring. Hasn’t been good since Sami lost in Montreal.

I’m thrilled The Rock is back, clowning. First entertaining thing in this storyline since February 2023.

First of all I don’t really know who wanted a Jey Uso v Jimmy Uso feud. Jey’s really popular right now and doing fine, and I don’t think Jey/Jimmy feels like some sort of blood feud. Their split didn’t make sense to begin with.

From the bad “Tribal Rules” match at Summerslam to about now Bloodline has been treading water. As the moments happened I thought every single thing they did made sense up through MITB last year. But then they lost the plot somewhere.

To your point, they should be really thankful Rock showed up , because I’m not sure even Heyman as good as he is could’ve manufactured enough heat around the bloodline going into Wrestlemania

Rock’s still stuck in high school

But Seth went all the way back to kinder. There’s need to try to make Seth clever, but if they’re going that route, for the love of god, try harder.

that was a mediocre segment overall not at all a worthy response. This is the first time I felt like Seth and Cody weren’t quite holding up their end of this.

but I'm also not a fan of Seth as a promo. With two exceptions- that first post-Rumble promo where he was boosting the WHC as the workhorse belt and trying to get Cody to fight him, and the Riddle split-screen promo- his promos are a LOT of empty words.

(I largely did not like Sting's last match- it was nice having Flair and Steamboat *there* but there was no reason for them to get involved- and don't get me started on the big spot everybody loved)

But I am enjoying how they're playing this Okada debut. The way they're talking about him in promos, and the general vibe of taking credit for his excellence is such that when Page and Omega come back, the Okada face turn is going to be epic.

These social media promos are ridiculous and hilarious. He’s going out of his way to be outrageous and heelish. And it’s working.

I’m still guessing this ends with some kind of bloodline turning and tomfoolery plus Cody winning the championship. But it’s fun for me to see Rock acting a damn fool.

>They're saying the number again! Take that, Vince..you ole
>nasty mfer!
>
>Let's see:
>
>- Vince is bigtime gone. Who knows how wild the deets go and
>what % of it we will ever 'know'. What we 'know' is plenty
>wild enough! You have to figure at least a few more people
>might end up gone too. We'll see.
>- Brock is at least temporarily gone too.
>- Kevin Dunn is gone and now the camera work can finally
>attempt to evolve at least a little. Ain't that nice!? Its
>nice!
>- Cody inches closer to finishing his story. And they're going
>to make him earn the shit out it.
>- THE ROCK AND ROMAN REIGNS are together now? NICE.
>- Rollins is hurt but will make Mania allegedly. He's gonna be
>fine and I'm not worried. He's dope, they love him, and he's
>EXCELLENT when he has anything coherent to do.
>- Big E is still out.
>- Punk is out. BOO. But he can still instigate!
>- Charlotte out but she's a damn hoss so she'll be back.
>- Randy and AJ are back! Whooo! Now, what in the eff are they
>gonna do!?
>- Stone Cold is being coy about doing another match. I WANT
>IT. His match with KO was gorgeously simple and fun but it
>still felt 'complete'. Pros wer Pro'ing.
>- Whoop That Trick (YEAH!) = one of my favorite things in
>rasslin right now. And Williams himself is good too. He's
>gonna kick all up in Carmelo's ass and its gonna be GREAT for
>both of them. Yes, he's my replacement Velveteen Dream. No, I
>don't feel guilty about it.
>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
>- WALTER Gunther is still out here beating people tf up and I
>love it.
>
>- TNA is 'back' but they already have shenanigans with the
>Scott D'Amore. Seems rotten but who knows..its TNA.
>
>AEW is sneaking around trying to be good at certain things but
>they're cold, so many people are 'done' with giving them a
>chance. Still:
>
>- Swerve and Hangman are doing good work.
>- Smo'a Joe...same thing. He's a fun champ even if he's almost
>certainly not gonna be a long-term champ.
>- Prince Nana's multi-purpose dance antics might be my
>favorite non-'jimaveli is in love with like 20 women
>wrestlers' thing going.
>- On that woman thing, Broken Toni Storm works on me ~ every
>single time. She's ridiculous, funny, and a good rassler.
>She's dropping some A+ promo work vs opponents and the random
>obscure sexual stuff she's 'sneaking in' is a hilarious touch.
>She's blowing up announcers almost weekly! History will be
>kind to this run for sure.
>- The Bucks are fun but late af with this jerk heel run.
>They're gonna cheat their azzes off to beat/retire Sting fo
>sho. But Darby will be there to dive at them really hard and
>I'll like that.
>- Dalton Castle trying to get to Johnny is also great times.
>- Sasha is gonna be fun but I wish she was headed back to WWE
>to print money with Bayley for the summer.
>- Okada might be better off in AEW FIRST but I still want him
>in WWE at some point. Rainmaker pose tshirts would be easy
>munny for WWE.
>- Ospreay is a wonderful rassler. I hope he stays healthy.
>He's done a great job of 'getting big enough' for the spots
>he's gonna be in. Add him to the 'he'd be big fun in WWE at
>some point' list too.
>
>I hope like hell that AEW forces a title onto Danielson at
>some point before he's done as a 'full-time act'.
>
>Besides that, MJF has been shutting all the way the fuck up in
>a corner somewhere, Adam Cole is still not right and it is
>killing his new group, and Kenny Omega did good to go the
>doctor when he did or he might've died. Whew! And
>Ibushi...gees dude...sit your goofy azz down somewhere! And
>take Jeff Hardy with you!

Rollins was excellent last night but goofy last Monday
Cody can be too cool and wordy
Roman's just sort of in neural

It all seems pretty serious for Rock. Everything he says and does brings a much needed intensity to the program. I wish he and Heyman would go back-and-forth some.

I know what they're going for is Roman being jealous of Rock, but I need to see them more connected for the nuance to shine through. Like I wish they'd all, even once, wear the same Bloodline shirt...that would level the playing field some optically

Orton as Cody’s partner would be a lot more interesting to me.

It also plays better on the “bloodline” aspect of all this

Rock is straight up bodying Seth with that clown show line, because it’s fucking true and we all know it.

Even more frustrating is that Seth could have killed that noise by coming out Friday to the old Shield music, in his old Shield gear, through the crowd, and presented a more serious demeanor.

Done. Neutralized.

And we’d have character development (provided he doesn’t jump right back to his Designs By Yeezy bullshit) on top of it.

It would also serve a dual purpose in making him look and feel like a threat to Drew.

But nope. We got… whatever the fuck that was. A Shield version of his clown show gear I guess?

He already played himself with his idiotic diarrhea barb.

They need to shift gears with him asap because Rock is eating him alive. I give Dwayne shit for the high school, hacky heel bullshit he did but he got straight to the point last night and it was perfect.

Rock said he gives Cody his word that there will be no Bloodline interference if he and Clown Show win.

I think Rock keeps his word, and that’s what sets up Rock vs Reigns.

Night One:

-Cody & Clown win, which is obvious

Night Two:

-Cody is winning/about to win, and Solo attempts to interfere
-Rock intervenes, on some “I gave my word” type shit
-Reigns gets angry and probably distracted by it, leading to Cody’s win

In the aftermath on Smackdown, Rock squashes his beef with Cody, extends his hand, they shake on it, and Reigns comes out to confront Rock

Rock is back to being a babyface overnight and Rock vs Reigns is set in motion

I think Rock holding up the L is a slight misdirect. People seem to be talking double agent with this, but I think Rock’s “betrayal” will simply come by being keeping his word with Cody and that’s sets things off with Reigns.

That’s not my fantasy book, that’s how I think it actually plays out. Probably not to the letter, but I think Rock keeping his word to Cody, creating friction within the Bloodline absolutely happens.

Of course, there’s speculation that the story is heading toward Reigns turning babyface due to Rock’s big-footing him, and maybe that’s how it goes. And they could do that by having Reigns be the one to keep the promise to Cody, but I’d question if that’s the right move.

As far as Reigns goes - he has cheated to retain the title endlessly for 4 years, so that wouldn’t seem to be the best way to go with him. The Rock hasn’t actually DONE anything heelish yet - he’s just talked shit. No cheating, no underhanded beatdowns, etc. I think it would have to be The Rock who goes face. And yeah, what you said would seem to be the best way to do it. The cheating to retain has gotten beyond played out. It’s happened in every single big match that seemed set up for Reigns to finally lose. It’s boring and predictable at this point - Rock putting a stop to that makes him instantly a face, IMO.

For Roman to ever go face, there has to be a new, equally despicable heel that everybody is sick of and wants to see get what’s coming to him.

Or just have him go away for 6 months, lol. Big stars always get cheered when they first return.

I think Reigns will get a nice face run coming out of all this, but not just yet. And people DO want to cheer Rock, just not when he’s in Cody’s way.

- a people's elbow pinfall win serves the most casual viewers who will tune in for Rock

- seeds planted for an eventual Rollins/Cody WWE Title program

- they keep saying "Bloodline Rules" for night 2...they wouldn't reveal a brand like "Bloodline Rules" and then not give it to us. Plus, Cody overcoming "the numbers game" night 2 and winning is on some Cena shit which is where I think they're trying to get him.

- is Roman gonna lose two matches in one weekend? He's lost once in four years, and in a tag match.

- Rock/Reigns going over Night 1 extends the shelf life of heel Rock. Say, you do Cody/Rock at Summerslam and Reigns/Rock at Mania next year...you can still go the route of Rock shaking Cody's hand after Cody beats him at Summerslam, flip Rock babyface, set a course for Mania 41 vs Reigns.

this dude had one of the greatest finishes to an episode in wrestling history. popped mad shit. whooped 2 niggas asses. and got to tongue down a bad bitch and bout make her pass out. HBK clearly has his favorites lol

Here’s Captain Mike Rotunda stretching the fuck out of Death Row, a job dude who thought he didn’t have to sell: https://x.com/deepcutswcw/status/1766132621442945316?s=46&t=GMPUia5W6UF0zApqPLIbYg

Shows up on TV regularly and defends the title often. Character is not a cornball. And he wrestles good matches without all the gymnastics shit.

Enjoying it while it lasts.

There’s enough there to really have something

. There’s too many goofballs and too many bodies on the screen at one time in general…like Jay White needs to get as far as he can from all of these cornballs and just mix in with Ospreay, Joe, etc. It just reeks of WCW’s dying days to have this many men in one ring all doing their shit and over acting within a time crunched segment.

I guess I’m supposed to just know Okada is a big deal, but for those who don’t you sure aren’t going to make him seem like one palling around with those two nerds. Hook’s upside is limitless / pairing him with Jericho doing his own Jericho tribute act evaporates Hook’s cool in seconds.

Like, DAMN man. If they could just single in on select individuals and make them all feel important the way they do Samoa Joe they’d be fuckin cookin. But there’s a dozen titles, “trios”, and just a lot of personalities who aren’t TV-ready clouding what could be a special roster.

I’m sorry to be so literal about it, but can you imagine what Triple H would do with
Joe
Okada
Ospreay
MJF
Jay White
Wardlow
Swerve
Hangman
Danielson
???

How does it all still manage to feel so silly and trivial? That talent pool is as good as WWE’s

I watch Dynamite every week and I just don't see it. He's short, he's small, he can't talk, he doesn't seem to do anything in matches other than suplexes and chokeholds...what am I missing?

The only thing missing is that he’s Taz’s kid.

But you just summarized everything about him that matters, insomuch as it can matter.

Also, the first time they said "cold-hearted handsome devil" my wife said "what?" out loud.

It made Team Taz look fuckin stupid, and now there's nothing Hook can do that isn't tied to that championship. The original run of the belt only went for a year; this has been going on for three years of aimless bullshit.

No bullshit

Kinda unfair everyone else has to try to keep pace with that guy.

Jesus that was epic

He really had to read that weak shit live off the page😂

Still leaning in on outdated misogyny with Seth

“Your wife is more popular”

I’m sure that really plays well to dumb meatheads, dudebros who never left high school, and middle aged red pill dorks who think the high school bully/he man woman hater tropes are how real men act.

And still leaning on dumb lines like “crybaby bitches”

This shit is embarrassing, just spitting out bad Attitude Era/pre Ruthless Aggression retreads

He slogged through fifteen minutes of tired schtick before spitting A game venom with the mama Rhodes bit. The Whoop That Trick chant from the crowd, the your welcome line, that’s gold.

He’s at a point where less is a *lot* more. If they trimmed the fat by keeping the Greatest Hits schtick to an obligatory minimum, this would be a great run.

That said, Cody needs to find that Super Cena gear and match his energy. Because the Ric Flair tears are not cutting it.

>

It’s all working on me. He’s the heel (at least for now) so I love that he’s unlikable, delusional, childish, petty, and ridiculous. It’s great that his character thinks his newly gained corporate role excuses his behavior. And that his ties with Roman (that he’s all of a sudden so worried about) are being so openly and obviously abused. He’s playing right into the constant internetty cries against him and the not even kinda sneaky cism he’s taking in from the lowest level people who watch this stuff. He’s acting a smooth fool, eating up crazy time online and on-air, hollering, cussing, threatening, offending, and generally making sure that most reasonable people want to see Cody (and Seth) kick his ass all over Philly. Roman’s fate is already sealed too since he been a terrible and abusive character for years. And somehow Cody is positioned as the one to do them in. I watched the AEW crowd decide that he sucked a few years ago. I was bored of reading people twist themselves into knots to swear Cody was soooooo horrible. And one entrance into his WWE return, it was clear that dude was good. By the time he showed up with that bruised titty, he was the man! Haha.

But really, this all works if/when Cody kicks their asses/survives their shady attempts to screw him again.

And the Rock has an excellent history with showing ass, selling, and/or losing when it’s time so I’m not super worried on that end.

And I trust Cody to get the right about of ‘hot and ready to win’ just in time for Mania. If the plan is him winning, it’s gonna be a good one.

He really had to read that weak shit live off the page😂
>
>Still leaning in on outdated misogyny with Seth
>
>“Your wife is more popular”
>
>I’m sure that really plays well to dumb meatheads, dudebros
>who never left high school, and middle aged red pill dorks who
>think the high school bully/he man woman hater tropes are how
>real men act.
>
>And still leaning on dumb lines like “crybaby bitches”
>
>This shit is embarrassing, just spitting out bad Attitude
>Era/pre Ruthless Aggression retreads
>
>He slogged through fifteen minutes of tired schtick before
>spitting A game venom with the mama Rhodes bit. The Whoop That
>Trick chant from the crowd, the your welcome line, that’s
>gold.
>
>He’s at a point where less is a *lot* more. If they trimmed
>the fat by keeping the Greatest Hits schtick to an obligatory
>minimum, this would be a great run.
>
>That said, Cody needs to find that Super Cena gear and match
>his energy. Because the Ric Flair tears are not cutting it.

But the pieces where I’m critical are pretty specific, and this segment was a prime example of the good, bad, and ugly of this run.

There’s no getting around how bad the “your wife is more popular than you!” lines have been. It’s a dumb, lazy retort on it’s own, but the fact that it trades on misogyny for it to work just amplifies how bad it is.

“Crybaby” was always a bad insult. It’s dumb, generic shit old people say. It’s cheap, bad, unimaginative, bland, boring, etc.

And yes, he’s playing into the backlash against him. But these *elements* of that aren’t particularly clever or good. It’s also not a viable excuse for it because this is who he’s always been. He’s always brought “high school bully” energy in terms of the content of his promos and that aspect hasn’t aged well at all.

And reading the words was a bad look. It was a lot like when Cena called him out for reading the words off his arm. It’s not reflect of a savvy heel persona, it’s just an example of how rusty he is in the game.

All of which underscores what Seth was saying earlier: he really wasn’t needed.

And he was right. He’s a nice little bonus in certain respects, but he also sucks a lot of air out of the building in a bad way. They had to cut the Stratton/Naomi match short because he went long. There are also reports that at least some talent are frustrated with a double standard when it comes to him having freedom to skirt company policies:

https://itrwrestling.com/news/wwe-talent-irritated-by-apparent-double-standard-surrounding-the-rock/

And my point of contention here is that he’s hitting hard in several respects. The Mama Rhodes bit was fantastic, for example. THAT is an example of playing into the story before us in a relevant, engaging way.

He can abandon the corny high school bully bullshit, stop catering to the lowest common denominator (again, he’s done this his entire career), and trim the unnecessary misogynistic fat (your wife has more fans🙄) and, frankly, he’d be a much better character while using less time to greater effect.

This is a very uneven run and has been from lazy, sloppy start. They *clearly* pivoted and thought that “but it’s The Rock” was all that was needed to make people accept such an idiotic story beat, and they mostly did a good job with that pivot. But it hasn’t been a home-run on Dwayne’s end.

IMO most people are overlooking the obvious, glaring flaws in this run because, hey, it’s the Rock, and Remember When?! sentiment. His overwhelming charisma and presence does a lot of leg work to distract from those flaws, but they’re still there.

There’s zero downside to abandoning the weaker/harmful elements of this presentation and sticking with the good shit.

Sami's "ultimate underdog" shtick paying off big in Philly is going to be glorious, man. Even if he doesn't. Even if he goes the distance and Gunther just barely survives him, it's going to be a wild ride. Also, Gable over his shoulder could be something. I hope they don't wedge him into a triple threat, but I also wouldn't complain if they did.

Cody's was fantastic, though I coulda done without the "sidechick" crack. Sidekick woulda been fine and stuck in Roman the character's craw just fine. Other than that, man, a focused Cody is an excellent Cody. I just hope Jey follows him to Friday no matter what, because otherwise he's in late 80s Sting territory for "being a principled dummy and getting his ass whupped instead."

Shit, even Rollins had a nice promo tonight.

But I think they’ll have the sense to give him the sense that Reigns won’t keep his word, and has something in his back pocket.

So maybe Seth and Jey are there and only show their face until/unless the Bloodline shows theirs, on some “I know better”.

Or maybe Cody “comes alone” in the sense that nobody from Raw comes with him, but Orton and KO are already in the building. They have their program with Logan though, so that’s probably less likely.

I have a hard time seeing this going down as a clean interaction, but maybe that’s the swerve.

>So maybe Seth and Jey are there and only show their face
>until/unless the Bloodline shows theirs, on some “I know
>better”.
>

But at least he didn’t get the dumb babyface treatment.

he will NEVER come up with as good a line as "you need a room full of strangers to acknowledge your little bitch ass??"

Tbh, only impressive promos through this whole thing have come from Rock. Roman seems too casual, Cody too emotional, Rollins too silly. And for some reason they’ve muzzled Heyman altogether. The high water mark through this whole stretch remains the Vegas press conference, and the second best thing was Rock addressing Mama Rhodes. I can’t really even remember anything else.

That mfer was crazy for letting that snake bite him. Dude wanted to get back in the ring BADLY!

Watching that A&E Show, I was thinking of the excellent feuds dude was a part of: Steamboat, Jake, Megapowers, DDP, etcetera. Brother was so damn good at giving me the impression that he was mad af and ready to kick somebody's azz. He was a ball of energy 100% of the time and he shaped a lot of my mind about what a good azz rassler is. It seems clear now that working with him took some work, but those damn results man...THE RESULTS!

Even a lot of his nWo stuff was bonkers. Him walking through the halls mad af trying to find people was foundational work damnit! Hehe.

Side note: it is wild af that Warrior beat Hogan and Savage in back to back Manias and somehow still acted a fool to the point that his shit didn't work out.

Side note 2: it blows my mind that Michael PS Hayes is this important figure backstage in WWE and he is usually a lock to be involved somehow with super good shit. And it is just comfy biz to clown his in-ring work. I remember loving his shady azz as a kid. Mfer got heat: cheap, regular price, expensive, didn't matter..HEAT!

>They're saying the number again! Take that, Vince..you ole
>nasty mfer!
>
>Let's see:
>
>- Vince is bigtime gone. Who knows how wild the deets go and
>what % of it we will ever 'know'. What we 'know' is plenty
>wild enough! You have to figure at least a few more people
>might end up gone too. We'll see.
>- Brock is at least temporarily gone too.
>- Kevin Dunn is gone and now the camera work can finally
>attempt to evolve at least a little. Ain't that nice!? Its
>nice!
>- Cody inches closer to finishing his story. And they're going
>to make him earn the shit out it.
>- THE ROCK AND ROMAN REIGNS are together now? NICE.
>- Rollins is hurt but will make Mania allegedly. He's gonna be
>fine and I'm not worried. He's dope, they love him, and he's
>EXCELLENT when he has anything coherent to do.
>- Big E is still out.
>- Punk is out. BOO. But he can still instigate!
>- Charlotte out but she's a damn hoss so she'll be back.
>- Randy and AJ are back! Whooo! Now, what in the eff are they
>gonna do!?
>- Stone Cold is being coy about doing another match. I WANT
>IT. His match with KO was gorgeously simple and fun but it
>still felt 'complete'. Pros wer Pro'ing.
>- Whoop That Trick (YEAH!) = one of my favorite things in
>rasslin right now. And Williams himself is good too. He's
>gonna kick all up in Carmelo's ass and its gonna be GREAT for
>both of them. Yes, he's my replacement Velveteen Dream. No, I
>don't feel guilty about it.
>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
>- WALTER Gunther is still out here beating people tf up and I
>love it.
>
>- TNA is 'back' but they already have shenanigans with the
>Scott D'Amore. Seems rotten but who knows..its TNA.
>
>AEW is sneaking around trying to be good at certain things but
>they're cold, so many people are 'done' with giving them a
>chance. Still:
>
>- Swerve and Hangman are doing good work.
>- Smo'a Joe...same thing. He's a fun champ even if he's almost
>certainly not gonna be a long-term champ.
>- Prince Nana's multi-purpose dance antics might be my
>favorite non-'jimaveli is in love with like 20 women
>wrestlers' thing going.
>- On that woman thing, Broken Toni Storm works on me ~ every
>single time. She's ridiculous, funny, and a good rassler.
>She's dropping some A+ promo work vs opponents and the random
>obscure sexual stuff she's 'sneaking in' is a hilarious touch.
>She's blowing up announcers almost weekly! History will be
>kind to this run for sure.
>- The Bucks are fun but late af with this jerk heel run.
>They're gonna cheat their azzes off to beat/retire Sting fo
>sho. But Darby will be there to dive at them really hard and
>I'll like that.
>- Dalton Castle trying to get to Johnny is also great times.
>- Sasha is gonna be fun but I wish she was headed back to WWE
>to print money with Bayley for the summer.
>- Okada might be better off in AEW FIRST but I still want him
>in WWE at some point. Rainmaker pose tshirts would be easy
>munny for WWE.
>- Ospreay is a wonderful rassler. I hope he stays healthy.
>He's done a great job of 'getting big enough' for the spots
>he's gonna be in. Add him to the 'he'd be big fun in WWE at
>some point' list too.
>
>I hope like hell that AEW forces a title onto Danielson at
>some point before he's done as a 'full-time act'.
>
>Besides that, MJF has been shutting all the way the fuck up in
>a corner somewhere, Adam Cole is still not right and it is
>killing his new group, and Kenny Omega did good to go the
>doctor when he did or he might've died. Whew! And
>Ibushi...gees dude...sit your goofy azz down somewhere! And
>take Jeff Hardy with you!

he and flair had a multi-year running thing across both companies that was always great, and then he and DDP was awesome in the NWO era

specifically tonight but maybe also in general, even though at best its still filled with a bunch of empty space that requires DVR fast forwarding.

they not doing shit, but they are there.

i finally just watched the end. the rules of engagement are different.

aside from Cody getting the green light for blood, so much of last night had improv'd verbals.

might all go away after WM but for now, Raw is at its least low point in what...10-15 years at least?

this is that prime attitude era, outside the ring action, that i love

Final Boss Rock is a sociopath, and also the most interesting character on WWE TV.

You watch tonight’s show and literally every wrestler who’s great is still so casual about their shit - Cody, McIntyre,Rhea,Becky, Punk … I mean those are HOFers but still everything is so jokey to these people. There’s no juice to these goofy sarcastic promos, and they ALL do them. Wrestlemania is in two weeks and they’re all just kinda teasing each other.

Then Rock shows up bloodthirsty and the tone changes completely.

And what a gift it was raining. (“Demigod of the land and sea” indeed)

as a threat? Dude's yoked to the gills but has presumably not seen the inside of a ring in a decade. He's just a temporary speed bump that Cody, with Seth's help, can roll over on his way to finishing his story unimpeded by the Bloodline. So why wouldn't he crack jokes about the Rock while also getting himself worked up over the idea of finally succeeding where Big Dust failed? So of course "that's a promise he cannot keep." Then the Chicago weather helps out and we get a Rhodes bleeding in the rain. Chef's motherfuckin kiss.

This story is ramping up at just the right time, though the next gear has to be how Roman's going to "get his head in the game" so to speak. Because from his standpoint, Cody's not doing anything new except pal around with his ex-lackeys. Now his cousin just went and fired Cody up.

Also, Drew's shit is immaculate right now. He's thoroughly sports entertaining me.

and the way you laid it out, it'd actually be cool if Roman gets pissed at Rock for firing Cody up

Dusty would've loved that segment last night. The juice and the rain...cmon bruh! Also, maybe it's nothing, but they seemed to deliberately keep the Austin and Cena truck in the shot.

> Austin and Cena truck in the
>shot.

What do Austin, Cena and Cody all have in common? They all at one point had to overcome the Final Boss at Mania.

>What do Austin, Cena and Cody all have in common? They all at
>one point had to overcome the Final Boss at Mania.
>

Brilliant. I hope that was intentional then.

...

- Rock/Roman win night 1

- Cody overcomes the odds to win night 2

- Rock casts out Roman first show after Wrestlemania ("you let down the family")

- Rock vs Cody at Summerslam

the way he comes out of the pitch black with bolts of lightning

Entrance is flames

>

Yeah. Dunn held those folks hostage for YEARS. Maybe it was him and Vince working together to hold stuff back in the name of 'uniformity'.

It is a dramatic and obvious improvement almost all the time. And even when the same ole stuff is happening, the camera changes makes things feel more fresh. I have enjoyed it when I take the time to watch.

And the camera work on Rock's glorious beatdown of Cody RHODES was a damn good time for me. They are obviously having a good time trying shit and expanding on it when it works. Punk adding stakes even while crippled is great. Rock acting a damn fool but making sure Cody is the one who has to overcome things has been a blast for me to see unfold.

and the production is a huge part of it, as is Michael Cole being allowed to call a sport and have real reactions

https://x.com/JulianWks/status/1773755964501668164?s=20

final boss Rock is the fuckin man dude

>https://x.com/JulianWks/status/1773755964501668164?s=20
>
>final boss Rock is the fuckin man dude

Its fun. Cody had that asswhoopin coming. And it is a great answer to the 'dude, you haven't wrestled in forever..witcho old azz' comments he was taking on. He issued the threat and then heelishly got the drop on Cody. Then, he proceeded to whoop dude's azz in a way that Dutsthy would've loved. Adrenaline is in my soul fo sho.

But who is The Rock invoking with the slight Southern twang The Rock with these Cody Rhodes promos? I'm specifically referring to when The Rock calls Cody boy. Is it simply Dusty Rhodes that The Rock is throwing back in Cody Rhodes' face?

Cody’s son
Bloodline as Horsemen
Cody building a coalition (Koloff/Road Warriors)
Reigns + Rollins were Dusty’s protégés

>
>Cody’s son
>Bloodline as Horsemen
>Cody building a coalition (Koloff/Road Warriors)
>Reigns + Rollins were Dusty’s protégés
>
>

Yep. That works for me. Making fun of Cody/Dusty's 'southern' lineage. Also, I just love it. The Rock is clearly doing it on purpose. The wording, the cussing, the absurdly dope Black Adam entrance, the obviously pressed short fuse reactions to Cody and Seth, all of it. This weekend shall be on.

Obviously, he makes himself sound way more calm than he probably was, but his assessment of a total lack of control/authority from the top in AEW seems to track.

>Obviously, he makes himself sound way more calm than he
>probably was

That's the same thing I said to myself when he was explaining it lol

Look, I'm glad he's happy at WWE, but every other person who's gone to/gone back to WWE after being in AEW has managed to be professional. And especially considering that Phil had a lot to do with his own "demise" over at AEW, he's whining an awful lot. And him blowing off Colt Cabana after he approached him and tried to squash the beef isn't the flex Punk seems to think it is. Cash your checks and move on, dude.

but one plain spoken interview with a real sports journalist has offended your sensibilities?

There was legitimately nothing in the interview that was controversial at all.

i just dont get it

It’s past time for everyone to shut the fuck up about it. And that includes Phil. There are no innocent babes in the woods in any of this. I was cool with Punk just doing his thing in the WWE. Him deciding again to try to re litigate it, no matter how “uncontroversial” his comments may be, is just fucking dumb now. Just say “No comment” and call it a day.

We all know these maniacs are dumb and not innocent at all. It is nice to hear a side of the story from a participant, biased or not, imo. The glass spot, I didn’t know it was about a car, I thought it was a pane or some shit. Being against it was less about safety and more about not looking like an asshole

after months of rumors, outright lies, mocking him on tv, a fucking victory lap around the ring on collision, and basically just straight up hoe ass bitch made behavior from the other side of this dispute

he's now run afoul of something by openly speaking his truth on the record?

sheesh

Also, need I remind everyone that Phil is currently under the employment of a company that engaged in such bitch-made behavior as:

1. Almost killing him due to shotty medical care (by his own account)

2. Firing on his wedding day (a move orchestrated by Punk's current best friend and Chief Content Officer for the company)

3. Suing him for over $1 million

But somehow Phil moved past all that and is collecting checks and is complaining about what happened.

But now we're supposed to act like doing a victory lap on Collison is beyond that pale? Okay.

nobody who has ever done any of what i described has ever had the balls to go in front of a camera on record and said what they had to say.

>Also, need I remind everyone that Phil is currently under the
>employment of a company that engaged in such bitch-made
>behavior as:
>1. Almost killing him due to shotty medical care (by his own
>account)
>2. Firing on his wedding day (a move orchestrated by Punk's
>current best friend and Chief Content Officer for the
>company)
>3. Suing him for over $1 million
>
>But somehow Phil moved past all that and is collecting checks
>and is complaining about what happened.

i dont understand what any of that is supposed to mean. the company has been sold and undergone new management and corporate reorganization. what grand hypocrisy are you meaning to expose?

>But now we're supposed to act like doing a victory lap on
>Collison is beyond that pale? Okay.

what pale? lol

how are those things parallel in any way?

>Obviously, he makes himself sound way more calm than he
>probably was, but his assessment of a total lack of
>control/authority from the top in AEW seems to track.

He's a wild case study for human behavior. His own stuff is wild of course, but seeing people react to him saying things that are, for the most part, nowhere near new info is so crazy. With many, when people are married to a stance in 2024, you can fuggin forget about it.

And of course, he isn't gonna say he choked the shit out of Perry and threw a monitor at TK! But I think most of us assumed that's how it went! 'I choked him a little' is adorably underselling what almost certainly happened. But he said it with tongue all up in cheek so whatever.

The big hole is still Brawl Out of course. We may never ever ever have any reasonable version of that story on our files. I'm guessing there's absolutely no heroes from that shit btw. AKA I've always assuming everyone in that room did shit they shouldn't have done the way they did it.

Either way, his run at AEW was obviously a great time for our eyeballs until it wasn't. And really, it seems clear that TK meant well with trying to keep it going but he failed to do the thing he had to do: make mfers get in a room again and do whatever they were gonna do. And duh, we all had our doubts on the separate rosters thing. And here we are. And he's already printed hella money for WWE so hey.

"i choked him a little" was a little bit extra, but tbh i prefer my pro wrestlers as the kind of people who would think thats an appropriate way to settle disputes amongst themselves

But it was a lot of confirmation of things we already knew for the most part. And now the Bucks have some things that they can sarcastically sneak in during dark match time.

I guess the only new info was the breakdown of what happened to set up the “worker’s rights” promo and when exactly he decided to go scorched earth at All Out.

Also Nick Khan comes out of this like an absolute G.

reports at the time were that after jack perry, but before samoa joe, punk was yelling that he quit

he said the same thing in this interview

why would Tony Khan go on national TV and tell everyone he was voluntarily waiving Punk's non-compete, if he had one? you can keep someone from going to a competitor if he quits, you cant if you fire him like that.

Why not change it on the fly and tell Joe to Victory Road him if he doesn't play business? I get Tony might not be smartened up enough to suggest that but like Hero or Jerry Lynn certainly could.

As I keep on saying, everyone involved needs to move the fuck on from this.

I don’t even understand the point of showing the Punk footage on Dynamite. I don’t care if it’s nominally in service of trying to further an angle for the FTR vs. Bucks rematch. You’re trying to make a wrestler who doesn’t even work for the company anymore look bad, but you’re having it “shown” by the guys you’re trying to position as the most obnoxious heels on the roster? Like, what type of reaction are you looking for? Are the fans supposed to hate the Bucks even more? Or, again, turn on someone who hasn’t been there for 9 months?

This is the type of dumb shit that either of the Vince’s or Bischoff would book during the 1998 attitude era. No one looks good here.

WWE going full bore into a new era w/ new stars and great production and AEW still living in last year

...during the lead-up to what was supposed to be their biggest even of all time. AEW should have just let that speak for itself.

As for WWE's great productions, did you watch last night? The PLE's have been mid for about a year now. Again, something that they could have let speak for itself.

This... is just dumb.

https://x.com/julianwks/status/1776224966650069447?s=46

nm

I have always wondered how Melo would transition to the main show given he is a mid-size guy but after seeing how he has carried this feud in and out of the ring I can see him really thriving on the main roster.

Trick just needs a little more time in the oven but he is coming along quite nicely.

Can't front...Buddy Murphy is a lucky dude lol

dude the final boss fr. emphasis on boss

>dude the final boss fr. emphasis on boss

I'm a sucker for heel heat tomfoolery like this.

He was walking around with that belt right next to Roman with NO sense of irony or shame. Mix that with the Mama Rhodes belt being ~ the most Rock thing ever and I had a great time with all of it.

It all helped make Roman's title reign loss as special as it needed to be considering how long he survived.

And again, those mfers have a guy who they like as THE GUY being the one to get the win. These are the things people say they want when we don't have it. And now, we get to sit our azzes here when it is happening. GOOD TIMES.

And so many pictures I've seen from Mania fall into 'imagine trying to explain this shit to someone back in 2019'. IE: There's a picture with LA Knight, CM Punk, Randy Orton, and Triple Haitch all cheesing like crazy. And they're all looking at Cody celebrate with his family. BONKERS!

Which is disappointing, because Night 1 last year was an all-timer.

Overall, very little was egregiously bad. Just a lot of it was blah.

Started off well enough with the Women's title match. Tag team ladder match had some cool spots and brilliant/hilarious moments. R-Truth continues to be a treasure, and him and Miz winning the Raw titles was my favorite feel good moment of the night. The LWO vs. Lega match start off good (loved the double cross body spot) but I lost interest as it went along. The Usos match was the worst of the night. The Women's tag match was entertaining enough and I was happy that Jade got the pin.

Sami vs. Gunther was the match of the night, though I probably wasn't as into it as most. As Rocky tributes go, it was indeed entertaining. Anyway, it's time to move Gunther on to the World Title picture, and it sets up Zayn vs. Gable well.

As for the main event... it was definitely blah. It did get better as it went along, and started to really pick up after they went out of the ring, and some of the near falls near the end worked well. But the Rock was definitely rusty and operating at 1/2 to 2/3 speed. The ending was the right one, as both Cody and Seth need to operate at a disadvantage, and it even further sets up Cody vs. Rock at like Summerslan. But I just wasn't that entertained as whole.

Truthfully, there was a lot of wasted time on the card. Way too many ads. A few useless promos. And, man, the entrances went waaaaaaaaay too long. You could have had a whole other match in the time that the spent on the entrances and intros for the main event.

And are they still having issues micing the crowd? Or was it weirdly silent/dead at times? I really couldn't tell.

So, hoping tomorrow night is better. And that they stick the landing.

The Usos, god bless em for the last few years…but they should be embarrassed. They derailed the night.

A lot of filler tonight in my opinion…and you can do filler if there’s surprising wild stuff that happens, but like that Jade/Naomi/Bianca match was filler and nothing special happened

Sami/Gunther ended well. It’s going to be lauded, but honestly it was like 10 minutes of chops before the action really picked up.

I thought Rock was really fun with what he was asked to do. Taking the Rock Bottom through the table is wild. Gotta say , the Reigns spear to Rock and the double pedigrees WAS pretty thrilling. I would’ve liked more back and forth between Rock and “Mama Rhodes” though after weeks of all that shit talking.

I think there’s something to the environment in general contributing to a lackluster crowd. The best 2 manias of the last 10 years was Levi Stadium and Sofi Stadium. Both shows started in warm sunshine, and also the booking was on point in both cases. Compare those shows to tonight - uneven booking in a cold outdoor stadium, yea I see how you get a dud audience.

Anyway, as for tomorrow I think KO/Logan/Randy will be awesome and Cody v “Bloodline Rules” should be a movie. Hope they can do something special tomorrow.

I imagine that when WWE booked this show over a year ago, they figured it would be the beginning of spring and hadn’t considered that the whole country would be going through an unseasonably cold week. Gotta love climate change.

I think the Rock brought good energy overall, and definitely did some cool shot, but just couldn’t shake the ring rust. Which is what most people have been anticipating for months now. And I agree that the match could have used more Rock/Cody interaction given he build-up, but I think we’ll get more of it at least tomorrow and even more moving forward through 2024.

Most WWE shows are paced in a way to give the crowd chances to reset/rest/come down from matches. If the weather is right and everyone is clicking, that shit plays pretty well live even if it isn’t always great from the crib. And really, if shit is obviously going well, I find some of the breaks to work well at home.

BUT

The number of ads on Peacock Premium is unreal. Most of us are not watching content in a way where we can’t avoid ads somehow. I know I’m a ‘DVR and watch it later with my hand on the ffwd button’ type myself. So I don’t see many commercials unless it’s a lady on there I wanna see! Hehe

AND

When you fuck around and the weather isn’t great AND you have special circumstances like 3 of the 4 dudes in the main event of night one are wrestling again in night 2 AND the 4th guy is a movie star for real who has to go film a flick in a month, you know people were generally on ‘mfers, take your time and don’t get anyone hurt in this SOB. We got 70k more in this building tmrw!’. And I could feel that through the show in spots and certainly in the main event.

I don’t blame em. Losing Punk and almost losing Rollins for Mania had to suck. And really, they were counting on the heat they built with the good azz storytelling they’ve been doing. That makes sense for sure. But the weather fucked them just enough to throw off the crowd. And clearly some of the rasslers weren’t right either.

And I love Rhea and The Man, but that wasn’t the right type of match to have for the opener. You gotta get in, hit some hard shit, and get outta there. Instead, they had a main event at the beginning and they helped burn out a physically cold crowd.

The one fucking shame of the night was Jimmy and Jey. I’m always concerned that Jimmy isn’t in great shape but the whole match was off. It’s like once they knew they weren’t getting the opener or the main event, they fell off with their training or something. Or again, maybe it was just fucking cold and not everyone has ways to figure shit out in the back beforehand in that situation. And if you just happen to be out there when the wind starts whipping and the crowd is like ‘fuuuuuuck, it’s kinda cold out here! Where’s The Rock at?’, I could see it being hard to get/stay right.

Unless you’re a pros pro like Sami and Gunther. That match was nerdy goodness that will age very well in isolation like lots of good azz matches do. Sami breaking out that Brainbustahhhhhhh was set up amazingly well and that move is basically a Burning Hammer to anyone who has seen him hit it as Genérico. That shit got me in the feels for real. And trust me…I thought Sami had NO CHANCE. But doing that move was the ultimate respect to Gunther killer title run and now The Ring General is free and clear to show up after mania sometime and kick Cody all in his ass. It’s gonna jam.

Night 2 main event is gonna be a nwo and 80s NWA love letter for the ages. I’m amped. I think we’re about to see a chaotic shitshow in a good way and Cody’s gonna pull this thing out of his ass. And the undercard looks really nice too.

>I imagine that when WWE booked this show over a year ago,
>they figured it would be the beginning of spring and hadn’t
>considered that the whole country would be going through an
>unseasonably cold week. Gotta love climate change.
>
>I think the Rock brought good energy overall, and definitely
>did some cool shot, but just couldn’t shake the ring rust.
>Which is what most people have been anticipating for months
>now. And I agree that the match could have used more Rock/Cody
>interaction given he build-up, but I think we’ll get more of
>it at least tomorrow and even more moving forward through
>2024.

I watched from my cozy couch in HD TV and my six-pack cost $12

would I have been hype to watch Jey v Jimmy in a down coat and beanie drinking a $15 tall boy? You nailed it...I'd have been standing there like "when's Rock?"

If they weren’t aware it would be kinda cold as soon as the sun goes down, lol.

What about the wrestlers out there in tights in 50 degrees? They gotta be cold as shit!

>The Usos, god bless em for the last few years…but they
>should be embarrassed. They derailed the night.

-Rhea/Becky was cool. It was a decent opener, but not the burner I think a lot of us thought they could do. I’ll just attribute that to Becky’s illness, but who knows. The build wasn’t exactly spectacular though, so there’s that.

I had Rhea going over.

-The tag match was the mediocre train wreck I expected it to be. There was some cool spots I didn’t care about anyone in the match. The best thing about this for me was that I figured Waller/Theory would get one and Awesome Truth would get the other, and that put me at 3-3 for my picks.

Bate and Dunne managed to make that incredibly stupid “hey let’s let everyone crowd together and have someone dive onto them” spots interesting.

Actually, I was glad DIY didn’t win, because when they do it needs to be an emotionally charged victory capped off by stereo submissions, not pulling a belt down.

-The Mysterio tag was cool. Again, a few cool spots and they managed to make a tired trope interesting with the Mysterio/Andrade crossbody. I wasn’t invested at all but it was cool. Zelina continues to make me envious of Malachi Black though, goddamn is she a sight to behold.

-Jade’s debut was what I expected, outcome and all. It was a whatever match though. She oozes starpower but is still very mechanical. Can’t wait to see how she grows though.

I expect Bianca to get back to a title match next year, probably with Rhea- if they’re smart. She’s got GOAT potential and needs to get back to that path.

-Sami and Gunther was very good but would have been great if they didn’t spend so much time on stupid Chop Wars. I had Sami for the win and I love that he got the honor of dethroning Gunther. It also makes this last year of his career much more satisfying. It also makes me think KO takes the US title tonight.

-Jey and Jimmy stunk up the joint. That was horrendous. I’m sure someone will say it wasn’t that bad, but it was. It was as awful as the build.

The main event mostly delivered, but I was disappointed that Mama Rhodes didn’t slap the shit out of Rock. I fully expected that moment, but maybe we get it tonight with Bloodline Rules.

The finish blew my theory out of the water and ruined what had been a perfect night of predictions for me. Rock turned it way up after his early pandering, and it’s worked perfectly.

This absolutely wasn’t the plan but as far as happy accidents go, this has been one for the ages and has helped elevate Cody in a big way- as long as he fucking wind tonight.

If he loses, he’ll be “fine” it will create a glass ceiling he’ll never break. They could elevate him tonight in a big way, cementing him as a seriously credible top guy. If he loses, even if he wins down the road, he’ll always be seen as a notch below at best.

But everyone is this match pulled their weight, except for Cody’s hilariously pathetic Pedigree. I hope Paul ribbed him after that one. Cody and Seth got a lot of offense in and looked strong in the process, with Rock pulling rank and sabotaging things. A lot of story was told with Seth. They accomplished a lot with this in setting up tonight, and I’m betting they play with that sort of dynamic a bit more in future Manias as a result.

just business, pal!

im still cracking the fuck up they pulled that one out of a hat

i think he got a lil too mouthy for Randy's taste

night 2 was a massive upgrade on night 1

great stuff, despite having more commercials than Raw

Would’ve preferred Austin instead of Taker but that’s really the only nitpick.

There’s something really charming about a dozen babyfaces lifting up a guy on their shoulders, good clean wholesome fun.

From start to finish, this shit wasn’t even close.

Sami and the main event were the only matches that compete with tonight.

It started with a bang and every match was excellent.

My one gripe is that I would have preferred Cody’s friends on the current roster come out to help- Sami, KO, Randy, instead Cena and Taker.

It’s relatively minor and didn’t detract from the make, but i think that would have made for better storytelling that made more sense.

That they showed up after his victory still made for a beautiful moment.

As a pure wrestling match without smoke and mirrors or gimmick stipulations, Bayley and Iyo hit a home run tonight. They killed that shit.

The US title match was fantastic, though I think KO was the better choice for the win.

AJ and LAK tore it down. They kept a breakneck pace throughout and that shit felt like a fight.

The Drew/Seth match was fantastic in it’s entirety, counting Punk and the Priest cash in.

In terms of consistency of match quality and maximizing everyone’s role, tonight was one of the best Mania’s I can remember. Everything hit at a pretty high level.

Even the Lashley/Kross six man had great, gratifying moments.

This was an excellent show and immediately one of my favorites, right there with 17.

it was the mirror of last year's Mania where Night 1 was the hot, happy show.

For being the linchpins of a heel-ass group, people LOVE them some Terror Twins. The shot of Punk as Priest's music hit was just beautiful and they got the table set for a barnburner in Lyon if the triceps is right. Glad that Drew got his win in a full stadium, even more glad that Priest has the belt now.

I agree with you on LP, but you had to have one dip in the generally happy show- seriously, the number of babyfaces winning throughout the weekend was impressive for a WWE show. And they had their big Sami/KO hug in the ring last year. And the pop-up RKO was a pretty badass way to go out.

I think next year when Montez Ford is fighting for the IC or US belt, we can look at him vaulting the damn ring post as the start of that. That was a fun little match, and Snoop commenting on it like a fan added to the general chaos of the match (even though AOP seemed to teleport to the forgotten zone for the end).

AJ/LA was a good, old-school FIGHT. If it weren't for Becky wanting to kick the show off, that would have been a good show-starter on Saturday.

Bayley/Iyo was great. Awesome back and forth match, great counters to each other's best shots.

I LOVED that they kept the Cody/Roman match pretty even-up with limited interference until the final third, and then that final third was note-perfect. Yeah, Cody's Wargames team would have been nice, but Jey neutralizing Jimmy, Cena taking out Solo, then Rocky taking out Cena only to get got by the real Mania Final Boss all made sense and flowed nicely into each other. And Seth being the reason Roman lost focus - man, that was the exclamation point.

Special note to Roman's shit-talking in-ring. That whole bit after he tried out the Cross Rhodes was brilliant. I laughed quite a bit at that.

I won’t be shocked if they morph into a cool babyface faction by Summer Slam.

I always saw big things from Rhea but this JD incarnation far surpassed my expectations. Along with Bianca, she’s on a GOAT tier path and she’s still early in her career. She has a natural gravity that is difficult to match. She’s the brightest star of this group and they all owe her a debt, because she elevated them in a big way.

And the on-screen dynamic between her and Priest combined with the real life bond they’ve all developed in real life has given JD legs it didn’t seem to have once the seemingly inexplicable Edge turn happened. Priest is the right guy to elevate right now alongside Drew’s recent character tweaks.

Looking at that match in it’s entirety, that was arguably the best executed cash-in they’ve ever done. Dolph’s was an incredible moment, but the psychology leading up to and in the moment was a cinematic masterclass that told multiple stories, closing one chapter and adding several new ones, all compelling, in one moment.

And that was just the opening of the show.

The US match was fantastic and I’m def nitpicking LP as the chosen winner. It was an incredibly fun match so i have no real complaints. And to your point about Montez, I think a program with Logan could be fantastic from a match quality standpoint.

And agreed on AJ/LA, it felt like they went out there with the intent of making everyone else have to rise to their level. The pacing is what stood out to me, because there was no wait for him to hit his move” nonsense. The whole thing was, “fuck you, get this work”.

Bayley and Iyo eclipsed Rhea/Charlotte IMO, and I think the last women’s title match on that level was Bianca/Sasha.

I do hear you on the logic behind the Taker spot and didn’t consider that he’s the “real” final boss. I still would have preferred Cody’s people, but it’s a nitpick. My only gripe with the Seth moment was the camera botch.

And with Cody as the The Guy now?

WWE has an embarrassment of riches. Tonight has serious potential to be the best of the “night after Mania” Raw shows.

Like, dude was in the Ziggler Zone of being good enough to be the champion but nobody believed that shit could happen. The second he lost in the Cell as the Demon, his shit was just trashed.

He hasn't been that on since the Cesaro match.

>

I'm crediting KO and Sami for this without knowing a damn thing about how Roman became such a master of in-match promo'ing.

Whoever put this into existence is wonderful. I love it all basically every single time. And Roman was spittin last night fo sho!

Vince had spent the better part of two decades building stars by playing of their natural, genuine selves, and then his brilliant plan with Roman was to make him a fucking cartoon character.

I said it at the time and it’s still true today, Roman just oozes that Big Homie, will fuck foos up for fun energy. Heyman’s presence allowed him into center it and amplify the signal, but anyone with a brain saw this gear in him.

The fact that Vince actively tried to kill that latent greatness in favor of a cheesy cartoon hero is a story in and of itself.

>Vince had spent the better part of two decades building stars
>by playing of their natural, genuine selves, and then his
>brilliant plan with Roman was to make him a fucking cartoon
>character.
>
>I said it at the time and it’s still true today, Roman just
>oozes that Big Homie, will fuck foos up for fun energy.
>Heyman’s presence allowed him into center it and amplify the
>signal, but anyone with a brain saw this gear in him.
>
>The fact that Vince actively tried to kill that latent
>greatness in favor of a cheesy cartoon hero is a story in and
>of itself.

On one hand, we're some lucky MFers that someone somewhere kept thinking 'this dude is awesome..we gotta try something else'. On the other? Fucking right, Vince is a jackass for some of the shit he was forcing dude to try! It is wild to hear Roman say out loud 'hey, I didn't have enough money to just quit' on that A&E show. AKA shit was bad for him too! And he was THE dude from the Shield. Rollins was the king shit worker so he was gonna make it somehow regardless. Ambrose leaving altogether once he could makes soooooooooo much sense considering everything. Side: on old Moxley, the hate has gone too far even if I don't always love what he's trying to do (rich hardcore indy karate tough dude who BE bleeding). But hey, he has saved AEW's azz on a multitude of occasions and I didn't know he had that in him tbh.

Tribal Chief is a HoF run by itself obviously. Considering all he did to get to it, that run is even more special!

Just wow..the face-making, the figuring out a way to get his cousins over as separate humans, Heyman, the somehow both great and weird collection of matches with Brock, the promos, the angst with wanting him to finally lose at some point, etcetera. And even with never losing, he made a lot of people look good. Hell, if nothing else, I LOVE THIS DUDE FOR WHAT HE DID FOR MOTHERFUCKING SAMI ZAYN. They did each other major favors no lie, but really: imagine telling someone the night after Mania 38 that the wrestling nerd who lost to Jackass in a comedy match was gonna main event night 1 of Mania 39 with his best friend, be a prime candidate to end Roman's reign, AND get to end Gunther's historic reign in a shocker after breaking out his indy mega finisher? Imagine that!? Or don't, cuz it just happened! Unreal.

And we still have something to do with him and Rock before they both take it to the house. I think they still want to do it and it would print money. The promos would kill and the match would be another wild affair to dress up the fact that Rock is too old to be doing Omega/Ospreay. Hell, Omega is damn near too old to be doing Omega/Ospreay!

Bayley and Iyo was obviously excellent. Good to see Bayley get the big win, and I appreciated all the Bay Area shout outs; I spent many a day at the Rosicrucian museum in SJ during my youth.

The main event did exactly what it needed to do. As a match, it wasn’t that good (mostly due to the plodding beginning), but it was really all about the sports entertainment run ins and the ending. And yes, the celebration at the end was emotional and overall awesome.

I’ll catch the rest later.

The weather cooperated. And the roster all got their feet on the ground for Night 2.

When you have a well-booked night planned that leads to a conclusion that got set up well as hell AND people seem to be on-board with what is planned, you get gorgeously good shit like last night. Everything worked for the most part. It felt like 4 hours of supreme pros pro'ing.

MFers showed up to that main event like they were trying to do right by Roman, Heyman, Cody, Dusty, Afa, Haitch, fine ass Brandi, Mama Rhodes, and errbody else you can think of.

Thanks to Roman for not pulling any bullshit. He came out and did a killer job of working his ass off, making Cody look good af, and going out flat and dead with no concept of trying to sneak in some shenanigans to 'protect himself'. Big respect. I lived through Starrcade 97, mfers! Also, there's TNA in general and several other 'main dudes not doing the job straight up when it was their time to do it' situations that I can remember vividly til this day!

Night one was the setup for Night two so parts of that show got 'sacrificed' in a way. But shiiiiid, starting from Gunther and Sami and going through to Cody in the ring celebrating with an insane group of humans, Mania 40 was a Mania for yo azz.

Haitch generally understands how rasslin works when it works so I'm USUALLY gonna trust him to get the base right. And WWE's staff is filled with people who also somewhat clearly 'get it'. Last night felt like a good azz NXT show with more resources. And I mean that in the most positive of ways cuz the best NXT stuff is ~ my favorite rasslin over the last 15 years.

And yeah, it seems somewhat clear that people were tired of having to try to make it through Vince and Dunn to get to a good show/match/whatever. They're openly talking like they're 'free' from something. Sure, they get that Vince was necessary at some point but him being gone now seems like a no-brainer when shows like these go down.

And I have the nerve to assume tonight will be fun too. We'll see! My main guess is that Cody gets chopped into bits by Gunther sometime soon here. But Jacob Fatu could also come in and get an immediate blessed spot. Of course, whoever Cody fights first ain't winning!

>They're saying the number again! Take that, Vince..you ole
>nasty mfer!
>
>Let's see:
>
>- Vince is bigtime gone. Who knows how wild the deets go and
>what % of it we will ever 'know'. What we 'know' is plenty
>wild enough! You have to figure at least a few more people
>might end up gone too. We'll see.
>- Brock is at least temporarily gone too.
>- Kevin Dunn is gone and now the camera work can finally
>attempt to evolve at least a little. Ain't that nice!? Its
>nice!
>- Cody inches closer to finishing his story. And they're going
>to make him earn the shit out it.
>- THE ROCK AND ROMAN REIGNS are together now? NICE.
>- Rollins is hurt but will make Mania allegedly. He's gonna be
>fine and I'm not worried. He's dope, they love him, and he's
>EXCELLENT when he has anything coherent to do.
>- Big E is still out.
>- Punk is out. BOO. But he can still instigate!
>- Charlotte out but she's a damn hoss so she'll be back.
>- Randy and AJ are back! Whooo! Now, what in the eff are they
>gonna do!?
>- Stone Cold is being coy about doing another match. I WANT
>IT. His match with KO was gorgeously simple and fun but it
>still felt 'complete'. Pros wer Pro'ing.
>- Whoop That Trick (YEAH!) = one of my favorite things in
>rasslin right now. And Williams himself is good too. He's
>gonna kick all up in Carmelo's ass and its gonna be GREAT for
>both of them. Yes, he's my replacement Velveteen Dream. No, I
>don't feel guilty about it.
>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
>- WALTER Gunther is still out here beating people tf up and I
>love it.
>
>- TNA is 'back' but they already have shenanigans with the
>Scott D'Amore. Seems rotten but who knows..its TNA.
>
>AEW is sneaking around trying to be good at certain things but
>they're cold, so many people are 'done' with giving them a
>chance. Still:
>
>- Swerve and Hangman are doing good work.
>- Smo'a Joe...same thing. He's a fun champ even if he's almost
>certainly not gonna be a long-term champ.
>- Prince Nana's multi-purpose dance antics might be my
>favorite non-'jimaveli is in love with like 20 women
>wrestlers' thing going.
>- On that woman thing, Broken Toni Storm works on me ~ every
>single time. She's ridiculous, funny, and a good rassler.
>She's dropping some A+ promo work vs opponents and the random
>obscure sexual stuff she's 'sneaking in' is a hilarious touch.
>She's blowing up announcers almost weekly! History will be
>kind to this run for sure.
>- The Bucks are fun but late af with this jerk heel run.
>They're gonna cheat their azzes off to beat/retire Sting fo
>sho. But Darby will be there to dive at them really hard and
>I'll like that.
>- Dalton Castle trying to get to Johnny is also great times.
>- Sasha is gonna be fun but I wish she was headed back to WWE
>to print money with Bayley for the summer.
>- Okada might be better off in AEW FIRST but I still want him
>in WWE at some point. Rainmaker pose tshirts would be easy
>munny for WWE.
>- Ospreay is a wonderful rassler. I hope he stays healthy.
>He's done a great job of 'getting big enough' for the spots
>he's gonna be in. Add him to the 'he'd be big fun in WWE at
>some point' list too.
>
>I hope like hell that AEW forces a title onto Danielson at
>some point before he's done as a 'full-time act'.
>
>Besides that, MJF has been shutting all the way the fuck up in
>a corner somewhere, Adam Cole is still not right and it is
>killing his new group, and Kenny Omega did good to go the
>doctor when he did or he might've died. Whew! And
>Ibushi...gees dude...sit your goofy azz down somewhere! And
>take Jeff Hardy with you!

Just for the reason you said in which at least his first 4 opponents should be a no brainer for eating pins. He shouldn't start to feel a legit threat until Survivor Series. I know he has to be the face and fight from underneath but it shouldn't feel he's going to lose the belt until then. I'd like to see Gunther win RR and face Cody at Mania 41 and WWE can then play up the classic USA babyface vs the menacing foreign badass heel. I think Trips can take a classic trope like that and give it a fresh spin.

>Just for the reason you said in which at least his first 4
>opponents should be a no brainer for eating pins. He shouldn't
>start to feel a legit threat until Survivor Series. I know he
>has to be the face and fight from underneath but it shouldn't
>feel he's going to lose the belt until then. I'd like to see
>Gunther win RR and face Cody at Mania 41 and WWE can then play
>up the classic USA babyface vs the menacing foreign badass
>heel. I think Trips can take a classic trope like that and
>give it a fresh spin.

That sounds good! I'll take it! And Haitch loves Gunther so I'm guessing they'll do right by him.

Jacob Fatu sounds like a good one for post-Mania sometime even if its not immediately (he'll be too busy being Rock's muscle).

They COULD do the borderline inevitable Randy Orton thing right out of the gate too. That or Kevin Owens would work.

AKA the roster is grand and Cody has options. He's going to have a decent amount of goodwill to start too I'm guessing.

I AM wondering how they take Roman out. I'm assuming its gonna be really good tho. They straight up made WWE Avengers to finally make Roman lose the title so I'm thinking they'll want to give someone a boost by fridging Roman. IE: he might come out to get acknowledged one more time, everything is cool and then someone comes out and attacks him on the entrance way.

>Jacob Fatu sounds like a good one for post-Mania sometime even
>if its not immediately (he'll be too busy being Rock's
>muscle).
>
This would be good. Rock leaning more into the Board of Directors position post Bloodline would be a good transition.


>They COULD do the borderline inevitable Randy Orton thing
>right out of the gate too. That or Kevin Owens would work.
>

Owens might be the first because I think Owens is still at the level he can eat a pin and not lose a lot of steam. Orton should be the first to feel like the legit threat to Cody because of the history. That would be a good angle to take two PLEs to use.


>AKA the roster is grand and Cody has options. He's going to
>have a decent amount of goodwill to start too I'm guessing.
>

Lashley, Styles, Knight, Orton, Owens, Rey, and Paul would all be great. The draft should be coming up soon and I hope they'd keep Styles and bring over Finn (Bullet Club), Orton, Knight, and Paul on the Blue Brand. I'd be all in on those stories.


>I AM wondering how they take Roman out. I'm assuming its gonna
>be really good tho. They straight up made WWE Avengers to
>finally make Roman lose the title so I'm thinking they'll want
>to give someone a boost by fridging Roman. IE: he might come
>out to get acknowledged one more time, everything is cool and
>then someone comes out and attacks him on the entrance way.

Fatu? Solo, by orders of Rock due to the spear on night one? I'd be interested how they do that as well.

He was HEATED at Roman to finish Cody off. I thought for a hot second he was going to spike Roman out of frustration when he couldn't put Cody away before Cena came out to take him out.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/report-cody-rhodes-sold-over-211000681.html

40 is officially the GOAT, at least based on the numbers:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/wwe-touts-wrestlemania-40-most-184332696.html

They earned every last dollar and viewer, especially the night 2 roster. They put in serious work in Sunday.

This is an amazing time to be a fan, even if the weekly shows are uneven.

And he wasn't *that* much different from how he is now in WWE. But it's testament to how giving someone stakes gets the crowd to buy in. In AEW he was so loath to give himself the top honors that he ended up putting a ceiling on his capabilities. Shit, he almost got Codyversed here- but you build a dude's capabilities, you get the right injury at the right time (because let's be honest, that HIAC match with Seth was MADE by Cody's pec tear, much like Face Hunter was made by the quad tear and even to an extent Face Austin was made by his neck injury), and then you have him conquer ONE unbeatable monster on his way to the big payday and the MOST unbeatable monster, and baby you got a stew going.

this is not the same show, and the late career reinvention of Michael Cole into a real live sports announcer is driving the wagon

MAN.

They are doing a great job experimenting with different ways of presenting the action, transitioning from one segment to the next, and generally not keeping the production stale and predictable.

One thing about Mania weekend I really appreciated were the pre-match hype videos. This has always been WWE's bread and butter, but something they've avoided going the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" route and it really shows. While the videos have always been great, they were pretty formulaic and the only way to really push them up a notch was the right music choice or a great story with great sound bytes.

But the Mania ones were all unique and felt like they were each done by different production teams as opposed to all being done in the same room, specifically the Usos and Gunther/Sami.

I’ve been stewing on this run all week man. Just a murderous ru. Layers on layers.

looking back on the past 4 years…there’s three decisions in particular that I think radically changed wrestling forever

1) bringing Roman back from COVID as a heel (duh)
2) Cody going through with the HIAC match v Seth with the torn pec
3) Cody losing at WM39

1 is every bit as big as Hogan going nwo or the Austin 3:16 promo, though it admittedly didn’t feel as major at the time.

2 and 3 laid the foundation for an all new underdog Austin-like babyface who would play the perfect foil to the megalomaniac champion

This dude got such a hard on for punk he willing to bury one of his own guys and expose the fact that he himself is an absolute pussy. Because this was not “fear for my life” material at all

Like, McIntyre is going to absolutely KILL on the mic with this.

>This dude got such a hard on for punk he willing to bury one
>of his own guys and expose the fact that he himself is an
>absolute pussy. Because this was not “fear for my life”
>material at all

It was absurdly mild even with us having a few accounts of what happened.

I GUESS they’re framing it via the Bucks being bitches as characters and using it as an ex use for losing to FTR is sneaky good.

BUT

As you mentioned, if TK was actually afraid for real and we for real just saw the worst of what happened, wow. Yes, TK is a bitch fo sho. But more than that, it is impressively foolish for them to basically hand CM Punk to TKO after going out of their way to keep him after whatever allegedly crazy shit happened at Brawl Out.

Ultimately, I think TK lied, Punk for real quit, they worked out the munny part on the low, and TK hollered out ‘fired for cause/scurred for my life’ to try to save face somehow. Aka he’s a dingleberry dumbass dickwad…I’m out of words with ‘d’.

Punk comes out of this looking like the ultimate truth-sayer even if we know he’s not above lying. The Bucks, as per norm, look like shoot punk ass bitches who, at worst, are for real helping TK fuck up a potentially good things. I don’t know where this leaves Kenny. I have told myself that Kenny would’ve worked with Punk and made hella money with it but IDK!

And don’t start me on the fact that CODY GODDAMN RHODES just got through main eventing 3 nights of mania in a row and becoming THE babyface in WWE in the same time and space.Don’t fucking start meeeee!! Hehe

they'll hover around what they are now or get worse, but they'll never sniff a million viewers and 10,000+ seat houses again. Maybe they can draw 10k a few times a year for PPVs.

I don't know if that many people really wanted an "alternative" as much as they just deep down wished WWE was better. And not only did the alternative get worse year over year, but WWE got way better...like best it's been in 25 years better.

>I don't know if that many people really wanted an
>"alternative" as much as they just deep down wished WWE was
>better. And not only did the alternative get worse year over
>year, but WWE got way better...like best it's been in 25 years
>better.
>
>

We can look forward to Bruv main eventing Mania in 5 years.

>We can look forward to Bruv main eventing Mania in 5 years.

Jay White could do well for himself too.

Okada and not really even Sasha would've made a difference, but you can see the vision with Ospreay. WWE is getting more global by the month and he has it all

longer matches dont make an alternative

not presenting it as a stage show with bad actors would have been an alternative, but now WWE is turning into its own alternative from 6-7 years ago and AEW has become a haven of fake sports entertainment bullshit.

that Hunter ended up driving the E to.

i could see HHH sneaking downstairs to watch Collision like a fan when everyone else was asleep

theres no way he didnt notice the reaction to that first 10-12 episodes

and yes...that was definitely the alternative we all wanted 😭

>that Hunter ended up driving the E to.

Ahhh...early Collision really was a good time. And some people were being allowed/made to look REALLY good.

They had me all in on Starks again for instance.

I don’t know who (def not the Elite lol), but it’s very clear he’s not cut out for this and he hasn’t shown any improvement. Can’t imagine what it would be like to work in Legal or PR over there. I’m sure everyone with half a brain told him this was a bad idea and he didn’t listen.

I knew this was gonna be some bullshit because every time he goes out of his way to defend AEW’s honor or respond to a criticism, he ends up embarrassing himself. This is the worst one yet, which is saying something. Remember the Big Swole thing? That was a million years ago and he’s still that dumb. It’s baffling.

not just of wrestling (bc pro fighters getting "fired" for that happens all the time right?), but also of how we got here with a whole generation of fans, including TK, not understanding what pro wrestling is on a fundamental level.

modern fans, particularly the ones most obsessed with it, seem to approach it with the idea that since everyone knows its a work, then everyone is free to do whatever silly nonsense they want "because its just wrestling and its supposed to be silly". For one thing that means its not a work anymore and thusly not actually pro wrestling. But for another that seems to come along with the idea that people look at pro wrestlers and see struggling artists trying to make it big. thusly Jack Perry getting knocked around is an injustice, and now people will see Punk for what he is.

no.

people look at pro wrestlers and see pro wrestlers. now normal people can watch this clip of someone getting fired for less physicality than they portray on television and say "they fired him for that?". they didnt show a huge asshole being an asshole, they showed a pussy being a pussy. even if they did show a huge asshole being a huge asshole, thats not what people will see.

TW is right to a point. Its possible that AEW is too cold for this to reach many people, but if this gets traction AEW is done. He can keep pouring money into it, but itll just be for funsies.

The story Punk told to Ariel Helwani is exactly what plays out in the video. So then it really is like “what’s the agenda here?” For the life of me I cannot stretch to arrive at ANY positive outcome for AEW in this.

- Jack Perry is not a star

- they fired Punk, their only bonafide global superstar

- Punk is evidently telling the truth

- their one-time ratings grab tactic looks cheap (and especially desperate on the heels of an all timer Mania)

- “feared for my life”

For a month Rock’s been gloating about making wrestling “cool again”…I watch this whole debacle and think nah WWE is cool again, this AEW shit is for pimply virgins

all the opacity around this and Brawl Out, and the only bit of truth they put out is one confirming what Punk had to say

really puts the Brawl Out NDAs in a whole new light

But reading comments saying this proves Punk is a liar probably answers that. Reality left the chat sometime around March 2020.

"Punk approached him!" "He shoved him COMPLETELY unprovoked!" "OMG HE LUNGED AT TONY!"

No, he was at Gorilla waiting to go on. They were jaw-jacking with each other. Punk clearly looks at Tony before he starts shit, and then after the scuffle he points at Tony. The poor dear.

Is that Perry did that spot on a PRE-SHOW match. Like, if you were on the card, sure, do the big shit in front of the giant crowd. But people are filing in AND there was a ticketing issue where it took people a WHILE to get in. And you're gonna do a car bump to largely silence? Come riiiiiiiiiight the fuck on man.

lotta modern wrestler right there with them

Just a ratings ploy with the hopes of adding heat to the Young Bucks/FTR match. And there are much, much better ways to build heat (like the team's in ring history) that don't involve invoking the name of someone who doesn't work there anymore. And they successfully got the crowd to chant for Phil instead of FTR, so, hey, there's always that! I hope they at least got the ratings bump and never speak of it again.

I will say that anyone comparing AEW to WCW 2000 obviously never watched WCW in the year 2000. No only did it have all the Russo inside baseball bullshit, but the wrestling, matches, and PPVs were all awful. In contrast, on this show, Copeland vs. Penta was awesome, and the stuff where the wrestlers actually addressed wrestlers they were feuding with worked. There are also at least 3 or 4 matches that I'm very much looking forward to at the PLE. Just move on from Punk and stop booking to the dumb ass online tribalists.

Now let us never speak of this again.

>In contrast, on this show, Copeland vs. Penta was awesome, and the stuff where the wrestlers actually addressed wrestlers they were feuding with worked. There are also at least 3 or 4 matches that I'm very much looking forward to at the PLE.<

also actually had a lot of fast paced athletic matches that people can still watch today and appreciate.

there are a lot more similarities than you seem willing to acknowledge.

...TV show. And those matches were five-minute afterthoughts, almost completely ignored in favor of the "New Version of the NWO"/"Who's the commissioner" angles that ran all through WCW 2000. In contrast, the Copeland vs. Penta and Osprey vs. Fletcher/Takeshita/Hobbs (pick one or any) are given a shit ton of air-time and hype.

And whatever anyone might think of the Bucks, they have an established track record of having great matches with FTR. I don't expect this one to be any different. You give me a choice between goofy build-up/great PLE match and great build-up/lackluster PPV match, I'm taking the former every time.

Online people who are screaming that last night was a company killer need to touch grass.

and he was awesome.

...to turn him into a legit big star/mega-heel. He was excellent in his role, but was saddled having to deal with General Hugh G. Rection.

Stupid decision = "Horrendous booking" = WCW 2000. Okay.

horrendous booking = horrendous booking, and it didnt start last night

WCW Shane Helms was basically the blueprint for Roddy Strong just with weird drivers instead of backbreakers.

>Just a ratings ploy with the hopes of adding heat to the
>Young Bucks/FTR match. And there are much, much better ways to
>build heat (like the team's in ring history) that don't
>involve invoking the name of someone who doesn't work there
>anymore. And they successfully got the crowd to chant for Phil
>instead of FTR, so, hey, there's always that! I hope they at
>least got the ratings bump and never speak of it again.
>

I hope it leads to a come to Jesus moment for TK. He fucked that the fuck up. Bad decision. Bad execution. Bad to have the Bucks involved at all cuz enough people legit think they're hocakes already. A bunch of people on staff there OBVIOUSLY weren't into either (see Tony S making faces at the desk). As is? It is openly bad. Not Arquette as World Champ bad. Not Jeff Jarrett winning matching HHH-ishly bad. Not NJPW most of your main event roster is retired or gone bad. But still...it was bad. You fired the guy after trying to separate him from like 10 dudes on your roster. And somehow, he 'attacked' one of your pillars in gorilla and scared TK for his life by 'lunging at him' and calling him a clown. Showing that was HORRIBLE for basically everyone they might've been aiming to 'vindicate'. Big fail.

>I will say that anyone comparing AEW to WCW 2000 obviously
>never watched WCW in the year 2000. No only did it have all
>the Russo inside baseball bullshit, but the wrestling,
>matches, and PPVs were all awful. In contrast, on this show,
>Copeland vs. Penta was awesome, and the stuff where the
>wrestlers actually addressed wrestlers they were feuding with
>worked. There are also at least 3 or 4 matches that I'm very
>much looking forward to at the PLE. Just move on from Punk and
>stop booking to the dumb ass online tribalists.

Tha innanet's obsession with comparisons is sad. As a jackass who actually watched a bunch of this stuff with some kind of memory, I'd say I remember WCW being on the verge of unwatchable. And for me, a lifelong lover of watching hella rasslin from at least a few feds at once, that was tough to live through then and say/type now. The constant reboots, insanely bad storylines, shady main events, people getting out of there in droves (my love for Benoit, Malenko, Eddie, and Saturn getting tf outta there even with Benoit being offered the title is HIGH), etcetera. Some of the rasslin WAS still straight up good. Most of the key undercard players were already mentioned. But even at the upper part of the card, people would sneak around and have coherent as hell matches before ignant as hell finishes..aka the WCW.

Can AEW 'fix' it? Yeah. They can. They have the wrestlers. They have to do coherent shows, make some stars (they have potential stars and a few 'starmakers' who have to play ball), DROP THE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE ANYMORE, and resist the urge to do silly stuff (like this footage thing).

>
>Now let us never speak of this again.
>
>

Solo as the Tribal Chief of a more violent Bloodline - to include Tama Tonga and presumably Jonathan Fatu - likely orchestrated by The Rock. Heyman held hostage.

Vs

a reunited Jey+Jimmy, and a MONSTER babyface return from Roman

War Games will be absurd

World class trolling

https://i.imgur.com/U3D3ycq.png

That’s a shame. Hope she’s not out too long?

Finding a silver lining, she should get a monster pop when she returns.

That really makes it extra unfortunate.

The biggest bumps should come in the ring, where they’re trained for it. Don’t get hurt on that other dumb shit, smh.

And she’ll be even bigger than she is now.

of Jey Uso going through the arena to the outside where Sami is waiting there taking it in is great stuff.

After the Bloodline story, it feels VERY 'earned' when Jey and Sami are together doing basically anything good (IE: Jey winning a match and surviving a predictable heel beatdown + Sami about to defend a title in his hometown). Seeing Sami go back the same way Jey came from into the ring was awesome af. Rasslin is fun when people are over more than the movez they do (and trust me, I love me some movez!).

It almost scared me into thinking he wasn't winning. Sami LOVES LOVES LOVES being a tragic/failing hero. But then I saw that his cute wife was there (and maybe his dad too) and I relaxed.

Gable suplexing Sami out of his boots post-match as he's doing the 'I just won, my wife is looking at me like Tessa Virtue looked at her skating partner, and now I'm finna get my luv on!' thing also worked amazingly well on me. And of course, as is well known now, Sami is a king when it comes to taking a beatdown. His poetic exit from The Bloodline, getting fridged by KO in NXT, and other beautiful times in the mask are easy examples to point to.


>They're saying the number again! Take that, Vince..you ole
>nasty mfer!
>
>Let's see:
>
>- Vince is bigtime gone. Who knows how wild the deets go and
>what % of it we will ever 'know'. What we 'know' is plenty
>wild enough! You have to figure at least a few more people
>might end up gone too. We'll see.
>- Brock is at least temporarily gone too.
>- Kevin Dunn is gone and now the camera work can finally
>attempt to evolve at least a little. Ain't that nice!? Its
>nice!
>- Cody inches closer to finishing his story. And they're going
>to make him earn the shit out it.
>- THE ROCK AND ROMAN REIGNS are together now? NICE.
>- Rollins is hurt but will make Mania allegedly. He's gonna be
>fine and I'm not worried. He's dope, they love him, and he's
>EXCELLENT when he has anything coherent to do.
>- Big E is still out.
>- Punk is out. BOO. But he can still instigate!
>- Charlotte out but she's a damn hoss so she'll be back.
>- Randy and AJ are back! Whooo! Now, what in the eff are they
>gonna do!?
>- Stone Cold is being coy about doing another match. I WANT
>IT. His match with KO was gorgeously simple and fun but it
>still felt 'complete'. Pros wer Pro'ing.
>- Whoop That Trick (YEAH!) = one of my favorite things in
>rasslin right now. And Williams himself is good too. He's
>gonna kick all up in Carmelo's ass and its gonna be GREAT for
>both of them. Yes, he's my replacement Velveteen Dream. No, I
>don't feel guilty about it.
>- The good-looking woman extravaganza on NXT is out of this
>world. HBK's search history has to be top-shelf!
>- WALTER Gunther is still out here beating people tf up and I
>love it.
>
>- TNA is 'back' but they already have shenanigans with the
>Scott D'Amore. Seems rotten but who knows..its TNA.
>
>AEW is sneaking around trying to be good at certain things but
>they're cold, so many people are 'done' with giving them a
>chance. Still:
>
>- Swerve and Hangman are doing good work.
>- Smo'a Joe...same thing. He's a fun champ even if he's almost
>certainly not gonna be a long-term champ.
>- Prince Nana's multi-purpose dance antics might be my
>favorite non-'jimaveli is in love with like 20 women
>wrestlers' thing going.
>- On that woman thing, Broken Toni Storm works on me ~ every
>single time. She's ridiculous, funny, and a good rassler.
>She's dropping some A+ promo work vs opponents and the random
>obscure sexual stuff she's 'sneaking in' is a hilarious touch.
>She's blowing up announcers almost weekly! History will be
>kind to this run for sure.
>- The Bucks are fun but late af with this jerk heel run.
>They're gonna cheat their azzes off to beat/retire Sting fo
>sho. But Darby will be there to dive at them really hard and
>I'll like that.
>- Dalton Castle trying to get to Johnny is also great times.
>- Sasha is gonna be fun but I wish she was headed back to WWE
>to print money with Bayley for the summer.
>- Okada might be better off in AEW FIRST but I still want him
>in WWE at some point. Rainmaker pose tshirts would be easy
>munny for WWE.
>- Ospreay is a wonderful rassler. I hope he stays healthy.
>He's done a great job of 'getting big enough' for the spots
>he's gonna be in. Add him to the 'he'd be big fun in WWE at
>some point' list too.
>
>I hope like hell that AEW forces a title onto Danielson at
>some point before he's done as a 'full-time act'.
>
>Besides that, MJF has been shutting all the way the fuck up in
>a corner somewhere, Adam Cole is still not right and it is
>killing his new group, and Kenny Omega did good to go the
>doctor when he did or he might've died. Whew! And
>Ibushi...gees dude...sit your goofy azz down somewhere! And
>take Jeff Hardy with you!

even better to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_JwKL0GRbk

>even better to me.
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_JwKL0GRbk
>
>

Yep. Its good times overall. And everyone looks better as a result of this improved/more imaginative camera work.

They're speaking directly to me now with these episodes.

I LOVED Gentleman Chris Adams. He was one of the first babyfaces I had to go by as it relates to live rasslin action (Midsouth in Houston).

And you know something like a superkick in that era was like attempted murder cuz HE KNEW MARTIAL ARTS! And the thigh slap was poisoned by then so I was all in on that finish. When HBK stopped doing that weird suplex thing and went with what I called 'The Chris Adams Superkick', I was like 'YES, make this man champion!'.

And next week, I get Sherri Martel..I'm too ready for that episode too. I hope they don't hate on her too badly even if she had a tough time with herself obviously. I loved her lots tho. She also had be all the way ready for a HBK title run..that insane theme song with 'her' singing (was it her? I'm always thought it was her)? Just wow..I hope no one ever forgets that her version existed.

but i gotta see them reenactments 😂

and yes that was sherri singing. i dont think its gonna be an episode that makes her look bad bc ive never really heard anyone say anything bad about her. Cornette loves her, and he'll be featured prominently since she was the first wrestler he ever managed.

A lot will deservedly be said about the final three matches, but just about all of the show was outstanding.

Okada vs. PAC was a fucking banger to start the show. They both smacked fire out of each other, and Pac is an incredible seller. The trios match was better than I was expecting, and sets up the Copeland vs. Malaki Black program well. Strong vs. O'Reily was also even better than I was expected, and another case of two dudes beating the shit out of each other. Cole walking was a nice surprise, and they're setting up him flipping on Wardlow and the possible return of MJF. Willow winning the title was a legit feel good moment, and was short and sweet as it need to be. Storm vs. Thunder Rosa was another match that exceeded expectations, even though the finish was never in doubt.

What can I say about the final three matches? Danielson vs. Osprey was absolutely a match of the decade contender. It might be even greater, but I don't want recency bias make things too out of control. Certainly one of the best matches I've ever seen.

I may not like the Bucks as heel champions, but I have to admit the ladder match was fucking crazy. It was like in order to follow-up one of the all-time GOAT matches, both teams decided that they might have to legit die in the ring. Yeah, the ending was ovious, but Jack Perry's heat is going to be tremenedous to behold once he's actually back full time. Which could be Wednesday.

Swerve winning the title was great. He's been doing incredible work since he got there, and has really stepped things up even more from All In on. I would have been fine with Joe keeping the belt until this year's All In, but I can't front Swerve winning hit me in the feels. And his entrance as BP/Killmonger was phenomenal. Joe worked his ass off too, and was a g in his time as champ.

And lest anyone think I forgot, Jericho vs. Hook was not good. It was clear that Jericho was going to go over, but the audience is clearly over him and it is really past time he take a long break off-screen. That said, it wasn't the war crime some are portraying it. The FTW title only really exist as an ornament for someone Taz affilaited, so either Hook wins it back in a month or so, or Jericho retires it and they move Hook onto something else. Both outcomes would be fine.

But overall, a great night for wrestling and one of my favorite AEW PPVs.

The rest I think is more prisoner of the moment praise, and that’s not to say it was necessarily bad. In fact, it’s extremely impressive that the two matches that followed Danielson/Ospreay held the audience’s attention as well as they did.

Happy for Seerve. Not really sure he’s a star yet, but it’s hard to knock a guy who bets on himself to this extant and is vindicated. I think you give him a loooooong run, and eventually an MJF/Swerve program could be an ATM Machine.

Chris Jericho is a walking embarrassment, and he’s to me more offensive a TV personality than Hogan ever was.

When I was watching AEW regularly from 2019 to maybe 2021, the fans were singing their hearts out to his theme song and he was doing that “palatial estate” and “little bit of the bubbly” stuff, and I thought he was still great.

I remember a few so so angles. I’ve tuned in sporadically the last few years so not really sure when everything got so bad with him.

>When I was watching AEW regularly from 2019 to maybe 2021,
>the fans were singing their hearts out to his theme song and
>he was doing that “palatial estate” and “little bit of
>the bubbly” stuff, and I thought he was still great.
>
>I remember a few so so angles. I’ve tuned in sporadically
>the last few years so not really sure when everything got so
>bad with him.

Probably during his feud with a returning Adam Cole, which started well, but ended up fizzling out, ending with a largely awful match at Double of Nothing 2023. Things got worse after he broke up the JAS and started his angle with the Don Callis family. Things then got seriously bad when there was speculation about possibly shaky behavior and NDAs from years ago, but nothing substantive came out of it. But it did get him to be booed out of the building during the Wresledream PPV.

This, right now, is as bad as it’s ever been.

He’s clearly well aware of the reaction he’s been getting and the calls for him to go away. I’ve read a theory this whole “Learning Tree” character is based on that, and is his riff on CM Punk (eye-roll if true). I get he’s the king of re-inventions, but now people just want him to legit go away. Hopefully he’ll eventually take the hint, tour with Fozzy, and stay off TV for a while.

I enjoyed the Inner Circle run, but at some point after that I did taper off in my watching.

I remember the “I’m a wizard” stuff and thought it was terrible. Seems like he’s turned face/heel too often and none of it is really sticking?

Seems like he got kinda fat, then lost a lot of weight and looked a lot better in the ring for awhile? Feel like I saw some good matches with Danielson a couple years ago, when he was in shape and doing the Lion Heart gimmick again. Looks like he’s kinda heavy again though.

Jericho has always been one of my favorites - I’d hate to see him go out bad.

he and schiavone were so good during the empty arena stuff, and then when people started talking about it he turned it up to a silly level, and then it was stadium stampede and that was all she wrote for me

And I couldn’t get through the first five minutes.

And in those cases, the guests did most of the talking. Which was fine, because Stokely Hathaway, Mark Briscoe, and Samoa Joe are all great interviews.

and soak up the hilarity of Jesse Ventura talking about hanging J6ers while Jericho just sits there and takes it like a bitch

*Black Panther hands on chest acknowledgement*

I'm glad they understood the assignment for the most part tonight.

I'm not sure if they have a GOOD plan for Jack Perry going forward. And showing 'the footage' still seems like a dumbass thing to do. But the crowd has decided to be excited to see him almost in spite of how bungled his post All In run has been. And shit, sometimes being over is enough. Still, I'm horrified for Jack to talk. If he's supposed to be an entitled jackass heel (like the Bucks), I hope they don't get turned into 'heroes who did what they had to do to save AEW from money-printing old school wrestling scoundrels like Phil Brooks and Cody Runnels'. I hope he keeps any talking short, soaks in the reaction, and only shows up to cause havoc and make snarky faces for a while. I don't want him having random 20 minute competitive matches with Dax or whatever..at least not right now. Make him be FORCED to wrestle..you know, like some of the heels we all know and love. One of my favorite things in wrestling my whole life has been a bad guy wrestler acting shocked and appalled when he's made to wrestle.

I'm amped for Ospreay. He's killing it so far. He shows up and passionately says whatever he says with a few 'bruvs' thrown in, and you know them matches are gonna be wildly good every time. I like him. I wish for Ricochet and him to do a rematch with their new bodies. But shiiiid, Ricochet ain't leaving fine azz Samantha to go nowhere right now and I DO NOT BLAME HIM. Luckily, AEW has a supreme roster for good match-having so Will should be good to go for a while.

I'm the opposite of amped for Jay White and, to a lesser extent, Okada. I worry that Okada is doing a victory lap/greatest hits run. He's dope so it can work of course! And maybe its fine and Okada mainly exists in a holding pattern waiting for Omega to return and kick his ass. I don't know what Jay White has coming for him besides maybe a split from Bang Bang Gang. At worst, I worry that Jay White is a better/more popular Ricky Starks and Punk being gone screwed him too.

>A lot will deservedly be said about the final three matches,
>but just about all of the show was outstanding.
>
>Okada vs. PAC was a fucking banger to start the show. They
>both smacked fire out of each other, and Pac is an incredible
>seller. The trios match was better than I was expecting, and
>sets up the Copeland vs. Malaki Black program well. Strong vs.
>O'Reily was also even better than I was expected, and another
>case of two dudes beating the shit out of each other. Cole
>walking was a nice surprise, and they're setting up him
>flipping on Wardlow and the possible return of MJF. Willow
>winning the title was a legit feel good moment, and was short
>and sweet as it need to be. Storm vs. Thunder Rosa was another
>match that exceeded expectations, even though the finish was
>never in doubt.
>
>What can I say about the final three matches? Danielson vs.
>Osprey was absolutely a match of the decade contender. It
>might be even greater, but I don't want recency bias make
>things too out of control. Certainly one of the best matches
>I've ever seen.
>
>I may not like the Bucks as heel champions, but I have to
>admit the ladder match was fucking crazy. It was like in order
>to follow-up one of the all-time GOAT matches, both teams
>decided that they might have to legit die in the ring. Yeah,
>the ending was ovious, but Jack Perry's heat is going to be
>tremenedous to behold once he's actually back full time. Which
>could be Wednesday.
>
>Swerve winning the title was great. He's been doing incredible
>work since he got there, and has really stepped things up even
>more from All In on. I would have been fine with Joe keeping
>the belt until this year's All In, but I can't front Swerve
>winning hit me in the feels. And his entrance as BP/Killmonger
>was phenomenal. Joe worked his ass off too, and was a g in his
>time as champ.
>
>And lest anyone think I forgot, Jericho vs. Hook was not good.
>It was clear that Jericho was going to go over, but the
>audience is clearly over him and it is really past time he
>take a long break off-screen. That said, it wasn't the war
>crime some are portraying it. The FTW title only really exist
>as an ornament for someone Taz affilaited, so either Hook wins
>it back in a month or so, or Jericho retires it and they move
>Hook onto something else. Both outcomes would be fine.
>
>But overall, a great night for wrestling and one of my
>favorite AEW PPVs.

I thought Okada fully embraced being the asshole heel for the first time last night, and it worked beautifully. Plus the match was awesome. I do understand your trepidation about a possible holding pattern. It’s why I’m not loving the idea of The Bucks as the Corporate Champions. Clearly the end game is Omega and Page come back to wreck shop, but who knows when Omega is going to be back anyway? In the meantime, the Bucks have cleared out most of the competition in the process of winning the belts (and already beat Top Flight many times), so I’m not sure if there’s any viable competition before then. I guess they could move the Acclaimed back to the tag team division (instead of trios), as Caster riffing the Bucks could be fun, but who knows?

As for White, I think him and the Gunns are working better than I would have imagined. I’d like Juice to come back soon, but the Gunns have 100% stepped their game up over the last year. White as the shitheel leader works for now, until Darby back and they can plug him into that feud.

And DIY’s theme is straight up garbage

The prior theme was a little generic but this joint is cringe

I still want to see an emotionally charged title win at some point though

Damn shame FTR is in AEW because their chemistry with them is fantastic

>And DIY’s theme is straight up garbage
>
>The prior theme was a little generic but this joint is cringe
>
>I still want to see an emotionally charged title win at some
>point though
>
>Damn shame FTR is in AEW because their chemistry with them is
>fantastic

Man, I want AEW to drop like 10 people immediately. FTR is on that list. Hell, I don’t care if WWE drops 6 or 7 more people to make room. I think it would work out great for everyone.

And it was because of the beginning of what could be some really good non-major angles:

Ludwig- I do not want to see him and Gunther as tag champs, but I rather want to see them as WHC and IC champs at the same time. Ludwig's turn last night was pretty villainous (yet, predictable) and done well.

Gable- And meaner, nastier, Perc Angle recruiting The Creed Bros. and Ivy Nile? I'm here for that.

Piper Niven- the beat down of Becky was good, but the hossette battle between her and Nia was unexpected

The Way (?)- I know Theory was in The Way, but Ciampa, Gargano, Indi, Candice flanked by Dexter Lumis would be good to bring about with the break up of the Judgement Day looming. Them and Gable's group would be good replacements for Imperium and JD.

im telling you...its getting better, and you can tell there is a concerted effort to restore the flagship just by how they split up the announce teams

Promoing the whole way to the curtain, MAN. What a shot and what a different way to set up a battle royal.

I'm willing to see where this goes. But hitting the owner with a Meltzer Driver the WEEK he's going to be followed around for the NFL Draft was . . . poorly timed. Good on Tony for taking the bump, I guess.

that was the only redeeming value of any of this phony silly nonsense, and that was just unintentional comedy

Also, like, in year of our lord 2024 you're trying to get a billionaire nepobaby over as a sympathetic figure? Like I get that Tony is a wrestling dweeb (no offense meant, I smell my own), and the marks REALLY love him if they love AEW, but this ain't gonna play bigger than that. And if he turns around and Bischoffs, then the WCWing is complete. (though THAT would be dumb too because that would be like Sting and Flair forming the NWO and recruiting Luger to be the Third Man).

"Hey, if you have a neck brace on, don't fuckin move around like nothin's wrong" DEAD.

>"Hey, if you have a neck brace on, don't fuckin move around
>like nothin's wrong" DEAD.

I appreciate him wearing the brace at all. But he needs some occasional grimacing.

i wonder if this would even be happening

its just so derivative, and boring, and silly

and now the Bucks and Jack Perry are recycling Hulk Hogan TNA shit "WE'RE GONNA GET THIS COMPANY BACK ON TRACK"

as soon as i hear "this company" its like a switch flips and im immediately revolted

>i wonder if this would even be happening
>
>its just so derivative, and boring, and silly
>
>and now the Bucks and Jack Perry are recycling Hulk Hogan TNA
>shit "WE'RE GONNA GET THIS COMPANY BACK ON TRACK"
>
>as soon as i hear "this company" its like a switch flips and
>im immediately revolted

The Bullet Club folks are nWo/DX/Klique lovers to the max. The sad thing: I'm convinced that no amount of documentaries and podcasts can make people 'get' how and why the nWo worked as well as it did the first time. And how and why basically everyone has caught hell trying to redo it (including the nWo dudes themselves!) since then. Same goes for dX. Spoiler: part of what makes it hard to do is that nWo and dX folks damn near stumbled into their things. Now, people are trying to orchestrate it and it isn't working.

Since we're here, so many 'key' nWo matches were horrid, lazily worked affairs if people are honest with themselves. I'm hoping Bucks don't think they're gonna 'good match, bad finish' it up and get away with in 2024 as themselves. Roman did 4 years of it but he had unreal story-based heat to go along with nerdy insider heat (he was the selected guy who had gone through like half a dozen gimmick tweaks to get over. On one hand, people were glad he was finally cooking. On the other, the ultra cheap wins were out of hand.).

I'm very interested to see who shows up to battle them. I'm currently guessing Kenny is on the 'good' side. I'm also thinking Hangman is gonna sell out and side with the Bucks. It has to be the right good guy crew or this thing is gonna die off ugly..that is mainly due to my lack of faith in the Bucks to carry off their end if they have to be a big part of it. Maybe this is where we get MJF back? IDK.

and putting on good matches. That was going to be their niche, right?

Some recycled WCW, TNA, WWE bullshit is not at all what I signed up for.

I’m out.

making him one of their flunkies instead of a main event single is very on brand for them

.

he fails the 6:05 test. 90 seconds to make me care or in the garbage with you.

Konosuke Takeshita passed with flying colors in 30 seconds without saying a word, for comparison's sake

>.

Okada would’ve been big fun in WWE..at least at the beginning.

Worst case scenario, he’s coasting until the inevitable Omega match / the Omega match is all he’s got interest in getting up for in AEW. Best case scenario, AEW has such a crazy roster of people who can go that Okada will have a hard time being too bad even if most of us know the booking ain’t it most of the time.

>I'm willing to see where this goes. But hitting the owner
>with a Meltzer Driver the WEEK he's going to be followed
>around for the NFL Draft was . . . poorly timed. Good on Tony
>for taking the bump, I guess.

They've had this card in the deck to play at some point (the 'someone gets physical with TK as a part of a story'). And now they've played it.

I saw it coming a ways away (because why else have TK come to the ring? And why else do it at the end of the show?).

I'm openly worried about how they'll execute it. AKA how will TK react besides selling the injury for a week or two?

Are they clear that THE BUCKS AND PERRY SHOULD BE THE HEELS IN THIS STORY? And who exactly do they get to counter them? Is it alternate Elite (Kenny, Hangman, and...FTR?)? Is it The AEW Loving crew: Kenny, FTR, and some other person once Hangman sells them out? IDK.

I'll aim to be patient.

...it was good enough. It didn't meet the gold standard of 1) Roddy accidently hitting Vince was a wooden chair right before Ric Flair's first planned match or 2) Nash powerbombs Bischoff through the stage at GAB '96, but worked fine and made people hate Perry and the Young Bucks even more. Plus, we got a Shad Khan appearance, Tony selling the neck injury during the NFL draft (with Shad looking like he was about to crack up), and an angle where Tony is going to be off TV for the forseeable future.

Now, if they run a "Tony's revenge!' angle and get him physically involved any more beyond this, it will be dumb. But as an angle to make the ELite the top heel faction, it works.

>...it was good enough. It didn't meet the gold standard of 1)
>Roddy accidently hitting Vince was a wooden chair right before
>Ric Flair's first planned match or 2) Nash powerbombs Bischoff
>through the stage at GAB '96, but worked fine and made people
>hate Perry and the Young Bucks even more. Plus, we got a Shad
>Khan appearance, Tony selling the neck injury during the NFL
>draft (with Shad looking like he was about to crack up), and
>an angle where Tony is going to be off TV for the forseeable
>future.
>
>Now, if they run a "Tony's revenge!' angle and get him
>physically involved any more beyond this, it will be dumb. But
>as an angle to make the ELite the top heel faction, it works.
>
>

As time goes on, I'm struggling more and more with their execution so far. IE: I love that they were smart enough to know that TK needed a neck brace. But I don't love that he didn't exactly make Steamboat's throat injury speech therapy vignettes proud with it. And he's not selling the shit out of it like 'I can't believe these ayyholes did this to me'. Its more like 'I'm a real rasslin boss now that I've taken a bump..isn't this great!? Tell the NFL about it too!'. AKA his tone is all wrong for the injuries they're claiming he has and the story of him being dramatically wronged by 'his guys'.

I'm very worried that they're too goofy to make absolute sure that the right people are the heels here too. And what kind of heels they need to be for this to work.

AND

Call me racist, but I'm most worried that this is gonna somehow fuck up Swerve's first title reign. He earned that spot honest with his badass work and now he's gonna catch hell being the main thing on the show while this whole deal is going on.

And please believe that I think Hangman is gonna be the Hogan of this Elite vs TK thing. AKA Hangman is gonna show up, people are gonna think he's with the anti-Elite side, and then he's gonna 'legdrop' Kenny or someone for the gotcha moment. And then, Hangman is gonna cheat and beat Swerve for the title sometime this summer. Honestly, it could work but again...EXECUTION! And hell, I think I'd rather that than Jack Perry being the guy with the belt . IDK..I'm worried. I hope they do some good shit with this and prove me wrong.

>As time goes on, I'm struggling more and more with their
>execution so far. IE: I love that they were smart enough to
>know that TK needed a neck brace. But I don't love that he
>didn't exactly make Steamboat's throat injury speech therapy
>vignettes proud with it. And he's not selling the shit out of
>it like 'I can't believe these ayyholes did this to me'. Its
>more like 'I'm a real rasslin boss now that I've taken a
>bump..isn't this great!? Tell the NFL about it too!'. AKA his
>tone is all wrong for the injuries they're claiming he has and
>the story of him being dramatically wronged by 'his guys'.

I think what he did on Dynamite was fine. I don't think he's really going to be able to sell it like Steamboat for the NFL Network. "Mainstream" media only has so much tolerance for wrestling/sport's entertainment, and they're not really going to be able to expect these outlets to play alogn. Hell, even when Heyman and Roman were on ESPN there's always a wink and a nudge.

>I'm very worried that they're too goofy to make absolute sure
>that the right people are the heels here too. And what kind of
>heels they need to be for this to work.

I think people are giving Perry the right type of heat so far. And people appropriately hate the Young Bucks. And Okada is having a blast being a heel.

>Call me racist, but I'm most worried that this is gonna
>somehow fuck up Swerve's first title reign. He earned that
>spot honest with his badass work and now he's gonna catch hell
>being the main thing on the show while this whole deal is
>going on.

I think these fears are unfounded. Whatever you want to say about TK, but he isn't Vince McMahon oblivious (as in, oblivious in the ways that VKM was). He's probably aware that it would be a bad look to make Swerve a short term transitional champ, especially after he busted his ass to get to this position. I originally thought whoever won between Joe and Swerve was going to end up getting served to Osprey at All In, and why I first thought that maybe keeping the belt on Joe might have been the right idea, rather than give Swerve a really short reign. But they dodged that bullet by setting up Osprey vs. Strong at Doulbe or Nothing.

I can see Hangman coming back and joining the Elite. And I can see Swerve coming into the Elite's orbit this summer. However, I think it's more likely that Perry beats Copeland for the TNT title, and then Hangman and Swerve have their big blow-off at All In. Or Swerve beats Perry at All In. Regardless, a big crowd-pleasing finish at Wembley to send the fans home happy.

she's one of the best workers on television imo, in the traditional (and most important) sense of the word. she knows exactly who Chelsea Green is, what she would do, what she would say, and how she should react to EVERYTHING

and even tho its funny, shes not jacking herself off with silly jokes. shes funny because shes delusional and takes herself as seriously as a heart attack.

i dont even really care if she can wrestle, because its more fun watching her beg for matches or scam her way out of trouble than it is to watch most modern matches anyways.

i think she's fuckin great, and im looking forward to her taking years off Nick Aldis's life

As you said she has all of the traditional tools as a worker. She could have a good two/three month run and make it entertaining. She shouldn't create a new star, but of someone like Naomi or Auska gets another run she should be who they'd be chasing.

cheat to win, spend the rest of her reign trying to avoid wrestling at all, then lose her very first defense

She's always been just top-tier for that kinda stuff, even back in the Laurel Van Ness days on the Indies.

i have no knowledge of her prior to WWE but its not surprising to learn that. outside of the most natural liars and prevaricators, that sort of fully fleshed out gimmick requires diligence and development.

At a VFW few years ago, she was working a semi death match, she comes up to me with a piece of paper stapled to her forehead and yelled at me to give her my chair. I reluctantly stood up, she threw my chair in the ring. and it stayed there with my name tag on it for the entire match.

It wasnt a folding chair either.

Was that when she was doing the bride gimmick?

She got to do a few shows with Cardona and it was around then

His mania moment was great, he’s become a great babyface. But when do babyface champs ever work long term, anymore?

He’s gonna have to do some wild shit and become edgy in an organic way, and I just can’t see that happening.

>His mania moment was great, he’s become a great babyface.
>But when do babyface champs ever work long term, anymore?
>
>He’s gonna have to do some wild shit and become edgy in an
>organic way, and I just can’t see that happening.

Seems like perfect timing. Milk the babyface champ thing for a few months, and then just when he starts to bore us again, that’s when he becomes Homelander for real.

The ula fala bead from the Rock signifying that it’s time for Cody to take over Roman’s spot. Tama’s BC just like Cody. Shit, this could start Saturday with the match with Jey. Tama fucking Jey up only for Cody to embrace him would be pretty dope. So would a slow play where it takes a while for Cody to come out as the leader.

hard to see a world where Cody doesn't stay a white meat babyface and I think he'll only lose to Roman or Rock

>hard to see a world where Cody doesn't stay a white meat
>babyface and I think he'll only lose to Roman or Rock

If Vince was still in charge, I’d agree. I’m hoping Hunter can look past the t-shirt sales and the weight belt stuff and realize that there’s more potential in a Cody heel run.

Nightmare Bloodline shirts would MOVE.

(and then returning OG Bloodline stuff would go too)

Dude’s stuck in a slow ass match with a guy throwing fucking hockey pucks at him. This is so fucking stupid.

This worked a LOT better than the TK segment. Some good old school heeling here, attacking the face's weakness and hitting him again on the gurney.

Toni is A++ as always. That "Winnipeg" line- HOO boy. Deeb kicking the shit out of Mariah also worked really well.

I sure hope that this Calls/Orange thing goes nowhere.

Stoke is a whole damn fool. "What, other than my own actions am I suffering for?" *DEAD*

Skye is lovely to look at but good god is she death on the mic. Chasey Lain had more emotional range reading her lines. OTOH, Willow is great. Give her more Mic time please.

And Swerve. My DUDE. What a promo to set up the face to face with Christian next week.

both on TV and off

They'd have gone down Shorty G lane if AEW didn't exist for them to show what they could really do. Also, they're destined to fight the Bucks forever as long as they're there.

and the shorty g lane doesnt really exist in WWE anymore

last summer they were anchoring the show that we both said was the best thing to happen to pro wrestling in decades

Hard to build a division around dudes if one of them could go away for a bid.

2) Of course it doesn't now, but the emergence of AEW happened just as they were about to be fed down it. Remember the clown gear concept with the Shatter Machine chain? https://www.bodyslam.net/2020/04/18/exclusive-wwes-final-creative-plans-for-the-revival-revealed/

Out of their minds for a Smackdown

That was fuckin awesome.

the crowd singing Hey Bayley like that was so good

has that been done before?

This KO/Orton vs Bloodline match has raised the bar for the rest of the night so far, and the crowd is making this more hype.

Randy getting the singing treatment from here out now too

We’ve all seen some wild matches but this fucking thing was white hot from start to finish.

Everyone else had better be in their A game because they absolutely bodied that opener.

I’m legit concerned for KO though. The chairs spot and those stairs shots were brutal. I’m sure he’s just selling his ass off, and I hope that’s all it is.

And if that’s the case, even better. I love being left wondering whether or not someone is ok, as long as they’re ok.

made that a more interesting match than it should've been lol.


"c'mon titty!" (c)Chappelle

he's clearly not a very good singles wrestler. I mean...right?

But the guy's over like rover.

Really curious what his end game is, I sort of feel like this is the ceiling

once you have bang average dudes like him over and moving merch you are cooking w/ gas.

mediocre / wildly popular

ppl like Jey Uso bc of who Jey Uso is

ppl liked the Warrior bc of the way he was booked

> mediocre / wildly popular

This name is amazing. And I love it. But I hope it doesn't catch on online because you know how tha innanet works. Nuance is already on life support. People would really try to claim dude is 100% ultimate warrior. To me, Warrior was like an amazingly shitty Lex Luger: a body guy who can do some stuff but wasn't anything crazy in the ring. And hell, even that's kinda unfair cuz Lex was a least viewed as a solid body guy who didn't have to be overly stiff to get his shit over. Most of his moves were pretty damn easy to take when you think about it. Warrior was a more protected Golberg...okay, I'm out of control now..let's stop!

I see Jey's current run as WWE doing right by a guy they like who is from a family they obviously love the shit out of. He got into shape, played his role in that glorious Bloodline run excellently, and this is his payback for all of that.

I'm old enough to remember the idea that Jey should've been the one to beat Reigns. I also remember not hating said idea!

I want him to have a few good matches back to back really badly. The world is a better place when the over guys can work well enough to not throw anyone off. And Jey is ~ in that Excite-Bike about to overheat and have to pull over danger zone rn.

babyface transitional title holder to create a mega-heel. I've never seen the "it" factor in the ring, or on promos tbh. But, hell, I'm glad he's being pushed like he is. Says more about the Bloodline story arc more than anything.

and i made it 5 mins before confusion set in

why are they forcing this Mercedes babyface thing? shes not good at it, and now the babyface champion is only champion bc of heel interference. why would anyone cheer this?

but at least they are continuing to present Swerve as....a guy getting manhandled by a mute in a dinosaur mask.

gonna be a long 2 hours methinks

...and hes gonna kick out of the leg drop. sound good?"

knocked out with one shot on the go home

ppv NONTITLE match ended with a paradigm shift on a dead body

Moxley doesnt even mention the match in what was actually a pretty good promo

in a sane world Takeshita never gets involved with that shit and is getting built up for Ospreay in the fall, but alas.

Takeshita's fallen down the Wardlow hole. There are so many stop-start pushes, especially for big guys, that you can't get behind anyone because if they're not MJF/Elite/Pillars/ex-WWE then they'll disappear at the drop of a hat.

Moxley is never gonna be more over than he was yesterday, and thats been true for everyday since the day after Double or Nothing 2019

peak sports entertainment, as it was neither sports-like nor entertaining

Jericho now in the extremely pathetic position of having to put the reason for his go away heat in his segments so that he can say hes getting the right reaction.

nice video package for that luchadora tho! best part of the show thus far

>nice video package for that luchadora tho! best part of the
>show thus far

Or win the title and get put into like 5 segments in the next 3 months until they need to heat up Sasha for a big title win at All Out.

who else but callis and orange cassidy

and statlander for no reason, but i aint mad about that waist to hip ratio

and all this dumb shit pays off with more Best Friends breakup

jesus fucking christ

They at least "made some money" off of Taylor retiring, and they've been hinting at Stat and Trent going more heel- the only question was whether they'd tempt OC too. And now you get noble babyface Orange Cassidy fighting against the meaty henchman jots that are the Callis Family on his way to Trent. Personally I'm down for Beretta to get a more serious showcase.

tho i do acknowledge its truthiness

this whole time and that was all he had to do to be a decent promo?

sheesh

i dont know why it took 3 years to circle back around to it

but this isnt nonsense. he and statlander could be something in a place that knew what to do with them. new best part of the show so far.

And this new wrinkle is excellent.

confirming tony khan couldve just ended this shit 2 seconds into it by giving christopher daniels a promotion really puts a cherry on top

And I know, Anarchy means the heels go over while Stadium is for the faces, but still. These idiots have no fucking clue how to make themselves look good without it being ridiculous. Good for Okada that he's getting paaaaaaaid to not have to do much of anything in these segments.

thanks for clearing that up Tony

as is the show in general

oh well. maybe ill check back in later this summer.

...event against each other. Especially the two most popular guys in the company. And especially after you **just** gave one of them a belt presumably to keep him out of the World Title chase for a while. I honestly would understand if they worked in a third NJPW/CMLL guy for the match just to "protect" both Osprey and Swerve. But I could see Swerve winning at Forbidden Door to set up the big Osprey win at All In. I do like that the winner of the world title match isn't a forgone conclusion, which doesn't happen much in any promotion. Regardless, the two have a ton of experience wrestling each other in various indie promotions, so it will be a banger.

I thought the gauntlet match was a lot of fun. Strong end to what was a pretty mixed TV episode to a very strong PPV.

>...event against each other. Especially the two most popular
>guys in the company. And especially after you **just** gave
>one of them a belt presumably to keep him out of the World
>Title chase for a while. I honestly would understand if they
>worked in a third NJPW/CMLL guy for the match just to
>"protect" both Osprey and Swerve. But I could see Swerve
>winning at Forbidden Door to set up the big Osprey win at All
>In. I do like that the winner of the world title match isn't a
>forgone conclusion, which doesn't happen much in any
>promotion. Regardless, the two have a ton of experience
>wrestling each other in various indie promotions, so it will
>be a banger.

I like it. I have no idea how they book the finish but I'm cool with that. This roster SHOULD yield 'oh shit, THESE FOLKS are finna wrestle!? For real!?' moments multiple times a year. Swerve vs Will is one of those for sure. And yeah, they've worked together plenty, they're both cooking, and it should be a good time even if they end up with a screwy finish at Forbidden Door.


>I thought the gauntlet match was a lot of fun. Strong end to
>what was a pretty mixed TV episode to a very strong PPV.

I REALLY enjoyed that gauntlet match. They did what they could to make a lot of people look good in the match. I was into it. And I was SHOCKED when Will came out there. It looked like it got the crowd going too.

an "injury" during the match, with Ospreay fighting until his body cant take anymore, is about as far as they can go without turning Swerve into a sham champ who needed to cheat to beat his first A-list opponent

I asked for it awhile ago, glad they’re going with him. He can give Cody great matches, and possibly with this fakeout, maybe it will give Cody’s character more of an edge going forward so that he stops falling for shit like that or something.

Either way, glad to see one of the best wrestlers in the biggest matches.

And I still think we’re on track for the fans to be rooting for his Summerslam opponent.

I don’t have the answers either. As great as AJ is, everybody knows AJ and Jake Paul aren’t taking the title off him. Short of defending against the Rock or Roman, nobody is going to give a shit right now. I don’t have the answers. I guess a down time after that chase and Mania is ok. I’m good with AJ because he’s a legend who still can go and I like seeing him put on good matches in the main event. But they better make his next opponent a legit threat who people really don’t want to see take the title, if they want to keep people behind him. Otherwise he’s gonna be bland ass, split the crowd but sell merch Super Cena. Maybe they’re ok with that?

AJ was a good credible "let's see the champ work a bust-ass match" opponent, and Logan was the "Saudi wants this guy" opponent. And Cody made both matches seem important. And I think we're going to get a super big bad built up for him for Summerslam and beyond with the Bloodline Club. Mayyyyyyybe that means a Cody/Roman(Rock?)/Usos uneasy alliance for Wargames. Which could either be a big set up for a nice Face/Face Round 3 at XLI or Cody gets to be Super Sting.

and we all know Missy doesnt blow jobbers

good for him

Drew McIntyre wasn't re-signed until the deal with almost up, even with Clash at the Castle looming.

Becky Lynch's deal expired.

Chad Gable's contract expire on Friday.

Apparently Ricochet's and Nattie's are apparently up imminently.

I think everyone expects Lynch, Gable, Ricochet, and Nattie to all return (Lynch is apparently more likely to retire than sign somewhere else). And it's the new reality with Endeavor in charge. But Lynch is a cornerstoneof their women's division. Nattie is invaluable in her role as a trainer and an overall steady hand. Gable is currently involved in a large feud over their biggest secondary title. Ricochet is one of their best workers. That the company didn't lock them early seems odd. Maybe it's a work and they've all re-signed already, but if not... the law of averages suggests someone could swoop in and scoop one of them up.

Going to AEW to wrestle in empty arenas isn’t much a threat.

Drew is an important piece and is on the rise with a big money program in the wings, so I can see why there wouldn’t be a sense of urgency to lock him up. If he wants to pass up an opportunity to print money while leveling up to wrestle in front of crickets, I’m sure they’d just wish him well.

Becky, by all accounts, is taking a sabbatical, and with her and Seth being married with a kid, staying in WWE if/when she decides to return seems very likely. And again, if she wants to go leave to be a big Man in those empty arenas, I can see them shrugging that off and saying good luck.

Neither Ricochet or Gable are particularly important even if Gable has had a significant presence recently. If they want to leave, who really cares? The list of people who could leave without putting so much as a dent in their bottom line is basically their whole roster, and AEW has been unable to build any of their significant pool of former WWE stars into a product that even resembles a threat.

Natalia could leave and nobody would notice.

So I think the lack of real comp and a deep and top heavy roster accounts for a fair piece of the reasons why these are going to the wire.

WWE is playing games because they have the intel: some people in AEW are happy where they are, some can't wait for a shot to get back to WWE. Also, people love hearing about these expiring contracts and speculating. WWE knows that too. It is a good but dangerous heat check for the talent too.

And yeah, they know AEW isn't running hot right now to put it mildly. The list of expiring stars here would have been insane to leave their WWE gig and spot to try AEW and/or the indies.

I'm interested to see if any of them end up signing shorter deals than the 5-ish year ones we kept hearing about.

Of all of them, Ricochet is the one I might like to see somewhere else. But that fine azz announcer he's loved up with probably means he ain't goin no damn where and I don't blame him. Him vs Ospreay in their new bodies would be a blast.

>Drew McIntyre wasn't re-signed until the deal with almost up,
>even with Clash at the Castle looming.
>
>Becky Lynch's deal expired.
>
>Chad Gable's contract expire on Friday.
>
>Apparently Ricochet's and Nattie's are apparently up
>imminently.
>
>I think everyone expects Lynch, Gable, Ricochet, and Nattie to
>all return (Lynch is apparently more likely to retire than
>sign somewhere else). And it's the new reality with Endeavor
>in charge. But Lynch is a cornerstoneof their women's
>division. Nattie is invaluable in her role as a trainer and an
>overall steady hand. Gable is currently involved in a large
>feud over their biggest secondary title. Ricochet is one of
>their best workers. That the company didn't lock them early
>seems odd. Maybe it's a work and they've all re-signed
>already, but if not... the law of averages suggests someone
>could swoop in and scoop one of them up.

Now THAT is how you do a car spot. Not as an in-between spot on a pre-show match. Not as a momentum shifter in a "parking-lot brawl" match. It's the end of a vicious beatdown segment, that puts the guy off TV and establishes your wild raw rookie as an uncaring badass.

That was awesome.

Where do we go now? Like, who is going to give a fuck about a briefcase when you have Erick Rowan running around hammering people in the head? This was teased incredibly. The whole segment was awesome. And I trust current creative a LOT more than prior creative. But they have a very, VERY fine balance to walk to not Fiend this shit up.

>Where do we go now? Like, who is going to give a fuck about a
>briefcase when you have Erick Rowan running around hammering
>people in the head? This was teased incredibly. The whole
>segment was awesome. And I trust current creative a LOT more
>than prior creative. But they have a very, VERY fine balance
>to walk to not Fiend this shit up.

I'm excited to see them target certain people and have their reasons. Then, they'll finally have to come for someone who will fight back cuz its rasslin. And THAT'S when we might have an issue (the matches, the finishes, how do you make them good without making them unbeatable/broken). But we'll see. I loved loved loved Bo Dallas back in the day and I hope he gets to do some good stuff again.

Make it more like the early days of the Wyatt Family when they were just a crazy cult, and I’m in.

Bring magic into the picture and I’m out.

heyman aint even in the ring yet

the best bit of wrestling TV ive seen in i-dunno-how-long

she seems like she could do this without someone telling her what to say verbatim, and it would probably be better.

she has integrated her gimmick into everything she does, and if shes not like this irl i dont want to know about it.

she never acts like anything isnt super serious to HER, shes just a fuckin asshole, so its funny. if she was obviously just trying to do schtick it would kill it.

WWE has a number of things going that i care about. Punk/Drew, the Tongan Invasion, good guys coming together, Santos almost talking me into thinking he belongs with Knight & Paul (hes got something and it peeked out here).

I admittedly skipped the Andrade match, but this was one of their better efforts in quite some time. Depending on your view of Corey Graves and/or the Wyatt stuff (aka Spooky Retribution), there was ZERO silly bullshit.

That was up there with the Foley interview in terms of putting full-on pathos into a spooky character. Also Nikki is KILLING as his herald.

This has been a week of getting excited about rising talent

-Joe Hendrie is pro wrestling magic.

I’d seen the name here and there and just dismissed it because, well, TNA.

But then the NXT appearance got so much buzz- a fair amount about a supposed burial- so I checked it out. And then I did a deep dive, and yeah. This man has the goods.

Solid, if unspectacular, promo ability but a *money* persona. If you debuted him on next Monday’s Raw, he’d be one of the most popular acts by Summerslam.

Until WWE steals him, I may have to watch TNA. But he’s made for arenas.

****

Bo Dallas, goddamn.

Where has THIS guy been? He’s been sitting on that ability to emote this whole time?

I’m excited to see where this goes. If he can chew scenery like this, he can be a fixture for years to come. Hopefully they don’t make the same mistakes with him that they made with Bray.

****

Also, I can’t say enough about Bron Breakker. His rope running speed reminds me of peak HBK (first run), but with his size and strength it’s straight up terrifying. And he may already have the GOAT spear, because that shit looks painful, every single time.

I wish Sami got a longer run before dropping the strap, and I’ll be surprised if Bron doesn’t get it by SS at the latest.

****

Liv is working well IMO. I hate to say it but Dom has a certain gravity to him in these pairings.

Lightning may well have struck twice with him in these seeming odd couplings that actually work.

I don’t know what the ratings are showing but there’s a lot to like right now.

>This has been a week of getting excited about rising talent
>
>-Joe Hendrie is pro wrestling magic.
>
>I’d seen the name here and there and just dismissed it
>because, well, TNA.
>
>But then the NXT appearance got so much buzz- a fair amount
>about a supposed burial- so I checked it out. And then I did a
>deep dive, and yeah. This man has the goods.
>
>Solid, if unspectacular, promo ability but a *money* persona.
>If you debuted him on next Monday’s Raw, he’d be one of
>the most popular acts by Summerslam.
>
>Until WWE steals him, I may have to watch TNA. But he’s made
>for arenas.

It's amazing because the "song with a bad photoshop" segment is usually DEATH. But he totally salvages it with the paper masks(and the songs themselves are usually pretty good)


>****
>
>Bo Dallas, goddamn.
>
>Where has THIS guy been? He’s been sitting on that ability
>to emote this whole time?
>
>I’m excited to see where this goes. If he can chew scenery
>like this, he can be a fixture for years to come. Hopefully
>they don’t make the same mistakes with him that they made
>with Bray.
>
>****
>
>Also, I can’t say enough about Bron Breakker. His rope
>running speed reminds me of peak HBK (first run), but with his
>size and strength it’s straight up terrifying. And he may
>already have the GOAT spear, because that shit looks painful,
>every single time.
>
>I wish Sami got a longer run before dropping the strap, and
>I’ll be surprised if Bron doesn’t get it by SS at the
>latest.

They're going to steal the show at MITB. Bron is going to turn Sami into paste but Sami will still find a way to hit two or three Helluva kicks.

>****
>
>Liv is working well IMO. I hate to say it but Dom has a
>certain gravity to him in these pairings.
>
>Lightning may well have struck twice with him in these seeming
>odd couplings that actually work.

Carlito has added so much to it as well with his reactions. (also, LOL at Priest admonishing Dom, then hitting that WEPA when he heard "5 attachments")

>I don’t know what the ratings are showing but there’s a
>lot to like right now.
>

And that video that goes with his theme music? Wow. That's all I needed to know I was gonna love him like I loved a lot of the jackass 80s WWF heels. Rick The Model Martel for instance. I remembered him from AWA but rolled with the Arrogance and his goofy accent and getup immediately (cuz all models are somehow half azz French or whatever...IDC..its awesome damnit!).

And as soon as I found out about the ridiculous spoof songs, I was pulling for him even more. Watching him clown the shit out of Moose was especially choice. I've barely even watched him wrestle. I don't gaf if he's Steamboat or not. As long as he is serviceable and he is in-shape, he's gonna be fine.

>This has been a week of getting excited about rising talent
>
>-Joe Hendrie is pro wrestling magic.
>
>I’d seen the name here and there and just dismissed it
>because, well, TNA.
>
>But then the NXT appearance got so much buzz- a fair amount
>about a supposed burial- so I checked it out. And then I did a
>deep dive, and yeah. This man has the goods.
>
>Solid, if unspectacular, promo ability but a *money* persona.
>If you debuted him on next Monday’s Raw, he’d be one of
>the most popular acts by Summerslam.
>
>Until WWE steals him, I may have to watch TNA. But he’s made
>for arenas.
>
>****
>
>Bo Dallas, goddamn.
>
>Where has THIS guy been? He’s been sitting on that ability
>to emote this whole time?
>
>I’m excited to see where this goes. If he can chew scenery
>like this, he can be a fixture for years to come. Hopefully
>they don’t make the same mistakes with him that they made
>with Bray.
>
>****
>
>Also, I can’t say enough about Bron Breakker. His rope
>running speed reminds me of peak HBK (first run), but with his
>size and strength it’s straight up terrifying. And he may
>already have the GOAT spear, because that shit looks painful,
>every single time.
>
>I wish Sami got a longer run before dropping the strap, and
>I’ll be surprised if Bron doesn’t get it by SS at the
>latest.
>
>****
>
>Liv is working well IMO. I hate to say it but Dom has a
>certain gravity to him in these pairings.
>
>Lightning may well have struck twice with him in these seeming
>odd couplings that actually work.
>
>I don’t know what the ratings are showing but there’s a
>lot to like right now.
>

He certainly made an indelible impression on me in my youth. Which is my way of saying he scared the shit out of me. The first I saw of him was a promo they filmed on a beach somewhere and they showed taking a large bite of what certainly looked like a living fish (it was probably close to 40 years ago, so my memory certainly isn't perfect).

He was pretty much done in the ring by then, but I do remember watching some tag team matches with him and Kamala, who were both intimidating AF.

The man had very strong ties to the Bay Area, which are still felt to this day. Glad he got to see his children and nephews and cousins go on to have so much success.

Great piece of business tonight with Heyman & Bad Bloodline

without Roman even being there.

gets me every time

im feeling like thats his next multi-ppv program w one guy

with a hell of a build up, but for some reason I feel this is going to be at one of the Saudi shows. Huge disappointment if that happens unless they plan to keep it going afterwards.

and i have a suspicion Cody doesnt make it all the way thru it with an unbroken title reign

Tired of wishy washy wrestling fans trying to book the show. If he “goes away” like they want him to and then returns in 6 months with Judas playing, they’ll pop the roof off but right now they want to tell him to retire.

The fuck else they going to put on TV? Some goofs doing gymnastics and flippy kicks for 10 minutes in a meaningless match? Scrubs exchanging chops or kicks to the face with the fans doing “booo….yay!!”??? Who cares.

Jericho is one of the best ever, I appreciate that he’s still out there doing it.

He's "saved" the situation by completely leaning into it. Being the glad-handing, completely insincere prick has made this much more entertaining. Even just announcing that he's quitting his commentary position on Rampage so he can get more TV time on Dynamite was awesome.

And Bill and Brian Keith are playing their respective parts pefectly as well. They're each doing exactly what they need to. Keith pronouncing "That baby better respect Chris Jericho" still cracks me up.

>Tired of wishy washy wrestling fans trying to book the show.
> If he “goes away” like they want him to and then returns
>in 6 months with Judas playing, they’ll pop the roof off but
>right now they want to tell him to retire.

Sometimes you need to let people miss you. They have a massive roster of people that just disappear until Tony remembers them, while Jericho's out there throwing spaghetti at the wall. Dude has SUCKED EGGS since The Wizard at least. Honestly, I'd rather see 20 minutes of Eddie Kingston doing a chops-only match than whatever the hell Y2J is doing right now.

>The fuck else they going to put on TV? Some goofs doing
>gymnastics and flippy kicks for 10 minutes in a meaningless
>match? Scrubs exchanging chops or kicks to the face with the
>fans doing “booo….yay!!”??? Who cares.
>
>Jericho is one of the best ever, I appreciate that he’s
>still out there doing it.

I don’t understand the level of vitriol. Fans hate on the stars that go away and do other things, but now they’re hating on a legend for not going away.

But ultimately I usually don’t like the matches that the younger guys fans say are “good” put on. It’s a style issue. I still want Hart, Hennig, Angle type shit. High spot after high spot doesn’t move the needle for me, and neither does exchanging kicks to the chest. God, I hate that shit. But it seems like everybody that fans claim is good does one or the other.

but it's just Chris Jericho hamfisting attempts to be relevant behind up-and-coming heaters. Same as the Inner Circle. Same as the JAS.

Agreed on styles. Bryan has gotten REALLY bad about the strike exchanges since he moved over. But it's a New Japan trope, that I think has gotten lost in translation. It's not something to do every damn match. It's something to amplify OMG these guys really hate each other and they're calling on their FIGHTING SPIRIT to overcome their opponent. (It's part of why I dig Orange so much - because a LOT of his act is him totally shitting on overused indie spots).

>but it's just Chris Jericho hamfisting attempts to be
>relevant behind up-and-coming heaters. Same as the Inner
>Circle. Same as the JAS.

I loved Inner Circle. JAS never really hit with me, but I also wasn’t watching consistently. Ultimately I guess I like seeing a legend still doing it every week. It’s not like he just shows up for the big PPVs and never works TV the way a lot of the other older stars historically have. He shows up every week for all shows and does a full run when he’s in, and that’s a plus IMO.


>Agreed on styles. Bryan has gotten REALLY bad about the strike
>exchanges since he moved over. But it's a New Japan trope,
>that I think has gotten lost in translation. It's not
>something to do every damn match. It's something to amplify
>OMG these guys really hate each other and they're calling on
>their FIGHTING SPIRIT to overcome their opponent. (It's part
>of why I dig Orange so much - because a LOT of his act is him
>totally shitting on overused indie spots).

Ha, I didn’t initially like Orange Cassidy until I realized this was what he was doing.

This spot smartened me up: https://youtu.be/kkcTRvDpWsM?si=gL4RL0fxJciOJkkZ

But then his match with David Starr convinced me that his deal works in a “serious” match too: https://youtu.be/VcL4a4ohS-g?si=VuMmFKWxTwfAKEZ1

This is the one. https://youtu.be/ms5BgzcPVb4?si=3-_i7VF7rgRtkWO0

Though that spot is pretty good for it too.

>but it's just Chris Jericho hamfisting attempts to be
>relevant behind up-and-coming heaters. Same as the Inner
>Circle. Same as the JAS.
>
>Agreed on styles. Bryan has gotten REALLY bad about the strike
>exchanges since he moved over. But it's a New Japan trope,
>that I think has gotten lost in translation. It's not
>something to do every damn match. It's something to amplify
>OMG these guys really hate each other and they're calling on
>their FIGHTING SPIRIT to overcome their opponent. (It's part
>of why I dig Orange so much - because a LOT of his act is him
>totally shitting on overused indie spots).

YES! YES! YES! He gets it in a certain way and I've liked him for quite a while. He has even somewhat explained his gimmick at times in interviews.

And over the last year at least, he's gone out of his way to show 'hey idiots, I can wrestle..I just don't want to kill myself doing Steamboat/Flair Memorial strike exchanges and being reliant on dangerous stuff to get myself over just because I'm small'. Even something as simple as the quality of his pins is something that caught me pretty strongly after Regal pointed out the concept on his podcast. I mean forreal...OC does good azz pins! And even more, his pins often improve over the course of matches..like he's doing shitty pins early in matches on purpose..that is nerdy af GOOD WRESTLER SHIT. Maybe he needs to get some pink and black socks or something to make it more obvious to people who have decided that he sucks! Hehe

>I don’t understand the level of vitriol. Fans hate on the
>stars that go away and do other things, but now they’re
>hating on a legend for not going away.

ive been saying hes made shit TV and needs to go away since way before the internet crusaders heard about the sex pest allegations a few months ago, and many others have been too

this arena backlash all stems from that, but the sentiment is not a "now" thing universally

>>I don’t understand the level of vitriol. Fans hate on
>the
>>stars that go away and do other things, but now they’re
>>hating on a legend for not going away.
>
>ive been saying hes made shit TV and needs to go away since
>way before the internet crusaders heard about the sex pest
>allegations a few months ago, and many others have been too
>
>this arena backlash all stems from that, but the sentiment is
>not a "now" thing universally

Yep. The over the top disdain in live crowds is lazy internetty stuff. AKA the we don't like you for some alleged transgressions/tweet/something your partner or friend did (or allegedly said) so we're going to act like everything you do is 18x worse than it really is.

All of that written, yep...Jericho has been hit or miss for a loooooong time (back to WWE days for me). Sometimes, he can beat you into submission with something because there's SOMETHING good about what he's doing. Other times, nope. It just doesn't work and he can only occasionally get the right type of match together at the right time.

...but it was still pretty damn good. No "surprises" but still a lot of fun.

Swerve vs. Osprey alone was worth the price of admission (I cracked up at One-Eyed Willy doing the intro). Danielson vs. Takagi was probably the second best match. The ladder match was suitably insane. Sabre and OC did their thing. Toni Storm vs. Shirakawa was dope; Storm is still the best character in wrestling and Nigel on commentary sent the match of the top. Mercedes vs. Vasquez was really good, but ended up weird because the L.I. crowd let their hatred of Boston sports sidetrack them.

A few of the matches would have been good TV matches, but weren't up to PLE caliber. And Naito was looking kinda sluggish out there. But the good outweighed the bad.

Seems the express agenda of the doc is to 1) make Rock seem like a great guy IRL and 2) make Hunter look like a genius

I’m not a “but kayfabe!!!” guy but it is kinda deflating on watch Rock portray himself as a generous leader behind the scenes after we watched the Final Boss for 2 months.

Cody’s so earnest he comes off corny. I’ve seen enough to know that’s who he really is but there’s still so much more of his story and reaction that’s not shown.

The two guys I want to hear from most - Rollins for being thrust into this mess and Reigns for having to ride an always changing current - we hear from the least.

This is like a 4th grade book report of a story that I know was way more interesting than what’s being portrayed.

...you'd die of alcohol poisoning.

it was always going to be exactly what it was, and this is only happening because people really believed Dwayne was being a BTS bitch

plus, after the piss bottles and related stories, he needed good PR anyways

Because none of these men come off so impressive as to make you think they painted this masterpiece completely on the fly

that they really thought the other plan was better, the show just got hijacked and they had no choice

>it was always going to be exactly what it was, and this is
>only happening because people really believed Dwayne was being
>a BTS bitch
>
>plus, after the piss bottles and related stories, he needed
>good PR anyways

I'm impressed with how much some people seemed and still seem to be looking for excuses to hate The Rock. I remember that energy from like 1999 online. I'm guessing these are the same crybaby dudes and/or their chip off the old block crybaby kids. Luckily, the Rock is a pro, so he milked those mfers dry by leaning into it and acting a complete fool with the whole Final Boss character. I'm not sure if THAT was 100% planned as absurdly as it turned out to be, but I'm with you on the idea that it was gonna be Cody vs Roman pretty much the whole time. And really, what is more Rhodes than teasing the hell out of a chase? Hehe

Once Cody interrupted that over the top heel press conference thing, I was like 'there's no way this doesn't end up with Cody in the main event of night 2'.

And another hint that you're probably right: it took them '2024 forever' to get that documentary out because they had to figure out how to make the doc match the story they want to tell AND the story they're probably planning to tell going forward.

I just know this: Black Adam Rock was my shit. And those weekly social media promos were appointment viewing for me. You could tell he wanted to laugh as he was delivering some of that stuff. I loved it all.

Zooming out:

I'm drifting into 'just watch the shows when you have time' mode with rasslin in general. And what do you know, I enjoy the now stuff 'more' than I do when I'm trying to keep up with the latest internet scandal/speculation/comparison/whatever.

IE: the over the top disdain for Sasha Banks/CEO/Mercedes and everything she does. People are acting like she's fat and drugged up JYD winning titles out there. Ridiculous. Almost obviously race stuff. Pretty clearly, she's good in the ring and shaky on the mic depending on what story she's trying to tell..to me, that has been her story the whole time!

IE2: weekly discourse about ratings. I don't work at a damn network. I dgaf about 1.9 or 2.1. I just need enough people watching the shit that it keeps coming on! It looks like we're in the clear on that!

In other good news: I'm still a major sucker for documentaries even when I know there's some Febrezing going on! IE: I was just watching The Steiners doc and remembering what a hoss Rick was even before Scott showed up. Good times. I also remember being blown away when I 'found out' about their Japan stuff way back when. I was somehow shocked to find out that they suplexed the shit out of people over there too! Hehe. I remember loving tf out of that Scott Steiner WCW solo run. Him talking about 'phreeks' and 'big bad booty daddy' was a great time for my college-aged brain to take in. Him using pushups as a taunt was also great stuff. And don't even start me on him coming out with that chainmail. I would wear that shit to be funny TODAY if I had one.

everything he was doing was almost too good to be the backup plan

like they really thought they had something better than what we got?

no lol

re: Sasha Mone...they did this to her by presenting her like a babyface while she acted like an asshole, then matching her up immediately with AEW's *only* real babyface of any gender. all messaging was "hate this person" even tho thats probably not what they were going for.

now she gets to wrestle one of AEW's patented well-liked heels who apparently had a fucking stroke in her late 20s. its SO muddled.