kinda feels like towards the end of 2021 there was a chance for the industry to rebalance itself, and for various reasons that window is not only shut, but will never reopen during our lifetimes.

who could have ever known that Vince McMahon's deviancy would be the best thing to happen to WWE's product in 25 years?

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

that was great, with a great finish

not Rhea vs Charlotte "competitively", but it was perfect for what THEY should do

excellent start

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

At this point, I think I rate matches by if I start going on my phone during the match. That one, I did not go on my phone. Kept my attention the whole time. Well executed match and turn.

and then it took me 3x as long as it should have bc i couldnt keep my head down, so im pickin up what you're layin down

dom's smile after the bell...smarmy lil prick 😂

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

prime aisle real estate too

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

that was a good match, i went to go get a coke after the exploder, and Sami had already lost when i got back

i cant pause Peacock on my TV, and since there was no sense of a building crescendo, fuck me i guess

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

once he eventually turns. Fans typically want to cheer for guys who bring the intensity and can do superhuman physical stuff like the Frankensteiner.

and if they really want him to be a heel hes gotta stop doing that. they couldnt get Ted Bundy booed if he was doing top rope Frankensteiners

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

that ive never ever been able to replicate via any other avenue

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Just old school storytelling - CM Punk , too emotional again

That’s the story of SummerSlam 2024.

It’s all made sense story wise, but I question if it’s too many similar endings to put on one show?

i didnt like that they showed the ref what Finn Balor did. that was a step too far for me, bc that should have been an instant DQ.

beyond that and Nia Jax (which has to be the price for Dwayne laying down for Cody), i thought this was great all the way thru.

in fact they made me look forward to rematches of fully satisfying matches, which is fairly incredible.

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

I can’t imagine that’s a work.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

but him being taken out by that fit into the finish too perfectly for it to be real, didnt it? Unless Reigns was going to take him out too?

he had to be apart from the finish either way

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

To me it felt like there was another beat between that spot and Roman’s entrance, and Cody and Solo improvised. But I could be wrong.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

Unless he's really committed to working it.

-----------------

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Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

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He played his part in this section of the storyline perfectly. He's not supposed to BE Roman. He was to play a wanna be, lesser version, delusional ego maniac. He did all of the great imo. He did exactly what needed to be done.

----------------------------------
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"you gotta be real white to hate on a nxgga for eating." (c) okp infin8

>He played his part in this section of the storyline
>perfectly.

>He's not supposed to BE Roman.

Agreed. But he does need to be a credible, badass threat to Cody and something Roman has to contend with on his return.

>He was to play a
>wanna be, lesser version, delusional ego maniac. He did all of
>the great imo. He did exactly what needed to be done.

I think this was meant to elevate his stature in Roman’s absence. I don’t think the pitch was “be a try hard with no charisma, with odd, awkward blank looks on your face all the time”.

He didn’t need to be Roman, but he needer be good, and he wasn’t.

You don’t make a guy the head of a faction, put him in the main event of one of your three most important shows with your new champion, position him to be the primary threat to a returning, freshly minted babyface, and intentionally make him mediocre.

He should be a credible threat to everyone, up to and including Cody and Roman, not a mediocre fill in with no charisma, weak promos, and mediocre wrestling. Fatu exudes most of what Solo needed to showcase to make this pop.

What we got instead was filler, and Jacob Fatu, and instead of Solo elevating and showing he can hang with the top guys in a meaningful way, we got him showing that he’s not at that level and he’s not particularly close.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

they gave him the booking and he played all the notes but he just doesn't connect for me.

<--- Big Baller World Order

There’s not a single interesting or intriguing thing about him apart from being another Uso.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

He was the silent muscle until it was time not to be. There could have been groundwork laid with him suspicious of Rocky coming back, suspicious of Jimmy, suspicious that Roman couldn't win without his help. But Rocky took up a looooootttt of oxygen (for the good of the main event, to be fair), and Solo got no development in the relative safety of the OG Bloodline.

There was a glimmer there with him going HAM on Roman to finish the damn match after the Spear/Spike combo, but Roman disappearing means they didn't get to follow up on that face to face until now.

---------------------------------
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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

this guy on X is great- "mith gifs"

I have no idea who he is, but he's great at pulling short wrestling gifs that give better context to the scenes we see on TV


Solo wonders if Roman is soft
https://x.com/MithGifs/status/1778954865521357239

Solo realizes the power the microphone wields
https://x.com/MithGifs/status/1680201640127913985

Solo never fw Jimmy
https://x.com/MithGifs/status/1736815088580145308

Solo craves violence more than Roman
https://x.com/MithGifs/status/1684560052320079872


now I think there's a fair convo to be had about Solo Sikoa's overall ability as a performer. On one hand, I don't think I've ever seen a great Solo match or heard a great Solo promo. On the other hand I admit that 1) his arrogance in an unearned position is literally the point of the current story and 2) he wasn't asked to do any challenging work as a real singles performer prior to like three months ago.

So I'll settle at the jury still being out on Solo Sikoa. Give Solo time - he comes from good stock and you know Heyman/Roman will always make sure his creative is on point. And he can't help that Jacob Fatu is just such an obvious star (Fatu's presence actually dims Solo's wattage in my opinion)

I would've told you even a year ago that Jey Uso could never be a main-event-caliber singles star in WWE and boy would I be wrong.

>now I think there's a fair convo to be had about Solo Sikoa's
>overall ability as a performer. On one hand, I don't think
>I've ever seen a great Solo match or heard a great Solo promo.
>On the other hand I admit that 1) his arrogance in an unearned
>position is literally the point of the current story and 2) he
>wasn't asked to do any challenging work as a real singles
>performer prior to like three months ago.


Exactly. All of this. If Solo had been around on the main roster for 3+ years and this is all we got from him, I'd be down on him as a performer. But for what I've seen from him in this time I think he can build on everything from character to promo and to in-ring. But now? He is on brand for what is needed for his character in the moment with Fatu obviously being the clearer threat to Roman.

----------------------------------
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"you gotta be real white to hate on a nxgga for eating." (c) okp infin8

blank

----------------------------------
www.maxptah.com
"you gotta be real white to hate on a nxgga for eating." (c) okp infin8

None of those X links change the abject midcard performer we’ve seen since he got the ball.

>now I think there's a fair convo to be had about Solo Sikoa's
>overall ability as a performer. On one hand, I don't think
>I've ever seen a great Solo match or heard a great Solo promo.

Agreed. “Good enough” seems to be his highest gear so far. And he worked well as Roman’s personal goon.

But he didn’t show much of anything commiserate with his current spot, which is huge.

>On the other hand I admit that 1) his arrogance in an unearned
>position is literally the point of the current story

Is it? As I see it, the initial premise wasn’t much different from Triple H after Shawn lost to Austin:

Roman dropped the ball and Solo called in his blood for reinforcements to create a new version of the old guard. Heyman was the added wrinkle and that piece was pure gold- but because Heyman is a singularly great talent. Not because Solo was particularly great in his role.

The point here is setting up the inevitable civil war for Dwayne to come through and clash with Roman.

Unearned arrogance is just a character trait Solo has within the story, not the point of the story.

And to that point, being mediocre isn’t part of any of it. The crux of the issue is whether or not he’s actually good in the role. He really hasn’t been.

>wasn't asked to do any challenging work as a real singles
>performer prior to like three months ago.

Sure. That doesn’t make his work any better once he got that spot and in no way invalidates the criticism he gets for it.

>So I'll settle at the jury still being out on Solo Sikoa. Give
>Solo time
>he comes from good stock

Sure, he could become something. But he’s been around while now and hasn’t shown any real hints of having something more in the tank. Which is fine. He has enough to make him a believable goon who follows orders. But I din’t see anything that suggests he has another gear.

>Heyman/Roman will always make sure his creative is on point.

His creative has never been been all that good, and once he got something real to chew on, he didn’t do much with it. Sure, it was a lot of heavy lifting and he probably wasn’t prepared for those shoes.

>And he can't help that Jacob Fatu is just such an obvious star
>(Fatu's presence actually dims Solo's wattage in my opinion)

I’d say that’s a generous, even charitable framing. I think Fatu exposed how little Solo actually has.

Jacob Fatu is immediately interesting and exudes every quality Solo lacks. Yes, years of seasoning plays a huge role in that.

>I would've told you even a year ago that Jey Uso could never
>be a main-event-caliber singles star in WWE and boy would I be
>wrong.

I don’t think he’s a real main event star just yet. Not really.

He’s Yeet, cell phone lights, and hand waving. As a singles, he’s an engaging entrance and a quality ally to the real main event stars. He needs either a better promo (a lot better) or a more interesting move set to be a real main eventer. But even with that criticism, he has a *lot* going for him, namely an indelible, Jeff Hardy-esque connection with the fans. You just can’t teach that shit. And when he’s put in real, meaningful stories, he can play his role very well.

He needs the writing to set him up, whereas those true blue main event stars can elevate the writing.

IMO if he had a more exciting move set beyond a superkick and that generic ass splash, he’d be Jeff Hardy 2.0. He has so much going for him that, even with deficiencies, it’s really easy to look at what he could tweak to cement him as a true top guy.

Solo is much younger and much less experienced, so who knows what he is ten years from now. But I remember looking at the Usos early in their career and thinking, damn, these guys can be a great tag team.

Reigns? You could see that shit Immediately- that’s Big Homie energy.
Jacob Fatu? Yeah leave that dude alone, he don’t give a fuck.

Solo doesn’t even give glimpses like that. Whether or not he can get there, who knows. But he’s not there now and he’s not all that close.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

>He played his part in this section of the storyline
>perfectly. He's not supposed to BE Roman. He was to play a
>wanna be, lesser version, delusional ego maniac. He did all of
>the great imo. He did exactly what needed to be done.

I think I get it. He's not all that big. Jacob Fatu is, at least, him but better at ~ everything. He's kind of the new Roman with less gifts staring everyone in the face (aka a dude the company is going out of its way to make a thing and the crowd mostly isn't totally buying it).

It'll be fine cuz I think he'll get at least a little better. But he's got some very bright lights on him rn.

That’s completely changed for the time being.

I need to see that follow up promo but goddamn, that’s how you elevate someone to the next tier.

That crowd ain’t shit though, lmao

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

This shit shouldn’t have gone a minute

If they were going to go this long, it should have been a nonstop ass whoopin done to prolong the pain.

JD should have gotten *zero* offense.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

As an AEW fan, I'm kinda bummed, because I certainly liked having them on the card. They'd been there since the beginning, and put on some of the best matches in the fed's history. Honestly, their eight-man match with Butcher and Blade vs. FTR and Young Bucks during one of the nights of Fiter Fest during the pandemic is what REALLY got me back into pro wrestling.

But, if I'm being real, they hit their ceiling in AEW. Their title win over the Bucks was epic and they got to do some seriously crazy shit as Death Triangle. Outside of letting Fenix run with one of the single belts for a while, there's not much more that they could accomplish there. So if indeed Hunter offered both of them the proverbial bag, I'm not mad at them for trying their hands somewhere else.

I really hope they don't get plugged into either LWO or Lega Da Fantasma, like every other luchador who goes there. I have hope since they've been looking for "The next Rey Misterio" almost as long as they've been looking for "The next Undertaker," and Fenix would probably fit the bill. Oh, and with Hurt Business quite possibly reforming over there, that would help as well.

As for AEW, they're not going to be at loss for high fliers with the Luchas gone, with the debut of Hologram, possibly Mistico, and Rick O'Shea (whenever he debuts). However, the Luchas' departure hurts the tag team division, which used to be one of their serious strengths. Having the Bucks as the dick heels who refuse to defend the belts hasn't served the titles well. At least MxM looks promising. And the should probably make Kyle O'Reily and Mark Briscoe a full-time tag team.

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Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

Nothing left for them in AEW, might as well get paid and see what Hunter has in store for them. They’ve been grinding on the indies forever, they deserve it. And yeah, let’s just hope they don’t get thrown in to the LWO/Legado mess, never to be seen on tv with anyone else.

Lucha Bros will always have a good place in my rasslin mind because of Lucha Underground. That's just the way it is!

If they go to WWE, I hope Haitch can come up with a way to make them feel dangerous again. In AEW, at worst, they came off like 'here's two more dudes who can have good matches and stuff'. That's cool but I miss my dude Penta doing dramatic arm breaking and being lowkey crazy like he was in LU.

>As an AEW fan, I'm kinda bummed, because I certainly liked
>having them on the card. They'd been there since the
>beginning, and put on some of the best matches in the fed's
>history. Honestly, their eight-man match with Butcher and
>Blade vs. FTR and Young Bucks during one of the nights of
>Fiter Fest during the pandemic is what REALLY got me back into
>pro wrestling.
>
>But, if I'm being real, they hit their ceiling in AEW. Their
>title win over the Bucks was epic and they got to do some
>seriously crazy shit as Death Triangle. Outside of letting
>Fenix run with one of the single belts for a while, there's
>not much more that they could accomplish there. So if indeed
>Hunter offered both of them the proverbial bag, I'm not mad at
>them for trying their hands somewhere else.
>
>I really hope they don't get plugged into either LWO or Lega
>Da Fantasma, like every other luchador who goes there. I have
>hope since they've been looking for "The next Rey Misterio"
>almost as long as they've been looking for "The next
>Undertaker," and Fenix would probably fit the bill. Oh, and
>with Hurt Business quite possibly reforming over there, that
>would help as well.
>
>As for AEW, they're not going to be at loss for high fliers
>with the Luchas gone, with the debut of Hologram, possibly
>Mistico, and Rick O'Shea (whenever he debuts). However, the
>Luchas' departure hurts the tag team division, which used to
>be one of their serious strengths. Having the Bucks as the
>dick heels who refuse to defend the belts hasn't served the
>titles well. At least MxM looks promising. And the should
>probably make Kyle O'Reily and Mark Briscoe a full-time tag
>team.

>Lucha Bros will always have a good place in my rasslin mind
>because of Lucha Underground. That's just the way it is!
>
>If they go to WWE, I hope Haitch can come up with a way to
>make them feel dangerous again. In AEW, at worst, they came
>off like 'here's two more dudes who can have good matches and
>stuff'. That's cool but I miss my dude Penta doing dramatic
>arm breaking and being lowkey crazy like he was in LU.
>

Penta was the scariest dude on the planet back then. He was a big enough deal to be matched up with Omega at the original All In. And I’m glad Fenix got a little title run even if it was a fluke injury thing, but still a missed opportunity. He has some of the purest babyface energy of anyone out there.

I think they didn’t want to split up cause they own a business and do meet and greets/indie dates together, but I wish Penta had turned on Fenix at some point. Would have been a hot angle.

>kinda feels like towards the end of 2021 there was a chance
>for the industry to rebalance itself, and for various reasons
>that window is not only shut, but will never reopen during our
>lifetimes.
>
>who could have ever known that Vince McMahon's deviancy would
>be the best thing to happen to WWE's product in 25 years?

I had all sorts of adulting to do the day of the show so I didn't get to watch it anywhere near as clean as I had hoped but yeah...that show and the Raw after was a good ole time. I hope they can keep the good times rolling from now until Mania. The main thing: I hope we all get lucky with healthiness!

The New Wyatts could end up being a really special combination now that we've seen them in the ring. Got a little dusty in the room when Rowan hit that Harper tribute. Lumis is always a blast, and even Gacy's got a little bit of the Bray magic in him (and I HATED his NXT 2.0 stuff).

---------------------------------
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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

Is just let the Big Homie (c) Cold Truth be the Big Homie. That was a damn near Austin level pop.

---------------------------------
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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

But you beat me to it hahaha

F*ckin Heyman is gonna get a Road Warriors pop at this point

Notice he hasn’t put the one up yet…when he finally makes amends with Jey, Jimmy, and I guess Sami and they throw the 1s up leading into War Games it’s gonna feel like a bong rip.

that 2nd OOOOOWAAAAAH? Deafening.

the OTC chants? Goosebumps

WWE killed it this week on all three shows. I just so happened to catch NXT when Wes Lee turned. I can't remember when all three shows were on fire in a week like this.

----------------------------------
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"you gotta be real white to hate on a nxgga for eating." (c) okp infin8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yd3lQVbkYc
type shit

i was in my living room w/ the 1 up lmao

<--- Big Baller World Order

let's state the obvious first - there's probably not enough wrestling and the show is too long (the former is especially weird considering the latter)

but damn you have to give credit where it's due...

Every conflict makes sense
The characters don't behave like dopes
Storylines get paid off in big ways
Stars are blossoming all over the place (McIntyre, Priest, Rhea are all bigger deals and better performers than they've ever been)

outlining a 3 hour live weekly TV show has to be hard but they're pulling it off by leaps and bounds. Hard to knock them.

>let's state the obvious first - there's probably not enough
>wrestling and the show is too long (the former is especially
>weird considering the latter)

i dont care about this actually. i like weekly TV to be talk heavy, as long as its interesting to listen to. i dont mind if the show is built around hyping the next big matches, bc thats what i grew up with anyways. ironic that the show is now more like 6:05 TBS than ever before.

but, one of my issues with the the show is that a lot of the wrestling isn't people i care about. Cornette joked that they wrestle until they're trusted to talk, and its kinda true. But that makes the wrestling suffer because they might as well be local job guys for all we get to hear from them.

>but damn you have to give credit where it's due...
>
>Every conflict makes sense - check

>The characters don't behave like dopes - check

>Storylines get paid off in big ways - check

>Stars are blossoming all over the place - check

the last one doesnt happen without the first 3, which is why AEW only has stars until theyve been there for 6 months and then they just become like everyone else

>outlining a 3 hour live weekly TV show has to be hard but
>they're pulling it off by leaps and bounds.

this is where i diverge. they are not pulling this off. the negative space means i cant watch live. i HAVE to be able to fast forward. a big hope of mine is that once they go to netflix, entrances become less grandiose because i suspect they only exist to fill their timeslot, to which they are no longer bound.

i fully agree that its better than its been in a loooooooooong time. but the format holds it back from what i would call a good TV show without a qualifier

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

So that’s a big piece of context I left out that I’m glad you added. No matter how good it is I never prioritize watching it at 8pm on a Monday. Sitting through that show live end-to-end would feel like a chore no matter how good it is.

That said, there’s so many characters I stop fast forwarding for to see and hear from

Gunther
Sami
Priest
Rhea
Gable
Liv
Dom
Breaker
Jey Uso
McIntyre
and of course Punk

I thought this was the norm?

Hell, even PPVs and PLEs...I'm starting a little late on purpose. Sure, I don't get to live tweet. But really..does anyone NEED to see half-baked reactionary rebooking of every match 18 seconds after a finish happens? And I can say 'sheesh, Liv Morgan sure looks good' anytime!

Again, I'm not talking about just rasslin. I do this with sports a lot now too. And shows? C'mon now...I thought we were all too spoiled to watch commercials regularly by now!? Hehe



>So that’s a big piece of context I left out that I’m glad
>you added. No matter how good it is I never prioritize
>watching it at 8pm on a Monday. Sitting through that show live
>end-to-end would feel like a chore no matter how good it is.
>
>That said, there’s so many characters I stop fast forwarding
>for to see and hear from
>
>Gunther
>Sami
>Priest
>Rhea
>Gable
>Liv
>Dom
>Breaker
>Jey Uso
>McIntyre
>and of course Punk
>
>

Some family and friends still reactionary text heavy during a lot of the games I care about the most, so I’ve gotta watch live.

PPV’s - I should do it more often than I do. There’s so much dead time. I complain a lot about the modern style of wrestling and also the TV presentation of it, and here’s another one - the post match instant replays drive me nuts. We all have the ability to replay whatever we want to. I’m trying to watch the wrestlers and see how the crowd is reacting, and you’re making me watch something I already saw, and can see as many times as I need to with my own clicker. Stop!

Raw/Smackdown/AEW - I basically will watch the highlights on YouTube. If an episode interests me enough to see a lot of entire segments or matches, I’ll pull it up and watch the stuff I want to see.

Peacock on my TV doesnt allow me to pause even. It does on mobile, but even if i try to Chromecast it it doesnt really cast it, it just kicks it to the app

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

He doesn’t have it.

Charisma.
Aura.
Whatever “It” is, he doesn’t have it, and it’s painfully clear next to Big Homie and Jacob Fatu.

That little downward glare he does, it doesn’t look or feel menacing or threatening. It looks and feels like someone who’s trying *very* hard.

Ditto the cheesy, dated, badly and overly telegraphed spike move.

Fatu is out here in a walking boot looking and feeling like a straight up menace to society. Fatu has alllll that shit. Just mind your business and don’t look him in the eye and you might not get your ass whooped.

I don’t buy any of the excuses people have made. Looking and feeling like a C list player is absolutely not the goal for a program centered around the return of the OTC.

He sucks and isn’t good at anything a main event player demands. He doesn’t even feel like a #2 who can’t fill the shoes of #1. He still comes across like Scowling Goon #3 and they need to pivot. He’s better off turning into a proverbial chicken shit heel than this tough guy shit. That glare makes him look slow, on some Baby Huey shit.

I’m glad he got his shot but he’s getting by on the gravity of that bigger story. I liked him in NXT and liked him as that physical enforcer, but he needs to add some layers here.

Big Homie is back though and I can’t wait to see his next chapter. Thankfully Fatu is there to make him work a little.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

where the fuck did that come from?

2 amazing bron breakker segments, drew and punk still cooking with napalm, judgement day is interesting again, a couple perfectly acceptable TV matches. i kinda wanted to play fallout with my kid at grandma's tonight, and it took me 2 hours to watch Raw.

incredible.

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Yeah, he’s not as compelling, but every time he opens his mouth the building boos the shit out of him

Also Smackdown is a far superior live experience. For one, those Speed matches are way better than Main Event as a warmup act. We got Iyo vs Lyra and Andrade vs Pete Dunne on Friday, which were both fun-ass matches.

KO the Wrestling Understander is the best thing going in WWE today man. He’s a DELIGHT.

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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

Both he and Dom have lucked out and been heavily protected from jump and both will need those protections in perpetuity.

Neither has any gravity or appeal on their own.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

But he’s been very goodat leaning into it. He’ll probably never be a main event heel, but he’s made now.

As for Solo, it seems like they’re shifting the writing to give him a chance to establish something as a chickenshit heel. The delivery came off a little better in the building on Friday. This was probably too early for him. But he’s getting a reaction, which is more that you could say, than say, Kross.

---------------------------------
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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

>But he’s been very goodat leaning into it. He’ll probably
>never be a main event heel, but he’s made now.

I don’t see him leaning in all that much. I just see him doing the bare minimum and fans are reacting to his relationships with other characters.

Rey
Rhea
JD
Liv

He’s had so much built in for him. He comes out with the Eddie cut and tights, the Three Amigos, etc. He gets to more or less stroll through with a ton of ready made content.

I agree that he’s made in that he’s been around enough and has been placed in enough high profile spots that he’s now an indelible piece of this era, but if he’s ever out on his own without a faction or female companion to carry the day, I don’t think he has anything at all to offer beyond trolling fans via our near universal love for Eddie and Rey.

I’m not even sure how long he can sustain interest while being carried, but I could be wrong there.

>As for Solo, it seems like they’re shifting the writing to
>give him a chance to establish something as a chickenshit
>heel. The delivery came off a little better in the building on
>Friday. This was probably too early for him. But he’s
>getting a reaction, which is more that you could say, than
>say, Kross.

Kross is a big pile of who gives a fuck. He’s a complete waste of air time, so I’ll definitely agree there. But I think he’s like Dom, getting those reactions more as a result of his proximity and spot as an antagonist to someone the people love than anything he does.

I did say earlier that chicken shit heel is the way to go with him right now, so I agree that he has a shot if they proceed with that direction. But so far I need to see more from him. I think he has way more to work with than Dom though.

I do think he’s definitely getting significant benefit of the doubt. I could just be judging him harshly though.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

Not everyone has to be Will Ospreay.

Jey Uso, Dominic Mysterio, Solo Sikoa, LA Knight … none of those guys are great in the ring , but they all illicit huge responses right now. Also, none of those guys will ever be world champion and that should be totally ok with everyone.

That’s what I mean by leaning in. He knows what the crowd thinks of him. And he works with it. That’s *why* it works when he does Three Amigos and hits the shimmy.

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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

I saw Dom v Punk on 12/26 @ MSG and in the first 5 minutes of the match Dom probably did it 6 times and it was never not funny

Feel good moment for Danielson to get a huge win on the biggest stage. And I'm sure they really did have to tie him down and threaten to make him eat pulled pork sandwiches to agree to do it.

Going in, I thought for sure Swerve was going to win. I figured they'd done the "beloved wrestler wins his last big match on the brink of retirement earlier in this year" already. It made sense that Bryan was going to go out with the emotional goodbye with the Wembley fans cheering. But once it was clear that Swerve was goig full heel during the mmatch, having him beat Danielson to a bloody pulp i front of his family, and having Prince NaNa dancing right in front of them to rub it in, I knew Bryan was winning.

So, good for Danielson. It'll probably be back on Swerve by October at WrestleDream in Tacoma. Or, hell, Darby might win it at Grand Slam.

The rest of the card was good as well. Osprey also gets his big emotional victory over MJF in England, and they're able to end the Tiger Driver story. Match was flames too. Ladder match was appropriately insane, and happy that Pac also got his Wembley moment.

I honestly didn't think that Mariah May was going to win, but it makes. Toni Storm has been playing this shit to a hilt and being awesome in the process, wouldn't hurt to give her a break. Mone vs. Britt was fine, but the crowd was pretty much spent for most of it due the Osprey match before. Also happy they brought back Hayter during the pre show. Have her fight Saraya at All Out or at Grand Slam.

The Casino Gauntlet was a lot of fun... until the end. Nigel wrestling was a great Holy Shit moment. Zack Sabre Jr. showing up was great as well. Jarrett getting to fight on that stage in front of that crowd was a good pay-off. I've been loving everything the Conglomeration guys have been doing. Hangman further solidified has angry heel credentials. And the Rick O'Shea debut kicked an appropriate amount of ass. However... I was not feeling the Christian Cage win at the time. With Danielson winning, I understand it, because you can run Christian vs. Bryan at All Out with minimal build-up. And it helps them finally pay off the Killswitch/Christian thing. But the match had been operating at a pretty high level, and the ending kinda deflated things. But it does set up the two biggest matches in Chicago in two weeks (the other being Swerve vs. Hangman).

I also understand that the Bucks wanted to win in front of Wembley, and the match was good, But for fuck sake's defend the titles more than once every four months. Like, AEW's tag team division is literally what got me into them, and this current reign has been killing the division. I don't even mind the characters that the Bucks are portraying, but they need to make the titles important again. They've got the pieces to build the division back up, and I hope they do so, and get the belts off the Bucks in the process.

I was fine with Jack Perry keeping his title (at this point, he's the only member of the Elite that should have a belt). Allin gets to move on the World Title picture, and they got to bring back Sting.

And they can finally but the Hook vs. Jericho thing to rest. Match wasn't the best thing that night, but had a satisfying ending was Taz getting involved. Honestly, Hook probaby should have just given the title back to Taz after he won. It's served its purpose and Hook should move on to something. And they can should probably end the Learning Tree here, and turn Big Bill and Brian Keith against Jericho. But given the reactions that Bill has been getting in the OK, he might end up being the babyface in the whole thing.

So, overall, a lot of fun. As the vast majority of AEW PLE's are. Now they just need to formally announce the new TV deal.

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But I couldn't let myself miss Danielson's potential last match so I ordered and watched. I had a very good time! And yeah, with AEW, it reminds me of when WWE was catching hell with making any decent weekly TV but the roster was so stacked with pros that the PPVs/PLEs were still a parade of rock solid matches.

That main event was such a grand professional wrestling match with crisp action and high end storytelling. Everyone was on their best behavior for sure. And Swerve!? Yes! He understood his role and played the hell out of it. When I saw Swerve's dope azz gear, I assumed he was losing, but that match had me guessing like crazy. I'm glad he got the main event and that it was such a good time. Hangman showing his crazy azz up mid-match was perfectly logical and I liked that too!

I love love love Broken Toni Storm. And I figured Mariah had to win. But they covered Toni in glory even in defeat.

Britt Baker is also broken but in a bad way. Mainly, it seems like her rasslin timing and spacing is obviously and regularly way off. Like you can see and feel her blue-screening on a spot, the person she's working with is like 'wtf, homie', and they have to somehow keep going but it looks like shit by the time the spot is done. I feel for her and I hope she's not actually a jackass who causes bullshit everywhere she's at. IE: if she's going around acting like she's The Rock or some shit, she needs to cut it tf out post haste before she's gotta be a full-time DMD and that's it.

MJF/Ospreay is one of those matches that only a few can execute right now. They're both young and physically peaking at the same damn time and...yeah...they killed it. I liked it more than I expected. And I'm glad Will cut the crap and put MJF on ice with that Tiger Driver 91.

I skipped the preshow so I didn't know that fine azz Jamie Hayter was back until I took a social media lap after the show. On that, I didn't watch it 100% live so I watched it with absolutely no social media. In the case of a fed that is cold, I generally prefer to watch with no social media during the show anyway. That way, I don't ingest all of the whining about finishes, metrics, comparisons, ranks, or whatever else passes for content sometimes on tha twitta.

I wonder how Danielson ends up leaving. My guess: he shows up trying to retire, people chant nice stuff at him, and...just when he's about to leave, some heel (Christian) rolls up on him ultra heelishly, insults him, his BCC clique, and/or his family and bingo bango, he's gotta keep rasslin. And if its Christian, you know the dad shit is jumping off for sure.

>Feel good moment for Danielson to get a huge win on the
>biggest stage. And I'm sure they really did have to tie him
>down and threaten to make him eat pulled pork sandwiches to
>agree to do it.
>
>Going in, I thought for sure Swerve was going to win. I
>figured they'd done the "beloved wrestler wins his last big
>match on the brink of retirement earlier in this year"
>already. It made sense that Bryan was going to go out with the
>emotional goodbye with the Wembley fans cheering. But once it
>was clear that Swerve was goig full heel during the mmatch,
>having him beat Danielson to a bloody pulp i front of his
>family, and having Prince NaNa dancing right in front of them
>to rub it in, I knew Bryan was winning.
>
>So, good for Danielson. It'll probably be back on Swerve by
>October at WrestleDream in Tacoma. Or, hell, Darby might win
>it at Grand Slam.
>
>The rest of the card was good as well. Osprey also gets his
>big emotional victory over MJF in England, and they're able to
>end the Tiger Driver story. Match was flames too. Ladder match
>was appropriately insane, and happy that Pac also got his
>Wembley moment.
>
>I honestly didn't think that Mariah May was going to win, but
>it makes. Toni Storm has been playing this shit to a hilt and
>being awesome in the process, wouldn't hurt to give her a
>break. Mone vs. Britt was fine, but the crowd was pretty much
>spent for most of it due the Osprey match before. Also happy
>they brought back Hayter during the pre show. Have her fight
>Saraya at All Out or at Grand Slam.
>
>The Casino Gauntlet was a lot of fun... until the end. Nigel
>wrestling was a great Holy Shit moment. Zack Sabre Jr. showing
>up was great as well. Jarrett getting to fight on that stage
>in front of that crowd was a good pay-off. I've been loving
>everything the Conglomeration guys have been doing. Hangman
>further solidified has angry heel credentials. And the Rick
>O'Shea debut kicked an appropriate amount of ass. However... I
>was not feeling the Christian Cage win at the time. With
>Danielson winning, I understand it, because you can run
>Christian vs. Bryan at All Out with minimal build-up. And it
>helps them finally pay off the Killswitch/Christian thing. But
>the match had been operating at a pretty high level, and the
>ending kinda deflated things. But it does set up the two
>biggest matches in Chicago in two weeks (the other being
>Swerve vs. Hangman).
>
>I also understand that the Bucks wanted to win in front of
>Wembley, and the match was good, But for fuck sake's defend
>the titles more than once every four months. Like, AEW's tag
>team division is literally what got me into them, and this
>current reign has been killing the division. I don't even mind
>the characters that the Bucks are portraying, but they need to
>make the titles important again. They've got the pieces to
>build the division back up, and I hope they do so, and get the
>belts off the Bucks in the process.
>
>I was fine with Jack Perry keeping his title (at this point,
>he's the only member of the Elite that should have a belt).
>Allin gets to move on the World Title picture, and they got to
>bring back Sting.
>
>And they can finally but the Hook vs. Jericho thing to rest.
>Match wasn't the best thing that night, but had a satisfying
>ending was Taz getting involved. Honestly, Hook probaby should
>have just given the title back to Taz after he won. It's
>served its purpose and Hook should move on to something. And
>they can should probably end the Learning Tree here, and turn
>Big Bill and Brian Keith against Jericho. But given the
>reactions that Bill has been getting in the OK, he might end
>up being the babyface in the whole thing.
>
>So, overall, a lot of fun. As the vast majority of AEW PLE's
>are. Now they just need to formally announce the new TV deal.

This sucks. Fuck cancer.

I'll say he may still have the best overall presence of any wrestler ever. Going to back to when I first saw him as one of the OG Sky Scrapers, he looked like the biggest bad-ass to ever walk the Earth. And though he was far from the best worker, he made the powerbomb look like the most absolutely awesome move ever. In WCW, him joining the Four Horesmen just seemed so... right.

I was super-pumped when he made it over to the WWF in 1991. And was super pissed when they turned him heel once it looked like he had the potential to eclipse Hogan. That Royal Rumble was one of the first times fans started to turn against Hogan in favor of someone else. I'm sure it freaked Hogan out. I was again super pissed when the McMahon had them edit the audio the end of that match to make it sound like the fans were behind Hogan, rather than Sid.

He wasn't perfect. He seemed more committed to playing softball than wrestling early in his career. And he clearly had multiple screws loose. Sometimes it funny (the story of him confronting Brian Pillman with a squegee) and sometimes it was frightening and criminal (him nearly killing Arn Anderson with a pair of safety scissors). And ring-wise, his run in 2000 WCW was downright embarrassing before it ended with that horrific injury. But when things lined up right, he was fucking incredible.

-----------------

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was that even though i didnt hear the squeegee story until like 20 years later, it absolutely fit in with everything i already believed about Sid Vicious

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Sid was the first wrestler I had ever seen up close outside of going to a wrestling show in Memphis and this was when he was still wearing a mask in the promotion. He was legit the first dude I was scared of as a kid, but was the coolest person. Lawler had a traveling softball team and they would play other wrestlers/players in the city on Saturdays and Sid was a beast up at bat. If he had put that same focus in wrestling he'd be so much better. But alas, I think he got his flowers informally.

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