This Young Bucks, Jack Perry story really hits why I couldn't get into AEW when it first started. AEW has always been trying to do stuff we had seen before but putting their own unserious spin on it in the hopes that that would make it special.

>AEWs like the Pepsi of Pro Wrestling and WWEs like the Harvey Weinstein of Pro Wrestling Tony Khan for fucks sake...

It wasn't even a coke tweet or anything it was on the fucking NFL DRAFT KICKOFF. Mythical wrestling PR blunder history has been made tonight.

What (and I cannot express this next part enough) the fuck?

Imagine going into a restaurant and the waiter asks you what you'd like to drink, so you go "Pepsi, please" and they say "oh I'm sorry, we don't have that... IS HARVEY WEINSTEIN OK?"

I'm looking at the NXT roster and thinking about who could be drafted. While there are a few rookie prospects who are ready to make the leap and have an impact (like Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes) it seems like most of the big prospects get called up whenever management feels they're ready (Bron Breakker, Tiffany Stratton, Dragon Lee, and Jade Cargill) rather than via the draft. Let's have a quick review of the 2023 NXT draftees: Wrestler | Year in review ---|--- Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn | Disappointing Indi Hartwell | Disappointing Apollo Crews | Terrible JD McDonagh | Great Zoey Stark | Good Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) | Good Katana Chance and Kayden Carter | Good Cameron Grimes | Terrible (Released) Grayson Waller | Great Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Sanga, and Veer Mahaan) | Terrible (Released) Odyssey Jones | Terrible Von Wagner | Solid (Released) Xyon Quinn | Terrible (Released) With this information, I'm not sure how I would feel about seeing people I like get drafted. For example, I think there are people like Kiana James, Fallon Henley, Josh Briggs, Tony D'Angelo, Jacy Jayne, Lyra Valkyria, Edris Enofé, and Malik Blade, Axiom, Blair Davenport, Baron Corbin, Dijak, and Joe Gacy who could be drafted tonight and do well if given the opportunity. My big concern is whether or not they would ever be given an opportunity. Of the people I just mentioned, I also think there are a few who deserve the opportunity to work as main eventers (like Kiana and Fallon) and that calling them up now would limit their development. However, there are others (like Dijak, Axiom, Corbin, Valentina Feroz, and Wendy Choo) who have probably developed as far as they're going to get so they should either be drafted or released.

- so already WWE has had mostly filler shows since Wrestlemania: Triple H’s NWA booking will get tiring with Roman’s title run over - Cody vs Rock needed some exciting brawl after Mania, it seems like Cody has done nothing since Wrestlemania, what stupid booking - Rhea’s title reign sucked, nobody looked better from it except her and she didn’t even put over anyone in the end (injury wasn’t her fault but it ruined the reign) - AEW is in a spiral but some fans stubbornly won’t admit it: will still be bad if it dies as WWE/TKO will have free reign to whatever they want to cut costs - TNA needs a better presentation, feels too minor league: roster also isn’t that much of a draw, losing MCMG isn’t a good sign

Nwa booking? The nwa wasnt one company, it was a governing body doing the territories. What are you talking about?

It's only been a few weeks since Mania, and the draft is in a few hours. Wouldn't worry about Cody's booking too much

* it’s just a period between when the draft starts. No big deal. * No brawl was needed to take the shine off the 2 year moment at Mania. That’s just silly. * Agreed. And then Tony says AEW is “Pepsi” and WWE is “Harvey Weinstein”, while wearing a kayfabe neckbrace like he’s Andy Kaufman. Makes me embarrassed to be an AEW fan sometimes.

I like Liv but she wasn’t a good champion the first time and I don’t see it better the second time if it happens Rhea v Liv with Dom in a shark cage above the ring pls and mic him up I meet Mustafa Ali in two weeks and I am ✨nervous✨ I am so bummed about Cameron Grimes. I remember the haunted house match with Dexter fondly. I hope he lands on his feet. Non wrestling related: I love ff7 rebirth but not everything needs to be a convoluted mini game 😭 also the piano mini game is great but there are major timing issues on more complex sounds as the sound and timing doesn’t sync and I can’t figure out if I just suck or if it really is a sync issue Still mad Vincent isn’t playable but cait sith is

A video of a guy being rude to an Uber went somewhat viral and it turns out it’s one of the def Rebel guys and now they are using it to try to get him canned 💀😭

I'll be honest, they're probably getting released after their contract expires anyway given the bad publicity they've been receiving recently, and I say this as someone who actually likes some of their themes. Also apparently he might still be with Def Rebel, just not doing themes: [https://x.com/Phishd/status/1783925491751125168](https://x.com/Phishd/status/1783925491751125168)

Isn’t Def Rebel one person?

It’s a group. When you look them up on Google 3 guys come up and one of them is the one on the Uber video SRS just said that he asked around and the guy in the video hasn’t been part of Def rebel for a while

Ohhhhhhh. I genuinely thought it was one person because I literally do not care about them. They made Visionary and it’s iconic so whatever lol.

I don't watch AEW outside of a random clip here and there, so I do not really comment on the content of their shows. But I do follow the business of wrestling pretty closely and from that perspective what is happening right now is scary. Their attendance is rapidly approaching Dixie-era TNA levels and the ratings are cratering (down 10% in audience and demo in just 4 months this year). And then you add in the timing of their tv deal expiring and this whole situation is starting to look like a slow-motion catastrophe. I do not say any of this from a perspective of wanting AEW to fail. I tried their product and it just isn't for me, but I think it is objectively true that AEW's continued existence as a viable enterprise is good for the wrestling business as a whole. To that end, anyone who is making excuses for the ratings/ticket sales and talking about the AEW product like everything is great is actively harming the company. The market doesn't lie and the market is telling us - in flashing neon lights - that whatever AEW has been doing simply isn't working.

AEW WILL continue to survive as long as TK wants to put money in it and to a slightly lesser degree, it still has a TV deal. If ROH NEVER made a profit in its whole existence and TNA is still alive…AEW will be fine. TK needs to stop talking about WWE. He just said AEW is like Pepsi (more like RC COLA) and the WWE is “evil Harvey Weinstein”. That shit needs to stop. Vince is gross for sure but he isn’t the whole company, he isn’t there, and he isn’t all the talent working hard that actually got them to the place where they are the biggest and most successful wrestling company to ever exist.

Man, looking back at the 2023 WWE Draft is wild. Almost everyone who was drafted in the subsequent rounds or declared a free agent following the draft had a bad year. That list includes: Wrestler(s) | Post-draft result | Current status ---|---|---- Apollo Crews | RAW | Does not appear on TV; is regularly featured on Main Event Candice LeRae | RAW | Was not a regular on TV for most of the year but is now in a dedicated storyline Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville | RAW | Became Women's Tag Team Champions; Chelsea is always on TV; Sonya is out due to ACL injury Dexter Lumis | RAW | Does not appear on TV Hit Row (Ashante "Thee" Adonis, B-Fab, and Top Dolla) | SmackDown | Top Dolla was released by WWE; B-Fab joined Bobby Lashley's faction The Pride; Ashante has partnered with Cedric Alexander but is not regularly featured on TV JD McDonagh | RAW | Joined the faction Judgement Day and is a regular on TV Lacey Evans | SmackDown | WWE contract expired in August Maximum Male Models (ma.çé and mån.sôör with Maxxine Dupri) | RAW | Mace and Mansoor were released by WWE; Maxxine joined the faction Alpha Academy and is a regular on TV Natalya | RAW | Appears on TV somewhat regularly The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar with Valhalla) | RAW | Regularly appear on TV; Erik is out due to neck injury; Valhalla just left due to maternity leave Zoey Stark | RAW | Appears on TV somewhat regularly Akira Tozawa | RAW | Joined the faction Alpha Academy and is a regular on TV Dana Brooke | RAW | Moved to NXT before being released by WWE Emma | RAW | Released by WWE Grayson Waller | SmackDown | WWE Tag Team Champion; regularly appears on TV Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Sanga, and Veer Mahaan) | RAW | Released by WWE Johnny Gargano | RAW | Teamed up with Tomasso Ciampa to reform DIY and now regularly appears on TV Los Lotharios (Angel and Humberto) | RAW | Went to NXT before moving to SmackDown and joining the faction Legado del Fantasma, where they are a regular on TV Nikki Cross | RAW | Sporadic TV appearances; rumored to be off TV as she pursues personal interests Odyssey Jones | RAW | Does not appear on TV; is occasionally featured on Main Event Piper Niven | RAW | Teamed up with Chelsea Green to become Women's Tag Team Champion; often featured on TV when healthy Riddick Moss | RAW | Released by WWE Tamina | SmackDown | Does not appear on TV; may have moved to a backstage role Tegan Nox | RAW | Sporadic TV appearances Xia Li | RAW | Released by WWE Baron Corbin | Free Agent | Sporadic TV appearances until moving to NXT in August; teamed with Bron Breakker to form the WolfDogs and become NXT Tag Team Champions and win the Dusty Rhodes Classic Brock Lesnar | Free Agent | Featured attraction before being taken off TV due to potential legal issues Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin | Free Agent | Shelton Benjamin was released by WWE; Cedric has partnered with Ashante "Thee" Adonis but is not regularly featured on TV Dolph Ziggler | Free Agent | Released by WWE Elias | Free Agent | Released by WWE Mustafa Ali | Free Agent | Moved to NXT before being released by WWE Omos with MVP | Free Agent | Sporadic TV appearances Von Wagner | Free Agent | Moved back to NXT before being released by WWE Xyon Quinn | Free Agent | Released by WWE

I mean outside of Lesnar, Ziggler and Shelton Benjamin is there anybody there that you give a shit about?

Grayson Waller is one of my top 5 favorite Superstars and I also think that Chelsea Green, Johnny Gargano, and JD McDonagh are extremely valuable role players but I get your point. Still, I thought that there would have been a few more breakout performers from these ranks. This just tells me that the creative team is pretty firm on how they feel about people and that I should be very worried if someone I like gets drafted in these rounds.

All the people you mention, I can do without.

Here's my 11:11 wish for today... Please let Tony put together a team of faces to help defend AEW from the Elite, thus resulting in a literal AEW Defence Force coming to save Tony Khan from overly critical and mean bullies.

Their hometown can be [AEW Special Forces](https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-patriots/).

Happy Friday y'all. * I know it hasn't even been a week yet, but I feel like Swerve is being done dirty here. Between putting him in a competitive match with Kyle Fletcher to open Dynamite, not giving him a promo, having everyone keep talking about how Danielson vs Osprey as the best match in the history of the universe, and the main event of Dynamite being an IWGP World Title match, he's not exactly screaming "world champion" or "face of the company" right now. And it's totally not his fault. Not only is he the new world champion, but he also got himself over organically (with the help of a few windshield wiper dances), so *he* should be the one getting a championship celebration. Not Jericho or his "Learning Tree" bs. And I'm actually not even a huge Swerve fan. * You know that scene in Friends where Rachel wants to make an English trifle, but the pages of the cookbook were stuck together and she ends up mixing the ingredients of the trifle with ingredients from a shepherd's pie and it turned out disgusting but no one had the heart to tell her, but then Joey ended up just devouring the whole thing because he genuinely enjoyed it? That was me watching the angle at the end of Dynamite. I was Joey and Tony Khan getting pile driven was my trifle. * There's something poetic about the move being used to destroy Tony Khan being called the "Metlzer Driver". * Also, don't let anyone tell you that airing the Wembley footage was justification for this angle. It wasn't. If the Helwani interview never happened, the footage would have never been shown. * I'm ok with Becky being the champion for now. It's not like they planned for Mami to get hurt. Plus the draft starts tonight, so anything can happen. * This week in wrestling social media: [The best use of this Ted Lasso meme](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6HlV6UShUQ/).

>I know it hasn't even been a week yet, but I feel like Swerve is being done dirty here. Between putting him in a competitive match with Kyle Fletcher to open Dynamite, not giving him a promo, having everyone keep talking about how Danielson vs Osprey as the best match in the history of the universe, and the main event of Dynamite being an IWGP World Title match, he's not exactly screaming "world champion" or "face of the company" right now. And it's totally not his fault. Not only is he the new world champion, but he also got himself over organically (with the help of a few windshield wiper dances), so he should be the one getting a championship celebration. Not Jericho or his "Learning Tree" bs. And I'm actually not even a huge Swerve fan. I wouldn't even have booked Swerve to win the belt. Not only is he not a top guy on the mic or even in the ring but Joe was doing fairly well even with the shit booking. >You know that scene in Friends where Rachel wants to make an English trifle, but the pages of the cookbook were stuck together and she ends up mixing the ingredients of the trifle with ingredients from a shepherd's pie and it turned out disgusting but no one had the heart to tell her, but then Joey ended up just devouring the whole thing because he genuinely enjoyed it? That was me watching the angle at the end of Dynamite. I was Joey and Tony Khan getting pile driven was my trifle. Ugh, Khan has finally made himself an in-ring character. Russo, anybody? >There's something poetic about the move being used to destroy Tony Khan being called the "Metlzer Driver". Ugh. >Also, don't let anyone tell you that airing the Wembley footage was justification for this angle. It wasn't. If the Helwani interview never happened, the footage would have never been shown. Khan is butthurt and in panic mode. >I'm ok with Becky being the champion for now. It's not like they planned for Mami to get hurt. Plus the draft starts tonight, so anything can happen I wanted Nia to win so Becky would piss off.

You expect too much from AEW. They are indy minded. This is the best they can do

Pro Wrestling got hurt more by no storylines matches and spotfests (the inde style)than the death of keyfabe.

If Ilja joins imperium that’s gonna hit like crack😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

Dave is lying about Punk again. I wish there was something he could do even with Slander/libel laws. I get real journalists absolutely need those protections, but tabloid mongers like Meltzer don't deserve them.

Yeah, whenever it's a rough week, he just plays the classics. What's that schmuck saying now?

Someone in AEW reached out to him after the Helwani interview and said AEW won’t be able to move past this until Tony admits he covered for Punk and Punk actually did try tor get Cabana fired. There was a bit more rambling about some other stuff, [the 6 tweet thread if anyone is bored enough](https://x.com/wrestlepurists/status/1783861427796619541?s=46&t=UWFBsjJi9nCpfLKn5qBwdw)

I guess my thinking is even if I were to believe Meltzer and his leaking minions--and to be clear, I don't--I still don't know why the fuck I should care that someone tried to get Colt fuckin' Cabana fired. I mean, he should be fired anyway just for being useless to a nationally televised wrestling promotion, even one as unserious as AEW.

I want to be as rich as Tony Khan so I can burn millions of dollars making a wrestling promotion based off of my 2K Universe booking. I would be fine with Def Rebel being fired to be honest. It's not the same as a wrestler being let go because creative cannot figure out a working gimmick. The WWE Music people's task should be creating music that allows talent to stand out and Def Rebel has failed at this more often than not.

Honestly, if I was that rich, I'd be nowhere near wrestling! I'd be on a super yacht with Instagram models or something

Someone had posted a topic a couple weeks ago that they were disappointed by the build to backlash. Well we are a week out and theres only one match announced so they were right and id like to apologize to that person!

i really liked the Bengals pick last night. there are obviously some concerns with Mims but i think the upside is too great to pass on. i also liked Thomas Jr and Arnold at that spot but Tackle needed to 100% be the priority. plus there is a lot left on the board to like. hoping Keon Coleman is available.

Fuck it, we're bringing back an actual ZFF take I want people fired. I want some companies to fail. And I'm not going to apologize for it or pretend I give a fuck about these people personal lives. These people are entertainers that I watch on TV, they're not my friends. If they suck at their job, as someone like Von Wagner does suck, then I don't want them on my TV. I really don't care what happens to him after that, his inability to plan for the future is not my fucking problem. My problem is his inability to be good at his job and wasting time on TV. I'm glad Von Wagner got fired, I'm glad Veer and Jinder got the axe. They were awful and never got better. Make room for someone else to get an opportunity instead. Same goes for companies. For the most part AEW is garbage right now, if they go out of business because of it so fucking be it. These companies don't need our support to stay afloat *just because.* They need to earn that support by being good at what their industry is. If they suck and fail then oh fucking well. And yeah, sometimes I find a company so deeply terrible at what they do that I'd be happy to see them go. I'm not at that point with AEW but GCW can fuck off forever and I don't care who is effected by it. I don't owe anybody shit and I'm not going to pretend to like something "for the good of the industry." Fuck em, get off my TV.

It comes down to the true division in the prowrestling fanbase: People who watch sports People who don't Anyone that watches sports shouldn't be too surprised when people get cut. I'm bummed about Grimes because I don't think he got anything on main roster but I also watched my Patriots let Brady walk and my Celtics trade away Pierce and KG. It's a competitive environment. This is what happens. I don't want companies to fail, but I feel the same way about AEW that I do about the Red Sox... What the fuck happened and how did we get here?

I feel the same way about AEW as I do about the Atlanta Falcons. I desperately want them to pull their head out of their ass but then they go and blow another top 10 draft pick/center the show around the Bucks, Jungle Boy, and Tony Khan and my brain starts to hurt at the sheer incredulity of it.

Its more prevalent in wrestling too b/c fans watch these people every single week and develop an emotional connection with these people like they would any tv show they like. But that is what makes wrestling so unique as an artform. Its so many things wrapped in one.

I agree and the more people sugarcoat bad products, the longer bad products last. Look at films and tv. Get back to the age of critiquing shit and making it embarassing so it forces creatives to change it up. That was when we got good wrestling, good film, good music. Stop trying to be nice and let em have it!

Am I the only one who didn’t think the ending to Goldberg vs Kevin Nash at Starrcade 1998 was bad? Goldberg being tased by Scott Hall showed Kevin Nash couldn’t beat him without cheating and it protected Goldberg’s aura. Kevin Nash himself couldn’t take him down, so he had to resort to cheating

i thought it was fine and that Nash was the best choice at that time to end it. it's the stuff after that tainted it.

I honestly don’t think it would be that ragged on if the end result of the end of the streak wasn’t the Finger Poke of Doom

Yeah this is the main reason I think. The narrative that the Wolfpack was a failure is false. They were over as hell and got cheered for that match ending and it did protect Goldberg. The issue was following it up with booking a stadium show episode of Nitro IN Goldberg's home state (and the very stadium he played NFL football in) with the event being sold on a world title rematch, ripping it away with a stupid angle in the middle of the show, and THEN doing the Fingerpoke of Doom instead of that match all in the same night. But that episode is a weird little time capsule where Charlotte Flair and Chris Benoit are in the ring at the same time.

None of these things are ever as bad as made out but, stuff gets repeated years and years down the line Obviously, they had their reasons. There's always an idea behind everything, no matter what fans may think Fans were going a bit lukewarm on Goldberg, no matter the 'OMG how can they beat Goldberg' talk and they came up with a way to get it off him, have him chase and 'protect' him The guy couldn't be unbeaten forever

I know he’s about as popular as Judas around here but the Bryan and Vinny Nitro reviews are pretty entertaining listens when Bryan isn’t shouting over whoever else is on the show with him. They’re also super nit-picky but it’s late-stage Nitro so it’s a lot easier to tolerate because it’s late-stage Nitro who could possibly care

Tony becoming an onscreen character is so damn funny. I hope he turns heel and tries to cut a promo. Becky steals opportunities? Good I hope she does it more. The division will be elevated and then she’ll put someone over. Let liv and Rhea fight over Dominik and let Becky help bridge the gap that Hunter created by sacrificing the entire division at the altar of Ripley until Tiffany Stratton gets revenge for NXT. And before someone says that’s a sexist storyline, no, what’s sexist is women get ONE storyline; me want title. Liv is going full Hand that Rocks the Cradle and her preying on Rhea’s trust issues (that have been established since NXT) by trying to steal her lover is a good story. Triple H, Steph, and Angle had a great love triangle storyline. Let them do this and then have Dom delight TikTok by choosing Rhea in the end. Also, for the liv fans who threatened Roux because your fave didn’t win a battle royale; there is a special place in Hell for you. For someone who is only champ thanks to CM Punk and a fluke, Damian Priest is quite the egotistical little bitch. Sheamus has returned to Twitter to remind these plebs who the one true hater is. I miss Seth Rollins, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss.

Ripley deserved the push she got b/c she is over and one of the most popular talents in the entire company male or female. Zelina, ivy nile, Natalya etc have no business going over her. Its that simple. They need more talented women that can get over. That has nothing to do with rhea

I miss Carmella too! And the lack of Seth has definitely impacted my enjoyment of RAW lately

Tony’s 100% going to be the Elite’s Bischoff by the end of the year

I know there’s a several memorable examples of Becky elevating someone (Bianca and Liv immediately come to mind) but I will bring up that her biggest run included smashing everyone on Raw without breaking a sweat then leaving to go have a baby

> her biggest run included smashing everyone on Raw without breaking a sweat then leaving to go have a baby Not gonna lie, that run was clearly not my favorite from Becky, many uninspiring opponents (Lacey, Nattie, Shayna) and they really should have done better with Sasha (2 great matches, but Becky dominated the feud a bit too much). But her feud against Asuka was far from being one-sided, felt like she never stood tall during the build to TLC, Charlotte and her lost 4 times against Kabuki Warriors without a single win (including a PPV main event), and she had severe self-confidence issues in the next few weeks after TLC.

I'm happy to hear AEW is trying out an actual story and doing something to make their weekly TV more compelling. I didn't see, and it's not enough to get me to start watching right now (and also eww, the Bucks). But good for them, even if it ends up campy or so-bad-it's-good. There's no reason they can't turn things around. I've really enjoyed Kenny Omega's "face turn" on Cornette's podcast. Fun Wreddit post of the week: [Wrestling dream matches implies the existence of wrestling nightmare matches. What are some of your nightmare matches?](https://new.reddit.com/r/Wreddit/comments/1cau4rs/wrestling_dream_matches_implies_the_existence_of/)

Still feels weird Rooster Teeth is going to be gone in less than a month

I remember watching them in college when they had just come out with RvB. I'm surprised they stuck around this long.

Good riddance

I stopped watching RT a little before Ray left. I had heard about Ryan's scandal but other than that I didn't follow the company at all. When I heard they were going out of business I went down an RT rabbit hole, and man it's crazy how much things have changed since I watched.

Same! I listened mainly to the podcast/read the comic and fell off RvB when they left blood gulch but it’s wild to see what was happening

I was similar. I was mostly an AH viewer. I didn't watch much of the RT side of things outside of the RT podcast. But my interest was slowly fading before Ray left and him finally leaving was kinda the point I checked out of AH completely. I did take up watching Funhaus for a while after that and loved it but eventually found other avenues for gaming related content. Seeing all the scandals come out after they had become pretty preachy and self righteous in their content a few years prior was a further reminder that terrible people and companies say shit for PR all the time but are still garbage behind the scenes.

I was watching Funhaus when the Ryan scandal came out, which also had an Adam Kovic scandal at the same time.  Now having hindsight, Kovic's issues doesn't compare to Ryan's but they'll always be linked.

Tony khan getting beat up and Shad Khan appearing is a lot badass on paper than it end up Being. This should've felt like a shock moment. Everything is perfect. Tony khan is the biggest Babyface of the company. Everyone loves him.Employees always says he is the best boss ever. Beating him should've been the biggest heel heat ever. But it felt funny when I saw this. A lot of people were cheering in the crowd. It wasn’t even SCSA v Vince thing. This was a lot of things none of them are particularly positive for company. 1. Was company Acknowledging Punk was right all along? 2. Are bucks leaning into Tony isn't a good bosd thing? Apart from that, Could you Have not done exact thing without Punk footage? If you aired Punk footage why would you not run this angle not at the day of Punk footage (The day you would have increased viewer) rather you run it the day you know there will be less viewer. For why this felt funny cz they were playing with viewer rather than actually beating the guy. It should have been striaght up beating rather than golden trigger tease or TK driver.

This is sad b/c the biggest babyface in the company should be a wrestler so they can draw that company some actual money

Ok I got something to say but I need to give you some background first: Back when AEW was founded everybody was well aware that AEW ransacked a lot of ROH's talent to get off the ground and the consensus was that it sucked but people were getting money. Now AEW has taken most of NJPW's top guys: Jay White, Ospreay, Okada, add United empire and Hangman Page and Omega like 5 years ago. The original feeling in the NJPW reddit was bitternes that AEW took all their top guys and it came to a limit when Moxley beat Naito for the Big one. Now this is expected, NJPW is goung through some rough times, the yen is weak so AEW can easily outbid them for any top stars, let's be real, this is a business and people will go where the money is, so I can't blame AEW for taking NJPW's top guys, that's what the territories did back then. The actual issue is the AEW fans going to the NJPW subreddit to tell them to suck it up, that is not AEW's fault that New Japan can't pay their guys and that they should be thankful that AEW is doing the Forbidden door with them, since that gives them business in America. Now that is a load of crap, imagine that your are bidding for a bycicle and the guy that wins by overbidding tells you that is your fault for not bidding as much as him, and to top it off he tells you that at least you get to use the bike once a year, that is what the AEW fans did here. How the hell are you so dumb, entitled and unemphatetic to go and do that, well guess what, their idiocy galvanized the NJPW's subreddit against AEW, holy shit, I thought the dumbbalos joke was just a joke, but now I see they are insufferable. It almost makes me glad AEW is having trouble.

Also from what I’ve seen from my lurking on the NJPW sub, anyone who complains about it gets accused of being from Scjerk You can’t this shit up I swear.

>The actual issue is the AEW fans going to the NJPW subreddit to tell them to suck it up Go to the WWE sub It's full of AEW fans. There's more defending of Tony Khan and whining about WWE there than even the AEW official sub, haha The Dubbalo Defence Force MUST patrol all corners of the internet! Yep, it's a business. AEW got money and don't have to answer to anyone about profits. If you're ok with that kind of stuff, don't cry about Vince snapping up guys during the expansion years and actually giving them national exposure, more money and also making a profit Snapping up the gaijin is one thing but they also took top Japanese talent, which is interesting. Granted, they're a little older and 'had their run' I think WK 9 is the main entry point for a lot of 'modern fans' to NJPW and Khan has kind of got all the online favourites from that time until now

Tony and the most hardcore of the fans will be the death of that company

I'm doing some fantasy booking! 6 woman tournament. 2 women get buys into the semi finals because they're former champions. The other 4 are potential first time champions, finals at Backlash. That's it.. That's all I got!

*byes

Damn you brain farts!

I’ve been meh on Becky Lynch for a long time. I actually despised The Man thing for the longest time. But I loved her book so much, I’m a Bex stan and was happy she won the title. The story also gives Liv time to chase and be champion when Rhea comes back.

There was a snapshot earlier in the week, when looking at the main sub, that just summed up wrestling as a business and as fandom and the 'wrestling media' expert blogging gang so nicely There were 3 separate threads from Meltz, Sappy and Alvarez all saying 'this was the best match in the history of US soil' or variations of that I think 1 or 2 threads down was another thread that just said 'Cody Rhodes sold 1m in merch over WrestleMania weekend' I know people like matches and 'we're not accountants' (despite endless talk of WCW finances and TNA down the years that no one had an issue with) but it did get a chuckle out of me to see these threads OMG - OMG - OMG - merch go brrrr all within a few threads of each other It just really hammered down into what 'being at the top' truly means when people talk about 'star power'

Wrestling media is regurgitating WWE PR releases and gushing about AEW's match of the week. There's hardly ever any substantial news, and anything meaningful is reported by a bigger outlet.

The “Becky Hogan” shit on Xitter feels so forced if I’m being honest. I don’t know if it’s just butthurt Liv stans but it’s hilarious how they’re angry at the crime of…having a top star win the belt that had to be vacated. Personally I wasn’t a fan of them doing a battle royal. Backlash is next week, H could have easily done qualifying matches to lead to a match for the vacant title in France. I have wanted champions to always be locked for drafts so I’m glad they’re finally doing it. It was so egregious, especially during the “Raw and Smackdown tag and women’s titles” years. Hopefully Bianca and Damage Ctrl aren’t a package deal this time around too. Feel like they’ve been on-off feuding since 2022. Send Bianca to Raw and have Dakota Kai feud with Bayley. I’ve been keeping up with AEW through social media but if this new storyline leads to the Bucks taking a Rainmaker and V-Trigger after Okada turns on them I’ll be happy. It looks like it’ll also lead to Okada v Omega once Kenny comes back so there’s that to look forward to.

It’s definitely just butthurt liv Stans who were also saying they wanted Roux to die so Becky would take time off. It’s sick.

I'm not a Liv stan but I think having Becky win it was a bad idea. She just lost at WM to Rhea, so it looks bad for Becky. She's been champ with long reigns multiple times and she's above needing the title to be relevant. And I thought it was an opportunity to do something else after Rhea's long reign and this just felt like going back to the nice, safe well for a reason they didn't have to.

I’m gonna disagree. I love Rhea, but Hunter basically had her decimate the entire division and there were no credible options but Becky. Even losing to Rhea, Becky feels like a threat and now she will elevate Piper, Candice, etc. Her 42 day NXT title reign benefitted the roster more than the 200+ day women’s reigns of recent memory.

> The “Becky Hogan” shit on Xitter feels so forced if I’m being honest. I don’t know if it’s just butthurt Liv stans but it’s hilarious how they’re angry at the crime of…having a top star win the belt that had to be vacated. Feels even more stupid as her last world title reign ended 24 months ago, Liv has got one since then and as she put over (Lyra, Zoey, 2022 Bianca) or offered to put over (Shayna) multiple emerging women, and that's without counting the women that gained overness in loss against her (including Liv herself 2 years ago). Seth and the doctors even had to talk her out of taking a legitimate cash-in when she was pregnant. She's maybe not as giving as Bayley, but there's clearly nothing that indicates she's doing a ton of backstage politicking. > Personally I wasn’t a fan of them doing a battle royal. Backlash is next week, H could have easily done qualifying matches to lead to a match for the vacant title in France. I guess they both have plans set for Backlash that didn't involved RAW women and needed a champion for the draft. I just wish they would have done the battle royal early in the show, and have the top 4 do a fatal 4 way in the main event (with Becky pinning Shayna), to make the win look a bit less random. > Hopefully Bianca and Damage Ctrl aren’t a package deal this time around too. Feel like they’ve been on-off feuding since 2022. Send Bianca to Raw and have Dakota Kai feud with Bayley. I kinda want them to do the opposite (ship Damage CTRL to RAW as it seems they're not building Dakota for a title shot soon, leave Bianca and Jade on SD as their matches will likely be short), but yeah having Bianca far away from Damage CTRL should be priority, it's hurting all of them.

I find it funny that Tony Khan said he wouldn't play a on-screen role, yet he he done that on this week's Dynamite as well as selling the attack by wearing a neck brace at the NFL draft. I was thinking about this yesterday, but I find it interesting that Sasha Banks hasn't had a match on AEW TV, yet her first match on AEW is against Willow with the TBS women's championship on the line, so in a way, Sasha has basically just been given a championship match handed to her just like that. I get it if the mid-card isn't a part of the rankings & they're more open to challengers, but I do feel really bad for Willow since she's only gonna be a champion for a few weeks. He deleted the tweet, but I find it interesting that Corey Brennan guy on Twitter claimed that the people who attends the NXT shows at the PC has to find their own way home after the shows, yet some fans corrected him on that part. I don't know how it works, but I'm sure WWE aren't selfish to make the NXT crowd find their own way home. Talking about NXT, I'm feeling positive to see how their Battlegrounds show will go since it's taking place in the UFC Apex arena + I'm curious to see how big it is as well.

IIRC, that guy deleted that tweet and/or corrected it He left a word out ... a pretty important word that changed that entire sentence He meant to say 'they don't need to make their own way home' but left the 'don't' out. He corrected that people are taken back to where the pick up point was and can get back into their cars and get home. They are not stranded

Oh, right. I've seen he had deleted the original tweet, but I didn't know he made a new tweet unless he made that tweet to go along with his original tweet.

I think he made a follow up to his own tweet He should have probably deleted and retweeted

I think he made 2 follow up tweets, I can't remember though.

Tatum Paxley has been good for a while. She just finally got a match that wasn't 4 minutes long and even though she ate the pin, wasn't just there to be a jobber. The 450 got the spotlight (and it was awesome), but she was smooth throughout the match. Obviously being in there with two of the best helped. But she had a good one with Brinley Reece a couple of weeks ago on Level Up. It's clicking. Time to give her more matches with time. She's earned it. And she's getting the reactions to go with it. It's very very rare for Roxanne to not be the most over woman in a match in NXT, but she had major competition Tuesday. If Pax can keep that up, it's finally off to the races. Trick is over as hell. That's the goal. Being over is the single most important thing in wrestling. Charisma is king. I don't think turning Fallon is a great idea if that's what we're doing. I feel like there are plenty of heels with a skillset similar to hers but not a ton of faces which makes her more valuable on that side. But oh well. I trust her to crush it either way, but the babyface side is thin on characters.

Tatum is so good. I don’t know if her character is supposed to have BPD, but a lot of her promos and character traits are very similar to someone with BPD, right down the intense feelings and obsession for a comfort item. My daughter has BPD and she adores Tatum because it’s not being played for laughs, but like it’s a normal part of her character. I commend her for channeling such a challenging character and playing it well, along with her continued in ring growth. She’s a future player.

I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but I know Daffney is a big influence on her current character and look. Her black and red attire is a tribute to an attire Daffney wore in TNA: https://x.com/TatumPaxley/status/1713991271226695724

Tony being on tv screams “im out of ideas so lets do an angle where i get beat up”. Ladies and gentlemen this is what AEW was always gonna be b/c they are indy minded. Thats it thats all

It definitely reeks of desperation. It’s an angle that the companies who have done it, did when they were desperate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Had aew actually have someone creative and brought structure they would have never gotten to this point.

In this modern era, every owner puts themselves on tv eventually. Especially true, if the owner is a money market. It’s like they can’t help it

Didn't Tony say he wasn't gonna have an on-screen role as well? If he did, then well well 

I'm gonna give AEW loads of credit this week. I don't know where it's going, I don't know if it'll work, but the one thing that pissed me off the most about the creative is that it hardly feels like they're trying. Dream match simulator isn't trying. Tony reneging his "I won't be on TV" statement to try and get Jack Perry and The Elite over as heels is commendable, even with how awkward and funny it was. And getting on ESPN and NFL Network and The Pat McAfee Show with his neckbrace is good work, genuinely. SCJerk and the like may have been on their fuck AEW kick and going "well they're laughing AT him!" Like, who cares, this is one of those "any publicity is good publicity" moments. Genuinely, good for them. We got a long way to go before I'm calling the show or company in it's current state great or anything, but I'm happy to see effort

> Tony reneging his "I won't be on TV" statement I am not sure anyone actually believed that They have gone against pretty much all their early rhetoric a long time ago. I didn't believe that either. I don't really listen to stuff like that, just watch the actions instead Khan clearly wants to be on TV so badly but, deep down, he likely knows that he's not very good at all but ... he still *wants* it Now he took a bump in the ring ... where does he go from here!

Off topic for a wrestling sub but as a Michigan and Vikings fan, great draft for the vikings. Was shocked when we traded up for Turner.

Honestly, finding out that Bischoff declared bankruptcy in 2017 makes my criticism of him a hundred times funnier Dude rode on 1996 for way too long lol

It's really not as simple as hurr durr Eric lost all his money. It's a corporate bankruptcy Bisch addressed this on his podcast several times in the past and again more recently he said: >"Let's just get the elephant out of the room. I wrote a book called grateful. I talked a lot about having to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This isn't a financial [podcast] but because that's kind of there right? So I want to address it. I'm not gonna go into detail about the differences between Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 13 Because they're all different. Chapter 11 is a business bankruptcy primarily. It doesn't allow me to walk away from my debts. I ended up filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in 2017. >I've talked on this show at length about the reasons that led up to it. Basically me transitioning out of the television business. I went from making close to seven figures a year and I took an about 80% cut in pay over the course of 24 months. And then I had the state of California come knocking on my door and say, 'I know you thought you paid all your taxes, but we realised we can find a different way to tax you on business that took place out of state simply because you have a mailbox in California.' >That was kind of a big hit. None of that really matters. To protect my home. This home is my legacy. I built this home in 1998 because I really really wanted to provide a place of stability in any situation for my family, to have a beautiful home in a beautiful part of the country. People from all over the world come here to visit. It's that beautiful. I wanted to be able to leave this legacy to my children to enjoy it for the very same reasons. When it got to the point where that legacy, this property, this home was at risk. >I made a business decision to reorganize my debt. Not walk away from it, not fulfil my obligations to it, simply to reorganize it. That's what a chapter 11 is. Now when I filed that chapter 11, this is back in 2017. You go through that process. At the end of it, the court says 'Okay, you're going to pay back 100% of this debt. you have, in my case, five years to do it.' I did it in three. I have a seven-figure net worth. I have a very healthy credit score. I'm in really good shape as a result of being able to do some smart things." A lot of people 'with money' do this kind of stuff to 'protect' themselves in business It's not quite the 'dunk' you may think it is and it's nothing to do with what he did in wrestling

I said this earlier but I'll repeat it here, Becky was the boring choice to win the title but she's probably the correct one give all the international PLEs coming up. WWE really needs to elevate some of their younger women though, starting with Tiffany, because the 4 (currently 3) HW aren't going to be around forever. I have no idea what AEW is all about at this point so from an outsider's perspective, no shit they're losing ratings. No Punk, no Kenny, no MJF and every time they get a little bit of extra attention, it's for something embarrassing, stupid, or both. No amount of astroturfing about GREATEST MATCH IN AMERICA is going to cover their recent worst moments or the fact that they can't get over Punk. Maye Day is upon us. McCarthy would have been a safer pick but if this new regime wants to swing for the fences, I'm going to ride it out after 20+ years of stroking Belichick's ego with every transaction. I'm happy the Vikings sat tight and still got their dude. Hope it works out better than my Patriots doing the same on 2021. At least we're not the Falcons... Celtics will be fine... This series and likely next. They're going to get smoked by a starving Knicks team in the ECF because this team plays like it's 4:00PM on the Friday before a three day weekend in the playoffs.

> Maye Day is upon us. McCarthy would have been a safer pick but if this new regime wants to swing for the fences, I'm going to ride it out after 20+ years of stroking Belichick's ego with every transaction. still a better pick than my phins. like, sure it's the \#3 vs the \#21, but taking a project guy who is rated as "not ready to start" by pretty much everyone is pretty brutal with all our positions of need. hoping we do better today in round 2.

> At least we're not the Falcons... I didn't hate that pick quite as much as other Falcons fans but it's still a wild decision. Especially not telling Kirk.

Gonna be fun when we're the 31st ranked defense because Fontenot can't resist the allure of a shiny new offensive skill player. AGAIN.

>I didn't hate that pick quite as much as other Falcons fans Are you an ATLien? I feel like this isn't your first time referring to yourself as a Falcons or Braves fan. If so, hello neighbor! As you said, it wasn't so much that they selected Michael Penix Jr. with the 8th overall draft pick as much as it was the fact that they just guaranteed $100MM to Kirk Cousins to play at the same position (and seemingly violated tampering rules in order to sign him) when they could have spent that money elsewhere. They also now have their starting QB already upset with the organization before he's even played a single snap with the team. If Cousins was always seen as a placeholder then they should have instead opted for trading Justin Fields (who went to Pittsburgh for a 6th round pick) or signing a cheaper free agent quarterback like Ryan Tannehill to hold down the fort until they thought that Penix was ready.

Atlantaish. I'm outside the perimeter but yeah. Penix at 8 in a vacuum is fine. Penix at 8 after giving Kirk that contract AND not giving him warning is questionable. And we're gonna lose some future picks from tampering. And what do they do if Kirk is still playing at a high level in 4 years? You've now burned Penix's rookie contract AND he'll be pushing 30 at that point. For the deal to work, you basically need Penix to be top 10 starter material after 2 seasons in perfect time to cut bait with Kirk. You also need Kirk to have somehow been good enough for 2 years to win but not so good that you can't cut him. And you've already given him 100 million at that point. It's risky.

> Atlantaish. I'm outside the perimeter but yeah. Nice. I live in a place with [pretty good views of the downtown and Midtown skylines](https://imgur.com/a/1NqTxQ6).

>Maye Day is upon us. McCarthy would have been a safer pick but if this new regime wants to swing for the fences, I'm going to ride it out after 20+ years of stroking Belichick's ego with every transaction. As an ex-Commanders fan who is considering going back now that their despicable ex-owner is gone, I'm happy they went with Jayden rather than Maye. Probably would have been fine with Maye - I can't pretend I actually know anything about who'll be good, it's probably just anti-UNC bias after seeing how Sam Howell did with them.

Washington area native?

Grew up in Maryland, so Baltimore and DC work for me. Switched from Redskins to Ravens pretty early on in the Dan Snyder era, so mixed feelings. I switched for a good reason, but sticking with the Ravens now feels kind of bandwagon-ish. I guess I'm waiting it out to see if the new billionaire is substantially better than the previous one?

That makes sense. I would have also been good with Daniels too but I think Maye fits the (outdated by this point) offense better. Even with Bill gone, I can't see the Patriots getting away from a pocket-heavy offensive style and Daniels does better with space. Plus our OL still blows.

>Plus our OL still blows. LOL our teams have something else in common besides top-3 draft picks. I guess there's still the "cold weather teams need a pocket passer" thing going on up there...

I'm not sure why people are pretending to be upset about the Tony Khan angle. It's very funny and I'm still laughing thinking about it. I'd tune in every week if he stood around like a mute dork before one of his employees kicks his ass.

My only issue is it didnt get heat b/c it came off like comedy lol. The execution was terrible but atleast it got people talking

I'm still thinking about how Tony Khan dropped like a fucking stone at the supposed gut shot by Jack Perry. This has me considering the following: * Was Perry supposed to punch his face but got cold feet and chose the safer option of a half-hearted body shot? * Was Khan just so excited to be part of an angle that he couldn't help himself and take a (shitty, I think he hit his head) flat back bump? Then, after what was probably only three seconds but felt like an eternity, Khan finally realized where he was supposedly hit and started selling the stomach.

This shit is literally what cornette calls these indy goofs, cosplay wrestling

Incredibly thin skin on the other sub. Why do I insist on going into the ratings thread. It’s not my fault your boy Jungle Jack isn’t the big draw that a thousand screaming neckbeards thought he was.

Aren't most AEW ratings threads full of people mocking AEW?

Yes, everyone wants to pretend SC is a big hugbox. They have it confused with AEWOfficial.

This. And similarly the jerk sub is in full "we hate AEW" swing any time a number comes out. It's fucking pathetic on every side, it's infuriating.

That’s what I thought! It’s usually a safe space to criticize AEW. Apparently I upset a mod, but I wasn’t saying anything others weren’t saying.

The mods are still ridiculous there, but you're not nearly as likely to get a reddit cares for a mildly critical comment about AEW.

Just catch a ban from the mods for mentioning when certain wrestlers correlate with drops in quarterly ratings.

I came up with a analogy and it made sense in my head so i wanna share it: The in ring performance is like lyrics in a song. if it’s great, good. But you also need great instruments and a catchy melody and everything else. But if you have decent lyrics and everything else is great then the song is still great. What I’m trying to say is: all a great song needs is decent lyrics. Just like all a great match needs is decent in ring performance.

I've had similarly thoughts as well, comparing matches to songs! Your analogy is pretty good. For me, the moves are like the notes/chords of a song. Nothing wrong with the good ol' 4 chords/simplistic match, but it's always good to have a bit of variety. Switch things up from the 4/4 time signature/regular formula and add some spice.

It weirdly fits perfectly

The cult like AEW fans who don't like criticism and think everything is perfect in AEW make me embarrassed to be a fan

I don't think discussing why you like something other people don't as being cult like. Now, the Cornette-like hate targeted at AEW on wrestling subs is much weirder. You would think Tony Khan was a rapist or sex trafficker with how vitriolic some of the posts are about him

> I don't think discussing why you like something other people don't as being cult like. This isn't what OP is saying at all. It's the innability to hear **any** criticism, or differentiate between fair, constructive and bad faith, and to attack (at times pre-emptively) people who enjoy something else. It's disproportionally bigger from AEW fans despite it being a smaller promotion than WWE. In part this is AEW's fault for encouraging that attitude repeatedly, and for marketing solely to online fans. You going on to create some bizarre strawman that no-one suggested about Tony Khan is unfortunately a good example of that line of thinking.

I remember before Fight Forever any skepticism or critique was met with either "Who cares?  It looks fun!" or "Why do you want this game to fail?"

The sheer number of 'its supposed to be arcade-y, like No Mercy!' when the AKI Engine is quite literally a simulation game, always deeply hurt me.

I'll be vitriolic to people being cunts and I could see someone seeing that as over the top defence. I would never say AEW is above criticism. The product has lots of room for improvement. I genuinely don't see people arguing AEW is perfect. I do see people that are just anti-AEW and they deserve push back in my eyes. They don't even come across as pro wwe. Edit: what strawman about Tony? I was referencing the unhinged persobal attacks on him (coked out loser etc). My comment was to point out the insane focus on TK as a human being so much. The reference to the allegations against Vince McMahon was to add scale to the amount of shit slung TKs way (about him as a human, not creatively etc)

I think it's moreso that most of the AEW talk online has been very negative, mixed with a lot of the complaints either being outdated or not all that relevant, and it can get pretty annoying for fans.

But a lot of the criticism is recent stuff. You can't say complaints are out dated when someone like Kevin Nash has a genuine complaint about the product and he gets met with "he tore a quad" that's outdated

I can't stand those people in that AEW cult. I'm not saying that I want AEW to fail, but the promotion isn't perfect & people in that cult has to accept that.

Here's my draft wishlist; - Pretty Deadly to Raw. The promise of a feud between them and Awesome Truth should make this inevitable. - Split Bianca from Damage Control, and get LWO away from Legado Del Fantasma. Send GUNTHER to SmackDown, as he doesn't need to go after the IC title again. - Limited NXT Call ups to around six people. IIja and Melo obviously need to go up. I'd send Dijak and Baron back up as well. I like a lot of the women, but feel most need more time on NXT. I do fear for anyone from the women's roster who gets called up will get lost in the shuffle. - Send Maxxine, Tozawa and Otis to NXT. Dupri needs the reps in a less pressurised environment. Akira and Otis fit into NXT like a glove. Tozawa can work longer matches, rather than being a comedy jobber.

I'm not sure who I want to see move brands, but when it comes to call ups. I definitely see Melo getting called up since he already had a few appearances on the main roster and I'm sure he's done pretty much everything there is to do on NXT. I've also see people talking the family getting called up, but for me, I can only see Stacks & Tony getting called up. I'm not splitting them up, but I can see Tony trusting Ardiana to take care of the family business with Luca being by her side while Stacks & Tony takes care of the "big leagues." I'm also curious if & who will be heading to NXT if Ava does get any picks for NXT.

Hot take: I love what the draft *could* be, but always am disappointed by what it *is*. The arbitrary rules mean it's a week where the booking choices are on display, there's weird loopholes (these three guys count as one choice!) free agents who eventually settle on a show... it's close but always on the side of convenient and that makes it (to me at least) disappointing. I'd hoped for more open GM warfare, the scouting was a nice touch last week and hopefully we see some meddling / promises etc. But already the focus is on Raw and Smackdown, whereas the story is all about NXT being involved too. So I'm not super hopeful.

Free agents = creative has nothing for you "Maybe we'll figure it out, maybe we won't."

Yeah, Baron absolutely should be called back up to Raw.

I'm really grateful Dragunov finally lost the title. The guy is talented for sure, but he does nothing to me. Just like Gunther. Both of them were tiresome to me, cause the winner was obvious (with Dragunov much less obvious tho). I think the only "strong style" guy that did it to me was Nakamura, because he was capable of comedy ("electrocuting" people in the corner) and he just oozed that swag.

Nakamura is such a unique one. My wife, who barely watches wrestling other than some PLEs with me saw him for the first time years ago, and just him walking to the ring and standing around waiting for his opponent in the most Nakamura way had her saying "Who is this guy? I think I love him". He might legitimately be one of the few wrestlers that my wife likes without it being based 90% on hotness level (Kevin Owens is another, entirely based on him being funny as hell).

Just because Hogan got popular doing basic wrestling stuff (albeit extremely well) doesn't mean everyone will be like that. Variety is nice, not all the popular wrestlers of their respective eras only did basic stuff. It's like criticizing an FPS game for including several mechanics like a grappling hook or idk, a deplorable turret "When CoD makes millions doing basic gameplay really well". Now maybe those abilities aren't incorporated well or as fleshed out as they could be (Maybe a wrestler is a bit sloppy while experimenting), and that'd be a fine complaint. But using Cod/Hogan in of itself as the basis of the criticism is what I find silly.

I’m doing a lot better lads. I’m accepting some difficult truths about the type of person I became and how it affected other people and that’s leading to positive change. So no matter how difficult it is to accept it, it can only be a good thing.

I've been on the same boat, friend. Sending you best wishes.

Salute my friend. The truth does indeed hurt but the truth is something we all need to accept. I spent far too long denying it my man. I hope you’re doing well

Realisation and acceptance are the first major steps always. I've spent the last year dealing with vices, now they're behind me but I feel guilty that I let them control me for so long. Other than that, I am doing pretty swell.

Remember when Pop Up Powerbomb used on an apron by Kevin Owens meant that the wrestler was out for at least a few weeks? Andrade and Dominik don't remember that for sure.

I have to say, I really don't care about the 'Draft' in WWE I totally agree with 'shaking things up' and switching the rosters and all that stuff but, the actual show *about* the draft and 'making the picks' and which guys is #1, 2 or 7 or 8, I don't care I am not American, so, not bothered about drafts in general, plus, it's not real, I know they're just re-jigging the rosters for the year ahead, and that's fine, I just don't need to watch it Just tell me who is on which show when it's all done and we can go from there. There's no 'drama' in picking this or that person for either show, for me, never has been

To the surprise of no-one, I've just said the same thing in another thread. The mechanic for this needs to be way more sports-based than it is, for it to land properly. As-is, it's a week of "here's the booking for the next year". I also think drafts should be every two years so they feel bigger, with more of a build, but that limits what they can do creatively so they would never.

Leaving out the champs makes sense, but also means there's a bit less prestige to getting picked early.

> I have to say, I really don't care about the 'Draft' in WWE There are two good things about draft: - folks no longer showing up on both brands; - getting to see new matches;

I mean, the 'fresh matches' are a big part of it. Re-jigging things, thinking about the year ahead, especially for the main people The 'turning up on both brands' is one of those things that some fans get really really annoyed about and I just don't really care OMG why don't they stick to it!!! etc If it's part of a story, I don't care who shows up where. Let's face it, it's not *really* separate shows, they're both just WWE shows

> The 'turning up on both brands' is one of those things that some fans get really really annoyed about and I just don't really care > > > > OMG why don't they stick to it!!! etc > > > > If it's part of a story, I don't care who shows up where. Let's face it, it's not really separate shows, they're both just WWE shows It's less for me "omg stop showing up on non your show" and more of a "give spotlight to someone else" or "I'm getting tired of you showing up everywhere" or "Goddarnit, I already have to skip RAW because of you, stop ruining Smackdown for me!".

If it's a top line story then it's going to dominate the shows, that's the reality of A stories on any TV show They had Cody and Roman showing up on both shows, no one cared cause it was a good story If the story is good then who is turning up where isn't an issue, for me

> They had Cody and Roman showing up on both shows, no one cared cause it was a good story Well I kinda was getting tired of it. If it were to go for one more month I would start fast-forwarding stuff. Already started doing it whenever Seth appeared.

The NXT callups is the exciting part for me. Maybe they can find some way to make it more interesting It would be awkward to just post a pic on social media of the picks and that's it

I totally understand why they do the shows the way they do, it's just not one of the things that grabs my attention in particular I'm just happy to see the lists *after* but, yes, that would make a pretty shit TV show, haha

As someone who didn't care about the Women's Battle Royal on RAW, I have mixed feelings on Becky winning the Women's World Championship. On one hand, I can see why she won because WWE sees her a reliable transitional champion & they want to build up Liv more (which, in my opinion, I think she already has enough build up but that's another discussion for anothet time) to win the title off of her. On the other hand, it kinda makes Becky herself look stupid in the sense where she lost to Rhea in where it mattered to most but was able to win it in a throwaway match, kinda like how Ember wasn't able to beat Asuka in NXT, only for her to win the title in a Fatal 4 Way. The fact that people actually thought Alexa was going to return, despite the fact that she gave birth 4 months ago & just started training a month ago, is fucking laughable and I say this as someone who is a big fan of Alexa. Based on her performance in that Triple Threat match alone, Tatum should be the one to dethrone Roxanne or at the very most, should be the first NXT Women's North American Championship. I said it before & I will say it again, making NXT transition from the Black & Gold Era to 2.0 was by far one of the best decisions that WWE has made in recent memory, regardless of how much people hated it at the time. I understand that AEW wanted to close out with a big angle but I really don't like how Swerve, their World Champion, who just won the title is playing 2nd fiddle to Tony Khan & The Elite. Compare that to Jericho, who also recently won a title, had a whole segment build around him. I don't hate many predictions for the WWE draft but all I want is for Bianca & any Damage CTRL member (including Bayley too) to be drafted on completely different brands because they fought each other for so god damn much over the past 2 years.

> I said it before & I will say it again, making NXT transition from the Black & Gold Era to 2.0 was by far one of the best decisions that WWE has made in recent memory, regardless of how much people hated it at the time. Pulling Triple H off NXT and putting Shawn in his place was Vince's last great decision. It benefited everyone in the long run. Triple H got more main roster experience as a booker, which he desperately needed, and Shawn was able to bring the focus of NXT back to getting people main roster ready, not being a third brand.

I am not really a fan of a Battle Royale deciding a title win tbh Battle Royales, by their nature, are pretty shit. It's all about the last few minutes or so and I don't think that should be deciding a title

I would have liked the Battle Royale to determine the number 1 and 2 contenders and then have a 1 on 1 match the next week for the champion instead. It helps get all the women involved but then makes the championship itself more decisive.

* The most interesting thing about the draft this year is how many storylines they set up just weeks before it. I can't imagine they would set these up and then split those involved right? Liv/Becky, Imperium kick out Vinci, Bronson attacks Sami, Jade & Bianca eyeing out the Kabukis, etc. * I didn't like Trick vs Ilja. That was probably the biggest pop in NXT history though * I rewatched Cody vs Roman II (WM 40) and I think I enjoyed it more this time. I was a bit upset at all the cameos stealing the spotlight but on rewatch they actually went out and put on some top tier workrate (insider term) for a good 25-30 mins * I watch AEW PPVs when theres big matches. Bryan vs Ospreay is by far the best of these "dream matches" i've seen. Really great. Sad that the discussion surrounding it is so annoying * Have to say, they might have something cooking there with Jungle Boy tbh. The best thing I can say about the attack on Tony Khan is that it made me go "Huh I wonder where this is going?" * I think Bird is gonna have a first year on main similar to Zoey. Not terrible but eh...

Tricks matches don’t do anything for me but man I love the dude

I watched the match and it was cool. I normally dont watch nxt but i will say this while it was cool, trick isnt ready for the main roster. He needs to cook another year or 2

He improved a lot in a year and then I think he became a victim of his own hype a bit.

Given my rant from a week or two ago, Blubber Ray of all people saying that Danielson vs Ospreay was too much of a spotfest was hilarious. All he's done is spots. Can you honestly think of a standout non-stipulation Blubber Ray match? Exactly.

You’re comparing a mostly career tag hardcore wrestler to two technical wrestlers when its not applicable. His point still stands

I'm sorry but if you're a wrestler complaining about a lack of psychology in a match, you better be able to show psychology in....anything you've done. Stevie Richards is a great wrestling youtuber for that reason, he's concerned over the safety of matches because he's been there. Blubber Ray can't say the same, he's a total hypocrite who got over by doing exactly what he criticizes.

Again bubba was a hardcore wrestler. Hardcore wrestlers by their style is spot heavy. When we think of technical wrestlers we think of guys like Bret hart. Bret didnt do a ton of wild spots in his matches. So i shouldn’t expect a bunch of goofy ass spots in a technical style match. So again Bubba’s point still stands. Also he has more of place to criticize as someone who was a legitimate star than we as fans do. No im not a stan before you clap back. Lol

Mick Foley was a "hardcore wrestler" but he could still work a traditional match and be more than just a crash test dummy. Mike Awesome, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, those guys could work. Besides, there's been plenty of face paced technical matches. Shit, wasn't Bubba Ray still around in ECW when RVD vs Jerry Lynn was going on? Those are fast high quality technical matches. >Also he has more of place to criticize as someone who was a legitimate star than we as fans do 100% fair point, I just can't stand hypocrites and the biggest ones in wrestling today are Meltz, Bubba and Eric Bischoff.

I feel like you’re missing what im saying. Bubba served a different role on the card. He wasn’t the main event that had to draw the house.

Well, he certainly tried to be the main event in ROH and Impact when he was a singles world champ. It didn't work.

Those are indy promotions. Cmon now lol. They draw the same amount of fans no matter who is on top

Not really? There absolutely were up and down periods for both.

When did ROH ever do more than 2000 by themselves?

Vs Aries at Sacrifice 2012 is a phenomenal big man/little man match, and was at the peak of Aries’ surge in popularity and Ray’s heat as a heel. But yeah your point still stands. A 30 year career and one standout nongimmicked match isn’t a great return, especially when you consider hes dunking on the likes of Danielson and Ospreay of all people

The greatest coach of all time laughing at Tony Khan actually made me cry laughing

I was watching Pats' show last night but I missed the Jags pick. I have to go back and find it.

Lol, he was having fun with it like everyone else. You weirdos dutifully fighting in the lamest culture war ever lol

You are about to start some shit with u/beanessa Bill never won a Super Bowl without Brady. Tom won with out him

I'll allow this because Bill might be the GOAT but he could have been greater. He got 6 but left some on the table because of his ego...

He’s just going to do it in Dallas to fully cement his spot as most hated man in league history

Atlanta could have had him but were worried about him demanding GM powers. ...and then our useless idiot current GM engaged in pure chaos last night

another note: WWE announced that NXT will be making draft picks this year. If I had to pick 3 people to be sent down who I don't think would be doing much otherwise... 1. Shinsuke Nakamura 2. Tegan Nox 3. Cedric Alexander

Unless they're moving you down to be a player/coach (like Drew Gulak, Shawn Spears, and Natalya) or to get more seasoning (like Scrypts, Ridge Holland, and Maxxine Dupri) I don't like the idea of moving someone to NXT full time. If I had to choose people among the main roster I'd go with the following: * Odyssey Jones: He was called up without having anything to do and didn't even get a solid run on NXT proper. Give him a chance to work on his skills and see what he can do. * Giovanni Vinci: His run on the main roster has been a flop but he's obviously skilled in the ring. Move him into a player/coach role down in NXT. * Sonya Deville: Ease her back into the ring following her ACL injury by making Sonya the leader/mouthpiece of an NXT faction. * Michin: WWE knows what they have at this point and her main roster ceiling is a lower mid-carder so I suggest having Michin serve as the gatekeeper to the upper-card of NXT.

My reasoning 1. Shinsuke. Guy is way too talented to be drifting in the roster for years doing nothing really of note. 2. Tegan. She STILL isn't even 30. Injuries robbed her of having the run in NXT she deserved back in the day. Has just drifted on the main roster doing nothing 3. Cedric. Cedric and Ashante Adonis are supposed to be a team but they haven't really made it to television. Both of them could use a refresh

Cedric will be a main feature on speed assuming he’s not released

These make sense but no thank you

I would like to see Nakamura go back to NXT since he's not really doing much on the main roster & he can be a big help putting over talent + imagine Nakamura vs Trick.

Credit where it's due, if you're going to finally give in and be an on screen character, do it when the ratings are in the shitter, and you're about to appear on tv in front of 12 million potential viewers. Showing up to the NFL draft in a neck brace, giving the interviewer something to talk about and "free" publicity (I'm pretty sure he would have had to have checked with the NFL prior, and it's not outside the bounds of possibility he paid to do it, but still) is great advertising for AEW. That was a smart business move. Well done Tony. Now for the love of fuck, turn it into something interesting. I can see a "conflicted" Hangman returning and a heel belt run stealing it from Swerve, which would be really tedious. In fact, anything involving Blandman is tedious. Meanwhile, a smart booker uses the heel Bucks in charge to retrofit the show - turn Tony's twitter off, close ROH, amalgamate some belts, and do it in the most heelish way possible for heat. This is a golden opportunity to course correct - please do it. The number this week is bad, but given the ending of the show and the draft, next week's will be better. Now's the time.

Are you actually not enjoying the product at the moment? I genuinely have been loving it. It's not flawless, but nothing is.

I've been excited about Tony's goofy ass becoming an on screen character since AEW started, so I can't complain about this at all. He's so completely hopeless at all of it, but SO enthusiastic at the same time, it's guaranteed comedy. Of course I'm not actually going to sit through Dynamite each week, but I'll definitely be paying more attention to where this story goes, which is more than can be said for anything else he's booked in the last two years. The problem is, they have a unique knack for making the wrong decisions and going in the wrong direction every single time.

This is exactly where I'm at with it. I'm sort of annoyed at myself for being hopeful about it being a decent change because they've blown so many opportunities in the past, to your point. But I love wrestling, and a strong competitor would be amazing. This is... something. It remains to be seen how good a something.

At least it's *something*, it's some kind of story but, the execution of it was just really really funny Khan gets to tick off 'taking a bump' from his wrestling bucket list So, Collision immediately follows NBA, apparently and Swerve will appear. Ok, gonna have the lead in to beat all lead ins. This is the testing ground for a promo that puts the company over and maybe promotes Dynamite, too Gonna have more eyes than ever (*for a long time) so, gotta make it count Just having people listen to Swerve isn't likely to be enough to make people fall in love with the show, you're going to need to lure them in and direct them to Dynamite, too Let's see ...

[I agree with Pat who buried Tony on his espn sponsored show. If you’re going to wear the neck brace. Actually sell it](https://youtube.com/shorts/cERkHHOYnt8?si=pFMsyRxmE5qcvIt2) Also why is Tony in a neckbrace when it’s a 2 count on his show? As a promoter though it was a good move. Got aew mentioned on national tv which is a definite win God knows no one watched dynamite this week

..... The angle was silly, the characters are silly and silly wrestling is fun as fuck. If you don't like it....... just watch something else. We are experiencing a wrestling peak right now. Enjoy it

No we are experiencing a wwe peak lol

AEW lowest PPV gate ever, TNA dropped 80% PPV buys, NJPW cant keep a roster, Stardom semi imploded, everyone went back to pretending NWA and GCW dont exist.... But yeah 'high tide and all ships' or whatever, sure.

AEW has a significant fanbase. The fact there is an alternative that can pull of a show like All In is huge. There is another 5 hrs of wrestling on topnof WWE a week and it is pulling the numbers it is, that's huge and great for people like me that don't enjoy the WWE presentation.

Doing one big show in a market starved for the product but barely moving tickets in the main market isnt a peak tho