sek69

I wonder what the plan would have been if Cody had not been protocol'd. Was he going to beat Sammy again? Lose the belt back to him after only a short reign and make beating him in the first place pointless? Seems neither option would have been optimal.

At first I was like "having someone land on a table your leg is pinned under must suck" but then I realized if it's Riho doing it then it's probably okay.

Dustin had only had maybe a week's notice (assuming he probably knew before the rest of the world), so I would assume he probably needs more time than that to get his cardio up to be able to keep pace with Sammy.

That was a really good match, all things considered.

That would be nice, but it seems like the goal was for it to be the successor to the US title as it was positioned in JCP where it was the #1 contender title/belt for main eventers not currently in the world title picture

Also that must have been a hell of a phone call to make "hey, look, sorry about sending you your shit back in trash bags but can you help us out here since we don't have enough women to fill up the Rumble?"

Hook has those "shoot fighter who doesn't want to fuck someone up for real so is noticeably pulling punches" strikes.

Also I'm always a little taken back by Hook's slim physique not in a "he needs to get on the gas" way, but a "I just assumed someone who's 50% Taz DNA would be stockier than that" way.

The show is tomorrow, right? Announcing it a day in advance is more than the WWE ever does for anything but COVID issues.

HOOK TIME

RESPECTUFLLY, one might say

Also lol at the women's rumble match being like 50% names from the past because WWE released 100 folks.

Us a few days ago: "It's bush league for AEW to mention the competition on TV!" WWE social media today: "Impact Knockouts champion Mickie James will be in the Royal Rumble" 2022 is wilding out already.

Also it's always kind of weird to see AEW folks on social media acting like Rampage isn't a taped show. I get why they do it, but it's always going to be slightly jarring to see folks bantering over a match that took place two days ago.

I wonder if he wants to keep wrestling or if working backstage gave him a taste for that side of the business.

Got terrified by a headline saying "Cody doesn't want Hook to be an ironic wrestler".....please keep him as far away as possible

Also the announcers making multiple references to Shibata going in to business for himself seemed like a red flag because that's the cardinal rule that you don't call attention to it if that's really whats happening. I could see the initial "wtf" type reaction but no one was in their headsets telling them to chill? Seems like Kidani and Shibata probably agreed to give him a test run in a real match to see what would happen and agreed to pretend somehow he was able to pull a shoot. Kidani's reaction being all "Shibata, amirite?" seems like the complete opposite to how management in a Japanese company would react to that as well.

Yeah, Jericho was dragging that whole segment down, the "pinhead, squarehead" stuff sounded like it was dying a death to the live crowd and he was doing the whole "if they don't laugh keep repeating the joke" thing that is always a sign of failure.

I mean, Narita at least had to know right? I know Shibata is an excellent trainer but it seems odd that this is a shoot but somehow they were able to work an extended match with every spot going off without a hitch.

Now ROH doesn't need to come back, everyone can just go to AEW

Thankfully the numbers seem to be backing this up, folks seem to apricate that AEW lets their folks have more freedom (even if it means sometimes things land with thud) because overall it produces a better show and a better viewing experience than a product so carefully produced it might as well be an animatronic show.

I can just imagine Gabe having a "what would you say you actually do here" meeting with the Bobs.

When it happened it reminded me of when Eddy dislocated his elbow which, while still gnarly, is probably the best possible outcome of that.

He was originally a Vince Guy to be sure (maybe even the ultimate Vince Guy if rumors of the time are to be believed) but Hunter by all accounts went to bat for him after he found Jesus and brought him back in the fold, so I suppose it's a matter of where his loyalties are.

I was under the impression he was a big draw for UK indies but admittedly I've never looked at the numbers directly.