sek69

Amazing how redDragon had so much buzz as a top tag team when they went to NXT, and then the only thing they did with them was to be the Tully & Arn to Adam Cole's Ric Flair.

I think the key to Sid was he seemed aware he wasn't that good but he was so damn excited to be doing what he was doing you couldn't help but pop for the guy. He would come out all amped up like FUCK YEAH I GET TO WRESTLE and everyone would be like FUCK YEAH ITS SID.

In a shocking turn of events, it appears that signing indy talents isn't a sustainable way to run your developmental program.

Dave's take on WOR this morning was this was Vince's response to NXT failing so badly against AEW. He noted WWE doesn't start fights they think they can lose, and it's clear reading between the lines (and also from Vince's comments at the shareholder meeting) that he clearly thought he was going to be able to stomp them down fast, and seeing them succeed like this clearly is upsetting him. Dave referred to HHH as the "losing General" and now is taking his lumps because of it.

Sid is the ultimate proof that charisma is all that matters in wrestling.

Cole supposedly goes to wherever Smackdown is being held to meet with Vince, then suddenly news breaks that like half of NXT gets cut right after the show goes off the air. Even if it was just a coincidence, it's certainly not the message you want to send to someone you're trying to keep around.

News came out that Renee Young was under a WWE employee contract so her non compete was for a year and unlike the talent non competes it was unpaid. Another fun part of all this, since people are getting cut in the middle of programs no one is jobbing their way out of the territory so it kind of removes the "WWE castoff" stigma when they sign elsewhere.

Yeah, that one seems pretty suspect. Get brained by a WWE trained wrestler and then get the ax while recovering. Also interesting they are pulling all the stops to woo Cole into signing (he was meeting with Vince at Smackdown tonight) then one of his friends gets cut as part of a late Friday night bloodletting. Makes me wonder how they can lure any indy names to sign with them now. You can't keep waiving the "someday you'll make main roster money" carrot when they seemingly pull a dozen names out of a hat to randomly cut every month or so.

Also Deonna is so good, she can probably get a better match out of Melina than anyone else they could get. In fact that low key could be the show stealer match since Kamille/Layla has train wreck potential since Kamille has looked pretty green in what I've seen of her (which to be fair was back when NWA was on YouTube every week).

Most of the Old School shows were added to the 'Cock in the last couple days, so you can watch those. As far as All Star Wrestling, that show was more squash match/angle advancement than great matches, so the best you're likely to get is if someone decided to let the job guy they were facing get some offense.

Normally when WWE keeps someone's status hush-hush like that it's usually a sign they've had a concussion, but it doesn't look like Randy had any matches where that could have happened.

Agreed, but I can't fault any promotion for not wanting to put Kylie in any major positions considering her history.

Yeah but "your assault is invalid because mine was worse" is a pretty shitty concept that needs to go away as well. People try to turn things like this into a Pain Olympics where only the most heinous cases are considered legit.

I seem to recall some people saying Cody getting the TNT title was ego driven (again not by anyone here IIRC but elsewhere on the interwebs), but like MoS said his open challenge gave people a shot on the big stage and was probably the main reason guys like Kingston and Starks got offered contracts.

I thought he was a Perfectly Acceptable Guy when he was in ROH, not anyone to go out of your way to see. Apparently he's a good trainer so there's value in that, but yeah I didn't need to see him taking up TV time for anything other than being a mouthpiece for newbies.

Cody is seen as a star by the AEW fans (well at least he was at the start, lol), and seeing someone the audience may not have been familiar with hanging with a guy seen as a star helps that person look better. Now if he was doing it WWE booking style, yes, but he did everything possible to raise their profile. Also I don't see how anyone could argue he helped Brodie Lee, him being announced as the Exalted One didn't bomb but it wasn't like it set the world on fire. Heard a lot of "lol the Wyatt family guy?" type stuff after all the build up. The feud with Cody established him as as serious threat and not just the head guy of a comedy faction.

I know you weren't, but your post just reminded me of all the people I've seen comparing the two, Every time I see someone say Cody=HHH on Twitter my brain immediately thinks "tell me you're too young to remember Dusty Rhodes booking without telling me you're too young to remember Dusty Rhodes booking". Which was why I was surprised to see someone like Bix kind of bite on Cody's retirement tease (there was some kind of statement released before the angle that closed Dynamite), where I could see if it was anyone else making that statement but for someone so clearly following his father's footsteps it seemed pretty obvious what was going on.

I wonder sometimes if that comes from people on the internet not thinking Cody "deserves" to be an EVP. The Bucks are one of the best teams and had great matches/won titles everywhere they went, and Kenny is Kenny, and here's a guy who was a midcard WWE guy last seen cosplaying his big brother coming in on the same level as those guys. I always got the impression people didn't think Cody should be seen at the level of the other guys and him putting himself there must be a HHH level ego move. And maybe it was! Still, the guy's put more guys over in AEW's brief history than HHH did in his whole career.

Isn't it amazing that he is pretty much recognized universally as one of (if not the) greatest tag team wrestler ever and this is still true? Also he's on the short list of people in wrestling no one ever had a bad thing to say about, that's as impressive to me as any of his matches.

People like to say Cody is the HHH of AEW, and I can get where that idea is coming from, it's kind of crazy to think about all the people he elevated in the short history of the company. He made MJF, made people care about Shawn Spears for the first time probably ever, Brodie Lee, and now Black. You can certainly argue he inherited his daddy's self confidence to be sure, but Reign of Terror it is not.

Also the Cody deal almost made me forget the face off between Kamille and Layla Hirsch looking like Big Show vs Rey Mysterio.

This is a good point. When you come off a Nick Gage death match the prior week it's hard for anything to not feel like a letdown.

Funny thing is Cody was asked at the press conference thing they did if he would consider going heel again and his answer was basically he's already done that and doesn't see the need to. Bro, you've been constantly booed as the guy brought in to be the new evil menace got cheered like crazy. One week I could see just being the new guy pop, but he's been the clear crowd favorite every time.

Well that happened. I will say I was impressed that AEW fucked around and made Tommy End a star though. Kinda took the edge off the closing angle considering the crowd was behind him so much though.

This so clearly is ending with a victorious Hangman being paraded around on the shoulders of the Dark Order, the only thing they are risking is putting it off too long and missing their window.