NintendoLogic

You been drinking again, fam?

I suppose turning Moxley heel is a satisfactory way to address the problem of a feud between babyfaces where both sides come off as unreasonable, although I don't know how smart turning the guy who's been the heart and soul of the company for so long is. Maybe the bigger issue is the inherent contradiction in Moxley's character. He's a violent short-tempered asshole who likes to hurt people. Those are quintessential heel traits. The only reliable way to keep someone like that babyface is to pit him against strong heel antagonists. Say what you want about the interminable BCC/JAS feud, but Jericho knows how to be a smarmy heel the fans won't get behind. When Moxley goes up against other babyfaces, the tension becomes impossible to resolve.

Here's George wrestling a young Masahiro Chono during the dying days of Central States. He looks like a solid technician at least. Also, check out the handspring elbow from Chono.

It's the classic MVP debate. Does it go to the best player on the best team or the one with the biggest measurable impact on their team's success? You could make a strong argument for either guy, but AEW without Moxley would be in much worse shape than WWE without Roman.

Wasn't she doing a Sailor Moon magical girl gimmick the last time we saw her? And wasn't she a schoolgirl before that? I'm surprised they didn't give her a geisha gimmick to complete the Japanese stereotype trifecta.

It was right after Jericho became the inaugural AEW world champion. The belt was stolen from the rented limo he had left it in while he was eating at Longhorn Steakhouse.

2005 was in PR. 2006 was in Albany, NY.

Puerto Rico's part of the US, bubba.

So we've gone from people saying the drink incident crossed the line in a way tearing up a fan's sign doesn't (which it did) to someone earnestly pointing to scribbling on a fan's drawing as an example of MJF going too far. If you willingly initiate interaction with him at a wrestling-related event, there's clearly a degree of implied consent. It's like buying front row tickets to see Gallagher and getting upset if chunks of watermelon land on you. In both cases, I think the act is dumb, but you knew (or should have known) what you were getting into.

That begs the question, though: if TNA isn't the worst wrestling promotion in history, what is?

I guess Dwayne turned them down and they don't have a headliner big enough to warrant a solo announcement.

I think Dwayne might be a tad overexposed at this point.

Looking at how MJF's performance in the Iron Man match has been largely overshadowed by the drink incident, I now suspect that his disappearing act last year wasn't a deliberate attempt to steal Wardlow's thunder. He just has flawed ideas about how to draw heat. More than anything, it needs to be beaten into his head that Brian Pillman's Loose Cannon gimmick sucked and should be emulated by no one.

You want a comeback you can bank on? When Vince first came back to WWE, the story was that he was only there to work on a sale and would have no involvement with creative. Then it was reported that he was providing input but HHH still had the final say. Now he's showing up to Raw. He must have figured that gradually encroaching on boundaries and expanding his sphere of influence would raise fewer eyebrows than coming back and taking power in one fell swoop.

Announce a zero-tolerance policy for unprovoked physical altercations with fans, have MJF apologize privately to the family, and bring them to Dynamite to embarrass him for a cheap pop if they're up for it. Anything beyond that is overkill.

If a kid can handle seeing Moxley and Hangman roll around in barbed wire, he can handle a heel throwing a drink on him. If it was a tequila drink (at least, I hope it was a mixed drink and the Chase Center doesn't serve up pints of straight tequila), that's a bigger issue. Maybe MJF figured sales of alcoholic beverages would have been cut off well in advance of the main event. If they weren't, they should have been. If they were, the drink was probably mostly ice water by that point.

Sting has always said this, but it just doesn't add up. Not only did pro wrestling air in southern California, the territory was in the middle of a boom period when Sting was an adolescent. It'd be like if Mick Foley said wrestling wasn't on TV in New York when he was growing up.

Rock and HHH were great workers in 2000, which is why they were able to have an Iron Man match of the caliber they did. If MJF does likewise, he'll show that he is as well.

4.5 stars for any of the Bray/Bryan matches strikes me as extremely generous. Regardless, it's a lot easier to hide someone's limitations in a standard wrestling match or a gimmick brawl. There's nowhere to hide in an Iron Man match.

No wrestling match is worth 60 minutes of someone's time, but I'm confident the world title match will make it clear that MJF is a legitimately great worker and a worthy champion.

You've pretty much made my point for me. Most of these matchups either have already been done to death or involve TNT title-level opponents. Giving Takeshita and HOOK world title shots wouldn't elevate them, it would cheapen the belt. Then there's the elephant in the room: concussions. The one Danielson sustained last year was severe enough that he thought he might have to retire, and each one suffered increases the risk of subsequent ones. You simply can't build around a guy who's one bad bump or errant blow away from retirement or worse. The last thing AEW needs is to have the booking again thrown into chaos due to the world champion getting injured. This goes beyond business, though. A lot of folks on this board clearly buy into Danielson as the GOAT (look at how often he's referred to as such as if it were simply a given) and want him to have a title reign befitting his legacy. I've never viewed him at that level, so him not having a lengthy run with the AEW championship is no big loss in my book.

Hot-shotting the belt to Danielson would be a terrible idea. Other than Ricky Starks, what fresh compelling matchups would be available to him as champion? If the idea is to let him have showcase matches with whoever he wants, that likely means a lot of matches involving guys who have no business receiving a world title shot. For all of AEW's booking missteps, one thing they've consistently gotten right is preserving the aura of the world title. That goes out the window if it becomes a glorified workrate exhibition belt. With that said, they should probably start thinking about exit strategies for MJF's title reign if Revolution bombs on PPV. And yes, a Joe/Kingston feud is such an obviously good idea that it practically books itself. Having them treat it like a battle rap and take turns roasting each other on the mic would actually work in that instance.

First off, $9 billion is an insane asking price considering the Dallas Cowboys, the most valuable sports franchise on Earth, are valued at $8 billion. Second, the only real reason a media company would want to buy WWE would be for exclusive content for their platforms, and they're not worth anywhere near that much if they're not receiving rights fees. So that pretty much narrows it down to Endeavor and the Saudis. And if Endeavor isn't interested...

Crowds turned on Cena because of how much he stood out in a negative way from an in-ring standpoint once he reached main event status (a lot of people seem to have forgotten just how bad he really was in the ring in 2005). With Roman, it was the perception that he was the hand-picked corporate champion being pushed to the front of the line. Neither is an issue for Cody. He may be more of an office favorite than Sami, but he also took a major risk and bet on himself rather than accept a secure lifetime spot in the WWE midcard. And he's at least capable enough in the ring that crowds aren't going to turn on him for that reason.

It's not enough to simply book a compelling title chase. You also have to build up compelling challengers for the champ to face after the chase is over. The later has been a major recurring issue for AEW.