NintendoLogic

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/supnky/summary_of_kairi_sanes_interview_for_proresu/ The main roster sounds like a nightmare for non-English speaking talent. You would think a billion-dollar company would have some kind of foreign liaison. Imagine being on the other side of the world and having to drive in the middle of a fucking blizzard.

Maybe Cody decided his work in AEW was done after he ended racism in America and now he wants to help Stephanie bring change to Saudi Arabia. In all seriousness, if it was simply a matter of being leapfrogged in the company hierarchy, all he had to do was go heel. If he had turned on Hangman and reneged on his promise to never challenge for the AEW title, he would have instantly become the hottest heel in the company. If he really is dead-set against being a heel, he's delusional if he thinks he'll be positioned as a top face in WWE, where every babyface other than Brock is a total loser. And it goes without saying that going to WWE because you're unhappy about losing booking power is jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. My take is that it probably came down to money. Cody figured that if he couldn't have the creative control he wanted, he might as well get paid. And he figured, probably correctly, that WWE would pay through the nose to poach a big name from AEW. Also remember that he has said he only wants to wrestle until he's 40, which means he has extra incentive to make as much as he can in the short-term. As for Brandi, WWE has so many hours of content to fill and their women's division is in such dire shape that I'm sure they'll bring her in at some point. There have been rumors that she and Omega clashed over the direction of the AEW women's division. When asked about reports of tension between EVPs, Dave said that Cody was getting along great with the Young Bucks. Feel free to read between the lines there.

I didn't have a problem with Sammy's leg selling. Performing moves that require use of an injured body part is fine as long as you sell the impact afterward. It's the idea of "this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me." On the whole though, I agree that body part selling is a major problem in modern wrestling. For most wrestlers, it consists of grabbing the part for second and wincing in between doing all the things they usually do with no apparent difficulty. Sometimes they'll do a couple of highly performative "Look at me, I'm selling my leg!" spots, but it never seems to meaningfully hinder them or force them to alter their strategy. By the way, my man Darby picked up some more brownie points from me by applying the figure-four to the correct leg.

Cody already paying dividends.

Cody always idolized his father, so it's only fitting that he would follow in Dusty's footsteps by going hat in hand to Vince after falling out with his old company over losing booking power.

Meltzer said on WOR that "Brandi is probably a bigger part of this story than any of us have talked about." I'm starting to think it was mainly a matter of Brandi wanting to be a full-time wrestler and there being no place for her even in the bog-standard AEW women's division. Recall that she was set to feud with Jade Cargill before she got pregnant. When she came back, the division had moved on and left her behind. And since she and Cody are a package deal, they both decided to bounce.

According to WOR, the hope is that Austin at Mania won't be a one-shot deal and he'll work a few more matches afterward. Dave also said that there's another Austin-level surprise still to come. I honestly can't think of anything else that would be even remotely comparable to the biggest star in the history of the industry working his first match in nearly two decades. Cody Rhodes certainly ain't it. I will say that Austin and Cody would turn Mania from an event I have zero interest in to a must-see for me.

I mean, he thought the neck tattoo was a good idea, so it seems safe to say decision-making isn't his strong suit.

But what major AEW talent is gettable for WWE? The only one who seems even remotely likely is MJF. Most of the other top guys have either already walked away from WWE or turned down offers from them. Also, given the apparent breakdown in relations between Cody and the other EVPs, it seems questionable that he'll be able to entice anyone of significance to make the leap. If Cody does go to WWE, I'd say the closest historical analogy would be Dusty going to the WWF. And look how that turned out.

Can't wait for Stardust and Eden Stiles vs. Miz and Maryse.

MJF should never win clean except against dorks like the Varsity Blonds. All of his wins against top guys should be by cheating or fluke. A heel who can talk doesn't need to win a ton to keep his heat.

Whoever got this kid pulled from the GCW show by stooging on them to the athletic commission inadvertently did him a huge favor by raising his profile. There's no way this would have happened if he had worked the show and appeared in a throwaway multi-man.

"Having a rough upbringing doesn't give you the right to be a jerk" is fine. "You deserved to be abandoned by your parents" is cringey edgelord shit.

Sorry, this is way too harsh for a babyface promo. It sounds like something MJF would say. Although it would be funny if it causes crowds to turn on her and they have to turn her heel like Lita in 2005 and Eve Torres in 2012.

The IRS has guidelines for determining whether workers should be classified as employees or independent contractors. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader what WWE wrestlers should be classified as under these guidelines. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee As far as the legality of WWE contracts goes, the track record of wrestlers who challenge them in court and go all the way seems to be pretty good (see, e.g., Brock Lesnar). But litigation is expensive, especially when the other party has a significant resources advantage and is willing to drag things out as long as possible. Look at what a drain of time and money the Amann lawsuit, which was basically an open-and-shut case, was for CM Punk. For most wrestlers, it's easier to simply ride out the contract than take it to court and risk being bled dry.

Two more months of this.

As you can see, WWE is a totally normal place to work and definitely not a cult. "WWE continues to influence the world! Dear Leader makes the sun rise!"

The truth is, they're mainly trying to convince themselves rather than the rest of the world. Just about everybody has a price, but most people want their work to be somewhat aligned with their moral views or at least not in direct opposition to them. When professed principles come into conflict with financial self-interest, even the flimsiest arguments can help resolve the cognitive dissonance.

Someone finds an argument more persuasive when they stand to benefit financially from it. News at 11.

Lee was billed at 348 and looked every bit of it. Getting down to 245 is too much to ask, especially since he draws so much of his aura from his size. But if he got down to around 300, he'd be much better off in both health and performance while still looking like a monster relative to the rest of the roster. I wouldn't say he looked blown up on Wednesday, but it was a short match centered around Private Party pinballing for him. Luckily for him, AEW has no shortage of smaller guys who can bounce off him while he works himself back into ring shape.

Over a million views in less than 24 hours. Push him to the moon...after he loses some weight.

The fact that the statement of candidacy lists AEW as his campaign committee should have been a dead giveaway that it's not legit.

If Lee's on his honeymoon, that would seem to preclude him showing up on Dynamite tonight. However, some Internet detectives have speculated that it's a smokescreen and the pic is actually from a couple of years ago. I guess we'll see.

The Verne rocking chairs story is from Shawn's book. He also said that Greg wanted to call the team The Country Rockers. Take that for what it's worth. As for Blackburn, he was the figurehead AWA president whose proclamations usually screwed babyfaces on technicalities going back to the 60s. And yes, he was quite terrible at it. Just listen to him at the end of this video attempt to explain why the match between Jerry Lawler and Kerry Von Erich at Superclash III had to be stopped. Regardless, he was considered within the business to have an incredibly sharp mind for wrestling to the point where Terry Funk would go to him for career advice.

Meltzer said today on the F4W board that Shane is apparently ridiculously jacked for a guy his age. He prefaced that by stating he didn't want to say anything more, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he's trying to get at. If that's the case, it would go a long way in explaining his apparent personality change.