NintendoLogic

Celebrating Owen's legacy without the company that killed him benefiting financially is the definition of a win-win.

Extreme Rules is this Sunday. Six matches have been announced so far, none of which have any stipulations attached extreme or otherwise. Also, Eva Marie got squashed like a bug by Doudrop last week, so that seems to be the end of her. Those of you who were hyping up her return because of her "showmanship" and "character work" aren't looking too good right now.

It's OK, guys. Dreamer has been forgiven by the only person whose views matter in this situation.

So why aren't you bringing up Dustin Rhodes over and over again? The behavior he was accused of in the other flight attendant's lawsuit is far more egregious than exposing yourself to a coworker. And unlike Lesnar, he was made out to be something of a hero in the episode.

Another thing to remember is that Dreamer is (was) part of management in Impact. Think about the message it says to the women in the company to have someone in a position of authority making those comments.

Has Ospreay been credibly accused of anything beyond causing the woman to lose a single booking with a single promotion? And even then, the promotion backtracked and said he had nothing to do with her getting pulled.

As an aside, I had never heard the term "rock spider" before and although the meaning was pretty obvious from the context, I had to look it up to make sure (it's Australian slang for a child molester). I was reminded of this copypasta:

A CarShield spokesperson told PWInsider that they're pulling the Flair ads while they conduct due diligence. Remember that Hogan got booed at Mania this year, so the days of people turning a blind eye to the transgressions of their favorite wrestlers could very well be over.

I don't know. Most fans aren't connoisseurs of sleaze threads and shoot interviews, and I think a lot of them were under the impression that Flair's antics were limited to sleeping around and relatively harmless behavior like running naked through hotel corridors. Cornering someone and forcing them to touch your junk is far more serious. And even if the fans don't care, there's a good chance corporate sponsors will. Look at what happened with Snickers and Moolah. If they'll throw their weight around over something as insignificant as the name of a pre-show battle royal, you better believe they'll do likewise with having an accused sexual predator in a featured role on TV.

According to the latest Observer, he's in good enough shape to take phone calls. Talent was told they could call to wish him well, but they couldn't discuss WWE business with him.

This seems to shed new light on the question of why WWE was so willing to cut Flair loose. Maybe they realized he was a ticking time bomb and hoped he would go off in AEW's lap rather than their own. By the way, I'm really looking forward to the Kanyon episode. I have a feeling it's going to reveal Undertaker to be an even bigger piece of shit than we realized.

William Regal's son, who is part of NXT UK, is now known as Charlie Dempsey. He trained at the NJPW dojo and not the PC, so he might actually be good.

As an aside, I'd like to push back against the idea that charisma is something that can't be taught. There are innumerable examples of wrestlers (Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Trish Stratus, and Shinsuke Nakamura come to mind) who displayed little or no charisma for years before developing into incredibly charismatic performers. People usually say it was just their natural charisma finally breaking through, as if it were a mutant power that takes longer to manifest in some people. But if you think about it, projecting charisma in the ring and on the mic is basically a form of acting. And that's absolutely a teachable skill even if some people are more naturally gifted than others. For that reason, I think wrestlers would be well-advised to study acting or at least improv.

Yeah, but Jericho is from Manhasset, Long Island and is the master of the devastating Judas Effect.

Yeah, as soon as I heard that name, whatever cool factor the new NXT had just instantly evaporated. On the plus side, that means he can trademark Rex Steiner for himself and use it in AEW or wherever else he ends up after they release him.

Seriously? What the fuck

That has to be the first time in forever the final quarter-hour was the most watched. That's great for Big E because it means he can't be blamed for this rating. But it's a disaster for WWE because that means the numbers would have been even worse without all the hotshotting. Things are going to get ugly once they run out of gimmicks to pop a rating. I wouldn't be surprised if Dynamite was beating them in total viewers by the end of the year.

Austin as the best wrestler in the US in 1993 and 1994 feels like a stretch. I'm not even sure he was the best worker in the Hollywood Blondes. I will go to bat for him as potentially best in the world in 2001, although a big part of that is lack of strong competition. I don't really know what Mexico was like that year, but Japan was pretty atrocious for the most part. In the US, WCW and ECW going under left a void that wouldn't be filled until TNA and ROH started up, so the scene outside of the WWF was pretty dead. Within the WWF, potential contenders like Benoit and HHH (yeah, I know) were injured most of the year. I can't think of any other obvious candidates off the top of my head.

I can't say I've ever viewed Big E as anything close to a world champion-level talent, but I hope he does well since he's a great guy who seems universally beloved by his peers. One important thing he has over Kofi is a sense of danger where you get the feeling he could snap and destroy someone if pushed too far. The follow-up will be key because the beginning wasn't terribly auspicious. Cashing in on a guy who just wrestled a title match is a heel move any way you slice it. Also, the MNF game ended up being a barnburner, and I'm worried he'll end up as the scapegoat if Raw's ratings take a hit. By the way, it needs to be said: BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT matches are usually pretty boring. Big guys almost always have much better matches with smaller opponents.

This is one guy I hope AEW doesn't pick up. The last thing they need is some "look at my hands why am I so violent" horseshit.

One of WWE's production trucks outside of TD Garden yesterday:

Speaking of Baba's booking, he always had guys returning from injury layoffs lose their first match back. The idea was that someone who's been out of action for an extended length of time shouldn't be able to hang with top guys who are in ring shape. It also set them up for revenge once they worked off the rust. Bryan hasn't been injured, but the principle remains the same. He's been sitting at home the past five months, so he shouldn't be able to walk in and beat the world champion in his first attempt. The first Omega/Danielson match has to be for the title, and Omega has to go over by hook or by crook. AEW is a young company, so they need to use their stars to get their belts over before they can use the belts to make stars. Bryan and Kenny meeting for the first time will by far be the biggest deal on whatever show it takes place on. It'd be a disaster for Hangman to win the title only to be immediately overshadowed by a non-title feud. Omega already lost the Impact title to Christian, and giving Danielson a cup of coffee with the AEW title would only further take the edge off Page's coronation. A DQ or countout finish would absolutely, 100% guaranteed, draw the wrong kind of heat with the AEW fanbase. They might be able to get away with a time-limit draw, but I wouldn't risk it.

MJF is pretty much always in character, and he knows that palling around with Corbin is the ultimate heel move to AEW's fanbase.

Isn't Allie Katch the one who stabbed a guy in GCW? Yeah, I think I'll pass.

It didn't help that Gargano and Ciampa looked like children standing next to Sheamus and Cesaro.