MoS

Why on Earth was the Mox-Fenix match not immediately stopped when it became readily evident that he was far too injured to wrestle. Now that Tony Khan has apparently decided he is a boss, maybe he should also fire these spectacularly incompetent nepo hires like Rick Knox who only got jobs cuz they are friends with the EVPs.

Early days, but I think Collision has managed to maintain a distinct identity from Dynamite even post-Punk so far

That became quite good at the end. The crowd being so hot helped

Well the crowd came alive for the Doctor

Yeah them winning was a pleasant surprise

why is this match still going on

These Toni Storm vignettes are the best

ORANGEHOOK!!

Incredible promo. Belt Eddie up and put him on TV every week

Why was Uno hiding under the ring? Dark Order were not banned from the contract. I like Johny Hungee and Anthony Bowens but that was meh, fast forward material

Disagree, I think he is extremely charismatic, especially in the ring when he is feeling it

Miro tired and wanting nothing to do with his hot and flexible wife is a great bit

That was a very good match. Starks has come such a long way, really glad they are sticking with pushing him prominently

Great matches (obviously subjective) might get them good ratings or PPV buys (especially post-event buys, where AEW apparently is extremely strong) but by themselves, great matches have never been sufficient for regularly selling live event tickets for national-level wrestling promotions. We have known this since the 1980s, when JCP would debut in a new market, would get an excellent crowd/gate, would tear the house down with amazing matches involving hot crowds that were extremely praised, with great reviews about the event as a whole, and then wouldn't be able to draw flies to shit the next time they went to the market. You need big stars, wrestlers and angles people are invested in and want to see. Which is why I think it would actually be a mistake to take the title off MJF right now. He is in the hottest, biggest drawing (in terms of ratings and even PPV buys if you include how well All In did on PPV despite the meh build) angle in the promotion. I know the arguments about how the angle doesn't need/shouldn't involve the world title, but I would counter by arguing: for an upstart, rookie promotion trying to become a permanent successful institution, shouldn't the world title be involved in the most over program? Isn't the biggest, most money-drawing match in AEW right now, babyface MJF defending the title against heel Adam Cole?

"Unsocial, clumsy and brave" is my favourite description of a pro wrestler ever

In light of Kawada-san's recent American tour and all the photos

Yeah I mean, we all loved Punk for leaning into the boos upon his return - and of course, Shawn after Montreal as well, as you said. Only fair to be consistent and have the same energy for the Bucks

Between the Strap match and Miro-Hobbs, that was two of the best PPV matches of the year. The main event was excellent as well, as was the DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE getting a pinfall and that fantastic Joe-MJF confrontation, and then Joe and Shane Taylor going out and had an excellent big mean slapping meat hoss fight. Really good show.

Both those stories are significantly tamer than Punk running at TK swearing at him and trying to punch him. I doubt Vince would have been scared, and he would have definitely killed either himself or someone else before saying in front of the camera that he feared for his life, but I also think Vince would have also fired the wrestler in question, pretty much immediately

Has anyone ever actually tried to throw a punch at Vince (and not get fired)? Bret punched him out after it was very much clear to everyone involved that his WWF career was over

Apparently, per Dave, it was far more than verbal, and even "lunging" was him toning it down from what the version reported to him said

Punk also took shots at his fellow workers on live TV and in front of fans though. He was not able to get out of his own way. I am not sure if, in the same situation, a top movie/TV star wouldn't also get fired from the sets of a major Hollywood/TV production.

Punk was apparently not going to wrestle until Joe stepped in and basically told him he was not going to fuck over Joe's spot. Would Punk really have said no to putting Joe over?

If Punk really got fired "with cause", it means what happened last Sunday was clearly more than him beating Jack Perry's ass cuz of the on-camera trash talk. Clearly, something else happened. It's a damn pity really, because his vision of wrestling was by far the best of anyone in AEW or modern wrestling or that matter. and his short AEW run has a lot of legendary moments, but in the end, after Brawl Out last year, this was inevitable I guess. Wonder why TK did not change the booking on the fly to have Joe beat Punk at Wembley.

I don't think it's a work, if for nothing else than for the fact that in none of the many versions with conflicting info of the event did Perry get anything but his ass kicked. If it was a work, surely he would have looked at least a remotely credible threat to Punk. As it is, Punk casually beat up Perry and then went out and pinned Samoa Joe in front of 81,000 people. Not a very exciting premise for a feud