MoS

That's my feeling on it at least. He made Linda the interim CEO or chairperson or whatever when the roid trial threatened to take him down, as long-time fans would know, while still retaining creative control, stiffing Bill Watts in the process and keeping a Jarrett in the wings, like he has right now. The only difference I guess is that he did not appear live on Raw in character as Memphis McMahon to address the allegations against him back then

Paige is leaving WWE next month so it actually makes sense. Shame about that. Leaving aside Paige's personal life being what is, in the post-WM 30 world, which I, along with many fans, have thought of as a series ending finale for WWE, she was one of the first wrestlers of that post-finale era -if you weeeel- who kept my attention and drew me to her matches in NXT, even before she became champ. Great in-ring, excellent ability to play to the crowd and project her gimmick, good mic-skills, and a natural connection with the crowds. Sasha is the GOAT North American female worker and the Horsewomen really accelerated the trend of women being taken seriously in WWE - even though the credit in official canon went to Steph, because of course it did - but I would argue it was Paige who lit that fire. She was excellent, and I have legitimately great memories of her matches with Emma; those matches imo were excellent, some of the best things NXT has ever done, and really showed just how brilliant Paige could be. All of this shows in just how over she always was and remained to the end, even when she would randomly return with no fanfare to manage other wrestlers. She really is one of the OGs, one of the pioneers

Yeah, this is like the absolute epitome of pro wrestling, in a nutshell

This is legitimately hilarious. Stand up for WWE v.2?

Don't you love it when you take a leave of absence to focus on your family and then weeks later come back for a job ten times more demanding

I love how he will still run creative though, remember when he hired Bill Watts to run creative 20 years ago and changed his mind about a week later

WHOA

Exactly. It's not the "merit" of the assessment that is at issue here.

Sean Ross Sapp said that WWE couldn't confirm this to them when he asked, and they usually confirm releases. Meltz hasn't said anything either. I would wait for other people to confirm or WWE's official word before I believe this. They have never seen Sasha as the top star she absolutely should be, but I'm not sure they would let her walk away like this.

Answering the former would require difficult choices in maintaining professionalism, giving his side of the story but not disrespecting the talent. Shitting on the latter is easy work, and no one is really going to disagree. Bischoff is well familiar with this; he used to do the exact same during his promoter days.

Work took over - I do watch this shit from 4:30 AM onwards - and I say this not to be difficult or petulant, but this is the first AEW PPV I have come across where so many booking decisions disappointed me. Punk getting the world title is one thing, but Cole won the Owen Hart tournament, Britt won the women's one even though she absolutely does not need it - and really, this should have been Kris Statlander's moment , and I say this as the local Britt defender on the board; somehow the Bucks are putting over the Hardys; Darby Allin, a legit homemade star, draw and merchandise mover, is putting over that pasty-white ugly jabroni KOR; Jericho Appreciation Society has now won every match they have had, making all of those spectacular Kingston promos look kind of foolish and dumb, cuz he keeps threatening violence and always ends up losing; and JB & Luchasaurus retain over two teams more over than they are. It feels like a weird mixture of NXT-and-friends-lite and Tony giving into some clever convincing by some veterans. None of the other young stars looked good, except HOOK during the Buy-In. The Owen women's tournament should really have been Kris Statlander's moment, Darby deserved a major PPV singles win, really, I feel like I should have switched the PPV off after the pitch perfect Wardlow-MJF squash. That was genuinely great. But otherwise, this is the first AEW PPV which has made me come out feeling disappointed that I was excited about it. Nothing to do with Punk winning, just the general trend of booking. Like, sorry, but there is a reason the NXT with the Undisputed on top got massacred in the wrestling war. They're just not interesting after a point in time. Use them to make sure your young stars get reps, yes, but don't actually put them over the young stars imo. I know it sounds bitter, but I am really not. Just honestly laying my feelings for why I think I will step away from AEW a bit for the moment. Not trying to have a public tantrum here, but given my work hours, I can't follow full-time a wrestling promotion that seems to mostly cater against what I want in terms of whom they perceive as the big stars. I say this only cuz I was the one starting most AEW threads on this forum, so you all, please feel free to dismiss my ranting as sour grapes and please start the new AEW weekly threads and PPV threads whenever you can! I will still cherry-pick and watch things I like, of course; AEW at its absolute worst is better than the best 2022 WWE has to offer. Congrats to everyone who enjoyed it, genuinely and unironically. Hope you keep having fun, ultimately that's why we all watch this silly shit.

Yeah fuck this result. Joe should have squashed him like a bug. TK's insistence to push Cole like he is a franchise player is annoying and mind-boggling.

Adam Cole is the most overpushed, underwhelming wrestler on the AEW roster right now. BOOOOM your ass out of here jabroni

Not a fan of this angle continuing but at least there is a fucking payoff now. The match itself was excellent too. Julia deserves better losers and jobbers like BPJ, and heres hoping this puts her on the path to further and further success.

The post-match overshadowed the match, but for good reason. Malcolm and Ember are excellent additions to the roster, the crowd went hot for them, and it was clearly a big shot in the arm for AEW to have got them. Excited to see them get featured more and more on AEW.

Jade v. Anna have actually exceeded my exceptions quite a bit so far

This match feels very clunky and slow, revolving around big spots that are not even that impressive

Maybe he was on Wardlow's/Punk's payroll hahhaahaha

I thought it was pretty straightforward- MJF needing medical attention and the fans not giving a shit about it, not caring about his health, and introducing to the spoilt Long Island Boy the concept of consequences of words and actions

only to delay the crushing inevitable, bubba

That was perfectly booked, amd kudos to MJF, he stepped back into the background, took al the brutal bumps, looked like the fool, snd just made Wardlow feel like the biggest damn thing on Earth.

He is so fucking over. Truly Goldberg in 1998 vibes

WOW starting with MJF, TK is not fucking around

HOOK is reaaaaally over

Fuck Danhausen still. but I cannot deny how over he has got across multiple cities and territories as the loser Mankind to HOOK's Rock. There's clearly a big upside to having signed him, and AEW are experiencing the benefits of the same