C.S.

Sure, but the latter doesn't happen without the former.

I agree with your assessment. I would not call RnS or BoD high-end tag teams like a Hart Foundation or British Bulldogs or E&C/Hardys/Dudleys or...I could name a hundred more teams, but you get the idea.

I thought that entire run was wildly overrated - even here on PWO.

Well... I would honestly rather see Rock 'n' Sock Connection or Brothers of Destruction. (I mean in their primes, not necessarily now.) They connect with me as characters, as acts, and in the ring. The Usos are completely insufferable and intolerable to me - horrid gear, obnoxious attitudes (even as faces), irritating catchphrases, I could go on and on... Are they decent hands in the ring? Sure. Have I ever been given one single, solitary reason to care about any of their matches or them personally? Not at all. Part of that is WWE de-emphasizing the importance of tag team wrestling, sure, but the other part of it is that I simply cannot stand The Usos.

The Ladder Match between Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X. Was it the first ladder match? No. (Bret used to do them in Calgary.) It wasn't even in the first ladder match in WWE. (Bret did one earlier at a house show with Shawn.) But it's the one that put the stipulation on the map. From there, we got more Ladder Matches, with the concept eventually "evolving" into TLC, Money in the Bank, etc. It may be something everyone is sick of at this point, but it undeniably changed the business.

That would probably be my timeline too. The Joe, Balor, Nakamura, and Roode reigns were all dogshit. Drew and Andrade were slight improvements but that's not saying much. I loved the Gargano-Ciampa matches at first, but they ran that feud into the ground. Their most recent "epic" match was 45 minutes of boredom, unnaturally dark lighting, and weird camera angles. Adam Cole does nothing for me, bay bay. Dream might have been a fun champ, but I can't see that happening now - for obvious reasons. IMO, just run with Keith Lee. Even in the cheesy Netflix movie "The Main Event," he had charisma and starpower written all over him. I've never thought of it from this angle. What exactly, at any point, has ever prevented Shane from still being the heir apparent? Sure, he left, but then he came back, so what's the problem? Does he still not want it? I realize he has supposedly had some goofy creative ideas, but he also had good ideas like turning ECW into a legit third brand (basically, what they ended up doing with NXT years later) and investing in MMA (certainly a better idea than the XFL).

This made me laugh out loud. Well-played. I can imagine the episode in my head right now... JIM CORNETTE: That son of a bitch Kenny Omega, that outlaw mudshow wrestler, he wrestled a 9-year-old girl, exposed the business, gave a jobber way too much offense. By doing that, he actively destroyed the credibility of me, all the boys, and everyone in every wrestling locker room ever. KENNY OMEGA: AEW was a startup company at the time and we were wrestling in the middle of a pandemic. So what if I gave a young talented guy a little bit of the spotlight? ALAN ANGELS (JOBBER): I may not be Kenny Omega's best friend, but he's mine after what he did for me that night. I can still hear the roar of the crowd when I kicked out of the V-Trigger, man. KENNY OMEGA: We had no fans in the arena, no money coming in, no guarantee our jobs would still exist in a year, so I was like... YOLO!!! DAVE MELTZER: The match was fine. That V-Trigger kickout spot happened a lot at the Tokyo Dome in front of 50,000 fans. RYAN SATIN: OKAY, BOOMER! JAKE HAGER (NARRATOR): But that night - and that match - took a toll on Kenny Omega's career that can never be calculated. (Grainy footage is shown of a washed-up and desperate Adam Sandler playing Kenny Omega in a re-enactment.) KENNY OMEGA: First, everyone started kicking out of the V-Trigger. Then it was my finisher, the One-Winged Angel. Kip Sabian, Joey Janela, Marko Stunt all kicked out of the One-Winged Angel. Then Orange Cassidy kicked out - in slow motion. By the end of my run in AEW, little kids were coming out of the crowd and kicking out of my finisher. That's when I knew I was done. (The ominous Dark Side of the Ring logo is shown.)

Thinking out loud and probably making no sense at 2 in the morning, but I wonder when it became obvious at some point that Shane wasn't going to be the heir apparent, if Vince never really came to terms with that and never truly had his heart set on Trips (or even Stephanie) being in that role.

Trips is lauded by the general internet for the way he runs NXT. What would make Vince doubt him? Hot take: NXT has been a slog for years now.

Other than the tone deaf slogan, I actually like it. It's fun and colorful - two things WWE hasn't been in years.

Curtis Axel was apparently released. I can't find it on WWE.com though, only newz sites. Edit: WWE Sheet is reporting it. Found the WWE.com link: https://www.wwe.com/article/curtis-axel-released

WOWWW! Did you have the heart to break it to her about "nice, sweet Robbie"?

Arn Anderson thinks he's a top-flight worker, so the door definitely seems open for Ziggler in AEW if he ever wants it.

Weird post... @KawadaSmile is no "blind fanboy" and his opinions are far from "banal" - even if we don't always agree - and WWE hasn't tried to make Roman Reigns the next Steve Austin in ages.

But Scotty Goldman died an instant death. I'd be more inclined to blame WWE than Cabana for that though. As terrible as I think Cabana is, WWE didn't even try to do anything with him.

Question for anyone who has seen a lot more of him: Has Colt Cabana ever not been completely awful?

If anyone at WWE had any brains, they'd make much better use of The Singh Brothers' awesome Bollywood gimmick. I realize tag teams can never be top stars in WWE Land, but they could still help attract the Indian market WWE is so desperate to chase after. As for Jinder, if not him, then who? Certainly not Khali. I'd much rather Jinder as Drew's first opponent than Seth, who doesn't even make any sense in the spot because he lost to Kevin Owens at WM.

That Indian Guy returns and beats That Japanese Guy.

Most useless signing ever. Is the equally useless Tyson Fury still on the books?

Agreed, but PCO reinforcing that rubbish doesn't help matters any.

It reminds me more of WWE All-Stars, which I also really liked. BTW, someone needs to remind Big Swole that she's not a nobody indy rassler anymore. If I'm Tony Khan and I see her simultaneously promoting and trashing the competition's game, I'm chewing her out for being a fucking idiot.

You're right, so hopefully two needles. But still, what a fucking idiot. Even the most marginal wrestler (and he is a much bigger deal than that) has a gullible fan following who will be influenced by what he does.

Well, of course I don't think he believes injecting Clorox is a real medical solution - well, at least I hope he doesn't - but I wonder if he actually did it for the video or if it's some kind of camera trick.

This has to be a work, right? Right?

Thinking Satin is an unprofessional fool is an odd take? (Okay, I know you mean Omega...) Oh, I agree... I think Kenny will be fine in the long run. But you have to understand the initial disappointment of him coming in from NJPW with all this buzz and "legendary status" - people who hadn't seen him at least knew of him because of that - but then he joins in AEW and it's almost like "That's it?!" Kind of like what someone - Cena? - said about Punk on the WWE DVD. Even though it came across as an assholish remark, there was actually a lot of merit to it. Of course, half the time, WWE was probably actively sabotaging what it had with Punk. At least we can be confident that's not the case with AEW and Omega.