C.S.

Except, you're arguing about something that no one is actually disagreeing with you on. No one ever said that Corntte's expertise about wrestling was suddenly invalidated because of his offensive comments. No one here even cares that dislikes Omega, Bucks, etc. (even if they disagree) or that he didn't like certain aspects of Double or Nothing (ditto). None of that is the issue. Had a long post for @Coffey as well, but accidentally hit the back button on my cheap ass mouse that I really need to replace and it got lost. Basically, the gist of it was, I'm sure there were a lot of words and symbols that were fine in your day but are no longer. Words change. Meanings change. Perceptions change. You can argue against that all you want, but it doesn't mean you can willfully put your head in the sand and pretend it isn't so. Like I said earlier, imagine growing up watching and maybe idolizing Cornette, only for him to say things that have been used to discriminate against you in the past. Must be an awful feeling.

Not sure if it was part of the marketing, but I do remember it being announced a few months ago that AEW would be the first wrestling organization to be sensory inclusive. I want to say it was a Brandi announcement or tweet but I’m not sure.

Agreed. Sonny Kiss instantly grabbed my attention at the press conference AEW held outside that Vegas hotel by a pool a few months ago. (Forgive my vague description - it's too late and I'm too tired to remember the finer details, but hopefully you all know exactly what I'm referring to.)

I'm way older than college age, but I appreciate that you've noticed my youthful vigor. Seriously though, while I can certainly echo your frustration with the lack of nuance among that age group, that's absolutely not what's happening here and I think you know that deep down inside. Words matter. I doubt it's a joke to Sonny Kiss, who has probably been called that and far worse, discriminated against, etc. Now imagine it coming from one of the most revered wrestling personalities of all time and someone you grew up watching and idolized as a child. That has to suck for Sonny and any other LGBTQ+ wrestlers and fans. It has to suck for Muslim wrestlers and fans. It sucks, period. I have no idea why you brought up Maher (who seems like a jackass himself, but I'd be lying if I said I was overly familiar with him) or Hitchens (who I'm not familiar with at all, other than knowing who he is). And there we have it - exactly what I was saying above about the classic rasslin' bubble apologist. "He entertains me at the rasslin', so I'm okay with his bullshit." Seriously, you don't realize how completely tone deaf this sounds?! Look, Jim Cornette is an entertaining wrestling personality, historian, etc., and it's okay to say you enjoy him for those reasons - we all do. He's also made several questionable and downright bigoted comments, and it's also okay - more than okay, in fact - to be critical of those things. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. No one is telling you to give up his podcast or old Midnight Express matches. The sad fact about wrestling is that we'd all have very little to watch if we started going down that road. While I am personally not interested in anything Cornette says or does anymore, I do acknowledge that the line will be different for everyone. While I don't really agree, my guess is that he's thinking in terms of ref bumps, which really don't work with large men and a small woman. Intergender matches are one thing - whether you like them or not, you can at least rationalize, "okay, they're both trained wrestlers and athletes" - but a wrestler and ref have different roles and functions. Ref bumps are outdated cheesy '80s bullshit anyway though, so if having female refs means a lot less of those lazy finishes seeping into the booking because a "girl" is in there, then I hope we get even more female refs in the future.

Pretty sad to see the apologists in here because they have fond childhood memories of Cornette falling off a scaffold like an idiot. Bigotry is not okay. Homophobia is not okay. Transphobia is not okay. Being a "super liberal" doesn't mean he can't also be a bigot. (Besides, Jim admitted that he was completely clueless about politics during his career because he was stuck inside the wrestling bubble for 30+ years, so let's not pretend he's a seasoned political analyst now!) There's a big difference between this and the "generational differences" you guys are excusing Corny with. I agree that the "PC police" has run amok, to a certain extent, but that's not what this is. Not even close. Come on, guys!

His previous racially charged Islamophobic rant about Muslims says otherwise. Transcript here: https://www.cagesideseats.com/cageside-seats-features/2015/12/19/10625820/jim-cornettes-islamophobic-views-have-no-place-in-wrestling He's a straight up bigoted piece of shit. That doesn't mean he still wasn't awesome in 1987 or whenever managing the Midnight Express. Hold on to those fond memories, but don't let them blind you to who and what he really is. Explains why the commentators never mentioned the connection - because there wasn't one.

The Double or Nothing thread was moving almost as rapidly as the show itself, so I guess everyone missed my post.

I don't think anyone cares if Cornette hates Omega, the Bucks, the entire show (which he didn't), etc. Being woefully out of touch is kind of his thing. But when his known bigotry gets brought into it, that's where it becomes a problem.

The mentally ill man-child Jim Cornette called Sonny Kiss a "transvestite" and railed against the usual suspects you'd expect (Omega, Bucks, etc.) when discussing Double or Nothing on his podcast. Attitudes like this, and carnies like Jim, have kept wrestling in the dark ages. I hope AEW speaks out strongly at least against what Corny said about Kiss. PWO's very own @rovert posted some Reddit transcript links on Twitter, if you're so inclined - although how I saw them is a mystery to me, as I don't think I'm one of his followers. Maybe he replied to someone I am following? Who knows... But they're there if you want to look for them.

I've seen criticism elsewhere on the web that Moxley was "lazy" - with the "proof" being his appearance on WWE Network Stone Cold Podcast. What those idiots completely missed was that Austin believed that WWE was an environment where people could still speak up, push their creative ideas through, wasn't so micromanaged and overly scripted, etc. like it was in his heyday. Out of respect, Moxley was politely trying to skirt around disagreeing with Austin's outdated perceptions. The irony is, Austin - of all people - should know better after his own issues with "Creative" and subsequent walkout as a result of that.

Transcript (courtesy of CagesideSeats.com): Jon Moxley explains how WWE’s creative process convinced him to leave the company Vince McMahon wanted Dean Ambrose to say something about Roman Reigns’ cancer that was so bad WWE ‘would have lost sponsors’ UPDATE: Another transcript that isn't quite as one-sided. https://prowrestlingstories.com/news/jon-moxley-liberation-dean-ambrose-wwe/

My thoughts on Corbin: - WWE has always given World Title matches to midcard heels on b-level PPVs or even Royal Rumble where the World Title match usually isn't the main draw. This is their formula and has been for decades. - Be glad it's happening on a show you aren't watching. This is just a way to give Rollins an "impressive" clean win over someone who can withstand it. - Like others have said, Corbin is fine as a midcard heel.

Another look at the belt. Oddly enough, it looked silver to me on the PPV. Did anyone else see that, or is it just me?

Even Royal Rumble?

I agree. The sheer variety of characters, styles, and body types was something you never see in WWE anymore.

That is incredible. That is the kind of publicity that money can't buy and WWE's money will never be able to buy. BTW, I'm glad Loss posted it, because I thought I was following AOC and I'm not. (Maybe I am on Facebook and not Twitter? Regardless, fixed now.)

If they do, it's to their detriment. Renee has other options now. And she doesn't even have to wait for her contract to run out. If she experiences even a whiff of harassment, all she has to do is post a simple tweet to shut that down and make things very bad for WWE very quickly. This isn't the 1990s with googly-eyed Uncle Eric smoking a cigar and laughing off a Missy Hyatt nip slip pic pinned up at CNN Center. So, yeah, I would think and hope WWE is a hell of a lot smarter than that now.

According to the Survivor Reddit group, today would have been Ashley Massaro's 40th birthday.

Does anyone really believe WWE was caught by surprise on this though? Renee's hubby telegraphed a move of some kind when he posted that video on Twitter. Anyone who believed the rumors about him going to Impact, or anyone with any real star power ever going to Impact at this point, is pretty naive.

Cody-Dustin was MOTN for me. The battle royal was actually entertaining, and all of the undercard matches were at least fun. Jericho-Omega was good but probably needed to be 10 minutes shorter. I was too wiped out after Cody-Dustin to really appreciate Bucks-Lucha Bros., so that is probably worth a revisit. The surprises - Kong, Bret, Moxley, etc. - were all great. Really enjoyable show overall. The most notable thing, for me, was the pacing. Even though it was a long PPV, it didn't feel incessantly bogged down like WWE shows do. BTW, a good look at the AEW World Title belt.

Wow, I really thought they would save Moxley for TNT.

WTF is with that Cracker Barrel barrel? Is Lance Storm hiding inside?

Same.

Yeah, same, which is quite bizarre for a segment supposedly designed to unveil the belt.

So, no comments on the design of the AEW World Title belt?