Boss Rock

Yeah I'd put the failure to build new stars squarely on Gedo. It's really quite something that your top star is leaving and you have done next to nothing with this recent crop of new wrestlers. Yota Tsuji has looked to have all the potential in the world to be the next ace and yet guys like Hikuleo are advancing in the G1.

I was actually expecting Okada to job on his way out, but I guess not.

The story that Rock-Roman was the plan even before the Rumble makes Cody's Rumble win all the more bizarre. Why not just put him at number 30 then and win the Rumble?

I find it a bit ironic that a guy who was nearly a victim of the Kliq's politicking in their attempt to try and replace him with Paul at Mania 15 is now taking a Mania main event from someone else.

I'm sure this is all being done out of a sense of professionalism, but how did Cody not threaten to walk over this? The look on his face when he hugged Rock clearly said "I'm not remotely OK with any of this." Not only is his win getting delayed AGAIN, but he was also made to look like the biggest coward and geek in the world for saying "I know I have a guaranteed title shot with you at the biggest stage in the world, but I'm going to give it to this guy instead for no discernible reason."

Part of me thinks this is payback for Cody smashing the throne at Double or Nothing.

Really haven't followed his WWE run super closely. But in the handful of ppv matches I've seen him in, I am genuinely impressed WWE has managed to get him right. He doesn't look as physically imposing as he used to, but largely the same wrestler.

Enjoyed the main event but it was definitely too long. The fact that Max went through with the top rope elbow even after the table had broken was insane. Terrific face performance overall. As for Jay, I personally think he will be fine. Max still needed to use the ring to beat him and the entire feud had been very one-sided in Jay's favor anyway. I was a bit surprised there was no devil appearance, though. The devil costing Jay the match probably makes a little more sense. Haven't seen the entire show, but enjoyed what I saw. Mox-OC definitely fell short of their previous effort but was still a really good sprint. The ladder match was a terrific spotfest as expected. The TBS three-way was solid and Julia winning was a pleasant surprise. Jericho/Kenny-Bucks was in a very disadvantageous position but still delivered (childish heel Bucks are also probably the best Bucks). And the Texas death match, holy hell. The first five minutes were absolutely brutal and they just kept going. I think I'd have Swerve beat OC for the International Title and have him and Page face off one more time in a cage at Revolution. Not sure how I feel with another title even as part of a Triple Crown, but I'm also a sucker for multiple belts representing one championship.

Think that's where I'm at. This recent situation definitely seems like an instance where they had no choice but to fire him. It just never should've gotten to this point to begin with.

FTR-Aussie Open was great, but didn't think it was as good as the Briscoes or Bucks matches.

I won't debate Jericho's efforts to remain relevant haven't involved him shacking up with a hot act (although I'd argue his 2022 is leagues better than his 2021), but I'm also not aware of any stories of him being unprofessional or difficult to work with.

I agree that the most annoying thing about all of this (apart from Punk likely not coming back) is the argument over who was in the right and who was in the wrong by folks who clearly made up their minds just by who they're fans of. Either the Elite are wonderful good boys who never did anything to anyone and Punk is a psychotic egomaniac, or Punk was a badass rebel who stuck it to the man and had every right to punch the Elite for spreading rumors about him. In reality, they are all dumb and handled the situation poorly in different ways. And Tony just let it happen.

Thanks!

AEW living up to the "real sports" presentation with interim titles and arbitrary rankings. Dana White influence all the way. In all seriousness, the rankings don't bother me all that much as long as the overall booking is appealing and makes sense. Moxley should be in position for a title reign/match anyway.

Would someone be so kind as to provide a list of the must-see BOSJ matches, apart from Eagles-ELP? I already saw that one.

Obviously TK should do everything he can to try and keep MJF, but yeah unless the guy is demanding his release now 2 years is still a long ways away.

Update to include 2021.

Yeah that stood out really weird. Was a solid show overall. Very good first hour, hit-or-miss second hour with a strong main event seems to mostly be the norm at this point.

Pretty ridiculous that for a U.S. ppv I have to pay outside of what I normally do for a streaming service I am already paying for.

Battle of the Belts was a pretty good show. Probably the "worst" of the AEW shows this week and didn't have anything truly "must-watch", but still a pretty good hour of TV. Understandable that for a quarterly special you would want better than "pretty good", but I would say it was an improvement over the last Battle of the Belts. Booking and interference aside, Scorpio-Sammy was pretty good. So was Gresham-Dalton. And while I would definitely like to see Gresham on TV more, Dalton came off like the bigger star. The guy is definitely slower and more broken down compared to his prime, but he was still made for TV. Nyla-Thunder was also a good main event.

Satnam Singh looked awesome.

He said after beating Caster 2 weeks ago in the post-match interview with Tony that he was going for the title. So the idea seems to be that he's building up wins.

Not a perfect show. Ending was flat, crowd was dead for Marina-Sky as there still hasn't been much promotion of the former, and the Nyla-TR segment was bizarre for a go-home title match angle. But everything else was pretty much firing on all cylinders. Still probably one of my favorite Dynamites ever, and when AEW is on, it's almost how unfair how good they can be.

Definitely good news that everyone may be able to come back. Sabre-Okada was great, probably their best match together. And at 28 minutes, it seems we may be getting closer and closer to shorter main events.

Probably would be tough to do as they're already working with AAA and CMLL's relationship with NJPW has been deteriorating.