strobogo

Also, Excalibur dropping a Gus Macker reference popped me on a core level I could never have expected.

Tbh, when AEW is at its best, it is probably the best weekly show to ever exist. It's the best of Memphis, of WCCW, of Mid South, of ECW, of Attitude Era, of JCP, of pre Russo WCW, with puro and lucha. Of ROH and IWA MS. TK is a real sicko who has seen and gets what makes good wrasslin tv from many generations all in once show. Delightful that it exists. I hope he lurks here as if it were DVDVR or CZW Fans. Big dawg gets it.

I love being able to easily watch Takeshita on weekly TV basis with little issue legal or not, but NJ really would benefit a lot more than AEW with Takeshita as a top guy for the rest of the year. He's maybe the best guy in the world right now and for the past year or so, but NJ is in real dark age shit again and Takeshita being great in NJ main events is going to do more for NJ than having great TV matches on American TV.

There's also Which I gather is Vince took a lower offer from Endeavor than what Saudi offered because it would allow him to stay on the board.

Hard to claim budget cuts when you're trying to consolidate power and control every level of the industry expansionism.

Even less excuse for firing all the office people though, including the writer behind the Dom/Live storyline. Some of the people released were on TV and angles a week or two ago. It's not like all those people cut had been off TV for months already. Just pure corporate shareholders are the only thing that matters shit. They've been bragging NONSTOP for 2 years about record breaking, highest ever gates, number of sell outs in a role, most merch ever sold, biggest sponsorship deals, biggest media deals, but right after the biggest and most money making event of the year they have to do cost cutting so it looks even better on the books. There's also they way they do it: no warning, random phone call and then put it online immediately before you even have time to react to it. It also rings hollow when they just bought an international company so they can funnel as many talents as they can from Mexico to hurt a competitor because they're not going to do shit with anyone they bring to the NXT/main roster as seen with every lucha dude pretty much ever post Rey and Eddie, who already had years of US TV exposure first. When's the last time the Garzas, Santos, Andrade, Dragon Lee on PPV? It only took 3 weeks before Penta was on Main Event.

AAA US joint show from 2021 featuring Paul London vs Val Venis, a gauntlet match featuring Penta, Brian Cage, Buff Bagwell, and Don Frye as a manager for Daga against Konnan's Alberto El Patron is probably a show worth tracking down, right? :skip

They had like 20 matches on TV and PPV, surely one of them had to be decent

Of course you gotta run Orton/Cena on Cena's farewell tour. Gonna be dogshit, tho.

There are already reports of AAA talent being told to learn English and work more American style, and Jeremy Borash is going to be co-booking with Konnan. It's a wrap.

Edward Carpentier getting a name drop during the NBA Playoffs in 2025 was wild

Shit I'd hope a TLC was better than most of WM because all but 3 matches across 2 nights of WM were dogshit

Bucks looking in the best condition of their careers. The luxury of working 3 times in 6 months. I'm all in on Kevin Knight. He could easily be the 2A Ospreay in AEW. Speedball also a delight. Great pick ups for AEW. As far as Josh Alexander, sure he's technically good at everything in the ring but he reminds me of John Walters as a copy of a copy. Does not stand out at all in any way.

Cage matches including War Games were set up from the floor for ages until probably like 2000ish

Even TNA won't bring him in for a full time run

Well it takes a different light when that forced curve ball came from the head of TKO asking him to do it. Last year definitely felt like Rock was dick swinging and taking over, this year TKO wanted him to do it again, he did, and HHH didn't swing on the pitch.

Makes you wonder what the original plan for WM was. It seemed the story was the weight of being the champ was getting to Cody and making him more and more aggressive and maybe even desperate to keep the title, perhaps snapping after losing the title to Cena in a face/face match. Within the context of what had gone on months before, Cody selling his soul to The Rock actually does make some sense, whether it be leaving it hanging at EC and doing it at WM itself in an Austin WM17 style turn. Instead all that stuff was pretty much dropped for 6 weeks and when given the chance to show something of what he did to KO, he pulls a Sting trusting Flair boner move in the main event of WM. Extra funny HHH telling the fans as critics to fuck off because he's the one leading the story, not us, now knowing there wasn't a story and Rock just let him flounder and then aired it out on TV 2 days after lmao

Rock goes on Pat Mac show 2 days after WM and basically confirms what everyone thought all along: There was no big long plan. Rock's involvement at EC was a request from Ari Emmanuel to juice EC tickets that were slower than expected. Rock came up with the idea for Cody's soul, HHH pitched Cena instead, they went with HHH's call and Rock said his job was done. Said he was leaving 6 weeks up to them to get cooking and building and his involvement would have taken away from Cena's win. He COULD have been at WM, but watched it at home on the couch. He also had effusive praise for Punk/Roman/Seth, but said he would have finessed a few things a bit better in Cody/Cena. RUTHLESS (passive) AGGRESSION.

The Cena we saw at WM vs the juiced to the tits Orton who avoids bumps that aren't the RKO is going to be absolute dogshit, regardless of the nostalgia or flip of alignments. Not literally as bad as Warrior/Hogan at Havoc, but that for this era.

I don't trust anything. Bron is about to get Ryback'd and be the one getting all the pins and gooned in this feud.

Even that is not necessarily the case. They've been low balling people and people have taken lower offers to go to WWE than stay with or go to TNA/AEW. WWE really made a lower offer for Jordyn Grace than TNA. They also made such a lower offer to Stephanie Vaquer compared to the AEW offer that they told her to take the AEW offer initially.

Sure. I don't disagree at all. I was just saying the difference in the top storylines when Paul Heyman is involved vs the one that don't involve him and are all HHH is significant.

That's how everyone has ever talked about him until like the CM Punk era of Paul Heyman Guy. Most who worked with him prior to 2015 still speak about him like that.

What. Those things come up about him literally anytime he's mentioned even on screen.

It seems both obviously and very clear that Paul Heyman has been the driving force of all this shit the last couple of years, because the rest of the show that he doesn't have his hands in in some way is unsatisfying mid stories and matches. Compare Cody vs Roman to Cody vs Cena. Punk/Seth/Roman to Seth against anyone the past 5 years. How completely rudderless all the Bloodline guys except Jacob Fatu are now that the angle is done and Heyman isn't with them.