strobogo

I think a Sarge deep dive is incomplete without watching him beat the ever loving dogshit out of jobbers on Mid Atlantic TV in 1981-1982

Honestly it's amazing how good of a job they've done with Page considering at the start of AEW he was clearly the least cared about member of The Elite by a large margin and very clearly was not ready for the spot they were trying to plug him into. Two years of a slow burn on him and now people are talking about how crazy it is to pass him up for Bryan and Punk. Britt Baker's turn around is the only thing that compares really, although since she's actually had the title it's been real sketchy. There's been a LOT of stuff in AEW that just feels like one off or meaningless or just treading water for weeks/months, so I really hope they stick the landing with Page.

I feel like Page's story can still be stretched out a bit and reach the proper crescendo, but not too much longer. Anymore big profile losses regardless of circumstances going forward I think will only get a negative reaction and get people losing interest. Full Gear is in early November and I don't think they can push it past that no matter what is going on with Kenny/Punk/Bryan in the meantime.

Juiced to the tits Viking Brock in freakshow fights in Asia sounds a million times better than another WWE run

Looked like he got sliced along his wrist/forearm and there was a huge puddle of blood under him already

That looked real, real bad of a cut.

With that finish, gotta think that means All Out is going to be Omega vs Punk or Bryan all but confirmed

They were the same corny goobers in NJPW, ROH, BTE, and in AEW as faces as well ,though. That's just them regardless.

I think they're just all corny goobers, not master heels working the smarks with a stupid entrance that happens to be corporate synergy.

Lmao at the difference in entrance. The fuck. Corporate Synergy, tho.

That's the best entrance I've seen in quite some time

I would expect Jericho to either try to make up for how shitty the War Games bump was and do some real stupid and dangerous stuff and get hurt, or go the opposite way and have a bunch of gimmicked stuff that looks like shit and then be a whiny asshole on the internet when people make fun of it later on Twitter.

I'd rather watch Juicy Jinder than Drew tbh

I don't think there was ever much of a crossover with WWE's fanbase and the collegiate history of wrestlers. In places like Mid South and JCP/WCW pre-Hogan, a little more but I also don't really think it was ever important unless it was a truly star player in that region. JR's hard on for talking about who played what sport where over stated its importance to fans, imo.

I'm willing to bet the WWE fans/college football fans crossover is pretty minimal and nearly no one but Jim Ross gives a shit about Roman's football history

The interesting thing to me is how Corbin's delivery and performances with this angle is so much better than the absolutely dreadful terrible dogshit promos he had been cutting from the Constable Corbin through King Corbin trash. Not like they're master classes in promos or anything, but compared to how terrible and whiny and lame and bad all of his promos had been for the past 3 years, this particular angle has him doing promos that should be whiny bullshit but he comes off pretty earnest and natural.

I'd say it's the opposite, it's not fair to current wrestlers to compare them to the drawing ability of Cena because even in the time that Cena hasn't been full time, the whole concept of what a draw is or isn't for WWE is completely different.

I'm not suggesting the metrics don't exist, but do they matter anymore

I don't even know how you can truly define a draw or not in an era where WWE has its most profitable years and TV deals after 20 years of declining ratings and attendances.

Jay White going to America to do Impact tapings and deal with the quarantine times missing a Tokyo Dome show is bizarre to me

Toni Storm absolutely will be wasted because Vince won't like how her body type looks on TV after 3 months

I don't think the UFC thing matters too much either, but what does matter is 7 years is a long time in wrestling. Think of any top guy in any era coming back 7 years later out of the blue. Outside of The Rock, who had become a global superstar outside of wrestling in the meantime, I can't think of ANY top guy coming back after 7 years of staying out of the industry and limelight almost completely will make the impact as big as what people would hope for.

Seems like a real waste of energy on HHH's part. Maybe put that energy into making Vince treat NXT like a real brand and not his son-in-law's side business he gives him out of charity.

Working the fans into thinking he's working for them isn't doing shit for ratings or HHH's career though so who gives a shit

I do not believe that is the idea at all. I know that was a report, but that's stupid even by WWE logic. WWE only has two ways to book main event heels: Super heels that destroy all challengers (HHH, Brock), or chickenshits who steal every win (Edge, Rollins). This is similar to how WWE only has two ways to book main event faces: Super dominators who never lose and if they do it's bullshit (basically every champion from Bruno through Roman) or who lose way more than they should be constantly get more chances anyway (seen more recently with Bryan and Drew).