I guess for Edge it was a big payday - probably his last one - and the chance of a final full-time run alongside his best friend in the business, and a number of genuine legends. He might even figure the fact that Khan is a mark might work out in his favour long-term. I'm sure it helped his contract negotiations. As far as Jericho - let's be honest, he can be embarrassing in his own right. His podcast has given a platform to numerous conspiracy nuts and general idiots, and his wife attended the Jan 6th riots if memory serves. I give him credit for the money he gives to other wrestlers for charitable causes, but I don't think he has much of a moral high ground when it comes to being a well-adjusted human being. I'd imagine most talent in AEW just let it go because, as a boss, he lets them do pretty much whatever they want. I can't imagine they give much of a shit about his twitter rants.
Let's talk wrasslin'
- Thread starter The Grayfox
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Now Meltzer reports that it was a Vince McMahon call to not bring Punk back. You’ve gotta really fuck up for Vince to be that dead set on not bringing you back. He’s brought back guys that held him up for six figures. He’s brought back a guy that literally knocked him out in the locker room. Meltzer theorizes it’s because WWE is really hot right now and they don’t “need” Punk. Hard to argue that really. They really don’t need him and it’s actually kind of hard to see where he would even fit in right now.
AEW talent “wish Tony Khan would put his phone away and get off of social media.”
I would think he’s hurting his chances of talent wanting to go to AEW when they see that the boss acts like a child.
AEW talent “wish Tony Khan would put his phone away and get off of social media.”
I would think he’s hurting his chances of talent wanting to go to AEW when they see that the boss acts like a child.In a lot of ways it does seem like the exact kind of situation where Vince would typically bring somebody in - crawling back with their tail between their legs. I wonder if it's because Vince doesn't have full (or perhaps any) creative control anymore, and so he can't guarantee he'll be able to deal with Punk as he pleases once Punk is under contract. However, as I said, from my POV the risk/reward ratio was skewed pretty far on the risk side, so it's one of the few times where I'd agree with a decision Vince made if it is purely based on common sense rather than personal grievance. It still wouldn't surprise me to see Punk back there at some point, especially if they're in need of a short-term boost or a big name opponent for Roman or Brock to plough through.
Did you see Khan's latest tweets about his mother, using her illness to then bash WWE? What is this guy doing. I'm starting to worry about him now. We aren't talking some kid in his twenties who might be reacting in an emotionally immature way - Khan is 41 years old for goodness sake. I get that being a billionaire's son shields you from the real world to an extent, but you'd think by now someone would have told him "Tony, my man, you're making yourself look like a total prick. Just stop already". He really needs to get over what happened on Tuesday and move on. It's not like AEW was even beaten that badly. The show had moved timeslots and was against a WWE show that had Cena, Undertaker, LA Knight and Cody Rhodes on it, for goodness sake. 600k and a 0.26 demo (NXT only got 0.30 in the demo) is perfectly respectable. It's only an L because he's turned it into one. He's not only making himself look bad, but also AEW and their roster by proxy. It was funny to see Bischoff criticise him for it though - as if Eric wasn't behaving the same way in the late-90s. When WWE started beating WCW in the ratings he literally threw a tantrum by challenging Vince to a fight on TV, ffs. Not to mention the brilliant idea to take a woefully underprepared TNA into a "Monday Night War" that they got absolutely demolished in. Dude needs to stay quiet on this one.
Did you see Khan's latest tweets about his mother, using her illness to then bash WWE? What is this guy doing. I'm starting to worry about him now. We aren't talking some kid in his twenties who might be reacting in an emotionally immature way - Khan is 41 years old for goodness sake. I get that being a billionaire's son shields you from the real world to an extent, but you'd think by now someone would have told him "Tony, my man, you're making yourself look like a total prick. Just stop already". He really needs to get over what happened on Tuesday and move on. It's not like AEW was even beaten that badly. The show had moved timeslots and was against a WWE show that had Cena, Undertaker, LA Knight and Cody Rhodes on it, for goodness sake. 600k and a 0.26 demo (NXT only got 0.30 in the demo) is perfectly respectable. It's only an L because he's turned it into one. He's not only making himself look bad, but also AEW and their roster by proxy. It was funny to see Bischoff criticise him for it though - as if Eric wasn't behaving the same way in the late-90s. When WWE started beating WCW in the ratings he literally threw a tantrum by challenging Vince to a fight on TV, ffs. Not to mention the brilliant idea to take a woefully underprepared TNA into a "Monday Night War" that they got absolutely demolished in. Dude needs to stay quiet on this one.
Agreed. It’s a loss because he’s making it feel that way. Nobody expected AEW to come out on top of this except him. It isn’t a complete hose job to lose to WWE. They’re always going to be number one. They are so well established at this point. Be happy that people tuned in. More importantly, just concentrate on what you’re doing. Using his own mother is some Vince McMahon level bullshit. Every time he goes on social media, he makes himself look like a bigger asshole.
It seems that AEW has a habit of making me appreciate the things that WWE does that I once complained about. Giving guys free reign on promos seems to end up in failure in AEW. Watching Edge and Ricky Starks was just plain awkward. It was like watching two kids insult each other at school. I feel like the happy medium is give guys points to hit, let them get there however they want, but don't just stick a microphone in their hand and say "go!" because without any direction, you get the sloppy, stuttering mess that Edge and Starks showed on Collision.
It looks like they're building to Roman vs. Knight at Crown Jewel. I mean, at least it's a fresh match but we all know how that one is ending. Hopefully they use the opportunity to at least make Knight look good so they can get some more top level talent built. I'm actually kind of luke warm on Knight -- I don't think he's very interesting in the ring, but at least they're going with him instead of just burying him in the midcard forever. KO going over to Smackdown is alright I guess. There was really nothing else to do with him and Sami as a team. And at least they didn't do the predictable thing and have one of them turn on the other for the 10th time. It'll be interesting to see if Sami keeps his status as a top babyface or if that ship sailed once he lost to Roman. Unfortunately I see it being the latter. I would like to see a Sami/Rollins feud though. That would make for some good matches. Speaking of Rollins, I wonder if he holds the title until Wrestlemania or if he loses to Drew. The Drew heel turn must be coming, right? He's a decent babyface but he has the perfect look for a heel and he's good at it too.
I think it was Meltzer who said yesterday that WWE expects to have Randy Orton back by Survivor Series. Obviously he'll be back as a face, but he's such a good heel too. One would have to assume this will be Randy's last real run. It's crazy that he's already been out for a year and a half. With Triple H being in charge, I wonder if Randy gets the world title soon as well. There's a lot of different ways they could go with that. My prediction is Randy will be a mystery partner for War Games. And if they do that, they're going to set him up for failure, because if people hear "mystery partner" and "Survivor Series" and "Chicago" in the same sentence, there's no way that crowd will be anything but disappointed when it isn't CM Punk lol.
I've gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed that Nakamura didn't dethrone Rollins. I was hoping he might finally get his moment. I thought he was going to get it years ago when he faced AJ at Mania.
It looks like they're building to Roman vs. Knight at Crown Jewel. I mean, at least it's a fresh match but we all know how that one is ending. Hopefully they use the opportunity to at least make Knight look good so they can get some more top level talent built. I'm actually kind of luke warm on Knight -- I don't think he's very interesting in the ring, but at least they're going with him instead of just burying him in the midcard forever. KO going over to Smackdown is alright I guess. There was really nothing else to do with him and Sami as a team. And at least they didn't do the predictable thing and have one of them turn on the other for the 10th time. It'll be interesting to see if Sami keeps his status as a top babyface or if that ship sailed once he lost to Roman. Unfortunately I see it being the latter. I would like to see a Sami/Rollins feud though. That would make for some good matches. Speaking of Rollins, I wonder if he holds the title until Wrestlemania or if he loses to Drew. The Drew heel turn must be coming, right? He's a decent babyface but he has the perfect look for a heel and he's good at it too.
I think it was Meltzer who said yesterday that WWE expects to have Randy Orton back by Survivor Series. Obviously he'll be back as a face, but he's such a good heel too. One would have to assume this will be Randy's last real run. It's crazy that he's already been out for a year and a half. With Triple H being in charge, I wonder if Randy gets the world title soon as well. There's a lot of different ways they could go with that. My prediction is Randy will be a mystery partner for War Games. And if they do that, they're going to set him up for failure, because if people hear "mystery partner" and "Survivor Series" and "Chicago" in the same sentence, there's no way that crowd will be anything but disappointed when it isn't CM Punk lol.
I've gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed that Nakamura didn't dethrone Rollins. I was hoping he might finally get his moment. I thought he was going to get it years ago when he faced AJ at Mania.
I only just watched that Edge and Starks segment, lmao, what a mess. Edge obviously isn't used to doing ad-lib stuff, and it wasn't Starks' finest moment either. This is what happens when you take somebody who has been fed promos for decades and place him in an unscripted environment. You can't just send him out there and say "good luck" when it's one of your biggest stars. A developmental talent you can get away with, but stuff like that is how big names lose their attraction fast. AEW needs to learn from that and make sure it doesn't happen again. Some guys can work with nothing, other guys need bullet points, others need full direction. You have to get that right. Even the Rock, considered one of the greatest promos of all time, had all of his stuff carefully written down beforehand. Cena even referenced it in their feud in regards to Rock's promos being on his wrist tape (which, for the record, was an unnecessary low blow and personally petty as opposed to helping build heat).
Knight is a fantastic promo and talker. In ring he's passable - a bit like The Miz, honestly. He fits that WWE mould perfectly though, and it's strange that it's taken him this long to get a real chance in WWE. He had star potential years ago - I first saw him on NWA Powerrr and his charisma was obvious then. He has the look and the ability to talk, which two huge plusses as far as WWE is concerned. As long as you don't absolutely suck in the ring, if you're great at those two things you've got it made there. I have no interest in seeing him lose to Roman though - but then, Roman's title reign has gone on for so long that I was bored of it months ago. They've left it too late to pull the trigger on that one now, and we all know that every opponent he faces until next year's Mania is just cannon fodder. It's pretty boring. I genuinely would rather have had Cena take another L to Roman.
I don't follow Raw at all nowadays really, so I don't know what's happening with Sami or Drew. The former I would say has definitely peaked, whilst the latter was stale as a babyface a long time ago. I like Drew but he's long overdue a turn.
Orton is one of those guys who has become so much better with age. He was more dynamic in his younger days, but he's become much more comfortable with his character and ring-work in the past eight years or so. His matches and feuds used to suck the life out of a show, but that changed significantly after 2016. Hopefully he'll stay clear of injury and have a solid run. He's a natural heel, but yeah, he has to come back as a face initially. The crowd will go nuts for him and he's in that position as a respected veteran who fans want to cheer. Still plenty of gas in the tank for another heel run, of course, but they need to make it logical and interesting, or the fans will just keep cheering him. Having any kind of 'mystery' wrestler at Survivor Series is definitely a bad idea because of the Punk rumours. It's only going to end up disappointing people.
Nakamura was fantastic in NXT, but his entire main roster run has been underwhelming, really. It was cool when he won the Rumble, but other than that he's just been kind of there. I think even he himself has admitted he's somewhat phoning it in. His match with AJ was a huge let down, from what I remember, and that pretty much set the tone for the majority of his main roster run. I'm not sure the motivation has ever really been there for him on the main roster. he can still go and even Nakamura at 70% is better than a lot of guys at 100%, but the Nakamura of NJPW legend and NXT fame has never existed on the main roster, and that's a shame.
Knight is a fantastic promo and talker. In ring he's passable - a bit like The Miz, honestly. He fits that WWE mould perfectly though, and it's strange that it's taken him this long to get a real chance in WWE. He had star potential years ago - I first saw him on NWA Powerrr and his charisma was obvious then. He has the look and the ability to talk, which two huge plusses as far as WWE is concerned. As long as you don't absolutely suck in the ring, if you're great at those two things you've got it made there. I have no interest in seeing him lose to Roman though - but then, Roman's title reign has gone on for so long that I was bored of it months ago. They've left it too late to pull the trigger on that one now, and we all know that every opponent he faces until next year's Mania is just cannon fodder. It's pretty boring. I genuinely would rather have had Cena take another L to Roman.
I don't follow Raw at all nowadays really, so I don't know what's happening with Sami or Drew. The former I would say has definitely peaked, whilst the latter was stale as a babyface a long time ago. I like Drew but he's long overdue a turn.
Orton is one of those guys who has become so much better with age. He was more dynamic in his younger days, but he's become much more comfortable with his character and ring-work in the past eight years or so. His matches and feuds used to suck the life out of a show, but that changed significantly after 2016. Hopefully he'll stay clear of injury and have a solid run. He's a natural heel, but yeah, he has to come back as a face initially. The crowd will go nuts for him and he's in that position as a respected veteran who fans want to cheer. Still plenty of gas in the tank for another heel run, of course, but they need to make it logical and interesting, or the fans will just keep cheering him. Having any kind of 'mystery' wrestler at Survivor Series is definitely a bad idea because of the Punk rumours. It's only going to end up disappointing people.
Nakamura was fantastic in NXT, but his entire main roster run has been underwhelming, really. It was cool when he won the Rumble, but other than that he's just been kind of there. I think even he himself has admitted he's somewhat phoning it in. His match with AJ was a huge let down, from what I remember, and that pretty much set the tone for the majority of his main roster run. I'm not sure the motivation has ever really been there for him on the main roster. he can still go and even Nakamura at 70% is better than a lot of guys at 100%, but the Nakamura of NJPW legend and NXT fame has never existed on the main roster, and that's a shame.
Yeah, LA Knight is pretty much the WWE prototype. If he was bigger, I'm sure Vince would have used him a long time ago. Speaking of, how much of the "Triple H is in full control of WWE creative" stuff are you buying? The latest report I read said that is the case but Vince still has pull on who is on TV -- which, if Meltzer's report about Punk is true, would track. IF it's all true, you have to imagine Vince is pretty pissed since it was clear from the start that he only went through with a sale to get full control of his company. It would seem it backfired as the new boss noticed that WWE got a lot more attention once Vince wasn't in control and decided to keep things that way. Pretty funny if that's what happened; Vince sells his company to get more power and loses said power instead.
Still a lot of talk about Punk being brought in. This is exactly what happened when he left in 2014. Every major show for most of the year, the talk was "Punk is coming back!" Some people speculating that the higher-ups fed info to people so "journalists" like Meltzer would report it and throw people off. I've gotta say, unless that's a Triple H tactic, it would seem more plausible that they would just say nothing like usual.
I remember when Cena called out The Rock for having promo notes on his wrist. You could see Rock scathing inside. He was definitely not expecting it and didn't appreciate it. It was a definite low blow. Like you said, some people need a lot more direction and as long as their delivery is good, who gives a shit? Cena tried to get the upper hand by 'exposing' The Rock. I would've liked to have been backstage when those two came back. I guess for what it's worth, Cena has publicly apologized to The Rock numerous times and admitted that he didn't handle things properly. Ironic though, considering Cena's current career. To be fair, he shows up a lot more often than The Rock does though. I still remember The Rock's promo from more than a decade ago when he came back and said "I'm never leaving again." And then he... left.
Still a lot of talk about Punk being brought in. This is exactly what happened when he left in 2014. Every major show for most of the year, the talk was "Punk is coming back!" Some people speculating that the higher-ups fed info to people so "journalists" like Meltzer would report it and throw people off. I've gotta say, unless that's a Triple H tactic, it would seem more plausible that they would just say nothing like usual.
I remember when Cena called out The Rock for having promo notes on his wrist. You could see Rock scathing inside. He was definitely not expecting it and didn't appreciate it. It was a definite low blow. Like you said, some people need a lot more direction and as long as their delivery is good, who gives a shit? Cena tried to get the upper hand by 'exposing' The Rock. I would've liked to have been backstage when those two came back. I guess for what it's worth, Cena has publicly apologized to The Rock numerous times and admitted that he didn't handle things properly. Ironic though, considering Cena's current career. To be fair, he shows up a lot more often than The Rock does though. I still remember The Rock's promo from more than a decade ago when he came back and said "I'm never leaving again." And then he... left.
The problem Vince has is that Endeavour will be looking at WWE purely from a monetory standpoint. They will see that all relevent metrics ticked up, some significantly, when Vince initially resigned and left Triple H in charge of creative. From their perspective there's no good reason to let Vince take the wheel again, especially when his decision-making has in recent times been erratic and creatively outdated. So, I think any 'power' Vince has will be mostly a token gesture, and that Trips will hold a lot more sway when it comes to making decisions. He probably won't be fully free of Vince's influence, but I think he'll be in a position to be able to push his ideas whether Vince approves of them or not. Endeavour has publicly labelled Vince a 'liability' to the business, so it seems clear that he's being kept there somewhat begrudgingly at this point. Whilst not allowing Punk back may have been a Vince call, I get the feeling Triple H didn't fight much against it. He and Punk are hardly close friends, so he was probably fine with discarding the whole thing and moving on. He's got plenty to work with as it is.
Cena had form back then (and still does occasionally) for taking promos too far. You need to know how to walk the line without completely discrediting your opponent, and Cena often struggled with that. I think back to his 2017 promo with Roman Reigns. No matter how true some of the stuff Cena said in that promo was, all it did was eviscorate Roman as a performer, rather than as a character. Roman struggled in that segment, but Cena needed to pull him up, not beat him further into the ground. Not many people will remember Roman beating Cena at whatever PPV it was they were building to, but everyone remembers Cena destroying Roman on the mic. Obviously Reigns got over it and ended up in a great place, but that one segment probably set him back a long way.
Cena had form back then (and still does occasionally) for taking promos too far. You need to know how to walk the line without completely discrediting your opponent, and Cena often struggled with that. I think back to his 2017 promo with Roman Reigns. No matter how true some of the stuff Cena said in that promo was, all it did was eviscorate Roman as a performer, rather than as a character. Roman struggled in that segment, but Cena needed to pull him up, not beat him further into the ground. Not many people will remember Roman beating Cena at whatever PPV it was they were building to, but everyone remembers Cena destroying Roman on the mic. Obviously Reigns got over it and ended up in a great place, but that one segment probably set him back a long way.
It’s so weird to me that Endeavor labeled Vince a liability too. All this talk of Vince selling to Ari because they were friends and he would be treated right, etc. and then Ari really pulled the rug out. Not that I’m complaining, Vince deserves it. But it’s also kind of sad, because Vince could’ve done the right thing and left the company to at least one of his kids, likely Stephanie since she had the experience, but instead he decided to do it this way and for what? It’s not like WWE was in a position where this needed to be done. It wasn’t a struggling company. Vince did this because he’s a fucking asshole. I still cannot fathom how a father with children in a position to take over for him, and do a good job of it, would instead sell his company and screw them in the process. It’s just absolutely mind boggling. It really shows just how much he cares about power. And for that reason, I’m happy it’s blowing up in his face.
I wonder how long before Endeavor just gives him the boot permanently.
I wonder how long before Endeavor just gives him the boot permanently.
There's no such thing as a good billionaire my friend (or millionaire for that matter). These people are obsessed with money and power, to the point where most of them never retire. Still going into their 70s and 80s because nothing else makes them happy. As far as friendship between Vince and Ari, hah, for people like that it's very much "what have you done for me lately?" - I don't think they know the meaning of the word friendship.
I saw someone say recently that Vince sold up to get as much money as possible behind him for future court cases and payouts. There's probably some truth to that.
I just wish AEW hadn't turned out this way. I thought we'd finally get a company like WCW who could challenge WWE, but instead we have a manchild who treats the wrestlers as action figures who he puts away when they are no longer interesting to him. At least Bischoff, for everything he did wrong, was laser-focused in the early days on doing everything he could to make WCW a legitimate alternative. Obviously in the later years he became burned out and unable to control the monster he'd created with Hogan, Hall, Nash, etc, but those first couple of years he had a real plan to get WCW to the top. Khan is just playing real life e-fed and it's as chaotic and unstructured as you'd imagine. Feels like it really went to shit when Cody left - seems like he was holding that place together, regardless of his ridiculous self-booking decisions.
I saw someone say recently that Vince sold up to get as much money as possible behind him for future court cases and payouts. There's probably some truth to that.
I just wish AEW hadn't turned out this way. I thought we'd finally get a company like WCW who could challenge WWE, but instead we have a manchild who treats the wrestlers as action figures who he puts away when they are no longer interesting to him. At least Bischoff, for everything he did wrong, was laser-focused in the early days on doing everything he could to make WCW a legitimate alternative. Obviously in the later years he became burned out and unable to control the monster he'd created with Hogan, Hall, Nash, etc, but those first couple of years he had a real plan to get WCW to the top. Khan is just playing real life e-fed and it's as chaotic and unstructured as you'd imagine. Feels like it really went to shit when Cody left - seems like he was holding that place together, regardless of his ridiculous self-booking decisions.
Sting announces his final match will be at Revolution 2024. Really happy he got to go out on his own terms. He was my favourite as a kid, so it would have sucked for that shitty WWE run to be his swansong. Say what you will about AEW, but one thing they have got right is their handling of Sting.
'96-'98 WCW is one of my absolute favorite eras of wrestling. During those years, even WWE couldn't touch them. Bischoff gets a lot of hate, but I dig him. I wish Tony Khan actually listened to the things Bischoff had to say, especially early on because he was really trying to give Khan good advice. And then Tony Khan basically said he didn't want the advice because "look what happened to WCW." Anyone who thinks what happened to WCW was Eric Bischoff's fault is just wrong. You're talking about a corporation that killed WCW, not Eric Bischoff. Turner Networks didn't want wrestling... ever. They just put up with it because it was their biggest draw in the glory days. They had no choice. Tony Khan should've had his ears open and taken in all the advice he could get. Maybe then he wouldn't be on his way to owning TNA 2.0.
Sting retiring is bittersweet. He's had a hell of a run and he deserves retirement for sure. But it feels like Taker retiring -- just wrong, somehow. I'm still in complete denial that the Undertaker is retired. For me, Taker was a staple of my fandom. He was there for all of it. In some way, it was like he was the last link in the chain tying me to my childhood. Sting is in the same league. I'll never forget the days of putting on Saturday Night and seeing surfer Sting. Even now, I wish he would go back to surfer Sting just one time before he retires. I remember when I was a real little kid, I looked forward to seeing what color Sting would come out wearing. Then being a fan of The Crow as I got a bit older, obviously Crow Sting resonated with me quite a bit. Who do you think his retirement match will be against? It's gotta be Darby, right?
Sting retiring is bittersweet. He's had a hell of a run and he deserves retirement for sure. But it feels like Taker retiring -- just wrong, somehow. I'm still in complete denial that the Undertaker is retired. For me, Taker was a staple of my fandom. He was there for all of it. In some way, it was like he was the last link in the chain tying me to my childhood. Sting is in the same league. I'll never forget the days of putting on Saturday Night and seeing surfer Sting. Even now, I wish he would go back to surfer Sting just one time before he retires. I remember when I was a real little kid, I looked forward to seeing what color Sting would come out wearing. Then being a fan of The Crow as I got a bit older, obviously Crow Sting resonated with me quite a bit. Who do you think his retirement match will be against? It's gotta be Darby, right?
Bischoff was on a roll between 95-97 - he was bold, innovative and made Nitro unpredictable. Granted there was some absolute trash during 95 and early 96 especially (basically everything related to the Dungeon of Doom), but Nitro still immediately looked and felt like a genuine alternative to the WWF at the time. Admittedly it was easier to do back then, as the Raw sets from 95/96 are pretty lacklustre, and they're a long way from the slick production they have nowadays, but still. I think Bischoff showed in his TNA run that his time had passed in terms of having much useful to offer to the business from a forward-thinking perspective, but in terms of learning from the mistakes of the past - he's the man you want to have on speed-dial.
I'm okay with Sting retiring, but it'll be bittersweet for me as well. He's the first wrestler I latched onto and has been around in some form for most of my fandom, whether that was in WCW, TNA, WWE or AEW. I hope he continues to make appearances in non-wrestling roles. He'd be an awesome authority figure. As far as his last match is concerned, it absolutely has to involve Darby. Whether it'll be against Darby, I'm not sure, but if Darby was to beat Sting in his final match that'd be a pretty big rub. I'd certainly take a Darby/Sting match over Sting Vs a washed up legend from the past. I guess we'll see. I trust AEW on this one, as thus far they've always done right by Sting.
I'm okay with Sting retiring, but it'll be bittersweet for me as well. He's the first wrestler I latched onto and has been around in some form for most of my fandom, whether that was in WCW, TNA, WWE or AEW. I hope he continues to make appearances in non-wrestling roles. He'd be an awesome authority figure. As far as his last match is concerned, it absolutely has to involve Darby. Whether it'll be against Darby, I'm not sure, but if Darby was to beat Sting in his final match that'd be a pretty big rub. I'd certainly take a Darby/Sting match over Sting Vs a washed up legend from the past. I guess we'll see. I trust AEW on this one, as thus far they've always done right by Sting.
Also Impact is triumphantly rebranding back to TNA. I'm just like... okay? Isn't the idea to try and move away from the TNA stink? Not everything the company did under the TNA moniker was bad... but a lot of it was, and I'm not sure there's such huge nostalgia for TNA that rebranding back to those letters will have any significant effect. I suppose time will tell. It's just funny for me to hear the company hyping the change back to the original branding so much, despite TNA historically being a byword for incompetence as far as wrestling is concerned.
The TNA rebrand thing is just weird and feels very unnecessary. Its not like it's going to increase their viewership. Plus I read that they're not bringing back the same titles and they're not bringing back the six-sided ring, so really what's the point of this?
IWC exploded today when it was reported that after Crown Jewel, Roman won't be wrestling until the Rumble in January. The whole thing is so ridiculous at this point that it doesn't surprise me. It's like... yeah, let me know when he finally loses the title.
I saw Ric Flair debut in AEW on Wednesday. I actually thought that segment was really well done. Sting looked genuinely surprised and it was a nice feel good moment until Christian came out. It makes sense to have Flair there since he was such a huge part of Sting's career. A few days later it was reported that Flair was originally supposed to come in in 2021 but the offer was rescinded after the allegations against him surfaced. It's weird to me how for some people, it just disappears and for others it ruins their entire career. Maybe because it's Ric Flair and nobody is surprised, I dunno lol.
IWC exploded today when it was reported that after Crown Jewel, Roman won't be wrestling until the Rumble in January. The whole thing is so ridiculous at this point that it doesn't surprise me. It's like... yeah, let me know when he finally loses the title.
I saw Ric Flair debut in AEW on Wednesday. I actually thought that segment was really well done. Sting looked genuinely surprised and it was a nice feel good moment until Christian came out. It makes sense to have Flair there since he was such a huge part of Sting's career. A few days later it was reported that Flair was originally supposed to come in in 2021 but the offer was rescinded after the allegations against him surfaced. It's weird to me how for some people, it just disappears and for others it ruins their entire career. Maybe because it's Ric Flair and nobody is surprised, I dunno lol.
AEW truly is turning into the new TNA, which is sad because they really had a shot at doing big things. I honestly don't see them going up from here. With the money the Khan family has, I don't see it folding any time soon either unless they really start losing money, but its starting to feel like such "B movie" wrestling at this point. Unless you ONLY care about in-ring action, which is totally fine, I don't see any real reason to watch it.
I just feel like AEW has gotten too far away from what they originally set out to be. When Dynamite started it was a genuine, fun alternative to WWE. There were a sprinkling of older stars there - mainly as managers or backstage people - whilst the bulk of the stories and in-ring stuff was centered around guys who were relatively unknown in the American scene. At times it was chaotic and lacked structure, but that was part of its charm. AEW is still chaotic and lacking structure, but now there seems to be almost no focus on proper storytelling, a hyperfocus on 'dream matches' whilst the roster is overloaded with ex-WWE and recently TNA talent. The acquisition of ROH bloated a roster that was already too large.
On this Dynamite alone you started off the show with Renee Paquette (ex-WWE), Adam Cole (ex-WWE), Samoa Joe (ex-WWE) and Roderick Strong (ex-WWE). The first match has Cesaro (ex-WWE). You also have Moxley, Christian, Edge, Sting, Jericho, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Billy Gunn. Some of these I can give a pass - Jericho and Mox were with AEW from the start, Sting I'll always give a pass to, but at this point it feels more like a real life e-fed than a legitimate promotion.
Then you have Tony Khan's constant 'big announcements' which inevitably disappoint. This week's 'big announcement' was that tickets for All In go on sale on Dec 1. I mean, dude, that could have been a tweet or something plugged by the announcers during a break between matches. It isn't worthy of being hyped as some kind of huge announcement, and judging by the stagnant ratings people have stopped buying into Khan's hype because time after time he fails to back it up with anything worthwhile.
On this Dynamite alone you started off the show with Renee Paquette (ex-WWE), Adam Cole (ex-WWE), Samoa Joe (ex-WWE) and Roderick Strong (ex-WWE). The first match has Cesaro (ex-WWE). You also have Moxley, Christian, Edge, Sting, Jericho, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Billy Gunn. Some of these I can give a pass - Jericho and Mox were with AEW from the start, Sting I'll always give a pass to, but at this point it feels more like a real life e-fed than a legitimate promotion.
Then you have Tony Khan's constant 'big announcements' which inevitably disappoint. This week's 'big announcement' was that tickets for All In go on sale on Dec 1. I mean, dude, that could have been a tweet or something plugged by the announcers during a break between matches. It isn't worthy of being hyped as some kind of huge announcement, and judging by the stagnant ratings people have stopped buying into Khan's hype because time after time he fails to back it up with anything worthwhile.
Yeah, I think that's why I get a TNA feeling from AEW. They were fine building new stars and showcasing people who were relatively unknown. But then they couldn't resist bringing in former WWE talent when they were available and said WWE talent obviously wanted to go there, if for nothing else than the money, and that relatively unknown talent took a backseat to the established stars. I mean, to be fair, if I was running a promotion, I don't think I could pass up hiring a lot of that talent either. If you have the opportunity to sign guys like Edge, Cesaro, Aleister Black, Christian, Chris Jericho, etc., your first instinct is going to be to sign them because they're well known names in the wrestling world and you want more eyes on your product. The downside is, the people who were into the promotion to begin with start feeling ostracised because thats not what they're expecting. My problem is, you see people talking about these "huge names" that are good signings. Who has AEW signed that is a huge name outside of the wrestling world? To wrestling fans, sure. To the general public? Most people outside of the wrestling bubble still don't know who Jon Moxley or even Chris Jericho are. That same general public sure as hell knows who John Cena, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and hell, even some know who Roman Reigns is. Edge is arguably their "biggest star" and even then, MOST outside of the wrestling world have no idea who he is unless they watched Vikings.
Even TNA brought in people that the outside world knew of, for better or worse and it STILL didn't work. They had guys like Hogan and Kurt Angle. I don't know realistically who AEW can bring in that will truly make them grow as a company. It feels stagnant and that isn't a good thing for a company that is 4 years old. It should be hotter than ever. If I'm Tony Khan, I'm looking for an inner circle that REALLY knows the wrestling business. He needs his Pat Patterson and Bruce Prichard. From reports, which may or may not be true, Tony Khan writes the majority of all the AEW shows himself with feedback from the talent themselves. And judging from what I see, he lets that talent dictate too much of what they do. I know he's going for the "opposite of Vince McMahon" approach but maybe that isn't working. The guy's announcements are so lame that they literally made headlines in dirt sheets... for the wrong reasons obviously. This is a guy who is a supposed huge wrestling fan but he's so far removed from it at this point that he seems to have forgotten that when you hype a big announcement, you better fucking deliver. Announcing tickets going on sale isn't it. Even people who will attend All In next year were probably disappointed. We don't have to discuss the rest of the world who couldn't care less about tickets for the event. Billy Bob in Nebraska doesn't give a shit. Ivan in Russia doesn't either. That's a very targeted announcement that shouldn't have been hyped as "major" and then delivered on your main show, when it could've been a fucking email.
I'm uh... pretty down on AEW right now.
Even TNA brought in people that the outside world knew of, for better or worse and it STILL didn't work. They had guys like Hogan and Kurt Angle. I don't know realistically who AEW can bring in that will truly make them grow as a company. It feels stagnant and that isn't a good thing for a company that is 4 years old. It should be hotter than ever. If I'm Tony Khan, I'm looking for an inner circle that REALLY knows the wrestling business. He needs his Pat Patterson and Bruce Prichard. From reports, which may or may not be true, Tony Khan writes the majority of all the AEW shows himself with feedback from the talent themselves. And judging from what I see, he lets that talent dictate too much of what they do. I know he's going for the "opposite of Vince McMahon" approach but maybe that isn't working. The guy's announcements are so lame that they literally made headlines in dirt sheets... for the wrong reasons obviously. This is a guy who is a supposed huge wrestling fan but he's so far removed from it at this point that he seems to have forgotten that when you hype a big announcement, you better fucking deliver. Announcing tickets going on sale isn't it. Even people who will attend All In next year were probably disappointed. We don't have to discuss the rest of the world who couldn't care less about tickets for the event. Billy Bob in Nebraska doesn't give a shit. Ivan in Russia doesn't either. That's a very targeted announcement that shouldn't have been hyped as "major" and then delivered on your main show, when it could've been a fucking email.
I'm uh... pretty down on AEW right now.
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