Let's talk wrasslin'

[DE4life]

A picture has leaked of Tony Khan and Shane McMahon having a meeting, lmao. Shane in AEW would be wild.

 

[The Grayfox]

Yeah, I don’t really know what Shane in AEW accomplishes honestly. Maybe it gets them a big rating for one night and then everybody goes back to not caring. Shane doesn’t bring much to wrestling in 2024. I imagine most people feel the same. This is for shock factor and not much else. But if Tony really wanted shock factor, he should’ve tried to get Vince lol.

 

[DE4life]

I'd definitely watch Shane's debut if he did come to AEW - just for the pure WTF factor of a McMahon appearing on WWE's biggest competitor's show. Might even watch the rest of the episode to see if much has changed since I stopped watching, but I imagine it'd be a one off view for me before returning to purely watching classic wrasslin' and YouTube stuff like Wrestling Bios and WWW.

If AEW bring Shane in then I think, for that one show at least, it would draw some fresh eyeballs and some lapsed eyeballs. They'd need to use that show to prove they've changed for the better, though, or all of those eyeballs will go back to watching something else.

 

[The Grayfox]

Nothing is going to get me to tune in to AEW at this point. I think you’re right though, a lot of people will. Even if it’s only to see how ridiculous it is. Of course, Stephanie could have a conversation with her brother and talk him out of this, which I would think is entirely possible. Optics and whatnot.

Other than shock value though, I really don’t see the upside to Shane McMahon in any wrestling promotion these days. This is still the guy who ruined an entire Rumble and tried to book himself to win it. For which his own father fired him.

 

[DE4life]

Quite literally the only upside is an initial burst of eyes on the product. A chance to bring back some lapsed fans or fans that had never watched AEW before, but are tuning in for Shane's appearance.

At that point you have to put all your big ex-WWE names out there. A significant portion of the new audience is going to be curious former or current WWE fans, so you've got to have the recognisable names front and centre. Ideally you have them mixing with the non-WWE talent in a way that makes rivalries look both equal and compelling. You'd genuinely need to make it as close to a PPV quality show as possible for TV, but with interesting storyline progression built into each segment and recaps that allow fresh viewers to quickly understand what is going on in each feud. No rivalry should be so complicated that it takes longer than a minute or two of a video package to get the main points across.

Also, whatever storyline Shane is introduced into should be weaved throughout the first show he's on. Not just one segment at the end or one segment at the beginning, as usually tends to happen in both AEW and WWE. You want people to stick around and be engaged and ready to tune in next week? Make the entire show feel important and interesting, not just one segment. It's a storytelling style that was done so well in the Attitude/Nitro era, but sorely lacking in the modern product across both companies.

None of the above would happen, though. If Shane debuts he would be there, and the rest of the show would be your typical AEW show that books for the ultra smarks and nobody else. Tony can't really do anything else.

 

[The Grayfox]

Well yeah, Tony books for himself. So… ultra smarks and nobody else. Coked out ultra smarks. The guy is a walking joke. A few months ago he called WWE the “Harvey Weinstein of professional wrestling.” And then last week I see he’s saying that he would love to do a joint AEW/WWE show. Makes complete sense.

 

[The Grayfox]

I'm going to watch Summerslam tonight. I actually think it's a pretty decent card with some not so predictable finishes. A lot of these matches could go a few different ways. The only thing I'm sure of is Cody winning. I don't make it a point to go out of my way to watch many PPVs these days, but I do still like to watch the big four. Hopefully it's entertaining.

 

[DE4life]

I have no idea what's going on storyline-wise in WWE at the moment. I know Solo is now pretending to be the head of the table, but I'm totally out of the loop otherwise. I rarely watch WWE PPVs live due to the issues with timezone (they start at like, 1am in the UK and end at 4 or 5am, no good when I'm working the next day lol). I do tend to watch the big PPVs later on the Monday (Rumble, WM nights 1 and 2, Summerslam, Survivor Series) but I don't think it'll be possible from where I am tomorrow or for the next few days (remote cottage in rural Finland). Fingers crossed for a decent show - normally the big four are worth watching.

I see there's yet again more drama in AEW with Britt Baker being suspended over an argument with MJF and his girlfriend Alicia Atout. Unnecessarily bringing Alicia in already paying dividends for Khan. With that said, Britt has form for this and seems to be quite a toxic personality backstage. Not that MJF is an angel in this regard either. Wasn't that long ago he no-showed a fan meet and greet, nearly failed to turn up for his scheduled match and essentially helped botch the push of Wardlow - because he was sulking over his contract. So I can see there being some lingering resentment there. Especially when MJF's reign coincided with a massive ratings downturn and his return did nothing to improve things.

 

[The Grayfox]

Remote cottage in rural Finland sounds fantastic honestly. You have internet at least I guess.

The AEW drama is interesting because I remember when the company first started, the talk was how easy going and laid back everything was. People made it sound like it was drama-free. Now every week there's a story about something negative going on. I find it somewhat fascinating that WWE is now the company that people are saying is super laid back and the place to be while AEW is having all these talent related problems. It's almost as if they have a boss who is afraid to do anything about the issues or something. I read a while ago that Britt said something about MJF in the women's locker room, Alicia heard it and told Max. And then Britt got mad at Alicia, which is pretty ridiculous. Why would you say something bad about a person in front of their partner and then have the nerve to get mad when that person tells said partner? I feel like I just typed out a story from a soap opera, Jesus...

 

[DE4life]

I'll have 4G, but that'll be it. And the 4G doesn't have the best reception either, lol. But yeah it's nice, in theory, but considering it's been raining pretty regularly here it might be a washout anyway. I guess we'll see how it goes.

I think when AEW started it was a group of like-minded people who had mostly been on the indies and were collectively getting their big break. They were accepting of a few big names like Jericho and Mox being in a higher wage-bracket because their names would bring eyeballs to the product. Similarly, the likes of Omega, the Bucks and Cody literally formed the genesis of the company, so their positions were accepted as well.

Easy for things to be easy going at that point. A few years later though, a lot of the above is no longer applicable. Especially when taking into account the roster bloat and the sheer amount of former WWE mid carders and old timers who have come in on big contracts and really done fuck all for the company or the roster. Not difficult to see why resentment begins to build. Meanwhile the only ex WWE guy who came in and was actually worth his weight in gold in terms of buyrates and brand perception got booted out due to being unable to get on with the company's execs.

Some deep-rooted problems there that can't be easily fixed at this point, even if a proper leader actually arrived to take charge.

 

[The Grayfox]

It's just weird because if I'm Tony Khan, I'm very aware of what is happening, or at least the perception of what is happening. Yet, he never seems to get in front of anything and fix it. When you have that much money, when you're the guy in charge, you hold all the cards, you have all the power. But still, he does nothing. We've seen the reports that instead of thinning out the roster, he grasps at those straws because he doesn't want them going to WWE. That's the wrong reason to hold onto talent.

I don't know if you saw the reports of Buddy Matthews re-signing with AEW, despite months earlier wanting out, but that's what I'm talking about. Let him go and be in a company with his wife if that's what he wants. Instead Tony Khan throws so much money at him that he can't say no. And no offense to Buddy because honestly he's one of my favorites, but how much money is he realistically worth in AEW? I truly think the House of Black is still one of the few good things about AEW, so this isn't me poking at Buddy. But was Tony that afraid of him going back to WWE that he just opens the checkbook? That isn't solving the problem.

 

[DE4life]

It's just weird because if I'm Tony Khan, I'm very aware of what is happening, or at least the perception of what is happening. Yet, he never seems to get in front of anything and fix it. When you have that much money, when you're the guy in charge, you hold all the cards, you have all the power. But still, he does nothing. We've seen the reports that instead of thinning out the roster, he grasps at those straws because he doesn't want them going to WWE. That's the wrong reason to hold onto talent.

I don't know if you saw the reports of Buddy Matthews re-signing with AEW, despite months earlier wanting out, but that's what I'm talking about. Let him go and be in a company with his wife if that's what he wants. Instead Tony Khan throws so much money at him that he can't say no. And no offense to Buddy because honestly he's one of my favorites, but how much money is he realistically worth in AEW? I truly think the House of Black is still one of the few good things about AEW, so this isn't me poking at Buddy. But was Tony that afraid of him going back to WWE that he just opens the checkbook? That isn't solving the problem.

Completely agree - the first thing Khan needs to do is let all of the people who have been griping about AEW leave. A lot of them have legitimate reasons to complain, admittedly, but keeping them around doesn't solve anything. Is Buddy suddenly going to be utilised now that he has a bumper contract? Unlikely - and it's now clear he's just there for the money. Great way to build morale. It's not like Buddy going to WWE is going to significantly dent AEW in any way, or boost WWE, so why would it matter if he leaves? If anything they need to be letting the unhappy, failed WWE lower/mid-carders go, not keep them around.

AEW needs to drastically streamline the roster. Completely retire ROH - nobody cares about it. Bin Rampage - nobody cares about it. I know it's probably a network obligation to keep Rampage at this point, but speaking solely from a 'what needs to be done to improve' things perspective, that show needs to go.

All they need is Dynamite and Collision alongside quarterly PPVs. Basically what they had at the beginning, plus Collision. A YouTube show like Dark would be fine as well. Cut down the roster so that you have enough to flesh out those shows, and no more than that. Ditch all of the ex-WWE "stars" that haven't moved the dial at all or helped draw. They're just wasted money, when Sonny Kiss and Joey Janela realistically did as much if not more for the company whilst being paid far less.

Meanwhile, also cut 80% of the titles in the company. Having a title on practically every wrestler just waters down the concept of being a champion. It's lunacy. All you need is the heavyweight title, a couple of mid-card titles, a tag team title and a lightweight/cruiserweight title. That's it - the absolute maximum required. It can be less. If you want to occasionally bring in another champion from another promotion to defend a title (NJPW or CMLL for example) then fine, but YOUR company doesn't need a thousand championships. Five required at a maximum - six if you must. All storylines should have the titles as the centrepiece in some way - doesn't mean personal rivalries can't be weaved into the story, and they absolutely should be, but always focus firstly on the ultimate goal of being a champion. That should be the goal of pretty much every wrestler in the promotion. When almost every wrestler walks out with a title on their shoulder, what is the point?

Look at WCW in its peak years. The nWo were all about the titles - particularly the world and tag team titles, as well as the cruiserweight when Syxx was in the group. You also had Curt Hennig as US champ for some time. The only title they never gave much of a shit about was the TV title, but that gave wrestlers who weren't really involved in the nWo storyline a title to fight over - Booker T, Fit Finlay, Disco, Saturn, Benoit, etc. Almost every storyline in WCW revolved around a title, or fighting to get to a position where the wrestler would get a title shot. Of course you had the odd personal grudge match or feud where no title was involved, and that's fine, but it was the exception rather than the norm.

Structure is the word of the day here. Simple storyline structure and coherence. Reasons for wrestlers doing what they do. Motivation. Realistic stakes and consequences. It isn't that difficult - even the best bookers in wrestling history weren't exactly geniuses. They just knew how to do the basics really well. Khan complicates everything to a ridiculous degree and makes the product confusing, incoherent and bloated.

 

[The Grayfox]

Completely agree - the first thing Khan needs to do is let all of the people who have been griping about AEW leave. A lot of them have legitimate reasons to complain, admittedly, but keeping them around doesn't solve anything. Is Buddy suddenly going to be utilised now that he has a bumper contract? Unlikely - and it's now clear he's just there for the money. Great way to build morale. It's not like Buddy going to WWE is going to significantly dent AEW in any way, or boost WWE, so why would it matter if he leaves? If anything they need to be letting the unhappy, failed WWE lower/mid-carders go, not keep them around.

AEW needs to drastically streamline the roster. Completely retire ROH - nobody cares about it. Bin Rampage - nobody cares about it. I know it's probably a network obligation to keep Rampage at this point, but speaking solely from a 'what needs to be done to improve' things perspective, that show needs to go.

Agree. ROH is nothing but bloat. I think Tony Khan thought "well, if we can get a bunch of smaller promotions all working together, we'll be on top", but it clearly doesn't work that way. ROH should have stayed it's own entity. It was fine the way it was.

All they need is Dynamite and Collision alongside quarterly PPVs. Basically what they had at the beginning, plus Collision. A YouTube show like Dark would be fine as well. Cut down the roster so that you have enough to flesh out those shows, and no more than that. Ditch all of the ex-WWE "stars" that haven't moved the dial at all or helped draw. They're just wasted money, when Sonny Kiss and Joey Janela realistically did as much if not more for the company whilst being paid far less.

The term 'less is more' really applies to AEW, yet that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing them try to prove that 'more is more', which is never going to work. This is something that has hurt other companies in the past, namely TNA as we know. WWE has even done it to their detriment, especially when AEW first started. They didn't want their talent to go there so they held on to them unnecessarily. You need a core group of really good talent. You can't worry about what other people are going to do or where they're going to work. Tony seems to have a fan perspective when running his company instead of a business-minded approach. It's hurting his company.

Meanwhile, also cut 80% of the titles in the company. Having a title on practically every wrestler just waters down the concept of being a champion. It's lunacy. All you need is the heavyweight title, a couple of mid-card titles, a tag team title and a lightweight/cruiserweight title. That's it - the absolute maximum required. It can be less. If you want to occasionally bring in another champion from another promotion to defend a title (NJPW or CMLL for example) then fine, but YOUR company doesn't need a thousand championships. Five required at a maximum - six if you must. All storylines should have the titles as the centrepiece in some way - doesn't mean personal rivalries can't be weaved into the story, and they absolutely should be, but always focus firstly on the ultimate goal of being a champion. That should be the goal of pretty much every wrestler in the promotion. When almost every wrestler walks out with a title on their shoulder, what is the point?

Yeah, I grew up on late 80s/early 90's WWE which was very simple title-wise, right? WWE Championship, IC and Tag. That was it. And they all felt important because of that. Sometimes IC title matches felt more important. When I discovered WCW a little later, they had a few more, but still few enough. When I started watching WCW they did have two world titles. They had the world championship and the international championship, plus the U.S. title, TV title and tag. Title matches felt like they mattered much more.

Look at WCW in its peak years. The nWo were all about the titles - particularly the world and tag team titles, as well as the cruiserweight when Syxx was in the group. You also had Curt Hennig as US champ for some time. The only title they never gave much of a shit about was the TV title, but that gave wrestlers who weren't really involved in the nWo storyline a title to fight over - Booker T, Fit Finlay, Disco, Saturn, Benoit, etc. Almost every storyline in WCW revolved around a title, or fighting to get to a position where the wrestler would get a title shot. Of course you had the odd personal grudge match or feud where no title was involved, and that's fine, but it was the exception rather than the norm.

Funny you mention WCW, because Khan claims that he loved WCW and was very inspired by it when he created AEW, but none of it really shows. The TV title in that era was awesome though. I loved Booker and Benoit's series of 7. That was basically the workhorse title of WCW during the Monday Night Wars.

 

[The Grayfox]

I thought Summerslam was pretty good actually. Some parts were predictable, others not so much. I honestly did not expect Nia to win. I saw the Dom and Balor turns coming a mile away, which I imagine most others did too. The outrage over Dom turning is funny because it has to be the most telegraphed angle they've done since Trips took over. It was beyond obvious that it was coming.

I'm sure Gunther will be a good champion, although I was kind of pulling for Priest because in the last month or so, he really started doing some of his best singles work ever. He was just starting to come into his own as champion, so I find that to be poor timing. I assume that either Judgment Day is done or we're going to see a new version with Balor as the clear cut leader, Dom, Liv and JD.

Roman's return was obvious. The crowd knew it too as they were mostly silent for the entire main event, just waiting for Roman to come out. His pop was great though. I'm very interested to see how Roman is going to do as a tweener style babyface. I think it'll go much, much better than his forced babyface runs in the past. Keeping the Tribal Chief gimmick going while having sort of a Steve Austin style bad ass thing going on is probably going to work well. I can honestly say this is the first time I'm actually somewhat excited to see what Roman does. Clearly this is leading to Bloodline Civil War at War Games, but still, the journey to get there could be quite cool.

I initially thought Jacob Fatu legit hurt himself, but the more I watch it back, the more I think that was just a way to get him out so Roman (or anybody else) didn't steamroll him. It's too early to do that.

Nice to see LA Knight with a title, although I think it's coming a bit late. He deserves it though. Bron beating Sami was pretty obvious. I called Punk to beat McIntyre but either way, it was a good match and a nice bit of storytelling. There were several nods to Bret/Taker with Shawn as the guest referee at Summerslam '97, right down to McIntyre having an almost Undertaker-like entrance gear and Punk clearly paying tribute to Bret Hart with his gear. There were spots that called back to it too. Overall, they had a pretty old school style match and I thought it was very entertaining.

As a whole, even though there was some telegraphed stuff going on, I was quite happy with the show as a whole. Jelly Roll's chokeslam was awesome

 

[DE4life]

I wonder if Heyman will eventually return alongside Roman, or if he'll sit out Roman's tweener run? Heyman is pretty much always a heel manager, so I'm not sure he'd fit in if they want Roman to be cheered. Granted they did set him up to come back as a babyface in the way he was written out, but even so... I'm not sure. I guess we'll see.

LA Knight definitely feels too late now. He had a huge wave of momentum but they waited until the peak had gone before finally putting a belt on him. Same with Sami. Triple H is generally a solid booker but maybe a bit too rigid in terms of sticking to a plan - sometimes you have to read the audience reactions and consider pivoting to capture a truly great moment. WWE let a lot of those slip through their fingers during Roman's run - especially with Drew at Clash at the Castle and Sami in Montreal. In either case Roman could have lost the strap in an epic moment only to win it back again soon afterwards, to keep the chase going for Cody. WCW did it when Luger beat Hogan on the August 4th 1997 Nitro, and that is still remembered as one of the greatest moments of the Monday Night Wars. The crowd reaction was immense. Ultimately Hogan won it back a week later at the PPV and the road to Hogan Vs Sting at Starrcade continued on without issue. I don't count the Rock/Reigns 'pivot' as Triple H's idea was always Cody/Roman anyway. It's obvious that whole mess was out of his hands (although ended up making for great TV in the end - arguably better than it would have been with a normal build, which only emphasises the point that sometimes it's OK to add something spontaneous and unexpected to the plot).

Whilst Trips' booking is generally good and solid and logical, I think the predictability is one of the factors that's turned me off from watching.

 

[DE4life]

Also someone just responded to a 14 year old comment I made on a 2009 TNA YouTube video, lmao. I don't even remember writing it. Something about how I'm annoyed that Desmond Wolfe is talking about Hogan when Hogan isn't even there yet, and I hope it isn't a sign of things to come.

Oh man, I had no idea how bad it was going to get.

 

[DE4life]

Kevin Sullivan dead at 74 - I think you said recently you felt like he looked really frail in one of the interviews you watched. He had a great mind for the business, but in WCW was clearly handcuffed by Hogan and his creative control clause. I think his peak as a wrestler was before my time. In WCW I just saw him as a short, old, balding guy with a gut and the shittiest finisher ever. The angle with Benoit was something else though. As was the Dungeon of Doom... in a very different way.

Looking like Ricky Starks will leave AEW when his contract expires, and will likely follow Cody to WWE. I think Starks has huge upside, but if he goes to WWE he'll need to prove it. His size might count against him in WWE though, even with Triple H booking.

Meanwhile Dynamite continues to spiral downwards, 622K and a 0.19 in the demo. The company is absolutely ice cold right now. Like, zero momentum. With the amount of talent there it's frankly criminal, but then you've got a booker who understands nothing but the Smark way of doing things and that is never going to translate to long-term popularity. Wrestling is at its best when both smarks and casuals are catered for. Regardless of my personal detachment from WWE, they have objectively excelled at appealing to both audiences and that's why they are on fire right now. If Khan genuinely wants to be competitive with WWE he needs to release his stranglehold on the book and give people with fresh ideas a chance to really drive the direction of the promotion.

 

[The Grayfox]

I wonder if Heyman will eventually return alongside Roman, or if he'll sit out Roman's tweener run? Heyman is pretty much always a heel manager, so I'm not sure he'd fit in if they want Roman to be cheered. Granted they did set him up to come back as a babyface in the way he was written out, but even so... I'm not sure. I guess we'll see.

I've been wondering this. Heyman is a natural heel and I don't think him as a babyface will work. Not long term, anyway. The way I see this entire thing playing out is that slowly but surely more people will join Roman in his fight, including Paul, Jimmy and Jey, plus what I assume is going to be another debut to even up the odds. My guess is that Paul will turn on Roman and his team at War Games to progress the feud even further. That will help keep heat on this until we eventually get to Rock/Roman at Mania next year, which I think will headline one of the nights along with Cody vs. Cena on the other.

Kevin Sullivan dead at 74 - I think you said recently you felt like he looked really frail in one of the interviews you watched. He had a great mind for the business, but in WCW was clearly handcuffed by Hogan and his creative control clause. I think his peak as a wrestler was before my time. In WCW I just saw him as a short, old, balding guy with a gut and the shittiest finisher ever. The angle with Benoit was something else though. As was the Dungeon of Doom... in a very different way.

I was saddened to see that, but he did indeed look pretty frail recently. Apparently he suffered some sort of accident earlier this year which I don't think I knew. But it was said to be a major thing that he never fully recovered from. In watching interviews with him, you could tell he was passionate about pro wrestling and he had a hell of a mind for it.

Looking like Ricky Starks will leave AEW when his contract expires, and will likely follow Cody to WWE. I think Starks has huge upside, but if he goes to WWE he'll need to prove it. His size might count against him in WWE though, even with Triple H booking.

I saw that. Daniel Garcia is being looked at too apparently. The thing is, there's only so many top spots, right? These guys will come over and they're really going to have to work to stand out. Look at Carmelo Hayes. He was doing great work in NXT, he comes up to the main roster and it's an entirely different animal. LA Knight made him look like a complete idiot and he has not recovered since. I'd like to think a guy like Ricky Starks will be fine, but he's going to have to work for it. Props to those guys for betting on themselves though. You can only swim around in AEW for so long. All of these guys grew up watching WWE and probably want to say they at least tried. I mean, if you're in the wrestling business and you don't aspire to wrestle at Mania at least once? Come on. The Lucha Bros. are said to be WWE bound as well specifically because Penta wants to wrestle at WrestleMania before he retires. I think with HHH in charge, you're going to see a lot of that in the coming years.

I agree with the predictibility though. I wish HHH would try some different stuff.

 

[DE4life]

I've been wondering this. Heyman is a natural heel and I don't think him as a babyface will work. Not long term, anyway. The way I see this entire thing playing out is that slowly but surely more people will join Roman in his fight, including Paul, Jimmy and Jey, plus what I assume is going to be another debut to even up the odds. My guess is that Paul will turn on Roman and his team at War Games to progress the feud even further. That will help keep heat on this until we eventually get to Rock/Roman at Mania next year, which I think will headline one of the nights along with Cody vs. Cena on the other.

I think with Roman they just have to be careful not to fall back into making him the bland, superman babyface he was before the Tribal Chief gimmick came along. The fans want to cheer him and that's fine, you can roll with that, but they need to remember what it was that made the fans finally appreciate Roman after all of these years. If he just reverts back to the invincible superhero who yells "ooooaahhhh" a lot and spams a thousand superman punches and spears per match then the fans will quickly get bored of it again. I think it'll be fine at least until the seemingly inevitable War Games match, but after that... consideration needed.

I was saddened to see that, but he did indeed look pretty frail recently. Apparently he suffered some sort of accident earlier this year which I don't think I knew. But it was said to be a major thing that he never fully recovered from. In watching interviews with him, you could tell he was passionate about pro wrestling and he had a hell of a mind for it.

No doubt he was a pivotal figure at a crucial time in the business. Interesting that he never went back to WWE though, you'd have thought as a creative mind/road agent he would have been of use. On the other hand, we know he had some heat with certain former-WCW wrestlers over how he treated them as booker, so maybe that was why. Also from what I understand he was a rare wrestler who saved his money, so probably didn't need to work for WWE in the way others did.

I saw that. Daniel Garcia is being looked at too apparently. The thing is, there's only so many top spots, right? These guys will come over and they're really going to have to work to stand out. Look at Carmelo Hayes. He was doing great work in NXT, he comes up to the main roster and it's an entirely different animal. LA Knight made him look like a complete idiot and he has not recovered since. I'd like to think a guy like Ricky Starks will be fine, but he's going to have to work for it. Props to those guys for betting on themselves though. You can only swim around in AEW for so long. All of these guys grew up watching WWE and probably want to say they at least tried. I mean, if you're in the wrestling business and you don't aspire to wrestle at Mania at least once? Come on. The Lucha Bros. are said to be WWE bound as well specifically because Penta wants to wrestle at WrestleMania before he retires. I think with HHH in charge, you're going to see a lot of that in the coming years.

Garcia... another one whose peak they blew past and then saddled him with that weird dancing gimmick. For all the talk of AEW being a WWE alternative, that was straight out of the WWE playbook. Have the fans clamouring for Garcia to break away from Jericho as a babyface, tease going in that direction, only to put him right back in the heel slot - everything gets deflated and before long no ones cares about Garcia anymore. Then give him a stupid dancing gimmick. Literally Vince-era WWE to a tee.

I'd love to see Starks in WWE, as I think his overall style will fit their presentation much better. He will have to adapt a bit, though, or he's in danger of basically being seen as a mini-Rock. From memory Punk was pretty high on Starks, and Starks is close friends with Cody, so it'd certainly make sense for him to make the jump when the time comes.

I'd love to see Lucha Bros in WWE as well. They were a solid part of AEW during the time I was watching, but I think they need a bit of a change of scenery and seeing them come out at WrestleMania would be awesome.

 

[The Grayfox]

They've gotta keep Roman in that Austin/Rock character, where he's almost a tweener but leans on the babyface side of it. I think that's the only way this works. Right now the pops have been great. But we're two weeks into his face run. They've definitely dropped the ball before, especially with him.

Lucha Bros in WWE could be great. It could also go the way a lot of these things go and we start seeing them in comedy matches. One thing I actually expected Triple H to fix was the tag division and he really didn't. It's not a hard thing to fix either, which is why I just don't understand. Maybe I am really in the minority, but I enjoy tag team wrestling. They could make tag wrestling stand out and be really good. I think if the Lucha Bros do indeed make their way to WWE, we'll probably see them split up at some point.