Let's talk wrasslin'

[The Grayfox]

I think the key with Bray -- and this is hearsay, so who knows if it's actually true, but assuming it is -- is that Undertaker and Kane were company guys. They towed the line and pretty much did what they were told. From most reports, Bray can be difficult to work with backstage and wants the creative freedom. IF that indeed the case, I assume that's why we're seeing this kind of hectic storytelling that doesn't make much sense. If he isn't receptive to management and writers being involved, that's going to be a problem moving forward. In a few ways. Reports were that Vince released him in 2020 because they butt heads over creative a lot. One reason he isn't on TV could be that he's now butting heads with Triple H. If he is a guy that says "I'm doing it my way or I'm not doing it at all", he won't be around much longer. Again.

It's weird knowing a guy like Cena, who comes off as a decent human being, is one of Vince's best friends. From everything we've all heard over the years, Vince treats his top guys much differently than everyone else, so maybe that's why. But it is indeed hard to look at people like Cena, Brock, Taker and respect them personally knowing that they stick by Vince's side even though he's obviously a complete piece of garbage. Money talks I guess.

Again, I do believe Triple H isn't fully in charge anymore. I can't back that up obviously, but I just don't buy it. Maybe Vince isn't at TV and maybe 99% of the company doesn't know, but that doesn't stop him from leading creative in secret and everyone who knows just keeping up appearances. People in charge know the shitstorm that could potentially come down if Vince were to just come out and say "I'm running creative again." You risk talent walking out, more negative press, etc. Anyone who actually believes Vince can come back to a company in the way that he did, essentially pushing his own daughter out, and wouldn't just appease his own ego even more is insane, imo. The guy is a classic narcissist and he has shown time and again that he cannot stay away. In his mind, he NEEDS to do this.

Hearing people say "if he was running creative, we'd know" is bullshit. I would bet we haven't even scratched the surface on the fucked up shit this company does and hides. How do you take a company, run by someone who has literally helped one of his talent get away with murder, at their word on anything?

 

[The Grayfox]

I've had a few changes of opinion. Last minute Mania predictions:

Austin Theory vs. John Cena - W: Austin Theory. No way Cena wins this match. It's for the US title and he isn't sticking around.

Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley - W: Rhea Ripley. I feel like this is 50/50, but I'm going Rhea. Charlotte is on that 'Super Cena' kick, but still.

The Usos vs. KO/Sami Zayn - W: KO/Sami Zayn. It's time to wrap up this story.

Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul - W: Seth Rollins. He doesn't strike me as the guy who would be happy to put Logan Paul over.

Becky Lynch, Lita, Trish vs. Damage CTRL - W: Becky, Lita, Trish. If Becky wasn't in it, I'd go Damage CTRL, with the legends putting them over.

Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio - W: Dominik. Rey wants to help make his son a star. No doubt in my mind he puts Dom over.

Strowman & Ricochet vs. Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders - W: Viking Raiders. No rhyme or reason.

Bianca Belair vs. Asuka - W: Asuka. Bianca has been champion for a year. I think Asuka wins and either same night or Raw on Monday, Bianca turns heel.

Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre - W: Gunther. They're going to push him hard and he deserves it.

Edge vs. Finn Balor - W: Edge. It's time for the blow off to this feud.

Brock Lesnar vs. Omos - W: Omos. Initially I didn't think Brock would put Omos over. I think they're going to try to use this as a way to legitimize Omos.

Liv Morgan & Raquel vs. Natalya & Shotzi vs. Ronda Rousey & Shayna vs. Chelsea Green & Sonya/Carmella - W: Ronda & Shayna. No rhyme or reason

Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns - W: Roman Reigns. I think WWE is going to do what WWE does in this one. They're going to make everyone believe Cody is going to win and then they're going to swerve it. I hope it's Cody, but I do think Roman is going to take this.

 

[DE4life]

I pretty much agree with all of this except the main event. I simply cannot see them ending the show on such a downer. I know it's WWE, but even so... it would be a monumentally stupid decision. Everything points to Cody being the anointed one, and the storyline has played out pretty much exactly as everyone has predicted so far. Various interesting paths open post-WM if Cody wins. If he loses... same old shit, mostly.

Even if Vince is back in control of creative, they signed Cody to a huge contract and I believe one of the clauses likely has something to do with giving him the strap at WM if he's healthy and able. I really would be amazed if they had Roman go over - but at the same time if that does happen, it's definitive proof that Vince is back in the chair. Triple H would conclude this story logically. With Vince, there's always the chance that he'll do something stupid.

Btw did you see Dante Martin's injury at the ROH PPV? Fuck that was nasty. Wrestlers need to stop doing these idiotic spots that are hugely risky and just one of a multitude of high risk moves, resulting in none of them really meaning anything. TK needs to start laying down the law when it comes to shit like this. A dumb move that now sidelines Dante for months, if not a year or more. I mean, fuck, an injury like that is a potential career ender. All over a needless, unnecessary spot on a fucking ROH PPV.

 

[The Grayfox]

I really want Cody to go over, but I just have a feeling he's going to get fucked. We'll see. Speaking of Vince, have you seen that awesome picture of him with dyed hair and a mustache? It's glorious.

Meltzer claims the tag match will headline tonight. If that's true, I think it's the right call. I sympathize with Charlotte and Rhea and I agree with Charlotte that it sucks that the men's Rumble winner is basically guaranteed to headline and the women's clearly isn't. But I think you've gotta go with the bigger story. If you put the tag match first, the crowd is going to be asleep for the women's match. We'd have a WrestleMania 18 situation there. Crowd was dead after Hogan/Rock. Plus, this is probably the only time The Usos will ever have a chance to headline a Mania. It's deserved.

The Dante Martin thing... man, that's rough. That's definitely a potential career ender, depending on how badly he broke it. I didn't watch it because I really don't care to see it. If it's a compound fracture, that is serious business and could absolutely end his career. I hate to give credence to the old timers who say young guys now take too many risks, do too many spots, etc. but this is what they're talking about when they say it. Risking the way you make a living over a stupid spot just isn't worth it. People can shit on WWE for their style, but they've shown why they do things the way they do. Going out there and doing stupid shit like this, or Mox bleeding every single match or being stabbed in the face with a fork isn't necessary.

Also, how about that Rick Steiner controversy? Man, I thought he was the normal Steiner. I expected this from Scott. Granted, both of them were classified as bullies in their heyday and did some very questionable things, but you would hope in their older age, they've matured. Clearly not. At least not Rick. Hopefully Bron doesn't suffer any consequences because of his dad's actions.

 

[DE4life]

Hah, yes, I have seen moustache Vince. It's certainly an interesting look. As for Rick Steiner... yeah, by the sounds of it he and Scott are and have always been total pricks. Rick being on a school board is worrying to say the least.

I thought Night 1 of WM was pretty solid overall. The set design is incredible. The results were somewhat predictable but that isn't always a bad thing as long as the execution is good.

The winner of Cena/Theory was never in doubt, but I thought the cheap finish did nothing for anybody. It pretty much proves Cena right, but Cena lost, so... -shrug- okay. John's slightly longer hair really emphasises that bald spot in a bad way - it wasn't quite so noticeable when he had a closer shave. The match itself was okay, but not exactly what you'd call a hot opener - although the crowd were very appreciative of Cena.

The four way men's tag was the surprise of the night for me. I was entertained from start to finish and thought everyone had a chance to shine. Some really cool spots, none of which were stupidly dangerous as you often see in AEW. The ending sequence was excellent. The match winners didn't really matter here, it was just about the spectacle and everyone did really well.

Seth Rollins and Logan Paul was fantastic, as expected. A great performance from both and the right person went over.

Becky/Trish/Lita Vs Damage CTRL was fine, and Lita & Trish held up their end, but nobody gains anything by beating Damage CTRL these days. Just a bit of a pointless match. Would have preferred a tag match here for the women's tag titles. At least something would have been at stake then.

I thought Rey and Dom really delivered in their match too. It wasn't an all-time classic or anything close, but they did a wonderful job of telling the story. Dom really went for it when he splashed that drink over his sister, lmao. Rey going over makes sense at this point, as you want a feel-good moment at WM. There will be other opportunities in future for him to put Dom over. The only weird thing about this match was the crunchy toast tie in... it was a bit in-your-face, to say the least.

Charlotte and Rhea had an excellent, hard-hitting match which deserved a better build-up. I understand their frustration over not headlining, but still, the tag match really had to go on last. The Bloodline storyline is the foundation upon which WM has been built this year. Rhea and Charlotte just weren't given a great deal to work with. Nonetheless, a WM-worthy bout and Rhea going over was the right call.

The impromptu Miz and McAfee match was... something that happened.

Finally the Usos Vs Zayn and Owens was well laid out, had drama at the right moments, never felt like it was overstaying its welcome and ended with a satisfying conclusion. It was everything it needed to be with no bullshit. I did find it odd that there was no Bloodline support for the Usos, though... obviously Roman wasn't going to be out there, but I'd expect Solo or Heyman to have been involved. Perhaps it'll play into what happens tonight.

 

[The Grayfox]

* NIGHT 2 SPOILERS *

I think night 1 was definitely the more entertaining show, also more fulfilling.

I know you shouldn't laugh when somebody gets hurt, but Shane botching a leap frog and tearing his quad is almost on par with his dad tearing his quad sliding into the ring. What a weird segment that completely fell flat because of the botch. I also feel like Shane making sporadic appearances doesn't have the novelty it once did. Reports that Vince was a lot more involved this weekend than he has been in quite some time. Vince being there may also be why Shane was there. We've always heard that Shane and Triple H don't see eye to eye. I wonder how much truth there is in that.

A few quick thoughts:

I didn't think Brock/Omos was that bad. I expected it to be terrible to be honest. It was short and to the point and somewhat entertaining I guess.

Women's 4-way tag was everything most expected it to be.

The triple threat IC match was match of the night for me. Super hard-hitting, very entertaining.

Bianca/Asuka was decent. I thought Charlotte/Rhea was much better. Really wanted to see Asuka win.

Edge/Balor was alright. It was cool to see Edge come out to Slayer and nice to see Balor as the Demon again. I really expected to see Gangrel after all the reports.

Somehow, Roman/Cody was exactly what I expected it to be. The same god damn finish we always get. Babyface looks to be getting ahead, outside interference, yay, Roman wins.

I watched the press conference afterwards and listening to both Roman and Triple H's justifications is getting tiring. Roman making references to "this isn't fast food, I'm making filet mignon here, this is only the third inning, etc." is just stupid. It's been three years and the story is basically the same. You can insert whoever you want; any opponent of his and it plays out the same way each time. This clearly should've been Cody's moment, just like it was clearly supposed to be Sami's in Montreal. In my opinion, the only reason to have Sami lose in Montreal was because you're going to have Cody get the win at Mania. WWE fucked them both.

How much more of this do we have to see? It wasn't Drew in the UK, it wasn't Sami in Montreal, it wasn't Cody at Mania, so who the fuck is it going to be? People on r/sc are saying "there's always Backlash!" Come on, you really think they're gonna have him drop the title anywhere but Wrestlemania? Summerslam is a slim 'maybe.' I really don't want to go on this ride for another year. Are they seriously holding out hope that The Rock is going to come back at WM40 to take the title off of him? There's so many problems with that logic, it's insane. Not to mention, a huge 'fuck you' to all your current talent when you need to bring back somebody who can't even be considered a part-timer because he comes back once every several years.

 

[DE4life]

Yeah, Night 1 was better by pretty much every metric. Night 2 suffered from mishaps, bad booking and a shitty main event finish.

Agree that Brock and Omos was actually alright. Not sure what Brock going over does for Omos, exactly, but whatever. The match was fine for what it was, but didn't leave me thinking Omos is going to be doing anything useful in the future.

Women's tag was just a Smackdown match. Pointless.

When Lashley came out with his trophy I was sure LA Knight was going to appear to set something up, but no. Considering LA Knight has been getting great reactions and talking about being at WM for weeks it was pretty weird that he just wasn't there.

The three way for the IC title was match of the weekend for me. Brutal, hard-hitting and full of believable false finishes.

Bianca and Asuka was fine as a match, but Bianca winning again is just boring. She's stale as champion. Triple H has major reluctance to bring championship reigns to an end, meaning champions hold on to their titles for too long and they miss striking whilst the iron is hot. I appreciate the build to this match was pretty standard, but why repackage Asuka in this way just to have her lose at WM again? I believe that's 0-4 now.

Shane's return was an okay moment until he got to the ring. The guy was gassed from his entrance alone, which was a warning sign. Tearing his quad via a leapfrog is ridiculous considering some of the stunts he's pulled over the years. Hopefully this gives him food for thought and will be the last time we see him come back in any kind of capacity as a "serious" competitor. Probably not though. Excellent work by Snoop to improvise, although I assume the sequence as a whole was planned for after the Shane/Miz encounter and they just jumped right to the finish after Shane got hurt.

Hell in a Cell match was a good effort with the right person going over, hopefully ending this feud. Balor's cut from the ladder was nasty, and stalled the momentum of the match a little, but at least they were able to carry on and finish. It was starting to look like Night 2 had been cursed.

As for the main event... same shit we've seen countless times. Can't believe they ended WM with the same old tired Bloodline interference finish. It's gotten to nWo levels now - and I mean when they were long past their sell-by date. If they can't finish a simple story like this then there's not much point investing in anything going forward. The eventual end will be underwhelming - they've had two very special endings handed to them on a plate and blown them both. You listen to Triple H at the press conference and realise he really isn't a whole lot different to Vince. He might even be worse in some respects - at least Vince had the ability to eventually pivot when circumstances changed, for example Wrestlemania 30. Hunter seems to lack that foresight and it will kill interest sooner rather than later. I don't see how they get through another year of Roman having the belt without losing viewers, if dropping the titles at WM40 is the goal. If Sami and Cody couldn't do it, what reason is there to believe anybody else could?

Oh, and also apparently Roman was going to win CLEAN before they decided to add the interference on the day. Lmao, I actually think I would have respected that more.

What sucks is that they had the perfect ending in their hands. KO stunner to Roman, Sami helluva kick to Roman, Cody cross rhodes to Roman. Roman's three biggest enemies coming back to haunt him, they fucking had it. When Roman kicked out of that spot I knew what was going to happen. It was too perfect. It happens there or not at all. I can't believe you'd book that spot and still have Roman win.

Well anyway, I'd rate Night 1 a 8/10 and Night 2 a 6/10. This had a chance to be one of the all time great WM shows, but the second night was, for me at least, a let down outside of the three way match.

 

[DE4life]

Also, WWE being bought by Endeavour... not sure what this means? I don't follow UFC and know nothing about Endeavour. At least it isn't the Saudis, I guess, but Vince is now officially back in the driving seat.

 

[DE4life]

Reigns retaining the title would have to involve more Bloodline BS, which again would totally deflate the crowd and be one of the weakest ends to any Mania ever. It surely can't happen.

Narrator: It did happen.

 

[The Grayfox]

WWE being bought by Endeavor means nothing good. Instead of one narcissistic, ego-maniacal asshole running the company, now you've got three; Vince McMahon, Dana White and Ari whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is. When Endeavor bought UFC, they did the stereotypical thing large companies do: they cut costs wherever they could so they make more money. They cut workers pay, they add more advertisers, they charge more for products and PPV, etc. It's a shit show. Plus, they don't give a shit what Vince does. Dana White literally slapped his wife earlier this year, it was caught on video and Endeavor did nothing. They just let him continue to run UFC. WWE went with Endeavor because A) they let Vince stay in control and B) he knows they won't try to oust him no matter what he does. It hasn't even been 24 hours since they announced it and he's already back to being Vince. They went out of their way to try to tell everyone that nothing was changing. That's a massive red flag when deals like this go down. If nothing was changing, they wouldn't feel the need to tell us.

There were reports that Comcast was in negotiations to buy WWE and another report stating that if they did, Stephanie would be brought back and Vince would be gone. The smoke show of WWE saying "Vince will do what's best for business, even if that means stepping down" was bullshit. He was never stepping down. That company tells people what they think people want to hear. He was never going to sell the company to anyone who didn't let him stay on.

With the report coming out that Vince was back, fully in control at Raw tonight and with the Endeavor deal, this may finally be it for me. I feel so bad for the people who work at this company, especially the ones who got used to him not being around.

 

[DE4life]

Ugh.... well, I can't say I expected anything less from this sale in all honesty. As you say, this was all about Vince being allowed to remain in charge, so whoever it was had to be somewhat odious.

I've only read a recap of last night's Raw, but yeah, judging from reports coming out it was the usual Vince chaos, Vince in gorilla, and the show just reeked of pre-Triple H booking.


Triple H's show opening announcement - yeah, huge red flag. Felt like a veiled 'thank you for the support and goodbye' speech, honestly. I saw people complaining about him acknowledging Roman and hugging him... but is that really out of character for HHH? As a champion he made his name via the reign of terror, so in kayfabe I can't imagine he'd have a problem with anything Reigns is doing. That part made sense to me.

What didn't make sense was Cody's reaction to what happened at WM. He said Reigns was "the better competitor" during their match, lol,. It's weird how everyone pretends Roman is some kind of impossible challenge when in 95% of his matches he only wins thanks to the Bloodline helping out. That's why this 1000 day milestone doesn't really mean anything. 1000 days of cheap wins. Who cares?

Anyway Cody asks for a rematch, Heyman says no, and Cody says "OK let's have a tag match instead then". Lol. He gave up on the rematch idea in record time. Good fire from our protagonist there. As soon as Lesnar came out to be Cody's partner I knew what the end result was going to be, and so it came to pass at the end of the show. A day after losing the biggest match of his career, Cody gets utterly wrecked by Vince's favourite. Nice one.

The rest of the show was pretty much standard Vince garbage. The 'highlight' being Seth Rollins coming to the ring to literally stand there, listen to the crowd singing his theme and then leave again.

That'll certainly be it for me and WWE for the foreseeable. They reached the peak of the Bloodline storyline at Elimination Chamber and didn't pull the trigger. They were still at a high point at WM and didn't pull the trigger. Now I've stopped caring. It only goes downhill from here, and with Vince in charge it'll be downhill at a rapid pace.

Back to AEW as the alternative.

 

[DE4life]

I'm also wondering what happens to the WWE Network now. It's still in the old format outside of the US, but I'm guessing that won't last for too much longer.

 

[DE4life]

Oh, also apparently LA Knight and Lashley were supposed to have a segment at WM, but it got nixed. Gee, I wonder who cut that? Couldn't possibly be the mustachioed idiot who renamed Knight to Max Dupri.

 

[The Grayfox]

Have you watched his interview on CNBC? I would say it's amazing that nobody has told him how stupid he looks with dyed hair, dyed eyebrows and a dyed pencil mustache, but they're probably too afraid he would fire them. He looks utterly ridiculous. He is a super villain in every regard. Just the things he says and the way he says them are enough to make somebody sick. When asked about his sexual misconduct allegations, he says "I've made a lot of mistakes in my 50 years in this business, but I've moved on." Really? YOU'VE moved on? Nobody gives a shit if you've moved on. How about the people you did it to? Have they moved on? The guy is a complete piece of garbage.

I've gotta wonder what would realistically happen if 98% of the roster just up and walked out. Obviously it won't happen, but what would actually happen if he didn't have a roster to put on a TV show? Roman, Brock and the like wouldn't go anywhere. But if everybody else banded together and just said "fuck you" and left, what could WWE realistically do? Would Vince have to step down? This is where a union would be extremely beneficial for wrestlers and specifically why Vince would never allow it.

As far as LA Knight, the dude is over as hell. But that doesn't matter. Vince can say he does what the fans want until he's blue in the face, nobody buys it. He does what HE wants. He writes TV that HE wants to see and that sucks for guys like LA Knight. We'll see, maybe we'll get lucky and Vince won't be at Smackdown on Friday, but I really doubt that. He's been biding his time, waiting to make this announcement and now he's sticking it up everybody's ass by doing whatever he wants. WWE Network probably doesn't go away until the Peacock deal is done in 2026. PROBABLY. There's no reason to get rid of the Network while they're still using Peacock to stream in the States. But after that deal expires in a couple years, I can see all of it going away. Endeavor wants people to pay lots of money for "premium live events", not stream them as part of a package deal. Problem is, a precedent has been set and for the last decade, streaming has been the norm. You're going to have a lot of pissed off people if that just disappears. But again, they don't care about that.

I can't wait until Austin Theory becomes "Theory" again and Matt Riddle goes back to "Riddle."

 

[DE4life]

The CNBC interview was pretty much everything I expected it to be. It was hard to pay attention to anything being said when Vince and his ridiculous new look was on screen though. Vince's comment about having moved on just highlighted his entire worldview - it's all about him. If he's moved on then everyone else, even the women he's raped or coerced into sexual relations - should do the same. It's disgusting but would you expect anything less?

Honestly whilst some of the roster will be disappointed Vince is back, especially the women, I think it'll be a split in terms of the male roster. Some of them did pretty well under Vince - better than under Triple H. Those guys will be happy. The current top guys will be happy. Cody was signed by Vince, so he shouldn't have any issue either. The likes of Zayn and Owens will likely be sweating now, though, not to mention all of the talent Triple H brought back. I'm expecting most of them to be gone again in due course.

The person I feel most sorry for is Michael Cole. Dude finally escaped Vince's stranglehold and has been awesome since being unleashed... now it's probably right back to being yelled at in his ear, plugging slogans and stupid catchphrases. At least people now know how good Cole can be, and that it really is Vince that makes him insufferable on commentary. He said he wants to retire in 4 years... get the feeling he might be revising that number now.

Yeah the Network is probably safe until 2026 in the States at least, but I'm not sure how their deals are structured worldwide. We still have ye olde Network, so it wouldn't surprise me if that is on the chopping block a little earlier than the Peacock-specific version of the Network. It'll be a sad day when it does disappear, as there's never been such a vast library of wrestling content available to view on-demand - and for a pretty low price too. Teenage me would never have dreamed I'd have the ability to watch almost every WCW and WWE show from the 90s to present day, as well as PPVs. It's still amazing to think that they dumped so much content out there like this for such a small, fixed price point.

Let's see what AEW can do tonight. All eyes are on them now.

 

[The Grayfox]

Yeah, AEW is probably going to have a stacked show tonight. If they're smart, anyway. Now is the time to really go all out. Tony Khan said his "big announcement" tonight is the biggest announcement AEW has ever made. Take that with a grain of salt, as their announcements in the past have been known to be lackluster. I initially thought it would be the signing of Jay White, but I don't think that qualifies. Rumors that Jay White might sign with WWE and Kenny Omega may go over as well are probably out the window now though.

I really want AEW to be restructured in a way that makes it feel big. There's still something about the product that just makes it feel like a glorified indie show to me. Nothing wrong with that, but if you're trying to actually compete with WWE, you need to up your game. First episode of Nitro, you knew they were coming in to fuck shit up. They went all out with production, lighting, etc. AEW feels behind even by today's standards.

I don't know, we'll see. Most people think Tony's announcement will be a UK tour, which is cool, but not really the kind of thing that is going to turn the tides.

 

[DE4life]

I used to watch TNA as the WWE alternative, so compared to that AEW feels pretty epic but yeah, generally speaking AEW can't match WWE's production values - so they need to focus on putting on a good show. I really enjoyed AEW basically up until the time they purchased ROH and started doing the Forbidden Door stuff. After that everything lost focus, the roster became far too bloated and my interest in AEW as a whole decreased heavily. They've started getting back on the right track recently, so I'm hopeful they're in a good place to start going strong again. They really need to start firing on all cylinders to capatalise on the growing discontent surrounding WWE at the moment. After WWE totally botched WM Night 2 and the Raw after WM, this is the time to bring back floating viewers who went back to WWE after it got good again. RIP to those times, probably never to happen again, unless Vince dies.

I don't have much faith in Tony Khan "big announcements". After they duped me with Christian I never trusted the whole "game changing announcement" BS again, and I don't trust it for tonight either. My guess is a UK show, a Saturday show or Goldberg - none of which are Earth-shattering. There's no realistic announcement I can think of that would match the hype Tony is giving it. That's not to say it'll be an uninteresting announcement, but I just wish they'd scale back on the hype. It's a fool-me-once scenario that any long-time AEW fan has gotten wise to.

 

[The Grayfox]

The announcement was that All In will be held at Wembley Stadium. Isn't that like an 80-90,000 seat venue? They must have serious doubts they can fill a place that size. That being said, I hope they come close. Aesthetically speaking, that should be a great show. I'll be very interested to see how ticket sales go. If AEW can fill a stadium, that is extremely good news for wrestling. I know wrestling fans in the UK are rabid, so I'll be looking forward to the show.

Also, Jay White debuted and FTR are indeed staying with AEW, much to the surprise of no one. Jay White probably dodged a bullet to be honest and FTR definitely did. They would've been shaving each other's backs on camera in no time. Vince doesn't like tag team wrestling, even though a tag match headlined Wrestlemania and the crowd ate it up. I keep imagining that Triple H and Vince had a bet that Trips would book night one and Vince would book night two and they would see who did better, and when Trips clearly won, Vince tanked the Raw after Mania on purpose because he was so pissed.

I can't remember a time when wrestling shifted this quickly. In a matter of three days, it went from "wow, this is amazing" to "holy fuck, this is bad." It was a very quick transition. Night one was a great PPV, night 2 started off good and then tanked and then Raw was complete shit. Unbelievable.

 

[DE4life]

Yeah I reckon they'll sell the allocation. WCW and TNA, even when they were rubbish, used to do big numbers here attendance wise. We're starved for decent live wrestling with big names, so I can see this being a big success - especially if they get Punk back somehow. It'll be huge for AEW from an aesthetics perspective, and give them the look of a truly global, successful brand.

From the sounds of it Vince had minimal interference with Smackdown, so one can only hope Monday was a one off. That or Vince will focus more on Raw and leave Smackdown alone. At least then I'd be able to watch one WWE show.

 

[The Grayfox]

Yeah I reckon they'll sell the allocation. WCW and TNA, even when they were rubbish, used to do big numbers here attendance wise. We're starved for decent live wrestling with big names, so I can see this being a big success - especially if they get Punk back somehow. It'll be huge for AEW from an aesthetics perspective, and give them the look of a truly global, successful brand.

From the sounds of it Vince had minimal interference with Smackdown, so one can only hope Monday was a one off. That or Vince will focus more on Raw and leave Smackdown alone. At least then I'd be able to watch one WWE show.

I would think that the chances of CM Punk returning to AEW are now better than ever. Tony Khan is going to have to pull out all the stops if he hopes to sell out Wembley. It sounds like it was basically a done deal that he would return before he went off on his weird Instagram tangents. But either way, my money is on Punk returning and setting up something with either Kenny or The Elite for All In. More likely Kenny since I think things are much worse off with the Bucks. In recent interviews, Kenny doesn't really seem bothered by much of it at all. He seems like the kind of guy who will just do business regardless.

If AEW does this right, we should get an absolutely stacked card. I would wager we're going to see some major debuts in the coming months as well. I truly hope they can come close to selling it out. Having a viable "number 2" promotion is nothing but good for fans.

As far as Vince goes, I read the same. I wonder if it's internal. Obviously they have people keeping an eye on things in regards to feedback and the feedback for Raw was abysmal. That might be the worst after-Mania Raw ever. It's supposed to be a time to start making new stories, see some returns, etc. Instead, we got Matt Riddle as a "surprise" and Seth Rollins standing in the ring doing nothing while the crowd sang his theme song. Really bad booking there. It's almost a given at this point that the Raw after Mania is a spectacle in and of itself. Reports were that there was a ton of last minute script changes and re-writes and it makes me shake my head. Why wouldn't you just have that Raw booked at the same time as Mania since it's basically a package deal?

I saw a guy on r/squaredcircle, who summed everything up pretty well; "why would I continue to watch when WWE is completely anti-viewer?" That's really how it comes across. Yes, Smackdown was better, but still pretty meh. Pushing Riddle down everyone's throat is weird. Clearly they're running angles for Cody vs. Brock and Sami/KO/Riddle vs. The Usos & Solo for Backlash -- Backlash, where Roman won't be on the card. At least the draft is coming, where they have an opportunity to split up some of the belts. But at this point, I have zero faith that they will actually do that. Triple H said "it will be a game changer" so hopefully they have some solid plans in place. Although, does the brand split even matter anymore? We see people on both shows all of the time. The only thing "game changing" would really be splitting the world and tag titles. Funny enough, splitting the world titles will just make Roman look even stronger. Like "nobody can beat you, so we're taking one title away." But I guess they like that.