Let's talk wrasslin'

Cole is absolutely talented, and I did enjoy watching some of his stuff in NXT. It's just never clicked in AEW for me, even when Fish and O'Reilly were there. Pretty much just felt like a rehash of the Undisputed Era, and I'm not watching AEW to just see a rerun of WWE's greatest hits. I think Jericho has his place, but a feud with Cole isn't really it. In fairness to Cole I think he was lost in the shuffle when he first arrived due to the increasingly bloated roster, then got injured and was out for a long time. With things settling down a bit and a new show coming along, perhaps he'll get more of a chance to shine.

As far as WWE goes, yeah, it's churlish for anyone to suggest they don't do anything right, and never did anything right. They obviously do, the biggest issue they have isn't so much character development as it is the payoffs to angles. Both in the past and in the present, it feels like they don't adapt well enough to organic situations developing. It's better now with Triple H in charge (mostly), because his tastes are much more aligned to the modern day fan than Vince ever really has been. Trips will push his guys, but generally speaking his guys are solid and given good stuff to work with. Vince would push his guys - which were hit and miss - but also give them some real nonsense to work with whether they were good or not. Look at some of the absolute trash the likes of Moxley and FTR had to deal with, and even Roman Reigns was repeatedly given absolute crap to work with despite being pushed at the top of the card. Cena too.

It undeniably helps to have somebody with a clear vision at the top, regardless, and it feels like AEW lacks that with Tony Khan. Too much of a Bischoff-esque mark who's more interested in being one of the boys than being in charge. That's why you get all of this senseless drama that helped to turn me off AEW completely.
 
Looks like r/squaredcircle is 'going dark' until Reddit changes its new API policies. As that may never happen, the subreddit may just disappear completely.
 
I think in the past when this has happened, Reddit has removed mod teams and replaced them with people who comply with their wishes. I imagine that's what is going to happen here but it's probably going to take a little while.

I can appreciate what people are trying to do, but I don't think it's going to work. From a personal standpoint, the new API changes don't affect me at all as I don't use any Reddit apps on my phone. I use old.reddit for both desktop and phone, so it doesn't impact the way I use Reddit as a whole. That being said, there are a number of people that it does affect and that sucks for them. I hope they can get some changes made, but it's looking like Reddit is going to hold fast on their stance.

I do visit r/squaredcircle daily, so I'm a little annoyed it won't be there for the time being.
 
Same here, it's old.reddit.com on desktop and phone for me - however, I don't have accessibility needs nor do I regularly post content on reddit, I'm mainly browsing and adding the odd comment, so this works fine for me. I appreciate for others it's different. I've got the official reddit app but it sucks - so I just went back to using my phone browser.

From what I've read the Reddit higher-ups are being dickheads about this (including accusing the Apollo app creator of things which have been proven false, as the dude recorded his conversations with reddit and uploaded them as evidence), but ultimately yeah, this won't achieve anything. The other problem is that whilst most supported the 48hr blackout, a lot less seem supportive of just taking the subreddit down entirely for an indefinite period of time. It's something that needed to be put to the community as a poll, as moderators alone shouldn't have the power to do something like that. There's no community to moderate without regular users.

I visit daily as well, so it will indeed be a shame. I've glanced at other wrestling subreddits but they aren't really the same. The loss of historical threads is also sad. When you search for wrestling stuff on google, quite often links to squaredcircle reddit threads are high in the results, and can be informative/funny. A shame to lose all of that, but as you say, most likely the mod team will just be removed and replaced. Some comments have suggested that a longer than 48hr blackout is a breach of terms anyway, although I'm not sure how true that is as I'm simply not that invested in the whole thing.
 
Just finished watching the first Collision show.

Quite funny that they are basically just ripping off the Nitro logo, insofar as colours, shape, even the TNT logo at the bottom.

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I mean, they aren't even trying to be subtle about it, lmao. Considering how lawsuit-happy WWE are, I have to assume Turner owns the rights to that design in some form. I like the set design, looks great and better than Dynamite imo.

As far as the show is concerned, overall I enjoyed it. Felt like a fresh start free of a lot of the bullshit that's ruined Dynamite for me in recent months. Kelly and McGinness are a solid commentary team. JR sounded really rough, but obviously not much he could do about that.

The opening CM Punk promo was exactly what you'd expect. No apologies and a few barbs aimed in various directions. Can't argue that Punk is a compelling promo though. The Bucks took a few shots at Punk when they came back, so I saw the return fire as fair game here. Punk probably should have apologised to Tony Khan, but that would go against his whole rebel persona, so I can understand why he didn't. I assume an apology has been made in private regardless.

I was struck by how much Wardlow has cooled off since I last watched. He was already on the way down thanks to terrible booking, but there was hardly any reaction for him. I don't mind the title change, as most debut shows have at least one. The match was fine for what it was. Two big hosses throwing down.

Buddy and Andrade had a fantastic match, and I thought the selling of the previous injuries added an extra wrinkle to the story being told. Good to see Andrade back, hopefully Collision will give him more of an opportunity to shine.

Nice to see Miro back as well. The Tony Nese squash was fine to reintroduce him.

Storm/Soho Vs Nightingale/Blue was also okay. Blue being the hometown girl gave the match an extra edge it otherwise wouldn't have had. The whole "outcasts" thing sucked when I was watching before and still sucks now.

The main event was fun, and an enjoyable watch. The show overall was good for me. Not incredible, but a solid start.

Forbidden Door has some awesome matches, so I'll be watching that for sure. Weird that they didn't really announce anything for next week's Collision, but I'm more likely to watch that than Dynamite.
 
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Agreed. I remember when people were saying Wardlow was the second coming of Goldberg, AEW was going to push him as their top home-grown 'big guy', etc. He has really cooled off. It kind of speaks to AEW's problem with follow through. When Wardlow squashed MJF with like 10 powerbombs or whatever the hell it was, he should've gone nowhere but up from there. Somehow they botched that.

I read earlier that Punk is scheduled for Dynamite, so right off the bat I guess that brand split idea is done. I know Tony Khan said it wasn't going to be a hard split, but I really think they should have with the size of the talent roster they have currently. There are a bunch of people who get no TV time.

One thing I really think is worth noting is that when you watch an episode like Collision and you see how many ex-WWE people are in the matches and there's no botches, no really obvious fuck ups, they know where the hard cam is, you really start to see how much those people did actually learn from being in WWE versus the indy guys who constantly mess up. No shame there, there's a bunch of indy guys that I really like, but Collision felt like a more professional showing than AEW has had in a while.

Forbidden Door should be fun. It seems there are only 4 matches announced and the PPV is in a week. Kind of weird but I assume at least a match or two will be announced on Dynamite.
 
I'm okay with them not having a hard split (although they certainly have a big enough roster for it), I just hope a decent soft split is maintained. Let Collison showcase the likes of Punk, Miro, Andrade, FTR and so on... make it more of a sports-style wrestling show, in line with the WCW Nitro logo they've appropriated. Dynamite meanwhile can continue to be WWE lite.

Yeah the ex-WWE guys definitely have more know-how about how to work a televised environment. If only they were given remotely interesting storylines to work with.

To be honest I'd watch Forbidden Door based on those four matches alone, but yes you would expect a few more will be announced on Dynamite. They're leaving it late, but I assume they think the already announced matches are big enough draws in of themselves, and they're probably right - insofar as the type of fan who is going to order that PPV anyway.

Looks like SquaredCircle is back up... that didn't take long! I did see Reddit had started sending out warnings to mod teams to reopen or be replaced, so it's not very surprising.
 
I thought Punk’s line on Collision was kind of funny, when he said to the fans “I’m sorry that the only people softer than you are the wrestlers you like.” To a degree, I understand. Him being friends with guys like Harley Race, he was brought up in a business that was unapologetic and where things like what happened backstage with him and the Bucks happened on a weekly basis. But I also understand the need for change and the people now who want to see wrestling progress past that. It’s a simple matter of differences I suppose. Personally, I don’t think a backstage fight should mean that you just can’t work together ever again. You’re supposed to be professionals. Be a professional and get the job done. It’s a bump in the road, try to get past it and move on. Punk vs The Elite has money in it if they can get past their differences.

I still don’t know why people are surprised though. Anyone who knows anything about CM Punk knows that he’s this way. I mean if I’m being honest, it’s why I’m a fan of his. He doesn’t take shit and will speak up when others won’t. I’ve always liked that. It’s probably because I’m the same way. If I see somebody do something stupid or hear them say something stupid, I’m the guy who is going to say “hey, what the fuck is that, dude?” But there’s a big difference between me seeing a guy on the street hitting his dog and saying “what the fuck are you doing?” to being at the level he is and using a press conference to air his grievances. He didn’t handle it right and it seems like he knows that. He has apologized for it and has reached out to The Elite to try to make things right. At this point in time, what else can he realistically do? The damage is done, it just needs to be repaired as best as possible.

It was a nice surprise to see r/squaredcircle back up and running today. I didn’t realize how often I go there for news and the like until it wasn’t up for a week. I figured they’d let it go until Reddit replaced the mod team. Either way, nice to see it back.
 
As far as Punk is concerned, he is who he is. You know what you're getting when you bring him in. He's an attraction, a genuine star and a great promo. He's also notoriously difficult to work with and holds grudges for a long time if he feels slighted. I don't think anybody has come out of Brawl Out looking very good, and it really would be best for them all to put it behind them and move on. They don't have to be friends, but at least be professional around each other. Hangman was out of line for the unscripted comments towards Punk, whilst Punk was out of line for pretty much the entirety of the All Out press conference. Those are the kind of things you say behind closed doors, not when you're in a public forum with the owner of the company that's paying you very handsomely sitting beside you. Punk has admitted his actions were wrong and apologised to Khan, at least. If the Bucks don't want to accept his apology then fine, but again, they just need to be professional about it.

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if the Bucks leave AEW before Punk does. Would be pretty weird to have a company called All Elite Wrestling without the Elite being a part of it, but that's the risk you take naming the company after wrestlers who would never be there forever. With that said it's not like the word 'Elite' is reserved for them, it makes sense whether they're in the company or not, ultimately.
 
I’ll write a more in depth review later but MITB was one of the best events I’ve watched in a really long time. From start to finish, very entertaining.
 
Yeah WWE seem to be delivering big time on their PLE's, even though Raw and Smackdown are still pretty average. I was about to say mid which means I've been spending too much time on reddit.

The men's MITB match was a lot of fun, as usual. Some crazy spots, everyone played their part well. LA Knight was obviously the guy everyone wanted to win, but I'm okay with Priest getting the briefcase. He's worked hard, done really well with the Bad Bunny stuff and has been solid with Judgement Day. They need to do something with LA Knight sooner rather than later, considering his age and how over he currently is. I really hope they don't do a Rusev with him and ignore how over he is simply because the organic reaction of the fans isn't what they were expecting.

The women's tag title match was fine, but Baszler's turn really came out of nowhere, and not really in a good way. It didn't really make much sense, and the explanation on Raw didn't make much sense either. Just seemed like a Russo style swerve for the sake of it. Rousey and Baszler is potentially a good program though - the tag titles were doing nothing for either of them. It's amazing how far Rousey has fallen since she debuted. It all seemed to start going wrong when she had her temper tantrum regarding the fans reaction. She's never really got her momentum back and it doesn't feel like she really wants to be there anymore. Baszler meanwhile was a beast in NXT, but hasn't meant anything on the main roster. A tale as old as time as far as NXT callups under Vince are concerned. It's a shame though, the match between Baszler and Kairi Sane at one of the Takeover's (can't remember which one) was absolutely fantastic.

Gunther and Riddle was a bit disappointing. They told the story well enough, but with Riddle's injury it was obvious who was going over. Drew's return was a nice surprise and he got a big reaction, as you'd expect from a UK crowd. I hope they can get his momentum back - he started stalling after losing at Clash at the Castle last year and the cameras still rolling as he sung happily after his defeat. Time off was probably for the best, hopefully he's back fresh and ready for a good program.

Cody and Dom was entertaining. The crowd singing Cody's entire song was something else. I do wonder how long it'll be before Cody's schtick starts to wear thin with WWE fans as it eventually did with AEW fans - being out injured for a while obviously helped in that regard. Doesn't seem to be on the horizon for the time being though, he's mega-over and a huge star. In terms of reaction he couldn't have asked for much better.

Cena returning was another big surprise. It's funny to see him universally beloved these days. Absence makes the heart grow fonder I guess - although a lot of that comes down to the Super Cena thing ending some years ago. His promo was basically the same thing he says whenever he comes back. I'm not reading too much into him talking about WM coming to London, it's not the first time he's done that. From what I've read it won't be happening any time soon, although if they ever do then it'll be huge. Pretty much an instant sellout regardless of capacity.

The women also gave us a fantastic MITB match with some brutal looking spots. Iyo winning was a good call, it'll be interesting to see where they go with her cash in.

Seth and Finn was also a little disappointing. They were obviously telling a story, but it didn't feel like Finn had any chance of winning and the match itself was just okay. They're both capable of much more.

The main event was solid, as expected, with the right outcome. Reigns getting pinned was a big moment and keeps the story moving in the right direction. I still have problems with how they progressed things around WM, but they're keeping the story interesting enough.

Overall a fun show, and similar to the Puerto Rico show the crowd played a big part in bumping up the energy. It'll be interesting to see what the UK reaction is to AEW next month.
 
I definitely expected more out of Seth/Finn. It was a bit disappointing and surprisingly the low point of the night for me, which is rather odd considering I really like both of those guys. Seth seems to not be firing on all cylinders lately which I don't really understand. His matches have become a bit too formulaic I think. He's really embracing the "superstar" thing too. The crowd singing along, going by Seth "Freakin" Rollins (which is so unbelievably fucking stupid), etc. Obviously that stuff isn't his call and it's working in terms of what WWE wants out of him, but I miss Seth from 2014-15.

Really enjoyed both MITB matches. There were some really cool spots in both. The botched C4 with Ricochet and Logan Paul could've been way worse. It still came off decently. I assume that we're going to get a singles match between the two of them at Summerslam. And I'm fine with that. It'll probably be entertaining. The "experts" are predicting Logan Paul vs LA Knight, which will also work, except that Paul is due for a victory, having lost his last several matches. I think the majority would rather see Ricochet eat that loss than Knight. LA Knight seems like a good contender to take the US title from Austin Theory. As reports go, as the merger gets closer and closer to being complete, Vince is expected to take on a much larger role within the company and people say he wasn't high on Knight, which is why he was initially a manager. Who knows.

Shayna turning on Ronda really came out of nowhere. I'm surprised it wasn't teased at all or done after the loss. It really felt out of place. The talk is that Rousey will be taking an extended break again (or possibly be done with WWE completely) and this was rushed so that she could have her last match at Summerslam against Shayna. The big problem is Ronda Rousey puts off such big heel vibes that nobody buys her as anything else. Letting her go out as a babyface is going to be weird.

Gunther/Bro-man was meh. I expect Gunther/Drew at Summerslam will be much better. They compliment each other well. I thought the match with those two and Sheamus at WM was excellent. I just don't like Riddle. His whole shtick reminds me of a really exaggerated RVD, except his work isn't nearly as entertaining or... good. More talk that Randy Orton is returning soon, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Orton/Riddle at Summerslam.

Cody/Dominik was decent enough. Dom's ring work leaves something to be desired for me personally. I feel like he should've been in NXT although I understand why he wasn't. He was good with his dad at WM because of the obvious chemistry but I've looked at most of his performances since as underwhelming. Even more rumors suggest that Dom will face Rollins at Summerslam to continue the feud with Seth vs. Judgement Day, while Cody will wrestle Brock yet again. *yawn* Brock is another guy who is very formulaic and it worked for a long time, but now instead of being the seen-four-or-five-times-a-year unbeatable beast who does the same thing every match, he's the seen-five-or-six-times-a-year beatable beast who is there strictly to help get other talent over. Except it didn't work with Omos and it won't work with Cody because he's already their most over guy. This clearly feels like they're building Cody up to beat Roman at next year's Mania., which according to Meltzer is the plan. Crap shoot there.

Before the main event started, I said to myself "I wonder if they'll have Jey pin Roman..." and then I snapped myself out of it and said "nah, if The Usos win, Solo is eating the pin." So I was quite surprised to see Jey get the win. It was a big moment and the crowd loved it. Obviously setting up for "main event" Jey to wrestle Roman at Summerslam, which could go a variety of ways. Does Jimmy turn on Jey, costing him the match? If Vince is booking it, probably.

Overall, great show, great crowd. It was a lot of fun to watch.
 
Looks like Punk is back to being a total dick. Went off on Hangman in an unauthorised promo after Collision went off the air, is stopping certain people from attending Collision shows (including Christopher Daniels, who is the head of talent relations) and had a verbal confrontation in the locker room with Ryan Nemeth over something posted on Twitter.

Once again there's drama all over AEW, coinciding with the return of the most toxic man in the business. There was also a story about Tony Khan pumping his fist at gorilla and chanting "CM Punk" as he walked past during his re-debut... if so, just wtf. Even Vince wasn't going around chanting "HBK" during the 90s.
 
When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in charge of a wrestling company. I'm assuming Tony Khan did too. And now I think we're all seeing the results of that. The most successful people in wrestling aren't wrestling fans; they're business people. Tony is a businessman too, but he's running his company like a fan. Self-admittedly, I am a CM Punk fan, but I can see that what he's doing isn't anything good for AEW. I think he is showing exactly why he needed all the restrictions and guidance in WWE. If someone doesn't reign him in, this is what he does. He clearly thinks he's running the show. Now there are reports that people are being sent home because of issues with him, when the logical thing to do would be to send Punk home. Collision was a good move and it's a decent show, but it seems like it had to be created just to keep Punk away from everyone else. Dude isn't Hogan or Austin or Cena or even Roman Reigns, he should not be getting the star treatment and he certainly isn't bigger than an entire company. AEW is just suffering with him there and I am beyond surprised that The Elite signed new contracts.
 
So All In is next weekend. The card is... interesting. My bet would be Adam Cole turning heel on MJF in the main event and walking out champion. A full fledged singles babyface run for MJF could be good. I'm interested to see if he can do it. Chris Jericho vs. Will Ospreay kind of pisses me off. Ospreay is so good and doesn't deserve to have to be in the ring with Jericho at an event like this. There is no way Jericho is keeping up with him. Punk vs. Joe was good 20 years ago, but I don't think either of them are going to pull this off now. It's definitely not the card I would've chosen, but oh well. I can't believe House of Black isn't on it.
 
Honestly I wish this had happened at a time when I was more invested in AEW. I'll watch the event just because it's a big spectacle, similar to how I used to watch the Rumble or Wrestlemania even during the years I never watched any Raw or Smackdown, but I won't have the same connection that I had with AEW when it first began, or even up until Punk's first injury.

The card itself is okay, I guess, although I don't think it's immense. Apparently if Danielson hadn't gotten injured he would have faced Omega which would have been great, so that's a shame. I'm wondering if they might spring a surprise appearance - someone like Goldberg. It'd certainly pop the crowd something huge. In terms of an MJF babyface run, it would be interesting to see but they teased it many times before only to turn him back heel within days/weeks, so I'm just not sure. The fans seem to want to cheer him, but he's spent basically his entire career living the heel schtick, so whether it'd work long-term is open for debate. That does seem to be the direction they're going in, but we've been here before and it's always ended with MJF turning back heel or staying heel, so we'll see.

FTR and Young Bucks should be a good match, assuming Cash can travel after his arrest. There's been nothing to suggest he isn't going to be there, and it'd be pretty shitty of AEW to only announce at the event that he isn't going to be there - considering the issue has been known about for weeks now by Tony Khan at least.

Punk and Joe are obviously not in their prime anymore, but I think they'll put on a decent enough match. I'm curious as to the reaction Punk will get. I'm sure Joe will be a huge fan favourite, but with Punk it'll be a case of whether there's more casual fans there or more smarks.
 
Now Fozzy is playing the show. Of fucking course Jericho isn't going to miss an opportunity to shove his mediocre band down everyone's throat. Dude is a shameless self-promoter and he's just leeching off of all the talent around him.
 
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