The Thread Killer

That qualifies as a “huge” announcement that needs to be broadcast on network TV?

I know it’s 99.9% confirmed FTR are staying in AEW. Dax pretty much came out and said on his podcast that with Vince coming back, there is no way they go back to WWE. But that show does line up with the expiration of their contracts, and they did pose squaring off against the Impact Tag Champs over the weekend. And Dax is always saying they’d be happy to spend a year splitting their time between Japan and the indies, so there is that infinitesimal chance they do lose tomorrow.

That pretty much explains it. Based on how good Wrestlemania was, and based on the fact that the Raw after Wrestlemania usually has something happen, I actually went into that show interested. That was fucking terrible. It was like they were daring you to keep watching. Over the course of those three hours, I went from intrigued, to impatient, to bored, to frustrated, to praying for the cold embrace of sweet merciful death. That was complete and utter shit.

I went into Wrestlemania this year not really all that interested and I definitely wasn’t invested in the outcome. There is probably something to be said about going into a show with low expectations. But it doesn’t really matter how you slice it, if you look at it based solely on the in ring product, both nights were really damn good, and I say that somewhat begrudgingly. A few of those matches overdelivered to a ridiculous level. I am thinking especially about the Charlotte/Rhea match and the 3 Way IC match. I know this sounds hyperbolic but I think that both of those matches could go down as all timers. And the Main Event of Night 1 definitely delivered and didn’t disappoint. As far as Cody/Roman? Up until the finish, I was digging the hell out of that match. I just strongly disagree with the booking. I was the first one to crap on Roman for years, but people refusing to acknowledge (see what I did there) how much he has improved or how great he is now are either people who don’t actually watch his matches or they have some other axe to grind. I don’t see a compelling argument against him being the greatest active Pro Wrestler in North America right now. Maybe Danielson but after that I don’t think it’s even close. Who else is there? Moxley? Give me a fucking break. Omega? Putting aside the fact that he has barely wrestled any singles matches over the past couple years, he just doesn’t have the tools Reigns has and at this point he never will. The main strike against Roman is shitty booking and the total lack of viable opponents for him. That’s why we got him vs. Lesnar a million times, and they ended up having to book him against Logan Fucking Paul. I know it would never happen, but it would be awesome if Reigns could compete in New Japan or even AEW. It kills me to think the quality of the stuff he could do if he wasn’t hamstrung by WWE. But they invented him, they get to keep him. And considering the money he’s making and the schedule he works, who can blame him.

TK is at it again, hyping another HUGE announcement on Wednesday. Based on his previous HUGE announcements, let’s try and guess what it is going to be this time… The addition of the rumoured Saturday Night TV show? The dates and brackets for this years Owen Hart Tournament? He has re-signed Christian Cage? My guess is he has created even more Championship belts and booked some more tournaments, perhaps the AEW 8 Man Titles, or the AEW Pacific Northwestern Championship.

I haven’t watched RAW in ages, but I remember stuff used to happen the night after Wrestlemania so I tuned in. This show has been remarkably uneventful and ridiculously slowly paced. It literally took almost 25 minutes before anything significant actually happened. So far it has been two hours of nothingness. At least on the weeks when Dynamite sucks, it sucks quickly. This show is nothing but long drawn out ring entrances and stupid pointless exposition.

They may be getting ahead of the rush. When Endeavour took over UFC they did a fair bit of house cleaning. Just after Wrestlemania is usually time for releases as well, right? With the new ownership group I am already reading all over the place that they are planning on doing some serious cost cutting. If I was AJ Francis, I would be more than a little nervous right now.

Prior to today, I would have thought it might have been Triple H’s call. But it has been confirmed that Vince was at the event last night, on a headset no less. Plus, he admitted in the interview this morning that he will still be involved in creative on a so-called “higher level” (whatever that means.) So I think it’s a pretty safe bet that the ultimate decision of who was winning in the Main Event last night was Vince.

That’s assuming it was Triple H’s call.

I was convinced he was trying to win the Robert Goulet lookalike contest.

I have been following MMA and UFC before Dana White was ever involved as a promoter or owner. Years ago, I even briefly worked as an MMA columnist. Back when I first started watching UFC Dana White was just a boxing manager who managed Chuck Liddell, before Zuffa bought into UFC. Trust me, as bad as Dana White can be, he is a total amateur when it comes to being an evil billionaire compared to Vince McMahon. He is no treat, and he has done some really sketchy shit, but there is no way he is anywhere near as bad as Vince.

What is the general consensus about all this stuff going on in the media this past week between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins? There have been claims that they legitimately don’t like each other and got into a physical confrontation backstage. They have been pretty much slagging each other off in interviews, which is weird. WWE is not known for airing their dirty laundry, it’s not like they are AEW. Is that meant to be leading up to Seth being his first challenger when Cody wins the title?

I just assumed it was going to be LA Knight. Haven’t they’ve been doing an angle with him where he’s pissed he is not on the show and his guaranteeing that he’s going to be there? If Randy is really going to be making a surprise return, I would’ve imagined they would do it tomorrow night on RAW since that’s traditionally how they do things with surprise returns, the night after Wrestlemania and all that?

It’s funny you mention that, I was struck by that exact point just recently during the whole “Riho deleted her Twitter account after being bullied by Jim Cornette” fiasco. It has since been pretty much conclusively proven that Cornette had nothing to do with it. I don’t understand why people go to such great lengths to attribute stuff to Cornette that he didn’t actually do…when there is such a wealth of stupid shit that he DID do to criticize him for.

You are exactly right and I just can’t believe that Ari Emanuel is dumb enough to think that Vince McMahon would settle for the exact same deal.

Ari Emanuel is the CEO of Endeavour. He is the guy calling the shots, but he has been content for Dana to be the public face of the UFC, especially since Dana knows the MMA business better than pretty much anybody else. The difference between Dana White and Vince McMahon is that Dana was never solely in charge of the UFC. First he had the Fertitta Brothers and now he has Emanuel. Despite all of his bluster and his public persona, White knows how to take orders from somebody else when it comes to his company. There is NO way Vince will take orders from Ari Emanuel. I can’t see him and Vince coexisting. The only way this will work is if Vince has a title in name only, and basically takes a massive step back and never goes to work. And when has he ever shown the ability to do that?

At least Sasha actually let Kong get near her. I always laugh my ass off when I see one of those pictures where she’s posing with some fan whom she makes stand 4 feet away from her.

That’s what I thought. I remember when I first read the rumour about them buying the entire company, I looked up the “Saudi Public Investment Fund” and I was pretty shocked at the number of high profile companies that the Saudis own a not insignificant piece of.

So much this. No professional corporate board is going to put up with Vince McMahon’s control freak behaviour and micromanaging crap for long. No way.

That is not what he said about them. That’s an old Davey Richards/Austin Aries talking point which they tried to use against Cornette. He said Steen could “work his ass off” but needed to lose weight, or he’d end up blowing out both his knees. Cornette also said that Steen was a pain in the ass to deal with backstage and only ever wanted to work with his friends. Cornette absolutely did say that nobody would ever make it big time in the business wearing gear like Steen does, and he needed to trim his beard because he looked like a homeless person. But he never said Steen wasn’t good enough to make it in the business. Cornette is actually quite complimentary about Steen/Owens in ring work. Cornette said that Zayn was crazy for wrestling in a mask and not wanting to cut promos, since he’s a natural promo and his facial expressions are great. Over the past year, Cornette has been singing Sami’s praises so much as the best promo in Pro Wrestling that Zayn actually joked about it on Twitter with him. The while “Cornette saw nothing in Steen and Generico” talking point is about as true as the “Cornette secretly wanted to work an angle with The Young Bucks” talking point.

The other thing is, I suppose it’s technically possible for the Saudis to buy up a big chunk of the remaining stock after the sale, no? Don’t they already own a big piece of Newcastle United and a bunch of banks and stuff?

I just watched the ROH post show press conference. I know there are a lot of people who do not share Mark Briscoe’s spiritual beliefs. But even if you don’t, when you listen to him talk, he is one of the most inspiring people. He has shown so much strength throughout this whole ordeal, it’s really something to see.

I just watched the ROH show. It was really good, but there were a couple of problems. Firstly, I don’t mean to sound like Jim Cornette here, but that injury to Dante Martin pretty much perfectly encapsulated what I hate about modem Pro Wrestling. That kid badly injured himself and is now going to be out injured for who knows how long, and why? Doing a stupid dangerous spot during a match full of stupid and dangerous spots. Top Flight are talented enough, they don’t need to be doing insane shit like that. In the last year alone, look at what happened to Rey Fenix and Julia Hart and I’m probably forgetting a bunch of other accidents as well. Secondly, having Mark Briscoe lose that match, in front of his weeping parents and kids, and then following that up with Eddie losing too? That certainty is was…a choice. I am all in on the new ROH. I subscribed to Honor Club, I watch the new show every week and it is generally excellent. I will gladly continue to pay for the pay-per-views. I am on board. But I think TK needs to put a little bit more thought into balancing his shows out a bit better and knowing that at some point you have to send the fans home at least a little happy.

Seats are starting to fill up. Fashionably late crowd. Seriously…Ethan Page would fit in perfectly in NXT and that’s not a compliment. If this is leading to a match Hook had better choke his ass out. Hook has it. Page not so much. LOL MJF compared Jungle Boy to Kanye!