Timbo Slice

She-Hulk is trademarked and AEW’s parent distributor houses the DC universe so that’s probably why he had to avoid saying it at all costs.

A lot of that has to do with the rather predictive nature of the results so far.

I’m on a long drive that was gonna put me back home around 3 hours in so I’m not upset about getting the replay. Because even the purchased stream is garbage.

The card is as follows: All Out Zero Hour Card: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Eddie Kingston Pac (c) vs. Kip Sabian - Singles match for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship Hook (c) vs. Angelo Parker - Singles match for the FTW Championship AEW All Out Card: Jon Moxley (c) vs. CM Punk - Singles Match for the AEW World Championship The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) vs. Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) - Tournament final for the inaugural AEW World Trios Championship Toni Storm vs. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida - Four-way match for the Interim AEW Women's World Championship Claudio Castagnoli vs. Wheeler Yuta vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Rey Fénix vs. Rush vs. Andrade El Idolo vs. Dante Martin vs. TBD - Casino Ladder Match Swerve In Our Glory (c) vs. The Acclaimed - Tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho Jade Cargill (c) vs. Athena - Singles Match for the AEW TBS Championship Jungle Boy vs. Christian Cage Wardlow and FTR vs. Jay Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) - Six-Man Tag Team Ricky Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) vs. Darby Allin, Sting, and Miro A packed card that is also varied, and is basically a lock to go 6 hours+ including the zero hour stuff.

The streak is over. I didn’t do the thing this time. Rejoice.

Fucking GOAT right there.

Given those mental health issues, I imagine him being with Zelina on a more regular basis would also be a boon for him.

Interestingly enough, the main event from this week recycled some bits from the famous 6-man tag from PWG where Ospreay hit the cutter to counter the Meltzer Driver and then did the SSP version, and the first thing that came to mind was how it seemed muted because of the production. I still think they’re trying to find their way capturing all the styles. They need a few more wide shots, they cut to the crowd too much. A bit more simplistic production goes a long way.

I think people underestimate how many fans think Punk is riding the coattails to an ascending promotion.

The quick response to this is that Punk represents a completely different ideal than what AEW was before him, and it’s being used as a cudgel against him due to how much it has changed the product to revolve around him in a lot of ways. The narratives around his character does him no favors, either, but at the same time, AEW’s fanbase is fickle at large with issues like this. It’s why Page’s angle with Punk was about “protecting AEW.” It was a turnaround against Punk from his WWE days when he was in Page’s shoes. Tony knows this stuff and it’s what he thinks is going to make him money.

I understand why people want to distill Tony’s comment down to a singular issue but there’s so much that goes into why that presentation isn’t as equitable as it should. Tony cites numbers as his driving force, but when given the opportunity, the women who have gotten run have, outside of a short time with Britt, not done well with it. And I’m not talking about the subjective nature of their work or their character or what have you. It hasn’t drawn folks in for the most part. Stephanie’s Women’s Revolution (TM NXT/WWE, all rights reserved) was a combination of not only being given the time, but making the most of it. People were ready for the women to shine, and the character work got folks invested to the point when, on NXT’s biggest stage at that point, Sasha and Bayley made them and the other women undeniable. Britt cooled down significantly after frankly being overexposed (playing the same insider note over and over again does her no favors) and Rosa had heat when they crossed paths. But once given the chance, Rosa couldn’t hold viewers herself. Jade has had some decent pings, but her booking has been scattershot as time constraints for the other talent Tony has brought in (yes, namely men) have gotten more shine. It’s not just one thing or the other. Toni should get the title on Sunday and it’s not going to be A Big Deal because as good as she is in ring, she’s not really compelling. Lest we also forget what happened with Ruby Soho once she was given her opportunities, which was sad given what we had seen with her previously. Becky’s moment went viral because she got an uncommon situation presented to her and she went enough off the beaten path that folks took notice. Rosa and Britt did something similar with their street fight, but everything fell apart once the follow through actually happened. AEW does give women some of those opportunities (but not enough of them), and that has to do with a bloated roster, Tony’s penchant for not using same talent every week, and women with weak character development overall. Tony has too many toys at his disposal to know what to do best with many of them, and it’s making many parts of the roster seem like afterthoughts.

Again. Don’t think the work is in question. The path to get there certainly is. Compelling stories do matter, though, and the drama surrounding the company has been more compelling than the stuff once the curtain opens. They have to find their balance again.

Also, did you know there’s a PPV on Sunday? Without a main event announced? Wild.

Just keeping the streak going.

Brother Tony booking with the attention span of a damn gnat.

Jimmy G handsomed himself into a guaranteed backup deal, the guy is an absolute legend.

It’s funny how abundantly clear it is that preconceptions drive how people respond to stories like Goldberg/Jericho. I also don’t really give a fuck about it because it’s really a non-story, but that being a microcosm of how folks are responding to the AEW stuff is pitch perfect.

Defector wrote an article insinuating the rematch is gonna happen in Chicago but that would be strange for it to be a 10-day turnaround on something like that.

Picking between Rosa and Ivelisse in an Unprofessional-Off is the Spider-Man Meme.

If there’s anything Lanza is good at? It’s speculation… It’s getting to be too much now. You can’t be working the sheets all the time. Come out and address shit like this. Otherwise it gets worse.

Got too cute with the sad Punk promo but the effort was there.

Not evil shenanigans. AEW’s shenanigans are more cheeky and fun.

I again am going to reiterate that ALL AEW-based reported drama is amplified much higher than it actually is due to the news information flow out of that company. Even the stuff Trevor mentioned, while sourced, is more about how the information was presented than the information itself. MJF wanting more money is akin to the Kevin Durant NBA drama, where he tried to pull a power move, realized the market isn’t what he hoped it would be, and then once the emotions died down, an agreement will be done. Same thing with the locker room machinations with Punk and the like; Josh Donaldson used a racially-charged comment at a Black player in Tim Anderson, and his team didn’t back him up. And Donaldson has cratered as a player since then. When a locker room doesn’t back someone who does something they perceive to be stupid, it’s up to the locker room to respond to that as opposed to trying to chirp about it to the first writer who will listen to him. I don’t really care about who hates who or who has the gossip about whoever; if they can go out and work together, then so be it. So much of what has been reported has been backed up with pre-conceived notions about guys because it’s what draws eyeballs; there are absolutely things wrong with the company, but the focus is on the wrong things because they’re noteworthy but not necessarily important.

I also think the reason why this is such a big deal is because the dirt sheets have ALWAYS made gossip like this seem like a BIG deal. It’s the part of the business I’ve never really been a fan of; spend five minutes in any sports locker room and the amount of strife/differing opinions is palpable. It’s just that to be able to make it a big deal is part of the business more than anything else, when most of the time, it’s the boys laughing at how serious the coverage is. It’s a sliding scale; there are definitely issues with how Tony is handling this, but I also think it’s made to be almost too big a deal by design.

The slump is a self-own, though. There’s a reason why the Khans aren’t exactly heralded business heads with the Jags/Fulham. You have to know how to not just get into the game, but have sustained success. The free roll is long gone; time you show you actually know how to work through even minor adversity.