Loss

I sometimes think about how much more interesting the WON HOF would be if it was 55/30 or even 50/25 instead of 35/15. It feels like the bar is currently too low.

Dynamite had a great week in the ratings, but if I was them, I would be trying to fix the issues with losing women so strongly to WWE. And based on traditional ratings patterns, having more women on TV or more prominent women's wrestling has basically nothing to do with it. Men respond more to that, but women don't. In summer and fall 2014, WWE ratings actually collapsed a lot with their traditional audience, but the drop was softened some because of crossover fans from Total Divas. For whatever reason, to this day, most of those fans have stuck around. Rhodes To The Top isn't the type of thing that's going to work there, but I appreciate that they're at least trying to copy what worked. If I was them, I'd sign Lana/CJ and pair her with Miro on TV, but more than that, I'd try to use her to get in front of a different audience. She should have her own clothing line and fragrances. I'm thinking of the Bellas here because that was the most recent case that really worked. Maybe Lana is the right person, maybe she isn't, but she seems like a good option. They should probably also hire Renee Paquette if she's willing to come in and actually cultivate the interviewer role as someone wrestlers aim to avoid because she asks tough questions. We need a modern Mean Gene. It also may help to have more sex and romance, and more relationship drama. They don't have to be WWE, but they could at least be Tatum, Gilbert and Missy in the UWF.

He doesn't even have to be. Aspiring to be Bret Hart can still make him excellent.

Julia Hart will take off the eye patch and it will be red just like Malakai's at some point. Then she'll join him.

Obviously, the dream for AEW would be getting Cena to promote Wipeout on Dynamite.

Was that a gimmicked bat? Jericho was swinging it like it wasn't, which would surprise me.

Bryan Alvarez made a great case for this recently, his argument being that every once in a while someone should lose a title right after winning it so that the early title defenses have some suspense, and this was the right time to do it.

Episodes like tonight make me realize that I probably never really got into AEW as a whole as much as I did CM Punk and Bryan Danielson showing up. This is the first episode of Dynamite since All Out that has felt to me like an episode before crowds returned.

I thought The Acclaimed said last week they would have a video this week.

I hope they pick their spot wisely on that idea, because it feels like the type of thing that will be huge, but that they can really only do once.

Seems to be like he should be having matches with either Malakai Black or Andrade El Idolo instead of the guy who has always struck me as the most inexplicably pushed guy in the company, but so be it.

These guys are supposed to follow Bryan Danielson on top, which can't help but be a real letdown.

Lance Archer? Lame.

It seems like a criticism when WWE does that is that they give their new champions no momentum.

I sometimes feel bad for wrestlers because I do think some of them have the mindset before they become jaded that it would be great to interact with fans more. Very few wrestlers have kept good relationships with many fans at this point because it's become so toxic, and while in some cases I do think the wrestlers think they're better than the audience like in the old days, I don't think that's all there is to it anymore. People like Cody, the Bucks and maybe even Omega to an extent were far more fan-friendly and willing to interact a few years ago than they are now, and I can't say I blame them for pulling back.

There are hundreds of misses by design. Those were intended to be a Best Of, but not a comprehensive look at the era, in the same way a Greatest Hits album is meant to capture highlights but not an in-depth look at the artist.

That's true of every single wrestler ever. There are no wrestlers I can think of who have had great runs without being given an opportunity, setting or opponents to do so. I don't like most AEW matches that others like because I like more grounded wrestling, so this isn't that, at least not from me. The matches against Omega, Page, Suzuki, Dustin, Miro and Kingston are one hell of a case booster, with the matches against Nick Jackson, John Silver and Anthony Bowens being a step below that while still excellent. And yes, he was having a great first four months in WWE even before leaving, just not in a way that felt transcendent. But I love the Reigns matches and the WM main event. I think he has also added quite a bit to his case since we last did this between the 2018 feuds with Styles and Kingston, that Styles match that is probably the GOAT empty arena match for me and the Brock match. I'm all for creating some space between this run and an evaluation of it, but I also don't think we should be afraid to call it what it is or talk about how we're reacting to it now. I can say though if I was submitting a ballot today, he'd be number one.

Thinking about my favorite AEW story of 2021. Imagine being told 5 years ago that in 2021, WWE will feel threatened by the rising popularity of a DVDVR poster's competing wrestling company and in an attempt to embarrass that company by destroying them in TV ratings, they will load up their network show and a follow-up on cable. The DVDVR poster will respond by throwing Bryan Danielson vs Minoru Suzuki on YouTube out of spite and changing absolutely nothing else. The move will backfire on WWE, and the DVDVR poster will get the last laugh.

Something I posted back in 2015. Just intended as food for thought, definitely not the final say.

This AEW run has been phenomenal and will probably lock him in as my #1 pick, which is not what I would have expected a few years ago. Part of it is that I'm not quite sure who the number two talent in wrestling is right now, but it feels like Danielson is operating several levels above everyone, even other great wrestlers. Does anyone else even come close right now? I don't think it's hyperbole to say this stretch he's been on since mid-September is one of the greatest runs any pro wrestler has ever had.

As I mentioned before, my AEW predictions are awful, but I'm guessing we get a Cody vs Sammy ladder match at Revolution with both titles suspended above the ring and Men of the Year acting as foils for both of them in the same way 2point0 did in the Punk-Darby build. The winner probably loses to Danielson not long after that, just because I can't think of anyone else he can feud with if he doesn't do that, and the TNT title scenario Dave laid out makes sense.

In that sense, he peaked in 1996. Programs with Razor Ramon, Roddy Piper, Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker, and a house show run headlining against Michaels.

Guessing Cody would have just retained and likely moved on to something else.