Loss

I'm higher on Bowens, who seems to have stepped up his game a ton since the Danielson match. However, no matter how much of a push either guy receives, they should stay together either way, as they feel like guys who will always mean more as a team.

It seems like Lee Moriarty would succeed at the level of Jungle Boy, Darby, MJF and Sammy if he was pushed at that level. I don't see why he wouldn't.

Big E was only made champion in the first place because they needed to pop a rating after losing the demo to Dynamite for the first time, unfortunately. To me, the bigger issue is that WWE overrelies on Reigns and Lesnar to an almost comedic degree, and then when something happens, they don't really know what to do. They've been feuding for most of the last seven years, and have had zero long-term ideas that haven't involved one or in most cases both of them. What in the world will WWE do when they can't build to Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns, or Brock Lesnar doing something, or Roman Reigns doing something, anymore?

This is exactly it.

I wish Jade Cargill didn't have to learn on national television, because I think her upside is huge when she becomes more seasoned.

Memo to literally everyone in wrestling: You have no idea how stupid, pathetic and fake you look when you do fake laughing while the person next to you cuts their promo. Stop doing it. STOP. STOP!

It can still be defended on Rampage, and I'm wondering if it will be exclusive. I guess we'll see. It's a minor thing if someone offers them $250 million or something, but I also think about the future of those titles if they switch networks when their current deal is up.

The heelish qualities, to the extent they exist, are in the self importance and in refusal to admit how people see him. Also, I think having a ringside second is more of a heel thing, but that's just me.

I don't. I think he thought he was doing something transcendent. He seemed blindsided by it and has been really defensive when it comes to the jokes that he thinks the birth of his child ended racism in America.

I still think it's all about that Anthony Agogo promo. Maybe it's evolved since then into a little more than that but it all goes back to that promo.

Guevara's title run seems like it was fine to me, it's just that he was also doing other stuff like the Dan Lambert feud. It's not like the matches themselves were disappointments or anything like that, although I do think Miro was working and there was no reason to move on from him.

He is a heel because he's being booed. Heels are people that are booed and babyfaces are people that are cheered. He's a heel pretending not to be one but he is a heel.

The idea is to get heat by being a heel while denying that he is. All evidence points to the opposite, but he just refuses to admit it and never will. I don't even think he should cheat or change anything about his presentation. Just the opponents. If he keeps being programmed with heels, they are all going to come out of those feuds looking awful. I'm not sure that feud did Malakai Black a ton of good despite all the wins because he was getting a reaction that isn't translating outside of that was context. If Cody feuds with Sammy Guevara or Jungle Boy or PAC, and they get to call him out for what he really is, everyone wins.

The key to making Cody an effective heel is to change nothing about him except his opponents. It works really well against babyfaces, but not so much against Malakai and Andrade. If I was them, I'd drop Dan Lambert nonsense midstream and move him into a feud with a babyface.

It would be a great way to debut Keith Lee, and Miro vs Keith Lee has a lot of appeal.

Page openly crapping on the idea of legend judges tells me they aren't going that route. An intriguing thing in terms of popping a big number for the first TBS show IF everyone was available and able to do it -- which is a big IF -- would be to have the judges be the first three AEW champions. If Omega or Mox needed more time off after that, nothing says they can't go away again after the episode. And I'm not saying either of them should be pressured to do it if they aren't available, but it would be an interesting way to hype the show. I'd also end the match decisively, so the judges don't have to render a decision. But just their presence adds more interest to the rematch.

May I ask what you think the minimum threshold is out there to consider someone? I ask because Hans Schmidt was mentioned, and we have by my count 26 full-length or mostly full-length matches available for him. In theory, that seems like enough to understand him. There are people like Danny Hodge and maybe Johnny Valentine that it would be nice to see more of to know where they stand on an all-time list, but there is a deceptive amount of footage out there for most top stars of the 1950s. It's the American stars of the 70s who I think suffer the most, particularly those who either didn't work Japan or whose acts didn't really connect in Japan. Jackie Fargo is a legend that created a blueprint for Jerry Lawler, who will fare well, but we have very little footage.

It comes up in a few weeks. Wild!

Maybe not the exact same question, but I think it's pretty similar. I wonder if people are using a certain wrestler as a baseline. In other words, for someone to be considered for my list, they have to be someone I think of as being better than ____________, who I consider right at the borderline.

I like Cesaro and think he might have done way more with more opportunity, but I also feel like he's never completely crossed the line from impressive to engaging. And I would say Chris Hero has done that.

Other than Blood and Guts, I haven't watched any AEW since Tony Khan wouldn't take any responsibility for the botched explosion a few months back, because it seemed too carny for the company that tries to present themselves as being distinctly anti-carny. But if Dan Lambert becomes a regular, I'll come back and watch every week. I can only assume that if this is more than a one-time thing, the idea is to do whatever they would have done if they had ever brought in Cornette. It won't be as good as Cornette would just because I don't think Lambert genuinely hates AEW so his promos won't be quite as biting. But it's close enough.

Misawa is the greatest company ace of all time in my opinion. Literally the only reason I wouldn't rate him #1 is that I don't think we saw enough variety out of his career in opponents or working styles or settings, and that's probably even unfair. Hansen is a top-tier pick in his own way, but being The Guy counts for a lot with me, which Hansen never quite was.

If Steamboat never existed, Flair would still have a #1 case. If Flair never existed, Steamboat might be a lower-level pick for some people. He'd be at roughly the same level as Tito Santana, maybe a step above.

Another Casas comparison.