cm funk

Other than Arthur Ashe are there even any other major US tennis stadiums? That should be a dope show

some interesting comments from Paul here https://www.f4wonline.com/nxt-news/hhh-nxt-takeover-media-call-fan-frustration-nwa-all-womens-ppv-343726 I can't blame him for being in a pissy mood these days

Bryan freakin Alvarez worked with him! That dude ain't getting in the ring with someone he doesn't trust It makes complete sense for Cardona to do stuff like this if he wants to shake his WWE rep. This will earn him some street cred, especially if the match is actually good

Didn't he do this once before? He says he dislocated his AC joint in the AEW match and he can't put on a shirt or pick up his kid. Once he's healed he'll work his NJPW dates and then he's done. Stranger things have happened in wrestling, but I don't buy it. He seems like a pretty emotional, heart on his sleeve kind of guy, I'm sure he believes it right now......but yeah, dude is only 26

Sounds good to me! The Pinnacle needs a reason to exist, and chasing the title and/or protecting it is a good reason

Judge is massive for a baseball player. And he's a good outfielder no less, just can't stay healthy (I'm a Yankees fan, he's gone from phenom to frustrating). He's listed at 6-7. I figure Braun is like 6-4 legit maybe?

I just noticed that Embiid's DX shirt has him on it too! That's kind of neat.....I'm just so confused as to why in the hell this happened. Why now, in 2021, to kick off game 1 of a playoff series?!! Philly deserved to lose for this bullshit, and I just got a really, really bad feeling that Cody is going to show up in ATL.......

Andrade is wrestling Omega for the AAA title at Triplemania in August, so the AEW booking will be interesting politically. I assume Andrade beats him in Mexico, so does Omega beat him in the States before or after? I'd say after personally, seems best for everyone involved. Does AEW even have tv in Mexico? I wouldn't have debuted him that way, but whatever, what's done is done. Hopefully Vickie isn't with him regularly, but it's fine to link them backstage if you tell the story of Andrade being an Eddie fan and a third generation luchadore, just don't have her doing promos for him or at ringside The Jericho-MJF blowoff should be loser leaves town. And because AEW has honored their stips thus far, that should be a big fucking deal. And, while Jericho is one of my all-time favorites, he's run his course in AEW imo and I think it's time for Fozzy to go on tour.....

Did this really happen before the game today?! what in the everloving fuck?!??

Roman and Jimmy seems the obvious direction given the match with Jey last year. HIAC was also in the usual October slot it had settled into last year and was moved up this year. I'm not saying they did that to time with Jimmy's return and the story they're telling with Reigns.....but it works perfectly I'd also be perfectly fine with HIAC becoming Reigns' signature match, the one he humbled his cousins in to become the true head of the table. They save it for his big matches, and they finally ditch the completely unnecessary themed show. One can only hope....

It's another "WWE castoff" and I never want to see her wrestle again (I'm already dreading the inevitable Cody/Brandi v. Miro/Lana mixed tag) but her and Miro are so great together they really should bring her in eventually. He really doesn't need her, it's a WWE rehash, and I wouldn't do it right away.........but I'd do it as a surprise eventually

I've seen firsthand that Braun had legit crossover appeal with casuals a few years ago. I'm not sure where he is now with people as I haven't been going out and talking with casuals due to the pandemic, and we haven't had real crowds, but he was one of the few "new" guys who was over with Attitude Era fans who were super casual Rumble/Mania and occasional flipping channels on TV types. Braun with his size, power and look definitely stood out He also seems like a reasonably intelligent guy, at least based on hearing him on Talk is Jericho. I think people who think he's just a big dumb meathead due to some of the stuff he's said on twitter/interviews might be surprised. I got the sense he was a fan and a student of the game, and if he's still friends with people like Jericho and the Good Brothers I don't see why he wouldn't take the AEW/Impact/NJPW route if it becomes available to him. He definitely has a bit of a Sid in ECW vibe to him where I could see the hardcores loving him wherever he goes as long as he does dope power shit and none of the hokey bullshit WWE had him doing way too often. Who wouldn't want to see him just killing fools on Elevation?

I think it's a mixed bag, and everybody is different. There's definitely something to the cultish devotion angle, but in a lot of cases it's just not wanting to burn bridges. Also, Vince is larger than life when it comes to pro wrestling, even people outside of wrestling speak about the presence and charisma he has. I think that's as big a part of it as it is "WWE indoctrination" Black for example is still young and he's already worked all over the world. He knows he'll have zero problem getting work, and probably looks at McIntyre and sees that it's possible to leave and come back. With the pandemic seemingly under control in the US and crowds coming back this might be a blessing in disguise for someone like him For someone like Braun who doesn't know anything but WWE it'll be interesting to see what path he takes. He could go the Ryback route, and some of his past comments make me think he wouldn't be welcomed with open arms on the indies. But he was also on Jericho's podcast when Jericho, Anderson, Gallows and AJ were all in WWE and he fit right in with those guys, which makes me think if was being mentored by guys like that he's going to have veterans in his ear telling him this isn't the end of the world. Meltzer made it clear that these were $$$ cuts and they were all people who were "overpaid" relative to people in similar roster spots due to signing new deals when they viewed AEW as a bigger threat. I personally think it's strange that they did such a flip on that, especially with TNT/TBS reaffirming their commitment several times over, Dynamite kicking NXT's ass, and the very real possibility that AEW will quickly be the way hotter, cooler promotion on TV now that fans are back. Seeing the shows with fans back, it looked like so much fun that I'm thinking about going to my first show in years if they come within driving distance of me. There's nothing in WWE right now that could get me to one of their terrible shows. Ratings are going to be weird for AEW with the NBA playoffs and then moving to TBS, but once things are settled I fully expect Dynamite to be beating RAW in the ratings by late '21/early '22 unless WWE has a drastic creative turnaround It really seems clear now that WWE signed people simply because they didn't want the perception of all these talent leaving WWE of their own volition to go to the startup, and it was all for optics sake. If they're the ones cutting the talent loose? Fuck it, other than a small number of guys/gals they are the kind of company now that would let the next Austin or Foley walk to the competition Meltzer also thinks WWE would be open to bringing several of these people back in the future, just at much lower numbers. He also noted what we already knew in that very few in WWE have either no cut contracts or contracts with significant protections on guaranteed money, which always amazes me that these guys can't negotiate better contracts when they do have leverage like these guys did at the time. They need to talk to NFL player agents or something. He didn't name names but I'd figure Orton, Reigns, Rey probably due to when they re-signed and the leverage they would have had, but I'm not sure who else He also speculated on Edge being on a huge deal to only wrestle a few times a year, and he isn't sure if he's got a no-cut deal, but I can't see WWE cutting that dude. One, he'd be in AEW immediately and he'd be a bigger deal than almost anyone else. Two, with Beth also there he seems as close to WWE royalty as it gets.....and it was kind of weird for Dave to even mention it knowing the way he gets his words twisted by aggregators

Honestly, Black seems like someone who's smart enough to know not to burn any bridges, especially not with the current sate of things. Nothing to be gained from that at this point

Yeah, that's a good point. So did any of these people who signed "big keep em away from AEW" deals get it in writing? Did the "Heyman guy" get good contract advice?

Also, is Vega already signed back......? Because if so, that really is fucked up I was actually excited for Black and Big E too.....WWE is so stupid sometimes. I guess it's par for the course with them tho to book a rising star (who's been around for like a decade, but that's another topic) into an angle that never pays off whatsoever. Not the first time it's happened

Sale, and also it seems like they want AEW to sign their castoffs. I think they look at them taking Big Show, Christian and now Henry and figure they don't have to feel bad about cutting someone like Braun For the record.....I like Black, I like Ruby....I like Braun kinda......I don't want to see ANY of them in AEW right now. The roster is overloaded as is, and the talent they have needs a chance to get over with the crowds. If they add more down the line, fine, but I wouldn't necessarily want to bring in any of these releases right away That said.....Jericho and Braun are friends.........*shudder*

Yeah, after reading about this guy.......ugh The thing with me is......I liked ESPN the way it used to be when I was a teenager in the 90's. I enjoyed the PTI and Around The Horn of the early oughts because it got old newspaper journalists on tv. I haven't watched ESPN regularly in a very, very, very long time. I also haven't had cable TV in a very long time. I also haven't liked the WWE product, for the most part, in a very long time. So this hire seems to be right up their alley, because I'm not the audience they are after thing is tho, I'm not sure the mythical audience they want exists, and this really all just feels like a big juice up for the sale the more moves like this they make

Mox and Nagata was dope. WWE never would have presented that match the way they did, with so much love and respect shown to Blue Justice

And no offense was meant to CMLL.....I meant small on the global scale compared to WWE

Yeah, it makes way more sense for NJPW long term to stick to their guns with the excursions, and I think it's for the best that guys go around the world and work in different places. REVPRO and CMLL are small potatatoes but they're places to work and get experience, and AEW is absolutely the best place for the young lions IMO with Dark, Elevation etc. and an audience that will be more open minded to young Japanese talent than a WWE crowd might be. The PC is the last place I'd send them, though as dire as NXT is these days (I blame a lot of it on HBK btw, but that's another topic for another day)...that would be a nice shot in the arm if they didn't book them in stupid angles with ancient Chinese woman and whatever Lumis is

I'm sure Okada remembers what happened to him in TNA. I'm sure some people there remember what happened to NJPW talent that went to WCW in the late 90's. Modern WWE is at that level of ineptitude in my eyes. I can't imagine them actually booking any young lions well, unless maybe Bryan is put in charge of it and they're kept far the fuck away from Bruce and Vince. I'm sure this is just due diligence by Khan and the odds of anything coming of it are low, but if nothing else it probably gives NJPW leverage with AEW and ROH, so putting it out there in the ether is smart As a fan I want them working with AEW and staying far the fuck away from WWE

Seconded and definitely deserves better than tossed in CTDWATDVDVRMHMLSHM

Am I the only one who thinks the surprise is going to be John Silver? I hope they've learned by now how to do things right when it comes to this shit. Debuting Bryan, Joe or F'n Punk in a a stupid battle royale full of geeks would be dumb. King of the geeks (and I mean this in the best way, Silver is dope) returning in this match would be perfect. And....he wins and uses it to go after the TNT title and Miro. And he eliminates Christian to win......first challenger and Christian can be the heel he was born to be....