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CMLL announced that Paco Alonso passed away yesterday, he was only 65. He was only the third person to run CMLL in its 86 year history after his father Salvador Lutteroth and his son Salvador (Chavo) Jr. His daughter Sophia has been more visible recently as the face of the company in terms of management, but Paco was always a hands off guy and there was no indication he was battling any health issues. Even the announcement of his death to the crowd at yesterday's show seemed to be kept secret, as the roster was in the ring for it and more than a couple seemed to react like they were hearing about it for the first time. It will be interesting to see how it changes the way CMLL operates, if at all. For all his aloofness, Paco was known as someone who'd hold grudges forever, and being on his shit list meant you'd never work for the company again. There was some noticeable change in that policy recent, with guys like LA Park showing up and having the Lucha Bros work both CMLL and AAA at the same time. Sophia just by appearing on CMLL shows is already seemingly more involved than her father was, so it will be interesting to see what comes next.

Well it's not the only issue, sure, but I would argue the main reason WWE can't create new stars is that everyone gets booked to 50/50 at best and a geek at worse. People want to cheer for folks who win all the time, and that rarely happens in WWE anymore. I can hear the argument someone's surely going to make, "what about everyone who got upset at Super Cena", and again there's a way to book a guy who wins all the time without the fans turning on it. It's a fine line at times, and one I don't think Vince especially knows how to manage anymore.

WWE keeps insisting wins and losses don't matter, also are confounded as to why Roman isn't seen as "the guy" despite being booked as constantly unable to win the big one.

Georgia Smith is joining the company in a "correspondent" role, sounds like they want to use her broadcasting background to make her their Mean Gene. Also it's apparently Court's plan to have every non Nattie member of the Hart clan working for him in some form.

I know I sound like the biggest Shawn Spears fanboy in this thread, but what did he ever do to warrant such hate? Dude was a stable hand forever to the point WWE wanted him to be the player coach to work with the noobs until he ended up with a gimmick that got over with the Full Sail crowd. People are acting like AEW is going to make him the champ when they're just acting on the most natural feud they can do with him, especially when Cody isn't going to be in the title picture immediately and would need something to do. Like it or not, part of what AEW (or any company looking to be competition) is going to need to do is take some of the underused WWE midcard types and give them the chance to prove themselves. Obviously the key is to not go full TNA and have all your main eventers be WWE cast-offs, but there is a balance than can be struck here.

To be fair to Cena, WWE pretty much stopped trying to create breakout stars after him and changed their business model to be THE BRAND above everything else. What we've seen is the same thing that happened after the Hulkamania Era was over, except the current way WWE is set up makes it way harder to luck into a Rock or Austin like they did to break out of the doldrums before. Today's WWE would have given up on both of them after the Blue Chipper/Ringmaster gimmicks flopped, and Austin 3:16 would have been a thing that got Steve in trouble for getting more over than he was "supposed" to instead of being the fuse that lit a boom period. It's a vicious cycle, how is anyone going to be the next company-carrying superstar when everyone has to learn to work/speak/act the exact same way? Will someone like Otis get the chance to be a Dusty-like charismatic big guy, or will Vince just think "haha, fat guy is funny" and make him a comedy figure for life? There's folks there that have huge superstar potential written all over them, but it's been a near unanimous opinion of everyone involved with the company that the man who pulls the trigger just doesn't get it anymore. I'm not entirely confident that the new creative arrangement will help matters. Bruce is just there to tell Vince what he wants to hear, and while Eric is probably going to be a plus when it comes to rubbing elbows with the suits at Fox, his track record doesn't inspire me. He seems to have a lot of excuses as to why his ideas don't pan out as opposed to coming up with actual ideas. I suppose Paul has the best chance since he's been in tune with the business and can think outside the box, but I agree with Cornette when he said Paul's likely the first one to get fed up and tell Vince to fuck off because he actually has a passion for this.

Well AAA is kind of famous for announcing cards full of matches that don't end up actually happening, but as of now that's the plan. It looked like the plan originally was going to be Cain vs Psycho Clown way back when it was first considered, but fortunately AAA seemed to realize that Cain would be super over in Mexico and it would be stupid to turn Psycho heel for this.

Dave already said the Trump on SD stuff was false. Probably created by someone who thinks Fox Broadcasting is the same as Fox News.

The Perros del Mal group put out a notice that Perro passed away at age 73. He has reportedly been battling dementia for a long time (I remember when his son died there were reports that they didn't even want to tell him at first) He was probably the biggest non-masked star ever in Mexico, and nearly everyone who does the lucha-brawler style owes him a debt of gratitude.

Right.....because the name Dean Ambrose wasn't the name he was far better known as, and he wasn't being bagged on as "Prop Comic Dean Ambrose" in WWE. Dean's an internet hero because he said "fuck the man" and went to the holy land of New Japan, while Shawn Spears is apparently sentenced to serve a life of geekdom because he committed the sin of being a midcard act that got over when he wasn't supposed to. Also because he's Cody's friend I guess? It seems like there's a sense of him getting something he doesn't "deserve", like how dare this guy get put in an angle with Cody when he hasn't even worked an indy show yet!

It was supposed to be a wink-wink reference to people who knew Barnett was gay since the gimmick was Cornette was a sissy mama's boy.

I've noticed something that is starting to grow in wrestling internet circles: we're going from seeing AEW as a panacea where misused WWE talent can finally prove their worth to mocking said talent by using their WWE name as proof they are worthless pieces of shit. I can't wait for the Great Miro or whatever to debut on TNT and then read tons of people complaining AEW is wasting time with that jobber Rusev.

Where is Charlotte? Have I spaced out or has it seemed like forever since she was even around?

Seeing Andrade just reminds me my favorite thing not on WWE TV now is Xavier fanboying for Zelina then having to run for his life from Alistar.

I don't know if Eric has had much chance to do much yet, he wasn't even supposed to be in town until that email went out in error. Unlike Paul, who was already working backstage in a different capacity.

KO's promo on Dolph sure came off as a Vince browbeating done via surrogate.

Daniel Bryan would be a great commentator as well.

AAA announced the full card for Triplemania: Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr. (hair vs mask) Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid vs Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Psycho Clown, Cody Rhodes, and Cain Velasquez vs El Texano Jr, Taurus, and a mystery guy who's probably going end up being Killer Kross Keyra vs Lady Shani vs Taya vs Tessa Blanchard vs Faby Apache vs Chik Tormenta vs La Hiedra (TLC match for AAA women's title) Copa Triplemania Battle Royal Hijo del Vikingo, Mysteziz Jr, and Golden Magic vs Mocho Cota Jr, Tito Santana (not that one), and Carta Brava Jr vs Maximo, Mamba, and Pimpenela Escarleta Nino Hamburguesa and Big Mami vs Sammy Guevara and Scarlett Bordeaux vs Lady Maravilla and Villano III Jr vs Australian Suicide and Vanilla (AAA mixed tag title)

When Hunter did the angle that left Roman covered in (fake) blood, it wasn't like that sent a message to the rest of WWE that it was now an okay thing to do. "Do as I say, not as I do" is one of the hallmarks of management in practically every line of business.

The main problem with the announcers is having Vince yelling in their headset trying to make them do it like they were Vince in the 80s calling an episode of Superstars. That's why the announcing is mostly good outside the main roster (hello Mauro), you see improvement there, and it's why everyone tends to get worse when they get called up.

Amazing how they made not-crazy Nikki Cross look like a rando they pulled away while she was like grocery shopping or something.

So I guess continuing the theme, tomorrow on Smackdown Randy Orton will come out with a spray on beard and using a weight belt as a guitar.

It's usually not cool to break up IRL couples, but the best place for Mike is 205 Live and the best place for Maria is here.

No, but I've been around couples who bicker like that.

People (mostly) talking like people again has been the biggest and most welcome change so far.