sek69

Will/Hangman vs Takeshita/Alexander was one of those matches you knew was gonna be awesome just because everyone involved in it are great, and it sure did deliver. Really looking forward to Mox and Joe murdering each other in the main event.

Agreed. I love the different venues they've been running in. Gives them a unique look that stands out, and it really adds to the atmosphere.

WWE is trying to replace AAA contracts (which are notoriously worthless) to WWE ones, so I honestly don't think they are signing Alberto to WWE if that makes sense. He's the AAA champ and I'm sure they want him to put someone over on the first show. That may sound crazy, but if WWE is serious about making sure this is accepted at all in Mexico they can't just go in and say "we're just making this new guy the champ now".

The president of the CW was interviewed by Variety for the TV upfronts and was raving how well NXT has been for them. He said they beat FOX on Tuesday nights and has been a big part of the network being up 40% from last year, so it looks like this partnership has been a home run so far. Funny thing is it turned out WWE only has 51% ownership of AAA*, which is controlling interest, but I expected their piece to be bigger than that. (* in theory, the deal apparently hasn't been officially signed yet)

Sabu's the kind of guy where you aren't really surprised would die at 60, but also kind of were surprised since it seemed like he would live forever after all the shit he survived already. It was always weird to me how some folks will admit ECW changed the business but somehow didn't want to give Sabu any credit for it.

The Jeff Cobb thing makes sense since it's been clear for a while Jacob is about to snap on Solo. Once that happens Jeff Cobb can be the mid boss Jacob has to go thru to get his hands on Solo.

WWE seems to be losing their touch when it comes to sabotage. They think running a show in Monterrey is going to mess with AEW running a show in Arena Mexico which is 600+ miles away.

Yeah it looked like his forearm landed directly on Prince' mouth, that was gnarly.

Giggling at them censoring the NXT crowd saying "Elias" before he said his new TNA name. Also popped for Elijah, Pittsburgh wrestling 4 life.

Also considering how the last round of releases made it crystal clear WWE gives absolutely zero shits about the women's tag division, this could be an opportunity for AEW to show them how it's done. Use those partnerships to have something like a G1 Tag League for the women. Bring in some teams from Stardom, CMLL, Rev Pro, the indies, wherever you can. Have the finals be the main event of a PPV, and then you can run an angle where they sign a couple of the women WWE released to challenge them like "so we heard this is place to be for women's tag teams". Really take the chance to differentiate themselves from WWE. A lot of the original appeal of AEW was based on knowing they'd do things WWE either can't or won't do, and this would be the opportunity to maybe be able to do that again.

CMLL has been on a hot streak as of late to the timing is perfect. It can't be understated how completely bonkers another company, let alone an American one, running a show in Arena Mexico is. The NWA running a show in the 70s at MSG wouldn't have been as bizarre as this.

Some of these releases are puzzling. Gigi Dolin should have been on the main roster years ago, and Jakara Jackson has tons of potential (not to mention her team with Lash was really starting to click). I suppose Cora Jade got the "injury prone" label, but she seemed like someone who they were priming to be one of the next top level NXT folks. Then you have RIley Osborne who didn't even seem to get a chance to show their worth.

I feel this is almost inside-the-bubble thinking to be honest. Would anyone on PWO be psyched to revisit it? Probably not, but there's a lot of folks out there who would. Plus John Cena is one of their biggest stars of all time, and if he wants to play the greatest hits in his last run I don't begrudge the guy. Especially since his Hollywood schedule would make this as much of a legit retirement as you can get in pro wrestling.

It sounds conspiratorial, but knowing how WWE works I would suspect that was the case. It really isn't talked about enough how much they engage in what's basically financial abuse to smaller companies in promising them some form of assistance in order to sabotage a larger competitor. Let's not forget TNA and AEW had a working relationship as well when Omega was doing the belt collector gimmick with the AEW, AAA, and TNA titles and now those groups are owned/co-opted by WWE.

Konnan had some interesting things to say on his podcast about WWE buying AAA. He said the problem in AAA wasn't the wrestlers (mostly true), or the booking (not nearly as true), but them not having a consistent source of income. While it didn't help, Billionaire Ted's wallet wouldn't have helped the slop they were booking. He also seems to think that WWE is just going to be injecting money so what you'll see is the usual AAA product only with vastly better production levels. There can't be any way that he thinks WWE would buy something and not WWE all over it.

My favorite was when JCP would use jobbers that looked like pasty white shapeless versions of Hulk Hogan.

Honestly, Cena's last run needs to have one more dance with Orton for old time's sake. Those two defined an era, this is like a Sting vs Flair on the last Nitro kind of match. The two that kicked it off deserve to run it back one last time.

Say what you will about Pat, that was one hell of a promo he cut on Gunther. He's another one who just *gets* wrestling.

Not that I was expecting anything different, but FTR vs Whatever the Fuck Undisputed Era are Calling Themselves Now was a banger.

He's not the all time great at taking a beating for nothing. Plus it makes sense since FTR are the ones with the legally distinct Midnight Express theme, of course they're going to beat up the R&Rs like nature intended. Also I think Queen Amidala has a lot of potential, but the first thing she needs to learn is that you really don't want to bloody up one of the company's top stars. She was out there like Toni owed her money.

So there's audio leaked that a fan recorded of Nia Jax shitting on Charlotte at the Wrestlemania Roast deal that Charlotte wasn't even at. Seems like the women's roster one by one is getting tired of her. I can't wait until Ric has another crash out on social media.

Stokely as the manager for heel FTR was not something I was expecting but you know what, it works. They have a Bobby Heenan and the Brainbusters vibe.

I love how Kyle Fletcher found the ultimate douchebag heel look by mixing 90s HBK with $500 shirt era Rock.

Bayley has been sounding pretty burnt out in interviews as of late. I can imagine the frustration of carrying the company through the pandemic only to get pushed aside when the fans came back.

Cardona is the wrestling version of the quad-A baseball player. Really good on the indies but it just doesn't translate to big leagues.