sek69

Fuck, that sucks. Rick was one of the first people I read to find out about pro wrestling. A lot of the wrestling writers at the time were always doing gimmicks which sometimes got a little too overwhelming, and he was one of the few that just told you what you wanted to know. He was only 49, that's like an extra kick in the balls.

Honestly think the answer here is both. He 100% should be in developmental all things considered, but they caught lightning in a bottle with him getting "drown out the promo" heat so why not run with it. The only people in the business getting that are him and Don Callis, and Don had to stab a motherfucker to get it.

The level of confidence he's grown into during the Judgement Day run has been something to see, especially when you realize he's still basically learning on the job. If he had a different name he'd be doing his time in NXT learning to get comfortable doing promos, but since he's more or less the reason Rey stayed with the company instead of going with AEW they fast tracked him to the main roster.

There's also the fact that Ibushi was dealing with a bad shoulder for about a year and you're going to lose definition when you cant lift.

Wow I must be easier on matches than you all, I didn't think it was that bad. Sure, it wasn't the greatest War Games match ever, but y'all saying it's the worst need to watch some of those clangers 90s WCW put out. That was his shoe with the tacks on the bottom that he used in the last plunder match. The announcers should have put it over better, but there was a reason for it. I was fine with PAC leaving since he's an angry little gremlin and his only beef was with Kenny breaking his face. The Takeshita thing was puzzling to me, but then I've spent the last few weeks wondering if him and Don were part of the BCC or not. If they would have established they were just "associates" or whatever maybe it would have landed better. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but it doesn't seem like AEW has someone who wrangles the announcers like Michael Cole does in WWE. Say what you will about their style, but WWE announcers very seldom fail to drive home the points they need to in a match.

I love the MJF/Cole pairing, but MJF getting babyface pops outside of Long Island still feels weird

Also heel Jack Perry looks a lot like Juice Robinson now

I took it as him burying his old gimmick, literally

NXT was pretty solid, belting up Dom was some great old school style stuff. All that was missing was some powder and it would have been straight out of Memphis. Not sure about them doing two tag team breakups on one show, at least Axiom/Scrypts was obviously happening but the Lotharios splitting seemed out of nowhere. Also it seems like they are expecting Ilja to be the heel at GAB so they're having him be assholish in the build. Might be harder than they think since he always ends up getting over by his willingness to take a beating. I could see the crowd turning on Melo.

Heel Shinsuke? Interesting....

Did Becky wear her pajamas to work today?

Alpha Academy is over, bubbas

Belting up the jobber team? That's certainly a choice.

Rhea/Raquel hoss fight? Hell yes

Jesus, I don't think you could pay me to take one of his chops

Now I want to see GUNTHER cut a promo about his fat wife and nine kids

This mf Cody really tried to Hard Times us, what a worker

Time to start Raw, later than usual

LEMME TALK TO YA

Bayley got injured at a house show tonight, one of those non-contact "leg just gave out" deals. Hopefully she'll be OK.

Fighful just reported that Ian was the first choice for Collision but he said he No because he is prioritizing his family first. He just signed a new multi year deal and he will do mostly ROH and be the fill in when Kevin Kelly has Japan commitments.

All FTR does is worship Bret and have great matches. Being in Calgary must have been like a religious experience for them.

The way this is playing out to me seems like this was going to be another MJF plot to stab someone in the back, but somewhere along the way he caught feelings and now he (maybe) actually has a friend for the first time. The whole deal about him thinking video games are for nerds because he never had someone to play them with and Cole being the exact type of guy who would be down with bro'ing out with anyone over games was the turning point. Plus it also seems like a good way to do a test run of babyface MJF and see just how over he would be (since I get the feeling Max legit is resistant to turning face, maybe this was a way to show him it would work).

In a different era, Seth would be a top tier tag team worker who maybe got a run with Ric Flair as a nod to his abilities but was never solely a singles guy.

LIsten to that reaction for LA Knight, YEAH