Coffey

New Day Vs Christian & Cope AEW gonna get a bad taint if they keep bringing in old ex-WWE guys. Can't just say yes to everybody. What does Kofi & Xavier bring to the table for a company at this point, genuinely? WWE name value? That's not worth shit anymore. Outside of the surprise appearance reaction - like a returning name at the Royal Rumble - it doesn't lead to anything long-term. Xavier Vs. Kenny? Some more video game YouTube bullshit? I'm with El-P, keep 'em away. I always thought Kofi sucked anyway. I *HATED* his stupid annual business-exposing Royal Rumble nonsense. When people are walking on their hands & shit, it's too much. I get the rule is "both feet must touch the ground" but they really ran outta ideas & were doing nonsense like feet on the stairs & shit. They need to make it if you get launch over the top and aren't touching the ring, you're out. Now they're trying to do it with the women too & it's just dumb.

“I don't know if there's a pattern but I can tell you there's been a story bouncing around among talents that someone in the TKO realm isn't a fan of the darker characters and that's been the blame placed on why The Wyatts, Aleister Black, Zelina, etc. were all cut. One person even suggested to me that Undertaker being The American Badass and not The Deadman in appearances is proof of that outlook. I have no way to prove that is correct, but the story has made the rounds this past week among numerous people we've spoken with. Whether there is something to it, or just assumptions, I can't verify at this juncture. I guess we will see if and when WWE leans back into supernatural and dark characters again.” - Mike Johnson, PWInsider https://pwinsider.com/article/207482/wwe-killing-off-all-their-darker-characters-black-zelina-in-aew-machineguns-were-talents-released-or-did-deals-expire-and-why-it-doesnt-matter-which-and-more.html?p=1 If this turns out to be true, that would be pretty shitty to see them shit-can a bunch of wrestlers because some Jesus-freak fuck that doesn't know shit about wrestling thinks it's THE DEVIL~! or something. Everyday, shit just gets worse. Not just in WWE either. This country is going up in flames. I'm in Michigan & our gas hit $5/gal today.

Well, the main event definitely delivered. Goddamn.

It was just so fucking... embarrassing. Like, genuinely. The Liv Morgan entrance? Are you shitting me? What on earth, man. Can't sing, can't dance... supposed to be a pro-wrestler & she's wanting to cosplay as Britney Spears from the 90's now. The McIntyre/Fatu match was a glorified Hardcore match straight out of the Al Snow WWF days. Drew McIntyre comes out with a sword because he thinks he's the Highlander & "The Samoan Werewolf" comes out wearing a K-Mart Dora the Explorer backpack. Just immediately killed his aura. Opening with the 6-man match featuring a bunch of people that no one gives a single fuck about was a choice. All to give us a bunch of different angles of a 5-foot-tall YouTuber doing the same spot we've seen Shane McMahon do for thirty years. Paige is washed & has been for a long time, so of course they brought her back. Even though previously they wouldn't even clear her, now she's a champion. Makes sense. Bianca comes back... to tell everyone she's leaving again. Y'know it's funny, Jim Cornette got a lot of shit when he said he hated booking women because they would always get pregnant & leave... but now we've seen it with Becky, Naomi, Alexa & Bianca. The fucking commercials & ad breaks & "we'll be right back!" segments for a service you have to pay for is lunacy. Like we know they sold out & we see the terrible ads on the wrestling mat but even the fuckin' tables got ads on 'em now. Brought to you by Carl's Jr. El-P done been right about this sloppy shop, MAGA company but some how getting rid of Vince McHands & being bought out by TKO turned these ketchup hot dog eating motherfuckers into Idiocracy. It's got what plants crave. I can't even get excited about the new big upcoming star Oba because I read some of his dumbass political views & it immediately soured me on him. What are we doing!? I hate this social media, influence era.

Don't forget his multiple attempts to get the 'standing ovation after a loss pop' & the crowd, every time, didn't give a shit. Even helped with HBK to carry Taker out once to feel like a part of the team... what a schmuck.

As dumb as I think the El Grande Americano shit is, they seem to be doing pretty well in AAA. The crowd is going fuckin' nuts.

Honestly, she hasn't impressed me during her entire run so far in the United States. She wasn't even really anything special in NXT & I feel like she's been outperformed by, of all people, Roxanne Perez. Certainly Stephanie Vaquer. There's so much female talent in pro-wrestling nowadays, if you miss a step & lull behind, you get leap-frogged pretty quickly.

Pathetic.

Speaking from a strictly on-air product perspective, WWE has done a ton of stupid shit over the years, certainly. I don't want to make a hyperbolic statement & say this is one of the worst things they've ever done as that would be nonsense, but at least recently, this genuinely had me shaking my head & saying "what the fuck are they thinking?" Maybe I'm living in an alternate reality but even being an ex-NFL player & having his podcast & ESPN ties, Pat doesn't seem like a big deal or a star to me. They spent weeks doing a mystery man build-up where people were interested in seeing who it would be only to shit the bed entirely with someone that zero people were clamoring to return. Granted they're using IShowSpeed & Jelly Roll as "stars" too, so what the hell do I know? We've come a long way from Muhammad Ali, Cyndi Lauper & Mr. T. This Wrestlemania feels mid. The build-up, the intrigue, the card. It feels like most people just don't give a fuck.

Two weeks in a row Oba has looked great & gotten the upper hand on The Beast... but if Brock just beats him at WrestleMania, I don't know if that stuff will matter. They have a can't-miss prospect in Oba imo. He could main event for a long time. I don't see any reason to not pull the trigger now.

I was curious about this too because, let's be real, he's the shits. At first, I thought it was because he was engaged to Iyo Sky & WWE seems super high on her, but now I'm not even sure if they're still together. So I don't know.

The main event scene feels stale. Cody wasn't doing anything. Drew isn't doing anything. It feels like midcarders switching titles for no reason. Cody was megaover for awhile but things seem to be really cooling off. Jey Uso comes out & does nothing for no reason. Damian Priest got a title run. It's just weird. Even CM Punk you can see how many steps he's lost. They gotta start with the new guys, it's time. Oba Femi can't get there soon enough.

Probably "don't warrant a thread" so I'll post this here. Maybe it would be better suited in GWE VS, but whatever. Might spark some convo. I was browsing Threads today & I saw someone comment that they thought that Ricky Steamboat was better than Ric Flair. I didn't immediately shoot it down, I thought about it. Then I went to look up my ballot from 2016 to see where I had Flair overall & I had him at number five. Overall, he was the "winner" of the GWE at number one. I'm not participating in 2026 as it's too much work & doesn't feel like a leisurely activity & the modern wrestling product has soured me overall on my love for professional wrestling. I do know however that Flair would no longer be in my top ten & I don't think he'll win overall again. I never agreed with him being the GOAT & if you eliminate promos from the equation (which if you're including Puro & Lucha, you kind of have to), he loses a lot of his appeal. I would have Funk & Hansen over him. I would have Misawa, Kobashi & Kawada above him. If I'm being completely truthful, I think Savage was better than him too. For what it's worth, in this thread from 2021, people here voted Flair over Steamboat 19-0. I think I agree with that but I think it's closer than that. Loss makes an excellent point. One of the things I'm most interested in for the 2026 GWE project is to see where Ric Flair winds up.

The masked man really was Austin Theory. Woof. WWE firing on zero cylinders right now.