Coffey

Sheamus actually hit the Celtic Cross! I haven't seen that in forever. This match fucking owns.

Every time WALTER/Gunther does a chop, it sounds like an MLB catcher catching a fast ball. Just incredible.

I loved during the opening introductions when Michael Cole was running down all of Sheamus' previous accolades in WWE & he talked about how the prestigious Intercontinental Title has thus far eluded him. I actually didn't know that. Former World Champion, King of the Ring & Royal Rumble Winner but never had the IC belt.

lol this is stiff as fuck. love it

Gunther looks kind of gassed already. I wonder if Sheamus gave him some stiff ones lol

No way I'm missing this Sheamus Vs. Gunther match, man. Right up my alley. Let's go!

To me, as I fall into this category, it's not about being tall & jacked. It's about looking like you're not just a regular Joe. The One Man Gang, in example, certainly wasn't *jacked* but you weren't running into someone like him in everyday life. So paying to see someone that you otherwise would never see, makes sense to me. It's like special attractions. Maybe it's a bit of the old school mentality when there were territories & people would pay to see André come to town & the children could laugh at the midget matches. But where we're at now, with just a bunch of wrestlers like Kyle O'Reilly, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Tomasso Ciampa, Bryan Danielson, etc. where they're just normal looking guys that are great wrestlers, it gets boring. I don't want a bunch of Warlords or Ultimate Warriors running around either but I just like when there's more diversity. I would never deny that someone like Rey Mysterio, Jr. is an all-time great that completely changed the industry but also, suspension of disbelief only goes so far, you can only tell the David Vs. Goliath story so many times & a lot of these other talents can't hold a candle to Mysterio. I think it's equally a bad look when someone like Billy Gunn shows up & makes your entire roster look like children. As a fan, I flock more to wrestlers like Miro or Brody King & I'll always have an affinity for hosses. I don't think that's WWE Brain or solely a WWE thing but it honestly might be engrained in me due to them, I guess. André predates WWF. Although yeah, WWF did have an entire roster of giant guys on steroids in the 80's.

My issue is it's convoluted. Even if it led to an OK ROH PPV. It shouldn't be involved with the AEW stuff at all. Dynamite having shit like Wheeler Yuta - ROH Pure Champion, Jay Lethal the Sex Pest getting a stable & TV time (even after the Samoa Joe match) & Dustin Rhodes talking about never being a World Champion when he's going after Claudio's ROH belt... on an AEW show. It doesn't work. There's already too many belts & too many shows & too many people that don't get to make Dynamite.

This episode has done absolutely nothing for me. It hasn't sold me on the PPV at all... and the ROH/AEW merger/relationship whatever-the-fuck sucks.

Honestly, Tim Storm always felt like a bigger deal in NWA Powerrr than Nick Aldis did to me. He felt more genuine & old school, which I thought was kind of the vibe they were going for. Studio audience, Dokken theme song, etc. It was like Storm was trying to be the Steamboat/Dusty everyday man & Aldis was trying to be Flair... without having the chops to do it. Then they brought in the Fox News Funkasaur... lol Even at almost sixty, I would still prefer Storm.

Honestly, if you look at the current landscape of AEW, if you're a guy like Gargano, what is appealing that would make you leave WWE? I assume when she's ready to return Candice LaRae will also want to comeback & the women's division in AEW is bleak. If you're Gargano, AEW is already filled to the brim with very similar talents & a lot of them barely make TV or are only on Dark or Rampage. Like Andrade & Miro barely make Dynamite anymore. Miro is just doing pretape promos & Andrade has just been doing 6-man stuff lately. Of course we still get to sit through Gunn Club bullshit with The Acclaimed for... reasons... but guys like Buddy Mathews or Ethan Page or ReDragon or PAC hardly show up. Gargano on the main roster in WWE can do new stuff. Gargano in AEW I feel would be just doing the same stuff he already did in NXT with the likes of Adam Cole when he's healthy & such.

The pre-Dynamite backstage talent meeting & then Thunder Rosa being "injured" & dropping her title, while CM Punk gets squashed in his title match has me thinking that some of the people that have allegedly been problems lately were maybe made an example of. Or I'm just getting worked but that's not nearly as fun.

Punk is the biggest star in AEW & his debut was the biggest moment in the company - at least I think. He should absolutely be the current top guy & the guy they build the company around. But he's also not a spring chicken anymore & they should use him to elevate the AEW homegrown star that is going to be the top guy in the future going forward. I don't know who that guy will be, it can't be Page or Omega. Maybe someone like Hobbs or Starks. I actually thought that AEW were going to try to do their own nWo/InVasion angle with The Elite against ex-WWE guys like Danielson, Punk, Jericho, Andrade & Miro. I'm also surprised that no one has brought up A.J. Lee at all, at least not to my knowledge, since C.M. Punk has been there. Especially if they're doing all this shooty stuff. Regardless of how I personally feel about the backstage gossip/rumors, one thing is for sure abundantly clear: Tony Khan has way too much on his plate. I know about the new job titles for a couple new people, like Sonjay Dutt & Madison Rayne, but he needs... not like a writing/creative team, but he needs his version of Pat Patterson. He also needs to grow a spine & be willing to tell people no instead of trying to be everyone's friend. He's the boss.

He's very talented but his absence has shown that AEW doesn't need him. I felt like when Danielson & Punk were gone, they were missed but MJF didn't feel the same to me.

Scarlett needs to go back to the red hair imo

HE LIKED BIKES!

Ever since, I don't know, it was before Karrion Kross' run - has NXT been worth watching, like, at all? It has completely fell off a cliff. I like Bron. I like Nikita. But the show just feels like it happens in a vacuum & if you miss it, you don't miss anything. It's like the equivalent to missing SMW or something. It now feels like NXT UK in that it exists but no one seems to really care. Like NWA Powerrr. They should move up like five people & take it off TV. Turn it back into a developmental territory. Their attempt to take over the Indie world of wrestling with NXT failed. Gigi Dolin in a star. Bron Breaker is obviously great. Nikita Lyons is great. It kind of reminds me of Tyler Bate in NXT UK when he had that breakout performance in the UK tournament... and then he never went anywhere because they kept tagging him with Trent Seven & he grew a beard & disappeared. Just squandered. That's what's going to happen to the stars in current NXT if they stay there.

https://cultaholic.com/posts/ric-flair-i-wish-i-hadn-t-said-it-was-my-last-match "I wish I hadn't said it was my last match. That's gonna get heat. Hell, they wanted me to wrestle in Puerto Rico on Saturday night. I said, 'Guys, I cannot get in the ring one week later.' And the guy looked at me and said, 'Well, you know what, could retire in Puerto Rico can't you?' No, no, no that's not the point," Flair said. He's coming for Terry Funk's retirement record!

Fun show!

God I fucking love Brody. What a goddamn monster!

I wonder if WWE improving due to Vince McMahon leaving leads to more "pro wrestling is cyclical!" talk.

Worked for Demon Finn Balor.

People done been crazy. Trying to act like the only thing that matters is ring work... lol

Billy Gunn, in my eyes, is an all-timer when it comes to tag team wrestling. Dude got over three different times in three different teams with three different partners in three different eras. The Smoking Gunns, The New Age Outlaws & Billy & Chuck. That's... that's just impressive. He just wasn't a great singles competitor because he was never a great talker & is kind of boring. His strength was always his impressive athleticism, especially for his deceptively huge size. No one ever really talks about Billy Gunn when talking about tag team wrestling. There's been a ton of great teams over the years, from different eras, but even when you look at teams like the Rock N' Roll Express or whatever, dudes like Robert Gibson weren't doing anything like what Billy could do. You could argue The Smoking Gunns were only over because they were pushed in an era before kayfabe was dead. That the NAO were over due to their ties with D-X and the Road Dogg sing along introduction & that Billy & Chuck were over, at least partially, due to the unspoken gay aspect of the team. But they were all over & all featured Billy Gunn.

I can't wait for Ric Flair's next last match ever! In my mind, it was all just to make Carny Conrad money & give Flair one last reason to have an aftershow party because he's an alcoholic.