Coffey

I dig Veer. Great look.

It's a terrible look & business-exposing, but at this point probably doesn't matter anymore. Like how much more can the business be exposed anyway? And it was on an indie show that really only die-hards will ever watch, so ultimately, easily forgettable/ignorable. But yes, stupid.

I would love to see AEW bring in someone like Cara Noir, someone that would make people pay attention that they wouldn't immediately recognize as someone from recent WWE TV.

This is the most cold I can remember WWE ever being heading into Wrestlemania. There's like... zero buzz. It's almost like they damn near don't even exist anymore. Triple H almost died & did an interview with Stephen A. Smith. Stone Cold Steve Austin is coming back. The Undertaker is going into the Hall of Fame. Ronda Rousey is back. Brock Lesnar Vs. Roman Reigns... ...and it's like no one even blinks.

Not only kickstarted the whole nWo angle in WCW but was also in the first aired Ladder match in WWF too, right? And I think he even came up with The Crow gimmick for Sting. His fingerprints are all over wrestling. AND he was responsible for ending the Goldberg streak in kayfabe too with the taser during Starrcade.

AEW does have some hosses now but they need a One Man Gang, Yokozuna, Kamala or Earthquake kind of hoss. Keith Lee is probably the closest but my mans is out there doing leap frog spots & shit. They just need a giant base that can overpower/dominate dudes and let the smaller wrestlers pinball off of. It would give AEW another match dynamic that they don't really currently have. It would help with a lot of the formulaic layout of the shows I feel.

Very obviously the big disconnect is the huge time in between then & now. Like, people got when Seth Rollins just came out to The Shield music against Roman. But that was the same company & it wasn't that long ago. Punk came out to his old theme from a different company from like 15 years ago. Seems like the whole Twitter ordeal is really being blown out of proportion though.

I feel like Regal is going to be a really big difference maker for AEW. Not even for an on-camera role but because of how much he'll provide to the locker room. What a big get by AEW.

I'm super Cody Vs. Seth will be a perfectly fine match but man, on paper, that does nothing for me at all.

They're trying to basically make laws against trans children/teens & wanting to investigate the parents & penalize health professionals. Making medical treatments a form of child abuse. There's a lot more to it & that's just a quick, rough gist of it but it's very fucked up. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/latest-texas-anti-transgender-directive-explained/

I could definitely see Triple H & Ric Flair both being 3x inductees. They're both two-time already. Ric Flair with the IV Horsemen & solo & Triple H solo & with DeGeneration-X. All they would have to do is induct Evolution as a stable, which I certainly wouldn't put it passed WWE doing, since all four of them were main eventers. Plus anytime they can get someone that moved on from WWE to other things, like Batista, to come back & make an appearance, they seem to jump at the opportunity. I guess it could be argued that Evolution did turn both Randy Orton & Batista into bonafide main eventers. They were all world champions & Flair got a tag title run from the stable. The HHH/Batista feud was memorable, I reckon. At least the Batista turning babyface part. Not like WWE needs to really justify the criteria for their own Hall of Fame anyway, I reckon, but I'm sure they could justify the important of Evolution with some video packages & typical WWE hoopla. Now, with the apparent falling out of HHH with Vince (and HHH recent health), Ric Flair always being in the news for bad reason (like helicopter dick) or Batista just saying "no thanks" - I could see those reasons being an issue.

I know there's the whole "respectfully" gimmick kind of going on around PWO but I'm genuinely curious about the "mandate" that supposedly was made for NXT 2.0 as it pertains to the women. Nikkita Lyons is going to be a star. And we would be daft if we didn't acknowledge it's because of how she looks & that she oozes sex appeal. Modern sex appeal, too. Not like Vince McMahon 1980's Playboy sex appeal. Also, if you watch NXT, you obviously notice the difference in ring gear, with girls like Gigi Dolin. So my question is, what happens if any of these women get called up if they don't have the same kind of mandate on the main rosters? Because I see it as just more setting people up for failure if they get over in NXT one way and then have to worry about it being stripped from them on the main roster, just like when they took Scarlett away from Killer Cross.

The HBO Max deal would, indeed, be a big, good announcement. I would also love to see #DemBoyz show up just because the fan in me really wants to see the Briscoes work FTR, Young Bucks, Lucha Bros., Proud N' Powerful, ReDragon & Kings of the Black Throne in AEW. They're really firing on all cylinders heading into the PPV. The matches & angles are all interesting & intriguing. Plus, AEW has that "anything can happen" feel, that WWE lost quite awhile ago. We know all the names of the free agents & many of them showing up would make a pretty big splash. Even with the bloated AEW roster right now.

I'm just now hearing about this; I don't know if it's old news or not. So, a woman went into the locker room so Austin Aries made her kiss his balls... and that's not sexual abuse? I mean, he literally admits to it...

Kane was a terrible wrestler for like thirty years. He's only been in politics for a few years & is some how worse. That's actually impressive...

So they'll unify the titles again. Then end the brand split again. Then split the titles again & do a brand split again, just like the last times. lol

Harvey Wimpleman, maybe?

All completely valid questions & to me, a big part of the reason why Wrestlemania is just not appealing at all this year. WWE need to build new stars & then actually elevate them & use them. Instead, when WWE gets new names, they seem to have them trade a lot of wins/losses in the mid-card, or just have them start doing goofy comedy. Hell, half the time they push a new babyface to the main event and then START the comedy there. It's really weird. Bron should be oh the main roster & called Steiner already, in example.

Y'know, now that you mention it, with all the talent that Cody has worked against, it really says a lot about Dustin Rhodes that they had such a good match together. A lot of the other Cody matches, even before AEW when he was on that Indy tour like you mentioned, I remember being really underwhelmed by.

Bivens is great. There's been quite a few good managers over the years that I enjoyed: Prince Nana, Larry Sweeney, Armando Estrada, I liked Dutch too but that shit they gave him with Swagger wasn't great. But yeah, they should go all the way with Bivens.

This really deserves its own thread. This is really big AEW news that shouldn't get lost in a megathread. Anyway we can separate 'em by a mod? It's interesting to me mostly because I'm not sure why Cody would potentially want to go back to WWE. Maybe there's something there that can still entice him, that AEW can not provide, like getting the rights to his dad's stuff or something? Or maybe he thinks due to his stint in AEW he can be a WWE main eventer now & be at the top of a card? I'm not sure. I do know that he has done really well for himself, outside of wrestling, with multiple shows now. So it's not just going to be money. I'm wondering if he really did have a big falling out with the Young Bucks & Omega. Or maybe it was with Tony Khan, who knows? His PPV match against Dustin was great but I won't shed tears over Brandi's departure, that's for sure.

I like MJF, and think he's a pretty good heel, but I don't see him as a top guy. Never have. For what it's worth, I don't see Hangman Page as a top guy either & he seems to be doing pretty well as champion.

Well they brought in Mark Henry & Paul Wight, put them in other roles & they've been fine. I'm not saying Joe needs to wrestle weekly but I wouldn't be against Joe having a faction & his faction feuding with Taz's faction or something like that. He's still a great talker & has an aura about him. Have Joe corrupt Hook away from his father.

How long until Samoa Joe can potentially show up in AEW? I would love to see a reunion of Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson & C.M. Punk. Hell, can they bring in Chris Hero, too?