Coffey

I wouldn't be surprised if we got a fuck finish, to be honest. AEW doesn't do it that often & if it were from a big debut, I don't think the crowd would shit on it. Dunno.

Anyone expecting any big debuts tonight?

He was great & I agree. On the flip side, I hope I never see Todd Sinclair again.

I'm watching Final Battle solely for the Briscoes tag match & because it'll in all likelihood be the last Ring of Honor show. Thus far, to call this show a whimper would be an overstatement. It's... depressing. EDIT: It got better when the actual show started. The Dragon Lee match was fine. Skip the pre-show, for sure.

Interestingly, speaking about Angle & Taz, I remember how angry I was when they did Taz's WWF debut after leaving ECW... where they had him beat Angle in MSG with the Katahajime but then the story going forward, and sold on commentary, was that it was an illegal choke & therefore the win shouldn't count. They killed off Taz from the jump.

This is fair. You're right, I apologize.

I think calling him the next Angle is putting the carriage before the horse, for sure... but he didn't go out there & fall on his face. I noticed little things, like him getting lost a few times & relying on posing due to it, which I can see the comparison to Jade there because she's done that too. But I think Jade is a lot more green after the time she's put in. This was the first I - or I think any of us - have seen of Hook & he didn't look like David Flair out there. I thought he did really well & he'll only improve.

I can genuinely never tell when you're trolling or not. It can go either way.

I still want Samoa Joe in AEW to be with Punk & Danielson. I'm actually bummed that he went back to WWE after they fired him.

No one in WWE is hot sans maybe Brock & Roman & even they are having people turning on them due to a prolonged push (Roman) or because they think they're kinda played out, like Brock. I certainly don't feel like Drew McIntyre or Bobby Lashley are the answer. And I like Big E but I don't exactly know how well he's catching on at the top guy. So if no one is hot & you have no stars & no big money match to build to, I wouldn't be opposed to just hot shotting the fuck out of someone. Just have Bron win the fucking thing, why not? It would instantly make him look like a big deal, even to the non-NXT viewers & then you can start working on making a new top guy without all the back-and-forth 50/50 shit that kills so many stars before they ever get a chance.

I don't think it's a secret that I'm a fan of the hoss in pro-wrestling. Today I was thinking about WWE developmental & their training & I just started laughing aloud at the idea of some trainer trying to get a guy like The One Man Gang to do forward rolls. Unless that forward roll has icing & cinnamon on it, that's gonna be a no from the Gang, dawg.

Not unless those fans also own stock or can make new TV contracts for WWE.

One of my biggest knocks against Johnny Gargano was always how it felt like he was just trying to recreate old Shawn Michaels moments - but it wasn't even his fault. Because it was all very directed. Namely the trope of the shocked face that the truck has to zoom all the way in on for the facial expression for. Gargano does those all the time. And the first time I really remember it being a thing was with The Undertaker when Shawn Michaels kicked out of the Tombstone at Wrestlemania. After that, it was EVERYWHERE with EVERYONE doing it all the damn time & it's a huge pet peeve. And then I turn on AEW & what do I see? People like Ruby Soho doing the exact same thing. So it seems weird that Khan wouldn't be a fan of Gargano when he's doing what AEW is already parroting anyway. As far as ring work goes, Gargano works that same Indie style that 90% of AEW already works, so I don't get it. How is he not a fan of Gargano but loves The Young Bucks & Adam Cole? It's the same fucking thing.

How did we go from Nia Jax being a bad wrestler that never got any better & had no reason to be in pro wrestling to begin with, to somehow turning that into trying to shit on one of the greatest pro wrestlers in history? LMFAO. Talk about whataboutism.

It's a fascinating look into how humans operate, really. We have the most readily available information in history at our fingertips & instead of educating ourselves better, we spread misinformation & distrust things more than ever. In just the last couple of years, I've had to read about or watch people try to explain that the earth is flat, that the moon landing was fake, that 9/11 was an inside job, that the Holocaust never happened & like you mentioned, the election & vaccine shit. I legitimately had a co-worker that refused to get the CoVid-19 vaccine because he thought it was full of microchips that the Democrats (his words) would use to track him. He explained this to me, of course, while on his cell phone. Because of course he did. And although those things might not be pro wrestling only, we've seen how it has tied into & effected pro wrestling. Chris Jericho's cruise, apparently people like Nix Jax getting released due to not wanting to get the vaccine, Drake Wuertz lunatic rants, etc.

If anything, saying it's "1989 thinking" makes you look out of touch, El-P. Kind of like when Cody Rhodes said AEW didn't need heels or babyfaces anymore.

I legit couldn't pick Ridge Holland out of a police line-up. I Googled the name & have no familiarity with that man whatsoever. I feel like this is the most out-of-touch I've ever been with the WWE product. I never watch the TV. I never watch NXT. I don't go out of my way to even watch any of the PPVs anymore. I've not even bothered with old shows since WWE switched from their own network to NBC Peacock. I just saw the debut of Jonah in Impact & was like "whoa, that guy is awesome." I didn't see any of his run in NXT & I wish I would have. I love me a good hoss.

The real reason they started the "women's revolution."

It's down to Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan or Miro for me. And I'm leaning toward Reigns or Miro because I've enjoyed so much of their non-wrestling stuff too. Miro's redeemer gimmick & Roman's Tribal Chief have both been great.

Every morning for the past several days when I get up & am checking out various internet websites while having my morning coffee, the first thing I have been looking for is if WWE fired more wrestlers. I was thinking that if I do that & feel that way, imagine how people currently employed feel in WWE? I also reckon that it puts a lot of pressure on Tony Khan because he constantly wants to look like the "good guy" wrestling promoter, but he can't realistically hire everyone. Some would argue that the AEW roster is already feeling too bloated. Kenny Omega having to leave for awhile to heal might be a blessing in disguise for both him & AEW. Opens up a spot plus Kenny will come back more fresh to the live crowds. I know WWE now has the directive change for NXT about hiring taller guys & people under 30, but their training grounds seem to be very lackluster these days. They're not cranking out future stars like OVW used to do. Where is the WWE owned/backed facility that has the next John Cena, Batista, Brock Lesnar & Randy Orton coming out of it? Even the best TV deals you can get doesn't matter if you don't have product you can air or people to build to in the future. I also think WWE talent are going to start asking for different demands in their contracts. Have buy out options or no cut clauses so that your name isn't just posted online among a bunch of various peers in a list of random cuts that circles on social media. We either need a new third televised promotion in the United States or a company like Impact or MLW is going to have to step up huge. All these people fired from WWE that don't get signed to AEW are going to have to go somewhere. And right now, going to Impact feels like going to an elephant graveyard. I'm honestly kind of shocked there's not a weekly streaming online wrestling product on something like Netflix or Hulu. I felt like the show Heels was kind of going in that direction.

I would argue that from top to bottom, WWE has never been worse. There might have been worse moments but overall? This is the worst WWE has ever been. It's just complete & total apathy from a roster that seemingly has been so demoralized they don't care anymore either. Nevermind the writing & booking, it's just awful television.

If I were a talent signing with WWE, I would want a no cut clause in my contract. Like you best be signing a couple years guaranteed. To the point where they can buy you out if they want you gone sooner, like in pro sports.

Whomp.

What's crazy to me is that outside of like Roman Reigns, WALTER & maybe Bron Breakker, there's very few people in WWE I care to watch anymore. Most of the talent that I'm interested in is already elsewhere or available outside of WWE. Once WWE became a publicly traded company, I feel like this state of the promotion was inevitable. Eventually, everything takes a backseat to appeasing shareholders. Imagine if WWE lost Xavier Woods & Big E. I feel like those two guys are most likely directly responsible for the people still employed by WWE not burning the house down. And I feel like WWE is already on their bad side.