Coffey

WWE is thinking they're going to make the next Undertaker with their gimmick ideas & instead they're re-doing Big Vito, Tony Mamaluke & Deuce/Domino. WWE has always had more misses than hits. For every Undertaker or Kane, there's a Val Venis, Mantaur or Repo Man. Even when something falls into their damn lap, like Rex Steiner, we get Bron Breakker.

Here's to hoping none of them get murdered!

This is actually hilarious and I would love to see it. I've not seen it but that sounds comedy. How do they defend the red lighting?

To me, they're the epitome of Indie style. Getting all your shit in, kicking out of everything, doing high spots for the sake of high spots. It's video game wrestling. It's Twitter .gif wrestling. It's, to coin a favorite phrase from PWO's past, COSplay wrestling. When people in the wrestling circles talk about the Young Bucks to the point that they call them the greatest ever or some shit, I just roll my eyes. It's something I'll never understand or comprehend. Thankfully there's a mute feature & block button on every forum/social media so I can remove myself from any discourse with those people. It's easier than trying to engage them, like Trump supporters. Just let them live in their bubble & I'll live in mine. Life is too short to argue with strangers on the internet over opinions that will never be persuaded. I never understood the Kevin Steen love. I don't get Orange Cassidy. But to me, the Bucks are the worst. AEW "Stans" on Twitter are a different breed. It's like the Beyonce fans or the fans of that all dude Korean pop band but from wrestling marks. Not to say the die-hard WWE fans aren't also equally biased & nuts, but some of these people it feels like it's their life mission to try to spread the gospel about pro wrestling that I'm never going to like. It honestly just really reads like that Steve Buscemi meme to me. A bunch of people trying to fit in & pretend that they get it. Like Randy Marsh listening to the shit music in South Park.

I actually didn't know this. That makes a lot more sense. Even still, they brought back Eva Marie & hired both Scarlett Bourdeaux & Pricilla Kelly so I still don't think they particularly care about how good a worker a female is or has the potential to be. But it's not like Tay didn't pass the eye test too, so it's a head-scratcher.

I saw this going the rounds on the Twitta Machine & wanted to say a comment: These are the crazy kind of replies that you hear about people making where it feels like it'll always be an "Us Vs. Them" or this side against that side situation. Like the stuff gets so territorial & outlandish, I can't even tell when someone is just fucking around or if they're being serious anymore. I can differentiate trolls from actual fan opinions anymore. Personally, I don't think the Young Bucks are the best team in their own company, let alone in the world. I would have them firmly behind FTR, The Usos & The Briscoes, but that's just me. I just find it fascination how differing opinions are nowadays. And Roman is more entertaining than Kenny by a mile lately. That match with Daniel Bryan is the best thing Kenny Omega has done in AEW.

Pfft, who did they ever beat?

My god, horny Twitter is going to lose its mind. That's like the ultimate scattered ass match. I still have no earthly idea how WWE let Tay Conti slip away. She's beautiful & look how good she has gotten this quickly. Just unbelievable that WWE didn't see anything there? Crazy. Jungle Boy Vs. Adam Cole seems like it should be a big deal but I feel they're cooling off Jungle Boy right now.

The question is, will Cody Rhodes also get a Rhodes to the Top action figure?

I don't feel like I put enough respect on his name when I speak it. He's been quite good for quite awhile now. To think, he showed up on WWE ECW in 2009. He's done quite a bit in a dozen years.

Eh, I liken it to the NBA. I grew up watching the NBA in the 80's & 90's. I watched Michael Jordan & the Chicago Bulls win 6 NBA Championships. Then I watched Michael Jordan retire. Then I watched the likes of Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, etc. come & go. Now I'm in an era where Michael Jordan hasn't played in the NBA since 2003. Almost twenty years ago. People were born & grew up watching basketball without ever getting to see Michael Jordan play. And then they get online & partake in discussions about who the greatest ever is... and don't understand why Jordan was so good & put the likes of LeBron & Kobe above him. Same way where guys like Bill Russell & Wilt Chamberlain came before my time, so I can't fairly judge them. I think it's just part of getting older. Same thing happens in wrestling too. I grew up on 1980's professional wrestling. I'm never going to be able to admit that guys like Terry Funk, Ted DiBiase, Rick Rude, Randy Savage, Tito Santana, Bret Hart, etc. are worse than guys from today... because I'm biased. I remember being in disbelief when the PWO GWE had Daniel Bryan in the top 5! Above Bret Hart, Kobashi, Kawada, Jumbo, Steamboat. And Kenny Omega will probably be super high in the next one. A lot of wrestling fans today, including the people that buy tickets to the show & talk about wrestling online, were born AFTER the Attitude era, let alone were old enough to live through Hulkamania. There's a lot of things that factor into it all. Nostalgia, age, recency bias, all kinds of things. And although people don't want to admit, Dave Meltzer definitely influences people's opinions too. Hell, he influences people IN THE BUSINESS.

Which is why I mentioned the medium changing...

Maybe part of the issue is just how much the medium has changed, as well. Harley Race overselling so the back rows of the smoke filled room could see him being dramatic is a lot different than a modern wrestler working in high definition to people watching on 60" 4k screens.

I legitimately feel like them bringing back Becky, as a heel, to squash the mega popular Bianca at SummerSlam is one of the worst decisions they've made as a company in a decade. And that covers A LOT of bad decisions.

Yeah, I wouldn't say phoniness. Phoniness to me, in pro wrestling, is more like when someone is super green, doesn't know what they're doing & keep fucking up. Happened a lot in the Divas era of WWF. Shit that just would make the crowd groan. Constantly pulling back the curtain, unintentionally. I think "meta" is a good word for the Omega distinction because I can't think of any better way to describe it myself, but I know exactly what you three (you along w/ Matt D & Kad) are talking about & it's been something brought up in other corners of the internet for awhile too. I know people take shots at Omega a lot, especially the likes of Jim Cornette, and a lot of the time it's for stuff he did much earlier in his career. But ever since he went to New Japan & turned himself into a top worker, some of his early quirks remained. But even after vastly improving, some people will always hold his old stuff against him. My issue isn't about the old stuff. It's about the bad habits he learned that remained along the way. For what it's worth, I was never a big fan of the Flair Flop either but I get that sometimes, regardless of era, different guys will have different go-to moves/spots whatever & they're not always offensive moves. Like DiBiase doing the flip bump off the punch to the stomach, or Rick Rude selling Atomic Drops. I just think that most of that stuff was purposely silly & a lot of the stuff that Omega does comes off as silly even when it's not necessarily supposed to be the purposely silly shit. He runs the ropes the same way A.J. Lee used too. Like he's having to rev up & get a jump start. It's... odd. More often than not though, I think his V-Trigger looks like death & I wish he didn't do so many so it would be more impactful.

For what it's worth, I feel this way too & I get what you're trying to say. Instead of presenting wrestling as if it were real, in a post kayfabe world, he's presenting himself as the best worker/athlete in the atmosphere where everyone knows it's a work. So when you grew up on guys like Harley Race or Terry Funk, it's a pretty big disconnect. That's not to say that those guys didn't have their quirks too, like Funk's spaghetti legs sell, or Harley doing the rope spot & what not. With Omega it's just like... everything. Like even the way he starts to run before hitting the ropes. It's theater & being projected for the very back rows of seats. And that's not to say I don't think Omega is an amazing talent as he very obviously is. His matches with Okada are all-time great classics. But to me, it's just different generations & seeing the new generation that grew up with a different group of wrestlers influencing them. You look at wrestling today & you see Shawn Michaels & Rob Van Dam & Kurt Angle in a lot of the current talent.

I wish AEW had a different ring announcer than Justin Roberts.

I don't think they can have Bryan lose his first match in AEW, even if there's a bunch of fuckery. I also think that Brian Pillman has a lot of potential as a babyface but he can't lose all the time.

I've watched a lot of goofy game shows/contests, so it could be fun. Some of those SyFy shows that never make it to a second season, like Total Blackout, or the Soska Twins show that was on Netflix for awhile, Hellevator, can be pretty entertaining. Mostly just from seeing the people freak out, but you never know, New Day can be pretty endearing when they're cutting up & going full ham.

Gordi, that jacket is sick!

Honestly, it might be the best thing they can do. At least in trying to distance NXT from RAW/Smackdown. I mean, I assume it doesn't mean chairshots to the head & an upskirt cam like ECW. But even what female wrestlers like Skye Blue or Kierra Hogan are currently wearing seem like they would be pretty edgy on WWE TV.

He's been there before! Don't see why not.

She would be a great valet.

and he was in a current position of power.

All he had to do was say "I'm sorry" instead of "I apologize to anyone I offended." This isn't hard.