Coffey

We should talk more about this, to be honest. Not just in WWE but in all of professional wrestling. When did it become OK to "reward" someone a championship title as a "thank you" like it's an honor role ribbon? The titles should go to the best & top guys & wrestling getting away from that, honestly, is part of the problem. In WWE, especially, fucking EVERYONE has been a champion, so no one feels special. And they even made their title just a giant ass logo so the champion is walking around carrying a commercial. It's embarrassing. If you go back to the Hulk Hogan days, a ton of talent like Perfect, Rude, DiBiase, Steamboat, etc. didn't get a run. Nowadays, even fucking Jinder Mahal, Great Khali & Jack Swagger are former world champions. The Money in the Bank briefcase is honestly a flawed concept. And I love Big E. & I'm happy for him... but if WWE got rid of Money in the Bank entirely, I certainly wouldn't shed any tears. They could get rid of half their titles too.

"Well goddamn, pal, he cried at the Owen Memorial Tribute Show!"

I did like how excited he got for John Cena's SummerSlam return. Like it genuinely shocked him & he was marking out.

Wait, what? You think Michael Cole is not only good... but one of the best? I think that's the biggest opposite opinion from me I've ever seen on this board! Michael Cole has sucked for twenty years & is one of the all-time worst commentators to me. It's really interesting to see how varied wrestling opinions can be. One of the coolest things about it as a hobby, I reckon.

Am I wrong in thinking that he might just retire?

I thought I was overreacting when I read this on my phone earlier at work as well. I went from excited to disappointed just like that. I know some people want to pretend that a name doesn't mean that much but in pro wrestling, a name is everything. And WWE are fucking terrible at it.

This is it exactly. And it makes for a feel good moment, for sure - who the hell doesn't love Big E.? He's great. But it's short sighted because it was just WWE trying to hot shot again.

If Samoa Joe really got injured/hurt again, then it's time for him to retire from in-ring competition, I think. It took him forever to get cleared again & then after what, one match? He got hurt again. Dude is cursed. It's not worth it to keep trying to go & keep risking it. I know he's in his early forties, but not every wrestler has to keep going like The Undertaker did.

I bet a Brian Cage Vs. Spike Dudley match would have been good!

Yeah, it's very much like the NBA Dunk Contest. You go back & watch the old dunks & they're not impressive compared to what the athletes are doing today. Like Dominique Vs. Jordan wasn't anything to compared to LaVine Vs. Gordon.

But half a foot shorter & without Masato Tanaka making him look good. I can kind of see it. I feel the biggest issue with Brian Cage is that he doesn't really stand out because everything that he can do & does, you can get from other people like Jeff Cobb. Even the "big guy does things he shouldn't be able to do" trope is kind of overused today. Like we knew of guys like Bigelow or Vader doing Moonsaults & now you just have dudes like Keith Lee running around where they're doing double leap frog spots like they're nothing! Which was always the inevitable outcome when everyone started doing everything. First time I ever saw a standing Shooting Star Press, I didn't think it was possible. Now it's just another move in a match that doesn't even get a pinfall attempt half the time. Or look at Canadian Destroyers. We've seen Scarlett do it. Ricky Morton do it. Britt Baker just did the Panama Sunrise. On the same show, in the cage match, they did it off the top rope. It wasn't the finish. But the first time Petey Williams ever did it, everyone shit their pants. Brian Cage is in an era where everything he does everyone else is doing, so he's not going to standout like a Scott Steiner in the early 90's did. What is Brian Cage's Frankensteiner?

I honestly didn't know that UFC was still that popular. Those numbers really surprise me. Maybe I just fell out of the UFC bubble but man, when The Ultimate Fighter first started, I couldn't go anywhere without UFC stuff being everywhere. Even the damn grocery store. I don't even know who the draws or champions are anymore.

Dare I say her sister already outshines her on social media & if she were brought to TV, would outshine her there as well. Wouldn't even have to wrestle. @MoS I remember genuinely liking her little run with big Vis too. When he ordered one whole side of the menu "that's me dawg." I think it led to the World's Largest Love Machine stuff.

I also want to say that the loss of Dusty Rhodes should not be ignored. I know he passed away in mid 2015 but the impact he had on the people when he was around certainly can't be denied. Definitely seemed to leave a big lasting impression on a lot of the talents & several of the women that went on to prominent main roster roles.

I don't know if this will be a minority opinion here or not. I'm not sure which direction the overall PWO opinions lean in regards to either Nattie or Trish Stratus but, I have them firmly both in the "were painfully average for a really long time & then people just pretended they were good" category. I don't know if I have ever seen Nattie do anything good ever. At least Trish was a great bumper & in some pretty memorable angles.

For comparison sake, what kind of PPV numbers are the UFC getting these days? Or the Jake Paul boxing shitfests?

If it's a TV title where the champion defends the belt on TV shows, putting it on someone like Bryan Danielson or Adam Cole would make a lot of sense. Only, of course, if they're moving Miro up though, as he's been fabulous with this new Redeemer gimmick. Hangman Page will be coming back in the near future too & with AEW being so top heavy now after bringing in Punk, Danielson & Cole, it might shuffle Hangman down the card some, despite all of the big build to him & Omega. There's also a lot of various multiman matches they can do. They've purposely been putting Punk with Darby & Sting and putting Danielson with Jurassic Express. So although the Inner Circle & Pinnacle stuff is played out, The Elite stuff has not.

Outside of Roman Reigns, there's few talent left in WWE that I would go out of my way to watch. If some how AEW could get a WALTER, WWE doesn't feel like they have a whole lot of people anymore that I really want to watch. They've even really cooled off the women, which seems crazy to me. Bayley got hurt. Sasha is MIA. I think Asuka is hurt too? They squashed Bianca & rushed back Becky. Charlotte is wasting time with Nia. They've been pushing the awful Alexa stuff. Shayna is taking up space outside the ring instead of inside, for some reason. It's crazy. They gave Nikki that awful gimmick & now she's like Rhea's sidekick. None of it makes sense even if they were trying to book the show literally for children under the age of 12. I genuinely don't know what their gameplan or strategy is going forward. Everything just feels so directionless and... random. It feels random. Like they aren't thinking about things ahead of time. Like WTF is WWE going to do? Bring back The Undertaker again? Kane? Get Stone Cold to do a promo? They have no aces up their sleeves anymore. They even just blew John Cena & he's gone again already. Brock has come & gone several times and we've already seen him against Roman at least three times. Yeah, it's different this time, with Roman as the heel & Heyman with Roman but fuck, they've been to the same wells so many times. Looks like WWE is going to put a lot of faith into Matt Riddle & Damian Priest.

Brian Cage is not a very good promo, or a very good worker... and he looks great but he's also pretty short. He's not big enough to be a big man but he's so jacked he's like stuck in no man's land. I personally feel like it would be really hard to book him. I have no idea what you would do with him. Also, he's been everywhere non-WWE for so long he some how feels overexposed, which was the same thing I thought about John Morrison right before WWE hired him back. I actually think he might be better off in WWE.

There's also a history of pro wrestlers being really terrible people. Dick Murdoch comes to mind. So what makes Tessa so untouchable? Is it really just that times have changed & no one is willing to risk it? I mean, I could sort of see AEW not wanting to take the chance, but WWE, really? They literally just had that Lars dude a few months ago. They brought back Hulk Hogan. Vince McMahon himself isn't exactly a saint. Jerry Lawler? DUI Uso? They have an award named after one of the most hateful people they ever employed with The Ultimate Warrior. Seems like if anyone shouldn't cast stones, it's them. You telling me that bringing back Eva Marie is a better business decision than taking a shot on Tessa Blanchard? Worst case scenario they fire her if she fucked up, yeah? But I'm sure more Charlotte Flair Vs. Nia Jax matches will really get people excited. She must have really pissed off someone with some strong pull.

Somewhere Chris Masters is awaiting his opportunity to send a Tweet...

I don't feel like anything you said makes my statement untrue. They would just be better without those guys.

Now that they brought in Adam Cole, I think The Elite would be better off kicking some of their members to the curb. Namely The Good Brothers, Cutler & Nakazawa. I'm indifferent on Don Callis, but if it were just Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks & Adam Cole, I have to think that makes them look a lot stronger.

I stopped reading when you said Corbin has no charisma.

WWE weren't exactly booking Jon Moxley well during the end of his run there... and he turned out fine in AEW. At least he's not coming out in a hazmat suit, anyway... I think fans are a lot more forgiving nowadays. It's not about how WWE uses you on TV, it's more about how they fuck people over & fans like seeing them get a clean slate. Ruby Soho's debut just happened & was cool as hell. Fans were chanting her name. She was a jobber in WWE. If AEW could get a Gable, or Cesaro, or Keith Lee.. the fans would welcome them with open arms, no questions asked.