Coffey

I didn't love a lot of the AEW roster a year ago. Flash forward to today with names like Andrade & Miro there now, getting to watch Jungle Boy, Darby & Britt grow into their own, & starting to get live crowds back... AEW is starting to resemble more of my style. I don't have a problem with Kenny Omega in the ring & think he makes a good champion. I feel like the area of AEW that surprises me the most, in that it has greatly underdelivered over what I expected, is their tag team division. Having the Young Bucks, bringing in FTR & knowing that WWE doesn't exactly capitalize on tag team wrestling, I thought that would be a lot more of a focal point in AEW than it is. I am looking forward to seeing more from Varsity Blonds though. Miro is fantastic as the TNT Champion. If AEW can get away from all the shitty comedy & goofy Jericho skits, they'll be a lot better off.

I usually tend to agree with his stance on current wrestling as well. At least as far as AEW is concerned. But, when we do disagree, we're miles apart. Like he won't even give the women a chance & I often find them the best part of the show. The last PPV, he thought Cody Vs. Ogogo was the match of the night, I found it completely unremarkable & the build to it as very lame.

Miro has moved on from Ivan Drago with his wife to now being Chong Li from Bloodsport. He doesn't need Brigette Nielson anymore, he needs a Ray Jackson to break so that Frank Dux can get his revenge!

I would join the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club if he were paying me $200k/year to sit backstage & eat catering. Yeah, the life on the road would be hard & I couldn't personally find myself enjoying driving all the miles, doing all the car rentals, airplane travel & hotel living but even the bottom tier job guys are putting back a lot of money & own big properties to set themselves up for life after WWE. Like look at the house that Zack Ryder was living in. That WWE wanted to use his pool for filming a vignette after he was fired. As a non-wrestler, just a normal, everyday person working long hours for not a lot of money, I can't imagine making enough money where I wouldn't have to worry about going to the doctor, or if I needed unforeseen car repairs or not having to stress about wanting to have a baby because we can't afford it. I get the creative aspect of it & the wanting to succeed & be a top guy & all that. But, at least for me, and I'm sure others as well, that shit would come AFTER being financially secure first. WWE has provided that to a lot of people & their families. The TV sucks, the creative is tapped out but there's still a lot of bonds & friendships being made, relationships backstage among the talent & they're all still getting paid. There does seem to be some Stockholm syndrome & a weird father figure relationship among Vince & a lot of the talent but even if you're not main eventing Wrestlemania or getting the top belt put on you, even if you're just doing a Main Event taping or whatever, you're still there, a part of WWE, still making the shows & the towns, still away from your family & basically living with the roster.

This problem can be solved if AEW were actually willing to release anyone. Their roster is giga-bloated & they could easily get rid of about 15-20 people. But seeing as how it doesn't exactly go over well during the pandemic, I like & understand that they have not done that. I think it's a positive that up to this point they haven't as this has been rough times for a lot of people & we all see how much bullshit it looks like when WWE is making all these profits & cite "budget cuts" are their reasoning for releasing people. But yeah, like a lot of the Dark & Elevation talent & a lot of the "extras" (like in the Dark Order) or the people that accompany other people... a lot of people just taking up space in AEW.

I love the more relaxed, child-friendly Johnny Sorrow. Reading the joy of the kids always puts a smile on my face.

The bigger issue for me is when you win a title shot in the undercard battle royal, you don't look like a big deal like compared to what Jon Moxley did in his debut. He just... showed up in the main event & made a statement. Makes him look like a much bigger star. I'm always worried about a new person showing up in the battle royal will look more like Matt Sydal & less like Jon Moxley, if that makes sense.

Even if it's a big name, I don't like the idea of their debut being in a nothing battle royale full of jobbers. That's a bad look period. I'd be fine with Jungle Boy winning.

Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Aleister Black, Sami, Owens.. would love to see Jason Jordan/Chad Gable again. If we include NXT, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Finn Balor & maybe a random WALTER appearance. There's a lot they could do. A lot of potential, fun match-ups. Sheamus against Ishii woo boy. But I wouldn't wanna touch anything WWE these days if I were another promotion. Even Wrestlemania now feels like an afterthought.

My biggest pet peeve in wrestling nowadays is when a big man does finally show up anymore, they try to work like they're a member of the Young Bucks. Keith Lee comes to mind. Or Luchasaurus. I'm OK with a spot or two that shows off their athleticism for a pop during a big match but they should never be doing leap frogs, suicide dives, frankensteiners & moonsaults in every single match to the point where it's not even special anymore but expected. That's what 90% of the roster already does. But the rest of the roster can't be 6'6" 300lbs, so try to stand out instead of trying to be like "look, I can do it too!" Lunacy.

Powerrr feels like it is on its last legs. The Fite deal & the constant recap shows, along with the depleting roster are all bad signs. The website still doesn't have merch, I just don't think they recovered from losing the YouTube & the initial buzz. Thunder Rosa is obviously going to be gone. I'm sure someone will pick up Kamille too, as she's great although I don't think Vince McMahon would love her accent. I just hope that Tim Storm stays involved in professional wrestling for as long as he desires. That man is a treasure. He should be employed somewhere if he leaves NWA. Even if in a non-wrestling role. He's really well spoken & looks great in a suit. He knows wrestling. I wish them luck on their upcoming pay-per-view but I can't imagine it doing too well.

Oh, I have no doubt Jim knew what he was saying & doing when he dropped that little nugget.

Kenny Omega, "a hell of a hand."

Jim Ross said the following on his podcast: “We have a little controversy going about who I apparently said that I thought Randy Orton was the best wrestler in the world. People forget that I recruited these guys. I’ve had a business association with a guy like Randy Orton since day one. Coach Barry Switzer said, ‘You recruit these kids for life’ and I kind of take that to heart. I’ve helped a lot of guys who got down on their luck and needed a check, what have you, way past WWE days. Apparently, people thought I was besmirching Kenny Omega…Nothing could be farther from the truth..How many times have I said to you (Conrad Thompson), ‘I can have many opinions to this question and have many answers.’…I don’t know how that could be such a big issue. I just don’t get it. I really don’t understand what the inflammation is regarding this topic that is so subjective. There’s no right or wrong answer. He’s the best in the world based on what? Arm drags? Drop toeholds? Money drawn? Major events headlined? Tenure? What is the criteria? TV ratings? I don’t know what the criteria is for these things. Anybody that can debate me and tell me that Randy Orton is not one of the best in the world will have a hard time winning that argument. Anybody can debate me and say, ‘Well, I think Kenny Omega is.’ Well, you make a good point. I don’t have any problem with that. Kenny Omega is the AEW Champion. He’s a hell of a hand. There’s no doubt about it, but golly. People are so sensitive right now, but that’s the whole tone and tenor of social media. I’m not so sure how great in some sense that social media is for pro wrestling today, because it’s one little blotch, one little missed word, one little missed move, and it becomes a major issue. It’s getting a little bit predictable first of all, but it’s getting a little bit tired, if you know what I’m saying.”

After reading his second book, which isn't that old, I don't believe that Jim Ross doesn't want to go back to WWE. Despite all the shit they did to him & how they treated him & disrespected him, he still talked about Vince McMahon like he was his father. AEW offered him stupid money, which is probably the sole reason he went in the first place. Even beyond the whole "grumpy" part about Jim Ross which has been true for years, I think - at least it appears this way (even from his live on air comments but especially if you listen to his podcast) that he considers AEW second rate. He's not putting in anymore effort than he did for New Japan where he couldn't even be bothered to learn the names of the talent. He frequently buries the talent on live TV. It's embarrassing. He needs to go away. He's a detriment to the on-air product, regardless of what Turner brass think of him. And Randy Orton, never in his entire career, has even been in the conversation for best wrestler in the world. Not even if you just look at WWE only during his peak years.

I'm not sure they would make it out of the building. (if they knew whose phone it was, obviously)

Honestly, after the Paige stuff & previous leaks within the company along with everyone have a cellphone, I'm surprised it hasn't happened a lot more frequently. I don't think it would necessarily be one of the boys but all the arenas & whatnot that they go to they all have employees there too. Prolly think they can get a payday if they snap some pics are try to sell 'em. Like what happened to Erin Andrews at the hotel. It's scary & gross but that feels like the new-age "paparazzi" to me. Scumbags invading privacy & ruining lives because they don't care about the consequences of the people's lives that they ruin, they're only thinking about themselves & a potential paycheck. If it IS one of the boys that would do something like that, lord have mercy.

Well, I mean, rational thought kind of goes out the window when you buy into lunatic cults. The reasoning is 100% going to be because Christianity is "right" & everything else is "wrong." Same with his thoughts on abortion, masks, etc.

I would say it was a good day, but Paul Mooney unfortunately passed away today as well. So I'll say this was probably a good & smart decision by WWE as it pertains to Drake Wuertz. That being said, I think that dude probably needs legitimate, serious help. He had already went full on Looney Tunes mode & then losing your job on top of that might be a recipe for destruction.

His match with Dustin & the post-match promo were great. I think I even voted that MOTY that year. I really liked the 10 kendo stick angle he did with MJF, too & his first stuff with Jericho with him punching out the glass on an early Dynamite. He's done some good things, for sure, as you've mentioned. He's also done the throne breaking with the sledgehammer, this tone-deaf USA stuff (and the QT Marshall stuff as a whole), the Brandi stuff, gender reveal, reality TV show, the neck tattoo, this recent Twitter stuff. His massive pyro, all the action figures. It feels like he's slow burning turning heel via some meta bullshit because if not, he's just... really bad at reading a room, I guess? Debut of Jake the Snake? Cody. Debut of Sting? Cody. Shaq? Cody. I just think he thinks he's a lot bigger star than he really is. He's had some highs & he's had some lows but lately, the lows feel lower than the highs felt high, if that makes sense? I don't know, whenever Cody or Jericho come out, it just feels like, to me, they're trying to do what WWE would like. I want AEW to be an alternative to WWE as a wrestling show & they just kind of scream "sports entertainment" I guess.

Shame this zombie thing couldn't have happened in three days, since WWE has a good track record with shitty horror things on May 19th!

Jeff Jarrett seemingly just lacked charisma. He just didn't do anything that made you want to watch him. I feel the same way about his new podcast with Conrad, his stories should be interesting, he's just boring. The strut, the Stroke, the guitar, the catchphrases... just none of it was really captivating. Who was turning on WCW, World Class, WWF or TNA thinking "I can't wait to see Jeff Jarrett!" He was in pro-wrestling for years & I think I can count the memorable moments of his on one-hand & half of those are comedy shit, like the Double J Double M-A challenge or blasting Beetlejuice with a guitar.

I looked up the card. There were six matches. Three of which I thought sounded pretty good on paper. Both women's matches & the Roman Vs. Cesaro matches. That's well above average for me interest wise for a modern WWE card. Since WWE switched from WWE Network to NBC Peacock, I have not bothered with it yet though. Despite how I used to frequently put on old school wrestling shows for background noise on the second monitor when working from home or messing around online. Lately though, it's like, I already pay for Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Hulu & Netflix. HBO Max & Shudder are both in the queue as well. Do I need NBC Peacock too? It's getting to be just as bad as cable at this point. It's not even that I'm not willing to pay for streaming services but when I want to watch a movie & check on six different sites & none of them have it, and I keep paying for services I'm not using very often with more constantly popping up, it's honestly just easier to pirate shit. I pay for Spotify Premium just to remove the commercials, so it's not a cost thing. It's a convenience thing for me. WWE made the Network less convenient for me. Maybe I'll wait to hear some word of mouth or check some out on Wreddit but I hate that they switched. I hate it.

Can't wait for the inevitable heel turn where Cody then pretends it was all a ruse & the marks bought in.

Bring him out in a wheelchair with a neck brace & throw him off the ramp. Then have John Cena make out with Penelope Ford in front of him. Wait, wrong show. Sorry. Have Penelope Ford leave him & marry Powerhouse Hobbs instead. While he has to watch them make out. Wait, wrong show. Sorry.