Coffey

Yeah, people look back fondly on things like the Cruiserweight division now, but in the moment when that shit was live, that was mostly filler time 'til the nWo came out. At least for the casual fans, the reason for the popularity of wrestling at the time. The entire show revolved around the nWo & what Hulk Hogan was doing because he was getting paid all the money. Like there was obviously great stuff between the likes of Eddie, Rey, Jericho, etc. & a lot of them got over - but nothing sums up WCW at the time more than the Jericho Vs. Goldberg feud & how WCW perceived it. I think it was Jericho himself whom talked about how he just wanted to work a little program & Bill would still go over in the end & even with him trying to do the skits & what not they just wanted him to shut up & get squashed in 20 seconds like a nobody jobber. Funny how all the supposed WCW filler was the stuff that I ate up when watching the show. I loved the U.S. Title scene when Raven was around. I really liked Wrath when he came back & went on that undefeated streak when he was using the Meltdown. I remember even getting excited when Bam Bam Bigelow showed up & did a run-in (brisk trot) while wearing sweat pants. Whenever Meng's music would hit, you knew you were going to get something stiff. I loved The Giant back when he was dunking dudes with the Chokeslam that looked like death. I loved when the nWo B-team music would hit & that anticipation before the wrestler came out where I was hoping for Scott Norton (Yeah!) or would get Brian Adams (Boo!) - I mean, I ate up all the Goldberg & Sting stuff too but the people in charge were wrong in that the people only cared about the main events. If anything, WWF PPV at the time had awful undercards with great main events and the WCW PPV had great undercards & awful main events. The top of the card in WCW was what kind of sucked. One thing that WCW definitely got right though is that each guy had a finish, you knew what the finish was & you knew if they hit it, that the match was over. Raven's Evenflow DDT, DDP's Diamond Cutter, Saturn's Death Valley Driver, etc. Each guy had an established finisher & we weren't trained to expect each finish to be kicked out of three or four times back then, so when it did happen it was a bigger deal. It was awesome when a dude would come out, hit his finish & just lay someone out. Like a Sting Scorpion Death Drop - those were the moments I lived for. A Kevin Nash walk-in to hit a Lazy Bomb because he wanted mic time. I have always liked when the finish was what was treated like death instead of like doing a run-in with multiple people doing a beatdown with weapons or whatever.

Seriously, why doesn't WWE just fucking fire Drake? It's a ref, it's not that big of a loss. Let him go & save a bit of PR.

I think all parties involved would be better off if they started putting Nia into more skits like that and stopped putting her in matches with other people for her to accidentally fuck them up.

Yeah, I've been thinking that if Tony Khan is the Vince McMahon, Jr. of AEW then who is his Pat Patterson? They need a guy like that. They have quite a few good wrestling minds around 'em over there. I don't think the answer should be Cody, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks or Adam Page. It needs to be someone that isn't a part of the AEW founding squad, for a lack of a better phrase.

I liked Stephanie McMahon a lot back in the days of the Love Triangle between her, Triple H & Kurt Angle. That got squashed quickly. I liked her feud with Trish Stratus too, which led to her taking a Stone Cold Stunner as it intertwined with the feud between Steve Austin & Triple H. I thought Stephanie was really cute back in the Wrestlemania X-Seven days, too. Although that hideous angle with a comatose Linda McMahon that Vince McMahon was making out with Trish Stratus in front of didn't do anyone involved any favors. I was also a huge ECW mark so when I saw Shane McMahon "steal" the Rob Vam Dam Van Terminator, I was pissed! Yeah, I think I like Stephanie more than Shane, it's just that Stephanie wore out her welcome by never going away during The Authority era & Shane kind of went awhile for quite awhile, so people had time to forget him getting on their nerves with his shitty punches & that awful Mean Street Posse mess. Vince McMahon is obviously better than both & Linda McMahon is obviously the worst of the lot. I'd say Vince, Steph, Shane, Linda.

I'll be honest, I had not even considered WWE just saying no. I don't know why that didn't even cross my mind. Yeah, now they have to hope they don't piss off Charlotte, I guess? Not that I think it would ever come to fruition, but Charlotte, Andrade & even Ric showing up to do something with Arn & Tully, J.J. Dillion & Sting again would be wild. Charlotte got to main event Wrestlemania though, she's not going anywhere.

So, Andrade/La Sombra asked for his WWE release on Monday, apparently. If AEW don't bring him in, they're insane. Unless he just doesn't want to go there. Especially after some of the other names they've brought in. He's one of the biggest gets they could acquire imo.

Let's be real, we only have like 5-10 active posters anymore. We all follow each other around & click on any thread with new activity at this point.

Same. Although I did like the closing angle & feel like the new stable has potential. Inner Circle did good things & like you mentioned on Twitter a few days ago, it lead to a lot of intriguing things. If a stable helps get new talent over, like Inner Circle did with Sammy, I feel that's a success. In that regard, I hope we see Wardlow break away from this new stable ala Batista in Evolution. I feel like my biggest issue with AEW right now is I disagree with the people they choose to use, talent wise. Like, I've mentioned before - as has a couple others - that Penelope Ford is the money in the group with Kip Sabian, not him. How Miro should be higher up & being used to do more than waste time with, let's face it, a jobber. Now they're doing things with QT Marshall & trainer or not, it's a waste of television time. The entirety of the Casino Tag Team Battle Royal up until the very end on the PPV was like just twenty minutes of all the things I dislike about AEW.

Back in 1994, when I was becoming a teenager & started thinking that the bad guys were cool, I thought Mr. Bob Backlund was great almost solely for the fact that he started doing the Crossface Chickenwing & at that point, I had never seen it before. The whole angle rebuilding Backlund up as a loon, having him put it on non-wrestlers & not let go & then culminating in him regaining the WWF Championship by beating Bret Hart of all people was awesome to me. I feel like I'm on the other side of the coin where I prefer when the finish is a Submission. I grew up watching the likes of The Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Rick Martel, Greg Valentine, Ric Flair, Sting, Bret Hart, etc. Of course I loved moves like the DDT, or Savage's Elbow or Snuka's Splash but there was something about a Submission breaking people that I enjoyed. Then Taz came along in ECW & I started seeing people tapout. I was hooked.

...that's not a good look. For those that don't know, Britt McHenry sued Fox News over sexual harassment from Tyrus when they worked together as Co-Hosts & said she filed at least four different complaints. I know a lot of names have come out but is it really that hard to just not bring in sexual pests in pro-wrestling?

There's not a card in the world that could make me feel like Wrestlemania needs to be a 2-day event. Hell, it doesn't need to be four hours.

I wonder if people in general would like Spears more, or tolerate him more anyway, if he were able to walk to the ring with Peyton Royce instead of Tully Blanchard. Like how in ECW guys like Lance Storm or Justin Credible would come out with Dawn Marie or Francine.

That's good shit. Can't wait to hear the name of the new stable. MJF, FTR, Spears, Wardlow managed by Tully.

Maki Itoh is amazing. Holy shit, I fell out at all of that lmao

Christian needs to not immediately be in the world title picture.

All that talent in the company and they're giving TV time to QT Marshall of all people lmfao.

I'm glad Molly is going in. It's deserved. My favorite thing is how like, zero people have anything bad to say about her. Even some of the biggest assholes in shoot interviews when giving names in rapid fire succession are all like "...I don't know why she was in wrestling. She was too sweet to be in this shit business."

I think the show tonight will be really important in how AEW is perceived moving forward. There's going to be some ill-will from the Pay-Per-View on Sunday, especially from the people that paid $50 during a pandemic to watch it. So they need to do something, and I don't think they should just ignore it or make a joke of it.

Oh, absolutely, 100%. Revolution was their first real "miss" & tonight, how they respond, will answer a lot of questions. I also think that when fans can come back is when AEW will really catch on. The shows felt special with the fans before the pandemic. It was like you were a part of something cool, which WWF has not had in... twenty years. Everyone seemed like they were having a blast, both in the crowd & in the ring both & that is an environment that people will want to be in. Especially with AEW seemingly being so much more inclusive than any other big wrestling company in the past.

It's interesting because when I think of people I would love to see outside of WWE - people just from WWE mind you, other than Rusev/Miro & FTR, I'm surprised at some of the people they have brought in. Alesister Black & Zelina Vega would be awesome. CM Punk & A.J. Lee I'm sure are the longest of shots. I doubt Andrade is leaving WWE anytime soon especially with his involvement with Charlotte Flair. Of course the name of Jericho from the jump helped & grabbing Moxley was huge on that first PPV. But it has felt lackluster since then. Sting? Matt Hardy? Jake Hager? Shawn Spears? Trent? The Big Show? I feel like it's giving the opposite feeling than it should be. Well, Brodie Lee was great too. But people online are starting to make comparisons to TNA wrestling & talking about the age of the signees & shit. Then on the PPV the big Hall of Fame signing was Christian, whom as we've all discussed is a helluva worker but it feels disappointing still, as a surprise. Even if you weren't expecting a Brock Lesnar or John Cena huge name like some crazies on Twitter, it just didn't feel like a big surprise. I know early on in AEW's history we specifically talked about how AEW shouldn't just sign anyone & everyone & that they should be more selective on the people they fill their roster up with. That's still true but now the roster is getting filled up with these people that are, now, taking spots away from other talent. Like Sting is getting in-ring time on Dynamite & PPVs now. I love Sting & I know he's a huge name & he's not really that associated with WWE as a whole but is his name still bringing in the eyeballs to make it worth it? Or did they bring him in just because Cody Rhodes wants to relive the era of his daddy while bringing in Sting & the Horsemen? They also need to seriously consider that Jim Ross can't do commentary anymore & is actively hurting the product. I feel like the strong parts of the AEW roster right now are the AEW prospects that people don't know from elsewhere or at least from U.S. promotions or WWE. Sammy Guevera, Darby Allin, Adam Page, Fenix, Britt Baker - people like that. If anything, I think AEW should consider letting some people go now. The roster is getting too big, even with another show coming.

Kenny Omega Vs. Jon Moxley in the lights out, unsanctioned hardcore match at Full Gear the first time around was insane. But finding out you're going to be a father changes a man & I wouldn't blame Moxley if he took it a bit easier than the first go around as a result, honestly. And even still, look at all he took in the match & how much color he got. So if that's a Moxley night off imagine if Renee wasn't pregnant!

What did people expect? I expected what I had seen in other Exploding Ring Deathmatches. They even had Onita ON THE SHOW! So obviously they were referencing the match existing outside of AEW.

Well, I'll also remember that the ending to the main event Exploding Ring Barbed Wire Deathmatch on a $50 Pay-Per-View was due to a run-in from Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. The exploding barbed wire bat was cool. The making the ropes blow up to break-up a pinfall was cool. The One Winged Angel on a chair looked like death. I liked those things. But the match had more problems than just the sparklers at the end.

This is what I said on Twitter. If that ring did actually blow up & Eddie sacrificed himself to save his friend, that's some top tier babyface hero shit, man. He would have been MADE.