Coffey

Say what you want about old man 'Taker, the entrance is still cash.

I think they should get the title off of both Kofi & Seth. But I def. don't think Samoa Joe or Baron Corbin are viable right now.

Too bad the camera work is still horseshit & headache inducing. Kevin Dunn needs fired. Or shot. One of the two.

I can already read a bunch of people name-dropping Paul Heyman.

My biggest take away so far from AEW is that in Japan, Kenny Omega was a Superstar & Cody Rhodes was a geek. In AEW, Cody Rhodes is a Superstar & Kenny Omega is a geek. Again, it's only been two shows, but the role reversal has been insane.

There was a movie that came out in 2017 called 47 Meters Down. It was not received well by critics. It's about two sisters on vacation that get trapped underwater in a shark cage. No a-list actors. Director I've never heard of. Small, indie film. Reading reviews of it, the amount of people that compared it to JAWS was staggering. One of the greatest movies of all-time. By one of the most famous directors of all-time. From 1975, a completely different era for movies. It wasn't a fair comparison. That's how I feel when reading some of the AEW reviews. AEW is 47 Meters Down & people are trying to compare it to fucking JAWS. WWE just had Wrestlemania number 35. They've been around forever doing their thing. How many AEW fans are even 35 years old? This was the second ever AEW show. There's going to be some bumps along the way. I'm not saying that people should overlook the bad, or turn a blind eye to shit but the cynicism makes it look like some people are begging for AEW to fail (like Herodes) & I can't for the life of me figure out why. Why would you not want pro-wrestling in the United States to have more options & more competition? As a fan. For the workers. It's just better for everyone. It goes the same both ways, too. Like, why would anyone want WWE to go away? Maybe for political reasons as they're a terrible corporation with shady business deals, but as far as maintaining the health of the state of pro-wrestling, more options & more competition should make for better shows. But I guess AEW brought it upon themselves with the mocking of Triple H & all the people that were knocking WWE after Double or Nothing, so I guess you reap what you sow. AEW probably feel a lot of pressure to have to knock every show out of the park because if you fumble, it's going to be brutal. And this show definitely had some turnovers. That pre show was embarrassing. I would be OK with AEW building around MJF & Moxley. I can't wait for AEW to show up on TNT because I think the company will thrive with weekly TV because I think their strong suit is going to be in the story telling & episodic television. Which, if I'm correct in that regard, that is what will get them noticed & pull people in. When you have that compelling soap-opera TV that can grab people's emotions. Like Cody Vs. Dustin did at Double or Nothing. The Shawn Spears thing tonight I think would have played so much better on TV. Right now, I think they're being way too insider & cutesy & doing a lot of "tee-hee, get it?" nonsense & they need to start looking at the bigger picture. Sooner rather than later. You need to grab the casual viewer. You need a big cable television audience, not just the fans that watch the YouTube shows or that know Kenny & The Bucks from Japan. And they're doing a piss poor job of telling potential new viewers who ANY of these people are so far. The commentators are pretty damn good, but we need video packages & promos & motives. Maybe they're just saving it for TV? I don't know. But a lot of guys are just looking like dorks right now.

He's not wrong. A lot of us have been saying as much. Like, yeah, WWE needs change but is the change they need recycled angles from the Attitude era? Because that's what it feels like we're going to get. But maybe I'm underrating what Heyman & Bischoff could bring to the table. If Heyman had full control of RAW, Bischoff Smackdown & Triple H NXT it would be interesting to see who could make the most compelling show with their respective roster. Instead, I still feel like the shows will all feel like Vince McMahon shows with talent jumping to whichever show whenever Vince feels like it.

If ANYTHING happens that switches up the awful production style, I'm in. It's one of, if not the top, worst things about WWE. The constant camera cuts, the shaky cam, the zooming in-and-out. It's erratic, unnatural & headache inducing. How anyone could think that was a good look is beyond me. Even switching to HD, if you're that afraid of moves/strikes looking too fake... put motherfuckers in there that don't look fake! Stop trying to put buckets of shit like Lacey Evans on TV.

I like both Paul & Eric. That being said, it feels like... a show, more than anything else. It's two names that wrestling fans will recognize. That haven't really done anything in wrestling for about twenty years. It's bringing back more of the same. Plus, if they still have to get everything ran passed Vince himself still, what is actually going to change? It's fun & exciting news, I guess, but I'm not sure if I'm expecting a lot to change on-air. Maybe the first couple of months but if we're still seeing Baron Corbin in main events & Super Shane McMahon, it won't matter whose name they use on the shows.

So Samoa Joe loses the United States Championship and that makes him number one contender to the World Championship? How does that work?

Agree with El-P. Ospreay is better and I feel like he's done nothing but improve, while Ricochet has kind of stalled. Even before joining WWE. Also, until seeing this thread, I legit forgot RAW was even on. I don't think that has EVER happened before.

All the credit in the world to user SteveOMatt on r/SquaredCircle on Reddit for these. Figured they were so good, it'd just be easier to post 'em here for this thread.

Otis would be better if he could ditch Tucker, in my opinion. I see nothing in Tucker. Otis has potential though, at least as a comedy midcard act.

How many Seth Rollins matches will live crowds turn on until people stop blaming it on his opponents & instead put some of the blame on his boring ass too?

This show feels so different from other WWE shows lately. Like it's being done by completely different people or something. It's actually been quite enjoyable.

Joe has definitely put on more weight. And it's visibly effecting his performance, I believe. I mean, I know he's older & slower & more broken down but man. He's a shell of his former self, for sure. The rest of the show has actually been pretty decent so far. And this match might hit the next gear but right now, all I can see if how lethargic Joe seems. I mean, to quote Jules from Pulp Fiction, he's Samoan, what's he gonna do?

Putting the title on Drew Gulak is the right decision & they probably should have done that awhile ago. He was great when he was doing the no fly zone stuff.

1,700 votes. 87% "No"

How about The Great Muta into Keiji Mutoh? Talk about reinventing yourself & breathing new life into your character/career! And then I guess back to Muta, but with masks instead of paint. Good stuff.

It would be awesome to start seeing more WWE wrestlers coming out & challenging the ridiculous independent contractor bullshit to be honest.

Am I crazy or does it feel like MLW, ROH & iMPACT! are all three in trouble as promotions? All the news that I keep hearing about each that comes out doesn't exactly come off as positive. Low pay, bad contracts, bad ratings, the backstage Bully Ray & Beautiful People shit, low attendance, etc. iMPACT! apparently just lost Scarlet Bordeaux. MLW has the Twitter drama with Court Bauer, David Starr & Brett Lauderdale. ROH is dealing with the fallout of losing The Elite, the drama from the Bully shit & bad attendance. It's not looking good for some of the Indy promotions in the U.S. with AEW on the horizon. Smaller promotions like Wrestle Circus are going to be fine but would it surprise someone if by the end of 2020 MLW, ROH & iMPACT! were all gone? Between AEW getting on TNT & WWE signing up everyone to slap down in NXT (or NXT UK) it feels like the Indie scene in the U.S. is changing dramatically. There's a lot of non-WWE options for workers right now but I think the landscape is changing & the more people that come out talking about bad contracts that they're locked into, having to work second jobs, working for minimum wage, working an extra day for free and whatnot... it's a bad look.

So Tony Schiavone is coming back in the summer? Are we going to get a 2-man commentary booth of Tony Schiavone on play-by-play and Jim Cornette on color commentary in 2019? If so, I'm here for it. https://mlw.com/2019/06/19/tony-schiavone-returns-to-the-broadcast-booth-this-summer/?fbclid=IwAR3YbgvQNxBbm2LGpzYicjn84Xaf6ZMjmp9pbvbxd1CXljDofqBbkltnRv4 The article says that Schiavone returns alongside Rich Bocchini but I'm holding out hope for Schiavone/Cornette.

They should put Seth back in the IC division. He kind of thrived there. Push Andrade & Rusev to the main event & try something new. Get the titles off of Kofi & Seth 'cause they don't work as top guys. Tried it, it didn't work. Get out. Bryan is good. Brock even though he's only around part time is at least interesting when he shows up because you never know what is going to happen. Roman needs more work because he's just kind of there right now. They should try to salvage Braun again just to try to make him a monster to be toppled, ala Earthquake or Kamala. Push Elias. He was getting pretty over there for a bit. It doesn't matter if he's not great in-ring, you need people that get a reaction. McIntrye, Corbin, Dolph, Shane don't work. Especially at top or close to the top. Not Owens, or Zayn or Miz. Not New Day. It's all boring & tired. Have Samoa Joe start choking people out or something. He's US Champ but you gotta make him a bigger threat. He cuts good promos too. Stop trying to do comedy & tone back the women (without Ronda).

I went ahead and made a thread for the G1. It deserves its own thread. I don't know if Loss will wanna merge any posts but just wanted to give the heads-up. It's gonna be fun this year.

What are the matches that you're looking forward to the most? Who do you see winning the whole thing? Who is coming out of each Block?