Jmare007

Historians putting Cody ahead of Punk is interesting, even though I can see the argument given the difference he made once went back to WWE and his role in starting AEW. Sabu being ahead of both of them among those voters is also interesting, Punk and Cody still being active has to be a big factor "against" them for historians, I guess.

The very few we got to see Wolf it was not encouraging (I got Gable Stevenson vibes) but it was still just a 30 second spot so who knows. I hope it's a short match and he destroys EVIL and his wack ass stable.

WK 20 officially sold out, they are opening up more seats due to demand still being high. Tana is carrying this company one last time. Let's hope Wolfe, Tsuji and Takeshita come out as big standouts/stars from this show.

Cool to see Hamada finally in.

Women's Blood & Guts had some really high highs, once it was 5v5 it picked up tremendously and it just kept getting better. Absolutely fucking loved the finish, just heels doing heel shit with some awesome pro wres drama *chef kiss* I gotta say though, they have to make the entrances shorter. They could've cut 10 minutes and gone faster to the stuff they all really had in mind once shit got going.

I feel Danielson's case is mainly performance based. And yes, those of us that rate him highly will always sing his praises and argue for him to be placed on a "greatest ever" tier. But to me, historical importance goes beyond that. I don't think the business changed or flipped when he was active and it certainly didn't suffer while he was/is gone. His WWE run is the one thing you could make a case but I feel like without Punk, Bryan might not even get signed in 2009 and by Dragon's own take on the matter, without Punk leaving, he wasn't maineventing WM 30 either. And his injuries didn't let him have a proper run on top to make a case of any lasting influence either. The one big lesson Vince got from Danielson was that he could book babyfaces like complete losers and maybe the people would get so mad at him that they would rally behind and get him more over (which didn't really work with anyone because Dragon's case was unique). Him being part of indy wave of the 2000s is relevant, for sure. But again, I feel other wrestlers were more important than him in making it as special/important as it was.

At least WK is doing great business. I'm glad the promotion behind Tana's retirement has worked so well. Takeshita will face Tsuji in a double title match. It seems we are gonna get Tana vs Okada (Gedo got involved in "helping" Tana find an opponent). Wolf vs Evil Syuri vs Saya Kamitani also booked.

I mean, you are not gonna find bigger babyface potential than this guy...

I sure hope Wolfe doesn't end up being like Gable Stevenson All the technical tools you can dream of but this company doesn't need a stoic character right now. The roster is too thin for a gimmick like that to work.

Thank lawd, step 1 (out of many) was taken.

Takeshita has to win, it's the only possible spark this company has as an immediate option. They can't just put all their hopes on Wolf debuting in January and being a special talent.

A 1 time thing with Andrade is ok, and a match with Kenny looks cool on paper on to me. But I wouldn't spend much energy in him beyond a 3-6 month run.

Loving the presentation of this main event. These two are working their asses off and commentary is not letting it go unnoticed.

I like the Hurt Syndicate so I have no issue with how they are booked.

Lashley vs Liona was a dope little TV match. Danielson on commentary is really a breath of fresh air. Him marking out to Hechicero and having that back and forth with Callis was hilarious

Yeah, as a latino I could give two shits about it being called a trios match instead of a 6-man tag. Like, who fucking cares

Smart call, good on TK and AEW. Only positives from going eariler, now the have a real chance to even avoid the dumb "negative publicity" of having the least bought PPV in their history.

I mean, I think the PPV buys will undoubtedly suffer because of the WWE show but All Out will still make money and have one of the bigger attendances of the year. There will be dumb trolling/stan wars weeks after the show once it's revealed it did the lowest buyrate to date for AEW but bleh, who cares.

The TBS 4-way was my fav match along with the tag title match though that botched ending takes it down a peg compared to those 3 women doing their absolute best to give Bozilla an AEW (or WWE) contract in the very near future. There wasn't a single bad match on the show but there also wasn't one of those eye popping MOTYC AEW PPVs usually have either. Fun show though, I was entertained throughout and didn't even feel the need to fast forward or skip matches, which I tend to do a lot.

That's a weird point to make in this thread considering we've discussed the deeper issues within the promotion for literal years in here.

And a heel faction being forced into a promotion despite awful results isn't a new thing. I remember Suzuki-Gun going to NOAH and business tanking beyond what most thought was already rock bottom. And Suzuki-Gun was much more compelling than HoT or other boring ass stables that have gone longer than they should for no real good reason.

Under what meaningful measurement? If fewer and fewer people go to live shows and want to spend money on the company, it's pretty evident they aren't gravitating towards anyone right now.

I think what's hurting the company the most is what's been happening outside of the IWGP title picture. There's been no new rivalries worth a fuck since the return from COVID, no angles worth a damn and no real come up story from any new guy because they've been stuck in the same place trading wins and losses for the past 3 years. It's not about who is the main champion right now, it's that there's nothing really exciting about the roster. They've been badly needing a hard reset for years and Gedo keeps trotting out half assed efforts with a few months of cool IWGP title defenses sprinkled in here and there, and that's clearly not enough. There's no vision about the future nor anything really and it's depressing as all hell.

Can't believe fans have reached "EVIL is popular in Japan" narrative some folks will just head cannon anything, LMAO. It's insane to me I started complaining about Gedo 10 years ago, he's gotten worse each year since then and he still has the book. Complete insanity. Poor Tsuji man...

By 2027 Nick Khan gonna be selling the wrestler's signature move to advertisers. The top rope chick fil a elbow and the Verizon dropkick, lmao.