MoS

They definitely should have tried to use his talents in a better way. For whatever reason, he has a very vocal, very passionate fanbase, and they loved everything he did. Thing is, I don't know if he can be utilized effectively in any other promotion. His brand of wrestling is very cinematic, with a lot of focus on production, grand entrances, etc. I know Broken Matt Hardy was a thing, but I cannot imagine his gimmick working in Impact and whatever budget they have

Meltzer talking about Strowman for 10 minutes cuz he went on a tangent when everyone wanted to hear his thoughts on Bray Wyatt is really peak Dave

I personally think Fiend stinks and Wyatt has been useless since his early modern day Waylon Mercy run, but he does have a sizeable contingent of very devoted fans who spend ungodly hours thinking of The Lore and everything. They had to feel blindsided and betrayed by this sudden release

I don't know how true this is, because Meltz has been getting worked by his sources recently (the GCW plant controversy) and I can't remember the last major story he broke. But if this is true, then it's pretty shameful for a billion dollar promotion making record profits to use budgetary reasons to cut one of its most featured stars of the decade, especially since it's just a couple of days after Vince joked about sending more talent to AEW. Maybe this is the "Vince sent Russo to WCW" but for real, where he is releasing as many wrestlers as he can, hoping AEW blows up their budget going after them all and get burned as a result

The promotions should absolutely be paying for the therapy and counseling sessions, especially given how obscenely expensive therapy is in the USA. I was hesitant only because wrestlers have that macho mentality and might think of going to a counselor as a sign of weakness

That does make sense if Nick Khan is going about and cutting expensive contracts, that he wouldn't be allowed to sit at home while with the company, just to focus on his mental health. I hope he is okay. Terrible gimmick aside, he is a real person. I don't know how wrestlers will react to it, but all major promotions should have a therapist on call that all wrestlers suffering from mental health can go to

Did Vince just figure that now he has a pretty girl doing the creepy supernatural stuff, he doesn't need a fat bearded man doing the same shit? I legit don't get how he suddenly fired Wyatt lol

They should definitely reverse the trend and dial it back yeah. Their biggest storyline doesn't even need blood. And they should definitely stay away from signing Bray Wyatt. I am stunned that he was released. He epitomizes what the WWE likes in a character, he has been put over strongly for so long. And he apparently was also getting into comeback shape and was looking good from his social media pics. This came out of nowhere

Kenny Omega would like you all to know he is actually an excellent athlete, he just pretends to be a dork for..reasons. As I said, you can knock the Elite for a lot of things but not for their athleticism. It will be interesting to see the dynamic in the ring between Omega and Punk, two polarizing figures for entirely different reasons

Sasha Banks might be an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theory nut, but God she is so tremendous at professional wrestling

Nick Khan sounds really impressive whenever he speaks. I am not sure how old he is, but the chance that he succeeds Vince instead of anyone in his family. It's not just him saying intelligent stuff, he also espouses the kind of philosophy that Vince himself believes in - see him calling sleep competition because they are in the business of competing for eyeballs, and compare it to Vince on Austin's podcast many years ago calling Disney competition

People have been digging and it seems more and more evident that the Dominos response was a result (an exception in fact) of a concerted effort by WWE to target AEW's sponsors. It's pretty funny and I have been getting flashbacks to all of Vince's 1996 concerned letters to Time's shareholders published in newspapers lol. As well as his letters to Turner himself of course. With the ratings being what they are, it's not going to hurt AEW as long as they dial it back a bit and don't overdo it. It would be really funny if it ended up giving AEW an unintentional "forbidden fruits of Eden" appeal

We can quibble about booking decisions, but this is an incredibly hot promotion. And I think they have earned the faith of the fans, and the willingness to let all stories play out. It's why having the goodwill of your fans is so important. This is the best time to be a wrestling fan in at least 20 years imo

My millennial ass will have you know that there's a difference between being a nerd and being a dork

Definitely a possibility, and it's why I understand why they don't want to do the title switch right now. I'm thinking that the big first Punk/Danielson matches (mostly against Omega I guess) would be over by Full Gear. If I were them, then at some point, the plan also has to be for both Punk and Danielson to put over Hangman

History is replete with faces who chased too long and ultimately lost some of their appeal and drawing power, going all the way back to Jack Brisco and continuing with Luger, Roman, etc. I don't think Page has reached that level yet, but given all their big upcoming shows are between September and November, I hope they cover all the big dream matches by then and then pull the trigger on Hangman at Full Gear

Hahahaha that was amazing. I was especially tickled by Blunt not getting wrestling politics and not understanding first why there were wrestlers who were undercutting him as a rookie, and second not getting why Bret helped him then. I would honestly pay the money of a standard ticket for this movie just to listen to Rock explain to Emily about the Kliq and how Shawn and Hunter were jealous of Rock's spot and how they tried to sabotage him like they did so many others and how Bret hated Shawn and warned Rock about the Kliq. Finish it off with the story about Shawn and Hunter trying to sabotage Rock's first WM main event until Austin put his foot down and said he'd work with Rock. Make her immediately realize how wrestling politics is as fucked up as Hollywood politics, and how all wrestlers are weirdos lol. She can then cross-check this with John Cena and good luck to him being a good soldier and still defending the Fed

Double

The Dominos statement was a standard PR blow-off response given to journalists asking prying questions, particularly when they are afraid of being misquoted. They didn't even say they disapproved of it. They said they will assess their advertising at the TV-14 show, which is just using words to say nothing. Dominos is also not an official AEW sponsor and the entire article seemed fishy and written in bad faith, so I wouldn't be surprised if the response was a result of a very loaded and leading (misleading?) question. They should definitely not be doing deathmatches every week but this is the only time they have done so, and as long as they remain once in a blue moon to pop ratings. I think they will be fine. Meltzer is greatly worried about losing sponsors and there is the precedent of WWF losing sponsors in the attitude era, but 1) WWF lost sponsors because Vince decided to take on the PTC and double down and make it a big deal instead of quietly dealing with it because Vince is Vince; and 2) as much as the violence, it was the nudity and the raunchiness, especially on basic broadcast like Smackdown was on then. I honestly think Meltzer is off on some of his assertions on violence and blood too. He has been claiming for months that women stopped watching Dynamite because of the blood even though there is no evidence to support it, mostly because he talked to like 4 women he knows who watch wrestling As long as one deathmatch leads to one sponsor issuing a standard statement, I think they are fine. They are probably secretly grateful because it's one way of getting publicity, and a starting promotion going against a juggernaut needs all publicity they can get. They just need to be very careful and to not do this stip again for the next 15 months or so though

The issue isn't that they over-value their skills, it is that they deliberately play down their skills, and act like dorks even when they are not. It's the opposite of cockiness, I don't even know what to call it. Stuff like Omega on live TV pretending to stumble over his words because he is acting like he is a bad promo

It's my biggest issue with The Elite though. They often act like they are worse or dorkier or lamer than they are. They try to handwave it by claiming it's heat and they are just working, but heat as a result of your top guys pretending to be lame and stupid is just bad heat imo. Why would I really invest myself when the top guys clearly don't take it seriously and act like they suck. That shit is fine for midcard heels but not your tippy top guys imo. It's even more frustrating because it's clearly not anything that requires any major fixing or adjusting; it's pretty easy to not act like dorks on camera. But they keep doing it. It's just not suited for the biggest storyline going on in the promotion at a time when the promotion is the hottest it's been in its young life. Really hope Omega tones down the silliness when he faces Bryan. Danielson will need something really serious to distinguish his AEW character and run from WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan

I thought it was really stupid and dorky and I hate Omega's "genius" character work where he pretends he can't cut promos and is really stupid who needs Callis to hold his hand so you won't get any argument from me. He does it every week despite no one thinking it's funny or clever apart from Dave Meltzer.

Omega is an incredible athlete and also an MMA fighter with a pretty okay record. He is a dweeb but no one was stuffing him in any locker. This honestly feels like confirmation bias because dribbling is a specific skillset that requires a lot of practice, and comparing this to a heavily edited and produced Mr. Perfect vignette seems to be setting him up to fail

If TNT are really brave they will give Juvi a live mic

Does Bryan-Omega or Punk-Omega need the world title? In fact, if there is no world title on the line, it means that Omega can actually lose and Bryan and Punk don't lose their first major match back. Booking them just to pop one big gate or for one major show instead of trusting their process and letting the big stars fit in and enhance their product doesn't seem far-sighted imo. It is, dare I say, what WCW used to do