MoS

Nick missed that dunk like he's Ben Simmons

You absolutely cannot have a 5×5 without commercial breaks I guess. I have missed half the big transitions of the match

Did they secretly decide to murder Stu Grayson or something lol. Dropping him on his head, not catching his dives

Worst product placement since Robocop

URGH the Elite are such dweebs. What is this shit

VERY surprised that the 5×5 is not main-eventing but THAT pop for Hangman

Hahahaha that little girl's parents are going to be mad. I remember my dad getting pissed cuz my 8-year Austin loving ass would keep flipping off people

Very curious about how they book the 5v5 match JR is also for some reason teasing Ric Flair to appear. AEW already has a reputation of being a promotion that teases and hypes its surprises way beyond they should be, and I hope either Ric comes in tonight or they don't tease his appearance ever

Yeah if they book Nikki competently, the dynamic with Charlotte would actually be great because she is so likeable and Charlotte is the most unlikeable person on the roster. Charlotte's record is what is it however. Man, I am so glad Joe is wrestling again. He is just the coolest. I honestly think he should beat Kross and become the NXT champ. He will revitalize an ice cold brand and if the purpose of NXT is to get wrestlers ready for the main roster, surely the best way for that is to have them work with the champ who has been a main eventer on the main roster. Apparently if had Jeff Hardy not got covid, Kross was going to lose again. So it's not as if being NXT champ matters at all on the main roster

Beating them repeatedly like a drum is sadly the only way WWE knows how to book top faces they are trying to elevate. Loss made that point a few days ago It's frustrating because while kids love cartoon characters, kids also love winners. Kids don't like deluded losers who think they are winners. Hopefully Nikki isn't beaten again and again. I hate this character but I have seen her promos and she is genuinely working so hard to get it over and she has great delivery and is so likeable and charismatic. It's just that her gimmick is such that the chances are that she would keep getting beaten again and again while retaining that title through flukes

He tweeted this earlier today and has now pinned it. Are they going to use his losing streak for some worked shoot bullshit? I hate that Russo crap. Or is his contract up soon and he is going to do an actual shoot interview. Also, sorry but "Eventual Lee" is just cringe. He should absolutely not have lost to Kross one week after Kross looked like the world's biggest geek, they were hundreds of ways to rehab Kross without resorting to this. Having said that, yeah, calling yourself Eventual Lee is kind of cringe. It is certainly no Next Big Thing

He is spiking ticket sales so clearly and obviously that they have also now announced him for the SD MSG show, which is well after Summerslam. I don't know how to really define drawing power anymore, but I do know an obvious draw when I see one, and Cena is one of the most obvious ones

Gordon Solie would do a great job of providing athletic backgrounds about wrestlers in a way that added to their aura and appeal. JR at his worst would just repeatedly shoehorn in the college football accomplishments because he would much rather watch college football than professional wrestling. It was mostly harmless but could occasionally get really egregious and annoying when he just wouldn't shut up about it

Oh this one is going to be incredible

Yeah, I am sure he was an excellent college football player, but American football is America's biggest religion and because of how high-profile college football is, there are thousands of excellent college football players who perform really well for a year or so and yet have ultimately have no presence in the mainstream. Wrestling has had some very accomplished college football players in the last 35 years, and I don't know if I would call any of them even close to mainstream solely for their football pedigree. From everything I have seen and read about college football, it is the ultimate case of the brand being bigger than any individual player. Although it does make the idea of a badass former high-level college defensive lineman being asked to cut Looney Tunes promos even more hilarious though. Can you imagine if they had Goldberg saying this shit in 1998?

Yeah, Cornette has also always said that when Cena was in OVW, he thought Cena was going to be the next Flair, not as good in the ring, but a superstar heel with the same promos and presence and charisma

When the Roman-Rock feud happens, I really really hope this happens once

It's also notable that the ratings for everything have been declining steadily forever. It wasn't until 2016 or so that Raw's decline started comfortably outpacing the non-news TV decline. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has done some great research on this. Incidentally, one brand that has been gaining popularity worldwide at a tremendous rate is the Indian Premier League, so I cannot wait until all you fuckers are having to watch cricket whether you like it or not

Yeah, and I am sure that WWE would love to get another Cena-level star on their hands if they could. But more than maintaining viewers, it's also the volume of content that is instrumental in getting and closing billion dollar deals. WWE has the ability to give you 5 hours of primetime first-run TV 52 weeks a year at relatively little production cost. It's why it's getting those billion dollar deals, and as long as there is no alternative for such incredible year-round volume at low cost, they will keep getting these deals. The UFC got a billion dollar ESPN deal where they are guaranteed a certain amount every PPV regardless of the performance, and a certain figure every TV card regardless of ratings, because UFC has the ability to put on 40-45 cards a year. It's a business model that is making drawing stars redundant in MMA as well, which is why Dana is perfectly fine with playing hardball with Conor McGregor and Jon Jones. It's the same volume argument. WWE has even more volume. It's why Fox ditched UFC to go with WWE. It's also why they got that Peacock deal. The volume of current and historical content that WWE has is incredible

Has the concept of drawing really changed full time in the last six years? You might be right. It would be interesting to try and figure out when the Brand became the only thing that was actually pushed as the draw. It might be when WWE the promotion became the primary heel in around 2015-16. It's difficult to push anyone as a difference-making star when they are either working for or going against the entire corporation and its ethos. Even Austin went against the evil boss of a good promotion, not the actual promotion and its booking philosophy

About them not mattering anymore, we agree. They do not matter anymore. But then is it fully fair to Cena to compare him to any modern wrestler, taking away his unique drawing power? I say that because a lot of the drawbacks and flaws in Cena's in-ring work was also what made him a compelling draw. The sloppiness, the focus on comeback spots, even him doing moves that he was bad at executing, because his entire appeal was that he would Never Give Up

Attendances did not decline for the primary WWE loop for 20 straight years. As I said, it went significantly up from 2005 for a few years, principally due to Cena. I don't remember when it started declining again, but the decline's pace was not the same throughout. It crashed massively in the last five-six years after the Cena era ended. There are direct consumer metrics that have nothing to do with international and domestic TV deals. Cena is literally the only difference-maker since about 2009, when Mysterio and Jeff Hardy declined. House shows where he is announced show a noticeable spike. When he moved to SD, that show immediately showed both increased ratings and higher live event tour. His quarters also did excellent numbers regardless of the time slot, which today is the biggest factor in quarter ratings, since there's no positive difference-maker in wrestling anymore. Direct consumer metrics are no longer the primary ways through which WWE makes money, so while the concept of wrestlers who are draws might be redundant, that does not mean that those metrics do not exist. Those metrics exist and can be used to compare wrestlers. It's just that the modern business model is such that comparing wrestlers is futile because there is an active attempt to make everyone fungible. Cena was the last true star who broke out of the pack in a clear way before the brand became the only draw, therefore he remains the last true draw in U.S pro wrestling

Kross playing chess while we're playing checkers?

Definitely not something I want to see regularly, or even something I want to see again. But for a one-off incident, I didn't mind it. I wish no one had thrown any bottles, but modern wrestling is so often completely devoid of real genuine heat that I couldn't hate on this. It was compelling for what it was