MoS

They are not missing from the poster they released for the event on another social media post. I remember there being conversation a few years ago on this board about why WWE didn't run tennis stadiums. Dunno the logistics but as we have discussed about AEW's arenas, it's important to have a different look from the WWE. Excited about this show and hopefully I get to attend it!

The idea that Bryan wasn't over, it was the chant that was over was an excuse used by WWE in 2013 to justify why they were basically burying him and trying to kill his heat. Of course they tried to demonstrate that by giving Big Show the Yes chants, and it failed miserably

This is an excellent topic. I will give my idea later during the day (or maybe even, *shock of horrors!* later down the week), but this is an argument all who watch AEW even semi-regularly should weigh on and talk about the difference between the average WWE product and the average AEW product. As far as I am concerned, while there will obviously be better answers than mine on both sides of the spectrum, I think the biggest structural advantage for AEW is the level of their promos. The standard for their promos is excellent. I would argue that they are pound for pound the best promotion with promos since JCP 1985. This includes the entirety of the attitude era. This means that obviously Tony Khan is doing something correct. He has also turned wrestlers who would be complete randos on any WWE product to be genuine stars and draws. No one would ever expect WWE to think of Kingston and Darby as proven draws, but thanks to the internet, their drawing power has been proven consistently. For me, the biggest hindrance is tied to its biggest strength. How do you ensure that these new, exciting young wrestlers are actually getting over and pushed prominently at the expense of so many nostalgia talents that NXT can bring over? How do we make sure that these wrestlers remain patient to promoters who would screw them without a second thought if they had the opportunity, and can only make their names notorious if they go against the wishes of their bosses, because they have no "real stars" on their hands? There is so much to unpack here. However, hopefully no matter what, all youngsters will be given a chance to steal the entire spotlight from other seniors. Even more importantly, hopefully these young talents will have the platform to brag about their accomplishments, without jeopardising the chances these youngsters will have against the seniors in a direct one-on-one match, as an example. For one-on-one matches and examples along those lines, as an instance of the arbitrariness, Dana said only Jones knows what he wants, which is hopefully as big an admittance of a failure as we usually get. Hopefully, we get more clarity on the negotiations as well as the actual RULES soon (wtf Dana), cuz, regardless of my personal feelings, Ngannou v. Jones is the biggest possible fight for MMA, even including filthy hardcores, and I am sure they would love to be clear on the rules about what handsets you can avail while also being legally sanctioned to punch the face off everyone involed

The Sixers squandered a 13-point lead at halftime to lose against the Hawks. Never underestimate Hunter's ability to sink any brand he associates with

I keep seeing stats about Spain completing 300 passes the same way I keep reading stats about Triple H's 13 world title reigns. Okay great but in both cases, what do you actually do with them? What's the point if the end product is trash

As boring as Raw usually is, I bet Spain-Sweden was even more boring. Tiki taka the most overrated style of play ever

I am really fascinated by this Karrion Kross push. They clearly like him, and I don't see why. Previously, when WWE would push someone I didn't like, I could at least see why they liked that wrestler. I don't, at all with Kross. He has a cool entrance, thanks to Scarlett. That's it. He cannot talk. He is a shit wrestler. He is boring. He doesn't even have the size or the physique. Like, yeah he is muscular, but so is basically every wrestler WWE has.

I am not sure the Piper match can be put in that category. It was the first time WCW did an excellent buyrate for a PPV not headlined by Hogan-Flair, and it started a string of really strong PPV showings for them. Piper did lose something after the match, but I dunno how long he could have been that over in any case, with his age and all his injuries

This is arguably THE most significant versus poll and the most important one for 2026 GWE purposes. Right now, in my working list, I have Bryan number one and Flair number 5, so for me, right now, it is Bryan. But it can change any day and I really do want to explore this question in as much detail as I can. Again, as I said, it might be the most significant comparison for GWE 2026

I actually have not watched those Ambrose matches. I have actually seen very little of Moxley's FCW/NXT "Dean Ambrose" run. Would you recommend it? I don't know the storyline behind those Regal matches, but I have to imagine there was a hot story there for them to match Amborse with Regal.

So, futbol basically had its case of Jerry Lawler suffering a heart attack on live TV today

Ooh that's a really great match. Props to bringing it up, I had shamefully forgotten about it. I don't think the match is particularly good, but Arn's performance in the singles match against Flair, where he is trying to show Flair and the world that he is not a sidekick, and that the success of the Horsemen was as much down to him as it was to Flair, is a performance that I have always felt was memorable. I love Flair, but Arn overshadowed him in that match

Love Regal, but Arn wins this for me. Regal was great as a weekly TV wrestler, but while Arn never had a main event singles run, he still had moments of greatness, and I think his highs are better than Regal's highs. I am actually struggling to think of a signature Regal match outside his WCW Finlay series and his, I want to say, 2013 NXT match with Cesaro, which was an easy 4.5 stars for me

Gotta say, I have enjoyed strobogo's dive into 1995 and 1996 WCW Babyface Hulk Hogan. I remembered it being dull and boring, but I had forgotten just how self-indulgent and insecure that run was. If Steve Austin had cut the Austin 3:16 promo in WCW in that environment, Hogan would have been on TV the very next day, saying 'ass' 50 times in 5 minutes and making zingers about every Bible phrase he could think of

The Hart family is genuinely one of the most fucked-up families the world has ever seen, and anyone who tries to justify or explain away Stu's actions as just a rough but kind man looking out for his kids needs to fuck all the way off. It is an absolute wonder that Owen was such a sweetheart, and that he found a really sweet girl who put up with his family for as long as she did

The consensus best WWF wrestler of the 90s against the consensus best WWE wrestler of the 2010s. Both known for being a purist's delight, while also being top stars who were never fully embraced by the WWF/WWE machine. Who was better? I think it's Bryan. If anyone is interested, I actually ran this poll in the main forum a few months ago, and laid down my arguments for why I think Bryan is better. It would be nice if a lot of extremely knowledgeable posters posting in the GWE thread would weigh in on this. I laid down my arguments in this thread - I think it remains a fair comparison and it would be interesting to listen to you guys weigh in on this

People keep claiming that Bret added "little touches" to all his matches that made them so much more realistic or whatever, and the only example they ever give is that Hakushi moonsault. Which would be great if that was the only dive Bret ever took, or if it played any role in the finish, but that's the extent to which this claim is actually substantiated. There were plenty of little cool moments sprinkled throughout Flair's matches too, but because they usually also include really epic big moments, no one really talks about them.

My point was to defend working on "good instincts" without "putting too much thought" into matches. Even if that makes you look "stupid" somehow. Also let's not act like Bret did not have stock bumps and spots which he shoehorned in every match. Anything cool he did would become a regular feature of all his matches going forward

I don't remember if he bled or not, but there are a couple of excellent brawls with Chavo Guerrero in 2010 apart from the JBL brawls of 2006, where he is excellent at showing hatred and just wants to hurt the opponent.

Agreed with Grimmas. Vader is amazing. He had excellent matches in so many different promotions. But Rey did not just have excellent matches in many different promotions; he had such great matches, and got over so great, he basically changed their booking philosophy on how to book small guys, even if they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing it. It is 2021 and 30 years after he debuted, the man is going to headline a PPV again. I think Rey's transitions are better than Vader, and it is a particularly strong point of his. His selling is tremendous, and his offence is really nifty. The 619 would have been a terrible spot for any other wrestler, but Rey makes it work. He is great at tags and trios, amazing at incorporating storylines into his matches, and while Vader is extremely versatile himself, Rey's versatility is truly staggering. He can do spotfests, he can do serious world title matches, he can do hate-filled bloody brawls. Just a wrestling genius.

Who cares how much thought Flair put into his matches, if the end result was great? Artistic intention is always a slippery slope. I see no reason why an instinctive performer is superior to a cerebral performer. Hell, some of my biggest gripes with modern wrestling is precisely because they put too much thought into their matches. It loses its sense of organic nature. Like Meltzer the other day was making a bullshit point about the number of nearfalls in Flair-Steamboat matches and how there were way more nearfalls there than in the Okada-Omega matches. It completely ignored the fact that only only is every pinfall attempt most certainly not a nearfall, the Okada-Omega matches probably had a lot more thought into the nature and kind of nearfalls, while Flair and Steamboat just..wrestled, tried to win in kayfabe, and let the product speak for itself. One of the biggest reasons I have fallen in love with Flair again in the last 5 years is precisely that feeling of organic spontaneity present in most Flair matches. I also have no idea how to respond to an argument about how Flair did not make you care about his matches, which was apparently just for show. Or the point about Bret having less boring 60-minute draws, when the most high-profile 60-min match Bret ever had was a boring snoozefest. Ironically, the best 60-min match Bret has is with....Ric Flair. Just amazing how Flair is the common denominator for SO MUCH of wrestling greatness, eh?

I actually find it interesting that there are basically no WWE biopics or features on Vince Sr. I get that he ran things a long time ago and most current fans were not even born then, but still. Surely they can do that instead of like the 50th DVD about Montreal or Austin v. McMahon?

PWO IS BACK, BAY BAY! Flair for me. Much longer career, so many more moments of greatness in basically every context, in multiple promotions, against so many different wrestlers

I think the last time an "era" really ended was what, Cena winning the US title? It signalled the end of Cena's run as the ace and shifted him to the midcard. Since then, it's basically been the same era. Hell, even the "PG Era" and "Reality Era" were basically the same. I totally understand the frustration about naming every 5-year period an era. It's basically working backwards: we decide that a certain time period will be a new era, and then find reasons to justify it, as well as to name the actual era. For me, eras should be called such only if it represents a complete break from the past. "Rock and Wrestling Era", "Attitude Era" and "Uber-corporate PG Era" are the only three proper WWF/WWE eras I can think of using that definition

Seriously though, this was an excellent Dynamite episode. Much better than the last two weeks, even the last 3-4 weeks. It helped that all the stupid stuff was done with in the first 30 minutes