MoS

AEW has never done the Lake of Reincarnation thing......

Thanks, yeah, now that I think about it, 40B does sound Disney-like haha

I mean, they brought in Brian Cage and put Taz with him and within weeks of build-up, he has now popped big numbers two weeks in a row, all the while looking like an absolute badass in the ring. Hate on Taz all you want, but saying that all the buzz is about Taz and it has not transferred to Cage is just being delusional.

So, WWE made record profit of USD 40 billion this quarter. The fact that there were any layoffs and furloughs because of the pandemic when the company is making money hands over fist is not surprising, but it should really show once and for all what kind of promotion WWE is. Vince also said that the reason AEW and NXT's ratings are back to pre-pandemic levels while Raw and SD ratings continue to drop is cuz the former are "newer", which is laughable.

Oh yeah, wasn't that a dig at what JR had written in his blog?

Fair point, although I will say that a shift to two hours on prime time would have made it a corporate tool regardless. Hey maybe Shawn just needs his Brando to come to NXT

I think the former Cameron might be friends with Brandi - they were in developmental together. I am glad someone apart from me was underwhelmed by Warhorse. For some reason he has an indy following that was gushing all over this match, while for me the only good thing about the match was, as I said, the underlying story of Cody's title reign and defences, which is good booking more than anything.

Honestly, as annoying as I found it, Shawn was still good and charismatic enough to get away with it. It could be corny but it was not nearly as nauseating as it is when his ripoffs do it. Plus, a while back they were restricted to legends matches and basically existed in a self-contained world of their own. However, it is a terrible terrible template to build your world title main event scene on, and Shawn becoming a trainer has definitely played a role in it. This reminds me of the GOAT discussions where @Matt D used to talk about Arn's agenting and whether that should factor in while analysing his case. I have definitely seen Shawn going down people's lists recently because of the NXT main event style, and it's actually an interesting point to discuss.

This is only tangentially related, but I think putting it directly head to head with AEW did not help its vibe. It went from being a cool alternative to main roster WWE to being a billion dollar corporation tool being used to put down another cool alternative to main roster WWE. If Vince wanted to nip AEW in the bud he should have probably put Smackdown against it or something.

I have been a Thatcher fan for years and I never thought he would become the tremendous personality that he has on WWE TV. Kudos to him.

Ouch. Well, Ricky did injure him first. Really liked the match. Darby is an obvious star. I don't know about putting him in a world title match. He should obviously not be beating Moxley right now, but he should not be taking pins either. Still hoping the long term plan for him is to beat Cage and then beat Cody for the title. Good show overall. The first hour was a bit weak compared to their last few shows, but things really picked up in the 2nd hour. There are a bunch of moving storylines right now that are interesting to follow. Just a feeling of constant motion that makes AEW worth watching and following.

No one in pro wrestling moves like Darby Allin. His is a violent dance.

That was an incredible promo. Him continuing to shout on the mic over his music was probably a miscue but it added to the experience for me. I hope AEW does not start copying those terrible Rosie O'Donnell skits during the presidential seasons. This debate can be both the greatest thing ever or the worst thing ever.

MJF kissing a clearly fake baby has me howling

This is pretty on point, yeah The women's match was good and I actually liked it more than the Cody match. Shida is becoming one of my favourite wrestlers in the world.

That tag title match was excellent. The Dark Order gimmick sucks but the Smash Bros are really good wrestlers. The Omega slow heel turn has me intrigued. Matt Cordana is meh. Whatever.

Warhorse seemed fine. The underlying story with Cody's matches is making them better than they really are, which is a sign of strong booking.

Someone please get Luchasaurus a good quality mask

Hager is a bad pro wrestler.

I really love Jericho embracing the demo God moniker. Truly the last of the old-school workers.

Will they finally deliver on the Horsemen angle they have been teasing forever

Yeah, I think the decline creatively and spiritually can be traced back to the 2nd Gargano-Ciampa match. The first was a huge success, with the face going over clean. Then they decided to continue with it except make it even more epic, and it became overwrought and a turnoff. This relates to DMJ's point about trying to make everything epic and playing a dangerous game of top-this with your own self that is inherently sustainable and will lead to you eating your own tail. That feud was also where you can argue that the main roster problem of booking babyfaces like idiots seeped into NXT. For a healthy, hot brand, you always need smart over faces. I still think NXT's peak and its most enduring success is the 2015 Sasha-Bayley feud.

Hopefully he is good. Does he do some kind of modern Ultimate Warrior gimmick? I am really hoping the Mox-Cage-Darby-Starks booking culminates in Darby beating Cage. They need to give one of their homegrown stars a huge win to get them to the next level.

Who is this Warhorse guy against whom Cody is defending this week?

The Asuka-Sasha thing straddled the end of hour 2 and beginning of hour 3. The quarters when they come out will make things clearer, but I would absolutely not be surprised if that bullshit ending pissed off a lot of viewers who just tuned out and didn't return. It's a pity because Asuka and Sasha have been having excellent matches which inevitably get terrible finishes due to shitty booking.