MoS

Poor Hiromu doing his best to make the most of this storyline

Clearly, one of the reasons all of us nerds posting here love Sasha is that she is a fellow wrestling nerd.

It would honestly be pretty boring if Okada is the one who ends EVIL's reign.

Wow I was NOT expecting that result.

Sad Himoru definitely needs to be a meme

Both Mox and Renee apparently tested negative for covid, so that's good news. As far as the actual title match, this situation might have turned out to be a blessing in disguise; giving Taz the chance to cut weekly pissed off promos insulting Mox has made the match feel bigger than it previously felt.

Definitely. I mentioned Dusty finishes, but even the ones he did win, he would win weakly. He got away for a long time with it because he is Ric Flair, but it was definitely a factor in their eventual decline.

Even with all of that, JCP still made tons of money in 1985 and 1986. It's not a sustainable model though, and ultimately, fans get tired of seeing their heroes constantly getting screwed over. Some of it is booking, absolutely, but world champs feeling credible mattered a lot then and even now, is a big factor, and while Flair was untouchable because of his promos, ultimately, fans would think of Hogan being the more "real" world champ. In today's world, there won't be the constant Dusty finishes that definitely played a role in JCP declining, andof course, good heel runs when done properly are money, but as a long-term model, I much prefer the babyface anchor model. Ric Flair could have had excellent matches as the top face as well.

Yeah. With hindsight, if I were booking JCP in the late 80s, I would have turned Flair face in 1987 and let him have a long run as champ. He could have always turned back heel when it was time to put over the next generation of faces.

I think it was @Jimmy Redman who articulated why I feel long face runs being better than long heel runs, everything else (booking, characters etc) being roughly equal: face title reigns are just a nicer experience. It might be predictable, but at lesst it's a happy prediction.

Yeah. It's honestly a gobsmacking statement. It's genuinely ewuivalent to me getting confused by late 1980s JCP and going "Flair, Cornette, Windham, Eaton..there are just too many similar-looking tall white guys here for me to keep up!!"

Imagining him going back and forth with jdw, patented line breaks and quote by quote and all

Jericho and Tony Khan keep arguing on Twitter with fans about key demo ratings as compared to overall viewers. They are absolutely right about the key demo viewership being more important than overall viewers for TV stations and advertisers, and fans who think this focus on key demos is just an imaginary thing cooked up to defend AEW and put down NXT are absolutely stupid. That said, your promoter and your top star arguing publicly with fans about it is a bad look imo and it makes them come across as insecure and bush league. They should publicly be above this kind of petty bullshit.

Am I totally off on this, or did this really become a thing during the SD Six era? I find it annoying too.

This. Reading this thread, one of the issues evident to me about AEW's managers is that all of them are old and none can bump properly. Sweeney would have been perfect. Related to that, who are the young managers in pro wrestling today? Or do young talent not even try to become managers these days?

It's not so much about the number as much as it is about managers being old-time legends who might overshadow the young upcoming (but not yet stars) wrestlers they manage. 1980s WWF had a host of managers, but they also had a host of really over stars to play off. But yeah, if they figure out a way to do it, it would be great. I have really enjoyed Taz's promos for the Mox fight. When was the last time Taz was cutting badass promos on a weekly basis? 1999?

Kawada with Gary Hart as manager would have totally ruled.

Oh I totally agree with that. I just got happy with it because it probably means he will have an extended run in NXT and won't be doing backstage main roster ninja skits anytime soon. Although a Bryan v. Lee match would rule so hard.

If Cole is 6 feet then I am Big Show

Yeah, I am really happy for Lee but having watched the show now, I thought the match itself was a bit underwhelming. But I also thought the AEW 8 man was underwhelming, and that's also getting universal praise.

Man, I completely disagree with this. I am not even sure Nyla should have a manager, because AEW has too many, but Vickie is a tremendous promo.

I have hope that he is left alone to dominate in NXT. What gives me hope is reading @C.S.'s summary of the Mark Henry interview with Austin, where Henry said Lee is excellent but is still a work in progress. Henry is a company man and I doubt he would say something like that unless he knew the higher-ups agreed.

Matt Riddle put up a short video, denying the allegations and said he was guilty of cheating on his wife with the accuser. Their extramarital affairs are their personal business, but his story has changed already from "She is a complete psycho" to "I had a relationship with her but I did not do anything that she is accusing me of", which does not sound good for him.

I will see the match later today - it's early morning here and I need to go to bed- but really happy for Keith Lee. They should have put the rocket on his back in December itself, and I am glad they have done so now. He has so much charisma, excellent presence, I hope they book him the way they booked Asuka in NXT.

I loved the main event. Orange Cassidy is the best babyface in pro wrestling right now. I really liked the show overall. It's interesting they are using the Fight for the Fallen name for next week and yet so far they have only announced the world title match. The covid situation inadvertently turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the match. Taz's excellent weekly promos have turned the match from a good TV main event to something approaching a major league match.