MoS

I don't remember the Charlotte-Carmella match - tbh I don't think it would have ever captured my interest, going from Asuka to Carmella - but I was going to say that a major factor separating her from Triple H is that she does not make her opponents look like complete jokers who do not belong in the ring with her, unlike Hunter who did it constantly. The times she has put over Sasha, she has done so with no such issues. Same with putting over Bayley. But WWE fucked over Sasha and Bayley and their booking with or without Charlotte. They have spent the last 10 months trying to rehab Bayley with a heel turn, but nothing will match the squandered opportunity they had to get a wrestler legitimately appealing to a new demographic in kids and teenage girls.

This I agree with. And fair point regarding the inability to grow its core audience. And yeah, this definitely deserves its own thread. To keep this connected to Corny, he has made the point about the need to expand its audience, and it's a valid point. I am not sure Corny's vision of pro wrestling would be able to do the same either, though. Maybe it can, if it has the best talents who can execute his vision, but his model is also an inflexible one, and that, coupled with his infamous temper, has led to several problems between him and multiple promotions.

She has been directionless more than anything, especially since Becky replaced her as the top female star. She has been used as props for other people more than anything, except they constantly also push her on commentary as one of the GOATs and occasionally they remember it in the booking and give her big wins that don't really help her or anybody. Prior to Becky's rise, I absolutely think her beating Asuka at WM was the wrong move. Asuka was the closest thing to a force of nature the division had seen until Ronda and Charlotte's PPV streak had been broken - including at WM - so there was absolutely no reason for her to win that match. And then to have Asuka cut a promo basically bowing before the Queen.

I like to imagine Vince at least coinsidered one-upping WCW by trying to get MJ to skip practice. Of all gimmicks for Seth Rollins, a mid-card heel who is grumpy about the upcoming sleepless nights he's going to have is the best suited for him.

Martha Hart has been vilified by wrestling fans and her own family for two decades now for some bullshit hall of fame "legacy" deal, with, among others, Bret and Smith Hart giving interviews about how she is "erasing" Owen's legacy. Just shows that the fans and family never cared about Owen as much as they cared about them being able to mark out for his WWE matches. I am so glad she is doing public appearances now and giving her side of the story. She seems like the sweetest person in the world, someone who did not really understand the wrestling business but tried to get involved because her husband was in it. It's a pity no one in the business returned the favour to her. I saw comments about how she has been "living off" the Hart name for decades, and all I could think was that wrestling fans are the worst.

The Last Dance is not even close to the best sports doc ever imo, but it was excellent. Saw this on Twitter, but it's amazing and hilarious how MJ seems to hold on to the mildest perceived slight, but he seems unbothered by Dennis Rodman literally missing NBA finals practice to join the nWo and hang out with Hogan.

Covid does not stop being a relevant reason for the drop in ratings just by adding "regardless of COVID". Unless you mean since their debut. Which is correct, but to say the ratings have dropped consistently is not correct, given the ratings had rebounded in 2020 in a big way before COVID brought down the TV ratings for every show. AEW can be better than they are, but to compare them to WWE seems silly. That said, Omega I don't think is in the top 5 ratings mover in AEW. When he is put in a focused storyline like Page and the implosion of the Elite, he can be great. But left to his own devices, he would rather do dorky non-comedy with Nakazawa instead.

A friend of mine said about Omega something which perfectly captures my feelings on him: he is a gifted guy who, if booked strongly, can be a huge star and main event guy, but if left to his own devices, would just be doing wacky comedy mid-card stuff with no direction. Gedo booked him perfectly and he became a massive part of modern NJPW's international resurgence. On the other hand, his AEW run has just been underwhelming. Yes, the tag team stuff has been great, but Page is the star of the feud, and it's been Matt Jackson who has been instrumental in pushing the storyline aspect of the feud. Omega is the 4th best guy in that entire story. Yes, he is a star, but he could be so much more. He flat out said on Twitter a while back that he thinks he has had his run and it's time to put others over, which, I dunno, it makes no sense to me. Speaking of Cornette's opinions on wrestlers, he is not a fan of Mox's in-ring work apparently, which is a bit surprising to me, because I thought that grinding old-school wrestling style would be something he would like.

Yeah my comments were not intended to be a defence of Dana Brooke in particular. Cornette was out of line yeah, and I bet he keeps cutting promos about this for weeks now.

Social media has been abuzz with how angle a or angle b is a huge turnoff and will ensure AEW is never taken seriously since before the promotion started so I am not too concerned about that. That said, AEW has consistently shown it listens to audience feedback so hopefully they keep fine-tuning the angle.

The women's match was sloppy and should never have gone that long, but it had really great personalities and I hope they continue to be utilised, in a better way. Penelope is a star, Britt is amazing, and Statlander has real potential. Shida of course is great and has been for a while.

How does that progress to Henry threatening to sue Rush for defamation and questioning his blackness though? And the stuff about plugging his music and calling out Henry cuz he is famous? Sorry, but I am very very confused.

It seems fitting to ask this here: can somebody explain what's happening between Mark Henry and Lio Rush? Apparently Henry threatened to sue Rush for "questioning his blackness"?!

That IS the point though. Steroids are a different thing in my opinion cuz Vince in the 80s changed the perception of what a good pro wrestler is by marketing roided up freaks as the premier athletes. Because of decades of debating about steroids and the bodies they produce, discussing steroids and their effects have become commonplace in pro wrestling. That includes making fun of wrestlers for getting bitch tits while proclaiming in public interviews that they are clean. On the other hand, womens' cosmetic discussions are centred on the same societal prejudices that affect them in every other industry. I don't know if I am communicating my point well, but that makes the reaction to women particularly noxious. That is not to say that men don't get the same treatment ever, but I do feel it's different.

To be fair, there definitely is a double standard as far as reaction: women undergoing such cosmetic surgeries are analysed (and mocked) far more than the men who do so. Not to turn this into the 2020 sleaze thread, but, for instance, it is evident that Rock got some cosmetic work done on him as he was transitioning to Hollywood in 2003-04, but people never really talked about it.

It's not just premature it's also blasphemous. Not until he cuts a Dream-like promo, and he has shown no hints of being an incredible promo.

Came here to post this. What the fuck.

So I don't know who started the "Is Otis the modern-day Dusty" talk on Twitter, but the reactions have been hilariously entertaining, so I am almost glad they did.

It's so unnecessary. He might not get having kids but it was so obvious how much that meant to Becky. Plus, WWE today is not WWE in the late 90s - early 2000s. If Becky wants, she can come back full-time after having the kid - hell, if one of them has to be a stay-at-home parent, I would much rather Seth take that role and get off my TV.

I love how he presumes the father had no agency or joy in the child being born.

Would just like to echo this.

Face Otis - heel Bryan would rock so hard. I can totally imagine Bryan ranting about gluttony destroying our planet. Every time Bryan wrestles he adds to his GOAT case imo.

Good promo by Mox. Pity Brodie Lee was not booked stronger. Another very good show in my opinion. It's interesting because it was mostly about building the PPV and ordinarily it would be a good idea, but we are not in ordinary times and who knows how many buys they get.

Brodie Lee needing outside interference to win is bad booking imo. As it is, he is challenging for the world title out of nowhere with just a couple of squashes and one big match, straight out of WWWF 1960s booking. He needs to look as strong as possible, otherwise it makes a weak main event even weaker. He should have run through Daniels.

At the very least, it's an expensive object that Hardy has been shown to have an attachment to. Hardy sold it accordingly too. It was fine. As FMKK pointed out, it's not close to the stuff he has actually sold through his career. Russo's booking, Katie Vick, I could go on.