MoS

From what I remember from reading the Observer, the first time WWF and Flair came really, formally close to talking about him jumping was some time shortly after Arn and Tully jumped. It was when the relationship between Flair and Dusty was probably at its nadir, and I guess Flair was just tired of it. But then Turner decided to buy the company and made it abundantly clear that it was contingent on Flair being there. I think this was around the same time Dusty wanted Flair to put over Rick Steiner in 4 minutes at Starrcade.

I would agree with that, with the caveat that heel Flair's offence was such that a jobber babyface beating him up seemed far more possible than a jobber often getting the better of babyface best wrestler in the world Omega. Matt Hardy expanding his gimmick to include Normal Matt (or as close to normal as Matt Hardy has ever been) and Crazy Matt is really a very good example of AEW listening to the audience and trying to adjust accordingly.

Unless that completely unknown random guy is going to become a George South-esque mini-celebrity jobber, I don't see how having him go toe to toe with your top guy, including kicking out of a V-trigger, helps anybody.

Loving this evolution tbh

Good match. I liked the show a lot. They have done a very good job of booking the TNT title tournament in my opinion.

With hindsight, imagine being a smart fan of WCW in the early 90s and thinking Dustin Rhodes is undeserving of his spot and a beneficiary of nepotism.

The way it was booked, it seemed a showcase for Havoc more than Cassidy to me. Which is stupid to me because Cassidy is great and Havoc is horrible.

The Bubbly Bunch absolutely needs to be a regular thing even after all this nightmare ends

I will give credit to AEW- they are making me look forward to the eventual squash between Lee and Marko Stunt. Simple booking is still the best booking.

I dunno how legit MJF's injury is, but him blaming it on his inability to quit gambling was amazing. He is the most natural promo I have seen in wrestling in years and years.

Too much Jimmy Havoc but that was okay. I love Penelope Ford

Jimmy Havoc sucks. Jericho calling Orange Cassidy a freshly squeezed idiot and then saying "He is being beaten....to a pulp. Haha youseewhatididthere" Jericho is a gift to all of us.

Here are my thoughts so far - Excellent match and excellent finish. I think they pull the trigger on Darby when he faces Cody. They are either phasing out Damascus or acting like it's a split personality thing with Matt Hardy and I am in favour of it. AEW shows it listens to fans and Matt Hardy is a good promo without being a crazy dude. I liked this video from Matt.

Did not see there was already a thread. Kenny Omega giving so much to a jobber is exactly why he should never be in charge of booking a wrestling show

Excellent match and excellent finish. I think they pull the trigger on Darby when he faces Cody. They are either phasing out Damascus or acting like it's a split personality thing with Matt Hardy and I am in favour of it. AEW shows it listens to fans and Matt Hardy is a good promo without being a crazy dude. I liked this video from Matt.

Darby-Sammy 2 has been really good so far. These two will headline against each other for years.

Clearly an attempt to show solidarity for Brodie Lee and Eric Rowan

So, Hunter seems to have aged about 25 years. Reminds me of how his hero Flair looked really good until 2002 and then all of a sudden looked 10 years older than he was

Maybe not, but it was a clear botch and if Kairi is not hurt, that's pure luck. There's also a video going around Twitter where Kairi audibly says she is not ready/set up but Nia gives her the move anyway.

True, and the business was far more brutal then. But I also think such behaviour would have turned off a lot of legit athletes from other sports who would otherwise have been interested and would have done well. And I have to think insecurity was a huge reason behind this conduct as well. I always think back to how the New Japan dojo was notorious for hazing rookies, but no one pulled any shit with Bad News Brown because he would have fucked them up.

I wish I could still like comments

Surely there was a way to get legit guys other than making rookies run 10 miles, do 500 Hindu squats, and then breaking their orbital bones while stretching them to within an inch of their lives. Stipe Miocic would kill any pro wrestler on the planet in an actual fight, but if you make him expend all his energy doing brutal workouts, then even Seth Rollins would probably kick his ass. I really think such a system turned off far more talent than it attracted.

Yeah, I remember old-timers beaming with pride as they would talk about the number of rookies Danny Hodge would beat up, leaving them bloody and often with broken bones.

Related to that, Stu Hart used to take a shit ton of liberties with rookies in his dungeon to show off - under the guise of weeding out the weak or just having fun of course - but I don't think Bret, or anyone in the Hart family, ever criticised him for that.

Given his gimmick, he might very well be working.