MoS

Ricky Starks is an absolute rockstar and he deserves at least as much of a push as Yuta, Garcia, and Sammy.

One of the more amusing aspects of all the AEW backstage gossip and rumours is the fact that of all people, Rush has been extremely well-behaved and has caused no issues whatsoever.

This JAS v. BCC feud just never ends, huh. Common pattern across all Jericho feuds is them going too long

Hope everyone here is safe from hurricane Ian

I get why they did it, but I don't like the booking of King-Guevara. It prolongs a feud that no one wants prolonged, and I think TK takes King for granted. People are saying this is building to him beating Jericho for the ROH title, but I don't think that will happen

I am aware of when the 83-week winning streak started. I just don't think that one month of victories by itself means much. There had been mini-streaks before in that war. WCW had gone on a nice little mini-streak in the spring before Nitro got pre-empted for a week just as Shawn became champ at WM, and Nitro lost some momentum, so that mini-streak ended. Point being, WCW had done well in the war until then as well, so I don't think their debuts started a wave, so to speak. I really think it was the turn that started that.

I agree about the invasion part being very important, hence why I said they needed to have been on WWF television recently. Not sure about having a history with WCW though; I don't think that was a significant factor.

I think they eventually became a big part of the angle, especially with TV ratings, but I don't think their debut was particularly significant to the bottom line. PPV buys for Bash at the Beach 1997 were either flat or actually might have declined - don't exactly remember off the top of my head. I think they needed to be people who had recently been on WWF television, so someone like Davey Boy Smith or Owen would also have meant the same for business initially. When I said they did not make a particularly significant impact on business, I meant their debut. Ultimately, given how long the angle went, you needed people with charisma and presence to do weekly prime time television, and Hall and Nash definitely fit the criteria - Hall more than Nash imo.

With Hall and Nash, the most generous inference is that they were like DX - they enhanced the overall presentation, they helped make the product look cool, but they were not driving the growth in business. If Hogan doesn't turn, WCW doesn't go on a monstrous run of business like it did.

My point was that saying Punk made no difference because ratings were not as high as the debut episode is as silly and ridiculous as saying Roman's run is a dud because ratings never reached the heights of either the debut Fox episode or the post-big NFL game episode. I expressly said that calling Roman's run a dud is "patently ridiculous" and that no one should ever argue that. Those were literally my exact words. Perhaps next time don't jump to conclusions and actually try reading. It's not my fault Roman is not a tangible difference-maker; no one in WWE is except Cena. The entire point is that just because Punk did not make an Austin-like difference in AEW's business doesn't mean his run was a dud. As for Nash and Hall, look man, I love Hall, and I hate Hogan, but facts are facts. Hall and Nash were replaceable, Hogan was not. He was the key. That's not "weird", that is simply facts. Feel free to go back and check the Y-t-Y ratings, PPV buys and attendance, let me know what you conclude.

As I said, cuz she rocks (even as a manager)

I don't disagree, given recent ticket pre-sales in Chicago. Punk definitely isn't a Hogan/Austin/Rock/Cena-esque difference maker, I think we all agree on that

Punk v. Bucks shootfight sounds like a fight even the Texas athletic commission wouldn't sanction for MMA amateur cards in its jurisdiction. I miss Punk's angles but honestly, not having the Elite around doing corny comedy and melodrama is a bonus. Tony should let all the nxt 1.0 alumni go as well. Never understood his obsession with them, given they got their asses kicked going against his show and his wrestlers.

He made AEW consistently be number one for the day in ratings, and top 5 in the week. Yes, AEW has not approached its debut show rating. By this logic, Roman's entire run is a dud because SD has never come close to the numbers it got for its debut on Fox. Except that is patently ridiculous, and so is pretending that Punk was not a difference maker. And it's cute how ticket sales are a great positive for WWE, but AEW doing multiple $1 million gates and regularly beating WWE in ticket sales when they would run the same areas around the same period of time, including NYC, after Punk came (the first non-WWE company to ever do so) is just an "RoH-level" niche difference. And since we are so focused on business, let's not forget that WWE's business has turned around and been the hottest it's been in years precisely from the time Roman decided to be a part-timer and an AEW midcarder returned at Wrestlemania and immediately made Raw extremely hot. Not once has announcing Roman for a particular show made a tangible difference in ratings or ticket sales. That's one of the main reasons why AEW was beating WWE in ticket sales for TV tapings regularly after Punk showed up. So clearly his run is a dud and the McMahons, Cena and Cody should only be the main eventers. Except no one says that. Nor should they. Oh, and Hall and Nash didn't have a particularly significant impact on business. WCW went on a streak, but WCW was regularly beating WWF in the ratings even prior to that. House show attendance had rebounded and increased prior to their debut, with the Flair-Savage feud. It was Hogan's return and turn that got business to a new level.

And in 1000 days he hasn't had one match that comes close to Punk v. Kingston

This is not Twitter. He had some excellent matches, great feuds with Kingston, MJF and Mox, got AEW to start hitting 1 million viewers on a regular basis, cut numerous great promos, and made Chicago an AEW city. Roman Reigns would sacrifice his firstborn to have a year as great as this one.

The pre-sale for the next Chicago show is actually doing better than their last few ones, despite it being known that Punk isn't going to be there. This might be temporary, but right now, somehow, the suspension of Punk and the Elite lads have had no negative effect on their business at all. In fact, it's actually been up across the board, better than in months.

Excellent match, better than their first one, which I had also loved, but I disagree with the result. Mox is my guy, love him, but the belt should have gone to Danielson.

I am loving this match

Man, Danielson is SO SO SO good. He really is the GOAT

Cuz she rocks

She very obviously is. Why would you do all your big angles on one show. It makes sense to delay it a bit

Paige/Saraya blew the roof off with her debut, so great to see her

And Athena's power. The women's match has had better agenting in the last few weeks

It certainly worked here