Migs

I don't think Sinclair has a replacement lined up until the fall (WOW). So the deal might be that they're filling the slot with old stuff until Tony figures out what to do or WOW is ready to go.

The idea of a combined AEW/NJPW/ROH and maybe Impact or AAA streaming service would be really tremendous for the overall wrestling community. We're the 1% that pays for multiple streaming services and seeks out content we can't otherwise find. For a fan who's enjoying AEW to be like "Hmm, that Punk entrance was cool, let me watch some ROH Punk" or do a dive into old Omega matches... it's good for everyone.

There is a fair bit of the early years on Honor Club (pretty sure you can look at the library without being a subscriber), but there's certainly gaps.

I thought the show overall was good. Felt a bit more like a big New Japan show than much since 2020, even if the quality wasn't as good as the shows in 2019 or before.

The built to the original match was undermined by the Bucks being in the process of turning heel. Right after the match, they completed the turn, and were (1) in a different angle and (2) not well aligned for another match with FTR. Ironically, I think they are striking while the iron is hot now, because the Bucks are likely to be faces whenever Kenny gets back, and FTR is in the process of turning face. They need to get the match in now or it might be a while before it works again.

It's not about what the stature of the title was before. He (impressively!) made winning that title seem like the most important thing in wrestling.

I have been one of Cody's biggest fans. I think his promo run in 2018-19 is all-time classic. He's been running the same playbook with diminishing results for the last two years. Now, is it going to work for some people who haven't seen it, have seen less of it, or just really enjoy it? Yes. It might even get him to the top of WWE. He did this angle with Nick Aldis and I have never seen a crowd as hot as they were for Cody at All In, or as emotional. It may be an incredibly smart choice to manufacture a way to use it again. But if you've seen this guy cry because he's fulfilled the legacy of his father by winning the NWA title, it's a little weird to go back to that well and say "Nah, that wasn't the belt that mattered, it's this one instead!"

Yes, it was awesome. I actually think it worked well that it ended up on this ROH show - it was clearly the main draw so they could build around it in and give them a ton of time to let the match build and work it the way they wanted to. Couldn't have done that on Dynamite, or even on an AEW PPV.

Massive number of buys by ROH standards. Considering I assume the purchase was primarily for the library, this has to be quite the bonus for TK. https://www.f4wonline.com/news/other-wrestling/roh-supercard-of-honor-brings-in-more-than-20000-pay-per-view-buys

You could literally see him prep himself to tear up at points. That promo rang exceptionally hollow if you've seen him give the same one, better, a dozen times over the last 5 years.

Yes, it's already up.

From last night, Mox vs AJ Gray and Bandido vs Speedball Bailey were both great.

I feel like the NJ Strong title is sort of like a TV title? Title defenses almost never main event the live shows they've done. The US title is a weird one, though - you'd think it would have made sense for that title to go from Archer to, say, Juice Robinson, so it could be defended in the US. I guess they wanted the title to be able to be part of the big shows, but it's been passed around to the point it seems pretty meaningless. My gut is that Ospreay was going to win it from Sanada and bring it to the US shows, but then Sanada got hurt and they're stuck again.

I'd say the matches to see are, in rough order of quality: ZSJ-Ospreay ZSJ-Shingo ZSJ-Naito Okada-Naito Hiromu-Suzuki Shingo-Hiromu Okada-Desperado I don't see them taking a shot with Sabre here, it feels like they have longer-term plans for Okada's run. But I do think this win and his G1 run have elevated him a bit. (This is the problem with NJ getting rid of the IC Title - this would be the perfect moment for him to win that and have a run, but alas, it's not there anymore, replaced with two belts that have basically no meaning.)

I think he locked in when he got to do a bunch of tagging with Suzuki in 2018-2019. He had a sort of good but quiet 2021 doing tags but was awesome in the G1 last year.

In MLW, it felt like he was playing a bit more on the Loose Cannon part of his dad's career (at least in how he dressed, and a little in how he worked). I don't think he's suited from an athleticism standpoint to be Flyin' Brian - he seems fine as an athlete but his dad was a freak in that regard. The problem is that he's not really a good enough promo to break out in AEW at the moment. Feels like the type of guy that would be better off with a run in Impact (or ROH, maybe) to find an actual character. He got his shot last fall, didn't really show enough and now I don't see how he's anything more than a JTTS in AEW.

Anna Jay for sure.

This is the point where Paul seemingly gets way too obsessed with crowning guys at the "right" time. Taz is hot there but Paul wanted him to get the big moment in beating Shane, but this meant delaying and delaying to the point where he missed the peak (and I think, in turn, delaying Taz led him to miss the peak with RVD and Lynn too). It's why late ECW can be such a crushing, wheel spinning bore at times from a story perspective. I think the right answer was probably Snow winning the title, dropping it to Bigelow at the Arena the next month, and then Taz wins the title at Heat Wave from Bigelow (in basically the same match they had). That solves the FTW title bullshit, at least lets Taz avenge his big loss if he's not going to beat Shane, and keeps his momentum going. He could work Shane at N2R.

Pretty sure Honor Club is still $10 if someone doesn't want to pay $30 for the show.

Sigh

Fixed

Brian Myers has a really good ECW podcast where Shane goes into gory detail about how bad his body was at the time. Baffling why Paul didn't think it made sense to just pull the trigger on Snow and have him drop the title quickly.

His upside is essentially Styles, but Styles came in loved by the hardcore fans and unknown to most of the others. He got a big pop from the hardcore group but wasn't tainted for the casuals. Cody... it seems like everyone's going to have an opinion on him right away, and the opinions are going to be mixed. I'm sure he'll get a pop when he comes out first (because surprises always get one), but after that, it's really hard to tell. He's got a lot of baggage. It's going to be a real test of Vince because this could go very off the rails very quickly if he doesn't let the crowd lead on whether Cody should be a heel or a face and with how much respect he should be given.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/undertaker-feels-current-wwe-product-lacks-a-level-of-grit He won't say if it's "good or bad" - LOL. It's okay, old man, yell at those pesky clouds.

ZSJ-Ospreay was the match of the tournament. Just spectacular.