Migs

I think they might have 50K by the end of Friday. Meltz has talked about how its mostly early buyers for AEW, so my gut is 60K is plausible but 70K might be out of reach (unless the early demand activates heavy scalper activity).

Meltz is saying they moved 35,000 tickets today.

My impression from Reddit is the tickets are moving pretty briskly in the first presale.

The material stinks. The whole angle appears to be a debate about who's most earned a "you deserve it" chant.

I honestly think the problem was his co-host. Koon's from the Conrad school of stirring the pot ad nauseam, which is fine for retired wrestlers but not so great for active guys. There's a version of the podcast that's not nearly as hot take-y, but it wasn't getting there with Koon as co-host.

All I'd seen was that they had been made aware of it, but I wouldn't be surprised at some pressure if they feel he moves ratings. Heck, highly possible the conversation was: WBD Exec: Can we get Punk back? Tony: Honestly, a lot of people hate him. (half-joking) He'd have to, like, be on his own show. WBD Exec: So... you want another show? Tony: (trying to hide his excitement) Um... sure, we could do that.

Impact has sort of become this ideal spot for people with other lucrative side gigs (Meyers/Cardona and the Good Bros as examples on the podcast side). Get to be on US TV, work 3-4 days a month, minimal restrictions on doing indies, the ability to occasionally link up with New Japan if that matters to you. They've done a good job of positioning themselves to have a better roster than they otherwise would.

Jericho is one of the carniest carnies to ever carny. https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/update-on-cm-punks-aew-return-saturday-show-brand-split-working-with-jericho This all feels like it has the chance to go way off the rails.

I mean, it's good indie movez~! type stuff. They're all clearly great athletes and I like the creativity. It's a bit weird to hold that up like they're on some high level (especially when I feel like the same shit on a non-WWE show would get derision from WWE stans).

I've said it before, but here it is again - NJPW never should have ditched the IC title. Holding that was the next step Sanada needed 3+ years ago when he was falling just short against Okada and in G1 finals. Thankfully for them, the push now seems to be succeeding at some level (he was getting cheered in the match with Okada). I don't think he's main eventing Wrestle Kingdom, but if they can just get him up to a higher level where he can main event some B shows, there'll have been some value in this.

Agreed with Phil that they likely go back to Universal soon, but it's actually worse - they taped the entire ROH ep after Dynamite, so the crowd slowly petered out as the show ran past midnight. At least they opened with Briscoe/Lucha Bros and Shibata.

This is pretty weird. My assumption was no All Out, but not really clear how you can build to two shows at the same level a week apart.

I watched a bit of the preview tag matches and I didn't see anything particularly different from Sanada. I've kinda dug the promo quotes I've seen, though.

I didn't see that one (although I think it may be on FITE+?). Saw them against Jay Lethal and Homicide, which was *merely* a very good southern style tag match. Lethal and Homicide did great heeling it against them, and it was just fun to see a lengthy FTR match up close.

I've been to one of the Big Time Wrestling shows they've done with Bret, and they're basically structured as a meet and greet with a show tacked on. That's one reason that, if Punk can't mend fences with AEW, I really do see a non-zero chance of them doing indie shit together. Punk gets to do wrestling without dealing with a big company over his head, FTR does Impact and New Japan to make a full-time living. I would rather be seeing them all in AEW, and I'd bet on that being the more likely outcome, but with everything happening with Punk I think the other scenarios is at least plausible.

I also think the Punk stuff plays into this potentially; either with them staying and this being something pointing to his return, or them going elsewhere and/or wandering the indies with Punk. It's sort of a win-win - either I get to see FTR win the titles back or the loss is an indication things are about to get very interesting for them.

I'm assuming this is the release date for the video game. Will be there live on Wednesday, and pretty excited for the lineup, especially the FTR match.

That one was a worse decision for sure - this time there's no Attitude Era level run to kill. (Although I guess we'll see if ticket sales keep the same pace, they'd been doing pretty well as of late.)

So, is this the official crumbling of the empire? WWE will still be a big entity, but the end of Vince's ultimate control feels like an end to his story in many ways. The rest is just coda.

Yeah, wasn't feeling this at the start but they just kept hitting each other until the drama ratcheted up. I am totally lost as to what Charlotte's character is supposed to be at the moment.

BCC vs the Elite could definitely be a six month angle and I would not complain. If Matt is out and they get Ibushi for an Anarchy in the Arena, I would be very, very excited.

It can't be understated that Dave, a news reporter with a publication people pay for, didn't even report this in his publication. He made a stray comment on his fucking message board. I have a much more positive view of Dave than many (I think much of the criticism he takes is in bad faith), but this whole scenario was so monumentally stupid for a guy who wants to be taken seriously as a reporter.

The other question is when was Punk cleared. Was he cleared before the first match, and they simply waited to do the match until he was cleared (which is why the angle was rushed)? Or was he not cleared until All Out?

It makes sense. They stopped telling interesting stories with Brock many years ago. At this point he's an "attraction," which means him F5ing a giant man is a perfectly good use of him at this point.

Now I need to see Joe and Punk running on a beach together.