DMJ

Austin just needs someone like Owens last year - a heel that can do a little brawling in the crowd, bump for haymakers like they've been struck by lightning, and bounce off a Stunner. If I was a betting man, I'd put my money on Theory and its not because I'm an Austin Theory fan. The issue is that the WWE is a bit light on heels that fit the bill. Rollins just turned face but would've probably been the ideal candidate. I'd like to see The Miz in the spot, but for whatever reason, I'm not sure he'd get the nod despite being the best possible choice (he can carry the feud via promos when Austin isn't around and making a smoke-and-mirrors match work is actually one of his strong suits). Sami has a babyface-in-a-heel-stable vibe so I don't think he'd be the guy, though he obviously deserves some sort of big Mania match after being arguably the company MVP since last Mania. Then you've got heels that would just make no sense - Judgment Day, Karrion Kross, Lashley now (?), Corbin....I don't know, none really strike me as more realistic than Theory.

Triple H not revealing that the mystery participants are Beth Phoenix and/or Candice LeRae would be a real foreseeable misstep. Which is why, as long as those spots are TBD, my money is on Sasha Banks and Naomi returning. I think Triple H realizes something that Vince certainly didn't - the audience is sick of trolling from the company itself. Sure, heel characters can troll all day and night. Triple H did that non-stop as an on-screen character. But crowds hijacking shows? Booing babyfaces? Chanting for wrestlers you don't have under contract and can't deliver? Its a bad look. And an unnecessary one. If you announce Beth Phoenix on the go-home show, she gets a huge pop at the show and nobody can say there was a "bait and switch." Having an empty spot going into the show, in Sasha's hometown, with rumors that her and Naomi are returning (they were recently added back to the pre-show video package, I believe), and then bringing out Beth Phoenix is a Vince move not dissimilar to that Rumble where the fans were dying to see Bryan, but the last entrant ended up being Mysterio. Now, we all agree, Mysterio is an all-time babyface, just like I think we'd all agree that seeing Beth take it to Rhea will be a great moment, but this crowd is going to be wanting Sasha. There's no reason to tease something that you can't deliver and I think Triple H knows it.

I know Braun isn't the world's smartest or most eloquent man, but everyone jumping on him for what was clearly a tongue-in-cheek tweet is kinda cringe too. Braun has said some really dumb shit in the past, but this, to me, read more like he was trying to do an FTR-like thing ("No flips, just fists"), but because he has such a shit reputation, it flopped hard. The reference to earning 47 stars? Clearly a joke. Referencing that too many of the "flippy guys" look like grocery store employees and couldn't pass the "Airport Test"? Seems perfectly within bounds from a kayfabe perspective and, if he really was trying to talk down about the smaller guys on the roster or in other companies, he did it in such a general way that it's barely a recognizable slight. Again, not defending every dumb thing Braun's ever tweeted, but this latest tweet was so clearly just a failed attempt at humor that I actually feel sorry for the guy a little. And, yeah, I know Strowman's involvement in the Control Your Narrative shit was lame, but it felt like he was just seeking some work at whoever was willing to pay him. Meanwhile, Chris "My Wife Was Actually At The January 6th Failed Coup" Jericho piling on is his usual M.O of jumping on any opportunity to promote himself and Mustafa Ali, well, I like the guy, but, dude, Braun Strowman ain't one of the people who booked you on the midcard hamster wheel for the past 3 years.

- I'm surprised that everyone is so on-board with this MJF face turn. To me, his promo last night felt a bit like pandering at times ("I love you West Virginia...despite your shortcomings"). I dunno. Just feels like they rushed through the inner turmoil stuff when that's the most captivating part. The post above mentions The Rock in 98', but MJF last night seemed like The Rock in 2000 - fully-established babyface and mostly just testing catchphrases to see what the next tee-shirt design should be. Again, I'm not saying MJF shouldn't be a babyface, but it just seems a bit sudden and out-of-character for him this soon *and* while he's building a match towards another babyface. I would've kept this face turn on simmer until Full Gear, have him win clean there (or relatively), and then, on the next Dynamite, have his first challenger be a heel (and please not be Smart Mark Sterling or Jay Lethal). Maybe that's too obvious, but to me, that was the beauty of Austin (and The Rock) going from heel-to-face: they didn't change the character, they just changed the positioning. - Also, I know this won't be a popular note, but Renee is so damn good at what she does...but she looked like New Brood-era Matt Hardy last night. Call me old fashioned, but I want my commentators and interviewers and announcers to be dressed like real sportscasters. I know there are exceptions, but Renee shouldn't be one of them when, during her WWE run, she genuinely came across like she could co-anchor SportsCenter or be interviewing athletes at the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or World Series. Sean Mooney couldn't do that shit. Mean Gene? Nope. Not Cole or even JR either. But Renee had that quality. Maybe having the freedom of her wardrobe is a major plus for her and allows her to show her laidback, fun personality...but from a viewer's perspective, as the old adage goes, there should be a difference between how the fans in the crowd look and how the people on TV look. She looked like a fan. I miss the broadcaster that looked like she'd been grown in a lab by ESPN-sponsored scientists for maximum marketability and professionalism. - I'm gonna go ahead and contradict myself. My first point was that MJF's face turn seems too rushed, but I'm gonna just go ahead and say I'd be perfectly fine if we skipped a few weeks and had Swerve as a major heel. Like, I don't need the turn on Keith Lee or even a feud between the two. Just give me Swerve being an asshole and guys like Darby or Starks or Wardlow trying to unsuccessfully shut him up.

This might deserve its own thread, but.... WrestleMania XIII: The Show That Never Was (too dramatic?) I've been watching the WWE PPVs from November 96' - January 97' and it has me thinking about the direction the WWE was going in before Shawn "lost his smile" and Vince had to re-calibrate WrestleMania XIII. In December 96', it certainly seems like they're building to Bret vs. Shawn. Shawn dropping the title to Sid and winning it back at the Rumble seems like it was always the plan just based on the storyline and the location of the Rumble being in Shawn's home state. Austin was engaged in an on-going feud with Bulldog and while they could've ended that feud at the February In Your House, I'm thinking the real story there was that it was going to be Bret vs. Austin for the title shot (due to the ending of the Rumble) and maybe Bulldog screws Austin. Does this make Bret less a face? It sure does...but re-watching the In Your House: It's Time show, it seems like Bret was already drifting towards heel anyway. His works the match against Sid there as a 90% heel. Meanwhile, at the Rumble, Vader beats Undertaker with help from Paul Bearer. Seems to me like a rematch at Mania was in the cards there. The Ahmed Johnson/NOD feud isn't disrupted at all by Shawn's departure. The Chicago Street Fight still happens 100% as planned. But it does leave a handful of guys and titles without a match...for example, if Sid isn't the champion going into Mania, what is his match? Does he face Owen (1/2 half of the Tag Team Champions)? I kinda love the idea of a Sid vs. Mankind match personally just because Foley was so damn good around this time. So...here's the card for if Shawn doesn't leave and I have the pen... WWE Championship Match - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels * I think it'd be extra interesting because the Chicago crowd would've probably cheered Bret even if he was going into the match as a "tweener." Its one of those things where I think the WWE's diehard fanbase had fairly clearly seen Austin as the new top babyface, Bret as the whiny-but-respectable veteran, and Shawn as the pandering pretty boy. So it makes sense they'd cheer Austin over Bret, but no way does Shawn get cheered over the Hitman in Chicago in 97'. Undertaker vs. Vader Austin vs. Bulldog Sid vs. Mankind Ahmed Johnson & LOD vs. Farooq/Vega/Crush (Chicago Street Fight) Helmsley vs. Goldust Owen Hart vs. Rocky Miavia - or - Flash Funk * I like the idea of either feud just because I think Owen would've made it work. If it's Miavia, I'd have loved to see Owen take umbrage with Rocky's "3rd generation" superstar hype by talking about how the Hart Family are the true greatest wrestling family in history. If its Funk, I think you could still do something fun with Owen claiming he's a better dancer than Flash and then the match itself would've been a nice display of high-flying and speed and whatnot. The actual show had a 4-way tag match involving a bunch of B-level teams. I guess that would fill out the card.

With all the talk about Bray these days, how could I forget Waylon Mercy being Max Cady from Cape Fear?

Maybe its been asked in another thread or even on r/SC, but can anyone maybe rattle off a list of 5-10 other WWE/WCW superstars that were as blatant a rip-off of an existing IP as Dexter Lumis. My first thought is Jason The Terrible. I don't know much about the character or his career, but I presume he was just basically "Jason" from Friday the 13th? Impervious to pain, slow moving brawler? Any which way, as far as I know, he never made it to the WWE, WCW, or even ECW with that particular gimmick. Then I think of Magnum TA looking like Tom Selleck, but even then, it wasn't like Magnum TA's gimmick was that he was a private eye who resided in Hawaii. The Goon was sorta like one of those brothers from Slap Shot, but I could also him being based on Bob Probert. I know in Japan various wrestlers have been based on popular mangas and anime (?), but I'm thinking more in the US. So, I put it out to all you wrestling superfans, who else would you compare Dexter Lumis as a gimmick that is just so, so, so obviously based on an existing IP (Dexter Morgan from the Dexter books and TV series). I mean, they didn't even change his first name. I feel like I'm drawing a blank but there are a ton of examples I just can't think of...

Just google'd him. Yeah, he looks fine. Sign him. A friend also mentioned Karrion Kross as a great first guy to squash. That's the best idea I've heard. Kross is going nowhere unless he can discover a personality. I just don't see him connecting with the audience in any sort of way, especially on a roster that is already crowded with solid heels, including people I don't even think are all that great like Baron Corbin. Kross would benefit from a foil that can inject some life into his act and maybe even force him to discover whatever's "missing." I know Gunther was a can't miss prospect, but damn if this rivalry with Sheamus hasn't clearly pushed him to that next level. Kross is like 3-4 levels below that.

Its hard to say whether it was because was Vince in her ear or not, but I did not find her to be great on commentary. I think she's a fantastic interviewer/host, though, and in that role, she could add to the flow of the show the same way that I think Gene Okerlund did for Nitro in its early years. I know people don't look back too fondly on Gene's WCW days, but rewatching some of those shows recently, they really did flow well and he was often the conduit between segments.

- Just finished the show. Thought most of it was in the fine-to-good range. - The opener was the best match on the show and it really wasn't all that close. - I'd be curious to know who the agent/producer was for the Rousey/Morgan match. We knew this wasn't going to be a MOTY candidate, but there were some very bad choices made on the agent/producer end that didn't help. First, you have a simple story to tell, so tell that story (and just try to do it well). Yes, Morgan has somehow snuck away with two wins over Rousey, but this is still David vs. Goliath and Morgan, to gain control, needed to have some sort of lucky weapons shot early to re-establish why Rousey can't just destroy her. I know Rousey's aura is not what it once was, but Liv Morgan is still not at the level to be booked like her equal. But even that wasn't as offensive as the actual ending, which saw Morgan inexplicably smile as Rousey forced her to submit/pass out. So now Morgan is, like, into pain? Like a creepy masochist gimmick? Its not a remotely original idea anyway and it made Rousey's win feel lesser and was distracting and just plain dumb. - I expected a bit more creativity in the Bayley/Bianca match. The best spot was Bayley's running elbow drop onto the ladder when it was set up between the barricade the steps. It looked great and felt like something we haven't seen before. Second best was probably the KOD with the ladder. To me, this match needed a touch more of that and less of the same ol' spots we get in every ladder match. I also think they suffered just a touch from an audience that is now really, really expecting Sasha and Naomi to show up at any time. (The same thing happened in the main event as it felt like a segment of the audience was more focused on Bray's predicted return and not Rollins/Riddle.) - We can all hate on Wyatt all we want, but let's not deny how over he can be at times. This past Saturday was one of those times and I expect he'll continue to get huge reactions and sell a ton of merch for weeks to come. The Undertaker sucked for longer than he was good. Kane sucked forever. But these characters undeniably made the company money. I'm okay with Wyatt getting his 15 minutes of screen time every week. But, like Taker in the 90s, they need to really cater his feuds and storylines and, for the most part, keep him separate from championships and "serious" wrestlers. Like, literally do what they did with Taker and bring in oddities and monsters for him to feud with. I'm not sure who the Kamala-of-2022 is on the indie scene, but bring in whoever that is. Bring back The Boogeyman. Don't treat Wyatt like a regular performer and instead treat him like a TV character designed to sell tee-shirts to the people who actually like the gimmick. These people are not interested in workrate or technical ability or traditional wrestling. They want the spectacle. They want the entrance. Give them that without sacrificing the credibility of other valuable wrestlers.

- I was wondering where Dan Lambert was. I know he wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but he got heat. I'd have kept him around. I know Stokely has a great rep, but I haven't seen the greatness yet. - TK has a real chance for a do-over and I hope he takes it. Yes, he's got 3 hours to fill a week and Dark/Elevation (though, does he really need to fill those hours and how much a roster do you really need for those? Video packages and squash matches don't necessitate a roster as bloated as he has). Its time to trim the fat and I'd start with the malcontents. I'm an Andrade fan...but I think he's a guy who needs a better coach and TK is not it. In Triple H's NXT, he came off as a star. In AEW, from the gimp mask to the baseball pants to the bland, useless manager, the entire presentation needs to be thrown away. Maybe if he were to go back to WWE, Triple H would put him back with Zelina and they could see if what worked in NXT would work again. (And if Andrade getting cut means his friends leave too, so be it.) I'll say the same about Black and Miro and FTR and Punk. Though, optimistically, I hope that if they trim some of the fat, Miro and FTR would be featured more and then be happier. - If you can't find something fun to do with Danhausen for Halloween, you clearly have no use for Danhausen. I like the guy and would guess that he has some good ideas to pitch - maybe listen to them. If they're shitty, cut him loose. Here's a free one if you're reading this, TK: pair him with Abadon and make it Jade's October storyline. Basically, TK needs to sit down and really look at what 25 wrestlers/performers he needs. Break that 25 into who he wants to push - maybe 15, the other 10 on the backburner. Then look at what additional 15 wrestlers he needs to fill out shows. Basically, pretend like you can't afford everyone. Like you didn't cheat your Extreme Warfare Revenge game by editing the file to start with the maximum amount of money. Based on a random google search, the AEW roster is over 150 performers (one website has it as 180). But lets be extra conservative and say 120 for 3 hours of TV and no house shows. I'll rewrite that for emphasis: 120 performers for 180 minutes and zero house shows. If it was 75 wrestlers, that would be too many for 3 hours of TV and no house shows. But its not 75. Its 50 more than that conservatively and maybe as much as 100 more than that. More performers than you actually have minutes to show in a given week and, technically, it only takes two wrestlers, a referee, and 2 announcers to fill 20 minutes at a time. This roster shouldn't be more than 60-70, so the fact that it is at least 2.5x that, well, maybe one can imagine why Andrade might feel like he's not getting enough screen time or the chance to become a star when the shows he's on also feature guys like Lee Moriarty and Ryan Nemeth (who I like). Its a bit hard to call your wrestling company "all elite" when its 130 wrestlers that nobody really cares about and 30 that are inexplicably fighting them for airtime. And also, as I wrote about in the last page, hard to sell the concept of "all elite" wrestling to potential ticket buyers when you're being asked to buy a ticket to a show headlined by John Silver vs. Rush instead of, y'know, any single one of the dozen guys you have on your roster who've actually main evented a major show for a major promotion in the past decade (including your own).

I posted a similar thought on Reddit, but, to me, part of the issue - and its not entirely TK's fault - is that for a roster loaded with talent, there's often question marks about what you might actually get when you buy a ticket for a show a month or 3 weeks later. When's the last time an episode of Dynamite featured even 50% of the stars in the company - Omega, Punk, The Bucks, Danielson, Mox, Kingston, Hangman, Jeff Hardy, Jericho, Britt Baker, Adam Page, Miro, FTR, Malachai Black, the Lucha Bros, Darby, Starks, Christian, Samoa Joe... I'm sorry, but when you give me Jay Lethal and Tony Nese and Luchasaurus every week, well...I'm just not interested in paying $50+ to see a show where I'm not getting the big stars. Again, I know that you can't book all these talents onto a single show and that injuries/suspensions (and now weather and pandemics) make it even harder, but TK has talent that is over and healthy and still seem under-exposed. Like, dude, you're paying these people. Put them on the show!

Maybe you insert FTR into the Tag Titles match? I think Lee/Swerve as heels who are able to somehow escape with the titles against two very popular tag teams is the route I would take. I like The Acclaimed, but they wouldn't be the team I'd want as the centerpiece of my tag division when you consider who else you have at your disposal. Like, they wouldn't even be my third or fourth pick. I also think that turning Lee and Swerve heel is the right move here and one that, if I was Lee and Swerve, I'd be vocally pushing for. Right now, they're not the most popular babyface team on the roster. They're not the second most popular babyface team on the roster. They might not even be the third most popular team on the roster. But you know what spot they could be? The most hated team on the roster. If you can't be the top babyface, be the top heel.

Unpopular Opinion Alert: I think the best Survivor Series shows have had a mix of matches. I like the 5-on-5s and 4-on-4s, sure, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think that Survivor Series hasn't given us some really, really exciting 1-on-1 matches over the years too (Lesnar/Daniel Bryan, Rousey/Charlotte, that crazy Goldberg/Lesnar squash, obviously Hart/Michaels in 97'). To me, every match being a Survivors match is just as bad as every match being in a cage on those Lockdown PPVs TNA used to (?) run. I say the same thing with a WWE PPV is only singles matches. Why hamstring your own show by not leaning into the wide variety of match types you can use? 2-3 Survivors matches on the show, a big War Games main event, and a pair of compelling RAW and SD Women's Championship matches sounds good to me. I think the inclusion of War Games is unnecessary, but I'm up for it just because I think the Bloodline storyline fits so well with it. I'm also hoping that Triple H opts to let someone get a little "color." The WWE doesn't need to deliver a bloodbath like AEW does in their version, but, y'know, a little bit of juice would go a long way in establishing War Games as a violent, serious match. I'm hoping this recent quote is a bit of a red herring so that people don't expect a really gory War Games match and then he can "overdeliver" by at least having someone do a small blade job (which would be consistent with what we've seen semi-recently with guys getting opened up but matches not being stopped).

Surprised none of the reviews above - aside from mentioning the "pussy grab"* - talks about how basically near-bottomless Mickie James is in this. Like, yes, there had been Bra & Panty matches and bikini matches in the WWE before, but this match is different because they actually wrestle a real, physical, action-packed match. I don't think there's any other match that I've seen, definitely not in the WWE but nowhere else I can think of either, that mixes the NC-17/almost X-rated vibe of WWE at their skeaziest to the physicality, competitiveness, and athleticism that the women's division would eventually highlight. This match isn't "ahead of its time" because, character-wise and storyline-wise and presentation wise, the WWE would never do something this outright vulgar today. (On Peacock, after Mickie delivers the Donald Trump Special, it cuts to the crowd, but IIRC, she actually licked her hand afterwards too and they showed it on the live feed) But its also not "of its time" because, unless you caught a random good match involving Ivory or Victoria or Trish or Jazz or whoever, nobody was watching WWE to see great women's wrestling in the 00s. This match really had the crowd fully into it and seemed like a big deal and there was much more intrigue around it than, say, the Henry/Taker match that follows it (which isn't even all that terrible, but nobody on Earth thought Henry had any chance of winning) or the JBL/Benoit match for the US Title earlier on the show. To me, this is good enough to be considered a "must see" match, especially for people who may think "WWE + the 00s + Trish Stratus = overrated fanboy garbage." No, this match somehow features kick-ass action, a great story, awesome character work, and will also give you very impure thoughts and there's something to be said for being the only match that does all 4 of those things really, really well. * I'm going to go ahead and dub the move "The Donald Trump Special" because of, y'know, Trump's admitted penchant for grabbing women by the crotch.

Even if you and I (and most people) were to agree that CM Punk was in the wrong, that doesn't mean Kenny and the Bucks don't have heat with a segment of the AEW audience. Punk was clearly in a shit mood after All Out (likely because he'd just re-injured himself, but also because he's CM Punk). TK is an absolute idiot for putting a live mic in front of a guy who came into the scrum in a shit mood. However, nobody forced Omega and the Bucks to come into Punk's locker room after. That's not how anyone de-escalates a conflict. Their actions, whether you think they were justified or not, tarnished the memory of the show and the AEW brand and caused a whole hell of a lot of issues. If CM Punk had went off at the scrum and Omega and the Bucks let it slide for 24 hours and then maybe approached him in a civilized manner, things would look so much different. But right now, and I don't think I'm alone, I feel disheartened about the whole AEW enterprise. I enjoy CM Punk as an on-screen character and wanted to see what the next chapter with MJF would be. I wanted to see what Omega and the Bucks were going to do with the Trios Championship to combat the "They're just vanity titles" narrative. I wanted to see what Tony Khan had planned because he was undoubtedly already feeling the heat from the WWE. All of those things were torpedoed within 24 hours.* I'm probably in the minority, but I know my spirit and excitement for AEW is the lowest its ever been and I didn't bother tuning in or watching (on delay) any of last week's shows after probably watching Dynamite 90% of the time over the past two years. I don't even know if I will this week. There's loads of other wrestling to watch, past and present. I'm not sure I want to watch a show that I used to love just flounder and go through the motions. * Obviously, Punk's injury would've been a factor even if the scrum/backstage fight doesn't happen, but if all we were talking about was Punk re-injuring himself, I don't think this thread would be 10+ pages.

I also think some of the reactions to BTE's hiatus is making a mountain out of a molehill. Its now been over a week since the incident and its basically impossible to hold onto anger for that long. I'm guessing Omega and the Bucks are thinking that while they don't want to work with CM Punk and would probably prefer he was out of the company, they also realize how their own actions led to a very embarrassing incident that was detrimental to their own brand and the wrestling company they helped start. It was always too idealistic to think that they, with Tony Khan and Cody Rhodes, could create a wrestling utopia, but that seemed like part of their vision. For awhile, many fans bought into it. Over the past year, the downturn in booking showed that, in terms of content/storylines, the lofty ideal of the "perfect" wrestling show was impossible to sustain. There were multiple reports of TK's leadership not being great. However, the events of All Out weekend completely shattered whatever remained of the notion that the locker room and TK's leadership were still united and strong. The Bucks and Omega are probably smart enough to see their role in that. So, maybe the BTE hiatus is them reading the room a bit. I don't think even their fans are in the mood to laugh at their hijinks right now considering how much a shit storm they were involved in (even if we can debate whether they caused it). Maybe they aren't in the mood to do videos with cleverly veiled jokes and references to getting legitimately suspended from the company they helped start. I'd be embarrassed too. I'd want to take a break too. Its only been 7 days, though. Embarrassment and self-doubt doesn't last forever. I predict that CM Punk will be out and that when the Bucks and Omega return in 4-6 weeks (?), it will not be in some sort of victory parade where they make light of Punk's firing or act like they ran him out of town. I'm guessing they never mention him, even in a veiled reference, on-screen. It wouldn't help them. It wouldn't win them any new fans. I'm guessing that even they recognize that, at this point, they have to win back some trust from the audience for the sake of AEW. They need to make AEW "fun" again, recapture the spirit that, right now, Triple H has brought back to the WWE. Excitement. Good cheer. Optimism. AEW had a monopoly on those things up until semi-recently. I don't see the Bucks and/or Omega quitting on AEW unless Tony Khan really pushes their hand.

The # of buys shouldn't necessarily be worrying, but it should be a wake up call, like Jmare said. I'm not sure what TK, Punk, or Mox were thinking they were accomplishing with that messy, convoluted stunt they pulled two weeks before the show aside from drawing a good TV number (but not really all that good of one). We'll never know if it really hurt or helped - maybe the show would've done even worse without the angle - but the angle angle made me less likely to purchase the PPV and I ended up passing on it. I wonder if there were more of me out there or the opposite (I'd bet on me). I think Danielson/Jericho was a misfire too. I think what people want to see out of Jericho is the "smoke and mirrors." He's the sports entertainer guy. He's in his 50s and looks it. But nonsense, kitchen sink stable war matches? Yes, please. Heated death matches based on blood feuds? Sounds great. The occasional cocky veteran/young underdog dynamic? Jericho can do that. But those are matches and dynamics that are really counter to what people want out of Danielson. Danielson is the wrestler's wrestler, the technical whiz, and I think the AEW (and many of us here) want to see him in matches that are either "dream matches" or matches that have the potential to be technical classics. I think the live audience wants to be there for matches that people go "Holy shit, that was a 6-star match" for. I think, booked differently, he and Daniel Garcia could've had that match on that show and it would've been a big deal - maybe not necessarily a "draw" as big as Jericho/Danielson is on a marquee, but hey, clearly Jericho/Danielson didn't have much pull either. The Trios tournament not only felt rushed (with multiple 3-man teams/stables not even in the thing), but it added another title into a company that is full of them. It very much feels, rightly or wrongly, like a vanity title for the Elite to wear. To me, there was nothing exciting about that tournament or the finals that made me say, "I have to see that." I can go on and on about how the rest of the card was a mix of "awkwardly built" to outright head-scratching, but I'll stop here. To me, the good news is that they have a real opportunity to course correct right now and hopefully they'll make that happen. Like many here, I like AEW, but I want to love AEW. The build for this PPV was not something I loved and it seems like I wasn't alone.

I'm a bigger Punk fan than I am an Omega or Bucks fan, but it seems pretty obvious that Punk is the guy that needs to be let go. I'm also curious about the merchandising. Yes, Punk probably rakes in a ton in merch sales for AEW...but we don't know what percentage of that is going to AEW and what percent goes to Punk. My uneducated, unsubstantiated guess is that Punk negotiated a deal that was more favorable to him than, say, what the Acclaimed or Darby Allin were able to negotiate. Hell, it may even be more favorable than what Omega and the Bucks have (which could be another reason that Punk has found himself on a bit of an island). Of course, even if it were a 50/50 split and the average AEW wrestler had an 80/20 deal, 50% of $1 million worth of CM Punk merch sold is more than 80% of $200k worth of Ricky Starks merch sold. Still, AEW's ratings, fan engagement, and the critical reception were all trending up before CM Punk. CM Punk undoubtedly gave them a big shot in the arm upon his debut, but the company wasn't dying before him and won't die afterward. It may hit a rough patch, but you've still got a company *loaded* with talent. I know WWE has been re-attracting eyeballs recently, but the best talent under the age of 30 is still in AEW and its not even really close. As I wrote about elsewhere, I think what will get AEW to the next level in terms of drawing better ratings or doing bigger buyrates is not to look outward, but to really focus on giving everyone on the roster a meaningful, interesting direction - something that they've been inconsistent with in 2022. But the pieces are still there without CM Punk and, based on what we're hearing, it may even be easier to put them into place without the drama he brings.

This is true...but the WWE routinely held shows during the 2000s and 2010s where they'd have 15,000+ fans in the arena, but it sounded and looked like nobody was having a good time and most of the wrestlers in the ring got no reactions (remember when fans were tossing beach balls around and there was a weekly Wave going on?). The WWE was never more profitable, but, man, there were some really dreadful shows running during extended periods of the past two decades. Meanwhile, the original ECW may have been lucky to have 5000 fans (or less) in one place, but those crowds were electric. "Bigger Crowd = Hotter Crowd" is far from a guarantee. Also, while I agree that wrestling companies should be trying to broaden their fan bases, I also think the idea of getting "casuals" to watch is not how wrestling ever increased its popularity in the past. To me, its all about "buzz" and when a show or company has buzz, that is what draws in (or brings back) eyeballs. CM Punk in 2011 and Daniel Bryan a few years later had so much buzz that I had non-fans (who knew I was a fan) asking me what the deal was. The hubbub didn't happen because CM Punk or Daniel Bryan had done anything revolutionary to draw in "casual" fans - it was that they got the hardcore audience so excited that the casuals had to turn around and ask "Wait, what's happening over there? Sounds cool." The same thing just happened this summer with Vince's departure. It made people who don't usually take notice take notice. And it wasn't a scripted storyline designed to make non-casuals tune in. It was buzz. For those of us old to remember, the same was true in Austin in the 90s. Bret Hart wasn't some Nostradamus. I was 12 years old in 96' and even I knew, based on his work in WCW, based on the buzz from his ECW run that found its way into nascent internet chat rooms and RSPW, that Steve Austin was awesome. Then King of the Ring happened. Then it was the feud with Bret. All along there were the promos. Steve Austin wasn't some manufactured gimmick designed to appeal to "casuals" or fans who wanted to relive Hulkamania from the 80s. He was a pro-wrestler who became so beloved by pro-wrestling fans that non-pro-wrestling fans turned their heads and asked, "Wait, what's happening over there? Sounds cool." And to paraphrase Guided By Voices, "And shit yeah, it [was] cool." So what AEW should really be focusing on is fans like myself who watch the weekly programming, but still have yet to actually make that $50 PPV purchase, who enjoy the product but aren't gaga over it right now. Fans like myself who are watching the shows, but maybe not going that extra step to help generate more "buzz" that translates to more money in their coffers. There are 100s of 1000s of us. We know this to be true because the # of PPV purchases are far less than the weekly viewers. They don't need to expand the audience, they need to make their current audience even more passionate about it. Which is also why - and I apologize for the tangent - it blows my mind that people are now on Twitter/reddit/Facebook saying that Omega and Bucks have never drawn a dime. Like...who does everyone think actually drew the original gates and drummed up the online excitement for AEW in the first place? Are we already retconning/revision historying that Cody Rhodes was able to sell out 20,000-seat arenas single-handedly? Or was Nick Aldis just that over? I'm not saying Omega and the Bucks were 1998 Steve Austin-level draws, but to say the Elite didn't have a sizable fan base that was absolutely showing up in respectable numbers and passionate about their brand is just ignorant.

- I liked the passion and performance of Punk's promo...but I just don't like this storyline. To me, it feels like a very convoluted, illogical path to the same place that I think everyone predicted in June/July (a CM Punk title reign upon his return). I'm not against Punk winning the title, but the first "match" felt wholly unnecessary. Its just confusing. Are we supposed to think Punk was or wasn't re-injured during that match? Did he come back too early or not? Was he 98% healthy last week but 10 days later is now 100%? Or is it the other way around now? Did Punk lose because, when Mox attacked his foot, he lost his confidence (resulting in him eating two Death Riders) or because Mox actually beat him straight-up? Did Mox beat Punk physically or did Punk beat himself mentally? Just seems like a lot of time and energy spent for a match that didn't need this many extra layers.

If you'd have asked me a month or two ago if Reigns had any chance of losing, I'd have said zero, but... It does seem like Triple H has taken some legit steps towards establishing a new post-Vince era and having McIntyre win in front of his "hometown" would certainly be a huge moment and continue "the buzz" that WWE is enjoying right now. And you can always put the title back on Reigns on SmackDown or at whatever the next Premium Live Event is. If I'm not mistaken, they did some ultimately irrelevant "hot potato" things with the NXT Championship a couple times over the years, right? So, while I'm still 80% believing that Reigns leaves the show with the title, I'm not as confident as I would be if Vince were still running things.

A little late on some of the discourse because school is back in session and I gotta teach the kiddos, but some thoughts... - I've long held the suspicion that Tony Khan spent a ton of time playing Extreme Warfare Revenge/TEW. The talent relations issue seems like a pretty clear example of it. If you haven't played the game, its a wrestling simulator where you are the booker/owner. If you, say, hire someone early in the game - let's call them Crian Bage - and you realize, hey, they're not really worth putting on TV because you then hire better wrestlers, you can stop using Crian Bage, but their morale goes down, and you can either fire them (though it costs you money) or just not use them to their contract ends. Of course, who really cares in a game? Like, fuck off Crian Bage, its a video game. But in the real world, benching people without conversations and then ghosting them for months on end is not a great move for the boss...because its the real world and there's things called professional and human decency. - I was "pre-No Mercy," I guess, but when I was in middle school/high school, WCW vs. nWo Revenge was everybody's game. Same level as GoldenEye in terms of popularity and it didn't matter if you knew anything at all about WCW (just like you didn't need to know shit about the Bond franchise to get into GoldenEye). I'm not sure any wrestling game since has ever been the right game at the right time to transcend the sport the way WCW vs. nWo Revenge seemed to, but it'd be very cool if AEW's game did. Again, if my memory serves correct, Revenge's success sort of worked out the same way Tony Hawk did a few years later in that you had this game that was absolutely perfect for multi-player mode dovetailing with the N64 also maybe dropping in price a bit and becoming super affordable to lots and lots of kids. Oh, and La Parka's dance. La Parka's dance in Revenge made him the most often selected character with everyone of my friends, many of whom had probably never watched more than 10 minutes of pro-wrestling on TV.

Yeeesh. I know Jarrett is as carny as they get, but getting rid of him and hiring Road Dogg is like two steps forward, five yards back. (Or is it five decades considering Road Dogg's views on race?) This is the kind of move that I refuse to believe isn't motivated more by Triple H wanting "his guys" around than by Road Dogg actually being worthy of the job.

Speaking of Titus... Why didn't they ever do anything with him? I know the knee-jerk response is that he just wasn't very good, but he was actually a solid hot tag guy for the Prime Time Players. As far as I know, he wasn't injury prone or anything either. I can understand age being a factor in 2022, but they seemed to have given up on the guy by the mid-2010s when he was only in his mid-30s and wrestling a style that he could've managed for years and years. He, to me, is an example of why the WWE's plan to ex-college athletes with size into Superstars is not any sort of "fool proof" plan. Titus O'Neil checks every single box including wanting to be there and willing to do whatever is asked. Its easy to say, "Well, he never got over," but that didn't stop Vince from pushing guys like Lord Tensai and Vladimir Koslov for at least a short while. I dunno. Maybe Titus reached as far as he was ever going to go, but it still seems like Vince would've tried a bit harder with the guy considering how long he's been in the company.