C.S.

Mauro is back this week. AEW has no chance.

Mamma Mia!

Chris Cruise is a useless troll. Imagine being as utterly devoid of personality and talent as he is, and yet still having a long wrestling career. What the fuck does he have to be bitter about? Yet, he's somehow stupidly bitter. What a loser. I always forget what Joey Janela looks like, so every time he shows up, I mistake him for a generic jobber. I respect that he has a major fan following, somehow, but I don't get him or his appeal at all.

Why couldn't this have been the main event of Into the Fire? Sure, Muta is old, past his prime, and probably broken down - but this match feels like more of a big deal than anything James Storm has ever done in his entire career.

Tony Schiavone Went from burned out WCW footnote and joke after being a respected commentator (if second fiddle to J.R. and others) in an earlier era to once again appreciated, respected, and even beloved in AEW now.

Got home 30 minutes late, saw Bea Priestly on Dynamite, switched to NXT and saw the Tag Title match in progress, so I started from the beginning. Holy shit, I need a gif of that insane Keith Lee-Adam Cole spot. (Edit: It's in the post right above mine! The board gave me a weird error box instead of the gif the first time.) I don't care what anybody else says or thinks - Mauro would've added to that moment! Like him or hate him, his commentary style is custom made for spots like that. I'll probably catch the rest of both shows later.

Much to the delight of many of you, Mauro won't be on NXT tonight either. On that note, Corey Graves apologized on his official WWE podcast: "What's up, everybody? Welcome to After The Bell, I am Corey Graves. A ton to get to this week as we do every week but before we go any further, on a personal note, I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the 'Takeover: WarGames' event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the intention of just stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody undue stress, especially a co-worker. So, I apologize." https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/11/corey-graves-apologizes-for-mauro-ranallo-comments-662764/ Mauro's health and well-being come first, so I hope he is okay.

Probably, but he erased the tweet, so it's odd. Then again, he's odd too.

Got excited when you said Amazon Prime, thinking it would be free to stream. Not sure I want to pay to rent it when it probably will show up on a streaming service soon enough.

It's $19.99 if you preorder it, in case that helps. The long-ass tapings really hurt them in the build to this PPV, because they had no way to accurately gauge what worked and what didn't. James Storm, The Wild Cards, Allysin Kay, Boom Boom, and Mr. Nyqil...Nyquil aren't stars. Nick Aldis, Tim Storm, Momma Storm, Kamille, Eddie Kingston, Thunder Rosa, Marti Belle, Melina, and even Eli "Austin/Rock Cosplayer" Drake and Ricky "His 'Charisma' is Cosplay" Starks are stars. In a perfect world, Aron Stevens and Trevor Murdoch would be the ex-WWE guys that were boosted up.

The problem with posting late at night is that I conflated a lot of what Snow said about Aries with what he said about Storm. With that said, here's the breakdown as I remember it: Austin Aries: Massive ego, chronic complainer, thought he deserved more because he was World Champ. Snow saw his reign playing to half-empty buildings and basically dismissed him as a big fish in a small pond who couldn't draw money. James Storm: Snow went on about Storm "boo-boo-facing" during a loss (may have been the World Title loss, but I can't remember), basically painting him as unprofessional. The PPV just went from something I was definitely going to order to something I now have to think about. James Storm is not a compelling main event act in 2019. I really hope Aldis goes over in two straight falls.

I don't think Tim Storm is turning heel because they just released Momma Storm merch. https://www.nationalwrestlingalliance.com/shop/official-national-wrestling-alliance-momma-storm-lapel-pin I think the stip is that Storm can't get another shot at the title, period. I don't think that changes if Aldis loses.

I'd honestly prefer the Question Mark to James Storm, and I'm not entirely joking. But it will probably be James Storm. Meh. Even worse is if James Storm wins the title because he's one of the few "top stars" they have. Kinda wish Aaron Stevens and/or Trevor Murdoch had gotten this treatment instead. They're actually stars, unlike Storm. Of course, it could always be worse... Colt "BOOM BOOM" Cabana could get the title shot instead, or *shudder* Mr. Anderson...Ander--Zzz. It's a shame they booked themselves into a corner with that Tim Storm stip, because Aldis vs. Tim Storm would be the best option by a mile. I want to see Tim Storm vs. James Storm, with the loser losing the name Storm, and Tim goes into business for himself, shoots, and knocks out James. (Not wishing any permanent damage. I'd want James to be 100% fine afterward.)

Late to the party… The racist Ethiopia joke was cut but a gas chamber reference and the Austin Idol date rape Kayfabe Cocktail commercial remained. Clearly there’s still serious work to be done. i knew Aldis-Murdoch was going to be disappointingly short so I was prepared for that. Still, I thought it was a good showcase of Murdoch and a fun match for what it was. The finish did seem odd though. Thunder Rosa, Marti Belle, and Melina are stars. The Women’s Champion Allysin Kay and the Tag Team Champions The Wild Cards are not. Anyone else getting Stone Cold cosplay vibes from Eli Drake? Seriously, he speaks and sounds exactly like Austin. WTF was with that main event? Bullshit comedy wrestling is the last thing the NWA should be doing. BTW, Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana sounds like he’s announcing that he has to take a giant shit when he uses that absurd-as-fuck nickname. That idiot James Storm burying Murdoch at the end of the show by calling him someone that doesn’t matter was so fucking stupid and counterproductive. Guess what, James: You’ve never been a star anywhere that matters or drawn any money in your life. Even as a lower midcarder in the WWE, Murdoch has been seen by more, done more, and meant more. James Storm is insufferable. I can see why Al Snow buried the fuck out of him in his book.

It was as stupid as when Tyson Fury did the thing with the pen. I guess other people "got that" and I didn't, but it did him no favors IMO. As for Omega, yeah, that was pointless.

Can't wait to see Lana's segment. As usual, I'm sure she elevated absolute dogshit with her purposely campy style. Lana > Seth in the acting dept.

That definitely helps, but AEW of course cannot rely on that. Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy got over with me sight unseen. Stunt was a head-scratcher until I saw him wrestle. Then I got it. Emi Sakura got over with me immediately. They need to figure out Kenny Omega ASAP because he's not coming across like a star at all.

Not going to post it here, but did Rusev tweet out Corey Graves' phone number? Then we go back to the slippery slope of using Mauro's mental illness to excuse...well, whatever it is people don't like about him, his style, how he reacts to bullying, etc. It goes both ways. What's good for the goose has to be good for the gander as well. Either they both get a free pass or neither of them do.

Even if Corey is 100% right about Mauro (and he isn't, because Mauro is the head commentator and "voice of NXT" so of course he's going to be more prominent - and three-person booths are imbalanced clusterfucks anyway), Corey is 100% wrong to air those views on Twitter, in public, in front of the whole world. Be an ADULT, Corey, and talk to your co-worker and colleague privately backstage. Only teenage children air their shit out on social media. Completely unprofessional behavior by Corey that deserves the strongest possible reprimand (but he won't get it). This. IMO, Corey is far more distracting than Mauro ever was. It's no accident that Saxton and Renee no longer have commentary jobs. (Well, Saxton is doing NXT UK now, I think.) Even though Corey and Renee are supposedly best friends, his shitty and abrasive commentary style did her zero favors. No, she was not great and not a natural, but she might have had more of a chance to grow into the role if Corey wasn't constantly trying to make her 1/2 of a bad comedy duo. And let's not get into the way he sandbagged and sabotaged Saxton constantly - to be fair, probably not intentionally - but that was the result of his shitty Sam Kinison-wannabe style regardless. The irony is, Corey was actually good in NXT. What the hell happened?

Graves continues to put his foot in his mouth. Truly what an obnoxious embarrassment of a human being.

I assume you mean Saed and not Ali. Either way, the reference is lost on me because I barely saw The Gangstas in their prime. I never got SMW and finding ECW on TV was spotty at best for me. (I was lucky enough to see the Sandman-Dreamer caning angle and Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA belt. I also saw the New Jack-Vic Grimes scaffold match live, which was insane.) I wasn't referring to their NWA booking, which is weirdly cautious about going all the way with them, but rather Kingston himself and what he brings to the table in general. With that said, they had to tape eight weeks of shows in two days, so you're inevitably going to get situations like Kingston, Murdoch, etc. not being used to full advantage as momentum builds because there's no way to gauge that in two days. I hope Billy and goofy Dave "Nick Aldis was the NWA's third choice" Lagana figure out what they have in Kingston. Good point here. I guess it's a personal opinion. Outside of SCU and Lucha/Jungle/Stunt, none of the other AEW teams have really caught on with me. The Bucks are understandably being used to put others over, but I hope they and Omega are eventually allowed to be the stars they're supposed to be. That's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation though, because if they're pushed too much, everyone will jump on them because they're EVPs.

Dark Order is an awful gimmick, but the vignette last week was amazing. Unfortunately, sometimes great vignettes don't translate into great characters, or there's a disconnect somewhere. Right now, there's a disconnect. Hopefully the two can somehow mesh together Santana and Ortiz come across as goofs with zero mystique. Kingston and Homicide in the NWA are 100x better and convey actual danger. Well, at least Kingston does. I can take or leave Homicide, TBH. Private Party hasn't connected because their push was forced instead of earned and not followed up on. They shouldn't have beaten the Bucks if they weren't winning the tournament. I can understand the logic - make two teams, PP and SCU, instead of one with the way they booked it - but it backfired. PP isn't a lost cause by any means though. I think they'll get there. For all of the emphasis AEW has placed on tag team wrestling, the entire division seems like kind of a disjointed mess. The most exciting thing anyone is the tag team division has done is when 1/2 (1/3?) of the AEW World Tag Team Champions called Chris Jericho "Le Bitch" and challenged him to a singles World Title match.

So, AEW doesn't just give Kylie Rae time off to deal with mental issue? Instead, they release her outright? Something isn't adding up. Unless AEW is on a tight budget and couldn't afford to pay someone who was going to be out for what could've been indefinitely, but even that sounds flimsy.

Apples and oranges. America isn't a company (even if he treats it like a poorly run one) and they are trying to impeach him (won't work, but it's more of a reprimand than Corey Graves is getting). I'll leave it at that, as the P in PWO doesn't stand for Politics. Twitter is garbage, but that isn't an excuse for Corey Graves' behavior. Not very punk rock of him. More like punk bitch.