C.S.

This battle royale exposes how many acts AEW has that haven't been given time and/or aren't even remotely over. Mr. Ass is a fun surprise, I guess, but I kinda wish that spot had gone to someone young and relevant. Ass being booked like Diesel and eliminating young talent is awful.

WTF IS THIS??? Edit: That was great, until I realized it was for Dark Order. Nothing is EEEVVVEERRR getting those limp geeks over.

NXT has kept my interest more tonight.

I openly admit that I don't get the appeal of the Lucha Bros., and this match barely kept my attention. "Movez" matches rarely do. I actually don't mind the Bucks though, even with their gimmicky excesses.

Honestly wouldn't surprise me if NXT win this quarter hour (with Becky vs. Rhea), ironically because WWE has conditioned fans to believe tag wrestler vs. tag wrestler in a singles match = unimportant. Even I'm trying to fight that perception.

WTF... Are you trying to ruin my reputation on PWO, man? It was during the Dark Side of Wrestling series, when the Bret vs. Shawn Montreal episode devolved into a Cornette-Russo pissing contest for the last 20 minutes of the show instead of focusing on Bret and Shawn as advertised. I guess Corny took exception to that because I wanted less of him and Russo and more of Bret and Shawn.

Probably, but being a loudmouth hypocrite is kind of Corny's thing, so no shock there.

Cornette blocked me for the stupidest reason a while ago, which is a relief in retrospect. Let's face facts: He is not a very intelligent man. Yes, he's very knowledgeable when it comes to the "rasslin' bidness" and he's a great character and personality, but so what? There are a lot of people well-versed in the facts, figures, and minutiae of wrestling. There are a lot of people who are entertaining on a wrestling show. Hell, I'm sure Trump was very entertaining on The Apprentice. That doesn't make them smart people in general. @Coffey makes a great point though: I should really clean up my follow list - I don't really need to be following Vince Russo's son or Disco Inferno.

Ryan Nemeth (AKA Dolph Ziggler's little brother) added absolutely nothing of worth to the conversation with this observation:

Would've been cool to see this, but Corny had to Corny (not that he's the only one to blame - plenty of that to go around not catching this on a show taped weeks ago, but really the blame should be for hiring him in the first place when everyone knew exactly what would happen eventually).

This is from the Powerrr thread, but I'm responding here. It's already happening. Renee Young and Paige are openly rejecting him now. Renee Young and Paige! Combined, they don't have a fraction of Cornette's experience and accomplishments, but Corny did this to myself.

A couple of things, @War is Raw: - No one in their right mind is actually mistaking WWE Backstage for SportsCenter or even an "independent" show. - Going to AEW would have been the more interesting, ballsy move for Punk to make, but he's 41 years old, beaten to shit, and has a wife at home, so I don't necessarily blame him for going where the money is. As a fan, it's a boring and disappointing choice, but I can understand why he made it.

@WWERollins: We invaded NXT with one goal in mind. To BURN! IT! DOWN! And we did that by being #1 in the ratings for Wednesday night and making more money than everyone else! @CMPunk was too afraid to show up. #Coward

Another possibility I just thought of: He's from Paducah, Kentucka, has over 40 years of experience in the "rasslin' bidness," and likes waffles and tire irons. No idea how good Tony Falk would be in that position, or whether he'd want to travel from Kentucka to Atlanta, but I have to assume the NWA is doing something with him though (beyond just random weird commercials).

Even if an intern or employee edits the show, Corgan and Lagana are still responsible because it's their company.

To be fair, I like him just fine in a tag team or stable, in a firmly midcard spot with minimal mic time (though, even I-C/U.S. is too much for me when it comes to him, because he stinks up the joint with "epic workrate" matches that have no story, no character, and no reason to care).

GREAT idea! I just hope he isn't considered "too Southern" for the expansion plans Billy and Lagana obviously have in mind.

Wow, even TMZ picked up the story. NWA obviously had no choice but to fire Cornette at this point. (I don't believe for a second that he actually "resigned." I think they allowed him to say that out of respect for his contributions so he could save face.) https://www.tmz.com/2019/11/20/jim-cornette-nwa-racist-ethiopia-chicken-wrestling-broadcast/ The story has since been updated, but the original headline was: Wrestling's Jim Cornette Makes Insanely Racist Comment During 'NWA' Broadcast

So, who the hell replaces Cornette at Into the Fire and the subsequent tapings? They have to be scrambling to find a new color commentator now. Is there anyone good left that's a free agent? (And no, Taz is not good and totally the wrong fit for the NWA anyway.)

Maybe having someone listen to it live too would be another safeguard?

Maybe, but I'm willing to wager that "Le Champion's big announcement" is more of a hook for AEW than seeing guys already overexposed on Raw and Smackdown come to NXT.

AEW will win again, because it's not like any of these "top names" have been promoted ahead of time. A vague invitation on RAW isn't going to convince anyone to tune in who wasn't already going to.

A much better and classier statement than Lagana's "I'm sorry if you were offended" non-apology "apology." Sometimes I wonder if Lagana isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, between this and his baffling "Nick Aldis was our third choice" statement a few days ago.

The black hole is back.

It was fine. No one should have been expecting a "Pipe Bomb" on week 1. I do think we got some quiet gems though. - Punk criticizing all the same things about the product that we have. - Punk asking Renee which member of The Shield was her favorite. - Punk owning his shitty MMA W-L record during the painful Arquette "Promo School" segment. - Renee mentioning Punk's "significant other" (exactly like that, because WWE's gonna WWE). - Punk saying that horrible Roman Reigns dog costume segment is making him re-think taking this job. - Punk to Seth: "Stop tweeting!" - Punk's promo on Tom Arnold, really meant for Seth after a "Freudian slip" at the end.