C.S.

Mauro walked away from WWE, with no fucks left to give, holding all the cards in his hands. Mauro > Seth, Sasha, etc.

This is a colossal bore.

To be fair, Sasha has wanted to be on Smackdown since day one because Eddie Guerrero is her hero.

Except, Cass's final match with Bryan was great.

Did this board crash for anyone else? I take this back. Makes zero sense for Rollins and Brock to be ineligible if both Women's Champions are eligible. That's why I expected the male champs too.

He and Mauro would be a killer commentary team. Yeah, of course. I had a brain freeze there.

Did I miss a pick or has Rollins still not been picked?

Nothing says "the current product is hip" more than FOX commentators fawning over mostly dead wrestlers.

Did "Shorty" Gable give his notice or something to get saddled with this shit? That was good. I'd "like" the hell out of this post, even if I disagree, because it was a clever comeback. #BringBackTheLikeButton

That's probably true. More people would be excited if Mauro was drafted to Smackdown than if Rollins was.

You know a show is off to a terrible start when we're all talking about a commentator from a different brand instead.

Mamma Mia!!!

I wish Mauro was commentating this. (I started typing this, lost track of my thought, and don't remember what I was going to say. But I'll keep it anyway for posterity.) Well, aside from Wyatt, it was still pointless because you had Roman and a geek fighting over which brand gets first draft pick, when neither were guaranteed to be on those brands five minutes later. (Obviously, as we now know, Roman is staying with Smackdown. But still...)

Mauro is God's gift to commentary!

Should've started SD with a hot draft pick. No one cares about this pointless match with a pointless and completely illogical stipulation.

I wonder if the original plan was The Dentist vs. Smiley Kylie.

Which was such a stupid, shortsighted, arrogant move in retrospect, because “The Rock” will always be associated with WWE but there are probably people who have no idea Dwayne Johnson used to be a wrestler. The name change might have happened anyway - probably would have - but Vince really shot himself in the foot because he was so desperate for mainstream credibility.

The one thing I was worried about with AEW when it was first announced was that it would be just a bunch of “rasslin’” and “movez,” which by themselves don’t draw interest and I don’t give a fuck about - part of why current NXT and even WWE are such slogs in places - but everyone in AEW has an easily definable character. If I care about the wrestlers, I care about the matches. Such a lost art, in WWE/NXT anyway, but AEW understands that small basic fundamental and it’s amazing what a big difference it makes.

Thank you, sir. However, I do feel I've been unfairly consigned a rep as a "hot take" poster. I don't think it holds up to any kind of scrutiny though. Asuka: In WWE, doesn't draw and no one cares. I've been proven right on both counts. Granted, some of the blame is definitely on WWE's inconsistent booking. With that said, I can recognize that she would immediately be a draw and fan favorite in AEW's decidedly underwhelming (so far) women's division. Brock: A colossal bore. I sounded the trumpet on this earlier than most, and I've been proven right. That wasn't always the case, of course, but it is now. People want to argue that he "feels special" and use that to justify the bullshit way Kofi's reign ended. No, he used to feel special. Not anymore. Suplex City = an excuse for him to have lazy, dull matches. Credit to Paul "accentuate the positives, hide the negatives" Heyman for perpetuating this fraud. Drew Gulak: If he was future endeavored tomorrow, no one would notice and it would make zero difference to WWE's bottom line. Even AEW, which somehow managed to make Jake freakin' Hager seem special (for now) would struggle with Drew. He'd probably be a good fit for the NWA though (and this isn't a knock on the NWA - I genuinely feel guys like Drew would do well there). Mauro Ranallo: C.S.'s "hot takes" are more sizzling than a steak dinner at the Sizzler! Mamma Mia!!!

Wow, really?! How the fuck am I supposed to know that Drew Gulak is Jewish? (Don't waste my time pointing to some obscure promo I obviously didn't hear or obscure tweet I definitely didn't read.) Seriously, I really hope this is a tongue-in-cheek post on your part, because Drew's religion never entered my mind for even a split second. Rasslin' in a vacuum will never, ever impress me. I don't give a shit about Drew as a character. I don't give a shit about "Drew on steroids" Tony Nese as a character. Therefore, I can't get into anything they do. The only time I have been even remotely entertained by Drew's shtick is when he piggybacked off the Orton "...dive" stuff (which I found hysterical, even if I think Orton was the wrong person to be delivering that message and was never in a position where he felt he had to go overboard in the ring to get noticed). With that said, even in a vacuum, I also haven't been impressed with what I have seen with Drew in-ring. But maybe I haven't been watching the right matches? The few I've seen have been plodding, heatless affairs. The heatless part isn't his fault, but the plodding is. He's not Bret Hart and can't pull off "methodical." I like Lio Rush. But if we're talking about wrestling alone, the match stunk, and Mauro probably stunk during it too, because Mamma Mia, it was a bore. I don't necessarily blame Drew or Lio for it - WWE has neutered its cruiserweights into oblivion. The Young Bucks-Private Party match is what 205 Live and the Cruiserweight Division should have been all along. DAMN IT, MY REPLY TO KAWADA SOMEHOW GOT ERASED. I'LL TRY TO RE-CREATE IT.

Glad they didn't turn MJF yet. Too early to do that. They have to assume most of their audience has no idea what BTE is. But they probably do need to explain this next week for those same folks.

For what I said about everyone coming across like a star, "Hangman" Adam Page simply isn't yet. He looks like a 1995 WWF or WCW midcarder. It's a good thing he didn't win the AEW World Title because he would've been lost doing all of the promotional appearances and interviews Jericho is.

Well, surely they can dress up Full Sail more. Being in a smaller venue isn't the issue - looking dark and dingy compared to AEW is.

The problem with NXT this week is that no one's coming across as a star so far, except maybe Lio Rush and the Dream. Whereas, with AEW, almost everyone seems like a star - even Orange fucking Cassidy.

I like my dentists.