C.S.

The Corbin feud is for the dead end bloody money PPV, so it barely counts. Being Brock's chew toy builds up a future match, so it's fine - even if it's a match no one is particularly excited to see yet again.

Seth tries to cut "fiery babyface promos" but he just sounds like he's whining because of his nasally voice.

Alexa Bliss's new shirt is the best wrestling shirt I've ever seen, or at least the best shirt since the Attitude Era. Unlike most of WWE's merch, it isn't badly designed and embarrassing to wear.

I wonder if that's why Velvet never got serious consideration from WWE.

Speaking of verbiage, WWE quietly fired one of its all-time great voices. Okay, it was Peter Rosenberg. But still, I liked him better than Sam "I look like a bunch of rats shit in my bird's nest of a head" Roberts.

Even if the fan is 100% wrong, I would not lose a second of sleep if he brought down the insidious Sinclair Broadcasting or at least cost them a hefty chunk of change. Because fuck Sinclair. Hopefully AEW is paying attention to this kind of stuff and knows what to avoid. There's a reason ROH never became a major league organization and never will.

According to a CagesideSeats.com reader comment, "Something worth noting from Reddit Multiple fans in attendance said he was being obnoxious and doing jerk off motions to the women’s match, with uh… a lot of detail." I'm not one to defend Bully Ray, as I think he's a thin-skinned baby who can dish it out but can't take it, but I am not quite ready to blindly believe this fan either. With that said, while I don't feel like combing through 900+ Reddit comments to verify the accuracy of the above Cageside reader comment, I did find this: "He had a Twitter interaction with Velvet that she took personally back in March. I think they knew who he was and targeted him." So, who knows... Edit: Security taking the fan backstage to be confronted by Bully is ridiculous, out of line, and unethical. I hope the fan sues Sinclair and gets a hefty payday. Bully pretending to be a tough guy is hilarious from the outside looking in, but I can see how that fan would be intimidated. It's an uncomfortable situation at best.

I am not a sports guy, so I don't know how the teams are doing. I am sad that Blake Bortles is no longer with the Jacksonville Jaguars, simply because of the running joke on The Good Place. I am hoping for some good AEW jokes in future seasons. (There have been many great wrestling references already.)

Another lengthy Mox interview: https://25yearslatersite.com/2019/06/01/jon-moxley-has-a-lot-to-say-on-wwe-aew-japan-the-indys-more/

Tony Khan being dismissed as a "trust fund kid" is really lazy criticism IMO. He owns or co-owns two major sports teams. And he's a lifelong passionate fan of pro wrestling. Guess what: that's what you need to succeed in a wrestling landscape dominated by WWE - wrestling knowledge and money. Khan has both. So, what's the problem? This is clearly not a Dixie Carter situation.

More great publicity for AEW: From 2020 U.S. Presidential Candidate, Democrat Andrew Yang... With WWE being in bed with the Republican party, I wonder if the rosters between the two feds will end up being split among similar party lines. I doubt it, but it's interesting to think about.

Dr. Britt Baker was apparently in the audience (Cole is her BF). If Cole was in the audience for All Out, how quickly would he be punished by WWE?

Cole won? I assume this means a Gargano (re-)call-up.

Eric Bischoff was asked who he'd put in a modern nWo. His response: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/06/eric-bischoff-on-who-hed-put-in-a-modern-day-nwo-654734/

Agreed. But there was definitely a learning curve. His first major Dream appearance felt so forced and rough around the edges, but you also see the massive potential in both the character and wrestler.

What?! Did you see Tough Enough? Patrick Clark is nothing like Dream. It's an act all the way, but it's a damn good one.

Don't know where the Adam Cole comparison comes from, as I've never seen any similarities between the two. Ryan was doing this faux-Rick Rude/gigolo gimmick long before the dick stuff came into it. He can easily go back to that. I remember it working for him in TNA. I'm not suggesting he completely drop the essence of his character, just the dumb dick spots that are clearly holding him back from a major league career at this point.

Complete transcript of the Jericho podcast interview (not a partial transcript like the other one I posted): https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2019/5/30/18644576/jon-moxley-talk-is-jericho-transcribed

I have no idea what Joey Ryan said, but I can't help but think he'd be a lot further in his career without the dick stuff and has never really needed it - it's only hindered his progress, not helped it. IMO, his "I choose indy wresting" Dylan McKay bullshit is a smokescreen and my theory is that AEW gently turned him down because his act would not fly on TNT, but that is pure speculation on my part. Regardless of what Ryan said or didn't say, the reason Corny's not getting the benefit of the doubt is because this isn't his first rodeo when it comes to these types of comments. He has only himself to blame for that. Like you said, he really should know better. The movie Get Out is about exactly this. But doesn't Ultimo Dragon deserve to be in the WON HOF, regardless of Lance Storm's lazy reasoning? In any case, it's kind of cool that you got a response from Lance Storm! (I'm guessing he's hated around these parts though because of the tantrum he threw over the DVDVR 500.) Something as downright stupid/hilarious as "drown in zebra cum" is a pro for Twitter. Would love to hear more of your reasoning re: Sting/Lex. My first instinct would be Sting, but now you have me reflecting on some of Lex's more memorable moments. I am curious to hear your rationale for picking Lex. BTW, AEW absolutely needs its own "Lex Luger" for the first TNT show, but there is nobody who fits the bill, unless they can pull off a miracle and get CM Punk (unlikely) or stealthily grab someone like a John Cena or even Randy Orton (will never happen).

Corny "clarified" his comments about Sonny Kiss - by redirecting it into a tweetstorm about Joey Ryan. https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/05/jim-cornette-clarifies-his-comments-about-sonny-kiss-654700/ Corny's gonna Corny, I guess. That comparison seems perfectly fine to me. Even if Sonny Kiss is exactly the same way outside the ring (who knows), that doesn't automatically invalidate the obvious similarities between him and the characters of the Adrians, Goldust, Rico, etc.

Except, you're arguing about something that no one is actually disagreeing with you on. No one ever said that Corntte's expertise about wrestling was suddenly invalidated because of his offensive comments. No one here even cares that dislikes Omega, Bucks, etc. (even if they disagree) or that he didn't like certain aspects of Double or Nothing (ditto). None of that is the issue. Had a long post for @Coffey as well, but accidentally hit the back button on my cheap ass mouse that I really need to replace and it got lost. Basically, the gist of it was, I'm sure there were a lot of words and symbols that were fine in your day but are no longer. Words change. Meanings change. Perceptions change. You can argue against that all you want, but it doesn't mean you can willfully put your head in the sand and pretend it isn't so. Like I said earlier, imagine growing up watching and maybe idolizing Cornette, only for him to say things that have been used to discriminate against you in the past. Must be an awful feeling.

Not sure if it was part of the marketing, but I do remember it being announced a few months ago that AEW would be the first wrestling organization to be sensory inclusive. I want to say it was a Brandi announcement or tweet but I’m not sure.

Agreed. Sonny Kiss instantly grabbed my attention at the press conference AEW held outside that Vegas hotel by a pool a few months ago. (Forgive my vague description - it's too late and I'm too tired to remember the finer details, but hopefully you all know exactly what I'm referring to.)

I'm way older than college age, but I appreciate that you've noticed my youthful vigor. Seriously though, while I can certainly echo your frustration with the lack of nuance among that age group, that's absolutely not what's happening here and I think you know that deep down inside. Words matter. I doubt it's a joke to Sonny Kiss, who has probably been called that and far worse, discriminated against, etc. Now imagine it coming from one of the most revered wrestling personalities of all time and someone you grew up watching and idolized as a child. That has to suck for Sonny and any other LGBTQ+ wrestlers and fans. It has to suck for Muslim wrestlers and fans. It sucks, period. I have no idea why you brought up Maher (who seems like a jackass himself, but I'd be lying if I said I was overly familiar with him) or Hitchens (who I'm not familiar with at all, other than knowing who he is). And there we have it - exactly what I was saying above about the classic rasslin' bubble apologist. "He entertains me at the rasslin', so I'm okay with his bullshit." Seriously, you don't realize how completely tone deaf this sounds?! Look, Jim Cornette is an entertaining wrestling personality, historian, etc., and it's okay to say you enjoy him for those reasons - we all do. He's also made several questionable and downright bigoted comments, and it's also okay - more than okay, in fact - to be critical of those things. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. No one is telling you to give up his podcast or old Midnight Express matches. The sad fact about wrestling is that we'd all have very little to watch if we started going down that road. While I am personally not interested in anything Cornette says or does anymore, I do acknowledge that the line will be different for everyone. While I don't really agree, my guess is that he's thinking in terms of ref bumps, which really don't work with large men and a small woman. Intergender matches are one thing - whether you like them or not, you can at least rationalize, "okay, they're both trained wrestlers and athletes" - but a wrestler and ref have different roles and functions. Ref bumps are outdated cheesy '80s bullshit anyway though, so if having female refs means a lot less of those lazy finishes seeping into the booking because a "girl" is in there, then I hope we get even more female refs in the future.

Pretty sad to see the apologists in here because they have fond childhood memories of Cornette falling off a scaffold like an idiot. Bigotry is not okay. Homophobia is not okay. Transphobia is not okay. Being a "super liberal" doesn't mean he can't also be a bigot. (Besides, Jim admitted that he was completely clueless about politics during his career because he was stuck inside the wrestling bubble for 30+ years, so let's not pretend he's a seasoned political analyst now!) There's a big difference between this and the "generational differences" you guys are excusing Corny with. I agree that the "PC police" has run amok, to a certain extent, but that's not what this is. Not even close. Come on, guys!