C.S.

Are you sure it wasn't just his Bell's Palsy? He's said that in the past when people thought he was "drunk."

Since when does J.R. have a drinking problem? I've never heard that. Use him as the authority figure then - or don't, because as someone else pointed out, that shit is old and tired. That could end up being Brandi's role anyway, since they already gave her Steph's title and everything.

Seth Rollins being a social media liability and referring to Louis C.K.'s recently leaked "comedy set" as "funny" instead of horrible, offensive, and not even remotely amusing probably didn't help either. https://deadline.com/2018/12/louis-c-k-inflames-twitter-with-leaked-stand-up-jokes-about-parkland-shooting-survivors-gender-non-binary-people-1202527354/ https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2018/12/seth-rollins-gets-heat-from-fans-on-twitter-after-defending-649356/ Being a caustic dick on Twitter is probably why WWE never truly committed to C.M. Punk as a top guy, and now Seth is making the same mistake by putting his foot in his mouth in the most boneheaded manner possible. Well, you know what? Fuck Seth Rollins! I hope it does cost him. (And I like Seth more than most here, although I can't say I love him or anything.)

WWE Network dropped BAMtech for a new streaming company. Has the service improved at all? Depending on the device, the Network sometimes felt like it was powered by a string and tin cans. https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/endeavor-streaming-wwe-customer-disney-1203107071/

Then he may as well keep taking sporadic WWE gigs and making a hell of a lot more money + continuing with his NJPW commitments. To me, he's like a fish out of water a little bit in NJPW, but I think he'd be more comfortable in AEW if he's there week after week, gets invested in the characters, and knows the storylines in a way someone can only know them when they're actually there in the thick of things. Gordon Solie doing those WCW Control Centers in the '90s was a sad sight and such a slap in the face to a legend like that. I would never want J.R. to be that diminished.

Hope you aren't lumping me in as someone who wants that duo. Absolutely not. With that said, If they can get Jim Ross, they absolutely should - for many, many reasons.

I'm only shitting on the name, NOT the guy.

As did Don Callis. Doesn't mean he's coming in. (I'd like him to, but I'm assuming he won't because of Impact. Who knows though.) If they can get Callis, my prediction is J.R. and Callis. Ian if not J.R. (Or three-man booth? *Shudder*) I'm probably completely wrong, which is fine. Pure guesswork here.

They need to expand beyond their core audience though. Otherwise, they may as well have just bought Impact. Most people absolutely do not feel the same way you do about Jim Ross, BTW, including me. He's the best of his generation, period, and his face and voice would bring AEW instant credibility. I'm not saying I'd mind Tony Schiavone, but there's nothing "cool" about him either. I think that's a pipe dream anyway. Ditto for Excalibur. If they go with anyone "new," my guess is they'll try to get Ian Riccaboni from ROH. Just a wild guess though.

Not even remotely true. I'm very hopeful for this company because we desperately need a viable alternative. Not sure whose posts you have mine confused with. That doesn't mean I'm not going to point out the obvious: Excalibur is a pretty dumb fucking name for a commentator and an instant joke to any new fan AEW hopes to attract.

Sorry for the second post in a row, but editing in a quote into a previous post is way too difficult on this board. I have no objections to the guy's talent. If he's talented, by all means, consider him. The name is really lame though, IMO. To answer your question, JBL is an abbreviation for John Bradshaw Layfield, just as J.R. is an abbreviation for Jim Ross. Those names don't sound cheesy and hokey as hell. The name Booker T is not as good, but at least there's credibility attached to it because it belongs to a five-time (five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time) World Champion, and it also has American historical significance, whether intentional or not (Booker T. Washington, although to be fair, that probably goes over most wrestling fans' heads). Excalibur used to wrestle too, but I guarantee you most fans won't know that (I didn't until a google search five minutes ago).

I just looked Excalibur up. Assuming he's talented, if he came in as Marc Letzmann or whatever, I see no issue with that. Leave the hokey name to the bingo halls. A successful indy is still an indy. If AEW only wants indy fans, they may as well have just tried to buy ROH or Impact. (Rumor has it that Impact was actually on the table.) I'm assuming they want more than that though.

I'd prefer J.R. over Schiavone any day of the week, but they really should try for new voices and a new look. If they have to lean into nostalgia, J.R. is the obvious choice because he was the soundtrack of a winning organization at its height. I have no idea who or what Excalibur is, but holy fuck, what a dumb, credibility-killing name. For all the flack Vince and co. get for changing names and gimmicks, it makes sense in certain cases. "Their main commentator's name is...Excalibur" would be an instant punchline.

I wonder if this Conrad-AEW association means no Season 2 of Something Else to Wrestle With on WWE Network? Or does Bruce Prichard go at it alone or come back with a new co-host for the Network version of the show?

How is the David Shoemaker book The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling? It's currently on sale for $4.99 on Kindle, which is its lowest price to date, according to ereaderiq.com. I really liked the author's articles on Deadspin, but is this more of an overview of wrestling history? I'm kind of burned out on those (and I still have The Comic Book History of Professional Wrestling to read anyway). https://smile.amazon.com/Squared-Circle-Death-Professional-Wrestling-ebook/dp/B008BM4MN0/

No sign of Impact on the redneck Pursuit app for Roku. Impact's incompetence is staggering to me. Yes, I realize Impact can be found on Twitch now (at least I assume the shows are archived there after being streamed "live"), but there's no "official" way to watch Twitch on Roku. Unofficially: Twitched Zero (free) or Twitched ($1), as long as you don't mind giving a potentially sketchy third-party app your Twitch login details. (Probably not a big deal to sign up with a new Twitch account for the purposes of this though.) I haven't tried either of these, so I can't vouch for them.

WrestlingInc.com: Triple H Says Some Talent Might Stay In NXT Without Going To WWE Main Roster Sounds like he's talking about Kassius Ohno, who wouldn't work on the main roster and shouldn't ever get called up IMO. For all of the hype Chris Hero gets around these parts, he's shown me absolutely nothing in NXT. But this isn't an anti-Hero post. There are actually practical examples too. People like Tyler Breeze and Apollo Crews would've been better off staying in NXT.

Can you link us to this Bix article? Thanks.

On a different note entirely... I'm talking to a friend now, and we're both wondering if Impact will even appear on the Pursuit Roku app tomorrow. "Probably not" is our guess, which is pure "LOLTNA." (I realize they're also streaming live on Twitch, which isn't on Roku officially, but still.) This makes me wonder if AEW is smart enough to get a deal with Netflix or Amazon for live or least next-day TV. (I assume Hulu is out of the question because they have a deal with WWE, but who knows.) That would open some eyes, and it seems like an avenue most of the old farts in rasslin' have ignored. Well, you can't accuse Tony Khan, Cody and Brandi Rhodes, and the Young Bucks of being old farts. They all know what Netflix is.

Overly scripted promo bullshit is one of the banes of modern wrestling. Let wrestlers sink or swim on their own. Can't be any worse than what we currently get.

Hopefully it at least means their signed guys will get full health insurance, but they'll also rely on part-time outside talent that won't (ROH, NJPW, NWA, Impact, etc. if those working relationships ever happen). This is rasslin' though, so I'm skeptical.

Love this thread, especially the awesome long recap and discussion posts by @The Thread Killer and @SomethingSavage, but this post deserves special recognition:

Well, YA KNOW SOMETHING, Mean Gene... Buy my t-shirt, BROTHER!

They avoided him for two years. For better or worse, he's back now. (I'm not defending racism - I'm just stating a fact about what the situation actually is now.) If they're going to use him anyway, this is the way to do it.

I'm sure people here will have a problem with it (for obvious reasons), but it's honestly the perfect way to use Hogan. I hope Flair also shows up, as his "Mean BY GOD Gene" was a close second to Hogan's "Well, YA KNOW SOMETHING, Mean Gene!"