C.S.

Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and Hideo Itami were introduced on camera as Kevin Steen, Fergal Devitt, and KENTA before going through the NXT Name Generator, so Starks not even having his name announced ahead of time will pose much less of a problem if WWE opts to change it.

I said this in the other thread too: If Ethan Page got to keep his name, I don't see why Ricky Starks wouldn't, but you never know.

Whether they "want" to or not should be irrelevant. Tony just saying "oh, okay" to that when he's their boss makes no sense to me. He should be able to sue their asses or at least suspend them without pay if he wants to avoid a lawsuit. Black is the most overrated guy there is. Like Andrade, it will be another lateral move at best. I like Miro, but if he's his own worst enemy, that won't help him in WWE either. Ricky Starks just showed up in NXT - sans name - so we'll see if he gets to keep his. If Ethan Page did, I don't see why Ricky Starks wouldn't, but you never know.

It's bizarre to me that Tony Khan just keeps people at home for a year or more instead of at least using them to get others over. AEW isn't big enough anymore and doesn't have enough viewers at this point to "de-value" anyone by taking them off TV, so TK may as well get some benefit out of wrestlers he's already paying anyway. But, hey, it's his money.

The Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) on ESPN in the '90s went through several eras in only a few short years, and one of them definitely veered toward the cartoonish and absurd: Examples: - A Bungee Match - A Moon Rock Match - Announcer David Webb thinking he was Elvis

Sounds like Heaven to me!

I don't know where the truth lies with Pat Patterson, but I can believe Billy Graham made up a bunch of shit because he was a two-bit carny while also believing Pat may have behaved inappropriately at times considering the WWE culture. I don't believe for a second, though, that a gay man would go after children. That homophobic bullshit really needs to die. P.S. Superstar Billy Graham blocked me on Facebook years ago. I still have no idea why.

Sonya hurts. She and Athena could have bangers in ROH though. Whether TK thinks so, or whether there's any interest from Sonya in that direction, is another story. Blair Davenport was Bea Priestley in AEW. Put her together with Jack Perry! I liked AoP, Paul Ellering, and Cedric Alexander, but they weren't exactly being used. Cedric is in a relationship with Big Swole, so does that mean AEW is out of the question? (Edit: @The Thread Killer wondered the same thing above.) Kross has grown on me a bit, so I think he stays - for now. This was known years ago though.

I had the same reaction. All he's done for the past year in WWE is take up space. Major star in Mexico, but started off ice cold in NXT, only warmed up thanks to great matches and the combined efforts of Zelina Vega and Johnny Gargano, never really found his footing on the main roster, became less relevant in AEW, and is now once again just another wrestler in WWE. I predict the same trajectory for Aleister/Malakai Black, to be honest.

I'll give you Fella - that was a surprise for sure - but I don't remember Nakamura winning being any kind of real shocker.

I'm not a Yeet Fan, but I love that we finally got an unpredictable finish for maybe the first time in Rumble history outside of the Russo "it's a swerve, bro" years.

Did Penta's feet touch the floor?

As great as that would've been, you know people would bitch that it wasn't Vaquer, Giulia, Jordynne Grace, etc. etc.

I would've preferred a Nia win, and I'm not exactly a fan of hers either.

I spoke too soon. Good match. Bad winner. No one gives a shit about Charlotte.

Best Women's Rumble ever?

Cena/Gunther would make more sense to me, but I'm guessing Cena doesn't win the Rumble, doesn't win Elimination Chamber, faces someone else at WrestleMania, and wins one of the World Titles later in the year.

I have a bad feeling the Yeet Geek is winning here.

Strowman never recovered from being cucked out to Roman/Brock, his toxic social media presence cooled him off further, and his eventual World Title reign was too little too late and laid an egg. He's the drizzling shits. Jacob Fatu is just plain awesome.

I think it was your drink. I thought the match was a boring slog. Of course, it doesn't help that Nia isn't compelling to me and the outcome was never in doubt.

I agree that "YEET" is definitely something for younger fans, but if that were the only thing I didn't "get" about Jey's act, I'd understand. The guy just doesn't do it for me at all on any level. Punk trolling Hogan was fantastic.

It's possible Alvarez said it, and my mind filled in the blank with Meltzer because they're both from the same site.

I thought everyone on PWO was nuts praising The Usos as an all-timer of a tag team years ago. They were fine in the ring but had nothing else going for them. When they finally did get to show off their "personalities," they were annoying as hell to me, and Vince-led segments like "Ucey Hot" definitely didn't help. Now we're getting the YEET crap, which the crowd loves - so Jey and WWE are rightfully rolling with it - but it does nothing for me.

It shouldn't. Britt is more over than 99% of the AEW women and many of the men. Might be a BS rumor anyway. DM and probably others are already refuting it.

Is this board wigging out or was there a second reply from you that I can't find? Anyway... AEW is so inconsistent. Sometimes it feels like they can only present ready-made acts as stars. Keith Lee looked like a killer in his first AEW match, Swerve has obviously been a huge success, Moxley, etc. But they've also struck gold with undeniably homegrown wrestlers like MJF, Britt Baker, Darby, Orange, Sammy off and on, etc. I wonder if that's down to the talent of those individuals being undeniable. Both Ethan Page and Pillman Jr. Lex King having varying degrees of success in NXT is proof that AEW has no real system for pushing people who may need a little extra guidance, boost, whatever it is. Either you're a red hot ready-made act or you're someone who can immediately slide into that space. Everyone in-between struggles in AEW. The Lucha Bros. were presented well and had some good moments in AEW, for sure, but they also felt like "just another team" a lot of the time too. That's true of the Bucks and FTR as well, so tag team booking is obviously not AEW's strong suit, besides putting the right duos together to have bangers. Ricky Starks will be a bigger star in WWE by default because AEW ain't using him at all. Starks being shelved is baffling to me. One day we'll get the story there. I wonder what the hell happened. Going to the Rumble to support Cody can't be the reason, or maybe it can? Who knows if Tony Khan is that petty? I would hope not. But something happened. Ditto for Miro. If Malakai/Aleister Black returns to WWE, it will be another waste of time - just like Andrade. Just another overrated guy who adds another body to the midcard that fans don't care about. Black seemingly has everything going for him, but like Bam Bam Bigelow, some intangible is missing. Miro was also badly exposed in AEW, but I wouldn't mind him coming back, because he's certainly the best and most interesting of those three. I hope this response isn't as rambling and incoherent as I fear it is, but I wrote too much already and don't have the energy to edit it, so...my apologies. It's definitely a demotion in terms of optics, but if he's making the same money for less travel, it's a sweet gig IMO. No one is clamoring for his in-ring return, but I remember thinking there was definitely something there the one time I saw him wrestle in NXT, so if he wants to go back to his original dream, I can't say I blame him. With that said, there's all sorts of shit flying around about how he won't be on NXT tonight (we'll find out shortly) and was seen leaving the Orlando airport (I guess you can't fake going through TSA), so who knows what the hell is happening.