The Man in Blak

It's one of the smartest bits of storytelling they've done in a long time because it's a tacit acknowledgement of how easily this could turn sour for Cody if fans channel any resentment of Sami coming up short onto him.

The other thread by @KawadaSmile isn't loading and I'm guessing it's because of the special character in Beyonce's name that's showing up in the URL, so let's try a new thread with the same sentiment (especially since it is correct).

Also, speaking of booking malpractice, slotting in Cody at 30 to go head-to-head against Gunther is an incredible screw-up if they actually want him to run with the ball as a babyface. If they throw Cody into the mix at 7 or 8 and have him mixing it up with Gunther all Rumble long before leading up to that killer final stretch, what do they lose?

One goofy outcome at Wrestlemania doesn't necessarily flatline a WWE career - Daniel Bryan got pinned in record time and then ended up winning huge two years later at WM30. The difference between Bryan's run and Zayn, though, is that I don't know if Sami Zayn has ever been presented as a credible threat on the main roster in WWE. Bryan had already been a world champion before the Yes Movement storyline began - as great as the Bloodline storyline may be, has it done enough for Sami to undo years of booking damage?

Kingston has had twelve AEW matches since he lost to Sammy Guevara in September and, other than the match with Akiyama at the Full Gear pre-show and losing to Ethan Page during the last World Title eliminator tournament, they've all been tag matches with Ortiz, including one from this week's Dark. Probably a situation that's more about Ortiz (and Santana) than Eddie, though who knows with all of the backstage nonsense over the last few months.

Wardlow is to MJF as Virgil is to Ted Dibiase. Wardlow killing people wasn’t about Wardlow, it was about the promise of what he could do to MJF if he got the chance. Once the heat magnet (MJF) was removed from the picture, you were left with a big guy that powerbombed people in a territory that really isn’t about that. Even if they pushed him to the moon and threw him at the world title, I don’t think that would have fixed anything because what he does in the ring isn’t really interesting, even along the Goldberg axis of work. I’m not sure that Wardlow is even on the level of Ryback and I don’t even like Ryback. If I had to choose something for him as a follow-up, I would just had him disappear for a while after murdering MJF and then showing up as a joker for one of the casino battle royales. Give him some *space* away from MJF, let the myth grow a bit by making his appearances more rare. But alas. As it stands now, I don’t know what they can do with him, other than find him someone to tag with so he can be the Anvil to their Hitman.

If that’s the case — and I guess TK recognizing this now is a case of “better late than never” — then how well are ROH PPVs going to sell if they aren’t actively pushing ROH on AEW TV? What will ROH TV look like if TK pulls all of that AEW talent back to get a clean break?

Yeah, this feels like enough of a debacle that I’m wondering where AEW goes next. Why integrate ROH so tightly into AEW programming — why set up one of AEW’s most recognizable acts as the ROH champion — if you weren’t offering them as a package deal to networks? If it was to resuscitate the ROH brand for TV viability, clearly that mission was an abject failure. And what does that mean for AEW’s next deal? If they’re looking to spinoff ROH into more of a standalone promotion, then why take such a step back on Honor Club’s value right out of the gate? Do they really think that ROH TV will be enough of an NXT-style value proposition to offset the 90 day waiting period for PPVs? It just feels like both scenarios they could have been chasing — AEW and ROH being packaged together, ROH splintering off — are looking at worse outcomes than they were a few months ago.

An AEW tag match under ten minutes? In this economy?

Yes, this exactly.

Yeah, suffice to say, there have been a few recent developments in AEW that has left me feeling like I should just step off this bus and let everybody else enjoy the rest of the ride...and this is one of them. Then again, I never liked the "badass" moment of Shibata headbutting Okada until he busted his own head open (damn near killing himself in the process) either. Call me a killjoy, but it sort of takes me out of the experience as a viewer when I'm wondering if someone's going to die in the ring.

If that’s truly the case, then TK should have never signed Punk to begin with — or he should have let Colt go back with the first round of AEW contract expirations to open the door — and apparently he needs to hire someone that is aware of dynamics between human beings in a workplace. Maybe Johnny Ace can help, I hear he’s available.

Oh, and last week’s live Rampage saw a 39% year-over-year drop in viewership from last year, with over 50% of a drop specifically in the 18-49 demo. Both episodes were competing with a World Series telecast, so no excuses. We’ll see what doing this week’s Dynamite for the lulz does for Based Tony later this week, I guess.

I wouldn’t say the company is “going down in flames”, but Colt Cabana coming out on Dynamite as the “former ROH champion” to challenge Jericho is basically a troll move that I would expect from WWE or late-era WCW.

I think Punk had a solid understanding of what pro-wrestling is in 2022, but he wasn’t satisfied with it. He wanted to change what pro-wrestling in 2022 could be by reclaiming fundamental basics that had effectively been abandoned, even if that meant going backwards for some people. You’re right that AEW doesn’t “need” Punk - the roster is still absolutely loaded, despite all of this - but it probably needs to at least consider Punk’s approach of changing the company style into something more physically sustainable. Of course, Punk himself wasn’t exactly the best exemplar for that change — he had two of the most poorly timed injuries imaginable during his comeback — so let’s see how Locker Room Leader Chris Jericho, paragon of virtue, stewards what pro-wrestling in AEW/ROH will become while he’s somehow enjoying the best year of his 30+ year career.

The treatment of Starks, Miro and even Hobbs (to a lesser extent) has truly sucked.

I think Juice had reached a bit of a dead-end with New Japan anyway, so I think this is a good move for both parties. I don’t know that I see him as much more than a glorified jobber either, but maybe a fresh look and a change of scenery will give him something to build on.

I acknowledged earlier in the thread that Punk can be an impossible asshole. I also acknowledged earlier that Punk had an opportunity to put over MJF in the media scrum, but was way too locked into his agenda to be anywhere near professional. (One of the only things that I agreed with Meltzer on in this whole situation, actually.) But sure, I can clarify a bit, since people seem comfortable with telling me what I think: the blow-up at the media scrum shouldn’t have happened, the fight after the media scrum shouldn’t have happened and both events reflect really poorly on everybody involved. I don’t know that there’s really been a lot of pushback from anybody in this thread on those points, but anyway. To me, the difference in positions from that general understanding hinges around who should take some responsibility for this situation…and yeah, I feel like there’s a broader issue at play with how the people in power in AEW are operating that supercedes whatever baggage (legitimate or not) Punk brought into his specific situation. You’ve got an EVP and front-page star in Cody that left while the AEW was arguably at its peak. You’ve got Andrade apparently punching people trying to get fired. You’ve got various people fielding accusations of sandbagging other wrestlers or faking injuries. As a fan of AEW, I think it would be great if we managed to have a grown-up enter the room at some point and actually take charge of the situation.

Thumb through enough pages in this thread and you might be convinced that CM Punk is the antichrist, so yeah, I think everybody's safely entrenched in their respective camps.

If all the reports are true, then I don't really see it as him getting in his own way, as much as Punk basically having an emotional breakdown downhill from people backstage getting worked up about Cabana going to ROH. Which is awesome, because if there's one thing that the professional wrestling industry treats with maturity and thoughtful introspection, it's mental wellness. Rather than going down an inevitably regressive (and likely repugnant) road, I would rather focus on the fact that, as others have mentioned, this could have been easily avoided if TK gets out in front of that move and makes things crystal clear to the locker room. Simple communication between an owner of the company and his employees, that's all. But it didn't happen. And it sucks because one of the throughlines in Punk's return was how happy and excited he was about being in wrestling again. He genuinely seemed like he was having fun out there when things were going well. He specifically mentioned how much he had struggled with disillusionment and burnout during his hiatus. Maybe he's the ultimate carny and he was just working under the guise of authenticity, I don't know...but it seemed nice while it lasted. And now, no matter how true it all may have been, all of it is effectively and thoroughly poisoned, regardless. As our reward for this debacle, we're poised to have what seems likely to be one of the most insufferable returns in wrestling history for anybody that's not a Young Bucks fan. Can you imagine? We've already been treated to Chris Jericho yelling at the top of his lungs about how this is His Locker Room, so I can't wait to hear what the Bucks have to say in response to a video that melodramatically erases them from AEW existence. (Even the E in AEW fades at the end!) In reality, it's only Punk that gets to be erased now. (And I guess Ace Steel, lol.) Everything else outside of the residual nuclear signature where Punk once resided in AEW remains the same -- the EVPs are apparently still the EVPs, there's no real discussion so far about talent relations changing in any meaningful way and Sammy Guevara still sucks. I'm sure they're all hoping that Punk was the only landmine they could dance on with this sort of approach -- I definitely can't say that I've ever seen something like this happen in EWR! -- but time will tell.

Here’s the official tweet for it:

I haven’t caught any of Tanaka’s work in GLEAT other than this Twitter clip, but he was in the 120s on my list before. How have the intervening years treated Tanaka? Any new footage?

This makes sense, but it's also incredibly dire, given how WBD has been operating as of late. Even in the most optimistic scenario, WBD would likely tuck AEW and ROH under a "Wrestling" tab in Discovery+ so that they can say that they have content parity with Peacock.

He’s basically Jimmy Del Ray to me. Yeah, he flies around a lot, great; I’m not sure there’s a wrestler that’s done less with more TV time and featured programs in AEW history than Sammy. He almost inadvertently turned Dan Lambert face not that long ago. Other than scoring Tay Conti and leeching heat off of Jericho, the most he’s ever been over has been from doing a cue card gimmick during commercial breaks. If AEW had given his push to Ricky Starks, they might have already created their version of The Rock by now.