FMKK

Okada needs to hit the rainmaker in the Dome and erase everything that has happened in the last two years

Ibushi eating shit in that match is a metaphor for his horrendous last four months

The version of that story I heard is that one of them criticised Izzy’s parents for letting her train at age 13 and they organised an anti-MSK contingent at the shows in response.

Dave on WOR this morning was spectacular. His analogy for Vince was being like an alcoholic - they can’t stop drinking until they admit to themselves that they have a problem.

Any Observer Hall of Fame case that Roman Reigns might have has died this week at the hands of The Bunny and the UBS Centre in Long Island. What a time to be alive.

That's part of the story, but also Smackdown was on from 8-10.30 while AEW was on from 10-11 so being on in the earlier slot helps too.

That Ibushi vs Kenta match was so weird. I think I liked it. Well, I liked most of it. But then there were three egregiously bad spots which were meant to be key points in the match. 1) The count-out tease from the back, which I never bought because the ref was just going to stop counting until Ibushi got back in, 2) The table spot where the table fell over and Ibushi jumped anyway looked pretty weak, 3) There was a point where Kenta was meant to throw Ibushi into the exposed buckle, they completely whiffed it and then Kenta just did a headlock takeover for a nearfall. Very messy stuff. Honestly, I get why they put Kota in the final and I think the idea is to accentuate Okada's victory even further by putting him over 'Mr. G1' in the finals but I'm so uninterested in Ibushi right now. His booking for the last 12 months, in what should have been his high point in the company, has been absolutely horrible to the point where he has majorly regressed as a star in my opinion.

Yeah, like two weeks ago.

I cannot fathom not voting for Kenneth here. I like Shawn and I find him entertaining but I think a lot of his stuff is very 'floaty' for want of a better word. They're both obviously known as being big bumpers when the opponent is on offence but Shawn's shitty little chops and atomic drops have nothing on the viciousness that Kenny can bring with his chops, the V-Triggers and his multiple moves than just drop people on their head. I know some of this is the changing of time and expectations but I would also stack Kenny's best matches up against Shawn's very easily and see Omega coming out on top. The advent of AEW Dynamite has also shown Kenny to be a really good TV worker, especially in tags and trios matches. He works exceptionally in the New Japan format of building to big set piece singles matches or going through grueling tournaments and now we see that he works exceptionally in the condensed format of US TV matches as well.

MJF is a main event heel. He can beat a dork like Brian Pillman clean.

Tony Khan said on Busted Open Radio that All Out did over 200k buys, although he doesn't have the absolute final number. That would make it the biggest non-WWE show since WCW Mayhem in 1999 and also a bigger show than Money In The Bank 2011.

Bivens is a good shout for Steveson's manager. I was thinking MVP turning on Lashley but this is probably better.

I think Brian Cage has done just fine in AEW and his push has been at the right level for someone like him. Comes in as a top heel to challenge the babyface champion, gets cycled down to challenge the secondary champion and is now putting over a younger prospect in Ricky Starks. In prior eras of wrestling that was the normal life cycle for a Brian Cage type before he moves on to the next territory. If he stays with AEW, his best case scenario is as a credible gatekeeper for anyone in line for a bigger push or someone for an actual star to beat when they're between programmes. He doesn't warrant a bigger push than that. Honestly, I think they've squeezed all the juice they can out of him and if he's unhappy, then he should just do the clean job to Starks next week and then head for the exit. They can always bring him back in a couple of years as a surprise battle royal entrant or something. Yeah idiots will make out like its a big deal if he goes but wrestlers leaving a promotion when their story has been told is just fine. The less said about his fucking moronic politics and personal life the better.

Is this the Tegan and Shotzi that have won like three non-title matches against the tag champions and then disappeared never to be seen again instead of getting a title match? And I don't know how many times we've been hearing that Naomi is about to get a push. Reality is that if they saw something in her, she would have been pushed ages ago. It's also a reality that she's an average wrestler a best. And this is before we even get into the debacle that was the Becky and Bianca Summerslam booking. Raw and Blue Raw both suck.

How they handle Gable Steveson will be so instructive about the apparent new direction for this company. In the old days, if you get an Olympic wrestler you push him to the moon immediately and if it were me, I would pair him up with a good manager and give him the Okada push to get the belt off Lashley. But I can easily see a world where this guy does three years of hip toss class and then is yucking it up on MizTV in an odd couple tag team with fucking Drake Maverick or something.