FMKK

I believe there’s a strong argument that Christian’s heel run in AEW has been the best work of his career

Garcia being in JAS is like an excursion to me. We know this isn’t his final form but they’re throwing him into something out of his comfort zone and he’s growing. If he went straight into BCC then he would just be mini-me Danielson. He needs more than that to be a star on his own two feet. So let him do the Jericho protege thing until he eventually turns and feud with him and/or Guevara. I think he’s doing great.

I think the perfect time to do a rematch between these two is at All Out when MJF has the belt. That’s what I would book anyway. I know it’s a while away but they can make it work.

It seems to clear to me that Heyman is turning on Roman so Lesnar wins the belt at Day 1. Then Roman is going to win the Rumble and do take four of the Wrestlemania Babyface Coronation attempts against Brock.

Dave Meltzer calls him a big star and tried to argue that he makes a difference to ticked sales. And the likes of Fightful are always buttering him up as this mega star, saying shit like they're so happy for Big E to get to share the ring with him and such. That's the sort of thing that got Jesse to write the article in the first place.

WWE is now playing second fiddle in their own back yard when it comes to selling tickets.

The stupidest thing about the whole thing is that the Bucks wear the shit trainers for heel heat. Talk about people not getting it.

Yeah, Cody knows what he's doing. He's deliberately trying to create that Cena dynamic for himself. He isn't the most over babyface, he isn't the most over heel and he isn't the best worker, so his way of standing out is to be polarising. The second he does a real turn, beats down Arn and cuts a promo on the fans is the second he gets cheered again because he's giving people what they want.

I've enjoyed both guys in different ways. Danielson obviously has the higher end stuff - who wouldn't if they're working Omega and Suzuki? - but I've really enjoyed how Punk has worked. People have mentioned Bret as a comparison, which I like, but I also think there's a bit of like WWECW Christian or something in there too. Just smart, well-worked television wrestling that doesn't go out of its way to be flashy. That's something AEW lacked for the first year or so but now has a decent roster of guys who can do that style. I really enjoyed Punk vs Darby, Garcia and Sydal (the Hobbs match was just ok) and I think the Bobby Fish match will be of similar competence. I think he's heading for an MJF feud and maybe comes to save Darby and Sting from a beatdown this week so hopefully we get a fun trios out of that and then a proper main event programme in the coming months.

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.

They tried to squeeze a little too much on last night and ended up short changing the Mox vs Suzuki match. But I wonder if they also finished that up early because of the cut Suzuki got. Hot show nevertheless and a mega rating. I hope Vince gets big mad and starts some crazy hotshot booking on Raw.