FMKK

I think it remains to be seen how he turns out. The real thing that made Ronda as revelation in my opinion was how strong her selling was. Cain hasn't really been tested in that capacity yet. I agree that he lacks the physical charisma of Brock or Ronda though.

And tbf to Omega and his drawing record, there's absolutely no doubt that some of those old Tokyo Dome attendances from the 90s were worked numbers.

To me, Rollins is a very poor man's Omega when it comes to work anyway.

If Orton slid into the ring and RKO'd Omega, he'd be the biggest heel on earth so I low key wanna see it.

Tbf, WWE is bad and AEW has been good so far

Mox right now is displaying a passion and energy that we never see from Reigns. The fact that he's been downgraded to an upper midcarder since his return from leukaemia is a really huge, yet underdiscussed, missed opportunity for them.

Thanks. I'm sure someone will clip it and put it on YouTube with a clickbait headline.

Was Austin making these comments on his podcast? I want to seek it out.

Smackdown down to 2.44 million this week. Week three on Fox and they're already reverting to the base.

He'll be shooting on all the dumb marks online who have the temerity to bury their terrible shows when they've never been in a ring before in their lives etc.

It's not like Marko was beating the shit out of anyone though. He got his ass beat and managed to pull off some high flying spots, mostly from reversals. His function was basically to be killed by Penta and Fenix.

AEW were still number 2 for the night in the demo so that's still a strong positive for TNT. They haven't retained all of that opening week buzz but the TV has been good and a doubt anyone who is tuning in is going away unsatisfied. I hope they sprinkle in a few more promos, videos and angles just to build more of a connection to the characters. It's certainly nothing to panic about.

Sadly, it feels like that big week one bubble has deflated for everyone. Can I cynically blame WWE for being so terrible that they're dragging down all wrestling ratings by association?

Well sort of, but I wanted to think about what the long term implications are for the business as well

We've known there have been problems with booking, organisation and overall management with WWE for years now, but as we've entered into the New Boom Period the company seemed to anticipate the Fox deal would bring about, it seems like everything that's awful and stupid and dysfunctional about WWE has been heightened. Let's just look at some of the things that have happened since start of that week: Raw: False advertising of Rey Mysterio vs Seth Rollins, beginning of Rusev cuck angle NXT: Took a beating from AEW in the ratings, no longer seen as the cool alternative product. Smackdown: False advertising Steve Austin, Sting and Undertaker, no pushes for anyone who will be on that show going forward Hell in a Cell: Barely a card until the afternoon of the show, all-time bad main event that killed their top babyface, SHORTY GABLE Raw: Nothing happened NXT: Decline in popularity continues Smackdown: Non-finish in big advertised match due to spooky clown, draft order accidentally given away in company's own press release Raw: Terrible draft continues, all-time bad Seth Rollins segment in Firefly Funhouse which killed him off even further Backstage on FS1: Big trade promised, turns out to be Alexa Bliss and Nicki Cross (drafted separately, wasting a pick) being sent to Smackdown in return for nothing. In the meantime, ratings declined faster than expected for Raw and Smackdown, potentially killing off the draft concept as a television draw. Eric Bischoff was also fired after a few months on the job, in which he seemed to have accomplished absolutely nothing. Add in more embarrassing Seth Rollins twitter stuff, and it's hard to see the last few weeks as anything other than a complete mess for WWE. Supposedly we're getting an announcement for NXT Japan in the coming days, which I honestly hope isn't a success. WWE spreading their territory into every market in order to do maximum damage really is the worst of their monopolising instinct. But it seems like the bloom is off the rose with NXT as a brand and the Bushiroad acquisition of Stardom may lock them out from key talent signings. Besides, with New Japan in a relatively strong state, it'll be harder for them to break into the market and exert control in the same way they have with NXT UK. All this being said, WWE is in the most financially healthy position in their history due to bonanza TV deals and the Saudi blood money shows. So really, unless ratings take a nosedive to the point where USA and Fox aren't happy, it would be hard to convince anyone in the company that things aren't going well. But the reality of the situation is that they cannot create a star t save themselves, they've burned off so much of their audience just in the last few years that it seems like they're getting down to the lifers, the average age of the audience is high and it doesn't seem like they're effectively able to create new fans. They've hoarded more talent than they could ever possibly feature in order to damage competition but there are fewer over acts than any time in company history. A few years ago, the in-ring stuff was the saving grace against the bad booking but for the last couple of years I'm struggling to think of many truly great main roster matches. It also feels like the television is completely inaccessible to any new fan because there is such a huge time commitment, the scripted and stilted verbiage is really alienating and there is no effort made to storylines to make sense. It really feels like they're in a hole right now that I can't even imagine being turned around. I'm just trying to work out whether we're at WCW 1999 or 2000 levels yet. They've pulled all the stunts in terms of reboots and returns to bring back the audience but it largely hasn't stuck. It'll take a much longer period to have a true turnaround in the presentation but the fact that they've burned the fans so many times and can't see through any push or storyline to a satisfying conclusion means they probably won't even have the trust of their audience for a long time even if things do get much better. This has been a huge rant, but honestly, there should be major concern for what happens to this company and wrestling in general if this TV rights bubble bursts because the trajectory for WWE for the last many years has been really bad. Tl;dr: Is there any way WWE can be turned around?

I feel like they need the storyline to develop more first and give MJF a reason to actually turn because right now there's no reason why he would want to give up his in with the Rhodes family.

As was the bubbly celebration

Luchasaurus is going to get over huge if his return from injury is a save during a heel beatdown on Marko.

She could spit mouthwash like green mist. Choke people out with floss. It's really sad that I'm fantasy booking heel dentist spots but there's lots of good shit there!

I'm aware I'm just taking to myself here but they could totally have an inversion of the heel pouring liquor angle and have a babyface empty a can of Coke on her.

Her coming out through the crowd to take sugary drinks and snacks from fans would be money

The one downside of them not doing house shows is that someone who really needs the ring time like Baker isn't going to get it. I think she could be good but she's too green to be a lead character.

He's just decided that she's fucking Omega so he therefore has to hate her

Luchasaurus is apparently pulled from the tag match with an injury and is being replaced by Stunt. Really less than ideal but at least if Stunt eats the pin they can set up Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy for a future tag title shot when he's recovered.

Coming off a hot show last week, there's loads on tap that should make for a fun show: Rhio vs Britt Baker (she's a dentist) for the AEW Women's Championship Lucha Bros vs Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus in the tag title tournament SCU vs Best Friends in the tag title tournament Jon Moxley & PAC vs Kenny Omega & Hangman Page Chris Jericho vs Darby Allin in a street fight for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship I'm looking forward to at least three of those five matches but also hoping they throw in a few more cool videos and promos to further establish the characters. So far a good job has been done in elevating Private Party, Sammy Guevara and Darby Allin so I expect similar for Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus tonight, even if Lucha Bros are probably winning the tournament overall.