strobogo

I suppose I give AEW more of a cushion in general, but I don't think every major storyline getting derailed by injuries, suspensions, or attitude problems is talked about enough when the talk about the poor booking in 2022. Like....EVERY major storyline. All fucking year. One of the most snakebitten years for that I can ever remember in a company.

Hogan dominated the rematch, too. It was also the same for the Lex title swaps in 1997. And DDP. The only guys Hogan sold for during that period were Piper and Jay Leno.

Saw 10 seconds of the MJF promo and boy is that the worst possible direction to take his character. Just awful. Dude is supposed to be this super wealthy, super jacked, GENERATIONAL TALENT who fancies himself as the modern day Piper/Flair hybrid and this dude is straight up throwing out garbage straight from r/incel. The fuck. GARBAGE. Go back to Bubba Ray cheap heat bullshit man.

Haven't seen any discussion of the Mutoh retirement show. NOAH production is awesome. The entire Mutoh segment from pre-match video to post match speeches was a delight. Even the match itself was pretty solid considering Mutoh can't walk. Kongo vs AJPW was rad, Okada vs Kiyomiya was the hateful fight I had hoped for. Need a part 2 in NJ rings with Kiyomiya being an absolute menace. Chono-san :mjcry

We call that the Ewiak

I don't think they booked themselves into a corner at all. Obviously, any result that wasn't Sami winning was going to be deflating to some degree, but there's still a lot of juice left in this angle from multiple directions and threads. It's certainly not going to hurt Sami to not be the one to dethrone Roman, even if it was in Montreal. Perhaps they oversold the possibility that Sami could win, but people would be complaining if they hadn't just the same.

Roman Reigns dramatic acting in the ring >>> HBK dramatic acting in the ring There's still a lot of juice with this storyline. Where does Jey stand not just with his family, but with Sami? Will KO and Sami ever truly reconcile? Where the fuck was Solo? Roman increasingly losing focus, needing more and more interference to win, but with members of the family against him or missing, and potentially Heyman being written out for a bit really helps set the stage for Cody to topple him at WM.

Sami and Jey has been the core of the storyline since Sami got involved, and Jey being gaslighted and bullied is what started the Bloodline angle to begin with. But I felt Jey's involvement continued the Sami/Jey saga more than Jey/Roman saga.

I don't want to see Sami and Jey fight

I'm not sure I want the big Gunt getting a 7 minute, each guy hits their finish 4 times a piece and then either a fuck finish or just another F5 or some shit.

People have said a lot about Cody's treatment being the reason why AEW talent should sign with WWE, but KO and Sami's last year makes an even stronger argument why (some) people should re-sign with WWE.

That sounds like a joke to me

Would be delightful for it to all play out like when Sami won the NXT Championship, but this time KO doesn't turn on him when he comes out.

Cody just straight up supporting Sami and wanting Sami to finish HIS story is such an interesting twist on this whole thing. Literally every time they've ever done something similar, the faces are attacking each other and there are doubts about who is going to turn before or during the match.

I think Jay White counts as a body guy. Dude is absolutely shredded.

You know what must be done: A good old fashioned Dusty Finish, with Sami winning but the decision being reversed the next night on Raw due to some chicanery.

The biggest strike against doing a triple threat to me is that they have already done it in this title run for Roman, and it was only two years ago.

Yes, but while it for some reason is exclusive to streaming on Peacock in the US, most people are watching it on cable and DVR. Also Peacock can't air any of the current or upcoming season until they're complete.

Eddie Edwards suuuuucks and his turn into modern Tommy Dreamer (but with WERKRATE) also fucking sucks.

That actually makes the opposite argument. It shows they'll buy anything.

Went away when they stopped using that trope

You mean the trope that the NWA used for decades?

I don't think you can really say a guy who worked 200 nights a year for a decade staying in the shape he was always in didn't have passion for what he was doing. Passion doesn't mean being a great worker, although Lex certainly had stretches of time where he was quite capable. You can not do the bumping and traveling if you don't have a passion for what you're doing.

Where does Jay White-O end up? TNA seems below him as his homebase, I feel like he gets lost in the shuffle in AEW and also is going to be 2 heel at best for a while for MJF's run. I do feel like he fits in the best in WWE, but also feel like he'd just be alternate brand Seth Rollins at any point in time, which probably isn't the worst thing to be. Both AEW and WWE have the built in Bullet Club angles with former leaders/members. It'll be interesting to see where he decides on.

Legit I think the only guy who benefits being paired with Jericho is Jack Swagger, and that's only because he literally wouldn't even have a job otherwise.