strobogo

Why bring in almost 60 year old Terry Funk in 2000 at all, especially when they were trying to push a youth wave when the knock on WCW since 1994 was all their top guys were old and over the hill? Why then do another Flair vs Funk feud in 2000? Why do another Flair vs Hogan feud in 2000? Why bring back Larry Z and Paul Orndorff, both of whom would obviously not be in wrestling roles, to back Terry against the nWo? Endless whys.

That only makes sense from a smark "well they book this way because..." perspective. It makes no sense on screen, which is far more important than the theoretical considerations that go into booking. Obviously he doesn't want to have to have any of those people have a loss, but that can't be the reason given on screen. The only one that makes any sense to leave out would be Adam Cole, who might not want to go after his buddy's belt yet.

Yeah why are they in there and why should anyone take the tournament seriously with them in it and missing Punk/Miro/PAC/Andrade/Darby etc

In kayfabe explain to me how the guy last seen LOSING to Punk is in the tournament, but Punk himself is not makes sense in this company where wins/losses are supposed to be so important

Well, JR wasn't the only one to say it and it was a very common saying in just about every American wrestling promotion that has ever had television. Gorilla and Jesse said it just about every show, Tony/JR/David Crockett said it frequently. I honestly don't know how a poster here could have not heard that phrase or some variant hundreds of times in their lives watching pro wrestling shows. I've even heard it in 1950s/60s commentary. The point is, Punk calls himself the Best in the World. TK keeps saying Punk is the biggest wrestling star in the world. His return was allegedly the biggest deal in a decade or so. And yet he's not booked in not even a title match, but a title shot TOURNAMENT, on commentary at the time the brackets are announced and he doesn't even give a shit he's not in it. So, why are we doing 2 months of circle jerking every episode that he's back when he's not ready to really be back and AEW isn't ready to really book him like he's back?

Have you never watched professional wrestling in your life or something? JR said that weekly for about 30 years on TV across multiple promotions.

That's completely lame. Oh I'm the best in the world bit actually I'd rather just fave young guys I know I can beat and not fave the actual top guys. Like.. what. This is more and more like Bret in WCW where he came in and didn't even mention challenging for a title until about 8 months in and it was for the TV title. Meanwhile having matches with Disco on Thunder.

Tony keeps saying Punk is the biggest wrestling star in the world and yet he doesn't put Punk in the title shot tournament and Punk is on commentary during this and doesn't even acknowledge it. That's not complaining for the sake of complaining, that makes Punk look like he's not the big deal they keep telling you he is and makes him look like he doesn't give a shit about being the top guy. How many hundreds of times have you heard some version of "if you're not here to be the champ, why are you here"?

So CM Punk isn't in the title tournament and didn't even have a comment about not being in it so what the fuck is he doing in AEW

The back and forth strike battles suck when it's a whole show of them, which is why that era of NJPW is such a chore, but Suzuki and Ishii being the only ones doing those matches now in NJ stand out and are awesome. I do kind of lol when you see it in American wrestling with shitty wrasslin punches and the BOOO/YAAAY reactions though. If you're gonna do that spot, lay that shit in as much as you can while still being safe.

In character or not, he told no lies about punk.

It's called cocaine, brother

Yeah that shit is some real peak the smartest fans are the dumbest fucks territory

Or the former CEO who worked in the cabinet of a twice impeached president and then was a major fundraiser for him AFTER a failed coup attempt. Or the former star who is now a mayor who is anti vax and anti mask in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed over 700,000 people in his country. Or doing a woke safe space heel gimmick. Or whose response to George Floyd protests and BLM was creating a blatant ANTIFA based heel terrorist group and of course turned the Muslim guy heel to lead it. Or who let their head NXT ref go absolutely bat shit crazy for months and months on lunatic conspiracy theories while AT WORK. Or a company that had two black men born and raised in America wrestle in a NIGERIAN DRUM MATCH at WM in 2021. But yeah they did switch the Moolah battle royal to Mae Young and did ignore Hulk Hogan for a few years before bringing him back and putting him in segments with black talent as often as possible despite him admitting on television that he's a racist.

Snuka was a murderer, Fatu was in a gang, Jimmy Uso has like 5 DUIs in 2 years. Criminal charges from his youth lol.

I do not give a fuck about storyline set up for shit in AEW. AEW is Super PWG and dream matches for the sake of dream matches are good enough for me.

Time for the last WCW star left to make their WWE debut: Chucky costs Bron Breakker the title

Comcast carries AXS. It's on the highest tier, though.

The tag title match was sloppy as fuck and it had nothing to do with it being too fast. It was in fact the slower parts that were the most disjointed and bad looking. Also The Acclaimed aren't particularly good in the ring.

Rampage sucks. The energy is just way off for every show except the live ep with Punk's debut. Do Dark and Elevation feel the same way? It reminds me of 2016 TNA for some reason.

Yes and it's always condemned, people are fined huge for that shit, and Dana is always even more redfaced than normal yelling about how it's bullshit. Within training camps and gyms, bullies are almost always kicked out in all styles of martial arts.

The idea that it is okay or should be encouraged to slap or punch your co-workers to toughen them up backstage and on screen is the most ridiculous and stupid shit. It's fake, guys. You don't have to hit each other at all. What other industry is it acceptable to strike your co-workers? Even the scum bag world of MMA doesn't put up with dudes attacking each other outside of fights.

JDS bumping for 50 year old bloated rock dad Chris Jericho is hilarious tho

Page can cash in whenever so they can wait until Bryan/Omega is over I guess. I'd like to see some way of Bryan vs Page, either with Kenny saying they need to face each other to see who the real number one contender is, or something as simple as Bryan or Page saying they want to face who they see as the number one contender to earn their spot, which would be fitting for both characters. Would be real interesting for the crowd reaction to that, since the crowd was straight up booing Mox when it looked like he would win over Page. Wonder if there would be a similar reaction to Bryan and how he could in turn ramp up his more vicious and dickhead side in such a match.

Punk turning into a guy who gives out his Jordans and screams LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO like he's on twitter is bizarre to me. Honestly, I don't give a shit if he's happy and enjoying things, CM Punk without the edge and misery is like when Taz came to the WWF and was a comedy goof instead of miserable little bad ass looking for fights. It's pointless and not enjoyable at all, except Taz at least was able to have an aura that he COULD beat your ass, whereas happy go lucky Punk looks like some random dude you'd see getting boba tea in LA.