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I don't even know how you can truly define a draw or not in an era where WWE has its most profitable years and TV deals after 20 years of declining ratings and attendances.

Jay White going to America to do Impact tapings and deal with the quarantine times missing a Tokyo Dome show is bizarre to me

Toni Storm absolutely will be wasted because Vince won't like how her body type looks on TV after 3 months

I don't think the UFC thing matters too much either, but what does matter is 7 years is a long time in wrestling. Think of any top guy in any era coming back 7 years later out of the blue. Outside of The Rock, who had become a global superstar outside of wrestling in the meantime, I can't think of ANY top guy coming back after 7 years of staying out of the industry and limelight almost completely will make the impact as big as what people would hope for.

Seems like a real waste of energy on HHH's part. Maybe put that energy into making Vince treat NXT like a real brand and not his son-in-law's side business he gives him out of charity.

Working the fans into thinking he's working for them isn't doing shit for ratings or HHH's career though so who gives a shit

I do not believe that is the idea at all. I know that was a report, but that's stupid even by WWE logic. WWE only has two ways to book main event heels: Super heels that destroy all challengers (HHH, Brock), or chickenshits who steal every win (Edge, Rollins). This is similar to how WWE only has two ways to book main event faces: Super dominators who never lose and if they do it's bullshit (basically every champion from Bruno through Roman) or who lose way more than they should be constantly get more chances anyway (seen more recently with Bryan and Drew).

Too many guys/names should be a good thing in theory because that means they can rotate stars and programs each week so acts don't get stale and overexposed.

The roster actually looks pretty small since 70% of the people on Dark/Elevation aren't even official roster members.

Baker/Nyla was trash. Nyla fucking sucks. I don't think I've ever seen a match with her that wasn't a squash that doesn't completely fall apart due to her being gassed.

Imo Colt probably is a bigger net positive than Punk at this stage and I can't say I've enjoyed Colt in about a decade. I do not think Punk is going to be some huge draw that pushes AEW to a new level. I do not think he adds much of anything at this stage. Just another old WWE dude taking up space and money. Plus a toxic attitude who makes enemies literally everywhere he goes. I also don't really think Bryan will take AEW to some huge new level, but he's also much better, still arguably in his prime, far more recent of a big star (IE headlined WM THIS YEAR vs guy who walked out now 7 years ago and whose only public appearances since have been embarrassing himself in the MMA world), and his backstage contributions are immeasurably positive compared to anything Punk has to offer.

Punk pretty much sucked the last year and a half to two years of his WWE run, he's made it very clear publicly over and over he has no passion left for wrestling and would only be doing it for the pay check if he were to return, he was never athletic even in his prime but now he's in his 40s, and he'd be returning to a company where no matter how old or big you are, you are going to be doing big high spots every show. He's also a known asshole who has also already publicly shit talked how AEW does business before even doing business with them. I believe the industry has passed Punk by and he'll stick out like a sore thumb and burn out quickly and leave the industry all together again pretty quickly regardless of which company he would end up at.

He was mega over in WCW, too, but overness isn't what I'm talking about.

I have a feeling CM Punk in 2021-2022 would have a similar vibe to Ultimate Warrior in 1996-1998.

Thought Usos vs Rey, Charlotte vs Rhea, Men MITB, and Roman/Edge were all real quality matches. Not really all that interested in Edge or Seth but I do like that angle finally getting a pay off so many years later. Very pleased with Big E winning MITB and it all seems like it'd fit for him to either get traded to Raw and challenge Lashley one on one (preferred) or pop up and smash him for what Lashley's been doing to Kofi and Woods as of late. Nakamura with the Boogz and white gear seems to have some swag back and that's nice to see. MITB (mens) had some of the most oh shit spots I've seen in one of those matches in ages. Roman is completely in his element with the crowds back. Felt like there was something missing with the Head of the Table deal, but now that he's back in front of crowds, he's the complete package.

The last 2 years of Rey's last WWE run were definitely well outside of his prime and probably the worst two years of his career since breaking onto the American scene. He was real busted up and looked like he was on the verge of hanging it up. Leaving the WWE and going a couple of years without a wellness policy really revived his career and body.

If Bryan has down periods, it's because of shitty WWE booking and not his performances, which are always top notch regardless of angles, characters, or storylines.

I didn't know until this year that WCW ran the MSG theater a couple of times in the 90s.

That was a show, I guess. Opened strong and then the rest of the show after the 6 man tag sure sounded like they were using fake crowd noise and it was just a typical boring WWE show. definitely not tuning in next week or for lol Raw.

It very clearly was just a thin piece of plywood AEW has got to do something about either working with TNT or changing their match formats because commercial breaks are fucking brutal and it's almost every match on the show. In fact it might actually be every match on the show has an ad break. PIP bullshit does not help at all. Also these mfs really missed the shot of the first Sting misses Stinger Splash on guard rail spot on Turner Television in 20+ years.

Malakai Black has cut the best promo on this entire show, though

I couldn't remember how many years total he was out and didn't care enough to look it up

He's been in his prime for like....16-17 years, minus the injury and retirement years. He has multiple peaks, but I really think he's been in his prime since like 2005 and has yet to fall out of it.

Or a dude sucking and Shelton being in his mid 40s.

Kross sucked in TNA, sucks in NXT, how could you tell if he was sandbagging or not when his baseline is "this guy sucks"?