strobogo

Lmao at the difference in entrance. The fuck. Corporate Synergy, tho.

That's the best entrance I've seen in quite some time

I would expect Jericho to either try to make up for how shitty the War Games bump was and do some real stupid and dangerous stuff and get hurt, or go the opposite way and have a bunch of gimmicked stuff that looks like shit and then be a whiny asshole on the internet when people make fun of it later on Twitter.

I'd rather watch Juicy Jinder than Drew tbh

I don't think there was ever much of a crossover with WWE's fanbase and the collegiate history of wrestlers. In places like Mid South and JCP/WCW pre-Hogan, a little more but I also don't really think it was ever important unless it was a truly star player in that region. JR's hard on for talking about who played what sport where over stated its importance to fans, imo.

I'm willing to bet the WWE fans/college football fans crossover is pretty minimal and nearly no one but Jim Ross gives a shit about Roman's football history

The interesting thing to me is how Corbin's delivery and performances with this angle is so much better than the absolutely dreadful terrible dogshit promos he had been cutting from the Constable Corbin through King Corbin trash. Not like they're master classes in promos or anything, but compared to how terrible and whiny and lame and bad all of his promos had been for the past 3 years, this particular angle has him doing promos that should be whiny bullshit but he comes off pretty earnest and natural.

I'd say it's the opposite, it's not fair to current wrestlers to compare them to the drawing ability of Cena because even in the time that Cena hasn't been full time, the whole concept of what a draw is or isn't for WWE is completely different.

I'm not suggesting the metrics don't exist, but do they matter anymore

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.