El-P

Yep. Don't get that one at all, totally out of nowhere. Anthony Henry is the worse though. Got a broken jaw against another AEW contracted worker on an indy show and now gets cut ? Big time fail on those ones.

Ok, that is pretty funny. She is still listed on the roster's page.

I guess this was inevitable at some point, especially when you have such a bloated roster. Still. I don't get the Stu Grayson deal. He was not re-signed, then re-signed, then he worked on ROH for a while, then disappeared, now gets cut ? Hope he ends up in TNA or something, the guy is really good. The Boys is even more puzzling, unless basically Dalton ends up a goner too after his feud with Johnny TV, which has been super fun btw, or he just switches an act that has gone for a long-ass time while now. Anthony Henry, now that one sucks. He and JD Drake are an excellent and super fun team, and the guy just broke his jaw. Kinda WWE-like move on that one. And Dasha, noooo not Dasha ! She and Tony Schiavone were such a fun pair at the beginning of AEW and during the pandemic. I'd rather have her doing the ring announcing (despite the occasional mistakes) than Justin Robert and his fake-ass creepy smile. She really was one of the OGs. I never ever understood why Jose the Assistant was in the picture to begin with. Parker Boudreaux choose one hell of a time to do an interview about him still being in the company (will he still do the AAA show ? I would hope so, one AEW talent less on a show headlined with Alberto is a good thing, AEW should just pull out completely really). The guy has shown basically jackshit both in WWE and AEW, and ended up being cut out of both major companies. Maybe Corgan will get him... Gravity was kinda cool though still green, and they don't even use Komander right. Come back later I guess. Slim J was a cool indy scene veteran. I don't remember who Jora Johl is, to be honest. So there. Meanwhile, Jacked Jameson is still employed. Yeah, sorry, I have to vent about this eventually. I do like the former Bear Country guys as workers, especially Boulder, but the Iron Savages gimmick is the cringest shit I've seen in pro-wrestling in forever, it makes me embarrassed to watch it every time. I have no fucking idea who the fuck Jacked Jameson is and why is he actually featured. He has to be someone's Brutus Beefcake. Overall, it seems pretty random overall, and unless some of these people asked for their release (I could see Stu Grayson doing it, I highly doubt Dasha did), I don't see the point and it breaks with the perception of AEW not cutting people unless they really did something bad (or are just bad at their job and aren't used because of it like Boudreaux).

Collision was joy, apart from the Ricky Starks scare. Like he wasn't checked out enough already. He's such a goner, having been upstaged in every way by Big Bill since they started tagging. Thankfully it doesn't seem he's injured. Not sure we'll see much more of him on AEW though. Writing is on the wall. Matt Cardona showing up from nowhere to have a banger with Copeland was certainly unexpected, after he showed up on the lastest TNA tapings to help Steph de Lander. So fun to get the ROH crew, Infantery, Lady Frost, JD Drake, and of course the Righteous for that killer of a main event. Sometimes I just have to remind myself how ridiculously great it is to get Shibata on TV in 2024. Hope he tags with BCC for ever, he's the perfect fit. House of Black vs Copeland/Kingston/Briscoes is a wondefully random and fun 6-men. Gotta say, Copeland finally won me over and he finally seems to fit right in. Hopefully the same goes for Mercedes eventually, if you know what I mean. Watching FTR vs Infantery, it's crazy how different their approach from the House of Black has been. And how they actually think the exact same way the Young Bucks do. They'll do everything to not only have the best match possible, but make their opponent look as good as possible in the process. "This is the same picture". The Mariah May/Toni Storm storyline is taking its next steps. Deonna is totally turning heel (pretty much has already happened). Thunder Rosa is slowly getting her groove back (after what she came back from, no small feat, really). Good stuff. That ROH show is shaping up very nicely too, with Eddie vs Chicken, Billie vs Queen, Athena vs Shida, the Stardom 6-women match. Hopefully Dalton Castle vs Johnny TV and SAP vs Maria's Boys, which has been built up on the ROH shows. Next week is gonna be exhausting if like me you're interested in what happens on the side of Mania.

Danielson actually is getting Blue Panther at Arena Mexico. This timeline is incredible.

Glad I'm not the only one who immediately thought of this. Making a special "show" just for fucking X in 2024 is the most WWE thing ever. Takes one to know one.

Damn. So I guess Rossy and Aja still have heat dating back to the ARSION days (Aja wasn't at the ARSION reunion show). The Mania week-end shows are still my favorite part of the wrestling year. Janai Kai vs Tam Nakano !

Basically AEW & Stardom & TNA in one match. Plus, a Stardom 6 women match at the ROH show the next day. Things are way in motion now that Rossy is gone it seems.

That makes him Laurinaitis. Not exactly much better.

There isn't. Never have been either. They are the greatest ever at it. They made people think that Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrisson were ready for a run as tag champs because of how great they looked. Ponder that one for a minute. No shit Sting selected them for his last match ever. Workers know. AEW is the greatest in Dream Epic Match Randomizer mode. And they have the greatest roster and all the connections to keep on bringing that good shit for years.

Can't really complain when on the same weekly show you got matches like Josh Alexander vs Tracy Williams, Eddie Edward vs Mike Bailey and Chris Sabin vs Steve Maclin. Ash by Elegance keeps on being a fun character, Xia Brookside definitely has lots of potential. AJ Francis does what he does, that is being charismatic and talk while the work gonna be on the shoulders of a way more talented guy (in this case Rich Swann, who really needed a change, so a heel turn is welcome). Mustafa Ali has been straight awesome in every way, and the ABC/Rascalz/GYV are high quality always. Won't complain either about a TNA OG Full Metal Mayhem match between Kazarian and Eric Young. So far so good, the next PPV is shaping up nicely. Not sold on Nemeth nor Hammerstone yet, and Kon vs PCO is a pretty shitty program, but thus far the post D'Amore product really has not changed from what it was before. I wonder what is the status of Gisele Shaw though, she hasn't been seen in a while, she is also D'Amore's girlfriend, so there. If she's done, I would hope AEW would grab her, she's good.

For sure. David Sammartino and Erik Watts represent. With the landscape changing from the model of the territory where the owner/booker would push his not-so-talented kid to today's big-ass corporations owning pro-wrestling promotions, it's not exactly the same dynamic either (not to mention the much, much bigger emphasis on being actually good). Still. Honestly, if Brian Pillman Jr. was not who he is (and despite the fact he actually wasn't privileged at all during his upbringing, for obvious reasons), there is ZERO chance he gets signed to an NXT deal and pushed after his AEW stint. ZERO. The funniest thing in this is that they change nepo-kids names (see also, Bron Breakker) almost as if it's not as obvious, despite the fact no one can ignore it in today's world.

Interesting. I had no idea about Misawa having kids either btw. I was thinking about Sumo wrestling, which inspired a lot of how pro-wrestling functions in Japan, where you actually have quite a bit of wrestler dynasties, but it doesn't seem it has really worked the same way in pro-wrestling, to the point Shota Umino being the son of a famous referee really stands out as an exception. Hashimoto's kid really never made much strides. Of course you had Hana Kimura. Out of the top of my head, I really can't think of anyone else in the current scene.

Months after the fact, they haven't run any PPV since Coke-a-Mania and every "big" event has now been turned into tapings for their "TV" show. What a wonderful dumpster fire this entire thing has been. Meanwhile, Court Bauer got 20 Mil.

Ronda Rousey throwing Vince and his croonies under the bus is my favorite news bits of the week.

Irony aside, it will probably only get worse now that you'll get entire families where both the father and the mother are pro-wrestlers, especially in the case of the really weathly ones in WWE. And it's really not just a pro-wrestling thing at all, really, it's all over the map. But anyway, the point I was making with that list is that the nepo-babies all came through the WWE system, while the non-nepo babies come from the indies. The one thing that I find fascinating is that it actually hasn't really worked that way in Japan. I have no idea why. Lucha libre is basically mafia level shit. Big time US pro-wrestling has way more than one royal family (although you could say that WWE really has become the Samoan mafia too lately). Still, I think a study on a very large timescale would be super interesting. Even by the standards of the time and the promotion, he was a weak-ass worker. Valentine did all the work and he would do a stomp or two and a bodyslam. Gotta love the fact he really believes he "proved all his detractors wrong" when he got back in WCW as the Disciple. The level of denial is insane.

Yup. Try "no one" actually. Fun fact, all big men singles match participants in Mania this year that came through the WWE system are nepobabies : Rock, Roman, Jey & Jimmy Usos, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes. And pretty much all of the others are products of the indies (Rollins, Owens, Zayn, Gunther, Styles, Knight, Drew), basically. Dunno what that says about the WWE developmental system.

Damn, they're out of luck with lawsuits and rapists. I have no doubt Gable Stevenson will end up on the roster anyway at some point, so there. I guess the point is "Vince is gone, izoké". I just realized I haven't watched a second of Mania since the beginning of the second night of Mania three years ago. Strictly for significance purpose and overall quality, I probably should watch this one though (through Extremely Legal Means ofc).

That Brutus episode could be summed up in one question "What does friendship means ?". It was quite interesting from that perspective, really, as the rest of it is already well known. Especially interesting the differences of perception of his friendship with Hulk and how it played into his career (basically, 100% responsible for it) and how they fell apart. The "no-comment" from Knobbs really resonated as a "I won't lose *my* meal-tick friendship with Hulk over that one" to me. Missy Hyatt came off like she usually does, and that's really good. My brain was kinda confused at how Brutus girlfriend is named Missy too and actually looks more like what you'd think Missy Hyatt would look today. Greg Valentine looking EXACTLY like you'd picture a 70+ Greg Valentine would is always funny too. He almost has the best line (pun intended) of the doc too. Bischoff had the meanest (yet most pragmatic) line with the "Hogan tax" bit. This was also a great illustration of how people who are getting privileges (because that's what Brutus did for a while) almost have to convince themselves that they work so hard for what they got as a way to overcompensate. The fact he thought he did a great job with all his gimmicks in WCW is amazing. When Brian Knobbs of all people says you're the shits, well... I gotta say though, it never struck me before the irony of Brutus finisher being a high knee to the face, and that's basically what he took.

Final Boss is a term that you just see more and more in very different fields now, as video game culture has gotten more and more mainstream. And Rocky is indeed the final boss in WWE today. I wonder how much of the current booking on top is Levesque (who indeed was never exactly known to be a great babyface maker in his days....) and how much is directly coming from the Rock when it comes to him and Cody.

Yup, exactly. Except you don't use the MCMG like the Hardys of course. The Bucks, FTR, Callis boys, BCC, the Kingdom, House of Black, Lucha Brothers whenever Fénix is back, every other young team they got. Please. PLEASE.

The idea Court Bauer would spend some of that settlement money to get Mauro Ranallo is so funny to me (aside from the fact that it would insure the guy would not risk ruining a product I actually enjoy, which is a good thing, so please do). The whole thing about Ranallo is calling epic matches in the most epic way possible (for better or worse). Except there's not a company less epic than MLW this side of Corgan's NWA. Lately only Mistico vs Rocky Romero (which is a CMLL match) and Kojima vs Suzuki (which is a NJPW match) have been really good. Usually the rest of the card is still underdeliver city. Gotta say, Matt Striker not getting booked anymore after making a really stupid edgy comment about Matt Riddle is the most Matt Striker thing ever. I still would rather have him than Mauro though (his replacement has been quite competent, but Striker idiotic edgy shit fit the product quite well actually, and with Cesar Duran around, that added to the "Hey, 'member Lucha Underground ? Well, we're not quite the same at all" vibe).

Utami is obviously the biggest loss (apart from Giulia, but how long is she even gonna stay with Rossy before going to WWE ?). The fact there's no mass exodus is quite interesting though. Who knows in one year where Rossy's new promotion will be, and if by then some Stardom people will leave, but thus far, it doesn't look that bad for them.

Triplemania headlined by fucking Alberto is such a complete disgrace. Shame on Konnan. I get Nic Nemeth wanting to work everywhere, but jeeez. A little self-respect maybe ? It's interesting that meanwhile AEW is all about the CMLL talents and showing up at Arena Mexico, the only two guys they send for Triplemania this year are QT Marshall and, *gasp* Parker Boudreaux, who apparently is still under contract (why in the hell is that, no idea). And that despite Dorian showing up at TNA Hard to Kill to underline the collaboration with TNA, there's actually no TNA contracted people at all on the card (unless Nemeth is one of them, but I'm not sure he is, he's basically working everywhere). But yeah. Alberto ? AAA is such a shitshow.

The current All Elite (3.0, if you will) may very well be the most amazing roster ever in term of in-ring talent. It's just mind-blowing, and that's what AEW should aspire to be. Now I just want the MCMG to get signed and have a very much deserved stint as a top tag team in a big company, to complete that picture.