El-P

Put the title on Joe, then pass it to Swerve. 2023 was snakebit.

Yeah, probably won't happen. I could see him throw some digs at the Bucks though and Cody not liking it. Cody is basically the N°2 guy in the promotion now, and I don't see him taking any shit from good ol' Petty Pissed Phil.

Gotta say this though. I've been at best indifferent, at worst negative about the Copeland stuff thus far, but that promo he cut on Collision was fire. FWIW, booking a very much WWE-lored match in Montreal is a good idea, since the audience is gonna be pretty much a WWE audience anyway.

You way underestimate Punk's amazing ability to be an unbearable prick to anyone in no time.

WWE fans were making fun of Punk in AEW like he was "another washed up former WWE star", then because he was a toxic waste that was ruining that pissant company which proved WWE was right about him after all. Then the day he shows up it's like "OMG this is awesome CM Punk ! CM Punk ! CM Punk !" Likewise the discourse about Cody in AEW was that he was a midcarder that never could make it in WWE and was not a star at all, which made AEW a joke. The day he shows up it was "OMG this is awesome ! Cody ! Cody ! Cody !" My best guess is that until Punk provokes something bad involving someone whom they really love, which will probably never happen because his track record has been impeccable, he's gonna be celebrated everywhere. Pro-wrestling fans are the definition of fickle (and even more when dumb-ass tribalism is involved).

I'm talking about guys like Miro, Andrade, Malakai, Mathews, who were fired during the pandemic and obviously have only one thing in mind, going back to the E because it's the big league to them (although Miro may have changed his tune lately with CJ signing too). And really, guys like CM Punk, who obviously had no respect for what was built with AEW. Cody's case is very different. Tons of others like Mox, Danielson, Joe (and Jericho, for obvious reasons) have obviously been nothing but positive. Considering I've been shitting on TK's many bad decisions as far as booking (a more WWE-lite product in many ways) and signings (Flair, yuck, Copeland, yawn) go for a while now, no, there's no implicit assertion from me at all. Also, Collision this week-end looked like AEW had a very much late-WCW moment, with botch galore and production fuck-ups, which makes them look even worse when all the hype is about Punk going back to the E (which is absolutely hilarious for so many reasons, but still).

Considering how Randy Orton looks from the SSeries pics, they really could have a nice "Wellness policy on a pole" match together.

None of those names fit the "that did not want to be anywhere else." part. Which is the most important part.

Which is probably why they are going off for a while and coming back fresher. But like I said, the Elite has been the most exciting thing in pro-wrestling from 2016 to 2021 and they did change the landscape (and strictly on a personal level, made me evolve a whole lot as a pro-wrestling fan). But they did peak. And with them, so did AEW. And so did my personal interest in the current scene. I mean, I struggle to go through the weekly TV now, despite the regular great matches and tons of workers I do enjoy a lot. No idea if I'm keeping up with it next year. Probably what they do at World's End will play a part. Then again, maybe I'll just be happy to browse through it after the fact in some time, with no care for news, ratings and dramas (with the benefit of hindsight too).

I can't get over how gross that Woo! Energy logo is.

Come on, you know that the crux of the thing was "She wasn't trained right". It's very naive to not read what's being said between the lines. Of course she's basically a two years old rookie doing nothing but squash matches, although her last, more competitive matches, against Statlander and Taya (where the hell is she ?) were her best. As far as improving as a worker, first off I doubt a few weeks at the PC will change anything. She's not gonna work NXT for three years either. She will get thrown into the main event mix from day one she'll be on TV. Also, a big part of her appeal, at least at first, was the Goldy act, which she was doing really well for a while before it got stale (then got kinda fun again at the very end). Maybe she'll improve super fast and be a compelling worker in no time, I dunno, I won't be there to watch it happen anyway. She probably sees herself as the female Brock Lesnar and expect to be booked as such though. And really, I would have her debut at and win the Rumble and face the champ at Mania and put the strap on her immediately, Goldy style, without the risk of having her become just another worker. Considering she's already aiming beyond WWE most probably, there's no time to waist. She's a case of all or nothing, no slow development (AEW was right about this, although she always struck me as very much taylor made for WWE).

Yeah, I saw that. This is hilariously petty. "Yeah, we got Jade, she's a huge star but she also sucks because she comes from AEW, so we have to re-train her from zero now". I mean, I'm sure the long-term narrative is "WWE created Jade Cargill", whatever she'll end up being. I said the best way to debut her was at the Rumble, because it's easy for her to look like a thousand bucks throwing smaller girls around. Maybe that's what they'll do. The hype of the jump is definitely gone though, and now that CM Punk's back, he'll soon overshadow everything anyway like he did in AEW, for better or worse.

With the added PPV revenues, the new TV show (which very ironically was created for CM Punk to have it's own safe place), the success of All In, 2023 is actually the best year for AEW business wise yet, despite the fact ratings aren't that great (Dynamite is doing really good, the other shows not so good) and the live audience have been struggling. TK got White and Ospreay, whom the WWE wanted, and re-signed the Elite, whom WWE also wanted. It's not like they are not putting a good fight. To me it's just kinda disheartning that they are veering more and more toward a WWE-lite product, at least one part of their product does, which really doesn't appeal to me at all and is totally the opposite of what it was built on. Actually, the end of Being The Elite really underlines this death of the original spirit of AEW too, the chronology of which you can really trace down to the formation of the Elite in NJPW, them going to ROH, to the Bucks becoming legit stars through the means of a Youtube channel (complete with selling shitloads of merchandise), making All In a reality, leading up to the creation of AEW. In a way, this era really closes at the end of 2021 when Hangman Page finally defeats Kenny Omega, with the Bucks playing a role by not interfering. After that point, AEW became the home of CM Punkmania, CM Punkdrama, ex-WWE guys wanting to go back and a more WWE-lite part of the product with the MJF/Adam Cole angle and Wembley main event (and overcooked and overbooked angle at the last PPV) and the Adam Copeland stuff. This era of the mid-late 10's up to 2021 is when pro-wrestling become fun and exciting to me again. The past two years, not as much.

Well... that has been the plan for years now. I doubt it will happen at this point, but really now, the big plan for Roman was always the Rock at Mania. And the irony is, CM Punk coming to work I would guess a part-timer schedule and a big-ass match at Mania basically makes him everything he "rebelled" against back in the days. Because he's a petty douchebag prima-donna posturing as a guy with ethics ? The Bret Hart cosplaying spots are gonna be even more hilarious in WWE, all thing considered. Although I find pretty fascinating that guys like him and Dax, who say they adore Bret's work so much, are so into giving barrage of chops, which is the one thing that Bret totally hated.

*facepalm* One big mistake Coach TK made was signing all those ex-WWE people that did not want to be anywhere else. Of course, he probably did not know in advance what he was getting (Swerve & Claudio have been huge plus thus far, Miro & Malakai, not so much). If there's a good reason not to push Malakai Black more than he is/was, well, this kind of stuff is why. And yes, it's completely idiotic to let the AEW talent refer to Punk, like MJF did on Dynamite. Unless of course some drama occurs over there with Punk (which probably won't happen....uh ?), in which case I guess it's only fair game. But you can only punch up when you're really the cool product with the hype, which AEW is not right now and hasn't been in a while.

"On August 21, 2021, I left sports-entertainment.... November 27, 2023. I'M BACK !!!!" (at least that would be legit funny)

The funniest is Punk saying "I'm a different person" at the press conference. Oh yeah, now you're so different and mature, as the world got to witness the past year. BTW, remember Jade Cargill ? 2023 has just been a completely batshit crazy-ass year for pro-wrestling.

This. Honestly completely hilarious. Also, it's crazy that WWE, who absolutely don't need him *at all*, being the hottest they've been in what, 20 years, still had to get him out of spite (because really, after the AEW debacle, I would not have touched him with a ten foot pole when my company is hot as fuck already). The ultimate irony being, if AEW doesn't exist, they probably never het him back. They got current Cody Rhodes because of AEW. Now they get Punk back because of AEW. Again, WWE actually benefits from a healthy competition. Well, can't wait to see CM Punk wear that "Abortion right is human right" T-shirt in beautiful, progressive Djeddah, the new home of WWE, word of Vince McMahon, the sexual predator boss of CM Punk... Now, the real story is, who will be pissed about not getting that Mania main event next year, Cody or Phil ? Also, gotta say. Kinda sucks for Randy Orton. I mean. "OMG ! Randy Orton is b... CM PUNK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The WOO Energy Drink is grotesque and all, but the good thing is that you don't see the Draft King logo which was equally as gross (I mean, online betting and all, it actually always never sit well with me that while I paid for a PPV, I still got fucking online betting commercials) The G1 stuff is cool and all. It really is. And I like the Blocks. Samoa Joe getting a main event World title match PPV spot is awesome. I'm not into the wholesome "you deserve it" kinda stuff, but if one guy deserves it, that's Joe. He's been nothing short of awesome during his entire AEW run and at this point, I say put the belt on him. Have him or Cole be the Devil and fuck MJF around in his hometown. Nassau Coliseum sucks anyway. But honestly I don't have much trust in how this Devil thingy is gonna end. But now... that Christian/Luchasaurus/Nick Wayne's Mom/Copeland segment. This is WWE. WWE won. They just did. It's impossible to not do WWE when you do pro-wrestling in the US, apparently. And it sucks. This segment, despite however "well" it was executed, reeked of everything I can't stand about WWE's vision of pro-wrestling. Cheap TV drama bullshit that goes back to Russoesque writing with nonsensical twists and turns (why is Luchasaurus even considering maiming Nick Wayne's Mom seconds only after he stood up for her ? Why is babyface Adam Copeland hurting Nick Wayne on purpose in front of his own mother when Nick really did nothing to him ?). Stuff like this really makes me want to throw the towel, awesome pro-wrestling *matches* notwithstanding. This is the kinda stuff I would have made fun off endlessly if I had watched it during my old TNA watch. And it's not even badly executed enough to be entertaining to me in a car crash kinda way. Apart from Copeland's goofy-ass facials (damn, he's really THAT ridiculous), they pretty much all did a good job with it, including Nick Wayne's Mom (whom btw, respectfully and all, how old is she anyway ? She seems way young to have a 21 years old kid.). But still, I feel like I'm watching RAW or Smackdown. Yeah, it's sad that apparently it's impossible to think out of the WWE box for too long. Pro-wrestling is such a conservative, conformist and unimaginative little world...

Considering AEW is the coldest it's ever been (and yes, there are outside reasons for this too, one of which and maybe the most important being WWE being hot again), that's a tough one to support. And don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed MJF's reign a whole lot, but this match and the Wembley Stadium match really were very much so a WWE sport-entertainment style. I can say it's not my favorite style at all and recognize that it was a great match and that it worked. Then again, the facts are there, AEW is cold, and doing more of this kinda stuff makes them come off more WWE-lite. And their audience if more WWE-lite too, as Meltzer mentioned that when he was at the live shows, people leaving were doing the "Yeah !" LA Knight gimmick. This is not what made them cool and different. Even less so when WWE itself is hot. Sure the MJF & Cole angle was actually kinda hot for a while, so that one worked. But with Cole on the side and for how long, well... Although I don't think White ends up hurt by the result, I do think it was 95% a MJF match and 5% a White match, which is kinda too bad for White's very first big main event. And yes : this was utterly ridiculous and straight out of the Attitude Era playbook. I was expecting some fuckery, but not even. No Devil (which I thought was gonna be Samoa Joe when they shook hands, and still think it might be him), no Kingdom & Roddy. Still, great main event even though again, not my preferred style at all. Now, looking forward to more Samoa Joe (not looking forward at all about whatever they are gonna do with Wardlow though). But what are we talking about anyway. This show was all about Hangman drinking blood (that was a very rare occurence of legit holy fucking shit what the everloving fuck am I witnessing now moment) and Swerve shooting his way into being the AEW champ in 2024. Ospreay is a huge catch. The greatest pro-wrestler in the world (and maybe ever). Gotcha ! Now, gimme some Moné already to go along with it. Julia Hart winning was a nice sorta surprise, and the match was really fun. Watching Julia and Skye improve from the Daily's place days have been quite cool. Gonna miss Skye's old theme though. Timeless Toni Storm winning was the right thing, but Shida really comes off as the one who gets the belt only to pass it on to the meaningful character. She would kinda need to turn heel or something (plus I gotta say, she's only as good as the worker she gets in the ring with). I got a kick out of Luther being Storm's butler, because hasn't he debuted in AEW as Brandi's Rhodes' ill conceived faction's own butler in the early days ? I think he did. That guy who was doing hardcore matches with Onita in the 90's is now passing silver platter to an Aussie girl cosplaying Sunset Boulevard so she can load her buttcheeks and give some poor girl head trauma. That's quite a career arc. As far as Toni Storm goes, I do think the gimmick is fun and all, but it is also making her matches worse than they could be. Maybe need some balance between the zaniness and the actual in-ring work... Young Bucks being heels again makes me happy. They are just the greatest in this role. The ladder match not being the craziest match of this night is quite telling. I'm all for such clusterfucks. Adam Copeland is the definition of being there. I swear Sting did more than him. Ric Flair ! Hey, that means Very Legal Means only. Cool. Guy can't even throw a chop anymore.

I'm way behind on things. Gotta escape the infamous spoilers. See ya in a while. In the immortal words of Tommy Dreamer : "I'll take them both".

"Carlos Colon being called a youngster at the Royal Rumble" energy.

Gotta say, it's cool for the people who actually show up/stay for the ROH tapings. Also, the Athena/Billie Starkz thingy is one of my favorite thing going on these days, so I can't wait to see the thing actually play out.

Wait WTF ? I can't say I'm surprised, considering her showing at Pro-Wrestling Revolver to basically do an AEW match, but still, showing up on the ROH tapings of all things is beautifully random. Maybe she just reached that point that the WWE machine broke her passion for wrestling so much she just want to just do it to have fun with her friends and not be that big star with tons of pressure. More power to her if that's the case. If that it is, then honestly it's even better than Mercedes. Ospreay is the greatest wrestler in the world. With Omega & especially Danielson's career looking more and more like they're reaching a "rearview mirror" state, having Ospreay would garantee AEW still is on top of the pro-wrestling game, and that's all that matter to me as far as the product goes. I won't take anyone but him or Mercedes.