All Elite Wrestling

[Ma Stump Puller]

1 hour ago, KawadaSmile said:

Wait what's the story with Cesaro?

He got a contact with WWE around about the time he still had Chikara and other indie dates booked and he essentially cancelled them all, which led them to rescind the contract for a year or so if memory serves

 

[sek69]

Yeah WWE is big on people they sign filling any dates they had booked, probably so they don't get accused of messing with other companies' shows. 

[sek69]

What I don't get is what got MJF so big mad in the first place. Yeah he overperformed his current deal, but it seems like he expected Tony to give him a huge raise mid contract and it doesn't work like that in any sport. He has to know AEW will almost certainly get a big rights increase in their next TV deal and as such TK's not going to let any of his top guys walk without at least making them the best offer he can.  Being mad that folks with proven names got big money deals compared to what he got coming off of indies and MLW just doesn't seem to jibe with a guy who in all other aspects of business seems pretty smart doesn't make sense. 

Seems like the much smarter play if you're  that unhappy is to just do what Moxley did and play out the string. Let Vince offer you that stupidly large "we wanna poach a top AEW guy" contract and get the money you think you're worth. 

[C.S.]

Not to take away from the MJF talk, but...

Holy crap! This is hot as hell.

Easily the best looking title in AEW now and one of the best ever, period.

 

[C.S.]

BTW, FWIW, AEW posted this an hour ago on Facebook with a picture:

#Wardlow has now met all the stipulated sanctions set by #MJF and they will finally face each other TOMORROW (May 29th) at #AEWDoN (Double Or Nothing) LIVE from Las Vegas, NV on PPV at 8pm ET/7pm CT! Available on Bleacher Report, AEWplus.com (FITE ) & PPV.com (intl)!

Could be a timed post, but still.

[MoS]

If he is not going to be there tonight, TK should inform everyone immediately. Don't do the bullshit WWE move of continuing to advertise someone for a show even when you know they are not going to be there. 

[sek69]

Dave on the Breaking News Audio pretty much confirming MJF is doing a Double J since if you're going to pull a power play the time to do it is the night before a match culminating a 2 year feud. 

Dave also not saying this is the case but not dismissing the possibility that this might have been Vince retaliating for Tony's tweet dunking on MITB being moved out of the stadium. Apparently people inside WWE were absolutely furious about the tweet and now all of a sudden MJF went nuclear at the 11th hour before the show.

[Loss]

12 minutes ago, MoS said:

If he is not going to be there tonight, TK should inform everyone immediately. Don't do the bullshit WWE move of continuing to advertise someone for a show even when you know they are not going to be there. 

100%.

I just said this on Twitter, but Tony Khan has probably never really been tested like he will be in the next 24 hours. It will be our first time to see what he does when his back is against the wall.

[KawadaSmile]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

What I don't get is what got MJF so big mad in the first place. Yeah he overperformed his current deal, but it seems like he expected Tony to give him a huge raise mid contract and it doesn't work like that in any sport. He has to know AEW will almost certainly get a big rights increase in their next TV deal and as such TK's not going to let any of his top guys walk without at least making them the best offer he can.  Being mad that folks with proven names got big money deals compared to what he got coming off of indies and MLW just doesn't seem to jibe with a guy who in all other aspects of business seems pretty smart doesn't make sense. 

Seems like the much smarter play if you're  that unhappy is to just do what Moxley did and play out the string. Let Vince offer you that stupidly large "we wanna poach a top AEW guy" contract and get the money you think you're worth. 

There are two things that come to mind:

1. The influx of talent, like Bryan, Punk, Cole, all had the big money contracts, while he, who is unequivocally one of the foundations of the company, had a less lucrative contract.

2. He lost the big matches. Despite being one of the most heavily featured acts in the company, Max usually on the bigger stage. He lost to Punk, and was on his way to being squashed by Wardlow.

If one sees it that way, it becomes clear that despite him being clearly seen as a valuable piece, he felt he was slighted. 

Shame he might have fucked over one of the longest running storylines and one of the hottest rising acts.

[sek69]

Honestly the worst part of this is the chance Wardlow gets fucked out of his big crowning moment of his career. 

 

[NotJayTabb]

It's almost certainly a poorly timed joke, but there was one of those "Who's going to Double Or Nothing?" tweets by a wrestling news site, and Ricky Starks replied "No". He's deleted the tweet, and it's probably a heel answer that he's had to delete once he's heard the MJF  situation, but coupled with Joe's accidental no-show it doesn't help the rumour mill.

[SirEdger]

Update on Samoa Joe missing his meet & greet at AEW FanFest; looks like he was double booked as he was also doing voiceover work for the Suicide Squad video game. So, no worries about also dealing with a disgruntled Joe thi sweekend.

[El Dragon]

2 hours ago, Ma Stump Puller said:

He got a contact with WWE around about the time he still had Chikara and other indie dates booked and he essentially cancelled them all, which led them to rescind the contract for a year or so if memory serves

 

Are you positive about this? Because Claudio certainly didn't have Chikara dates left, his last planned match was all the way back in November where he lost the tag belts cleanly and then was kicked out of his stable. His leaving of RoH felt like it wasn't really last second either.

[Jmare007]

53 minutes ago, sek69 said:

 

Dave also not saying this is the case but not dismissing the possibility that this might have been Vince retaliating for Tony's tweet dunking on MITB being moved out of the stadium. Apparently people inside WWE were absolutely furious about the tweet and now all of a sudden MJF went nuclear at the 11th hour before the show.

That sounds like a really dumb strategy that can comeback to bite him in the ass  at the worst possible time.

[sek69]

Man, the people who are trying to compare this with the Sasha/Naomi situation and sound like very smart people in the process are annoying right now. Both involve people (potentially) walking out on  their companies but one is a case of being frustrated they were given several promises to be given any kind of meaningful creative that failed to come to fruition as compared to someone deciding to ruin the payoff of a two year feud.

Neither would be handling their issues in the best way, but they are pretty different situations.

[sek69]

Looks like MJF wasn't on THE PLANE when it left so at least he's still in town

[SirEdger]

Confirmed by Sean Ross Sapp. But he also says that now, the odds of the match with Wardlow happening are 50/50

[El-P]

Wow. Waking up to this, that's shit's crazy.

5 hours ago, MoS said:

If he is not going to be there tonight, TK should inform everyone immediately. Don't do the bullshit WWE move of continuing to advertise someone for a show even when you know they are not going to be there. 

YES.

Also, he absolutely is outsmarting himself here. There was not much sympathy for Sasha & Naomi from the workers inside the company, for better or worse, but I would gather he would get none whatsoever pulling this kind of shit in his context, which is quite different in term of creative.

If that's a work, I don't really see this upside. Brian Pillman's stuff was seen as cool at the time, but it never actually went anyone except confuse people, and the guy ended up outsmarting himself. TK should not go along with this kind of angle pushed that far, it never pays off in any useful capacity.

The odd thing, and I swear I was thinking about it when I was watching Dynamite and this has nothing to do with what's happening right now (as I said, I love watching the guy perform and thinks he's the best heel promo in the last 30 years) : if he left the company, I would not bat an eye. Because as much as it's been working, the angle from this week (can't call this a match) is not what I waited 17 years for. This is straight WWE stuff. Done well, extremely well even, but still. This is not what I want from my alternative. I'm all for the buffet, but this kind of stuff being the main angle, including topping the CM Punk vs Adam Page feud (which no one can claim has been the N°1 focus on TV at all), just not that appealing to me. 

Anyway, this is gonna end up being very interesting in the long haul. If MJF is pulling some power play, I don't see how the trust factor works past that point. Considering how south things went with Sasha & Naomi, there's also the question of hurting his own value with them by doing this.

If he does leave, you know what we get on BTE, right ?

[NintendoLogic]

Dave tweeted that MJF "appears to be wanting to be Brian Pillman." Make of that what you will.

[MoS]

Did the Pillman angle draw a single cent? It's mostly raved about by insiders and hardcore fans, but I never felt it had any actual impact apart from confusing the live crowds sometimes. 

[MoS]

Anyway, someone should photoshop TK's face on Heyman's in that promo he cut where he said "FUCK SABU" and replace Sabu with MJF

[Robert S]

4 minutes ago, MoS said:

Did the Pillman angle draw a single cent? It's mostly raved about by insiders and hardcore fans, but I never felt it had any actual impact apart from confusing the live crowds sometimes. 

I think the thing that Meltzer has said about the Pillman worked-shoot in the past was that the only one making any money from it was himself as it boosted his newsletter sales.

[Stiva]

1 hour ago, MoS said:

Did the Pillman angle draw a single cent? It's mostly raved about by insiders and hardcore fans, but I never felt it had any actual impact apart from confusing the live crowds sometimes. 

I guess we’ll see if this works when the DoN numbers come out. It’s certainly added some intrigue, I’ll give him that

[Loss]

Because of MJF's self-imposed restrictions on what he says publicly, the whole story of him wanting a raise without an extension took on a life of its own and a lot of people still think it's true, even thought Fightful reported that rumor to be false from the beginning. And yes, he is outsmarting himself. It's great to have a wrestler who maintains their persona in public at all times, but:

- There is a reason wrestlers today are (generally) mentally healthier than wrestlers in a previous generation
- He's backed himself into a corner where all kinds of awful things can be said about his professionalism and he can't even correct the record without breaking his own kayfabe rule

This was a dumb stunt that may create some buzz around him in the short term, but long term, I think he's given himself less bargaining power when his deal is up, and I can see Tony backing off on his push if he doesn't trust him.

And AEW has done a great job establishing that they don't fuck over fans, and the Meet and Greet yesterday actively worked against that. They need to go out of their way to do a make-good for the people who purchased tickets to see him. They have been successful, but they don't have nearly the stability or good will at this point to fuck over paying customers and move on.

[PeteF3]

2 hours ago, MoS said:

Did the Pillman angle draw a single cent? It's mostly raved about by insiders and hardcore fans, but I never felt it had any actual impact apart from confusing the live crowds sometimes. 

No, and even in real time on Prodigy I was about the only person speaking up against it because I don't know what in the name of holy fuck it was supposed to accomplish other than to go, "fooled you." I mean, now, I *do* know what it was supposed to accomplish--get a fat contract for Pillman. But if he's not cutting me a check, so I don't give a shit--what was the Loose Cannon thing leading to on-screen? At least Heyman seemed to know where he was going with it.