Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[Matt D]

More general responses later, but it would hurt Acclaimed more to take the belts off of them so soon after their title win than it would help FTR. Twenty or thirty minute broadway. Post match beatdown to set up the ROH PPV with Kingdom (Or Ass Boys I guess). Do promos from both babyface teams vowing to fight again soon. Run Acclaimed vs FTR at Revolution with a longer time limit and do the title change there depending on whether or not FTR are signed deeper into 2023.

[Jesse Ewiak]

Taking the belts off a new, hot young team and basically stopping their momntum dead to put the belts back on an established team because they need the belts seems like a very Vince move. 

[The Thread Killer]

April is not that far away. I love FTR. They are one of the main reasons that I even watch AEW to begin with. But if there’s even a chance they are going to walk in April (and I’d say there is) then there is no way that TK should take the World Tag Titles off The Acclaimed and put them on FTR. And I say that as the biggest FTR fan I know.  

AEW has captured lightning in a bottle and actually managed to build on a natural phenomenon with The Acclaimed. They should do everything they can to ride it out and not mess it up.

A lot of people seem to think that a TV deal for ROH is imminent. If that’s the case, leave the ROH tag titles on FTR and let them have classic matches in ROH to their hearts content. And they also have the IWGP belts, and that ain’t nothing either.

 I say leave The Acclaimed alone.

[strobogo]

I think I'd argue that iwgp tags mena pretty close to nothing, actually.

[The Thread Killer]

27 minutes ago, strobogo said:

I think I'd argue that iwgp tags mena pretty close to nothing, actually.

I am hoping it means they work Wrestle Kingdom in January at least.

[sek69]

18 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

I am hoping it means they work Wrestle Kingdom in January at least.

It's been pretty much confirmed they will be working WK.

...and to answer a previous question, AAA absolutely doesn't give a fuck  if their champs job on TV. They just want to get their belts on US TV because of the weird situation they are in legally. Also while I would argue they probably mean more in AAA than other lucha promotions, titles are not nearly as big a deal in Mexico as elsewhere. 

[Migs]

4 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I am hoping it means they work Wrestle Kingdom in January at least.

Confirmed, they'll be defending against the winners of World Tag League (teams currently in the running: Aussie Open, Sanada/Naito, TMDK, Goto/Yoshi Hashi, Yano/Tanahashi).

[MoS]

I think the tag belts need The Acclaimed more than FTR needs the belts. They have been an unexpected success for AEW and it is imperative that they remain the top team until the well runs dry. If TK cannot heat up FTR without giving them all the belts, then that's on him as a booker and he should maybe finally relent and agree to have a booker for his product.

[Big Pete]

FTR's momentum was stalled by Punk shattering his foot. It was clear they were going to be pushed as the biggest force in the company with the intention of doing Punk/FTR vs. Page/Bucks but that went out the window largely due to the injury but also the bad blood developing in the locker room.

FTR should have been champions coming off the ROH Anniversary show, but TK likes to have his cake and eat it too. FTR didn't need the belts, so instead of using that spotlight to magnify them, he'd rather use it to help get Swerve and Lee over. It definitely helped give Swerve and Lee some direction but there is an argument to be made that the best (aka most over) act should be the champions. No other team was more over than FTR.

Fortunately TK dangling the Acclaimed carrot got the fans to bite and annoit them as 'their' team so they've gotten inexplicably over. I agree with you MoS, keep milking that cow.

[Johnny Sorrow]

So I was wrong last month when I said that it must have been Khan who booked Cabana against Jericho as a fuck you to Punk, because I figured the owner of the company would be the one making that call. According to Cabana, it was Jericho's idea. 

[KawadaSmile]

2 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

According to Cabana, it was Jericho's idea. 

If they gave that man booking powers they are completely fucking clueless.

[Embrodak]

Oh, you guys are always getting on Tony’s case about delegating, and now you’re mad when he does it, and all because he delegated to the guy who got abducted by aliens.

[Coffey]

I just think it's funny that Jericho stuck around pro-wrestling to become the guy that he used to spend so much of his youth shitting on. The old veteran that won't go away & won't put over the young guy. Remember when he would shit on Hall & Nash & acted like Hall didn't know how to do a victory roll? 

[Johnny Sorrow]

5 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

If they gave that man booking powers they are completely fucking clueless.

Someone at DVDVR called Jericho Khan's Iago, thought that was pretty funny.

[C.S.]

Colt Cabana is an infantile man-child.

CageSide Seats: Dax Harwood didn’t like Colt Cabana mocking his accent, but never heard a bad word about him from CM Punk

https://www.cagesideseats.com/aew/2022/12/28/23529672/dax-harwood-colt-cabana-mocked-accent-cm-punk-relationship-aew-all-out-brawl

Not that I'm blaming Colt Cabana, but it's weird to think that almost all of AEW's problems are indirectly because of him - from the Hangman "Workers Rights" promo to C.M. Punk's "Gripebomb."

Now we find out Colt made fun of a new co-worker's accent on said co-worker's first day on the job?

Colt really was a pointless hire. He's the shits, over the hill, and immature to boot. 

[Embrodak]

Colt Cabana being the guy that doomed AEW by creating a vortex of drama that caused the internal culture of the company to collapse in on itself would be pretty funny, it has to be said.

[flyonthewall2983]

They’re doing the whole out with the old in with the new thing next week, updating the look of the show somehow. That’s somehow a natural progression with wrestling companies that was catching on in the more competitive local territorial markets and the WWF itself finally when they moved their tv tapings into small arenas and out of the unorthodox-looking places they largely did their tv from in the 70’s and 80’s.

This feels desperate on their part and this is the first time I felt this about the company.

[Dav'oh]

A "natural progression" that "feels desperate"? "Desperate" for what?

[C.S.]

Sammy and Tay were stripped of the AAA Mixed Tag Team Titles after not showing up at AAA Night of Champions to defend them.

https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1336742-sammy-guevara-and-tay-melo-stripped-of-aaa-mixed-tag-team-championship-new-champions-crowned

Any reason they didn't make an appearance? Blizzard? Injury? "That doesn't work for me, brother!"? 

[NintendoLogic]

The kayfabe explanation is that Sammy and Tay made too many demands. It could just be that AAA decided it wasn't worth the expense to keep flying in foreigners for belts no one cares about.

[Migs]

Meltzer said TK decided late that he needed Tay for Dynamite.

[C.S.]

5 hours ago, Migs said:

Meltzer said TK decided late that he needed Tay for Dynamite.

Not exactly a good or professional partner for AAA then. 

[Migs]

1 minute ago, C.S. said:

Not exactly a good or professional partner for AAA then. 

Two champs from AEW just did a job to a guy who then announced he was going to WWE so, uh, perhaps AAA isn't the most judgmental.

[C.S.]

1 minute ago, Migs said:

Two champs from AEW just did a job to a guy who then announced he was going to WWE so, uh, perhaps AAA isn't the most judgmental.

By "isn't the most judgmental," I assume you mean "completely lacking in judgment." AAA sounds like a shitshow of a partner too.

[NintendoLogic]

The latest Observer has a bit more on the Sammy/Tay situation. AAA had made the decision to take their belts off AEW wrestlers (except for Omega, who can be Mega Champion whenever he wants) due to the difficulty in getting dates on them. Sammy and Tay were scheduled to lose the mixed tag titles at a taping earlier in the month, but visa issues prevented that from happening. Then TK pulled Tay from Noche de Campeones because he needed her on Dynamite to get the angle she was involved in back on track. By the way, he knew Dragon Lee was WWE-bound and not only OKed the tag title change but didn't even insist that Dralistico be the one to score the winning pin. Kind of a rookie move on his part.