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I think the biggest thing being missed in this entire situation is that as different as AEW is from WWE it is still pretty committed to maintenance of the status quo as far as who they push at the top of the card or even as a future star. Then on top of that, when we discuss what black person should be in the main event, we are looking for people who are already at a main event level. That doesn't make any sense. If the problem is that black people aren't pushed to the main event, how the fuck do you expect to find someone on the black main event level. That is like in the NFL when people bring up the lack of black head coaches, and then someone says, "Well, they just hire the person with the most experience." So, black people should just stop trying, huh? If the problem is that these opportunities don't go to minorities, you can't then ask for a minority who has the already had the opportunity. They don't exist, which is the problem that we need to fix. We can't fix it by looking for the people who aren't there, you have to look at the people who are there and give them an opportunity to fail. Black people are given chances to succeed, white people are given chances to fail. When people talk about diversity and institutional racism, people start looking for klan hoods and burning crosses, but as bad as that shit is it's on the fringes. The most prevalent and insidious part of racism is the complete and total dedication to maintaining the status quo. No one expected Britt Baker to turn into the star she has become when she was put in that position. She was given the opportunity to sink or swim, and it turned out she could swim. Adam Page wasn't some can't miss prospect. He was given the opportunity to see if he could take that next step, and he made it happen. We also can't look at Jade Cargill of all people and say, "see black people get opportunities." Jade Cargill is Jackie Robinson. I know she's not the first black woman in wrestling, but she is about as exceptional of a wrestling prospect that exists. Jackie Robinson wasn't the best black baseball player, he just happened to be one of the most exceptional people this country has ever produced in almost every way. Jackie Robinson was literally great at everything, and had to fight and claw to get to the major leagues to play against people who were allowed to just be good enough at baseball. If you have to be Jade Cargill to get a shot, no one else is going to get a shot. Big Swole is an average ass professional wrestler, but black people don't get to be average. Big Swole is no worse than Anna Jay, but Anna Jay gets to be average. This shit will never change until black people get to be average at their job. Black people get put into positions when everyone believes that they will succeed. If there is a question about whether or not that a person will be successful, that position will go to someone else. Black parents always tell their kids, if you want to get somewhere in life you have to be twice as good as the white people you're competing against...and it's true. If someone has any questions about whether you are good enough to do something, the answer will always be no. Over the last decade the NFL has had a huge influx of black quarterbacks who would have never got a shot in the past and that's great, but it's still not ideal. Yes if you are Cam Newton or Lamar Jackson you can be the quarterback of an NFL franchise. You know who you can't be? Colt McCoy. Colt McCoy has been an average ass quarterback for over a decade and he just keeps getting them checks. It's perfectly fine to be average ass Colt McCoy, the vast majority of people at any position in any industry is overwhelmingly average. You just can't be black and unexceptional in every way and expect to stick around like Colt McCoy. We spent 8 pages talking about the two or three black people on their roster who get regular television time and it's Jade Cargill who is 1 of 1, Dante Martin, who is 1 of 1, and Powerhouse Hobbs, who in this day and age is 1 of 1. Matt Hardy has a whole team of just regular ass white dudes (I know there is also Private party and that dude who looks like buff Low-Ki). The Dark Order is full of just regular ass white dudes. The Best Friends are just Orange Cassidy and his average ass friends. You don't get to be black and fill a roster spot, and that is a diversity problem.

Unfortunately for Scorpio, if he came around this type of environment and was 28 and not 38 (which honestly ain't that old), he would have a lot more to look forward to. With a lot of guys who have been around forever and just getting their big break now, it feels like everything for them has to happen now. You look at someone like a Randy Savage, and his first run as WWF champion started at 35 going on 36 six months later. He was considered way too old by 1992/93 yet still managed to draw money for another five years. Moreover, he was able to make another guy (DDP) who had kinda languished in midcard hell in two seperate stints for WCW over six years into a superstar. Since Scorpio doesn't have that overwhelming charisma, he's not gonna get that same opportunity extended to him and basically be used as a good hand. As for Rock, I think he's a very intriguing baseline. Why? Because no one saw what he ultimately ended up being. Folks thought if he became a star, it would be as a traditional babyface fighting from underneath. He got his shots to make it work and his ceiling....just didn't exist because he was that talented. I am not saying Jade Cargill can be that because simply 99% of folks (if they exist) never live up to that type of potential. Matter of fact, there is more likelihood she only gets slightly better and that's her level. She's going to get opportunity after opportunity simply because that's how wrestling goes if you look like that. Going back to Swole's line about her child seeing someone who looks like her or w/e, you know the one person I wish would have succeeded and didn't? Ahmed Johnson. Why? Because he was my JYD since I was too young to remember JYD. I remember the out-of shape, not motivated Dog towards the end of his WWF run and sorta remember him in WCW for that cup of coffee but not his heyday in Mid-South. It makes me wish Tony Norris the person actually gave a fuck about the business and didn't do dumb shit. The character Ahmed Johnson was everything as a young fan I wanted it to be and could identify with. Black? Check. From my home state of Mississippi? Check even though the guy playing him was from like Houston I think. Big, strong, and powerful with devastating looking offense? Check. When you think about it, he was actually black Goldberg and Goldberg before Goldberg. Go back and check out some of the pops he got from 96 and 97 (in particular KotR 96 and Rumble 97 IIRC). The pops that he got were the pops only reserved for superstars. Couldn't cut a promo to save his life, but it didn't matter because he was set up to be the next JYD (Ross has gone on record and said as much). Sadly, between being paranoid backstage, getting hurt several times, hurting others he was working with several times, and just not understanding the business in the general, it didn't last very long at all. In 96 and 97, he was getting huge pops. By 1998 before he was gone from WWF, you could hear a pin drop in the arena when he came out. The window had closed. I got to tell you as a black fan coming from a lower middle class background in the rural South, not having that was miserable. Granted, my JYD type figures ended up being New Jack when I got more into ECW and Booker T (Stevie Ray also by proxy), which were not bad consolation prizes at all. However, to this very day, I wish it was him because that was when I was much, much younger. I still loved Rock don't get me wrong, but Rock didn't come from the same background as those guys did. Also, Rock was a crossover superstar. Who wasn't going to love him? And maybe that's what Swole means by that line. As someone who grew up around a bunch of black women, IMO maybe Swole doesn't see Jade or Velvet in that light which isn't that far off from how a lot of black folks view other black people crazy as it might seem. Maybe Swole sees Jade as not African-American but Jamaican since that is Jade's background and there is a clear delineation between African-Americans and other black Americans (especially recently when you talk about the controversy in the black community with Kamala Harris for the last few years). Maybe because Velvet and Brandi are with white guys and Swole's significant other is black, maybe she feels some type of way. That's another big issue within our community. And as silly as it might seem, it's still a hot button topic that we always discuss amongst ourselves. Who knows how and why Swole feels that way? But from that perspective, I can still see why she might say that. I mean if someone came up to me and asked why I identify with Booker or New Jack more than Rock on a personal level, then I necessarily don't have to give an explanation just like they don't need to explain to me why they love country or metal over hip-hop or some shit. You identify with what you identify with. Your preferences are your preferences.

Very specific nostalgia triggers here.

Not really the same thing. Anna Jay is good looking like 3 women at my gym, 4 girls who work at the local mall, and 10 bartenders within 15 miles of me are good looking. You can find someone who is comparable to Anna Jay in the looks department, but we all seem to agree that is why she's been given so many chances. Don't get me wrong, she's really fucking good looking, but not uniquely good looking. Jade Cargill is good looking in a way that you don't see on a regular basis. I've never met anyone in my 40 years of life who looks like Jade Cargill. The world doesn't make many of those. That's not the same thing. It's like I said about Jackie Robinson, he had to be great at damn near everything to get his chance, all the other players had to be good at baseball. Jade is really good looking, but that's not enough, she needs to be uniquely good looking to get that opportunity. That is a completely different barrier to entry.

Well, he was on that trajectory. Going back to supreme's point about white people being allowed to be mediocre, Jim Hellwig got to be bad in the ring, hurt others, and cut terrible, meandering promos and they tried to make him the next Hogan. Didn't work out for Ahmed like that. He got the IC belt, but at some point, he got into a real life blood feud with Ron Simmons, got hurt, and it came apart at the seams from there. I also remember Ahmed at the Slammys (I think 97 and not 96 where he got the New Sensation award or whatever the rookie of the year equivalent award was) where he made vaguely shoot comments about Shawn Michaels and looked legit pissed for some reason that came off bizarre since both were babyfaces and teamed up just some months earlier. It came off as a guy basically reading his obituary at his own funeral. I guess he was in the WWF doghouse by that point and blamed Shawn for it. Either way, that was a huge no-no from a backstage politics point of view. That said, Hunter made some very nasty and demeaning comments about Sunny at that same ceremony that would get the normal person fired today. The Slammys were just a super bad idea in general unless we're talking about Owen Hart being awesome. Oh, and speaking of Ron Simmons, he was a terrible choice for the next JYD and I love Ron Simmons. I talked about this before, but as talented as Ron was and having a great look, I don't think anyone could buy him as that. Add in the fact, that WWF tried to make him the Malcolm X of this anti-establishment faction. I think New Jack said it best in one of his shoot interviews. People simply didn't buy it coming from Ron Simmons. When I think anti-white establishment, I think New Jack and not the guy who played football for Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Black people can identify with Ron Simmons, but not in that way. I think that may be one of the bigger issues with diversity. I think white people (and to be fair, people of many other races and ethnicities) have a very loose definition of representation. And that's not to say white people can't understand black people. Hell, Quentin Tarantino has been able to write black dialogue effectively for the better part of 25 or 30 years. However, creatively, you can be in the ballpark and still be WAY OFF. I mean Jim Cornette came up with some of the stuff for Too Cold Scorpio when he was being rechristened as Flash Funk with the Rick James' Love Gun stuff at the very beginning when they were fleshing it out. This is the same guy who talks about his love for the SOS Band, which kills me dead. He also let New Jack pretty much have creative license over the Gangstas in Smoky Mountain, which is why it worked (perhaps too well but I digress). Yet, Cornette is the same guy who called a security guy the N word and had a few ugly racial incidents. So when that guy, Bruce Prichard (a guy who regularly delved into racist humor on his own podcast), and Vince McMahon are responsible for choosing who my wrestling Malcolm X is, I shouldn't be all that surprised they swung and missed badly. And two of those guys (Ross probably as well since he was savvy enough to have Dwayne do the Primetime Deion Sanders bit) at the time were super pop culture savvy to make up for Vince's blindspots of not understanding pop culture. For people to go, "well this is your representation" or "it's not a diversity issue", then clearly you're not seeing the music in between the notes. This is why wrestling really doesn't resonate with a large and diverse audience anymore. I couldn't imagine the people who sat in the crow's nest at the Ellis Auditorium being that excited to see something like today's wrestling even though there are more black wrestlers at the top than ever before. For some reason, it just doesn't feel the same. Hence, why you need BOTH The Rock and Ron Simmons type wrestlers in addition to the Booker T, New Jack, and Ahmed Johnson type guys. I believe I heard Cornette on the In the News compilation talk about the difference between Bearcat Brown and Bearcat Wright. One was more accessible to white people and got to be part of the first big integrated tag team in wrestling w/ Len Rossi and the other was more militant. Point being is you need both. A yin and a yang. If fans and the people ultimately in charge just say, "well we put ten black people out there... just be happy", then we have a larger problem than we even realize. I'm still going to watch wrestling cause I been doing it my whole life, but that's still a fucked up issue that needs to be corrected. Personally, just speaking from my viewpoint, I don't see it being corrected anytime soon and that's why I don't look to AEW to correct it.

This Kevin Nash?

WWE never saw Kofi Kingston or Big E as true champions and main eventers and never will.

One thing that struck me this year with AEW is that for much of the year you could ask the question "so who is the top black face in the company?" and really struggle to come up with a respectable answer. The last few months you can at least point to Dante as while he doesn't win a ton he's at least been featured a bit, but for much of the middle 6 months of the year the answer was probably... Red Velvet? Sonny Kiss on the men's side? It actually confused me that people were so struck by Swole's comments as its been pretty clear for a while that AEW has its blind spots, it doesn't make them evil or bad but there are things they legit need to work on. I think a larger issue is that if you are a middle or lower end of the card wrestler you tend to disappear for long stretches of time and it becomes hard to build momentum, and if that is where a lot of your diversity is situated it becomes a more complicated problem. People seem to dig Shida and Riho and they'll disappear off of tv for months at a time, it feels like every single time Team Taz has an angle or feud set up it ends abruptly and they get lost in Darkville for ages (you can do this with a Best Friends feud once rather than have them all go on forever). Basically fixing things requires effort and I think it is fair to look at AEW and wonder if they've been putting in said fair effort.

I have used the google and someone should go ahead and tell me to calm down supremebvetico.

So WWE's response to the AEW racism controversy is to have a big PPV where every black wrestler loses?

I remember watching it live. Umaga kicked the shot outta those guys. Steve O really pissed him off. Here’s the clip if no one’s ever seen And if found a video of Steve O and Pontius talking about the incident

Name all the black women wrestlers who have been given as many opportunities to be on national television just because they were young and smoking hot. I get why you would push Anna Jay, I'm not saying she shouldn't have a chance to perform. I'm just pointing out that she gets opportunities that literally no black woman has ever been extended. Scorpio Sky is kind of the best illustration of what I'm taking about. Scorpio Sky got an opportunity to see if he could sink or swim starting in November of 2019. Scorpio Sky is a guy who has all the attributes you could want in a wrestler. He's a good looking guy, pretty charismatic, good in the ring, and I can see why you'd give him the opportunity to see if he could be a future star. Except he's 38 years old and has been wrestling since 2002 and never actually won any of the matches that mattered in his big push. It's one thing to earn a title shot, but he was clearly just a challenger in his matches with Jericho and Cody. He didn't feel like the next big guy, he seemed like a veteran who could fill in when they needed someone to challenge for a title between feuds. That isn't a bad place to be, but if that's the push of his career, it feels like a lot of wasted potential. @Elsalvajelocobrought up The Rock who is another person who is so overwhelmingly talented he shouldn't be included in this discussion. If a dude who became one of the biggest movie stars in the world is the measuring stick, no one else is ever going to feel worthy of an opportunity.

Y'all know I avoid choosing violence at all cost on this site, but I've had a few Silver Bullets tonight, so I'm gonna say this. Some of y'all have laid out some truly wonderful ideas for how 2022 could go. Some great notions and storylines and whatnot. Here's the problem; WWE has no plan outside of "Becky Roman Lesnar Charlotte." That's all there is. Rinse and repeat. They won't get behind anyone else because they don't have to .There is no plan to re-elevate Big E or Lashley or Liv or Bianca Belair or Rhea or anyone. Just the four albatrosses of WWE.

It would do them well, as mentioned in the January thread, to change up the formula of the show a bit more outside of the named Dynamites. Predictability is bad in wrestling and the show does an otherwise good job of having that sense of controlled chaos. A match going shorter or longer than usual is great every once so often. You avoid what's happened to NJPW the past few years.

I’ve been thinking about it and I have a question for everybody. Why wasn’t Bam Bam Bigelow are bigger star? What I mean by that is why was he never a Top Guy for any period of time? Why was he never a World Champion? Why is his name never brought up when talking about the best to ever do it? ECW and New Japan seemed like the only places they understood that he worked best as an asskicking heel. The guy had a distinct look he could move like a man half his size, him and Lawerence Taylor main evented Wrestlemania, he had main stream appeal he was in Major Payne, the flash in the pan run with Goldberg was exciting shit it’s still exciting to watch his first month in WCW 23 years later. It’s a shame

Mama’s Family would be a better lead-in to wrestling.

If you see that as shifting goalposts, then you're going to have a huge problem understanding diversity. People know that Tony Khan fucked up, but don't know exactly WHY he fucked up. They just see, "well, he got angry and reacted haphazardly to an ex-employee" and stop from there. Yeah, there is a much larger issue. And if people don't address it, then hey. Don't be surprised you see more instances of it. Moreover, you cannot ask what the problem is and then say's it's way too complex when someone gives you an answer. As the young kids like to say, "that ain't it".

Ahmed Johnson came right out of the gate by body slamming Yokozuna when that still had some OH SHIT! factor to it and at the beginning I absolutely thought he was going to be WWF Champion at some point.

I loved Ahmed Johnson as a kid. Goldberg before Goldberg is spot on. The Goldust brawl is something else. Him killing the Hardys holding the KOTR doors open is the stuff of legend, as is his brief but memorable run in BJW. That he didn't really get pro wrestling and was a danger to others is kind of what made him (and Goldberg) so awe inspiring. Goldberg eventually figured it out mostly (fuck him forever for the Bret match) and was granted way more leeway and opportunity to do so, to connect back to the point of this whole issue. There's an alternate timeline in which Ahmed was a top star.

I’d have Big E win the Rumble and choose Roman and The Universal Championship. Have Big E go over to Smackdown reunite with The New Day and feud with The Bloodline and at Mania I’d have Big E beat Roman. Then I’d have Lashley win the Elimination Chamber for the shot against Brock and run Brock vs Lashley with Lashley going over. Those would be solid main events for the two nights Big E vs Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley.

I hope Joel Gertner is one of the judges as I'd like to see who wins based on the Studmuffin Scoring System.

Once Rosa came in, and Emi became a regular, it seemed both were able to guide them into a better tempo.

I feel like the logical next step for Cody is to solemnly announce he feels he has to renege on his promise and challenge for the world title as a result of overwhelming fan demand Agonising over the decision for a 20 minute Dynamite segment every week as he provides updates on this unprecedented groundswell of grassroots support; his voice cracking as he reads out a (very real) letter from little terminally ill Timmy in Boise begging the Codester for just one favour: to win the big one, for him, before the lights go out on his tragically short life Not a dry eye in the house I'd bet

Brown really needs to be sat down(by the shield if tb won't do it). It really is a cry for help.

Two Michigan legends in 1995. Dan Severn has the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the UFC V Tournament belt. Sabu has the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title, does anyone know what the other belt is?

His days in the NFL are probably over. I can't imagine any other team taking a shot on the guy after something like this.

My mom turned 76 yesterday and aside from the arthritis, does not show the physical signs of a woman in her seventies. Black don't crack. Jade Cargill does not look like a woman pushing 30 years of age who also has a kid and a certified Master's in Child Psych.

I like all the "thumbtacks can't be a finish" talk. It made me think of IWA KOTDM and how much I love the Nakamaki vs. Ono match. That has a thumbtack finish. I'm not sure about everyone else's pro wrestling brain, but mine sure as fuck bought a powerbomb and full-nelson facebuster into tacks as worthy of a three count. If I saw that same sequence today for a finish, I wouldn't bat an eye.

While I am not excited about watching a show that is built around Aldis, Murdock, and Tyus as important pieces, I will give it a shot.

last i heard, Corgan's NWA is again going to have a weekly show on YouTube. @DreamBrokenwas still posting recaps of their show a couple weeks ago, so he probably has more info. i was hooked with the first run of POWERRRRR but never tuned back in after the pandemic when it moved to Fite (or whatever service it's on). mainly because they lost so much of their talent (Thunder Rosa, Ricky Starks, Eli Drake, etc.) maybe i'll check out this new show. i really hope they succeed.

I'm an unofficial mod so I am not going to be making any formal decrees, but just a reminder that while I think this discussion is healthy and one that needs to be had, to please be respectful to each other. This is a very sensitive subject to many (for good reason) so before hitting Submit Reply just keep in mind these issues go beyond wrestling and are deeper than just what Tony said or what Swole said. We are all wrestling fans here and most of us are decent people, so like with all social media, don't forget there is a person on the other end of the keyboard and keep the conversation educational/constructive. Not aimed at any particular person, just from reading this thread a few of the comments felt like they were veering in the wrong direction so just a general plea for civility and understanding from all.

You've never explained how it was incoherent. Just I don't understand so let me give up. Other people were able to understand my point. Probably cause they chose to actually listen. Which is exactly why Burgundy said her piece. Supreme said his piece, and I said mine. We're hoping people actually listen. If you don't want to hear people out, just say it. We're going three years with this AEW thing, and I think people are trying to say the right things. However, they don't actually want AEW (or pro wrestling in general) to be that. They just want social media and online brownie points.

If AEW continues signing more people just because they are established and have had TV time and experience in WWE, it's only going to exacerbate this problem further and not make it better. Their roster is too bloated. Develop and build who you have now. Up and down the roster, they have a fairly good mix.

At the end of the day, Brock is a real star (both in their eyes and, let’s be honest, to the general WWE fan) over the other guys and thus treated as such. When Wrestlemania season starts this always happens. The real stars get pushed and the midcarders go back into the midcard.

Here’s my Brock rant why does Brock always have to be booked as far superior to the rest of the roster? I understand the idea of booking someone super strange to have somebody their building up beat that super strongly booked person but when is that gonna happen? They could have booked this match 100 different ways plus it was only 8 minutes. I didn’t dislike this match it was fun until the ending. If they don’t book Lashley vs Brock after this match they are dumb the crowd was eating their interactions up. I don’t like that Big E took the jump they could’ve had Lashley spear Lesnar Big E runs in and hits a standing drop kick or something on Lashley then hit the Big Ending on Brock 1-2-3 and Big E is the Top Dog. That crowd would have lost it had Big E pinned Brock. It made everyone look weak and stupid when Brock unleashed at the end and won. It’s so predictable. Who wants to see Brock as Champ again?

Crossposted because the Bunny IS FUCKING HARDCORE!

My good friend was at the NOAH show last night, took this pic. Yes, Go and Nakajima did their version of the Misawa vs Kobashi '03 suplex from the hanamichi to the floor spot.

Anna Jay is pushed because she is young and smoking hot, The Acclaimed aren't *that* good in ring, The Butcher and The Blade are not average by any means...certainly better than Marc Quen (Kassidy has admittedly stepped things up recently). Best Friends....Wheeler Yuta pretty clearly isn't white, Trent Beretta is a pretty good pro wrestler. Plus there's a kind of shifting of the goalposts because one minute we're talking about who gets regular TV time and then the next we're talking about spots on the roster. The Blade isn't featured that regularly on TV, and it's not like Chuck Taylor is some major presence either. Scorpio Sky not only gets to fill a roster spot, but he's a former tag team champion and he won 'The Face of the Revolution' ladder match. He also had his own entrance camera for a long time. I honestly think quite a few of the referenced regular ass white dudes are quite a bit better than him at this point.

This isn't true. It may have been true when Anna Jay started on AEW, but she passed Swole. Part of Swole's regression might have to do with lack of opportunity, but as of 1/1/2022 Anna Jay is the better performer.

The whole thing,

First, you're diagnosing Tony as on the spectrum. You have no clue about that. Even if he is, that doesn't excuse his social media boo-hoo (which he does often BTW), because he knew he find like-minded fans who would validate him. Tony Khan is 39 years old with endless financial resources. He has a multitude of options to have approached this like a professional AND functioning adult. He chose otherwise. The pacifying of grown men to justify bad behavior is disgusting. I don't care that he used to post around here and some of you think he's cool. He's being a jerk in this situation. Second, you're trying to rationalize this with your White male eyes. Which happens a lot on wrestling. And you did mention that, so points for self-awareness. But I wonder if one day, you and others will ever listen to a Black woman's perspective on such topics. To this point--and I've been here for years--the answer has been no. But I'll give part of my take here, all the same: Swole gave her opinions and feelings on certain things in AEW. There are valid, regardless of whether you think she's a bad wrestler. At no point did she personally attack Tony. She came closer to insulting Brandi on the 'no Black voices in upper management' bit. But after seeing some of her promos, I can't imagine Swole and Brandi seeing eye-to-eye on much. The idea that some are suggesting--that Swole shouldn't have aired her troubles publicly--is a laugh considering how many salivate at Talk is Jericho or Renee Paquette 'wrestler tells all' shows and shoot interviews in previous years. Just because you don't agree or think she stinks at her job doesn't make her feelings lesser than or means she should be quiet to play nice. But you seem to be leaning that way because you're not giving her POV value. In essence, what Swole said is 1) AEW needs to improve in overall respresentation and giving women the same chances as men, 2) There needs to be more structure from a creative standpoint to help younger wrestlers or those new to TV who may need more help with the process, 3) The time AEW has for its shows needs to be better arranged to give wrestlers meaningful matches, and 4) AEW is a solid promotion and wishing them well. You would think she spit on someone's grave by some of the reactions. And as a Black woman who's watched and talked about wrestling for a while, I've seen those same statements from others. She's not alone in thinking this way. But I can't help but ask if her being a Black woman with the audacity to speak her peace out loud is the issue here. Again, I point to you saying she's bad at her job. So what? What does that have to do with what she's speaking about? She didn't even frame the conversation around herself. She was talking about AEW's environment as a whole. But you--and many more--have used the moment to belittle what you think is her lack of wrestling abilities and ignore her concerns. You decided that what she said has no value because you don't like how she does a headlock or cuts a promo. You, along with Tony, make it personal instead of tackling the real issues she mentioned. And why is that? Because you don't know how? Or you simply don't want to know? Until you and others can put down your bias and tendency to downplay others whose voice doesn't amplify yours, we'll keep having conversations like this where we point fingers and nothing worth holding is accomplished. And we'll accuse each other of things that aren't true and we'll get mad but then make up and play nice until the cycle begins again. Frankly, the bicycle is on flats and I'm tired of pedaling for those who say they listen and care and appreciate my take but show otherwise. That's not against you directly, just me saying my peace out loud.

You'd probably have to have O'Reilly and Fish stop using the high/low combo if you were to go that route.

The Bunny is the best thing about the women’s division. She been carrying these green faces for months. Give that psycho some wins! I really love how the mid card talent is presented in AEW. You lose nothing by going toe to toe with someone higher up the card, because there is a clear hierarchy. Bowens has looked great in his singles matches with Darby and Danielson. They way they operate also leads to a certain tension when two wrestlers perceived to be at the same level have a match. I’m thinking MJF/Darby.

Honest answer? USA/NBC Universal and WWE shareholders. Because from the looks of it, he and Roman are the only two ratings movers WWE currently have. And FOX isn't letting go of Roman. I'm pretty sure that Vince/Nick Khan will begin talks later this year for new TV deals for 2024. So drive up the stock/value now going into WM with Brock as one of your big champs.