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Angelico should be out there doing seven minutes of weirdo llave shit every week on Dark as a palate cleanser between squashes.

"Fire The Jobbers" is easily one of the Four Pillars of Bad Takes, along with "It's A Work", "Eddie Loses Too Much", and "Meme Wrestler Bad" EDIT: Please do not mistake this as a pro-Luigi Primo statement.

Seriously, why do people always include Chaos Project on these “to be fired” lists? Who are they hurting by having fun undercard matches on Dark? Nobody. In fact, they actively help their opponents look great.

You make a point and then lose it immediately by including three of their finest. Both Luther and Serpentico have been coaching in AEW and Strickland just put em both over. Angelico is a god.

Listens to Fleetwood Mac once....

Send Buddy’s ass packing. It’s not really a stable without Malakai, anyway. Recalibrate around Brody and Julia as a pair.

If I’m being honest Brody King is the only one of them I care about and I think he can be a huge star without the HoB.

No.

Damn. That was a really fast milkshake ducking.

Bad take. The tippy top and the very bottom is not what needs to go. I'm not a giant fan of Serpentico or Luther. But they serve a purpose, take up ZERO main roster TV time, and have extremely cost effective contracts (we can assume). There's no need to clear out the contracted enhancement guys. They aren't taking TV time or pay or opportunities away from any of your favorites. Because it's not like Miro & Andrade would be working enhancement matches putting over 2.0 on Dark if Sepentico & Luther were released. But again, this talking point comes up far too much. Especially from you. TK isn't like some idiot that accidentally signed too many guys in this awww schucks I wanna collect them all sense. He is making a conscious decision to have a lot of cards in the deck to shuffle around. The big WWE talking point used to be why do they run so many house shows? How come guys have to work so much? Can they work in an off season? All because we'd like to see performers healthier and getting less injuries. AEW has instituted a structure that is paying their athletes as much or more as WWE for significantly less work. This is exactly what we had all been clamoring for. They aren't bloated. They are structured different than you're used to. There is a difference. I'm glad the internet wasn't a thing when I was a young kid first starting out watching. Hearing people constantly whine that Hogan doesn't wrestle enough on TV, or how you like Koko B Ware and he needs to be on TV more, or how Roddy Piper is getting wasted on by not being on TV enough and they're fucking him up would have drained allllllllll my joy.

How dare you.

Goth Phase vs HoB was a phenomenal brawl marked by 3 nasty bad bumps and an all time mark out moment ending. Action Hook vs. The Cool Daddies was better than I expected, Menard and Parker did great work shepherding that match. Hook sold well. They used Bronson wisely, giving him simple fat guy offense without having him try to sell any moves. I think WarJoe vs Abs and Woods was next? The Woods parts were the best. Nese was fine in his “dude who is going to take a beating and eat the pin” role, that’s the only place I want to see him. Wardlow-Woods is a match I want to see. Kingston didn’t quite lay in the all-time hellacious beating that I wanted to see, but the ending was good. Agreed with whoever said that Tay is a great heel when she once was such a natural baby face. Jade matches are a waste of time at this point. Please tell me they’re not just going to keep her streak against randos going until Stat returns. Jungle Boy is a very good wrestler in a company full of great to all time great wrestlers. They’re working hard to get rid of that moniker and use his real name, which might help him grow as a character, I don’t know. Fenix is always going to sell hard and do some crazy shit. The crowd loves Jack Perry, I don’t, and that’s ok. Battle Royal was fine, some nice touches with the Boys and Satnam, establishing some new rivalries, tying up some old stories, some comedy moments. Rush and Mox had a good match, I like Rush. I like Page too, and that will also be a good match, but it’s probably not who I would’ve picked. Starks took some nasty bumps, but when you open with a wild No DQ match, closing with an unsanctioned match like that is a bit of a let-down. The most impressive part was how effortlessly Starks had Hobbs on his shoulder for the Rochambeaux. Next week is going to have a lot of talking. I’m going to be watching in a hotel again so won’t be able to lean on that sweet FFWD button.

That’s one way to avoid having to have your checks signed by Daniel Snyder

Also, I still can’t decide if I think those guys are actually leaving or not. I think both guys should look at wwe’s creative right now and ask themselves who’s spot they think they’re filling. Aleister can be really intriguing and a great worker w the right partner, but I don’t see where he fits if Kross, Judgement Day & (allegedly) Bray Wyatt are all on tv. Buddy is a tremendously gifted worker but is limited by his size & promo ability. Who’s midcard title is he challenging for? Gunther? Lashley? I don’t see him being in a better spot there. I hope for their sakes it is just a mental health break, because it seems like a miscalculation for them to believe they’re just going to waltz into top spots…

This man gets it…

All problems really stem from having hired Cole and O’Reilly, of course.

Literally nothing has come out in the years of AEW's existence regarding financial strain, budget issues, etc. and yet there's always somebody saying such and such talent should be let go for what I can only assume is freeing up money. Baffling.

I agree on Brody being the breakout star but I also think that Julia Hart and her spooky pilgrim hat do add to the act, so maybe keep her.

That's why they had Diamante in that role.

What is House of Black if not a group of three people who, uh, hold on here... represent the words House and Black? Replace Buddy with Powerhouse Hobbes. New leader? Obvious. Negro Casas.

Very nice, very wholesome.

I think the question of what fat there is to cut that isn’t a jobber is a very interesting one, because it gets very divisive very quickly. Like if I had a say, I’m thrilled that Adam Cole, CM Punk, Thunder Rosa and the Bucks are off my TV, as those are kind of the guys I wanted off anyway if they were active and I was asked this question. And as for whose left, I guess of the non-Dark crew a top (bottom) five of Jay Lethal, Matt Hardy, Luchasaurus, Tony Neese and 10 can go. Still all JTTS for the most part. I guess I’m saying that I’m pretty happy with the upper tier roster construction, the lack of Miro notwithstanding. Build the roster around Hobbs, Hayter, Darby, The Acclaimed, Garcia, Butcher and Blade and 2.0 tho

Is it possible that Malakai's "unfulfilled promises" are related to Cody? When Cody left, things changed? HOB have certainly been featured as prominently in AEW as 90% of the roster, so it isn't like they have been buried. It also might have just been unrealistic to put a title on someone held together with baling twine and gumption. I support people taking a step back, if needed, to recalibrate and recharge. However, if this turns out to be a ruse on Black and Buddy's part to rejoin WWE, that would be low. At any rate, I am all for Brody King and Julia Hart remaining together. Brody is an absolute delight, and it is fun watching Julia get more comfortable with her character with every appearance. .

Maybe I was in the minority but, when Black mentioned unfulfilled promises, I immediately thought of WWE telling Thea they'd put her and Tommy on the same brand if she came back, which ended up being total bullshit. He didn't seem to be talking only about his AEW time. You're right about perhaps too many folks signed but the names mentioned were mostly enhancement talent so I was mainly thinking of them when I posted. Meanwhile we live in a world where Miro is sitting on his hands so yeah, there's clearly SOMETHING wrong.

Cutting Chaos Project, the Varsity Blonds, and half the Wingmen is probably not going to alleviate the problem of not enough main event slots, though. Unless you think someone like Malakai would be happy taking their spots.

Are we still talking about Luther?

WOW is muscling in on my non-wrestling time! Hey! It's Fury! That's Harlow O'Hara and she looks great. Miami Sweet Heat is such a David McLane concept. The Heavy Metal Sisters look like they would dig Accept. The twins seem pretty good. Oh, Razor is Christina Von Eerie according to cagematch.net. Actually, HMS would be more Vixen fans. This match is good. They edit the hell out of Miami Sweet Heat 2's hot tag. They hit the Lucha Bros move for the finish on Razor! That was good. I think. The NXT editing is confusing. I have to wait for cagematch.net to identify these gals to figure out if I have seen these gals before. WOW does their first wacky booking move! Jessie Jones takes on Ice Cold and Foxy Fierce alone to have her be in the tagteam tournament by herself? Jessie Jones is good. I love how WOW isn't afraid to have a very elaborate video build-up to a SUPERHERO to have her lose in a two on one handicap match. It's Reka Tehaka! She signed with the WWE this week. She has definitely wrestled everywhere- AEW, CWFH, WOW and soon NXT. Glitch the Gamer! Ah, David McLane. HEY! That's VertVixen! I'm glad they signed her. I notice that they aren't editing this every quarter second. This is good, but it should be. Princess Aussie! She last wrestled last year in CWFH as Cece Chanel and I vaguely remember her. I definitely remember her the last time WOW was on TV. I'm sorry I need a few weeks to adjust to new WOW. It's Reina Del Rey. She's a good heel who is good beating the babyface Princess Aussie to the point that the crowd gets behind her STRUGGLE to escape the 1970s heel beatdown of Reina Del Rey. This is really good. Reina Del Rey is my new favorite wrestler on WOW. That was good. They only had to edit the hell out of one match.

I hated the last two battle royals they did for a title shot, as most of the top guys opted out of it for no reason, and kills your vibe about how what a huge opportunity for a title shot this would be, when it's just also-rans, mid card guys and an obvious winner. This one was worse, as you literally had guys at ringside in Satnam and W Morrissey that would be credible contenders to win instead just standing around not doing much.

HOLY FUCK! We have our MATCH OF THE YEAR. It involves Chihiro Hashimoto and Ryo Mizunami going completely MID-SOUTH. Unfuckingbelievably great.

My "best possible scenario" shifts all the time as we get new info. First, it was Punk doing business with Omega/Bucks. Then it was Punk just putting over young guys after he comes back until he's done. Then it was just the Elite leaving AS WELL as Punk. Now it's Punk coming back in November for a promo in Chicago where he apologies, admits that he dishonored himself and the company and the fans and pledges that he's going to restore his honor by getting better, coming back as strong as he can, and saving ROH from Jericho. This is now my new "best possible scenario." It's extremely unlikely.

Am I late for the Hoss worship or Action Bronson? He really impressed like if he wanted to work indy shows I'd be okay with that. Is Julia Hart Alive? It looked like her head hit the concrete? Jungle Boy has awesome physical charisma. Its kinda a shame how this Christian feud has exposed his lack of anyother form of charisma I assume that Kriss Strat was the plan for Jade but now she's just spinning her wheels. JAKE HAGER IS MAD AS A WET HEN!!! Ricky Starks vs Monstar Hobbs. Okay both these guys look like stars, NO HONOR IN A LOW BLOW BUT THIS IS LIGHTS OUT. Starks uses Chevoks table to set up for the win! Fun two hours, split it into two evenings after the Sabaton/Rammstein concerts cause thats what the DVR record it as, two ceperat shows

I don't know anyone that's heard of that lady and I still have no idea who she is. She was at ringside during the match, she just did literally nothing. Then, she turned on the person that brought her out after mentioning her like three times previously. Diamante looked like a huge idiot.

But again this is a false position. If you release Matt Sydal, it won't get Andrade on TV more. If you release Serpentico it doesn't get Miro on TV more. We're 3 years into AEW. I think it's safe to say (whether you like it personally or dislike it personally), the infrequent appearances is the structure TK is using. It's not because of the number on contracted talents. It's because he wants to leave people wanting more vs burning people out and making them all just another guy. We can debate if we like it or if he's doing a good job at it. But constantly wishing for releases as a catalyst to change that is a misplaced thought. He's not going to change how many appearances talent get in his rotation strategy no matter how many releases there are. I personally wish he would get less rigid in the Dynamite format and throw in more matches sometimes. Rampage had 8 matches this week. Dynamite never ever goes above 6 per episode. Throw in an 8 match show once in awhile. Throw in a 10 match show once and awhile. That would get more people on TV and more women's matches. But he's steadfast in booking Dynamite at 6 matches a week. I don't know why. But he is.

JC discussed the infamous (especially here) Jimmy Valiant story on the latest pod. He said he never heard the story at the time,but repeatedly on the internet in last 20 years. He also said that story back then was attributed to Klondike Bill.

Singh was used perfectly. I didn’t need to see a bunch of people pinball off of him over the top rope until everyone else ganged up on him and he had to awkwardly climb out of the ring.

Yuki Arai and Maki Itoh at SKE48's 14th anniversary concert

From my Big 12 Preview: Should’ve gone with my gut. Headache confirmed. Oklahoma’s season spoiled.

*taps sign*

Excellent opening. The House of Black with opponents looming photo posted on page 2 tells a thousand thrilling words. Loved this opener. I need a Buddy-Darby singles battle. Small detail, but I wish sudden debuts could happen without a bad 'tron video. Maybe without music too - be creative. Seeing as it's a spontaneous moment in the middle of a match the production oughtta meet the purpose. Just a thought, certainly not a complaint on this fantastic opener. Great 'overbooking'. THAT JULIA FUCKING BUMP!!! And then Menard and Parker beautifully lead the 'Dream Partners' tag match. That was near perfect. These guys are tremendous foundational talents for this company. WarJoe-Nese/Woods follows and wholly delivers. Gimme some more Josh Woods v Wardlow! And then no big deal just a Rey Fenix-Jungle Boy classic! Jungle Jack's getting some good 'classic-match-run-rehab' after a couple side steps. I felt the same about Jade here. I really liked how Diamante ate her offense in this. This whole Trina angle ranks up there on the AEDub whack shit list. Obviously a small offense compared to the wackiest of shit - see being forced to listen to Jim Ross every week. Kingston v Sammy was a near perfect set of segments. I thoroughly loved this match and everything about it. These two are both incredible! All that said... why the fuck is Tay playing 'Miss Elizabeth' while Kingston has Sammy locked in the submission? Talk about illogical shit!? And where is the JAS, why is Jericho sitting on commentary still? If this plays out with Sammy acknowledging his being fucked over by his wife and all his friends then sure - makes sense! ANYWAY, I loved this finish! Reminded me of Bret-Lawler. Kingston-Guevara is truly a match I wanna see them run back sooner than later. I was feeling burned out watching the Battle Royal. I'm glad my exhaustion wasn't whilst seated in Queens at whatever ungodly hour. I had to skim thru some of this match. I liked hearing Jericho and Show have a genuine moment over comparing Dalton Castle to Leaping Lanny Poffo. Not a fan of - if your partner catches you it doesn't count as an elimination. Tho, both Castle and Lethal worked very well with this silly caveat. Dean totally nailed them setting up a bunch of ROH storylines here. I loved the finish. Great battle on the outside. I look forward to an Elite reunion. And the visiting team v Moxley 'Championship' bout! The idea that ppl would be excited for Starks and Hobbs as a Main Event after their silly PPV match seems like poor strategy. But so does trying to film so late into the night. All things considered, the match completely delivered! These two both looked as good as they've ever looked. Hobbs' powerslam into the chairs ought to have been the finish. The Starks back bump on the standing chairs was absolutely brutal looking. Great main event. I do hope Tony is learning something from the crowd exhaustion that is happening so clearly on PPVs and these Grand Slam shows (he's not). Sometimes less is more. Regardless, the show was pretty fucking fantastic!

Here ya go.

Made it through. Wasn't spoiled. It's 8:12 on a Friday morning. The 10 year old is up watching Doctor Who. I did make her eggos. The 4 year old turned 5 today. There are cakes upstairs that look like Bluey that my wife spent hours and hours on over the last few days. She's still asleep. We're doing ok here. Sting/Darby vs HOB was wild. Julia went full Sherri, down to the bumps. Hopefully she's ok. I've been spending a lot of time with 86 Muto so it was charming to see 2022 Muta. Sting laughing isn't a well they should go to every day but once and a while we can get Joker Sting. It makes this stand out against some of the other no DQ stuff we've seen out of him. Matthews was amazing eating that Dragon Screw. I really liked the hanging spot with King too. Bronson/Hook vs 2.0 was good for what it was. Bronson had some size and he was on the apron for most of it but past getting knocked off once when he was hyping up the crowd, there was no sense that 2.0 were better than him in any way. It was nice to hear Taz on commentary for it as I think he wasn't for Parker singles match. This was good in letting us see Hook sell a bit and 2.0 make quick tags and cut off the ring. The double redrum got a huge pop so you can't really fault any of it. If having Bronson there creates even a handful of fans for AEW and makes the people in the building feel like they saw something special, then it worked. War-Joe vs Nese/Woods: Woods screwing around was good. Wardlow's suplexes looked good. Hopefully his leg is ok because Joe finishing off Nese on his own felt weird. Joe just moving out of the way never, ever gets old. Jungle Boy vs Fenix: Urgh, let me say this. My favorite parts of the match were in the two commercial breaks, so DEAN has that to look forward to. I liked some of the holds and the escapes and the pressure being on in the first and I wasn't sold on the strike exchange in the second, until the fans started to really get behind it. Then it had me too. Overall, giving the one cold match on the show so much time felt like a bit of a booking error, but AEW is about wrestling for wrestling's sake sometimes. I'm glad Christian's still a part of things despite the injury. This is where we needed more of a Luchasaurus explanation though. Kingston vs Sammy: Loved it. So smart on how it started. Very smart on how it ended. He should have torn through Lynn too. That's all. I thought the transitions were good, that Sammy being in control when he was felt believable. Forget suspending Kingston. Force him to be a ref like Ronnie Garvin and have him ref all of Sammy and Jericho's matches. That's the angle! Jade vs Diamante: Hopefully Jade was just selling. The strength spot was impressive. Jade comes along with specific spots and exchanges, but the overall timing remains off. She doesn't know how much to let things breathe. It's not her fault. I'm glad Trina smiled at the end because she was a total cipher out there before that. Battle Royal was a very, very good Battle Royal. I loved the chaos outside during the break. Lots of great little character moments throughout. Almost every elimination had something interesting or compelling underlying it. They snuck in all sorts of things, whether it be Danhausen cursing people or the Best Friends hug or the payoff to the Hardy/Private Party stuff or Moriarty going after Garcia, or bits with the Boys and Singh. Mox is probably one of the only guys on the roster who can get a good match out of Page because he'll eat up all of his bullshit. I don't think he was nearly as over against Rush as he would have been two months ago though, so doing it in Cincinnati is probably a big mistake. I think that crowd is going to eat him alive? Hobbs vs Starks was a hell of a thing and it was good to see the crowd go up for Starks on the comeback. Some of those bumps were nuts. I loved Starks kissing hands and high fiving early. That was such a him thing and he should lean into that if he can marry it with intensity. This was really good at snatching hope away at every point right until the end. If the neck thing is still a huge part of Starks' matches two years down the line, he's done. That has to get cycled off at some point for people to really get behind him. It can be a (true) crutch for him to use to help structure his matches for a while, but not forever. Great stuff overall. I wish they'd announced more for next week. I want something like Danielson/Claudio vs Jericho/Garcia pretty soon. Someone should book that.

I think this touches on the age old "cool heel" debate, which I don't really care to litigate. At the moment, I'm not overly concerned if I'm watching a match where heel Flair is getting more cheers than the babyface among some segments of the crowd so long as I get the sense that the audience is invested and I'm invested. Other people's mileage will vary, but whatever. Speaking specifically about MJF, I find him to be the most interesting recipient of the "such a good heel" tag in a while. Because I started out where a lot of his contemporary critics started with him: this is low-hanging fruit, he's a boring edgelord, he comes across as playing a wrestling heel, etc. When he complains about people changing their opinion of him, I'm one of the people he's complaining about. And it's a credit to him: he's so committed to the bit that he wore me down. He's doing all of those things his critics accuse him of. But he's doing it with such commitment that I can allow myself to believe he's really that guy. He's easy to believe as an edgelord bully who's playing something so people don't see who he really is, as alluded to in his feud with Punk. Part of what works about his act right now is that even though he's incidentally getting cheers from some sections of the audience, there's nothing "cool" about his act. It's all hacky. Calling people cucks? Hacky. I know he's a fan of Punk, but pulling out the "greatest trick the devil ever pulled" line in 2022? Hacky. Calling people ugly and fat? Hacky. He's so committed to being abrasive in the least cool way possible that it's almost admirable. There's nothing cool about him on screen, even if he's doing it well enough that some people appreciate the performance. Even his commitment to the bit in softball interviews reinforces the act. His favourite movie as he revealed this week: Goodfellas! It's a good movie (says so in the title), but it's also the exact thing a hacky bro like him should be saying is his favourite movie. When he's on screen in any setting, his committed lameness is seeping out of every pour. It's the best. It's very easy to buy. Sammy may be getting less divided reactions. But MJF's getting the reaction many stars do, which is every kind. That continues to be a worthwhile dynamic. And who knows, maybe this honeymoon period of people being happy MJF is back will pass. And then he can once again perform in front of audience that more closely conform to your preferences. I don't know who's a better heel. But they're both great reactions for my purposes.