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Anyways, Dax Harwood has his new podcast and the first episode is about CM Punk (as a topic, not an interview or anything). All of this stolen from Fightful - the episode doesn't even come out until Thursday, so I guess SRS heard it early or something. On the Hangman in-ring promo segment: On Punk not wanting the AEW title, and if Punk was becoming bitter about his experiences in AEW heading into All Out: Talking to Punk after the backstage fight between Punk/Steel & the Elite: If he can see Punk coming back to AEW:

Hovering over your post be like:

I'm taking my nephew to this show tomorrow night. Should be fun.

So two things stick out from that Dax rundown... 1. Sure doesn't sound like he hates AEW as much as some posters were claiming lol. Talking about trying to set wrestling up for the future. How AEW can do something special with all 4 in the locker room. That sure doesn't sound like a guy that is counting down the minutes of his deal to go back to WWE like the old Dolphman claimed. Awkward. 2. I'm with Dax here. I love that someone in the company finally said it out loud. There was a nasty incident. But this is soemthing that can be worked through. If The Bucks & Kenny actually care about AEW the company more than themselves as performers, they owe it to the company to try and get on the same page and not lose Punk. On the other side of the coin, I hope Punk can see this is a situation where he was also an asshole. He's not a victim with no blame. For as mad as he was about Hangman's line, him calling out Hangman going against the script was equally bad. Basically I just hope Punk realizes he's turned into the thing he hated. He's 2005 HBK / HHH punching down at the younger guy that just worked Sunday Night Heat. Hangman has a bright future and you shouldn't just write him off after this hiccup like they did to Punk. And I hope The Elite put the promotion before their personal feelings. If they're really EVPs and actually care about this thing they created they nee to realize sometimes you gotta put the brand before yourself.

speaking only for myself with this: in the early/mid 00s we were just coming off the "highs" (YMMV as to if that was actually a highpoint or not) of the Monday Night Wars. We'd seen wrestling at its peak, and we were moving away from it. From the horribly bad Invasion angle, to the brand split, to the PG era, to the atrocious Diva Search segments, it felt like one downward step after another. I continued to watch WWE for a few years and enjoyed it less and less each week. I found myself coming in to the weekly threads to complain and read from others who were complaining. It was like we had all found our enjoyment of the show by pointing out how terrible it was. I started to actively hope the booking would be bad, or matches would suck, just so that i had more to talk about. It took a year or three to realize i had put myself into a negative tailspin and that i was focusing on the negative because i wanted to, not because it was all trash. shortly thereafter i stopped watching WWE, and a bit after that i stopped reading those threads here. never looked back, although i pop in on occasion to see what's going right with the show. For a lot of years here, those threads were just nonstop bitching. Anybody that would mention positive moments were put through the ringer for the cardinal sin of *gasp* finding enjoyment from watching. i like to think i have more self awareness now. i like watching AEW but again found myself reading the weekly threads and only taking away the negative from them. so, i stopped reading them. i hope everyone can find their way to balance out enjoyment and positivity.

Hey there are a lot of us oldies left that never moved on to bigger and better things.

Honestly, my timeline is different but I took a few year break from keeping up with wrestling for a similar reason. I credit my at the time snarkiness. Good things were in front of me and I wasn’t enjoying it. I wasn’t here of course, but elsewhere (as Sledge.). Life reevaluated and a more positive outlook, I’m now a regular wrestling enjoying @Gordlow! I’ll tease and make zingers and I think valid criticisms are more than fair. If I’m not feeling AEW (which can be off and on) I am so blessed to be in a time I can watch sooo much on YouTube and other online sites or streaming services. —— If someone posts in a way I don’t like (generally constantly negative or even mean to other posters) I just block them. I get the luxury to still see that if they post and I do want to read to see the flow of conversation, you can click “see this post” or something around that line. Pretty easy stuff. Most of y’all are cool though and it is a joy to post here. I have no wrestling friends, that even when I’m too busy to watch a lot, it is still fun to see what’s up in the wild world of grapples. EDIT TO ADD Not worth a double post, but I’m optimistic about the new design. The commercials with the lasers looks neat. Very pro-lasers.

Just gonna put this out there - leaving "laughing" responses on folks' posts you don't agree with, leaving "sad" reacts on people proclaiming stuff they enjoy that you don't, that's some real obnoxious dickhead behavior.

You know what, this explains why @The Natural has a Venice Beach IP

This is a heel led territory so that honor goes to Tom Lawlor. Eh, I don't know about that part. When you have various Cornette acolytes and/or those who nitpick every little thing to the point of like you should probably quit watching cause it's not going to turn around anytime soon, I think it's evident is more irrational hate for the promoter. That said, there is a reason why you don't have too many customer facing type promoters especially when you have platforms that give voices to EVERYONE who themselves couldn't book for shit if they were allowed to fantasy book everything they wanted. So yeah, once you place yourself out there, it tends to be open season especially when you have certain quirks. However, there have been plenty of people here who offered valid criticisms who don't necessarily take all of it out on Tony Khan the individual as if all the previous non-WWE promoters before him were unimpeachable. There is a reason why none of those motherfuckers are still in business or stayed in business when they were still alive, and all of it wasn't on Vince and his pro wrestling version of manifest destiny. There is a feeling that he didn't earn this. Well, by virtue of having money/capital which is the only requisite of getting into ANY business, he did earn this. And that rubs a bunch of people the wrong way. And for as much love as a Jim Cornette gets from his following, I noticed ain't no one trying to fund a Jim Cornette pro wrestling led venture and Cornette isn't that old. He was like 34 when SMW went down (TK is 40 so calling him a brat is weird). He is only a handful years older than a man currently in charge of the number 1 group who had a serious health issue not too long ago.

They were also the only mainstream game in town at the time too. We love 'rasslin and just want some good graps. This is consistently trying to belittle an owner who has done pretty close to everything in his power to treat the wrestling business with as much respect as a new owner could and try to bring it to the glory, respect, and enjoyment it once had. Brodie Lee, Owen Hart memorial, KultureCity, and I'm sure many more I'm forgetting.

Twins!

I mean it’s not what he said, but whatever. You two-three people do you.

So, basically, data that backs up your point is important, but the data that contradicts it isn't?

Saw a tweet suggesting that since they're debuting a new set on the January 4th show, Joe and Wardlow should destroy the current set during their match on this show. I like that idea a whole bunch.

Username checks out

I have a personal, insane, pet theory about people on message boards who give the most shit to specific wrestlers/promotors/promotions: They are the wrestlers/promotors themselves, intentionally making arguments about how bad they are, in hopes of creating an outpouring of support for themselves and/or taking the arguments people make in their defense and utilizing them for their own ends. I love to imagine TK posting about flagging ratings surely meaning the end of AEW any day now, only to have people pick his numbers apart, which he then takes and lays out for his investors. This is, of course, the Fat Spanish Waiter theorem. It's all a work, man, we're through the looking glass etc etc.

Re: game fixing and such I think anyone who thinks that the NFL or any other league could contrive such a delicate multi faceted plan is giving the people in charge wayyyyy to much credit lol

Yes....YES!

AWWWWWWESOME~!!

2022 in wrestling will go down as a historic year. The following took a lot of time, I tried to do this chronologically: Katsuyori Shibata has his first match back proper at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 vs. Ren Narita. Thank you to @NikoBaltimore for The Natural sign on AEW Rampage, 21st January. Thank you to @AxB for suggesting it and to @Gordlow for the screen capture: Shane McMahon gets canned from WWE after the WWE Royal Rumble. Mistimed that with what was to come, Shane O'Mac. Cody Rhodes leaves AEW for WWE. Huge unexpected development. Cesaro leaves WWE. WWE stupidly fires William Regal. William Regal debuts at AEW Revolution held 6th March, my Birthday. AEW Revolution provides three MOTYC in Eddie Kingston/Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley/Bryan Danielson and the best of the three in CM Punk/MJF. Gave that *****. Steve Austin has his first match in 19 years at WWE WrestleMania XXXVIII beating Kevin Owens in the main event. Roman Reigns is the first to hold the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship at the same time. Reigns' WWE Universal Championship reign is now 800+ days. The Undertaker goes into the WWE Hall of Fame. Surprisingly the Steiner Brothers do, more so Scott Steiner with what he's said about Triple H and Vince McMahon. Scott Hall dies. Big E breaks his neck. AEW and NJPW announcement of a joint PPV, AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Tony Khan buys Ring of Honour. ROH returns with ROH Supercard of Honour featuring a dream match that delivers, #FTR vs. Briscoe Brothers. *****. Triple H announces his retirement. Kota Ibushi out of NJPW, his last match was in the G1 Climax 32 Final where he dislocated his shoulder so the match ended with Kazuchika Okada winning his 3rd G1. Shinjiro Ohtani is paralysed from the neck down during a match for Pro Wrestling Zero1. The Owen Hart Cup Men's and Women's Tournaments for The Owen Hart Foundation/AEW. Sasha Banks and Naomi, the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions walk out of WWE in May and get buried by them more than anyone since Steve Austin's 20 years ago. Stephanie McMahon takes a leave of absence from WWE. The first major WWE PPV in the UK for 30 years, WWE Clash at the Castle hasn't sold the expected amount of tickets, way too expensive. GUNTHER vs. Sheamus go on to have a ***** match and my pick for MOTY. MJF no-shows a meet and greet the day before AEW Double or Nothing and we don't know if he'll show for his match with Wardlow. MJF appears doing the job in a squash. CM Punk wins the AEW World Championship from Adam Page at AEW Double or Nothing. Five days later on a live AEW Rampage announces he needs surgery. There's confusing mixed messaging whether Punk's vacating or not. Instead there's a Battle Royal on next week's AEW Dynamite where the winner will face Jon Moxley in the main event. The winner, faced Hiroshi Tanahashi for the AEW Interim World Championship, AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Mox won. Cody Rhodes tears his right pectoral muscle off the bone the week of WWE Hell in a Cell. Rhodes still wrestles Seth Rollins inside HITC. Rhodes' chest and arm is so badly bruised. A unique spectacle. A ***** match. Keiji Muto announces his retirement in 2023. #FTR defend the ROH World Tag Team Championship vs. Briscoes in a ***** two out of three falls match at ROH Death Before Dishonour. Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Shelton Benjamin celebrate their WWE debut 20 years ago. Jeff Hardy gets another DUI, nearly 4 times over the legal limit. Jeff Hardy is suspended without pay from AEW and can only return upon completing successful treatment and maintain sobriety. Vince McMahon alleged to pay hush money, $3 million to his mistresses. An injury bug in WWE/AEW/NJPW - Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Tomohiro Ishii and SANADA. AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is the best top to bottom wrestling show this year. Claudio Castagnoli is the mystery opponent at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door for Zack Sabre Jr replacing the injured Bryan Danielson. FTR hold the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, ROH World Tag Team Championship and AAA World Tag Team Championship at the same time. Vince McMahon announces he'll retire in a tweet as WWE Chairman and CEO. Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan take over. Brock Lesnar walked out on WWE Smackdown Live, the first WWE show since Vince's tweet. Triple H takes over creative. Shows are much better. The secondary titles are treated far better, meaning something again. Claudio Castagnoli wins his first world title, the ROH World Championship at ROH Death Before Dishonour. Claudio Castagnoli doesn't hold it long. Bayley returns at WWE SummerSlam, 13 months out with an ACL tear. More injuries: Becky Lynch separates her shoulder vs. Bianca Belair at WWE SummerSlam but finishes the match, Dax Harwood, Santana, Chris Jericho, Christian Cage, Kris Statlander, Thunder Rosa and Ruby Soho. Triple H brings back Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, the Good Brothers and Braun Strowman. NXT UK is no more, it will be NXT Europe. Numerous NXT UK talent are released. The NXT UK Titles are unified with the NXT 2.0 ones. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 reverts to a one night show, the first since NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13. MJF returns at AEW All Out. CM Punk regains the AEW World Championship beating Jon Moxley at AEW All Out. The press conference afterwards is better than the disappointing show as CM Punk rips into Colt Cabana, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Adam Page. This then leads to a fight backstage. It's revealed CM Punk picked up another significant injury during the match with Mox, a triceps tear. Earlier on the show, the Elite won the final to crown the first AEW World Trios Champions. On the post AEW All Out Dynamite, the AEW World Championship and the AEW World Trios Championship are vacated. Chris Jericho wins the Ring of Honour World Championship and in a three month reign faces former ROH Champions. Saraya joins AEW. Andrade El Idolo and Sammy Guevara have a backstage fight after going at it on Twitter. Andrade is sent home. Antonio Inoki passes away, the founder of New Japan Pro-Wrestling which turned 50 this year. Thank you to @NikoBaltimore meeting Bret Hart and saying how much the Cameo meant to me. Thanks to @Craig H, @Sammo~! and all contributions to that, one of the nicest and coolest things anybody has ever done me. So glad you got your sunglasses, Nick. Bray Wyatt returns at WWE Extreme Rules. Sami Zayn breaks Roman Reigns and Jey Uso on WWE Smackdown Live, 28th October 2022 in one of the funniest segments ever. Logan Paul can wrestle, his third match is against WWE Undisputed Universal Champion, Roman Reigns at WWE Crown Jewel in a losing effort. Logan Paul and R-Truth get major injuries. MJF wins the AEW World Title at AEW Full Gear from Jon Moxley via William Regal's brass knuckles. The best match of the night sees Jamie Hayter beat Toni Storm for the Interim AEW Women's World Championship. The Elite return from suspension. Saraya beats Dr. Britt Baker in her first match in five years. Thankfully Tony Khan drops the Interim bullshit on the post AEW Full Gear Dynamite. Jamie Hayter is made the AEW Women's World Championship and Toni Storm retroactively. NJPW drops a bombshell video package at Historic X-Over as Kenny Omega challenges Will Ospreay at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. NJPW introduce two new belts. The IWGP Women's Championship won by KAIRI in the tournament final at Historic X-Over. The NJPW World Television Championship, the tournament final between Zack Sabre Jr and Ren Narita at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. WarGames makes its WWE main roster debut at Survivor Series. William Regal is going back to WWE. The Briscoes beat #FTR in a Double Dog Collar Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at ROH Final Battle in another ***** bout. #FTR vs. The Briscoes is one of the best wrestling trilogies ever. Feud of the Year by far. Claudio Castagnoli regains the ROH World Championship from Chris Jericho in the main event of said show. #FTR/Briscoes should have gone on last. Said the same thing at Supercard of Honour. Rumours Sasha Banks will appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. Matt Riddle enters rehab following a suspension from WWE. Vince McMahon has interest in returning to WWE. Mandy Rose 413 day reign as NXT Women's Champion ends on NXT TV. Mandy Rose is fired the next day. Unexpected development. Minoru Suzuki announced the end of Suzuki-gun, 2011-2022. John Cena teams with Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns/Sami Zayn on this week's WWE Smackdown to keep his streak of having a match every year from 2002-2022.

Jeff Jarrett in the Main Event means ratings, it's proven now.

Random thoughts: Mafiosa vs Diamante felt like about as good as a 3-minute competitive squash as you could get. Some of Mafiosa's stuff with her long limbs was really clever. It's going to be great when they finally do AR Fox vs Swerve. They need to make a big deal out of that. Slim J is an amazing babyface and I'd love to see him as Eddie Kingston's Spike Dudley at some point. He's one of the only guys on the roster who can take all of Fox's insane stuff too. That's the most I ever saw out of the Hughes Brothers. Good polish, good fire. I want to see Angelico wrestle a gauntlet match style exhibition where he just stretches ten guys in a row.

TBH if anything FTR has rightfully earned the rep as possibly being glue guys backstage that either one can say something and not catch flak.

Rampage 12/16: 464k (0.15) Rampage 12/23: 566k (0.18) The highest viewership for Rampage since April.

the man, the myth, the legend!

How many people still active here were around when Tony Khan was a member? Less than 10? Nobody is giving him a free pass because of that, of all things.

Not sure how being the only mainstream game in town makes it ok to go out of one's way to be super negative on a product. Its not like there isn't a ton of wrestling people can catch via streaming. Also not sure how Khan treated Swole last year was exactly respectful. TK has done good things. I don't think anyone is arguing that. Doesn't change that he has shown himself to be something of a rich brat who doesn't know how to deal with people all too well. Some are going in on him too hard, but others are also putting him on too high a pedestal. Neither is a good thing to do.

But it likely would have come with a gimmick deemed problematic in 2022, be he some kind of African Gary Hart found on a world tour or some gang member from Halsted Street in Chicago.

Hard to find a player that has helped not only their home community but the US as a whole as much as him. Whenever there is a major flood/hurricane, JJ is there donating money to help. A true class act. I hope he jumps on as an Analyst/commentator. He could bring fresh insight to the game.

JJ Watt always seems like a class act, glad he is going out on his own terms.

This all happened in one fucking year. Goddamn. If even a fraction of this happened in years past it'd be considered a really big deal. I think the biggest thing for me was the Vince situation leading to him leaving. I've been wanting that for so many years that while the situation is fucked up him leaving has led to me being interested in WWE again. If this alone happened this year with not much else going on then that alone would be historic.

Well, in my opinion, there is a vast difference between voicing your opinion on a specific wrestler, or offering criticism towards a promotion/wrestler, etc compared to what this fucking clown is doing over and over and over and over. It's almost like he just enjoys coming here, screaming into the void and as someone put it "outrage mining" Personally, that's a pretty pathetic existence to me, but to each their own.

Christmas was exhausting, but went well considering. I had chemo Tuesday so it was hitting me pretty hard over the weekend. Really just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep all day. Everything was exhausting. Instead, I went to church, played games with my family, opened presents, went to the in-laws, had my dad and siblings over, etc. Probably dumb to push myself that hard, but I dunno how many more Christmases I get. Probably not enough. Sleep when you’re dead. Feel somewhat better yesterday and today. Planning to go back to the office tomorrow. Got two weeks before round 3, so somewhat hopeful I can pull myself together and be productive next week and a half. Probably need to find new oncologist. I didn’t pick this one. She inherited me five or so years ago when my oncologist left the hospital. By then, I was in remission and only needing six month scans, so she was fine. She’s fine medically, but she’s surprisingly young and full of millennial attitudes that I could do without. Last straw was when my wife called to get a prescription for nausea and doc suggested medical marijuana. When we balked, she confided to us that she likes edibles. She also showed us a few of her tats during an office visit. I think she’s trying to make us comfortable with her, but it’s having the opposite effect. Once chemo is over, I’m looking for a nice 60-ish oncologist who thinks pot smokers are doing the work of the Devil.

Awesome job on the timeline and the list, buddy! Although, you somehow seem to have forgotten that The Greatest Professional Wrestling Match of All Time took place in 2022. A match which in comparison made Bret vs Austin look like HHH vs Scott Steiner from RR '03. Of course I am talking about Brandon Cutler vs Pretty Peter Avalon Chapter IV. Other than that baffling oversight, though... Seriously, great work. What an amazing year!

Life it a lot more bearable when you focus on the things you do like

Spanish Announce Project is my new favorite thing, I don't care what everyone else says.

It was a very small/quiet Christmas for me as has become the thing as I get older and am still single, but at least Christmas dinner with mom went off without a hitch and was all very high quality. Ate until I needed to sleep, as one should now and again. Now that I've gotten into hot sauces I've basically doubled my range of condiments for leftover sandwhiches, it's a good time.

If you think my data helped you, I don't think you understand statistics or data analysis very well.

No one is stopping you from bringing it up, just no one is agreeing with you, there is a difference.

We went through this circle before in a different thread, you're wasting your time. Conspiracy theorists will always find a justification for their conspiracies, just the way it is.

Genuine question bruv, do you enjoy AEW or do you just try and facilitate news in as negative of a way as possible for strife? It's really odd that a majority of the time I see your posts, they are always in some negative connotation. Especially when it comes to Tony Khan, because I'm starting to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and let me tell you something, I'm not THAT old yet. If you aren't a fan of TK, that's fair - to each their own - but at some point trying to dress up a quote as something it's not is kind of off putting to a lot of us. And I guarantee you a majority of posters on here will agree that you do exactly that.

Why do you constantly have a stick up your ass about Tony Khan? I don't think they need an unofficial morale checker. I highly doubt anyone is going to take what he says as criticism. Also, a 1/3 of the people here are critical of anyone getting put on Dark and see that as a relegation/demotion anyway. He can be honest and say it's not exactly the main product especially when it's been used as a tool to keep the talent busy and get folks experience. Hell, prior to the Monday Night Wars, that's what most of the TV product was anyway.

Look what my daughter gave me

I may or may not have gotten a DM from a former DVDVR board poster that this match kicked ass.

Looks like a really strong show on paper, hopefully the streak of hot crowds continues I was curious, it's their first time in the Denver area since before the pandemic (3/4/20), Dynamite #22. Drew 3350 according to this: https://www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=shows&show=474072 Jake Roberts debuted and Death Triangle formed on this show! https://411mania.com/wrestling/csonkas-aew-dynamite-review-3-04-20/

THE TRADITION OF FESTIVUS BEGINS WITH THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES! I've got a lot of problems with you people and you're gonna hear about it! You! Jarrett.. I have been trying to figure out why I have such a bug up my ass about Jarrett in particular, in AEW in particular. I am not faking or exaggerating the feeling. I have a sense of where it's coming from, but I was struggling to articulate it. Then I gave John E. Dynamite a weird Osaka Pro match to review in Secret Santo,and that review gave me the key to understanding myself. This, in particular: "The thing I truly despise the most about the WWE monopoly years was the continued shaming of “bingo hall” pro wrestling. The thing I truly despise about capitalist corporate homogenized big-money bullshit American entertainment is the idea that things aren’t valid unless they cost a lot of money to make. I don’t know what part of the typical mass-media consuming populace even bother to see little shows with sub-200 crowds and it hurts my brain and soul to think about. This match is people, being artistically creative and athletically capable on their own terms, trying (and succeeding) to entertain a crowd that they can immediately see and interact with. Cirque du Soliel people are, God bless em, always gonna understand the value of human expression for a human purpose. None of my best memories of watching live theater happened on Broadway. Most of my best wrestling memories are from venues no bigger than ECW arena, when I got to feel like I was connected to the performers and the other people around me. Matches like this just make me want to support community theater and indie wrestling and every weird 200 seat thing in the world. " The best part of my 50+ years and counting of wrestling fandom was when I first moved to Japan and became part of the Osaka Pro Wrestling family. The second -best part was when I was on the roster of Vancouver All Star Wrestling in the mid-1980s. The community. The connection. Territories and local indies. Small halls. Connection. Massive corporate pro wrestling ain't really my bag. Same with music, same with beer... But, people need to make a living. I dreamed for years about a promotion where great, entertaining, creative wrestlers could get international exposure while not being forced into narrow corporate roles, while being granted freedom of expression and creativity. With more of a human dimension, with more real and honest connection and a greater sense of community. Something big, but with the soul of a good territory or indie. TNA was such a huge disappointment. They could have done that but instead wanted to be a more watered-down corporate thing. AEW started with a bet that non-corporate wrestling could never fill a 10,000-seat arena. And at first, and for three years or so, it really came across as something very close to what I'd been dreaming of. A big, weird, joyous indie with a sense of community and connection that was big enough and good enough to get people international exposure and allow lots of people to make a comfortable living. It sure was great while it lasted. And it's still pretty great and one of my favourite things even now that it's transitioning into more of a challenger brand. But in my mind (and I know this is just my way of thinking, I am NOT trying to position this take as The Only Possible True Path for AEW to follow), I would prefer for them to remain as distinct as possible from corporate style professional wrestling. I didn't, initially, think they should have brought in Big Paul and Mark Henry. But, I now really enjoy both of them and I would definitely miss them if they left AEW. I don't have anywhere near the nostalgia for the Attitude Era that so many people seem to have. So, I wasn't stoked for Taz or Christian (for example) but obviously both have been really entertaining in their roles. Guys like Jericho and Danielson have ties to corporate wrestling, but they also both travelled the world perfecting their craft working in small halls etc etc... Punk is similar. But he's enough of a mark-for-himself that the way things ended wasn't exactly a huge shock. FTR and Ruby, for example, felt like they were happy to "escape" from the clutches of corporate America and go somewhere they could be more themselves. MJF and Britt, for example, have worked their way up through the indies... but both sometimes come across as marks-for-themselves who dream of being massive superstars more than artists who love wrestling. I don't know either of them and obviously could be completely wrong about this. Jarrett had ties to the territories, obviously, but he's also a symbol of watered-down corporate challenger brand mentality and perhaps the biggest, most obvious,most embarrassing example of mark-for-himself of all time. So I kinda see a lot of it through "corporate vs indie" glasses. What I'd personally prefer is for AEW to stay maximally indie and weird and steer hard away from corporate stylings and me-first personalities. I would so much rather have more Bear Boulder and JD Drake and Pretty Peter and Leva Bates and Willow and Yuka Sakazaki at the expense of people with big names who are not also weird and/or indie. To me, signing Jeff Jarrett, putting him on TV, putting him in main evens, and pushing him into a title program (and immediately booking Saraya as more important than the wrestlers already on the roster) is a pretty clear symbol that AEW has changed. Which is FINE. And probably inevitable. It's just that I personally would prefer more of what I love, and I don't think (or see any evidence that) the "bigger" names are drawing more eyeballs. I think a purely weird and indie and community -focussed AEW would be every bit as successful as a challenger brand AEW. So the shift is going to leave me frustrated and bummed out at times, even though AEW still (as the saying goes) rules the motherfucking world. tl/dr: maybe what you wanna do is fill the roster up with people who LOVE wrestling rather than people who are marks for themselves?

Ricky Morton got that move from Murdoch, who got it from Killer Karl Kox.