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Hey everyone So.............I will have a ton more notes. But I wanted to announce that DEAN~!!! will be released on DVD/Blu Ray through Smart Mark Video. We are working on it now, and the cover art is absolutely incredible. I have tons more thoughts and pictures to share, I'm still humbled by it all Anyone who does pick up IWTV, just a reminder for promo code "ACTION" Appreciate you tons. I think Dean Rasmussen would've given this show 5 BILLIONSTARSSSSS~!!!!!!!

Punk was not right to put his hands on Jack Perry. No matter how dumb this angle is, he's not right. The idea that he gets his name chanted for that shit bothers me more than Tony and the Bucks airing the footage.

Honestly, I feel like that Omega/Mox exploding deathmatch ending was worse than making this Punk/Perry stuff an angle. This wasn't anywhere near as bad as Steph leading the crowd to celebrate her dad after he was kicked out the first time. I've seen decades of bad wrestling and comically bad angles, gimmicks and stories. This doesn't really compare. No one's career is over after this. And the more I think of it, I think short term this sucks for AEW, but may work out long term because the mystery is dead. They'll get dunked on for now because people were ready to dunk on them for doing it anyway. But now that we've seen it, it's not interesting. It doesn't make Punk look cool. Jack didn't shoulder check him walking into the back, like I recall one report claimed. It's a weird little scuffle that ends about as quick as it began. They took a bizarre story that captured people's imaginations, and turned it into nothing by showing them the reality. Now we all want to move on from it. And we will. After about 3-6 more months of Punk chants.

I can't believe that Mina Shirakawa made out with Mariah Mae in the center of the ring on Dynamite and everyone is talking about this bullshit. Priorities people!

AEW is now copyright striking all tweets/youtube reactions to the footage.

It’s like people forget Vince spent weeks on the Billionaire Ted skits, and that it was USA Networks who told him to knock it off.

If AEW weren't cowards the heater for FTR/Bucks would be FTR telling the crowd that rich pricks like the Bucks are the reason you got laid off and you're paying $4 a dozen for eggs so we're going to beat them to death with chairs about it. That shit would kill in West Virginia. I didn't sit through two years of golly-gee-we're-just-good-ol-boys FTR promos for them to fumble it like this.

It's bad enough to have to tolerate iffy TV, but having to navigate a sea of scorching hot weirdo takes that insist on elevating "that sucked" to "(whatever the fuck this is)" makes everything so, so much worse.

I will leave it at this since Paul's response is strange anyway you slice it: My whole belief is Paul is just pissed he lost out on these two guys who he thought it would be obvious they would be swayed to sign with WWE. They have all the perceived momentum, and they were able to bring a bunch of people into the fold since Vince left, came back, and then left again. He felt he needed to come up with an excuse to why he lost out on two major free agents to a lower tier company. IMO it's like a fanbase of a sports franchise who reads the rumor mill all offseason they're going to land some big name free agent, negotiations break off, and then another team signs them away out of nowhere. Then that same fanbase that was excited about these game changing players all of a sudden didn't want those guys in the first place. I would have been really impressed if Paul just said, "Sucks we didn't get them. Hope that works out for them, but we feel would have been the better landing spot and provide better opportunities. We feel our roster is still stacked with or without them. Best of luck." No shade necessary and you can still big up WWE.

Claudio vs Ospreay on Dynamite next week

Super excited for Willow for this. Imagine telling her she'd be in this match three years ago:

After my sabbatical I’m ready to watch AEW again.

I will say this. I’m a lot more concerned about a good rating than a bad one.

I've had enough of the weirdo online posters. I've basically unsubscribed from all the FB wrestling groups I had joined. The DVDVR is the only group of online wrestling weirdos I need.

I think that maybe the biggest motivator is that the WWE is the hottest it has arguably ever been and coming off a really great WrestleMania. The buzz bin factor of AEW has fallen off, a lot compared to when Punk and Danielson and etc. came aboard and a little bit from other really good stretches they had. TK wanted to get people talking about AEW again. So they threw this out there to get people talking, but everyone is just dunking on this because it’s so dumb. That’s not the conversation you want, and you absolutely don’t want the CM Punk chants coming for the next few months (and I don’t want those anywhere in my life.) The shame of it is that AEW was building up some its reputation again. I told a few people who stopped paying attention to AEW that it’s gotten fun again. None of them stopped watching because Punk left. They stopped watching because there’s only so much wrestling they want to watch and the WWE has taken their attention. But things like Mercedes Mone showing up or me describing Swerve Strickland or that Joe rules or Toni Storm’s awesome character and etc. just gets swallowed up by this stuff. And it’s all being done to set up the fourth friggin’ feud between The Bucks and FTR. I love FTR and am so into the EVP Bucks, but literally anyone with a passing interest in AEW has seen that already, and putting up a stupid fight that’s loosely, at best, connected to the parties involved. Or it’s going to reintroduce Jungle Boy, and he maxed out with the Jurassic Express and Christian feud, and a work-shoot Jungle Boy (and his history of awkward promos) is probably DOA. Like… give us things like Orange Cassidy Becomes The Best Wrestler Alive or The Acclaimed have really funny raps or Swerve’s rise or Will Osperay brings down the house with his awesome Bruv persona and insane moves you’ve never seen before or MJF doing fun stuff. It’s just really disappointing to me. I really like so much of what AEW does. When it works, it is so much fun. But this sideshow stuff just swallows everything with it up and it’s so dumb.

Yeah maybe he shouldn't have but this is what happens when the boss doesn't feel like acting like a boss or lacks the abilityto be a boss and won't hire someone to be the boss. TK could have squashed this but he didn't. He could have sat everyone down together and told the so called Elite to quit running to Meltzer with stories and remind them that they helped start the place but Punk was getting them to the next level so everyone quit sniping at each other get the sand out of crotches and start playing on the same team or go home before we become modern day WCW. But TK is too busy on X formerly known as Twitter talking about his bangers and his booker of the year awards.

Tho I didn’t think it would happen i was fully prepared for an epic fail. The footage certainly was. That said, I kinda liked the angle. Especially the fTr rebuttal. I’m also looking forward to Jack’s return. Further, I thoroughly enjoyed Ospreay standing up for himself against Dripple Heche. I have no issue with punching up against the corporate cult. It’s interesting how sensitive everyone is. I don’t think I need or want the same decorum in my pro wrestling wars. I had an actual serious situation this week. All of this is not serious to me. This show provided a fun little escape as it always does.

The only WWE reference that should have been made last night was to congratulate Cody. That's it.

Punk is going to reference this somehow when gets back in the ring and then immediately precede to tear his triceps. Nobody wins. Well except everyone like myself and others who find all this hilarious.

That caught my attention the second time around. Bitch waited until Perry was in a position where he couldn’t defend himself before he threw the first strike.

Yeah, this isn’t the end of AEW at all. It’s just really indicative of the problems they have as a company and it’s a self-inflicted wound that could not have come at the worst time. It’s such a stupid idea. WCW was awful before 2000 and before Vince Russo took over. In my memory, WCW from the nWo onwards had a decent amount of good matches, occasionally something fun from someone like Jericho, a lot of stuff involving people like High Voltage and Sonny Ohno, and about 75 percent really annoying and repetitive stuff with the nWo, especially the Wolfpack vs. Black and White split. How many Scott Steiner insinuates he enjoys sexual assault while Buff Bagwell prances around with a top hat with his face on it promos can one promotion have? WCW in that era was good and interesting for like 6 months before it became annoying. (And I say that as someone who loves older WCW.) AEW is better written with a more organized show and product. It’s not even close to the dregs of WCW.

Like might be too strong a word. Way too strong. However, I do respect him enough to believe he is smart enough not to be totally insulated in the wrestling bubble. That and if he plans to be the next wrestling czar winning hearts and minds and probably from a PR standpoint be the anti-Vince McMahon, he doesn't have to say shit like this. I feel like he's trying to navigate both trying to respect and honor Vince but also tow the "Vince is no longer associated with WWE" line. He's not going to win that war. He would do better trying to establish his own legacy totally separate from Vince. He doesn't need to check his "What Would Vince Do" bracelet every 10 minutes.

Remember the Corny "shoot" promo on Mushnick in the wake of Brian Pillman's death (you know, the one that had the balls to accuse Mushnick of exploiting his death when the company did that in as crass a manner possible the night after he died) that was one of the biggest pile of dishonest and deceitful bullshit and lies you will ever see?

Both those guys took cheap/stupid shots on Twitter at Ospreay and ended up regretting it (the reply to Corbin bragging about being a Raw headliner "NO WONDER RAW SUCKS" is a first ballot entry into the Internet Hall Of Fame).

Much better than a 4.2 show, but Cagematchers are not an easy crowd of complainers to please. Really liked the Swerve/Joe bait and switch angle to begin. A touch too quick to move to the well produced Trent Video. Looking forward to a Trent-Orange series. Copeland v Penta was an excellent contest. I sense even the jellybellyachers are coming around on Cope. Dude's been excellent throughout this elite run. Penta was game here and pulled his part of the deal. Kudos to Abrahantes for being a good friend to his Lucha bro. Very much dug Willow making the big save. And very much into the Mixed tag. The post match promo with Briscoe/Kingston was pretty alright. Cope's having a good time! Lionhook/Shibata promo was good stuff. Very pleased to welcome back the superior (and often enjoyable) Jericho heel act. Finally! Young Bucks/FTR promos/security cam angle was fine. I get the butthurting this caused, but let's at least be clear that the Bucks were, of course, the heels here. The FTR rebuttal was fantastic. I liked the angle and have no ill feelings about attempting to draw some interest with a bit of tabloid television. Even if it didn't quite... hit. FTR/Bucks needed a little heat, and this didn't not get them there. The Will Ospreay promo was excellent as is now fully expected. I like ppl standing up for themselves. These back to the audience promos badly need better framing. Way, way too tight. Hook/Jericho/Shibata v Taylor/Moriarty/Ogogo was going fine til the shitty finish. Great to see Shane embrace the loose shorts again (keep with it big man). I love Taylor's punch, but that was not at all a strong enough attack nor heelish enough to put Shibata's shoulders to the canvas. But a-gain, thrilled to welcome back heel Jericho. Okada squash was a bit disappointing. C'mon feed him Johnny Hungee or somebody worthwhile. Enjoyed the Pac/Bucks/FTR post match angle just fine. Jay White promo was fine too. I forget who he's fighting next tho? Toni/Thunder angle was kinda meh, but that's what I expect from Rosa. Looking forward to Toni moving on to a an opponent I enjoy the work of. May v Jay was pretty alright. Shirakowa run-in would surely have meant more if ppl had a clue who she is. Mercedes promo - I'm starting to respect her decision to be a wooden WWE promo if that's what she likes, and I'm having a laugh for what they say is the wrong reasons, but still - it's funny. Joe v Dustin was a nice contest. Of course Dustin's gonna bleed like a stuck pig. Nice little Swerve run-in to finish out a pretty fun show for anybody not caught up in the Security cam footage not being awesome. I'm still a big fan of thee AEDub.

Ok, but hear me out, can we have that as well because it would be awesome?!?!

You can't help but expect this sort of anti-social behavior from a guy known as Unabomb. It was either be a below-average mayor for a small Tennessee town or hide out in the woods mailing nail bombs to computer sellers. Whatever you think about the guy, he probably chose the best possible option out of those two.

Thank God Samoa Joe is champion.

I don't think AEW should've responded and took the high road, but by all accounts, everyone had moved on until Idiot opened his mouth to a WWE shill on a WWE shill show. Again, i don't think AEW/TK/Bucks should've responded, but using the footage, i really think it came out the best possible way it could and like I stated above, the promo by FTR was a nice "You know what happened, let's move the fuck on now" promo. On the subject of Ospreay, I have absolutely no issue with him coming back at HHH

If attacking someone when they toss their hair back is his strategy, modern Punk could have kicked the shit out of late 90's Kevin Nash. It was cute how they weaved the footage into current storylines, but they should have just not done it. Maybe they'll move on now. Please? If I didn't know any better and you told me someone on this show was a recurring actor on a pretty major real world TV show, and then gave me 10 guesses, Mercedes would be guess #38, somewhere between Alex Marvez and a block of wood.

I hate when people overreact to stuff the young bucks are involved in…

As much as I hate those try hard dorks the Jackson’s, the line about how they didn’t have time to hydrate and pray over their upcoming match popped the hell out of me…

What AEW did tonight was pathetic, petty, nonsense. Trying to tie it into Young Bucks versus FTR was moronic. It served no one and it helped no one. Tony Khan proved Punk right by airing that footage. He’s a spineless clown. What did AEW gain in any way by airing that? They won’t even book Jack Perry on TV anymore. This was a disgrace. There is no coming back from this ever. Embarrassing trash.

And here’s the collision match:

I thought the footage and the whole angle, was handled about as well as they could if they were going to do it. They tried to position FTR as the adults in the room who are focused on making AEW awesome and not petty beefs between egos. Basically it's dumb that Punk did this and it's dumb that The bucks did this. But they probably would've been better off not doing any of it.

Well, the thing about Seth Rollins...he's a tool.

The falling out between Ospreay and Rollins started when Ospreay was boastful tweeting about how good his NJPW main events were, and Rollins responded by saying "We have a guy who can do everything you can do, better than you can, and that's Ricochet". Now the argument went on from there, and it's generally thought that Ospreay won (and also generally thought that they were probably at least partially working to build up a future match between the two of them), but you've got a guy who was top gaijin in NJPW, being told "Here, you'd be a midcarder who sits in catering, or loses in under 7 minutes". No wonder he didn't want to go.

Rating was good enough to be a bump but not so good that it means they're going to completely change how they operate and become Crash TV. I don't think they capitalized on it well enough though. I am really looking forward to matches on Collision and Dynamite. None of those were announced on the show itself. They didn't use the Dustin match to hook people for next week. That sort of thing. But still, maybe we can just move on now because those matches are good and that's the point.

If they can hold these viewers, that’s great. I hope they do, and can. But I’m not hopeful tbh. If not, you kind of just proved that Punk is a draw even on a show he’s not on. That’s not great (for AEW and non-Punk fans).

Claudio vs Ospreay next Wednesday. What a match-maker.

You just know that Dax has been practicing his own Hard Times promo in front of the mirror since he was like 16.

On top of what people have added, I'd say the 2/5/23 ROH match with Athena. I like that better than the Owen or the PPV match between them.

Hadn't they until now? I think there'd been a few veiled references to him but nothing much. In this case it was a direct response to Punk shitting all over Tony and the company in that Helwani interview. I respect the opinion that they never should have aired it, I don't think anyone's opinion about any of this is wrong (maybe one guy on page 4). But I guess I'm coming from the place that that was never an option and this was a fait accompli as soon as Punk opened his mouth And why is that? Because we know Tony is thin skinned, and Punk and Ariel together, TALKING SHIT ABOUT him, was bound to set him off. My hope is that over time he gets thicker skin from all the bruises and bumps he's been taking and learns to be above the fray, but I also think this was a unique situation. And the footage absolutely counters Punk's narrative that he was deescalating things by putting Jack in a choke. Sure, deescalating it after you escalated it This is also kind of Vince McMahon 101 honestly, in the sense that bottom line is he wanted to air it and nobody could talk him out of it. I'm sure people tried. IT'S HIS SHOW DAMMIT. It would have taken WBD stepping in to stop him. At least they weaved it into the storyline (which might backfire, but I feel like if Okada is back next week and they don't talk about Punk fans will move on). This wasn't as bad as the time Vince spent an entire night shitting on Stan Kroenke and stuck Lakers and Nuggets jerseys on the wrestlers or any of the thousands of times he used his television to air his petty grievances. Tony largely hasn't done that AND he seems to listen to constructive criticism, I think there's a good chance he'll take the negative reactions to heart

Idk, it was the same in AEW. The first year or however long Punk was Mr AEW. Posting pictures with younger talent, hyping everyone up, saying he’s in a different mindset than he was before because of the changes to the industry compared to the last company he was with. Everything is the same. I hope it says on a good note but I wouldn’t be surprised one way or another if tensions rise and we get a similar fall out.

I’ll ramble on this later, but I’m still uncomfortable with a lot of WWE based off the allegations. I’m worried they got rid of Sandusky but are keeping a room full of Paterno’s. Time will tell though, hopefully…

I watched or skimmed raw this week and I liked the Bucks/ftr segment far better than any of their long winded talk segments. Is it wrong to feel more Ill from seeing Stephanie McMahon with a microphone? Or is it wrong that I felt more enraged by the Acclaimed’s rotten live lecture here in Toronto than this?

Same here. Said on the board before that pets are family and sometimes better than the human family you have. Friends are sometimes more family than your actual family.

I'm loving all things Mina Shirakawa since she showed up on ROH, an absolute showstealer. Copeland/Pentagon ruled and got a ton of time, good stuff.

This is all exhausting and stupid and a waste of time. Do you know what would make me want to watch another big FTR/Bucks match? They have a natural rivalry and now there’s a new dynamic with the awesome new Bucks EVP personas that can use to pull rank against the old-school FTR dudes who will fight fire with fire. Not something with friggin’ CM Punk. Work-shoot stuff is the same to me as referencing a local sports team for cheap heel heat. There’s no art or craft to any of this at all in terms of storytelling. TK just needs to stop with thinking this is good. Just do what you do well (have good matches with a lot of variety) with fun characters. Whether angles work or not is always going be to hit and miss with any wrestling company. But this isn’t doing anything for anyone. It overshadows absolutely everything else on the show that was probably worth checking out. It reeks of desperation. And it is all so easy to just avoid.

I can barely have a civil, sensible conversation about AEW anywhere on the internet right now. Please God no more. Now we know what happened. Every child that already decided they were gonna scream WCW at this (despite not knowing what the fuck they were talking about) is going to for months and everyone that supports this company is going to have their joy eroded if they even bother to peek into the larger wrestling discourse. No mas. Please focus your energy on booking bigger matches when you have a presumed ratings bump. Please focus on giving Mariah May a microphone so she can explain to a live crowd who debuting wrestlers are. Please sequence matches and segments anything but randomly.