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For a second I was like, Damn, Drake pissed Rikishi off, too?!

God damn it.

Now, the Karate Man, that guy had it.

Settle down, Zakketico.

Bumping this old-ass thread because I just had a thought while posting in another thread about Ethan Page's release: As of January 2022, ROH TV was getting ~400K viewers across all of the various Sinclair stations it aired on. I also pulled a report just now where WOW was just doing 240K-330K in November/December '23. Am I insane, or do you guys think there might still be some value in old-school, straight-up broadcast syndication?? Even if it isn't first-run matches necessarily, these numbers kind of make me think that even running classic footage to drive eyes to the Turner shows (or, alternatively, classic ROH stuff to drive Honor Club subscriptions) might be a viable form of "advertising," in a sense. I guess really it all comes down to exclusivity in the new deal with WBD or wherever they land next, but food for thought, anyway. Maybe I'm outta the loop, but I was a little shocked by the size of these audiences for what are essentially infomercials.

Remember the promo Danielson cut when he was kayfabe released from the NXT competition? We need Chuck Taylor to come back like, "I don't know what the future holds for Chuck Taylor, but "No Gimmicks Needed" Steve the Samurai is going to be just fine! (or Frank "Grabass" Hernandez, or Cuba Gooding III, or "Hard Wood" Rich Mahogany , or...).

Ethan Page looks like a generic CAW and is my definition of replacement level. Once I heard him on Colt’s pod going on and on about how he just idolizes The Rock, I couldn’t unsee all his subtle Rock ripoff tendencies. There’s really nothing to him at all.

So Johnny Ace was describing himself as a victim of Vince but now he thinks that the wind's changing so he's denying McMahon did anything wrong? How is this supposed to have any credibility at all?

Vince demanding Johnny “go hire that one asshole who got canceled!” is going to be the 2025 version of “go hire that one legged wrestler!”

if Ronda was aiming to bring down a WWE star with lies, why would she pick Drew Gulak

Hangman was on the very verge of being a bad guy when he left. Some people would say he was already there. I'd like to see a third side to this with Hangman/Moxley/RUSH. Just the maniacs banding together to see the world burn.

Willow is a beacon of light and joy and is already just the right bit misanthropic - "Nothing matters, smile anyway!" Karen is already too black-hearted.

Getting hit with a softball hurts 5 percent less than getting hit with a baseball.

Ethan Page is super talented but it feels like there's something missing. I don't think AEW's booking really helped either. I liked Men of the Year well enough but they got saddled with the MMA stuff with the old guy cutting promos who's name I'm blanking on, ultimately it didn't do him any favors. Anything Matt Hardy related I mostly skip but what I saw of that stuff was pretty stupid. I didn't understand why they couldn't just push him as a cocky heel without the gimmicks. He can do some really impressive stuff in the ring, just let him wrestle I also think him going to WWE is a no brainer. He seems like a HHH kind of guy and I'm sure he'd relish the opportunity to take a guy like him who AEW dropped the ball on and prove he's a better booker

It's ok Paul, I saw The First Avenger 16 times at the cinema You can have one of my views

Softballs used to be balls of yarn with the leather covering, so they were literally soft. They became more like baseballs years later.

I didn't need more than "I went in for a handshake and accidentally grabbed someone's waistband". That's enough to set off creep alarms in my head. Think of it this way. Think of a handshake. Think about how often handshakes are usually right around your elbow's height, if not higher. Then think about how Drew Gulak is a half foot taller than Ronda Rousey, but his hand - which he claims was for a handshake - was somehow low enough to hit her waistband. Nope. Not buying it. That's not a wacky misunderstanding, that's an attempt at a grope and he got caught.

Because Ronda Rousey is frequently a terrible person. That said, even terrible people can be subjected to creepy behavior, and Drew Gulak is a grade-A creep.

In case you were wondering why Seinfeld has been going around telling anyone who would listen that it's impossible to do comedy any more... It's currently sitting at 46 on RT.

I'd wait til the Sex Pest stuff has cleared out first, especially after comments made on mainstream sports TV.

Lol I really lobbed that one over the plate, eh? For once I meant the barbed wire, not the thiccness!! I swear!!!

Rikishi dropping diss tracks in 2024 is something I didn't have on my bingo card

I think she's doing her absolute best at being genuine. Take that as you will. As for the paradise lock, I'm ok with it but it shouldn't be on for more than a few seconds without some sort of interaction, be that rolling someone around or a much quicker dropkick. It is a suspension of disbelief issue, still worth doing if it gets a reaction, but worth getting through quickly.

No, but one of the pilots did mention something about dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

I’m guessing you mean May 8. They actually announced some stuff today. Orange/Trent and Cope/Brody King. Looking forward to both of those.

“The thickness” sounds like Mike Tyson covering Disturbed.

Thinking about the gimmick match variations: 10 minute iron man match last man standing with a 5 count royal rumble with 10 seconds intervals

I was very comfortable with Sinclair-era ROH (even if Sinclair themselves suck). Syndicated wrestling rules. Do it, Tony.

Sting as well.

As long as those channels are still free over-the-air channels then yeah it would make a lot of sense to do it. I know people talked about an AEW C/D show but ROH would be great in this slot. I just don't think that's what they want to do since it feels clear to me they're using it for more content and also like a more important Dark. But if they wanted to then yeah do it. It's still crazy to me with all the changes in streaming and TV people still use antennas and over-the-air channels. I should know because I got one recently and while it's a pain to find the right position there's some fun stuff to be had. I could also go on about how easy it was to cut TV streaming altogether (was sweating for a day after dropping Youtube TV) but that's for another topic.

A staple of my Saturday mornings. Loved that show.

Late to the party on Dynamite (and still have to get to Rampage - you guys have me salivating over Willow/Skye big time, though) - I really liked the closing angle. The return of exasperated, NWO-era "Call the cops!" Schiavone was a pleasant surprise! It was a bit predictable, sure, but sometimes the logical choice is the correct one. I think we're building to a "who's side is Hanger on" story, before we get our Uncensored '96 moment where he comes out to aid Swerve/Kenny/FTR, and that's your babyface Anarchy in the Arena or Blood & Guts team (depending how long this goes)

Vince taking over Control Your Narrative?

Apparemment, sa majesté royale Charlotte Flair et l'homme invisible John Cena seront de la partie. De plus, cette idée stupide de ma part fait désormais apparaître mes publicités en français.

Putting Page and Scorp with Dan Lambert was just completely inexplicable and torpedoed them at a point when the MOTY act was already getting over on their own. Neither guy was ever really able to get back on track after that.

8/19/87: Inoki/Fujiwara/Sakaguchi/Hoshino/Muto vs Choshu/Fujinami/Maeda/Kimura/Super Strong Machine (ELIMINATION TAG): 11 on the 80s set. And it's awesome. How do you even cover this? I haven't fully bought the build of NEW vs NOW and there's a bunch of stuff you miss in the margins like Muto joining with NOW and Fujinami and Kimura figuring out how to coexist (let alone any of these guys and Choshu! or Super Strong Machine and Maeda). You got it with the NOW guys but far less so with the NEW. This was the Kimura show for the most part. He got to be the brazen asshole punching star that Choshu's return disrupted up until now. His knee was taped up. His fists were taped up. He was an absolute bastard throughout just gut punching everyone. Loved it. Fujiwara took a lot of this too. When he came out, he tossed the flowers into the crowd without even looking. Pure Fujiwara. At one point Kimura and Fujiwara came together and Fujiwara took a few of his punches and just dropped him into the armbar. Obviously with these, what matters are the eliminations and the big crowd buzzing moments. You got the latter the most when it was Inoki and Maeda. They held Inoki back for the first third of this and had two exchanges between them. Maeda really had Inoki's number on the mat and had to slow things down. Some of that is Inoki just being stubborn and not playing to his strengths. Maeda would have done pro wrestling bullshit with him, I bet, but Inoki had to push. They ended up eliminating one another by going over the top. Other than that, a lot of the eliminations were good. Sakaguchi (Who had some great moments of pummeling people in the corner) for instance, was Fujinami flipping back as he tried to give him the atomic drop, hitting the enziguiri and then setting him up for Choshu's lariat. Just seeing those two work together was wild. Hoshino looked great in this too. He started out so hot with Fujinami (after a brief Muto/Fujinami exchange) that even Inoki was super into it. Super Strong Machine was the first on his side to go but he looked like a tank while he was in there. Anyway, this ended up as Muto and Hoshino vs Choshu and Fujinami, obviously a mismatch, and Hoshino didn't last too long there. Muto got some shine, including surviving the lariat and some scorpion deathlocks, and his entire team was rooting for him, but he still went down. It was an elevation but I'm not sure he made the best of it. I think there's another one of these in September.

I think the missing element of Ethan Page is the Writer. He has good delivery on the mic, but struggles to find much meaning or purpose. Heavily reliant on cliches. In ring he's pretty solid if a bit bland for Wednesdays. I don't think he did himself any favours having such a brutal version of the Razor's Edge for a finish. The Men of the Year team with Scorpio were going pretty strong until around their pairing with Lambert, but that whole debacle had everything to do with weird-heat-babyface-getting-booed Guevara. Heel Scorpio Sky didn't seem a great fit either. Page did have a quietly impressive outting anchoring a trios match with the MMA guys. His consistent solid work led to a fair push around a Number 1 contender tournament that he ended up losing to Ricky Starks (another guy who could use a writer for similar reasons). Fans and critics didn't seem to be buying Ethan winning on the way to that bout. I think he got a fair chance to succeed, he just couldn't get passed his level. Still, he had some small successes. Sting believed in him enough to have his first live match back against he and Scorp. And it was a lot of fun. A refresh could be a really good thing for his career.

Is Jay going to have to break Darby every year? As for Page, he's good in lots of areas, but not exactly Elite anywhere, and with AEW's roster, and a lot of other, more over veterans, that makes him pretty expendable despite his talent. He'll land in a good spot somewhere else.

Somebody needs to compile a 'Best of Babyface Ethan Page Promos' from his ROH run. Perfect fodder for the promos folder. Rotten babyface run aside, I like Page and wonder if he wouldn't be better suited for the world of Sports and Entertainment offered on the other channel.

Such a great show. The Omega/Elite angle was tremendous. Excellent promo from Kenny and then everything that followed had good timing and excellent execution. I'm amongst the lowest voters on Authority Figures, heel or otherwise, but not the Jacksons nor the creative offended my sensibilities here. The opening was terrifically funny, TK included, as was everything they did on the show. Loved the Opening video. Willow v Skye Blue was my match of the night. Willowmania is fast approaching. She's now killing it on the mic weekly along with the fantastic in-ring work. Skye has been wonderful since the heel turn. Total star in the making. Both Skye and Willow murdered their shit beautifully in the Main. Some incredibly brutal spots. The Women's Division as as whole has been 10 fold better in the last number of weeks. Mariah v Serena was also a strong bout. Stoked for Serena v Toni. That said, the corny Paradise lock has got to go. That's the worst. Not quite sure of the title shot logic, but I'm game for Swerve v Christian. So happy to have the Wayne Family back on my TV. Mother Wayne stood tall in the opening segment. Heel Christian is a gift that keeps on giving. Copeland v Buddy was a solid opening match with an excellent latter half. More dumb angling from the House perfectly laid out above by @JLowe (how do we tag now?). Samoa Joe v Isaih Kassidy was a perfect TV enhancement match. The Walk Off/Dive was absolutely brutal looking and completely awesome. OC/Trent angle was brief but effective. I love Don Callis looming around this. Jericho v Shibata was fantastic. Murderous chopping galore. The puck to the face looked brutal. Everytime Jericho meanders as a babyface ppl always seem to forget what a capable to excellent heel he is. Jericho/Bill is perfection. I would not be surprised if this pairing Actually results in Bill becoming a top star. "Aside from my own actions, what did I do to deserve this treatment?' Stokely is really coming into his own in combination with Stat and Willow. Claudio v Brian Cage was a nice showcase. I wanna see this one again. Copeland/O'Reilly promo was very good. I like that pairing. Papa Magie brings great energy to the broadcast booth. I liked him pointing out how great White/Asses entrance music is. I wholeheartedly agree. Jay White v Dante was a strong TV bout. All these matches would obviously have benefitted greatly from a bit more crowd heat, but the work was tight regardless. Excellent Deonna promo. I love her going all FBI. I sense, in her proper heel role, she may surprise a few who may have written her off early in this run. Good Swerve promo. Working off Christian should benefit his fair to good mic game. Romero v O'Reilly seems to have gotten slept upon. Not enough story for some, not enough heat for others. The tight solid wrestling thrilled me throughout. Saraya/Harley promo was excellent as per usual. Harley makes the most of her minutes. I'm endlessly entertained by her hilarity. Very curious to see what Harley v Tiny Storm looks like. Good Roddy/Kingdom promo even if nobody cares. By the way, Arkady Aura is terrific. It certainly wouldn't have hurt to throw a name plate under her. Or give her an introduction of sorts (same goes for her innocuous debut on Collision). Even early in her run, she's clearly a natural broadcaster. The hour 3 Rampage portion underserved the star power and inevitably lost audience momentum, but nonetheless there was a lot to like in the hour. Overall, this was a terribly fun Rampage/Dynamite combo.

If someone hit their opponent with an LJN King Kong Bundy, I’d buy that as a death finisher.

If only this could have been predicted. Oh wait, literally everyone in the world predicted this. What a dumb franchise. As a Bills fan I can't talk shit about franchises that don't win but at least don't be overly dumb in the process.

I am and have been vehemently opposed to breaking up Best Friends. No one wants to see these guys fight. Now, that said, if you want to salvage this, then AEW’s version of Endgame to rescue the promotion from Elite tyranny later this year should have a reunited Best Friends - as the true heart and soul of the company from day one - neutralizing the Bucks while Omega deals with Okada.

“Aside from my actions, what have I done to deserve this?” - Stokely Hathaway, 2024.

I know we have a merchandise thread but this is too important: https://www.shopaew.com/catalog/product/view/id/74008/s/nyla-rose-her-all-royalties-will-go-to-freedom-oklahomas-501c3/category/5343/ New Nyla Rose shirt with all royalties going towards Freedom Oklahoma, a LGBTQ+ rights group. Well done AEW.

Oh god...

The Jabroni Beating, Pie Eating, Trailblazing, Eyebrow Raising, Stronger Than A Bear, Coming Full Throttle, Cuz I Piss In A Bottle...