Greggulator

I don't think I'm getting the logic in the world champion of a promotion saying he wants to go to the much bigger and more famous promotion.

Also, I saw making the rounds that Tony Kahn grew up e-fedding and in many ways AEW is just a continuation of that. As someone who has e-fedded for a few (ugh) decades: 1) It's a really common occurrence for whoever handles the world championship of your e-fed to disappear for things like "My girlfriend found out about my e-fedding hobby and I'm rightfully embarrassed" or "I have a job with actual health insurance" or "I have to do better in school if I want to get into Rutgers, oh wait, I forgot to tell you I'm 15." And ciliquey in-fighting is also a huge part of the e-fed world. TK has experience with this drama, is what I'm saying. 2) He handled it in the most convoluted and complicated way as possible as opposed to doing anything that made narrative sense. That is EXACTLY how it is done in e-feds.

Where I think things went wrong is AEW struggled to adjust on the fly. It's great to have a long-term storytelling arc. But you also need to have the ability to pull off a Plan B if an injury happens or if your top star decides to go crazy at a live press conference (or both.) That requires some quick pivoting and turning. And it's hard to do. From the different drabs that came out, there was going to be some kind of extended MJF vs. Punk feud and The Firm was going to be MJF's interference. Then the Punk stuff/injury happened and you have to figure out how to make that work. But every step along that path has been poorly done. Mox as the emergency champion makes a ton of sense. Mox is the man. But as opposed to having MJF doing the dumb "in the stands making hammy faces" bit, maybe it probably would have been just a lot easier to get to where they are now if MJF was given a bye into the finals of the tournament. He acts appalled but sleazes his way to victory via The Firm. Just a nice, simple and easy story to do. Instead we had such things as: 1) Yuta Wheeler wanting to bludgeon MJF (which was awesome) followed by Yuta Wheeler wanting to shake MJF's hand after their match ended the next week. If MJF's despicable, then reacting to him like that's the case even if he beats you cleanly it the right way to go. 2) MJF trying to come off like a possible good guy in all of this and The Firm turning on him and no one caring or wanting to see these dweebs involved in a main event match. They're flunkies. Now they're flunkies who turned on their ruler who never actually used them except for one ladder match a few weeks ago. No heat and no hierarchy established with them at all. Imagine if those dudes just tore about the BCC while MJF smirked from the luxury box as opposed to what we got? 3) The convoluted Regal angles. I guess we're going to see Dragon go on the warpath to try and avenge Regal. And while I'm for that, what happens with Ricky Starks? There could be a really interesting thing at play with that, but I don't think we'll get anything interesting. It's just such an overthinking of everything. And it's the downside of getting locked into really long-term booking ideas. It's probably better to say "We'd like to get to A in a year. But let's take a look at where we are every three months to see how we're doing getting there."

Yo what the hell is this Teddy Hart documentary I am watching right now???

I think he’s my number one and man this is a LIST.

KO/Jey need to run another singles match back. God damn that was great.

The heat The Bloodline would get this week if they turned on Sami just because they can…

The Bloodline arc does not work without Jey being at the absolute elite level of character work. Roman doesn’t become a manipulative mob family leader without having someone to manipulate. Jey managed to be in that role but not become a dignity-less patsy. Sami does not become a player in this without Jey doing the jealous doubter role as magnificent as he has. And the Usos are an incredible tag team.

They should lean into Eddie Guerrero/Art Barr taunting if the crowds going forward have that level of Mexico/lucha support.

Would be really interesting if Dragon and Claudio were in cahoots with Regal. And maybe that gets us to MJF/BCC vs Mox/Yuta/Eddie (who knows what a scumbag Claudio is.)

That main event was insane. Jericho is absolutely out of his mind. One of the most entertaining and unique matches in memory. The six man stuff should not be for me but man that was so much fun to watch. I am sure by match four I won’t care anymore but that was a hot crowd. The Punk trolling was stupid but that was a hit crowd. OC managed to make Jake Hager watchable, which is proof of his miracle worker status. Also, Jamie Hayter is a natural as a champion. Her whole look - new haircut, robe, belt - makes her look like a female Harley Race or Greg Valentine in that it is elaborate flamboyant ring gear worn by someone who will murder you without really needing a purpose.

My La Salle Explorers came back from 25 down against Georgetown to tie the game late before fading out in the final 90 seconds. That says a lot more about Georgetown then it does La Salle. We're pretty bad this year.

The Nets are the biggest clown car of a NBA franchise. Ben Simmons and Kyrie shooshing the crowd and getting into it with Niang while en route to getting run out the gym by the Delaware Blue Coats and after the game the team just shrugging it off like another game. Making the Sixers look like a tough team is something else.

I have to agree with a lot my arch-nemesis Matt D. said. Some hits, a lot of misses, and a lot of "Uhm..." 1) Jamie Hayter rules. She got over because she rules at professional wrestling. She's a great no-nonsense bad-ass who is stiff as anything and has no time for anything but beating up other people in the ring. I think she should have just beaten Toni Storm without any of the shenanigans at ringside. I say that as a huge fan of Britt. The run-in's looked fantastic ("NOOOOOO!") to Britt coming in with the hoodie. And it didn't matter at all because the crowd was going to pop for Jamie to win no matter what. But making her win seem like this moment of career triumph and because of taken shortcuts really runs counter to the story they just told. 1A) The announcing in this match trying to put over their relationship since they lived together during quarantine days was insanity. Like some of the greatest unintentional comedy I've heard in a long time. I only wish Excalibur started talking about how they spent their stimulus checks or if they could get PPP money as independent contractors. 2) The main event was really weird. It was a good match. But Mox leaning into the heel stuff because the crowd was rooting for MJF, only for MJF to win after Regal turned is exactly why Cena never wrestled heel despite getting booed out of the arena. It just makes the body of the match (MJF as an underdog against a psychopath) mean nothing when the payoff is heel shenanigans from villains. Mox needed to stay as the protagonist. MJF needed to keep his heel shtick. Let the fans cheer how they are going to cheer. Just tell the story you have been telling to completion. 3) The 4-way was a great match. But where were Yuta and Garcia? Yuta with Cesaro and Garcia with Sammy. Unless there was an injury or something, that was a gigantic story from the past few months. Yuta/Garcia even main evented a Dynamite in a banger. AEW did a lot of really good work to get both of those guys over. Pay it off. 4) Why did Swerve give Keith Lee a device to torture an opponent after they had been squabbling over the need for cheating in the build-up to the match and literally in the match itself? The more accurate story would have been Lee preventing Swerve from using those tactics, which leads to Swerve's downfall. It really sucks because there's so much good in-ring work on these shows. But TK's a disorganized mess and needs an editor.

A lot of good and some bad. The opening tag match was great. But, like… why isn’t the four way Jericho/Dragon/Yuta/Garcia? That was the storyline unless I missed someone getting hurt? I loved the trios match. Glorious throwback to some kind of Nitro six man with Super Calo, Psichosis, Juvi, La Parka, Lizmark Jr and a Villano and maybe Blitzkrieg. Just really fun dives and etc. Swerve vs. Bowens was good stuff. I love them setting up Bowens coming into the match with an injury he has to overcome. His leg selling at the first match was all-time work. Bowens is so great. Serve is, too. The Firm stuff sucks so much. I really want to like Stokely but this stuff has no heat. I really wish this was Dan Lambert and Scorpio Sky instead. These dopes being involved with the main event angle is just a distraction.

1) I watched Embiid last night and was just numb as I had to honestly consider “Is that the single greatest regular season individual performance in my lifetime?” On top of his offense, he was just all over the floor on defense. I forget how many blocks he had in the 4th, but it was a bunch and a few were pin downs on layups. Utah probably would have won that game unless Embiid did that. The only other regular season game I can remember asking that question about was when Klay scored 30+ in a quarter. Shaq had a 60 when he was on the Lakers but that was before NBA League Pass. Hard pressed to think of others but LeBron had so many crazy box scores and Steph caught fire so many times that I am sure I am forgetting some of their nuts games. 2) Glad the history of “companies no one has any ides of what they actually do to make money making dubious stadium sponsorship deals and go bust" trend continues!

The Sami/Dragon match was excellent but that was "wrestling nerd" excellent and not something with any stakes or anything I'll remember three weeks from now besides "oh yeah, that was a great match." I am actively campaigning for New Day/Usos and will die on this hill.

New Day/Usos is a match that I'll remember for a really long time. The other matches that really have stood out to me this year at a really high lever are the "Yuta impresses the BCC" classic, the Eddie Kingston War Games and Acclaimed/SWITG. I think it was the absolute best-case-scenario of what only the WWE can do. They tapped into their lore and extended universe while letting four awesome wrestlers go out and have a great match with a fantastic story. It's a match that some 8-year-old watched with his dad or something and became a fan for life.

I really can't get over how great New Day/Usos was. I really think it is the absolute best type of storytelling that the WWE can do beyond any other professional wrestling company. 1) The match itself was great. It felt like it was a match that a 10-year-old could watch and say "that's the best professional wrestling match I've ever seen." There are a lot of other matches better in terms of how wrestling snobs enjoy wrestling, but this was really a match you could show someone who has never watched wrestling as an example of why wrestling is awesome and why they should watch. It was four of the best to ever do it having a tag team match with all the beats that go into a tag match and told simply and coherently. A masterclass in Wrestling 101. 2) I was at the Raw when the New Day broke the record. I remember it being really fun. But I also remember that coming out of nowhere. I have no idea who they beat. I remember Stephanie made them have another match. But it felt like something they fell into and realized (or probably Xavier realized it) a few hours before the show began. So it was a fun moment but one that didn't feel organic. This was organic. They had been pushing this for a few weeks. Maybe they didn't plan on this when The Bloodline angle began, and maybe they had too many Usos/New Day matches earlier this year for this to really feel singularly special. But this did feel really special. You can only do that by tapping into the lore of having decades of storytelling. I think HHH really understands and appreciates that. It's one thing to say this is a special night. It's another thing to show the receipts. And if you can really make a case that these are the best tag teams in WWE history going at it, and one of them has the record the other wants to take, and reference their past history (loved on Raw when The Usos referenced how Kofi-Mania doesn't happen without their Gauntlet Match forefeit), then make it. They put real stakes and had a real history on a match that in a vacuum by itself was a fantastic "Wrestling 101" match. Standing ovation all around.

Straight up Usos vs. New Day was an all-timer. Absolutely spectacular storytelling from four of the best to ever do it. Match of the Decade level work.

Great show I'll have more serious thoughts later. I really wish they would lean into the "Toni Storm and Jayme Hayter were former roommates" a lot more as the personal conflict for this feud. That stuff is so relatable. Did Jamie stiff Toni on the water bill after she was "going to visit her boyfriend in Portland for the weekend" and never came back? Did Jamie have months of resentment building up because Toni would use up all the Almond Milk and not replace it until she could run to Whole Foods? Did one of them decide to make a "funny" Wifi name that hurt a former roommate's feelings? I WANT TO KNOW!!!

I had no idea who Shibata was either. But this was another OC gem. I imagine they maybe had to be light with Shibata considering his injury history. I loved that Shibata at times actually got under OC’s skin, which is the first time in at least a while I remember that happening. Great way for that match to go. OC is just the best. Tyson on the mic was also a blast. I loved the women’s tag. Jamie Hayter is so great. I hope she wins the belt and they reverse roles with Britt being her muscle/heater since Britt is a fantastic mic worker and character worker. I love the Gates of Agony. Man, Wardlaw has suffered so much from the 48373747 titles in AEW. He looks less special next to Joe and whatever belt Joe has. Al the BCC vs JAS stuff went from being stale to interesting again. Jericho of Honor is a great angle. I wish it was the only ROH-adjacent title in AEW but Jericho holding it makes it a good prize. Sami’s promo against Dragon felt more like a babyface promo instead of a sleazy pretty boy heel promo. They missed the boat on what makes Ricky Starks work, especially with Adam Cole out. Ricky would be a great cool heel because he can still get heat while being the coolest dude in the room. He should be a smooth operator before becoming the people’s champ. Fun show but AEW needs help setting up its hierarchy. Less belts. Figure out who is going to beat Wardlaw and Jade, even if it is still months away. He

I missed the show because of Halloween and being drained beyond all belief for the Phillies even though they got rained out last night. Earth was simply not ready for a Phillies World Series home game on Halloween. But I did see this floating around on Twitter. Rhea Ripley is the best.

Kyrie is from my hometown in North Jersey. I know people who knew him and as his dad when he was growing up. He went to the same public school system I did until it was time for high school. There are a lot Jewish people in my hometown. I think about 25% of my graduating class was Jewish. A lot of my closest friends from high school are Jewish. Kyrie had Jewish friends growing up. A think a lot of people don't know about Kyrie is that he was not some elite level recruit until very much the end of high school. After 8th grade, Kyrie's dad sent him to a tony prep school that's more known for lacrosse (five kids from the Duke lacrosse scandal were alum) than any other sport. My town's high school does not have the best reputation so a lot of people with the means send their kids to private school. Kyrie went there because the school has a good academic reputation and a bunch of his closest friends went there, and I know a few of them are Jewish. Kyrie lit up at that school and ended up doing AAU stuff and transferred to one of the basketball powers (St. Pat's) because his dad realized how good he was and he wasn't going to get big level looks at his first high school. Also, Kyrie still is around our hometown a good amount. I think he might live there. He's at his old middle school a good amount. He had his signing with the Nets ceremony in the middle school gym. He's at a lot of school plays and things like that. He's friends with the principal (one of his old teachers) and a few other old teachers. Things may have changed the past few years but that was the case for a really long time. And that school has a lot of Jewish kids. Like... this stuff with him is so friggin' dumb. I have no idea if he's mentally ill or just trying to shock people or what. But the latest stuff is absolutely grotesque because I know his background a little bit. He absolutely should know better.

I just finished Season 4 of The Sinner. That's one of my favorite police procedurals. Bill Pullman is a great detective with a messed up personal life. Season 4 wasn't as good as the first or second seasons, which are wonderful and completely slept on in the Peak TV era. But I liked it better than Season 3 since the villains and mysteries were so much more compelling.