just drew

I see a lot of folks citing WCW 1998, but isn't it just as likely that AEW pulls a WWE circa 1995, where a glut of underappreciated released WCW talent comes in and is given a legit chance to get over? Brad Armstrong turns into the Road Dogg, Stunning Steve into Stone Cold, Jean Paul Levesque into HHH, Cactus into Mankind, etc... Tony Khan, for his many flaws, gives a shit about wrestling, and there are some talented wrestlers that became available today. If he gets the chance to make a personnel upgrade, he absolutely should.

Ok. Tell Joey Janela and Serpentico bye then. You have a chance to raise the talent level of your wrestling company by bringing in better wrestlers. You also have a second show debuting in the fall. Cut some bottom feeders and add a few world class performers.

Murphy, Aleister, Ruby, Andrade, & Zelina all end up in AEW as soon as they can, right? I mean, that’s a given. Joe, too.

Santana got herself in some hot water on Twitter over the weekend.

I appreciate the well thought out response. It just baffles me that some folks would say that size shouldn't matter. It shouldn't be the only thing that matters, but it absolutely should matter. I guess I'm in the minority. Here, anyway. I cannot for the life of me understand the appeal of the Bucks and Omega when there are guys like Adam Page, Archer, Jungle Boy, Lucha Bros, Guevara, Moxley, Kingston, P&P, and Best Friends all walking around without titles. This Elite "smarkier than you" stuff is grating and self-indulgent, but I'm not convinced it's character work. I think the EVP's really believe that them holding the belts is what's best for the company, and I have no idea how they came to that conclusion.

Nah, but if that helps you hug your tasseled pillow a little tighter, you can think that. Sorry. That was salty. I've seen that sentiment a LOT on twitter, but I will grant you that it's entirely possible that through the algorithm I've flooded my TL with folks who feel the same (correct) way about the Bucks that I do. I still think what bothers me most is that they stood on even keel with two absolute carnivores. If they'd just absolutely cheated their asses off, even more than they did, and the referee had blatantly favored them even more than they did, then MAYBE it would be believable that they could just beat these guys. But for them to just pin Moxley and then be talking trash into the camera... that was bullshit. They should be crawling away thanking their lucky stars that they didn't get stabbed to death. That's what I found so tone deaf and lame and why I think the Bucks are so un self-aware about how the audience sees them. They look like the fucking Mulkey Brothers and I'm supposed to believe they just walk away from a fight with those two guys? Fuck that.

That's 100% right, and it goes for the Tag champs, too. I think more fans than not are getting tired of this smarky, pretentious horseshit. And not from a "good heel character" perspective. It's from a "fuck these self indulgent dweebs and their internet nonsense" perspective. I'm still irritated that the Bucks just walked away from Mox & King, instead of being stretchered out like they would have in any other situation.

Also, God help me, I felt good for Jake Hager. Dude was clearly having a ball all the way through that match and seemed to really enjoy the post-match celebration. I always thought he got shit on a little unfairly in WWE and I'm glad he's having more fun in AEW. He should be the guy WWE talent looks at and says "damn, maybe the grass IS greener..."

It's just hard to boo a guy who's so clearly having so much fun getting to say and do whatever the fuck he wants.

So, there was a lot of good in this show. Let's start with that. Loved Stadium Stampede. Weird shit like that is right up my alley, and the segments were fun. K-Dogg being the DJ ruled ass, even though there was no payoff to the elevator spot, which is one of my favorites. Guevara was the MVP of that match. Some Jackie Chan nonsense in the good way. The initial Shawn Spears reveal was cooler than anything his character deserves. Some Batman villain shit. Spears getting hit with the golf cart ruled because fuck Shawn Spears. The Jericho/MJF mini fight kicked ass. The Urban Meyer/Charlie Strong cameos were hilarious, as was Shad Khan's. Jericho makes anything work. Britt Baker is a goddam superstar. Hikaru Shida did an admirable job with the belt, and I hope she gets another run down the road, but damn. This is the DMD era. Miro is a hate-fueled ball of insanity and I absolutely love it. This should be his title forever. The Battle Royal was really good. Jungle Boy winning was a surprise, but that match should be really really top notch. Cage/Page was a really good opener. Other than the finish, Sting/Allin vs. Sky/Page was also really good. It's time for Sting to start giving the rub to some young guys. The Bad: The EVP's. First, the Middle Aged Bucks. It must be nice to be able to book yourselves to beat a couple guys who would fucking end you in less than a minute in any other scenario. That's my biggest problem with the Bucks. They don't look like they could whip cream with an outboard motor. They could walk into any bar in my hometown, start some shit, and leave on stretchers. They aren't physically imposing, even a little, and it kills any credibility they have. They don't look like they've ever kicked a single ass in their entire life between the two of them. Awful, un-self aware decision to have the Bucks go over. Cody. Poor, poor Cody. Someone told him people wanted him to win. Can't let the new guys get too much shine. Kenny Omega was the third most talented wrestler in his World Title Match. Which is still pretty talented, because PAC and OC are world class performers, but Kenny just isn't what he thinks he is. There's no reason for this company to be built around him and his pretentious, self-indulgent Elite bullshit. Still a pretty good show. I don't regret paying for it. They got a lot right. It just rang true again tonight how much better this product would be if the EVP's stayed the fuck offscreen.

I'm having trouble getting in.

I mean, Getting any two of Andrade, Daga, Tessa, Bryan, Enzo, Cass, Billie and/or Peyton would be a "big" night and I'd consider that pretty fun.

I don’t think the young bucks suck. I think theyre pretentious & lame, but their timing is good and they always bust out some great offense in between not selling and smarky bullshit.

I can see that. I've never enjoyed the Bucks either way, so I'm probably not a good judge...

So? I'd rather watch compelling, interesting characters work short, stiff matches weekly and save the long epic stuff for PPV than lumpy dweebs do flippy shit weekly. The Bucks are staler than month old Wonder Bread, and I for one am looking forward to seeing Mox and King just obliterate them.

I have a much higher tolerance for Fiend horseshit than most, and even I don't love all of it. I will add the caveat that I believe that the stuff that I don't like isn't Bray's fault, but instead the product of WWE having no idea how to handle a character like that. It doesn't excuse the blatant fucking stupidity that was a zombie lumberjack match...

Man, it's not that this PPV was bad. I thought most of the in-ring work was solid, hokey zombie shit notwithstanding. It's how stale and just.... same that product feels. This programming is just screaming for a bevy of fresh faces and instead we get yet another configuration of the same people. I appreciate everything Drew McIntyre did during the pandemic to keep the Raw show watchable, but it's gotten old. Strowman just doesn't do it for me. Lashley is awesome, but how many times can he be expected to have watchable, fresh matches with the same handful of guys? It just feels very.... bleh. Solid ring work from bell to bell, just nothing worth getting the least bit excited over.

Man, I'm a sucker for folks getting hosed down in the ring, no matter what the liquid is. Beer, milk, sewage, it's all funny to me. Mox and Kingston kicked ass. Good Brothers showed up to steal oxygen. The Young Bucks were slightly less useless than usual, but I still can't wait to see Mox and King stomp their guts in. Miro is THE. SHIT.

This shit happens in movie structure all the time. I hated Dustin Hoffman for YEARS because he murdered Rufio on the way to his main event showdown with Banning, who only came back so his kids could see him perform and to impress Julia Roberts. Rufio worked for that spot for years and he just got shoved aside so Banning/Pan could get one more payday.

Cornette, to me, reminds me of the former players that do TV and radio for baseball now. These washed up goofs can't stop talking about how much better their sports were when they were involved, all the while deriding far better athletes for their inability to do the things that made for a successful wrestler/hitter 30 years ago. Which would be fine, if it were thirty years ago. It isn't. At the end of the day, they're all bitter old men yelling into the void about a sport that has passed them by.

Yeah, that wasn't near the level of "business exposing" bad as the exploding ring. TV shows use flimsy material to replicate heavy, permanent fixtures and staging on set all the time. I was working on a CW show once (rhymed with Slack Lightning) that had an entire high school set built from balsa wood so guys could go crashing into and through walls. That bump could've been shot better, but for me personally it's not out of the realm of possibility at all that there might be a bunch of cardboard and wood dressed to look like steel. That match was perfect other than that. The IC owed the Pinnacle an extended beatdown, and the shit was glorious. If anything, I thought MJF and Wardlow could've eaten more offense. Other than that, only my usual complaint, mainly that the EVP's of this company would all be doing this program a huge favor by staying the fuck off of it, Kenneth included. Pretty ballsy of him to talk shit on Orange Cassidy for little kids dressing up like him, when that twitchy motherfucker has been doing his hair like David Cassidy for as long as I can remember. Fuck him. Mox and Kingston ruled, as always. I hope they get to beat the piss out of those two lumpy dweebs the Young Bucks, whether or not the titles are involved. Miro is THE SHIT. As is Britt (And Rebel, not Reba). That four way tag was good, and the Acclaimed have a bright-assed future.

I’m thinking Spears goes in 1 against Guevara. He and Sammy have been paired off during their brawls. Dax2 & Cash 3.

It feels like Strowman is rapidly approaching that status.

I can't remember which of the youtube triumvirate (whatculture/cultaholic/wrestletalk) podcasts brought it up, but the one way Eva Marie on the main roster could work is if she becomes the anti-4HW. Like, wins the title after gratuitous interference, then brings back the Diva title and only agrees to defend it in lingerie pillow fights & shit. She swears up and down that "this is what fans want to see!" But no one in that writers room can tell a nuanced enough story for that to work the way it should....

Also, I don’t think it bodes well for the health of the booking when I expected Strowman or Lashley to come out and wreck both Gulak and Garza instead of getting a finish. Right now the show seems to be about those two and McIntyre only, and that ain’t good...