TimLivingston

Again, trusting the usual wrestling journalists here when talking about actual business info only gets folks in trouble.

Reports are now that Khan (non-Tony division) had discussions with Disney, so they’re absolutely doing their due diligence with the major players.

Gregg beat me to the private company part: You can’t compare this to the UFC sale because the fact it’s publicly traded means there are many more rules and hoops to jump through regarding any changeover of ownership. Vince consolidating the board means he’s going to end up making the final call on who purchases, but him mentioning the TV deal being a part of it is the elephant in the room: If you sell to the Saudis for the biggest cash out, you run the risk of not getting a TV deal nearly as nice (or one at all) as you would with Comcast/Fox/whoever.

That fire is the result of a rumor that was generated from likely months or years of back room discussions where Vince has been feeling out buyers and Saudis are narratively driven most to buy. It’s essentially the same as a journalist or deep cover detective working towards actually having something tangible or going with something at the first chance to gain eyes, which the good ones never do.

Meanwhile, the Giants sign Luke Jackson. Hey, 85 wins can get you to the playoffs, stop looking at me like that.

Prayer circle for Bobby and I. That is terrible.

Holy crap.

It’s Taue by a country mile.

That match is fucking incredible. Chigusa still a teenager, Devil getting so pissed that she can’t handle Chigusa’s fiery run at her that she thinks about actually bringing the sword sheath in. And it might not even be the best match on that card because Jaguar Yokota put on an absolute clinic with Lioness Asuka right after that.

I like that idea for multiple selfish reasons.

Action Bronson hits the ropes like they owe him money. Muta still pops me after all this time.

MJF might have “that aura” but the normally reliable YouTube engagement numbers have The Acclaimed higher than him after last night, and Moxley and Saraya above both. Will be interesting to see going forward.

Between the calls for Omega to come back and saying Punk needs to go, I’d say the Elite propaganda machine is doing its intended function. Punk will be back. If he wasn’t coming back, you’d have heard of it by now.

The non-WCW/NWA/WWE list fucking rules. I’m still amazed that matches like those get exposure on a site with that much readership. Just a really cool thing to see.

I don’t think it’s that he wants them out so much as if they aren’t going to adapt to the company they helped grow in the first place, then they aren’t going to add value to the company going forward. The whole idea of pro wrestling “in their image” clearly only had them having the heavy hand on the entire product when it’s pretty clear you can only do that in a smaller locker room where you have complete control. That’s not the case anymore.

Lot of wishcasting here, not enough pragmatism. Punk being away for months is going to say more than most reports that are coming out now; with the latest regarding the Bucks rumors from SRS, it’s becoming more and more likely that Punk’s comments regarding The Elite and the dirtsheets are becoming more and more true. Meanwhile, hardly anything on Punk himself, but a lot more regarding Elite plans and the like: Omega positioning himself as “locker room leader” with what sounds like a hilariously ludicrous speech, Bucks inflating their worth with WWE rumors, etc. I made mention earlier about how the Bucks and Omega really used the sheets to their advantage over the years, mainly by flooding them with so much information the counter arguments were minuscule in comparison, and they’re trying to do the same here. Problem is their exposure is such that reading between the lines is becoming easier and easier. So if they DO jump elsewhere, and don’t have the usual safety nets that have actually buffered their standing over the years, they get branded as malcontents. So they’re using that playbook to make Punk, a noted curmudgeon, out to be that. Page is the metronome here and has also overplayed his hand; playing into Punk’s criticisms of him while also saying “The Elite think I’m good and that’s all I need.” Meanwhile, you put The Elite in a more controlled environment and their strengths deteriorate, which would happen to Page faster than he realizes The fascinating part of all of this is this mad rush to get to all the Hot Newz first, and people fumbling over sourcing this and that because you have to get SOMETHING out there to keep folks interested. It’s just the last 25 years sped up in a way that makes me shake my head; if there was EVER a time to actually try and get this right, now is the time, but the sheets can’t help themselves.

Someone ask Virgil how he looks so good for 125.

Bryan Danielson is a fucking excellent professional wrestler. That is all.

While this is an amazing Meltzer joke, I was going to say I haven’t been on that beat for quite a while.

A buyout is coming. Believe that.

The screen name alone makes this HOF-worthy.

Also a huge dig at PJ Walker, who didn’t ask for any of this.

The diction in that SI line is hilarious: You tie Punk and Ace together because they’re boys and imply that because the more likely of the two (Steel) would be let go, you get to assume Punk would back up his friend. It’s an incredibly speculative sentence and people run with it because you see “Punk” and “gone” a few words apart. Then you get to project Punk’s pettiness, the drama behind a top guy leaving, etc. An amazing piece of SEO aggregation writing, honestly.

You’re on. My hope is that I don’t drive away the Segunda Caida faithful away with my choices.

And my point is that it’s way easier to blow that up than be measured against it. And I say that because if it was really as bad as everyone says it was, the decision would have already been made. The fact it’s been basically 48 hours since it all went down and there hasn’t been much of anything since says the diffusion is happening and something is being worked out.