The Idiot King

Miyu v. Rosa is one of my favorites of the year, hands down. Loved it. Told the exact story to get the rematch. I wish Rosa's run had been stronger before giving up so much in this match, but I also think it was presented in a way that made everyone look like a star. Miyu is correctly right in the mix at the top. I think AEW feeling more international in this way is good. I love Private Party but I think they maybe should scrap the gimmick. A great performance from them, but I think they need to find a new presentation. GIVE BEAR BOULDER THE EARTHQUAKE RUN. Have him squash somebody's pet! Was there a Sean Dean - Cody Rhodes match before he split? Is there heat between commentary and him? Maybe I just missed the joke, but it seemed like they were giving him a pretty hard time for somebody who was ostensibly the face. Give 2.0 fireworks. Theme song is pretty good but could be louder and dumber. THE FIVE STAR SYMBOL OF EXCELLENCE! Willow deserves better music, also! It suits her but it's a little too generic MIDI for me. What a fisherman's suplex. Loved the finish of this. Such a clean Doctor Bomb. Sasha Banks - Willow Nightingale soon(?!) Great entrance and intro for Raju. Great dunks on West Virginia. Fyter Fest is a terrible name, but calling your big non-PPV shows something the same every year is still the way to go. Very expressive facial work from Raju. I find Angelico…interesting. Logan Laroux looking like a young, off-brand American Dragon. Dante Martin had better be ready for the worst lawsuit of all time whenever Taz gets around to it. QT Marshall conscious of the monetization! Good fast-build-story to the match! Nice neck wrench by Nick. Taz, don't spoil the outcome for the tag match tomorrow! Loved this one. Good selling of PAC’s story and why he should be taken seriously wherever he goes. Love Shota's expressions. I'm sold on him as the future. Another good fisherman's suplex! If anyone has a good social history of British wrestling crowds singing things vs. US crowds, I'd love to see it. Nice fake finish with the knocking PAC off the top. Despite the amount of titles, I like the gimmick of this one. It feels fresh and different and is a good way to spice up some of the smaller shows.

Just wanted to pop in and say Wave Of Mutilation is about global warming. Ok. Cool. Thanks. Hope B-Dan can wrassle ZSJ soon, and the MJF thing has some kind of payoff after Forbidden Door!

I know we are all basically fantasy booking with a lot of contingent ifs hanging in the balance, but I think how AEW dealt with CM Punk (and Bryan, too, honestly) has been a great template for how to bring in a star from another company and not have it overshadow your homegrown talent. Come in, put on a bunch of high-end matches with people who deserve to be showcased and then slowly build to a title win once the dust has settled a little. Hell, that's sort of what WWE is doing with Cody (kind of! Probably!). I know people give her a hard time for the perception of pouting or half-assing it when she's not going over, but I think Sasha's WWE run has proved (if nothing else) that she is willing to lose over and over and over again and it never seems to take much shine off her. I think this is especially underlined by how she made Bianca. I am mostly pulling this out of my ass, but I'd bet she would be a lot more willing to put over young talent than say, Charlotte or Ronda for the twentieth time.

I think there are really only a handful of no-brainer WWE pick-ups for AEW, even considering the state of their roster. In no particular order, it's Reigns, Owens, Big E, Asuka, and any of the 4 Horsewomen. There are others that would be good, or fun, or interesting (or petty!) -- but those are the only names I can think of where it would be worth moving heaven and earth to bring them in. I think Sasha would blend into AEW just fine (though, I cringe thinking of whatever her new name will be) and wouldn't upset the balance of the women's division all that much. She comes in, she can feud with Athena or Britt. She could bump around for Jade or Statlander. She could put on clinics with Toni Storm or Rosa. I'm not sure who ends up losing their spot if she shows up, to be honest. It might slow down some of the momentum Jamie Hayter has been building or keep Ruby in limbo, but that's all I can think of. It's not like the division is overrun with former WWE talent as it is.

I was lucky enough to catch this one in person, and I gotta say, I have no idea where this MJF thing is going and I don’t particularly care, because that promo was ELECTRIC live. I have never, ever experienced someone coming out to just thunderous boos, chants of “Shut the fuck up” and real, seething heat, only to completely turn the crowd with only a promo. I say this as someone who HATES worked shoot stuff, but he had the whole audience eating out of his hands. They were literally chanting his name by the end. It was a complete marvel, no matter if he’s face or heel or wherever this whole thing is going (and maybe part of what’s fun is nobody knows!) or whether it was “too shooty.” It worked and it drove the crowd mental, and that’s the whole fuckin point of wrestling. People didn’t pop for Russo’s WCW shit. Like maybe not even once. This is an audience (at least in SoCal) that can appreciate this kind of promo work, regardless of how I feel about it. Maybe I really am a mark, because I loved the whole card and I think the main event of Dark really helped get the crowd hot for the rest of the show. There was a fun women’s tag match hidden away there too. I was worried they would cool off by the time Moxley-Garcia went on, but the quality of the match seemed to give people a second wind. I can attest that even in the cheap seats, Jaime Hayter’s various talents were very apparent, and everyone there was just so hype on the wrestling itself, it’s a wonder that anyone can managed to get booed at all. Sad for no Thunder Rosa because her theme song rips and I think she would be mega-over in LA. No complaints, no notes, just please bring AEW back to the west coast, TK!

Eugene?

I gotta say, if it weren't for the main event, I think that tag team title match looks like a sneaky best match of the night if everything is firing on all cylinders.

Not wanting to sound like one of her enormous army of fans, but Sasha Banks 100% has IT. She has capital-S Star potential in a way that Charlotte (for example) just does not, outside of wrestling. Her gimmick instantly clicks with people (especially women!) who don't have any particular interest in wrestling, she's charming and funny in interviews and is, as others have mentioned, related to America's uncle. She will be fine in whatever she does. She does not need the WWE as much as the WWE needs her. I doubt she gets released, and I could see her trying to quit but I kind of doubt it, as she (if I had to hazard a guess) understands the power and reach the WWE has in terms of continuing to 'build her brand.' I think her booking has been mostly fine, if uninspiring, but it doesn't go unnoticed that when it comes to stepping out of the main event scene, she's the one to do it and not Becky or Charlotte, so much. They've never earnestly tried to put the division on her back, which I think is a real missed opportunity. As for the walk out, I am always on the side of the workers, period. Glad she and Naomi acted as a unit and as a team. Solidarity! No idea how it will all shake out, but this is (as we have seen in the past, with mixed results) a perfectly legitimate means of exerting whatever limited power you have as an 'independent contractor.'

Not that this is especially germane to any of this previous conversation, but I just want to say that I have by total accident been down the rabbit-hole of this guy's youtube channel and while I can't make any claims to the veracity of his data or numbers, what I do know, with 100% certainty, is that his life's work is exonerating Kevin Nash from anything rude anyone has ever said about him on the internet. His channel is all deep-dives on how he actually wasn't the worst drawing champion of all time in WWE, how he didn't kill WCW, how he was a great booker, actually and things like that. Which, hey, maybe that's all true! But just to give some perspective into the mind of that particular wrestling nerd (said with all affection).

I voted Cash. I think there are some really interesting possible match-ups for him in the tournament, and the last time I watched FTR, I remember thinking, "Wow, the guy with the hair can really go."

$30 if you want Vince ahegao.

I mean, in a sense, Vince McMahon is findom-ing the entire WWE Universe.

One of my friends while we were watching it suggested that "he burned himself flat-ironing his hair."

Is “Van Vader” a first name and a last name? Like “Big” Van Vader? Or is he simply Vader and his nickname is “Big Van?” Is Van Vader a last name like Von Ratschke? I have to assume nobody wanted us to believe his first name was Big. I am sure there is a canonical answer somewhere out there but even as a huge fan of his, I realized this morning that I’m not 100% sure. So glad he is finally in but heartbroken it’s posthumously, and trying not to attribute that fact to malice.

I just watched this the other day, based on the Youtube algorithm's (correct!) assumption that I would be into it. Not even counting the horrific botch by La Resistance where Spike's head bounces off the side of a table, it's a collection of complete anarchy. I can't imagine anyone being allowed to pinball bump these days with the kind of "Fuck it, I'll survive" approach Spike had. I think he also really did a neat trick where despite his size and his use mainly as a crash-test dummy, he always felt legit. He always seemed like he could hang through sheer toughness, and could absolutely score a win after taking a beating in a way Marko Stunt or Colin Delaney never did. There's a lot of art to his masochism!

I don't know that I have a lot more to add that hasn't already been said: Not great stuff! Doudrop/Becky was really good and Roman/Seth was about as good of a match as those two are gonna have when the winner is so clear. The women's Rumble didn't do a ton for me considering how thin the roster is, but it did really underline that at least they have some stars there: Ronda, Charlotte, Sasha, Bianca, Rhea and to a lesser extent, Naomi and Sonya all had a lot going for them and the crowd responded. Whereas, as someone else said, the men's Rumble looked like a bunch of geeks. I don't think the firings would have made much of a difference in terms of quality because ultimately, they just don't have any full-time star power in the men's division outside of Roman and Rollins due to how badly everyone's been booked. I guess there's AJ and RKBro? But even then, Orton and Styles are 41 and 44 respectively, and Riddle was dumped pretty unceremoniously. Poor Big E was a complete afterthought. It's duller, for sure. 99-00's WCW felt a lot more like a sinking ship with each passing week, but it always had a glimmer of, "Okay, fuck it, we're starting from scratch, maybe THIS wild idea will work." 2022 WWE just feels like it will endlessly coast, never dying or ever getting any better. Kind of like the Simpsons.

Y'know as much as I selfishly hope for *more* when it comes to Zayn (and Owens) and would love all of my favorite wrestlers to be in one organization because I am a lazy consumer of wrestling, I really get what he's saying here. As the roster continues to thin out at WWE and the number of people who could reasonably be considered veterans teeters on nonexistent, Zayn and Owens have both been consistently featured and used and kept busy doing this or that for most of their time with the company. They're not exactly neglected or underutilized, even if I think the ceiling on both of them is a lot higher than what's been given to them. A reboot couldn't hurt anyone (see the discussion around what a post-WWE Orton would be like), but for two guys who at this point probably are not ever going to be positioned as the face of the company (if they ever were), they are about as high up the totem pole as you can get, and there's not a lot of sense in walking away from that to be shuffled around in the limited space of AEW's main event scene.

It's hard to believe that Albert, X-Pac and Justin Credible never reunited for an indie trios event, just for the reaction that song would get.

I think this is genuinely the most likely thing when it comes to the whole Gunther Stark thing. It 'sounded cool' and someone didn't bother to google it. The WWE is too corporate and cautious these days to be out here being like, "Check it out, this guy is a Nazi." This is a really fair question and I am not 100% sure. I think because it's wrestling, everything is usually in these broad strokes and often trafficking in stereotypes because of the medium itself and also, hey, it's always worked before, so what conveys a scary German? This stuff. I would say WALTER's gimmick is mostly that -- scary German who chops people. It just has a lot of aesthetic trappings to suggest that a scary German is a Nazi which, I mean, not wrong! I only find it strange that nobody seems to acknowledge this, and will argue very, very loudly (not here, you're all lovely!) about how CLEARLY that's not the case. If you showed 10 non-wrestling fans the Imperium entrance and asked them what they thought their whole deal was, it might be more obvious. That being said, he worked some version of this gimmick IN Germany, so I have no idea how it was received or viewed there vs. how it comes across to an American audience. The only time I've ever thought it was a shame that the Fabulous Moolah is dead.

This is what a lot of people say in defense and I get it! I am 100% a dumb American. But like, if Alex Wright came to the ring and talked about dancekampf, he would still look like a fun-time German party boy (not talking about Berlyn here, which for all the talk of THAT being fascist-looking, really came off more like a German Industrial Goth thing). It's the ringkampf-as-personal-philosophy, it's the hair, it's the JACKET, it's the theme music (it's not Wagner, but...), it's the military-style posing, it's all of that together sort of just SUGGESTING something. I'm not saying he should even change the gimmick -- I genuinely don't care, I think it's way less dodgy than a lot of other things even in recent memory -- just that I think it's funny when people are like, "Oh, WWE are gonna make him a Nazi because it's such low hanging fruit," and it feels like, well, y'know, we're 3/4 of the way there already.

I don’t mean this as a slight to the performer himself (who I enjoy) or an endorsement of whatever is going on with the new name aesthetically or otherwise, but hasn’t WALTER’s gimmick always been a little uhhhhh Nazi-suggestive? Nazi-flirtatious? Am I crazy?

ELEVATION FEELINGS: I gotta say, I disagree with some of the sentiment around here: I think Andrade could easily pull off being a world champion, even apart from the nerdy booking dreams of having Charlotte show up as a heat magnet. Everything he does just looks so, so good. Maybe he will eventually fill the AJ Styles role of wily, respected veteran that you can throw into the world title mix whenever you're not sure what else to do. Also, I love that Megan Bayne has her own Dalton Castle's The Boys who are then, I guess, The Girls. Funny to be named Bayne and hailing from Athens. Good gimmick! Great bangs on the ref. Not enough John Norris-style bangs on the officiating crews these days. Great Tombstone. Would love to see her against Jade Cargill for reasons relating to the ratings. Ray Jaz, the shooter, a high-end jobber name. I do not like watching Dan Lambert, but he absolutely excels at the old-fashioned art of making a live crowd boo you. Just a terrible, easily-hated face on that guy. Good at reminding the crowd of their dad. If Scorpio Sky could talk, what a great TNT champion. What a great IC champ. I like the Mark Henry/Big Show/Schiavone commentary team. Very loose and chummy. "He looks like the Green Lantern." "He looks like the guy who ate the Green Lantern." [grim] "He looks NOTHING like the Green Lantern." Would be fun to see the Dark Order have the tag titles for a bit. I think that's their natural cap at the moment. Cartwheel DDT looks like a millions bucks. Jake Atlas could really find a lane for himself. Is it silly to think of an Atlas/Bowens powerhouse team? Enjoying Troy Hollywood's confusing hairstyle and Eddie Kingston ENFORCING THE RULES. Would love to see a Jay Lethal - Adam Cole series. I think I would have spent years saying how squash matches could never work in a modern context after growing up on early to mid-90's WWF, but AEW really has found a way to make them make sense. It functions as a showcase, on the side, for people who want to see it, and only elevates everyone involved. What a fun, clean way to manage internet fandom.

Really fun. Hard to believe the level that Danielson is still wrestling at. It's like he hasn't lost a step in what, the past decade? If anything, he may have gotten better by 40. Not sure who else can claim that (maybe Cena?). Been trying to find the video of the Orange Cassidy and Jack Evans pre-match face-off. One of the few times in recent memory wrestling has literally made me laugh out loud. I liked the triple threat and thought it was a smart way to add a little bit of uncertainty to if Jade would win or not. I agree with whoever else said that she really only needs to be OKAY in the ring and she'll be a huge star, and she's almost there. Her chairshots could use a little work, though, and I feel bad seeing Rosa take the fall in this one.

If AEW cornering the US market on the more technical aspects of wrestling encourages WWE to lean fully into its basest nature of giant jacked guys (and gals!) tossing each other around, I’m for it — that was fun and it’s distinguishing from the competition, for sure.

Is there a general consensus on the worst WWE-name of all time? That is to say, either a renaming of an indy talent or a wholly original name for a debuting talent in the house style of First Name-Last Name (but with a bunch of unnecessary letters)? So for example, Mantaur is disqualified from this not only because it's a very cool name and gimmick. After a while, you get used to them, but Dolph Ziggler and Braun Strowman were pretty roundly hated for a long time. Jaxson Ryker and now Bron Breakker have gotta be top contenders, too. Brooks Jensen is bad but only in a boring way. The women seem to have gotten off a lot easier, overall -- the only really awful name that leaps to mind (and is ancient at this point) is Kelly Kelly.