Godfrey

I mean, ultimately who gives a shit about a bunch of rich knobs whining over working one or three days a week. They're getting paid stupid money and as a viewer all I care about is that they do their jobs

Good promos from mostly everyone on this one, Stratton still stinks Triple threat matches were a bit of a mess as always but there were some great spots especially the finish to the main Tama Tonga's debut was dope, him and Sikoa is dope, Solo the Destroyer is dope. Adding Jacob Fatu to this mix will be even better. Jimmy needs a break though, time for a refresh Now I want to see Breakker in Japan, or more accurately Japan 10 years ago. Naomi/Tiff and the tag match were nice showings too I read an interview with Kevin Owens and he talked about changing his approach to his career, he's clearly having fun with everything and that walk and talk shot about his Rey's oversized sons was fantastic

They both said they were willing to relocate to the States as late as last fall though

Since Punk posted the W Bush Mission Accomplished pic on IG I'll start the theory that he 4D chess'd AEW into showing the footage to prove there's no way Tony can claim he was afraid for his life and didn't have his reason for firing Punk. Big if true!

He may not make those up. I did more searching and I forgot he billed his last RevPro match as his goodbye to the indies and so far he hasn't signed up for New Japan again (although that could change) so his schedule might only be one match a week at the most and more likely one every two weeks or so. That's pretty different from 3 dates a week minimum. So I may have misrepresented how similar the schedules were in my previous post, that's on me To answer your question, I think from Triple H's view Ospreay did go into semi-retirement

To correct my earlier post, WWE's upcoming European tour does seem to have more dates a week to take advantage of being over there so there are still going to be periods when they have to grind it out a little. I just listened to his rebuttal promo and I think it's more that Ospreay doesn't want to water down his work to do it more often, it's a different approach to wrestling entirely from WWE and if he went there right now they would be like oil and water

I honestly thought there would have been more folks taking victory laps today. I guess the confirmation that Punk was in no way defending himself or controlling the situation is outweighed by the rest of it. It sucked to watch and once again nobody looks good

Punk interview timestamped to his version of events for those who want to compare and contrast

Citation needed

Has anyone from AEW proper confirmed the footage is of Punk and Perry? I know the websites are saying it but Tony has only said it's real footage and from what I've seen (granted not much) those specific names haven't actually come from the company Edit: 411 says they haven't said those names just Meltzer and crew. My point is, I guess they have plausible deniability if they bait and switch but the sheets will look like shit in the process

A meal fit for an octopus

Overall a lackluster episode imo, not much action and the angles could have used more forward momentum. The Raw After Wrestlemania can be a crapshoot especially with a punchy crowd, felt like they wanted to ride the emotional high of Sunday night a little longer and I can't fault them for that Opening stuff wasn't for me. A chant for Samantha Irvin is rad and I loved the mix of stfu chants with people throwing the one up for the Bloodline, other than that this took way too long. Rock at minute 31: "Now before we begin." Come on, man. But now we have a mystery object, that could be interesting. Cole at minute 46: "Welcome to Raw." Leave it to WWE to have an hour of commercial-free programming and have only a few minutes of actual wrestling on it But what a few minutes! Nice debut for Dragunov although I hate to see Nakamura job like that I can't do more talking, sorry Judgement Day. Good hot tag by Miz Gable & Zayn/Imperium is my kind of wrestling, I tell you what. That title defense will be sick Shout out to Chelsea Green, the Miz of the women's division Solid enough TV main event. Hope Jey can make more out of this challenge than he did with Jimmy and Roman but him vs Priest is not a world title level program right now

Sure but if he leans in to being part of the act then doesn't he open his entire career up to doubt? His whole thing is he's not an Apter mag

This made me think of Sam Elliot in Road House and I can get behind that

From breaking the throne to embracing Hunter in the ring after a Mania main event, a lot changed in 5 years

Dijak calling his shot for some reason https://x.com/DijakWWE/status/1777310251462934624 "It won’t be tomorrow, it won’t be next week, it won’t be next month, might not even be next year… but one day you guys are gonna turn so hard on Cody and boo his ass out of the building and when that day comes all I’m going to do is reference this post and tell you I was right."

I agree that Sami/Roman was the best match but that's my bias. It was definitely the hottest match and whether they should've pulled the trigger on Zayn will forever be one of those big What Ifs in wrestling

Do you think that person got their selfie with the Rock?

If it is a fake out, doesn't that burn Meltzer and Alvarez as legit sources from here on out? Either they were worked or they're working

So I've been thinking about the HHH/Ospreay comments. When he first made them I thought he was talking about NXT level talent and was taking a shot at someone like Sammy Guevara who chose AEW over the 7 day a week training in the performance center. There's a discussion to be had there, I don't think either of those extremes is totally the right move but they work for those companies But Ospreay on the main roster is different. I did a little research (not a ton so could be wrong) and I don't think it's the crushing schedule it used to be WWE: Two TV shows plus two house shows a week, most likely only 3 shows a week plus a possible PLE and additional promotional appearances AEW: One to three TV shows a week, plus a possible PPV, independent bookings, and self-promotion That's not so different so I don't think it was so much workload for Will as much as he would have had to move to the States and take less money. But it's also not what HHH is portraying it as and WWE wrestlers aren't hardhat wearing blue-collar folks grinding it out for a paycheck And the whole thing is moot if HHH wanted Ospreay to go to NXT and work the Coconut Loop. At this point in Will's career there's no way I would take that deal either

Things I thought while I watched and mostly listened (sometimes I have to put a podcast on instead) Crowd is way better, I guess the cold really did get them down I don't think I noticed the camera work on some of the ring intros last night, that's a nice touch Didn't anticipate Rollins/McIntyre to be a bomb fest, I dug it. Great cash in too. Punk was a little shaky on commentary, maybe he knows he's about to be exposed! (Dun dun DUNNNNN) CM indirectly cost both guys the title Smart move adding some names to the 6-man and keeping it short. Bummer about that one table buckling at the finish. Final Testament coming out after Judgement Day were there reminds me of how unnecessary they are Knight/Styles was better than I expected. I always forget LA is like Cash Wheeler and can break out a wild high spot when he wants to Had the volume down for the US title triple threat but it looked like it was executed well, the highest compliment a triple threat match can attain. Owens has been lazy in the ring this year but he's also eating pins from Logan Paul so fair enough. KOs deal is up soon, maybe he'll try something else 9 pm and only two matches to go, hope we end even earlier tonight! Also, they've shown Mercedes Mone, Omega, Jericho, and the Young Bucks in recap videos tonight Bayley against Iyo Sky was truly great, I think it might be my match of the weekend. The singing was annoying because I don't know what it's for, so glad it stopped for the right parts. Sky with all kinds of fantastic combinations and reversals, Bayley was Haha, Cody's big entrance was verging way too close to an American fascist rally for my liking and then he popped up in his goofy-ass Skeletor mask and I fell out. Dude just can't help himself. And Brandi exists again! Roman's entrance ruled too. Is that fucking Charles Robinson? Main event was pretty good all things considered. Crowd was less split than last night, that's for sure. First part of the match was a fine example of the WWE main event style, it even reminded me of Austin/Rock a little and I would like to see one of those go to a real finish. And Act 2 was a good time too even if SHIELD Seth was a weird call (and Moxley fake out?). Then Cody hugged literally everyone in the world A lot of HHH and Rock fluffing this weekend. And I never thought Bruce Prichard would make air again, he sure as shit better be cleared of everything

That would really suck for a Punk fan like me but Goddam it would be hilarious

Stoked for the footage. The graphic with the Bucks and no Punk/Perry reference does appear troll like, Meltzer is saying it's legit but won't show the part with Tony and I can't imagine they would air anything unless it directly contradicts what Punk said in the interview (or at least discredits the rest of his story). Not sure what the Bucks could add, by all accounts they weren't present And if it's not legit? That's a huge swing and you gotta respect it but it could really back up on them

Sami Zayn vs Gunther I wanted this match to happen but they did not get all of this one, as they say. WWE botched the build a little and undercut Sami, or Gable overachieved in his role and will beat Zayn on Monday. Gunther's style doesn't always lend itself to an open air stadium, the echo of his chops in a closed space is a lot of what makes his matches special. It's still stiff but not as visceral, and with the cold and how huge crowds react to things and this match didn't reach the heights I think it could Sami wants to stick and move and take advantage of any openings but knows he can't go blow for blow with the big man and will have to break out every trick in the book. Zayn gets with two half-nelson suplexes and Gunther absorbs them, the rope walk DDT gets nothing, and he can't even get him up for the Blue Thunder Bomb. Meanwhile, Gunther goes for max damage, doubling up on big moves to crush the underdog's spirit. After taking all that punishment, Sami finds his moment and breaks out a secret weapon for the big win (a huge WTF moment for me, never thought I'd see it in WWE and as much an indication its a new era as any other). Not as emotional a match as it could have been, could've used a deep Boston crab or bleeding chest to get it over the finish line, still an excellent match and I agree MotN

The problem is how you express yourself. If I did the same thing to AEW people would get upset, it's cool