Godfrey

Seth has given the first “That’s not the Vince I knew” of the current roster, while also saying it’s disgusting and he should be punished if the allegations are true. Whether that flies as a defence is up to you, I have the feeling we’ll hear more of that kind of statement in the next few months. Personally, while acknowledging I may be being naive or too generous, I would like to hold space for the idea that a lot of these folks were as shocked as we were and are having just as hard a time processing it if not far worse

I believe Hayes started in 99 replacing someone named Dok Hendrix

I forgot Gary Albright was in there by marriage Edit: A video of Gary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtYNnpNZ_xw&ab_channel=yeelord

The Slap

As per the press conference, Cody vs Roman is back on plus Hollywood Rock has returned

Good point, rumor is he's there for a while still but we don't really know

I still have the gif of Schiavone mouthing "What the fuck?" during one of Baker's promos on him, it has a million uses. I remember it being a bad promo and they cut away mid-sentence but right after that was Covid and during the Daily's Place matches she really started to improve in and out of the ring. The whole thing with Saraya was weirdly executed though, no idea why Baker kept babyfacing herself in that angle and turning it into the Outcasts thing https://x.com/ehsteveG/status/1220159805689683968?s=20 Looks like AEW is putting together an impressive women's division, we'll see if it gets the time and attention to develop with these new faces or if they will just push the current crop aside for the one timeslot (I know they have more matches during the week but Dynamite is the A-show). Deeb, Statlander, Purazzo, and Storm are all great, add in Mone for star power and all their developing talents and undercard vets and there's a lot of potential there

My feel good moment would be Starks pinning Sting clean since it may be the last time the legend can put over an up and coming talent

That's fair, the article does say the last part is in-character and I missed that

Baker seems to be waiting for others to fail first, not sure that'll happen if they keep bringing in new talent https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/britt-baker-addresses-taking-step-back-from-aew-spotlight-in-2023 "I think with our very passionate fans, they're very vocal with what they want, what they don't want, what they like, what they don't like. And we listen -- I listen. So if they are telling me they want more or less of something, then ok, I hear you loud and clear. And a lot of them said, 'We want less Britt Baker.' So if that's what they want, ok that's what they'll get. Let me take a step back. Here's the rest of the women. Someone else take the ball and run with it and make the women's division about you, and you be the face of the women's division. And when no one else can do that, I'll be there to pick up the pieces and do it all over again."

YMMV but Gunther's IC reign has been great, Rhea has been great, the undercard has a lot of talented juniors and tag teams, and the top of the card has guys like Drew and Sami doing some of their best work. There's also been a shift to a more *gasp* realistic sports-like presentation, not huge but enough that it made a noticeable difference to me. I'd say it's more consistent in terms of quality now more than ever (for better or worse), BUT sometimes the angles move at a snail's pace and all the matches on TV are so chopped up by ads that they can be tough to watch sometimes

Despite the signs, PWInsider says Rock/Roman is a lock https://pwinsider.com/article/180042/latest-on-the-rock-at-wrestlemania-the-cascade-on-cody-and-more.html

Some fun wrestling action but the commercials got the better of me on this one, I found it hard to concentrate and kept missing stuff Raw Opening Promo felt like a pivot to Drew/Seth for that belt. Rock got booed and Seth's title got booed. Word is they handed out #savethecodyverse signs so they are definitely leaning in to that. It reminds me of the old school booking philosophy of 'tell the audience what you want them to want and then deliver it', who knows how much of it is them flying by the seat of their pants at this point I liked Baszler/Lynch but they didn't gel until the second half. Shayna as the arm wrecking monster is rad Was it me or did the crowd not know how to react to babyface Rhea? Imperium's jubilee was fantastic. If Jey wants to cement himself at the top of the card, surviving a feud with Gunther is a good way to do it Kayden Carter stinks and always seems like she's either going through the motions or still in rehearsal mode. Catazanro is capable some wild highspots and I think could use a better partner (I'm a fan of the big/small teams) Sami's interview was well done and throws some intrigue into Mania plans. I think it's just to build him for the Chamber because I refuse to get my hopes up New theory: Nakamura has red mist because it's as visually close as Cody can get to blading on regular TV

The first half hour of Kevin Nash's podcast today was about Vince, I think his take is close to what some of the older wrestlers and internal WWE people feel. It's a shitty response imo, very much not wanting to believe the lawsuit (which he hasn't read), inferring that it's just for the money, and refusing to condemn Vince too much because of all the things Vince did for him including reaching out when Nash' son died. Obviously he's big pals with HHH and backs him up too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74TbU6j5mjA&ab_channel=KliqTHIS I think that's what he says anyway, dude mumbles so much I rewound a few sections and still couldn't quite make out where he was landing on things

Pitch: Trick and Okada as the Dropkick Murfeez (tm)

Who knows, Dwayne could do the tiniest bit of physicality in the coming weeks and his muscles will attempt to flee his skeleton. He barely finished his last match 11 years ago and is on record that it took years and multiple surgeries to recover from But how are they going to do a cinematic match as the main event for a live Mania? The audience just watches a screen for the last 30 minutes of the night? Even if it's on Night 1 I can't see how they pull that off, maybe if they start cinematic and end in the ring. I said before they might be able to hide him in a triple threat but I even have my doubts about that at this point

Really fun sprint. Did Austin always do the Rick Steiner counter-powerslam spot?

I want that for you too, and all the fans who are on that train. I got to see the opposite last year and it was awesome, really made my month

Sure but what do they feel pressured to wear due to the internal culture and appealing to that audience of one? Seems like a good time to shift away

This is not to dig on anyone here but I've been thinking about it and the thread brought it to mind: Maybe wrestling in general should cool it with objectifying women after this past week. We should anyway, and should have long ago, but we should now too. Too much of women's gear evokes lingerie or looks based off a Rob Liefeld drawing for my taste, although I guess you can wear full clothes and we'll objectify you anyway

If people wonder why fans like me get pissed that AEW keeps shitting the bed, this is why. We don't want to watch this corporate half-wrestling nonsense in the hopes that Gunther or Drew make the show worth it but the other show is so chaotic and amateurish that it makes WWE look better by comparison. That sucks for everyone

We got used to WWE’s shit booking under Vince but if it’s true Dwayne forced his way into the main event of the biggest show of the year due to his position on the board then this is a whole different kind of WWE shit booking. Not looking forward to the stock holder booked era ”Sure Paul, whatever’s best for the company”. Since people like to throw around pot theories about wrestlers they have a parasocial dislike for, I’ll say Cody is politicking like mad right now to get the EVP job he really wanted

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7z5pw/ndas-vince-mcmahon-signed-behind-wwes-back-may-be-worthless-say-experts Not sure it's been posted yet but we might hear a lot and soon

Weed makes you feel guilty but if you’re truly having a hard a time with this you won’t find answers for it on this board. Time to speak to a professional

Good point Moving on, Paul London who dated Ashley Massaro says this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think he has his own issues but who knows what he heard