ExcellenceofAirPollution

Man, I thought the angle was awesome! Jack was great, Okada was great, Bucks were great....the whole thing went as well as it possibly could have. And if Tony timed this so he'd be on the NFL cameras with a neckbrace that would put it over the top with me. Follow up matters of course but for now thumbs up. People here mad because Jack doesn't deserve this spot or whatever are weird. The guy was getting over as a heel before the Punk thing and he was over for years as a babyface I'm generally not a big fan of Tony being on TV. But since they've already done it in a limited fashion over the years to establish him as the owner and match maker it was a matter of time before they did an angle like this. I'm not immediately thinking it's leading to Tony being an on-screen GM or leading a babyface team into Blood and Guts or anything like that. The heel thing would be like Bischoff joining the nWo after they powerbombed him through a table, I hope Tony wouldn't be stupid enough to copy that from a guy he argues with on twitter Omega: Meltzer said he thinks he needs surgery for the diverticulitis. Always possible he's getting worked or working himself. I don't watch Omega's twitch streams, does he look healthy? For now I'm betting on him showing up for a hometown promo and taking a beatdown from the Elite

the AEW commercials running during basketball are pretty good. Decent amount of them too

don't click if you don't want a result from Windy City Riot spoiled

Hadn't they until now? I think there'd been a few veiled references to him but nothing much. In this case it was a direct response to Punk shitting all over Tony and the company in that Helwani interview. I respect the opinion that they never should have aired it, I don't think anyone's opinion about any of this is wrong (maybe one guy on page 4). But I guess I'm coming from the place that that was never an option and this was a fait accompli as soon as Punk opened his mouth And why is that? Because we know Tony is thin skinned, and Punk and Ariel together, TALKING SHIT ABOUT him, was bound to set him off. My hope is that over time he gets thicker skin from all the bruises and bumps he's been taking and learns to be above the fray, but I also think this was a unique situation. And the footage absolutely counters Punk's narrative that he was deescalating things by putting Jack in a choke. Sure, deescalating it after you escalated it This is also kind of Vince McMahon 101 honestly, in the sense that bottom line is he wanted to air it and nobody could talk him out of it. I'm sure people tried. IT'S HIS SHOW DAMMIT. It would have taken WBD stepping in to stop him. At least they weaved it into the storyline (which might backfire, but I feel like if Okada is back next week and they don't talk about Punk fans will move on). This wasn't as bad as the time Vince spent an entire night shitting on Stan Kroenke and stuck Lakers and Nuggets jerseys on the wrestlers or any of the thousands of times he used his television to air his petty grievances. Tony largely hasn't done that AND he seems to listen to constructive criticism, I think there's a good chance he'll take the negative reactions to heart

I watched the Bucks/footage/FTR promo, haven't seen anything else Is it weird that I don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other? Tony had the right to clap back at Punk, I didn't have a problem with that aspect of it. And it's like people forget what a wrestling war used to be like. WWE spent Mania week taking multiple shots at AEW. I don't want a return of the late 90's, but it's not like Heyman or Bischoff or Vince wouldn't have used footage like this at some point. It's generally not what I want to see either, but some people are getting way too worked up about this whole thing. Personally all of the Punk stuff is just surreal to me at this point. He's been an absolute chaos agent for AEW while in WWE he's seemingly a model employee. I went from being a huge fan of the guy for like 20 years, excited for his return in 2021 and that initial run, to absolutely souring on him as a person when he did the post All Out presser. He lost me as a fan that night before the brawl even happened. I was pretty meh to his second AEW run, and at this point I'm just seeing all this happen from a place of detachment. I can be objective and say Punk did a good job at WM because he did. But the worst thing you can do to a carny is just walk away and that's what I did with Punk. It's why I try to avoid posting about him anymore for the most part, I've said my piece and don't really have anything to add to it. Anyway, seems like people here really hated it. I didn't, and it was about what I expected (presentation wise). I wasn't that interested in another Bucks/FTR match at this point and they used this to put heat on that. I'm more interested now, mission accomplished. I liked the Bucks using this as an excuse for their loss at All In, thought their material and delivery was good. Nick especially was good here. I can see the opinion that it should have been more over the top and played for comedy, I wouldn't have hated that either. All in all I thought it was fine for what it was. The footage was also about what I expected. Punk got in Jack's face, they talk for a while, Punk shoves him, headlocks him, it gets broken up. That's been the story all along. I feel like everyone who's been paying attention to both Brawl Out and "Brawl" In already knew that Punk was the aggressor in both instances, and the people who are going to shit on AEW/Bucks/Omega no matter what, and defend Punk no matter what.....this isn't changing anyone's mind My hope though is that now that they've gotten it out of their system they seriously move on. Anything Punk related should be dead and buried at this point (I say knowing it won't be). Bucks/FTR has enough history and the title on the line that it shouldn't need heat from someone who isn't there. If they keep this shit lingering what the fuck are they even doing? If they start getting CM Punk chants it's their own fault

I don't know what I think, have to wait to see how they handle it. I'm beyond sick of anything Punk drama related and moved on the second he was fired. I normally wouldn't advocate this, BUT Punk fired the first shots and they wouldn't be showing it if it didn't Rashomon his version of events. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see it and it's either put it on Dynamite or put it on youtube so might as well try to pop a rating That or it's a fake out by the Bucks. I'd find that absolutely hilarious. epic trolling. And I like using this as a way to get Perry into their group if they go that route. I know he's divisive around here but I like him and thought he was gaining traction as a heel

HHH hasn't booked any real babyface runs on the main roster. Feels like it was all in the chase with Sami/KO and they quickly became afterthoughts and lost the titles. I thought following a Mania main event they'd give them a real run as a main event tag team. Then Roman, Gunther, Rhea and Iyo have all had long heel reigns I'd have to jog my memory but it seems like the best NXT champs (Joe, Owens, Asuka) were all heels as well. Are we sure he can book a babyface champion to stay hot? Seems like this is his first big test as booker. Pretty big test for Cody as well

Wasn't this last year basically treading water? Roman had already beat everyone of note and there didn't seem to be any intrigue in the Bloodline after Jey was out. Roman was barely around I'll always believe the original plan was Cody winning last year and Vince changed his mind when he sold to Endeavor and wanted Roman to be the face of the new company

I think I need to rewatch Bayley and Sky. I liked it but people are rating it much higher than me I do want to say I loved Iyo in NXT and I thought her WM entrance was very cool with her video playing on the big screens. Is that the same video she always uses? It's perfect. I kind of miss Poppy showing up to sing her to the ring I didn't even notice that Seth dyed his hair. Even bigger geek than I thought. I'm listening to Observer Radio and Dave is saying that they somehow found the literal watch Dusty pawned and Bryan is like, "dude........" If you like Dave being obtuse and arguing with Bryan over dumb shit this one is for you!

If you really want to get into meta booking, Taker debuted against Dusty, managed by Bruce Pritchard!

Seth went to all the trouble of dressing up in his Shield gear just to get punched in the face. What a geek. Minutes into Cody's celebration Sami was helping him to his feet I was half paying attention but I caught Cody with the Bucks in the video package. Is that the first time they've done that? I didn't catch Omega, was it in the same package? I thought Punk attacking Drew leading to Priest's cash in was perfectly done. I'm not a regular viewer but I genuinely didn't see it coming. Punk was great just sitting there with a cheshire cat shit eating grin. Great performance all-around by Drew. Match was a little disappointing. I didn't think the show was particularly good or bad wrestling wise, just kind of there. Snoop was fun on commentary but that match was nothing and they didn't even get creative with the weapons. I had higher expectations for AJ and Knight but it was ok. Triple Threat was pretty good. Never heard of Ice Show Speed before, damn kids. Meant to mention it after night 1 but the Prime logo is inoffensive, I was expecting worse. I paid closer attention to the in-match production and I still don't see a difference from Dunn. Camera cuts galore!!! I know they went through phases in WWE where they'd do more/less, and I haven't been watching much or at all since 2019, but if I didn't know Dunn was gone I wouldn't have guessed it I was happy for Bayley and Cody. I couldn't believe it was Bayley's first WM singles match. Having all the babyfaces who'd had run ins with the Bloodline celebrate with Cody was a nice touch. And that asshole heel CM Punk. I was also expecting Austin to counter Rock and was pretty disappointed it was that shitbird Mark Taker Now back to my regularly scheduled posting!

If anyone has me on ignore go fuck yourself

I meant to look for production differences from the Dunn era because people are saying there's been big changes on TV, but I didn't really notice anything different from the usual WWE presentation. I did notice the continuous shot of Sami going from his wife/kid to Gable to his entrance and thought that was a cool touch, and I gather they've been doing that on TV I'm going to keep a closer eye on the match production tonight

This was my first WWE show since Night 2 last year. Money from Google Opinion Rewards accumulates and I never have anything to spend it on, so there you go Peacock you got me for a month! Hopefully there's some non-WWE stuff worth watching.... Stone IPAs mixed with ganja had me nice and lit by halfway in. It was a pretty fun show to watch drunk/stoned. I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed most of it without the gimmicks but as a big event I thought it was pretty ok and it held my interest for the most part. Definitely nowhere near as good as night 1 last year I really enjoyed the main event. Thought Rock looked great, everyone delivered and it hit all the notes it needed to. I didn't watch any of the buildup and had pretty low expectations for Dwayne based on getting hurt in the Cena matches a decade ago. But he was moving well, didn't seem to have any limitations. They protected him but so what, they should do that. He's probably got a couple matches left in him, it just sucks that one of them will likely be in Saudi and I won't be watching it Sami/Gunther was MOTN, no surprise there. Sami's wife is great at ringside. Rhea Ripley is fucking awesome, total rockstar! Great entrance. I didn't think Becky was a great opponent for her but it's still a big win. I remember back in 2019 when I was still semi-watching WWE/NXT, and she looked on the cusp on megastardom when they had her interacting with the main roster. It's awesome to see her become such a huge star and great character after they seemed determined to fuck it up back in 2020 I forgot how annoying WWE commentary is. I guess McAfee had his moments but I just can't handle Cole anymore. He is the voice of shitty Vince McMahon WWE to me and he's still loaded with Vince-isms and WWE speak What the fuck was up with Lil Wayne? First of all calling him the greatest rapper alive is laughable. He was on point like 15+ years ago, I haven't heard shit from him in years. Then he comes out rapping about menstrual blood on his sheets and they immediately cut him off with Jey's theme.... Rest of the show was just kind of there but I didn't think anything was actively bad. I actually thought it was lacking in the big pomp and circumstance I expect from WWE in the entrance department. I did think Seth's robe was incredible. looking forward to night 2. Not gonna get quite as ripped

I liked when Trent was being a dick to Wheeler Yuta. He's always had asshole vibes under the surface

Agreed. When I read all that from The Boys I was like, "man, you guys are lucky just to have jobs with a promotion that gives you TV exposure. Guys used to drive thousands of miles with zero guarantee just for a chance to get booked" Why are you texting the office complaining about the city you're flying out of and your car not being in great shape? Can you imagine this in any other era? Like the office doesn't have more important shit to deal with? Be happy you're booked and have plane tickets. Fuck. I can imagine the person on the other end of the texts thinking the same thing, like who the fuck do these guys think they are? And then they just sit around waiting for a change in their travel and don't make their date? Even if AEW isn't the best at communication this is on them I've been wondering for a while about some of these younger guys being entitled and not realizing how good they have it and how lucky they are that AEW even exists and Tony is willing to employ so many people. This read like that 100% to me. And I liked The Boys well enough, they bumped well and were a good part of Dalton's act, but this is ridiculous

I genuinely don't understand the point of the Jericho/Hook stuff because nowhere it's going is good Jericho's like, "I wrestled your dad, I see potential, you should team with me" Hook: "aight bet" Jericho's like, "You have to wrestle me so I can feel your power!" Hook: "aight bet" Jericho: "You kicked my ass! I think you need me to mentor you!" Hook: "aight bet" Now Jericho is calling him out? Why? Is he going to tell him to get a haircut and stop eating chips?

I've always been a fan of the simple pay windah style of booking: Win matches make more money, get more exposure, get nice stuff, get more girls Belts are nice because you make more money when you have them. Jay White is the only one who seems to get this

All personal preference of course.... - Ospreay. I'll tune in just to see him, every match is must see but I've been a mark for a minute. On top of that, his presence has elevated the Callis Family a bit when they'd kind of been lost in the shuffle. I enjoy the story there, it's unconventional but it makes sense and I don't need everything to be black and white. He's going to split off from them soon enough, and they've set up the Callis family to be thorns in the side of both Ospreay and Swerve....who may end up with a common enemy before they face off against each other - Okada and the Bucks. Okada learning American TV style on the fly is pretty cool, I'm digging the Bucks in this new gimmick and the pairing is great on a few levels (it's super early and they're not even teasing it yet but you can already see the Okada face turn coming a mile away when he gets sick of the Jacksons' bullshit) - Mercedes presentation/use hasn't been perfect but she's already injected life into the women's division. I'm looking forward to seeing her against Willow, Skye, Julia, Stat and Anna Jay, all of which have been set up to varying degrees. I feel like people underwhelmed so far will sing a different tune once she's in the ring. Unless the injury robbed her of her mobility/athleticism she's going to be a huge addition - BCG back to being heels and hopefully a Juice return right around the corner - I was super into Swerve like.....a couple years ago now it feels like. I kind of feel like they missed the peak of his heat and the heel/face stuff is just weird with him and hurting his responses IMO. Crowds like him but don't always know how to react. I should be much more into this title push than I have been What I'm not interested in right now is anything Jericho related. He's been one of my favorite wrestlers since 1997, there were periods I kept watching WWE mainly just to follow him, I dig Fozzy!......I just can't sugarcoat this latest babyface run. It stinks!

Yeah, I could definitely do without pages of Punk talk in an AEW thread in 2024. Doesn't he have his own thread somewhere? Anyway, I'd been meaning to post something about something for a while so here it goes.... I made a post a little while back about how I wasn't into the AEW women's division at all lately and I'd like to see more multi-women tags rather than the one longish single match per show they'd been doing, both because they're more likely to hold my attention and because it's a good way to get more people on television and get multiple stories going Since then there's been a few tags on television and a four way, all of which held my attention! They actually broke my recent habit of skipping thru the women's matches. And I'm enjoying the way they're setting things up in the Mercedes division with the different possible directions there. It really didn't take much to get me invested again..... Whether anyone from AEW saw that post or it was just a coincidence (I'm sure I wasn't the only one making that critique), the change has been noted and appreciated!

fancy watch!

Is it possible Starks faked his injury to avoid jobbing to FTR or am I already too deep into 2024 conspiracy territory?

Yeah. I thought he crushed it and outshined Jericho in that promo before Wembley, and I liked his usual New Japan post-match promo stuff. He's been a good promo for quite a while now IMO, since before the pandemic. He's got infectious energy and everything about him is believable. Plus the accent/slang will always get over in America as long as the person delivering it is halfway charismatic "American women all love accents." "We do! Cause we don't got none!"

"HEY GARFIELD! Up yours Garfield" I've been using variations of that for the last 20 years

I thought because it was STING'S RETIREMENT that triggered the belts being vacated that they'd really want to go out of their way to have a big, special, memorable tournament. That and they never vacate belts. I would have liked 16 or 32 teams and you can play up the March Madness aspect. Feels like such a no-brainer and TNT/TBS carries the actual NCAAs. On the other hand I get maybe not wanting to devote so much TV time to tag team matches when they're debuting all this new talent and already struggle to get everybody on tv. The first rd. would be full of teams that are never on TV. You could split the difference, put some first rd. matches on Youtube to drive some traffic there. Do it Crockett Cup style, give a few teams byes, make it a bigger deal. Just feels like a missed opportunity to do something special. AEW really hasn't had the best track record when it comes to traditional tournaments