JohnnyJ

What I can never wrap my finger around is why a company which is supposedly having record levels of success seems to be in a constant state of turmoil.

All the bs aside, Sasha and Naomi are two performers that could so use a change of scenery.

Not to get all philosophical, but if a wrestling promotion is around and none of the tastemakers care and it has little fan investment, does it truly exist? This was always the missing ingredient. People need to care for a promotion to matter.

With respect to Reigns, it seems like one of the flaws in WWEs model is you have this billion dollar company built around less than a handful of stars. The stars make a few million a year. In relation to the companys investment in them, they are underpaid. Over time the WWE machine gives the stars so much exposure that they can transition into far easier ways to make the same or more money. On the other side, developmental/low level talents arent making much. With morale low, more and more talents are choosing not to resign. What's left is the middle.

Not only did I stick around but my mind was blown by everything WCW. I know what I'm supposed to say is the luchadores are what drew me in, but let's be real. WCW was like waking up from a coma after a decade. Hulk Hogan was now a villain. Sting thought he was the crow. Bret Hart was in the middle of it. Razor/Diesel were now going by their real names and in the cool kids club.

I think the US vs. Canada feud holds up really well which is why it is talked about in such high esteem. Anecdotally, it was friends ordering Starrcade 97 that brought back my wrestling fandom. I had long stopped following wrestling up until that point and I don't think I even knew the screwjob happened until around the time Wrestling with Shadows was coming out. I think in retrospect it is very easy to simplify Stone Colds rise and the wrestling boom. Yes the screw job and the rise of Mr. McMahon were factors, but so were a bunch of random things. It was the NWO that made wrestling cool again. It was the WCW/NWO World Tour game being fun. It was Tyson bringing publicity. It was Celebrity Deathmatch plastering wrestling and Stone Cold all over the coolest tv channel.

The fade was caused by WCW poaching two main eventers and catching lightning in a bottle with the NWO. I don't know how you can blame Shawn/Bret for that.

If anything, people understate the importance of Bret/Shawn. It's more than just numbers. Over a short period of time, WWF loses three of its top stars in Hogan, Warrior, and Savage. And we all know how WWE books its top stars. No one else was presented on their level. Luger flops and WWF is running their promotion around two former tag guys (Bret/Shawn) and two WCW misfits (Hall/Nash). The crazy thing is that it worked at all. Bret/Shawn are the bridge between Hogan and Austin. If they didn't keep the lights on there is a decent chance there's no more national wrestling.

What's interesting to think about is there is an alternative timeline (which honestly makes a whole lot more sense) where Shawn goes down to WCW to be with his buddies and Bret sticks around.

For all of the WWE talk that the draw is the promotion and the parts interchangeable, AEW does a superior job of accomplishing this. They put the belt on a talent they believed in for a lengthy title reign even though I wouldn't categorize him as a draw and they consistently make lesser talents seem important. With respect to Brock, he had a fantastic run as a special attraction. It's important to keep in mind that he's now been back for a decade. You can only keep the aura and specialness for so long.

I think the better example would be if you brought a bunch AAA ballplayers who werent major league material to play for the A ball team. At first, it's exciting that you are dominating your opponents. However, over time, by filling up your roster with a bunch of ringers with limited upside potential you are hurting the major league roster.

Wasn't the point of the Performance Center always to bring in former athletes and train them? That's what is comical about WWEs "new" vision for developmental. I would love to know how many former collegiate athletes have been in and out of that place. The question for WWE should be what makes this time different. It seems like the problem WWE keeps on having is the indies are the closest thing wrestling has to a meritocracy. If you sign up top indy names chances are they will have certain qualities which will separate them from the pack. So if you mix them in with untrained performers with size, you're going to get a roster of Johnny Garganos.

Let's be honest, Rollins entire career is one big house of cards. He's been riding the wave of waves for the last decade. It's hard to tell whether or not he's self-aware. If he is, I'm sure he sees endless talents either released or going nowhere fast and knows that he is blessed and will keep on toeing the company line. If he isn't, he may be further in the WWE bubble than any other wrestler I can recall.

AEW has the luxury of a well-informed audience who has at least some familiarity with talents who are on the indies or in other promotions. This makes it so much easier to introduce new talents and get them over. From a movie or tv show perspective, you can forego the origin story and start with the sequel. WWE has a much different audience. Throwing someone out there to sink or swim in front of 10,000 fans who don't know who the person is is a recipe for failure.

Just throwing it out there that Trips got into the creative meetings because of his relationship with Shawn. Im not faulting him, but I wouldn’t describe it as an example of dedication. It’s an example of networking.

"Mashing" Cody Rhodes. ...I'll let myself out.

It just seems like it is the nature of the business. Eventually they all come back for the money. Who hasn't sold out? This is the business that brought us jean shorts Bret beating up Vince. Hell, even Mr. I left the business in 2005 and finally returned had a stint on WWE Backstage. What are the instances of someone not selling out?

Hall has to be the best example of someone who was middling around and one day put all of the pieces together.

When I heard about the Butch thing, it felt like they were just giving Dunne material for his eventual AEW debut promo. Poor guy must be looking over at the other channel and shedding a tear knowing he'd be the young gun in Regal's group. The DVR has changed the game for being able to ignore wrestlers entirely. ( I can proudly say that i have not watched a single current Dolph Ziggler match since his Miz/Spirit Squad feud.)Another factor should be how involved were wrestlers in major storylines which made a crummy wrestling match required viewing. For example, Mike Rotunda may has no redeeming qualities as a wrestler, but I could miss almost all of the Captains matches and it wouldn't change my ability to keep up with things. So the answer has to be HHH. He is the perfect combination of pre-DVR, boring matches and always being in the mix.

Does anyone feel like Sting got sick of the online discourse about his drawing ability/work/place in history and just said screw it, I'm coming back so no one will ever underrate me again.

I also love the wrestling trope that changing music or outfits means the wrestler means business.

An AEW ppv feels like a 4-hour assault on your senses. I don't know how else to explain it. How many bangers of different styles can they throw at you one after another. After a while everything kind of blends together, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I just love that Hangman will not be denied. Here's a guy who is not World Champion over and working his ass off every time out to prove that he belongs in his spot.

I think the legacy of ROH is it was a promotion for adults. This is what I see in AEW.

I looked at the rejection of Cody as this weird divide that developed between the early stars of the promotion and where the promotion is today. You could argue that Cody, Jericho and the Bucks all hit their ceiling in the promotion. There are up and comers behind them and more exciting acts in front of them. It's a very strange position and what does a promotion do with these types? They are so identified with the promotion, but if they left tomorrow, it is hard to see how it would have an effect on viewer engagement or the bottom line.

If I had to guess, Cody either had a super lucrative deal where he was comically overpaid or worked for pennies for a new startup promotion with the promise that he would be compensated down the road.