SovietShooter

Just wanted to point out that, despite the online narrative that AEW PPV are too long, as they are getting longer, the buy rates keep going up. So, maybe people are looking at it as they are going to be worth the $50, and because of the VOD nature of all the streaming platforms, they can watch them at their leisure?

I'm neutral on Cole, but much like the Jackson brothers, he seems to be very polarizing; folks either love him or hate him with a fiery passion. I think Cole is perfectly acceptable in the ring, and when he is in there with someone that can really work, he can be really damn good because he does get a reaction from the crowd. I think Cole & Fletcher actually have a chance to steal the show Saturday. I've said it before, Better Than You Baybay was peak Adam Cole. He was born to be Ricky Morton in a main event level tag team.

Surprised no one has mentioned this Nick LoPiccolo story that has surfaced the last few days. LoPiccolo is an agent at Paradigm, and represents a number of WWE wrestlers, including Punk and Miro. Over the last couple days he has been making some very unprofessional digs at AEW & Tony Khan on social media, but in the process has pretty much admitted that he funnels all his clients to WWE, even if AEW offers more money. Even Meltzer has called him out on it.

I agree with this. If they want to keep the "casino" theme, just make it a max of 21 entrants, and make the intervals fixed. I think the reason they have "random" intervals is to work around commercial breaks, since the first few of these were TV matches, and not PPV; folks enter every two minutes except during a commercial. I think the Casino Gauntlet format works so well because you get the excitement of the Royal Rumble with surprise participants and whatnot, but without it being just a battle royal. Someone is going to eat a pin. Plus, you do get some of the fun aspects of a MITB or other multiman match, as more folks enter. I still would like to see AEW try to pull off something like an hour long 8 vs 8 torneo cibernetico, or something like that.

Weren't there reports that during NFL season when his duties with the Jags took him away from AEW, that TK's right hand man was Brian Danielson? I think this was around the same time it was revealed Danielson had the power to levy fines, and had done so for some incident (Baker/MJF maybe?).

I think the another reason for Garvin's failure was that immediately after Garvin won it, they announced that they signed the rematch for Starrcade, and that Garvin would not defend it until then. That made the title a non-draw at a time when they were trying to run in new areas they weren't strong in, like California and NYC. At the same time, JCP had just bought the UWF, and they just ignored Doc as the champ and had him working midcard bouts. If they wanted to keep Garvin and Flair apart, why not run Doc/Garvin or Doc/Flair UWF title matches around the horn?

Just rehashing this to say, putting Bowens with a returning Scorpio Sky, managed by CD could be a really formidable team. But, it looks like they're going down the path of reuniting The Acclaimed.

People always shit on Garvin's "lame duck" run as NWA Champ, and rightfully so. But, go back and watch the matches with Flair from that run - they are all brutal stiff-fests. I have a VHS tape somewhere with their cage match from Detroit with no commentary (or maybe just a solo David Crockett), and you can hear and feel every chop. I'd put those matches up against any of the AJPW stuff of that era, for quality stiff work.

Nah, those were both indeed pretty great. FTR got the match out of the Outrunners that everyone hoped they could. Exceeded all expectations. Fletcher is on the verge of being undeniable.

We know for a fact that Andrade punched Sammy Guevara backstage, in an attempt to get fired. Allegedly, he also refused to do jobs, to the point that announced matches had to be changed because he refused to work the match if he wasn't going over.

Sometimes though, if you try to manage as a "nice guy", people might think that they can take advantage of the situation. That happened with Punk, Andrade, and some others. It is also clear now that, for better or worse, TK responds to insubordination by completely ghosting them, while continuing to pay them until their contract ends.

I meant as a long term serious tag team. Even if you didn't want to push them to the titles, they could've been gatekeepers/JTTS like Best Friends, Archer/Cage, GOA, or Butcher & Blade.

I never got why AEW never put Rush & Andrade together as a tag team, aside from the rumors Andrade was a pain to deal with.

According to cagematch, 27K

Maybe they could milk it long enough to re-do the Ole Anderson "Big Turn of 1980" on Dusty. Something like Hanger & Swerve vs Don Callis Family in a cage match, and Swerve turns, and they leave Hanger a bloody mess.

Honestly, I think they both might be Janettys. Ironically, the Outlaws might be a better comparison. Neither Armstrong or Gunn were that great as singles, but they were a good tag team. Gunn had a helluva career as a tag specialist. I miss the days when a guy like Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane, Arnold Anderson, etc could form formidable tag teams with lots of different folks. If the Bowens/Caster singles pushes don't work out, no reason you cannot put them with other folks to form new teams. I mean, if Christian/Wayne are going to be a regular tag team, put Bowens with Cope. That could potentially be a great feud.

I think this might be Alvarez getting worked.

Bowens' biggest hurdle as a singles competitor is the fact that the AEW roster is absolutely loaded. Unless you are going to move him into a long term blood feud with someone already established, he is going to be treading water. Maybe if/when Fletcher gets the TNT title he could be an option. If not, he seems like a good candidate to Conglomerate.

I think Nyla kinda falls in the same category as Baker, where at one time she was one of the best options in the women's division, then the talent level passed her by. And, although she has shown great personality on social media, that hasn't translated on actual AEW/ROH programming. Personally, I always thought she was kinda sloppy... she was bigger than the other women and had a gimmick of a "beast", but she didn't appear to actually be strong enough to safely do a lot of the big moves she tried, unless she was working a twig like Riho.

I mean, he actually got such a name, Rocky Maivia.

I really don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell of Omega/Okada or Mone/Strom going on last. The last image we are going to see is a bloody Hangman holding up that title belt, or Darby Allin.

The fact that we are not 100% sure who is going over between Mox & Page is a good thing; It will add intensity to the match. But, AEW is playing with fire if Hangman doesn't walk away with the belt. And all the Easter eggs with Danielson and Darby recently give me a bad feeling. And now the stops for the Bucks/Ospreay & Strickland match aren't helping. I think Darby is going to return as a Death Rider and fuck Hangman.

Everyone forgets that MJF & Cole main evented All In @ Wembley, and drew that massive house with a face vs face match. If the injury hadn't happened, Cole's turn against MJF probably would've done massive business. I don't think it is a coincidence that Cole's injury, and the reshuffling of the deck it required, was a big factor in AEW's business being down in 2024.

Sometimes the in-person experience is better (or just different) than watching at home, and that is OK. If you are in the ring and have a crowd reacting like this, you play to it. That is so much of what is missing from wrestling these days, since everything plays to the camera. give the people that paid for a ticket an experience, and be part of the show - especially something organic like this.

Just wanted to bring this back up, because I thought of something tonight watching Collision... Are Jack Perry & Anna Jay still together? I don't think that relationship was ever acknowledged on TV in any way...