The Continental Classic - A thread for pontificating, fantasy booking and ruling the motherfucking world.

[southofheavy]

The CC starts tomorrow night! The rest of the participants will be announced on the CC Selection Special, streaming some time tomorrow. 

So far, we have Mark Briscoe, Andrade el Idolo, Bryan Danielson and Eddie Kingston. 

Who else would you book for this? Who would you book to win? Why? Who gets the least amount of points? Why?!?!?! Which youngster takes the worst beating? What's the biggest upset???? Who would you elevate the most through this tournament??? WHO? WHAT?!?!?! WHY?!?!?!?!?!~~~!!!

Answer none or all or some of these questions. More importantly, HAVE FUN. 

Here's my remaining eight: 

Dustin Rhodes
Nick Wayne
Powerhouse Hobbs
Brody King
Takeshita
ROOSH!!!
Miro
Darby (were he not training to do a Coffin Drop offa Mount Everest.) In his stead, Daniel Garcia. 

BUT. 

Maybe Adam Copeland? Hook? Mox? Ricky Starks? Bandido? Penta? Jeff Jarrett? One or both of FTR? Malakai Black? 

The possibilities are nearly endless, folks. 

That's why the more I think about this tournament, the more excited I get. 

I'll pick my winner: EDDIE KINGSTON. Because DUH. Eddie deserves all that is good in life and is my stock answer for every positive question that one could be asked. 

That said, if the gods forsake us, Brody King shall suffice. 

HAVE AT IT.

[Phantom Lord]

Yeah they kinda booked themselves into a corner with Eddie putting his titles on the line. Either he's going to win the whole thing or he's gonna lose the ROH Championship in what could be a meaningless way. Nevermind the NJPW Strong title he has as well.

For my rest of the field I would have

Keith Lee, Miro, Trent Barretta, Claudio, Takeshita, Malakai Black, Lance Archer, and Chris Jericho.

I think that would give it star power and also star making ability to really showcase what some of these guys can do.

[Log]

I have to say that the first four announced have me pretty excited for this. Imagining the round robin with just Kingston, Briscoe, Danielson and Andrade is awesome.

[Matt D]

1 hour ago, Log said:

I have to say that the first four announced have me pretty excited for this. Imagining the round robin with just Kingston, Briscoe, Danielson and Andrade is awesome.

One cool thing about it is that at least some of those guys will have to wrestle each other. Eddie vs any of them right now sounds great. Briscoe vs any of them right now sounds great. etc.

[tbarrie]

Just to get my petty bullshit out of the way: Eddie actually said he'd put his titles on the line each match. He then segued to talking about a new triple crown, which the announcers picked up on.

But the two titles being on the line whenever the current champ has a tournament match doesn't guarantee the ultimate tourney winner will wind up with them! It would in a single-elim tournament, obviously, but not in a round robin variant. (E.g., Eddie wins his first four matches, then loses his final match to somebody whose overall record isn't good enough to make the finals. Per what Eddie said, that guy is now the ROH Champion and the Whatever Champion, not the ultimate tournament winner.)

Of course, given the announcers carried on the "new triple crown" talk, they pretty much have to deliver on that. I'm just mildly curious whether they'll just ignore Eddie's exact words and crown the winner the triple crown champion, or actually restrict themselves to booking the tournament in such a way that the winner winds up with the belts while sticking to what Eddie said.

Or maybe some heel will get a cheap win over Eddie in the first round, then announce he's withdrawing from the tournament and taking Eddie's titles with him. That would be pretty funny.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

2 hours ago, Phantom Lord said:

Yeah they kinda booked themselves into a corner with Eddie putting his titles on the line. Either he's going to win the whole thing or he's gonna lose the ROH Championship in what could be a meaningless way. Nevermind the NJPW Strong title he has as well.

For my rest of the field I would have

Keith Lee, Miro, Trent Barretta, Claudio, Takeshita, Malakai Black, Lance Archer, and Chris Jericho.

I think that would give it star power and also star making ability to really showcase what some of these guys can do.

Archer's in Japan in New Japan's tag tournament until mid-December.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

I think I have already fantasy-booked this twice on these boards. But at that time I was thinking of it as the E1 Tournament. Or, considering it's the Continental Classic, maybe the Champions Carnival (CC). Don't think that's entirely coincidental, considering the man booking it is One Of Us.

Eddie Kingston's announcement, however, makes this more like the Super E Cup, since we're using it to create an AEW/NJPW Secondary (Tertiary?) Belt Triple Crown.

Which is awesome. 

Like southofheavy, I am as excited for this as a little kid is excited for Christmas, knowing they are very likely to get a longed-for Switch (or whatever the young person equivalent is in 2023).

Like Phantom, I presume Kingston's announcement is very likely to factor into the booking plans. Most likely, in my opinion, is that he goes undefeated in his block, then loses in the finals.

Like Log, and Matt, I am really happy with the first four wrestlers who have been announced. Great choices. Every potential match-up is exciting.

My dream finals has always been Eddie vs Bryan. That could still happen! And it would be great. And Bryan would deserve it and also he could beat Eddie without the crowd turning on him or make Kingston look like The Best in the World if the plan is to put Mad King over. 

Alternatively, you could have Bryan and Kingston in the same block, meet on the last day, and have one of them in the final. Against... I will get to that.

So. My fantasy blocks want to:

Keep the "every potential match-up is legitimately exciting" vibes going.

Have Bryan's block be loaded with guys I wanna see wrestle Bryan, and Eddie's block filled with guys I wanna see him fight.

So: Bryan, Yuta, Shibata, Dustin, Keith Lee, Roosh

Eddie, Briscoe, Andrade, Claudio, Hobbs, Brody King. (Maybe Chris Hero as a surprise entrant) 

There are literally 40+ good alternates for both of those lists, but Bandido and (sorry, Matt) Takeshita probably top my list. Guys like Orange and Swerve seem to have too much other stuff on their plates right now.

If Bryan and Eddie are in the same block:

Bryan, Eddie, Dustin, Yuta, Shibata, Brody King

Briscoe, Hobbs, Andrade, Limitless, Claudio, Rush

If Eddie wins, he meets Claudio in the finals. Or Briscoe.

If Bryan wins, then vs Lee or Powerhouse to overcome a size/power obstacle (or put them over as The Best) in the finals. Or Claudio. Or Briscoe, if you want the finals to be a crazy fight rather than a chess match.

Andrade would maybe be the most disappointing Triple Crown winner for me out of my field of 12. Because he still has too much " WWE Stink" on him for my delicate sensibilities. And if Andrade is your "disappointing" option then you are doing something right, in my opinion.

Speaking of WWE stink and potential disappointment, my PLEASE NO! list is pretty much:

Edge

Jeff Hardy

Malakai (assuming they would book HOB like HOT, which would kill me) (Meaning constant blatant interference, in case one of the millions of "casual" fans stumbles into this thread, somehow, and doesn't get the House of Torture reference ) For whatever reason, I feel they'd book Malaiai like that, but not Brody King.

Stone Cold Max Friedman beating both the odds and injury to run through the tournament undefeated and create the BBQC (Big Burberry Quadruple Crown) 

 

 

Because it's the Tertiary Super E Crown rather than the E1, the world heavyweight champion doesn't need to be in it, and you don't NEED a guy to play the Yano role, in my opinion.

Oh boy am I stoked for this. (Almost) regardless of how it goes. 

The trap to avoid is getting mad if AEW books this differently from what I want.

The goal is to enjoy it as it plays out. I have been waiting YEARS for this.

 

So... It's Continental, then?

Next thing I want is a Tournament of Battles Royale. 20 Battle Royals, with the 20 winners all meeting in a Battle Royal to determine who gets to wear the Battle Royal Championship Belt. (On their shoulder, because their waist is too big).

Definitely want Hobbs, Limitless, Claudio, Brody King among the final 20 there. Maybe Dustin, too. And JD Drake, Toa Liona, Archer, Bears Boulder and Bronson, Samoa Joe, Miro, Nicky Boy, Preston Vance, Jeff Cobb, maybe Athena...

Edited November 22, 2023 by Gordlow

[Go2Sleep]

I have no idea what Pac is up to, but he should be in this if he's healthy.

My original idea for this tourney was to have Swerve win. He would lose his first match to Wheeler Yuta, then have to win out, eventually beating Danielson in a "win and in" match. He would beat Eddie in the finals. After that death match, though, I don't know that Swerve needs this tourney as much. I also don't think he should face MJF unless he can win, and I don't know if that can happen in NY, unless Swerve is the devil (which is workable I guess). In NY, you could run MJF vs. anyone and be fine, so that's where I'd put the Joe match which probably doesn't sell as a ppv main anywhere else. Swerve vs. MJF seems like a natural Revolution main, it's just a matter of keeping Swerve hot in the mean time. The tournament would go a long way to do that and Triple Crown Swerve vs. 2-belt MJF just screams awesome ppv poster.

My other option is kinda boring, but Kenny Omega. With Danielson winding down, it's back to just Kenny as the king-maker for a bit. He's dropped a lot of falls this year, and something like this gives him a lot of wins culminating with a sure-fire epic while keeping him out of the world title picture. I respect him putting guys over, but you gotta keep yourself strong too or else those "rubs" get diminishing returns real fast.

 

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

I'm gonna be the wet blanket.  This feels super rushed, the title/triple crown is out of nowhere, Bryan who can't get out of a match healthy these days would have to wrestle 7 matches in a month if he goes to the finals, and he's supposed to wrestle Okada on Jan. 4.  I want to be optimistic about this but it screams bad idea on multiple levels and I don't understand the rush to do it now.

Don't get me wrong, I've been wanting to see a tournament like this since AEW started but this wasn't the best way to go about it.  I also don't have much faith in Tony's waffle house napkin booking right now.  I'm still looking forward to it and happy to be proven wrong.  Maybe Tony's had this planned forever, it'll be a great intricately booked layered tournament full of awesome matches and he makes his late push for booker of the year!  He's at least off to a good start promising no interference

 

[Matt D]

I'm sure we're going to have 3-4 great looking matches tomorrow but it's hilarious in a moment of everyone being frustrated and hypercritical about the booking that the only thing they've announced so far is this:

That's how we start off a tournament, folks.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

I'm sure we're going to have 3-4 great looking matches tomorrow but it's hilarious in a moment of everyone being frustrated and hypercritical about the booking that the only thing they've announced so far is this:

That's how we start off a tournament, folks.

Here's hoping he goes with "A Boy and His Dinosaur" for the team name. 

Perhaps "Tropical Rainforest Lad" or "Wilderness Youth" for Young Nick?

 I hope they DON'T go with (for example) "Muslim" and "Hindu" to team with Christian as, say,  "World Religions"

Edit: riffing off of Matt's post below: Tyrannosaurus Plex, or maybe Tyrannosaurus Flex?

Change it to T-Plex when he turns back into a good dinosaur again. Buy the rights to "Bang a Gong" as his entrance theme.

Or 20th Century (BCE) Boy.

(Googles T Rex) 700,000th Century BC Boy?  Maybe Rukus could do something with that?

Edited November 22, 2023 by Gordlow

[Curt McGirt]

I've said that heel Luchasaurus should just be Saurus. Do it, Christian! And rename the kid Nick Cage 

I've also said that the Japanese and Mexican contenders in the Classic will be Shibata and Mistico, and that the winner should be Starks. Unless you can belly up to the bar and give us Blue Panther, those three are still who I want, and you can do what you want with the rest. (Okay, Yano too on the side, just causing Moxley his matches)

[Matt D]

Tyrannosaurus Reso

[southofheavy]

2 hours ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

I'm gonna be the wet blanket.  This feels super rushed, the title/triple crown is out of nowhere, Bryan who can't get out of a match healthy these days would have to wrestle 7 matches in a month if he goes to the finals, and he's supposed to wrestle Okada on Jan. 4.  I want to be optimistic about this but it screams bad idea on multiple levels and I don't understand the rush to do it now.

Don't get me wrong, I've been wanting to see a tournament like this since AEW started but this wasn't the best way to go about it.  I also don't have much faith in Tony's waffle house napkin booking right now.  I'm still looking forward to it and happy to be proven wrong.  Maybe Tony's had this planned forever, it'll be a great intricately booked layered tournament full of awesome matches and he makes his late push for booker of the year!  He's at least off to a good start promising no interference

 

I feel you on all of that, plus AEW doesn't need another belt AND the name kinda honks. 

Still, though, a round-robin tournament on U.S. TV with at least two of my favorite wrestlers and who knows who else is gonna be awesome to watch just for the matches alone. 

That's good enough for me. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by southofheavy

[Cobra Commander]

should I watch Battlebowl to get ready for the Continental Classic?

[Gorman]

Yes, watch the Colossal Kongs refuse to wrestle each other! 

[Ramo2653]

I have to agree with @ExcellenceofAirPollution this just seems like a poorly thought out tournament and concept since they just keep adding stuff onto it. I some folks think WWE is over produced, but they wouldn't even think of rolling something out like this. The closest I can think of is when Impact did that round robin tournament in late 2013 I think, and during the tapings there were just a bunch of random matches that didn't make sense until the tournament was explained and that was just to cover for them losing their TV deal at the time.

But we're going to get some good matches out of this and a new title configuration. I guess the link between AEW and NJPW is getting better since they're letting AEW use one of their titles in the new title that will be created so that's good I guess? Still not sure how you book this since AEW has moved away from the sports like presentation so I'll be interested to see how they deal with losses. 

And like everyone else, I'm worried for Danielson, eye injures are nothing to play with and I hope he isn't doing something stupid that will hurt is quality of life down the road.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

Man, I'd forgotten all about the TNA round robin.  Didn't it go on for months and they had to make up fake results to make it make sense?  I always go with Russo's 99 World Title tournament as the "at least it can't be as bad as this" example

[Shartnado]

3 hours ago, Matt D said:

Tyrannosaurus Reso

Resosaurus?

[Cobra Commander]

for the record, I believe the difference between the World and Continental titles is that the world champ also represents the Oceans and the Continental Champion doesn't

[Ramo2653]

55 minutes ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

Man, I'd forgotten all about the TNA round robin.  Didn't it go on for months and they had to make up fake results to make it make sense?  I always go with Russo's 99 World Title tournament as the "at least it can't be as bad as this" example

I just looked it up, it was 2015 not 2013: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TNA_World_Title_Series

Not fake results, just a few marathon tapings and some of the matches didn't air in full. Finals were held when the show moved to Pop which got the title back on EC3 and then there was a double turn with Matt Hardy and EC3 at a later taping. Considering the circumstances of them losing their TV deal with I want to say Destination America and them not having a broadcast partner yet, it was a pretty smart booking choice, get your talent some paydays and let them rest up or take indy dates for the late summer/fall and then finish off the tournament in the new year.

[Octopus]

Octo-Fantasy

In theory, the goal is to add a belt (Continental Champion lol) to merge belts (RoH World & New Japan Strong, I think) so that we can have slightly less belts. I’m in favor of that, it would be smoother if the new AEW belt had some history and wasn’t just newly made, but if the tournament is sweet then we can build it off the awe inspiring greatness of that. Sold. 

In my Octo Nine-Brains, I’m looking at this as having maybe three different potential winners: Kingston, Swerve, or Danielson. Swerve is hot right now, but I really think the next title should be for MJF’s World title when he’s ready to drop it. Part of the reason I feel they are doing this is to have a poor man’s G1 for Danielson because he’ll likely never compete. I want this to be the last weekly or heavy work load wrestling he does. After this, build to bigger matches with promos so we don’t get the unnecessary injury in a random Andrade match before his hyped tag type situation. So I’m going to fantasy book backwards Eddie as the winner.

Tony, just Venmo me money now and keep reading as we implement my fantasy plan. 

The goal of this tournament for an Eddie win:

A) Kingston becomes a good faith ambassador between New Japan and AEW while still proudly being featured on the smaller RoH.

B) I personally want a Kingston AEW World Champion win in New York against a super heel and everyone cries. But idk if we’ll ever get that or get that soon. Maybe MJF -> Swerve or Samoa Joe -> Kingston. But I could see Tony looking at the RoH title not as a secondary belt and this future Triple Crown as a world championship and maybe it’ll fill the roll in the company’s mind. Idk. I’m looking to fantasy book this, not elsewhere. That’s what Tony is Venmoing me for. 

C) Eddie Kingston can feel very Kings Roady. 

Ok, Octopus, Fantasy Book backwards. We want Kingston in the finals. He should beat a big deal. Kingston is Kawada, maybe Danielson is Misawa. They both are fucking sweet GOATs that have broken their orbital bone. Plus, this could be a long booking of Eddie avenging his 2010 CHIKARA loss and 2021 Halloween Rampage loss. This writes itself!

I’m worried this isn’t convoluted enough. We should really book a three way tie in the finals. But no one wants a triple threat, so let’s do a smaller Round Robin after the bigger Round Robbin. When have we seen that? That’s right, the 1997 All Japan Champions Carnival. The one where Kawada won. No, not 94, the other one. Yeah, that one. Tony loves rebooking angles, why not this.

If Kingston is Kawada and Danielson is Misawa, who is Kobashi? Hmmmmm. A few people could fit this spot. Hangman could use this as a pivot from his Swerve loss and give him meaningful wins with the eventual failure that drives him to insanity, but idk if I want him in this. Mox would be cool and getting a big name in this that I’m sure he’d enjoy being a part of this, but maybe he has a rubber match with OC instead. It doesn’t need to be a face like Kobashi because in theory we switched face heel dynamics with our Kawada. So Evil Kobashi. Why not Ricky Starks? He could avenge his losses against Danielson. But do we really want Danielson to lose twice in the smaller round robin after the bigger round robin? No, that would be silly. If only there was a way to get them all to have a win. Oh wait.

I was going to say rebook something, but upon research, I am misremembering 2002 RoH. I combined The Era of Honor Begins and Round Robin Challenge. I think? Well, if I’m inventing something, that’s why I get the big bucks. Don’t forget to Venmo me, Tony. Have Starks beat Danielson, Kingston beat Starks, and Danielson beat Kingston. Oh no, what do we do? The thing I didn’t want to, A TRIPLE THREAT. Kingston pins Danielson. Whew, I’m tired.

That’s the final. We get a classic Kingston heart break, but some immediate avenging. Starks is elevated by being in the cheap ass three way final and has a win over Danielson. I don’t want to do draws in this final, unlike the 97 Carnival. This will feel like a big Kingston moment.

FAAAANTASY BOOK BACKWAAAARDS: How do we get here? They can’t all go undefeated especially with their being two groups. So they have to at least have 1 loss. Which of these finalists will take a fall to one of the others? I don’t want Starks to fall to Danielson again and I want to keep Danielson strong especially if he is taking the very final fall. Kingston can afford his loss against Danielson AND the second loss to him in the smaller round robin if he is pinning Danielson in the very end. 

So we have our groups forming:

A) 

Kingston

Danielson

B) 

Starks

This round robin is going to represent RoH & New Japan. I don’t really watch either product too regularly, but don’t tell that to Tony. He’s going to Venmo me based on my knowledge and expertise. With Six wrestlers per group, we need maybe two each. One of the New Japan guys will need to look strong, but not enough to make the Finals. A solid second place or so. Maybe Ishii? If New Japan can afford to have him in the US for at least 5 matches. The second? Maybe Rocky Romero who we (we being Tony and myself, now that Tony is Venmoing me I rightfully feel a part of the company) have a good relationship with. He can afford losses, but not full on jobbing. From RoH? Claudio is a safe bet. Keep him away from Kingston and Danielson though. Although a Danielson match would be sweet, I’m not in a refreshed rivalry against Kingston for this. I believe Mark Briscoe is already announced. Good stuff.  Let’s break them into the groups:

A) 

Kingston (4-1)

Danielson (4-1)

Ishii (3-2) loses to both Kingston and Danielson

Rock Romero (?-?) I don’t know if it matters, but for traveling it might be nice to send Romero and Ishii together

B)

Starks (4-1)

Claudio (3-2) He can’t get the to finals but should look strong as a former RoH champion

Mark Briscoe (?-?) lovable face that these heels can beat

Oh shit, Shibata. I read @Gordlow’s post and forgot I wanted him in this too. We’ll add him in the next go around. so with Shibata, we have to add more AEW talent. Well, Andrade has been added already. also, they have a point system of 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. This implies draws as being a thing. So let’s add them and add the points up currently:

A)

Kingston (4-1) 12 points

Danielson (4-1) 12 points

Ishii (3-2) 9 points

Andrade (3-2) 9 points . I’m penciling him in to lose to Ishii and Kingston, but get a shock win over Danielson. Thanks to advice from Bendy. Then we can jump into the Andrade v Miro feud after this tournament.

Rocky Romero (?-?) ? Points

B)

Starks (4-1) 12 points

Claudio (3-2) 9 points

Shibata (2-2-1) 7 points . He will lose to both Starks and Claudio, but have a draw.

Mark Briscoe (?-?)

Ok, I’m checking my account and I still haven’t gotten it, Tony. I’m doing this fantasy thing in good faith. We need 3 people that will mostly take loses and 1 of them that can afford loses but is credible enough to draw with Shibata. The other thing, we are pretty heel heavy in group B. Do we put in a stronger face or lovable person to cheer for but can’t put up the big wins. Maybe Dax and Cash. They’re tag team specialists, so they can lose single matches and it will still be a good work rate choice for the theme of the tourney.   They’ll be in B. I want to throw Rush in A, but idk if he’d take the loses. We don’t want another situation where he rightfully make ms Jungle Boy look like a punk (he knew that he’d single handedly be the reason CM Punk leaves). Does Dustin match the spot? Let’s give it to Dustin.

A)

Kingston (4-1) 12 points

Danielson (4-1) 12 points

Ishii (3-2) 9 points

Andrade (3-2) 9 points

Rocky Romero (1-4) 3 points . Give the New Japan guy the win over the AEW guy out of good faith and thank them for having him be fodder for the rest of the group

Dustin (0-5) 0 points . He could give a great promo at the end and if you want to keep using him on tv, you team him with a young guy. Etc. Venmo me more for that fantasy booking, Tony

B)

Starks (4-1) 12 points

Claudio (3-2) 9 points

Shibata (2-2-1) - 7 points

Dax (2-2-1) 7 points . Loses to Cash because I feel like he’d return the favor to his friend, beats Mark and the shake hands, and then ties with Shibata to set up an ROH Pure title match. He will also beat Claudio.

Cash (2-3) 6 points . Win over Dax to even out their singles matches and beats Mark.

Mark Briscoe (1-4) 3 points . Shock win over Starks!!!!

FTR take a hit from this, but you double down on giving them more success as a team. Also can have them team with Mark to go for one of the Trios belts to restore their honor. Again, Venmo me, Tony.

Mark surprise roll up to Starks could be a big moment. 

Claudio and Andrade come up short but look strong going into their next stories.

Danielson (if healthy) loses in the end but looks like a legend. 

Dustin can have competitive loses and still be Dustin.

Shibata can look like a killer and during his two loses you have commentary drop that he’s a Pure wrestling specialist. Which will lead to the future Dax match.

Ishii is made to look special for future appearances. 

Kingston loses to Danielson. Then we get convoluted and have him lose to Danielson again. Then we get even more in the weeds and have him pin Danielson. 

Starks’s only losses is to Kingston and Mark Briscoe. Then in the final moment, he loses but doesn’t get pinned. He has the big victory over Danielson and it is Danielson losing to someone else that takes his potential victory away. 

I’m typing this on the forum so hopefully the math makes sense. I had to go back and change it because I was adding up to 6 instead of 5. 

Already, I stayed up until 1 typing this. Venmo me, Tony. 

[Octopus]

To add to this with potential/ probable pivots. 

If Shibata is a no-go, switch him with Rush. The tie with Dax could lead to a FTR vs Faccion feud. 

Danielson gets hurt in the tourney, you can sub him out for Mox. I’d personally like to have less heavy of a workload for him to begin with, but he was already announced. AEW has a history of subbing talent so it’ll be weird but still consistent with a weird company. Have him have the bloody OC rubber match before entering the tourney so he’ll legitimately be as beat up as everyone else. He’d love it and he could regain the heat after putting OC over by making the finals. He has history with Kingston so it’ll feel authentic. We could then pivot to Mox vs Starks afterwards as a feud. 

Ishii can be replaced by any upper card New Japan talent that they’d be willing to send over, if he is a no go. Suzuki could work and the fans know him.

If FTR doesn’t want to look week, you grab either someone from the Callis Family or a luchador like Komander. The issue with using the Callis Family is that the B group would be too heel heavy. But you could balance that out or rearrange before the brackets are released and have the Ishii/ whoever spot switched over to the B group and add Hobbs in to A. But I’m sure we could get FTR on board especially with the emphasis on a strong program they can help craft afterwards. Maybe even take the tag titles off Starks and Bill.

Faaaaantassssssy.

[Matt D]

This is a little thing but it's worth remembering now and again:

He used the word fighters. Just three or four years ago anything on this scale in the US would be "performers" or "entertainers" or "superstars." For instance, when they announced the Cruiserweight Classic, here was Triple H's quote in the press release: “We scoured the globe to find 32 of the best Cruiserweights to compete in this inaugural tournament,” said WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul “Triple H®” Levesque. “These performers will be given an unprecedented opportunity to showcase their elite athleticism and unbridled passion across WWE's global platforms.”

In the midst of all the booking frustrations and everything else, it's really easy to take that for granted.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

don't get my hopes up for Filthy Tom, Tony!