just drew

Sounds like Meltzer is reporting that no one in AEW is all that sad to see Malakai go. Again, I’m enamored with what he could’ve been, but his body is betraying him and his wife works elsewhere. I hope this means good things for BudMat and the King.

I LOVE that idea for Brody. AS far as the 12 man, I'd use it to kickstart the DR back up. FTR and Big Bill join DR and help beat down the rest of the guys. Maybe Bryan Keith just leaves.

I think the perception of TK not being a leader off men is pretty overblown, but this is an instance where he as boss should've said "Darby, I appreciate that you want to challenge yourself by climbing Everest, but right now your place of employment really needs you." You should've asked him to put it off a year. Give him a pay raise in response if you need to.

In my post I said it "isn't happening." I know it isn't happening.

Fair enough. Again, sometimes I fixate on what a guy/girl could've been, and that guy could've been the babyface that takes down DR. You could slide MJF into Anarchy in the Arena on Team AEW ("I hate all of you, but I love this place, so I'll help out. But as soon as we end the DR I'm back on my bullshit."). Then you could have Ospreay/Mox or Mox/Omega. I know which one I'd vote for.

I don't buy Darby as a top guy. Never have. The only other options are either like, Ricky Starks, which isn't happening, or someone not currently on the roster. Or Samoa Joe. But he's old, too.

That's an interesting perspective. I hadn't considered that. I know that that approach absolutely did not work for WCW, nor did the fans buy it when the McMahons said "you are the authority" and did everything the exact same. If TK called me next week (and Uncle Tony, if you still lurk here, you absolutely should), I'd tell him that the purpose of the Death Riders needs to shift to getting some babyfaces ready. Use Mox & co to buy time to build some guys up and get your chess pieces in the right spots. If I may; The DR grows. FTR & Big Bill join. Maybe Brian Keith too, as the "Bounty Hunter." They finally become the existential threat they're supposed to be. Ospreay and Omega take their uneasy alliance to that level, and Kenny is able to get through to Hangman. Finally, I'd love for there to be a backstage camera shot where Kenny, Will and Hanger are waiting outside a dressing room door. It opens and Swerve Strickland is there. He starts to lunge for Hangman but O&O break them up. Kenny is able to calm them down and is like "we need to talk." Fade to black. There's your endgame. Kenny, Will, Hanger, Swerve and Hobbs against FTR, Yutes, CC, and Pac in Anarchy in the Arena. Also, Mox drops the title that night in the main event to Darby or Jay White or whichever babyface is able to differentiate themselves.

Also, whoever the answer is, it isn’t Will Hobbs. The crowd went absolutely mild when he came out. I was there. IDK, I think sometimes I get caught up in what an angle or performer could be and not what they are. I find the Death Riders much more palatable than the elite, in any iteration. There’s still a million ways to heat this up again. After Mox gets chicanerous on Hobbs, on Collison during the 8 man, FTR turn on Cope. Maybe Big Bill jumps in w DR, too. There’s some history w him and Mox. Make the heel threat a threat again. The worst thing you can do is say “yeah, this product sucks.” Someone Drew the comparison to when Dominos was like “sorry our pizza was two packs of ass. We fixed it. We promise.” Fix it, but don’t say it’s broken. And pivoting into left field sure isn’t the answer.

I probably should’ve looked back further than two weeks. i will die on the hill of “the general viewing Public isn’t nearly as sick of this as the posters here.”

According to who? There's been an increase in viewership and World's End did a nice buy-rate. The sentiment here doesn't seem to reflect public interest...

That's always mystified me, unless Perez just really wanted to go to WWE...

As a guy who cheerleads AEW and is probably delusionally optimistic about their product, part of me gets a little sad when someone leaves AEW to go to WWE. I'm honestly not sure why. I think I want everyone to be as happy with AEW as I am that it exists. I especially don't understand w Malakai, because he isn't going to get increased creative fulfillment in a company that already has other spooky entities they have no idea how to book. He must really, REALLY want to work at the same place his wife does. Not that I blame him. Anyway, now that AEW is stabilized with their new deal, ex-WWE talent leaving feels less like "rats off a sinking ship" and more like a standard sports free agent signing. I think all that "he wouldn't job" stuff is a little overblown, as his character probably shouldn't lose much. I had a point when I started this point, but I lost it. Damn. Anyway, good luck to Malakai. I hope he finds fulfillment where he is.

Damn. Well, it's no surprise... math has never been my friend...

Yeah, but this hasn't gone on nearly as long as the "Better Than You BayBay" garbage. Also, I re-iterate; ratings are inching back up. Would they go up faster if the belt were on Hobbs or Omega? I have no idea. Maybe it's worth finding out. But this Death Riders stuff is by no means killing the company.

Being there live, the crowd didn’t feel tiny bc that’s not a very big building. I’m excited to try out the Gateway Center in the A next month…

Except then what Mox is doing has no meaning. He has to be the champion or what he's preaching is pointless. I like Will Hobbs, and he screams "future champion" to me, but this ain't the right time. Also, regarding the "elevating young talent" angle of the BCC, apparently Jericho got wind of the plan to bring Daniel Garcia into the BCC and had him put with the JAS instead.

TK was cryptic about Starks' future a few weeks ago. He hinted that we should be watching Dynamite. It honestly wouldn't shock me.

… like, having women’s tag titles would allow aews women to have lower pressure tv matches due to there being 4 of them. Also, just because we’re merging titles doesn’t mean we’re merging belts, right? I think it’s funny as hell when guys have to carry 3-4 belts around on tv.

Idk if the broadcast did justice to how happy the audience was to see her. And not just for the obvious reasons. She’s immensely entertaining.

Seek professional help. Seriously. This isn’t even really fun anymore. I feel bad for you and I’m sorry I ever went out of my way to trigger you. I know what a mental health episode looks like and damn…

I like trios matches, so maybe one set of trios titles, with some special rules about when/how they’re defended that I’m too tired to think of right now…

Myself, the lady friend, and Yüng Drew went to Collision tonight. Before you judge our crowd; it’s a fucking miracle this show happened at all. It takes exactly 17 snowflakes to shut down metro Atl, and Athens got worse winter weather than the A did, so it was chaos. You know what’s worse than the city shutting down bc of some ice? Carpetbagging transplant douchebags from up north moving here and then bitching about how the city shuts down when there’s some ice. We get it, Connor from Pittsburgh. No one cares how you did it up north. I85 runs north and south. Shut the fuck up and help. They get all condescending about how we don’t have an nhl team but then when the humidity gets above 90% in May they turn into little pasty cancer factories, their skin turning red like the color of their 430 pm sunsets in October. Go fuck yourself, Connor from Pittsburgh. Wait, where was I? Yeah, this was the kind of show like you’d book when you were a kid and your parents wouldn’t let you pack all your action figures on vacation, so you had to get creative. The little man enjoyed it, even though I think his favorite thing was the nachos & lemonade. The lady tolerates my vices, as long as I watch Gilmore Girls. Im sure some other douchebag from up north will have a devastatingly witty retort to this, but they’re leaning so hard into this HOB breakup that it makes me wonder if it’s a work. I’m not saying it is. I AM saying that, if it were… All the matches were good. We had good seats. Big Bill and Harley waved to my adorable progeny. Will (my son) likes to yell “big boys fight!!!” whenever something cool happens. Komander & PAC didn’t come to fuck around, and that match alone was worth the ticket. We didn’t stick around for anything post show. We actually left during the main. Drew-nior was getting cranky. It was WAAAAAY past his bedtime. I guess the biggest upside to a limited roster show like this was that no one I actively dislike was on the card. I enjoyed the graps. AEW rules the motherfucking world!!!

Shit, it sounds like something Fritz Von Erich would've had one of his kids do.

Calm down Harrynetico...

I really should do this.