For Great Justice

My man Trips over here subverting expectations~ like he’s Rian Johnson Night 1 is going to have a whole subplot with Shotzi and Chad Gable traveling to a casino with racing camels or whatever the fuck looking for Keymaker Barry Darsow

Cody’s about to win every young ball players dream the NIT

Fredo Rhodes

“Have the most good matches” is such a stupid thing to say.

Drew’s promo was so good, made even better by Punk using every trope imaginable beforehand - pointing at the sign, cutting the most Great Value Hard Times promo imaginable, mentioning the local sports team… Then just “I prayed for this…and it happened.” So good. Punk’s was cheeks.

I don’t at all say this to demean him in any way, but at some point I believe reality has to set in that Punk’s body just isn’t built to be a pro wrestler, not anymore at least. “Skinny fat” jokes aside, I think it’s pretty clear that there’s a physiological thing where his muscles just can’t do the thing his mind is asking them to do. And that sucks. Aging sucks. It reminds me Stephen Strasburg, who while taller had a similar build and had to work really hard to stay thin and muscular. Eventually his body just caved.

Of all the potential directions to go in, Rhodes/Roman 2 interests me the least, but I appreciate I’m in the minority and Cody is over with the crowds. I just don’t care though.

I want to give that crowd a shout out. Especially for being directly against the Rumble, they were loud and awesome. That’s how it’s done, Savanah

I imagine if you are a guy like Logan Paul or Bad Bunny with outside options and reputational risk considerations, you strongly consider disassociating right away. I certainly would. Agree with those saying it’s clear pervasive throughout the company. It’s impossible not to be.

I can’t imagine how vile and awful the WWE culture must be. There’s no way stuff like a CEO openly discussing and sharing this with front-line crewmen at shows goes on and there isn’t complete rot top to bottom.

3 AM ET. We are so back.

With it being effectively Shreveport I’d have expected renowned DVDVR poster Tony Khan to make it a love letter to Mid South, like he did when they were in Memphis, as a counter programming tactic. Then I remembered how many are dead, blackballed, or actively hate his product. I guess there’s Hacksaw and Jake. And JR if his contract isn’t up yet. Maybe Wardlow puts on a gorilla suit or something.

The return of the W-L records and rankings, the associated commentary and even it showing up on the lower third made the show feel like season one AEW and made me smile. You were missed. Meanwhile, uh… The Butcher vs Kommander vs. Kip Sabian vs. Vikingo? Bryan Danielson vs. Yuji Nagata, in Bossier City, Louisiana?! Holy shit! Who sent Coach the WAR tapes!? The man is out of control and I love it.

It would be a very Gunther thing to win the Rumble, choose Seth, then appear on SD to explain to Roman why: he wants him to pass Hogan, then pass Bruno, THEN he will be worthy of Gunther taking his title from him. Fits the character, gets you Gunther/Seth, Punk/Cody and Rock/Roman at Mania and plants the seeds to Roman/Gunther down the line.

That NXT opener Dusty tag far exceeded my expectations and was bad ass. Bron and Corbin are great together. Go out of your way to watch it.

……well, shit

This feels bad for USA? If it isn’t the home of Raw, what is it exactly? If TNT/TBS were to lose AEW, not a big deal, as Inside the NBA and other roundball things is their identity. Without WWE, I’m not sure what USA’s identity is other than being a completely fungible cable TV show and movie channel that you might tune into as background noise when Burn Notice reruns are on. I get NBCU likely doesn’t give two shits about USA, but still.

If this leads to Matanza in WWE continuity it’s worth it

You can’t just tease me with the idea of Gunther squashing Rollins like he’s a jobber facing Kevin Sullivan on Worldwide in 1996 like that. I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted something in wrestling more (and a Mania crowd would agree with me). Man that crowd was dead for the main event. Folks don’t give no kind of a shit about Priest.

Minoru Suzuki vs Edge next week is like something out of a fever dream.

Punk/Cody? Story writes itself. Not that I’m really interested in shooty mcshooterson stuff

Oh shit yeah, the tube socks with Crocs (and, for many, the pieces of flair pinned to the Crocs) in public settings is definitely this generation’s Umbro shorts, tube socks and Adidas slippers If Tony knows what he’s doing he’ll get Hook and Nick Wayne in Tiger Beat

This one got me. Just picturing you manning the grill, seeing your friend and his family showing up at the BBQ, and in stride, mid burger flip, just instinctively dropping a THATS HOOK RIGHT THERE in the king’s Red Hookian. And ol dude’s wife giving you “the look” after, every single time.

I tell you one thing about our boy Hook, that dude is the face of a generation. Now I live in NY too so I don’t know if it’s a regional thing, but every 17-24 year old I see looks exactly like that: same haircut, hoodie, long white socks, headphones. He nails it. Dude is this generation’s Hardy Boys dressing like Hot Topic in 1999.

Mustache Hangman is Magnum TA as shit and I’m here for it