NoFistsJustFlips

I don't disagree with anything you've said. They were in a tag title program with The Young Bucks where they made bad small dick & incest jokes. Smelly vagina jokes are very in line with what they've been doing the whole time. Low hanging fruit, yes. Lazy, yes. Unoriginal, yes kind of. I'd argue at least rhyming the jokes is pretty original in the context of the characters currently in AEW. They are characters based on millennial hip hop culture. I promise you that genre has artists saying a lot worse than a veiled Duke lacrosse jokes. That being said, rape jokes are not okay on a wrestling show. Without knowing much about that scandal I didn't realize that's what was referenced. So of everything he said that's the only thing that crosses the line. Even still I get them not censoring it. I'm sure someone pulled him aside and said hey man do your deal just leave the references to that on the scrap heap from now on. It's a teaching moment. Not a let's come for this guy moment.

We really gotta irradiate this term "X-Pac heat". Waltman is the man. He had like one shitty six month run in X-Factor that sucked. 20 years later that shouldn't be what his legacy is. Just say "Go Away heat" instead. He deserves better.

So his storyline is ONLY losing at this point? That's where my disconnect is. You're making this giant jump in logic that his story can only progress with a loss and that's just not true. You can certainly progress this exact same story without booking that loss. That's my hangup. That's my confusion. You're saying there are two options. A loss or catering. That's not true, there's a third option. A win. Then next week run the exact same thing they did tonight, only not from Chicago. Whether you personally agree or disagree if that's a good idea is moot. You're posting as if it's not possible. And it is. Fair point. But they *should* know. They have that little internal sheet that lists the location of the week, what the last event held there was, what it drew, what the main event was, who is baby, who is heel, who is injured, who is inactive. Just add a column for dude who are billed from this city. Would take whoever compiles those internals an extra 10 seconds. So while you are right, that's not a good excuse for them in my opinion.

You're not giving a straight answer. Why are you of the belief that he's only likely to be used if he had to lose in Chicago? Why is it more likely he sits in catering than gets a win here? You said it not me. Just trying to follow your logic. The way WWE creative works is not this story has ten steps and has to be done in that specific order. WWE creative is well we have an idea of where we want this to lead but we just throw shit at the wall to get there. And that's only until Vince tears up the script and they re-write whatever he wants. So why would it be so difficult to pencil in guys to win in their hometown? Why are you saying not using them at all is the WWE preference vs a hometown win? You're making a big leap to get to your generalization and I don't follow the steps you're taking to assume that.

Again counterpoint here but... what? Are you saying the way WWE works is at this juncture of the story that it's 100% written in stone that Ali & Mansoor HAVE TO lose? Like, they can't just get one more win this week? You can't do two weeks of them surprised they gel before you make them eat a loss and have that friction and doubt? Do you see how weird that sounds? WWE write the stories. It's not like they're handed a script by some Hollywood studio and have to follow that script to the letter. How hard is it to just write the story for the guy to look strong in front of his hometown? Still do the story you want to do. Just craft it to not make home town people look like geeks every single time every single one of them is in their hometown. 100% of the time hometown performers look like shit in their hometown. I'm just at a loss for how that is supposed to inspire performer loyalty from an audience for their guy.

What's wrong with a good vagina joke? lol When I first read the synopsis of what he said I was right there with ya. But listening to it myself it's not as harsh as people are making it out to be. He didn't make fun of mental health. He dissed one athlete, without crossing any lines. Then he joked about those rapid covid tests that were giving a punch of false positives, not denying covid. Then a vagina joke. Like none of this shit even crosses the PG-13 line. Let alone AEW wants to be the edgy R rated company. You guys have become too used to PG wrestling me thinks.

Counterpoint, do that story beat next week. Let Ali smash the jobbers and look like world beater in Chicago. Then they can go back to their tired singles dudes reluctantly form a team story for the 30,000th time next week.

Not so much constructive criticism as confusion here... but I just do not get making everyone a big time loser in their hometown. If it were my choice to make I'd make dudes damn near invincible in their hometown. It's a great story telling device. You can have a dominant heel champ go against a middle of the card guy in his home town, and if it's been built up that he never loses there it's plausible he can beat the dominant champ. There's just way more money in making a crowd go helll yeah that's our guys vs making the crowd go ugh wish our guy looked better. It isn't 1975. There's just no sympathy in making the hometown guy look like a chump. I think Montreal broke Vince's brain in a way. He just never wants to be put in that situation where the hometown hero doesn't want to do a job at home. But it's become a big detriment to the enjoyment of the audiences.

Respectfully disagree. Punk debuting in front of 3,000 in Jacksonville is decisively not the right time or place for his debut. Debuting in front of a hot sold out crowd in his home town in the big building the Bulls play in, is. I get the advertise side of the debate. That's where my head was at last week and thought it was baffling they were trying to sell tickets on a wink wink nudge nudge. Then they sold out in 4 minutes. They know what they're doing, we're just not patient enough for it / used to it. The big thing missing from wrestling is the "anything can happen" vibe. They promote the hell out of everything. Surprises are welcome. Yes maybe they'd get a .2 higher rating if they advertised. But that's not worth sacrificing that insane pop for when he shows up unannounced. Like kinda wink wink announced but not really. I bet the August 20th Rampage episode hits 1.5 million. Even without it being explicitly announced ahead of time.

Why are your bringing skin color into this? I didn't suggest an alternative that also happened to be black or anything, so... My laughing at that was based on Punk & Acclaimed could not be further apart. You got Castor doing dis tracks. You got Bowens with the big speaker and chain. Those are what their characters are based on. They talk, dress, and represent millennial hip hop culture. Punk is a old school punk music die hard who is close friends with dudes like the singer from Rancid. He's also in his 40s and straight edge. Nothing about that pairing makes any sense what so ever. And no skin color was never factored into that. But sure let's just mash shit up that makes no sense. Bob Backlund is bound to be the new leader of The Dark Order then right?

Ahh yes because CM Punk is certainly who I think of when you say leader of a hip hop group based around killer dis tracks

1,000% agree. The character is cool as hell. The way he was made to wrestle (regardless who made the decision) was a mistake. There's no where to go with a literal monster that can't feel pain. Should have toned down the no selling nature and dialed it back to purple Undertaker levels. Grey Undertaker worked mostly like a zombie. But once he "died" and came back as purple Undertaker (as a face) he sold a lot more. That was the perfect nexus for a monster character being able to have a match that makes sense still. When he was swamp Bray he had some solid to great matches. Mostly with Bryan on his side, against Bryan, and in six man tags. So he was definitely capable in ring. It just got muddied up. Also a pet peeve of mine that made me hate the character's matches... the god damn colored lighting. It's just so unpleasant to watch. Especially the hyper HD red they used for him. That HIAC with Rollins had the red lighting, a red cell, and the super monster no selling combo. Add in a stupid finish and that match should really be brought up more for how much of a shit show it was. I really like this actually. It's the same deep Br sound as Bray and Wa is the same deep sound as Wy. The order is just reversed. Still ends in a hard T sound too. This is the best one that's been pitched in here so far as capturing the same deep ring announcer annunciations on the mic for his name. Mick Foley is a genius, even when his he's misspeaking lol.

Bray Wyatt was BW initials. Can't use Bray anymore but something similar sounding would help with recognition. My vote... Beau Windham. Also BW initials. Beau / Bray very similar. Wyatt / Windham same amount of syllables. Just my two cents...

Are you insinuating WWE have no photos of Bray out of character since he started being The Fiend? You know like the Firefly Funhouse picture of not in gimmick Bray they used allllll the time to promote the funhouse segments? Or the matches regular Bray worked? To answer your question, no I don't expect them to use a Twitter picture. I expect them to use one of the 100s of professional promo pictures they make him take backstage. One current to what he looks like, not one from 3 years ago at his most out of shape. ETA: Sorry if that sounds like I'm salty with you lol. I'm not. Came out harsher than I intended because I'm so baffled. That is a jaded view and a shitty way to look at it. You are probably right in that being how WWE views it. I just don't like it. I expect more class out of them than that. I shouldn't. But I do.

Right. The picture you posted is at least 75 pounds lighter than the old bloated picture they used from right around the time the cult leader version of Bray went away.

Anyone else rolling their eyes at the photo they used? Bray from years ago when he looked much worse physically. Just a petty shot on the way from my perspective. Man you gotta feel for the guy. Hope this is part of what he actually wanted for his own mental health well being, and not something forced upon him.

I definitely called Roman vs Cena being the Summer Slam match still. Why would WWE tease a fresh match that most of the crowd generally wants to see then take it away? Odd choice in story telling.

AEW world title, didn't have the TNA belt with him

Fair enough. I wasn't directly comparing Hangman to Yokozuna. You would be right in that being a terrible comparison. I was just trying to demonstrate "home grown" doesn't always mean they are THE guy. In actuality Hangman is way closer to an Austin. But it's about timing. I still believe in crowning Hangman. Just not while all the headlines are about other guys. Let that wear off and not be so shocking / new. Give Hangman the win when that's all people are gonna wanna talk about.

No one is throwing anyone out for the new hotness. My personal preference still has Hangman being crowned by beating Omega, just at Revolution. And I say that because if you put the belt on Hangman at All Out and Punk wrestles, all the headlines are about Punk. Then D-Bry debuts at Grand Slam, so all the headlines are about him and NOT Hangman. What I'm advocating for is to actually let the dust settle and the newness to wear off before crowning their guys as THE guy. Just because in my opinion that helps Hangman more than being midcard world champion third from the top behind two new megastars when they get all the headlines the first three months. What program are you watching? It's been at least 3 weeks now without any title on screen but the AEW Title on Dynamite. He's losing one in two weeks. Which is why I believe AEW has made the conscious choice to down play that part of his character. Because they don't want it to change the narrative of their story when he loses other people's titles. In Garland he used the phrase belt collector in that promo. But outside of that he has had none of the other belts and there's been no reference to it. He's still the delusional demi-god of wrestling or whatever. But the multiple belts thing has petered out. (He also only had the Impact titles on his last few Impact appearances.)

Again food for thought here... but the only time in the last 40 years WWE wasn't number one... was late 1990s WCW. So dissing that as some sort of terrible thing to be is silly to me. They *should* try and replicate the ideas that WCW used that worked. They should also learn from history about what not to do. But let's be blunt, putting the title on Punk isn't going to sink the company. Not putting the title on Punk isn't going to sink the company. They're much more stable than that at this point. The home grown talking point is a little over stated. Yes a thriving promotion needs to create their own stars... as PART of the winning formula. But Vince put his world title on someone else's star over his own guys in January of 1984. That one worked out pretty well. He also did put the title on his homegrown guy Yokozuna and that didn't do much for business. So it's not a 100% forgone conclusion either way. It has to be a balancing act. The belt collector thing has already kind of petered out. He's stopped carrying out the other titles on AEW. There's a high likelihood he's losing the AAA one to Andrade August 14th. Wouldn't be surprised if Impact is ready to get their title back at the next ppv as well. I know it would be dope if he was 2021 Ultimo Dragon with 9 titles but I don't think it's getting any further than it already is.

We're all just sharing opinions and such. Omega has been great. I love what he's doing. AEW is doing 1.1 million viewers a week. That's great in today's TV landscape. Food for thought, Raw was doing 4.5 million last time Punk was an active worker. That's neither an indictment against Omega nor an endorsement for Punk. Just a note to keep things in perspective when considering there is a lot of room to draw beyond 1.1 million if AEW keeps up the momentum.

It's equally possible to do either with Punk. But I'm just saying Punk coming in and winning the title in front of a rabid Chicago audience is a hell of a moment. Imagine what that crowd looks like. Imagine what the pictures and videos look like when people who have stopped watching WWE see that moment on social media and decide to check out AEW. You certainly don't HAVE to do it. But it's a cool as fuck visual and definitely a way they COULD go with it. I'm not gonna be upset by either choice. I'm just happy AEW is growing and thriving. I am of the opinion that striking while the iron is hot as fuck is the better move here, instead of waiting for a moment down the line when the shock and heat of the moment has tapered off. And I have no possible explanation for why Hangman's match would get changed for any other reason. But if there is another reason and it's unrelated to Punk there's no anger coming from me.

All viable ideas. But again I see this as Hogan vs Sting in a lot of ways. Hogan lost the title to Luger 4 months before the Sting match. Didn't hurt that buy rate at all. So Punk vs Darby on Rampage. Punk wins (in some disputed fashion). Punk beats Omega at All Out. Goes back to feuding with Darby. Omega wins rematch down the line due to Darby. Hangman gets to defeat Omega at Revolution. Perfect two year story arch when Hangman beats the guy he needs to beat, two years to the day the story really started. You get the major momentum of Punk being champion / capitalizing off of his popularity. But you still payoff what you've been working for. Win-win-win.

There's two discussions to be had here. 1. Pro wrestling isn't just a 9-5 job. It's a career in a strange business built on traditions and respect that not everyone knows the ins and outs of until they join the business. That's not always a good thing. There have been shitty traditions that were perpetuating bad habits that needed to go away. But wrestling is less like an office job and more like a motorcycle gang. I say that because the best explanation I can give to someone on the outside is to liken it to Sons of Anarchy. The way the MC runs on that show definitely isn't a 9-5 or normal. But all the guys in the group understand and operate under those rules. They have traditions and expectations and punishments for not doing things the way they're supposed to be done. You can debate if you like that or don't like it or think that it's right or wrong. But everyone who comes into the business has to learn how to operate within those traditions if they want to be a part of it. Punching above your weight class and talking shit to someone who has 20 years of experience when you have none is a violation of how things operate. 2. Why did Hunico make a post at all? I tend to agree it's probably insecurity coming from Reginald's entrance getting some love. But why did Reginald feel the need to go onto a Hunico post on his page and make a reply? He specifically went on to Hunico's post, and made a comment to disrespect him. And shit man, yeah it probably was hard as fuck to do the trampoline entrance with a decomposed ACL. So while it's probably insecure of him to post it at all, he has a point. Reginald didn't need to clap back at all. ESPECIALLY since he's on the bottom rung. Again if he felt the need to comment at all it shouldn't have been to disrespect a dude. That doesn't show respect for dudes that came before you. But that's what you get when you put green dudes that haven't learned the business on TV right away. I should probably let this be my last post on the subject tho. I don't feel like I'm quite articulating the real premise of my argument properly. But I tried.