NoFistsJustFlips

Sounding awfully close to ranting about Tay sitting on Sammy's lap, and various Britt Baker-ings. Be careful dude, you're blowing your cover lol.

It's kind of funny that Britt's on air shot at Rosa is calling her a sandbagger. And then Rosa goes out there and sandbags a brainbuster so bad she breaks Hayter's nose with her knee. That was rough to watch. Props to Hayter to finishing that match with a crooked nose. I'm over Rosa. It's been all downhill since she got the title. I hadn't considered the four way match as the next PPV match but now that it's been mentioned that seems most likely. I'll take a win from any of the other three please. Also one of Takeshta's big false finishes was a brainbuster (that looked amazing). Why are AEW agents not talking to each other? With how important a role the brainbuster played for Takeshta, no reason the match going on before it should aslo have used the brainbuster for a false finish. Not sure how that got through. Or maybe AEW doesn't care as much about overlap like that? But that stood out as odd to me. Great main event tho. Especially that last 5-7 minutes of great near falls.

This is a weird complaint. You know in 2022 we have these things called hard drives. They are big and store lots of stuff. So the answer to your question actually is yes. They do have Giant Gonzales' theme on hand. The production truck has built in storage for all themes and trons they've ever used. Now Giant Gonzales is dead mind you so why would they have it on hand? Well enhancement guys working dark matches need music too. In the Vince days who knows if he'd get a bug up his ass seeing a really tall enhancement guy and wanted to give him that music. I get your complaint. Having his music cued up seems like it breaks kayfabe. Like how is this a surprise when the company has music cued up. But I think you're over thinking it. In kayfabe, sure it was a surprise to the guys in the ring. But not to management. They signed him to a contract and knew him showing up was a possibility at some point (in kayfabe).

Mance is a great promo. He has a solid look / character and knows how to play it. But then the bell rings. And he's not very good. I am shocked no one has commented on his punches, since this is DVDR after all lol. They were terrible. Slow motion. No snap. Mox noticed too, as he started jamming his face into the punches, the only way he got any contact out of them. I hope he isn't under contract. He'd jump the line for me become their worst signing.

Look at how Walt cracked in isolation. Certain personality types crave interaction. Jimmy is one of him. Ed could have set him up on a remote farm if that's what Jimmy wanted. But what he wanted was a low risk suburban area. Remember he said "best case scenario" before he threw out the Cinnabon line. Meaning that's kinda what he was hoping for / aiming for. So I'm sure it was requested that way. That part i don't have too much of an issue with. Jimmy would crack just like Walt did wasting away in irrelevance and isolation. He needed somewhere he could have some kind of human interaction. Even if it's just boring workplace stuff in Nebraska.

Fuck it, hoping for an AEW Mario Kart mode too lol

See the Saul is broke take doesn't make sense to me. In his keepsake shoe box he has a bunch of diamonds. He obviously converted a portion of his wealth into diamonds to make it easier to transport. Why does he need to scheme it up to get 20k when he's probably got a million in diamonds in that box? I don't think he needs the money. I think the money is irrelevant to the end game. The way it played to me is that his argument in the phone booth was with Kim, pleading with him to turn himself in. He does not want to give up. He isn't a quitter. But I think there's this internal struggle within him, he wants to do the right thing. He wants to do what Kim wants of him. He's purposely pushing it too far so he can get caught. And go well gee oops I just couldn't control myself and got caught. Stupid me. But it's actually his way of turning himself in. I guess we'll see. But god damn do I wish these episodes where in color. The use of color and how they compose shots has been so important to this series & BB. So it's losing so much of it's charm being in black & white for me.

I was just gonna say... dude an updated No Mercy AND wrestling Mario Party? SOLD! This looks pretty good to me. But I have checked out of the wrestling game genre for the most part. Love me some All-Stars. Battlegrounds was decent enough too. But fuck that 2k shit. That is not fun to play at alllllll (in my opinion). I want fun game play. I don't care about anything else. And the HUD looks so much like the AKI games. Instead of Special it says Signature. It has the color scheme from the AKI games too. So I am hopeful after seeing that. I don't need limb damage or any of that junk. Just give me momentum that leads to a special & easy controls and I'm happy.

Can a mod please change the title of the thread to something about Ric Flair's last match being so uncomfortable to watch everyone is deflecting to music talk to not feel so depressed? lol

The new rumors I'm seeing, which I will say are fucking crazy but are gaining real traction... it's looking like Discovery is planning on shutting down HBO Max entirely. HBO would remain a cable channel and their properties would be integrated into Discovery Plus. And all HBO Max Originals would be scrapped. Trust me, I know how crazy that sounds. But more and more industry insiders are saying that they're hearing the same rumors. Talk about hubris. Who the fuck thinks Discovery is a more known / valuble name & brand than HBO & HBO Max?? They are canning completely movies and canceling series that have already filmed. This merger is looking like a disaster. That would shatter any illusions that HBO Max could be an option for AEW or ROH. Would Discovery Plus being a destination for either really even move the needle? I doubt it.

Slight correction here, Jarrett set him up top for a Superplex but thankfully when tagged, Lethal just brought him down to the ring and did a standard Suplex after the tag. I'm real thankful Jay was looking out for Flair and made the call to ratchet down the danger. I'm glad no one got hurt but that was tough to watch. Flair had a few good minutes but once the tank was empty... it was emmmppptttyyy. I feel for him. He's still got the personality & the charisma. He still has the understanding and knowledge. But his body just can't do it anymore. They were literally just dragging his body into position for stuff near the end. And the Figure 4 pinfall at the end was well shot. Flair was out. His shoulders were down too. But thankfully the camera angle was right on Jarrett's shoulders. Jarrett was a legit heat machine and worked like a Memphis ace. The Karen / Meghan brawl was legit. I laughed out loud when Karen shrieked "I'll Fucking Kill You". The promo after was a bit depressing. Flair even said he couldn't remember most of the match. And Andrade had to direct him to pose and he was about to walk off without even looking at the crowd for one last time. Overall happy he got his moment, happy no one got hurt, but truthfully I felt uneasy watching it.

I would guess $400/year is about the range both Miro & Keith Lee are at in their AEW contracts. Probably what they were at in WWE as well when they were let go. So offering them the same to come back to a place they had bad experiences at isn't going to cut it. That's why I was jumping the numbers up to $1mil. That's enough money to show hey we're sorry, we care about you, you're valuable to us, and it's not going to happen again. To prove it we'd be doubling what you last made here. Because let's be honest, if the money offer is the same at both AEW & WWE why would anyone ever pick WWE?? You get less creative freedom and you work way more. Why would anyone take the same money to be home less? And at contract renewal if AEW is happy with their work, they would increase the rate of most guys too. So that $400/year is not gonna cut it to get those guys back. I'm very aware of that. This discussion, at least from my POV, is meant to be at renewal time for both Miro & Lee. Miro is 4 years away and I think Lee is 4.5 years away. That's a long time away. And things will certainly change in the landscape by then. But my argument still stands if / when they come back once their deals are up. Where is the job security? WWE is the land of random releases. I don't understand why anyone AEW is paying well would ever jump to WWE. It's a case of making $X for sure for 5 years vs making $X for however long they arbitrarily decide they want you. It's a no brainer to me.

Just a heads up for those that don't know (like I didn't at first), Peacock does ads through the shows for the free / $5 tier people. If you have ad free Peacock then you get these WWE video promos that promote certain wrestlers. People with ads get real commercials for products just like TV. For the longest time I never understood why they stuffed in so many promo videos for people not on these shows like that. Until it dawned on me, this is WWE just trying to stall for time while Peacock shows ads for not ad free people. So in that respect, they won't e able to cut those down to add more match time. Peacock is gonna get their ads in, and WWE can't exactly go on with the show and run matches through them. Not without making the flow of the event al wonky for those people that have the lower tiers.

I agree with you. If he wants someone he's going to get them. My point is from a talent perspective, how is that any different than it was? He can get them. We both agree on that. But there's still no job security in WWE. NK will be able to cut anyone and everyone if he sees fit. So do we get a perpetual cycle of Triple H signing people, Khan releasing them, then Triple H re-signing them? No. Because NK is above Triple H in the pecking order. Triple H can sign whoever he wants to however much he wants. But ultimately it's still NK's whims and really the finances of the company that will dictate if talents get to stay through the deal they sign.

Right. But if they really had all the power, why would Steph & Khan be co-CEOs? If the keys to the kingdom were theirs, wouldn't Steph be the sole CEO? And if they kept Khan (which by all rights he is a top tier cooperate exec they would want to keep), why wouldn't they put a very specific hierarchy in place that shows Steph is above him? The truth is (going by all the rumors bashing her when she took hiats) the board doesn't believe in her as an executive. But they do believe in Khan. So the way I read the situation, Steph is co-CEO for visibility purposes. To project a certain PR image. Oh this isn't such a big deal. Vince left but Steph has been doing this for 20 years and this isn't actually a big change that should rock the boat. While that is the public face of the decision, the behind the scenes reality is the board would much rather Khan be the one pulling the strings. Because it's all about the profits. Bray Wyatt who? Who cares? Just make more money this quarter than you did this quarter last year. Basically the treatment of the talent will a bit better. But it's still cooperate wrestling with a cooperation running it for profit. The infrastructure is too big to change. Khan is going to have say in everything financially related for the foreseeable future. And let's not forget, his vision is even more ruthless than Vince's was.

As long as Nick Khan is the one holding the purse strings, I wouldn't feel like WWE is any less volatile to work for than it has been. No doubt Triple H & the way he runs things and writes TV is going to be an insane improvement (in my opinion). But Triple H isn't the guy making the call on is Bray worth $6mil a year. Is Braun worth $1mil a year. Like sure Triple H is head of talent relations and can sign whichever free AEW guys he wants when their deals are up. Hey Miro we'll give you $1mil a year to come back. Keith Lee we'll give you a $1mil a year to come back. But when it comes to the end of the fiscal quarter if Nick Khan doesn't like the profit margins he's still got the power to go slash whoever he wants from the roster. There's a bit of conflating going on. Triple H has all the creative power in the world right now, but executive power / final say is not his. He's still at the mercy of Nick Khan climbing that MK ladder. Triple H is only the Vince McMahon of the on screen product. He's not actually the Vince McMahon of the company.

Textbook Freudian slip lol. Vince is gone. They'll be working for Steph & Vince now you dumb dumbs! ?

The multi post back to back to back spamming seals it for me...

I am bummed they had to recast Jeff. The original actor had this sleazy charisma that totally fit in as a random dude that would try to extort Saul. The recasted actor had none of that menace and danger. He gave off more of a buffoon vibe. I would have loved that final interaction in the garage with the original Jeff. Would have had more layers and a much better tension. I was expecting this to be the Walt & Jesse episode in the BB timeline. So I will admit to being a bit disappointed that there was a light and kind of out of place Gene episode here. But I liked the story they told regardless. Good way to handle being extorted.

Do Flair's divorce settlements count in this category? If so... Idk man... Vince probably isn't even halfway there yet lol

I know you mean well, and you're just looking at AEW with a positivity spin here. But no. Ghosting a dude under contract wondering if you plan on renewing him or not is not normal or okay. Even WWE doesn't operate like that. You may get a BS answer, but you're gonna get an answer. The Markos / Janelas / Brian Cages have said they could not get any sort of response from the company that employed them. That's not okay. Cage even said he was shocked his contract got renewed because no one would respond to him. Now as far as Gresham specifically & creative, that I'm little more forgiving of for AEW. There's a boss. There's a head of creative. He's essentially the writer & director of the shows. Pitch ideas as much as you want through the correct channels. But just because TK doesn't text you or call you to specifically tell you if he is or isn't going with that idea isn't lack of communication. Not being happy you're losing or turning heel or whatever is valid. But if the booker doesn't change his mind because of your ideas, that's not disrespecting you. That's just business. So contractual stuff where they have a department setup to handle questions and concerns ghosting you = bad. The head of creative not giving you detailed replies to each idea you present to the agents / coaches = not as bad. At least that's my take on it all.

Man if it's me... they're in MSG tonight. There's a new head of creative for the first time in 40 years. There's buzz. There's optimism. Punch that shit up and give us something exciting and new. Capitalize on the interest in Triple H taking over. But I'm fairly certain they will be rolling with whatever was already written. It's a big mistake in my opinion. But it's just the way WWE operates these days. No big new splash and exciting first night, just business as usual.

I get your thought process here. I bolded AEW guys for emphasis. They're all AEW guys now. Gresham was an AEW guy. He had a contract. It's no different than having an expectation that WWE owned NXT should have non contracted guys hold their titles. Not really a realistic strategy. The Briscoes are signed. Dalton Castle is signed. Rush is signed. Gresham is (was) signed. It's all in appearances who is 'ROH' & who is 'AEW'. It's all the same company. About the only ones on the main PPV event that aren't signed as far as I know are Dragon Lee & The Righteous. That's why I've been critical of this idea of running ROH as an "equal" to AEW. They're just turning ROH into AEW2 with a different logo. And I don't understand the business sense of that. WWE & Triple H era NXT I get. They were stylistically different and going after different markets. AEW & ROH currently are teh equivelant of Raw & Smackdown. In essence it's a brand split with no actual separation or rules. In other words so far the presentation sucks so far. In my opinion that is.

From what I remember they continued out the working agreement to the contractual conclusion after the MSG show, but the MSG was the tipping point where they made up their mind to not renew the working relationship when the deal did end. Not telling your partner that you're running a worked-shoot run in from two very toxic performers at the time (one of which has already done a legit shoot attempt at hijacking a WWE PPV) is some minor league shindy shit. A New Japan tag team was out there while Enzo & Cass did their run in / fight segment and all indications are ROH did not clue NJPW in on that happening ahead of time. So GOD got wrapped up n what they thought was a legitimate fight out there. As for the booker timeline, I could have it a bit mixed up. But I thought Delirious was out and Scurl was in. Full time. Total control. But the timing of it was that it was almost directly before the pandemic. So not much actually happened under Scurl's leadership.

I believe the extended timeline was something like this.. Delirious was the head of creative for a longggg stretch. After the MSG show with New Japan caused New Japan to end their working relationship they needed to replace Delirious as head of creative. In an effort to keep him from going to the upstart AEW, they signed Marty Scurl to a big deal and made him head of creative. Then the pandemic hit, and right in the beginning speaking out happened. Scurl was suspended indefinitely and eventually released when his allegations came out. During that time Gresham became the head of creative. They ran limited shows due to the pandemic. Bandido got Covid and couldn't defend to the title at the "last" ROH before before the planned hiatus. So Gresham booked the dual champion gimmick so the final show could still have a world title match. Similar to how AEW handles interim titles. Him vs Bandido was booked for the WM return weekend show to unify the titles. TK stayed with the booking of Grehsam over and signed him to a deal afterwards.