NoFistsJustFlips

Some takes in here are straight up dookie lol. AEW exists because of Cody. Had he not had the chip on shoulder / Dusty's kid complex / motivation to push for more, All In never happens. All In was the catalyst for TK to start getting meetings with Warner and putting the pieces together. The Bucks alone, Kenny Omega alone, Ibushi, Hangman, ect none of them would be the ballsy guy making bets with Meltzer about drawing 10k. Cody's tweet bet doesn't happen, AEW doesn't happen. Simple as that. Everyone's free to not like his segments and character and all that. But it's a weird situation where Cody is kind of the heart / balls of AEW. Being that it doesn't even exist without him making that bet. And I have a bad feeling this will set a precedent that AEW is less the fan friendly revolution that it's been positioned as and more just TK's personal WWE. I may not be making the point clearly that I'm reaching for. But if Cody can leave so can Omega or The Bucks. The idea was pushed as this group of unique ballsy self made draws were creating this living breathing haven for wrestling. But in reality they are all just the public face of another cooperate wrestling company. The EVP positions are all just sham PR. I'm not sure if that is irrelevant or super relevant. Punk and Danielson and Mox are great. But the spark for AEW, at least from my perspective, was this anti cooperate self made rebel feeling. And that's just not what AEW is now. Maybe it never really was. But that was the thing I bit on the hardest.

Just for the record this isn't a thing. WWE doesn't guarantee anyone any type of title run in writing. Neither does AEW either. The closest Vince gets is saying "I could see Cody Rhoads as the WWE Champion one day." That doesn't guarantee it. Just that he could see it happening if things go right. This isn't how contracts work. Even WCW didn't guarantee anyone a title run in a contract. Just doesn't happen. Contracts like that are just a fan creation. As for the rest of the story, I'm not sure I get all the Brandi hate. I enjoyed her promos and shit talking. She was average at worst in the ring. Fine on the mic too. Just seems like sometimes popular opinion gets rolling and it just becomes a thing. Popular opinion is that Brandi is cringe and Cody's out of touch and all this. I feel like he & Tony both realize there's no immediate way to the popular opinion to turn so it's best for them to take a bit apart. Go sign a 3 year WWE deal and see where things are in 3 years. Does he become a top of the card champion in WWE? Does him making himself bigger there help AEW if he comes back 3 years down the line? I think he'll go to WWE and be treated about how AJ is. He will get a main title run. He'll be protected and treated well. But he'll be the other show champ and never treated like a Reigns or Lesnar. So in the long run what's better for AEW? Let him go. Let the narrative change for him. Then see if you guys want a big shot in the arm home coming for him back to AEW in 2025. But I will admit this is a bit weird feeling. Because promotion wise he was positioned as the AEW flag bearer. Basically the Sting of WCW or Taker of WWE. And instead he's the first one out.

Two ACL tears in the same knee is exponentially harder to come back from. I feel for the guy. On one hand really feel good story, him getting a Super Bowl win after being shunned by Gettleman in NY and treated like a nobody by Cleveland. But to tear you same ACL again only 16 months after the first time... that's not a good sign. Hope he's able to come back. But more importantly hope his knee isn't a long term problem for the rest of his life. The Rams will surely offer something to keep him. Even if it's a low ball offer. Hopefully he finally found a franchise that will stick with him through a tough time. Because NY & Cleveland both did him dirty.

57,000 career passing yards. Lifetime 60% completion percentage. 366 Passing TDs. Started 290 games straight and had the (active) Iron Man record at one time. Two time Super Bowl winner. Two time Super Bowl MVP. Beat the only undefeated team in the modern era in The Super Bowl as a heavvyyyy underdog. Both Super Bowl wins were done as underdog away team wilcards. You put a little respect on Eli's name good sir. Yes Stafford should get into The HOF. But Eli deserves it too. Also he's top 5 all time for most Super Bowl MVPs. Brady has 5, Montana has 3, then Eli, Bart Starr, & Terry Bradshaw have 2 each. Everyone on this list is HOF worthy just for how hard it is to make it to multiple Super Bowls, and win multiple Super Bowls, and be the MVP of multiple Super Bowls. Also also disregard all of the stats. He deserves HOF status based on his Madden taunt alone. SNL had him do a skit where he was trying to figure out taunts for Madden and they had him make a sandwich. He dropped it on the ground. Then Picked it up and ate it and grossed everyone out. Madden actually made that his TD taunt. It's the best one ever. Hall of Famer baby. Case closed lol.

Not Of Planet Earth

I think light heavyweight directly translates to small heavyweight in Vince language lol. Just the short heavyweights like Crash & Taka were allowed to fight for it... ?

Not entirely impossible to do. But generally it is easier to film the product "live to tape". Meaning they like to tape it as if it's live. It helps with timing the show out and giving the talent the same vibe as a live show. Because for them it essentially is live. It's not like the Superstars tapings back in the day where if Taker botched something in a squash he'd look at the camera put up a two and repeat the spot. I've seen that happen live as a kid lol. But they will have a much better idea of how much time needs to added or shaved if they tape the hour live to tape. Doing half before and half after gives them one extra step of piecing the two segments together to figure out if they're long or short. Again not entirely impossible to do. Just an easier production to do it all in one go "live". I'm with you on them scrapping the Elevation taping. But I believe their POV on this is these are developmental matches. And giving reps in full arenas is more valuable than small sound stage matches. Not sure if I find that value to be more valuable than a lively crowd. But that seems to be the choice they made.

That's true. But that's also a constant. Jade always has two left feet. But that generally doesn't stop her from having serviceable to borderline very good matches depending on who she's in there with. This was a pretty bad outting where they clearly got lost and the ref was calling the match for them. That's never happened in a Jade match before. So hard to place much of the blame on Jade, no?

12 female performers working a saudi show, one of which is gay. WWE has certainly earned a lot of leeway with the saudi government. Too bad the average citizen doesn't get that same leeway. Brandon Thurston from Wrestlenomics put out a series of tweets really highlighting the false bottom of this who deal. It's propaganda and false hope. Nothing about the saudi government has changed. Nothing about the culture or laws have changed. But for someone not willing to look for the actual facts it sure *looks* like change.

AQA looked awful in that match. The Shooting Star was pretty as always. But she was botching basic shit and forgot her spots. You could hear Bryce calling to her to go back up and do a crossbody again after she fell and got lost. That match was rough and I don't know how you announce this signing now. Even if she was signed before this match, which I assume to be the case. Wait til her next outting and looks good before you announce it.

No they weren't. They were created because the promotion wanted mid-card titles for the men and women. Not to be network specific titles. They've never once promoted or marketed them that way. They used the names of the networks they were on as a way to be cute and score bonus points with Warner. Kahn even said so on a podcast he did with Bischoff & Conrad. Using US or TV or Intercontinental or North American had all been done and would seem like they were ripping off other's ideas. So he decided to name them after the networks they air on. Kind of an homage to a TV title but with an original spin. It's just a name tho. They were never considered to be network specific. This is something I see a lot and I don't understand how it gets interpreted this way. So if a heavyweight title is open to heavyweights, then using the world means the title is open to everyone in the world. It doesn't mean you have to travel out of the country and defend it everywhere. It means anyone in the world can come to PWG and have a shot at their title. Now that interpretation gets muddied up if you also have a US Title that is open to everyone in the world too. But to me, this makes just as much sense as saying if you have world in the name you have to travel everywhere to defend it. Nah. Just means anyone in the world can come challenge for it. Instead of a weight class, it's a location class. Yes, I know traditionally world was used because traveling champions like Flair would defend it everywhere. I'm talking about the modern interpretation since the territories have died and all promotions have their own top champion. The classification has evolved. PWG's world title is just as valid as WWE's world title is just as valid as AEW's world title. Anyone in the world is welcome to come try and win it.

No they didn't. The rule was 3 people a night. The first week had 4 on Raw from Smackdown. They gave a BS reason why that 4th guy shouldn't count. But they did whatever they wanted. The rule wasn't a rule. Maybe after that first week they stuck to the rule better. But they broke their own rule within hours of instating it. And the reason why is Vince. He wants what he wants. And he doesn't want to have to take that extra 20mins or hour of thinking / hashing out an idea to work within the framework of rules. He wants what he wants and they clean it up later.

And WWE named a title after the United States but routinely defends it outside of the United States. Exact same thing. It's a name. Not a limiting weight class or specified designation for title defenses. It's just a name. If it was a Cruiserweight Title and 500 pound guys got titles shots, you'd have a point. This is just an arbitrary name that has no limiting factors or weight class tied to it. Same as TV Champ, US Champ, European Champ, ect. Just a name.

Can the US Title only be defended in the US? Was the European Title only defended in Europe? Can the IC Title only be defended outside of North America? (Intercontinental means between continents, while Intraconteninental would be only inside of one continent). The answer to all three is no. And the same logical answer applies to if the TBS Title has to be defended on TBS / TNT Title on TNT. Weird hangup lol.

That seems to be what we hear all the time. But if they didn't lock that into the contract language WWE could still do whatever they want with their programming. Regardless of that, let's just take it as fact the networks really want separate rosters. That's fine. There's rules and logic you could apply to that to make it line up better and have structure. But Vince hates that shit. Which is why we get champions switched to other brands and just trading the titles to the right brand. It's sloppy and illogical and doesn't have an internal logic. That's not network dictated. That's because Vince likes the scattershot do whatever with no rhyme or reason booking. He hates that down the line sports -like logic. He prefers the Saturday Night Live just do whatever we think works today and figure out tomorrow later. Can anyone give the kayfabe logic of the networks being okay with their champions being drafter away? No. They would want the champions to be safe from drafting. And about a million other things logistically. Vince just hates being boxed in by rules and logic. Having one champion for two brands is just too much structure for him. Too many rules to follow. Remember the wildcard rule? They broke the 3 people rule the first fucking week. It's not the networks. It's Vince.

Yes 57 year old Steve Austin with a neck so bad he retired in 2003 will be showing up to wrestling one of Private Party in a Ladder Match. You cracked the code. This is what I am talking about. There's a framework here that needs to be worked in. The person is in a ladder match Wednesday. It's not a 60 year old megastar that retired 20 years ago. Let's make some guesses back here on earth please lol.

They literally did this same scenario at Mania three years ago. Roman will have two belts for a PPV or two, show up on both shows, then get have one title MITB'd away from him. Probably while in a defense someone joins and makes it a 3way and pins the other guy so as to not hurt the rub the first person will get from beating Reigns for a title. I want things restructured to make more sense about as much as anyone. But it just isn't what Vince likes. He doesn't like structure or rules or logic. He just like being able to throw shit at a wall knowing someone else will clean up the mess once he gets his jollies.

It'll just be winner takes all like the Becky Charlotte Ronda three way was. I talk about unifying the titles a lot. But it doesn't seem like they are interested in that at all. I think your last sentence answers the 'why'. Mania 31 & 34 were main evented by Roman vs Brock. It's not anything new or special. But if both titles are on the line that's at least new twist.

Or Sasha. Because the brand split literally means nothing.

I'm busy for one weekend and when I come back I see some of the most absurd theories about the new signing. John Cena? SHANE MCMAHON? Currently under contract Ali? Any woman being in a ladder match against Isiah Kassidy? You guys. LOL. Settle down. I get why TK hypes things the way he does (trying to get people who only watch sporadically to tune in) but it makes the fandom go crazy. Like when he hyped a hall of fame worthy guy (Christian) and people were mad it wasn't Cena or Batista or CM Punk. This debut is either going to be Kieth Lee, Jay White or someone there abouts. It's not Hogan to WCW. It's not a fight against the entire independent contractor classification (although I wish). It's not Vince McMahon's son. It's not almost certainly currently under a contract Lita shooting on the Saudis. Bring those expectations back to earth please.

I watched that clip 4 times thinking I was too stupid to see the date. But luckily I was just too stupid to read the EVENTUALLY part of your post.

The 10 year old picture of Bill is fine. It still looks very close to current day Bill. But god damn why do they keep slathering the paint tool on his beard? 10 years ago we knew it was grey. Now he's in his 50s and it's full on white. No fucking need to make his picture look like a god damn AI robot wearing his skin. Getting close to that uncanny valley.

I'm still shocked he ever wrestled again after that Survivor Series match where Roman speared him out of the Coast to Coast and he got that ridiculous concussion. Like you're in your 50s dude with a family and probably all the money you could ever want. I get that performing is a hell of a rush, but everyone ages out of it eventually. And you have to come to grips with that.

Is there a Death Valley Pizza Review message board? I bet there's someone over there annoyed how all they're doing is talking about wrestling in this month's thread. 'Who gives a shit about missile dropkicks, has anyone tried that Little Ceaser's batman pizza??'