NoFistsJustFlips

I saw that too and it's real weird. Maybe a heel working an angle on twitter and he will be told "no" on the actual show to make room for legit choices? Definitely seems like a screwy finish coming if it goes to the judges and you have an active heel on the roster as one of the judges. Which makes me think this one won't go to the judges at all.

Except the person taking the bump (Hayes) made the pinfall attempt. So if that was the intent, it def doesn't make any sense. I think the idea was a top rope DDT to counter the superplex but when they went to go for it Hayes completely forgot and still went with the normal superplex bump. Roddy took the DDT bump. It defied physics and they are very lucky no one got hurt.

I'm all for them reducing the number of titles so I am in favor of this merging. The Cruiserweight Classic was fun as hell. But the absolute second the cruiserweights debuted on Raw it was dead in the water. Just like the original Light Heavyweight Division. Putting the same restrictions on them as everyone else just makes them the smaller guys doing the same thing as everyone else. The investment of having the new cable ropes and separate canvases is probably the only thing that made that division last so long on the main roster. Sunken cost they were bullish on having to eat. WWE just isn't able to pull off separate weight classes. It involves too much internal logic / a set of rules that can't just be arbitrarily thrown out.

I think it was just the best plan he could come up with to kill them ASAP. If the house is on fire they would run out, and he was waiting with the rifle to kill them. Not sure if he had a plan beyond that to cover it all up. But just a one note evil plan to get them to run into his line of fire. Burning down the house was irrelevant beyond picking them off coming out of the house.

I mean it's Dark. A lot of the Dark match spots go to friends of dudes under contract and what not. Not saying that's why Ho-Ho Lun got a spot, but hardly something to worked up over. These guys are just warm bodies for the most part. Also not sure if you should be all "WWE cast off" about a dude that wrestled six matches for a company five years ago.

While not specifically a Jaguars game, will this be the first time AEW has been opposite of an NFL game? I know TK has said he doesn't want to conflict with the NFL but Battle of The Belts goes head to head with a Cowboys v Eagles game being simulcast on ESPN & ABC.

The tone of this episode was a weird shift for me. I didn't really like it.

That's not fair to say. She had one major injury. It's a torn achilies. Like literally the worst kind of injury an athlete can have. So she was out from it for a long time. But I don't think she had any other injuries or missed any time from anything else. Her first run in NXT was over a full year wasn't it. Now her re-debut in NXT with the biker video then doing the half skull werewolf thing wasn't developed very well. That's a fair criticism. But her work with Shotzi as a team produced some good matches. So I think you're off the mark with the Nese comparison. I mean she has a finisher that's over AF. So she's already ahead of him based of that alone.

Fair enough. But three years of demonstrated actions should count for something. I don't think you're understanding the distinction between the two. They are not the same. WWE held Brodie Lee hostage for over a year against his will. AEW isn't holding anyone hostage. Kylie Rae wanted out and they let her out. It's about stability. WWE offered the Good Brothers monster money. They only made 8 months worth of it when they agreed to 5 years. What if they bought new giant houses because of the expected income? They're fucked. If you signed an equal AEW contract you can breathe easy knowing you'll get all 5 years worth of the agreement. The best example yet. Do you think Garcia's life is better now or before AEW? Now what happens if in one year they decide they don't like what they have in Garcia and stop using him on tv? His life is still better off than not being in AEW at all. He has a consistent paycheck with job security and no need to work a shoot job, while still getting to work Dark tapings & take indy dates for extra cash. Now none of us believe that will happen because Garcia has a bright future. But the options are make a living off of wrestling, even if he isn't featured on TV, or don't make a living off wrestling at all and grind it out starving artist style without a paycheck. Having to work a day job. He is way better off being in AEW and not being used, than he is making indy payoffs. With Garcia's rate before AEW, he could have worked double shots 7 days a week and the cumulative total still wouldn't have been enough to pay all his bills. **Over all the main point I'm trying to get across is my POV is the more wrestlers making a living off of wrestling, the better. The more power the wrestlers have in a contract, the better. We don't need quarterly firings for inflated stock reports. We don't need to limit the amount of wrestlers who get signed. Sign as many talented and deserving people as possible. Pay them what you agree to pay them. If they become unhappy with the arrangement, give them the power to leave if they want to leave. But the way WWE does it is not the way it has to be done.**

See the difference is WWE was locking people into deals and then they and only they got to choose what your fate. They would fire you on a whim or keep you locked in catering even if you didn't want to be there. AEW doesn't do that. It's not a guessing game. It's not a lock down. If you sign a 3 year deal, you will get paid for the full 3 years. If you're not happy and you think you can do better elsewhere, they will release you if you ask for it (Kylie Rae). It's about stability and giving the wrestlers the power over their own lives. You can buy a home because you know for at least the next 3 years you will be making x dollars a month. In WWE when can you really feel safe enough to buy a home? WWE will cut you on a whim to project a better stock number. You have no job security at all. The Kahns are worth EIGHT BILLION. They are also business men with multiple pro sports franchises that turn a profit. Yes The Jags suck on the field. But The Jags make money. They are profitable. AEW is profitable. You gotta stop sweating the dollars and cents like this is TNA and people's checks will bounce if they cross over a cap number. If he signs 15 more people than what you would, all that means is 15 more people are making a living that they otherwise wouldn't. It doesn't mean AEW will close because they spent too much money.

Just to reiterate my point a bit, what option does firing someone open up that isn't already available? If Tony Kahn wants Johnny Gargano, he can sign Johnny Gargano. It's not an either or kind of thing. Oh shit he wants Gargano but the only way he has room to write his name on this piece of paper is by erasing someone else's name first. Bye bye Kip Sabian. That's not how it works. There's no salary cap or roster limit.

I promise I'm not trying to be a dick with this reply. But why are you guys demanding a bunch of people lose their livelihoods? Are you really that worried about AEW's finances that you're demanding budget cuts WWE style? AEW doesn't release people. They let the contracts that they agree to run their course, even if they decide they don't have interest in someone. I get that AEW has more parts than it needs. But all this hand wringing about who they should fire is some corporate America stockholm syndrome shit. No one needs to be cut. AEW made a lot of agreements. They have the money to honor those agreements, whether there is use of the talent anymore or not. Like would you really prefer Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss (two people they obviously don't put on tv anymore) get fired and not be able to pay their bills just so you guys can keep track of a roster page easier or whatever? Even Brian Cage who openly talked shit on them. They don't have anything planned for him but why fire him and make his life harder? They agreed to pay him x dollars over three years. He's getting x dollars unless he himself asks not to be held to the agreement. That's how wrestling contracts SHOULD work.

Bam Bam also spent a year in Doink purgatory. I'm surprised they were able to heat him back up after that. But hard to be seen as a star when you're running mixed tags against a clown and a little person, and playing tamed husband or whatever to the wild child Luna. I think bringing him in as that 1987 babyface character and having a top of the card run with Yokozuna could have been fun. But there's really not a place it fits in. Yoko squashes Duggan. Wins The Rumble. Beats Bret, immediately loses it to Hogan. Squashes Hogan. Does 6 months with Lex. Does 6 months with Taker. There's a mini Crush run in there too. Then back to Bret. In a different timeline a hot babyface Bam Bam coming in doing athletic hoss matches would have been good shit.

Wrestling trope. It actually hurts more to be the one reversing it when it's reversed. The original person applying it doesn't really feel much legit pain on either side of the coin.

Fair point. Yeah his run at the end is what stuck out most. But he did go hard the first few months there. Not trying to sound like I'm not high on Bam Bam. He's one of the best big man workers ever. But I'm just saying the ceiling he hit was about right for a guy with what he brought to the table. At least in America. I'm a little surprised he never had a monster run like Vader or Hansen or Dr Death in Japan.

I think Bigelow was pretty awesome. But dude main evented a Wrestlemania & got a run as ECW World Champion. He main evented King of The Ring against Bret. He was treated like a big deal in 1987. I think he hit about the ceiling he should have hit. He didn't have that mega star level of charisma. And in those days only the tippy top guys got to run with the title. He wasn't a Hogan / Warrior / or Savage. Had timing been different and he been protected better there's a chance he could have gotten a shot with the title instead of the Yokozuna run. But even that is a stretch. By the time he was in ECW he was mailing it in. But Heyman knew how to use him to get others over. Taz & Douglas wouldn't have been solidified without him. He got that WCW money at the end of his career but he was in full on t-shirt mode and had no passion left. Basically he made it to the level he should have. We all remember him fondly. He consistently made money and brushed up against the main events on occasion. He just didn't have the it factor to be tippy tippy top Hogan / Piper / Sting / Flair / Savage level. His look at promos were just basic average tough guy biker vibes, not mainstream darling vibes.

No way. He was a full on transitional champ so Roman had someone to conquer at Mania that wouldn't split the crowd. This run was treated equal to Slaughter's run leading up to Hogan's WM7 win. And the real main event of WM32 was Cena's run in to help The Rock in Vince's eyes anyways. Once in a lifetime brother, part 3.

I totally agree with this assessment and it's exactly why... THERE SHOULDN'T BE TWO WORLD TITLES. Merge them shits. Make the man THE MAN. So if and when someone new gets built up and beats the champ, it means something. Then they are serious about giving them a run. With a second world title it's basically them being all about saying they care about / push all these talents that are never actually pushed or cared about. If there's one top title and Kofi gets a run with it, they are going to treat it better than Kofi getting a run with the midcard secondary world title. A secondary world title is token title. Oh you guys like Kofi, & Big E, & Ziggler (2010s), & Bryan (2010s), & Mark Henry, & Bray Wyatt (cult leader version) & Rey Mysterio? Cool we will give them "world title runs" so you think we are giving you what you want. But all the while we are going to keep the superman paradigm we've always had and only actually care about one or two guys that we hand pick. Cena. Lesnar. Orton. Roman. That's it. Those are the only REAL champions is WWE's eyes over the last 10 years.

That's a very good point. Their taping schedule is a mess in my opinion. I know it increases costs exponentially to tape them separate. But they won't be able to overcome a lot of the criticisms keeping them how they're done. Dynamite should be a stand alone taping. Rampage and Elevation should be taped on the same night. Yes it costs more. But the crowd reaction / freedom to loosen up the formula would fix a lot of the television product inconsistencies. Dark should continue to be once every two months at a sound stage separate from the rest of the company. Book the same building two nights in a row. You can still tape Rampage. Just do it on a Thursday. They are kind of cannibalizing the A show for the sake of saving costs on travel and all that to have a B show. I don't own a national tv wrestling company, so this is all just me pontificating into the void. But to me that makes the most sense. Dynamite live Wednesday. Keep all the talent over night. Tape Elevation & Rampage Thursday nights. The houses will be lighter for that second night, but that's okay in the long run. (And it conflicts with The NFL, but that's a first world problem Mr Owner of Too Many Professional Sports Franchises lol).

Right. I'm not saying jump to 10 matches every week and burn through all your pairings. I'm saying randomize it a little more. Do a 5 match episode. Then a 9 match episode. That's a way to get more people cycled in more often. Seriously look up the results if you don't believe me. It goes something like 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,5,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,5,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 over the past 3 months. It's very rigid and they do not deviate from it. People are wanting more than one women's match per Dynamite episode. It's not gonna happen if they don't switch it up every so often.

And none of those formulas ever surpass 6 matches on an episode. That's what I'm saying would benefit them. Throw in a 9 match episode once and awhile.

This highlights an issue I've brought up before. But AEW has a super rigid format. Dynamite has never exceeded 6 matches total, ever. (Maybe once or twice but only by way of one extra squash match). Sure it's good to have a format and a formula. But at a certain point it becomes a detriment. By loosening the restrictions of the format you could fit a lot more things in. I looked it up at one point and Nitro averaged 8-10 matches per 2 hour episode. And sometimes hit as high as 12 matches. Now I know AEW gives their matches more time because in ring work is more important than it used to be. But if they switched it up every few weeks you could fit a lot more women's matches on. Showcase a lot more of the tag division. Some low tier feuds from Dark could get a blowoff on the main show occasionally. Just once every six weeks or so spice it up with less pretape promos and more quick matches. That's all. As is, if they stick to only 5 or 6 matches per Dynamite it's a little hard to see them ever hitting 3 women's matches on a single episode.

I'm kind of confused by this response. There's a booker. It's Tony Kahn. The EVPs of Cody, Kenny, & The Bucks also pitch ideas. Jericho is very hands on with his own stuff yes, but has also been known to pitch ideas for other stories. That's how stories get developed. All talent have input in their own stories, in that they can pitch tweaks or ask for changes or pitch different ideas. But Tony Kahn is the show runner. He creates the narratives and the stories, with input from all those sources. That's how pro wrestling works. That's how pro wrestling has worked for 100 years. WWE has changed that formula in the past 15 years or so. But they are the exception, not the rule. Whether a specific performer is shy or has no ideas to pitch is kind of a moot point. You're a performer. If you can't come up with ideas for yourself, the booker can. Your job is to take the paint you get handed and paint the picture the way you see it between the ropes. She wasn't hired to be a TV writer. She wasn't hired under the guise of needing to come up with her own stories. She was hired to be a wrestler. And pitching ideas for yourself is not even one of the top five most important skills of being a wrestler. I just don't understand this talking point or how it's relevant to being a wrestler. You really think The Bunny is the one writing the heels using the brass knucks story for her & Penelope? Or that Hangman is the one writing Bryan running through the Dark Order before wrestling page? Maybe they pitch tweaks. But they are wrestlers. Their job is to wrestle and try and hype up the times they are going to wrestle with their words. Being shy or too inexperienced to pitch story ideas has absolutely nothing to do with the job she was hired for. It's a bummer to me too. Because I actually really liked what she portrayed. Her whole aura and look and music and presentation I thought was good. She was doing a good job getting that character over. I just think the health issues slowed down her progression and she got frustrated with having to work her way back up again since losing the momentum. It's understandable. But being shy or not having story ideas is not why she wasn't getting on TV.

I'm quoting just this one talking point to clarify something that I think is getting passed over by all of us. From day one AEW has been positioned as traditional pro wrestling. They are purposely doing wrestling like it was done before WWE went overly scripted with a ton of writers. This looser structure is by design. They didn't make a mistake in doing it this way. They made a specific choice to do it this way. If those parameters are not what you are suited for, then you should at least be aware that you're not going to excel as much as people who are suited for that. Like I'd never say you knew that ahead of time, don't sign with them. By all means, sign with them and get that money. Try your best to grow into someone that can thrive under that. But it's a bit much to expect the entire company structure to change, when that structure it's self is one of the biggest selling points for the audience. AEW has kind of been saying 'Hey do you enjoy the promos of Dusty, & Piper, & Flair more than you enjoy some dipshit scripting Roman to say suffering succotash? Then AEW is for you, we don't script a performer's promos and never will.' The AEW structure is never going to change. And if she would thrive under tighter structure, she should work towards getting signed by WWE. Who knows she may be able to be a gigantic star under the right circumstances for her. But to call AEW out for needing a change of structure to more suit what she wants out of wrestling and to dismiss the fact that it is openly one of their drawing points is... really short sighted. Not critiquing anything else she's saying. But just to expect them to be something they have beat their chest about never being... is a weird thing to be critical of. It may not be the best structure for Swole personally, but that loose structure is absolutely a majoring drawing factor for the target audience.

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