NoFistsJustFlips

You don't have to like it or think it was well done / a good idea. I don't think a lot of us like it or think it was done well, me included lol. But that's what was planned. It wasnt a pivot or change from any injury or anything. Dude isnt working 30+ mins against Okada if he's so hurt you have to have him drop the belt in an emergency rush. It was always have him win, get a short run to say thank you to him, & reward the fans. Then drop it in his home state 2 months later. Remember he didn't want a title run at all. So a short reign being planned is very likely when you consider it to be the compromise they agreed on. I think throwing in some short reigns here and there are good for business. Let things feel unpredictable again. So I don't have a problem with the short reign part of the equation.

I'd be willing to bet the plan was always Darby vs Bryan at Grand Slam with a fuck finish from Mox OR a valiant loss to Bryan where Mox attacks and destroys both after. The plan was always for Bryan's hard out to be Wrestle Dream in Washington. They just fucked the Darby match when on a whim TK changed course to get that Nigel match in. I'm glad the Nigel match happened. But I wish it happened in a different way.

Man this whole talking point that has existed since WWE started it's monopoly of pushing "ex WWE guys" being bad has to stop. Who cares where someone came from. If they're a good and over character / wrestler, push them. Swerve is an "ex WWE guy" and he's so fucking good / over. Should a segment of the fanbase be pissed he came into his own and earned a run on top because of where he was previously? It's demeaning to go, well this guy spent time on the indies first so he's good for business and this guy didn't so he's bad for business. WWE's hottest boom period was based around pushing ex-WCW guys. Austin, Triple H, Taker, Foley. Didn't see anyone caring. Let dudes have the freedom to freshen up and evolve without dismissing them outright for where they used to work.

I continue to be baffled how Darius Slayton has a job. He drops half the balls thrown to him and takes so many plays off. Why Jones tried to force it to him on the last 4th down when he barely even ran his route is beyond me. This game was maddening.

With the benefit of hindsight, we got 5 more matches out of Bryan's "full time" run. And it's a fucking shame we'll never get that Darby match now. -Jack Perry was a fucking WASTE of a .match for Bryan. So egregious now knowing how few matches there were. -NIgel was a fun and appropriate box to check in this last run. -Okada was also appropriate. It wasn't new territory but definitely fitting and meaningful. -Tag with Yuta v Pac & Cladio was also kind of a waste because it was just an extended story building to the final match. -Mox was another waste because it's a been there done that match. And then the post match was so bad it sours the solid work they did put in. Feels like theybhad a chance to give us a few cool matches we'll never get again and they decide to go nahhh yall get Jack Perry. Another missed opportunity in a growing list of them in the recent past for AEW.

I don't mind a heat finish. Sometimes you need that downer ending to bring the ride down before you're ready to ride it back up to new heights. That said, I personally find the ending last night worse than the infamous Dark Order segment that everyone shit on and made TK take away booking power from The Elite. I feel it's the worst AEW has ever been. First, Mox is stale an uninteresting. Going from buzz cut to shaved head and adding a woman heater isn't much of a character change. He's had the title a million times already as well. Building him up as this unstoppable bully also rings hollow when he's already done jobs for people like OC & Fenix. Second, the execution. That was some sloppy & poorly done work after the match ended. Noted real life best friends of Bryan... Jeff Jarrett & Provate Party??... are the only ones out to help. You have JR mocking Jarrett's involvement. The first bag angle was so heinous in storyline that.... everyone else just let it happen again? The rest of the guys only came out after a Pillmanizer neck deal? Why? Finally, it sets up a boring conclusion. I love Darby. I'll be happy to see him have a World Title run. But him vs Mox has happened so many fucking times already. I have zero instrest in the retread. You have so many over and fresh options to be elevated and to get behind. Like fuck man you couldn't build up Brody King as this unstoppable monster final boss scary monster instead of Mox? There's so many options even if they were set on this being the story. TL;DR - Basically it was a poorly done angle done with an un-over and uninteresting person building to something we've seen 100 times. Wrestling fans want new. This is reaching lol Moxley wins territory. As sick of him on top as I was of Orton & Cena in 2009. We should be seeing a rotation of Swerve & Ospreay & MJF & Darby & Hangman & Jay White on top. Not Mox or Jericho anymore. AEW legitimately feels like a chore to watch right now.

Hard agree. It was launched off the back of All In. And that was basically promoted as hey wrestling kinda fucking sucks with this monopoly, lets do a self made cool thing to give fans an option. The driving and thriving heartbeat of that was Bucks, Cody, & Omega. They had so much fan good will & love. Fast forward to now, The Bucks are kind of value-less. Blame it on the Punk thing, blame it on meandering creative, blame it on them cashing in and not having a lot of motivation anymore. For whatever reason they just don't have that good will & love anymore. Like this current run isn't an homage to their Bullet Club run where they were shitheads but did it so welll people loved them. Now they're just shit heads people are apathetic towards. Omega being hurt sucks. He's one of their cornerstones. He didn't lose as much luster as The Bucks with the Punk thing, but he too isn't as over or universally loved like he was in the beginning. Then you have Cody. Exiled from AEW due to the fans kind of turning on him. Which could not have worked out better for him because he was able to dive right back in with WWE and get a little bit of of a rub off of AEW fans exiling him. Those 'WWE is the only real pro wrestling' fans embraced the shit out of that as a badge of honor to like Cody. 'See AEW sucks and their fans cant even see this super mega star standing right in front of them'. In truth AEW's real identity is whatever TK is vibing with on a given day. Sometimes that's LED aprons to look more like WWE. Sometimes that's hey lucha trios matches are fucking cool lets do a bunch of those. Sometimes it's lets do some territory shit WWE thiks is too hokey. AEW is't ever going to have a singular vision because TK likes too many things and wants to serve too many masters. Are they ECW are they classic ROH are they 2010s New japan are they GCW are they new age WCCW are they peak Nitro. They're all of it, but they're also none of it. Long story short, brand split. Dynamite is your sports entertainment. Collision is your gritty territory thing. ROH is your workrate / sports presentation thing. At least then that scatterbrained identity can be harnessed with some purpose.

Hard brand split. Dynamite & Collion have separate rosters. All World Titles travel both brands. Traveling World Titles: AEW World (men's) -both AEW World (women's) -both AEW Wolrld Tag (men's) -both AEW World Tag (women's) -both Show Specific Titles: International (men's) -Dynamite International (women's) -Dynamite Continental (men's) -Collision Continental (women's) -Collison Third developmental brand Ring of Honor. Completely separate brand with an emphasis on newer and developing talent. Basically on an island with minimal to no AEW involvement or overlap like the beginning years of NXT. ROH Pure Champion (men's) -top title ROH Pure Champion (women's) -top title ROH Tag (men's) ROH Tag (women's) Between all 3 brands combined you have 12 Titles. 6 men's. 6 women's. 4 Tag Titles. 8 singles Titles. Zero trios titles or titles named after TV networks.

Love this phrase lol, stealing it

Also (as I've complained about with AEW as well) there's... TOO MANY BELTS. Wwe mens, WWE women's, worlds men's, worlds women's, ic, us, world tag, wwe tag, women's tag, men's speed, women's speed, men's crown jewel, women's crown jewel, men's nxt, women's nxt, men's north American, womens north american, nxt tag. 19 belts is way too many. Get off my lawn.

I'd actually like the unpredictability of Sami winning the title. But ain't no way. Goldberg shows up in Saudi to cost Gunther (and protect him) and they'll run Goldberg's retirement match against Gunther at The Rumble.

If Shockwave ends up being a thing I think it could help attendances. Because it's gotta be live. Running a Weds & Thurs as opposed to a Weds & Sat could benefit them greatly. Can do discount ticket deals to both taping. Keep the routing close. Make sure all the A talent are available because it's back to back days. Live 2 hour Dynamite on Weds then tape 1 hour ROH after. Live 1 hour Shockwave on Thurs then tape 2 hour Collision after. But I know that's just my ocd wanting a balanced and equal taping schedule. They'd do some random sloppy shit and it will annoy me lol. But fir real back to back taping on weeknights like that would be an easier sell to get people to Collision.

Both of those are good points and realistic reasons to not announce all the details now. Doesn't make it less frustrating, but at least understandable.

I wish they were more specific with the PPV component. Seems like an odd choice to be so intentionally vague. If you have a deal in place announce your deal. Even if they don't have a start date locked in give some kind of price point or clarity. But this is a big win for AEW. Roughly double their yearly rights fees income, with an addition deal rumored for Fox possibly still to come.

The Variety article mentions "discounted PPVs will be available on Max later in 2025". That blurb is vague. Live PPVs? Discounted replays a week later? How discounted? Seems like an odd point to be vague on so hopefully AEW has a clear and concise announcement tonight that explains it all

I can appreciate this opinion and I think a lot of people agree. But he's capable of a lot more than he's been allowed to show. It feels like coaches or agents got in his ear and talked him out of doing a lot of what makes him special in the ring. It's like the stories of Hogan pulling Big Show aside in his first year as The Giant and telling him to knock off the athletic shit he's supposed to be a big lumbering oaf. Wardlow hasn't even hit second gear compared to what he pulled off on the indies. But until he actually puts some of that work on the screen I can understand why you wouldn't take my word for it.

Just popping in to mention how tacky I think it is for a pro wrestling company to artificially extend a talent contract due to injury. I hate it when WWE does it. I hate it when AEW does it. Yet another reason why there needs to be a union in wrestling. These people get used & taken advantage of beyond the pale. The Jets don't get to automatically keep Aaron Rodgers a year longer just because he blew out his achilies last year. It's predatory bullshit and something I used to think AEW was above. TK is losing good will with fans & workers alike by fucking over Fenix. Your end date should be your end date, full stop.

Lashley, Wardlow, & Hobbs would be like an Evolution stable of all Batistas. I change my vote to this lol.

I mean The Hurt Business was 3 swank well dressed black dudes just wrecking everyone. Would be a pretty bad recreation of that stable to not use the same format in AEW. Instead of Shelton & Cedric I pitched Hobbs & Lio. Lio has a history with Lashley (was his manager) & Hobbs would gain so much being in a swank stable and letting MVP do his talking. But sure reduce it down to a race thing if you want, instead of looking for good fits for the established stable they are recreating.

I'm not feeling this Bryan & Mox match at all. So been there / done that. Bryan vs Darby was an exciting new pairing we've never seen, and it's pretty unlikely we'll ever get to see it now. If I'm gonna be honest Mox doesn't do a lot for me. I do like this little character refresh for him but just do not want to see him in a top spot anymore. I may be in the minority on that. Feels like a story they could have held the trigger on until Bryan was part time too. He loses the belt. Mox snaps and does the plastic bag deal. He's out for months. Comes back when the time is right, boom. Give me a Hobbs, Lio Rush, Lashley with MVP Hurt Business please. Feels like a good mix and a way to elevate two younger current AEW guys. If Keith Lee ever gets healthy can come back to help Swerve. Add one more guy Swerve's side and there's a solid trios title feud that feels important.

Gonna throw a wild speculation out there that I haven't seen considered yet. His young partner in crime Vic is actually... Victor Zsas. We'll see his devolution from innocent enough hoodlum to absolute bloodthirsty psychopath serial killer over the course of however many seasons this show runs.

Plus it's not like they are exclusive to Netflix. There's still a show on USA & a show on the CW. If you can't figure Raw out you aren't totally boxed out of the product.

There's too many first run products right now. With not enough differentiation on them. So what should we do? Add another show on the pile! Things need restructured in a bad way. I still contend that's the main contributing factor to Dynamite ratings being down. Product fatigue. Collision & Rampage & Battle of the Belts & ROH. And potentially another Fox show. It's too much and watering everything down.

Your hate boner for him is as annoying as his hate boner for The Young Bucks FYI. I'd dial back the smugness about 42 notches.

It's kind of nice to already not have to mentally and emotionally invest in this season. The Giants stink and are going to have a really high draft pick. I can just sit back and spectate the whole season without the ups and downs of following a team, hoping for / expecting success. Hopefully Saquon can get a ring this year. I hate Philly but I always pull for former Giants. Although not a 1 to 1 comparison it's a little like a 'what if' for Barry Sanders leaving The Lions and getting a ring somewhere else.