Bryan

Being the son of a famous person doesn’t make you famous. Being an irrelevant cog that nobody misses in a wrestling company with 750K core audience also doesn’t make you famous. The implication that Anna Jay would be after his daddy’s money is unfounded and women dating men because they’re rich is a misogynistic trope unfairly used to malign women. The “it’s the hair” guy above was more helpful and his comment was actually funny.

That might be generous too. If I never see him again, the only thing I will remember about him is how I marveled at his ability to pull Anna Jay despite having less charisma than a cardboard box.

Why suspend him and not send him somewhere to get trained on how to work more safely?

He said one of the best wrestlers in the world, a pro that is known and respected by virtually every AEW fan. Chris Hero isn’t one of the best wrestlers in the world and on the biggest platform he’s ever been on, he was just a jobber to the stars and under a different name. That would fit the pattern of Tony Khan over grossly hyping his signings, so it could be. If it is though at some point Tony Khan has to realize he’s doing a huge disservice to the debuting wrestler by hyping them up to such an extent that fans are expecting bigger name wrestlers than the debuting wrestler.

Since he’s still under contract with NJPW until February (I think), I thought this was about Mercedes Mone.

Yeah, he can’t cut a compelling promo, has no charisma, and is just another guy in the ring. So not only would the reveal be lame but the angle wouldn’t deliver. Honestly, Tony Khan would be smart to just cut him loose and use the extra money that would add to his budget to make Mercedes Mone an offer she can’t refuse since AEW needs stars that aren’t in their 50’s.

Marty Scurl and Joey Ryan…I think that’s his name the guy that did “penis suplexes” as a finisher, shocking he’d turn out to be a creep, huh?

Considering how badly some of the buddies of “the elite” mistreated women (and underage girls), I’m pretty confident CM Punk being a cad was not the source of their conflict.

Yep, that’s one of many reasons they need CM Punk back. You have to have actual stars to bring in enough people to make new stars. You can’t just put people you want to be stars in main event positions and have them magically turn into stars.

Adam Cole lead a beat down of the Young Bucks the last time they were on tv together, so them not coming to help makes sense from a storyline continuity perspective.

I remember going WTF when he described Al Snow’s penis in one of his books when I was a kid. That was pretty perverted and unnecessary.

You would have preferred MJF cut a promo full of factual inaccuracies? The cool heel is a lame archetype that needs to be excised from wrestling. The NWO was novel and interesting in the late 90’s but not anymore. Heels should be obnoxious, annoying, and you should be itching for them to get their asses kicked. But if he does go to Sherman Oaks, hopefully he takes the Young Bucks with him. Since they clearly don’t draw ratings, have matches with contrived spots that make a mockery of the rules, have terrible off and on selling, and turn Kenny Omega (who like him or not is a star in Japan) into a goober on American television.

It’s weird that in December Tony Khan would unnecessarily book a mystery tag partner—as challenged by the heels for a match in January (when Mercedes was a free agent) only for it to be a girl on the roster that had been previously involved in confrontations with her. And to then let Britt make the boss references in her promo. They not only didn’t dissuade fans from thinking that, they leaned into teasing it.

Hangman had the most forgettable title run in AEW history and he was only even in that position because he carried the young bucks bags for years prior to AEW. Then he alienated the biggest (by far) draw in the company by cutting an awful “shoot” promo most people didn’t even understand. Then he talks on a podcast about being too stubborn to listen to people that were actually successful in the industry and that are bona fide legends. That’s embarrassing given how unimpressive his resume his and how underwhelming his title run was. His lack of humility and stupidity will likely end up costing AEW millions in the long run.

Similarly, the Elite telling their media sycophants who unquestioningly regurgitate their denial it happened doesn’t mean it didn’t happen either.

Why would you put the title back on Moxley when the ratings decline started with him as champion? One show he appeared on didn’t work for you, so you want to go back to something that wasn’t working? MJF should at least get a chance to feud with someone who is interesting and not a rehash of an old feud. And like him or not (I personally don’t) the fact of the matter is that the only person on the roster that can actually pop a rating is CM Punk. And that bridge was probably burned by the Elite (by the way he posted pics of his dog today and damage was done.). But maybe Tony Khan will decide he likes making money more than being friends and that the Elite only appeal to a niche audience, so decide to bring Punk back regardless of the teeth gnashing it might cause in the locker room.

How Regal looks isn’t a concern, MJF being such an insufferable bastard that he can’t even share the spotlight with people who helped him was the point. so that all of the AEW fans that were cheering for him a couple of weeks detest him. I predict a very long title reign for him in which he’s constantly threatening to leave for WWE with the title until he is dethroned by someone the fans have gotten behind to save AEW from the indignity of having its title thrown in the trash on Raw. The only disappointment of that segment was that the Burberry title wasn’t actually very noticeable, if they we’re going to do that they should have gone all out.

There would only be a few people who would have noticed since it would have proceeded the melee. The majority of those people had a gag order put on them by their employer. And Punk might have had to get surgery on his triceps, so his priorities could have been on other things than managing the media narrative. And Tony Khan’s crack investigators apparently didn’t even bother interviewing Ace Steel’s wife (who was reportedly in the room) So I think Tony Khan might have realized he was paying millions to a 45 year old pain in the ass that has already had two major injuries, and paid to get the outcome he wanted. Also, it’s been repeatedly demonstrated that Meltzer just regurgitates things he’s told and doesn’t check with the people involved. Anyway, I don’t really mind Kenny Omega but no Young Bucks has been refreshing. I’m already dreading the return of their terrible acting in cringe backstage segments. Ugh.

They said in their interview with Jim Cornette after their release that they had no relationship with the Bucks, the Bucks never contacted them and they were confused and insulted by it. The tweet you posted is just good business since there was fan interest in the match. But it’s not clear that was the Bucks intent. FTR debuted saving the Bucks instead of confronting them. After FTR dropped the titles to them they turned heel. The expectation was this could be a modern version Midnight Express vs the Rock and Roll Express but instead it’s been rushed together matches. It’s possible that Tony Khan just fumbled the booking and didn’t give the fans what they wanted. Just like it’s possible good friend of the Bucks, Adam Page came to the conclusion that Punk ran Cabana out of town and decided to allude to that in a promo on his own. But it’s also fair to be skeptical given all the dots you can connect.

Yes, this is a good point. FTR got that moniker because the Young Bucks started making derogatory statements about them when they started getting praised despite apparently not even knowing them. And then they’ve avoided them like the plague and there have been numerous questionable booking decisions for them in AEW. I’ve also heard people didn’t want to take penis suplexes from their rapist friend but did it because they were afraid of the Bucks black balling them. Anyway, I can see Punk quitting if they fire Steele but I can’t imagine Tony Khan getting rid of his top draw and champion. Especially, not for people that only appeal to a niche audience and who were responsible for some of the worst parts of AEW, such as the Dark Order jobber punch gate, Joey Janela being on national tv, Marko Stunt being on national tv, etc

Sure, but you can’t effectively put over what is happening to the audience if you don’t have credibility with them. And you don’t have credibility when you insult the intelligence of the viewers by trying to cover up mistakes with blatantly obvious lies. Also, because JR is always obviously giving his honest opinion (even if in cantankerous fashion), when he says something positive it means more. It’s also the job of the wrestlers to make what is happening in the ring believable and to give the commentators something to work with, so they can help tell the story. It’s gotten better but there are still too many that don’t seem to get that in AEW. JR is arguably the greatest announcer of all time that has called the matches of some of the greatest wrestlers in history. You’d probably be a little cranky if after calling Steamboat Flair and Austin Hart, you had to be exposed to incredibly stupid things like Marko Stunt wrestling on national television, and goofs who can’t even keep track of where the camera is when they do something that exposes them.

Meltzer’s reporting was corroborated by Sean Ross Sapp. Given his recent laziness in reporting, it’s believable that he could get work. But Sapp has been pretty spot on from what I’ve seen. Also, Colt Cabana did disappear. Maybe they’ll turn into an angle with Hangman because of the buzz its created online but I don’t think what Punk did to Hangman was planned.

So JR is honest and respects the intelligence of the viewers while Excalibur does not. @Dog Excalibur has really been struggling recently.

I don’t think telling people that do nothing but look for excuses to shit on him (I always find it odd how Excalibur calling someone the wrong name or fumbling his words doesn’t elicit even half of the outrage JR doing it does from the commentary critics) off and having a goal to achieve something impressive is entitled. It’s probably more realistic to say that this goal is giving him a reason to continue to live.