Zakk_Sabbath

Agreed huge - I almost didn't want to address it because I feel like folks are probably getting tired of me complaining about it, but yeah, this needs to be dealt with swiftly. Rankings returning were a good step, but it's still too damn muddy. If I had the pencil tomorrow, the move is: 1) ROH belt back to ROH and my God, only ROH 2) Bring Hacksaw in for a cameo, and throw that Strong belt right in the f'n garbage (Just kidding... send it back to your partners in a respectful and constructive manner. Probably DHL) 3) Continental title and International title are unified into the AEW Intercontinental title. 4) I go back to complaining about the white ropes instead

I can't fully explain it, but my brain replaced Kruk with the memory of Chris Farley doing him on SNL like 25 years ago (despite seeing the real guy on ESPN broadcasts pretty regularly)

I really enjoyed this week's edition, but agree with some of the criticism re: pacing, repeat slugfests, and the like. Loved Danielson/Shibata just aaaaalmost flirting with the line of 'gross.' I don't think it was anyone's MOTN but it was f'n awesome to see Lance Archer back (I think for the first time since the last big TX loop? Someone correct me if I'm wrong).

I've gone too far down the early '00s rabbit hole: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvETWzme3Z_bjJs3lPoH9M5PCIG9rfWBH&si=vij6GXNLxP7GGLKD

I enjoyed Bray Wyatt for many reasons, but one of them was an early NXT promo I caught somewhere online (or maybe back when I had the Network) that starts with "My daddy was a Captain..." I always thought that was an awesome nod.

Co-MF'ing-signed, I've been calling for that Angelico match for forever. OC I think there's a greater likelihood we'll get to organically, but that Angelico match has to happen

BTW: all this this punk rock talk and no one went with "Shipping Up To Bo$$ton?!?!?"

Oh, duh - thanks dude. I know people are probably tired of me bringing this up all the time, but as great as that match was, PAC's line the following week in his promo is what stuck with me moreso: "KENNEH!! DID YE THINK I FORGOT WHAT YE DID TO MAH NOSE BONE?!?" So I must've switched the teams in my head

Terrible news, and I hope he pulls through - I also feel like a giant, giant ass right now, because this is how I learned I've been confusing Coleman with Ron "H²O" Waterman for 20+ years since catching him wrestle pre-TV Randy Orton at a WWF house show as a teenager

Exactly where I was heading, but kinda uh, forgot to write (it's almost like I have a job I should be doing right now, or something!) Mega-face Willow vs. heel Mercedes is where we gotta end up. I've made the comparison before, but handled right, I think Willow could be a huge "underdog" type star, like Danielson in the lead up to WM XXX.

Excellent point - and that's why I wanted to really emphasize that I didn't intend for it to be a put-down of any kind; everyone here could probably learn a thing or two from them (myself included)

@HarryArchieGusWell put, and I cannot disagree whatsoever. Though, interesting thought experiment: I'm sure it largely would depend on the town, but part of me wonders if the AEW crowd would actually boo the homegrown, fun-loving, super hot (settle me gently) Willow against Mercedes. Obviously that seems kind of nuts on the surface, but in all seriousness, youve got an audience who was already kind of torched by an ex-WWE star or two on the male side, and has already been semi-trained by that Outcasts angle to boo any "invading" women - you're right in that maybe it's not a good idea to chance at this juncture, but I'm not entirely convinced the crowd wouldn't be (let's say) 70 Willow/30 Sasha

In a way/sense, yes - I'm hesitant to say anything that could be misconstrued as xenophobia or a put-down of any sort, but there seems to be a contingent of international fans on those type of forums who treat the proceedings more like pure sport. "JHON CENA WILL KILL ___"-type stuff

Seconded on the card as a whole, but I could go for a Britt return here. I think she's probably one of the most qualified women in terms of being able to go toe to toe with Mercedes on the mic - with that said, I *do* think you kind of have to go Willow as a first bout. Pardon my French but "You broke my ankle, stole my belt, and ruined the Japan run I've dreamed of since I was a little girl" absolutely fucking books itself.

Took the words out of my mouth! Great built in "unfinished business" story there with the Death Triangle/Elite Best of 7 last year, and PAC walking out on em during B&G because of his nose bone (obviously that was more geared toward Omega, but they can pivot it to just being 'the Elite' since they've now split per last week's promo). It would be a lot easier to guess at if we knew Omega's current health status - I'm still not convinced we aren't getting Omega/Hangman vs Bucks III in this tag tourney

Another point on this, that I am going to try and put as delicately as possible: WWE's international reach growing even more over the last decade means that a lot of social media and comment sections are also now teeming with audiences from around the world who may not be entirely familiar with the fictional nature of what they are seeing.

I feel like that's a lot of aging Punks' idea of punk.

Great point, about that - I do wonder if there was a situation where "executive 1 and 2" knew enough about this to where they thought: give Vince enough rope, and he'll just hang himself, leaving us to both reap the benefits of a sale AND be able to plausibly say "The bad man's gone." I could see a world where someone, without anticipating the Vince suit later, looks at that like a win/win. Someone elsewhere made a great point too: it may behoove the plaintiff to involve current WWE management because they may have access to evidence that's no longer in Vince's possession, and wouldn't come out in discovery against him alone (as opposed to involving the company) - so it may be that there's a bit of legal strategy involved, in order to "widen access"

Adding to this point: this aspect of the story being written about so long after the original story breaking kind of leaves "the bad man is gone" as kind of the lasting taste in the general public's mouth - I don't necessarily know if this addendum to the story is "sensational" enough to garner the same kind of coverage. I'd be willing to bet the Netflix position is what most average folks (who don't have a 44 page thread on it going) walk away with - whether that's by design, who knows?

That was such a weak line by him that I kinda questioned whether it was part of this whole botching the raps/Jay not letting him speak much thing that's happening on TV. If not, I'm hoping they are able to move past it and not jettison their heat/merchandise sales too much as a result (For anyone curious, he was arguing with some random and went back into the guy's tweets and called his girlfriend bad-looking. The guy's caption was like "she kinda bad" so it was meant to be a play on that, but it came off kinda mean cause the chick was only 18, plus it's just not that clever)

Today in "Skynet is actually a good thing": https://youtu.be/YvrcKEoSiIM?si=9_kXlIsaCmVsydGT

I support this fully. We're not gonna get into it here, but in addition to being the shits in the booth, he's also a nutbar. And on a "win/win" note, I'm always beyond overjoyed to hear TS open the show with "You are looking LIVE at..." Hard agree, but I do love him in the booth. Rib tape is to the underdog babyface, as not shaving for a week is to the 'injured' babyface - always a surefire visual cue for sympy

Was debating on it, almost went with Herb, decided to keep it generic

Oh certainly not, but I don't think I've ever seen it go quite that far without a swift and deserved Cashing from the mods - nine times out of ten, if there's an argument here it's relatively civil, maybe some light ball busting but no one's like, "yeah I hated that show, it had to have been booked by a coke head"* * = Except the times they actually were booked by coke heads

Imagine the fact that we're fellow viewers of the show, too - I can't begin to think what some of the outside world would think of the "discourse" on places like wrestling twitter, or squared circle were they to stumble on it. Like imagine someone going on, idk, Al Pacino's page and being like "YOU DONT LOVE MOVIES, YOU LOVE DRUGS! YOURE KILLING FILM! WHY DO YOU MAKE MOVIES AT PARAMOUNT WHEN YOU KNOW MGM IS THE ONLY STUDIO THAT MATTERS?! MGM 4 LIFE!!" It's just so fucking bizarre, man. I don't watch WWE for a variety of reasons, but I certainly enjoy other wrestling besides AEW from time to time. I recently gotten some great MLW and Lucha recs from you guys here, I catch TNA on the streaming channel once in a while, an NJPW on AXS rerun here or there. Even back in the '90s as a kid, I certainly had my preferences, but I watched WCW, ECW, and the WWF all the same (as well as whatever else I could find) - some of these replies are right out of like, an election thread, or like arguing with a visiting Red Sox fan in the bleachers or something. Is this just like, how everything is now??? Like, people seem aware of it - I'm sick to fucking death of reading the word "tRiBaLiSm" - but no one seems to take any steps to correct it, it's the weirdest shit. I'm all for debate but my God