Ziggy

I managed to get 9 months behind in the Between the Sheets podcast somehow but I recently started running through episodes last week.

I'm an Austin fan too but I've been fine with Austin never returning for another match the same about Shawn with both retirements. Don't get me wrong when Shawn came back in 02 , I was glad to see him back wrestling at the same level as before and even after that first match back, I had no clue he'd be back working a full-time TV schedule. When Austin said his Neck was fine and he hasn't had another match by choice was a shock to me because I always thought his neck was the reason he never returned. I'm weird because guys like Edge or Christian I always wished that they could return. that Royal Rumble return was one of the best moments in recent history and I think if the pandemic hadn't happened, that Mania Match with Orton would've been better. It hurt his run that match, the rematch was okay but that lead to him getting hurt. Christians run has been much better than Edges even though it's not really Edges fault that just some bad luck. I will say that he's booked himself pretty well and I don't have any problems with him booking himself in top angles like the Elitd in AEW

I wasn't watching much WCW by the time Russo came in and I don't remember seeing much of Hall at all when I catch in. I remember Nash with the FUBU. I do remember Hall rocking G-Unit tees during his TNA run. I love the fact that these middle aged white guys were getting in tuned with hip hop just so that they can have something to relate to their kids about. I know Nash probably believes in his heart that he's the most urban White guy to ever walk so he probably believes he was the the most his wrestler in the game lol. He probably was

I ordered WW3 the following month, I loved the match they had there too. I was a kid then but I remember watching it back a few times. Most of the PPV was really good outside of the actual WW3 match which was probably the reason I asked my mom to order it. Even Saturn vs Disco was really good

NWA Powerr was getting as much or more youtube viewers than AEW Dark before the pandemic. They really built the brand up through streaming on YouTube and they were hurt by not running shows after the Pandemic. I know Khan was open to working with other promotions on that Independent level like MLW and NWA but I think Corgan basically needed to work AEW alot more to keep his brand in people's consciousness during the pandemic. I don't think the NWA would be so liberal with having his active guys on AEW if the pandemic never happened. Now that the pandemic is over the NWA can pick up its momentum and they have with the Empowerr movement. They have been a constant enough brand in the past few years that they don't need AEW but obviously there's talent that are probably going to get signed by AEW after deals are up but with them being so closely associated they do need to snatch up people. There's always going to be a level of bias with these promoters and their promotions but I do believe Khan is very well meaning and isn't going to just swallow up IMPACT or NWA especially with the influx of recently released WWE talent. It's up to them to keep up there momentum outside of AEW. NWA suffered the most of any of the other promotion that has visibility in the state but I think they're probably the best st setting themselves apart that they don't need to work with anyone as long as they can run shows in front of their audience. They don't even have the best workers overall all but their old school studio wrestling presentation is so much different.

I like that Punk calls his matches in ring, even if he's not good at all at hiding it. Punk has always had a since of old school in the way he worked like he wanted to make, Harley and Funk and people from the 70s and 80’s proud. Now he's actually saying he wants to be what Funk was to ECW. I know CM Punk was very broken down before leaving wrestling but he was running hard for 15 years and only off the road when recovering from serious injuries but eve through all that he's probably still less broken down than Funk during his ECW run because of stepping away physically and mentally for 7 years. Punk has never been the smoothest as far as execution but he's one of those guys that it doesn't bother me that he isn't. Bryan too him being out all that time and then working that pandemic schedule I believe helped him age alot less career wise. It really irked me when everyone was making a big deal about WWE wanting to recruit people below a certain age. I don't believe mid to late 30s and even mid 40s is to old for alot of talent today because nobody is working 230 plus days alot of guys aren't on performance enhancement drugs as much or party as hard. Punk has a few Grey hairs but that plays into his grizzled veteran look. Look at Dustin Rhodes. AEW had a ton of talent, and they are still bringing in recently released WWE talent but I think between them working with other promotions like GCW, IMPACT! and NWA, they are doing alot better in that situation than anyone expects and they have about 3 different shows of fresh weekly programing that are paced differently than each other. So I wouldn't be surprised if Danielson wants to work those other shows and put guys over. He was doing that in WWE with guys that they knew they didn't want to be over. Not gonna lie I havent been watching much AEW since its existence as compared to WWE, I have alot going on right now to commit to watching a weekly wrestling show but I feel like they've found their identity as a promotion without working with NJPW and even aside from the WWE talent they picked up since the pandemic everything else is the icing on the Cake. Even though for me Personally, Bryan Danielson coming makes the difference for me going out my way to watch AEW over anything else. Even in WWE he had some great matches toward the end but even with Gulak for example, he chose to work with him but even killing it with him even on PPV didn't mean anything in that company because they weren't going to give him a chance to get over

I don't think that partial paralysis was known until after his release, maybe the company did know and they figured he was a big enough star to keep it quiet. I remember a few months ago they did a Documentary on Sasha and she spoke about how she hid her shoulder injury she suffered from her match with Rousey. People act like guys don't still hide their injuries like guys from the past. There's still fear of guys losing their spots just like another time in wrestling. Maybe if you're lower on the card and not being used or used correctly then of course you'd probably have less issues with being sent home to nurse injuries.

Those tears always draw me in. Goosebumps seeing him in tears, felt the same about Cena last month like both guys have gotten alot of amazing opportunities outside of Wrestling to explore that could never have to come back and maybe make away more money without killing themselves but yet there's nothing like being in front of a live crowd. Wrestling is some special and it's a different element from any other form of Entertainment or Sport. Punk went through so much leaving WWE, I do believe he was burned out my the time he left but I always thought Punk tried to hard to prove to Wrestling fans that he didn't care about Wrestling anymore and block it out of his mind. I really few like he was putting on a front about not being a Wrestling guy after a point. Don't get me wrong he's been through enough to put it behind him for so many years but he's a worker at heart. By leaving the business for so many years after being one on the top guys in the number 1 promotion at the time its a bigger pay off in the end when ever he returns. Now I wish Samoa Joe wasn't so quick to take Hunters offer. If Don't get a Cena vs Joe match at the end of the day I'll be disappointed

Remember when Sunday Night Heat first started, like the first 9 months it was a 1 hour version of RAW at the time before Smackdown became a thing. I think that's what AEW is going for here. A 1 hour show that is just as can't miss as Dynamite is. I know this show was a thing that was talked about before the Pandemic but AEW really needed this show now with all these guys. I think WWE Main Event was a good 1 hour show early on. The concept of the Main going on first was something that they did in the Early days of SNME and those other Main Event specials

Your right and I'm not really fan of titles changing too often either but there were some memorable title changes in that time period. Like Mark Henry, Christian, of course Punk and even Miz winning was a shock, brother doesn't watch but even he was surprised by him winning the WHC. Daniel Bryan too of course him cashing in in the middle of Henry feuding with Big Show who was having probably the best run of his career he and Henry both. That time period before the network launched in 2014 was probably the last time I was consistently watching the weekly TVs including Superstars and Main Event. Once the network launched I stuck to just watching the PPV , NXT Takeovers and the weekly NXT tv. King beating Miz would've been a great Moment and Lawler could have a Classic with a broomstick effortlessly. Not comparing Miz to a broomstick at all ,just making a point

I guess for selfish reasons I want to see him posted up with Tully and Arn even though I've heard he and Arn aren't buddies anymore. I also want to see he and Andrade acknowledge each other on TV. For the most part AEW treats its legends with respect. In WWE its weird because on one had they'd put over a guy from the ATTITUDE era if he/she a part timer then on the over hand Humiliate other Legends, not necessarily to get someone over but out of getting a laugh. I'm not a fan of one promotion over the other but I love seeing a guy like Mark Henry or Big Show and now Flair guys that I'd consider WWE loyalists all of a sudden are very vocal about their displeasure of how they've been treated in WWE. I guess Big Show probably never had a problem with expressing is issues but he's pretty much said everything people like us have been saying about how misused he was. He's a very well spoken guy and he never got so Show that in WWE, in WWE it probably would've worked against him. Mark Henry was a that pretty much always defended WWE even to the point where he got heat from the younger talent so it's sorta funny how he is actually open about how we didn't like how he's been treated. He's been WWE from the ground up so I think it's cool to see him outside of WWE. It goes to show how different the business would have been it there was legit competition

As I read this I thought that one of the best things about NXT has been that they have managed to change how WWE books 1st generation foreign wrestlers. Hunter become more familiar and open to bringing in talent outside the country and signing them based off their reputation forced Vince not to treat them like comedy acts or play off some racial stereotype that he grew up on over 70 years ago. Yes there is still a little of that on the main roster but not as much. Honestly If it wasn't for Hunter, and Regal being his biggest advisor especially early on in NXT there would be no NXT UK. Look at how they booked Burchill and even Drew McIntyre early in his career. If Drew wasn't so young, I don't think he would have gotten another chance to get over like he has.

It's not necessarily crazy that Hogan vs Flair and Flair vs Savage drew more in WCW. Why was Flair jobbing left and Right to Hulk though. Flair says working with Hogan was a night off and he was just happy to have Hogan to work with but wouldn't you want some credibility going again Hogan after a while

What's even worse is you could be right under Edge or Roman as far as placement on the card and still not be safe. Unless you did some really crazy shit or violated the Wellness policy, if you were high enough on card you'd be safe. At this rate the roster is gonna be the size of the 95 Royal Rumble where damn near everyone on the roster was in that match.

I've thought to myself that if the pandemic never happened would WWE have done those Big bulk of releases they've since then because they were snatching people off the indies before AEW got started running and the were snatching people from MLW as well. Like at this point why don't they just down size the company back to a roster size before they Purchased WCW. It's another reason to not get behind anyone that's not at the top level like Roman or Edge behind guys that are just below those guys a getting let go. I actually like the brand split but if your cutting guys that where just main eventing or just recently title holders every week they why not just end it. These guys wasted money on Body Building companies, bodybuilding supplements, Football leagues and Movie divisions. Now when they are making more revenue then ever, they decide to make budget cuts. How much valuable tv time most of us had to sit through because of Vince wanting to cross promote his other projects on his wrestling programming. How much attention some of those projects too away from Vince and his small creative before this modern era