L_W_P

The real issue is that WWE want to have a world title on RAW while also being able to acknowledge Reigns as having a 1000+ day run with the WWE Title, when that's not possible. He's at around 400 days now. If you want to merge the Universal and WWE Titles and claim that he's had a 1000 day run then you need to either put a big asterisk on it or you need to delete a few other people from the title's history. Drew -> Orton -> Drew -> Miz -> Lashley -> Big E-> Lesnar -> Lashley -> Lesnar That's the title from 1000 days ago. It's such a mess they've made here with multiple world titles. Imagine the sort of runs and reigns that Bruno and Hogan would have had if WWE had two 'World' champions...

Why is Smackdown's Austin Theory in the tournament but Raw's Gunther isn't? From a meta POV I understand it's because they don't want Gunther taking a loss but from a kayfabe POV it makes no sense. Why is AJ (Smackdown) in the match but McIntyre (Raw) isn't? Two weeks into the brand split and they've already blurred the lines...

Do 'cool' heels count as heels, really? Since the whole point is that they push the edge and get a pop. I cool heels don't count the Cena was a face for his entire run. He was super over and popular during the rap era and then we won the WWE Title as a face and never turned back. He was boo'ed for 5+ years immediately after that but he was always presented as a face from WWE's POV.

After rewatching it, I actually want Jarrett to win the International Title at some point and spend 6 months defending it in random pre-tape matches from crazy locations. He can do a tour of India with Satnam and defend it in a Bollywood style production. Maybe fight some ninjas in Japan. Can we get the "Double J Anime" ? He can defend it in an old timey match in England. Go full Charlie Chaplin with the presentation. Come to Australia and box a kangaroo. Let the guys at the top of the card be super serious "Im a wrestler" type, but Double J (and the Hardys AND Jericho/JAS) should go full cinematic Sports Entertainment. I'm all in for the Double J/Briscoe/Hardys southern/redneck army vs the JAS 'boys from up north' civil war to take place as well. Use the Briscoe Farm, the Hardy Compound... Maybe Jericho rigs up something to look like the Lion's Den/Hart Dungeon for himself and Hager? Give the rest of the JAS a 'Performance Centre' that they train in as their home field. Then the final battle takes place in a Blood and Guts...

So Double J is cemented as the GOAT for 'Non Wrestling Segments in Wrestling' yeah? I'm not his biggest fan but man... this dude just GETS the carny kayfabe shit that makes me smile. No insider jokes. No worked shooting works that turn into workers getting shot. Just a douche heel, doing douche heel things and thinking he's always in the right.

Now I kind of want Hunter to go full Jade Cargill with Omos... Nah, I think Seth is the first champ. The whole 'fighting champ' pitch means this will essentially become the "Intercontinental Title +2" I'd fucking mark out hard though if they draft Imperium to Raw, GUNTHER wins the title and spends 6 months as a double champion. He can break Honky's record then drop both belts in one night from sheer exhaustion.

I wonder if it's a "Have a great match with this guy and you get the World Title" type challenge? I think they can tell a reasonable story of Seth ducking and dodging Omos, trying to gas him out and chop him down to get in a position for a Stomp and a Phoenix Splash or something. Maybe go full "Mountain and the Viper" with Seth taking out the legs and finally getting him down but then missing the Stomp and getting got.

Agreed. I pitched a Theory TV cash in for the first RAW of 2023. Xavier Woods getting a 'pity' shot because Roman wants a warm up before SaudiMania, only for it to go the distance ala Rocky. Shit, now I wanna see a SDL episode that has Roman vs Woods and Ripley vs say... Shotzi billed as a double Main Event. Top of the hour we get a backstage bit with Roman and Paul E where Roman says he's tired of waiting, let's get this done now. And he heads to the ring. Start of the 2nd hour is Roman v Woods and they go 40+ minutes. Cole and the team announce that the Women's Title match has been pushed back to next week. Woods can absolutely carry that side of things and Roman's great at stalling where he needs to. Give it the full Taker v Jeff vibe.

I feel like the introduction of the new title would have worked better AFTER the draft. If Cody, Sami, KO etc all end up on RAW and Roman's on SDL then Heyman cutting a 'at least we don't have to deal with any of them for a while' type promo would then be the instigator for Raw implementing it's own World Title again ala the original brand split. I think that was the vibe they were going for but it really came across as "Yeah Roman's a part timer now so here's a "World Title" that will be defended on TV occasionally." Whoever holds it will get a pop but we will all look at them thinking "Yeah but you didn't beat Roman". They effectively gave Roman the "Being John Cena" championship that we all joked about on here years ago. Would have been better off continuing to elevate the US and IC Titles with more focus, talk about increased salary for the champs, etc

Roman needs more "Triple H 1999 vs TAKA/Jericho" TV matches and less "Triple H 2003 vs RVD/Kane/Booker" PPV matches. Roman vs Woods, Rey, Ford etc would all be perfectly acceptable TV main events along the way.

Draft Roman to Raw. New belt to SDL. Judgement Day to SDL. Ex Con Dom lies, cheats and steals his way to the title. Fuck you Chavo.

That's the next 'lifetime achievement award' run. He's only 36 though. Could still be working in 5+ years and win a world title. The Parts Funknown guys did a really nice fantasy booking for Woods being the one to dethrone Reigns actually...

Being hooked into essentially being Jericho's fall guy has taken a huge chunk of his development away. When he broke away from the Inner Circle and became the fighting TNT Champ that should have been the start of him builing both himself, and the title, as a must see attraction. He could even stay a heel with the OTT pash sessions with Tay. Just keep that going for ages and eventually you get to a fued where someone (Britt?) annihilates Tay and Sami's love for her goes from gross PDAs to genuine care and affection that we can all relate to. Britt/Cole v Sami/Tay in a Lights Out Tag would have been an insane blow off. Instead they hot shot the belt, hooked him back in with the JAS and did nothing with him until "Oh yeah, I'm one of the 'pillars'...",

I'm gonna need a @piranesi Fashion Watch *tm* on this stat!!

Have we passed the "Cody was holding AEW together all along" stage?

I'm actually the complete opposite when it comes to the backstage BS: I hate it and it actively takes away my interest in the product. We live in a post kayfabe world. I don't need these guys to hate each other for real to be invested, in fact, I want them to all get along and have a happy work environment. That was a huge part in founding AEW right? To provide the happy alternative to WWEs soul crushing "Vince doesn't like me/Creative have nothing for me" workplace? Not saying they all need to be buddies, but the whole "work->shoot->work" stuff is just... shit.

Easy way to settle this is with the now traditional WWE tie in. Give us the Alpha Academy telling the little girl to SHOOOOSH with the Street Profits swooping in for the save. Finish of the match is Gable lining up Montez for a deadlift german, only for Daughter Derozan to scream so loud it distracts him, leading to a roll up win for the Profits!

As an Aussie, I'm 100% here for Josh Giddey; Play In GOAT. Kid is TWENTY Doesn't turn 21 until October. That's insane.

We will get it 3 times - 1 win each plus the double countout. Then they will have a formal best of 7 with the winner getting a US Title shot. That will finish 3-3 with a draw Then they will be forced to form a tag team and take the belts from Sami and KO. Yes, Im fantasy booking Lashley/Reed as The Bar 2.0

Mansoor. But he won't have any references or hints towards the Maximum Male Models. Then on their next YouTube spot Mace' will ask him what he got up to over the weekend... "Nothin..."

If FTR lose can they still work ROH?

That would actually be incredible to witness. If they keep building the IC/US titles for TV and have Roman defend every 2 months or so, I could see it happening. The only thing I would like to see in that time is more tag matches on TV for Roman, or a random defence against a Gargano or Montez on a random Raw/SDL. You could also build to things like Rey vs Roman on TV next time they run San Diego. Hype up Rey getting 'one last shot' on home turf. He's not winning but it's a main event worth checking out. Get Roman having his Triple H v Taka/Shelton type matches in between the PPVs and I think you could legitimately stretch it out to cover Bruno.

I have more issues with AEW right now than I do with WWE. I think that, for the most part, recent WWE booking has been far better than AEW. It's been slower, more deliberate and... cleaner? I think that's the word I want. AEW feels more and more like Tony has too many spinning plates and he needs a back up or a committee to get it back under control. That doesn't change the fact that WWE, coming off the back of a very highly regarded WrestleMania with a finish that had everyone saying "WTF happens next!?!" produced 2.5 hours of wet farts followed by a Lesnar heel turn.

I like the idea of Cody v Brock but man, this setup was garbage. Why not have Cody talk about how Roman ducked a fair fight, then Brock comes out and tells Cody to get to the back of the line. Boom, now we have conflict and a reason to fight with a formal "#1 Contendership" on the line at Backlash Once again, the RAW after Mania is a waste of time because Vince knows we are all tuning in no matter what. In hindsight, Hunter's opening promo was a warning lol

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