Ryan Faulconer

Like many here I first saw him against his brother Mark in CZW. They would then go on to become the most legit sounding promos. The Ladder War against Steen & Generico had one of the most amazing promos Briscoes or anyone will ever cut. It was actually scary how intense they were after the AOTF did very nasty things to them. I followed ROH until about 2012. The Briscoes were a major reason for my fandom. They left ROH in 2004 as boys. They returned in 2006 as men and never looked back. I actually haven’t seen any of the FTR/Briscoes matches yet. Even though I was once a big fan of ROH for most of their first decade and I really enjoy AEW since getting back into it during the pandemic in 2020. Jay & Mark started so young that it was almost like they grew up in front of us. Especially since I have seven years on him. Most of us watched them starting out as teenagers. They carved out a path and reinvented themselves at least twice that I saw. I could keep writing for pages about how great the Briscoes became. They both purposely held themselves back in their career and stayed real people. They actually could have gone EVERYWHERE and accomplishd EVERYTHING.

It makes some sense as Max is sort of in a pushed tag team on the back burner while Bowens heals up. A lot of the best options like Tony Nese don’t bring a lot besides their good matches. Caster does his little raps and makes his weak jokes so as a heel we want Joe to demolish Max. They don’t need to sacrifice Fuego like they normally would be tempted into doing.

Leyla Hirsch’s music sounds like it was done by the Max Rebo Band With Cy Snoodles singing. What my ears hear is the ROTJ Version, not TCW Yeardley Smith version. Both are great though.

The Acclaimed’s act is far more grating and annoying. They are good heels and I can see them even becoming pretty good babyfaces.

March 16 Dynamite could be pretty important. That would suuuuuck if it isn’t live. This will be Thunder Rosa’s title win. I guess it was taped last year as well though. After tonight I am not really prepared to call a new champ for the ladies on Sunday. The date and location match up quite conveniently and that can’t be 100% coincidence.

And one for wrestling fans…I remember hearing that Steamboat wasn’t the original pick to feud with Flair in 1989. Who was their initial choice for that spot? My brain remembers someone like Brian Last and maybe the one they call…David Bixenspan on their old podcast. For some reason names like Billy Jack Haynes or Dory Funk Jr. keep popping up in my memory. That would have made for a very different spring/summer of ‘89 if true though. Did Billy Jack Haynes use that full name at all outside of the WWF? It looked like he was always just Billy Jack before he went working for Vince. Thanks.

I have a feeling that Punk will choose a dog collar match against MJF. He has had two in ROH against Raven and Jimmy Rave, respectively. There is also the Piper references in this feud. Piper’s most famous match before WWF was the dog collar match against Greg Valentine at the Grandaddy of them All, Starrcade ‘83. I really wanted Britt to embrace her inner Megumi Kudo and do a Electrified No Rope Barbed Wire Timed Bomb Deathmatch for the blowoff against Rosa. It seems like the rumours they will do a steel cage match. interference has been an issue that the wicked huge AEW cage would ideally prevent. I don’t think they will do a cage dive like every other AEW cage match. They would have a shot at vindication over last year’s exploding pffft anti-climax. They need outdoor venues to do that kind of match though. Britt embracing her inner Megumi Kudo sounds like something completely unrelated to exploding barbed wire matches. I will choose my words more wisely.. maybe.

I almost regret following American TV wrestling closely again. After almost twenty years following Japan, Mexico and the US indies I thought I would fight the pandemic blues by watching a big televised wrestling promotion again. WWE just hurts my eyes and assaults my ears. It also lacks anything approaching a soul. AEW isn’t perfect but in the summer of 2020 it scratched a wrestling itch for something current. The fans on other forums are just as annoying as the wrestling war fans twentysomething years ago. It isn’t even where the promotions are based. The whole starfucking mainstream aspirational seekers just suck all the details and nuance out of the room. Everything always boils down to that. Every thread that doesn’t start with it gets quickly overrun with it. I really should only read threads here and PWO…again. Following ROH had the very same us vs them mentality. If it isn’t between fans of different promotions it’s the “wrestling” fans vs these anti-smart fan dweebs. They are like people who follow conspiracy theories like they are informative or at least the only information these people get. The anti-smart is fucking paranoid like a Joe Rogan guest. The journalists are the enemy. Too many quote the worst things Cornette says. They should maybe quote some historical info he can still ramble semi-intelligently about. Sorry for the rant but the last day or so I am tempted to just ignore everything on TV and revisit the lucha and puro I have forgotten about in my collection. I guess I should do that soon before we have no more DVD drives left in the house. I don’t think the current scenes in Mexico and Japan are that interesting during the pandemic. That is partly why AEW was fun for me. These are their best days. It takes less concentration to watch televised American wrestling. I normally don’t mind the different language commentary on lucha and puro. My mind can drift if something onscreen isn’t holding my attention. There is no Taz and Excalibur to fill in the gaps. Michinoku Pro announcers must be doing the same thing during the endless Yone Genjin or Tsubo Genjin vs Jinsei Shinzaki or Wellington Wilkins Jr series. It wasn’t a four way feud or even a tag team feud. It was like three different rivalries that at one time could eat up fifteen minutes every tape. Shinzaki’s reputation would likely be much better overall if he didn’t fight the Genjin so many times. Oops, I guess I just kept on talk in’. Sorry about that.

So Cody really was this confused. It wasn't an angle. It didn't give his character depth. His last promo before the ladder match was his send off even if he didn't know it quite then. He's a guy who as time went on seemed to lose more and more of a grip on what he was doing as a character in AEW. Last year was almost a complete write off for Cody. He went through fire and burned his flesh for nothing! He must feel like a man was losing his mind at how he was accepted or not accepted by the fans. He could eventually turn those fans during the course of one speech though. If only it was Jericho leaving...Neither guy had good ideas. Both had absurdly long intros. Cody at least didn't force everyone to sing his stupid song. He never brought an army of MMA guys in to go over in a feud. Cody is such a scatterbrain. Brandi won't be in the women's division anymore. That is a good thing. She wasn't the worst but she was too big of a personality with too little talent to warrant an earned push with the important ladies. She was a great manager and host of shows dealing with alcohol. People probably always say this but Cody's flakiness and inconsistent tone in everything he did should have been warning signs that this would eventually happen. He is so much better than Jericho. Why did it have to be him??? Whyyyyy????

Records are reset each year. That is how Red Velvet and Leyla Hirsch reached the Top 2 rankings. The schedule has gone heel on the women’s division. That is also how Lance Archer got his shot. Refs all have different interpretations of the rules. Like an umpire’s strike zone in baseball. AEW refs are like snowflakes. Sure. That is why there are more refs than wrestlers at this point. TK is just…shitty at math or something. Nah! People do hate them some Tony Khan online. He is like the thinking man’s Gabe Sapolsky. No?

Brock lives in our world now. He had best straighten up and fly right with his healthcare policies in Brockland. Universal healthcare is nothing to fear or fear monger over. As far as Brock’s problem with LGBTQ+ goes - I am sure he has some wiggle room in his hardline beliefs. He probably has no problem with that PG Playboy Sable and Torrie did together. Unless they intended a creepier implied Mother/Daughter photoshoot the implied Sable/Torrie issue is a fave fantasy on Brock’s loneliest hunting trips in Saskatchewan.

I am pretty neutral on Gabe overall. I probably made that post about Gabe before I even finished the article. l ran all the way here to ask about his relevance and attitude in 2022. He did have a quick temper years ago when I was picking up every ROH show from 2007-2011. 2008 was his last year in ROH but I started watching DGUSA (first ten shows) and Evolve (vol.1-5 + all 2015) so I did see how his wrestling tastes have changed since early ROH. 2014-2016 were such strong Indy years. Then WWE became so evil that they permanently damaged both the US and UK Indy scenes. Evolve had already been plucked by WWE and eventually Gabe just threw the baby out with bath water. Evolve gets sold to WWE and Gabe takes some job that is easier than booking Indy wrestling shows. How in blue hell did Evolve/DGUSA have service that was nothing at all like ROH’s prompt delivery and customer service? Didn’t Gabe’s new boss employ a lot of the same people who also previously worked with Gabe in ROH. He now had a smaller and less popular product to sell. If the 2015-2016 Evolve didn’t have a who’s who of the very best non-ROH Indy talent I would have complained louder online about just the slowest service and delivery for wrestling DVDs until AEW was formed. ROH would be a week at most to ship and another few days to deliver. Evolve was usually a month or more while AEW was over two months the first time and a minimum month for all foreign orders to be FILLED, shipping took even longer. Thankfully they were much faster this year. The sting of lazy ass service is mellowed by the quality of PPVs being so consistent ly high…excluding All Out 2020 of course. Now that Samoa Joe is finally available AEW doesn’t need him. Biff Busick would be a quality signing. Cameron Grimes’ future is apparently to the moooon in NXT. Trevor Lee as a normal sized person in AEW would always be in title contention in AEW. His career ceiling in NXT likely doesn’t even clear his head. It is just that low. Has anyone seen Lee’s former partner Andrew Everett in recent months/years. He is one of the few talents who miraculously wasn’t scooped up in AEW’s scorched earth campaign against against good Indy groups.

It looks like Gabe Sapolsky was released as by WWE. Was he mentioned with yesterday’s news and releases? I don’t think I saw one mention of Gabe being among the releases announced on Wednesday. Depending on his level of burnout Gabe coulda, shoulda, woulda make a fine mind to pair with the one and only (booker/creative) coach Tony K. I’m not saying that Gabe will help reinvent booking styles for the 21st Century. TK hopefully wouldn’t feel second guessed all the time. AEW just needs an experienced wrestling mind who doesn’t currently wrestle for AEW. Gabe worked for ECW/ROH/Evolve/DGUSA with him owning those last two names on his promotional resume. TK was a big ECW/ROH fan and he could use someone to bounce ideas around with. Or you know, whatever…

I have worried about Timothy Thatcher’s job security In WWE since the day he was announced hired. There aren’t a lot of names in AEW that I wouldn’t want to see anymore just so they can hire people I may like more. I have completely lost track of who all is available and when they are totally free and clear. Would Stephanie trade up? Her husband has proven to be weak physically and a failure in daddy’s eyes at putting pro wrestling companies out of business. She might just want a better model - one that doesn’t allow himself to be sick…like a psycho McMahon would feel. No, that’s silly. They have those children and a steroid cycle they cherish. I don’t really think HHH and Stephanie are bad people. It’s just Vince who is a sociopath and not worthy or capable of human emotions such as love. He is as if The Grinch and Scrooge had a child.. and they deprived him of all human physical contact. So…Thatcher, Gresham, Bandido, Danhausen, Toni Storm, Athena, Briscoes, Shane Taylor, Keith Lee, Chris Hero, Regal…that MIGHT be my full wish list for AEW. Steen and GeneriZayn were on it before. Owens staying with WWE has likely ended that duo’s AEW future before it ever began. Ooh, they are starting with Hangman vs. Danielson

So, no preset “North American” or “dream signing” hints by TK. I heard TK was on the grassy knoll with an umbrella. People try and choke TK with his own words. He truly lives rent free in the heads of his more persistent critics/haters. Will Chris Hero ever get back in the ring? I pictured Hero in the “Funk” role as a judge tonight. Hangman wins, Hero is the retired veteran who asks Hangman for the next title shot. Hangman compliments him on having a great career before explaining the Top 5 Rankings and politely turns down Hero’s request. They shake again and Hangman spends two to three weeks not wrestling and wearing a neck brace. He acquired that condition after Hero piledrives him in some spectacular spot - maybe even through a table or off the apron. In the next few weeks Hero works like seven or eight times with a winning streak to match. Then they fight! Should Hero be unavailable CM Punk would be AMAZING as a replacement. There must be other veterans with comparable career paths to Punk and Hero. Jay Briscoe would work if Mark is injured when they come in.