Beech27

We can always come up with more names that would add value, I think, and hypothetical reasons they might sign. For example: Jay White lives in the US already, hasn't gone back to Japan to quarantine and work for NJPW, and could be a real star in a promotion where he speaks the language (though we don't need any more "remember Bullet Club" drama); Pete Dunne's contract is about to expire, and I don't think it's been reported whether he resigned; Asuka is almost 40, loves streaming, and seems mired in creative purgatory; WWE's Japanese corporate arm dissolving might mean Kairi Hojo is a free agent, and maybe her head injuries have cleared up; etc. But obviously AEW is in a "can sign people" not a "needs to sign people" situation, which is better for them.

Looks like Dec 12/10/81 to 1/15/82.

One way in which Danielson might feel like a bigger deal because he's not really rejecting WWE, so much as he's choosing something else. FTR, Moxley, and of course Punk could be written off as malcontents who just were never going to be happy, and with whom there would always be a disconnect between how they and WWE saw themselves. But Danielson is a famously easy guy to work with, who, even now, really has nothing bad to say about WWE or Vince, his time working there, his pay, booking, any of it. They would have happily paid him millions and presented him as a consistent main eventer with a high degree of creative freedom. (To a lesser extent you could say this about Cole, too.)

Who knows if he still feels this way, but back in 2014 TK tweeted that the Wyatt family were a fine mid-card act with weird esoteric imagery, and overall an “anti-rub.” Doesn’t sound like someone who would have liked the Fiend gimmick more. While we’re dreaming about video game rosters, I’m gonna hope for individual licenses for retired puro legends like Hansen, Kobashi, Kawada, Maeda, Tenryu, et al. My guaranteed purchase probably wouldn’t make up the cost, but it’s a start.

Little things, but: I love that we can now draw an in-ring line of “alt-kids’ favorite wrestler who sits weirdly in the corner” from Raven to Punk to Darby, and that they cribbed the “the kid got me” head nod from Bret/1-2-3 Kid. And I’m really happy that, although he wasn’t the first choice and got overshadowed, Kojima got this spot, showed well, and got a really good reaction. And his twitter indicates he’s really happy, too.

He lives in America, so there are COVID complications.

The only thing I can speculate is that large venues are willing to give steep discounts to anyone willing to run them right now, and/or New Japan thinks they’ll have some favors in hand when things return to normal.

There’s a path to move forward from brutal MMA losses while still incorporating elements of that in your pro wrestling, and if AEW thinks most of its fans know their Nagata, Takara, Shibata, et al., maybe that’s a needle they/Punk could try to thread. But I don’t think they will, or should.

A thing I can't figure out about Darby/Punk, is whether Sting's promo about not being ringside is blatant lampshading, foreshadowing, or legitimately just a way to keep the focus 100% on the match, and not even tease the slightest possibility of interference. I'm virtually certain it's the latter. But of course the trope is that anytime you're promised that interference can't and isn't happening, it definitely is. And no one was thinking that Sting was going to get involved anyway. And even if you did want him to leave ringside, he could have just done it, rather than promising that he would ahead of time. (But I really do think there's nothing to be made of all this, that Punk will win a competitive, clean match.) As for Jericho, I think it's interesting that TK mentioned the cruise isn't an official AEW event. So, Jericho could keep booking himself even if he loses. I'm not convinced that a lack of title changes matters, here. The theory that there should be one is mostly to make the crowd feel they saw something important, and got an "I was there moment" worth erupting for and remembering. They're going to get Punk's first match at the very least, and maybe an enormous debut or two also, which I think fulfills that emotional register.

Nothing that stands out as a MOTYC, but a ton of his New Japan work is on YouTube (episodes 14 and 15 of Strong have singles matches), and is consistently smart and solid, and there’s an indie singles match against Jacob Fatu that’s also on YouTube.

He's established himself as something of an anchor for New Japan's US shows, and has signed with the company. I'm not sure if, pandemic aside, he'd be touring in Japan; but if that happens of course it will raise his profile more, and maybe he could have a Juice Robinson type second act. (Though he's a few years older.)

Sure, there’s a big difference between New Japan’s model and the US independent scene. But so too is there a big difference between that model and anything WWE has done, or might do. Anyway, I don’t think anyone is objecting to the idea that WWE should look to sign impressive athletes and train them in their house-style. They unequivocally should do that. The objection is to the idea that the company should only do that, and (maybe, apparently) totally neglect other means of acquiring talent.

Assuming you’re talking about New Japan, I don’t think this comparison holds. Okada, Ishii, Suzuki, Ibushi, SANADA, Shingo, Ospreay, ZSJ, et al, all trained elsewhere before working in New Japan. Naito and Tanahashi were dojo grads, but the former spent years in Mexico (as part of the excursion system and then a repackage), and Tanahashi worked extensively in NOAH and AJPW. They haven’t developed their main eventers in a bubble historically either, as everyone either went on excursions or toured with other companies.

Punk, 16 years ago on Livejournal, reviews the Kobashi/Sasaki chop-battle, sounding every bit like you'd expect, complete with an XxX straight-edge post-signature.

Reportedly, the plan is to tape Rampage after Dynamite, except on special occasions. So that's less travel. (Though maybe presents a challenge in pacing, for the TV audience vs the live audience.)

Davey Richards, Anthony Henry, and Fred Rosser (fka Darren Young) are three more.

My guess is they don't want to do Mox/Suzuki, since it would be a rematch. But yeah, US fans would like that better. If nothing else you get to belt out Kaze Ni Nare. Akiyama actually doesn't work for NOAH (hasn't since 2012), but DDT... which has the same parent company as NOAH, granted. Omega was going to have a match against Endo, and Takeshita wrestled on Dark, so it seemed like that was maybe going to be the partnership before New Japan signed on. Now that they have, I don't think they would want the Cyberfight folks getting further US exposure.

KENTA also tweeted that he had COVID (he's better now) and he's sorry for any change of plans that caused, so maybe he was the back-up plan for Tanahashi, and Kojima is now the third choice. And of course, Kojima himself is now tweeting that he knows he's "not famous to wrestling fans around the world", which is kind of a downer. But I'm confident that he and Mox can lariat, chop, and generally welt eachother for 10 minutes and bring folks around.

Fwiw, Braun implied being in Chicago, too, and he could appear on Dynamite without signing with AEW, if the below is true.

There’s something to be said for galvanizing your base. If you sign Cole and then don’t feature him, your core fans may happily follow him to ROH, or they may resent the fact that he traded one minor league for another. I think they would want to see him “in the show” for a little, first. And of course I imagine Cole would like that, too. As for how he’d do on WWE’s main roster... he’s always been a pretty good smarmy promo, is willing to do any kind of comedy, everyone loves working with him, and he’s got a catch phrase people like. I think he’d be a valuable utility player around the IC/tag range, yeah. But I don’t think he passes the “stand next to Randy Orton and look like a superstar to Vince” test, nor does he have any S-tier skills to elevate himself despite that.

A quasi-territorial relationship with other promotions, allowing you to rotate guys in and out (and even give real time off) would probably be best for everyone. (Especially if we ever get the pandemic under control, and Mexico and Japan become real options.) That said, I can't imagine AEW would bring in Cole and not feature him prominently for a little while on their own shows--especially if Omega does take some time off after dropping the title, Jericho keeps stepping further back, etc. I think they've got room for him, even with Punk and Danielson. (And hey, Britt is already speculating on her and "somebody else" facing Punk and AJ in a mixed tag--not that I think that's likely.)

This has been pointed out many times, and for a long time, but turning Becky in this way illustrates the 'writing vs booking' tension pretty clearly. From a writer's perspective, this could be a consistent and interesting development of Becky's character: her star ascendancy began with an unexpected attack on Charlotte, was fueled by her continuing to transgress, and culminated in taking an injured wrestler's spot in the Royal Rumble after she'd already lost that night. That she would take advantage of the vacancy Sasha made and Bianca's naivete makes sense. And it gives Bianca -- supremely physically gifted -- a psychological hurdle to overcome. Only, as much as WWE might occasionally insist and operate otherwise, wrestling isn't a scripted drama like any other, and you can't write characters/stories as if it is.

I think it's also just the way archetypes and the critical vocabulary that results develops and atrophies over time, in the same way that "Kafkaesque" has been about the least useful thing you can say about a surreal or nightmarish piece of prose fiction for years.

If Punk had moved needles as much as The Rock did and does, Triple H never could have called him skinny-fat. (This is dumb but it was also a lay-up. I'm still sorry.)