Niners Fan in CT

Someone take me through how this happened. I'm 5-years old. So WCW did 41,000 for Goldberg vs. Hogan and they were red hot. They were selling out arenas, the TV ratings were bonkers, the merchandise was flying off the shelves. Everyone had an nWo t-shirt. Obviously AEW in the U.S. isn't as hot as WCW once was. I know ratings don't mean everything, a lot has changed but everyone knew people who were watching WCW during that period. They were household names. Did WCW top out at 41,000 just because of the market? Atlanta? Was it because of short notice? It feels like all metrics would suggest that WCW should have been able to have sold out stadium shows. WWF had done it. Some Japanese promotions had done it.

I want to see the Panthers vs. Kraken. Rats and squids.

I'll bite. While I agree that the whole Pillars thing has been a fail and nobody cares about it, AEW is currently facing the stiffest competition they have in a long time. The NHL Playoffs are doing good numbers and the NBA Playoffs are doing the best numbers they've seen in YEARS. So, I think there's other factors at play. If your reply is "but WWE did.." listen SD! is doing great numbers but it's also on network TV. People who are cord cutters aren't going to be watching sports on cable because they don't have cable. Also, you say the sky is falling but is it really? Forbidden Door sold out in a day. Wembley Stadium has sold 50,000 tickets in three days. They are about to do a MASSIVE gate at that show. The brand isn't suffering too badly. They just need to tighten up some of these stories they are telling.

50,000 sold. Jeeeesus. I thought 35K-40K would have been spectacular for them. Now it's looking like they may do north of 60K or more. Insane numbers. I hope Tony still puts a really good card together. I don't think 60k+ want to watch Sammy Guevara.

I was thinking Ospreay and ZSJ would have spots on the show and they might but there's some big matches they can put on there. CM Punk vs. Omega would be a big fight feel. CM Punk vs. Bryan hasn't happened in years, that would feel like a big deal too.

I thought the Enzo/Cass shit was hilarious. I guess I wouldn't say it was "good" but we had pretty good seats so I filmed the whole thing and we were laughing like crazy back at the hotel room. Taven winning fucking sucked though, spot on.

Huh? I was at the NJPW/ROH MSG show. It was a great time.

https://twitter.com/WorldFightFans/status/1445893688614346752

Jesus... 35K is a tremendous number for that presale. Everyone called him crazy but Tony did it.

Forget the AEW vs. WWE discussion for a minute. If you haven't watched Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom, go do that. Then get ready for NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 30. Then get ready for NJPW Resurgence in a few weeks.

So Bianca's year+ reign is going to end because she was drafted? That would suck..

I think Cody with the new belt makes him and the new belt look really bad. Will most people care? No of course not. He'll continue to sell a shit load of merch and life goes on. But is it poor writing? Yeah, absolutely. He needs to beat Roman. Furthermore, when he cut the promo about his Dad never winning the WWE title, he was talking about the WWE title. He wasn't talking about a new title. His father was several times over the NWA champion. This is about the title his Dad never won.

The actual "Draft' was a joke. Minimal effort. Felt very much like a McMahon produced feature. No rhyme or reason for most of what was happening. Hunter says "they are deliberating in the back." Who is? Adam Pearce? Teddy Long? Who are making these decisions. Well, we never find out who or why. Also, Cody being drafted to RAW. So then tell me, How is he going to "finish the story" on a show where Roman Reigns is not? I was all for giving them a chance to see where the Cody thing goes but it's just looking like a huge blown opportunity. Business is great right now so I guess it doesn't matter to most but I like the shows to make some sense and have proper payoffs and it's starting to feel like the old WWE is back.

Did Bret Hart ever have a singles match vs. Marty Jannetty?

I don't know if Mercedes is winning that tournament (I guess I would assume she is) but my initial thought is the belt is being made specifically for her so she can carry around a NJPW title to different promotions and Hollywood red carpets without having to wrestle a heavy schedule in Japan. That's my guess. If she had signed a lengthy deal then maybe they just keep the IWGP title on her. I could see Mercedes getting her wish to go wrestle down in Mexico some and then possibly appear on Forbidden Door and/or All In.

The Booking of the Pillars fatal 4 way is nearing the height of convoluted bullshit. I'd expect that out of say the last ten years of Vince McMahon but at one time AEW was better than that.

You forgot Kane.

I'll start with the good. I don't hate the design of the new World Heavyweight Title. I think it's their best looking one, which low bar there but I dig the inspiration behind it, it does look a little like the Big Gold. I also don't hate the idea of split titles if the brand split is a legitimate one. But now to the bad. My god man... three fucking world titles? We are back to square one. Roman unified the belts a little over a year ago so what do they do, they just ADD another title.. How about just beat Roman for the belts at some point and then split them up? Because let's be honest here... the title holder is going to be a paper champion until Roman actually loses a damn match. Nobody is going to think that person is a world champion. I'll laugh like hell if they put this belt on Cody. That would be awful. But I'll cry if it's Brock Lesnar or fucking Goldberg or somebody.

I saw Giulia speaking English, she seems to be fluent? Or at least pretty decent. I don't want her anywhere near WWE while Vince is hovering around. I don't trust it. I'm perfectly fine with Giulia and Mercedes both staying in the NJPW/Stardom fold and never leaving. Just keep building up women's wrestling around the world. They just did 5500+ fans last night. I think that's even more than the 'Evolution' PPV that was headlined by Charlotte and Becky. Edit: Actually, I don't think it's more than 'Evolution' but it's certainly the most for an all-women's promotion in a long time.

I'm hearing the Stardom show did monster business in terms of live gate and also PPVs.

Mercedes? Her two matches in NJPW are up on NJPW World. Sakura Genesis was streamed live on the service as well.

Is Mercedes vs. Mayu II confirmed now for the Long Beach show or are these tweets going around just speculation? Maybe they went 13 minutes because they knew they were saving stuff for a 25-minute showdown in Cali.

When I was a kid I met Strongbow at a tiny little indy show and he autographed a picture and gave it to me, no charge. I thought it was cool.

Attendance announced at a little over 5500. This is Stardom's highest attendance of all time. Also, here's Mercedes entrance.

I only watched the top matches, there's just no way I can commit the 5+ hours. I'm no Stardom expert, I do realize Tam Nakano and Giulia have a blood feud and Tam's been on the chase but I was surprised they did the change here. First of all, it was an excellent hard hitting match as expected. Tam and Giulia both looked awesome, their star power is off the charts. It was a shortish run for Giulia though who I view as their current biggest star so I'm wondering where she goes from here. Mercedes vs. Mayu was good but at 13 minutes, a little on the brief side. I think they have a classic in them but they weren't given the chance here. Mercedes took some BRUTAL strikes and suplexes. Her own suplexes to Mayu have never looked better, she's doing the Bret Hart style launch yourself backwards on the follow through and the ring was CRACKING. Finish was nasty but again it felt abrupt. What can I say about Mercedes entrance attire. Black Tiger tribute was fucking incredible. It's amazing how over she was already after only a couple appearances. The crowd is chanting "C-E-O!!!". They shared an awesome moment after the match as well. Was Mayu winning here the right decision? Yeah, probably. Mercedes has reportedly signed an extension but Mayu is their Tanahashi and the longterm IWGP champion should probably be someone who is never leaving.