AEW - MAY 2025

[Casey]

The last thing I heard about Priscilla & Darby is her talking about how and why they divorced (mutual) and that they're still friends. That was, like, 5 years ago, but still. Darby & Eleyna had words on Twitter when he said she was a skater poser or something and she clapped back mentioning the abuse allegations against him by Hawlee Cromwell.

[twiztor]

17 minutes ago, just drew said:

I also re-iterate what I said earlier; women's tag titles.

it would be a pretty cool advancement if, for example, the AEW TBS Champion and the ROH Women's TV champion just started teaming up and their individual titles just kind of became tag team titles.

Has something like that happened anywhere before?

[just drew]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

The last thing I heard about Priscilla & Darby is her talking about how and why they divorced (mutual) and that they're still friends. That was, like, 5 years ago, but still. Darby & Eleyna had words on Twitter when he said she was a skater poser or something and she clapped back mentioning the abuse allegations against him by Hawlee Cromwell.

Ah, gotcha. I can't always keep this stuff straight. One of the news aggregators implied that Elayna might've no-showed an AEW Dark booking around the time WWE signed her. If true, that could be an issue, but TK seems less petty than some other CEO types...

[SovietShooter]

As someone that does not watch any WWE at all, I have no interest in seeing any of these recently released folks show up in AEW.

Nothing against any of these folks, but none of them are really "needle movers", and AEW has enough folks that I am interested in that are not getting tv time. I mean, bring them in to ROH or whatever and see what they can do (like MxM), but I'm good with Gates of Agony and Queen Aminata getting more time.

[stuntmanc]

Seeing Abadon not get her contract renewed while bringing in recently released WWE talent would rub me the wrong way, unless I missed that it was Abadon's choice?  I'd much rather see them put her in a more prominent role, be it in ROH or AEW than cora Jade/Dakota Kai or Bayszler and I'm a fan of all three.

[Craig H]

35 minutes ago, SovietShooter said:

As someone that does not watch any WWE at all, I have no interest in seeing any of these recently released folks show up in AEW.

Nothing against any of these folks, but none of them are really "needle movers", and AEW has enough folks that I am interested in that are not getting tv time. I mean, bring them in to ROH or whatever and see what they can do (like MxM), but I'm good with Gates of Agony and Queen Aminata getting more time.

Toni Storm wasn’t a needle mover either until given the chance.

[The Natural]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJQg-7pvM6T/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_mid=51920239-6AA8-4489-A563-06642E1913D9

Darby Allin kickflip during Mount Everest climb.

[Kevin Wilson]

Switching gears a bit but does anyone want to take a guess at what they are doing with MJF? It feels like there is a long term plan for what they are doing (I don't mean years down the road but with the current Hurt Syndicate back-and-forth) but I can't figure out for sure what the timeline and ultimate goal is. Like many I thought this was just a way to get MJF a faction again and to feud against the Hurt Syndicate but FTR has their own feuds going on and nothing has been hinted in that direction. I keep thinking at some point they will want to "heat up" MJF back to challenging for the world title but maybe they are waiting on that after Mox loses the belt/the DR story is done which could be six months or a year down the road so they are keeping him busy elsewhere.

Common sense would say this feud ends with MJF vs. Lashley at a PPV with MJF and his new friends going over to get MJF back over the hump into the main event scene, but they are going really slow with it and TK does sometimes go so slow with storylines that either the crowd loses interest or they end without a real conclusion as things go back to the status quo. So I hope here there is a definite plan and a timeline for it, I have no issue with the storyline but would just rather it not drag out for months.

[Craig H]

13 minutes ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Switching gears a bit but does anyone want to take a guess at what they are doing with MJF? It feels like there is a long term plan for what they are doing (I don't mean years down the road but with the current Hurt Syndicate back-and-forth) but I can't figure out for sure what the timeline and ultimate goal is. Like many I thought this was just a way to get MJF a faction again and to feud against the Hurt Syndicate but FTR has their own feuds going on and nothing has been hinted in that direction. I keep thinking at some point they will want to "heat up" MJF back to challenging for the world title but maybe they are waiting on that after Mox loses the belt/the DR story is done which could be six months or a year down the road so they are keeping him busy elsewhere.

Common sense would say this feud ends with MJF vs. Lashley at a PPV with MJF and his new friends going over to get MJF back over the hump into the main event scene, but they are going really slow with it and TK does sometimes go so slow with storylines that either the crowd loses interest or they end without a real conclusion as things go back to the status quo. So I hope here there is a definite plan and a timeline for it, I have no issue with the storyline but would just rather it not drag out for months.

FTR being heated up again at the same time as this MJF and HB story made me think we’re going to get Lashley finally relenting and giving Max the thumbs up only for MJF to give him the thumbs down and his old Pinnacle running mates, FTR, beat the shit out of THB and stuff piledrive MVP. Plus you just had FTR talking about getting the tag titles back so that seems like the direction in my head maybe as soon as Beach Break.

[Craig H]

Oh, and MJF will ultimately have to get through Lashley to get his title shot against Hangman. Hangman and MJF feels like the bigger story that’s currently simmering, but if Hanger wins the title, I don’t see him dropping it to MJF. Seems like it will wind up being a big match with a lot of history and a lot of ways to spin off MJF and Hangman afterwards. MJF to Lashley for a blowoff to their feud and Hangman to Ospreay most likely.

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, just drew said:

Priscilla has a pretty dark past with Darby Allin, right? I could see that being an issue, but if it isn't I wholeheartedly agree.

 

2 hours ago, just drew said:

Ah, gotcha. I can't always keep this stuff straight. One of the news aggregators implied that Elayna might've no-showed an AEW Dark booking around the time WWE signed her. If true, that could be an issue, but TK seems less petty than some other CEO types...

Speaking of prospective woman wrestlers maybe not getting an AEW shot because of old beef with guys on the show...how much of a grudge is Jericho holding with Shotzi?  He was pretty butthurt when she sent that Tweet making fun of his Blood and Guts fall onto cardboard.

[Fighting a man with a perm]

52 minutes ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Switching gears a bit but does anyone want to take a guess at what they are doing with MJF? It feels like there is a long term plan for what they are doing (I don't mean years down the road but with the current Hurt Syndicate back-and-forth) but I can't figure out for sure what the timeline and ultimate goal is. Like many I thought this was just a way to get MJF a faction again and to feud against the Hurt Syndicate but FTR has their own feuds going on and nothing has been hinted in that direction. I keep thinking at some point they will want to "heat up" MJF back to challenging for the world title but maybe they are waiting on that after Mox loses the belt/the DR story is done which could be six months or a year down the road so they are keeping him busy elsewhere.

Common sense would say this feud ends with MJF vs. Lashley at a PPV with MJF and his new friends going over to get MJF back over the hump into the main event scene, but they are going really slow with it and TK does sometimes go so slow with storylines that either the crowd loses interest or they end without a real conclusion as things go back to the status quo. So I hope here there is a definite plan and a timeline for it, I have no issue with the storyline but would just rather it not drag out for months.

In one of the earlier Collision appearances after the FTR turn (3/4 weeks ago), Schiavone definitely used the word "pinnacle" to describe how terrible FTR were.

[Ramo2653]

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

FTR being heated up again at the same time as this MJF and HB story made me think we’re going to get Lashley finally relenting and giving Max the thumbs up only for MJF to give him the thumbs down and his old Pinnacle running mates, FTR, beat the shit out of THB and stuff piledrive MVP. Plus you just had FTR talking about getting the tag titles back so that seems like the direction in my head maybe as soon as Beach Break.

My only counter to that would be that FTR gave an interview or responded to a tweet about working with MJF and it wasn't glowing. They could have just been working at the time but it's something I remembered.

[SovietShooter]

I think the big thing to keep in mind is that All In is only a few months away now, so we should be building to some big matches for that card. 

I am not sure where they are going with Christian/Nick Wayne, but if the plan is to do E&C vs FTR at All In, we should be getting something in that direction soon. 

MJF w/ Hurt Business, I fear, is going to end up in a feud with the Disputed. There is just not another Babyface tag team right now to credibly challenge them. 

Not sure what the plan is for the Bucks... If we're getting Kenny vs Okada, they need a match.

 

[TheVileOne]

I kind of want to see a feature documentary about Darby Allin climbing Everest. I hope his whole process is being documented.

[Kevin Wilson]

19 minutes ago, SovietShooter said:

MJF w/ Hurt Business, I fear, is going to end up in a feud with the Disputed. There is just not another Babyface tag team right now to credibly challenge them. 

I think it will end up with a double turn, or a turn, depending on what you feel MJF's current heel/face alignment is. The crowd already kinda likes Hurt Syndicate and they don't really do overly heel things anyway in-ring so I think whatever ends up happening for All In they won't be the bad guys by then.

[Matt D]

It's really striking watching Ricochet next to the Bucks. One's willing to make himself the butt of the jokes and the other comes off as needing to make sure everyone knows they're in on the joke and laughing with you. Huge difference. 

[Casey]

4 hours ago, Craig H said:

Toni Storm wasn’t a needle mover either until given the chance.

Swerve is another good shout. Christian is doing some of the best work he’s ever done, and even when he first came in was having great matches with Omega. In the short amount of time it lasted, Miro did the best stuff he’s ever done. Ruby Soho proved that what she was in WWE doesn’t define what you can be somewhere else.

It’s just weird to me that people don’t want “ex WWE people”. I love Queen Aminata too, but she’s mainly ROH, and is probably first in line for the Pure title. They have two main AEW shows, and ROH. There’s no reason they can’t expand their women’s division besides TK not wanting to book more women’s segments per show. I hate current NXT but the proof is there, you can do multiple women’s segments on one show and still have time for the men.

I love Penelope (and the Bunny when she was there) but they aren’t exactly Dean Malenko in the ring. Shayna and Dakota run circles around them. Eleyna & Priscilla have more untapped upside, IMO.

Like, seriously - I feel like Eleyna/Cora is a HUGE fucking fumble on WWE’s part. Her and Roxxane could’ve been the “new” Trish & Lita.

[zendragon]

2300 Arena In Philadelphia To Host AEW Residency

[NoFistsJustFlips]

This same topic comes up every times there's releases. Good talent is good talent. Limiting who you pick up because of where they previously worked is dumb. Take in everyone you think is good enough to improve your show.

Cora & Dakota are, in my opinion, performers that would help your show. But the counter argument to this is how few matches AEW run on a given week. So if you only have room to feature 8 women a week and you already have 30 on your roster, justifying adding 2 more gets tough.

Edited May 5 by NoFistsJustFlips

[twiztor]

7 minutes ago, Casey said:

It’s just weird to me that people don’t want “ex WWE people”.

not singling you out, @Casey, just quoting you as yours is the most recent post about this. \
I think the big thing is that "ex-WWE" has become the shorthand for a variety of different things.

• longtime WWE talent (i.e. Edge)
• talent that has only existed in the WWE system (who we've presumably seen throughout their various stages of development) (think back to when "cookie cutter" was a somewhat valid criticism)
• talent coming in doing the exact same character they did in WWE
• talent who were overpushed in WWE so now coming in on top (the worries about Braun Strowman)
• midcarders who were "held back" or had a reputation that they would shine "without WWE constraint" (the aforementioned Swerve and Toni)

i think everybody has their line of what they would personally accept or not accept, but they're all referred to by the same "WWE castoff" tag. And that's not even counting performers who were solid if unspectacular. I don't know any of this latest round of releases, so i don't know which category i would see them as. But i wish we could stop using this shorthand to dismiss anybody that has ever worked for the company. I don't think anybody means it that way.

[COLETTI]

While I find it weird that this conversation happens every time there's a few releases and despite that AEW has never signed every name out there, I'm also willing to give most anybody a chance to try something new and come on over. Not everybody's gonna be a home run but why not see what could happen? Toni Storm has been mentioned a few times and while I've always been a fan and had high hopes for her, NOBODY could have predicted how amazing she'd end up being with this character. 

...but also sign every one of them if it means no money for fucking Gabe Kidd /wishfulthinking

[SovietShooter]

2 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

So if you only have room to feature 8 women a week and you already have 30 on your roster, justifying adding 2 more gets tough.

This is my position.  AEW didn't have enough time for Abaddon or Layla Hirsch, and I would love to see folks like Penelope Ford, Deonna Purazzo and Serena Deeb more than they are featured... not even considering folks like Athena, Red Velvet and Billie Starks toiling over in ROH purgatory. I'm not saying don't take a look at someone that may have some potential, but none of them are worth signing and rushing into Dynamite like they are a big deal. 

2 hours ago, Casey said:

It’s just weird to me that people don’t want “ex WWE people”.

To me, it isn't about being ex-WWE (well, maybe a little).  For example, if for whatever reason Gunther/Walter were available, I would be salivating. But I have no interest in seeing a guy like the Miz. I like watching the in-ring action, so a lot of the guys that don't have workrate bonafides, I'm not really interested in seeing.  And honestly, Edge falls in that category for me, but I have been pleasantly surprised by his ring work in his AEW run.

 

2 hours ago, twiztor said:

 

• longtime WWE talent (i.e. Edge)
• talent that has only existed in the WWE system (who we've presumably seen throughout their various stages of development) (think back to when "cookie cutter" was a somewhat valid criticism)
• talent coming in doing the exact same character they did in WWE
• talent who were overpushed in WWE so now coming in on top (the worries about Braun Strowman)
• midcarders who were "held back" or had a reputation that they would shine "without WWE constraint" (the aforementioned Swerve and Toni)

I agree with this breakdown.  The three middle categories are the ones that I would be most leery of signing, which are predominantly folks that haven't proven they can work outside the WWE environment.  For lack of a better way to say it, they are unproven commodities. Guys that picked up a solid rep on the indies or abroad get me more excited than some dude like Strowman; But if he wants to come in and do some jobs and then toil in ROH for awhile (like Big Bill did) to prove they can work, then fine. They just don't need to debut in a big spot like signing them is a big deal. 

[Technico Support]

One category @twiztor missed in this excellent breakdown: guys who see AEW as beneath them but want to make some money while they wait for WWE to bring them back.  Unfortunately, there’s no telling who belongs in this group until they’re turning down booking ideas, refusing to do jobs, or trying to fight Sammy Guevara.

[Casey]

2 hours ago, SovietShooter said:

This is my position.  AEW didn't have enough time for Abaddon or Layla Hirsch, and I would love to see folks like Penelope Ford, Deonna Purazzo and Serena Deeb more than they are featured... not even considering folks like Athena, Red Velvet and Billie Starks toiling over in ROH purgatory. I'm not saying don't take a look at someone that may have some potential, but none of them are worth signing and rushing into Dynamite like they are a big deal. 

To me, it isn't about being ex-WWE (well, maybe a little).  For example, if for whatever reason Gunther/Walter were available, I would be salivating. But I have no interest in seeing a guy like the Miz. I like watching the in-ring action, so a lot of the guys that don't have workrate bonafides, I'm not really interested in seeing.  And honestly, Edge falls in that category for me, but I have been pleasantly surprised by his ring work in his AEW run.

 

I agree with this breakdown.  The three middle categories are the ones that I would be most leery of signing, which are predominantly folks that haven't proven they can work outside the WWE environment.  For lack of a better way to say it, they are unproven commodities. Guys that picked up a solid rep on the indies or abroad get me more excited than some dude like Strowman; But if he wants to come in and do some jobs and then toil in ROH for awhile (like Big Bill did) to prove they can work, then fine. They just don't need to debut in a big spot like signing them is a big deal. 

Sure, but no one is advocating for AEW to sign the female equivalent of The Miz. It's Priscilla Kelley, Shotzi, Shayna, Evie and/or Eleyna Black. It's not like someone here is clamoring for Tony to sign Mandy Rose or some shit. The three middle categories don't apply to anyone mentioned. No one is suggesting Jakara Jackson get a spot and potentially push out Penelope Ford or something (but - it's funny you love workrate, since uhhhhh... well, that's not there). Probably an unpopular opinion because a lot of people have attachment to pandemic era Dark regulars, but AEW didn't have enough time for Abadon or Layla Hirsch because, brutal honesty here, they either sucked or were in the "watching paint dry boring" category.

If fucking Shawn Michaels can make the NXT women's division work with 2 hours of TV time (and more women on his roster!), TK has no excuse other than he doesn't want to when he was double that amount of time (triple if you include ROH).

Edited May 6 by Casey