WWE has got to a point where they don't have a lot of BAD matches, but they don't really strive for the type of insanely athletic matches that blow away the hardcore fans, such as what we saw in the G1. WWE is very strong in production value, but too often skews toward spectacle over substance (which there's an audience for, but it's not really me). If AEW can just provide an alternative that's a little more competition-focused with straightforward storylines, I think it can be a successful alternative.

I am very curious to see how the draft shakes things up. Becky has been on all of the Smackdown advertisements, I imagine she has to be going over to Fox. Would they really move her there and keep Seth on Raw? Or do they have Seth, Roman, and Brock all on Smackdown? If so, who becomes top face on Raw?

Does AEW think Jack Swagger is a draw? I think I might disagree with that?

Didn't see tonight's WWE Hell in a Cell show, but a friend of mine who watches everything emailed me. After the poorly-booked ending to tonight's Rollins-Fiend main event-- a disqualification in a "No DQ" match-- the crowd was chanting "AEW, AEW."

Not having seen it occur live, there's no way I'll ever get to hear the chant in any replay clips ever.

Season 2 of the show, which goes behind the scenes of some of the most controversial stories in pro wrestling, will debut on March 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The two-hour season premiere will delve into the story of Chris Benoit, who killed his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, in 2007 before committing suicide. The episode will feature interview’s with Benoit’s family and friends, including his other son, David, and Sandra Toffoloni, Nancy Benoit’s sister.

The season will also feature episodes on: the murder of Dino Bravo; the “Brawl for All” tournament that led to career-ending injuries; the career of ECW star New Jack; David Schultz’s violent run-in with a 20/20 reporter; the death of Nancy Argentino, Jimmy Snuka’s girlfirend; the story of tag team wrestling legends Hawk and Animal; Herb Abrams’ attempt to build a wrestling empire; and the story of Owen Hart’s death during a WWE pay-per-view.

Herb Abrams’ attempt to build a wrestling empire

the career of ECW star New Jack

Due to the virus, Wrestlemania is now going to take place in an empty training facility with no fans in attendance.

The only episode they've done in the two seasons that was kinda meh was the New Jack one which is pretty much just that he's out of control.

The Brawl for All episodes was probably as light as it gets for the show (no murder), but I dug it for a nostalgia kick. Have been avoiding the Benoit two-parter. Life is depressing enough, Vice TV!!

Chris Jericho @IAmJericho
Im not a political person, but is it strange to anybody else, that for the first time ever, we have to wait a day...2 days...5 days...10 days...to find out who won the the presidential race?

Lance Storm @LanceStorm
The 2000 election took a month to finally be decided. Not exactly the first time ever. I cut promos about this in WCW.

Bully Ray @bullyray5150
Its Sunday ... you know what that means.

#RIPBrodieLee

We lost a good brother.

If you’re a wrestling fan of my generation, your fandom is marked by obituaries; moments of sadness and terror and existential dilemma. The majority of them, even the tragic ones, didn’t give me that same shock that Owen’s death did. Maybe I was inured to it. To a large extent there was an otherness to them, even as they became recurrent. The comings and goings of wrestlers from our televisions throughout our lives made it feel like they continued to exist in some vague faraway territory, slugging on even after their deaths. But there are some moments when the shock climbs up onto my shoulders again. This Saturday was one of them, when word came down about Jon Huber’s death. He was 41 years old, in the prime of his career and, more importantly, his life.
...
I know now there’s nothing more remarkable, more heroic, than the way Jon Huber lived his life, and the way he never had to enter the wrestling ring to accomplish it. You can see it in every tribute written about him, like the one by his old partner Erick Redbeard (formerly Erick Rowan): “He would always look forward to getting home to his family. After every loop he would say to me, ‘Goodbye forever,’ because he would want his one or two days with them, to feel like forever.”

A&E Network and WWE Studios are giving fans the ultimate ringside seat in an all-new Sunday night programming partnership, with eight original two-hour documentaries showcasing the stories behind some of the most memorable WWE Superstars including Stone Cold Steve Austin®, "Macho Man" Randy Savage®, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper™, Booker T®, Shawn Michaels®, Bret Hart, Mick Foley and Ultimate Warrior. Each special will air weekly at 8pm ET/PT, starting with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on Sunday, April 18. #WWEonAE​​​

The writers of the series said they may tackle Chris Adams & the Freebirds for future episodes since they have been picked up for a fourth season

The match—if you can even call it one—consisted of Lane throwing a few stiff punches at New Jack, who then pulled out what he called a “Wolverine-type claw” and began stabbing his opponent. New Jack even cut his own arm so deeply he had to go to the hospital.

The story, like Erich Kulas’s before it, had a few additional twists and turns. This time, New Jack was arrested and his fans raised money to pay his bail, only to have Lane drop the charges in exchange for New Jack promising to train and perhaps even feud with him in the future. New Jack, more interested in survival and self-respect than anything else, swerved everyone: He didn’t lift a finger to train Lane, and he pocketed the money that the fans gave him for bail. “It was some of the easiest money I’d ever made,” he recalled.

Patches Chance @patcheschance
Still losing my mind over Nick Gage with the pizza cutter then DOMINOS WITH THE PIZZA CUTTER?! #AEWDynamite
https://twitter.com/patcheschance/status/1420569568901218304

For most of my life, I thought I was crazy.

Nuts. Insane. Psychotic. Violent. Sick.

“Oh, come on, Eddie. You’re bullshitting. This is a work. We get it. It’s part of the character.”

My guy, you really don’t understand. I’ve been out of my mind since before I can remember.

...
To be honest with you, the only thing that kept me from getting depressed was wrestling. I either had to be fighting in the neighborhood, or sitting at home watching a match. Otherwise, I’d fall into a depression. Back then, I didn’t even have the words for it. I was trying to be such a hard-ass that I didn’t want to hear about no mental health, no therapists, no feelings.

“Depression? The f*ck is a depression?”
...
I was sick. I hated myself. I would sit at home drinking whiskey, watching guys who I’d come up with in the indies wrestling on national TV in the big promotions, and I’d just sit and stew until I blew up. I’d punch holes in the walls. I’d smash bottles. I was a danger to myself and others. One week, I ended up going on a bender that was so bad that I just kind of disappeared. I was supposed to be doing shows and I just didn’t show up. I smashed my cell phone and no one could get ahold of me. People were scared that I was dead. I woke up one afternoon and there were just beer bottles smashed everywhere in my apartment.

The Mets are hiring an Associate Analyst in Baseball Analytics

Knowledge of baseball not required

ROH held its “Final Battle” pay per view on Saturday night, and while the promotion has made noise about reorganizing and restarting in 2022, it seems likely that it has run its final show. In honor (pun intended) of that potential farewell, here is a list of (some of) the greatest (and/or most significant, for a variety of reasons) matches in the company’s 20-year history (in one man’s humble opinion).
...
Homicide vs. Steve Corino, 8/16/03
My pick for the greatest match in the promotion’s history, this wasn’t athleticism, workrate, and flashy action—this was an ugly, bloody, violent fight, much more reminiscent of classic 1980s territorial wrestling brawls then the athletic wrestling ROH is known for. By the end of this match both men and the entire ring mat were covered in claret, Corino had a broken eardrum, and Homicide had driven himself full force into the guardrail

zack @sohosquad

ace steel got on national tv for the first time with his best friend, dropped the #### word on tv in one of the best promos in aew history, knocked out nick jackson with a chair and might get fired from the company

all in the span of a single week

Punk also went after Adam Page, the Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega. “What did I ever do in this world to get to deserve an empty-headed, ####### dumb #### like ‘Hangman’ Adam Page to go out on national television and ####### go into business for himself,” Punk asked. “For what? What did I ever do? I didn’t do a ####### thing!”
...
Punk continued by saying, “There’s people who call themselves EVPs that should have ####### known better. This #### was none of their business. I understand sticking up for your ####### friends. I ####### get it. I stuck up for that guy [Colton] more than anybody. I paid his bills until I didn’t and it was my decision not to. When somebody [Page] who hasn’t done a damn thing in this business jeopardizes the first million-dollar house that this company has ever drawn off of my back and goes on national television and does that, it’s a disgrace to this industry. It’s a disgrace to this company. Now, we’re far beyond apologies. I gave him a ####### chance. It did not get handled and you saw what I had to do, which is very regrettable, lowering myself to his ####### level, but that’s where we’re at right now.”
...
Punk also verbally attacked Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks during his Sunday comments: “Now, it’s 2022. I haven’t been friends with this guy since at least 2014, late 2013, and the fact that I have to sit up here because we have irresponsible people who call themselves EVPs yet they couldn’t ####### manage a Target and they spread lies and bullshit and put into the media that I got somebody fired when I have #### all to do with him. I want nothing to do with him. I do not care where he works or where he doesn’t work, where he eats, where he sleeps. The fact that I have to get up here and do this in 2022 is ####### embarrassing.”

After what could have been a new high in one of the most eventful wrestling careers of the 21st century—winning his company’s world title at a pay-per-view in his hometown of Chicago—All Elite Wrestling’s CM Punk decided instead to light a match inside a promotion with a gas leak. And what happened after his inflammatory press conference, though the details still remain in dispute, turned what could have been a celebratory weekend into the most troubled in AEW’s young history.

Later on in the post-show scrum, after Punk was gone, those gathered saw a running security guard. According to multiple reports, he was moving toward an altercation between Punk and his old friend/AEW producer Ace Steel on one side and the Young Bucks and another top AEW star in Kenny Omega, who’ve long been associated with Adam Page, on the other. There’s disagreement on who started the fight, but consensus that Punk punched Matt Jackson and Steel threw a chair at Nick Jackson, bit Omega, and pulled his hair.

Haha somebody finally posted in the Wrestling OT thread!

this is a "work". not all of it, but enough of it.

I felt like there was finally a wrestling show I could enjoy without worrying that it was going to disgust and/or embarass me all the time.

If it is a work, it is a stupid work

The PPV featured a great match between The Acclaimed and Swerve in his Glory, and no one has said anything about it at all, because the Punk thing has killed all attention. The same thing goes with MJF's return, which was a great moment to cap off a very good show - everyone should be focused on that, and instead Punk's words have ensured no one gives a #### about that either.

wrestlers like MJF, Orange Cassidy, Danhausen, and others really pulled me in

i've never really "gotten" MJF. my first impression of him was joel gertner buffalo bill'ing the miz to do a cm punk impression.

Kenny Olivier @WhoIsDonStevens
modern day Rock vs Austin

https://twitter.com/WhoIsDonStevens/status/1567992582055292928

AEW Botches @aewbotches
With all the traction #AEW seemingly garnered on SM after the scrum...this week's #AEWDynamite viewership # is downright bad, when compared to same week last year, it's tragic!

09.08.2021- 1,319,000
09.07.2022- 1,035,000 (-21%)

"If you are not growing, you are dying"- Shad Khan

Nice to see this thread have some life breathed back into it after being dormant for so long.

Tony Khan @TonyKhan
Last night’s #AEWDynamite was also one of my favorite shows we’ve ever done. I’m so glad to keep the recent ratings hot streaks going & best of all to have a great Wednesday night wrestling show for the fans

I’m excited for #AEWRampage, I *promise* you a great show tomorrow too!

Alfred Konuwa @ThisIsNasty
TRIGGER WARNING
#AEWRampage Fast Nationals!

P2+: 393K - [down] 15% vs. last week & [down] 41% vs. last year

18-49: 163K - [down] 19% vs. last week & [down] 53% vs. last year

Internet backstage drama added 0 to TV ratings this week for anyone who thinks they should turn this into an angle.

57i66135 you would know better than me so I’ll ask-Do you think Tony Khan glazed over all the backstage stuff on last week’s dynamite because he’s afraid he’ll lose a potential tv deal or sponsors?

I was surprised that the dynamite crowd wasn’t chanting “We want Punk” or “We want the Elite” or something like that.

The crowd was pretty dead for the Danielson/Page match

and the "elite" has had x-pac/go away heat since around the time they lost to FTR and refused to do/drop a rubber match. that opened people's eyes up to how they use their positions as EVPs to bury other, better wrestlers

they get cheered like crazy, and have done throughout the heel run

to the "refused to lose to FTR" part, which is pure Cornette-based speculation.

The Bucks have regularly put teams over.

Meltzer said in WON this week their are lawsuits in play over the AEW stuff which is why they didn’t utilize it in TV.

Plus, punk is hurt again and will be out of action for the rest of the year at least, regardless.

CM PUNK WAS backstage chatting with Will Hobbs at an All Elite Wrestling (AEW) television show last September. That evening, the two were scheduled to have a match against one another at a sold-out Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York.
...
The nerves of Hobbs were evident across his barrel-chested, 270-pound frame. This was by far the most fans he had ever performed in front of. Hobbs signed with AEW during the pandemic when there were no fans in attendance, and it was only Punk's second match since returning to pro wrestling after a seven-year layoff.

Punk, one of the biggest wrestling stars of the last two decades, opened their discussion about how the match would be laid out with something surprising. Punk said he knew Hobbs' mother had died just about a month before and the match would be in her honor.

"First thing he said, don't worry about anybody else," Hobbs told ESPN. "'Your mom is in the crowd. Let's put the match on for her.' That made me feel so much better, so much more comfortable with him in the ring. He just knew what that night meant for me."

Dustin Rhodes was on the WWE roster with Punk for years in the 2000s and 2010s, but said he didn't begin forming a close bond with him until they were both in AEW. Rhodes, 53, is a wrestler and coach for AEW, and he has seen Punk be a mentor to the younger wrestlers over the last nine months. Rhodes said he believes that many of the ill feelings toward Punk from other wrestlers in the industry are rooted in "jealousy," and the negative perceptions about him backstage are untrue.

"He is always coaching up the talents when they come back or on their promos or a certain move, saying 'less is more' sometimes," Rhodes said. "Those are very, very important things to learn as a young superstar in the wrestling world. Because you've got to take advantage of that. And he is very accessible in that manner."

Hobbs, 31, said he couldn't even remember the number of times Punk has pulled him into his locker room to watch one of his matches to offer guidance, noting that Punk's main advice to him is usually about slowing down and not rushing. Max Caster, a 32-year-old rising AEW star, said that he has come to Punk for business advice for non-wrestling ventures. Caster added Punk made him feel included in the locker room, from randomly stealing his jacket and posting a photo wearing it on Instagram to greeting him last September following a two-month suspension for reciting a controversial rap on TV.

"It was the day I came back from suspension and I thought, 'Oh gosh, everyone hates me,'" Caster said. "I passed by him in the hallway, and he says, 'Hey Max, what's up?' And I go, 'Oh God, this guy knows my name.' I've never even met him. That told me what kind of guy he was, that he was educated on who was on the roster from top to bottom.

"I don't run things," Punk said. "I don't call shots. I don't book s---. I just make towns. And I have a wealth of experience that I can draw from. I have a wealth of positive and negative experiences that I can draw from. I'm not sitting back trying to hold people back, politic or anything. I'm just literally trying to make this place better."

"CM Punk is somebody who continuously, I think, surprises me, amazes me," Khan said. "He helped grow our business when he arrived here. I think that, in particular, [he] helped put a spotlight on a lot of the young wrestlers. He's also been a really good mentor backstage in addition to just helping people's wallets potentially by getting everybody in a better position in this company, by helping us get more fans, sell more pay-per-views, sell more merchandise. He's been that guy."

"Everyone wants the top spot, but not everyone wants to work for it," Allin said. "But he works for it. He'll go out there randomly on a Wednesday with a match announced like an hour before the show and kill it. He's not a prima donna. He's ready to rock. He's ready to be put to work. That's all I want everyone to do, is to be put to work. You've got guys saying, 'I don't feel like wrestling this week.' Get the f--- out of here. With him, it's like, 'Let's go. I want to show people what I can do. I want to be put to work.' Lead by example, and he's the best at it."

[CM punk is] having the time of his life and believes this is what his pro-wrestling experience should have always been. Punk said it makes him "angry" that he missed out on this type of environment for years -- and not just the seven years away from the industry. He also means the decade he spent in WWE, where he said he spent far too much time "chewing my fingernails off" worrying about "what old head you're gonna make mad for no reason."

"I feel like it was kind of wasted," Punk said. "It could have been so much more. It should have been so much more. And now, this is everything I dreamed pro wrestling could and should be. And I'm here and I'm f---ing in the moment. I'm not thinking about tomorrow. I'm not worried about s--- that happened yesterday. I'm living in the moment and I'm 100% in my f---ing prime, best I've ever been."

but for now? it's been a week since shtf, and we've seen no pictures and no video. my money is still on this being a work.

You're joking with this, right? Because there's no way on earth this is a work. What kind of work embarasses the boss, sidelines key performers at a very inconvenient time, and isn't included in the on-air storyline?

Sidelining the drama and putting on a simpler, cleaner show made Dynamite the best it's been in a while.

For my money, it's absolutely not a work, but perhaps it's an opportunity. The product has been wildly overstuffed - too many wrestlers, too many belts, even too many companies (AEW/ROH/NJPW/etc). Sidelining the drama and putting on a simpler, cleaner show made Dynamite the best it's been in a while.

i'm not saying it's a well thought out or a well executed work.

that's probably why 350,000 viewers turned the show off: because it was the best it's been in a while.

a decade from now, noone will remember anything that happened in any of those matches. but i guarantee people will remember cm punk's press conference. there are a lot of wrestlers who would do well to take some notes on that.

This is mostly where I am, too. The last week on AEW TV was definitely a missed opportunity. Even if they're wary of exposing themselves to legal liability, that doesn't mean they have to be weirdly evasive about every element of it. Substantively, they stripped four guys of titles and at least 3 of them are not injured, so they don't think that nothing happened. Even just say they are stripped pending the outcome of an internal investigation. That can at least tie into a storyline.

I generally think that wrestling shows/companies should have unofficial "division" of main eventers, secondary title challengers, and lower card workers. I think the sweet spot is usually 6-10 per division for the men's divisions and 4-6 for tag teams and women, just based on the size of the divisions in most companies. People can wrestle out of their divisions, but most of the storylines are within the divisions or challenges for someone to basically move up and take someone else's spot in the higher division. Doing it this way would be especially valuable for Tony Khan because it seems like he's overwhelmed and can't keep all the shows, belts, angles, and factions coherently organized on his shows. They also simply have/had too many wrestlers and belts for the amount of TV time they have.

So it's a work where Punk calls a top babyface a coward, the babyface doesn't respond, then Punk incinerates him in a press scrum, the babyface still doesn't respond, Punk himself is stripped of the title and removed from TV, and the babyface still never responds. I really can't see how anyone would see that as a work.

However, even ignoring the above, there's still the following:
- AEW World Title
- TNT
- Tag (x2)
- Trios (x3)
- Women's World Title
- TBS
- FTW

without that later shitshow, his comments at the "scrum" start to look a lot more like a determined heel turn.

The belt issue should generally be mostly resolved when/if ROH gets its own show

The All Atlantic is probably better thought of as a touring belt than an on TV belt, as I think the massive majority of the defenses has been PAC fighting in the major indies around Europe and will likely continue to be