flip

how the hell is this crowd cheering him?


some of these fans are so ####### stupid.

why is he rhyming? that can't be intentional, right?

it's kind of odd that FTR, the tag team champions, were the ones to challenge the young bucks. i feel like it would have been a better story for it to be the other way around.

FTR is on top of the world right now; they shouldn't be this thirsty.

"speechless like mitch mcconnell"

okay, i'm a fan.

btw:

this is going on at the same time as the eagles preseason game. i wasn't sure which one i'd watch in real time, but i'm here, ain't i?

i kinda want to see the hosses win this one.

eh....i know what they were going for there, but caster should have teased that for another time.

so... cm punk did a thing... again...


this would be legitimately hilarious if it was a gimmick... but it's not... but it could be, if punk lets himself go with it... but it doesn't seem like that's the plan... it doesn't seem like there's any plan at all here...


whatever it is, i haven't seen heel punk in more than a decade, and i am just so ####### ready for it... if we get it.

a few extra thoughts about saturday:

- i don't like hobbs vs. miro. that seems like sloppy storytelling, and whatever matches we get out of it probably won't be very good...especially given qt marshall's continuing involvement. that guy has negative charisma.

- i still don't really "get" miro. that might be a me thing.

- the main event was fine, but it also kind of buried the black people. if the trios title is supposed to be a real thing, then why is AEW using it as a macguffin to further a storyline about a fake title? it made the thing feel like a sideshow. there was no reason for those titles to be on the line in that spot.

- i kinda liked that the production crew missed both the attack on cm punk, and the finish of the main event. it's terrible television, but it's fine chaos.

- that spot brody king does, where he full speed summersaults into a guy crouched in a corner....that seems like a very dangerous spot, the kind of thing that will end careers if he gets it wrong. i don't know how big the margins there actually are, but i was shocked when punk took that.

- the marilyn monroe-bot is growing on me.

- where is wardlow?

I definitely prefer tough Miro to how he originally debuted as Kip Sabian’s Mickey Mouse shirt wearing/video game addicted friend. That was just awful haha.

It’s funny QTv Marshall is his best gimmick yet but he still kills the interest in every angle he is a part of and everyone he is affiliated with

i think i forgot to mention this, but malokai black looks really weird. i'm not even talking about the face paint or the eye ####; his body and the way he moves is really weird. it almost reminds me of rudy gobert or bol bol. just really tall, really thin, and always kind of swaying in the wind, like he's about to get thrown 30 feet by a stiff breeze.

btw:

collision was under 500K viewers again this past saturday.


that is an ugly number.

I know many of us play Immaculate Grid daily here. One of my Twitter friends created a prototype Wrestling Grid and posts daily grids on Twitter/X. Here’s the link to his Twitter/X page: www.wrestlinggrid.com

-- daniel "cash" wheeler was arrested in late july.
-- FTR challenged the young bucks in early august.

i've got a bad feeling about how that's gonna wind up going down.

cm punk does not fill out a skintight bodysuit very well. i'm not sure he should be wanting to accentuate the paunch.

or, like cereal killer once said: "spandex is a privilege, not a right."

this might be the worst match ever aired on collision.

it just doesn't appear to serve any purpose.

-- dalton castle is totally cold.

-- castle's body has no definition, so he looks like a job guy.

-- except he's not doing a job. this is already a 10 minute match.

-- it brings the gang bang gang down, by association, rather than raising dalton castle up.

-- it's a heel vs. heel match, so there's no real rooting interest.



at least the right guy won.

"YOU IDIOT"

i'll give juice this: he does a very good ren impression.

okay...i guess they're making a concerted effort to get some ROH talent on the show.

i think that's a good thing, on the whole.


i'd like to have a few more established wrestlers make their way over to collision, too... wardlow, eddie kingston, swerve and hook; actual, legitimate wrestling talent who have some name and face recognition from being on television for a few years.


there's no reason to start from 0 if you don't have to.

okay. starks with big cass. i'm intrigued.

i'm not sure what this "suspension" is supposed to accomplish.

at least starks has a nice ass to fill out those pants.

so...darby allen is feuding with swerve...and he's also feuding with christian?

eh...

this is a very thin episode. there is not a lot of meat on this bone.

oh...i may have spoken too soon.

"i am not here to feud with my god. i am here to replace him"


okay...i'm starting to like miro now.

so...darby allen is feuding with swerve...and he's also feuding with christian?

True, but for me personally, I will have seen Darby wrestle Swerve in front of about 500 people at Defy Wrestling in Seattle and 80,000 people in Wembley. That will be pretty cool. We also saw Nick Wayne wrestle there a bunch of times going back to when he was 15. I wish he made the All In card too.

As much #### as this card has received, I think it would be excellent with two/three minor changes. Instead of Jericho-Ospreay and Hung Lovers vs. BCG, put Switchblade against Punk, Ospreay against Hangman, and Omega against Takeshita (or if you really want Ibushi on the card, just have him wrestle Omega). All the 6/8/12 man matches make it feel like not a major show.

Switchblade against Punk

that's not a bigger deal than joe vs. punk.

Ospreay against Hangman

hangman barbie is a waste of space; leave him to rot in those meaningless 6+ man ############.

Omega against Takeshita

even don callis doesn't care about that ####; he's busy ####### around with jericho and konnan.


the real "problem" with this PPV is the lack of meaningful build up. as with most things AEW, there are too many hanging threads of stories, and not enough actually meaningful throughlines.

punk vs. joe is a big ####### deal. except joe has been MIA from half of the episodes of collision, and punk has been ####### around with ricky starks. and so instead of telling the relatively straightforward story of punk vs. joe for the last two months, it feels more like AEW has shoehorned it in around random sidequests.

FTR vs. the bucks: same thing. it could be a big ####### deal, if it wasn't just randomly thrown together with no meaningful build up.


otoh, darby vs. swerve is never going to be a big deal. but it has the same deficiencies as the other matches: disorganized buildup and lack of focus, and hat makes it feel like less than it could be. how many weeks ago did darby beat swerve in a battle royal to earn a TV title shot....and yet even now, after darby beat christian in a TV main event, he still hasn't gotten his ####### title shot. why is it practically impossible for AEW to finish one storyline before starting another?

at this point, i may as well mention that i've watched more wrestling in the last 2 months than i watched in the previous 5 years.


i've been very happy to watch collision week after week while not care about anything else that's happening on any other show, but when AEW runs their PPVs, that ##### with my viewing habits. that makes me ornery--more ornery than usual, anyway. don't #### it up, tony.

FTR vs. the bucks: same thing. it could be a big ####### deal, if it wasn't just randomly thrown together with no meaningful build up.

It was randomly thrown together right after FTR Hair did his assault, so maybe it was booked in a hurry to get the match done and the titles on someone else?

punk vs. joe is a big ####### deal. except joe has been MIA from half of the episodes of collision, and punk has been ####### around with ricky starks. and so instead of telling the relatively straightforward story of punk vs. joe for the last two months, it feels more like AEW has shoehorned it in around random sidequests.

Their history is almost 20 years old with no intersection in between. I watch a ton of wrestling and always have and even I wasn't watching ROH when that occurred. I agree with you that it was possible to make it a big f'ing deal, but it would have taken a long time and masterful storytelling and that's not what AEW does. That's why I discounted the pairing on its face. I'm not sure where I read/heard it, but someone said Khan is a matchmaker, not a booker and that resonated with me. It's not even necessarily an insult because some people legitimately would rather have a series of largely disconnected dream matches. That's fine! Not necessarily my perfect vision of wrestling, but it tends to make for very entertaining big shows.

otoh, darby vs. swerve is never going to be a big deal. but it has the same deficiencies as the other matches

No, but it can be a very good midcard feud. Weirdly, I think Swerve is the one who can and should move up the card, but it seems like they like Darby more.

It was randomly thrown together right after FTR Hair did his assault, so maybe it was booked in a hurry to get the match done and the titles on someone else?

i think you're right, but i think this situation might be the most chickenshit backroom politicking that's happened in my lifetime.

the bucks have ducked FTR for the last 2 years, dropping out of the tag team division entirely, but here they are, ready to squash FTR at a moment's notice.

I agree with you that it was possible to make it a big f'ing deal, but it would have taken a long time and masterful storytelling and that's not what AEW does.

AEW has actually done a great job of rehabilitating samoa joe's rep as a main event caliber asskicker. from week 1 of collision, they have made him seem like a big deal, and i really do like what they're doing with joe's character, even if i think they could have pushed him even harder.

I'm not sure where I read/heard it, but someone said Khan is a matchmaker, not a booker and that resonated with me.

i think that's more of a consequence of khan going into business with certain indy talents that should never have been on national TV.

No, but it can be a very good midcard feud. Weirdly, I think Swerve is the one who can and should move up the card, but it seems like they like Darby more.

i actually really like both of them, which is why i'm angry about the buildup. why couldn't darby have just won the TV title before this thing kicked off? let them have an actual feud over an actual title, instead of doing this half-cocked bullshit.

rip terry funk.

terry funk had a dream.

"i'm tired of your bullshit"

WWE @WWE
WWE is saddened to learn that Windham Rotunda, also known as Bray Wyatt, passed away on Thursday, Aug. 24, at age 36.

WWE extends its condolences to Rotunda’s family, friends and fans.

i think this might be the most important episode of collision that has aired so far.


-- ratings for the last 3 weeks have been absolute dogshit (sub-500K viewers).

-- last week's episode was the worst collision so far (imo).

-- the worst episode collision had done prior to that, was also a 'go home' show ahead of AEW's last PPV.



can this episode be a reasonably good 2 hours of entertainment? i have doubts.

and we open with this ####### guy.


better than jericho, but still not the best start to this ####### show.

i think i'm just gonna pass on this one.


there's other #### i could be doing.

so...cm punk did a thing again.

There are multiple sides to the story being relayed to the media outlets like Fightful, PW Insider, and F4WOnline, so it’s not exactly clear what happened in this altercation yet other than things getting physical with a lot of shouting.

One side says Perry bumped into Punk backstage to start the physicality, which caused Punk to shove him and then catch Perry in some kind of choke. Another side suggests Punk was more of the initial aggressor and went after or even hit Perry.

"did the bear get him? i wasn't wearing my glasses"

I had such a great time at all in last night. I think a lot of stuff contributed to it. It was more fun having my 4yo daughter there and enjoying it (she really loved yelling "adam cole babay" and chanting "cm punk"). Seeing friends from London for the first time after 5 years was great. The stadium itself is world class- great food and drinks, huge concourses and bathrooms, hardly any lines anywhere despite the crowd, very roomy seats.

And the things I don't like as much about AEW, like the lack of long-term stories and interesting characters for most of the mid and lower-card, are not as bad when it's a big live show. They just came out and put on a bunch of great matches. The actual card went punk-joe (really good and extremely entertaining), then elite-bullet club gold (crazy work rate and hard hitting), then bucks-ftr (definitely the best tag team match I've seen live, at least that didn't involve the voros twins).

We left before the main event, but I still got 4+ hours of super fun entertainment, and because we left early, we got back to our airbnb in about 35 minutes for $25, which is fairly miraculous in london

Also, really, really fun crowd. Felt like everyone was there to have fun and didn't really see/hear any people trying to put over the fans or make it about them. Seemed like lots of people were just grateful to have a show like that in europe.

Only complaints- jericho match was not up to ospreay's level (though I didn't think it was BAD either), paige just straight up can't wrestle any more so it kind of killed the "moment" of her winning. and I think stadium stampede is better to watch on tv. It's just too much going on and too hard to see live.

but overall, it's right up there with san jose and phoenix manias for best stadium show i've seen.

I'd probably go: 1. mania xxxi, 2. all in 3. mania xxvi 4. wrestle kingdom 11 (might be #1 if I wasn't super jet lagged and with non-wrestling fans) 5. mania xxxiv in NO 6. phoenix baseball stadium RR 7. mania xxxii in Dallas

I had such a great time at all in last night. I think a lot of stuff contributed to it. It was more fun having my 4yo daughter there and enjoying it (she really loved yelling "adam cole babay" and chanting "cm punk"). Seeing friends from London for the first time after 5 years was great. The stadium itself is world class- great food and drinks, huge concourses and bathrooms, hardly any lines anywhere despite the crowd, very roomy seats.
[...]
We left before the main event, but I still got 4+ hours of super fun entertainment, and because we left early, we got back to our airbnb in about 35 minutes for $25, which is fairly miraculous in london

i don't have a lot of experience with 4 year olds, but 4+ hours seems like a very long time to keep them in one place.

Also, really, really fun crowd. Felt like everyone was there to have fun and didn't really see/hear any people trying to put over the fans or make it about them. Seemed like lots of people were just grateful to have a show like that in europe.

i do find it interesting that AEW only ran the one event in europe, whereas they ran 5 shows in the toronto metro area wrapped around their last PPV.

the next time they do a PPV over there, i wonder if they'll commit to a full 2+ week european tour, running stadium shows across the UK, france, germany, latvia to build up to the PPV.

4 words you may want to avoid saying to cm punk:

"do something about it."

aberg, sounds like a really cool experience

It’ll be interesting if AEW can draw something close to 81,000 again next year. Overall, the All In card was underwhelming and the build up was poor (aside from MJF/Cole and a few matches). Most likely the card & build up will be better next year

i will be watching AEW dynamite tonight. let's see how far i make it.

over/under is set at 7 minutes.

and i'm out.

the under wins.

apparently, one of the matches at all out is going to be FTR and the young bucks versus the gangbang gang.

who is this for?

also, rumors are that the plan for cm punk at all out would have been to fight ricky starks. isn't starks suspended? not only did they not take starks off TV while he was "suspended", but then they're just gonna cut that suspensions short for "reasons"? why? what? huh?

also, not only is cm punk now not on the card, but MJF isn't defending his title on the card, either.


what in the #### is this booking?

titles not being defended at AEW's all out PPV:

world title (MJF)
'real' world title (cm punk)
tag team titles (FTR)
six man bullshit (the acclaimed)
roh world title (claudio)
roh womens' title (athena)


i'll ask again: what is this ####### dogshit booking?

i guess there's still time to book edge vs. goldberg.

if AEW had given samoa joe the push they're giving ricky starks, they could have stolen the main event of this PPV by booking him vs. MJF.

if AEW hadn't devalued the hardys by having them lose to literally everyone on free tv, this would have been a good time to book them vs. FTR, because that's the kind of match that can steal a PPV. hell, FTR is good enough that you might even be able to get 2 or 3 PPVs out of that program. and maybe they could even rehabilitate the hardys to the point that they could have stolen even more PPVs with the bucks or BCG.

i have no idea why the acclaimed aren't immediately jumping into a program against jay white and the ass children.

Aew booking a PPV exactly one week after All In was a terrible idea. You already had a mostly poor build to the matches at All In with basically what should have been months worth of storylines jammed into a few shows to create matches.

Aew booking a PPV exactly one week after All In was a terrible idea. You already had a mostly poor build to the matches at All In with basically what should have been months worth of storylines jammed into a few shows to create matches.

and they're already telling people they'll be doing the same thing again next year.

well, tony khan finally made a choice.


let's see how this works out for AEW.

my expectation is that i'll probably stop watching AEW collision within a month.

AEW has too much "talent" that i have no interest in watching, and punk kept all of them away from the only show i enjoy watching. i have no interest in jericho; i have no interest in moxley; i have no interest in the bucks; in cassidy; in jungle boy; in best friends; in QT; in page; in dark orders; in every ####### luchadore ever. punk protected collision from that sideshow, and that made collision a show that i could enjoy watching from start to finish, even when punk and FTR weren't there.

- collision elevated ricky starks.
- collision rehabilitated samoa joe after a decade and a half of abject neglect.
- collision made the black group feel interesting.
- collision gave the gangbang gang a main event level push, and stuck the landing.
- collision is giving me hobbs in pink tights, and fine suits.
- collision has christian


there is no reason that collision can't still be that, even without cm punk.

except, without cm punk, collision has no main event, and so even if collision does stay like this, it can't stay like this because there's nothing at the top to keep people around.


if AEW is smart, they'll give punk's spot on collision to MJF, change nothing else, and hope that's good enough to keep people around until bryan danielson can come back.

if AEW is who they've shown themselves to be, they'll give punk's spot to moxley, shove him into a main event with orange cassidy, and this thing that i enjoyed will turn into rampage.

as for cm punk himself....

he seemed a lot more content with his life before he got back into the wrestling business.

whether or not his skin is too thin, it's clear that alot of the people he works with (or in the general vicinity of) are able to get under that skin with very little effort.

he has shown way too much of his own red ass, and i'm not even talking about the physical incidents...

-- the muffin press conference was bad for business.
-- his "coward ####\" promo on page was bad for business.
-- his toy promo on page was bad for business.
-- his twitter promo on moxley and some dirt sheet guys was bad for business.


by punk's own standard -- that he does "what's best for business" -- he's failed in spectacular fashion on these multiple occasions, putting his own grievances (reasonable or otherwise) ahead of making money and drawing fans.


i think this is one of those times when everyone loses.

this is a bad day for professional wrestling.

btw:

AEW is claiming to have fired cm punk "for cause".


if that is the case, it may prove to be the biggest mistake AEW has made throughout this entire saga.

if AEW is smart, they'll give punk's spot on collision to MJF, change nothing else, and hope that's good enough to keep people around until bryan danielson can come back.

I think this works with Daniel Bryan Danielson, too. But they won't do it.

I have to think that the reason Punk got fired now is that there was no question of who was the aggressor or who threw the first punch in the jungle man dust-up. In the previous fight with the elite, there was a lot of he said/he said about kicking in doors, attacking dogs, whatever. It was enough that a firing almost certainly would've resulted in a ton of litigation. In this case, there is no version of the story where anyone but Punk was the first one to get physical. The stuff about intimidating and threatening TK had an impact, too, I'm sure.

I think this works with Daniel Bryan Danielson, too. But they won't do it.

i think it would work with danielson, too...if they break him away from moxley. without moxley, he can go back to doing the best work of his career as that trollfaced ass kicking heel.

I have to think that the reason Punk got fired now is that there was no question of who was the aggressor or who threw the first punch in the jungle man dust-up.

AEW has aired half a dozen backstage brawls on television every week, for the last 4 years. are they really trying to claim that they thought it was just a trope this entire time?

It was enough that a firing almost certainly would've resulted in a ton of litigation. In this case, there is no version of the story where anyone but Punk was the first one to get physical.

AEW knew who they were doing business with when they brought punk back, made him the face of their new television show, and gave him the executive power to dictate who was/was not allowed on premises.

and even after this dangerous and chilling and life threatening backstage incident happened, AEW was more than willing to let punk go out to wrestle samoa joe on their PPV. wait. they didn't just "let" punk perform; they had to actively convince him to wrestle after he had verbally "quit".

The stuff about intimidating and threatening TK had an impact, too, I'm sure.

show the tape.

video is always worse than words or pictures, so if it's as bad as they say, it'll look worse than they think. unless they're lying.

i could maybe see WWE bringing punk in, but only as a jobber to the stars. he gets to fight roman reigns...but he loses. he gets to fight brock lesnar...but he loses. he gets to fight cody...but he loses. he gets to fight seth rollins...he can win that one. he gets to fight walter...but he loses.

i doubt he'd be happy in that role for very long, but i also can't see WWE ever putting him in a position to be a face of the company, let alone "the" face of the company.

the first episode of collision in the post-punk era: 345K viewers.


i'd like to say it can only go up from here, but...eh...this seems unlikely to be the bottom.

Wrestle Ops @WrestleOps
The opening quarter of this past Saturday’s episode of AEW Collision drew 472,000 viewers.

After Tony Khan announced that he fired CM Punk 89,000 people tuned out, down to 383,000 viewers, a loss of 19% of the audience.

The show went below 250,000 viewers by the end of the final full quarter.

- PWInsider, via Wrestlenomics

i could maybe see WWE bringing punk in, but only as a jobber to the stars. he gets to fight roman reigns...but he loses. he gets to fight brock lesnar...but he loses. he gets to fight cody...but he loses. he gets to fight seth rollins...he can win that one. he gets to fight walter...but he loses.

Masked Man said something on his podcast like, "Hey, Punk, here's $10m to beat the Miz in Saudi Arabia, lose to Roman at Wrestlemania, and lose to Cody at Summerslam." I think that number is high and not sure about the events, but I think that's exactly the right sort of booking for a bookended final run.

i think it would work with danielson, too...if they break him away from moxley. without moxley, he can go back to doing the best work of his career as that trollfaced ass kicking heel.

Yes. My trajectory with Moxley in AEW has mirrored what I thought of him in WWE: really excited at first about the combination of passion, charisma, and ability, then feeling like something just wasn't quite clicking with the character and/or the matches, then ultimately kind of realizing I just don't care for him that much. As I have said before, he feels like a very uncool teenager's idea of what a cool man is.

Masked Man said something on his podcast like, "Hey, Punk, here's $10m to beat the Miz in Saudi Arabia, lose to Roman at Wrestlemania, and lose to Cody at Summerslam." I think that number is high and not sure about the events, but I think that's exactly the right sort of booking for a bookended final run.

as the bloodline story is wrapping up at wrestlemania 40, the enemies of roman (cody, the usos, zayn, kevin owens) come together to finally topple the tribal chief, only for it to slip through their fingers because heyman brought together a "new world order" of roman reigns, cm punk and brock lesnar (with maybe a sprinkling of gable steveson, solo sikoa, jacob fatu, bron steiner, matt cardona)

i've seen a question out there, "where did AEW go wrong with cm punk?"

as someone who's a very clear punk enjoyer, i figure i'll throw my take on it out into the aether. i think there were three major inflection points in this relationship, points where one side or the other could have found a way to make a minor concession that may have had a significant impact:


1: when cm punk called out the dirt sheets, moxley and jericho on instagram, AEW just let that #### fester.

that would have been a good time to get everyone in a room, and maybe hash some things out. instead, they did nothing, leaving all of the issues still simmering under the surface, possibly because AEW still didn't think they'd ever need punk to come back.

this also would have been a good time to crack down on people leaking information to the dirt sheets, because that seems to have been a pretty big scab on punk's back that kept getting ripped off, week after week. yeah, he could have had thicker skin about it, but AEW had to know that wasn't happening, and they could have taken action to tighten their ####### ship.


2: how the #### is AEW's VP of talent relations, christopher daniels, barred from showing up at collision??

this was a clear ### for tat situation, "oh, i can't show up at dynamite? well, then daniels can't come to collision. ha." the launch of collision was royally ###### up by AEW's anti-punk contingent, and this is another one of those things that should have been hashed out before the thing started. "they*" didn't want punk around, and now they get their wish.

*"they" being the same exact people who voted unanimously to fire punk. ####### rats.


3: AEW doesn't have an undertaker in the locker room

if AEW had anyone who could put their hand on punk's shoulder and tell him "i'll take care of this for you", AEW would still have their biggest merch seller. because that's all punk really needed at that moment: someone who could take this off his plate, so he could go out and have his match.

WWE had the undertaker, they had the acolytes, they had bob holly, they had the dudleys. all of them veterans; all of them capable of handling #### in the ring, or behind the scenes, as needed.

AEW doesn't have anyone doing that. instead, they have jericho lipsyncing to the ring; they have matt hardy giving people flowers on twitter; they have mark henry and big show hidden away in a corner so younger wrestlers can avoid talking to them.



the common barrier with these inflection points (aside from punk's involvement), is that it would have required AEW to make punk feel like he's a valuable and wanted employee....which he clearly wasn't. so they got what they got. to quote mark henry:

Now, you can freely go and there will be no more complaining. There should be no more complaining. The problem is gone. The so-called problem is. Everything should be shits and giggles and unicorn pee and rainbow blankets. That's what it should be now. I'm curious to see how it's going to be. [...Everything] is solved now. The problem is gone, and there should be peace and prosperity in life

speaking of people getting fired by AEW:

ace steel.

again.

Cosign on 2964. While I think it is the employees' job to follow their boss's rules and expectations, you have to have a boss willing to set clear, fair rules and expectations. In this case, it sounds very much like TK was managing with the top priority being avoiding conflict, which was not going to work.

Julian Weeks @JulianWks
"They see CM Punk in the house they all get nervous"

"Some of them fear for their lives i heard"

I stopped in to say two things:
1. What is up with Britt Baker’s new ring attire? The baggy pants look makes me think she’s trying to pay homage to The New Foundation or High Energy :-p
Notice’s Owen Hart’s career took off when he ditched the goofy baggy pants

2. Wrestling grid is now part of Crossover Grid & will have daily grids
https://www.crossovergrid.com/wrestling

Here is a list of all the wrestlers we are aware of who have been released by WWE today, based on either their own announcement of the news or reporting from Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. This list will be updated throughout the day as more names are confirmed.

Mustafa Ali
Emma
Elias
Top Dolla
Rick Boogs
Riddick Moss
Aliyah
Shelton Benjamin
Dolph Ziggler

update to [2969]:

Counting all of the other wrestlers who were released by WWE earlier today, here is the current list of talent cuts:

Mustafa Ali
Emma
Elias
Top Dolla
Rick Boogs
Riddick Moss
Aliyah
Shelton Benjamin
Dolph Ziggler
MACE
Mansoor
Dana Brooke
Commander Azeez aka Dabba-Kato
Shanky
Quincy Elliott
Bryson Montana
Yulisa Leon
Daniel McArthur
Kevin Ventura-Cortez
Alexis Gray

in the span of about 7-10 days, jon moxley:

-- claims to have the arthritic body of a 70 year old
-- gets concussed before his match starts
-- eats a piledriver that actually drives his head through the canvas and compresses his neck/spine.
-- and eats the same move a 2nd time, with some added torsion on the pin.



what year is this? how is this still a thing?

It’s funny how once CM Punk got fired from AEW, this thread went back into hibernation. We’re crawling toward 3,000 comments like Biggio crawled toward 3,000 hits in 2007

Any thoughts on recent AEW or WWE?

The only way the CM Punk thing is any good is if the whole thing is a work and he's the Devil (I do NOT believe this is happening), so everyone involved just looks like they can't do business (all sides, not defending anyone in that idiocy).

Sidenote, while the Nakamura thing would be cool if it was Punk, I think they're intentionally laying that ground so it can be vague on purpose. If they sign him, it will be, if they don't, it'll be someone like AJ or something. The thing is, story-wise (for me), it's tough because he did this stalking his prey thing before and got beat. SO did he downgrade his opponent? What made him change focus from a title to....a rivalry? Other than that, this could be fun....gonna let it play out.

Cody doing Wargames is a really neat part of the "Story". Heyman isn't just helping to craft the Bloodline stuff, he's doing the Cody story and doing it well over a loooong term (pure assumption on my part, the fan in me still wishes he won vs Roman). I am invested in Cody though, obviously with myself having grown up on his father's work, this has just been such a fun ride.

Christian Cage is probably one of the best heels overall right now, top tier work. He's so good with a mic. It's incredible.

Swerve's great, and the package with Nana is just plain awesome. Keep pushing him, he's Top Tier. My pick for the Continental Classic. (I absolutely love Eddie Kingston, but not sure he draws like Swerve will)

MJF is top tier and absolutely golden, Cole and Samoa Joe too. But if I hear someone scream ADAM again I may jump out a window. Might be cool to see Swerve take the title here eventually.

The Roman thing is getting tired, but I get this is just my opinion. Too many finishes with hijinks and it's made him look weaker, not stronger....but then, that may BE the whole story once one of the Bloodline "takes over".

Judgement Day is culminating to something, but what exactly I do not know. I kinda like the idea of Finn and JD against Dom and Priest, but who knows. That's just literal spitballing. In the end, Dom is picking up all kinds of time and I feel he's gonna be a legacy just like his dad. It's fun to watch him grow.

Kinda cool seeing the ladies side heat up in WWE, lots of fun stuff there. It'll be fun to see who dethrones Rhea (Jade?) but they're actually doing a great job of adding some true depth on the women's side. Nice to see them breathing some life into it. Can't wait to see what they do with Madi Wrenkowski (recent NXT signing). She's an absolute star in the making.

Toni Storm is friggin awesome, love this bit entirely. I've always been a sucker for "old" stuff though, so makes sense. She's killing it though. VERY entertaining.

Digging Julia Hart too, just not sure how long this bit can keep people's attention. It's borderline TOO 90's Hot Topic/Evanescence.

I feel like the Tag Teams overall are just kinda meh right now, maybe it's just me? Don't care for the Bucks, FTR is great but may be getting stale, Starks/Big Bill is kinda fun but not serious enough of a storyline to bite into. Same with WWE though, I don't find myself caring too much for what their Tag Division is offering lately either. Maybe I am subconsciously putting it in the background and should look closer at it.

Oh duh, almost forgot Logan Paul. Smart business move and damnit, the kid "gets it". I think this is awesome for both he and the business.

GUNTHER is also pretty damn good and fun to watch, it'll be interesting to see where they go with him now that he's pretty much lapping the IC-tier and seems ready to take on the big dogs. He's just so impressive.

Took me a bit, but I've gotten into the whole Orange Cassidy thing over the last couple months. I get it, just not sure it can sustain a top TOP run for too long. Good stuff though.

Glad to see Danhausen back. Very nice, very evil.

I'm sure there's more, but there's a handful of opinions from just one guy, for whatever it's worth.

Any thoughts on recent AEW or WWE?

i haven't tried to watch collision since tony khan "feared for his life". i'd rather watch college football, the NBA or NHL.

to be fair, that was always going to be a challenge for collision's audience, but the way that punk's dismissal was handled made it very easy for me to cut a clean break.

The Roman thing is getting tired, but I get this is just my opinion. Too many finishes with hijinks and it's made him look weaker, not stronger....but then, that may BE the whole story once one of the Bloodline "takes over".

WWE has used roman reigns very smartly to apply downward pressure on the rest of the roster. it's gotten sami zayn over, jey uso over, cody rhodes over. people want something to happen, but WWE has managed to keep the lid on that pot, and to keep the pot simmering without letting it boil over.

the way i would want to see this bloodline story end is, as i've said, at wrestlemania, with reigns isolated from heyman and from the bloodline, fighting off zayn and owens, the usos, cody (and maybe even dustin), making his last stand with his last breath, when heyman comes to his rescue alongside lesnar and cm punk to form a new world order around paul heyman's guys.

seamlessly swap the bloodline for the NWO, and keep this thing hot for another year or two.

The only way the CM Punk thing is any good is if the whole thing is a work and he's the Devil (I do NOT believe this is happening), so everyone involved just looks like they can't do business (all sides, not defending anyone in that idiocy).

it would be an unparalleled act of desperation for AEW.

Took me a bit, but I've gotten into the whole Orange Cassidy thing over the last couple months. I get it, just not sure it can sustain a top TOP run for too long. Good stuff though.

just like hangman barbie, that ####### guy is going to be AEW's world champion whether anyone likes it or not.

Swerve's great, and the package with Nana is just plain awesome. Keep pushing him, he's Top Tier. My pick for the Continental Classic. (I absolutely love Eddie Kingston, but not sure he draws like Swerve will)

i don't know about you, but i can't wait until jericho gets a run with him. ugh.

MJF is top tier and absolutely golden, Cole and Samoa Joe too. But if I hear someone scream ADAM again I may jump out a window. Might be cool to see Swerve take the title here eventually.

the MJF/adam cole stuff doesn't hit for me. it's an absolute travesty that AEW lets some ROH tag team bullshit derail their main event world heavyweight title picture, let alone that it's been going on for 3 ####### months at this point. just so ####### stupid.

FTR is great but may be getting stale, Starks/Big Bill is kinda fun but not serious enough of a storyline to bite into.

FTR has been a tag team for 10 years; starks and bill had been a tag team for 10 days. they never should have won the titles as soon as they did.

Nice to see the thread resuscitating

i don't know about you, but i can't wait until jericho gets a run with him. ugh.

Chris “The Cooler” Jericho ;-) William H. Macy would be proud.

Tony Khan LOVES Orange Cassidy and he has the world title reigns planned out in his Trapper Keeper so you know at some point, he’s going to put the AEW World Title on Orange Cassidy, tv ratings be damned!

After Punk left, FTR, the tag division, and Collision have all lost their steam

Nice to see Toni Storm and Julia Hart breathe some life into the aew women’s division

I remember Madi Wrenkowski from the early days of aew when they had the majority of women’s matches on dark. She had a good look and seemed to have potential

Chris “The Cooler” Jericho ;-) William H. Macy would be proud.

what AEW really needs is a months-long angle between jericho, jeff jarrett and qt marshall. sprinkle in some chuck taylor, and maybe add a dash of daniel garcia, nick plain and wheeler utah, and you know you've got? baby, you've got a stew going.



as for the identity of AEW's devil:

my guess is matt hardy. hardy would the perfect combination of disappointment (that it's not someone more interesting) and disinterest (because the last time he drew money was when edge slept with his girlfriend).

while i'm here:

average viewers from last friday night's head to heard:

smackdown (8-10PM): 2.2MM viewers
AEW collision (8-10PM): 270K
AEW rampage (10-11PM): 280K
AEW countdown (11-11:30PM): 139K


that is collision's lowest total viewership ever, down 40% from the prior week.

Welp

WWE @WWE
NEVER. SAY. NEVER.

@CMPunk has just returned to WWE at #SurvivorSeries!!!
twitter.com/WWE/status/1728622725885751428

to steal a quote i saw elsewhere:

"i love it. i hate it. i can't stop laughing."

i would argue there is no other wrestler in the world who can do this to a crowd:

https://youtu.be/1uwDXsgmRFA?t=13729



i would even go so far as to say that in the entire history of professional wrestling, there may not be a handful of wrestlers who could ever do that to a crowd. to see people go from smugly mocking the idea of punk showing up to apoplecticly marking the #### out when his music hits; it's something.

as for what's next....the obvious lines would be feuding with either cody rhodes or seth rollins. the problem with both of those lines is that it wouldn't be an easy story to tell in obvious face/heel terms. there's no black or white in those feuds; just varying shades of gray.

a less obvious line would be to put him up against the judgement day, leading into him eventually turning heel and joining them, a la his run with the nexus. then you could do those same cody and seth storylines from a more straightforward point of view.


walter would obviously make for a great feud. lesnar. owens. zayn. it's probably too much to ask for some matt cardona action...but maybe.,,


and then there's always that other option: someone jumps him on the way to the ring tomorrow night before he can talk, and then send him away until the rumble.

i woke up this morning, and i realized that there's something i want to see:

corporate HHH stooge cm punk.


i want to see him introduced at 8PM tomorrow night by HHH. i want to see him come out, clean shaven, #### eating grin on his face, and just hug the everloving #### out of HHH. i want to see him on commentary for the main event, with michael cole slobbering all over him, basking in the absurdity of it. i want to see him gliding over all of the controversy as if it's everyone else's problem but his.

there's noone in the world who is a better heel than cm punk. let's ####### see it.

top 10 quotes i want to hear from cm punk tonight:

#10: "i watched rocky 3 the other day"
#9: "is that real glass?"
#8: "i'm not the devil; i just played one on TV."
#7: "i looked into tony's bloodshot eyes"
#6: "and heard the inane prattling of his cocaine-addled brain"
#5: "he is an overstimulated and underqualified know-nothing money-mark that's bleeding his daddy's bank account dry and one day in the very near future, my close personal friend dave is gonna realize he backed a bigger loser than [insert local sports team/personality]."
#4: "my good buddy HHH"
#3: "cry me a river"
#2: "[...] made me fear for my life"
#1: "i'll be wrestling ilya dragonov in tonight's main event"

a few thoughts so far:

-- i am in love with that indian tag team. oh. beefy.

-- julius creed reminds me of a baby oil boy era cody rhodes. he looks like a future star.

-- his brother: eh; not so much.

-- i love ciampa.

-- new day are great.

-- that might have the best promo i've ever seen from randy orton. it's not a high bar to clear.

-- the crowd is blazingly hot.

i still just don't "get" cody rhodes as a babyface.

his smarmy, faux-politician presence makes me want to slap the everloving #### out of him.

cody rhodes vs. cm punk is going to be the biggest match in AEW history at next year's wrestlemania.

i liked shinsuke's look more when he had the full skrillex.

both of these guys look like ####.

hey; it's the "my hole!!!!!!" lady.

why is the theranos lady WWE's ring announcer? i thought she was in jail.

fwiw, i enjoyed watching nearly every episode of collision a lot more than i'm enjoying this.

let's see how hour 3(???!!?!) goes.

drew mcintyre's jacket is a crime against humanity.

okay. that's good ####.

i don't like rollins. i don't care about mcintyre. but that made me smile.

"the most social moment in WWE history"


did WWE need cm punk? does WWE need cm punk?

no.


but my god; even in the business of professional wrestling, there is nothing quite like cm punk.

you know....i like that randy kept his back to the camera there.

i don't like that the cameraperson didn't run around him to get a better angle for the shot.

well, here we go....

terrible ####### haircut.

i like it.

"cry me a river" sign.

we're off to a good start.

flip