Wembly is selling out the [Wrestling] thread

Magell

Hikaru Shida returned to AEW and pretended to join the Outcasts then helped Britt and Jamie save Willow.

Roderick Strong had his first match in AEW and looked good. He hit stiff chops and backbreakers. It was glorious.

Time to fill this out with how I ended the last thread, weird matchups that are hard to believe happened.

We'll start with my favorite which is CM Punk vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio in IWA:MS. Ian Rotten's dedication to not making any money on his shows is exemplified here in how much this must have cost to showcase the biggest homegrown star they had against Rey who hadn't been signed by WWE and Eddie who had been fired to pull his life together. A really fun match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5EULLFRv9E

This one isn't hard to believe happened, but since we got to see Satnam Singh in overalls we got to see the man with the biggest overalls Haystacks Calhoun as he takes on Ernie Ladd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L42jWxJvXzM

AJ Styles & Air Paris vs. Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo, always fun to remind people that AJ Styles wrestled in WCW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCrFOuaz6Rw

Sweeney Tom

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrzCa1WgBa4/?igshid=MTIyMzRjYmRlZg==

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why the fuck did they put rapist Marty Scurll's theme on a video of Ricky Starks please don't fucking hire Marty

Crippl3

https://twitter.com/kingserpentico/status/1653814773107109888

man I hope folks like Chaos Project/Spanish Announce Project, Abadon, Varsity Blondes, etc., the regular Dark folks don't end up just gone

Magell

They'll still want those matches for live shows before the cameras go live, pkus people love having tv jobbers they can get attached too. I'm just hoping they keep using lical talent to give them real paychecks occasionally.

Magell

Sweeney Tom wrote: »

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrzCa1WgBa4/?igshid=MTIyMzRjYmRlZg==

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why the fuck did they put rapist Marty Scurll's theme on a video of Ricky Starks please don't fucking hire Marty

I am now very trepidatious about this Starks vs Juice match.

bloodyroarxx

There is a non zero chance once MAX gets going they just put restart Dark and Elevation and put them them there

Sprout

They’re going to have a second night of taping once Collision gets going. They’ll need something to do there.

Magell

I have fixed the OP now that it's not in the middle of Dynamite when I made the post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZIvITEq1kA

Crippl3

other than Jay Lethal being here, this segment is tremendous

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1653933620896071682?t=VWpBnMDJWw1goszz3DAMKQ&s=19

Cello

I have great respect for whoever procured overalls tall enough to fit Satnam Singh

Also seeing him lift that baby in the background was tremendous

411Randle

"That's a lovely girl"

"BOY"

---

"Don't trust the one in the coveralls"

"Which one?"

"EITHER OF 'EM"

Magell

411Randle wrote: »

"That's a lovely girl"

"BOY"

---

"Don't trust the one in the coveralls"

"Which one?"

"EITHER OF 'EM"

Papa Briscoe with a brief, but good appearance on Dynamite.

bloodyroarxx

I dont like Jarrett but I popped for the "With my baby tonight" reference.

bloodyroarxx

Sprout wrote: »

They’re going to have a second night of taping once Collision gets going. They’ll need something to do there.

Technically they could do Rampage one night and ROH the other

PwnanObrien

Chris Jericho really shouldn't be bringing up wives on commentary, Ashli Babbitt isn't the only rioter that could catch a stray.

Reynolds

https://twitter.com/Cultaholic/status/1653822242000896001

How dare you Tony.

LockedOnTarget

Honestly Double J has been awesome in AEW.

He constantly has bangers, plays the midcard gatekeeper role to perfection, and is humble now and has no problem making a fool of himself to build babyfaces up. He looks like he’s just having fun being a goofy dirtbag.

On top of that it sounds like he’s been a real asset when it comes to the touring and house show plans.

I never would have thought I’d be happy to have him around, but here we are.

PwnanObrien

My biggest problem with Double J these days is that got Jay Letal trailing him like a clingy fart cloud.

hailtothekale

Magell wrote:

A weird description for Kota Ibushi, but technically true.

Oh man you don't know how happy that would make me, especially with this weird "Takeshita was Kota and Kenny's son" revisionist history going on in wrestling fandom lately.

That said I fully expect it to be Johnny Dramatic. Or I dunno, one of the Sin Caras or Yoshitatsu. DDT loves to play it fast and loose when name-dropping WWE.

Magell

hailtothekale wrote: »

Magell wrote:

A weird description for Kota Ibushi, but technically true.

Oh man you don't know how happy that would make me, especially with this weird "Takeshita was Kota and Kenny's son" revisionist history going on in wrestling fandom lately.

That said I fully expect it to be Johnny Dramatic. Or I dunno, one of the Sin Caras or Yoshitatsu. DDT loves to play it fast and loose when name-dropping WWE.

Cardona retweeted it as well so that sadly, seems like the answer, although I wouldn't put it above him to troll people by doing that too.

hailtothekale

Magell wrote: »

hailtothekale wrote: »

Magell wrote:

A weird description for Kota Ibushi, but technically true.

Oh man you don't know how happy that would make me, especially with this weird "Takeshita was Kota and Kenny's son" revisionist history going on in wrestling fandom lately.

That said I fully expect it to be Johnny Dramatic. Or I dunno, one of the Sin Caras or Yoshitatsu. DDT loves to play it fast and loose when name-dropping WWE.

Cardona retweeted it as well so that sadly, seems like the answer, although I wouldn't put it above him to troll people by doing that too.

I mean Cardona was my initial thought but then I was like "surely he's doing something more important by now." He'd be cool to see.

Alistair Hutton

hailtothekale wrote: »

Magell wrote: »

hailtothekale wrote: »

Magell wrote:

A weird description for Kota Ibushi, but technically true.

Oh man you don't know how happy that would make me, especially with this weird "Takeshita was Kota and Kenny's son" revisionist history going on in wrestling fandom lately.

That said I fully expect it to be Johnny Dramatic. Or I dunno, one of the Sin Caras or Yoshitatsu. DDT loves to play it fast and loose when name-dropping WWE.

Cardona retweeted it as well so that sadly, seems like the answer, although I wouldn't put it above him to troll people by doing that too.

I mean Cardona was my initial thought but then I was like "surely he's doing something more important by now." He'd be cool to see.

Is there a belt available for him to collect? He'll do it.

hailtothekale

Alistair Hutton wrote: »

hailtothekale wrote: »

Magell wrote: »

hailtothekale wrote: »

Magell wrote:

A weird description for Kota Ibushi, but technically true.

Oh man you don't know how happy that would make me, especially with this weird "Takeshita was Kota and Kenny's son" revisionist history going on in wrestling fandom lately.

That said I fully expect it to be Johnny Dramatic. Or I dunno, one of the Sin Caras or Yoshitatsu. DDT loves to play it fast and loose when name-dropping WWE.

Cardona retweeted it as well so that sadly, seems like the answer, although I wouldn't put it above him to troll people by doing that too.

I mean Cardona was my initial thought but then I was like "surely he's doing something more important by now." He'd be cool to see.

Is there a belt available for him to collect? He'll do it.

Like some bro from Long Island could defeat the second most powerful man in Shiroishi City.

LBD_Nytetrayn

...convenient timing.

https://twitter.com/cagesideseats/status/1654291205524537346?s=20

bloodyroarxx

Notes from meltz

-The tentative plan once Collision starts is that CM Punk will be the star of Collision most weeks, but will periodically appear on Dynamite. In week's that he's on Dynamite, the people who don't want to be around Punk would work the Saturday show.

-There will be little to no change in the booking of the women's division as AEW management doesn't believe there's enough star power to sustain a split roster of women.

-Rampage may turn into what Dark and Dark Elevation were. in discussing Dark ending, Meltzer adds that he has no idea if this means roster cuts could happen.

-The taping schedule is looking like Dynamite and Rampage taping Wednesdays while Collision and ROH will tape together on Saturdays.

-Dave speculates on why the video game doesn't have a release date yet, thinks AEW should have released it during the late 2021-early 2022 hot streak of ratings, and that they may be waiting for Punk's return since Punk may appear in promotional materials.

-The May 10th show with the Moxley-Omega cage match will likely have strong tv competition. That night will have game five of Warriors-Lakers, Knicks-Heat; game four for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and a live town hall/interview with Donald Trump.

-Meltzer has been told that Will Washington's job will include helping Tony Khan write the tv shows with a focus on keeping talent visible and storylines straight.

-Komander has been doing a worked injury at some indy shows. Apparently he was told to save his body now that he's got a big contract that gets him on tv.

-Despite heavy advertising in the UK for the Wembley show, that has not translated to tv ratings in the UK. the recent episodes have recorded the second lowest rating since February.

Zavian

CM Punk will be the star of Collision most weeks, but will periodically appear on Dynamite. In week's that he's on Dynamite, the people who don't want to be around Punk would work the Saturday show.

this is the dumbest shit ever

Cello

Zavian wrote: »

CM Punk will be the star of Collision most weeks, but will periodically appear on Dynamite. In week's that he's on Dynamite, the people who don't want to be around Punk would work the Saturday show.

this is the dumbest shit ever

I also can't foresee this working in the long run either

People will not like having to accommodate Punk openly, and he'll eventually probably slide to Dynamite given that Saturdays will naturally have worse ratings as most TV does, and he's petulant enough to complain about that

Tony's going to lose the room if he hasn't already

Zavian

actually the dumbest shit ever IMO is the fact that if they managed to actually get people to act professionally, AEW would have a major hot angle to work off of; but people not actually willing to work together in real life and not draw huge houses and paydays is really dumb

Magell

Zavian wrote: »

actually the dumbest shit ever IMO is the fact that if they managed to actually get people to act professionally, AEW would have a major hot angle to work off of; but people not actually willing to work together in real life and not draw huge houses and paydays is really dumb

These are all people in their late 30s and 40s acting like this too.

Bret and Shawn were younger and got along enough to work matches and Shawn was fucked up on drugs and Bret was drinking a ton on the road doing that.

Gim

I wish I was a billionaire with an unhealthy attachment to performers from my youth.

Magell

Gim wrote: »

I wish I was a billionaire with an unhealthy attachment to performers from my youth.

It's been said before, but the fact that Tony Khan is basically playing EWR in real life is my dream.

Sprout

This stuff just all feels like it's coming direct from Punk. "I'll be super gracious and allow them to work Saturdays if they've got a problem with me on Dynamite."

The "soft brand split" thing always sounded like complete nonsense.

Gim

I still mostly enjoy the product overall so I'll see how this plays out and hope that this allows some storylines additional room to grow (although really bummed to hear that building out the women's division doesn't appear to be in the cards), but nuking Dark/Elevation AND watering down Rampage AND showcasing problematic talent sounds like a potential recipe to stretch things out in unwieldy ways.

We'll see if Meltzer has it correct.

Dex Dynamo

If an adult man bit me I do not think I would want to work with them, imo

Sprout

To be fair, there has not even been a whisper about bringing Ace Steel back.

Lindsay Lohan

In the end, the thing I'm most interested in is hearing how the whole Collision thing impacts their overall streaming strategy. If I miss DVRing something on TBS/TNT, it's always a crapshoot as to when they will actually add them to on-demand, you end up missing everything from the picture-in-picture, and there's no archive to really go back and watch something from more than a few episodes back. If this means they have a legit streaming platform when the smoke settles, then I really don't care what they do with Punk.

LockedOnTarget

Zavian wrote: »

actually the dumbest shit ever IMO is the fact that if they managed to actually get people to act professionally, AEW would have a major hot angle to work off of; but people not actually willing to work together in real life and not draw huge houses and paydays is really dumb

No

The Bucks are victims of slander and assault

They are absolutely justified if they are refusing to work with Punk

Just work with your abuser to draw big gates is not the narrative we should be pushing here

Magell

LockedOnTarget wrote: »

Zavian wrote: »

actually the dumbest shit ever IMO is the fact that if they managed to actually get people to act professionally, AEW would have a major hot angle to work off of; but people not actually willing to work together in real life and not draw huge houses and paydays is really dumb

No

The Bucks are victims of slander and assault

They are absolutely justified if they are refusing to work with Punk

Just work with your abuser to draw big gates is not the narrative we should be pushing here

He started a fight with them he's not an abuser, plus he was complaining about his bosses and that's fine.

Zavian

one of the problems is that there hasn't been a ton of transparency on what actually happened, in any case I think if it was serious then CM Punk should be fired/let his contract expire, if it wasn't then they should act like professionals and use it as an angle to make money, which is the whole point of the business

bloodyroarxx

Jesus they are going to hit 80k minimum

https://twitter.com/WrestleTix/status/1654533039085453313?

LockedOnTarget

Magell wrote: »

LockedOnTarget wrote: »

Zavian wrote: »

actually the dumbest shit ever IMO is the fact that if they managed to actually get people to act professionally, AEW would have a major hot angle to work off of; but people not actually willing to work together in real life and not draw huge houses and paydays is really dumb

No

The Bucks are victims of slander and assault

They are absolutely justified if they are refusing to work with Punk

Just work with your abuser to draw big gates is not the narrative we should be pushing here

He started a fight with them he's not an abuser, plus he was complaining about his bosses and that's fine.

Refusing to work with the man that assaulted you and spread lies about you is also “fine”.

CM Punk shouldn’t have a fuckin job to begin with after what he did. That he is now successfully gaslighting the fans into making the Bucks the bad guys for not wanting to work with him is just sad now.