AEW’s video game has apparently had its price slashed because it’s a giant pile of trash. Can we admit I was right about it yet?

Just heard the shit Kenny Omega and Tony Khan tried to pull with Rossy Ogawa and STARDOM. :lol:

AEW is difficult to get through.

I still find it entertaining to talk about. I think my favorite thing for this week was Dave Meltzer losing his mind over Darby’s promo. It never occurs to Dave that maybe The Bucks are genuinely assholes.

It’s so funny that AEW is trying to get them over as this serious heel team.

Lol at Ospreay and Takeshita having a match because no one else will fight them.

Adam Page and Swerve Strickland going to a draw to set up a three-way is uninspired too.

Well documented that The Fraze and Tb1 were at Revolution in San Francisco last year. This year's will probably be good despite the current state of the product.

I’m looking forward to hearing about what sort of reaction The Young Bucks get. They don’t feel like good opponents for Sting’s last match and they’re mired in their own bullshit.

Lol, I heard a clip of Bryan Alvarez trying to suggest that AEW’s low attendance is because they don’t release enough of the cards in advance. Like people are sitting at home, really itching to go — but they just don’t know they’re going to miss out on that Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston match.

Come on. You know what you are getting with AEW by now. The people are voting with their money.

:lol:

So, Deonna Purrazo tried to kill Madison Rayne in a slow motion match.

The fucked up part was they showed that again as "the move of the night."

Poor people don’t like AEW, apparently. Makes sense. Rich people don’t either.

Casual fans: why should I give a fuck about this random guy you brought in who "wrestles good."

Bullet Cult: Die in a fire!

Meltzer: You are poor!

So why did everyone turn on AEW? I think it happened sometime after the Punk situation?

Was there a specific event or did they just start making a shit product?

Feel like I've been enjoying AEW more in the first 2 months of 2024 than I did all of last year. I didn't hate 2023 mind, the PPVs were usually belters but it was certainly their weakest year to date creatively, felt a lot more scatterbrained across the board. The Devil angle was especially fucking stupid, you could've had Cole turn on MJF without the stupid whodunnit aspect.

Just has felt like a more well-rounded product to me this year. But hey, to each their own provolone.

Oh that’s something that hasn’t really been discussed here too. Fans actually pointing out how disorienting they find the product and being attacked for it.

Feels obvious that the angle of Flair teasing he's gonna side with the Bucks will result in it being a ruse and he's really just trying to help Sting.

I think it'd be funny if Revolution comes and it turns out nobody's actually willing to accept Flair's help, because nobody trusts him due to his documented history of turning on people. Cue a 4-on-1 Flair beatdown with Sting shoving a bat up his ass and the Bucks giving him a Meltzer Driver through a table.

The promise of killing creepy ass Flair live on PPV should add another 0 to the end of the PPV price.

Just listened to a delightful clip on YouTube where Cornette explores this.

Can’t wait for Revolution.

Revolution just an amazing PPV. High art.

Sammy Guevara has been suspended for not following concussion protocol. If there’s one thing you can say about AEW, it’s that the talent there certainly follows the rules.

Normally I would be against a 50 yr old man beating such a hot rising star like Daniel Garcia, but this was more about building Mama Wayne up to being a top heel in the company, so it makes perfect sense. If there’s one thing the WWE has failed to deliver in recent years, it’s storylines involving mothers. They’re almost always successful.

Boy was it such a fun idea to put a bunch of men slapping meat in a multi-man match. Another brilliant brainchild of Jericho’s probably. What a genius way to get a bunch of guys that haven’t been on TV much before, or in a while, and make them look on par with the new #Contender for the Real World’s Championship? Creates a bunch of main eventers almost instantly.

Orange Cassidy was such a good long-term champion for AEW, it was really cool to see him put over a young guy like Roderick Strong and really give him the rub. WWE fails to create new stars, so it was nice to see AEW use one of theirs to cement one in RODERICK! Thanks ORANGE! Lol.

The Women’s Title match shows how awesome the AEW Women’s Division is. Their women actually have personalities. WWE is going to curse the day they let Toni Storm unprofessionally quit.

What better way to honor the legacy of tag team wrestling in Greensboro than to have Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli honor the Road Warriors and beat a hometown team to prove they belong in the tag team division. I just wish it had been a squash to feel like a real Road Warriors match!

I forgot about the Eddie Kingston/Bryan Danielson match! Not because it was forgettable. Who can forget it when two guys get in the ring and trade forearms willingly like total bad-asses? I love how Danielson doesn’t care he used to be a TV star and just loses all the time. Such a great story of AEW’s version of Tommy Dreamer actually getting the belts and beating all these legends. It’s inspirational.

I’ve seen people call Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita the best match that’s ever happened. I think they’re wrong. I think it’s the best match that ever will happen! I love how Takeshita wanted to be hit in the face and then was actually hurt when it happened, because Will’s just that powerful. Who can get sick of these strike exchanges?

The World Title Match was a masterstroke of booking genius. One of the best finishes I’ve ever seen. Love how Adam Page hates Swerve so much he sabotages himself. You just don’t get this type of storytelling in wrestling anymore.

What a send off for Sting. A true legend who never got lazy and just kept having better and better matches. Nice to see an icon who isn’t in it for the money and truly cares about the business. The Young Bucks proved their doubters wrong and put together a blockbuster on par with The Avengers: Infinity War here. Love the legends but I’m glad they made way for the young talent, like The Bucks and The Sons of the Scorpion. Darby’s dive was awesome and made perfect sense because he hates the Bucks and he’s crazy — so of course you’d front flip off a ladder to a guy catching his breath in that general area. Only little bitches don’t use glass in their wrestling, but don’t try this at home kids! Lol!

:lol:

Saw Narc at Tb1's for Revolution this year. We talked being a dad and our weight loss journeys.

Good luck on your journey, man.

I saw the horrible Okada debut. My favorite thing has been the general consensus from people that “well, I guess I don’t have to care about this guy.”

I watched the Darby Allen promo about him possibly dying. What kind of promo is this? How am I meant to feel?

Lol geniuses.

I love how the EVPs can suspend and fire people now. Why did Tony Khan give them that power?

Narc's is the true journey. The Fraze is still fit but has lost weight due to dietary changes for other reasons.

Well, I hope it goes well, whatever it is. :y:

I couldn't find it on YouTube. Can you tell me how to find it?
By the way, have you seen the heavy mug that Ronnie Coleman advertises? This is a cool thing that athletes will definitely like.

Stings final match was great, plenty of holy shit and him winning made half (or the overly vocal 3.45%) the IWC look ridiculous with there pearl clutching the Bucks were gonna win.

The last time I saw so many incorrect predictions was around the Devil angle.

Outside of that lifes been to busy for wrestling and the sites always down :/

For The Fraze, it was sarcasm.

What if Darby Allen actually dies on Mt. Everest?

I don’t want anyone to die — even if they are a scumbag — but I don’t think I can muster too much sympathy for someone who puts themselves in a situation like that.

Most people (basically all) called Sting & Darby winning and the belts being held up in a tournament. Wtf are you talking about?

Pretty sure almost everyone called Adam Cole as the devil too.

By the way, Dynamite’s rating was in the toilet because the product sucks and they’re wildly out of touch.

I thought about that during his promo. That would be fucking wild.

Bryan Alvarez did another rant where he suggested that the reason AEW’s attendance is down is because they don’t advertise enough. :lol:

It isn’t good. That’s the biggest problem.

Some more fun AEW tidbits:

* Kevin Kelly has been fired. He said some positive things about that shitty “Sound of Freedom” movie. Ian Riccaboni went on a Discord server and talked shit about Kevin Kelly. Ian admits to it and says he stands by the comments. Kelly blames Riccaboni for helping to sabotage his career. Dave Meltzer has aided the campaign against Kelly by throwing in the idea that it’s performance based and Kelly isn’t good anymore (it can’t be that the product sucks).

* Sasha Banks did an appearance ahead of her AEW debut. She said that she’s going to be back in WWE one day. :lol:

* Kazuchika Okada is reportedly earning $4.5 million per year.

* Santana has left AEW. He gave a classy goodbye, but you can tell he can’t wait to get out of that hole.

I think it’s a win for AEW as it means he can’t inevitably kill/cripple himself on their product.

Watched it on YouTube. Awful segment altogether. The Bucks come across as kids playing adults. The Rainmaker doesn’t work as an “out of nowhere” move, Eddie looked like a fucking idiot staring at The Bucks as Okada tried to grab his arm. Turning Okada heel out of the gate had me wishing hard he’d debuted night after Mania or even as a surprise Nakamura opponent at Mania.

I watched it on YouTube too. Everything you’re saying here is spot on. They also had to block it out with Eddie taking the predictable position to be attacked very slowly by Okada. The face Okada made to try and play heel was pretty funny too. But I think that’s just the whole segment coloring it.

Good on the guy for getting paid and getting to phone it in, but it does nothing for us as wrestling fans.

I watched the clip of Okada’s in-ring debut. Fucking terrible, lol. He committed like every cardinal sin that you could accuse an indy geek of in one squash. I’ve enjoyed some samples of his work in the past, but this was just atrocious.

You can tell they feel smug about thinking it was a good showcase for him too.

I don't really know who Okada is, so seeing people lose their minds over him (when he had already appeared on AEW TV) was weird. He just looks like a dude and his finisher did not look like "a big deal."

Dunno. I'm sure I'll enjoy his work but I don't really get him rn.

Also, while their new gimmick is much more interesting, I still don't really give a shit about The Young Bucks. They're just a couple of goofballs. I can't take them seriously.

I have been in a hole lately. My favorite part of Sting's retirement was the retirement speech getting cut off for time. Because it is the perfect encapsulation of how little Sting's retirement was actually about Sting.

Sting’s retirement speech getting cut off was emblematic of most places Sting has chosen to work.

Discourse from the "IWC" is so infuriating every week.

It’s hilarious. The WWE side complains that Seth and Drew are somehow being buried and rubbish like that. AEW’s is filled with complete delusion.

As of 4 days ago, the Dynamite in Toronto headlined by Edge vs. Christian in an I Quit Match had moved about 4,000 tickets. Edge vs. Christian. I Quit. In Toronto.

I just had to hear what Bryan Alvarez said about Okada’s in-ring debut as a full-time AEW guy. I expected a bad take, but holy shit. He thought it was awesome and he and Vinny were talking (hyperbolically) about how it was the best match ever and they could watch Okada kill guys forever.

No, it sucked. He looked bored. Let guys hit him. Hit the laziest version of his finish. He wrestled like he thinks he’s an anime character, instead of it being an actual squash match.

I really enjoy Okada. I havent seen any of his AEW stuff. (Cause i dont watch wrestling unless someone asks me to.)

I’ve thought of Okada as one of the better New Japan workers when I’ve seen him in the past, but his AEW stuff has been awful. It’s making me wonder if Gedo and Yuji Nagata micromanage everything there to protect the guys from themselves.

AEW is the friggin best ever.

Sasha’s AEW music is perfect for her. Gonna wear out it’s welcome instantly.

Rough Sasha Banks promo. Hard to watch.

Her theme is horrible. She's the Chief Executive Officer of what?

She was the best of the Horsewomen. Sad.

Disingenuous. Yes. That's what her promo was.

lol she's never been a very good promo

WWE put a lot of curation into their women’s scene. Sasha was a big benefactor of that. When you think about her greatest matches, they usually involve someone who is actually a really good worker themselves. The exception might have been that main event with Bianca, given Bianca’s experience level, but that would have gotten top attention from agents.

I’d probably rank her fourth of the Horsewomen, although she was possibly the most “exciting” for a while because of the presentation they gave her.

Her promo wasn’t AWFUL. It was very generic, hit the usual beats, didn’t really get anyone hyped. I think her invoking Eddie Guerrero is a bit much at this point too. But it had no positive effect on the ratings. Sasha Banks was a star in context of the WWE. Mercedes Mone feels like the performer has hit hard times and is clinging to relevancy.

It’s funny seeing Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez trying to spin this narrative that WWE is kicking themselves for not breaking bank for “Channel Changer” Will Ospreay.

AEW announced the brackets for their tag tournament. They only have six teams in it. The BCC, who beat FTR in their home state, aren’t even in the tournament.

LolAEW

Samoa Joe has now started to lose viewership for his segments too, despite being strong at one point. The Bucks & Okada lost about 100k people. Hope the money spent on making New Japan look stupid is worth it.

Her work in NXT was fantastic and I had her ahead of the other three. They dropped the ball with her losing the three way at Wrestlemania and never really recovered. Followed by bad booking, short title reigns and injuries I'll admit the other three did eventually overtake her.

I enjoyed NXT too. But most of her time there was probably very carefully guided. She worked with Charlotte, Becky, Bayley and Nattie a lot of the time and pretty consistently.

Saw that Sasha Banks and Tony Khan appeared on television show promoting AEW. Didn't watch it, but Tony apparently stated that Sasha loves the wrestling business and the fans.

For me this was the main problem with her promo. The narrative is out there that she went to AEW for more money. There's also been times where she had fans stand six feet away from her at signings for photos ops. Her whole presentation just seems so contrived.

Okay. Watched a short clip of this on Twitter.

So a boss demands things. A CEO is on a mission to take AEW global. Lame.

Tony Khan says she loves the fans. She places her hand over her chest feigning sincerity. This is horrible.

She needs guidance. Such a waste.

The only reason you go to AEW now is for the money. Art goes there to die. No one gets any better or becomes any more of a star. You just get paid out the ass to not change your lifestyle at all.

Sasha’s bad attitude is going to blow up there at some point? And it’s going to be tremendous.

This seems quite apparent now.

Why are they giving away their big signings in matches on free TV? Okada beat Kingston for his belt - should this not have been PPV?

Actually Okada was the face of Japanese wrestling (as I understand it), why is he winning a mid card title? Sasha Banks appears to be in a feud for the mid card women's title. Edge won the mid card title. What is happening?

I can see this happening and Tony Khan fearing for his life.

I think Tony is a mark and wants these wrestlers’ names on his titles’ lineages. But it’s absolutely horrible booking.

Okada and almost every New Japan guy that works there is being exposed, but how you miss the idea to put out video packages for the guy and bring him in as a babyface is baffling. And that AEW continuously misses the lowest hanging of fruit is so frustrating.

Adam Copeland was rendered unimportant from the start with his magic entrance that made no sense. That’s been proven despite what some assholes on here wanted to protest. I don’t know why they’ve got so many singles belts. Part of the reason is probably so all the talent he signs can be shoe-horned into something.

Sasha coming in and feuding with…Willow? Julia Hart and Skye Blue? Whatever they’re doing is hilarious. Sasha isn’t going to improve the women’s div. She’s there to make a mess with the mid-card. It’s also more arcane shit that people don’t know or care about. She debuted with references to a bunch of things that no one had seen. A debut is supposed to be the beginning.

:lol:

Sasha may have fared better than Punk in the UFC. Tony better learn some shoot holds from <s>Gerry Brisco</s> Chris Jericho.

Or just hide behind Tay Conti when it happens.

I find Ospreay’s disposition of being a babyface in a heel faction (just like Swerve) amusing. Their World Champion isn’t a clear face or a heel. I think we need more people talking about the dark times they’ve been through recently and talking about how much they love and respect the person they’re feuding with.

Currently in a personal power struggle between how attracted I am to Sasha/Mercedes physically and how cringe she is.

Thats how i feel about AOC

I have faith you’ll be able to entertain both truths.

That’s how I feel about the AOP. :naughty:

Not gonna be the same without Noid. ILL MISS YOU HO

Is TPWW really coming to an end? If so, I feel it is important to stress just how disappointing AEW was. Noid was right.

I won't say you were right but you were definitely not wrong.

Also yes, today is supposedly the last day of TPWW as we know it.

Well, it was a nice couple of decades or so. Take care and spread love where you can.

We're still here.

Oh damn what she doing?

The end of the world was greatly overstated

The asteroid burnt up and was no bigger than a chihuahua’s head.

Did anyone catch Dave Meltzer’s apologetics for The BCC being left out of the tag tournament? It doesn’t make *logical* sense, but it does make *booking* sense. And the business is apparently all about making money, so if FTR vs. BCC makes money (lol), then it’s all good.

Tony is back to having 4am social media meltdowns. Amazing. This time he aimed it at Eric Bischoff. He’s bragging about a media rights deal that hasn’t been confirmed yet, and may not even exist.

The ratings for this week’s Dynamite were deservedly low. <750k. It’s funny watching fanboys scratch their heads and wonder why the product is failing. It isn’t very good.

Okada has been exposed. Every time a NJPW guy comes in, they look like shit. I wonder if that’s because they’re trained by New Japan for New Japan and it’s a smoke and mirrors product? Okada’s making errors every time he’s out there. It was probably an Observer myth that he was good. Like Sabu being better than Bret Hart in 1994.

Tony keeps adding “stars.” This pushes his old “stars” out and forces his new toys to clash with fans of the old. And he keeps making loud noises to get attention but the output is shit. Do fans of Sasha Banks really want to go and watch her play the best value version of herself? The way Tony uses talent has to be offsetting to fans of those wrestlers. I used to love Daniel Bryan and Cesaro. Not so much Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli. And if you can’t be good with them, who can you actually be good with?

Wrestling would be better if AEW disappeared and the actual talent that is trapped there had to do other things. There’s at least a chance of them being optimized.

To be fair, I hear Daniel Bryan's misuse is mostly his own fault and how he doesn't want to be the focus and wants to just go "rassle" in "good matches".

Then again, I guess 66.666% of AEW's problems are probably attributed to the rasslers and their wants/ideas/desires and Tony Khan's inability to control his roster, say no, utilize them for what would be best for business and not just for what the rasslers themselves want to be used as.

Yeah, that falls on him as a booker/promoter. I’ve also read Daniel Bryan say he does what Tony asks him to, and if Tony wanted to make him the World Champion he would. So I think a large part of the idea that Bryan controls his own stuff is fan speculation. I doubt he’s doing anything he doesn’t actively want to do either. It’s probably a little from column A and a little from column B.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Bryan’s deal is up. He signed for 3 years, but time might be added on for injuries and the like. But that should be up this year.

Yes. What a fool. I also enjoyed Cornette pulling it apart :lol:

I see the rankings are back! Why was Swerve and Takeashit for the #1 spot. Didn't Osprey just beat him? Was is Takeashit now unranked?

Why is Christian unranked? How does Tony Khan not know how to do rankings - he's a UFC fan. Just emulate that without the voting panel. Or have the voting panel. Have the wrestling media vote on the rankings.