That doesn’t have anything to do with the ridiculous notion that Hook’s shirt being the number one best seller online this week means merch sales are shit. Especially since Punk has multiple shirts on sale that have been available for quite a while.

I do understand the gripe that Punk feels like "another guy" now. I assumed he'd make sporadic appearances and only wrestle occasionally, not be a weekly fixture. Listening to him in interviews it really sounds like the passion got reignited for him and he's wanted to wrestle a lot more often than he thought he would.

It's one of those things where, you managed to get a guy back after a 7 year retirement, you really gonna tell him "nah, we can't bring you in every week" when he wants to do it? Would be hard pressed to make that call. He doesn't feel like a special attraction, but he's still getting one of the biggest reactions every week.

I have no issues with Danielson though. That dude bleeds wrestling, I always assumed he was coming in to have bangers every week and he's delivered.

for punk to be morally consistent he has to work a fullish time schedule otherwise his years of protest of part timers stealing his spot makes him eat crow

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

The part-time hypocrite is the gimmick I expected Punk to eventually come back to WWE with.

lol it would be a great gimmick. Cena shat on the Rock during their feuds for being a part-timer but when he got called out for it later on in a different feud (a Roman one I think) he kinda just shrugged it off and was like "yeah, you got me there". Felt like more could've been done with it.

When he does finally turn heel that will probably be the play for Punk.

Nothing Punk has done to me has amounted to much of anything. I also dont see how it gets glossed over that he is WWE CM Punk. He has the same music, the same shirt, the same promo, the same moveset, and the same gimmick. He hates WWE for holding him back, yet with complete freedom he is doing exactly the same thing he was doing in the place that held him back? Hell he even has the same "FED BAD" complaints he had from 7 years ago.

Except now he is 7 years older, a pretty big hypocrite, and he only showed up after failing at everything else he tried for seven years, including trying to get Vince to take him back first.

I was very lukewarm on the idea of Punk joining, and it has played out exactly like I figured.

Danielson has been far better, despite ill fated heel turns and draws in big matches. Nothing Bryan himself has done has been bad, and AEW not taking full advantage is on them.

I do not think Tony Khan is capable of booking any other style than how he has for 3 years. Other than debuts and some of the stuff Cody has been in (like getting squashed by Brodie and Black), has AEW done anything that we didnt see coming from a mile away? Not that its bad to have a lot of that if it pleases the fanbase, but how many 6 or 8 or 10 man tags are we supposed to care about?

This was their first BIG special show in months, and not only did they fail to get a million again, they went down in their demo from last week. I say THEIR demo because it is all they care about, but I think we are getting to that point I was talking about a while back. The average age of their viewers is going to roll over to 50 sooner than later, and then what? If that demo is truly all that matters to TV providers, then they are in deep shit when that demo keeps falling.

And that is the problem with booking the way they do, they have not obtained any new fans, and they maybe retained 5% of all lapsed fans who have given them a fair shot. They all pat themselves on the back so much they are oblivious to the fact that they have dropped the ball every time they have heated up whatsoever.

Dynamite up 8% week over week in overall viewers with a 948,000 for Winter is coming. Down 7% in the all important 18-49 demo from last weeks show though, pulling 398k down from 430k.

Still can't hit that milly for the 10th straight week but at least they got over 900k for the first time in a month.

I predicted 960k for Winter is Coming. That would have been 60% of the Wednesday night wrestling audience last year. They didn’t hit that.

The 18-49 demo down 7% too. I guess a lot of those super-cool 49 year old fans had birthdays.

Jim Cornette loves HOOK

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Haven't listened to the latest Drive-Thru yet but I did watch the match. You gotta look really hard for something to complain about. He was great.

I couldn’t imagine a better debut for the kid.

Such a little thing, but the way he went to the corner and turned his back on his opponent with complete disdain, it set the tone completely. Hook is much better than Arn's kid.

Pretty Good


<iframe width="1206" height="678" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MqsloakKs7A" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

He really wasn't that impressive. His strikes look like shit.

His strikes were exaggerated but fine. Everything else he did was crisp. He had a good “swagger”.

I will say that Fuego seemed like the perfect opponent. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do when he has more of a struggle tossing a guy around.

I thought his strikes looked good minus a few cross faces

He looked very deliberate. You could see the spots he was going for before he did them. I’m iffy in him using his dad’s spots too, because that eventually limited Taz and what he could do, who he could do it with, etc.

Hahaha, Tony Khan is such a fucking moron:

Fox News wrote an article about the Jaguars/Urban Meyer mess. In it, AEW is mentioned as one of the Khans’ ventures and how it has cooled after signing Danielson and Punk a few months ago. TK can’t have that! He has responded by focusing on the bullshit key demo and claiming that he has beaten Fox News for the past six weeks and posted the Showbuzz charts to “prove it.” Yikes.

And yes, Fox News sucks. But so do the Khans. And this is not how ratings work. I wonder if this guy believes the Meltzer spin on ratings and just has people underneath him trying to do the best with what they have?

YOOOOOO not just one tweet, THREE LMFAO!!! Watching him meltdown is better than any episode of Dynamite :rofl:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> it’s amusing hearing you opining about <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEW</a> ratings considering <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> on Wednesday has beaten EVERY single <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> show for 6 straight weeks! Here are the recent charts (including this week) to prove it. See you TONIGHT on <a href="https://twitter.com/tntdrama?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TNTdrama</a> 10pmET/9pmCT @ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWRampage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWRampage</a> <a href="https://t.co/eiZs7AKFAN">pic.twitter.com/eiZs7AKFAN</a></p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1471975513816289286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a>, I appreciate that you’ve highlighted <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEW</a> ratings when <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> on Wednesdays has beaten EVERY single show on your network for 6 straight weeks. Here are a few more charts, Twitter only let me attach 4 weeks worth to my last tweet! See you TONIGHT <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWRampage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWRampage</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ow0vUmLnBs">pic.twitter.com/Ow0vUmLnBs</a></p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1471977554433163269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Did you know <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> on Wednesdays on <a href="https://twitter.com/tntdrama?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TNTdrama</a> has beaten EVERY single show on <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> for 6 straight weeks? Surely <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FOXNews</a> knows as they like talking tv ratings; maybe they should focus on their content instead of playing boar on the floor. See you TONIGHT @ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWRampage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWRampage</a> <a href="https://t.co/2NpUxCKqsS">pic.twitter.com/2NpUxCKqsS</a></p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1471982793177583617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'll miss AEW if Shad pulls the plug, but if it means this dude goes away, I'll call it a fair trade knowing TK will be having a tantrum and pouting like a 13 year old emo girl everyday after that.

Holy shit, that is amazing. He does not help the perception of his company.

Tony Kahn is a buisness leader.

Tony Khan to defeat Tucker Carlson in a Facts Count Anywhere match

I wouldnt trust him to run a garage sale without freaking out.

Would Carlson ever qualify for this match?

BAH GAWD CHRIS JERICHO HAS TURNED ON AEW THAT NO GOOD SON OF A BITCH, HE JUST HIT TONY KHAN WITH A CHAIR. DAMN IT EXCALIBUR, NOT THIS WAY, NOT THIS WAY.

(Jericho embraces Sean Hannity and raises his hand)

DAMN IT TO HELL THAT BASTARD

This is easily your best post ever.

Gotta wonder how Jericho will react to the news Tony is attacking his right wing friends. Is this why he had a heart attack in Wales? People are speculating.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/6FEqV9Ki2u">pic.twitter.com/6FEqV9Ki2u</a></p>&mdash; sammy guevara (@sammyguevara) <a href="https://twitter.com/sammyguevara/status/1472256160514383880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Twitter is telling me Sammy and Tay Conti have gotten 'close' lately so we can prob guess what happened...

yeah twitter is probably right

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From last month <a href="https://t.co/sME9gWk0eE">https://t.co/sME9gWk0eE</a> <a href="https://t.co/1Z2210buig">pic.twitter.com/1Z2210buig</a></p>&mdash; SoDuTw (@SoDuTw) <a href="https://twitter.com/SoDuTw/status/1472267881702428676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What rumours?<br><br>All I know is that they tweeted this a month ago. <a href="https://t.co/FeXNXXpy4o">https://t.co/FeXNXXpy4o</a> <a href="https://t.co/S2Z6TpmzY4">pic.twitter.com/S2Z6TpmzY4</a></p>&mdash; SoDuTw (@SoDuTw) <a href="https://twitter.com/SoDuTw/status/1472260569147351041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sammy and Tay�� <a href="https://t.co/JxX2cN7688">pic.twitter.com/JxX2cN7688</a></p>&mdash; Emily���� (@EmilyR789) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmilyR789/status/1463273739307655173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wrestlers may choose to share and give you glimpses into their personal lives at times but you never really know what someone is going through. Please never assume and respect peoples privacy. We may allow you to read a page or two but that doesn’t mean you know our whole story.</p>&mdash; Fuego Del Sol! (@FuegoDelSol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FuegoDelSol/status/1472286578437406734?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That gum-chewing is stupid. Hope he chokes on it.

The excuses for AEW’s declining ratings are hilarious:

* The West Coast difference. Sure, this is thing that does impact live viewership. But that doesn’t explain why the ratings decrease week-to-week (outside TV specials). It also doesn’t address why AEW was put in this situation in the first place. Could it be Warner prioritises the value of other properties that make them more money?

* They’re building a loyal fan base before they expand. Yes, I’ve read this one recently. People are actually trying to praise Tony Khan for neglecting wrestling fans and instead going after the most hardcore of the hardcore. Never mind this “hardcore” fan base has been whittled away over time.

* They’re focusing on their international expansion. Have I missed something? I can find the announcement of a deal in Subsaharan Africa, India and the Philippines in 2021 — which are important markets, to speak nothing of the actual deals — but there hasn’t exactly been some groundbreaking movement in this area. I don’t know if they even have deals in Japan or Australia. Come on.

* They’re up year over year. Cool. This is true sometimes. December has seen lower viewership in 2021 than 2020 so far. This might not matter to TNT, but NXT was obviously a factor that AEW doesn’t have to deal with directly anymore. The number of people watching wrestling on a Wednesday has decreased. There hasn’t actually been any growth in popularity of AEW or wrestling overall. They’ve also had some MAJOR signings which helps them every now and then — CM Punk, Bryan Danielson — and that helps boost the data. But there hasn’t been an instance where AEW has been able to sustain those spikes for an extended period of time. Full Gear 2021 got a boost over Full Gear 2020. Cool.

I’m beyond the point of caring about whether or not AEW succeeds. I’ve been that way for a long time, because I’m not sympathetic to bad entries in a genre because I think they can hurt that genre. Some people are. That’s their prerogative. But I don’t think it is more “right” than my philosophy that the last thing wrestling fans is more bad wrestling. The best outcome I can see is a forest fire scenario, where the land is scorched and from it new life can grow. Short-term, I’m worried that anyone trying to sell wrestling to a network is going to be hit with the reality that it is not effective enough.

Darby Allin took a shot at Cora Jade on Twitter:

“Skating is a huge part of my life and not a fake character for tv lol”

Cora Jade’s response:

“Being a good person with no abuse allegations against me is a huge part of my life and not a fake character I play on tv”

Darby got fucking killed.

I thought she was dating negative 1 though, twitter said! :rofl:

I did see this, I was especially tickled by all the Twitter Cultist attacking her, saying she is dumb for bringing up a false allegation that she knows nothing about just because Darby called her a fake skater.

Of course the Twitter Cultist never thought for a second to check the history. That history being that the girl who accused Darby happened to be Cora Jade's tag team partner on the Indy's. Never occurred to them that maybe Cora is bringing up something that she was an outcry witness to.

There are cultists defending him and attacking her, but thankfully I’ve also seen some AEW fans who have been like “Wow, savage” and pointed out that Darby is basically a confirmed asshole (at the very least) and was a total dick for going after her.

Curious: Do you feel this way about every rassler who chews gum?