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