https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2...am-1192502.jpg

Confirmed

Lol, remember when Dave Meltzer tried to float the story that Orton’s ego is so big he priced himself out because he wanted Jericho money? Then TK went onto Twitter and tried to start beef with Orton over using AEW offers to negotiate a higher deal with WWE. Whoops.

That’s what I think. Which is why it’s stupid talent is teasing it.

The biggest star it could realistically be is Bray Wyatt. It’ll probably be Keith Lee. Neither “changes everything.”

shafir has already appeared a few times on their youtube shit

Going to be Paul Hunter. Cody has been working without a contract, Paul Hunter comes in, they fight for the future of the company. Been the meta-story since Day 1.





Book it.

Now I watched the Day 1 Premium Live Event and I do not remember any of this.

Because it was not that great. That is also a WWE PPV - get outta this thread pal!




lol

Yeah, I know, but they haven’t done the graphic yet, have they?

I think it’s gonna be Keith Lee. Which is a a potentially great pickup. But not worth the hype. And after the Christian debacle i don’t buy anything he hypes up.

WWE should quietly let Veer out of his contract without a non-compete so it can be him. LET THE MAN FINALLY COME, DAMMIT!

Keith just got married. They should go on honeymoon.

Every AEW signing means Tony Khan just made a new friend, so it is a HUGE deal.

:lol: I hope Keith Lee like white claw!

Hopefully Keith Lee looks after his health on that roster. Too many sad stories waiting to happen.

He will get health insurance now!

Do AEW wrestlers get insurance? I thought they don't and only the office guys do

:rofl:

I thought this interview had info on insurance but I was wrong, it doesn't. This is what I was basing my knowledge on but it doesn't mention insurance. Still interesting though.

I read somewhere that extras were making 3k a pop in the empty arena days. Obviously the EVP's or anyone who works and office job has health insurance. I would assume that they work out ways to get guys on company health insurance as a leveraging tool.

Keith Whiteclaw Lee :rofl:

Jacksonville Dixie :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Tony cried for sure lol

:rofl:

I honestly forgot that Kyle O'Reilly signed with AEW until I just saw a news story about him trademarking his nickname "Violent Artist". Stupid nickname.

Too many bodies, too many guys that are going to feel like they are wasted potential. I really feel AEW's men's roster should top out at 50. I can't find what I'd consider an accurate number but AEW had over 113 people signed as of September 2021, so I can only imagine they are well ahead of that now.

According to Smackdown Hotel AEW has 164 talents signed including wrestlers, agents, coaches, announcers etc...

Roughly 115 of those are "active" on the men's roster.

36 are women, and of those I'd say we see about 20 of them "regularly", the others are probably in development or only on Dark.

For contrast, Impact has 81 talents signed, NJPW 105 and ROH (before December) had 80.

Been saying their rosters bloated for a while now. Wish some of them would go to njpw. Their roster desperately needs a shake up.

Tony wants all the toys. He doesn’t know how to play with them.

So it's a match against one of Matt Hardy's guys, and the winner goes on to a ladder match.

Fucks sake, it's fucking Jeff isn't it.

It won’t be Jeff. But it could be….


WILLOW!!

It’s going to be Keith Lee, and it’s going to be hilarious.

I know some people liked him in WWE, but he has done barely anything in the business and can’t even really cut a promo. He is in no way, shape or form a “top” wrestler.

He isn’t even someone who had to fight to get out of a contract, so even by the largest stretch of you imagination, he isn’t “forbidden” in any way. He was released because his prior company decided he wasn’t good/healthy enough.

Agreed. NJPW's roster has been stagnant for a long while now and the situation with the pandemic has only worsened it. Japan has still pretty much banned westerners from entering the country unless they jump through a ton of logistical hoops before going, quarantine for weeks upon entry, and no guarantee they'll even be allowed back home if an outbreak happens while they're in the country. That's why even a guy like Jay White hasn't been in Japan since May, and I don't blame him.

Supposedly the westerner ban is proving to be incredibly popular politically, so I don't know if I see these rules are going to change anytime soon even though it's obvious COVID is never going away.

But if shit ever freely opened again, would love to see AEW send talent over there for some tours and freshen things up a bit while also reducing the bloat of their own roster.

I don’t even think there are too many people on the AEW roster who fit New Japan. Danielson? Sure. But when I think of Japan I think of hard-hitting and technical. Well, ideally. AEW seems like it’s got this loose, plenty of daylight soft-style. I honestly think some of the Impact guys would suit Japan better. Josh Alexander, for example.

Matt Hardy apparently has a podcast and confirmed Jeff’s non-compete runs through March 9. So I have no clue why the dickhead is online teasing Jeff. Seriously, can Tony just fire the fucking guy already? He does whatever he wants with no value add.

Lol, this post is vicious, but pretty spot-on. He’ll beat Isiah Kassidy then do this pretentious promo — “Greetings and salutations…”. It’s going to be majorly groan-inducing.

Fans don’t like to admit it, but there is a reason a lot of this talent gets cut. Keith Lee’s psychology was pretty bad and his promos were unnatural and forced. They’ll try and hype him like a big deal, but I can see a lot of people being (rightfully) pissed off.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">this was ALMOST the slam heard around the world <br><br>almost <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDarkElevation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDarkElevation</a> <a href="https://t.co/A0pq96IPa2">pic.twitter.com/A0pq96IPa2</a></p>&mdash; SNAKEMAN���� (@KingSerpentico) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingSerpentico/status/1490875164313395201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Wtf? Talk about bush league.

lol that was dumb as shit

Remember that Big Show is probably getting paid upwards of $1 million. Tony Shiavone is not cheap either. That’s what you have them doing.

Hahaha love Luther. So bad.

As it was actually meant to be, lol.

Being bad on purpose doesn’t make something good.

Just saw where the Observer says Keith Lee is All Elite and they are planning to throw him into a world title feud going into Revolution.

Womp.

Dunno how I originally missed that. Seriously el oh el if he comes through "ThE fOrBiDdEn DoOr" tomorrow.

if a literal door is opened and slammed closed on my television tomorrow regardless of who it is, i will lose my damn mind and not in a good way.

i don't know why i'm expecting that but my brain is convinced it's gonna happen

What if it is Bayley??? :eek:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/a4de2d01...01fb748f28.jpg

ok that would actually be surprising though so i'd give it a pass

It is Ali. Tony is footing his legal expenses, brother!

Love(d) Keith Lee

I do agree that his promos are not good, but he was really great to watch wrestle in like 2017-2018... Went to a lot of indie shows in EVOLVE (where he was their most popular wrestler, along with Riddle and Darby Allin) around then, with a few people who are not really wrestling fans, and he was basically everyone's favorite wrestler

I do have a lot of doubts about him now though tbh since it's 4 years later and he had a life-threatening heart issue

Where/when did they say that?

wish u would post links to stuff...

It's all reposts in facebook groups/pages. Just happened to see a screencap from one of the pages earlier, said it was from the WON and it said Keith Lee is signed and will be getting a title program apparently. Now all the pages are lighting up with the same story. A good 80% of them are saying he's the forbidden door guy too but none of them are sourcing that claim as of yet.

I don't think the Observer said that. This is all that was said from the most recent issue:

Really hope theres more than one guy and they aren't hyping up Lee. Don't get me wrong, I like Lee a lot actually, but man he is not worth the hype of this announcement.

If it was Keith Lee and he was getting a AEW Championship match at Revolution, wouldn't it be best for Lance Archer to beat Hangman for the title?

Yeah I don't pay for the Observer so I didn't actually go check after I saw the report sourcing them. Seems really dumb to source directly claim them as a source if they didn't say it.

LOL I just dug around and found the source for it. Looks like they got rolled by a knock off twitter account. Really need to look for those blue check marks.

It needs to be anybody but Keith Lee. Advertising it as this huge signing, but it just ends up being a morbidly obese guy who looks like he's sixty and talks like the incarnation of a fedora, would be brutal

AEW has been trending in the wrong direction for a bit with signing all the NXT guys. Adam Cole and O Reilly genuinely suck (I like Bobby Fish though). Danhausen sucks. You've got this roster of amazing talent, and you're diluting it with garbage.

You have to assume Miro is injured, or taking time off. It's inexcusable for him to be gone this long. Especially given he never should've lost the title to Guevara (who also sucks)

Used to watch Dynamite weekly, now I just catch the reposted YouTube highlights, and watch Dark/Elevation for background noise. Hopefully they turn it around, because I used to look forward to Wednesday nights.

Oh also fuck Dante Martin

I see Keith and Mia just got married like 3 days ago. I'd think they'd be on their honeymoon or something.

Maybe THE FORBIDDEN DOOR refers to leaving your new wife in the hotel room on your honeymoon

Well she's apparently posting pictures of their honeymoon online except people have quickly realized they seem to be pictures from a trip they took in 2020. Guess she is gonna have fun with the speculation too lol

A man can dream

Imagine if it's Cryback

Can’t stop laughing at all the haters, losers, and racists saying it shouldn’t be Keith Lee. Imagine the ignorance to think a generational talent showing up would be a disappointment. Work on yourselves and try to figure out where your life went wrong.

Damb

I think it's interesting that AEW would just hot shot him into the AEW title picture, but not Miro, Danielson, Christian, Lethal, or Punk.

Generational talent? Cuz he's a rotund man who can still go? Pfffft, that's Kevin Owens schtick.

And ftr I'M NOT RACIST OK! KO isn't better because he's white; he's better because he's Canadian.

Keith Lee rules so personally I’m happy if it’s him even if I think Tony doesn’t need to hype every announcement as the biggest thing since Jesus.

The "forbidden door" shit still doesn't make any sense to me if it's Keith Lee... how would he "slam the door in the face of his prior company" if he was released by WWE...

Kinda why I'm leaning towards an NJPW guy like Juice Robinson or whatever... which would be not good if that's who this hype is about...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Forbidden Door can be opened for anyone from any wrestling promotion in the world, whether or not it’s a company <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEW</a> is on good terms with, even if it’s someone from a company that’s open for business. They’re also welcome to slam the door in the face of their prior company.</p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1489819394205270018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Oh yeah?! You can't fire me, I quit! *slams door*

Feel like AEW would probably try to sign Toni Storm so would make sense for them to maybe try to sign her bf Juice Robinson also I guess... would be so annoying if it is him after the hype though... Tony Khan's hype made me dislike boring ass Christian even more...

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/euXe5j3RJEmCNUMFma" width="480" height="240" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/aewontnt-frankie-kazarian-christian-cage-christiancage-euXe5j3RJEmCNUMFma">via GIPHY</a></p>

Vince is crashing through the Forbidden Door after Nick Khan convinced him to future endeavor himself.

Bae white

It wouldn’t be a smart move to “slam the door” in anyone else’s face either. If you want a relationship with New Japan, why talk like that? And why poke WWE with a stick? It’s just all so immature outside being overhyped.

I think Keith Lee would be a great pickup and WWE releasing him making her isn’t good a dumb take. This is the company that’s paid Eva Marie twice, pushed the Bella twins to the moon, employs Aaliyah who reads her promos off of cue cards and gives TV time to Omos while only firing Nia Jax because she refused to get vaccinated. Let’s not pretend this is company where talent and ability get you anywhere.

Lee can work, he’s got a different look compared to most of the AEW roster, he’sa big name in the eyes of that fan base, and he’ll generate some buzz for them.

My only concern is what they do with him. I’ve been mostly happy with Punk so far, Danielson has been handled perfectly IMO and Cole is being wasted on mid care acts. So who knows what they’ll do with Lee vengarse they’re going to want to protect him but I don’t want him in feuds with lesser guys.

I assume this is tongue in cheek, but I just want to reiterate that Keith Lee is not that good. I don’t think he’s a bad signing, but they’ve signed so many people it makes choosing him trivial. And it’s a poor use of “Forbidden Door,” he didn’t slam the door on WWE and it’s way overhyped. Tony Khan just needs to shut the fuck up and let his mid-card signings be mid-card signings.

Maybe it's an ROH guy? Re: "slam the door on their previous company" comment... but nobody from there would be big enough for this amount of hype

Bandido? He's def a "top wrestler" and presumably a free agent so the "slam the door" comment would fit, and AEW wanted to sign him when they first started but he signed with ROH instead

Yeah Bandido is my guess now... would be a cool addition to AEW

Khan has fucked this one. Nobody can live up to the hype now. The faithful will try to excuse it, the haters will go OTT with burying whoever it is.

I hope it's Bandido... he's not as well known so would be a let down to a lot of people but would be a sweet addition to the roster...

Then they can bring in Keith Lee later

I think there’s a portion of the audience that would feel so “burned” if it was Bandido that they wouldn’t be around to see Keith Lee debut.

I’ve gone back to thinking it’ll be Keith Lee and Bray Wyatt. Keith Lee in the Ladder Match spot and Bray to close the show or something.

That would be cool but Tony did pretty much clarify that the announcement is one guy. I think it's Keith Lee because of the Mia Kim photo upload that tried to trick the fans to think they are on their honeymoon. She posted a pic from 2020.

Also, I understand being wary of a big announcement from AEW, not a good track record. But I didn't take this hype to be on the level of when Tony hyped the mysterious hall of famer that turned out to be Christian and not Kurt Angle or CM Punk.

And yeah Lee sucked on Raw but Raw sucks so who's fault is that really? I am not aware of his promo skills but am open to seeing him cut it in AEW without writers. Lee is a dude that should have been there from day 1.

I know he’s advertising it as one guy, but you’ve really got to get someone extra since no one can live up to the hype on their own.

Raw sucks, but Keith Lee also isn’t very good. No one wants to blame the talent, but sometimes they just don’t deliver. Vince gave him chances — he even got to go to special classes with Adam Pearce and Drew Gulak (allegedly). But he couldn’t piece it all together.

Eh.... Keith has made it "this far" before WWE. WWE is nearly impossible to thrive in, I can't call him a failure because it didn't work out there. His style is way too Super Japan for WWE, we'll see if it works out but I think he's the best chance at a black star right now and AEW is in need of diversity.

I think people forget Keith Lee is pushing 40. Couple that with his size and heart/health issues...and, well, there really isn't time for him to be a star. He probably has 2-3 years left at most.

A new contender(s) for the debut?

questionable click of the day!

LOL my bad, I added the source where the embedded link is from!

The amount of brain rot and/or racism it takes to convince yourself Keith Lee isn’t a mega star is staggering. You claim to like wrestling but you’re going to voluntarily miss out on one of the greatest to ever do it. Embarrassing.

Keith Lee is Brodus Clay with more high spots

Oh dude, you're totally fine. I consider most things "questionable" from TPWW :D

Exactly.

Matt Hardy on his brudder

I don't want it to be Keith Lee unless the crowd has a cue during his entrance to yell "KEITH LEE" like his NXT muzak.

Who is he?
Who's that champ I see?
Rhetorical question but they all know the answer:
KEITH LEE
KEITH LEE

That was fire.

He’s one of the few ready-made to go at a certain level. And that will be the TNT Title level. But they’re better off signing Mia Yim and Athena and pushing Will Hobbs as well as putting some of their active black talent in a proper training program. They’re not as good at progressing people as some make out.

Fuck, bring back 2 Cold Scorpio and it will probably be better.

Keith Lee is too centered on spots and doesn’t have the charisma or psychology to carry a sustained main event run.

Here’s a question: Do you see a Keith Lee/Mia Yim run in AEW being any more dynamic than a Miro/CJ Perry one?