The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

So Warner Bros Discovery, who we know are deep in discussions with AEW about their current contract coming to an end, are now also in discussions with WWE about the Raw...

Interesting thing about all the champions currently being heels in WWE. WWE does seem to rely on heels a lot lately. It gets to a point when it just becomes boring and predictable. Like you said, every Roman Reigns match pretty much follows the same formula.

[Markies]

I wouldn't be surprised if that is a HHH infatuation. He was almost always a heel. He idolized Ric Flair, who was a heel for decades. Same thing with Shawn Michaels.

But, yeah, that is my biggest annoyance or trope of professional wrestling. You have a heel be a champion for way too long just because its easy and lazy booking. A conquering babyface finally wins against him. Has a short and uninteresting reign. Another heel beats him and then holds the belt for a long time.

It amazes me that nobody can build characters that people like to see. Even most babyfaces nowadays are just heels that are really good at their work. They are not being cheered because they are good characters. They are being cheered because they are good at being bad guys. Every babyface is either a John Cena (White Meat/Bland/Superman) or Stone Cold Steve Austin (Anti-Hero/Batman).

[Raging Justice]

Way to fuck it up:

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/other-wr ... lly-corgan

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/nxt/repo ... ith-the-cw

[Raging Justice]

Well, I can't say with confidence that she'll be well utilized. I rolled my eyes at her immediately being put into a story line with Toni Storm, but Mariah May is a better hire for AEW than Jade Cargill was for WWE. Better wrestler, better talker, and better looks.



Speaking of Cargill, interesting to note that Megan Bayne, who has been working in Stardom, has apparently been signed to an AEW contract for months. Somehow I missed that. Was she wrestling on Dark or something? Anyway, this girl had a title match with Stardom world champion Tam Nakano a few months ago. She's a tall, powerhouse wrestler...kind of like Jade Cargill. I think AEW will be doing just fine without Cargill.





I'm hoping to see the women's division move in a more positive direction with some new talent. It's nice to see the company utilizing Skye Blue and Julia Hart more as well, though I feel like neither one of them is doing anything particularly interesting at the moment. They're embroiled in a weird story line right now that doesn't really make any sense. it's like both girls are trying to out goth each other and it's kind of cringy. I like Julia, but her presence seriously devalues the House of Black. She's just too lame for their group. All I see when I look at her is:



And now I feel the same way about Skye Blue

Shida is the best thing in the division right now, but she has little in the way of great opponents or good story lines. Her best feud to date was against Serena Deeb.

Dynamite was good tonight. Is Full Gear right around the corner? Cause they were hyping it up a lot.

[Reprise]

Full Gear is a week on Saturday. I think Collision has been moved to Friday and will be going head to head against Smackdown actually.

Has Jade even done anything in WWE yet? They spent weeks hyping her up, having her show up on all their shows and then I haven't heard anything about her in the last few weeks.

[Raging Justice]

Full Gear is a week on Saturday. I think Collision has been moved to Friday and will be going head to head against Smackdown actually.

Has Jade even done anything in WWE yet? They spent weeks hyping her up, having her show up on all their shows and then I haven't heard anything about her in the last few weeks.

I don't think I've seen her at all for the past few weeks. I don't know what that means, but it's certainly weird. They kept hyping her up on EVERY one of WWE's shows as this MAJOR signing that everyone in the company was paying attention to (Triple H, the general manager, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair) and then...nothing. Weird.

[Reprise]

Full Gear is a week on Saturday. I think Collision has been moved to Friday and will be going head to head against Smackdown actually.

Has Jade even done anything in WWE yet? They spent weeks hyping her up, having her show up on all their shows and then I haven't heard anything about her in the last few weeks.

I don't think I've seen her at all for the past few weeks. I don't know what that means, but it's certainly weird. They kept hyping her up on EVERY one of WWE's shows as this MAJOR signing that everyone in the company was paying attention to (Triple H, the general manager, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair) and then...nothing. Weird.

Maybe she will debut at Survivor Series in some kind of angle or run in. I don't even know what the card for the show looks like so far and if that's a possibility, but it's all I can think of.

Maybe they feel she needs more training before properly debuting. To be honest though, it felt like her appearances and them hyping her up was more about rubbing it in AEW's face in the run up to their Tuesday night clash and now they are probably trying to work out which show they will put her in and what the plan is.

[Reprise]

I just read that Samoa Joe vacated his ROH title and is after the AEW World Championship again.

I am loving this. It's like AEW read my criticisms of them not treating their world title properly and having established stars fighting and clawing for their shot at the title and are now fixing that.

[Raging Justice]

I just read that Samoa Joe vacated his ROH title and is after the AEW World Championship again.

I am loving this. It's like AEW read my criticisms of them not treating their world title properly and having established stars fighting and clawing for their shot at the title and are now fixing that.

Yeah, there's a LOT of stuff happening around MJF right now. It's pretty cool. What's great is that Joe defended the title against Keith Lee, then declared himself the greatest Ring of Honor TV champion ever. It's like he basically said, "I've beaten everyone, so I don't need this title anymore".

That's fucking badass! He basically retired as TV champ, and went out on top. Now he's moving on to that world title. I never realistically thought of Samoa Joe as an AEW world champion, but I can see it happening some day now. Honestly, him, Christian, and Swerve all could hold that title at some point. MJF's title run has actually elevated Samoa Joe. I think MJF actually elevated Adam Cole as well. He was a big deal in NXT, but floundered a bit in AEW. This program with MJF really made people into him again. I'm even enjoying Roderick "ADAMMMM!!!" Strong's role in the story now.

For whatever reason, it's always fun when the Elite fight each other and I like how they built up to a match between the Young Bucks and Omega/Jericho tonight. I also like how the Bucks were acting like they built AEW and tried to ignore the role Jericho played, which of course Jericho wasn't gonna let them get away with. I also liked the Bucks saying they could beat Omega/Jericho, only for Omega to remind them of how he and Hangman kicked their asses in the past as tag champions.

Cassidy and Moxely is also great, though it seems like Moxley is struggling for a reason to hate Cassidy in his promos. I want Cassidy to get a pin on Mox, but I'm not convinced that will happen.

There are things regarding Cassidy that I had hoped for for ages that are actually happening now. He got to share the ring with Okada, and he's teamed up with Hook now. Two things I used to wish for ages ago.

AEW is gradually moving in a positive direction I think, and they clearly don't need Punk. Though I have noticed people in other promotions name dropping Punk so I think we'll see him wrestle somewhere again.

[Reprise]

Not sure about seeing Punk wrestle again soon, but stranger things have happened. I thought people were clutching at straws when they have said WWE are making subtle references to him to be honest, but who knows? I suppose if he really wanted to continue wrestling, he has options. TNA want him (he has been backstage recently, Ace Steel has joined TNA too, and he was asked to cameo/appear at Bound for Glory, but declined). NWA want him, but I doubt they could afford him (and they just lost their TV deal), WWE have *allegedly* said "not now, but not never" and now NJPW have said they are interested, so who knows?

Survivor Series is the top rumour right now, but he could show up at the Rumble too I suppose, if WWE really are bringing him in.

Of course the other rumour is that he's the man in the Devil mask and this has all been a work and AEW are about to bring him back in

Anyways, I have to agree that MJF has really elevated a lot of guys he has worked with. Not bad for such a young individual and also a home grown talent of AEW. Is this "bidding war" angle real and will we see MJF go over to WWE at the beginning of 2024? I just can't see it happening. It seems so odd that AEW is using that as an angle and is allowing MJF to tease that he will jump ship. I saw something the other day saying that MJF and Will Ospreay are considered the two absolute priority signings for WWE right now.

Speaking of Will Ospreay, he is another guy with options. TNA, AEW and WWE are all after him.