The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

The more I think about the PPV and I digest it, the more issues I remember.

Ricky Starks was getting a major push earlier this year and has beaten and pinned both CM Punk and Bryan Danielson in the middle of the ring, not to mention I am sure he was the one who pinned one of FTR for the tag titles. So why is he relegated to some lame tag team with Big Bill and put in some mediocre match like this and then to top it all off, he's the one booked to eat the pin from Guevara? Why!? Big Bill should be the one to eat the pins. Or Hobbs.

Speaking of Hobbs, this guy just moves from random factions and just seems aimless. His feud with Miro was kinda cool earlier this year. Why did he even join the Don Callis family?

I'll bet my left nut on it, that Ricky will go to WWE, just like Andrade. Notice all these guys were actually getting booked well on Collision when it first started and then after Punk got fired, they all got lost in the shuffle again, moved down the card and Collision just became Dynamite 2.0. They all thanked Punk for giving them an opportunity after the man was fired too, guarantee they will follow him to the E. Miro will probably go as well.

I agree with Raging Justice that Toni's title reign makes little sense. If doesn't even suit her character. The whole 'Timeless' gimmick grew from Toni feeling depressed and useless due to losing her title and losing her matches. The gimmick is over with a lot of fans and it doesn't bother me a whole lot, but the she shouldn't be holding the title and certainly not for this long.

I did kind of imply this earlier, but I'll say it again. Why the hell was Willow and Statlander on the pre-show? Willow is so good by the way, it sucks she spends most of her time on ROH instead.

FTR vs House of Black is on Collision next week. What the fuck? That literally could have been a match on the PPV instead of one of the stinkers.

Jericho stunk up the whole PPV and poisoned his match and those he was in the ring with. It resulted in some excruciating moments in the media scrum. Keep him off TV, whilst a decision is made whether any investigations are necessary or not. I don't know what they should have done, but the fans made the decision for them. They don't want him.

I am here for Joe as champion, but I expect he will be a transitional champion which begs the question... Who will take it from him? Swerve needs to be champion at some point in 2024, but Swerve vs Samoa Joe really doesn't seem that compelling or as compelling as Swerve vs MJF. MJF is gone for a while to heal up, Adam Cole is still legitimately injured. So I do wonder what is next for the world title and who challenges Joe and when.

[Raging Justice]

I agree with Raging Justice that Toni's title reign makes little sense. If doesn't even suit her character. The whole 'Timeless' gimmick grew from Toni feeling depressed and useless due to losing her title and losing her matches.

That's a story that could have been interesting WITHOUT the 'Timeless' gimmick, but instead they had to go for WWE style bad comedy.

A depressed Toni Storm could have been really interesting to explore. It's partially what got Hangman so over at one time. It was just a story of him dealing with his own demons.

I am here for Joe as champion, but I expect he will be a transitional champion which begs the question... Who will take it from him? Swerve needs to be champion at some point in 2024, but Swerve vs Samoa Joe really doesn't seem that compelling or as compelling as Swerve vs MJF. MJF is gone for a while to heal up, Adam Cole is still legitimately injured. So I do wonder what is next for the world title and who challenges Joe and when.

I think this is the only main event level babyface AEW currently has that's worth a damn

[Raging Justice]

Personally, I think there's money in Joe as a face. It also gives him more potential feuds

[Reprise]

Brian Alvarez thinks Mercedes Mone is debuting on Dynamite this Wednesday hmm...

[Raging Justice]

Brian Alvarez thinks Mercedes Mone is debuting on Dynamite this Wednesday hmm...

That would be the shot in the arm that AEW needs, but I just worry what they'd do with her. AEW's handling of its women's division hasn't been great.

It would certainly create a buzz though. I mean, I doubt back in 2019 anyone imagined one of the horsewomen ever appearing in AEW.

Still, they got Edge, and haven't really generated much buzz from that. They have Bryan Danielson and he's just been kind of wasted in AEW (though I realize that may be more due to Bryan himself than Tony Kahn)

If they do get Mercedes, I would quickly pivot away from Toni Storm as the focal point of the division. Mariah May should turn on her...leading to a title loss to Mercedes and then you could really do some fun stuff with the women's division. May could join Mercedes and then take the TBS title for herself. Then one of these ladies needs to feud with Britt Baker or even a feud with Willow could be fun. Let Willow talk and get herself more over. There's already a little history between Mercedes and Willow.

Serena Deeb is coming back soon. She's great in the ring, but she needs a mouth piece. She doesn't promo well. She's a great heel though once she gets in the ring and can have great matches. I want to see more of Riho, she's like the female Rey Mysterio Jr., a small sized wrestler who is always over as a babyface.

And please God, do something with Yuka Sakazaki, she's so damn talented. She was one of the top dogs in TJPW. There's a serious side to her I don't think we've seen in AEW.

We also need Jamie Hayter back.

Also, it sounds like AEW never made a serious play for Giulia. I don't get it. Not only is she one of Stardom's best, but she is someone who everybody says has that appeal that would easily get her over with a Western audience, even though I don't think she speaks English. There's something about the way she looks and acts that feels kind of Western and I think her attitude and no nonsense ring style would easily get her over with an AEW crowd. She's got a badass, I don't give a fuck, sort of attitude. She can easily be a heel or a sort of anti-hero baby face. She's also kind of a little bit of a Hollywood celeb sort of vibe to her these days. The woman is easily marketable.

[Reprise]

Mariah May should turn on her...

I do think that is coming anyway to be fair, but yeah, if they could do that quickly and then set up something with Mercedes, then it could really move the women's division out of the gutter.

I have my doubts it is true though lmao. I mean, they just had a PPV (and a lacklustre one at that). Why wouldn't they have her debut in some capacity at World's End instead?

And she has been teasing with WWE references. I know reports came out saying talks fell through, but WWE expertly played the dirt sheets with Punk, so there's no reason to think they couldn't do it again.

We also need Jamie Hayter back.

She's due back February/March time I think, so hopefully should be back in time for the next PPV although doesn't give a lot of time to build something for her.

[Reprise]

Fightful just partially corroborated Brian Alvarez's speculation. They didn't say they expect her to debut this week, but did report that Mercedes and AEW have held serious talks and is expected that she will be signing with them.

Would be good for them to finally have some good news.

[Reprise]

Regarding the "former WWE Champion" due to show up on tonight's Raw:

The Rock has apparently been spotted

[Raging Justice]

Regarding the "former WWE Champion" due to show up on tonight's Raw:

The Rock has apparently been spotted

[Markies]

Mariah May should turn on her...

I do think that is coming anyway to be fair, but yeah, if they could do that quickly and then set up something with Mercedes, then it could really move the women's division out of the gutter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_About_Eve - This has been pointed out as the plot for Mariah May's story.

For a way to introduce Mariah May, who most Americans don't know about, I would say that is a pretty good story.

Also, I love this exchange. Watched it several times and I couldn't stop laughing: https://twitter.com/tde_gif/status/1741336236785045906

One knock I have against AEW is like most of their wrestlers have the same gimmick and that gimmick is "Is Good At Wrestling." I'm not expecting everybody to be like the 90's WWF New Generation Era where everybody has a gimmick. But, like something or anything to get the crowd into them. For example, Daniel Garcia. He is a very good wrestler, but he wasn't going anywhere. Now, he has a stupid dance and that has gotten him over along with the good wrestling. And my favorite part of AEW is when two people who are good at wrestling, do the wrestling. Wrestling first, Gimmick seconds. But, at least add something to your character.

So, I like the Toni Storm gimmick. I love Classic Movies and she is playing the part perfectly well.