The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

Miro has apparently requested his release. I wonder if it will be granted and if he'll go back to WWE.

I don't think he has been seen in AEW in nearly a year anyways. World's End last year was the last time he was seen. He's been injured, not sure if he still is or if there have been other issues.

[Markies]

I know him and Lana/CJ Perry have gone through a divorce recently.
But, I don't know if she is still with AEW as well.

He also spent some time in his native Bulgaria recently.

I'd be shocked if his release was granted. With everybody jumping ship nowadays, I don't see that happening.

[Reprise]

I know him and Lana/CJ Perry have gone through a divorce recently.
But, I don't know if she is still with AEW as well.

He also spent some time in his native Bulgaria recently.

I'd be shocked if his release was granted. With everybody jumping ship nowadays, I don't see that happening.

Lana reportedly left AEW a while ago. I think she was only with the company for around 3 months.

More is available about Miro requesting his release. Apparently he has had disagreements and refused a number of creative pitches. Most recently he was pitched to be in the All In Casino Gauntlet and refused. He was also pitched the idea of doing a program with Moxley, but refused that.

Sounds like he simply does not want to be there, much like Starks.

I am not sure why AEW lets guys just sit at home getting paid for doing nothing, whilst they no doubt dream of going to WWE instead. I am not sure it is a good idea to waste money on people who clearly don't want to be there and aren't prepared to do what is pitched to them. I get that letting these guys go and having them all immediately show up in WWE (where they will no doubt end up shit talking AEW) isn't good for optics, but I feel they are probably just delaying the inevitable.

[Reprise]

Some video game and wrestling related news:

Samoa Joe will be in the new Like a Dragon (Yakuza) game releasing next year.

[Reprise]

This is a great video package to promote Grand Slam put out by AEW.

I am looking forward to this one. It should be good...

https://youtu.be/e3mwYdeqZFQ?si=Ff9vKsCYQzZQlSK2

[Reprise]

[Reprise]

I am pretty much talking to myself here lol, but here's an interesting graph from Wrestlenomics of Raw's ratings throughout its history. It's crazy how huge WWE became between 1997 and 1999. It's also interesting how little impact Triple H has had on the ratings since taking over creative, despite being a so called "renaissance" (I do recognise ratings are pretty irrelevant these days though and will be even more irrelevant next year when it's on Netflix).

[Markies]

A part of me would say that graph can be used for TV in general. You look at the ratings even mediocre shows got in the 90s/00s and it would dwarf almost anything non-sport related today.

But, if you look super closely, the two biggest drops occur right around 2001. And the one thing the graph doesn't show is WWF buying out WCW. Once WWF tried to become a monopoly, that left so many people out of the wrestling loop. I know many people who watched WCW and refused to watch WWF, so they just checked out after the Invasion. Also, the terrible booking of the Invasion did not help at all either. Once the Invasion happened, people began to leave in droves and WWF just threw things at the wall to try to get anybody to stay.

Honestly, outside of the wrestling circle, they haven't been big since. And they haven't had a mega star since then. The only one close would be Brock Lesnar, but he became a much bigger star after leaving WWE and joining the UFC. And maybe John Cena, and once again, he became a bigger star once he started doing movies.

[Reprise]

Yeah, the Invasion definitely killed it for a lot of people. It's the point when I started to lose interest and by the time of its conclusion, I had mostly stopped watching. Royal Rumble 2002 was the last PPV I watched before I got back into WWE and wrestling around 2009/2010ish. Most of my friends stopped watching at that point too.

Without the war between WWE and WCW, it became boring. The Invasion angle could have been huge, but we all know where that went wrong. They booked the WCW stars they got like lower card jobbers and morons, most of the big names were still getting paid to sit at home by Time Warner, and they ended up diluting the whole thing into another WWE vs WWE story and McMahon family feud. And then without any competition, they didn't feel the need to try.

[Raging Justice]

WWE has no idea how to create stars anymore. They've gone all in on Cody who is bland and boring, and in many ways just comes across as a rich douchebag son of a politician. He's not appealing to anyone outside of the hardcore WWE fanboys you see on reddit and Twitter. People liked The Rock because he was cool, Cody isn't cool. People liked Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Dusty Rhodes because they appealed to the common man. Cody does everything in his power to NOT come across as a common man. DX were like rock stars. Cody is not a rock star. Hogan was wholesome and patriotic in a time when wrestling was wholesome. Again, Cody doesn't come across as wholesome and whenever he's tried being patriotic in AEW he just embarrassed himself.

They had something in LA Knight and I think they still do, but typical WWE stubbornness (which is no different whether it's Vince or Hunter running things) have prevented him from rising higher. Instead they waste him on mid-card nonsense every week on Smackdown, which is easily WWE's worst show right now by the way.

I think Trick Williams could be a big star for them if he ever gets out of NXT, but WWE will probably still be hellbent on showing Cody down our throats. Bron Breakker has potential too just because he comes across as a fucking badass, but their booking of him has been shit recently, having him drop the IC title so soon to Jey Uso who is fucking obnoxious with his "YEET" bullshit and stupid sunglasses. One thing hurting Bron Breakker a little bit is his size but he does a good job of making you forget how small he is by wrestling standards.

The biggest star WWE has had since Austin/Rock was Daniel Bryan in 2014, but Bryan had some bad luck with health issues, and then the company eventually decided they were more interested in pushing Roman Reigns, which was not a good idea at the time. Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and John Cena have never managed to connect with people like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZwYWYuqbj8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Fcj3oog1Y

Here's Bryan out popping the so called "Greatest of all Time" John Cena (if you believe that idiot Michael Cole)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGlnEIJvdA

Nobody in WWE has reached Bryan's heights since and I stand by that. Even Punk never got as over as Bryan.

I just want to see somebody in WWE get organically over and then see WWE get behind him. I don't know why that's so fucking hard. Instead, WWE always decides before the fans do who they want as the top guy. They already chose Cody the moment he put pen to paper to come back to the company.

I don't think AEW can draw in a huge way i.e. Attitude Era/WCW type numbers, unless WWE manages that first. Then we'd see a trickle down effect to AEW. Nobody in AEW has ever caught on in a huge way either, even though they have great characters. Although I do recall Orange Cassidy blowing up on social media at one point with non wrestling fans. I think Hangman is AEW's best bet as a future top babyface when he eventually turns again, but AEW doesn't necessarily need just one guy at the top, they have a great roster of fantastic main event talent and don't necessarily have to follow WWE's business model of going all in on one dude every couple years. I just think Hangman is perfect for a generation of people watching dramas on streaming services as he's the most real feeling character in AEW with the most organic face/heel turns and the best story telling.