Loki

It seems a bit nitpicking to critique Ripley's reign when having the belt for a year AND being part of a major faction has made Rhea Ripley into the biggest female wrestling star in the world. It's worked brilliantly, and if the sacrifice was a few extra matches with Liv or whoever it's definitely been worth it. It's a pity she's had to vacate but they had no way of predicting that. In retrospect they should have had her lose at WM but that's hindsight. This has been bugging me for a year now, but it's obviously deliberate as they've had many opportunities to rebrand it. I think it's a WWE bubble thing, those inside the company just don't see the issue.

It was a nice try but people didn't even read your initial post before kicking off. I think you can make an individual case for most people on the AEW roster. It's just the sheer quantity that is the issue. Sure, Moxley has value, but if you cut the roster by 30% then Khan would be forced to use the remaining wrestlers better. You start to understand why WWE traditionally cuts a bunch of wrestlers after Wrestlemania - you need some turnover or you'll never admit defeat, people will never get pushed out of their comfort zone and new stars won't emerge. There's whole swathes of the roster that haven't achieved much in 5 years. Private Party - couldn't tell you who is who in that team and they've been on tv since 2019. Those two brothers who both look like Action Andretti, and seem to be tagging with Action Andretti. So much dead wood that's on telly all the time. As well as thinning the roster, I'd hugely thin the belts out. Samoa Joe spent the first 12 months in AEW poncing around on ROH TV with a meaningless belt. Get rid of all the ROH belts but the World Championship (which will only appear on ROH tv), get rid of the trios title, get rid of one of the midcard belts (International, Continental, whatever they are called). I actually liked the Power Rankings and all that from earlier in AEW (/January this year), and the idea that people were moving up and moving down. You can see the attraction of the old territory system can't you. Imagine if AEW, WWE, TNA all had a core roster of 30 guys, and everyone else rotated around the majors and the indies as genuine free agents.

Am I right in thinking that no AEW belts were defended at AEW Battle of the Belts?

Difficult to quantify, it’s mainly a gut feeling. There’s lot of showmanship in their acts, a lot of appealing to the back row that would translate well into big arenas and glossy WWE entrances. They’re both very attractive as well and have matinee looks if you know what I mean. They’ll get a lot of likes, reposts, sell a lot of merch. None of this precludes them from being a success in AEW but there are just certain wrestlers that look like WWE could make a lot of money with/for. I’d love to know how AEW merch cheques compare with WWE ones. I imagine some wrestlers could double their income. You have to think it’s one of the reasons Jade went there.

Congratulations everyone for taking a potentially fun little topic and dragging it down into a WWE v AEW debate again and arguing over the rules. @RedRooster I think your list isn't a bad shout although I think Dannhausen belongs on the indies, or preferably not at all as he's awful. Moxley I've said many times is wasted in AEW. He's being allowed to do exactly what he wants, which is random bloody matches across the Indies and Japan with an occasional bloody match on AEW tv when he has the time. I'm sure he's loving it but his star has very much faded, and he would slot straight into some of the biggest main event stories in years in WWE, so it's a no-brainer. I can't see a place for Eddie Kingston in WWE. For me, he's quickly become the heart and soul of AEW - if it's not a place for wrestlers like him, what IS it for? Unlike so many of the ex-WWE guys who came over for a "proper push" and discovered they were the issue, Eddie finally got his shot and has made himself beloved, the crazy out of shape lunatic. Unless the WWE were prepared to make him their modern Mick Foley, I just think he wouldn't work in the Fed. Ricky Starks and Britt Baker both feel like more natural WWE stars anyway. To that list I'd add Jamie Hayter when she's healthy, she pisses charisma. Although AEW can't really afford to lose her to be fair. Penta was the first name I thought of when I read the topic. He always strikes me as a genuine main eventer, such a talent and such a look, but he's always just... knocking around, taking losses and tagging randomly with people depending on his brother's health. Put a bit of WWE spit and polish on the gimmick, some decent lighting in his entrance and he'd be selling merchandise all round the block. WWE have wanted a Mysterio replacement for years, and seem to have settled on replacing Mysterio with himself but a lot older. So Penta could be the masked star they've been searching for.

This was almost inevitable after Israel crossed the line with their attack on a consulate in Syria. There aren't that many rules in international politics, but the sanctity of embassies is one of them; otherwise diplomacy is impossible. Best case is that Israels formidable anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems intercept the drones and missiles; they might then limit their response. Worst case, Bibi has nukes although he can't launch them on his own (unlike POTUS). Most likely Israel will strike some military targets in Iran, which they do relatively often anyway.

This is an excellent idea. If Khan has the self-awareness that he needs to delegate some booking, D’Amore is probably the best person out there right now, with great reputation amongst the indy wrestlers Khan seems so keen to hire.

It's not, and it led to some execrable tv from WWE over the years. However, Vince grew up in the wrestling industry and worked in it for years before getting the book. And over the years his booking decisions led to the industry booming to extraordinary heights. So he has that in his favour.

I nominate Chris Jericho.

The only roles that really get descriptions are the ones which are not-white, so Othello or Shylock where their appearance deviates from the norm and in some way reflects their nature (or not depending on how you read the subtext). This makes sense when you think that until probably the 1960s you'd just get a white actor to paint some dark slap on their face to play Othello. Otherwise every character is assumed to be white, as indeed the vast majority of people in England in Elizabethan England would have been white. It's in our lifetimes that having people who LOOK like the characters so be routinely cast as those characters. Ben Kingsley being cast as Gandhi is the example that always amazes me. Shows how far we've come already. It's an interesting debate that's happening in the US over casting generally. Having got to the point of having trans actors cast in trans roles is a huge step forward for the acting profession. But then you have Hunter Schafer saying, quite understandably, that she doesn't WANT to play trans roles as it's pigeonholing. She just wants to be cast for her acting talent. The answer really is for writers to write characters that aren't simply defined by their visual appearance / sexuality / gender - that way casting can be completely open and free. But that's obviously incredibly hard, not many writers can do that. Famously the characters in Alien weren't gender specific and Sigourney Weaver ended up getting the lead role. Shonda Rimes I think writes like this, which is perhaps why Bridgerton ended up with such a fantastically diverse cast.

That's washing the back of your neck surely? Behind your ears is your neck. When you're done shaving, do you wash your ears and neck? I'm imagining you splashing water on your face and getting it in your ears, or something. Edit: this thread does go towards explaining the prevalence of neckbeards in wrestling fans, who seem to think the neck and ears are part of the face!

Ears are part of your head, not your face. If you paint your face, you don’t paint your ears. A face mask doesn’t cover your ears. If I’m washing my face, I’m not washing my ears.

Completely agree (and that doesn't happen that often does it!). So many "wrestling is shit innit" posts across the Wrestlemania threads, and now in here too. This is a wrestling discussion forum ffs. If you think you're above wrestling, why post here?

As amusing as we all found The List~! as adoloecents back in the day, I don't think anyone wants to go back to a time when people were shitting in other people's bags, sticking fingers up their bum, and drugging and raping local girls after the show. Do we? So let's not hold up those old stories as a measuring stick for how cool backstage fights are. It's not "hard" to stab someone else with a pair of scissors, it makes you a nutter who should probably be locked up until you come down off your cocaine binge. Most of the fan favourite wrestlers from the 80s and 90s should probably be in jail, and I say that as an enormous Vader fan. Wresting is SO much better nowadays, it's attracting better athletes and better fans as well. CM Punk cold cocking a young wrestler backstage stands out a LOT more because of this. And right in front of your boss as well, it's not a dispute in the locker room it's done deliberately in front of management. The whole idea behind AEW was for it to be a better place than WWE to work. Remember the stories about better workers' rights, healthcare, all that? That seems like a long time ago. I'd have buried this footage for ever and tried to concentrate on building some new stars, if I was Khan.

My reaction to the footage exactly. Unprovoked physical assault = immediate dismissal. Forget the whole "but what about the storyline backstage attacks" - that's fiction and this is reality, and really ALL wrestling fans should understand the difference by now. I can also understand the Tony Khan "fear for my life" comment now as it's his monitor that is knocked over and then Punk lunges at him aggressively. Yes, it's an overreaction but again, entirely created by Punk's childish unprofessionalism. Nobody comes out of this looking good. Punk is exposed as a liar and an unhinged moron, AEW is made to look unprofessional and petty, the live crowd chanting for Punk look like utter idiots. And it killed the crowd for the rest of the show, making the TV product worse. Airing this is one of the worst decisions I can remember from a modern wrestling organisation. Maybe since Dixie Carter publicly berating her entire roster at the start of a Dynamite. Coming off the positive and almost universally loved Wrestlemania weekend, this only serves to solidify that the momentum and goodwill AEW accrued in its first few years is gone. They're now competing with a re-energised WWE and this, this isn't the way to do it.