Nick James

That was a very strange watch. What the fuck was he thinking? He's got a lot of mainstream media talking about AEW this week, built up a lot of goodwill then pisses it straight up the wall just for a quick dig at WWE, which didn't even make sense in the end.

You could see the presenters switch to not giving a shit about the wrestling bollocks as soon as he said it, even going as far as to say 'save all that stuff, just tell us who you're taking tonight'.

He's the only walking embodiment of the Roy Hodgson gif, just as you think he's turned the corner, he kicks an own goal again.

Jesus fucking Christ, indeed.

I've just watched the segment back again and as Tony is holding Perry's arm aloft, you can visibly see himself shitting himself for what's about to come. You really do have to give him his props for getting in there and taking a piledriver with absolutely no sporting or physical background.

Fair bloody play.

20 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Hard disagree.

Imagine my surprise 😉

I was very high on Perry a while ago, thought he had bags of potential, but I just don't see it now. It's very much a personal opinion, but he feels ridiculously miscast in the role. 

You are bang on that The Bucks and Okada piss charisma, Perry could be elevated by association and I will hold my hands up if I'm wrong, but he's just not hitting at all for me.

Plus, his work in NJPW means sweet FA if you don't watch NJPW.

I love that Tony is as awkward at selling as Vince was. Going down like a gunshot after he was hit with the mic, then remembering he was hit in the stomach while laid on the floor made me howl. 

It made the segment better for him being so awkward as there was a genuine worry that he might actually do himself a mischief if he wasn't positioned. 

Kudos to the guy for taking a pile driver for his first ever bump.

Jack Perry just has zero presence though, so feels like it was wasted on him. Okada should have been the one to do it instead of Perry.

The only other acceptable winner of that battle royal would have been Chelsea Green winning after cheating her way back into the ring. 

Nyla Rose handling the whole situation fantastically over on Twitter. If you don't follow her, you should, she's hilarious, great content.

Where is the 'Dax Harwood is a twat' thread? He has got to be the least likeable person in wrestling.

How can you embarrass a man that pretty much everyone knows is a prick? What is it going to prove, that Punk isn't a tough guy? We already know this. That Punk has an overinflated ego? Again, already know this. 

Other than a ratings ploy, which I don't think will actually work, what is the point? 

Still think they should actually do a bait and switch and have Wee M Punk getting battered by the Bucks in a GTV style grainy CCTV footage.

Now THIS kind of pettiness, I would be 100% behind. Ian with a home run once again.

Roman sliding the table back under the ring was a fantastic bit of heel work.

Tremendous.

Whilst I'm still not convinced it'll be what we are expecting, what does this achieve exactly? Who will benefit from any tape being shown of what happened at All In on TV? 

By all means, have Tony tweet it out, the group that are interested in what happened will all see the tweet, what benefit to the weekly show will this have? 

Also, are they legally allowed to show footage of someone else who is contracted to their competitor as an actual segment? Feels like a really risky move for something that's going to have absolutely zero benefit to the show or company other than stroking egos.

As LaGoosh said, I'm fucking tired of it all. I'm tired of the shite back and forth between the two companies, between the two groups of fans and every-fucking-thing being taken over by some sort of shit point scoring practice.

I've gotten to the point of wrestling fandom where I couldn't give a shite what goes on backstage, what the ratings are or who hates who. I just want to enjoy watching something that entertains me, regardless of what 3 letters are attached to said entertainment.

I haven't seen the show, but I did see the Edge entrance on Twitter and it was the most Kevin Dunn-ish presentation I've ever seen from AEW. They really need to get back to the aethetic they had during the early / pandemic era Dynamites where it felt like.you were watching an episode of Nitro rather than 2010's Raw.

Brawl Out / Brawl In (?) is the new Montreal Screwjob. It's just something that's going to keep getting brought up in one way or the other for years, with absolutely no new information coming out yet people arguing the same points.

EDIT: That's not a dig at anyone in here at all, the discussion in this thread has actually been very entertaining and level headed, compared to the other corners of the internet where it's just children shouting over a fence at each other.

Anthony Henry is currently out with a broken jaw, pretty shitty sacking someone while injured.

Yes, WWE do that, but this is in relation to AEW releases (Just in before the inevitable).

9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

 The rest are so insignificant that no one will even notice they're gone.

Which makes the releases seem a bit of a poor move. AEW have always prided themselves on seeing out contracts and not releasing folk and I can't imagine all of those released contracts added together make up much money to counteract say the Moné signing, so seems like a bit of a PR own goal if anything.

2 hours ago, FUM said:

What an absolute shite announcement that tag match was. All primed for either Rey’s career being on the line or a hair v mask singles match. Crickets for Dragon Lee too - the kids good but the audience don’t give a shit for him yet.

I honestly thought when Rey was doing the tease for the partner it was going to be Andrade. I like Dragon Lee, bags of potential, future star, but this was the wrong time to use him. Absolute tumbleweed of an announcement, especially when the crowd were chanting for Carlito who was right there. 

Tag match is bollocks as well, go all out faction warfare. There's 5 on each side FFS.

3 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Mercedes and Jade are two entirely different beasts. And you can't discount the change in scenery for both as a big reason why they can be presented as big deals and feel fresh. WWE are doing a great job with Jade but there's a lot more opportunities there. If she'd stayed with AEW they couldn't have really done the same.

Careful, you'll summon him.

The problem with Mercedes feeling disingenuous, is because it probably is. It was only a few weeks ago she was saying she will be back in WWE, which doesn't really play into here being there to help 'the cause' rather than it being convenient for her. 

Time will tell, she's only had 2 appearances so far and we know from time gone by that a flop debut doesn't automatically mean the person will flop.

Look at Christian.

Tony is breathing a sigh of relief right now.

There's been a lot of discourse over on competitive Call of Duty twitter today regarding a trans woman playing in the female league of the CDL. Imagine being so bigoted that you bring this arguement up around a fucking eSport. I still have no idea why there is even a mens and women's separate leagues never mind bringing trans people into the arguement.

It feels to me that it's a year too late for Mercedes in AEW. She was white hot when she left WWE and there was a ridiculous amount of hype around her, then she got injured and nothing really happened. 

The debut could actually be a victim of the dirt sheets giving everything away, as well as Mercedes herself pretty much spelling it out on Twitter.

That being said, AEW is definitely the right place for her, it's pretty much win / win for.both her and the company. If she went to WWE, outside of the initial debut, she'd be back to the same spot she was in before she left, but in AEW, she has the chance of being a big fish in a relatively small pond in terms of womens division and the amount of money she's being paid would surely mean more focus on the women's division.

All in all, I'm just glad she's being paid a shit load, same with Okada, good on them for going where the money is. Look after themselves first, every wrestler deserves a large payday, so I don't begrudge anyone that actually gets it.

Who gives a fuck what a wrestler is paid, as long as it's enough and not a hot dog and glass of orange juice. If Tony is paying Okada that or more, who cares? Same with Mercedes, if they're getting a shit tonne of money, good on them.

I haven't really ever listened to one of Cornettes shows outside of the odd clip here or there, but who exactly are his target audience? 

It's clearly not AEW fans and I can't see most WWE fans either, so who are his audience? Those fans that only watch Indie Wrestling? Those who think they're above wrestling and that WWE and AEW are too mainstream? TNA fans? 

I genuinely have no idea.

As much as a fucking idiot Darby Allin is with his body, he's the only one of the 'four pillars' that hasn't caused Tony Khan any shit, ignoring any allegations* and relating strictly to backstage / in match stuff. 

From MJF having his backstage hissy fit and taking his ball home, to Jack Perry Vs CM Punk and now Sammy being a daft bastard.

*Insert expected Tony Khan ignoring allegations gag

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Art.

Joe's face there looks like Ian's picture of Snowglobe Sting.

21 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

 

Seeing that picture, I now want Hangman and The Butcher to team up as a new version of the Smoking Guns. 

Just fine gentlemen and I'm sure they will have smashing blouses on should they do it.