tiger_rick

If you can hear me down there, I've genuinely tried to stay away from that and will return to that position. Just for you, buddy.

I think you missed a point. By fucking miles. It's garbage and they're cunts. That has never been a debate. You are welcome to like it. That's your right.

WWE's brand of garbage is well liked, that's true, but if AEW was just in a bit of a recent slump because WWE's business is doing very well, then I don't think you'dworry too much, but the problem is it's been coming for 18 months to 2 years. Dynamite hasn't been over 1m viewers since Feb 2023. Pictures of half empty arenas have been a regular thing since 2022, and that's even if you ignore all those bad faith pricks on social media. PPV buys are dropping, with All In being an outlier - though more PPVs will also explain that. The booking has been very hit and miss for yonks too. That's before you get to all the other drama. Whether I'm watching or not, I completely credit AEW with the boom in the industry. I dread to think what it looks like if there's only Vince's WWE past 2019, especially through the pandemic. I'd love them to succeed but they're not. Good shows are fine and I'm happy for fans that they get to enjoy them but if we're looking bigger picture, which I think this naff decision really is, then they need to be doing more to ensure those good shows are part of a bigger strategy that just does not seem to be there.

What's the reach? I said I hear they're producing some good shows but the lack of buzz is backed up by all the metrics. They've really struggled and I think there are plenty of chickens over the last couple of years that are coming home to roost. I don't know, I haven't watched it. But the point was that they put this majorly petty shit on TV at a point where critically, at least, some people like what they're doing. Seems ludicrous. They've always been like WCW, and in a lot of ways that was a positive. The network, the production, the voices, the C shows and a lot of the booking gave that great pang of nostalgia. Sadly stuff like the bloated roster, the lack of control and the every growing content have given bad WCW vibes. WCW were around a long time, rode one great peak and fell and fell to their death. I don't see AEW going anywhere while Tony wants to spend his money but the peak and fall is very similar but massively sped up.

I think it does. It didn't but neither did waving your cock around on an aeroplane. And now it does. In all sorted of contexts. Imagine Perry Saturn taking liberties with Mike Bell these days? That's not going to be a slap on the wrists now. There's always context. Two guys coming to blows will always happen and I think you'd accept that in a physical environment. But an unprovoked assault is as unacceptable there as anywhere these days.

WWE have a very good locker room and a well established management structure, that's undeniable. But he's fallen out with people everywhere he's ever been, including them and including his best friend. Maybe he's finally grown-up though, who knows?

What was the last backstage fight that was reported in the WWE locker room? Genuine question. Because I can't recall one for yonks. I don't think that's an acceptable part of the industry any more. I certainly don't think Punk will be employed if he does that to Ricochet or something next week.

You do look like a tit. And the spirit it's intended is that I think you're too good a guy to keep looking like a tit. I have some comments on WWE and my only experience of them for 3 years is from here, twitter and podcasts, so I completely understand that, but you literally tell us in posts that you watched stuff. Seriously, just don't watch or don't berate. i think that's easy.

Bacon is right, certainly the reaction I've seen is exactly that. A minority who think it's vindicated AEW's decision to get rid, who probably thought it anyway, and a majority who think it makes Punk look great, who probably thought that anyway. On the Punk aspect, his explanation in the interview made him sound like a dick who I'd not want in my locker-room. The footage backs it up. But if people thought he was OK after he literally outed himself as a knob, they're not going to care.

Scorcher, please take this in the manner it's meant. You make yourself look a tit when you post this shit about WWE and WWE fans when you watch them all the time. If you're just stealing their content, that doesn't make it any better. Why don't you either not watch them or not pretend you're above it all? It'd make a better impression. Genuinely.

I don't care about the footage, I don't care about CM Punk and, given I don't pay them or watch them anymore, I don't suppose I care that much about AEW. However, I really do care about there being viable pro-wrestling companies for workers and fans. So my opinion on the showing of the footage is the same as my general opinion on AEW. I don't know what they're doing. I used to think I did. The execution wasn't always great but the plan to establish an alternative product that felt like it was sport and allowed individuals to help themselves flourish, to establish a relationship with WBD and a catalogue of content, to sign and develop their own future stars working on Dark shows and to use big TV specials between building to 4 big annual PPVs was a sound one. That clicked 2-3 years ago and they felt like the better alternative for a good while. They've completely lost their way with the content, content, content approach, abandoning loads of the things that made them different, signing horrible people who were on the scrapheap for a reason and turning their innovative, creative environment into a fucking shitshow. I'm watching from afar these days but it's depressing to see the lack of buzz about the place, the lack of arses in seats and the terrible decisions being made out of desperation. Even when what I'm hearing is that they're on a run of solid enough shows, they can't help themselves but put this petty shit on TV. They're like WCW in 5x fast forward. Sad.

Probably for another thread on another day but I would fucking love to live without mine. Imagine the joy you'd from not having the little cunt pinging and vibrating all day long. (No context UKFF). I can't even leave mine at home without panicking that either I've lost it or my family are all now dead and can't phone me to tell me. Wonder if anyone doesn't have one?

Good post and the follow-up will be a true test of their new direction and booking prowess. We saw years of babyfaces eating big losses and turning up the next night to smile and ask for a rematch without a care in the world or any sense of emotion. From the outside, a big babyface losing twice on the biggest card of their year and then getting his arse handed to him in a run-in sounds dreadful and no great babyface in their past, besides Mick Foley, would have gotten away with it. How they follow it up will be interesting. In the past, you'd imagine Rollins just coming out in 3 months dressed like a melon and cackling like a witch, taking credit for Reigns losing to set up a SummerSlam match and ignoring everything else that's happened. Maybe it really is better now. I never saw the CC - I don't watch anything, but what from what I've heard that seemed like AEW doing their usual much better job of telling the story of guys losing but to further them. For all their improvement, I just don't get that feel from WWE. The Usos never win. Apparently, Jimmy's last singles win on TV was about 8 months ago. Jey went months without winning. Yet they are supposed to be a big deal. They've done that terribly for yonks now and what I hear doesn't sound any better. It's not that losses = burial, or even just that wins and losses don't matter because they will give someone a win to set something up and there's a teeny sense of follow-up. It's generally that there's no sense of momentum (or form). People aren't protected when they've little to do so that when they have an upturn, it's meaningful by their wins and losses. Upturns in the company have always been by developing a new character or getting involved in a new angle and gaining some momentum that way. It works. There's no doubt about it. No-one seems arsed that Drew McIntyre lost every big match for a couple of years, do they? Or that he was carrying a big sword around like a div. I haven't heard anyone complain, anyway. He's just become very entertaining and people are on board with him. That's them all over. I'll never argue that it's not successful. It's just not good.

Behave, their small dick energy was all over when they had actual competition. I'd have no problem acknowledging WWE if I was AEW. They acknowledge the entire wrestling world, so why wouldn't you. I'd keep it to when it's relevant and keep it classy because a) you're not in a war, there's more than enough room for both and b) you end up looking stupid when things don't go your way, like WWE did with that whole NXT v AEW experiment that caused the old sexual predator to rip up HHH's NXT and start again.

Didn't Punk say in that interview last week that they've allowed people to appear on WWE? I couldn't think who he was referring to. Still can't really.

Outdated? That's still a good gag on Mock The Week on Dave.

You don't have him decide. Make it the stip for the tag match and do all the shenanigans in there, as said. Then the babyfaces win and choose the one on one. Plus as a knock-on, Rollins doesn't look like as big of a loser as he ended up, and you sow some seeds for Rock and Roman after you've done the Rock/Cody match you've built over the last few weeks. That's what I'd have done anyway. Though as we've said many time, they can make billions without booking anything well so it's not like any of it matters.

Then, move on. Sack Ric Flair. Book like you exist in a bubble. Make sure the 10 biggest stars in the company have something interesting to do on every single TV show. Bring back Dark elevation.

That's more reason to have Cody do it, surely? Fuck, am I Jim Cornette?

Absolutely right. The other cunts cut a ton of people in a time of huge uncertainty while they were pocketing billions from their TV deals and got plenty of flak that they deserved. This is pretty gross too. Let's call a spade a spade.

Their audience is everyone who enjoys it. It's the people on here who like it but discuss it's good points and it's flaws as we always have done, the people on the X who have always lapped up any old shit, the ones who don't watch it except all the PPVs and most Smackdowns and the many people who just watch it, buy tickets and like it. It is a generalisation, as I said, but from years of watching and following, I'm absolutely certain this isn't an audience who will ever be disappointed or disapproving of being given more on top of more on top of more. On the point about the predictability. The "chaos" was predictable. I'm not a prolific absorber of wrestling news or opinion beyond here, a podcast and a few bits I see on X-Twitter. Even I saw predictions of every single thing that happened (except Seth Rollins coming out dressed as The Shield so fair play to them, it seems that was one idea no-one wanted!). The only unpredictable thing that could have happened was Cody being crowned on his own. I'm absolutely certain too, that if that had happened we'd have seen complaints on social media that it wasn't enough or whatever. Personally, though, I still think it's more meaningful to have Cody win on his own in a straight battle. No asterisks or shenanigans. I think you do all the extras when you haven't got the right cards in your hand. They did and it didn't need it. Just an observation. I'm not arguing with that fact that people are happy with it.

Saw a little back and forth on here over whether it should have been a dog and pony show or a one on one showcasing Cody and it was also mentioned on a pod I listened to last week. I think what they did will have delivered because the audience laps that stuff up. It's an audience who, to generalise, always seem to want more surprises in things like the Rumble and the post-Mania Raw. I read some tweets this morning from people who thought not enough surprise results happened. Their audience always wants more. I'd have booked all the extras on the Saturday tag match and had Cody win clean as a whistle. An overbooked mess after a 3 year title reign isn't what it should be, I don't think. I accept I'm not their target audience though, completely.

Big Bruce Knew.

He gives a good "Adios" as he lobs Hispanic Americans over the wall.

Where, or Why?