Pinc

I will weep salt tears if Eddie Kingston isn’t there.

Is there any chance seats get upgraded then? If they don’t sell out the whole building?

We’re in Level 2 (block 211) so doubt we’d be moved much closer. But if you’re up in the nosebleeds and they decide to tarp the top level, what happens then?

On 5/1/2023 at 5:01 PM, TheScarlettChad said:

It'd be a fun take on his hero Bret's Canada Vs USA thing from 1997. But what do I know? 

Actually reckon it will end up something like this. Punk loves that arld Bret.

Anyone know if we're likely to be able to re-sell tickets for this?

I already got tickets in Level 2, wondering whether its worth trying for pitch level in the second resale at 11? But don't want to be left with two lots of tickets we don't need.

4 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

It's a bit like picking a Mount Rushmore. The idea comes from AJPW's 4 Pillars of Heaven (Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Taue).

Aye those four names don't invite flattering comparisons with the AEW pillars.

 I think any one of them would have been fine in a more varied quartet, but four physically diminutive white lads? Three of whom have similar flippy styles and can't speak? Just doesn't work as a combo for me. Especially when you have other superior youngsters like Hobbs, Hook, Takeshita knocking about.

How were the 'four pillars' originally established as a thing?

Feels like its booked them into a corner long-term where they have to pretend these lads are all can't miss prospects. When they're all a bit shit aside from MJF. And is the average height about 5'7" among the four of them?

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Eddie Kingston used to be my favourite wrestler in the world but now I only hear about him potentially being out with an injury via Twitter, because fuck off am I watching two hours of ROH every week. If even freaks like me can't consume it all and end up falling out of the loop? Not good.

The demotion of Eddie Kingston over the last twelve months is the worst waste of a potential drawing card since… Punk by summer’s end of 2011? Goldberg in WWE the first time? RVD during the invasion? Bret in WCW?

I know its partly due to him being difficult backstage or whatever. But treating it like a normal TV show - its as if Pete Bennett had been voted out of Big Brother 7 in week 4. Both were adored by their audiences and both made the people they interacted with more interesting by proximity to such unusually complex characters for the medium they were each presented in. They should be doing everything they can to foreground him regardless of whether he has tourettes/occasionally spams Sammy Guevara on the bonce.

19 minutes ago, Fanny Pack said:

I would be very suprised if they gave Cody the win at Mania. For the simple reason its the main WWE guy vs the guy who left. Cena v Brock 2012 and HHH v Stang Mania 31 are prime examples.

 

Edit- ok Stang didnt leave but you get my point.

He’s also the guy who came back. Hogan got the world title when he returned after his stint with the enemy.

Still reckon Vince has no intention of selling and any indication to the contrary is a fig leaf to cover his (otherwise) naked power grab.

I see a lot more moaning about tribalism than actual tribalism. Here and elsewhere.

Have only watched the main event but loved it. MJF feels like a legitimate World Champ for the first time. He's maturing into quite the worker. Imagine how much he could improve if he wrestled more than 10 matches a year.

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

I do wonder if Bray even knows what he's doing himself at this point.

Is it meant to be like a three faces of Foley thing where he's torn between all of his gimmicks at once? There is legs in that, in principle, but the execution is awful.

Also putting him in a Mountain Dew endorsed gimmick match was beyond humiliating.

7 hours ago, Suplex Sinner said:

Another week and another quality segment involving The Bloodline. This story arc tops Kenny Omega/Adam 'Hangman' Page now. It's incredibly hard to retain people's attention, especially so when the titles have been on the same person for such a long time but Roman Reigns and co. have navigated this beautifully. 

I can't remember the last time someone got themselves over on their own and DIDN'T get their moment of glory but it's absolutely the right decision to have RR unbeatable heading into Wrestlemania. I never thought for a minute that Cody would or could be THE guy to end Roman's reign but credit where it is due, he's more than delivered since he came back. 

As they're likely to separate the titles again I could see Sami going over Cody, with the help of Jey, as a last nod to being family. I think that could be a satisfying way to get a title on each brand, tie up The Bloodline/Zayn story AND allow Cody to the main man on the main brand. 

Bray Wyatt. Good grief. I don't know why he was brought back. The clue hunt leading up to his  with the QR codes etc. was exceptionally well done and kept the buzz going a lot longer than I thought possible but it's all just a Potemkin village, absolutely nothing behind it. 

 

For all the criticism AEW gets for assuming knowledge on the part of the audience, there’s no worse example than Bray Wyatt’s current incarnation. Four or five gimmicks incoherently mashed together. Requiring you to remember every step of Bray’s career back to NXT and to have followed a load of QR codes to make any sense of it all.

I don’t know what to make of it most of the time and I’m a lifer. It must be utterly opaque to anyone tuning in for the first time.

Definitely agree about the energy for that Cody/Roman segment. I haven't watched as closely the last few years, but I'm struggling to think of the last segment they did where it was so clear you were seeing the top two stars in the industry. And extra marks for the fact it didn't involve Cena and/or someone from the Attitude Era.

I didn't think Cody quite held up his end of it once they actually started talking, and my eyes rolled hard when he told Roman he had 'superseded hyperbole'. But yeah, this is the best mise en scene they've had around a Mania main event in absolutely ages.

Supremo is right, it's such a shame we only got a few years of gaslighting mob boss Roman, and so many of sad eyed Bossman Roman.

58 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

He wouldn't get past Bob Holly so the others don't matter. 

Seriously though you would think there is money in a match with Rollins, provided Rollins wins. You also have to consider that there will be another trip to collect the Saudi oil money upcoming. The Saudi's will either want a big lad in the main event, or a high value name. Lesnar and Goldberg fit both criteria, or maybe it's where you do the Roman rematch. There is also the outside possibility of Solo backed by Paul Heyman getting thrown in the mix, though they might not want to rush into that. 

Do we also consider that at some point Cody might need a crew to back him up if for example he ends up wrestling the likes of Seamus and his gang. 

Sami and KO? Could do a kind of Batista/Triple H thing eventually, but everyone’s a babyface.

If Eddie Kingston had won the interim title in the summer we’d have a new boom period by now.

Genuine danger the Punk All Out business ends up being a watershed moment for the company, and not in a good way.

13 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Disapointed, angry, frustrated is absolutely the response you should have as a wrestling fan. Tell us about it on here. But the idea that it's within a wrestling fans gift to hijack shows to get what they want, and boo other peoples segments because they didn't happen to be born someone else, is thankfully looking like it's a thing of the past. 

I'm pretty glad that fans seem to have changed over the years. That period of fans trying to control the shows from their seats was *awful*. I hope wrestling does become like normal telly, where you watch it as long as you're enjoying it enough to come back the next week, and if you stop enjoying it you turn off. I'd say legacy fans who cling on for grim death, hatewatching shows through gritted teeth and groaning about how it was better in the old days or how the bookers are idiots need to find something else. It's just wrestling. It's fine.

Well again I think we differ on how we enjoy wrestling (which is fine obviously). I tend to think the de facto co-authorship of the shows between the writers and fans is one of the most interesting things about it. And fairly unique. If that occasionally rises to the level of ‘hijacking’ the shows, I don’t know. It’s still just cheering and/or booing characters on a wrestling show, like.

Anyway I’ll step out now as I think we’ve thoroughly exhausted the issue. Here’s hoping the Cody story catches fire and everyone’s happy.

*double post

8 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

This is the point all along, people are upset their favourite didn't win and are lashing out, instead of just kicking back and looking forward to what comes next, or turning off if it's that egregious.

Well yeah this is where we differ, I think. Wanting your favourites to win is a central part of watching wrestling. Or any sport/entertainment form with winners and losers. And there’s been a weird turn in the last few years where apparently there’s something wrong with that, and individual fans have a duty to ‘kick back and look forward’ regardless of how they feel.

No problem with people who want Cody to win because he’s their favourite at all. Just don’t like the policing of other fans’ reactions where they disagree with the bookers.

1 minute ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

You called everyone who enjoyed the PPV a ‘bootlicker’ - as a reminder - whilst we chat about tribalism and toxicity.

Well yeah, and pearls were clutched.

I’m not arguing against ‘toxicity’ I’m arguing against its use as a buzzword to stifle other fans’ excitement. And I did’t say people who enjoyed the show (of whom I am one) were licking boot. I was referring to the miserablist defenders of a very safe, deflating booking decision.

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

All this about end games and conditioned thoughts and right and wrong.. it's all bullshit. We're a bunch of fans watching a wrestling show. We're all enjoying it in our own ways. We all have our different opinions on how things should go.

And you know what? That's absolutely fucking fine. We've got a storyline that so many people are actually invested in and give a shit about in WWE. That's what it comes down to and that's a good thing.

Stuff like who will win and what's better for business etc.. sure if that's what drives you then go for it but mostly I'd suggest we treat this just like any storyline in another TV show or film or whatever. Just fucking enjoy it.

Aye there’s an awful lot of pearl clutching about ‘tribalism’ and ‘toxicity’ among online wrestling fandom these days. Much of which just comes down to telling others not to get excited about things. As in this case, where wanting loveable babyfaces to win in their hometowns is apparently entitled.

Its great that there’s strong feeling on both sides and if Cody is your favourite then that’s great too. But if you just want Cody to win because its the sensible option? I don’t know, little weird.

8 minutes ago, Loki said:

Who does Cody Rhodes wrestle though?

Mystery opponent Punk.

As disappointed as I am that they shit it in Montreal, “actually neither Sami nor Cody should beat Roman” is psychopathy.

Cena might be my favourite wrestler ever but TV ratings declined consistently throughout his time on top, no?

Anyway. Cody isn’t being booed so I don’t think Cena is the right comparator. He’s not moving ratings on Monday the way Sami has been on Fridays. By the available evidence Sami is the needle mover of the two.