Hannibal Scorch

Yes. And I think it would have involved Ted Turner. What any organization needed was a TV deal and who better than someone who owned multiple networks screaming for content to have a promotion. Wrestling needed Cable TV as much as Cable TV needed Wrestling. Cheap filler content which people watched regularly. Vince Jr was a smart business man, but it was an absolute lightning in a bottle situation for all the success he had early on. Didn't the MTV thing happen because of Cyndi Lauper meeting Captain Lou on a plane and hitting it off, leading to his appearances in her music videos and than later to her being brought into WWF? Regardless, Vince and his millions wouldn't have worked out without getting Hulk Hogan signed. 

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

Because it's a hypothetical topic, WWE is the other major company (the bigger names aren't going to TNA, are they?) and I disgagree with your assessment of WWE's roster - they could do with a few more stars to pad out RAW, Smackdown and even NXT. The perfect example to illustrate this is by removing Cody from the roster. If he's not there, who does Roman lose to? There's no obvious choice - although you could make a case for people like Sami or Drew, they're not as 'nailed on' as Cody is. 

WWE, simply put, does not face the same problem as AEW, as far as having too many wrestlers go. It's the opposite problem, and they could do with a refresh.

WWE's problem is not roster size. Once again it's because they aren't building stars. Cody was ready to go from his debut and is pretty much the same as he was in AEW in terms of presentation. Same thing with Jade even down to her music being a knock off of her AEW music. But simply put they are not making new stars. Jay Uso was an attempt, he is over with the crowd, but he isn't top tier talent. Same with LA Knight. Then you have people like Sami, Kevin Owens, Chad Gable who are bubbling under but when they were good to go, they pivoted. I honestly think we are just a few mere bad booking decisions away before the wheels start to fall off again, not that I think it will revert back to the 2019 era of garbage, but I do think it could lose momentum again. What is the point of NXT if they don't use it to build new stars and push them properly when they are called up?

1 hour ago, FLips said:

I had one on the PS1 at my Dad’s because he refused to get it chipped for I suppose legally moral reasons and this was a workaround. Don’t think I ever used it for cheats though, but I just didn’t know what it was at the time. I’d go mad with it now as some of the cheats you can exclusively get on them are mad. Someone else might know more but is it to do with the genie altering code for the game or something?

Must have been an Action Replay. Game Genie never got past the 16 bit era.

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

They've already done Okada vs Danielson im AEW and it was bang average. I'd rather not see it again.

Isn’t that the match Danielson got injured in?

On 4/13/2024 at 2:13 PM, hallicks said:

Civil war (Dolby Cinema). I thought this was just great. The near-future dystopian America felt chillingly plausible and realistic. The characters felt gritty and had depth. The VFX was seamless, some of the best I’ve ever seen, in that, you never even saw them. It was all shot beautifully and the whole thing looked fantastic. Not too long either, less than 2 hours I think. 

Couldn’t agree more. The trailer made it out to be a pretty out and out war film. So I was pleased at how different it was and quite unique for a war film. Reminded me of Sicario a bit at times with the tension and just looking beautiful despite the backdrop. Alex Garland said this will be his last directorial effort, shame as it’s probably his best.

8 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

"And her opponent, accompanied by Krystle Carrington...."

Great, now I want RJ City and Joan Collins hosting the pre show

7 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

Really? I thought it was terrible, she forgot what she was saying and kept stumbling over her lines.

Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses based on her other promos

11 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Who is Alexis Carrington booked to face?

She’s in Toni Storms corner

4 minutes ago, Chili said:

Ospreay on Hey Ew!

 

Already in my top 5 Hey’s of all time

4 minutes ago, Supremo said:

 

Trios match to unite the ROH and AEW Six man titles? Ideally, this is the end of The Acclaimed. An act way past its sell by date. Give me a big singles push for Anthony Bowen. One of the best sellers in the whole industry. Caster can get in the bin.

Never has someone’s stock fallen so low from such a high position as Caster. great on the mic, good looking, decent ring work, all gone pretty much. Off ye pop to NXT please. 
 

Phenomenal looking card. All killer no filler so far (yep, even Roddy v Kyle I’m looking forward to). When you look at Mania night 1 and 2 you’re scrambling to make a whole decent event with some of those matches, and this will be another PPV missed by the masses of wrestling fans because it’s the other fed. Insane. It could be an all timer, especially as you pointed out that gimmick matches like ladders are few and far between. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Will swerve win? I almost feel Page interfering is the way they will go and have Swerve finally win at double or nothing, which doesn’t give him a long run before the inevitable Ospreay/Swerve at All In. But I would love to see him win here, as much as Joe’s run has over delivered, it’s time for Swerve.

@Chili I think you nailed some crucial points (although WWE and AEW have the same amount of weekly TV and same amount of titles, it just feels worse on AEW).

But the roster is bloated. Normally a great problem to have, but the spending spree he went on in 2020 due to WWE’s roster cuts ment that even with ROH as a satellite brand, too many people. Although at times that’s helped. When you’ve lost people like Kenny to long term injury you had people you could replace him with a the top end. And with people like Adam Cole, MJF, Miro, Kenny and Darby all out injured and they still have top talent, it shows how vast it is. I mean can you imagine if Seth, Cody, Roman, Drew and Priest were all out at the same time. Who’d be stepping up for the ’E?

But he can definitely trim the fat and I think you either need to make ROH its own thing with no crossovers (unless they are being called up permanently to AEW), or just start not renewing contracts. Especially with people who don’t appear to want to be there anymore. They could lose a good 20/30 people across the company and still have a great roster (and even free space for people to step up).

The perfect antidote after putting on a critically panned show is a banger. And in that regard, this was a pretty great episode.  
 

Love me some Daddy Magic so enjoyed him sitting in for Nigel this week.

Thought House of Black v Top Flight Ish was a good opener, ran a bit long but still a good match to open.

Shibata vs Moriarty was almost too short. Just as it started really going it was done. Does Anthony Ogogo have the weirdest British accent? Where’s it from?

Garcia vs Angelico was as fun as you’d expect. There’s something I like about Angelico, he’s never gonna be a top guy, but I enjoy him more than most lower card people. 

Not familiar with AZM, but thought she was great and gave Toni Storm her best match in months. A delightful surprise.

I like Thunder Rosa, but I find her a bit bland usually. Until tonight, great babyface promo and got me excited for the match next week. Job done.

FTR vs Young Bucks in a ladder match?!? Tony Khan you son of a bitch.

BCC Vs Hobbs and Fletcher was a great main event, hard hitting, exciting, pushed the story with Danielson and Ospreay. Yeah, this was great.

Collision does a really good job of taking an average card and over delivering. It’s come a long way since those early months when it was Punks mates and it was all quite samey. 

@RedRooster Re: Kylie Rae. That’s a completely speculative situation. The details have not been confirmed as anything more than speculation (and I’m not trying to defend Jericho, not really a fan, just trying to go on what we do know). The journalist who made the allegations said he did so because he had a personal grudge and not long after quit due to other statements he made which were called out. I’M NOT SAYING IT DID OR DIDNT HAPPEN, I’m just saying all we have is speculation which I don’t think is helpful.

Back to Flair, he wasn’t getting booed like a Dominic Mysterio level, because some wrestling fans will always cheer for the old boys, but he basically stopped appearing after this because of the backlash, and he had suggested before he would be by Stings side for every appearance. 
 

Would I have done it if I was Tony Khan? No, and regardless of the whys I still don’t agree with it and it was a mistake. I even hate they still have shitty Wooooo Energy as a sponsor, maybe that’s an indicator of the level of sponsorship they are getting offers on over WWE.

22 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

I think that’s irrelevant. You don’t have to accept the cash - especially when you’re a billionaire who can afford to spend one wrestler’s salary to license a song.

Are you saying you’d rather he paid for Flair himself because he can afford it?
 

I think this goes to Tony being a people pleaser. He wanted to give Sting everything he wanted. He should have turned around said Ric Flair ain’t coming in because he’s a dirty old man who should be blackballed from the industry. But he instead asked what Sting wanted to round out his career and checked it off. It pretty much backfired, Flair was booed each appearance and no one seemed to be for it.

TNA, after getting screwed fairly recently on a toy deal, now have one in place from Powertown and they look great 

32 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Can't see anything on there?

Did see some quotes floating around social media but they were old ones.

Of course, one of those things that didn’t copy the link properly. But when I go back and find the tweet it’s been community noted 

and from the comments I think he was just engagement farming. Not that the statement wasn’t great, but it has nothing to do with recent events.

Daniel Radcliffe responds to She who shall not be named https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/

10 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Thankfully for you, you’re not watching WWE after Night 2, so it won’t be much more of an issue for you going forward.

He was named during speaking out as sending inappropriate messages to a 13 year old. But I’m glad you got to reuse your joke from the other day. So in that spirit,

Something something bus, something something bus wanker.

3 hours ago, garynysmon said:

“Banning” Hulk Hogan and signing Ric Flair is about as clear an example as I can think of. 

That’s not quite true, although optics. Flair was supposed to be signed and once the Darkside of the Ring episode aired. Sting wanted him to come in during his final run and AEW did a deal with Woo Energy which they would pay Flair to appear. And he only appeared 3 times. 
 

Optically, still looked shit to have him in, but I guess they weren’t paying for the privilege. Jay Lethal is probably the best (worst) example

Austin Theory is supposed to be an irritating character but he’s also an annoying twat outside of that.

1 hour ago, no user name said:

@Hannibal Scorch  I don’t get it lol 

It’s someone tiny. Not much demand for that in gifs 

18 hours ago, no user name said:

Personally I don't like to be that near you have to look up and it hurts my neck I prefer being just above. 

This you?

15 minutes ago, FUM said:

Do we include house shows in everyone’s win/loss record now? Granted he’s not won much on TV since Cena but the way people exaggerate the impact by including house shows is a bit silly. He’s had 5 TV matches this year of which 1 has ended in a no contest, 2 have ended in DQ’s and 1 was a handicap match where his team were outnumbered. On TV, his only loss he’s actually ate a pin in 2024 was to Randy Orton.

I just looked up his record this year on cagematch and thought it was funny, it’s not that deep, or even important. It’s wrestling where we suspend our disbelief frequently.

An edit just for you @SuperBacon. The line was rightfully shat upon when Brandi used it in 2021 for being cringe. Although she’d top it later on when cutting a promo on Dan Lambert used the line, “You might be a Black Belt, but I’m a black bitch”. Sure, not offering Brandi an extension of her talent contract is probably what cost AEW from keeping Cody Rhodes, but it was the right decision, especially as WWE have also not hired her back. But if you think it’s cool, go you!

1 hour ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Solo as the temp leader until The Rock comes back just works. He's a killer heel. 

His justification was that loses have consequences. He’s had 24 matches in 2024. Drawn 1, lost 23.

Been some good discussions in here last few days* and for me now having let the dust settle (and stop taking his to seriously), I think it was a stupid decision to air the footage on Dynamite. I’m not apposed to the footage being out there, but I do think it outside of the ratings bump, they should have released it to an outfit like TMZ and had the storyline follow up on TV (because I do think that part of this worked well. Certainly gave a reason to care about the match which was pretty ice cold in terms of story. I also heard the reason punk did the interview was he was told the footage was going to air and wanted to get ahead of the lead (but that’s dirtsheets so pinch of salt).

21 hours ago, garynysmon said:

Good old whataboutery…

In all seriousness, as @RedRooster alluded to, is Tony Khan really a ‘nice guy’ though?

Yes he gets excited about wrestlers he signs, which may be endearing to some. But ask Big Swole and others he’s had a wobbler about if he’s a nice guy or not.

Tony Khan’s major advantage over any other booker is his financial clout that he inherited by virtue of his birth. A hill I’d happily die on is if you gave Scott D’amore AEW’s budget it would be a better product all round.

He has done some great things. Brodie Lee, giving talent time of when there have been bereavements or births (and I mean more than a week). I certainly think on balance he’s done better things than WWE have done in the past. But I don’t think he’s infallible or not due criticism (although the Swole point is tricky. She has medical issues and I thought he gave her lots of time off when needed. She’s an awful wrestler though so he wasn’t wrong, but definitely said the quiet bit out loud. She definitely did warrant a new contract.) and I’m sorry but I’d love D’amore to be picked up by AEW. I’m shocked he’s not been picked (unless I missed something.

18 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

What did he even say about Ospreay? I missed it, but surprised he'd reference him directly.

He didn’t. But he was asked about signing free agents and he made a comment about talking to people who decided they didn’t want the grind and were happy to work one day a week and he’s glad he didn’t pick them (Not understanding if you offer someone a contract and they take a different one, they didn’t pick you). Of the recent free agents, apparently they only made offers to Will and Mone, and Will had publicly discussed that the WWE offer was good, but AEW allowed him to keep his family living in the UK and not needing to relocate (and we obviously know why that was really important to him). So it’s reading between the lines but also pretty obvious.

Anyway, I’ll try being less of a tit.