RedRooster

I do wonder if this discussion should be shifted to a standalone topic to do it justice, though I totally understand the logic in placing it here. It’s a topic that is likely, sadly, to rear its head again; given the issues that not only trans wrestlers have faced, but trans people in general. I feel like there’s discussion to be had not only about that, but the role of the promoter and even senior wrestlers in speaking out about this. While we might not change the world on a wrestling forum, I do think it’s important that discussions like these are made as visible as possible; I can only imagine how hopeless it must feel to be trans right now, so visible conversations that don’t revolve around hate are surely important.

This is exactly how I feel - I'm playing Persona 3 Reload at the moment, and I'm long past the point where I'm ready for it to finish. Even if I had enough time to play through something with a main quest this long, I'd prefer not to. I'd rather be left wanting more than wishing for less.

I played it on release, and while I didn't encounter any bugs, I struggled to get into the game. The world didn't feel interesting to me, and I can't put my finger on why exactly. Perhaps it was the characters in it? While in The Witcher 3, they felt interesting and distinct; from what I played in Cyberpunk, no one stood out to me as being particularly memorable. I bought it for Steam Deck with the intent of revisiting it, but I've not gotten around to doing that yet. Games like Elden Ring have won me over, so there's every chance Cyberpunk will too.

To be fair on Tony Khan, outside of perhaps Jonathan Gresham, has anyone left because of a spat with him? I don't think I'd categorise Punk's departure as being that, given that he assaulted another wrestler.

Absolutely awful. I really hope Tony Khan or the company as a whole takes a stance on this, and that a strongly worded response is issued. We're entering dangerous territory (or perhaps we're already there) when major organisations and powerful people are scared to speak out against discrimination in fear of losing a PR war; when the side they're worried about pissing off consists of bigots and the misinformed. And yeah, Nyla is a brilliant Twitter follow, and continues to be one of the more underutilised talents on the AEW roster.

This isn't from TNA (or a Joe Hendry thread), but this is still my favourite Joe Hendry parody. He's just brilliant at these:

It's definitely grim to consider, but I think the wider discussion kind of illustrates that depressing - for want of a better word - acceptance that the consequences for rich, powerful men in cases like this are often minimal. We have a man running for the US presidency who has been ruled to be a rapist; having someone who historically has not shown any desire to retire quietly seems relatively low stakes in comparison. I'd love to see McMahon face the consequences of his actions; but I feel pretty resigned to that not happening.

I don't know if I agree with that - I mean, obviously there's something to be said for the thrill of the chase, and a babyface champion isn't going to get the same reaction for retaining the title as they would for winning it. But I think Hangman's title reign came at a challenging time - it wasn't bad as such, when you look back at it. But he had to compete with CM Punk's return to wrestling; and the signings of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole. He felt secondary, because he kind of was - the focus of the audience and even Tony Khan was elsewhere, because it kind of had to be. For me though, it's hard to argue the fact that Hangman is the most consistent storyteller in AEW - he always has a strong, long-term story arc going on. While I don't think, on hindsight, his title reign was as much of a flop as was though at the time; he didn't really have a long enough title run to build up to the arc that he is so masterful at creating. I genuinely think he needed a longer reign. I understand the logic in putting the title on Punk; but really, has anyone - outside of Joe - had a better run with the AEW title than Hangman since he dropped the belt? As for Cody, he's been...well...Cody since winning the belt. Exactly as you'd expect, which isn't a bad thing. But I think babyface champions need a bit of time to settle in, and for the threat of them losing the belt to actually feel real, creating that sense of consequence in their matches; making their reign more of an emotional journey.

If the court case is settled in some way I wouldn't be shocked to see him attempt something - even if it was something that predominantly targeted non-US markets; or relied on an alt-right streaming platform. Heck, perhaps it's the kind of thing Elon Musk would host on Twitter much as he does Tucker Carlson. It's obviously a different kettle of fish; but given their crossover political views; it's not outside of the realms of possibility that it ends up being presented as some sort of 'deep state conspiracy'; and enough people buy into that to allow something viable to exist. I wish it felt more ludicrous to type those words than it actually is.

I suppose he’s rich enough to offer competitive contracts to anyone unsettled, although it would be one hell of a risk to join a McMahon-led promotion. But if you are - for example - Chris Jericho, maybe you don’t care about that; maybe one last major pay day in a fresh environment seems appealing. People who are older or with a general lack of options might decide it’s worth the risk. But heck, maybe it doesn’t matter who he would sign depending on the markets he’d look to target.

I viewed a puppy today, and although it made me realise how much I miss my previous dog, it’s pretty impossible not to feel on cloud 9 when you’re surrounded by little pups and their parents, all vying for your attention. In the end we decided against getting one of this particular little…I’m not sure what it was exactly, but it didn’t feel like any of them were ‘our’ dog; but I’m bloody glad I met them. Dogs are the best.

I had to check on Cagematch to see if this match had ever happened, and I was pretty surprised to learn that they’ve only wrestled twice and never in a major promotion, their last bout being in 2009 in IPW: UK. They’ve not even crossed paths in a multi-person match, which is utterly mad to think.

I really enjoyed it, but like @Nexus, I left it be when I finished the main story. That may partly be down to the fact my gaming backlog is so enormous I don’t really have time to 100% games though, it certainly wasn’t down to a lack of enjoyment.

I think that's fair - and it certainly speaks to a lack of depth in the division. However, I'd disagree with the idea her matches were pointless; for the same reason that I don't feel that way about Roman Reigns' run or even Gunther's - it was all building up to that brilliant moment where she actually does lose the belt. I'm not sure we've had - certainly not as far as I can think - a moment in WWE like that with a female wrestler; where there's been a dominant champion in which it felt like a big deal when she dropped the belt. I really buy into the idea behind that. I really like a dominant champion, who feels a step above everyone else. I might be wrong, but I think he's grifting slightly. It does sound horrid, which is why I don't think it's going to happen. We'll see, I guess. I'm certainly not relishing the prospect of anyone carrying on a Wyatt-universe gimmick, so even if he's not involved, I don't imagine it'll be good television.

I think there's something to be said for a champion who feels the part, and utterly owns the role. That's why I've enjoyed Rhea's run - she's swept aside the competition, and the belt felt like a bigger deal for being in her possession. In addition to that, I think being champion enhanced her character, and really helped position her not only as the de facto leader of Judgement Day; but as one of the biggest stars in the company. 100% with you here. Whatever the plan was with Bray Wyatt prior to his death, the stuff he was involved in was pretty awful; the idea that Vince McMahon was the person dragging his ideas down seemed to be disproven. Either that, or he'd run out of good ideas. I really liked the 'Bo-lieve' Bo Dallas character, and I'd much prefer to see that return, as opposed to a continuation of the Wyatt universe. As for Hardy, I don't want to see him anywhere near WWE or AEW programming.

And Sheamus came back with his old entrance theme! The Gable heel turn was well done too, I really hope this lifts him to the heights that he has the potential to reach. It's absolutely gutting to see Rhea vacate the belt - I've enjoyed every minute of her title reign, and the dynamic with Dominic Mysterio has been a blast. She'll come back as an enormous babyface of course, but her momentum was such that she didn't need a long break in order to achieve that. I knew I'd been enjoying her work, but I think I'd underestimate just how much I'd been enjoying it, given how deflating this all felt. Get well soon Rhea! I'd love to see this. I'm pretty sure Gunther will win a world title at some point; but I'm also extremely invested in seeing Sami win the big one at some point. Imagine having Sami headline a show in Montreal much as he did against Roman Reigns, but actually winning the world title this time? The reaction and moment would be utterly magical.

I couldn’t agree with you more with any of this. I’d also point to Steve Maclin in Impact, and, looking further back, Bobby Lashley. Remove his TNA run from history, and I’m not sure he’d have ever been WWE champion; never mind have had people calling for WWE to resign him. Same goes for Matt Hardy - as stale as he is now, his TNA run reinvigorated him in a way very few would have predicted. Aaron Stevens, in NWA, also managed to prove that there was more to him than the Damian Sandow character. It may well be that the most interesting switches are wrestlers you simply wouldn’t consider as being ‘big gets’.

I don’t assume that at all. I really don’t mind people disagreeing with me - heck, I’ve changed my opinions on a lot of things based on posts on here. At the risk of sounding like Iike a big-headed arsehole, I feel like I’m pretty open-minded and happy to admit when I’m wrong. However, like I said, if you're having to justify the context of a hypothetical thread - a thread that, ultimately, is just a bit of fun, it’s hard not to roll your hold your hands up and call it what it is. We all have our individual blind spots and biases, and I totally understand why some people have that when it comes to AEW. The company gave a lot of people permission to love wrestling again, after years of awfulness and - at times - actual evil in Vince McMahon’s WWE. But fuck me, we’ve gone three pages before someone made choices of their own, my picks weren’t that controversial - the whole point of the thread was to force people to trim the upper card to remove bloat. I think you misread or misunderstood my question, Scorchers. I meant who would you shift from AEW to WWE, to remove bloat and free up space for those who remain to shine, and for others to break through. Arguing against the premise, of course, is perfectly valid. The suggestion that AEW has too many wrestlers didn’t originate with me, although I do agree with it. No, but it can be used to argue against the suggestion that WWE isn’t doing a good job of building/creating stars. It’s an ensemble cast for sure, but evidently people care about that ensemble - and merchandise sales and crowd reactions back that up. In the McMahon era, your suggestion had merit. And I do think they need to recruit well (hence the very point of this thread) as the current NXT class is very uninspiring. On paper, AEW has a better roster - but they’re having difficulty making that count. EDIT: Although I disagree with this assessment, the guy has only been champion for a week!

That's what AEW was - but I think it's moved on from that; with its identity - at least its current identity - being the home of great wrestling. Eddie Kingston is a good wrestler, but he's also a very authentic character; who has the ability to get over via his mic work. Pit him against Paul Heyman, Drew McIntyre, Sami or Cody and you have a compelling segment. He's the kind of wrestler who would have worked brilliantly well in a Brock Lesnar match - taking a vicious beating, yet continuing to get up regardless. I suppose you could apply the same formula to Gunther. I'm not entirely sure that Vince McMahon would have understood the appeal in Kingston, but I'm pretty sure Triple H would - I'm not only confident that Kingston would be a prominent wrestler in WWE, I think he'd end up being one of the most over wrestlers in the company. I wouldn't have said this a few years ago, but I think he'll struggle to consistently feature in the main events in AEW. He absolutely should; but with wrestlers like Okada, Ospreay, Joe, Strickland, Omega, Jay White and MJF waiting in the wings, he's facing an uphill battle when it comes to holding a World title. In WWE, with the roster split, I could easily see audience support carrying him to a World title win - or, alternatively, a tremendous heel run in which he feuds with some of the biggest stars. Cody vs. Kingston? Cody Vs. Kingston? Cena vs. Kingston? I could see it, and I'm totally on board. Weirdly, I think there are more opportunities for him to be prominent in WWE.

It was a disc version I used on PS1, I had no idea that there was a plug-in version of this! It came with a memory card, although I can't remember how exactly that was used.

That's fair - I don't mean to accuse you specifically of being defensive, I should have been clearer with my wording. But I think - in a general sense - a blind spot exists with AEW, that hurts people when it comes to answering questions about AEW that suggests weakness. Part of the challenge is ensuring both companies benefit - meaning that ditching people like Lethal or Jericho to WWE wouldn't really work; particularly on the back of the McMahon allegations as they try to show that they've changed. If Jericho didn't have NDA-related mutterings surrounding him, I'd absolutely suggest he move to WWE. If he's going to have a final run, it's best he does it a landscape where he might feel refreshed. I'm not sure that was ever going to happen in AEW, even if allegations hadn't been made. Even if you accepted this as true, the current regime hasn't been in place long enough to undo much of the damage caused by Vince McMahon. But every metric I could throw at you would suggest you're wrong - live attendances, revenue, TV ratings - they're on a hot streak. But the attempts to make wins and losses count, and to build wrestlers that matter are there - I'd point to Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Sami Zayn and even Ricochet. Well yeah, this was pretty deliberate. Cody was the first major jump to WWE, and they wanted to signify that by keeping his presentation intact, so that it would feel like a jump. I'm not sure why you view having similar music as being a problem as far as Jade is concerned? Both of them are bigger deals for being in WWE - and I think you'd struggle to argue otherwise. I'm genuinely not trying to be 'rah-rah-WWE' here, but I'm not sure there's a wrestler who feels bigger because they're in AEW, such is the damage that has been done to the brand - and that wasn't always the case, and doesn't have to be the case going forward. Firstly, not all talent needs to be top tier. Secondly, LA Knight is shifting merchandise like nobody's business, and is popular to the point he's appearing in adverts for Slim Jims. I don't necessarily understand the appeal, but there's little doubt that he's had cut through. When did they pivot with Sami, Owens or Gable? Sami didn't win the World title, but he ended Gunther's historic IC title reign and main-evented Wrestlemania. Owens has main-evented two Wrestlemanias, one of which was against Steve Austin. Chad Gable isn't gaining a huge crowd reaction, so it would have been hard to justify pitting him against Gunther at 'Mania, but it's pretty clear he has a longer term storyline going on with Zayn, and attempts to give him more prominence haven't finished. Again, it's relatively early in the new regime - but it's far from the best batch of NXT talent they've ever had. Hence the point in this topic. Who would you shift over to WWE, following the rules of the original post?

I'm genuinely surprised I'm being asked this question; and I honestly think it points to the level of defensiveness people have about anything AEW-related. Again, it's hypothetical, so when they leave is totally irrelevant. It's not actually going to happen. The idea is a challenge based around the idea the AEW roster is too bloated - to debloat it, in a way that forces people who would rather not see talent shift to WWE, to move talent to WWE. I don't mind people questioning my choices or thinking it's a shit topic, but fuck me, when you have someone suggesting that Penta - who has only wrestled twice on Dynamite this year*, and has never (as far as I can recall) had a PPV singles match - is indispensable, how can I not roll my eyes? The answer to your question is in the original post: I think AEW would be better off with less multi-person matches, and more singles feuds - and I also think AEW was at its best when it was all about watching new faces emerge, and when the focus is on singles feuds. Most of the wrestlers I chose to shift are undercarders, or barely feature - but to free up space, you have to move some wrestlers who actually do feature. I really buy into the idea Paul Heyman had for TNA - turning it into the young, hungry alternative; where the main event scene predominantly consists of wrestlers who have not wrestled for WWE before. Personally, I think a main event scene involving wrestlers like Ospreay, MJF, Takeshita, Darby, Fenix, Okada, Rush, Bowens, Garcia, Swerve and Hangman - with a few older talents who have carved out their own identities in AEW such as Christian Cage, Samoa Joe and FTR is far more exciting than what we get now. Yes, you lose top level talent - but you have a better show, that over time, has the potential to be much more enjoyable. *Yes, I'm aware that he's wrestled on Collision and Rampage.

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.

I managed to get swept away by the story up until the final, final boss (the one-winged Angel Sephiroth) - with a few stumbling blocks along the way. I struggled with Dyne as Barrett was under-levelled, and Proud Clod was a pain in the arse, but I got past him in the end. First time round, I completely missed Vincent and I may also have missed Yuffie - I can't quite remember.

Why was that match significant? Why is Penta integral to AEW? He's literally there to lose to big name wrestlers. Has he ever had a featured singles match on PPV? He has, but I think he's dispensable - of course, you're free to disagree, and I'd be interested to see who avid AEW viewers would part ways with. I'm not saying you're doing this - but people seem more keen to explain why AEW couldn't possibly part ways with certain talent as opposed to pointing out who should go - the whole point of the thread is making hard decisions to make room on the card. That's not to say the people in question aren't valuable - obviously they are. But the point of the thread is to tie into the idea that AEW would be better off with a less bloated upper card.