RedRooster

I don't mean to sound like a dick, but can you not just use your eyes and ears on this one? He's been getting great reactions. It may be that fans do turn on him as they did in AEW, but it's not happened yet. When they do, he has a sensational heel run in him.

She's 1, so later on today we'll be building things with Mega Blocks, reading stories and dancing to The Wiggles. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to do all of that without her stealing and throwing my glasses and/or phone.

I was - by pure coincidence, I hadn't planned this - on annual leave, so that made it pretty straightforward. I'd have been in the same position had I not been, though. If I wasn't a dad, I'd have been able to watch Dynasty later in the day - but childcare takes priority, as you can imagine!

It's a shame AEW is running more PPVs on a Sunday than it once did, I'd love to have ordered this one, but finding the time to watch it was always going to be a problem. Sounds like it was a good show, Jericho aside. If Hook really is leaving, sucking the life and momentum out of him in a way that gives Tony Khan plausible deniability would be an act of evil genius from the guy; so in the unlikely chance that's what's happening here, well done, Tony. It's nice to see Willow win a title, although it's really strange to see Mercedes going after the secondary belt instead of Toni Storm. I know that not everyone enjoys Toni as champion, but I bloody love her. She's one of the best characters in wrestling, and I don't think the gimmick brings down the title in any way. That said, I've no idea who you have beat her, if Willow and Mercedes are wrapped up in other things. Maybe it's time to bring Athena back to the main roster, and have her target Storm. I did watch the six man tag, and I'm utterly perplexed as to why Billy Gunn is being made to look as strong as he is. This deserves almost as much derision as the Jericho stuff - it's utterly insane that he's being booked the way that he is.

Khali probably pips him if you’re going by lack of talent, but at least his title run was relatively short, compared to Jinder’s six months of tedium…so…maybe?

On that note, I’m amazed that we’re approaching May, and Kamille hasn’t showed up anywhere. I do wonder if that’ll eventually happen with Aldis. He’d be a great addition to an active roster that probably does need freshened up slightly.

Is he definitely signed up? The fact he lost made me wonder if it was a farewell appearance of sorts, ahead of moving elsewhere. If they have re-signed him, what a miss for WWE. AEW too, though they don’t really need him.

Xia Li and Xyon Quinn have also been released. Jinder always comes across as a nice guy in real life interviews (in the ones I’ve seen, anyway), but he was mediocre at best as a wrestler. His dramatic descent down the card after his title run was telling. I can’t imagine Tony Khan will pick him up, but maybe there’s a place for him in TNA, MLW or even the NWA, as alt right as that’s become.

I’m totally with you on Swerve beating Hangman for the belt. The next match between the two being a mere title defence for Swerve just doesn’t feel like it does the feud justice. The thing that makes me think he probably will win is that Joe labelled him a ‘choke artist’ - so I think there has to be a middle ground; in that he wins at the PPV, then loses the belt quickly - so he gets one over on Joe, yet gives ammunition to that label and a mountain to overcome.

I wouldn’t be against Page winning the title on the Dynamite after Dynasty, in a way that sets him up as the top heel in AEW, and gives Swerve a mountain to climb before a longer title run. I think AEW needs to do something shocking and unexpected to spark interest, and this might do the trick. Page winning the title, then beating the shit out of Swerve rather than celebrate, continuing to obsess over Swerve and other opponents rather than relish the fact he’s champion could be a lot of fun. It would also allow for a Page/Omega rematch for the belt, with the roles reversed. As far as sparking interest in the product again, I feel like a heel Page as champion could be a strong option - you could do Page/Omega, Page/MJF, Page/Moxley, Page/Ospreay and the eventual Swerve rematch - all of which would produce compelling television.

Sounds plausible, although he still strikes me as an obvious to end Logan Paul’s US title run. Maybe Logan and Sami switching brands is the way to do that, setting up a fresh range of opponents for Paul including, if he stays put, CM Punk.

This made me laugh out loud. Another fun Smackdown. AJ and LA Knight work really well together. I’m intrigued as to where they’ll go with Knight after the draft. He’s still very over, and now that there are two World titles, the idea of a secondary World title reign should this remain the case doesn’t seem out of the question. Solo is doing a great job in his hostile takeover of The Bloodline. I can absolutely see this culminating in Roman eventually returning, telling Solo that he’d done a fantastic job in rebuilding The Bloodline and thanking him, only for Solo to tell him he didn’t do it for him, he ‘did it for The Rock’ (as brilliantly suggested by @Mr_Danger) and if that does happen, I’ll honestly have goosebumps. I’m all in for Rock/Roman at Wrestlemania next year, if that’s the plan. I still love everything Bloodline related, it’s so enjoyable. There was a point where I never thought I would feel positive about WWE’s booking again, let alone enthusiastic - but I’m finding myself feeling really excited about what’s to come after each show right now. (Aside from with NXT, with is still terrible.)

Last chance to submit your nominations this weekend, or to edit your votes. I’ve extended the deadline very slightly, from 5pm today until 7am Monday. Realistically, I won’t have time to start tallying therm until then, so I’m as well as to give people a little longer to cast their vote. Thanks for the enthusiasm, everyone - I’ll do my best to turn this into an enjoyable read once it’s done.

I still wish he’d pinned a statement on Twitter, but fair play to Tony Khan for his comments on the Nyla Rose situation from the AEW Dynasty media call. Not only did he condemn it, explicitly calling it discrimination - but he went a step further saying he didn’t think there should be discrimination against transgender people in general. It would have been very easy for him not to say that; he’ll get attacked online for doing so. Huge credit to the guy for that.

That’s a little different though, and it’s discussing the subject in a broader sense as opposed to specifically in connection with wrestling. And I think there are important points that could be discussed further here - for example, the fact Tony Khan hasn’t addressed it publicly. Not one main event wrestler - as far as I can tell - has said anything publicly to support Nyla. It’s also not the first time a trans person has faced discrimination in wrestling - look at Rick Steiner’s behaviour towards Giselle Shaw, for example; or the transphobic signs aimed at Nyla at previous AEW shows. If this was almost any other form of discrimination, it would - rightly - have sparked a visible response of condemnation; and possibly a cross-company one. But there’s almost a quiet acceptance of this, or perhaps even a normalisation of it. We’re talking about - in this case - a discriminatory barrier that has the potential to stop someone (not just Nyla) from earning a living in a fictional sport. And no one of status within that sport is brave enough to say anything about it - that’s big enough to merit wider discussion, I think. Hopefully it’s being handled quietly behind the scenes with the hope of making this barrier go away.

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.