andrew "the ref" coyne

Just now, Shy Dad said:

Oh absolutely the reason I'll get up at 6 to watch it before work, skipping through dregs and adverts I'll be done by half 7, but you have to imagine there's something up their sleeve.

New challenger comes out... immediately regrets it. Long live the true tribal chief. 

18 minutes ago, Shy Dad said:

Are we expecting them to shit a brick and try and get something in place for this evening?

WWE has Rock and CM Punk back and an announcement teased for tomorrow morning in America for the press to get behind and AEW is coming off a PPV saved by 2 or 3 matches, covered in all the chaos and shit from Jericho and Tony's stupid hat and the antagonist and protagonist of their long running big reveal both being injured and unable to really progress it any further.

Where are we at on WWE releases being able to work for other companies from the last wave of sackings?

Do they push to get an 11th hour deal with Mone done so that she can debut tonight? It just feels with how much they are hyping it's 5 years of AEW and the first show of 2024, there's absolutely nothing major in the air from Saturday that can continue forward.

Joey Samoey is my world champion. That's enough for me. #Don'tCallItAComback #MommaSaidKnockYouOut

8 hours ago, RedRooster said:

I’ll give Tony Khan a bit of credit for that. Why humiliate someone on the way out? I don’t think any of this has hurt AEW, and Khan hasn’t purposely lowered Andrade’s stock just because he’s chosen to leave, as we’ve seen so often over the years. Fair play to Khan for that, at least.

I think due to the nature of the CC, they had to give him a win somewhere, and with the way they planned it out, he just happened to be Bryan.

Also interference was probably relevant to the Miro / CJ story. 

It also sends a message to potential talent who may come in the future that Kahn is not a complete dick. I remember when Vader was one the way out and how they treated him. I'd rather a talent has one big token loss, then have him lose to Freddy Joe Floydd* every Shotgun Saturday night.

(*Slight exaggeration, but you get my point). 

Such a fantastic video. Long live the king.

I hope next year they expand this out with a few more competitors and have it run a little longer time wise. It's been fantastic fun.

Very intrigued for dynamite and who makes those finals.

I reckon it'll be Moxley, Swerve and White for a three way final on gold.

Finally think it's a shame they didn't run a mini league for the women's division over on Rampage.

5 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Savio Vega had a fantastic punch. And to be honest, a good punch is 80% of what I look for in a wrestler.

Plus that dance he did before the punch.... *chef kiss*

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

You're thinking of the "Royal Rumble Raw" from the Toronto SkyDome. There was an even better example of "these guys are nuts taking this match" on the Thursday Raw Thursday the week of the PPV, where in the wake of the Shawn/Sid title match that obviously didn't happen, Sid worked Austin and Bret Hart wrestled Vader. Not that Taker had it easy either, he had a hard-fought win over renowned top tier hardcase... Savio Vega.

Amazing memory! I think you are right.

God! Love me some Savio. Could you imagine if he faced Taker at a Mania.... missed opportunity.

12 hours ago, air_raid said:

Once authorised by the Championship Committee, I hope. The development of wrestlers being able to book their own matches at some point in the late 90s was always a personal bugbear. Especially as "contracts" and contract signings continued to be a thing, even though you could equally just have a match if you fancied it and there was a ref about.

To think too deeply about it.... those refs probably weren't insured against injury if they just did those matches outside of the company sanctioning them and the associated red tape. Although that's a "Death Star independent contractors" rabbit hole I shouldn't go down. I'm not even supposed to be here today.

I actually miss 96 wwe where they once had Vader vs Austin on Raw. One of the commentators asked "how the hell is THIS match happening on TV on the run to the Final Four" and (I think) Monsoon was on commentary and said "yeah I know.... but both men have signed open contracts and this is what happens when you do."

Was a real nice touch.

Jey Uso winning the IC belt the night after a Mania where Gunther barely survives Lesnar?

I can buy that. 

Gunther goes away for a while then comes back to smash Punk for the World title. Perfect.

15 hours ago, TheBurningRed said:

Tbf he actually said the year after he wanted to be in the match with them after he lost the title to The Rock at the Rumble. He said he would’ve been fine if it was an elimination match and he went out in a couple of minutes if it meant being in the main event. Instead he got that great match with The Undertaker. I’m sure he understood why that first match between Rock and Cena was the main event and wouldn’t have been too upset by it (maybe).

Actually I will agree, three way would of made way more sense in my mind. CM Punk as the guy who was "ruining the plans" of management was a great gimmick. 

48 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

So now we're ragging on the guy for things we think he might do?!

Well he does have a history of being put in great positions and getting upset because there is something better he didn't get.

Gets a high profile top match vs Orton at Mania? Complains publicly he should of been in the main event vs Cena because he believed he was more over than Miz (which he wasn't).

Gets to defend the WWE Championship vs Jericho at a Mania? Complains he's not in the main event which went to Rock vs Cena.

34 minutes ago, theringmaster said:

I agree with this. Beats Rollins for World Heavyweight Title then will complain it's not 'the belt' and feel he's being shitted on again.

I honestly feel he will wind up back in aew once he leaves wwe on bad terms again.

"Well I'm NOW back home."

4 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

 

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The "Bi-generation" was a little surprising, but it was good to see two Doctors interact with each other like this. I loved the chemistry they had, and how quickly he was accepted by Donna & Mel.

I do worry that this is some kind of "In case of rating drop deploy Tennant" shadow now hanging over the series, but I also feel like the reason they did this was so RTD could give Tennant's Doctor a "happy ending" and bring the curtain down on the previous iteration of Doctor Who,

So wait... does this not mean there is a core Doctor Who and TWO David Tennants running around? Wasn't he cloned so he could run off and shack up with Rose or something?

 

On 12/6/2023 at 1:50 AM, Factotum said:

Personally I could do without the Doctor being in any way sexualised or fancying people.  It was one of my annoyances with RTD era. I don't care about him being in love. They even foisted in Jodie's tenure. Can we just do away with it? The only 'Doctor in Love' story they ever got right was The Girl In The Fireplace. Absolutely perfect. That's all you need.

I can really do with never seeing Catherine Tate shouting on my screen again as well.

 

The irony of your post is that Catherine Tate, who in my opinion was fantastic, did so much to move the role of the companion away from the romantic love interest. She was nagging him like a mother fucker and made a great and different dynamic.

17 hours ago, Duke said:

I, for one, can't wait for Roddy's promo when he's revealed as one of the Devil goons about how he fooled us and he's been healthy all along. He's going to be so cocky and full himself, it'll be great.

I'm calling it.

"The Devil" is The Undisputed Era and they are pro MJF, until Adam Cole is healthy and that is when they turn on him.

4 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Am I imagining it or was Graves actually medically cleared sometime last year and there were rumours that he may have a match?

Correct he was medically cleared. Didn't hear any rumour of a match though, I think that's just wishful thinking from some fans.

52 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Yeah, a great episode over all (must be reading here for the inclusion of the Mox promo). Just a decent 2 hours of matches and story progression. A very easy watch. Do feel for Garcia, he’s definitely the Jay Lethal in his group, I hoped he’d at least get a win.

He will. I reckon he's being setup as a spoiler to knock someone out of the top spot.

9 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

MJF is great but part of what makes him great is that the fans of AEW have watched his journey and followed his story to the top. He’s got all the tools to be a top guy in WWE but Bobby Roode had a similar journey in TNA and it doesn’t translate over to WWE where they might as well have never existed pre WWE. That said he’s young enough and has plenty of time to work his way up in WWE should he wish, which he absolutely should.

I hate the mentality that your fave should instantly be shoved into the top of the card. Personally, someone like MJF, I want to see him steadily rise up the roster. 

A year funding with mid card faces. Win the US belt, with the ic belt, win the tag titles (with cody), start feeding bigger guys, win the world title.

58 minutes ago, AndyUK said:

Priest could even cash in after the match at Mania with the story of someone doing to Rollins what he did to Lesnar and Reigns all those years ago. 

No you made me feel old.

Id rather they did something different. There are so many scenarios they havn't even touched with that briefcase and I'd like to see them do something original.

6 hours ago, air_raid said:

All the talk of Rollins vs Punk for the WWE Other World Heavyweight Championship at Mania.. there's still the small matter of Priest running around as the briefcase wanker to be resolved. I think Judgment Day will implode, likely costing Priest the belt when he cashes in, and it will be Balor vs Priest at Mania.

Anyone see Priest actually winning the belt and Rollins vs Punk being with no title involved at Mania?

I could easily see Priest successfully cashing in between now and Mania, and then Seth getting it back just before Mania. 

However MITB is still valid AFTER Mania. So could be used to kick start the post Mania fued for whomever is the World Champ.

44 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

So you can imagine that wrestling fans of all sides are taking this information with kindness and respect and not how awful a human BD is 

 

Does seem a bit inappropriate to have a potential corporate rival decide your future. But again we only know so much.

No I've thought about it, I would love it if next week Punk comes out and says..

"Hey, remember when I was WWE Champ, and the Rock got a guaranteed main vent at Mania over me?

Well, the apology needs to be as loud as the offense, and as part of my negotiations, I already have one of the main events against whomever is the world heavyweight champion is."

If that dosent give Seth the fuel for a killer fued, nothing will.

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I think that's the biggest flaw of NXT. Wrestlers spend ages there carefully developing new characters and personas and then arrive on the main shows as a "finished product" when really the best part of wrestling is actually seeing a character develop on television through storylines and feuds. Instead you often just get these finely tuned simplified, completely one note characters turn up on Raw and Smackdown and it's like..."ok, now what?".

THIS. Bayley massively suffered from this. Bayleys journey was what made her. The young goody two shoes white meat baby face, being bullied by the likes of Banks and Emma, to slowly overcome her shortcomings and eventually grow up in front of our eyes for the feel good championship win.

Then on the main roster she comes in as the same character, but... she's not the underdog anymore. She's a former world champ. It dosent work.

Similarly Sasha Banks coming in as a face felt SO wrong.

6 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Raquel Rodriguez

I won't accept this slander. When she came up from NXT to the main roster, she was given the gimmick of smiling and "has back muscles" for her entrance pose.

Character development.

So... he finally did it and came back. So what do WWE do with him?

Do you put him into a program with main eventers? Do you put him in the midcard to spice up the middle of the card and slowly build him up? Do you hot shot him to the  main event of mania?

If I were Punk, I would of demanded the rumble win and a mania main event myself, but that's just me. I were WWE, I'd use him in the middle of the card to work with the midcard heels and slowly build him up over the next year (or 2).

Thoughts?