Pro Wrestling Contract Season

[MVP RULZ]

Adriana Rizzo was in the D'Angelo family but hasn't been seen in well over a year on TV since they split and she tore her cruciate (her 2nd year long injury in 4 years) 

Reading she apparently has just returned to dark matches last month

Aside from Wendy Choo and Jasper Troy and I'm sure I've heard the name PJ Vasa before but can't say what she looked like of hand the others I've no idea 

[I Bent My Wookie]

47 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Yeah, I was gonna say that, you see a lot of incel types in particular mocking her in quite a cruel way which kinda makes me want to see her succeed.

From watching some her her stuff on YouTube, it’s the kind of gimmick I could see working in AEW with a bit of refinement. Her promos are a bit weak from what I’ve seen, but the idea of her doing anime and fighting game moves while her opponents watch on bemused isn’t a bad one. She could make a fun underdog character in the right promotion. Her character has the makings of a good idea, and since it’s seemingly her own, you want people like that to succeed. 

Yeah it's at its initial stages for sure and realistically if there was still somewhere like Chikara (I guess Beyond is her best bet) she'll find the right guidance to make it work. 

But some of the mashed together clips really are just out to make her look awful and it's quite sad. I can't get over the sound uWu without hearing Mr Meeseeks from Rick and Morty so it's gonna take me a while to fully get on board but it did seem like it may work, I just don't think WWE or Evolve is the place for it. 

[RedTwoster]

16 minutes ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

But some of the mashed together clips really are just out to make her look awful and it's quite sad.

It’s intentionally cruel, and you could have done the exact same thing to Orange Cassidy or Danhausen, although if you’re a grifter there’s added value to that if it’s a woman, giving you the opportunity to be misogynistic with plausible deniability. 

18 minutes ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

I can't get over the sound uWu without hearing Mr Meeseeks from Rick and Morty so it's gonna take me a while to fully get on board but it did seem like it may work, I just don't think WWE or Evolve is the place for it. 

Given that their main booking team includes people like Triple H, Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes, I can’t imagine they have even the most limited of understanding as to what she’s trying to do. Even if she’d succeeded at getting massively over, they way it would have translated to the main roster would have been the least subtle and intelligent version of what the gimmick could actually be.

[westlondonmist]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

Yeah, I was gonna say that, you see a lot of incel types in particular mocking her in quite a cruel way which kinda makes me want to see her succeed.

From watching some her her stuff on YouTube, it’s the kind of gimmick I could see working in AEW with a bit of refinement. Her promos are a bit weak from what I’ve seen, but the idea of her doing anime and fighting game moves while her opponents watch on bemused isn’t a bad one. She could make a fun underdog character in the right promotion. Her character has the makings of a good idea, and since it’s seemingly her own, you want people like that to succeed. 

From what little I've seen of her I don't think she did it particularly well. Kind of felt like she had to keep explaining the gimmick. But WWE is not the place to make it work or develop it but it definitely has its place in wrestling. Do wonder if it's a bit much too soon for someone so raw. 

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, westlondonmist said:

From what little I've seen of her I don't think she did it particularly well. Kind of felt like she had to keep explaining the gimmick. But WWE is not the place to make it work or develop it but it definitely has its place in wrestling. Do wonder if it's a bit much too soon for someone so raw. 

You’re definitely right - I think it’s a good idea but it needs refinement. It might be in the end she just doesn’t have it in her to pull it off, but at the end of the day she’s had a very small number of matches and is essentially just starting out. I feel like she’s had a disproportionate amount of criticism compared to how visible she actually is. 

[Carbomb]

Probably a bit of a reductive suggestion, but from the sound of her, possibly some time in the vicinity of someone like Kenny Omega might benefit her? Surely the most successful Western wrestler to harness weeb culture?

[Hannibal Scorch]

@RedTwoster her opening line in her first promo was “This anime girl comes straight from a manga panel”.  It was game over from that point on. If you’re gonna do a gimmick you need to understand it. Now if that was written for her, they need firing as well.

[Supremo]

WWE looking for old, lumbering lumps who’re willing to return on the cheap, and then Snitsky reveals this look. It’s his time!

[BomberPat]

14 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

@RedTwoster her opening line in her first promo was “This anime girl comes straight from a manga panel”.  It was game over from that point on. If you’re gonna do a gimmick you need to understand it. Now if that was written for her, they need firing as well.

My assumption is that it was written for her, that the writers didn't understand what she pitched to them and it was watered down to the lowest common denominator version.

I'm basing that on Rayne Leverkusen's debut promo, which was basically making her say, "I really like heavy metal music" in the most simplistic way possible, rather than trusting the audience to just understand that someone who looks and dresses like her probably likes rock and metal.

[Kamran]

I can see WWE being interested:

 

[RedTwoster]

4 hours ago, Kamran said:

I can see WWE being interested:

 

As they should be, but it’s such a shame that one of the best tag teams in the history of AEW has left the company. I’d have loved to have seen them wrestle C&C and New Level.

I know they apparently didn’t want to tag together anymore and perhaps even didn’t get along, but it’s a shame regardless.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

I didn't think Bowens was a suitable 'fit' in the Opps but he had a lot to give and enjoyed him and Caster in AEW.

[Merzbow]

I think too many new signings has passed Bowens by to the point there was little to do with him but Max? His silly little best wrestler alive gimmick run was so bloody good, no way he couldn't have moved on to something just as over, a strange release in my eyes.

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

a strange release in my eyes.

He wasn't released, his contract expired. 

Obviously something happened backstage because Max was completely dropped from TV in the middle of a storyline never to be seen again and Bowens quietly moved on to other things.

I'm a fan of both men. Max's Best Wrestler Alive gimmick was loads of fun. I think the double turn of Max going from annoying heel to goofy loveable loser while Bowens went from white meat babyface to pathetic, jealous and petty heel was a great story and them re-teaming with that new dynamic had HUGE potential. Sad that it wasn't to be. They did some hilarious stuff that should have been on TV but only made their soci media. 

If I was starting my own promotion I would sign Caster up in a second.

Edited yesterday at 09:44 AM by LaGoosh

[Kamran]

3 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I know they apparently didn’t want to tag together anymore and perhaps even didn’t get along, but it’s a shame regardless.

I think they're still okay together. Max got pulled from AEW in December 2025 but they both appeared together on an indy show for Wrestle Pro in April 2026 where they subsequently made up. When that happened, I assumed Max was leaving for WWE and Bowens had re-signed (hence him moving on to The Opps). Hearing that Bowens had not re-signed then makes the whole Max Caster absence more interesting. Here's their match from April:

 

I think they worked well together, it's almost a year to the day since they last appeared on HeyEW, I really liked this one: