General

RIP Virgil

This was kinda painful to sit through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uF5Q27QeqY

While I won't argue with her that the IWC is one collective giant piece of moose turd, part of the blame for this goes to Triple H for thinking this broad was in-ring ready for national TV exposure while someone like Xia Li constantly gets left on the sidelines.
https://twitter.com/alluringbanks/status/176269153...

RE: Fightful/Virgil - it was painful, SRS considers it the worst interview they ever did and only released it to honor Virgil haha. RIP.

RE: Maxxine. She’s garbage, but fault lies 100% with whoever keeps booking her to wrestle. They have that big ol’ “performance center” that everybody keeps hanging over AEW’s head anytime a dangerous spot happens (for whatever reason) right? Let her “get better” there and stop feeding her to the wolves.

That said, the dude in the crowd is clearly just being an butt-hole on a surface level. Boo and jeer but going that hard on low-hanging fruit just makes him look like an idiot. Guarantee he hasn’t run ropes in his life.

Maxine basically seems like Lana 2.0. I don't hate her or anything...but the in-ring stuff has a ways to go.

I hope they get a good turn out for Sting on his last match. He deserves it. I still question how the Bucks are involved. It seems there would be better guys for him to end it with than those two goobers.

AEW is coming to Winnipeg May 1st. I wouldn't hate going if Mercedes and Ospreay are on the card. It's interesting, though. I was just checking tickets (not much has sold yet). The Canada Life Center here holds around 20K people for an event like this.....but 90% of the seats aren't even available to purchase. Most of the lower sections are also marked as 'unavailable'. WWE usually sells around 10K tickets for their shows here. If every available seat for AEW sells, it's maybe 2000. Why do they do this? I'd attach a picture but it's kinda a hassle on here. It seems kinda dumb to rent a huge arena but then say, "We only want to use 1% of it."

On the bright side, there's a seat right by the railing where they enter a couple rows from ringside for only $317

When it comes to the venues AEW uses, they’re going to keep booking bigger venues for presentation alone. It doesn’t hurt the budget enough to warrant moving to more intimate venues when they want their TV show to look “big.” No one watching at home would ever know how many people are in those buildings without Twitter/looking up attendance numbers. As long as it looks fine on TV, it’ll likely remain a non-factor to Khan’s decision making (being a millionaire and all lol).

Those ticket prices are fudging ridiculous though. No thanks. Love the show, but I’m comfortable on the couch haha

Sting just pulled the classic "descending from the rafters" shtick for his final Dynamite appearance as a full-time roster member. That crap made me feel like I was 10 again.

theJaw wrote:

Call me old fashioned, but it seems odd to not even attempt to sell more tickets. I can't imagine how much of a change it is for the ex-WWE guys he collects to walk into arenas constantly with only 1400 people when they're used to 10x that or more. I have to assume, that, at the end of the day, it's supposed to be a business. If businesses don't make money, they're not in business. I think even 'Billionaire Ted' had to throw in the towel back in the day because he couldn't make 5 cents on a show, despite having a sick stacked roster.

I'm not AEW's accountant but like I said, it probably isn't hurting their budget enough to downscale venue size. They make a crap ton internationally via their TV deals (Canada and UK especially), they get paid for hosting their shows on NJPW World, they have their hands deep in the merch pot, their PPVs always sell great, and they usually sell the amount of tickets they aim to sell. I imagine they understand they're in a cool-down period, so they're not spending on live shows the way they would if they were trying to pack the house -- they're not trying to match WWE's Disney on Ice presentation. They understand the number of tickets will sell given the area, so they plan around that.

Regardless, I can't pretend I care about that stuff to any legitimate degree. I'm not watching wrestling to count the money the companies make haha. I'll let them worry about that, and wish them well.

Ol’ Rock just called out Cody and Seth - Rock/Reigns vs Rollins/Rhodes, if Rollins/Rhodes wins then the Bloodline will sign contracts to be banned from Night 2 for the WWE title match. If Rock/Reigns win, the WWE title is “Bloodline rules” - they can do whatever they want.

I dig the idea honestly. Bloodline wins Night 1, then they all try to help Reigns - then all the folks Bloodline have fudgeed over find a way to help Cody. Would rather a straight up 1v1 so Cody can get a fair win, but they gotta protect Reigns somehow.

The “acknowledge me” bit at the end was real good too.

"Now go home and smoke some more crack" wtf
I bet that line gets removed from the YouTube recaps. Good promo by Rocky, I didn't catch him having to peek at notes written on his wrist, so that's a plus.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Feel like 25% of the promo got edited live considering it blacked out roughly 425 times haha

Edit: looks like the blackouts are because of a fan with a classic 90s-style “Die Rocky Die” sign in the crowd.

You could not sink Waller’s charisma any harder than pairing him up with fudgein Austin Theory.

PS big apologies to whoever was negging my posts from the other day. I know AEW doomposting is a requirement lately. I’ll try to be better.

theJaw wrote:

Or, Rock/Reigns win night 1, and then Rock screws Reigns over in night 2.. Then, Rock/Reigns for Summer Slam

@shadyfozzie Yah that’s totally also a possibility, I’d just hate for Cody’s “story” and Roman finally losing the title to depend on Rock interference after all this time. At least with two “armies” of guys coming to back both dudes, they could make it come off even. Reigns could always still blame Rock as being a distraction without it being deliberate or something.

Unrelated: I still hate the name “Bron Breakker” especially considering he legit just has the Steiner gimmick.

I dig seeing Carlito out there again.

theJaw wrote:

Or, the Rock can even screw over Reigns night one.. that would be interesting...

This is pretty neat, from @TheSJC on Twitter:

"For @Sting‘s final match at @AEW
#AEWRevolution
I have recreated the event flyer from his first match (almost) into the event card of his last match"

image

"Here is my reference flyer, It is my understanding that Sting (then called “Flash”) debuted in November of 1985 so I am assuming that the design of the flyer didn’t change much.

Flyer photo from Classic Memphis Wrestling Facebook Group"

image

shadyfozzie wrote:

Yah tbh I'd rather that. Rock doesn't think Reigns appreciates him enough, costs them the tag match which leads to Reigns losing the WWE title. SummerSlam with Hollywood Rock vs. an actually-over face Reigns. I could get into that.

Friggin swell episode of Smackdown even with (or maybe because) the opening segment taking up 40 minutes of the first hour. Not a lot of time to indulge in filler. Good stuff.

I think Solo will be a big part of Rock turning on the Bloodline. Rock was joking about him singing, but you could tell Solo took offense to it, so he’ll strike when the opportunity presents itself. They didn’t edit anything out of the promo that was obvious on YouTube but they did add crowd noise which is annoying but it is what it is.

Re: AEW. I don’t care anymore. I hope they do well and can fill buildings and make all the money. Until they can do something to get me invested, I’m out. I’m sorry I won’t see Sting’s last match, but I’ll live.

They were muting the audio quite a bit at points during The Rock/Bloodline promo, I don't know what they were chanting but that's probably what they were covering up in the YouTube video.


This thread was a fun read
https://twitter.com/ChandranTheMan/status/17636523...

It took me way too long to acknowledge it (maybe because, y'know, it's not like you get to hear it every week or anything), but Roman's theme is it. I think it's my favorite current theme music, just slightly ahead of Shinsuke Nakamura. I actually just set it as my ringtone. Gross.

His song matches him perfectly. I’m with you. It’s amazing.

There was a YouTube video earlier today posted by Mick Foley about him training for one more match. I’m not super surprised by it, but that sounds like a terrible idea. He's using it as motivation to lose weight, which sounds good but man… allegedly, it’s going to be a death match if it happens. More power to him and I hope it works out for him.

I don't know if I'd want to sit through that, just like I had no desire to sit through Ric Flair's retirement match (it felt like the third or fourth one). Has he hinted at any potential opponents? I remember back in 2011 or so, he and Dean Ambrose insulting each other on Twitter which was supposed to lead up to a match between the two but ultimately went nowhere when Foley took offense to some things Ambrose was saying. Maybe they revisit that? It'd probably have to be outside of WWE anyway, I doubt he could pass a physical.

I'll watch Mick Foley do anything, I just hope he's careful and confident. Not my place to pretend I know if someone should be wrestling or not. Been wrong enough times (Sting lol). I'll be worried but fudge man... if he wants to, he's a grown man.

Also yah, Reigns' theme hits.

Last I remember was when he wanted that match with Ambrose all those years ago, when he was willing to do it there was something he didn't pass in WWE's testing. So he went for outside testing with "the top neurologist in the country" as he says, and was told it wouldn't be a good idea to wrestle again. In the same interview he mentions his short term memory being shot, I wonder if that would affect the planning of the match at all and if they'd have to call it in the ring, I also wonder if that had anything to do with him not having written any children's books in a while.

I don't imagine anyone here is watching tonight, but I am jazzed up for Revolution. The card looks crazy stacked and Sting's last match is gonna be emotional as hell.

For those wanting to watch but not wanting to drop the $$$, snag a VPN and pay $25 on Triller (FITE) via an international connection. Or just find a janky stream, either works.

This was awesome of the Player's Tribune to do: https://projects.theplayerstribune.com/sting-aew-w...

Apparently fans can leave a VM at the number at the bottom too.

Anyhow yah the Caster rap fudge up is an ongoing part of the storyline. Caster is not happy with being grouped up with BCG, the dissension is starting.

I'm gonna hunt down a stream and hope at some point this year AEW gets on a proper streaming service or something, because the idea of paying for individual PPVs in 2024 feels so...archaic.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Worth the money for some good wrasslin'. Though I do expect them to link up with Max or something in 2024.

Garcia/Christian was an awesome opener.

Also to the negger: keep it coming lmao. Wah wah wrestling, etc etc.

Damn good match with Eddie and Danielson

I wish AEW would come up with a good streaming option. No way $50 a PPV is worth the price no matter the company anymore since the structure has been changed for a decade, ironically because of WWE getting low PPV numbers. I’ve bought a few AEW shows at full American price and I’ve always questioned if I should be buying any PPV for $50. $6 with ads or $12 with no ads for Peacock and WWE Network before it is fine, especially considering all the archived stuff there too. $15 or $20 a month for Max or something similar if AEW PPVs are there would be fine too.

1) install a VPN. 2) connect internationally. 3) pay $20-$25. 4) enjoy!

That Danielson/Kingston match fudging banged.

Too much work. If I don’t need to do that for New Japan World, I shouldn’t have to do that for AEW.

All you need to do is click your mouse a few times. Truly isn't too much work lol. But whatev, I'm not trying to convince ya. I agree the $50 price is far too much, but they've been teasing something coming for streaming AEW easier so let's hope it happens sometime soon.

It’s harder when it takes a long time for your computer to start and the damn thing can’t even open iTunes lol.

Streaming on something besides stupid ass Bleacher Report for the same price would be nice. I’m sure I can’t order from them again even after I wanted to since I had such a bungled mess of Revolution in 2022 I disputed their charge with my credit card company after they spent a week not helping me. It’s hard to justify $50 a pop when I can get post-Vince WWE for $12 a month with no ads or $6 a month with ads.

I hope AEW get their TV deal straightened out soon too and streaming is part of that. They should’ve had that done already in my opinion, but I’m not there so I don’t know what’s happened. I think if they were super important to TNT/TBS, they would’ve been done by now. It also makes me question whether they’ll get that big raise Tony keeps talking about. I hope they get all the money and all the streaming.

Bleacher Report is fudgein garbage, I don't blame ya. That's why I'm happy the VPN route goes through Triller TV (formerly FITE.TV). Fudge BR.

I do hope they figure something out with streaming, but according to just about everyone, AEW is getting big advances for their programming in 2024 heading into 2025. I have to imagine streaming comes into play sometime this year. Fingers crossed.

I wish WWE was still their own Network, that crap was awesome... Peackock is gross.

Anyhow, Kyle O'Reilly just returned. Neat!

I hope everyone is right and AEW get their money. I agree about Peacock being not great but they took the Office from Netflix like a bunch of butt-holes so if I want to watch that I gotta have Peacock anyway. It’s frustrating but honestly wherever WWE puts their crap I’ll probably end up being there.

I hope Kyle gets a decent return. He's been gone for a while.

Yeah, I kinda wish WWE Network stayed its own thing if only because I don't care how poorly something aged, I'm not a fan of going back through the catalog and having to censor things to please Peacock execs.