General

How is 2k23 as far as mictotransactions? Does it seem like you can play the complete game without forking out more money?

You’d only be missing characters that don’t matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Stay away from MyFaction (equivalent to Ultimate Team in Madden) and you’ll be good. Yes it’s a complete game if you don’t get the season pass or do micro transactions.

Yah like Bucket said, you can play the main game and just about every other mode without spending any extra money. MyFaction is ultimately a trading card game, so by nature you have to buy packs and whatnot. I never touch that mode, personally. And then of course there's DLC packs for more wrestlers, but I looked them over and only a couple interest me so I'll likely just rely on community creations for anyone I need.

However I did spend the $5 for the "SuperCharger" pack, which unlocks all the legends and extra arenas that you'd otherwise be able to unlock by playing the game. Like I mentioned, I'm really only interested in Universe mode and GM mode, so I probably won't play enough of the main game to unlock them. An extra $5 isn't a worry so whatev.

I spent like 4 hours last night just downloading shows/wrestlers/titles/etc and setting up my Universe Mode. Gonna start it proper tonight after work. I'm glad there are no daily download limits anymore like last year, but am a little bummed that you can only download 1000 "images" before needing to delete some to make room. I hit that limit yesterday, so now I have to choose what images I want to get rid of to fill out my rosters more.

SummerSlam was mostly good but that ending just solidified it for me: the Bloodline has jumped the shark. So sick of Reigns only ever winning via outside interference. Don’t need another cliche jealousy angle causing a tag team break up. Jimmy’s motivations don’t make a ton of sense otherwise.

Let’s get to Mania, get the strap off Roman, and move on already.

The storytelling has been good enough thus far that even though I kind of agree and it was about as flat as piss on a plate, I’m willing to see where it goes. I wonder if they’re getting Solo ready to be the one to take it off him, since they’ve teased it a lot and he’s in the main events. I think it’s too soon, but I’ve been wrong before.

Summerslam was largely a decent show. The MMA thing was horsecrap, and the Rollins/Balor had exactly no drama for me. I hate Money in the Bank and tonight did nothing to change my mind. Cody and Brock was damn good, Drew and Gunther was fantastic too, and LA Knight getting a win on a showcase was a good thing. Ricochet and Logan Paul had a heck of a match too. Probably the best work Ricochet has had the chance to do since forever and Logan kept up.

Overall it was a pretty good show. Predictable, but sometimes that is fine. It’ll still be Cody beating Roman clean at Mania. Roman won’t have anyone around him at that point. Maybe even not the wise man. He will have alienated everyone by then.

I did think Rollins was close to dropping the title to Balor since they had Dirty Dom win the NXT NA title with interference and the WHC match looked eerily similar near the finish. Judgment Day still has juice left before Priest breaks off.

Overall I thought it was a good show, but you could tell the crowd was out of it by the end. Like the Jaw said, Bloodline has jumped the shark and I don't see how they go almost eight more months with it in any compelling way.

I’ll give Hunter and crew a little more rope with it, but yeah it was flat as fudge. I don’t know how they keep it going either, but I think they can get it heated up again from Rumble to Mania, depending on who wins the Rumble. Between now and then though, hell if I know. Last night seemed very Vince-ish in its ending.

Summer Slam was a decent show.. Logan Paul/Ricochet was pretty good.. I can't believe how quickly Paul adapted to in ring work. Bring back the cruiserweight belt damn it...
Love LA Knight winning the Battle Royal. What does he do now?? Maybe beat Theory??
Love the Sky cash in.. breath new life into woman's belt..
I'm officially done with Reigns/Bloodline story line.. It should have ended after the Usos beat Reigns/Solo at the last PPV.. it's now gonna go on for another like 4 months and that championship is pretty useless now... The only way I can see them saving it is if at some random PPV Damien Priest cashes in on him instead of Rollins.. that would be interesting...

I didn’t think the Ricochet/Paul match was all that great. They tried way too hard to make it “viral” and that lead to some cool moments, but a bunch of REAL sloppy spots, and a complete lack of any ring psychology. Which stinks because having watched Ricochet’s earlier work, I know he’s capable of balancing both perfectly. WWE diehards love to hyperbolically give AEW guff for “flippy bullcrap” but more often than not, those matches balance both aspects like a classic Ricochet match would have. Paul/Ricochet was literally BOOKED to be nothing BUT flippy bullcrap, and there’s a stark contrast between those two examples.

Gunther/McIntyre friggin ruled so hard, as was expected. Wouldn’t mind seeing them run it back as long as Drew isn’t the guy to dethrone Gunther. The women’s title triple threat was pretty awesome, with a great finish and an even greater surprise cash-in. Iyo winning with Bayley and Dakota Kai by her side reflected Damage CTRLs formation at last year’s SummerSlam, so I appreciated the symmetry there. The battle royal was way more entertaining than it had any right to be. I was glad to see Gable make it as far as he did. I honestly would have rather’d they go with Sheamus because for as over as LA Knight is, Sheamus deserves to be hotshotted back into the spotlight. He actually feels like he should be there now as opposed to when he actually WAS back in the early days of his career. But can’t be upset, LA Knight got himself over and deserved the win.

Glad Shayna won, she’s miles better than Ronda in the ring, just wish the match wasn’t so slow and that Ronda actually tapped instead of passed out considering she’s done with WWE for the time being.

Brock vs. Rhodes was match of the night for me. Way better than their other matches and the post-match nod from Lesnar really put Rhodes on yet another level. Still need to see if they can keep that momentum until Mania, but that was a good step in the right direction. I dug how that match felt like a true brawl.

Rollins/Balor was a fine match but the ending makes Balor look stupid. Getting confused when Priest was clearly telling him to use the briefcase is goofy. I unfortunately think the ship has sailed for Finn, even though he deserved the belt last night. Here’s hoping he can dethrone Priest whenever that briefcase gets cashed in.

And I already posted about Reigns/Uso. Decent match all things considered, but probably one of the more forgettable from Reigns title run, and the ending was just awful. I just don’t care about the Bloodline any more and am more than ready for that stuff to be over. WWE has the potential to make a really fresh landscape for their booking post-Reigns and I’m anxiously waiting for that day to come.

I didn't get to watch the entire show because I'm currently getting my ass kicked by Covid, but I liked what I saw. Unfortunately Drew and Gunther is one of the matches I missed and will have to check out later.

I liked the Ricochet and Logan match. It did its job as the opening match, though I would have expected more from it if it was later in the card.

I vaguely remember seeing the Slim Jim logo and them saying a battle royal was about to happen, but I fell asleep before it actually started.

Brock and Cody was another good match, however I'm glad they've wrapped it up here because I'm not sure I wanted to see a 4th match,

Seth vs Balor, I slept through 1/3 of it and I barely remember what I did see of it.

Triple threat women's match, first off I will say Iyo Sky finally getting singles gold on the main roster is well deserved, but it just felt so predicable. I texted my friend instantly when Bianca fell to the outside and grabbed her knee, she was selling it really well, but when the ref didn't throw up the "X" it was obviously a work and I knew that Bianca would end up winning so that Iyo can cash in with as little effort as possible. I wish it was booked a little better, but Iyo's cash in is probably what I will remember most about this show a few years from now.

Roman vs Jey was a really good match, but that finish was almost enough to make you forget that...

Iyo’s cash-in and Jimmy turning heel were so obvious, but it didn’t listen the impact. My wife was watching the end of the triple threat with me and as soon a Bianca won, I told her Bayley was gonna help Iyo cash-in. She looked at me in disbelief after it happened.

Finn sold the stomp on the briefcase very well, but yes, it makes him look like a fool.

Detroit crowd sucked. They didn’t run out of gas…they didn’t have any to begin with. That would never happen in Chicago or Philly.

The bloodline story is getting too stale .

Either break it up or have better story writing seems like the they can’t one week or another to have a member leave or not

What’s the point knocking Jimmy out by solo and reigns hand only to have him turn on jey

The storyline I admit has it’s good points but it’s flawed in some aspects

All I wanted was an ending that makes sense. Is that too much to ask?

Effing around on the ipad

image

I saw a couple of Smackdown clips where they tried to explain the Jimmy Uso thing. They did the best they could after dropping such a turd at Summerslam, I guess. Still had big plot holes I didn’t like.

I just got home from AEW Collision. Pretty fun show. They tape too much ROH though. By the end of the ROH stuff there were only a couple hundred fans that hadn't left yet. The people sitting in front of me ended up snatching a couple second row seats when they saw the original people sitting there had left. I was tempted to "upgrade" my seat as well, but ended up staying put.

One of the ROH matches had a botched finish that I'm curious how it'll look by the time it airs. The ref counted 2 and then stopped, but it's like he knew he goofed and that was supposed to be the finish because he called for the bell anyway and cue the confused silence from the crowd.

Despite being "Flair/Horsemen Country" around here, there were just as many random LA Knight "yeahs" throughout the crowd during commercial breaks as there were typical "Wooos".
Samoa Joe was super over (3 appearances tonight), as was Darby Allen, The Acclaimed and FTR. CM Punk's reaction was mixed, though nobody let that stop them from singing along to Cult Of Personality. Christian earned some cheap heat by insulting NC legends, but it didn't phase me since I'm not a sports guy (I'm not originally from around here anyway, when I hear "Michael Jordan" I think of the Chicago Bulls, not the Tar Heels) and never was much of a Ric Flair fan. There wasn't a whole lot to pick from at the merch booth, so I went with a Bullet Club Gold shirt.

After Collision went off the air FTR and CM Punk talked to the crowd a bit. FTR were cool, CM Punk was pretty much saying things to encourage the crowd to boo him (insulting Hangman Page, and he flubbed his lines a bit). Cash talked about how he grew up not far from the arena. Dax says tomorrow will be his 19 year anniversary since he started this crazy journey into the world of pro wrestling.

Welp, Cash Wheeler (of FTR) was arrested this morning for one charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. This could mean he just brandished the weapon, or hit someone with it, etc etc. No other details are known other than he is out on bail.

May throw a wrench into plans for All In, which sucks. Hopefully the crime wasn’t anything worse.

We will see what happens. It’s not a good look though, no matter the outcome. Almost surely they’re dropping the titles at Wembley I’d think. I don’t think the Bucks need the titles but I also don’t see a lot of alternatives except for the Acclaimed, who never should’ve lost them to begin with.

Guess he just flashed the gun to someone who was being crapty on the road. And I say “just” because at least he didn’t shoot anyone, but still a stupid thing to do. They didn’t ask for his passport as part of his arrest though, so he’ll be at Wembley thankfully. Always dig a Bucks/FTR match. I also expect them to drop the belts, and agree Acclaimed never should have lost them. Though I do appreciate unpredictable booking and the Gunns were gaining momentum at the time so whatev.

Allegedly. We’ll see what more comes out, if anything. I sure wouldn’t put the belts on the Bucks in Wembley, but I would have FTR drop them in Chicago. That’s where I begin the second reign of the Acclaimed, since no one else else appears to be close to ready outside them and Jay White/Juice Robinson. Get some other teams ready in the meantime, like Best Friends and maybe the Lucha Bros get back in the mix. Just don’t hire any new wrestlers because he has like 12,000 under contract already.

I don't know if I can tag this correctly, but this exquisite piece was hung on my wall recently.

Edit: try #8 at least. Had enough of trying to get it to show so just click it. Done feeling like an out of touch old man.

https://imgur.com/a/TZgTRt9

Another solid match between Gable and Gunther. These two have great chemistry. It took far too long, but finally Gable is getting used right.

Yah that was a great match, can’t wait for the rematch. And I’m loving the direction of Nakamura’s character now. Gotta get that man strapped up.

They both have deserved better for far too long. I hope this is them starting to get more in WWE.

BucketofJustice wrote:

Lol this rules.

Also, just shove the photo link between tags.url{img}

image

The Smashing Pumpkins are playing here today. I kinda wanted to go just to see in what corny way Billy would shoehorn his NWA crap into the show in a desperate attempt to get them more exposure. But ultimately I decided not to because I've heard he's a dick to crowds that only sing along and cheer for the songs from the 90s (y'know, when the band was still relevant).

I like how in this clip the rest of the band just no-sells the nonsense happening on stage, like "good thing this gig pays well because I'm embarrassed to be here."

https://twitter.com/JoeGalliNews/status/1693606813...

Billy Corgan is the fudgein worst.

I don't keep up with wrestling, so I had no idea that Billy Corgan had bought NWA, but that clip is just embarrassing. What happened to the Smashing Pumpkins?

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

RIP Terry Funk.

This fudging sucks.

Yah this one is real rough.

RIP Funker

With the things he did to his body, especially in ECW, I'm really shocked he was almost 80. RIP Terry... you were a legend..

Bray Wyatt passed away. Holy crap.

RIP Bray Wyatt.

I'm absolutely shocked about Wyatt. I stopped watching wrestling around 03 but picked it up by chance in 2013. The Wyatts were the first I really connected with of the newer guys. Took an old school gimmick and ran with it well. The stable should have lasted longer but enjoyed his fiend era as well. 2/3 of the Wyatt family gone way too soon.

Damn bray and funk within a week one legend gone and one whose career cut short

What the fudge man. RIP Bray Wyatt. That’s fudging awful.

Wow.. apparently, according to reports he had gotten covid and that resulted in heart complications coming back. This is awful.

Yah Sean Ross Sapp posted that family members gave him permission to clarify the cause of death was a heart attack brought on by heart complications caused by Covid he caught earlier this year.

So gosh darn awful. Gonna miss all the dude’s genius quirks and unique wrestling style. I may not have been a fan of his most recent run but that was entirely on creative. Wyatt seemed to do everything he could to make whatever he got handed work.

Some lighter news this morning in a very sad wrestling world, the Stadium Stampede mode of Fight Forever is a pretty fun mess to play. I think it came out yesterday or the day before. I only played one game of it last night and got 9th place out of 30. I've never been huge into the battle royale style games like Fortnite and whatnot, but who woulda thunk it'd sorta go hand-in-hand with a wrestling game. It's chaotic and kinda weird but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun.

So, a little added value to a game that admittedly lost a bit of its luster almost immediately. It's still exactly what was promised: a wrestling game with fun gameplay that mirrors that of the old N64 days, but it would seem it's also an example of why wresting games evolved past the stripped down nature of those games. Stadium Stampede definitely helps bring it into the modern gaming landscape a bit, I still just wish there was some sort of booking mode like WWE's GM Mode or Universe Mode. Still waiting on the additional match types and whatnot, too.

I'm kinda curious what the player base is. I hate to say it, but to get the continued support they want to provide they need a solid player base and to get a solid player base these days you have to have streamers playing your games. I can't tell you how many times I've been scrolling Tiktok and come across a live video of someone streaming a cpu vs cpu WWE2K23 match with over 3k viewers. Maybe this Stampede mode will catch on with streamers and get the numbers up.

All I want is more CAW options. Well that's not all I want, I also want taunts to not count outside the ring and the momentum meter to be adjusted. Also, some indication that I'm about to kick out or not. The base game is really fun and I play a match or two a day.

Still haven't opened my copy of the game. I regret buying it day one when I knew I was in no hurry to play the darn thing. It happens all the time when I make last minute impulse purchases. I should've waited for Black Friday or something. Maybe when my friend and I finish Saints Row I'll open it.

Lol grown ass men

PizzaTheHutt wrote:
WTF did I just watch

Not a terrible match on its own, but that tag match just now on SmackDown was kind of a weak excuse for a "hardcore" match. Not that good of a tribute to Funk.

What were the tweets? Apparently they’re gone.

I watched some YouTube clips since I had to work when Smackdown was on. I cried a little, not gonna lie. WWE has always been tops at making those videos looking back.

BucketofJustice wrote:


A clip of two middle-aged men trying to play wrestle but it kinda turns into a shoot. Idk if this is some very small time indie fed putting on a show in what appears to be a backyard, or if they just never got over their byw phase.
It was this match, only 6 minutes long if you want to check it out for a laugh. The whole match was pretty cringe but the Tweet specifically was about the figure-four leglock at around the 4:22 mark of the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B8awzib3ho

In between my high school days wrasslin' in a backyard and actually training for the independents, my pals and I would travel around the New England area (mostly Rhode Island) to "work" for "promotions" on "shows" not unlike that one in the video. We were all fresh out of high school and weren't 100% on how to go about breaking into the ACTUAL wrestling scene, so when we'd get invited to anywhere with a ring and ropes, we'd show up. Dudes like this, easily well into their 40s and beyond, still doing what is the equivalent of backyard wrestling. The audience was exclusively made up of the other "wrestlers" and any friend they could sucker in to come watch. It was so cringe and so embarrassing, it didn't take long for us to realize we needed to find a legit training school stat.

It still baffles me how the untrained doofus misfits we worked with would trick local "town days" and similar events into thinking they were a legitimate pro wrestling business and get shows booked in front of actual crowds. Obviously it wasn't the wrestling that drew the crowds, it was the larger event, but it certainly inflated these weirdos' egos a ton anytime it would happen. Without fail, they'd act like they were some hot shot professionals being brought in to entertain the masses but, in reality, whichever town clerk in charge of the event just wanted to cram the day with as much "fun" as they possibly could.

Middle aged dorks half-ass "wrestling" each other like 15 feet away from where kids were getting their faces painted, but still taking it dead serious like they were stars.

Well yeah. Backyard Redneck Pro Wrestling drew the crowd for the whole town day and 100% of the proceeds would go to whatever charity the town said to because there were zero proceeds to send.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

That was like watching a car wreck in slow motion and you want to stop it but you can’t.

I could technically be watching All In right now, but I have to leave at 4 to go to a food tasting for the idiot wedding. Don’t wanna have to stop and finish later, so I’ll just be watching the entire pre-show+main event tonight around 9. Oh well, it’ll be like watching a PPV at the normal time. May even take some PTO tomorrow if I feel like staying up late.

I know no one else here is as AEW diehard as I am, but I’m politely requesting spoiler tags until tomorrow if anything of note happens and yall feel like discussing it.

And immediately after posting that, I open Twitter without thinking and spoil the result of the ROH tag title match. I’m a true idiot.

Yeah maybe just don’t use your phone for wrestling stuff until you’re ready to watch. You’re not good at this haha

Lol it was tough but I made it.

All In was fudgein great. Women’s title and Trios title matches were the only “just good” matches, otherwise the rest of the card delivered big. Unique main event but some great storytelling that has me looking forward to what comes next. I’m happy the show didn’t rely on any big return or debut or anything - just the wrestling itself. Just wish there were one or two more women’s matches on there.

Jericho/Ospreay was my match of the night. Jericho legit wrestled like it was 2001 again. Very cool to see.

It was announced that All In would be returning to Wembley in 2024. Definitely feels like this is AEW’s WrestleMania (for obvious lack of a better term) now.

Glad you liked it. I didn’t watch it. I’m so sick of all the AEW drama it’s turned me off on the company. These babies need to work their baby crap out and get it together, and Tony needs to get a hold of his locker rooms. Either figure it out and behave like the well paid professionals they’re supposed to be, or get the fudge out.

I feel you somewhat. The Punk stuff is getting obnoxious and, if he's suspended, it's going to make for a real annoying Chicago crowd at All Out this weekend. But that stuff would have no sway on whether or not I watched All In as it happened backstage at that show, so I wasn't even aware of it until after.

To be fair, that stuff doesn't really come through on the shows themselves. If we didn't pay attention to the backstage crap online, there'd be a literal no way of knowing that there was any drama at all. So to some extent, it's on us for reading into all of it. I personally can't justify swearing off a show I enjoy, with top notch wrestling week in and week out, solely because a couple guys are annoying for their peers to work with. If that were the case, I wouldn't watch any wrestling. Would have definitely missed out on lots of good WWE over the years.

Every company has these issues, it's just that AEW has more links to the internet side of things due to Khan being of that generation. So AEW's issues leak ten times more than any other company and I feel THAT's where Khan really needs to seal the cracks. There's no way to make people get along if they already don't, I'm sure there are plenty of cases of this in WWE too, it's when too many people OUTSIDE the company find out that it starts to leave a bad taste.

I think too much of it comes out on TV. Last year started in large part because Hangman shot on Punk on TV before their match when he wasn’t supposed to. Punk retaliated and it went from there. Then the Bucks and Kenny mocked Punk on TV, in Chicago, and they’re officers in the company so that didn’t look good. Then Punk comes back and does the Collision promo, and whatever happens with Jack Perry happens.

At this point, it doesn’t matter who starts or ends what. Tony Khan needs to tell whoever’s feeding bullcrap to Meltzer to stop it, and he needs to get ahold of his locker room. WWE has some drama I’m sure too, but this is end of WCW level bullcrap.

I don't think it's anywhere near end of WCW level BS. That company was showing CLEAR signs of crumbling, AEW just has some outspoken guys that I agree need to be told to chill out. But the majority of folks there seem to be perfectly fine. For every obnoxious Punk story that comes out, there are two other stories about roster members who openly acknowledge how happy they are to be working there. Media, especially wrestling media, just like to fan the flames of negativity because that's what gets them clicks... and wrestling fans already inclined to bag on AEW eat it up, thus the cycle continues.

But the point I'm trying to make is that we'd have absolutely no idea what any of those on-screen antics were referencing if we, the viewers, didn't make the conscious decision to read up on the backstage drama. An audience member who doesn't follow this stuff as closely as we do wouldn't know what any of those potshots from Page, Punk, Perry or the Elite meant... they'd just seem like wrestlers acting like wrestlers. For as obvious as it comes off to us, the majority of people watching weekly wresting don't know, or care, about any of that stuff. Punk's crapty attitude or folks' problems with him aren't spelling AEW's doom, it's just high school drama that needs to be eliminated for the sake of the sanity of those directly involved.

I feel like the majority of AEW's audience is reading the backstage drama and it's the IWC that Tony was specifically targeting with AEW. Kenny Omega wouldn't have gotten the reactions he did in the early days from a crowd that wasn't already smartened up to him.

There's definitely a portion who do with either company, but there's also still a disconnect between knowing wrestlers/promotions via the internet because one is a fan of wrestling, and meticulously combing through dirt sheets for all the hot gossip. It's not entirely difficult to avoid the obnoxious dramatic news stories and, in my opinion, even less difficult to separate wrestlers' issues with each other from the product presented on the shows. Everyone feels how they feel of course, I just can't bring myself to judge an entire show/company based on the tiffs of a couple wrestlers. Especially if the actual wrestling is good, considering that's what I keep coming back for. If that were the case, there's no way I'd have been able to watch WWE from 1997-2007, or before, or beyond haha

Either way, I just don't feel that stuff bleeds over as much as said internet make it seem and, like I mentioned, there are just as many, if not more, examples of wrestlers acknowledging their enjoyment of working in AEW. But that stuff doesn't sell on the internet like all the doom and gloom does, so the doom and gloom gets the focus.

Personally, while I enjoy discussing wrestling, I've been trying to avoid the dirt sheet tabloid style stories. They're almost always exaggerated and hyperbolic. It's helped me enjoy wrestling as a whole a lot more. Just kinda sucks that it's CM Punk, who I enjoy, and his hardcore fan base who have made me make that change haha

In OTHER wrasslin news, anybody think Nak takes the belt what with Seth's injuries and whatnot? It'd be long overdue. I'm sick of Judgment Day vs. KO/Zayn and/or Rhodes. Raw's main event scene needs a bit of a refresher, so hopefully a Nak title reign would offer that up.

And is Gunther vs Gable going to be at Payback? I know that rematch is coming up but can't remember if it's on Raw or the PPV.

Is it just me or does no else care about the backstage crap. It's so minor and insignificant compared to the crap that used to go on in the locker room that I don't even see why it's an issue. I know things have changed, but this is nothing more than a disagreement that turned (kinda) physical.

Yah, it's a non-factor for me these days. It's not like the guys are ruining shows by bricking each other on live TV or anything. Like you said, the crap wrestlers used to do and get away with both off AND on screen were far worse than any scuffle between folks in AEW's locker room. We're just in the age of the internet, where everybody has an opinion and word of mouth travels like wild fire. That's why I'm saying most of this negativity is just internet buzz to get clicks and is almost always blown out of proportion. That said, that approach to engagement IS working for sure. AEW definitely does seem to have a black cloud hanging over it to folks who read into this sort of thing.

Part of me does wonder, though, if we only hear so much from the AEW side of things because WWE has a more seasoned PR department due to the decades and decades of scandal and cover-ups. They probably have the process of stifling leaks and/or confrontation down to a science at this point. I guess it's bound to happen more in AEW due to the wrestlers always being given more freedom across the board. In most cases that freedom is a good thing, this is really the only scenario where some harsher restrictions could come in handy. Even so, I'd rather hear something like Punk getting pissy at Jack Perry again over hearing that Vince McMahon sexually abused his employees again.

I definitely think Nakamura is ready for the gold. I wanted that to happen in 2018 when he won the Rumble. I knew they thought highly of AJ that he'd still have multiple title runs in his future so it wouldn't have been a big deal to drop it to Nakamura and see how it goes.

It's time they start taking a risk with some of these guys and pushing them more and see what comes of it. I feel like Triple H has cleaned up the mid-card scene a bit over the past year and currently there are multiple people that could be pushed into the main event scene and come off as way more credible than someone like Jinder a few years back.


edit: And as for backstage drama making it out to the public, you don't even have to go out of your way to find it because it will find you. If you're on social media (Facebook or Twitter X as examples) and you follow enough accounts belonging to wrestlers, you will have all these wannabe dirt sheet posts that you don't even follow showing up in your feed just because their algorithm thinks since it is related to pro wrestling then it'll be of interest to you. So there's really no avoiding it, that's why I think the number of people that are unaware of any backstage drama in either company is likely lower than we think.

I suppose, but it’s still easy enough to avoid if you take the proper measures… at least until that dork Musk gets rid of that block button haha. Either that, or simply don’t buy into every story that gets blown up, especially when it’s as menial as dudes not getting along. When it comes to what needs to change in AEW, aside from suspending those involved (which Khan has apparently done or is going to do), I don’t know exactly how folks expect him to force people to get along. It just seems like he and AEW get trashed constantly for a lack of professionalism, but then when Khan does what any boss would do by suspending people or keeping them separated, they get trashed for that too.

At this point, it's clear that plenty of folks have made up their mind about AEW regardless of stuff like this, but now any even slightly dramatic story that leaks becomes a conduit to continue justifying their dislike for the company. Which isn't even necessary, people are allowed to just NOT like the company, so I don't fully grasp people's need to act like AEW is the bane to pro wrestling's existence anytime something like this happens. As with any promotion, watch the shows if you like the wrestling, don’t watch if you don’t like it. All the overblown drama is what one makes of it, the shows themselves go largely untouched by it all.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

I can’t wait for when Gunther finally moves up to the top of the card. There are so many fresh main event worthy matches with him that they could easily get a year or two out of it.

As for Nak, he was ready for the WWE title the day he signed with the company, it was always just a question of whether or not they’d actually capitalize on the talent they had. I agree his time was vs AJ, but they never pulled the trigger (and just offered a really boring feud on top of that), so now HAS to be his time. Or else I feel it’ll be another Balor situation where it’ll feel like the boat will have sailed. To be honest, it already felt like that for the past few years, so I’m really hoping they finally get behind him.

I finally got around to watching All In..busy week with not much of any spare time. It was nice to see Mercedes in attendance. Hopefully she signs with AEW soon. I feel the Japan crown dynamic would be difficult to adjust to after having the crazies in attendance everywhere else. Whether you're a fan of hers or not, there's no denying she's one of the absolute best in the business.

The womens' match was difficult to watch. It was kinda like watching one of the old timers come out for a match. It just seemed they're really going out of their way to protect her from getting injured......which is a good thing, but if it's so delicate, then probably best for her to move into a non-physical role. I'd expect her to drop the belt soon.

The rest of the card was good. I'm glad they're doing well. I'm a bit curious what's going to happen with the Winnipeg, Manitoba connection (Jericho, Omega, and Callis). I still remember seeing Jericho and Callis wrestling locally back in the day. Jericho doesn't seem to go too long without a stable and with him and Omega both feuding with Callis, I could kinda see something growing there.

WWE's been kinda losing me lately with the water treading shows. Hopefully things get moving again soon.

Anyone got any ideas for wrestling-related articles they'd be interested in reading? I'm starting to get my stories published on CBR soon and they've covered pro wrestling in the past, so they're open to covering more. Trying to think up some fun ideas for features to write up.

Yeah I need to see a Sid Vicious Appreciation article.

theJaw wrote:

1) Where are they now: research semi-popular guys from 80's and 90's and see where they are now
2) What were they thinking: Find wrestlers with the WORST gimmicks and the history behind them

A new ROM Hack for WWF No Mercy. A ton of effort was put into this, it even has commentary by Vince and Jesse Ventura and a casket match was added.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EKsg3kSIeA

theJaw wrote:


What type of topics have you already covered? If you haven't already done it, how about the match that made you become a fan for life? Or if there was someone that for whatever reason never got into wrestling or gave it a chance but is open to it, what is a match that you would show them to turn them onto it?

CM Punk was released by AEW. Hate to say it, but good riddance. I thought he was a changed man when he showed up at WWE to apologize to Hunter and The Miz, but I don't think anything changed.
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1698071772543738090

I don’t get it. This backstage stuff was a kindergarten playground fight compared to stuff back in the day. If they had stopped trying to downplay it and use it as a storyline it would have been great. Seems like a dumb decision but oh well.

With tomorrow's PPV being in Chicago, this should be an interesting crowd.
Up until last year I would've considered myself a CM Punk fan for life, but now...I dunno anymore. It's no secret during his indy days stories would come out of him being an butt-hole, but it's worse now. It's like he took Brian Pillman's old "loose cannon" gimmick, but he's living it instead of it just being something meant for on-screen.

beavis wrote:

I think it was more the collection of issues as opposed to JUST the Perry confrontation. It came out somewhat recently that he apparently also lunged at Tony Khan, his boss, so can’t say this is a really mystifying decision.

Can’t pretend I’m not disappointed, there were so many dream matches that could have went down but now never will. But yah, AEW ruled before Punk, with Punk, and will now hopefully continue to rule after Punk. Khan handed the dude AEW on a platter, let him have Collision to keep him happy, but it doesn’t seem like anything was ever enough. It may be a rough decision considering merch sales, and makes me worried a bit how it will effect some of the other guys’ morale (FTR, House of Black, Danhausen, Starks & Hobbes in particular), but such is life. He was apparently miserable there, so best to just rip the bandaid off.

I’ll obv watch Punk wrestle wherever he ends up. Big fan of his work, just a shame he wasn’t a good match with AEW. Hopefully the network/sponsors aren’t too pissy about this… Khan really had no choice at this point.

Alls I know is I’m definitely watching Collision before Payback now, just to see how obnoxious the crowd is haha

theJaw wrote:


Exactly. Dude went out of his way to please Punk but I guess you can't make someone happy that doesn't want to be happy.

I wonder if Khan has a McMahon style “YOU’RE FFIIIIIIRRREEEDDDD” voice.

Obviously he was enough of a problem for AEW to fire him. I think Tony made the right call, but it takes two to fight. Hopefully the bullcrap calms down now. Also, I hope he shows up somewhere and continues to wrestle, but I don’t know if he wants that. We also don’t know what contractual stuff is in place in case of a termination, so we’ll see what happens there.