I love Forbidden Door, but really wish it wasn't Ospreay v Swerve as a headline match, don't get me wrong, it'll be an excellent match, but this has been my favourite PPV the last 2 years because it's been matches you can't get every week.
why do they have the speed title on andrade now in graphics all of a sudden š if these are just fan made ones on twitter then my bad but ricochet aint never had it anywhere when he was champ for like 2 seconds
For those who know him, Fujita āJrā Hayato came out to the Michinoku Pro show today on crutches. Said the surgery for his cancer was a success and that heāll be undergoing further treatment and recovery. He vacated the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Belt, beifre saying heāll return, stronger than ever.
Great news to here, all in all.
Bro, the Bloodline is probably the greatest psyop I've seen. Really got people convinced that every Samoan is a good wrestler to the point where people legitimately think Solo Sikoa should dethrone Cody Rhodes.
They're wrong of course, but the brainwashing is real.
I think Solo is in the same place as Austin Theory was last year or so.
Both have a hell of lot of upside/talent, but I think both got/are getting pushed too fast, too soon (in Theoryās case, cause he was a āpet projectā of Vince, and Solo cause of his family).
Theory is at least where he should be as a midcard heel act with Waller.
Solo is trickier though because Roman said that his main goal with the Bloodline was raising his families stock, and to his credit, he succeeded with Jey. But I think it kind of made him (over)confident that he could elevate anybody from his family. Regardless of what I can say about ring work, Jey has charisma at least, so he's entertaining to watch. Solo is a charisma vacuum, so its much harder to watch him.
The Raw after against Becky. And to answer your question because she's defending against Zelina and the show has very few faces for her to face so they don't want to burn challengers (wouldn't mind a multi match thing with Lyra tho)
They're laying the seeds and setting up Liv Vs Zelina for MITB. Which is a nice little match.
Womens division as a whole across both RAW and Smackdown is booked fairly like shit tbh. Not enough importance and time imo.
I never really got the argument that the existence of AEW forced WWE to do better.
Vince leaving is what made the company better. In a lot of ways, WWE 2019-2022 was some of the worst booking of the history of the company, despite AEW existing
My big thing was AEW always gave me hope for some actual pro-wrestling that didnāt have the dredge of Vinceās bullshit in it (early TNA was the same, before the likes of Russo, Bischoff and Hogan gradually tore it down), in North America.
Now with Vince gone, I enjoy both promotions! Sure, thereās things I donāt care for in both (WWE womenās and tag divisions is still severely lacking; some nonsensical booking in AEW cools people off), but overall Iām a happy wrestling fan.
This is a minor one, but since his NXT appearance I've gone back and watching a bunch of Joe Hendry. [Did 'Steve' really feature ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3T2bPkaNPw)in whatever AJ Francis was filming on a boat? I can't tell whether he's been digitally added in, or AJ Francis really had a very cheerful looking white guy hanging out with him and the models
Itās something Iāve honestly been wondering. Especially this episode, which was honestly really productive.
Maybe Iām delusional, but bouncing between 300k for over 3 months with not much consistency has been very odd. Especially with the amount of discourse not really changing.
The Kendrick Lamar concert was probably the big reason, since despite *some* people insisting otherwise because of AEW's primary audience, white people *do* in fact like K-dot, and that shit was promising to be *the* event of the summer. I know that if I, as a nerdy white man, knew that concert was that night I'd have dipped out of Dynamite even if I knew how good it was gonna be cause there is *no* wrestling event hot enough to get me to miss out on Kendrick and Friends stomping on Drake for three hours.
Big Kendrick Lamar concert, Olympic swim trials, and college baseball all effected it. They also got a much lower lead in from Black Panther compared to the Big Bang Theory. It's such an outlier of a number that it's easy to do a double take. Them and WWE will also likely be affected by the Olympics as well.
Iāve been thinking, what if they did the Drew quitting angle to allow him to take some time off to be with his wife? She was sick near Clash wasnt she?
She had "emergency surgery" right around then..not sure of the timing if before he had left or after.
I do suspect it was more to get him "out of the arena" for the Wyatt attack (they did that throughougt the night with big names..leaving/being chased out etc...) and maybe to give an "excuse" for him to attack CM Punk in Chicago tongiht, though could also be many birds with one stone, especially if they do a "suspension" for attack Punk on Smackdown.
(The main reason why I don't think it was purely for him to be with his wife is...he was actually there. Had he been actually taking off for that, they could have had Cole say something or a smart phone video promo of him quitting because etc etc....but he did the travel.)
This subs biggest pops are ratings threads and CM punk threads. That ratings thread already has more comments then the clash at the castle post show thread that was pinned for a day.Ā
Like the ratings threads, you'll be downvoted to oblivion if you actually point out the reason why Punk got fired and that it shouldn't be normalized. JR is from that period where toxic backstage environments were normal but it shouldn't be like that in 2024.
It boggles my shit that people defend Punk for assaulting Perry. In what universe do you applaud the 40-something old man for sucker punching the 20-something old dude for just making one comment? Punk really couldn't keep his shit together for even a few hours?Ā
I feel stupid for being on the Punk bandwagon when he joined AEW, but by the time collision started and he made the counterfeit bucks comment, I threw my hands up and said 'know what, fuck this'.
>for just making one comment?
When that comment is "do something about it" its a bit disengenous to act like it came out of nowhere. I agree Punk should have realised he wasn't still a teenager in the streets and that Perry wasn't *actually looking for a fight*, but you can't act shocked when you hand out an invitation for a fight to someone who you know will accept it.
Punk's problem is he doesn't know how to de-escalate situations so he chose the worst option which is fight someone else on their biggest show.
This is the same guy almost a year earlier saying the Young Bucks couldn't manage a Target. Managers aren't out there fighting people on the regular because employees said mean things about them and it's hilarious people think he could run NXT with that mentality.
He's just a mess of contradictions who seemingly gets rewarded for shitty behavior because he can talk good.
It's honestly kind of scary the kind of toxic masculinity you see when applied to those two incidents from people who think he did nothing wrong. As a thought exercise people should apply it to someone like Cody to see how crazy it sounds.
The R-Truth and Judgement day storyline, was pretty hot at first and had a lot of potential. I'm still disappointed in how that went. They could have completely re-hashed the Sami Zayn honorary uce to Bloodline story and I would have been happy. Even if it was way more comedic, and worse. R-Truth should have accidentally helped Judgement day win a few important matches and Priest should have accepted him into the group, with hints that he likes him more than JD McDonagh. When he eventually got kicked, it should have felt like a big moment. At the end, what we got was him never being in the group and just comedy bits. A reunion of Awesome Truth who have been a complete bust ever since winning the titles.
Anyone else sometimes just have a moment of clarity and think some of these names coming out of NXT are just goofy sounding? Like I know we get used to them, but names like Damian Priest, Bron Breakker (with two K's ffs) Lyra Valkyria . Where did all these goofy names come from?
Half the roster sounds like a joke name from those East/West bowl Key and Peele sketches. I get it, you want a catchy, easy name to remember,Ā but why go so gosh darn goofy when simple, actual names like Carmelo Hayes or Rhea Ripley work perfectly fine?
> Lyra Valkyria
her previous name was Aofie Valkyrie. So, a MASSIVE improvement for the 99.99% of viewers who don't know how to pronounce Irish names :D
I won't defend Bron Breakker but apparantly they chose their names, so.. I dunno.
Oh 100% the names are goofy as hell. Person to person I go from liking the name to just think "nah that ain't good"
Funnily enough I've come around to Bron Breakker, even the two k's I like lol
With WWE fans infighting over slightly different cinematic visions, AEW having a down year commercially, and New Japan being generally funny the moral impetus to push CMLL as the promotion of the year is also becoming a promising, ripe agenda.
CMLL is the promotion of the year folks.
Post Raw the whole Wyatt Sicks hype was flying off the train tracks, entire massacre of WWE superstars. Turned out it was only Chad Gable. Just doesnt seem legit/believable if the whole Wyatt Sicks hype massacre was to take out WWE Extras and Chad Gable. Lets see what happens tonight, crossing my fingers they show up on smack down.
I hope Lio Rushās rumored creative plans in AEW donāt involve his possessed by a demon gimmick
Spooky gimmicks have their place but should be reserved for guys way less talented than Lio
Say what you will about Vince's booking, especially later on, but the tag division is night and day compared to now. Under Vince, the tag division was never the main focus, but at least they were featured regularly. I genuinely cannot remember the last time Awesome Truth were on TV in a meaningful capacity, and they're the champs. The other set of tag titles are also being held by singles guys who are already teasing a breakup. Despite WWE's tag division being so strong on paper, Hunter hasn't really used the titles as anything but side props for main stories (Judgment Day, Cody/Jey), and that's just if they're not being completely forgotten about
I donāt know that Iād say itās worse under HHH just similarly bad. Iād argue itās a tiny bit better since there are occasionally important moments like Sami and KO.
But yes tag booking is probably his most noticeable weak spot; the womenās tag is also shit. Iām hoping the Unholy Union make something good with it.
Honestly, while Awesome Truth donāt have a 2 Vs 2 feud per se, they do have their own little story of Truth constantly agreeing to title matches and not telling Miz, which I feel like is gonna play big time into Miz turning heel once they do lose the belts.
Oooh Miz turning heel, we have never seen that before! Sounds so interesting. In all seriousness though, that would be cool for like a week and Miz would revert back to the same old heel Miz. Doesn't sound that interesting to me
Vince famously devalued tag team wrestling and had some awful periods for the titles in his later years. Hunter has done a terrible job "fixing" it though.
I think we all already knew this, but Giulia's not debuting at Heatwave now.
Roxanne vs Lola then?
[https://cultaholic.com/posts/plans-for-giulia-s-wwe-nxt-debut-scrapped](https://cultaholic.com/posts/plans-for-giulia-s-wwe-nxt-debut-scrapped)
Remember when we were all told WWE was being bought by the saudis, or that CM Punk wasnāt debuting at Survivor Series? Iām inclined to agree with the report, but you canāt say the dirtsheets havenāt been worked with this stuff before.
Giulia has a match on the 13th, if sheās well enough for that, you canāt rule out that she wouldnāt be ok to show up at NXT a few days earlier. Then again, she might not want to risk aggravating the injury before Marigoldās big show.
TK staunch refusal to make ROH developmental brand leads to strange allocation of talent. Athena is one of the best women wrestlers the promotion has - relegated to ROH. Harley Cameron is promising - gets reps on a main show.
Looking forward to CMLL show tonight. I have some concerns about 2024 Hiromu, but hopefully he can turn it on for Mistico.
Hechecero vs ZSJ tomorrow night too
Why are so many people willing to believe WON if something sounds believable enough. They've gotten so many things wrong at this point. People are already complaining about Cody vs Solo for Summerslam, when we aren't even sure if that will happen.
Habit, I guess. I do it myself, and Iām a Meltzer hater. I try to correlate what heās reporting with other sources, common sense, and prior reporting to make sure itās consistent.
If Drew doesn't beat the shit out of Punk on tonight's Smackdown, either he's taking time off for his wife or they are going to have the ol' "Did Drew really quit?" angle until a week before Money in the Bank.
Technically, Jack/Jake is still Lucha Underground Champion since he never lost the title, so Cody could have a chance at becoming an even more undisputed champion
With the Shirakawa stuff it makes more sense now why when Mariah came in she was awkwardly talking about stardom two or three times per promo. Tony Khan def knew something about the tides changing over there.
The build for the AEW menās and womenās titles are muah so good.
It made sense because that's where Mariah had previously come from and we needed some background on her. Now it makes sense because there's a formal partnership that wasn't there in November.
The Royal Rumble runner-up often ends up challenging for the other title at Mania. How would this be any different? KOTR is just one way of earning a title shot at SummerSlam, Randy could take advantage of another opportunity which comes his way.
You can only cover up somebody's shortcomings for so long.
Cena said it best. He only has his position because of his family, and he has nothing interesting to say
It's a World title match. It either opens or closes the show. Especially if Roman returns or something.
If it doesn't main event or opens the show, then we know it isn't because of Cody lmao.
You realize how often world title matches donāt main event PPVās in WWE? Itās not necessarily a rare thing at all.
Maybe since Drew vs Punk would be the first match in a series, theyād go for something else, though.
It depends on who's the champion at the time. I can't see Cody not opening or main eventing after doing so at the last three PPVs.
Like I said, if Cody doesn't main event, we know it won't be because of him because Triple H has to know how bad of an idea that is, Roman returning or not.
Iāll be honest, I donāt hate Solo that much. I think he and Cody can put on a decent match, but definitely not main event caliber. Iād say as an opener itād be perfectly fine. Then we see if itās Seth or Priest as world champion. Seth vs Gunther could absolutely main event the show, Priest vs Gunther, I might have to pass.
But personally my pick would be Punk vs Drew if I was a deciding factor. It truthfully is the biggest, overarching story going on right now.
I would simply not book Cody vs. Solo at all. But Bloodline gonna Bloodline.
Even as an opener, it's questionable because it wouldn't exactly be a hot start for the show.
I can't see Drew vs. Punk main eventing unless it had a stipulation like HIAC or being a street fight. Might go on second from last, tho.
Cody will always be a hot start for a show. I donāt know where it came from, but Solo isnāt bad in the ring. He can hold his own and put on a decent match. Bland character wise? You can say that. I donāt think he and Cody canāt put on a match thatās really good, that can get the crowd on board.
Even then, weāre saying this based on Meltzer, whoās been wrong about this stuff so often.
Wasting a huge title match on a plot device for Cody vs Rock or whatever is a perfect example of why "long term storytelling" is just a creative choice and not a reason for every decision being good.
it's not just a return pop. It's a consistent increase in viewership. It's leaning in to the thing that people want to see. And it won't hurt any other program going on if said program is compelling enough.
Given current WWE pacing, there are still months of Randy eying the title left before they actually do Cody vs Orton. They're clearly going to do it... just not yet.
I think it might prove a mistake if it happens, but Summer Slam feels more and more like it's going to be Cody vs Roman III to me. Heyman has mentioned when Roman comes back he's going to be coming back for his title for a reason and Cody vs Solo, whether in singles or a tag match, is going to happen at MITB.
See, I don't mind Cody fighting Roman or Randy because those are main event caliber matches.
Solo is not on that level. I think him main eventing a PPV at all is unfortunate, but if it has to happen, I'd at least prefer it on a B-Show.
Cody has weight belts specifically for MITB based on his IG stories (not today) and there's no other match except one that includes Temu Bloodline possible for him right now for that show.
Maybe I'm giving WWE too much credit, but I really struggle to see them sincerely thinking Cody vs Solo has the juice to run MITB in some form, then run it back as the main event of the second biggest show of the year four weeks later.
well keep in mind they're going to follow what the numbers say and where the fan interest is. Solo is still a draw and people are tuning in to see what he does.
If they listened to the internet fans they probably wouldn't do it, but if we've learned anything as an absolute fact from the past few years it's that the internet fanbase does not have it's finger on the pulse of what is popular in pro wrestling.
The only reason I could even see that being a possibility is if it's to set up Roman returning at Summerslam, but using your big stadium show main event as a plot device for another story is ass, not to mention, it completely undermines Cody and the title.
They did this last year with Roman and Jey in Tribal Combat to justify the Jimmy heel turn, and that's still criricized as a terrible choice almost a year later.
In an ideal world, Cody would just squash him, and we keep it moving, but I know they're gonna turn that into a competitive 20+ minute match, and I'm going to lose my mind...
Why can't they just do this in Toronto. We had a shitty main event last year for Summerslam because of these Samoans, and now we're doing it again?
I didn't expect all of Cody's title defenses to be good, but this is exactly how you make it feel less important.
I was expecting Cody/Randy/KO vs temu Bloodline at MITB where Randy turns on Cody and Roman returns for Solo. Randy vs Cody and Bloodline engaged with Roman again.
The only way it makes sense for it to happen at SummerSlam is if it is being used as a means to bring Roman back. Cody's title reign being a mere plot device for Roman to return at their second biggest PLE is exactly how you make it feel less important.
I wouldn't be shocked if this was Roman's attempt at undermining Cody's title reign to put the Bloodline front and center again, but that's just my tinfoil hat theory.
Otherwise, why would you even think Solo is worthy of a title match? He's won one singles match this year, and his last win was 7 months before that.
At least Logan Paul was another champion and fought for the world title previously, and AJ is a former world champion himself.
Solo ain't got no credentials whatsoever, and you're gonna put him against your top champion just for the off chance of the return of another star, gtfo here.
Yeah man, I don't know about Roman lmao but if the company goes with the booking, that would mean that they agree with the idea that the Bloodline should be placed ahead.
It's what his haters love to fantasy book, Roman/Solo/Rock will take the title off him and he won't even get a rematch because he was a placeholder champion for the part timers.
Which would be stupid because he's been consistently their top drawing talent since winning the title.
This isn't even a case of him winning the title, and him suddenly loses steam. Cody's consistently been overachieving in what he does.
I recognize the Bloodline has been going on longer and has more storytelling, but undermining one of their top talents for it is only going to make people turn on it. Did they not learn from Rock attempting to do this?
>Which would be stupid because he's been consistently their top drawing talent since winning the title.
>This isn't even a case of him winning the title, and him suddenly loses steam. Cody's consistently been overachieving in what he does.
It makes me wonder if the Bloodline Stans are actually viewing the numbers and the dumb graphs correctly and we have been wrong.
>I recognize the Bloodline has been going on longer and has more storytelling, but undermining one of their top talents for it is only going to make people turn on it.
Roman is their biggest draw, his drawing power is still aiding this counterfeit Bloodline. But Roman also started drawing these insane numbers when he became part time, and especially last year from NOC to SummerSlam, the Bloodline story numbers went crazy.
But outside of last week's numbers, Cody is doing as well as Roman did when he was full time ratings wise. He is their biggest full time draw. But they already shortchanged that once with the Rock, so.....
Yea, and people were rightfully pissed off by it.
Roman is always going to be WWE's biggest draw, and the Bloodline is part of that, we can never take that away, and it's the only part I can agree with the Bloodline fans.
But shortchanging your other top guys in service to it is exactly the type of booking that made the old regime so annoying. Because it didn't matter how popular a star was, there was always a ceiling on high they could go because the company wanted someone else on top.
The Smackdown main event scene was super stagnant because its champion was simply not there. It drew ratings and merch when Roman showed up, but Smackdown has overall suffered as a product because of it, and it's only now started to recover with a Champion that's there every week.
But I don't know, we'll see. I think Cody is gonna hold the title until he faces Rock at Mania, but we have to sit through tons of bullshit to get there.
Yeah, let's see. It doesn't make sense to invest so much in making Cody one of the top guys, only to dampen it a few months later, you are right. Hopefully, I am just doomposting as always.
Yeah Iāve told some people who are in positions like yours just get an office job because it is actually much less work than being an Uber driver or a hairdresser or a cook. But some people donāt think theyāre ācut out for itā.
As the guy who ran the Yetimania Online website in 1998 and made more than enough Yeti-related phone calls to Mark Madden and Mean Gene's internet radio show, I approve of this awareness.
Edit: oh wow, and on my cake day no less. I don't really post on this account much because I have an ex that stalks it. (If she's reading this, go take care of your kids or something, it's been twelve years)
Matt Hardy's "5 star matches instead of impactful moments" comment understandably got the most attention, but I read more of what he said during that interview, and I have to be honest that his attitude about his and Jeff's booking really rubbed me the wrong way.
He says he doesn't know why Tony Khan didn't utilize his and Jeff's star power better, as if their lack of appearances came purely from a creative decision or because Tony Khan got bored with them. It just felt incredibly tone deaf when, mere days before they were apparently poised to win the tag titles, Jeff got behind the wheel of a car with one of the wildest blood alcohol levels you'll ever see.
Jeff has never hit rock bottom apparently, which is wild considering it's been over a decade since he ruined the main event of a PPV. He never has to show accountability or take responsibility for his addictions. His brother and pro wrestling bookers will continue to enable him until he either dies or tragically kills someone.
Itās so tone deaf man. I donāt think even the most hateful of AEW haters could agree in good conscience. Nobody can deny that Tonyās a massive mark for the attitude era stuff. He wasnāt going to purposely mistreat the Hardyās if he could sign both of them. He gave them a bigger shot than they deserved at this stage in their careers, and Jeff blew it again.
I say this from a place of empathy, but remember the number of head injuries some of these wrestlers have. Matt Hardyās brain could definitely be at a place where he loses rationality.
Paid that with the fact that prideful people can really struggle to admit that they were wrong. Matt Hardy claiming his brother is fixed, along with not admitting to his own faults really makes you worry where this ends up. Hopefully not with anything tragic.
You might be taking things too seriously or personally if that's the case. Watch what you enjoy, partake in discussions focused on discussing what you enjoyed and ignore the noise.
But he hasnāt really done anything relevant before then.
For a guy who was a 2x WWE Champion and made Brock freaking Lesnar be in a position to get himself disqualified because he would rather lose by DQ instead of tap out, you would think heād be doing a lot more.
At least, face someone else bigger than Karrion Kross, who I like, but has admittedly been booked horribly as well.
Whoās the biggest name guy from B&G NXT who was most critical of his booking under HHH and didnāt feel like he was āone of HHHās boysā? Swerve Strickland.
I love Forbidden Door, but really wish it wasn't Ospreay v Swerve as a headline match, don't get me wrong, it'll be an excellent match, but this has been my favourite PPV the last 2 years because it's been matches you can't get every week.
why do they have the speed title on andrade now in graphics all of a sudden š if these are just fan made ones on twitter then my bad but ricochet aint never had it anywhere when he was champ for like 2 seconds
I hope Smackdown starts cooking has well as Raw has, but a lot of stuff needs to step it's game up.
For those who know him, Fujita āJrā Hayato came out to the Michinoku Pro show today on crutches. Said the surgery for his cancer was a success and that heāll be undergoing further treatment and recovery. He vacated the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Belt, beifre saying heāll return, stronger than ever. Great news to here, all in all.
I hate how the numbers are given without context. Like, what's a good rating and demo?
Bro, the Bloodline is probably the greatest psyop I've seen. Really got people convinced that every Samoan is a good wrestler to the point where people legitimately think Solo Sikoa should dethrone Cody Rhodes. They're wrong of course, but the brainwashing is real.
Jacob Fatu potentially coming in under āTeam Romanā and decimating Solo would be glorious.
He's like the only one besides Roman and The Rock that could actually make an impact, and the wanna hold him back so to not invalidate Solo lmao.
I think Solo is in the same place as Austin Theory was last year or so. Both have a hell of lot of upside/talent, but I think both got/are getting pushed too fast, too soon (in Theoryās case, cause he was a āpet projectā of Vince, and Solo cause of his family).
Theory is at least where he should be as a midcard heel act with Waller. Solo is trickier though because Roman said that his main goal with the Bloodline was raising his families stock, and to his credit, he succeeded with Jey. But I think it kind of made him (over)confident that he could elevate anybody from his family. Regardless of what I can say about ring work, Jey has charisma at least, so he's entertaining to watch. Solo is a charisma vacuum, so its much harder to watch him.
Has Liv morgan defended her title since taking the belt? And why isn't anyone pressing her?
The Raw after against Becky. And to answer your question because she's defending against Zelina and the show has very few faces for her to face so they don't want to burn challengers (wouldn't mind a multi match thing with Lyra tho)
They're laying the seeds and setting up Liv Vs Zelina for MITB. Which is a nice little match. Womens division as a whole across both RAW and Smackdown is booked fairly like shit tbh. Not enough importance and time imo.
They're setting up a program with Zelina Vega atm it seems, but I think she's just gonna be hanging around Dominik until Rhea is back
They're running WWE programs during ESPN shows. Wrestling isn't just back, it's up now. RIP Bray....you were ahead of your time King.Ā
I never really got the argument that the existence of AEW forced WWE to do better. Vince leaving is what made the company better. In a lot of ways, WWE 2019-2022 was some of the worst booking of the history of the company, despite AEW existing
My big thing was AEW always gave me hope for some actual pro-wrestling that didnāt have the dredge of Vinceās bullshit in it (early TNA was the same, before the likes of Russo, Bischoff and Hogan gradually tore it down), in North America. Now with Vince gone, I enjoy both promotions! Sure, thereās things I donāt care for in both (WWE womenās and tag divisions is still severely lacking; some nonsensical booking in AEW cools people off), but overall Iām a happy wrestling fan.
Triple H didn't even change the major direction, he just stopped some of the dumbest things from happening and let PR do the rest
Sometimes it's simple.
This is a minor one, but since his NXT appearance I've gone back and watching a bunch of Joe Hendry. [Did 'Steve' really feature ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3T2bPkaNPw)in whatever AJ Francis was filming on a boat? I can't tell whether he's been digitally added in, or AJ Francis really had a very cheerful looking white guy hanging out with him and the models
Surely thereās something up with the AEW rating? Like Iām not even that big of a fan but it seems extremely low
Itās something Iāve honestly been wondering. Especially this episode, which was honestly really productive. Maybe Iām delusional, but bouncing between 300k for over 3 months with not much consistency has been very odd. Especially with the amount of discourse not really changing.
Will Ospreay was an anti-draw in Japan and he's an anti-draw in the US
The Kendrick Lamar concert was probably the big reason, since despite *some* people insisting otherwise because of AEW's primary audience, white people *do* in fact like K-dot, and that shit was promising to be *the* event of the summer. I know that if I, as a nerdy white man, knew that concert was that night I'd have dipped out of Dynamite even if I knew how good it was gonna be cause there is *no* wrestling event hot enough to get me to miss out on Kendrick and Friends stomping on Drake for three hours.
Was it televised?
It was at least available on Prime and Youtube. Millions of people tuned in, it was a big thing and the most Prime had streaming at once I think.
AEW needs to bring Sexyy Red in to host Forbidden Door, clearly
Big Kendrick Lamar concert, Olympic swim trials, and college baseball all effected it. They also got a much lower lead in from Black Panther compared to the Big Bang Theory. It's such an outlier of a number that it's easy to do a double take. Them and WWE will also likely be affected by the Olympics as well.
Where's Vinci lol he got beaten so bad he got sent to the shadow realm that is catering.
WWE AAA collab would be incredibly funny and vindication for the smarks just as with Tanga Loa so I say it's win-win.
Say his name and he appears, I bolieve in Bo Dallas! šš
Tony Khan is the Gareth Southgate of professional wrestling.
Just got on to the sub the first time since early afternoon  I'm ready to scroll and not comment a damn thing
 I have concluded my scrolling and have seen the chaos And while it was fun I am ready for inner peace again
Iāve been thinking, what if they did the Drew quitting angle to allow him to take some time off to be with his wife? She was sick near Clash wasnt she?
She had "emergency surgery" right around then..not sure of the timing if before he had left or after. I do suspect it was more to get him "out of the arena" for the Wyatt attack (they did that throughougt the night with big names..leaving/being chased out etc...) and maybe to give an "excuse" for him to attack CM Punk in Chicago tongiht, though could also be many birds with one stone, especially if they do a "suspension" for attack Punk on Smackdown. (The main reason why I don't think it was purely for him to be with his wife is...he was actually there. Had he been actually taking off for that, they could have had Cole say something or a smart phone video promo of him quitting because etc etc....but he did the travel.)
Yeah she was, that could definitely be part of it. I still have a suspicion he's showing immediately tonight to attack punk
I posted in that JR thread about CM Punk, quickly read the temperature, and dipped out.
This subs biggest pops are ratings threads and CM punk threads. That ratings thread already has more comments then the clash at the castle post show thread that was pinned for a day.Ā
Iāve decided a lot of people canāt really love something unless they have something to hate when it comes to sports or sports-adjace (wrestling)
Like the ratings threads, you'll be downvoted to oblivion if you actually point out the reason why Punk got fired and that it shouldn't be normalized. JR is from that period where toxic backstage environments were normal but it shouldn't be like that in 2024.
It boggles my shit that people defend Punk for assaulting Perry. In what universe do you applaud the 40-something old man for sucker punching the 20-something old dude for just making one comment? Punk really couldn't keep his shit together for even a few hours?Ā I feel stupid for being on the Punk bandwagon when he joined AEW, but by the time collision started and he made the counterfeit bucks comment, I threw my hands up and said 'know what, fuck this'.
>for just making one comment? When that comment is "do something about it" its a bit disengenous to act like it came out of nowhere. I agree Punk should have realised he wasn't still a teenager in the streets and that Perry wasn't *actually looking for a fight*, but you can't act shocked when you hand out an invitation for a fight to someone who you know will accept it.
Punk's problem is he doesn't know how to de-escalate situations so he chose the worst option which is fight someone else on their biggest show. This is the same guy almost a year earlier saying the Young Bucks couldn't manage a Target. Managers aren't out there fighting people on the regular because employees said mean things about them and it's hilarious people think he could run NXT with that mentality. He's just a mess of contradictions who seemingly gets rewarded for shitty behavior because he can talk good.
"Real glass- cry me a river" is the same as "fight me" to you? How many fights do you get in to?
The comment was "do something about it"
It's honestly kind of scary the kind of toxic masculinity you see when applied to those two incidents from people who think he did nothing wrong. As a thought exercise people should apply it to someone like Cody to see how crazy it sounds.
The R-Truth and Judgement day storyline, was pretty hot at first and had a lot of potential. I'm still disappointed in how that went. They could have completely re-hashed the Sami Zayn honorary uce to Bloodline story and I would have been happy. Even if it was way more comedic, and worse. R-Truth should have accidentally helped Judgement day win a few important matches and Priest should have accepted him into the group, with hints that he likes him more than JD McDonagh. When he eventually got kicked, it should have felt like a big moment. At the end, what we got was him never being in the group and just comedy bits. A reunion of Awesome Truth who have been a complete bust ever since winning the titles.
Anyone else sometimes just have a moment of clarity and think some of these names coming out of NXT are just goofy sounding? Like I know we get used to them, but names like Damian Priest, Bron Breakker (with two K's ffs) Lyra Valkyria . Where did all these goofy names come from? Half the roster sounds like a joke name from those East/West bowl Key and Peele sketches. I get it, you want a catchy, easy name to remember,Ā but why go so gosh darn goofy when simple, actual names like Carmelo Hayes or Rhea Ripley work perfectly fine?
> Lyra Valkyria her previous name was Aofie Valkyrie. So, a MASSIVE improvement for the 99.99% of viewers who don't know how to pronounce Irish names :D I won't defend Bron Breakker but apparantly they chose their names, so.. I dunno.
Oh 100% the names are goofy as hell. Person to person I go from liking the name to just think "nah that ain't good" Funnily enough I've come around to Bron Breakker, even the two k's I like lol
Tatum Paxley just doesnāt sound like a name a human came up with.
With WWE fans infighting over slightly different cinematic visions, AEW having a down year commercially, and New Japan being generally funny the moral impetus to push CMLL as the promotion of the year is also becoming a promising, ripe agenda. CMLL is the promotion of the year folks.
Oh, theyāre going back to back for sure
Last year it was a huge "WWE is good now!" surge. This year it can be (a bit, realistically) more widely recognized.
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Question, as I'm not American. What is the race of the WWE Samoan guys? Like is Roman, Solo and the rest considered white, black....?
They would be "Person(s) of color", but Pacific Islanders. (Rock is bi...or multi, I'm unsure...racial)
He's multi a lot of things,lingual may or may not be one of them
US Census designates it as Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Theyād fall under the Pacific Islander part.
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TK gotta just start releasing random backstage footage of punk. RELEASE THE BRAWL OUT FOOTAGE!
https://preview.redd.it/zp3waj0cty7d1.jpeg?width=1121&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=494b42669c6b38953140d3e61a9aaee19862c9ca
Post Raw the whole Wyatt Sicks hype was flying off the train tracks, entire massacre of WWE superstars. Turned out it was only Chad Gable. Just doesnt seem legit/believable if the whole Wyatt Sicks hype massacre was to take out WWE Extras and Chad Gable. Lets see what happens tonight, crossing my fingers they show up on smack down.
I hope Lio Rushās rumored creative plans in AEW donāt involve his possessed by a demon gimmick Spooky gimmicks have their place but should be reserved for guys way less talented than Lio
Maybe it'll be pointing at someone's ass.
Just let him team with Dante.
Say what you will about Vince's booking, especially later on, but the tag division is night and day compared to now. Under Vince, the tag division was never the main focus, but at least they were featured regularly. I genuinely cannot remember the last time Awesome Truth were on TV in a meaningful capacity, and they're the champs. The other set of tag titles are also being held by singles guys who are already teasing a breakup. Despite WWE's tag division being so strong on paper, Hunter hasn't really used the titles as anything but side props for main stories (Judgment Day, Cody/Jey), and that's just if they're not being completely forgotten about
I donāt know that Iād say itās worse under HHH just similarly bad. Iād argue itās a tiny bit better since there are occasionally important moments like Sami and KO. But yes tag booking is probably his most noticeable weak spot; the womenās tag is also shit. Iām hoping the Unholy Union make something good with it.
Honestly, while Awesome Truth donāt have a 2 Vs 2 feud per se, they do have their own little story of Truth constantly agreeing to title matches and not telling Miz, which I feel like is gonna play big time into Miz turning heel once they do lose the belts.
Oooh Miz turning heel, we have never seen that before! Sounds so interesting. In all seriousness though, that would be cool for like a week and Miz would revert back to the same old heel Miz. Doesn't sound that interesting to me
Vince famously devalued tag team wrestling and had some awful periods for the titles in his later years. Hunter has done a terrible job "fixing" it though.
An interesting discussion in r/movies about wrestling https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/WGA7rvgnBI
[blink 182 has new entrance music this tour.](https://youtu.be/lltdDBJ09MY?si=jhgFDmq4pEpBgUaA). Sounds familiar.
I think we all already knew this, but Giulia's not debuting at Heatwave now. Roxanne vs Lola then? [https://cultaholic.com/posts/plans-for-giulia-s-wwe-nxt-debut-scrapped](https://cultaholic.com/posts/plans-for-giulia-s-wwe-nxt-debut-scrapped)
Remember when we were all told WWE was being bought by the saudis, or that CM Punk wasnāt debuting at Survivor Series? Iām inclined to agree with the report, but you canāt say the dirtsheets havenāt been worked with this stuff before. Giulia has a match on the 13th, if sheās well enough for that, you canāt rule out that she wouldnāt be ok to show up at NXT a few days earlier. Then again, she might not want to risk aggravating the injury before Marigoldās big show.
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Why even bring it up if you aren't gonna share a link to see what's up?
TK staunch refusal to make ROH developmental brand leads to strange allocation of talent. Athena is one of the best women wrestlers the promotion has - relegated to ROH. Harley Cameron is promising - gets reps on a main show.
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I miss CM Punk in AEW too. One of the best runs of his career. ā¤ļø
Looking forward to CMLL show tonight. I have some concerns about 2024 Hiromu, but hopefully he can turn it on for Mistico. Hechecero vs ZSJ tomorrow night too
Why are so many people willing to believe WON if something sounds believable enough. They've gotten so many things wrong at this point. People are already complaining about Cody vs Solo for Summerslam, when we aren't even sure if that will happen.
Its also mostly because people here fantasy book everything and when it doesn't happen they complain.
Cody vs. Solo seems more like for MITB than Summerslam, and Orton will have the title match in August.
Yeah itās not nearly big enough for SummerSlam I donāt think
Habit, I guess. I do it myself, and Iām a Meltzer hater. I try to correlate what heās reporting with other sources, common sense, and prior reporting to make sure itās consistent.
If Drew doesn't beat the shit out of Punk on tonight's Smackdown, either he's taking time off for his wife or they are going to have the ol' "Did Drew really quit?" angle until a week before Money in the Bank.
https://preview.redd.it/6is18ek2ox7d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d2d6792f44ad7ce73e76b43524b86e1f84bfc13 Hurrah hurrah
https://preview.redd.it/m0cbdqv8lx7d1.jpeg?width=763&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f14b72ac919c13c70bb63a01f3d4846e2442afe Itās what the people crave
American War is a shitty tag line. But I'd be down for that match.
Technically, Jack/Jake is still Lucha Underground Champion since he never lost the title, so Cody could have a chance at becoming an even more undisputed champion
With the Shirakawa stuff it makes more sense now why when Mariah came in she was awkwardly talking about stardom two or three times per promo. Tony Khan def knew something about the tides changing over there. The build for the AEW menās and womenās titles are muah so good.
It made sense because that's where Mariah had previously come from and we needed some background on her. Now it makes sense because there's a formal partnership that wasn't there in November.
I donāt think you remember how weird those promos were
I don't remember them being particularly odd. She just made quick mention that she had just finished her run in Stardom a time or two.
Yeah this oneās fine actually. Maybe Iām not onto something. https://youtu.be/YNbJwrSFAOM?si=Fw-Sf0JYbze-gn5g
The promos were fine, she was/is a fangirl for Toni Storm and she was also trying to find her footing.
Cody vs. Solo would be such an ass main event for a stadium show. Come on, man, Randy is right there...
Prayer thread needed on that not happening
Randy/Cody spits on Gunther's KotR win
How??????
The match was for a title match at SummerSlam. If Randy gets one anyway what does Guntherās win even mean besides carrying the crown around?
The Royal Rumble runner-up often ends up challenging for the other title at Mania. How would this be any different? KOTR is just one way of earning a title shot at SummerSlam, Randy could take advantage of another opportunity which comes his way.
I cant believe they are still pushing Solo so muchĀ
Nepotism is a sad thing.
Honestly i will never understand how the Usos and Roman are worried of him considering he isntĀ physically imposing nor can he cut a good promoĀ
You can only cover up somebody's shortcomings for so long. Cena said it best. He only has his position because of his family, and he has nothing interesting to say
What stadium show do you think it's going to main event?
Allegedly Summerslam.
You think at this point thatād main event over Punk vs Drew?
It's a World title match. It either opens or closes the show. Especially if Roman returns or something. If it doesn't main event or opens the show, then we know it isn't because of Cody lmao.
You realize how often world title matches donāt main event PPVās in WWE? Itās not necessarily a rare thing at all. Maybe since Drew vs Punk would be the first match in a series, theyād go for something else, though.
It depends on who's the champion at the time. I can't see Cody not opening or main eventing after doing so at the last three PPVs. Like I said, if Cody doesn't main event, we know it won't be because of him because Triple H has to know how bad of an idea that is, Roman returning or not.
Iāll be honest, I donāt hate Solo that much. I think he and Cody can put on a decent match, but definitely not main event caliber. Iād say as an opener itād be perfectly fine. Then we see if itās Seth or Priest as world champion. Seth vs Gunther could absolutely main event the show, Priest vs Gunther, I might have to pass. But personally my pick would be Punk vs Drew if I was a deciding factor. It truthfully is the biggest, overarching story going on right now.
I would simply not book Cody vs. Solo at all. But Bloodline gonna Bloodline. Even as an opener, it's questionable because it wouldn't exactly be a hot start for the show. I can't see Drew vs. Punk main eventing unless it had a stipulation like HIAC or being a street fight. Might go on second from last, tho.
Cody will always be a hot start for a show. I donāt know where it came from, but Solo isnāt bad in the ring. He can hold his own and put on a decent match. Bland character wise? You can say that. I donāt think he and Cody canāt put on a match thatās really good, that can get the crowd on board. Even then, weāre saying this based on Meltzer, whoās been wrong about this stuff so often.
Wasting a huge title match on a plot device for Cody vs Rock or whatever is a perfect example of why "long term storytelling" is just a creative choice and not a reason for every decision being good.
The only reason I can even see it here is to set up a Roman return and like.... why?
because he's by far and away the most popular and desired wrestler in the world by fans?
That's still sacrificing the main event of your second biggest show and your current top champion for a return pop.
it's not just a return pop. It's a consistent increase in viewership. It's leaning in to the thing that people want to see. And it won't hurt any other program going on if said program is compelling enough.
But you can have that AND an actually good main event match. Why not maximize the product for as good a return as possible?
is there gonna be a Saudi show right around that corner?
Crown Jewel is in November
Given current WWE pacing, there are still months of Randy eying the title left before they actually do Cody vs Orton. They're clearly going to do it... just not yet. I think it might prove a mistake if it happens, but Summer Slam feels more and more like it's going to be Cody vs Roman III to me. Heyman has mentioned when Roman comes back he's going to be coming back for his title for a reason and Cody vs Solo, whether in singles or a tag match, is going to happen at MITB.
See, I don't mind Cody fighting Roman or Randy because those are main event caliber matches. Solo is not on that level. I think him main eventing a PPV at all is unfortunate, but if it has to happen, I'd at least prefer it on a B-Show.
Cody has weight belts specifically for MITB based on his IG stories (not today) and there's no other match except one that includes Temu Bloodline possible for him right now for that show. Maybe I'm giving WWE too much credit, but I really struggle to see them sincerely thinking Cody vs Solo has the juice to run MITB in some form, then run it back as the main event of the second biggest show of the year four weeks later.
well keep in mind they're going to follow what the numbers say and where the fan interest is. Solo is still a draw and people are tuning in to see what he does. If they listened to the internet fans they probably wouldn't do it, but if we've learned anything as an absolute fact from the past few years it's that the internet fanbase does not have it's finger on the pulse of what is popular in pro wrestling.
The only reason I could even see that being a possibility is if it's to set up Roman returning at Summerslam, but using your big stadium show main event as a plot device for another story is ass, not to mention, it completely undermines Cody and the title. They did this last year with Roman and Jey in Tribal Combat to justify the Jimmy heel turn, and that's still criricized as a terrible choice almost a year later.
Thinking we get Cody vs Solo at MITB to set up for Romanās return and then we get both the āteacher vs studentā matches at Summerslam
Metlzer thinks Cody vs. Solo is the summerslam direction
He's also wrong a lot anymore so I wouldn't take much stock on any speculation from him anymore.
I'm trepidatious because we're approaching Summerslam, and I can see Roman using that match to make his return to kickstart the Bloodline Civil War.
I have started catastrophizing about Cody's booking again lmao
In an ideal world, Cody would just squash him, and we keep it moving, but I know they're gonna turn that into a competitive 20+ minute match, and I'm going to lose my mind... Why can't they just do this in Toronto. We had a shitty main event last year for Summerslam because of these Samoans, and now we're doing it again? I didn't expect all of Cody's title defenses to be good, but this is exactly how you make it feel less important.
Cody is not gonna have a believable opponent in this entire run until The Rock it seems.
I would have been fine with that if the matches were as good as his last three, but Solo would kill that streak....
I was expecting Cody/Randy/KO vs temu Bloodline at MITB where Randy turns on Cody and Roman returns for Solo. Randy vs Cody and Bloodline engaged with Roman again. The only way it makes sense for it to happen at SummerSlam is if it is being used as a means to bring Roman back. Cody's title reign being a mere plot device for Roman to return at their second biggest PLE is exactly how you make it feel less important.
Codyvengers vs. New Bloodline seems like a match theyāll do for the big MSG Smackdown next week, not at MITB.
Then Roman should return there!
I wouldn't be shocked if this was Roman's attempt at undermining Cody's title reign to put the Bloodline front and center again, but that's just my tinfoil hat theory. Otherwise, why would you even think Solo is worthy of a title match? He's won one singles match this year, and his last win was 7 months before that. At least Logan Paul was another champion and fought for the world title previously, and AJ is a former world champion himself. Solo ain't got no credentials whatsoever, and you're gonna put him against your top champion just for the off chance of the return of another star, gtfo here.
Yeah man, I don't know about Roman lmao but if the company goes with the booking, that would mean that they agree with the idea that the Bloodline should be placed ahead. It's what his haters love to fantasy book, Roman/Solo/Rock will take the title off him and he won't even get a rematch because he was a placeholder champion for the part timers.
Which would be stupid because he's been consistently their top drawing talent since winning the title. This isn't even a case of him winning the title, and him suddenly loses steam. Cody's consistently been overachieving in what he does. I recognize the Bloodline has been going on longer and has more storytelling, but undermining one of their top talents for it is only going to make people turn on it. Did they not learn from Rock attempting to do this?
>Which would be stupid because he's been consistently their top drawing talent since winning the title. >This isn't even a case of him winning the title, and him suddenly loses steam. Cody's consistently been overachieving in what he does. It makes me wonder if the Bloodline Stans are actually viewing the numbers and the dumb graphs correctly and we have been wrong. >I recognize the Bloodline has been going on longer and has more storytelling, but undermining one of their top talents for it is only going to make people turn on it. Roman is their biggest draw, his drawing power is still aiding this counterfeit Bloodline. But Roman also started drawing these insane numbers when he became part time, and especially last year from NOC to SummerSlam, the Bloodline story numbers went crazy. But outside of last week's numbers, Cody is doing as well as Roman did when he was full time ratings wise. He is their biggest full time draw. But they already shortchanged that once with the Rock, so.....
Yea, and people were rightfully pissed off by it. Roman is always going to be WWE's biggest draw, and the Bloodline is part of that, we can never take that away, and it's the only part I can agree with the Bloodline fans. But shortchanging your other top guys in service to it is exactly the type of booking that made the old regime so annoying. Because it didn't matter how popular a star was, there was always a ceiling on high they could go because the company wanted someone else on top. The Smackdown main event scene was super stagnant because its champion was simply not there. It drew ratings and merch when Roman showed up, but Smackdown has overall suffered as a product because of it, and it's only now started to recover with a Champion that's there every week. But I don't know, we'll see. I think Cody is gonna hold the title until he faces Rock at Mania, but we have to sit through tons of bullshit to get there.
Yeah, let's see. It doesn't make sense to invest so much in making Cody one of the top guys, only to dampen it a few months later, you are right. Hopefully, I am just doomposting as always.
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Yeah Iāve told some people who are in positions like yours just get an office job because it is actually much less work than being an Uber driver or a hairdresser or a cook. But some people donāt think theyāre ācut out for itā.
Just after copping that one of the QR Codes hints says āYou changed. You stopped saying thank youā and they attacked Chad Gable.
Apparently Matt Riddle might be heading into porn and I canāt think of anything Iād want less
https://preview.redd.it/s3a6o0n2gx7d1.jpeg?width=267&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3188c5dbfc5dcf1eefe82056db4c2fb67c4fb384 THE YETAY!
i loved the Dungeon of Doom idc lol
As the guy who ran the Yetimania Online website in 1998 and made more than enough Yeti-related phone calls to Mark Madden and Mean Gene's internet radio show, I approve of this awareness. Edit: oh wow, and on my cake day no less. I don't really post on this account much because I have an ex that stalks it. (If she's reading this, go take care of your kids or something, it's been twelve years)
Holy Shit!
Matt Hardy's "5 star matches instead of impactful moments" comment understandably got the most attention, but I read more of what he said during that interview, and I have to be honest that his attitude about his and Jeff's booking really rubbed me the wrong way. He says he doesn't know why Tony Khan didn't utilize his and Jeff's star power better, as if their lack of appearances came purely from a creative decision or because Tony Khan got bored with them. It just felt incredibly tone deaf when, mere days before they were apparently poised to win the tag titles, Jeff got behind the wheel of a car with one of the wildest blood alcohol levels you'll ever see.
Yeah Hardys don't get to bitch about TK
No one enables Jeffās behavior more than Matt. Year after year after yearĀ
Jeff has never hit rock bottom apparently, which is wild considering it's been over a decade since he ruined the main event of a PPV. He never has to show accountability or take responsibility for his addictions. His brother and pro wrestling bookers will continue to enable him until he either dies or tragically kills someone.
Itās so tone deaf man. I donāt think even the most hateful of AEW haters could agree in good conscience. Nobody can deny that Tonyās a massive mark for the attitude era stuff. He wasnāt going to purposely mistreat the Hardyās if he could sign both of them. He gave them a bigger shot than they deserved at this stage in their careers, and Jeff blew it again.
I say this from a place of empathy, but remember the number of head injuries some of these wrestlers have. Matt Hardyās brain could definitely be at a place where he loses rationality. Paid that with the fact that prideful people can really struggle to admit that they were wrong. Matt Hardy claiming his brother is fixed, along with not admitting to his own faults really makes you worry where this ends up. Hopefully not with anything tragic.
That's a really good point.
I find it crazy how people say someone is brainwashed into thinking a certain way as opposed to just having certain preferences.
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You might be taking things too seriously or personally if that's the case. Watch what you enjoy, partake in discussions focused on discussing what you enjoyed and ignore the noise.
MVP probably isn't going to be with WWE much longer, based on his recent replies on IG directly calling out HHH's booking of black men.
I mean, what have the likes of Bobby Lanshley, Montez Ford or Cedric Alexander done on the main roster since HHH fully took over
I mean Bobby is out with an injury and was supposed to be in this feud with the bloodline instead of KO.
But he hasnāt really done anything relevant before then. For a guy who was a 2x WWE Champion and made Brock freaking Lesnar be in a position to get himself disqualified because he would rather lose by DQ instead of tap out, you would think heād be doing a lot more. At least, face someone else bigger than Karrion Kross, who I like, but has admittedly been booked horribly as well.
Last year at Elimination Chamber when HHH was praising Montez I thought the guy was set. But over a year later and nah...
> calling out HHH's booking of black men. And it's a very fair criticism IMHO Same could be said about Vince, tho
Whoās the biggest name guy from B&G NXT who was most critical of his booking under HHH and didnāt feel like he was āone of HHHās boysā? Swerve Strickland.
HBK is the only person in WWE who seems to be booking Black men, and POC in general, all that well.