I’ve forgotten which wrestlers were involved exactly, but Ospreay came out and defended one of the accused UK guys (I’m pretty sure) and basically called the female wrestler making the claims a liar.

Oh that’s right, he also helped blacklist a girl who made complaints about one of his friends. Allegedly.

Don’t have a link anymore but I believe Ospreay (and Bea Priestly/Blair Davenport) both defended accused guys and also took measures to get some women blackballed from the UK scene

Thing was a mess. Like Ospreay in the ring but tough to invest in him

LOL at one guy pushing MJF’s throne to the ring

They want you to know that she’s there, but have only drawn attention to it during a specific segment because they want to link it in your brain. It’s not very subtle nor good pro-wrestling.

Acclaimed and Gunn winning is heartwarming and there was no reason to do that match a third time if they weren’t gonna win

But kinda hope their reign is short lived. House of Black rule

Tony Khan is right up there with worst bookers of all-time.

Billy Gunn being center of one of the biggest pay-offs AEW has might be heartwarming, but it’s kind of sad too. Like R-Truth at one point being the most entertaining guys on roster. It betrays a problem.

You shouldn’t be going to a stadium with Billy Gunn in 2023.

Hoping against hope that somehow one of these guys doesn’t go full heel because god damn I adore this team.

:lol: sportsmanship chant

Malachi needs a top level singles run. Ive said it a thousand times that you have a super villain on your hands and have done nothing but stick him in trios matches. Unless he's somehow hurt he needs more.

If not for the ROH titles id say its run its course. Whatever happens here its not over over but something has to give.

Bah gawd Cole working full here. Tombstoning Max on the table. That jezebel!

Most interesting thing is still the backstage mess.

Adam deciding last minute to not cheat and then getting fucked over for it. Yes

If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying

Cole and MJF legit friends after all this! Amazing.

Wembley II confirmed for next year . Lol wow

Show was v fun, lots of good rasslin action

I would give this show around 3.25/10

The MJF/Adam Cole stuff has been working in terms of small ratings bumps for them, but overall it feels like a pretty infantile story.

Sounds like I saved time and money.

That little cokehead if talking about Fight Forever in the presser lol

Wembley II is not going to sell on the back of it just being wrestling in Wembley. Well, maybe there will be hopes that AEW will have its shit together for the second one. But we’ll see what shape they’re in in a year’s time.

Write it off on tax, because sitting through this product is work.

Pretty good.

Missed Punk vs Joe. Don’t care, Punk is shit.

Joined in towards the end of Kenny and friends and Takeshita and friends. Didn’t care, wasted Omega putting him in a multi man match.

Bucks v FTR was pretty good.

Stadium Stampede was fine I suppose. A waste of some big names though and these multi man matches just to get everyone on the card are all a bit samey now.

Coffin match was good, Sting with his Metallica WCW theme was cool. Swerve is really good and I’d like to see him in a bigger program. I think him vs Omega would be so good.

Brauds match was fine. Saraya is shit. Shame Hayter’s injured. Shida should’ve retained.

Missed most of Jericho vs Ospreay but glad Ospreay won. He seems good every time I’ve seen him.

Trios was fine, ending was obvious and glad for my man Billy Gunn. Malakai Black needs to move on to be a bigger deal now though. He should be AEW’s god level bad guy. Have him murder Punk in a feud and then go after the world title. Black VS MJF would be something different and fresh, while feeling like a big deal.

MJF is so good. This whole angle has actually made Adam Cole somewhat bearable. Including that Roddy Strong guy though is a bad decision, he’s one of the worst actors I’ve seen and just isn’t needed. Really glad they hinted at both turning but neither did, the story has legs in it yet.

With how long it took to develop the game, and how quickly it fizzled, it’s probably the most ironic name for a wrestling game ever.

On the whole it’s a lot of the same criticisms I’ve always had for AEW. Cut down the roster a bit, lose about 75% of the titles they have, and stop trying to cram so many people onto the card by using multi man matches.

But the stuff they get right they do really well.

Tiny Khan talks just like Donald Trump. Everything is GREAT and AMAZING and BIGGEST and BEST.

I hate that dude lol

I have enjoyed most Roderick Strong matches but I'm not sure I liked him in anything else. Just keep him rasslin and avoid putting him elsewhere lol

Good and fun show.

Did not care for Moxley's nonsense but enjoyed the second half of the show in particular. MJF/Adam were the highlight for me but also loved the coffin match and (surprisingly) Jericho vs Ospreay.

Everybody loves The Acclaimed

Punk won and The Elite lost back to back, all is well

except for Tony Khan for leaving off Ricky Starks

would have cut the omega and bucks matches and had Starks wrestle instead

The Elite think they are nice, humble guys “putting over” other guys at WankerMania. It’s all a political play. Mox and Jericho did the same thing.

Tony confirmed a WrestleDream PPV for October 1st in Seattle. Apparently another NJPW influenced PPV.

Definitely seems the rumors about Warner wanting monthly PPVs is true.

Tony Khan needs more money too. Hence why he charges for ROH and the existence of Collision at all.

It’s not like they use the scant number of PPVs to actually build. But more will probably make everything feel even more exhausted.

WrestleDream isn’t a horrible name for a Japanese PPV, but I feel like I’ve heard it before somewhere.

AEW’s New Japan integration has largely sucked so far. Look forward to more Japanese guys coming out as Excalibur screams about them as if you care.

Elite did it because they got monster new contracts, getting paid buckets of cash to play wrestler with their friends, and that is all that matters to them.
Mox didnt put over anybody, sounds like he just bled like always, and that is all that matters to him.
Jericho is a vampire, even with the loss Jericho got the rub, and that is all that matters to him.

SOOO AEW is just straight lying about their attendance? They are becoming more and more what they despised.

https://i.ibb.co/kKqsBPR/1693174982418057.jpg

I think Wembley can seat 90k for football/soccer so that looks about right for 81k, guessing this might have been during kick off too when people were still filing in

AEW THE BEST

That is the main event, many empty seats.

Just finished watching, really enjoyable show but the main event ran a little long for me. The shenanigans got a bit tired near the end but the idea of them out heeling one another was a fun change of pace and the crowd seemed to love it.

Stings entrance and just the match in general was great. Stadium stampede was fun. Loved OC going over, the Mox skewers spot got an actual reaction from me on the couch.

Punk stuff felt flat because there was no way he was losing. FTR vs. Bucks didnt feel like there best outing but still very high quality.

Overall very enjoyable but I wouldn't say it was the best AEW ppv. PPVs just feel long now, I think I'm getting old.

Meanwhile at NWA 75:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Somebody please, call his momma <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NWA75?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NWA75</a> <a href="https://t.co/8qa79nhcn3">pic.twitter.com/8qa79nhcn3</a></p>&mdash; s e t h (@futurafreesky) <a href="https://twitter.com/futurafreesky/status/1695990720702607680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yikes... Not sure who you want to win that one for the good of your company tbh.

All of this.

Also, short aside about the Punk/Perry stuff - funny how folks' hate boner for CM Punk is preventing them from seeing that Jack wanted to do take an unneccessary risk, was told no, and then be made out to be "the reasonable one" for referring to the dumb shit he wanted to do. Glass sounds like no big deal, but that one Goldberg incident would be a thing people barely remember about late-stage WCW if it weren't for the fact that he non-exaggeratedly almost bled to death from something as simple as punching a car window out. Made for a "moment" on TV, and it didn't look stupid and bad in the "moment", but again, that one thing could have literally killed the man, and he could have achieved the same end doing something else to express anger on TV for those few seconds. And even after, if a guy made a mission statement of a very antagonistic "if you have a problem with me, come see me", and then you proceed to go see him, I'm not understanding how this makes him "a baby". He put that out front and folks are coming to him to test the theory.

An overall problem bigger than those two, however, is that it's going to take one very avoidable injury to derail the gravy train. Surprisingly, it wasn't Matt Hardy's mid-match concussion where they continued, or the sloppy matches with unfortunately broken ladders or tables (and I mean broken tables in the sense that the legs don't work right for placement co-operation). Not even counting the very stupid shit like random plywood boards with barbed wire stapled to it, because at least chairs or tables are a thing that would otherwise exist in the world instead of being under the ring specifically for a contrived spot in one match.

My point is: the bill comes due.

Someone is going to get brain damaged, Droz'd, or unfortunately killed, and then there will be the "why didn't somebody try to stop them from [x fucked up spot]??" The answer will either be CM Punk tried to, but we don't like him, or that one of the other vets around like Jim Ross suggested they do otherwise, but we just don't listen to the old guy because we're young and invincible and more exiting than they ever were.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I don't specifically mean Tyrus and EC3, but kinda... I mean NWA in general. They went from "MUST SEE" to "Huh? They're still around??" in a very short timeframe. And the backlash about Tyrus being champion felt less like heel heat and more like a final straw.

I dont remember Wrestlemania 3 crowd looking like this...

https://i.ibb.co/Z8j5Kkf/1693170352498176.png

Black Tarps and Empty Seats all over, but totally 81,000 people :roll:

For comparison:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...yMzY@._V1_.jpg

Oh I forgot to add, I really didn’t enjoy Juice Robertson when he first came to AEW but he’s really growing on me.

The Guns look more credible beside him and Jay, overall quite like the group despite myself.

Looks like a lot of tickets didn’t get picked up on the secondary market and/or some comps weren’t collected on.

Can we talk about how Jack Perry is CM Punk’s Jungle Boy?

Being completely fair, he's come off as a scrub for quite awhile before "finding himself" in Japan. This is including his very forgettable NXT run, which culminated with him "going on strike" (kayfabe), and getting squashed by the then debuting Sami Callihan. Being WWE developmental, of course, neither of the two used their recognized names.

He toiled in the indies and RoH for awhile, but then veered toward Japan. Ironically, the same could be said for his partner in Jay White, as Jay was pretty bland in RoH before he ended up becoming groomed to become the NJPW heir apparent gaijin heel. And while what makes Jay... well, King Switch hasn't exactly translated stateside much as of yet, Juice Robinson is oozing that intangible that was missing from him in Connecticut (by way of Florida) about a decade previous.

Show overall was "fine". This gave me WWE in Saudi Arabia vibes. A "big" show where they brought out a couple of extra flips, kicking out of finishers and some title changes but nothing major happened. What will this show be remembered for? First time overseas? Crowd size? Probably nothing to do with anything that actually happened on it. Pretty forgettable but there wasn't anything terrible about it.

We have to remember it wasn't until a matter of months ago that this was announced so its not like this show had been in the long term plans. Kudos for pulling it off and NOW putting it as a thing in long term plans. Ultimately we can judge it after All Out when we see how they used two PPVs in such close proximity to each other.

Also, what Tom Guycott said about the Punk/Perry incident. Although I wish it wasn't always Punk involved, Tony Khan never gets involved like this because he wants to be friends with everyone. Say what you want about Vince, but he squashes acting out like Perry is doing or has some stooge like a Laurenitis do it for him. Either way, its well known who's in charge and he isn't to be fucked with. We haven't seen that in AEW and someone has to be that dick as TG pointed out in his post.

This was a great show! Really, I'm not an "AEW guy" or anything, but this show was really enjoyable. I think the crowd being super hot for it really adds so much to an event. The crowd were on fire, and honestly, it just looked amazing to see an American promotion which isn't WWE, perform to such a huge audience. It really gave it a "big" feel, and gives AEW a level we've not seen in a secondary promotion since the WCW days.

Yeah, the overabundance of multi-man matches and endless kick-outs etc does wear a bit thin, but I didn't really mind all that much. Just got to remember that this ISN'T WWE, and so just enjoy the differences.

It's weird, that wrestling may not be getting the "ratings" it used to (if ratings even exist/matter) anymore, but it honestly feels like we're in another boom period for wrestling, we just never realised it.

Well done AEW. Let's hope they can continue building upon each success.

Some people will just hate AEW for the sake of it. AEW put on a better show than anyone expected.

The main event storytelling was absolute gold- it got me tearing up. Loved it!

Everything MJF says he is..he is!

It’s going to be remembered for the skewered narratives and myths around it. The show itself was inconsequential. It’s already forgotten. But we’ll hear Dave Meltzer talk about what a great success this was forever and a day.

Just watched a video on YouTube of all the entrances and aesthetically, the show looked pretty fucking great. Also, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but AEW kinda kills it when it comes to entrance music. Even the beginning of the Bucks’ theme was some great mid-2000s Smackdown cheesiness.

Seriously though, how can there be all these pictures during different matches where there are TONS of empty seats and many sections tarped???

We have all called bullshit on WWE's attendance claims for years, but we are just supposed to ignore crowd pictures from the show that were coming out in real time?

So much can be done to fudge numbers. And the dirt sheets are on Tony Khan’s side. No one is going to scrutinize what they consider to be an important achievement.

Interesting background on Juice, I have no context for him as I havent seen his work anywhere else but coming into AEW I wasnt a fan. The amount hes grown on me kinda snuck up on me the last week or so.

Im biased around Jay as hes a Kiwi, love his look, love his attitude. Just feels like a main guy to me despite not really being presented in that way until the last month or so.

Some people have a main character energy and I feel that way around Jay.

As for the Punk vs. Perry stuff. Perry having a sulk about the real glass vs. fake glass stuff does not cast him in a good light. Now it seems hes openly mocking Punk about it thats not a god look either.

Its a shame its Punk in it again but he doesn't sound like hes done a whole lot wrong here this time based on whats getting out.

If TK doesnt want to take control of this stuff he needs to let someone else do it. Give Daniels more power or something then back him up to draw a line in the sand.

Backstage drama is good for AEW according to TK. In other words: "I have no spine and want to keep awkwardly hugging as many people as I can at media scrums. Thanks guys!"

He was actually Kevin Owens first opponent for his NXT debut match.

How are they going to book Collision for Saturday night if they suspended the guy who does a lot of the booking for the show?

hahahaha

So let me get this straight. Punk stops Perry from doing a glass spot, then Punk runs to the sheets with the story about it even though he whines like a bitch whenever someone else goes to the sheets. Perry is annoyed by Punks hypocritical nonsense and trying to embarass him via the sheets, so he throws out a harmless one liner that Punk overreacts to (because he's the softest man alive) and starts shit backstage again. And somehow you find Perry to be the problematic one? LOLOLOL, k.

Daniels is absolutely shit at being head of talent relations. Exhibit A: where was he in Brawl Out?

I don't even like Perry, and he shouldnt have taken the verbal shot at Punk. He should have just let it go because everyone knows Punk is a crybaby and will REEEEEEE out about everything. But to act like Perry is the problem here is just stupid at this point. There is one common denominator in all of these issues and it's CM Punk. To still be oblivious to him being the issue at this point is absolutely laughable.

The real problem is TK being such a mark for Punk that he won't manage his company because he's afraid his favoritest bestest buddy will get butthurt and quit like he threatened to before his match at All In.

At the Brawl? That's literally why Punk doesn't want him at Collision lol.

Imagine Cena kicking out Ross or Laurinaitis for doing their job.

It's interesting reading anti-CM Punk comments not just on this forum but across social media. While initially jarring as its a view I don't resonate with, I quickly remember that the split crowd that I see on television every week is also made up of people here.

CM Punk has given the wrestling world so many incredible moments over the years that seems to be forgotten/overlooked because he called out wrestlers who simply aren't and have never been draws. I don't really get why people would side with the Young Bucks or Jungle Boy over CM Punk (who seems to constantly get needled). In some ways it reminds me of Bret vs Shawn.

For those who seem to hate Punk, would AEW really be better without him?

Yes. While your point is valid about drawing capability, and while both are adults by age, Punk is a "veteran" of the business and should have a thick skin. You have already been suspended for a long period because of fighting and because someone says something on TV, you feel the need to not just confront them, but fight them. Nah. Sorry. I'm a big fan of his but he needs to shut the fuck, grow up, and be the leader, not the instigator.

More than that. What about the next big name that comes along? They see how this locker room acts and, suddenly, the WWE's deal isn't so bad.

Whether or not Mercedes signs is the next one to watch. Considering how AEW treats outsiders to their Kliq (see: Rosa, Thunder; Deeb, Serena; Fisto, Lu) and one who is a much bigger star than even Saraya was at one point. Also, how of all the major Women's free agents available, only Britt's friends were brought in for more than a one off.

There's a lot we just won't know about who did what so everyone is free to take a side based on if they like Punk or not.

I'm on team Punk. The adult in the room who seems to be the only one (including TK) who is trying to put out a product that is best for the promotion regardless of whether people like him for putting his foot down or not.

If Perry wants to bleed every week like Mox, ship him off to Dynamite or GCW.

Ding
Ding
Ding

Yeah like when Shawn refused to do the job for Bret? Oh wait, that would make Punk the Shawn, not the Bret. So Hangman is the Bret?

Serious answer to your last question is yes. AEW was better without him. What exactly has he done since he came back?

1. Undermined the World Championship
2. Leak shit to the dirtsheets
3. Got that "banned things" list out everybody laughed at
4. Had a bunch of self jerkoff matches with FTR
5. Only works with his friends (The Klique much)?
6. Undermined the office
7. Verbally dressing down extras
8. Given nobody the rub
9. Messed with other wrestlers booking
10. Got a jumping ovation from Mark owner

There is a lot we don't know. But there is one thing we do know: the one common denominator in all of the drama is CM Punk. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

It would make no difference to the product. There would just be far less drama embarassing the company as a whole.

a lot of you complaining about Tony Khan having a light hand with Punk...did you whine about how Vince let Shawn Michaels (and friends) do much worse, on and off tv?

Tpww forums wasn't around during the 90's so now I didn't have the chance to whine. I also wasn't available to the knowledge I have of the business when I was 12 years old.


So now I didn't whine.

SOMEONE has to be involved from top to bottom to get the product right. Punk has basically been left in charge of Collision because TK isn't a real boss. Punk may be being sensitive about it but its his reputation that's on the line with that show and all of AEW to some extent. He takes certain things way too seriously but I can understand why someone in that position without much of a support system would freak out at every little transgression.

SI confirmed the suspensions.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GrandioseC...ck-max-1mb.gif

Truth is, Punk is imitating what he’s seen before in the big corporate wrestling companies. You might say he’s lived ling enough to see himself become the villain. Ultimately this is Vince’s fault. Obviously.

Obviously joking there.

I’m one of Punk’s biggest fans and I even I can look at the optics and see he’s not coming off well here. You can say he’s just passionate about the product or he’s being the only adult in the room (btw, resulting to violence every time somebody rubs you the wrong way is not very adult) but his actions are neither a good look for him or AEW as a whole.

This is pretty much bang on. Punk takes it seriously, but he also wants AEW to make money so he can be worth the money he’s making. He’s being openly mocked by wrestlers who don’t understand how to do that and don’t have much interest in doing that.

"But WWE" is not now, nor has it ever been a good argument. You are just excusing anything that happens. What if somebody comes out and says Tony Khan raped them? Will you say it is ok, but Vince McMahon was accused or raping someone as well?

The truth is there are lots of people who hated Shawn and Vince at the time. The problem with that however is that in retrospect, they used it properly. Shawn was the top heel at that point mostly because of that whole situation with Bret, and Vince used it to become such an effective heel that he was able to eventually get both Shawn and Bret back as babyfaces. He put them both over at Wrestlemania.

All this Punk shit has nothing to build to. He doesn't even let people he dislikes on Collision, so he certainly isnt working with them. They all work on guaranteed contracts so they are getting paid no matter what, so what is the incentive? The boss clearly showed that he is not going to fire anybody for really any reason.

I think in their history they have publicly fired 2 people, Jimmy Havoc and whatever spanish announcer was doing an offensive Japanese impression. Other than that, he just puts them away for a bit.

The way Shawn Michaels acted is pretty openly derided too.

Firstly, the thing about rape is just reaching and you know that, we are not talking about out and out crimes here.

Your next paragraph about Shawn being a top heel..when and for how long? Shawn Michaels was never the draw Bret was, never mind Austin or anyone else. If anything Shawn was trying to run Rocky out of the business. Shawn Michaels did not matter to WWF as much as Punk matters to AEW.

I agree with you about Punk being allowed to control who is at collision - its never a good thing for a worker to have that much control. I read a good take about Punk being able to sue AEW because he was attacked by EVPs of the company. That is a very real legality.

My point was that Shawn Michaels and his Kliq did far worse to WWF than Punk has done to AEW - if anything its those childish fuckers , the elit and jungle boy.

Saying Shawn wasn't the draw Bret was immediately discredits you. Bret was a better wrestler, sure. But Shawn was also pretty damn good and had things Bret didn't, like charisma and showmanship.

Blaming the elite here is also stupid. How many stories have you heard about them sending people home? Outside of Punk, how many stories are there about them having nonstop confrontations with people backstage? Speaking of the elite, and also in reference to us not talking about out and out crimes here, didn't they just put over Punks besties, and specifically, Cash "I'll pull a strap on a buster" Wheeler?

Yes, it was hyperbole just to show the but WWE is not a good argument.

I never claimed Shawn was the draw Bret was. Neither of those guys were ever on top at a peak time. Shawn was the top heel because of the screwjob. It was a brief time, about 5 months, but they leaned into it, which was my point, they used it.

Shawn was far more important to WWE than Punk is to AEW. Just the fact that he was in 4 Wrestlemania main events proves that. Has Punk even main evented 4 AEW PPVs yet?

Again, just because Shawn was worse doesn't excuse CM Punk.

And I certainly am not forgiving any of those guys, Elite, Jack Perry, Christopher Daniels, Ryan Nemeth, etc. The difference is they all clashed with just one guy. If Sammy Guevara got into it with Jack Perry, the same way he did with Andrade and Eddie Kingston, well I would say the pattern is with Sammy Guevara being the asshole.

Yeah pretty sure we gave Sammy the business too when he was in the center of all the nonsense, starting with him proposing in the ring and then it being called off a few months later because he was supposedly cheating on her with Tay, who he then began working with on air.

lol Punk got into it with Miro at All In too and was asking him if he wanted to take things outside to settle it.

There is ZERO chance that happened lol. Miro would kill him :lol:

He's not coming off well, no. It sounds like he's handling things like an alcoholic promoter 30 years ago. You're right in that IF thats what happened it isn't professional but again, we are hearing 3rd hand what might have happened so we have to take everything being said with a grain of salt. However, if TK is allowing him to do this and asking people nicely to not do stupid shit isn't working.....

The Elite don't send people home because they just play with the people they want to play with and really don't care about anything outside of that.

Sounds like its much ado about nothing. That being said: He's making this really hard for me.....

Id also like to point out that this Punk/Perry thing started because Perry wanted to do some spotbwith real glass and everyone told him no. Not just Punk. Then they do a spot at all out with the windshield. Did Hook not have lacerations all over his arm? Wasn't Perry told no because real glass is unsafe?

Thanks guys.