The Hardy Boyz wrestling on NXT wasn't on my 2025 Bingo Card.
Surely they're shit now. Last time I saw Jeff he was a drunk mess and Matt hasn't been able to move properly for about a decade so he just does the DELETE crap.
The Hardy Boyz wrestling on NXT wasn't on my 2025 Bingo Card.
Surely they're shit now. Last time I saw Jeff he was a drunk mess and Matt hasn't been able to move properly for about a decade so he just does the DELETE crap.
He’s best friends with Cody Rhodes, he’ll be fast tracked to Raw or Smackdown.Originally Posted by phonics
NXT is also bigger than AEW.
Sure it is bud.
Isn't NXT battering AEW in terms of viewer numbers?
Ricky Starks' "debut" also pulled in like 13m hits across all social platforms within 24 hours.
Yes and has done for donkeys. TNA is more AEW’s level
I don't really watch much wrestling these days, but what's happened to AEW? Wasn't it considered a legit rival at one point? Or have I been conned by the AEW diehards?
Ricky Starks is money. Tony Khan was an idiot for trying to job him out to goofs like Daniel Garcia. Proving once again he thinks "bangers" are what gets you over on TV, as he loses his best mic guys to WWE (who instantly get over) while wondering why his viewership is plummeting when Meltzer has just launched 5 stars at something like Komander vs. "Cope" on Collision.
I think it just became more and more TK's play thing.
Who is this Ricky Starks I keep hearing about? I know only of Ricky Saints.
The in-ring action is better at AEW as they pretty much have a roster packed with the best talent that way. It's quite hard to argue Ospreay, Omega or Danielson(sorry Baz) are better for that, than most/all in WWE. And that's without getting onto the likes of Toni Storm and MJF.
It's wrestling, not sports entertainment there. This is why the likes of Rhodes and Punk did not do well there.
This imo is where the problem is, in terms of pure viewing figures/ticket sales. They are hitting the demographic they are catering to quite well. It's just that demographic is not in the majority of viewership.
I think of it like the TV Show, Firefly. Not really a bad word said about it and reviewed well, just it never drew in the pure numbers.
Their quarterly viewership now is actually not too different from where it was this time 2020.
On what planet did Rhodes not do well in AEW? The crowd just turned on him but that tends to happy when any baby face stays at a high level for too long (especially in a company only watched by marks.) let’s not pretend he’s dogshit in ring either.
AEW would be a lot better if they tried to protect moves and had an ounce of psychology in ring. It’s like watching an action film at times. If that’s what you’re in to, fair play.
Omega and Ospreay would obviously do well in WWE but it’ll never happen as they know they’ll never be anything other than upper mid card as being able to wrestle does not mean much in the big leagues. (Unless you have a decent gimmick).
WWE’s woman piss all over AEW (with NXT arguably having the most stacked talent)
Rhodes then to now is night and day. He's much more a Sports Entertainment guy. He's a solid in-ring guy, but I'm not expecting him to turn up trees.
He got mocked as the “3 star general” in his ROH/AEW stint and that tells you all you need to know about that fan base. They’ll unironically tell you how amazing Komander is while calling the biggest star in the industry bang average.
I'm sorry you're not making me reflect on the 'Cody Rhodes solves racism' Anthony Ogogo angle and I'm the one that doesn't 'get it'.
There were some dark times with Cody in AEW. I mean just fucking take a look at this picture.
Mum said it's my turn to play Xbox ass angle.
His best match was his first one with Dustin. The rest of it bounced between mediocre and poor.
The details of the Shane meeting came out. The guy asked for equity and be head Booker
Yeah I'm with Big Tone on that one.
"Shane, I'm looking at your CV and under accomplishments it says 'Booked a Royal Rumble that was so bad the entire roster complained and your father fired you'"
The narrative around aew is quite funny cus it ranges from wwe fanboys aping Cornette, saying how terrible and awful it is and how TK is a stupid bloody idiot, and then aew fanboys like phonics who still think it's great. My definitely correct opinion is that it's still alright, but the booking has been quite bad, and they've been massively hurt by a lack of long term planning and general loss of momentum, and by wwe not being shit anymore.
I also feel like there might be a bit of a ceiling with the type of product they're putting out, but this side of it is overstated imo.
There's three eras to AEW for me:
The early days - wanky indie wrestling but the guys who started it were extremely popular within their own niche and it presented a very real alternative to an (at the time) awful product in WWE.
The Punk days - pros/cons of the bloke aside, signing CM Punk give them a real legitimacy and domestic viewership finally in the millions. The actual shows start to become more disjointed as the booker runs out of his original ideas and you have half of the guys trying to wrestle the mainstream style versus half of the guys doing the same indie shit that exposes everything you see. The deterioration of relationships and guys fighting backstage was inevitable when you try to shoehorn two different wrestling philosophies into the same show.
The current days - a pivot to the original style of show but the young upstarts are no longer as young and have lost all their popularity or are always injured. The newer top guys have more potential but the booker needs help. WWE is popular again now so there's no reason to seek out the alternative if they aren't finding the breakthrough on their own. Viewership for "Grand Slam" bottoms out at 250k for the main event.
Igor making up what I think to present himself as reasonable. ‘Phonics thinks everything aew is great’. The last AEW post is literally slagging it off.
The world isn’t against you bud, stop this victim complex
Shut up fan boy
Sounds like The Rock heard CM Punk was going to be main eventing Wrestlemania and decided to come back last minute
It's all well and good having your Will Ospreays and your Kenny Omegas but I'm not sure AEW can afford to miss out on Shane and his world class striking. 8*
"The name on the contract reads ... Shane McKahn."
I've been an atheist my whole life but at this point I have to believe that God exists because the only explaination for Trish Stratus is that she's done a deal with the devil.
At what point does it become like sleeping in the tupperware drawer?
Looking at Tiffy time there she's half her age and got so many fillers it'd be like sleeping on a waterbed.
Someone showed me a picture of (most of) Charlotte Flair recently and I didn't believe them.
Quite, I didn't know it was possible to be actively turned off by nudes before seeing those pictures.
When her music hit and came out I genuinely wondered for at least a minute when the actual Charlotte was going to come out. The lengths you go to, to not look like Ric Flair I guess.
Check PMs
I know it’s in Canada but wasting Owens/Zayn at EC a month before ‘mania is just so dumb
Absolutely no idea who wins the Chamber, which is nice I guess. Absolutely guaranteed whoever Logan Paul screws will be his match at ‘mania. Pray it’s not Cena, utter waste if it is
Here’s my prediction:
Cena wins tonight to main event Mania with Cody. CM Punk cashes in his favour with Paul Heyman to get him in the match. Cody, meanwhile, rejects Rock’s offer to be his Champion. Rock, feeling deceived by Cody, agrees to Heyman’s request to add Punk into the match to try and stack the odds against Rhodes.
Mania is set for a triple threat main event. As a payback for Rhodes helping Reigns at War Games defeat the New Bloodline, Reigns interferes in the match to assist Cody to win.
That then lays the groundwork for Rock - Reigns either at Summerslam or WM42.
Downsides: Cena doesn’t win #17. Reigns only has a bit part in a WrestleMania. Cody’s year long reign carries on with seemingly no end in sight.
I don’t think Cena wins #17 unfortunately and it’ll be a massively missed opportunity
That whiplash onto Liv’s stomach was horrendous. I thought the sound was just the whip hitting the cage but based off the mark and the amount of blood, clearly not
Wouldn’t be surprised if he beats Gunther and they class that as 17. He also needs to win the IC to get his complete set.
Gunther is a world champ not IC
Yeah, I mean he could beat Gunther for 17 to get that out the way. Then go after the IC to complete the set. Versus Bron at Summerslam could be an option.
Surely they’re not letting Rock close the show after the Chamber?
I really fucking hope we’re not getting Mcintrye v Priest at ‘mania.
Only thing that could top that is if we get a Paul/Cena set up in this match too
Now give him that fucking title
Fucking hell WWE wrestling is borderline unwatchable. It’s so dull. The only part of that match with any momentum was that middle cena/punk 90 seconds with some transitions. It’s just finisher spamming and punches.
Obviously. John Cena was involved.
Heel Cena. He really is retiring. What a night
Well thats a direction I didnt expect, but was obvious it was coming by Cena hamming it up when Cody said no. They're going to have to explain away Cena helping Cody last year, but I'm sure Rick can ramble some incoherent nonsense for 15 minutes.
My prediction before the show was that Cody respectfully rejects and then faces a match he cannot win at Mania. He then calls in Rick to sell his soul and Cody heel turns.
Crowd just didn't seem to want this. Same with the womens. They sounded all in on Alexa and the room went quiet when she was eliminated. Surely Bianca is the actual one behind the attack here too, because why would it be Naomi? Why would Jade not come back out and twat her too? Why the fuck is whatever a Travis Scott is coming out to the Ricks music, joint in hand?
Whole show felt kind of off to me. KO continues to take lol bumps(the face off the barbed chair looked legit).
At least we got Trish, I guess.
This also leaves the CM Punk favour in the air.
Packing out a massive stadium and only putting on four matches is a bit odd, sometimes less is less.
He did it for The Rick
It’s not a difficult thing to sell. Cena has always been a corporate man and he’s been sold a dream trying to achieve #17. You got snippets of it when he won the EC. A normal Cena wouldn’t have sprinted over to Punk after Rollins does his stomp and then the way he done his STFU was the most violent he’s ever done.
Peak wrestling
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