It almost sounds like a "Snack & A Half" ice cream sandwich that we used to have here but was just recently discontinued.
Big E is now suggesting AJ Lee could return to WWE with a "Brock Lesnar type schedule". We now have that and the Sasha AJ Lee tweet from last week. I don't think AJ ever had the issues with WWE that CM had and is still liked by Stephanie. I wonder if CM and AJ think working for rival promotions is such a crazy idea they are into it?
Well the WWE did send her husband his termination letter on their wedding day. I'd say that was a bit of an issue.
Yeah, she mentioned that she felt uncomfortable being in the middle of the Punk/WWE breakup and I think she also suffered some spinal damage too. I wouldn't want to head back to WWE with all of that on your shoulders and the potential to be there one day and gone the next.
I had forgotten that. But, I think she was also champion for a year after that. Anyway, if she did want to come back she could probably get a lot out of Vince right now and I would argue one thing the WWE does have is a better women's division.
After hearing about the treatment Bianca Belair just got at SummerSlam, I would seriously reconsider signing back on with the WWE. Vince is still showing he has heavy favoritism towards specific talent and that trait won't disappear anytime soon.
Just to follow up on the ratings... AEW Rampage 1.2 million. Smackdown 2.1 million. The difference is not that great considering Smackdown is on at 8 PM and on a network and Rampage is on Cable at 10 PM. AEW beat Smackdown in males 18-49, persons 18-34, females 18-34 & males 35-49 continuing the trend of people over 50 giving the WWE a huge amount of their viewers.
He is being a little prisoner of the moment there, as I cannot imagine any moment of his ever topping winning the title from Cena at Money in the Bank in 2011 in Chicago. As crazy loud as that pop was the other night, not sure it beat the pop he got back in 2011. The fact that he went into that match in 2011 as the heel and still got that pop/ovation made it even crazier.
I think he has just gone back to badmouthing his time in the WWE, and it's going to work out for him in this venture. He seemed to sway back and forth for a while, at the end of his WWE tenure he had nothing positive to say about anything he did within the company. Then after a few years of reflection and time away from wrestling, he started adding a more positive light to some of the work he did there (his match with Undertaker at WrestleMania 29 is a good example of his opinion doing a complete 180). Now that he is in direct competition with them and making a boatload of money he can pretty much say and do whatever he wants. I expect the occasional dig at WWE, if it became all the time it would become more sad really. He's got better things to focus on now and maybe fall in love with the business again. Tony Khan better treat him like a million bucks though, Punk is definitely the type to sour quickly if he doesn't like what's going on around him.
When we started Insane Championship Wrestling in the 90s our tag champs were Joe E Legend and Sexton Hardcastle, whom our fans lovingly labeled "Ken and Barbie". Usually with their manager "Handsome" Johnny Bradford(the only deaf manager in wrestling). Also skulking around was their partner Christian Cage. Of course Sexton became Edge, but what about Joe E? They were all signed to the WWF. Anyway, this guy tracks what was done to my friend. He was actually the best one of the three but barely got to show any of it.
AEW really didn't have a plan last night other than the Punk interview. They really didn't hype anything, nor did they do much on the show beyond that. The main event was Malachi Black vs Brock Anderson. Punk's promo saved the show, but other than that this week felt like they just didn't have a plan and the 1st time in a couple of months that the show wasn't that good.
Tough being a WWE fan these days... kinda like being a Jet fan Reminds me of when I would watch RAW for the Austin segments back in the day... 99% of the time, the rest of the show was filler.
They didn't even promote that two of their biggest stars (Moxley & Omega) were going to be on the show they just randomly showed up mid show for a match and a promo respectively. Punk's promo was great, Moxley & Kingston are always good even if their opponents aren't. Omega/Callis/Christian all had great delivery, but the segment was just weird. Omega wasn't announced for the show, he just walks out I guess to do a promo and as soon as he is out there Christian's music plays. At least announce that your world champion is going to be on the show. The Lucha Bros looked good, but Pillman & Garrison aren't ready for TV so that match was clunky. I think there is something there with Garrison, but Pillman hasn't looked good. Nobody cares about QT Marshall's crew vs Billy Gunn and his kids. Hayter vs Velvet was good. A squash match main event to cap it all off. Jim Ross had a bad night on commentary also. Everything was off, including the booking/formatting of the show.
Not really the greatest thing to do after having arguably the biggest night of AEW's history. Of course Punk isn't going to wrestle until the PPV event but it doesn't really excuse the company for not using their headlining talent to keep the momentum going. Are they going to be dedicating Friday Rampage as their main program now?
Not entirely surprised, I would have expected Bork Lazer to return around Survivor Series or the Royal Rumble but they must have felt like Cena wasn't going to give them everything they wanted to compete with Punk's return. Either way, it's a smart move for the WWE as they now have the option to make a slow build between Reigns/Lesner for Wrestlemania... it has to be heading that way.
Apparently they had a match removed from the show on Wednesday due to covid protocols at the last minute which caused the show to be uneven. I think the plan is to keep Dynamite and Rampage as equal shows and not do what WCW did with Thunder. It was one show, but with the extra eyes on them they should have maybe put an Omega/Bucks trios match on just to get more eyes on their champs.
It’s come out that the Lesnar appearance and deal was made at the last second in a panic so it’s pretty obvious Vince was watching what happened at AEW with Punk and figured he needed not just Beckys return but a return of a monster…although Lesnar is going to be a face which IMO weakens him as he was born to play a heel. Here’s a decent article on the state of WWE: CM Punk, Becky Lynch and the Issues WWE Must Address to Please Everyone
Even though it was a last minute deal, it was smart to get Lesner back in the fold at this time to compete with the CM Punk debut for AEW. The problem now is Punk signed on full time and will be on TV 2-3 times a week while Lesner makes the occasional TV appearance and fights in maybe 3-4 PPV events. And he is facing Reigns for the billionth time. Both Lesner & Reigns have the exact same issues, they both work better as heels and desperately need a mouthpiece to elevate their promos and balance them out. They also both use a limited "big man" move set which makes their matches boring. Sure, they have the potential to make the feud interesting by having Heyman turn on Reigns and go back to Lesner making him a proper heel again. But Reigns as a face?... He's just not good enough to do that. I think it's time for WWE to start banking on a new champion, but they keep giving away all their young talent. They are in a messy situation that will be tough to get out of.
WWE isn't going to get any better. They have decided to stop recruiting from the indies and just hire athletes with the look they want and train them to be wrestlers. Would be like a movie studio just pulling someone who looks like Abe Lincoln off the streets a say we will train you to act like Daniel Day Lewis.
