Sounds like Daffney thought she had CTE or some other concussion-related brain damage. The way she went about it is very reminiscent of several former NFL players (chest wound, "my brain goes to XXXX", etc.) likely in the hopes it would have similar ramifications for the "sports entertainment" industry.
Concussions come with the business, no matter how hard you try. Even I, as a ring announcer, have been legit knocked unconscious and concussed in the ring. Being bodyslammed can bounce your head. I just keep thinkin "she wanted to be an actress and fell into wrestling". And maybe wrestling killed her. It surely took more out of her than she was compensated for. I remember guys "getting their bell rung" in HS football. Guys got knocked loopy in the ring ALL THE TIME 30 years ago, 20 years ago, ESPECIALLY on the indys. Add all those rung bells up.
Anyone catch CM Punk's return match last night? Just curious to hear how he performed and whether he was in decent enough ring shape. It sounds like Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson made their debuts last night. I personally would have only debuted one of the wrestlers and hold the others return for a later date. It's OK to spread things out a bit and keep some natural hype and motivation going, they were already in a good enough place with Punk having his debut match. Can't wait to hear the Corny Drive Thru comments on Jericho burying a young talent, they were already heavily criticizing the treatment of MJF and it looks like their prediction from last week came true. *Update* I'm going to laugh at the inevitable meltdown regarding Corny's website. He was begging for people to log on over the weekend to try and break it, and it appears the listeners were extremely successful in doing so lol.
I always listen to corny but he is just silly at times. he clearly makes excuses for who he likes and rags on who he hates. I thought the Cole and Danielson debut was brilliant. why? because almost everyone thought it was Danielson debuting, then instead Cole walked out who people didn't know that I saw anywhere was coming to AEW yet. then Cole joined up with Omega and swerved us again. Then here comes Danielson
True, but I do enjoy his rips of Shawn Michaels, who I have never liked (great in-ring performer, awful person by almost all accounts).
I have not heard anyone say ever in the last 22 years he still acts like an awful person. imo 22 years of being a good person is long enough to no longer rag on him for the way he acted from 1992-1999
Perhaps. I saw the Punk and Bryan stuff on YT this morning and enjoyed them. I don't know who Adam Cole is, but Punk and Bryan being in AEW on a regular basis might actually get me to watch.
Cole is pretty good. I don't watch any wwe product so I don't know how he was in nxt but he was pretty awesome in ROH.
Yeah, Corny is a Bridge Burner persona. I understand that he doesn't want anyone negative in his life, but as soon as you get on his bad side you are banished forever and subject to his negative comments and ridicule. I honestly doubt he has ever been in the same building as Shawn Michaels after he changed his ways (maybe the 2017 Hall Of Fame but I'm not sure). If they did, I would imagine Shawn would have apologized to Cornette for some of his behavior like he has done with others but that would be in one ear and out the other for Corny. Same would go with Jericho, he has done a handful of things to get into Corny's bad books and will forever be left there. The less he and Last talk about those guys (with exception to their past in-ring performances strictly) the better. I get that they made the Cole/Danielson debut a big moment but at the same time debuting two game changing talents on the same night when their now biggest star has his in-ring return can be criticized as putting their eggs all in one basket. What are they going to be able to do now to top that event? Sure they can maybe debut someone like Bray Wyatt or Ric Flair but I just don't see Wyatt bringing as much impact in a debut scenario, and bless Flair but his time is past and I don't want to see him ever get back in the ring to perform ever again. Maybe if AEW grabbed Charlotte and brought her into the fold with Ric it would work better but Ric has already confirmed she will be staying with WWE for the time being.
I suspect they are trying to strike while the iron is hot. WWE is apparently really struggling lately, so by going all-in with everything at once, they are probably striking to get momentum fast. In this day and age of social media and short attention spans, playing the long game may not be the way for them to go.
I dunno, all I am getting from this double talent introduction is a one-up dig. WWE surprised everyone by introducing Brock Lesner back in one night, well we can surprise everyone by bringing back TWO talents in one night! I think AEW are at the stage where they don't need to be concerned with everything WWE is doing and trying to one-up them or have Jericho acting as a spokesperson and saying they are going to start beating WWE in the ratings 6 months from now. WWE are doing a perfectly good job of destroying their own business from the inside out and all AEW has to do right now is let their actions continue to do the talking. I think it would have been brilliant for them to introduce ONLY Cole last night, absolutely no one was expecting him to arrive this early. Everyone was expecting Bryan from the teasers being made on their programming and they could have continued teasing him up to debut him in October and keep momentum going into their next PPV event in November.
The Punk match was really good. It wasn't Michaels return vs Triple H great, but him and Darby put on a 4 star match. Punk didn't look rusty and the match was laid out really well. At one point he hits the Go To Sleep and Darby sold it like it whiplashed him through the ropes in a cool spot. I didn't see it as Jericho burying a young talent. MJF ended the feud with a 3-1 advantage. The match was dominated by MJF and basically Jericho living to fight another day. (Now I wouldn't have gone with the "win or retire" stipulation either as I think they over do stipulations, but in no way was MJF buried.) His character is far more over a top heel today than it was a year ago after Moxley beat him. The Cole/Danielson debuts worked really well. They treated it like Cole was the big ending surprise and even played off the last time he was in the ring with the Bucks in ROH they kicked him out of the Bullet Club, then out of nowhere he superkicks Jungle Boy and joins them. So you think it's ending at that point and Omega is doing his "goodnight, goodbye..." ending and then Danielson's music hits. They played it perfectly. It was a great show. I love the idea of Minoru Suzuki vs Jon Moxley again. It happened in New Japan in early 2020 and was great. Bucks vs Lucha Bros was the best match on the show and one of the best matches of the year. To me the second best was Omega vs Christian.
I think AEW likely had the Danielson & Cole debuts planned for last night long before Summerslam and the surprise Lesnar thing. I think they wanted Danielson on the show by the outdoor show at Arthur Ashe Stadium in a couple of weeks.
Bryan Danielson says desire to 'push limits' led him to AEW Adam Cole says decision to join AEW 'fairly easy'
Good to hear about Punks performance. I had a quick look at a photo of him at All Out and it does look like he got himself in better shape since completing the 'Heels' tv show. I'm a bit confused with the Danielson entrance, are they setting him up as a face to challenge a heel Omega? Or are they banding together as faces and battling the Bullet Club w/ Cole as heels? I think the critique Cornette and Last mentioned regarding the MJF/Jericho feud was that Jericho should not be the first person to defeat MJF by a clean pinfall or submission move and that has just happened (although I think they have disregarded Moxley beating him last year... not sure if that was booked a "questionable" finish). Either way, prepare for the Jericho slagfest on the next Drive Thru.
I think setting Danielson up to get some wins in the middle of a group battling the Elite while Omega dodges him saying you don't get immediate title shots in AEW. Then by the Nov PPV they will have the match. Moxley was the 1st to beat MJF a year ago.
From the sounds of that interview I guess Bryan doesn't care about his history with concussions. I actually agree with Vince being overprotective of a talent with conditions as severe as Danielson suffered. To me, it's more about Danielson wanting WWE Part Time legend perks and Vince not buying into it. I hope he modifies his style and tells the guys to be careful with the head. I really don't want another tragedy unfolding tying a wrestler to brain damage. Cole I don't blame one bit for leaving WWE and going to AEW. He was going to remain in NXT and have no chance of getting into the heavyweight championship run with Vince still running the show. He has better opportunities to do that in AEW, but he still may need to work through a mid card bout before doing so.
Cool, thanks! So it's faction vs faction with Danielson on the face side. Doesn't surprise me that the Drive Thru crew disregarded MJF's first loss to Moxley... whenever they talk about the latter it sounds like they don't even bother to watch his matches (that's true with Corny at least).
NXT is the only weekly wresting show I watch, and Cole was the best thing in NXT for the last 2 years. A major loss for them whether they know it or not.
Interesting some of you are worried about AEW keeping Bryan safe yet have full confidence they would never let Flair wrestle.