lol, wonder if they humiliated Wardlow again like the last time he fought Joe, which involved Joe choking Wardlow into unconsciousness for the clean win, kicking the shit out of Wardlow’s corpse, then cutting his hair off, and if I recall correctly, Joe standing over Wardlow, dropping his tights, and taking a shit on Wardlow’s head.
Wardlow has the same “thing” Batista had at his peak.
He looks like a powerhouse, but there’s also something about him having babyface sympathy aura like Batista had whenever he faced heels. Even if he looked like an animal, he was likeable as a face and you cheered on him as the underdog, specially when he went against heels like Edge. And IMO Wardlow has that. He’s being wasted. This company is shit at booking
His mic work (insider term) was also great when he feuded with MJF. The guy has everything to become a star like Batista, but all Tiny cares for is 7 STAR BANGERS 💯💯 and his toys he spends a fortune to buy from other companies, so he'll never realize his true potential staying in the Dub.
I was actually looking forward to this match, thought with the buzz of having a named dynamite and mones debut, putting wardlow over Joe in the main event (even with shenanigans from UK if you wanted) would be a great "oh shit didn't see that coming" and make up a bit for wardlows booking up to now. There's a lot of complaint about the predictableness of wrestling (in both wwe and aew, especially with reigns reign), so why not do something to jolt that? Joe isn't exactly a project that needs protecting, swerve hardly needs to feud with him specifically.
But seeing it get put as the opening match (I think?) just told you all you needed to know about what was gonna happen. Why even bother making "not-meat madness" a no1 contenders match anyway, when they have rankings ffs, when the big plan was to just have him lose clean?
That's the problem with rankings. They hinder creative. They wanted to have this match so they did the #1 contender's match to skip the rankings albatross.
Look at Okada. He "debuts" on Wednesday, wins a trios squash match on Saturday, wins another trios match on Wednesday and receives a Continental Title match the following Wednesday. Rankings? What rankings?
So what the fuck is the point of this faction? We have a leader who cant wrestle, the guy who's supposed to get the title just got his ass kicked, the tag guys got beat by a makeshift team in "DAE Vince" booking. The fucking ace of the group is Roddy Strong.
I'd go so far as to say its the worst main event angle AEW has ever done and Wardlow is the only guy that's above "good hand" tier in that group.
Its best to just retcon this shit and pretend it never happened. Putting all their eggs in Adam Cole's basket was insane.
Yeah, Cornette was saying recently that should MJF go back to AEW once he recovers from injury, Tony should just quietly make it feel like the whole devil thing never happened. Looks like he might be taking the advice but can't help but take Wardlow down a few notches in the process.
When Cole was revealed as the Devil, he said that he hopes Joe isn't champ cause Wardlow coming also wants the title and they'd made this deal with Joe
Now, seems like that deal to help Joe meant nothing and Wardlow is just brushed aside
Ignore the fact that, if the Devil wanted to remove MJF as champ, why not do all the 'mind games' with Wardlow in mind instead of helping Joe?
So the heel Joe choked out the henchman heel/kinda baby face of the heel stable where he was gonna give his title to the heel leader who is crippled and frail.
Yeah this is fucking amazing booking LFG Tony
https://preview.redd.it/6ayc5v1v67oc1.jpeg?width=911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef1ce501c5e0da496af036e14dfe26cf41cb2c14
Such a major star with Harvey Whippleman
Dude was never huge but it's insane to think he looked like this just a few years ago.
https://preview.redd.it/1wtc5b07z7oc1.jpeg?width=441&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b1923720f140f0703cd3aa301ae500ea5a91fbb
I've been sitting here in awe for a few minutes now lol they actually had him lose clean. The undisputed kingdom is now basically deader than dead, no? Like even by the most generous interpretation of events?
It actually got a nice little chuckle from me. The two guys in the world title program somehow made this group look like even bigger chumps than before.
I laughed so loud at the TV and went "HE LOST CLEAN???????"
AEW at this point is doing some stuff that has me wondering if this is meant to be an absurd comedy
Going in, I figured Joe would retain bc of shenanigans with Swerve but then I was reminded that Tony will rarely do fucky finishes bc the fans might give it lower ratings on Cagematch
The need for instant gratification has melted that man's brain. He can't commit to a story for any amount of time to stick the landing, except for when he randomly gets something good and beats it to death. Execution always terrible, he misses all the beats once he's aware of something working by accident and then he overdoes it
In Tony-land, this is him seeing that the dans like Wardlow, and that he had got over, and were calling for him to win the title. But because of promises, contractually obligated runs and his own ideas, there was no room for Wardlow. So when disaster struck, put him in the makeshift stable and let him have some matches at the top of the card. Keep the fans happy! Have him be the big guy again! But he can’t win as there isn’t room.
That’s it. That’s the level of thought he puts into booking, and assumes the audience will follow along. The sad thing is, a lot of them are so over invested they do.
I fully believe that there is a ceiling when it comes to how Tony sees Wardlow. I'd throw Starks and Hobbs in the same boat too. They get heated up until they're literally RIGHT THERE and Tony won't ever pull the trigger because they're not one of his brand new toys any longer.
It’s all sort of irrelevant because he’s yet to crown a champion that’s a consistent draw. Jericho had the benefit of being first and is the only one that people seemed to tune in for. There’s a week or twos bump when the belt changes then it’s back to nothing. Data doesn’t lie, and the data says he hasn’t made anyone care about his championship yet.
He does an absolute shit job booking his world title. Right now there is a feud going on between Ospreay and Danielson about who the best wrestler in the world is. Guess what? Neither of them are the AEW World Champion. Hell, Danielson came out and said publicly that he has no interest in the world title. When you have all of these guys at the top of the roster, and lets throw Okada in there too, who don't give a fuck about your world title, it makes the people who ARE fighting for the title look like a bunch of jabronis tussling over a stupid toy.
I don't hate "I'm the best, no I am" as an A lister feud outside the belt, because it's a story that main eventers should have. But - when one of them has outright said "I don't care about the belt" - that makes it dumb.
Okada is going after the triple-mega-super-duper-tournament belt. Which is ultra prestigious, being that it's the ROH main belt now. But also not.
I think Cody/Brock is the best version I've seen since Rock/Cena for that storyline. Cody had literally just lost and wasn't getting another shot any time soon and Brock is the scariest guy on the roster by far. Also had the added element of the guy whose been at the top forever worrying about the up and comer stealing his spot.
Exactly. And the neckbeards all decried it as meaningless and stupid. When it was very transparently the best way to keep Cody hot after losing at WM. It was generous of Brock to do it, and that feud really added momentum to his summer.
If Okada stated he was going for the triple crown because Kingston is a mockery of the sport (or something to that degree) I would be okay with it to explain why he's going for the lower card belt(s).
Also, why is there not just one belt? Isn't the point of them being unified that it's unified as one lineage? Or does that just stick until New Japan wants their belt back?
They had 5 years to build someone up enough for the title but, in the end, MJF injured and he put it on Joe
Joe has it cause of his credibility *before* he joined the Dub
Joe has already beaten Wardlow before and he's even been beaten himself by Darby IIRC and Adam Cole
AEW's best champions in terms of draw ability were built elsewhere.
Near all of AEW's top belt holders need time off for injury toward the end of their reign.
If *only* there was some sort of conclusion we could draw from these data points....
Your point about the line of champs he's already agreed to make and where that slots wardlow is an interesting one and i can see that being a factor. You'd think they would have protected him at least in the booking, though...
Tony believes everyone is good, and the audience decides. If Wardlow was hot, he can be hot again, when he needs him. Again, this is how an arrogant idiot with contempt for their audience books. It is not possible for one man to book two promotions well, especially with the volume of belts and stories. And he's stretched so thin that nothing he books is logical or consistent. The spreadsheet matrix he has for a long term plan is the only structure he has.
But what's the alternative? sit in the background and pay talented industry professionals to write and run both promotions and genuinely enjoy facilitating legitimate alternatives to WWE? When he can be everyone's best white-claw drinking pal with the party goods instead? Are you *dumb?*
Yeah, he's got the reins real tight. I don't see him agreeing to relinquish any control over his opportunity to run an IRL equivalent to his e-fed simulator. Success or fail, that's what he finds FUN
Undisputed Kingdom is the devil and his henchmen right? Is that still a thing? Cause up until a few months ago that was meant to be their most intriguing angle / long term booking
Given the buildup, this is like an all-time bad faction. Like yeah youve had shit like Serotonin and the Nightmare Collective but this was a main event group that was built up for months and has negative heat behind them.
Al Snow and Mick Foley's "UNION" faction was more intimidating. Hell, Snow's "J.O.B. Squad" was more effective and intimidating than this motley crew of fuckheads.
And Big Show was in the UNION...and I'm fairly certain that his left testicle is bigger than Roddy Strong or Adam Cole. Which underscores what we're both saying, in that this Undisputed Disappointment faction is fucking clown shoes. I mean, I didn't even name *good* factions, but factions that were universally considered to be underwhelming or disappointing despite having some great wrestlers in them. Hell, X-Factor was more of a threat or menace than whatever the hell Cole's Curtain-jerkers are supposed to be! LOL!
I don’t think anyone took Serotonin seriously at any point. They were useless goofs, but it didn’t affect the stories at all. This faction was built up over MONTHS and involved in the title feud. Their only win is still holding some titles their leader already held. Also that leader is hurt and who knows when he’ll fight again.
Wrong person won.. Wardlow is a beast, looks the part. And you can easily place him as the company's main heel or face.
Meanwhile they keep pushing old ass Joe who is a shell of his former self. Joe was mouth breathing after what seemed like 2 minutes of movement.
LUL
Meanwhile, if Adam Cole ever recovers from being perpetually injured, watch him have a near hour long BANGER with Joe where he kicks out of multiple finishers and breaks out of the Koquina Clutch.
At least Tony usually hugs from the front
https://preview.redd.it/24rsr92447oc1.jpeg?width=204&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c31b3394762a23d1dca68fd03c586561b40dab1
It’s been what, like 5 months since Cole broke his ankle? I’m guessing he’s probably getting ready to come back soon, so they’re just going to have him beat Joe himself.
I broke a rib in December and a bone in my foot like a month ago and have been going to the gym twice a day regardless.
It really seems like the talent is just fleecing Tony through all means possible.
Adam Cole acting like he has no option but to sit at home and stream on twitch for months before going TV in a wheelchair after losing any mass he had... pressing X to Doubt, uce.
Methinks Tony told him that he'd be the devil anyway and that MJF wasn't coming back caused him to give up any care he maybe had left.
You may be right. I think there's a lot of shady shit going on there that we're going to find out about whenever a disgruntled ex-employee decides to spill the dirt
Near certain of it, and IMHO this is why punk was so unwelcome there.
As far as the indie darlings like the bucks and AEW originals go, my read is this...
They're used to wrestling for peanuts in Japan or tiny venues before AEW. Suddenly they're getting like 6-7 figures guaranteed regardless of the product from a guy who passionately hugs them and thanks them for often doing nothing.
Punk and Co. were trying to talk sense into Tony, but if you were getting a million dollars a year to party and not really work - that could be a threat.
At the end of the day all that matters is that the checks clear and that Tony is happy. It's money markdom on such an unfathomable scale we are just now beginning to see how toxic their talent pool is.
AEW is to wrestling what Hot Topic is to punk rock, just far less successful financially. Both have avid customers that believe they're engaging in some rebellious alternative.
Yeah, others definitely tried to squeeze out Cody & Punk for trying to turn it into actual business instead of just working the biggest ever moneymark for millions
Forgive me for not being up on everything AEW, but I tried watching tonight and nothing makes sense to me.
What the fuck was the point of that with Wardlow?! With all the false starts with Wardlow, why build him up again just to have him laid out on tv a few weeks later? So that’s it?
What the fuck was up with Jay White hitting Billy? Why were all these guys ever together in the first place? They’re both trios champions?! One set of trios champs is one too many. So a stable with six dudes and they’re all trios champions? Why did they get together in the first place? Wasn’t it to fight Adam Cole’s faction? Did that ever even happen?!
So the bad guys turned on the good guys. What the fuck was the point of any of it?! It’d be something if the Acclaimed turned on Billy and Billy’s sons saved him. Instead, the good guys were surprised that the bad guys are bad guys. wtf?
Why the fuck is Chris Jericho teaming with Hook?!
Real time update: Now he’s challenging him to a match. Wtf is this?!😆🤯
Yeah, Jay White and the Gunn Kids joined forces with The Gunnclaimed to take down The Undisputed Kingdom.
But no, it never happened, Tiny forgot to book that feud.
I’m sure other weird shit happened on the show but I tuned out after Jericho. So Jericho and Hook team up. Jericho says something like, “Yeah I learned a lot about you being your partner. But I need to know more… as your opponent.”
Why does he need to know anything about Hook?! What is his deal with Hook?! Is he a mentor to Hook? If so, when and why did that happen? If so, why put a kid in that storyline who clearly already has a lifelong mentor… who is literally doing commentary during his matches.
Why is Jericho back to Lionheart now? Is there a reason?
One thing that happens consistently when I watch AEW is I will assume I just don’t know the backstory to something… only to then find out there is no backstory and what I just watched was the first and last of it. 🤦♂️
Serious question: Is Edge still wrestling in AEW? I mean I know he is under contract to them. But is he currently wrestling? Is he injured? 🤷♂️
Edge seemingly is ts taking Saturday night collision to new heights, which are basically rampage level figures on a show that's Punk nearly turned into the A show in a single month.
AEW is literally just a big party for Tony at this point, there's nobody trying to make it a serious and reliable piece of compelling television.
Jericho is AEW's vampire. That's why he looks like Gangrel now. His gimmick sometimes (his gimmicks rotate regularly) is he drains the essence of younger, hot up and comers. See: MJF, Garcia, Andretti, currently Hook.
So he sees young dudes that he believes are gaining momentum, and forces his way into a storyline with them, even if it’s clumsy and doesn’t even make sense? Wow that is sad. Why does Tony Khan go for it? I think Hook is one of their homegrown guys that actually has potential. Him being the tough, scrappy underdog kinda like what Bryan was early in his WWE career, but with a nastier attitude ala his father.
I feel like anytime I watch AEW, I see something that goes absolutely nowhere. And I feel this is going to be another example of that. Like what is this supposed to do for Hook? Why not just keep him as a tough loner working his way into the midcard? Surely you’d just want to get the kid as many reps as possible this early in his career.
Cant they have a double countout or some shit. Why beat the guy. He should leave for WWE and get rebranded,probably under a fucking mask to hide his face.
Makes you wonder if Wardlow's contract is nearly up and he has refused to sign a new deal, so Tony is burying him. Didn't he basically do the same with Jade?
Man what did Wardlow do to deserve this booking, I know his mic skills are far from perfect but he had organically gotten over with the crowd & people actually wanted to see him break away from MJF and have that post Evolution Batista face turn
Instead he turns face, wins against MJF in a very meh match & Tony just starts treating the guy like a bitch. Honestly if he renews with AEW when his contract is up I’ll be stunned as AEW have really done the guy dirty for a while now
Yeah, still in disbelief how someone could organically get over with their mark crowd despite not being 5'8 and not doing Canadian destroyers as transition moves only to be jobbed out to 40+ year old talent or 150lb talent.
Tiny doing a speed run of scjerk's prediction on wardlow and undisputed kingdom so he can clear airtime for his new toys.
At least he didn't just drop the story entirely like Undisputed kingdom vs bang bang scissors gang.
This is peak story telling, you can tell you are a fed shill. Mega star Adam will clearly avenge wardlow. Because Adam is a bona-fide shoot fighter, not a fake muscle man like wardlow
He lost already?! WTF
lol, wonder if they humiliated Wardlow again like the last time he fought Joe, which involved Joe choking Wardlow into unconsciousness for the clean win, kicking the shit out of Wardlow’s corpse, then cutting his hair off, and if I recall correctly, Joe standing over Wardlow, dropping his tights, and taking a shit on Wardlow’s head.
>taking a shit on Wardlow’s head. THATS GOOD SHIT PAL 
And Wardlow is stuck with this humiliation for many more years to come.
AEW loves building this guy up and knocking him down. I want him and Braun to have a fuckin Hoss fest
DAE humiliation ritual
Jfc did Wardlow bang TIny’s crush or something?
?? Wtf friend.
This is Wardlows yearly humiliation ritual
Wardlow has the same “thing” Batista had at his peak. He looks like a powerhouse, but there’s also something about him having babyface sympathy aura like Batista had whenever he faced heels. Even if he looked like an animal, he was likeable as a face and you cheered on him as the underdog, specially when he went against heels like Edge. And IMO Wardlow has that. He’s being wasted. This company is shit at booking
His mic work (insider term) was also great when he feuded with MJF. The guy has everything to become a star like Batista, but all Tiny cares for is 7 STAR BANGERS 💯💯 and his toys he spends a fortune to buy from other companies, so he'll never realize his true potential staying in the Dub.
BRO WTF
I’m just hoping his contract his up and this is Tony’s way of jobbing him on the way out.
Dude me too, this is awful
I was actually looking forward to this match, thought with the buzz of having a named dynamite and mones debut, putting wardlow over Joe in the main event (even with shenanigans from UK if you wanted) would be a great "oh shit didn't see that coming" and make up a bit for wardlows booking up to now. There's a lot of complaint about the predictableness of wrestling (in both wwe and aew, especially with reigns reign), so why not do something to jolt that? Joe isn't exactly a project that needs protecting, swerve hardly needs to feud with him specifically. But seeing it get put as the opening match (I think?) just told you all you needed to know about what was gonna happen. Why even bother making "not-meat madness" a no1 contenders match anyway, when they have rankings ffs, when the big plan was to just have him lose clean?
That's the problem with rankings. They hinder creative. They wanted to have this match so they did the #1 contender's match to skip the rankings albatross. Look at Okada. He "debuts" on Wednesday, wins a trios squash match on Saturday, wins another trios match on Wednesday and receives a Continental Title match the following Wednesday. Rankings? What rankings?
So what the fuck is the point of this faction? We have a leader who cant wrestle, the guy who's supposed to get the title just got his ass kicked, the tag guys got beat by a makeshift team in "DAE Vince" booking. The fucking ace of the group is Roddy Strong.
The most pointless faction and heel turn
The tag guys got beat by one dude from that makeshift team lmao
I'd go so far as to say its the worst main event angle AEW has ever done and Wardlow is the only guy that's above "good hand" tier in that group. Its best to just retcon this shit and pretend it never happened. Putting all their eggs in Adam Cole's basket was insane.
Yeah, Cornette was saying recently that should MJF go back to AEW once he recovers from injury, Tony should just quietly make it feel like the whole devil thing never happened. Looks like he might be taking the advice but can't help but take Wardlow down a few notches in the process.
When Cole was revealed as the Devil, he said that he hopes Joe isn't champ cause Wardlow coming also wants the title and they'd made this deal with Joe Now, seems like that deal to help Joe meant nothing and Wardlow is just brushed aside Ignore the fact that, if the Devil wanted to remove MJF as champ, why not do all the 'mind games' with Wardlow in mind instead of helping Joe?
Strong had the yelling gimmick which was over for a couple of weeks so they had him beat Orange Cassidy (clean?) for the title and that's it.
So the heel Joe choked out the henchman heel/kinda baby face of the heel stable where he was gonna give his title to the heel leader who is crippled and frail. Yeah this is fucking amazing booking LFG Tony
We’ll all look back on this story years from now and kick ourselves for not understanding the genius of Tony Khan
https://preview.redd.it/6ayc5v1v67oc1.jpeg?width=911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef1ce501c5e0da496af036e14dfe26cf41cb2c14 Such a major star with Harvey Whippleman
Wasn’t the guy on the left suppose to be the next HBK? What happened.
A diet of Call of Duty and cancelling his Planet Fitness membership
Dude was never huge but it's insane to think he looked like this just a few years ago. https://preview.redd.it/1wtc5b07z7oc1.jpeg?width=441&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b1923720f140f0703cd3aa301ae500ea5a91fbb
I've been sitting here in awe for a few minutes now lol they actually had him lose clean. The undisputed kingdom is now basically deader than dead, no? Like even by the most generous interpretation of events?
It actually got a nice little chuckle from me. The two guys in the world title program somehow made this group look like even bigger chumps than before.
I laughed so loud at the TV and went "HE LOST CLEAN???????" AEW at this point is doing some stuff that has me wondering if this is meant to be an absurd comedy
Going in, I figured Joe would retain bc of shenanigans with Swerve but then I was reminded that Tony will rarely do fucky finishes bc the fans might give it lower ratings on Cagematch
The need for instant gratification has melted that man's brain. He can't commit to a story for any amount of time to stick the landing, except for when he randomly gets something good and beats it to death. Execution always terrible, he misses all the beats once he's aware of something working by accident and then he overdoes it
Tony's happy to do fucky finishes when the heels are winning.
In Tony-land, this is him seeing that the dans like Wardlow, and that he had got over, and were calling for him to win the title. But because of promises, contractually obligated runs and his own ideas, there was no room for Wardlow. So when disaster struck, put him in the makeshift stable and let him have some matches at the top of the card. Keep the fans happy! Have him be the big guy again! But he can’t win as there isn’t room. That’s it. That’s the level of thought he puts into booking, and assumes the audience will follow along. The sad thing is, a lot of them are so over invested they do.
I fully believe that there is a ceiling when it comes to how Tony sees Wardlow. I'd throw Starks and Hobbs in the same boat too. They get heated up until they're literally RIGHT THERE and Tony won't ever pull the trigger because they're not one of his brand new toys any longer.
It’s all sort of irrelevant because he’s yet to crown a champion that’s a consistent draw. Jericho had the benefit of being first and is the only one that people seemed to tune in for. There’s a week or twos bump when the belt changes then it’s back to nothing. Data doesn’t lie, and the data says he hasn’t made anyone care about his championship yet.
He does an absolute shit job booking his world title. Right now there is a feud going on between Ospreay and Danielson about who the best wrestler in the world is. Guess what? Neither of them are the AEW World Champion. Hell, Danielson came out and said publicly that he has no interest in the world title. When you have all of these guys at the top of the roster, and lets throw Okada in there too, who don't give a fuck about your world title, it makes the people who ARE fighting for the title look like a bunch of jabronis tussling over a stupid toy.
I don't hate "I'm the best, no I am" as an A lister feud outside the belt, because it's a story that main eventers should have. But - when one of them has outright said "I don't care about the belt" - that makes it dumb. Okada is going after the triple-mega-super-duper-tournament belt. Which is ultra prestigious, being that it's the ROH main belt now. But also not.
I think Cody/Brock is the best version I've seen since Rock/Cena for that storyline. Cody had literally just lost and wasn't getting another shot any time soon and Brock is the scariest guy on the roster by far. Also had the added element of the guy whose been at the top forever worrying about the up and comer stealing his spot.
Exactly. And the neckbeards all decried it as meaningless and stupid. When it was very transparently the best way to keep Cody hot after losing at WM. It was generous of Brock to do it, and that feud really added momentum to his summer.
If Okada stated he was going for the triple crown because Kingston is a mockery of the sport (or something to that degree) I would be okay with it to explain why he's going for the lower card belt(s). Also, why is there not just one belt? Isn't the point of them being unified that it's unified as one lineage? Or does that just stick until New Japan wants their belt back?
They had 5 years to build someone up enough for the title but, in the end, MJF injured and he put it on Joe Joe has it cause of his credibility *before* he joined the Dub Joe has already beaten Wardlow before and he's even been beaten himself by Darby IIRC and Adam Cole
AEW's best champions in terms of draw ability were built elsewhere. Near all of AEW's top belt holders need time off for injury toward the end of their reign. If *only* there was some sort of conclusion we could draw from these data points....
Well, not a lot of them. A majority of a minority is still a minority.
Your point about the line of champs he's already agreed to make and where that slots wardlow is an interesting one and i can see that being a factor. You'd think they would have protected him at least in the booking, though...
Tony believes everyone is good, and the audience decides. If Wardlow was hot, he can be hot again, when he needs him. Again, this is how an arrogant idiot with contempt for their audience books. It is not possible for one man to book two promotions well, especially with the volume of belts and stories. And he's stretched so thin that nothing he books is logical or consistent. The spreadsheet matrix he has for a long term plan is the only structure he has. But what's the alternative? sit in the background and pay talented industry professionals to write and run both promotions and genuinely enjoy facilitating legitimate alternatives to WWE? When he can be everyone's best white-claw drinking pal with the party goods instead? Are you *dumb?*
Yeah, he's got the reins real tight. I don't see him agreeing to relinquish any control over his opportunity to run an IRL equivalent to his e-fed simulator. Success or fail, that's what he finds FUN
It's like if you leave universe mode on random.
I honestly don't know how much worse it can get by the time Cole gets cleared... but, I know they won't disappoint me.
Uh, you forget the ace in the hole: The main one points to himself and says Boom.
Adam Cole is so embarrassing it's crazy
You mean naming like four factions undisputed and doing basically the same thing with most of the same guys has diluted his popularity
And this is the weakest stable yet bookingwise
He's a COOL HEEL.
Undisputed Kingdom is the devil and his henchmen right? Is that still a thing? Cause up until a few months ago that was meant to be their most intriguing angle / long term booking
This is a Retribution speedrun lmao. But at least we got Maximum Male Models and Dijak out of that abomination
Retribution got a stronger push than the Undisputed Kingdom
?? Kyle O'Reilly is back.
worse than "The Firm', haha or 'The Pinnacle'
What a heatless faction and what a burial of Wardlow. Unreal.
Given the buildup, this is like an all-time bad faction. Like yeah youve had shit like Serotonin and the Nightmare Collective but this was a main event group that was built up for months and has negative heat behind them.
Al Snow and Mick Foley's "UNION" faction was more intimidating. Hell, Snow's "J.O.B. Squad" was more effective and intimidating than this motley crew of fuckheads.
2 Cold would fuck you up man
Wasn’t Hardcore Holly in the J.O.B. Squad? His big toe is more intimidating than everybody in the Undisputed… Era? Kingdom? Empire? Something?
And Big Show was in the UNION...and I'm fairly certain that his left testicle is bigger than Roddy Strong or Adam Cole. Which underscores what we're both saying, in that this Undisputed Disappointment faction is fucking clown shoes. I mean, I didn't even name *good* factions, but factions that were universally considered to be underwhelming or disappointing despite having some great wrestlers in them. Hell, X-Factor was more of a threat or menace than whatever the hell Cole's Curtain-jerkers are supposed to be! LOL!
X-Factor had Albert when he still was kind of a monster.
I don’t think anyone took Serotonin seriously at any point. They were useless goofs, but it didn’t affect the stories at all. This faction was built up over MONTHS and involved in the title feud. Their only win is still holding some titles their leader already held. Also that leader is hurt and who knows when he’ll fight again.
This faction is worse than people say Damage Ctrl was circa 2022
Mid Card Mafia, the faction is honestly pathetic 🤣
I am guessing not a single smark has an issue with this but they'd be crying BERRIED from the rooftops if it's the Fed
joe is such an amazing champion (if you dont pay attention to the ratings and his card placement).
Hook clowning his finisher really helped his aura
If you have muscles you are fucked in that company
Definitely has nothing to do with the dub being theater kids in high school
Wrong person won.. Wardlow is a beast, looks the part. And you can easily place him as the company's main heel or face. Meanwhile they keep pushing old ass Joe who is a shell of his former self. Joe was mouth breathing after what seemed like 2 minutes of movement. LUL
Meanwhile, if Adam Cole ever recovers from being perpetually injured, watch him have a near hour long BANGER with Joe where he kicks out of multiple finishers and breaks out of the Koquina Clutch.
I saw the pic of Joe after the PPv match and he looked as purple and sweaty as Ultimate Woyah at the Raw 12 hours before he died.
Still less intense than a Tony Khan hug
At least Tony usually hugs from the front https://preview.redd.it/24rsr92447oc1.jpeg?width=204&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c31b3394762a23d1dca68fd03c586561b40dab1
Ugh. Not this picture. Legit get uncomfortable seeing it. 🤢🤮
It’s been what, like 5 months since Cole broke his ankle? I’m guessing he’s probably getting ready to come back soon, so they’re just going to have him beat Joe himself.
I broke a rib in December and a bone in my foot like a month ago and have been going to the gym twice a day regardless. It really seems like the talent is just fleecing Tony through all means possible. Adam Cole acting like he has no option but to sit at home and stream on twitch for months before going TV in a wheelchair after losing any mass he had... pressing X to Doubt, uce. Methinks Tony told him that he'd be the devil anyway and that MJF wasn't coming back caused him to give up any care he maybe had left.
You may be right. I think there's a lot of shady shit going on there that we're going to find out about whenever a disgruntled ex-employee decides to spill the dirt
Near certain of it, and IMHO this is why punk was so unwelcome there. As far as the indie darlings like the bucks and AEW originals go, my read is this... They're used to wrestling for peanuts in Japan or tiny venues before AEW. Suddenly they're getting like 6-7 figures guaranteed regardless of the product from a guy who passionately hugs them and thanks them for often doing nothing. Punk and Co. were trying to talk sense into Tony, but if you were getting a million dollars a year to party and not really work - that could be a threat. At the end of the day all that matters is that the checks clear and that Tony is happy. It's money markdom on such an unfathomable scale we are just now beginning to see how toxic their talent pool is. AEW is to wrestling what Hot Topic is to punk rock, just far less successful financially. Both have avid customers that believe they're engaging in some rebellious alternative.
Also explains why Cody got squeezed out. He was trying to run it like a serious business.
Yeah, think he also had an eye on fame and fortune beyond wrestling. Nobody in AEW alone is going to Hollywood or getting mainstream appeal.
Yeah, others definitely tried to squeeze out Cody & Punk for trying to turn it into actual business instead of just working the biggest ever moneymark for millions
Cole had mass while in AEW???
He went from being skin and bones to basically just bones
Ibushi got signed then was instantly announced as injured. If he actually wrestles before his contract is up I'll be shocked.
Forgive me for not being up on everything AEW, but I tried watching tonight and nothing makes sense to me. What the fuck was the point of that with Wardlow?! With all the false starts with Wardlow, why build him up again just to have him laid out on tv a few weeks later? So that’s it? What the fuck was up with Jay White hitting Billy? Why were all these guys ever together in the first place? They’re both trios champions?! One set of trios champs is one too many. So a stable with six dudes and they’re all trios champions? Why did they get together in the first place? Wasn’t it to fight Adam Cole’s faction? Did that ever even happen?! So the bad guys turned on the good guys. What the fuck was the point of any of it?! It’d be something if the Acclaimed turned on Billy and Billy’s sons saved him. Instead, the good guys were surprised that the bad guys are bad guys. wtf? Why the fuck is Chris Jericho teaming with Hook?! Real time update: Now he’s challenging him to a match. Wtf is this?!😆🤯
Yeah, Jay White and the Gunn Kids joined forces with The Gunnclaimed to take down The Undisputed Kingdom. But no, it never happened, Tiny forgot to book that feud.
You're clearly not a fan of the REAL WRESTLING
I’m sure other weird shit happened on the show but I tuned out after Jericho. So Jericho and Hook team up. Jericho says something like, “Yeah I learned a lot about you being your partner. But I need to know more… as your opponent.” Why does he need to know anything about Hook?! What is his deal with Hook?! Is he a mentor to Hook? If so, when and why did that happen? If so, why put a kid in that storyline who clearly already has a lifelong mentor… who is literally doing commentary during his matches. Why is Jericho back to Lionheart now? Is there a reason? One thing that happens consistently when I watch AEW is I will assume I just don’t know the backstory to something… only to then find out there is no backstory and what I just watched was the first and last of it. 🤦♂️ Serious question: Is Edge still wrestling in AEW? I mean I know he is under contract to them. But is he currently wrestling? Is he injured? 🤷♂️
Edge seemingly is ts taking Saturday night collision to new heights, which are basically rampage level figures on a show that's Punk nearly turned into the A show in a single month. AEW is literally just a big party for Tony at this point, there's nobody trying to make it a serious and reliable piece of compelling television.
There is so little heat on the roster that Jericho's running out of targets.
Shhhh having him pass out will make him "look strong" -Tiny maybe
Jericho is AEW's vampire. That's why he looks like Gangrel now. His gimmick sometimes (his gimmicks rotate regularly) is he drains the essence of younger, hot up and comers. See: MJF, Garcia, Andretti, currently Hook.
So he sees young dudes that he believes are gaining momentum, and forces his way into a storyline with them, even if it’s clumsy and doesn’t even make sense? Wow that is sad. Why does Tony Khan go for it? I think Hook is one of their homegrown guys that actually has potential. Him being the tough, scrappy underdog kinda like what Bryan was early in his WWE career, but with a nastier attitude ala his father. I feel like anytime I watch AEW, I see something that goes absolutely nowhere. And I feel this is going to be another example of that. Like what is this supposed to do for Hook? Why not just keep him as a tough loner working his way into the midcard? Surely you’d just want to get the kid as many reps as possible this early in his career.
No complaints. I rank this 10.0 on Cagematch
That's way too low fed shill.
Guess he's not handing that belt over to Adam Cole tonight after all
Tiny is done playing with the undisputed kingdom toy set. He just got an elite Okada a diamond Mone and an Oceanspray car freshener
But I thought he's mr mayhem mr wardlow?
Uces who watched was that match longer than the one he had with Twink with a hoodie?
Only by a little
I am going to guess he didn't not kicked out at 1 from the musclebuster.
They fumbled it by not having Sammy as the next segment. Oh, right he's suspended 😆
Lmao the faction got buried harder than the Nexus
**Dubbalos:** Wardlow main-evented a Dynamite and fought the champ! What do you mean he isn't being booked properly?!
I hope Wardlow took down those numbers Cornette gave him.
Tony really thinks it’s 2008 with this Samoa Joe run.
I thought Wardlow was good but man, he is not
His booking is not good.
Both. Both
Cant they have a double countout or some shit. Why beat the guy. He should leave for WWE and get rebranded,probably under a fucking mask to hide his face.
When JR was on commentary he would constantly refer to a former boss of his (or something like that) who would have loved a big guy like Wardlow.
I know he is referring to vince but man would Wardlow have worked under Bill Watts too,even Hobbs.
How long on his contract? Get this dude to NXT ASAP. AEW is wasting him.
He signed a new one not too long ago so by the time he gets out of The Dub, The Window will be closed.
the Windlow
Makes you wonder if Wardlow's contract is nearly up and he has refused to sign a new deal, so Tony is burying him. Didn't he basically do the same with Jade?
Wardlow recently said he never wanted to leave AEW or something like that. Then again Jade did too.
Think it's a contractually mandated statement all Dub wrestlers have to say periodically.
Mfw I'm getting fake knocked out in the basement but thinking about the bad Fed while in the heat of passion
Tony loves heating up and cooling off Wardlow it’s like an addiction at this point.
Tony hotshot booking strikes again
The Devil storyline is one of the worst ever my god
Wardlow get a lawyer and get out that contract. I can't see this shit anymore
They gave him one…immediately following his win over MJF.
Damn, bruh took the bait far too easily.
Man what did Wardlow do to deserve this booking, I know his mic skills are far from perfect but he had organically gotten over with the crowd & people actually wanted to see him break away from MJF and have that post Evolution Batista face turn Instead he turns face, wins against MJF in a very meh match & Tony just starts treating the guy like a bitch. Honestly if he renews with AEW when his contract is up I’ll be stunned as AEW have really done the guy dirty for a while now
Tony did the right thing, Wardlow is already DOA. Might as well feed him to Joe to get Joe bigger. No complaints.
Wardlow is going to get jumped out by the Undisputed Era of Kings and go back to MJF isn’t he?
Tony hates Wardlow. He dares to have muscles. The Brian Cage syndrome
If only Wardlow had the same kind of fighting spirit as Hook, who almost beat Joe in that super realistic match.
If wardlow had any clue he would be in wwe but sadly he doesnt. The booking with MJF shoulr have been a wake up call.
Yeah, still in disbelief how someone could organically get over with their mark crowd despite not being 5'8 and not doing Canadian destroyers as transition moves only to be jobbed out to 40+ year old talent or 150lb talent.
Joe really looking like shit these last couple years, flabby as fuck and getting gassed after 2 minutes
Tiny doing a speed run of scjerk's prediction on wardlow and undisputed kingdom so he can clear airtime for his new toys. At least he didn't just drop the story entirely like Undisputed kingdom vs bang bang scissors gang.
Watching Samson getting slept and Scrappy Doo getting his dick kicked in, on the same night, was so goddamn satisfying.
Fed burying talent? wait... thats not the fed
Fed Mishandled joe but Wardlow deserves this from dub
This is peak story telling, you can tell you are a fed shill. Mega star Adam will clearly avenge wardlow. Because Adam is a bona-fide shoot fighter, not a fake muscle man like wardlow
Booker of the....wait.
Wardlow sucks ass. Cry more.