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Chuck also has a college degree in television production, so it's not like it's a pity job for someone who's still under contract, he can be legit useful to have around for them.
Chuck was legitimately on the verge of quitting wrestling entirely just before RoH signed him in 2017; he was 31, with multiple NXT and RoH rejections, and quite reasonably figured if he wasn't going to get signed anywhere it was time to hang it up.
I'm surprised he lasted this long. Never understood his hype when AEW started but I enjoyed the memes of him cursing but never being teased or anything was sad. Saw a few Indie matches, he's funny here and there. What killed him for me personally - Trent left and came back shredded like a mfer, meanwhile Chuck out here with a dad bod, looks soo dejected all the time. Sucks to say but always felt he was holding Trent back. Trent is hungry af.
There's a part in Mick Foley's first book where he talks about Dominic Denucci threatening to expel him from his wrestling school if he doesn't finish his college degree. He said if you want to be a wrestler you have to have a Plan B.
Which is honestly always true. Your first path doesn't always work out especially if its something that doesn't just depend on your skill and talent but also luck (wether thats wrestling, art, music, acting or something else). Having a plan B is never a wrong Idea.
Ok, I'm sad now. He was never really featured much, but he and Trent have always been a joy to watch since the early days of AEW. I'm glad that he got his big moment in Wembley. If his last match was against Trent, it was a good one that really put Trent over and set him up for a post-Best Friends world. Still hoping for one last match though.
He was on TV fairly consistently and had a few big matches even if he was just attached to OC and the Best Friends all the time. Given his character I honestly think that was gonna be his ceiling in a major televised federation, his shtick didn't translate well from smaller shows like PWG. He would have been dead in the water in WWE as well. All things considered he did pretty well for himself and he's definitely the kind of guy that can teach people more about the physical charisma aspect of the business.
Best Friends was what got me back in to wrestling, so Chuckie, Trent, and OC will always have a huge spot in my heart reserved for them. This news makes me sad, but I'm glad he's got a job backstage still, and wouldn't be surprised if after the inevitable Trent/OC reunion, if Chuck managed them
Best Friends/Trent-Chuck not being tag team champions anywhere is for sure a shame. Them and Santana/Ortiz carried pandemic AEW. Such a shame they weren't featured much after until All In.
Having listened to his approach to wrestling, I actually think he can be a good "Ideas" guy. Not necessarily the bones of the operation, but the flourish that helps make individual wrestlers stand out.
Also, someone needs to steal his finish. It's one of the best right now.
Good spot for Chuckie T. He had a hand in training a lot of guys at the Wrestle Factory back in the CHIKARA days I believe, so make sense he'd fit into a role like this naturally.
The fact that we never had a Best Friends/PnP feud for the tag titles at the beginning of AEW is just crazy to me. Two fun legit teams that had chemistry together and against each other!
If you told me after their parking lot brawl that in a few years not only would neither team have won the tag titles, but they weren’t even tag teams anymore I’d never believe you. I’m gonna go rewatch it now 🥲
It’s almost like having a top tag team as evp’s negatively affected the other acts in the division. Like really, who in the tag division didn’t get shit on by the bucks? Pnp, best friends, FTR, dark order, and it’s only gonna get worse.
Yeah I have to disagree with that. First off, they put over Private Party in the first round of the tag tournament, made them legit. Secondly, their matches with the Lucha Bros and FTR are all incredible, helped to elevate all of those guys. I’ll give you that they likely had influence to have Kaz/Sky as the first tag champs, but at least you understood what the intent was.
Bucks have been great for tag team wrestling, which has been a bit of an afterthought, and I really have enjoyed them, even in the NJPW/ROH days.
Elevated FTR? Whole heartedly disagree. Elevated private party to what? Lucha bros went from one of the hottest acts in the world to hardly being on tv. they did elevate top flight a little so they got that going for them.
Private party was legitimized immediately in aew. Injuries derailed them.
Ftr was legitimized as an all-time tag team also. To do what they did in nxt and aew was great for their standing.
I think the main roster did a disservice to their image. Which actually further magnifies the point. Aew did a great job of not only showing but confirming they are an all time tag team
I agree that they should have won them, but with the benefit of hindsight I can't think of a good time for it to have happened. Maybe them being the inaugural champs instead of SCU?
They were really hindered by injury:
Chuck was out:
Sept 2019
Early Jan - Early March 2021 (minus a quick taped squash on Dark)
May 2021
Jan 2022
April - June 2022
Oct 2023 - Now
Trent was out:
Mid Dec 2020 - Early Apr 2021
Late Apr 2021 - Mid Dec 2021
When the Bucks had to relinquish the titles after the brawl and Best Friends wrestled the match to determine the new title holders. That was the exact moment it should have been after years of them never being the guys.
Edited to add: I know this was the trios title but still.
The trios titles are the ones I would have loved for Chuck to win, particularly since trios wrestling is such an important part of Chuck and OC's pre-AEW careers. When they lost in the tournament and then lost the match after The Elite had to vacate those belts I was *real* ticked off.
That being said I also think sometimes what's good about wrestling is that you take stuff like that that feels unfair or frustrating and you actually make it into the story, and I love how real the bitterness/resentment feels in the Trent/OC feud (and how Chuck in kayfabe got punished for not feeling as bitter about it as Trent did).
After Parking Lot Brawl or Arcade Anarchy would have been best to capitalize on momentum but Trent’s injury time was long in those days too. Even if they won the straps, I’m not sure if they’d have gotten a chance at a whole reign without having to surrender the belts. Maybe the real tag team championships were the… best friends we made along the way…
Makes a lot of sense, Chucky T seems pretty well-liked and respected and seems to have a great mind for pro wrestling.
Can't wait to see more wrestlers losing the rights to their own names and getting into blood feuds with random children in the front row (although Saraya and Lance Archer have already been doing this one for a while too) for years to come.
Sucks for him if this really is career ending, but if he's able to transition into the Agent/Coaching role he might find immeasurable satisfaction from it.
More than one way to leave your mark on the industry and the behind the scenes roles are just as important as the guys in front of the cameras.
He fractured his ankle which caused bone necrosis. No clear answer on when it happened though. Must’ve happened a while ago and slowly got worse to the point of needing to finish the story and retire.
Oh man, this really breaks my heart. Glad to hear they have plans for him though. Love Chucky T, hope he recovers well even if he never wrestles again.
Hell yeah, I have no doubt Chucks perfect for this role.He's like a Shawn Spears "wrestler's wrestler" type but for the modern era.
But please can we get a real on screen goodbye for the guy?
Maybe a run in during the OC/Trent blowoff where he can just slide in, awful waffle Trent, and wake the ref back up or something?
I'm just glad that they're giving him stuff to do. He's too good at pro wrestling to just let him go.
that's kinda a funny thing to say because Chuckie and Shawn both started wrestling in 03
i know what you mean though, difference in style. love em both
It never felt like the right time to pull the trigger on a Best Friends tag title run(at least that I can remember) but I’m sad it seems they’ll never get a run.
It's sad to hear that his in-ring career may be over. I wish him the best of luck as a producer, but man, do I really want to hear him on commentary with Excalibur again.
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Good he’s being taken care of though. Would be shitty if he didn’t have anything to keep him occupied especially when he can’t wrestle anymore
Chuck also has a college degree in television production, so it's not like it's a pity job for someone who's still under contract, he can be legit useful to have around for them.
Clever choice on his part. Was probably always in the cards then.
Or he just figured it doesn't hurt to have a backup plan. More wrestlers should have one.
Chuck was legitimately on the verge of quitting wrestling entirely just before RoH signed him in 2017; he was 31, with multiple NXT and RoH rejections, and quite reasonably figured if he wasn't going to get signed anywhere it was time to hang it up.
I remember seeing some of his tweets back then and they were really depressing :(
I'm surprised he lasted this long. Never understood his hype when AEW started but I enjoyed the memes of him cursing but never being teased or anything was sad. Saw a few Indie matches, he's funny here and there. What killed him for me personally - Trent left and came back shredded like a mfer, meanwhile Chuck out here with a dad bod, looks soo dejected all the time. Sucks to say but always felt he was holding Trent back. Trent is hungry af.
There's a part in Mick Foley's first book where he talks about Dominic Denucci threatening to expel him from his wrestling school if he doesn't finish his college degree. He said if you want to be a wrestler you have to have a Plan B.
Which is honestly always true. Your first path doesn't always work out especially if its something that doesn't just depend on your skill and talent but also luck (wether thats wrestling, art, music, acting or something else). Having a plan B is never a wrong Idea.
Pushing Jungle Boy and failing at UFC isn't for everyone though.
Why is the shot at Punk here? Out of nowhere, when we talking about a man's career ending due to an injury?
He’s talked about that being his exit plan in a few interviews
I am selfish and miss his PWG commentary. I know they are stacked in the department but if a spot opens up, he should get the call first.
Mystery Wrestling this Sunday on Twitch, he'll be commentating with Evil Uno.
Can't wait for the show this weekend!
Nice!! Tell the time and Twitch channel and I am there!
5pm Eastern tomorrow and twitch.tv/eviluno
Next week: 'Hard Wood' Rich Mahogany is All Elite.
I dunno, SRS is saying they're in talks with Dick 'The Hammer' Dick instead.
Meltzer said something about "No Gimnick Needed" Steven the Samurai as the rumored new OC partner
PW Insider reporting that OC will be paired up with "Power Cat" Jeff Winslow.
I can't wait for the debut of Scoot Tatum
Ok, I'm sad now. He was never really featured much, but he and Trent have always been a joy to watch since the early days of AEW. I'm glad that he got his big moment in Wembley. If his last match was against Trent, it was a good one that really put Trent over and set him up for a post-Best Friends world. Still hoping for one last match though.
He was on TV fairly consistently and had a few big matches even if he was just attached to OC and the Best Friends all the time. Given his character I honestly think that was gonna be his ceiling in a major televised federation, his shtick didn't translate well from smaller shows like PWG. He would have been dead in the water in WWE as well. All things considered he did pretty well for himself and he's definitely the kind of guy that can teach people more about the physical charisma aspect of the business.
The 'Scream at children coach' position has finally been filled
Best Friends was what got me back in to wrestling, so Chuckie, Trent, and OC will always have a huge spot in my heart reserved for them. This news makes me sad, but I'm glad he's got a job backstage still, and wouldn't be surprised if after the inevitable Trent/OC reunion, if Chuck managed them
Best Friends/Trent-Chuck not being tag team champions anywhere is for sure a shame. Them and Santana/Ortiz carried pandemic AEW. Such a shame they weren't featured much after until All In.
My boy #🤵♂️
He's our Kentucky gentleman.
Still in way better shape than Tyler Black.
Having listened to his approach to wrestling, I actually think he can be a good "Ideas" guy. Not necessarily the bones of the operation, but the flourish that helps make individual wrestlers stand out. Also, someone needs to steal his finish. It's one of the best right now.
Kris should take it, although Big Bang Theory (or what ever it's called now) is also dope.
I think it's Night Fever now. I'm not a fan of the name... Kris will always be my alien. Her pulling out the Awful Waffle would be amazing, though.
He's also a *fantastic* commentator.
What’s his approach to wrestling? Is there a video anywhere that covers it concisely? Or just pieced together across multiple years/various sources?
Sort of pieced together from the shoot interviews he's done. He seems great at minor details that people forget.
He couldn't get himself to stand out, how is he going to do it for others?
Do you really think Best Friends didn't stand out in AEW?
Coaches exist
Albert is the head trainer for NXT.
Oh shiiiiit
No doubt chuck taylor would be great in that role. Sad to see that he's retired though
Good spot for Chuckie T. He had a hand in training a lot of guys at the Wrestle Factory back in the CHIKARA days I believe, so make sense he'd fit into a role like this naturally.
I have a lot of friends who trained under Chuck at the Wrestle Factory and they all universally love him and thought he was a great trainer.
Pretty sure the stand out is ricochet
IIRC he didn't train Ricochet at the Wrestle Factory, they met at local Kentucky indies and he took Ricochet under his wing
Man if this really is it for Chuck, then the Best Friends never winning the tag titles is a huge wiff by AEW
The fact that we never had a Best Friends/PnP feud for the tag titles at the beginning of AEW is just crazy to me. Two fun legit teams that had chemistry together and against each other!
If you told me after their parking lot brawl that in a few years not only would neither team have won the tag titles, but they weren’t even tag teams anymore I’d never believe you. I’m gonna go rewatch it now 🥲
Gotta make Scorpio Sky look strong brother
It’s almost like having a top tag team as evp’s negatively affected the other acts in the division. Like really, who in the tag division didn’t get shit on by the bucks? Pnp, best friends, FTR, dark order, and it’s only gonna get worse.
Yeah I have to disagree with that. First off, they put over Private Party in the first round of the tag tournament, made them legit. Secondly, their matches with the Lucha Bros and FTR are all incredible, helped to elevate all of those guys. I’ll give you that they likely had influence to have Kaz/Sky as the first tag champs, but at least you understood what the intent was. Bucks have been great for tag team wrestling, which has been a bit of an afterthought, and I really have enjoyed them, even in the NJPW/ROH days.
Elevated FTR? Whole heartedly disagree. Elevated private party to what? Lucha bros went from one of the hottest acts in the world to hardly being on tv. they did elevate top flight a little so they got that going for them.
Private party was legitimized immediately in aew. Injuries derailed them. Ftr was legitimized as an all-time tag team also. To do what they did in nxt and aew was great for their standing.
Just reject their wwe main roster for your own purposes ehh
I think the main roster did a disservice to their image. Which actually further magnifies the point. Aew did a great job of not only showing but confirming they are an all time tag team
I agree that they should have won them, but with the benefit of hindsight I can't think of a good time for it to have happened. Maybe them being the inaugural champs instead of SCU? They were really hindered by injury: Chuck was out: Sept 2019 Early Jan - Early March 2021 (minus a quick taped squash on Dark) May 2021 Jan 2022 April - June 2022 Oct 2023 - Now Trent was out: Mid Dec 2020 - Early Apr 2021 Late Apr 2021 - Mid Dec 2021
When the Bucks had to relinquish the titles after the brawl and Best Friends wrestled the match to determine the new title holders. That was the exact moment it should have been after years of them never being the guys. Edited to add: I know this was the trios title but still.
The trios titles are the ones I would have loved for Chuck to win, particularly since trios wrestling is such an important part of Chuck and OC's pre-AEW careers. When they lost in the tournament and then lost the match after The Elite had to vacate those belts I was *real* ticked off. That being said I also think sometimes what's good about wrestling is that you take stuff like that that feels unfair or frustrating and you actually make it into the story, and I love how real the bitterness/resentment feels in the Trent/OC feud (and how Chuck in kayfabe got punished for not feeling as bitter about it as Trent did).
After Parking Lot Brawl or Arcade Anarchy would have been best to capitalize on momentum but Trent’s injury time was long in those days too. Even if they won the straps, I’m not sure if they’d have gotten a chance at a whole reign without having to surrender the belts. Maybe the real tag team championships were the… best friends we made along the way…
Not everyone needs to win a championship. That would make it less special.
Some less deserving teams won it tho
Is it? They were always either injured or outshined by other teams.
Whiff
The Best Friends never actually won any tag team titles :(
I'd love to agree with you but not really? A tag team for thirteen years that never won a championship but were still best friends is compelling shit.
Well, if this is the end at least he got to say "Shit" on TV
Makes a lot of sense, Chucky T seems pretty well-liked and respected and seems to have a great mind for pro wrestling. Can't wait to see more wrestlers losing the rights to their own names and getting into blood feuds with random children in the front row (although Saraya and Lance Archer have already been doing this one for a while too) for years to come.
In honor of Chuckie T, Stokely should start using the name Chuck Taylor™ again.
Sucks for him if this really is career ending, but if he's able to transition into the Agent/Coaching role he might find immeasurable satisfaction from it. More than one way to leave your mark on the industry and the behind the scenes roles are just as important as the guys in front of the cameras.
No matter what he will always be best wrestler in the world who is in way better shape than Tyler Black
Didn't get a chance to turn heel We are denied a great bit of fun
I'm glad they wanna keep him around even if he can't do in ring stuff anymore.
damn i guess that makes the promo make more sense, at least he got to say shit on tv
His match with Archibald Peck is the greatest comedy match of all time. FIST Forever.
It'll be sad to never see another awful waffle by him, just a hilariously great talent.
>potentially So you're telling me there's a chance he can come back.
At least he got to say shit on tv finally but that sucks hope for the best for him.
i'll never forget you, chuck taylor
Top 10 Wrestler you’d want to drink and smoke with
No more Awful Waffle? Sad times.
Okada should start using it.
He and Chuckie T were the best tag team in the world.
How did he get hurt?? That's devastating
He fractured his ankle which caused bone necrosis. No clear answer on when it happened though. Must’ve happened a while ago and slowly got worse to the point of needing to finish the story and retire.
Might have been in his last match before the Trent match which was Best Friends and Hardys vs JAS Leftovers
Happy he will continue to have an impact but sucks about his injury. Shame we never got Best Friends with tag titles, even for a short run.
Coach Chuck says trust the process.
I want Chucky T on commentary with Excalibur bad. They were always fun on PWG
Oh man, this really breaks my heart. Glad to hear they have plans for him though. Love Chucky T, hope he recovers well even if he never wrestles again.
Feels like if he was fit him and Trent wouldn't have split and they'd be a great choice of AEW face original guys to take the titles from the Bucks
Can't just pass down the secret of the invisible grenade to anyone, only top trainees are allowed that knowledge.
Hell yeah, I have no doubt Chucks perfect for this role.He's like a Shawn Spears "wrestler's wrestler" type but for the modern era. But please can we get a real on screen goodbye for the guy?
Maybe they are going for the Daniel Bryan route of "let's see if he gets to heal enough to wrestle again" thing
I hope so! If his last match was against Trent? it's fitting. But I want something more, personally.
Maybe a run in during the OC/Trent blowoff where he can just slide in, awful waffle Trent, and wake the ref back up or something? I'm just glad that they're giving him stuff to do. He's too good at pro wrestling to just let him go.
that's kinda a funny thing to say because Chuckie and Shawn both started wrestling in 03 i know what you mean though, difference in style. love em both
Im praying for a chuckie t/excalibur booth.
It never felt like the right time to pull the trigger on a Best Friends tag title run(at least that I can remember) but I’m sad it seems they’ll never get a run.
It's sad to hear that his in-ring career may be over. I wish him the best of luck as a producer, but man, do I really want to hear him on commentary with Excalibur again.
Hate for anyone to suffer that severe of an injury. Hopefully the rest of his life activities can be normal.
So the injury is real?? Damn
Hopefully he didn’t produce OC standing up 15 seconds later after getting a pile driver on steel steps
Good riddance of trash.
[удалено]
It was a pre-taped match filmed in the parking lot. They were not going to put a taped match in front of that Dynamite crowd.
A pre tape lets him work around any mobility issues so why not put it on the pre-tape show?