offical wwe thread

Arcademan

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Tomorrow night feels like the biggest match of my career. In a lot of ways it doesn’t seem real. It’s against a dream opponent in Kenny Omega, who I’ve watched grow and become one of the best wrestlers in the world over the last several years. It’s taking place in a dream setting, the first wrestling show at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It’s happening in a groundbreaking promotion — AEW, a company that’s modernizing wrestling and giving fans their first true alternative in a long time. And it’s my first match outside of WWE in over 10 years. It feels like a brand new chapter. I couldn’t be more excited. What a world!

But if I’m honest, “excited” is only part of what I’m feeling right now. Life has a way of being a little more complicated than that, ya know? So as I approach this moment, before this next part of my career gets fully underway, there’s something I need to express:

THANK YOU, WWE.

Thank you to the incredible superstars with whom I’ve shared both the ring and the road. For Savate-Kick Saturdays and locally roasted coffee. For being family when we’re away from family. For making me look good when I didn’t feel good. For deep conversations and pointless debates. For making me laugh — both in the best of times, and the worst. For all the small things that make life as a wrestler just a little bit more fun.

Courtesy of Bryan Danielson

Courtesy of Bryan Danielson

Thank you to the many people behind the scenes. The crew in WWE is amazing, from the folks operating the cameras to those in catering. From the producers to talent relations. Thank you to the production team, who always put together such amazing packages, and are such an underappreciated part of the stories we tell. Thank you to everyone involved in creative: for accepting me into the group, for sharing with me the lessons you’ve learned, and for the fun times we had talking about wrestling and non-wrestling subjects alike. It’s a difficult job, writing and producing WWE television, and I’m consistently blown away by your ability to make a seamless production out of such chaos!

Thank you to the Big Man, who I know hates to be acknowledged. I won’t say much, but thank you for the conversations, the life lessons (about both what to do and what not to do), and the best hug I’ve ever received. I wish more people could see you how I see you.

And last but certainly not least: Thank you to the WWE fans. You pushed my career to new heights — heights that I never would have reached for, on my own. Thank you for cheering me enthusiastically into the main event at WrestleMania 30, and thank you for booing me vociferously against Kofi at WrestleMania 35. Thank you for crying with me when I was forced to retire, and thank you for celebrating with me when I was cleared to compete. Thank you for hijacking that show in Seattle — the last time my dad ever got to see me wrestle. He signed his first autograph that night: Buddy Danielson, Daniel Bryan’s dad.

Thank you for moments that I will never forget…. moments where I can just close my eyes and feel the goosebumps all over again.

I hope you will continue to follow me in AEW, but I completely understand if you don’t. You’ve given me more than enough — more than I could ever repay. Thank you for all of it.

I loved my time in WWE. Needless to say, it changed my life. I met my wife, had unbelievable experiences and made great friends. Some of you, I may see again…. and I hope that I do. But these last two years have taught us not to take that for granted. So I just wanted to tell you all how much you’ve meant to me. I’m grateful that you allowed me into your lives, and that you came into mine. I’ll cherish these memories forever.

Thank you for reading — and most of all, thank you for caring.

Sincerely,

Bryan Danielson
 

norton9478

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Dreamer should have just said he was being produced and saying what he thought they wanted him to say.
 

jro

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Dreamer should have just said he was being produced and saying what he thought they wanted him to say.
That was just uncomfortable to watch. What he said was obviously not ideal but the way he said it just made it that much worse. Kind of both victim-blaming and just general contempt, which is what I'd guess is going to result in him being fired, permanently, from both Impact and Busted Open Radio (they suspended him indefinitely, wouldn't confirm that he'll be back). I think it's also entirely likely that Gail Kim will be named an EVP and get most of Dreamer's old responsibilities, which would be a smart optic for Anthem.

Dreamer was like a damn wrestling cockroach, still booking himself in main events after 30 years, and then a bizarre interview on a docudrama finally does him in.
 

norton9478

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Is it true that they had a celerity rap battle at the AEW tapings yesterday?

I was just thinking of checking out Dynamite/Dark/Rampage... Till I read that.
 

famicommander

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Just watch the first two seasons of Lucha Underground and Ring of Honor 2004-2007 on loop, fuck it.
 

famicommander

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First two seasons of Lucha Underground were awesome.
Because they weren't trying to please everyone at once. They had a complete commitment to a specific identity and you were either on board with that or you weren't. That's why WWE and AEW are so bland and shitty. They try to be everything to everyone at all times.
 

norton9478

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Because they weren't trying to please everyone at once. They had a complete commitment to a specific identity and you were either on board with that or you weren't. That's why WWE and AEW are so bland and shitty. They try to be everything to everyone at all times.

I want 6 minutes of rest holds.
 

jro

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As someone who really enjoyed Mortis/Kanyon back in the day and kept up on the guy, that episode was rough.

RIP man, wish he could know how he's changed things for Fred Rossiter, Max Caster, Sonya DeVille, etc.
 

famicommander

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Another episode of Dark Side, and another week where Ric Flair comes out looking like a total shitbag. Not to mention Vince, sending Cena and Flair to Howard Stern to shit on Kanyon and toe the company line.
 

famicommander

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Dave Meltzer says that Danielson vs Omega was the best match of Danielson's career.

Spoiler: it wasn't even top 50

Dave is such a fucking shill mark.
 

famicommander

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lol the Ric Flair Car Shield commercial that had aired 5 times during every wrestling program on television for the last six months has been replaced by an Ice-T commercial.

Also Onita comes off as a carny-ass-carny in his Dark Side episode.
 

jro

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Dave Meltzer says that Danielson vs Omega was the best match of Danielson's career.

Spoiler: it wasn't even top 50

Dave is such a fucking shill mark.
Him and Keller both seem to be completely blind to all of the (many) problems with AEW, i.e. the completely awful workers that get tv/PPV matches just because they're at the Nightmare Factory but still completely suck, the horrible story structure (Pinnacle vs. Inner Circle was a masterclass in stupid booking), and plenty more.

Of note: don't watch Rhodes to the Top (obviously) unless you're trying to build up the courage to shoot yourself or someone else. It's terrible, as expected, Brandi is even more annoying IRL than she is on AEW. I watched the premier out of curiosity and the shots of everybody else, and I gotta admit it's pretty amazing to see Red Velvet go to HR with her complaint about Jade Cargill slapping her too hard in their segment. Bradshaw'ed be like I GUESS I FORGET TO SLAP THE LEG. Also got a schaudenfreude kick out of the 20+ minutes they spent on the buildup to Cody's horrid promo on Agogo, maybe they'll chart his continued descent into XPac heat in the company he created.

And then they put on Danielson/Jackson and I'm like fine, what evs I suppose.
 

famicommander

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It's just another bad promotion. They're just like TNA at the end of the Spike era and WWE 2002-present.
 

Syn

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Most of us know CM Punk studied the wrestling business, how to type stuff, so I'd rather Punk help Tony than QT. Punk's not perfect but he has to be better than Marshall.

Whether AEW succeeds or fails, there are more indy wrestlers getting more national exposure than ever before. Most of the signed talent is giving the indy people spots which of course makes the signed talent look better for kicking out of but at least they aren't squash matches everytime.
 

famicommander

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Tony Khan is beyond help. He's making a shitty product and making a lot of money doing it. There's no stopping him now.
 

famicommander

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After going dark since Impact's parent company bought AXS TV and booted them off the network, Women of Wrestling announced a new TV deal and some talent today.

First off, the previous world champion The Beast will return and continue her reign. And Tessa Blanchard has signed; this will be her first appearance for a major promotion since she held up Impact for their world title. And former WWE star AJ Lee will be the color commentator.

They have a new multi-year syndication deal with stations owned by both ViacomCBS and the Sinclair Broadcast Group (owners of Ring of Honor). Their show will begin airing every weekend starting in fall 2022. They have coverage in over 160 markets already, covering over 70% of the US on broadcast television, and they hope to secure more coverage before their eventual debut. In the meantime, previous seasons will begin airing on the ViacomCBS owned streaming services CW Seed and Pluto TV. In total the promotion has run 77 episodes between their various runs on local TV, streaming, and cable TV 2000-present.

They're still owned by Jeanie Buss (owner of the Lakers) and David McLane (founder of the original GLOW). I don't recall watching much of their show when it was on, but I always thought it was pretty dumb that Impact kicked them and NJPW off when they bought AXS. At the very least, this will be another place for female wrestlers to get some experience wrestling for a camera and work for a promotion run by professionals.

MLW is starting up their Vice deal for real soon too, but I have lost interest in them because their pandemic tapings were so bad.
 

famicommander

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Yoshihiro Tajiri is now the MLW World Middleweight Champion.

What the hell is it with these promotions and putting belts on 50-somethings?
 

famicommander

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Percentages of US adults who have watched each of these wrestling shows in the last 30 days:
Smackdown - 18%
Raw - 17%
Dynamite - 6%
Rampage - 5%
Ring of Honor - 5%
Dark Side of the Ring - 5%
Impact Wrestling - 4%
NJPW - 3% (includes the highlight show on Roku, NJPW Strong, and the main NJPW shows on NJPW World)
Elevation - 3%
Dark - 3%
MLW - 2%
GCW - 2%

According to Variety.

These numbers do not include people outside the US or people under 18 and they don't differentiate between 18-49 viewers and geezers, which is why it seems like AEW is closer to the others than they should be. AEW does the best with people under 18 and people under 49. Chances are most of ROH and Impact's viewers have already aged out of the demographic, and I would bet that viewers under 18 watch AEW over those others at a 10-1 rate.

Another reason would be that this includes all platforms (live TV, DVR, VOD, streaming) while AEW is mostly just available on TNT in the US. Anyone in the US can stream ROH or Impact or MLW for free 24/7 on multiple platforms, but most of the viewers they pull in would be monetarily worthless in comparison to the live primetime viewers AEW and WWE get on on cable and broadcast TV.

No numbers were posted for NXT, NXT UK, Main Event, 205 Live, etc and I don't think stuff like CWFH or NWA are big enough to register.
 
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