I just need to vent about the state of the world and politics. It's going to be a long, self-indulgent, navel gazy thread here. You should probably skip it. It's more for me than you, no one is more aware of that than me. I don't talk about politics often publicly online but if you've seen when I do, you probably know I'm a bleeding heart leftie. I'm more left than the left party in the US. Im more left than the left part in Canada, so basically in the US that would make me a warlock.

Not all matches need the same amount of story. Some are like a great steak. The quality of the main ingredient is so high, you need to add almost nothing. Some matches are like a shitty chuck roast. You need to cover it in condiments to make it palatable. Story is the sauce. If you have two people that fans already really like and care about, facing for the first time. "Who is better, and what's it going to look like when they finally fight each other?" is a good enough story. You don't need one to kill the other's dog or do a battle rap, I swear.

The number of people who are acting like the Janel Grant lawsuit is only about Vince and now that he's out, all investigation into the company itself should stop are, much like HHH, actively ignoring the lawsuit. I literally just reread it and let me take you through it here. First off, kinda important, the lawsuit isn't Janel Grant vs. Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, it's Grant vs. Vince, John aaaaaaaaaaaand...the WWE. The whole company. And the suit explains why.

WWE Presser Time. THIS IS WHAT WE FANS LIVE FOR. BYRON IS HERE.

That tweet about someone thinking wrestling is dying in 2023 has made me realize many fans do not realize how bad it can get. You know how bad it can get? WCW in 1993. This is a thread where we're going to go through their whole year. You will see horrors. You will laugh and cry. We start in January, where WCW draws 550 fans for a card that is loaded by their 93 standards. Sting vs. Vader! Windham and Steamboat vs. Austin and Pillman! Erik Watts! "Surely this is already the low point." Haha, not even close.

AEW presser time. I'm still recovering from the ocular migraine, so if I make my usual fuck ups, that will be my out this time. Question for Christian about how is it working with Luchasaurus and being champion. Christian is in full character here, talking about being dominant.

Meltzer on Andrade: "Look, Andrade's trying to get fired, we all know that." Dave notes there are a bunch of stories of WWE guys thinking of crazy things to do to try to get fired. Dave mentions how he told some of them to not do them, because it wasn't going to work. He can't recall a recent WWE guy getting in a fight to try to get fired though.

AEW is in a strange spot right now. The product is good, there are actually acts gaining momentum, but there's just a weird general vibe hanging over everything. Every week it feels like one bizarre thing or a misfire dominates their news cycle lately. The Saraya promo, the Sammy fight, Twitter fights, etc. The Elite/Punk thing continues to be this awkward situation always off in the distance.

I am sure there are other industries where the people that run major companies hate the thing they make, but wrestling is one of the only ones where A.) They openly admit it and B.) A large chunk of fans cheer them for saying it.

https://twitter.com/nodqdotcom/status/1576897842853060608

I like wrestling best when it's every part together, the matches, the promos, the storylines. But it's funny when the McMahons/Bischoffs/Russo's of the world always go "I hate wrestling, I just love STORIES, MAN" when their storytelling ability is sub-third tier soap opera.

Bryan and Dave are saying there was "An altercation" backstage after Punk's presser. The Bucks were there. I can tell you two people told me this too before even WOR. Dave was told "There was a melee". As of the time Bryan and Dave recording the podcast, everyone was still at the building.

I like a little heat in wrestling. You can't expect a group of people anywhere to all get along. There is a level where it is fun and productive and no one gets hurt. We are not at that level. We blew past that level before tonight. Tony, at least publicly, seems to be in "Hey, heat can be good for business!" mode. And it can be. To a point. Not if people are threatening to walk out, and not if people hate each other so much you can't make the matches the heat builds up.

Someone sent me this and I, a person who is not a reporter, who just makes dumb tweets to a small audience, would like to apologize for causing everything that happened tonight. But this brings a good topic. I do not think the sad, messy dissolution of a friendship is my business, nor anyone's business but theirs. BUT...

PRESSER IS HERE and it started abruptly and Punk is pissed off about someone asks about Colt. "Punk: "Are you friends with Scott Colton?", reporter says no. "That makes two of us". Punk says he hasn't been friends with Scott Colton for ten years. He is infuriated. He says he brought a guy with him that didn't want to see him at the top. He says he paid every bill for him, he has all the receipts.

Man, remember that very brief time when it seemed like they were phasing Jim Ross out? That was a vacation for my ears.

https://twitter.com/JesseCollings/status/1566422226060152833

JR at this point offers nothing but his name. There was an era where he had lost his fastball but for certain big matches, if they were kind of in his wheelhouse, he can still turn it on. We've passed even that.

You have to wade through a LOT of PPV promotion to get to it but Tony confronting Dave about his addiction to replying to people on Twitter with one follower is a quality intervention.

f4wonline.com/podcasts/wrest… Not a ton of NEWS from the show. Tony said for the second time this week that they're going to start boosting Rampage again. Two-hour Grand Slam Rampage again this year.

Dan starting his first post-WWE/back to Giant Bomb stream to Cody Rhodes' theme is too perfect.

https://twitter.com/DanRyckert/status/1534345318338334721

Dan notes: He is so excited he can talk about wrestling again. He was never told he couldn't but did it to be safe. Loves AEW. Went to two straight Dynamites, including Grand Slam, but wore a lucha mask to the shows.

I was a Giant Bomb listener since, well, pre-Giant Bomb. Hotspot/Gamespot days. I'm old. Never missed a podcast, early subber. Nothing great lasts forever and it's cool that everyone gets to create their own things but man I don't have the time/money for all these casts/patreons. I have a huge backlog of Fire Escapes and almost all of Nextlander that I keep telling myself I'm going to start but man I just want my parents back together. Also I don't want to have to join a Discord but I fear that day IS CLOSE AT HAND.

The WEEK OF INJURIES has me thinking, AEW is super deep but their ultra top tier of stars are super vulnerable: - Punk, 43, lots of miles on his body
- Danielson, 41, one bad concussion away from this all ending
- Jericho, 51, just had a mystery health scare
- Omega, 38, recovering from a million injuries, says he'll never be 100% healthy ever again

I don't think unless you lived through it you can really appreciate the Phoenix-like resurrection of not only Tony Schiavone's announcing career, but also his general reputation/legacy. It's been nuts. For most of his career his rep was "He's a solid announcer but he's no *Insert whoever was considered the best announcer at this time, usually Jim Ross*."

Can not believe that the post-PPV controversy is "Not enough people got the AFI music reference", and I say that as someone who is probably in favor of more dumbing down/explaining of things than the average nerdy lifer fan. Shows like the Simpsons and MST3K had "5% jokes". Weird obscure things that they knew only 5% of their audience would get, but they knew that 5% would love those jokes.

Funny thing about Punk and Bryan is they came to AEW from opposite ends of the spectrum. Punk is like a living embodiment of "Fuck WWE", huge bad blood. Bryan goes "I really like WWE but this is so exciting I can't pass it up". To me, the latter might be more damning. Danielson main evented Mania this year, has LITERAL FAMILY employed in WWE, was somewhat involved in creative, said he liked it, and he still left. Adam Cole was a top NXTer, called WWE a boyhood dream in the scrum, and he left and made it seem like it wasn't even a tough choice.