I mean what does tampering even mean? Is WWE asking talent about their status tampering? Asking them to sign with WWE once their AEW deal is up, is that tampering? Tampering to me would be WWE trying to get the talent out of their current deals.
I'm sure AEW does the same thing, especially in the beginning.
I'm pretty sure Punk isn't hurt. I don't think he'd even have came back if that was the case. The way the camera was playing up Punk and the way he looked back at the ring and whispered something to Ace, I feel like this is the impetus for his heel turn.
Meanwhile, Mox looks good because Punk talked all that shit and couldn't back it up. In Cleveland, the same town where he is lost his UFC debut. Mox is officially a 2-time champ and the chip on his shoulder is now vindicated because everyone thought Punk's return was the end of Mox's run.
It was unexpected and got people talking. And I personally love when people take risks on big matches that end quick like this. If it turns out none of this is a work or Punk really did come back too soon, then I'll eat my words. But everything about this screams storyline to me, and with the specific people involved, I think it was worth the risk.
Not a fan of them doing the interim women's championship though. As a one-off solution to Punk leaving, I was ok with it, but I don't want this to be the norm.
I think you can talk to people during the last 30 days of their contract or something and maybe ask them when their deal is up. Any other contact can be considered tampering I think. Been a while since I read up on that though so I could be off a little bit.Originally Posted by Dave Wyndorf
They can't negotiate until a certain time. This is just Tony freaking out because his talent are wishing they had stayed lol
I have no doubt it's a storyline. This whole worked-shoot ECW approach, nothing new. But the bold part. Quality matters. I talk shit about a lot of things that doesn't mean they're awesome. I shit on Biden and Trump every other day, that doesn't mean they're doing a great job lol. We shit on the WWE constantly, that doesn't mean anything positive is happening.
So I 10000% respect the wait and see mentality, I'm a Kevin Nash fan who had to try and make the Fingerpoke of Doom make sense. To this day it hasn't and it is no doubt the reason I stopped watching WCW beyond the occasional "What is Nash and ICP doing on Nitro this week?" I can barely tell you anything that happened in WCW after January 1999.
I've been a super mark for this company since day one. But this is one of those "straw that broke the camel's back" situations where I'm not sure I care about AEW like I used to. Too many bullshit booking decisions. First Yuta now this? (I'm making light of this).
Just listening to people like Bischoff talk about things about whether or not they tried to sign certain wrestlers that Meltzer rumored to be going to WCW helped me understand this stuff. They learned the hard way a few times I believe. This is all just paranoia from Tony Khan because despite the golden shovel, Triple H is one of the boys, he was one of the biggest draws during one of the biggest eras in wrestling, and he has the respect of many. Even people like Paul London and RVD who might shit on him a little, they still praise him. Who's Tony Khan?
Probably could’ve been better accomplished if they fought to a draw this week then have Punk cheat in Chicago I feel if they wanted him heel.
But will still wait and see where they’re going with this.
Or just waited 2 weeks and had it as the main event of a ppv that still has no main event lol. And this is one of their big shows, the OG that started it all baby. Now we're going into it and I'm sure Excalibur's oxygen tank is primed to shell out the card.
I just can't imagine 2 weeks prior to Mania we would get Lesnar v. Roman unification bout on Raw that ends with Roman getting squashed by a double underhook suplex in 2 minutes.
I also don't see how any of this points to Punk being a heel. Unless he comes out and says fuck the belt I faked the injury so I could get beat and leave this company....ok....but who's going to believe that? I'm 100% missing the whole Punk is going heel vibes. Maybe that's just how AEW is, because what Punk has said and done, I don't see how people could boo him. He called out Adam Page who's a piece of shit, he wasn't wrong in anything he said in that promo or when Mox came out and he goes "you be about the heart and soul I'll be about the dollars and cents" Which is ironic when you think about how Mox is the highest paid active wrestler today in the entire business.
Punk could choke out Mae Young in Chicago and they would still pop for him. Him cheating to beat Moxley wouldn't have turned him at all.
I was thinking Punk couldn’t beat him the first time then has to resort to cheating the second time when he doubts himself thinks he can’t get the job done fairly.
But waiting til the PPV for the original bout then have him play dirty could’ve worked.
All a big if of course pending on the end goal is to turn him heel. Waiting and seeing on this.
Also somewhat agree the fans may struggle to boo him anyways.
I've been booing CM Punk since 2007! Jump on the bandwagon fans!
I just don't think Punk turning heel in Chicago would work.
Triple H slowly improving things on WWE's end is going to make AEW step up their game, which maybe this Moxley/Punk stuff is going to do. Whatever is planned, then WWE will step up their game to combat it. Win win for everyone.
AEW should just stay on path and not panic book when Trips has only been in power for barely a month. 6 months from now we'll really see if fans are down with Triple H's WWE or if it was just the honeymoon phase.
Do you still get to call yourself booker of the year if your dad is the one who hands out the award?
After all the complaining about having to work through an injury in WWE I don’t think Punk or AEW want him working injured.
Im not a fan of the interim champ thing, Tony just thinks put a belt on everyone and they’re instantly over. “Hey Joe Vendingmachine, we’re making you the… kitchen cabinet champ so expect to be a major star any day now.”
what. who has gotten a title win like what you're describing?
Probably Neville.
Scorpio Sky.
Adam Page.
Adam Page's quest for the title was grand. Once he got it and the reign, not so much, but wasn't terrible.
He had banger matches with Daniel Bryan at least.
Absolutely, I always enjoy has matches. Just didn't really have decent feuds and was often somewhere in the middle of the card, from memory. He was never presented as 'the guy' at any stage. That's how it came across, anyway.
Aye. Things like MJF/Punk and the Inner Circle stuff were given higher priority.
So Eddie Kingston is a Karen.
Well that explains his physique.
Don't mention this bad ass street thug's physique.
Any relation to Kofi?
AEW has been one giant shit show behind the scenes since Cody was pushed out of the vanilla midget club.
Does WWE just do a better job at preventing stories from breaking out? I'm sure Roman Reigns has issues with Otis.
Maybe I'm just playing along, kind of fun. It's funny when I read certain fans take on things that happen in AEW that are reported as true we get "hahaha you're getting worked kayfabe isn't dead!" but if it's a report about the WWE "FUCKIN TRUTH MAN LESNAR WALKED OUT WHAT A PIECE OF SHIT FUCK HIM!!!!!" I'm talking specifically about the fans that do that, and WWE fans act like that too. Defend WWE saying naw those reports are bullshit and then something happens and radio silence lol.
I'm just kind of believing it more with AEW because they live and breathe dirtsheet bullshit. They want that worked-shoot element. But also I feel like it's not that hard to believe a company ran by a money mark is going to have these kind of blowups. Look at WCW. Look at TNA. Bischoff and Jarrett/Dixie had their fuckin hands full in their respective companies because there wasn't a Vince.
Trust me, Tony's dad is the Vince. Tony might get walked on but his pops is another level of billionaire. That's what happened with WCW and TNA. The ship was already sinking BUT Daddy AOL and Mom and Pop Carter stepped up, shut down a lot of nonsense especially with spending money.
Weird having what should've been this big title match pretty much in the middle of the show but it makes sense now. Main event was great but if it switched places and the title match ended it that was going to be as lame as having a predictable contract signing.
It would've been 200x better if they had this as the main event and ended the show on a cliffhanger. I shut the shit off after Thunder Rosa was crying and they announced another interim title match. I'm not even sure who won the trios main event but I'll watch it later.
This is what real go away heat looks like. It's not intriguing, it's not clever, the only interesting part of it that we'll get is the internet talk. The behind the scenes bullshit. There is no storyline out of this. There's zero logic.
that is really weird. I mean....it's not as if he's above taking personal shots or shots on height etc. but he's not just behind the scenes asking people to not bring it up. He's on social media asking people to basically never talk about a wrestler's physique.
And this isn't exactly meltzer critiquing a a very fit Peyton Royce, and saying she's not attractive with an extra 5 lbs.
It comes across, given how Kingston comes at people, as very hypocritical.
We have a show where the go-to insult for Pillman Jr and Jack Jungle is to bring up their deceased father. The level a lot of these wrestlers have to go to when trying to get heat from the majority of the AEW crowd is why we have situations like this. But with that said, I could probably turn on 1999 and hear Austin drop fat bastard how many times? And he was the babyface.
Eddie could've spun that "fat bastard" insult or whatever it was into a positive but instead did two things. He made himself look like a punk and added gasoline to an already hated Sam. Ever since that boy ditched the 3 and got the 23 out of 10, the neckbeard mafia have been on the hunt. A guy that good looking being with his 2nd cousin was the dream scenario for woke sign guy in the front row thinking now he had a shot at Conti (Thanks to Tony Khan).
Eddie was super soft about this, even going as far to say something like in a court of law I'm in the wrong. I'm like dude you have never been called a real street dude you just listen to hip hop with your hat turned sideways. Pretty sure this dude used to beat up Mia Yim so yeah...
He's a mad king, so it makes sense he speaks madness.
I think Eddie just doesn’t like Disco Inferno, which a lotta folks can relate to.
Last edited by VHS; August 29th, 2022 at 10:31 AM.
If it was limited to Disco Inferno, I'd see the point. He's on interviews, social media, etc. saying the same thing. And it's been a while. But it doesn't reflect in how he handles things with anything else.
I always kind of laugh when some of these cats clown on Disco Inferno. It's low hanging fruit. They attack a guy who never acts like he was anything more than a midcard comedy act. Half the shit he says isn't even worth addressing.
Sammy calling Eddie fat and the backlash SAMMY is getting shows that fans still want to be worked into a frenzy.
That's an insult to midcarders
I like Disco. He's got a mostly solid perspective on things, but eh... he's way too set in his ways and does come from a way passed bygone era that never chose to adapt. It's just funny how in the grand scheme of things he was such a nothing as a wrestler. Had no impact whatsoever on anything or anywhere and amounted to a comedy jobber act doing a disco dance. Nice career, bro.
If Kingston doesn’t want to be called fat then dont be fat. They get to the arena hours before the show and do nothing, spend an hour on crunches (not the candy). Or ask one of your coworkers for help. And maybe get some better attire, KO doesn’t have abs but doesn’t look like a slob.
kingston's whole issue was that sammy calling him fat buries the match, cause he was set to beat sammy and what does it say about sammy if a fat piece of shit beats him. that's why he cited jericho's story from his first book about never totally burying your opponent.
Still, if you're insulting others a lot and hitting on them physically....but you being called fat by Sammy Guevara buries the match. And again, it would be different if he hadn't gone after anyone who talked about his weight (including interviews about online comments) as a professional wrestler.
Imagine Mankind, Vader, Umaga, KO dealing with it. Otis is doing fine. In some cases, we don't have to imagine (KO/Ryback, etc). I think arm and shoulder work would help Eddie about as much as more ab work.
AEW is the 3rd grade.
If Eddie Kingston is fat, then I'm morbidly obese
The bottomline is Kingston is a fake street dude that has a history of being a pain in the ass in every company he's worked for.
The mega heel in incredible condition Sammy calling the mega babyface everyman a fat bastard is burying the angle/match???? WHen the fuckin fat guy is supposed to win!??!?! That's kind of how this shit works. Like in the movie Heavyweights, Ben Stiller didn't come out on top in the end lol.
He comes from an era that the people talking shit toward him want to bring back and/or be part of.That's an insult to midcarders
I like Disco. He's got a mostly solid perspective on things, but eh... he's way too set in his ways and does come from a way passed bygone era that never chose to adapt. It's just funny how in the grand scheme of things he was such a nothing as a wrestler. Had no impact whatsoever on anything or anywhere and amounted to a comedy jobber act doing a disco dance. Nice career, bro.
Disco is a goofball but it's telling when wrestlers single him out and don't say shit to the people who have a legendary status card. It's easy to write off Disco as someone who was only there because of who he was friends with which doesn't make any sense prior to the fall of 1998. What about the previous 3 years he wasn't hanging out with Nash and Hall? That's like saying Kingston is only where he is because of Moxley.
Anyone who wasn't entertained by Disco stunning everyone doesn't know entertainment.
Eddie Kingston being a big, fat, ugly bastard who looks like an angry baked potato with arms and legs is part of his gimmick. Him being a muscle head or an Adonis or good looking or not looking like he slept in his car the night before would weaken his whole gimmick. That's the point. The dude needs to look like a schlub and a big tub 'o guts as long as that doesn't effect his work. And so far, even into his 40's, it hasn't. That street fighter who looks like he works 40-hours a week on an assembly line and then goes home and drinks Coors is Kingston's whole presentation. He's the quiet guy at the bar, who you know would rip your throat out or punch you in the eye until it swells shut for a week. He's the quiet guy, because the loud guys aren't tough, they just want to be loud and make everyone think they're tough. The quiet dudes don't have to prove it.
Kingston is "go" not "show". So he should be fat. And nobody should be calling him out for it, unless his weight starts making him sloppy, dangerous, or less capable in the ring.
I'd just love to be a fly on the wall if somebody was to tell Eddie to his face "You should be fat."
Mia Yim probably suggested a gym membership and well....
"I heard that you can't do sit-ups blind-folded"
You know how many kids we got with that one back in the day? Not many but still worked sometimes.
What's the story with Mia Yim? I haven't heard anything about that.
She talked about being abused by a wrestler she was dating. most online detectives I've seen seem to link to Jay Rios though.
Dunno.
This online detective links it to Keith Lee.
I do still debate that Eddie wouldn't be helped by getting bigger though. I get the "every day" guy thing, but it's not as if he's in the ring with the average size person. And it's not as if you don't see some decent size guys in the bar.
And again, he doesn't need to be Wardlow. But putting some size on upperbody would make him look a bit more powerful.
But he's a fine midcard character as is. But it seems like he doesn't want to be midcard (fair enough-good on him). To get to another level, he may need some more plus factors.
You are not doing great with your 99% right ratio.
This is very true.
I think Eddie's physique is perfectly fine. He looks like a bruiser who doesn't care about working out, but has a lot of strength and muscle from fighting and manual labor.
That said, if he really did get thin-skinned about jabs at his appearance, that's pretty disappointing. Like I get it, it's shitty for fans to do that. But Guevara is clearly the heel and if he's supposed to lose at the PPV, isn't that...exactly the situation you want when someone makes jabs like that? For the person saying sideways shit to get his comeuppance? Not sure how it ruins heat for the match either. And since it wasn't at all addressed on TV like the Punk/Mox and MJF stuff was, I don't see it being for the sake of working the sheets. Especially when it makes Eddie look like a chump.
Still love the guy as a performer and hope he doesn't have other unjustified outbursts if this all went down as said, but it's definitely a grimace moment.
Agreed. It makes him look insecure as fuck. The total opposite of his gimmick.
Kingston has talked about wanting to get in shape. He knows he's on tv in a good spot and if you want to be a top guy you gotta look a certain way. There are obvious exceptions to the rule but we can't just go "Look at Dusty Rhodes!" Yeah look at him he looks like a bad motherfucker that probably played ball and fucked people up on the field.
Does this situation stand out more because of how Kingston portrays himself?
Now I'm seeing Kingston is going to rematch Ishii. I hope Kingston is ready for his medicine.
Honestly I was a fan of Disco as a kid. Was obnoxious but had catchy entrance music lol. And I actually loved his gimmick of trying to get into the wolfpack. Hell, I even liked some of his early TNA work.
I think so. Most wrestlers are supposed to be tough, but Eddie"s the dude that's supposed to be "real" so for him to get upset over something pretty insignificant kind of kills the mystique even if you're in on it.
But dude struggles with mental health, so who knows, maybe he was just having a rough mental day and that was just the straw that broke the camel's back?
Disco was good to have in the midcard. I wasn't a fan of him in the Wolfpac or as "DISQO" with the Filthy Animals. I felt like by that time he should've gone by his real name. But then he reunited with Alex Wright and that was another example of WCW having a solid grasp on tag wrestling. I mean I get that it's easy to shit on Disco but he wasn't exactly wrong with what he said about Eddie.
With Eddie it's simple. He has a reputation in every company. There's a reason the guy was practically homeless prior to that Cody match. Don't get it twisted I'm a fan and I think the guy is a solid midcard talent. I have no desire to see him as champion or main eventing anything but that doesn't mean he can't work with talent that he can make look good in a promo.
I also think we have to be careful with the mental health stuff. Not directed toward you at all when I say this but I just think that some people fuck up and go "ah it's my mental health" Well we all struggle with shit, we all have bad days...I just think this whole situation, for a guy who brags about how real he is, seems petty to get bent over this. And for him to say he was getting buried when he was going to fucking win is just comical.
That’s a nice looking jacket Mox is wearing tonight
Good promos from the key players for the championship program.
Each of the sequences between Omega and Ospreay were electric.
W looked good tonight. This is another fresh start for him, probably his last chance. Hope he does well.
what about this says 'last chance' for him?
Pro wrestling is the land of unlimited chances.
What a pointless match last week was lol. If Mox loses, what was the point of unifying the titles?? I'm sorry but nobody wants the WWE summer of Punk revisited where the WWE title flip flopped 4 times in a week.
I enjoyed the promos last night but I am still kind of meh on that squash last week.
This is a pretty cold ppv for me. Looking forward to jungle boy/Christian and ricky/Hobbs though
Thankfully the card looks solid because there's no fuckin way I would believe anyone was thinking "Yeah I was on the fence but now that we're getting Punk/Mox II I'm all in!"
I was on the fence, but now that we're getting Punk/Mox II I'm gonna get impaled buy one of these fence spikes.
What's more offensive? Miro's gimmick or Sammy calling Kingston fat?
I don't know, i don't get offended.
AEW should partner up with Party Pizza and get some AEW talent on the packages.
Kingston can be the spokesperson, he’s the face that eats the place. Use code ImNotFat for 50 percent off your first order.
Only time I've seen Eddie Kingston was on an Evolve event that aired on WWE Network and I don't remember him being fat.
And a fat one at that.
I get why they're dying Elite w/ Kenny vs Dark Order w/ Hangman, but I really feel like House of Black or Death Triangle should be in the finals.
Kip vs. Pac was boring as fuck.
The match was fine but seemed like a flat payoff to seeing Sabian come back.
Jesus Christ who the hell is yelling so much?
WTF how is that not a DQ?
they should've called on audible on the acclaimed there.
it was a character match for sabian. he hung with pac, and then the end they established what they're gonna do with the gimmick by him addressing the box and laughing while getting beat down.
abso-fucking-lutely. that match was awesome.
A Trios championship?
what aren't you understanding?A Trios championship?
Was it really necessary? They already have a tag title…
there's already a world champion, why have any secondary singles titles?
oh cause that's a stupid question. trios matches and factions have been focused part of AEW since they started. trios matches are a different dynamic than two vs two tags. this whole tournament has shown why they're worth having as titles.
Main event was great. Tag titles was really great. Jericho vs Danielson was like the best **** match you could have. The Christian thing was fun. The rest I could have done without.
This had good matches but it felt underwhelming to me overall. Felt like they had to rush through two notable feuds for whatever reasons (Starks/Hobbs, Jungle Boy/Christian). The post match stuff for the six-man tag with FTR and Wardlow was much more interesting than the match itself. That feels like the gift and curse of healthy cards. You can get wonky with the timing and then people rightfully get butthurt when things probably didn't get the time or attention it probably deserved and probably would've gotten that as a Dynamite main event or on a shorter card. They really should've pulled an audible on the tag title match because the crowd was ready to put The Acclaimed over. That said, it was a really good match and everyone played their roles well. It wasn't a bad card by any stretch but the timing felt wonky and there felt like more filler than usual.
Yeah, but this has been a thing for weeks/months and it culminated in this phase on the preshow and just felt there, and immediately became an afterthought as everyone moved on. He's gotta show himself to the audience, yes, but I'm not sure it's going to work for him. If Sabian is really able to develop it into something of rather notable substance on a stacked roster, good for him. I'm not counting on it though.
Holy hell, Punk just went to town on the EVPs in his presser. That was a massive mess and probably will be the bigger takeaway than the card itself. More turmoil and drama.
This press conference has been way better than the PPV. Toni Storm stopping short of confirming all of the shit you've been hearing about Thunder Rose lately.
That's going to go well for everybody.
I mean the WWF, WCW, and ECW locker rooms were shitshows back in the day. Not to mention the territories. Now that the God Emperor is gone things seem to be getting back to normal.
This though I'd include the MJF/Stokeley stuff and I liked Jade/Athena despite it's sloppiness. Trios match was solid too.
Other than the 4-way, the rest probably would have been better served on a Dynamite.
just starting to watch the media scrum and holy shit it's better than the PPV. punk is going nuts right out of the gate.
Bit of a different world now with press conferences, social media, etc.
And notice back in the day that stuff didn't sometimes have significant consequences.
And now those things are a part of how the audience reacts. Not sure Punk is going to be a guy who responds well to that
Press conferences are dumb.
Khan continuing to be an absolute melt about WWE never ceases to amuse and entertain me.
I knew it was unlikely to begin with but really wanted the Acclaimed to do it and had me going. That was an excellent match. Slightly strained my already strained voice at the TV when it looked likely a couple of times.
I hope they get their long overdue reign. Love those guys.
Between Kingston, Jericho, MJF, Punk and Khan they should be called All Elite Bitching…
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