Tozawa at least has been on TV here and there, fairly often compared to the rest.
Of all of the releases, who do we expect to return as a future surprise entrant in the Rumble? Perhaps Ziggler in 2-3 years?
Tozawa at least has been on TV here and there, fairly often compared to the rest.
Of all of the releases, who do we expect to return as a future surprise entrant in the Rumble? Perhaps Ziggler in 2-3 years?
I like when AEW just lets a contract run out and has no communication with the talent on whether or not they're going to resign them until said talent finds out via Twitter posts from random fans. Then you have to figure out how you're going to pay bills because you know Tony wasn't paying a talent like Sonny Kiss anything special.Originally Posted by MTR
With that said, I'm not really a fan of keeping people on the payroll doing nothing. It's a weird business but the verbiage is in the contract. Anyone who signs with the WWE and you're shocked after 80 years I guess that's just how it goes lol.
Mansoor.
Yeah it is shitty when they are not told. I agree with that and seems like that has happened a bunch.
It's happened to several of the first wave talents that were simply signed to show AEW were inclusive or just needed a body. Like they never did a single thing of worth with Sonny Kiss. Maybe the gimmick was too much for Tony to comprehend. People talk about Jade being a loss, imo Sonny KIss was the real loss.
I agree that Sonny was a loss for that company and I wish Tony had done more with them.
Hope to see a post in this thread about Sonny getting signed by WWE someday...
I meant the 30 person Royal Rumble that kicks off Mania season, not the Saudi 45 entrant Greatest Royal Rumble, but fair point that Mansoor shows up there at some point for a hometown pop, perhaps as a way to get heat on someone.
I am not sure that WWE would know what to do with Sonny.Same with Max the Impaler who I also like. Things are easier on them in the indies because the indies do intergender matches all the time and both wrestle men and women.
Big, hard co-sign on this one my friend. Especially the subtle shade to Jade. I've never, in my almost 30 years of being a wrestling fan, seen a more overhyped performer than Jade. Like, I respect her for going out there and putting her life on the line for our entertainment, but outside of having a rockin physique she's ridiculously mediocre in every other way. I'm actually excited for her to train at the PC because the potential is out of this world, but my fear is that they will rush her to the main roster where, unfortunately, her weaknesses will be on full display.
I will say this coming from a glass half full approach, we've seen a lot worse on the main roster and not just from the past I'm talking right now. If we have Nia Jax and Carmella on the main roster Jade can definitely hold her own.
Yup yup yup. Max rules. They have said they're OK working in a women's division if that's most suitable where they're booked. Max doesn't really strike me as WWE material as much as Sonny, though.I am not sure that WWE would know what to do with Sonny.
Matt Riddle has been released
I would like to say I’m shocked at this news but really not. Saddened yes as a fucking exceptional talent but the guy has made his own mistakes and way too many of them. That airport stuff was the tip of the iceberg.
I can only hope the guy sees the light one day and sorts himself out.
If he’d kept himself (and big if) Orton gets the all clear, massive feud/reunion possibility and also the possibility of a great program with Drew but really only himself to blame.
The most saddening and disappointing yet not shocking release of them all. It’s his own fault.
Matt Riddle looking like a bad joke
Can't say I will miss Riddle.
He’s Jeff Hardy 2.0
I guess it's too late for him to be Heath Slater 2.0 and run with "I got kids I need this job!"
Stupid decision they got rid of Heath.
I now want GUNTHER to say there’s no-one left then Heath interrupts and beats the streak with a roll-up! Kinda like a Santino/Umaga moment.
Don't think any of us would have guessed that Dijak would be the only member of retribution not to be released.
Complete with the One Man Band theme
This hits hard. Easily my favorite talent today. Ugh,
You’ve really been cursed. Your favourite talents have either been released, moved or in Braun’s case, released, come back and injured.
Feel for you dude!
There's always Brock but he's not around all the time.
Oh, I do like Omos.
Yeah think you’re safe with Brock lol.
That’s a point. Omos has been MIA lately. Think he came back briefly but not been around. Don’t know what the story with that is but if the cuts are still going on, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
I don’t know if anyone seen Top Dolla…oh now Dolla’s rants on social media about him changing his name but posted a rant that the criticism he’s got is because he’s black.
It might have something more to do with you are absolutely fucking shit than your colour of skin.
I didn’t think there would be anyone worse than Ryback with his rants but there ya go!
Last edited by Badger; September 23rd, 2023 at 3:52 PM.
That's racist Badger
(Only kidding)
Nah, I didn't see a lot of his work, but his tweets always came off as someone overly confident in his ability as a wrestler. I'm sure there have definitely been racist people who were happy to jump onto the bandwagon, but that doesn't mean most of the criticism was invalid.
Fwiw, it was the Chris Jericho FB page not really hosted by Chris Jericho (and tbf can be a bit shite) that shared his comments. Most said he was talking shit.
When he was in NXT and him and the group had the swerve he was protected. It was the horrendous attempt at a dive over the top rope that was soooo bad so Cole just said fuck it and started laughing calling him Flop Dolla. Believe me it was baaaad! That’s why you also had LA Knight burying the whole stable off camera in a dark match once.
When Swerve was gone, the holes were badly exposed.
Last edited by Badger; September 23rd, 2023 at 5:55 PM.
@Psycho666Soldier
Cole was rightfully brutal. Rewatched the commentary lol and Cole was more savage than I remembered.
Max rules. Seen them live a few times. They are currently the NWA women’s champ. They times they work AEW on dark was against women and NWA books them in the women’s division. When they work Glory Pro here in St Louis they work anyone. They had a slobberknocker against Jake Something a couple years ago.
I didn’t see it live but Sonny worked a Glory Pro show against Allie Kaitch in a decent match
Riddle... what a disappointment. Truly had high hopes for the guy being a top player, but eh. He couldn't stay out of it.
Riddle was never going to be anything above midcard with that shroom tat on his rib. I loved watching him in MMA, love watching him wrestle as he's like an RVD type-totally different in look, vibe, moveset than anything else out there. With that said, we've seen people do/say worse including Vince himself but someone has to be made an example of.
My son was telling me all this wild shit about that Quincy Elliot cat. Sounds like a total pos if true.
The recent worst-kept secret is now official: Jade Cargill has signed with WWE.
I guess the days of Luger or Rude showing up unexpectedly for the other company are long gone. Everything has to be announced these days, everyone's contract has to be followed. Even Cody wasn't a good kept secret.
Don't know much about Cargill but hey, I'll look forward to seeing what the hype is.
Harder to pull of a surprised for sure. Black's debut with AEW was a surprise in part because people didn't realize his non compete was only 30 days instead of 90 days.
I think Jade still has some work because they didn't really work her with some of the more talented women and she did a lot of squashes. I think working NXT would be good but I think they are going to move her up to the main roster right away.
I think on one hand you'll have the hardcore fans who will know who she is and on the other you'll have people who will be like who is this mysterious beautiful woman??
And while I do believe WWE has the best women's roster I don't think Jade's skillset will look too out of place when you think about some of the wrestlers we see every week. I do think a trip through NXT wouldn't kill her but who knows.
Perhaps they have a mystery spot on the women's War Games match. And they fill it with a debuting Jade Cargill.
The gimmick match can hide her weaknesses, while they train her in between shows.
I am kind of hoping even if they don't have her do a stint in NXT that they do have her spend sometime down there and work with some coaches and stuff before coming up to the main roster.
I could see it. It's not out of the ordinary for them to do that especially with how few house shows they do in comparison to the past. If she's on tv once a week she can use whatever house shows she's on to get reps plus going down to the PC if need be.
I see they are sharing pics on social media of her at the performance center today. So yeah she probably moves up to main roster quickly but hopefully they have her continue to work out at the performance center for a while.
I've seen a fair amount of stuff about main roster talent hitting the PC on their off days to train. It seems like it's pretty common and likely she'd be doing that. Advantage of her going straight to the main roster is the caliber of talent she'd be in there with are folks that can carry her and educate her on the job. The way they're handing the signing and the buzz around it, I think main roster is the way to go and seems most likely.
Hearing "reports" that Tama Tonga signed with WWE.
It has been confirmed through at least another source, so certainly looks like it's happening.
Tye Dillinger back in NXT.
'cept his name is Shawn Spears.
Yup, yup. Rocking the Japanese story and repping the chairs he loved in AEW.
Watched the reveal on NXT and was like oh.
Oh Gavin Spears no one likes you.
Not going to lie. I didn't realize Spears was not under AEW contract anymore. I missed that somewhere. Good job of keeping him showing up a secret though. Didn't see it being reported anywhere
I'm trying to be positive so I'm just going to say this...If this leads to the return of Peyton Royce, maybe even Billie Kaye and the IIconics return I'm ok with this bargaining chip lol. Other than that....I wasn't thinking of this guy at all so props to them with the shock value but not everything is cool just because it was unexpected. Spears just never clicked for me and considering how long he was in developmental and how lame he is in general this seems like Cody pulled some strings. Why not pull some strings and get Matt Cardona rehired?
It’s because nobody cared.
Last edited by VHS; February 28th, 2024 at 5:40 PM.
He should've come back as Tye Dillinger complete with the perfect 10 thing and destroyed something, like Bayley's heel turn destroying the inflatables. If he didn't come back at all I wouldn't have noticed he wasn't there too.
I liked some stuff he did in AEW but yeah he was just meh and I same with this first run with WWE. I liked some stuff but overall he was just there.
I would be down for the IIconics coming back or at least Peyton coming back.
I remember tweeting Shawn Spears back when he was released from WWE the first time, pretty sure he was just a jobber on ECW at that point, and I tweeted I hope you come back to WWE, and he responded he hoped so too. I regret that. I was so happy when he left for AEW.
Matt Cardona probably isn't coming back, because he's making significantly more money now than he did when he worked for WWE. He has the freedom to control his character, and there's more buzz about Matt Cardona than Zach Ryder was ever likely to get close to again. It has to be very frustrating for someone who considers himself an artist to be constantly told they have nothing for you this week - see you in catering.
He is selling more merch and getting to keep more of the profits from it.
I would be delighted to see the IIconics return.
Matt Cardona sucks.
Glad Spears isn't doing the Perfect 10 gimmick because it was nothing. Curious to see something new.
Also, did Cardona get better on the indies? Cuz ZackRyder sucked.
Last edited by mth; February 28th, 2024 at 9:16 PM.
legit one of the best indie dudes around, at least from a character piint of view.
Is it a character that would translate to WWE though?
Long Island Ice Z was cool. Essentially raged against the machine and got himself over on YouTube for a bit anyway.
Mania 32 US title win was also cool. Even if he lost it pretty quick lol. Great moment.
Would be interesting to see him re-debut to WWE as “Matt Cardona” though.
nope. a lot of his success has come from pastiching WWE stuff in ways that would get indie fans to hate and boo him, like dressing up as undertaker or ECW vince mcmahon, calling the fans 'the *insert company name* universe, etc. he's also been involved with GCW, which is mostly hardcore style, and has participated in a bunch of deathmatches, which most people were not expecting out of zack ryder. he ended up beating nick gage, the top guy in GCW, for the GCW world title and declaring himself the 'deathmatch king,' and from there, he's just been grinding the indies. he had chelsea green valeting for him until she resigned with WWE and just in the last year or so started teaming with steph de lander in a kinda macho king gimmick playing off deathmatches, which resulted in them arriving to a tag team deathmatch against nick gage and maki itoh in the ecto-1.
it's just very, very clear he is having the time of his life doing shit that would probably never be approved in the WWE.
that match with nick gage where he won the GCW title is one of the most insane environments at a wrestling event i've ever seen.
Okay that is officially amazing.
Up there with Elite Ghostbusters and Stay Puft Hangman in AEW.
You're slipping on your memory, Ryder won the IC title at Mania 32Long Island Ice Z was cool. Essentially raged against the machine and got himself over on YouTube for a bit anyway.
Mania 32 US title win was also cool. Even if he lost it pretty quick lol. Great moment.
Would be interesting to see him re-debut to WWE as “Matt Cardona” though.
Cardona is doing amazing on the indies. He has been the GCW champ at one point and also the NWA champ at one point and lot of other companies have put titles on him. He said he would entertain going back but right now he is doing his thing and loving it.
Well I am 41 and getting on in years lol.
But yeah I had meant to put US, didn't even realise I'd done it until you tole me just there.
Cardona's never had a problem getting over. It's the office that never really capitalized on it enough for whatever reason. The "what if he didn't get injured when the Hype Bros were set to get a tag title shot" conversation used to come up quite a bit. I think you can take what he's doing on the indies and make it work in the WWE environment is something that could happen because dude is that good. Will he be headlining Mania? Probably not. But he's always been good in the ring, mic, looks great. Honestly shocked that AEW never made a serious play to get him because I feel like he would take the contract just like he would if WWE came calling. He did say if he came back he'd want to be "Matt Cardona" so who knows. Ryder, Cardona, doesn't matter to me.
He'd get lost in the shuffle with all these big name returns, like Cody, CM Punk, Andrade, and Shawn Spears.
He did a short run with AEW early on but he has said he doesn't want to sign long term anywhere. Which is why he only did a short run there and has been in and out of TNA and NWA while being all over the place on the indies.
Well he also wasn't sure why AEW hasn't called him back since. People like to say they won't sign anything long term until the offer. If Tony Khan paid this motherfucker 2-3 million a year like he does Big Show idk if Matt would truly turn that down. He's probably sitting on a pile of money after working for WWE 15 years. IMO he's waiting on WWE to call him back if he truly doesn't want to sign with anyone long term. It's not like WWE would be like "Sure Matt, we'll sign you for 6 months so you can still wrestle Effy and Necro Butcher"
If he is making plenty of money doing what he is doing plus what he already had and can control his schedule I don't blame him not signing somewhere. He has said he would listen to a WWE offer but he is also enjoying what he is doing but he said of course he would listen to an offer from the WWE. He could in theory sign with AEW and TNA and still doing a lot of what he is doing though.
I figure at some point he will be back in the WWE. But who knows.
Jinder's gone, no longer a hinderance. Be free, maja
Xia's gone, waste of time.
Xyon Quinn's gone too... eh.
Xia Li was great and under utilized. I will miss her.
Quinn seemed like he had potential. His wife is in AEW so maybe he'll follow.
Jinder was OK. I was one of the few that didn't mind his WWE title run.
Veer and Sanga gone as well. Apart from Jinder, I'm guessing these releases pertain to those not progressing or getting better. Xia, Xyon, Veer/Sanga... they all just never found their footing.
That Jinder Mahal reign is absolutely mental when you look back at it. I get markets and all that, but he's never been particularly good. That they did it so early into the brand split as well. They had Dean Ambrose with ammo for a heel turn after being on the 'Mania pre-show, but shifted him to Raw to lose to Miz and pushed Jinder?! All worked out in the wash I guess, but that era was fucking awful. That completely backward MITB angle has to be one of the worst bits of planning of all time too - babyface Cena costs heel Corbin in his cash in against heel Jinder, then Cena beats Corbin to compound how much of a loser he is, then Jinder beats unbeaten babyface Nakamura to defend the title. The same parts would have made for a highly logical crowning of Nakamura and establishing Corbin as a threat - Corbin beats Cena, Nakamura beats Jinder, Cena costs him the cash in immediately after.
I liked Sanga.
Veer and Sanga isn't surprising. I liked Sanga, as well, and thought he was quite likeable when he was a big teddy bear babyface on NXT with Valentina and Yulisa.
They could have been used better on the way out.
I wanted to see Kayla Braxton interviewing Veer and Sanga first. Then have Omos or Braun Strowman come wreck them. Or even (is he still on the roster) dancing Shanky
Jinder was terrible without the Bollywood Boyz. They turned him way too fast from jobber to champ, and once he got the strap, his matches were way too repetitive. Worse, they put him in that Punjabi Prison match where the audience couldn't see shit, even Randy Orton couldn't make him look competent. To top it off, the retired Great Khali upstaged him and held the belt in the air, reminding the WWE universe that even Khali was a better champ.
Are they no longer going after the Asian market?
They tried to cater way too hard to the Indian market not realizing that Jinder wasn't getting over no matter where they said he was from, no matter what he looked like. Remember when they went over there and Triple H beat him? The WWE even tried to alter the commentary to make him come across as a babyface in those markets and it still didn't work. Jinder going from job guy on Main Event to World champion in a matter of months-and getting a 6-7 month run out of it was just mind blowing.
SUPPOSEDLY Von Wagner was also cut
Oh no, not Von Wagner.
Dude is a charisma black hole. Not even a vacuum. Story with Bron was okay but really led nowhere.
Poor Robert Stone keeps losing his clients.
I'm so Von Sadner.
Chewsday
Oh what the actual fuck. Not Von Wagner!
Balor has signed a new contract with WWE
jinder mahal vs. shinsuke nakamura for the world title, imagine how outright absurd that would have sounded two years before it happened.
It was absurd when it did happen
Imagine if the WWF were like, we need to really secure that Jewish demo and in 1996 they said Shawn, I know you just won the belt at Mania but we're going to have you to drop it to Barry Horowitz next month at In Your House.
I always felt like had they did the reverse, where he would've won the US title and had a run that it would've possibly worked out to where people would've believed him, even in India, that this guy was over enough.
The crazy part is...It wasn't like they didn't already have a big presence in India. I just don't think they gave a fuck about Jinder and wanted to see guys like Roman and Orton.
Sucks for Cameron Grimes, never really had a chance on the main roster. I'm sure he'll end up back in TNA.
My fuckin boy ready to back to being hairy caveman Trevor Lee
Never got into him. Tried but just couldn't. LA Knight surviving the shit he had to swim through to get to the top of WWE will be stuff of legend lol Like Kevin Nash going through what he had to.
Heel Grimes was great. Cleaned up baby face Grimes sucked. Talented guy.
Grimes grew on me back when I was watching NXT all the time. It just took a while but I liked him. But they hadn't really done anything with him since bringing him up. Probably good for him to go elsewhere for now.
I enjoyed the stuff Grimes did with the Million Dollar Man. When he was brought to the main roster, at the same time as JD McDonough, I never would have expected JD to stick around longer.
Drew Gulak and a bunch of NXT folks were let go. Notable names are Boa, Valentina Feroz, and Trey Bearhill.
Gable steveson has finally been fucked off
Wow.
Either he was absolutely terrible or entirely uninterested in pro wrestling as a career, because he was billed as the next Brock Lesnar…
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