Read “What the Hell is Happening in Ring of Honor?” for the first part of this story. Earlier this month, I attempted to untangle a blistering series of tweets by former Ring of Honor producer Joey Mercury, alleging gross incompetence on the part of its general manager, Greg Gilleland, on a number of fronts.…
I would like to go on the record and state that the WarGames cage match is the best thing that’s ever been invented. Sure, boring people might choose something more practical, like the wheel or electricity or hormone replacement therapy, but look—none of those were invented by Dusty Rhodes. Rather than a world where…
I have a confession to make. I am one of the mythical lapsed fans AEW is always going on about capturing the attention of. Before the debut of Dynamite (and this column), the last major American wrestling event I watched live was WrestleMania 35. Before that, it was an NXT house show in Atlanta.…
During the build to Full Gear, I started to realize that, some day, All Elite Wrestling will just feel like a regular wrestling promotion. That’s not a knock, just a fact inherent to the goal of making All Elite Wrestling a permanent fixture of the global wrestling landscape. If all goes well and the…
This week we decided to experiment with a different format: LB Hunktears and Colette Arrand typing paragraphs at each other in Google Docs. It’s kind of like a podcast, but for your eyes. You could get a computer to read it to you, if you want. We hope you like it! Hunktears: Hey Colette,…
Ring of Honor, once the promotion whose roster and style set the standard for independent wrestling and, later, brands like WWE’s NXT, has not fared well in the expansion of the wrestling marketplace. Attendance is down, hype is almost non-existent, and one gets the feeling that, were it not for the fact that they…
Hours after news broke that WWE talent that worked yesterday’s Crown Jewel event in Riyadh had their flight home delayed, the company has finally acknowledged the situation, stating: More than 175 Superstars, production crew and employees boarded a 747 charter flight back to the United States on Thursday. After the door closed, due to…
It’s been a busy week for professional wrestling. As I type this, WWE is cashing a gigantic novelty check written by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, recoiling from a 15% dip in their stock valuation, and doing their level best to spin NXT star Albert “Jordan Myles” Hardie Jr.’s public, painful, and ongoing discussion…
Today, All Elite Wrestling announced a new stipulation to the AEW World Championship match between Chris Jericho and Cody at Full Gear: A panel of three judges will be present to decide the winner should the match go to a 60 minute draw. Here’s how that works, according to the company: In the event…
We’re roughly a month into the eternal war between WWE NXT and All Elite Wrestling, and something of a familiar pattern has emerged: AEW seems fresh by virtue of being new and different, and NXT is solid because it’s been solid for a very long time. It’s easy to hand wins to AEW. Given…