Wrestle Review: Business Picking Up Submitted by Andy Sullivan on 09/07/2019 at 12:10 AM
In my lifetime, there was really only one battle between wrestling organizations: WWF vs WCW. I didn't pay much(okay, any) attention to them when they were NWA. Then this company called WCW comes along. WCW lasted from 1988-2001. By comparison, TNA(now Impact) was founded in 2002, making them 17 years old. Yes, Impact Wrestling has outlasted WCW. Who'd have thought?
WWF to WCW and back again was the norm for a lot of wrestlers. TNA to WWE? Well that's a different story. So far, the biggest name to have gained fame in TNA and parlay said fame into a WWE run is AJ Styles. You might be asking "wait! There's Samoa Joe". While true that Samoa Joe was a TNA guy first. AJ is the bigger star. How many world titles as Joe won in WWE? I rest my case.
Now there is a new player, All Elite Wrestling(AEW). The difference between Impact and AEW, though, is that AEW isn't relying as much on former WWE stars as TNA did in its heyday. I do have to wonder, though, who will be the first AEW talent to jump to WWE. It's going to happen, people. I'm going with LuchaSaurus. But wait! He was already in WWE. He was Judas Devlin in NXT. He placed fifth on Big Brother 17. I wonder how long until Vince says "hey, let's get this guy back"?
Speaking of scooping guys up from other promotions, Cody Rhodes will probably be keeping an eye on Chad Gable. Gable is (finally) getting quite a push in WWE via King of the Ring. This could be a great vehicle to propel him to superstardom a la Stone Cold, Triple H, Mabel(okay, Mabel not so much). I'm afraid we'll have another Mabel this year. I bet they have Baron Corbin win it. They have Corbin in a triple threat to advance to the finals. It's against Ricochet and Joe. Unfortunately, I see them moving the Applebee's waiter onto the final and probably winning. Hey, he beat Angle at WrestleMania so any stupid thing is possible with them.
I wondered how LAX were going to be written out of Impact so they could continue in AEW. They had a title vs career match with the North tonight. That's one of those we all knew who was winning.
Next is the funniest and definitely most tweeted about story in wrestling this week. Saturday night at All Out(which I thought was a very good show, btw), Chris Jericho becomes the first AEW Champion by defeating Adam Page. What wasn't expected was the "theft" of the championship and all the hilarity that ensued because of it. The "A little bit of the bubbly" memes and interjecting it into such things as "Mambo #5" was genius! You just can't beat Chris Jericho for pure entertainment.
I'm a sucker for a romantic moment, a grand gesture. That's why I loved the way Impact ended tonight. Brian Cage proposing to Melissa Santos was great. Actually they've been married in reality for awhile. So, they're getting her in the Cage and Callahan storyline? Just a guess. We'll have to see what happens. Congrats on getting me intrigued, Impact. You and AEW have done more for me the past week than WWE has done in the past month.
