Can’t we just agree that each match was great for their era?

Geesh.

For one, let’s disqualify a few opinions first… Ric Flair was in the actual match with Ricky Steamboat, so obviously, he’s biased. Dave Meltzer is totally IN THE BAG for All Elite Wrestling and anyone who works for New Japan, so obviously, he’s very biased. One is protecting his legacy and the other is protecting his hidden ties to AEW.

But the rest of you fighting in the trenches… Who cares? Who cares which match is better? What are you trying to prove with online fights?!?

Steamboat vs. Flair happened in 1989, while Ospreay vs. Omega happened in 2026… That’s a 37 year difference, and that’s older than one of the wrestlers discussed (Will Ospreay is 33, born in 1993).

It’s like the same idiotic argument of which athlete from this era of MLB, NBA, or NFL is better, despite being decades apart or never having played each other. Like the Michael Jordan vs. Lebron James debate. Who cares? Just admire that both human beings were very talented and won multiple titles each. Sure, they did it different ways, but the leagues conditions for each era provides context.

Or even worse, the old Joe Montana vs. Tom Brady debate. Brady had to get 4 titles to even be included in the debate, but even that was enough. Tom getting 7 Super Bowl titles still isn’t enough in this lame debate. Who cares? Both were great in their era and both will be Hall of Famers when Tom gets in soon.

Then you have “any player today” versus Babe Ruth debate, as if Babe Ruth wouldn’t dominate with late 20th century or early 21st century medicine, performance enhancers, and nutrition if he played today.

Notice how I didn’t mention NHL… Nobody disputes Wayne Gretzky as the G.O.A.T there… I painfully admit that as a diehard Pittsburgh Penguins and Mario Lemieux fan.

But this debate that everyone is having is STUPID, especially since Ospreay vs. Omega from AEW All In 2026 JUST HAPPENED. Why can’t we let the damn paint dry before we see it’s long-term impact? Ospreay/Omega happened 5 days ago, while Flair and Steamboat happened 37 years ago.

What wrestling fans need to realize that Flair vs. Steamboat was through 1989 was an actual exception to what pro wrestling was back then. You didn’t see hyper-athletic matches like that back then because most of the fanbase believed that pro wrestling was real and wrestlers could do more with psychology or gesturing with fans during the match. With the fans emotionally invested already, they didn’t have to perform high risk moves or show extreme athleticism. Thus, why wrestlers could actually perform over 300 times per year back then because they just had to work the crowds who already believed what they were seeing was real. This is why Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3 was so unique for its time and then why Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair stood out in 1989. Those matches were complete outliers for their athleticism in comparison to other matches back then.

Fast forward to 2026. 37 years later, wrestlers are influenced by what Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and a metric ton of cruiserweight wrestlers and international wrestlers have put on for decades. Because kayfabe was shattered, wrestlers since the late 1980s had to TRY HARDER with their matches to keep the crowds interested. Hence why you saw workrate increasing by the year through what we see now with 2026. Sadly, along the way, too, we had ECW to influence everybody flying through tables or jumping off ladders.

Flair vs. Steamboat (specifically the WrestleWar 89 match) was the best match that we’ve ever seen until 1997 when Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin happened at Wrestlemania 13. THINK ABOUT THAT, folks… It took 8 freakin’ years for another epic 5-star match the equivalent of Flair vs. Steamboat to happen.

But then, through the late 1990s, guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Brian Pillman, and many other international wrestlers arrived to really speed up the tempo of the matches. Main eventers like the Rock, Austin, Undertaker, John Cena, Batista, and Brock Lesnar actually adjusted their own styles to match the faster paced style. With time, wrestling schedules were reduced from 300+ nights pear year to around 150, if that. Wrestlers are working less, so thus they put more effort into the bigger televised matches than ever.

Again, wrestlers of today HAVE TO because putting their bodies on the line is the only way to keep the fans interested because fans know everything is scripted.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair stood out because there were no other matches like it, and nothing close to it until the late 1990s.

With Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega, we’ve seen many high impact, high energy, and high risk matches like it. Hell, there are other Omega vs. Ospeay matches that are equally as good as what you just saw at All In 2026. Both Omega and Ospreay have had many great matches with other opponents, notably Okada in the past or with other various opponents in New Japan. AEW often has 10-15 matches on their Pay Per Views and they are full of high energy and high impact matches that are receiving higher star ratings from fans and critics alike. Let’s not discount WWE… Their workrate is way up, as even Dave Meltzer had to give Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk at Wrestlemania 42 a 5-star rating.

The problem with Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega is that it’s in a much more crowded field, and thus can be forgotten in a short while. If you were a wrestling fan since the 1980s, you remembered 1989 with those 3 televised Steamboat vs. Flair matches and you never forgot about them. Then, it took about 8 years for any match to even be the equivalent of quality to that match.

Then I’m seeing stuff like “Ospreay vs. Omega drew over 40,000, which was higher than anything drawing in 1989 for WCW”. Yeah, well, WCW had more eyeballs watching their shows back then and that Clash of the Champions event in New Orleans drew poorly because it was given away for free on television. There’s a bigger population now, and plus for All In, they had a hometown kid winning the AEW Title. WWE drew strongly in Wembley with SummerSlam 1992 because British Bulldog was going for the Intercontinental Title.

Y’all are just in a worthless pissing match… This is apples and oranges. Flair vs. Steamboat was quality in an era of quantity of matches that didn’t require major athletic effort because fans were emotionally involved. Now, however, there’s too much quantity of quality matches and wrestlers have to work harder to earn fans’ attention.

Just be happy with the abundance of great matches today, but thank building blocks like Flair vs. Steamboat that helped influence what you’re seeing now.

STOP WASTING YOUR TIME arguing this crap online. It’s not good for your health and speaking through your fingers is worthless versus actually talking to and conversing with real human beings in-person.

Both Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega were great for their eras and years… Very simple premise to agree on.

That said, I’ve watched both matches and I’ll hand it to Flair vs. Steamboat. Why? Because Flair and Steamboat didn’t have to nearly injure themselves with higher risk moves than what Kenny and Will had to do. I don’t know how Kenny Omega’s neck isn’t badly injured after that match, while I believe that Steamboat and Flair were chilling comfortably after their matches in 1989.

Plus, again, Flair vs. Steamboat were the diamond in the rough back then… Now, we’re creating too many artificial diamonds that are drowning out the quality.

Gotta try harder to impress fans when you flush kayfabe down the toilet…

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: Assessing the STUPIDITY of the Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay and Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat Match Comparison Debate appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

So yeah I thoroughly enjoyed All In. I never got around to watching NXT Heatwave or the Triple A show. There was some news coming out of that double shot over the weekend. According to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer , the WWE essentially underestimated Triple A thinking NXT would be the bigger show of the two. All I can think of that is the word stupid

Of course Triple A was going to be seen as the bigger show. The WWE is vastly underestimating the drawing power of Lucha Libre in the United States. Triple A should be seen as much more than a pawn for the WWE. Oh we need to leech off AEW again…let’s throw a Triple A show up against it. At least Triplemania 34 (which is in a couple of weeks) will get time to shine on it’s own with a huge Friday night show on September 11th in Las Vegas and night two in Mexico City on September 13th. I’m honestly more interested in the second night because that is the night we will see Dominik Mysterio defend the Triple A MEGA Championship against El Grande Americano. Americano has become almost a folk hero in Mexico so it has to be almost a lock that he would win the title.

But I want to go back to AEW today because I honestly haven’t written enough about them in a while. As I said, I thoroughly enjoyed All In: London. The match everyone is talking about is of course Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega. I loved everything about this match from the pre match introduction narrated by Will’s own mother and then set to “Baba O’Reily” by The Who. It just was everything I love about a “pure sports build” in pro wrestling. But as much as I loved the match, I’m not going to say something crazy and be like “Oh it was the best match ever”. Surely a match of the year candidate regardless of the promotion.

Over on twitter/X, someone randomly tweeted at Darius Rucker (country singer/formerly of Hootie & The Blowfish) that Omega vs. Ospreay was the greatest match of all time. Darius responded simply by saying “You obviously never saw Flair vs. Steamboat”. Now, it’s well known that Rucker is a Flair fanboy. I mean hell, he owns I believe two of Flair’s actual robes. But he wasn’t wrong to state that if you think Omega vs. Ospreay was great, you’ve never seen Flair vs. Steamboat. Enter Dave Meltzer into the discussion.

“I saw countless Flair-Steamboat matches. Seriously, Ospreay vs, Omega had more emotion than any Flair-Steamboat match and Flair-Steamboat was state of the art from 1977 to 1989.”

I like Dave, I really do. But Ospreay vs. Omega did not have more emotion than ANY Flair-Steamboat match. Like I said it was a really good match, but if you’re comparing it to Flair and Steamboat…that is a bridge too far. Of course it didn’t take too long for Ric Flair to chime in about it over on Twitter and it’s a doozy from Ol’ Nat’ch.

“No one has more respect for Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay than me! But to compare them to Steamboat and I is like comparing the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean! When they have a great match 300 times a year and 200-hour broadways, get back to me! Until then, there is no problem with being number two. You are great young talent, but let’s get serious, kids! You should only hope that you have people talking about your matches 37 years later! WOOOOO!”

Now, I sense a tad bit exaggerating from Ric because I’m pretty sure he and Steamboat did not wrestle each other 300 times a year. The 200 hour long broadways is probably true. But that’s over a span of decades. I honestly believe that Kenny’s matches with Okada will be discussed in the same vein as Flair and Steamboat down the line. Those were epic matches that should be talked about decades to come. But this match with Omega and Ospreay, while pretty damn good…it was not a Flair vs. Steamboat encounter.

In the end like I said, it might be a match of the year. Hell, I’ll even say it could be a top ten match of the decade. But I just don’t see people talking about this match like a Flair/Steamboat match. Right now the all time series between Kenny and Will is tied at two wins apiece. Will said on Dynamite he’s happy with being equal with Kenny Omega. But if he ever wants to go again…game on. I do hope that fifth and probable final match between Omega and Ospreay does happen. Now if that match happens, that will probably have a lot of emotion to it because it’s pretty clear right now Kenny Omega is on the last lap of his career. Does Omega go out with a win or does he fall just short one last time? That’s a story right there AEW could do.

On that note I am done for this week. I apologize for any delay with my column. The world of wrestling moves faster than I can type sometimes. As always you can leave feedback down below, over on Twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Was Omega vs. Ospreay better than Flair vs. Steamboat? appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

If you enjoyed AEW All In 2026, be proud of it. I’m NOT here to belittle you for enjoying the show or parting your hard-earned money to either attend the show or watch it on Pay Per View. This is not a column here to criticize AEW on its workrate or style.

However, this column will describe why AEW is stunted in its growth and has a similar problem that plagues the WWE to limit its growth, too.

Ready for it? Let’s review AEW’s current champions following the All In 2026 event:

– AEW World Champion: Will Ospreay (free agent signed during late 2023)

– AEW International Champion: Okada (free agent signed during early 2024)

– AEW Continental Champion: Jox Moxley (free agent signed during mid 2019)

– AEW National Champion: Andrade (free agent signed during 2025, also previously signed during 2021)

– AEW TNT Champion: Darby Allin (AEW Original)

– AEW Tag Team Champions: Adam Copeland (2023 signing) and Christian (2021 signing)

– AEW Trios Champions: Swerve Strickland (2022 signing) & The New Level (aka New Day, 2026 signings)

– AEW Women’s Champion: Mercedes Moné (signed early 2024 as a free agent)

– AEW TBS Champion: Persephone (2025 signing from CMLL)

– AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions: The Brawling Birds (both working indy or international circuits prior to joining AEW, but more or less originals nationally with AEW)

So besides Darby Allin, AEW is a company that signs free agents and pushes them to the top? Do I have that correct?

In other words, no home grown talent gets pushed and then put over on AEW’s biggest show of the year.

To that extent, I’d argue the SAME problem exists with the WWE with the exception of maybe pushing a few of their homegrown talents close to their expiration dates (Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, John Cena, CM Punk technically, and Brock Lesnar).

Right now in the WWE, it’s not so much that they are pushing free agents to the top, but they aren’t moving on from their main eventers and completely disallowing any recent younger signings or developmental wrestlers to rise up. For example, Oba Femi… We thought Wrestlemania 42 was his big moment when he demolished Brock Lesnar, but then Lesnar attacked him and then defeated Oba in their next match. Sure, SummerSlam 2026 gave us good vibrations, but the fact is that WWE literally wasted 4 months on not pushing Oba to the top from Wrestlemania 42.

Bron Breakker has repeatedly been misused and denied entry into the top main event scene. Ditto for Jacob Fatu, whom Roman Reigns took care of several times. Solo Sikoa hasn’t been important to WWE’s plans since Roman took care of him to start 2025. Aside from the Women’s Division, what the NXT developmental system is bringing up isn’t as strong as what OVW or FCW once provided, but even then, once they do make the main roster, Creative seems to want to immediately cut them at the knees and remain veteran dependent.

WWE has grown since the pandemic because they pushed home grown talent to the top and luckily for them, they had multiple wrestlers ready to hit their prime years when they did it. Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and I’d argue to an extent, Kevin Owens, waited patiently after the terrible 2010s when Vince McMahon micro-managed the WWE roster and then once Jey, Roman, and Sami were repackaged with the Bloodline and Kevin Owens was inserted into the mix, we had an explosion of growth through 2023 and Wrestlemania 39 that created tides that lifted all WWE boats that year.

And then WWE had the potential to put Roman Reigns over even further with him defeating The Rock in a match. Could have happened at Wrestlemania 40, but the better time to happen was at Wrestlemania 41. Rock got busy with movies and that opportunity to make Roman even bigger just disappeared. Now, he’s clinging on to the same playbook and WWE thinks that their fans will eat the same recycled storylines as before. Dominant Roman surrounded by the Bloodline, but this time, as a babyface group.

Meanwhile, younger talents can’t get over in the WWE.

WWE peaked in growth through 2024 and has been on the slow decline since 2025 because they are too veteran heavy. Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Seth Rollins, and Cody Rhodes have formed a veteran wall that cannot be breached by developmental talent. Meanwhile, WWE’s top brass is trying to milk those veterans for everything they have and hence, why tired fans just won’t pay the insane prices that the TKO corporation wants to charge for WWE events.

AEW just doesn’t have a developmental system… For some of the wrestlers they have tried, they either fizzed out or they somehow got jobs to become WWE’s problem (hello Jade Cargill). Their promotion began by signing free agents from the independents, New Japan, or WWE. That’s fine for a base and introduction, as I’d argue that Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho contributed significantly to AEW during 2019-2021, but then AEW became entirely dependent on free agency. It was nice to have CM Punk back, but AEW didn’t create him and only benefitted from him walking away from the WWE 7 years ago. And then that blew up in their face not just at All Out 2022 or All In 2023, but due to their marketing boasting a “younger roster” while CM Punk in his 40s was not the same worker.

Following AEW All In 2023 and its fallout, that’s when Tony signed many free agents to big deals such as Okada, Ospreay, Mercedes, and Adam Copeland who, by the way, are each holding a title belt in some form for AEW right now.

The result of the late 2023 and early 2024 AEW shopping spree? TV viewership kept declining and attendance for AEW’s live shows, other than Pay Per Views, is deemed a success if it can break 4,000 people with lower ticket prices.

To AEW’s credit, they can put on fun and exciting Pay Per Views… Nobody, including me, denies that.

But I can attend many independent shows who put on tremendous shows, too, but they aren’t getting national attention. For pro wrestling, it’s easier to find great athletes than it is to find great showmen. With time, I’ve agreed that pro wrestling has some of the best athletes in the business today compared to previous years. They can pull off moves and keep the energy going much more than prior generations… However, prior generations of wrestlers did “more with less” and used charisma and psychology to carry the match without having to risk their bodies with high-impact moves. Their moves-per-minute were way down and that allowed them to literally work over 300 shows per year. If wrestlers today worked 300+ matches per year today, AEW’s healthcare bills would bankrupt the company based on the high tempo and high risk style AEW presents.

Here in 2026, it’s not hard to put on a great wrestling match at least in terms of athleticism. Without much innovation happening these days with new moves, wrestlers have blueprints on what will peak the interest of those who give out match ratings using the star system. Just string along “x” amount of moves, have many false finishes, and just keep the energy up and you’ll at least get 3 stars in a match. Increase the high risk moves, and 4 stars or more are coming your way.

The dirty secret for AEW, however, is that they are keeping the free agent signings on top while the rest of the wrestlers are just burning themselves out with this high-risk style. Then, AEW just finds more athletic bodies to keep cycling in and out of the roster to fill that high risk need. However, anyone working hard in AEW from underneath are NOT rewarded and hit a ceiling because Tony keeps preferring to push ex-WWE or ex-New Japan guys on top.

As I’ve said before, AEW has wasted money on Jim Ross. Not that signing him as an announcer wasn’t worth it, but that they never let Ross advise on building a developmental system. What Jim Ross did during the late 1990s through 2005 was remarkable and restocked the WWE roster for decades to come and that momentum kept going through FCW and NXT. While wrestlers at the WWE Performance Center are NOT trained as well as they were at OVW or FCW, the point remains is that WWE has the potential to debut the next homegrown star in the future. Lucky for AEW, WWE is currently pissing away any recent developmental call-ups.

AEW lacks a strong developmental system to present never-before-seen wrestlers on a national level to its fans. Fans like to invest in the process, cheering on someone who debuts and then climbs the ladder all of the way to the top. It’s a time investment to see a wrestler at their humble beginnings to become World Champion and those memories keep you around as a wrestling fan. Watching that process is intoxicating and keeps that wrestling addiction going.

Take John Cena, for example… We all saw his big “ruthless aggression” debut against Kurt Angle, but then we saw him struggle on the WWE roster for the rest of 2002. Then, on a random Halloween episode, he cuts a promo where he raps and suddenly, a new gimmick is born. From late 2002 through early 2005, we got to witness John Cena grow as a character and go from becoming United States Champion to World Champion by Wrestlemania 21. Then, Cena was a great World Champion which kept the rewards going. John Cena always delivered, even when good opponents during the early 2010s. However, Cena made you believe that Miz, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, and CM Punk were big superstars simply by working against John Cena who sold like a champion for them. Then, the 2025 retirement tour was a pure payoff and I think many Cena “haters” also jumped aboard, as they now fully realized how great Cena was back in the day.

WWE is botching their own process of debuting wrestlers and letting them naturally climb the ladder… AEW just doesn’t have such a process.

Instead, they shower those 2023-2024 free agent signings with love and put them over on their top show of the year. Looks like Tony Khan has to continually justify the high contracts that he’s paying each of those wrestlers.

AEW will NOT grow by signing free agents and then pushing them hard against any talent who have been there for a while.

Didn’t we just learn this lesson from Dark Side of Wrestling about Jeff Jarrett’s TNA tenure? TNA began going downhill during the late 2000s and early 2010s because of all of the veteran ex-WWE, WCW, and ECW wrestlers they signed and pushed over wrestlers deemed TNA originals or at least first-timers to the national spotlight. Those 2010s shows literally tried to push the same New World Order wrestlers (Hogan, Hall, and Nash) that WCW made famous together during 1996 as if 14-15 years doesn’t age or diminish any wrestlers.

Let’s go further… How did World Championship Wrestling (WCW) die again? You had Eric Bischoff mismanage the company and give out massive contracts to veteran wrestlers who were kept on top to justify those big contracts. Plus, Eric became a mark after he joined the NWO during November 1996 and went out-of-his-way to make that group strong throughout 1997, 1998, and 1999 even when the NWO gimmick was beyond its prime. Wrestlers like Paul Wight (Big Show) and Chris Jericho knew what was up and sought the WWE for greener pastures. By March 2001, WCW was dead and AOL/Time Warner had massive wrestler contracts to pay off.

You need a developmental system and then require proper planning to debut, build, and push new talent.

If you don’t have a developmental system and push fresh talent, there won’t be any “big” veterans to sign in a few years…

Let me make one last point…

Know what system has a developmental system and has been thriving for the past 10 years? WWE’s developmental system for FEMALES. Their talents are all homegrown or were journey wrestlers until joining WWE. Liv Morgan, now WWE Women’s Champion, was a Hooters waitress and they developed her into a massive star that nobody had before. WWE presented Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks (now Mercedes in AEW), Bayley, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belaire, and many, many others to the public and got that division over because each star were NOT seen anywhere else before.

Rumor has it that AEW wants Bayley and Bayley wants to possibly join the promotion to join her real life friend, Mercedes… That’s fine, but Bayley is a late 30s wrestler who has accomplished so much already in the WWE. What could you gain that hasn’t been presented or accomplished before with that particular wrestler?

AEW just doesn’t make anything their own… They just borrow other people’s already created stuff.

They have NOTHING original to show for it.

Go ahead and call me an “AEW hater”. At no point, did I bash any performances from AEW All In 2026 or any of its roster.

My point is that AEW is too dependent on free agency and Tony is pushing the wrestlers that he chose to sign with million dollar contracts versus homegrown talents that the fans helped make into stars for Tony.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: The Problem with AEW All In 2026 and its Current Champions or Pushed Free Agent Wrestlers appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Now, let me get into a question that has been sent to me multiple times by loyal readers and that is about Conrad Thompson and his opinion about Roman Reigns being “overrated” and is like an “industry plant” would be in music (someone groomed for the position) but for WWE.

I’ve already answered this with multiple columns covering WWE’s current events. In my opinion, Roman was indeed “shoved down our throats” during the 2010s. Then, they finally turned him heel but not only that, gave him Paul Heyman and some creative freedom on promos. Add to that, the cool Bloodline storyline with the Usos, Solo, and Sami Zayn all playing important parts that literally fueled WWE’s happenings from 2021 through 2024 including adding the freakin’ Rock to the storyline and group during early 2024. After Wrestlemania 40, Roman Reigns hasn’t been the same effective draw without the group than he has been with the group. In addition to the price gouging, Roman and the Bloodline’s drawing ability hasn’t been there like it was through early 2024.

BUT – Roman Reigns learned from that 2021-2024 experience and has grown as a performer, and thus I believe he’s still the top WWE draw right now. We’re not getting to 50,000 Wrestlemania tickets or 30,000 SummerSlam tickets without him at the very top of the card against legitimate opponents in CM Punk and Seth Rollins. But again, shows during 2024 and 2025 with him on it and in prominent spots drew higher. Price hikes are there, but Roman isn’t as cool now as he was when he was the “head of the table” with the badass heel Bloodline group.

A more legitimate criticism would be “peaked” or “slightly past his prime”, but I’d argue that he has creatively suffered, too, because there was NEVER an adequate conclusion over what happened with the Bloodline during 2024. Oh, I know that Solo tried to take it over, but Roman was absent when the “new” Bloodline attacked Paul Heyman during late June 2024 and Roman didn’t appear until August. We never had that Rock vs. Roman “battle of the Bloodline” feud either, which could have made Roman into an absolute megastar had that headlined Wrestlemania 41 during 2025.

WWE’s two best matches for 2026 are, in fact, Roman vs. CM Punk from WM 42 and Roman vs. Seth Rollins from SummerSlam 2026. Who is the common denominator, again?

What I find more impressive about Conrad’s opinion is how much attention it caused. Congrats on a successful podcast network, Conrad, as your words appear to matter. Hopefully, everyone is buying stuff from your ads or getting their mortgages through you.

Truth is that I don’t listen to any of these “Ad Free” shows because the podcasts featuring Jeff Jarrett, Eric Bischoff, Jim Ross, or others feature more of Conrad’s opinions over what the wrestler or personality thinks. That, or it’s just reviewing what Dave Meltzer said in a past issue of the Wrestling Observer. I don’t need to hear the producer of the show hogging the spotlight, nor do I give a damn about the producer’s opinions when I’d rather hear the wrestler or wrestling personality’s opinion based on their past experiences or recollection. I didn’t tune in for Conrad’s two cents, and I believe Kevin Nash and Jim Cornette’s podcasts suffer, too, when their producers interject excessively about their opinions (though I think Brian Last complements Jim better than Conrad complements any of his podcast teammates). The only time that I don’t mind Conrad’s opinions is when he fact checks someone who is clearly lying or withholding information, such as Eric Bischoff. Eric deserves that!

Conrad has made his podcasts mostly about himself, hence why his opinion on Roman Reigns has become viral this week. While I applaud Conrad for giving such wrestlers or personalities a platform, he doesn’t have to spoon-feed them topics, walk them through something, or ask how they felt about what Dave Meltzer wrote 30 years ago. And then, insert his opinion. Jim Ross’s podcast was WAY BETTER when it was Jim on his own because his thoughts and his creativity driving where the podcast went. That, and he didn’t have someone interjecting their personal opinion on every topic.

That’s the issue… Not that “Roman Reigns is overrated”, but maybe we, as society, overrate the opinions of commentators or any shock value they may have. And that includes anything I say as a columnist, too, let’s be fair… Look at ESPN right now, as they are shedding actual journalists in favor of paying opinionated folks like Stephen A Smith or Pat McAfee more. What happens when people sour or get tired of their opinions, too? ESPN’s viewership is going to continue to swirl down the tubes.

It’s as Aaron Rift said on a recent episode of NoDQ Review… Conrad’s opinion about Roman Reigns might have been true during 2019, but is wrong now. Roman was a big part of that Bloodline group and yes, since 2024, he’s not as great as he was that year… BUT, I could say that literally about every wrestler on the WWE roster right now in comparison to 2024. WWE’s roster is tired, as there aren’t many key match-ups left to run and the wrestlers are looking worn out from this endless cycle of 2-3 hours of RAW, 2-3 hours of Smackdown, houseshows, and PLEs on the weekend plus traveling to each one. Nobody is drawing like they once did, and WWE lacks any younger wrestlers (or ones that could stay healthy) to replace the aging veterans.

Congrats again to Conrad for building a successful platform… But, just remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Your words are being played publicly and therefore, everyone is allowed to freely disagree with your opinions too and ridicule you if those opinions are ridiculous. For many who enjoy Roman Reigns and appreciate his work for the past 6 years, they have been very free to disagree with you.

Oh, and Conrad… You’re not a comedian. Your ad spots where you attempt to be funny are total cringe, especially those older ones with Manscape’s products. If you’re not legitimately funny, don’t try to be.

Onto your other questions.

ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answer

Do you believe that Brock Lesnar has retired?

Nope… Between music and wrestling, we’ve witnessed many false retirements only for your old favorites to always come back. Hell, wrestling columnists do that too…

Until Brock Lesnar vs. Gunther happens, I’ll NEVER believe that Brock Lesnar has retired. Why? Because TKO can cut Lesnar a big check to wrestle 1 more match at any time. With WWE having up to 12 PLEs per year, there’s always a card that may need an impact player or a bigtime match-up, especially with the injury bug repeatedly biting or the need for guys like Roman to take so much time off.

I still project Gunther vs. Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 43 and maybe that will be it? I don’t know, but I think that improvised moment at Wrestlemania 42 has really lessened the effectiveness of if and when Lesnar retires.

*****

Do you believe that Oba Femi benefitted from working with Brock Lesnar?

I need more time to see what happens for the rest of the year and what feeds into 2027. Many are projecting Roman Reigns vs. Oba Femi at Wrestlemania 43, but I’m not there yet (still holding out hope that Rock vs. Roman happens).

To me, it seemed like Wrestlemania 42’s match was mostly well done to put over Oba and the push should have continued then. However, Lesnar jumped him and then defeated him to instantly kill that momentum. 4 months later, are things really better for Oba with a win over Lesnar at SummerSlam? I just don’t know and worry that damage has been done.

HOWEVER, I watched Oba Femi backstage on Season 3 of WWE Unreal. Maybe he was nervous around cameras backstage, but he seemed to lack confidence when talking with Triple H and others backstage. If you’re going to be a main eventer in WWE, you need to thump your chest and clearly be the men amongst men to take that top spot. I just don’t see that swagger with Oba yet in just his 5th year as a performer.

Remember from our above Roman Reigns discussion… Roman didn’t get good until 2020 with putting it all together, and that’s 8 years after his main roster debut and even further from his FCW/NXT work as a developmental talent.

We need to stop assuming that wrestlers like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar are common. No, they are absolute freaks of nature who shouldn’t figure out MAIN EVENT pro wrestling that quickly. I don’t see Oba as that quick learner or someone who wanted it as bad as Angle did. He has the gigantic “larger than life” look, however, that you cannot teach… It’s up to having GOOD creative to make him look good moving forward, instead of backward like maybe the Lesnar feud did.

But again, I said that about Cody Rhodes during 2024 and Cody came out stronger after his “best of 3” Lesnar feud. But Cody was far more experienced and pulled out great matches consistently to make up for it.

*****

Thoughts on Chelsea Green becoming interim Women’s Champion?

I’m soooooo happy for her! She totally deserves it for being a unique and entertaining talent in the WWE. I’ve HATED the way she was just treated as a midcarder, despite her real toughness and height having to put over much smaller and not-as-tough opponents.

Could WWE have built her up stronger before winning the Women’s Title? Absolutely…

BUT, you cannot complain about Michael P.S. Hayes’s comments from WWE Unreal Season 2 on one hand and then complain when WWE actually gives you what you want with Chelsea winning a world title. The schizophrenic wrestling fans strike again, as they flip and flop on their opinions and are never clear on what they truly want.

I’m 100% for this and hope she has a satisfying run. She needs to start winning cleanly and consistently as champion and see where it goes. Women’s wrestling in the WWE needs a newer face at the top, as their roster is tired too with the same people on top for freakin’ years.

Chelsea deserves it.

*****

Do you think that WWE will get in trouble with Rockstar Games over attempting to trademark “Vice City”?

No. WWE is using it in a different context and I suspect that if there is an issue, WWE will resolve it with Take-Two Interactive who owns both 2K Sports (WWE’s video game publisher) and Rockstar Games.

In fact, I’m willing to bet that WWE already reached out to said corporate partners and cleared it.

This isn’t a big deal. WWE is using it in the context of a pro wrestling character with the last name of “Vice”, while Vice City is the Miami-like area in the Grand Theft Auto series. Used differently, won’t interfere much at all.

On a side note, GTA Vice City was such a fun game… Just silly, stupid fun back in its day.

*****

What do you think will happen with many AEW wrestlers with contracts up for renewal in 2027?

Samoa Joe, Okada, FTR, Hangman Page, Jon Moxley, Young Bucks, Mercedes Mone, and Kenny Omega each have their deals up during sometime within 2027. I expect each to re-sign with AEW if they are offered close or slightly higher money than what they are currently have.

Easier schedule for equal or better money… What’s not to love?

The one that is interesting would be Jon Moxley because he’s the third member of the Shield. There’s value in WWE trying to get him back and being reasonable with how his character is presented.

With the way WWE hasn’t cared about Tag Team wrestling on the main roster, I would have maybe suggested FTR jumps, but not anymore.

Kenny and Okada going to WWE would be interesting, but I just don’t see their AEW work being that appealing to WWE officials to want to import into their promotion.

I’d love to see Sasha Banks back in the WWE, as Triple H is now in charge and Vince McMahon was the problem before.

I predict most, if not all, will re-sign with AEW with WWE showing some interest in those mentioned above before AEW offers each money to stay.

And that’s your AEW coverage in today’s column.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post ASK TITO: Roman Reigns Overrated?, Brock Lesnar Retirement, Oba Femi, Chelsea Green, WWE Using Vice City, and AEW Contracts Up for 2027 appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Meanwhile, AEW All-In, which is AEW’s top event, has sold 33,000 tickets at Wembley Stadium.

But let’s compare WWE’s 2nd or 3rd event in SummerSlam versus All-In on reasonable terms.

All-In tickets are priced, after conversion, as low as $31 and at maximum, just under $2,000 for the floor.

WWE SummerSlam had it’s cheapest price around $70 (though discounted at the event drew near), but the close floor seats were over $3,000 but the “Elite” level seat ticket packages were selling at $25,000 for both nights ($12,500 per night).

Oh, and WWE SummerSlam sold for 2 nights in Minnesota… AEW All In is at Wembley Stadium, in a British market that is hungry for a big wrestling event and have been begging WWE for Wrestlemania to appear there. Wrestlemania would get Live Aid crowds is it there in England, but until then, English wrestling fans are settling for attending AEW All In.

But we’ve seen a downward spiral of AEW’s #1 event, haven’t we?

– AEW All In 2023 (1st year in Wembley): 72,265 per turnstile, but AEW claims 81,035 tickets were actually sold

– AEW All In 2024 (2nd straight year in Wembley): 46,476 turnstile, but AEW claims 53,385 tickets were actually sold

– AEW All In 2025 (Global Life Field where the Texas Rangers play): 21,973 turnstile, but AEW claims 27,245 tickets were distributed… WAY DOWN here in the United States as the top AEW event!

And now All In 2026, back at Wembley, just over 33,000, still declining each year AEW tries to host events in that massive stadium.

Ehhhhh, and you have the nerve to ridicule WWE SummerSlam’s attendance, despite its HIGHER prices being the main culprit to cause lower WWE attendance?

FACT is that AEW has lower ticket prices, yet being a cheaper option to attend a live wrestling show is NOT drawing fans. When you go beyond AEW All In, there’s a steep drop-off for its next Pay Per Views. For example, AEW Redemption on July 24th only drew 7,107 fans. At best, AEW Pay Per Views could draw up to 15,000 for usual staple events like Double or Nothing but again, this is at lower ticket prices.

AEW fans mocked Wrestlemania 42 for its 50,000 and 55,000 nights, but that’s with absurdly HIGH ticket prices charged by TKO and the stupid high prices to attend anything in Las Vegas. Yet, if you look at WWE’s numbers, they consistently draw 15,000 or more for EVERY PLE while obtaining around 10,000 or more for every RAW show.

WWE outdraws AEW on ticket sales by a WIDE MARGIN despite the absurdly high prices AND the supposed “better quality” of matches that AEW has, according to the heavily biased Wrestling Observer’s joke of a star system.

Seriously, this is a valid question to ask… If AEW has such great matches, why aren’t they drawing larger audiences to events?

Because they don’t have better matches than WWE. No-selling 450 splashes DOES NOT make a great match! Yeah, I saw that utter garbage from the Young Bucks, as one completely no-sold getting hit with a 450 splash from the top rope in order to immediately hit a superkick on someone else. THAT is what Dave Meltzer rates 5-6 stars in his toilet paper of a newsletter!

Let’s go through the numbers to prove a point that AEW is in DISTANT second place right now with the WWE. This isn’t even a competition at this point based on how LOW AEW is drawing on attendance and viewership.

AEW Attendance Numbers – Data courtesy of Wrestlenomics.com’s WrestleTix

AEW Dynamite Average Attendance per quarter:

2021 Q3 6.9K
2021 Q4 5.6K
2022 Q1 5.0K
2022 Q2 6.3K
2022 Q3 5.7K
2022 Q4 4.3K
2023 Q1 5.6K
2023 Q2 5.1K
2023 Q3 4.9K
2023 Q4 4.5K
2024 Q1 4.1K
2024 Q2 3.6K
2024 Q3 3.9K
2024 Q4 3.1K
2025 Q1 2.7K
2025 Q2 3.9K
2025 Q3 2.5K
2025 Q4 3.3K
2026 Q1 3.1K
2026 Q2 3.2K

AEW Collision Average Attendance per quarter:

2023 Q2 6.5K
2023 Q3 4.3K
2023 Q4 3.4K
2024 Q1 3.0K
2024 Q2 3.1K
2024 Q3 2.0K
2024 Q4 2.1K
2025 Q1 3.5K
2025 Q2 2.2K
2025 Q3 1.5K
2025 Q4 2.0K
2026 Q1 2.8K
2026 Q2 2.0K

During 2021 through 2023, could someone tell me what individual was with AEW back then? You know, a massive free agent signing that they convinced to come out of retirement? Oh yeah, CM Punk! The second they kicked him full out of AEW, attendance CRATERED.

AEW Dynamite went from consistently drawing 5,000 or more fans per show (often above 6,000) to now drawing below 3,300 fans per show. Holy cow!

AEW Collision is a complete joke on attendance. Drew when CM Punk was around initially at above 6,000 during 2023 to a terrible 2,000 through the 2nd quarter 2026.

Meanwhile, WWE RAW is drawing strongly since their Netflix deal at about 11,000 or more in attendance while Smackdown fluctuates between 8,000 and 11,000 in recent times. That’s a BIG GAP between what WWE attends on their television shows versus what AEW does on theirs.

Just as there is a BIG GAP on what WWE draws on their PLEs versus and AEW’s Pay Per Views. Go ahead and compare All-In to SummerSlam. Be my guest to compare AEW’s #1 show in a foreign land with pent-up demand versus WWE’s arguable #2 or #3 show in Minnesota (no offense to Minnesota, as it’s a nice place but not a wrestling hot bed). Again, All-In has 33,000 tickets sold versus Wrestlemania pulling in 50,000 one night and 55,000 for the next.

And AGAIN, the difference in ticket prices. WWE sells MORE tickets at HIGHER prices than AEW does with their LOWER prices.

If fewer are attending AEW events, then fewer are buying AEW merchandise, too. AEW doesn’t have a strong online merchant presence, either. WWE blows them out of the water with merchandise sales.

Next, let’s discuss AEW Dynamite VIEWERSHIP, with data courtesy of Gerweck.net who has been compiling reported viewership and ratings data for years from official sources.

4Q-2019 898,333
1Q-2020 883,000
2Q-2020 708,462
3Q-2020 832,929
4Q-2020 817,077
1Q-2021 775,154
2Q-2021 792,769
3Q-2021 1,103,538
4Q-2021 895,769
1Q-2022 1,000,154
2Q-2022 916,231
3Q-2022 998,615
4Q-2022 907,846
1Q-2023 906,538
2Q-2023 855,231
3Q-2023 884,615
4Q-2023 810,692
1Q-2024 810,462
2Q-2024 711,923
3Q-2024 694,615
4Q-2024 588,538
1Q-2025 618,077
2Q-2025 626,923
3Q-2025 610,769
4Q-2025 482,846
1Q-2026 628,250
2Q-2026 635,385

Another reality check, AEW fans. Since 2023, you’ve ben consistently under 800,000 viewers… Heck, since the midway point of 2024, you’ve been UNDER 700,000 average viewers.

And I know what you’ll tell me, “Cable/Satellite subscriptions are down”, blah blah blah blah blah.

True, they are down… But AEW’s attendance is significantly down, too.

They go hand in hand, folks… AEW’s inflection point is that very AEW All In 2023 first event at Wembley. THAT is their peak and consequently, the final show of CM Punk before Tony Khan terminated him.

Viewership, merchandise, and attendance are all DOWN since 2023. Statistical FACT!

And that’s despite signing free agents like Adam Copeland (Edge), Will Ospreay, Mercedes Moné, Kazuchika Okada, Bobby Lashley, & Ricochet since late 2023, while also giving the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega extensions as Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs).

Despite those signings and re-signings, all AEW numbers have declined and remain low.

Despite all of the high star-ratings that AEW mark newsletters give literally every AEW match, it’s not drawing in more viewers nor is it packing buildings. Only the Pay Per View shows draw decent live audiences, at best.

And I love the argument of “AEW is still on Pay Per View”. Really? AEW’s biggest show, AEW All In, draws around 180,000 buys while the rest of the shows draw between 100,000 and 140,000 buys. Like, does everyone realize that 180,000 buys used to be considered a BAD NIGHT for the WWE anytime it happened? We’re talking about those late 2000s ECW brand shows, too… Most of WWE’s shows sold over 200,000, even when they over-saturated the market or when quality began to drop during the 2010s.

At 180,000 buys or less, the Cable or Satellite companies are eating more than half of that.

AEW is currently receiving around $185 million per year for all of their shows airing on Warner Bros. Discovery and the deal runs through the end of 2027, with an option to add on another year to extend it through 2028. However, AEW obtained that deal from a declining Warner Bros. Discovery that has been getting killed by streaming services and was in dire need of live sporting content (well, besides the NBA). Now, AEW faces a real dilemma of the Ellisons buying Warner Bros. to shove into their Skydance/Paramount Global corporation and I wouldn’t be shocked that they shred Tony’s deal and call it a “merger & acquisition” expense to write off for tax relief.

Plus, I theorize that they want RAW on Paramount+ (or what remains when I’m guessing HBO Max merges with it) once Netflix opts out of the RAW deal by the 5th year through 2029 as Netflix wants that afternoon NFL deal that CBS currently has. With the Ellisons paying off these recent mergers, they might have to let the NFL go but could afford signing WWE instead and letting Netflix overpay for the NFL to harm that streaming service.

LOW AEW Dynamite viewership, plus how poorly AEW Collision draws, could ultimately cause AEW to receive the boot off of TBS/TNT and HBO Max especially once this merger completes (and it will, the justice department will enable it).

So yeah, LAUGH IT UP about WWE SummerSlam 2026… There’s a bigger iceberg heading your way, AEW fans. That, and your ship is led by a trust fund baby (though he’s a nice guy) named Tony Khan and completely incompetent fools with the Young Bucks as Executive Vice Presidents no-selling 450 splashes to hit more choreographed superkicks.

As greedy as TKO is and as much meddling as TKO performs, their guys at least have experience in business or wrestling. TKO executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro have years of experience running businesses or serving as agents to drum up business. Nick Khan managed so many deals for his client and is an experienced executive that has made WWE grow ten-fold since the late 2010s. Yes, Triple H married into the McMahon family, but he’s been with the WWE since 1995 but has been an executive of WWE since the early 2010s.

AEW is STILL the weaker promotion, by a wide margin, and with zero capability to ever chase the WWE… Unless the WWE comes crashing down to their lower level.

Thus, WWE made more on each night of WWE SummerSlam 2026 than AEW will with their flagship All In event in Wembley despite similar attendance.

FACT is that if WWE slashed their ticket prices at ALL venues, those arenas would be packed because the WWE’s product is desired right now. Put AEW’s prices on WWE events they’d sellout everywhere because demand is still STRONG for the WWE product but things like incomes, strained by high inflation everywhere, are causing fans to second guess attending WWE events at their higher prices.

So, there you go… Your ignorant taunting of tarps at WWE SummerSlam 2026 caused me to write an actual AEW column. Go ahead and attempt to refute my facts.

AEW is in second place and its fans have ZERO credibility to taunt the MUCH LARGER WWE for any reason whatsoever. AEW wishes that it could host a 2-night event that could draw over 30,000, as they struggle to do that with their very top show right now with lower ticket prices.

WWE > AEW by a mile.

And Triple H > Tony Khan on Creative, any day of the week.

WWE Roster > AEW Roster

WWE’s Matches > AEW’s Matches

But WWE can’t draw fans in Minnesota with absurdly high ticket prices. Yeah, you got the WWE right there.

In fact, I DARE AEW to take WWE’s pricing model and see how many fans would actually attend. Let’s see how dedicated AEW’s fans are with stupid high prices to attend events. Let’s see how you really measure-up to the WWE, AEW!

AEW is forever the juvenile promotion that had CM Punk drawing higher attendance and over 1 million viewers to AEW Dynamite, but decided to internally and externally attack him instead of hoisting Punk on their shoulders. WWE has Punk and is thriving with him.

AEW is the inferior wrestling promotion, period, compared to the WWE.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: For the AEW Fans Laughing at WWE SummerSlam 2026’s Attendance… Why Do You Ignore AEW’s Poor Numbers Since 2023? appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Folks, this is the consistent pattern that has RUINED professional wrestling… Anytime it becomes more corporate, it starts to suck.

Everyone rejoiced during June 2022 when Vince McMahon stepped down and Triple H resurrected his executive career by returning to oversee talent and creative. Vince, especially since returning to the USA Network during the late 2000s, had become a total yes-man to corporations and they helped dictate his content with the PG era and trying to push squeaky clean babyfaces at the top. He even let a toy company help him terminate Mandy Rose.

Triple H had a great 2022-2023 run… Just as he was about to have another great year with 2024, the TKO Corporation, which was formed to serve as a holding company by Endeavor to oversee both UFC and WWE, placed The Rock on the TKO board of directors. Suddenly, creative was forcibly changed for Wrestlemania 40 (lucking out for the better on that event), but since Wrestlemania 40, WWE has been a bit wobbly. Creative has been micro-managed by TKO’s executives, especially since Endeavor actually represents several WWE wrestlers as talents, and TKO has shown their greedy side by jacking up the prices on everything.

Now, the WWE is offering major discounts on SummerSlam seats, as nosebleeds were $76 that reduces it down to $25. That’s a MASSIVE 67% discount and a major admission of defeat for (a) absurd price gouging of WWE fans and (b) creative micro-managing that has caused your top stars to DECLINE in value. 2 years ago, WWE has more equity in Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Gunther, and others on that WWE roster. Now, each are worn out and tired after working in front of worn out and tired WWE fans who have lost chunks of their disposable income supporting this overpriced promotion.

F around and find out, TKO… In just two freakin’ years, you have already ruined the AWESOME ATM machine that was WWE with the Bloodline receiving better creative with Triple H in charge during 2022-2023.

And as we’re finding out, Vince McMahon sold out to Endeavor to help protect him financially against any legal issues coming Vince’s way from HIS own bad behavior.

Getting back to TNA, I always wonder if Dixie Carter was influenced by the McMahon family who put themselves on television as the authority figure. Dixie did that, as well as taking more power backstage. As you saw from the TNA documentary, which can be easily proven as fact, Jeff Jarrett was sent home during July 2009 after Dixie Carter felt betrayed that Jeff would start dating Karen Angle without telling Dixie about it. However, it appears that Dixie may have been planning this for a while OR a bunch of people were inducing her to cause such a powerplay. Let’s see, here, who benefitted from Jeff being sent home along with eventually Dutch Mantell and Jim Cornette.

Well, obviously Vince Russo. The thing that this documentary confirmed more than anything was how political Vince Russo was behind closed doors or possibly privately on the telephone. He’s one of those employees who are constantly badmouthing other employees to management, and then seduces management with whatever “better way” scheme that he could sell them to use instead. Then, Vince acts all innocent to the people he cuts behind the scenes which is why several co-workers distrust Russo to this day. In WWE, he used their ratings situation to point towards other members of the creative team at causing the issue. No, WWE had a TALENT problem and that would quickly improve with Jim Ross taking over Talent Relations duties. For WCW, he seduced Time Warner executives that he was the magic solution to repair WCW’s ratings woes. However in WCW, he didn’t have amazing talents like Austin, Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, and Mick Foley along with a deep midcard with younger talents to book unlike what had in WWE. For TNA, he was repeatedly going behind Jeff Jarrett’s back to speak with Dixie Carter directly about company ideas and how his assistants, Dutch Mantell and Jim Cornette, were not good for TNA. Jeff, Jim, and Dutch were each dropped by TNA during 2009 while Russo remained.

Then later, Hulk Hogan seduced Dixie Carter. Yeah, Hogan was the “Babe Ruth of wrestling”, but by 2009, he was Babe Ruth but 10 years beyond his prime (minus the hot dogs, as Hogan always has the 24-inch pythons ready, dude!). However, in a creative role, Hogan could only get himself over and wasn’t good at getting other talent over if and when he managed their creative. TNA became a total disaster under himself and Eric Bischoff, as Eric is another person who seduces people into thinking he’s great. It’s AMAZING to me how effective Hulk Hogan was in getting both Dixie and Eric wrapped around his finger, as both forgot how to manage companies when Hogan was around. The lust of re-creating Hulkamania was just too much for them, I suppose?

The veterans reportedly swarmed Dixie, often after events during meals or at the hotel bar. Like most with money, she loves the flattery and will later cater towards anyone being overly nice to her or kissing her arse. She was just repeatedly manipulated by the wrong people and hence by 2010, TNA started losing money after profits were reportedly earned between 2007-2009. Creative went to hell without Jarrett, Dutch, and Cornette filtering out bad ideas and roster costs went up from Dixie’s signings and re-signings. From 2010 and beyond, TNA became WCW and were ironically led by Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, and Vince Russo, the same Three Stooges we witnessed at WCW Bash at the Beach 2000 that embarrassed the entire company (but thank you for the Booker T victory, Vince).

Now, Anthem owns them and they’ve been shuffling up the backstage staff and talent deck for years. Anytime the TKO-owned WWE wants something, they now ask “when?”. And I’m sure AMC would never let anything close to the TNA of the 2000s appear within the TNA of the 2020s.

Even All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has their own corporate interests. Remember, Warner Bros. Discovery owned up to 10% of AEW. You don’t think that has any trade-offs? AEW Collision and CM Punk returning during 2023 don’t happen without WBD demanding it. Right now, the Khans are probably sweating bullets as this Skydance Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. is ongoing and might be for a while as its size and scope will see multiple legal fights in court. The Ellisons, who owned Skydance and purchased Paramount, have completely upended CBS’s news division and not for the better as they used to be a reasonably fair news organization. Now, they are under chaotic management and have been caught, repeatedly, withholding breaking stories out of fear of political retribution or upsetting the Ellisons.

Once the Ellisons complete their acquisition of Warner Bros., they could very well take the almost 10% stake in AEW and sell it back to AEW. They could also trash the television deal if completed before the year-end 2027 expiration date (though an option to extend 1 more year through 2028 exists). Both the almost 10% stake and the AEW television contract could be destroyed and then placed as “merger and acquisition costs” expense line items of an income statement. In other words, the stake in AEW and the television contract might end up as tax write-offs for the Ellisons and they’ll gladly do it.

Oh, and there’s this problem with HBO Max and Paramount+ co-existing… One has to go… While HBO Max has more subscribers, the content it hosts (especially producing original content) is far more expensive than Paramount Plus. Their streaming days on HBO Max could be over, especially as I predict that WWE is hopping to Paramount Plus after opting out early of their Netflix deal by 2029.

The corporate destruction blueprint for all of this was there with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and repeatedly throughout the years.

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) – Mid Atlantic was owned by the Crockett family and thanks to attempting to expand too quickly (purchasing Bill Watts’s declining promotion, expanding to Dallas, buying private jets, and possibly overpaying their talents to fulfill extravagant lifestyles), the Crocketts sold their promotion to Ted Turner and were absorbed into his corporation. While it saved the company and rebranded it to “World Championship Wrestling (WCW)”, Ted put the biggest corporate stooges in charge of it. Jim Herd had ZERO wrestling experience, let alone any live sporting event experience, yet he was placed in charge of WCW. YEARS of poor operations followed and made WCW a financial failure.

Then, to his credit, Ted Turner gave Eric Bischoff a chance after he presented himself well in interviews and within 3 years, Bischoff had WCW making a profit for the first time. Bischoff reduced the operating costs but then made key signings of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, and many unseen by United States audiences wrestlers from Mexico, Japan, and ECW. Bischoff stopped the goofy storylines seen throughout 1995 and early 1996 to the begin reality-based storylines through mid-1996. It worked… New World Order storyline began, Cruiserweight division was taken very seriously, and literally every WCW title belt mattered with wrestlers caring to fight for them. Total domination by WCW followed, as WCW Nitro defeated WWE Monday Night RAW for 83 straight weeks from mid-1996 through mid-1998.

However for WCW, some more corporate pain was coming. During the mid-1990s, Ted Turner and Time Warner were in talks to merge their corporations. The deal was finalized through October 1996, but it probably took a year of sorting things out and shuffling the organizational chart. By early 1998, WCW had new standards and practices policies for their company, meaning that they had to reduce the adult themes in tone such as violence, language, or anything alluding to sex or overly exploiting the many beautiful ladies on their roster. WCW suddenly became squeaky clean at a time when WWE had pure creative freedom to basically do anything during 1998.

With expensive merger costs, Time Warner executives began to look at WCW’s expenses more closely and they started to observe how intense labor costs were for the wrestling promotion. Then, as 1998 wore on, the revenues began to dry up and began to create problems for WCW during 1999. WCW operated on a loss during 1999 and was projected to have an even larger loss during 2000. On top of all of that, AOL was about to acquire this newly merged Time Warner/Turner company and would do so as the “dot com bubble” was about to burst (online firms expanded too quickly back then, causing false hope that it could keep expanding forever). By early 2001, it was apparent that this new AOL/Time Warner combined corporation needed resources especially as an economic recession happened that year and then prolonged consumer confidence pain after the tragic events of 9/11/2001. Thus, the new AOL/Time Warner executives decided to cancel WCW off their networks and then sold to the WWE for less than $4 million.

Ironically, WWE became a publicly-traded corporation through 1999 to expand their capital opportunities to fully defeat WCW as a promotion. To be honest, the WWE has declined in quality ever since. NOTHING will be as amazing as 1998-1999 for WWE, as they went from 6-8 million North American viewers to under 2 million in just 15 years. WWE is chalk full of corporate stooges from non-wrestling backgrounds holding Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Vice President titles.

Even Extreme Championship Wrestling wasn’t immune to corporate pain. Taking WWE money meant special favors, such as taking on several of WWE’s wrestlers who struggled in WWE. Yes, Al Snow worked out well but he was a talented performer who just needed a better gimmick. But I can give you Brakus, whom the WWE hired based on his physique only. The company that signed them up for Pay Per Views kept delaying their revenues and were never held accountable for such delays. Then, ECW made a deal with Viacom during 1999. After getting hassled all year by Viacom for what should or shouldn’t air, Viacom ended up dumping ECW in favor of WWE RAW during 2000. All of those attempts by Paul Heyman to cater towards the WWE, the Pay Per View company, and Viacom meant nothing in the end. One of his deals with WWE during 2000 actually gave WWE deal matching rights on any potential buyers, hence why WWE owns ECW to this very day.

Of course, any company who doesn’t go corporate gets destroyed by the companies who do. Yeah, all of that money from the stock market, media conglomerates, and sponsors sort of matters financially these days.

TKO has ruined the WWE and have since early 2024 when they began micro-managing Triple H’s creative team and started raising prices on everything. Then when everything is so expensive, WWE has to rush bigger matches on each of the Premium Live Events just to sell those higher priced tickets. Here we are in 2026 and WWE lacks refreshing match-ups or wrestlers today are worn out from wrestling big matches and big schedules prior to this point. We’ve seen Roman, Seth, Cody, and CM Punk literally do everything possible in the WWE for the past 4 years. Meanwhile, TKO’s micro-managing has also made WWE thirsty for veterans. Oba Femi losing to Brock Lesnar after their Wrestlemania 42 match, Jacob Fatu being dispatched by Roman Reigns, and Bron Breakker getting swallowed in Seth Rollins’s wake has boosted the need to depend on veterans. Gunther has some bad losses that he’s still recovering from.

For WWE, there’s no going back. The Endeavor folks are corporate folks to the extreme, and love to buddy-buddy up with other corporates to make as much money as humanly possible… BUT NOT FOR THE PERFORMERS, but for themselves as executives and shareholders. To them, TKO is an ATM network with WWE and UFC as their ATM devices. They’re all getting rich while their hard-working fans who just want to be entertained are performing redistribution of their own income to this pathetic TKO corporation.

I don’t see a strong future for WWE. Once this crop of veteran talent get exhausted and begin to retire, WWE is totally screwed. The generation of talent behind them just aren’t as exceptional, yet, with star power to draw strongly at the top of any WWE card. I’m just not seeing any breakout stars in the women’s division, either, that could possibly one day make that division bigger. Many female wrestlers work and act exactly the same compared to the crop of female talent that came out of the 2010s.

If you want to see what corporate wrestling does to someone, look no further than Bayley. Go watch her stuff from 2015. Completely incredible stuff, as Bayley was literally “female John Cena” as a babyface. Her merchandise exceeded all of the female talents back then, and that included the Bella Twins who had a ton of merchandise offerings. She continued her great NXT work through the first half of 2016 but then debuted on the WWE roster during July (PLE) and August (RAW) that year. While it is true that getting over in NXT and WWE are different things, Bayley was a tremendous wrestler who was full of charisma and personality to get over anywhere. The Vince McMahon micro-managing creative team just did her no favors, making her look like a wimpy babyface despite the positivity that her character used to bring. By 2019, they turned her into a heel and that shell version of a character is what you see to this day. WWE ripped the enthusiasm out of her and now, she may very well leave and join her buddy Mercedes for AEW.

Corporations are too image conscious, too public relations savvy, and just lack balls to try anything risky. On top of that, they want everything to be all-inclusive because their end game is that if they can micro-manage the entire audience, they can then start setting higher prices.

I remember writing a controversial column during 2015 about how we might not see pro wrestling around in its current money-making form in 10 years based on the lack of strong competition back then PLUS the inability to develop the next big star. To WWE’s credit, they found their next big stars with Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and the Bloodline… BUT THEY MESSED THAT UP before and then after Wrestlemania 40. Thus, I’ll give WWE a few extra years between 2021 through early 2024…

TKO is gonna kill the longevity of the WWE. While UFC will always have people willing to physically fight someone, WWE is more about performance and their feeder systems aren’t going to effectively replace many aging veteran stars. Now, if WWE and UFC would share the revenues with their performers, then maybe we’d see booming motivations by the performers of both and things could greatly improve. However, executives at Endeavor only care about padding their bank accounts as much as possible until the ride officially ends. Trust me, they are scoffing at the idea of lowering ticket prices for WWE SummerSlam 2026 in Minneapolis because it reduces they money they could potentially earn themselves with higher ticket prices.

The TKO corporation has around $5 billion in debt, while Endeavor had over $6 billion in debt before Silver Lake acquired them. Despite both WWE and UFC bringing in bags of cash, Endeavor/TKO sure seems to have a lot of debt to pay off… Hmmm, that won’t be good if revenues have peaked for WWE.

How is that prediction to start off your weekend? Corporations weaken wrestling promotions!

Go ahead, WWE marks, and pray that Vince McMahon somehow returns. Bury your head in the same for how he turned WWE into an IPO, catered to Comcast repeatedly (hello PG Era) and corporate sponsors, began hosting events in Saudi Arabia, and or sold out to Endeavor. Remember, Vince McMahon was Vice Chairman for all of 2023 as many of these corporate plans to go deeper into Saudi Arabia, sell out to ESPN for PLEs, the Netflix deal, and price gouging were put into place. Keep wanting Vince “NDA” McMahon to return, ya clowns! Years after complaining about how terrible his creative was for most of the 2000s and 2010s, you somehow want him back in 2026. You make me sick, and it’s easy to see how corporations exploit YOU as wrestling fans.

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Like the WWE for the past 3 years, music tours have also been jacking up ticket prices in amounts that significantly EXCEED the annual rate of inflation. Since 2023, annual inflation has been less than 4% while prices for events and hotels surrounding such events have seen price gouging amounts of 20% hikes or much more. In fact, the costs of anything involving events from hotels to parking to food to tickets have all gone up drastically and priced out many folks who USED to attend concerts or WWE regularly.

WWE was purchased by Endeavor through 2023 and after the sale was complete, the newly formed TKO corporation began to hike up prices of events. The prices were really noticed during Royal Rumble 2025, which took some of yours truly’s money, and kept going throughout 2025 including a much more expensive Wrestlemania 41 and heavy price gouging for things surrounding John Cena’s retirement tour. Then, we have Wrestlemania 42 and WWE’s price gouging took on ridiculous standards on top of a Las Vegas city that has been gouging tourists HARD since COVID-19 ended.

On my May 20th column, I remarked at how poorly WWE SummerSlam tickets were selling through 2/3 of May. I actually did some calculations and observed that less than 20,000 were sold through that point and reportedly, WWE has only sold around 22,000 tickets thus far with SummerSlam being a few weeks away from this 2-night show in Minneapolis, MN. Back on May 20th, several said that “it’s May” or “too early” to make this call. No, it’s freakin’ SummerSlam, arguably WWE’s #2 show and should sell a ton of tickets in advance. People travel all over the country to attend WWE’s top shows, but they aren’t this year for SummerSlam.

Obvious reason #1 = ticket prices.

Right now, WWE only has 1/3 of the Minnesota Vikings’s stadium available for sale, which is a massive indicator of a massive sales failure incoming (or at least compared to events of the past). While the nosebleeds have come down in price since I last wrote my 5/20 column (down to $76.10), that is still pricey for a sporting event in the way upper decks. The most expensive floor seat is at $3,315.90.

While these prices are down from Wrestlemania 42’s obvious price gouging and other recent PLEs, they are still high relatively speaking versus events before TKO fully took over.

In case you haven’t purchased gasoline lately, we’re averaging around $3.83 through 7/14/26 and possibly trending upward with recent escalations in the Middle East, again. In just a few days, the national average gained about 10 cents and we’re way above the $2.73 price seen earlier in the year before the war began.

And when gas prices are up, ANYTHING that is shipped by a truck goes up in price. This affects literally every company who receives a trucked shipment of something. In addition to truck fuel prices going up, so does jet fuel. Oil is used for many things other than transportation, such as plastics. Annual inflation was “cheered” today of being just 3.5%, but that was due gas prices dropping from being above $4 per the ceasefire and memorandum of understanding “deal” between the United States and Iran. Recent events seemed to have ended both, and now gas prices are going up again.

But consumers NEVER recovered from the previous gas price hikes since late February. And I’d further argue that consumers still haven’t got over the shocks from COVID-19 and then the insanely rising inflation from 2021-2023.

Right now, many economists suggest we have a “K-Shaped” economy. On the upper portion of the “K” are upper class individuals. If you look at statistics, they are doing just fine, as the past year generated the most millionaires created while 2026 appears to be creating the most billionaires on record if the current pace is maintained. 2026 also created the first ever trillionaire with Elon Musk. Statistically speaking, the upper 10% of wage earners account for roughly HALF of the consumption in the United States.

Meanwhile, the lower portion of the “K”… For many years within the past 6 years, consumers incomes or wages (many working part-time) were growing much less than the rate of inflation. The Minimum Wage on the national level hasn’t increased since 2009 at $7.25, so if you compare that to above $4 per gallon of gasoline, that sucks. You’re basically working almost 2 hours per gallon. Going deeper into the data, the personal savings rate is currently at 3.0% and historically speaking, anything under 5% usually precedes an economic recession because the consumer is tapped out. This coincides with elevated credit card delinquency rates, as consumers are not saving as much or are ringing up much more debt that ever to survive. Housing and apartment prices have skyrocketed for the past few years and make things unaffordable, in addition to the price gouging happening with piped gas and especially electricity.

Given the choice of attending a WWE event or a concert, versus feeding, clothing, and housing your family… Well, attending a high priced event goes by the wayside.

That said, not everything is specifically about price. Sorry, but I’d struggle to see many struggling concert acts above EVEN IF tickets were given to me for free. Time listening to J’Lo lip sync songs that she allegedly didn’t record is not worth my time, just as attending a WWE branded wrestling event might not be someone else’s cup of tea for free.

Which goes into the darker point #2 about SummerSlam 2026…

Yeah, we could get into this event struggling because it’s a 2-night event and NOT Wrestlemania. “Less is more” as I’ve always said and I just don’t see the demand to have Summerslam as 2 nights. The past few years of this experiment have proved that.

HOWEVER, it’s not just getting more WWE wrestling, but who is on the cards.

Go back to 2024… Roman Reigns was at the peak of his popularity. Seth Rollins would provide his peak performance through Wrestlemania 40 by performing in the tag match on night #1 and then still participating in night #2 despite a bad leg. CM Punk just arrived and was still on his post-AEW honeymoon with lots of anticipation. Cody Rhodes was still chasing the WWE title and trying to finish his family’s story. We got The Rock back and he was electrifying for the first time in years as the “final boss”.

How about 2026, 2 years later?

The Rock has disappointed by not doing any significant return appearances other than 1 PLE during late 2024, Netflix RAW, Smackdown in New Orleans, and then the Elimination Chamber 2025 PLE. However, the “final boss” was lost and we never completed the Bloodline storyline with him and Roman colliding. I think they’ll try it at Wrestlemania 43, but if you’ve seen Rocky lately, he’s seriously dropped like 75 pounds of muscle.

CM Punk has had a few good years on the main event scene, but Roman dispatched him at Wrestlemania 42. Despite the great match, Punk was moved to the Smackdown brand and that is clearly the lesser brand right now. He’ll need a big heel turn to freshed up his character, but Father Time remains undefeated.

Cody Rhodes just isn’t as exciting after he won the WWE world title during 2024. The chase is over. While he’s still a solid hand, there’s a lack of purpose and that’s been spelled out clearly by him headlining the lesser Smackdown brand.

I personally like Seth Rollins, but we’ve seen him do it all and with many variations of being a heel or babyface character. Tried many times as a World Champion, too, as he’s a 6-time World Champion. After Roman Reigns probably dispatches him at the poorly attended SummerSlam 2026, that could be it for him as he’s wrestled everybody on the roster multiple times.

And then we have Roman Reigns. He’s just not the same since he disappeared after Wrestlemania 40 and returned as a babyface. “Original Trible Chief” just isn’t as fun as a heel beating down everybody and demanding them to “acknowledge me”. Hence why the WWE reformed the Bloodline again.

On the 7/13/26 edition of Monday Night RAW, Paul Heyman seemed to walk away from the Vision group. Might this help pave the way for the “wiseman” to rejoin the Bloodline group? I think so…

If I were booking SummerSlam 2026, I’d have Heyman rejoin the Bloodline and the group just obliterate Seth Rollins and any babyface trying to save the day. Total heel beatdown of epic proportions and I’d have the Bloodline conduct many violent beatdowns of babyface wrestlers in the weeks that follows. Fully cement the Bloodline back into a heel group and let Paul Heyman’s creativity flow through the group to make them exciting again.

That is exactly what this reunited babyface Bloodline is lacking… Paul Heyman.

What we have through 2026 isn’t just TKO price gouging, but a WWE that has become veteran dependent and desiring to push Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes HARD as babyfaces because they are both WME represented wrestlers. WME is controlled by Endeavor’s top brass, so hence why TKO is whispering to Triple H to push Roman and Cody strongly even if performed poorly or in a way that over-exposes both wrestlers. Meanwhile, any other wrestler is second fiddle and that includes any younger wrestlers. The lack of good trainers at the Performance Center (I’m looking at you, A-Train) and the TOTAL LACK OF PATIENCE with TKO’s executives and analytics has screwed the WWE’s future.

WWE through 2026 is too veteran dependent, but I’d argue veterans who have diminished as assets. Each of the above wrestlers have LOST something since 2024, while newer wrestlers like Bron Breakker, Jacob Fatu, and many others just aren’t gaining any momentum to sustain a top spot. I like Oba Femi, but him losing a return match to Brock Lesnar just didn’t sit well with me and killed momentum for him.

If WWE’s top guys are declining and WWE’s business is declining, especially in light of higher prices or a possible economic recession…

Many suggest that All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has a chance to catch WWE as a business, but with their lower ticket prices, they are struggling to regularly draw 4,000 for AEW Dynamite shows while nobody buys their merchandise and PPV numbers are sagging. All-In in London is doing weaker numbers than their previous 2 shows, and that’s AEW’s top show. Reality check is coming soon for AEW because their TV deal expires soon and Warner Bros. will be owned by the Ellisons/Paramount whom I believe wants to host WWE during 2029 after Netflix (I predict) opts out of WWE’s 10-year deal 5 years early. AEW could be without a cable/satellite and streaming home, which would serve as a massive potential nail in their coffin (if that were to happen).

One would think that wrestling fans would attend more AEW shows with lower ticket prices than WWE with higher ticket prices. That substitution effect has yet to happen, brother, because AEW literally has the same issue of being veteran dependent without any newer homegrown stars rising up to eventually take their spots.

What would I do if I were advising WWE or TKO?

Announce, effectively immediately, ticket prices are being slashed significantly. I don’t care if TKO just breaks even on live events when considering venue costs. They are getting so much money from TV deals, Saudi Arabia, sponsorships, and states/cities bribing them to appear there.

Secondly, TKO has to stop meddling. Give Triple H full control and breathing room.

Third, fix the developmental system. Replace the trainers on the male side of the ledger, specifically with guys who can work different styles, knows how to talk, and knows how to use psychology. Prince Albert worked as a big man who couldn’t talk. How can he train wrestlers to work other styles or talk? Makes ZERO SENSE why Triple H is loyal to that guy who is botching his developmental system.

Shrink all TV shows to be 2 hours maximum, never going above.

Nothing other than Wrestlemania goes for 2 nights.

Only North America or England should EVER host Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, or SummerSlam. Those are protected and entitled for the fans who helped build WWE. I don’t care how much Saudi wants to pay you for both the Rumble ($100 million) and Wrestlemania ($250). WWE is pissing on loyal fans who loved traveling to the WWE’s top events.

Reduce creative team power of Bruce Prichard and Michael P.S. Hayes. I’ve seen enough of their older ways that it’s impacting some legitimately good wrestlers, like Chelsea Green. Retain them as agents for matches, though, where they still have value for coming up with creative finishes or structuring a matches. Bruce is a Vince McMahon mark, though, so I’d consider his removal anyway.

Instead of forcing loyal veterans to take a paycut, start training them to be road agents, creative team members, or other help backstage in addition to their part-time wrestling. Sheamus could have been useful backstage for younger wrestlers coming up or even at the Performance Center. Instead, you just let him walk.

Just like that, WWE could be improved and we wouldn’t be laughing at SummerSlam 2026’s poor attendance.

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BUT, to a degree, as I wrote in my last column, wrestlers like Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Christian, and even Chris Benoit won their World Titles as “lifetime achievement” awards. It’s the company rewarding hard work and providing a “THANK YOU” for their efforts and showing loyalty. As Virtue said on the recent NoDQ Review show, it’s a way to allow loyal and dependable wrestlers to advertise themselves as a “former world champion” at appearances and autograph signings. On the “lifetime achievement” criticism, I agree with Russo…

HOWEVER, I disagree that it’s a “joke” to have Sami Zayn as champion. While I’d prefer wrestlers with much more star power, such as CM Punk or Roman Reigns, I’d argue that WWE has had MUCH WORSE champions holding their World Championships since 2010. For every deserving champion, there exists multiple wrestlers who were total experiments, riding short-term fan momentum, or were desired by Vince McMahon to be champion. If you look back to the year 2010, Sami Zayn and Jey Uso were FAR MORE deserving than many other champions.

Don’t believe me? Then fine, let’s rank ALL WWE World Champions since the beginning of 2010. The criteria is simple… Did they deserve the world title? And when they got the world title, did they do anything great as champion? And hell, do we even remember their title reign or consider it worthwhile to their career?

Simple format for this 4th of July spectacular column. Oh, you don’t like me celebrating my patriotism today? Well, then you should TURN OFF that pro wrestling promotion that you’re enjoying. WWE, TNA, and AEW are each American made products that other countries are importing or emulating. So yeah, you should celebrate the 250th birthday of this great nation for allowing us to share its culture with you.

Let’s jump into it.

40) Jinder Mahal
Worst WWE World Champion, ever. I don’t know what was going on with the WWE during 2017, but I want my money back! Jinder lost often between 2016 and 2017 on RAW, but when he’s swapped to the Smackdown roster, he’s immediately rushed to the Main Event, defeats Randy Orton, and then holds the title all Summer long. He was supposed to wrestle Brock Lesnar later that year when Brock reportedly intervened and wanted to wrestle someone else. That gave AJ Styles a tremendous opportunity!

39) Jack Swagger
He is only this low due to timing… Had size, had ability… Just pushed way too early as an unknown to the top and WWE kept trying. He could have been ready later with the “we the people” gimmick, but WWE cooled that gimmick down and then eventually let him go. He’s only this low because he was pushed too fast and too soon, and thus it ruined his career.

38) The Miz
I liked his later World Title run and felt it was a deserving “lifetime achievement award”, but what was that 2010-2011 title reign? Just wasn’t title worthy and felt like a midcarder in a world champion’s role. Personally, I’m getting less offended by the 2010-2011 title run, with age, because I kind of like older Miz and what he’s grown up into as a steady WWE hand and family man. He’s a good dude and has done a lot for WWE during his long tenure.

37) Finn Balor
Rushed to the World Title from NXT and then got injured. Main roster WWE fans were just baffled at how fast he was pushed to the top.

36) Alberto Del Rio
Another “pushed too fast and too early” wrestler… He did have the intangibles of charisma, look, in-ring ability, and character, but Vince wanted him champion NOW and even hijacked the “Summer of Punk” to make it happen. Then the personal problems started happening… If they were just a little more patient with him and policed him personally, he could have been a massive star. Major “what if” story right here.

35) Dolph Ziggler
Dolph does NOT deserve to be this low. Damn concussion right after his awesome post-Wrestlemania cash-in! And sadly, WWE didn’t believe in him at the top after that.

34) Braun Strowman
Looks like the role you want at the top, but not always consistent in the ring while also lacking maturity as well. With better backstage mentors and trainers, he could have been bigger.

33) Sheamus
Another “pushed too soon and too early” guy, and he benefitted from being Triple H’s workout buddy. Tried several times during the 2010s to get him to the top. Should have been more patient and he could have been a bigger star.

32) Damian Priest
Talent and look are there, but drawing power from charisma, mic skills, and personality are not. He had a solid run as champion and legitimately tried, but it was just a mistake to make him champion without the fan momentum to get him there.

31) Kofi Kingston
Short-term fan momentum and to his credit, he was a fighting champion. But, WWE flipped him from a tag team wrestler to a main eventer overnight. Love his title win at Wrestlemania, though, against Daniel Bryan as Bryan really turned up the heat and gave him an incredible match. Sad what Brock Lesnar did to him on the first FOX Smackdown, but I could see the argument that rushing Kofi to the title out of the tag division was a mistake to be corrected. Still, I’m personally happy for him and am OK with the “lifetime achievement” award.

30) Big E Langston
Kind of rushed to the title and I thought it was a big mistake to exclude him from New Day. He should have remained with the group and been a World Champion as a New Day member versus avoiding the group. I’m still sad that he got injured and we’ll never know if he could have had more title reigns that were better.

29) Jey Uso
Lifetime achievement award, for sure. Deserved it after years of great tag wrestling and being a massive component to the Bloodline angle from 2020 through 2023. He was getting seriously over during late 2024 and became the #1 merchandise seller. So, they made him champion during 2025. I agree with the lifetime achievement award, but disagree with him defeating Gunther for it.

28) Sami Zayn
Lifetime achievement award, but I’d argue Sami has given more main event moments than Jey so hence the higher spot. Massive contributions made to the WWE that I can make a case for rewarding.

25) Christian
Lifetime achievement award for a great WWE career, but also proving he could get over elsewhere. Hence why I think he deserves some additional recognition.

24) Big Show
Last title run for a veteran wrestler with better prior title runs.

23) Kane
Last title run for a veteran wrestler with better prior title runs.

22) Mark Henry
LOVED what he matured into as a wrestler, deserved more honestly. Once he got the attitude and the theme music, he figured it all out but possibly too late.

21) Rey Mysterio Jr.
Two separate title wins since 2010, one of which was that bad title vacancy. Has a prior World Title that matters more.

20) Batista
Last title run for a veteran wrestler with better prior title runs. Batista was great and had a fine 5-year run through 2010.

19) Chris Jericho
Last title run for a veteran wrestler with better title runs. Crazy thing about Jericho is that he’s still doing this and was AEW champion during 2019-2020. Best reinventor of all time!

18) Dean Ambrose (now Jon Moxley)
Deserved much better in the WWE, but was happy that he got his World Title run. Then he goes and proves WWE wrong by having a solid career in AEW.

17) Bray Wyatt/The Fiend
RIP Windham Rotunda. Loved the Bray Wyatt character, but his title runs were murky but out of his control at times (like Goldberg defeating him). Still, I didn’t like the Fiend character and would have preferred he remain as Bray.

16) Bobby Lashley
Good champion and looked great with the Hurt Business stable surrounding him.

15) Triple H
Came in briefly to give Roman Reigns an opponent at Wrestlemania. Good little run and storyline for HHH.

14) Kevin Owens
Always solid… While maybe missing the look of a champion, his work is consistent and dependable. That, and he’s tremendous on the mic to sell the match before it happens.

13) Randy Orton
Always dependable and remains a star, but some bad title runs here such as 2013-2014 and 2017. I just cringe at those runs and the storylines surrounding them.

12) Drew McIntyre
Great wrestler and great champion, but deserved longer reigns. Victim of the damn COVID year, too, as he beat Lesnar during Wrestlemania during 2020.

11) Edge
Retired as World Champion. Crazy that it has been over 15 years ago now, and it was a retirement due to a bad neck. Then, Edge came back during 2020 and is still working!

10) AJ Styles
LOVED AJ Styles’s WWE run, but he did his job as champion for late 2016 and late 2017. This man wrestled his arse off, every time.

9) The Rock
Rock was a World Champion in the past 17 years, remember that? Defeated CM Punk to wrestle John Cena for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania during 2013. Big put over job for Cena, returning the prior year’s favor which I respect and appreciate. Rock gutted out a bad injury in that match, too.

8) Gunther
Better IC Champ than a World Champ, in my opinion. WWE just can’t get Gunther right at the main event.

7) Seth Rollins
Has many title reigns with many personas. Always dependable and reliable, can draw as a face or as a heel. Multi-dimensional wrestler. I just wish WWE didn’t ban his Curb Stomp during 2015 after he wins the title with that very move.

6) Daniel Bryan
Damn WWE Creative on this one… He deserved better treatment, but made the most with what he had. Wrestlemania 30 was great for him, but I liked his heel title run in which he put over Kofi the most. Did great business there and made Kofi look like a star. SummerSlam 2013 should have been a launching pad, but then it wasn’t thanks to WWE wanting Orton vs. Batista at WM 30. Ooops, we, the fans, disagreed.

5) CM Punk
After falling prey to the Money in the Bank nonsense, his 2011 win over John Cena at MITB is one of the best WWE matches in their history. Punk would then hold the WWE Title for a year and then return during late 2023 to be vindicated with a few additional World Title runs. Punk’s match with Roman Reigns at WM 42 should be commended.

4) Cody Rhodes
Two massive title wins with one over Roman at WM 40 and then defeating John Cena at SummerSlam 2025. Those are massive all-time great title wins and he carries himself well as champion. Go Cody!

3) John Cena
You forget from 2014 through 2024, no World Titles… BUT, before 2014 and then during 2025, several great title runs. However, the magic with Cena isn’t the 17 times that he won the title, but for the past 17 years, who he has put over with a World Title on the line. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Cody Rhodes, for example… And he’s put over many other wrestlers without a title on the line, as well. Cena is truly one of the biggest wrestlers of all time, but his generosity is what makes him great. Cena made stars. LOVE his match against AJ Styles at SummerSlam!

2) Brock Lesnar
Think about how BAD 2010s WWE would be without Brock Lesnar as a box office attraction. Seriously… He CARRIED WWE on his back during the WWE Network Era. Dominant champion, multiple times… Always a massive draw.

1) Roman Reigns
Let’s ignore the bad 2010s where he became a John Cena wannabe. 2020s featured Roman as a heel, under the influence of Paul Heyman, and he was an exceptional and dominant champion from 2020 through 2024. Cody Rhodes is higher on this list because he was the one who defeated Roman and ended the long reign. Sadly, WWE couldn’t reward this great reign with a satisfying victory of the Rock, at least not yet. Regardless of whatever else Roman does in his career, his 2020-2024 is ALL TIME GREAT.

*****

LAST WORD: Think about this for a second, folks… 40 separate wrestlers were World Champions since 2010. That is CRAZY and in my opinion, I’d probably cut off at #29 as that bottom 11 features wrestlers who were either rushed to the title or maybe should have become champion. Thus, in my opinion, where was Vince Russo when each of those wrestlers won titles? Jinder Mahal, Jack Swagger, The Miz… Come on, Vinnie Roo, where’s your opinions on those much weaker champions in comparison to Sami Zayn who I’d argue legitimately drew money when involved in big matches or big feuds? Come on, bro!

At least Sami Zayn didn’t win his WWE Title in a match where his opponent laid down on purpose and then afterward, Sami cut a promo saying “that’s why this company’s in the damn shape it’s in, because of BS like this!” like we saw Hulk Hogan cut during WCW Bash at the Beach 2000.

Personally for me, I’d probably cutoff at 18, as you had several late title runs by veterans. I can understand the top 18 being champions since 2010.

40 wrestler in 17 years being World Champion is just too much, especially with positions 40 through 30 either not deserving the World Title, was rushed after debut, or went from midcarder to main eventer too quickly without justification. Lots of BAD booking that ruined many great champions from having better reigns or additional quality reigns, too.

Hope you enjoyed this review… Goes to show you that WWE has had many weak world champions and many of you wrestling fans are just hating too much on Jey and Sami. Those two did more for wrestling than many other world champions tried.

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So the King and Queen of the Ring finals are set and to say its uninspired would be an understatement. I am honestly not interested in seeing Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso. Oba Femi vs. Je’Von Evans would have been a much more interesting match to have. They had a match in NXT that was really good. So I would have liked to see them run it back. Jey Uso is no where near King of the Ring material. The fact they have him in this final is a joke to be honest. There was a time when I liked Jey Uso. But now, with this Bloodline 2.0 in full effect I don’t want to see the possibility of Jey Uso main eventing Summerslam to take on Cody Rhodes.

This King of the Ring is Oba’s to win and honestly he should run through Jey Uso like he was tinfoil. But I’m sure it will be a ahem “competitive” match where Jey uses the spear and Uso splash to get near falls. But like I said, I’m honestly not interested in this match and this might be the weakest King of the Ring final in a very long time. Though I guess nothing could be as bad as King Mabel in 1995.

As for the women, it’s no better for them. Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky should be a Women’s World Title match on it’s own. It doesn’t need this Queen of the Ring backdrop. But with the Women’s World Champion in the damn tournament…how does she lose? Iyo beats her and turns around and challenges her for the title at Summerslam. Unless they are going to have Iyo challenge Rhea Ripley at Summerslam. Liv losing would make her look pretty weak as a champion so I can’t see her losing this.

It’s clear I’m giving this way more thought than they did. Probably why I feel a headache brewing. I mean everything about both of these tournaments was so rushed as usual. But Triple H says we shouldn’t take it so seriously.

I don’t think I’m taking it too seriously. It’s just something I like watching and I think it could be better. I think that about a lot of movies and tv shows I watch. The problem is, the WWE hates it when the fan is right. Think way back to Wrestlemania 30. It was supposed to be Batista vs. Randy Orton in that main event. But the WWE fans through such a fit (and rightfully so) about it and Daniel Bryan getting screwed over in the Rumble that they had no choice but to do a course correction and change those plans. Bryan ends up winning a match against Triple H, gets put into the main event later that night and wins the title. Everything was right for that moment.

But the WWE is gonna have a situation on their hands with this King of the Ring potentially because according to some very reliable sources, the Oba/Jey Uso match is still up in the air. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???

I’m doubling down on what I said. Oba should win in like a blink of an eye. King Kong Bundy squashes SD Jones type quickness. But I guess because all the kids love saying YEET, Jey Uso has to have a fighting chance. We shall see what happens at King of the Ring. Now did you know that there’s more wrestling this weekend? Oh yes, on Sunday it’s jam packed with action.

AEW is presenting their Forbidden Door PPV at 8pm EST on Sunday night. Not to be outdone, WWE NXT is jumping their gun an hour early at 7pm EST on Sunday with The Great American Bash. So the two companies that are pretty much equal in terms of viewing and ratings will be head to almost head. To be honest, AEW seems to have a weak Forbidden Door this year. Not to say there won’t be good matches because as we know, AEW PPV’s over deliver. But this one doesn’t seem as special as ones in years past.

Now to be fully honest, I don’t pay much attention to New Japan anymore. But I’m wondering where the hell the IWGP Heavyweight Championship is on this card? It’s nowhere to be found. Now, “Shooter” Shota Umino is defending the Global Championship against Pac on the show, but that’s not really the top title. Apparently there’s visa issues going around so it’s possible a lot of talent just couldn’t get into the country.

I am looking forward to Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr. That should be a really good match. Kenny needs a good match to really get cooking again. Another match I’m looking forward to is Will Osprey vs. Swerve Strickland. I think it’s a given Osprey is winning because Osprey main eventing All In at Wembley Stadium in London seems like a no brainer. I’m sure it will be a good match though. The main event is a six on six cage match with Team DCMJF (Don Callis Family & MJF) vs. Team Briscoe. Mark Briscoe gets a shot at the AEW World Title if his team wins the match. Mark is a sentimental favorite for a number of reasons so I really hope he does win this match to get that shot against MJF.

I don’t know if Mark Briscoe would be able to win the AEW World Championship though. I think AEW is pretty dead set on MJF vs. Osprey at All In: London. It’s all about the story though and Mark getting the shot would make for a compelling one.

I haven’t been watching too much of NXT lately so I couldn’t tell you what’s going on there. I know the former EVIL…now known as Naraku used the old exploding contract gag on NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo. I like Tony, but ever since he went “legit” and The D’Angelo family imploded he seems like he’s been missing something. He’s a good enough wrestler, so I can’t fault him for that. I can’t really predict this match, but if I had to guess he’ll retain over Naraku.

Lola Vice is defending the NXT Women’s championship against Kendell Grey and that should be a good match. Lola is so good at what she does and she’ll be a huge star for them if they don’t screw her up on her eventual call up to the big time. Someone else who is rumored to be getting that call up soon is Tatum Paxley and she is going up against Zaria for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Tatum is so awesome at what she does, but if she’s getting a call up soon look for Zaria to retain the championship.

It should be an exciting and possibly infuriating weekend of wrestling depending on how things go at King of the Ring. Forbidden Door will be less stressful watching so that’s a plus.

On that note I’m done for this week. As always thanks for reading and you leave feedback down below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: The King of The Ring and AEW Forbidden Door all this weekend appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

This column is called Ask Tito where I provide my snappy answers to questions submitted by YOU, the readers, via email, private messaging on various social media platforms, and the comment below my columns. The former 2, of course, are with long-time readers who get first rights and privilege to asking questions. Oh, and I almost forgot… Other questions are submitted by lunatic that’s inside my head. He raises the blade, makes the changes, and rearranges me until I’m sane. Then, he locks the door and throws away the key, as there’s someone in my head but it’s not me. You got it? Good.

Now, before I answer your “questions”, I want to make a public service announcement (PSA) to the entire Internet Wrestling Community (IWC).

Are you ready to hear this?

Are you absolutely sure?

Ok, here it goes…

YOUR WRESTLING OPINIONS DON’T MATTER!

Sure, they matter to you and your infinite sadness of a world that you’ve created for yourself. But barking online, all day long, about whose wrestling opinion is RIGHT and whose wrestling opinion is WRONG is just a complete waste of time. Why? Because YOUR opinion doesn’t matter.

And neither does mine.

Outside of the NoDQ.com atmosphere, where does my wrestling opinion matter? If I didn’t post on LordsofPain or Top-Rope before this and now NoDQ, would you ever hear my lousy opinions? NO! But even then, with due respect to these 3 fine websites, we’re a small percentage of the wrestling base. Each week, the WWE is viewed by between 1.5 to 3 million viewers per week. Most websites do a tiny fraction of that on views, but most of that goes towards news and results NOT opinion. For social media, while many wrestling fans use it, they are using it for their personal needs and not for wrestling discussion.

Who fights all day long on Social Media, whether it’s for wrestling or political stuff? Those who are looking for a fight and use the rest of the world as their punching bag for whatever is pissing them off.

And I’m guilty as charged… Dirty secret about ol’ Mr. Tito is that my columns are just a creative outlet, and sometimes a much needed creative outlet when things are going rough. Go back to those late 2010s columns where I had a few deaths in my family and I was severely overworked. Yeah, there’s a metric ton of RAGE in those columns about how terrible the WWE was back then. Every damn column went off on how poor of a talent manager Triple H was and how terrible Roman Reigns was as a babyface. I needed that rage at the time and it helped get me through it…

BUT, were my criticisms of HHH and Roman during the late 2010s heard? No… WWE has enough loyal fans who will keep handing them money, no matter what I say online, and enough corporate sponsors happy with how many loyal fans keep handing WWE money. Ol’ Tito or anybody online is NOT going to break someone’s habit of watching wrestling on Mondays and then watching at least one PLE per month on the weekend. Ticket prices go up, they still attend events… Merchandise prices go up, they still buy crap (ugh, those expensive replica title belts!). Cost to watch WWE PLE goes up, thanks to the price gouging Disney/ESPN, people hand over their money.

Sure, there are some “small victories” (great Faith No More song) such as overturning Wrestlemanias 30 (Daniel Bryan), 31 (Rollins over Roman), and 40 (letting Cody finish his story), but WWE will eventually “get theirs”. Remember the famous “Summer of Punk” during 2011? WWE was hell bent on making Alberto Del Rio world champion and made that happen during SummerSlam 2011 no matter what it took. WWE kept trying and trying to get Roman over as a babyface that he headlined most of the late 2010s Wrestlemanias. Despite terrible matches, the WWE never took their foot off the gas.

Now, you have TKO running things and anybody who is represented by WME, of which the Endeavor executives partially own and still work there, gets pushed. Funny how both Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are your world champions right now. Gee, what could be coming up later this year? OH YEAH, the Street Fighter movie coming out in October. I would venture to say that Roman and Cody will be squeaky clean babyfaces and still champions by the time that film comes out, NO MATTER what you attempt to say online.

Your opinions don’t matter when a company already has your money and your time, period.

Only chance that a wrestling company could change is if the majority of you legitimately start pulling back on your time and money.

So far, and the numbers show this, you’re not. Despite the high prices for Wrestlemania 42, they still found 50,000 fans willing to part their hard-earned money to be price gouged by the event itself, airlines heading into Vegas, hotels in Vegas, and literally every business in Vegas who is struggling with being price gouged by the city itself and passing on higher prices onto any consumer of their goods/services. With WWE jumping from Peacock to ESPN, a streaming service has either doubled or tripled what you previously paid to watch PLEs while also losing decades of archived footage to watch. Contrary to the inflated expectations of ESPN, streaming numbers haven’t changed versus the previous platform. Same viewership numbers on Netflix… Higher merchandise sales than ever despite their higher prices.

I keep waiting for the “shoe to drop” but the WWE brand has its teeth deep into the back pocket of every wrestling fan.

And that’s despite how foul the new TKO overlords are and how open they are to price gouge you. Meanwhile, TKO is somehow carrying over $4 billion in debt despite WWE and UFC serving as ATM machines for them. TKO just shelled out $60 million for the luxury of hosting an event on the White House lawn and is expected to take a $30 million loss after sponsor revenues. I understand the “once in a lifetime” opportunity and prestige to play on the lawn of the most important property in the country, but a $30 million loss is a $30 million loss. Meanwhile, the wrestlers and UFC fighters who are helping their respective events draw are requested to take paycuts.

But again, OUR online opinions about TKO, WWE’s Creative Team, wrestlers getting cut, etc. do not matter…

Nothing is stopping TKO and WWE from operating the way THEY want unless YOU change your habits.

And the only way your opinions would EVER matter is if they can influence change.

I’m hear to tell all of you “wrestling influencers” out there this: you haven’t influenced a damn thing!

I’ve been at this damn game since October 1998 and I haven’t influenced anything. WWE goes to the beat of their own drum. Sure, a few wrestlers or personalities will respond to me, but then big daddy WWE tells them to STOP doing things online. Just like that, any ground that I’ve gained is gone.

I’d say it’s been about 4 years since I hopped off of X/Twitter and went private. Best decision that I ever made because it FORCED me out of the daily in-fighting with wrestling fans. Suddenly, I had so much extra free time because the threats, personal attacks, and stupid drama was gone and I no longer had to respond to it. The only time I put back on the “troll cleats” is when someone fires off a personal attack in my comments section below my column or lately, attacks other readers. But that’s it, 100% contained within just one NoDQ post. If you weren’t following NoDQ or clicking into those post, you wouldn’t know me.

But getting off Social Media and leaving its wrestling war behind was the best decision that I’ve ever made as Mr. Tito. Suddenly, I didn’t give that much of a damn on which wrestler was pushed, what wrestler really needed to win a specific match, or what creative has been lately. If you read my columns during the 2010s, I was ripping Triple H to shreds as a WWE executive. Me through the mid-2020s, I’m mostly praising HHH. While I think he has improved, I’m not posting daily about him like many other fans on social media. Have you noticed that everybody is suddenly anti-Triple H? The man made WWE better during 2022-2024 but since then, all of TKO’s price hikes and corporate micro-managing have somehow been blamed on him. AGAIN, if you’re complaining all day about wrestling in the opinion spheres, you come up with these dumbass conclusions.

Your opinion doesn’t matter, and neither does mine.

Unless we can spark a massive movement that can break the loyalty of many dedicated WWE fans who DO NOT CARE what online fans think or say… We’re just wasting our time yelling at each other.

But if you currently carrying anger towards ANYONE online about pro wrestling… What the hell? This is a scripted form of entertainment and WWE always wins when they’ve captured either your time or money. You spending hours posting beneath news or opinionated posts, on social media, or other forums just proves my point.

When WWE has either your money or your time, they win. Always.

Here I am through 2026… The only money spent on WWE was $29.99 for ESPN+ during January, but I made that purchase to watch the NCAA BCS Title game between Indiana and Miami. Other than that, no monetary purchases for any of WWE’s material.

BUT – WWE still has my time, though much less than prior years. I keep up with WWE through clips on their official social media accounts and YouTube channel. I did cut myself off from watching Netflix RAW during 2026, so I’m winning there. I’m STILL writing columns for NoDQ, but at a decreasing rate. And I’m quite convinced that if I put down the Mr. Tito crackpipe, which I keep smoking in favor of my many, many loyal readers gained throughout the past almost 28 years (damn, I’m old!), I think the rest of my fandom also falls.

Even if I walked away, despite probably writing up between 4-5 thousand columns by now, the only people that would remember my wrestling opinions would only be just a percentage of those daring to click into the opinion sections of LoP, Top-Rope, or NoDQ.

The biggest names that you may know in the online community aren’t that influential, either. When has WWE ever cared about Dave Meltzer’s star ratings? Seriously… All of those 5-8 star matches that AEW receives isn’t boosting their viewership. Your attempt at being an influencer, like the rest of us, has failed.

So there you go, brutal honesty. I’m sure others will accuse me of “crashing out”, “melting down”, or possibly going insane, but I don’t care. I’ve written these columns purely as a hobby and as a creative outlet. It has connected to me to many great people for almost 3 decades now, many of which I consider good online friends and some of which got to see me in-person too. That’s what matters to me… I enjoyed writing these columns and will continue to do so unless I’m just tired of not mattering in pro wrestling.

Onto your questions or whatever my imaginary friend asks.

————————————————————————–

ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

What are your thoughts on Danhausen now that he’s received mainstream press during the NBA and NHL Finals?

When I was asked about Danhausen previously, I just said “he’s not for me” but avoided being overly critical because I knew many fans loved the guy and I felt that he was great to his fans. I just kind of backed off because I didn’t want to tear down something positive that many others liked despite it not being “for me”.

Now that I see him being worshipped by New York Knicks fans… And then Danhausen leaning into it… I gotta admit, I’m a fan now.

What makes Danhausen work, as I’m observing, is that he’s 100% committed to the character and 100% committed to making it fun, no matter what. You don’t see him break character, ever, which is how wrestlers SHOULD conduct themselves, even in public. He’s just fun, that’s all you have to describe, and he’s such a charismatic and extroverted person to actually pull it off. He’s likeable, period. That’s all you have to say.

The other day, Stephan A. Smith tried to get Danhausen to say something on President Donald Trump and he just didn’t take the bait, saying something fun instead about how his curses work. In other words, Danhausen has a talent to gain MASS APPEAL with literally any kind of person. Look at him, he’s a vampire or zombie looking character who puts curses on people but it’s all for silly fun. In total luck for him, him uncursing the New York Knicks led them to a championship and only losing 1 game within 3 series since that curse. The entire city of New York is forever going to love him for that and that love will spread throughout the country.

I totally get the appeal now and wish him the best. I’m now a fan…

Speaking of Danhausen, I wish that WWE could create a better platform for him. Danhausen is clearly less than 6 feet tall and under 200 pounds. Why not bring back the Cruiserweight Division and let him wrestle in it? Just push all kinds of smaller wrestlers with silly gimmicks through that and it could be a massive hit. I know that many want Enzo back into the WWE… Well, there you go, you’ve got 2 fun characters wrestling as cruiserweights with Danhausen and Enzo.

The Triple A stuff is teaching us all a lesson about pro wrestling… You can push any character out there, but if they are 100% committed to the characters and acting like a title or a rivalry means something, fans will commit too.

*****

Do you think that CM Punk is purposely reaching out to AEW for a future return?

This was mentioned underneath my last column about CM Punk… There are some rumors online that CM Punk was trying to repair his burned bridge with AEW, specifically with Tony Khan. It’s the usual LACK of documented fact, but an AEW reunion would be impossible until CM Punk gets out of his current WWE deal.

From what I can see, Punk is still on his 3-year deal that he signed from November 2023 though CM Punk is quoted during 2025 saying he was offered a 5-year extension. I don’t see any record of Punk signing that deal, but there’s a chance that WWE adds more time to his deal due to injuries sustained. For example, the Royal Rumble 2024 triceps tear that kept him out of action for like 5-6 months.

Personally for me, CM Punk will NEVER return to AEW in any way, shape, or form as long as the Young Bucks remain Executive Vice Presidents there. I don’t care how good Tony’s money is, the Bucks are a problem and can create a toxic work environment for anyone. While CM Punk can make possible amends with Tony, and I’m sure Tony is willing to apologize on behalf of the Bucks, I just don’t see an AEW return. I think once Punk is done working for WWE, he’ll be done with his in-ring career and then either chill in retirement or contribute to wrestling or MMA in management somewhere. But I think for Punk, it will be through his own private enterprise versus working for Tony or TKO.

I just don’t see Punk working in a non-wrestling capacity for TKO… That is a fire waiting to explode, if it happens.

*****

What do you make of everyone mocking Jade Cargill’s wig coming undone?

I think wrestling fans obsessing over Jade’s wig falling off are coming undone. Seriously.

To many wrestling fans, the perception of Jade is that he’s completely manufactured and not authentic as a wrestler or personality. That plays into this, a tad, along with this weird stereotype often heard about black women and their hair. On that latter point, that’s unfortunate and FINGER OF SHAME to anyone mocking her due to that stereotype… But I would say from a wrestling standpoint, her WWE tenure has been a bit underwhelming despite the claims and promises that WWE would “improve her” versus the possible lack of training she may have received in AEW.

Nope, as it turns out, she may have two left feet, doesn’t have the personality or knack for the business, and much of those muscles may be cosmetic. While Jade looks jacked, someone like Bianca Belair is much stronger. Jade is female Lex Luger, as Lex struggled lifting wrestlers of a certain size and length into his torture rack…

With Jade Cargill, we need a reality check to realize that she’s only been doing this 8 years and been on a massive stage for less than 7. Like Lex Luger, it takes years to figure this business out and eventually get good. For Luger, he started in 1985 but it wasn’t until 1995 when he found his character and figured out how to put everything together. His 1995-1997 run was amazing.

I think with Jade, she just hasn’t improved since her AEW days and many wrestlers are fatigued by it. Her wig falling off just created an opportunity point and show had “fake” she is, though many piled on for the unfortunate reasons too.

*****

Do you think Cyndi Lauper goes into the WWE Hall of Fame for 2027?

Funny how I ranted that your “opinions don’t matter” above, but I think this one bubbling up with many fans was heard by WWE. Forbes is reporting that WWE is going to release her as an action figure in a 3-pack with Lou Albano and Roddy Piper. For one, that’s a cool item especially if you’ve been watching Wrestlemania since its inception during 1985. But I do think that Cyndi’s involvement receive the proper credit that it deserves and I hope this is the beginning of a good relationship again.

This is a baby step towards getting her into the Hall of Fame for 2027 (I hope she likes traveling to Saudi to receive it!). She’s about to turn 73 years old and not getting any younger. I think she’d be a GREAT speaker for the Hall of Fame, providing her insights into all of the Mtv WWE stuff that happened back then along with working with such greats as Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper.

This is what I like about Triple H. He listens for gaps like this, such as getting the Ultimate Warrior and Bruno Sammartino into the WWE despite major Vince McMahon issues or pushback. This is the beginning to giving Cyndi her rightful flowers.

*****

Should Roman Reigns attend political things, such as UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House?

I think Roman can attend whatever show he wants, and TKO can have anyone attend whom they want.

While yes, we know who is President and he’s very polarizing… And yes, his Freedom 250 is a political action arm of his presidency, hence why that concert quickly fell apart when the artists heard it was a political function (Martina McBride, Brett Michaels, one-half of Milli Vanilli)… UFC Freedom 250 was still a legitimate UFC event that someone could attend. Further, UFC is owned by TKO who also owns WWE. Placing celebrities at ringside, especially ones under your contracts, is any easy way to provide additional attention.

Is it any different than the New York Knicks placing celebrities at courtside for their big playoff games?

What I see, though, is why Roman is there… TKO is heavily incentivized to keep Roman Reigns as its top star and make him known in pop culture. Roman being successful in the WWE makes them money, but as I’ve mentioned above, TKO’s executives are also agents or owners of the WME agency that Roman uses. Having Roman there isn’t just to promote their side WWE venture but to get his face out there to help promote things like the Street Fighter movie.

It’s not like Roman was heavily praising the president, wearing a MAGA hat, or acting like a political hack. No, he just attended a UFC event and he’s attended UFC events previously, while also incorporating MMA moves into his WWE character’s moveset. Honestly, it’s not a big deal that he attended as he just enjoyed the event on TKO’s dime and TKO/WWE can write that off as an expense.

Many of you are just looking too much into things like this. Further, when you get the opportunity to visit something at the White House, it’s hard to say “no”. If you don’t like the leadership there, then attend the event professionally and then provide your opinions right to their face. For Roman’s case, he was just there to watch MMA and be a celebrity for TKO to advertise for both WWE and Street Fighter.

It’s painful that I have to explain the simplest of things. Some of your online fights about Roman attending UFC Freedom 250 were just ridiculous. If TKO cut you a check, flew you on a private jet, and gave you amazing hotel accommodations to watch people beat the crap of out of each other on the White House lawn, you’d do it too. Geesh. Trust me, you’ve said “YES” to much less at your workplace.

Notice how the criticisms were about Roman attending, but not Triple H who was also at UFC Freedom 250. Well, Triple H has attended multiple White House functions and has acted professionally, not politically, at each one. Thus, we’re used to seeing him supporting events that the President promotes. It’s not so common with Roman, so everyone panics.

*****
What are your thoughts on the latest shake-ups in TNA?

Being totally honest, I haven’t thought about TNA in like 2 decades… Only time that I wrote about them was suggesting to have a better developmental system in hopes to groom and create their own breakout star as the only way they could become competitive. I’m of the mind that if I don’t follow your promotion, I’ll go silent on it. TNA, Ring of Honor, and recently AEW receiving my silence is a sign that I don’t watch or want to cover them.

Two things are interesting to me about the recent “shake-ups”. For one, TNA is letting go of Tommy Dreamer and may reportedly bring in Road Dogg as his replacement. From what I’ve heard, Dreamer was well liked there and seemed to be doing a good job… But to go to Road Dogg as his replacement, ehhhh… Did you not see his recent work with WWE? How about his year 2017 work with WWE? While he’s very charismatic and talented himself as a worker, that doesn’t translate into teaching others or making others great.

I do like the other story that TNA and Ohio Valley Wrestling are working on a deal to work together. While OVW isn’t what it used to be under Cornette, Rogers, and Davis, it’s still a functioning wrestling promotion and still a good place to send wrestlers to train. That said, with OVW still remaining in Louisville, KY, if I were TNA, I’d seriously offer Louisville local Jim Cornette a consultant deal for that developmental system. OVW is under new management and has been since April of last year, but they have one of the BEST wrestling minds in town RIGHT THERE. Yes, he can go off like a bomb, but knows his stuff and his well-trained wrestlers performed well and consistently for the WWE for decades (Kane, Cena, Batista, Lesnar, Orton, etc.).

The ONLY way TNA or AEW could ever defeat the big WWE machine is if they create and develop their own big wrestling stars that the WWE has never had or if they repackage a free agent well. Remember, WWE only defeated WCW because they repackaged Foley/Austin/Triple H and created the Rock. Without those talents, they aren’t defeating the free agent heavy WCW through 1998.

*****

THE LAST WORD: That’s all that I have in the basement for now. Being totally honest, calculate the amount of time you spend arguing and debating wrestling. Then, consider how much it adds to stress or reduces from time spend building relationships in your life. Best thing that I ever did as Mr. Tito was to stop wrestling columns during the Summer of 2006 and I didn’t return to writing again until early 2010. During that time, I had no contact with other wrestling fans, I watched much less (really stopped after the June 2007 Benoit stuff), and I was fully available to build on relationships in my personal and professional life. I grew a lot in those years and have a solid life and career because I stopped being obsessed with a hobby that doesn’t provide tangible items for me.

Before you flame your next wrestling fan about their opinions, take a moment to think “is this really worth it”? As someone who has been deep into the opinion trenches and still is to a degree, IT’S NOT.

If you like my columns, THANK YOU… If you hate my columns, then why are you here?

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post ASK TITO: Why Our Wrestling Opinions Don’t Matter, Danhausen’s Popularity Boom, Roman at UFC Event, Jade Cargill’s Wig, and Much More appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.