There’s a term out there called “Alpha Male”, as the word “alpha” is considered to be “first” as alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. According to Oxford Dictionary, the term “Alpha Male” is defined as the dominant male in a particular group or male tending to assume a dominant or domineering role in a social group. Other definitions include someone who is “assertive, competitive, confident” and as someone seen as being “successful” and a “natural leader”.

In comparison, a “Beta Male” is defined as a subordinate male in a social group or someone tending to assume a passive or subservient role in a social or professional situation, according to the Oxford dictionary.

If you look at much of the top draws in professional wrestling history, they all tend to have the “alpha male” quality in some form. There’s ZERO doubt that the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, the Rock, the Undertaker, and John Cena had most qualities listed above, some moreso than others. In my opinion, since August 2020, Roman Reigns elevated himself as the clear locker room leader through a boost of confidence when he could finally be unleashed as a heel character (or more like his natural self). The terrible babyface push of 2014-2019 presented him as if he were a “Beta”, as he was booked like a clone of John Cena but didn’t naturally exert that natural confidence.

Much of the alphas mentioned here will slice the throats of any up & coming wrestler while being so exceptionally confident, assertive, and aggressive towards keeping their top spot. How many times have they tried to get Hulk Hogan to walk away only for him to politic his way back up to the top and seize control of a wrestling promotion? Tried it after Wrestlemania 4, tried it after Wrestlemania 6, tried it after Wrestlemania 8, tried it after King of the Ring 1993, and then WCW tried it several times such as early 1996, StarrCade 1997, WCW Monday Nitro early July 1998, during 1999 and then during 2000. When Hogan returned to WWE, Vince McMahon struggled to resist Hulkamania as they scrapped the Triple H babyface push of 2002 to make Hogan champion again. And acquiesced to Hogan repeatedly to keep him booked strong, as both Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton found out.

WWE is growing again because they have their alpha male with Roman Reigns since August 2020 and the WWE locker room is aligned solidly behind him. Without him, as you saw during 2024, WWE was lacking on the Smackdown side of the ledger. BUT, following his lead on RAW, as you just saw for 2024, was CM Punk and Drew McIntyre tearing up houses. Those guys have seen the standards set by Roman Reigns and are busting down the door behind him. Cody Rhodes… While I enjoy him as a character and respect his family a whole bunch, there’s a little beta in him. The guy who was tearing up New Japan, Ring of Honor, and other promotions before forming AEW during 2019 suddenly tucked his tail between his legs with that promotion. When he’s joined WWE, he’s had some alpha moments, but is he the natural #1 leader that someone like Roman Reigns is? Not even close in my opinion.

WWE is growing because they are following the natural leadership of Roman Reigns and everybody is learning from the top guy, while Triple H has created an environment where multiple wrestlers can rise up to join Roman as successful top guys.

Meanwhile in AEW…

A bunch of betas.

Sorry, but if you run to Dave Meltzer and tell him gossip and lies about other wrestlers, you’re a beta!

If you post about your feelings on social media and break script on television about something said on social media, you’re a beta!

If you’re older and not as aggressive or hungry to be the top guy as you once was, you’re a beta!

Tell me who is the “natural leader” of AEW who exudes confidents and a radiance of being successful.

Young Bucks? Oh please… And those wimpy leaders are the ones that a beta and wimp named Tony Khan placed in charge as Executive Vice Presidents all because the Bucks and Cody drew 10,000 for 1 independent wrestling show in a populous Chicago area during 2018 when fans were starving for wrestling other than WWE. Look at the smaller talents they’ve signed along with the poor presentation of their specialty, the tag team division. Both of those guys collectively stormed 1 guy’s locker room and got their arse kicked easily in a 2 on 1 situation.

Okada? Instead of asserting himself as a $4.5 million dollar man, he took a side role with the Young Bucks upon arrival. Ever since, we have NOT seen the guy whom Dave Meltzer, beta loving master, used to shower with 5+ stars per match.

Will Ospreay? Wasn’t he the guy who threw a hissy fit because of vague words that Triple H said about guys working a tougher schedule? Called him out on an AEW show?

Jon Moxley? Loved his 2019-2021 work, been iffy on his work since. Poor guy worked really hard as a top free agent during his early years and I thought his championship run was great even though it was interrupted with COVID. He’s still seen as a leader by many wrestlers backstage, but I think his desires to revert back to his earlier indy hardcore self has harmed his standing.

I really like MJF, but he’s repeatedly losing or working in programs with AEW talents who are either “beta” of nature or below him. That or when someone like Wardlow gets the best of him, they’ll undercut Wardlow and make both guys look foolish in the process.

Like Kenny Omega, too, but he’s honestly too nice of a guy whose has let the Young Bucks take more charge as Kenny focused on the awful Fight Forever video game that underwhelmed. Unfortunately, the tread on the wheels has thinned with age and it’s been sad to see him go through medical issues for the past few years. Listening to speak openly on Twitch, you could hear that he’s more intelligent than what he’s been presented as in AEW. However, taking a backseat to others is part of what’s lacking with Omega.

You’re asking a lot of Chris Jericho, Adam Copeland, and Christian Cage in their early 50s to contribute to AEW. Like and enjoyed the careers of all 3 talents, but they energy and hunger reduces with age. That said, all 3 usually had other alphas in their way during their past tenures with the WWE and could not overcome the likes of Rock, Austin, Undertaker, or John Cena. Each of the 3 have taken extended time off. While I commend them for working with their families and adding years to their in-ring lives, for every month off, another talent steps in.

Let’s use a few real-life analogies…

The NBA had issues through the 1970s, but then 2 bigtime players and clear leaders of men arrived during the 1980s: Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Those two built the NBA into the powerhouse that it is today and then others were encouraged to follow. With an improved NBA, then the likes of the super-alpha male arrived with Michael Jordan. Is there any question about the drive, competitiveness, and hunger of that guy? He’s the best competitor of all time and the NBA once reached like 32 million viewers during his last playoff series with the Bulls. After he left, the NBA lost viewership and attendance but the likes of Shaq and Kobe helped sustain business for a while.

Since then? It’s been the Lebron James league and what have we seen? Instead of players toughing it out with 1 team, the top players team-up and stack the odds in their favor. Lebron couldn’t win with the dysfunctional Cavs front office, so he bolts to Miami to join Wade and Toronto’s Chris Bosh. He only returned to Cleveland after Kyrie Irving played well and facilitating a trade to obtain Kevin Love. Then with the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Davis trade is orchestrated to get Lebron another tag team superstar. You could argue that the “Bulls had Pippen”, but the Bulls obtained him via trade on Draft Night before Pippen even played an NBA game.

Load management, extensive time off for injuries, and constantly switching teams… Think about James Harden, who literally quit on a few teams to force a trade. Constantly happening in the NBA with the high levels of money paid out, compared to the guys who refused to take nights off during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s for lesser money.

Here’s another analogy… The 2024 Presidential Election. Why did Donald Trump win? It’s not because he’s an “alpha”, though he does have natural leadership and confidence qualities. The issue with Trump is that he’s assertive with his personality, but not assertive with his ideology. Before 2008, he took liberal positions on social issues (pro-choice, as his own spoken word indicates) and heavily donated to Democratic candidates (Clintons were featured guests at his wedding with Melania). He’s more of an opportunist with is politics, as he witnessed how Sarah Palin and the Barack Obama birther movements stirred up the hard right base. Trump went for it and easily obtained the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination… But for 2016, he lost to a weak and no-so-assertive Hillary Clinton candidate.

With Donald Trump, all you have to do is flatter his ego or wave dollar bills his way. For the latter part, whatever your money tells him to do, he’ll do it. World leaders know how to play him and I believe that’s going to make things difficult for the next 4 years. Just send him faint praise and he’ll look the other way, may even join you on your radical position.

With that said, it makes for a real tragedy of the Democratic Party. They really failed for the 2024 election. Why? Because they had BETA personalities not only running for President in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but their entire party was full of them. Joe Biden won during 2020 because Trump mishandled the COVID pandemic while also crashing the economy. Instead of asserting himself and humble bragging on the mess he had to clean up, Joe stayed silent while Trump, the GOP, and their media friends could lampoon him in any way. Lots of money was thrown at the 2020 recessed economy and that truly caused the inflation seen during later years, but again, because Biden was not an assertive leader and seemed to lack confidence, he never received credit for his work. In fact, he created the presence that he lacked confidence in his own policies by not communicating his successes or positions well. His Department of Justice also lacked the assertiveness needed to hold the previous administration accountable for a possible insurrection attempt and stealing sensitive documents. WIMP Merrick Garland will go down as one of the biggest beta Attorney Generals of all time.

Then you have Kamala Harris… Talk about a LACK of being assertive… Can anyone tell me what her positions were during this election? The candidate who ran during 2024 was not only different than the one who ran during 2020, but also the ones who ran for various elections in California. Her weakness in her positions made Donald Trump look like the stronger leader, though her luck changed after that debate. However, Kamala’s BETA Vice President selection of Tim Walz was the end of his campaign. Walz botched the Vice Presidential Debate by not appearing confident, assertive, or looking like a natural leader. In contrast, the person lampooned as being “weird” named J.D. Vance appeared on the stage with confidence, assertiveness, and appeared to be the natural leader of the two. If you look at the polls, Trump regained the lead after that debate. In my view, John Kerry, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris were all affected by poor Vice Presidential candidate choices. Zero doubt about Cheney, Pence, and Vance while I’d argue Obama was such a strong candidate that his VP pick didn’t matter with Biden.

WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump won the 2024 election because he APPEARED to be the “alpha” leader in comparison to what appeared to be a “beta” administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I also think that the Democrat Party pushing Kamala to the ticket without a vote hurt as well, in addition to a platform that lacked strength on a few specific issues, like the border.

Let’s get into the Music Industry next… Where are all of the male musicians at? Mostly country music, with a few exceptions elsewhere. Since the 1980s and 1990s where all-male groups or bands spoke about partying, doing drugs, getting violent, or talking smack, the music industry has effectively neutered male artists from ever singing about that material ever again. They really panicked when Eminem hit the scene and even he self-censored. Males just aren’t getting into music as they once did, and if they do, it’s mostly for Country Music. However, they’ve found other avenues of entertainment which aren’t censoring anything they say, such as stand-up Comedy or Podcasts, or sports who have hardworking participants such as Football or UFC. If you’ll notice, Trump heavily embraced the Podcast medium during the 2024 election and many of those shows were parroting his ideals or positions. In return, Trump won the majority of male voters by a margin and actually made major gains on the youth vote and other demographics dominated by Dems.

There are a lot of people who are waiting to be led by an “alpha” or who want to follow an “alpha” as part of a team or a wrestling promotion. Or, for what APPEARS to be an “alpha”.

Roman Reigns is CLEARLY an alpha male and everyone is taking his lead in the WWE.

AEW lacks alpha males and hence why they are not viewed favorably by MALE consumers, which also translates to females who could accompany them to shows as wives, moms, or females who have the hots for the top male alpha wrestlers. Honest question, who has sex appeal with females in AEW? Roman Reigns tracks really well females, for example, as did John Cena and the Rock in the past.

Tony Khan is a total beta… He’s someone that the betas in AEW can walk all over, he likes to party with the boys, and he’s not very assertive. In fact, he had a committee formed to doll out punishments because he wasn’t man enough to hold his own employees accountable. The entire CM Punk situation could have been stomped out during both 2022 and 2023 with a stronger leader backstage. Someone like Vince McMahon or Triple H wouldn’t tolerate such backstage shenanigans.

And let me be VERY CLEAR with this statement… Alpha wrestlers can overcome BAD creative.

Let’s quit acting like the Attitude Era booking was 100% perfect. It wasn’t… But things were made easier and fell into place when you had AMAZING strong-willed talents on your roster to make anything happen. For example, the “Higher Power” storyline was total dogcrap. In contrast, WCW went downhill because they didn’t have younger alpha wrestlers to push and were too interested in pushing the same old stars.

If AEW had alpha wrestlers on their roster, we wouldn’t be blaming Tony Khan’s creative ways. Instead, we’d be praising how loaded that roster is of fully confident professional wrestlers.

AEW fails to grow beyond their 2021 peak because its leadership has beta qualities and they’ve assembled either a roster of beta wrestlers or have created a culture where wrestlers are unable to adequately or confidently become natural leaders for their promotion. Furthermore, nobody is assertive or competitive backstage in AEW, other than whether or not you’re in the Young Bucks’s clique of friends or not.

Sad thing is that AEW has nothing in their youth pipelines that could ascend and become that confident, assertive, and natural leader they need as a talent and top draw. Their culture won’t allow it and there’s no leader to emulate by example.

So you can give me all of your BS reasons why AEW’s viewership, attendance, and merchandise has declined, but it all boils down to how male and female wrestling fans views their top talents. Right now, they don’t see the alpha qualities that previous top draws in the business had or what Roman Reigns currently has to help the WWE grow.

Truth hurts.

And ignore the betas in my Comments section who will claim NoDQ hates AEW or is biased against them, or that I’m just an older guy yelling at the clouds. No, I’m an older guy with WISDOM on what works and doesn’t work from viewing and investing time in over 36 years following this business and 26 years writing about it online.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

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Wrestling fans were nestled all snug in their basement beds,
While visions of a Vince McMahon-less WWE danced in their heads.
Yet, they still complained like they always do,
Because even when Triple H presents them with quality, they are still shrewd.

When out of the blue there arose such a clatter,
The WWE booked Rock vs. Roman Reigns for a the last match that matters.
Yet, the marks went to their keyboards and created quite a chatter,
And caused the once-in-a-lifetime match to get flushed down the crapper.

When what my wondering eyes did appear,
That Cody Rhodes’ finishing of the story would headline Wrestlemania 40 this year.
As luck would have it, the Rock would somehow be turned heel,
The return of Hollywood Rock and now the final boss would soon be revealed.

Wrestlemania 40 happened and it was almost too good to be true,
That the post-Wrestlemania 40 Spring and Summertime kinda blew.
No Rock, no Roman, or CM Punk to entertain us,
Instead, the Wish.com version of the Bloodline looked quite sus.

Haku’s kids tried and tried to be cool and worked hard to be replacements,
But little did they know that they’d cause viewership and attendance displacement.
While Jacob Fatu debuting was fun and exciting,
Having Solo Sikoa rushed to the main event was hardly nail biting.

To the top of the card, Drew McIntyre finally figured it out,
But it took trolling CM Punk to end his WWE creative drought.
Feud of the year they had, as much of their stuff was sold as real,
Now Drew McIntyre is going after the OG Bloodline as a heel.

So up to the housetop of TKO’s television negotiations they flew,
Receiving billions and billions from the Netflix and USA Networks crews.
Meanwhile, AEW signed a new extension with Warner Brothers Discovery,
Yet with $45 billion in debt, WBD will soon be in bankruptcy and recovery.

Now Okada, Now Mercedes, Now Ospreay, and Copland,
To lower viewership and attendance to further diminish AEW’s brand.
Tony Khan is the worst president of a wrestling company or promotion,
But Dave Meltzer proudly supports AEW with his tissues and lotion.

Say his name and he appears is not what Santa Claus does,
But Joe Hendry appearing in NXT created quite the buzz.
Goes to show you that theme music still matters,
As Jim Johnston helped make Stone Cold a big star simply by making glass shatter.

As we head into Rumble to Wrestlemania season and WWE is working overtime
Creating more responsibilities with Saturday Night’s Main Event and Netflix may create too much of a grind.
Over-exposure with too much to watch is what hurts the wrestling business,
Because less is more is a harder concept to achieve rather than telling ever TV executive “yes”.

Down the SNME chimney Jesse Ventura came with a bound,
Welcomed back by WWE fans enough he’s said the craziest conspiracy theories around.
Jesse he still craps on Hulk Hogan for being a rat and snitch,
But Hulk Hogan has now found a new arse to kiss and become a political b***h.

Oh 2024, what a great year for pro wrestling,
Well, maybe not AEW is what I’m guessing.
But hey, a new year is approaching and wipes the slate clean,
Though owning a wrestling promotion through nepotism makes you a drama queen.

I hope that you have wonderful Holiday Season and help make everything right,
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

2022 Edition

2023 Edition

——————

2024 Mr. Tito Awards for Pro Wrestling

Event of the Year: Wrestlemania 40
Easy on this one… Top 5 Wrestlemania of all time, and with more viewings, maybe the best. The show lived up to the hype, was loaded with great matches, and delivered on the hype and excitement of its co-main events.

Match of the Year: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre – Hell in a Cell
These two deserved it. They had a true blood feud and they finished it off right in the cage. I’m somewhat sad that Drew didn’t get the best of him in the end, but CM Punk has some real HUGE opportunities ahead of him for 2025 whereas Drew has many prime years still left in him.

Wrestler of the Year: Drew McIntyre
He figured out his character and then pretty much helped carry the WWE through the rough months of the late Spring and Summertime after Wrestlemania 40. His feud with CM Punk was intense and put out nothing but quality matches. CM Punk isn’t the worker that he used to be, so thus Drew did some carrying in their feud and should be commended for that.

Female Wrestler of the Year: Liv Morgan
Being honest, I was a big critic of her past work… Really didn’t have much of a character and her matches were OK. For 2024, they had her flirting with Dominik Mysterio and a character arose… What a great job she did to become a compelling character and with that, her match quality improved. I could watch her and Rhea feud forever.

Promotion of the Year: WWE
Come on. Who made a profit for 2024? WWE. Who didn’t? AEW. WWE’s business killed it during 2024, even after Roman/Rock weren’t there, they still kept moving on with their deep roster. AEW is a dying promotion with too many expensive non-drawing free agents from late 2023 or early 2024 now on their roster.

Booker of the Year: Triple H
BY A HUGE MARGIN… AEW was creatively terrible this year, WWE made unique decisions based on unusual circumstances. For example, CM Punk gets injured and Drew McIntyre legitimately trolls him online. WWE made a big blood feud with those two that lasted for much of 2024. Online fans attacked WWE for booking Rock vs. Roman at Wrestlemania, so in turn, that gave WWE an opportunity to turn the Rock heel. Triple H has also created an environment that empowers others backstage to get involved instead of micro-managing everything. TRUST exists backstage in WWE land, does not in AEW.

Columnist of the Year: Mr. Tito
Each and every year.

Love you guys, have a Merry Christmas!!!

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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I have years upon years of columns to back that stance up…

But damn Tony Khan, could you just shut up for once?

You should be selling a DEVASTATING neck injury sustained at the hands of Jack Perry, Young Bucks, and Okada but instead, you’re talking to media folks as if nothing ever happened. Worse yet, you say completely ignorant things that makes you and AEW look bad.

First and foremost, SELL THE DAMN INJURY, mmmmkay? You can’t just wear a loosely applied neck brace and then be seen on television turning your head repeatedly. Furthermore, why are you even seen on television for the NFL Draft? I understand that it’s an important night for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but you’re 1 freakin’ day removed from being attacked by Perry/Bucks/Okada. Why are you even on television? Your absence from television cameras could have painted a better picture than seeing you turn your head repeatedly with a loosely applied neck brace.

And then, you opened your mouth…

He’s talking to a media reporter without any pain or anguish, as if he wasn’t brutally attacked on Wednesday Night before the NFL draft. He’s just his normal self… THIS is the guy who claimed to be “scared for his life” when CM Punk lunged at him backstage for All In 2023 at Wembley Stadium and yet he’s not traumatized by 4 of his own employees attacking him on his own AEW television show? 2 of the employees were his own direct reporting EVPs, too? While Okada was one of his prized free agents that he paid millions to recently.

They actually attacked him… As the security footage clearly shows, CM Punk did attack him (may have if Chris Hero and Jerry Lynn didn’t hold Punk back), but on AEW Dynamite from 4/24/2024, Jack Perry, Young Bucks, and Okada clearly got physical with him. Sooooooo, why was CM Punk fired and why haven’t Perry/Bucks/Okada been fired? I understand that Punk’s attack was on security footage while Perry/Bucks/Okada was on scripted television, BUT the Young Bucks using said security footage on a scripted pro wrestling show makes the CM Punk incident at Wembley Stadium canon to AEW’s storylines. By showing that security on television, it creates the utter hypocrisy that television viewers can now see. Punk yells at Tony, gets fired, while Perry/Bucks/Okada legitimately attack Tony on television, they won’t get fired. THIS argument would not be there had AEW not aired that security footage as part of their storylines.

But let’s talk about Tony’s actual words… During an interview from the NFL Draft, Tony Khan compared AEW to “Pepsi” and without me giving you what he compared the WWE to, you’d expect his answer to be “Coke”, correct? After all, Coke carries about 69% of the market share for colas, while Pepsi holds about 27%. That is a legitimately adequate comparison and I would have totally accepted it… But attention seeking whore Tony Khan did NOT say that. He compared the WWE to “Harvey Weinstein”, you know, the film producer accused and convicted on multiple counts of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault? Yes, I know that one of his recent court cases was overturned due to bias of the court, but that will get retried and get thrown back onto him. He’s currently in jail for convictions on other cases, too.

THAT is the most absurd thing to ever say, and I believe WWE has a valid case for defamation because that is clearly slanderous for Tony to say publicly. Especially when Endeavor/TKO was extremely cautious of Vince McMahon, as indicated by regulatory reports of risk factors, and immediately pressured him to resign once the lawsuit stuff blew up. Yes, he was made TKO’s Chairman, but his WWE shares caused him to get that role as a condition of the Endeavor purchase of WWE. The conversion caused Vince to own like 27% of TKO’s stock and much of that other 22% of former WWE stock owners that comprised of 49% were loyal WWE investors to Vince.

But Vince McMahon is long gone now, and has been selling off all of his shares since. TKO/Endeavor has been cleaning house of the old WWE guard since they acquired it last year and will do further to work to clean things up.

Calling WWE as “Harvey Weinstein” just looks bad and creates undue attention on Tony Khan and AEW. Now, instead of focusing on this injury angle, everybody is focusing on what Tony Khan said about the WWE and his “Harvey Weinstein” comparison. Nobody cares about your injury angle when you’re sitting upright, not selling the injury, and saying STUPID THINGS.

Let me just add to how poorly Tony Khan is at public relations. Recently, he responded to quotes from Bill Goldberg and Kevin Nash.

For Bill Goldberg, he called AEW as “too cheesy” and kind of alluded that AEW wasn’t a “valid competitor” for him to join. It was a brief thing that Bill said and the interviewer moved on after that.

What was Tony Khan’s response to Bill Goldberg? Allow me to directly quote him:

“Bill wanted to work here! I met with Bill several times. Bill was looking to work here. It’s funny because I had a bunch of really nice meetings with Bill and would have honestly been interested in doing something. Since you brought it up, I have a lot of respect for Bill but I was surprised by that because certainly that wasn’t what he said to me when he was talking to me about maybe working here at some point, which I’ve always been open to and I really like Bill. It’s all about timing and we’re doing a lot of exciting things here right now. I know Sting and Bill are good friends and I really like Bill and have respect for him but when I saw that, I mean, Bill’s talked to me about working here so I don’t think he had any problem with any of that content. Anybody who saw Sting’s send-off has had positive things to say so I’m not sure what that was about but I do respect Bill and like him very much. He’s entitled to his opinion but certainly when I’ve talked to him in-person several times, in-person and in zooms and phone calls, we’ve had very nice conversations and he hasn’t said that but it’s good to know that’s how he feels. Maybe that’s an opinion he holds now but certainly, in our past conversations he’s always been a very positive, nice guy.”

Zzzzz…. Just drones on and on and on and on…

All Tony Khan had to say was this: “Bill Goldberg was interested in working with AEW and we met multiple times and they seemed to go well. It’s unfortunate that Bill feels that way, provided what seemed to be valid interest to join our company from the multiple meetings he wanted with us”.

BOOM, that’s all Tony had to say… But he just kept talking and talking and talking…

And if Tony really wanted to “stick it” to Bill Goldberg, he could have mentioned the reported high asking price to join AEW which many reports suggest killed any possibility of Goldberg joining AEW. Bill is 57 years old, about to turn 58. You don’t invest a high asking price in that, especially someone with some injury history and not as skilled inside the ring to operate at an older age. Edge, Christian, Jericho, and Sting know how to work, whereas Bill Goldberg is reliant on spots and gets exposed when he tries to work (see the Undertaker match).

In the words of Botchamania, which AEW repeatedly appears on, Tony “TALKS TOO MUCH”… Ya never shut up!

Then, Tony Khan had to respond to Kevin Nash‘s criticisms of Tony’s big free agent signing Will Ospreay. In the past, Nash has ridiculed Will as a drawing power and recently, he’s mocked Will working like an indy wrestler and his physique. Instead of just letting the match at AEW Dynasty with Bryan Danielson do the talking, Tony just had to chime in…

“I think Kevin Nash was a great wrestler. His opinions on wrestling I’m not sure I agree with them. He’s had some takes on Will Ospreay that I definitely don’t agree with. I’d be remiss if I don’t bring that up. I think Will Ospreay is one of the best young wrestlers in the world. We’re really fortunate to have Will Ospreay in AEW. He’s been coming in week in and week out and working so hard, having great matches. Both pay-per-views he’s been on he’s had these classic matches against Takeshita at AEW Revolution and against Bryan Danielson over a week ago at AEW Dynasty. I think Will Ospreay is so phenomenal. I’ve heard criticisms from Kevin that I don’t necessarily agree with about Will. Some of his opinions about current wrestling I just don’t agree with. I wish him the best and all the respect in the world to him.”

YOU TALK TOO MUCH!

I would advise Tony to say “Will’s work at our recent Pay Per Views speaks for itself”. That’s it, all Tony needed to respond to that interviewer. But Tony just goes on and on and on…

And by shedding more light on what Kevin Nash said, it’s going to drive more viewers or listeners to Kevin Nash’s podcast or YouTube channel.

Problem with Tony Khan is that he doesn’t respond to feedback or criticism well at all. Furthermore, he over-exposes himself by wanting to be the lead spokesperson of the company and taking as many interviews as possible.

There’s a REASON why Presidents of the United States have their own spokesperson. They want to choose their words carefully, as any words said by them could be chopped up or used out-of-context (notice I posted full quotes above for Tony). But if you talk too much and respond to every criticism, it drowns out your effective messaging on other matters.

Sorry, but Tony Khan is President/CEO of a professional wrestling company, while Bill Goldberg doesn’t work for a promotion because he’s too old, wants too much money, and his last few years in WWE were very subpar. Kevin Nash is actively rooting for his best friend Triple H’s company known as WWE. Why on earth is Tony giving either guy the time of the day?

Because he’s not smart.

If he had any intelligence, he’d let a company spokesperson represent AEW well with the media instead of him. Vince McMahon never did interviews, while Triple H is incredibly careful on his. But you’d NEVER see Vince or HHH compare a company to Harvey Weinstein, of all people.

If Shad Khan wants to be a real dad, he’d talk to his son about constantly placing his foot in his mouth or typing ludicrous stuff on Social Media. Shad didn’t make money by saying crazy things through the media or social media. No, he made it through hardwork and presenting a product that people wanted. People don’t want to follow a company with a loudmouth in charge. Messaging, presentation, and professionalism MATTER, Tony.

Comparing WWE to “Harvey Weinstein”… One of the most ignorant things ever said within the wrestling world.

And when AEW fans hear that from their fearless leader, they’ll imitate it. Several AEW loyal fans have attacked commenters here on NoDQ as being “pedos” for simply liking and enjoying the WWE. Huh? So because you enjoy the WWE and the entertaining that it brings, it makes you want to do horrible things to children? Makes zero sense… But when you have IGNORANT people leading your company, such as Tony Khan or the Young Bucks, they lead by example. They are pied pipers leading their rats (AEW fans) into the river.

Tony – Shut your damn mouth and sell that damn injury, you silver spoon using clown.

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You can give me all of the comparisons to Stone Cold Steve Austin attacking Vince McMahon or the Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) attacking Eric Bischoff, but we just can’t compare Jack Perry attacking Tony and then Young Bucks/Okada joining in. Not even close…

For one, Tony Khan is highly over-exposed as being AEW’s President/CEO. Back during 1996 and 1997, there was still a mystery on Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff‘s role. Both never mentioned they were owners or top officials on screen, as both were commentators and often had figureheads acting in authority roles instead of them. It’s very clear who Tony Khan is, as he’s all over television and leading the media scrums. Plus, he’s all over Social Media, often to his detriment.

But let’s look at the other side of the ledger… Vince was attacked by Steve Austin, while Bischoff was attacked by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Tony was attacked by Jack Perry (low midcard), Young Bucks (tag team), and Okada (New Japan superstar, not as well known here in the states). That’s a HUGE difference. Hall of Fame ALL TIME GREATS attacking Vince or Bischoff, and not so much with this AEW stable of Bucks/Okada/Perry attacking Tony. Just a bit off in terms of impact.

Look at the characters, however… Scott Hall and Kevin Nash sold themselves as invaders and acting like they were illegally in WCW. They were portrayed as WWE wrestlers trying to disrupt WCW’s operations and humiliate them. Even when they later admitted that they weren’t WWE wrestlers, their personas still sold them as disruptive and agents of chaos. Then, they complete the New World Order (NWO) stable with Hulk Hogan, and they are really pouring gasoline on that revolutionary fire.

Same thing with Stone Cold Steve Austin. He came out of a BAD gimmick with the “Ringmaster”, so you believed he was legitimately pissed at the WWE for making him do that. Stone Cold Steve Austin was a rebel and didn’t care what was in his way. He was there to kick ass and take names later.

Austin, Hall, and Nash were rich characters who acted so well that it would cause fans to suspend disbelief and go on a journey with them. You’re NOT seeing that with Perry, Bucks, or Okada. You can give me the “it’s 2024 and kayfabe is dead”, but if your wrestlers are poor actors, it’s going to get exposed. Furthermore, if you’re build-up to the attack is poor, then the attack of a company owner won’t matter. We’ve had 2 weeks since we’ve seen the Wembley Stadium security footage of Jack Perry getting attacked by CM Punk. 2 weeks…

And yet, look at the hilarity of the angle… Jack Perry is supposedly mad at Tony Khan for not using him for the last 7-8 months… Yet, there is ZERO indication that Perry was suspended for this entire time. No, he got PAID his AEW base salary while getting to work for other promotions or just sit on his arse at home. FURTHERMORE, Tony Khan TERMINATED the person who attacked him in CM Punk. The person who physically assaulted Perry was removed from every being a threat to Perry again and it cost AEW millions upon millions in doing so.

While not performing in AEW was probably a bummer for Perry, still getting paid for 7-8 months was a great benefit while also not having to deal with CM Punk again in AEW was too.

The psychology isn’t there and the super-stardom just isn’t there like it was for Austin/Vince or Bischoff/Hall & Nash.

Nor was it there for other authority figure attacks:

(1) Dixie Carter getting attacked by the Dudley Boyz (or Team 3D). Well established that Dixie was in charge of AEW and worse yet, we’ve seen the Dudleys hit that shocking attack (top rope powerbomb through tables) with Mae Young before. Just didn’t click…

(2) Kevin Owens attacking Vince McMahon. Remember that? The big headbutt. Did that help his career?

And I could go on and on about the many, many Vince McMahon angles conducted after 1999 (getting stale during 1999, too). The many McMahon family angles, the many Triple H/Stephanie schemes during the 2010s, etc.

It doesn’t have the juice unless (a) the authority figure isn’t over-exposed and (b) if the wrestlers are over and great actors.

Tony fails (a) and Okada/Bucks/Perry are failing (b) badly.

Good job, though, by AEW on getting NFL to cover this angle and also “creating suspense” on of Tony Khan will be able to attend draft events with the Jacksonville Jaguars. THAT is good promotion… But nobody cares what truly happened on AEW, nor does anyone believe that Shad Khan was really concerned. If that was MY son getting attacked, I’d run to the ring as it happened and tried to fight those guys. No, he came out after the fact.

But let’s get REAL on Tony Khan… Who has sympathy for this man?

Why Eric Bischoff’s attack at WCW’s Great American Bash 1996 by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash was so effective is that WCW didn’t advertise who he really was. For as far as most fans knew, he was just a play-by-play commentator and that was his only role. Ditto for Vince McMahon getting the Stunner in MSG. Vince was just a play-by-play guy and not fully known as the owner. Thus, when both got attacked, the shock value went up because it appeared an innocent bystander was attacked.

AEW has already burned through their cards on Tony Khan, especially the MJF profanity filled “shoot” promo on Tony. Tony getting exposed on the CM Punk stuff always burned through a few of those sympathy cards, too.

And it’s hard to even get remotely sympathetic for Tony when his own EVPs, the Young Bucks, whom he signed to very lucrative contracts and retained them as EVPs during early 2023, are part of the stable attacking him. Jack Perry is a Young Bucks loyalist and was likely hired by the pair to join AEW in the first place.

THAT is the problem. There is nothing mysterious about why this happened, nor is there any concern for the well being of Tony. It’s clearly a wrestling angle and the “stars” involved are lesser known, too, to make any sort of impact.

It’s not going to matter one bit, especially when each of the 4 wrestlers who attacked Tony won’t be suspended or terminated, and that’s where getting Shad Khan to come down with concern really exposes things. Okada and the Young Bucks have major deals worth millions, which everybody knows about, and Jack Perry was never mentioned to be suspended or terminated from AEW despite him working elsewhere. Hard to call yourself a “Scapegoat” when you’re still fully salaried by AEW and Tony, while selling t-shirts with that nickname through AEW before you officially return.

For a storyline to work, you need FAITH by the audience… Faith that the attackers are legit stars and their attacks will draw a strong reaction, and faith that the authority figure can gain sympathy or heat by being attacked.

Neither situation has happened, and thus this storyline will fail…

BUT, it could be salvaged if Tony Khan can find 4 new developmental talents who can rise up and eliminate Okada/Bucks/Perry from the picture.

However, AEW doesn’t have any young talent in their system to unleash…

AEW needs new stars… Austin was a newly acquired star with something to prove, as was Hall/Nash. Go to late 2012, the Shield were 3 fresh stars that were unleashed on the WWE and all 3 guys have had serious heater runs for the last 10 years.

The Young Bucks are absolutely toxic and Jack Perry is a midcarder… Okada is still unknown with most fans (though he’s very talented, won’t deny that). Tony is too over-exposed as the owner and hated by many fans based on his treatment of certain talent and weakness as a talent manager.

Nobody is going to care… People will care if AEW could develop and present new talent well. Attempting shock value by attacking Tony for cheap sympathy won’t.

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Gee, what is going on here?

Let’s pick on AEW first because I know that my legit and honest words will drive them off a cliff… Plus, ya know, I’m apparently BIASED agianst AEW as the ignorant claims go but I guarantee my WWE words following this about the Rock will PISS OFF certain WWE marks more than you know.

Time to accept what we’ve ALWAYS known and is the bonified TRUTH… NOBODY here in North America cares about New Japan Pro Wrestling unless a major star, like a Chris Jericho, appears there. Otherwise, if you’re a talent who hasn’t been over in North America, NOBODY CARES.

Remember all of those Meltzer induced 5, 6 , and even 7 star matches from those big New Japan events? Yeah, those matches struggled to draw eyeballs on an AXS channel available to more than 50 million households. Their weekly NJPW show couldn’t even draw something like 150,000 viewers to even show up on the ratings report. Oh, you want more? The New Japan shows, where it’s just NJPW themselves, often have to settle for smaller arenas and even those don’t draw either. Aside from Jericho appearing to wrestle Omega, nobody in North America is subscribing to New Japan’s streaming service to watch more of their broadcasts.

And as I’ve stated REPEATEDLY in many, many columns throughout the years… North Americans LOVE Japanese stuff, such as Nintendo and many other gaming companies, Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, their cars (Honda, Toyota, etc.), anime, Godzilla, baseball stars (look who just signed the biggest MLB contract ever!), among many other things… BUT NOT WRESTLING. Nobody here in the states likes their brand of Pro Wrestling. If we did, we’d snort it up like other Japanese products that take our money easily. Dave Meltzer has helped create the image that Japanese wrestling is more popular than it actually is… But it isn’t. Nobody cares.

Thus, Will Ospreay isn’t getting over beyond AEW diehards, while Okada is an even more of an unknown because his TNA impact was brief as was his recent AEW run in 2023. I don’t care how many stars Meltzer gives both of these guys… Nobody outside of the few diehards here and Japan cares about these 30-45 minute athletic contests where both guys attempt to prove how amazing their stamina is while forgetting what psychology or selling is.

HENCE why WWE lowballed both Ospreay and Okada… While Triple H probably saw value in their in-ring abilities, he saw that they weren’t drawing outside of Japan. Meanwhile, clown Tony Khan reads the Wrestling Observer and believes that these guys are worth paying $2-5 million per year.

Debuting both guys cold without any hype videos and with terrible theme music hurts, too. No vignettes, just here they are… Accept them.

Many of you have got on me about my column shredding AEW for placing Okada immediately with the Young Bucks. Did you see how uneventful that 6 man tag match was on Dynamite? Okada didn’t look like a major star, just another one of the guys. When he stood there and willingly took chops to begin that match, I knew that I was right and it’s already over for Okada. He’s just a flunky for the Bucks and not exceptional as he could have been.

AEW goes to Boston this week with some hype about who they are about to debut, but not everyone knows that the artist formerly known as “Sasha Banks” is from Boston. Good for them on receiving a decent attendance number, but that goes away for the next trip. AEW should have run vignettes to hype Mercedes Moné’s for the television audience, but they did not… The result is that no crossover fans even tuned in and that 801,000 viewership number is EMBARRASSING.

But is Mercedes Moné even a draw?

For one, she’s not called “Sasha Banks” any longer. That was the star that everyone remembers and celebrated when she did a major acting role in the Star Wars: Mandalorian show. But her New Japan stuff wasn’t exactly enjoyed or appreciated by fans, particularly her debut and subsequent appearances. Her tenure in NJPW didn’t go well or else she’d appear there more and have crossover appeal. Now, she’s in AEW with a reported hefty contract because Tony overpaid her, too, and now she needs to get over a new name that didn’t previously work when it was tried in New Japan. She’s starting from scratch when AEW needs her to draw now.

Name changes don’t work… Jon Moxley is an exception to that rule, because from 2019-2021, he brought his best in-ring work into AEW and was one of its finest champions. Many other ex-WWE wrestlers haven’t had such luck in AEW under different names, just as many other ex-WWE wrestlers failed to get any traction in TNA when they had different names, too. While Mercedes is her real name, the “Moné” just doesn’t work and sounds ridiculous.

And here’s where THEME MUSIC matters… The Rock still has his Jim Johnston theme kicking, though I’m sure others have composed on his recent one… But on Smackdown this Friday, he incorporated his 2003 Hollywood Rock theme into his music. Older WWE fans lost their minds and it set the table for a very strong segment on Smackdown. What did Mercedes Monéhave as her theme music? Piped in “CEO, CEO, CEO” chants in attempts to induce live attendees to chant “CEO” at her while her terrible new theme music played.

The absolute NERVE of the current AEW theme music composer to badmouth legendary WWE theme music maker Jim Johnston made my blood boil… AEW’s theme music SUCKS and WWE’s theme music has mostly sucked since they canned Johnston.

With Sasha, maybe we ought to wait a week, but I just don’t think wrestling fans care about the product right now… Furthermore, as Virtue keeps saying lately, many older Sting fans are no longer watching and AEW’s viewership hasn’t been strong since CM Punk left. Oh, ratings don’t matter, you say? Then AEW has suffered lower attendance and they will continue if they assume Ospreay, Okada, and Mercedes Moné are draws.

You know what would draw for AEW? If they had HOME GROWN TALENT that ever AEW fan got to enjoy rising up to achieve main event status.

Look at WWE, and it’s mostly homegrown guys… Rock/Brock/Orton/Cena were Jim Ross signed wrestlers, Roman/Cody/Drew/Seth were John Laurinaitis signed wrestlers… Sure, some may have had prior experience, but they were groomed through a developmental system to become bigtime WWE stars. AEW is borrowing from others, often signing guys AFTER their primes or best runs, and it’s just not working. How is Edge, I mean Adam, doing these days?

“BUT BUT BUT BUT Tito is anti-AEW”, but then I tape up my fists to present an unpopular opinion about the Rock that has been giving me heat for weeks now…

The Rock is great, but he’s drawing in older Attitude Era fans that have long left the product. The shadow that he’s casting over the entire product and the way he has marginalized both Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes is going to do long-term damage to both of those characters UNLESS he puts over both in a major way. Current loyal WWE fans have been long invested in Roman Reigns as the #1 heel, while they’ve supported Cody Rhodes since his return because he ditched AEW as an EVP and he’s latched onto the love for his dad, Dusty Rhodes, who was robbed of being WWE Champion.

The REAL problem is that an authoritarian character gets to play chess, while the wrestlers are stuck playing checkers.

Cody Rhodes HAS to stick to the script, per the WWE Creative Team. If they tell him to cry about handing the World Title to his mother, he HAS to do it. Cody doesn’t have creative control over his character… But The Rock does… While Cody cuts a serious looking promo on RAW, the Rock can thrash him by openly mocking him on Smackdown for crying. Worse yet, the Rock is allowed to completely go unscripted via his social media pages and use vulgarity to really shred Cody… Or go on Pat McAfee and do the same. CODY CAN’T, as Cody is restricted by his WWE contract and that controls where he appears or what he says on social media.

This is the SAME situation as CM Punk dealing with an unscripted Triple H during 2011, or Daniel Bryan dealing with an unscripted Stephanie McMahon during 2013. For CM Punk, while he delivered scripted promos against Triple H for their lead-up to the September 2011 Night of Champions event, Triple H didn’t have a script for his responses or went off script. You could see the egg boiling on Punk’s head, but he was powerless to do anything about it because him going unscripted goes against the WWE contract that he signed. WORSE YET, CM Punk never got retribution or revenge towards Triple H. HHH pinned and buried him at Night of Champions.

For Daniel Bryan, it was a complete burial. The Authority was attacking him and shoving Randy Orton down our throats to keep Bryan away from the title, but it was Stephanie McMahon constantly calling Daniel Bryan as a “B+ Player”. Throughout the rest of 2013, Daniel Bryan wasn’t allowed to get revenge on the Authority and in fact, Randy Orton moved on and away from Bryan with the WWE Title. Bryan was then shoved into the Wyatt Family angle until fans completely revolted, particularly after HHH tried to strong-arm Batista vs. Randy Orton to headline Wrestlemania 30. Stephanie never got hers for calling Bryan a “B+ Player”. Hell, Brie Bella wasn’t allowed to get revenge, as Stephanie disposed of her at SummerSlam 2014.

The ONLY was this ridiculous mocking of Cody is even merited is if Cody slays the “final boss”. That’s right, that’s what the Rock now calls himself… Wait, I thought that Roman Reigns was the final boss of the Bloodline, as he has the World Title and you need to fight through Jimmy or Solo to get to Roman? NOPE, Roman is Rock’s bitch and we’ve somehow devalued what Roman and Paul Heyman have spent over 3 years building… Roman is just a bystander now and has lost all of his massive heel heat built up for the past 3+ years. Rock is the “final boss”.

But Cody is only redeemed if he slays the Rock convincingly… If, however, the Rock has been acting and turns on Roman at Wrestlemania 40 to help Cody win, then what erases the nasty stuff that Rock has said? You know, calling all of the fans as “Cody Crybabies” and calling Cody a “mistake” between his mom and dad? Seriously, nothing is as low as calling someone a mistake about being born, which Cody clearly was not. Now, I understand that it’s done to generate heat, but if Cody doesn’t get revenge on the Rock, it’s meaningless even if Rock turns on Roman. Why? Because you don’t let someone talk to you that way and get away with it, even if he somehow helps you win the title. After Cody wins the belt, he should immediately attack the Rock and hit the CrossRhodes finisher rather than celebrating with the Rock.

I have a feeling, however, that we won’t… Cody will probably get pinned by either the Rock or Roman on night #1, but then when the Rock tries to help Roman on Night #2, he accidentally hits Roman. The Rock will walk away SHOCKED in the entrance way and the show ends with Cody celebrating instead of getting any revenge on the Rock. Rock reportedly has a film to make immediately after Wrestlemania, so thus his time with WWE after Wrestlemania 40 will be shortlived.

BEFORE the Rock became a Board Member and BEFORE Vince McMahon’s disgusting lawsuit came out, the Wrestlemania 40 event was mostly sold out and doing just fine with Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns. We didn’t need any special gimmicks, nor did we need anyone from the Attitude Era to pop back up. This current crop of talent led by Triple H in creative was doing just fine and drawing just fine too. The Rock and Endeavor/TKO panicked after Vince’s lawsuit and tried to re-write those plans by forcing Rock vs. Roman just a few days after Royal Rumble made Cody the #1 contender. Fans revolted, as they were behind Cody’s storyline and forced WWE’s hand to rebook Roman vs. Cody.

But Rock took the blame for switching this match and he’s now become intoxicated by the heel heat, as it’s probably the most reaction he’s had to himself since tagging along with the Fast & Furious films because his recent films did poorly and his “Young Rock” show was cancelled. Thus, he’s injected his reborn heel character and has immediately taken all momentum that the Cody vs. Roman rematch had along with any momentum either of those characters once had. Cody is getting humiliated weekly, while Roman has become second fiddle.

The PAINFUL part is that 2024 WWE didn’t need the Rock… Sure, it seems better right now and yes, the Rock Concert from 3/15 Smackdown was great…

But what happens when the Rock leaves the WWE after Wrestlemania?

All of those Attitude Era fans popping for the return of “Hollywood Rock” will stop watching once again and all of the wrestlers affected (Cody, Seth, Roman) have to continue afterward.

Just saying, this has been handled poorly without consideration of the rest of the roster unless there is a proper payoff for the Rock “getting his” in the end… Yes, the Rock is killing it out there, but the rest of the roster ISN’T compared to him. Furthermore, the rest of the damn roster has to read a SCRIPT and be polite on social media, while the Rock can do whatever he wants. Cody is completely neutered out there, and ditto with Seth Rollins. Seriously, they told Seth to call the Rock “Diarrhea Dwayne” and that followed a terrible promo that Seth was clearly forced to read. Why is it that Seth and Cody are scripted, but the Rock can improvise and say nasty things about both?

Many try to compare how good the Attitude Era is against the current wrestlers… Current wrestlers MUST stick by a script, whereas the Attitude Era wrestlers were just given rough outlines on what to say but could improvise around that format. “Austin 3:16” was improvised by Austin, as was all of the catchphrases that Rock is still using to this day. Cody is told to cry on television, while Seth calls The Rock “Diarrhea Dwayne”. F’n seriously?

The Rock has to get his in the end, and literally beg for mercy when not just Cody, but also Seth get their revenge. The Final Boss has to lose, or otherwise, the TKO corporation he represents will suffer when all interest is gone once the Rock exits the WWE television product to start filming movies again.

It’s hilarious that I’m literally the only one who sees this major WWE problem brewing, especially if the Rock just disappears after Wrestlemania 40 with Roman and Cody holding the check. But hey, I was also the one who told you that CM Punk was getting buried in 2011 by Triple H (Kevin Nash recently confirmed this to be true), that Daniel Bryan was getting buried during 2013-2014, and that Roman Reigns was inadequate as a babyface main eventer from 2014-2019 when the WWE lost over 2 million viewers and thousands in attendance. I can see this long-term issue coming a mile away and only could get resolved if WWE gets some hits on their younger talents coming up.

Pleasure as always to be proven right in the future. Suck on those apples.

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Right now, I’m catching heat for merely suggesting that the Rock is hogging too much of the spotlight and subtracting from what Roman, Cody, Triple H, and much of that roster have built up for the past year. Furthermore, I took a metric ton of heat by the minority of wrestling fans, aka AEW diehards, for suggesting that Kazuchika Okada was instantly “buried” from night one by turning heel and joining the extremely toxic Young Bucks. Nobody wants to see a heel stable because the Bucks being EVPs of a wrestling company is irrelevant.

But let me provide this comparison… Mike Awesome was ECW’s World Champion during 2000 and suddenly, WCW takes advantage of ECW’s napkin deals and lures him away from ECW. The joke was on Mike Awesome because he joined an extremely toxic working environment that made him the “Fat Chick Thriller”, “That 70s Guy”, and later had him join Team Canada even though he was born in Florida and never lived in Canada. During 2000, Mike Awesome was a tremendous talent and was the last true drawing piece for ECW. His exit crumbled that company who was about to lose their TV deal anyway to WWE.

Okada joined an AEW company who was so toxic that one of its EVPs walked away for a “personal issue” (Cody Rhodes), its prized female developmental talent Jade Cargill opted to leave, and CM Punk was sabotaged by the Young Bucks EVPs leaking false information to the Observer Boys and other dirtsheet clowns. On top of that, you have a highly inexperienced guy named Tony Khan who is spineless to impose discipline, terrible at managing people, and is not good at producing television or creative storylines. Sure, AEW has some good workers who can create barn-burners of matches, but what’s the story getting to those matches? THAT is the issue.

FACT is that many of you diehard AEW fans know that I’m right and that pisses you off… You WANT the Young Bucks to be major draws and accepted as “world’s greatest tag team”, but they just aren’t. Their in-ring work isn’t as good as it once was, and their backstage decisions are even worse. This new gimmick they have makes complete fools of themselves, and them reminding everyone that they are EVPs is just a reminder of the BAD decision that Tony made giving them those titles.

But let’s not leave the WWE out of this one… As the year started, things were going just fine… Then, TKO Corporation (with Endeavor’s 51% pulling the strings) went into panic mode, thanks to Vince McMahon’s filthy lawsuit, and pushed the EASY BUTTON by injecting the Rock into the Wrestlemania picture. For months and then the Royal Rumble match, Cody was projected to wrestle Roman Reigns in a rematch. Fans were 100% fine with that, as Wrestlemania 40 sold out easily in Philadelphia for both nights. Those long-term plans were shredded when the Rock forced his way in and caused the Wrestlemania 40 main event to change to Rock vs. Roman early. Then, after online fans went nuclear, WWE foolishly changed it back.

The bigger problem is how the online hatred has gone to the Rock’s head. After 10+ years of appearing as the squeaky clean actor and personality, he has micro-managed himself into a heel and believes that what the fans want. No, that’s what the online marks want… Majority of wrestling fans were fine with Rock vs. Roman, as we understand that it’s a “once in a lifetime” match and Rock’s time and availability are very limited. Instead, Rock is foolishly listening to the minority of wrestling fans who were upset about the match switch and harassed his daughter online.

It’s like in politics, we’re always listening to the loud minority for their extreme wishes but most everyone else here in the middle doesn’t want that nonsense.

The Rock has cast a major shadow on Roman Reigns, the former #1 heel, the Cody vs. Roman rematch which was already drawing, and now it has ruined the Rock vs. Roman match forever.

When Rock calls Cody’s fans as “crybabies”, says things like “f*** your story”, and calls someone being born a “mistake”, you’re going too far especially when the Rock is 100% unscripted when he says it and Cody has to be beholden to the script that he’s receiving. Why not just have Rock straight-up call him a “B+ Player” as Stephanie McMahon did repeatedly to Daniel Bryan to cool down his babyface momentum? The Rock thinks that he’s helping the WWE and maybe he’s adding an additional layer for Wrestlemania, but the WWE was growing already in spite of him. These short-term gains will be translated into long-run damage for Cody and Roman.

Rock is leaning into it because his Movies aren’t selling as well, his XFL acquisition has already failed and was forced to merge into the USFL, and his television show was cancelled. And no, it wasn’t “cancelled” for saying anything appropriate, but it was cancelled due to low viewership because fans weren’t tuning into the ego-trip that Rock was being interviewed about his life while on a campaign trail to be President of the United States.

See, there you go… I just tore into BOTH AEW and WWE equally with time. And if TNA or NWA were relevant and gave me reasonable topics to discuss, I’d shred them too.

THIS is the only column that holds the Pro Wrestling business accountable and you, the faithful readers, know that and that’s why you keep returning. You can keep crying the Aaron to “cancel” me and attempt to ratio me, but in the end, my thought are being read by thousands and yours aren’t. Furthermore, I always win the “ratio war” after the initial AEW/WWE mark surge because most of YOU are reasonable thinkers about the pro wrestling business too. It’s these fringe minority of diehard AEW and WWE marks who buy into the wrong types of propaganda and are quick to attack people like me for simply having an opposite opinion to theirs.

On to your questions… Actually, I should say onto the questions of my loyal readers whom I enjoy conversing with via email daily. Thanks for everything.

————————

ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

What are we to make about Okada’s reported AEW contract?

Well, to somewhat quote the movie Airplane, I could make a paper hat, a paper boat, a paper airplane… No, the details are a reported $13.5 million over 3 years which translates into $4.5 million per year. That’s impressive, and is a direct result of a bidding war between AEW and WWE. WWE reached out and had negotiations with him, but it appeared that Okada wanted money after apparently being severely underpaid in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

That’s right, Dave Meltzer… All of your 6-7 stars awarded couldn’t get Okada paid!

The emphasis is that AEW had to overpay to acquire Okada, which is likely the case for Will Ospreay and Mercedes Moné (Sasha Banks) too. I’m willing to assume that these 3 talents are costing AEW about $10 million per year. Excluding Bucks & Omega, who are EVPs, and Moxley and Jericho who have advisory duties backstage as well, the rest of the roster aren’t being paid anywhere near that. I’m willing to bet that the rest of the roster, combined, may equal $10 million itself or at least less when you add Jericho/Moxley to it.

I would hope that Ospreay, Okada, and Moné bring in top dollars because if they retain the less than 850,000 viewership and barely 3,000 fans attending Dynamite. I also worry that Moné could get frustrated with the toxic AEW environment and the lower drawing crowds. She walked out on the WWE twice, ya know, citing toxic environments and bad creative both times. While Tony is paying her well, Tony also paid CM Punk well, too. Bad creative or jealous EVPs will sabotage anything in their path.

But the real story with Okada, I feel, is that the WWE wanted him and forced AEW to pay more for him. That’s good news because once those 3 years are up, there’s a chance Okada has a run in WWE (though he’ll be 3 years older and probably more banged up when he gets slammed through glass panels).

*****

Thoughts on WWE signing a promotional deal with Logan Paul’s PRIME energy drink?

Ever see the South Park special where they parodied Logan Paul and his energy drink (calling it “CRED”)?

Let’s just be honest here… The Pauls are geniuses when it comes to business. Both guys, simply being themselves, have grown financial empires that are the envy of every influencer online. The fact is that many wannabes have tried to act like the Pauls, but none of them are seeing anywhere close to the same financial results. There’s a reason why WWE acquired Logan Paul and why they are pushing him to the moon. Furthermore, they know that Paul’s PRIME brand is selling well, as I see kids everywhere drinking this crap and it being available in every supermarket.

I don’t begrudge him one bit, though and he’s a component that has helped WWE grow for the past year.

And did you see that Jake Paul landed a boxing match with Mike Tyson on Netflix? Holy cow… Seriously, that platform may have over 100 million people watching that at once when it airs live during July.

While I can suggest that the Pauls are over-exposed, I can also say that they are effective and they are successfully using others as ATM machines. Logan Paul is now going to get paid MORE by WWE adopting his energy drink as a sponsor.

*****

Do you think that Dominik Mysterio’s wedding photos will harm his on-screen character with Rhea Ripley?

No… While I agree that it exposes his character, their relationship has been mostly a business affair and Rhea’s role was to lure him to the dark side to join her stable. Since Dominik joined, they’ve been much less lovey dovey and more about cheating to win matches. Plus, it’s well known that she’s engaged to Buddy Matthews from AEW (Buddy Murphy in WWE) and that was known when she began persuading Dominick to the group.

If you keep it mostly business, then it still works… Flirtation happens at work, but doesn’t go all the way. Many people go to work and literally act as a character, but then act differently when they come home. I’ve seen this for YEARS. There’s this term “work wife”, as a male employee and female employee have great working chemistry but take it no further, while going separate ways when they clock out.

No, they’ll be fine and both will keep receiving great reactions to their characters. Just a shame that the rest of the Judgment Day weren’t as cool as those two.

*****

Thoughts on Ole Anderson passing away recently?

Always sad when anyone passes away… For me as a wrestling fan, I began heavily watching during late 1988, so thus I didn’t see the older version of the Four Horsemen (Ole, Arn, Tully, Ric) and saw the tail end of the (Barry, Arn, Tully, Ric) version of the Horsemen. Then, Ole Anderson returned during 1990 as part of that Horsemen iteration… By then, he was like 47-48 years old.

Much of my experience with Ole was seeing his creative ideas on display for both 1990 and 1993, as the Black Scorpion and the Shockmaster are ideas that he pushed and got successfully on television. Funny thing is that both used his voiceover, too.

Hearing backstage stories about him, though, are hilarious on how he didn’t take crap from anyone and wasn’t afraid to tell off anyone too. When Vince McMahon bought out his territory’s partners, he straight up told off both Vince and his wife Linda without flinching.

Rest in peace… But I really don’t have much attachment to Ole by only really seeing 1 year of him as a performer live, while suffering through his bad creative ideas during 1990 and 1993 for WCW.

*****

Why did Sammy Guevara get suspended from AEW?

Oh, you’re looking for a conspiracy theory with Mercedes Moné about to debut, eh? That Sammy was suspended just before Mercedes was about debut? This stems from immature Sammy from 2016 getting caught on audio saying he wanted to “rape” Sasha Banks.

Nah… I believe that Matt Hardy probably raised legitimate hell backstage to Tony Khan and the EVPs about this guy injuring both of them (Matt multiple times), and there has been other maturity issues with Sammy (remember the stuff with Andrade?). It’s likely that Tony is suspending Sammy to send a message to the locker room about being less careless with 3 free agents coming in who are very expensive acquisitions to him.

No, I think Sammy’s suspension was because he injured people on top of showing a pattern of immaturity that won’t let him focus on tightening up his wrestling ability. What Tony doesn’t want is for someone like a Sammy to injure Ospreay or Okada, and that’s the message.

*****

Are you OK with Jim Ross re-signing with AEW?

Personally, I’d like to see Jim Ross return to the WWE and act as a consultant for the WWE’s developmental system and scouting. He’d be perfect in that role, as his past role as EVP of Talent Relations through 2004 speaks to that. That said, I don’t think Triple H wants Jim Ross in the same building as him as they have differing opinions on how talent are shaped or molded.

But I’m happy that Ross signed with AEW, too, because it’s likely for more money and LESS WORK HOURS. So if you ever get a chance to MAKE MORE MONEY by WORKING LESS, then you’re in an interesting spot, my friends. Time is the most valuable commodity and you can’t spend that money if you have no time. Now, Ross can life comfortably and thus we get to enjoy MORE YEARS of him rather than WWE taking more years off his life from their work schedule.

And he’s calling the matches just fine, folks. Same with Shiavone… The issue isn’t with Jim or Tony, but with the ridiculous things that Tazz and the goof in the mask say beside them.

*****

Where does Sting rank on the all-time list now that he’s retired?

Oh man… I think he has longevity on his side and that’s his main asset. Problem with me is that he never tried to join WWE earlier and make it there. He’ll be forever know as the guy who was great for WCW, at times, was a stable figure in TNA, and had a fun run in AEW. But damn, that WWE run was terrible and short-lived.

So if I were to rank the wrestlers in the last 40 years, as I’ll purposely exclude guys like Bruno Sammartino or Lou Thesz, while also sticking to North America (though I don’t think Japanese wrestling truly draws), here’s how I’d rank them. We’ll go the online style of different tiers that you see on YouTube from time to time.

S-Tier or “Superior” Tier
The absolute best and top drawing talent.
Hulk Hogan, Andre “the Giant”, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the Rock, the Undertaker, John Cena, Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar

A-Tier
Among the best of all time, but often a complementary player to an S-Tier performer.
“Macho Man” Randy Savage, Bret “the Hitman” Hart, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Mick Foley, Randy Orton, Batista, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, STING, Kane, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bill Goldberg, CM Punk, etc.

And onward, as I could spend hours listing B-Tiers, C-Tiers, etc.

Point is that I don’t think Sting is in the superior drawing class. While he was a great babyface sensation for WCW during the early 1990s, each of those years lost money for WCW. It wasn’t until he literally began being the Crow that he truly helped draw but was complementing the NWO. Once the Starrcade finish was botched, the wheels came off for the rest of his WCW career.

Sting and Chris Jericho are very similar to me… Both are steady and reliable hands for wrestling companies and can also reinvent themselves as needed. But they weren’t always the top drawing person and when times they were, they were quickly replaced by someone new rising up. And there is nothing wrong with that. Being dependable and available for a longer period of time is an asset to ANY wrestling company. But neither are to be compared to the Undertaker, who drew stronger money than both guys over a long period of time.

*****

Thoughts on WWE’s recent Hall of Fame announcements?

I’m with Jeff Meacham from NoDQ Review (or at least I think it was him that said it) on how special the Hall of Fame announcements used to be while announced on RAW or Smackdown. THAT SAID, each of these announcements are being pumped through news organizations first and are getting major buzz throughout the day rather than late at night. WWE is smart and knows that releasing these through the media will catch a wider net of fans.

LOVED the Paul Heyman announcement. He’s sooooo worth it, and fans in Philly are gonna go bonkers. In my opinion, and I’ve stated this for years in a few columns, he has eclipsed Bobby Heenan as the #1 manager of all time. His work with Brock Lesnar and now with the Bloodline has put him over the top.

I just don’t know on the Bull Nakano announcement… Sure, you’re honoring the past and she was a former 1-time champion, but women’s wrestling drew nothing back then and was literally a division of just 2 people (she and Alundra Blayze). That said, she’s a very accomplished performer throughout the world.

The U.S. Express tag team of Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda is an interesting one… Don’t get me wrong, I’m VERY happy for both guys and they are very deserving of this role not just as a 2-time tag team champion, but as singles performers as well especially Barry Windham. But come on, can we get Demolition in already? Both guys are NOT getting any younger and are, in my opinion, among the best ever tag teams in the WWE. Ax and Smash were amazing and were the most successful in a division that consisted of Hart Foundation, Rockers, Tully & Arn, British Bulldogs, and many other strong teams. They dominated against those teams!

BUT again, I’m not mad because I LOVE me some Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda. Mike was a very reliable hand for both WWE and WCW for 20 years, while peak Barry Windham is among the best to ever do it. I do love that they are getting in together, as they are related via Mike marrying Barry’s sister and together, they produced the late Bray Wyatt (RIP) and Bo Dallas. If you watch the video, Mike and Barry got very emotional when talking to Triple H about their induction.

I just want to say this right here… IRS is among the best gimmicks of all time, especially with Rotunda wrestling in a suit. Just one of those once-in-a-lifetime gimmicks and I’m sure that he’s a personal hero of many IRS agents out there. Sadly, WWE did Barry wrong multiple times with the Widowmaker, Stalker, and Blackjacks gimmicks. Come on, guys!

But damn it, get Demolition in this year too. Why not? And I don’t care if Barry and Mike are this year’s only group addition. Why not have 2 great tag teams inducted? Why not?

*****

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

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On AEW Dynamite 3/6/24, the Young Bucks have instantly buried Kazuchika Okada.

BURIED.

Instead of bringing this free agent in and pushing him as a major babyface sensation to wrestling fans who haven’t seen much of him before, Okada has turned heel and become a flunky of the Young Bucks. That’s right, your NEW free agent takes marching orders from two 5’10” guys who are under 180 pounds each. This major superstar who just signed a lucrative financial deal with AEW and who has won many “Match of the Year” and “Wrestler of the Year” awards by multiple publications (besides Meltzer) is now following a tag team who have performed more harm to AEW than good.

It’s equally, if not moreso, stupid to when WWE brought in Brock Lesnar during 2012 and made him become the muscle of John Laurinaitis.

Completely idiotic for Okada to carry the bags of the Young Bucks who have done nothing but poison the wells of AEW:

(1) Signed a significant portion of wrestlers to AEW to deals and most haven’t panned out.

(2) Tag Team division is a mess, always has been.

(3) Buried FTR instantly upon them joining AEW.

(4) Constantly leaking info to dirt sheets.

(5) Ruined CM Punk’s tenure with AEW over baseless lies about Colt Cabana’s status with the company.

So Tony, you want to place your million dollar free agent that you likely overpaid to keep him away from WWE (and they were definitely interested) with a pair of guys who have created a toxic work environment for your company?

Oh wait, Tony, YOU were the one who re-signed both Young Bucks as wrestlers and EVPs during 2023. My bad, and you retained the services of Kenny Omega as EVP, too, the absolute ruiner of the women’s division for AEW. And you re-signed Adam “Hangman” Page to a contract, the same guy who was the vessel for sabotaging CM Punk in AEW. YOU, Tony, are signing all of their checks and enabling them all.

What should have happened is that the Young Bucks should have been completely wrecked by Okada last night to send the live attendees home happy and to end the show on a positive note. Okada’s in-ring talent should have been on display, too, and hitting his biggest offensive moves on both Nick and Matt Jackson who should have been begging for mercy as heels. Okada coming to Kingston’s aid could set-up a tag match next week on Dynamite between Kingston/Okada vs. the Young Bucks to REALLY showcase Okada’s in-ring abilities. It would be like in 1989 when NWA/WCW re-introduced Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat who came to the aid of “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert who was feuding with Ric Flair and Barry Windham.

But no, as wrestling fans, we can’t have good things happen in AEW… Everything is to placate the egos of the Young Bucks whom Tony Khan overvalues as draws and leadership components in his wrestling company. While CM Punk’s reaction was harsh, it’s a FACT that he didn’t just act-up randomly. When your EVPs are willingly leaking sensitive company info and absolute lies to wrestling insiders, that is nothing but trouble. When your EVPs tell their stooge to go unscripted on live television, that leads up to more trouble. When you as EVPs REFUSE to meet with CM Punk to possibly mend fences, that leads to even more trouble.

And now, your prized free agent has to work willingly with the Bucks.

Yes, I know that the Bucks have a past working relationship with Okada, but that was years ago. The politicians that both Nick and Matt have become is MUCH DIFFERENT than whom Okada worked with years ago. It’s one thing if they are your fellow members of the locker room, but it’s another when they have managerial and creative input. While the Bucks know Okada, there’s probably still an issue over what Tony Khan has agreed to pay Okada versus what he’s paying the Bucks. I believe that the payment to Punk, along with Punk having some direct input, infuriated the Bucks into sabotaging their own shows and a talent.

So here we are, AEW… We’re 1 for 2, thus far, on your big recent free agent signings. Will Ospreay is gonna be Will Ospreay no matter what situation you put him in… So far, so good as he had a great match in his debut at AEW Revolution that seems to be well received, mostly, online. However, Okada is immediately made into a Young Bucks flunky and stooge from day 1… We barely had a moment to see him and he’s turning heel, joining the Young Bucks to begin carrying their bags like a complete stooge. Any curiosity of him as a talent or for his debut are GONE from wrestling fans.

What will happen with Mercedes Moné (formerly Sasha Banks in WWE)? Because I think she’s a bit more complicated to fit in and to win over fans. After all, she’s walked out of the WWE twice over creative issues along with having a lukewarm New Japan run. She honestly works best as a heel, but many fans like her too and she’s a major upgrade over most of Kenny’s women’s wrestler signings.

To me, Ospreay and Okada were the easiest to implement… Just let Ospreay wrestle, as in-ring is his specialty. Okada is much more, as actually larger than most of the AEW roster and on a different planet athletically. Unlike Ospreay, WWE had serious conversations with Okada and I would put money on Okada later joining WWE than I would Ospreay. Yet, AEW went 1 for 2 implementing these big free agent signings by having Okada become a flunky of the Young Bucks.

What a disaster…

Can this promotion get free agents right? Beyond 2019, we’ve seen the AEW meat grinder take care of many free agents who have joined the AEW roster. Aside from the undefeated Sting, look at the Hardy Boys. FTR loses upon immediately joining AEW and were misuded for the year after that. How is Paige doing? How is Miro? How is literally any ex-WWE doing who were signed from 2020 and beyond? I guess Samoa Joe is doing OK, but he’s champion presiding over a company obtaining 850,000 viewers on a Cable/Satellite channel available to 70 million homes.

Okada is the Young Bucks’s flunky… 5 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion for New Japan and a man who has collected some of the best matches we’ve seen during the past 10 years.

Instantly, Okada has become “just another guy” in AEW.

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The post MR. TITO: Instantly on AEW Dynamite Last Night (3/6/24), the Young Bucks have BURIED Kazuchika Okada appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

But this is good news, make no mistake about it. Though the value of New Japan Pro Wrestling is overrated here in the United States, thanks to Dave Meltzer’s Observer propaganda (their AXS show could never draw above 150,000 viewers, while some of their United States shows struggled to draw), nobody can deny that Ospreay and Okada can work. Both guys have good size and weight to look the part, too… At the very least, we’re guaranteed great matches and improved workrate on the roster. If they can figure out character, personality, and communication skills, they’ll really help AEW.

I hate to burst everyone’s bubble, but Mercedes Varnado (Mercedes Moné & Sasha Banks) is a really exceptional pro wrestler. Two of my very favorite women’s matches of all time involve her as Sasha Banks and putting over other wrestlers:

(1) NXT Takeover – Brooklyn 2015 putting over Bayley for the NXT Title
(2) Wrestlemania 37 putting over Bianca Belair for the Women’s WWE Title

Both cases, she was the heel and drew a tremendous amount of heat for both babyface opponents to overcome. Sasha Banks was ruthless with psychology as a heel, such as stomping Bayley’s injured hand at Takeover or trying to use Bianca’s hair to her advantage (to which Belair turned the tables on her and whipped her with that tail!).

Sasha Banks was a 6-time Women’s Champion (5 RAW titles, 1 Smackdown) and probably would have had more and longer title reigns if it weren’t for Charlotte Flair being in the way. If you look at Sasha’s record, she always lost on Pay Per View and was constantly putting other female wrestlers over. While she didn’t complain about losing, she wasn’t rewarded for it either. On top of that, she was working in Vince McMahon’s toxic WWE environment and who knows if Vince made a pass at her, she knew of someone affected by Vince, or just heard stories. She seemed to have an aversion to Vince and her frustrations with the WWE related with his creative use of her.

Say what you will, but getting that gig in the Star Wars: Mandalorian was a big deal. That show did massive numbers for Disney+, particularly the 2nd season and he was freakin’ there when the BIG moment hit of Luke Skywalker saving the day. That was awesome and she’ll forever be on that film.

Sorry, but I felt Mercedes Moné was kind of LAME in New Japan. It just didn’t hit right, from her debut to the follow-up matches afterward. It was very clear that her character didn’t fit that environment and that maybe she settled on performing there rather than actually being there.

But that’s in the past, and now she potentially joins Okada and Ospreay as major talent additions to AEW.

However, all 3 have to make significant debuts and creative has to matter.

Going back to the 2006 with Kurt Angle joining TNA. That could have mattered, but the foolish creative team had Angle steamroll Samoa Joe immediately in matches. What could have made more impact is if Joe BEAT Kurt Angle in those matches to show that Joe could hang with a major former WWE superstar. Instead, Angle defeating Joe proved what TNA was becoming and that was “WWE lite”. Same thing goes for the many other ex-WWE stars who joined TNA during the mid to late 2000s and early 2010s. It didn’t matter because the creative was bad or lame.

We’re already not talking about Adam Copeland in AEW. Many of you ridiculed me for a column that I wrote about with Edge vs. Christian, as I was advising that you need to do something NEW with Adam that he didn’t already do better in WWE.

Now, recently, some commenter torched me for always bringing up “WCW” in my column… I use them because the prove my points for me in terms of actually acting like a competing wrestling company. Eric Bischoff slowly building his promotion for 3 years to get to WWE’s level mattered… Bischoff signing away younger, skilled talents from ECW, Mexico, and Japan also mattered. Then, signing the RIGHT WWE free agents mattered. Bulldog in WCW was a failure during 1993, but Hogan, Macho, Hall, and Nash weren’t but then many ex-WWE signings during 1997-1998 were. WCW proves my point on how to compete on a higher stage with WWE and becoming a successful promotion, but also proves my point on how to screw it up.

To make my point, go back to early 1996 for World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The promotion was a disaster heading into WCW Uncensored 1996. Go watch that on the WWE Network, I DARE YA! Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage defeated the 4 Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom, plus the returning Zeus as Z-Gangsta and a jacked up actor named the Ultimate Solution in a half-assed cage match. Complete disaster of a Main Event match that headlined an awful Pay Per View card.

As Eric Bischoff explains, THAT was the tipping point for WCW and he immediately put forth changes to WCW’s creative. He pushed for reality-based storylines where wrestlers did tangible things and not goofy things like what the Dungeon of Doom was always doing. That and the babyfaces always overcoming ridiculous odds, as Hogan and Savage just did at Uncensored 1996.

The key to the new “reality-based” booking was 2 new free agents that Eric just signed named Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Both guys had gimmicked names, but he couldn’t use them due to copyrights (though WWE would later sue WCW for using Razor Ramon’s likeness on Nitro). Hall and Nash went from cutting the same ol’ WWE promos at the time, but getting really aggressive, forceful, and even violent with their characters. Wrestling fans legitimately believed that both guys were invading and attacking WCW’s talent roster. They would go on to hype having a 3rd guy and that turned out to a newly turned heel Hulk Hogan to form the “New World Order”. The rest is history and WCW rode those NWO fumes into the ground for the next 2 years.

What’s the point?

AEW’s Creative Team (or Tony Khan) cannot squander the full-time debuts of Mercedes Moné, Okada, and Will Opspreay. DO SOMETHING INTERESTING WITH THEM.

Because AEW doesn’t have a good history with bringing in free agents… They either push someone too hard that nobody has heard of, or they completely botch it.

– Matt & Jeff Hardy
– Miro
– Andrade (back in the WWE already)
– CM Punk (terminated him, back in WWE)
– FTR (had them lose to the Young Bucks immediately and then barely did anything until they threated to rejoin WWE)
– Keith Lee
– Matt Syndal
– Pac
– Malekai Black

Overall, Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, and Samoa Joe are doing well, while Adam Copeland has been reasonable since his AEW debut. However, I’d argue what Jon Moxley has become since 2021 has been questionable. Letting him bleed so much has been tough to watch.

With Mercedes Moné/Okada/Will Ospreay, you can’t just add them to the roster… No, THINK BIG. Make the debut massive and it causes people to talk about it, or make the storyline relevant. If you don’t, they just become just one of the guys (great movie) or gals. With the money that you’re paying all 3, why waste them?

During 1999, WWE signed Chris Jericho to a deal… How about that entrance?

WWE debuts Brock Lesnar in 2002 and blows everybody’s mind on how destructive he was. Then, his 2012 return was mindblowing too.

John Cena’s debut with WWE, challenging Kurt Angle to a match.

How about Team Angle during 2002, as Paul Heyman introduced them to be the apprentices of Kurt Angle and it was perfectly done.

Weren’t you shocked about CM Punk’s Survivor Series 2023 WWE return? Hell, I was shocked about his AEW debut during 2022.

How about Kevin Owens debuting on the WWE roster and going right after John Cena?

Mick Foley was brought in as Mankind and gave the WWE another legitimate main event star during 1996. He CRUSHED it with a new gimmick that gave him freedom to express his personality and put real fear into wrestling fans.

How about the Shield’s debut during late 2012? FROM THE START, people loved Ambrose, Rollins, and Roman. Complete badasses with matching uniforms and perfect theme music.

And that’s the thing, folks… TAKE THE DAMN ENTRANCE MUSIC SERIOUSLY!!!!!

I cannot stress that enough… I kept thinking “who is this” based on the LOUSY theme music that I heard during Royal Rumble matches this year. The music was SO LAME and SO TERRIBLE that everything blended together and wasn’t distinctive. Jim Johnston, WWE’s former composer, made everything so unique and aligned perfectly with the character. Do you think that Ultimate Warrior gets over without that music? Possibly, but that music always pumped up the crowd. I know when I was younger, I was blasting WWE – The Music CDs loud in my car and was damn proud of it.

Go watch Chris Jericho‘s WWE debut from 1999… It is PERFECT. They gave him the BEST music that fit his new WWE character, along with awesome Titantrons. Without saying a word, Chris Jericho was instantly over. Then, of course, Jericho delivers an awesome promo and got into a verbal sparring match with the Rock. Jericho had one hell of a WWE career after that for the next 15 years or so.

AEW must make Mercedes Moné, Okada, and Will Ospreay as BIG DEALS in AEW, and it’s not always about wins and losses. It’s about PRESENTATION… If you’re presented as a star correctly, it doesn’t matter who your opponents are. Throughout the end of 1999, Chris Jericho didn’t exactly have the best of luck at first. Then, once he got used to the WWE star, he got red hot during the year 2000. He then headlines Wrestlemania 18 as combined WWE/WCW Champion. Point being, his 1999 WWE debut made fans believe in Chris Jericho from day one and kept Jericho’s starpower growing even if the rest of 1999 had its struggles adapting to the WWE system.

Everything from music, entrance, and to the apparel that they are wearing matters. If you cannot capture the attention and imagination of wrestling fans before the match even starts, then inside the ring won’t matter. As good as Okada and Ospreay may be inside the ring, if they don’t get their presentation and characters right, nobody will care about their in-ring stuff. Star rewards on matches don’t matter here in the United States.

Getting back to WCW during early 1996… The WCW Uncensored 1996 Pay Per View was on March 24th, 1996… Scott Hall makes his WCW return on May 27th, 1996.

DO YOU SEE THAT?!?? In just 3 months, Eric Bischoff turned around the Creative direction of WCW. 3 months!

That’s why I keep mentioning history, folks… As the great George Santayana says, “those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it”. Well, those who remember history can understand how pro wrestling works and how amazingly things can turn around for the better.

So if you think that Tony Khan is ruined, well, I’d suggest with these 3 free agents, he has major opportunity. He could either get them over as big stars, 2 of which haven’t been featured in a major WWE event, or fumble creatively and all 3 were just more examples of why Trust Funds shouldn’t be funding pro wrestling promotions.

Don’t mess up their full-time debuts, as Okada and Opsreay have already worked for AEW but Mercedes has not.

That’s why you look back at history, fools, to get perspective on what may happen based on how Mercedes Moné, Okada, and Will Ospreay are used in AEW during 2024.

Push these exceptional free agents correctly with strong debuts and a storyline that people can get behind, and AEW will flourish with them. Botch their debuts and use them poorly, AEW’s rep will continue to worsen. It’s your choice, Tony.

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The post MR. TITO: AEW Must Make Mercedes Moné, Kazuchika Okada, and Will Ospreay Matter Creatively appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

If you don’t know who Kazuchika Okada and why he matters, welcome to the “Majority of Wrestling Fans” party. Unless you’re reading the pages of the Wrestling Observer and/or got caught up in the Wrestle Kingdom hype, as he legitimately had great matches there, then you don’t know him unless you remembered his brief TNA stint during the early 2010s in which the goofy Creative Team at the time probably mangled his career as they did many other wrestlers at the time.

Okada is a 36 years, over 6 feet tall (billed at 6’3″ at times), and weighs at a billed 230 pounds or so. The guy is a legitimate workhorse and could work for hours at a time, if asked. When it comes to in-ring stuff, the guy’s motor and pure skill are incredible. I cannot deny that and his matches with Kenny Omega, in particular, are tremendous. I know that we mock Dave’s star ranking system, but I’d give 4 or even 5-stars to several of his matches especially if you like non-stop action. Within an Okada match, you’ll see plenty of moves that should be finishers result in regular 2 counts. My only nitpick is the lack of psychology and selling, though that could be overcome with Okada’s impressive ability to have no fatigue in him at all when wrestling.

The obvious answer for Okada is to join AEW. After all, two of his favorite opponents are full-time performers there with Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay. AEW has ties to New Japan Pro Wrestling through talent sharing, many wrestlers with past NJPW experience, and the annual “Forbidden Door” event that mixes AEW and NJPW talent. Seems pretty obvious that he’d join AEW, right?

Well, truth is that if Okada wanted to have his AEW cake and eat it too, he could have remained in NJPW and appeared for AEW when he wanted throughout the year. He appeared at AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door events for 2022 and 2023, while wrestling on an episode of Dynamite last year as well (they made him tag up with Orange Cassidy).

Okada used to wrestle for TNA back when it was originally called TNA, but it just didn’t work out. Most everyone from 2011 is gone, management included. Anthem owns the company now and they have operated a little differently since Okada’s tenure. Furthermore with TNA, they’ve declined since Okada last was there. Newly renamed TNA (formerly Impact Wrestling) struggles to acquire good television contracts and remain relevant. Sure, their last Pay Per View obtained some news with Top Dollar, Dolph Ziggler, and Dana Brooke (all with different names) appearing there, but before that, TNA just has their cult following while consistently drawing less than 150,000 viewers on AXS (available to 50 million households).

One would think that since Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth) appeared in New Japan, maybe that’s the link that would take Okada from New Japan to join TNA. But again, Okada could arrange a deal to work for BOTH New Japan and TNA as Nemeth just arranged. But he didn’t… Okada is LEAVING New Japan effective 1/31/2024.

Folks, if you want to be GREAT in the wrestling industry, you need to make is successfully in the WWE.

Let’s go back to late 2013… Loyal AJ Styles stayed with TNA wrestling as long as he could, but then he suddenly bolted. After that, AJ Styles returned to Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling for the next 2 years are really made a name for himself internationally by having high profile matches with different types of stars. This gave AJ confidence and helped refine his ability to make his value increase as a performer, insomuch that WWE signed him and debuted him at Royal Rumble 2016. Since 2016, does anybody want to dispute how much bigger AJ Styles became as a wrestling star by being successful in the WWE and having many high profile matches that you can name easily? Good God, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and even Shane McMahon can each list their match with AJ Styles to be among their BEST in their careers.

Shinsuke Nakamura was pulled from New Japan and debuted at NXT’s Takeover event in Dallas where he blew the doors off the arena with his match with Sami Zayn. This match won many publication’s “Match of the Year” for 2016 and Nakamura would go on to become NXT Champion and have a successful reign. In WWE, he was instantly pushed upon arrival and freakin’ won the 2018 Royal Rumble match to earn a title shot at Wrestlemania. Now, granted, he hasn’t been pushed THAT hard since, but he’s been relevant. I’d argue for an older Japanese wrestler with lots of mileage on that body, he’s been relevant and Triple H keeps him busy with various storylines and angles. I’d strongly argue that his career has been a success in the WWE.

Rob Van Dam was an ECW legend but when he joined the WWE roster during 2001, he got instantly over. For 5 years, he received opportunity after opportunity and then became WWE Champion through 2006. Well, then he and Sabu got busted on the side of the road for possession following an Ohio event… THAT SAID, even with that controversy, Rob Van Dam went on to still find WWE work and TNA and AEW have employed him too.

Do I need to keep listing other workers? Undertaker, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H, and Chris Jericho were all former WCW talents and when the arrived in the WWE, KABOOM, their careers exploded in further growth once they got their characters ready for prime time. I’d argue that Foley, Undertaker, and Jericho were instant stars when they arrived and only grew stronger from there whereas Austin and HHH had to figure out their characters. Hell, I could go on to add wrestlers from the Territories who became bigger once they joined Vince McMahon Jr.’s revamped WWE product. Hogan was over in AEW, but he became a worldwide star with WWE’s marketing. Roddy Piper, Macho Man Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ultimate Warrior, etc. Rocket ships to the moon, in terms of stardom, once they wrestled on WWE’s bigger stage and had their marketing behind them.

The WWE stage is exceptional and remains the biggest spotlight in the wrestling business. Facts that still remain true and aren’t going away anytime soon:

(1) Best Television Contracts in the Business
(2) Most Viewership on all platforms
(3) Most Attendance for Live Shows
(4) Most Merchandise sold
(5) WWE Network to deliver content easily to fans

Even if you’d argue “oh, they’ll place Okada in NXT”, NXT is currently on USA Networks (available in 70 million homes) but later this year, they’ll debut on the CW Network. Yes, the CW Network, which is ranked 5th behind NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX among broadcast networks. With it being a broadcast channel and obtained FREE via digital antenna in most markets, you have a chance to reach up to 100 million households. If marketed right and with the right tone of pushing younger or different wrestlers, obviously catering towards a younger audience, NXT on the CW Network could be a highly successful show.

And again, the biggest difference in WWE today (2022-2024) versus the WWE before 2022 is the relinquishing of Creative control from Vince McMahon. Especially with TKO pushing a separation of duties and disallowing Vince to micro-manage day-to-day duties, Triple H and his staff have much more creative freedom to push and nurture ALL wrestlers to become better. The results of Triple H being in charge are tremendous, as everybody is getting over and WWE has been ballooning in success since.

Many will point out “look at how WWE treated Japanese wrestlers in the past”. Like who? Tajiri? Yeah, he was William Regal’s assistant, but that’s how WWE introduced him. Once it helped Tajiri make a name and get over, then WWE let Tajiri be Tajiri and he was success in WWE. Asuka has been a major success in the WWE. Sure, it’s all because Triple H has her back, but that’s my point… Despite Vince’s shadow lurking, you always have Triple H backing his acquisitions. Even guys who weren’t over, such as Anderson & Gallows, the WWE and Triple H tried to push him hard.

But now, everyone is complaining about Akira Tozawa with the Alpha Academy and doing mostly comedy with them. However, I’ll make this challenge to all of the haters… How many United States and Canada wrestling fans have ever heard of Dragon Gate? I guarantee that if you hooked up 95% of US/Canada wrestling fans and asked them “have you heard of Dragon Gate”, they’d all say “no”. To the 5% who said “yes”, I guarantee that only 1%, if that, has even seen a match from that promotion. Just facts, folks…

And with Akira Tozawa, he’s 38 years old with mileage on the body and is only billed at 5’7″. Even for Triple H has had some struggles getting over smaller wrestlers, was his 205 Live struggled to matter and Cruiserweight wrestling has been so-so in NXT. Since 2016, WWE has tried a variety of things for Tozawa… He just hasn’t caught on.

Thus, if you’re going to attack and criticize the WWE for Tozawa’s current use, then you better criticize Tozawa’s previous efforts with the WWE that didn’t get him over and then appreciate the WWE giving him another chance. And oddly enough, he’s kind of getting over in this comedy role and is embracing the “fish out of water” role with the group. He’s a square peg trying to fit into the round hole, but it’s clicking and he’s getting noticed. Trust me, if the marks are bashing the WWE for how a wrestler is being creatively used, it’s getting some attention… But in my opinion, he has helped give the Alpha Academy some much needed variety, as it was just LAME with everything being always focused on Otis.

Getting back to Kazuchika Okada, what exactly could he accomplish by joining the AEW roster? Yeah, a match with Samoa Joe could be fun, but what else is there to do? Okada has already performed against Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega multiple times. I’m sure that is fun to him to work against those guys, but wouldn’t trying something brand new be more appealing? And again, AEW’s roster has been depleted with injuries, talent losses, and has a ton of backstage drama. It will give you more freedom and Tony will likely overpay you, but how much fun is it to wrestle in front of less than 4,000 fans? How much fun would it be to have a great match, but the preceding and following matches were of much less quality?

Or how much fun would it be to join the WWE and take on Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes (which has happened in the past), LA Knight, either Mysterio, Solo Sikoa, either Uso, and the many up & coming talents within the NXT roster? And to appear on Wrestlemania? What if Okada signs with the WWE in a few weeks and scores a match on Wrestlemania? He’ll be on one of the biggest shows of all time that could be headlined by Rock vs. Roman Reigns.

If you get placed on NXT, so what? They are going to be on a bigger network soon with CW Network. And again, let’s stop knocking NXT… Guys from New Japan Pro Wrestling, such as Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura, have made major names for themselves on that brand and both guys still occupy a WWE roster spot to this day.

Right now, there are news stories that Okada felt that he was “underpaid” in New Japan Pro Wrestling… Maybe that is the tipping point, as Tony reportedly overpaid Will Ospreay and could likely do that with Okada. But if Okada took the money from the WWE, which isn’t chump change, and made himself into a success WWE star, he could rake in the money based on that achievement alone. New Japan would beg for him to return after a successful WWE career and Okada could leverage that into other Japanese promoters bidding for his services. That, or he could keep growing into a Hall of Fame performer for the WWE.

Or, Okada could just wait for his late 40s and early 50s for AEW to sign him. Edge and Christian are just swimming in those AEW dollars while in their early 50s. Sting made a ton of AEW money in his early 60s. Chris Jericho has a 10 year deal that ends with him in his early 60s.

What’s the rush to join AEW? You’ll just be another New Japan wrestler who has worked there.

But if you join WWE and make there successfully, that legendary status will grow in to many more opportunities.

What’s it going to be, Okada? Get overpaid in AEW and work against a depleted roster, some of which would hurt you inside the ring? Or take a splash in the WWE and become a worldwide phenom that will open many other opportunities to get paid.

Choice is easy, join WWE. Try something new, as you can always revert back to those desperate for talent later if needed.

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The post MR. TITO: Where Should New Japan’s Kazuchika Okada Join as a Free Agent? AEW? WWE? TNA? appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.