Many of my long-time readers have been asking “where have you been”, as my column volume has dropped off a bit. Well, for one, I write when I want… There’s no schedule for yours truly, as I just write when I’m feeling it… But, there’s some method to the madness as to why I took a few weeks off. No, it wasn’t for the 9/22/2026 column, as I’ve clearly followed that up with my 10/15/2026 column. I’ve been saying it for YEARS how dangerous putting on big events is within the Middle East. I’m not afraid of that topic.

No, I’ve been laying low because of my 9/16/2026 column that raised questions about AEW having a drug testing policy (or not) in the wake of Brian Cage admitting to using steroids and other PEDs on a podcast. Then, tragically on September 27, 2026, PAC from AEW (formerly known as Adrian Neville or Neville in WWE) passed away in his vehicle just after he performed at AEW’s All Out 2026. Almost immediately with the early indications of his death, as he was drooling and medication was found in his vehicle, I was immediately like “oh sh*t!”.

Now, in my column, I was making a point that because Brian Cage admitted to using steroids and other PEDs, that creates a question on if AEW has any kind of Wellness Policy. Then, I brought up quotes from wrestling insiders, like Dave Meltzer and Sean Ross Sapp, who indicated that there may not be testing but that AEW contracts state a “right to test” as needed. My only point was to bring up the FACT that Brian Cage caused a “smoking gun” situation, as I would have never wrote that column if he said nothing. But he did, and I wanted to simply question if AEW was protecting its wrestlers.

I guess it’s a sigh of relief… But it’s a shame PAC is no longer with us in the end. From all indications, he was a good locker room guy, always easy to work with, and very talented. In my opinion, both WWE and AEW could have utilized his talents more as he had the ability, the look (though shorter), and was charismatic inside the ring to pull off the “larger than life” needs that pro wrestling desires. However, he did 6 years in WWE and 7 years in AEW, along with a 10 year career before joining WWE. That’s pretty good imprint on the business, folks.

His death was officially ruled as bronchial asthma. If left undiagnosed or untreated, it is indeed lethal as asthma is inflammation of your airways.

Now, here’s what I’m curious about… A Wellness Policy isn’t just about drug testing. In fact, it’s often a program offered by most corporation for insurance purposes as a means to help get costs down. WWE implemented one for drug testing specifically, following the death of Eddie Guerrero in late 2005 and then ramped up its seriousness during mid 2006 due to Chris Benoit’s downfall and then the online pharmacy stuff right afterward. To a normal company, it’s usually bloodwork and a physical examination. WWE’s Wellness Policy did both the examination and the drug testing, and in FACT, it saved MVP’s life when he was in the WWE and an examination found an unknown heart condition that he’s treated ever since.

THIS is why ALL pro wrestlers in a corporate wrestling setting NEED TO BE INSURED and with that, required to have regular physical examinations.

The physical activity of performing, along with maintaining your look, makes it essential to require your performers to be examined for any health reasons.

Treat wrestlers like human beings and employees, not bulls going against a matador. They aren’t just “independent contractors”, and often times, you have to save people from themselves.

There are MULTIPLE studies out there that show men, in particular, refuse to see a doctor. Just doing various Google searches of various studies shows that 50% of men refuse to do annual examinations, 65% of men will avoid going to the doctor unless they absolutely have to, and men are more unlikely to see a doctor versus women by a big margin of various polls (ranging from 33% to 50%, depending on the survey).

I don’t know what happened to PAC. Was he diagnosed previously with asthma or not? Did he just forget to take his treatments? Did he forget his inhaler when an episode came up? I don’t know… BUT, if you have performers putting their bodies on the line, you should require regular examinations of the human beings you’re employing.

We don’t have the full facts here, but I strongly implore both WWE and AEW to TAKE CARE OF YOUR WRESTLERS and PROTECT YOUR WRESTLERS FROM THEMSELVES.

And for the record, I HAMMERED the WWE about their LACK of drug testing for years during the 2000s. I was sick and tired of so many wrestlers dying due to enlarged hearts, mixing pills and alcohol, and just dying so young. It was a regular occurrence. On top of that, WWE didn’t care about when wrestlers had concussions. They forced wrestlers to work through head trauma and in my opinion, that destroyed Chris Benoit and put him on the path of destruction. He was already intense naturally, but lacking any concussion protocol and a serious drug testing policy just poured gasoline on someone with the bad genetic make-up who would either kill or get killed because there was no “off” switch to pushing his body to the limits.

However, WWE implemented the serious Wellness Policy during 2006 and then later implemented a concussion protocol. That has SAVED LIVES.

PAC’s death is a teachable moment… Wrestling promotions need full Wellness Policies that examine their wrestlers regularly, especially based on the physical stress that performing, maintaining, and traveling causes. Lots of mental health issues, too, of living out of your suitcase and working long hours on top of all of that.

Personally, I’ve tried to rid some of my own stubbornness of seeing doctors and they’ve found a few things here in my 40s that I’m working on and I’ve seen real improvements. Your bloodwork can paint a real picture of what’s going on internally, while being honest with a doctor of anything that’s ailing you could also help. Just find the right doctor, as many are too quick to prescribe something versus actually recommending a lifestyle change that could be more beneficial.

I’m just going to tell you this truth as someone who is rounding the bases of his 28th year as Mr. Tito here in late October… This pro wrestling stuff gets REAL often.

You spend so much time, become loyal, and get emotionally invested in wrestlers that it’s a literal gut punch when someone passes away. I am seriously not over Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero’s deaths, while Chris Benoit’s stuff bothers me to this day. I’m still sad about Brodie Lee (Luke Harper) passing away suddenly, as he had a lot of runway left in his career. Sid Eudy was one of my favorite wrestlers, and it was so sad to hear him passing of cancer but then seeing WWE piss on him for his Hall of Fame induction. 2-time champion deserved better than what the WWE gave him.

But damn, we’re enduring lots of hard hitting stories… The deaths, but literally all of the crap involving Vince McMahon and his scandals. There’s WAR in the Middle East and we’re debating whether WWE should have events right in the middle of that region where an airport was bombed. Just scandal after scandal, as I’ve literally seen it all for the past 28 years as Mr. Tito and almost 40 years as a wrestling fan.

YET, the highest of the highs of pro wrestling always keep us hooked… We’re always chasing that high because when wrestling clicks on all cylinders, there is NO better form of entertainment. Lots of lows with wrestling, too, such as what I mentioned above but many bad matches, many bad pushes, many bad angles, and many awful and unfunny comedy segments… BUT, because the highs are so good, we keep coming back. I’ve tried to put down the Pro Wrestling AND Mr. Tito crackpipe down multiple times, but then I need another hit…

RIP PAC. Thank you for all that you’ve done for pro wrestling.

Onto your questions.

ASK TITO: YOUR QUESTIONS, MY ANSWERS

What are some of your favorite PAC/Neville matches?

I’m not the best person for this question, as since I cut Cable during 2015, I’ve watched most of the WWE television on condensed Hulu or YouTube or watching highlights on Premium Live Events. Because of that, I’ve missed chunks of Neville’s WWE career. Without cable, I’m also not watching as much AEW as I could and am also reliant on clips for them on televised shows. However, I’ve watched most of AEW’s Pay Per Views through 2024 and probably all of WWE’s on WWE Network during his career.

For AEW, I always thought PAC had good in-ring chemistry with Kenny Omega for some reason. They just clicked perfectly and seemed to know how to properly work with each other. I hate to admit this, but I LOVED the PAC match with Orange Cassidy. By far, Orange Cassidy’s best match and PAC sold everything perfectly to make the match look legit but also feeling like the perfect comedy match.

His match in NXT with Sami Zayn in late 2014 incredible and worth checking out. That was probably my favorite WWE/NXT match that he had. I’m a tad hazy remembering anything that stood out beyond that peak match, as he was soon joining WWE and they didn’t really use him other than the Cruiserweight division that WWE didn’t care about.

*****

(From my boy Thurl): What are your thoughts on Max Caster being terminated from TNA by rapping about the Riyadh Airport being bombed?

There’s a line in pro wrestling… Sometimes it bends, sometimes it doesn’t. However, I would suggest that the line that should NEVER be crossed is making jokes about DEATH. People died as a result of the Riyadh airport bombing. He made a joke about that, and hence why TNA (maybe with WWE coaxing them because of their relations and WWE/TKO’s relations with Saudi Arabia) terminated him. Max has been very apologetic because he instantly blew his TNA opportunity, while probably never landing a WWE spot as well. The AEW door closed before that, but is probably welded shut, too.

To me, my question is “where are the adults in the room?”. For one, Max should think about what he says on screen. Joking about an incident where people died maybe crosses that line… However, who produced that match and that rapping segment from TNA’s standpoint? Did they ask Max about what he was going to rap about or did they give him full freedom to say whatever he wanted to say? Either scenario creates issues, as TNA should assume liability if they knew he was going to say that but if they gave him freedom, it’s as I said above, sometimes you have to protect wrestlers from themselves. Max thought it was a quick way to get heat, versus thinking of something more clever to say instead. He went for the short-term gain versus the long-term one, and it cost him a job and probably forever ruins his reputation in the business.

That said, I think he should be given another chance… Many wrestlers have done FAR WORSE and were allowed to return. He said words, which I think could be corrected.

Problem with Max Caster is that he worked for TNA who has relations with WWE. WWE is bed and about to send their wrestlers to Saudi Arabia who recently had their airport attached by Houthis fighting a war on behalf of Iran. If TNA wants to do business with WWE, they’ve got to play by WWE’s rules…

I think if you were a promotion like GCW or JCW, I’d sign Caster immediately and advertise that he’s “unfiltered” but behind the scenes, have someone clear what he says first just to, again, “protect a wrestler from themself”. But the fans won’t know that a producer is filtering him slightly and it will work, and Max Caster will become a star there.

*****

What are your thoughts on the 2026 Money in the Bank briefcase winners?

I agree with Tiffany Stratton winning, disagree with Penta.

Tiffany is still young, I didn’t think she had a good run with the Women’s Title before, and she’s very talented and deserving. And good lord, she regularly breaks the internet with her social media photos and that stuff still matters. Personally, I thought she was above and beyond the top wrestler in that match and most deserving to win the briefcase.

Penta is Jey Uso all over again. Very popular merchandise seller and a WWE fan favorite, but lacks the intangibles to grow the business beyond the existing WWE fanbase. That, and he’s too reliant on his style within his matches and if an opponent can’t work his style of match, it falls apart. Remember when Penta debuted and everyone applauded him as looking tremendous? Yeah, because Chad Gable sold everything like a champ and does that with everyone.

If you’re going to hold a briefcase with a world title shot, the person holding it should be world title worthy. A main eventer has intangibles in terms of charisma, look & size, personality, mic skills, psychology, and athletic abilities that is magnetic towards ANY type of consumer, not just dedicated wrestling fans. You already have the wrestling fans’ money, as they are marks and they’ll keep eating the BS sandwiches you feed them. Hence why we’ve had MANY bad world champions… But if you want to grow the business, the world champion has to absolutely WOW a non-wrestling fan.

I just think a guy in a mask who can do flippy moves has been done repeatedly, and also, better by other performers. He’s good, but just not exceptional to be on the very top of the card that draws in big houses. I don’t mind him maybe getting a World Title shot on RAW or Smackdown, where he’d lose in a good fight… But to be positioned to actually win the title and especially with the CHEAP MITB cash-in, I just don’t think it’s going to work. He needs to do more or expand his skillsets to take that next step beyond literally the same performer we saw in AEW who is very dependent on his opponent overselling his complicated moves or stunts.

You’ll call me a “madman” for that take, but when he’s another short-term champion and resembles Jey Uso, you’ll thank me for being right.

*****

Do you believe that Gunther has been used properly?

For the most part, the WWE has used the maximum of his abilities. That said, I’d argue that losses to Jey Uso and Sami Zayn on very big stages were particularly damaging to Gunther and during the timeframe of those losses, we should have had a match against Brock Lesnar then. Instead, he loses to both Zayn and Jey and we’re supposed to patch that damage together by defeating two older guys in Bill Goldberg and John Cena?

BUT, I don’t see “all time great” stuff with Gunther. Great performer and great heel, but we’ve seen the same schtick for many years now. He’s dominant but then the arrogance gets the best of him to cause him to lose. Rinse and repeat… However, I don’t think he has many more dimensions to his character other than that smug or dominant heel. Or, maybe because he was denied an opportunity to work toe-to-toe with Brock Lesnar, he didn’t get a chance to turn “serious mode” on for an entire match.

I don’t know, folks… He’s a two-time World Champion and that shows WWE has used him reasonably well. I struggle arguing against that point, but I think the opportunity to really get him over with creative “smoke & mirrors” was to have him remain Intercontinental Champion and not lose it to Sami Zayn and then go on to challenge Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar to unite the titles. THAT could have helped him… BUT, without that serious moment, he’s got nothing but the same character that we’ve seen for years and it’s not drawing as well as it could.

Gets into my overall point, as described with Penta above, is WHO ARE YOU PUSHING, WWE? With due respect to the World Titles, they are NOT participation trophies. Yeah, I understand wanting to reward Sami Zayn and Jey Uso for their hard work, BUT there are plenty of great midcarders in the WWE Hall of Fame who NEVER got even close to the WWE Title. Anyone care to debate the greatness of Razor Ramon, Jake “the Snake”, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Big Bossman, and many others with me? You can have a great career and not win the World Title, but I think that WWE during the 21st Century doesn’t think that and that’s why business has declined since the end of the 20th century.

*****

Do you think that the “Street Fighter” movie will propel Cody, Roman, or other WWE careers into film?

Obviously, Hulk Hogan and then especially the Rock and John Cena have paved the road for “larger than life” character to easily translate their work onto the big screen.

Street Fighter is projected, as of early Sunday morning when I write this, for a $31 million opener. That would be a “disaster” if this were a Marvel film that was made for $200 million, but Street Fighter was made for just $82 million. So, it will do OK and I figure it will grow further on streaming and disc purchases.

This is where I’ll reveal myself… I was a hardcore Street Fighter 2 arcade player when I was a young kid, especially when the Championship Edition was released and the expanded roster occurred. I remember getting the issue of Swatpro, which was Gamepro’s secrets and tips side magazine, that revealed all of the special moves of the game for the first time. I memorized that thing and then took my knowledge to the arcade. All of the local gamers, who didn’t figure out the moves already, were like WTF when I was flying across the screen repeatedly as M. Bison or throwing fireballs or uppercuts all day long as Ryu (preferred him over Ken).

I’ll give kudos to Cody Rhodes for looking like Guile, but the attitude of the character is just a tough off. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns played Akuma in Street Fighter… HEY ROMAN, Akuma does NOT have a beard! Shave that damn thing to look the part in the movie! Otherwise, it’s Roman Reigns playing in a Street Fighter movie. “Oh, I can’t jeopardize my look for WWE shows”, the hell you can’t! This is a major movie and you need to look the part to make this a credible effort. It’s about as dumb as Jean Claude Van Damme barely even trying to look like Guile in the first Street Fighter movie effort.

It’s when movies compromise with actors, that’s when films go to crap.

Big 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, and even the fans somewhat agree that this movie is just OK with 80%.

Back in the day and if you ever encounter me to play Street Fighter 2, Ryu and M. Bison were my guys though I love to play newbs as E. Honda just to mess with them.

As time will tell, I think that CM Punk and Roman Reigns playing a pair of animated zebras in Zootopia 2 will have a bigger impact than sort of looking like trademark characters in the Street Fighter series. Many of these video game to live action series transactions just don’t work, as we’re on multiple tries for Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and now Street Fighter. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat’s appeal is that they are multiplayer games and that’s why they sell. Their backstories are secondary. So far, Nintendo is doing OK with the animated Mario films, but the real test will be the Legend of Zelda game next year. I think that will succeed because Zelda is about the story more so than the gameplay.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post ASK TITO: PAC Passing Away, Max Caster’s Promo in TNA, WWE MITB 2026 Briefcase Winners, Gunther’s Creative, and Much More appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

My morning ritual is sacred to me. For more than two decades, I was up at 4:00 a.m. with or without an alarm for work. Now, my ritual goes like this:

Wake up by 4 a.m. If I don’t, I have a 13-pound black cat named Loki softly headbutting me into consciousness to let me know it’s time to feed him and the other two cats. After I feed them, I put on a pot of coffee, then take a joint, incense, and my tablet to the bathroom.

That’s where the real ritual begins. I smoke, meditate, and set my mind for the day. I let the noise settle. Then I kick back, run a bath, and either read a book in the tub or listen to an audiobook. It is my quiet hour before the world gets a vote.

Somewhere in between all of that, I check sports scores and news headlines while purposely avoiding any potential wrestling spoilers. I always watch the next morning on demand. But the news of Max Caster still managed to make it into my spoiler-free feed.

This column isn’t about Max Caster.

It’s about a train of thought I keep seeing.

This isn’t about whether what Max Caster said was right or wrong. I won’t say much about that, because we are all entitled to our own opinions, and we all have to answer to our own virtues and morals. I’m not here to teach people what morals and virtues are.

What this is about is the constant argument of “but the Attitude Era.”

I was born in 1980. I’ll be 46 on Thanksgiving. I lived through the Attitude Era. But the mid-’90s were a different era. That was 30 years ago.

Let me remind you of the ’90s: steroids in baseball. The Twin Towers were still standing. O.J. Simpson was on trial. Independence Day was the number one movie at the box office. Will Smith had officially broken out after The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette was the number one album.

I want to put even that into perspective. Thirty years before that, Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting for civil rights. The number one movie was the James Bond film Thunderball, and Rubber Soul by The Beatles had just been released.

Something else that was 30 years before the Attitude Era: there was no legal age of consent. Let that settle in for a moment. For my generation, we were just as far removed from a time with no legal age of consent as today is from the rise of DX.

You know what else we did in the Attitude Era? Think of every derogatory term you can think of aimed at the LGBTQ community, and we used it openly. Was it hurtful then? Yes. Did we care, or think about things in that way? No. But if something was different, “that’s gay.” If someone said something stupid, “you’re a fag.”

The world evolves. Mankind evolves. Wrestling evolves with it, and so do social norms and what is or isn’t acceptable.

Athletes are different now. There’s new science and new understanding of how to maintain or build the body. We see diverse athletes doing different things. People consume media differently. Tastes have changed. We live in a viral world where most people value moments over long-term storytelling.

So let’s take a look at what Max Caster said and compare it, just for argument’s sake.

Now, I won’t pretend to know the exact phrasing, but that’s not important. What’s important is that he used a tragedy for entertainment. He referenced an attack where at least 13 people were murdered and more than 300 were injured. These were innocent people. The strike hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and TNA later apologized, removed the segment from replays and social media, and cut ties with Caster.

Where does that become entertainment?

You know what else happened just shy of 30 years ago? Columbine. I was a senior in high school when it happened, and I remember it vividly. It was a world where school shootings were not the norm. Sixteen dead. Twenty-three injured.

I lived through this. If Degeneration X or The Rock had come out in the wake of Columbine and used it for edgy heat, it would not have flown. The outrage would have been rule. In a world where we used terms like “fag” on a daily basis with no regard for anyone else, we still would not have allowed that.

So what makes what happened in Riyadh any different? Why am I seeing people try to defend what Caster said by using the Attitude Era as an example?

Let’s look side by side:

• Attitude Era: Columbine — 16 dead, 23 injured. Columbine would have gotten someone cancelled before cancelling was even a known thing.
• Today: The Riyadh airport attack — at least 13 dead, more than 300 injured.

We are supposed to be progressing as a world and as a species, making things better. In no world is this acceptable. But to pretend these comments would have flown in the Attitude Era is someone using it as an excuse for one reason or another. If you look at the pure numbers, 39 victims would have gotten someone cancelled before cancelling was a thing. More than 300 victims, and the response is “but the Attitude Era.”

Why? Because the attack wasn’t on American soil? Because the victims were mostly Muslim? What makes this different? I’m not judging. I’m genuinely asking.

But that’s not my whole point. It’s not just current issues and how we address them.

The music we listen to and how we obtain it is different.

Every major sport is different. Why do you hear endless debates about Jordan versus LeBron? Two different eras. Two totally different games. The game has evolved and become something different.

What was a catch in the NFL 30 years ago is no longer a catch.

You know what else I did in the Attitude Era? I went to Blockbuster Video, rented a VHS called UFC 1, and watched a one-night tournament where Royce Gracie beat three men — all in the same night, all in higher weight classes than Gracie.

Would that happen today? Shane Strickland is in the same weight class. Today, if someone said Strickland was going to fight Carlos Ulberg, only to then fight Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane later that night, all within a two-hour span, we couldn’t fathom it.

Different world. Different time.

For today’s teenagers, Steve Austin and The Undertaker are what Bruno Sammartino and Lou Thesz were to my generation. Just look at the difference in presentation and what was and wasn’t acceptable then.

We need to quit comparing everything to the Attitude Era. The world is vastly different. No different than 30 years from now, in 2056, when I’m sure the art of wrestling will be much different than it is now. Austin and Undertaker will be nothing more than names from the past, an age of a bygone era, while names like Cody Rhodes will be revered for their contributions in much the same context as we view Steve Austin — as a defining part of his era.

The Enlightened Part

Here’s the thing: nostalgia is not a moral defense.

The Attitude Era gave us moments, characters, and memories that still matter. It gave a lot of us reasons to love this business. But loving something does not mean pretending it existed outside of its time. Wrestling has always been a mirror of the world around it, whether we like what the mirror shows us or not.

We don’t honor the past by dragging its worst instincts into the present. We honor it by understanding it, learning from it, and allowing the art form to grow. The Attitude Era was great for what it was. It is not a permission slip for what we do now.

Progress is not the enemy of wrestling. Forgetting where we came from is. But so is refusing to move forward.

The Fun Part

Now, on to a little fun, because I like to lighten things at the end.

So, just for shits and grins, I sat down and did a full list of my 25 all-time musical artists. I ran an algorithm that took into account my listening habits over the last six months, one year, two years, and five years.

Per “science and math,” here’s my top 25 musical artists of all time:

1. Counting Crows
2. Misfits
3. J. Cole
4. Gojira
5. Bad Religion
6. Cattle Decapitation
7. Descendents
8. Amyl and The Sniffers
9. Kendrick Lamar
10. Lorna Shore
11. Social Distortion
12. Whitechapel
13. Knocked Loose
14. The Chats
15. Dead Pioneers
16. Trivium
17. Escuela Grind
18. The Black Dahlia Murder
19. Prince
20. David Bowie
21. The Killers
22. Rapsody
23. Fleetwood Mac
24. Dead Kennedys
25. Mastodon

That list says a lot about me. Punk, metal, hip-hop, classic rock, deathcore, and a little Prince and Bowie to keep things civilized.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? Taste changes. Time changes. People change.

And so does wrestling.

Until the next smoke break, be excellent to one another.

The post Smoke Break Psychology: “But the Attitude Era” Is Not an Argument appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: Corporations Weaken Wrestling Promotions (WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, and AEW) appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

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

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

Are you ready to hear this?

Are you absolutely sure?

Ok, here it goes…

YOUR WRESTLING OPINIONS DON’T MATTER!

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

And neither does mine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onto your questions or whatever my imaginary friend asks.

————————————————————————–

ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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

Before I head into topics, I was wanting to see the College Football Playoff in the comfort of my own home and with that, I painfully forked over the $29.99 for ESPN+. Thus, I have the subscription to actually watch the Royal Rumble… Excuse me, the “Oil Rumble” next week. So yay for me, but let me just suggest that this ESPN+ platform SUCKS. Difficult to find stuff to watch, videos are glitching, and there’s nothing else WWE related to watch on this platform versus the older WWE Network and what Peacock gave us. Though Peacock didn’t have what the original WWE Network fully had, I enjoyed binging NBC/Universal stuff that I hadn’t seen yet when I’d buy just the major PLE events.

Wrestling fans are getting RIPPED OFF HARD with this new ESPN+ deal. What a joke for this $30 price tag, and I find myself considering to skip Wrestlemania 42 this year unless the card is worthy of my time. Sorry, but paying $10-15 and then expecting to pay $30 for LESS in return is absurd to me and TKO can stick it, brother.

I’ll maintain my “write when I want” mode when topics are relevant to get me out and about.

On to some various wrasslin’ topics.

Where is Roman Reigns for Wrestlemania 42?

As the plans formulate, there are discussions as to who will go for which world title and wrestle when on the Wrestlemania card. CM Punk is the World Heavyweight Champion while Drew McIntyre is the current WWE Champ. Seems to me that Cody Rhodes is going to win either the Rumble (3 times winner?!?) or the Elimination Chamber to face Drew McIntyre at WM 42. That leaves CM Punk… I believe we’re going to see Gunther vs. Brock Lesnar at WM 42, so thus that leaves CM Punk without a credible opponent. Obvious to me, it should be Roman Reigns.

BUT – I’m not to keen on pushing Roman Reigns to the moon right now. After all, he’s the “public school teacher” of the WWE because once Wrestlemania is completed, he just disappears until SummerSlam without any storyline explanation (Shawn Michaels used to be very similar, as Kevin Nash once noted for desiring summers off from wrestling). Even after SummerSlam, his participation is questionable. All it takes is his desire to spend more time with his family (which I respect) or maybe a movie role, and he just suddenly disappears.

Here is Roman’s last 5 years of output.

2021: 61
2022: 52
2023: 11
2024: 6
2025: 7

And yes, I am of the belief that “less is more” when it comes to professional wrestling, as over-exposing yourself weekly on RAW or Smackdown reduces the shine from a wrestler.

But where I think Roman peaked was through 2023 when he held BOTH WWE Titles of both RAW and Smackdown, but you barely saw him with his mere 11 matches. Hence why the WWE merged his 2 titles and re-created the World Heavyweight Championship for RAW. Read through the complaints of fans during 2023, and it was heavily based on the fact that Roman barely appeared as champion.

Now, if you look at his 2021 and 2022 numbers, those match counts are actually lower than his previous output of 100-250 matches per year.

And yes, Brock Lesnar was a part-time wrestler who wrestled a very limited schedule, mostly being exclusive to PLEs which is what Roman has evolved into. HOWEVER, what made Brock Lesnar BEFORE 2020 and Roman Reigns of 2020-2023 very similar is that they didn’t have to attend every show and could utilize Paul Heyman as their proxy. When Brock and Roman took time off, Heyman was there to still cut promos and maintain their presence and keep their hype and mystiques as the top stars still alive. For Roman, he also had the fellow Bloodline members during 2021-2023 to also keep the storylines going when Roman took time off.

THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE…

Look what happened during 2024 and 2025, however, for Roman Reigns.

For 2024, Roman Reigns lost his WWE Title at Wrestlemania 40. Rather that pursuing an obvious “rematch clause”, he disappears and doesn’t show up again until SummerSlam 2024. There was ZERO anger from Roman about losing his WWE Title and things were made even worse when Paul Heyman was powerbombed through a table during late June 2024 at the MSG Smackdown episode by the new Bloodline with Solo Sikoa claiming himself as the “head of the table”. We heard NOTHING from Roman and he never cared one iota about Heyman getting attacked by this new Bloodline group.

For 2025, Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman completed screwed him at Wrestlemania 41. On the night after RAW, at least they sort of tried to explain his Summer Vacation by having Bron Breakker and Seth Rollins. Still, he disappeared for 3 months to return later in July to feud with Bron and newly joined Vision member Bronson Reed for SummerSlam time. Shortly thereafter, he’s off to filming something again. Then he comes back during November for Survivor Series time in a slapped together WarGames match.

In my view, Roman is NOT the same without the Bloodline stable and Paul Heyman supporting him, even when Roman is gone for a while. With the Bloodline and Paul, they maintained the presence of the “head of the table” but without it, you forget that Roman is the top guy on the WWE roster. He seems lost and the match quality just isn’t the same without that hype of belonging to the Bloodline or having Paul Heyman in your corner.

He’s kind of reverted back to that LAME and BORING babyface character that wasn’t exciting during the late 2010s.

THAT’s the difference, folks… Before 2024, he had Heyman and the Bloodline maintaining his presence as the top guy. Now, that hype machine no longer exists and Roman lacks that sense of purpose other than bragging he’s the “Original Tribal Chief”. So what? You disposed of solo to start 2025, YET you were denied that big storyline with the Rock that leads to Rock putting over Roman. There’s just no purpose to Roman, other than riding off the fumes of the prior years when the Bloodline was cool. Hell, everyone involved with the Bloodline, past or present, are struggling and that includes Heyman going through the motions as the manager of the revolving door Vision.

Big creative changes are needed for Roman… He needs to take the training wheels off and begin obliterating the WWE roster again. Go into the Rumble, eliminate 10 people, and make it ZERO question who THE GUY is. Then, stick it to “old man” CM Punk convincingly at Wrestlemania 42. Then on the RAW after WM 42, the Rock’s pompous and pampered ass gets flown in to attack Roman Reigns to FINALLY set-up the match we’ve all wanted. And then we’re back on track.

No triple threat matches, no fatal four ways… Just have a babyface character that kicks ass and doesn’t take crap from anyone. Getting placed in a lame WarGames match or having to LOSE to jabronies like Bronson Reed isn’t the way to handle what you consider a top star.

And yes, “less is more”… But if you don’t maintain some form of presence, such as Paul Heyman talking about you in high regard weekly, then we’ll forget about your greatness.

*****

Royal Rumble – Where’s the Beef?

Right now, we keep hearing of a LACK of hype for the 2026 Royal Rumble or as I call it, the “Oil Rumble” because getting this show in Saudi Arabia was fully paid by oil money.

I just don’t think the WWE has any reason to sell tickets, as things are handled differently in Saudi Arabia with tickets to patrons versus trying to sell them here in North America. While the Rumble itself sells, sometimes they need to do a little more with participants and positioning of wrestlers to get North American crowds convinced to part with their money.

I just think with the Oil Rumble 2026, WWE already has their money and doesn’t have to work for it compared to selling tickets somewhere here in North America. WWE makes no money off of ticket sales in Saudi, which is the difference.

*****

Will you give Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) a try?

I still need to, as I’ve heard good things about the promotion particularly with Vince Russo motivated and writing again. I’m glad that he’s back, doing what he loves…

Regardless of what you think about Russo, he has a legitimate track record of writing for WWE during its boom period of 1997-1999 and then WWE began to decline through mid-2000 after he left. However, Russo was in WCW during the year 2000 and those storylines, including making himself WCW Champion along with David Arquette, were awful. WCW during 2000 was pure garbage, with over 20 WCW Title changes and many vacancies. And then there is WCW Bash at the Beach 2000, which was a total embarrassment aside from making Booker T champion.

His TNA stuff is mixed for me, but I know many who liked it…

If you’re going to set-up Vince Russo to succeed you either need to give him a stacked roster, which he had during 1997-1999 to work with, or cut all of the corporate red tape and just let him go for it. I think what JCW has obtained is an older, wiser Vince Russo who has had time to reflect on his career while also discussing things with wrestling fans via his podcast. As I get older, I totally get that perspective as wisdom and hindsight can make you improve upon things. In my opinion, Triple H returned to the WWE as a better man for the job during 2022 after reflecting what he tried and failed to do for WWE during 2012-2019.

Good for Russo and good for JCW. If I find time, I’ll give it a try…

I’m a big hesitant on JCW, as I still bear scars from being threatened by Insane Clown Posse (ICP) fans anytime I dared to discuss their appearances in the WWE and WCW during my past columns. But hey, ICP has been in the wrestling business for a while now and might surprise me.

*****

I don’t like WWE Unreal on Netflix

Watching Season 2, I’m seeing the WWE expose way too much of their “secret sauce” on Netflix. Specifically, the backstage production table micro-managing literally everything that happens inside and outside of the ring. If I’d suggest ONE EDIT to these shows, I’d remove that part because it makes the wrestlers appear like scripted robots rather than wrestlers performing. When you have Triple H screaming at everyone to tell Pat McAfee to sell the attack from Gunther, it completely exposes the business.

Yes, I know, “kayfabe” is long lost… But by openly having Triple H or his road agents sending communications to the referees or other WWE officials to tell the wrestlers what to specifically do, I lack any belief in what the wrestlers do.

If they removed that exposed micro-managing, I’d like the show a lot more. You could still have the life stories, show everyone working hard backstage, etc. But to show WWE producers screaming in microphones and instructing the wrestlers via the referee makes the WWE look very tacky from this Unreal show. If they removed the exposure of that, then fans wouldn’t openly know how controlling that production table is backstage and then the action inside the ring looks more credible.

I thought the show really exposed the weakness of having Road Dogg on Creative, as he’s just weak on ideas, and how impulsive Triple H really is in wanting surprises to happen. Road Dogg, who came from a wrestling family and has years of experience, just doesn’t seem to understand creative or how to convey it to other performers. Triple H, on the other hand, legitimately wanted Pat McAfee to defeat Gunther as a shock or surprise to fans until being talked out of it by another Creative Team member. That kind of tells me how reliant HHH is on how to manipulate fans with different shocks or twists, even when they are bad decisions.

If WWE removed the production table to ring communication, the show would be more enjoyable. However, because it’s there, I see nothing but constant micro-managing. And if you’ve worked in any corporate setting, being micro-managed sucks.

So what are your thoughts? Professionally state them down below in the Comments section. Thanks!

Follow me on Blue Sky!

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So last night, they kicked off a brand-new era. While it wasn’t perfect—and it clearly didn’t please the IWC if you base your opinion on Cagematch ratings—I actually liked the show overall. It did what it needed to do: first, hype the PPV on Saturday, and second, illustrate what the company is all about for people who have never watched a TNA show before.

I’ll start with the negatives. TNA really needs to invest in new cameras. While I liked the way the show was shot when it was on AXS and Fight Network, it looked very indie on a major network, especially when compared to WWE and AEW.

Also, the whole celebrity presentation was cringe-worthy. Having them seated in a section where nobody else was sitting made the arena feel empty during that portion of the show.

As for everything else, I honestly don’t have much negative to say. Starting the show with AJ Styles helped get the crowd hot and loud right away. The opening match was strong, and the post-match angle was well done, effectively hyping the tag team title match at Genesis.

All of the video packages—from the X Division to the Knockouts, and later the World Title—were very well done and helped illustrate what the company is all about for newer fans.

All of Santino’s interventions made sense, given that they had to quickly rebook some matches for Genesis. Bringing in Sonya Deville and Cora Jade will also breathe new life into the company.

The Knockouts Tag Team Title match was decent and clearly designed to take the belts off The IInspiration, whose contracts are up. We all knew they were leaving TNA after dropping the titles.

I also liked The System’s quick promo segment, as it gave JDC a chance to cut one last promo before his retirement match on Saturday.

The main event was really strong, and the crowd was fully invested. While I would have preferred Santana to win the title at Genesis, I think it was ultimately the right call to do it on this show. Let’s just hope he doesn’t drop it again on Saturday.

Bringing out Dixie Carter before the title match was a fun surprise. Love her or hate her, she was a huge part of the company. If it weren’t for her and her family, TNA probably wouldn’t exist today, so it was a nice touch to have her appear.

In the end, it wasn’t a perfect show, but it did exactly what it needed to do for a first episode. The show started hot, ended hot, and the middle was solid while educating fans who may not know much about the company.

If they can fix the presentation issues—especially things like placing celebrities on the empty side of the arena—then they’ve got something really good here that could help the company grow in the long run.

The post The first TNA Impact on AMC: A quick review appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Yet, idiot marks were nestled all snug in their beds,
With Vince McMahon’s terrible 2010s creative decisions dancing in their heads.
For years, they cried for Vince to retire and for someone to tell him “that’s a wrap”,
However, wrestling fans have become spoiled even when a good product falls in their lap.

When into my pocketbook there arose such a clatter,
As it was TKO robbing me of my earnings to make their wallets fatter.
Away to their shareholders my money flew like a flash,
That WWE, under TKO, has become all about the cash.

No matter what the circumstances, Triple H tried to put on a good show,
Even when the Rock abruptly changed his mind about Wrestlemania 41 and told him “no”.
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
It was Travis Scott who was the only one to interfere.

Despite the follow-up to a great Cena heel turn and how Wrestlemania 41 made me sick,
It felt like 2025 was still delivered by Saint Nick.
More rapid than the eagles were John Cena’s opponents stacking up by names,
As we were treated to fantastic matches that made many wrestling fans felt like they came.

Now Cody, Now CM Punk, Now Logan Paul and Brock Lesnar,
On Sami Zayn, Dominik, R-Truth, Orton, and Gunther.
To the top of the card on many top shows,
Because real wrestling fans know what a great year WWE had that kept them on their toes.

Bitter wrestling fans can just tune in to AEW for shows written by a Tony,
With 5-star matches awarded by a writer who has become a phony.
Sorry, but I dislike wrestling promotion,
As the corporate takeover of Warner Bros. has put your demise in full motion.

Congrats to TNA on their brand new AMC television deal,
But did someone give them the memo that cable TV no longer has appeal.
This promotion began in 2002 and it’s still here,
As somehow, the creative tenures of Jarrett, Russo, and Bischoff didn’t make it disappear.

With a sleigh full of toys, Fanatics was excited to see WWE fans at live events,
When WWE marks hand over their cash, that’s a price gouging consent.
Same with ESPN, who now host Premium Live Event WWE shows,
To afford watching WWE events, fans will have to sell drugs that go up the nose.

RAW on Netflix debuted and oh, how merry,
As the WWE tried to pop Netflix’s cable takeover cherry.
Somehow, Netflix is going to pay $82 billion to purchase Warner Brothers,
Right when WWE fans can no longer borrow logins from their mothers.

CM Punk was a good corporate boy this year and even brought back AJ Lee,
Becoming injured during a big angle has become Seth Rollins’s guarantee.
The Vision sucked and it was a shame to waste Paul Heyman the Oracle,
As when you get years of Lesnar and the Bloodline, the rest has been horrible.

You can yell at me and insist that I’m an old man yelling at the clouds,
With all of these return visits to my columns, I feel really proud.
As I’ve built a great relationships and a fanbase that I enjoy,
Even when the haters, with all of the free time in the world, want me destroyed.

I’ve had a great writing career and I’m proud of my work,
But I cannot having so much free time on my hands to provide feedback like a jerk.
Then again, the tears taste great and they are quite satisfying,
As 27 years of writing columns on 2 popular wrestling websites provides no denying.

I gave it my all and volunteered my time,
To hold wrestling promotions accountable even when it’s a climb,
As maybe 6 or 7 years have provided good wresting shows,
And coming up with wrestling columns is hard when the content really blows.

I want this column to be my last though it’s hard to retire,
As something interesting always happens and makes it seems like I’ve been rehired.
But I implore Aaron Rift to sharpen up the stake,
And drive it through my heart before I make another mistake.

Hopefully, you’ve had fun reading my works,
And didn’t take my columns or life too seriously like other dorks.
But I’ll exclaim, as I drive out of sight…
Thanks for everything, Merry Christmas, and to all a good night!

*****

Updated Top 10 Wrestlers of the Wrestlemania Era (since 1985)

#11 – TIE – Bret Hart, Sting, Kurt Angle, Triple H
#10 – Roman Reigns
#9 – Shawn Michaels
#8 – Macho Man Randy Savage
#7 – Brock Lesnar
#6 – Ric Flair
#5 – The Rock
#4 – The Undertaker
#3 – John Cena
#2 – Stone Cold Steve Austin
#1 – Hulk Hogan

I had Roman climbing my list, but his cooling down after Wrestlemania 40 had me reconsidering his resume and if the Bloodline was bigger than him especially since Jey Uso is so popular. In my view, Roman could cut this list in half if he can rebound and have a great year. Still, I think he lacks that trademark 5-star big win over a top talent. Us being robbed of Roman vs. Rock will forever stain his career, along with him becoming a part-time wrestler. I’m always for “less is more”, as over-exposure is bad, but disappearing for like half the year is ridiculous.

One could argue that the Rock should be higher, but his WWE career from 1997-1999 was swimming in Stone Cold’s wake. When called upon to be the top babyface during 2000, WWE started to fall from its peak. Still, though, I applaud Rock for putting many wrestlers over during his prime and the mainstream success that he’s had. However, John Cena is a better actor in my opinion, as NOTHING Rock has on film even compares to the Peacemaker HBO MAX series in terms of quality. Cena has a long film career ahead of him because he’s coachable and perceived as a real guy, whereas Rock is more of an image.

2025 saw us losing Hulk Hogan, the #1 wrestler in wrestling history in my opinion. Sure, he made a sex tape and said racist things, as I 100% do not condone that… But, that stuff happened after his best years were wrapped up. Hogan had 4 massive drawing eras with his AWA work, rejoining WWE in its nationwide boom, joining WCW and then turning heel for the NWO, and then his WWE return during the 2000s. Guy was complete money, no matter what you said about the creative control he had. There’s a reason why he was given creative control, brother…

Steve Austin is at #2, despite really 1996-1999 really being his white hot years. He was nothing like this major draw in WCW as “Stunning” Steve, though he was one of my favorite wrestlers there. And then when Austin returned to the WWE during 2000, it was a different world with new people in charge of creative and Triple H was there to compete with for the top spot and Vince’s attention. The Steve Austin we got from 2000-2004 wasn’t the same and the 2001 heel turn really exposed that fact.

Two wrestlers that I thought about having on my list were Andre the Giant and Roddy Piper, but if 1985 is my cutoff point, that shaves off many great moments of their career prior to Wrestlemania.

The wrestler whom I feel deserves “Honorable Mention” is Chris Jericho. Aside from AEW, anytime he was with the WWE, he wasn’t the top guy as Austin, Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, and John Cena were always a notch ahead of him. But damn, the consistency of Jericho has always been there and he’s always been a productive wrestler. People crapping on his AEW work don’t realize that he’s doing this stuff in his late 40s and early 50s. As I write this damn column this morning, I’m sore from lifting and moving Christmas stuff from yesterday. I cannot imagine how his body feels from wrestling upwards of 3,000 matches or so. I’ll be very curious on how his WWE return goes and if that adds to his legacy.

CM Punk deserves recognition too, though I’m sad that we were denied seeing him wrestle for over 7 years. Punk was white hot during the Summer of 2011 and could have been something, but Triple H had personal issues with him then and sabotaged his run. The year-long WWE Title run was a joke, as he barely main evented RAW or Pay Per Views as champion. However, CM Punk was incredible during 2013 by pulling high quality matches out of Cena, Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar while having to deal with sandbagging from the Rock twice and the awful feud with Ryback. Then, Punk was given the task of trying to start Roman Reigns’s babyface run and carried his confused arse during that January 2014 RAW match. I think if WWE flips Punk to a heel and cuts him loose, you’ll see greatness again. Corporate babyface Punk is good, but he just needs an edge to make him great.

I really don’t like what 2026 brings, as we no longer have John Cena to carry this company. While I like Punk and Cody, they both need better dance partners and they’ve already burned through most top match-ups already. WWE has a “part-time” problem in managing how they use Rock, Roman, and Brock and dealing with their availabilities causes too much creative chaos. I also lack faith the younger generation of male wrestlers, while I’ve become bored with the entire women’s division. 2026 will also bring about more corporate TKO BS, as we’ll have the Saudi Rumble and Wrestlemania 41 again in Las Vegas. Then, Saudimania in 2027… Looks dreary, with lots of price gouging and sponsorships on the horizon.

But hey, at least WWE is better than the utter crap Tony Khan cannot deliver from his loins. Tony, YOU SUCK at your job running AEW and you’re lucky that desperate cable companies are looking for any kind of live sports content to draw at least 700,000 eyeballs to their channel. However, Warner Bros. Discovery will get sold during 2026 as a complete package or with the channels split-up. When you spend either $82 billion or $102 billion for something, you’ll cut the dead weight or expensive contracts to make that happen. They are spending that money for DC Comics and Looney Tunes franchises, not pro wrasslin’.

Here’s a bold prediction that I’ll make for the next 5-10 years… You’re going to see a massive corporate debt bubble explode thanks to all of these media companies having tons of debt. Whether Netflix or Skydance/Paramount buys Warner Bros., both will have massive debt to pay off and their financially tapped subscribers won’t do it. With time, I think that you’ll see some of these media companies seeking bankruptcy protection and then that will spill into commercial banks. Then, these tech and crypto guys will start overpaying for it, and then once their investments go bust, all of this intellectual property stuff will be available on the market for cheap. And that is when the patiently waiting Amazon, Apple, and Google will scoop all of these massive media properties for pennies on the dollar.

By the way, TKO itself has $4 billion in debt, while Endeavor had about $6 billion in debt before being privately acquired by Silverlake. Funny how companies with big revenue streams have a ton of debt, almost like the company’s owners, who are recipients of that money, are hoping that someone else will pay off their loans for them…

I don’t know, folks… I hate to put coal in all of your Christmas stockings, but I think 2023-2024 will be looked up on as wrestling’s latest peak in business and the interest in the product has been declining ever since. Letting your top stars become part-time performers while price gouging on everything has consequences. Not giving a crap about storyline quality also creates issues…

But hey, the beauty about writing this stuff voluntarily is that I can do what I want and when I want… I don’t have to watch wrestling, nor do I have to feel compelled to write about it. It’s YOU, the longtime readers, who keep drawing me back… From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for over 27 years of support and relationships built. Given the thousands of columns that I produced, you know that I gave you everything I had to provide written entertainment, free of charge, that was 100% honest with its audience. Unlike the WWE of today that is dollar driven, you know that I wrote these columns for the love of pro wrestling and for you, my longtime readers. I appreciate everything that my platforms (LoP, Top-Rope, NoDQ) have given me and the many people who have read me.

Thanks a million.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: ‘Twas The Night Before Pro Wrestling Christmas – 2025 Edition – John Cena, TKO’s Corporate Takeover of WWE, and More appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

It is still funny how WWE fans have suddenly become “anti-Triple H”, even though for much of 2022-2024, HHH was praised for his creative work after years of enduring the “stale”, “obsolete”, or “senile” Vince McMahon micro-management of WWE’s creative. Oh, and what appears to be a quid pro quo system that Vince employed plus allegedly trafficking WWE employees. Yet, somehow during 2025, idiot WWE fans somehow want Vince McMahon back.

No, what you want is for the TKO Corporation to cool it with their corporate micro-management of the WWE along with TKO removing The Rock from the WWE board. What pisses YOU off about the WWE right now is the amount of sponsors, the price gouging, and the Rock with his “now you see me, now you don’t” routine.

But go ahead, want and desire for Vince McMahon to return… Let’s see who he sexually assaults or asks for sexual favors. Maybe he’ll bring back John Laurinaitis and they can pass around the same female WWE employees? Maybe Vince can re-incorporate his terrible comedy into the storylines that only make him laugh? Maybe Vince can just push 1-2 people at a time and let the rest of the roster endure 50/50 booking. Boy, those late 2010s years were “exciting” with a green Roman Reigns babyface and overpushed Charlotte Flair ruling everything. So exciting.

If you don’t like WWE, then watch All Elite Wrestling. Go endure that promotion where Tony Khan has zero clue and trusts goofs like the Young Bucks to assemble a roster full of spot machines and older ex-WWE wrestlers.

And remember, Triple H didn’t sellout to Endeavor… That was Vince McMahon, who forced his way back onto the WWE board and return as Board Chairman during 2023. Vince then forced the sale and that’s where WWE is today.

Hey TKO, how much money is enough money?

WWE is extracting $5 billion over 10 years with Netflix (5-year opt out clause), $1.4 billion over 5 years with NBC Universal, $1.6 billion over 5 years with ESPN, massive Fanatics deal, many corporate sponsors littering WWE rings/ringsides/events, $20-30 million per Saudi event with Royal Rumble 2025 and Wrestlemania 42 likely to pay more, and many cities overpaying WWE to host events in the United States.

How much money is enough, WWE or TKO? Gates earned at live WWE events are now a fraction of the WWE’s revenues, so why keep price gouging WWE fans over ticket prices and merchandise?

THAT is where the hatred needs to be focused, WWE fans… Triple H has made the WWE BETTER since 2022, especially following the utter crap that Vince McMahon has micro-managed for much of the 21st Century.

In my opinion, the John Cena retirement tour was a success… The Rock refusing to be available isn’t Triple H’s fault, but coming up with the exciting Elimination Chamber heel turn was (Rock reported wanted Cody Rhodes to turn heel). Cena as both a heel and face was able to wrestle a VARIETY of wrestlers during 2025, such as Cody, CM Punk, and Randy Orton and then shift gears to wrestle AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Logan Paul, and Gunther as a babyface. Many great matches within the 36 appearances of John Cena.

But keep nitpicking… Why not go back to pre-2022, especially those lousy 2010s, when Vince McMahon was pushing a green Roman Reigns babyface down our throats, protecting Charlotte Flair, and having Brock Lesnar destroy the rest of the roster. Enjoy those years where RAW went from 4 million average RAW viewers to under 2 million.

Wrestling fans can be their own worst enemy…

Onto your questions…

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ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

Several have asked that I list the name of the readers who ask each question. Usually, most of these are a result of chatting with multiple long-time readers on current event topics, but I’m always open to feedback. Thus, for today’s Ask Tito, I’m going to be transparent… I’m going to actually list the person who asks each question. I hope that will ease the tension that some of the more aggressive commenters seem to have and hopefully, that fulfills the free time spent reading my columns each time I post them. Sound good?

Let’s get onto the first question.

Mark Joseph asks: Do you think that Chris Jericho will return to the WWE and if so, when?

AEW is a slow sinking ship, and Jericho has value in the WWE with a nostalgic run. We just witnessed nostalgia all year with John Cena and I would imagine that Jericho wants to have that for him. Plus, WWE wants to make money off of an old name returning, as WWE is THICK with wrestling fans that are 45 years or older who are still fond of the Attitude Era. That, and Jericho has been a big part of the WWE during the 21st century.

One thing that Triple H likes with his booking is to create surprises in the forms of returns or debuts. Seems obvious to me that Jericho shall return at Saudi Rumble 2025 in January. Jericho is known for making a few surprise entrants at the Rumble and that would be perfect.

*****

Terrible Lover asks: Where is the Nikki Bella heat coming from?

The Bellas have always been a polarizing duo in the WWE… Both were models when they were hired with zero wrestling experience. However, they were twins and that was the appeal. Then, both ladies began dating wrestlers with Brie dating and marrying Daniel Bryan while Nikki began dating John Cena. Combine that with their Total Divas and then Total Bellas shows, they’ve been over-exposed a bit. Then you have Nikki going up against the NXT call-ups during 2015-2017 that shows a clear contrast between Nikki and fully trained wrestlers.

I think Nikki took lumps over the fallout of dating John Cena, especially after that wedding proposal at Wrestlemania. Cena’s popularity took a slight hit, too, but he’s been a top WWE star whereas Nikki is a female wrestler and that’s the midcard for WWE.

But I think with any wrestler, anytime Nikki comes back to the WWE, they push her because she has some mainstream appeal. That rubs fans the wrong way, as someone like Charlotte feels that kind of heat, too, as she’s always pushed whenever she returns.

However, I also think that Nikki’s personality rubs people the wrong way. To me, she sounds a little entitled when she speaks and I don’t know how you can scrub that tone of voice. And I think that she gives off the impression that she creates a lot of drama. She took the troll bait about possibly dating younger men, for example, instead of letting it go because she’s pretty and should attract men of any age.

Everything is about presentation… Present yourself to be entitled, and fans won’t envy you for it.

*****

Baseless Vacant asks: What do you think the impact will be of TNA airing on AMC?

Minimal. We have too much wrestling on right now, as it is, between WWE and AEW. Unless TNA can present themselves as something different than WWE and AEW (hard to do so when you’re working with WWE), they’ll be dependent on a declining cable model and AMC really doesn’t have a strong streaming presence.

I keep saying this… If you’re a wrestling promotion, you’re NOT going to gain an audience unless you create a superstar that nobody has seen before (or used differently) or if you’re presentation doesn’t change. Go back to the 1990s… WCW won the Monday Night Wars, initially, because they had the reality-based storylines and they repackaged Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to be amazing superstars with the New World Order. For WWE, they repackaged Steve Austin, HHH, and Mick Foley while having an amazing developmental system created new superstars often. Creatively, WWE changed to a more adult themed show which they stole from ECW. Speaking of which, ECW was successful based on their presentation as an adult themed show.

That is why AEW struggles to draw people in arenas or draw anything above 600,000 viewers… Creatively stinks, the roster lacks unique wrestlers that people want to see, and the presentation is weak, especially since 2022.

WWE improved its presentation by having a new TV producer, Triple H is better at creative than older Vince, and WWE’s roster is loaded. Hence, their return to glory.

*****

Sean asks: What is your thoughts on Austin Theory joining and possibly leading the Vision?

I think nothing of it, and it’s not because of Austin Theory in particular.

In my opinion, the Vision has been a terrible stable and storyline for the WWE following Wrestlemania 41. It began as a bad idea, even though the turn was executed well at WM 41, because we’ve seen Seth Rollins switch between heel and babyface so many times. Thus, he’s in that Big Show category where he doesn’t seem credible with his character (though he is a fantastic in-ring performer). It just didn’t work, and I didn’t think Bron Breakker or Bronson Reed were exciting additions either. Bron Breakker just doesn’t have a good character yet, while you can tell Bronson is a beloved Triple H guy based on the opportunities fed to him.

If you’ve ever seen the classic film Just One of the Guys, the classic character Buddy shreds the ex-boyfriend of his hot sister by saying “what a waste of a sports car”. Well, the Vision is a complete waste of Paul Heyman’s services and character.

So now, you have Austin Theory, who was overpushed but NOT ready because Vince McMahon liked him, and then depushed once he flamed out and then when Vince left as the leader or the “masked man” joining the Vision. In WWE, his career totals are 120 wins versus 187 losses and he was a midcard champion for a while. WWE didn’t take him seriously prior to this reveal, so why should I take his reveal seriously?

Honestly, I wish him the best… But the vehicle that he’s joining, the Vision, is an old beat-up car that nobody wants to ride in nor do they want to see it driven down the road.

*****

Morbid Commenter asks: Do you think that the acquisition of Warner Bros. could impact AEW’s deal?

They have a deal with guaranteed money, right? Whomever buys Warner Bros., or maybe the split-up version of Warner Bros. Discovery, will have to assume the debts and contracts that were already in place. THAT SAID, whomever acquires can receive tax benefits from merger/acquisition write-offs and this contract would qualify under that.

Netflix buying just the Warner Bros. Movie/TV studios and content, along with HBO Max, creates an interesting conundrum for AEW because they have a deal with HBO Max for streaming but also deals with TNT/TBS for their live shows. If Netflix does buy just Warner Bros./HBO Max and doesn’t touch TNT/TBS, as expected for $82 billion, then I can easily see AEW getting their HBO Max streaming deal shredded… Maybe it exists briefly if Netflix tries to run both Netflix and HBO Max, but eventually, they’ll be merged together and with Netflix being the exclusive home of WWE RAW, that will push AEW out.

The more interesting tale is the Skydance/Paramount “hostile” bid of $108 billion that wants to buy everything Warner Bros. Discovery, not just what Netflix specifically wants. Now, granted, this deal has already fallen apart with some of the foreign investors stepping back… However if Skydance/Paramount succeed, then HBO Max and Paramount+ are now 2 separate streaming platforms that I’d expect to eventually merge. Guess what is on Paramount+, starting in 2026? UFC which TKO owns… But then again, live sports content is live sports content, so Skydance/Paramount could retain AEW especially since they are cheaper than most sports.

Either way, I see a major BUST happening in the upcoming years… All of these major media corporations have like over $30 billion in debt and are beginning to lack the ability to attract dollars to their massive intellectual properties. I see a MASSIVE Commercial Loan bubble happening for these media companies when they just can’t payoff of their billions in debt. Then, you’ll see a firesale of these massive properties and trademarks and your cash-heavy companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon will scoop them up for bargain prices while their platforms take over.

Completely stupid what is happening in the marketplace with all of these mergers allowed to happen while banks are allowed to lend out ridiculous amounts of money to failed business models.

*****

Unless something breaking happens, I’ll likely just post a Christmas-themed column and then be done for the year. Even then, if you don’t see me for the rest of this holiday season, THANK YOU FOR READING and have a great Christmas and Holiday season. Love ya!

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post ASK TITO: Chris Jericho in WWE?, TNA to AMC, Warner Bros. Sale Affecting AEW, Nikki Bella Heat, and More appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

But what could this mean for the company as a whole?

First of all, getting a big influx of money will allow them to run more live shows on Thursdays, which is a huge plus. Having a live weekly show is pivotal in today’s wrestling landscape if you want to grow your audience.

It also means they will have more money to pay talent and either keep some of their key players or sign a few new names away from other companies.

It also means they will have enough money to book bigger arenas, especially for PPVs, which will help them grow the brand and potentially secure an even better TV deal when this current one expires.

Finally, and most importantly, it’s going to help them expand their audience. Personally, I’m glad they decided to stay on Thursdays—even though the show will now start an hour later—because that means most weeks they will continue to run unopposed and grow their fanbase. That way, when AEW occasionally moves Collision to Thursdays, TNA will be ready for the competition and maybe even able to give them a run for their money.

You also have to take into consideration that the NXT/TNA relationship is expected to continue. That means they’ll get a better platform for their product on Thursdays while also getting added exposure on The CW on Tuesdays, which is going to be even more beneficial for them.

In the end, if you’re a TNA fan like I am, this is absolutely great news for the brand. And if this brings back an era where multiple companies are fighting to be the top alternative, that’s even better—it will only push both AEW and TNA to deliver a stronger product for the fans.

The post TNA Wresting’s new television deal with AMC and what this could mean for the brand appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Let’s Talk About the Product

Bookers in wrestling are known to have a shelf life. Pretty much every major booker who has ever had a decent run in this business has had what is called a “honeymoon” period wherever everything just seems to click. Bill Watts had it, Eric Bischoff had it, Kevin Sullivan, Vince McMahon, Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo, Tony Khan, Paul Levesque. They all had periods of sustainability where it seemed like nothing could go wrong. From the beginning of Hulkamania until 1993 was a very profitable period for the WWF. Hulk Hogan was riding high as the face of the company and guys like Randy Savage, Mr.Perfect, Rick Rude, etc were giving fans something to cheer for.

From the formation of the New World Order until about the end of 1998 was the high tide of WCW. It was a period where they pretty much whooped the WWF for 83 consecutive weeks and saw the emergence of stars like Bill Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page among others. The WWF from 1998 until March of 2001 was considered peak Attitude Era with guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Kurt Angle all being staples of Monday Night Raw and Smackdown.

TNA from 2007 until about 2010 was what some would consider peak TNA. They signed a bunch of disgruntled former WWE stars and built stars like AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, James Storm, Jay Lethal etc to a pretty stacked roster. AEW from the formation of the company in 2019 until about mid 2022 was about a hot as any company could be. They were even at a point where they beat WWE Raw in the demo a few times while beating WWE NXT pretty much every week. WWE from 2022 unitl the end of 2024 was the hottest that company had been since the Attitude Era. Midcard titles felt important again, Tag team Wrestling was being utilized and angles were getting paid off the right way with a vision toward the future.

Now I say that while also acknowledging that each one of the bookers also had a period of complacency where it seemed like nothing was going to work. WWF from 1993 until 1996 was the truck that killed the boom period of Hulkamania. Part of the problem was Hogan leaving for WCW and them not having enough adequate star power to replace the attraction. Savage was gone Steamboat was gone, Rude was gone, Warrior was gone. They were left with eventual hall of famers but at the time, unproven commodities in Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon, a young Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Rocky Maivea, and the Ringmaster Steve Austin.

It was one of the roughest periods in company history that thankfully ended with the emergence of more “attitude”. WCW rode high off the success of 96-98 but then hit a brick wall in 1999 until the company died in 2001. Part of that was letting egos run rampant, the hiring of Vince Russo, the emergence of the “worked shoot” angles and a lack of creative direction by Vince Russo and his crack team of creative geniuses.

TNA from the moment Hogan and Bischoff arrived until they left was some of the most creatively frustrating periods of wrestling television I’ve ever witnessed. Turning Jeff Hardy heel, the Nasty Boys in 2010, The Band, Hogan vs Sting, Immortal. Some of the worst stuff you will ever see on American television. WWE under Vince McMahon suffered a creative drought from about 2005 until Vince left the company in 2022. Sure, there were bright spots but the dull spots far outweighed it. The Guest Host era almost killed my love for professional wrestling. 2017-2019 WWE was some of the most mind numbing wrestling you’ll see.

The Pandemic era, outside of the birth of the Tribal Chief and the Bloodline, Drew Mcintyre, Bayley and Sasha Banks, the Pandemic era was an era I try to block out of my mind completely. From 2022 until the beginning of 2025 was a rough period for AEW. The creative drive that sparked their first 3 years wasn’t there anymore. Cody Rhodes left, CM Punk left, Jade Cargill left, Penta and Fenix left. Their creative felt lazy and uninspired.

Has WWE under Triple H hit their creative wall? One could argue that. WWE Smackdown was atrocious during their 3 hour run earlier this year. WWE Raw has mostly stayed consistent but their PLE’s have been hit or miss. They botched John Cena’s heel turn but I won’t put all the blame on them for that one. The real good bookers find ways to overcome those creative walls. Tony Khan turned his around this year once he started giving the shows a more creative focus and direction and stopped letting outside forces dictate his booking.

If Paul Levesque is as good as hr was from 2022-2024, he will turn his around as well. WWE Smackdown, while generally being the weaker show this year, has seen a vast improvement over the last two months. It still needs more consistency but the shows have generally been easier to watch as of late. NXT is always an easy watch. I get why it’s not everybody’s cup of tea because a lot of the stuff they try just doesn’t hit but that’s what developmental is for, to try new things. WWE Raw has been the most consistent of shows for WWE this year, primarily due to the move to Netflix. So if this is the creative wall, we will see how good of a booker Triple H is to get himself out of it.

Politics In Wrestling

Look, I made the decision a long time ago not to mix politics in wrestling. Those that know me know my stances. I lean to the left, can’t stand the current political climate while also acknowledging the issues within my own party. When I look at professional wrestling I look at it like a television show. When I watch Law and Order, I don’t think to myself “I wonder if Elliot Stabler is MAGA?” because I just do not care nor will I let it hinder my enjoyment. If you’re not a right leaning republican and you let politics dictate who you support in wrestling, you are going to be disappointed more often than not.

All I ask is that wrestlers don’t try to force their political views on me. Undertaker is one of the most MAGA coded wrestlers that walks the earth and everybody loves him. Hulk Hogan was equally as MAGA and got booed out of the building during Raw on Netflix. What’s the difference? Well, Undertaker just says “Yeah I support Donald Trump and I’m voting for him”. Meanwhile, Hogan was at the Trump rally ripping his MAGA shirt like he was getting ready to face Roddy Piper, and instead of owning up to why he was booed, he chalked it up to California being a democratic state, even though he also got booed 4 years ago at WrestleMania 37 in his hometown of Tampa, Florida, a traditionally pro-republican state.

WWE, nor AEW, is doing that. Sure, I can go without the videos on TV of Triple H at the White House but those are 30 second to 2 minute clips. They aren’t giving campaign speeches. I hate the avoidance of mentioning Black History Month, LGBTQ month, Women’s appreciation, etc. That’s my only real gripe but I don’t think that is due to Triple H or WWE’s political views as they acknowledged those months last year with the same people in charge.

Do I think Donald Trump placed a call and told them not to do it? No. Would I put it past him? No. Things like El Grande Americano exist and when it was Chad Gable, it’s clear it was very poor in taste. Now that it’s Ludwig Kaiser, it seems the whole creative direction on it has changed and it’s actually one of the most popular characters on every AAA show.

Politics in wrestling is usually something I never talks about because it never ends in common ground being reached. I’m going to let you in on a secret. Most of your favorite wrestlers in the business both past and present likely voted for Donald Trump or didn’t vote at all. Most of them are just quiet about it because the potential backlash they’d receive just isn’t worth it. Getting caught up on who supports who isn’t worth it either. You will enjoy wrestling a lot more if you just watch the shows and don’t go on the internet to see what others thought of the shows.

Ticket Prices: Will they ever go down?

The ticket price fiasco is one of the biggest gripes against WWE I’ve seen this year. Ticket prices have nearly doubled under TKO and for solid reason: Because people are buying them. I’ve said all along that as long as people are buying these tickets, TKO is justified in keeping the prices as is. I’ve heard for the last year plus that a crash is coming and the attendance is going to nosedive. All the while, they’re still selling out stadiums despite growing prices. Are they too high? For me, yes, because I’m in a tax bracket that cannot afford most of these tickets so unless it is a main roster PLE near me, I’m probably not going.

So when will the prices come back to earth? Well if they keep selling them like they are now, never. People like to point to certain shows in rural areas in the middle of no where that only do 4,000 tickets and say “Well the attendance is dying down” while ignoring the previous 6 shows that all did over 8,000 tickets. If they did 13,000 tickets the last time they were there and this time around, they do 10,000? I’m sorry, that does not mean attendance is dying.

If they do 13,000 and the next time through, they do 5,000, then you have room to voice that narrative. I can’t agree that a crash is coming during a year where they’ve done 6 nights of stadium shows this year and sold at least 40,000 tickets to all of them and they have one left, Survivor Series, that at press time is sitting at 30,000 without a single match announced.

I would love for tickets to be $200 for front row seats again but as long as people keep buying tickets as they are now, I don’t see that price coming down. As a fan, it bums me out but as a business man and someone who understands that this is the nature of it, I understand it.

WWE and The War on Media(and contracts)

People can make excuses and call me whatever they want but I have the ability to look at things from a fan’s point of view while also acknowledging that it’s how business works. I guess when you’ve worked in the corporate world as I have, you learn to differentiate what’s personal and what’s business. Over the last 5 years, I think the only release WWE has made that I just did not understand from a fan or business perspective was Bray Wyatt. The Fiend was no doubt making money hand over fist and outweighing whatever the value was on his contract at the time.

His release felt personal and a way for Vince McMahon to make an example out of anyone who wanted to have their own voice. Most releases nowadays are done with business sense in mind. It’s not the days of the pandemic where Vince released like 50-100 wrestlers who didn’t really have anywhere to go at the time besides AEW which caused the oversaturation of their roster as Tony tried to sign just about everybody.

The Samantha Irvin situation is one nobody knew about for a year. She says she has a 2 year non-compete which, for an employee, is completely reasonable under U.S. Law. She obviously isn’t too concerned about it seeing as she waited until the one year anniversary of her leaving to tell us she had another year left. She’s doing great by the way, check out her music.

Andrade, however, is one of the more confusing ones. Based on what has been reported, he was fired with cause and given a one year non-compete that is unpaid. If that is accurate, it is almost impossible to hold up in court. Will Andrade fight it? Who knows. He could show up Monday on Raw for all we know. The non-competes have always been subject to discussion. Most fans want them eliminated from WWE. Most wrestlers do not mind them as it allows them to be paid for a certain period while they figure out their next move.

The Unpaid aspect is where it gets tricky. You cannot tell a guy he can’t make a living somewhere else while also not paying him to sit at home. It doesn’t work like that. Hopefully it gets resolved soon and we can move on. Do I wish WWE had a more positive relationship with media? Of course. Maybe they do behind the scenes but when it comes to publicly, it is anything but. Maybe that’s due to certain PR missteps, I don’t know. I’m not in those rooms.

The Media landscape has changed dramatically. A lot more people with blue checkmarks claim to be scoopsters when they’re just trying to gain a following. Media literacy is at an all time low. I hope for better relationships between media and WWE in 2026 but as of right now, I’m not hopeful. 2025 has not been kind to WWE PR wise.

Working with other promotions

One thing WWE has done successfully in 2025 is prop TNA Wrestling up as a legitimate third major wrestling promotion. TNA Bound for Glory outsold AEW Wrestledream held in the same month. Even if it is TNA’s flagship PPV, the thought of a TNA PPV outselling an AEW one would’ve gotten you laughed out of the building even a year ago. Now I won’t give WWE all the credit. TNA has done a pretty good job of highlighting their talent but you would be naïve not to give much of the credit to the partnership with NXT. WWE also bought part of the AAA promotion. AAA has been a staple in Mexico forever but they’ve never had the machine behind them like WWE. Dominik Mysterio is a rockstar over there and guys like El Grande Americano and Mr. Iguana have seen their profiles increase dramatically over the last several months.

Is WWE doing this to harm AEW? Absolutely. You can feel how you want about counter programming and whether it has worked or not but from a business perspective, this was inevitable. WCW went head to head with WWF on Monday Nights. TNA tried going head to head with WWE on Monday Nights. WWE tried to put NXT head to head with AEW on Wednesday Nights.

Counter programming has been around forever. Why it’s suddenly an issue now is beyond me. Every PPV from both WWE and AEW is now on a streaming service. It’s not like the Monday Night wars where you had to switch back and forth. You can watch one PPV and then watch the other right after it if you choose. The only people who have a gripe is those that cover those shows as I’m sure covering them live is better and you can’t do that obviously if they overlap.

Is WWE trying to kill AEW? I doubt it. They likely know AEW will be around as long as Tony wants to finance it. Is WWE trying to handicap AEW to keep them from getting too big? Absolutely and to be honest, that’s what they should do from a business perspective. You never want your competitor to be as big as you are.

Are WWE wrestlers paid enough?

That seems to be the question after recent departures of multiple WWE ID talent as well as Jazmyn Nix. People complaining that 75,000 isn’t enough based on what WWE makes and you’re right. Except the fact that NXT is a developmental talent. If they paid NXT talent main roster level money, there’s no way they’re getting the return on that investment and we would see a lot more releases than we are now. NXT is like a Minor league baseball team. Minor league players aren’t making the same amount of money as players on the New York Yankees. Why? Because they’re in developmental. When they get to the big show then their pay changes.

WWE wrestlers are being paid more than ever, primarily because of the existence of AEW. That doesn’t mean guys from EVOLVE and WWE ID should be getting main roster money when WWE doesn’t even know who they’re going to keep. I get wanting talent to make more money but most talents aren’t hurting for it either. Releasing guys like Ridge Holland, who was injured and took a pay cut last year to stay with WWE, is a bad look. Do I think he’s good enough for what I want to see? No. At the end of the day, you should at least pay his downside guarantee until he’s healthy.

TNA, of course, is another option for wrestlers but some, like Cora Jade, are not choosing that option due to the WWE partnership. My thing is people complaining that TNA is just a feeder system for released WWE talent to go and still appear on WWE television. Like, have you watched TNA at all the last 23 years? They’ve always been a place released WWE talent can go and be recognized. Most of the talent in TNA that came over from WWE did so before this partnership started.

Acting like this is an issue now because of the partnership is extremely naïve and short sighted. TNA has always been a destination for former WWE talent. Matt Cardona has been in and out of there for 5 years now. Mustafa Ali was there before the partnership. Steve Maclin, Eric Young, Brian Myers, a host of others. Does the WWE partnership possibly give them a foot in the door to possibly go back if they want? Sure it does but acting like WWE released these talents so they could go to TNA and WWE could use them for less money is extremely ridiculous revisionist history.

WWE’s New Regime

Is WWE perfect? No. Creatively speaking and completely devoid of the allegations against him, I see no desire for Brock Lesnar in WWE in 2025. There’s no need for him, he does not add anything to the show and I don’t know where he fits in current WWE. He seems to be on his usual part time schedule so in that respect, I guess I can handle it because I don’t have to see him as much. Technically, he didn’t do anything illegal but waiting for the lawsuit to be over would’ve still been the better alternative.

I’ve seen troll accounts call for the return of Vince McMahon. Need I remind you, despite the allegations against him, he was creatively bankrupt for nearly 20 years before he left. This is the same guy that almost made Roman Reigns quit the business because he drenched him in dog food. Vince made Jinder Mahal the WWE Champion. He made LA Knight a manager for male models. He was past his due date for leaving that company.  No matter how much you dislike WWE currently, under no circumstances can anyone with a straight face give me one good reason why WWE would be better under Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Who do you believe?

My thing has always been, are the wrestlers that come to work happy? When WWE released all those wrestlers under Vince McMahon, pretty much every one of them had a negative perception of working under Vince. Talent was walking on eggshells, not wanting to do anything to piss off a senile old man. Now, that doesn’t seem to be the case. When released talent get interviews, most of them speak positively about their experience. They do speak about issues creatively that they had. With the exception of a couple, most wrestlers interviewed don’t really bash Triple H. At least not like they used to tear into Vince. Sure, Vince had his favorites, and he did right by some, but the majority of current and former talent seem to have issues with TKO more than Triple H(the guy who actually fired them).

Every report I have read on talent morale or every Q&A I’ve seen has described it as good, great, fine, or decent. Could it be better? Yes. As long as Wrestlers enjoy coming to work every day, that’s what matters. I can’t complain about their treatment. Especially if they feel they’re treated well.  I promise you a lot of the stuff people complain about online is cared about a lot more by them than it is the wrestlers.

Conclusion

This is the longest article I have ever written. I felt compelled to get my thoughts off my chest. WWE has an opportunity to turn things around creatively. PR wise, that might take a little longer. At the end of the day, it is all about the talent and what they want. People are still going there when their contracts come up.

Talent is still re-signing instead of testing the market. Something about it is still appealing to them. Yes, the brand is part of it. Most of these wrestlers now just want to make a good living and enjoy what they do. If they’re content doing that, who am I to say they’re wrong? Talent happiness has always been my number one priority. If you are a fan of professional wrestling, it should be yours too.

Until Next time.

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