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.

The show started well with the World Heavyweight Championship match, as Roman Reigns defended the title against LA Knight.

We all knew Knight wasn’t going to win the title, as I have a feeling the endgame is for Oba Femi to be the guy who dethrones Reigns, either at WrestleMania or sooner. However, we could at least expect a really strong match between these two, and that’s exactly what we got.

Knight and Reigns showed why they are considered main event players in WWE. They put together a match that took fans on a ride and made them believe Knight might actually have a chance of beating Roman for the championship. He didn’t, and Reigns ultimately retained, but Knight was elevated in the process, which is better than nothing.

Afterward, Reigns had his first interactions with Royce Keys and his group, leading to The Bloodline and Solo attacking them. The two groups then brawled all over the arena. That was a great overall opening for the show, in my opinion, and I want to see where this goes.

Then, the show started to go into a downward spiral, beginning with the women’s Money in the Bank match.

Nothing against these women, as they did their best with what they were given and put on a very strong match overall. However, this was an opportunity for WWE to create a new star, as four of the participants were fresh faces, while the two veterans, Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton, could help them along.

Personally, I would have given the briefcase to Roxanne, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing Sol Ruca, Lash Legend, or even Lola Vice get the big win over Tiffany, who was the safe choice in my opinion.

At least with Roxanne, you would have someone new getting a push, along with the interesting story of whether she would betray Liv Morgan and cash in on her. With Tiffany, I feel like one of two things will happen. Either she’ll betray Chelsea Green and cash in on her, which would automatically turn Tiffany heel, or she’ll wait for Chelsea to lose the title and cash in on whoever wins it, probably Nikki Bella. That would suck.

WWE had a chance to make a new star with this match, but they decided to go with the same old, same old. I’m not really interested in that.

Next, we had Oba Femi vs. Bronson Reed, which was pretty much what I expected: a way to make Oba look unstoppable and create the next Brock Lesnar in the process.

Too bad they had to kill off The Vision in order to do that.

Nothing against the match itself, but where does The Vision go from here after being completely destroyed by Oba Femi? They did pretty much everything they could to beat him, even using brass knuckles and having Bronson Reed hit the Tsunami. Oba still got up and destroyed not only Bronson but Austin Theory as well, while making Logan Paul look like a complete idiot in the process.

This was a humiliation of The Vision as a faction. How can fans take these three seriously after this match? The only interesting part was seeing Paul Heyman’s reaction afterward and wondering where things will go from here.

While this did wonders for Oba, The Vision was collateral damage, and it’s going to be difficult for the group to recover and convince fans that they’re still a strong faction.

The fourth match was the Women’s World Championship match, and I had high hopes for it because all three women have delivered great matches together in the past. However, this was an average match at best, and I really didn’t understand the ending.

This showed that the only reason WWE gave Stephanie the championship in Chile was to give fans a big moment at that show and try to boost subscriptions to its Club WWE program. Outside of that, it made little sense to give the belt to Stephanie only for her to drop it back to Liv a month later.

Liv as champion isn’t interesting anymore, especially since the Money in the Bank briefcase is on SmackDown, and I doubt WWE will have Tiffany jump to RAW to cash in.

So where does this leave us? Most of the newer faces on the RAW roster have already been pushed aside by the way the Money in the Bank match played out. There’s also no real reason for Roxanne or Raquel to turn on Liv right now. We’re essentially stuck with the status quo, meaning we’ll have to continue watching the same three women face each other for the title.

Finally, the men’s Money in the Bank match main-evented the show, and boy, was it a chore to get through.

This match shouldn’t have been as long as it ended up being. I would have liked to see Bron Breakker win, as giving the briefcase to a heel is always more entertaining than giving it to a face. However, I don’t mind Penta winning it, as it makes sense to give the briefcase to one of the hottest characters in the company.

The problem is that the match really dragged. Aside from a few awesome spots, most of which were performed by Je’Von Evans, nothing really stood out, and the match was just plain boring.

Again, I have nothing against Penta winning the briefcase, and his path to the championship will be interesting. However, I don’t see him having a successful cash-in. This feels more like WWE trying to capitalize on Penta’s sudden popularity following his great showing against Roman Reigns in Mexico.

In the end, for a show that’s considered to be on the same level as the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series, this was an underwhelming event. It showed that WWE creative is afraid to take chances and would rather go with the safe option, which is exactly what happened last night.

The Money in the Bank PLE used to be one of the most unpredictable shows of the year. Now, it’s just another event where nothing particularly special happens, which is kind of sad to see.

The post WWE Money in the Bank 2026: The most underwhelming event of the year appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Reportedly, the country of Saudi Arabia is paying the WWE upwards of $250 million to host WrestleMania 43. Prior to 2027, only Canada (twice) was fortunate enough to host WWE’s biggest and most trademarked event since its inception in 1985. Prior to WrestleMania 43, Saudi has paid the WWE $100 million for Royal Rumble 2026 and around $20-30 million per various other Premium Live Event (PLE) shows. This relationship with Saudi Arabia has been a very lucrative one for the WWE and now TKO since 2018. However, it has come with a few headaches, too.

For example:

– Saudi Arabia’s government is based heavily on Sharia Law. You may look that up yourself, but it’s a good reason why we have “separation of church and state” here in the United States. State-run religion tends to historically dislike any other religions contrary to the one that the government practices. Further with Saudi Arabia, they are just now granting various rights and opportunities to females now that weren’t there in the past. During WWE PLEs, the country runs various ads and video segments in attempt to advertise how much they’ve evolved lately.

– The assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi occurred during October 2018, which put a ton of world attention on the country. If you’ll recall, there was political pressure on Vince McMahon to not host a recent PLE there during that time (Crown Jewel), but he still had the event anyway despite lots of political pressure not to.

– Following the Crown Jewell 2019 event, WWE wrestlers were stuck in a plan for almost full day due to a reported payment dispute that Vince McMahon had with the country of Saudi Arabia for hosting their events. While Vince and top wrestlers got the hell out of dodge via private plane, up to 200 wrestlers, production crew members, and other WWE employees were left stranded and the plane wasn’t allowed to leave… Or that’s one side of the story, as WWE claimed mechanical issues. Then why keep them on the same plane?

BUT, I would say since 2019, it’s been a smooth experience and the country of Saudi Arabia seems to like working with the TKO/Endeavor group. UFC has had 2 of its events in Saudi Arabia, for example, and there have been no hiccups with WWE. After all, both Royal Rumble and WrestleMania went to Saudi for $350 million. Safe to suggest that the relationship is doing well right now.

WrestleMania 43 will be in Riyadh… On September 19, 2026, a fuel storage depot near the Riyadh Airport was attached by drones and missiles. This was reportedly performed by Houthi, a religious group based out of the country of Yemen with close ties to Iran. Weeks prior to this, they successfully struck the East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia. Want to know why gas prices shot up during September? There you go, this very attack. Other places and military bases have also been struck lately, along with a few Saudi Arabia tankers in the Red Sea. While Iran conducts its own strategy within the Strait of Hormuz, the Houthis have been performing its own attacks the Red Sea. Both waterways surround Saudi Arabia on both sides.

Why is Saudi Arabia being attacked? It’s who they know and associate themselves with lately…

During late February of 2026, Israel conducted military strikes on Iran with the United States providing additional military support on the country of Iran. Prior to this, strikes occurred during June of 2025 to “obliterate” their nuclear facilities. These strikes continued that premise, but also had direct strikes on the leadership of Iran and ended up killing the Ayatollah and other top Iranian officials.

Iran’s response has been rather unique… Instead of getting revenge directly on Israel and the United States, they’ve opted to attack any Middle East country who serves as an ally for either country. In addition to strikes directly on Israel, they’ve aimed drones and missiles at Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and of course, Saudi Arabia. Sometimes, they were aiming at United States military bases in the regions (hence the casualties), both other times they were hitting key infrastructure such as oil or natural gas refineries which takes years to rebuild (hence, another reason why gas prices are up). Iran also realized that they could control the Strait of Hormuz, which is a waterway connecting the Persian Gulf (remember that from Desert Storm of 1990-1991?) and the Gulf of Oman waterways that many Middle Eastern countries use to transport oil to various countries.

As Iran has attacked all of these different countries, most of which are allies with United States, they are causing each country to burn through their interceptor missile munition supplies to shoot down any missiles or drones that Iran sends their way. In many cases, we’re looking at $2-5 million interceptor missiles shooting down drones that might cost up to $30,000 each. Each of these allied Middle Eastern countries have burned through their protective stockpiles and now it makes them more vulnerable than ever. This military equipment can’t be made fast enough to protect against future attacks. It also costs a ton of money to make (Patriot missile types, especially).

I’m not here to assess blame, but merely to express danger that WrestleMania 43 has around them in Saudi Arabia… Look at what is surrounding Saudi Arabia as a country right now. Iran is nearby with only a waterway (Persian Gulf) and the country of Iraq between them on its Eastern border. Further, they share a Southern border with Yemen which is where the Houthis live. In other words, they are vulnerable from attacks from the South and from the East right now in their country, and that’s scary when you consider they’ve burned through interceptor missiles and other projectiles already. Saudi Arabia also has Israel to its North, while also having Lebanon to its North as well. Both countries have their own Iranian proxy groups in the form of Hamas and Hezbollah.

There’s a ton of danger surrounding Saudi Arabia as they attempt to host WWE’s biggest show during April 2027.

Now, if I were a betting man, I would suspect that WWE WrestleMania 43 will have extra security in place for this event. It’s very likely that the United States military will be on HIGH ALERT for both nights of WrestleMania 43. That’s right, TWO nights of WrestleMania to be on-guard and to ensure that nothing happens. BUT, there needs to be protection of the wrestlers flying into the event, too, and would cost money.

In my opinion, though, there presents TOO MUCH RISK on the WWE performers, any WWE employees, and any Saudi Arabian fan attending the event. Heck, any WWE fan who is able to actually travel to this from other countries, too.

So, MOVE THE DAMN EVENT!

WrestleMania 43 was supposed to be originally held in Nashville, TN. Award it back to them.

WrestleMania 42 was supposed to be originally held in New Orleans, LA but was shifted back to Las Vegas for another price gouging year. Award WM 43 to them.

Sorry, but what’s happening in the Middle East is bigger than ensuring that TKO’s executives receive 8-figure bonuses at year-end.

What you see happening now has been building since the 1940s and especially towards the United States since the 1950s following the coup of their government. Through the late 1970s, the Islamic Revolution happened and installed the religious government that has been in existence ever since and led by the Ayatollahs (3 family members with direct bloodlines) who are seen as religious figures more than leaders of a country. The current Iranian leaders have disliked the United States since their 1953 coup that reinstalled the Shah, while their ongoing rivalry with Israel was made worse with the Shah government installed by the U.S. was very favorable and friends with Israel.

Since the late 1970s, Iran has been not just an outspoken critic of the U.S. or Israel, but also funded proxy groups to help facilitate their viewpoints and to perform various attacks. For example, Hamas, who is funded a reported $100 million annually by Iran, launched attacks on Israel during October 7, 2023 which killed over 1,200 people. This deadly attack response prompted a sharp response by Israel on the Gaza Strip and would set the stage for what we’ve seen during 2025 and 2026. Prior to recent events, Israel and Palestine were always off and on peace deals or ceasefires, but politics or other events have ended those.

In other words, WrestleMania 43 happening in a nearby country is at risk being close to international and religious stuff that has been cooking for over 70 years now and has really escalated with recent attacks and other activity in the Middle East.

Right now, as of 9/22/26, Saudi Arabia has a TRAVEL ADVISORY with the entire country at Level 3, which suggests “Reconsider Travel” with additional areas inside the country considered as Level 4 for “Do not travel”.

Here is what the advisory says, and I am quoting directly from this advisory on 9/22/26:

*****

Reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia due to risk of Iranian drone and missile targeting of American interests, armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans, and local laws regarding social media activity. Some areas have increased risk.

– Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive important updates and alerts from the U.S. embassy or consulate. Enrolling helps the U.S. embassy or consulate contact you or your emergency contact in an emergency.
– Review the Country Security Report for Saudi Arabia.
– Monitor local media for breaking events and be prepared to adjust your plans.
– Many prescription medications need prior approval before bringing into or taking out of Saudi Arabia. Before you travel, register any listed prescriptions at the Controlled Drug System (CDS) website. This approval process may take several weeks.
– Review our information on Terrorism and travel to High-Risk Areas.
– Have a plan to leave in an emergency that does not depend on U.S. government help. – Review our information on Crisis Response and Evacuations.
– Keep travel documents up to date and easy to access.
– Stay aware of your surroundings.
– Stay alert in large crowds or tourist spots.
– Avoid public displays of affection, particularly between same-sex couples.
– Visit Saudi Arabia’s website for information about public decency regulations.
– Do not carry, produce, use, or distribute illegal drugs in Saudi Arabia.
– Review local laws and conditions before traveling, including our Saudi Arabia country information on arrests.
– Review our information for Gay and Lesbian travelers.
– Before you travel, delete any sensitive photos, comments, or past content that might be seen as controversial or inappropriate in Saudi Arabia. Do not post, share, or like such content while in Saudi Arabia. Do this for your social media accounts, cameras, laptops, phones, and other accounts and devices.
– Visit our page regarding Arrest or Detention Abroad for more information on what happens when you or a loved one is arrested abroad.
– Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page for the latest Travel Health Information for Saudi Arabia.
– We highly recommend that you buy travel insurance before you travel. Check with your travel insurance provider about evacuation assistance, medical insurance, and trip cancelation coverage.
– Whether you’re a first time or frequent traveler, use the International Travel Checklist.

*****

Are you freakin’ nuts, TKO and WWE?

Why potentially subject your WWE “independent contractors” and employees to this?

Why cause our hard-earned tax dollars to be spent on protection so that you can make $250 million in Saudi?

Why are you putting your own fans at risk for attending this WWE event in a danger zone?

I have a solution… Each and every TKO executive MUST attend WrestleMania 43 and then have to leave the event using commercial airlines. Yeah, I guarantee this event gets moved immediately!

Read the “potential targets” section again…

Potential targets include:

– Important political, cultural, or religious locations
– Places visited by U.S. citizens and other foreigners (!!!)
– Tourist locations and large gatherings (!!!)
– Hotels, and locations where American citizens gather (!!!)
– Transportation hubs
– Markets and shopping malls
– Entertainment venues (!!!)
– Government facilities

Majority of that SCREAMS WrestleMania 43.

You can say whatever you want about the Saudi Arabia government and why WWE (now TKO) is doing business with them. We’ve been arguing that since 2018.

However, this is a discussion about SAFETY because Saudi Arabia has had missiles shot at them and drones attacking them, while having bases and critical energy infrastructure destroyed.

And this issue won’t heal itself overnight, and is in fact becoming worse. These Houthi attacks are escalating and hitting that East-West pipeline is why you’re paying over $4 per gallon unleaded and why truckers are paying a record $6+ per gallon for diesel. Anywhere something gets shipped by truck, they’ll increase their prices too.

Move the damn event!!!

WWE wrestlers need to realize that they have leverage right now. Want us to wrestle in Saudi Arabia? PAY US MORE while ensuring our SAFETY for this event.

And if you were predicting Rock vs. Roman Reigns to finally happen at this event? There’s NO WAY that the TKO would send one of its Board of Directors to this event. However, if TKO wants to make a statement, then boldly have the Rock wrestle and perform there…

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: WWE and TKO Should Seriously Consider MOVING WrestleMania 43 Away from Saudi Arabia Due to Safety Concerns appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Now granted we didn’t have this thing called Youtube in 2001 that you could put the shows up on. But I think the WWF could have got WCW tv clearance back then if they really tried to. But Vince McMahon was determined to make an example out of WCW for daring to go up against him for all those years and well we got what we got. Triple A though is being allowed to succeed and that’s a good thing for wrestling in general. Triplemania 34 Night 2 which I watched was an outstanding show and I was so happy to see El Grande Americano win the Triple A Mega Championship. It’s amazing how something that was supposed to be a joke has turned into what it is now. It’s amazing what competent writing can do for someone.

Speaking of competent writing, RAW the other night was by far the best RAW in ages. Aided greatly by a crowd that was on fire for everything that was going on in front of them. I don’t think this episode of RAW would have come off quite so well had it been somewhere in front of a dead crowd in the states. Roman Reigns for all the crap he gets for being boring and predictable in the ring…well, he had his working shoes on Monday night. I jumped out of my seat twice when Penta hit the Mexican Destroyer on him both times. While Penta didn’t win, it still was a damn good match and easily will be a match of the year candidate when all the awards for the 2026 year come out.

As we descend into the Autumn of 2026 (well up here in the Northern hemisphere), the war between AEW and the WWE continues to heat up and once again the WWE is going head to head with a big AEW PPV. On September 27th both AEW and WWE will be in the same general area of greater Chicago going up against each other with competing shows. Only thing is the WWE Show which is a super show featuring talent from WWE/AAA/NXT might not be broadcast live.

If that’s the case one of a two things might be happening. One, this is something they’re gonna broadcast on that Club WWE thing. Or Two…they’re just running a show for the sake of running a show to screw with AEW. Either way they don’t really care about the WWE show. It’s just a pawn in the game of life against AEW. Well, AEW’s show sold out so even if this WWE Supershow does well it won’t matter because AEW can report they had a sellout crowd. So, even though this might be a glorified house show for the WWE, AEW has won the night even if the WWE decides to do nothing with this show in the live broadcast sense.

I was talking to a friend about this column earlier and they said the WWE should not even dignify AEW exists. The more they do stuff like this where they compete up against AEW they make AEW seem more important than they are. I mean when it comes to it, AEW has like half the viewership of the WWE on a good week. There’s no real reason why the WWE should be running shows up against AEW. This is nothing new though because it’s a tactic they have employed for the last Forty five years or so.

If someone has a big show the WWE will run up against them. NWA had Starrcade…so the WWF created Survivor Series and essentially blackmailed the cable companies to picking them over the other. If you don’t pick us…you’re not getting Wrestlemania. Well, Wrestlemania is a huge ticket item so of course they were gonna choose them over the other guys.

The WWE has always had this bully mentality. There’s plenty of room for AEW and other companies to co-exist in this world. But the WWE is all “we must destroy them”. That’s why I’m honestly surprised they’re running Triple A the way that they are. They could have pillaged the company and hoarded the top talent and the video vaults. But they aren’t doing that. I guess it’s one thing to own a company and another to let it just exist on it’s own terms.

In the end I don’t think it will matter what the WWE does on All Out weekend. Show the show on youtube…don’t…show it somewhere else…doesn’t matter. AEW’s All Out will do good for AEW and that’s all that matters.

On the plus side for the WWE, I do love that Sami Zayn has been redeemed and is the WWE Champion once again. Whether the WWE only put the belt on him because they didn’t want to do a Roman vs. CM Punk match at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia is up for debate…assuming Sami can even hold the title for that long. But some in the wrestling business think Sami is not good for business. I think they are wrong. I personally believe a good heel as champion is better than a babyface who destroys everyone in his path. I like the chase and Smackdown has a whole crop of guys who will make for great chasers for Sami’s title. Though we have to get passed Money in the Bank in October and see what happens then with that.

That is it for this week. As always you can leave feedback down below, over on Twitter or email me directly at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Thought’s on yet another AEW vs. WWE battle appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Brian Cage has been an AEW contracted performer since 2020.

So my question is this, for Tony Khan and the Executive Vice Presidents of All Elite Wrestling… Do you have a drug testing and/or wellness policy with any consequences for failed tests?

First, I scoured AllEliteWrestling.com myself and also utilized Artificial Intelligence (AI) to review the website as well.

Also performed various search engine reviews if any existing drug testing policies were out there. Nothing found.

Best I could do was many places alluding to the “right” of AEW to perform a drug test, on a wrestler, if desired.

I also reviewed AEW’s mission statement on their website. While they’ve always call themselves a “pro wrestling” organization, with various wrestlers balking at the term “sports entertainment”, AEW’s own Mission Statement says, and I quote: ”AEW is built to create moments of a lifetime – memorable, inspiring and spectacular – by providing our fans with the best wrestling matches and entertainment anywhere. We believe providing a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for all AEW events is central to that mission.”

The word “entertainment” is clearly there, and that’s important on the basis of how AEW is regulated in each state where it holds live events. Why? Because unlike boxing or mixed martial arts (MMA), they won’t be regulated by the State Athletic Commissions who often require testing of athletes for drugs and other health conditions (just saw a recent documentary where an athletic commission found that boxer Tommy Morrisson had HIV and denied him from fighting).

AEW’s trademarks are also marked as “Entertainment Services”, further described as “exhibitions” and “performances”.

Again, point being, as much as they boast about being wrestling, they are classified exactly like the WWE which means the ability to exploit wrestlers as “independent contractors” and to avoid State Athletic Commission required testing because they aren’t a sport but are entertainers. In other words, just as Disney on Ice performers aren’t drug tested as “entertainers”, neither are pro wrestlers.

So, what have other reports said about AEW having any drug testing?

RingsideNews.com transcribing Fightful.com Select’s Sean Ross Sapp from 9/15/26: ”in all his conversations with people from AEW, nobody has ever told him they were drug tested”. Note, he’s just saying that he never heard of it in all of his years reporting on AEW (or TNA).

WrestlingHeadlines.com transcribing Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer on 6/17/21 said, in AEW’s then 2-year and a half existence that “talent do have something in their contract about being tested” (confirms other reports) but that “it does not seem that anyone has officially been tested as of yet”.

But then, and get this… Meltzer talks about Brian Cage during June 2021: ”One person in particular named Brian Cage who people even write jokes about on their own show. So I guess if they write jokes about it I can mention his name since they freakin’ talk about him and needles and everything, but whatever.”

In the immortal words of Sealab 2021… We have UH OH!

We have Brian Cage admitting to PED usage and then you have a top news insider and someone who knows AEW intimately well (often cheering for them to succeed) with Dave Meltzer alluding to Brian Cage possibly using them 5 years ago.

Sooooo… Let’s ask this question with Brian Cage admitting to using PEDs and now TRT, no State Athletic Commission testing, AEW classified purposely as “entertainment” with “performance” and “exhibition”, and top news reporters being unaware if any testing has ever happened. Could AEW have a issue with Performance Enhancement Drugs (PED)?

I’m just asking the question…

After all, people in the press asked questions during the early 1990s, like Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, and that prompted the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the WWE and Vince McMahon for distributing steroids to its wrestlers. Further, after Chris Benoit died, WWE was subject to legal investigations due to its non-public Wellness Policy since early 2006 (following Eddie Guerrero’s death) that only made violations public after June 2007 when Benoit’s murders and then suicide happened. Oh, and that Florida online lab sting happened shortly after that.

WWE and its McMahon promoters were raked over the coals for (a) the 1994 federal trials alleging steroid distribution and (b) the Chris Benoit murders + Florida online lab sting of 2007.

Hell, any time that a former WWE wrestler died earlier than the normal rate of expectancy, it was always labeled as if they took some sort of drugs during their tenure with the WWE or had to remain dependent on them after leaving the WWE.

WWE took all kinds of arrows for allegations regarding PEDs and later, their loose testing on them that happened from during 1992 when the federal investigations began and through June 2007 when Benoit murdered his family. And again, any time that a wrestler died, their tenure with WWE was blamed.

And this isn’t a WWE column, so I’m not here to defend them… Because Vince McMahon is an admitted user of PEDs, it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t at least “looking the other way” when his wrestlers may have used them. After all, he has a track record of pushing and mostly signing very muscular and chiseled wrestlers.

My point is this: If you’re going to be a BIG BOY wrestling promotion like the WWE, then you should be ready for ANY criticism or allegations that come your way.

Including this very question: Hey Tony, Brian Cage recently admitted to PED use on a podcast. Are you able to provide evidence of drug testing and show documentation of punishment if anyone was in violation of abusing PEDs?

And let it not stop there… What about OTHER drugs or maybe any kind of substance abuse?

Only thing found is Jeff Hardy for a 2022 DUI and driving with a suspended license. However, AEW’s testing didn’t prompt that suspension. Hardy’s own arrest and it being made public did.

And I hate to say this in light of recently deceased wrestlers who were NOT found to be in any association with drugs… But if a current or former AEW performer does pass away in the upcoming years, do we start questioning AEW about their drug testing policies or any “wellness” policies like we did WWE for decades for any wrestler deaths?

I’m just asking questions, along with asking for consistency.

If you’re going to compete with the WWE and act like a top wrestling promotion on display, then you better be ready to answer a few serious questions, Tony and his EVPs.

At the very least, AEW needs to have a serious discussion and review of Brian Cage to what he’s admitted to publicly.

Again, just asking AEW to be consistent here if they are going to act like a big boy wrestling promotion.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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BUT – I’ve attempted to defend the WWE that has existed since 2024… I’d rather watch 2024-2025 WWE than to watch almost any year since 2013 during the 2010s. I liked the John Cena 2025 Retirement tour, flaws and all. I think the match quality is higher with Triple H in charge, as Punk vs. Roman is my favorite match of the year as an example. Often, I’m calling out corporate meddling from TKO, who seem to be micro-managing the WWE exactly as Vince McMahon did during the mid to late 2010s (almost as if he’s calling shots through them).

However, I think that it’s officially time to stop defending this WWE machine, whether it’s TKO’s corporate meddling or Triple H lacking balls to take control of the company.

Last night, Sami Zayn won the WWE Title from CM Punk on a random episode of free WWE television known as Smackdown with the help of Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae distracting and then Kevin Owens delivering an accidental blow to Punk with the title belt.

Now, I 100% get why Kevin Owens would be there and causing chaos, as he’s been feuding with CM Punk. Totally understandable.

But since when are we accustomed to FOREVER LOWER MIDCARDERS like Gargano and LeRae being inserted into the main event just looked cheap. I’m personally glad that both are receiving an opportunity to shine and wish them well, but them interfering looked cheap. This is different from members of the NWO or Bloodline interfering because they were established as members of a group and there to protect who actually had the world title. Gargano and LeRae haven’t been used or featured well in the WWE since they were called up from NXT and now, they are determining the outcome of a WWE Title match.

You know, the REAL World Championship, the one that has the original WWE lineage, the WCW lineage, and 2 separate brand splits.

And I’m even more sorry to say this, as I overall like this wrestler… But Sami Zayn as a two-time WWE Champion? Really?

I was happy for him winning it initially at the Saudi Arabia PLE, as it was a nice “lifetime achievement” award for his past contributions to the WWE. In my opinion, he made the Bloodline storyline better during 2022 and the drama surrounding his role fueled what I think is one of the best Wrestlemanias ever with #39 during 2023. Just watch that ending to Royal Rumble 2023 and attempt to admit that you didn’t feel something. We all did and it made us more addicted to the WWE that year.

Now, however, hotshotting the WWE Title to him during a random episode of Smackdown feels very “WCW during 2000”-ish to me. You know, when we had like 20 different title changes during that year. What, is Vince Russo now booking the Smackdown brand for the WWE?

It’s very likely that TKO, with maybe some nudging from NBC/Universal, is encouraging BIG THINGS to happen on WWE Smackdown because after all, viewership is BARELY hanging on to 1 million viewers hovering around 1.2 million lately. Folks, we’re in ECW on TNN and TNA Impact on Spike TV formerly TNN) viewership territory and they were 2nd or 3rd bananas in the competitive wrestling arms race.

BUT, we’re also in the territory of Triple H favoring his ex-NXT students… HHH was the one who inserted Sami Zayn into the Bloodline and that choice is significant because Sami was coming off his major loss to the Jackass crew at Wrestlemania 38. Remember him losing to that big mouse trap? Though Sami actually match an entertaining match out of that, he still lost yet HHH had his back and put him with the Bloodline to eventually go from losing to Johnny Knoxville at Wrestlemania 38 to headlining Night #1 of Wrestlemania 39 and winning the tag titles with Kevin Owens over the Usos in a major match of consequence.

HHH and HBK have ALWAYS had Johnny Gargano’s back and have pushed him to the moon when they could. They let go of his tag partner Tommaso Ciampa, which I’d argue had more marketability with the WWE, but opted to retain Gargano. Candice has a losing record in the WWE and is one who puts everybody over. While that role is relevant, as someone has to lose, but we’ve seen others released by the WWE who also put over other wrestlers non-stop. I’m NOT calling for either to be released, but my point is there exists some bias and love for Johnny Gargano by Triple H and it’s placing him in big spots like this.

HHH does show bias to any NXT call-up that he personally groomed or ones, especially, who listen to his advice. Bronson Reed is a perfect example of that, and gee, look who just attacked Oba Femi. What a coincidence? He also joined the newer Bloodline group and later joined the Vision.

So with that, I’m no longer going to defend this WWE regime, as everybody is impaired now. TKO is micro-managing everything and with that, Triple H is there to only “die on a hill” to defend and push the folks he personally likes. That ending to Smackdown was an abomination and CM Punk deserved better as a World Champion.

I’m also here to declare that 2023 was the official peak of the WWE, maybe even Wrestlemania 39 being the tip because post Wrestlemania 39 had its issues, too. Things magically came together for Wrestlemania 40, but that was honestly a sh*tshow on how that happened and everyone’s expectations have been forever high because of that event.

For me, TKO has fully taken over and the leader that was Triple H from 2022-2023, who literally saved the WWE from the Vince McMahon scandals and MADE IT BETTER, is now a former shell of himself.

This sucks because now it feels like the WWE has returned to “late 2010s” mode and the alternatives to watch are overrated.

We are in a declining period of wrestling, something that I wrote about and predicted during 2015 when WWE began dismantling John Cena as its top guy and bulldozing everybody with a dominant Brock Lesnar and an inexperienced babyface attempt called Roman Reigns. Funny, if we’re in “late 2010s” mode, then a babyface Roman Reigns fits right in.

The ONLY way we’ll see a boomtown in pro wrestling again is if any wrestling promotion creates a valid developmental system that adequately prepares younger wrestlers to step up. AEW doesn’t have a good system, as they are free agent dependent, and WWE is still dependent on wrestlers from prior developmental systems such as OVW and FCW, as the NXT developmental system stocked and supervised by Triple H has not restocked the WWE roster like the other systems have.

When Matt Bloom is your Performance Center trainer, and when you have open casting calls for anybody off the street to come to you versus actually scouting athletes to join (as Ross, Brisco, and even Mark Henry did), things will fall apart. Matt Bloom training is hilarious, as if he demonstrated the skillset as Prince Albert, A-Train, or Lord Tensai to teach to younger wrestlers. Go watch “Lord Tensai” completely sandbag Ryback’s finishing move and then realize THAT is who is training wrestlers for WWE. In comparison, the women have a GREAT trainer with Sarah Del Rey and gee, all of them are performing well and WWE has an entirely new division to market and sell along with superstars to send all over the country.

So yeah, WWE is in decline, TKO is micro-managing, and Triple H is in “f*ck it” mode where he’ll only care pushing his friends or favorite students. Sami, Johnny, and Candice need to THANK Triple H for always having their back.

Hey, at least Triple H is consistent… He’ll ride or die with the folks who personally showed him appreciation, like the Clique during the 1990s, anybody who worked out with him in the gym (Batista, Sheamus), and now his NXT students and signings. I’ll give him that.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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Through 2025, now under TKO’s rule, the WWE earned $1.7 billion in revenues. If we apply that same 15% rule, the pro wrestlers should earn around $255 million.

Anyone care to bet me that they are NOT earning that?

As we saw in the news, multiple wrestlers were asked to take 50% paycuts. This prompted the New Day to ask for their releases and were granted them, as those longtime WWE employees and actual merchandise sellers were insulted at the notion of taking 50% off of contracts that TKO signed. Reportedly, one longtime wrestler did take the 50%, with some guessing Miz or another wrestler thinking that leaving the WWE would jeopardize his opportunities (LA Knight?) without his trademarked WWE name.

Meanwhile, TKO Executive Chair and CEO Ariel Emanuel received total compensation of $67.4 million while the CFO earned $23.1 million and the COO earned $42.6 million. What, they couldn’t take 50% paycuts themselves? Nick Khan, who is president/CEO of the WWE and also on the TKO board, made over $24 million during 2025.

And before you suggest that these “Chief” positions are doing such a great job, then why does TKO carry almost $5 billion in DEBT despite UFC and WWE having revenues pouring into their coffers? Also, why did the Endeavor corporation have so much debt that it needed Silver Lake to finance them and buy them?

In other words, WWE wrestlers are getting SCREWED on their network while TKO and WWE executives are pulling in the money.

Hell, Triple H is earning $2.8 million according to Sports Illustrated. He’s the Chief Content Officer who actually puts the shows together and then produces them live at the events as well. He’s putting in way more work than those sitting in cushy offices all day, and HHH has to be micro-managed by these TKO fools as well.

As we head into Labor Day, it’s time for WWE wrestlers to STAND UP and stop swallowing the turd sandwiches that WWE, with this TKO corporate daddies, keep serving them.

WWE wrestlers are the ones taking the bumps in the ring, getting thrown through tables, having to travel all over the country or world, work through injuries, be away from their families, and have to do countless charity and personal appearances for TKO and WWE. Furthermore, they are silenced from expressing themselves personally and WWE/TKO owns all of the copyrights that the wrestlers help build up as a solid brand.

What wrestlers don’t realize is that they have all of the power. If each walked out and refused to do a televised wrestling event, which puts the Netflix, USA Network, and ESPN+ deals in jeopardy, the WWE could be in trouble with each of those companies with those television deals. Further, wrestlers need to understand how MAD fans are at TKO right now for price gouging them on live events and merchandise while feeding them to the price gouging streaming wolves with Netflix and ESPN/Disney. If wrestlers were to walk out today, fans would back them because they’ve been pissed at TKO’s corporate antics for the past 2 years.

Yet, the wrestlers are afraid to stand up to these corporate cowards.

And I’m full aware of what the WWE did to keep labor unions away during the Vince McMahon era. Vince liked to push one wrestler really hard, such as Hogan and then Austin/Rock, then Cena, and the eventually Roman Reigns along with supporting others like the Undertaker. By coddling up to the top person on the card, Vince knew that he could keep drawing if the top guy was loyal and therefore made the rest of the roster expendable. Without Vince, Roman Reigns remains the highest paid guy followed by Cody Rhodes, who happens to be represented by WME which serves as an agency where several TKO executives still work as agents (Ari Emanuel, for example, represents Pat McAfee personally).

For a union to actually form in the WWE, they would need the top main eventers to be willing to support the union. Hulk Hogan wouldn’t, as he stooged out Jesse Ventura to Vince McMahon during 1986 (right before Wrestlemania 2) when Jesse tried to suggest that wrestlers unionize and hold up Wrestlemania 2 to accomplish this feat. Once that ended, Vince further demolished the territory competition to make his promotion the #1 in the land and made it difficult to argue. Then, Austin, Rock, Triple H, and Undertaker with John Cena later playing the game came along and accepted being loyal main eventers for Vince.

Personally, I’ve always argued that wrestlers should desire to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) which is now called SAG-AFTRA. WWE wrestlers are clearly following scripts both in their promos and how matches are laid out with backstage producers. They are also taking prepared stunts. They are televised each week on Netflix and USA Network, along with PLEs now on ESPN+. WWE has been long established as a form of “entertainment” with an court precedent in place when state athletic commissions tried to regulate pro wrestling during the late 1980s.

Admittedly, there are economic consequences of unions, historically speaking…

– Unions work in strength in numbers, even with a portion of those numbers are weaker performers.

– Pay for union workers is often due to seniority and not just merit or performance.

– If current workforce shrinks, then ability to fund benefits, such as retirements and pensions on a pay-as-you-go system becomes a major financial problem.

– Labor stoppages, such as strikes or lockouts could occur when a contract is up or nearly up or if there’s a new disagreement between the parties.

Right now, both the NBA and NFL split revenues almost halfway between the ownership and players. 50%, compared to wrestlers earning 15% on contracts that can be cancelled at any point. NBA contracts are fully guaranteed, while NFL contracts are mostly guaranteed and are often subject to renegotiation if a player outperforms their current deal.

One could argue “well, if the wrestlers get paid more and take in more revenues, then TKO will raise its prices”.

Great argument… BUT TKO IS ALREADY RAISING THEIR PRICES!!!!!!

They’ve been gouging fans HARD over the past 3 years… Know what is causing them to price gouge? Total greed, as top executives are pulling in 8 figures a year and laughing as the wrestlers take the bumps on their behalf.

It’s now or never, WWE wrestlers. If you want to be pawns for the WWE brand that TKO wants you to be, then keep working under the current terms and they’ll pick you off individually one-by-one. Otherwise, take ownership of yourselves as a locker room and hold greedy TKO executives accountable.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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Through Wrestlemania 6, nobody could deny that Ultimate Warrior was clearly #2 and trending upward. Also, Hulk Hogan didn’t exactly have a great post-Wrestlemania 5 time after having the ridiculous follow-up feud with Zeus who became a character-turned-wrestler from the awful WWE produced film No Holds Barred. Rather than milking Hogan vs. Savage a little longer, WWE shifted the focus on making an actor somehow figure out pro wrestling quickly on the fly.

During 1989, the WWE did really well financially because they had two separate houseshow circuits that were killing it throughout the country. On one hand, you had the A-Show that featured Hulk Hogan as the headliner and defending the WWE Title. Meanwhile, the B-Show was still killing it with the Ultimate Warrior headlining that show. WWE packed houses across the country with both Hogan and Ultimate Warrior on top, while the merchandise involving either Hogan or Warrior sold extremely well.

In terms of drawing power and merchandise sales, nobody came close to Hogan or Warrior through the beginning of 1990. Thus, it seemed reasonable that the Ultimate Warrior could take the top spot from Hogan and run with it. Especially now with Hogan getting older and maybe peaking through Wrestlemania 5.

And I’m right about Hulk Hogan. He did, in fact, peak through 1989… While Hogan did make a comeback to the main event through 1991 and became WWE Champion again at Wrestlemania 7, business continued to decline throughout 1991 with Hogan as champion. Then, came Royal Rumble 1992 where Hogan was booed after he helped eliminate Sid Justice insomuch that the WWE actually edited those boos and the commentary on the home video version of the show.

Hulk Hogan did well as the returning hero in 1991 because of the old Jim Cornette philosophy of “how do we know how much you’re loved if you don’t go away”. Having Hogan lose during 1990 and then return as the “knight in shining armor” during 1991 helped boost interest in Hogan for his return to the main event. However, it was short lived and by Rumble 1992, wrestling fans were beginning to boo him heavily.

Proves to me, too, that WWE could have turned Hogan HEEL during 1992 and could have made money years before WCW got to benefit from turning Hogan heel during 1996.

Let’s get back to the Ultimate Warrior. He was VERY OVER through Wrestlemania 6 and fans were split in that PACKED Toronto Skydome. However, what nobody could fully predict is that Warrior would go a bit off the deep end after this event. His marriage began to fall apart as he began to pick up bad habits on the road. As he was now asked to do more fan events as WWE Champion, he wasn’t always cheerful to fans during those. Warrior also wasn’t “one of the boys” like Hogan was, as Hogan built relationships with wrestlers and developed long-term friendships with everyone. Jim Hellwig, however, was a complete loner and very introverted. These things were overlooked on Warrior’s rise to the top, but then placed under the microscope once he was on top.

However, WWE did him no favors AFTER Wrestlemania 6. Warrior’s opponents? Curt Hennig, Ted Dibiase, and Rick Rude. Warrior already disposed of Rude over the Intercontinental Title during 1989, yet that’s who Warrior had to feud with for the big spot on SummerSlam 1990. Ted Dibiase was deep in the midcard during 1989 and 1990 after almost becoming WWE Champion during 1988. Curt Hennig was also a midcarder, as he’d become Intercontinental Champion several times during 1990. Warrior was also repeatedly tagging up with the Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) to take on all 3 members of Demolition repeatedly.

The “Warrior failed as champion” narrative falls apart when you see who he was wrestling during 1990. All midcarders. Why are you doing that with your World Champion?

What WWE should have done after Wrestlemania 6 was to immediately feud with Macho Man Randy Savage. Instead, the WWE let Warrior wrestle midcarders and waste 8 months as WWE Champion before he lost to Sgt. Slaughter at Royal Rumble 1991 when Macho Man, whom I just mentioned, interfered to begin the Warrior vs. Macho Man feud at Wrestlemania 7. By the way, the Savage vs. Warrior match at WM 7 was amazing and shows the missed opportunity of having Savage immediately challenge Warrior for the WWE Title during 1990. Savage, of course, was getting jobbed repeatedly to Dusty Rhodes during the first half of 1990.

I also thought that ”Rowdy” Roddy Piper could have been an opponent for Ultimate Warrior after Wrestlemania 6, too. Piper wrestled “Bad News” Brown at Wrestlemania 6 and that as a bit controversial with Piper painting half of his body black.

Either Savage or Piper would have been adequate feuds for Warrior and if needed, either man could have become WWE Champion to potentially set-up a big drawing Wrestlemania 7 with Hogan and Savage doing it again or Piper vs. Hogan, finally, with a one-on-one at Wrestlemania.

But instead, Warrior wrestled Hennig/Dibiase/Rude, who are each fine wrestlers but were midcarders then, and then lost the title to the COMPLETE JOKE Sgt. Slaughter character who became an Iraqi Sympathizer.

You can call Warrior a “failure” as WWE Champion all you want, but he was given no favors by WWE creative during 1990 after Wrestlemania 6. Then, he was given Randy Savage during 1991 and those guys blew the doors off of everything at Wrestlemania 7 with their Retirement Match which received 5-star ratings by many publications while the rest of the show, including Hogan vs. Slaughter, did not. However, after Wrestlemania 7, Hogan was the #1 pushed guy again.

Let me stress a few points…

If Ultimate Warrior was “such a failure”, then why did Vince McMahon bring him back at Wrestlemania 8?

If Ultimate Warrior was “such a failure”, then why did Vince McMahon bring him back at Wrestlemania 12?

If Ultimate Warrior was “such a failure”, then why did Vince McMahon want to bring him back during late 1997 as documented contract negotiations show?

The FACT is that the Ultimate Warrior was fed midcard opponents throughout the rest of 1990, while Vince McMahon had crazy ideas of presenting the Desert Storm events of the real world during 1990-1991 into the WWE. Vince convinced Sgt. Slaughter to turn heel and Hulk Hogan was just the more ideal “American Hero” to pit against Slaughter versus Hogan. Thus, pushing Hogan back to the top was more ideal than the Warrior.

WWE wasting Roddy Piper (who may have had movie or television commitments) or Randy Savage during 1990 just irks me. Missed opportunities there.

BUT, the fact remains that Ultimate Warrior drew houses and sold merchandise, with his numbers being the closest to Hogan versus any other wrestler. The problem is that Warrior may have peaked with the chase for the title, but he was given no help from creative back then to ever truly know.

The Ultimate Warrior last wrestled for the WWE during 1996, which was when the WWE was hitting the valley of their decline since that 1989 peak. Yet, 30 years later, Warrior’s merchandise still sells well to this day and anyone who grew up as a kid when Warrior was peaking still speaks highly of him. Further, yes, Warrior was a troubled guy, but he redeemed himself by being a happily married man and father. His WWE return during 2014 was emotional with his Hall of Fame speech, returning to Wrestlemania, and then returning to RAW to make his final promo ever.

Many have tried to duplicate Warrior, including WCW to openly lied to fans and presented them with Rick “the Renegade” Wilson instead of bringing in the Ultimate Warrior. Many, many independent promotion knock-offs. Yet, nobody can capture that lightning-in-a-bottle that Jim Hellwig brought with this amazing character. Best in-ring wrestler ever? Nope, but among the top larger than life characters ever.

Warrior 100% deserved to win the WWE Title and was worth the roll of the dice to defeat a potentially declining Hulk Hogan after 1989’s peak. The issues with the WWE were more internal, as WWE had some sharks in the water to deal with back then and possibly creative issues happening after Wrestlemania 5 (Zeus push and Iraqi War storyline, while wasting Randy Savage and Roddy Piper for over a year).

So for all of these YouTube accounts constantly bashing the crowning of the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 6. Most of you weren’t there or were in diapers during the peak Warrior years. He was OVER bigtime back then and moved so much merchandise. So it didn’t work out after Wrestlemania 6? Not much worked between 1990 and 1997. Did you watch Wrestlemania 9?

In my opinion, WWE wasted the talents of Roddy Piper and Randy Savage during the early 1990s, and they entirely botched the acquisition of Sid Justice as well. Sid could have been “the man”, but WWE’s usual desire to keep Hogan strong as a babyface got in the way. Brother. I also thought that the WWE blew the effectiveness of the Undertaker during those early years as some of those feuds became quite goofy with the “monster of the month” feuds. Why the WWE let Yokozuna get severely overweight is beyond me. Razor Ramon should have been pushed as a main eventer.

Point being, WWE’s creative was terrible during the early 1990s if your name wasn’t “Hulk Hogan”.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onto your other questions.

ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answer

Do you believe that Brock Lesnar has retired?

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*****

Thoughts on Chelsea Green becoming interim Women’s Champion?

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

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

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

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

Chelsea deserves it.

*****

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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