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I think he lost a match once so I can't take him seriously as a challenger ever again.

Let's be fair to Punk for a moment - he probably hadn't seen that footage, and in the heat of the moment he probably didn't remember exactly what happened. He didn't deny doing wrong, but left out some parts that he may look at the video and go "huh, didn't remember doing that".

Hey, Tony Khan could have feared for his life for a split second. I've feared for my life for a split second before on the road. Doesn't mean that at any point there was any risk of that, and doesn't necessarily justify using the language publicly (unless you want to justify a firing), but there's nothing wrong with him feeling that way for a brief moment. It's neither really here or there. Perry did wrong and was banished. Pink did wrong and was sacked. This we all knew last summer. Nothing's changed, nothing's gained apart from stirring up promotion diehards. Maybe that was the point, but the diehards are already diehards so, meh? Although imagine this wasn't wrestling, this was any other industry. You sack a worker for threatening you. Fine. The worker is interviewed about it and puts forward his side, which doesn't seem to be in dispute (or even claim that his sacking was unfair). Fine. You then circulate the video of the incident that got the worker fired. Er, what? Imagine your work place and someone gets fired, and then your boss sending round a video of the incident that got the person fired. It just shouldn't be done, it's extremely unprofessional. Wrestling have to acknowledge it due to storylines, and I have no issues with how it was dealt with at the time. But I still scratch my head at this. But we are talking about it. No publicity is bad publicity, eh?

Because there is little to gain from this outside a small trend. It doesn't advance The Young Bucks, or Perry, or Khan. It doesn't damage Punk anymore than when the incident happened. It doesn't stoke an AEW WWE war, as WWE refuse to be at war (Trips lazy comments were stupid, but he rightfully hasn't doubled down on them). I guess the hope is that eyes from last night stay on AEW, so we'll have to wait until next week's rating to see if that happend.

I just don't see how Cody "jobbing" to The Rock is a bad thing. It sets up a future match, he's still mega hot after becoming a champion. If Cody wins Night 1 he's still massively over, but people are meh about a future match with Rocky as it doesn't have the build. Sure, you may doubt he's the best as the thought is that someone could beat him but... that's sort of the point? If you've got a champion who you don't think can lose, why do you watch? I'm not interested in Jay Vs Priest as I know Priest will win, but I'll be interested if it's McIntyre Vs Priest at Clash the following month as I don't know who'll win that. A lot of other stuff mentioned over the last decade did indeed suck, but Kofi getting squashed is incomparable to an epic, tainted defeat in a part one match, which will lead to a future match.

Is it odd that my favourite bit was Roman taking out SHIELD Seth? 9 and a half years after the betrayal, what could have been an overbooked mess just made sense. A think a heel Seth is definitely on the cards, there's a couple of big money matches with Cody and Punk over the next 12 months there. Although with Gunter also joining the Main Event it does look a little heel heavy, which I guess is good for LA Knight. I do slightly worry for the Usos. They've shined in the Main Event scene with a great storyline, but I think it's time for them to move away from it. If they're not a tag team again in the next 2 years I'd be surprised.

Nonsense, Cody winning night 1 & 2 makes no sense at all from a storytelling point of view. Also, in your opinion if anyone interferes but not in the finish it's a clean win, what's the issue? Austin might not even touch Reigns while pummeling the Bloodline (although it's likely he will). Edit: Substitute Taker or Cena or Rollins for Austin. In your book Cody's just won clean, and had a ready made feud with Rock. Lovely.

It'll be a reaction like Punk got against Jeff Hardy. That led to a fantastic set of matches between the two, but I'm sure as soon as it happened someone on the internet was claiming that Hardy got buried...

I think you're confusing Cody's story with Roman's reign, the latter of which you despise, which is fine. However, this clouds your judgment so you make claims like "Cody has had his momentum killed", whereas Cody's momentum is super high right now. Was it marginally higher after the Rumble? Sure. But Cody Vs Roman has huge heat going into WrestleMania regardless, and if The Rock is at Mania (and it would be crazy for him not to be at this point) the last few weeks would have increased the intrigue in his appearance. It's certainly brought more eyes to the Mania build up. I feel it's too easy for some people to concentrate on one thing that they don't like (especially if it's a main storyline) and claim it's hugely damaging, but I can't see it in this case. Cody's momentum went from 10/10 to 8/10 last Friday, went back up to 9/10 the other night, and has plenty of time to go back up to 10/10 before Mania. Did Cody's momentum need to take this hit? Of course not, but he's not coming out of this any worse so no need to dwell on it, especially when it's bringing eyes to the product.

Who knows what they were planning, but they have brought eyes on Mania through massive social media engagement so they'll be happy as long as this equates to buys. If it does, expect future planned works on the same scale.

This decision isn't about the WWE Title, unfortunately. WWE wanted Cody Vs Reigns and Punk Vs Rollins as the two main events. It's an anniversary year, it stacks up, and there would have been a Brock match, and probably a Rock appearance. WWE would prefer Cody Vs Rollins and Rock vs Reigns rather than Priest / Drew Vs Rollins and Cody Vs Reigns (with a Rock appearance and no Brock). This also, in isolation makes sense. The issue, of course, is they've done a good build for Cody Vs Reigns II. In a way they're unlucky, as if Punk's injury was known about first all they needed to do was throw Rock in the Rumble, and although there would have been dissent it would have been far less. But Cody Vs Rollins / Rock Vs Reigns is a set of main events which will sell more. I get the feeling that they're not even sure how fit Rollins will be in April, so have ensured that he's against a vet that could work with him injured to still pull out a great match. I've gone through other scenarios in my head, and whatever I come up with no other scenario makes the World Heavyweight Title worthy of headlining Day 1 of WrestleMania. It shouldn't matter as WWE should trust Bailey / IYO, Rhea / Lynch, or Gunter / someone to be able to Main Event, but it's an anniversary year, and they're shooting higher. Personally, I don't mind it. The only thing I wanted to see out of Cody / Reigns II was a title change - I'm not sure if the match up and feud justified two WrestleMania main events in a row. Personally, I'd have Priest cash in his title shot while Rollins was injured to make it Priest Vs Cody at WrestleMania, adding Rollins if he is properly fit. Either Cody wins, or an injured Rollins costs him the match, setting up the two to feud to SummerSlam. A titleless Cody would go into Rumble 25 looking for the threepeat but just miss out, before winning at Elimination Chamber and winning at Mania 41. If Cody has the title Reigns wins the Rumble or (preferably) Elimination Chamber, and they meet for it at Mania. Of course, a lot could go wrong before then.

Yes, that's the one. Like the devil storyline that was hot when there was mystery, then in petered out. I feel this one going the same way, as I don't see any satisfying reveals. Which considering they've just pinned the champion is not good.

Just caught up and, it just doesn't make sense. Why not just take Joe out, win the titles, and leave it there? Two injured men going into the PPV to even out that disadvantage, if Joe's injury was fake you can reveal it then. And what was that match? I'm fine with MJF going down in a 2 Vs 1 with interference, but it was poorly executed, right up to the rope assisted pin which was actually hindering the henchman making the pin. Granted, double the match length and you might accidentally reveal a henchman's moveset, but you've booked yourself into a corner with that match, if it turns out lame that's your fault. I appreciate the Cole injury has derailed the storyline, but if you can't adapt with the stacked roster in AEW then something's wrong. At the moment I'm getting Aces and Spades vibes, which is not what anyone was looking for. I assume that Joe will cut a promo saying he's not in league with the devil, and he'll blame MJF for being distracted, leading to uncertainty as to where he stands going into the Main Event. Now, I would like to see the henchmen come out during that Main Event, and Joe obliterate them with chair shots. I'm still struggling to book it from there though. They can't look too weak, so the best I can do is after the initial shots, Joe drags one of them to the ring and unmasks them, and is so shocked that it allows MJF to roll him up for the victory. Who could be that shocking? Well, that's where I'm out, the best I could do was Jack Perry, and I don't think he fits the bill. Maybe Christopher Daniels? That would have more of an affect on Joe, but makes no sense in the devil storyline. The devils henchmen would then have to beat down both competitors to end the show to show some semblance of strength. Maybe they could claim the title as well, and get MJF to earn it back, while Joe stays in the picture as a beast solely looking out for himself.

Um, Logan Paul has just made a veteran like save on Rey. Admittedly, it may have been because Paul was in the wrong place, but for a rookie that was a great move.

Punk wasn't the one who called out a wrestler unscripted live at their biggest ever PPV. I know Punk's no angel, but Jungle Boy was massively at fault yesterday.

They're blowing the licensing budget tonight!!

Oh, okay. You don't know what being buried means, even though it's been explained to you. That explains a lot.

I have no problem with you complaining about Roman being champion. I do have a problem with you saying people are being buried, when you're not watching the product and have no idea if someone's being buried or not. You were wrong about Cody being buried. You've defended your stance without acknowledging that you were wrong about that particular comment which you got called out on. A simple "Yeah, I was wrong about Cody being buried, but I'm still not watching until Roman isn't champion any more" will perfectly suffice. Just try not to add moments about how stale the Bloodline storyline is when you're not actually watching it develop. Storylines are a lot different when you're watching to if you read a summary (go read a summary of your favourite TV show, and see how different that is to actually watching).

Cody is arguably WWE's number one face. Struggling with how that equates to being buried. Meanwhile Jey, essentially a charismatic tag wrestler, has had three world title shots. Also impressive. Doesn't sound like someone who's being buried at all. Even if he never wins a World Title he's been elevated. Buried means being beaten so badly / often that the crowd won't see you as a credible threat any more. There's no way Cody has been buried.

Bury 🤣. Brock? Nah. Sammy? Nah. Cody? Nah. Jey - we'll have to wait and see. Granted, there's a few from the last couple of years who have never made it back to the main event, but none of them should have beaten Roman. But everyone who's faced Roman for the title this year has been elevated by the Bloodline storyline.

400 Studios

I agree with Self, the fall of Roman will come after the fall of the Bloodline, which should take a few more months. Sure, I would have preferred Zayn to take the title, but that wasn't the route they wanted. However, imagine Roman being the champion and having a Money in the Bank match between Gunter, The Usos, Zayn, Owens, Logan Paul, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. While The Usos are falling apart (again). I can easily count 5 different ways forward with 5 different winners from that match. And I'm sure it would be a doozy.

Hager was "over" the moment he joined Hager (comparatively - look back at the roster then, and there was plenty of promise, but Hager was still more well known to most people outside 7 or 8 workers). That was not because he was remembered as a WWE jobber - his gold belts in WWE played it part. Did he ever get more over? Slightly, but couldn't sustain it and was leapfrogged by many other workers.. Like his WWE career...

My first ever use of the Cornellverse was this iteration, and I remember booking The Lords of Pain in 20 minute match. I soon learnt that some things should be done, if you don't want two exhausted wrestlers struggling around the ring.

TCW Battleground V: The show opened with the semi-finals of the Tag Trophy Tournament, and The New Syndicate were out aggressively, keen to get their match over as they could have been in up to three matches tonight. However, David Stone has shown that he is not an easy man to keep down, and despite Ranger’s attempt to hit his finisher he could not keep to Canadian down. This frustrated Ranger and he left himself exposed to a T-Bone Slam from Bright, in what would be considered an upset. The next match was a little shorter, with the technical skills of Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey proving too much for Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert, the latter of whom fell to a Vessey Driver II. Then two of the teams who fell earlier in the competition, High Flyin Hawaiian / Joffy Laine and Frederique / Raphael met in a fun little match, with Joffy Laine getting a rare pin on Raphael. Next up we got Jack Bruce and Hellion, and this one was wild. The ref tried to show some leniency, but when Hellion picked up the ring steps the ref gave him a final warning. This was ignored and he cracked the steps over Jack Bruce’s head, getting himself disqualified. Hellion didn’t stop there, striking a prone Bruce once more with the steps, before One Man Army was out to wrestle the steps off the big man. The Elimination Match to determine the next contender to the World Heavyweight Title was announced as a 30 minute time limit, with whoever was in the ring facing the champion next month at Where Eagles Fear to Tread. Lenny Brown, Ranger and Edd Stone were the first three to go, before The Syndicate realised that partner Mighty Mo was not tagging himself into the ring. They forced him to take his turn and jumped down from the ring apron to watch, and although he eliminated Edd Stone The Syndicate still refused to tag in, leaving Mo to fall to Freddy Huggins. From then on Wolf Hawkins, Joshua Taylor and Ernest Youngman tagged regularly, really putting the pressure on Hernandez and Huggins. The match broke down and the ref lost track of who was the legal man, so when Hawkins pinned Huggins as Hernandez pinned Youngman the ref counted both men out. Hawkins and Taylor were furious, which allowed Hernandez to quickly roll Wolf Hawkins up in a small package to get the three count. The Syndicate leader was raging, refusing to leave the ring and arguing with the referee, until eventually Queen Emily had to lead a posse of referees and road agents out to drag Hawkins away. That ate into the time and as the match went towards to 30 minute mark, and Mainstream Hernandez and Joshua Taylor exchanged finishers but could not quite finish off the other man as the match ended with them both on the mat, exhausted. We changed pace as Aaron Andrews faced Bryan Vessey – paired with someone like Andrews Vessey can still go, but he’s certainly showing his age. He tried a few illegal moves and went for the Vessey Driver, but Andrews pulled himself free to hit his new finisher – the AA Lariat – to win the match. We then went into the second traditional Battleground match, this one being just one fall. Akima was the odd man out in the match, in his first PPV match since a Battle Royale a year and a half ago at the end on 2020. It wasn’t a huge surprise to see him take the fall, Dreadnought delivering a Dread Bomb to earn his team victory. Then Spencer Spade defeated Doc Hammond in a match, which was never going to face’s way. The final of the TCW Tag Team Tournament was next, with T-Bone Bright, David Stone, Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey all giving it everything in the ring. The match was quality, and it was T-Bone Bright who ended up taking the pin after being hit by an Omega Driver from Matthew Keith to earn Keith and Vessey the Tag Trophy, both men's first gold in TCW. The final match of the night saw Steven Parker challenge Jay Chord for the World Title. When Steven Parker first joined TCW almost two years ago his first feud was with Jay Chord, and they capped that match with a fine match. The two men went one stage further here, pulling out a match that was a true Match of the Year contender. Over 24 minutes the two men gave absolutely everything, and Chord’s claims that Parker was not a worthy challenger were thrown out of the window as he went toe to toe with the champion. He even delivered the Future Shock, but Jay Chord managed to kick out, and it was at that point that he swung the momentum around before hitting the Cradle Piledriver on Parker to retain his title in his hardest title defence of his current reign. T-Bone Bright and David Stone defeated The New Syndicate in the Tag Trophy Tournament in 13:01 (90) Matthew Keith and Chris Flynn defeated Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert in the Tag Trophy Tournament in 10:48 (79) High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine defeated Raphael and Frederique in 9:39 (74) Jack Bruce defeated Hellion by DQ in 8:10 (79) Joshua Taylor and Mainstream Hernandez drew in an Elimination Match that had been between Mainstream Hernandez, The Canadian Animals, Roderick Remus & Lenny Brown and The Syndicate & Mighty Mo in 30:00 (87) Aaron Andrews defeated Bryan Vessey in 12:08 (83) Scythe, Dreadnought, Findlay O’Farraday and Shockura defeated Mr Nuclear, Matty Faith, Sifu Storm and Akima in 12:29 (83) Spencer Spade defeated Doc Hammond in 10:39 (80) Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey defeated T-Bone Bright and David Stone the win the TCW Tag Team Trophy in 11:35 (90) Jay Chord defeated Steven Parker to retain the TCW World Heavyweight Title in 24:06 (100) Overall Rating 96 What a main event. Would it have been as good without Duane Fry and Emma Chase on commentary? Probably not, but that’s why I paid the big bucks for them, as in my first year and a half to announcing team really took away from some of our main events. But the real stars were Steven Parker and Jay Chord who blew the roof away. Last year Steven Parker teamed with various midcarders to try and help them develop – will this year be the year where he can break the main event? Elsewhere Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey won the Tag Trophy (more on that later), while Joshua Taylor earned a World Title shot next month. Mainstream Hernandez, who was also left in the ring at the end of their Elimination match, will now be allowed to choose the type of match that he gets with the World Champion at Total Mayhem, when he cashes in his King of Kings shot. Top individual performers of the night - Wolf Hawkins & Jay Chord 97, Ernest Youngman 96. The only problem with that show? T-Bone Bright’s defeat in the final of the Tag Team Trophy saw his popularity fall from 86 to 81 in the Mid South, failing my goal to keep him at 82 popularity or above. Everywhere outside Puerto Rico and Hawaii he is more popular than that, but JK Stallings hasn’t taken that into account. I did recently review my goals and as Bright was so significantly above this level I didn’t consider that this defeat would have taken him below this value. If I had done, I would have at least kept him strong (or at least not have him taking the pin in the final), although that would have affected the match rating. Stallings opinion of me has gone from exceptionally pleased to disappointed, but on the plus side Matthew Keith jumped 11 points of popularity last month (66 to 77), as did Cameron Vessey (43 to 54), so I still stick to my guns and say it was the correct booking decision. Although you know what – I’ve just looked back at all my PPV Main Events since I’ve taken over. The only new signings ever to wrestle the main events are Mr Nuclear, Mainstream Hernandez and Steven Parker (for the first time last night). So I think I can safely say that the show is based around true TCW wrestlers. Whatever Stalling says. Well done Dawn for 8/9 correct predictions - I'll exclude the time limit draw, which although looks an awful booking decision, it there were reason for it... TCW Presents Total Wrestling: One Man Army vs Hellion Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert vs The New Syndicate High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine vs The Blonde Brigade Sifu Storm (c) vs Shockura for the TCW Tag Team Titles Freddy Huggins vs Marc DuBois Steven Parker vs Benny Benson Lenny Brown vs Joshua Taylor