Champagne

Assertations that Danielson has a great booking mind are relying on the same faulty reasoning as any talk of his alleged ability as a trainer. Great wrestler ≠ great booker or trainer. I literally have no idea why anyone continues to pay attention (and money) to these people. On the plus side, seeing the words "according to Meltzer....", does help to weed out comments that add nothing of value. FirstOntario Centre holds 17,383. Jesus Christ, Tony.

The new Britt Baker t-shirt, presented without comment:

Roman Reigns is the best ever at kicking out of pin attempts at the last possible instant before the ref's hand hits 3.

I would not want @NintendoLogic to be on the jury if I was accused of anything.

The accusations are a rallying cry to wrestling fans with an anti-WWE bias; a call-to-action to support the victimized underdog. It feeds into unhealthy tribalism. Tony Khan is making accusations without backing up his claims. He is either unable to prove the accusations are true or they are false. Making false claims makes it harder for people to believe it when real misdeeds occur. In some circumstances of false accusation, the accuser doesn’t want to deal with the ramifications of their actions and is motivated by self-preservation hinged on fear. In other circumstances, the accuser is merely a narcissistic, compulsive liar, and their narcissism stems from a mental disorder. A clinical diagnosis would be required to accurately determine whether Tony does indeed suffer from paranoia and insecurity. My own amateur opinion, based on nothing but observation of his behavior, is that Tony suffers from borderline personality disorder. Sufferers of BPD tend to do whatever they can to avoid any form of perceived abandonment or rejection. These feelings can trigger intense anger and lead to impulsive and self-harming behavior. People with insecurity often want to appear secure, and their explicit comments may be at odds with their automatic responses to certain stimuli. Deliberate self-misrepresentation or false behavior/information on social media, poor decision-making skills and limited ability to choose quickly can also be a sign of social anxiety. Tony Khan is no doubt aware of that there is a perception that everything he has is because of his father, rather than being something he earned on his own; AEW is his chance to prove himself. If AEW fails it would confirm that all those people who said he was nothing without his dad were right. It's resulted in paranoid thoughts and outbursts. Having grown up in the smark bubble, he created a workrate and highspot based promotion with nods to the past designed appeal to that audience. His ego was propped up by the likes of Chris Jericho and Dave Meltzer's readers to the point that he thought AEW was a legitimate rival to WWE in the same way WCW was to WWF during the Monday Night Wars. His ego has taken some blows in the last few months—criticism of his booking, dropping tv viewership and attendance numbers, the purchase of ROH and subsequent struggle to get the revived promotion back off the ground, Brawl Out, Nick Khan referring to him as "the kid," etc.... He has shown an inability to make quick decisions or pivot when obstacles get in the way of his long term booking plans. To alleviate those negative feelings about himself, he's lashing out and looking for scapegoats (e.g., criticism of AEW coming from bots). He knows he's equally guilty of contract tampering (Jeff Hardy, Adam Cole, Pat Buck) and because that doesn't fit with his self-image, he is shifting the focus away from his actions. He has started grasping at straws to convince himself that he is capable and hasn't been rejected, like saying cagematch ratings are an indication that what AEW is doing is resonating with fans and booking an event in a stadium with a capacity to hold 70,000 more people than AEW has ever drawn. Impulsive thoughts and actions can lead to self-harming actions like inappropriate spending (195 wrestlers on the active roster), and substance abuse (rumors of Tony's drug use are rampant on the internet). According to Psychiatric Times, 50 to 70 percent of individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder also suffer from a substance abuse disorder. Chronic stimulant use can produce a paranoid psychosis that is similar to acute paranoid schizophrenia. I'm not passing judging on Tony for any mental health issues he may suffer from. I wish him and AEW all the best. And yes, WWE does have a history of using dirty tricks, and it would not be a surprise if some of the accusations are true. Without proof, they are just claims.

Exactly. Tony is the one acting like he's a conspiracy victim by making vague accusations without providing any proof. Hmm, that sounds familiar...

You think Tony “When I compared myself to Jim Crockett Promotions this weekend I think I got a little taste of what Jim Crockett felt but I have a lot more fucking money than Jim Crockett did and I’m serious, I’m not going to sit back and take this shit.” isn't insecure and paranoid? The guy who wrote this "An independent study has confirmed that much of the staunch anti-AEW online community aren’t real individuals, it’s a staff running thousands of accounts + an army of bots to signal boost them. Look closely, these aren’t real people. Who’d pay for such a *wildly* expensive thing?" isn't paranoid? The guy who said this "I only know what people have come to me and alleged. But, I do know it's a real war between AEW and WWE..." isn't insecure and paranoid?

AEW is not profitable and I'll literally print off every page of this thread and eat them if anyone can prove otherwise. While it's not a publicly traded company and Tony doesn't have to reveal his financials, he is always very careful about saying AEW will gross x amount. Gross does not subtract operating expenses which would certainly put AEW in the red. To be fair, WWE does the same thing—2022 revenue of 1.29 billion, net income of 195 million.

There are 400 episodes of Between the Sheets highlighting how little due diligence Dave does when "reporting" on the activites of his sources. https://redcircle.com/shows/between-the-sheets

IMO Dave's biggest fault is believing his sources are telling him the truth without spin, and reporting it as such. It's led to a lot of one-sided narratives over the years; the Punk vs. Elite and Jericho drama being the latest.

Roman's reign reaches 1000 days on the same day as the Saudi event. It's likely WWE is shifting the focus to a big title match to celebrate the occasion and will run the two tournaments another time. Maybe at the next Saudi show?

I'm predicting the Wembley show will surpass Royal Rumble 97 as the largest papered crowd in wrestling history.

Yep. JCP kept riding the Four Horsemen past this point, as did WCW with the NWO. We may look back on Sunday's main event result like we do with Tully & Arn vs. Road Warriors at Starrcade '87, or Hogan vs. Sting at Starrcade '97.

What metric are you using to define Main event ready top level guys? Wrestling Observer star ratings? Cagematch ratings? Because those would be the only way AEW's roster compares to the WWE's roster.

Roman is the best ever at kicking out at 2.9999.