B+ Player went to the B+ Fed.

I agree with c's perspective here. Hangman Page is the biggest long-term storyline they have. He's super over and the moment he overcomes Kenny Omega should be the most massive moment in AEW to that point. Shouldn't be done when Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are debuting.

The difficulty is keeping Hangman Page hot, because he's been chasing and coming up short for a very long time. His latest loss they booked smart, because the story was that Dark Order aren't good enough to match with The Elite. Page is, but he ended up in a 3v1 vs the tag champs and the heavyweight champ, and he stood no chance. But where to go from here? I like c's suggestion of having Hangman beat all of Kenny's title challengers clean.

There's one obvious decision you can make. But it will be remembered for the pop rather than the title win.

That's put Punk in Austin's place, he makes the save, delivers the chair shot to Omega as The Elite fight with The Dark Order, and then Hangman hits his finish and there you have it folks.

But people will remember the pop.

Or you simply place Punk and Danielson clearly in support roles and make it clear they're here to clear out The Elite to allow for the 1 v 1.

Don't have Danielson and Punk anywhere near the Hangman vs Omega blowoff. Have them doing something else.

Yeah. Ideally I see Hangman vs Omega with everyone else banned from ringside.

It makes 100% sense but my question is how long until Punk’s deal is not the biggest deal on the show? It’ll take a while for the novelty to wear off, won’t it?

The biggest question is what is Punk deal? Bryan wants to have several matches. Punk? Who knows. He may not even have signed a deal that sees him in the ring.  Personally, until Punk delivers I really do not care.  He walked away, and stayed away so long, that I am not sure he is still a top guy anymore.  He may still be good on the mic, but again, he been gone a long time.  On commentary it is a different story as the dude is a master there, but I really wonder if people are hyping themselves up for disappointment as it really is a coin toss if Punk delivers or not IMO.

Bryan on the other hand, likely will pull out his best work in years in AEW doing some slower more chain based stuff that just bores the fuck out the WWE crowd.  Sooner or later he will face ZSJ and have a masterclass as well.  They fought before, but not at the level ZSJ is now.  



Meltzer implying that the Dominos drama was pitched by people in WWE to wrestling journalists to try to get drama started between AEW and sponsors and that Dominos themselves was not actually upset, nor was TNT. Could have been a totally made up story and the person who broke the story only covers WWE.

Please, it was probably Matt Jackson's stroke of genius to plant the story to make AEW look edgy.

I think if they wanted to plant a complaint they would have focused on putting a bank robber in your main event.

With Page dropping out of the top 5 the next in line is Jungle Boy, who Omega already beat. After him: Christian Cage.

I think that's who Omega is facing at All Out. Cage is undefeated, has the name recognition, can handle a big match...that PPV is going to centre around CM Punk's debut/first match in years, so a safe title match that can set up another story/challenger is probably what they're looking for.

I seen Danielson being Omega's challenger at All Out. Feeding him Christian does nothing really.  Omega was on Danielson's list of people he wanted to face as well.

Well, looks like the Dark Order has a new leader coming in. Hope Khan has money left, as you do not pass on Bray.

Jul 31, 2021 16:38:23 GMT c said:

I seen Danielson being Omega's challenger at All Out. Feeding him Christian does nothing really.  Omega was on Danielson's list of people he wanted to face as well.

The dude that broke the Danielson news said the plan was to have his first match at the big NY show on Sept 22nd so my guess is that Danielson makes his first appearance at All Out then wrestles Omega in NY.

If Omega beats Christian, he's out of challengers essentially. He hasn't faced Allin but all signs point to him being in a program with CM Punk, so it seems likely the American Dragon shows up and challenges Omega.

...

Bray taking Brodie's spot would be interesting. Might be the only person on the planet that the DO guys would feel comfortable with taking over the legacy. Dark Order doesn't really need a leader anymore though so whatever. I'd take it or leave it.

If they bring in Bray Wyatt to be leader of a comedy faction they need shooting. I don’t care how ‘wholesome’ it is, it will kill him unless they reinvent it seriously.

Weird, so they are going to debut Punk first?

Bray could be used to turn the Dark Order into a more serious group. But not sure if they will since the Hangman / Order stuff is so good right now.  Hangman fighting with Bray over the Dark Order would keep him from Omega for a while until they are ready to pull the plug.  But thinking of it, do not think Bray will reuse a gimmick.  Or if he goes back to Bray, he will really lean into the Max Cady side and less from the backwood cult leader stuff.

Given Matt was one of the first people to respond to the release, I assume Bray will be working with him. Matt loves to change characters and Big Money Matt is getting a bit stale so about time for the lake of reincarnation to come around. Let the two of these guys come up with something new that will take the wrestling world by storm.

Would love to see how far Bray could take a Max Cady gimmick in AEW. Imagine him doing upright gentlemen Bray 95% of the time with cracks into psychotic classic Wyatt Bray that do not last long and he pretends does not happen. Like he wrestles clean, does polite promos, but randomly beats the living fuck out of someone in the back every few shows or ends matches here and there with violent DQs.

The way people are speaking about Rotunda you'd think he passed away, he has made very good money his entire time, 10+ years in the company is a long time. Not sure if he will want to be full time working anywhere, I think he enjoys the freedom creatively and not having to do something weekly and be on a full time work grind. 

Putting him as the head of Dark Order is a terrible idea, they have openly said they don't want another leader post Brodie Lee and it puts Rotunda in a rough spot to be compared to Brodie Lee and if they do more than what they did under Lee, it may give him guilt instead of him thinking he's doing Lee justice by carrying on the faction.

I like the idea of him being some mad televangelist and maybe his brother Bo gets involved as a side kick. It will borrow shades of Bray Wyatt and Bray Wyatt Firefly Funhouse speaking on the TV to the fans in a brainwashing method with a sadistic side to him.

The real money angle is Cody Rhodes bringing Hucky Harris into AEW to feud with Danial Bryan over who was the most successful rookie!!!  Then Punk can bring in Fred Rosser, Hardy PJ Black and Christian Heath Slater...

Jul 31, 2021 21:08:19 GMT c said:

The real money angle is Cody Rhodes bringing Hucky Harris into AEW to feud with Danial Bryan over who was the most successful rookie!!!  Then Punk can bring in Fred Rosser, Hardy PJ Black and Christian Heath Slater...

I am all here for Ryback Rules throwing Punk off the ramp and onto concrete yet again.

Jul 31, 2021 18:40:18 GMT c said:

Weird, so they are going to debut Punk first?

That seems to be the plan. It was reported that Bryan Danielson had signed, then the CM Punk signing happened kind of out of nowhere/faster than expected, and they had to change their Danielson plans on the fly. CM Punk probably wants to debut in Chicago and Danielson probably doesn't mind taking the summer off to be with family. So they switched it up.

Real question is, which one of these guys is hotshotted into a month long feud with Cody only to be jobbed out in a gimmick match after Black?

Jul 31, 2021 21:47:57 GMT Blindy said:

Jul 31, 2021 21:08:19 GMT c said:

The real money angle is Cody Rhodes bringing Hucky Harris into AEW to feud with Danial Bryan over who was the most successful rookie!!!  Then Punk can bring in Fred Rosser, Hardy PJ Black and Christian Heath Slater...

I am all here for Ryback Rules throwing Punk off the ramp and onto concrete yet again.

"Truth is Punk... I'm not an idiot. I did it. ON PURPOSE!"

Jul 31, 2021 22:12:29 GMT NATH45 said:

Real question is, which one of these guys is hotshotted into a month long feud with Cody only to be jobbed out in a gimmick match after Black?

DB I think wanted to work Cody...

Bray likely will want to work with Cody as well.

meh, they tried making Dark Order threats as heels. I liked it but most did not. They resonate far more as loveable underdogs that are good enough to win matches. Because of this, losing doesn't affect them like it did when they were heels.

I'm so smart.

On today's WOR, Dave said that Adam Page likely won't be at All Out, and he predicted that Omega's opponent will be Christian.

Aug 1, 2021 18:24:34 GMT RT said:

I'm so smart.

On today's WOR, Dave said that Adam Page likely won't be at All Out, and he predicted that Omega's opponent will be Christian.

Makes sense I guess.

I mean Christian's undefeated right? Him and Omega will put on a good match I reckon, and if/when CM Punk debuts at All Out, it won't take away from the match outcome (like it would, if Adam Page beat Omega).

I like CC as the next contender. I wonder if the person he'll feud with next will cost him the match to get heat for that feud. I would love to see a Cage/Hardy match where the loser leaves AEW. Realistically, what either man have left to give us or prove to themselves?

Page is off All Out altogether or just the main event?

Aug 1, 2021 19:35:19 GMT Todd said:

Page is off All Out altogether or just the main event?

Altogether apparently. At least that's what Dave's sources are telling him.

My guess is the story progresses with Hangman taking the loss hard and Dark Order trying to pick him up. Page has failed his new friends yet again but this time they stick by him and help him get back into the top 5, rather than dump him like the Elite did.

Still though it's a ballsy move having arguably their hottest homegrown talent off a huge PPV.

Aug 1, 2021 19:21:53 GMT Ed said:

I like CC as the next contender. I wonder if the person he'll feud with next will cost him the match to get heat for that feud. I would love to see a Cage/Hardy match where the loser leaves AEW. Realistically, what either man have left to give us or prove to themselves?

I can't see the main event of All Out ending in a goofy finish. Christian will probably bring Jurassic Express to ringside to even the odds against The Elite but ultimately get handed his first loss. Nothing wrong with your first loss being to the champ, and it gives Omega another big name under his belt.