Aug 21, 2021 3:19:18 GMT c said:

So curious to see the ratings. And to see who WWE releases next week in a rage for letting this happen.

On the contrary. They just offered Adam Cole $5 million and called Bray and Braun.

I'm joking but also not really.

Aug 21, 2021 4:36:35 GMT nazzer said:

SRS is reporting as well as Punk and Bryan there is another major signig coming to AEW. Is there anyone that could mean other than Adam Cole?

Braun was in Chicago tonight.

Bray maybe?

It's probably Cole though.

Oh and if there's any doubt about Joe winning the NXT title on Sunday....:lol:

Aug 21, 2021 4:39:56 GMT RT said:

Oh and if there's any doubt about Joe winning the NXT title on Sunday....

Because Kross has been called up?

Aug 21, 2021 4:42:36 GMT nazzer said:

Aug 21, 2021 4:39:56 GMT RT said:

Oh and if there's any doubt about Joe winning the NXT title on Sunday....

Because Kross has been called up?

Or maybe both Kross and Scarlett get the heave-ho, as part of Vince's wrath of NXT.

Cole is a free agent in four days.

To refer to Cole as a major acquisition in the same conversation as Bryan/Punk doesn't seem quite right.

But you're going to get 10-15 years from Adam Cole, your not getting that from Punk and Danielson.

It's not how you'd expect.

Yeah kind of shocking. But hard to deny that reaction. People literally crying in the crowd.

Aug 21, 2021 5:19:44 GMT NATH45 said:

But you're going to get 10-15 years from Adam Cole, your not getting that from Punk and Danielson.

This is what makes Cole a steal.  Also people have not seen remotely what he can do.  Everyone including HBK thinks Cole can be the next HBK.  Generally Cole goes to a company and becomes one of their top stars and one of their most popular stars.  With the Bullet Club and Bucks he also moved a ton of swag.  By all measures he will be a big star, and has a decade at least left.

This picture makes me so happy

http://instagram.com/p/CTAYIfELmA5

Quoth Jim Cornette. First words of the video.

Well, it wasn't the way I would have done it. It was actually a lot better. It was perfect.

Do I want to listen to a further 29 minutes of Jim Cornette explaining why? You know what. I think I do.

Tony Khan was on Dan La Batard's podcast and discussed CM Punk. He said it was probably the best investment he's ever made because Punk paid for himself in his first night.

He also heard from ESPN that their social media posts on CM Punk's return had some of the highest traffic of the year, and that includes the Olympics and NBA Finals.

He also talked about other signings, saying Jon Moxley jumping to AEW so quickly surprised him. He's also super impressed with Sting still being able to perform and praised Christian and Matt Hardy as well.

Then there's this....

One of the hosts, Dan Le Batard, asked if WWE underestimated him and if WWE ignored him. Both was answered with a simple chuckle and "I don't want to answer that".

Tony Khan: "I'm not trying to take out every other company and take their lunch. I don't think that makes sense. It worked for Vince.... I try to take a lot of inspiration from Vince in the 80s with his meetings with talent, but in my own way."

The host Dan was really planting his feet on getting a real diss on WWE from Tony but from listening he answered everything well and gave a lot of credit to Vince and how tough it can be for any company.

"I'm going to give them credit here. They can't keep every wrestler under their thumb. They just couldn't do it. And they tried to cast such a wide net for so long that inevitably somebody with money and connections was going to come in and create a wrestling business. The disconnect would be they were probably going to have to pass it off to someone to run the business"

"I didn't like the way we ended 2019 from a writing story structure standpoint. I was determined that everything we did in 2020 was going to be better. And it was. And if you watched the show, it's amazing, but through the pandemic I actually think the show got better."

"Then when we came back with fans, the show is now as good as it's ever been because of I think the stories, the structure we got into a really strong place, got really organised during the pandemic."

Tony Khan is a class act and I completely underestimated him.

Aug 25, 2021 20:01:42 GMT Todd said:

Tony Khan is a class act and I completely underestimated him.

Honestly, so did I. His comment about how the booking ended in 2019 reflects kind of how I felt. Around 2019/2020 I was not super sold on AEW, and thought this was going to be a flash in the pan company that some billionaire asshole used to play fan fic for a while. I remained optimistic but wasn't sure they would survive.

Over the past year and a bit I've eaten my words and then some. He's really done a great job and deserves a lot of credit for making this happen.

Now that CM Punk has arrived it feels we're building to a not so subtle Bryan debut. Punk felt like he said it was gonna happen when he acknowledge the YES chants tonight

Rumors are they are going to lock in Daniels for an All Out debut.