Nick Wayne is a second generation wrestler, started his career in 2018 in Canada, has 181 matches listed on cagematch.net and he signed a futures contract with AEW.
Not bad for barely being old enough to see an R-rated movie unaccompanied.
this will be good for the biz
anyone heard from @Sir_T-Cups recently ?
Vince has inserted himself back onto the board of directors, reportedly to oversee the sale of the company to the Saudis. It’s being reported that he won’t be involved in day-to-day operations and Steph and Hunter will be staying in place as CEO and head of creative.
We’ll see how long that lasts. I hope Karrion Kross still has his Zardoz costume ready and Sheamus is ready to wrestle Dolph Ziggler for twelve weeks in a row.
Meanwhile, Tony Khan’s voicemail is presumably full of people telling him how much they love working for him and they weren’t actually planning on going anywhere, they were just working the marks.
Rampage/Battle of the Belts was another great show to see live. They got the Dark taping out of the way before the live broadcast this time, which was an improvement to following up a major main event title match with a bunch of jobber squashes. Big Bill (formerly W. Morrisey, formerly Big Cass) and Lee Moriarty got a really impressive showing against a local team of identical twins, the Boros brothers, that really showed off Cass’ skills. The main event of Dark was Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. the Butcher and the Blade, which was the only non-squash on the preshow and was pretty dang good.
Danielson got more time to shine than he did in Seattle in the tag match against Top Flight, and the crowd was almost as hot as the Seattle crowd. Jeff Jarrett got the most heat out of any of the heels - he has the perfect combination of heel heat and go-away heat where the crowd actively hates him but also ENJOYS actively hating him. Aside from Danielson, Aubrey Edwards probably had a bigger pop than anyone - she had the crowd chanting for her a few times, and her running out during the tag titles match to save the day for the Acclaimed was a great moment.
It was cool to see Sonico make a TV appearance, even if it was only a 60-second squash that ended with him getting unmasked and dragged out of the arena. He wrestles in DEFY and another Seattle indy, Lucha Libre Volcanica, where he’s a former champion. A few years ago, he was heavily evolved in successfully lobbying the WA legislature to rewrite its regulations for wrestling, which dated to the territory era and treated it as a legitimate sport, which put a lot of restrictions on both wrestlers and promoters. The changes made it a lot easier to wrestle professionally and put on a show and were part of what helped turn the Seattle indy scene into the thriving business it is today and boost DEFY into becoming a farm league for the majors. I hope we’ll be seeing more of him.
There was a digital clock facing the ring just above the hard cam, which is an innovation I’ve never seen at a televised show before - it must be extremely helpful to the wrestlers in the ring to time out their segments and know when to go home so they don’t run long, and it certainly seemed effective, since the main event of both shows finished with less than a minute left in the time slot but didn’t feel rushed. While they were doing the intro for Battle of the Belts and presumably keeping the camera on the ramp and the announce team, Darby Allin was still taking his bows in the ring and making his way out, and the ring crew were frantically changing out the aprons.
Was Tony Schiavone’s voice as hoarse on commentary as he was during the segment with Page and Moxley on Wednesday? I felt badly for him having to perform when he sounded that worn out and I was surprised he didn’t skip the show and leave the work to Taz and Excalibur. (Knowed_Out is going to have to let me know if they had any particularly stand out bon mots.)
Hopefully it doesn’t take them another 3 1/2 years to make it out here this time.
ETA: Just checked out a little of the TV broadcast and you can occasionally see me in the top left corner of the hard cam shot. I’m the short-haired guy in the “Yes! Yes! Yes!” shirt.
so is Vince really going to sell WWE ? or is it just a ploy to get back in like JC and brian last seems to think it is
so far the only one that seems interested is the Saudi Arabian royal investment fund and nbc/Comcast although there have been reports that Disney is mulling it over
I’ve noticed he sounds a tad stressed on commentary. I thought it might have something to do with him ducking out to do interviews and getting winded. He’s 65 and no longer a spring chicken.
Steph has quit WWE.
Vince is so obsessed with clinging to power that he’s driven his own family out of the family business and he’s going to run the company into the ground or die on the job with nobody to take over from him.
Dad pretty much said “I don’t trust you, so much that I’m going to broker a sale rather than give you our family’s company.” I’m surprised the letter wasn’t just “FU Dad!”
So, I’ve been in a psychiatric hospital for the past month and have not been able to follow storylines at all since December 14. Can someone fill me in on what’s happened in WWE and AEW since then? I’m looking forward to watching the Royal Rumble and want to have a halfway decent working knowledge of why I should care. I was so excited about Survivor Series that I requested off on that day to catch it live.
Favorites in WWE: The Bloodline, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Gunther, Sheamus, Kevin Owens.
Favorites in AEW: Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, MJF.
AEW: Bryan Danielson needs to win all his matches for the next month so he can become #1 contender and take on MJF in a 60-minute iron man match at Revolution. Darby Allin just won the TNT championship and is a fighting champion. The House of Black are trying to recruit Eddie Kingston, and tomorrow on Dynamite the Elite face Death Triangle in the final match of their best-of-seven series for the trios title.
WWE: Vince just gutted the board of directors and re-hired himself as chairman and drove his own daughter out of the company, so expect the last six months of improved programming and fresh storylines to go down the shitter so we can get back to having stupid dance-offs, rematch after rematch after rematch because he can’t remember that he’s already booked Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler eight weeks in a row, stories where the women fight over a man and noone has any motivation more complex than “bitches be crazy”, and All Roman All The Time™.
The plot thickens - WWE has been purchased by Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman’s state-owned investment fund and is going private.
Hope Sami saved his money. This is f’n ridiculous. Sean Ross Sapp says none of his contacts have confirmed it. It might just be everyone repeating the same rumor (something the IRC does all the time). But if true, Vince has cemented his legacy as one of the top 5 POS ever in wrestling, IMO (I don’t think even Vince can knock Benoit out of the #1 spot).
(this is a parody, but it sounds like something that could be real at this point)
If true, it would put a kibosh on the women’s division, or at least force them to wear coveralls.
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur moment of the day
- Taz wants to name Jake Hager’s hat for branding purposes.
- Taz asks people on Twitter to tell Ethan Page he stole Taz’s gimmick (of screaming into the mic).
- (After Page yelled into the mic during the match) Ex: There was a band during the 80’s called Big Audio Dynamite. That was Bad Audio Dynamite.
- Taz wears an LED display under his vest around the house.
- Ex: You think Team Taz would have been more successful had you screeched at ringside like Vicki Guerrero? Taz: They would have beat me up. All of them.
Steve Migs vs. J.A.S.'s Jake Hager
Ex: Taz, there’s one thing I know that is certain in life. Actually, there’s three things. Death, taxes, and Jake Hager likes that hat.
Taz: Yes, I agree. There’s a fourth thing. Jake Hager’s opponent, who we’re about to meet, is going to lose.
Dasha introduces Steve Migs.
Taz: Oh my god, this is weird. Steve looks like my former producer, Seth. Seth the whip. Looks just like him, bro. The KFJ we use to call him. Casual fans know who I’m talking about. Useless to the show, bro. He looks just like him! He looks just like a jacked up Seth. Oh my god, people on Twitter are buggin’ right now.
Ex: Hager takes the side headlock, back and shoulder tackle takes down Producer Seth, I mean Steve Migs…
“Contrary to reports stating otherwise last night, there is no deal in place at this precise moment for WWE to be sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund or any entity.”
Their would be stock market implications to such a sale, I’m sure it will be clearly announced when and if a deal is completed.
There’s a nice article about Danhausen in, of all places, the New York Times Magazine.
Hopefully this gift link works…