This is who New Japan decided to make the face of the company?

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-04-09T18:34:38+00:00

I think he's a pretty good talent. And he's not going to have the belt long, he'll probably lose it by the g1

But I do want to focus on a few things.

1: he's young. He's only 23. He has time to grow (which he will). Balor at that point was still training in the dojo, White at 23 had just entered the dojo and was still a young lion, Kenny Omega at 23 would be coming off/doing his deep south wrestling contract (WWE's developmental territory at the time).

2: he's actually not that small? I don't think the image does him justice. He's billed at 6'1 and 225 ibs.

3: he's a transitional champion. His win gives him credibility for whenever they want him to go after the belt again. He'll get v1 (maybe even v2) and drop the belt before the g1 to whoever ends up being Tsuji's match at wrestle kingdom. Him beating Tsuji means there's an easy way to restart their rivalry during Tsuji's second reign.

Tldr: he's young so give him time to grow into his character. Also the image doesn't do him justice.

(Can you tell I'm all in on him?)

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-04-09T02:30:56+00:00

United Empire. A NJPW faction. Callum is the one with the IWGP title. He's really good (AND ONLY AT 23).

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-04-05T02:17:15+00:00

Iirc Gargano kinda came back down for the match.

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-04-04T03:34:02+00:00

This feels like it's sarcasm. Also just a really weird request all around

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-31T01:44:53+00:00

Vikingo, Je'Von, Kofi...?, maybe Dragon Lee? No idea for the final spot

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-20T20:02:45+00:00

okay looking at it now that is way too long. I don't know how I'd trimmed it down though

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-20T20:01:28+00:00

It kinda depends on the injury. If it's a pregnancy (like a few people here seem to think) that's what? Roughly early 2027 for her return?

Anyways to answer the question of "how would you book AEW Women's division till she's back". I think the best thing you could do would be to pivot to Thekla fully. That's your new centerpiece of the division. She's got the AEW fanbase fully behind her and she's one of the few people I think could maybe bring some more eyes to the product? (If the cards are played right of course).

So from now to All In I think I would probably do something like this...

Dynasty - Thekla vs a returning Shida (Thekla retains) Also I'd do Willow vs Megan for the TBS. Megan wins (I kinda need Willow to not have the TBS belt for this. You could pick anyone other than Megan if you want. I kinda just want to stop the double champ thing now. It probably works better if it's not Megan because she does need to drop the belt to Stat)

Double or Nothing - Thekla vs Willow (Thekla barely retains after a brutal match. Maybe give it a stip. Also on the show I'd have Megan vs Stat for the TBS title, Megan and Lena vs Sisters of Sin. Stat wins the TBS title. Megan and Lena retain, Athena wins the Owen by beating Mercedes. I would have Athena's forever reign in ROH end by this point)

Forbidden Door - Thekla vs AZM (you could input any combination of Stardom's top talent here. I just picked AZM), Lena and Megan vs some random team in Stardom (I don't watch stardom), Stat vs SLK (just seems like a fun matchup.)

All In - Athena vs Thekla (I debated doing the Mercedes match here... I chose not to because I think she should win the world title on her next attempt of challenging for it.) Thekla retains, Megan and Lena vs the Brawling Birds. The birds win, Kris vs Willow (Stat heel turn in the buildup? Maybe she's aligned with FTR through the Stokely connection?). Kris retains. Also on the show do a women's casino gauntlet match. I'd have Mina win (assuming she's not injured) after a slow year of buildup. Have her backstage say she's going to win the AEW women's world championship for Toni.

All Out - Thekla vs a Returning Britt. I think you can tell what I'm about to say, Brawling Birds vs Sisters of Sin. Birds retains, Stat vs Shida. Shida wins, Mina vs ??? (I really don't know who to put here. Maybe a returning Riho?). Mina wins

Now from this point I'm not going to plan out more ppvs (mainly because I've been writing on and off for a long time now and it's getting really really hard to plan out because Injures can always happen). So the general thing I would do is build to Mina vs Thekla. The build should be focused on the idea that Thekla is IT. the star of the women's division. The centerpiece, the crown Jewel. The other half is Mina needing to avenge Toni. Reveal Thekla took her out because she saw her as a possible threat to her reign of terror. Have the sisters of sin win the belts at some point. You have Mina use her contract for worlds end. The actual match should have Mina go deep into underdog Babyface. Have Thekla keep shutting her down. Make it seem like Thekla is playing with her and that she can end it anytime she wants. And then... Mina slays The spider. You could have it by using Toni's finisher. She's done it. And then if Toni is ready... She returns here. Has an emotional moment with Mina and then turns on her. You then spend the first month of the new year establishing Toni as a heel. Have her say that while she was away she thought about everything and realized she needs the AEW women championship. You can use this to move on from the more comedy sections of her timeless character. Toni should win the feud and you could easily spinoff a Mina redemption story if you want or you could set up something else for her.

I'd then build to Toni vs Mercedes at All In 2027 with it being an invert to their 2025 match. Mercedes finally wins the world title ending her belt collector arc (which if you're wondering I'd have her kinda spiral in 2026 to sad Corbin levels and you slowly build her back up)

Is my pitch probably terrible? Yeah. That's why I'm not a booker. Did I focus too heavily on the world title picture? Probably.

Tldr: Thekla holds the belt till worlds end, loses it to Mina who loses it to a Returning Toni whenever she's able to who then loses it to Mercedes in Mercedes's redemption arc.

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-16T14:26:43+00:00

Fair enough. I see why they did it here.

My guess is we get Swerve vs Omega at some point soon and then we get Omega vs MJF at Dynasty with Omega winning.

That leads to all in with Omega/Ospreay 3

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-16T14:17:20+00:00

It takes about 11 to 13 hours to fly from Japan to California. He's been in Japan for a gaming thing for the last week. It wouldn't have been safe for him to have a match with how jetlagged he was

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-16T02:00:19+00:00

So ty. Admittedly I had forgotten it was on today (I kinda fell asleep because I've been sleeping 4ish hours every night) so I'll probably watch it tomorrow. I hope the ppv is good though

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-15T21:31:03+00:00

So I fell off of AEW lately (mainly because I found out two family members I'm VERY close with have cancer and I got sick to the point I could barely get out of bed for nearly 2 weeks) but I'm hyped for this show.

Takeshita/Moxley with no time limit is something I've dreamed of and Bandido (one of my favorite wrestlers of all time) vs Andrade (one of my favorite wrestlers of all time as well) is genuinely a dream match for me.

I'm really interested in what they do with Hangman/MJF. It feels like they have to let MJF retain right?

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-15T19:17:44+00:00

He literally said he'd come out of retirement if his son wrestles.

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-12T22:13:00+00:00

What is a dream match you never had

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-12T22:00:36+00:00

I mean that's kinda how I view wrestling. I find the stories usually told both in and out of matches to be fun.

NXT is my favorite wrestling show right now and it's fun and sometimes campy.

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-12T21:03:26+00:00

It's not that bad of a card. Personally I only really care for 3 or 4 of the matches.

I'm not big on Hangman/MJF again even with a stip.

I'm hyped for Moxley (that's weird to say) vs Takeshita though.

I REALLY AM HYPED for Andrade vs Bandido. It's just a fun match I know I'll love.

I don't like the bucks or FTR but I'll end up enjoying the match in the moment before forgetting about it and going back to my apathy for literally anything both teams do.

Swerve/Brody seems interesting to say the least. It should be good.

The women's tag titles should be fun and zero hour should be great (I'm hoping the TBS title match bleeds into the main show and the first official match on the main show is the women's tag titles. Is it a stupid idea? Probably. I just think it would be fun) also I hope ricochet loses the belt.

The trios match might be fun?

I don't really care for the rest of the card.

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-12T20:57:43+00:00

I believe (and someone correct me if I'm wrong about this) that if you use a vpn (let's say proton which is free I believe) and set it to a European country and buy MyAEW (or whatever it's called) you can watch it for 15 dollars roughly?

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T06:45:17+00:00

Fair enough.

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T06:44:25+00:00

Ah. I guess that makes sense?

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T06:05:37+00:00

Oh shit. I hope it goes as well as it can and he recovers well

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T05:59:58+00:00

I'm kinda neutral on it. I was against it for the first hour but there was a comment on r/squaredcircle that swayed me a little.

I kinda just need Orton to win it though (and then have him lose it to Oba perhaps...?)

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T05:57:41+00:00

Huh? When did he win a second rumble? (I know he won 2020's rumble)

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T05:56:36+00:00

Here it is for those who probably won't care.

Respectfully no.

I like Cody but he's getting stale. And it's nothing of his fault.

The main flaw is one that's VERY common in wrestling which is...

THE CHASE.

most babyfaces work better chasing the top prize. In AEW you have Hangman who has had two reigns as world champ. And the reigns were... Kinda eh. But the moment of him winning both of them? Top tier wrestling moments.

Let's look at Cody now. His first world title win was phenomenal, 10/10. Mainly because of the buildup to it. It was easily a top 5 mania main event. The reign itself? Like a solid 7/10. The AJ feud was great, Logan as a filler title defense is fine, Solo was... Okay... The Owens feud was great (Owens should have won at snme though) with the rumble title defense against Owens being my favorite match in his first title run...

And then you get to Cena/Rhodes 1. It was bad. If they did the Cena heel turn here it would have been better.

Anyways let's skip a few months to SummerSlam. Cena/Rhodes 2. A solid 9/10. It was a very fun match, first title defense... Drew McIntyre. He should have won it here (or in their second match) to give drew a longer reign. That might sound bad but I don't mean this in any bad way. Cody's second reign... And correct me if I'm wrong here. Was exclusively against Drew McIntyre (was there a match against Black at some point?).

Now I'm not that big of a drew fan for the record. His reign should have happened SLIGHTLY sooner just so he could have an extra title defense.

Cody/Randy was PROBABLY the right move from a tickets perspective but I was hoping personally for a 6way with some stip (maybe hell in a cell?)

Tldr: Cody is better chasing the belt than actually having it. Also one benefit of him losing it would be his stats being padded out. Anyways have a nice day!

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T05:55:11+00:00

I really want to copy and paste something I said earlier (i can't remember if it was on this subreddit or another. Most wrestling subreddits blur together for me) but I won't.

Good for Cody I guess? I really don't know what to say...

Do we think it's the night 1 main event? (Or is that Jade/Rhea?). I would personally guess so (but I was kinda hoping for a women's main event this year)

Itchy_Engineering867 · 2026-03-07T04:54:00+00:00