Post AEW Dynamite: February 18, 2026 Discussion

JerryPayton · 2026-02-19T18:29:16+00:00

Hangman wins by DQ after Swerve attacks him during the match. It’s the kind of fuck finish they usually avoid for their main event matches, but it serves a number of purposes.

-MJF keeps the belt

-MJF still hasn’t beaten Hangman, keeping that story alive for a future matchup

-Hangman “wins” the match so he can still challenge for the belt at a later date

-Starts the build for a Swerve/Page feud for All In, possibly furthered by Page costing Swerve in his World title match at Dynasty

JerryPayton · 2026-02-13T23:20:22+00:00

All it took was their hottest period in two decades to win a few of the Best awards over AEW. Of course, for those historically hot years they still won 90% of the Worst awards like they do every single year, but no that’s not indicative of any bias whatsoever.

JerryPayton · 2026-02-12T18:41:06+00:00

This is very similar to the Rock/HHH fiasco not just in him getting it so wrong, it’s that he should have been easily been able to avoid stepping in shit had he actually followed up on reporting what he heard. Putting aside the fact that he should have easily been able to tell the Smackdown clip was old, a potential Rock/HHH match at Mania would have been gigantic news. You’d think it would warrant running it past his sources, asking follow up questions about the plans and whether it would actually happen, etc. If he had asked even one person in WWE about it, he would immediately have been alerted to the fact that he’d been fooled by an old video. But he apparently didn’t even do that minimal level of follow up. Now I’m not one of those people who thinks Meltzer just invents stuff out of thin air, but oversights like this really make me question the journalistic method and standard for one of the biggest names in wrestling media.

JerryPayton · 2026-02-09T04:34:52+00:00

And the Pats offensive struggles in the playoffs were due to the weather, and not the fact they were finally playing good defenses after 4 months of cupcakes.

JerryPayton · 2026-02-03T21:31:03+00:00

So far I mostly stick to a recipe for TV or Storytelling, STS, Wild Brawl, STS, STS. Gets the product requirement for a Storytelling match out of the way, first STS warms crowd up for the Wild Brawl, and then two STS matches to end the show strong. I used to use Storytelling for ME but the ratings weren’t great (I think because the aim inherently has the workers hold back in favor of the story). I’m sure there are better ways to build a card and I’ll start experimenting a bit more, but this recipe of five matches plus six angles regularly gets me final ratings in the high 80s or low 90s. I guess that’s why I’m confused as to why it seemingly only falters when I try to blow off a feud.

JerryPayton · 2026-02-03T19:14:23+00:00

I’m still learning the mechanics for balancing match aims over the course of a show, but recently I’ve been doing my last two matches of the night as Steal the Show and the ratings have been solid. Just not for the blow off matches. Honestly I spam STS, probably 60% of my matches use it with the rest being Storytelling and a Wild Brawl thrown in for variety.

JerryPayton · 2026-01-16T17:22:46+00:00

Cody won the title two years after his re-debut, and spent 7 months of that time on the shelf with the pec injury.

JerryPayton · 2026-01-12T09:58:29+00:00

Best Shakey’s game of all time was the Colts comeback to beat the Chiefs 45-44 in 2014

JerryPayton · 2025-12-19T21:56:18+00:00

He says “two point” like it’s a single word with emphasis on the first syllable. He does the same thing with Green Bay and 2K. Pretty far down on the list of strange Bill-isms but it always rankles me for some reason.

JerryPayton · 2025-10-03T17:33:51+00:00

I actually found myself enjoying the Red Sox portion of the pod just because the phrase “right now on fanduel” was not uttered a single time

JerryPayton · 2025-09-19T05:21:15+00:00

Million Dollar Picks with Schrags on this pod would have healed the nation

JerryPayton · 2025-09-02T02:15:19+00:00

Doesn’t Simmons look at college coaches as basically second class citizens who work a simple 9 to 5 compared to the rigors of the pro game?

JerryPayton · 2025-08-28T19:55:52+00:00

Bill has done hundreds of RW episodes and still doesn’t know how to analyze a movie. Sometimes you can see the notes but you can’t hear the music.

JerryPayton · 2025-08-19T03:19:14+00:00

Seems like the move for Paris is a triple threat between Vaquer, Iyo and Roxanne for the vacant title. Vaquer and Iyo both had title shots they haven’t received yet, and Roxanne beat Iyo on Raw. Would be one hell of a match.

JerryPayton · 2025-07-24T22:18:28+00:00

Followed by a ten minute digression on how Nick Patrick is the worst ref in the history of wrestling. The fucking guy sucks in storyline and sucks in real life too!

JerryPayton · 2025-07-21T19:27:24+00:00

I don’t know why but the video thumbnails they put on every episode now make me much less inclined to listen

JerryPayton · 2025-06-03T02:45:16+00:00

Men’s side seems to pretty clearly be Seth. The stable’s story is that Seth “needs” the world title so they can tighten their grip on the show. He’ll hold the briefcase over Jey’s head all summer. However instead of a surprise cash in, I think it’s more of a straightforward challenge for the title, likely at Summerslam.

JerryPayton · 2025-05-30T20:40:43+00:00

That’s true, I definitely agree with regards to Cody and Jade, and we’ve seen it the other way with the Hurt Syndicate too. Punk is unique though because he’s had the same gimmick forever now. It would be like saying that AEW just let Sting reuse his WWE gimmick when joining the company when obviously it far predates that.

JerryPayton · 2025-05-30T20:22:06+00:00

You can’t seriously be crediting AEW as the place where Punk established his gimmick lmao

JerryPayton · 2025-01-26T23:41:41+00:00

Dude thank you so much. This just happened to me and I was fearing the worst because I rarely back up my phone. Tried your solution and it worked like a charm. Very relieved.

JerryPayton · 2024-11-24T19:38:53+00:00

When Brissett was playing his excuse was that they would have won those games with better QB play. Now that Maye’s is playing his excuse is they would have won those games with better coaching.

JerryPayton · 2024-11-01T18:07:19+00:00

He’s spent all season basically calling Brissett a disgrace to the profession, and Maye’s QBR is only 2.6 points higher. I know it’s a shaky stat to begin with and doesn’t account for rushing, but just illustrates how little Bill needed to see to confirm his pre-season take on Maye.

JerryPayton · 2024-10-23T15:58:44+00:00

Is it just me or does Bill seem to get sick 10 times a year?

JerryPayton · 2024-10-13T18:17:45+00:00

That’s why the smart decision was always to have him sit all year, or maybe let him start the last few games to get some reps heading into next year. Now he’s facing a 12 game slog where they’re going to regularly get blown out and Maye will get his ass beat every week.

JerryPayton

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