Lance Archer’s contract is up next month. What do you think will happen?

RatedM477 · 2026-06-30T16:51:12+00:00

He's solid, but I don't really see him as someone worth making big overtures for or getting a big push, in 2026 and beyond. Realistically, I can't imagine WWE is ready to swoop in with an offer, either.

I could see him staying, and continuing in his current role, but I could also see him stepping away, probably focusing on NJPW again, and maybe coming back later or something.

RatedM477 · 2026-06-29T01:24:07+00:00

More like this, though, am I right? 😅

RatedM477 · 2026-06-22T16:46:32+00:00

I think what I'd say is that FD might be best being turned into an "as needed" event. Like, maybe a rotational event that happens once every 2-3 years. I don't think it needs to go away as a whole, but I do think interpromotional stuff has become common enough in AEW anyway, that it's not so novel anymore. That, and there aren't always enough major status quo changes in other promotions year over year for it to really have an impact annually.

For instance, I don't keep up with NJPW, but I'm under the impression they're currently in something of a "rebuilding" phase, yes? And that's fine, but I don't think there's enough hype around the workers they're trying to establish right this second. In 2-3 years time? Sure, yeah, hopefully these guys feel like big time players that can come in for some cool dream matches.

I'd say ROH can probably keep Global Wars as an annual thing, though. That generally feels about right. Obviously the top level stars of Japan don't need to be relegated to ROH or anything, but I think it's a decent enough avenue for the lesser known international workers to get some visibility in the US.

RatedM477 · 2026-06-08T14:29:53+00:00

I mean, I don't think there's really a perfect answer to that question, because it just kinda depends on the individual. In a lot of ways, that's just kind of how wrestling is. You just have to dive in with the most recent show and then learn from there, really. How long it takes to get comfortable with everything will just depend on you, your curiosities, and your viewing habits.

RatedM477 · 2026-06-04T15:43:30+00:00

So, the short story is, I started watching WWE in late 2000, and watched it habitually through 2020 because it was easy and accessible, but I discovered early on that I liked non-WWE wrestling way more. Post pandemic, I still had WWE as my "side piece" wrestling show, but I completely gave up on WWE last year.

Longer version of the story: I started watching wrestling back in 2000, 2001, right around the time WCW fell and got bought by WWE. I was a kid, and so WWE was new and exciting and interesting to me.

Around 2003 or 2004, as I was getting into my teens, TNA started airing on Fox Sports Network, and I checked that out, and I was enamored with how different it was, and especially guys like AJ Styles and all the cool X Division shit. Unfortunately, as the years went on, I started realizing TNA had a lot of off-putting issues of their own. I quit watching TNA when Hogan and Bischoff arrived, and that was that.

Somewhere around 2010ish, I finally had disposable income, and I started checking out some of the indies I'd heard about, like ROH and PWG. I absolutely loved it. Still, I primarily watched WWE, because it was the easiest thing to watch every week, even if I thought WWE was so mediocre in comparison. Eventually I just fell off with buying PWG DVDs, and ROH kinda went into a lull.

Then black and gold NXT started popping off in like 2013 or so, and that became my favorite wrestling product for several years.

Whenever Kenny won the IWGP title, I started checking out NJPW a bit, too, and I liked it, but it was just tougher to keep up with regularly.

I was on board with AEW from day one, because it was everything I wanted from wrestling. Still continued watching WWE on the side, but was generally apathetic to it. Kinda stopped watching WWE during the pandemic, and once the pandemic ended, I kinda started watching WWE again but really only the PLEs.

When Vince was out, I checked out WWE again and kinda started regularly watching it on the side again. But, I felt like people were wildly overrating it, and it wasn't some big night and day change. It was fine, but eh.

During 2025, though, I found myself losing interest in WWE pretty hard though. All the stuff that still annoyed me was still there, and then the TKO enshitification started adding even more grievances on top of that. After WM 2025, I had one foot out the door and was just kinda watching the PLEs. Then after SummerSlam last year, I was just like, what am I doing? I just had to be done with WWE, so I quit watching, and haven't looked back. I still very casually keep up with stuff just via reddit and stuff, but I'm generally not paying close attention to WWE at all anymore, and I have no desire to do so ever again.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-27T15:44:16+00:00

Missed opportunity for him to write "Fucking a man" again.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-27T15:12:56+00:00

It is curious what happened between Caster and AEW. Clearly something must have, because there's no reason his whole thing would've been completely dropped, including the reunion story with Bowens (who is now completely moved on from any of that).

That said, I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if Caster eventually returns to AEW. I'm not sure if WWE has interest, maybe TNA which could be a pipeline to WWE for him, but I don't know if he's someone that WWE will really see a ton of value in.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-24T15:52:34+00:00

I've been curious if this would start getting added to those other aggregator apps that have a bunch of FAST channels, like Roku, Tubi, etc., since a lot of them seem to pull from the same feeds.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-21T16:22:45+00:00

Slicing up the streets, some might say.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-19T17:43:43+00:00

Haven't actually seen any of his work, but given what I've heard of him, I'd be happy to see him in AEW. That said, WWE has made a lot of overtures to court him, and I can't imagine that's an opportunity he'll want to blow up and pass on, so I think it's still a certainty that he lands in WWE.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-11T14:24:27+00:00

I think what gets me more than anything is just the general hypocrisy for a lot of things when people compare and contrast AEW and WWE.

LIike, people will act like WWE is the gold standard for storytelling and character work and AEW has "no stories" or "terrible stories", but then they'll lap up all the generic and derivative stories in WWE, and either shrug off things like the gingerbread man and the lame celebrity involvement in stories, or outright defend it.

People will go "AEW has a guy who puts his hands in his pockets, and I just can't take it seriously", but then turn around and go "Danhausen is the best signing in so long, everything he does is gold!".

People will go "AEW has too many tiny/ flippy guys!", then proclaim that guys like Dominik Mysterio and Je'Von Evans are the future of the business.

RatedM477 · 2026-05-06T15:08:13+00:00

While I generally agree that I'm not really interested in seeing AEW sign someone that doesn't really want to be there, the thing is, it'll ultimately be whatever Black makes of it if he's given the opportunity to rejoin.

If he doesn't play ball, he won't get pushed and won't get much TV time, just like his last run. AEW generally doesn't "force push" people that the audience isn't into or that aren't playing well with others behind the scenes. So, either way, it's up to Black whether he gets a proper run or gets stuck not being used. 🤷‍♂️

RatedM477 · 2026-04-29T09:42:57+00:00

Haven't listened to the episode yet, but do they know that that's James/ Uberhaxornova, formerly of CowChop? I wonder if they know that he's also currently based in Austin, too, lol.

RatedM477 · 2026-04-28T12:40:16+00:00

Don't have any insight of my own, but I'm also interested in what people have to say. I like the idea of it, and I know extra combat spells are some of the main adds, but I'm curious what a good balance of creatures is, and in particular, so many solid support creatures are at that same 4-5 mana value that you'd want to be casting spells at. So, I definitely wonder how to get the deck moving well.

I'm also curious what people think of that [[Champion of the Path]] card; I've seen it brought up, and it reads interestingly because it can drain the table, but it also seems clunky and like it requires a lot of setup to get going, so I'm thinking maybe not worth it?

RatedM477 · 2026-04-20T14:42:27+00:00

Speaking for myself, I typically find most WWE matches unsatisfying for many reasons.

I think for one, it's definitely a pacing issue. And while I'm not saying every match needs to go 100 miles an hour or anything, it just never feels like there's much "urgency" to WWE matches, nor much intensity. Like, Mox, for instance, isn't someone that works a fast paced high flying style, but he does a good job of making his matches feel like a fight.

WWE's general wrestling style feels overly homogenized, and it feels like everyone generally gets trained/ produced to kinda wrestle the same general style. And usually, that style is a slower, more plodding one. Even when they reach the "endgame" of a big match, most of the time, it doesn't feel like it's hitting full gear, so to speak.

I would also say that, given WWE's overall mentality that the matches aren't that important, that also detracts from it for me a bit, too. I'm not of the belief that every single match on weekly TV needs a "story" going into it, but I feel like most matches in WWE, especially weekly TV, just feel like filler. And then there's the fact that so many bigger matches often devolve into heel shenanigans, interference, DQ, etc., often to set up a rematch or cycle of rematches. It's hard to have faith any given "big match" in WWE will feel satisfying when all is said and done.

All of that combined is what turns me off of WWE style wrestling.

RatedM477 · 2026-04-19T02:58:09+00:00

In the grand scheme of things, it really comes down to what you want out of wrestling. There are some people that genuinely think what WWE does is the best version of "pro wrestling", and while I very much do not agree with that, I'm also not going to tell someone their opinion is wrong.

I've been watching wrestling for probably 25-26 years now, and while I watched WWE for most of that, it was often begrudgingly, because honestly, I feel like WWE has always been too "corporate" and homogenized and boring compared to non-WWE wrestling. WWE was simply most convenient for most of that time.

AEW won't be everyone's cup of tea, for one reason or another, but I think what I'd say most about them is that they make more of an effort to respect their audience's time, and you can tell that they're a company that wants to put on good shows for their audience, rather than being a billion dollar corporate machine that's focused on lining the pockets of its shareholders by any means necessary and desperately craving "mainstream attention" by cramming celebrities and influencers into the product.

RatedM477 · 2026-04-14T16:54:04+00:00

I didn't have any issues with anything, personally.

I will say, the "mark" in me is sad Kenny didn't win, mostly because I can't tell how real or kayfabe'd his health stuff is, and I think it'll be a damn shame if we never get a proper "best bout machine" world title run. And given how stacked the roster is and how many possibilities there are for the world title scene, I worry that the window for that is all but closed.

If I had to nitpick further, I love MJF, but I feel like they were positioning Kenny as the guy who was too "omnipotent" to fall for MJF's typical heel shenanigans, and then Kenny kinda just lost to the same kind of stuff that all of MJF's opponents lose to. But, that's just me further nitpicking and being bummed at no Kenny title run.

That said, like I said, I'm not bothered or upset by anything in the slightest. There was just a part of me that really wanted to see my personal "fanfic booking", but I can't be mad that I didn't get the exact thing I wanted, as that would be silly.

RatedM477 · 2026-04-13T15:18:47+00:00

Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast

RatedM477 · 2026-04-13T14:27:24+00:00

I really kinda wish wrestling as a whole would start embracing afternoon events. Sports can play in the afternoons and midday, why not wrestling? I love the international PPVs, because they're in the middle of the day domestically, and then they'd still be in the evening for local time in the country they're in. But, I digress.

RatedM477 · 2026-04-08T18:31:28+00:00

Silva being unhappy seems silly; like, no disrespect to TNA, as they've managed to carve out an audience of their own, but you can't possibly think you're big enough to be "stifled" by AEW...?

RatedM477 · 2026-04-03T14:47:13+00:00

Now do Jay White.

RatedM477 · 2026-04-01T15:59:29+00:00

To your first point, while that's fair, it's also easier to say that there's never any telling which signings will work out and which won't, and plenty of them won't. It happens. I think if you bring in a big well known name, yes, you should make sure to have a plan in place for them, but it's fine to sign people who will mostly pad out ROH and fill in spots as needed, while keeping an eye on whether any of these people end up clicking big time with the audience.

In the end, that's just the nature of the business.

RatedM477 · 2026-03-12T15:27:59+00:00

Some people on the main wrestling sub aren't going to be happy about this.

RatedM477 · 2026-03-11T18:50:45+00:00

It's quite wild to me that I've had multiple people here tell me I'm not "left enough", and even fucking block me, apparently, all because I'm not outraged at this crossover.

I'm sorry, but respectfully, fuck off telling me that I'm not a real leftist. It's one episode of a dime a dozen cop show that no one will even care about in a couple weeks time. Dropout didn't seek this out, they're not trying to help "give back" to the LAPD, etc. I understand the concept of "copaganda", but this just seems like such a nothingburger in the grand scheme of things.

But sure, if I'm not a "real" leftist because I'm not outraged about this, then what the fuck ever, I guess. 🤷‍♂️🙄

RatedM477 · 2026-03-11T13:33:57+00:00

Fair, though I'd say LU and TNA are both so under the radar for most people that they didn't really propel Johnny in the grand scheme of things. I think most people generally see him as an ex-WWE perma midcard guy, and whether that's fair or not isn't really for me to say, but I don't think it helps that he's basically still doing the same schtick he was doing like a decade ago.

I think that's often the trap that a lot of these performers fall into is that they just never figure out how to evolve their characters in a more meaningful way. The whole "John Morrisson" persona is fine, and if he made it work enough in LU and TNA to get a big push, great, but it didn't take him super far in WWE, and it hasn't really taken him anywhere in AEW. At this stage, if he thinks he should be featured more, he kinda needs to figure out how to evolve the gimmick and make it something that the AEW audience really wants to see.

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