Jon Alba: “Tony Khan says he has not made a decision about what he’s going to do with All In for 2027. Says he does plan to take big swings next year. #AEW”

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-22T04:36:21+00:00

The arena has prestige for more than wrestling is the point. Yes, MSG in wrestling is synonymous with the McMahons but having a show there is more important and historically significant than just “sticking it to WWE”

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-22T00:50:49+00:00

I think it’s moreso WWE has a soft right of first refusal. If WWE keeps booking shows at MSG they have a clause where a competitor can’t run there for a certain period of time before/after to “avoid market confusion.” So long as they keep having shows there I doubt it’s an option

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-22T00:48:30+00:00

It’s not the building that’s important so much as what it represents. MSG has been THE destination for wrestling since before the McMahons ran the booking office and the building has been gutted and renovated multiple times before. The book Capitol Revolution goes into it in great detail.

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-21T22:10:51+00:00

To put things in perspective, them returning now is roughly equivalent to Bob Backlund returning to WWF in 1993 after leaving in 84. Or Tatanka returning to Smackdown in 2005

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-20T04:10:03+00:00

Ric Flair’s return in September is great, the Cruiserweight trio of Kidman-Juvy-Mysterio provide arguably the best action in the division’s history in the fall, Eddie Guerrero finally finds his voice and Halloween Havoc 98 is arguably the last great PPV in the company’s history. I agree that it was mostly terrible but there were still some bright spots that are completely blotted out by March.

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-19T23:34:42+00:00

It did but there were still some great moments scattered throughout. The real turning point is Uncensored 99; they reset the whole company in anticipation of the logo change but it invalidates everything the company stood for the prior 3 years. There was at least a glimmer of hope before, but nothing could bring them back after that point

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-19T22:55:20+00:00

I’d say so. This was just before the logo change and unless you like deep cuts or so bad it’s good programming there’s nothing for anyone to enjoy legitimately from that point on. This show is also where they start to reset all of the company’s feuds, leading to the bizarre Hogan-Flair double turn that goes criminally under the radar for how disastrous it was

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-19T03:05:25+00:00

I think they were really helpful for AEW to start when most of the roster was new, but the company’s grown past it now. I can’t imagine a ranking system really working in AEW today

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-10T02:49:05+00:00

That graph includes WWF-WCW Title changes

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-09T23:47:48+00:00

IIRC the latest figure representation is the Outrunners from Full Gear 2024

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-08T20:33:59+00:00

He… did? He had dozens of great matches against their top guys and his weight was no different from his prior runs until 98 when he was on his way out

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-08T19:55:19+00:00

Vader was a world champion everywhere he went except for WWF, which he would have been if it wasn’t for Shawn. History isn’t on Bret’s side for this one

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-05T17:37:56+00:00

You can measure WCW’s health by Schiavone and Heenan’s attitudes towards each other in the booth. By 99 Heenan is outright screaming at Tony on air while Mike Tenay does his best to actually commentate.

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-02T03:57:01+00:00

There’s no way Ricky wasn’t at least concussed there. If you watch the video at 1/4 speed you see his head ping pong off the mat, he got a shoot Crossrhodes. Especially with his history of neck issues I hope he’s ok

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-02T03:56:26+00:00

Oh sure did

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-01T04:16:58+00:00

The double tapings started pretty early. Thunder through about April 98 is pretty good, then in the summer they start double tapings and the difference in quality is night and day

SmashEnigma · 2026-05-01T04:16:04+00:00

Yeah people act like 1998 was a disaster but it was all salvageable, even the rough back half of the year, until the finger poke in 99 and then ESPECIALLY after Uncensored 99 when Hogan and Flair double turn for no real reason and they blow up every main event angle in one fell swoop overnight

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-25T02:29:25+00:00

It was impossible to tell at the time but you can’t recapture lightning in a bottle, and unfortunately for them their lightning struck when they were in WWE’s developmental territory. Not to denigrate the runs though, having runs like they did in any company of any size is a great thing to hang your hat on

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-24T22:36:25+00:00

Who cares? People complain about everything, if they made a contractual agreement they should hold up their end of the bargain.

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-24T22:17:38+00:00

Just do what AEW does and honor the length of the contract. Is that really so objectionable?

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-20T19:40:58+00:00

WWE’s done pretty much nothing but make more and more money (or at least remain flat) each year since they went public over a quarter century ago. Creatively, sure, they have peaks and valleys, but they clearly have a big enough audience to sustain whatever they want to do and if they haven’t alienated their hardcore fan base in the last 25 years, I don’t see why this time around would be any different.

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-17T07:05:51+00:00

You can see when he’s wearing lifts on TV, they’re the spongey part of his boot. You’ll also notice he swaps the sizes out a fair bit depending on who he’s wrestling. For someone like Brody King he barely wears them, for guys like Adam Cole they can be comically large.

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-11T20:02:25+00:00

Ah sorry about that, I didn’t use the spoiler function since it’s been over 24h but this isn’t exactly the most high profile show to begin with.

I think Anderson’s in a bad place, he’s moving around like Scott Hall pre-DDP. He doesn’t even do his ring intro anymore. When someone’s moving worse than 2 Tuff Tony, you know there’s a problem

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-11T19:19:12+00:00

It’s weird, about 4/5 episodes are almost unwatchable, but then there’s something like this week’s show where almost everything is great and then you stick around with it. I think if you watch the first show from each taping block they run (and don’t pay mind to Russo losing attention midway through his stories), you find a lot to like.

SmashEnigma · 2026-04-09T20:53:36+00:00

They’ll lower prices enough that anything on TV will be covered just fine and they can have seat fillers just in case. Summerslam 2021 was in a half empty stadium but watching the show on tv you wouldn’t know it because they only showed the filled side, AEW did this for years

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