I hope that we don't get people working both shows.

Something I've just read is Raw Supershow will apparently air night after a big PPV (article only mentions Mania and Summerslam). Seems an ok situation

Don't have the numbers

active

paige
natalya
eva marie
charlotte
becky
dana
summer rae
alicia fox

non wrestlers

lana
maryse

not active

sasha banks
naomi
tamina
emma
rosa mendes

Even if they wanted to have a second title the roster is too small and i'm sure a tag belt would come first for the women rather than a second championship.

He won't.

Hello chaps. Just popped in to catch up.

I see the slow motion burial of AJ continues. The main problem with the previous two PPVs was that anyone with a brain knew there was zero chance of Vince giving TNA's flagship star the title. If you know Vince you know that simply isn't going to happen. Exactly like the Sting title match: You could bet your house on the result. Poor booking.

Yet another big star quits. Now that's *actual* morale problems backstage. Not the made-up dirtsheet kind.

A brand split? Really? If WWE can't write one decent show a week, why does anyone think they'll be able to write two?

Meltzer suggested on twitter he's going to remain a main eventer.

[Which of course means several high profile jobs to Cena are in the pipeline, I'd assume.]

If this is WWE's solution to get Cena cheered again, then they're bloody geniuses

Nah but seriously, that'd be a catastrophe. The crowd would shit all over that.

Lol, a main event programme with the top star for the title coming out of Wrestlemania which resulted in two classic pay-per-view moments and the debut of two high profile characters to be affiliated with him and he's being buried because he was in TNA? Amazing. Even in his two defeats he was incredibly protected.

I didn't say he hadn't been in high profile matches. I said having him in PPV title matches was bad booking, because as a TNA incomer the fact he wouldn't be getting the title was 100% obvious. Vince is a mark who cares deeply about the record books. He would never let his top home grown stars or titles look inferior to somebody who made their name elsewhere.

His loss to Owens is a clear indication that he's being moved down the card. As usual Meltzer's 'news' is his opinion, which he'll explain away when he's wrong.

BTW I'm not saying AJ has some God given right to be in the main event or have the title. He doesn't. He has limited mic skills, a mediocre look and he's rather small. But his trajectory in WWE is painfully obvious if you know your history. And it's made the last two PPV's completely skippable.

To be fair to John Cena the booing for him never really started till he was drafted from Smackdown to Raw.

If thats the case the only salvagable way to save Styles career would be for him to win the Money in the Bank Briefcase which isnt happening now unless they do a last chance match for all the eliminated guys.

The Club splitting up has to be a ruse because they never touched AJ so have him face a big star then BAM they were together all along.

Reigns is Vince's guy. No one is getting put over him. AJ, regardless of his TNA run was never going to be the one.

The Owens win was more setting up Owens for MITB as AJ has a storyline with the Club for the next few months.

The facts are though that he only has one win in 5 PPV matches this year (I've not watched the weekly stuff so have no idea if he's dominant there).
Those are not good stats at all and make him look like a choke artist.

Plus the Styles Clash has been buried as a finisher at this point. And I feel justified in using the word buried there. It's yet to finish anyone off on a PPV and the consecutive Styles Clashes (one on a chair) being kicked out of at Extreme Rules made the move look pathetic and was honestly laughable booking by WWE.
Frankly too it's a better finisher that the 'Phenominal Forearm'.

I do worry for AJ. My instincts tell me this feud with the Club will be a directionless mess.
The big test for AJ is where WWE have him on the card in 6 months. I worry he'll be a glorified JTTS - especially given WWE's booking.
Hope not though as he's very talented and there are plenty of feuds I'd love to see him in

If he wins money in the bank it will actually be bad for him, Winning that means a huge losing streak so it is a 'surprise' when the cash in comes

If he keeps clear of the briefcase then he may get some wins

I don't know what Meltzer has to do with it because I don't listen to or read him but I think AJ has been treated pretty well since he's been in WWE. The only real bad decision they've made with him is having him lose to Jericho at Mania, which was a joke.

Realistically, no one was beating Reigns coming out of his big coronation at Mania so I really don't see who was a better option for him to feud with. Nothing to do with AJ having been in TNA three years ago. Reigns is the champion now and probably will be for quite a while, something which I actually think is a good thing. But we got two great matches (two best of the year so far imo) and character development for both men out of the feud.

I was surprised that AJ lost clean to Owens on Raw but there's a couple of things to be said about that; it's normal that they cycle a guy down the card a bit after he drops out of the title picture, I think Owens is winning the briefcase so it makes sense to give him credible wins and I think AJ losing plays into the wider story developing with The Club which is clearly going to be a big deal over the summer.

People talking here about having to salvage AJ's career have just lost the plot.

The issue is AJ has been booked thus far as someone who can't win when the lights shine bright. If he doesn't get wins soon then the audience get the perception he's a choke artist (I mean hasn't Reigns been called a choke artist on here and he's been pinned clean less than Lesnar). Owens, Reigns and Jericho have all 'won' feuds against him

Plus there are many examples of WWE going cold turkey on superstars so I don't see why it's such a ridiculous suggestion.
In fact the most rational to do would probably be to worry whenever WWE have to write anything given how they muck up the simplest storylines.

And the problem with the Club and AJ storyline is all we've seen of them in WWE is them losing to Reigns and friends so in theory (ignoring any non WWE stuff) why should we care if they split?
Of course do care but why should they?

Owens has not won a feud against AJ. He won a match. I'm not saying that the guy couldn't have been booked better but I don't think it's been at all bad. I don't think the choker thing applies to him as badly because he's not meant to be pushed to the same degree as Reigns and he's the type that a certain section of the crowd will always cheer for no matter what. The Club thing I think has gone decently but there's clearly more to come. I expect him to be having a relatively high profile match with Balor come Summerslam. I think his position will ultimately be a guy who is just the level below permanent main eventer but with some main event feuds and title matches. That's not a bad position to be in for a guy who is touching 40 and had no history with the company prior to January. The problem is that WWE hasn't treated talent at that level particularly well in recent years. But I think the brand split will open up a space for guys like him to flourish a bit more. There are loads of feuds and matches I still want to see from him. I want to see him against Rusev, against Cena and against Cesaro for example.

Ultimately, I'd say his booking has been pretty good all things considered but obviously not without issues. But that's been par for the course with modern WWE. The reality is, a lot of people when he came in in January were getting on like he was going to be treated a lot worse than he has been. But he's on big money and was a main eventer in Japan so he has more leverage over WWE than most so they'll not treat him too badly. The big issue here seems to basically be that bloody Jericho feud. If he would have won at Mania like he should have, then things would look a lot better.

I included Owens since he eliminated AJ in the Rumble too - so while not a feud Owens has got the better of AJ a lot.

It'll be a relief when Balor does actually debut on the main roster - the 'Balor to debut soon' stuff feels like it's been going on for months.

I don't think the brand split is a guarantee necessarily that things will go brilliantly for superstars at AJ's level - in its last few years it was a rarity for any new stars to be created on Raw for example.

I'm not saying AJ's booking is beyond saving or anything ridiculous like that but most of his main moments so far have involved him losing so he needs some wins.

And while I do agree he is a superstar that has fan support at the moment whatever his results it shouldn't be takem for granted and used as an excuse for him to lose. If someone keeps losing the fans can sometimes end up not caring - see Ziggler and Cody. It's a dangerous road to go down.

I'd quite like to see AJ and Orton feud when Orton returns. In fact sounds like Orton could have plemty of new and fresh feuds when he returns if WWE don't binge on the new match-ups - he won't have feuded with any of Zayn, Rusev, Owens, AJ, Balor, Ambrose (singles), Cesaro, Lesnar. I imagine he'd be motivated for feuding with that lot and a motovated Orton is a brilliant Orton.

And for all the posts about Cena v Orton being overdone, they haven't faced in 2 years so while there's no rush to repeat it again it doesn't have to necessarily never happen again.

Lets not forget the Smackdown match aswell when Jericho came down to distract him leading to another loss.

Just for clarity, I'm not saying AJ should have won more. I'm saying putting him in WWE title matches was bad booking because it's too obvious he won't win the title.

I don't agree they were 'good matches'. A good match needs to have some uncertainty about the result.

A.J. Styles is one of those guys who are so uniquely talented they can lose quite a bit and still easily move back into the title picture in the future. See: Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Christian. To their credit, he has been protected in defeat even if he has lost 4/5 of his PPV bouts.

My issue was with how they booked The Club. At this point Gallows and Anderson are goons who could at best challenge New Day. Considering they have Nakamura and Balor under contract, there was the potential for a superb feud between Bullet Club and a reformed Shield.

AJ has been booked ok since his debut. Not everyone can win all the time and he has been given a lot of screen time. He hasnt been jobbed out and his losses to the champion havent been clean. The story with The Club has yet to be finished so who knows what direction that is going on, it may lead to Balor taking over and creating the Balor Club finally. Balor v AJ is a possible feud or even Balor/AJ v The Club only for either Balor or AJ turning on the other.

AJ is unlikely going to end up like Ziggler for example as AJ will simply walk from the company if he is unhappy. They did not expect Cody to do it and he did which may force the company's hand a bit if more follow suit especially if they are trying to recruit from other promotions. Whether people acknowledge it or not AJ Styles is a big name and we can see WWE acknowledging this by not sticking him in NxT, giving him PPV main events and no doubt he'll have some interesting feuds going forward and I wouldnt doubt him being given Lesnar.

Im saying he should have won more.

He shouldnt have jobbed to Jericho at Mania, heck it was stupid putting him against Jericho at Fastlane, should have saved the match for Mania. Seeing as Owens eliminated AJ at the Rumble that should have been the Fastlane match.

Why they gave him two World title shots ive no idea.

The last 2 PPV's should have had him looking strong. Id have had him beat Del Rio at the April PPV then beat Rusev at the last PPV.

Reigns was winning his first feud coming out of Mania, end of story. So I guess they just shouldn't have booked him whatsoever.

And I felt that they managed to make me feel doubt about the result in the heat of the moment even when the winner was clear going in. If those weren't good matches, then there really haven't been many good matches in history. And uncertainty about the result is to do with the booking rather than the performers.


He shouldn't have jobbed to Jericho but that's about it. There's no way he didn't look strong in those PPV matches just cause he didn't win the title.

I don't think it matters. It's the same wrestlers on the show. It's the same people writing the show. The draft doesn't matter. A nearly 40 year old AJ Styles winning matches doesn't matter. It's not gonna draw money or bring in extra viewers.


I was listening to the Disco Inferno and Vince Russo talking and they hit the nail on the head, all that will happen is more people will watch Smackdown, that's it. No one else is gonna sit and watch Raw, the Raw audience is trickling away but it's pretty much the same people watching week to week so the draft does nothing for Raw but it might bring some extra viewers to Smackdown the next night.

And another thing the Disco Inferno said which I think explains the current WWE situation perfectly, they have a roster of people they can't sell to America. That is it perfectly!

If you put John Cena on a chat show, like he did with James Corden this week or one of those morning shows in America people would buy into him being a wrestling champion. You could do it with Brock Lesnar, the Big Show, Roman Reigns! You could put any of them on TV in the morning shows or chat shows and the people watching would believe this is a wrestler.

Can you imagine AJ Styles on a chat show? Or Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn? Finn Balor? Neville? The WWE would be a laughing stock, the wrestlers would be a laughing stock. The people sitting at home would laugh at them and say are you kidding me? That guy's a wrestler? That guy's a wrestling champion? They would piss themselves laughing.


So that's why AJ Styles will never be WWE Champion and unfortunately the WWE have dug themselves into this hole with these indie workers that should have stayed in the indies, it's like asking an amateur actor to work Broadway, it's not happening and the Disco Inferno had the perfect phrase for it.


They have a roster of wrestlers they can't sell to America. And it's true. The general public would laugh at the sight of these wrestlers. They look like young boys that have never had a real fight in their life, just completely unbelievable. That's why your John Cena's and Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar's and Big Show's will always be the faces to promote the company. Sadly WWE doesn't have many of them on their roster, it's all acrobatics, not wresting, scripted acrobatics where no one sells, it's all a show and it completely insults the audience.