re: Cm punk is back on AEW

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At least WWE has a women's division

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Do they? Seems Charlotte is the only one that matters. Bayley was the real MVP of the division during the pandemic. But they make Rhea, Asuka, Bazler look like chumps, Alexa is just nonsensical.

It was certainly a problem early on but AEW’s women are vastly improved from the beginning. Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa are stars that we’ll be seeing for the next 5+ years as often as the Horsewomen the past 5. Shida, Conti, Deeb, Riho, Jade all have tons of potential. Ruby maybe coming soon. I’ll give you they need to do a better job presenting the ladies more and better in the undercard.

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Both of them appeal to the anti-WWE mark and that crowd already watches AEW.

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Ok that’s great, but you’re underselling them. Literally the loudest reactions aside from maybe Cena since the Austin/Rock days. Listen to their pops in 2011-2013, WM30 in New Orleans (I was there, Bryan was THE most over person in the building) or just last night. Look around Reddit or social media to see how many people mention it was those two specifically that brought them back in the early 2010s. Current WWE fans have clamored for more of them for years now, they’ll tune in just to see them. Punk’s name is known outside of wrestling circles too.

I’m not saying they’ll start routinely beating the ratings of WWE (not that it much matters today) but they are going to move the needle no doubt.

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their main problem is they are growing too fast. Their whole appeal that draws wrestlers to join their brand is "We will use and book you better than you would be in WWE and you will have more creative freedom" The thing is this is what ultimately doomed WCW. Everyone was promised the same thing, creative freedom, will be used better.

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AEW is not WCW, and all reports so far have been about how positive the vibe is in the locker room. Those selfish toxic personalities of the 90s aren’t there, bc vets like Jericho, Sting, SCU, etc. actually want to help the young guys instead of hindering them. It’s not at all the same. Tony Khan does need to do better at shooting some ideas down, but he’s learning for sure. At least they seem to work as a team, and not just to appease one person.

To Khan’s credit they actually rotate people and do a great job not having everyone appear every week. Rematches are usually spaced pretty far apart (Omega/Christian notwithstanding) if they happen at all. Look how many different people have main evented Dynamite this year alone. Meanwhile WWE “doesn’t have anything” for some of their best performers and run back the same matches every week, while having champions lose days before a title defense so only the same few people feel of any value. This is not a new problem, it’s been the same for years now.