Brain

Honestly, I didn't miss him. I love he's a big fan and does it for the love of wrestling, I just don't enjoy his overly excited stuff. I love his and Cole's bromance though.

I don't think Effy has been booked by anybody except GCW related stuff for a while, he has nothing to lose at all in this and gives him 5 minutes of fame with the people that hate AEW or TK for some reason. I have some criticisms but this guy is something else.

Right! I was so hoping he'd interrupt them and say, "hold on a minute, I still got some 5-counts in me" and send them running.

It still hurts my feelings knowing all that old content that was on the network is basically going back into the vault and may never come back out again without being part of a video packages.

This lines up with their report a month or so back stating they wanted her back in time for Netflix. That being said, I always assumed she'd be back when she was ready because of Seth staying and them having a small kid.

Well at least Effy can't fuck Ricky out of this one and then end up taking his place suspiciously.

That was certainly a suspiciously convenient fix to losing Starks.

Seriously, GCW might be king of the indies, if we aren't counting MLW and TNA, but damn they are asses to have approved that and I'd probably refuse to work with them too.

A spoiler from PWInsider about who could replace Trey Miguel who is missing the event due to travel issues.

Based on fan feedback since February 2024, the top two locations that fans want a major live TNA show are New York City and Los Angeles.

Just based on population statistics that show most Americans live on the East Coast I'd guess NYC wins. But LA and California have a lot of people too.

I can see them paying a little something based on the website info. They also appear to be filming content of these people to use in future video packages.

WWE will provide the most prominent independent wrestling schools in the U.S. with the "WWE ID" official designation, with the goal of guiding new trainees and existing talent at these select institutions with enhanced developmental opportunities.

WWE ID will identify the top independent wrestling prospects with an official "WWE ID Prospect" designation and support their developmental journey. WWE ID will give fans the opportunity to follow the paths of these standout prospects on the independent wrestling scene through curated, behind-the-scenes content, as well as highlights and matches showcased across WWE's social platforms.

The schools in question:

• Reality of Wrestling (Booker T)
• Elite Pro Wrestling Training Center
• Nightmare Factory (Cody Rhodes)
• KnokX Pro Entertainment & Academy (Reno Anoa'i & Rikishi)
• Black & Brave Academy (Seth Rollins)

They cover most of the country with those facilities.

Info from WWE ID recruitment portal. link

This came up in the locked topic... The WWE ID stuff... how does everyone understand it to work?

From what I've gathered...

WWE shows interest in a person but not enough to sign them to NXT. Instead they receive a contract that gives WWE right of first refusal, so if AEW or MLW came calling WWE could match the offer and sign them to NXT or pass on them. While under the WWE ID contract they continue doing what they are already doing otherwise.

I think PWInsider also reported some WWE ID creative/stories will take place in independent events, but I can't confirm that as I read it in passing and now can't find it.

I just don't understand keeping somebody you don't want to use. It's just stupid. I understand they signed the contract, but those contracts are crap. I also don't run two multi-million-dollar sports franchises and don't have all the data and info that TK has either but as an outsider, it looks McMahon levels of petty.

What does losing Starks to WWE hurt? Nothing, Tony has something like 200 on the roster, and I think somebody calculated he only uses about 80 of them. Just cut your losses and send him packing, it's a win-win because it saves AEW money to use on Final Countdown when Bobblehead Bryan wants to come back.

Monkey's paw... it's a WWE ID contract...