Minimum Wage Nerd

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  • Is AEW’s Women’s Division finally coming together?

    Is AEW’s Women’s Division finally coming together?

    So AEW’s Women’s Division has had an…..

    Lets say interesting history to say the least.

    Since All Elite Wrestling became a reality in 2019, the promotion has struggled to build any kind of consistent momentum within the women’s division. It hasn’t been for a lack of talent with names like Britt Baker, Thunder Rosa, Toni Storm, Mercedes Mone, Kris Statlander, Jamie Hayter, Thekla, Athena, and many more making up the division.

    The talent hasn’t always translated to consistent TV time, unfortunately, and is something AEW President Tony Khan continues to be criticized on in 2026, and for good reason.

    Now it isn’t to say its all on Khan and AEW’s booking team. But to understand that, one has to understand the pro wrestling landscape, especially the indies, around the time AEW was coming together.

    Early Days of Elite

    WWE had, for all intents and purposes, a monopoly on the wrestling industry for almost 20 years following the sale of WCW in 2001. While companies like TNA would try to make runs at WWE’s success or Ring of Honor would help lay the foundation for modern pro wrestling. WWE remained the only internationally broadcast promotion wrestlers could hope to get to and become stars.

    By the late-2010s, that grip was beginning to wane thanks to years of poor creative on the part of Vince McMahon and general malaise with the WWE product. The independent scenes in the U.S. and the U.K. were white hot, New Japan was making in-roads into the U.S., and there was a wealth of talent available.

    It was this talent WWE immediately began signing as NXT was picking up steam, but also because it had caught wind of another promotion in the works that might make it on to national TV and could afford to match, or even out-bid, WWE on talent pay.

    On the men’s side, WWE picked up a large swath of names but there was still simply too many out there to prevent All Elite Wrestling from signing a strong foundational roster, which it did.

    The women’s side of things was a different story.

    Women’s wrestling in the U.S. has had a checkered history, to say the least. In the modern context, women’s wrestling really didn’t start to get any real meaningful attention in the U.S. until the early 2000s. Promotions like Shimmer and the TNA Knockouts Division would become spotlights for the talented women coming up on the independent scene.

    Plenty of women such as Mickie James, Awesome Kong, Mercedes Martinez, and Gail Kim, among others, would enjoy varying degrees of success in this time period, but the overall number of notable women’s wrestlers outside of WWE never came close to the number of standout men’s independent wrestlers.

    It began to change in the 2010s, with the back-half especially seeing an explosion in the popularity of women’s wrestling. The pool of talent had also grown considerably, but still was no where close to the amount of men’s names at the time. This made it much easier for WWE to deprive AEW of a swath of names who either had TV experience or were considered TV ready when AEW signed that initial wave of talent.

    Instead, AEW was going to have to rely on names the promotion thought had potential and pretty much build them on TV over the long-term. The saving grace in the short term would be AEW’s partnership with Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling, the number two Joshi promotion in Japan behind Stardom. AEW would fly in more experienced Joshi to anchor the short term.

    Cut to March 2020.

    The world has shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone, save for anyone working in public safety and services deemed necessary, was home and told to avoid going out unless necessary and to wear a mask to try and prevent possible exposure.

    Professional wrestling was able to remain active thanks to be deemed a “necessary service” in Florida, giving AEW and WWE a place to continue running. For AEW, though, it meant that initial anchor in the Joshi was no longer available due to travel restrictions.

    All AEW had left was a collection of names who were talented, but had been learning how to work TV as they went since signing with the fledgling company. It was this early crop that gave fans Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, and Kris Statlander, who are still with AEW in 2026.

    That said, hindsight shows AEW was in a tough position for those first two years with the women’s division. It didn’t mean brighter days ahead for the division, unfortunately, as it continued to struggle with momentum and TV time in the following years. For all the talent, it didn’t feel like there was a clear idea of what the division was supposed to be or how to present it.

    A Clearer Vision

    Then 2025 rolled around.

    It was not clear at the time, but something seemed to start clicking with AEW’s women’s division, or at the very least with the roster. There is something consistent in the style of wrestler AEW has been signing to the women’s division since January 2019, something that has slowly become more evident on the TV product.

    In 2025, AEW added Thekla, Alex Windsor, Hyan, Maya World, Megan Bayne, Mina Shirakawa, and Lacey Lane to the division. They would be followed in 2026 by Persephone, Zayda Steel, Lena Kross, Dani Luna, VertVixen, Janai Kai, the Iinspiration, and reportedly Mara Sade, though AEW has not confirmed if she’s signed as of Oct. 12, 2026.

    Additionally, Kairi has reportedly been in talks with AEW, with it widely believed she will likely sign. And with two full months left in 2026, there could still be more names.

    Compared to previous years, 2025 and 2026 have been extremely strong years with multiple, notable women signed by AEW. More importantly, all the names feel like they fit specifically with a company noted for strong in-ring. Persephone has been viewed as a prodigy out of Mexico, calling AAA home before taking up residence with CMLL. Dani Luna is known for her hard-hitting matches involving plenty of hard-strikes and suplexes. And names like Hyan, Maya World, and Janai Kai have been standouts on the independent scene for the last few years.

    It’s helped that many of the long-term signings by AEW they committed to have come in to their own. Julia Hart has seen a boon to her in-ring work thanks to recent tours of Stardom while Skye Blue has become a favorite at Pro Wrestling Eve in the U.K. for her violent, bloody matches.

    But more importantly, they all feel like they fit in a division that has actual vision to it. Even an act like the Iinspiration, who have never been known for their in-ring acumen, fit in a similar way to the Outrunners on the men’s roster.

    AEW has also been able to leverage its partnerships with CMLL and Stardom in this time as many of the women in both companies have experience on large stages and TV.

    There is still plenty of work to do, though,

    The division still struggles to maintain consistent TV time beyond one, maybe two back-to-back segments on Dynamite and the talent rotation isn’t always consistent. More often then not, injuries have been the main motivator for AEW elevating new names.

    It also needs greater overall depth with the additions of the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships and the Ring of Honor Women’s Pure Championship in the last year. Unlike 2019, though, there is a much larger pool of talent for AEW to scout between the U.S. indies and international markets so AEW can’t fall victim to the problems it did due to WWE stockpiling talent.

    That said, if the promotion can keep things moving in the right direction, fans could be treated to what would be the best women’s division in North America.

  • Pac – A Bastard for all times

    Pac – A Bastard for all times

    On Sunday, September 27, 2026, the wrestling world lost one of the most beloved performers and people with the sudden and tragic passing of Benjamin Satterly, better known to fans as Pac in AEW, Dragon Gate, and the independents or as Adrian Neville in WWE. The news came less than 12 hours after Pac wrestled at AEW All Out in the opening match against Andrade El Idolo for the AEW National Title and got involved in the main event between Jon Moxley and the defending AEW Men’s World Champion Will Ospreay.

    The news was so sudden and shocking, AEW had to notify multiple outlets that Pac’s passing was not a hoax.

    AEW followed up with what was the third tribute show from the promotion in September following Rebel Heart Dynamite in honor of AEW star Rebel Tenea and her battle with ALS and AEW Collision memorial show to Andy Williams, better known in AEW as The Butcher, after his sudden passing. The tribute to Pac was as emotional as fans would think, with many of the wrestlers crying openly during their matches or segments. It was a show punctuated by the obvious love everyone has for someone described as a “unicorn” in professional wrestling because no one had a bad word to say against Pac.

    There are no words I can say or write that would do true justice to the brevity and impact that Pac had on the wrestling world over his 24-year career, I will simply share on my experience watching the man known as The Bastard.

    Lee South Will Ospreay vs PAC Hoffman Estates, IL AEW All Out September 7, 2024

    In mid to late-2016, I found myself dipping my toes back into professional wrestling for the first time in years. I saw YouTube videos discussing or highlighting this guy named Kenny Omega in Japan, PWG shows, and the difference in quality between WWE’s main roster and its developmental arm, NXT.

    At this time, Neville was simply a mid-card high-flyer on WWE’s main roster who was being used on TV similarly to how Matt Sydal was used during his time in WWE as Evan Bourne. He was an eye-catching high-flyer that, despite his abilities, was simply there for the upper mid-card and main event names.

    Jump ahead to December 2016 and Neville would begin his transition into his time as the “King of the Cruiserweights” and won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at the 2017 Royal Rumble. He would “rule” over WWE’s cruiserweight show, 205 Live, for most of 2017, putting on consistently good matches despite the lack of focus it felt like the rest of 205 Live had in this period.

    In spite of this, Neville became a must-see for me every week, whether it was for his matches or his promos. He felt like a truly unique performer in a company that, for myself, was starting to feel more and more monotonous and same-y the more I watched.

    I would be caught off guard, as many others were, when it was reported on October 9, 2017, that Neville had walked out of WWE. It was reported he was unhappy for quite some time and having to put over Enzo A’more, who was reportedly not a popular person in the WWE locker room at this time, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

    The next year would be one dominated by contract disputes between Neville and WWE as the former worked to secure his release. He ultimately got it and made his return to Dragon Gate in October 2018 to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship, though I would miss most of this period.

    Neville re-entered my purview in January 2019 when he announced he signed with AEW as part of that original group of talent led by Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, and ‘Hangman’ Adam Page.

    It was after this that The Bastard became a must-see wrestler for myself because, in my eyes, he served as the glue to AEW’s upper mid-card and main event scene during that first year. He worked major programs and matches involving Omega, Page, Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks, and many others.

    My personal favorite from those first few months of TV, as is likely many others, was the 30-minute Iron Man match Pac had with Kenny Omega on the February 26, 2020, edition of Dynamite. It was a masterclass put on by two of the best active wrestlers in the world on cable TV and was one of AEW’s first all-time greatest matches.

    And leave it to Pac to immediately follow a feud with someone nicknamed the ‘Best Bout Machine’ to Orange Cassidy, who was often criticized at the time for his brand of comedy and being a “meme wrestler.” Rather that work against that, Pac and Cassidy used that to their advantage at the first AEW Revolution on February 29, just over three weeks after the Iron Man match, that made use of Cassidy’s comedy spots, his most widely known being the hands in the pockets, while showcasing how good of an actual wrestler Cassidy was.

    I would argue, as I suspect many others would, that it doesn’t work as well as it did if its anyone other than Pac. He presented himself as so serious so often that putting that against the slacker personality of Cassidy was a match made in wrestling heaven. You could buy that Cassidy wasn’t doing all these spots like the hands in the pockets and lazy kicks just to do it, but to frustrate and throw off his opponents.

    After this, I went out of my way to watch AEW whenever Pac was on the show or even hinted to be on it. Pac was the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion after defeating Malakai Black, Miro, and Clark Connors at the first Forbidden Door show in June 2022. He became part of one of AEW’s first truly great trios alongside Rey Fenix and Penta el Cero Miedo as Death Triangle, winning the AEW World Trios Titles in September 2022.

    Pac would become the wrestler to hold the trios titles longer than anyone else at 360 days across his two reigns, the second being with Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta as part of the Death Riders.

    He was someone who actively made the show better anytime he was on it, even if it was just standing in the background and staring menacingly into the camera as Jon Moxley cuts a promo. Pac knew what his presentation was and how to maximize it, especially when he returned from a foot injury at All Out 2025 with shorter hair and he began wearing a full singlet, similar to Bret Hart’s gear, instead of his old tights.

    It may not sound like much of a change, but it somehow made The Bastard that much more intimidating because of how it was able to accentuate his already incredible physique.

    As tensions looked to be slowly simmering in the Death Riders over Moxley’s more positive relationship with Will Ospreay, I started to believe there was a path for Pac to win the AEW Men’s World Championship. It would be validation for seven-years of work and dedication to a company that allowed him to be the kind of complete wrestler he wanted to be, and it would not have felt out of place at all.

    Now, that can never happen, but in truth, the last few days showed that it didn’t matter. Everyone who knew or watched Pac knew how special of an individual he was. Fans got to watch in awe as he performed some of the most jaw-dropping things in the ring the human body could possibly do. The wrestlers got to know Ben, a person who lived their life by a simple idea – throw your heart out in front of you and run ahead to catch it.

    Thank you Pac.

  • A StarCraft Retrospective – Blizzard’s Most Underutilized Franchise

    A StarCraft Retrospective – Blizzard’s Most Underutilized Franchise

    So to tell this correctly, I have to give some background.

    Back in March 1998, Blizzard Entertainment released its new sci-fi real-time strategy title StarCraft to become the third in what would become Blizzard’s foundational trio franchises, including Diablo and WarCraft. The title dropped players into the conflict between three space-faring species engulfing the Koprulu Sector, a remote region of space far-removed from Earth.

    First is humanity, better known as Terrans in StarCraft. The Terrans are the newest inhabitants of the Koprulu Sector but determined to establish a foothold. It is a heavily industrialized military force with tanks that can morph into stationary siege engines, Battlecruisers that vary in size and armaments that make up most of the Terrans’ heavy firepower in the air, and the armored infantry backbone of any Terran force, the Terran Marines.

    Next is the insectoid-like Zerg. The most terrifying of the three playable races, the Zerg exist to simply spread, fight, consume, and evolve. Fittingly referred to The Swarm, as well, Zerg don’t waste time spreading from planet to planet to kill or infect any species it finds, preferably the latter to continue The Swarm’s evolution. At the head of the Zerg is the Overmind, the consciousness at the heart of the Zerg’s hivemind and commands the Swarm.

    Third is the Protoss. As old as the Koprulu Sector, itself, this ancient race is the most technologically-advanced species humanity has ever encountered. The psionically-empowered race was connected through what was referred to as the Khala, with Templar society and beliefs becoming the dominant ones on their homeworld of Aiur. Some would not subscribe to this, preferring their individuality and independence and as such, severed their connection to the Khala. These were referred to as the Dark Templar and settled on the planet Shakuras, away from the hostile gaze of the Templar.

    This universe captured my imagine almost instantly and helped build my love for science fiction. It was unlike any universe I had experience to that point in my childhood. StarCraft was a fascinating blend of hyper-advanced sci-fi and western/frontier aesthetics present, especially with the Terrans, that was begging to be explored even-further.

    It was also the game that got me into the wider world of video games. I had played some games before, but nothing that had really gotten its hooks into me the way StarCraft did. It wasn’t long after this I was looking for other strategy games to dabble in, leading me to Command and Conquer, while gravitating to sci-fi games more often than fantasy.

    Blizzard would in December 1998 with the Brood War expansion that came with three new campaigns for the Protoss, Terrans, and Zerg and several new units for all three races. There was plenty of other gameplay updates, new multiplayer maps, and more lore to expand out this already fascinating universe.

    The expansion saw all three races reeling from the events of StarCraft when a new Terran force, the United Earth Directorate, arrives to claim the sector. While this is happening, the Zerg-infested Terran and ultra-powerful psionic Kerrigan begins to efforts to take command of the Zerg Swarm after the Overmind was destroyed at the end of StarCraft’s base game.

    StarCraft and Brood War would be lasting successes for Blizzard between sales for the core game, expansion, and Nintendo 64 port and the overwhelmingly positive reception from audiences and critics. It was also able to spawn a widely-known and successful professional scene in South Korea that remains active in 2026.

    Blizzard’s first attempt to follow up on StarCraft would be in the mid-2000s with StarCraft: Ghost.

    Unlike the first game, Ghost would trade the RTS genre to become a shooter that gave players control of the Terran Dominion Ghost agent Nova. It was announced in 2002, but would never make it to store shelves. New information would trickle out on occasion, the most famous being what was meant to be the game’s opening cinematic at BlizzCon 2005.

    A true follow-up wouldn’t arrive until July of 2010 with StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, the first in the planned StarCraft 2 trilogy. Wings of Liberty would focus on the Terrans, specifically Jim Raynor and his groups efforts to destabilize the Terran Dominion. The two follow-up expansions, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, would turn the narrative focus to the Zerg and Protoss, respectively.

    Like the original, StarCraft 2 was a critical and commercial success at release and has endured as a cornerstone game in the professional RTS scene around the world, especially in South Korea. It also meant that, unfortunately, the franchise once again went quiet for years and years.

    The odd rumor would emerge here and there, but it seemed like Blizzard had largely moved on from its sci-fi franchise to focus on other projects like Overwatch and World of WarCraft expansions.

    That all changed with BlizzCon 2026 and the announcement of StarCraft where Blizzard General Manager and Vice President Dan Hay introduced the new game. It will be the second attempt from Blizzard to make a non-RTS StarCraft title as Hay described the game as a “narrative-driven, open-world shooter.”

    He brought with him a dramatic cinematic trailer chronicling the life of a Marine in the Terran Dominion named Holt. His life is juxtaposed to a mechanic at work repairing Marine power armor that’s clearly been through it against the Zerg. It comes together to reveal the horrifying truth – the armor being repaired was Holt’s after being killed in grisly fashion along with the rest of his company during his first deployment by swarming Zerg.

    It concluded by revealing a 2030 release window, meaning it will be roughly 20 years between StarCraft games.

    As excited as I am that a new StarCraft game is seemingly on the way, it isn’t lost on me the massive gap in time between releases. It isn’t the first Blizzard game to take a long time to release, but it is still the longest gap between releases in the same franchise in the studio’s history.

    In that time, Blizzard released two new Diablo games with expansions for each, two Overwatch games, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and ten World of WarCraft expansions. All the while StarCraft sat in the background, gathering dust the same way it had from the end of 1998 to 2010 when it could have easily been one Blizzard explored much more intimately. The space western setting is a playground it seemed like Blizzard went out of its way to ignore

    A universe populated by characters like Jim Raynor, Kerrigan, Artanis, Zeratul, Arcturus Mengsk, and various others should be easy to find ideas for. That hasn’t been the case, though. It has remained a franchise scarcely touched by Blizzard and has yet to break out of the RTS box. It is ripe for experimentation with genres ranging from horror to action-comedy and everything in-between.

    Nothing should be off the table for StarCraft going forward. Doubley-so if 2030’s ends up being a success.

  • The Butcher – The wrestler who personified AEW in 2024

    The Butcher – The wrestler who personified AEW in 2024

    At the end of 2023, All Elite Wrestling had been through the PR ringer and then some. The grand bet of CM Punk imploded twice in as public a manner as possible between ‘Brawl Out’ in 2022 and ‘Brawl In’ in 2023, leading to Punk’s public firing.

    There was no shortage of other PR problems between fights getting out online and contract disputes spilling out into creative. It didn’t help that several members of the AEW roster made it clear in one way or another, this was just a stepping-stone to WWE, leading to reported disputes regarding creative and refusing to lose.

    It was not a pleasant time for the still-young wrestling promotion. AEW wasn’t going to go under, but it was a cold period to say the least.

    Heading into 2024, though, things looked to be turning the corner.

    AEW still had an all-star roster of talent to lean on, along with several fledging stars who would command the top of the card very quickly. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley were the ever-reliable “aces” as Swerve Strickland and ‘Hangman’ Adam Page were in the midst of one of AEW’s most violent rivalries ever, and the tragedy of ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm and Mariah May enraptured crowds on a weekly basis.

    However, AEW still needed to right the ship after so much bad PR and the most assured way to do that was going to a “meat and potatoes”-approach of professional wrestling. Good, consistent matches and storylines that was able to strike a good balance between ease of consumption and intrigue.

    And if one wrestler on the entire AEW roster most personified this, it was The Butcher.

    Outside of professional wrestling, he was better known as Andy Williams, the rhythm guitarist for Every Time I Die.

    Andy, or Butcher as he’ll be referred to from here on, had been part of the AEW roster since nearly the beginning. Butcher debuted on the ninth episode of Dynamite in November 2019, alongside his tag team partner The Blade, by attacking Cody in a now infamous and unintentionally hilarious all-time AEW segment.

    Despite the awkward start, the two were able to find their footing as a pair of heavy-handed, old school-style brawlers. They really got to shine during the COVID-19 lockdown as an ever-reliable team and got to shine in multiple tag matches against opponents like The Young Bucks and FTR or in singles matches against Jon Moxley.

    If there was an AEW show that day, fans were likely to see something from the team.

    It wasn’t always easy going for the team, especially Blade who would be side-lined with a severe back injury that was going to keep him out for roughly two years in early 2024. This left Butcher on his own to find his way in AEW and beyond for the time being.

    Butcher worked 19 matches under the AEW umbrella after Blade was injured, most often appearing on Rampage, Collision, or Ring of Honor in all manner of matches. He was an in-your-face, straight-forward type of pro wrestler who for as rugged as he looked, fans knew they were gonna see a good match. His simple, “meat and potatoes”-type of pro wrestling meant Butcher could work with pretty much anyone on the roster and have a good match.

    He was an unsung backbone of the roster who regularly made his opponents look better, but was still recognized and appreciated by the fans for this selflessness.

    It reads of the person wrestlers and musicians knew as Andy, a gifted guitarist who’s rugged exterior belied a hyper-talented, hardworking artist and person many praised for his unconditional compassion and kindness for others. He was someone beloved for being a ray of sunshine in his band and various wrestling locker rooms Andy was part of. He was quick to offer help, as well, in whatever way he could, whether it was helping with certain stage duties at live shows or going to bat to AEW President Tony Khan over and over again for a wrestler named Willow Nightingale.

    Butcher could be called upon to wrestle names like Darby Allin or Daniel Garcia and be that credible win they need heading into a bigger match on Dynamite or a pay-per-view. It didn’t matter that Butcher didn’t win often, he gave his opponents such a fight fans knew that person was better for being in the ring with The Butcher.

    It was an approach to wrestling that AEW, itself, leaned on in 2024 as it worked to course correct and begin building several key pieces of AEW’s future. The promotion, as mentioned earlier, focused on delivering consistent match quality and storylines that were easy to follow but still managed to deliver genuine intrigue.

    At the same time, it was nothing that reinvented the wheel. Sure, AEW pushed the envelop on plenty of occasions including actually burning down a house, but the root story was one fans had seen play out in various different iterations. It was two wrestlers, tag teams, etc, who find themselves at odds simply out of a desire to be the top name for the promotion. These are stories and angles as old as the wrestling industry, itself, and can always be recycled when a promotion finds itself in the position AEW did at the time.

    It is this period that lays the foundation for what would become AEW All In 2026 and the crowning of Will Ospreay.

    Its a reminder that comes at a fitting time as the music and wrestling industry pays its respects to ‘The Butcher’ Andy Williams in the wake of his sudden and tragic passing. AEW, where Butcher called home for seven years, paid its initial respects to him on Rebel Heart Dynamite, a special planned ahead of time as a tribute to Rebel and raise awareness for ALS, which Rebel was diagnosed with in May 2026. Rather than risk one overshadow the other, AEW touched on Butcher twice during the show, announcing that the following Collision would be a proper tribute to Butcher.

    This included many AEW wrestlers and backstage personalities sharing their love for Butcher and what he meant for AEW and everyone, individually. The main event was a Butcher Battle Royale where the winner would select a charity to receive a $100,000 donation from AEW in Butcher’s name.

    It hasn’t been limited to AEW, either, as many wrestlers across the independents paid tribute to Butcher in various ways. It shows just how far Butcher’s reach was in the wrestling industry, alone, and what he meant to so many people.

    Rest In Power Andy ‘The Butcher’ Williams, 1977-2026

  • AEW All In London 2026 – An Identity Restored

    AEW All In London 2026 – An Identity Restored

    There’s been a line thrown around All Elite Wrestling since Will Ospreay started with the promotion full time in 2024 – restore the feeling.

    It was a line associated with a rough time in AEW’s short existence. The young promotion struggled through a parade of backstage problems spilling out into the public eye, most notably Punk’s final year in AEW, along with a clear dip in the overall creative quality, something AEW President Tony Khan blamed on him booking shows “by committee” and trying to please everyone.

    Since then, AEW took very obvious steps in course-correcting both the on-screen produce and behind the scenes. Creative has become more focused, AEW appears to be more discerning with who gets signed, and anyone considered difficult to work with or toxic to the backstage environment was slowly filtered out. It was a long process, but one that was necessary after a tough stretch for the company needing to not only “restore the feeling,” but restore its identity.

    Early AEW, for all its imperfections, was an exciting time for wrestling fans because for the first time in almost 20 years, WWE had legitimate competition on national TV. It was a promotion founded on the idea of being a fan-friendly promotion that delivered exciting matchups and potentially build bridges with other promotions down the road.

    That fan-minded identity never truly disappeared, but the company’s growth along with bringing in a flurry of big name free agents and fresh WWE releases, Khan, by his own admission, made the mistake of trying to please everyone. It is something the AEW President cites as a key reason for AEW’s creative shortcomings across 2022 and 2023. He was also keen to take shots at WWE as often as he could, something that was seen as fun and cool at first but came across later as pointless and petty.

    Cut to the day after the Dynamite after All In 2026, and the AEW fans are enjoying right now is night and day from that period of time in AEW’s history. The 2026 AEW roster is arguably the greatest roster ever assembled, all reports indicate the backstage environment is extremely positive, and Khan has spoken about refocusing creative, trusting his own instincts rather than trying to please everyone.

    It hasn’t just “restored a feeling,” it restored a promotion’s identity.

    The excitement around AEW coming out of its biggest show of 2026 is akin to the excitement coming out of All Out 2021. This was the show seen as the definitive “AEW has arrived” show with the AEW pay-per-view debut of CM Punk, who debuted weeks earlier, the debuts of Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson, and effectively cementing the relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling between Jon Moxley’s match with Satoshi Kojima and an appearance by Minoru Suzuki.

    This was a company that worked hard to get back to this state, and All In 2026 was the culmination of that work.

    However fans felt about the creative build to All In, one thing everyone seemed to recognize was that this show felt like AEW truly turning the page into a new era. It was a show built around a literal passing of the torch from Kenny Omega to Will Ospreay with the AEW Men’s World Championship, with Omega being even more on the nose with his My Hero Academia-inspired entrance.

    Coming out of All In 2026, Ospreay is the new AEW Men’s World Champion and it already feels like there is plenty of exciting things to come for the promotion under AEW’s new Ace. Mercedes Mone has made more history with her AEW Women’s World Championship win and is poised for a much anticipated feud with Thekla. The tag and trios divisions look poised to enjoy an exciting all-star period in the wake of The New Level’s debut. And Britt Baker’s alliance with Persephone injects even more intrigue into a women’s division that is night and day in quality from 2021.

    Up and down the card, there is plenty fans are excited to see in a way that harks back to that first peak period. One example came on the post-All In Dynamite from Allen, Texas, where a simple graphic for Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley at All Out got one of the biggest reactions of the night despite being weeks away and in Chicago, Illinois. That reflects just how genuinely excited fans are for AEW at the moment and what is to come.

    And that’s not to mention the 3-way ladder match announced for the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship between the champions Christian Cage and Adam Copeland against FTR and The Young Bucks. Mercedes Mone vs. Thekla appears to be the plan for All Out, as well, though it hasn’t been officially announced as of Sept. 3.

    It is a company sure of what it is, where its going, and where it wants to go after that. It is a promotion confident in the product and talent put on screen who, in turn, are confident in everyone working behind the camera.

    AEW knows what it is again, and fans should be excited for what is to come.

  • New Japan G1 Climax 36 Finals – What’s old is new again

    New Japan G1 Climax 36 Finals – What’s old is new again

    The 2026 edition of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s annual summer tournament has come and gone, delivering arguably the best G1 in the last few years. Nearly every show in the month-long tournament had at least one must-see match, with Yota Tsuji and Konosuke Takeshita taking part in several of these.

    It would ultimately come down to two names who found themselves in the finals for the first time – Ryohei Oiwa and Yuya Uemura.

    Since returning in September 2024, Oiwa was worked toward proving he belongs at the top of the card with the rest of this new generation of New Japan stars. He’s had several standout sinlges and tag matches as part of TMDK, including two highly praised IWGP World Heavyweight Tag Team title matches alongside Zack Sabre Jr. against the defending champions, the Knock Out Brothers. It became clear that in Oiwa’s case, it was only a matter of time until he was on the cusp of the main event.

    Uemura’s path to the 2026 G1 Finals has been more up-and-down by comparison since he returned from excursion in October 2023. He was added immediately to Just 5 Guys during that group’s run, including SANADA’s only world title reign in New Japan. Injuries and questionable booking have only made it harder for Uemura to build any real momentum. However, this changed in 2026 as the ‘Heat Storm’ has been on arguably the best run of his New Japan career between making it to the finals of the New Japan Cup and his own standout tag title match alongside Shota Umino against the champs, the Knock Out Bros.

    And when the time came for these two young stars to lock up in the G1 Finals, these two delivered a match that took the wrestling world by storm. It didn’t have any crazy displays of athleticism like in a Will Ospreay match, the story-driven moments of a Roman Reigns match, or the violence of a Nick Gage match.

    Uemura, 31, and Oiwa, 27, went just over 35-minutes in a physical chess match revolving around two moves – a headlock and a wristlock.

    Rather than doing what fans and pundits have become accustomed to in the modern pro wrestling industry, the pair had a match that felt ripped right out of the mid-70s NWA world title scene. Swap out Ryugoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan, for the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1975 and you have a stand-in for Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Briscoe for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

    As the old saying goes, “what’s old is new again.”

    The last decade has seen an explosion in hyper-athletic professional wrestlers capable of putting on jaw-dropping matches. This was thanks to matches like Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet in 2016 or the series of matches between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega in New Japan catching fire online, spreading across the wrestling world very quickly and effectively creating a generation of wrestlers.

    While the finals between Oiwa and Uemura had some big spots, including a Hi Fly Flow by Uemura, the heart of the match’s story was these two working over specific body parts on the other for good reason.

    The headlock was a point of tension as the finals was days removed from one of the final set of block matches, including Oiwa vs. Hirooki Goto. In it, the TMDK member made use of his powerful left arm in the closing stretch of the match but not to win with his heavy lariat, The Grip, Oiwa locked Goto into a side-headlock and was able to win thanks to the pressure his bicep put on Goto’s head and neck.

    As for the wristlock, this was employed heavily by Uemura for two reasons. First was to weaken Oiwa’s strong arm, hopefully taking Oiwa’s lariat out of the match along with the threat of the headlock. Uemura has also employed an armbar submission in the past to win, making it clear to fans what Uemura’s strategy was for this match from the outset.

    The next half hour saw the two go back and forth, trading attempts at headlocks and wristlocks to win the tournament and its guaranteed IWGP Heavyweight Title shot. The aforementioned Hi Fly Flow by Uemura would be the biggest spot of the match, with Uemura and Oiwa relying mostly on a combination of technical skill and striking power.

    All the while, the crowd can be heard going along to every beat of the match. Oiwa would ultimately emerge the victor after finally locking in his headlock on Uemura who fought valiantly but wasn’t able to escape the hold or reach the ropes, forcing referee ‘Red Shoes’ Umino to call for the bell.

    Oiwa had won the G1 Climax 36.

    New Japan is often a trendsetter for the rest of the industry when it comes to in-ring styles, especially in the last 10 to 15 years. It would not be surprising to start seeing “copycats” appear all over the U.S. and European independent scenes, especially if similar matches take place at King of Pro-Wrestling in October and Wrestle Kingdom on January 4, 2027.

    If that happens, it may start to feel like wrestling fans have just taken a time machine back to watch the best of the “old school” first-hand, and the industry will be better for it.

  • Eric Bischoff Just Needs to Go Away

    Eric Bischoff Just Needs to Go Away

    July 2026 marked the 30th anniversary of WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 and the formation of the New World Order. The moment Hulk Hogan, a perennial babyface to that point, did his big leg-drop on ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage is regarded as one of the most influential moments in professional wrestling history and helped kick off one of the biggest boom periods in the industry. It was under the New World Order that WCW Monday Nitro began dominating WWF Monday Night Raw in the ratings with an 83 week winning streak.

    You know who makes sure to remind wrestling fans about this at seemingly every opportunity possible? None other than ‘Easy E’ himself, Eric Bischoff.

    The last several years has seen the former-wrestling executing use his podcast, titled 83 Weeks, and social media presence to share his thoughts about the state of the industry. He also has experience in the industry at multiple levels going back to the late 80s, when he cut his teeth with the failing AWA as a broadcaster before moving on to WCW in the early 90s.

    And yet, with all this experience, there is maybe no “old head” in the space that actively spews some of the most tone-deaf and ignorant “opinions” about pro wrestling in 2026.

    During a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Bischoff decided to offer his two cents about the state of WWE and the inflated ticket prices that have become a major talking point among fans and pundits. WWE has gotten its fair share of blowback for ticket prices in 2026, with many fans feeling like the promotion is trying to price them out.

    TKO Holding Groups Mark Shapiro even said as much during several public speaking engagements this year, saying WWE fans are “resilient” or “we’ll make new fans” when asked about the criticism of ticket prices and the abundance of ads on the weekly TV shows and PLEs. Shapiro has made it clear that they want WWE ticket price scaling to fit right alongside the ticket price scaling for UFC, which has problems of its own.

    Ask the average fan, they hate this price gouging. Bischoff, on the other hand, thought it was “great.”

    “You’re not experiencing just a PLE. And I think that’s where entertainment in general is going. Not just wrestling, not just WWE, but I think entertainment in general is going in that direction. And I think it’s great,” Bischoff said on his podcast.

    He added that fans complaining is basically nothing to worry about and its a “them” problem.

    “You know, get an extra job, save some money up, you know, quit drinking, you know, three 12-packs of Mountain Dew during the week and throw a couple bucks in a jar and you’ll be able to afford to go, whatever,” Bischoff added.

    This comes a little over a year after his now infamous comment on the Ariel Helwani Show that if TNA Wrestling got the “right deal,” it could overtake AEW become the number two promotion in the U.S. TNA then got a deal with AMC that put TNA Impact on Thursdays in January 2026 and despite a promising first few weeks, ratings quickly bottomed out. Most weeks, the ratings barely even scratch the ratings for AEW’s “B show” Collision on Saturday nights.

    His latest comments, though, may be his most corporate and tone deaf to date given the current state of the world economy and job market. The cost of living has continued to climb while pay has been stagnating, especially in the U.S. People are being forced to penny-pinch just to afford necessities, leaving little-to-no room for things like WWE tickets at the current prices.

    Beyond these horribly tone deaf comments, Bischoff has just been a proverbial “bad take machine” for many years now. AEW, in particular, has been a regular target for Bischoff since making a handful of cameos on AEW TV between 2020 and 2021. Despite his appearances being well-received and things seemingly going well backstage, he “cut bait” with AEW using comments by AEW President Tony Khan talking about AEW’s success on TNT, and later TBS, in comparison to TV mogul Ted Turner and WCW.

    Khan has regularly pointed to WCW as an example of what not to do in wrestling, primarily from a management standpoint, while still praising the company for the influence it still has and foundation it laid for AEW to bring wrestling back to Turner stations.

    However, a popular conspiracy theory online suggests that the real reason Bischoff made AEW the target of his ire was simply he didn’t get a job. This has never been substantiated, though, and remains nothing more than a theory.

    Whatever the reason, Bischoff has made a point of going after AEW, and larger wrestling media, on his podcast. In the wake of these most recent comments, though, it is time for Bischoff to step away from the camera and microphone for good.

    The success Bischoff experienced in the mid-to-late 90s is something to be respected. Nitro was revolutionary for the industry at the time of its premiere, despite allegedly only coming about because Turner asked Bischoff how WCW can actually compete with WWF during a meeting that was about international broadcast rights. And the nWo became the biggest thing in the industry for a time, becoming one of the first pro wrestling acts of the mid-to-late 90s to truly cross-over into mainstream pop culture off the back of the Monday Night Wars.

    If you took a step back to look at Bischoff’s entire career, though, it becomes clear he has more “misses” than “hits” in his career.

    Signing Hulk Hogan in 1994 was a boon for WCW, but didn’t provide the major growth Bischoff and others may have been hoping for. Cartoonish storylines like the Dungeon of Doom remain a punching bag for fans to this day, his “partnership” with Vince Russo to try a rebuild WCW in 2000 crash-and-burned fairly quickly, and his attempt to purchase WCW fell through after the new executive board at Turner Broadcasting, led by Jamie Kellner, told Bischoff and his partners in the proposed purchase Fusient Media Ventures that they would not get the Monday timeslot for Nitro.

    This torpedoed the deal’s value from around $60-75 million to the estimated $4.2 million WWF ultimately paid for WCW.

    Bischoff would then sign with the rebranded WWE in 2002 to serve as the on-screen GM for Raw until 2005, but didn’t have any notable executive role backstage at the time.

    In 2010, Bischoff and Hogan were hired by Dixie Carter to join TNA Wrestling on the pretense that they would be the pair to bring TNA to the “next level.” The pair were effectively handed the “keys to the kingdom” as TNA founder Jeff Jarrett put it in the three-part season seven premiere of Dark Side of the Ring covering Jarrett’s time in TNA.

    The two gave the promotion a complete overhaul, bringing in an abundance of ex-WWE talent, such as Mr. Anderson and Orlando Jordan, and old friends like the Nasty Boys. Impact would then move to Mondays in the hope of recapturing some of the magic from the Monday Night Wars and hopefully kick off a new boom period.

    But the most unpopular choice made was changing TNA’s famous six-sided ring to a traditional four-sided ring. Hogan and Bischoff were met with chants of “We Want Six Sides” from fans in attendance on the first night of the change. Bischoff, himself, doubled-down on this on Dark Side of the Ring, saying he thought the six-sided ring was “stupid” and if there wasn’t a “scenario” created as a result of being in the six-sided ring then “it didn’t change anything happening on the mat.”

    As one can imagine, this was also met with backlash from fans for Bischoff’s obliviousness to his comment and how simply having a match in a six-sided ring accomplishes what he talked about.

    Bischoff then got one more shot in WWE when he was hired as the new executive director for SmackDown in 2019. This was part of an effort by WWE to refresh a product that many fans felt hit a creative rock bottom that year due in large part to Vince McMahon’s age and stubbornness. This didn’t last long, though, as Bischoff was gone by the end of 2019. He even admitted afterwards that he hadn’t been following WWE’s product closely and was very unfamiliar with the show or wrestlers he was tasked with overseeing.

    All of this goes to show that, for as successful as Nitro and the nWo was for a time, they were Bischoff’s only real success stories in pro wrestling. He is someone who has failed far more often than he has succeeded and continues to grovel at the feet of the late-Hulk Hogan, who was booed out of the building at his last appearance for WWE for the Netflix premiere of Monday Night Raw in January 2025.

    His amateur wrestling promotion he co-founded with Hogan, Real American Freestyle, continues to be somewhat of an afterthought in the larger sports and pop culture zeitgeist.

    Bischoff had his moment in the sun, and that moment was 30 years ago. It is time for everyone, especially ‘Easy E’ himself, to move on.

  • A Love Letter to PWG

    A Love Letter to PWG

    In July of 2003, a group of independent wrestlers pooled their resources into starting a new, wrestler-run indie in the fledgling South California wrestling scene. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla would run its first show in City of Industry, California, with an originally announced Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles main event becoming Frankie Kazarian vs. AJ Styles as a result of injuries and travel problems for Joe.

    It was a promotion that prided itself on showcasing some of the best in-ring professional wrestling fans could find. The action was typically fast, hard-hitting, and technical in front of what became one of the hardest to impress fans across the U.S. This became even more evident when PWG moved in to what would be its longtime home – an American Post Legion Hall in Reseda, California.

    The setup became famous for its compact setup, with an 18×18 ring with as many chairs set up as the building can hold and fans sitting so close to the ring they can smack the apron. It was this crowd of regulars that became the ultimate judge and jury for anyone building a name on the independent scene. So when this crowd gave a match a standing ovation, it was clear this was something fans who couldn’t be there needed to seek out.

    Names like Kevin Steen, El Generico, Kenny Omega, Candice LeRae, The Young Bucks, and many others still wrestling on TV in 2026 were regulars at the SoCal promotion as it grew. The early years, especially, saw many of the names fans were seeing in a fledgling Ring of Honor and TNA, with Styles and Joe being early foundational names.

    The Bucks, specifically, became the proverbial torchbearers for PWG in the 2010s. The brother tag team would seemingly go out of their way to try and make it back home to SoCal so they could make most PWG shows, especially from 2015 to 2017.

    It also helped that many of the people involved with PWG behind the scenes had connections in Japan and Mexico, giving foreign promotions a way to break into the U.S. market. It was reminiscent of ECW in the early and mid-90s when names including Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Jericho, among others, broke into the larger U.S. wrestling scene after years of working internationally.

    CIMA and Shingo Takagi were among two of the many Japanese stars who stopped in from time to time in those early years representing Dragongate. Given the long travel time and costs, Japanese talent would only appear a couple times a year for PWG’s biggest shows of the year.

    The 2010s, by comparison, saw more and more luchadors start working PWG due to the promotion’s proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border and more independent luchadors starting to work the Southwestern U.S. more regularly. It was also fairly close to where Lucha Underground was being made in SoCal, giving PWG an in with the promotion AAA and the independent luchador scene across Mexico. The Lucha Bros., Drago, Puma King, Black Taurus, and Bandido were just a handful of the names to appear in that period.

    And then there was the crown jewel, the show that became a must-see annual event for fans of the indie scene. That show was the Battle of Los Angeles.

    The Battle of LA, or BOLA for short, would shift between one, two, and three day formats for the annual single-elimination tournament. It was widely regarded as PWG’s biggest weekend every year that saw some of the top names in the independent scene or who were signed to TNA, MLW, or a handful of other promotions that allowed their talent to take outside bookings. It was also the promotion’s way of suggesting who it considered to be the best wrestler on the scene at that time.

    The roughly 20 years of PWG’s life saw it become one of the premiere indie promotions for wrestlers to work for. If someone had managed to build a prominent name on the indie scene, getting booked by PWG was seen as a form of validation and someone both fans and the larger promotions like WWE should keep an eye on.

    And take notice WWE did as PWG became a regular stop for William Regal as he shifted away from the ring to working more backstage for WWE as a talent scout. NXT’s Black and Gold era reflected this as most of the prominent independent names brought in during this time.

    The good times couldn’t last, though, and PWG was forced to suspend operations for the rest of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. PWG wouldn’t run a show until August 1, 2021, with Mystery Vortex 7, a show with no card or talent announced beforehand.

    The promotion would limp on for the next two years, running fewer and fewer shows until PWG TWENTY: Mystery Vortex in August of 2023 becoming the de facto final show in the promotion’s history. Super Dragon, one of only two of the six founders still involved in PWG, revealed his partner at the time was going through health issues that required the couple’s full attention. As a result, he said the promotion would be on “hiatus” for the foreseeable future.

    While it was never officially shut down, most fans don’t expect the SoCal indie destination to return soon, if ever. It would be a true shame if it didn’t as this would mark another iconic and key indie promotion of the 2000s and 2010s gone, joining the likes of Evolve and Dragongate USA.

    The loss of PWG, though, hurts even more because of how PWG was regarded during the peak of its popularity. Some indies would still manage to create some big buzz in the years since the last PWG show, including GCW and DPW, but no one has ever really managed to replicate the type of excitement PWG was able to generate.

    In a world where promotions and wrestlers, alike, are trying to find ways to stand out and be successful, PWG was truly one of a kind. Whether it was the American Legion Post Hall or the Globe Theater or anywhere else it ran a show in that 20 year period, fans knew it was destination viewing when a new show was announced. Even celebrities made the odd appearance at a PWG show over the years, one of the more famous instances being Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara in 2015.

    The Bucks superkicking LeRae with an Air Jordan with thumbtacks glued to the entire sole, Generico ripping a vent off the roof during a ladder match, Jushin Thunder Liger controlling time with a clicker and no shortage of broken chairs from dives out into the audience are just a few of the memories left behind by the SoCal mainstay. If it is truly time to leave PWG in the rearview, at least fans have these memories and plenty, plenty more to look back on and celebrate as the wrestling world continues to evolve.

    So thank you, PWG, and bye for now.

  • WWE is in its WCW 2000 Era….And it could still get worse

    WWE is in its WCW 2000 Era….And it could still get worse

    Forced celebrity involvement, unneeded breaking of the 4th wall, and uninspired, repetitive, and questionable storytelling. Is this describing WCW in the year 2000 or WWE in the year 2026, or both?

    The final calendar year of WCW’s existence was a rough year for the company that only a few years earlier was on top of the wrestling world. It was even rumored the Ted Turner-owned promotion could be the one to kill Vince McMahon’s WWF as the company struggled to find a new identity after the end of the 80’s boom and failure of the New Generation.

    WCW in 2000 is widely regarded as one of the worst years of any promotion between terrible creative choices and record losses. A constantly shifting creative team, including two infamous runs by Vince Russo as the head writer and the return of Eric Bischoff after being relieved of his duties in 1999. This inconsistency was visible in the show as angles and feuds would randomly stop, start, or wildly change directions as WCW slowly hemorrhaged viewers.

    An attempt to relaunch the New World Order failed to even get off the ground due to Bret Hart’s career-ending injury from a sidekick by Goldberg at Starrcast 1999. Bischoff and Russo were tasked with working together, leading to the infamous relaunch in mid-2000 that kicked off the failed New Blood storyline and infamously Bash at the Beach 2000. Russo would be gone by the end of the year as WCW limped into 2000.

    The company looked to be on the cusp of rebuilding with The Magnificent Seven storyline kicking off to try and anchor the main event and upper-mid card scenes. Attempts were also being made to rebuild the rest of the card, including a renewed emphasis on the cruiserweight division. It was during this time 2000s mainstays like AJ Styles, Elix Skipper, Lance Storm, Shane Helms, and Jimmy Yang, among others, got their first shot on national TV.

    Unfortunately, WCW was one of the biggest casualties of the Time Warner-AOL merger and the internet bubble popping. The losses accrued over the last two years by WCW and an executive team that had no interest in keeping professional wrestling on the books effectively killed the promotion, as a bid to buy it by Eric Bischoff and Fusient Media was shot down after new Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Broadcasting Jamie Kellner basically said Fusient could by the company but wasn’t getting the primetime TV timeslots originally promised. It effectively killed the deal’s value and WCW was bought shortly after for the fire-sale price of $4.3 million.

    The same creative malaise has been happening to WWE in 2026. Signs of a downturn started to appear in 2025, though many of these cracks were covered up John Cena’s retirement run. When the calendars turned over to 2026, though, these cracks became much more obvious and noticeable starting with a poorly received Royal Rumble due to the overall quality of the show and that it took place in Saudi Arabia. A poorly received WrestleMania build up and down the board followed, and it hasn’t gotten any better just two days out from SummerSlam Night One.

    Unlike WCW, WWE’s creative team is largely the same team it has been since WWE entered its most recent boom period around mid-2023. This has led to many fans and critics suggesting this is a mix of burnout on part of the creative team and corporate mandates from WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings.

    WrestleMania 42 is the best example from this year of the corporate mandates at what many fans felt was its absolute worse. It was most evident on Night One when the opening match for the free ESPN portion involved internet personalities iShowSpeed and Logan Paul, though Paul is also a full-time contracted performer for WWE. The main event of the night which saw Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes defending the title against Randy Orton became an fourth-wall breaking feud that seemingly became more about Pat McAfee, Jelly Roll, and the state of WWE, than it did about what is supposed to be one of the top belts in the promotion.

    The same has taken place ahead of SummerSlam, though it doesn’t appear that many of the celebrities and sports figures featured on WWE TV ahead of their big summer show will appear on it. However, at the July 18th Saturday Night’s Main Event in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Karl-Anthony Towns and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson from the 2025/2026 NBA Champions New York Knicks were featured heavily. Brunson, specifically, was part of a main event segment involving himself and WWE World Champion Roman Reigns that also involved some build to Reigns’ SummerSlam match against Seth Rollins who was joined by Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers. Despite the reception in the building, the wider reception from fans watching at home was mixed at best.

    A little over a week later, controversial boxer Ryan Garcia ran in during a Joe Hendry and Danhausen concert segment on Monday Night Raw. Garcia, who has faced severe public backlash for many of his openly racist comments in the past including claiming membership to the Klan and referring to the LGBTQIA+ community as a “cult.” He has also been suspended for failing drug tests and was booted from the WBC for a year-and-a-half for comments against the Muslim community. His involvement, on top of the extremely negative reception to the entire segment, contributed to what many consider the worst Raw of 2026.

    This was all in the middle of what many fans and commentators in the space have described as a lackluster SummerSlam build at the best of times.

    All this has led to plenty of, frankly, deserved comparisons to WCW specific brand of bad wrestling TV in the year 2000. It’s only been exacerbated by season three of WWE Unreal on Netflix, which many felt only opened WWE’s creative up to even more criticism after clips of Triple H saying he was “worried” fans would think WWE was trying to shove Bron Breakker “down their throats.” Many were quick to point out the irony in this given it was Triple H saying it and how fans now look back at Jey Uso’s 2025 push that appeared to start strong but ultimately petered out.

    Unlike WCW in 2000 and heading into 2001, WWE’s future seems fairly safe for at least the immediate future.

    WWE has been the one arm of TKO Group Holdings generating massive revenue to try and chip away at TKO’s $4.96 billion debt due, mostly, to the UFC side of the merger. It has led to further and further price gouging by WWE as it attempts to monetize every possible avenue and raising ticket prices exponentially. While it has contributed to a noticeable downturn in attendance, with both nights of SummerSlam crossing over 30,000 sold for each night at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a building capable of holding over 70,000 people based on setup.

    Unfortunately for fans, this financial security means WWE doesn’t have to rush to address these issues even as they become more glaring. It has been reported that there’s “increased pressure” on WWE’s creative, but it remains to be seen if any potential changes would have meaningful and immediate impact especially with the mandates handed down by TKO’s executives in the past.

    And then there is the looming cloud of WrestleMania 43 in 2027, emanating from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The announcement was met with overwhelming negativity from fans given Saudi Arabia’s history of human rights violations and treatment of women and the LGBTQIA+ community. The perceived fumbling of Bron Breakker and missteps with Oba Femi hasn’t helped things, either. It wouldn’t be surprising if The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was on the table for WrestleMania 43 between Rock’s recent Hollywood disappointments and the amount of money Saudi Arabia would likely pay for a Rock match at this WrestleMania.

    This is all to say fans may not have seen the worst of this creative downturn from WWE due to its financial security. It isn’t to say everything is entirely safe as their ten year deal with Netflix for Raw having an out option for Netflix after five years. However, since they are only in the second year of that contract, WWE and TKO’s higher-ups may not feel the immediate pressure to try and course correct. Instead, it seems as though Triple H and executives like Nick Khan and Mark Shapiro are happy to write off fan complaints by either telling them to “just enjoy the show” or they don’t need long-term fans and they’ll simply make new ones.

    But the bill always comes due, and if things do indeed get worse, WWE may find itself holding a pretty massive bill at the end of it.

  • Xbox and PlayStation in 2026 – A Year of Self-Owns

    Xbox and PlayStation in 2026 – A Year of Self-Owns

    It has been a rollercoaster year for both Xbox and PlayStation through July of 2026, to say the least.

    Both companies have experienced some pretty high-highs, especially off the backs of their respective June showcases. Between titles like God of War Laufey, Wolverine, Fable, and Gears of War: E-Day, there was plenty to get excited about to say the least.

    Unfortunately for both companies, any highs have been massively undercut by a series of devastating self-owns over the first half of the year. Each has managed to find new ways to antagonize consumers to an almost hilariously fast, but justified, pace. Layoffs and potential studio closures, the abrupt ending of a beloved game in favor of one that never got off the ground, and a variety of anti-consumer decisions have dotted 2026 in a year where general tensions between corporate interests versus citizens’ interests are at an all time high in the U.S.

    Standing head and shoulders above them all was PlayStation’s announcing it will end physical game production in 2028. The company said in PlayStation.Blog post “as consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028.”

    To say consumer backlash was sever would be an understatement. PlayStation immediately found itself in the crosshairs of every gaming outlet and several national outlets, pundits, content creators, and third-party studio for a decision that is both anti-consumer and anti-preservation, as more digital content with no physical backups means a higher risk for content to be lost forever. It would be akin to the original Mona Lisa being converted into an NFT and then the source code is suddenly deleted, losing this file forever with no chance of recovery. And thus, one of the greatest pieces of art in human history is lost forever because someone hit ‘delete’ by mistake.

    Xbox hasn’t been much better, with the very fate of its many first-party studios becoming more and more unsure.

    Microsoft’s gaming arm managed to drum up plenty of good will heading into its June Xbox Showcase, the first under new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over from longtime CEO Phil Spencer following his retirement. She came out of the gate saying all the right things, such as removing Microsoft’s AI Copilot from Xbox, that resonated with consumers. It looked even stronger coming out of the June Showcase with news on Gears of War: E-Day, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Fable, a new game in the Plague Tale universe, and Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations, the game’s first major DLC, and plenty more.

    One in particular caught people’s eyes – Senua. A third game from in the Hellblade series from developer Ninja Theory which had only grown in popularity from the first to the second game in the series. It appeared as though Xbox may have found its answer to God of War on PlayStation, and it was clear there was genuine interest in Senua.

    Days later, it was reported by the Game File that the Senua trailer was meant as a pseudo-sales pitch for any parties interested in purchasing Ninja Theory from Xbox. Around this time, it was also reported Xbox was looking to close or sell several of its own studios amid larger financial difficulties plaguing all of Microsoft in 2026 between what it has spent on AI and the legal challenges it brought with it, among various other issues.

    In one fell swoop, Xbox managed to wipe away all the good will it had built in the previous months.

    Asha Sharma’s activities since the Showcase hasn’t helped, either, especially after she was made an adviser on the economic impact of AI for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Productivity and Jobs Task Force. It was met with almost immediate backlash by consumers and outlets, alike.

    Rockstar even got in on the action when it announced the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI would only be available digitally. A “physical copy” would be released in stores, which was simply a case with a digital code inside. Rockstar was hit with much of the same criticism as PlayStation for the looming end of physical game production.

    A $100 price tag for GTA VI didn’t make things any better.

    Despite all this, both gaming powers still have plenty of titles on the way that people want to get their hands on. God of War Laufey and Wolverine both look like the type of major single-player epics the PlayStation has been known for since the very first back in 1994. Xbox is giving some of its most popular franchises a shot in the arm with highly anticipated new games in the Fable and Gears of War series on top of a full remake of the entire campaign from Halo: Combat Evolved.

    These are things people want to play and want to be excited about.

    But when decisions like these draw the reactions they do, the powers that be need to actually listen. It isn’t just white noise. It is the sound of growing disdain that will, not may, come back to haunt them down the line if they don’t recognize the issues they are creating and contributing to.

    One silver-lining in all of this looks to be the resurgence of the $30-$60 AA studios filling the malaise created by the major powers in the industry. Saber Interactive, Focus Entertainment, Deep Silver, and THQ Nordic are just a few of such studios to emerge in recent years, providing an avenue outside one of the major publishing powers for developers to try and get their games made.

    More developers are just publishing their own games outright, as well, and have grown into significant independent powers. Larian Studios is among the more notable of these independent publisher-developer studios thanks to its popular role-playing series Divinity and 2023’s widely-acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3.

    Larian has since announced its next title, Divinity, in quite the dramatic and grotesque trailer at the 2025 Game Awards.

    As for what the rest of 2026 could hold for Xbox and PlayStation, there are still plenty of games consumers want to get their hands on, Wolverine and Gears of War: E-Day among them. The self-owns, however, show no signs of slowing down either, with plenty of question marks still swirling around the futures of several studios under Xbox or PlayStation ownership after swaths of layoffs at the likes of Bungie or id Software and plenty of justified concerns over AI implimentation.

    Only time will tell.