General AEW Thread

[Tremendez]

I think I'll let the promoters and wrestlers decide what spots they want to do, and let the fans decide where they draw the line for their personal enjoyment and conduct their business accordingly

And that’s certainly your prerogative but if someone were to get seriously hurt or die doing something incredibly reckless generally, we don’t hold back on calling it out so I don’t see why we can’t be more preemptive in making sure the spots don’t happen in the first place.

 

[Comrade Khan]

https://xcancel.com/gailkimitsme/status/1969845759962120281?s=46

I’m fine being alone on this particular one but even if death match had its place I do think we should limit spots specifically like this.

I’m fine if it’s just me, though.

Who's we in this case?

 

[Tremendez]

Who's we in this case?

Whomever agrees it’s probably best to not dive off balconies through plates of glass suspended over a net hung several feet above a ring in what appears to be an outdoor recycling facility. It could be many, it could be no one.

 

[Comrade Khan]

I thought America was the land of the free though

 

[Tremendez]

I thought America was the land of the free though

I’m not saying the government needs to ban it. I’m just saying the people watching professional wrestling should probably regulate what they think is entertaining just a little bit but if it’s just me, I said I’m perfectly fine with it being just me but personally, I’d rather not see someone die by getting their throat lit by glass falling off a balcony.

Maybe I’m crazy but I think there should be limits on some things. Like I don’t like the weedwacker spots either but I sure that they know how to safely do that enough but it’s a lot harder to say you 100% know that you can safely fall of the balcony through a plate of glass suspended above a ring. There’s so many things I could’ve gone wrong with that spot.

 

[Comrade Khan]

Yeah idk I get you find it too dangerous but the only thing you can really do as a viewer is not watch it

 

[Tremendez]

Yeah idk I get you find it too dangerous but the only thing you can really do as a viewer is not watch it

I don’t plan on watching it, but I don’t get this idea that I can’t also say that I would wish that people don’t get hurt doing things I think would be personally reckless to keep doing.

I think the difference is there’s a line for everyone and you just haven’t hit yours yet on this but there’s a line on something else that you would personally advocate is not necessary.

For the record, I wouldn’t have said anything at all if Gail Kim didn’t get flack because she commented on a clip she just happened to see online. So I’m commenting on it because of the topic at hand and then I’ll go back to not saying anything about it at all.

 

[Professor Booty]

I thought America was the land of the free though

smartass

 

[O-Blaze]

I've got my limits personally when it comes to death matches. So I kinda understand not liking or carrying about certain spots. Watching AEW has opened my mind a little bit more to it. But they are also ones that do crazier shit than them, and that's kinda where I personally draw the line.

 

[Comrade Khan]

I don’t plan on watching it, but I don’t get this idea that I can’t also say that I would wish that people don’t get hurt doing things I think would be personally reckless to keep doing.

I think the difference is there’s a line for everyone and you just haven’t hit yours yet on this but there’s a line on something else that you would personally advocate is not necessary.

For the record, I wouldn’t have said anything at all if Gail Kim didn’t get flack because she commented on a clip she just happened to see online. So I’m commenting on it because of the topic at hand and then I’ll go back to not saying anything about it at all.

I don't think anyone has said otherwise and I think saying it's the only reason Kim got dog walked is myopic. But I think that's all I'm willing to engage with currently on the subject .

 

[Brett]

If fans started banding together to regulate deathmatch spots, it would almost 100% lead to a streissand effect where more people would flock to deathmatch wrestling. Same way Gail, cornette, anyone who has a big enough platform to spread things to others are essentially doing exactly what they are so against which is growing a style of wrestling they hate by providing so much attention to it.

Gail / Corny will not change the mind of a deathmatch fan, nor would they convince their own internal audience to check this out as they will adhere to their opinion or already dislike such a thing. It's the people in the middle who may just happen to see Gail's tweet (follower or not) who are being introduced to this that will turn either off or on, but even one person being turned on to this is a net positive for deathmatch wrestling lmao.

In turn I just explained what a grift is, which is performative outrage with a result of contributing to the problem you so very much hate.

 

[Tremendez]

I don't think anyone has said otherwise and I think saying it's the only reason Kim got dog walked is myopic. But I think that's all I'm willing to engage with currently on the subject .

I never said it was either but it’s a chain of events. She made a tweet complaining about a spot people clap back other people mentioned Jim Cornette someone else after that asked her to specifically defend other opinions he had because she shared his opinion on that and then it just continued to spiral from there, but everything can be traced back to the original nexus event.

I think it’s perfectly fair to disagree with her take on Riho, but my problem is when people are coming at her like she decided to bully Riho out of the blue in 2025 when she was very specifically asked for her opinion on it based on an unrelated death match clip.

 

[Brett]

I also despise the "all that for a hotdog and a handshake" holier than thou bullshit that people do on deathmatch clips. The majority of people have scrubbed toilets and done work they've hated for minimum or around minimum wage. These deathmatch dudes love what they do and of course they will do it no matter the price. Capital is not the only currency in the world. They are not being forced to do these things nor are they doing it for the $50 they may make for it. They did a spot that is burned in your memory and could be for the rest of your life. I know I'll never be able to unsee Nick Mondo's last deathmatch spot, Janela's spot emulating that shit with Zandig, and literally countless other high-stakes spots that will never leave my memory. That's the currency deathmatch wrestlers go for.

 

[Chris]

I also despise the "all that for a hotdog and a handshake" holier than thou bullshit that people do on deathmatch clips. The majority of people have scrubbed toilets and done work they've hated for minimum or around minimum wage. These deathmatch dudes love what they do and of course they will do it no matter the price. Capital is not the only currency in the world. They are not being forced to do these things nor are they doing it for the $50 they may make for it. They did a spot that is burned in your memory and could be for the rest of your life. I know I'll never be able to unsee Nick Mondo's last deathmatch spot, Janela's spot emulating that shit with Zandig, and literally countless other high-stakes spots that will never leave my memory. That's the currency deathmatch wrestlers go for.

I always love an excuse to bring up the one time I tried to listen to busted open when I started branching out to podcast listening when I started my job before this one and had the time to. The first episode Bully was going in on some indie wrestlers for some dumb ladder spot, a spot I also agreed was dumb for just for reference and shouldn't have been done. But he was so extreme about it in his usual grifter way and Tommy Dreamer brought up shit they did in ECW to try and bring some empathy to the wrestlers instead of just shitting on them and Bully's response was literally "yeah but everything we did, we knew we were doing it to get to WWE so that made it okay" which is so patently false, there was no guarantee that any of those guys who were getting hot checks from Paul would make it to WWE. I never listened to another episode in full

 

[Tremendez]

To be fair, it is kind of a weird insult to knock a wrestler for doing more crazy things in an effort to try to get themselves noticed. Of course, if you’re getting paid millions of dollars you’re not going to be doing those types of things as you’re too valuable to risk it. You’re trying to build a brand for yourself. If anything I would mock maybe the promoter for asking them to do a stupid shit and then not paying them well but never the boys and Bubba is a classic hypocrite. And I can’t help but laugh at his blatancy in it with Tommy dreamer right next to him.