TONY KHAN STINKS! ("WBD OWNS A PERCENTAGE OF AEW." - DAVE MELTZER; DYNAMITE CONTINUES LOSING TO NXT; DYNAMITE NO MILLION WATCH: 631 DAYS/90 WEEKS)

[Larry]

Not sure why people in wrestling media pretend they don’t know why Ricky is sidelined. Especially Cam.


WE KNOW WHY


Ain’t got shyt to do with being friends with punk and it ain’t got shyt to do with an injury. It’s not deep, nor is it rocket science.


Edit: let me ask ya'll this.. and be truthful. If you're running a wrestling company and a talented guy on your roster isn't locked in long term, has a contract that's winding down, has many ties to a rival company and has even expressed a willingness to be apart of that rival company to mulitple people... are you putting your resources into making that guy look good? are you putting world titles on that person?

be forreal.. if that person isn't committed to your company past his current possibly near expiring contract, despite how talented they are.. are you blindly pushing that person to the moon in hopes of them reupping, or are you pushing the people who are locked in?

 

[Finn Baller]

Not sure why people in wrestling media pretend they don’t know why Ricky is sidelined. Especially Cam.


WE KNOW WHY


Ain’t got shyt to do with being friends with punk and it ain’t got shyt to do with an injury. It’s not deep, nor is it rocket science.


Edit: let me ask ya'll this.. and be truthful. If you're running a wrestling company and a talented guy on your roster isn't locked in long term, has a contract that's winding down, has many ties to a rival company and has even expressed a willingness to be apart of that rival company to mulitple people... are you putting your resources into making that guy look good? are you putting world titles on that person?

be forreal.. if that person isn't committed to your company past his current possibly near expiring contract, despite how talented they are.. are you blindly pushing that person to the moon in hopes of them reupping, or are you pushing the people who are locked in?

when I'm in the middle of trying to secure a new TV contract, I'm putting every wrestler with TV charisma/mic skills on my show and maximizing the screen time I have. At the very least I can have one of my guys go over him multiple times on the way out.

that's like saying mid major college football teams shouldn't play their star players because they know they'll end up transferring to Georgia and Alabama in the end.

 

[Larry]

when I'm in the middle of trying to secure a new TV contract, I'm putting every wrestler with TV charisma/mic skills on my show and maximizing the screen time I have. At the very least I can have one of my guys go over him multiple times on the way out.

that's like saying mid major college football teams shouldn't play their star players because they know they'll end up transferring to Georgia and Alabama in the end.

that's a bad comparison.

WWE used to legitimately bury people on the way out with the sole purpose of not handing someone in the midst of a push over to a rival promotion.


they almost did it to Moxley. I don't know how much is out there about it but Vince almost had homie lose to Nia Jax on the way out before people stepped in and convinced them to send him off respectfully.



the game is the game. No reason to make Ricky look like a star when he's likely going to be on WWE tv by the end of the year. If ya'll don't wanna see him collect losses, sitting at home and collecting a paycheck is the only real alternative. sucks for him but realistically, what do we expect?


If a guy like Kevin Owens started expressing his desire to wrestle in AEW to people in the industry and had given the impression that he wouldn't be reupping with WWE, I doubt WWE would start pushing him to the moon in some last ditch effort to win his heart. you and I both know that nikka would be at home, or getting squashed by Bron Breakker

 

[Finn Baller]

that's a bad comparison.

WWE used to legitimately bury people on the way out with the sole purpose of not handing someone in the midst of a push over to a rival promotion.


they almost did it to Moxley. I don't know how much is out there about it but Vince almost had homie lose to Nia Jax on the way out before people stepped in and convinced them to send him off respectfully.



the game is the game. No reason to make Ricky look like a star when he's likely going to be on WWE tv by the end of the year. If ya'll don't wanna see him collect losses, sitting at home and collecting a paycheck is the only real alternative. sucks for him but realistically, what do we expect?

if you're gonna put anybody who might want to jump to WWE on ice, then we are gonna be watching the Young Bucks and Jungle Boy as the main characters of the show for the rest of the decade

 

[Larry]

if you're gonna put anybody who might want to jump to WWE on ice, then we are gonna be watching the Young Bucks and Jungle Boy as the main characters of the show for the rest of the decade

it's not a might with this nikka man. trust me, Ricky's eventual jump to WWE is the worst kept secret in wrestling. Everybody knows it.


his best friend is the face of the company right now.. bro be in press boxes with triple h, high fiving people and shyt at WWE PLE's. that's why its funny to me to see people in wrestling media act so confused about why Tony has him kinda sitting on the sidelines currently. Especially Cee Hawk. Like fam, YOU know why.

 

[Finn Baller]

it's not a might with this nikka man. trust me, Ricky's eventual jump to WWE is the worst kept secret in wrestling. Everybody knows it.


his best friend is the face of the company right now.. bro be in press boxes with triple h, high fiving people and shyt at WWE PLE's. that's why its funny to me to see people in wrestling media act so confused about why Tony has him kinda sitting on the sidelines currently. Especially Cee Hawk. Like fam, YOU know why.

anything Ricky Starks can do would've been better TV than Young Bucks vs Christopher Daniels and Evan Bourne in fukking 2024 or Jericho doing a promo battle with Hook I realize there's some crossover in audiences but if Ricky Starks walked out on Raw or Smackdown tomorrow the majority of people in the crowd wouldn't know who he was, so how or if he's booked in AEW is almost irrelevant to making him a star in WWE

they gave Andrade a big win knowing he was about to bounce and ultimately it meant nothing good or bad for AEW or WWE in the long run

 

[julesocean]

Not sure why people in wrestling media pretend they don’t know why Ricky is sidelined. Especially Cam.


WE KNOW WHY


Ain’t got shyt to do with being friends with punk and it ain’t got shyt to do with an injury. It’s not deep, nor is it rocket science.


Edit: let me ask ya'll this.. and be truthful. If you're running a wrestling company and a talented guy on your roster isn't locked in long term, has a contract that's winding down, has many ties to a rival company and has even expressed a willingness to be apart of that rival company to mulitple people... are you putting your resources into making that guy look good? are you putting world titles on that person?

be forreal.. if that person isn't committed to your company past his current possibly near expiring contract, despite how talented they are.. are you blindly pushing that person to the moon in hopes of them reupping, or are you pushing the people who are locked in?

There is no rub from being hot in AEW when moving to WWE. Jade was off tv then came back for a match only to lose. It was how WWE treated her and rolled her out on WWE tv that has her looking good rn.

If you are are AEW, you push your TALENT, give them what they deserve, then if they are happy they have a chance of re-upping. If not, at least you tried. I don't think "well we fukked him up already no point in trying now" is the answer for any of the talent in AEW they are mishandling. There is always a chance to right the ship, and if not at least he presumably gave you good TV for the time you featured him before he dipped.

 

[Larry]

There is no rub from being hot in AEW when moving to WWE. Jade was off tv then came back for a match only to lose. It was how WWE treated her and rolled her out on WWE tv that has her looking good rn.

I agree with this to a degree


But if AEW were to make Ricky a focal point of their show and a world champion, only for him to walk away in 2 months… what was the benefit other than making him look good?


And that’s what yall are asking for. People aren’t just asking for Ricky to wrestle here and there, ya’ll want homie to be THEE man over there lol.. I just don’t think its realistic to expect that at this point in the game.

We have to be serious lol

 

[Finn Baller]

I agree with this to a degree


But if AEW were to make Ricky a focal point of their show and a world champion, only for him to walk away in 2 months… what was the benefit other than making him look good?


And that’s what yall are asking for. People aren’t just asking for Ricky to wrestle here and there, ya’ll want homie to be THEE man over there lol.. I just don’t think its realistic to expect that at this point in the game.

We have to be serious lol

I'm not asking for him to be the world champion or even in the main event breh. I'm saying is he better and more entertaining than Trent Baretta? fukk yes. Better and more entertaining than Shibata? Hook? These are the guys getting consistent TV time.

He can still be a contributing member of the mid-card till the very end

 

[julesocean]

I agree with this to a degree


But if AEW were to make Ricky a focal point of their show and a world champion, only for him to walk away in 2 months… what was the benefit other than making him look good?


And that’s what yall are asking for. People aren’t just asking for Ricky to wrestle here and there, ya’ll want homie to be THEE man over there lol.. I just don’t think its realistic to expect that at this point in the game.

We have to be serious lol

I mean if you never saw Ricky as capable of being the top dog or one of them then that's a fair take.

You could immediately slot him into this Elite angle. Do the Macho Man pre joining nWo, where because he was siding with Sting (CM Punk) he was getting fukked off tv but he's back and not having it anymore. Starks would of course have to do business on his way out.

1) better talent on your program short term
2) makes sense with the Elite story where they are acknowledging people leaving and leaning into it
3) puts Elite over huge when Ricky does the job in the "Lose you're fired" match, that's free heat and merit
4) some E viewers might check you out if they wanna see some of Starks before he goes fed
5) curry favor that you as a company won't politic someone no matter how they feel or what stage of contract they're in

To me, shelving someone who is about to jump to the bigger company never makes sense, only the other way around.

 

[Larry]

I mean if you never saw Ricky as capable of being the top dog or one of them then that's a fair take.

You could immediately slot him into this Elite angle. Do the Macho Man pre joining nWo, where because he was siding with Sting (CM Punk) he was getting fukked off tv but he's back and not having it anymore. Starks would of course have to do business on his way out.

1) better talent on your program short term
2) makes sense with the Elite story where they are acknowledging people leaving and leaning into it
3) puts Elite over huge when Ricky does the job in the "Lose you're fired" match, that's free heat and merit
4) some E viewers might check you out if they wanna see some of Starks before he goes fed
5) curry favor that you as a company won't politic someone no matter how they feel or what stage of contract they're in

To me, shelving someone who is about to jump to the bigger company never makes sense, only the other way around.

that's definitely not how I feel. I think Ricky is a main eventer, and will be one in WWE when its his time to be that.


and I'm not even saying I want Ricky off tv on ice. I just think we have to put context into why he's sidelined.


also this shyt's not a foreign concept. I don't know why we're acting like it is. WWE had FTR scratching eachothers booties on TV after they asked for releases and turned down extensions. before they expired, they weren't really doing shyt. That's always been a trend. No real benefit in pushing them when they weren't in any plans long term.


we've also seen dudes like brodie be held off tv after turning down extensions/ask for releases. because again, if they aren't in plans long term, whats the benefit in pushing them short term? this is how its always been

 

[julesocean]

that's definitely not how I feel. I think Ricky is a main eventer, and will be one in WWE when its his time to be that.


and I'm not even saying I want Ricky off tv on ice. I just think we have to put context into why he's sidelined.


also this shyt's not a foreign concept. I don't know why we're acting like it is. WWE had FTR scratching eachothers booties on TV after they asked for releases and turned down extensions. before they expired, they weren't really doing shyt. That's always been a trend. No real benefit in pushing them when they weren't in any plans long term.


we've also seen dudes like brodie be held off tv after turning down extensions/ask for releases. because again, if they aren't in plans long term, whats the benefit in pushing them short term? this is how its always been

short term business. plain and simple. if you are already the lesser company, there is no harm of shining him up for the E. The E freezing and politicking people on their way out starves the lesser companies from getting a leg up. I mean it doesn't make much sense now in the Triple H era where he is open to working with these companies, but historically you feel me.

AEW's numbers and actual product are not so through the roof right now that they can't gain from short term boost given by Starks being featured. I know I sure will stay for a Starks segment when I see the previews.

 

[Brad Piff]

Not sure why people in wrestling media pretend they don’t know why Ricky is sidelined. Especially Cam.


WE KNOW WHY


Ain’t got shyt to do with being friends with punk and it ain’t got shyt to do with an injury. It’s not deep, nor is it rocket science.


Edit: let me ask ya'll this.. and be truthful. If you're running a wrestling company and a talented guy on your roster isn't locked in long term, has a contract that's winding down, has many ties to a rival company and has even expressed a willingness to be apart of that rival company to mulitple people... are you putting your resources into making that guy look good? are you putting world titles on that person?

be forreal.. if that person isn't committed to your company past his current possibly near expiring contract, despite how talented they are.. are you blindly pushing that person to the moon in hopes of them reupping, or are you pushing the people who are locked in?

Shouldn’t TK be giving him reasons to stay tho

You just gonna toss him to the side, have him stay home and hope he re-ups because AEW is “where the best wrestle”?

 

[Brad Piff]

 

[Neuromancer]

What happened to him?