By Tony Donofrio, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@TonyDonofrio)
-Last month, my sister Christin was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer. She will be receiving six chemotherapy treatments, starting now through the end of November. This is the first time in my life that I’ve had an immediate family member diagnosed with cancer. We are all scared but also cautiously optimistic because it was caught fairly early. I’m just a guy that writes occasional columns for Dot Net and the Pro Wrestling Torch. With that said, if you have the means and can find it in your heart to help my sister out at this time it would be appreciated. The information for her Meal Train is in a pinned post at the top of my X and Threads account, @TonyDonofrio. If you don’t have the means and just want to share the post that would also be appreciated.
I’m a peon in pro wrestling media but please share and help if you can.
My sister was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer in July. She will be receiving six chemotherapy treatments, starting now through the end of November.https://t.co/mf54tNpLhP
— Tony Donofrio (@TonyDonofrio) August 17, 2024
AEW
-While it’s easy to look at AEW and point out its attendance issues, I think it’s also worth noting that AEW has made some strides this year in its creative side. The two biggest things to point to are that there are a few long term stories at the top of the card that fans can actually sink their teeth into, and the fact that the women’s division has has 2-3 stories rolling at a time since the addition of Jen Pepperman.
I’m not sure that statement could’ve been made at the start of 2024. Are there things that need to be buttoned up and improved on? Sure. As hot as WWE is, you can say the same about their product also. The stories revolving around the AEW World Championship, AEW American/International Championship, and even the TNT Title are strong enough to carry the brand right now. The huge drop-offs occur when it comes to the trios and tag team division.
The AEW tag team division is probably the biggest disappointment if you look at the five year history of the company. AEW had an embarrassment of riches in the tag division early on. In the past 2-3 years the division has been diminished and just doesn’t feel important anymore.
When it comes to the trios division, it’s hard to have a strong tag and trios division on the same roster. If you trace the history of the trios division back to its roots in AEW, you can see how it affected the tag division and diluted it. AEW still has a bloated roster and it doesn’t work. There’s not enough time in a week to put effort into yet another division (this isn’t me advocating for more hours of AEW TV).
Also, I was wrong when I look back at my original excitement over the division. I was among the “sickos” that celebrated and pushed for a trios division. I have no problem admitting when I’m wrong. My guess is Tony Khan is too prideful to kill the division off. He should. A rededicated focus to the tag division and an elimination of the trios division would go a long way to helping AEW to get more of its groove back.
Again, though, I am encouraged by a lot of the progress they’ve made in 2024. If I’m giving Khan advice on this, I’m saying, “Stay the course on what you’ve been doing in the singles division but button things up in the tag division (and seriously think about folding the trios division; even if I know it won’t happen).”
-If you follow me on social media, you’ll know that I’m at my wits end on when we’ll get the AEW TV rights deal announcement. I wish I could explain why I’m obsessed with it. I have now found myself following three different sports business/front office news pages on X. I guess my new hobby (not that I have time for one) is following the business of sports and TV. God help me.
-With it now being All In week, I must say that I don’t know which way I lean on Bryan Danielson or Swerve Strickland leaving London with the AEW Title next weekend. Part of me still feels it’s too soon to take the title off of Swerve. He’s been a very good champion and I think he could do a lot more with the title. From feud to feud he seems to float back and forth from babyface to heel. That’s not for everyone but I am still very much enjoying his work.
Then there’s the argument for Danielson. If this is really his last full-time run as a pro wrestler, I would like to see him win the world title one last time. I’d like to see him explain on Wednesday that his family also wants to see him go “all in,” become world champion, and let his last full-time run be until someone can beat him in the ring for the title. I think you’d get a lot out of Danielson in this final run and it can be a lot of fun to speculate on who will beat him and when. After typing that out, I think the smart move is to go with Danielson. The story writes itself. Swerve still has a long career ahead of him and a loss to Danielson never hurt anyone. Either way, Sunday’s All In should be a lot of fun.
WWE
-Does anybody remember a few years ago when Vince McMahon couldn’t book and get his wrestlers over as babyfaces? How times have changed. As stated above, WWE is a hot product and it’s remarkable right now how many babyface talents the company has that fans care about. To think there was a time about five years ago when many thought that Paul Levesque had failed and would never get a shot to book the main roster after NXT sagged behind AEW. Sure, it’s early times when you look at the big picture. NXT was tremendously popular before AEW came along also. It’s wrestling. There are always ebbs and flows.
As hot as WWE is, there are always things that can be improved. The booking of the women’s division leaves a lot to be desired still. The counterargument to that will be Rhea Ripley. She’s an outlier though and, aside from her feud with Liv Morgan, is entangled with a lot of male superstars. But, when you look at the rest of the women’s division on both Raw and Smackdown it’s a bit of a letdown.
In a recent column, I stated that WWE thus far has dropped the ball on Jade Cargill. I stand by that. She was one of the hottest free agents in all of pro wrestling late last year. Her being mired in a tag team for the bulk of this year just feels like a lost opportunity. If she still isn’t “WWE ready” then I’d have much rather seen her held off until she is. One has to assume that Charlotte Flair will be back soon. That should inject some life into the division but I also really hope she comes back with a fresh take on her character.
A lot of what I wrote earlier about the AEW tag team division can be echoed here. It’s definitely one of the Leveque’s early booking weaknesses. Having said that, the product is hot and the booking makes sense. Sometimes being logical and stories making sense is all it takes. That’s a lesson that Vince McMahon seemed to forget in the later stages of his career when he was running WWE.
-I’m curious to see the route that Roman Reigns takes from here. It’s obvious he can’t fight the Bloodline 2.0 by himself. I wonder if we get a few more beatdowns before we see the plan unfold. Does Roman go back to Jey Uso hat in hand? Would the fans accept a humbled Roman seeking forgiveness? Probably, but I am still intrigued how it’d be done. Then there’s Jey and Jimmy. Despite the lack of onscreen feuding due to Jimmy’s injury, they’re still at odds. Do they just ignore it and the reconciliation is as simple as “we’re brothers and we still love each other?” I hope not. I feel like that would’ve been the Vince McMahon way out.
There were reports out there that Hikuleo signed with WWE in July. If so, which side is he on? For the sake of argument, I’d assume that Bloodline 2.0 will ultimately consist of The Rock, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu. The OG Bloodline, I assume, will ultimately end up with Roman, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Hikuleo, and…Sami Zayn. Let’s not forget, Roman made Sami an honorary Uce and Bloodline member. There’s also major fences to be mended there. By proxy, that could also create issues again between Zayn and Kevin Owens should Zayn mend fences with Roman.
There’s a ton of meat left on the bone to this story that, oddly enough, in late 2023 felt like it was winding down. That does give us 5-on-5. Survivor Series: War Games is roughly three months away. I’d be surprised if that wasn’t the plan. Having said that, does it have to be? I’d love to see this play out even longer. Considering how long this story has taken us on a ride for, do we really need to rush to WarGames for it? This is why “calendar events” are typically a bad idea. It doesn’t matter if it’s WarGames, Blood & Guts, Hell in a Cell, or most gimmick matches.
I’m sorry to hear about your sister, and wish the best for your family.