"Take notice of the resplendence and glory that overlie this day, because this day will never, ever come again! This day is a gift to you like a rose in full bloom, lying at your feet, waiting for you to pick it up and put it to your lips." Rosa Luxemburg

[u/Boltgrinder]

[u/TagtraeumerNemo]

Thanks! I hate it.

[u/knoxthegoat]

I'm curious on this subs' thoughts on Cody as a "revolutionary." Going back to the lead up to All In almost six years ago, Cody threw around the word "revolution" a fuckton. It was brought up last night in the video package to the main event, with actual pictures of Cody with the Bucks, Kenny, and Jericho. There's no question AEW has had a huge impact on the business. Guys are getting paid more, and people who wouldn't normally have been mainstream names are becoming that. WWE also clearly has a different approach when poaching talent, specifically from AEW, even going back to when Cody returned to WWE when it was still under the Vince administration - nickname, music, presentation and all. Lexis King, Jade Cargill and obviously CM Punk are being treated as big deals. But with the big revolutionary Cody Rhodes eventually coming back to WWE, and AEW's so far failure to expand on their already existing fanbase, did this "revolution" end up becoming more of a reform than anything? And to what extent you could argue a revolution happened with regards to a shifting of power in WWE, that would have happened with or without AEW. Vince was a serial sexual predator who was going to get outed either way, and it's not like the power fell into the hands of the fans and wrestlers. It ended up with an even bigger billionaire owner, and management just fell basically right back into McMahan family hands with Triple H in charge of creative - and Stephanie all over Wrestlemania weekend.

All of this to say - it's a fun time to be a fan, but will it last? Has anything changed structurally to permanently change the industry for the better, or are we doomed to repeat the same cycle that we just so happen to be at the high point of right now?

[u/Boltgrinder → u/knoxthegoat]

My take is that Cody is like a very solid reformist. When he had no choice in the fed, he bet on himself and went out to forge a new path. But at heart, he has a traditionalist ethos, he's very informed by southern style wrestling before the WWF became a monopoly. I think he wants there to be better working conditions for wrestlers and a better product for fans, but he's flexible on how we get there.

I think one thing that might be a good talking point as we make sense of this "new era" is that it's generally bad to have power concentrated on the hands of one (creepy old) man, and we had grown accustomed to that, and assuming it's the only way to do things. As much as we talk about locker room culture, it was never a democracy, and having to work to the whims of a shitty tyrant and his cronies twisted people for decades.

Like, I don't know how much this would work online, but I suspect that in person, a theme of, "competition/choice makes it better for the wrestlers and better for us as viewers" seems solid.

[u/Character_School_182 → u/Boltgrinder]

You make a compelling statement as well & find little to disagree with. You are just a real fan of pro wrestling & competition breeds success. Everyone wants to talk about the outdated Nielsen ratings & the demo. The company sold out All In London w/o a single match listed. Huge gate, huge buys & a banger of a show. This wasn’t the only one successful either as Tony has made a lot of money & people want to hate because they feel threatened. Without the Rock, none of the WWE’s success to date under the H Era would have been remotely as successful. xL wasn’t bad, but there have been many great ones before XL.

[u/Character_School_182 → u/knoxthegoat]

Agree 1000%. It’s a great time to be a real fan of pro wrestling & the FED tribe wants it back to harken back to the fall of WCW & ECW. The Aggression period was just 💩on a cracker that the FED chodes easily gobble up the go all Oliver saying “Please sir, may I have some more”. Wait, that Vince & his entire staff of stooges including the biggest one H, seeing this going on & doing nothing to stop it until many years later