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AEW 2026: Year Seven

not that it matters nor did anyone ever doubt it but in a article this morning by CNN (a part of WBD) regarding the anti ice chants acknowledged and disclosed that WBD owns a minority of AEW.

In the past, TK has avoided directly confirming this and has reiterated many times that he has all the voting power and its reportedly less than 10% but it’s good to know for sure with the potential murkiness of the impending sale of the network.
 
They gotta put it on him. It'd be so stupid not to.
 
I'm a bit tired of Hangman in the World Title picture. Hopefully MJF goes over and this is it for a while. 🤞
 
It makes sense storyline wise but this will be the third MJF/Hangman world title PPV match in a year. I'm sure the rest of the card will deliver but this one I'm not too excited about.
 
Like, to put the belt on Hangman means there was no reason to ever take it off him. But I really, really do not care for MJF on top and my interest substantially less for anything he touches. Match will be really good, yeah, but I can't get into it.

I guess it's better than MJF cutting shitty promos on Andrade, though.
 
I wanted Brody vs Hangman face vs face for the belt tbh, but that was a pipe dream.

I kind of agree that Hangman should dip out of the main event for a minute, and do another tag team run or something. I think they will do a big stip like I Quit or something maybe. I know they just did one for Mox vs Darby, but this match needs a stip to separate it from their previous matches last year.

Maybe bring back the Dog Collar Match for the Revolution match?
 
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Hangman's best spot is either if you actually push the trios division as a viable thing or elevating someone. Hangman is bulletproof when not hanging out with scumbags so by all means use him to fully establish Brody or Bandito or something as top guys.
 
Last Week Tonight returned on Sunday and they showed the "Fuck Ice' chants from the Dynamite twice and Oliver talked about MJF by name.
 
I am a contract and employment attorney with clients in the entertainment industry including WWE and AEW. But not Jericho.

Freezes are built into the contracts for injuries or outside ventures that take the performer away for longer than 6 consecutive weeks. Typically the freezes are limited to 6 months but may, on occasion, extend up to a year under certain circumstances.

For Jericho, I would speculate this was built into his contract that the term of his performance deal would freeze any time he is away touring for longer than 6 weeks. He is fully paid during this time and the clock starts running as soon as he is "eligible for booking" it does t matter if the company doesn't use him during this period.

Also contrary to internet lore, save for a few talent who have rights of first refusal built in by the company, there is nothing that prevents them from negotiating with another company for a future term contract as long as that contract is executed after full clearance of their current contract including any freeze period. The only stipulation is that any and all promotion, marketing, or advertising of this future deal is prohibited until said time their contract with the current company has expired or they receive their full release.

Those few talent in which the company maintains a ROFR clause, that doesn't prevent them from negotiating but they cannot agree to a future term deal until said time as their current company has had a set period to evaluate that offer and to make an offer that is equal to or greater. Often, if the current company matches that offered deal the talent is compelled to sign that matching deal. And what the definition of "matching" is usually predefined and clear.

I have only over known of a hand full of talent with ROFR clauses.
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I don't know how trustworthy this is but it's an interesting post about how contract freezes work in wrestling and I think it makes a lot of sense.
 
AEW announced via the NY Post that Double or Nothing will be 5/24 from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, NY.

quite amusing the weeks after the positive buzz of the anti ice chants, AEW gave the rights to the news release to a Murdoch owned conservative outlet.
 
I still can't get over Julia Hart being Demoted to Extra in her own damned stable. All we need now is for ToM to have a championship celebration where Thekla gifts Julia Hart with a framed portrait of Thekla.
 
Julia hasn't really shown anything since she dropped the TBS title. Maybe she should go back to being a fiery babyface. Everyone else in her stable lapped her.
 
Hawk 34 said:
AEW announced via the NY Post that Double or Nothing will be 5/24 from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, NY.

quite amusing the weeks after the positive buzz of the anti ice chants, AEW gave the rights to the news release to a Murdoch owned conservative outlet.
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Anarchy in the Arena spilling over across the street at Citi Field will be quite the sight.
 
So Page offers the Cody stip (will never challenge for the belt again) in exchange for a stip match. I don't really get why he lets MJF choose the stip match, he's giving up too much in the exchange but whatever. They can't put the belt back on Page this soon IMO and they have a bunch of face challengers (Omega, Swerve, Ospreay when he returns, whoever turns face out of the Callis Family, Moxley maybe) whereas Page would be more interesting doing some sidequests for awhile.
 
Damn, Ishii is tough hell finishing that match after injury. Didn't look like he wanted Connors to go easy on him either.
 
Well I called that heel turn during the match

CWM
[7:11 PM]
looks like swerve will end up going heel some time soon
[7:12 PM]
itd be dope if the plan is for swerve and page to both go heel

The only way Page/Swerve working together would ever make sense for me would be if they were both heels and a scenario where they were both insanely embittered and wanted to just destroy everyone else. There's a path to creating that storyline after this episode.
 
Yeah, the alarm bells on a Swerve heel turn started going off very loudly when his promo at the start of the show was him repeating “I NEED this.”

That’s textbook babyface code for “I’m so desperate, I am going to do something dastardly if that’s what it takes to win the big match.”
 
Swerve and Hangman should never be allies. The only time they shouldn't attack on sight is when one drives a truck through the other's funeral.

Put the belt on Hangman though. There's more interesting ways to go.
 
idk, I get that it was a heel turn, but it just felt like Swerve being Swerve to me. He was doing the same kind of stuff to the Opps and MJF. He needs to turn on the fans next.
 
That's classic AEW though. Like the only true heel is MJF while everyone basically has their character only aimed in specific directions. Which I'm very okay with.
 
In an interview this week, Deonna Purazzo expressed frustration with her role in AEW. She debuted with a feud with Toni Storm but has done a whole lot of nothing since then. She's been mostly working ROH since then but has barely made any appearances lately since winning the woman's pure title.

I get where she's coming from. She got sacked by WWE, bet on herself, and made a name in TNA. Then she transfers to AEW and is treated as an afterthought. I get that the Toni feud underdelivered but this brings up another issue. I dont think the women are booked atrociously in AEW like many think but I do find a good chunk of the division being underutilized.
 
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