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I couldn’t have been more impressed by Ludwig Kaiser’s performance against Sheamus on Raw. Is this the same annoying pretty boy who pranced around while tagging in Imperium? Kaiser was aggressive, stiff, and relentless…and I was into every minute of it! Kaiser beat the piss out of Sheamus and made him look gassed - while steering clear of the cowardly heel routine. I hope this mean streak is a permanent new shift for Kaiser, as he looks good, talks great, and has an easily identifiable character. Is this the new direction for the Kaiser character? Do you agree that if this is Kaiser’s new direction, he could be a world champion heel in WWE?
He always had it in him, it’s just he was booked the way he was booked. The guy has a ton of talent, for sure. I have liked him for years now. Could he be the champ? Sure, it’s possible.
Tony Khan seems to have lost it again. He posts on twitter this morning at 9:44am that "I book wrestling for the sickos because that's what I am and that's who I care about." ??? Not a ringing endorsement of himself or his fan base. Could a post like that hamper his media rights negotiations? Can't see a company like WBD wanting do business with or air programming directed at sickos.
I think Tony meant it as a compliment, like the way I say I have the sickness about loving the business (though what Tony loves and what I love are two very different things). At the end of the day, WBD has been dealing with Tony for years now. They know who he is and what he’s all about. Those kinds of Twitter posts won’t change anything.
With WWE/TKO ramping up touring in Saudi Arabia, have you heard any rumblings from talent that would rather not go? Would there be punishment for talents who wish to skip that trip? If I recall in the past, Vince didn't make anyone go. Is that correct?
In the past, Vince definitely let people who didn’t want to go skip the trip. I can’t say if there are people who don’t want to go since I haven’t spoken to everyone in the locker room but I do know that some people who do go don’t want to, but they do it out of professionalism.
Eddie Kingston - I'm guessing you've seen the bump that injured his leg. To me, it looked like a poorly planned spot/really bad execution. There was almost no way some part of Eddie's body wasn't going to hit that guardrail. Now he's out for quite some time, likely around 9 months from what I've read. Does someone have to permanently paralyze or kill themselves for Tony to make these guys dial it back? Rhetorical, I know, as we both know the answer. It's just another guy down with injury who is reasonably over with their audience. And all for a needless bump at a more or less meaningless show.
Yes, I honestly believe someone has to get seriously injured, or worse, to make Tony wake up. Of course, after than he allowed Adam Copeland to destroy his leg jumping off of the top of the case so my fear is it will have be something super serious for Tony to start taking the safety of the wrestlers seriously and to stop letting them do whatever they want to do in matches.
With AEW ratings seemingly in a free fall, can you think of anyone individual or group of people that could get through to Tony and impress upon him that there needs to be changes? Anyone at all? Could someone from WBD take him to task and force him to make a big move like hiring a booker and truly force him away from creative?
To be fair, they are up a bit since the playoff competition lessened. The one person that could definitely do it is his dad, but who knows if that will happen. Maybe WBD could do it but with Tony, he might just say screw you and lose a lot of money in the process. He loves being a wrestling booker. I get the feeling that is the best part of being in the business for him.
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