KME
Team Rocket
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Post by KME on Dec 30, 2023 6:39:33 GMT -5
The reason I believe this is because WWE’s been leaking stuff to the media all year about the people they haven’t gotten to hamper expectations that they won’t show up or sign since it happened with The Elite, it happened with Ospreay, it happened with Jay White, it happened with what feels like every free agent not named Brian Pillman Jr who for some reason sources thought to let him know he’d been there for a gajillion years before his TV debut. The fact nothing came out about Punk is an outlier on all of that considering they did get him and didn’t try and brag about it to SRS at the first opportunity. Yeah as sceptical as I've been on Mercedes showing up in AEW and the Punk stuff making a bit of a mockery of the dirt sheets this wording sounds much, much more similar to what they said with Jay White and Ospreay, expecting them to turn up elsewhere, and similar with Copeland, where it felt like they were trying to break the news gently to those in denial about him leaving. I'm hoping it's what's happening with MJF too, with WWE dismissing signing him. Perfectly understandable why people wouldn't trust the dirt sheets after the Punk fiasco but generally WWE love a chance to blow their own horn, I don't know how often they'd be keen to leak out stories that they actually expect someone to turn up elsewhere if there wasn't truth in it. Obviously with the Rumble coming up they could be just wanting to keep it quiet, much like Punk, they clearly wanted to debut him as something of a surprise in his hometown (despite seemingly a ton of hints). But the Rumble's not for a while, if she hasn't turned up anywhere in the next few weeks then everyone will be expecting her as #30, so the surprise element would be slightly diminished anyway. The Punk situation was different too I guess, since he was actually fired by AEW, despite a few conspiracy theories about not being so, they could just relax and take their time with him, he was never really likely to go elsewhere, they could just lie to the media and wait for Survivor Series. Slightly different with Mercedes *if* Tony is willing to pay up for her and she's happy to join. I really hope AEW sign her personally and that the Punk stuff was indeed an outlier, think she'd be worth the big bucks and would come at a perfect time with Jamie back soon, Yuka coming in, Thunder Rosa just back, Skye Blue getting the biggest win of her career, Toni and Julia on fire and the women's division feeling maybe the strongest it's ever done.
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Post by El Cokehead del Knife Fight on Dec 30, 2023 7:01:59 GMT -5
Well tommorow night would be the perfect night for it to happen especially since TK apparently has never given any serious consideration to Giulia which still completely boggles my mind. The most likely thing is that it was incredibly obvious for years that she was WWE bound when she left STARDOM. Why even bother when it's clear that she wants to go elsewhere?
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Post by chronocross on Dec 30, 2023 7:05:13 GMT -5
We'll see what happens first, AEW could use the starpower but negotiations can start back up and she ends up going back to WWE anyways.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
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Post by Bo Rida on Dec 30, 2023 8:28:28 GMT -5
Well tommorow night would be the perfect night for it to happen especially since TK apparently has never given any serious consideration to Giulia which still completely boggles my mind. The most likely thing is that it was incredibly obvious for years that she was WWE bound when she left STARDOM. Why even bother when it's clear that she wants to go elsewhere? Yeah there's basically nothing aew can offer her at this point that wwe or Stardom couldn't do better so there's little point wasting time actively pursuing her.
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Post by theironyuppie on Dec 30, 2023 8:56:16 GMT -5
The most likely thing is that it was incredibly obvious for years that she was WWE bound when she left STARDOM. Why even bother when it's clear that she wants to go elsewhere? Yeah there's basically nothing aew can offer her at this point that wwe or Stardom couldn't do better so there's little point wasting time actively pursuing her. One major difference is that AEW could offer her being right at the top of the division right away. WWE wouldn't do that as they already have Rhea/Bianca/Becky among others high on the card.
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Post by HMARK Center on Dec 30, 2023 9:21:13 GMT -5
The most likely thing is that it was incredibly obvious for years that she was WWE bound when she left STARDOM. Why even bother when it's clear that she wants to go elsewhere? Yeah there's basically nothing aew can offer her at this point that wwe or Stardom couldn't do better so there's little point wasting time actively pursuing her. Well, they can certainly pay her more than Stardom, and could make an offer competitive to whatever WWE puts forward financially while probably giving her more breaks on being able to work elsewhere/lighter schedule/whatever else, but the wording on the reports with her have me thinking, if the reports are true, the other point is it: that if she comes stateside, she wants to go to WWE, and that's that. Because, frankly, she's seemingly just about exactly the kind of person AEW would want, who could come in and basically be near ace status for their division from the word go while working a style that fits AEW more than it does WWE; plus, Khan's made statements in the past about wanting to work more with Stardom, and signing Giulia and giving her a contract that lets her work both promotions to some level would be a pretty potent way to get that door open. If AEW's not making a pretty concentrated push to get her, and again if the reports about her plans are true, it tells me that negotiations probably boiled down to something like "yeah, no, I'm going to WWE unless you offer me something ridiculous". Can't blame her if she has her sights set on the biggest platform and sees Io and Kairi doing better there now and wants to roll the dice, but yeah, I just don't buy that AEW isn't interested. End of the day I'd probably be more interested in her coming in than Mercedes; I like Mercedes well enough, but Giulia has long-term top of the division potential. That said, I fully get why people are still hyped at the possibility of Mercedes; she's a star, she's very good, and she seems to have a lot of desire to prove she's got more to offer and show. She'd absolutely be brought in as a difference maker, so just about any angles/matches/feuds she'd be involved with would get a lot of focus, whereas with WWE it's easy to see her kind of slotting in alongside-but-just-under Becky and Charlotte (when she's healthy) again. And given the way that narratives have been spun since Jade and Punk went to WWE, it'd be a pretty strong statement for AEW; obviously Copeland and Ospreay are big deals, but Mercedes is both young (Copeland's pretty clearly in for his last major contract of his career) and established with the domestic audience (Ospreay's most known for his Japan and UK work) in a very big way, so it'd get that all-important buzz going. But yeah, I'm also not about to get all set for her debut to happen; given the money figures being bandied about and multiple stories of negotiations breaking off with both major companies, it'll just happen when and if it happens, no real point in saying "it has to be at World's End" or "it'll definitely be the Rumble" or whatever.
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Post by raymondo316 on Dec 30, 2023 10:26:37 GMT -5
That Boozer 666 account on twitter that people say is very reliable is now hinting at Mercedes going to AEW
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cosmo
Samurai Cop
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Post by cosmo on Dec 30, 2023 10:33:32 GMT -5
So she's coming back to WWE then? I mean, how can anybody believe these dirtsheet idiots after what happened with CM Punk 2 months ago?
Some people just don't want to admit that Dave Meltzer can get worked too.
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Post by ace on Dec 30, 2023 11:56:24 GMT -5
So she's coming back to WWE then? I mean, how can anybody believe these dirtsheet idiots after what happened with CM Punk 2 months ago?
Some people just don't want to admit that Dave Meltzer can get worked too.
And for some reason some don’t want to believe that the Punk/WWE situation changed quickly. Even when it was confirmed by HHH himself. It’s very strange that WWE themselves will tell you they were nowhere with him on the day it was reported as such…and people still want to use it as a gotcha when the report is confirmed.
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Post by eJm on Dec 30, 2023 12:03:53 GMT -5
Some people just don't want to admit that Dave Meltzer can get worked too.
And for some reason some don’t want to believe that the Punk/WWE situation changed quickly. Even when it was confirmed by HHH himself. It’s very strange that WWE themselves will tell you they were nowhere with him on the day it was reported as such…and people still want to use it as a gotcha when the report is confirmed. I’ll say that, knowing how HHH can be with stuff, if he was confident they could get Punk and were in long negotiations to secure him, he’d absolutely have said that in the press conference. That was a major victory lap for the company. The fact he said “Hey, he only agreed right before Survivor Series” when we know Punk signed his AEW contract right before walking out at the United Centre makes me believe him.
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Kalmia
King Koopa
Happy to be here
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Post by Kalmia on Dec 30, 2023 13:29:59 GMT -5
I want AEW to sign Mercedes but I don't think they should break the bank to do it. From AEW's side of things, I wouldn't give her a contact that completely destroys the already existing pay structure.
From Mercedes' side, I wouldn't take less than I think I'm worth.
So I guess it depends on whether those two amounts line up or not.
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Post by floundertime on Dec 30, 2023 13:35:59 GMT -5
I can almost guarantee Mone isn’t going to AEW for 1 reason. Has Tony Khan announced there will be a major surprise? If not, then it’s not happening.
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Post by daaave on Dec 30, 2023 13:37:25 GMT -5
Mercedes was a legit draw in WWE and popped ratings. She's probably the best (maybe only) signing AEW could realistically make right now which should help increase business. They should be making her a decent offer.
And I think the AEW womens division is pretty good at moment but it could definitely do with a big star name to front it. I think the conditions are there for it work well for all parties.
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Post by Mid-Carder on Dec 30, 2023 13:51:54 GMT -5
I admire Mercedes immensely for knowing her worth particularly in what is still a male-dominated industry. She might be worth paying top dollar for even for a year.
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Dec 30, 2023 14:14:12 GMT -5
This is one free agent saga were I don't think any outcome would surprise me. She could show up tonight at the PPV. She could be the biggest signing in company history that TNA is teasing. She could be at the Rumble. She could continue doing stuff in Japan. All of them seem relatively plausible. If Tony does get her locked down I think it's his biggest signing since Mox/Jericho in 2019 then Punk/Danielson in 2021. With all due respect to Ospreay, White and even Edge I think Mercedes would mean more if she's used right. Some people just don't want to admit that Dave Meltzer can get worked too.
And for some reason some don’t want to believe that the Punk/WWE situation changed quickly. Even when it was confirmed by HHH himself. It’s very strange that WWE themselves will tell you they were nowhere with him on the day it was reported as such…and people still want to use it as a gotcha when the report is confirmed. Well SRS for instance was still saying on the day that Punk wasn't coming, not just weeks earlier. And it wasn't just that he was wrong. Reporters get stuff wrong every other day. It was how obnoxious he was being about it. Go look at his tweets from during the PPV. He was calling people idiots who still had hope Punk might show up even as the main event was in progress. He was so adamant he wasn't showing up and being really smug about it until he was proven wrong.
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Post by eJm on Dec 30, 2023 14:51:19 GMT -5
I’ll remind people that HHH is the same guy who responded to the ending of WrestleMania this year by going on a tangent about how important it is to follow the story to its end instead of talking about the bits you don’t like.
If the media was really wrong about Punk, he’d have been up front about it.
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Post by BigPoppaNasty on Dec 30, 2023 16:04:13 GMT -5
I have a feeling that Mercedes is probably less enthusiastic about debuting tonight (if that was the plan) after the past several hours.
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Post by eJm on Dec 30, 2023 16:24:20 GMT -5
I have a feeling that Mercedes is probably less enthusiastic about debuting tonight (if that was the plan) after the past several hours. From the woman who’d unironically tweet Vince McMahon every so often whilst under contract? I’d say that’d be astonishingly weird from her to be so.
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Post by El Cokehead del Knife Fight on Dec 30, 2023 16:33:00 GMT -5
I can almost guarantee Mone isn’t going to AEW for 1 reason. Has Tony Khan announced there will be a major surprise? If not, then it’s not happening. Were Cole & Danielson announced as surprises?
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jm
Dennis Stamp
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Post by jm on Dec 30, 2023 17:01:39 GMT -5
I can almost guarantee Mone isn’t going to AEW for 1 reason. Has Tony Khan announced there will be a major surprise? If not, then it’s not happening. Were Cole & Danielson announced as surprises? Nope, not at all. They both showed up at the end of All Out 2021.
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