I should note that even though the ending to TLC was too much for me, the PPV itself was actually pretty good.

I always found it a little surprising Bowyer's career took such a nosedive when he left here. He generally underachieved here but relative to his experience arguably did fairly well, and must know plenty of people in the game - yet ended up down in League 2 with Blackpool and Bradford before ending up back as an Under-23s coach. His time here seemed to do very little for him as far as his reputation as a manager is concerned. Would it have been different if he'd relegated us in 2013 and then got us back up from League 1?

Kaminski - 8 - solid signing, great price. Can't complain. Pears - 1 - might seem harsh, but a 4 year contract for a below average keeper we didn't need makes this a terrible signing in my book. Greek lad - N/A, why sign him if we were also going to sign Pears? Ayala - 6 - looked okay when fit, but hasn't been fit all that often and was hoping for better than just 'okay'. Douglas - 2 - what a disappointment. So slow. Trybull - 6 - don't think he's been that bad. Marginal improvement on Evans. Downing - 5 - having to bring back Downing, as professional and versatile as he is, smacks of a failure to address the squad properly during the summer. Elliott - 8 - clearly has all the tools to be a top player in the future, but for me not yet at a Dack level where he can regularly win games for us by himself even when the rest of the team is labouring. With that said I wouldn't expect that from a 17 year old anyway. We're fortunate to have him and it's a shame his time with us will be remembered largely as part of another redundant Tony Mowbray campaign. Dolan - 8 - showed he has some huge potential early on, but still some way to go to be a regularly effective player. An absolute steal on a free though.

I believe AEW is making money with their current TNT deal, but also got to remember they've only been around just over a year. They're still a very young company trying to grow their audience. They're almost at TNA's peak levels of viewership despite the wrestling audience being massively diminished compared to how it was in the mid-to-late 2000s. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Cody, Omega and the Bucks they are a draw for a significant audience of nearly 1m people. Jericho and Mox obviously help with that as well, but it shouldn't be underestimated how many fans these guys gained during their time in ROH/NJPW and the independents. All In sold out a 10,000 seater stadium in something like half an hour, after all, and that was way before AEW was even announced. At the moment it does feel a bit chaotic in terms of wrestlers being thrown together, storylines mixing, and so on... but I don't really mind that. The company is still settling into its rhythm and finding out what works and what doesn't. For me they've done far more good than bad in their first year and a bit - and it can't be overstated how important it is for the entire wrestling industry to have a viable contender outside of WWE - somewhere wrestlers can go and still get paid well with good exposure if they don't want to work for WWE. TNA had its moment in the sun back in the day but it was never a serious alternative. It was never on a network like TNT and always looked small time. AEW has projected a big time feel right from the off, no matter what you think about Dynamite itself.

A character like the Fiend only works if he either never loses (impractical) or never wrestles. As soon as either happens the mystique begins to vanish. Very, very few supernatural characters have ever worked in wrestling. Undertaker and Kane are two, but their power lay more in their sheer size and physical presence. The supernatural stuff was mostly alluded to rather than actually shown. The Fiend might as well have been retired after Goldberg squashed him to be honest. That was ridiculous and proof that Vince really has lost the plot. If it was me I wouldn't have had the Fiend wrestle for a long time. Much like how Sting got insanely over during the end of 1996 and throughout 1997 by being a non-wrestling enigma, the Fiend should have followed a similar path. They hot-shotted the title onto him just because he was getting over, and you could argue that decision ruined the character before it had even really got started. Regardless of all of that, the ending of TLC was just way too hokey for me. It was so stupid and ridiculous that it made it impossible to suspend any form of disbelief. Then on Raw the next night it's like nothing happened and nobody cares that a guy they all knew, a son of a WWE Hall of Famer, was set on fire and either horrifically burned or dead. Stuff like this just makes me feel like my intelligence is being insulted. Say what you will about AEW but their creative never produces bottom-of-the-barrel garbage like this.

That would indeed be the smart thing to do, but I always expect the opposite of smart booking from WWE.

AEW beats Raw in the key demo for one week and next thing you know the Fiend is burned to death. Until tonight when he'll magically reappear unharmed, obviously.

I can't be the only one who thinks the ending to TLC was fucking absurd? It's not the first time I've felt this way with the Fiend storylines, but this went way over the top for me.

I think that's the bottom line. If his mental state is that fragile he simply won't make it at any decent level. Not that I believe it is. People were saying the same about Brereton, but the lad is flying now. Sometimes it's just a case of the player being in the wrong position, or just not being good enough.

At least Wigan were around to give us something to be thankful for during that period.

I'd guess he's referring to this run of form: Whilst there is one win in there, that is still a horrific set of results no matter which way you slice it. Most managers would not survive such a pathetic two months. It completely ruined our season.

Of course they want to hit a million viewers. Even more if possible. A significant amount of their revenue is based around advertising money from the TV shows - AEW gets a cut of that alongside TNT. Why wouldn't they be aiming to get that rating as high as possible? They'll make far more money off TV than they ever will off PPV. They're trying to grow their audience beyond the standard 1.5m that watch AEW & NXT on Wednesdays - the likes of Sting and Shaq are clearly attempts to get eyes on their product that may not usually watch. Combining that with the strong Winter is Coming card made perfect sense. I don't see the problem there at all. The Bucks put over Private Party pretty early on in their run, and also helped establish the likes of Ortiz/Santana and the Lucha Bros. They helped establish Omega/Hangman as a legitimate tag team too, and made the Inner Circle look strong during their feuds with them. Omega elevated Mox straight away by losing to him, and did the same for Jericho. You could argue neither of those necessarily needed to be put over but having one of the biggest names in the company lay down for them certainly didn't hurt. Putting over PAC at All Out was a solid move too, and his storyline with Hangman Page was one of the most intriguing AEW storylines of 2020. The Bucks/FTR storyline was odd, I'll agree with that. No idea why the Bucks suddenly turned heel, making it a heel vs heel match, then still seemed to expect to be treated as faces. The match was great, but the build up didn't make much sense. Whilst Brandi isn't much of a wrestler, I don't have any issue with her in the role she's currently in. It's not like she's eating up much TV time since the Nightmare Collective, which was a mistake, disappeared. Can't say I have much of a problem with how Jericho has been used. The biggest name in the company, can still work fine (much better than Hogan could in WCW back in the 90s) and isn't above working with wrestlers much lower on the card than him. Has built and led a solid and entertaining stable. His name value is invaluable to a start up like AEW, and I don't blame them for putting him front and centre early on. Can't imagine the likes of Luther or Nakazawa are on much, and is Reby Hardy signed with AEW? I know she's appeared in a few Matt Hardy segments but I don't remember seeing that she's signed on any kind of deal. AEW's roster probably is a bit bloated at the moment, but I'm not going to knock them for employing wrestlers during a pandemic. If they're still making money then good for them. Also I'm watching Attitude Era shows at the moment and trust me, JR had to call far more stupid, embarrassing stuff then than he ever has to in AEW.

It's worth remembering that AEW makes more money from TV than PPV. The idea of hot-shotting on TV, as per the Monday Night Wars era, is a bit outdated. They only have PPVs every 3 months (another huge improvement on WWE's once a month formula), so there's plenty of time between PPVs to have big matches. I do agree that some of the booking is wonky, but no promotion gets it right all of the time. The EVPs being on a power trip comment I don't understand as Omega and the Bucks especially spent most of the first year putting over multiple talents, and only started putting themselves over when a significant amount of fans complained that they weren't presenting themselves seriously enough as 'The Elite'. Cody has been booked strong, sure, but that makes sense considering his position. He's one of the best wrestlers and promos in the company. Also I believe AEW is on course to make profit, so they definitely aren't overspending. TNT is extremely happy with their performance (massively over expectations of a 500k average audience) and are paying them enough to cover expenses. I think any suggestion that Khan is being wasteful with money is quite wide of the mark. As for JR's comments - a person in his position shouldn't be burying AEW wrestlers in public. His comments are something that should be discussed in private. I can completely understand people in AEW being upset with him making those remarks in public, even if they were valid.

100% yes. The long-term storytelling of AEW is such a welcome relief after years of abysmal WWE storylines which are lucky to last more than a few weeks. Everything that happens in AEW has a purpose, and ties in to feuds happening between various people months down the line. Things aren't just forgotten about or abruptly dropped as often happens with WWE's chaotic style of booking. When AEW commits to something they make sure there is a pay off. What's also great is that they actually listen to their fans. If there is widespread dissatisfaction with a storyline or a group then they absorb that feedback and tweak things to improve the product. Good examples are the Dark Order, who started off as weak but became a solid part of the show, and Brandi's Nightmare Collective bullshit which was hugely criticised and subsequently pulled when it clearly wasn't getting over or appreciated. If AEW can salvage something they will, but unlike WWE they won't beat a dead horse if it is simply not ever going to work (-cough- retribution -cough-).

For me it's got a very mid-90s WCW feel. Some technical stuff, some goofy stuff, some traditional stuff, a solid mixture of younger and veteran talent and obviously the fact it's on TNT and Tony Schiavone is commentating! Having the likes of Arn Anderson, Sting, Tully Blanchard, Dustin Rhodes, etc on the show obviously adds to that perception as well. With that said it's definitely not a WCW clone. Plenty of modern wrestling too which nods to the likes of ROH, PWG and NJPW - but the main thing for me is that it isn't trying to be WWE in any way, shape or form. As fun as TNA was at times, it was always trying to be a combination of WCW and WWE-lite. AEW still feels like its own company, WCW vibe or not. You can just tell everyone in AEW is having fun. They aren't bound by catchphrases, sponsors, slogans, a specific style, banned words, and so on. Everything I've come to hate about modern WWE is nowhere to be seen in AEW, and that's a huge relief. Meanwhile, for the stuff WWE does well that I enjoy watching - I can still catch the highlights.

They're also five points ahead of us in the table.

Honestly I don't think a team of cowards could finish 6th over a full season (has any team finished in the playoffs having never beaten a team in the top half?) - and even if they did somehow finish sixth they would surely buckle under the pressure of the playoffs. In fact I would practically guarantee that a Tony Mowbray Rovers side would fall at the first hurdle and get nowhere near the final.

I would love to see the correlation between people complaining about football being a business, but also demanding entertainment. Sport is about winning, regardless of the tactics employed. I'd bet there aren't that many Stoke fans crying into their beers right now over playing attritional football - considering where they were a season ago, and where they are now.

How can it not be over if we have a team of cowards who can't be motivated when under the cosh?

Only 5 points off the playoffs lads. Can't beat a team above us or sustain a consistent run of form, but it's only 5 points. Once Dack comes back from over a year out with a serious injury and Trav returns from months out we'll be unstoppable.

Anoher game where we come racing out of the blocks, looking motivated and ready to compete. 😏

I'm sure he does want to be top scorer as well, but if that was his sole motivation then I'd have expected this selfish streak to have been present throughout his time here. With that said he has never been prolific as far as assists are concerned. 6 last season and only 3 in the year before that. Definitely far more of a goal scorer than a creator of chances.

Arma's selfishness seems to have increased lately. He may be feeling the pressure of being top scorer and being expected to hit the back of the net in every match. It isn't healthy for us to have such a huge reliance on one player to score, so it would be worthwhile for TM and the coaching staff to work with Armstrong on his team game. Getting more players in the goal mix lessens the pressure on Armstrong and benefits the team long-term.

I wouldn't disagree that he's done a good job overall in the circumstances. I just don't think he's the man to push us further than mid-table. He'd go with my thanks and no hard feelings, but we need a manager with a bit more tactical nous and ruthlessness. My main concern in regards to waiting until the end of the season is that I think we may be coming to the end of a Venky cycle, meaning next summer will be all about sales and cost-cutting. I think this may be the last season we have in the current cycle to go up, and I don't think TM is going to get us there based on the season so far. Obviously it's Venky's so spinning the wheel is a risk, but excluding Coyle their managerial appointments since the end of the Kean/Berg/Appleton era have been OK. I don't think we're guaranteed to get a total dud. The main issue is that whoever comes in effectively starts from scratch, as the club is repeatedly rebuilt in the image of whatever manager is at the helm. The owners refuse to implment a sensible infrastructure which makes removing the manager a much more difficult process than it should be.

We look knackered and aren't playing well at all. We can get away with it against teams like Rotherham and Millwall, but O'Neill's Stoke will punish us if we once again turn up looking like we've just staggered out of the nearest pub. Heart says we reverse our performance level and mental block versus teams above us and grab a 2-1 win (little chance of a clean sheet) but head says 2-0 loss and an easy afternoon for Stoke.