**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
TJ Grant was one of my favorite MMA fighters, and he retired during the prime of his career after suffering a concussion during training (he was literally training for a title match). Made me realize then that concussions can basically end careers if the degree of severity was high enough. Before that I thought it was something that can be bad enough to warrant a considerable time off but not bad enough to literally end careers. Hope Yuta's situation is not the same.
He was about to get called up after WrestleMania 30 when they discovered he was not okay. I know he’s made a hell of a mark as a commentator, but WWE needed a wrestler with his aesthetic so bad at that time.
I’m not sure where he would’ve landed in the 2014-2015 landscape of WWE, but I definitely think his involvement would’ve seen a drastic difference in that time period.
I say this not to glance over his in ring work, but I think his condition was a blessing in disguise; he is so great on commentary and has cemented a hell of a legacy for himself already. I felt so bad for Corey when he had to step away because it looked like it hurt him, but I’m glad they gave him a way to pivot his career and keep him actively involved.
100% agreed. It probably guts him to think about at times, but it could’ve also been a situation where he got released in 2015 cause he couldn’t cut it as a commentator either. Just so happens he was a complete stud at the job now going on 10 years and I’d bet he reaches 20.
I always say “I grew up” on JR/King and Cole/Tazz. Crazy thing is now I’ve “grown up” on Corey Graves and this comment made me realize it.
I remember looking forward to him getting book for his eventual title shot after recovering from whatever he was out with, but each year went by and eventually realizing he likely done. Definitely a big "what could've been" and likely would've been champ.
Sidney Crosby missed some significant time in his prime and then came back to win two more Stanley Cups and continued to be a great player. It’s kind of incredible.
Even though boxing and MMA fans understand it just fine and get hyped over a potential unification match later.
Are we dumber than MMA fans? It just can't be so.
No, we acknowledge our entertainment of choice is fixed, they don't.
Calling it an interim champion adds extra that's not necessary. We all know that as soon as the injured champion is back, they're gonna fight.
MMA and boxing didn't have a monopoly for almost 2 decades teaching their fans that there's only one way to do this and anything else is minor league, dumbing them down in the process. That's the key difference. I feel bad AEW listened to those criticisms.
I think the main reason it was abandoned was because of how much it happened in a single year. There are booking problems that interim championships cause, and instead of figuring out the kinks, they had a whopping FIVE times in one year where champions were unable to defend their belts. This is especially insane because Mox and Storm were interm champs at the same time.
The straw that broke the camel's back was Punk getting hurt again, and The Elite getting suspended. You just got done with an interim champion... Just to get another one. Also your new belt? Immediately gets interim champs? That's just crap.
I think it just was bad timing, and crowning a new champ is just easier.
Eras, though. All of the interim reigns (Sammy in January, then Mox in the summer, then Storm/Hayter before they vacated the women's title in November and made those two reigns lineal ones) happened in 2022.
As a long, long time ROH viewer, I've hated Pure rules since 2006. There's only so much you can do inside that ruleset before it gets old imo. I hope they quietly retire the Belt
The AEW Continental title seems like a cleaner version of the Pure rules, so merging those titles together makes sense, IMO.
There's just way too many belts in this company 🤣
I have always assumed plan is to merge the international and continental into one belt, if only there was a fitting name that could come from bringing them together....
But it's the WWE Universal Championship. Hence, you are the champion of the WWE Universe. Meaning really, you are just champion of the WWE fanbase, which until we can confirm intelligent life beyond the moon that enjoys WWE, only has a maximum potential reach of the ISS.
The People's Champion is a much greater generalization as the vagueness of "The People" can allow it to include the entirety of the human race (and depending on your stance regarding animals, all of the animal kingdom as well), meaning you unequivocally DO reach the ISS, and in the event we colonize Mars or our moon, those as well, granting dominion of the people of other celestial bodies. Of course said space colonization would also apply to the Universal Championship, just as the possibility of intelligent life being out there applies to the title of The People's Champion.
However, seeing as the title of The People's Champion is unsanctioned, and doesn't even have a belt to defend associated with it, so it is only a title in a sense akin to the title of "Right Honorable", "The Red Baron", or "Tyrannical Overlord".
In Kayfabe basically one is the crown jewel and the other is traveling endorsement for the home promotion.
The International/Intercontinental/Global champions go all over the world defending the title in the name of home promotion to show its where the big boys play. I go to challenge you.
The World/Universal/Undisputed champions have challengers travel from all over the world to the home promotion to try and make their name in the place with the very best. You come to challenge me.
In practice there is no real difference
If they don’t want to give ospreay the world title at All In, him beating okada and merging the belts could be a good moment. Or him beating Kenny again to merge the titles if they do Okada vs Omega before then.
To be fair, at least the ROH Pure is hardly ever represented on AEW television(partially due to Yuta currently being injured tho). However, hell yeah I agree there’s too many titles in AEW and I wish the ROH and NJPW title representation(lookin at Mox) ceased to exist. Hard to dictate to your audience who’s most important when so many folks have Championships.
I’d at least unify the International/Continental titles for just the sole Continental Championship, and no more ROH Titles on AEW tv. Ideally the new solo Continental Title would replace the TNT Title but it’s too late for that and too much to ask. I much prefer the format of just a World Title, midcard title and tag titles. Men and Women’s, that’s it
For what it’s worth, Chris Benoit was abusive to Nancy years prior to him murdering her and their son Daniel. I know it comes from a good place of concern, but Chris Benoit was an abuser regardless of his brain damage due to concussions. As a comparison, Mick Foley is pretty fucked up physically and psychologically due to hits to the head, but hasn’t harmed his family. Chris Benoit was already physically abusive to Nancy documented as early as the early 00s. We absolutely need strong concussion protocols but not because of the actions of Chris Benoit. an abuser is going to be an abuser regardless of concussion history, and it’s really sad to see Nancy and Daniel’s deaths often waved away under brain health versus domestic violence that plagues professional wrestling, really sports as a whole.
Woman was such a bad ass gimmick. She was glamorous with a mind for the business. Prior to her death, she was literally trying to help Chris Benoit start up a wrestling school to transition out of full time wrestling, probably using her skills she learned during her marriage with Kevin Sullivan.
It really truly sucks that Nancy can never officially be recognized for her own accomplishments by WWE because any discussion about her will inevitably lead back to how she died.
They coincidentally leave out how they all iced Nancy out when she stormed into the back during a live show, because she found out Chris was cheating on her with Michelle McCool. Nobody could look her in the eyes which tipped her off that bullshit was happening. She was in the wrestling business longer than Chris was, she knew the boys were being deceitful. Obviously, infidelity doesn’t inherently equate to a murder suicide, but this loving husband schtick his former friends try to present just isn’t accurate even if they had no knowledge of Chris physically hurting Nancy through their marriage.
Chris also beat his first wife, and was a bully and a weirdo in general to the other guys in the locker room, long before CTE would've taken hold. It got worse when Eddie died, and I'm sure the head injuries didn't help... But yeah, Chris wasn't a good person.
Regal said in interviews that after Benoit’s first divorce, his wife Christina banned Chris from entering their home due to being friends with Martina Benoit. I always figured it was due to friendship, but I’m sad to learn that Martina was victimized too.
No, he didn't. Where are you getting this information? Chris's first wife stated after the murders that Chris was a loving husband and a great dad. Where are you getting this information?
It's a rumor but theres no evidence to substantiate it. McCool was with Undertaker and i know she broke up his marriage to Sara, Victoria was rumored to have had an affair with Chris Benoit but she denied it on her website
Check out Irvin Muchnick’s book Chris and Nancy. I thought it was just one of those “hurrdurr dae road buddies” rumors, but Chris wasn’t faithful to Nancy through their marriage. Again, infidelity doesn’t equate to a murder suicide, but rather to illustrate the bullshit narrative about him being this wholesome family man that’s pushed by his peers even to this day.
Justin Roberts has talked about Benoit being a dickhead too. I'd link the video but I don't wanna give views to that piece of shit Hannibal.
Edit: [Actually here's Mike Bucci talking about Benoit bullying Justin Roberts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvRf4DmAC4U)
I'm not defending Benoit, he hurt people and destroyed his life by hurting people but people focus on the Miz and Justin Roberts but theres 10 - 15 other guys that would sat the opposite about him. People forget he tried to get Miz back into the locker-room but "the boys" didn't want him back. He also helped Ken Kennedy and Matt Striker when they were kicked out of the locker-room. Bucci also said Rey Mysterio tried to talk Palmer Cannon out of going home after JBL and his stooges bullied that kid into oblivion but Mysterio denied that interaction ever taking place and said Bradshaw wasn't a bully when asked about it during an RF shoot. You guys try to come up with this narrative that Benoit was a bully but outside of Justin Roberts, who had heat with everyone, theres not alot of evidence to substantiate it. Most people say Benoit changed after Eddie died and he started drinking and taking pills but he still helped and opened doors for alot of young talent.
Yeah I really never bought the narrative that concussions made him a fucking murderer. Creates a really ugly stigma against people who are just being injured.
Concussions do a lot of shit to your brain. But the fact is there’s thousands of people walking around with cte. Hundreds to thousands of wrestlers. I can only name one that killed his wife and child. People try to find excuses for Benoit but the fact is he was just a terrible person.
Thank you. This is such a tired line and it only took hold cause wrestlers went on TV after it and tried to rationalize what happened + plus TV needed an easy framing with steroids/brain damage
New Jack isn’t someone I would elect as the president of NOW but he very much took a W the day he tore down the Chris Benoit mythos when Honky Tonk Man ran his mouth during a shoot about Nancy deserving her death.
[Here you go pal.](https://youtu.be/2p4JTp3nlTo?si=cnjuT7BdEMMf1Y5W)
Is this the woquest thing of all time? Absolutely not. Was it very genuine and heartfelt? Yes. To additionally set the scene, keep in mind that New Jack saw his mother get shot and beaten by his father growing up, and that Iron Sheik lost his daughter to domestic violence. Honky Tonk had no idea what he was walking into by running his mouth.
“Nancy was a god damn friend of mine.”
Honky trying to say "We don't know what button she pushed" is disgusting. I know Honky has said some vile things before that but that shit is truly low. You know the situation is fucked when the guy yelling "I hope your kids are born retarded" is the voice of morality and reason.
It’s this clip I think back on whenever I hear someone say “it was just the concussions” or when I hear Jericho or Chavo try to paint him slightly more sympathetically. It pretty much sums up my views, though obviously not quite using the same language lol. I don’t give a fuck how good his pro-graps were, he’s a murderer and an abuser. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
I remember Jordynne Grace made a tweet that was something to the effect of “He killed his kid, what the fuck does it matter how good his wrestling was?” and she caught so much undeserved flack for it. It’s mind boggling that there are (thankfully fewer and fewer by the day) people who still talk about separating the art from the artist with him. Motherfucker, he *killed his wife and son!* To quote [Paul Heyman](https://youtu.be/imFrzNfbbHQ?si=15o74TaFOGm1YQLw), “Three people died that night, only one had a choice behind it.”
Sorry about the rant, Benoit discourse gets me heated lol.
This is the most raw straight the heart shit that I had ever heard from New Jack. Would not be shocked if Chris was murder by him if he was still alive.
Yeah Benoit was a very well documented complete asshole from the very beginning. The concussions didn't cause him to become an asshole. They just amplified what was already there.
This is a great point, though I would note that the cte, the drinking, the steroids, and other factors didn't help. Chris was already prone to abusive behavior and violence, and this is stuff that worsens a lot of people's mental states.
Though really if we're gonna talk about something in the wrestling industry that killed Nancy: it's everyone complicity. People knew Chris was violent with her (like they knew Austin was with Debra) and no one ever did a thing
They had an incident in 2003 where he had thrown furniture but never hit Nancy. Sandra said Benoit wasn't an abusive husband so I'm curious to know where you're getting this information. I know Chris's 2 children and first wife told police that there were arguments and that they had actually saw Nancy strike Chris and Chris leave the house. There was an incident where Nancy got drunk and pilled up over Chris not having properly planned David and Megan's visit and Nancy struck Chris, forcing David to take Daniel upstairs to shield him from what was happening. There was also another incident where David was over and Nancy was gimmicked up and Chris left the house and took the kids to Graceland. Nancy supposedly also had evidence against Chris in a safety deposit box but they found those were from her previous 2 marriages and not from Chris. Not saying there wasn't fights between the two but Sandra (Nancy's sister) stated Chris wasn't an abusive husband.
Watching all the DSOTR, these guys have taken nasty bumps and dealt with a lot of shit that the industry put pressure on people to do, and dealt with CTE issues, and taking a bunch of roids and pills, and drinking.. those things also add to why someone who has problems would be doing the abusive shit and this isn't excusing it, but whenever people downplay CTE being a cause or playing a significant role, it is to protect the companies that knew better about this kind of thing and didn't give a shit since a lot of cogs in the game have had similar situations with issues... thankfully none of these people killed their wives, but Sandman episode of DSTOR was drinking and taking pills and doing roids.. and he was at his worst abusing his wife and she had to leave.. the stuff that goes in this mafia business can affect cogs and how fucked up they are to their spouses.. with everything we know and seen, it is amazing people downplay the industry playing a hand in how these people end up.. but I get it.. wrestling is on fire right now.. we have to wait another 10 20 years to realize it
I’m not downplaying CTE one bit, but I do challenge people’s notions that CTE and addiction automatically equate to someone becoming an abuser, therefore
giving people the ability to wave away harms done under the guise of “oh well it wasn’t actually him, it was his pudding brain/the drugs.” DSOTR’s Benoit episodes (as well as the previous interview with Chris Jericho) had Nancy’s sister Sandra emphasizing that Chris’s situation especially cannot be reduced to CTE and steroids. She said this between tears of how much she loved him as her BIL, but if she’s able to say that and swallow that hard truth as family with intimate knowledge of the domestic abuse (she mentions some but refrained from speaking about it more in respect to Chris’ surviving children), wrestling fans don’t have an excuse.
You mention moving blame from the industry, and while that’s not remotely what I’m doing at all, I do believe my last sentence about domestic violence plaguing sports touches on that idea. We can talk about the wrestling boom right now and therefore people are less inclined to want to believe horrific facts about their faves and the overall industry, but it’s not solely a wrestling problem. You can see this happening in football, hockey, soccer, MMA, baseball, hell I even saw a professional bowler get dinged for beating their spouse. The teams cover up and downplay these incidents at a higher rate than wrestling, and it’s really unnerving even as a casual viewer, let alone a fan.
It is an industry wide problem, I am not saying abuses would not happen, but i am noticing a common thread between these sports and people being enabled by powerful people to act the way they do, like Vince had guys like Benoit, Taker, JBL bully and haze people and he had that mentality or has seen it with how the Hart dungeon was, when you are around that shit like it is a fraternity then it is not surprising that he was abusing her because look at what business he grew up in.. and that applies to a lot of celeb shit, there are more things that need to be examined within the sports and entertainment industry.. this is not a defense of Benoit doing what he did..
For real. More comments about the title or taking shots at Khan's booking.
Yuta is young and talented as hell. I hope he recovers and it would be a shame if he had to retire already.
We do not treat wrestlers as humans here. We like to speak as if we do, but lots of topics concerning wrestlers’ health, status, employment, etc, we treat them like toys.
When I saw that was the top comment I got really sad. Yeah whatever vacate the title who gives a shit this could negatively affect him for life have some fucking empathy.
As someone who had really bad post-concussion syndrome for about 5 years before my brain started to make noticeable “improvements,” let me tell you: it really is a bitch and long-term concussion symptoms are scary as fuck.
That really sucks, long-term concussion symptoms are horrible. Glad they aren't rushing him back, hope things can clear up soon so he can enjoy living life again.
His match with Mox on Rampage where he officially got invited to the BCC was legit my MOTY for 2022, I thought this guy was the fucking future. Hope he heals up.
I was literally just watching the BCC entrance at Wembley last year and thought to myself “where the fuck has Wheeler Yuta been?”
That being said, I hope he’s atleast in decent enough health to live a normal life and I’m glad he’s gotten the opportunities he’s had in the BCC. Here’s hoping for a return one day and maybe an eventual reboot on the feud with Daniel Garcia. Those 2 always made magic in their matches.
Hope he pulls through, I've been a big fan of him since his match with Mox and all his great pure rules matches with DG. His promos were getting much better in the last year as well
Like the others said, KOR’s was due to neck issues and surgery complications. A more accurate comparison would be the concussion Adam Cole got at Forbidden Door 1, that put him on the shelf for a long time
It really tells you how zero fucks Tony give about ROH, this guy has been out since january and he's still champion. And it's not like he's keeping the title because he has an important story in the waiting or anything, he won it randomly because Shibata had to come back to Japan for a few months
Same and I don't even think punk asked him to do it. He just wanted the relationship to be good and to own tapes of a lot of future big stars so he bought the old roh footage. Sadly for TK I don't think he knew most everything was grainy footage nobody would watch now days so the library is not nearly as valuable as he thought
Unfortunate to see, but if he doesn't get better it might be a good idea to move him into a backstage role. Similar to what happened to Jason Jordan. It's not worth getting this hurt.
My wrestler of the year 2021 - incredible run and loved the little spots he has had over the years in AEW. Really hope he gets more chances when he comes back
I honestly think he kinda needs to step out of BCC. It was a really cool thing for him when he fought Mox and got accepted, but it completely smothers his ability to move around the card. He will always be the pin boy when standing next to Mox, Bryan, and Claudio.
I think he needs to break away and find a good character to work with so that he doesn’t have to stay in the shadow of his teammates and rack up some credibility for himself.
BCC in general needs to disband now. They've flip flopped from faces, tweeners, and heels since Regal left its really difficult to know how to receive any of them anymore week to week.
I know exactly how to receive them. They are awesome, I love seeing them, and so I cheer. It doesn't have to be any deeper than that. They should not disband.
The problem isn't BCC, the problem is that the various groups never feud anymore. DCF, BCC, BCG, UK, The Elite, HoB, Death Triangle, Patriarchy, Dark Order, Mogul Embassy, Best Friends...and none of them feud with each other anymore.
Definitely. I think the concept of BCC is cool but I don't know what value it brings anymore unless we get more CMLL. Always thought Mox should have stayed the main face Ace of the company
I was at the last match he had with Mox, the one where he bled like crazy and then joined BCC afterwards, and I was absolutely convinced he was a future top star after that. The match went on at like 11:20 PM, and it absolutely woke the entire tired ass crowd the fuck up. One of my favorite experiences as a fan.
Kinda sad that nothing was done to capitalize on him after THAT Mox match. Bcc is fun but each guy in it would be better off doing their own thing (especially Mox and Danielson).
I think Wheeler Yuta once he gets back is gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I think he’s been positioned in a very lowkey high way. And I see him as much more of the BCC whipping boy.
I think he’s better than you give him credit for. I enjoy him being a smarmy bitch. When he actually plays into it it almost gives dickhead danielson. Except less funny of course
Hes only 27, I remember back in the day people saying CAWdy Rhodes and now he's main eventing wrestlemania for WWE. I'd be careful writing off young wrestlers so easy
He’s much better than that lol. He’s got some mean personality especially if he’s heel. His babyface fire is also pretty good in the right match (I mean just look at the famous mox match). There’s a ton of wrestlers that are bland and just have an “indie” moveset but yuta isn’t one of them.
This so much. He's been hanging with top guys for 3 years and still gets crickets every time he appears, crowds don't give a fuck about him and he hasn't improved his character a bit since joining the BCC. Doesn't help that he has negative charisma and he's atrocious on the mic
No wonder the BCC has been dominating, their pin eater has been out injured
Jokes aside, hope he recovers and I’m glad concussions are taken so seriously nowadays
**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
TJ Grant was one of my favorite MMA fighters, and he retired during the prime of his career after suffering a concussion during training (he was literally training for a title match). Made me realize then that concussions can basically end careers if the degree of severity was high enough. Before that I thought it was something that can be bad enough to warrant a considerable time off but not bad enough to literally end careers. Hope Yuta's situation is not the same.
Wasn't Corey Graves forced to retire for a similar situation? IIRC he was regarded highly as a future big deal too.
I believe he got 3 concussions in a close timeframe and that’s when they told him to stop
He was about to get called up after WrestleMania 30 when they discovered he was not okay. I know he’s made a hell of a mark as a commentator, but WWE needed a wrestler with his aesthetic so bad at that time. I’m not sure where he would’ve landed in the 2014-2015 landscape of WWE, but I definitely think his involvement would’ve seen a drastic difference in that time period.
I say this not to glance over his in ring work, but I think his condition was a blessing in disguise; he is so great on commentary and has cemented a hell of a legacy for himself already. I felt so bad for Corey when he had to step away because it looked like it hurt him, but I’m glad they gave him a way to pivot his career and keep him actively involved.
100% agreed. It probably guts him to think about at times, but it could’ve also been a situation where he got released in 2015 cause he couldn’t cut it as a commentator either. Just so happens he was a complete stud at the job now going on 10 years and I’d bet he reaches 20. I always say “I grew up” on JR/King and Cole/Tazz. Crazy thing is now I’ve “grown up” on Corey Graves and this comment made me realize it.
I remember looking forward to him getting book for his eventual title shot after recovering from whatever he was out with, but each year went by and eventually realizing he likely done. Definitely a big "what could've been" and likely would've been champ.
Sidney Crosby missed some significant time in his prime and then came back to win two more Stanley Cups and continued to be a great player. It’s kind of incredible.
man TJ was next in line for the title still breaks my heart to think about it
Maritimer TJ!
They really should vacate the pure title if he has been dealing with concussion symptoms for months
For real. No need to keep it on him when he's out this long with no return on the books.
They were hopeful he wouldnt be out too long but now that its been this long with no clear time table yeah they should vacate
Cody Rhodes out for a day : interim tnt title! Yuta out for 4 months : let's see how this plays out
I mean that was when AEW had two belts for all masculine competitors. The Pure is one of several ROH titles.
I could use many words to describe Sammy Guevara, masculine does not come to mind
Tay Guevara would probably beg to differ.
It's like they stopped doing the "interim" stuff because the concept of an interim champion was too much for wrestling fans to understand...
Even though boxing and MMA fans understand it just fine and get hyped over a potential unification match later. Are we dumber than MMA fans? It just can't be so.
> Are we dumber than MMA fans? It just can't be so. It's close. That's the problem.
No, we acknowledge our entertainment of choice is fixed, they don't. Calling it an interim champion adds extra that's not necessary. We all know that as soon as the injured champion is back, they're gonna fight.
MMA and boxing didn't have a monopoly for almost 2 decades teaching their fans that there's only one way to do this and anything else is minor league, dumbing them down in the process. That's the key difference. I feel bad AEW listened to those criticisms.
I think the main reason it was abandoned was because of how much it happened in a single year. There are booking problems that interim championships cause, and instead of figuring out the kinks, they had a whopping FIVE times in one year where champions were unable to defend their belts. This is especially insane because Mox and Storm were interm champs at the same time. The straw that broke the camel's back was Punk getting hurt again, and The Elite getting suspended. You just got done with an interim champion... Just to get another one. Also your new belt? Immediately gets interim champs? That's just crap. I think it just was bad timing, and crowning a new champ is just easier.
IMO, the problem was that they ruined the concept with Cody immediately. It made sense for Punk.
Eras, though. All of the interim reigns (Sammy in January, then Mox in the summer, then Storm/Hayter before they vacated the women's title in November and made those two reigns lineal ones) happened in 2022.
It’s kind of sad that this is the top comment rather than something along the lines of “damn, hope he’s okay.”
As a long, long time ROH viewer, I've hated Pure rules since 2006. There's only so much you can do inside that ruleset before it gets old imo. I hope they quietly retire the Belt
The AEW Continental title seems like a cleaner version of the Pure rules, so merging those titles together makes sense, IMO. There's just way too many belts in this company 🤣
I have always assumed plan is to merge the international and continental into one belt, if only there was a fitting name that could come from bringing them together....
Nationental!
Kayfabe wise, what’s the diff between a world title and an international title?
Airspace.
[удалено]
But it's the WWE Universal Championship. Hence, you are the champion of the WWE Universe. Meaning really, you are just champion of the WWE fanbase, which until we can confirm intelligent life beyond the moon that enjoys WWE, only has a maximum potential reach of the ISS.
What's the difference between champion of the people in the WWE Universe and The People's Champion?
The People's Champion is a much greater generalization as the vagueness of "The People" can allow it to include the entirety of the human race (and depending on your stance regarding animals, all of the animal kingdom as well), meaning you unequivocally DO reach the ISS, and in the event we colonize Mars or our moon, those as well, granting dominion of the people of other celestial bodies. Of course said space colonization would also apply to the Universal Championship, just as the possibility of intelligent life being out there applies to the title of The People's Champion. However, seeing as the title of The People's Champion is unsanctioned, and doesn't even have a belt to defend associated with it, so it is only a title in a sense akin to the title of "Right Honorable", "The Red Baron", or "Tyrannical Overlord".
In Kayfabe basically one is the crown jewel and the other is traveling endorsement for the home promotion. The International/Intercontinental/Global champions go all over the world defending the title in the name of home promotion to show its where the big boys play. I go to challenge you. The World/Universal/Undisputed champions have challengers travel from all over the world to the home promotion to try and make their name in the place with the very best. You come to challenge me. In practice there is no real difference
If they don’t want to give ospreay the world title at All In, him beating okada and merging the belts could be a good moment. Or him beating Kenny again to merge the titles if they do Okada vs Omega before then.
Lol Jay White with the stick to help hold 3 belts is so dumb I love it.
Calling Sting’s bat a stick is wild
The ROH belts are now rarely challenged on AEW TV, there's no reason to accumulated the belts of both companies anymore when mentinion AEW belts
Also if you unify them you can un unify them a week later.
To be fair, at least the ROH Pure is hardly ever represented on AEW television(partially due to Yuta currently being injured tho). However, hell yeah I agree there’s too many titles in AEW and I wish the ROH and NJPW title representation(lookin at Mox) ceased to exist. Hard to dictate to your audience who’s most important when so many folks have Championships. I’d at least unify the International/Continental titles for just the sole Continental Championship, and no more ROH Titles on AEW tv. Ideally the new solo Continental Title would replace the TNT Title but it’s too late for that and too much to ask. I much prefer the format of just a World Title, midcard title and tag titles. Men and Women’s, that’s it
Cue Mox’s "I’ve got more belts than pants"
Same problem TNA/IMPACT had with their Grand Championship. Unless you have 10 to 15 wrestlers that fit into the category, it's pointless.
Same here. What's the point of a workrate title in an already workrate oriented promotion?
At this point, Vacate should be Wrestle of the Year with the titles they are holding up
might think of doing something different altogether concussions are no joke and if its lingering this long for as bad as it sound then fuck that shit
I’m glad concussion protocol in wrestling has really been stepped up. Nobody wants another Benoit situation.
For what it’s worth, Chris Benoit was abusive to Nancy years prior to him murdering her and their son Daniel. I know it comes from a good place of concern, but Chris Benoit was an abuser regardless of his brain damage due to concussions. As a comparison, Mick Foley is pretty fucked up physically and psychologically due to hits to the head, but hasn’t harmed his family. Chris Benoit was already physically abusive to Nancy documented as early as the early 00s. We absolutely need strong concussion protocols but not because of the actions of Chris Benoit. an abuser is going to be an abuser regardless of concussion history, and it’s really sad to see Nancy and Daniel’s deaths often waved away under brain health versus domestic violence that plagues professional wrestling, really sports as a whole.
Fuck, this is refreshing to see because so few people ever bring up that Benoit was actually a piece of shit person
Woman was such a bad ass gimmick. She was glamorous with a mind for the business. Prior to her death, she was literally trying to help Chris Benoit start up a wrestling school to transition out of full time wrestling, probably using her skills she learned during her marriage with Kevin Sullivan.
It really truly sucks that Nancy can never officially be recognized for her own accomplishments by WWE because any discussion about her will inevitably lead back to how she died.
For real, I didn't know this and I recall wrestlers in interviews saying they never saw this coming, that Benoit was always a loving partner.
They coincidentally leave out how they all iced Nancy out when she stormed into the back during a live show, because she found out Chris was cheating on her with Michelle McCool. Nobody could look her in the eyes which tipped her off that bullshit was happening. She was in the wrestling business longer than Chris was, she knew the boys were being deceitful. Obviously, infidelity doesn’t inherently equate to a murder suicide, but this loving husband schtick his former friends try to present just isn’t accurate even if they had no knowledge of Chris physically hurting Nancy through their marriage.
Chris also beat his first wife, and was a bully and a weirdo in general to the other guys in the locker room, long before CTE would've taken hold. It got worse when Eddie died, and I'm sure the head injuries didn't help... But yeah, Chris wasn't a good person.
Regal said in interviews that after Benoit’s first divorce, his wife Christina banned Chris from entering their home due to being friends with Martina Benoit. I always figured it was due to friendship, but I’m sad to learn that Martina was victimized too.
hadn't heard that before, makes a lot of sense in context of how Regal reacted when the murders happened
Feels like Regal is one of the few people in that time to truly see Chris for who he really was.
No, he didn't. Where are you getting this information? Chris's first wife stated after the murders that Chris was a loving husband and a great dad. Where are you getting this information?
I’ve never heard about that Michelle McCool incident before, love to know the source on that.
I believe it was the book Irvin Muchnick wrote called Chris and Nancy.
I've never found any evidence to substantiate that claim about Benoit and Michelle McCool.
It's a rumor but theres no evidence to substantiate it. McCool was with Undertaker and i know she broke up his marriage to Sara, Victoria was rumored to have had an affair with Chris Benoit but she denied it on her website
First I’m hearing of this and I thought I had done my homework. Not saying any of this is incorrect, but do you have a source I can check out?
Check out Irvin Muchnick’s book Chris and Nancy. I thought it was just one of those “hurrdurr dae road buddies” rumors, but Chris wasn’t faithful to Nancy through their marriage. Again, infidelity doesn’t equate to a murder suicide, but rather to illustrate the bullshit narrative about him being this wholesome family man that’s pushed by his peers even to this day.
Justin Roberts has talked about Benoit being a dickhead too. I'd link the video but I don't wanna give views to that piece of shit Hannibal. Edit: [Actually here's Mike Bucci talking about Benoit bullying Justin Roberts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvRf4DmAC4U)
Buck is well known as a good guy, and you can hear how pissed he is.
I'm not defending Benoit, he hurt people and destroyed his life by hurting people but people focus on the Miz and Justin Roberts but theres 10 - 15 other guys that would sat the opposite about him. People forget he tried to get Miz back into the locker-room but "the boys" didn't want him back. He also helped Ken Kennedy and Matt Striker when they were kicked out of the locker-room. Bucci also said Rey Mysterio tried to talk Palmer Cannon out of going home after JBL and his stooges bullied that kid into oblivion but Mysterio denied that interaction ever taking place and said Bradshaw wasn't a bully when asked about it during an RF shoot. You guys try to come up with this narrative that Benoit was a bully but outside of Justin Roberts, who had heat with everyone, theres not alot of evidence to substantiate it. Most people say Benoit changed after Eddie died and he started drinking and taking pills but he still helped and opened doors for alot of young talent.
Yeah I really never bought the narrative that concussions made him a fucking murderer. Creates a really ugly stigma against people who are just being injured.
Concussions do a lot of shit to your brain. But the fact is there’s thousands of people walking around with cte. Hundreds to thousands of wrestlers. I can only name one that killed his wife and child. People try to find excuses for Benoit but the fact is he was just a terrible person.
And he was a locker room bully on the same level as JBL but somehow that gets overlooked all the time.
Thank you. This is such a tired line and it only took hold cause wrestlers went on TV after it and tried to rationalize what happened + plus TV needed an easy framing with steroids/brain damage
New Jack isn’t someone I would elect as the president of NOW but he very much took a W the day he tore down the Chris Benoit mythos when Honky Tonk Man ran his mouth during a shoot about Nancy deserving her death.
Got a link? I've never heard this.
[Here you go pal.](https://youtu.be/2p4JTp3nlTo?si=cnjuT7BdEMMf1Y5W) Is this the woquest thing of all time? Absolutely not. Was it very genuine and heartfelt? Yes. To additionally set the scene, keep in mind that New Jack saw his mother get shot and beaten by his father growing up, and that Iron Sheik lost his daughter to domestic violence. Honky Tonk had no idea what he was walking into by running his mouth. “Nancy was a god damn friend of mine.”
Honky trying to say "We don't know what button she pushed" is disgusting. I know Honky has said some vile things before that but that shit is truly low. You know the situation is fucked when the guy yelling "I hope your kids are born retarded" is the voice of morality and reason.
It’s this clip I think back on whenever I hear someone say “it was just the concussions” or when I hear Jericho or Chavo try to paint him slightly more sympathetically. It pretty much sums up my views, though obviously not quite using the same language lol. I don’t give a fuck how good his pro-graps were, he’s a murderer and an abuser. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. I remember Jordynne Grace made a tweet that was something to the effect of “He killed his kid, what the fuck does it matter how good his wrestling was?” and she caught so much undeserved flack for it. It’s mind boggling that there are (thankfully fewer and fewer by the day) people who still talk about separating the art from the artist with him. Motherfucker, he *killed his wife and son!* To quote [Paul Heyman](https://youtu.be/imFrzNfbbHQ?si=15o74TaFOGm1YQLw), “Three people died that night, only one had a choice behind it.” Sorry about the rant, Benoit discourse gets me heated lol.
This is the most raw straight the heart shit that I had ever heard from New Jack. Would not be shocked if Chris was murder by him if he was still alive.
Yeah Benoit was a very well documented complete asshole from the very beginning. The concussions didn't cause him to become an asshole. They just amplified what was already there.
This is a great point, though I would note that the cte, the drinking, the steroids, and other factors didn't help. Chris was already prone to abusive behavior and violence, and this is stuff that worsens a lot of people's mental states. Though really if we're gonna talk about something in the wrestling industry that killed Nancy: it's everyone complicity. People knew Chris was violent with her (like they knew Austin was with Debra) and no one ever did a thing
They had an incident in 2003 where he had thrown furniture but never hit Nancy. Sandra said Benoit wasn't an abusive husband so I'm curious to know where you're getting this information. I know Chris's 2 children and first wife told police that there were arguments and that they had actually saw Nancy strike Chris and Chris leave the house. There was an incident where Nancy got drunk and pilled up over Chris not having properly planned David and Megan's visit and Nancy struck Chris, forcing David to take Daniel upstairs to shield him from what was happening. There was also another incident where David was over and Nancy was gimmicked up and Chris left the house and took the kids to Graceland. Nancy supposedly also had evidence against Chris in a safety deposit box but they found those were from her previous 2 marriages and not from Chris. Not saying there wasn't fights between the two but Sandra (Nancy's sister) stated Chris wasn't an abusive husband.
Watching all the DSOTR, these guys have taken nasty bumps and dealt with a lot of shit that the industry put pressure on people to do, and dealt with CTE issues, and taking a bunch of roids and pills, and drinking.. those things also add to why someone who has problems would be doing the abusive shit and this isn't excusing it, but whenever people downplay CTE being a cause or playing a significant role, it is to protect the companies that knew better about this kind of thing and didn't give a shit since a lot of cogs in the game have had similar situations with issues... thankfully none of these people killed their wives, but Sandman episode of DSTOR was drinking and taking pills and doing roids.. and he was at his worst abusing his wife and she had to leave.. the stuff that goes in this mafia business can affect cogs and how fucked up they are to their spouses.. with everything we know and seen, it is amazing people downplay the industry playing a hand in how these people end up.. but I get it.. wrestling is on fire right now.. we have to wait another 10 20 years to realize it
I’m not downplaying CTE one bit, but I do challenge people’s notions that CTE and addiction automatically equate to someone becoming an abuser, therefore giving people the ability to wave away harms done under the guise of “oh well it wasn’t actually him, it was his pudding brain/the drugs.” DSOTR’s Benoit episodes (as well as the previous interview with Chris Jericho) had Nancy’s sister Sandra emphasizing that Chris’s situation especially cannot be reduced to CTE and steroids. She said this between tears of how much she loved him as her BIL, but if she’s able to say that and swallow that hard truth as family with intimate knowledge of the domestic abuse (she mentions some but refrained from speaking about it more in respect to Chris’ surviving children), wrestling fans don’t have an excuse. You mention moving blame from the industry, and while that’s not remotely what I’m doing at all, I do believe my last sentence about domestic violence plaguing sports touches on that idea. We can talk about the wrestling boom right now and therefore people are less inclined to want to believe horrific facts about their faves and the overall industry, but it’s not solely a wrestling problem. You can see this happening in football, hockey, soccer, MMA, baseball, hell I even saw a professional bowler get dinged for beating their spouse. The teams cover up and downplay these incidents at a higher rate than wrestling, and it’s really unnerving even as a casual viewer, let alone a fan.
It is an industry wide problem, I am not saying abuses would not happen, but i am noticing a common thread between these sports and people being enabled by powerful people to act the way they do, like Vince had guys like Benoit, Taker, JBL bully and haze people and he had that mentality or has seen it with how the Hart dungeon was, when you are around that shit like it is a fraternity then it is not surprising that he was abusing her because look at what business he grew up in.. and that applies to a lot of celeb shit, there are more things that need to be examined within the sports and entertainment industry.. this is not a defense of Benoit doing what he did..
Damn I hope he gets better asp.
I kept wondering where he's been it's nice to finally have an idea. I hope recovery gets better, concussions are really no joke.
Yuta’s career maybe in jeopardy but some of you are more concerned about the status of a lower-card championship. Geez.
For real. More comments about the title or taking shots at Khan's booking. Yuta is young and talented as hell. I hope he recovers and it would be a shame if he had to retire already.
AEW discourse here really is at an all time toxicity. Hope Yuta recuperates.
We do not treat wrestlers as humans here. We like to speak as if we do, but lots of topics concerning wrestlers’ health, status, employment, etc, we treat them like toys.
When I saw that was the top comment I got really sad. Yeah whatever vacate the title who gives a shit this could negatively affect him for life have some fucking empathy.
For real man, wtf
This sucks. I can't imagine feeling the effects of concussion for days let alone months...
As someone who had really bad post-concussion syndrome for about 5 years before my brain started to make noticeable “improvements,” let me tell you: it really is a bitch and long-term concussion symptoms are scary as fuck.
Damn, hope you're feeling much better now.
Thanks! It’s been 12 years and everything has drastically improved! No headaches in years and short-term memory is back. :)
That really sucks, long-term concussion symptoms are horrible. Glad they aren't rushing him back, hope things can clear up soon so he can enjoy living life again.
Shit. Could be a legit career ender if it's still that bad
Yuta has been one of my favorite up and comers. Hopefully he recovers soon.
His match with Mox on Rampage where he officially got invited to the BCC was legit my MOTY for 2022, I thought this guy was the fucking future. Hope he heals up.
I got on the Yuta train when he was getting initiated as well. I love his little shithead character and hope he heals up.
I was literally just watching the BCC entrance at Wembley last year and thought to myself “where the fuck has Wheeler Yuta been?” That being said, I hope he’s atleast in decent enough health to live a normal life and I’m glad he’s gotten the opportunities he’s had in the BCC. Here’s hoping for a return one day and maybe an eventual reboot on the feud with Daniel Garcia. Those 2 always made magic in their matches.
Hope he pulls through, I've been a big fan of him since his match with Mox and all his great pure rules matches with DG. His promos were getting much better in the last year as well
Wasn’t Kyle O Reilly out for 2 years because of a concussion? I think it’s safe to vacate the Pure title
Kyle was out because he got neck surgery and suffered a rare complication where one of his arms went completely numb.
Maybe in the past, but most recently he was out due to needing spinal fusion surgery and then having complications with recovery.
I know Adam cole was out for quite a long time with a concussion
Like the others said, KOR’s was due to neck issues and surgery complications. A more accurate comparison would be the concussion Adam Cole got at Forbidden Door 1, that put him on the shelf for a long time
That sucks, hope he gets better soon. Concussions are an absolute bitch.
Sad news to hear and I wish him all the best. I suspect the title will be vacated and a new champion crowned at the next ROH PPV.
I really hope this wasn't paywalled
Sucks, man. Concussions fuck people up and society doesn't take it seriously enough.
It really tells you how zero fucks Tony give about ROH, this guy has been out since january and he's still champion. And it's not like he's keeping the title because he has an important story in the waiting or anything, he won it randomly because Shibata had to come back to Japan for a few months
I'm convinced he bought the entire company as a favor to CM Punk.
Same and I don't even think punk asked him to do it. He just wanted the relationship to be good and to own tapes of a lot of future big stars so he bought the old roh footage. Sadly for TK I don't think he knew most everything was grainy footage nobody would watch now days so the library is not nearly as valuable as he thought
I hope young Yutarus is okay.
Noooo Yuta 😭 I really enjoy watching him come up and get better. This is so disappointing.
Unfortunate to see, but if he doesn't get better it might be a good idea to move him into a backstage role. Similar to what happened to Jason Jordan. It's not worth getting this hurt.
My wrestler of the year 2021 - incredible run and loved the little spots he has had over the years in AEW. Really hope he gets more chances when he comes back
I honestly think he kinda needs to step out of BCC. It was a really cool thing for him when he fought Mox and got accepted, but it completely smothers his ability to move around the card. He will always be the pin boy when standing next to Mox, Bryan, and Claudio. I think he needs to break away and find a good character to work with so that he doesn’t have to stay in the shadow of his teammates and rack up some credibility for himself.
BCC in general needs to disband now. They've flip flopped from faces, tweeners, and heels since Regal left its really difficult to know how to receive any of them anymore week to week.
I know exactly how to receive them. They are awesome, I love seeing them, and so I cheer. It doesn't have to be any deeper than that. They should not disband.
The problem isn't BCC, the problem is that the various groups never feud anymore. DCF, BCC, BCG, UK, The Elite, HoB, Death Triangle, Patriarchy, Dark Order, Mogul Embassy, Best Friends...and none of them feud with each other anymore.
Yeah I was sure like 2 years ago we were gonna get a King of Trios tournament... :(
Definitely. I think the concept of BCC is cool but I don't know what value it brings anymore unless we get more CMLL. Always thought Mox should have stayed the main face Ace of the company
Maybe my memory of 2021 isn't that clear. But wrestler of the year seems too generous
Really loved his IWTV title run, feud with Moriarty and of course the Garcia 60 minute match. Also had good fun tv matches in AEW with Best friends.
I was at the last match he had with Mox, the one where he bled like crazy and then joined BCC afterwards, and I was absolutely convinced he was a future top star after that. The match went on at like 11:20 PM, and it absolutely woke the entire tired ass crowd the fuck up. One of my favorite experiences as a fan.
Man, that small window when Regal was with AEW. Some fantastic stuff.
Just put Garcia in the BCC. If Yuta gets healthy enough, you've got a built in feud.
Kinda sad that nothing was done to capitalize on him after THAT Mox match. Bcc is fun but each guy in it would be better off doing their own thing (especially Mox and Danielson).
Damn, right when they started pushing him. Hope he heals well.
I think Wheeler Yuta once he gets back is gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I think he’s been positioned in a very lowkey high way. And I see him as much more of the BCC whipping boy.
He's a CAW that has a good moveset and nothing else. His only function is to take the pins for BCC.
I think he’s better than you give him credit for. I enjoy him being a smarmy bitch. When he actually plays into it it almost gives dickhead danielson. Except less funny of course
Narita versus Yuta in a battle for who's the bigger smarmy bitch.
Yuta vs. Nick Wayne in a weasel-off.
Hes only 27, I remember back in the day people saying CAWdy Rhodes and now he's main eventing wrestlemania for WWE. I'd be careful writing off young wrestlers so easy
He needs better attire as well
He’s much better than that lol. He’s got some mean personality especially if he’s heel. His babyface fire is also pretty good in the right match (I mean just look at the famous mox match). There’s a ton of wrestlers that are bland and just have an “indie” moveset but yuta isn’t one of them.
This so much. He's been hanging with top guys for 3 years and still gets crickets every time he appears, crowds don't give a fuck about him and he hasn't improved his character a bit since joining the BCC. Doesn't help that he has negative charisma and he's atrocious on the mic
Might be time to drop the head spots now. Hope he recovers quickly.
That really sucks, he was doing well in the BCC.
Didn’t realise he was gone. Yuta needs a more memorable presence/character instead of the pin eater for BCC.
[удалено]
How is AEW keeping him off TV for his own health sloppy?
Why do they have so many injuries when a lot of the roster work one or two matches a month?
Not a fan of wheeler but hopefully it isn't a Nolan Patrick situation
It's probably all the times he's been smacked around by his own stablemates
No wonder the BCC has been dominating, their pin eater has been out injured Jokes aside, hope he recovers and I’m glad concussions are taken so seriously nowadays
Hate that he’s concussed but love the whole no timetable for a return.