JCup's Blog

All Elite Wrestling ended its streak of near-perfect Pay-Per-Views following the inaugural event Redemption .  The show felt like a slog to get through, which is particularly frustrating given the show started one hour earlier than usual. I found some of the wrestling to be sloppy, and the storytelling eye-roll-inducing. I don't think it was a bad show, or at least not in the same vein as WWE Premium Live Events, but it failed to live up to the sky-high standard set by Tony Khan and his roster.  It's also a show shrouded in confusion. We do not know why Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland have disappeared from television, despite Khan's insistence that the two remain in good standing. MJF may or may not be injured, and the severity of his possible injuries may or may not be significant. We do not have enough information, which is frustrating in itself.  This was the show where Kenny Omega was set to defeat MJF for the AEW World Championship, a decision that played out a c...

All Elite Wrestling founder and CEO Tony Khan has assembled one of the greatest talent rosters in the history of weekly professional wrestling television.  It may look dramatically different as Khan attempts to stay the course heading into 2027, one of the more crucial years of AEW's existence. The current Paramount-WBD merger appears to be on hold, and it's difficult to get an accurate read on the prospects of it being approved. Khan has been shouting from the rooftops about all the potential benefits his promotion may reap if the merger goes through, often citing his relationship with Paramount's head honcho, David Ellison (please keep better company, Tony). But that's a discussion for another day, and I'm going to approach the rest of this article with the assumption the merger goes through. Khan has a chance to entirely reshape his roster, as several wrestlers have officially hit free agency following their releases from AEW's rival, World Wrestling Entertai...

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities I find the existing dichotomy within World Wrestling Entertainment utterly fascinating.  The TKO/WWE executive branch would tell you their business continues to boom. WWE's revenue increased 22% year over year, and TKO's overall revenue increased 26%. They'd also tell you they are at the forefront of modern pop culture, with Monday Night RAW airing exclusively on Netflix and "Premium" Live Events on ESPN. They are especially bragadocious whenever celebrities, from streamers to hip-hop stars to professional athletes, become involved in their programming. Attendance for some of their shows may be down, yet it's hardly a cause for concern....

I'll begin with a disclaimer: I don't have the faintest idea whether Tony Khan is even remotely interested in taking one of the deepest professional wrestling rosters in modern times and organizing it into two competitive conferences, b ut this tweet had me thinking: I do earnestly think that with the size of the AEW roster, a real brand split might be the best play. I know….it’s cringe….but it might just work if executed really well. — The Rogue Fan (@TheRogueFan) July 7, 2026 Khan has flirted with the concept before - most notably during CM Punk's last stint in All Elite Wrestling - but has thus far resisted adopting WWE's longest-running creative device: the Brand Split. It's not difficult to understand why. The introduction of the Brand Split was nearly 25 years ago, and WWE seemingly did everything in its power to undermine its own creation. Superstars drafted exclusively to RAW would appear on Smackdown (and vice versa) with little to no explanation. The comp...

All Elite Wrestling has solid momentum behind it.  The promotion's greatest strength remains its Pay-Per-Views, as Tony Khan continues to ensure his audience gets the most bang for its buck. It's also the starkest difference between AEW and its competitor, World Wrestling Entertainment, especially  in this TKO-controlled era. Khan strives to present his paying audience with the very best, while his competition offers the bare minimum to its Disney Adult-like audience.  I'm also of the opinion that while his weekly television is vastly  superior to WWE's, there's still plenty of room for improvement. I've recently advocated for Khan to shake up the status quo by abandoning the tired formula that has plagued American pro wrestling's weekly television for nearly 30 years and instead presenting AEW as more of a sports-based promotion than WWE. It's entirely possible to present professional wrestling weekly without the "benefit" of the "invisib...

TKO strikes again. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select  reported that longtime World Wrestling Entertainment veteran Sheamus is set to hit free agency after "quickly rejecting" a "restructured" extension offered by TKO, the parent company of the Epstein Class' favorite sports entertainment promotion.  There are several angles to cover, so let's jump right in: