u/uncannynerddad

Seriously. $9.99. That’s basically the cost of a fucking McDonald’s combo.

MLW just announced Saturday Night SuperFight, live from Cicero Stadium in Chicago on Saturday, November 7 at 8 PM ET, streaming on Veeps.

And if you order during the first 24 hours, it’s $9.99. After that, it jumps to $19.99 advance.

You guys know how big I’ve been on MLW lately. People are sleeping on this promotion.

And just to be crystal clear: I’m not affiliated with MLW. They’re not paying me, I don’t get anything if you buy this, and nobody asked me to post it. I just genuinely really like what they’re doing and think a lot of wrestling fans are missing out. When I find something good, I’m going to fucking tell you guys about it.

I had a fucking blast at Fightland and the Fusion tapings in Charleston. Legitimately one of the most fun wrestling shows I’ve attended in years. I enjoyed it so much that I’ve already bought tickets for when they come back to Charleston in April.

So yeah, I bought this.

For ten bucks, give MLW a shot. Support an actual alternative wrestling product that isn’t trying to be the ultimate corporate soldier and doing splits on it for that Paramount basket.

Ten bucks. Live wrestling. Saturday night.

People keep saying they want alternatives in wrestling. Well, here’s one.

Pre-order MLW Saturday Night SuperFight on Veeps⁠

First off, Midcarders: fuck FOX News.

Seriously. I absolutely fucking loathe FOX News.

So naturally, I nearly spit out my Dutch Bros sugar-free Tiger’s Blood Rebel when I saw FOX fucking News picking up the WWE/Bleacher Report story and pointing out the same weirdness we’ve all been talking about here.

Bleacher Report, which sits under Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports umbrella, just signed a multi-year deal giving them global highlight rights to Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and WWE PLEs. They’ll also have people ringside at select WWE events producing original and behind-the-scenes content.

And what’s so interesting is that FOX’s article actually stops and says: Wait a minute. Isn’t WBD the company airing AEW? And isn’t all of this happening while the Paramount/WBD situation is playing out?

To be clear, none of this proves AEW is getting kicked off WBD. In fact, WBD has already said this WWE agreement doesn’t displace its existing AEW deal.

Whether that statement tells us anything about AEW’s long-term future with WBD is another question entirely.

But that was never really my point.

My point is that the optics are fucking weird.

For years, one of AEW’s biggest advantages was its relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery. AEW was WBD’s wrestling property. Bleacher Report was heavily integrated with AEW. They distributed AEW PPVs. The relationship between the two companies was constantly presented as this major strategic asset for AEW.

Now a major WBD property is signing a multi-year agreement with WWE, distributing WWE content across B/R Wrestling, Bleacher Report, and House of Highlights, and literally sending its people ringside to WWE shows to create original content.

That doesn’t automatically mean WBD is dumping AEW.

But six years into the WBD/AEW relationship, watching one of WBD’s biggest sports brands build this kind of relationship with WWE is certainly a hell of a development.

Does that mean AEW is doomed? To be determined.

Does it make the media landscape around AEW considerably more interesting? Absolutely.

And apparently that observation has now escaped our little wrestling bubble far enough that FOX fucking News has noticed it.

Of course, given FOX News’ track record, this probably means AEW is about to get a 25-year extension, Dynamite is moving to HBO proper, and Tony Khan is being named chairman of Paramount.

What do you think, Midcarders? Is this a major sign of the end times for AEW on WBD, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria?

Or did FOX News just inadvertently confirm that AEW is about to sign a $2 trillion extension?

Actually, wait. Maybe this is how we finally find out who picked up Shockwave.

AEW Shockwave, coming soon to FOX News. Right after Hannity.

Happy Saturday, Midcarders.

It’s been another fun week around here.

Yesterday, we covered the HBO Max survey about AEW, and boy, there was a lot to unpack. When your streaming partner is asking people if they’ve even heard of AEW, whether they watch it, why they don’t watch it, and what might convince them to start, you probably aren’t dominating the cultural zeitgeist. Who knew?

Naturally, the Sickos showed up to explain why a survey asking people why they don’t watch AEW is actually fantastic news for AEW. They’ve also apparently decided to reclaim the word “Sicko,” which has the same energy as those weird Southern dudes who insist the Confederate flag is really about “heritage.” Buddy, you can reclaim whatever you want. We’re still going to make fun of you.

MLW had a much better week, officially landing Fusion on Tubi. I attended Fightland last Saturday and had an absolute blast. It was easily the best non-WWE wrestling show I’ve attended in a long time, and I really recommend giving MLW a shot. Fusion is live and free every Thursday at 8 PM ET. There’s a lot of talent there worth paying attention to, and the whole thing actually feels like a wrestling promotion trying to grow an audience instead of testing its loyalty.

On the personal front, I’m writing this from my local farmers market while waiting for my wife to finish picking something out. I have no idea what we’re shopping for anymore. My job at this point is carrying things, staying out of the way, and occasionally confirming that something looks good. If I behave myself, she might even let me stop at the comic shop afterward without acting annoyed about it.

Tomorrow, it’s Panthers football. It’s only Week 2, so my spirit hasn’t been broken yet. Check back around 4 PM tomorrow. I’m also planning to check out the new Resident Evil, because apparently watching the Panthers isn’t enough horror for one Sunday.

As always, The Weekend Open Thread is for whatever the hell you feel like talking about. Wrestling, movies, TV, games, comics, sports, work, family, weekend plans, or whatever else you’ve got.

Off-topic discussion isn’t just allowed here. It’s the whole point.

Have a great weekend, Midcarders.

A little wrestling-adjacent plug.

This showed up at my door today: Jimmy Hart and The Gentrys’ It’s Been So Long, signed by the Mouth of the South himself.

I’ve always genuinely dug The Gentrys, and people sometimes forget that long before Jimmy was running around with a megaphone, he was a legitimately talented musician and songwriter. More importantly, by seemingly every account, Jimmy Hart is one of wrestling’s genuinely good guys.

So yeah, spending $30 on a signed LP was an incredibly easy decision. It’s joining my vinyl collection, and I’m damn happy to have it.

Jimmy is a legend. If you’re a wrestling fan, support the guy while we’re lucky enough to still have him out there doing his thing. You can grab a signed copy for yourself here:

https://talkshop.live/watch/PLhMM01iFAhb

Support Jimmy. Get a cool record. Everybody wins. 🤟

And every Sicko just fell to their knees at Walmart.

HBO Max has sent subscribers a survey specifically about AEW, and the questions being asked are pretty telling.

You have the option to indicate you’ve never watched AEW, which triggers a whole series of questions about why you don’t watch, including whether the storylines are uninteresting and whether the shows are too long. They’re also asking how interested subscribers would be in trying AEW programming on Max within the next three months.

That sure sounds less like, “Tell us how much you love this incredibly successful show,” and more like:

“We put this wrestling company on a streaming service you already pay for. Why the fuck won’t you watch it?”

This is not a good sign for AEW, Midcarders.

And after hearing for months that the missing Max audience is secretly enormous and makes the declining television audience irrelevant, HBO Max surveying its own subscribers about why they aren’t watching AEW is fucking hilarious.

Apparently the Sickos were right.

There are millions of potential AEW viewers on Max.

They’re just not watching.

And that includes several WrestleManias, Royal Rumbles, Raws, WCW shows, ECW shows, AEW shows, TNA shows, and just about everything in between. I’ve supported alternative wrestling for most of my life. I ran ECW Central, a pretty popular ECW fan site back in the ’90s. I was a TNA Day 1 fan, an AEW Day 1 supporter, and I’ve always wanted there to be something outside WWE worth getting excited about.

Last Saturday in Charleston, MLW reminded me exactly why. Fightland was an absolute fucking blast.

Top to bottom, MLW is the best wrestling product out there right now that isn’t WWE. It’s fresh, it’s fun, and it feels like a wrestling promotion putting on a wrestling show for wrestling fans. Frankly, it’s everything I wanted AEW to become. Everyone on that card worked their asses off and gave that crowd everything they paid for and more.

Killer Kross is a main event guy. Period. Seeing him live only reinforced what a travesty it is that he never reached that level in WWE.

Matt Riddle, the Good Brothers, Shotzi, Austin Aries, Templario, Mistico, Trevor Lee, Dijak, Josh Bishop, Zamaya, Joe Coffey, Diego Hill and everyone else busted their asses. There wasn’t a point where it felt like anyone was phoning it in.

And I know this one will piss some people off, but as controversial as Austin Aries is, the guy is still one of the best professional wrestlers on the planet. Watching him work live only reinforced that for me.

I went into Fightland excited to finally see MLW in person and left a much bigger fan than I was going in. If you’ve written MLW off, forgotten about it, or simply haven’t bothered checking it out, give MLW Fusion on YouTube a shot.

For those Midcarders already watching: what is MLW getting right that the bigger promotions aren’t?

Alright, Midcarders. Between LOLAEW.com pointing here and our fun discussion about whether AEW fan behavior has actually influenced how you feel about AEW, the wheels have officially come off today.

So fuck it. Let’s have some fun.

Post the LAST wrestling-related thing in your camera roll. Meme, GIF, screenshot, reaction image, cursed wrestling photo, whatever. No cheating and digging around for something better.

Mine is apparently right on theme for today. 😂

Your turn, ham-and-eggers. Let’s see what’s lurking in those camera rolls.

Midcarders, genuine question.

If the loudest, most terminally online section of AEW’s fanbase hadn’t spent the last several years behaving the way they have, would you actually feel differently about AEW?

Maybe you’d still think the show sucks. Maybe you’d still hate Tony Khan’s booking. Maybe Dynamite would still be something you have absolutely no interest in watching. But would you at least be rooting for AEW to figure it out instead of increasingly enjoying watching them step on rakes?

Because I think the online culture surrounding AEW has done enormous damage to the company’s perception among normal wrestling fans.

The tribalism. The basement echo chamber. The astroturfing and suspiciously manufactured discourse. The victory laps over every microscopic “win.” The insistence that every wrestler who signs with AEW is suddenly one of the greatest alive. Every good match is an instant classic. Every PPV is an all-timer. Every criticism is bad faith.

Then there’s wrestling media, particularly Dave Meltzer, where favorable AEW narratives get repeated as gospel even when reality eventually tells a very different story.

After years of living in this alternate reality, it stops feeling like wrestling fandom and starts feeling like defending a belief system.

And that’s the irony: AEW should be the easiest wrestling company in the world for people like us to root for.

An alternative to WWE. More jobs for wrestlers. More wrestling on television. Competition forcing everybody to improve. A billionaire willing to dump mountains of money into professional wrestling. That should be awesome.

And the product could still suck! None of this means we’d suddenly love Tony Khan’s booking or pretend Dynamite is good. There’s just a massive difference between thinking, “This show sucks, but hopefully they figure it out,” and thinking, “Fuck it, watching this company faceplant is becoming entertaining.”

Instead, a loud portion of AEW’s fanbase has spent years treating anyone outside the bubble as the enemy, then seems genuinely confused that so many wrestling fans now actively root against the thing they’re defending.

So I’m curious: If AEW had exactly the same product, same booking and same problems, but without the Sicko culture surrounding it, would you feel differently about the company?

Would you still be as negative?

Or would you actually be rooting for AEW to turn this thing around?

Because I genuinely wonder how much of AEW’s negative sentiment was created not by WWE, not by “bad-faith trolls,” but by the people who spent years screaming that they were AEW’s biggest fans.

Midcarders, somehow “Aw dude” returned.

For reasons only the wrestling gods understand, Adam Copeland’s infamous exchange with Ricky Starks has escaped containment again, and the internet is once more enjoying one of AEW’s finest additions to LOLAEW lore.

Which got me thinking:

Has Adam Copeland’s AEW run actually hurt his legacy?

When Edge returned at the 2020 Royal Rumble after nine years away, it felt impossible. One of the greatest heels of his generation had gotten a second act. He went on to win the Rumble, main-event WrestleMania, work Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Finn Bálor and AJ Styles, and basically got the retirement lap nobody thought he’d ever have.

Then in 2023, he chose AEW to finish the story.

Nearly three years later, what exactly has been added to the Adam Copeland résumé?

A couple of TNT and tag title reigns. A feud and eventual reunion with Christian. A broken leg after jumping off a cage. And somehow, “Aw dude” has become more culturally durable than almost anything else he’s done there.

Meanwhile, John Cena just completed his farewell tour without the man responsible for arguably the defining rivalry of Cena’s original rise. Copeland has since said he would’ve been interested and believed AEW would’ve played ball, but once he left WWE, realistically, that door was pretty much welded shut.

That’s one hell of an opportunity cost.

And that’s what makes this interesting to me. I’m not asking whether Copeland is still a Hall of Fame-level wrestler. Obviously he is. You can’t erase Edge.

But you can change the final chapter people remember.

So when the book finally closes on Adam Copeland’s career, will AEW be remembered as a worthwhile epilogue?

Or did one of the biggest stars of his generation spend the final years of his career adding surprisingly little to his legacy while occasionally contributing another exhibit to the LOLAEW museum?

Aw dude.

Midcarders, I have a question I’ve been pondering for a while now:

Have you ever actually met an AEW fan in real life?

And I don’t mean at an AEW show. Obviously I’ve met AEW fans there. I’ve been to multiple shows, Double or Nothings, the Jericho Cruise, the whole deal while Punk was there.

I mean in the wild.

Because I swear to God, I never see them.

I see WWE shirts constantly. I’ve struck up random conversations with WWE fans at stores, restaurants, work, wherever. Even at Comic Cons, where you’d think the natural habitat would provide ideal conditions for an AEW fan to emerge from the basement, I’ve got nothing.

No Hangman shirts. No Young Bucks. Nothing.

It’s starting to remind me of those people you only see shopping the week before Thanksgiving and Christmas. You know exactly who I’m talking about. We know they exist. Statistically, they have to. But where the hell are they the other 50 weeks of the year?

So I’m genuinely curious: Have you ever randomly encountered an AEW fan outside of an AEW event? Coworker? Neighbor? Guy at the bar? Someone at Comic Con? Have you ever spotted a Sicko in its natural habitat?

My wife and I are heading to MLW Fightland this weekend, so I’ll be conducting further field research.

If I encounter an AEW fan in the wild, r/midcarder will be the first to know.

And as a general reminder, if you see an AEW fan, be sure to keep a safe distance. Please do not approach or feed them.

I’m kidding.

Sort of.

Happy Sunday night, Midcarders.

Crack open a beer, grab some food and settle in. Sunday Night’s Main Event is live tonight from Atlanta, and as always, you’ve got a place to watch it with normal wrestling fans.

No need to wander into the basement and spend three hours listening to Sickos and suspiciously enthusiastic 11-day-old accounts hate-watch WWE while explaining why everything you’re enjoying is actually terrible.

Tonight’s card:

- Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton

- Oba Femi vs. Bron Breakker

- United States Champion Baron Corbin vs. Lil Yachty
If Yachty survives five minutes, Trick Williams gets his U.S. Title rematch against Corbin later tonight.

- Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss & Tatum Paxley vs. Jade Cargill, Michin & B-Fab

- Plus, Quavo opens the show with a live performance.

Oba vs. Bron alone should involve enough human meat colliding at unsafe velocities to justify tuning in.

The show starts at 8 PM ET on Peacock. Use this thread to talk about the matches, bullshit between segments, complain about commercials, wildly overreact to finishes and generally enjoy fake fighting with the rest of us.

Let’s have some fun tonight, Midcarders. 🍻

Full WWE preview:
https://www.wwe.com/shows/snme/2026-09-06

Let’s pack it up. It’s over. We’re done for. We’re dead, and we’re taking bullet, after bullet, after bullet. The AEW Sickos said so.

No kickout before the three this time.

Actually…

That doesn’t work for us, brother.

But seriously, thank you for helping make Midcarder the best pro wrestling subreddit for actual discussion out there.

This place exists because of you. We wanted somewhere we could praise what’s good, shit on what’s bad, disagree with each other, laugh, tease the Sickos, and just have fun being wrestling fans again.

So don’t get too distracted fighting Sickos. Let’s keep having fun and build our community.

Post more. Comment more. Start ridiculous fucking debates. Invite good posters. Make people laugh. Call people dorks. Make this the wrestling community you actually want to hang out in.

Let’s become the Cheers of wrestling subreddits. A place where everybody knows your name. Or Quark’s, because, well, I’m just a Star Trek nerd.

And remember: every negative comment, screenshot, complaint, podcast mention, lie, and angry Sicko introduces somebody else to r/midcarder.

We may be, without a doubt, the worst subreddit they’ve ever heard of.

But remember: they have heard of us.

Who knew Eric Bischoff was a proud Midcarder?

Kidding aside, speaking on his “83 Weeks” podcast about Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay at All In, Bischoff said he didn’t like the match and compared it to something I absolutely did not have on my 2026 wrestling bingo card:

“It was like watching a Nasty Boys match. It was a hardcore, slow-paced match. And yes, it was bloody and there were great spots.”

Bischoff’s larger criticism was probably more interesting than the Nasty Boys comparison.

He said much of the show felt like wrestlers essentially taking turns doing their shit:

“If it’s a 12-minute match, it’s, ‘You get six minutes of high spots and I get six minutes of high spots. We’re just going to take turns.’ That’s the match.”

He also called portions of the wrestling sloppy, said the timing was off in several key moments, and took a little swipe at the inevitable star-rating discourse:

“Where the best wrestle and the wrestling is so good and Dave Meltzer is going to give it so many stars.”

To Bischoff’s credit, he repeatedly made it clear that AEW fans who enjoy that style got exactly what they paid for, and he praised the company for papering putting 50,000 people in the building. His argument was simply that the style does absolutely nothing for him.

And this gets to a conversation we’ve had around here quite a bit.

When does a wrestling match stop feeling like a fight and start feeling like two extremely talented wrestlers cooperating to show you how talented they are?

Because Omega and Ospreay can obviously do things athletically that 99% of wrestlers who ever lived couldn’t dream of doing. The question is whether doing more automatically makes a match better.

Bischoff apparently watched Omega-Ospreay and saw Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags with better cardio.

I’m not sure there’s enough popcorn on Earth for the discourse this quote is about to produce.

So, Midcarders: is Easy E completely out of his mind here, or is there something to his criticism of the modern “your turn, my turn” wrestling style?

And perhaps most importantly…

How many stars would Meltzer have given the Nasty Boys vs. The Headhunters in the Tokyo Dome?

Midcarders,

A quick heads-up. We’ve noticed an unusual influx of accounts showing up seemingly for one purpose: to argue, play “gotcha,” accuse the subreddit or moderators of things, and then continue fighting in modmail when it doesn’t go their way.

And the strangest part? A lot of them aren’t actually members of this community.

Some are brand-new accounts. Others are years old but have little to no posting history. Yet suddenly they have very strong opinions about r/midcarder and how we operate.

As we discussed in our previous PSA, we’ve already dealt with some genuinely bizarre behavior surrounding this community. This may simply be another version of it, including an attempt to astroturf the subreddit by making certain grievances appear more organic or widespread than they actually are.

Who’d pay for such a wildly expensive thing?

We can’t say that’s definitely what’s happening. But the pattern is unusual enough that we want you aware of it.

And remember: not everyone is necessarily what they appear to be.

Before getting dragged into an argument, or piggybacking onto something, check the account. How old is it? Where do they normally post? Have they ever participated here? If it’s an older account, has it actually been active?

Most importantly, don’t take the bait.

We’re heavily moderating through this. Report obvious bad-faith behavior and let us handle it. Don’t follow anyone elsewhere, don’t retaliate, and don’t turn it into subreddit drama.

Disagreement is welcome here. Criticism is welcome here. Showing up solely to provoke people, manufacture grievances, or play Reddit Saul Goodman with the moderators is not.

Keep talking wrestling. Keep having fun.

Just pay attention to who suddenly wants your attention.

— The Midcarder Mod Team

Midcarders, we have an emerging situation at AEW All In.

Over in the basement, an attendee says the smell inside the building is so bad they’re legitimately considering leaving. They’ve now issued a public service announcement reminding fellow wrestling fans that showering involves soap, scrubbing, and, specifically, washing your groin.

I repeat: someone paid money to attend All In and is now begging the Sickos to wash their balls.

We’ve discussed attendance. We’ve discussed ratings. We’ve discussed creative. But I’ll admit, “the building smells so bad people are considering evacuating the biggest AEW event of the year” was not on my AEW bingo card.

Tony, forget restoring the feeling.

Restore the Irish Spring.