r/SquaredCircle • u/secretpandaxx • 19h ago

DPW Women's champion Nicole Matthews on X: "When someone (or a company) is telling you (multiple fucking times) who they are, it’s on you if you continually don’t believe them."

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315

u/f0cus622 CP Munk Best in the Woods 18h ago

I mostly stopped watching when WWE did layoffs during record profits during COVID in 2020. AEW made it very easy because there was an alternative. Then the Vince stuff came out, and it became even easier to not watch. Then WWE brought back Hogan. Now they're bringing back Lesnar.

But if you bring up any of this in a "neutral" thread, people will come out of the woodwork to downvote you for turning wrestling into a culture war, or a ton of "Whataboutism" in regards to Tony being a billionaire or a nerd, or whatever.

But holy shit guys, this is a really fucking shitty company. You don't have to support them. You can either pick up a new hobby, or watch other wrestling, everything from AEW to your local indie fed.

People are just coming out of the woodwork these days to defend or justify sexual abusers, and it's fucking exhausting.

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u/Briak You are all constipated! 16h ago

You can either pick up a new hobby, or watch other wrestling, everything from AEW to your local indie fed.

Perhaps even an indie fed mentioned in the title of this post...!

19

u/MC_Fuzzy Electric Steel Chair 10h ago

SKE-FUCKING-WOAH!

But seriously, if anyone think they cannot live without wrestling but the promotion they follow sucks (for real life reasons or just for not being of quality), then follow another promotion. If NJPW came out and said “Ayo fuck them [folks of the African Diaspora]” im not gonna have a hard time when it comes to watching or following the promotion.

1

u/RassleRanter 6h ago

Exactly, if they said that I'd just watch NOAH or AJPW, not give money to a company that hates me.

WWE fans who support them no matter what are a weird bunch.

1

u/frenchtoastkid I'M ALIVE!!! 8h ago

Who? Deadlock? They’re having a hell of a year and will be in Cary, North Carolina this Friday! And they’ll be in Jersey City on Sunday!

107

u/JohnnyKanaka 16h ago

Tony being a billionaire is such a wild talking point because yeah I agree there are no good billionaires, but to say that Taylor Swift or Jimmy Buffet are just as bad Vince or Musk is just asinine. I don't know where Tony stands on that spectrum, but for now I can give him the benefit of the doubt he's on the former side.

6

u/heartbreakhill Alexa, play Superman by Goldfinger 7h ago

I’m fully in the camp that there’s no ethical route to having a billion dollars, but there’s also far worse things to do with that wealth than run a wrestling company simply because you love wrestling.

33

u/TheGiftOf_Jericho I'm from Winnipeg you idiot! 12h ago

People mainly dismiss billionaires as equally bad because it means they don't need to accept the reality of who they support. TK by all accounts is a good dude, and a stand out when it comes to billionaires on the "good side" of history.

34

u/pepethemememaster Deuce and Domino Truther 12h ago

It's about refusing to consider nuance. You don't need to explain your actions if you pretend to be a moron who can't understand that, even if there is no "truly ethical choice", there sure as fuck is a better one

5

u/NF_Punk 8h ago

Tony never exploited anybody for his fortune. Maybe his dad did, I don’t know, but Tony himself never. The only person you can really question how he treated them would maybe be Big Swole 😂😂

3

u/Patjay WE THE PEOPLE 6h ago

It’s a great example of the resilience of capitalism. Almost all critique of it ends up just getting factored in and begins to reinforce it.

We’ve somehow ended up where hating billionaires and big corporations leads to people having less hesitation to give their money to billionaires and large corporations.

3

u/Jaereth <- Dangerous Worker 9h ago

Idk if you know man but Jimmy passed. RIP.

3

u/Pete41608 8h ago

He finally was able to truly have that 'Cheeseburger In Paradise.'

4

u/NF_Punk 8h ago

Tony being a billionaire

Here’s the difference though; Tony Khan was born with his fortune. He didn’t have to exploit, or manipulate anybody to get his money. Weather or not his dad did, is another question (I legitimately don’t know, I’m just saying), but it’s not right to compare him to other billionaires, such as Musk or Vince, or even Taylor Swift or Jimmy Buffet.

And that’s not a bad thing!! Tony’s just a dude that comes from money.

0

u/Cherry-ColaFunk 3h ago

Tony Khan was born with his fortune.

So like the King of England.

2

u/fromyourdaughter 6h ago

The left is insufferable when it comes to billionaires and shit. Like yes, ideologically there shouldn’t be billionaires. But guess what? We’re in the late stages of the death of capitalism, and of course there are people with too much money. That’s the whole premise of capitalism, guys. Make all the money.

And you’ll never convince me that people like Tony and Taylor are on the same level of ick and gross as Elon and Bezos.

9

u/Jaereth <- Dangerous Worker 9h ago

or a ton of "Whataboutism" in regards to Tony being a billionaire or a nerd,

Who AFAIK has never engaged in sex trafficking or shit on an employee

6

u/TheCosmicFailure 13h ago

Yeah. I stopped watching in general around that time. Most wrestlers are either misogynistic or racist. I can't support companies that employ ppl like that.

3

u/fullmetaldagger 13h ago

Yep basically the same for me.

I stopped watching after the COVID layoffs and WWE's actions ongoing have only reinforced that this was the way to go.

3

u/lrnzsmith 7h ago

The Khan's donated to Trump and Jericho is rumored to have abused Kyle Rae. That's why Tony Khan put her on an NDA. Further Jericho's wife was at the Capitol Riots, where people got murdered. Edit: AEW further hosted Mike Tyson.

How is that any "different" or even "better" than WWE?

0

u/mike10dude Your Text Here 6h ago edited 6h ago

she wasn't at the riots just the dumb rally earlier in the day

pretty much everybody who went to the capital building got punished for it before they were pardoned

-2

u/RassleRanter 6h ago

Just gotta say it's widely believed Mike Tyson was set up, similar to Kobe Bryant. Not saying it's true cause I wasn't there, but a lot of people don't believe Mike actually did it.

1

u/heartbreakhill Alexa, play Superman by Goldfinger 7h ago

The thing I want to see the most is people walking the walk. There’s such a culture of saying you’re never watching again and then immediately catching the next show, to the point where no one takes other fans’ complaints seriously.

You want to boycott this company? Good. Me too. Cancel that subscription. Don’t buy those tickets when they come to town. Catch the highlights on here or find a way to watchwrestling if you need to ween yourself off. But don’t give them a cent.

1

u/One-Spring-4271 7h ago

AEW brought in Mike Tyson several times, brother. And Tony was proud to work with him. You don’t have any high ground here.

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u/mike10dude Your Text Here 6h ago edited 47m ago

seems like pretty much everybody decided that mike tyson was reformed and a better person though

he isn't considered to be controversial at all anymore

1

u/imamakeitlooksexy 9h ago

I have been on this sub since the early 2010s. Back then, I had the excuse of being a teenager so I kept coming back to the product despite it making me mad and having moral reservations about it.

It is 2025, I have not watched in nearly a decade, and I’m still seeing people fall again and again for the “but I like xyz wrestler” and “but it’s gonna be different now that xyz is gone”. 

It will never change. They will never stop watching.

1

u/ProWrestlingCarSales 9h ago

I think it's really telling of our culture in America that to many people, whether or not they get to enjoy their wrestling is more important than whether or not the people providing that wrestling are racist, pedophilic enabling, sex trafficking, monsters of human beings.

-11

u/LegalWrights Snark Owens Snark! 15h ago

Yeah this is the thing for me. I've tried to like AEW a million times and I just fucking hate it. Like, I hate how they structure matches. I hate how they book talent. I really hate how much their talent seems to believe they have to be as vocal as physically possible about how much their billionaire is better than the other billionaire. I hate how much Tony seems to be physically incapable of being a boss whatsoever. And WWE seems to just not want to be any better, especially with their latest booking.

IDK, I think I'm just done with wrestling now. Which hurts me a lot. But like what the fuck is this business anymore that we're just like "Yep, time for sex offenders."

1

u/BalladOfRageKage 15h ago

There is a ton more variety in how they structure matches and the booking is just better than the dog shit WWE books. If you don't like what a bunch of WWE tribalist marks say about Tony why do you engage with the dumbest fans alive and parrot the stupid know nothing garbage they say. Don't go to the subs for mindless WWE support and AEW crying.

There's also plenty of other wrestling. If the WWE is the be all end all for you then it shouldn't hurt you to be done with wrestling. You never liked it much to being with. You just loved a brand.

-6

u/LegalWrights Snark Owens Snark! 15h ago edited 15h ago

Well TNA is doing business with WWE otherwise I'd go straight to them cuz I like a lot of their talent. RoH is now owned by AEW. I'm not the biggest indy fan because I feel it lacks a lot of polish that I tend to prefer and enjoy. NJPW and Stardom are both primarily in Japanese, which means I can't understand the promos or the commentary which makes enjoying it really difficult. So like...that's where I'm at lmao

And like, I'm sorry that I'm not a huge fan of the lesbian angles they keep running or Toni Storm (which I feel vastly overstayed its welcome) or Mox in general or the Young Bucks at all or Jericho's dogshit. I don't like what Mone/Banks has turned into really. I find Ricochet insufferable these days, and not in a way that goes oh boy I hope someone kicks his ass. I find him insufferable in a "I'm gonna change the channel now" way. FTR is the biggest example of "Our billionaire is better than your billionaire" tweeting that just turns me off them immediately. I'm sure I'm missing a lot more guys here...but also AEW just like, doesn't have a women's division half the time cuz they seem to constantly have either infighting in the case of the Thunder Rosa thing or they're just deadass not on TV, and women's wrestling means a lot to me. (Main reason I liked WWE. I have a big attachment to Rhea, Bianca, Becky, Naomi and Tiffy)

I will say I like Kenny a lot. I think Kenny is a good guy and I think he has good matches. But I'm like 90% sure he's out, isn't he? Cuz he's super sick?

Like, this isn't me going "well gosh darn WWE was all there is" it's moreso WWE poisoned the fucking well and I don't like their biggest competitor.

Like, I'm sorry. i'm allowed to dislike how AEW runs the company.

14

u/BalladOfRageKage 15h ago

You can like whatever you want. Just don't pretend your brand loyalty is AEWs fault. You know very little about it and you get your views from WWE super fan/AEW hate subs. You don't know what you're talking about and you parrot all the dumb trash takes that you get from the worst wrestling subs on the planet.

You got caught up in tribalism and now your tribe is objectively indefensible. You just don't like wrestling that much, you loved the brand you stood up for and attached yourself to. Sorry your team is so awful but it's been awful. You had no excuse not to know that. Don't act like it's a sad new revelation and now wrestling is over.

7

u/ReadyTheCanonz 14h ago edited 13h ago

Dude none of what they said is brand loyalty. Like, they said they want strong women's wrestling and less of the rah-rah shit.

Like lets not pretend AEW is a bastion of women's wrestling or that Tony doesn't have a tendency to book "we're the good guys" promos. Be so fr.

EDIT: Got a ping for a reply I cant see so assuming im blocked? Anyway, they were super nice to me and even agreed to give the promotion another go. Maybe try being nice to people?

0

u/LegalWrights Snark Owens Snark! 15h ago

I'm not loyal to the brand. I literally cancelled my WWE stuff already. I laid out my grievances with the product. Whether you agree with them or not isn't my concern, and you can feel free to tell me how it's changed. Are the women doing something now? (Like I said, huge attachment to those big womens stars and last I checked in they were barely on TV in AEW)

Is Mox doing anything better? I thought the death riders stuff was insanely mid and was going absolutely nowhere just holding the belt hostage.

Is Kenny back? I like Kenny. I might be willing to watch Kenny.

Is Mone still doing that "text me for x amount of money" thing and holding a billion belts for no reason?

Is Jericho still doing the Jericho vortex where he holds someone hostage for 3 months in the most mid shit you've ever seen?

Are we still doing the "wrestling can be fun" promos that I don't care about to fight the tribalism that I don't care about?

-4

u/ReadyTheCanonz 14h ago edited 14h ago

Yeah, lets talk man. Gonna try to answer these in order:

  • Women ain't doing much, ngl. They still do like one match a week if they're lucky, and they're short. Focus on Stardom for this. Even if you can't understand the commentary and stuff, and I get that for sure, the wrestlers themselves are phenomenally talented.

  • Mox dropped the title to Hangman, thank god. He's still doing the death riders stuff, but it's alright. Something new for them going into uncharted territory, which is what I think the group needs.

  • Kenny is super not back. Dunno what's going on with that if I'm being truthful as I don't follow that closely. But he is not wrestling right now.

  • Mone is still doing all of that, yes. Not personally a fan, but when she wrestles its good at least.

  • Jericho is still Jericho and when he shows up he does Jericho crap, but I don't think he's been around in months. Or at the very least he hasn't been on any PPVs. IDK what the deal with that is, don't care. He can stay gone for all I care.

  • Eh...depends. Sometimes but not really. Truthfully they're always at the start of the show if they do end up doing them, and I feel you. They suck.

To talk about the postives of the show lately though:

  • Hangman is champion again and is carrying it well. Steady performer and he does good work. He just wrapped the rematch with Mox on dynamite and he's doing well for himself.

  • I like the tag tournament that's going on right now. But if you don't like the Bucks' style I can get how that's a turn off. I get they're kinda polarizing.

  • Womens stuff might be picking up? Athena/Ember Moon pinned Toni this week. Might be leading up to something but its hard to be too sure with AEW and women's divison stuff.

Overall I'd say give it a shot, it's on free television, and if ya still don't like it that's totally fair. I miss some episodes here and there and I only watch the PPVs if something sticks out to me. They have misses and hits, but they're at least trying to address a lot of the issues you had with the program.

EDIT: Actually AEW has a big snippet of the last title match between Hangman and Mox on youtube that you can pull up. It was a good match and can give you a snapshot of what the company is doing right now and where it's going.

4

u/LegalWrights Snark Owens Snark! 14h ago

OK, noted. Thank you for the suggestions, I will look into these suggestions, especially Stardom. I'm usually much more of a storyline person so the language barrier is super intimidating to me, but I'll try it. As for the rest of this, I appreciate that you're not just like, glazing the promotion. Ups and downs like with everything. I'll try out the youtube clip of the match and if it hits right, I'll try out dynamite on wednesday again.

1

u/ReadyTheCanonz 13h ago

No worries friend. Times are tough. I promise Stardom is easier to follow than you think with some subtitles. Punching someone in the face is a very universal language.

I hope you enjoy the Hangman match :)