T O P
AutoModerator

[Voting for the Smarkies, the Wreddit Awards, and the return of the Botchies for 2022 are open!](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/10djwul/voting_for_the_smarkies_the_botchies_and_the/) *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.*


mikelevy3

Swerve to me should be a future World Champ.


ianisms10

He should be the next top heel after MJF


Shenanigans80h

It’s hard to tell who beats MJF for the title but I feel like it could very well be a bit of a short reign, so hopefully they continue building up Swerve in that time. He could legitimately be a top guy here, no question about that


Barthez_Battalion

It should be Ricky so the story goes full circle, and then Ricky can drop it to Swerve.


Basedryu21

Man that makes so much sense but you know it wouldn’t happen 🤦‍♂️. Realistically though I do see him dropping the belt to Ricky. He’s one of the biggest baby faces they have right now


Master_Geoffrey

You're exactly right. Ricky Starks should be the next AEW World's Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Without a muthaf*ckin doubt. But it shouldn't be a short reign. And neither should MJF's reign. Constant short reigns devalue the championship.


QuiGonJinnNJuice

While I agree, the championship hasn’t really had short reigns until the weirdness this summer. Or I guess more specifically the ending to the summer of Mox with All Out. Mixing some shorter reigns in there imo is both fine and necessary otherwise nobody will take the first couple challengers seriously if they feel obligatory


Master_Geoffrey

I see what you're saying. But, let's not chop MJF off at the knees to further anyone else. MJF is the one that will sell house tickets.


CanadianCardsFan

Short reigns don't necessarily devalue titles, sorry ineffectual back and forth reigns do. Or having your champ not defend the belt or appear enough. Competitors should want to win the belt and the champion should want to keep it. But good matches are good matches, and good storylines, with good matches, make the vent valuable, not long reigns. It should be incredibly hard to keep a belt for a long time. Look at the TNT belt and Darby's second reign. Short but good.


PantsyFants

For a while I was certain Eddie would be the one to take down MJF but AEW seems to be reticent to really get behind him. If it's not Eddie, I hope it's Hangman. I'm bummed his run got cut short & would really like to see him with a nice reign and some good feuds.


Theillist

Not sure why it's like that but it seems to be the case. At the very least Eddie could be their Foley. Good enough to win but can't really hold onto the title. A little palate cleanser - if you will. It's perfect for his character and he's believable as an upper mid carder that occasionally breaks through.


Snugsssss

Eddie beating Max and then dropping to Swerve a month later seems pretty good to me.


deathvalleypassenger

That's how I'd do it. Eddie gets his big moment in the win, gets one nice interstitial beat for the crowd to bask in it, and then have Swerve immediately take it from him and start his reign with nuclear heat


Theillist

Give Eddie a few months and a mini-feud to win first and you've got yourself a deal!


OmicronAlpharius

Nothing wrong with a transitional champion. Give him a month and a half to two month reign, then he drops it.


wayeouthere

eddie is also really good at losing, if that makes sense. so imagine if he won the title only to lose it soon after? (maybe to swerve like others have mentioned) hes one of those guys where its more about the journey than the destination


Entity4

The heel that beats him would get a crazy amount of heat for it too especially if it was on the casino ladder match chip cash in


wayeouthere

ESPECIALLY if you do it in New York. that crowd might go insane if that were to happen


AFakeInternetPersona

If Punk had his shit together it should have been: Punk -> Eddie -> MJF cashing in his chip immediately as Eddie wins his world championship


PantsyFants

That would have been phenomenal


HumphreyLee

Darby beats MJF, Swerve beats Darby would be a very happy path if it were up to me. Darby and Swerve would have a very good plunderfest between them.


TheHarridan

They just had Darby do all the stuff with Samoa Joe, tho. I agree with you that your plan would be cool, I just think don’t think they would have that happen right now given everything else going on


HumphreyLee

oh this is me assuming MJF has the belt all summer. Darby takes a few weeks off, comes back in like April, they find a program with him for the summer that puts him in MJF’s orbit eventually, like he wins the Casino Battle Royal at DoN and then MJF goes after Sting to get to Darby. Darby wins the belt at All Out and Sting officially retires in ring after a summer of helping Darby fight off The Firm or whatever and getting Darby to the promised land of a world title, then Swerve could win the eliminator tournament at Full Gear and be world champ by Winter is Coming.


Isa--

The bidding war of 2024 mandates a long time with the belt, is my point of view. I think he won't be at any risk of losing until Full Gear or Winter is Coming.


PoetJustice

I think every promotion needs two ace heels, one who is truly hated and annoying (MJF) and another who is cool and dangerous, which Swerve is 100% perfect for. No chicken heel shit, just disrespecting your favorites and looking dope as hell doing it


Known-Ad7468

I totally agree. Swerve could be the psycho heel, the totally unpredictable one.


typical_bro

THE YOUNG LEGEND


nine16

#ACCUSATIONS


ManMangoGuts

MAKIN' HISTORY


dboehm29

Swerve is the total package. He’d be an absolute main event heel.


-Ozymandiaz

They need to let Swerve become the supervillain he’s destined to be


DHA1999

He's winning the TNT title this year, at least. He should be the one who defeat Wardlow for it. AEW needs top heels. Swerve has incredible potential to step up in that category.


suhail-ux

I really can’t subscribe to another Wardlow reign, the first was super underwhelming.


thefictionaljake

i’m cool with it if they actually have a plan for it, but otherwise, yea.


DHA1999

Give him the benefit of the doubt. They have a chance to vindicate him. Darby and Joe had done a tremendous job to elevate the title. Hopefully Wardlow continues the trend.


Marc_Quill

Letting Wardlow defend on a weekly basis against different opponents instead of sticking him in go-nowhere feuds is a start.


suhail-ux

I’d love him to continue being a fighting champion like Darby and Joe. But even then, he’s always been booked as a monster so any match he has feels like it’s going to be a squash.


NogaraCS

To each their own but their reigns were boring, great matches but not even actual feuds


joe1240132

I think that's an issue in general with those monster reigns, you need a way to both transition away and something else for the characters to do. Jade is facing a similar problem. It didn't help that Wardlow's time with the TNT belt seemed to be a bit of a lull in AEW's creative.


thrilliam_19

He’s got everything. I would love for him to be a sadistic heel champ for a little bit. MJF will talk shit and usually back it up when you can actually get him in the ring, but generally speaking he’s a cowardly little shit. Swerve would straight up cut dudes for fun then laugh about it.


EmmThem

Fully agree. Whatever face is champ next, Swerve should be the one to eventually dethrone them.


jt_33

Right after he dumps those 2 nerds hanging with him.


deadwing87

I'm sure he'll get one of the 20 belts in AEW


VagrantShadow

Love the graphic. As always AEW makes it pop. I love Ricky Starks up front, [I still laugh over that twitter bust he did a few years back. Someone said he was white, with a decent tan. Ricky, holding nothing back, told that stupid bitch he was black.](https://i.imgur.com/JnGvoed.png)


penguinopph

Lol, Nyla Rose constantly wins Twitter


rcming18

"asking for a me" iconic


penguinopph

Exactly. Literally laughed out loud like Ms. Krabappel at that.


OmicronAlpharius

Twitter Nyla is best Nyla


ElStegasaurus

Put her with The Acclaimed or something and let her be silly


Judas_Mesiah

>Love the graphic. As always AEW makes it pop. Although it would be hilarious if the poster was McMahon calling Cena "My N\_".


KneelBeforeCube

No Scorpio Sky?


PolishThrasher

They deleted it and posted a new one with him https://twitter.com/aew/status/1622305324513230849?s=21


SymphonyOfGecko

Oh, poor Scorpio lol


JARAXXUS_EREDAR_LORD

I guess TK needs to APOLOGIZE!


nine16

FORGIVEN


PhospheneViolet

My boy got done so dirty 😭


WaveOfTheRager

I was just thinking they’re bound to have forgotten someone, but one of the guys who’s been there since the beginning?? Nice they just about squeezed him in


ZombieQueen666

No Malakai?


realwalkindude

Saving him for next month's Satanist History Month graphic


JohnnyThundercop

And WWE isn't even mentioning Steve Blackman.


Mabvll

The blatant disrespect to the BLACKpool Combat Club needs to be addressed as well.


fwaig

> Steve Blackman Steve Muhfuggin' Blackman


i_willregretthis

You suck, Black Man! -Stunt Granny in nursing home


-ImJustSaiyan-

More importantly, no Cody!?


Toad_Thrower

It's funny, when AEW originally started doing Hispanic Heritage Month stuff, and had events surrounding it Cody was one of the more prominent people featured. There were a bunch of people on this sub throwing a fit that Cody was included without doing the most basic research to realize he's Cuban.


Bosscharacter

Cody's family is kinda crazy when you think about the fact that his Uncle via marriage is Jerry Sags since Cody's mom and Sags' wife are sisters.


PsSalin

Cody has literally Cuban grandparents on his mother side.


thrilliam_19

I know right? Hell there’s an entire house he runs!


i_willregretthis

You may be Malakai Black, but I’m a black bitch!


TheKareemofWheat

This pic actually goes really hard.


SymphonyOfGecko

It’s a quality graphic ngl


sonofabitchXmustXpay

I don't know why, but seeing that ref on the side just made me laugh hard.


SymphonyOfGecko

He looks like he’s just happy to be there


sonofabitchXmustXpay

He's probably the only one who knows the release date for fight forever


godleftmefinished

slightly off topic but I remember the first few months he started that every match he worked would be amazing without fail it got to the point where I would see him and immediately perk up


plangarexecutegar

They should have had a half invisible Cody in the corner (like a cheesy 80's movie poster) smiling down at them thinking about his contributions to the cause.


FiniteCarpet

He's won the war on racism he should be included, company boundaries be damned


ClaymoresRevenge

I love how The Acclaimed are in the front! Everybody Loves The Acclaimed! Wrestling has come so far from just 5 years ago. Black wrestlers are a joy to watch. We went from just happy to be here babyfaces and mad at the man heels to more depth than imaginable. AEW themselves have gotten better with their booking.


nine16

unless you're part of law enforcement ✂️✂️✂️


Willsmithsdignity

This was downvoted a few times when I saw it. To whomever did that....if you don't understand what this reference is you shouldn't be voting on othings on this sub. Take 5 aeconds to look up the Acclaimed or maybe even professional wrestling. And as a side note, a hearty fuck you for downvoting what you thought the post were saying. I hope all your sandwiches tasted iek shit and your hair falls out.


deathvalleypassenger

The downvoters are cops


nine16

the downvoters clearly hated scott steiner and right to censors themes back in the day


nine16

bro came for the big defence haha. i appreciate this my friend. i was confused to the point that i thought i maybe mistyped the joke or something. i was wondering if people thought i was being political or inflammatory etc you're a good people ✂️✂️✂️


Chewy_Gravy

Hear me out. What if everyone in this picture was in a rebooted Nation of Domination


thealexstorm

“PuT tHeM iN tHe HuRt BuSiNeSs”


nine16

everyone in this picture except swerve should take turns at being the new leader of hit row


theultimatew0rrier

https://imgur.io/D4ZRPaj?r


TalkingBlernsball

How I feel every time I read an article about Malcolm X or the Black Panthers


CanalVillainy

Why not Los Boricuas?


stevecollins1988

Anthony Ogogo in there. Where has he been?


Toad_Thrower

I'd love to see more of him. He was doing Dark matches for a while. Personally I thought he was great on commentary as well as on the mic in his feud with Cody. Think it's a bit unpopular of an opinion though.


Cwf1984

From following him on social media, it seems he’s just had a series of unfortunate events over and over again. From close family members passing, to medical, etc


SymphonyOfGecko

Man that sucks. Hopefully everything gets better for him soon.


SymphonyOfGecko

Never recovered from his Cody feud lol But seriously, I saw him on Dark but it was a while ago. Maybe injury/nothing written for him?


stevecollins1988

Its been a hot minute since he was on Dark unless I skipped an episode. But yeah, just put him a feud with anyone lol. He isn't/wasn't learning enough squashing people. Hell if there is nothing for Miro either, let them go at it on Rampage or something.


Kiel297

Four a slightly lighter note than the other few posters, he’s been doing some stuff in the UK with Progress Wrestling recently


frrb9512

Love that Jade, Athena and Willow stand out. They're the future.


SymphonyOfGecko

If Willow is not the face of your womens division in 1-2 years what are we even doing here


TheGentlemanBeast

Celebrating Jamie Hayter?


SymphonyOfGecko

We do that every day, or at least should


debeatup

Or Hating


Theillist

There's just something about her. She just has 'it'. I've been 'watching' (I usually do something else during most of the shows) wrestling for almost 10 years now and every time she's on my screen I actually start watching. There are very few wrestlers that have that quality for me.


spundred

Sonny appears in diversity campaigns more than on TV :(


gcourbet

I thought trustbusters were going somewhere... but apparently not.


Dreddley

Was gonna say I haven't seen Sonny on TV in forever, but they made sure to get those cheeks visible on the graphic


CarryOnWaywardSon96

This graphic looks great ngl. Good mix of superstars and future faces of the company here.


refer_panthers

Am I missing scorpio sky or is he there?


JussLookin69

They have the nerve to put Sonny Kiss on that poster when he doesn't get time on Dark. lol


Dr_Duckdick_DVM

Mark Henry looking suave as hell.


Infamous-Historian81

Look at sonny assssss


debeatup

Bro is caked up


nine16

on a thursday afternoon, no less


Infamous-Historian81

Why did I get downvoted lol look at it


SymphonyOfGecko

I'll upvote bruh


Infamous-Historian81

You’re a real 1


_Wado3000

That’s an ass that should be at the top of the card


papaXanOfficial

I love this, but it reminds me of something that a few different companies I worked for did for BHM where they would send out a newsletter that’s essentially “hey look at all the ethnic people we hire” and it was always SUPER weird


Educational-Button91

not putting Cody there is some WWE rewriting of history


DrDroid

For some reason I can’t place the guy to the left of Nyla Rose…..who is that?


SymphonyOfGecko

AR fox


DrDroid

Right! Thanks.


Distuted

Is it just me or does Mark Henry really pop out from the bunch, like photo editing wise?


SymphonyOfGecko

The color balance might be just a tiny bit off, or maybe it's just an illusion since he's wearing a black suit


zitjuice

Half expected Peter Avalon to show up on this one too.


saltofdaearth

Remember a year ago when there was complaints about lack of black talent? Safe to say Tony Khan heard it


adjunctverbosity

V E R Y C O O L ! Please forward to Ron Desantis


WaylonVoorhees

Save Sonny Kiss! Seriously Dalton Castle and the Boys are right there. A fun Dark/Elevation tag team.


SundayNightDM

I absolutely love that The Acclaimed are front and centre.


TheScarletWitch333

Yay this makes me so happy. Look how diverse my people are


The1joriss

Dante is black?


[deleted]

[удалено]


blqckwidow

First few comments saying “Where’s [Insert White Wrestler]” and using this to bash a black wrestler who fell out with the company. This subreddit never surprises me.


Practical-Value6895

I think the Malakai joke is that his name is Black Pretty good joke ngl


mailman242

Everyone gets the joke It is just particularly tonedeaf especially on a forum where most of the users are white


penguin62

Didn't realise Nyla was black. Assuming mixed.


StarWars_Viking

I think she's Native American and Black if I recall.


penguin62

Yeah I knew she was native. Never realised she was mixed race.


Cathousechicken

One of her one liners a few years ago was she looked straight at the camera and said "always bet on black."


thelennybeast

Correct


WaveOfTheRager

Shame Cody’s not there anymore, he’d be front and centre


Mrmdn333

Big Swole has gotta hate this.


_Wado3000

I can’t tell if this is a joke or not The “see, Swole???” comments whenever diversity is brought up look so dumb when her gripes were literally years ago. It should feel natural to see different people pushed towards the top of the card, rather than using that fact to spite someone


SymphonyOfGecko

Big Swole in shambles


Jubilant_Grapes

As a black man where is Hook?


godleftmefinished

taz isn't black, he's Italian i genuinely thought he was black for years tho


AllInterimWrestling

"I knew Taz before he was orange, when he was a pudgy white boy." - New Jack on Kayfabe Commentaries.


Prielknaap

He's still black to me dammit!


eleelekeokeo69

Black delegation selects hook


rcming18

Oh hey they even got Stephon Smith in here, that's pretty cool


johall

How this company turned to genuinely right it’s perceived wrongs with the POC community has been really good to see. All these people are fucking stars and should be treated as such.


SymphonyOfGecko

Yeah basically all of them are either current stars or future stars


mainman_419

As a black man I despise this month. You telln me we ain integrated enough with society dat we have to have our own separate month. Might as well just say every other month is for white peoples then. We can’t just be apart of history, nah…. We gotta have a month where we get put on a pedestal for the forefront of society so that the rest of America feels good about themselves. History is history, don’t need a month


yellowtaping

“history is history” is only valid if it’s all acknowledged my dawg. this is a way of acknowledging it.


mainman_419

Would be nice if it was acknowledged in day to day life. This is pandering masked as progress. The entire month.


yellowtaping

definitely would and one day it will. pandering it may be but if it spotlights black talent / establishes a platform for them to take advantage of whilst also acknowledging those that came before then i’m all for it. absolutely better than nothing.


Standingonachair

But real black history isn't taught in schools properly. So technically every other month is white history. Isn't the tagline black history is American history or something. The day it truly is equal pride month, bhm and international women's Day won't be needed. Until then it fulfills its purpose.


scottie2haute

Lol this take is ignorant as hell. Nothing wrong with celebrating differences and cultures. It’s something everyone should be encouraged to do. Issues only arise when shit like this is used to exclude and vilify other races


mainman_419

I’m not vilifying anyone, or at least I’m not attempting to, I get WHY it’s done… but everyone has too much faith in our society and gov’t. You don’t think that this month as a whole, could possibly be used to keep us from thinking about real issues, to keep us blind. We have a video of CNN admitting that they have hot button issues that they push and pre-plan, and don’t think that the other side on FOX is any better, trust me their worse. I find all media outside of independent journalism untrustworthy, and even independent media isn’t innocent


_Wado3000

The exact same roll out every year is pretty played out. For example it feels like WWE just plays MLK quotes every year and sends their talent to a black history museum. I don’t have the exact same energy as you but every February feels kinda forced in some way


mainman_419

Oh yea, WWE does it in a very PR focused way. “HEY GUYS WE LOVE OUR BLACK TALENT! WE LOVE BLACKS. WE LOVE EQUALITY! SEE HOW BIG E IS ALMOST IN TEARS LOOKING UP AT THE MLK STATUE. EVERYONE LOVES BIG E!”


Low_Ad_7553

Respect the opinion just want to point out other months are used to celebrate heritages as well. Asian heritage month is may & Sept-Oct is Hispanic heritage month.


mainman_419

And the day we all just see people as people dis shit won’t be needed


Scottyflamingo

And Black wrestlers are a HUGE part of wrestling history. JYD was bigger than Hulk Hogan in Midsouth. Bobo Brazil was a pioneer. Wrestling as an industry appealed to all social classes in a way that it forced integration in places like Memphis during times where society was far from colorblind. I think the sentiment comes from a good place but it just creates division.


mainman_419

I agree, the sentiment does come from a good place, but it doesn’t address the real problem of why it is felt it is needed in the first place


Jamason_TheBush

I thought Nyla was Native? Also Scrops omission sucks


PantsMcDancey

She's both Native American and Black.


Jamason_TheBush

Ahh cool


fwaig

> Scrops That's his new name now


Baman2099

Scropio Syke lol


Omakepants

Lean into it ..... Scropio Skrye


nine16

_returns as the masked luchador hacker scropts confirmed_


Thejangrusdigge

Love me some swerve I know his two goons are kinda of jokes but flips side in the real world I see three dudes who are are muscled and tatted to fuck and they give me a bad look I'm going the other way lol. And we know he can pull off a brutal beat down from his indies and lucha underground matches.


SymphonyOfGecko

Here’s my deal with the affiliates: as long as they don’t wrestle and only have the “big, scary bodyguards role”, I’m totally cool with them. They do add to Swerve’s presentation


Thejangrusdigge

Yeah I don't see them making a run for the trios division or anything like that but let those guys work dark learn to work and then every now and then have those guys help boot up some pretty boy and make em bleed and then swerve can be a evil dick head.


Antbanks75

He reminds me of The Joker, or at least some Batman villain, Parker & Trench are his big ugly goons, and I love them for that.


IndustryTop8806

First Generation of Black History of All-Elite Wrestling.


Jaywess86

Holup did Sonny get a BBL?


Honkmaster

did Sonny get a... get a *what*?


Baman2099

A surgical enhacement


einrobstein

Brazilian Butt Lift


miklat106

Hobbs and Ricky doing a pose-off


SymphonyOfGecko

Ricky has that Jojo spirit in him, so he should win


nine16

_pillar men theme intensifies_


SymphonyOfGecko

a person of culture here


chucktaylur

oh crap, taz isnt black


Zenith230

At least they remembered that Sonny Kiss still works for them.


incredibleamadeuscho

It’s pretty disgusting that they left out Scorpio Sky in this initial post, especially considering he’s the first ever black champion in the company


SymphonyOfGecko

Relax dude, it's just a mistake from the graphic designer who made it and they immediately corrected it. It's not that serious


Tiass95

Are Dante Martin and Ricky Starks black? I'd sworn they were white. I'm a white italian man and my skin is darker than theirs 😂 Good for them i guess.


[deleted]

Dante Martin is the whitest black man alive. The last one was Michael Jackson


Killerpig14

Isn’t he biracial


[deleted]

Pretty sure he is


SymphonyOfGecko

Yeah that's the answer


Tiass95

I've never agreed more with a comment than this 😂


davidisallright

When I first saw them, I knew they were biracial, not white-white.


Tiass95

Bro, i'm gonna be honest. Here in Italy we don't have a lot of biracial people, in reality almost none. My eyes are not good at recognizing mixed people 😂 For my eyes they are white people 😂


davidisallright

I get it. I do think “being white” is a more complex thing especially depending where you’re from. For me, being “white” is different in America from being “white” in other parts of the world due to the history, etc.