>I think AEW has been really good since the 1-year anniversary
>so it makes me hopeful, but there are still some huge potholes
>in the road.

it oscillates for me depending on whats on the show. i thought this past ep was the best since Starks did his "i dont need to paint my face to be somebody" but that was a while ago at this point.

i should say that ive watched every PPV, Dark, and Dynamite in its entirety bc i LOVE the high points and i really want it to succeed. the issue for me is that it has moments where i feel dumb for watching. its like playing golf almost. that one shot reminds you why you suffer thru triple after triple. but it could be SO much better

>I totally understand why some folks hate the Bucks and kinda
>agree they don't look believable against bigger/more physical
>tag teams. That being said, I thought this match was awesome,
>and while the Bucks do get bad at selling injuries sometimes I
>didn't see that here, or at least I didn't see it as any
>different than other wrestlers these days. Matt hit that last
>superkick knowing he was gonna be fucked after it and he was.

the drama is in the selling for me, and the false finishes are clearly meant as a replacement. but its like my neurons flame out on them. that being said i thought FTR was phenomenal. Cash in particular was bumping around like a lunatic, and it seemed to me they went out there solely to get themselves over in a loss. Which...more power to them. Theyve not been handled well by the booker, so might as well do it yourselves. I really hated the absence of Tully though. WTF?

>I go back-and-forth on Mox, but his run as champ has served
>it's purpose: establish the legitimacy of the title. Jericho
>then Mox (then probably Kenny) makes sense as the first champs
>in the company. Now when someone newer (like Hangman)
>eventually wins the title it will mean that much more. I'm not
>a huge fan of the hardcore stuff, and lord knows AEW has had a
>few truly uncomfortable moments involving dangerous moves, but
>I thought Kingston/Mox was pretty compelling stuff even if it
>wasn't the highlight of the ppv.

i would agree with that up till Omega. You lost me there lol. Its just that Moxley's matches are boring. The builds are always awesome tho.


>>Cody-Darby was great, and im glad Ricky Starks got a little
>>screen time.

>I disagree with the idea that his gimmick has stayed the same.
>A few months ago he was just a sloth and legitimately didn't
>care about winning or losing. Now I read it as he only uses
>that sloth stuff for strategy occasionally. For instance, he
>did his routine this time around knowing it would frustrate
>John Silver and get him off his game, but he doesn't really
>play that shit with the likes of Cody and Jericho for the most
>part. He's more likely to turn it up at the bell with a bigger
>opponent to throw them off. Admittedly that might place some
>of the explanation of the character work in the hands of the
>announce team. His offense still needs some work to make it a
>tad more believable, but I think he's pretty close.

Well, to me that kinda sounds like his gimmick changed in that he does it less, and thats not really "changing" to me. Hes a good athlete, but someone who just "does stuff" isnt interesting to me. Silver was perfectly fine tho and needs out of his program (more later) badly. He can be a tier 3 gatekeeper for babyfaces making their emergence from Dark to Dynamite and make them all look good.

>To answer your question though, a few months back the
>dirtsheets said they are planning a big push for Jungleboy but
>they wanted crowds to be back before they pulled the trigger.
>Maybe they're waiting for full capactiy/traveling shows or
>maybe they got cold feet. Idk... I wanna see that push
>though.

wrestling companies need to stop worrying about that. they're gonna need 9 months of top quality television between now and then.

but i too want that, badly. he's one of the rare dudes who could go on Jimmy Fallon to promote a PPV match against MJF and move numbers.

>I really liked the match, and Shida's definitely been their
>best champ, but they have a lot of work to do with this
>division. They may have to bite the bullet and give Tessa a
>bunch of money, even if it goes against their anti-bullying
>culture. She's the only star that's a free agent right now. I
>do wanna see a Baker championship run though.

the injury stop and go was really my only issue with it other than the fact that weve seen them wrestle, what...4 times now? credit to them,. they've tried to make them all different, but we need a shakeup. the NWA women give me hope.

>Agree to disagree on this one. I think they could've handled
>the post-breakup stuff a bit better, but overall the
>storytelling on this feud has been phenomenal ever since they
>won the titles and Hangman teased giving the buckshot lariat
>to Kenny.

this was the last interesting thing that happened imo. since then it kinda just failed to launch. their emotional angst seems more like story backdrop than story itself. betrayal is a story, redemption is a story, revenge is a story...for me personally, people pondering those things while they sulk is not.

>It's been one of the rare cases when wrestling does
>subtlety well. That interview where Kenny listed the Bucks as
>his favorite tag team and Hangman was surprised he didn't
>answer them replays in my mind a lot and makes me smile.

im sorry but that was not good for me lmao. angsty, overly sensitive "babyfaces" with low self-esteem...thats a no for me dawg. this booking has not been kind to him in my eyes. the standing back in the shadows while the Bucks celebrated had me howling at the Degrassi-ness of it all.

>I think they need a writer/continuity person. They let some of
>the wrong people improvise, and the more people are involved
>in a segment the messier the mic work gets.

a regular person in the writer's room who isnt a buddy of the boys would even work at this point. soneone to just constantly ask "why?"

>They also too often have multiple wrestlers doing the same
>shit on the same show. If someone gets hit in the balls
>earlier in the show, I don't want to see that later in the
>show. If someone takes a bunch of chair shots early in the
>show, I don't want to see that later in the show. It doesn't
>appear that it's anyone's job to make sure these issues are
>smoothed out. They desperately need that.

huge problem. thats why they need a real booker who knows how to get shit over starting at the micro level. a great idea would be banning the tope bc of injuries. its probably a good idea anyways, but if ppl insist on doing them, make them go away and then bring them back SLOWWWWWWWLY. voila, you turned a cliche into something meaningful.

>There are some other clear issues here that they gotta solve
>in Year 2. The lack of Black stars is pretty noticeable but
>they're making strides with Hobbs, Scorpio, Private Party, and
>Swole. The Miro gimmick is DOA and the Dark Order is super
>fucking corny again. Time to cut bait and repackage those
>mfers.

you know its funny, the Black jabronis made a massive improvement to Dark post-pandemic. dudes like Shawn Dean (way better worker than either of PP imo), M'badu, Lee Johnson, etc.

Finally...Dark Fucking Order. That gimmick is like a year and half old by now. They aint the fuckin Heenan Family, or even the Dangerous Alliance. it needs to die, and the Exalted One's loss was a great time.