>I think this is gonna be a great show, even if the matches
>are fairly predictable.

mostly because of this

>Punk vs. Darby - I expect Punk to go over in front of a
>Chicago crowd, but the Masked Man show kinda made me doubt
>this assumption. The storyline here is he wants to face a
>young guy to see if he still has it. If Darby wins, that
>arguably makes Punk’s story more compelling. Still, I
>don’t think they’ll be able to avoid that hometown pop. In
>fact, I think this match goes on last for that reason.

on a personal level i really dont want to engage with their storytelling. i want to see Punk whip somebody's ass and then talk shit about the next person whose ass he's going to whip. for that reason, i dont like the babyface matchup here. i could honestly see Punk be willing to do the honors here, but that doesnt really do anyone any good.

>Omega vs. Christian - This is obviously Omega here, but it
>should be entertaining enough. I just don’t think Christian
>is a big enough name to headline their biggest POV of the
>year, so I’m really not excited for it, but workrate-wise it
>should be popping.

im not into this at all. Omega has done very little to justify his title reign. this will be his 4th consecutive World Title PPV match and the last 3 have all been bad. Moxley's typical nonsense didnt help the first one at all, and then Callis was involved in the finish. then the exploding barbedwire buttfuck match. then a triple threat match that had Orange Cassidy injected into it for some reason. now a match against a guy who already pinned him despite more interference.

these are not the big fights that i was lead to believe Kenny Omega has, and when Brock Lesnar comes back to get in the face of Roman Reigns while Paul E shits himself on the outside...it really makes this title reign look amateurish. sucks to say but the belt is losing gravitas to me, and that trickles down to the rest of the card in any promotion.

additionally, there is going to be fuckery. i hope im wrong but i see this being infested with good brothers & the worst of jurassic express.

>Baker vs. Statlander - I like Statlander, but I don’t see
>any reason to take the title off of Britt yet.

ive never seen a high level championship match where one of the competitors hadnt cut a single promo on TV before the match. i dont understand this at all. I watch Elevation (best show they have imo), Dark, Dynamite, and Rampage every week and i have no idea how we got here with this.

>Miro vs. Kingston - Another champ that’s obviously
>retaining, but I’m really looking forward to this match. I
>wish this feud had a little more time, cause these promos have
>been fire.

this...is cool. miro is getting heat with me for thinking that this decent gimmick can erase the stench of the one he came in with, but im enjoying his time on TV in some form or fashion. also, religiosity is not an appealing quality for me so Eddie Kingston working as a Nuyorican Richard Dawkins is really hitting a sweet spot. "Redeem these nuts" instantly slotted in with "I dont need to paint my face to be somebody" at the top of the pile for promos in AEW.

champ retains but this should be fun.

>Bucks vs. Lucha Bros - I can see this going either way.
>Logically they should wait to take the title off of the Bucks
>until they can face Santana and Ortiz in New York in a couple
>weeks, especially since this match doesn’t have a big build.
>But also, I’m almost certain that none of the other titles
>are changing hands, so this is the most obvious candidate.
>Either way, this match could absolutely steal the show.
>Hopefully Fenix doesn’t kill himself with whatever flippy
>shit he does off the cage. I think it’s obvious from my
>avatar who I’m rooting for lol.

Booker of the year couldnt write his way into a feud for this, so we have the 50leventh AEW title match determined by tournament or battle royale. its going to be a typical Young Bucks car crash that brings their opponents down rather than building them up, and i wont remember anything that happens 24 hours later.

i have no idea how this is going to end but the AEW tag team situation is going to continue to be awful until the Young Bucks are no longer involved with it. i really couldnt care less.

>Women’s Battle Royale - The ol’ convoluted deck of cards
>gimmick! I think Ruby Soho (Riott) debuts, but doesn’t win.
>Maybe Jade Cargill or Thunder Rosa???

this will at least be entertaining. Ruby Soho is obviously the surprise entrant bc they have to play her song, but Rancid is one of my all time favortie bands and if shes good enough for Lars shes good enough for me. Thunder Rosa, Ruby Soho, Jade Cargill, Leyla Hirsch are all wrestlers I care about and would like to invesst in personally, so Im sure that means Emi Lawler....er....Sakura is going to win.

>Moxley vs. Kojima - Moxley obviously. I really don’t know
>why they’re doing a New Japan match if they can’t get a
>big name here. New Japan is currently running 2 big shows this
>weekend and also a huge portion of their roster has been
>injured or dealing with COVID, so I get why it had to be one
>of the older guys. Kojima is fine, he just doesn’t do
>anything for me. Would rather see a rematch with Nagata or
>Kenta honestly if they can’t get one of the stars..

i dont understand why this is on PPV, and I dont understand what Moxley's overall raison d'etre is at this point. if he knew how to have a "WWE style" main event match in the mold of Austin, Punk, Cena, or even Jericho, he would be fucking huge. but i dont think thats ever going to happen because he cant see the opportunities to be creative presented by the constraints of rules and ring dimensions.

>MJF vs. Jericho - This feud is deader than dead either way,
>but I really hope MJF wins here. They can find a way to get
>Jericho back wrestling later, just put this feather in MJF’s
>cap please.

hooooo boy you got that right. its almost like they shouldnt have started with War Games and done this whole thing backwards smh. credit to FTR/S&O for keeping their part of this hot, but this has been mismanaged from the get go. the labors were more laborious for me than Jericho, and thats saying something considering. Y2Js general out-of-breathness these days

>The Artist Formerly Known As Big Show vs. QT Marshall - I will
>take a nap.

another thing i dont really understand, and i didnt realize there was such a clamoring for him to wrestle that he HAS to wrestle QT on PPV tonight. someone that could talk couldve made this interesting, but that aint QT. he's a silent film actor in a talkie world.

>Now the big question is: does Bryan Danielson debut? Are there
>any other big debuts (like Adam Cole)? I don’t think they do
>more than 2 debuts (including Ruby), but who knows?

i dont know but if he does it would be nice if he did it without have an elaborately designed AV spectacle. Road Warrior Animal once said his basic tenet of pro wrestling was "visualize the shoot, then work it". only Moxley has ever worked his "surprise" debut like someone showing up to kick ass and chew his last piece of bubblegum without making it about how great the company is.

i dont know if they think the world is too small to actually surprise people anymore, but thats a piss poor excuse for not presenting it that way. id much rather they do it Animal's way.