Reigns and Paul E are still excellent. Like most, I’d love if they could get him more real full-time opponents. We’ll see.

I’ve never cared much about Eddie Kingston but he’s been big fun across from Danielson and Punk the last 2 weeks.

Cowboy shit is coming up and I’m pulling for Page at Full Gear. It’s kinda now or never even if he only gets a short Sting reign.

It sucks that ROH might never be back. It’s a lowkey miracle that they’ve lasted this long tho. Hopefully Jay Lethal doesn’t just take it to the house.

Impact is still sneaking around being a competent rasslin show. I keep saying it cuz I keep seeing it.

WWE has released around SEVENTY people this year. WOW.

I hate that one of them isn’t my mans Ricochet. He could for real be main eventing New Japan shows right now. Am I crazy to think this?

Big E as a good-match machine hoss champ gives me joy and I hope it keeps going.

I like lots of what AEW is doing. I like that Danielson and Punk are working their way up the roster and making a bunch of folks work real matches and look good doing it. And this roster continues to get pretty deep on solid rasslers. I can forget Miro is around and he’s damn near the best dude there. They can damn near just randomly make a card and end up with a parade of good matches. That’s a good spot to be in and you never know when WWE is gonna release 20 people out of nowhere or let a solid hand walk.

And dude was cutting fire-ass promos about Homicide saving his life. I’d seen clips of him before here and there from his Chikara days. And his match against Heidi Lovelace/Ruby Soho is a gem of a cocky heel/fiery babyface who never gives up showcase(https://youtu.be/ZsN4tS72qwo). But yeah he’s been good money with me for the last couple of years.

And that's in contrast to AEW's last two PPVs, where a lot of the build-up was a mess, even when the shows themselves turned out to be great.

And of the eight matches annouced so far (I can see them adding one or two more), I'm thinking there's only one or two where I **know** who's going to go over.

And I'm interested in seeing if anyone shows up/debuts. Obviously the no-compete clauses will limit this past week's cuts, but some of the folks from the last round could pop up. WWE's been leaking so much stuff about Bray Wyatt's issues backstage that you sorta expect him to pop up. Or maybe one of the key ROH guys.

Hyped for the weekend regardless.

His promos remind me of Bully Ray/Tazz-ish, but it seems he's more authentic when doing them. His in-ring stuff seems ok, but he hasn't done anything to wow me. But for the past month or so, he's been one I've been invested in.

>His promos remind me of Bully Ray/Tazz-ish, but it seems he's
>more authentic when doing them. His in-ring stuff seems ok,
>but he hasn't done anything to wow me. But for the past month
>or so, he's been one I've been invested in.

He doesn’t look like much but his interviews are top shelf usually. Also, I forgot how him and Rusev/Miro went to town recently too. I have no reason to believe that him and Punk won’t do something good at Full Gear. I’m looking forward to it for sure.

I remember seeing him be aight on Impact and I wasn’t immediately amped when he showed up on AEW, but he’s laid down some good work. I’m excited for him in this spot with Punk.

I also love that Punk is going up the ladder in AEW and making damn near everyone look good along the way. The matches have been rock solid and smart and the talking has been about as good as it gets. Between him and Reigns, the whole industry is getting pushed to do better talking..I like it and what it could/should lead to.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/eddie-kingston-aew-wrestling

Shit got dusty in here, for real.

When I saw "Memphis Bloodiest Brawls" that made me nod in approval

>https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/eddie-kingston-aew-wrestling
>
>Shit got dusty in here, for real.

I finally made it all the way through it. Really good article. It’s the thing..there’s so many dudes going through it to try to show up somewhere wrestling.

AEW has work to do in order to be a hands down great fed. But they are some wonderful SOBs for taking advantage of their resources, signing hella people, and giving shit a chance. It won’t always hit every time. And that’s fine. But to think..them existing got us CM Punk back into rasslin. It saved us from Jericho and Bryan fading from existence. It got us more times to see a bunch of the Lucha Underground folks as well as a bunch of New Japan Gaijins from a few years back. And it might’ve damn saved EK’s life. We have enough dead wrestlers and wrestlers curled up in catering waiting for someone to throw them onto a short tv segment on shows that people generally think are bloated advertisement vessels more than rock solid attempts at wrestling programming.

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2021/11/10/22774625/xavier-woods-upupdowndown-holdout-wwe-pays-little-to-nothing-youtube-gaming-channel?fbclid=IwAR20BSSQ3-n5v_Enk4cWJr2twRn9Jdm1wZj70GzdtHQS9Q2zOgGm9BOoyO0

Is there any end to WWE’s scumbaggery? Basically most of the money that he would make off of it they count against his downside guarantee, so now Xavier is not producing content until they come to a new agreement. It’s sad that this is even an issue. I’m not a gamer at all, but I’m aware of how big a platform UUDD is. I reckon it’s impossible to calculate how much money it has made the WWE, so naturally, Vince has decided it’s value is nothing. Pay the man already!

>https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2021/11/10/22774625/xavier-woods-upupdowndown-holdout-wwe-pays-little-to-nothing-youtube-gaming-channel?fbclid=IwAR20BSSQ3-n5v_Enk4cWJr2twRn9Jdm1wZj70GzdtHQS9Q2zOgGm9BOoyO0
>
>Is there any end to WWE’s scumbaggery? Basically most of the
>money that he would make off of it they count against his
>downside guarantee, so now Xavier is not producing content
>until they come to a new agreement. It’s sad that this is
>even an issue. I’m not a gamer at all, but I’m aware of
>how big a platform UUDD is. I reckon it’s impossible to
>calculate how much money it has made the WWE, so naturally,
>Vince has decided it’s value is nothing. Pay the man
>already!

WWE needs to figure out that being on the right side of this whole you’re taking in super profits is a good look for them. Especially since they’ve dropped/lost like 70 rasslers this year.

Is healthy. He looked great on Dynamite. Some hate the elaborate flippy stuff. I don’t want it on every match. And not every can/should do it. Lio and that crew did it right. Good times.

Miro is out here doing weird killer promos and I like it. And I know that sob can go in the ring so there’s that too. Him vs Danielson is gonna be so good.

And boy oh boy, Kingston and Punk trying to get to one another in the parking lot? Another clinic. Punk has already been a glorious hire. He has a way of giving things stakes. And I’m a sucker for returns in general. His has been special. And he hasn’t truly sniffed a main event. It’s going to be beautiful when he does. I’m guessing the heat will be flamethrower level. I still think he’s gonna turn heel and some point and set everything on fire. I’m out of superlatives maybe. Shit is good.

Pac/Neville vs Dax..not surprisingly, shit was a party.

>Reigns and Paul E are still excellent. Like most, I’d love
>if they could get him more real full-time opponents. We’ll
>see.
>
>I’ve never cared much about Eddie Kingston but he’s been
>big fun across from Danielson and Punk the last 2 weeks.
>
>Cowboy shit is coming up and I’m pulling for Page at Full
>Gear. It’s kinda now or never even if he only gets a short
>Sting reign.
>
>It sucks that ROH might never be back. It’s a lowkey miracle
>that they’ve lasted this long tho. Hopefully Jay Lethal
>doesn’t just take it to the house.
>
>Impact is still sneaking around being a competent rasslin
>show. I keep saying it cuz I keep seeing it.
>
>WWE has released around SEVENTY people this year. WOW.
>
>I hate that one of them isn’t my mans Ricochet. He could for
>real be main eventing New Japan shows right now. Am I crazy to
>think this?
>
>Big E as a good-match machine hoss champ gives me joy and I
>hope it keeps going.
>
>I like lots of what AEW is doing. I like that Danielson and
>Punk are working their way up the roster and making a bunch of
>folks work real matches and look good doing it. And this
>roster continues to get pretty deep on solid rasslers. I can
>forget Miro is around and he’s damn near the best dude
>there. They can damn near just randomly make a card and end up
>with a parade of good matches. That’s a good spot to be in
>and you never know when WWE is gonna release 20 people out of
>nowhere or let a solid hand walk.
>
>
>

Punk and Kingston pulled apart in an excellent believable heat building segment...then the Inner Circle ATT thing goes on for fucking ever with no urgency, no danger, no edge, and a million fake elbows.

Bobby Fish adds a little danger to a mostly excellent Jungle Boy - Bowens match (except for the finish as i firmly believe that the acclaimed should not be eating pins. perfect DQ situation then let Jungle Boy do his own save JYD style)...then goes back stage to interact with Matt fucking Jackson.

Bryan Danielson and Rocky Romero have a fucking Best of the Super Juniors final on American TV...and then Orange Cassidy gets involved.

JR cant avoid stating the obvious without burying himself as it pertains to Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker...before the coldest women's title match since, well, the last one. (an aside, JRs absolute REFUSAL to let any of the nonsense stick to him is endlessly entertaining lmao)

its so frustrating.

going to catch this one in an AMC dine-in theater. I'm excited.

Flirting with going. It’s certainly cheaper than ordering it would be and less stressful than finding a bogus stream. AMC has these big comfy recliners too, perfect for eating an edible and watching wrestling on a massive TV. I’m tempted.

I don’t doubt the boys and girls will deliver. It’s a phenomenal card. Tony’s challenge with this show is the sequencing…there’s gonna be some huge ebbs and flows with crowd momentum

>going to catch this one in an AMC dine-in theater. I'm
>excited.

That should be fun and cheaper than PPV!

I’m excited. I kinda think Miro is gonna beat Bryan. And Page is gonna beat Kenny. I can’t shake these feelings. Maybe it’s gas tho. We’ll see!

I'm half worried that they try to either milk a prolonged chase, or donsome goofy shit like debut a new foe for Page, that becomes a distraction.

We've had enough of a journey to crown him. He's as over as anyone in that roster, with a deep connection with the fans, and has been from day one.

So i hope they don't fuck around, because they could kill his momentum after awhile.

It's time.

They can't prolong the "chase" any longer without severely pissing off the fans. They've already done having him lose his #1 contendership twice.

I still buy that the original plan was to give him the belt a few months ago, but giving him time off to be with his newborn just delayed things.

He has to have the match, be the first guy to kick out of the One-Winged Angel, eventually hit him with the Lariat, send everyone home happy, and then celebrate in his home state the next Dynamite.

>They can't prolong the "chase" any longer without severely
>pissing off the fans. They've already done having him lose his
>#1 contendership twice.
>
>I still buy that the original plan was to give him the belt a
>few months ago, but giving him time off to be with his newborn
>just delayed things.
>
>He has to have the match, be the first guy to kick out of the
>One-Winged Angel, eventually hit him with the Lariat, send
>everyone home happy, and then celebrate in his home state the
>next Dynamite.
>

Yes. It’s a layup. And AEW can make layups. And then Miro vs Page hasn’t been done to death, the match will be grand, and the other stars can get into some cool stuff. Kenny vs Danielson (the rematch) is a party waiting to happen and doesn’t need a title at all, Punk has to keep climbing the ladder, etcetera.

like if Omega brought in Strowman to protect him or something

Buy-In:

Nyla Rose & Jammie Hayter vs Thunder Rosa & Anna Jay
Don't really have strong thoughts, but I'm guessing Rosa & Jay to keep Rosa strong.

Official event:

Miro vs Bryan Danielson
This is tough, but I think I'm leaning Miro giving Danielson his first loss to set him up as a strong World Title challenger. On the off-chance that Omega retains, Danielson winning would set-up at least two more rematches with Omega down the line. But they can still do those even if Danielson and Omega lose. Regardless, this has the potential to be a slightly less awesome version of Walter vs. Dragunov.

Dr. Britt Baker vs Tay Conti
One of the few gimmes on the card. Baker retains. I can see Conti winning in the future, but not yet.


The Inner Circle vs Men Of The Year & American Top Team
Jericho makes Lambert tap out so we can finally shoot this angle in the fucking head. Sammy, Santana and Ortiz, and Men of the Year all have better things to do.

MJF vs Darby Allin
Another one that I'm torn on. I'm leaning Allin, because MJF really doesn't need the win. And whenever they eventually put the title on MJF, he has a built-in first feud. They might finally pull the trigger on Wardlow leaving in the process of this match.


Lucha Bros vs FTR
Man, another tough one. I want it to be the Lucha Bros. Besides, they already lost the AAA titles to FTR. But I also know that Fenix gets hurt all the time, they like to wrestle outside of the country a lot, and they don't really NEED the titles. Leaning towards FTR winning and getting a proper reign, then dropping the AAA titles back to the Lucha Bros. sometime in the next month or so.


CM Punk vs Eddie Kingston
Man, they turned this into a believable blood feud quick, where both are right and wrong. Going with Punk here. Though it's worth noting that I don't think Kingston has had a big singles win since he got to AEW. His biggest win was him and Penta beating the Bucks in a non-title match.


Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus & Christian Cage vs Adam Cole & Young Bucks
Can't really call this one. It should be Jurassic Express and Christian. They've been losing to the Bucks at every turn for over a year. However, Cole being in this match makes me think that his team will win. And the fact that Bucks like to put themselves over.

Cody Rhodes & PAC vs Malakai Black & Andrade El Idolo
Black and Idolo should win. Black is super fucking hot. However, since Cody is still in denial, I can see him putting himself over in hopes of trying to win over the fans.

Kenny Omega vs “Hangman” Adam Page
Said it the post above, it really has to be Page. It's time. If he loses, you might as well let him leave AEW. And it would only serve to boost Omega's ego.

Possible surprises: Maybe Wyatt/Windam shows up at some point? Or maybe one or two of the ROH guys? The card really doesn't need surprise appearances tho.

They did mention Okada and Ishii multiple teams last night... but apparently those guys are going in the greater Bay Area tomorrow, so that's probably not happening.

played with no breaks between songs, at a speed that blends everything together in a way that you only know they played any one particular song because the playlist never changes

it's the same thing Lio Rush suffers from where it all just looks like silly Kung Fu flick choreography

thats incredible

>thats incredible

The heel part of Punk’s run is gonna be really good whenever they get to it.

>thats incredible

I hope they have good ideas for Kingston here. He’s in position to do really well if they play their cards right and EK himself stays on the horse.

I had a long day for sure but the show felt long.

Now that AEW has a deep roster with badass workers and various levels of stars, they’re going to have to tell someone somewhere along the card that a 30 minute epic isn’t gonna happen for them on the show. It’s cool for star ratings but it burns the crowd out if everyone is out there kicking out of finishers and doing piledrivers. More than anything else, THAT almost hurt Hangman’s moment tonight. Almost. It was still badass with some cool little nerdy touches.

>Reigns and Paul E are still excellent. Like most, I’d love
>if they could get him more real full-time opponents. We’ll
>see.
>
>I’ve never cared much about Eddie Kingston but he’s been
>big fun across from Danielson and Punk the last 2 weeks.
>
>Cowboy shit is coming up and I’m pulling for Page at Full
>Gear. It’s kinda now or never even if he only gets a short
>Sting reign.
>
>It sucks that ROH might never be back. It’s a lowkey miracle
>that they’ve lasted this long tho. Hopefully Jay Lethal
>doesn’t just take it to the house.
>
>Impact is still sneaking around being a competent rasslin
>show. I keep saying it cuz I keep seeing it.
>
>WWE has released around SEVENTY people this year. WOW.
>
>I hate that one of them isn’t my mans Ricochet. He could for
>real be main eventing New Japan shows right now. Am I crazy to
>think this?
>
>Big E as a good-match machine hoss champ gives me joy and I
>hope it keeps going.
>
>I like lots of what AEW is doing. I like that Danielson and
>Punk are working their way up the roster and making a bunch of
>folks work real matches and look good doing it. And this
>roster continues to get pretty deep on solid rasslers. I can
>forget Miro is around and he’s damn near the best dude
>there. They can damn near just randomly make a card and end up
>with a parade of good matches. That’s a good spot to be in
>and you never know when WWE is gonna release 20 people out of
>nowhere or let a solid hand walk.
>
>
>

I know they know what they're doing and all, but there were just so many of those spots. It got a little uncomfortable for me personally.

But yeah, The match that stood out to me was Miro/Bryan. A whole different pace and style. I honestly wish AEW would trim, say, 20% off the HOLY SHIT! THIS IS AWESOME! Shit.

Randy Orton would do wonders on an AEW roster.

To me , the stuff I enjoy and enjoyed most is the stuff with a More traditional pace and better established characters

The best matches - by far - were Darby Allin/MJF, Miro/BD, and obviously Kingston/Punk.

I agree that if they leverage this well enough they can get Eddie Kingston to another level.

But then what? Then he gets to pal around with Pac and Andrade and other great guys who just don’t really ever do anything? It’s a legitimate concern and not just for EK but for anyone who’s on the ascent…how does AEW navigate these growing pains and come to terms with the fact that not every work rate horse can run every night? And the matches you DO put on the card…is there actual emotion there? Spots and spots and spots - cool, do we have a story here?

Miro/BD finish was weird, Luchas/FTR finish was Vincetastic, and I felll asleep but it sounds like the Omega/Cowboy finish was off too?

Lastly, I guess Adam Cole is having fun, but for how I feel about him this angle is so far beneath him. He should be where Omega is but maybe he doesn’t want to be.

The show felt long. Zoomed out tho, they delivered plenty of good stuff.

Sometimes I wonder if the guys booking these shows have seen too much: attitude era, Cena era WWE, vintage nwa, best days All Japan, ROH workrate HOF stuff, recent resurgence New Japan stuff, and some anime mixed in just cuz. You can see all of in AEW..sometimes all in the same match. And, like a lot of people say as a negative, they assume the viewer knows it too. For me: I’ve seen plenty of that shit, so this approach doesn’t completely turn me off even when the kickouts and finishes get obviously a tad heavy.

The biggest crime is when they do two or more of the same type of match and/or finish on the same show. It’s bad booking straight up and down and there’s no excuse. That’s WCW, ROH and New Japan at their worst shit.

On the other hand, we’d all die if they just showed up with a non-NXTish WWE show on another channel. Yes we would! We can go back in time and look: we were mostly complaining our asses off about WWE’s main roster. I was saying NXT was better before AEW came around.

So what do they do? Do they TNA themselves by trying to be WWE lite? Ick. Don’t like that as mentioned above. We know they can’t go all ROH either where it’s ‘just wrestling’. NXT, as much as I loved it’s core run, it was kinda ROH with better cameras and occasional badass simple NWA storytelling. But they were smart enough to do shorter shows. 2.5 hours and stuff. 5 matches, video package breaks, different finishers, different match types, well booked shows. There wasn’t gonna be multiple chaotic tag matches with elaborate finishes on the same show like Full Gear had for instance.

Mix this all together and AEW kinda ends up where they are…trying to mix their favorite stuff from everything they’ve ever seen and done to make one big ass mega show every time out.

Half the roster damn near has been through WWE at some point so hey..that speaks very well of the last 20 years of WWE. Aka WWE has helped a lot of people become better wrestlers and characters than they were before. But logically, WWE couldn’t do right by all of these folks even if they wanted do. The shame on them is that they clearly don’t even kinda want to do right by everyone. They’re still on their ‘one huge star and everyone else is basically food’ shit.

So here we are. TK put the money up and we get an American alternative with a fuckton of folks who most of us claimed deserved better than being openly buried on WWE TV or being stuck in Japan getting elbowed in the face and neck a lot. This is good times and I can’t get over how cool it is even as they find their way and try to figure out everything without making all of the same mistakes as all of the shit they’re drawing their inspiration from. If you have a good roster, I’m going to try to give you a chance to work it out.

Oh, and now they have Jay Lethal in position to check off some cool matches for himself on his way to retirement. And he’s not Jericho/damn near done either. Ain’t that nice.

The super great thing from last night: they finished the fucking story with Hangman. He was their ‘gonna be the guy’ guy when they didn’t know if/when they’d ever get anyone else to join who was already a star. That’s adorable now considering they’ve gotten multiple workrate machines and stars from some of everywhere. And goddamn CM Punk! It’s insanely great! But anyway, they could’ve sold out Hangman, said ‘yeah, we have real stars now so fuck this cowboy shit’. But no. Kid got in shape (he looks GOOD), they told the story, Kenny and the Bucks went above and beyond to be assholes and bitches for a year, and then, when it was time: they didn’t bullshit. They did the finish they booked towards. Kenny tried everything but couldn’t stop the train. And the Bucks did the whole ‘it’s time for us to cut the shit and quit cheating for Kenny’ deal..I loved it. We can talk a bunch of shit about nuance but again..think of all of the damn times we got stuck with WWE (and WCW and TNA) booking towards a finish then fucking it off just to swerve everyone. Or to debut someone.

Wait, 3 great things: 2nd, Darby and MJF were excellent. They pretty much stole the show out of the gate. The rest of the night felt like almost everyone trying to outdo what they laid down. Lastly, holy moly CM Punk is a smart, dynamic, and excellent wrestling mind. I raised my eyebrows when he called EK a bum during the lead up..that’s heel shit. The match and promos had obvious callbacks to Punk/Cena. It’s gorgeously nerdy wrestling stuff. I loved it and hope they have a cool direction already laid out. We’ll see. And it’s easily worth checking into.

>To me , the stuff I enjoy and enjoyed most is the stuff with
>a More traditional pace and better established characters
>
>The best matches - by far - were Darby Allin/MJF, Miro/BD, and
>obviously Kingston/Punk.
>
>I agree that if they leverage this well enough they can get
>Eddie Kingston to another level.
>
>But then what? Then he gets to pal around with Pac and Andrade
>and other great guys who just don’t really ever do anything?
>It’s a legitimate concern and not just for EK but for anyone
>who’s on the ascent…how does AEW navigate these growing
>pains and come to terms with the fact that not every work rate
>horse can run every night? And the matches you DO put on the
>card…is there actual emotion there? Spots and spots and
>spots - cool, do we have a story here?
>
>Miro/BD finish was weird, Luchas/FTR finish was Vincetastic,
>and I felll asleep but it sounds like the Omega/Cowboy finish
>was off too?
>
>Lastly, I guess Adam Cole is having fun, but for how I feel
>about him this angle is so far beneath him. He should be where
>Omega is but maybe he doesn’t want to be.
>
>

Yes, the matches tended to go long, but in most cases, it was because it was the blow-off of a feud or solid one-shot match. Which is what PPVs are for. The shortest match was the one where they're obviously going to keep things going, which also works.


The not as good:

Cody and Pac vs. Andrade and Malaki Black.
Really this was fucked up by Cody, as the work was actually solid. But when the crowd is booing the hot tag to Cody and later booing Cody saving the person they actually like, they need to acknowledge the problem. Stop making excuses and trying hard and just turn Cody heel already.

The Inner Circle vs. America's Top Team
The firs problem was that it came on the same night after the pretty grueling Supercliq vs. Christian and Jurassic Express match. It also didn't help that three of the participants were MMA guys and couldn't work, leaving it to Sky and Ego to carry everything for the heels. Dos Santo tried, but wasn't very good: He damn near landed on his head doing the standing moonsault, and was comically late stopping Jericho from doing the Lionsault. But at least it's over.


The solid/okay:

Britt vs. Conti: This really suffered because the Cody match killed the crowd, but was a good match overall. It didnt' need 15 minutes, because the finish was never in doubt, but Conti worked her ass off and looked good while doing it.

The pretty good:

Luchas Bros. vs. FTR: The end was a mess, but I liked everything before that. Probably should have found a away to end it with the Fenix Frog Spalsh.

Supercliq vs. Christian and Jurassic Express
Worked better than I thought it would and the right team went over. Mostly the point was for Jack Perry to "Kill the boy, become the man!" Funny who becoming a grown jungle brain involves smashing Matt Jackson's head in with a chair.


The very good/often great:

MJF vs. Allin
I really thought Darby would win, but it all played perfectly. It played like an inverted version of Cody vs. MJF: Darby refuses to go to the dark side, but loses anyway. And MJF will be absolutely insufferable on Wednesday.

Danielson vs. Miro
Weird ending aside, this was appropriately brutal, and you felt like Danielson survived. The finish did make sure, as awkwardly as it was executed, but of the established neck weakness.

Punk vs. Kingston
Thoroughly entertaining, and Kingston knocking out Punk before the match started was perfect. The hatred seemed real, and you could feel the crowd was conflicted. Clearly it isn't over, nor should it be.

Page vs. Omega
This absolutely worked for me, and Hangman winning was a great feel good moment. Especially him celebrating with the Dark Order. The match itself had the necessary drama. As I said above, I expected Page to kick out of the One-Winged Angel, but him giving Omega one of his own worked to. And the Bucks coming down further adds to the issues they're going to build between Omega and the Bucks & Cole.

So yeah, solid thumbs up. I'm not getting some of the complaints.

i liked the Lucha Bros tag match but all the rest could go for me.

Darby/MJF was the match of the night imo

Hangman shoulda been talking every goddamned week and Danielson went in HOT

coulda done without the dark order being around but whatever that was fuckin great

Danielson's gradual 30 minute heel turn, MJF goes off, and even 2pointOH got some quality time. 35 minutes of something i can squint my eyes at and pretend its real without feeling like an idiot

i swear to god, every 6 weeks its like someone completely different writes the show

They're over with the fans and they can eat losses. So for the build-up, Danielson can dismantle Colt, Preston Vance, and Jon Silver (probably in that order) to keep on building heel heat. Then he finally fights and loses to Page, maybe by the end of the year, even more likely for the first Dynamite on TBS.

>They're over with the fans and they can eat losses. So for
>the build-up, Danielson can dismantle Colt, Preston Vance, and
>Jon Silver (probably in that order) to keep on building heel
>heat. Then he finally fights and loses to Page, maybe by the
>end of the year, even more likely for the first Dynamite on
>TBS.

Yes. Its wrestling 101: first I'm going to beat the hell out of your friends. Then, I'm coming for you.

It works for heels and faces as the barriers. Heel American Dragon going around stomping, kicking, and kneeing underneath guys on his way to Hangman Page is gonna be a party.

rather than a fat goof in a vinyl gimp suit giving Bryan Danielson step-up huricanranas

im just over them. its been two years of them on every single TV show, and the only one who could ever realistically be in a money drawing angle died last year.

its been hammered to death for my taste, and it looks silly to me for them to be embedded into main event angles. sports entertainment to the nth degree.

im sure the fans who emotionally invest in the real lives of these people care about this, im just not one of those fans.

I would bet Danielson gives Cabana a hellacious ass-beating in front of his home crowd as the opening match on Friday. I could see a stretcher being involved too. Preston Vance obviously had no problem with Moxley destroying his mask and leaving him a bloody mess, and I doubt he'd mind if they implied Danielson broke his arm or something.


>im just over them. its been two years of them on every single
>TV show, and the only one who could ever realistically be in a
>money drawing angle died last year.

I think Brodie dying put them in a weird position. I still believe if Lee were still alive, he would have eventually fought against Page for the soul of the Dark Order. Both with Lee dead, they kind of had to become Faces.

I'd say the before Brodie's death, Jon Silver was well on his way to getting over. They've tried with Vance, probably because he's Lee Jr.'s favorite wrestler and his affiliation with the Nightmare Factory. And rubber gimp suit aside, Uno really can work.

With AEW becoming as crowded as it is, this is a good role for them, and probably why they're on TV so much. There'll always be a place for mid-card faces to be fed to aspiring mega-heels and up-and-comers. It can't always be Frankie Kazarian in those matches.

>I would bet Danielson gives Cabana a hellacious ass-beating
>in front of his home crowd as the opening match on Friday. I
>could see a stretcher being involved too. Preston Vance
>obviously had no problem with Moxley destroying his mask and
>leaving him a bloody mess, and I doubt he'd mind if they
>implied Danielson broke his arm or something.

that would certainly be the best case scenario. and i must admit i appreciate the beating 10 took from Moxley.


>I think Brodie dying put them in a weird position. I still
>believe if Lee were still alive, he would have eventually
>fought against Page for the soul of the Dark Order. Both with
>Lee dead, they kind of had to become Faces.

i dont really remember but i dont think there was any connection to page with the DO before he died, and they just did a lonely hearts club kind of thing in the aftermath. the best thing they could have done imo was disband after that really well done tribute episode.

>I'd say the before Brodie's death, Jon Silver was well on his
>way to getting over. They've tried with Vance, probably
>because he's Lee Jr.'s favorite wrestler and his affiliation
>with the Nightmare Factory. And rubber gimp suit aside, Uno
>really can work.

John Silver is actually to the point where i think they are holding him back a little bit. not like, maliciously, but in more of a "time to leave the nest little birdy" kind of way.

>With AEW becoming as crowded as it is, this is a good role for
>them, and probably why they're on TV so much. There'll always
>be a place for mid-card faces to be fed to aspiring mega-heels
>and up-and-comers. It can't always be Frankie Kazarian in
>those matches.

poor Frankie lol. that dude deserves a push, and that corny Elite Hunter thing was dead on arrival.

skipped the HFO crap and the Elite microphone segments, and otherwise that was just what i like. i hate that The Acclaimed are being pounded into dust on TV, but at least theyre on TV all the time.

Sammy Guevara's push is not enjoyable for me tho :/

his wins always ask me to stretch my suspension of disbelief like an 1/8" more than i can go, and it turns into a demonstration sport instead of a struggle. its not silliness, but like, the missed senton shouldve been it. thats a great finish, sammy has an out, and "high risk manoever" carries real meaning.

>skipped the HFO crap and the Elite microphone segments, and
>otherwise that was just what i like.

The second Elite segment was good, particularly with them incorporating Fish.


>i hate that The
>Acclaimed are being pounded into dust on TV, but at least
>theyre on TV all the time.

They'll be fine. It wasn't that long ago that Martin was getting pinned ever week, and it certainly didn't miss things up with him.


>Sammy Guevara's push is not enjoyable for me tho :/

C'mon, you're tripping. Sammy is really good and that was an awesome match tonight.

I also thought Shida and Nyla was really entertaining. I haven't been as into Rose's stuff lately, and I feel like her and Shida fight all the time. But that turned out to be weel-executed and not paint-by-numbers at all.

After the way they wrapped the Hangman stuff up so nicely and didn’t Russo Swerve us, I’m paying attention to the Elite when they talk for a while. They’ve earned it. Cornette can keep hanging onto the hate for them forever about their video game matches and some ROH shit from 10 years ago if he wants..that’s his deal, not mine. I DO agree that the matches can overstay their welcome..especially with the bucks, but I’m not violently upset about them. Tonight, they planted the shit out of those Cole vs Kenny seeds. Doing the 2nd interview without Kenny and having Cole being obviously more vocal was especially choice. They obviously get that people damn near expect Elite vs UE if it all works out contractually. C’mon Kyle!

I hope Kenny takes the time off that he needs. When I think of it, it’s kinda crazy how much time lots of main event Americans have missed in the last 25 years and still been fine overall upon their return. Think of a big name, there’s a big chance they missed time at some point in order to continue their career for one reason or another. Brian. The whole Shield. Austin. Haitch. Taker. Shawn. Benoit. Angle. Edge before the big layoff.

And that BD heel turn shit to start the show? Excellent. They planted seeds on that before tonight too. I’m really liking the good stuff like this. It makes sense that some of these signees have to turn heel to abuse the goodwill they’ve been given.

Punk vs MJF? Yes and please. This Punk ladder climb/AEW gauntlet has been a joy..a parade of good shit where lots of people are getting rubs. Aka the shit we constantly say we want is happening right in front of our faces with a guy who looked to be done with the biz forever. It’s all working on me.

I hope they have something for Kingston and Miro to do before they cool off too much.

>>skipped the HFO crap and the Elite microphone segments, and
>>otherwise that was just what i like.
>
>The second Elite segment was good, particularly with them
>incorporating Fish.
>
>
>>i hate that The
>>Acclaimed are being pounded into dust on TV, but at least
>>theyre on TV all the time.
>
>They'll be fine. It wasn't that long ago that Martin was
>getting pinned ever week, and it certainly didn't miss things
>up with him.
>
>
>>Sammy Guevara's push is not enjoyable for me tho :/
>
>C'mon, you're tripping. Sammy is really good and that was an
>awesome match tonight.
>
>I also thought Shida and Nyla was really entertaining. I
>haven't been as into Rose's stuff lately, and I feel like her
>and Shida fight all the time. But that turned out to be
>weel-executed and not paint-by-numbers at all.

Pleasantly surprised to see he's about to feud w/ Punk. Didnt see that one coming.

>The second Elite segment was good, particularly with them
>incorporating Fish.

i have high hopes that the Undisputed Era does something here, but i cant watch the Bucks emote and recite scripted dialogue anymore. their cookie cutter matches are bad enough and im ready for them to take a long walk off a short pier.


>They'll be fine. It wasn't that long ago that Martin was
>getting pinned ever week, and it certainly didn't miss things
>up with him.

he was, but he was also given a PLETHORA of shine spots along the way. The Acclaimed arent being allowed to retain any heat whatsoever. when they invited Dante Martin to join them, Dante Martin dispatched them *by himself*. where is the tension leading into a match where Dante has help? why couldnt they stack up 2-3 weeks of heat before eating said pins? they're being treated like ineffectual jabronies by a booker who doesnt know how to build heels.

>C'mon, you're tripping. Sammy is really good and that was an
>awesome match tonight.

hes an awesome athlete, and very physically talented. but his matches always have some moment that takes me out of it. tonight it was the missed senton. injured ribs and that mistake should end a match, otherwise i cant help but think about the fact that im watching a fake sport and it makes me hate myself lmao. plus im a huge Jay Lethal fan and i hate the Vince McMahon "bring a guy in to do a job right off the bat" routine.

>I also thought Shida and Nyla was really entertaining. I
>haven't been as into Rose's stuff lately, and I feel like her
>and Shida fight all the time. But that turned out to be
>weel-executed and not paint-by-numbers at all.

i fully agree. i hate that so many matchups woth history just happen to occur in the tournament setting but i really enjoyed this. wish the finish had come immediately following Ms Deeb's interference but thats a minor quibble. i also like that we have a second personal feud going for the women with Deeb and Shida.

The fact that he can seamlessly transition into heel mode without changing the character is very impressive. I love this feud already.

i was dying laughing. great stuff by him to do it a little bit at a time until he was finally maiming someone for NO reason at all.

It's been literally two weeks since the last round.

List of victims:

John Morrison
The rest of Hit Row
Tegan Knox
Drake Maverick
Shane Thorne
Jaxson Ryker


Of course, lot of former NXT people here. They've apparently cut almost every former NXT North American champion to make the main roster except Priest and Ricochet.

It also makes their whole "NXT is our development farm!" company line look suspect. They "developed" Hit Row, called them up, and cut them all within weeks. Swerve Scott was probably the only one close to ready for Prime Time.

I think it's also time to concede that Vince might actually be preparing to sell the company.

Ditch their mouthpiece, throw them on the main roster with that weird ass Sami intro. Pack your shit you’re fired

>It's been literally two weeks since the last round.
>
>List of victims:
>
>John Morrison
>The rest of Hit Row
>Tegan Knox
>Drake Maverick
>Shane Thorne
>Jaxson Ryker
>
>
>Of course, lot of former NXT people here. They've apparently
>cut almost every former NXT North American champion to make
>the main roster except Priest and Ricochet.
>
>It also makes their whole "NXT is our development farm!"
>company line look suspect. They "developed" Hit Row, called
>them up, and cut them all within weeks. Swerve Scott was
>probably the only one close to ready for Prime Time.
>
>I think it's also time to concede that Vince might actually be
>preparing to sell the company.

I think they’re just using whatever excuse to move off of people that they don’t care about. They’re deadset on the concept of ‘the show is the star’, lots of their more brainwashed fans will easily move on from any talent they drop and refuse to reasonably watch anything other than raw/smackdown, and as long as they have their main stars and the money is coming in, it’s whatever to them.

To me as an asshole who likes wrestling and just wants to see some good shit here and there no matter the brand or medium, I want them to trim down to the people they actually want. Then, FUCKING DO SOMETHING WITH THE PEOPLE THEY KEEP. It’s obvious that they’re changing directions from whatever they had planned a few years ago. So cool..do it. Let people out if they don’t fit the vision or whatever.

Quit burying folks on their way out. Don’t put out those shit rumors about attitude or whatever. Fuck that. I have one more request: if people want out of their 90-day no compete so they can show up wherever else and do something, let them the fuck out of it. Don’t be petty. It’s not the rassler’s fault that WWE changed their mind and Triple Haitch is tied up in a cave somewhere while they get rid of every small guy, old guy, and people they just don’t ‘see it’ with.

Here’s the thing zoomed out: they have to be careful with their messaging. If they create an environment where people are scared to go to WWE if they don’t fit a certain mold, they might look around and not like their roster in a few years. Maybe they get it right, almost everyone they keep looks amazing and ends up being okay enough rasslers, and the machine keeps going around their handful of key people. Maybe they get it wrong, everyone looks the same, things go down a bit cuz there’s a lack of juice with the roster, and then they have to go back to the indies to give themselves good cards again. We’ll see!

https://sports.yahoo.com/wwe-fan-charged-with-attempted-assault-for-tackling-seth-rollins-during-raw-174545345.html

Apparently dude got catfished by someone impersonating Seth Rollins a few years ago and got scammed hundreds of dollars in giftcards.

Even wilder is I'm pretty sure he's oblivious to the fact that he was catfished. He legit thinks Seth scammed him.

Here's a video of Seth years ago talking about fans being catfished by people pretending to be him: https://streamable.com/9vxjyh

in digging this burst of TV time and a little something with Eddie Kingston. Daniel Garcia is punching way above his weight class on a number of levels, but i bet he makes it a fight

and 2point0 kinda reminds me of the original heel Hart Foundation. i wish there were a babyface tag team like SCU for them to have athletic uptempo matches with, without getting into silly choreography.

one of my favorite matches ever on Dynamite

unbelievable battle. physical and intense and just fuckin great.

ive been rooting for people, ive been laughing, i stood up twice, and not going crazy for two hours made that main event fun instead of "more drugs 3 hours after i should have gone home"

fucking awesome. july 1997 level awesome.

>ive been rooting for people, ive been laughing, i stood up
>twice, and not going crazy for two hours made that main event
>fun instead of "more drugs 3 hours after i should have gone
>home"
>
>fucking awesome. july 1997 level awesome.

When the first person who comes out on a rasslin tv show is OVER AS FUCK, AND that person has the nerve to get into a highly enjoyable discussion/situation/match/brawl/whatever, the momentum is real. Punk in Chicago man…they got like 40 real minutes out of it this time. Then the rest of the show didn’t blow it. Sounds like a good raw/nitro from the 90s to me.

Danielson is OBVIOUSLY having a blast, fine ass Hayter/Thunder Rosa tore it down, and even the main had wild energy: the crowd booing the shit out of Cody and being hot for the athletic ridiculousness of everything else in the main…it all worked. To me, here’s why: AEW is doing a good job of establishing who a lot of people on their roster are. It’s often rewarding to watch. Even people who ‘look the same’ generally aren’t. And the roster feels deep because they try to DO SOMETHING with lots of their people. Even damn 2.0 can show up and get over on someone in a segment and the energy of it feels right. Aka Eddie Kingston is gonna wreck Garcia Friday and I want to see it. Aew is doing their job even on those types of matches.

Meanwhile, WWE is like 6 people and everyone else is obviously unimportant and could be future endeavored tomorrow. Everyone looks physically impressive but the stories don't have weight to them beyond Roman. Roman is the best with Paul’s shit being the best icing on any cake around. Paul being shook every time Kayla shows up is my favorite little thing in wrestling right now for instance.

And Punk’s whole shit since he got to AEW? It feels both unpredictable and brilliantly planned somehow at the same time. Everyone involved with him obviously watches the shows and shit fits together. This is where the AEW nerdy wrestling fan approach to storytelling actually works. Everything Punk has done has been magic FOR THE OTHER PERSON. That’s what he talked about ad nauseam when he was on the couch and I was calling him Phil. I thought he was selling wolf tickets and was never coming back. But I was wrong as hell and he’s doing it. Immediately. And repeatedly. And I fucking love it.

MJF was already over but now? 2 interactions with Punk have validated him even more! He’s like top heel behind Cody, who is amazingly selling the bewildered babyface who doesn’t get why folks hate him thing. Dude has been dressed like Homelander for like a year. Dude knows he’s a heel. Just like Roman knows he’s a tweener with heels around him.

It’s good times, good wrestlers, and more good movement coming next year. Wwe is going to keep cutting folks. And if they aren’t going to do right by them, then by all means..drop more people. And Big E is still having good matches all over the place. I’m even pleased with this old Nxt vs nxt 2.0 war games match coming up.

Punk calling Friedman a less popular Miz and that he'd been replaced by Britt Baker were nuclear burns.

Danielson vs. Colt Cabana was absolutely what it needed to be. He embraced being full heel perfectly, and the post match promo was great too. He'll probably destroy Alan Angels or Preston Vance in Atlanta next week. It's perfectly fitting into the whole "WWE goes out of its way to embarrass wrestlers in their hometown" thing.

The Thunder Rosa vs. Jamie Hayter match was better than I expected. And the main event was a lot of fun. They certainly hate Cody in Chicago. It still sorta seems like they're fighting the heel, what with the announcers saying that the fans wouldn't boo him in Atlanta. But that errant superkick to Pac seems like it's dropping hints.

It also sounded like Jim Ross might indeed be stepping away from announcing for a least a little. He's talked about needed to get radiation for skin cancer. At first he planned to take time off, and then reversed earlier this month and said he wouldn't miss anything. But when he did the sign off last night, it came across as one of those "You won't hear me in a while" things. He's said that he wants to do the first TBS show no matter what, so we'll see.

And the main event was a lot of fun. They certainly
>hate Cody in Chicago. It still sorta seems like they're
>fighting the heel, what with the announcers saying that the
>fans wouldn't boo him in Atlanta. But that errant superkick to
>Pac seems like it's dropping hints.

I don’t believe this was always the plan, but now they’re just rolling with it. I think Cody only becomes a bigger heel by refusing to actually turn heel. If he legitimately pulls the trigger on a heel turn, he probably gets cheered, whereas if he continues to dress like Homelander, has an absurd entrance, but insists he’s actually a good guy, he’s gonna continue to get the shit booed out of him. Think of it as almost HHH playing the role of Cena.

They teased just enough real-life intrigue so as to sell a match we’ve all seen a dozen times. And the match was good too.

https://twitter.com/theleemoriarty/status/1466245913215746051

I popped so hard when I saw this.

Though I sorta doubt Excalibur knows who DOOM is.

Or at least the whole didn't add up to the sum of its parts.

The Page/Danielson stuff was great. Danielson is playing this perfectly and having a blast in the process. And the Dark Order have ended up being perfect foils. Ooh, it's going to be sad when Bryan cripples Silver next week.

Punk & MJF was mostly great too. The Moriarty vs. Punk match itself was dope. And MJF's Hanukah suit/pajamas were awesome. But MJF did pretty much suck on commentary (the exception being "CM stands for 'Cooking Meth.'")

Wardlow was well-used. Both for having him there for MJF to cower behind and then annihilating that jabroni. I think the right play is for him to eventually win the diamond ring. And Punk should help eliminate MJF from the battle royale itself, so he doesn't even get to be in the "finals" match.

'm one the people here who likes Orange Cassidy, but man, that segment was dumb. It mostly succeeded in showing how over Cole is.

And while I mostly liked the Cody/Andrade match, it really was structured to be a "Let's give Cody a brutal win in his 'home town'! The fans will have to cheer him!" thing. It didn't help the flame retardant on his back was distracting as hell, and then he botched sending Andrade through the flaming table.

All things considered, they're doing a decent job in building towards "Winter Is Coming." But things seemed sloppy overall.

I picked it up at the Cole entrance. Everything Adam Cole is doing and everyone he's working with is beneath him. I'm sure he's personally having more fun than he was in NXT, but the Young Bucks (the Hardly Boys as Cornette calls them) and Orange Cassidy are so inferior to Adam Cole. It's maddening. The most annoying thing is Cole must not care, so maybe he isn't as special as I think he is.

And Cody can take a hike as far as I'm concerned. He just should not be main eventing your program when you have ACTUAL stars like Punk, Danielson, Page, and Miro. I'm beginning to not only be annoyed by him but to actually find him insufferable.

If Tony had left everything up to Cody, Kenny, and the Bucks all along they might be off of TV by now.

. Everything Adam Cole is
>doing and everyone he's working with is beneath him.

but now im thinking HHH knew what to do with him to keep him from his own goofball tendencies

>If Tony had left everything up to Cody, Kenny, and the Bucks
>all along they might be off of TV by now.

well lets not forget that for the first 6 months or so, Cody was the highlight of the whole company. the Jericho program was great, and the MJF stuff was great.

once he went away to do that game show tho, the wheels fell off

2point0 showed up for a minute, Thunder Rosa showed up for a minute, and i got to contemplate the unique absurdity of pro wrestling while CM Punk took a real dive in a fake sport

but beyond those 3 things it didnt do much for me as a whole

OH! and the Cornette fan all the way to the right of the hardcam shot with the OUTLAW MUDSHOW sign. he was entertaining as well.

Lio Rush is usually very good, but he was all over the place last night. Almost stumbled into a Steiner math thing. Also the segment had a strange ending…

Not as strange as that Orange/Cole segment though. Yikes!

Agree that MJF wasn’t great on commentary. Hangman wasn’t either, for that matter. The promo battle between him and Punk served it’s purpose, but I wasn’t blown away like I was last week.

no sold buckle bomb

every. single. match.

>

Hopefully its a good one! It should be fun to be in a hot crowd as long as they don't drag it too far down with Dark/Rampage/whatever tapings before and/or after. Being in the house for Cult of Personality hitting alone should be pretty cool.

Hope its a good show

Cuz ICK Takeovers! All of those good wrestlers who generally know what they're doing having good azz matches...who wants that!? And look at how small some of them are! Those guys can't matchup with a Roman Reigns or Randy Orton on the main roster. ICKY ICKY ICK TAKEOVERS!!! Uuuuu weeeeee! Or something like that.

Okay, a break from the snark: they keep telling everyone that old NXT is pretty much over with. AEW is kinda sorta NXT Black and Gold with a much bigger budget and Vince can't meddle with it.

With that, it kinda sorta makes sense for WWE to overtly pivot towards trying to build the next crop of stars. Sure, the resulting shows are rougher as we watch some of tomorrow's stars struggle to find their characters, looks, movesets/finishers, and mid-match transitions. At some point, they were going to have to get on with building up some more people who won't be 40+ in 5 years.

For example: we all get that Mandy Rose is REALLY easy to look at, but you can see her still working it out. She's faking it until she makes when she's trying to sexily/slowly walk to the ring. She still kinda doesn't know what to do in between moves or when going from offense to defense and vice versa to make it flow. I remember Charlotte/Becky/Sasha/Bayley having hella similar moments before they got it going years ago. AKA its fine for now.

I do love me some Rex Steiner. That's for sure. Looks and moves well. He looks 'athletic' in a smooth way (he's throwing people around and it doesn't look like a struggle). And he makes the right WWE faces and shit. He's obviously a potential star. I'm not tripping about his current finisher (Goldberg memorial press powerslam) right now cuz he can do it to a lot of NXT's current roster. When that's no longer the case, he'll change it to something else and he'll be good to go. Orton had the 'Overdrive' before the RKO for instance. Reigns was doing something else in NXT too. Austin had Teddy's sleeper. HBK had the elaborate backdrop before Chin Music. Hulk had the axe-handle or whatever before the leg drop. And on and on.

>Reigns and Paul E are still excellent. Like most, I’d love
>if they could get him more real full-time opponents. We’ll
>see.
>
>I’ve never cared much about Eddie Kingston but he’s been
>big fun across from Danielson and Punk the last 2 weeks.
>
>Cowboy shit is coming up and I’m pulling for Page at Full
>Gear. It’s kinda now or never even if he only gets a short
>Sting reign.
>
>It sucks that ROH might never be back. It’s a lowkey miracle
>that they’ve lasted this long tho. Hopefully Jay Lethal
>doesn’t just take it to the house.
>
>Impact is still sneaking around being a competent rasslin
>show. I keep saying it cuz I keep seeing it.
>
>WWE has released around SEVENTY people this year. WOW.
>
>I hate that one of them isn’t my mans Ricochet. He could for
>real be main eventing New Japan shows right now. Am I crazy to
>think this?
>
>Big E as a good-match machine hoss champ gives me joy and I
>hope it keeps going.
>
>I like lots of what AEW is doing. I like that Danielson and
>Punk are working their way up the roster and making a bunch of
>folks work real matches and look good doing it. And this
>roster continues to get pretty deep on solid rasslers. I can
>forget Miro is around and he’s damn near the best dude
>there. They can damn near just randomly make a card and end up
>with a parade of good matches. That’s a good spot to be in
>and you never know when WWE is gonna release 20 people out of
>nowhere or let a solid hand walk.
>
>
>

But half that team seemed SUPER bland. Melo seemed like he had something about him, and Rex Steiner is going to be a huge fucking star. But Waller and D'Angelo seemed like early aughts Smackdown (non-Six) BLAND. Like Renee Dupree bland. And Waller's the guy that Johnny Goddamn Takeover shined up on his way out?

If he was bouncing, him reuniting #DIY at the end of Wargames (and not taking the pin) was probably the best send-off they'd give him. I really doubt WWE lets him speak his peace last night unless he was coming back.

I'm going to guess he's taking time off for paternity leave and makes his dramatic NXT return in March to beat the shit out of Waller.

>If he was bouncing, him reuniting #DIY at the end of Wargames
>(and not taking the pin) was probably the best send-off they'd
>give him. I really doubt WWE lets him speak his peace last
>night unless he was coming back.
>
>I'm going to guess he's taking time off for paternity leave
>and makes his dramatic NXT return in March to beat the shit
>out of Waller.

Yep. I think he does that, loses to Waller, then leaves NXT. Then, he shows up on Smackdown for a short while. Then, he becomes a agent ala Dean Malenko back when he came over with Eddie/Saturn/some other badass wrestler who we don't/can't really talk about for his work anymore.

KOR barely got to say shit so I'm guessing he's gonna go do AEW (and soon), everyone in the back already knows it, and he wanted to lay down 2 different jobs on the way out out of respect for Haitch and Shawn.

WWE brass allegedly loves the hell out of Johnny Wrestling.

Again, I go back to that indy show in Dallas before Mania 32 (2016).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWNLive_Mercury_Rising

Johnny was there and they had him cut a promo about the WWNLive/WWE working relationship at length right as damn near everyone on the show was about to end up in WWE somehow. Tommy End/Malaki/Aliester Black, Tim Thatcher, Zach Sabre Jr, BRO Riddle, Gulak, Ibushi, Chris Hero, so many folks from that show ended up doing something with WWE. It was a crazy time capsule of a show really.

But anyway, I think Johnny's relationship with Shawn and Hunter appears to be TIGHT. AKA even if he is leaving and they know already, I think HBK (and Hunter) are really big on trying to give certain people cool/sappy sendoffs. Sure, you're gonna lose/get your shit rocked somehow on the way out, but still...giving Gargano an open mic is on-brand for them whether he was leaving or not.

As for me, I'm a sucker for underdogs and nerdy rasslers who generally do the nuances right like Johnny so that whole shit worked on me all the way.

Kinda like Cole, Gargano won me over with sheer volume of crazy good matches back to back in NXT. I get that he's little and that'll stop him from ever main eventing a Mania. But his NXT run was mostly gorgeous. I like him almost as much as I like Sami Zayn in NXT. Zayn showing up on the main roster to wrestle Cena is still one of my favs even though he tore his shoulder up and missed roughly forever after that match!

They committed to that for six freaking years. Even with the multiple injury layoffs that Ciampa had, it was always in the background looming. They even threw some easter eggs from their run in the Wargames build and match: https://twitter.com/MithGifs/status/1468222280237199364

In an era where WWE literally hates their history and expects fans to have the memories of a goldfish, they were absolutely wonderful.

>They committed to that for six freaking years. Even with the
>multiple injury layoffs that Ciampa had, it was always in the
>background looming. They even threw some easter eggs from
>their run in the Wargames build and match:
>https://twitter.com/MithGifs/status/1468222280237199364
>
>In an era where WWE literally hates their history and expects
>fans to have the memories of a goldfish, they were absolutely
>wonderful.

Yep. Those guys really outdid any reasonable expectations for that era of NXT. The DIY story was fucking great. The matches were bangers. The heat they had for most of it was IMPRESSIVE. That Ciampa with no music era? Dude...that is motherfucking HEAT. And he was soaking it the fuck up! Walking hella slow and all of that. It has to end up in a training material video package for WWE or whatever rasslin company wants to be worth a damn in the future.

Ciampa is going to put a bow on all of this shit when he makes Rex Steiner in a major way on his way out of NXT.

It is premature, but I can't help but at least occasionally think about who Roman is going to make when his time to start making other people comes. I'm oddly optimistic about it really. Cena did so much top-shelf work once HE started showing ass/jobbing for more opponents. It basically made his career story a completely different one than it would've been if he had left earlier.

when do you finally pull the Trigger on MJF?

Maybe come back to Long Island in a year and do it? Imagine him taking the title from Danielson or Punk too. Whew.

hes in the premier program anyways, front and center on TV.

he hasnt won so many matches that the title isnt credible unless he's challenging for it, so as long as hes paired with someone fun it doesnt make much of a difference if hes the champ or not

that drove WWE into just a shmoz of shitty 50-50 booking. MJF gets plenty of time; he has his group of flunkies, and he gets to look convincing no matter what the result is. He'll never be in a Jinder Mahal situation where he's treated as a joke and then get three wins and suddenly he's holding the title for six months, because AEW knows how to share the ball (as long as the Bucks aren't involved). It's the lesson they picked up from the territories - make everyone look credible enough that anyone could be put in a title program if they're getting the reactions and you wouldn't have to strain your neck to see it.

the crowd loves to hate these guys and they arent being allowed to retain any heat whatsoever. ate a pin 2 weeks ago, Caster taps out this week...well thanks for coming guys!

they and 2point0 (who continues to be fucking GREAT on television) carried the majority of the entertainment value of that match for me but the booking insists on driving home the idea that that theyre losers. meanwhile the Bucls and Best Friends continue to be SO overrepresented on TV that it makes my eyelids twitch.

i mentioned this above but at this point i firmly believe that the lack of DQ and countout finishes is now a hindrance to good booking (and not realistic) rather than a tool for good booking.

crazy match to give us on a 10pm Friday night show but I'm not complaining

>crazy match to give us on a 10pm Friday night show but I'm
>not complaining

It took a while but now they're back to treating FTR like a big deal. That was supposed to be the gift of having some tag team wrestling nerds in the mix towards the top. Better late than never. And this is a cool matchup to me. FTR classes up Lucha Bros by giving them a really good canvas to paint their athletically dope spots on. So you get the rock solid nerdy good rasslin from FTR and the 'whoa, that's pretty cool that humans can do that' spot monkey stuff from LB.

Good times..lots of good rasslers and rassling going on around us. When the companies/booking can do their part by 'making stuff matter', it all works out even better. AEW has eventually made it clear that FTR matters so I'll take it.

w/ a few tweaks he will be beloved in all of his asshole-ish brilliance when its time.

i also like that AEW actually embraces wrestlers coming to their hometowns. WWE always gets that terribly wrong.

Vince saw Bischoff bury the fuck out of Flair every time they were in Charlotte and liked what he saw

>w/ a few tweaks he will be beloved in all of his asshole-ish
>brilliance when its time.
>
>i also like that AEW actually embraces wrestlers coming to
>their hometowns. WWE always gets that terribly wrong.

Yep. When I look back at the whole last piece of Bret's WWE run, the heel in US/babyface in Canada thing was so excellent. I'm very glad that rasslin in general has not run that deal into the ground since then. So it can still happen.

And AEW has done a solid job of making their shows have the right kind of local/regional/indy feel when they go out of their way to be like 'THIS GUY IS FROM THE PLACE WHERE WE'RE AT RIGHT NOW..ISN'T THAT SOMETHING!?'. And yeah, it is a grand change from the 'Jim Ross gets fucked over every time WWE is in Oklahoma' era of WWE. Even they have tried to cut it out with that in recent years.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/amanda-jon-huber-wrestling-aew

This one was tough but still really interesting. It still sucks but hey..it is good to see how folks looked out for one another.

>Reigns and Paul E are still excellent. Like most, I’d love
>if they could get him more real full-time opponents. We’ll
>see.
>
>I’ve never cared much about Eddie Kingston but he’s been
>big fun across from Danielson and Punk the last 2 weeks.
>
>Cowboy shit is coming up and I’m pulling for Page at Full
>Gear. It’s kinda now or never even if he only gets a short
>Sting reign.
>
>It sucks that ROH might never be back. It’s a lowkey miracle
>that they’ve lasted this long tho. Hopefully Jay Lethal
>doesn’t just take it to the house.
>
>Impact is still sneaking around being a competent rasslin
>show. I keep saying it cuz I keep seeing it.
>
>WWE has released around SEVENTY people this year. WOW.
>
>I hate that one of them isn’t my mans Ricochet. He could for
>real be main eventing New Japan shows right now. Am I crazy to
>think this?
>
>Big E as a good-match machine hoss champ gives me joy and I
>hope it keeps going.
>
>I like lots of what AEW is doing. I like that Danielson and
>Punk are working their way up the roster and making a bunch of
>folks work real matches and look good doing it. And this
>roster continues to get pretty deep on solid rasslers. I can
>forget Miro is around and he’s damn near the best dude
>there. They can damn near just randomly make a card and end up
>with a parade of good matches. That’s a good spot to be in
>and you never know when WWE is gonna release 20 people out of
>nowhere or let a solid hand walk.
>
>
>

I hate the draw ending when you take the crowd THAT far, and Danielson could afford the loss. But MAN MAN MAN MAN MAN

that's, to me, the best AEW match since Cody vs Goldust from the first PPV.

Holy shit.

Once they got to the 30-minute mark I pretty much knew it’d be a time limit, but I still loved it all the same. I think it’d be even more entertaining if one of them won in the 59th minute, but oh well. They went all out and still left more on the table. That’s what a weekly show is for.

>I hate the draw ending when you take the crowd THAT far, and
>Danielson could afford the loss. But MAN MAN MAN MAN MAN
>
>that's, to me, the best AEW match since Cody vs Goldust from
>the first PPV.
>
>Holy shit.

Yep. Very very very good. And it made me feel really good about Hangman so that’s a great thing. And that’s saying something cuz I’ve liked him in AEW pretty much the whole time. I didn’t know he had this in him!

They Ric Flair/Sting, Bret/Hbk, and ROH’d the shit out of that Broadway. You know damn well JR loved it watching from the crib too. Excellent.

It’s gonna be sweet af when they have one of these types of matches and someone wins at the last minute when people have been reconditioned to assume a draw is coming. Very very very good!

...and sticking his head of the ring, I could tell it was going long, but I figured it'd be a half an hour match. The longer they went, the more apparent it was that Danielson wasn't going to win outright. Then what it crossed the 40 minute mark, you knew it was going to be a draw. You could see Page stalling for time in the last five minutes.

But no complaints, it was amazing. And you can tell they could go again. Even though Danielson could have eaten the loss, this set up a great re-match. I figure it will be on the first TBS Dynamite.

it was an hour of good television, and i appreciated that, but if Page were the challenger and not the champion thats a legit classic that people still care about in 20 years. he took all the risks (some stupid), he fought from underneath the whole time, Danielson wasted time and did jumping jacks in between playong rope break gamesl, yet Page is trying to beat the clock at the end. i dont understand what im supposed to take away from this besides appreciation for the performances bc a time limit draw with a babyface champion is weird. a heel can point to keeping the belt like that as an accomplishment, but Page cant.

this was compounded for me by Adam Page not feeling to me like "the guy". they ordained him as the guy to beat Omega, but the execution felt forced and in service of a "moment" rather than a coronation for a guy whos been kicking ass and taking names for months. the build to THIS match was good, but the build to the title reign wasnt even really a thing. their bad hanit of deciding title challengers with battle royals and ladder orgies and unseeded tournaments had undermined Page as champion for me.

kudos to Bryan Danielson however. a master class in getting one's self over regardless of the outcome. he successfully made it all about him, and im not mad about it. in fact, id like more plz.

and where's the fucking countdown? how did someone back there not tell them after the last ruined orgasm time limit draw to make it a race in the last 60 seconds?

idk man. these guys worked hard, and gave us a good match and 4 good segments of television (altho the commercials did no one any favors). but the booking continues to seem like an academic exercise on pro wrestling instead of a project designed to get people over.

otherwise the rest of the show was okay. Deeb-Shida was a bit of a letdown, and each one was better than the next one in their trilogy, which is kind of a bummer. the episode was 95% serious tho, so even the stuff i didnt particularly like didnt make me mad at myself for watching.

but Bryan is bigger than the belt. i really do not like these specific time limit matches though. if they want draws they should incorporate more double countout/KO finishes. the time limit thing just feels like a a "we cant really figure out a good finish" copout

The one against Omega established him as a force in AEW and show a bunch of cool shit he could do, while not feeling like you'd seen EVERYTHING he was capable of. It gave the fans enough while still establishing that a re-match could be even better.

Second one showed more cool shit, plus further established Danielson as an even bigger asshole than he was beating up all the Dark Order guys. He does the jumping jacks, ducks his head outside the ring, and does the posing because he doesn't take Hangman seriously as a threat. Plus, it had call-backs to all various beat-downs he gave to the Dark Order guys. And it set up a re-match down the road.

Works for me.

>The one against Omega established him as a force in AEW and
>show a bunch of cool shit he could do, while not feeling like
>you'd seen EVERYTHING he was capable of. It gave the fans
>enough while still establishing that a re-match could be even
>better.
>
>Second one showed more cool shit, plus further established
>Danielson as an even bigger asshole than he was beating up all
>the Dark Order guys. He does the jumping jacks, ducks his head
>outside the ring, and does the posing because he doesn't take
>Hangman seriously as a threat. Plus, it had call-backs to all
>various beat-downs he gave to the Dark Order guys. And it set
>up a re-match down the road.
>
>Works for me.

Yep. Page/Dragon was a nerdy and athletic party. I think time could be REALLY nice to it...especially if Page stays made. For Dragon, it's just another one. Considering he was thought to be stuck in retirement years ago, this is a cool ass gift.

For now, it told me some very cool stories that had enough tropes to it for me to pick most of it up but enough of a twist/combo that it didn't feel old in a bad way. They had NWA with the draw that was meant to shine up the babyface. They had All Japan with the heavy-handed limb damage. They had All Japan and last 20 years WWE with the 'this guy has multiple finishes and he's gonna try them all'. And that Flair vs Steamboat/ROH/indy/HBK/NXT Black and Gold nerdy call-back shit? More please!

Page was going out of his way to do all of his shit to beat Danielson, because he saw it as his 'make my title reign real' match.

Danielson is already a made man and has been that in multiple feds for hella years (sorry Ric), and he was planning to make Page another notch in his belt. But he was a little too casual about it at first, Hangman wouldn't let it happen anyway, and they both ran out of time.

These types of matches can be special if we allow them to be so. And the fact that they're happening in Murrica without WWE having to put them on? Everyone wins. WWE can continue to sacrifice NXT 2.0 to try to make some future stars. AEW can be a high budget NXT black and gold. New Japan Strong can try to do their thing. And the rest of the indies can serve as a place to give a few more misfits a place to get it together.

Danielson is basically this invincible wrestling machine

It was going to be impossible to follow that opener, but having the Wardlow squash next was a good choice. The Shida vs. Deeb rubber match was also really good, and hopefully they'll incorporate Deeb into the show more.

MJF vs. Martin was also really good. Martin too hyped at times; he also overshot MJF while flipping out of the ring. However, I honestly think MJF could have lost and it would been okay for him. I mean, clearly they were saving Punk to set up for next week's main event, but if it were me, I would have had him cost MJF the match after Starks interfered. I think they could gamed things out from there, while still having Punk eventually go over MJF whenever they meet.

'Cause, fuck 'em. That's why.

> he also overshot MJF while flipping out of the ring.

Great athlete sure but he has one facial expression no matter the situation

>Great athlete sure but he has one facial expression no matter
>the situation

He COULD figure out the faces part eventually. He's just raw as hell right now as it relates to the 'knowing when to do what and how to sell it' part.

He makes me wish Ricochet was somewhere doing something that felt like a bigger deal.

there was a period of time when he had real momentum and was getting over with me after some solid sensible wins...

and then Lio Rush showed up. Lio has cycled thru 2 gimmicks already, did a weird face turn, and now Dante has had a heel turn and then a face turn within 3 weeks, and now I dont care anymore.

…and promos. But in terms of in ring talent, the kid has it.

Went to the Greensboro show. Saw the Dark taping and the main show but I was too tired to stay for Rampage taping. got tickets for my dad's birthday maybe 10 rows up (a little above the top rope as far as eye level)

they do a way better job of keeping the crowd engaged during commercials. and AEW matches work soooo much better than WWEs w/o the TV commentary. Raw felt extremely flat in person.

Crowd lost their marbles for Sting.
Jade absolutely glows in person like she has a Saiyan aura around her

I need to watch the broadcast to see how some things came across. Especially that Orange Cassidy/Adam Cole match. Curious how much of MJF working the crowd in the main event tag match was shown on TV cause he was cutting up lol.

10/10 would go again

Everyone raves about the live experience and I really wanna see it. Thank you.

We can have a Beyonce reunion

>We can have a Beyonce reunion

I’ll sleep on it

Or possibly the late spring. Double or Nothing is scheduled to be in Vegas, so they'd hit LA/the Bay Area/Oregon/Washingston either before or after.

Can’t wait until they get here in DC in January

1) Hangman is way cooler in person than on TV.
2) They missed a lot of the outside the ring stuff in the main event match. I guess you cant get it all on camera cause there were a couple times there were 2 diff things happening at the same time. The big miss was Darby taking out one of the FTF dudes through the ring bell table.

I don't know how I'd live myself after that.

Like, maybe I wouldn't be quite as annoyed with it if they hadn't wasted Sammy's reign. But the guy only got four title defenses (Fish, Ethan Page, Jay Lethal, and Tony Nese). Mostly he got tied in that stupid fucking American Top Team angle.

It would have also alleviated some annoyance if Cody had just bitten the bullet on gone full heel with it. But they tried to make it a feel good moment by having Dustin, Brandi, and the Nightmare Factory hit the ring immediately to celebrate and then have David Crockett present him with the title. And now that they've brought back Lambert and have been setting up plugging in Cody to the angle, it seems like another attempt of "They'll have to cheer Cody now! no will want to see Top Team Guys win the title!"

FOH. Even if you want to take the title off Sammy, this fed has plenty of other guys who could take the title and showcase their skills with it.

>Like, maybe I wouldn't be quite as annoyed with it if they
>hadn't wasted Sammy's reign. But the guy only got four title
>defenses (Fish, Ethan Page, Jay Lethal, and Tony Nese). Mostly
>he got tied in that stupid fucking American Top Team angle.
>
>It would have also alleviated some annoyance if Cody had just
>bitten the bullet on gone full heel with it. But they tried to
>make it a feel good moment by having Dustin, Brandi, and the
>Nightmare Factory hit the ring immediately to celebrate and
>then have David Crockett present him with the title. And now
>that they've brought back Lambert and have been setting up
>plugging in Cody to the angle, it seems like another attempt
>of "They'll have to cheer Cody now! no will want to see Top
>Team Guys win the title!"
>
>FOH. Even if you want to take the title off Sammy, this fed
>has plenty of other guys who could take the title and showcase
>their skills with it.

Yep. This is a sneaky important moment for them. If the deal isn’t an eventually ‘revealed’ heel turn, they’re going to be stuck trying to do the WWE ‘this guy is POLARIZING! Isn’t this awesome!? We love that you’re reacting!’ thing. That would be icky for me especially when that POLARIZING character wins so much that you have no choice but to deal with that character eating up a lot of energy in the room on every show. And then the crowd is damn near fighting with the booking more than enjoying the show. AEW has mostly avoided that pit so far. Once you’re in that with marks who don’t know they’re marks cuz they know real names, good luck to wrestling company. We shall see.

Besides that, title reigns are tough. If one person has a title forever, it can get kind of stale, especially if that title’s reigns are long all the time. If you change champs ‘too much’, you’re ‘hotshotting’ and the roster loses out that way. An occasional 80s style ‘lose a belt then win it back within a few months’ thing doesn’t bother me much depending on how it’s done. And if you change champs every time a crowd doesn’t give crazy heat to the champ, you could be punishing a rassler when the booking of the show is the true issue. And AEW has the issue of CM Punk being a ‘don’t need the title’ character who is still the most over guy on the roster. I wanna see what they do.

when he hit that Tiger Driver. I almost wish he did.

He went out of his way to look as raggedy as humanly possible for that interview on SD. Just wow. I love it all so much. Historically good character stuff.

It’s wild to hear how much Paul and Roman have to push for their weekly ideas to make it to air. You’d damn near think they’d have an amount of time to fill each week. Like ‘you have Cesaro next month. We want 4 segments this week. One with physicality. Let us know by Thursday what you wanna do. Yeah, Cesaro’s so good. Holler at us.’.

>Reigns and Paul E are still excellent. Like most, I’d love
>if they could get him more real full-time opponents. We’ll
>see.
>
>I’ve never cared much about Eddie Kingston but he’s been
>big fun across from Danielson and Punk the last 2 weeks.
>
>Cowboy shit is coming up and I’m pulling for Page at Full
>Gear. It’s kinda now or never even if he only gets a short
>Sting reign.
>
>It sucks that ROH might never be back. It’s a lowkey miracle
>that they’ve lasted this long tho. Hopefully Jay Lethal
>doesn’t just take it to the house.
>
>Impact is still sneaking around being a competent rasslin
>show. I keep saying it cuz I keep seeing it.
>
>WWE has released around SEVENTY people this year. WOW.
>
>I hate that one of them isn’t my mans Ricochet. He could for
>real be main eventing New Japan shows right now. Am I crazy to
>think this?
>
>Big E as a good-match machine hoss champ gives me joy and I
>hope it keeps going.
>
>I like lots of what AEW is doing. I like that Danielson and
>Punk are working their way up the roster and making a bunch of
>folks work real matches and look good doing it. And this
>roster continues to get pretty deep on solid rasslers. I can
>forget Miro is around and he’s damn near the best dude
>there. They can damn near just randomly make a card and end up
>with a parade of good matches. That’s a good spot to be in
>and you never know when WWE is gonna release 20 people out of
>nowhere or let a solid hand walk.
>
>
>

more evidence that moves and workrates mean nothing if you can convince the people you really dont like your opponent. my wife SWEARS there's legit heat, and while she generally doesnt care about wrestling and only watches with me to spend the time together, she cares about this.

i think AEW may have a slight dilemma with their belts if Britt Baker vs Riho is meant to be a higher level of competition than Jade and Rosa.

Orange Cassidy and the human shaped marshmallow Peep known as Chuck Taylor being competitive with the Undisputed Era is a total waste of time

the UE needing the Young Bucks to beat them is considerably worse.

cause boy that landed like an off note for me. how on earth did she go out there and say that mess

“When’s the last time you got beat up by a woman and didn’t have to pay for it?” was legit funny.

And I find it interesting that even though the promo's purpose was to set up Ethan Page and Cody, it was Dustin who got involved. I guess they know to keep Cody off TV when trying to get heat on the heels at all costs.

I know not a lot folks like Best Friends or Cassidy here, but it terms of mine flow it appeared like a fine tag team brawl. Only part I didn't like was the Cutlers and the Bucks.

I’m sure it’ll be a fine match (largely because of ReDragon) but another story about the Bucks and who’s in the Elite is NOT for me.

Best Friends/Cassidy should not be competitive with UE whatsoever and the pace was out of control.

So him vs. Cole is an even matchup. Trent looks great and can go. It’s just Chuck that takes me out of it. Dude is working on a Chris Hero muffin top, but without Hero’s skills he’s really got no business being on TV with the depth of their roster.

It sucks. I used to like the guy, and it is worth noting that Best Friends had one of the best pandemic era matches with Santana & Ortiz, but I question how seriously he takes his job. I don’t think he’d have to work all that hard to get in shape, he just won’t do it.

with Orange Cassidy's jack in the box routine

and im sorry, but making Adam Cole out to be equal to the one-joke comedy wrestler seems very 1980s territorial wars, where drawing money takes a backseat to making sure everyone knows the competitor's top guy aint shit here.

Coolcoolcool.

But it’s telling that they’re only idea for shaking things up is a surprise Brock title win.

I just hope this leads to title unification down the road.

>But it’s telling that they’re only idea for shaking
>things up is a surprise Brock title win.
>
>I just hope this leads to title unification down the road.

I just hope they can get him onto the show on Mondays. He doesn’t have to be like Reigns on Smackdown (even though that would be cool). But it can’t be like it was last time when Brock couldn’t be bothered to be involved in any way. And the secondary champ was basically the real champ of the show.

Maybe Brock can beat Big E in a couple of weeks ON RAW. Then we get him and Lashley sometime after since it’s right there and it would look great. And it obviously fits with the Hoss Era they’re in.

And duh, I’m hoping Reigns ends up fine and they can get him back before we end up with Joker Rollins as champ or something goofy.

did he even get a win since he actually won the belt? just brilliant booking