this Puerto Rican crowd is fucking great

they were on 11 last night for the best ep of TV since Mania, and they seem to have found another gear tonight. theyre treating Belair-Sky like its an NWA title match, and theyve decide Iyo Sky is their woman. incredible energy.

Cody's promo last night convinced me to not even ask my mom to babysit for this bday party and just send my wife with my regards.

havent watched much Dynamite without heavy fast forward lately but ive seen enough to know that Jungle Boy is NEVER going to happen. never ever ever ever.

Malakai Black is one lucky cac

breh got that Austin/Rock pop and whatever song he came out to went hard

Liked the opening match a lot. Damn, Iyo was crazy over. Didn’t count on that.

Rollins did as much as he could with Omos. Three-way for the US tile was decent. The crowd was the best part of Zeilna/Rhea. And this Bab Buddy/Priest is perfectly fine so far as a garbage match.

But it’s clear that they needed a lot of smoke and mirrors to hold that match together.

I’ve give him a ton of credit for not being “protected” via a tag match, which is the route most of these guys go. It could be that I’m spoiled after Logan Paul vs Rollins, which was legit great.

I will say that it’s impressive that one of the biggest pop stars in the world is legit good in the ring. But they did have to pad the match quite a bit, including the 5-10 break for all the crowd pleasing run ins.

So,yeah, certainly enjoyable. And even exceeded expectations. But, still, a lot of smoke and mirrors.

That crowd was bonkers

Sky and Zelina were chefs kiss and BB didnt embarrass himself. I love that cole always has to muscle in "punishment" whenever Priest has a match.

They go and do stuff like this. Focused Brock is fucking TERRIFYING, and having him call for a fight - not a match, a FIGHT - was awesome.

and unlike Jey/KO/Sami, distance from Roman is working for him rather than taking the air out his balloon

They just had to give him that one last failure. Usos versus Solo/Roman is on its way and will be something fun I think.

But Cody's promos connecting the dots have been excellent. There was nuance, heart and all the fight you could want of a white meat babyface. And Brock getting caught slipping and now going away from "sarcastic Brock" is phenomenal. As fun as it is seeing Paul E. talk circles about how BRRRRRRRRROCK is going to continue REIGNING, DEFENDING, him shouting "LOOK AT MY FACE" was his best promo segment maybe ever.

and Cody doesnt

in regards to Brock they obviously had a VERY clear post-Mania plan for both of them and im thoroughly invested. and if these are the promos we're gonna get? whew!

Because they had to do their part in moving Jey and Jimmy on, plus they need to be in a bit of a holding pattern until they're past the Saudi show, since Sami's not allowed in and KO also won't go. And especially with all the tag teams that came over to Raw, there's a bunch they can do now. They can fight off Priest and Balor (or Priest and Dom) from Judgment Day. They can take on the Good Brothers. Shit, Ciampa's coming back- Sami and KO vs. DIY would hit REAL nice. And that's before we get into Sami and KO's interpersonal chemistry and history.

Like, even if Cody won at Mania, there are some story beats that the Bloodline still have to hit before the Usos can be moved on independent. Besides, we KNOW they can carry a story- look at their wars with New Day. That was while Roman was Hulk Cena.

This is the 3rd cage match outta 4 shows I've been to at LCA.

Um, yea that would rule

hes got another chance to pin Roman and youre shoveling dirt on him

sheesh lol

that was fuckin awesome

Ricky Starks FINALLY with something to sink his teeth into, and Jay White has successfully made me care. Juice Robinson made me care a long time ago just by looking like a fucking derelict, but I was apprehensive about Jay White. Was afraid he would irritate me in the ways Will Ospreay irritated me on occasion, but he doesnt.

A-tier TV match, highlighted by a finish that the fans didnt know how to react to. Too smarky to be happy about seeing the beleaguered babyface take the law into his own hands and run off the cheaters singlehandedly I guess, but I for one am already looking forward to getting mad about these dickheads crowing about Jay White's big win, fair and square.

Ive been saying it for like 3 years...they need a LOT more of this. This is the foundation for heat. Well done all around.

Like, seriously,they’re about to give you your own show, let you work it with your friends, probably have you headline in front of the largest live audiences at wrestling event ever, and you’re gonna risk tanking it over Ace Fucking Steel?

Yeah, this better be a work.

some story about his "difficulty" finds its way into the aether?

if there is a work at play, id guess its turning "hey I'd really like to have Ace around to help with XYZ" into some sort of hostage demand

Especially considering that the word is that AE re-hired Steel months ago. He just hasn't been on the road. I guess the "tension" would if he's backstage during Collision or not. But even that seems overblown.

are we supposed to have feelings about Punk vs Tony Khan?

might explain why TK has been getting so much promo time lately

Brock is a terrifying coward. Cody looks like a million bucks getting his ass whooped. Pride gonna goeth before the fall or is Cody gonna overcome all? Also, it CAN'T be a coincidence that he had that sitdown with Aytches. Does Cody have a date with a sledgehammer coming?

Oh shit. We're gonna Summer of Punk poor Cody.

Until Friday when Roman bumped into Solo and gave him that look then realized what he did. That small, minute, detail is what I've liked about Roman during this whole time. His actions/facial expressions tell more of the story than his words and matches. I didn't plan on watching NoC at all, but now I'm interested to see the finish of the tag title match.

>Until Friday when Roman bumped into Solo and gave him that
>look then realized what he did. That small, minute, detail is
>what I've liked about Roman during this whole time. His
>actions/facial expressions tell more of the story than his
>words and matches. I didn't plan on watching NoC at all, but
>now I'm interested to see the finish of the tag title match.

Yep. Roman and them are gonna make faces, make their Umanga-like cousin, and good times will be had.

But yeah, I'm at the point now where I'm back to not watching every weekly show anymore. I'm picking my spots and trying to make sure I see the major stuff. I'm not even sure they're doing anything majorly wrong per se, but I know I cooled off on my end and I don't want to hate watch stuff like so many innanet folks apparently love to do. I trust them to heat stuff up mighty nice by Summerfest at the latest so it'll be fine. I'm gonna play street fighter and sleep a little more.

And as for AEW, I want to be woken up when Phil is back. Until then, all of the speculation, postering, and shenanigans ain't it for me. I was over all of that when he was gone for all of those years the first time. And still, I smiled for 30 minutes at his return promo on Rampage. It was obviously a great time, a good get, and a on-brand as hell in the best way possible promo. And I watched it at least 4x over 3 days. I don't expect anything like that again, but I'll be glad to see him if he gets back and he can convince me that he's excited to be there and get back to it (and hopefully not get hurt again).

>I don't want to hate watch stuff like so many
>innanet folks apparently love to do. I trust them to heat
>stuff up mighty nice by Summerfest at the latest so it'll be
>fine. I'm gonna play street fighter and sleep a little more.
>

Yeah, I've spot watched since Mania. Things are a bit predictable between the big 4 so around July is when I'll probably start to try being a bit more consistent with watching


>And as for AEW, I want to be woken up when Phil is back. Until
>then, all of the speculation, postering, and shenanigans ain't
>it for me. I was over all of that when he was gone for all of
>those years the first time. And still, I smiled for 30 minutes
>at his return promo on Rampage. It was obviously a great time,
>a good get, and a on-brand as hell in the best way possible
>promo. And I watched it at least 4x over 3 days. I don't
>expect anything like that again, but I'll be glad to see him
>if he gets back and he can convince me that he's excited to be
>there and get back to it (and hopefully not get hurt again).

I'm so far gone from AEW its a shame. If it wasn't for this board I would've forgotten MJF was champ. I know I'll eventually get back into it but I'm ok with not watching it right now.

i started dynamite at 930 on my DVR, caught up to live, and turned it off before it was over

I'm guessing that there's going to be a lot of "returning" people in that Blackjack Battle Royale, and I figure one of them (Miro, Andrade, Pac, or even Osprey) is going to be the one to win and take the belt off of Cassidy.

Putting Punk out there as well, even if it's after the Elite win, would seem weird, especially if they decide to keep him under wraps again until Chicago.

Since he build-up to that match has been getting the stronger reaction from the crowds.

and its half jabronies. didnt see any of the people you mentioned

I know your feelings on Cassidy, but I actually think that they're telling a good story here: Over-matched slacker wins the belt, and then defends it against a stream of bigger, stronger, and/or more technically skilled opponents. He's forced to find a way to use his wits to find ways to win, but gets more injured and worn down in the process. This proceeds until he's ripe for the picking, and eventually gets smashed by the right guy to loose the belt. Then takes a break for a while.

I figured that the pay-off would be at this PPV, especially with the number of guys who hadn't been around for a while and the impending launch of Collison. Then I saw the list of participants and saw clearly all the Ari Davari/Big Bill types. Which I was not expecting.

You might be able to pull off the above ending with Sabian, who I believe was the first person Cassidy defended the belt against. There aren't a lot of likely winners otherwise, seeing as Swerve & Lee and Starks & Bullet Club are there to further their own angles. Or any number of the guys I mentioned earlier could end up being "surprise" entrants.

They could also have Cassidy run the gauntlet and win, eliminating the Best Friends and Bandido, and then have Miro/Pac/Andrade/Osprey return later that night or at the Wednesday Dynamite and squash Cassidy like a bug.

Orange Cassidy is the least obnoxious part of this

wasnt enough to determine title challengers by battle royales, now someone has volunteered to defend his title in one.

that just makes no sense, and if its about Orange Cassidy being able to say he hasnt lost in 2 years for an MJF match that will be my last segment of AEW tv

I mostly don’t care for AEW so I should start from there…

But I could totally see Tony Khan making “a deal with the devil” and aligning with MJF to keep Punk down. What WWF tried to do with Austin and Vince at Mania 17.

I’m really curious about these upcoming CM Punk reactions. I too think they bring him back in Chicago for a soft landing.

It would be awful, but if he’s avoided the temptation for 4 years, I think we’re in the clear.

...doing the off-air hellos/good-byes at events, and the occasional signing announcements. And as we can all tell, anything beyond that on-air would be a disaster. I figure he knows that as well.

Especially if he starts getting heel reactions, and they decide to go for the Elite vs. Punk for All In or beyond.

we gotta take this company to the next level brother!

backhh on trackhh!

this company!

this company!

this company!

this company!

*cue dixie guitar riffs*

Where Jericho metaphorically represents the AEW locker room.

But I agree that turning Punk into an anti-establishment Stone Cold figure would be a mistake.

I think the crowd reactions (outside of Chicago) are going to determine where a lot of this goes. In the meantime, putting him in a program with Samoa Joe is a good idea.

does Jericho represent them?

does the winner get to be President of "the company"?

my head hurts contemplating these things. the closest this should come is to be like Ric Flair talking about how it makes Jim Crockett sick to pay him such obscene amounts of money, but he knows he has to because Flair is the man

And of most of the guys you mentioned, listed, truthfully. But I figure that was your point.

But yeah, I was talking about the "locker room" in the abstract sense, but it would really be an informal version of what you listed described below, philosophy vs. philosophy. And Jericho, at least on the mic, would be best at expressing the grievances that the Elite/Best Friends/California clique faction have with Punk.

>my head hurts contemplating these things. the closest this
>should come is to be like Ric Flair talking about how it makes
>Jim Crockett sick to pay him such obscene amounts of money,
>but he knows he has to because Flair is the man

Which is basically what MJF is doing now. Without the "threats" of leaving for WWE.

there actually might be a thing worth doing here

but its not something the ppl in charge would have the stomach for

give Punk FTR, Wardlow, Starks, Hobbs, The Acclaimed, Andrade, Jade, and Thunder Rosa. their audience all knows those people have relationships, and make it about philosophy vs philosophy. let them be the avatars for people like me, the only people who can draw real heat (digital tho it may be) from AEW fans.

let them run absolutely rough shod for the next year. i mean dominant. DOMINANT.

then at DoN next year, do what WCW should have done at Starrcade 97

-Page beats Punk for the World title
-Bucks beat FTR in #5 of their trilogy for the tag belts
-Britt takes the title off Thunder Rosa
-Anna Jay beats Jade for Jades first loss
-Darby Allen beats Wardlow for the TNT title
-Omega/Takeshita/Kota Ibushi beat Starks/Hobbs/Swerve for the Trios
-Jack Perry beats Andrade for the AAC

I assume ELite vs CMFTR

but it will probably end then :(

athletic prime has obviously come and gone, but she hung in there the whole way, and she absolutely still knows how to be Trish Stratus

unfurling the red tapestries with Gunther's silhouette is... evocative, to say the least

Aside from the matches the were already under 10 minutes, all of the others could have had 5-10 minutes trimmed off of them.

Brock vs. Cody was the match of the night. Gunther vs. Ali did what it needed to do and I dug it. Didn't love Asuka vs. Bianca (aside from the finish), but it was time to take the belt off of Belair. Rollins vs. Styles was solid enough, but five minutes shorter should have been the move.

As for the main event, I liked the beginning (all the intros, the Zayn reaction/talking to the crowd in Arabic, the Zayn vs. Roman face-off) and the end (basically starting a minute or two before the ref bump). Otherwise, it my least favorite match of the parties involved facing off against each other. Don't get me wrong, the psychology and the "character work" was all top notch. And Heyman was fucking gold, especially with his facial expressions and mannerisms towards the end. But the match dragged. I understand why they decided to slow things down, and why Zayn played Ricky Morton for most of the match, but it made the middle portion a chore. I also get why Solo was the one who took the fall (Roman again gets to blame everyone except himself on Friday), but the Tribal Chief should have eaten the pin.

They are indeed advancing the Bloodline story in a very interesting direction. But they're playing with fire if they kept trying to hold off the pay-off until Wrestlemania. Roman really should lose the belt at Summerslam.

Spend the Summer with Roman going through the family one-by-one … or do Usos v Roman/Solo at MITB, then end it with Cody/Roman at SS. Summerslam is another stadium show, and I feel like the only match WWE has that can fill an NFL stadium right now is Cody/Roman. So let’s send it home. Bravo to all involved.

With Roman abandoning Solo rather than taking a pin at the end.

However, I'm worried that WWE is going to decide not to pay-off Cody/Brock until Summerslam. Which would be too much.

Especially the last third.

First for the bad and the not as good:

I feel bad picking at the pre-show match, but man was it rough watching Jeff Hardy. He was blowing spots and slipping off the ropes and just collapsed for no reason during the finishing sequence. I'm going to hope it was him being out of shape and getting gassed, rather than the alternatives.

The Cole/Jericho match was a disaster. I have no idea why they insisted on introducing Sabu to the mix, considering how old and beat to shit he was. The splash on 2.0 through the table was just was sad. Then him, Strong, and JAS completely disappeared after those first few minutes, so, like, what was the point? Only thing that worked was Britt running in to beat on Jericho was the Kendo stick.

The women's title match was whatever. Hayter is apparently legit hurt, so I'm not going to hold that against her. She did as best as she could and took the pin.

The House of Black vs. The Acclaimed was fine. Caster completely disappeared (hope he wasn't injured) and Bowens also played Ricky Morton for most of the match. Decent, but unremarkalbe.

Wardlow vs. Christian had a few insane spots towards the end, but it was overall a clusterfuck.

The stuff I liked well enough:

Battle Royale was enjoyable. Did a good job of advancing Starks vs. Bullet Club Gold, made Big Bill look like a monster, and gave Swerve some primo spots. And I thought the ending was great. Keeping it on OC was the right move here. But eventually he should still get squashed.

FTR vs. Lethal and Jarrett was a Memphis-styled match with a lot of Memphis-style nonsense. I may thoroughly dislike Karen Jarrett, but her El Kabong-ing Aubrey got her molten heat. And ?eff ended up taking the pin, which worked.

The stuff that worked well:

Overall, the match(es) with Jade were good. The first match with Taya was probably the best match she ever worked. And then her losing to Statlander turned the PPV around into firmly positive territory. Feel good moment, and it was time for Jade to move on. She's been getting better, but had been treading water for at least a year. Time to find something else for her to do.

The four-way match was the best match of the night. Excellently mapped out and executed. Told a whole bunch of compelling stories. Made people cheer for Sammy. And continued the side-headlock takeover joke. They need to find him a compelling next opponent for MJF. Possibly one that beats him. Don't know if you pull the trigger now on Wardlow. Or you build up Punk, but they need someone out there with a legit chance.

Anarchy in the Arena worked well for me. Yes, the beginning of the match was a bit of a mess, as the backstage crew was still figuring out what should be on the screen. But the match was a lot more coherent than the last one. And they got their footing as the match progressed. Things became easier to follow after the Bucks super-kicked the singer. And after Claudio dumped Matt in the back of the truck, most of the action was either in or around the ring. Oh, and the ref bleeding was a nice touch.

Though I did guess beforehand that it would be the final match of the night. and figured that Takeshita would show up and join the BCC, I am a bit surprised that the BCC went over and they sent crowd home unhappy two PPVs in a row. Like, I at least expected Okada or Ibushii to show up at the end and set the stage for the Forbidden Door 2. But... nope. BCC wins, fade to black.

So even after the bumpy start, the various entertaining matches in the beginning and the final few matches ended up making this a thumbs up.

>FTR vs. Lethal and Jarrett was a Memphis-styled match with a
>lot of Memphis-style nonsense. I may thoroughly dislike Karen
>Jarrett, but her El Kabong-ing Aubrey got her molten heat. And
>?eff ended up taking the pin, which worked.

Ok, this is right up my alley. I gotta check this match out lol.

I need more of them riffing on tag matches.

I was reading a few of the old OKPW posts over the weekend, and then the LIV basically buying the PGA further made me reflect on it.

It came out that he was doing all types of questionable/foul shit and then he stepped down from the board. Less than a year later, he pushes himself back onto in power, forces out everyone who moved against him, announces he's only back to sell the company, and works out a multi-billion dollar merger. Now he's back like he never left, is more powerful than ever, and is rolling in dough and making weekly creative decisions. All in a publicly traded company.

I can't think of a single other sport where something like this would happen except pro-wrestling.

>I can't think of a single other sport where something like
>this would happen except pro-wrestling.

Feels like this could’ve happened in FIFA like 15-20 years ago, but not today lol

I was wondering how much Saudi Arabia “sportswashing” their image with WWE helped them get this deal with PGA. Probably a big factor.

But there’s a lot of Vince in him too. Especially where his Number One Boy is concerned.

Vince came back from a 3-1 deficit on this one

theyre literally taking everyone i like (except Darby and Swerve apparently), and putting them on their own show. punk might even be booking this thing.

FTR, Punk, and Ricky Starks have common enemies and that makes me very very happy. make this war games please, and let punk lay the match out. if Samoa Joe in here, maybe Hobbs sees the error of his ways, and there's your 5v5.

Thunder Rosa is back. dare i hope for Serena Deeb? Statlander and Jade would be nice, but that would put the TBS belt on the TNT show

Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Miro, Buddy Murphy (+Julia), Andrade (who i wasnt huge on before, but he popped Guevara in the mouth and made me a fan)...thats a lot of big strong athletes.

if they keep Excalibur off this show, and then just about everything is in place. everybody on the show can be real on TV, and if they are presented in an atmosphere of real, its going to be very interesting to see how they do. people will make time at 8pm on a Saturday if its good, because theyre definitely aiming for fathers our age and our sons, and if that's not you, what kind of loser goes to the club at 9pm anyways?

obviously im genuinely excited about this. if this show sets a standard, and builds legacy and tradition, it might actually be something my kid and i will be able to sink our teeth into as he grows up. i would honestly get sad sometimes watching bad wrestling on TV, thinking Tavi and I would never be able to get into it the way my I did with my dad, who kayfabed me masterfully until i just kind of gradually figured out the fix was in. it warms my heart to think that dream may live yet.

I'm lowkey excited as well. But I'm not carrying many expectations with me. I'm hoping like hell on a few things though!

- Punk stays healthy.
- We get a show that has some level of 'differentiation' to it.
- The 'other folks' go out of their way to do their best stuff too, so that people can get 'good stuff' overall and then it just comes down to preferences.

I fell off the grid over the last few months. I'm still watching off and on but I'm not quite as engaged in any rasslin.

>theyre literally taking everyone i like (except Darby and
>Swerve apparently), and putting them on their own show. punk
>might even be booking this thing.
>
>FTR, Punk, and Ricky Starks have common enemies and that makes
>me very very happy. make this war games please, and let punk
>lay the match out. if Samoa Joe in here, maybe Hobbs sees the
>error of his ways, and there's your 5v5.
>
>Thunder Rosa is back. dare i hope for Serena Deeb?
>Statlander and Jade would be nice, but that would put the TBS
>belt on the TNT show
>
>Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Miro, Buddy Murphy (+Julia), Andrade (who i
>wasnt huge on before, but he popped Guevara in the mouth and
>made me a fan)...thats a lot of big strong athletes.
>
>if they keep Excalibur off this show, and then just about
>everything is in place. everybody on the show can be real on
>TV, and if they are presented in an atmosphere of real, its
>going to be very interesting to see how they do. people will
>make time at 8pm on a Saturday if its good, because theyre
>definitely aiming for fathers our age and our sons, and if
>that's not you, what kind of loser goes to the club at 9pm
>anyways?
>
>obviously im genuinely excited about this. if this show sets
>a standard, and builds legacy and tradition, it might actually
>be something my kid and i will be able to sink our teeth into
>as he grows up. i would honestly get sad sometimes watching
>bad wrestling on TV, thinking Tavi and I would never be able
>to get into it the way my I did with my dad, who kayfabed me
>masterfully until i just kind of gradually figured out the fix
>was in. it warms my heart to think that dream may live yet.

I pre-love this show already. I’m just trying to keep my expectations reasonable. It’s a weekly show on Saturday. But it’s standing on the verge of being on like a mfer, ain’t it!? We don’t have much longer to wait so we’ll see, Uce.

serious commentators, serious wrestlers, personalities that can talk, a fence around the yard to keep out stray dogs, and an only slightly worked shoot angle to anchor the first episode...there's nothing left.

and even if the booking muddles along in an..."unrefined" way, that goes down a lot easier with people I can believe in. Samoa Joe for example, can make a lot of mid shit work just because he's Samoa Joe and he's real.

ive stopped managing my expectations lol. bring on that sweet sweet sports-based presentation!

that kind of thing used to come with financial consequences

the announcers have to act like they dont know what happened, because Kevin Harlan forgets the rules for football all the time

no drama, no race against the clock, no crescendo

just, *bleh*

so the visible clock wouldn't have worked, because they HAD to have the visual pin for that draw, and not a kickout a second before the bell/BOOM before a cover on the bell. They could have used announced time cues from Roberts, but they never do that so you would have KNOWN a draw was coming.

I'm totally fine with that finish, especially with Cole being the wronged babyface and MJF being the chickenshit who walked out of the extra 5, and who will now probably kick Cole to the back of the line since he didn't win the match. Then we can have a summer of Cole chasing until Fyter Fest or All In.

but ive seen that done with pinfalls before. if you dont know hes racing the clock, where is the tension?

and the idea that they cant do it right because they dont apply it to every match is maddening to me. if theyd done it on the last two shows it would have been fine last night.

Their selectivity about rules enforcement drives me BONKERS.

So yes, they should have Roberts calling time cues if he's going to announce a time limit at the beginning of a match. But until they start doing that and do it with consistency, that shit is going to be a dead giveaway if they bring up time during any match that's not an ironman.

It happened right after a big spot (MJF finally hitting the Heat-Seeker), so it was a bit hard to notice. But, yeah, you really could tell in the first five minutes that the match was headed for a draw.

Yes, AEW is inconsistent with enforcing the rules, but no more than most federations. Rule enforcement only exists there to set-up match storylines, and a team like FTR is about the only team who has cared for used about making the rules part of the story of their matches.

I can only think of a handful of times when it's added anything to the match. Off the top, Rude vs. Steamboat in WCW, and that had the Face champ vs. the heel challenger dynamic.

I didn't mind this at all. I could tell within the first five minutes that they were setting up a draw. Roberts called "20 minuntes!" after MJF hit Cole with the Heat-Seeker, and that was enough for me. The announcers getting so wrapped up in the match that they weren't checking the time worked for me.

The match did what it was designed to do, which was make Cole look like a legit threat after a Jericho feud that ended very badly. It's a piece of building him as a challenger (possible future champion) for MJF at All Out.

>I can only think of a handful of times when it's added
>anything to the match. Off the top, Rude vs. Steamboat in WCW,
>and that had the Face champ vs. the heel challenger dynamic.
>
>I didn't mind this at all. I could tell within the first five
>minutes that they were setting up a draw. Roberts called "20
>minuntes!" after MJF hit Cole with the Heat-Seeker, and that
>was enough for me. The announcers getting so wrapped up in the
>match that they weren't checking the time worked for me.
>

>The match did what it was designed to do, which was make Cole
>look like a legit threat after a Jericho feud that ended very
>badly. It's a piece of building him as a challenger (possible
>future champion) for MJF at All Out.

Cole NEEDED that match BADLY. AND, not shockingly, he handled his business once he got a chance. He's never going to stay over having 8 minute TV matches or even the more shenanigan-filled matches that some guys love having and others need to have. None of that is his strength. And for all of the bellyaching about how small he looks lately, he was never a body guy ever.

He wins people over with his ROH/wannabe NWA/really good indie good match rasslin. He can GO and he basically never looks tired. Pretty much all of his shit hits. He does the moves that people like to see/give their CAWs on rasslin video games. He can build to a good finish and then execute an exciting set of false finishes, reversals, and all of that. He can slow it down and speed it up for real in a way that a lot of old school people claim to want/like/appreciate.

Feuding with Jericho kinda sux for a few reasons. But outside of the salacious bullshit that people love to go on and on about, it seemed like Cole got screwed cuz Jericho can't physically GO like that to give Cole a dance partner. And Cole NEEDS that in order for what he does best to work. And that's fine. So now, they just need to keep giving him those situations, keep him around smaller guys in general, and go from there once he's over again.

Every match starts with the ring announcer mentioning the time limit and New Japan also has the ring announcer say “5 minutes passed… 10 minutes passed” and so on for every match. It accomplishes a couple things:

1) subtly contributes to a “real sport” feel.
2) As a fan you sorta just become conditioned to it, and then on the rare occasion* when it DOES come into play on a draw/near-draw THEN the fans get hyped over those last few minutes.

*they’ve introduced a title where every match has a 15 minute limit, and while I like the title/champion, they are definitely running the draw/near draw thing too often the last few months.

but it was a very good match

Also Roman made those superkicks look INCREDIBLE.

>Also Roman made those superkicks look INCREDIBLE.

They’re all going into the hall of fame for this stuff. I can’t imagine what they have as the ‘conclusion’ of this thing. But they’ve stacked so many cool moments into this whole deal. And so many good wrestlers got to do the ‘character’ thing with this story as the vehicle. Excellent stuff.

And Roman..imagine someone trying to tell us five years ago that something like this was coming! Just wow. He’s been awesome in pretty much all of the ways that most people claim to want their king shit superstar main event mfers to be. He drives tv. His matches jam. Most of his time-filling bullshit is riveting and ends up with some kind of worth a damn payoff. People are getting over off of him all over the place. He can get a segment over just by changing facial expressions at just the right time. He’s managed crowd shenanigans, worked in basically all of them breaking character when Sami messed around and ‘got too over’ and ‘too funny’, and made sure that every ‘key moment’ got the absolutely fucking most out of him. The off-mic phrases. The faces. The selling. The ‘storytelling’. Cmon! It’s been wonderful.

And when he finally drops the title? Forgetaboutit…that person is almost certainly gonna be MADE. I wanted it to be Cody a few months ago. I felt like a big ole bitch ass mark when they pulled the rug on it. Now, I don’t even know. But I’m starting to trust them again to get it right whenever they do it.

That was damn great.

Punk just said he’s hanging on to his belt until he’s pinned or submitted. MJF “might not show” for Forbidden Door. Could it be?

what a difference Kevin Kelly makes. there were audio problems but he sounds like a professional sports PbP guy. Nigel is kind of a dick but he didn't bludgeon me to death with it. JR fit in nicely to the flow but his voice and the audio mix were a bad combo.

they followed the goddamned rules for the VAST majority of the night, and they had one rowdy jumpstart the whole night, which made it fun in the women's match. saraya has failed to launch for me but Ruby and Storm are able to make me care about them. Willow has potential and cones across as genuine amd endearing. Winning that NJPW title put a little confidence in her it seems.

Andrade and Buddy Matthews...wow. An absolutely great match, best of the night with good competition. Buddy and Julia have something worth exploring; I could still do without the other 2 and be fine. I appreciated that the post-match beatdown was the only one and that it was really just one clothesline and some shit talk, which made that fun too.

Luchasaurus and Wardlow...what the fuck man?? where the hell did that come from? 😂. This would have heen the best TV match of the year (including the celebration) in all of AEW if not for two other matches on the very same show. Christian is unbelievable. I know it's not the biggest stage, but hes as good as anyone anywhere at being on TV, including Cody, Reigns, and Heyman.

The main event was a real tag match for 90% before the chaos started and it was perfectly balanced. Samoa Joe continues to force me to take him seriously, while Juice continues to make me think he might actually be deranged.

This was the best wrestling show ive seen since i relapsed 4-5 years ago. It flew by, everything felt important and real, and i dont have enough time or energy to truly put Kevin Kelly's contribution in its proper place. What a night and day difference from listening to that idiot growl and stutter his way through Dynamite.

This standard of action, presentation, and production is must-see TV imo.

A+ of a show, and given that matches thru breaks isnt going anywhere or specific to any one show or company, i really have no notes.

First off, Nigel is my dude. He was a GLORIOUS rassler and I've liked his announcement work for a good while too. And yeah, I'm with on Kelly. He was a little off last night but I trust him cuz he's got a rock solid run of goodness in his portfolio.

The AEW roster is big enough that they could do a show something like this regularly, even if they tried to keep it to the style and approach they had tonight.

I'm glad that they didn't go out of their way to do shocking return festival. They already had a high number of known returns on the docket with Phil at the top of it. As for him, he got a piece of his piece out and got out of the way of the show. And then, people showed up and GOT PHYSICAL with each other, as you, me and many others had hoped!

They did good work. A lot of people looked as good as they've looked in a good while..and it wasn't really because of any dramatic shifts really...just a little more 'consistent' approach to the show with Punk bookending the thing and everything in between his showings being people with a look on their face like they're getting another shot at their rasslin lives on Collision. Maybe we're overselling it, but that's how it felt watching it.

And even better, they have some other known entities coming. Like..I wanna see Hobbs whoop somebody's ass with that signature snarl he has until they build him up to another notable confrontation. And if they give me Andrade going one by one through HOB, I'll be impressively happy. And really, don't let Andrade talk in any language. He's generally accepted as terrible in those backstage skits. Let him be the king shit rassler he is and let the announcers fill in any blanks. He doesn't have to be The Rock or anything.

It sucks that Jr had some kind of big fall and obviously wasn't right on the mic when he came on. I hope he can get as right as a dude his age can get whether he ever says another word on the broadcast or not. I've known the sound of his voice well as hell since Midsouth Wrestling in the 80s. BUT if he needs to curl his ass up somewhere, then people can call him up and ask him 'do you think this shit would be good, JR?' type questions and someone nearby can go and check on him. Regularly. I am not interested in getting the sad tweet that JR got found dead at his house on some self-medication stuff. Dude should have hella money to have someone watching him plus some industry people doing enough to fill in some blanks. And if he doesn't, come the fuck on, Tony and Trips..get on it.

>what a difference Kevin Kelly makes. there were audio
>problems but he sounds like a professional sports PbP guy.
>Nigel is kind of a dick but he didn't bludgeon me to death
>with it. JR fit in nicely to the flow but his voice and the
>audio mix were a bad combo.
>
>they followed the goddamned rules for the VAST majority of the
>night, and they had one rowdy jumpstart the whole night, which
>made it fun in the women's match. saraya has failed to launch
>for me but Ruby and Storm are able to make me care about them.
> Willow has potential and cones across as genuine amd
>endearing. Winning that NJPW title put a little confidence in
>her it seems.
>
>Andrade and Buddy Matthews...wow. An absolutely great match,
>best of the night with good competition. Buddy and Julia have
>something worth exploring; I could still do without the other
>2 and be fine. I appreciated that the post-match beatdown was
>the only one and that it was really just one clothesline and
>some shit talk, which made that fun too.
>
>Luchasaurus and Wardlow...what the fuck man?? where the hell
>did that come from? 😂. This would have heen the best TV
>match of the year (including the celebration) in all of AEW if
>not for two other matches on the very same show. Christian is
>unbelievable. I know it's not the biggest stage, but hes as
>good as anyone anywhere at being on TV, including Cody,
>Reigns, and Heyman.
>
>The main event was a real tag match for 90% before the chaos
>started and it was perfectly balanced. Samoa Joe continues to
>force me to take him seriously, while Juice continues to make
>me think he might actually be deranged.
>
>This was the best wrestling show ive seen since i relapsed 4-5
>years ago. It flew by, everything felt important and real,
>and i dont have enough time or energy to truly put Kevin
>Kelly's contribution in its proper place. What a night and
>day difference from listening to that idiot growl and stutter
>his way through Dynamite.
>
>This standard of action, presentation, and production is
>must-see TV imo.
>
>A+ of a show, and given that matches thru breaks isnt going
>anywhere or specific to any one show or company, i really have
>no notes.

i figured he blew his voice out just by using it

what i think happens...is that JR gets fucking STONED, ripping doobies like RVD on April 20. i stopped listening to all of Conrad Thompson's podcasts a long time ago but I remember listening to a watchalong with JR and it was obvious this dude was absolutely fried lol.

>i figured he blew his voice out just by using it
>
>what i think happens...is that JR gets fucking STONED, ripping
>doobies like RVD on April 20. i stopped listening to all of
>Conrad Thompson's podcasts a long time ago but I remember
>listening to a watchalong with JR and it was obvious this dude
>was absolutely fried lol.
>
>

Yeah. I could buy into that…some kind of ‘self-medicating’. But shit, in and out of the rasslin world, that’s a recipe for ‘found dead in the house..he had been grieving, yawl’ storyline.

set up an 8 man tag straight out of my own fantasy book

Mens Owen Hart tournament is full of serious competitors and will happen on Collision

Swerve vs Tanahashi on Collision

i might even order Forbidden Door to show my appreciation, which appears to have been has been booked much more sensibly without all the multi-person matches and NJPW's white dude contingent

https://youtu.be/zyMEYNXJeEk

oooh wee!

Starks was threatening to pop his compatriots, all nodding along and dropping in like Funk Flex with Royce or Black Thought in the studio

and Juice...Juicey Juice! what a fuckin psycho and Jay White is a perfect pairing.

and finally...The Gunn boys. lets not ever send them to family therapy again, and keep this going. this is THE heel tag team of 2025 if they stay together.

this is all i want out of wrestling. i cant fuckin wait for Saturday.

i dont need Jericho, and Tanahashi looked severely limited athletically (Swerve gets a gold star for working that hard on his behalf)

but

nothing was "bad" or dumb. Andrade is gonna get himself over for real and that was the best Brody King match ive ever seen. Christian was Christian, which means quality every single time out.

Willow vs Nyla Rose was a good match that id like to see run back again sometime, and Skye Blue does a better run-in than
Hangman.

the main event delivered in a big way. Ricky Starks got big time reaction and a couple moments of babyface fire that made me sit up in the chair. he's headed for a long term role in the top 3rd of the card, and hes quite obviously got a big fan in Punk. everybody had moments of quality entertainment while maintaining the thing within the lines of a tag team match done by the rules.

this show had to serve a lot of masters as a go-home for a constantly evolving card, but the end of the show left a great impression on me. here are the top good guys, here are the top bad guys, and the top bad guys arent going anywhere without an unfair fight.

i love this so far. im looking forward to getting on the other side of the PPV and into what the regular rhythm of the show will be.

Overall, an excellent PPV, with a super-hot crowd and some of the best matches of the year.

Osprey with Omega was amazing and executed perfectly. The flase finishes at the end were very well done and insane. Minor quibble was Callis just coming back after he got kicked out, but overall it was awesome. Osprey absolutely ruled.

Danielson and Okada kicked ass as well. Ending caught me completely by surprise. Me and the homies I was watching with were in shock that Okada tapped out. This seems like the exact match that Danielson would lose, but he got a huge AEW signature win.

Another favorite was the four-way; now I'd really like a Zack Sabre and Orange Cassidy blow-off. The Elite/Kingston/Ishii vs. the BCC was a lot of fun; Takeshita is fucking owning as a heel. Storm vs. Willow was a lot of fun. Punk was a good sport about being hated in Toronto, and trolled the crowd in response. Still put on a good match.

MJF vs. Tanahashi was solid, but it's clear Tanahashi is really old now. Sanada vs. Jungle Jack was also pretty entertaining, and the heel turn at the end was the right choice. And Taz did an excellent job selling it for his kid.

Only clear miss was the six-man tag match. Didn't help that it came after the Osprey/Omega match, and the crowd was fried. But it was also oddly slow and lacked any distinctive personality. I was really hoping for something better.

I also realized after the PPV was over that there was no Adam Cole match as promised. Apparently Cole was sick. Worked out well, as the card was already pretty packed.

So, yeah, they're getting good at these. I figure the next one will be in Japan. Just gotta figured if they do the Osprey/Omega rubber match at All In or Wrestle Kingdom. Same with the Danielson/Okada rematch.

my lil man had his sleep schedule all discombobulated yesterday and he was up past 9

for whatever reason i cant pause or rewind, like its set to "live only" like a sports stream, so by the time i was ready to sit down i missed a few matches already and said fuck it

this has dicked me in the past when BR has glitched out during a main event and i couldnt go back when the stream cleared up. theyve outgrown BR, and Comcast Universal infrastructure makes watching WWE events soooooooooo easy.

You can pause and rewind through the app when you’re using one for whatever reason. Like you said, watching it through the app on my TV is a fucking awful experience

And yes, they’re long past due for a real streaming deal. I’m surprised that when they signed their new TV deal with Time Warner, they didn’t work out something with Max as well. Seems like the type of thing Zaslav would do in anticipation of the various strikes.

that Lizzo concert deal was streamed live the first time around, but that was uniform for all subscribers

they may be waiting for Max to allow PPV functionality, bc i dont think thats part of the app yet in general

Clash at the Castle, Backlash, MITB all were lifted by the crowd. The moment Vega hit the Code Red on Stark the crowd went bananas. And when Jey pinned Reigns? Electric. This was a good show all around.

BC Gold with the group promo of the year bc they involved Schiavone and let him keep it moving for them

that was a fast fuckin hour

Starks and Juice at 9pm

beasts beating up jabronies

good guys good guyin'

bad guys bad guyin'

might be the single best hour of TV ive seen in decades. AEW is now responsible for a great TV show, and i will absolutely be going when it comes heres

im gonna remember this episode of TV in my list of episodes of TV ill always remember, anchored by the BC Gold promo.

like Eddie Gilbert bringing out Steamboat, or Flair using the little Stingers, or Stone Cold "live or memorex"

i have nothing in the way of critique, and i cant wait till Saturday.

Kind of a chicken and an egg thing , but the show made the crowd and the crowd made the show

There were some Austin 99 pops in there tonight, when McIntyre returned, when Cena came out and then mentioned Wrestlemania, when the Usos kicked out of the stack pin together. Epic ovations.

The Bloodline remains top tier TV.

The stack powerbomb at Mania. Chopping Riddle’s ankle five times before tapping him out. It’s so creative and so specific to the match.

>when the Usos kicked out of the stack pin together. Epic
>ovations.
>
>The Bloodline remains top tier TV.

that's the loudest non return pop/big Mania match pop win I've ever heard. And that Samoan Spike/Spear combo was vicious.

Bc what that kick out confirms is that they 100% know what they’re doing. It completely subverted expectations, I mean the crowd was already chanting “bullshit” before the ref even got back in the ring. Everyone knew it was the same old shit…until it wasn’t.

but its gonna be Jey and Roman headlining SummerSlam isnt it?

Jey/Roman and Cody/Brock 3 is a weighty top of the card. either could be THE main event of any PPV, including WM.

i think i would appreciate them a lot more. in between "spooky" bits theyve had some good matches, and julia hart is a legit prospect. aleister black did a nice lil pretape interview too.

i can even buy the hijacked monitor. that only takes a computer.

and next week its 2 out of 3 falls

holy moly

Have them split the first two falls and then have a time limit draw for the third fall. Maybe set up the rubber match for All In or something.

2 out of 3 falls matches should be definitive

but tbh i dont really care what they do. the show has been good enough that im content to go along for the ride.

i will say i was surprised they won. Kevin Kelly FINALLY AFTER 3 YEARS explaining that losing an eliminator match means you cant challenge the current champs again left me feeling that was a convenient way to send Jay+Juice off on their singles paths.

but this is cool too, so whatever they do will probably be fine with me from a critical standpoint. everything else has been.

Like when DIY beat FTR/The Revival on the NXT PPV.

But setting up a trilogy sorta makes sense to me. They're using these matches with FTR, Punk, and Starks to establish Collison's identity and make it must watch TV, but I feel like they might want to pay it off where it can help the buyrate down the road.

(Come to think of it, I think the second of FTR vs. Briscoes trilogy of matches was two out of three, but I could well be wrong)

i figured this would be the match we had to pay for, and i assumed it would be at a PPV

i know its a long way away, but seeing each team wrestle tune-up matches and talk shit for a while would probably have been fun to watch

incidentally, i think this is a good instance of why AEW could stand to do 6 ppvs a year not incl FD. they end up doing stuff on TV that they could sell instead, just because theres like 3-4 months between ppvs sometimes. then maybe 2 more PPVs means they could shave an hour off these runtimes and present a tighter show.

>incidentally, i think this is a good instance of why AEW could
>stand to do 6 ppvs a year not incl FD. they end up doing
>stuff on TV that they could sell instead, just because theres
>like 3-4 months between ppvs sometimes. then maybe 2 more
>PPVs means they could shave an hour off these runtimes and
>present a tighter show.

I agree with this. Right now, they're often doing 4+ plus hours of PPVs based off one 2-hour TV show. And now they've added two more hours? Which is based on "serious" wrestling? Six PPVs plus FD is a good idea.

I'm interested in seeing how the All In/All Out on Successive weekends goes, and how much talent overlap between cards. I can see every person on the roster wanted to get in on All In and the Wembley crowd, but it would make sense to divide things up. Especially having the CMFTR vs. The Elite in Chicago for All Out makes the most sense.

You beat the champ you should get the title imo. But they played really nicely with that and a tired Dax losing track of who was legal was the best way to thread that loophole.

Also, Joe/Punk on free TV was beautiful. They got Hobbs out of QTV. Great ep of Wrestling TV man.

and the idea of a challenger being ruled out of title matches if he loses makes sense, but an "eliminator match" was already a real thing in boxing. its a match between 2 contenders to determine the champ's mandatory title defense, so its confusing and weird to appropriate that term and put it to mean the exact opposite of what it already means.

how about Cash getting a crowd pop for a fucking FIREMAN'S CARRY? unbelievable lol

great episode. loved the finish to Joe/Punk for more later, loved a lil tension at the end with Starks, and I think Hobbs may be coming into the light to even the odds.

cant wait for Saturday

Usually it's to tell people to look out for a previously under pushed or up and coming talent that the champ is "too big" to stake the belt against this guy. Then you have the non-title challenger hang in there or sneak one to give them a little credibility. This way is just ass-backwards.

I'd love to see AEW bring back the Parejas points system from Chikara if they want to add stakes to a contender building towards challenging for the title.

is this the first one of these a challenger ever won?

i get the vibe that they wanted to have these guys involved with each other, but that they also want to get in and out of it quickly. so FTR loses to create some vulnerability rather than have Jay+Juice destroy people for a month and build it the old-fashioned (and correct) way.

one thing about AEW's longview booking that ive always hated is that it feels like they treat PPV cycles like anthology shows like White Lotus or American Horror Story, where the guys that hated each other on Saturday have completely moved on by Wednesday. so everything just sort of meanders along until 6-8 weeks before the PPV and then they have 2-4 weeks to hastily wrap up whatever they had been doing so that they can start the PPV programs.

this falls under the "whatever they had been doing" category

The cold open rapid fire talking head stuff that led off the show was fantastic. If they keep that up it will go a long way to distinguishing it from Dynamite and keeping me interested. It solved a big problem for me where most episodes of wrestling have to start one of two ways:

1) Talking segment to set up stakes, but it goes on too long (WWE problem)
2) Hot match that has little to no stakes (AEW problem)

That little cold open segment set up the stakes for all the major players on the show and kept me watching till the end. Really hope that’s a weekly thing.

then doing a concert.

I need to see that correct?

but if i go and you dont show up im gonna burn down your house

Im sure I can convince my drunkard friends to stay around for a “rock show”

I would like to see more of it. Also Rhea with the longer hair whewww

>I would like to see more of it. Also Rhea with the longer
>hair whewww

Per my eyes, she's is a showdown pretty much all the time!

Dynamite last night: Don Callis promo, Elite announce their 5th member in a hurry but you have to know who Ibushi is in order to care since they rush through the announcement, sloppy brawl to end the show with a laughably soft double buckshot lariat from Hangman

I appreciate Omega but overall I can't stand the rest of those guys and the show just, again, collapsed

Collision meanwhile is GOOD. That FTR/Bullet Club match was awesome and of course Punk/Joe is always going to be worth a watch. It's not paced like they're trying to put 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag either. The cold open at the top of the show is an awesome way to interrupt the pattern we're programmed to seeing on TV wrestling shows and quickly and successfuly sets the table for the program.

Maybe CM Punk is right about all of this hahaha...I mean he seems like a prick, but when I think about it I too hate Jericho/Bucks/Hangman and bad wrestling TV in general

I feel like he is not wrong about any of the shit hes had issues with......kinda ever

maybe the colt stuff was a bit much recently but that was clearly a wound that was not healed

I think “You’re not wrong, you’re just an asshole.” accurately sums him up. I already hate myself for rehashing Brawl Out, but I thought the Colt stuff was out of line. I don’t think Colt is innocent (going back to that lawsuit business), but he doesn’t seem very involved in the current drama that is about him. It’s odd, but it seems like other people made assumptions about his usage and then used that against Punk. Also… who gives a fuck who he shares a bank account with? For that alone, Punk is a huge asshole.

The AEW fans have pretty much all taken sides but I think both of them came out of it looking awful. For the Elite, if they spread those rumors, fuck ‘em. And going to Punk’s locker room was obviously a bad idea.

For Punk: you challenged anyone who disagreed to “come find you”… of COURSE someone was gonna show up to your locker room lol! But even taking the brawl out of it, you shouldn’t upstage your boss and your company’s biggest show. And frankly, the idea that Hangman stepped over a line in his promo and Punk was worried he was going to shoot on him… I find that laughable. The work shoot guy can’t handle the most vague work shoot of all-time. Even if it’s wrong, who really gives a fuck? Did anyone take it seriously? That shit is just ego imo.

In Punk’s defense, he wants to turn this thing into money, which is what every real life feud has done in the history of wrestling! The Elite are punks (no pun intended) if they refuse to do any type of business or even talk with Phil. It’s clear the whole “we don’t wanna talk cause there could be lawsuits” thing is just a shield at this point. This thing would easily be the program of the year, and at a time when the company is kinda clawing to get back the heat it had a year or two ago, it’s financially irresponsible of them to not do business here. It’s a no-brainer, plus Tony is weak for not demanding they do business.

His message is usually right but his methods are usually wrong . But again, I watch Collision last week and then Dynamite last night and it’s glaringly obvious Punk has a better mind for wrestling than anyone in the EVP cabal and probably anyone in AEW save for maybe Christian or Goldust.

Also PU I’m glad you got that last part in about them not turning this whole thing into a program…if I were Tony Khan the Elite wouldn’t have a choice of whether to work with Punk.
That they’re running Wembley Stadium and NOT doing Elite v Punk/FTR confounds the mind

but i dont think Punk is worried about a real fight with adam page lol

theres a total of one guy off the top of my head in the whole locker room that Punk couldnt take apart in 5 min or less if things went down that way in the ring, and its Hager. he's done 2 more UFC fight camps than the entire rest of the locker room combined.

but worrying that a guy just wont take care of you properly, thats a lot different. when you go up for a sitout powerbomb there's no defending yourself.

Got off to a rough start in the first promo battle, but the budding friendship thing is really entertaining. Don’t even care that they just did a fake friendship angle with MJF. This is miles better. And when they finally hit the double clothesline the crowd is going to POP.

Like Sami in the Bloodline, I hope they draw it out for a WHILE before the inevitable MJF turn on him moment.

And it feeds into his feud with Punk: what MJF wants deep down is a role model. Or mostly a friend.

And, honestly, I can't call it if MJF is turning on Cole, or Cole is going to turn on MJF. Either could work. MJF pre-emptively flips on Cole because he doesn't want another role model to disappoint/abandon him. Or he flips on Cole because he's an asshole. Or Cole flips on MJF, because hey, he's got enough friends & a hot girlfriend and all he's really interested in is a shot at the title.


>Don’t even care that they just did a fake friendship angle with MJF. This
>is miles better.

Oh, come on, the Sammy/MJF fake friendship was awesome. Definitely the best part of the **build-up** for the match, which was rough. (The match itself was awesome)

>And when they finally hit the double
>clothesline the crowd is going to POP.

And probably that'll be the exact moment when one of them turns on the other.

>Like Sami in the Bloodline, I hope they draw it out for a
>WHILE before the inevitable MJF turn on him moment.

I don't know how long they're going to be able to sustain. It would be interesting to see if they could keep it going past All In/All Out.

>
>Oh, come on, the Sammy/MJF fake friendship was awesome.
>Definitely the best part of the **build-up** for the match,
>which was rough. (The match itself was awesome)

It just leaped over logic imo.

A) you were ALREADY in a faction with MJF where he planned out his turn on them from the beginning, why aren’t you smarter than this Sammy?
B) Sammy would bounce between “I’m actually a good guy who has worked really hard” and “Sure! I’ll sell out at the drop of a hat!” Sammy is a heel and he should remain a heel. It wasn’t nearly as bad as whatever Darby and Jungleboy we’re trying to do, but still.

Cole has warmed up to MJF in a more believable way. Usually I hate when faces are too dumb to see a turn coming, but in this case I think it’s been played perfectly. And if Cole is the one to “turn” on MJF, even better! I would love to see a shocked MJF muttering “Brochacho!” as he tries to convince Cole they’re actually friends.

>I don't know how long they're going to be able to sustain. It
>would be interesting to see if they could keep it going past
>All In/All Out.

Yeah, I don’t expect it to last long, and the “turn” will get a pop if it’s next week, next month, or next year, but selfishly I am just eating up these vignettes and want to keep seeing them lol.

On some “I know he did some shady shit but that’s my boy”

they were a good tag team, with no qualifiers, and luger cheating behind stings back still gets me.

the stinger is my all time favorite and i had a full page mini poster of luger and sting holding the crockett cup they won in 1988. sting was supposed to team with ronnie Garvin, but garvin turned heel on him before the tournament.

might be a real* one with adam cole turning on Roddy

*or as real as it could be with a dude who stabbed his friend in the back to be friends with you. kinda like starting a relationship with someone cheating to be with you...you aint special.

>this Puerto Rican crowd is fucking great
>
>they were on 11 last night for the best ep of TV since Mania,
>and they seem to have found another gear tonight. theyre
>treating Belair-Sky like its an NWA title match, and theyve
>decide Iyo Sky is their woman. incredible energy.
>
>Cody's promo last night convinced me to not even ask my mom to
>babysit for this bday party and just send my wife with my
>regards.
>
>havent watched much Dynamite without heavy fast forward lately
>but ive seen enough to know that Jungle Boy is NEVER going to
>happen. never ever ever ever.

I have been having a blast selectively watching wrestling this summer. I've been mostly keeping it to highlights of the weekly shows, big shows/PPVs, and of course I've been watching badass Collision.

CM Punk is a king shit wrestler and character. His existence on the air escalates pretty much everything. He talks, I fucking listen. He does nuanced shit that usually comes back around cuz he's a damn nerd..just like the people he can't seem to get right with in AEW when they're at their best (IE: Kenny and Will was a killer Japan rasslin-style showdown. On the negative end, I have horror in my soul for this upcoming blood and guts match even with Ibushi and Pac awesomely being on-hand for it).

And, as it has been discussed forever, Punk is by no means the most crisp in-ring worker, but I FUCKING SWEAR that dude is almost always having 'the right kind of match' for whatever the situations are surrounding his storylines. I hope he stays the hell healthy and on the air for years to come so I can enjoy him doing good shit.

And look: this Collision show isn't perfect! BUT the tone and pace pretty much is. And the people they've 'selected'/recruited/been granted to be on it are pretty much all benefitting their asses off currently. If you say almost any name that has been on that show, we can go on and on with optimistic musings about how they're being positioned right now. It is one helluva success to my eyes. And I'm like 'oh shit!' every time I see what is planned for the next week so far. That's a good as hell sign in of itself. If this is Phil and American Dragon mainly, those dudes need to be in charge of the whole AEW and/or ROH shit at some point in the next few years for real. The announcing, the mood, the matches, the finishes, the stakes, the all of the shit most people online gripe about when it is bad is going impressively well so far. I'm Pharrell-level happy over.

Onto Summerfest (where I'm guessing Roman finally gets fridged by Solo and kills this iteration of the bloodline, Uces).

Also: I liked a lot of Forbidden Door even though the politics were leaking out all over that show with who wrestled who and who DIDN'T wrestle others...probably couldn't figure out finishes. Makes sense in an era where shows like this can't have a bunch of non-finishes and have the fans not lose their minds over it. IE: in the 80s, we would've been fine with Dusty finishes and countouts if we had gotten some kind of ridiculously great NWA vs WWF show. Like for real...Hulk vs Flair or Savage vs Sting!? Hart Foundation vs Road Warriors. C'mon now!

the finish to that Ricky Starks match where he got DQd for taking the chair to Jay+Juice wouldve had that crowd in jubilation

as it was they just kinda stood there confused :(

>

Dax seemed to be struggling when they first came back. Those struggles are clearly over! And Cash looks and works like a helluva hoss right now.

And Juice/Jay both come out of this looking like stars. And Jay is a good machine machine so this was a great use of this part of his talent.

I mean really, Collision is a party. It’s damn near a good clash of the champions most weeks. They even got me to stay around for a Battle of the Belts. And I usually only sift through those! I am interested in how they play that finish with Punk and Starks. I’m thinking we could get some vintage Bret homage all the way with Punk going full self-righteous crybaby to the point where the crowd has a ON SCREEN reason to sour on him. I’d like that. Whatever it is, I trust them.

Cheating ever so slightly to win is good

But , then getting the hell out of there and blowing past Justin Liger with the trophy is GREAT

In a Starks/Punk feud I’d prefer Punk play the heel but in the interest of elevating Starks to a main event tier it’s probably best if Starks is the heel.

There’s a lot of meat left on that bone

>But , then getting the hell out of there and blowing past
>Justin Liger with the trophy is GREAT

i died, resurrected just long enough to rewind and watch it a second time, then died again

>
>Cheating ever so slightly to win is good
>
>But , then getting the hell out of there and blowing past
>Justin Liger with the trophy is GREAT
>

“You can’t do that to Liger!” I said aloud to no one while shaking my head.


>In a Starks/Punk feud I’d prefer Punk play the heel but in
>the interest of elevating Starks to a main event tier it’s
>probably best if Starks is the heel.
>
>There’s a lot of meat left on that bone

I wouldn’t be surprised if Punk does turn heel due to this. I thought his reaction was gonna be to smile and say “ya got me, good job kid!” but they’re playing it as him being pissed. I loved it. Collision has been great.

The story bit sucked rancid eggs. So Callis hates these guys so much he talked his big heater into joining BCC but Kota kicking said heater in the head was too much? And PAC wants revenge for Hangman breaking his nose, but an obviously accidental Euro uppercut is enough for him to bail? How does that make ANYONE look good? Mox and Claudio look like idiots for trusting these guys, and the Elite couldn't win a fair fight.

That said, some of the spots were good and different. The rolling NLSes on the roof looked NASTY, and having one of the Bucks drop the tacks from the roof was a good twist on the normal shit. But by that point we already had 50 broken glass spots, several screwdriver spots and a damn fork. And I forget if the bed of nails had been introduced before this.

Seemed they were intent on "protecting" Takeshita from having to be in the ring as the Elite, presumably setting things up for him vs. Omega at All In. They were probably also setting up Pac vs. Claudio or the rest of the BCC for the next feud.

There was a lot of primo violence that worked. But this match really should be the definitive end of The Elite vs. BCC, and things just kind of sputtered out, when it should have climaxed with an exclamation point.

Well, I guess it makes sense, as they needed someone to fight Claudio with Kingston out of the country and Mark Briscoe hurt. And putting Pac in Blood and Guts worked as an extension with his long-standing feud with Omega and the Bucks. But the execution sucked.

Whoo-boy, they've really captured lightning in a bottle here. Even though they've clearly started planting the seeds for the break-up during their moment of triumph, I'm not sure what the next move is, and who should turn on who. Shoot, do they put the titles on them next week? Maybe then have FTR win the re-match at All In?

but if thats the match they want at All In, maybe Adam Cole withstanding a sharpshooter for a min or two until the 30 min time limit expires? FTR is gonna heel on them i would assume, given their history with MJF, and all 4 guys are good enough to lay out the TV match in a way to make us want more without switching the belts around.

>but if thats the match they want at All In, maybe Adam Cole
>withstanding a sharpshooter for a min or two until the 30 min
>time limit expires? FTR is gonna heel on them i would assume,
>given their history with MJF, and all 4 guys are good enough
>to lay out the TV match in a way to make us want more without
>switching the belts around.
>
>

My 'FTR isn't going to be treated well' fears are evaporating. I could be hella wrong. But as long as Collision is what it is in terms of tone, I don't see how FTR can fail for long. They are PERFECT for that show. They're basically the template/standard-bearers for the show:

- Simple, straightforward talking to set-up and sell matches.
- Killer 'basic' wrestling that resets the table on what can and can't be 'exciting'.

every week interaction has been great, both verbal and physical. and youre dead on about recalibrating "exciting". i still cant believe the crowd pop Cash got for the fireman's carry 2 weeks ago.

im expecting a talk-heavy show tomorrow and im looking forward to them addressing Jay+Juice, Cole+MJF, and the fact that one of their friends pulled a fast one on another one of their friends.

i think this is where we kinda see what a basic week of TV looks like on saturday. Tournament is over, the heels and faces have some things to bicker about after the first few weeks of big matches, im looking forward to it.

the same way it's hard to believe the Texans play in the same league as the Chiefs

Collision is such an authentic, unpretentious, old-school wrestling show. Well-defined characters with earnest motivations. Starks as the brash up and comer, Punk as the grizzled OG, FTR the thoroughbred workhorses. They're not reinventing the wheel but they're doing a solid wrestling show consistently and not overdoing ANYTHING. Except for House of Black the show is almost completely void of cheese, whereas Dynamite is only cheese and completely void of good.

I watched Collision end-to-end last night and approved of about 85% of what they were doing. One slight, other than again the woeful House of Black stuff, is I found it a little odd that MJF wouldn't at least acknowledge the Punk "Real World's Championship" but that's obviously going to happen (actually a title unification match is a pretty clever way to get back to the inevitable MJF/Punk rubber match trilogy blowoff).

is a gorgeous piece of business here.

And MJF is the king of the turn tease. He's a weasel. A scumbag. A prick. All of that. But he wants to be a 'good friend' deep down in there. DEEP DOWN IN THERE.

But we're all waiting for him to snap back into himself and do something shitty. And it makes for WONDERFUL stuff.

They killed it with the goofy bits to get over their budding friendship. Adam Cole, an occasional ayyhole himself, understands the situation clearly. This makes it all even better.

And I am a sucker and a half for the last 20-ish years of wrestlers trying to make simple moves a big deal again. Danielson with the small package era. Roddy with the backbreakers. Everyone with the knees: Muta mainly. Randy with the punt. Any Samoan with the spike. Joe walking off from a top rope move. Roman with the Punch. Mark Henry with the JYD Thump. On and on.

So you know I'm all in on Double Clothesline. FTR being the king shit wrestlers they are, they did a grand job of giving it gravity without having to get pinned by it. Cash looks GREAT and Dash looks healthier now than he has in a good while.

I think I said it above, but Cole working MJF through his insecurities and his want for friendship would be some clod-blooded shit. Cole and Strong playing him the entire time in order to get a title match, only for the two of them and a returning Kyle O'Reilly (and possibly Fish, who they could sign for the cost of car-wash) annihilate him and leaving him bleeding in the ring, would be an awesome turn. And it would turn MJF into a huge babyface.

>And it would
>turn MJF into a huge babyface.

that would be the Adam Page title reign of face turns

...has been done to death. And, r4ally, as Cornette has said, Cole would have to be the biggest idiot in the world to be fooled by it at this point.

Now, Cole exploiting MJFs insecurities, lulling him in, and then being like, "Haha, twerp, I've got lots of friends and I'm banging the hot chick in the locker room. All I really cared about was taking your title"? That could be interesting.

with everything we know about who MJF is, an incident like that would turn him into the biggest asshole the world has ever known

for him to stay a babyface over time would require him to NOT be that, right?

i think the best thing would just be to maintain the status quo for now. let MJF stay a babyface for the Punk match, Cole-MJF babyface match, and turn MJF back later after a number of "crises of conscience" where MJF chose light over darkness.

however far they have to go with this to convince people a turn isnt actually coming, take it that far, then a little further, THEN turn a *legit babyface* MJF heel.

or turn Cole and make them both heels like the Emperor turning Anakin. thats a lot less of a commitment, but less payoff

And MJF's promo's last night solidified that Cole really has to be the one who does the betrayal. And he has a strong case for winning the title too.

And, yeah, MJF's time as a face doesn't have to be that long. I'd be fine if he went back to being a heel at the start of 2024, after they announce that he's re-signed with the company. He can give a promo saying essentially, "The only reason I was sucking up to your poors and Tony Khan was to get to more money. I'm better than you know and you know it, and now I've got the contract to prove it."

>I'd be fine if he went back to being a heel at the start of
>2024, after they announce that he's re-signed with the
>company. He can give a promo saying essentially, "The only
>reason I was sucking up to your poors and Tony Khan was to get
>to more money. I'm better than you know and you know it, and
>now I've got the contract to prove it."

another 5 months of this is definitely enough to make it hurt when it does happen instead of people just reacting the way they know they are supposed to

>And, yeah, MJF's time as a face doesn't have to be that long.
>I'd be fine if he went back to being a heel at the start of
>2024, after they announce that he's re-signed with the
>company. He can give a promo saying essentially, "The only
>reason I was sucking up to your poors and Tony Khan was to get
>to more money. I'm better than you know and you know it, and
>now I've got the contract to prove it."
>

and he's the only heel who could pull this off. I'd like that.

if House of Black just leaves the supernatural shit at the door then i can kinda get into it

well i gotta say, theyve cut it out almost completely and brought me around

theyre the only ones being creepy, so it just seems like they're weirdos instead of another freak at the circus

>if House of Black just leaves the supernatural shit at the
>door then i can kinda get into it
>
>well i gotta say, theyve cut it out almost completely and
>brought me around
>
>theyre the only ones being creepy, so it just seems like
>they're weirdos instead of another freak at the circus

YES. And even better...when they hit the ring, they are obviously in the business of kicking people's asses. So I can tolerate some mild amounts of ooga booga if they keep having grand matches. And hell, I know how to hit fast forward! Even with badass Collision, I will skip a picture in picture as long as I can be aware of who is on offense before and after. Or if Miro is talking at the sky..same thing.

It is AMAZING how good basically everyone comes off on this show. Starks is a star without eating up the whole show. The big hosses get treated just like that. FTR is the featured act and wow. Jay White looks like a brilliant signing now too. Christian fits right in here doing his horrible person deal.

It seems amazingly clear that whoever actually 'makes' that show is dead serious about accomplishing some very specific items.

Its like NXT B&G with a bigger budget on a weekend. Or even crazier, its midsouth rasslin for this era. I love it so much that it is the only thing I watch from front to back EVERY week without fail. I'm excited for multiple people on it.

If not that, Collision at least shines as the 'FTR is awesome, so here's a show wrapped around the things they do best..quick hit interviews and badass rasslin. Everyone else? Don't come on here bullshitting unless you wanna look wack af!' show.

And Punk has been his normal riveting self as THE star of the thing. I see the 'Bret becoming a crybaby that the crowd turns on everywhere but Canada' in him and I love it even if that's not the way they end up going. But they sure do seem to be heading that way. And fast. MJF as the 'Is this really our good guy?' vs CM 'The Hitman' Punk..YEAH.

Side: LA Knight being stupid over in-spite of WWE's failed attempts to ruin him makes my heart grow 3 sizes. Now, they have to figure out how to steer into the skid and make it seem like they always knew he was great.

>
>YES. And even better...when they hit the ring, they are
>obviously in the business of kicking people's asses. So I can
>tolerate some mild amounts of ooga booga if they keep having
>grand matches. And hell, I know how to hit fast forward! Even
>with badass Collision, I will skip a picture in picture as
>long as I can be aware of who is on offense before and after.
>Or if Miro is talking at the sky..same thing.

the first Buddy-Andrade match was an eye opener, Buddy hitting the ring with malicious intent during Andrade's match set the hook, and everything else has slowly drawn me in. the ladder match got a little "modern" for me in the 2nd half (and the power bomb should have been an injury angle lol), but even the contrivances paid off in fun ways at the end .

>It is AMAZING how good basically everyone comes off on this
>show. Starks is a star without eating up the whole show. The
>big hosses get treated just like that. FTR is the featured act
>and wow. Jay White looks like a brilliant signing now too.
>Christian fits right in here doing his horrible person deal.

my wife has watched a full 2/3 of the episodes in entirety with me! on a Saturday!! and Ishii popped her for real the first time he dropped Darby Allin with one shot. that was a tremendous match, and did more for him in my eyes in 10 minutes than the rest of his appearances combined.

there's really no other way to say it...everyone is coming off like pro athletes in the only sport that will tolerate their outlandish behavior, which is just the way I like it.

>I love it so much
>that it is the only thing I watch from front to back EVERY
>week without fail. I'm excited for multiple people on it.

same

>If not that,

Its definitely "that" and FTR is a major major reason why.

>Side: LA Knight being stupid over in-spite of WWE's failed
>attempts to ruin him makes my heart grow 3 sizes. Now, they
>have to figure out how to steer into the skid and make it seem
>like they always knew he was great.

im headed to the Slams Saturday night, and I really hope they have a spot for him. I really wanted him and Logan Paul, but I have a feeling Ricochet is gonna take an L so maybe thats for the best.

>I found it a little
>odd that MJF wouldn't at least acknowledge the Punk "Real
>World's Championship"

because that kind of oversight is not in keeping with what they've been doing

Whatever intervention got him to go to rehab needs to be done for this dude and death matches.

drags down everything around him at all times

Dude was outstanding in the G1.

so even if he "could" he never will

everything this guy says in media context makes him sound like a complete loser

Double screening Punk/Starks and Drew/Gunther at the moment. Good combo of matches tbh.

ppl were hanging on EVERYTHING

Such a creative and well choreographed finish

also! HELL YEAH IYO!! (also, Charlotte I know you're fifty-leven feet tall but THAT's what a moonsault looks like)

that was a highlight of the night

Also, dude apparently went to college in Northern Michigan. So there might be a connection there.

i like everything he does in the ring, even if they have him acting like an idiot outside of it

Jimmy turning on Jey makes zero sense

On some “following Jey has only gotten me hurt” ish I get it.

but I like that their stretching it out to keep the Usos around the top of the card. Had Jey lost any other way the Uso's story would have been over and they would easily get lost in the terrible WWE tag team scene. Now comes a new storyline that is BL adjacent and depending on what the story is on Jimmy turning on Jey I think this can be planting the seeds for a underrated Mania match. To me it depends on Jimmy's reason for the turn, also I don't think his issue is more with Jey than returning back to Roman.

Sami couldn’t beat Roman, because it’s Cody’s story.

Cody couldn’t beat Roman, because it’s Jey’s story.

Now Jey can’t beat Roman, because it’s… Cody’s story?

Cody should’ve beaten Roman at WM, and we should be in the midst of Roman continuing to lose everything else.

I guess given the SAG strike, Roman can’t go off to Hollywood to seek work as the cheaper version of Jason Mamoa. But they’re continuing to play with fire when it comes to losing audience interest and risking injury.

Maybe they’re still trying to find the right number that it would take to bring back The Rock for WM 40. But even that would continue to prolong Roman’s reign.

If you’re counting his other roles, it’s kind of hard to top the Iron Man match with John Morrison/Johnny Mundo in Lucha Underground.

a few years ago, Netflix dropped Lucha Underground before i even got halfway thru the first season :(

and ive never really been an NXT consumer

He went by Prince Puma. Wore a mask. Managed by Konnan. Probably the top Babyface in the fed. I haven't watched much Lucha Underground either, but I'd read about the Iron Man match and sought it out online. Turns out the Lucha Underground are available through Vimeo (but apparently no other easily accessible streaming service).

As for NXT, he wrestled there in 2018/19. Took part in some great matches, many of which featured Adam Cole with Undisputed Era and Velveteen Dream.

I'm waaaaay overdue for a planned in-depth post about my thoughts on NXT. I'd been working on watching all of their Takeover PPVs, which started in 2014, but got sidetracked once I hit 2017 or so, which is when they apparently REALLY start getting good. Even before then I was thoroughly entertained. Starting from their PLE era, Triple H/William Regal/Shawn Michaels did legit try to run it like a "wrestling first," JCP/NWA styled promotion. Things started getting did start getting dicey once AEW came along, as they were not well-served by facing competition.

But they a lot of important stuff. The mid to late '10s Women's wrestling revolution basically started in NXT. The 2 out of 3 Falls match between DIY and The Revival (FTR) is one of the best tag matches I've ever seen. Sami Zayn built his legend there. You should give it a look if you get a chance.

i remember PP being on the show, but he hadnt done much by that point yet

and about NXT, others here have told me i should watch the Takeovers at least. i wasnt really paying attention to wrestling at all during NXTs peak years, so just about everything would be completely new to me.

Maybe even the second. But he becomes the central character over the first 3 seasons.

>Maybe even the second. But he becomes the central character
>over the first 3 seasons.

Yeah, the first 3 seasons of LU are easily worth breezing through. Lots of people got to look REALLY good on that thing. And there's a lot of now-familiar faces on there. And even the spooky/silly stuff was in THAT universe so it mostly worked. And I can accept no negativity about how badass they made Matanza (Jeff Cobb) look at first. Fool came out there with his fingers spread walking slow looking like dude from Splatterhouse, KICKED EVERYBODY'S ASS like nobody's business and it was a party.

And yeah, Ricochet has a nice collection of good rasslin in several places over several years. Its sucks that he got stuck in moth balls for a while in WWE but he's free now! It also sucks that it got cool to bash him WIHTOUT SEEING MUCH OF HIM once the allegedly POLARIZING ECW sequences with Ospreay made for a bunch of lazy podcast content and other bad faith tomfoolery. In reality, both dudes are really good in a lot of ways..mainly in that they CAN do a lot of things physically. But, similar to worst/best habits RVD, they just need to be framed properly occasionally and they're obviously dope.

makes watching him a lot more fun

then im waiting for him to uncork something cool rather than ODing on a whole bunch of somethings that progressively lose their impact.

I love Shinsuke, but he’ll never be the badass babyface I wanted. So I’ll take it.

Baby, you got a stew goin there.

I haven't followed wrestling in about 20 years. I'll watch a match, usually, an old one from my youth here and there and in the past couple yeasr I've gone to see a local indie promotion maybe 3 times, but that's about it. Oh, and I guess I'll browse these posts here and there. So, last Friday, my friend says he's got access to some free tickets to Raw. They got spoken for before I could respond to him. Then yesterday, as I was sitting at work I thought, you know, I think I wanna go. I'd only been to a couple big wrestling events... WCW house show, and an edition of Nitro back in 97 and 98. So, when I got home from work I was checking the ticket apps and there were plenty of seats with prices going down as it got closer to show time. I decided to roll down to the arena and see if the scalpers could do better. The apps had better prices so I got a fairly good seat for like 25, before fees.

Anyhow, it's such an interesting sociological experience. All these grown ass men walking around with these championship belts (that apparently cost like $500!!). The marks (didn't seem to be much in the way of smart marks). The people sitting around me who clearly don't follow this and are just there for the spectacle. The kids. The girlfriends and wives who've been dragged along. Seeing the people react to the wrestlers and the finishes is so fascinating.

And things have changed since I was last watching this. All of the people singing along to the theme songs was not something I expected. People absolutely got nuts for Shinsuke, Cody, and Seth Rollins' theme music. I don't really understand the appeal of LA Knight, but he probably got the loudest pop of the night. The heat the Dominik Mysterio gets is both impressive and hilarious. New Day was a lot of fun too.

But, it would seem WWE isn't nearly as popular as it was when I last came to a TV taping. Granted I was like 12-13, and it was in the middle of the Monday Night Wars, but that Monday Nitro I went to felt way bigger. It was way louder. There was way more pyro. And now, while the screens are bigger, everything else felt smaller (the walkway is much smaller, for example).

But yo, with all of the commercial breaks, it's kinda a rough thing to sit through for 3 hours! Wrestlers are introduced, come to the ring and then just stand there for like 5-6 minutes doing nothing while we've just got video packages to watch, showing us the storylines of last week, two weeks ago, the limited edition merch, the wrestlers on reality/game shows, or my favorite the "Chop Cam" catching all these men, women, and children doing the DX crotch chop. That shit was hilarious.

It wasn't enough to bring me back to being a regular watcher of this, and I enjoy the local indie promotion better, but it wasn't a bad way to spend a Monday evening.

>Wrestlers are introduced, come to the ring and then just stand there for like 5-6 minutes doing
>nothing while we've just got video packages to watch, showing us the storylines of last week,
>two weeks ago, the limited edition merch, the wrestlers on reality/game shows, or my favorite
>the "Chop Cam" catching all these men, women, and children doing the DX crotch chop. That
>shit was hilarious.

It's WILD to me that they'll have an entrance lead to a break, but it might be something nice for the fans there in that they'll get an additional promo in while the home audience is waiting for the break to end. But nope. That's weird.

As far as LA Knight/Eli Drake, dude was fantastic on the NWA reboot when it started out. He's a fun promo and I feel like he mixes some stuff from Flair and some stuff from Rock while making it still his own. He can fumble a beat and make it work to his advantage ("Shoes of a Champion" promo being one of the loosest, most fun examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlYRqgn4HMo). And yeah, dude's not a super technician or flyer, but he can put together a damn solid match and make even weird shit like Pitch Black somewhat believable. Truth be told he hasn't really had a match with any stakes since he got the call-up. So we don't know what he has in terms of telling that kind of a story yet.

>It's WILD to me that they'll have an entrance lead to a break,
>but it might be something nice for the fans there in that
>they'll get an additional promo in while the home audience is
>waiting for the break to end. But nope. That's weird.

They even cut the lights on the ring so the wrestler and the referee are literally just standing there, pacing back and forth in darkness. It's so weird.

>As far as LA Knight/Eli Drake, dude was fantastic on the NWA
>reboot when it started out. He's a fun promo and I feel like
>he mixes some stuff from Flair and some stuff from Rock while
>making it still his own. He can fumble a beat and make it work
>to his advantage ("Shoes of a Champion" promo being one of the
>loosest, most fun examples
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlYRqgn4HMo). And yeah, dude's
>not a super technician or flyer, but he can put together a
>damn solid match and make even weird shit like Pitch Black
>somewhat believable. Truth be told he hasn't really had a
>match with any stakes since he got the call-up. So we don't
>know what he has in terms of telling that kind of a story yet.

He didn't have a real match, so I can't speak to that... but yeah. He dresses like Stone Cold, and seemed to being going for an Austin meets The Rock kinda thing with his promo (The Miz even called him an Attitude Era cosplayer which was spot on), but he's not nearly as good as either of them. The catchphrase seems to be the lame "L! A! Knight! Yeah!" which people loved yelling, but pales in comparison to "And that's the bottom line..." or "If ya smell..."
But there were a lot of LA Knight tshirts in the crowd, and his pop was huge. So, i'm clearly the odd-man out here.

>He didn't have a real match, so I can't speak to that... but
>yeah. He dresses like Stone Cold, and seemed to being going
>for an Austin meets The Rock kinda thing with his promo (The
>Miz even called him an Attitude Era cosplayer which was spot
>on), but he's not nearly as good as either of them. The
>catchphrase seems to be the lame "L! A! Knight! Yeah!" which
>people loved yelling, but pales in comparison to "And that's
>the bottom line..." or "If ya smell..."
>But there were a lot of LA Knight tshirts in the crowd, and
>his pop was huge. So, i'm clearly the odd-man out here.
>

That's seems to be the appeal. He's a Attitude Era throwback without leaning all the way into it. His NWA/TNA runs were great, but I can honestly say I didn't expect this when he hit the main roster. I knew they'd let him do his thing in NXT and when he was called up as Max Dupri I thought it was only a matter of time before he got let go and he probably wouldn't get a chance to be HIS character.

I don’t think I’ve seen one match more than like 5 minutes. That’s not to say he CANT go, I just don’t know/haven’t seen it

he had really good matches against Cameron Grimes in NXT, and even a short match is enough to see that he makes it real

Don't know if that's saying a lot, but he's pretty good in the ring. Like cgonz00c mentioned though, he put on some pretty good matches with Grimes in NXT with them bringing back the Million Dollar Belt for a short minute.

>It's WILD to me that they'll have an entrance lead to a break,
>but it might be something nice for the fans there in that
>they'll get an additional promo in while the home audience is
>waiting for the break to end. But nope. That's weird.

When I went to Dynamite in March, only time U remember they did an entrance followed by a break was with Jericho. After the “Judas” sing a long was over, he calmly cursed out the audience so he could get heat. Cheap heat? Sure. But the simple things work sometimes.

We also got a bonus promo from Will Hobbs after he won the ladder match. Which was nice, because he gave a shout to his home town crowd and talked about the importance of the Bay Area pro wrestling scene.

I'm good on Raw for the rest of my life. I'd go to a PPV though.

the only thing i can compare it to is an NFL game. there's just so much dead time

>the only thing i can compare it to is an NFL game. there's
>just so much dead time

But with 3 hours you’re sitting through 45 minutes of commercials and probably another 45 of backstage segments, video packages, etc. I’ve gone to plenty of tv tapings for various shows, so to a certain degree I’m used to that much dead time, and it’s still kinda brutal to sit through. I think it’s just ppvs and house shows from here on out for me. And I don’t really have a desire to go to live NFL games for the same reason.

>the only thing i can compare it to is an NFL game. there's
>just so much dead time

Yep. It’s comparable but worse in a lot of ways u less you accidentally stumble into being at an ‘important’ Raw. And oh, Raw after Mania is NOT ‘important’ anymore! They’re on a streak of most of those shows being pretty lowkey. I was wishing I had gone home a day earlier instead of staying for Monday’s post-mania Raw after Mania 34. It was all of the things described below plus am openly restless and tired crowd that was thirsty for SOMETHING TO HAPPEN.

And yeah, the extra hour plus any kind of other show tapings make it even worse.

Seems they’re suddenly out of good Bloodline ideas, and Knight is nuclear hot

Here was the issue with not going to Cody at Mania…that’s fine if you know how you’re going to bring them back together, but a year is a long time man. The more insular the Bloodline becomes the more I’m beginning to wonder if I have such an affinity for it because of the work Sami and Cody did.

no one would think he was actually going to win, so youre just disappointing people for no reason

https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1694840084091023529

Just received a call from WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda who informed us of the tragic news that our WWE family member for life Windham Rotunda - also known as Bray Wyatt - unexpectedly passed earlier today. Our thoughts are with his family and we ask that everyone respect their privacy at this time.

It makes me wonder that much more what his illness was these last several months, and whether that was a contributing cause. That's my immediate assumption but who knows.

But man, his career was something that could have- should have, really- been something both special and spectacular. What we got was one of the most intriguing talents of the last couple of generations, and that initial Wyatt-Shield trajectory was white hot, and looked to stay that way.

He's a curious case if ever there was one, and he was a guy I always pulled for even if things weren't always firing on all cylinders.

He was already missed on the shows, but to know that he's actually dead is a fucking gut punch.

Whatever kept him from WM 39 must have been really bad, and fucked him for the long-term. Everyone seems optimistic that he was about to come back too.

>https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1694840084091023529
>
>Just received a call from WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda who
>informed us of the tragic news that our WWE family member for
>life Windham Rotunda - also known as Bray Wyatt - unexpectedly
>passed earlier today. Our thoughts are with his family and we
>ask that everyone respect their privacy at this time.

It’s unreal that both him and Brody Lee aren’t here anymore.

This type of stuff sends me further into the ‘we need to appreciate shit more’ lane so I’m gonna try to do that. In the meantime, double clothesline!

Legit chills when he said “RUN.” at the end of that.

There’s no way Billy’s that hard up for the Gutfeld audience that he’s keeping the gold on Brodus’s fat ass. And EC3 at this stage is … not NWA World’s Champion caliber.

>There’s no way Billy’s that hard up for the Gutfeld
>audience that he’s keeping the gold on Brodus’s fat ass.
>And EC3 at this stage is … not NWA World’s Champion
>caliber.

Almost anything has to be a step up from Funkasaurus out there barely moving. And hey, EC went back to his main look (cut the beard and has the hair). We'll see!

First of all, 81k paid attendance is insane. And a full Wembley made for great visuals throughout the show. So, kudos to them for that.

Second, the card from top to bottom ended up being great overall. No misses, and some genuine great stuff. Even the stuff that wasn't technically great (the women's match and the Trios title match) was 1) short and 2) fun to watch.

Everything was a solid smash and also a lot of fun to boot. The Punk/Joe opener was a blast. The Golden Elite/Bullet Club Gold Match continued to make Takeshita look like a star. The coffin match was a wild brawl that was always interesting. Sting continues to impress even as he gets older. Osprey looked badass, and Jericho got have his big moment by channeling Freddie Mercury. Stadium Stampede was insane with a lot of fucking bonkers spots. The ending was beserk, and provided a genuine feel good moment for OC and the Best Friends.

And of course, the knocked it out of the park with the main event. Great psychology. Double clothesline spot (and the restart) was great storytelling. And the managed to have their cake and eat it too by having MJF and keeping the team together in a convincing manner. And both MJF and Cole delivered on the biggest stage possible.

I only feel bad that injuries hampered some potential big pops. Felt bad that Pac couldn't wrestle. And in a perfect world, the Women's title match would have been Jamie Hayet winning the title back from Storm. At least with the latter, it's made them kill the Outcast angle. So that's a win.

And, hey, the whole main card was over in less than four hours. Can't remember the last time that's happened.

All Out looks potentially interesting as well next week. And it looks like they're doing it again next year. I read someone suggest that they should spend the year building to Omega vs. Punk for the main event.

So huge all around success.

Having it start and end with MJF ended up being a brilliant move (not shockingly). He was EXCELLENT in both showings. Kangaroo kick!

And Cole's rehab has been borderline miracle worker material. And what do you know, the mfer can still work a killer match and EASILY manage the 'kick it up a notch' sequences that the king shit workers can all do when it counts. And really, seeing their speed versus some of the older guys we see on AEW/WWE is jarring in the best way. And they're so much better than the average people that its not even funny.

And yeah, its wild af that AEW could get 80k+ into a building to watch their show. Super excellent. And if they do it a few more times even, WOW!

I came into the show openly excited about MJF/Cole and FTR/Bucks the most. And holy moly, the tag match was dudes emptying the hell out of their tanks, doing the nerdy callback stuff that makes people like them, and nailing several false finishes that worked on me almost every time. That thing looked physically draining. And Cash with his crazy ass busting out a springboard 450? True desperation.

And yes, I was happy to see FTR pull that match out of their asses. I had allowed myself to think they were doomed to lose. AND I loved that the Bucks didn't just accept it and go all lovey dovey after getting their asses kicked. They sold, they scowled, they looked sour about losing...exactly like they should have. That sold that shit as a RIVALRY. People online swear its some kind of unholy war between them. And the Bucks heeled their promos like nobody's business. I loved it.

I have no idea what All Out turns into.

I have no idea what they have Max do next.

I hope like hell that whatever foolishness may have gone down with Phil and Perry gets squashed/handled/killed off however they have to do it. Its a backstage fight over some disagreement about something that was planned for Collision? Punk is the vet who basically has the whole show wrapped around his vision. It is working! Jack showed up trying to do some shit that didn't match up. Punk rolled right up to him and said 'naw playa, we ain't doing that shit on Saturdays, homie'. What is the mfing problem with that!? Whatever..I hope its over soon and I can go back to enjoying the shit out of Collision pretty much every week. And I'm ready to see Dynamite this week too!


>First of all, 81k paid attendance is insane. And a full
>Wembley made for great visuals throughout the show. So, kudos
>to them for that.
>
>Second, the card from top to bottom ended up being great
>overall. No misses, and some genuine great stuff. Even the
>stuff that wasn't technically great (the women's match and the
>Trios title match) was 1) short and 2) fun to watch.
>
>Everything was a solid smash and also a lot of fun to boot.
>The Punk/Joe opener was a blast. The Golden Elite/Bullet Club
>Gold Match continued to make Takeshita look like a star. The
>coffin match was a wild brawl that was always interesting.
>Sting continues to impress even as he gets older. Osprey
>looked badass, and Jericho got have his big moment by
>channeling Freddie Mercury. Stadium Stampede was insane with a
>lot of fucking bonkers spots. The ending was beserk, and
>provided a genuine feel good moment for OC and the Best
>Friends.
>
>And of course, the knocked it out of the park with the main
>event. Great psychology. Double clothesline spot (and the
>restart) was great storytelling. And the managed to have their
>cake and eat it too by having MJF and keeping the team
>together in a convincing manner. And both MJF and Cole
>delivered on the biggest stage possible.
>
>I only feel bad that injuries hampered some potential big
>pops. Felt bad that Pac couldn't wrestle. And in a perfect
>world, the Women's title match would have been Jamie Hayet
>winning the title back from Storm. At least with the latter,
>it's made them kill the Outcast angle. So that's a win.
>
>And, hey, the whole main card was over in less than four
>hours. Can't remember the last time that's happened.
>
>All Out looks potentially interesting as well next week. And
>it looks like they're doing it again next year. I read someone
>suggest that they should spend the year building to Omega vs.
>Punk for the main event.
>
>So huge all around success.

...interaction with Punk. I have no idea with why Perry was so fixated on using real glass on Collison, but his obsession with it even a few weeks later is a little weird. I don't know if Punk really choked out Perry or not, but if so, I kind of undstand.

>...interaction with Punk. I have no idea with why Perry was
>so fixated on using real glass on Collison, but his obsession
>with it even a few weeks later is a little weird. I don't know
>if Punk really choked out Perry or not, but if so, I kind of
>undstand.

In my foolish mind, I want to believe that Big Show, Mark Henry, Arn, and/or someone over 50 with rasslin experience should be able to get in SOMEBODY'S ear and say 'hey yawl, cut this silly stuff out, get your money, and figure out how to go out there and draw Tony some more money..cuz that's your job'.

But people love salacious bullshit sooooooooo much that it seems like if someone farts too loud in AEW, we're gonna hear at least 2 different versions of stories about it like 30 minutes after it happens. Its bonkers.

Maybe he's just consistently misunderstood. Every single time it's a misunderstanding.

This is fodder for the Observer nerds

He’s the vet trying to be a leader and protect these maniacs
From themselves but he’s the bad guy.

He doesn’t have the pull, support, or fandom that he thinks he does.

>

Yep. That's floating around. The point stays the same tho: these folks are in position to do amazingly well. Being reasonable, if AEW doesn't exist, how many of these people are making what they currently make? 20%? Not even half, right?

And don't start me on how few dates some of these people have to actually wrestle (or even show up) to get these contracts.

So really, they need to cut it out, make the best shows they can, and maybe, just maybe..try to make Tony not regret saving some of these dudes from catering, NWA Power, Impact, Japan, and/or the house.

Jack Boy was trying to be an idiot and dangerous and Punk told him to chill.

any other bells and whistles to the story really should have stayed backstage, trying to implement actual glass is just moronic.

Instead, we're getting breathless stories about this shit.

Punk is a draw. Perry isn't.

Punk is also an adult man. Perry isn't.

Perry behaved immaturely mostly because he's in an environment that allows him to.

Punk behaved immaturely because he's ill-equipped to diffuse conflict without making things physical.

Ls all around.

In my opinion Punk should know better. As is his pattern, he's 100% right and expressed it 100% wrong. Not letting Perry off the hook, he's a brat who will never draw more than the 10 cents he's drawing right now. AEW could fire him and suffer not a dollar.

At some point Tony Khan needs to do some soul searching within himself and across his organization and assess whether this is an infrastructure that's too enabling of talent and too lacking in standards. Because it is.

he's 100% right and expressed it 100% wrong

Most of what I’ve read about Punk’s leadership style sounds like he’s making tensions worse, but this is a kid not knowing how to follow good advice. Shit, this isn’t even “advice.” Not using real glass is a no-brainer. If you need MULTIPLE people to tell you to not use real glass, and you scoff at them on a PPV… you’re a fucking moron.

I think he let this “pillar” talk get to his head. He’s clearly the weakest link of the 4 of them and this heel turn hasn’t done enough to make me think otherwise. He’s exactly endiable as hell right now.

Is that really the time to step to him?

Collision has been great, so whatever role he’s had in that, props to him. But stuff like the Hangman promo and banning Christopher Daniels and Ryan Nemeth is some weird and unnecessary shit that has only made tensions worse.

>Collision has been great, so whatever role he’s had in
>that, props to him. But stuff like the Hangman promo and
>banning Christopher Daniels and Ryan Nemeth is some weird and
>unnecessary shit that has only made tensions worse.

apparently he wasnt "banned" from the building, but rather showed up to the wrong place to film his thing

Not Page getting banned from the building. But Christopher Daniels getting banned (when he’s the head of talent relations lol) and Ryan Nemeth getting banned for pretty mild criticism of Punk is pretty dumb. We’re going from an era where Khan was too deferential to the Elite to an era where Khan is too deferential to Punk.

the Daniels thing wasnt so much of a "ban" as it was a concession to Punk finding out late that Ace Steel had to WFH. Daniels accompanying the Bucks to Punk's locker room is questionable judgment at best, and leads one to wonder about what he can actually control.

Nemeth tho...is an idiot. No one is putting him in a main event with Punk, so anything he says on Twitter just takes away from the product. I see no problem with Punk telling him that his bullshit isnt welcome. If Mike Jackson made very public shoot comments about Ric Flair, does anyone think he would be allowed to show up for TV?

>the Daniels thing wasnt so much of a "ban" as it was a
>concession to Punk finding out late that Ace Steel had to WFH.
> Daniels accompanying the Bucks to Punk's locker room is
>questionable judgment at best, and leads one to wonder about
>what he can actually control.

By all accounts, he was breaking up the fight though. And I get the Ace thing, but… Daniels is the Head of Talent Relations. He should be backstage at every show as long as he holds that position. Either replace him in that role or tell Punk to get over it.

RE: Nemeth. He should have stayed out of the fray, but if Punk is going to respond to being called “thin-skinned” by basically proving him right, then yeah, I think it’s a bad look for him. All of these little feuds he has with people and he can never just be the bigger man. Sit down with the guy and talk to him rather than yelling at him and banning him. Same thing with Jack Perry. Let the guy make himself look like an idiot with his glass stunt. Why is pushing and putting him in a chokehold necessary?

>By all accounts, he was breaking up the fight though. And I
>get the Ace thing, but… Daniels is the Head of Talent
>Relations. He should be backstage at every show as long as he
>holds that position. Either replace him in that role or tell
>Punk to get over it.

it was Daniels' job to mke sure the fight didnt happen, not break it up. did he not tell them, "hey dont go in there"? if he did and they didnt listen, whats the point of his title? is he not empowered to tell other talent with "office jobs" to go cool off and wait until he calls them to HIS office? if he didnt tell them not to go in there, is he suited for this job?

i completely understand not wanting him around. he was head of talent relations when the Bucks were mocking him on TV, and while the steady stream of gossip flowed out of of the locker room. it paints the picture of a guy with a title, but without the ability or inclination to do the job, as we saw again the other day.

>RE: Nemeth. He should have stayed out of the fray, but if Punk
>is going to respond to being called “thin-skinned” by
>basically proving him right, then yeah, I think it’s a bad
>look for him. All of these little feuds he has with people and
>he can never just be the bigger man. Sit down with the guy and
>talk to him rather than yelling at him and banning him. Same
>thing with Jack Perry. Let the guy make himself look like an
>idiot with his glass stunt. Why is pushing and putting him in
>a chokehold necessary?

Im having trouble reconciling the idea that its his responsibility to take every high road. Nemeth should have been fired, but short of that, hes a jabroni. Hes not worth sitting down and talking to him, bc they have 50 job guys just like him on contract already. If a star doesnt want a guy around, then I guess he wont be around. Thats the way this has gone for 100 years.

As far as Perry goes, I dont personally subscribe to the idea that neutralizing a mouthy little asshole with a front facelock amongst other wrestlers until someone comes and breaks it up is a major scandal. Is that what proper decorum calls for, of course not. But as Brian Solomon said on Twitter, its not the break room at CVS.

The bigger problem at AEW is that after everything that happened, Jack Perry still felt like this was an ok thing to do. Thats a complete failure from the aforementioned VP of Talent Relations. Honest question...if the office cant stop pre-show level talent from going on TV and pulling shit like this, whats the endgame to being the bigger man?

I wasn't there, so I don't know how the interaction went down, but I know the whole things wouldn't have happened if Jack hadn't acted like a child. And apparently told people he was going to do it in advance.

And I think it's a shame, because I actually think that Perry has been doing a great job as a heel, and they've done a great job at effectively repackaging him. Yes, he's still the least of the four pillars, but you can tell he's been learning from Christian.

I'm also not of the opinion there needs to be drastic changes by Tony or whatever. Nothing is coming close to reaching NWO Hogan, Nash, and Hall in the WCW levels yet, where the good times were establishing the reason why the bad times were coming. The product is still enjoyable. They're putting asses in seats off the strength of the brand. The PLEs are doing well. I think the Internet of it all is making all the dirt-sheet easier to access, so we get stuff like this fight working to drown the event itself, because people get into backstage stuff.

>I'm also not of the opinion there needs to be drastic changes
>by Tony or whatever. Nothing is coming close to reaching NWO
>Hogan, Nash, and Hall in the WCW levels yet, where the good
>times were establishing the reason why the bad times were
>coming. The product is still enjoyable. They're putting asses
>in seats off the strength of the brand. The PLEs are doing
>well. I think the Internet of it all is making all the
>dirt-sheet easier to access, so we get stuff like this fight
>working to drown the event itself, because people get into
>backstage stuff.

But this roster needs to be reminded that actions have consequences. They’re not at the level of the worst years of WCW, and if they want to avoid going that route, Tony has to make people fear losing their job a little bit. He doesn’t need to go full Vince, but christ, everyone feels they can go into business for themselves with no repercussions. Not good!

I'm with you. And Punk sure does seem to be 'right' (again). Perry is obviously a dingus to be lashing out at Punk for trying to save his silly azz on Collision. And weeks later at THE BIGGEST FUCKING SHOW AEW HAS EVER DONE? C'mon mane.

Punk is a student of the game where the older guys ran shit in the back and the younger guys either got in line or got out of town. Now, there's guaranteed contracts all around and lots of people generally being bitches who want to start fighting situations and then be shocked when they get fought. Oh and people are running IMMEDIATELY to dirt sheets to get their remix to ignition hot and fresh out of their lying azz kitchens anytime ANYTHING happens backstage. This Punk/Perry story was out DURING THE PUNK AND JOE match. That's bonkers. Something needs to be done about that too btw.

For Tony, it is at least kinda sorta tough to deal with. More than anything, he's probably trying to not get sued?

To digress, I keep thinking about Shawn and Bret and how bad all of that actually went. People seem to be almost desensitized. Isn't this terrible? Let's see:

Bret was leaving WWF cuz Vince didn't want to/couldn't afford to pay the big contract he had just signed. And the town wasn't big enough for Bret and Shawn who had several issues with one another over the last few years as they jockeyed for the top spot in the new WWF. Bret thinks Shawn ducked him at Mania 13 instead of giving the win/title back from the WM12 Ironman match (lost smile/knee injuries/whatever).

Bret got to the point where he wouldn't job to Shawn on the way out (cuz Shawn was being a bitch AGAIN). The Montreal Screwjob happens on a PPV WITH WRESTLING WITH SHADOWS TAPING THE SHIT IN THE BACK. Bret goes to WCW. Vince has to admit that he runs the whole thing.

Things were so bad even after that with Shawn that some guys felt the need to wait in gorilla to make sure Shawn actually 'went out and did business' at Mania 14 vs Austin. Shawn was drugged up, hurt, and retired less than a year after Montreal. We know how Bret/WCW went (good matches, bad run, career-ending injury, WCW dies in 2001). That's big stinky failures all around. The Febreze of course is that Austin and the Mr. McMahon character worked unbelievably well. But really...that whole Bret and Shawn shit was TERRIBLE! And just because they mostly 'let it go' and 'hugged it out' several years later after Shawn came with the 'I knew that shit was gonna happen, I feel horrible about it, but jesus yawl, sorry Bret, my back is fine now!' apology.

AKA to me, at the worst, all of this AEW foolishness is HBK/Hart with lesser rasslers, a not Vince person in charge, and far less risk of any rassler's money going away, so people aren't motivated to act right. And AEW's Bret (Punk) doesn't really have a WCW to go to. And the Shawns aren't about to have to retire due to injuries (Kenny was close!). And there's no Taker in gorilla ready to whoop somebody's ass for getting out of line/messing up a show.

Punk is in a bad spot. He's still really good at the rasslin part. He's flat out great at the mental/getting how rasslin should work part. He's forever terrible at managing relationships and/or himself once he feels wronged BY ANYONE. And the Bucks and their shittier friends like Jack are almost certainly huge bitches even if they may not be 100% as bad as they've been described by people who hate them most (Cornette).

Punk probably can't even go to WWE out of spite. So its AEW or nothing. And YOU KNOW Phil hates that shit. YOU KNOW IT.

I hope they figure it out. It'll be a damn shame if they don't cuz Punk is big fun on-screen and he could help AEW so much in the back when he's not fighting or threatening to fight.


>
>Punk is a draw. Perry isn't.
>
>Punk is also an adult man. Perry isn't.
>
>Perry behaved immaturely mostly because he's in an environment
>that allows him to.
>
>Punk behaved immaturely because he's ill-equipped to diffuse
>conflict without making things physical.
>
>Ls all around.
>
>In my opinion Punk should know better. As is his pattern, he's
>100% right and expressed it 100% wrong. Not letting Perry off
>the hook, he's a brat who will never draw more than the 10
>cents he's drawing right now. AEW could fire him and suffer
>not a dollar.
>
>At some point Tony Khan needs to do some soul searching within
>himself and across his organization and assess whether this is
>an infrastructure that's too enabling of talent and too
>lacking in standards. Because it is.

>Instead, we're getting breathless stories about this shit.
>
>

It really was a glorious success overall. MJF had a supreme night for himself.

Hopefully someone can get in a room and figure it out. Or at least..let's keep Collision good damnit!

with hindsight, its obvious who was in charge of Collision

if khan and danielson really were doing it before, there would have been no need to change anything about the presentation/talent/pace of the show beyond rewriting the programs with one specific dude.

as is, the only thing thats stayed the same is the song, the set, and the commentators, who have been compromised by having to call Dynamite shit straight.

>...interaction with Punk. I have no idea with why Perry was
>so fixated on using real glass on Collison, but his obsession
>with it even a few weeks later is a little weird. I don't know
>if Punk really choked out Perry or not, but if so, I kind of
>undstand.

The story deepens of course. Now there appears to be a focus on the 'Punk getting at Tony' part of the situation. AKA it looks like Punk, at minimum, cussed out Tony, threatened to quit, and there was some kind of monitor moving/physical shenanigans. And someone had to break it up before it went more sideways.

I'm STILL silly enough to think they CAN figure it out if Punk wants to come back and do some kind of stuff even if its just backstage/booking/helping keep some people like Ricky Starks looking good on Collision.

The JungleJack part appears to be pretty standard rasslin backstage fare that pretty much no one should get in any major trouble for. Let's see: Jack said something stupid/bad on camera, Punk saw/heard it and got pissed. He made sure to let Jack's azz know about it backstage, it led to punching and a choke, it got broken up. This ain't Craig from accounting running up on Frank of IT in a breakroom over a cupcake, so this doesn't exactly blow me away. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I've seen too many rasslin shoot interviews and documentaries.

"its not the breakroom at CVS"

as an aside regarding Mr. Solomon you should absolutely 100% check out his latest "Blood and Fire" about the Sheik. im biased obviously because its about a Detroit legend, but everyone who's written anything about it has been effusive in their praise.

>"its not the breakroom at CVS"
>
>as an aside regarding Mr. Solomon you should absolutely 100%
>check out his latest "Blood and Fire" about the Sheik. im
>biased obviously because its about a Detroit legend, but
>everyone who's written anything about it has been effusive in
>their praise.

Hmmm...aight! Will do.

this nigga be in too much drama with too many different people

all those people have appeared regularly on the Bucks youtube show

Aleister Black chose Collision and asked for HoB to be exclusive. Starks is exclusive thus far, as is Hobbs. Statlander, Willow, Mercedes Martinez all exclusive thus far. Samoa Joe exclusive thus far. The Acclaimed work Wednesdays too but they were in ESPN gushing about his backstage contributions.

To me, thats a wider cross section of folks than the cast of Being the Elite.

Roddy does it better than anyone tho

Somehow this 5'10 200 lb fencepost is kinda pulling off the angle everyone else fails at over and over and over again.

Cody and MJF did it in the preferred way with betrayal and an all consuming thirst for recompense, but all the people that have tried to do it melodramatically have fallen flat on their faces. Roddy tho...hes legitimately entertaining me with it, because he's willing to look like a sniveling loser.

that little hype package was the best thing on the whole show

>that little hype package was the best thing on the whole
>show

Yep. I vaguely remember him and Keef being a thing that was big fun, so I'm thinking/hoping Taylor can probably still go.

>

Allegedly, Tony wants to take up both of those weekends for AEW shows.

The problems are obvious. Mainly, even your most supportive fans aren't dying to drop $50 two weekends in a row for PPV. Maybe they'll figure out something for that next time with some kind of streaming deal. But still, people looooooove ranking/comparing things into the ground, if one show is obviously a 'bigger' show than the other, the smaller show is gonna get extra disdain. For AEW, its kinda the opposite of what was happening with WWE/NXT B&G, where people were starting to openly and regularly say NXT B&G > WWE 'main roster'.

And hell, if your roster's whole thing is that a lot of them don't wrestle a lot, its not nothing to ask some of them to go All In then All Out the next weekend. Sure, you can shenanigan it up with having people do multi-person matches one time then less people the other (IE: FTR and the Bucks, Moxley was in a stampede match before doing a 1 on 1 with OC). But still, its not nothing!

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1698071772543738090

i love it

Jack Perry is a fucking twerp and shouldn't have precipitated it. That said, there's apparently video of the incident and it does not make Punk look good. Like him getting nose to nose with Perry off the rip, making it easy to say that Punk started it. Then there's the shouting match with Tony, where he possibly(?) lunged at him. Just bad optics all around.

Then you factor in that this is the second big incident after Brawl Out, and it literally happens right in the midst of their BIGGEST show ever. And it's swallowing coverage of that show? Yeah, he's gone.

Again, Punk was in the right. But this is 2023. 25-30 years ago he could get away with going old school on Perry and no one would be the wiser. Not today.

As for this weekend? Well, firing Punk before a PPV in Chicago is certainly... a choice. And right before what appears to be another $1 million gate. But it'll be interesting how Collision and All Out play out.

>https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1698071772543738090
>
>i love it

Fear for their safety backstage!? C’mon Tony. I hate that shit. The truth is probably good enough to move off of the guy

Oh well, the shit is over with now.

At least they started with Starks. He still looks and sounds good as hell. And I have a wild guess as to who he’s gonna get out with…

I understand wanting to take the heat off the boys and put it on yourself, but come on, the guy is gone now. And not there to clap back. Just leave it at "I had to do something and I'm sorry if it upsets people." Saying you "feared for your safety" just makes you look like a pussy.

WWF could afford to have Vince shit on Bret after he left because he had Stone Cold to ultimately take him down a few notches. AEW has no aces up their sleeve. Unless they plan to pull the Rock out of their ass (no way in hell), the best it's going to get for a while is Bryan Danielson.

So, yeah, they were better to leave well enough alone. And hope to establish a post-Punk identity. Because if not, Collision turns into Rampage in a few months.

Khan’s the wimp who fostered that culture of unaccountability in the first place, now he fears for his life . Ok guy

Dude showed his whole ass last year and has been causing turmoil backstage

highlights
- Becky/Trish cage match. Trish is how old again???
- Steel City Streetfight
- the ring rope getting stuck in between Rhea's fat ass
- the Nakamura/Rollins prematch video package

lowlights
- Raquel. they just need to pull the plug on her she aint it
- Nakamura/Rollins was surprisingly dull to me. they need to get the belt off Rollins. Need that Priest cash-in ASAP

>lowlights
>- Raquel. they just need to pull the plug on her she aint it

"strong back" and Rhea's got more shredded lats than you, like, you have to put more into it than flexing your back at the top of the entrance.

>- Nakamura/Rollins was surprisingly dull to me. they need to
>get the belt off Rollins. Need that Priest cash-in ASAP
>

I am LOVING calculated Nakamura. He's showing so much more personality cutting his promos in Japanese. That one before the Payback match reminded me of the Key and Peele MMA sketch with the hyper-religious Brazilian fighter. But they fucked up not having him win that match. They could have done the same basic story beats building for the next PLE with Rollins chasing his title back.

>I am LOVING calculated Nakamura. He's showing so much more
>personality cutting his promos in Japanese. That one before
>the Payback match reminded me of the Key and Peele MMA sketch
>with the hyper-religious Brazilian fighter. But they fucked up
>not having him win that match. They could have done the same
>basic story beats building for the next PLE with Rollins
>chasing his title back.


Why have Nakamura turn on AJ Styles AFTER the Mania match, only to lose a million subsequent rematches? Would’ve been much better (and Styles wouldn’t have looked bad or anything) if Nak turns/wins at Mania and then Styles chases/gets the title back a few months later.

I kept thinking about this when they were struggling to find credible challengers for Roman. If Shinsuke was a former world champ, he could’ve fit in that role for a few months. I can’t even fathom why they didn’t give him a run. How is it possible not to see this guy as money? He’s a great wrestler whose charisma jumps off the screen. I tried to get a friend of mine into wrestling for years, and you know what finally got him in? Nakamura’s entrance at Mania 34.

I completely agree. Dude is instantly compelling beyond Vince's idea of what a champion should look like.

Given that it a week after the previous PPV (which in itself was one of the company's defining events) with a card that was mostly slapped together up until yesterday, that show had no business being that good.

Everyone seemed supremely motivated. Only matches that we "meh" were the Samoa Joe match and maybe the Statlander/Soho match. Everyone else brought their respective A games. Cole/MJF and the Dark Order was a lot of fun. Hobbs vs. Miro was an all-time great Hoss Fight. Takeshita took out Omega and I'm all for it; push that MF to the moon, as far as I'm concerned. The eight-man tag match was fucking fire. Starks vs. Danielson was a banger.

And yes, the Moxley vs. OC was awesome as well. Just have OC bleed and not Moxley made it work great. And OC ended up gong out on his shield. I do think it was a mistake to have OC lose to Moxley. I'm not averse to OC losing, but Moxley doesn't need that belt. The only way if makes sense is if they're playing the angle that Moxley is an international wrestler, so he'll go and defend the belt around the world. Still, I'd rather they'd given it to Mrio, Scorpio Sky, Andrade, Pac, or Swerve. Still, gives OC times to rest and recharge, so I'm okay with that.

But yeah, as I saw someome joke, they need to fire Punk more often, because it certainly put the batteries in everyone's back tonight.

I hope they keep it going on the surface AND fix some of their silly bullshit behind the scenes. Their locker room is obviously far too leaky and people can snitch, lie, and flat out report locker room stuff to the shitty sheet folks, and nobody is gonna say a damn thing to them about it. THAT IS A DAMN PROBLEM! Even stuff like Matt Hardy and his wife...someone needs to pull dude in a room like 'hey man, don't make stuff worse..we're trying to move on, homie'.

The roster is a set of mostly pretty good rasslers, so I generally trust them to get a lot of good rasslin to my eyeballs often enough to be worth watching. Still, I'm gonna miss Punk there cuz he's GREAT at giving things STAKES. And I'm not sure if that can be 'replaced' by anyone per se. But hey, if Kenny gets/keeps his shit together and DB can stay his ass healthy or at least help more backstage AND PEOPLE LISTEN TO HIM, I'll take that. Keep giving me Ricky Starks, FTR, HOB, and others looking good and I'll survive. If Collision becomes a Rampage-ish Dynamite, ick. I guess I'll go back to waiting for Cody to finally take down Roman, uce.

Also, as salacious as it probably could be...I hope Punk doesn't do some super huge shoot/reply thing. I think we already know the Bucks and plenty of the people who love them most in the back are, at worst, lame bitches who handle stuff like high schoolers. And Tony CLEARLY didn't handle his role well enough to put a stop to this silly bullshit soon enough to put Punk somewhat at ease. And duh, he should've forced everyone into a room and told them how the shit was gonna proceed even if they couldn't figure out how to get it to a ring for some fun and easy money. And Tony should still be making money off Punk merch, Punk's heat, and Punk's legit talent for making shows feel 'important'. Punk being his worst self or not, shit shouldn't have gotten to a point where he felt like he needed to choke someone backstage while a damn show was going on. I still put a chunk of that on Tony for not getting that this could've happened.

If Punk is gonna do something else, get to it ASAP and bless it with your presence (him in WWE for a year or 2 could be A DAMN BLAST). If not, lay low, live/enjoy the life, and be appreciated (whatever these non-WWE honors are that he'll certainly keep on getting..his speech last week was 40 minutes of joy for me to consume).

>Given that it a week after the previous PPV (which in itself
>was one of the company's defining events) with a card that was
>mostly slapped together up until yesterday, that show had no
>business being that good.
>
>Everyone seemed supremely motivated. Only matches that we
>"meh" were the Samoa Joe match and maybe the Statlander/Soho
>match. Everyone else brought their respective A games.
>Cole/MJF and the Dark Order was a lot of fun. Hobbs vs. Miro
>was an all-time great Hoss Fight. Takeshita took out Omega and
>I'm all for it; push that MF to the moon, as far as I'm
>concerned. The eight-man tag match was fucking fire. Starks
>vs. Danielson was a banger.
>
>And yes, the Moxley vs. OC was awesome as well. Just have OC
>bleed and not Moxley made it work great. And OC ended up gong
>out on his shield. I do think it was a mistake to have OC lose
>to Moxley. I'm not averse to OC losing, but Moxley doesn't
>need that belt. The only way if makes sense is if they're
>playing the angle that Moxley is an international wrestler, so
>he'll go and defend the belt around the world. Still, I'd
>rather they'd given it to Mrio, Scorpio Sky, Andrade, Pac, or
>Swerve. Still, gives OC times to rest and recharge, so I'm
>okay with that.
>
>But yeah, as I saw someome joke, they need to fire Punk more
>often, because it certainly put the batteries in everyone's
>back tonight.

and somewhat easily, a huge potential star.

I just hope she doesn't tick someone off cuz she misses a pump kick or something. It hasn't truly hurt Charlotte! Hehe.

And I hope she gets protected as far as TV match exposure. AKA don't have her out there rasslin on Raw every week. It seems like, in general, rasslin companies are getting better at that. Sure, she should be at the PC and doing some house show loops to get more reps! But she can be special if they don't run her into the ground.

...makes the most "sense."

She's got the build and look that Vince loves. She's got charisma. She also seems to want to do more cross-media promotion into other area of pop-culture, which is one of the areas that AEW isn't as good at, aside from working with Rick Ross.

That said, she's going to get a shit-load of money, but it probably wouldn't hurt for her to spend some time in NXT. She really has only had like 62 matches, and while she's getting better, she needs more ring experience.

Though I do see a world where she's a surprise entrant at the Rumble.

Wrestling is the only "Sport" I actually care about so I normally don't come to this board.

AEW is my shit and has been since their first show.

Going to another live event in October for them

>Going to another live event in October for them

I assume you're going to the Philly show in late Oct?

Have they been out in Philly before?

I've been to a handful of their shows in Philly and in Jersey

Smackdown headed to USA from Fox in October. RAW and NXT are currently without a definite home (though I imagine someone will pick them up).

Meanwhile, after the new Smackdown deal is announcing, it's looking like a minor bloodbath on the talent side. So far the list of casualties is:

Dolph Ziggler
Mustafa Ali
Shelton Benjamin
Elias
Rick Boogs
Riddick Moss
Aliyah
Emma
Top Dolla

Probably more to come.

how will USA recover from losing that cash cow?

He's been there forever.

Ali is a surprise at this point too, even though he's wanted out for a while. Isn't he scheduled for a match at Payback?

They've wasted Elias for a while now. Him and Owens somehow managed to sell that fucking twin angle.

Benjamin is weird because he's also been there forever. and it seemed like they were about to start using him again.

Everyone else hadn't been seen in a while.

Way to go Vince, Top Dolla moved the needle...

too bad Top Dolla got squashed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78u39P5Bohs

Yea he’s winning for sure

Them boys is cold. Hopefully these people all go do some good stuff.

Ali should go be a good match machine all over the world.

I really want Elias to end up somewhere cool. He was simple but he was fun and good. He's 35 so people shouldn't act like he's crazy old.


>Smackdown headed to USA from Fox in October. RAW and NXT are
>currently without a definite home (though I imagine someone
>will pick them up).
>
>Meanwhile, after the new Smackdown deal is announcing, it's
>looking like a minor bloodbath on the talent side. So far the
>list of casualties is:
>
>Dolph Ziggler
>Mustafa Ali
>Shelton Benjamin
>Elias
>Rick Boogs
>Riddick Moss
>Aliyah
>Emma
>Top Dolla
>
>Probably more to come.
>

He's already broken kayfabe and admitted it was him.

Maybe they'll bring him back anyway once they get their balance sheets looking the way they want and they can run it all back. And please, KO must be there being the smartest person on the show losing his mind trying to convince everyone that Elias and Ezekiel are the same person.

Dude is 35..I hope he shows up somewhere and does something good and cool for a while.

Something tells me the circumstances are probably different than yesterday's cuts.

Dude is a hot mess, between the drug issues and the recent sexual harassment claims against the JFK TSA. Though I imagine both of those go hand in hand. Plus all the multiple sexual assault allegations against him. It's a wonder that WWE held onto him for this long.

>Something tells me the circumstances are probably different
>than yesterday's cuts.
>
>Dude is a hot mess, between the drug issues and the recent
>sexual harassment claims against the JFK TSA. Though I imagine
>both of those go hand in hand. Plus all the multiple sexual
>assault allegations against him. It's a wonder that WWE held
>onto him for this long.

Right. And you have to guess there’s random/potentially terrible shit that we don’t know.

Also, look at the difference here: there’s like almost no extra leaks or victory lap bullshit going on with Riddle getting let go. We’ll see if it stays that way. I hope it does.

And I hope his goofy ass can get on track long enough to have some more good rasslin left in him.

People can talk as much shit as they want about AEW's quick builds to these PPVs, but the end results have been consistently fiyah. This one was no exception.

Claudio vs. Barnett was completely different than the stuff they usually do. Kingston vs. Shibata was appropriately brutal. MJF vs. The Righteous was goofy, though it risked turned the Righeous into a complete joke; theu skirted it by having MJF win with his feet on the rope. Danielson vs. ZSJ was an instant classic. Swerve vs. Hangman was great and is the exact type of big win Swerve needed; hopefully it'll be start of pushing him to the next level. Statlander vs. Hart way over-delivered. FTR vs. Aussie Open was fun. As was the four-way tag match (don't know if the Bucks really needed to win though). I liked the six-man tag match, but the ending was a bummer.

And Allin vs. Christian was exactly what it needed to be. Allin winning the first fall via the turtleneck was clever. However, the man needs to get his had check for all those bumps he was taking. I could see that they were building to the Nick Wayne betrayal, so it makes sense. And Adam Copeland debuting with his WWE music and as the "Rated R Superstar" was pretty awesome.

So, another banger PPV by AEW. Now hopefully they announce the streaming deal with MAX soon, as there's apparently two more of these this year, and $50 a pop adds up.

It sounded like Beth did the 'you think you know him' too. Cool either way.

I'm hoping Edge stays healthy and does some cool stuff. The matches are there. The stories are too. And if he sees Christian being amazing as a challenge and tries to rise up to it in any way, GREAT.

And yeah, AEW is doing some good azz rasslin right now. And for fuck's sake, they should be. This roster is a dream (no puns). Imagine someone rolling up on you 4 years ago and saying the list of names out loud and saying 'yeah, they're all in AEW now..they're trying to figure out how to book it all, they have 5 hours across 3 shows every week but those mfers are all there'.

And them figuring out some stuff with New Japan was even better. Just wow.

But really, let's do this: imagine 2023 today me walking up to 2018-ish you and telling you this partial 2023 AEW roster list:

Christian (Yeah, he got cleared. He turns into a turtleneck wearing heel for the ages. Also, this won't make sense now, but he has a thing for shitting on ANYONE who has a dead dad.)

Edge (I know..this is CRAZY! He got cleared too! He went to WWE for like 3 years and did a bunch of cool stuff before he went to AEW. He started a group that ended up getting Rey Mysterio's son over af...AS A HEEL. I know, crazy! Oh, and he kept his music and shit too.)

BRYAN DANIELSON (he ends up wrestling Okada, Omega, Zach Sabre Jr, and others with fun results)

MJF (this young indy guy from MLW grows into his shit and ends up being great. He's the main champ and he should be. His best friend is...)

Adam Cole! I know, this is bonkers. Cole survives an injury/retirement scare and an impressively bad AEW start, but WWE wanted to make him a manager so he got the fuck outta there! Anyway, he can still wrestle real good and this stuff he's doing with MJF is a blast. They got over a double clothesline like it was the Doomsday device.

Sting..yeah...that Sting. He rarely wrestles but he never loses. BECAUSE HE IS FUCKING STING and TK loves him. He does silly shit sometimes but he keeps coming out of it fine!

Roddy Strong shows up and becomes a fun af chickenshit heel who is jealous of Cole being friends with MJF. It shouldn't work but it does. He's out here with a neck brace on and everything.

Jericho hangs in and survives another low time (people forget his Jeriblow era early in his WWF run). His band made a song that ends up being his entrance music. The crowd sings the whole damn thing pretty much every time. It is wild.

Rusev (he had a good match with Bryan too cuz duh)

Kenny Omega (he also survives near retirement)

The Revival (they change their name to FTR and go around the planet doing killer good tag team matches with basically everyone)

Cesaro (he joins a group with Danielson and Moxley...I know..crazy)

AND

Eddie Kingston (yes, Cesaro and Eddie finally kinda sorta settle their issue. And oh, Eddie is now an on the table Japan wrestling nerd who does killer promos and people love the shit out of him..trust me, its cool. Yeah, he's still looks pretty much fat. But it doesn't matter..he's good af.)

Ricky Starks

Kota Ibushi (yes, that Kota Ibushi. YES, he teams with Omega. He's getting old but he's still Ibushi)

Moxley (who got clean and loves rasslin again..oh yeah, he was apparently drinking like crazy).

Killshot/Swerve put on a bunch of good weight and is on his way up the card. His manager is Prince Nana and he does a ridiculous dance during the entrance. Wait until you see it!

Jay White has a dope group and is a good match machine.

Oh and Will Ospreay is a recurring guest in the prime of his career. He might sign with AEW full-time too.

Another thing: Big Cass gets clean, looks great and is now in AEW under the name Big Bill. He doesn't win as much as he should but he's there doing good stuff on a reg.

Another thing: the joke indy guy in the jeans? Yeah, Orange Cassidy. Well, he's also in AEW but he ended up being sneaky awesome. He had a midcard title run where he got his ass kicked but barely won every defense until he finally gets taken out. It was good. It made the title look good. It was on. Haters are married to their takes so they won't admit it but it was pretty good if you watched it with reasonable eyes.

I keep forgetting stuff but here's one more random thing: fine ass Toni Storm is in AEW, but she's gone crazy after her group with Paige (yeah, she got cleared too) and acts like a deranged Marilyn Monroe. She keeps using the word 'tits' and its hilarious. She also throws a show at whoever interviews her FROM OFF SCREEN. I can't do this justice..trust me..its great!

Last thing: AEW also gets 1-ish good year of a CM Punk return..yes, as a wrestler! Trust me, past you, it was awesome af until it wasn't. He came back IN CHICAGO, grown men were crying, Cult of Personality played, he handed out ice cream bars, all of that shit. He did an all-time feud with MJF. Things go fucking great for a while. But then he kept saying little things that made it clear that it wasn't all good backstage. Then he kept getting hurt and shit. After a PPV, he does an insane interview at a post-show scrum (oh, AEW does these post-show scrums that are part shoot, part in-character deals..Punk went 100% shoot, Tony Kahn was sitting there looking shook af and it was crazy). He had a fallout with The Bucks and Kenny Omega and had a mysterious fight that got multiple people suspended/damn near fired. From that, goofy rumors about him and that fight basically kept the sheets industry alive and well. Problem is: it never got back right backstage. And silly stuff kept happening. Eventually, Punk had a fallout so bad WITH TONY that TK straight up fired him on a Saturday. It was so shitty dude, trust me.

But hey, Punk's last match there was vs Samoa Joe. In Wembley stadium. With a Wrestlemania amount of mfers there. There's gonna be a stupid argument about exactly how many but whatever..trust me, past you, the shit was awesome. Also, he helped forced fans to appreciate The Revival. So if nothing else, he left that. Also, he had this obsession with praising and repeatedly paying homage to Bret Hart. It was wild and at least a little weird but still pretty cool. Trust me, you're gonna love it. You're NOT going to love this thing called COVID, but hey.


>People can talk as much shit as they want about AEW's quick
>builds to these PPVs, but the end results have been
>consistently fiyah. This one was no exception.
>
>Claudio vs. Barnett was completely different than the stuff
>they usually do. Kingston vs. Shibata was appropriately
>brutal. MJF vs. The Righteous was goofy, though it risked
>turned the Righeous into a complete joke; theu skirted it by
>having MJF win with his feet on the rope. Danielson vs. ZSJ
>was an instant classic. Swerve vs. Hangman was great and is
>the exact type of big win Swerve needed; hopefully it'll be
>start of pushing him to the next level. Statlander vs. Hart
>way over-delivered. FTR vs. Aussie Open was fun. As was the
>four-way tag match (don't know if the Bucks really needed to
>win though). I liked the six-man tag match, but the ending was
>a bummer.
>
>And Allin vs. Christian was exactly what it needed to be.
>Allin winning the first fall via the turtleneck was clever.
>However, the man needs to get his had check for all those
>bumps he was taking. I could see that they were building to
>the Nick Wayne betrayal, so it makes sense. And Adam Copeland
>debuting with his WWE music and as the "Rated R Superstar" was
>pretty awesome.
>
>So, another banger PPV by AEW. Now hopefully they announce the
>streaming deal with MAX soon, as there's apparently two more
>of these this year, and $50 a pop adds up.

possibly the best gimmick ive seen since i started watching again, and possibly one of my top 10 as a viewer period

idk who watched that and saw the possibility, but its working like a mf

>possibly the best gimmick ive seen since i started watching
>again, and possibly one of my top 10 as a viewer period
>
>idk who watched that and saw the possibility, but its working
>like a mf

Yep. Broken Toni is my jam. To me, the character has legs to it because the story is that she's gone crazy but she still exists in the same universe as the show. That can last!

And yeah, I'm likening her deal to Broken Matt but it is set up very well to last for several reasons.

Matt Hardy 'went crazy' and created his own absurd universe to function in. And it was basically Dungeon of Doom/WCW 1995 with SLIGHTLY better wrestlers involved, a little bit better budget, and absolutely nobody saying no to ANYTHING. And hey, I loved it because I was okay with all of that silly shit in a vacuum. They told us directly that it was going to be silly then delivered just that: this fool was calling people by their middle names and I loved it.

Add in his obsession with green beans, using 'big' words, the growing color streak in his hair to visibly show that he was getting worse, the 'timeless' (oops!) accent, being against the high spots that robbed him of his physical health while still very much being reliant on them to win matches because he sucks / can't move anymore, The Hardy Compound and all of the stuff there, his PITA wife and grand FIL being in on it too. They fleshed that jackass idea out so much more than it probably deserved and yeah...me and several others obviously loved it. And really, at the time? TNA was not being watched by damn near anyone so they had the canvas to paint on ridiculously. Why tf not!? And really, people might admit it one day, but the gimmick led to a lot of fun stuff in rasslin in general. And again, to me, Toni's current deal is a direct descendant.

But the great thing about 'Broken Toni'? She's somehow more grounded and she still has to follow some amount of 'rules' of how the show around her works. She's flipped her shit because she lost her title AGAIN, she's losing her friends of convenience who were never really her friends, AND her sense of self-importance is waning. Its a beautiful pivot that has already saved her from whatever stank people were laying onto Saraya's admittedly cold run. I have no idea how long this goes and what ends it but I want it to go on and on and on until they run out of stuff to do with it. She has been flat out WONDERFU..DAMNIT..I mean uh...magnificent in this role so far.

And she has committed to the bit damnit! The get-ups, the interviews, the faces she makes, its all there

And duh, unlike Matt, she can pay off anything she sets up IN THE RING without relying on shenanigans to Febreze some shaky rasslin. IE: Matt had to wrestle at his compound to cover for his general inability to work a good standard match at that point in his career (let alone now!). With Toni, she'll do some heelish stalling that goes with the character of course, but I grew up with Flair and Michael PS Hayes so I'm good with that! Toni is still a wrestling machine and she'll show it in spots when needed and it'll be fun. I'm 100% in on this thing.

That’s gotta be his last real shot at it. Ugh.