Every Saturday will be the greatest night in the history of our sport.
Every Saturday will be the greatest night in the history of our sport.
It would be but Tony Schiavone doesn’t give enough of a shit anymore to even say that.
So I came in after Ryback was already on the downhill. To those who were watching at the time, how over actually was he?
When I first saw him fans would chant along with the "Feed me more" thing but wrestling fans will chant/sing along with fucking anything.
Oh scissor me daddy.
I'm a twit
He was mega over for a brief period, but that was mainly down to the audience wanting Goldberg and an alternative to Cena. It didn’t last long because he had nothing to offer.Originally Posted by Ian
Yeah that was kinda what I assumed as a best-case scenario because the man wasn't actually any good.
Shut up, Dutch. Gimme dem big bumps and flippy flips.
I'm a twit
Big E threw himself through the ropes at people many times and landed on his head and was fine. Hes about 3 times the size of jungle boy too.
Then one bad suplex botch on the outside and he's done.
I bet he'll be straight back to doing it if he ever got cleared for in ring stuff. You either have to go full send or not bother at all.
Brock is great at the minute. Best in the business when he’s got someone he’s got a feud he’s interested in
AEW Double or Nothing this weekend so I've watched Dynamite in its entirety to catch up. If you're one of those people who actually pays for PPVs, you'd certainly be thinking twice after this go-home effort.
Orange Cassidy vs. Kyle Fletcher to start. They already announced Orange will defend his title in the Battle Royal so you knew the winner going into this, even if they tried to back pedal on that. The match was poor considering who was involved. Fletcher is a great heat man in a tag team but he's not got a lot of experience as a singles guy so it was just moves and the crowd either don't care for him or don't know him. The booking of Orange is getting Roman Reigns ridiculous now. He kicked out of four piledrivers, including a tombstone and a fucking avalanche before getting the inevitable win. Tony Khan loves Orange Cassidy and YOU WILL LIKE HIM.
Ricky Starks doesn't like getting beat up by Bullet Club so he's entering the Battle Royal instead. OK. Then Bullet Club beat him up anyway. They couldn't have ruined this guy any better.
At least they decided to pre-tape the Jungle Boy promo but it was still pants. Nobody cares about this match and they care even less about Jungle Boy who's supposed to be a contender for the World title but he got his arse kicked by Rush last week, who barely makes it onto TV. I maintained from the start it should have been just Darby vs. MJF.
FTR are great in the ring, like really great, but their promos (well, Dax) are just far too smarky. I think the tag title match will be good if there's not a lot of shenanigans because there's actually four workers in there but they haven't done anything to get the casual hyped.
Sammy with a backstage promo. Seems Tony has realised, albeit far too late, that the fans only want to see Darby. So the presence of the other two will just be a hindrance.
A House of Black six man title match happened. Five minutes or so of stuff.
BCC promo. Moxley has brain damage at this point I'm sure.
Now a segment with the World title guys. You could literally see the crowd actively wondering who will be MJF's next challenger, because this thing is death.
Then a women's match. Taya Valkyrie vs. Lady Frost. I've never heard of Frost but she seemed a decent worker. They're clearly trying to build Valkyrie for something (probably Jade Cargill).
Tony announces the debut Collision will be in Chicago in the worst kept secret ever. No announcement of Punk yet but surely they're not going to sell out the United Center on the promise of Punk then not deliver, because that would be some WCW shit.
Hangman Page is coming for blood. I think he picked up Moxley's script by accident.
Oh my God, they are doing a contract signing for Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho. Yes that's right, a contract signing for an unsanctioned match. You can't make this shit up. And then in a bizarre twist after Jericho threatens to gang rape Cole again, Sabu comes out for the save. Well that's a cameo I certainly didn't see coming.
Straight into Roderick Strong vs. Daniel Garcia. Size aside, Strong is decent. He has fucking End of Heartache as his theme tune and is a great worker. He led Garcia through a good match here. No stupid shit so it's capped at 2.5 stars by Dave but I liked it for what it was.
And then in another bizarre bit of booking, the ROH World Champion is challenging for the Tag titles. The stipulation from last week was bollocks but at least it gave them an out in that they could have put in Danielson to make the actual match interesting but no, it's Yuta. And then the Lucha Brothers drag Claudio into one of their standard matches. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. Best bit was Bryan on commentary.
Then we finish with another BCC promo again promising blood. Whatever. Moxley and Elite fanboys will probably be enjoying this but it's just turgid crap.
A completely underwhelming show. On the one hand, they could be saving the good stuff for the PPV but they might have turned off enough viewers here that no cunt will see it. The last couple of PPVs were good and they set themselves up for the summer well off the last one, but they've completely fluffed their lines the last couple of months.
BCC is such a weird group. Danielson wants everyone to be a professional wrestler so obviously get the screwdrivers out, Moxley is just fucking rubbish, Cesaro is great but background noise, Wheeler Yuta's mean face looks like a child pulling a tantrum. Also they're named after a current WWE employee and a place none of them could point to on a map.
I know wrestling is about suspending disbelief but they could at least attempt to make things look believable. The way Moxley pretends to stab away with that screwdriver, if there was actual contact then he'd be up on a murder charge. It's a much worse version of Triple H's sledgehammer.
Also, why a fucking screwdriver?
What percentage of contract signing segments are actually any good?
Punk and Cena was the last good one that I can remember.
Otherwise they're just an excuse for someone to go through a table, because tables are the most over thing in wrestling now.
Imagine bringing Sabu in for your run in because he’s more emotionally stable than Bobby Fish.
As much as I’m enjoying Brock chucking Cody around each week, the story for these two feels weak. Why did Brock go after Cody? I don’t think there’s ever been an explanation and it deserves one.
Is "Man who looks like he organises hate crimes on 4chan" vs "Man who actually does them" for the belt.
Not really but fucking hell Cody, that tattoo was the biggest mistake I've ever seen.
I genuinely think they're just going for the motivation as him being an angry ham triangle.
If they were actually saying "look it's Lesnar he's mental and we're too scared to ask" then I could probably get on board with it but from what I've skimmed of Raw I don't think they're even really doing that.
Cody is one of the few (only?) guys left that can get Brock motivated, have him work hard during a match and ultimately put the other guy over. How they get there is an afterthought.
They also needed something for both of them to do while Bloodline stuff happens.
This and the other review of the show I read make this match and his booking obnoxious. Did I read right that he kicked out of back to back tombstones? Why is he doing that in a TV match?
AEW fans love that shit. There needs to be one “banger” on TV every week and apparently this is it.
Undertaker and his opponents spend 30 years putting over a move and it’s destroyed by a double denim clown. Fantastic.
I already don't get how or why Cassidy's gimmick is meant to work (either in or out of kayfabe) and if the disinterested dude is also now just invincible then yeah, no.
This is just wrestling all over though isn't it. Not just AEW even if they're the most obvious/egregious at the moment.
So many moves that are just transitioning things into the next spot that used to be big deals.
I'm not some crusty old man who thinks everything should be vertical suplexes and wristlocks but there are too few protected finishers and too many moves where people are getting smashed onto their head/neck which really oughtn't to be run of the mill kickouts.
They should’ve saved it for after the Battle Royal at the PPV, so it wasn’t inevitable he’d win.
I'm a twit
Yeah, I’m not a fan of the false finish era that we are in now. On the big shows such as WM or whatever, then yeah, I get it. Maybe kick out of 1 spear from Roman or 1 AA from Cena. I can accept that. But you see matches now where these fucking idiots spend 10-15 minutes spamming each others moves and kicking out. It’s pathetic and tragic to watch. Does it even get a pop anymore? I’m not sure it does.
Bunch of people who got into wrestling in the attitude era annoyed that moves get less effective as time goes on as if the DDT was still a fininsher back in their day. Please for the love of god, stop listening to Jim Cornette.
I’ll do as I please.
Such a nerd
Not liking the modern indie style must mean you worship Cornette? Stop talking like a AEW Twitter idiot. What about when people like Austin and Undertaker have commented on this?
It’s phonics. Don’t bother trying to understand him.
Let's rile up phonics even more with a Double or Nothing preview.
Six Man Tag Team Match
(Pre-show) Ethan Page & The Gunns (Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) vs. Hook & The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy)
Don't care. Six man matches in this company just ignore the rules anyway. I said at the time of his return that Jeff is most over when his music hits for that initial surprise pop, then it's downhill from there. I'm yet to see what others see in Hook as well.
AEW World Trios Title Open House Match
The House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) (w/Julia Hart) (c) vs. ???, ??? & ???
HoB have issued an open challenge. It's going to be The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn, surely. Might be alright, although I'm not a huge fan of the HoB special lighting; that's some Bray Wyatt shit.
Unsanctioned Match (Special Enforcer: Sabu)
Chris Jericho vs. Adam Cole
An unsanctioned match that needed to be signed off so logic is off to a great start in this one. I can't recall the last Jericho feud that had a good logical build. The bloke is allowed to book his own storylines and he's a headcase, so this is where we are at. It'll probably end with a Sabu heel turn, and a botch in the process.
AEW TBS Title Match
Jade Cargill (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie
Cargill looks like an absolute star but I've mentioned it before that she should be nowhere near PPVs and I don't think Valkyrie will be able to walk her through a good match. Ready to be pleasantly surprised with this one.
AEW Women's World Title Match
Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Toni Storm
What a fucking trainwreck. It's been six months since Hayter won the title. From Storm. They fucked the money feud that was handed to them on a plate (Hayter vs. Baker), made Hayter an afterthought in all this Outcasts bullshit and now we're back to square one with the same match that started all this. And if that wasn't bad enough, apparently Hayter is hurt so Storm might win this with shenanigans. Tony Khan at his worst here.
AEW International Title 21 Man Blackjack Battle Royal
Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Dustin Rhodes vs. Trent Beretta vs. Chuck Taylor vs. The Blade vs. Brian Cage vs. Ari Daivari vs. Tony Nese vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Rey Fenix vs. Juice Robinson vs. Big Bill vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Keith Lee vs. Ricky Starks vs. Kip Sabian vs. Jay White vs. Bandido vs. Lee Moriarty vs. Komander vs. The Butcher
AEW are atrocious at Battle Royals and I don't expect this to change that sentiment. LOLORANGEWINS.
AEW TNT Title Ladder Match
Wardlow (c) vs. Christian Cage (w/Luchasaurus)
For a minute, I thought we'd make it through an AEW PPV without a Ladder match, but no. Classic Tony, book the blowoff match to start the feud. Anyway, it'll probably be decent. Wardlow is a good powerhouse and Christian is awesome. Hopefully Luchasaurus gets taken ill pre-match because he is a lump.
AEW World Tag Team Title Match (Special Referee: Mark Briscoe)
FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett
Hopefully Briscoe isn't booked to do anything stupid because this could be a really good wrestling match. No fuckery please.
AEW World Title Four Way Match
MJF (c) vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Jack Perry vs. Darby Allin
I've said a few times already that this should be a singles match with Darby and MJF. They've fucked the build so bad that the World title isn't going to be the main event.
Anarchy In The Arena Match
The Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta)
This will be egregious bullshit with Nick doing enough flips for eight guys and Moxley bleeding enough for eight guys. It'll be full of plotholes and hokey nonsense. The Elite are so bad at the walk and brawl type matches so God only knows why Tony has booked one.
This is shaping up to be dreadful and apparently ticket sales are saying the same thing. I like AEW's schedule of a PPV every three months or so and they teed themselves up well off the last couple but this has been a complete blunder. Every passing week highlights more and more how Tony Khan needs booking help ASAP (and not from some message board yes man dipshit like he's just brought in, but an actual experienced veteran).
Phonics it's super dull when you bring the needless antagonism in here. Knock it off, save it for the argumentative bore threads and have an actual conversation about the thing if you're disagreeing and we'll all have a lovely time talking about this dumb shit we're taking a bit too seriously.
Speaking of, just watching the closing segment of Smackdown and liked it very much. Heyman's hammy expressions are always perfect and when Jimmy said "When it comes to the Usos I AM the Tribal Chief" his "oh no what have you done?" look at the Usos was great.
I've talked a lot about Solo in recent weeks* for maintaining his aura / character and stuff but Jimmy's doing some great work too, having spent time earlier in the story easing into being the guy who's just going with it for his family and now getting more and more fucked off with Roman as the weeks go on.
I don't really care for the fact that we might now have a couple of Reigns' sparing PPV appearances where he won't even be defending the title if he's doing tag shit with Solo (and presumably again vs. the Usos) but I'd be lying if I said the Bloodline stuff isn't doing it for me still. Which it shouldn't be because we should probably be nearer the endgame now than we presumably are but everybody involved is just still doing really good work.
Can't remember if I said about it but I really liked last week as well when Reigns accidentally bumped into Solo and had a moment of Reigns clearly not wanting to mess with Solo. I've no idea what his actual level will be once this is all over but for now they've done a great job of making him seem like a big deal.
LA Knight gotta be getting that push soon. Saudi fans were screaming his name yesterday when HHH was speaking and now they’re saying he might be getting an impromptu match.
HHH clearly likes him, and while I still don't really have much appetite for watching him wrestle he's over as fuck and is a top promo so he deserves something substantial. I'd get the US title on him for starters I reckon. Get Theory out of there and totally retool him because at the moment he's just a nothing, generic sneaky heel.
More great bloodline stuff last night. Heyman is always worth watching during these segments when he's not talking. The look of horror on his face when Jimmy called himself the Tribal Chief was great.
They've made a big point of saying the Usos were not invited to Blood Money, so I can only assume they're going to turn up and Jimmy will cost them the title somehow.
EDIT: Dammit @Ian
Bloodline has been a bit off since WrestleMania in my opinion, even though the character work remains great. Last night was a good segment though and hopefully it kicks on again now.
LA Knight is amazing, although I liked him as Eli Drake too.
They probably could have got the Bloodline story to where it is now at least a month ago without it feeling rushed if Roman wanted to work but than once a fortnight.
So I’ve largely stayed away from any insider talk on WWE over the last few months. Is McMahon fully running the creative in WWE now?
If word is to believed he has little to no part of show-to-show running. So for example he wont be turning up on Smackdown to make last minute changes, but he does have a say in outcomes. So for example he could say Cody is to lose again at next years 'mania.
Oh blimey, Asuka won the title off Belair! Weird time to do it but they did need to change something up with Belair, felt like they were padding the title for its own sake. And Asuka is great, obviously.
The pop for Zayn was pretty special. Great moment for him
Saudi crowd might genuinely riot if they make Zayn lose here. The crowd is absolutely mental
Main event was excellent.
Roman vs Jey at Summerslam, maybe?
I'll be watching the main event tomorrow but I assume we're getting Solo/Reigns vs. Usos next? Then maybe some singles with the Usos.... not sure. Looking at the results though I love that Jimmy is getting some agency now.
It's funny that I'm known as the AEW hater in my friend group and the AEW fanboy on here.
Here you’re known as a mong.
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