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THURSDAY REFLECTIONS: Just finished watching the International Feed and MAN, is it better than the broadcast version. The Jay Lethal match was helped the most because Lethal was fucking awesome beating the fudge out of Trent. The other great thing was the first commercial break in the Danielson/Sammy match as Sammy drew all the attention to himself in the ring and just bathes in the hatred of the MOLTEN Boston crowd while Danielson finishes blading. Sammy was fuckin' Gino Hernandez in Houston last night. That was legit HEAT! I noticed that Tony Schiavonne is assuming the role of Most Casual Clueless Fan in that he says the most obvious things to get over some pretty obvious stuff- "Keith Lee DIDN'T FIST BUMP SWERVE!" The Jamie Hayter/Skye Blue match was about as effective as the Lethal match in picture in picture to get over the fact that Jamie Hayter will punch you right in the face just to see that look on your face. So fucking good.

so i watch a lot of wrestling in my spare time. i like to watch complete runs, and do so in chronological order. Finished up a couple different years right at the same time (TNA/ROH was by design, as i'm watching them as complements, but WCW was completely coincidental). Here's my thoughts, spoilered for length or something. 1994 WCW: 2002 NWA-TNA: 2002 ROH: that's a lot of typing.

Where does one acquire a dick-riding license? Is it just Twitter blue?

I loved the main too.

That main event is everything I love about pro wrestling all rolled into one. That’s my review of the show.

It's like a food handling license, you just have to pay your $20 and take a safety course at the juco.

Saraya thinks she’s Lou Reed in Velvet Underground and she’s about to release Transformer. There’s a pretty good chance she’s going to be Lou Reed with Metallica.

I just want Ortiz first name be damned to wear a black coat, white shoes, back hat (Cadillac) when he teams with Ruby for the sake of musical continuity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6RpJ1f3D8&ab_channel=SongLyricsHD

Phew, made it through most of the show on the bus. And hey, I really liked it. Good week. Still need to hit the main. MJF thing was pretty good. It came from a place of honesty and connected a lot of dots instead of trying to just inflate one dot which is how it often is with him. They're not making him rah rah babyface. He's still a jerk. He's just trying to be a jerk who can look himself in the mirror maybe. 8 Man worked for me. Best Gunns match ever. Good for them. I loved Colton's intensity right off the bat because in storyline, they have been just dying to get noticed by FTR and now they finally were and he made the most of it. Austin was more there for the atomic drop sell, the taunting after Big Bill interfered, the DX Sports Entertainer stuff (though the JAS should do more of that and everyone else less, but what are you going to do?). Every now and again Cash does something that really, really makes him standout. Here it was during the punching in the corner bit before they went to commercial. He was just raining them down. Finishing stretch felt like one of those WWE house show celebratory ten men tags. I kind of wish FTR didn't get the big rig on but it was good that Acclaimed pinned the Gunns and not them. I can't believe they missed the shot on FTR and Acclaimed doing the scissor thing! That was the main thing they had to hit! Kingston vs Page worked for me. I probably would have liked protecting Eddie more but at some point you either have to go with Page and elevate him or not and you shouldn't hedge when elevating a guy. Throughout the match, they didn't work classic shine/heat/comeback but instead Page would get an opening and Eddie would fire back. You got the sense that Eddie had his number but Page survived long enough to capitalize on Stoke. Finish was pretty perilous but hit perfectly clean. I'll have three (3) Kingston matches to write up for Monday. Wardlow thing covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. I would have liked him to be able to hit another power bomb or two and really get the fans going but what are you going to do? Joe turn could have come at the PPV or after it? I think about the people I want to see challenge Joe for the TV title at Final Battle and they're mostly babyfaces so it makes sense he's a heel. They missed the shot on Joe's turn too btw! AEW production really needs some help. Yeah, I don't know. I think Saraya's speech was terrible and the crowd is going to turn on her hard at the PPV. Saraya wasn't just shitting on Britt. She was shitting on AEW as a whole. Read the room. It was downright criminal that they didn't show 30 seconds of Lee Johnson turning on Danhausen and rejoining the factory. That backstage promo should have been earlier in the night too. Lethal vs Trent was good though. Great bodypart stuff, Trent working well with one leg. Intense bastard Lethal is the best Lethal. His bump into the corner was nuts. The announcers were ridiculous during PiP all night. I think this is the match where Taz said there were too many Tonys in AEW and that Tony S should be Tom or Matt. The Jarrett bit where his gimmick is that he knows how a pro wrestling show is produced and brings that up every time is not great. The song still is though. I remain way more interested in Darby/Sting vs Lethal/Satnam than Jarrett being involved. Skye Blue and Hayter beat the crap out of each other. That's all I wanted. Now I want Skye vs Athena! Show is so much better and more palatable without the elite. I can't say I missed Jericho this week either, even if I think he's had a great year. Main on the way home later.

The Bryce Remsburg One True Referee storyline has continued!

The second worst crime you can commit is dick riding with a suspended license. This was a very cohesive episode, and it felt like "things were happening". The Ethan Page push feels tangible and I think he's at least going to the finals of the tournament, probably vs. Starks. The Joe turn didn't feel early to me, maybe because the storyline is dragging, but man I want to see those three mix it up beyond a single match. TNT Title-As-Hossweight-Division makes sense right now. The Jamie Hayter situation is such that you'd have to imagine she'd be big babyface against a returning Rosa and could be a big face against Britt if Britt knew how not to bury faces in her promos. We'll see. The "Guys Who Had Their Best Match Against Danielson" count is getting to be absurd to a point where I don't even consider Bryan for stuff like Wrestler of the Year or Match of the Week, he's been operating on a different plane for like twenty years. Oh yeah and the opener was kinda all-the-way dope and a pretty great way to do an organic multi-team multi-title feud like thing.

Always liked Jarrett just never as the focal point of a promotion so if he works a couple of matches then fades into his backstage role Im cool with that

not on my bingo card, gotta say

Danielson/Guevara definitely have weirdly good chemistry together, even if one of them is Danielson. Kind of like Christian/Orton vibes, inexplicably good chemistry. Also AEW is announcing UK DATES NEXT WEEK and I am elated. I am ready to sell a kidney, I'm getting good tickets if it kills me.

I met Fetterman back when he was the Mayor of Braddock, the dude is legit 6'8" and had that "works the local independents and turned down WWE developmental at one point since he didn't want to move to Memphis or Louisville" look.

Since the producers are getting a lot of shit for missing the Joe turn let me give them some flowers: the way they shot Wardlow's entrance with Joe waiting by the stairs to the tunnel and then following him up was pretty cool in a real poor man's Scorcese kinda way.

Pictured: DEAN "fixing" the board.

John Wick: Chapter 4

I'll give you the movie. That is a big deal. The Women's champ thing came at a time when the belt was still a butterfly and whatever Saraya did there was GREATLY eclipsed by the women that came after her. I should clarify that I don't have any issue with Saraya or her feuding with Britt whatsoever. I just think they're approaching it from the wrong angle. If it's, "I've been on the shelf, gone through hell, and now I'm back and I want to go right after the best!", then I think that's a lot better than, "I'm a huge star and you're a nobody who never did anything and got everything handed to you!"

Not nearly enough gig marks, but no lie otherwise detected.

The (big) problem was that her speech wasn't motivational, if you think about it. Pretty much every sentence in the first part about how she mentioned she's been in the business for so long and wrestled despite other issues stopping her could have been post-faced by "...because your family ran the company" or some variation thereof. It didn't make her sound sympathetic at all.

I’m with you here. I feel like Saraya is being presented as way bigger of a star than she is/was. That promo got way too close to straight-up burying Britt for my tastes. I feel like almost everything she said about “superstars” would make sense coming from like Sasha Banks, but from her it’s a little eye-rolling. Saraya’s story (imo) should be the comeback. “I’ve been through hell, and now I’m back on track and no one’s getting in my way!”-type stuff. She really has a very inspirational story built right in. Don’t have her big-timing the people you’ve spent the last couple years building up. You don’t have Bryan Danielson come in his first week and say, “None of you would be wrestling if it wasn’t for me! You’re all not on my level and I’m going to show you what a real star looks like!” Have her say she’s got her second chance and she wanted to prove herself where the best competition is.

Sammy Guevarra should cut out the highflying and just go completely Takeshi Ono. He should fight for the ROH Pure title and they should just make the Pure Title division a version of BattlARTS.

I wanna time machine Austin Gunn into early 90s Memphis so bad. Not that he needs to be runnin' around with that there Billy Joe Travis, but just imagine how fed up Dave Brown and Cory Maclin would get.

I didn't expect it to happen this week, but Joe was definitely miffed when Wardlow shoved him out of the way when Hobbs came out at the end of Rampage. I feel like we've also gotten some looks by Joe during powerbomb symphonies, like he feels that Wardlow is showboating. There was something there, but it could have used a few more weeks to actually build to something

I rewatched Sammy/Danielson. I might need to rethink my opinion on Sammy, and it hurts me to type that.

Great show I'll have more serious thoughts later. I really wish they would lean into the "Toni Storm and Jayme Hayter were former roommates" a lot more as the personal conflict for this feud. That stuff is so relatable. Did Jamie stiff Toni on the water bill after she was "going to visit her boyfriend in Portland for the weekend" and never came back? Did Jamie have months of resentment building up because Toni would use up all the Almond Milk and not replace it until she could run to Whole Foods? Did one of them decide to make a "funny" Wifi name that hurt a former roommate's feelings? I WANT TO KNOW!!!

classic

Kevin Nash said on his podcast that WCW Saturday Night was appointment television for The Kliq during that period, and that Terra Ryzing was their favorite wrestler. If you look at who came over to WWE in 1995-1996 (HHH, Austin, Mero, Pillman, Vader, Foley, Goldust, Godwinns, Man Mountain Rock), it's wild to think none of them would have got spots if the Kliq hadn't been marks for them beforehand

Yes, he said it in a promo on tv. That’s why I said in canon, I guess I could’ve worded it better. Overall I enjoyed the segment and it feels like a big ppv match so I like that. But they really need to sit down with everyone and say to please be careful not to bury the company, even if that isn’t the intention.

The PiP commentary was fucking great last night, they managed to break themselves enough that we got like 30 seconds of silence while they got recombobulated. Easily worth $7 on its own. Somebody has been showing Sammy some Koji Kanemoto tapes 'cuz he's been real dickish the past few weeks, which is exactly where he should be. I liked them inverting the story of the Danielson/Garcia 2/3 falls match by having Danielson win the first fall but still have to fight from underneath the rest of the match. I think what they've been doing with Stokely hasn't been great and isn't playing to his strengths, but having him accuse MJF of dick-riding without a license is a perfect way to get him back in my good graces.

Yeah, I was trying to be diplomatic by saying it was an 'interesting dynamic' but you hit the nail on the head. It felt strange to have Saraya ostensibly doing the kind of promo you'd hear from like, a Dolph Ziggler or someone, with Britt doing almost a near-Hangman (in character, don't start) 'save AEW FROM you' thing. Crowd reaction at the PPV could go either way - could easily see Britt getting the homegrown respect pop, but the show is in Newark, and Saraya's return at Grand Slam just up the turnpike was one of the most insane reactions I've ever been part of. Should be interesting to say the least. That's a great call. I've always had similar thoughts about the Gunns and 2.0 in terms of being 80s/90s guys - the righteous indignation from Gene Okerlund toward them would have been some tremendous interplay (I'm guessing our difference in choice of announcer may be an age/geography thing, but all this to say, I'm with you). They're lower down the card, but I think you could drop guys like The Iron Bears (as they're now known in my house) and Nick Commoroto into that era with little issue. I know there may not be much clamoring for that style in the rest of the world at large, but It's a nice piece of the overall buffet.

Liked the Page/Kingston match a lot and it made complete sense both internally and as part of a larger story of the tournament. That Ego’s Edge looked dodgy for a second but it ended up really clean. Better to take your time and look a little goofy than, uh, paralyze anyone. Liked the Saraya/Britt stuff a lot more than I expected and think that it is a genuinely big deal that she’s getting back into the ring. No real expectations about the quality of the match itself, but I do wonder if Saraya will be able to win the crowd over from Britt who is in that AEW Cool Heel space, through no fault of her own. Confused by the Joe turn, but whatever. I don’t care. Sure! If it means those three clubber each other, I am into it and I understand if a) You want to get the title off Wardlow and b) You don’t want him to eat a pin. Jarrett and Lethal stuff was whatever. Not great. Not much heat on it. I am sure the match will over-deliver, but not my cup of tea. Blue/Hayter was fun! If she keeps improving at this rate, Skye will be a very natural upper-mid babyface. Fun stuff all over. The main, to me, proved two things that maybe didn’t even need proving: 1. Bryan Danielson just pumps out great matches at any age, with any opponent, in any company like it was his part-time hobby. Effortless-looking like AJ Styles but with way more meat on those bones. 2. Sammy is a good heel. He is what Austin Theory should be. He is what either Paul could/should be. Young, annoying, cocky, punchable face, reach exceeds his grasp but completely capable of being an integral part of an incredible match. I LOVE how much the Boston crowd hated him. Felt like it came from the bottom of people’s souls. I bet he splits for WWE at some point but he is really good as a foil for the AEW audience who hate every fiber of his being in earnest.

Hadn't realized this was Kingston's first Dynamite match since the barbed wire with Jericho in July, crazy. 8 man tag was solid. Hated Joe turning so abruptly and suddenly when it feels like last week's Rampage was the only time there had ever even been a slight tease. Hoped we'd get Joe/Jericho at some point over the ROH, now I wonder if Joe/Wardlow for the TV happens at Final Battle or if it ends up a triple threat winner take all scenario. Enjoyed the Saraya/Britt segment and Moxley's promo. Skye/Jamie was great, always like seeing Skye get a little more time. Main event was awesome. Lots of crazy spots and counters throughout, loved it.

“When I won the championship at WRESTLEMANIA” was so freakin perfect. Totally opposite use.

Second generation talent, son of Adam

A lot to unpack here, and I'll edit it in later, but I just have to point out one highlight: I burst out laughing when Skye Blue went "Since I'm here, I might as well kick Rebel in the face", proceeded to do that and Rebel dropped like a sack of shit, despite only peacefully existing a mere second prior. That was glorious. And a lot of other awesome shit happened too. More on that later. ...I tried to edit a bunch of stuff in, but the page froze and I lost all of it. Not typing it again. I'll just say Danielson finally proving he's a great wrestler by hitting a poison rana in a match was cathartic. I guess him actually winning in the end was, too!

Surprised to see the polarised opinion over Britt/Saraya. The real emotion she showed when she said she was cleared hooked me into the rest of the segment and kept me there the whole way through. Also, Danielson's grey in his beard is making him look like Old Man Hawkeye from Old Man Logan, especially if he now gets some sort of eye bandage to sell his vicious microphone to the orbital bone injury.

DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT HE SAID "ALL BELTS!" THAT MAN HAS LUST FULL EYES FOR JOES ROHTV TITLE!

The worst part of this is that it's arguably the most boring timeline imaginable. I remember getting the internet the week this happened and people were going batshit over it. Imagine going back and tell yourself that Bret has this really mediocre run in WCW that peaks with a promo about El Dandy, Shawn retires a few months later, and nothing really happens until one is born again and the other stroke-fucked, and they legit hug it out. If you take this at face value, Imagine telling Vince that neither guy really matter anymore and this agonising decision is really all for naught. I want drug fucked Shawn going to WCW with all of the Clique there and having the run Jeff Hardy did in TNA in 2010, and I want that to just blow up dramatically against the likes of Hogan, Savage, Piper and Flair. I want WWF to basically become an Ed Whalen wet dream, booked by Jim Cornette and Jerry Jarrett to 1950s sensibilities. Bring back the Stomper to headline against Stone Cold. A show where you literally see ROCKABILLY. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. A renaissance of Smith Hart.

AUSTIN GUNN IS 1# AND THE BEST!

JAYZEUS! LARIAT!

Keith Lee hates the Gunns! FTR! FTR! FTR! Austin Gunn is so fucking good. He is the Barry Windham of the Billy Gunn progeny. Cash Wheeler and Swerve Strickland are all slick in the ring together. This match becomes a SPECTACLE as all eight enter the ring! Then everything goes INSANE! I loved the Suplex off the top of the turnbuckle of Austin Gunn by Dax onto everyone! Then the FTRism kick in and then The Acclaimed hits their finisher! FTR should have Lariated the Acclaim after the match was over- but SOON. MJF talks some people into the door. Ethan Page is awesome as the angry stepfather coming to the ring. Page carries it over to the ring- as Page SO channeling late stage Larry Zbysko. Ethan Page isn't the new Ted DiBiase, he is the NEW Larry Zbysko. This match is fucking great. Eddie Kingston is bumping like a 26 year old in this. Oh man, I definitely have to watch this with the International Feed tomorrow. Eddie is channeling Tenryu again. NICE Everest Exploider by Eddie. This match is awesome! ETHAN PAGE GOES OVER CLEAN AS A SHEET! The REAL Push BEGINS! Awesome! I await the outrage on the DVDVR Message Board. Wardlow destroys Ari Daivari. They COMPLETELY miss Samoa Joe turning on Wardlow. OH NO! They are going to make it a TRIPLE THREAT match, aren't they? That ruins a fun match up, if so. What are these pants that Britt Baker is wearing? Saraya SHOOTS and it is very dramatic. That was a fun wad of pro wrestling. Trent! Jay Lethal! WHY NOT? Trent does the Curt Hennig bump! Jay Lethal is so fucking good. He is mauling the leg of Barretta like Ric Flair which I personally LOVE. Ric Flair was the greatest wrestler I ever saw every month for like ten years. I'm glad someone is emulating him. Trent is selling like Ricky Steamboat. Trent OPTS to go total Steiner and hits two beautiful Suplexes. I await Danhausen to punch Sonjay Dutt's balls into outer space. Lethal takes the third hurtiest bump a wrestler can take! Danhausen punches Sonjay Dutt's balls into outer space! LETHAL INJECTION! It's HEELS NIGHT in BOSTON! I think we are working towards Jeff Jarratt versus Sting, which will be fine. Jon Moxley channels Atsushi Onita, coming out to "Wild Thing" by X. I hope he cries. MOX is great on the stick. That was fucking great. Speaking of good promos, Danielson is awesome. Skye Blue is laying it in because God knows Jamie Hayter is going to beat the fuck out of her. Britt Baker CHEATS! in picture in picture! I don't think Hayter ever kissed Skye on top of the head so this is slightly less than optimal. Reba fulfills her DESTINY and gets kicked in the face. Fun nearfall with the Code Red by Skye Blue. This match is great! Skye Blue is laying it in like @Matt D was hoping. Jamie Hayter slaughterizes Skye Blue with a fucking HORRENDOUS Lariat. That was fucking great. Skye Blue is the new Jun Akiyama to the four pillars of the AEW Women's (Hayter, Storm, Baker, Thunder Rosa). I want her to wrestle Athena next. JESUS CHRIST! Bryan Danielson is beating the fuck out of Sammy. GREAT CEASAR'S GHOST! Sammy throws a chair and CRUSHES Danielson's head! Sammy Guevara IS Terry Funk! We go to a commercial and WE GOT BLOOD! SAMMY GETS A FALL! This match is fucking great! Great Crossface section by Sammy. Oh man, great kick to the face to counter Sammy trying to a Crossbody or something. Sammy beats the hell out Danielson after Danielson beats the hell out of Sammy in picture in picture. Tay is EJECTED! The crowd always loved that. I love wrestling. Sammy Guevara is wrestling this match like Takeshi Ono- a wiry tough little bastard. SHOOTING STAR TO THE FLOOR! LaBelle Lock! Poison Rana! WALLS OF JERICHO! KNEE TO THE TEETH! Crazy ass DDT! RINGS OF SATURN! WHAT A GREAT FUCKING MATCH! Oh man, AEW RULES THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD.

Hard disagree in the sense that even the lowest on the card dudes of the time at least had had audience participation going for them. A lot of what's missing today is getting the audience to participate in your act. There's a reason The Acclaimed are so over right now. And why everything was so over during the catch phrase period. I can understand if it got repetitive for you, but it a missing ingredient these days.

"When a man is tired of Jamie Hayter's absolute dumptruck, he is tired of life" - Samuel Johnson, if he watched wrestling.