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I love how in the Starks’ promo he started on the far corner of the ring mocking MJF, but as he progressively got more intense and confrontational he slowly made his way over to him. Forcing us as viewers closer to both visually and figuratively what was being said. Subtle and well done blocking.

I cannot stress enough how this is actually a good thing. The top heel should not be burying his babyface challenger, or looking cooler than them in any way. These are exactly the types of promos MJF should be doing. A couple lines that make you chuckle, but mostly being annoying, and most importantly, leaving the face some room to fire back and actually generate interest in the payoff match. Not everyone is going to be able to up the ante continuously on scathing promos like Punk, so MJF needs to dial his stuff back to whatever level his opponent can handle/the program requires. By not making himself the center of attention, I'm now way more excited for his match next week than I was a couple days ago, and based on the replies, I'm not alone in that thought.

You're confused because you're dumb, not actually watching, and just looking to bitch about whatever. They're delivering a message from the Briscoes.

Man Ricky got a chance there and he knocked it right out of the park. That was incredible.

Thursday Reflections: So this show was FOUR TIMES better in the International Feed. The thing is that there were three tag matches and the foundation of US tag team wrestling is the heat segment and the heat segments are lost in the picture in picture in AEW and WWE. The thing is that there were three GREAT heat segments lost. Wheeler Yuta is fuckin Ricky Steamboat getting the crowd behind him as Jake Hagar was FANTASTIC being an old school heel, getting the crowd behind Yuta's struggle. During the ladies six-woman match, Leila Grey goes so basic as to do a 1974 headlock spot that gets the Austin crowd to actually chant "Skye Blue!" During the main event, JESUS CHRIST! FTR NEEDS TO TURN SUPERHEEL. They are so fucking good being complete dicks and Cash Wheeler was fucking Tully Blanchard during the commercial. I SOOOO going to be into FTR's heel turn. So fucking great. I assume they will beat the shit out of the Ass Boys and THEN turn heel to beat the Acclaimed. What a great time to be alive.

Joe noped Darby's lowpe tope, the dope. After the skateboard bump I wanted Darby crying over it like Larry Fine breaking his Stradivarius. "My beautiful Roskopp!" I had resigned myself to Starks making booboo faces and getting nothing in while MJF ran him down, so imagine my surprise when he came back with that absolute shooting star of a promo. Starks chopped, simmered, sautéed and ate MJF alive with rolls, salad and a nice vino, and you're going to waste it on him going one-and-done next week? Fuck. That. Noise. Call an audible and strap him. They can always hot-shot it back to MJF and have him write it off as a bump in the road on his reign of terror... but sweet fancy Moses, do not drop the ball on Starks in this moment.

FFS find a better hobby

DUSTIN MAKES TV! AND HE SLAPPS MEAT WITH THE BUTCHER!!! (I like to think The Butcher has a mid 90's wwf job as a butcher outside of wrestling and his buddy the blade is a barber) Dalton Castle makes TV! and the Boys Makes the save! Have The Boys ever gone head to head with DEM BOYS? Could be fun! I wish Dante Martin was in this, speaking of Dante , him his brother and The Fabulous Mr. Fox should challenge Dalton and His Boys for the six man straps in ROH! What a fun battle royal! If only the Continental Lover JD Drake had been in it. I love when the dark crew gets to pop up in these. Lot of good wrestling tonight! Sign of the night Julia's Hat > Hager's Hat You know there is a lot of Rock in Starkman Jones presentation. That's okay there was a lot of Superstar Billy Graham in Hulk Hogan and he turned out ok. Better than all the Mike Rotundo in Ethan Page I guess. You stark getting old you notice these things. Everything old is new again. I guess Keira Hogan is next for Jade, we are quickly running out of people for her to beat. And I hop no more Madison Rayne Speaking of THAT WITCH Julia Ghoulia The Reverend Mother of The Bene Gesserit is here to teach us that fear is the mind killer! (Ok I watched David Lynches dune last night under rated film. sure the new one had Dave Bautisa but this one has a naked Sting!) Brody King tells us punishment is extinction under the Killing Moon. Speaking of extinction. If we extinguish the Elite can we have more main event tag team wrestling like this? Wow is Bowen's putting it together. That was great! But can we take a moment to talk about what exactly the fuck is up with Colton's armpit tattoo?

FTR doesn't lose a single ounce of credibility losing here either, this was the Acclaimed's to win and my god did they.

"Dey tryin' to cement their legacy. I cement the driveway and get paid for it!" Plus THE RETURN OF THE COOL WHIP.

He gave half his pay back to the university. He got big business to invest and improve the facilities. He got Jackson State on TV. He increased game revenue. He is leaving the situation in a far better than what he inherited. Maybe he will inspire others to go that route. I think if he stuck it out for another year he could have got a better job offer. He did more in 3 years to elevate HBCU than anyone else did in the last 3 decades. You can only punish your family for so long by making them live in Mississippi

I love Starks as a heel but damn he has some awesome dickhead babyface fire going on. I feel he destroyed Maxi Pad on the mic today and even though he's losing the match I hope they dont knock him down the card too much because this guy a star.

Billy Gunn being at the center of the most unapologetically gay act in the history of US TV wrestling feels so wonderfully full-circle. To a point where I'd pop for a Chuck Palumbo cameo.

Could you please rephrase that in a way that makes Tony Khan look incompetent? That's kind of how we do things around here now.

Some dumb bullshit that you'd expect from a fucking idiot I'm sure.

Ass Boys reveal Dem Boys FTR III @ Final Battle? Sure, why not! It's not a one match show by any means, but nothing felt must see. That match alone sells it. I won't be ordering it, but now I feel like I'll be missing out. By necessity or not they've kept the indy dream match feel alive with the Briscoes. I wanted FTR to win but no complaints about the way the match went. I need to watch it again without PIP but there was some good back and forth and just enough heelishness from FTR to tease them going further in the rematch. I still want them to get all the belts sooner than later but I have no idea how NJPW and AAA feel about having semi-absentee champions for so long. I also can't wait for Dax and Cash to kick the shit out of Billy Gunn and cut a promo on how shitty his half dozen tag teams were Are we okay with people kicking out of spike piledrivers? I know it's 2022 but that should still be a tag team death move I wasn't really feeling Starks and MJF before tonight, the tournament field wasn't as impressive as years past, but they did a great job making Starks look like a star from the entrance to the match to the promo. The breakup/feud with Hobbs didn't really work for whatever reason, probably because they were such a great pairing and nobody wanted to see them feud. Feels like he's back on track now. Having other young and hungry "homegrown" peers like Starks, Jungle Boy and Darby as opponents is going to do wonders for MJF's title run. Crowd was super hot for this. AEW Originals all the way! Darby and Joe are perfect opponents, that match was hella fun. No offense to Mr. Mayhem or Mr. Juice but I want to see Rd. 2. Actually, that might be a really fun fatal 4 way... Really fun show that breezed by and did a good job building to 4 upcoming shows at the same time (Rampage, ROH, Winter is Coming, 1/11 LA Dynamite), and also showed the depth of the roster (no Jericho, Danielson or Elite/Death Triangle aside from video packages). Things are heating up and it feels like they're hitting a groove again at just the right time

I love that Winnipeg is getting Dynamite before most of the States has. Haha, kick rocks America

Tony "Integrity" Schiavone knew Regal was going to turn on Mox and didn't say shit.

I told you guys this already, but Miro is actively acting and auditioning. My friend works out at the same Golds Gym in the valley that he works out at. My friend said, hey man, I love your work, but when are you going to be on TV again and Miro said basically that wrestling was on hold while he was auditioning.

Acclaimed is one of the company's hottest acts right now and it's not time for them to lose, especially when they haven't had the belts that long. Only other thing you could've done was a non-finish and that would've pissed everyone off too.

Got 3rd row lower level at half court for revolution. We’ll see how it does during the general on sale tomorrow.

Made progress on the commute. Busy work day but let me throw down some thoughts. I'll hit the last two matches later. I liked the battle royal. I'll have to rewatch it for Monday as Dustin was in it. Great to see Dustin in it. I loved all the managers/seconds out there. Stokely and Big Bill. Blade and Bunny. Penelope. Nana. The Boys. And there were managers not even around like Sterling and Jose and Vickie. It's just a really big part of AEW and I do enjoy it. Blade was especially great cheerleading on the outside. There were lots of fun interactions but maybe not as many as I'd like. Always tough to have a commercial break in the midst of a battle royal since it means stacking too many eliminations early and then having a down period where none happy. I enjoyed Lee Moriarty interacting with Page and Matt Hardy quite a bit. He kept wanting a high five from Matt. Starks felt like he disappeared for a while in there though the fans were chanting for him. This would have been a good opportunity to pair off Jungle Boy and Starks for twenty seconds or something. MJF's promo saying the obvious things people think to tear down his opponent are always a little dangerous but thankfully, Starks was up to the challenge. His delivery of just going and going and going and building and building and spewing personal truth after personal truth was super effective and better than a lot of promos I've heard from him lately. It's not a trick everyone can do and it's not a trick he can always do, but against MJF in front of this crowd with the opportunity upcoming, it worked. He needs to win some feuds real quick though. I hate saying it, but it almost makes sense to pair him with Jericho at Revolution and put him over Parker, Menard, Hager, Garcia, Sammy, and then Jericho, week after week after week all the way. Knowing Jericho, he'd leech onto him for four months though. I'll have to rewatch Darby vs Joe to write it up at length, but they're such perfect opponents and this match, in and of itself, justifies this Joe run. Can you believe this is the same guy who was in the poncho getting soaked as an announcer? I think the proper endgame here is Jungle Boy ultimately toppling but who knows what you do with Wardlow in that scenario. Enjoyed the tag a lot. Despite this feud going on forever, Hager vs Yuta still felt fresh and Claudio vs Garcia still felt fresh. The hat stuff remains fun. Very much like that Claudio won with the uppercut because it's good to put it over as something that can win a match. Some gnarly spots/bumps between Claudio and Hager, like that face first drop on the rana. The only way for the feud to really end is by Claudio beating Jericho on Saturday but no one will deny that the Claudio in a hat thing wouldn't be amusing for a bit. Like everyone else, I want Hayter vs Shida. It's funny that Khan's response to the low rating is putting Bunny back on Rampage. Match 4 of 9: Nick Bockwinkel (c) vs Jumbo Tsuruta 2/4/82: I need to keep going with these as I have 9 matches and they only have 7. This was in AJPW but for the AWA Title. Verne had gotten it back and retired at this point. Between 80 and 82, I'd say Jumbo had moved on to his second form more fully. That is to say that he and Bock came off like equals here, which gave the match a different sort of feel. Bock slammed him from the get go, but then Jumbo returned favor and he took almost the entirety of the opening matwork by hanging onto the arm through Bockwinkel's escape attempts. On paper, some of this (the arm submissions, into a surfboard sort of test of strength, into the initial cobra twist) that took up the first ten minutes might not sound compelling, but when they were zoomed into Bock (and Jumbo's!) facial expressions, it was very good. Just full commitment to the struggle. Bockwinkel might be the best actor and reactor in a wrestling ring ever. And Jumbo, with mouth stretched open and gritted teeth, rose to the occasion. This went just under twenty and it probably needed another two or three minutes with Bock on top. He took over after the Cobra Twist with some hard shots to the gut in the ropes, a little King of the Mountain, and a slam from a suplex position bringing Jumbo in from the apron. Bock had some holds here but it just needed a bit more heat. Jumbo's big comeback was with the jumping knee off the ropes out of the sleeper. I'd say the last five minutes of this were excellent. Jumbo was absolutely feeling it, yelling and charging across the ring for these big jumping stomps to Bock's back. He'd use the crab and most of a camel clutch to really wear it down and set things up for the second Cobra Twist. Pretty dramatic stuff and the fans were buying into it. Bockwinkel was able to pry the leg out slowly and dramatically to get him over and escape. He had a last burst of offense, but was always reaching back to sell the back in a way that felt organic and never took away from what he was doing. Just the stuff that he was better than literally anyone in wrestling at doing and that puts him over his contemporaries because he's able to balance this and registering what happened in the match while still keeping it dynamic and exciting and emotional and electric. It all builds to him being unable to slam Jumbo and Jumbo trying to put him away with an airplane spin. Both wrestlers go tumbling out and Jumbo starts spinning him again again, spiraling around the ringside area erratically as photographers have to dive out of the way. Incredible visual. He's unable to beat the count back in though so it's a draw. This was a different dynamic and interesting to see but I think Bockwinkel ultimately gave up just a little too much without getting a little more back to really put it over the top. If Bock had leaned on him a bit more the place would have exploded all the more so when Jumbo hit the jumping knee. Still, great performances.

Yikes. How’d you like to be Jungle Boy this morning? I’m so sick with the bronchitis at the moment and I doubt I feel worse than he does. That apron bump freaked me out. I was super concerned with Starks getting eaten alive by MJF. But thankfully he made a very good accounting of himself. The match itself will eventually be the real test to see if Starks gets elevated here. So tread lightly. Starks’ promo was good. But not the star making performance it could have all on its own. But if the match makes him look like he COULD HAVE won the belt. It’ll be fine. That shit on MJFs neck has some shit on its neck. Loved Joe/Darby. Joe is a mean mean MEAN man. Darby loves to die for for amusement. A lot of the rest of the was a blur thanks to all the meds I’m on. But I did come back around for the tag title match. Even though I was excited for the match. I kept forgetting it was on this show. Then Ex would remind me again and again with the graphics insert and I would be surprised each time. It was a helluva match too. Glad they gave the win to Caster really needed some points on the board. The wrestlers got out wrestled in a rare case of youth overcoming experience. The Acclaimed are on a streak and there is no reason to have them lose at this point. Bad timing for AEW yet again being cut off from the temptation of a belt collecting gimmick. But ultimately it doesn’t really matter if FTR does get them all. They have a really high credit limit with me. Great show. Scissor me AEW!

Avatar is the Yngwie Malmsteen of movies for me. I can appreciate, and maybe even marvel at, the incredibly high level of technical expertise going on there. But, there's no emotional investment for me. I just can't bring myself to care.

When Darby/Joe got rolling it hit me that it could basically be Necro/Joe for tv. It didn't get that violent, but close. If you're worried about the bumps Darby takes while wrestling, give him a follow on Instagram. Those bumps are like the 20th most dangerous thing he does over the course of a week.

Per CBS News, Britney Griner has been freed from a Russian prison camp following a prisoner exchange with the US.

So.....I was going to come here and make a lengthy post about how the death of the BCC was basically akin to the BCC becoming AEW's Nexus: a stable filled with amazing people, doing amazing things, but not living up to it's true potential, and dying before it's time even arrived, and then that video with Regal comes out....and I have mixed emotions. I'm sad, but I want to know more, and I'm genuinely curious as to how they're going to proceed with it. Otherwise, that was a fairly amazing episode of Dynamite. MJF/Starks was great, "You come out here smelling like paint thinner and ass", really excited that The Captain got a little push, loved "JAKE HAGER and His Hat", loved the callback to Claudio and the beach ball, "Ted Cruz hates to scissor", etc.

May I ask why? Especially when they’re poised to add another jewel to the crown in three days? There seemed to be a moment on the table when plans had to pivot to the Bucks from the Hardys, but it’s passed. FTR’s reputation isn’t enhanced by another set of belts, while Acclaimed would have flash-in-the-pan stink if they drop to another allegedly more important babyface team. This was the right result if they were booking this match right now. We agree on Acclaimed not losing at the very least.

Little Ass Boy Elves delivering the news

Darby Allin's insane.

Home from hanging a Christmas Star up in my much missed Mum's memory on the Christmas Tree in City Hall. Done that every year since Mum was stolen from us on the 26th of June 2014 far too young at 53. Tomorrow is my Mum's 62nd Birthday, it's always emotional. Happy Birthday, Mum. Love and miss you, Paul xxx.

but Reddit tells me every week that if Dynamite doesn't get over a million viewers that Warner Discovery will be pissed and cancel them or not give them money! #3 for the night and only the NBA beat them?! DO BETTER.

Dynamite was at 840 k this week, but Da Meltz said there was a problem with Spectrum cable last night that could’ve effected 30 mil homes, plus the folks in NC that still don’t have cable. Still 3rd on the night, with only the NBA beating them.

Not saying I disagree with you at all. Just maybe you guys could take it to private message and discuss?

Chilean Titanes knockoff lucha for the win! Yes, they had an ORCHESTRA doing everyone's intro music.

Yeah, let's not do that maybe? Anyway... So, is it just the two matches announced for Winter is Coming? MJF/Starks and Triangle/Elite part IV?

So any teenager who's attempted suicide has terrible parents? Not a take I expected to see here. Pretty sure mountains of psychological literature disagree with that stance.

A live look at the Rams current QB room

I THOUGHT THE SAME THING! I meant to ask on here, "Hey, was Darby vs Joe almost the modern day Joe vs Necro match or as close as we'll get to that again?" That really is about as close to that level of violence. I mean, I was going nuts during Darby and Joe and completely forgot that Joe is in a program with Wardlow. Now I wish Joe was in a program against Darby.

When Beetlejuice punched him in the dick.

Regal's nonsensical retconned promo was SOOOO close to being "I have to go now, my planet needs me, sunshine" followed by a handwritten note that he died on his way back to WWE that they really just should have done that. "When Maxwell pushed Tony Schiavone, I was so upset that I helped make him world champion because it's hard to be the champ and the BCC need to learn one last lesson from me to never turn your back and I will immediately follow this up by literally turning my back on the very someone who I'm trying to screw over..." They could just as easily have had Regal self-record a video where he says MJF offered him more money than he could realistically ever turn down but now he can't look himself in the mirror after selling out people who were like family to him and that it would be a long time before you'd see William Regal, if ever again. Starks promo was amazing. I was worried they were going to go the familiar route (especially in WWE) of MJF trashing Starks, only for Starks not even getting to stand up for himself but he did and it was glorious. MJF was weaksauce, though. "The Pebble"?! That's like something a disapproving dad would say about you watching wrestling: "He calls himself The Rock? More like the Pebble! The Undertaker? More like The Overfaker!" Fully expect after he defeats Starks, MJF will target The Acclaimed: "Rap music? More like crap music!" Joe-Allin was extraordinarily good. I liked it better than the main honestly...but then again I'm like the only guy in the world who really doesn't like FTR. Joe's walk away from a tope spot may never be topped by tonight's edition with Allin skidding on concrete. I was thinking tonight that the funniest result in the world would be Saraya ending Jade's streak and taking her title. Would love to see the online reactions after that. Britt's challenge to Saraya made no sense: "Good luck finding a partner...no one will team with you?" After several weeks of Saraya accompanying Toni Storm to the ring, after her introductory promo where she brought out all the face females and complimented them, even her debut was saving the faces from Britt and co. Clearly she has a lot of friends in AEW, so why would this be such a tough challenge: "Good luck finding a partner, popular girl!" If they had reversed it with Saraya offering up the challenge to Britt and Hayter with "I've got a surprise partner for you!" it would make so much more sense. I enjoyed when Taz went "Skye Blue and Red Velvet, they're both named after colours" (ignoring that there was a THIRD wrestler in there with a colour in her name!) to no reaction followed by his explanation of football to Excalibur to even less of a reaction (I suspect both Tony and Excalibur were laughing and on mute). I can't believe what fantastic change it was to put Tazz in the booth and remove JR. It's night and day, really. You might lose that mainstream cache of JR being in there, but all three genuinely sound like they're having a good time and enjoying calling the show. Makes a huge difference. I never really cared for Tazz' announcing prior to AEW but he's incredible now, straddling the line between PBP and explaining moves, playing the heel commentator and also just cracking jokes.

Darby's performance vs. Joe was the most insanely self-destructive bumping performance in a non-gimmick match since Foley in the 90s. Not exactly the type of match that's gonna get a lot of looks for MOTY, but one you find yourself watching over and over nevertheless. Overall, this show was great, and reminded us why we watch AEW. Much better promo from MJF this week who was a dick, but set up Ricky to knock it out of the park. Jungle Boy's apron bump gets a shout even if it was washed away by the aforementioned Darby match. BCC vs. JAS was a solid tag match, and I'll give TK some credit for his effort to salvage the Regal storyline mess. Not sure it fully worked, but certainly a creative attempt. Main event was good and put the Acclaimed over while leaving FTR strong enough for the immediate transition to what should be an all-timer at Final Battle.

If memory serves, this is similar to how the escalation was presented in the first Punk-MJF sparring session last thanksgiving. Nice to notice some people keeping useful tricks.

Excellent show! Absolutely star making work from Ricky Starks tonight, loved it. Perfect setting for him to do it in Austin. Added so much to next week's match and while MJF will obviously retain, I too want to see these two have an on-off years long rivalry now. The crowd loving Dalton Castle avoiding elimination was the highlight of the battle royal otherwise. Darby/Joe was awesome. Great chemistry, great finish. BCC/JAS tag was solid, finish was a bit sudden and out of nowhere. As much as I was not a fan of the whole Regal turns on Moxley just for MJF to turn right on him anyway, I actually loved the attempt at explaining things done here tonight. Totally down with the storytelling of the three brothers finding one last video message from their father who was killed last week. Felt like a more proper writing off/sendoff for Regal. Enjoyed the Baddies tag, but not sure about what seemed like subtle dissension between Jade & Red at the end there, I like them together. From what I recall, Thunder Rosa said in late October that she was "aiming for January" in regards to her return, so that'd be my guess for Saraya's partner. Really good main event. Shocked it had a clean finish with the Acclaimed going over like that but it did a great job in putting them over. Popped huge for the post-match reveal for Final Battle, that was unexpected, super hyped. Loved the creative way of going about it since the Briscoes couldn't actually appear. Curious to see what gets added to Zero Hour. Tony talked about putting big focus back on Rampage and now we get Moxley/Takeshita there, hell yeah.

Yes please.

Wait for it.

I'm in Camp C - the Fuck Tom Brady camp.