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I can't co-sign this. So you're saying having Pac ask them in the moment during the match to use the hammer and Lucha Bros being apprehensive isn't enough story telling for you? You need a specific backstage out of ring version of that for it to count? They spread the hammer story out over 8 matches. Pac is a bastard, he wants to win at all costs. So he got his dudes to cheat too to get an advantage. Pretty easily understandable story there in my opinion. I do no need nor do I want a backstage promo where he goes into a long story about how his mother was a hammer maker and he's doing it to honor her or some shit. It's wrestling. A bad guy wrestler starting hitting people with hammers and it was working to win. So he wanted his buddies to do it too to keep their titles. Probably the worst example you could have picked to demonstrate any kind of point.

ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney.gif

Not sure if we're pulling out the ROH talk in 2023 or not but I wasn't going to bump the 2022 thread. Long story short, I'm excited about the tapings tonight because the PPV is wide open past Athena vs Yuka. You take the potential AEW roster (being everyone that had been on previous ROH PPVs, everyone who was hired with ROH in mind, everyone under the age of 28) and there are any number of matches I want to see. I'm hoping for Claudio vs RUSH but there are plenty of great choices.

1982 World Class: All The Dusek and twice the Arman Hussein!

Not just that, but saying that Yuta, OC, and Garcia are indistinguishable is just inane.

Ring Of Honor makes me Really Optimistically Happy.

Well, I can't speak for you guys, but those are two episodes of TV that I would like to watch. Just mixing and matching that talent bodes well for the rest of the year, huh?

HOLY FUCK!

Now I'll really be furious at next year's WO Awards if Dominik doesn't get Best Gimmick for his "privileged Mexican-American lad play-acting Blood In, Blood Out" schtick... I wish DVDVR could have it's own awards, but we can't even have a Top 500 without some Thrillseeker getting his knickers in a twist...

Folks, to clarify, when I say MJF is Shane Douglas with better press, I mean that MJF is an OK worker whose mic work is heavily overrated by his fan base because his boss let's him cuss and say shooty things...

Dunkzilla Davis resumed his former pudginess. He got really lean during the pandemic, and it took him a good while to backslide into being a legit heavyweight. Kyle Fletcher was super skinny when the team first formed, then got super jacked right when Davis was getting lean, so they swapped roles for a minute.

Wrestlers need catch phrases??? If we're going back to fucking 1998, I'll just quit watching now.

TK is booker of the year just for making me interested in watching ROH.

I was about to ask the question "Why is 1982 always the earliest year people mention on their hypothetical territory geekin'?" and it took me a minute to go - oh yeah, that's the meat of Ric Flair's first NWA title reign and he held the belt the whole year. I'm also assuming that there were major advances to television distribution + production around that time, but it's crazy to think how much Flair's first reign added to the sheer watchability of NWA-affiliated television.

RoH set

And lack of build isn’t hurting him at this point. It’s a positive that I can imagine Charlotte handing him his ass.

I also feel like AEW does a great job of letting guys flesh out their characters in the ring and from what they’re doing week to week. Wheeler Yuta was mentioned. Over the last 18 months we’ve seen him go from Best Friends trainee to earning a spot with the toughest guys in the company because of his characters fearlessness and strength of character. I don’t need JR to tell me he’s “tougher than a two dollar steak.” Dude wrote out the name of the faction he was trying to join in his own blood on his chest.

This idea might go over the heads of some fans but the Starks/Jericho feud is to the point where Ricky should bring out a Second Line post-Revolution to act as a funeral for that feud.

I really love how WWE is excelling as a highly sensationalized melodrama. Such heightened emotional drama in many of these often face to face promo segments. Sami and the Bloodline, Cody and Heyman, Dom and Rey, Sami and KO, Rhea w/ Dom and Charlotte, Bloodline with themselves, and likely more Bianca with crazy Asuka. Not everything is hitting it out of the park, but it is cool seeing the current WWE aesthetic being such an easy joy to follow along with.

Partially due to apathy, I couldn’t tell you after the mid 2000s, who held which “world title” belt. Ijust kniw which guys were “world champion” or not, whichever belt they held.

i'm perfectly aware that the WWE WHC is not officially a continuation of the WCW title. but in my head, it makes too much sense not to be. at the end of 2001, Chris Jericho beat WCW champ the Rock and WWF champ Steve Austin to unify the belts and create the Undisputed WWE Championship. he continued to carry both belts separately. Jericho lost the Undisputed Championship to HHH, where it then hotshotted to Hogan, Taker, and Rock before ending up in the hands of Brock Lesnar. sometime during HHH's reign, WWE introduced 1 new belt instead of 2 separate ones. Lesnar signed an exclusivity deal with Smackdown, leaving Raw with no championship representation (we are shortly after the initial brand split at this point). IN MY HEAD CANON, Raw GM Eric Bischoff refused to recognize Lesnar's claim to the title after he refused to face #1 contender HHH. so Bischoff stripped Lesnar of his half of the championship, in this case the WCW side based on the belt used, and awarded it to HHH. Thus ending the "undisputed" era of the belt. Again, i know that WWE doesn't see it this way. but it just makes sense, and i like it better this way. now, the Universal Championship? i got nothing.

Storm's sneer/smile/sneer on the way to the ring is pretty bad. Once she gets moving, she's still Toni Storm, but she was such an organic personality all through last year and it's kind of a shame to see her shoehorned into whatever should be going on here. She has to find the truth of the character, basically, and this ain't it. Which isn't to say the match wasn't good. Of course it was good. I'm glad they showed us Ruby tending to Willow after the Hayter run down. I get that selling the PPV is important, but I do think it's important to show the AEW wrestlers being as human as possible as much as possible. You're not going to out plastic spectacle and video package WWE, but you can make these wrestlers feel genuine, like they have actual feelings even in moments that aren't heavily scripted and following bullet points, the little in between moments. I missed Archer on Dark and Elevation. I missed the music. I missed the jerk attitude in him pulling up opponents or teasing a big chop or dive to the crowd and then not doing it. I don't really know what Jake adds to the act. He's a great gatekeeper sort of heel who you can use as a big challenge now and again. If you really were to give MJF a heater and Bill's off the table due to the start/stop there, then either Archer or Hobbs make sense. I honestly have no idea what Jake can really offer anyone in 2023 (though I'm very glad he's back if this makes him happy and especially glad they added him to the public relations team), but maybe putting him into the mix with MJF would create an interesting dynamic. Dustin having no idea what Lee's anime-inspired(?) clothing was about and just going with "The force is strong with us" is peak Dustin. I'm ready to jump to the singles match with Keith and Swerve already but if they want to do a tag with Dustin first, I'm sure not going to complain. I think Bordeaux has a look, but something that we didn't really talk about and can't be denied is how all-time-bad he was in feeding for Keith Lee on his return. It's not his fault. He's just so green and I don't think he had enough time in the Trustbusters to learn from Davari and Slim J and Sonny Kiss, especially when it comes to other non-wrestling things asked of him. So the best part of Andretti vs Sammy, even at 2x speed, was the one massive tapewatcher involved, Garcia, stealing the Stan-Hansen-Stands-On-The-Apron-And-Lariats-Kobashi-Off-The-Top-Rope finish. That said, they obviously matched up well. It was a nice little, well practiced physical spectacle and something Andretti probably needed as a showcase where he could utilize 2008 cruiserweight offense instead of 1998 cruiserweight offense, like against Jericho. He was on AEW Unrestricted and I was looking for something there to latch on to and my big takeaway is that people should listen to the AR Fox episode instead. My big suggestion for Andretti? Become a Bret Hart fanboy like 15% of the roster. Dax will help you.

Whenever I see Aussie Open I can't help but remember this ridiculously awesome WALTER vs Mark Davis match from PROGRESS several years ago that went like 8 minutes and was absolute hellfire, and wish that we could get more of Davis in a silo. As a team they are pretty jank. Storm vs Nightingale was pretty rad for what it was. Both ladies brought the beef and had some mustard on their shots. If the rest of this Originals vs Outsiders can't match this level of physicality then we should consider it a dud.

Same here

I've been listening to Konnan and Discos podcast and you can tell they are really coaching Dom with his Character work and his wrestling. He has really improved in everything from sell, positioning body language. The only thing he'll be lacking is his build.

TONI STORM!

This is weird. I'm pretty certain that I'm excited for every match on Dynamite more than every match on Revolution. Even the dumb ladder match because it's got Kingston and Ortiz and Hobbs and Komander (so it'll be something new at least) and the battle royal because I like those and there's a mystery team. But definitely OC vs Bill, Hook vs Matt, Jericho vs Avalon, and Storm vs Riho. I'm honestly looking forward to all four of those. Fresh matches. Interesting style clashes. I hope Avalon and Matt both get a few minutes in there at least. That's the joy of AEW, right? If you aren't feeling something, wait a minute. The roster is that just fun.

Honestly, if people make passionate posts about the promotions they like, most of us would be willing to check things out and even learn. I watched a recent CMLL show because of a post (and will likely watch more). I checked out and now love 90’s Joshi because of posts in the past. Half the fun of AEW is the dialogue on these threads and the discord during PPV’s being with my only wrestling friends. Recent memory of the WWE threads were pretty boring, now we’re seeing actual long and interesting discussions on feuds and predictions. A community can be created. Whenever I ask questions in the often barren Lucha section, I get very informed answers by different people. Why not have a Club CMLL and post reactions to the events they post on their YouTube. I don’t know much but I like Bárbaro Cavernario and Soberano Jr. I’d like to like more modern luchadors. Let me be your Jasmine on your magic carpet ride. Noah is awesome. I enjoy Nakajima and I get pumped up from kicks. That and Big Japan Strong Heavyweights are my favorite styles of wrestling. I don’t have Wrestle Universe but I’m always on the fence. I don’t have it mainly because who would I talk about it with? Maybe a “Woah for NOAH” club where Belgium Waffle and Red King dissect their favorite kicks? I’d be down for that. Impact won’t get me back in until they add more unnecessary sides to their rings. I really liked learning modern Joshi from Stephanie and would like to follow it more. Ice Ribbon seems so fun. Stardom seems badass. TJPW is on Wrestle Universe (right?). I guess my rambling is merely rambling to ramble. I’m sure if you’re looking for a dialogue, be the trailblazer and post your thoughts on a promotion you love in detail. People like myself may be ignorant on all the names or storylines, but will happily learn from the path any of you set out.

I'm pretty excited for Rohit Raju and the Infantry jumping from Dark to ROH, smaller ponder higher ranks. Not one but two Willow Nightingale matches? Woodsy vs Takeshita? 205 Live Reunion? If you aren't excited for this then frankly you need to take a lap.

It’s a year a lot of the territories had above average years, before things started to decline in a couple places. Admittedly, 1983 was a good year for Dallas, but not every place. 1984 is great for Watts, but not Crockett. And Vince’s expansion is plucking talent left and right.

Hopefully back for good.

Tatiana Suarez is back. Flyweight is heating up.

I'm more of a "show don't tell" guy so I think the PAC stuff worked well. I think of it as a NJPW storytelling is done inring and not with a 20 minute HHH blab a thon. Now I did think the Jericho / Starks dueling promo segment was very well done, wasn't rushed no interrupted promo and I think this is something AEW should do more often. Also both Yuta and Garcia have done promo explaining their motivations. Yuta told The Best Friends "Its not about being the Best Friend its about being the best wrestler!" and Garcia Idolized Bryan Danielson growing up but feels beholden to Jericho for helping him out financially after his car accident

Another point has been raised.

Check out that BIG LUCHA six man too. Billie Starkz/Emi Sakura is an oddity and adds to the wild resurgence of Emi Sakura. Komander/Cartwheel is a bunch of neat spots.

Rafi is insufferable. I haven't enjoyed a single moment of her screentime in 3 seasons. Don't execs test for that sort of thing so they can write people out? But here she is still going. I'm still getting a pop out of seeing TNG cast feature. Didn't realise Seven and Riker had never met until this season of Picard.

Saturday Reflections: That Toni Storm/Willow Nightingale match is a MILLION times better in the INTERNATIONAL FEED. Storm just beats the crap out of Willow to set up Willow's comeback, and it is harrowing. Storm is a fucking GREAT heel because her amazing STIFFNESS is now channeled into EVIL! So great.

I'm going to disagree. I think he's a very good worker (especially as he knows how to wrestle as a true shitheel) whose mic work is heavily overrated by his fan base because his boos lets him cuss and say shooty things.

The idea that Dark is “developmental” is pretty weird if you actually watch it. It’s developmental like 2009 ECW was. It’s less so than peak mid-2010s NXT when that was 70% established Indy guys who had been working for years. Occasionally a guy like Jora Johl will get a match but 1/2 of the show is established talents/journeymen against enhancement talent and another 1/4 is name vs name midcard matches.

Billie Starkz is a five year veteran. She started at 13. https://twitter.com/JohnPhilapavage/status/1628967960604983296 That's a preview for her The Life Of... on IWTV, where she talks about how she'll be a ten year veteran when she's 23.

Stardom is soooo good it is highly worth ~$8 per month. The only thing I’d say is when I signed up at the end of 2021 it seems like there were a lot fewer ppvs and more shows that would just directly air on world. They’ve gotten ridiculous with multiple ppvs per month now. I only order the 4-5 biggest ones and otherwise just wait a few days to watch on world. Everyone on the roster is at least good. Every match on the cards is at least good. It’s colorful and funny and brutal all at the same time. Perfect wrestling.

Now that's a chop.

AUSSIE OPEN! THE YOUNG BUCKS! Mark Davis is looking like Ole Anderson. Mark Davis channels BEAR COUNTRY and slams both Bucks! Aussie open is bumping all over the ring for the Bucks! Aussie Open goes on offense and the Bucks bump all over the ring for AO. Mark Davis lays it in! Kyle Fletcher makes a hilarious face after taking a toprope Frankensteiner. SWEET BRAINBUSTER ON THE FLOOR by Fletcher. NICE LARIAT by Mark Davis. Davis is the superstar of the match. SUPER KICKS! This match is fun! SABU! Great nearfall on Aussie Open's finisher. BTE Trigger and the Bucks win! That was fun. Aussie Open looked fucking great. PEE! MATT D! PEE! TONI STORM! WILLOW NIGHTINGALE! This should be good. Saraya is making money on the side. You go girl! Storm and Willow are beating the fudge out of each other. Willow is OVER in Phoenix! WRECKED EM through the ropes! Storm is fucking awesome throwing Willow all over the guardrails. SO STIFF! Storm gets all the heat on Willow so the Phoenicians get behind Willow's struggle to escape the New Zealand/Australian/British ass beating being supplied by Toni Storm. A straight up WRECKED EM by Storm! Willow CANNONBALLS To COMEBACK! DEATH VALLEY DRIVER FOR TWO! Saraya interferes! STORM ZERO for the win! EVERYBODY RUNS OUT! Willow looked fucking great. Toni Storm is so fucking GREAT. Hey! It's Lance Archer! With Jake the Snake! Bryce Saturn flies all over place! KOMANDER! FUCK YES! IN A LADDER MATCH! WE MAY NOT SURVIVE! SAMMY GUEVARA! THE HEAT MACHINE! ACTION ANDRETTI! This is fun junior heavyweight wrestling. This match is all about hard bumps as AA does a 450 off the apron to the floor! Jesus! GREAT SUPERPLEX by AA in picture in picture! And an Arabian Moonsault! GREAT SPIKE DDT by Sammy! This match is great. GREAT NEARFALL on Spanish Fly. SUWA DROPKICK by Andretti! DANIEL GARCIA WITH THE LARIAT! SAMMY WINS! SAMMY WINS! That was great. KOMANDER! AND KONOSUKE TAKESHITA IN THE SAME MATCH! AEW RULES THE MOTHERFUCKER WORLD!

A few weeks back, I watched the Jack Brisco/Roddy Piper Mid-Atlantic title change from July 1982. Perhaps the best hour of TV I ever seen. That is a master class of how to create the perfect heel.

1) Dom Mysterio killed it all night long. This was a "star is born" evening for him. They trusted him with a ton of time tonight and he hit it out of the park. 2) The Bloodline saga continues with another A+ segment. I loved that the night focused around Jimmy. Jimmy's been really good but in the background. Tonight he submitted his "Best Supporting Actor" reel. I spend a LOT of time thinking about The Bloodline (I say sadly) but the Sami/Jimmy relationship was part of the story I never considered. Sami reminding us that Jimmy was the first and for a long time only Bloodline member to have his back was great work. You could see Jimmy mulling over Sami's words and the reminder of how poorly Roman treated Jey. But instead of accepting this, he cheapshots Sami - and it didn't feel like it was out of opportunity but more out of self-loathing in realizing Sami speaks the truth but he's so wrapped up with Roman he has to lash out. The Sami/Jey staredown at the end, too was awesome foreshadowing. I like that Smackdown this week didn't necessarily advance the story, but it somehow added even more color and backstory to the most layered storyline in wrestling history. It's crazy to me that professional wrestling is making something like this.

Dude, what are you doing? Go edit some different examples in before Gordi sees this.

So you don’t go to the F4W boards, but yet you make the comparison of this site to over there. Then you talk about this site having a bit of a reputation. From where? Not to mention, who gives a shit what reputation this site has. People like what they like. Of people on here say they don’t like to watch WWE, they tend to back it up with a reason why, whether if that’s the production values being too glossy, shit camera work, or in the past, rematches done to death and PPV worthy matches given away on free tv, or 50/50 booking. Plenty of us have come back around to watching at least some of WWE again and the Bloodline angle, the stuff with the women’s division, making the Judgment Day actually entertaining and watchable, badass matches with Sheamus and Drew, Gunther not being booked like a JAG, and more have had a lot to do with that. Plus, many of us have figured out that sticking with watching PPVs only and watching what we want to see on Raw and SD is the way to go. As for it not being discussed as much as AEW threads, AEW has one two hour show a week that is worth watching and maybe every other Rampage that’s worth watching. It’s much easier to watch and it breezes by compared to 5 hours of Raw and SD each week. Plus, WWE talk on here gets scattered throughout the weekly WWE threads and the monthly wrestling thread. This is all a long way to say stop giving a shit about who says what about here on wherever else you’re at and if you want to discuss wrestling, then discuss it in the threads that are open for it. Instead, you have a comment history that has more of taking pot shots at this or that than actually discussing the product on TV.

I thought this was a pretty good show, but it was in front of exactly the right crowd. AEW needed to feel exciting, and it did. Yutes is one of my favorite TV wrestlers right now. I think he has a really advanced feel for where he is in a match, if that makes any sense. He's like one of those college basketball players who doesn't possess any attribute at an elite level, but every year he averages double figures in scoring and assists and his team always gets to the Sweet 16. I really, REALLY dig what he brings to the table, and for a guy with such pure babyface energy I really liked the mean streak he showed. Ricky Starks is The. Shit. It feels like every time he's on tv I get on here after and talk about how he's a can't miss top babyface. My biggest fear is that he's gonna get passed over for Adam Cole, who might be the least interesting wrestler on earth. I also fear they're gonna do the thing where Jericho wins but it's with enough shenanigans that they can claim they "kept Ricky strong." My bet would be on Action Andretti double crossing Starks. Or Hobbs costing Starks the match. The best thing for all involved woud be for Starks to go over clean and move on. In a perfect world Starks would go on to take the TNT title off of the winner of Wardlow/Samoa Joe. I'm just not into this women's stuff, except that Ruby Soho is getting featured the way she should've been from the start. Hayter feels like such an afterthought right now. Great shit from the Acclaimed and this Bill/Moriarty team. They're REALLY coming into their own, and both guys feel like they're having a ball. Moriarty has a real blaxploitation movie hero energy to him. The Acclaimed always bring the goodness. I think FTR will be the 4th team. It's set up perfectly for them to be the Jokers in the CBR. Jarrett and Lethal bring such a strong stooge heel presence to the show. They're heels that get a heel reaction. Jarrett, in particular, is putting on a master class in doing stuff without doing stuff. It's dope. The main event was great. Mox gets a ton out of everyone he works with. Idk if it's because guys are in there fighting for their lives against him and it makes it seem like a better match, but whatever it is, it works. Mox has been so built up by TK's booking that he feels unbeatable, but Hangman can't eat a loss right now. I wonder if Mox is putting Page over partially as a message to a certain "delta plus" that if HE can put Hanger over, and Kenny can put Hangman over, that Chicago Made shouldn't have an issue with it either. Good shit. Not surprised the number was high. A hot crowd helps this show so much.