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“The biggest concern is holding the live crowd’s attention,” says Danielson. “It is very important to have statement moments scattered regularly throughout the match. Having just read two books by Cormac McCarthy, he’s a great study in minimalism when it comes to fiction. He has these incredible sentences that hit you right in the heart. We need those sprinkled throughout the match, and plot twists. Overall, it needs to be a compelling narrative where the live crowd feels it. I know, 100%, the matches before us are going to be outstanding. We’re going an hour, and we can’t have a stinker. This is the last match of the night.” Leave it to Bryan Danielson to bring Cormac McCarthy into wrestling.

That’s me! I’m tired I’ll post thoughts later. I had a lot of fun.

My 12 year old nephew (who knows he is not allowed to curse around any adults) as we were watching the end of the tag team rumble: "Holy shit Danhausen actually won something?"

So I got row a seat 9 by clicking best available. Later when looking at the seat map I naturally assumed the prime seat would be 1 and it would end at 12, the furthest from the barricade. But no, not at the cow palace, seat 12 was the best and 1 was the furthest. So I was on the guardrail and 3 away from the other guardrail. Super happy surprise! This was my third show at cow palace, I went to superbrawl x and g1 special in San Francisco. It should be the last. Wwe hasn’t run a show there in 18 years. The etix website didn’t help them with ticket sales I’m sure either. But the crowd was hot! I just watched on tv and it came across better than I hoped. It may not have been like the Phoenix crowd, but for 3k people a lot were engaged and hot through the show. Little things I saw during commercial were Matt Hardy fist bumping hook and pulling him in and saying positive stuff. Right before the final segment Justin and Renee were standing right in front of me and she was a tiny bit frantic. I’m thinking something was cut. OC Big Bill was a ton of fun. I agree that ladder match was terrifying and dangerous but it was still a wild spectacle to witness. That falcon arrow on the ladder scared the crap out of me it looked horrible from where I was sitting. Takeshita and Hobbs throwing bombs is all I want to see in aew they were so awesome. There was a ton of entertaining spots in the match. I just didn’t like how much heat Riho took and how she ended up looking. I still was thoroughly entertained by the match. I don’t want to be a netico so I’ll just end that there. Im excited for revolution on Sunday. I agree with things said about the main event but I still think they will think of things to make it entertaining. And the rest of the card is mostly really good.

SLIM J! MARK BRISCOE! Fuck YEAH! REDNECK KUNG FU! Slim J wit h the lowblow! Slim J bumps like a freak for Mark! Slim J throws a GREAT worked punch! Mark is bleeding! Slim J is awesome. Ari Daivari CHEATS! Slim J works a chinlock and the crowd responds! Mark transitions with RNKF! Neckbreaker FOR TWO! POWERBOMB FOR TWO! BIG BOOT to a J Driller! That was fucking GREAT. Slim J is fucking AWESOME. Tony Deppen is on the MIC! He is going to get murdered by Samoa Joe next week! It's the Kingdom versus the Infantry! Carlie Bravo! I haven't seen him since that shortlived Atlanta excursion by United Wrestling Network. Shawn Dean books Dark! Matt Taven is so underrated. Mike Bennett is fucking great. Maria Kannellis has beautiful Greek genes. Carlie assumes the roll of face in peril immediately. The Infantry have goofy double teams so they are immediately my new favorite. GREAT dropkick by Taven. PURPLE THUNDER BOMB! Bennett with a nice Brainbuster FOR TWO. DECAPITATION by the Kingdom! Dean makes the save! HOT TAG to Dean! More fun double teams by the Infantry! PROTON PACK by the Kingdom! That was fun. The infantry are the New Texas Hangmen! YAAAY! INFANTRY! INFANTRY! INFANTRY! ZACK SABRE JR IS ON THE MIC! WE ARE MORONS! Oh my GOD, Sabre HAS to wrestle Angelico. Blake Christian is hanging with fuckin ZSJ and it rules. THEN! Sabre just starts fucking mauling Christian. Christian has a comeback and he hits a Tope that ZSJ counters with a motherfucking CRAVATE~! So fucking awesome. Sabre calls out the American Dragon! Christian has ANOTHER comeback! Flying Cross Body. DANGEROUS BACKDROP! FOR TWO! Sabre cuts him off with a Front Face Lock into a Suplex! Blake with a Spear on the apron to a Tope Con Hilo! FUCT UP SUBMISSION #9 by ZSJ! Ropebreak! HOPE SPOT SPANISH FLY! Blake with a BEAUTIFUL BRAINBUSTER! FUCT UP SUBMISSION #67 and Blake taps. That was fucking GREAT! Christopher Daniels! IT IS ROH! Rohit Raju! I didn't know he was an X Division champion. Cagematch.net sez, "Yep." 2020. How did that slip my mind? Jora Johl CHEATS! A LOT! GREAT Backdrop Driver by Daniels. Exploider by Daniels! Moonsault for the win! Rhett Titus and Tracy Williams are ON THE MIC! Aussie Open is now also ON THE MIC! JOSH WOODS! KONOSUKE TAKESHITA! Well, THIS should rule. They start off with the 1990s New Japan shoulder tackle championship. Ten punch by Soup drives Woods into STEINER mode! Woods beats on Soup for a while. TakeshitaLINE! DDT on the apron by Soup! BLUE THUNDER BOMB for TWO! DOCTOR BOMB by WOODS! Twisting Superplex by Woods! GREAT trade of suplexes! Double Lariats! EVEREST GERMAN SUPLEX FOR THE WIN! THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME. Josh Woods is fucking AWESOME. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA IS MOTHERFUCKING AEWSOME! The Embassy crush some dudes! Oh, I remember LSG! He gets slaughtered! Metalik! Ari Daivari! Metalik is fun. Ari looks good in this. Metalik is spectacular! HE is bouncing off the ropes all over the ring. SHENANIGANS! ARI WINS! ARI WINS! ARI WINS! AR Fox is on the MIC! The Renegades! I thought they were signed to NWA? It is acknowledged. Skye Blue and Madison Rayne! Rayne is a face in peril and the Renegades are good for a stiff heel beatdown. Robyn and Charlette beat the crap out of Blue. This is the best Rayne match since she jumped. SkyFall for the win! That good in a DARk kind of way. Wheeler Yuta is on the MIC! HOLY SHIT! TIMOTHY THATCHER! Well, THAT will rule! Willow Nightingale! LADY FROST! I haven;t seen LAdy Frost since that amazing Cibernetico from CMLL. LAdy Frost is all gymnastic and shit. She rules. Nice Doctor Bomb for the win! That was good. ATHENA! ATHENA! ATHENA! Well, THAT'll be good! AR Fox! HE is wrestling more than Brian Cage and Orange Cassidy. Now! He takes on Claudio Castagnoli! FOR THE TITLE! This match is FAST. Fox uses his Strange Style and Claudio uses his power to counter. GREAT dropkick by Claudio as Fox was in toprope. Claudio is SHOWBOATING his power. So many Gutwrench Suplexes! Half Crab by Claudio and Fox makes the ropes. Fox is taking an assbeating. Fox DDTs to comeback! Fox' strange offense kicks in. GIGANTIC TOPE CON HILO! GREAT SWANTON by Fox FOR TWO! GIANT SWING! NEARFALLS! DEATH VALLEY DRIVER and 450 for TWO! Giant UPPERCUT FOR THE WIN! That was fucking GREAT. This is the BEST POSSIBLE WCW SATURDAY NIGHT! Oh wait! Eddie Kingston! Well, THAT should be good! That whole program was fucking. awesome. ROH RULES THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD.

If ladder matches can't be done safely without refs holding ladders, don't do ladder matches. I wouldn't miss them.

I missed the first half of the show since I didn't realize it was being streamed live instead of on demand. I assume it will be on demand so i can watch it later. From what I saw of it, it was good. Glad to see Timothy Thatcher will be in ROH. That should be a damn good match with Yuta. AR Fox vs. Claudio was a really good match. Just a great back and forth. Loved the ending of the show with Eddie coming out. Claudio has no time for him. Just good stuff.

GREATEST. CRAVATE. EVER.

Man, really weird timing and booking issues tonight, but also a lot that was great. That opener between OC and Big Bill rocked. I said OC could be a top face in AEW and Dolfan pretty much dismissed that. Everything OC is doing right now shows he can be a top face in AEW. Big Bill was looking really good too and bumping well. If there was any downside to this match, it was because it lead to some repetitive booking later on. Have House of Black win the titles on Sunday, dammit! Not because I don't like the Elite, but the House of Black need those titles more than the Elite do right now. The only way I would approve of the Elite winning is if it lead to CMFTR coming out to confront the Elite. Killer promo by Christian Cage that lead to...a weird Darby-esque vignette from Jungle Boy. Not super thrilled with the booking of that segment. Hook vs Matt Hardy was fine. It was a match. Hook won, which he needed to do. But you already had Stokely looking like a geek at the start of the show and now he looks like a geek again in this match, which wound up feeling like it had more to do with Matt Hardy and Stokely with Matt's quick tap out and smile afterwards than it did Hook and Stokely. Riho vs Storm ruled, but I'm so, so, so over this mean girls act that Saraya and Storm are doing. The AEW women's division now rivals WWE's and maybe has surpassed it in terms of quality and then you have Saraya who is so out of her element. Saraya would have fit in fine during the early Moneyball era of the women's division, but she doesn't now. And if Hayter loses that title on Sunday I'm going to fucking riot. HAYTER FOR LIFE. That ladder match. What in the fucking fuck. 19 to 24 motherfuckers out there just killing themselves on ladders instead of trying to win. The only dudes who looked like they were trying to win were Takeshita and Hobbs. Speaking of which, holy shit, I had no idea how much I needed a series of matches between Takeshita and Hobbs. But there was so much nonsense here. You have Eddie continuing to go after Ortiz, with them brawling to the back, which was all a way to have Eddie quit AEW so he could be on ROH, which is a total fucking mistake to take Eddie off of AEW TV to try to boost ROH. Commander is out of his mind insane. Sammy's tried to kill himself about three different times. You had sloppy shit, stiff shit, and finally Hobbs wins to end the suffering for everyone else. Not the type of ladder match I like where dudes are just throwing themselves around to pop the crowd. Try to win the match you fucking dorks. Dude, that battle royal was one of the sloppiest Royal Rumbles/Battle Royals I've seen. What in the fuck. Sometimes dudes were coming out every 10 seconds and other times it felt like it was nearly two minutes. I also loved Ex trying to put over the Butcher and the Blade as THE MOST DANGEROUS MEN IN THE HISTORY OF AEW BATTLE ROYALS. I miss Butcher's hair and awesome shades like he was the third Bash Brother on the Oakland As. Anyway, man, fuck this battle royal. I guess I'm fine with OC and Danhausen winning, but if Chuck and Trent aren't legit injured, why not just have them in the match? I say this as someone who is probably too much of a mark for Dustin and Greg, but come on TK, do something with Chuck and Trent again. Who fucking cares what JR thinks. Two awesome promos in one night. First, Moxley channels his inner Cocaine Bear and cuts one of the best promos I've ever heard. The only thing missing to put it over the top was some sort of a catchphrase, otherwise it would be right there with Austin's King of the Ring promo. Then Danielson cuts a badass promo. I still find it weird that they quietly distanced Danielson from the BCC, but BCC have turned into a bunch of dicks. If anything, the final promo made me increase my chances Danielson would win from .1% to maybe 5%. All told, I don't think there would be a ton of harm done by having Danielson win the title here, have MJF claim he still hung with Danielson but Danielson can't defend the title in an Iron Man match every time out, do one more match between MJF and Danielson, and MJF wins the title back. Yeah, you hot potato the title a little bit, but I don't see the harm done when it's passed back and forth between the top two guys.

Here you go.

That was fucking GNARLY. Mox looked like he'd legit lost an eye - that's the kind of visual that should make them call an audible and have Mox sell it with a bandage. Hell, give him an eyepatch and he can do a Pirata Moxley gimmick. "Chris Jericho squashed Peter Avalon..." sure, if that's what you want to call Avalon taking literally the ENTIRE match before Jericho hits his only offense of the entire thing and wins. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The battle royal legit put me to sleep so I missed the closing promo. Again, MJF's instincts are top notch in that he knows when NOT to be strong... I was dreading him cutting another promo while BD made faces, so it was a treat for BD to immediately shut him down and talk asses into seats. BD really should win Sunday, but MJF having to work his tail off and "earn" his victory seems more likely. Either way, in my mind MJF definitely has the wrestling chops to make this something special.

My son when Hook made his entrance: “He didn’t even stop and say hi to his father. That’s so sad.”

See I think there is a disconnect here, and that disconnect is that different aspects of wrestling matter more or less to different fans. If I had to describe the past year of AEW, I'd probably go with the talent working their behinds off to cover for how spotty the booking/story has been. A lot of people don't really care that much about the latter as long as the matches are great, but a lot of people can only get so excited without the latter to provide more... connective tissue. Neither position or any of the near infinite different gradations in between is wrong! It's how completely honest reasonable people can watch the same run of shows and have the reaction be split between "greatest run ever" and "man it just has been missing something, hasn't it?"

I've been saying for years that Johnston and Hart should do a Dueling Pianos show during WrestleMania weekend where they play theme songs and talk about how they wrote them

Awesome show. Thought the overall look of the show was really good as far as coming off with a different feel. Glad it is a two hour show and this felt action packed with everything from the matches to the promos, both in-ring and backstage, and lots of good stuff hyped or set up for the following week and beyond. Kingston's killer theme has a great 'oh shit' feel to it, love the history with he and Claudio still. Very enjoyable show, felt like a definite success for a first episode. Definitely will be looking forward to each week. ZSJ/Blake, Woods/Takeshita, Mark/Slim, and the main event especially all ruled with lots of time. Always love seeing the Renegades everywhere, fun match with Skye & Madison. Daniels always rules too. For anyone wondering, it went up onDemand fairly quickly after the initial airing (I noticed it about 20 mins after)

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA IS FUCKING AWESOME!

Got my Austin tickets, not bad seats on the side of the ring opposite the entrance area, not on the floor but in the fifth row of the lower level. $50 plus 40% in fees...

Here's a really great story about a small local Wisconsin fed from the mid-80s that started with an almost-unlabeled VHS from an estate sale. https://milwaukeerecord.com/sports/the-best-jobbers-in-the-country-the-mystery-vhs-that-unearthed-milwaukee-wrestling-history/

If AEW fandom is a cult, I'm David Koresh - don't get me wrong, I've been fully indoctrinated since it was just a t-shirt and vlog mill. And FWIW, I thought last night's show was even better than last week's (and I can't say enough about last week's Uno/Mox main, I really enjoyed that). The truth of my feelings probably lays somewhere between the two extremes you guys are mentioning - I would still take AEW over any other promotion on Earth, and I still think it's among the best American wrestling I've seen in my life, maybe second only to '96-'97 WCW, with an honorable mention to 2014 WWE. Like I said, i think it's more of a me thing, just kind of dealing with the overall vibe shifting a bit since All Out. And apologies for being repetitive, but I'm totally going to be, because I feel an overwhelming need to reemphasize this: my feelings are born from a completely, totally positive place - if the last three years weren't mind-blowingly, life-alteringly good, I might feel a little less pedestrian about the more recent goings-on. All of that said: I did quite enjoy the show last night, with the highlights for me being Mox' promo (possibly an all-timer - you guys all know I mark out for the art of the bloody promo - Jeeezzus!!) the ladies match, BIG F'N BILL, and the Wardlow/Joe/Hobbs post-ladder match angle (I was SO relieved Hobbs didn't eat it). I've been waiting for Hobbs to get back into the TNT title scene since he returned to fight Wardlow and Joe at the Live Rampage I went to... (checks calendar)... FOUR months ago!! (Full disclosure: we bumped into him right after the show, still in the same clothes he hit the ring in, and he was possibly the kindest, most gracious person I've met in wrestling besides Big Bossman, so my house is rooting for this dude on a personal level).

Double posting, but I want to write up my thoughts on the card. I'll warn you. It's pretty bleak overall. I think with almost every one of these matches, there's something I would have rather done or seen differently. Danielson vs MJF: Given how my life is set up, I almost never see these things live. With this match, it's almost a blessing. Who wants to watch an hour long match in 2023? The story here is the purity and love of pro wrestling vs selling out and cashing in. At some point, every MJF story is about his own shallowness and hypocrisy. The story behind the story is how they're going to fill the time, but we've seen Danielson fill time in AEW. We know that MJF can go. I hope that he leans into the 80s heel shtick he's been doing in ring as much as possible here, but the simple fact of the matter is that to fill an hour. he's going to have to lean into that and a whole lot more. I would have much rather seen this at 45 minutes or especially 30. You could still get the same idea across but it wouldn't be such a foreboding chore to imagine watching. Page vs Mox: Mox is pretty much the ideal Page opponent because he has to take it to him and brawl and not just hit his early match death valley driver or whatever other bullshit he does as part of his typical match structure. That said, we've seen it three times. Again, I get the story. Mox knocked him out and then in their rubber match, rolled him up. Now Page needs to prove he's a man by knocking Mox out so he can't answer the call. That's the only way to win. I just don't really care. The gimmick is going to slow things down when we've seen them go at one another for three matches already. Ultimately, I think I would have liked to see a different gimmick, maybe a bullrope, maybe retaking the idea of a cage, most especially an I Quit match. We've seen them try to knock each other out. Let's see something else? Joe vs Wardlow: I don't want to see Joe lose the title. I don't want to see Wardlow win the title. I don't want to see this match. Elite vs House of Black: I think this is one of the most interesting matches on the card, and that's coming from me who usually skips the Elite trios matches. House of Black can act as bases and add some real contrast to the Elite's act. There will be clearer face/heel lines than usual (hypothetically) and the Elite should be able to draw sympathy. That said, House of Black is capable of doing a lot of stuff despite their size and presence and I hope the match doesn't devolve to that immediately. They can build to it with real heat on the Elite and then pay off the fireworks in an amazing 5 minute finishing stretch. So this could be really good or it could be the usual bullshit. Gunns vs Acclaimed vs Triple J vs Best Friends*: Probably the match I'm looking forward to seeing the most, but it'll be a lot of bodies and a lot of masters to serve. Putting OC and Danhausen in there is clever and ties up a bunch of stories over the last few months. I'll be honest though. I would have much rather seen a Gunns vs Acclaimed: Titles vs Custody of Billy Gunn straight tag and OC defending the All-Atlantic Title against Jarrett in a singles. Tag matches this big are kind of a mess even when you have guys good at directing traffic in there. I'd be interested in seeing the Acclaimed interact with OC and Danhausen though. Hayter vs Saraya vs Ruby: What an absolute disaster. Jericho vs Starks: No one wants to see this! At least it makes no sense for Andretti to interfere after the JAS took him out last night. Maybe Paul Wight does? Who knows? In an ideal world, Starks wins decisively in the middle of the ring and everyone moves on. Christian vs Jungle Boy: Speaking of moving on, these guys need to move on! Christian is the most useful heel in the company and only has so much of a shelf life. They need to get usage out of him. I've always preferred him as a babyface though. His offense leans more into it and the best part of Christian is how he can work his stuff in creatively from week to week. Granted, the second best part of him in 2023 is that he's one of the only guys who can get heat, but the streetfight stip here makes me think that we're going to get a bunch of weapon shots and complicated set ups on bumps or whatever and that doesn't really play to Christian's strengths. Ultimately, there are a few things I'm looking forward to seeing on the card, like more Jarrett/OC interaction, but no actual matches. That said, I'm very positive on both the ROH taping and the upcoming ROH PPV. Like I said before, given the talent and Tony's penchant to book good matches, if you don't like AEW, just wait a few weeks. But I'm not liking this PPV at all on paper.

Nice to see Hobbs get a big win on TV and all, but this was also his first actual TV appearance on Dynamite since September. He's only wrestled once on cable this year besides this match. Yeah, they had those book of Hobbs vignettes, but there's a huge lack of consistency here. Guys don't have to wrestle every week every two weeks but I don't like when guys just get vanquished to YouTube for months and suddenly they are back on TV in big matches and big feuds out of nowhere. Look how badly that sabotaged Marina Shafir. She's clearly not ready and comfortable in front of a camera. Nonetheless, I'm a big Hobbs fan, and I'm glad he got a big win on TV, even if the finish looked goofy with the referees having to come in to hold the ladder down so Hobbs didn't kill himself on that broke-ass ladder. Another consistency issue, they randomly start up the whole Don Callis scouting Konosuke Takeshita after ignoring it for months, filming angle at BOLA they never used. As a go-home show before a pay-per-view, it was serviceable and generally did what it needed to do. It was good that Danielson finally shut MJF up for once and didn't allow him the opportunity to speak. I think the smart play is to have House of Black win the belts this weekend. It finally gives the group some belts and the division now has major heels to chase. It's a good way to have them start the year strong and they can run the division as heels for a while. And then they can eventually lose to a major underdog trio like Dark Order or Best Friends to give them their first major title run. The Elite don't really need the belts and they've already held them twice.

Orange/Bill ruled as expected. Orange is the best so I'm glad they found some extra way to get him on the PPV. Always love any time RIHO is back and even more when she wins, makes me wish she'd never leave for so long. Too bad she's not in the title match. Ladder match was wild. Komander looked incredible, nailed all his big spots. Figured Hobbs would win being the hometown guy. Thought Jericho would be winning at Revolution with someone outside of JAS interfering, but not sure after this seg. (And definitely not Andretti turning for zero reason) Loved the Moxley and Hangman promos. Great stuff from both, looking forward to Texas Death. Also great promo from Christian. Hook/Matt was fun, nice near fall on the cast spot. Revolution last year was my fav event of the year, I don't expect this year to quite reach that but still should be plenty good. There's a post-show video of Lexy trying to interview Eddie Kingston but he says he "quits AEW" and walks out.

Opener was fun, classic David-Goliath wrestling. Big Bill is a cross between Sid and Nash right now and it’s working. Ladder match had its share of me holding my breath and hoping someone doesn’t get seriously injured spots. I was really wanting Takeshita but Hobbs works too and like others I’m now really stoked on a Hobbs-Lard Lad feud. AR Fox is nuts taking multiple nasty ladder bumps. Komander is awesome. Action Andretti is a guy who is on my TV and took some big bumps. Sammy played it safe, thank god. I didn’t think PPA would get 4 minutes of offense on Jericho, which was fun but then losing on one move negated the buzz. HOB-Elite is a major snore from me. I’m sure the match will have moments but I really just want to see Kenny Omega and Brodie King in singles matches. I’m not a “size queen” but I’ve always had a hard time buying Riho as a champ or a threat despite being quick and resilient. I know I just pissed some people off. We’ve gotten used to stiff AEW women’s matches and this wasn’t really that other than one killer Wrecked Em. Mox and Page sell the shit out of their match. Take my money and buy some mops. Hook-Hardy was more than I expected, I enjoyed it. Stokely rules right now. Battle Royale has me looking forward to some feuds but not the PPV 4-way. BCC is above Dark Order but makes sense in the context of the Mox-Page feud. I thought the Joker was a given but apparently not. Danielson sells the PPV and I didn’t have to hear MJF? I’ll take it.

So what you're saying is, the Jericho vs MJF feud was the best use of both men, because it freed up the whole entire rest of the roster to not be stuck in an interminable feud with either MJF or Jericho?

Well no wonder Casey's disc won't load if Odessa rolled over it in a barrel. Kind of a dick move, Odessa.

I am absolutely not looking for a sympathy pop, but I had to rush over to Canada to deal with a family emergency and I haven't had time to watch, read about, or discuss much AEW or any pro wrestling for a week or so. I am back in Japan now but very busy as a result of having to rush off. I might have time to watch, and discuss, Rampage tomorrow morning (J-time), but I'll be working Monday AM (can't afford to cancel any more lessons) and will not be able to watch the Revolution as it is being televised. (That's a Gil Scott-Heron reference. I am sure a lot of you got that). I I looked at the PPV card on the airplane coming home. The flight from Tokyo to Osaka had free WiFi. It bummed me out. As we stand now, Eddie Kingston ain't got no match on the PPV. Takeshita ain't got no match on the PPV. Claudio ain't got no match on the PPV. Wheeler ain't got no match on the PPV. Garcia ain't got no match on the PPV. Ortiz ain't got no match on the PPV. Top Flight ain't got no match on the PPV. Darby ain't got no match on the PPV. Rush ain't got no match on the PPV. Fenix ain't got no match on the PPV. Bandido ain't got no match on the PPV. FTR ain't got no match on the PPV. HOOK ain't got no match on the PPV. Keith Lee ain't got no match on the PPV. Sonny Kiss ain't got no match on the PPV. Lance Archer ain't got no match on the PPV. Of course JD and Boulder and Toa and Nicky Boy and Pretty Peter and Fuego and Dustin and Hungie ain't got no match on the PPV. MJF is headlining the PPV. Jeff Jarrett has a major role in a title match on the PPV. Athena ain't got no match on the PPV. Toni Storm ain't got no match on the PPV. Willow ain't got no match on the PPV. Emi ain't got no match on the PPV. Shida ain't got no match on the PPV. Riho ain't got no match on the PPV. The Magical Girl ain't got no match on the PPV. Deeb ain't got no match on the PPV. Of course Kiera and Abadon and Mercedes ain't got no match on the PPV. Saraya has a major role in a title match on the PPV. I GET IT! I did a whole fantasy booking thing to help me understand that it's not really feasible to book all my favourites on every PPV. And maybe they'll squeeze some of the people I really wanna see onto the buy-in or something. And maybe some of those people are "more ROH than AEW now" or something. Possibly some of them are injured or busy or whatever. FTR are a whole other thing right now... But Jarrett and Saraya getting clear priority over all of them just kind of confirms my worries about the direction that MY SECOND FAVOURITE PRO WRESTLING PROMOTION IN THE ENTIRE WORLD (After Osaka Pro) is heading in. And I don't wanna complain about a one-hour American Dragon match. BUT There are SO MANY wrestlers on the roster I would MUCH rather see him fight for an hour. So many. Still: Bryan has a match on the PPV. An hour-long match! Orange Cassidy has a match on the PPV. Potentially an Osaka/Chikara Pro type comedy match! Mox has a match on the PPV. Hanger has a match on the PPV. Joe has a match on the PPV. Wardlow has a match on the PPV. Hayter has a match on the PPV. Jungle Boy has a match on the PPV. And so on. So it's not like there's NO reason to watch. It's not like there won't be a ton of fun-to-great in-ring action tomorrow. But I think I'm just gonna skip this one, and not just because of everything else going on in my life at the moment. if Bryan actually WINS the title, I'll probably regret that decision. Otherwise I imagine I'll be fine with it.

The visual of Hobbs running through and bending that ladder all to shit was cool as hell at least.

There were 3 yeah, that ladder was jacked up and he should have grabbed the other in the ring

There are some funny stories out there about Charlie Strong’s first tenure as an analyst at Bama in 2020. During the two weeks that Saban was out on Covid protocol, he watched all the practices from a multi-cam setup at home. Strong was given an earpiece to wear so he could relay instructions from Saban, and Saban just spent all practice screaming into his ear like Vince McMahon at gorilla.

Big Bill was the standout performer this week for me. We all know by now what Orange can do, but I thought BB more than held his own in that match. His offense all looked really great. He needs to use that full nelson regularly. Cool visual with him rag-dolling OC around. Of course, it's the perfect hold to be broken out of by putting your hands in your pockets, so that works, too. The ladder match had a ton of cool spots, but it wasn't fun to watch. Probably three or four times where I legit worried that someone had been seriously injured. I'm not necessarily against big, dangerous spots, but at least make them important. Build to them. They just sort of happened in this match.

The Komander one was particularly funny because I'm pretty sure lil guy couldn't have reached the ring without the taller ladder anyway. The whole ending was a mess with Hobbs trying to climb the wrecked ladder instead of grabbing a new one, the refs having to hold it up so he wouldn't die, and then getting stuck at the top. About which: how do you not cut to the crowd while that is going on?

I definitely agree with this part, several times where guys chose to do a sick move instead of just trying to win (although I did enjoy some of the sick moves). There were also at least 2 instances (one with Komander) where someone was near the top and could easily have grabbed the ring and won but instead had to just kind of hang out there looking like an idiot waiting for someone to show up for the next spot.

You know, I'm pretty sure that Football players would be enthusiastic with rats hanging around the lockerroom.

Taz was more in "coach" mode than usual on commentary, including getting really worried at the idea of the Side Effect. I think it adds something to the matches, honestly. Hook was sort of a combo of being amazingly smooth at times, uniquely so in a way that no one else in the company is with things like go behinds and the way he shifts his body about, and then, at other times, being pretty awkward like you'd expect a guy with twenty matches to be (like with the headknock out of the corner), but against the right opponent, it can still work and make things feel even more organic in the contrast. He just needs someone who can recover well like Matt. I loved the Firm's reactions all through the match by the way.

@Belgian_Waffle YUTA is leaning more towards the Moxley tweener side (especially after those ROH tapings) and Claudio is probably going heel whether they want him to or not once everyone realizes who he’s feuding with in ROH.

Juice is actually a better talker then wrestler- he just needs to go back to 2018 even if it means the dreads again. Check Juice vs Jay White feud- that was underrated feud of the year in NJPW, and he had great promos from that in Cow Palace and G1.

I think Dax speaks to a lot of issues I have with MJF. Again, I like MJF, but I don't think he's a special attraction. To this day it makes no sense to me why he rarely wrestles. Raziel spoke to it elsewhere, but they've run the exact same angle with MJF three times now. Everything about MJF is designed to have him wrestle as little as possible and he's just not that big of a star to warrant that and they've been doing that for what feels like forever now. And when you take someone like that and make him the only person that talks, but does nothing while their stable is reduced to just standing around behind them then it's not going to work. It's just not good pro wrestling.

I somehow hoped the youtube link was going to be Lance Russell's Nose .

This. Criminal Jim Johnston isn't in WWE or the HOF. So many iconic themes.

It aired a repeat airing as soon as it ended, I'm watching as we speak. Woods/Takeshita is some real high quality graps, Woods did a dead lift gutwrench using the top rope as leverage that wowed me.

A few of the weaker Dynamites I can remember were go home shows. So not a huge surprise that this would be a challenging broadcast. Generally speaking, when AEDub tries to cram more (see a lot Rampages) into the show or match (every 8 way ladder match; most battle royals) the success rate drops below their favourable average. These ‘Face of the Revolution’ matches are always completely forgettable and not at all worth the risk of injury. I would really love for this concept to end here - tho I’m grateful it’s not eating up PPV time this year. All that said, certainly there were some thrilling spots in here. This one seemed to start fine until that first ascent up the ladder from Guevara, not selling anything, with no reason for moving slowly at all, just waiting for somebody to stop him. More awful slow climbs followed. Still some fun stuff in there, and especially nice to see Hobbs get his local flowers. I just skimmed The Casino Battle Royal. Maybe, just maybe, somebody in creative will ask aloud ‘do we really need to keep this multiple battle royals for ‘two’ spots in a 4 way tag at the PPV concept an annual tradition?’ And hope the answer is a resounding ‘no’. Regardless, fun bouts this week from Riho-Toni, OC-Big Bill, and Avalon-Jericho. Hook and Hardy was kinda fun. Some really exceptional promos this week from Mox, Hangman, Dustin/Keith Lee, Danielson and especially Christian. The Jungle Boy video was pretty cheese whiz, but odd enough for a laugh. The House of Black-Elite segment was a bit of bummer, which is on brand with the House. Not that they needed to sell me on wanting to see the match. Very much looking forward to the PPV. Also looking forward to Rampage and this Lee/Rhodes duo and how young Parker does in there with the Swerve man. Not generally a fan of 4 way matches, but it does feature 4 terrific teams.

Fucking goosebumps. LET'S. FUCKING. GO! I love how the trailer for each season after first can basically be summed up as, "yeah, we all fucked up, we should have just taken dad down when we had the chance because he's a malignant tyrant. Oops, we did it again."

It was mostly setting up the what is to come for the season but I dug it. Carl Weathers is always a plus, and I dug the scene with Bo-Katan. There is something hilarious about her being so pissy about about Dinn's cult when she was a part of a terrorist group that was almost certainly a splinter from it and helped really fuck up Mandalore in the first place.

Finally caught this week's episode. While the Exile/Tonga Twins and Tiki match was short, it was well worth it for the set-up for the upcoming six person tag. Glad to see my girl, Princess Aussie, in the gauntlet. Great match with her and Penelope. I suspected that they would spread the wealth and wouldn't have both Vickie Lynn and Penelope in the gauntlet. Nice post match interview with Aussie too. Poor Chantilly but a nice showing for Reina and an opportunity to play up her dominance. Was shocked at the title change in the main. I kept expecting a rematch loss to Holly and Betty as a throwback to the mother/daughter debut plus the history. But that's one of the interesting and head scratching things about WOW. They will zag when I expect them to zig lol Bring on Comic-Con

This was great.

So THAT happened. Fourth tier Grimbsy through to the quarters for the first time in 84 years.

I'm so excited!