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If Danielson is not winning and Page is, it makes a lot of sense to start with the ironman and end with the Death Match.

Does anyone else think it might be prudent to put the Iron Man match on first? Let Mox and Hangman close. It certainly won’t hurt the enthusiasm of the crowd, right?

so Knights of the Old Republic is a game I'm literally JUST now playing and it's everything I've ever wanted in a Star Wars game. The graphics aren't even that bad for something that came out on the original Xbox. Voice acting is surprisingly good, too. The combat system is... eh, it's decent. Not what I was expecting, but it's cool. I look forward to turning my female Han Solo into a Sith eventually.

Quick thoughts: Lots of good moments in the 4-way (The initial ambush, Silver clearing house later on, some of the specific Top Flight/Aussie Open exchanges, etc). I came out of it thinking I would have been much happier with two straight up tags, which is also how I feel about the PPV 4-way. It just means the narrative gets muddied and more becomes less. That's a 4-way for you. Granted, here there was one central story and two teams that weren't quite involved. After the BS he dealt with on social media yesterday, I'm pretty sympathetic towards Yuta today though. Emi beat the crap out of Riho during the PiP. That was great. Bring on Riho vs Hayter. Though she'd also be an ideal Saraya opponent, I hate to even speculate. Hobbs wasn't quite as over as I would have thought. He should have beaten up Serp a bit more. They booked themselves into a corner, again with this though. The ideal situation is that Joe somehow beats Wardlow (weapon shot) and then loses to Hobbs (maybe with Wardlow stopping a weapon shot or something) leading to a blow off cage match/hair match with no belt on the line between Wardlow and Joe. Otherwise, they mess up either Wardlow or Hobbs next week. They need Dustin to work Parker on house shows like he did with Sheamus and others over the years. That's my big takeaway. That bit when Excalibur was trying to send it to commercial break was weird and something you never see in AEW (or on national TV to begin with). He should have stayed with the Trustbusters and worked tags with Davari and Slim J for another year. Dustin was great, and Keith Lee powering up and one hand slamming Swerve and then screaming as the crowd went nuts was awesome. Sometimes they don't blow things off in AEW and if they wanted to move on to MJF vs Lee after this for a bit and double back to Keith vs Swerve later, I'd be ok with it.

More Riho, all the time! Can never go wrong with Riho vs. Emi, one of my favorite pairings, always loved their Full Gear 2019 match and this ruled. Naturally Limitless make for a fun team. Great looking Dustin Destroyer on the finishing stretch.

as I said before, opener was two good tag team feuds smushed into one match. Did like the ending a lot, smart move by my future hometown hero Yuta. It’s about time to fucking give Top Flight a legit push, run a tourney and let them beat The Kingdom for ROH tag titles. I didn’t know about Riho-Emi before the start of the night and that’s going to win my vote in the Match of the Week poll. I know Riho is a former champ and a crowd favorite but Emi deserves a big win. Anyway the match was great, wish Riho had that level of stiffness in her strikes and kicks against Toni. Neat that after all the ass-kicking we get a wacky but awesome finishing sequence. I should make more time to watch more joshi and also try and manifest Emi-Meiko Satomura. Hobbs squashes Serp, a foregone conclusion. The Takeshita-Jackal storyline progresses and we are going to get the Lard Lad-Hobbs feud we didn’t know we desperately needed before this past Wednesday. Dean had the same reaction I did to the main: Parker is not ready for prime time. Woof, he was local enhancement level selling and just fucking awful on offense. I’m thinking this is the end of the horribly failed Mogul Affiliates experiment, and it’s about time. Keith Lee getting to embrace his nerddom is fun, but I worry he’s going to get lost in the shuffle again. Dustin still throws great punches and bumps like much younger man. Conspicously absent from TV this week: your TBS champion. Was Jade on the Tuesday YouTube? Are we only getting one women’s match on the PPV?

It is eating a gallon of chocolate fudge ice cream. Mmmmm.... ice cream....

Are we just naming human orifices until somebody guesses right? Left ears!

Lol, one’s a wild animal zonked out of his gord and ready to kill anyone or anything that’s between him and his next fix… … and the other is a bear high on cocaine, i hope they were name tags so we can tell them apart.

I'm baffled. Tagging him for two years straight would only be about $68 million. Why would you pay him more than about $35 annually unless somebody else is offering that? Hell, if somebody else is offering 40, wish him the best of luck.

No, I still maintain we were being left ears on the internet. Has anybody revealed the right answer yet? Yeah. If forced to be serious, I maintain there are some opinions that are okay to mock. Proposing "make more money" as an easy solution to anxiety and depression is pretty clearly over that line in my opinion.

As a father, I sympathize with Dragon wanting an early bedtime. I’m such a maybe on this event. The Ironman and Texas Death are enough to get me to want to, but things are tight right now and although I can swing it, I might prefer to get a few things done tomorrow because I’m lazy today. If Dragon wins and I don’t get it, I’ll be pretty pissed. But I think MJF is the right move to make.

Danielson said he wanted his match to go on first. He also said Tony Khan was resistant to the idea because The World Title should be in the Main Event.

I like that. Everyone will be nice and fresh for the match and we get more explosive stuff later.

It'll mean I get to see the match I want to see the most and go to sleep after. I'd watch the rest later.

Last night's taping looks INSANE. When is THIS showing up?

I had a random thought as I started watching. “This going to need at least 1-2 squash matches to facilitate a 1st episode”. They wisely booked The Embassy that way. Although I might have placed it earlier in the show (or even 1st) to step on the gas and quicken the pace of the show. This Honor Club experiment is already fighting from underneath in an over saturated market where even more high profile brands struggle to get attention. I’m in… for now. The production quality is very good boosted no doubt by the existing AEW infrastructure. It was cool to see the Renegades do some different work. This was their chance to show what else they could do other than JUST put someone higher in the pecking order over. They did that too. But booked in a way that gave them some spotlight highlights before they did. Good start. Yuta is an interesting guy. It’s borderline “short man’s syndrome”. But I’m here for it. He is eventually going to have to shiv one of the BCC to step up. Lady Frost. Call me. I will hold every door open for you if you promise to that hand spring into every room. Wakka wakka! Athena vs. Willow is going to kill it. Bring back the aluminum crowd barrier signs. Let the crowds make noise with them. The nuttiest thing in wrestling to me these days is the complete reframing of the BIG SWING as a submission. It just tickles me.

The fact that I cannot drink out of official decorative cups with pictures of AEW wrestlers like Pentagon and Luchasaurus is a failure on AEW’s merchandising department.

Roman is the GOAT, keep those belts on him for another 3 years. In all seriousness, that was a hell of a segment. “Have you ever even competed for one of these?”- savage.

HEy! Claudio and Wheeler Yuta are on AEW! They are ROH! HOLDING THE LADDER! Aussie Open are running things early! John Silver and Claudio are waaaay fun together. Silver does his five spots on the floor but is cut off by the strength of Claudio, who breaks his BACK! Alex Reynolds is CRUSHED constantly by Claudio in picture in picture. Alex makes a hot tag and we move on to Top Flight versus Aussie Open! STUFF AND MORE STUFF HAPPENS! Wheeler Yuta steals the pin the Dark Order does their fifteen section finisher on Darius! Dark Order and the Blackpool Combat Club fight to the back! That was a wreck as one would expect. Fun! It's RIHO! EMI! EMI! EMI! Emi is fucking AWESOME beating the crud out of Riho! EMI CRUSHES RIHO AGAINST THE BARRICADE! In picture in picture, Emi beats the pulp out of Riho and does full Rolling Mexican Ceiling Hold! Riho FIRES BACK! ROLL-UP SEQUENCE! This match is GREAT! NICE LAriat by EMI for TWO! Riho SPINS AROUND EMI AND GETS THE PIN! That was fucking GREAT! What the fuck was THAT? That was great. Powerhouse Hobbs mauls SERP. Poor SERP. Don Callis moves CLOSER to Cinnabon BONANZA! KEITH LEE'S CAPE IS FUCKING AWESOME! Whoa! Parker Boudreux is not ready for primetime. Parker Boudreaux IS Blade Runner Rock! Dustin assumes the role of our face in peril! POUNCE by LEE! KEITH LEE IS A POWERHOUSE! LEE SPIKES SWERVE WITH ONE HAND! Swerve does a Moonsault off Lee's chest! CANADIAN DESTROYER! JACKHAMMER on BOUDREAUX! That was kind of a mess because Boudreaux needs some SEASONING, but Keith Lee looked fucking great. That was way more fun than good except for the truly great Riho/EMI match. AEW RULES THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD!

Maybe the QTV thing has something to do with the Factory dissolution.

The Acclaimed vs Workhorsemen match was taped AFTER Dynamite ended on Wednesday.

Results from last night/this morning. So right now, All Star Grand Queendom on April 24th looks like this:

Tonight it is! Takeshita vs Cartwheel! EDIT: Where did the Acclaimed/Workhorsemen match come from? EDIT: Oh, it's just these four.

Eh, that wasn’t even his deepest cut. “Know what your dad said about you when he was with me? Nothing. Maybe he talked about you when he was with Seth or something.”. Ouch. The first part was vicious, the last line was condescending af. Roman has gotten a lot better at this since he days Cena torched him on the mic. He’s just such a magnificent asshole, I enjoy seeing the Bloodline beat down people, but it’s going to be fun seeing Roman finally get his at the hands of Cody, Sami, and one or both Usos.

Profits vs. Solo/Jimmy & Cody/Gable were pretty good and easily the standouts of Raw. The women's tag titles match managed to work something solid out despite Lita being able to offer little. Lee/Frazer and Hayes/Bate were so damn good and I honestly might vote for one of them just so they get attention. OC/Bill was another fine performance from OC and solid one from Bill. Still not up there with OC's defenses against Sabian, Trent, & Yuta. I found Toni/Riho mostly disappointing. Riho felt too loose and off with most of her offense. Toni looked decent but wasn't enough to compensate. The 8-man tag on AXS was fun. I only wish we got more Rocky/Volador. KAIRI/Mercedes was pretty damn good with both women looking great and gelling well together. Dug how things built and how they both busted out a couple of new things. Rhea/Liv, Santos/Dom, and Solo/Sami were all good. Dom gave one of his best performances so far. Riho/Emi was good and made up a lot for Riho's performance with Toni.

I wonder if that pair of really good matches with Cage got Mack a contract? (and I wonder of Cage wanted to help his boy get a job)

Regarding the main event, this shows the issue with lack of house shows. If this match had been workshopped on the loop I'm sure Dustin and Keith (and lets keep them as a team while we are at it, couple of DADS taking whippersnappers to the woodshed) could have figured out what Parker could handle. Also with out house shows where is a guy like Parker supposed to learn. I know there are a lot of benefits to not being on the road 300 days a year but those days where why wrestling was so good. As someone who only sporadically catches Dark, Emi has really been a treat lately and Riho is always great. I like everyone in the fourway but I just don't share TK enthusiasm for multiman matches (same goes for the ladder match), there was a novelty seeing them for the first time in the late 90's but not if you get them everyweek

really dig the comparison between local music scenes and local wrestling scenes (as someone who's hobbies include seeing wrestling in VFW halls and deathmetal bands in bars)

I was badly laid up the last two days with constant nasal drainage and so I was barely able to open my eyes and focus on the TV screen to keep from rolling over for the trashcan, but it all SOUNDED pretty good. I am officially all-in on Aussie Open, they were big time smashers in that open. The hard sell for the PPV sounded great too and I'm totally down to watch it with you guys on the Discord. EDIT: Oh yeah, and Lard Lad has shockingly good English.

Probably tonight since they’re heating up the Briscoe/Lucha Bros team. I had only seen the pre-show taping results (ending with Fox vs Nemeth) and was a little disappointed but the full ones make it more fun.

I feel like we’ve been agreeing a lot recently. I’m very glad to have read this. I love the Ironman stipulation. I feel like I’ve been hearing more negative thoughts on the concept Ironman matches (which is a valid opinion) but I’ve always really enjoyed them. I love the aesthetics of the sports like graphics. Having a timer counting down and a score next to the names. The drama created by leads and the time running out. With long matches (especially guaranteed long matches) can get boring but when you have master craftsmen working a story, it can truly be mesmerizing.

I just don't see any progress in Parker. He pauses all the time to hit awful poses und looks into the camera. He gets wrestling 0%.

The Dynamite opener is always a sweet spot for me. By the time I get around to watching AEW on Thursday. I’m ready to watch my weekly show and probably smoked like a brisket. I’m so ready to receive wrestling. So the likelihood of my being positive and open minded on the opening match is pretty good. If that means weirdo Orange Cassidy and Bigger Cassidy steal the show? So be it. I confess to this glaring execution of bias and one sided arguments.

RIHO!

I think Sting's being kept off TV until he starts the retirement program he alluded to in his D Magazine interview

Was just at a sports bar watching some NBA. Every ad break featured an ad for AEW Rampage now on ESPN. Like it was the only ad. It became a running joke amongst everyone there. Ad featured Darby, Sami, Moxley, and The Acclaimed. No-one particularly recognizable to non-viewers and casual fans. Strange you wouldn't add Jericho or Sting or even JR in there. If it achieved anything, its that it reminded me to cancel my Fite subscription.

Cut Parker now. Let him figure it out on the indies if he really wants to be a wrestler. That was positively dreadful.

Listening to the new BTS show on 94 Heyman, on the first WNN show, it was said that a 30+ minute match between babyface Jake and heel Orton stole the show.

I'd have put prime Jake in the same kind of lanky category as Windham.

I can understand if I am alone in feeling this way, but this show was WAY more what I want out of AEW than what Revolution seems like it's going to be. An all-action Go! Go! Go! extravaganza. A straight up really good Joshi match. A complete squash. A train wreck main event with a big green tattooed football guy looking kinda lost in there and three pretty great wrestlers working around him. JR going FULL JR (Do you think he maybe actually had difficulty distinguishing between Riho and Emi)? I am not being facetious in any way. That was full on weird/indie/Japanese/amusing/enjoyable pro wrestling, warts and all. Loved it! ROH sounds like literally TOO MUCH good wrestling. Too much good wrestling to watch it all is my favourite problem to have! Enjoy the PPV! That crazy hour was my fix for this week. It totally hit the spot. Oh! And I am happy that Fenix and Mark Briscoe now both more or less have a match on the PPV. I might even get to watch that one before I have to head out to work.

We got double the Riho this week! Good stuff with Sakura as expected. Feels like Riho is getting a bit of a build which is cool.

I think the issue is that he's already a full-blown star AND he already best Jericho clean in a really solid TV match. The fact the match is happening at all is kind of eyebrow raising, especially since they could have just done Starks vs Garcia on the ppv instead of Rampage and used the spot to elevate Garcia to the level where he's the final boss of the JAS and not Jericho, which would lead pretty naturally to a jealous Jericho ousting Garcia and leading to their singles feud. Again, broken record but: the top three matches on the next PPV should not have anybody over 40 in them. Even if there's an initial ratings dip dye to the lack of familiar faces, you need to establish sooner than later that your stars are MJF, Starks, Darby, the Acclaimed, Hayter, Baker, Wardlow, Hobbs, Garcia, Yuta, Jungle Boy, Takeshita, Bandido, Top Flight, etc, etc and start positioning Hangman and Orange Cassidy in the Moxley/Danielson role of the more experienced top guy working with the young talent. Move Moxley and Danielson into the long run as tag champs they should have had when they first started teaming a year ago but keep all the top singles spots reserved for new people, preferably people who have never been on WWE television.

Oh hell yeah! Top Flight vs Dark Order vs BCC vs Aussie Open! RIHO VS EMI! And, according to the FITE app, Swerve & Boudreaux vs KEITH LEE & DUSTIN! OH BABY! That is more up my personal alley (phrasing) than most of the matches on the PPV! LET'S GO! Perfect card for me, after the rough week or so I have just gone through. (Everything is pretty good now, and trending better).

Cunts.

It was a Death of Superman reference, but no one got it

The cure for an underutilized roster is not to book an Ironman match.

People clearly tuned out in disgust after Pretty Peter lost