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“Aside from my actions, what have I done to deserve this?” - Stokely Hathaway, 2024.

I know we have a merchandise thread but this is too important: https://www.shopaew.com/catalog/product/view/id/74008/s/nyla-rose-her-all-royalties-will-go-to-freedom-oklahomas-501c3/category/5343/ New Nyla Rose shirt with all royalties going towards Freedom Oklahoma, a LGBTQ+ rights group. Well done AEW.

I think ECW was dramatically overestimating their chance of signing Kurt Angle in 1996 even if they didn't run that angle

Regarding @AxB comment about hockey pucks, they are not soft. It’s galvanized rubber. They’re hard as fuck. Like, slightly harder and more dense than an LJN wrestling figure. I thought the most painful thing on the show was Jericho winging one right at Shibata’s face. They’re the type of hard, like a baseball or softball, where even if it’s lightly thrown at you, it’s going to fucking sting, in the face anyway. So that had to suck. But all in all this was a really fun episode. I like that they’re just staying consistent and not hot shotting anything because of some weak ratings. Just stay the course and keep adding more and more storyline stuff each week.

As long as she didn’t scream about her hole.

That or both guys are getting Men’s Wearhouse endorsement deals.

I saw Shibata wrestle live. Fuck yeah what a night. And he got hit in the face with a hockey puck, puts all his New Japan matches in the trash

Really, they should have filmed her getting cut free for socials. Get her to cut a promo in the medical room or something... although that only really works if she's swearing vengeance, and I think this match is supposed where the feud ends. Julia Hart being off injured for the forseeable, if they aren't going to have Skye take her spot in the House of Black, there's not really much to do with her right now. Perhaps the angle is that with Julia not around, her evil side starts to recede and she returns to her natural babyface act. And then when Julia is ready to come back, she can start haunting Skye's nightmares and tempting her back to the darkness once again. More wrestlers should do deathmatches, lose, and then do post-match promos where they go "What was I thinking? I am an idiot! None of this was worth it, I'm never going to this extreme again!"

For some reason, the Shibata covered in a garbage can, slowly backing Jericho into a corner while no-selling kendo stick shots to the can, felt like something out of a Survival Tobita match and I loved it. Also, for the love of all the is holy, don’t have Shibata take a fucking table bump, especially on the neck area!

Show closing angle with Kenny was really strong, and I liked the Bucks takeover aspect of things, but ultimately there were not nearly enough babyfaces protesting/standing up against the Elite on this episode. I think this episode needed to feel more chaotic overall, as opposed to mostly being a straightforward night of long matches sandwiched between a couple of good angles. Also, at some point they’re going to have to do more on screen to explain why Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony aren’t around Swerve anymore. You could write it off as Swerve preferring to stand alone against lone wolf types like Hangman and Joe before, but when he’s getting gang beatdown by the Patriarchy, you start to wonder where they’re at. Especially when Nana is getting it, too, and he’s still canonically their boss on screen.

Another pretty great night of wrestling. I remain in favor of keeping with these 3 hour events, alternating Rampage from Collision to Dynamite like they've been doing lately has been highly enjoyable. Live Rampage will just always work better. Loved the show-closing angle just continuing on in to Rampage. Looking forward to the eventual Okada/Omega AEW showdown one day. Copeland/Buddy was a real good 20+ minute opener. Joe/Kassidy had an all time "Joe walks away from the dive" spot on Isiah's tope. Jericho/Shibata was fun. Serena/Mariah good stuff as expected. My favorite Excalibur line on Mariah's running knee strike "Check your calendar, cause it's gonna be MAY!". Didn't even realize at the time that was the Dynamite main event match. the Manitoba Massacre! was another in the classic hardcore women's matches. This ruled and the escalation of violence culminating in the barbed wire board was great stuff. Skye's definitely becoming an MVP of these type matches. Technically the women main evented both Dynamite and Rampage match-wise.

God damn it.

Some other things about this show… I was wrong to criticize Jericho so quickly. I think the Hook match still stunk, but this is maybe the best trolling heel shtick he’s done since he returned to WWE with the LED jacket and was in that multi man tag match where he got tagged in danced around, pumped up the crowd, immediately tagged out, and then left. Plus, I think pairing him with Big Bill will only help Bill even more. This is a really good reinvention for Jericho. How in the fuck did this company get me to give a shit about non-Jungle Boy Jack Perry? That CM Punk thing was maybe the best thing to happen to him. In fact, I think this version of the Elite is maybe its best iteration. Jack Perry in this role reminds me a lot of Brian Pillman before he left WCW. The whole angle is humming along too. I got a good laugh out of the opening of the show, thought teasing Omega as Swerve’s opponent only for it to be Christian was brilliant. That’s also another great example of everything mattering. I think it sometimes takes too long for it to matter, but Christian looping around to the attack on Nick and losing that tag match was excellent. There’s also a ton of really interesting wrinkles with other storylines, like what Callis is doing with Trent and OC, the slow build to Stat turning on Willow, and if May will see that Toni is afraid of her.

Adam Copeland: so let me get this straight, Tony. After spending 25 years in WWE, I come to AEW and after six months you want me to work an angle where some evil black mist from a satanic cult leader makes me almost turn evil? Tony: You said you wanted to work House of Black, it’s the only way Malakai will put you over...

In all honesty, Willow took the worst of two weapon bumps with the barbed wire to the rear (not that Skye's bump was pleasant but Willow sat right on it) and the brain buster to the tacks where she seemed to land right in them. I love these matches but if they keep them to one a month or two, that'll be okay. I hope Skye doesn't get lost in the shuffle with Willow moving on to Mercedes. She's been working very hard lately and really becoming a good worker.

So last night was our only AEW TV of the week, yeah? We had Rampage already, and Collision is pre-empted. That's a shame. Opening the show by having the Bucks tease that Kenny is going to be the title challenger, only to have it be Christian instead, that was a good bit of heeling. And no doubt the next month of TV angles of having Christian mess with Swerve is going to be lots of fun too. I'm assuming that they mostly pre-cut the dreadlock they ripped off, because hair usually doesn't tear that easily (or painlessly). Are they going to make it a hair vs hair match for the title? Be a real treat, having a hair vs hair match when neither guy is actually balding. And the keep the Canadian-ness flowing by having home country babyface Adam Copeland come out next. I thought there was a fan in the front row dressed as Suicide from TNA, but he was just pairing a Danhausen mask with a red hoodie. And then the match went over 20 minutes, and was surprisingly based around Buddy being hurt, rather than Adam. I would expect that since the angle here is that Copeland is running the HoB gauntlet, it would be the other two breaking him down for Malakai to pick his bones, but they went another way. The angle with Malakai telling Adam to hit the Concerto (because Con-chair-to is the WWE spelling, innit?), that implies thay we're more doing psychological fuckery, rather than simply physical damage. But no doubt Brody will knock seven bells out of him next week anyway. Considering they did the disappearing act, they were very kind to not steal the TNT title belt while he was still unsighted. Using a bag of Hockey Pucks as a weapon is a low-key genius play. Both because it's a troll move to tease that it's a bag of thumbtacks or glass, and because to the fans in the building, it's the national sport, they know exactly what a hockey puck feels like. They probably know how much it hurts to be hit by one. So it's an ideal pro-wrestling weapon to those fans in the building. Not to me though, I've never touched a Hockey Puck in my life. For all I know, they're soft and rubbery. Halfway through Jericho vs Shibata, and both men have acquired winestain birthmarks across their whole entire chests. If chops causing muscle atrophication are the reason for Jericho's gappy pecs, then this match alone will have exposed a couple more inches of ribcage down the middle there. The trashcan spot, it reminded me of something. Arn Anderson. Arn presented himself as a "Wrestling is a Serious Business" wrestler. A no nonsense, serious, straight ahead asskicking Wrestler. He would sometimes get booked against comedy wrestlers, and he would just act so outraged and offended at being put in these humourous situations. "All of these shenanigans are making a mockery of the business" was his demeanor. And some fans got sucked into that, and started thinking he was the embodiment of that philosophy. He wasn't. It was a work. He actually loved the comedy, he just realised that his best role within the comedy was as the outraged straight man, so that's what he did. And I think there's a possibility that Shibata might be a man after his whole heart. The fact that, on his big comeback, the one person he wanted to work with was Orange Cassidy, that implies that his ambitions for his wrestling went beyond his Straight Shooter Inokiism routine. And ultimately, if you're going to have your no DQ match be a WWE comedy hardcore style match (and considering what was planned for later in the night, this really should have been that style), breaking out some new funny spots, instead of the hackneyed old used-to-be-funny spots, that's a good thing. Mariah May is underrated as a technical wrestler, she had no problem keeping up with Serena Deeb here. Considering she's a wrestler who absolutely could just be coasting on her looks and natural charisma, but she doesn't half bust a gut to have a good match. Speaking of busting a gut, here's Kenny Omega... Kenny is an underrated promo. Perhaps because he's not very WWE-ish in his delivery, he feels like a more natural talker. Like he's a guy who's good at talking from the heart, rather than being a guy who is good at delivering a scripted promo. Although arguably he's one of the best talkers in the business, because he can cut a good promo in English or in Japanese. Hardly anyone is a good promo in more than one language. (Are they doing Omega vs Okada IV at Wembley? He said Give me a couple of months, and then got storyline re-injured... so that could extend his injury to August) The Hammerlock into a Clothesline is now known as "The Hammerlock into a Clothesline" in AEW, rather than the Pepsi Twist. Even though AEW is the Pepsi of wrestling. We're spoiled with Dante Martin. Dante Martin having a generic Dante Martin match, it's mindblowing to fresh eyes, because his off the chart athleticism allows him to hit moves and do feats of movement that are unbelievable. But because he's on TV a lot, and does a lot of his spots in every match, they become less spectacular and more routine. It was a good match, between himself and Jay White. Not sure why the Bang Bang Gang have kept the Pink scissor Acclaimed belts for the AEW Six-man titles, instead of the old trios belts that The Elite and House of Black used. But keeping both sets of straps as two different sets of straps, that's a better look than unifying the titles to have them be represented by a single set. Speaking of being a good promo in multiple languages, RUSH does a good promo in English and Spanish. Did RUSH vs Kenny ever happen? They should do that, as and when they can. It would probably be really good. Rocky Romero made a tactical miscalculation, he targetted Kylo's healthy left arm, and not his withered right one. He is unfortunately Orndorff'ed out there now. Perhaps it will grow back in time. And then Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale had a banger of a match to send us home happy (and revive a crowd that had to have been pretty burned out). Skye's bladejobs continue to be more crimson trickle than crimson mask, but better to bleed too little than too much. If she keeps wrestling in this style from time to time, she'll get the hang of it. If this was her last time going to this extreme, at least she's going out on a high note (other than losing, obviously. The tacks bump looked gnarlier on Willow than it did on Skye. And Fite cut the ending off because the overruns confused them. Skye put the Barbed Wire Board on the table, and the show ended. Thank fuck AEW put the finish on YouTube.

These trunks seem to fit him better than his long ones did, so hoping he won't have to keep hiking his pants up during matches now.

I am and have been vehemently opposed to breaking up Best Friends. No one wants to see these guys fight. Now, that said, if you want to salvage this, then AEW’s version of Endgame to rescue the promotion from Elite tyranny later this year should have a reunited Best Friends - as the true heart and soul of the company from day one - neutralizing the Bucks while Omega deals with Okada.

Rush future AEW championship run confirmed

You know how, legally, a bartender can be held responsible for over serving a person? I feel like there needs to be something like that for tattoo artists. Like, whoever did that should have to go to court and prove why they shouldn’t be in jail for crimes against humanity.

Looking forward to seeing Kenny Omega. Missed him.

Softballs used to be balls of yarn with the leather covering, so they were literally soft. They became more like baseballs years later.

Hitting someone with a LJN Bundy is illegal in 12 states and might also be against the Geneva Convention.

Hey, I'm Lee. This must be a movie about me. Flattering. Not going to watch the trailer because I know what happens

If someone hit their opponent with an LJN King Kong Bundy, I’d buy that as a death finisher.

It's too bad Raven didn't give up the gem he did on the Forever Hardcore DVD: the boys in the locker room said "Hey, you and Paul E. are Jewish, why don't you nail him to a Star of David" and Raven responded "yeah we do that and he'd roll away"

I was more worried about Willow's derrière. She landed right on it delivering the Dr Bomb. Do we have a Willow booty update? Where's Brandon Cutler when you need him?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDwO5XydxHw YouTube version of Skye vs Willow. So just the final few minutes... meaning the bit that your DVR didn't record.

I'm actually hoping she does turn heel if it gets her out of her current role. I like Statlander a lot and her being the cheerleader/lackey to someone else isn't (my) ideal. I don't have an overall issue with it as not everyone can go for the title at once, wrestlers have to find other things to do, but eventually I'd like her to break away from this group and turn into an ass kicker again.

Well, Rampage cut off my fucking barbed wire entanglement. Not only that but everything I was writing in "real" time/fast-forward got erased by the board when I clicked on a new post. Grrrrr... Anyway, good Buddy Matthews/Edge match, he shows a lot of personality when he gets to step out of the group, and spits up blood for my sick pleasure. They finished with like four different WWE finishers which was amusing. The Jericho match was also very amusing; very much NOT to my sick pleasure was seeing his knee smack right into poor Shibata's pong. Jericho deserved a whole commercial break's worth of chopping after that. The garbage can intimidation was hilarious. Joe's Mr. Magoo walkaway was too. Man there was a lot of wrestling on this show... I skipped right over not only the talk (lot of that too) but also Claudio/Cage, KOR/Rocky (duh), something else... the Serena/Mariah match was good. What's tough about Serena is that her tech has terrible torque (HA!). Christian vs. Swerve should be good, but the kid needs to wear more than just a Polo, get some expensive chinos so you look super preppy. Your mom is dressing up now so do it proper. Could care less about the ELITE DRAMA~~~. DAMMIT, I wanted my barbed wire!

I thought they looked better on him too

Between Ishii busting Jericho's chest open with chops when he was ROH Champ and what Shibata did to him last night....overexposed or not, I can't be upset Jericho is on TV when you'll get stuff like that. I loved the match last night.

I was watching Terry Funk tear his hair out of barbed wire at work last night while Skye was being CUT out? This I gotta see.

https://cdn4.whatculture.com/images//2024/05/b3d6e775f957605aac67e367df9f3292.jpg Nope.

The logo on Chris Jericho's trunks and on screen graphics looks like an upside down broccoli.

We already lost the Best Friends, don't put this out there. Don't put this evil on me, haha.

i hope I am just being paranoid but I have a bad feeling that Kris Statlander is turning heel on Willow . I did pop for "if Mick Foley was a Teletubby"

“You have a Porsche!?” That got a big howling laugh out of me.

Must have been their tribute to the Sandman episode of Dark Side.

Enjoyed Mariah/Serena. And nice to see the concerned side come out of Toni. Skye Blue/Willow was awesome. Skye is so much more fun as the deranged heel.

We're talking about how everyone looks, but you know who looks really weird? Fonzie with teeth.

A few weeks ago, my friends and I had the pleasure of talking with Ray Lloyd, aka Glacier, about the movie The Unbreakable Bunch that hit select theaters on April 19th. Ray was extremely nice and just a joy to talk to. We're hoping to have him back on in a couple of months to talk his experiences in UWFi. https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/F6GgGi05fJb

I love those dog collar matches. Ditto #FTR vs. Briscoe Brothers in ROH.

Now that I think about it, Criswell should have introduced the Punk video a few weeks ago

Don't buy that, buy this:

Honestly shocking it took Hogan this long to get it on the born-again grift.

She looks like a woman in her mid-50s wearing little makeup. If that's "death", then I guess I have a lot to look forward to.

To the previous AEW thread conversation surrounding the need for more story. I personally don't need or want any kind of elaborate Story, but setting the table of any contest with a modicum of build thru production packages and promos goes a long way in providing a crucial shine. The last number of weeks of AEW TV has provided lots of worthwhile and necessary reminder/builder videos, and it's a quiet improvement. It's not perfect, but it's a good sign. There's also been a lot of really good promos - it is a bit unfortunate that so many of the best ones go unseen on twitter.