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Effy should book Danielson vs Parrow for Big Gay Brunch, then.

Show only Vader matches and call it Potatoes and a Potato.

I guess I'm in the minority in that I don't mind the HOB stuff. Black REALLY needs to go over at DoN, though, and I think it serves Cope's "descent into madness" to have Black win. I LOVED this show. Felt like the best pacing and show layout AEW has had in a few weeks. I kinda thought it would be a cool wrinkle if B Cage had won the eliminator to put himself in the title match at DoN, and really stack the odds against Swerve, but I'm okay with either thing. I echo the earlier sentiments about TK having done the improbable and using the Punk footage to have gotten Perry over. I hadn't seen much Okada before he arrived stateside and I am enthralled. That dude oozes "star." Just a one of a kind smarmy dickhead. Absolutely breathtaking. Perry and Okada doing what they're doing almost makes me forget how much I fucking hate the Jacksons. Great tagger with Mox & Danielson. TK should just back up the Brinks truck and get Jeff Cobb on his roster full time. That guy rules ass. I wonder if Mox knows that Cobb was Matanza on LU? Willow is a STAR. I'm not 100% convinced Mercedes is going over, and I am 100% sure if she does, it won't be clean. I'm sure this will ruffle at least one set of feathers, but Mercedes has been badly exposed during this first angle. I'm starting to wonder if she's the male Seth Rollins; someone who's star power is based mostly on the WWE hype machine screaming at the top of it's lungs "LOOK WHAT A STAR SHE IS!" Mercedes is worth the investment from an exposure standpoint. She's walking red carpets and throwing out first pitches at baseball games, but she sure hasn't ingratiated herself to her new audience with her promos. Dax Harwood is great. I thoroughly enjoy him. I hate that Eddie is gonna miss DoN. Darby as a replacement is awesome, though. Toni Storm is in another solar system right now. Just an absolutely delirious, incredible performer. She and Swerve are AEW's MVPs right now. Cool to see them build some momentum. It kinda feels like AEW has bottomed out and is starting to find their groove again. Get your next TV deal in place. Survive until WWE inevitably upsets their fans again. All this is cyclical. Better days are approaching.

I just rewatched the Survivor Series Main Event and... that was a goddammit hot match! There was energy from everybody in that match. Even Andre was kinda spry. They protected Hogan and Andre's team of big men brought their A game. No one really talks about this match and I wonder why James

It's been kinda obvious for a while that they're slow-burning Mercedes as a heel by big-timing the AEW roster. It's a more polished version of what they did with Saraya, with a better babyface foil. The only question is if Stokeley is in on it.

In the build-up, Danhausen curses Danielson causing them to swap bodies. So we have Bryan Danhausen (Danhausen with no makeup in semi-serious shooter mode) and Danielhausen (Daniel Bryan in facepaint doing curses and appearing under the ring).

I really liked Danielson's booty poppin' theme playing during the fight. Real Natural Born Killaz vibes.

*Perry compliments Wooo Energy during a P in P break* Taz: you should wash that down with a slice of pizza! Died

"Can someone get a mop for Tony?" "A MOP???" LOL moment of the year.

If Tommy Rich, Little Guido, and Wildman Sal Bellomo don't appear to congratulate Tony on winning the Italian heritage cup, then what are we doin'?

A match and a meal? How about a punchfest and a pancake? A fight and a flapjack? A wargames and a waffle? A cagematch and a crepe? A battle royale and a blintz? No? Then there is no pleasing you.

I love Bam Bam Bigelow going up against King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, and Andre. After Bam Bam eliminates Bundy and the Gang, you really believe he had a real chance at beating Andre. At least, seven year old me did.

Cobb lives in Northern California. Jericho doesn't want people to see his bald spot.

Something that I think gets lost in the shuffle is that the Stoke/Stat/Willow group started because Stokely had the hots for Stat (more or less). Willow was "Pam" to Stat's "Gina" - her friend that saw thru Stoke's bullshit. Over time that whole thing was seemingly abandoned, and it has almost flipped to where Stat is the third wheel.

Although it would have been hilarious if Danielson stopped and did the Jeff Hardy dance before making the save.

Strange that Chris Jericho, all of his years in the business, gets busted open from the back of the head and doesn't turn around to show the wound on camera. Although possibly it didn't look that good. The Swerve vs Brian Cage match was really good. Ever since Cage arrived in AEW, he's not really had a singles match that went long. They've kept him in tags and multi-man deals. I'd seen people speculating that possibly his cardio was shot and he had to control his minutes, but not tonight. He's actually underrated in terms of what a good base he is for people reversing out of his power moves. Like Swerve reversed a Gory Special into a Short Arm Scissors and it looked smooth and safe as hell, even though there was a pretty big possibility of it going wrong and him landing on his head. Then Harley Cameron and Toni Storm are in the ring, and the AEW camerawork is doing the "AEW camerawork during a women's match thing". Taz asks Tony Schiavone if he's OK, and Tony says "I'm fine, just a little wet." (uncomfortable puase) "Nothing to do with the match, it's thanks to Jack Perry". Doesn't mention that he got a drink poured on him, for anyone who came in late. Harley vs Toni was the first all-Australian match in AEW history, wasn't it? Toni piledrove her so hard on the finish, it snapped her dog collar. You know how before the NWO was the NWO, and Scott Hall was still doing the "You know who I am" thing? They were trying to imply that Hall was actually Razor Ramon from WWF, representing the WWF? The Willow vs Mercedes promo segment felt more authentically interpromotional than that did. Because Willow spoke and it seemed honest, legitimate and from the heart, and Mercedes' retort felt scripted and rehearsed, with the catchphrases forced in. Dax reddened the fuck out of Okada's chest with only like, two chops. His chest was redder than Dax's head! Hopefully Okada doesn't start getting that atrophied central pec gap like Jericho and Scott Steiner have. It's a wonder that more people don't (unless it's not actually from chops; Nobody seems to know exactly). Dax managed to somehow have TWO "Only way this match ever happens is in Fire Pro or 2K!" matches in the space of 4 days. But that streak will almost certainly end now that Cash's legal problems are at an end, unless they randomly book FTR vs the Rock n Roll Express on Rampage or some shit. (I'm pretty confident that FTR could have a good match with the Rock n Roll Express in 2024; Ricky Morton inexplicably still has it. Robert Gibson can't do too much physically any more, but he's still really good at standing on the apron and getting increasingly concerned for his partner.) Apparently the reason why AEW is getting these 3 hour blocks of Dynamite/Collision PLUS Rampage immediately afterwards, and they're getting more and longer overruns (12 minutes last night!), is because TNT and TBS are considering extending AEW's TV hours further.

I'll put this diplomatically: Mercedes' biggest benefit is her loyal army of stans. Or should be, but those people aren't making a difference in the ratings. So what are all the obsessives doing? Are they just Fed-pilled? I'm on record as not liking her. I don't think AEW needs her. Opening tag was fun. Toni is great. Okada sounds like Arnold in his inflection. I'm seriously debating buying this PPV if I can sneak out of work on time (fat chance as I'm writing this at work, on my day off).

Are there any wrestling bears still active cause we need Danielson vs bear

We also don't have any sense of who, if anyone, Roxy is facing at the PPV, and the bit with Tatum lurking in Ava's office might be setting something up for that. I'm of two minds on this particular Snatcher variation. It was very well set up in the match, because Izzi was previously in the exact same position (having chased a buckle-facing Sol into the corner, with Sol's legs on Dame's shoulders) but before, she just chucked Sol over the ringpost -- but Sol's landing from this setup is much more restricted in terms of camera angles and the 'language' of the bump she takes initially looks more like she's getting powerslammed. Jaida - a more confident talker, and has the threat of Goons. Izzi's arc of figuring herself out without Kiana does less in a ladder match. On Henley/Hail, I think Fallon gets through - Jazmyn's going after Thea on behalf of Jacy, and that probably works better outside of the ladder as well.

I forgot possibly the most important one. Danhausen.

You will end Double or Nothing just like every degenerate in Las Vegas: Flat on your back with an arse in your face, wondering where the bloody hell your dignity went" - Toni Storm, 2024 Nicholas Jackson being all covered in facial hair while Matthew is clean shaven, and them having the same hair colour now, it's really hard to tell which one is which. Each looks more like the other than themselves.

Fuck yeah Darby Allin! I had no idea who the 4th guy would be and thought during the main event that maybe it’s Hangman, but that would be telegraphing another heel turn way too much when he never turned face. I need to rewatch that Toni Storm promo. We really need a running tally of every euphemism she’s used for vagina. She’s used box a lot, she’s used pussy during the media scrums, tonight she used wound. At some point I just expect her to use gash or beaver. She’s a treasure. I'm still in disbelief that TK threaded the needle and got Jack Perry over. What a dick he is. Him and Okada just competing for biggest dickhead heel. Jericho continues to crack me up and then I must have blinked and missed it but did Hook crack Jericho open hard way? This newest wrinkle with Joe and Hook is interesting too. Boy is it sad to hear that crowd be dead for the HoB stuff. I now think Black should have gone back to being Tommy End forever ago, but keep teaming with Brody off and on. HoB is turning into Spooky Perverts 2.0. It would have been better for Black to stop sniffing his own farts with the HoB shtick, just ditch the spooky crap, and be an ass kicker that talks a bunch of shit, has a cool entrance, and does cool moves.

I was there live crowd was hot as fuck. Swerve was super over. Darby was over too. They got two stars on their hands with those two. You’re top babyface’s right there. Okada was really over too. I know he’s heel but it’s hard not to cheer for him. He’s a legend his two year run as IWGP Champion was incredible and to see him live in AEW was really cool. Also I don’t know how it came off on TV but wilt he place was loud as fuck when Willow put Mercedes through the table.

I was once tapped by a Lamborghini in Toronto while walking to get groceries. To this day, I still regret not taking the bump on the hood for the potential payout. Show was really good tonight. PPV bought.

I can’t fault a company for worrying about the possibility of a wrestler dying/being crippled in the ring, and yes, it would be nice if that company also took care of their insurance and injuries, so they could not feel the need to rush back before being fully healthy or as close as you can get as a professional athlete. we all know wrestlers/athletes are often the worst people to determine if they should not be competing while injured.

I love chaos so I welcome the X, formerly known as Twitter, meltdown if Mone loses.

Somehow Someway Eight down

I cosign every one of the opponents listed in this thread as Danielson matches I wanted to see before he wraps up his full time career. Weird one that I want to see is him against Jarrett. I really hope Omega is back before Danielson wraps it up or at least if he's stick around in AEW, I'd love for that to be a match that they can get to down the line if Omega isn't ready by whenever Danielson is done full time. I was hoping for a match against Joe during Joe's run as champion even though that would have been one of those matches where the ending wasn't going to be in doubt.

AEW has announced a partnership with Arlington TX's Esports Stadium to host the "Path to ALL IN Summer Series" ROH Death Before Dishonor on July 26 and 5 episodes of Collision will take place there from July 20 to August 17

I would love to see Danielson try to reign in Bailey's wacky formula. Otherwise, if you want to see Danielson vs Bailey, just watch any Bailey match, kinda squint a bit, and pretend it's Danielson.

Also just remembered the House of Black forsaking all the spookiness and deciding “let’s just jump Copeland when he has his back to the entrance doing his thing”

I should have got that. Piss. Sting wrestling in front of a crowd for the first time since 2015 and one of the only AEW matches when he takes his top off. Sting nearly always wrestled with a shirt/long sleeved top.

Settle down, Tonywood Schinetico.

YES, YES WE CAN. It's getting boring and lame.

i probably wouldn't read MCU comics, but i understand the desire to follow continuing adventures of these versions of the characters. This creates its own problem, as new characters get added as supporting or background characters. Until they debut in the MCU proper, and then the versions debuting on screen don't match the supporting character that was already in the pages. and then fans get upset (when don't they anyway, amiright?) but yeah. adapting the existing 616 comics into films panel-for-shot was never going to work either, for obvious reasons. but trying to shoehorn the (shorter) continuity of the films/tv over top of the (well established) continuity of the comics is a double whammy. fuck, the comics contradict and retcon their own stories and characters all the time. my personal solution ("head canon") is to just enjoy as many of the stories as possible as stand-alone, and anytime something older gets referenced or referred to, that's just a bonus. real, long term character growth is damn near impossible in this behemoth of never-ending publication after 60+ years with a revolving door of editors, writers, and artists. Not to mention a corporate overlord and a constant drive for profits.

Yeah, I went from pissed off about the breakup, to being thankful we got the blowoff we did. It also explains why BFs opened the show the week prior (or it may have been earlier that night, it's all a blur with the NHL/NBA shuffling lately). YMMV on the placement or effectiveness of that overall, but I thought it was a really nice bone to throw to the OG fans (and dammit, Chuck getting to say 'shit' on Turner before hanging it up beats any lame, done-a-million-times 'moment' in my book).

I was hoping Matt Jackson was going to lean into the full Vince trope and scream YOURE FIREDDD at Daniels Even if youre a fan of Malaki Black in the ring, can we all agree that the character and almost all his feuds are lame as fuck? Willow is awesome and I am glad they've basically made Mone the heel here. You can't not want Willow to win Cool to see Darby back and the fourth man, guess TK called in a favour with Kingston injured.

A great list and I'd love to see any and all of them Honestly, my main desire for a Bryan farewell tour match is more bordered on a morbid curiosity. Jun Kasai. I'd just love to see it, no rhyme or reason behind it. Adding to that, most of these are improbably or impossible, but just a dream list PCO Josh Alexander Speedball Moose Matt Cardona Claudio Trent Seven Homicide Low-Ki give me another MJF match damnit EFFY Swerve Hangman, I want them to give me a clear cut winner here, it's 1-1-1

"Womb", not wound.

Dickhead Kazuchika Okada is best Kazuchika Okada. Speaking of best, I'm so glad the Rainmaker is a one and done again since signing with AEW and how it used to be in NJPW for a while.

Now is the perfect time for Parker and TRENCH to return and save the day! Also, where has Prince Nana been?! Kudos to that crowd, the appropriately booed Serena and Mercedes. They've actually been paying attention!

On tv it sounded like the crowd exploded when Willow hit the doctor bomb through the table. That moment was cool as shit.

This was by far the best thing they've done with Mercedes since 'Big Business'. It's cool to do the "happy to be here" promo one time especially in your hometown but then it veered off into some weird shit like they did with Punk where you're not buying any of it.. Tonight, she was pretty clearly the heel trying to little bro Willow and it was good stuff. It got Willow over even more building some sympathy for her. It's the best use of Mercedes. She's a heel and in the match she's going to viciously work over one of Willow's extremities. Let's go!

I for one am thankful for the revival of the closest thing we'll have to Dinner and A Movie.

Apparently he's been training for a while as an agent/producer. But come on. Ankle injury with necrosis? Kerry Von Erich ain't need no foot!

Not to nitpick but the Purrazzo/Frost finish was ridiculous. A gymnast should know about 8 ways to quickly get of of the Tree of Woe. Now I'm remembering that Excalibur used to call it the Tree of Joey Lawrence.

I learned the hard way if the pills seem to be "doing nothing" it means they are fucking working, because when I went off them whoa boy did I go into the shitter. Now I just take the damn pills and keep my head down. It was a real "this won't happen to me" kind of lesson.