TimLivingston

I think like many Netflix shows, they were given a budget and when they realized they had more meat on the bone but no room to expand, they had to compartmentalize and compromise, sadly. The showrunners leaned too much on some aspects for drama when there was plenty there in how the wrestling was actually presented. Think they severely underestimated the audience.

The Nigel stuff is falling flat. He doesn’t have the juice to hold this together without a retort from Bryan. The match is gonna be the thing that makes it, but the lead up has been essentially to crickets.

A fantastic series; fast forward button is slammed on towards the end to wrap up all the story beats, but it was a true success. The Hair match re-creation gave me chills, especially with the entrances where they threw out some of the same camera shots from the actual taping. Well worth the time, and I wish there was more.

I’m three in and digging it big time. It’s a J Drama, so historical accuracy gets booted to the side in many instances, but holy crap, the wrestling here is top notch. Chigusa and company really trained the actors well, and they do a great job throughout. Really committed all the way through. Incredibly impressed by a lot of this, even if, as said before, the accuracy leaves a lot to be desired in some ways.

Outrunners rule the goddamn world.

It’s not for the title. Yeah, I could see Fletcher and Ospreay even win, then have turn and give the title to Davis.

When they win it’s gonna be Acclaimed-level huge. Probably bigger. Tough crowd. Tony needs to figure out arena sizes.

Literally the next day? WWE Vault uploaded the Badd Blood HIAC match.

I don’t think AEW has put on a more impactful PPV than this. MAYBE All Out 2021 when Cole and Bryan first showed up. There were production choices that were note perfect. The big chances they took match-wise and angle-wise hit big. Top to bottom, the in-ring work was good at worst, even if there were things that got a bit sloppy or convoluted at points, which comes with the territory in AEW. You come away with two major occurrences that push the envelope in different ways but both succeeded, you set up a ton of stuff going forward, you had some star making performances both overtly and subtly…it’s as big a success you can have with a single wrestling show.

Cathy Kelley literally has a comment on a Rhea IG post that says, “Bench press me”

They’re pushing Tiffy to the moon and they let Fatu not only do the BME, but throw in his split legged finish to it, too. The absolute beast of a man.

So, just to recap, Fatu gets his surprise debut in the hottest wrestling city in the country, and then gets an official debut with a sick entrance in Madison Square Garden and powerbombs PAUL HEYMAN through a table IN MSG. I acknowledge him.

Jacob Fatu gave me my greatest wrestling related compliment a few years back when a match I called with him and Boyce LeGrande was so good he passed it on to Booker T ahead of an appearance on his podcast because he thought it was a great showcase for him and my commentary really made it pop. And now the dude just took out the WWE champ and two top babyfaces on his first night in the company in dominant fashion. I couldn’t be happier for him. Strap the rocket to him.

So I have to bring up the timeline on this because it’s downright hilarious: -Shams is in on JJ to LA weeks ago, basically planting the seed that he’s the front runner -Woj then says, “Not so fast” and breaks Dan Hurley swooping in to interview to basically rub it in Shams’ face -JJ gets the job and it’s WOJ who’s first, and The Athletic has to actually print that Woj broke it. On a story Shams had weeks ago, basically The amount of pettiness from Woj is incredible.

The issue with doing so many international events featuring international talent is that the expectation is to send the crowd home happy every time, which is not plausible given these aren’t local loops. When telling broad stories, you can’t just make it so the local guy wins as that makes storytelling too predictable.