JLowe

I haven’t watched Collision yet but, to be fair, it was FTR having a long, competitive, giving match with The Outrunners that helped get them over as more than just a meme act.

I’m late to talk about Rampage. It was pretty good. I still think Private Party as a concept is washed because Quen is gonna break his neck botching the Gin and Juice one of these days. It also helps that Bucks are same height or shorter, making the jumps lower. I liked the touch of Shibata just targeting Perry every time he had a chance, and him hiding behind the Bucks. Kamille killed that poor enhancement woman. Stat is I guess turning face. Angle had hit a dead end, and I guess I appreciate they tried to tie it up. Targeting Kamille should be a good hoss fight. Harley is really showing a lot of personality on the promos and in the ring. I think she was still around towards the end of Dark/Elevation, I think maybe even did one or two matches there. She would benefit from regular ring work, as she’s getting better but still hesitates and moves slow. Still, this might have been her best match. Nice to see Baker save Aminata, I guess I was overthinking the Dynamite deal. Main was good, how could it not be?

I got really excited about it last night while a little buzzed and can confirm it’s not there.

I enjoyed the show overall, and the things I didn’t like are pretty much the things I haven’t been liking for a while now (Perry and the Private Party push being the main ones here). My exposure to Ricochet has been his AEW matches, and my exposure to Ospreay has been AEW plus maybe once or twice in very late ‘10s New Japan TV. I saw a lot of crazy things in that match that were an amazing spectacle of balance, acrobatics, and timing (mostly). Mirror spots are getting very old to me but I enjoyed the rope handspring hero pose deal. The story was two guys trying to prove to each other that they’re better now than they were in 2016 while mostly doing that 2026 match as I understand it. Anyway, fun match with no stakes beyond the Callis family storyline. The double pin was frustrating to me because there was a match with Mortos a few weeks back where the ref didn’t count a pin because Mortos wasn’t making a full effort for a cover (or something like that), and in this case only one of the men was actively trying for a pin fall. Finally, so much for my “turning Takeshita face” dreams. Britt is washed, there is something psychological going on. She just seems lost, forgetting relatively simple wrestling 101 things. Her effort on some moves and strikes was comically bad, like Orange Cassidy but supposedly actually trying. Deeb tried valiantly to carry, and it mostly worked. Someone here pointed out how Britt repeatedly blew off Aminata after the save, which bothered me at the time. The pre-match Page-Juice brawl was a fun mix of big bumps and comedy work. Hard for me to take Juice too seriously when it looks like he’s wrestling in Hanes briefs. The cannonball barrier spot was the highlight of the match. Jay White making the save was a little predictable (but welcome), and I had totally forgotten about Chekov’s table from the crowd brawl! Willow/Mariah backstage was great and I’m looking forward to that. Have to admit, I was really into the idea of Okada doing Memphis-style stalling and stooging. Instead, we get a pretty straight-forward match where it’s not just Okada trying to run out the 20-minute clock. These guys work together really well, stiff, great timing, really convincing reversals. The backslide clean pin was a huge shock for me. other stuff I remember was a pretty solid filmed promo from Darby, Mone and MVP, MVP and a very large Shelton Benjamin, the Gunns making no sense before being cannon fodder, Christie-Ann Cage saying something. Marina saying something. Renee had to dodge a lot of physicality backstage.

Saw that someone from WBD implied that the AEW archive will also be available on MAX.

I thought AEW was doomed and would not ever have another TV deal close to what they had originally…

Ha I realized while I was out grocery shopping that I also forgot about Perry-Suzuki. Murder Grandpa treated him with kid gloves, and Perry clearly was not going to poke the bear. The TNT title angle is an utter failure and the sooner they metaphorically sacrifice the scapegoat the better.

I forgot about Sammy-Okada, which says a lot about how memorable the match was.

I had had quite a few beers by the time I watched Collision. I liked the Saraya-Hayter match in that it was funny and also reminded you that Hayter is strong and tough. Now, where do we go from here? How can they thread a needle with revenge on Toni Storm, who is not the same person she was. Neither trios match did much for me, other than enjoying the Conglomeration in general and advancing the story with Yuta. Is this where the Righteous got involved? Komander barely got involved, which probably protected him. The lucha three-way was crazy and fun. The dipshit Bully Ray fan who always sits in the front row of east coast shows was making sour faces and crossing his arms the whole time. Fuck that guy. Honestly, the larger crowd never really got into this as much as I think they should have, presumably they were tired after 4+ hours. MxM fucking kills me, I love them even though it’s definitely heavy sports entertainment. Even though it was obvious in retrospect, it took me a few minutes to recognize Billy Gunn was Hans, but I did figure it out before he unmasked. The main dragged a lot. Biggest moments were Jarrett from the top to the floor, and the beating Hangman took towards the end. Juice looked like he was wearing tighty whities. Overall, Collision was ok, definitely not something like a big event show.

To add to what I said above about The Acclaimed, “Nut Up or Shut Up” is flopping, as it should. I know it’s got to be hard when you’ve been moving merch and making $$$$ for two years now but they need a hard reboot.

So, Rampage was pretty good. It seems they’re already abandoning the ill-advised Top Flight rebrand. Wearing “bombardier” jackets instead of the commercial pilots uniforms. Andretti and Rush squabbling (I’m team Lio here, I think he’s loads more interesting than Andretti although I don’t want either as a part of Top Flight). Perfectly fine match with a couple of spots that took too long to develop. Anna Jay is back! She forgets to shout out Dark Order, those guys get no respect! What did she learn in Japan? To fight a little more stiff it seems, and a Gory Bomb finisher. Maybe the shotgun dropkick although I think she was already using it. Her intro music has a hyper pop beat now. Robyn Renegade has basically been on AEW since her actual in-ring debut and has gotten markedly better. I know they give her a lot more on ROH, and they’ve let her have more offense on AEW TV, but would like to see her have a little push. Its Takeshita! Tony has to explain why he’s getting cheers because he’s still ostensibly a heel. It’s Angelico, who the crowd is clearly supposed to know his history and that he is a name talent who will be competitive. Anyway, this should’ve been a 3-4 minute squash. The crowd was very into Takeshita, clapping to build his comebacks, popping for his moves. I think they need to break up the Callis family and let these guys develop real personality. It’s The Acclaimed! Max makes a very predictable rap. Wrong Springfield, bro. Fancy Clancy looks and carries himself like a young William Regal and I kind of want them to bring him back and lean into that. Acclaimed wrestle a little more aggressively, less pandering (no Scissor me Timbers), and I think that’s good if they’re going to turn them heel (which they should). After, they let Max call MxM “pansies” even though it’s not a live mic which is pretty shitty even if it’s meant to be a heel move. I hope Bowens slapped the shit out of him backstage. MxM are the clear faces here. Main event time, and Willow is incredibly over! Good lord do I hate Taya’s intro music. Best match of the night, lots of back and forth, both get to show their strength, Taya shows ring veteran savvy, Willow shows her fire.

I don’t just want them to get rid of the trios titles, I want them to cut back on the trios matches period. More traditional tag teams.

Totally agree.

Do I want to see her wrestle? No. Is she one of the few women who get true heel heat and has done a good job with Harley Cameron? Yes. Would she be a solid Sherri Martel style manager? I think maybe. edit to add: I forgot that a fair amount of her heat is of the “go away you’re an actual terrible person ” type

It’s sort of an interesting thing because I’ve always seen exactly what you are talking about, while I can also acknowledge how smoothly they take other people’s moves and are great bumpers. Except that last bit gets overshadowed by the lack of selling built into their preferred match structure.

I can’t say that all Young Bucks matches are exactly the same, but that’s only because I haven’t seen them all.

“Scrubs” is what we called the jobbers when I was in middle school in the 80s. But Kip is a scrub, there are 20 guys who can do the same things he can that are either bigger, more athletic, more charismatic, or all 3 (Will)

Good to know, I thought they’ve just been playing that up for TV to make him even more sympathetic

Opener was very good, Bryan sold the hell out of the arm, good story told over all. And then they had Kip fucking Sabian, of all the scrubs, get involved with the Christian Cage non cash-in. <insert Price is Right loser horns> Conglomeration backstage, yay, and now with more Azucar. The best part of the Hook-Roddy match was the FTW title retirement. But the fans like Hook so what do I know. I will say that was his best mic work by leaps and bounds. Tag match had every move you can think of, and then some. Was it exciting? Hell yeah. Did Ospreay and Fletcher do some amazing shit? Hell yeah. Did The Bucks hit all their greatest hits? Yep. Was there a fuck finish? Oh you didn’t know, you better ask somebody. Can we retire Don Callis? Yuka and Mariah was not perfect but it was fun as hell and deserved more time. Great aftermath setting up multiple matches and angles, and giving Willow a hometown(ish) pop. We had a main event with Darby being a pinball with rubber bones taking a beating from Moxley, who didn’t bleed. Did it put Darby over anymore than his other recent stuff? Ehhhhhh. Did it set up a good match at the next PPV? Yes. Is it comical to have Private Party and Komander make a save for the world champion in a major main event? Very much. There’s no way they have Mox retire Bryan, right? The MVP appearance was a surprise. Let’s see where this goes, it’ll all be new to me since I have no idea who his group is. were they involved with Swerve in WWE/NXT?

Pretty sure the Bucks would’ve kicked out of a literal decapitation

Grand Slam felt like a big deal when they only had 4 PPVs, now it’s something sandwiched between a September PPV and an October PPV. I think there are some great matches potentially (and Roddy should be able to carry Hook), but most have few to no stakes, and mostly came out of nowhere.

Six-man titles need a hook, pulling them off the stage and into the bin.

Collision was great other than Nigel’s never-ending bullshit at the end. If I’m being honest, they need to give him some time off after this because I think he’s been so over the top that it’ll be hard to have him go back to just being the heel announcer who pervs over Mariah (which also, what is up with that side angle?) Was pissed about Deeb going over (albeit with a rub for the Queen) but warming her up to carry Britt in her hometown makes sense. The MxM feud is a great chance to turn Acclaimed heel, but not sure they can do that at Grand Slam in their home town. Did not expect to see the heel team win the 10-man, much less Rush pinning Dax clean. That was the best Premier Atlhetes match I’ve seen, which makes some sense as this must be the 4th or 5th time they’ve run a variation of this match in the last two months.

Butcher and Blade have to be on the last show. I’m great with them putting over Outrunners. The rest of the show should be women’s matches because that’s what they should feature moving forward

At the time, I thought having him stretcher MJF that brutally worked against him as it made MJF somewhat sympathetic (and the crowd reacted that way live).