JLowe

First thing I thought was "Sting has been getting mist in the face for 35 years" and I really wish that he had gotten Malakai with green mist as a tribute to his feud with Muta. On the other hand, if this kills the mist gimmick dead then even better.

Hahaha. for real though, maybe Bowens slipped, felt a brief twinge, and then decided that he was really going to sell it knowing that the other guys were experienced enough to make it their focus.

MVP is tough, I’m going with Swerve because he did an amazing job of shifting to heel work both in terms of demeanor and offense to really put over The Acclaimed. Bowens might be co-MVP, he sold the fuck out of that knee which led to volcanic heat. LVP: Tony Khan, lots of bad booking/endings and putting at least three matches that could’ve been on TV into an already overstuffed PPV. Second is shared between Sammy and Tay for their dangerous work that led to multiple injuries to Ruby Soho.

Seems like small potatoes these days.

The way to send a message, although I think it’s 95% work: MJF cashes in, beats Punk with help from his little friends. Grand Slam: Kingston pins MJF after BCC, FTR, and Wardlow come in and take out MJF’s little friends. Co-main event at Grand Slam: Acclaimed get the titles.

Which brings us back around to page 10ish (or maybe something on FB) when someone tweeted “now MJF knows how Wardlow felt”

I’m going to a hardcore punk show tonight and tomorrow where most of the band members are in their late 50s to mid-60s, I’ll get my share of watching old bitter punk dudes fighting for dumb reasons for the year.

He knows Danielson is professional enough to take the fall.

I mean, they do the whole Kliq schtick. When you phrase it that way, it really seems like trying to do a whole modern worked shoot update on 1996 WWE politics.

I want my movie stunts to look as real as possible, but I don’t want to watch a snuff film.

My idea of realism is Eddie and Ishii turning each other’s chests to hamburger, stiff-looking punches and forearms, hurty looking submissions. I’ve always hated when the backstage intrigue becomes the in-ring angles. Like someone said, this isn’t 2000-2001 WCW, this is becoming 1999 WCW.

He was crawling back into the ring and there were massive red smears all over the black ring banner, I thought at first it was a part of the original design before realizing that it was that Punk was gushing. You know, after Punk’s smartass remark about Mox bleeding, it was a nice touch that Mox stayed dry, if a little surprising considering how often he gets hardway busted.

Weirdly enough, 9+ pages were before the PPV.

The MJF is a total work, no one has an answering machine like that in 2022, no millennial listens to voicemails, and no one Tony Khan’s age would leave one saying anything more than “call me back”. as for the rest, it sucks and has always been my least favorite part of wrestling.

Because why would I ever buy a PPV again?

I knew Punk was going to win because the rest of the show was going to kill the Chicago market. Some great matches, some questionable booking choices and I think they need to reevaluate some storylines. And 5 hours is a lot to ask of a crowd, so repeatedly letting them down is a bad choice. Missed the start of Zero Hour, but #FreeRubySoho. I don’t give a shit about Kip Sabian and that’s wasn’t worth the 9 month build. Hook actually sold, that was a perfectly fine throwaway match. Kingston-Ishii was tremendous and a great way to get a crowd hot. Missed a lot of the ladder match due to PPV ordering issues, a lot of guys killing themselves to advance a mystery angle, but Dante Martin is a damned freak and they should make a cruiser belt or something for him. Trios titles match was really great, I legit bought on a couple of occasions that Dark Order would win (and think they should have). The idea of a trios title is fine, but you’ve instantly made your top guys the champions and made it secondary to a singles angle, which sucks when you have a number of actual trio teams. Jade-Athena was interesting, Jade had been progressing but looks to either have regressed or just couldn’t keep up with Athena. Crowd was dead as a graveyard for her victory. They’ve booked themselves into a corner here. Also, I appreciate she wants her daughter to see her wrestle and be a champion but that’s absolutely not a heel move. FTWardlow- LethalGuns could’ve and should’ve been a: on regular TV and b: a tag with just FTR and MCMG. The Joe appearance was good and the Dax’s daughter moment was heartwarming but all that could’ve been on Dynamite. If you’re building to Wardlow powerbombing Singh, why have Singh standing idly by outside while Lethal is taking the 4th and 5th movement of the symphony? Hobbs-Starks was another case of booking themselves into a corner, and no one is happy with the result, or the match TBH. Tag title match was one of those awesome occasions where you see the crowd turn and make a huge difference; coining the “ooooh, scissor me Daddy” chant was the kind of organic thing that you couldn’t script. Acclaimed looked like champs, Swerve and Lee did an excellent job of shifting and wrestling heel, especially Keith Lee (who needs to feud with Wardlow). Yeah, Acclaimed are made now, but AEW missed a HUGE opportunity here. Still, MOTN. I knew Baker wasn’t winning as she was going 3/4 speed, crowd wanted Hayter, I wanted Hayter, at least we got Storm and the next step in the Baker/Hayter breakup. Match was there. Cage-Jungle Boy was 10 more minutes that could’ve been on Dynamite or Rampage. They almost totally lost the crowd with the Owen Wilson as Backstreet Boy lip-sync for American Dragon. But Jericho-Danielson was almost MOTN, I’m enjoying the Jericho renaissance, and Danielson is a GOAT. The battle for the soul of Danny Garcia continues. I’ve got assume Sting’s contract guarantees PPV appearances, and this was one of them. Like, I’m glad he wasn’t diving off a balcony again (sort of) but this match also could’ve been on a Dynamite or Rampage and was very, very there. Main event was a surprise that Mox didn’t bleed, other than that it was a solid match that I don’t know built to Punk’s win. Summer of Mox will always be with us, I guess the MJF fans will have their time now.

100%, and from a booking stand point no reason you couldn’t do it (versus, say, having to keep Jade’s streak).

What happens when some of the main event talent go to Tony and say they’re not going to put up with JR’s bullshit?

If you want to push the sympathy angle of “pro-wrestling legend who just wants to go out on his own terms doing what he loves”, then you need to realize that you’re getting paid to love what you’re doing and if you don’t like it, then feel free to go out.

If that happens, I hope Meiko Satomura is interested in spending some time in the US and being the Ace of the AEW women’s division.

Those two and Shida-Emi were all fantastic AEW women’s matches, really great week for that division. I guess that one match was mixed, but it was the Ruby-Tay elements that really put it over the top.

He was talking about SioG being made of gravel and stone. We’ll have to agree to disagree.

Had a very strong WCW Thursday Thunder feel. Good opener trios, lots of stories being told, good build. Then you have your random cruiser sprint with a couple of nice spots. Lots of backstage stuff to sell the random matches on the PPV. Mixed tag was much better than I expected, again stories being told, lots of character moments, good build. Main event had the tricky moment with Starks locking up, and then a disappointing match that made Starks look weak AF against a guy who doesn’t even win all his matches on YouTube. Show ended with a brawl in one area and a face-off on another area just to add that extra WCW touch. All that to say, I enjoyed it a lot for the most part, and was really let down by the end.

Rock beats scissors, I thought it was a pretty good closing line.

I don’t know about rumors, but I do know that based on the roster, his place in it, and how he’s been booked, Malakai leaving AEW for WWE return wouldn’t be a major loss. I think he has potential away from the gimmick but I hate HOB and like Darby said, Brody King did his best work without them. if he stays, great, but give them a refresh and maybe se if you can get them to get rid of the corny ass early 2000s black metal wannabe shit.