JLowe

I started watching in early fall of 2021 so I missed the start of AEW and the pandemic Daily’s Place years. Baker has a lot of charisma and is a solid mic worker, and has a slightly above average in-ring ceiling (using a sling blade almost as shitty as Penta’s as a finisher setup doesn’t help). This also isn’t helped by her seemingly having kind of a shitty attitude (that “kayfabe” answer to that question comes off so real because it matches things said elsewhere about her), doesn’t do a ton to get her opponents over, and half-asses when she’s booked to lose. That reality show (which was a HUGE mistake all around) where Schiavone chews her out backstage and tells her to get over herself was revealing. Meanwhile, AEW has brought in a number of very talented wormen, with experience around the world, mostly good talkers and charismatic, most are conventionally attractive, all are native English speakers (which is still pretty important when it comes to a company mainly broadcasting to an American audience). They’ve also been able to bring in and build up some talented indie workers (Skye Blue and Willow Nightengale immediately spring to mind) and hit on one of their in-house products (Julia Hart). It’s a tough business and I don’t blame her for trying to protect her spot. But it’s also a business where you can easily be passed up.

The Boston show was spoiled by a ticket sale announcement. I would like Sting and Darby to win, but not wild about that meaning they put over The Bucks at the PPV and Bucks are champs again. Maybe they can do like Muta/Mutoh and have Sting and Darby beat the Bucks, and then follow with an impromptu singles match where Sting puts over Darby. Should be a night of good matches and, as Technico noted, very few foregone conclusions. As for titles/tournaments, I’m betting next up is women’s tag titles with that being featured on Collision (given that they’ve started running two women’s matches there). They’ve already been selling a Julia Hart-Skye Blue shirt. Also gives Britt something to do.

She was and then she came back and looked awful and was getting go away heat.

Finally caught up. I thought the 8-man on Rampage was a little underwhelming and didn’t really showcase the CMLL crew other than Mascara Dorado. Willow-Aminata was maybe the best match of the night. I didn’t really care for the Top Flight-Private Party match, basically too similar, Private Party is trying to be cool heels so the traditional tag structure didn’t happen and the match felt lifeless. Ricky-Bill versus DO was fine but again such a foregone conclusion. Kingston-Keith was amazing, Eddie gave him so much that I wouldn’t have been surprised with a shocking upset. Congrats to Bryan Keith for signing, I’ve seen people online fantasy book a trio/faction with Hangman Adam Page, Bandido, and Bounty Hunter Bryan Keith. Danielson-Hechicero kicked ass, like others have said it really had the sense of Bryan being in over his head and hanging on for dear life. I think Nigel said “Bryan Danielson escapes with the win” and that was a good way to describe it. I want Claudio basing for Mistico and Dorado! The Hook-Outrunners thing was dumb, just because Hook popped a rating is not reason to give him some Superman push where he goes over two guys, even if they are comedy jobbers. Aminata continues to be the new Skye Blue, and soon she is going to get that big win. I like Deeb more so far this time around. And then Red Velvet vs. Texas indie star Vertvixen was a nice squash to heat Red up for Toni’s public workout. FTRCia-Patriarchy was excellent, Nick Wayne looked the best I’ve seen so far (and appears to have added a little mass), Daniel Garcia is becoming a superstar. Also the only match without a foregone conclusion. The Briscoe promo was so great, and then the HoB part stunk up the joint.

I never expected John Cena to be a talented comic actor but he’s incredibly funny.

But there is Wegmans

Toni repeatedly just randomly Dropping sneaky, shockingly inappropriate comments is so in line with the character. I also died at Luther doing the head-crushing thing. I liked Mox going for Hardy’s stretched ear, and Jeff was certainly bumping a lot. I guess if he’s not going for titles, he’s going to dish out pain. The scuffle with the luchadores was exciting. Page-Toa was really good, Toa can move! Did not like the WCW feel of Komander as jobber small guy for Wardlow, even if he got in his spots (and botched the Phoenix splash badly). Then Wardlow botched a corner spot, was that when the knee got tweaked? He says he’s ok, which is good for AEW in the sense of this storyline not having to be out on hold for longer still. Crowds seem pretty cold on Wardlow these days, and so am I. Fletcher got to do a lot and look great and the announcers really put him over, but jobbing to Jericho at this point isn’t a step up for him. And what the fuck was that corner botch? Looked bad, could’ve been really bad. I like the Bang Bang Scissor Gang but that felt unnecessary other than to sell new t-shirts. Deonna-Taya was good but not quite as good as I was expecting. Johnny and Taya really do have that gross weird couple at the bar giving you the eye thing going. Bad camera angle on super kick showing about 3 inches of air. Finisher twist was nice though! Also liked the promo with Deonna. I liked the main a lot, like many others said it had the feel of an ECW TV main event, lots of stiff kicks and hurty bumps. Swerve’s strange style does have some elements of RVD in it (adding extra rolls, kicks from various angles). Maybe RVD is at 3/4 speed but he still has amazing leg flexibility and strength. Friday 8-man should be fun, plus Willow-Aminata. Next Wednesday is basically a PPV.

I’ve always gotten that character from Darby. Also matches how my wife describes him: hottest guy in the trailer park.

I suggest thIs for the next week thread title:

I did too. btw @Zakk_SabbathKyle Fletcher is like 8 inches taller than Sydal. But I think it will be a good match albeit with Callis shenanigans. also, I think Deonna-Taya will be a great match

After her last appearance, I noted that I would like to see more of her, and not just in a “settle down JLowetico” way.

One of those injuries was during his entrance to the ring for a promo, not even a match! Hell, both him and Adam Cole suffered major injuries coming out to the ring.

As it turns out, Averno and Mistico are booked for MLW in Philly on Saturday. And Nagata too (vs Jacob Fatu). And Satoshi Kojami. And Rocky Romero, and Filthy Tom Lawlor, and Notorious Mimi.

Really weird that they’re bringing in all those luchadores and running them on Rampage when Collision is like 10 miles from the Rio Grande the next night. Also weird that they ran Komander-OC in Bossier City instead of waiting a week for Edinburg and a “hometown” region ticket bump. Reynosa is 25 miles from Edinburg, and that area around McAllen/Mission/Edinburg/Hidalgo is densely populated.

TKO must have gotten some serious threats of loss of business to act that fast.

I always remember that Lee Moriarty is one of the 3 young guys mentioned by Danielson at the founding of the BCC, so I expect Mox to do a lot to get him over.

Wonder if it’s just a case of Rosa still shaking off ring rust and testing what she feels comfortable with.

The thing that has really stuck in my craw is what just finally came up: this is what he was removed for in 2022, and they let him come back and make billions, knowing that he did this.

First, pretty terrible crowd for the most part and sounded like the place was maybe half full. I thought Hangman-Penta was dogshit (and yes I hate Penta, so I’m biased). Sloppy, some outright botches, lots of standing around, no flow. I will say Penta’s Made in Japan looked the best I’ve seen. Would have been way more interesting for Page to win using something besides Buckshot. Swerve-Hardy was fine, Jeff moves better than Matt, crowd actually cared about him (and both Matt and Nana were doing a lot of work to get the crowd into it). OC segment was gold, announcing that 4-way immediately after was pyrite. Given the whole rankings thing, it would’ve been a really fun swerve (if you weeel) to have Trent get a cheap upset using the chair. That way, Wardlow gets a loss that sets him back compared to Hangman and Swerve in the chase for the title, allowing it to naturally stretch out for another PPV cycle. Maybe you get OC upset at Trent for cheating, I don’t know, I don’t know why we need tension in Best Friends anyway. The Timeless/Virtuosa sit down was excellent, split screen really added a ton to it. Deonna nailed Toni and her mic with the shoe, good stuff. Am I weird for thinking that The Virtuosa could work as another Timeless type character in tandem with Toni? Sorry DVDVR denizens, Deeb is boring and I could care less about her return. Rosa-Velvet started rough, pretty sure we’ll see accusations of sandbagging again. They finally almost got on the same page but that was not a good match. AEW really needs Dark/Elevation to get some of these returning wrestlers some reps. Do not like that new Bang Bang Scissor Gang entry. Match was fine, another entry in the “please get Acclaimed away from trios and back to tag team” evidence folder. Bowens stood out. Seeing them already have shirts. Ames me worry this storyline is going to drag out longer than it should, but I guess March is all about Sting’s last match so breaking up Acclaimed and Daddy Ass needs to be elsewhere. Honestly, I was kind of wanting to see Cope use his normal style against Suzuki for a full-on style clash but considering how badly he took the Impaler and Killswitch, the strong style forearm brawl was the right call.

N/p

Hey, if rankings are going to start mattering again this is what happens.

I think they are realizing that having 50% or more of your card unannounced until the afternoon of the show may be hurting ticket sales.

I was expecting FTR to do just that! But with Bossier City apparently selling poorly they needed to add something big. Aminata is basically doing the same story as her bestie Skye Blue did: wrestle every show, get better and better and closer to victory until finally pulling a big upset. Good match after a bit of a rough start. Lots of stiff forearms, and I love Rosa’s dropkick based offense. On one hand I don’t like Dante being fed to Copeland given that he was working his way up the card and getting some singles wins before he got hurt. On the other hand, the experience benefits him and Cope made him look really good and put him over after. What we don’t need is this Top Action-Private Party feud. Mox-Taylor was violent, thought the left arm lariat might have legit concussed Mox. The post-match promo is going to cause a lot of discussion but BCC has lasted for quite a long time. Sorry Max, we really don’t want a Billy Gunn singles title run. But otherwise the Bang Bang Scissor Gang is good as a vehicle to unite the trios titles (and ideally retire them) and unite the Gunn family (and retire Billy or at least his teaming with The Acclaimed). That’s what they’re going to do, right? Garcia looking good, missed how he broke Buddy’s nose. The aftermath was awesome, haven’t seen anything like that for a while. The backstory with Strong and Sydal was more interesting than the match itself, which was perfectly cromulent. Main highlighted an interesting problem for AEW: Fans love Eddie but even with Bryan being a total prick to him he still gets cheered and the “Yes” chants. The AEW crowd really has a hard time letting stars be heels, other than Callis (whose heat doesn’t extend to his charges). Anyway, the match was good but was clearly just the start of something bigger. Murder Grandpa versus Adam Copeland is going to be wild.

Board called it, Thunder Bae vs Aminata.

I couldn’t even remember who Penta wrestled until this morning.