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Go2Sleep

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Posts posted by Go2Sleep

  1. Nice looking lineup, shame it's going up against the NBA Finals.

    I expect Swerve/OC to be a MOTYC. It feels like it could go either way. Even though Swerve hasn't done a lot since the tag title run, he's the kind of guy AEW could heat up very quickly with some showcase matches. Definitely a good fit for a workhorse title. On the other hand, I could see it being OC's last hurrah with the belt before some one else moves in on him (Takeshita, maybe Miro for the new show).

    Jay/Ricky should be good but I expect a screwy finish with a 3rd member for BCG debuting (El Phantasmo?).

    • Like 2
  2. 4 hours ago, Eivion said:

    I actually don't think Rollins is quite the same wrestler he was even 3 or so years ago. He was very much a get all of his shit in kind of guy without much variation with the quality of the match tending to depend on how well his opponent could lead/lay things out. Over the last year or so it feels like he has been gradually breaking that habit and trying to play more for whatever role his match calls for. 

    As someone who liked his AOTF stuff, I don't think he's ever been that much of a GMSI guy in WWE. He debuted in a trio where everyone picked their spots well and maximized all their values. His singles heel run had him cut out most of his coolest moves (even the stomp for a while). The buckle/barricade bomb and superplex falcon arrow combo (although this would've been fine as a super finisher) overstayed their welcome, but is that any worse than Cena trying the make the springboard stunner happen for way too long? WWE style is all about making sure the fans who paid to be there get to see you do your thing. Most of the matches where he is throwing out a ton of moves is because it's exactly what the match calls for, either because it's main event level or against someone the crowd wants to see him go all out against (thinking of his matches against Danielson, Finn, KO, AJ, etc).

  3. 3 hours ago, Greggulator said:

    Points to ponder:

    Adam Cole and Seth Rollins are not liked by a majority of people here and elsewhere in the wrestling fandom community. 

    Yet both are incredibly over with live audiences and have been for years.

    They are doing something right.

    So… what are they doing right? I am tossing out the question for a jumping off point because I think it is an interesting way to think about those two.

    They both work a style that triggers an immediate "this guy sucks" reaction from older fans, no matter how good they are at executing that style (I'd say Rollins does it better than Cole). The problem then becomes less an issue of objectivity and more an issue of "backing down on previously stated opinions online." No one will admit it now, but AJ Styles got the same kind of reviews in the mid 2000s. I feel like Kenny Omega got it in the early 10s too. Ospreay and Ricochet certainly did. It takes lots and lots of great matches not to necessarily get people to admit they were wrong, but at least quietly shift to "this guy's alright even if it's not my cup of tea I guess." It's the other side of the coin for the people who begrudgingly came around on Cena in like 2015.

    I think Rollins has gotten over the hump where he gets more positive reviews than negative now, even if he's the same wrestler he was 8 years ago. It took AJ a doing a New Japan run before he got his just due (even though his 05 match with Joe is one of the best in TNA history). Cole isn't there yet, but he doesn't have the body of work Rollins does either.

     

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  4. 11 hours ago, Dog said:

    I felt bad for Moriarty when that match ended up as pretty much an extended squash. 😕

    This has kinda been a thing with Shibata in AEW. He squashed Yuta to win the belt too. He's like the opposite of Roman Reigns who is presented an unstoppable force but squeaks by every match with tons of cheating. Shibata is presented as great, but not super dominant, yet demolishes all of his opponents, especially in the context of pure rules. He countered Lee's finisher straight up instead of using the ropes when he had all 3 left lol.

    His matches are all good, but they could probably stand to alter his presentation as head and shoulders above so that whoever finally beats him gets a big rub.

    • Sad 1
  5. 20 minutes ago, Sparkleface said:

    My only thought about Adam Cole is that his version of the Canadian Destroyer (Panama Sunrise?) makes even less sense than the Canadian Destroyer. A flipping piledriver is already a little silly, so why not one where you jump off the middle turnbuckle, land on the mat, do a little bunny hop, then do a flipping piledriver.

    I can't think of what the jump off the turnbuckle adds to the move aside from him banging his testicles on the back of his opponent's head, and really, that seems like it'd be a net loss rather than a gain because while it's been a few years since I had testicles, I'm pretty sure I recall that banging them on things hurts.

    You're misunderstanding the wrestling physics. The jump off the ropes (or other elevated surface) gives him a natural bounce when he lands. That bounce gives him the extra momentum he needs for the elevation to do a full flip while squeezing another person's head between his legs. Perfect for executing such a move on a larger opponent.

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  6. Main event seemed like something performed entirely for All Access. That said, the Cole/Jericho interactions were better than the ppv match.

    The rest of the show was fun and set up good stuff. BCG is a way better matchup for FTR (and that roll of quarters was delightfully old school). Swerve/OC next week! Taya heel turn? Kenny scouring the lands for help. Callis getting nuclear heat, and Takeshita gets the rub. No beating around the bush with Punk.

     

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  7. So when did Taz start his "_____ Jones" gimmick, and is there a story behind it?

    I noticed "Mezzanine Jones" in the Roddy/Jericho FCA a couple weeks ago, and at the ppv he said "Kendo stick Jones." I assume it's a running gag, and it's amazing.

    Most importantly, is there a video comp of all his Joneses?

    • Like 1
  8. Normally AEW throws together the bottom 2/3 of a ppv card, but the in-ring action picks everything up. This time, they actually built every match (save the trios) for a month plus, but the in-ring action fell flat for most of the show. Didn't help that the crowd was dead for most of it. Hopefully AEW won't go back to Vegas for a while.

    Jeff Hardy is totally washed. No idea where the angle with Ethan is going.

    The battle royal was the one undercard match I thought was entertaining from start to finish. Bill was good in the hoss role, the teams worked together in sensible ways, a few different stories were featured, and Swerve is always ready when his number is called and delivers a great performance. I'm glad OC's streak didn't end in a battle royal, but I wouldn't mind if Swerve beat him in a proper singles match soon.

    Cole and Jericho are really bad at pretending they hate each other. The Roddy/Jericho FCA match on Dynamite was 100x more hate-filled than this, and that was a semi comedy match. This was easily the lamest and least worthy unsanctioned match AEW has run. Britt's cameo was the only thing worth a damn. That finish was whatever the opposite of a masterclass is in worked punches.

    FTR/JJJ feud has had great promo segments, but they oddly have no in-ring chemistry. Dax/Jarrett singles a few weeks back was underwhelming, and this was pretty boring too. At least Briscoe made his stand and the feud should be over.

    Wardlow is oddly good at ladder matches, but Christian is clearly getting too old for them. Arn/Luchasaurus spot was the bad kind of cheesy.

    The Trios match was way too long, and the first HOB match I can think of that actually dragged. The Dom shout-out was pretty good, though.

    It sucks that Jamie Hayter is hurt and they had to run an identical angle to Christian/JB last year. Even with this quiet crowd, you could feel the pre-match sucking the air out of the arena. Also, Toni's great, but I would've liked to see one of the other two get the gold here if this was the angle.

    The Jade angle made no sense. If they knew Stat was coming back, why didn't they blow off the heatless Taya feud sooner and actually build a real moment for Stat?

    The Fatal 4 Way was really good in-ring stuff as expected, despite some mis-steps with the build. The finish was brilliant and silly at the same time. I don't know why they got cold feet on giving them the last spot.

    AITA was fine. Kenny doing Captain America cosplay with the trash can lid was awesome and should've been given more time. Felt like Danielson was being a bit more cautious in this one. Matt Jackson definitely upped his hardcore cred with the barefoot tack spot. Even though it was cheap, I dig Wheeler getting the pin on Kenny at the end. Nice little rub for the guy who usually takes all Ls for the BCC.

     

    • Like 3
  9. 3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

    At first I thought this was an "am I the asshole?" reference and I had no idea what you were talking about.

    AITA for sticking a screwdriver in a guy's eye to protect the sanctity of professional wrestling?

    • Haha 4
  10. Mark Briscoe giving The Slap TM  to Jarrett was extremely the shit. Normally guest ref angles are pretty bad, but Mark's really nailing it.

    Really happy to see Aussie Open signed. Hopefully Mark Davis' injury that was alluded to isn't too severe.

    Also good to see they threw together a video package for Willow. Mercedes getting hurt sucks, but even without working for AEW, she bailed out the shitty writing for the women's division with a massive put over for someone who should be an emerging star.

    I'm scared for Sabu since he was in bad shape 20 years ago, but it was nice to hear his theme again.

    Overall, a solid go-home show. The promos hit their mark, and there were some nice showcase matches for guys who will be in clusterfucks at the ppv.

    • Like 3
  11. Fun show with a good balance of faces and heels looking strong.

    The FCA match was well done. Good mix of comedy and hard-hitting and the finish was a nice change of pace with the faces out-smarting the heels. Great visual with Jericho getting pinned in the dirt too.

    Nice layout on the tag title segment. Everyone nailed their roles in that one.

    Great Taz line during the PiP of JB/Rush where he said "This match has been 98% all Rush." I'm kinda digging the face turn for Sammy and the uneasy alliance with the other pillars. The build for the 4 way has been much better the last couple of weeks.

    Putting off the Don promo was the right call. He said just enough that it doesn't matter what his real motivation was, he made himself known as a carny piece of shit and the story can resume later. The walking wounded Elite was the good kind of cheesy. Kenny in particular has some really good over-the-top cheesy babyface mannerisms. Real old-school "working for the back row" shit, which is a nice complement to his technically perfect 5-star in-ring style. Anarchy in the Arena will be a blast as usual, I'm sure.

    • Like 3
  12. General question: Who should be the person to end Orange Cassidy's streak?

    OC's AA/INT title run has quietly turned into one of AEW's best angles. It's like a scaled down version of Taker's Mania streak. Started off innocuous enough, then about 2/3 of the way through it started becoming a huge deal where every match feels like high stakes, and each successive win taking more and more out of them. OC has helped himself a lot with a lot of MOTYC level work in his more recent defenses (particularly the Buddy Matthews match). It's at the point now where you can't just pass the title along, it's going to be mega heat for the next person to beat him.

    With Callis' sudden turn, my vote is heel Takeshita. I'm not sold on the turn happening so soon, but since it has, this could make the most of it. Callis needs a new guy, and that guy has to actually accomplish something to justify leaving someone booked as strong as Kenny. I think they're missing a lot of potential with babyface Takeshita, but this is a good way to get him to that next level.

    My second choice would be Swerve, who should have a bigger role than he does and would no doubt be great in that "bi-weekly banger tv match" role. The only thing is I'm not sure if it would be too much system shock if he went from this Rampage-level feud with Keith and Dustin all the way to one of the biggest wins AEW has to offer right now. No doubt he has the ability to pull it off, does TK as a writer?

     

    • Like 5
  13. My knee-jerk reaction is I don't really dig the Callis turn. Seems too early and doesn't make a lot of sense since Don's whole character is making money off Kenny, who just had Mox dead to rights in the cage. That said, AEW usually has good explanations for things, so I'll give it a week.

    The in-ring action on the show was top notch. Definitely feels like the right direction to let BCC/Elite be the focus of the show, while the pillars get the rub from the title. Both groups look worthy, but the former is definitely better at filling tv time on a weekly basis.

    • Like 1
  14. The obvious route is Punk beating one of the Jacksons at the Collision pilot, giving the win back to Kenny at All In, then setting up a long program with Hangman after that. I guess that would involve everyone being professional, including Jericho having the self-awareness to realize he's not a part of this.

    • Like 2
  15. 19 hours ago, Matt D said:

    If anyone hasn’t seen this match or even hasn’t seen it in years, this Nigel vs Danielson match is a great use of half an hour:

     

    This is one of my all time favorite matches, a story-telling masterpiece. Nigel head-butting Danielson right in the eye socket is the absolute dirtiest heel move ever (Danielson had a previously detached retina vs. Morishima, and had been avoiding Nigel's head all match because he didn't want to give Nigel another concussion).

    • Like 3
  16. On 5/8/2023 at 7:16 PM, Niners Fan in CT said:

    I never used by wrestling figures to do anything other than wrestle. But I obviously used all of my other action figures as wrestlers.  Snake Eyes was a belt holder.  Mr. Sinister had the title for a while etc.. 

    Being a child of the 90s, I had an elaborate Beanie Baby wrestling promotion. My younger brother copied me, and of course we eventually had to some super shows. He learned an early lesson about being careful which promoters you worked with as his beanies never went over in a meaningful match.

    • Like 7
    • Haha 6
  17. The answer is Brock wants to bleed in his matches and no one's gonna stop him. Vince is too enamored with him to say anything, is well past the point of even thinking about stepping up to him physically even in a futile effort, and Brock doesn't actually care if he never appears on WWE tv again. What 170 pound ref is gonna step in and tell Brock it's company policy to stop his match when he's "in the zone?"

  18. Damn, sad news.

    Thank you Dean for all your contributions to the best wrestling message board ever. I know it pales in comparison to those who knew him personally, but I've read and posted here for nearly half my life. While I'm sure he had much more value in his life elsewhere, I hope a small part of him knew and derived joy from building a place for others to happily post about wrestling after he has left us.

    • Like 6
  19. 1 hour ago, Dolphman 3000 said:

    Men on a Mission, but that was more call and response than singalong

    Outlaws started the "everyone has a sting at the start of their theme" trend along with HIFF YA SMELL and the like. Flair having "Wooo!" added to the beginning of his theme still bothers me 20 years later.

    The mid 2000s were terrible for catchphrases lazily being added to the front of theme songs. It definitely picked up in the attitude era because everyone wanted (or Vince wanted for everyone) that "shattering glass" pop, but kinda skipped over the fact the pop was for Austin, not the glass. I think it jumped the shark with Hardcore Holly getting "How do you like me now," Finlay getting "My name is Finlay and I love to fight," and finally Gregory Helms getting just literally a recording of himself saying "Gregory Helms."

     

    I was looking for a the theme video of the last one (a rare youtube miss for wrestling themes), but here it is in a random match with Taker.

     

    • Like 3
    • Haha 3
  20. 2 hours ago, joseph2112 said:

    On this here Grumpy Old Men board (which I admit I am one), this years "Get Off My Lawn Kid" award goes to people being annoyed with fans singing along with entrance songs lol.

    "We want hot crowds"

    "... Not like that."

    As for the history of sing-a-longs in WWE, I suppose the New Age Outlaws were the first prominent example, but that was an outlier and also more of a rhythmic catchphrase. You started to see it get really popular in glory days ROH with fans singing to the awesome (un)licensed songs there (Final Countdown leading the way). Like most things in modern wrestling, the ROH influence went mainstream as the top stars went to the national promotions and the fans that followed got their trends to catch on with the larger audience, like "this is awesome," cooperative dueling chants, etc. The Euro-invasion Mania crowds that peaked in the early 2010s took entrance-singing to the next level by getting Fandango's theme to undreamt of heights. I have to admit "John Cena sucks" to the opening bars of his theme had me rolling the first time I heard it. Once people realize it's a trend, themes start getting designed for more fan involvement.

  21. 5 hours ago, just drew said:

    Yeah, but a steel cage isn’t supposed to have weapons. Kenny’s presented as a prodigious athlete/worker, but a steel cage is a bad fit for his character. What’s he gonna do to Mox that Mox won’t do to himself? 

    Eh, it's wrestling. If Ric Flair can beat Vader in a cage, Kenny can beat Mox no problem.

    Also, I hope Pac isn't hurt because I need him to challenge Vikingo for unceremoniously taking his spot in Death Triangle.

    • Like 1
  22. 2 hours ago, just drew said:

     I'm not sure why I'm supposed to believe Kenny Omega has any chance against Mox in a steel cage,

    Kenny did beat Mox in an exploding barbed wire death match so he has some hardcore cred on top of being presented as one of the true aces of AEW.

     

    • Thanks 1
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