Go2Sleep

Bill has been steadily improving since getting out of WWE. He's been great as Stokely's muscle. The ladder match was dangerous af, but the chemistry between Hobbs and Takeshita was money. I'm guessing Hobbs was a bit slow bringing down the ring because he was standing on that rickety-ass ladder with 3 referees holding it down. That looked terrible, but good for the refs biting the bullet and prioritizing a guy's safety for once.

Because they want to go full comedy with the 4-way match. Who doesn't want to see Jarrett stooge for Danhausen? Bryan cut a great promo to end the show. Still don't care about the match, but good work none the less. I think that segment got the loudest reaction of any in the feud thus far.

This is where I'm at too. The only way the IM could be interesting is if Bryan wins, and that just doesn't seem to line up with the booking trends. I guess there's like a .5% chance TK shows some grapefruits and has Bryan win and MJF go on a quick downward spiral before coming back as the mega face he should be, but that seems to go against the nature of everyone involved. MJF just wants to be a cheap heat king, Bryan just wants to do exhibition wrestling, and Tony is happy to let the wrestlers run the show. The match will be fine, possibly great even, because both guys can go, but a match with no real stakes only has a ceiling so high. That said, the rest of the Revolution card looks great.

Flair almost certainly had some by virtue of being really good well into his 50s. He had a cage match with Orton at Taboo Tuesday and there's a 30+ age gap there. If you're just looking for a fine tv match, I'm sure Lawler and Funk had some too. While it's not quite 28, Jericho and Andretti tore the house down with a 26-year gap a couple months ago.

I hadn't heard that tidbit before, but it's not like Hogan wrestled on every ppv anyway. He only worked 7/12 ppvs in 97 and 6/12 in 98 by my quick count. The number goes up if "wrestled" includes promo segments, but still wouldn't be 100%. Could you imagine Hogan doing a US title run?

"Man of the people" is a pretty standard heroic trait, though. Other than low-key bragging about having a playboy-model wife, there wasn't anything unconventional about his face run. Austin was flipping the bird and guzzling beer on TV, beating up injured people and non-wrestlers, and was downright homocidal towards HHH. Austin would call anybody an asshole or son of a bitch, DDP couldn't call his most mortal enemies anything worse than scum.

It's more likely that DDP simply doesn't know the literal definition of "antihero" and was using it colloquially to mean a popular character that isn't entirely virtuous. His face run kinda had some parallels to Austin in that he embodied a blue collar American stereotype, but ultimately he stuck to pre-attitude babyface tropes with his promos and feuds. Austin actually went all-in on the trashiness and changed the game.

Orange Cassidy has to be the worst possible example you can use to try to make the point of AEW guys not having a distinct gimmicks. Literally the worst example. He doesn't have a "catchphrase" per se, but the nonchalant body language, the hands in the pockets, the shades, the phantom kicks, etc. are all very distinct and are why he's over far more so than his serious ring work (which is still really good). He stands out on the AEW roster because he only goes full speed for 10% of a match and lets his character work pop the crowd for other 90%.

What makes heel Dominick work is that it seems like deep down he knows he doesn't deserve his spot. I'm sure Dom is a perfectly nice guy in real life, but resentful failson has to be a much easier role for him to play authentically than proudly carrying on the Mysterio name. Also, Rhea has been absolutely exquisite as his muscle.

I'm skeptical of long-term viability of ROH being AEW overflow instead of its own thing that elevates different talent you would hope to one day see in AEW, but it will certainly produce a lot of great matches from guys who don't get as much time on Dynamite as they should.

Was that when she got power-bombed off the stage and missed the table? Dislocated ribs sound painful as all hell, but I would count her lucky if that was the worst of her injuries given that spot.

I think the card is pretty full unless they're going to hold off on JB/Christian. The IM is obviously taking up over an hour, and I think Mox/Hangman will be in the 30-minute range as well. That's 6 more matches (it's not in the OP yet, but Elite/HOB looks like a lock too) plus promos to fit in 2.5 hours. I'd rather see Claudio/OC get a Dynamite main event spot where they can really shine (maybe in 3 weeks at the KC show if TK is reading). I'll take Claudio/Yuta vs. Silver/Reynolds on the pre-show, though.

Danielson and MJF wearing the exact same colors for their segment bothered me way more than it should. Everything else was pretty good.

Yeah I think the secret is just making the guys crowds aren't digging heels, and the ones they are faces. Roman's heel character work is great, but his match formula is a bit tiresome. The Sami match was the exact same as the Logan Paul match, which wasn't any different than his matches with KO 2 years ago. I think my favorite Roman match from his title run was the LMS with Brock, because both of their gravitational match formulas were so strong they both warped into doing something a little different. I think what was really missing from the Sami match was a complete Jey turn. It would've been predictable, but with enough teasing, it could've been a sufficient gut punch that doesn't derail plans and keeps the story hot. KO/Sami get their moment by taking the belts off the Usos in the Night 1 main, then you can go any number of directions with Roman/Cody in Night 2, but everyone is mostly satisfied in that scenario.

Gotta figure Top Flight will be one of the 4-way teams given their recent push. I'm hoping for Claudio/Yuta for the second. I wouldn't be upset if FTR came back, but I'd really like to see them explore the trios scene when they get back (with Mark Briscoe as faces, or Punk as heels).

Just watched this and it felt like a letdown after the Rumble. The ending to the Rumble was some once-a-decade level heat and execution, and Elimination Chamber was... Just like any other WWE show. Roman/Sami was the same match Roman has been having for 2.5 years, main event ref bumps, babyface backup coming not coming out until after the heel gets the win instead of during the shameless cheating... I'm not 100% sure Sami should've won, but if this is supposed to be an "emmy" angle, you gotta do better than that. Brock getting DQ'ed was even worse face booking, but the stakes were lower, so it seems to have been mostly forgotten. Both chamber matches were alright. The women's was simple but effective. The men had some good spots and everyone taking their turns on Theory was fun. Finish was flat, but I'm always down to watch Logan Paul. If WWE is smart, Montez Ford will beat Theory in under 2 minutes at Mania.

I hope "rematch clauses" don't become a thing in AEW. I like championship feuds that end after one match. They should've just said Tony Khan is granting the Acclaimed an automatic entry into the match due to the circumstances of their loss. I'm not a huge on fatal 4-way tag matches either, but with an Iron Man main, you have to cram a lot of other people into a tight space so I get it. I didn't get a good look at the graphics to see who's likely to get the other two spots. I'm guessing Top Flight then either the Bucks or Claudio/Yuta.

Yeah the last year's worth of Cody angles in AEW were pretty bad, and the crowds were turning on him. His WWE jump was best for everyone involved.

I remember NXT also made a big deal about Tino Sabatelli's (Sabby Piscatelli) football background, and he actually did play a couple seasons for the Bucs.

I kinda think he's at the right level now, but no doubt he can work, and an angle where he "doesn't care" his way to the world title then finally breaks down with emotion would be some awesome tv. Wheeler being MIA in this conversation just shows how ridiculously stacked the AEW roster is. He's got all the tools for sure, and he's young, so there's not a lot of urgency to make him the next top face.

AEW has plenty of top faces. Mox is the true ace. Not the guy that should beat MJF, but that Cena-like figure who can win any time and whose feuds are always main event level even if the belt isn't involved. Hangman is basically a younger version of Mox. Darby is my personal choice to dethrone MJF. He represents everything MJF doesn't, and is an ideal representative of AEW's vision. That said, his long-term viability is a big question mark. He's definitely got a larger scale version of his TNT title runs in him. Cole, Starks, and Jungle Jack all have promise as top acts too. Probably a bit further down the road, but there's also HOOK, who they have wisely not overexposed to this point. He could be the ace in the hole that Wardlow was supposed to be. On that note, Wardlow isn't un-salvageable, but the booking letting him down at the end of the MJF feud and the unnecessary loss to Joe have set him back. Might take a heel run to get him back on track, though. Hadn't thought of this, but that's interesting. The biggest problem is with MJF as champ, it has some real Rey/Chavo 06 shameless exploitation potential.

I'm ok with the idea of the Gunns as transitional champs for Top Flight, but that's about it. You already have MJF as the over-achieving cheating heel who's kinda flirting with "go away" heat, you definitely don't need a second division with that dynamic.

So where was the ref that ran out to call for replay when Jarrett/Lethal "won" the belts under similar circumstances?

Yeah, I can't remember all the specifics, but it definitely happened. I think his kids turned on him again not long after to join The Firm, and Max and Anthony were there to help Billy back up or something like that. It was all memory-holed pretty quickly because Billy is so over with the Acclaimed. I would think the catchphrase "scissor me daddy ass" is too much of a money-maker to break them up, but I guess we'll see.

The concept is a bit trite, but they're playing the cards as well as they can and the work of the 5 main wrestlers will carry the day. Toni and Saraya were indeed awesome heels as expected, but I think Britt and Jaime as true babyfaces is really gonna blow the roof off. You have Ruby and Shida lurking in the background already, and if they can weave a couple more women a side, we'd have the makings of very nice blood and guts match this summer.