Go2Sleep

You could probably get a better opponent for Benoit, and hopefully the Harlem Heat match was a 2-minute squash, but honestly, I'd love a show like this. Finlay/Eddie and the lucha 6-man could use some time, but everything else sounds really fun if kept under 5 minutes. The other thing is WCW had tons of workrate banger ppvs from this time frame (Starrcade from this month wasn't one of them, but nevertheless) that weren't 6 hour arms-races because how do you make your ppvs feel more special than your weekly shows when the weekly shows are filled with 10+ minute competitive workrate matches? AEW has been getting a little better about this lately, but the main reason a lot of their shows feel repetitive is that if everything is a workrate match, nothing is. One thing I will say I love about AEW's format is they vary their overruns enough that you can't clock the finish of the main.

If AEW could replace Marina Shafir with Shayna Baszler and gaslight the fans that she was always in the Death Riders, they could do a lot more with that role. AEW's women's roster is really deep now to the point where someone the caliber of Deonna Purrazzo has trouble getting on TV, but I think Dakota Kai and Kacy Catanzaro would be really good fits without needing to take over the division. Alternatively, merge the TBS/World title and bring on the women's tag titles.

I know people have calcified opinions on the Bucks, but that was a damn good match with Knight and Speedball. All the action was smooth and they had the right balance of the faces getting good moments, but the Bucks just being in the right spots more often to sell the experience advantage.

I think this has been a big knock on modern style going back years before AEW. It's amazing how MNW-era shows got shit on for having "bad" matches, but going back and watching some of that stuff really highlights what could be done better today (and I'm going to guess this applies to WWE almost as much as AEW). Back then, two guys could get plenty of shit in under 5 minutes and the match was still very competitive. Now maybe we didn't appreciate it as much back then because that time was being saved for a 20 minute HHH or Hogan promo, but guys back then were accomplishing just as much in 5 minutes as today's guys do in 15. It also had the knock on effect where every ppv wasn't 5-hour arms race. In AEW today, imagine having some quick attitude style matches, then saving that time for a great 15 minute TV main. You get more guys on the show, and the fans are more engaged throughout. As far as whether or not someone like Blake Christian is a jobber right now (he absolutely is), it's helpful to think of things in terms of inflation. Blake Christian isn't a jobber like Iron Mike Sharpe, but that's only because Sharpe wasn't working in an era where everyone got 10 minute matches. If you follow the trendline of Sharpe -> Funaki -> Blake, you can see that each is equally a jobber, but the amount of offense each gets is proportional to the average match times of their era. Yeah, Blake might get some 2-counts on Omega, but those 2-counts are worth about as much as a 1000 marks in post-war Germany. He's every bit as hopeless in a match against Omega as Sharpe was against Diesel or Funaki against JBL.

Heel FTR is already more interesting than they've been since the Briscoes feud. Dax always works better as bitter guy who *thinks* he's saving pro wrestling, and Cash's faux-conflicted "aw shucks, I guess I gotta try to kill this guy" thing is hilarious. I feel like they could get more mileage out of GoA and HS. GoA are one of the most teflon acts in AEW. Seems like we're headed towards MJF/Lashley for a spot in the syndicate at DoN, but I hope GoA can be protected a little and maybe fill the void left by Cage/Archer. Toni's promo reminded me of the Jericho battle royal ring intros.

They absolutely did and still talk about it 3 years later. I love the random jackpot matches. Everyone knows how loaded the Khans are, and it adds a little extra to random cluster match AEW would be running anyways. Hate to say it, but the attitude-style opening promo kinda worked for me. Granted, it was more like the Invasion time frame where I wasn't really thrilled with the direction of the main angle, but each new song still elicited that internal pop, and still gave hope of something cool happening down the road. Kenny is a really underrated promo. Not the most naturally gifted speaker, but has a genuine connection with the crowds that makes his occasional awkwardness endearing rather than exposing. Dug the quick finish to Mox/Shibata and Swerve/Pac, although that appeared to be caused by injury. Really hope Pac is ok. His ankle would not have been my first guess of things that got hurt on that buckle bomb, but they clearly audibled straight to the finish.

Kinda feel the same way. Fletcher/Briscoe was probably the best (and even that probably ran 5 minutes longer than necessary), and Toni brought the character work really leaning into the Rocky aesthetic, but overall it was a card of "high floor low ceiling" matches that all ran together. I thought the triple threat was a lot more epic than it needed to be, but I'll give Kenny and Ricochet props for that finish. I can't remember a damn thing from the trios title match, but the FTR turn was great. In a way, it felt like show where everyone felt pressured to justify their spot on the card, rather than everyone working together for tight, cohesive show.

Everyone is a fan on the internet now. The IWC is literally everyone that watches wrestling. This isn't 2000 where you have to seek out some niche site like Lords of Pain or The Smart Marks. Social media has integrated everyone into dirtsheet culture and hot takes arms races. Much like everything else sports and entertainment, previously smug and elitist sites like DVDVR have become reasonable safe havens against the broader ills of social media.

Probably won't be pleasant waiting to get in, but the stadium has a retractable roof.

I think it's pretty easy to book. Swerve/Hangman + 2 others vs Death Riders in Anarchy in the Arena. Hangman wins the Owen, then he and Swerve can go one more time on the biggest stage, not because they hate each other any more, but simply because they're the best two in the company.

Idk if it's good to book to current events, but Swerve winning would be a much needed feel-good moment for everyone right now. So many people have taken a big financial hit, or are expecting to and dreading the future that the least billionaire Tony Khan could do is not kick people spending their tenuous discretionary money in the dick with another interference heel win in a ppv main. Fuck it, have Hangman come out to fight off the DR and shake hands with Swerve to end the show. Give people some joy in this world.

Don Callis was really good on commentary for the full show, way better than Nigel. Unlike most heel announcers, he did a good job supporting heel tactics, but not being a total partisan to the heel wrestlers, and put over the faces equally well.

Beast and the Harlet

Adam Cole was out for over a year with an ankle/foot injury too. Speaking of Cole, while his feud with Garcia isn't setting the world on fire or anything, it is good to see him getting back to his old self in the ring (whether you liked that or not) instead of looking totally washed like after his return. Can of worms here, but he's clearly packing on some lean muscle too. I think he'd be a good heel TNT champ at this point.

The MVP/Bill exchange was a lack of creativity as much as anything. While letting guys improv in contrast to WWE's overly scripted style is generally good, the biggest shortcoming as AEW has shown several times over the years is when guys get stuck, they fall back on bigoted tropes. IMO, it's on TK and the producers to take a more proactive role and screen out that kind of garbage and work with the wrestlers to replace it with something that can still be witty. That's literally what they're there for. I've also noticed there have been quite a few women's main events in March, which I'm sure is by design. Toni's promos have been extra fiery lately and carrying an otherwise forced "monster of the month" angle. Loved seeing Billie get some more time in a good match with Hayter. I really like the Hayterade 3 that Jamie busted out at the end. Hopefully that sticks as her main finish.

I dug the format of splitting up Collision into 2 Rampages.

It's a tricky needle to thread. Obviously no one really wants this, but I also think it would be pretty bad to have Swerve win here then job the belt at All In two years straight. Ospreay in the Owen is probably a mistake because it's too obvious. They should just put the belt on him at DON, then have a final 4 of Swerve, MJF, Kenny, and Hangman. I know TK is dead set on Kenny/Okada at All In, but I think that's a big mistake. I don't think that combo has any mainstream appeal and way less appeal among the hardcores than TK thinks. We're nearly 10 years removed from their generational match at the Dome at this point and both are on the downhill side of their career, I don't see it as something to build your whole year around. That could be a DON match easily. I think an ideal All In Card would have Ospreay/Hangman for the world, Hurt Syndicate backed babyface MJF taking the unified Cont/Int belt off Kenny, Darby/Mox in a violent blowoff with no gold on the line, Swerve winning a re-match with Danielson if possible, and Fletcher getting a big win over someone like Takeshita or Adam Cole since Fletcher should be the next in line when they're ready for another heel champ.

If TK is reading this, he can tell the execs that I personally bought Max again once AEW stuff was on it. Maybe there was some minor help from the wife and daughter when I also pointed out The Last of Us Season 2 is in April, but tell them it was all AEW.

I thought the show structure was really good. At first I wasn't sure about the World title going on in the middle, even if it's a cold program and there's obviously gonna be a fuck finish, but it ended up being a great decision. 4-way was fine, and Davis looked really good as the wrecking ball. The finish was cheap, but it'll lead to another fun cluster match at Dynasty. Mercedes/Billie was good as expected. With the great near-fall, it reminded me a lot of Rollins/Neville (Pac) from about 10 years ago. Hopefully Billie can stay on the main roster. The street fight was there, plus *that* spot. Even though the DR stuff is as cold as the Omaha air, I can't really find much fault with Mox who has played the hand dealt as best he can. His promos have been good the more deranged he's gotten, he's in amazing shape, and he's putting a lot of effort into his matches even though they're doomed by interference finishes every time. The nail spot was way better than this feud deserved. The FTR/Cope drama is possibly less interesting than Cope/DR, but at least that will be back in the midcard. Following that with a palate cleansing Ospreay/Fox sprint was a good idea. One of Fox's better matches in AEW and the crowd was into it. Bayne and Stat just have perfect chemistry. Second banger from those two in a month, and they had the crowd way into it. Glad they got a deserved main event spot. As much as I love Toni, I feel like her comedy on commentary did kind of disservice to the match, but she made up for it with that fiery innuendo-laden post-match promo to send the fans home happy.

Idk that I'd go that far. Cope/Mox was an ill-conceived program, but for where they're at now, they kinda have to see it through. A quick turnaround Dynamite match almost certain to end in shenanigans that send each guy their separate ways is fine. Not anywhere near stretching the Big Show/Orton feud multiple ppvs then trying to make babyface Batista happen when people only wanted Bryan.

Obviously a rest show after the big ppv, but I thought they set up some interesting stuff. Nick Wayne finally stepping up to Christian, MJF starting to crack, and Ospreay with a genuine relatable promo that sets up him getting back to the main event scene. I wish that they would reverse the Mercedes feud with Athena stepping in prematurely to "defend" Billie, only to lose with Billie finally proving herself by being the first to beat Mercedes in AEW. The matches will be good either way. Haven't seen much of Speedball. He looks cheesy as hell, but he was super over already and his style looks like it will play well in AEW.

Toni/Mariah and Will/Kyle were both great in their own ways. The women benefited from being more condensed, but I wouldn't say they were doing much different as far as the epicness goes, so I don't liking one and hating the other. They blew off a stage table spot in the first couple of minutes and were trading finisher kickouts one after the other down the stretch. The thing is, both matches were supposed to be epic. These matches are exactly when you're supposed to do that shit. Toni did a hell of a blade. I thought Will and Kyle filled their extra time pretty well. Will learning to adapt to the cage and escalating his spots throughout the match was some actual good ring pysch. The visuals of the elevated Os-Cutter, styles clash on the tacks (with several very noticeably going into Fletcher's dick), the ridiculous Spanish Fly, and subsequent finish were all worthy of the moment. This match just solidified my theory that AEW would be 10x hotter right now if this feud was for the World Title and the Death Riders were in the TNT division. MJF/Hangman, Mercedes/Momo, and Swerve/Ricochet were good-great matches that suffered from the "too many good matches on AEW ppv" effect. Kenny/Takeshita was more of NJ style match which helped it stand out, among the rest despite being super long and sandwiched between the top two MOTYCs. Outrunners got their ppv match, which they deserve for getting this gimmick over like they have, but Hurts going over dominantly is the right play. The main never had a chance, and it's a big testament to the crowd for not shitting on it. It was a pretty average match overall, but following the rest of the show was impossible. The WM 31 finish but dumber looks bad in a vacuum, but getting the not-MITB off Christian needed to be done.

Ricochet revealing an Eagles championship hat instead of a Dodgers championship hat after his promo made less sense than the Rosa/Bayne standoff last week.

If they're setting up Billie Starkz to be the one to dethrone Mercedes, I'm all in. The DR stuff is spinning its wheels in the worst way, and I don't know that there is any satisfying payoff even possible in the near future, let alone likely. Cope winning? Yuck. Mox winning and beating Swerve next? Yuck. Christian weaseling his way to the belt? Yuck. Best I can come up with is Mox winning, dispatching Christian with a failed cash-in, then getting so delusional he challenges Swerve on Dynamite and loses to give us the reset. Problem is, I don't know there's a lot left for Swerve to do with the belt. There's matches with MJF and Kenny, and that's about it.

The Daniels retirement match, and the last couple of ppvs were singles against Jay White.