Godfrey

Hey all! To celebrate the 5th anniversary and the new TV deal I wanted to check in on AEW and post a one-off review before I disappear for another 6 months or maybe forever. I haven’t watched Dynamite for almost a year and the only matches I’ve seen are when Ospreay, Danielson, and Swerve wrestled each other (I also keep up with some WWE people but not many). I’m not on social media but I’ve read things on various sites so I have a vague idea of what’s been going on angle-wise. Hoping to get re-engaged with the product! But let’s be honest, AEW rarely has what I look for out of wrestling or entertainment Good promo from Mox’s group to start, very ominous and confusing. I’m not sure why they’re declaring war on AEW and nobody else seems to either. The different camera shots don’t do it any favours but hey, maybe they need to splice takes together Why is Callis catching a flight at the beginning of the show? Is he flying to next week’s town? Sound was muffled so I may have missed something Ricochet vs Ospreay In a lot of ways this match is why AEW was founded, so matches nobody saw on the indies can have a wider audience and ex-WWE guys can pretend they haven’t hit their ceiling already. Standard flipping counters to start, a little sluggish if you ask me but it established the story of the match. Some weak strikes and bad fundamentals but they can fly really well so they get to that sooner than later. Ric busts out a couple of good clotheslines and they mirror each other again before the requisite apron spot. I didn’t catch all of it but the match seemed to slow way down during the break. Ospreay flips out of a top rope rana and leaves his back to his opponent for no reason so Ric hits an Oscutter. Dope piledriver from Ric gets 2. The New Japan finisher and counter sequence kicks in for some nearfalls. Not sure about the double pin false finish, if they were just going to do a DQ a minute later they may as well have just kept wrestling. Takeshita rules and should be built up like this Oh shit, I haven’t seen Sasha since she’s been Mercedes. I was dreading a promo (even I’ve heard how bad they are), the package was a good way to get caught up instead. Whoever designs her gear should be shot Oh fuck, I haven’t seen Jericho since he’s been the Learning Tree. Why are there high school play props in the ring? Big Bill deserves so much better than this. Mark Briscoe comes across really well, I wish he wasn’t opposite a guy doing an impression of someone pretending to be a bad wrestler who actually is. Bringing Jay into the promo sucked too, this was awful Is the crowd mic’d poorly or are they not paying attention or what? Pops happen at the oddest times and then don’t happen when they should, and the face-heel dynamic seems loose at best (WWE is guilty of this lately too). Weird stuff Darby Allin taking more dumb shit. Just because he can’t hack it at a real job doesn’t give him the right to preach self-harm for validation. Grow up, dork. He’s a good talker though, he needs someone to direct him Adam Page vs Juice Robinson Page is cooler now, better gear, body, attitude, and music. I had no interest in his and Strickland’s tryhard edgelord feud, glad I can see him on something else and Juice is what you would call a good hand. Fun match once it got in the ring but way too long for what they needed to accomplish. Cut the time of matches like this in half and do some character work with Juice so he can get a better reaction next time. Damn, Jay White more like Jay Tanned amirite? Bryan and AEW being proud of breaking everything wrestling is based on is not the flex they think it is Britt Baker vs Serena Deeb Back and forth grappling to start until Deeb finds an opening and takes control. Glad Serena leaned into heel work, that’s what the crowd needed. Baker is still getting back to her old level and hit a really bad slingblade. This match was too long for a foregone conclusion Christian happened Private Party vs Iron Savages Hey, the ass eating guy. These teams aren’t bad but desperately need an agent to lay things out for them especially one as short as this one If the Bucks are there, haven't they already wasted a date on that night? And thank the Buck’s God that they didn’t have the tag title match, I’m dreading the overrun as it is Hell yeah, Shelton Benjamin. Please let Mox try some of his unprofessional garbage with this man Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada I saw the first match live in Toronto and didn’t enjoy it due to the rest of the show, the arm injury, and the shit finish. Didn’t see the rematch and to be honest I’m not excited for this one since it's another foregone conclusion (Bryan wins after at least 20 minutes). Honestly, fuck Tony for starting this match only a few minutes from 10 for how long it took, learn how to time your show. Good limb work from Danielson, Okada moves slowly to run out the clock which is very exciting for an overrun. They worked in all of their highspots and hit each other hard(ish), I guess that makes a good match. Bryan won after at least 20 minutes. A commercial spot in the overrun makes no sense by the way but they bought an extra half hour so they needed to pay for it. By the end I just wanted the show to be over, I had to apologise to my partner for keeping her up late Overall, it’s still Dynamite. Better production, crowd was up, bigger stars. Fewer amateurish mistakes than before so at least I wasn’t distracted by those the whole time (just some of the time). But this was a boring show. AEW has made fast-paced, high-impact wrestling boring by reducing it to its base components and overusing them so nothing has any meaning anymore. It pains me to watch wrestlers get hurt for a forgettable product and all they need is a real writer/booker/whatever to make all the action feel important. Otherwise, well, it just doesn’t. Not exactly a new thought but it’s still as relevant today as it was a year ago. Until next time!

I mean, ultimately who gives a shit about a bunch of rich knobs whining over working one or three days a week. They're getting paid stupid money and as a viewer all I care about is that they do their jobs

Good promos from mostly everyone on this one, Stratton still stinks Triple threat matches were a bit of a mess as always but there were some great spots especially the finish to the main Tama Tonga's debut was dope, him and Sikoa is dope, Solo the Destroyer is dope. Adding Jacob Fatu to this mix will be even better. Jimmy needs a break though, time for a refresh Now I want to see Breakker in Japan, or more accurately Japan 10 years ago. Naomi/Tiff and the tag match were nice showings too I read an interview with Kevin Owens and he talked about changing his approach to his career, he's clearly having fun with everything and that walk and talk shot about his Rey's oversized sons was fantastic

They both said they were willing to relocate to the States as late as last fall though

Since Punk posted the W Bush Mission Accomplished pic on IG I'll start the theory that he 4D chess'd AEW into showing the footage to prove there's no way Tony can claim he was afraid for his life and didn't have his reason for firing Punk. Big if true!

He may not make those up. I did more searching and I forgot he billed his last RevPro match as his goodbye to the indies and so far he hasn't signed up for New Japan again (although that could change) so his schedule might only be one match a week at the most and more likely one every two weeks or so. That's pretty different from 3 dates a week minimum. So I may have misrepresented how similar the schedules were in my previous post, that's on me To answer your question, I think from Triple H's view Ospreay did go into semi-retirement

To correct my earlier post, WWE's upcoming European tour does seem to have more dates a week to take advantage of being over there so there are still going to be periods when they have to grind it out a little. I just listened to his rebuttal promo and I think it's more that Ospreay doesn't want to water down his work to do it more often, it's a different approach to wrestling entirely from WWE and if he went there right now they would be like oil and water

I honestly thought there would have been more folks taking victory laps today. I guess the confirmation that Punk was in no way defending himself or controlling the situation is outweighed by the rest of it. It sucked to watch and once again nobody looks good

Punk interview timestamped to his version of events for those who want to compare and contrast

Citation needed

Has anyone from AEW proper confirmed the footage is of Punk and Perry? I know the websites are saying it but Tony has only said it's real footage and from what I've seen (granted not much) those specific names haven't actually come from the company Edit: 411 says they haven't said those names just Meltzer and crew. My point is, I guess they have plausible deniability if they bait and switch but the sheets will look like shit in the process

A meal fit for an octopus

Overall a lackluster episode imo, not much action and the angles could have used more forward momentum. The Raw After Wrestlemania can be a crapshoot especially with a punchy crowd, felt like they wanted to ride the emotional high of Sunday night a little longer and I can't fault them for that Opening stuff wasn't for me. A chant for Samantha Irvin is rad and I loved the mix of stfu chants with people throwing the one up for the Bloodline, other than that this took way too long. Rock at minute 31: "Now before we begin." Come on, man. But now we have a mystery object, that could be interesting. Cole at minute 46: "Welcome to Raw." Leave it to WWE to have an hour of commercial-free programming and have only a few minutes of actual wrestling on it But what a few minutes! Nice debut for Dragunov although I hate to see Nakamura job like that I can't do more talking, sorry Judgement Day. Good hot tag by Miz Gable & Zayn/Imperium is my kind of wrestling, I tell you what. That title defense will be sick Shout out to Chelsea Green, the Miz of the women's division Solid enough TV main event. Hope Jey can make more out of this challenge than he did with Jimmy and Roman but him vs Priest is not a world title level program right now

Sure but if he leans in to being part of the act then doesn't he open his entire career up to doubt? His whole thing is he's not an Apter mag

This made me think of Sam Elliot in Road House and I can get behind that

From breaking the throne to embracing Hunter in the ring after a Mania main event, a lot changed in 5 years

Dijak calling his shot for some reason https://x.com/DijakWWE/status/1777310251462934624 "It won’t be tomorrow, it won’t be next week, it won’t be next month, might not even be next year… but one day you guys are gonna turn so hard on Cody and boo his ass out of the building and when that day comes all I’m going to do is reference this post and tell you I was right."

I agree that Sami/Roman was the best match but that's my bias. It was definitely the hottest match and whether they should've pulled the trigger on Zayn will forever be one of those big What Ifs in wrestling

Do you think that person got their selfie with the Rock?

If it is a fake out, doesn't that burn Meltzer and Alvarez as legit sources from here on out? Either they were worked or they're working

So I've been thinking about the HHH/Ospreay comments. When he first made them I thought he was talking about NXT level talent and was taking a shot at someone like Sammy Guevara who chose AEW over the 7 day a week training in the performance center. There's a discussion to be had there, I don't think either of those extremes is totally the right move but they work for those companies But Ospreay on the main roster is different. I did a little research (not a ton so could be wrong) and I don't think it's the crushing schedule it used to be WWE: Two TV shows plus two house shows a week, most likely only 3 shows a week plus a possible PLE and additional promotional appearances AEW: One to three TV shows a week, plus a possible PPV, independent bookings, and self-promotion That's not so different so I don't think it was so much workload for Will as much as he would have had to move to the States and take less money. But it's also not what HHH is portraying it as and WWE wrestlers aren't hardhat wearing blue-collar folks grinding it out for a paycheck And the whole thing is moot if HHH wanted Ospreay to go to NXT and work the Coconut Loop. At this point in Will's career there's no way I would take that deal either

Things I thought while I watched and mostly listened (sometimes I have to put a podcast on instead) Crowd is way better, I guess the cold really did get them down I don't think I noticed the camera work on some of the ring intros last night, that's a nice touch Didn't anticipate Rollins/McIntyre to be a bomb fest, I dug it. Great cash in too. Punk was a little shaky on commentary, maybe he knows he's about to be exposed! (Dun dun DUNNNNN) CM indirectly cost both guys the title Smart move adding some names to the 6-man and keeping it short. Bummer about that one table buckling at the finish. Final Testament coming out after Judgement Day were there reminds me of how unnecessary they are Knight/Styles was better than I expected. I always forget LA is like Cash Wheeler and can break out a wild high spot when he wants to Had the volume down for the US title triple threat but it looked like it was executed well, the highest compliment a triple threat match can attain. Owens has been lazy in the ring this year but he's also eating pins from Logan Paul so fair enough. KOs deal is up soon, maybe he'll try something else 9 pm and only two matches to go, hope we end even earlier tonight! Also, they've shown Mercedes Mone, Omega, Jericho, and the Young Bucks in recap videos tonight Bayley against Iyo Sky was truly great, I think it might be my match of the weekend. The singing was annoying because I don't know what it's for, so glad it stopped for the right parts. Sky with all kinds of fantastic combinations and reversals, Bayley was Haha, Cody's big entrance was verging way too close to an American fascist rally for my liking and then he popped up in his goofy-ass Skeletor mask and I fell out. Dude just can't help himself. And Brandi exists again! Roman's entrance ruled too. Is that fucking Charles Robinson? Main event was pretty good all things considered. Crowd was less split than last night, that's for sure. First part of the match was a fine example of the WWE main event style, it even reminded me of Austin/Rock a little and I would like to see one of those go to a real finish. And Act 2 was a good time too even if SHIELD Seth was a weird call (and Moxley fake out?). Then Cody hugged literally everyone in the world A lot of HHH and Rock fluffing this weekend. And I never thought Bruce Prichard would make air again, he sure as shit better be cleared of everything

That would really suck for a Punk fan like me but Goddam it would be hilarious

Stoked for the footage. The graphic with the Bucks and no Punk/Perry reference does appear troll like, Meltzer is saying it's legit but won't show the part with Tony and I can't imagine they would air anything unless it directly contradicts what Punk said in the interview (or at least discredits the rest of his story). Not sure what the Bucks could add, by all accounts they weren't present And if it's not legit? That's a huge swing and you gotta respect it but it could really back up on them

Sami Zayn vs Gunther I wanted this match to happen but they did not get all of this one, as they say. WWE botched the build a little and undercut Sami, or Gable overachieved in his role and will beat Zayn on Monday. Gunther's style doesn't always lend itself to an open air stadium, the echo of his chops in a closed space is a lot of what makes his matches special. It's still stiff but not as visceral, and with the cold and how huge crowds react to things and this match didn't reach the heights I think it could Sami wants to stick and move and take advantage of any openings but knows he can't go blow for blow with the big man and will have to break out every trick in the book. Zayn gets with two half-nelson suplexes and Gunther absorbs them, the rope walk DDT gets nothing, and he can't even get him up for the Blue Thunder Bomb. Meanwhile, Gunther goes for max damage, doubling up on big moves to crush the underdog's spirit. After taking all that punishment, Sami finds his moment and breaks out a secret weapon for the big win (a huge WTF moment for me, never thought I'd see it in WWE and as much an indication its a new era as any other). Not as emotional a match as it could have been, could've used a deep Boston crab or bleeding chest to get it over the finish line, still an excellent match and I agree MotN