Custos

A couple of throwaway observations: Can’t help but get excited about Lance Archer coming back into prominence, and really hoping for a strong showing against Miro to recapture that G1 magic after a pretty underwhelming tenure so far. Nick Jackson’s baby face, receding hairline, bright blue eyes and air of vague (and sometimes manic) detachment really remind me of Youtuber hbomberguy. Though less so with the ultra-sleazy beard. The 30 years back comment from last week dovetails quite neatly into the Cody jingoistic promo, given that virtually 30 years ago to the day, we had that other awful example of jingoistic nationalism in Hogan/ Slaughter

It’s funny how Cody’s promo (and last week Jericho’s crash pad) take the oxygen and attention from an exciting and eventful show. I get the controversial stuff is more fertile ground for conversation, and to be fair theres a lot to be said for the above point about Coach Tony K applying more discerning edits and greater attention to detail in the production. But I was buzzing by the end of this show. I haven’t been in the headspace to engage in wrestling beyond reading all of you bullshitting about the shows (always a pleasure) but took in the full show uninterrupted this week and the bookend matches plus the Tag Title blood-soaked spectacle were more than enough for me to be satisfied. As for the tag, I love the Bucks leaning in hard to the OTT obnoxious, referential stuff and the promo later calling out Mox and Eddie was so much better and more authentic than they have been as faces. Daniels’ blood and wobbles fed into the drama all the more and made it feel like a now-or-never last gasp by a once great veteran. And Callis’ comment about it being awful that Matt had CD’s blood on his shoes was a great heel line perfectly delivered. That man is an artist. Not much more to be said on the TNT title match. You could pretty much cut any random piece of that match for a highlight reel or dramatic video package. Darby has proven himself to be a truly great, versatile (in terms of diversity of opponents) worker with an urgent, believable style that is as fresh as the WWE-style set pieces (that coincidentally always seem to involve Jericho) are not. And Ive got a hot take for the hot takes thread - the bar to be allowed to do topes on TV should be Darby and Fenix. If you can’t do it as spectacularly as them, sorry mate you’re on the no-fly list. Might end up with a locker room of over-ambitious casualties but hey.

Six years after arriving, the family and I have the ceremony to officially become Aussie citizens tomorrow morning. Barbie and beer afterwards come rain or shine, of course (and I know how blessed we are to have such a normal life down here, one of the reasons I have avoided the COVID chat in these parts, can’t help but feel guilty about it all)

Every time I hear the NXT PPV's name, I can't help but think of the UK reality TV show where a ballet dancer had to try to convince a panel of experts that he was actually a grizzled professional wrestler. It aired 20 years ago and I haven't seen since but I recall they kept kayfabe when narrating the match. The gimmick he chose? The Dandy Highwayman.

Sorry not hip to the street lingo, I’m guessing this a good thing? Like ‘the dogs bollocks’ as it’s in that general perineal vicinity? I can’t wait to watch this show once my working day is over, looks like the main event is being lauded across the board.

Good thing Shane Helms and Fred Ottman aren’t in AEW, Spears would be no match for them either (just to pile another dad joke on the first dad joke. Go big or go home)

Truth seems to be a guy who lucked out from Vince’s stubbornness in first impressions. Just as there are some blokes he just didn’t get and can never seem to get behind (Aleister Black comes to mind), there are others that he is enamoured with and have a great relationship, like Truth. Good on him riding it out well into his 40s as he has done.

Okay maybe I was overly harsh in writing him off in that sweeping statement. But at least for the moment he’s sat firmly in that camp with Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc in the pre-Moxley ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ AEW of guys you could round out a promotion with, if you had to, but were quickly eclipsed as the promotion got rolling.

I wouldn’t stick someone in for the sake of neat symmetry. MJF as featured guy, FTR as featured tag team, Wardlow as muscle, Tully as coach/very rarely player works for me. Edit: fair call by Craig on Ethan Page as alternative.

I saw ‘Winner Circle’ suggested for MJF’s new faction, but I much prefer @Wyld Samurai’s ‘Burberry Street Posse’. That’s fantastic. As for Spears, he has the ‘good (for 2010 WWE)’ stench all over him. He was knocking about since the OVW days, you would hear all the how good and polished he was back then. And in the doldrums of WWE at that time you would have these ‘good (for 2010 WWE)’ types that you would have to try and get excited for because they were the best you were going to get, like the Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryders (and speaking of Ryder, there was a bit of the being-held-back-by-The-Man narrative for Dillinger, his mediocrity obscured in the general greatness of NXT at that time). But then, divorced from that place and time, and held up in true comparison to world-class talent he just doesn’t cut it. And with ALL the wealth of established and growing talent (some of whom we’ve seen grow in front of our eyes even in the space of 18 months) why would you waste your precious resources on Spears?

Who better, I guess. (I’m not touching that surname with a 10 foot pole, don’t want Cash in my future). As for Johnny, this is just shameless nepotism by Daniel Bryan. And judging from the trademarks, they’ve finally got a name for Randy’s discharges.

To @Shartnado’s point about the volume of discussion for this PPV, it seems nothing gets the juices of the wrestling community flowing and brings people together like shared mockery or commiseration of mishaps and wrestlecrap. (Cf. Titus taking a dive on the way to the ring, and, to a lesser extent, ‘my hole!’) That, and glimpses of brilliance in an otherwise unremarkable product that remind us why we love wrestling the first place (I remember the fervour in the thread after the Nexus attack, for example).

Wow some blasts from the past in this thread! Gotta throw Archer into the mix, though nothing in AEW has yet matched his stellar G1 run awhile back, I’m sure he still has the goods to bring it in a high profile match again.

Naylor sharing a clip of someone else recounting their disappointing explosives experience. I wouldn't be surprised if Maffew or some other contributor interwove the audio from this with the main event footage in the next Botchamania.

I felt the women’s match was great, the Battle Royale and cinematic match both exceeded expectations, and the tag title match was good. The ladder match just dragged and dragged, I was with JR getting exasperated that one man would get a turn, then he would go down and the next man would get a turn, rinse and repeat. As for the main, the match itself was enthralling and they did a fine job putting on a spectacle. I really couldn’t help having an embarrassed laugh at the end though, especially after Callis hyping and hyping. Oh well, hopefully lessons learned. Happy to see Maki Itoh and Cage, not so fussed about Page, yet another talented guy in a crowd of talent. Last thought: let’s have a showcase battle of the undersized hosses as a main in Dynamite, Coach Tony. Bring on PAC and Silver!

Cue JR critiquing Tony Jones in Beyond The Mat ‘work on your arms, get something that’s a bit more flattering for you, you could be in the hunt!’

I haven’t seen it, but apparently according to wreddit the Road To show was 51st with 347k viewers, not too shabby. With the Wednesday ratings you would have to think they break 100k for the PPV. I’m certainly buying after this great run and build, never mind the intrigue of the new signing, ladder participant and the car crash spectacle of the Mox/Omega confrontation.

Watching AEW just now, not a fan of the trope flogged beyond death by WWE of the participants in an upcoming multi-man match/battle royal all hitting the ring like clockwork to close the go-home show 'this is just a taste of the chaos we'll see this Sunday night!'

Considering the flaccid and reluctant apology for the treatment of war hero Alan Turing, it's no more than I expect. Anyhoo, moving away from the fraught topic of UK politics... Steiner's son's shoot name is pretty much one of those substitute Strowman names that were all the rage in these parts awhile back. He looks like a unit though. To the McGillicutty quip, do they have many other 2nd gen guys at the PC at the moment? It's been long enough in WWE years to rehash Legacy, right? AEW probably has them beat anyway, between Hook, Anderson Jr and the Gunns. Though I'm sure there's one of the Anoa'i clan knocking around to beef out the group a la Manu.

I think this is what it comes down to and I could have articulated that better. Arguably between Schiavone, Jericho, Tazz, now Big Show, there’s enough familiar voices from the boom times to make the lapsed casual fan take notice. And between Dustin, Arn, CD and others there are enough vets with experience in the ‘old school’ business who can be voices to push back against the excesses of the modern style and ground the show in the drama of athletic competition, if there is appetite for that. And that’s the other part of it. Without seeing the inner workings of the promotion, there’s little evidence in the last 18 months that AEW’s vision has been honed by the output of consultation with JR in his official capacity. And if that’s the case, and if some of his positive bases are already covered by others, why keep him around, except for the big-picture ‘good for business/good for TNT’ arguments that justify things like the Shaq match but don’t make for a compelling and high-quality show. I would say it’s not worth it but to your point, opinions vary.

Good shout. Also, the morbid curiosity of Bad Luck Fale work as the little guy for him.

No it's the other DVDVR trope that did it. Good thing that the clue was in the 'Big' and not in the 'News'. I'm pretty sure that 54 year-old PN News has less to offer than 49 year-old Wight, but the way they are snapping up mid-90's WCW locker room, I wouldn't 100% bet against it. On balance, I think he'll be an asset with the backstage insight, the charisma and the humour. I second the replacement of JR. I'm puzzled what he offers in a consultative capacity that can't be substituted by the sum total of all the other experienced hands they now have, and it's pretty much consensus that the wheels are falling off regarding his commentary. edit to add: Just saw @El Gran Gordi's suggestion. I was more thinking the whiny turn-of-millennium indie rockers Travis. It gets Show's cry-baby vibe and the repetitive use of the word 'turn' is self-explanatory.

Well Deeb and Riho tore the damn house down. Such a great match and one of those times a full capacity crowd is sorely missed. I know they would have been sucked in and molten for the home stretch just like the Nyla/Riho match near the start of the promotion. It's sad that Deeb was robbed of that after that performance. I was most hyped for Santana and Ortiz vs the Bucks, having prayed for months for PnP to be featured at the top of the division. And they just get a generic Inner Circle faction entrance? Oh well, I'll be glad when the Inner Circle explodes and they come out of the background. I was thoroughly entertained by the match itself and biting on all the near-falls by the end, but alas the dream was not to be. They are really running with the 'Marvez is everywhere' bit. Kenny's wonky delivery does weirdly fit in the kid's classroom setting though. The FTR match was just one tag too much. Nice that they got to perform in front of Dory though, that presumably meant a lot considering how much they revere tag team history. As @El Gran Gordimentioned in the other thread I said my piece about Butcher's gear after seeing it on Dark a few weeks back - a curious and unflattering choice when the team's look is arguably its biggest strength. I did enjoy the happy-go-lucky babyface pseudo-improvised Archer/Fenix offence, like some movie odd couple. Mox and Kingston of course were gold on the mic beforehand. Less is more with Sting, but at least it was (for better or worse) eventful with some physicality this week. I vaguely recall in Mick Foley's first book he talks about his matches with Vader and the physics of the powerbomb, driving your head and neck down with maximum velocity, and I couldn't help thinking of that seeing Sting flung to the mat. (A side note - it's probably just me but there's something hilarious about taking a hoodie and cutting so much of it away that it's basically two scraps of material, front and back, but still keeping the hood and drawstrings attached. Maybe it's a gym rat fashion thing). Great show overall. Edit because I forgot to mention, enjoying the developments of Hangman and his continuing saga of suitors, this time with a Big Money Match with Big Money Matt.

Came off Corbin's head originally. I wonder where it's been hiding the past year?

The mask-equivalent of 'he's balding so let's do a Hair match and make an angle out of it' ? Edit on the Mike Bailey shout-out (which I appreciated but forgot to mention above): in fairness to Tony, 'shades of [virtually unknown indy wrestler]' as a throwaway comment on a national show does scream 'i know more about pro-wrestling than anyone else in the room' from Excalibur. It wouldn't be the same if he approached it like he normally does with the Mike Tenay approach of inviting us in to share the learning experience.