Fighting a man with a perm

Amen brother! He didn't even say he would crush the competition in the combine, just" he'd do OK". Way to undersell your new athletic freak!

I found myself getting up early to watch this before heading to work this morning, this sjow has become something I actively look forward to every week. Storyline are built in a logical way and don't exist in vacuums, characters are given space to breathe, and when they go funny or cute I laugh along rather than feel embarrassed. Battle Royal was a lot of fun - I'm worried for Chuck Taylor though, I think they've got bigger plans for Trent & OC. Sammy's sell of the superkick glad I wasn't imagining seeing Raven there. Thought Jurassic Express cracked out some new (to my eyes) offence that really worked. Lucha Bros continue to bring the swagger, thought they had it on the buckshot miscommunication. Interesting that Kenny tried to shake the Bucks off during the post match tug of war. The two big man debuts, as mentioned by plenty of others, were handled really well. Excited to see more of both. Darby has something special, think he could become the long-term face of AEW, with either MJF or Sammy as his long-term rival. Throw Jungle boy in there and you can see a Top 4 of those guys 5/10 years from now. Could not have cared less about Cody in WWE, except when working with Dustin. But he drags me in to his matches every single time. He brings it!

I've got some issues with Jr's commentary too, but it's not because he's old. Tony is awesome. I was never really a WCW watcher once ITV stopped showing it here so had no real affinity for him before this. He sells the action and his enthusiasm and the wow factor of what the athletes are doing. Jr too often sounds like he's fallen out of love with wrestling. He harks back to a time he enjoyed too often - comparing Darby to Hardy etc. Similarly Dustin and Jericho are older dudes but still love what they do and it shows and its hard not to enjoy it as a result.

Been saying for weeks how much I love him! He's very pantomime villain, but still brings the vicious. When he was sneaking up on Mox with the sock and got caught by the ref, I was pissing myself! Nick Jackson truly is a merch freak - get your Mox eyepatch on shopAEW Terrific show, so many little threads throughout at the moment. No storyline exists in a bubble. Was hoping for a Wardlow-Luchasauras face off. I do like it when a pair of hosses square up to each other. Darby giving his own take on Sammy's sign gimmick is a really nice touch. That could be a show stealer. His out of ring gear is so much better and makes him look bigger. A little bit Tom Hardy.

That was another fun show! Santana reminded me of Eddie Kingston in his promo (that may purely be down to accent/facial hair though). They're doing a really good job of making the steps along the journey matter and adding these mini-feuds in logical ways. Similar to Inner Circle run-ins with Jurassic Express and Darby. They're not just throwing out random, Moxley faces stooge matches, they're adding layers. I love Jericho on commentary. The only slight problem is that maybe it detracts a bit from his heel heat since he is so entertaining. He does do a great job of selling the product and his opponents while still reminding you that he doesn't care for them. I'm conditioned to expect the Page angle to go one way (heel turn) but I think they've done a good job of giving enough depth and colour to his various interactions to make a few different outcomes plausible. I think they summed him up really well with "anxious millennial cowboy" because he was cheering his team on from time to time but just lost in his own head at others. The pop for OC facing the Dark Order made me smile. I love that something so different and inherently silly is getting over and as others have said, I look forward to the day he just goes, while also hoping it never happens either. Not much more to say about the lashes, MJF walked a decent line between cocky, obnoxious heel running his mouth and fella who absolutely despises the person he's facing. The run after the kick to the bollocks was great. Never saw anything in Cody in his WWE run but he makes me care more than anyone in wrestling now. The no touching rule is a really effective way of building towards their match and he's selling his inner conflict really well.

This is now an Ortiz fan account! I need a gif of him running away on his toes after running at marko and luchasauras in the corner. Every single time he does his cat claws pose I can't help but laugh. His fallen asleep pin off the dining headbutt is another beauty. Even the constant, "the best!" has grown on me. Really really like this team and their theme is a low key banger!

That's a valid point @Wyld Samurai and if he was making comparisons with Jeff Hardy or Steve Austin I'd be less down on it. My issue(and it is minor, I'm loving AEW for the most part) is the way it's done without naming them as though it's some clandestine information he's sharing with "those in the know". Just takes me out of the action momentarily.

Agreed that JR is much improved, with the caveat around him digging some performers more than other. Something I'd like to see him drop is the references to WWE though. Discussing Darby this week he said, "this kid is an enigma, just like someone else I used to know" in a fairly obvious Jeff Hardy reference. Then when talking about Moxley, "he doesn't trust anyone, now who does that remind you of?". It's all a bit wink wink, "and we all know who that is" and it cheapen the product slightly. Slight gripe only though, other than that he seems to be enjoying himself more and getting along better with excalibur.

That was some enjoyable pro wrestling! Most things have been covered but a few small thoughts of my own: Are MJF's Louis Vuitton trunks new? That's a great touch to go with the Burberry scarf. He was entertaining as hell in that match. No mention of Daniels in the Dark Order segment. Does that suggest he's the next recruit considering they made a big play for him last week but no mention tonight? It's not big or clever but I genuinely laugh every time Ortiz busts out the cat claw pose, it shouldn't be as funny as it is. His trash talk and daft little mannerisms are fantastic.

Couple of things I enjoyed in the Lexicon of Le Champion: Allen Jones (shoutout to the short lived Y2AJ team) and Jericho stopping on Marty. We see what you did there! AEW have been doing a good job of almost randomly elevating people at different times, they’ve now paired Darby, Scorpio Sky and now Jungle Boy with Y2J. With each one, I know Jericho is retaining, but there is that slight feeling of “anyone can have an off night” or “anyone can have the night of their life”. That feeling comes from some of the results so far - Darby v Cody, private party v Bucks, even Best Friends v Lucha Bro’s. Speaking of the Lucha Bro’s, thought there were some nice moments in the Trent - Fenix match. Some really slick counters, especially in the opening changes. Love how Rey uses the ropes in such inventive ways, the through-the-ropes sweep of Trent’s legs was a highlight. Can see the point about some sameyness with dark order/nightmare collective and also with Kong/Nyla. Happy to see where it goes on all those fronts, even though I’m not sold on Nyla (worried she’s gonna hurt someone soon like she almost hurt Nakazawa). Not sure how to post links etc, but it’s weird that AEW posted a video to twitter of MJF saying he paid for butcher/blade/bunny. Surely that should have aired during the show?

A bit of an “unstructured” show compared to some previous episodes. Still plenty to enjoy though. I like that Best Friends are getting a bit of a push, I think they have a charm to them that could really blow up. Not sure about OC in the turkey costume though. Dressing him up seems like way too much effort for his character. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Rey Fenix has swagger. Can’t think of a better word to describe it. The celebration had some good lines but could have been a bit shorter. Not a fan of bringing animals into that environment. Yeah, the SCU run-in fell flat, if they were right there, why wait so long to get involved? I do like me some Bea Priestley! She’s got something about her in how she carries herself. More Bea please! i think the commentary booth missed Tony this week, felt JR and Excalibur had to full too much time themselves and that led to some sloppiness. Did love Excalibur’s, “taint misbehaving” line though. Butcher and Blade have a great look, and I’m intrigued to see where they go with Cody. One of my favourite things in AEW is the fluidity of the stories. Acts don’t exist in single-rivalry bubbles and it feels bigger as a result - like a computer game with loads of side quests and interesting NPCs. I’m still convinced Dark Order will recruit Peter Avalon. Another nice vignette.

I loves that vignette too - looked great. Can see Peter Avalon joining Dark Order with how excalibur talked up the order targeting those on losing streaks and BTE kinda hinting at him growing tired of the gimmick.

About halfway through the show, I’ll watch the rest this evening. I wasn’t super aware of Rey Fenix prior to AEW, but along with his in-ring ability he has some serious swagger! He comes across as actually cool. Fun match between he and Nick Jackson. The blood helped make the Shida-Baker seem more intense. Shias is great in-ring but I’m struggling to understand her character and even her alignment. She’s full of smiles and plays to the crowd but is quite vicious and heelish in other ways. Battle Royale was fun, my highlights: Everything OC, especially him sliding around using the ring ropes. Jungle boy grooming OC from outside the ring. Wardlow looking like a jacked Marty Scurll. Jungle boy climbing the outside of the ring post. MJF’s shit-eating grin and Billy Gunn’s anger at missing out on fun with Sonny Kiss and then OC.

The “athleticism” trope is one I’m more aware of from soccer and how (normally older) commentators/pundits refer to players. Maybe it’s not an American/wrestling thing as much (I’m Irish). I think my basic issue is how JR seems to take a very shallow look at people and whatever is most obvious to him physically will colour how he describes them (rather than their character). PAC = British, must be like other Brits. But PAC’s Britishness isn’t really part of his character. Hope I’m making sense.

I also get a bit of a “real rocknrolla” Prince Devitt vibe from Sammy. His face being a cross between Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber just adds to the hateable. The thing I’m digging most on these shows is how much the performers seem to be enjoying themselves. It’s infectious. Jericho looks like he’s loving every minute, and he should. He’s doing incredible work. JR (while more enthused) still bothers me. Between constantly comparing PAC to the only 2 British wrestlers he can think of, always referring to the “athleticism” of Scorpio Sky and the discomfort you could feel from Excalibur and Schiavone when he referred to Danni Jordan as looking like a power lifter. He just seems like a dude out of time. Schiavone on the other hand has a way of acknowledging he’s from a different era but being open to new ideas. Really looking forward to Darby/Mox next week. Love me some plucky underdog Darby!