Fighting a man with a perm

Tony had a great line to the effect of, "I'm having flashbacks to the 90s with a houseful of annoying brats", parent of the year, Tony Schiavone! Arcade Anarchy was great, big smiles here for all of it. Love unhinged Miro shouting, "Charles! Charles!" and Trent looked main event ready in returning. They actually got me interested in something QT Marshall is doing, kudos! Felt for Ogogo with the cuff though. Nice call back going hard on Big Shotty though! Nice opener, but Christian needs a better finisher, the Kill switch looks like crap in setup, real suspension of belief required. Trios match was a banger, Rey looked dope as hell in both his denim jacket and the soccer jersey! Could Dark Order v HFO be in line for Blood & Guts treatment too???

"the world is an umpire"

I suppose it depends on where you're from, some can see borders as a way of keeping them and theirs together, whereas on the island I'm from the border is a 100 year old wound that shows no signs of healing.

After episode 2,i'm fully behind the Flag Smashers! Hell yeah, a world without borders sounds great! Not letting the same small group of people control the planet sounds great. Maybe I misunderstood, but it sounded like they were bringing medicine to refugee camps? Great bunch of lads! Can't get a fix on John Walker yet, he seems like a relatively OK dude, I imagine we've only seen phase 1 of his origin so far though, maybe his pal Battlestar gets killed and that causes a snap. Is John Walker a super soldier at this point? If not, how the hell was he hanging with Morgenthau et al? Full disclosure, my knowledge of the systems of racial discrimination and oppression in the US is limited to what I've read rather than anything I've experienced. But I really like that a Marvel property is tackling some of that, even if it's in subtle ways. I mean, that's what Stan Lee was all about, he wrote characters for the oppressed, so that's my favourite aspect of the show so far. The treatment of Isaiah in comparison to Steve Rogers is so stark. Follow that with the cops going full, "calm down sir" as they finger their guns at Sam, oof!

That show just breezed by. I've said it before but the fact that storylines don't exist in vacuums in AEW fills my heart with joy. That main rocked, loved it all except for the weird Sting coming to even the odds when those loveable goofs at ringside were only offering encouragement to John, there was no shenanigans! Hell yeah to a Kenny Omega - Brandon Cutler mini feud, "give me the mic" ? No clue what that QT Cody segment was meant to make me feel other than apathy, Cody exists in this weird parallel universe and I don't like it. Roll on Arcade Anarchy, hope we'll get to hear OCs new entrance tune - love that choice, great work Tony!

Sounds like he knew that ridicule is nothing to be scared of

Yeah, I liked that. Much slower pace and more thoughtful than I expected, with some really interesting stuff about the practicalities of being an avenger and what that means in real life. The bank scene was heartbreaking in a way. And I definitely caught the nods to the racism inherent in Financial systems, and that thought about race stuck with me as the "new" Captain America premiered. Think I preferred the Falcon side of this to the Bucky side, but Anthony Mackie is extremely charismatic in the role, so no surprise. My interest about the Flag Smashers is piqued, and I can see some good spy craft /thriller moments popping up in this throughout. Roll on next Friday.

Looking at next week's show, I'm relieved they're going with St. Patrick's day. Obviously, Paddy's day is the correct verbiage. I did fear Tony might stumble into that whole Patty's day nonsense, which is just wrong wrong wrong.

How dare you sir! Hangman with Dark Order is my weekly highlight, the loveable goofs! Feared something bad when the lawnmower almost flipped as page drove away though. So glad someone else spotted this, I was grinning when I noticed it. Fun show, lots of storyline movement, some good in ring action. I'm entertained.

100% agree on this, told a real nice, tight story throughout. I was grinning ear to ear from the moment Dark Order saved Page till the group hug. Just lovely stuff! Man, that last few minutes really let all the air out of the balloon. I enjoyed the show, felt I got my €22 worth, but that ending was such a downer. My heart went out to the incredibly professional Eddie Kingston. Thought the battle Royal had some really fun moments, especially with some of the newer teams. Haven't been watching Dark, but I'm gonna want to see a lot more Bear Country! Tony sounded like he was having a lot of fun on commentary, my favourite line of the night was while MJF was telling Matt Jackson to suck it, Tony was shouting, "please hit him there right where he's pointing at!"

Have this bought on Fite, plan on watching the replay alone in the office tomorrow morning (I'm in my last 4 weeks after 16 years in my job so very much winding down right now). Mostly looking forward to the death match and hoping for Hangman truly embracing the Dark Order tonight. Not too excited about the mystery signing, but I'll be happy if it's someone who can still go at a high level.

Was it not explained that the beekeeper was just a Sword operative trying to sneak in? Presumably he went off to keep some bees since that was now the character Wanda had in mind for him? The Ship of Theseus thing made me laugh, because it reminded me of the story of Trigger's broom in Only Fools and Horses. Finale worked really well in tying up the story in a satisfying way, yet I felt unsatisfied. But that's purely down to me following theories and wanting another "oh shit" moment, which could have easily detracted from the story they were telling in fairness.

Had zero interest in the opener, but fair play I was certainly sports entertained. Some clunky moments (to be expected really) but it really over delivered. Adding to the chorus of, "what was with the incredible disappearing Shaq?" Tully looked like he wanted to be the third man in Private Party in his ring gear. Jungle Boy looks to be bulking up a bit too, Jr will loooove that. Odd that Wardlow was behind Jericho, while P&P stood behind MJF during the presser. Where does Brian Cage get his jeans? Truly horrifying! Had a feeling 10 would lose due to TH2 shenanigans, I like the work they've been doing on the Hardy Page story. Same for the closing tag, nice story throughout of Hardy ducking Adam. Love the confused/happy faces from Page when Silver hugs him.

I was so hypnotised by Vince's hips that it took me a full 10 seconds to notice (Fuck) Hulk Hogan in the background with the sleeveless tux.

I really like that way of thinking about it! Yeah, dug the pace of this and tying it in to sitcom tropes to set the table for the finale. Liked the switcheroo at the start where it originally felt like Agnes was facing a witch trial, well done. "what is grief but perseverance of love" was a really beautiful piece of writing!

@NoFistsJustFlips in total agreement on Nyla Rose, don't dig her work at all and always feels lacking control. Favourite match tonight was Hangman - Kassidy. Where's Marc Quen? Kassidy definitely growing these past few weeks. Hangman tending to Five with John and Alex gave me feels. Love to see TH2 getting some more airtime too, think Angelico has some untapped potential, the dude is just cool as fuck. Give him a scenester gimmick now, where he just rips on everyone else's taste in music. The blood on both Bucks on the truck was a great visual. JR money count for the night: 15 As Archer won, JR mentioned something along the lines of him being "the biggest man in the ladder match, presumably". You don't think they'd throw Paul Wight in it would they? 4 announced so far, qualifier next week in the go home show makes 5,so who's the 6th?

Hangman and Dark Order is my absolute favourite storyline in AEW. Love that he referenced his friends who told him to always have a spare stack of papers in his jacket. I squealed with delight when Silver and Reynolds came out, and grinned ear to ear when - 1 ran out calling out the rest of the Dark Order. Just real joy making stuff for me! Looking forward to Hangman laying Matt out, but have to say Isaiah looked good (and properly heelish) in attacking Page. On the Page-Hardy match, we may get to see JR's vinegar strokes face during it since it is a "Big Money match". "MONEY! MONEY! IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY! OH YEAH, THAT'S IT! ALMOST THERE NOW! HOLD IT TOGETHER JR! BAH GAWD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!!"

I somehow misread this as Teddy Long, "holla holla holla, you expected some mellow weed, but you're going one-on-one with some bath salts playa"

Matt Riddles theme at half time at the Arsenal match today. Brooooooo? Pretty much summed up my reaction at seeing Willian come on in the second half. My reverse voodoo is obviously not stronger than his stinkiness because I've slated him like this multiple times now ?

@Matt D you mentioned Bettany channelling someone specific to this episode. More generally than just this episode, I get little flashes of Rik Mayall on his comedy performances, but that could be accent related.

Episode 6 discussion within