Fighting a man with a perm

"that's your girl, you should take her to the woodshed sometime" JR to Tony about Britt. Unless I seriously misheard, that's really not good! 2 great spears in the first match, one from wardlow in the corner and one from jungle Boy to MJF. Looking forward to that tag. Best Friends wearing lumberjack shirts, and getting changed back to normal gear later - that's good attention to detail! Kiss and Janela look an interesting team, liked the vignette. Really can't see Colt joining dark order, expect a swerve on that. Neither of FTR are in the shape of Trent, but Dax has a definite belly on him. Where's JR'S criticism there? Does that make Cash the "alpha" of the team. Yes I'm still salty about the comments on Chucky T last week. Nice video package for tag title match. Love seeing a little fire from Best Friends. Hangman great as usual, "them boys are good. I'ma still whip their asses" Tony had some fabulous looks to the side as he was communicating with Britt. Really enjoy what they're doing with Jericho and OC. So happy to see AEW taking the chance on something different like OC and for him to close the show 2 weeks running standing tall. Makes me thi k Jericho goes over but I think OC is on an upward trajectory and this will help.

Reading through this whole thread and it's genuinely horrific. I have nothing to add to what's gone on. I have noticed though, that (at least here in Ireland) this has spread beyond wrestling and has empowered a lot of women to speak up against men in other fields utilising a lot of the same tools. I believe one Irish comedian and club promoter was responding in a supportive manner to some of the victims speaking out about wrestling which in turn was the spark that lit the fire in some of his victims and encourages them to speak out against him. This is now empowering women from all fields of the arts to tell their stories too and its incredibly raw and sad and horrific but also kinda hopeful. Defamation laws in Ireland are notoriously stacked in favour of the powerful and the abusers (hence a certain MMA fighters name is never mentioned in stories relating to him here but will be covered in the NY Times) so I'm in awe at the bravery of these women. Not sure exactly what I'm saying other than I'm glad to see something genuinely awful transforming into something positive and I really hope these women/people can get some solace and level of healing from being heard. That and fuck anyone who thinks abusing positions of power is acceptable.

Enjoyable show, as per usual. Won't go through everything, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned (if someone already said this, apologies, lets blame lockdown fatigue) was the aftermath of the MJF-Billy match. Jungle Boy in street clothes was ready to fucking go and looked a really big deal, absolutely the equal of MJF. His leap off the ring steps across dudes to get to MJF had me whooping. More of that fire from him please. PS: fuck JR for ragging on the Kentucky Gentleman, gentlemen don't need to be body guys!

Maybe I was in bad form watching, but the FTR debut didn't do much for me. Could also be because ik not as aware of their NXT work. The truck was daft, they seemed uncomfortable in their movement (could be down to wearing street shoes though) and the turn on butcher and blade was far too obvious. Hopefully I'll see more of what has everyone else excited next time. Dug the battle Royal even if it had the usual battle royal issues. Some nice side story stuff like Colt with Dark Order as nd the continuing Avalon-Cutler lose-off. Glad to see jungle boy get an opportunity, there's money in him. Those elbows from OC were nice! The two tag matches were kinda just there. Liked having the Hardy costume changes pre-match, private party and Janela worked well together. SCU as a team don't do much for me, and Sabian needs a more defined character. What was the deal with the Hangman-Kenny CCTV footage? Weird use of them both. Loved the pep rally, the daft gifts, Ortiz and the ear muffs, Swagger the poet/Neeson. Not sure about the Tyson stuff. Not a UFC fan so no clue who the lads with him were and if they are legit dudes it wasn't sold enough. I did love Jericho's "KHAAAAAAAN" style shouting of "TYSOOOOON" at the end. Cody as a Trek fan must have enjoyed it too. Sounds like I'm down on the show but I mostly enjoyed, just a few nit-picky things that didn't work for me but YMMV.

I love the pantomime stuff in wrestling. That stadium stampede put a big smile on my face. Sammy's face as he ran away from various things, Ortiz being Ortiz, Hardy's grin under the water, "right over his crotch" from a clearly loving-it Tony, Ortiz being Ortiz some more, "I can't swim". All glorious. Some of the spots really delivered as well, the assisted buckshot in particular was cool AF. I got into Mox-Brodie the more it went on. Bodies gear was a big step up and as someone else mentioned, when he dropped the straps it really clicked. He's got a great face for colour. Shida-Nyla was better than I expected. Can't really get into Nyla but this was better. Thanks to the person who mentioned Shida's gear was Tifa inspired, it was bugging me what it was. MJF-Jungle Boy was some good graps. Thought jungle boy brought some pretty decent selling in this. MJF is so hateable and works really well against someone as pure a baby face as jungle boy. I liked some of the spots in the ladder match, especially OC struggling with ladders and backpacking on Cage. Had some issues with timing and stuff. Also, SCU looked like dopes rather than "honourable" by not just going for it at the beginning or even teaming up a bit more. Would have worked better if the stip was that you couldn't win until all men in. Nice debut from Cage, but "who can stop the path of Cage" in Taz's voice is awful, sounds like the start of the Hurricane's entrance. Can't take that voice seriously. Cody Archer disappointed. The in ring was good and Archer's shit-talking is glorious. But all the stuff on the periphery dragged it down. Why was Jake distracting the ref so Arn could attack? What was the plan with the Snake? Did Iron Mike have some kind of authority? Why did Bryce look to him before ejecting Arn? On the topic of shit talking, there was some great swearing picked up mid-match. Janela had a "fucking mother fucker" after being taken out by Cage, there were a few "oh shit"s as people were going up for moves and a few others. Dunno if anyone has watched" Gangs of London" but one of my favorite parts of the fight scenes in it was the realistic mid-fight, almost not picked up, swearing, like how you would eff and blind if you stubbed your toe. Rest of the show was not great but I felt I got my moneys worth.

Agree with @Casey and @LoneWolf&Subs on the truck being silly. Same could be said for Mox storming into the arena about an hour before he actually attacked anyone. What was he doing for that hour?? My boy Orteeeeeez brought some next level stooging in the tag. The wrestler most likely to make me laugh out loud at the moment. Did JR say, "we all know women hate every other woman" or something to that effect at the end if the 4-way? Jeezus! Thought the 4-way was good, Britt really bringing the character and some impressive spots in the match like Statlander catching Penelop after initially losing her grip. Considering the limitations they've done a good job building up the PPV. It's only €22 on Fite in Ireland rather than $50 so think I'll buy it. Stadium stampede looks fun, interested to see how the ladderatch goes, nyla-shida should be fun, plus Cody always brings it at PPV.

Leaving aside the fact that I don't think running shows at the moment is a great idea, they did a really good job of making something interesting and unique with that show. Dunno if it was because of the lack of noise, but some of the flubs stood out more (penelope's rana, jungle boys dive/no dive at the end of his match etc). I'm not overly bothered by those things normally so interesting that I spotted them tonight. Loved the heckling from the sidelines, I woul happily re-watch with the mic solely on MJF the whole show! When they started to unmask his voice (and this can be blamed on my Irishness and lack of ear for American accents), but I started to think it was Kazarian's voice, and with only him being alongside CD, I thought there was a big old swerve coming. Hardy posing at the end lost a lot with the lack of a crowd. Maybe they could have wired him up for that? Were they teasing OC dissension with best friends? He seemed to be throwing some "what was that?" arms to them after the match. Jericho on commentary never gets old. He gets everyone over while staying in character

Most things covered by y'all already. That flying knee from Sammy to Darby brought the hate. I have high expectations for that match! The cheer for OC vs Pac was huge, really interested to see how that match goes. Revolution shaping up to be a great show, I've bought it. Only my second PPV purchase, but they've sold it really well.

Think it spells out "join dark order"

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!

Long time lurker, first time poster! Having already subscribed to FITE to watch Dynamite weekly, I bit the bullet and ordered my first ever wrestling PPV in Full Gear. Have watched all bar the Mox-Omega match and feel I got great value for money at €23. Without repeating what’s been said in the previous pages, the one small thing I noticed that bugged me was during the Spears-Joey match. How often was Earl Hebner out of position?? At least twice Joey had to shoo him away. I don’t normally notice the ref but this was glaring.