Nineteen

Anna still comes off as really uncomfortable in her promos but "you spooky bitch" did pop me. OC and Dralistico was straight up fantastic. Definitely feels like the Intercon- International Title is the actual #2 title now and he's so great no matter what kind of opponent he has and finds clever ways to work his schtick in when needed. Psyched for him and Mathews on Wednesday. Man.... Brandon and Nakazawa are so getting merced.....

first thing that hit my wrestling group chat! That.... did not feel like a Raw after Mania.

After digesting it, I at least hope there's a plan after this. With so much being built up for Sami and KO wanting to end the Bloodline, that would make for a great next chapter of all this so when Roman does fall, it's because he had nobody left having his back. And while I like that story, fuck man, last night was the night for that. He's 2 months from 1,000 days which would make for a nice milestone but if it's Roman/Cody II at Summerslam are people gonna be as invested as they were last night? Kind of a strange weekend, as good as it was. Most of the stuff I was into was on night 2 and disappointed. Edge/Balor, Bianca/Asuka (at least in result), I kind of sat stunned for a few minutes after the main. Night 1 was excellent all around while I didn't have much in the way of expectations for that one. It's a tough spot, to criticize for WWE for so long for not being too invested in long term booking and to possibly have another chapter of Reigns and the Bloodline planned out but have that fly against this moment that would have been such an organic way to start that next chapter. To quote a sage, I don't agree, but I understand.

That main was.... fucking bananas

I did like the crowd reaction to MJF. He's tried to pull the sob story a few times and it did get people on his side for a minute (these were masterful when he was feuding with Punk) but he's officially in boy who cried wolf territory and the crowd just wasn't having it. Someone's gonna get their fucking head kicked in. Hell of a gusher from Uno there..... Stoked for House of Black/Elite but felt like they were going toward Kingston and Malakai for a minute there. Match should be a banger though... AS WILL BUCKS/AUSSIE OPEN This Ruby/Jamie/Britt/Saraya drama is totally the best storytelling this women's division ever had.

Felt like that ending was the best they could do if they were bent on keeping it on Roman. I mean you still have story pieces in place, a reunion with KO and them finally winning the tag belts will be a nice bow on the story but fuck this was Sami's night. Still, match was outstanding though. Roman's got so good at letting the crowd know "your hero is done." After those chair shots, my heart sank. Adrenaline, in the zone, guess it's up to Cody Rhodes...... Haaaaaaaaaaaaaving said that, any good will this company has been building up with the the Bloodline story goes right out to shit anytime Paul hits the buckshot lariat. I'm head-cannoning Seth couldn't get the big red boots through customs.

"I think your brother is a joke." I mean Dustin doesn't work here but okay Corbin "I think your dad is a joke." Cheap heat on Dusty, I guess that's a little better "I think your dog is a joke." Holy shit did he take a dig at Pharaoh? Just wish he would have capped it off with "AND RACISM HASN'T GONE AWAY EITHER, CODY." We need more faces like Sami, willing to play up their insecurities and doubts. There's this cynical long time WWE fan in me is like "they can't not do Roman at 'mania... right?" But.... for as much as I hate when WWE tries to over push a line, there is a story to be finished here. I'm... weirdly hyped for Saturday. Also, Asuka is the fucking best.

So Powerslap?

Fair

Was really rooting for Hangman there. Hoping this loss is part of a bigger story they've been teasing with him recently. I get why Mox is the franchise but he's really booked a little OP sometimes. Visual pin on Jade was interesting choice, maybe foreshadowing the end is nigh? Allie sighting! Vs. Jamie next week! Hyped! "Mi espanol es, como si dice... mid," I howled at the line. I work in a community with a large spanish speaking population and I totally have my new go to when I get stuck linguistically. Don't really get putting it on Darby if the plan was to get it back on Joe if Wardlow was coming that quickly unless they didn't know he was gonna be back that quickly and..... well match was fire at least. Darby is totally here for a good time, not for a long time. That blind tope into the table was really scary for a minute. Guessing Joe got hardway'd there. Weird Max got a little homophobic there and Acclaimed ducked the challenge. Feels unusual since AEW has been really good about booking their face champs as okay with taking on all comers. I get the Gunns don't really have any notable wins (I don't watch the youtube shows) but there's definitely the long standing drama between the two teams that justifies the match.

Jamie's totally AEW's MVP these days. That match with Shida was just bonkers and now with Emi. Hope we get Jamie/Riho again someday and so happy there's a great list of challengers for her too. I hope we get a long reign out of her if she's gonna keep putting on matches like these.

Stokely out there quoting Bebe's Kids....

I forgot which episode of Prichard's podcast it was but he was telling Conrad about someone booking bear matches like "Now the problem is you go in thinking bear's gonna work a people spot, but thing is you gotta go in and learn to work a bear spot."

Makes sense but you've seen this run of Kingston being "okay, he's finally holding it together," going back to really putting it on the line for Mox and having PnP's side with Jericho. You're right though, it does fit his character and if this means we get "The Mad King" side of his character back I won't complain. Backfists and angry crying promos for all!

Everything that Hauser fella said about Jarrett -chef's kiss-. I hope Andretti was taking notes, how to attempt to torch a heel without LOL YOUR WIFE GETS AROUND. (Didn't post in the dynamite topic this week and that's been bugging me) Love Kings of the Black Throne and Kingston/Ortiz. It does make me wish early AEW though were faces weren't.... dumb. Feels like Ortiz and Kingston have been through enough to know they're getting played... probably. Match was great too. If not the trios titles for the whole group, I'd love for Malakai and Brody to be the ones to dethrone the Acclaimed. Bandido vs. Danielson! How are TayJay the best at bringing the violence~ in this company? Only quibble, the barbed wire queenslayer is legit attempted murder and probably.... should not be broken out unless it's a super super super special occasion or blowoff match. I know Ruby was hurt for a while but I hope with this program over TK actually lets her build off this. Great episode!

in a row? https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/promotion-tshirts/new-japan/sanada-37-double-sided.html

Thought he meant Dick Murdoch

Now that you mention it I do hear a little "Hey Joe" in there too. Half of the opening riff of "Hey Joe" repeats a few times

Wasn't Rockhouse (the nWo theme) from an adult film? To the original question, what about Warrior's theme? Can't think of anyone else from that era who had a theme that got the crowd amped like that but you take away all the bells and whistles from Warrior and.....

Things that are cool - AEW Dynamite Things that aren't - unreliable wifi!

The jobber chants... good lord.... When I was kid, Razor Ramon was my favorite and I had flashbacks to the 1-2-3 kid and my friends making fun of me in school the next day and...... ANYWAY Great way to establish House of Black again, having it less of a match but more of a dismantling before the match got started proper, leaving it to just QT vs. 3 guys out of a horror movie. Murphy's Law (is he still calling it that?) onto the table with Lee and Karter looked like one of them didn't really get all of it. Would have been a weird moment if Lee got legit hurt with Julia out there but the rest of it ruled. Malakai really needs to bring back the foot on the chest pin though to really show Black Mass as a killshot again. Dope things about Ruby being back - Match with Tay was great, curious who Ruby's backup is gonna be for the inevitable tag match, Taz getting to sing along again Having Max cut overly long promos is definitely a way to keep people from cheering for him, and making his first opponents Starks and Danielson is a great choice too. If we're getting Danielson now, curious about who his opponents at shows like Revolution and DoN are gonna be. Guessing one of them has to be a Mox rematch at some point? I know AEW isn't great about sustaining momentum with some guys but Ricky's totally owned the show for the past two weeks. If Joe's gonna be Ring of Honor, Ricky would be awesome with the TNT belt. SEND HOOK~ "Scissor this, slapnuts."

Goldberg showing that sometimes all it takes in wrestling is being ridiculously good at one thing

I feel weird saying but the Triple B (gloriously douchey name btdubs) isn't gaudy enough. The dark leather swallows the plaid and Max either wears a robe for his big matches or sport jacket for his promos so not something that'll really stand out. I get that his thing is backstabbing everyone (and man that turn on Regal was vicious) but something that would probably benefit from having someone hold it up behind him. To echo what a few others said, when I got home from work yesterday I felt really lousy and had a pretty high fever so mostly listened to Dynamite after Wrestler of the Year Dax Harwood and Danielson did their thing. There were a few moments during that segment where I was like "man, this is still going?" I think he is right though, I can see him holding onto that belt for all of 2023. Gonna be gigantic for whoever does take it off him too. COWBOY SHIZ~ Orange Cassidy gets wrestling in ways no one before him ever has.

Good lord I was at the show and the spot through the already broken table at 9 seconds in is still burned in my brain. I remember that table being there for a while after it broke the first time with one of the spokes sticking up and I was terrified for the rest of the match someone was gonna get impaled on it and... then that happened. Wouldn't have been an ECW reunion without one of those two potentially murdering the other

There's always having Colt come out as CP Munk. I mean AEW has enough of the Chikara roster as it is so why not go ham with it https://youtu.be/XsSn5LT5CsI