Jenalysis

Her fiancee is a horrible person, including being a transphobic bigot.

Toni's going to be in Japan for a bit- she's Mayu's next IWGP challenger.

I think some of the fact folks felt this crossed a line was due to the character work of Hangman and Swerve, more than the actual violence. They got it across not just with the weapons, but emotionally. Seeing Hangman fall from being the sheriff to AEW to a slobbering berserker is scary. Swerve is just scary period. The best horror is emotional not physical. Yeah, I still feel uncomfortable, but I know it's because they did their jobs really well- perhaps too well.

I play Night Lords in Warhammer and that was too much for me.

Hobbs was pretty raw when he came in, kinda got slotted into Monster of the Week division (Nyla lives there too!) Then injuries happened. He's been unlucky. Starks and Wardlow reached the levels they should have. They were too limited to be Top level guys. Swerve was clearly the real deal, getting a tag reign early on showed he was going to be one of the big players. When he got the ball, he took it a lot farther than Starks and Wardlow ever could (and likely Hobbs). I thought the next escalation was either going to be loser leaves town, or they put their families on the line, but arson was pretty neat- and something that would have fit in just fine in the Cuetoverse.

Got to watch most of this show with my fiancee before work. She's not a big fan, but she enjoys AEW in decent-size doses, as long as I give her enough attention as well. So here's the perspective from the other half of the shared lesbian braincell! ^_^ The Ladder Match she was rooting for the BBG mostly because she knew I liked them, but she likes the House of Black also. She really does not like Christian. Didn't really do a whole lot for her, she's not really a huge fan of spotfests. She was a huge fan of Mariah, especially for the gear she came out in. She loves Toni too, and the while angle with her and Mina was really hype for her. That was her favorite match, and I thought it delivered as well. The Tag Match she was pulling for the Bucks, because she thought FTR was boring, and she really thought the Acclaimed were cringe. She also thought the Bucks were the only good wrestlers in that match. She doesn't care for FTR at all, and she really, really thinks Max is crap. The International match- she kinda ironically enjoyed MJF's shtick, though she admits its cringe. She wanted to like Ospreay, but the Ass Creed cosplay immediately turned her off, and she started rooting hard for MJF. She didn't remember who Daniel Garcia was, which surprised me, but Garcia did look different. She enjoyed the match even if the wrong guy won in her eyes. The Casino Battle Royale- she wanted Hangman to win, she was upset Christian won. I thought it was a dumb idea because it gave away the main event when it wasn't obvious who was winning. I really think with that finish, they should have had Hangman running down the isle as the finish was happening, just to make Hangman mald some more. She loved OC and ZSJ. The TBS match- she didn't enjoy it all. She dislikes Britt almost as much as I do, and she didn't like Mone. I thought the match was eh. The TNT match also did nothing for her- she thinks Jack Parry is just nothing, no charisma , boring wrestling, and she likes Darby and felt he was squashed. Liked Sting coming out. I thought the match was kinda meh. She loves Swerve a lot, and she likes Danielson a lot. She was happy Danielson won and enjoyed the match I think- I had to miss some of that due to driving for work. She had fun watching the show, and I did as well, thought we each felt some of it wasn't all that great, it kinda went something we loved and something we didn't alternating the whole time, with the not so good being ok. Was fun just watching a show with her for the first time in a long, long time. Can't wait to marry her in a couple months!

There is Montana Drag Wrestling- where a friend of mine has one of the tag team belts.

Jarrett was always a very good worker, but not great. You put him in with a great worker and you got a very good to great match. This was true even at his most overpushed. Even in TNA with the right opponent you got something really good, and he aged really well due to his style, but he was also willing to modernize- maybe not to the extent of say a Ricky Morton, but more than enough. Looking forward to Hangman-Lethal out of all this, that should be a pretty good asswhooping.

The transition from Minoru Suzuki to Memphis style seems pretty minor to me. A Minoru Suzuki- Jerry Lawler match in the early 2000s could have ruled.

The only thing is they've done so much to each other, where can they go to up the stakes? Loser leaves AEW is like the only real escalation I can think that's left unless you want to get into total Memphis ridiculousness that should be kept in the past.

The match needed some outside stakes, to make Hangman's deal with the devil so to speak even more diabolical. Hangman really needs to be forced to go full on traitor , or at least temporarily give up on his revenge.

She got a match on Collision and called out Shida tonight after winning with a new submission.

Hangman was suspended not fired. I think it would be better for Hangman to oppose the Elite logic-wise , but still hate Swerve and say he'll deal with him later, or demand a title shot in exchange for not killing Swerve then and there the way Joe did vs MJF.

That and well , she's just as crazy as Harley and Saraya so she's a good fit, and she's probably the best worker of the three right now , as Saraya's limited and Harley's green. Would have been a good place to re-debut Tay if she's ready. Seeing MJF get the shit kicked out of him makes me like him more, why couldn't we have had MJF vs Minoru, or MJF vs Ishii at some point? Hechihero as an evil arm-breaking bastard could work too. I like MJF the in-ring worker more than MJF the talker, which is the opposite of how I feel about Jay White, though both are top-class in both.

So much good tonight. My fiancee was really into the Mariah Love Triangle, I was into just about everything- even the Acclaimed had their working boots on tonight.

The rankings could have been used- top willing entrants (folks could opt out- like if they had a world title shot/are hurt/etc) , the champ, and whoever else wants to put their belt on the line for 11 of the entrants, and then a last chance battle royal to get in. The other 10 entrants are put into blocks, the champ gets to choose his block, and the battle royal winner goes in the other block. I'm all in on MJF being much better in ring than on mic, though he can deliver on the mic when he's got the right material and someone who can get him to not be lazy.

I love the poster art!!!

This is why NJPW undercards are full of these tags. That and it gives the top stars less ringtime/bumps.

Garcia would be a better choice for BOSJ. Hangman would be a great choice, esp if he's exiled for some reason. I think Brody King would be best choice- he was over as hell on that BOSJ tour he did with Marty, NJPW likes him, and he can take L's while staying credible.

The thing with Deeb is that she just doesn't strike me as all that technical. She's playing technical, but I don't think her ring skill is top tier in AEW. I mean, you've got Emi, Shida, Toni, Hayter all off the top of my heads, plus the visiting joshis. Deeb just looks slow compared to them. I mean, she's perfectly fine and acceptable in ring, but Deeb's Dojo should have been more of a Cobra Kai thing about ruthlessness than Deeb Malenko, when she doesn't feel like she's close to Malenko-level.

I'd say 4 vs 4 Elimination tags (done by "random drawing") , then end of show battle royal with the survivors, winner gets last entry into Continental Classic. That could be a fun show- we'd know 11 folks wouldn't be on the show (the Champ and top 10 contenders who entered the Classic)

Have Stat and Stokely turn on Willow to join Mone at DoN, then have Willow do the chase, perhaps ending in some sort of Cage Match. Use Anna as Willow's new friend in violence.

One of my best friends has that and it's incredibly painful for her.

Is Jay going to have to break Darby every year? As for Page, he's good in lots of areas, but not exactly Elite anywhere, and with AEW's roster, and a lot of other, more over veterans, that makes him pretty expendable despite his talent. He'll land in a good spot somewhere else.

Well, at least he looks like a classic fighting game grappler (Darun Mister from the Street Fighter EX/ Fighting EX Layer series)