ExcellenceofAirPollution

random thought as I'm about to watch Collision on MAX AEW needs to update their graphics. The graphic for Collision has Christian in the center and larger than everyone else, surrounded by Mariah May (presumably gone and possibly dead in AEW canon), Darby (on Mt. Everest, godspeed), Orange Cassidy and Willow Nightengale. You're definitely not getting at least two of them on any current episode of Collision, and it's an odd group to feature regardless Dynamite by contrast features Mercedes, Swerve, Mox, MJF and Ospreay all at equal sizes. A much better representation of current AEW and who you can expect to see on the show

NBA playoffs. June 19 2024 was the first Dynamite after the Finals ended last season. Ratings will be down the next couple months, WWE is down against them too.....but I'm sure that won't stop reactionaries from reacting and pundits from.....punditing?

Hangman and MJF were literally going back and forth about who was the "main character" of AEW

I'm blown away by this. Despite never meeting him I feel like I have a spiritual connection to DEAN like a lot of you here. I've told my story of seeing him on AOL Grandstand in my earliest days on the IWC, he stood out even back then, and it was always cool when he responded to something I posted or later on liked/reacted. I'm just a bit older than Tony K and AEW has always felt like a promotion made specifically for someone like me who still mourns the loss of WCW and ECW.....we talk about him being one of us if we happened to be a billionaire........so yeah, I find this pretty surreal and awesome and an amazingly cool thing for AEW to do. Hopefully the money raised from the shows will go to a good cause like hiring Mr. Cash on a full time basis and fixing the board!

Home of Linda Moulton Howe!!! *hopes at least 1 person gets that reference. Off to dreamland...*

I was thinking the same thing. World's largest/most talented JTTS, it's crazy how often he's been getting pinned. Between him and Mortos I'm starting to think Tony has an antipathy towards unconventional bigs Second Niners, the promotion feels like it's in a really good place again right now creatively, another fun show this week. I think we can go back through the last several years of our posting and see an up and down pattern where they get into ruts/lulls for a while and then all of a sudden the booking starts getting more intricate and interwoven and we get lots of compelling intersecting stories like we have now. Good mix of talent being featured right now with lots of crossover and it feels like there's some real short and long term vision playing out There was one REALLY loud guy in the crowd the mic was picking up all night. He cracked me up a few times ("THAT SHIRT IN YOUR BACK POCKET IS SUSPECT STOKELY!"), most of the time he was just annoying Like the Stokely/FTR pairing. They don't need a manager but I think it adds to them as heels. Feels forever ago but Tully was great with them I'm really digging the MJF and Hurt Syndicate stuff. When MVP said to him a couple weeks ago something to the effect of, "you need to show them the goods/give them what they want" I figured it was setting up MJF literally just hurting someone to prove to he belongs in the group. The end of that segment tonight did not dissuade me. Don't know who the victim will be, but I expect him to absolutely massacre somebody sooner than later to earn Lashley's stamp of approval Bucks and Speedball/Knight was lots of fun. Knight was a great signing, really impressive athlete and fairly charismatic. I've done a total 180 on Speedball.

fr om Green Day to Master P! Make em' say Kerplunk!

a wrestlemania III vape cart???? no wonder everyone was so fucked up I largely fast forwarded through both shows, watched the opener and main in full here. The commentary is brutal and I really don't like WWE/TKO. Women's 3 way was the one match I cared to see and it was pretty great. Loved how it was continually the 3 of them playing off of each other with constant motion and not much down time. Really well laid out and executed, and really complicated stuff flowed naturally and didn't feel contrived. I thought there was no way Iyo was retaining so it made the finish even better for me. Arguably the 3 best women on the planet right now....the women's division is the one area WWE has a clear advantage over AEW IMO I can't believe Cena greenlit that Travis Scott stuff. You're supposed to be looking at WM with a historical lense, where you create a moment that is timeless. 50/50 Travis Scott will need to be erased from WWE history at some point. From the outside looking at the Cena heel turn it feels like they've dropped the ball on everything story/character wise....but it's still working/over in spite of it? Cody definitely looked stupid....and Cena looked stupid because why the fuck is this skinny rapper his secret weapon?? Are we supposed to know about how the Astroworld blood sacrifice gave him satanic black magic powers??? I know that but do all the fans???? that woman saw her life flash before her eyes when Austin came flying at her on that ATV. Holy shit that was scary, and lucky it wasn't worse. You could see it coming on the turn too. As soon as she got over the shock she was up in his face, and I'm sure visions of lawsuits were running thru Austin's head the whole rest of that segment, he looked spooked. Good chance he was lit too. Probably not the best idea to go check on her afterwards while absolutely soaked in beer. This whole thing made me really angry for some reason, just blatant drunken irresponsibility. This felt like the perfect encapsulation of this country right now. Fuck safety, fuck your life, nothing matters, we got the money and the lawyers fuck you. Humans are disposable. Meat Deathsec. WWE is soul sucking. Fuck this company, fuck HHH, fuck Stephanie McMahon and her stupid mother. If I had a time machine I'd kill baby Vince McMahon

Ok cool, thanks. So her character was getting booed. Meltzer made it sound like something else

I sped rush thru the show this AM b4 Easter shenanigans. I wasn't that impressed with the stage setup/production tbh.....usually one of the highlights of the show I spotted that NAZ REID banner in the crowd all night and marked out every time. He went to LSU so I'm not even sure wtf was going on with that Jey had a bit of a gut going, was surprised he wasn't in better shape for the biggest match of his life. Surprised Gunther tapped. I'd expect that belt to be back on Seth sooner than later I find El Grande Americano in pretty fucking bad taste given what's happening in this country and the political affiliations of the company. There's a universe and a company where something like this could totally work and be entertaining, but this isn't it. Couldn't believe they beat Fenix here Main event was fine, even good in the WWE triple threat style. They've done so many of these over the years that it's largely paint by numbers. The spear-->pedigree and the GTS->spear->stomp where all 3 guys hit their moves in rapid succession were great spots/sequences. Powerbomb spots on the tables all looked good. I can't take Punk seriously anymore as a person/character, but he's still a fine performer. I didn't see any of his matches with McIntyre or anyone else last year.....I guess he looked more or less how I remember him here. Didn't do anything high risk and that's for the best Going in, on paper night 2 looked a lot stronger to me. The women's 3 way is the only match I was really looking forward to, Ripley and Bianca have been two of my favorites watching WM in recent years On Bianca.....Meltzer said something about her being booed at the HOF or some WWE event....sort of in the context of Vince getting cheered.....he didn't elaborte. Did she say something to make the WWE zombies upset?

Ditto. When I see STP I think Stone Temple Pilots first obviously, but in an AEW context I think Shane Taylor Promotions. I'm guessing the P is for Pride.....Show the Pride? I liked the backstage segment with Kevin Knight, Ricochet and Speedball. Speedball has definitely grown on me with his goofy charisma. Thought Bryan Keith was good in his segment with Big Bill too Another really good show. Weird that they used that Elton John song on a Thursday though.

The ref called it like immediately when Joe hit the mat with the clutch. It was too fast for Mox to be out, but I didn't see him tap. I thought they were rushing to get off the air......but then they did the post-match. I'm about to watch parts of the show again (I missed the first 8 minutes or so and need to see Banks/Athena in full, what I saw was great) so I'm gonna eagle eye it. Shibata choked him out on the ramp last week too so they're doing a good job showing he's vulnerable to it On the Pumpkins.....I generally like them. Played the shit out of Siamese Dream on cassette but was kind of over them by the time their huge double album came out. I liked the singles/videos but never owned that one. I also didn't check out Adore or Machina until a few years after they came out because a college friend really liked them. They were aight. Haven't listened to anything since then, or ZWAN. I really like the song Ava Adore and the video is beautiful

I want to give a shout to how good the commentary is. That's a general comment, but it's consistently good and they don't get enough flowers. I never watched Josh Alexander in TNA/Impact (or anywhere else for that matter). I always thought he looked like a dork in the headgear when I saw pictures of him. Almost immediately they note that he had a Cauliflowered ear that had to be re-attached and he wears it to protect it. Good, informative commentary. I instantly went from thinking he was a dork with an amateur wrestling gimmick/Rick Steiner fetish to "oh fuck that's gnarly" and my respect for him immediately shot up. I don't know if he can talk or not, but being Canadian and with his look/gimmick he feels like a natural fit with Callis' group. I dunno

GREAT Dynamite tonight. Great matches, great atmosphere, great booking. Digging the Bucks return so far and the intertwining of various storylines at the top of the card, good stuff with them and Hangman. Liked Alexander joining Callis. Liking the MJF/Hurt Syndicate story and tonight's segment was probably the best Most stuff is clicking right now. I know the draft is coming up but the booking gets better when the NFL season is over. It's a pattern now.

I thought Wednesday's show was good, but one criticism was they had Swerve saying he was going to find Moxley by the end of the night then we never saw him again or (I think) heard the announcers bring it up again the entire night. I'd completely forgotten about it and when they cut to the back after Cope-Claudio I was like, "oh yeah, Swerve wanted to get his hands on Mox" and I almost missed it because I'd thought about just skipping Cope and Claudio all together. The interaction with Hanger and Swerve was huge but I'm guessing a lot of people missed it It made me think of attitude era WWF where you would have had a half dozen vignettes of SCSA throughout the show looking for whoever and the announcers talking about it over every match. It was overkill, but you wouldn't forget to stick around to the end. How's the Swerve thing a hook if you never remind anyone he's looking for Mox? There should have been a couple segments and a few mentions on commentary EDIT*. also the announcers kept talking about Death Riders attacking Jay White.....but it was never shown? They were talking about it during the first match like I was supposed to have seen it EDIT2* since I'm still here and thinking of Jay White......why did they never address the BBG when the Gunns came back and had their title match (and disappeared again)? Was there a backstage segment with them and White that I missed or was it just blown off?

I'm a fair man. Speedball looked great in the 4 way last night. Still a total dork. Didn't like the finish, but now I've got someone else to root against on the PPV. FUCK CANADA! USA USA USA USA!!! 100% TARIFF ON SPEEDBALL!!!!

Wasn't feeling Speedball. I've seen the name for years, never went out of my way to seek out any of his matches. Small, weird WWE-esque Cobra Kai presentation. His outfit reminded me of Miz. I was expecting a fast, flippy guy....not a barefoot, methodical karate gimmick. This isn't someone I would have signed and treated like a big deal, felt out of place And he beats fucking Mortos. I feel like I've been begging for a Mortos push for a year now. I hate that they're using him as a JTTS, I hate that they kept him heel and stuck him in that going nowhere stable with now you see him now you don't Rush. Fuck, what a fucking waste of a super talented organically over guy. Instead you're going to shove SPEEDBALL down my throat?? Fuck you. 100% with Soviet Shooter on the 97 WCW vibes with the luchadores. I thought the same thing watching the show and it wasn't the first time And of all the lucha guys they use Dralistico has shown me the least. He's not even a good JTTS because he never makes his opponents look good. Totally only there because he's related to Rush. As great as Rush is, and how seemingly low maintenance he is when it comes to wins/losses....I feel like he's playing an entirely different game. Pin me, pay me, hire my dad and my shitty brother, sorry gotta stay in Mexico for another 3 months I got "visa problems" esse...... I see you Rush

REFER-EYE!!!!

wrestling relevant Chuck Mosley. This album is an underrated gem if you like early FNM. RIP

And beyond that it's Strong who's been wrestling trios (and they'd also been teasing him and the other Undisputed guys going for the TNT title) and OC who hasn't been on TV. Neither of them has done anything to warrant being involved in an International title scenario. And IIRC Kenny challenged Takeshita to a title match after pinning him in the big tag match. Then they backfilled this championship series thing to culminate in the current champion maybe defending against the guy who challenged him Just weird, backwards, superfluous booking....

First thing I noticed was the ring (as discord can attest) and it bugged me the entire show. Made the promotion look super low rent in my eyes to stick these guys in what looked like a boxing ring Also dangerous for the talent that's used to working in a bigger ring. Not only the reverse rana, Kenny screwed up his Terminator dive and a couple other things. I thought that whole match was kind of a mess and I'm guessing it would have been a lot smoother in THE RING THEY USUALLY WRESTLE IN. Fuck. You pay these guys millions of dollars, go all to the way to Australia and can't bring an AEW ring? They deserve all the shit they get online for this. I couldn't even believe my eyes. The whole Australia thing has been a debacle and I'm taking it as a bad omen for the rest of the year. I think Tony needs an intervention or exorcism or something

nm

Cedric Bixler-Zavala Did I miss Barry's run of posting here?

The thing with the sports analogy is there's only so many roster spots and it's not a good use of resources to sign a big money older FA when you've got young talent ready to cook It's not anywhere near WCW level glass ceiling because AEW has actually done a good job with a handful of younger/newer talent and put them in top spots, but the older guys are still taking TV time from younger talent. AEW has lost younger viewers, lost some of their cool factor, attendance is down......there isn't a sole reason but I think the roster makeup and who is featured is a big one I've warmed up to Hurt Syndicate a bit, but I totally get where someone like Gordi is coming from RE: all the ex-WWE/TNA talent, and I do think it's a problem in general. The Jarrett push, combined with Christian's guaranteed title shot, Jericho as ROH champion, CD in an angle with a top guy....Death Riders on top of that.....it's a lot and it's coming right on the back of the product feeling fresher and more revitalized than it had in a while coming off the CC

My thing with Lashley is he'd already been on the downswing and de-emphasized in WWE. That alters my perception when he shows up in AEW because WWE literally released him because they thought he was past his prime and not worth the money. Then AEW presumably pays him a lot of money and has him beat Swerve in his first match in...... Swerve, who is the exact opposite case of Lashley. Someone WWE was shortsighted on, had barely scratched the surface on, and AEW was able to capitalize. Toni Storm is another one like that (I think she asked for her release, but stuff had gotten weird in WWE) Then there's someone like Ricochet who was in the middle in WWE and left of his own accord. Or Mercedes Mone. I try to look at it case by case, and the reasons and the path are always going to alter my perception at first. There's also the age/exposure factor. I think people are talking about it more because Meltzer talked/wrote about it, but hasn't the consensus here generally been that they've gone too heavy on ex-WWE talent? It really does stand out when you're watching the show sometimes and it's Christian and Jarrett and Jericho and Copeland and Lashley/Benjamin/MVP and it's like holy shit I could have been watching this 20 years ago