ExcellenceofAirPollution

I finally got around to watching last week's Rampage/Battle of the Belts and the thread is locked. Fun, easy 2 hours of wrestling. Top Flight v. Mox/Danielson was the highlight for me. I love when Jericho does commentary and I dig his interactions with JR and Tony some great musical references on these shows "My way your way anything goes tonight!" - Jericho with a shoutout to his buddy Duff Jericho - "He looks confused..." JR - "And dazed!" Jericho - "Dyslexic Zeppelin over here!" (great band name, trademark it Chris!) And then you had Kip's "I'm in your head! I'm in your head!" and he breaks into The Cranberries!

Great show overall. Crowd was hot and apparently they had strong last minute/day of sales (I hope it was due to buzz around the product and people weren't expecting Sasha). Top 3 matches delivered. The degree of difficulty on stuff in the main event was wild. I think it was simultaneously the craziest and safest/best executed big ladder match, at least that I can recall. I don't recall a lot of trios ladder matches in the states either. I thought Lucha Bros needed the win more, but I'll wait to see the directions they go in with both teams. Kenny as a single pretty much has to be a heatseeking missile for the world title so I get having the trios belts on them to keep him away from it. That was the original plan back when Punk was going to be champ, to keep them apart for a while. I need to watch all 3 matches again without commercials, I always like them better on second watch. - Cole was a legit great surprise. I kinda thought he was done, got a little choked up seeing him so emotional. I didn't see his ROH babyface stuff. That was a long time ago though, everything about him screams working from underneath babyface to me. Also think he should be a tag or trios guy, if for nothing else maybe it keeps him healthier. I dug him a lot in NXT until things got stale. Thought his AEW run was underwhelming to put it nicely, but a lot of it was the booking. Thinking back on it, he was a tag champ and a secondary champ in NXT before they put the top belt on him. I think that's where Tony fucked up, pushing him to the moon rather than slow building him. And personally I thought it was kind of a bad look for AEW. It hurt Hangman too, having Cole as his first big challenger after the Danielson matches, but what's done is done. Hanger has recovered IMO, hopefully Cole can stay healthy and get on a good run. - I liked the story in Page/Mox, was fine with the finish. On doing "head injury" angles when you have real concussion injuries going on I've got mixed feelings. It goes back to the "Owen Voice" stuff. Wrestling has been faking injuries forever. You've got Bryan Danielson's take on this, who believes you should use everything in pro-wrestling. Real life, real injuries, everything. He wanted to do worked head injury stuff in WWE but they wouldn't let him. In general I agree with Bryan, but honestly I think I side with WWE on that one. It's kind of case by case. I know everyone wants desperately to work the fans and it's really hard today, and there's lot's of blurred lines and grey area....but there's certain stuff I'd rather they not fuck around with too much when you see how devastating repeated concussions have been to people. But like they say, it ain't ballet and a few eggs may get cracked - I had zero clue who Hauser was, I thought he was from Yellowstone which shows you how current on pop culture I am. I looked him up though and saw he got WWE references changed to AEW in a movie he was working on so he's cool with me! Loved the cheesy Bobby Duvall shirt too I'm sure there's more but most everything has been covered. AEW starting in 20->21 has been really good at closing out the last couple months of the year strong and starting off the next one hot

This 100%. Nailed it. I've been holding off on commenting on the Saudi stuff because NEWZ and because there's a hundred things to say but I wanted to make a couple points - If it does happen, don't feel bad for Sami. He JUST re-signed, when Vince was in charge. He could have gone to AEW, he knew who he was getting in bed with. If he wakes up with fleas... - As to why Saudi Arabia would want WWE I think it's obvious but I get that not everybody has been following MBS and his Vision 2030. The GLOBAL reach of WWE across media platforms would be massive to that end. Think of WWE's huge built in multi-generational audience that practically touches every corner of the globe and you can see why it would be so valuable to them as a cultural object and soft propaganda tool more than anything else. This isn't about American hearts and minds exclusively, more people watch WWE in India and China at this point. The goal is to turn Saudi Arabia into a tourist destination and sports and media hub for the entire world, and it's a longview. WWE actually fits brilliantly alongside LIV and Newcastle, and they definitely reach more eyeballs - I enjoy the schadenfreude of internet comment sections, the worse grammar and brain function the better. It's a bad habit. But seeing people freak out on the newz sites last night was entertaining for a minute. My favorite was the WWE diehards losing their minds because Saudis=9/11 (interesting how widespread this is now that even the morons accept it) and now they're totally screwed because they CANT or WONT watch AEW for some reason! I really wanted to create an account just to find out why these people are so anti-AEW that even Vince going heel on 'Merica won't change their minds

It is, but his explanation actually makes sense in a weird way. It was essentially, "this was one of the greatest matches I've ever seen and it was better than a ton of matches I gave the full monty to so how could I not go higher than 5?" How he landed specifically at ******1/4 I haven't a clue But he also sounded like he thought it was better than the match he gave 7 stars to a couple years ago, so I don't think Dave can even keep his ratings straight at this point. Plus he's basically admitted to a bit of trolling with his ratings sometimes and he seems to get off on the bickering it causes.......

Nothing about this Vince news is too surprising to me to be honest. I figured it was a matter of time before he was back. I wasn't expecting Wilson/Barrios back as empty suit puppets for Vince but it makes sense, and it just exposes what a joke the board is. The stock going up so much isn't surprising either as they're clearly wanting people to think they're positioning for a sale, of course Wall St eats that shit up. Perception is reality and even if they don't sell and just end up with better TV deals the stock will be fine. I don't think they'd actually take the company private again but stranger things have happened. I also don't expect much of a public blowback or fan backlash to this news. And to all the talent out there, in WWE, in AEW, free agents.....nobody in the business should be surprised by this. For any disgruntled talent in AEW hopefully this is a wakeup call of how good they have it with their job security and a boss who isn't a sociopath Personally I've been largely done with WWE for a while. Vince stepping away didn't bring me back and I'm not sure what would at this point. My only concern is how this affects AEW and the larger pro-wrestling landscape. I don't think Vince can stay away from creative completely. Of course they're saying that now, but plans are always subject to change when VKM is involved. IF he stays true to his word and leaves Paul in charge of creative I'll be pleasantly surprised because by all accounts he's doing a good job and it's clearly for the best longterm. I also don't think he can resist being on TV, even if it's just a wink wink cameo. Definitely gonna be a lot of talent walking on eggshells for the forseeable future. For selfish reasons I want Vince's first official action to be firing The Good Brothers again, just because. "TELL KARL ANDERSON TO FUCK KARL ANDERSON!"

somone edit that and put in spoilers please and thank you, I thought enough time had passed

no January pics/gifs thread yet so I'll post this here was listening to an old ep of BTS (1992) and they were talking about Marty Jannetty getting busted with a 19 yr old carrying a fake ID at a place called the 'Yucatan Liquor Stand' in Tampa, which somehow then led to both of them getting busted for cocaine possession. I had to google this place so of course I found this: Long Necks 4 for 7. Same as it ever was.

Looks like a really strong show on paper, hopefully the streak of hot crowds continues I was curious, it's their first time in the Denver area since before the pandemic (3/4/20), Dynamite #22. Drew 3350 according to this: https://www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=shows&show=474072 Jake Roberts debuted and Death Triangle formed on this show! https://411mania.com/wrestling/csonkas-aew-dynamite-review-3-04-20/

I was gonna guess Mama Celeste

Watched the show early Thursday AM without spoilers. Crowd was nuclear during the Jericho match, added so much to it. You could catch Jericho early in the match couldn't wipe the smirk off his face when he realized they already had the crowd before they'd barely even done anything. I watched the international feed and I'm assuming they went to break after the Codebreaker, which is a shame because that's when the crowd was at it's hottest. I was shocked when he kicked out of that. Awesome stuff. I've seen a few people say they should have done this with someone more established already who needed a big win rather than a complete nobody which to me is asinine. You do that and it wouldn't be what we got at all, the crowd wouldn't have reacted the same, it would be something completely different. This had to be someone like Andretti. Had never seen him before and he showed great poise. There was one point where he went to the top rope and the crowd was going banana and the announcers pointed it out right after I was thinking how crazy this had to be for the kid and he better not stop to think about what's happening. Really interested to see how they follow this up. You can only really do something like this once so hopefully Andretti is up to the spot. Great name btw. Weakest of the 4 trios matches so far but I was fine with the story being told. Adding some stips for the final 3 was a good call. This interaction might have been during the break but it cracked me up: (Cutler is checking on Nick outside) Taz: "Brandon Cutler checking on Nick, we're not talking about a certified trainer here..." Callis: "not quite..." Taz: (takes a beat) Cutler's "not quite" anything..... Also loved Stokely's "RIP NEW JACK" after calling for some music during the beatdown. LMAO. I'm starting to enjoy Stokely again.

I love blood in wrestling but Sammy and Tay was too much for me. Takes a lot to gross me out and that did it. And that's on top of Mox's fucking ear gushing blood everywhere. I couldn't help but wonder what Jane Q Public would think if she came across this barbarism on a Friday evening. I do appreciate Mox taking it upon himself to become Mr. Rampage the last couple weeks. Legit LOL for Orange faking getting lowblowed, then Danhausen following his lead leading to both the women getting ejected. Great spot. Orange is the perfect midcard champion for this promotion right now. He can have an entertaining match with literally anyone and you can use him and Best Friends to get other people on TV and tell some stories like they did here. I watched the last two weeks of Rampage back to back (Mox and Takeshita ruled), very good, think I'm back on board if they can keep up this formula. And I didn't even realize it until now but I missed JR!!

This is the story they should have told with Saraya (loses to Brit in her first match in 5 years, works her way back up the card) but they blew it. Sasha is the wrong one to do it with, and she'd never go for it (nor should she). If I were Matt Riddle I know what I'd probably be failing for. This is a fun one for speculation but I won't go there other than to say you'd think he'd be better at this at this point. Disappointing because he's one of the most talented guys they have IMO, and it seemed like he was already fighting an uphill battle on a couple fronts. Vince seemed to like him, Hunter pushed him in NXT....not sure who's in charge makes a difference on this one The Vince stuff is hilarious. I totally think it was a coup at this point and have for a while (him saying he got bad advice from people close to him is interesting)....he's delusional if he thinks he's getting back in power, right?

Ass Boys reveal Dem Boys FTR III @ Final Battle? Sure, why not! It's not a one match show by any means, but nothing felt must see. That match alone sells it. I won't be ordering it, but now I feel like I'll be missing out. By necessity or not they've kept the indy dream match feel alive with the Briscoes. I wanted FTR to win but no complaints about the way the match went. I need to watch it again without PIP but there was some good back and forth and just enough heelishness from FTR to tease them going further in the rematch. I still want them to get all the belts sooner than later but I have no idea how NJPW and AAA feel about having semi-absentee champions for so long. I also can't wait for Dax and Cash to kick the shit out of Billy Gunn and cut a promo on how shitty his half dozen tag teams were Are we okay with people kicking out of spike piledrivers? I know it's 2022 but that should still be a tag team death move I wasn't really feeling Starks and MJF before tonight, the tournament field wasn't as impressive as years past, but they did a great job making Starks look like a star from the entrance to the match to the promo. The breakup/feud with Hobbs didn't really work for whatever reason, probably because they were such a great pairing and nobody wanted to see them feud. Feels like he's back on track now. Having other young and hungry "homegrown" peers like Starks, Jungle Boy and Darby as opponents is going to do wonders for MJF's title run. Crowd was super hot for this. AEW Originals all the way! Darby and Joe are perfect opponents, that match was hella fun. No offense to Mr. Mayhem or Mr. Juice but I want to see Rd. 2. Actually, that might be a really fun fatal 4 way... Really fun show that breezed by and did a good job building to 4 upcoming shows at the same time (Rampage, ROH, Winter is Coming, 1/11 LA Dynamite), and also showed the depth of the roster (no Jericho, Danielson or Elite/Death Triangle aside from video packages). Things are heating up and it feels like they're hitting a groove again at just the right time

I'm glad he hears the criticism and listens/adjusts when it's constructive, but what he's saying isn't true at all. Joe has defended the TV title on Dynamite several times, Wheeler Yuta and Garcia main evented in Buffalo for the pure title, I definitely saw Maria/Bennett/Taven at some point, PRINCE NANA (always welcome btw) and his crew. It's kind of nitpicking, but I think Tony is the one who doesn't remember what's on what show in this case. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched Rampage, all my ROH complaints have been strictly Dynamite related

My prediction is FTR go heel and win the titles. Might explain Dax and Bryan happening out of nowhere last week. And it seemed like the plan was always for them to have all the titles but Acclaimed getting so over and some other stuff got in the way. Makes sense to put the belts on them before they start dropping the other titles. I'd expect them to lose the IWGP at Wrestle Kingdom I'd love to see Darby win the TNT title, but then again I also think he should be the guy to beat MJF down the line. Feels like he's been criminally underused over the last year

If she wants to be Holy Shida, then bygawd she's Holy Shida!

I'm not the biggest MJF fan but I'm willing to give him a chance and there's been lots of times over the last 3 years I've enjoyed his performances. If it turns into him holding the belt hostage and never defending I probably won't like it, but we'll see. More Flair less HHH. After all the messed up booking along the way we're finally where Tony wanted to end up all along. It's kind of a clean slate and as Matt D noted there's an endless list of challengers. As far as the booking along the way, Meltzer felt they were testing the waters of a possible babyface run but it was always going to be a swerve. Alvarez thought they should have pulled the trigger. They also said at one point he was doing off camera heavy heel work to get the crowds to stop cheering him. I don't think the MJF character works without goons though, paying for hired muscle is a big part of it. The Firm is almost assuredly ending up back with him and I guess I'm fine with that because they don't work on their own. They don't really work as constructed either though. The Gunns should be doing their own thing and Lee Moriarty feels like a Punk pick who doesn't fit now. Spears was MJF's most loyal guy and I don't remember him ever turning despite coming back as a babyface in Canada but I'm not sure you want to go back to that. I've been down on AEW in recent months but Elite/Death Triangle, Mox/Page, Jericho, Danielson, MJF love or hate is compelling right now, Hayter and what feels like good depth in the division, The Acclaimed and Orange as strong champs in their own ways.....there's the skeleton of a really hot promotion right now. I feel like if the focus is kept on all of that, with of course FTR, Lee/Swerve, Hobbs, Starks and.......this is where they run into problems because I was about to list about 50 people who need tv time and the shows still suffer for it. And don't forget that next week will be the ROH hardsell for a show I have zero interest in. FTR and Briscoes was the draw of those shows, nothing on this one feels uniquely ROH or something you haven't already seen on AEW tv. Super WWECW vibes

Strong, strong disagreement my friend. Omega slicing his throat while walking down the ramp to this jammy song with the whole crew jumping around is my favorite thing in rasslin right now

I don't get to watch Dynamite live often and that might have clouded my judgement but I thought this was a pretty strong show top to bottom. I wasn't blown away by Dax-Danielson or anything but it was still a pretty darn good TV wrestling match to [i]open[/i] the show.... Guess I'm in the minority (so far) but I dug MJF turning on Regal like that. It was totally telegraphed there at the end, but I dug it and thought it was kinda perfect storytelling for what they want his character to be. MJF with a veteran mentor never made sense. MJF using and manipulating that guy the way he did makes complete sense. Don't care for the "this is serious now guys" voices with Taz/Excaliber trying to pretend to hold back tears at all....but if you're gonna do this angle with Regal you kinda have to I guess I'm someone who actually likes MJF the wrestler a lot more than the promo/character. MJF tries way too hard sometimes, comes off like someone trying desperately to be a character, and he comes off as exactly that to me way too much. I totally had a moment in the middle of this where I thought to myself, "kid, I watched Piper, and you are no F'n Piper....." tho I guess it's hard to be without the gimmicks. That said, while he didn't hit a homerun with his first promo as champ, I definitely didn't hate this overall. It covered a lot of ground and it set up his character and a number of future opponents perfectly. I also loved how smartly they booked things to explain all of the BCC being elsewhere (and Bryan recovering from his match), though I'm wondering why all of a sudden they are taping at a studio in Nashville....... I loved the hot open with Hangman's return. Him and Mox feels organic and natural going back to the promo Mox cut on him before the injury, now it's even better. Mox almost killed himself twice here (a theme repeated during the main event brawl). This feels like a strike while the iron is hot program between two main eventers away from the title picture for a bit (but not too far) I'm getting such a kick out of Orange the "whatever" champion who'll defend against anyone at the drop of a hat. That promo with QT ruled. Jade is a star but that segment made me think Dynamite slipped back into the Codyverse for a moment.....wtf was that I haven't posted in a bit but I'm a pretty big Omega mark, I love Death Triangle, and I'm a big Bucks fan too so this best of 7 is right in my wheelhouse. I knew I wouldn't get sick of it because of matches like this. It's not like they won't repeat spots, but I have high confidence in these guys to have 7 different matches while telling an overall story. Loved this match, loved the first two, shit like this is why I'm here for AEW.

I was digging the Darby-Lethal program and rematch, thinking about how it's the first thing they've done with Lethal that I've actually been into and it's good to see them doing anything with Darby at this point and then swung all the way around to WTF is this shit at the end. The fake Sting thing was so, so lame and I thought Tony learned his lesson by now with the underwhelming reveals, though I guess it was supposed to be because he wasn't the big surprise..... Man oh man. When I see Jeff Jarrett I think of TNA and the death spiral of WCW. It's not what I want from AEW. Bad vibes. I don't even dislike him and can handle him in small doses (his brief WWE return was a fine nostalgia surprise), he may be a great backstage hire, but I can't spin what looks like Jarrett vs. Sting in AEW in 2022 as a good thing. Bring back DDP and Steiner while you're at it, get the whole band back together. I guess if they're going to be the spiritual successor to WCW we take the good with the bad..... I'm in a weird place with my AEW fandom at this point. I love AEW, I've been super into it since day 1, but gradually and for a variety of reasons the bloom is off the rose. Good to know I'm not alone as I see some others here feeling the same way. Feels bad, man. And it sucks because AEW filled a major void and was the best thing to happen to North American wrestling in forever. Still is, but the promotion overall hasn't really been clicking with me lately the way it did in the past, and I've been down on a lot of the booking big and small all year I know some people argue this, but for me personally all the ROH stuff has been a detriment to the product. You're still establishing AEW as a young promotion, introducing ROH muddies the water and shows feel like Ring of AEW at times. Why is AEW sharing TV time with ROH? Big turnoff for me and I really think it's hurt the identity of the product. WITH ALL THAT SAID Chris Jericho is on my shortlist of all-time faves and I'm loving him as ROH champion. Disrespectful champion will never not get over with me. Before the Ocho the ROH experiment was a total negative for me and he's singlehandedly redeeming it Flooding the zone with so many title belts has also been a negative. I'm generally fine with having more belts than purists would want if they're all established with unique identities, but AEW introduced way too many titles in too short a time period. I even forget that Wardlow is TNT champ sometimes. That belt went from being incredibly well booked and special thru Miro to just another title I don't like being negative, and there's definitely a part of me that knows I'm more critical of AEW now than I was 3 years ago when I was willing to overlook a lot more as growing pains and bumps in the road. I'm sure if I looked back at early shows they'd look pretty bad in comparison to the average show now. But part of the reason is that AEW improved a lot, they set the bar really, really high, and they've come back down to earth. And there was also a constant growth and progression that made the shows fun and engaging to be along with the ride for that has stalled out, and they've been struggling to hit their groove again. It feels like they made this slow and steady climb, plateaued early, and have been sliding backwards. I'm Hoping that the further removed they get from the Punk fiasco and all the backstage drama, and with the Elite being back as a shot in the arm, that they'll close the year out strong and get some momentum back

when thinking about all the AEW drama of the last several months I keep coming back to two things - wrestlers are like seagulls, which even if you've never read the book is a perfect descriptor. someone up there said "herding cats" and "spinning plates" same idea - "FICKLE!" trademark Bryan Danielson, in regards to both the wrestlers and the fans For as big a wrestling nerd as Tony is he seems to have missed so many of the lessons he needed to learn to be in the position he's in. It just keeps making me think for all the lear jets and parties he's been to he's seriously lacking in 'real' life experience, street smarts or whatever. I keep thinking back to the Punk 'scrum' where he probably lost all respect in the eyes of the lockerroom, and now people feel like they can walk all over him and if they didn't think he was a "money mark" before they absolutely do now. How can anyone respect him after Punk shit all over his company and he sat there and took it? It's too much of a macho business for that shit and he put himself in that position. I really hate typing all this negative shit about AEW, but it's also crashing and burning before our eyes and is looking clownshoes right when TV negotiations are starting. If I'm at WBD right now I'm wondering if I want to be in business with this traveling circus anymore

Andrade was waaaay more entertaining in his backstage skits like trying to buy Darby from 'Stink' or his nonsense with Hardy or anything with Jose than Sammy ever was with his stupid cue card gimmick (which was meant to keep people from changing channels but was an instant channel changer for me). I liked him as the cocky kid in the IC but he hasn't progressed much beyond that and I thought his babyface run and the stuff with Fuego was dire I'm probably more forgiving of Andrade's booking because I've enjoyed him in AEW way more than I did in WWE. I'd outright say he's one of my favorites in the company at this point. I think he's had some dope matches that he never would have had there, and the character feels authentic. He's a solid upper-midcarder who could be moved up easily. But he's run into the same problem a lot of others have in AEW, not enough top spots for all the top talent. He came in when the company was already loaded and then got leapfrogged by Punk/Bryan and (ugh) Cole. I can understand him wanting out now too, especially with his wife in the other company, but for selfish reasons I hope he sticks around in AEW for a while. There's still a ton of matches with him I want to see and freakin Rush just got there!!!