killsteve

WALTER vs Fraser on NXT UK this week was good stuff, a strong farewell match and he made Fraser look like a future star

I enjoyed the sports entertainment of Punk vs Wardlow, though that finishing cradle was ass. I think if that had been executed tighter and they had played up the experience gap between them more on commentary it would have come off better. Zero interest in the Cole & Friends/Bucks vs Best Friends feud as it feels like obvious filler until they decide to either push Cole for a title shot or do this Elite split angle. I really enjoyed how last week Deeb was hyping up this big grudge match, only for her to come out and cheap-shot Shida with a shitty win. Low-key this has been a really well built feud and it's time for an I Quit or something to blow it off. Sammy vs Garcia was decent but I think the TNT title has exposed Sammy as a guy with a great physical skill-set but quite limited when it comes to the mental side of putting a match together. House Of Black was alright. Can't say I'm that excited by Brody and his first flurry of offence on national TV looking soft didn't help that. For the 1,000th time - Lance Archer is AEW's Kane, and that's an acceptable place for him even if I have no interest in that match

Caught some of the NOAH/NJPW show and thought what I saw was entirely skippable. Togo is an all-time great but they have found a way to make him a bottom-tier cheating heel. Yeesh. I've been hot and cold on Kiyomiya on the occasions I've watched him but he was the only one in the main event who wasn't mailing it in. Okada pinning him is the least interesting and worst decision, so of course that's what happened. God forbid either side might want to set up an Okada vs Kiyomiya title match and try to make some actual money.

I'm a big Gresham fan but is he a 'big' signing in the sense that he'd be someone AEW will push heavily? Feels less likely than Briscoes, Rush or Dragon Lee.

Who else from ROH would be a big signing? Rush?

Strong vs Hayes was pretty solid cruiserweight action. Hayes is still a little green on the wrasslin stuff but clearly a great athlete. Not sure what that top rope move was even meant to be. Is Roddy gonna be the next bye-bye? 6-man was a blast. Never became truly epic but I had a lot of fun. Kinda wish they'd let Riddle be more than just Randy Orton's Tag Partner though. Grayson Waller literally has 1 win on TV and is throwing out the 'biggest win of my career' trope line. AJ should have retorted it would have been the only win of his career. Main event was nice and got VERY nice by the end. That slam through the announce table looked awesome. Bron rules, but it's so fucking weird that they still won't say the word STEINER on TV like it's a curse word or something. The guy literally won with a Diving Bulldog and Steiner Recliner and they called him the Dog Faced Gremlin, but can't bring themselves to actually acknowledge he is who he is. Such a mind-boggling half-way commitment. Is there heat between the 'E and the Steiners?

Completely get what point you're making here about people not needing to be fired/let go but just to throw another coal on the fire - while the Khan's money is of no concern to me, air-time is indeed a finite resource. If them signing Wrestler X means Wrestler Y gets less air-time, and I as a fan want to see more of Wrestler Y or want more reason to be invested in them, then that's going to affect my overall enjoyment of the show. We have already seen a lot of guys with promise shuffled down or had the amount of air-time get cut. If Tony and the EVPs want to make sure all of the friends they've made over the years get looked after that's one thing, but something like signing Jay Lethal, having him work 1 match on TV, then disappearing since, almost feels like a waste of TV time. That's not me saying I want more Jay Lethal, but there's someone else on the roster who could have benefited from that TV title main event spot who they actually have already invested time into and want to use going forward.

also LOL at that xia lee entrance this company really thinks they are marvel fuck me

The only thing I got came away from watching the highlights is how much I'd rather see a proper Brock vs Sami feud than anything else the company is running right now

What match was Adam Cole coming out to commentate? Finish to the main event was hilariously uncalled for Bryan vs Angels ruled. Exactly what you want from a young lion vs star match and easily Angel's best showing to date Orange Cassidy is bigger than Cole. Jose the assistant is bigger than Cole.

Lio Rush was the babyface all along

I'm really struggling to think of any memorable Survivor Series tags of the last 20 years. The Team Cena vs Authority one with the big Ziggler run at the ending and Sting's debut comes to mind. Maybe that one with the Shield that had Roman tearing through people. Drawing a blank after that.

None are surprising apart from Hit Row, because they've been pushed recently and they Anthony Francis/Top Dolla is a prospect they've developed themselves from scratch. Nox is a shame but I imagine her constant injuries have eroded any confidence in her.

Sidebar on Shida-Deeb - I think they've definitely given this enough juice that they could run the blow-off or next encounter as a Dynamite main event. What stipulation would be worth them adding to it though? I'd like to see them mix it up from a standard garbage brawl, maybe a 30 minute Ironman match or 2/3 falls or something.

Didn't Ricky Starks already do the 'I love turtles' bit on Darby? Billy Gunn challenging is so random it's baffling, but at least an easy win for Darby. The whole opening 30 minutes was pitch perfect. Danielson is still a babyface in the grand scheme of things but will play heel against Page and give him a big rub. Page's line about being able to beat Omega in less than 30 minutes was top tier pro wrestling trash talk. I'm lowkey really enjoying the Martin/Rush team. They set up the expectation that Rush is just grifter like Matt Hardy and is going to screw Dante over, but he seems to be actually on his side. Interesting to see if he does turn or they make a serious go for the tag belts.

Considering his first match is going to be a loss to Sammy G, I think we don't have to worry about that. He'll probably be placed similar to Bobby Fish - work some Dynamites while he's still new then shift to working with prospects on Dark. He doesn't offer anything exciting to the roster, it feels more like signing him to help out their buddy rather than him being someone they want to be a featured star

Not interference-related, but remember when Fenix kicked out of the OWA at 3.1 for no reason? They definitely over-steer when it comes to protecting certain guys

Decent show, think I enjoyed pretty much everything though a lot fell short of my lofty expectations. MJF-Darby and Punk-Kingston were both superb and MOTNs. 100% MJF's career-best performance to-date. It's gone unsung because he spent so much time opposite Jericho but he's improved so much since AEW started and feels like a guy who's put it all together. Loved the body-part work, the story moments with them trying to out-wrestle each other, MJF bringing the movesetz, all of it. Punk vs Kingston was two of the biggest personalities in wrestling of the last 20 years having a throwback Punches & Blood match and it ruled. No surprise it was the shortest match on the show and maybe the best, they were selling the damage after 10 minutes better than Omega and Page were doing so after 20. Both the Elite matches were a bit over-stuffed, but had some good highs. Plunder Bumps Adam Cole is the best Adam Cole and I will happily watch him be thrown through things and get pasted. Main event was more good than great but the right man won at least. I know some will go ga-ga over the supposedly incredible storytelling, but the Bucks stuff felt tacked on and unneeded to me. I am sure it has been brought up before me, but holy shit the amount of Eddie Guerrero tribute spots. Do these guys not watch each others matches on the show? FTR vs Lucha Bros was 2/3 of a really good match until they got too cutesy at the end, but the big disappointment for me was Danielson vs Miro. Probably Danielson's weakest match in AEW so far, felt like he could have had that match with any green meathead and Miro brought very little to the party. I popped for Jungle Boy becoming a man, especially after they almost made him look like a goof with all the NXT-Face shots.

Bringing in Ishii for a tag match with OC is a fucking choice

Girlfriend's away tonight so me and a buddy staying up for this after the UFC show. Expectations are high. I'm hoping for an Eddie Kingston win, as unlikely as it may be. Page wins, Omega takes time off, Cole steps up as leader of the Elite and goes after Page, Omega returns, turns face against Cole and has his moment making amends with Hangman. This is my prediction of the next year of AEW.

You're telling me he doesn't have his own individual franchise or brand like Iron Man or Captain America?!

So the partner Omega could never live up to was Chuck Taylor, right?

While I agree another promotion wouldn't really offer anything different to WWE or AEW, it could only take one other billionaire who's a fan to look at what TK has done with AEW and see it as a worthwhile investment (I assume they are making money?) to decide to follow suit

Bea, Kong and Mel def count as releases. Think CIMA had some sort of deal at the start but never appeared on TV so not much of a loss there. EDIT - maybe not releases so much as not renewed

Eva Marie - didn't they literally do the same thing with her the first time round? The amount of air-time they waste on stuff like this is mind-blowing