Steventon

I would be down for Roman going full Mortal Kombat Also is it me or does it feel like WWE is badly piping in crowd noise these days? The audio of the crowd looked at odds with the amount of people sitting on their hands and all the chants felt very convenient for when they struck up

I really dug the fired-up promos from Lashley and E laying down the gauntlet for RAW. These short, punchy promos are the sort of thing AEW has been really nailing and they are far better than the usual long, rambling ones WWE loves in front of a live crowd.

Gray vs Yoya was indeed a blast. Definitely not one to sleep on for people checking out the show. I wouldn't be surprised if AJ gets picked up by one of the bigger feds in the 12 months.

I could be reading something completely wrong into it, but when I watched Suzuki vs Gresham it felt like Gresham really wanted to do a lot of grappling and stuff on the mat with Suzuki (which would have been far more interesting to me, personally) and Suzuki just wanted to plug him into his standard match formula. But I could be way off base there

Punk vs Hobbs was good stuff. Went longer than I was expecting and both guys looked good. Punk sold really well and gave Hobbs a lot before putting him away. Christian and JB looked good but otherwise that 6-man was pretty rough going. The Adam Cole vs Luchasaurus stuff was by far the worst wrestling over the 2 shows, just real stinko. Think I'll be skipping the Superkliq stuff going forward. Inner Circle vs MOTY was obviously whatever, just there to set up the angle afterwards. As long as this leads to some of these ATT guys getting in the ring, I am into it. Jericho is a weird fit for this feud, but whatever. If we get Masvidal in a match, even a tag, this could be very cool. 8-man was a decent spotfest. Not everything hit flush or looked good, but they kept it moving and it didn't go too long. Is there a reason why Jack Evans doesn't get featured much these days? Broken down? Just focusing on the younger talent? Miro wrecking Fuego is becoming one of my favourite regular skits Main event was fine, nothing special. Homicide bit was certainly unexpected. Bit weird to have make the save in a fair fight, but hearing him get big chants put a smile on my face. Kingston going ape for the finish was easily the best part.

Not enough wrist control spots

Probably wouldn't make my Top 30 Bryan Danielson matches, but Danielson probably has more great matches on tape than any other American wrestler not named Ric Flair. I would say it was in my Top 3 favourite Omega matches, though I've droned on enough about how much I don't care for his stuff across the Pacific. EDIT - not a dig on the match, I thought it was great. Just that Danielson's resume is so deep

The Kanyon episode was sad, and the story of him calling Matt Jackson who had to talk him out of killing himself was pretty harrowing. Ultimately he came across as a guy with a lot of mental health issues and demons he couldn't beat unfortunately. I don't think anyone came out too badly. The chairshot from Undertaker was gross, but that was a small piece of the story and chairshots like that were still the norm back then. Not saying it wasn't shitty, but they didn't paint it as deliberately vindictive. Flair's comments made him look like an asshole and he probably didn't need to be so brutal about it, but he was just being honest about it. I thought the saddest thing was the email he wrote to Stephanie (the screenshot is floating around), you can tell the idea of being the first openly gay wrestler meant so much to him, but you do have to wonder if he would have been OK with it given how unstable he was.

I don't love nor hate Omega, he has qualities I like and qualities I dislike, but AEW Omega is infinitely more watchable than New Japan Omega ever was. Almost feels like working for a televised US mainstream company has forced him to reign in some of his worst tendencies, or maybe those tendencies were always more a 'New Japan thing' that he leaned into with their house style, but whatever way you dice it he's been much more enjoyable in this run than ever before. Working guys like Christian and Bryan obviously helps, mind.

First thought is this was a smart move to have a TV special than a PPV. While every match had build to it, I think if this was half a PPV I'd be disappointed. But for TV, it's all good. One great match (Omega vs Danielson), one fun match (tag match), two solid/ok matches (womens title, MJF vs Pillman) and one dud (Cody vs Black) and no major angles. Omega vs Bryan delivered. Not a seven star match or any nonsense like that, but a great, hard-hitting, well laid out match that felt big-time and still left plenty on the table for future matches. Time limit draw was predictable, but the right move. This was very much an ROH Danielson match through and through, especially the way it was paced and laid out, the top notch strike exchanges, top notch limb-work, etc. The visual of Danielson with his chest all busted up and the mouse over his eye was so visceral. Thumbs up. Cody in full evil kenevil/homelander garb with Brandi getting booed was hilarious. The match was worked like Black was the face, the crowd were treating it that way, but they didn't lean into it and insisted on playing it straight. Unfortunate that Arn slipped on the apron to telegraph that spot but as a match I thought it was another flop on Cody's resume. Guy needs a revamp big-time. FTR vs Sting/Darby was a fun filler match. I haven't seen much of Pillman Jr but he didn't leave much of an impression tonight - MJF has improved a lot over his AEW tenure though. Britt vs Ruby was OK with a couple nice big spots (avalanche air raid crash, stomp on the steps). Reba screaming "YEEEEEES SMASH HER FACE" had me howling.

The Reigns match was great, definitely worth watching if people slept on it at the time. He's almost certainly Reigns's best opponent, all their matches ruled.

I actually caught this episode on Youtube and have to agree it was way worse than it has been made out to be in the past. This was "'80s rockstars at their darkest" type shit, but in 2002. Drugs, depression, sexual harassment, general shit-headery. Tommy Dreamer is a 50 year old man who's been in the business for over 2 decades and is still the biggest mark going for his hero-worship defence of Flair in this episode. Sean Waltman and RVD went up big time though.

Just checked this out and had to echo this! Awesome match and absolutely great to see Steve come out of retirement to have this kind of match. I didn't even care that he gassed, he worked his ass off and the father vs son story was one of the most compelling things I've seen in an indy match in a long time. Folks should check it out.

One line from Bryan and they had a smart way of doing Omega vs Bryan without backing themselves into a corner. I do expect a draw though. "Who's ready for story time with Adam Cole?" has already worn thin. Dude needs some new catchphrases. Don't really get the fascination with Suzuki's entrance theme either This was very much a go-home show for Grand Slam and you can't say they haven't set up another pair of big shows there

Steinercito, being able to see the fans, Creed Bros mauling geeks - thumbs up Steinercito's dumb name, all of the booking, the seizure-inducing colour scheme - thumbs down Got a very strong EVOLVE-ish feel from this show so far

We could have called it! Cool moment for Big E, happy for him. Shame the route there was the same tired MITB garbage as always. Hopefully he gets a solid run with it at least.

Cage has gone as far as he is going to go in his career. I mean the guy no ill will or anything, I am sure he is a nice dude, but there's a limited shelf life for a guy like him who is basically a spot monkey with muscles. He can't talk or promo, and isn't good enough in the ring to mix up his style or evolve or whatever to keep himself fresh or interesting. He was known as Mr Get My Shit In for a reason. I get why he'd be frustrated with being passed over with acquisitions coming in, but AEW have big ambitions and they are right to overlook a guy like him for dudes who are either better now or have more potential for the future. If he wants to be a player somewhere, Impact or MLW are probably more his level.

oh wow a randy orton title shot, thats fresh

Speaking of Suzuki-Gun, how long until AEW can make a move for Zack Sabre Jr? Dude is wasting prime years of his career shackled to a dog turd in New Japan and is stale as hell there. A move back to the States would be good for him and be another big get who isn't an ex-WWE guy.

Ricky Starks has had 4 matches on TV, spare a thought for him. Also, doing the bloody mouth sell for the Black Mass that clearly hit Dustin in the upper arm/shoulder was very stinky. I remember Black not being able to hit the move properly on big guys in WWE too, maybe he needs to set it up differently or have them go down to one knee or whatever because it's super embarrassing when your badass kickboxer guy's kicks visibly miss by miles.

Post-PPV Dynamites are usually a cool-down show and a reset, and thats what we got here. Team Taz are a fine short-term program for Punk. Hopefully Starks puts Cage to bed next week and we get some of him vs Punk for a couple weeks. I think it is safe to say MJF got his heat back quickly on this show. If you hadn't seen Suzuki before, the main event was a good showcase. As someone who has seen him do literally the same match on repeat for the last 10 years or so didn't do much for me though. Their first match in Japan was much better. Oh and hey the Pinnacle are still a thing.

ramblings from a Brit late to the party. apologies if i stole anyones talking points. - Loved Miro vs Eddie. This is the type of hoss fight AEW has been lacking, the sort of thing a guy like Lance Archer promises and doesn't do. Miro's chest looked like beetroot by the end. Tremendous selling and emoting from Eddie the whole way through, though they did the neck stuff well and the ref distraction was executed perfectly. 'You fucked up' chants for the deliberate referee missing the pinfall spot was awesome. Best PPV opener in forever. - Moxley vs Kojima was hurt by following Miro vs Kingston, which was stylistically very similar and much better. Still a solid match though and Kojima looked like he was having a blast, which made it even more enjoyable. I think Suzuki is massively overrated but still cool to see him turn up, and I did enjoy the first Moxley/Suzuki match so I'm down for it even though I wasn't creaming my pants like New Japan fanboys. - Baker vs Statlander was perfectly acceptable with a hot finish, but entirely forgettable. I've yet to be impressed by Statlander despite the hype around her. I'm all for more strong women in the ranks but she's still a bit awkward and ultimately very bland. Time to rotate her out and maybe give her a revamp. - Bucks vs Lucha Bros - this is the type of match everyone is going to throw snowflakes on, but I'll just say it wasn't for me. That said, it was probably the most I've enjoyed this pairing and the finish and celebration was tremendous. Penta showing such emotion and getting his family out almost made me forgive the years of phoning it in. The entrance was some big time shit too. - Battle Royale started off rocky and suffered from the same problems these Casino Battle Royales always do, but the second half served to highlight the promising young prospects they have (Conti, Cargill, Hirsh) as well as the experienced vets they've accumulated (Soho, Rosa, Hayter). Hell, I enjoyed Nyla Rose's piece in this match too. Soho has big 'solid hand' energy but cool to see her given such a superstar debut. Right call having her win - gives Britt another big scalp while it's hot and then Ruby can cycle down the card to work with the younger talent, and they can come back to Rosa with more build. Speaking of Rosa, I thought she looked awesome, one of the best workers on the whole show. - Pleasantly surprised by Jericho vs MJF and thought it was actually really good. Great trolljob with the entrance and MJF really impressed me here. We know what a lot of his strengths are, but his selling of the long term damage to the back through the match was pretty great, and of course the finish paid it off perfectly. The re-start was a great bit of sports entertainment schmozz too. I know a lot of people want Jericho to fuck off, but this crowd didn't and they were red hot for it. - I thought Punk vs Darby delivered and was a great match. The crowd were a bit sedated following singing along with Jericho, but all concerns about Punk were put to bed I think. The slow, more methodical pace worked to their advantage and made everything feel very organic and like two guys thinking about what to do next, rather than a bunch of stuff that was obviously set-up or pre-planned. A couple restholds from Punk, but first match in 7 years so not a big knock and all his offence was executed great. Some big moments without going main event big, and Darby came out looking strong. Big thumbs up. - Wright vs QT was an acceptable bathroom break match, though nothing here made me think Wright should wrestle more. - Main event was really good without copying their first match. 20-ish minutes was just right, and still felt like a long, gruelling, hard-fought, physical bout without going overboard or dragging. Just a well worked main event match, well laid out and paced with good twists and turns down the stretch. Table spear was a surprisingly nasty big spot. Good Brothers/Callis stuff was annoying but relatively minimal for Bullet Club horseshit. Another thumbs up. - I pretty much called the way this would end, just wasn't sure about Cole, but watching it play out was still a blast. Seeing Cole come out and do the instant swerve with his buddies gave me memories of why I stopped watching wrestling a few years ago, but Danielson making the save to end the show made everything right in the world. Cole being a part of the Elite at least gives me some hope he isn't going to be doing a tonne of big long main events, but let's see. Punk and Bryan in this promotion makes it basically impossible for me to hate these guys. This show felt must-see and delivered. My only criticism would be that yes, it was long. None of the matches over-stayed their welcome, but this was 3+ hours, the crowd were clearly flagging at points, I was flagging at home watching it at my own convenience, and they still have big matches announced for the next 2 TV shows. With the roster getting to the size it is, they should start running more PPVs. Not WWE level, but they can probably go from 4 a year to 6 or 8 and still have them feel major.

I know I have ragged on Charlotte plenty in the past, but I do think she is a solid on the whole and have really enjoyed some of her stuff in the past. Hell, Charlotte vs Ronda might be my favourite WWE womens match, and that had a stinko DQ finish to protect Charlotte. That said, the 'Charlotte is a great worker' talking point is being badly exposed here. Great workers can work with inferior opponents and make it work. If Charlotte isn't in the ring with someone who's a strong worker themselves, she is just as useless as them. I agree with the guy who said this current run has been bad, she looks like she's just been mailing it in constantly. I have dug Nia at points, a green monster who recklessly throws people around can be fun, but that's also mitigated by how over-pushed she's been because of who she's related to. She would have been on the cutting room floor years ago if she wasn't cousins with the Rock and Roman, so the idea of her not being happy with someone else being over-pushed is a delicious slice of irony. WWE's nepotism is insufferable and these are the two biggest beneficiaries of it, so to see them have such an exposing pile of garbage match was really enjoyable.

The Kingston-Miro pull apart from OK, but not super hot. Really could have done with Eddie actually working the stick. Zero interest in Bucks vs Lucha Bros for the millionth time. Lucha Bros are mindless spot machines, I am sure there will be one or two highlight reel moments but the match will be as forgettable as all their others. Would have preferred Lucha Express for Jungle Boy getting a big win.

New Wolves In The Throne Room is probably my favourite album of the year so far (until new ETID). Makes me want to go live in the woods and join a craven.