Brandon Bones

The thing I’m taking the most satisfaction in having The Undisputed Era in AEW is what a ball bag slap it is to WWE and their cunty approach to intellectual property and copyright law. Still… I never saw them even for a moment taking a breath of air on the main roster. But here being in a Main Event, even Bobby Fish didn’t look out of place. Efficient. Vince. You’re a fucking idiot. There might finally be something to Jade Cargill. Thunder Rosa is taking time away from my being a Bryan Danielson fanboy. She is so great. I was looking to see if Trent was wearing the Yuta shit emoji knee pads but I couldn’t tell. I miss Mox. Bring on the 20 minute Jericho/Kingston promo battle. I’m enjoying perpetually butthurt Bucks. Good promos from Starks and Hobbs. I completely forgot Dante lost to Hobbs awhile back. They were VERY helpful in reminding me showing the highlights and all. Another point for efficiency and not letting some plot details go to waste. AEW has a very short history so use what you got (and maybe borrow some history too). I surprisingly found Pillman’s promo compelling… eventually. He might have maxed out whatever credit he has left on his Sympathy Master Card. But he bought me and now I can’t wait for him to take a beating so ruthless. His sacrifice will make him my lord and savior. I love you too AEW.

I had to suppress my wrestle brain in thinking Boba should have gone over in his first fight as the boss.

An interesting start. Every new show has a lot of table setting work to do. This did what it needed to do as far as explaining the past and driving towards it future. As much fun as it was to see the ROTJ stuff. It’s hard to say if this show is going to be any good going forward based solely off this episode. Fortunately, I’ve got faith in Fave and RobRod to pull it off. Hey! Grey sand pumpkins have water. Who knew?

I think it was an ROH show called Honor Reclaims Boston(?). Davey Richards and Rocky Romero had a really bad match in the opener that thankfully had better matches on the show afterwards. He wasn’t quite “a steel cage Davey Richards” yet. But he would get there eventually.

So a buddy of mine just texted me. He just now found out Sami Zayn was El Generico. I laughed at him. Good times!

I really underestimated this episode prior to seeing it. I didn’t feel very motivated to watch it. Sammy’s run as champ had petered out. Even The Inner Circle wasn’t backing him up. Ironically, I really appreciated this being the match that he go out in. A last match of the night main event against one of the big guys in the company. Sammy will be fine overall, but there will need to be gear shift. I’m back on the train with Cody and his narrative. It stands out compared to the going’s on of the rest of the roster. Cody is going to learn that when he goes against his nature with baby face moonsaults that have a habit of missing. Instead, overwhelm and over compensate with killer moves that keep your feet on the ground. He is listening to Arn. Can definitely see Leyla Hirsh getting some character elevation out of some beef with how Statlander treated her during the match. The nose boops could very much be interpreted as condescending making the handshake come across as phony. Good match. Hook is a killer. Do not question his No sells. ? Big Bear guy got up there for him. Kudos.

Finally caught up this morning. I think I was bitching a few weeks back about how unconnected The Pinnacle is presented. But getting matching gear for a Trios main event sure does make up some ground. Plus the match fucking ruled. For as much Battle of the Belts is being hyped as a Clash of Champions template. This show sure felt like a Clash to me. Big opener, featuring a plot twist at the end, opening more questions remaining to be answered. Bricks laid for upcoming championship matches. A worthy main event that spent on some time but not all it’s credit. Not one promo overstayed it’s welcome. Ass Pounding Chefs kiss! I’m concerned about the Christian/JE status as I fear that an act I DO really like (the entrance music is grating on me, bring back the original) is being swallowed up by the enormity of everything surrounding it. It makes me think a Christian heel turn might fall flat and JB doesn’t get elevated out of it. A couple of excellent matches might change my mind on how borderline that fear is. But when Bryan Danielson is in town eating the roster buffet… it’s going to be harder to stand out.

Pleasantly surprised.

You spoke the evil ones name. Now I must wash in olive oil and Fire and Ice cds.

The proposal of doing a 60 minute draw on the live weekly broadcast sounds really risky in the boardroom if you can’t present it in a way that doesn’t kill the room. That’s why there probably weren’t that many people considering a draw as the outcome prior to the match happening. (They certainly unintentionally signaled a bunch of times in the broadcast at the draw possibility). But I really don’t think how it worked out resulted in any way that gives it a negative grade. Adam Page (I thought) needed a big win to get his reign going and change his identity from perennial challenger to worthy champion. But AEW doubled down on AmDrag pulling the best singles match of Hangman’s career. Instead, THIS is the rung he steps up on to elevate and he still has something to chase in a rematch. And yes, the finish does suggest Page as having found the way to beat the guy who spent that hour kicking his ass. That’s good shit, pal. Good work. One last thing. After two high profile draws. The next time they project another one, AEW could probably do the last second finish.

Who likes wrestling? I like wrestling! Last night… I got wrestling! Count me in on being gobsmacked by how deep the tank is for Bryan and Page. It looks like we are supposed to walk away thinking that Hangman had it won but for a few seconds. Which is fine. But I’m going to nitpick the booking a little bit here. But I’m not a huge fan of Hangman’s FIRST title defense being a draw. But considering the quality it’s hard to be too upset about it. Especially since I’m really wondering what’s next. The rest of the show was a blur. But that’s more on me because I’m an emotionally crippled introvert working retail during the Christmas season. Exhausted!

What a great scene of Yelena in the bathroom. Showing the blip as an experience on both sides was kinda nutty. Finally! Getting the Kingpin back is great. First and foremost, I just didn’t want to collapse of the Netflix Marvel stuff to go to waste. D’onofrio’s performance in season 1 of Daredevil is one of my favorites ever. So to say I marked out at the reveal is an understatement.

Great sell.

*throws toilet paper in his honor*

So Taz has an above ground pool with flames on it?

Billy Joel? Well fuck you too, MJF.

Surprise Bitch! It’s another good episode of Dynamite. Outside of a couple of production snafus. There isn’t much to complain about. Good times! Hayter is really great at wrestling. Once we get past the current big storylines. It would be a crime to not push her to the moon. I’m not a big RIHO fan. But she was excellent as well last night. The show seemed overly busy with two multi-man tag team matches. But they were both great and featured the return of one of my favorite characters. Sue. That minivan entrance better be available in the AEW game. Hook! Feel free to keep that catch phrase I posted here last week, brother. I missed Thunder Bae on this weeks show. I love you, AEW.

Checked it out. It’s definitely wider and screenier.

If Thunder Bae doesn’t win… I riot. Like… beware and stuff.

Another enjoyable weekly wrestling program that will most likely be damned with faint praise. But with such high standards week to week… it’s bound to happen. That being said there was a lot to like and possibly love about this show. I’d be handing out bonuses for whoever has been an agent(s) on some of these matches. Statlander taking the close loss didn’t hurt her at all and STING is chugging along at high level efficiency. Andrade was fucking awesome putting over Cody. Really liked the Punk match and promos afterward. I’m going to guess Punk finds a way into the upcoming battle royal? After two weeks of promos (and Bryan/Page not being able to touch) a bit of contact for Punk and MJF is due. Especially, if Punk takes that ring from him. More Hayter! Lets get some safety rails for the ramp. Because Bryan almost ate shit too. Good times, great short term memories!

All that and a bag of chips. Even a bag of chips pays off in AEW. That’s good gravy. Those burns in the promo got me running to the ER. Well fucking done delivering an all time classic promo battle. When STING made his way out and was just standing there. I’m like “What’s he smiling about?” Then BLAMMO! ”Oh… that.” I’ll gladly sit through a shitty Gunn Club match if that’s the payoff. Thunder Bae and Hayter was so great. Probably one of the best segues to commercial I’ve seen in a long time with Hayter really showing off her power and strength. Rosa hit that slap so hard. Hayter now pronounces it “Cleve-a-land”. ? Take notes Vince. Hot crowd. I’m no Bucks hater, but it was nice to have a night off. Dante actually signing with Team Taz. I did not see coming at all. Successful plot twist. Bryan is just the best. But I’m going with patience with the eventual Page match. It’s seems to be a little ways off before it finally happens. I got a real kick out of the main event. Good action. Great teases. The fans sacrificing a token for a great tv moment. Andrade seemingly panicking over the fans potentially taking over the match. I can see how the belts presence could have got out of hand and ruined the match. But they handled expertly. Overall, this show did really great work in advancing the plots without giving away a goddamn thing. The poster who compared it a well executed RAW formula was on point. I won’t call it flawless. But I’ve no reason to nitpick this week. I love you AEW… but I think you love me more.

Well… Brandon is my unfortunate real life first name. I chose Bones as a last name for a bunch of reasons. I used to be a skinny little fuck with boney ribby ribs and buggy whip arms. I guess the alliteration made me think it would work as a wrestling/screen name pseudonym. Plus my real last name is 12 letters of unpronounceable nonsense. I’m half to actually changing my name for reals.

I’m not going to swear on it. But I’ve heard it mentioned (through some sort of media I consume) that AEWs merch side of things is really disorganized to the point they might not be doing what they could be doing. The suggestion being that while they manage to sell out on T-shirt’s and popular items. They could be doing more but don’t seem to have the inventory to meet it. I don’t know. I’m not even particularly sure of where I’m sourcing this from. So take it with a grain.

Well now. This is relevant to my interests. From what I can take from this at least. I might be willing to throw down some dollars if the game will translate well for my sim league. Game intelligence is of course paramount. So the more capable the game is of selling something of a television presentation, while keeping it compelling for the guys who have a character in the game? The better and more likely it is I’ll continue to run the league. I still use 2k19 at this point. While it’s stretched pretty thin with what it hasn’t done, it continues to surprise. Keeping in mind I book, but don’t decide winners, losers, or finishes. But goddamn, pal. I’d love to have a game good enough to freshen it up. The AEW game seems forever away.