dorfus malorfus

I gotta think Cargill and Starks would both excel in WWE, and probably Max too. I think TK has lifers in Darby (obviously), Hangman, Guevara and Perry but with the exception of Darby I don't really see any of those guys really being difference makers. As far as Wardlow, I don't really see him standing out in WWE and I have to assume (perhaps foolishly) that he's going to be off TV for a long time so he can come back with a fresh coat of paint and revive his feud with Max (and maybe win the belt??). It's funny how when they started 4 years ago I wouldn't have taken you seriously if you said the problem with AEW going forward will be the overreliance on guys 40 years of age and older but we've been gradually moving in that direction. Outside of MJF [edit: and I guess Hook so far] have they really protected any of their young talent?

I know Meltzer was doomsaying the advance yesterday as only 2,200 paid. Does anybody know what the final attendance # was? I didn't think it looked that bad on tv but am dismayed in general that they can't fill venues (which is slightly hypocritical of me since I live in Hamilton and am a big fan but have yet to go to any of their Hamilton or Toronto shows, including Forbidden Door).

Edit: whoops I guess this should move to the tv thread This show wasn't bad but it was about as close to a "nothing show" as I've ever seen a Dynamite be I think. Toni Storm has created a great interview character but she still wrestles like boring paint-by-numbers Toni Storm. I know people get upset about Anna Jay and Julia Hart and some of the other less experienced women being sloppy, but their matches, for all their occasional awkwardness, convey a lot of more emotion and drama than Toni's slick but generic offence. Hopefully she amps up the character work and gets something good out of Saraya next week, because that match looks scary on paper, and I don't want to see either of these two with the belt right now. I would have had Nyla win, both because she deserves a push and is the most likely of the four in this match to have a good match with Saraya. I also like how they built Shida back up as champ only to make her look like a doofus at Wembley and again tonight. I shouldn't he complaining about Toni Storm because Roderick Strong is getting an even bigger push with weaker interviews and boring-er matches. I was pretty sure he would sneak a win here and we would get MJF vs Joe at the ppv but maybe they're sparing us MJF vs Strong altogether (and Max is just...not wrestling at the ppv?). Did somebody go short and they were vamping for time at the end of the show? 7 minutes of storyline when the champ isn't in the building made for an existentially troubling go-home angle. The second half of Page/Cage was alright. I'm sure everyone will complain about Page looking dumb for letting Swerve distract him when he had the win set up. Swerve is great, I don't like Hangman, but I think they'll have a good match and whoever wins should work the next title program with Max. Someone said recently about Callis having X-Pac/"go away" heat and I think this is correct. His promos are cliche heel stuff and get tedious fast, and incorporating all the alt-right alpha/cuck language into his schtick tonight was more uncomfortable than anything else. Ibushi working a singles match against Takeshita is going to expose Ibushi pretty horrifically so hopefully he just works a squash against Callis or something. Omega being off TV for so long after losing the title + the Brawl Out suspension really disjointed and sucked the life out of all these long-term soap opera stories i.e. the Elite reunion, the Callis betrayal. It all feels very slapped together and cold, and as I mentioned in another thread earlier this week it doesn't help that Omega almost never cuts live promos despite the fact all his angles are emo af. I'm amazed they've held onto Jericho vs Sammy this long without doing it; I assumed they must have had a match ages ago before I started watching. The angle leading into it isn't very interesting but I thought they had good promos tonight, which wasn't the case a couple weeks ago when the program started. Moxley vs Big Bill on paper sounded like a MOYTC for some reason and while it wasn't anywhere close to that level it was a fun match and I like Moxley vs Starks as Starks' next big program. And a final Wednesday gripe: I love Danielson, I love Zach Sabre Jr, I'm not sure I'm that excited to finally see this match. The two of them exchanging complicated matwork while the crowd applauds every time they break sounds more like an exercise in each man stroking the other's (and his own) ego than anything else.

I'm re-reading some of my favorite novels from undergrad because it's September, I just got married, and I'm a sucker for nostalgia. Just came across a very fitting epigraph for this whole Punk/AEW saga: "A group of sportswriters together can narrow your view far beyond pessimism, since the worst of them tend to be cynics looking only for false drama in the germs if human defeat." - Richard Ford, The Sportswriter

All of that plus he's the only guy to ever get a good match out of Ospreay.

I can't resist weighing in on the straight edge thing too. I've had a decent amount of unpleasant interactions with sXe dudes over the years but I can say as someone with 11 yrs of sobriety under his belt that straight edgers pale in comparison to the peer support/recovery militants you meet who will aggressively remind you to no end you are not doing sobriety the right way (meanwhile they never saw a 20 year old newly sober woman they couldn't wait to sidle up next to and "sponsor"). My brother refers to these guys as "AA University" which would be a great name for a heel faction. One of the many (many!) things I love about Jon Moxley is it's clear the program didn't get to his head, man.

I've been thinking this a lot since Hangman lost the belt. Also him, Omega and the Bucks almost never cut promos and literally almost never cut live promos. For being the guys the company was originally built around and for being part of so many long term, complicated storylines, we almost never get any insight into their psyches or motivations, especially since their return from the Brawl Out suspension. I find Elite feuds are largely told via their heel opponents' promos. None of them are great talkers anyway (although Hangman on his best days clearly strikes a chord with the core fanbase), but it would be nice to see them interact with their opponents more leading up to matches beyond just staredowns and pull-aparts Also re: Swerve eating losses and his mystique surviving; he's mastered a really good disappointed "you little fucker did you just pin me" face that I think is pretty effective as his WM6 Hogan face where it sells the loss as really being more about how intense and tenacious Swerve is.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw5c32SO-51/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Tony Schiavone's family got a very cute puppy.

This is the only aspect of this entire nightmare I'm unambiguously thrilled about.

Someone I know who is deep into the Punk conspiracy theory stuff sent me an ominous dm earlier about how he "heard Punk is planning or ready to unleash something". I can't tell if those Sapp bullets support or discourage that rumour.

They just solved a lot of problems with that Swerve promo. New top.heel, fresh matchup, a Hangman program that isn't him trying to establish himself against someone already more established, two underutilized guys in a program that could theoretically be a major storyline, a feud with no title involved that (unlike Omega vs Takeshita or a lot of Jericho's feuds) doesn't feel too insulated from everything else going on in the company. I don't care for Hangman's work much outside of his first match with Danielson but based on the intensity in this segment I could see these two having some chemistry. I was wondering what the hell they'd do with Hangman to get him out of just being a random component of Elite feuds, and I've been waiting for Swerve to break out of the mid-card ever since he turned heel and started the Mogul Affiliates gimmick, so this direction couldn't have been more of a pleasant surprise. Now if they could just start giving Bowens some singles feuds (without breaking up the Acclaimed) and gently push him up the card as a top babyface we'd be in great shape for another couple years...

WWE needs to retain the rights to the name for when they bring in Pillman Jr. and Garrison as The Fake Edge & Christian.

I made this joke awhile ago in another thread but if Edge signs they should call him Cliff.

I would be totally down with Athena amassing belts. And on that note (and I presume this has been discussed before but I'm catching up) do we think the inspiration for the MJF/Cole long term saga with lots of detours and side players is to attempt something akin to the Bloodline/Zayne & Owens type epic sprawl? Because if so you could start setting up a BTYBB vs FTR rematch with BTYBB getting the belts this time. I know everyone expects/wants Bullet Club to beat FTR but Max & Cole vs White & Juice is a fresh matchup and would be entertaining as hell (and this coming from someone who hates Juice). But in any event you wouldn't run MJF/Cole vs FTR again on Grand Slam if you're already doing MJF vs Joe.

MJF vs Joe seems like a very welcome given. Claudio vs Eddie I presume they're saving for the next ROH ppv main but since you've proposed it I wouldn't mind them doing it on TV so Eddie can win with bigger exposure. Him holding up the ROH whatever NJ belt he has at the same time with the black and yellow confetti falling is a nice visual. They should probably get the belt off Saraya sooner than later given her limitations in the ring. Who should best her tho? I've always been dumbfounded by people's enthusiasm for Toni Storm but her new character really is entertaining and something new... just not sure you want to keep going back to her as champ so often. When I was watching the ppv last night I started thinking they should have just had Stat drop the belt to Ruby because of Saraya's interference then have Stat immediately rebound/upgrade by beating Saraya for the big belt at Grand Slam but obviously they didn't go in that direction. Willow should be champ soon but her vs Saraya with no build isn't a very exciting program. So maybe just bite the bullet and have DMD win it again so she can drop it down the line to Willow it Hayter when she's back. Given who Saraya's dating I would love for her to drop the belt in a squash to Nyla Rose but Nyla's so far out of the title picture I know that one ain't happening. Another fantasy scenario: casino battle royal for a shot at Saraya at Grand Slam, the Joker is Serena Deeb, Deeb wins and becomes new champ as a babyface.

I'm not advocating for this (not openly anyway) but has Tony ever discussed or even alluded to any interest whatsoever in bringing Hogan to AEW in any capacity?

Spoken like someone who definitely doesn't have his own issues with hostility, toxic masculinity, scapegoating, and alienating coworkers.

I'd add to this that he was damaged even further by aspects of his return run (first match back was an all-time dog, got punked out in the WM main event with Roman, did the heel turn with Judgment Day nobody asked for and was quickly overshadowed by Balor anyway who was much more effective in the role). I would still pay a lot to bring him in because he's a star and it would be news and you can do a lot with him and Christian and the Hardyz' history and elevate some guys who aren't 50 but I agree, he's not going to be a player long term.

Count me in with the enthusiasm for MJF vs Joe. I was legit scared watching the Kingdom segment on Dynamite because you have three heels nobody takes seriously and who aren't exciting in the ring and who aren't young and (based on that segment) are potential ratings killers long term because it's three guys who aren't good talkers but are apparently comfortable taking their time on the mic. Joe isn't young but he's the opposite of Strong/Taven/Bennett in every other respect: credible, dynamic, established, concise. Hopefully the tease that Strong is winning the Eliminator tournament results in him just losing in the finals to a babyface with some interference from Cole or something. The idea that O'Reilly is coming back to join this group is downright terrifying in terms of creating a four headed chimera of awful promos, although he's at least an semi-interesting opponent for Max.

Watching the scrum and TK seems duscernibly more relaxed and perceptive than usual, particularly his take on the drawbacks of "the online discourse of granular analysis of week to week pro wrestling" which maybe could get someone's dissertation topic. It would be nice to think he's maybe caught up on a year's worth of sleep in the past 24 hours now that elephant is out of the room.

An idea: they should have Ace Steele confront the Elite on Wednesday then back down when they offer to let him join their group, then at the end of the show they hit him in the nuts and beat him down like DX did to Neidhart on the Raw after Montreal (except in this case it would be funny instead of just mean and weird).

Miro vs Hobbs was just absolute pro wrestling magic for me in that it was a match I expected to be decent and maybe short and perfunctory but instead they went with a slow build and long running time and let the thing snowball into something really unique and special. Crowd going absolutely nuts for a lumbering hoss battle is what I typically turn to AJPW for, so getting this on an AEW ppv--and the crowd responding as enthusiastically as they did--couldn't have thrilled me more. I can't give a match a higher compliment than Suwamaesque. Only major gripe was Danielson beating Starks, especially with a newly healed broken arm. But hopefully the booking in the weeks to come will explain why they felt Danielson couldn't job here. Starks was made to look like shit in his feud with Jay White and all of his wins over Punk were extremely flukey so they need to give him some big definitive wins soon or he's going to lose the future top guy aura. Wish the main event had gone longer but I suspect that a second viewing will reveal that it was better being as compact as it was. Thought the 8 man kinda sucked but I knew going in it wouldn't be my thing; didn't expect to like Omega/Takeshita much but it ended up being pretty engaging and they did the right finish. All the other matches were very good to exceptional.

The big story coming out of tonight is that Shawn Spears and the Infantry are now part of a babyface faction called The Locker Room.

For setting a new low on the "ability to get over by being as cringey and distracting as possible" bar? He's this generation's Road Dogg.

He's promoting that ridiculous new child trafficking conspiracy theory movie starring the guy who played Jesus in Mel Gibson's weird antisemitic Jesus movie. Edit; Speaking of Qanon does anyone know if Griff Garrison is still employed by AEW? There was a long stretch where any time I went to check out the latest far-right lunacy online he would be the only 'mutual friend' I had with the offending party. Figured he might be a bit of a whacko but also totally open to the possibility he could have just been let go for being Griff Garrison.