2023 AEW Media

[DEAN]

43 minutes ago, JLowe said:

I gotta say, I may have to stop talking mental trash about Evil Uno if he can carry Cesar Bononi to a great match.

Ever since the Moxley match, Evil Uno has been money.

[The Green Meanie]

I noticed this week they were using round ring posts. It looked weird to me.

[Zimbra]

I haven't been keeping up on Dark but watched this week and everything gets a full Worldwide point.  Moriarty/Khash was my MOTN for all the fun arm work at the beginning.

And damn, Excalibur was right: Brody King is totally the Slim J of the HoB.

[HarryArchieGus]

Fun Dark this week. AR Fox v Avalon was very much on point. Willie Mack keeps rolling along with a nice finish on the way to victory. Leila Grey has gone from 'skip' to 'savour'. @Dean suggested it previously 'most improved 2023'. Kudos to whomever at AEW saw this in her prior as she's really starting look on her way to something. Tony Nese continues to be one of the most underrated talents in professional or amateur wrestling. Loved the promo with Sterling explaining the Ari Davari stable membership situation. Ha, if the more cantakerous AEWTV crowd cared enough about the Dark regulars, Ari's mixed allegiances would have been a pissed-n-moaned upon detail. Invictus Khash continues to be one of my Dark favorites. He looked great here. And Lee Moriarty is really coming into his own. I'm of the soft belief that his Air Guitar move is really fueling his game to the next level. I've always liked Lee, but he's increased his character game exponentially under the banner of the Firm. Bononi v Uno was a helluva deal there. UNO repping his bod with the open/off vest. Ha, he's showing all those ppl Rick Rude used to call out that if you've got a good skill set, a poorly conditioned physique will (maybe) not hold you back. I'd prefer a zip up but you gotta give him credit! Fun match. Ha, I looked up Kendo Nagasaki. I'd only really seen pictures. I love the bizarre unmasking of Nagasaki ceremony in World of Sport. And fun Main Event, as arguably the best in the game, Toni Storm, showcases nicely against the always game Kiera Hogan. Buttsmacking galore. Good episode. 

[DEAN]

20 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Ha, I looked up Kendo Nagasaki. I'd only really seen pictures. I love the bizarre unmasking of Nagasaki ceremony in World of Sport.

Not that Kendo Nagasaki, the crazy Japanese dude, also called the Dragonmaster.  Here he is in the greatest match ever in the history of professional wrestling.

 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

9 hours ago, The Green Meanie said:

I noticed this week they were using round ring posts. It looked weird to me.

The in-ring is still great, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little bummed about all the visual changes to the shows recently. Just a little less in line with my personal preferences

[HarryArchieGus]

9 minutes ago, DEAN said:

Not that Kendo Nagasaki, the crazy Japanese dude, also called the Dragonmaster.  Here he is in the greatest match ever in the history of professional wrestling.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I know the above from pix as a kid, and I questioned whether I was seeing the same guy in that World of Sport segment, but wrongly assumed they were one and the same and that Kendo bulked up in FLA. Like a real true Lard Lad fresh faced and hungry for grease in the good old US of A.

[AxB]

The Japanese wrestler Kendo Nagasaki copied his name from the English one. Well, he was given the name in Canada and then continued to use it after returning to Japan.

[odessasteps]

It's funny to see him in the US, when he was Mr. Sakurada, then Kendo, then the Dragonmaster. 

(Funny that auto corrected as Sakuraba)

Edited April 5, 2023 by odessasteps

[DEAN]

HOLY SHIT!  ELEVATION LOOKS INSANE!

Spoiler

---

Six Man Tag Team Match

Jericho Appreciation Society (Angelo Parker, Jake Hager & Matt Menard) vs. ???, Jack Tomlinson & Zack Clayton

Six Man Tag Team Match

MAO, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno vs. The Butcher And The Blade (The Blade & The Butcher) & Kip Sabian (w/Penelope Ford)

Tag Team Match

Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose vs. Renegade Twins (Charlette Renegade & Robyn Renegade)

Six Man Tag Team Match

Aaron Rourke, Alvin Alvarez & Brother Greatness vs. Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno & John Silver)

Tag Team Match

Rex Lawless & Traxx vs. The Firm (Big Bill & Lee Moriarty)

Singles Match

Ashley D'Amboise vs. Maki Ioth

Tag Team Match

Bobby Orlando & BRG vs. The Firm (Isiah Kassidy & Matt Hardy)

Singles Match

Emi Sakura vs. Mizuki

 

[HarryArchieGus]

23 hours ago, DEAN said:

Not that Kendo Nagasaki, the crazy Japanese dude, also called the Dragonmaster.  Here he is in the greatest match ever in the history of professional wrestling.

 

Incredible violence! Thank You! I may need to take some time to go on an FMW run. Was there a story here of money owing or some sort of crime comeuppance? Truly a 'Death' match.

[DEAN]

Kip Sabian.

 

[zendragon]

I’m actually enjoying all access, some of it seems a bit staged like the Eddie Sammy stuff but I got a chuckle out of the bucks telling Brandon he’s not allowed to suggest anytime. Its interesting to watch Tay find her way as a pro wrestler and I feel she could break out from this show

also I felt thatRhodes to the top pulled back the curtain a bit too much they have avoided that so far

[For Great Justice]

Wrong thread 

Edited April 8, 2023 by For Great Justice

[Matt D]

15 hours ago, zendragon said:

I’m actually enjoying all access, some of it seems a bit staged like the Eddie Sammy stuff but I got a chuckle out of the bucks telling Brandon he’s not allowed to suggest anytime. Its interesting to watch Tay find her way as a pro wrestler and I feel she could break out from this show

also I felt thatRhodes to the top pulled back the curtain a bit too much they have avoided that so far

I liked the little post match Sammy/Bryan talk.

[HarryArchieGus]

15 hours ago, zendragon said:

I’m actually enjoying all access, some of it seems a bit staged like the Eddie Sammy stuff but I got a chuckle out of the bucks telling Brandon he’s not allowed to suggest anytime. Its interesting to watch Tay find her way as a pro wrestler and I feel she could break out from this show

also I felt thatRhodes to the top pulled back the curtain a bit too much they have avoided that so far

I'm digging it too, but not sure two, even current rivals, discussing a promo segment isn't pulling back the curtain too much. 

24 minutes ago, Matt D said:

I liked the little post match Sammy/Bryan talk.

I don't wanna re-energize the Rocky talk, but Bryan was totally post-fight Balboa there. Oh the brutality! 
 

[JLowe]

On 3/27/2023 at 6:48 PM, DEAN said:

It's Dark Elevation!  It's Tony Nese and Ari Daivari!  I don't think I've seen the dudes they are wrestling.  Tony Nese is a HEAT MACHINE!  Nese and Daivari do a lot more double team things than they usually do.  NYLA!  Marina Shafir!  Briar and Sage Hale are sisters, I'm guesing.  Shafir is fun with all the tricked out matwork.  Okay, TK needs to sign the Hale sisters because they took a TRUE ass beating like CHAMPS.  WILLOW NIGHTINGALE!  Maggie Lee looks familiar. Lee is tall!   POUNCE!  CANNONBALL!  DOCTOR BOMB!  Zack Clayton is tagging with Anaya!  BIG BILL!  LEE MORIARTY!  Moriarty leans into Clayton's offense.  Anaya takes a Moriarty Float Over DDT like a PRO!  Big Bill tags in and he is OVER in Kansas City!  Big Bill/Moriarty hit an awkward finisher.  BIG BILL IS ALL ABOUT THE DANCING THIS NIGHT!  ATHENA! ATHENA! ATHENA!  TOOTIE LYNN!  Tootie starts off hot!  ATHENA knocks her out!  ATHENA IS SOOOOOOO AWESOME POSTMATCH!  EMI!  IN THE RING!  FLATLINER! that ATHENA takes like a TOTAL CHAMP!  MILLION BILLION STARS!  Spanish Announce Project!  MATT HARDY isn't gonna let his friend stay sad!  They can't ever break up these dudes.  Isiah Kassidy and Angelico are MAGIC in the ring together.  Comfort Ethan Page, he is distraught.  SERP and Luther make with the hilarity!  THE CROWD CHANTS "ETHAN! ETHAN! ETHAN!"  Kassidy screams like a little girl!  SWANTON FOR THE WIN!  So fucking GREAT!  ETHAN IS DANCING!  SO FUCKING GREAT!  Diamante and Riho have a REMATCH!  Riho is wearing her EVIL black get-up!  Diamante looks great in this.  Riho is leaning into Diamante's offense- as Riho is great at taking an ass beating.  Flashpin rollup!  POSTMATCH!  Riho is a total bitch waving to Diamante from the apron!  Between that and the Stokely Hathaway stuff on Twitter, a HEEL TURN IS IMMINENT!  RIHO! RIHO! RIHO! EVIL!   

 

Decided to watch this and the Shafir match made me uncomfortable, she looked like she was taking some liberties after some awkward early moments. It’s hard to tell since Shafir is so reckless with her throws but also is working that shooter gimmick but she was doing some really hard throws at weird angles and definitely was rubbing her shin hard onto one of the sisters’ face on the ropes.

[DEAN]

It's the dudes from DDT!  Ueno!  MAO!  Who is the other guy?  Shunma Katsumata! Ueno is the best of the DDT juniors.  MAO has less crazier hair than he used to!  This was a LOT of stuff!  The DDT guys looked great.  The Butch, the Blade and Kip Sabian looked great.  GREAT!  Needed more Yuki Ueno.  That was fun.  The Renegades get an intro.  NYLA!  Marina Shafir and Robyn (YES! I can tell them apart now!  I RULE!) Charlette (I just paused the TV and double checked and I am RIGHT!) beats on Shafir.  NYLA beats on both of the Renegades.  NYLA hits the Beast Bomb.  That was pretty short.  IT's EVil Uno, the new Kendo Nagasaki!  Alex Reynolds and John Silver are not transformed into a fascinating couple of wrestlers, but they are still good.  Yeah, UNO is fucking awesome.  Aaron Roarke is fun.  He is CRUSHED by all of the Dark Order.  They DON'T finish with an Evil Uno Piledriver so this is less of a match.  It's Lee Moriarty and BIG BILL!  It's Traxx!  And Rex Lawless!  Big Bill kicks Lawless in the face!  And a chokeslam!  What a strange episode.  Three squashes and the DDT dudes.  And they are saving the Maki Ito match and EMI!/Mizuki for tomorrow, I guess.  I guess AEW starts off with the main event everytime.

[JLowe]

The AEW trio made the DDT youngsters look great, really enjoyed that match and hope we get some of them doing some more matches on an excursion.

I thought they might give more to The Renegades, who have improved a lot over the year-plus I’ve been seeing them on AEW shows. I really feel for the wrestlers having to take Shafir’s shooty judo throws. Nyla looked pissed at the end of the match.

Dark Order is back in their rightful place on the card, and do their thing in a glorified squash.

Lee and Big Bill are getting really fun to watch, even in another glorified squash.

Not a bad use of 25 minutes, honestly that’s about the right amount of time for me and the YouTube shows. When I see one with 11 matches and 75 minutes long I’m probably skipping it or leaning very heavy on the FFWD.

[AxB]

Rex Lawless and Traxx is a very beefy team to be doing the job in such a short match. Then again, putting Big Bill over by having him squash big guys is probably a smart play. Lee didn't get to do much, but he got to have a great match with Darby on the other taping, so it evens out.

Rex Lawless is Willow Nightingale's other half, for anyone who cares about that sort of thing.

[Matt D]

Very light Elevation due to the taping quirks. ROH needs to be in a studio. Paul and Daddy Magic weren't a lot of help with the "DD Promotion" guys but the one who was constantly slipping out of things (MAO?) has a great act. It's only a matter of time before they have to babyface Kip and Penelope I think. I'm sure Kip doesn't want that, but... Anyway, Butcher no selling chops is quite the thing. As is Shafir's deal of just hanging on to a limb. Great stuff. Totally unique in the company. Again, I'm not sure how well it works in a real match but she's a lot of fun in competitive squashes. Reynolds had a chip on his shoulder tonight. No one does the rapid fire tandem offense deal better than Silver/Reynolds. You don't see the strings nearly as much as with the higher-up-the-cards guys. If he stays healthy, Bill is going to be way higher on the card by the end of the year.

[NikoBaltimore]

So the main takeaway I got from last night's Dark is Taz bought part of the ocean by West Palm Beach and he's gonna setup oil rigs.  And he's having Josh Woods work with him as security.  So for those wondering why Dark is worth watching part of it is because Taz is a goddamn treasure.

[Matt D]

23 minutes ago, NikoBaltimore said:

So the main takeaway I got from last night's Dark is Taz bought part of the ocean by West Palm Beach and he's gonna setup oil rigs.  And he's having Josh Woods work with him as security.  So for those wondering why Dark is worth watching part of it is because Taz is a goddamn treasure.

And he renamed Woods' insane twisting brainbuster into the corner finisher the West Balm Beach Oilrigger.

[HarryArchieGus]

Damn, where's the @Dean DARK report? 

Team DDT were fucking awesome on the Monday show. Super fun opener, and Butch/Blade/Kip were totally game for their high flying adversaries. It would've been nice if the names of each were passed along proper to our commentary duo. I hope these guys stick around. They'd make for a nice Rampage bout with the House of Black or any number of trios. Ya know, I've been a patient and interested viewer of Marina Shafir, but my patience is wearing a little thin. I love the socks throw (and Menard's reactions). I think she's upped her character game, but the selling and transitions are still far too awkward. @JLowe has mentioned a couple times about how not-in-a-good-way-brutal some of her stuff looks, and he may be onto something. That said, not hearing anything about her injuring anybody, so the jury is still out. I'm still pulling for her, but it's time to learn how to properly sell the action. A nice enziguri by one of the Renegades was completely no sold here (nicely sold on commentary however). That's what really threw me off here. Dug the Dark Order 6 man. Reynolds/Silver are prime examples of guys on this roster capable of providing quality service, but are too often protected from providing said quality service. I wish they'd let them do their thing more often even if it means eating some defeat. Given enough time to showcase what they can do is more than enough to keep them as relevant as they currently are. For example, they should have been on TV putting over the Gunns. They would've made them at least a little more worthy than they were. Looking over the Gunns run on cagematch, they had one successful title defense on TV!?! That's one of the worst booked title runs in AEW history. Having them win one title defense on TV, one on youtube, and do a bunch of middling vignettes did not elevate them as much as wearing the gold should have. Speaking of tag teams, Big Bill and Lee Moriarty are a fun team. I hope they find themselves with a 'Championship Opportunity'.

The Tuesday show had a less to offer. I liked seeing Taven pick up a singles victory, but prefer the tag team. Pillman Jr is really struggling to put the pieces together. I'm still looking forward to seeing he and young Brock get a few tag team bouts under their belt. Hopefully as heels. I skipped 2 of the 4 bouts, but dug the Josh Woods showcase. That spinning suplex into the turnbuckle finish looked vicious. Josh Woods feels like the best possible Marina Shafir in some respects. Maybe she oughtta hang with Sterling's crew.

Lastly, Daddy Magic's commentary continues to be such a bright spot on these streamers. I had a real tough time with Paul Wight on commentary before Menard joined up helped steer Big Paul on the right path. 

Edited April 12, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[elizium]

All Access thinks Sammy and Tay are a lot more interesting than they actually are. Britt and Schiavone are a way cuter couple.