HumanChessgame Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 The ending of Starks/Hobbs was weak (Hobbs really needs to stop using the spear as a finisher) but it was a good match other than that. I was set to be disappointed with FTR winning as I was enjoying the match and wanted to see a longer, more competitive version with the belts on the line. Then in the final act BCG kept escaping defeat and I started wondering if maybe they were going to pull it out after all. Sure enough that's what happened and this match was why I like wrestling - sometimes the outcome seems clear but they do just enough storytelling to convince you something else is going to happen that keeps you glued to your seat. Looking forward to the rematch. Punk/Joe wasn't on par with their ROH bouts but that's to be expected given both guys' ages and mileage. They made it seem like a struggle with Punk wrestling from underneath and telling the story that maybe he's too worn down to be able to compete with Joe, only to get the surprise rollup. Not sure how I feel about Joe's post-match attack, but am glad it opens the door for another match. Hopefully Punk puts over Starks in the finals. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 This is kind of hard to comment about because I came in halfway through the tag match. That looked great. Sky and Andretti looked real good. I haven't seen any of the previous Punk/Joe bouts, frankly... but that was PHENOMENAL. It felt like the old guys showing the young guys what you have to do when your age gets to you and you can't do all the highspots any more. @HumanChessgame is absolutely right. And if Punk doesn't give Ricky the rub in the finals (which I have the belief he will), fuck him forever. He'll have a great heel run, and they'll have a great feud, but it'd be so, so selfish. Which would be the point, but still. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 7 minutes ago, TimLivingston said: Joe and Punk can do so much better, can’t believe they only got 15. But Joe choking Punk out was phenomenal. I would encourage everyone to go to Joe’s cagematch page and check the length of his contemporary singles output. This is what he is now, and that’s fine. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 I really want to hammer home the idea that "Juice Was Always Gonna Get Over". This is a pattern he has been establishing everywhere he has worked for the last decade. The dude doesn't know how to do anything but bust his ass and go for it. Crowds never get him at first, and then he throws every bit of shit he's got at the wall and when the dust settles a ton of it sticks. Here he is, again, being a freaky little star. No more doubting this dude. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 I love Juicey Boy. Plus, his new look makes him a great heel (and the paunts [TM DEAN] are freakishly small which is hilarious to me ). He'll be great as an old man just decking people with his left to finish matches. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphman 3000 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 27 minutes ago, Casey said: Interesting that Starks declined to 1) save Punk, instead FTR did and 2) turned his back on CMFTR with a solemn look on his face. It was a nod to Owen staring down Bret at the end of WrestleMania X Horribly done, but...that's what it was The Bret-Yoko rollup off the ropes finish would have been better than whatever that rollup was tonight...geesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphman 3000 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 Tag match was fantastic btw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 Was FTR vs. Jay White/Juice Robinson the longest two on two tag team match on AEW TV history off the top of my head? A very tired head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nineteen Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 Yeah put BCG/FTR on the MotY shortlist. Collision has been really good about re-establishing what a lot of the roster can be about. Malakai/Andrade addressing their past connections and each having a pretty solid point in their arguments. Just please let this playout rather than kneecapping it like Malakai/Miro last year... speaking of.... Miro being presented like a real threat and now as a guy who's renouncing what brought him which makes him that much more dangerous. Scorp reminding people what he can do in the ring. Three shows is A LOT but feels like each week that Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision all at least have one or two things worth watching each week. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 I missed Starks/Hobbs, but the rest of the show was good. I think this was the best match Jay White has been in with AEW. Finally we get to see some of the Jay White that ruled in Japan. Juice was great too. Can't wait for next week's 2/3 falls. Joe vs. Punk was good for what it was. I mean both guys aren't young anymore and I don't think anyone was expected them to go an hour. It was a good match and I liked the flash pin at the end. Joe continues to be great at suckering people when he goes for the handshake and then locks on the choke. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 49 minutes ago, tbarrie said: Speaking of bad commentary - did Nigel not say that Scorpio Sky was the only one to hold both the TNT title and the AEW tag titles? This is dinosaur erasure and I, for one, will not stand for it. Maybe Nigel is just playing along and acting as if Christian is actually the TNT champion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SyOTagjo5Do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamBroken Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 Starks/Hobbs was solid, liked the use of the old Team Taz clips when talking up their history. Didn't love the finish but the post-match was cool for Hobbs. Dug Hobbs' pink & black gear. FTR/Bullet Club Gold was absolutely incredible. Was not expecting that at all but so many great sequences and near falls throughout. Loved the series of reversals where Dax prevented the Blade Runner and then Jay counters the Shatter Machine and they go back and forth, awesome stuff. Loved that they were able to go all out for 25+. Finish felt a little abrupt but one hell of a match and next week's 2/3 rematch should be epic. In the moment, I was kinda hoping they'd scrap Scorpio/Andretti to ensure Punk/Joe got as much time as possible too. Thought they did an excellent job making Punk/Joe feel like a huge deal in a relatively short amount of time. Good match, nice finish, and the post-match made me hope for more to come out of this between them. Felt Big Bill & Brian Cage made a super fun team on Rampage, them against Cole & MJF on Dynamite should be a blast. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 MOTYC in FTR vs. Jay White/Juice Robinson. What a match that was. Roll on next week for 2 out of 3 falls. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLowe Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 2 hours ago, TimLivingston said: Joe and Punk can do so much better, can’t believe they only got 15. But Joe choking Punk out was phenomenal. Felt a lot longer but I would definitely have dropped Sky-Andretti and given them 30 if they were capable of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLowe Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 (edited) Second half of that show was an all timer, even with swole Sky-Andretti having a Dark main event level match. Booking wise, I figured that Gold would win, but the first few minutes felt like they were just building FTR up, and all I could think was how much I wanted Jay White to be TNT champion. And then it just kept going, and going, and building, and I started appreciating what Juice was bringing, and Jay White was just going all out, and by the end I was fully behind BCG AND THEN Juice gets the pin AND THEN they announce a 2/3 falls for next week and anyway I’m drunk but that was fucking phenomenal. I liked Starks-Hobbs and I’m excited about Ricky in the finals and Hobbs maybe being done with QTV (and even more QTV being done). what else even happened? The Willow-Athena face off and promo battle was better than whatever women’s match happened. I FFWD through something about Shawn Spears. There was another match right? edit: I meant besides Joe-Punk duh. I had no idea it was as short as it was because it had an epic feel and even though I never saw their earlier matchups I felt like they did a great job of combining the story of two guys who knew each other and had epic battles with them both being 18 years older and not quite capable of doing everything they could when they were young. Edited July 9, 2023 by JLowe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zendragon Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 out: Dax getting a run as TV champ IN: HOSS Wheeler getting to play with the big boys in the MEAT SLAPPING DIVISION Tony Khan "AS GOD AS MY WITNESS I WILL GET QT MARSHALL OVER!!!" Hopefully Hobbs is at least done with this mess... Good to see Julia, she gets the character stuff but still need work on the wrestling. Might be good to send her to Stardom in a talent exchange. Handful of mentions of GUILIA! Liked Nigel pulling a Jesse The Body by stating the obvious truth that BCG has the deck stacked against them by needing to win back to back matches over FTR to get the straps, Speaking of BCG Juice seems to have dialed back the poor mans Brian Pillman and added in a bit of NWO Macho Man. Its a welcome balance 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 Julia Hart is more likely to go on an excursion to TJPW than Stardom. That goes for any female in AEW, really. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm29195 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 (edited) I thought this show was brilliant, as others have said, the Bullet Club Gold vs FTR was just extraordinary and quite unexpected in terms of the time it was given. Joe/Punk was pretty much what I expected it to be, although I'm hoping the post match stuff will lead to a rematch at Wembley (because I'm going!). As someone who saw Punk/Joe 4 when it took place in 2005, also in the UK, I did think they got the name of the match wrong though. I'd love to see that show reviewed on Segunda Caida, it was a heck of an experience watching it from the second row at the time. The Joe/Punk match is about 1h5min in. https://youtu.be/pd7PIptHLos Edit, and remembering that we got Misawa on that show sent me off down an unrelated rabbit hole to find the 'sequel' to this show, Universal Uproar, from later in 2005, where we got Kobashi, linked below too in case anyone is curious: https://youtu.be/h_pQQeibliA Edited July 9, 2023 by jm29195 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 15 minutes ago, jm29195 said: I thought this show was brilliant, as others have said, the Bullet Club Gold vs FTR was just extraordinary and quite unexpected in terms of the time it was given. Joe/Punk was pretty much what I expected it to be, although I'm hoping the post match stuff will lead to a rematch at Wembley (because I'm going!). As someone who saw Punk/Joe 4 when it took place in 2005, also in the UK, I did think they got the name of the match wrong though. I'd love to see that show reviewed on Segunda Caida, it was a heck of an experience watching it from the second row at the time. The Joe/Punk match is about 1h5min in. https://youtu.be/pd7PIptHLos Still remember that post match promo. Great avatar BTW. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphman 3000 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 12 minutes ago, jm29195 said: As someone who saw Punk/Joe 4 when it took place in 2005, also in the UK, I did think they got the name of the match wrong though. Last night was actually their seventh singles match 16.08.2003 Ring Of Honor Samoa Joe defeats CM Punk (13:06) 15.11.2003 Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Samoa Joe defeats CM Punk (12:22) 12.06.2004 Ring Of Honor ROH World Title: Samoa Joe (c) vs. CM Punk - Time Limit Draw (60:00) 16.10.2004 Ring Of Honor ROH World Title: Samoa Joe (c) vs. CM Punk - Time Limit Draw (60:00) 04.12.2004 Ring Of Honor ROH World Title: Samoa Joe (c) defeats CM Punk (31:33) 19.03.2005 Frontier Wrestling Alliance Samoa Joe defeats CM Punk (20:44) 08.07.2023 All Elite Wrestling CM Punk defeats Samoa Joe (15:33) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StretchMediatedHypertrophy Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 (edited) We're into hair-splitting because obviously a lot of FWA guys were involved, but technically the 2005 show was promoted by The Wrestling Channel. Samoa Joe faced Spud (Drake Maverick) and Martin Stone (Danny Burch) in a Round Robin the next night. I gave him a can of Guinness. Super Dragon got a Krispy Kreme. Edited July 9, 2023 by SprintingFromAmerica 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 I’m on vacation so way behind and no laptop but… - Wish we had more teamwork between Matt and Jeff on Rampage. The MJF/Cole tag on Wednesday should be a blast with the place coming unglued for the double clothesline. - The Garcia vs Daniels match on ROH was the best Daniels match I’ve seen in forever. - Two drop-down trips two weeks in a row on Collision. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 12 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said: I really want to hammer home the idea that "Juice Was Always Gonna Get Over". This is a pattern he has been establishing everywhere he has worked for the last decade. The dude doesn't know how to do anything but bust his ass and go for it. Crowds never get him at first, and then he throws every bit of shit he's got at the wall and when the dust settles a ton of it sticks. Here he is, again, being a freaky little star. No more doubting this dude. To be clear, I’m not making a 1:1 comparison here, but I think Juice shares some DNA with Sami Zayn in their absolute willingness to fully commit to whatever they’re doing. They will believe in themselves until you believe in them too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriskbrown50 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 For the first time last night I noticed Collision has a decidedly different feel to it. More focused. Smaller roster feel, almost old school territory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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