Full Gear V - 11/18/2023

[Zakk_Sabbath]

1 minute ago, Octopus said:

You never know how these things go in AEW. He could end up in the tag title picture like Starks or random midcard feuds for all we know. The people chasing MJF is pretty packed with Samoa Joe, Wardlow, and the secret Devil. 

I’m very much in the minority in that I feel the Jay White stealing the belt (although I wasn’t a fan of the angle as a whole) helped Jay White. I liked what I saw from him specifically. But I know most (that I’ve read on Reddit) didn’t like his promo style which I oddly adored. He’s more if a sneaky snake (like Christian) than an epic killer (Samoa Joe, Will Ospreay, and now SWERVE). Shenanigans can keep him relevant but it’ll just depend on booking and if that’s what people want to see. 

Agree with all of this but I'll back the promo thing for sure, I think he's a nice change of pace from a lot of the rest of the roster (no knock on them certainly).

[Octopus]

The main event booking was so silly that I hated it to the point of enjoying it. Fucking Adam Cole in crutches in the ring until the ambulance shows up. Dude. MJF fighting of people to limp to the ring. The greatest nasty elbow drop from the top rope to the fucking floor. A figure four spot. Adam Cole awkwardly getting the belt taken from him. Shitting Bloodline ref bump bull shit. Low blow. Diamond ring fuck shit. Bryce derpin and then making the count for the win. Almost ten minutes of friendship limping. Bananas man, bananas. Long live the MJF Sport Entertainment and then we can get a super work horse or super villain to win the belt next. 

[Octopus]

3 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Agree with all of this but I'll back the promo thing for sure, I think he's a nice change of pace from a lot of the rest of the roster (no knock on them certainly).

He’s different and that’s not bad. I love his swaying and physical mannerisms while he talks. Something degenerately suave about him. I just wouldn’t trust or like him if I knew him. 

[Octopus]

Hangman has maybe the best AEW DVD Compilation set potential. So many bangers. 
Swerve has the potential to be the next Champion. Such a great presence. This match had fantastic visuals. Both men get it.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

17 minutes ago, Octopus said:

The main event booking was so silly that I hated it to the point of enjoying it. Fucking Adam Cole in crutches in the ring until the ambulance shows up. Dude. MJF fighting of people to limp to the ring. The greatest nasty elbow drop from the top rope to the fucking floor. A figure four spot. Adam Cole awkwardly getting the belt taken from him. Shitting Bloodline ref bump bull shit. Low blow. Diamond ring fuck shit. Bryce derpin and then making the count for the win. Almost ten minutes of friendship limping. Bananas man, bananas. Long live the MJF Sport Entertainment and then we can get a super work horse or super villain to win the belt next. 

Mannnn, I just don't know. I guess I don't hate it hate it, because as you summated it IS pretty wild. But for me I honestly think it's a totality of everything you wrote AND the fact that the show was very much leaning in that direction in way more ways than just this match here - as I said before, I thought it was a great show overall, the matches were all good with three being great, no stinkers - but I'm watching all of this shit you wrote happen in a ring with awful white ropes (though I did like the blood visual) an LED screen on the apron, LEDs on the barricade, announcers at ringside, fancy new graphics, Ric Fucking Flair and a devil payoff we never got, (edit: a big contract signing with a guy on your TV 2 months ago!) and I'm like... Who's show did I put 50 on again?

Edit: I'll show a little self awareness and acknowledge these are seemingly little things - and sure, it's probably a good idea to up the 'production value' in a contract year (at worst, convince some idiots surfing cable or YouTube it's a product of the competitor. Yes I'm testing that framistan after I got the Hulk one the other day) - but I'm suffering from WWE derangement syndrome to a probably unhealthy degree, so I see that stuff and I get a little bit of an eye twitch.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Octopus]

MJF cried in media scrum as a super in pain babyface. Dedicated this match to his grandpa who believed in him that passed away three years ago today. He’s crying a lot and in pain. Wow. 

[Cobra Commander]

I thought there would be a way to have a title switch here and then switch it back to MJF at Nassau in a month. But that would be the sort of idea that people either wouldn't necessarily like or they'll see what was coming at the next show.

Whatever the original plan was for MJF/Cole has probably changed a few times between the embrace of the team and Cole getting hurt. That's probably not a good foundation for a logical resolution of this epic story.

[Octopus]

The TBS Triple Threat was great! They knocked it out of the park. Julia gets the win while Statlander still looks strong. Until the Texas Death, that was my March of the night. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

7 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

That's probably not a good foundation for a logical resolution of this epic story.

Absolutely agree - I'll give them this, though I was not a fan of it for the reasons I wrote above (or really that Octopus wrote), it was at least an attempt to involve Cole in a fairly novel way rather than six more months of video chats and ADAAAAAAM! and shit.

My biggest question is probably whether the devil's non-appearance leans toward it being Cole, or does it lean toward the idea that they just have absolutely no fucking plan

Edit: It dawned on me after I clicked post, it has to be Cole, or a Cole-adjacent merc like O'Reilly or Baker or somebody. I flashed back to those video calls I mentioned, and thought of the way he kept emphatically saying to Roddy "Dude, Max is NOT the devil." In the end, he's going to have kept his word to Roddy in the beginning that it was all bullshit, and head the Kingdom against MJF and the false-flag challenger army of himself, Joe (whose respect he earned today in-story), a reconciled Wardlow, and a sick-of-the Elite's-shit Kenny Omega, a sick-of- Callis'-shit Hobbs (doubtful, too soon) or a sick-of-the-former-JAS'-shit Dan Garcia. Maybe the Kingdom side adds a couple more and MJF enlists a very forgiving and revenge driven Acclaimed and Billy Gunn.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Octopus]

Just now, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Absolutely agree - I'll give them this, though I was not a fan of it for the reasons I wrote above (or really that Octopus wrote), it was at least an attempt to involve Cole in a fairly novel way rather than six more months of video chats and ADAAAAAAM! and shit.

My biggest question is probably whether the devil's non-appearance leans toward it being Cole, or does it lean toward the idea that they just have absolutely no fucking plan

Swerve was too beat up from the previous match to get back in his Devil suit.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

9 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Swerve was too beat up from the previous match to get back in his Devil suit.

Dude, it's the most inspired choice I've seen really. His facials during that death match have me convinced he would be fantastic for a role like that - even if not the devil here, I'd think about making him the fourth man in HOB or something with a sinister vibe like that. He could cover for Malekai so they could still work trios when his back goes shitty from time to time

[Craig H]

Hangman vs Swerve 2 may have been one of the damnedest things I’ve ever seen and maybe my favorite match ever. I was on the edge of my seat for almost that whole thing. Holy shit.

[zendragon]

Just got home for me the match of the night was the trios match, Darby and Wayne handling the workrate portions, Stings final match in California, some great chicanery from Christian refusing to engage with TAFKA Edge and Luchasaurus chokeslaming Darby STRAIGHT TO HELL (the ring apron) and Ric Flair to remind everyone that Gorgeous George died a penniless alcoholic (history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme)

Agreed that a guy who'd been all over AEW being a bombshell signing is a bit lackluster, bruv

ROOOSH was just LOUNGING on the outside between his spots

Hangman v Swerve was an insane spectacle, I told the fellas behind me and I'll tell you CHECKOUT THE PRISONER OF WAR MATCH FROM LUCHA UNDERGROUND it was actually crazier. They turned on the video screens so we could get an up close and personal look at the carnage

I felt the Jets v Bucks was a bit of a wet fart. I don't buy the bucks being 417lbs

I will never understand the insane popularity of Adam Cole

People where yelling ADDDDDDAAAAAAMMMM all night like metal heads yelling  SLAYYYYYYYERRRRRR!!!

Now the crowd was pretty burned out by the main but I have to say hats off to MJF and King Switch for getting them back into it for the final stretch. Surprised no Devil reveal

I enjoyed my 5 hours of wrestling and i enjoyed my broken skull American lager 

[Curt McGirt]

Just now, zendragon said:

CHECKOUT THE PRISONER OF WAR MATCH FROM LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Ah ah, it's actually the Hell of War match

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFpa6zYqSMg&ab_channel=AgeZoof

I haven't seen that in ages and was thinking about it earlier tonight, but couldn't remember the name. Thanks for reminding me to look it up. 

3 minutes ago, zendragon said:

ROOOSH was just LOUNGING on the outside between his spots

This was a problem. Six guys on the outside hiding outside of camera range while two guys worked in the ring. At the same time it got over the kayfabe psychology of Ricky being smart and watching everyone else kill each other before jumping in for the win, which was the whole plan behind making it a ladder match anyway. So, it both did and didn't work. In any case we got a piledriver on a ladder? 

Speaking of piledrivers, since this is gonna be totally lost unless it gets mentioned, in the Texas Death Match there was a piledriver on the barricade. And that wasn't even close to the craziest thing in the match. Think about that. 

[zendragon]

[GodzillaPerez]

Swerve vs Page was so good, it made me stop being irrationally angry that AEW thinks a Texas Death Match is the same as a Last Man Standing. Take out the Brian Cage interference and it's damn near perfect.

Rest of the show happened. Aubrey and Knox are really bad at reffing.

[peterien]

Great to see MJF booked so strong, he needed it after a couple of weak showings 

Hard to see how Jay White comes back from that. 

The Maxiverse is alive and well brother. 

Edited November 19, 2023 by peterien

[Cobra Commander]

doesn't pretty much every promotion outside of the state of Texas (and maybe Memphis) not know how to do a "real" Texas Death Match?

is AEW better at not having their PPVs last forever than they were a few years ago or are we just used to it by now?

[Zakk_Sabbath]

4 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

is AEW better at not having their PPVs last forever than they were a few years ago or are we just used to it by now?

Speaking for strictly myself, being on a Saturday helped huge with that, the show could've been 6 hours and id have had no idea.

[zendragon]

I'm gonna need to find and watch this one the small screen, I eagerly await Meltzer giving Kenny and The Bucks 4+ stars and saying this was bad taste

Edited November 19, 2023 by zendragon

[Teflon Turtle]

About Jay: I'm a big fan, have been for a long time. My extremely biased hope is that he stays in the main event picture and it's OK that he lost this one because there will be additional opportunities. With all of the shenanigans and him taking the loss, unless MJF is sincere about leaving I got the feeling that part of the reason the match was booked the way it was is that there will eventually be another MJF/Switchblade title match at some point in the future. Possibly not that far off, either. 

The other really weird thing to me as someone who follows New Japan before anything else is that there is now a high likelihood of an Ospreay/Switchblade singles match for an AEW title looming at some point as well (I am assuming part of the deal with Ospreay coming in would be that he gets to the top of the company sooner rather than later, having never truly gotten a run with the IWGP heavyweight title that wasn't marred by COVID/injury). AEW would be dumb not to do it eventually. NJPW kept those two away from each other and lost their chance to run the match.

Thing is, Swerve has also been doing killer work since he's come in. If MJF is going to stay on the face side of things, if Switchblade isn't the heel to take the title away, then I'd like to see Swerve do it. Don't know about drawing power, but maybe there's something in having him be chased for a bit.  

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

I'm arguably more concerned about where Hangman goes from here, rather than Jay White. 

Guy broke into his home, threatened his kids, and then beat his ass in a Texas Death Match. Not sure what the stipulation you use to give Hangman closure here, or what you do with him if you rightly give Swerve his title shot. That was a great match, but the ending bothered me, and I liked his match with Mox better.

If Cole's the devil, Jay is either the number two babyface aggrieved at being attacked, or he sides with Cole and is number two heel. Can't win. Probably better to take the six man titles, take two steps back, and slowly rebuild over the new year. Jay vs Juice has potential. 

I can see both sides of the "I paid $30 for this, no devil, wtf?" and the "lets drag this out further" debate. There's plenty of notes left in this story to play out - Joe's title shot (which realistically spoiled the outcome of the main event), whatever Wardlow has planned, the Acclaimed's return etc. I also echo the sentiments that they seem to not be quite sure what they're doing with it and having to adjust on the fly. Does Adam Cole want Jay White to win after he attacked him initially? Is he sabotaging Max, but to what end, if not to win the title himself? I think they missed an opportunity with White's chyron stating he was the Interim AEW Champion, which would go a long way to explaining away why Max didn't just hit him with the ring and DQ himself, and leave the title match to another time when he was healthy. MJF losing the Champion's Advantage is probably an interesting storyline arc that holds together the 1998 fuckery that it was.

Not a huge fan of Toni Storm's new gimmick. Could have quite easily just been left at "crazy woman who throws a shoe" but has awkwardly added this overlay of 1920s film star without any real connection to anything. The whole "watch this old movie to see exactly how this upcoming angle will turn out" approach seems ....ehh as much as that for the great character work she's done out of the ring, she hasn't really changed her in-ring style to match what is being shown.

Can we have a moratorium on multi-man ladder matches? They're just unnecessary ways for guys to get seriously hurt. The bar of "do something no one else has done in one of these before" is now definitely at "dangerously stupid", and theres no point, because no-one remembers these matches in a month. Hey, remember when that guy from Top Flight snapped his leg in one a few months back? Even the crowd seemed dead for it except for reacting to the aftermath of spots in the way one would to Jackass.

Looking forward to the eventual OC/Hook, this tournament has real potential (and a great way of getting rid of the ROH title?).

[elizium]

Best matches were Texas Death (natch) and the TBS 3-way. Love triple threats that keep everyone in the match, rather than one person lounging on the outside for 5+ minutes.

Didn’t bother watching the main. 

[DreamBroken]

Very enjoyable show overall. Was surprised the trios match was opening but thought it was a great choice to kick it off in an exciting way.  Orange/Moxley was faster paced and felt like they packed a bunch in to a shorter time. 

Huge pop for Skye Blue getting the Butcher Babies for her new theme music! I was worried for the upcoming change since I liked her old theme but this blew me away as an awesome choice. I was rooting for Skye, but very glad to see Julia pick up the win as I felt she should've last month, only too bad it had to be a triple threat with the champion not taking the fall.  Toni/Shida was solid and went as expected.

Swerve/Hangman was absolutely insane. What a spectacle. Incredible violence and so much blood. Loved it and perfect for their feud. Meltzer said it'd be an all time classic without the interference but that maybe it still will be. 

Thought the Golden Jets/Bucks match was great and got the crowd back in to things by the end. Some excellent counters and reversals, loved Jericho's Codebreaker catch off a springboard before the finish. Kenny suddenly teasing he was gonna V Trigger Jericho was random but a really well done tease. Glad the Golden Jets stay together and challenge for the titles now, I'm digging their team.

Personally loved the main event and the whole angle leading in to it. Really thought they were going to change the match when MJF went in the ambulance at first. Figured MJF was always gonna win considering he hasn't had possession of the title the whole feud, so he had to get it back, but they did a great job creating some doubt. Thought all the drama throughout was excellent even if it was heavy on MJF Overcomes the Odds.  Good show overall and looking forward to the fallout, upcoming MJF/Joe continuation. and the Continental Classic with whatever was said about a new Continental Championship merging with the ROH and NJPW Strong titles to create a triple crown or something.

[Johnny Sorrow]

So who's " The Devil "? I didn't watch the show but wasn't that gonna be a reveal?