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AEW TV - 3/13 - 3/19/2024 - Takin' Care of Business

Dolfan in NYC
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Zimbra

Zimbra

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Fuck, I wish they would have kept Wardlow off until he grew his hair all the way out.  He looks like a 3rd string linebacker at Pepperdine, not Mr Mayhem.  Also he should stop doing Jeff Hardy shit when he's a heel.  Good match otherwise.  Joe is great at getting taken to his limit but barely holding on.

Willow/Riho was good shit even if they pooched the camera angle on the pounce.  The deadlift doctor bomb looked sick as hell.

I've only seen Mone wrestle once so I have no real frame of reference for her but I can tell I'm going to get sick of the dancing real quick.

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HarryArchieGus

HarryArchieGus

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8 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

I think she's crap as a face because everything about her seems like she thinks she's above it all.

19 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

The opening speech was like she was thanking the Academy for Best Female Wrestler Award so I just muted it. 

8 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

See, THIS is the crowd participation I don't like. Also, faces having "money" gimmicks. Being rich, being the boss, and liking money and power are heel trademarks, ever since Gorgeous George threw out the first gold bobby pin. Only idiots celebrate those people as heroes in real life so we shouldn't in fake life either. 

Can't really say it's hard not to treat sheep like sheep though: wrestling fans will chant for anything. We should be happy this isn't the Attitude Era where Mone's possible/eventual heel turn would end up having them chant "You're-A-Ho" instead.

Excellent points. Chanting 'CEO, CEO' is truly senseless pro wrestling. Aided by a song with the chant makes the audience look even more like sheep. I'll happily walk that back if CEO ends up standing for something clever. I didn't hate the promo, but McGirt nails it for me with the Oscar comparison. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to what she potentially brings to the division/company, and overall much like everybody I was into the feeling of excitement this debut provided.

I don't dislike the silly dance, but I'll be eagerly anticipating the answer to this...

18 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

so what's the best possible feud that'll involve a heel mimicking Mercedes' dancing?

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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Niners Fan in CT

Niners Fan in CT

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16 hours ago, Casey said:

To be fair, the First Dance kind of proved that they didn’t need to do promotion of big debuts like this.

Well the company was hotter then and Punk had been gone from wrestling for ten years so it's quite different.  Mercedes segment at the top did 1 million in the quarter but the rest of the show fell off.  It's fine because honestly they have had some decent booking since the build up to 'Revolution' and I think if they stay consistent the ratings will improve over time. 

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HarryArchieGus

HarryArchieGus

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Fun, fun, fun! I really liked Renee opening with a little rundown. The Mercedes promo was fine, and I was mostly along for the joy-ride. Samoa Joe promo was on point, the Cole Video was slightly less appetizing, but alright. Wardy showed he can promo, but didn't get any mic time after the PPV win. That is to say - the build over the past week left a little to be desired. Wardy v Joe was fine. I'm with @MattD on there should've been an escape and follow up Kokina Clutch. Not saying they buried the guy, but I wondered to myself - is 'Mike' headed to WWE now? I like seeing Swerve run-in, but kinda hate the destroy all security trope. It did lead to that fun Joe bit tho. Bucks/Okada promo was great as per usual. I couldn't stand Alex Marvez until I met him, and now I can't dislike him. Heel Okada, amirite? Bucks/Okada v Penta/Pac/Eddie was all kinds of fun as expected. I'm getting a feeling like even the Bucks low voters are coming around on this excellent heel act. Nice build to Okada v Eddie. Not that there was much indecision, but - I'm in. Christian/Copeland video was alright. To be clear, Orangeville Ontario is not Toronto. Not that I wouldn't like to know more about that town. Another excellent Will Ospreay promo. I imagine it's shitty to be a hater when he's killing it in ring and on the mic. The surprise at his promo aptitude is strange to me. It seemed pretty clear during his Forbidden Door etc cameos that he needed to be on US TV showing his excellent promo skills for at least two years. If a DVDVR 2022 archive is intact there might just have been a poster suggesting as much. Ospreay looks poised to be the biggest brightest star in wrestling by 'Dynasty' if not sooner. Deonna promo was excellent. I'm feeling that natural heel coming alive and I love it! Jay White v Darby was every bit as wonderful as I thought it could be. These two are poetry in motion in that ring. Fucking insane bump. Would've been totally fine with the countout, but loved the finish! POP! The post match angle was wonderfully heated. And Relieving. Welcome back Jay White! I got distracted by the boobirds in the Hook/Jericho v Gates bout. I'm not sure I was paying much attention at all here. Might even take a second look. The Gates entrance costumes and Laker colors were fantastic. Kyle O'Reilly promo was solid. I like the reference to the quality of this roster. Looking forward to Keith v O'Reilly, but... that being the only match advertised is 'AEW promoting' at it's worst. Jericho/Hook promo was good. Goddamn, please Chris Jericho end this babyface run next week. I love that Jericho told Hook that he could be a World Champion one day while holding a belt over his shoulder that says World Champion. Is there a way we can summon Poffo/Hennig from their graves to hammer the fuck out of that needless title belt? Willow v Riho was fantastic. Willow looked like a proper powerhouse. Riho is such a smart worker. I loved this match. Brutal bump by Willow there. Skye Blue is exponentially better as a heel. The Mercedes run-in was great. Time to question Kristin Statlander about her whereabouts. Hoping for the heel turn there. What an 'AEW rules the world' episode! Can't wait to ride the 511 down to the Coca Cola Coliseum next week and feel the AEW Live NRG! 

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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Can we be done with quarter hours and ratings talk, for fuck's fucking sake? This is not 1997. This shit does not matter. Using an outdated value system to criticize something is really really stupid. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Craig H

Craig H

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I mean, it does matter because it’s data the company can point to when angling for a better deal, giving them more money, which allows them to retain or sign talent.

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Craig H

Craig H

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Btw, this show fucking ruled. Mone’s music sounds awesome and sets herself apart from so many others.

Dickhead Okada is awesome. This is fun watching him adapt his style, which was already pretty safe and close to a western style, to American audiences.

Holy shit. Never did I imagine that Will Ospreay would suddenly become one of the best babyface promos in wrestling. That was fucking amazing. As big of a star as Mone came off as, Ospreay looks like he’s just as big of a star. This guy is fired the fuck up. It’s too bad that he’s about as reckless as Darby and twice as banged up as Darby.

Speaking of, I’m almost happy Darby is going to be taking time off from wrestling to do something probably much safer for him, climbing Everest.

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odessasteps

odessasteps

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43 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Can we be done with quarter hours and ratings talk, for fuck's fucking sake? This is not 1997. This shit does not matter. Using an outdated value system to criticize something is really really stupid. 

There are plenty of other ways to criticize them, after all. 😉

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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1 hour ago, Craig H said:

I mean, it does matter because it’s data the company can point to when angling for a better deal, giving them more money, which allows them to retain or sign talent.

Then let that be the value of it and let them alone use it. People around here use it as an empty cudgel to complain and say "AEW stinks and this is why". It's like attacking someone with a Nerf baseball bat. It's irritating but it's not really doing any damage so what's the point. 

I keep forgetting there is an ROH thread grrrrrrrrr

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Niners Fan in CT

Niners Fan in CT

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My favorite moments on the show aside from Mercedes involved Samoa Joe, Will Ospreay and Okada.  

- Samoa Joe nudging the dead security guard off the stage was hilarious.  

- Okada saying "No...sing it.." was hilarious as is everything he's doing. 

- Ospreay's entire promo was fucking A+ and has me hyped for Dynasty.  

I saw Meltzer today say something about how Triple H was unfamiliar with Ospreay's game and to that I say...  I think most of us were?  I don't know.  We knew he was one of the best wrestlers in the world but did we know he's one of the better promos in the business as well?   

Not to pick on Seth Rollins because I like him sometimes but imagine Ospreay in Rollins role.  But we don't have to imagine that because instead he'll be putting on a dozen MOTYC's in AEW...  What a signing. 

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Octopus

Octopus

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3 hours ago, The Natural said:

Hopefully this might make the people who didn't like the CEO chant, imagine C-3PO instead ;).

2 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

And if we don't like Star Wars? Then what? THEN WHAT?!

B3-D9-ECA5-FD83-4-D8-A-9884-E9-A69-A1-B5

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HarryArchieGus

HarryArchieGus

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29 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I saw Meltzer today say something about how Triple H was unfamiliar with Ospreay's game and to that I say...  I think most of us were?  I don't know.  We knew he was one of the best wrestlers in the world but did we know he's one of the better promos in the business as well?   

I suppose the thick accent and Bruvs intially threw some off, but not all of us. His AEW cameos were really good and made clear he had a mic game. Not to say he isn't going above and beyond since his full time debut, but the potential was pretty clearly there. Hunter may have not been familiar (doubtful), but there is no way Paul Heyman didn't see it. Meltzer on the other hand was still questioning his promos a couple weeks ago, so it would be more accurate for him to say - he didn't see it. 

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Go2Sleep

Go2Sleep

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Ospreay's promos in AEW have always seemed pretty decent. He speaks from the heart and the accent plays well in America. "Bruv" is very charming and it's cool to see that catch on. It might not play as well memorizing WWE-written promos, so it might be a bit unfair to say HHH didn't see it as much as he didn't think it would be the best fit for the price tag. Ospreay in AEW is the most obvious thing ever, though. Perfect fit as a wrestler, promo, brand representative and the company has a top spot wide open. I hope both he and MJF stay healthy and can have a lengthy promotion-defining off-and-on rivalry.

Okada fully embracing the American heel style is wonderful, and you can tell he enjoys trying something different. He'll have plenty of time for epics in AEW, but this is helping him stand out week to week.

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Greggulator

Greggulator

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Sorry if this should go in another forum. But Mercedes making her AEW debut has inspired me to rewatch the Sasha/Bayley match from NXT Takeover in Brooklyn. This is their first big PPV match. I've watched the Iron Woman match roughly 200000 times since that's my favorite type of match stipulation. 

First of all -- this match took place in 2015. WTF? I can't believe it was that long ago. I'm also watching this without the context of watching it in the middle of the serial drama of weekly NXT. The Four Horsewomen had been tearing down the house around NXT. The best NXT Women's match before this from my memory was Sasha vs. Becky Lynch from the Takeover before this, but they had up-and-down so many good matches. 

Steph is kicking off the match. Just a few weeks earlier, Steph announced the call-ups of Charlotte and Becky to side with Paige, along with the call-up of Sasha to join up with Naomi and Tamina to form Team BAD (they're there live for the match) so they could battle with the Bella Twins and I want to say Alicia Fox. It's wild, because in the intro, Steph is calling this "The Divas Revolution." They haven't done away with Divas as the branding yet. Ugh. Steph is also calling this the first of two main events of the night (some men's match is after this, I don't remember or even care.)

The intro package for this is awesome. Bayley in 2015 might have been the best babyface of the century. It's either here or Sami or Yes Movement Daniel Bryan. There's this really funny moment in the video when they are playing Bayley's theme song with the wacky arms, and there's a distorted version of the song as the wacky arms are deflated.  I completely forgot Bayley had to get past Charlotte and Becky before she could get to Sasha. Now I want to watch those matches.

Bayley comes out to her wacky arms and the reaction is so huge. The pop for Sasha's theme is even bigger. She comes rolling out all blinged out in an Escalade, surrounded by a security team. Two of the guards hold the ropes for her. She summons the other two who lift her onto the apron. I remembered the Escalade but forgot about the security force. Sasha is also just the absolute best foil for the pure heartedness that is the version of Bayley. 

Sasha starts by mocking Bayley's playful outfit (complete with polka dots in tribute to Dusty.) It immediately starts with a cheapshot attempt from Sasha, but Bayley brawls back to get control. The crowd is DEAFENING with dueling chants. They start off hot -- Bayley gets Sasha in a tree of woe. She runs to the corner. I think she at the time did a sliding dropkick from this position. Sasha did a sit up while in the tree of woe to maybe counter that, only for Bayley do do a really awesome springboard elbow. There are so many good counters -- Bayley knows to protect herself against Sasha's knee smash in the corner, Sasha does some cheapshots to get Bayley back to the floor. Sasha does so many awesome taunts -- pretending to do the wacky arms before slapping Bayley across the face. 

There's a good control segment with Sasha working Bayley's neck, and then getting Bayley in a straigthjacket. Sasha does some trash talking but, most importantly, it's a great cue for the crowd to start to rally. Sasha goes for the double knees again, and there's a rad counter/counter headscissors between both of them. Sasha splays Bayley across the top rope, and the crowd murmurs because of the added danger... and then Sasha does the knees that way. Such an awesome moment for the match -- Sasha and Bayley have to heighten everything to go forward. 

Bayley's advantage comes after Sasha decides to verbally berate Bayley. But the berating really reveals Sasha's character -- "You think you're better than me because all of these people love you?" That was the magic of Sasha's character. She started off as an insecure "happy to be here" type like Bayley but then found her leggings by adapting The Boss presona... but there was always the insecurity and jealousy underneath. But Sasha regains control and gets Bayley to the floor.

Sasha on the floor targets Bayley's hurt and bandaged wrist, taking off the protectve guard. There's a great spot where Sasha slams Bayley's hand on the ring steps, and then stomps in on the floor, and then wedges Bayley's hand between the ring steps and stomps. The crowd reacts like they've just seen an execution -- what a great testament to their character work and Bayley's selling. Then things GO UP another notch -- the ref is kneeling between the middle and top rope to check on Bayley, but then Sasha hurdles the ref with a sention to the floor! I don't think Sasha ever used that move before this match, and especially not with the ref decoy. 

Bayley tosses Sasha to the floor and the crowd is now fully behind Bayley. Sasha just being so vicious and mean really tilts a naturally heel leaning Brooklyn crowd firmly to Bayley's camp. Bayley hits an awesome Exploder Suplex kind of thing into the ropes. After some counters, Sasha gets on The Banks Statement (but without the backstabber.) Bayley crawls to the ropes, but Sasha stomps away with pure viciousness on the hurt hand. But then Bayley ends up reversing into the Banks Statement, and Sasha is screaming like it's pure death. Sasha is SO good at using her body to express pain and to reach the ropes. 

There's an awesome near fall when Bayley hoists Sasha onto her feet into a quick Belly-to-Bayley. The crowd is ELECTRIC with a deserved This Is Awesome chant. Bayley and Sasha end up on the top rope. Bayley goes for a hurucanrana from the top but Sasha avoids it. Bayley nearly ends her career as she spikes herself on the way down. It looks like she rung her bell real bad -- but don't fear, Sasha's going to hit a meteora off the top anyways for an epic near fall and a great "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" reaction from Sasha.

They're on the top rope again, and Bayley gets the advantage with some nasty elbows. THen WTF POISON RANA FROM THE TOP FROM BAYLEY!!! She pulls the heaband, and now has the Belly-to-Bayley and wins! There's the post-match celebration, with Charlotte and Becky joining in. Sasha comes in, too. They all flash the Four Horsewomen sign. It's maybe a bit too kayfabe breaking... but, screw it, they absolutely earned it. Nobody could have predicted what the hell The Horsewomen were going to do in NXT.

Dear god was this match amazing. And while I forget the context of it happening then, we do have the context of what happened over the next decade after this match. Women's matches have headlined WrestleManias. Women closing out Raw or Smackdown doesn't even make me bat an eye anymore. This match felt special at the time and it was somehow more special that we could imagine -- it literally changed wrestling history, and for the better. 

Now I hope Mercedes gets to change it even more in AEW.

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