ALL OUT VI - 9/7/2024

[TimLivingston]

3 hours ago, Lawful Metal said:

Main event was AEW’s Undertaker / Mankind Hell in a Cell. As a match as a whole maybe not the most cohesive or the selling wasn’t Steamboat-esque, but as a spectacle? A million billion stars. If you don’t think so, listen to that collective shriek from the crowd when Hangman starts walking back to the ring. Oh my goodness.

 

Literally the next day? WWE Vault uploaded the Badd Blood HIAC match.

 

 

[SovietShooter]

1 hour ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

The TV deal doesn't really matter in this instance, it's the advertisers I'd be worried about. They could have signed the TV deal, but if advertisers see what happened on a PPV and goes "I don't want my product appearing on this show" and pulls out

This is a fair observation.  Especially when their competition is known to propagandize such incidents for that exact purpose.

[Curt McGirt]

16 hours ago, Sublime said:

fighting to stab each other in the face go beyond wrestling violence

Bullshit, that's been part of wrestling violence since someone first tried to defend themselves against the Sheik probably. 

 

15 hours ago, Log said:

I thought the coolest part of the cage match was the beginning when Swerve tried to hold Hangman on the apron so the lowering cage would crush him, but then Hangman held on and Nana had to push them both out of the way at the last second.

Forgot to mention this but it was legit my favorite part of the match too. THAT was them trying to kill each other, not the other stuff. Kind of set a high water mark for the rest of the proceedings, but they kind of segued off into "I am going to torture this guy before he dies". 

[EVA]

5 hours ago, Matt D said:

Caught Willow vs Stat and the cage match on the way in today. That was one hell of a bus ride. Four great performances in how they reacted to things and the emotions they put forth. I think I'm more excited for where things go next. What if this version of Page crashes into Ospreay next? What does that look like? There's no other babyface that can stand up to Stat. What if she gets in the way of a returning Toni Storm? What's Swerve like when he returns? What does Willow do next? Etc.

BTW, Tim and I covered Danielson vs Perry if anyone's interested: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2024/09/aew-five-fingers-of-death-92-98-part-2.html

You’d think Strat would be a great title challenger coming off this performance, but all the champs are heels. If I was Mercedes, I’d be politicking to turn face and work with her, after her own last 2 PPV matches were perceived as duds. 

[AxB]

AEW is a lot less rigid about that. Like Swerve defended the world title against both heels and faces, without having to pull an actual 'change of character' type turn. He was a heel at All In and a face at All Out, but he didn't exactly turn babyface in the intervening fortnight.

Then again, I've long felt that wrestling would be better off if we assumed all champions are tweeners.

[peachchaos]

2 hours ago, EVA said:

You’d think Strat would be a great title challenger coming off this performance, but all the champs are heels. If I was Mercedes, I’d be politicking to turn face and work with her, after her own last 2 PPV matches were perceived as duds. 

Turn Stoke and then Kamille has a mouthpiece when Mercedes isn’t around and give me all the Kamille-Stat matches and stare-downs in the world. 

[Ziggy]

To me , the only problem with the Swerve/Hangman match and Bryan/Moxley angle is they happened in the same night. I'm not a fan of death matches and ultra violent matches but if it's used in blood feuds I'm all for it. I don't even think wrestlers should be doing ladder matches if there is no story behind it. Most of the time AEW books matches with these insanely violent spot when the feud calls for it and I'm okay with it. If you're going to book these types of matches go all the way. 

WWE books gimmick matches and they come across so sanitized. Like cage matches where you can't bleed but you can allow every other weapon. Or in the 2010s when they used Pyro as a sound effect in LMS matches and made WWE gimmick matches so hoaky. 

I don't care. If you have to be so sanitized about grudge matches, then don't book them. That goes for any promotion. I could be have got without seeing any of these sick spots at All in but they all were justified. I don't want anyone to get seriously injured but you can get seriously injured doing a dropkick.

[zendragon]

21 hours ago, just drew said:

Two things:

im a lager guy. I like myself too much to pretend to enjoy drinking skunk juice. 
 

I am a hoss, and I did very little to earn it. I come from a long line of big people. Like JR says about Bobby Lashley, I “won the genetic lottery.” Suffice to say I did far less with my winning ticket than The Lash did. 

next time you feel the need to post about the Bucks just take a deep breath and listen to The Drew Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d66IHVgzf4

[just drew]

2 hours ago, zendragon said:

next time you feel the need to post about the Bucks just take a deep breath and listen to The Drew Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d66IHVgzf4

I sure will.

[HarryArchieGus]

I rewatched Mercedes v Shida last night. Outside of an awkward moment in the finishing stretch, this match was a lot stronger than it's being discussed. Another exhausted sleepy crowd looking at their watches awaiting the Main Events. Said Main Events, the Steel Cage in particular, had an equally cold and tired crowd in the first half of the match. Mercedes' bumping alone in this match is worth noting and completely overlooked. I'm not sure there's anybody better bumping around a ring than she. Her strikes in this match also had great snap. Shida's missed kicks overshadowed some of her other more brutal strikes. One of which was a bit scary, and made me wonder how Mercedes might have been effected following. She looked a bit pissed after the match - maybe just heel character work? Schiavone did a great sell of Shida's first errant knee strike. It's kinda sad how so many clamoured and complained for more Women's Division features, and now we have these Mercedes matches 10 fold better than most anything in the first three or four years, and there's nothing but shitting upon her. The big problem here was the lack of crowd heat, and I'm not seeing the in ring work as the problem. Another match that likely would've had a less sleepy crowd on a Wednesday. Mercedes feels like the new AEWCody, and equally needing to leave this audience behind.  

Edited September 10 by HarryArchieGus

[The Natural]

Glad Willow Nightingale wasn't hurt when Kris Stalander's feet hit the back of Willow's head when Willow moved from Stalander's swanton through the table.

[Death From Above]

As a clear Blood Sucking Freak, I've seen the hypodermic needle spot a few times on the indies. It fucking sucks there and it sucked here, just stop doing that.

[Zimbra]

1 hour ago, Death From Above said:

As a clear Blood Sucking Freak, I've seen the hypodermic needle spot a few times on the indies. It fucking sucks there and it sucked here, just stop doing that.

Yeah, the biggest sin is that it didn't look nearly cool enough to make it worth listening to discourse about.

[zendragon]

[HumanChessgame]

With the needle spot being gimmicked and not sticking it through Swerve's cheek like it's normally done, I wonder if they're going to play it off like Page was injecting him with some sort of sedative a la Dexter Morgan? The ether rag has been used before so that's actually a decent play on a way to KO someone in an underhanded manner.

[Go2Sleep]

If you were trying to inject something, you'd stick it in someones arm (or neck for TV shock purposes). I thought the needle spot was fine. It was something new for mainstream and got the right crowd reaction. I think everyone has bitten the inside of their cheek at some point and knows that getting a needle jammed there would hurt like hell, regardless of whether or not its preferable to being power bombed on a cinder block. That finish of the match called for something fresh, so the needle gets the shock value and the chair shot to the head right after got the ref to finally say enough was enough.

[Casey]

But the ref didn’t see the chair shot and decide that was enough violence - Swerve got knocked out by the chair shot and the ref had no choice BUT to call the match because he was KO’d. Which is one of the three ways someone wins a Lights Out match.

Edited September 10 by Casey

[Curt McGirt]

He went "lights out"! 

...come on, somebody had to say it

[HarryArchieGus]

Re: Zero Hour
It may sound like a complaint in saying this was an awful set of matches, but I don't mind ffwdd when there's a 5 hour marathon to weed thru. There are few matches I would rather not watch than the Iron Savages v Accalaimed. Sadly, I ffwdd all the Bears matches these days. Dustin/The Coldest Fish on the Roster/Hologram v Athletes, uh nah. I wonder if Guevara could be a babyface in WWE? I'm not sure anybody in the industry needs a refresh worse than he. We'll keep Tay tho.  Beast/Stone Temple Pilots v Taven/Bennett/Strong v Flight Attendants and Juice/Ass Boys v Dark Order are matches I would watch, possibly skim, on a Collision, but here, no way Jose. The Mariah May/Skye Blue segment featured some truly shitty creative. The 'Blown' line is easily the worst thing The Glamour's done in AEW. And so too the 'Skank' line from Skye. Who's the horny teenager in the writing room? RJ City? I like positioning the Queen with Mariah. Very much looking forward to that match. This rash of first fall multi-person ways is just the worst. No, I stand corrected, three way tags with the legal man bullshit are even worse. I really like everyone of the guys in the 3 way 6 man, and hate to miss Beast Mortos matches, but what can you do. These lengthy pre-games are a great contribution to the exhuasted crowds in hours 4 and 5 of every goddamn PPV. So hoping for the day that AEW goes PLE and adopts a similar 5 match structure with no pre-show. Levesque's best move. 

Re: All Out, Season 1, Part 1
Daniel Garcia v MJF was such a satisfying opener. Smiles were big with that smart finish and angle. I loved everything about this match. Thank you to both for making the Piledriver mean something again. Great to see Garcia step up here. I sometimes think Jake Friedman is the best pro wrestler in 24. Bucks v Wheeler/Claudio was met pretty cooly by the Chicago audience. I liked the match, but it was the quintessential example of an unnecessary PPV match on lengthy-lenghty show. Cardio Castagnoli certainly provided a few thrills. The Bucks need a refresh after the very poorly constructed TK feud. Ospreay v Pac was a goddamn masterpiece. High art from two of the sport's greatest practioners. What a finish! What a delight! 

Re: All Out, Season 1, Part 2
Willow v Stat was rocking. To follow that last match and still get the crowd, weapons or no weapons, was a real feat. Strange to me, how many ppl seemed surprised by how good this was. I expected a great match from these two. At this point, Willow's consistently great, and Stat's been on a roll. The Splits into the tacks was my favorite Tacks spot I've ever seen. Small complaint, but I didn't like Willow wrapping her arm in a chain/striking Stat to a regular punch sell. Felt like a momentary logic hole. That said, I loved this. Stat looked like a proper 'Class of 1984' cyberpunk. Awesome pic above. The Ospreay/Ricochet segment was good. Ospreay really cut into poor Ric. I'm hoping this leads to a Don Callis/Ricochet union. I think he might need a mouthpiece. The talents of Briscoe v Okada v OC v Takeshita transcended the typical multi-way match, but again this screamed TV match. Despite things getting a little awkward down the finish, I thought Shida v Mone was really good. More thoughts in my previous post above. I know I'm pretty much alone over here, but I'm loving Mercedes' work. The Chicago crowd by this point were yawning between their chants. I wish the tired crowds would take their cues from the Japanese crowds and use their hands along with some ews and ahs. The Scapegoat video that preceded the title match was a bit pointless and a bit stoopid. Jungle arrives just before his match? Okay, I guess that's believable. The Danielson v Perry bout built nicely if a bit slowly to that outstanding finish. The slaps and Danielson's rage were a moment of great pro wrestling. It would've been nice to see Jack with a bloody mouth on the crucifix pose at the end. His bumping in this match was even better than Mone's in the previous. Beautiful, beautiful Busaiku knee sells! The post match BCC/Patriarchy angle was sensational! Tho, if I'm honest, I really wanted someone/anyone to take a beating attempting a save. Nobody gives a shit about Danielson being murdered? I liked the Yuta uncertainty here, but I wish both Claudio and Pac were holding him back. Pac alone felt a bit silly. Nonetheless, sickening stuff. Oh and, Jim Ross' post Mox-Danielson angle tirade was easily my favorite thing he's ever done in AEW. Side note: My lady friend was watching this and slightly horrified by the angle, so a break was called and I went it alone on the Main. 

Re: All Out Season 8, Episode 9
Hanger v Swerve did the deal! The crowd was near silent for the first portion. So exhausted - who could possibly have energy for more wrestling after 4 plus hours? I'm not complaining, I know my limitations, and was fresh from a needed break. Goddamn, my back still aches from seeing these two Toughs dropping each other on that cinder block - especially the powerbomb on Swerve. UGH!!!! Nana as many have pointed out was great in this. The opening cage drop was fun. The gimmicked chairshot was a fantastic way to close this out. Death matches are a bit snoozy for me, I hate the lengthy set-ups, and I'm not crazy about seeing ppl legitimately hurt by the stunts, but this was a fun spectacle nonetheless. Swerve was great here, but Hanger's closing moments, his uncertainty, was extraordinary. I really look forward to a day when big PPV matches aren't 4 hours plus in with exhausted crowds. That said, as per usual, AEW delivers and delivers and delivers. Excellent show.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

I don't think anybody has pointed out yet that Hangman found the syringe in Swerve's gimmick bag......

[zendragon]

On 9/8/2024 at 1:00 PM, Craig H said:

 

Also, after watching Willow vs Stat, I think the worst bump of the night was Stat landing straight on her tailbone on that dive through the table. And see, this is why it’s good to have a booty, male or female, because being all caked up is going to save you months of pain from your tailbone.

 

By this logic hitting Skye Blue with an atomic drop should be like headbutting a Samoan 

[Log]

10 hours ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

I don't think anybody has pointed out yet that Hangman found the syringe in Swerve's gimmick bag......

I thought he took it out of the pocket of the leather jacket he (Hangman) wore to the ring.

[Lawful Metal]

3 hours ago, Log said:

I thought he took it out of the pocket of the leather jacket he (Hangman) wore to the ring.

That’s correct. But! He took the staple gun out of the box that had the cinder block. Nana put that in there but it makes sense because Swerve brought the pictures in to staple to his face. 

But how did Page know that was in there?!

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Say what you will about the Bucks, they sure know how to sell Atomic Drops. Not quite Rick Rude levels but they're close.

[AxB]

2 hours ago, Lawful Metal said:

That’s correct. But! He took the staple gun out of the box that had the cinder block. Nana put that in there but it makes sense because Swerve brought the pictures in to staple to his face. 

But how did Page know that was in there?!

He looked, and his eyes saw.