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AEW - SUMMER 2019


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I just got done watching most of the show, and while it might have been the company's worst effort so far, it was still highly entertaining.  My favorite two matches were Omega/CIMA and the main event.  It was good to see the Bucks forced to slow down with guys like the Rhodes.

Brandi/Allie was probably the worst match on the main card and it was about what I was expecting from the two.  I'm assuming this will build up to Kong/Allie v. Kong/Brandi at All Out.  The opening women's match was a little better but not as good as the matches from the last two shows.  They should have gotten Baker out of there right away and should have never let her get back in the ring.

Lucha Bros/SCU was fun and Pentagon has so much presence and charisma.  I enjoyed that match more than their matches with Bucks since it wasn't a total spot fest.  The three-way tag was decent and they need to push the hell out of Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, going by their crowd reactions.

Admittedly, I skipped Sabian/Page and the 6-man tag, along with the other Buy-In match.  I enjoyed the angles with Jericho and I also thought they need to learn how to properly time these shows.  The arena looked nice but I hope they don't over-rely on the place in the future.  Commentary was good but Marvez definitely doesn't need to be there.  I'm not as hard on him as others and I do think he is the best third man in the business, if that means anything.  At least, they let him talk a little and he did have a couple interesting things to add throughout the night.

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11 hours ago, Tromatagon said:

 It felt like Shoko was the only one that was any good when in reality everyone but Riho is pretty good.  Poor Shoko did a picture perfect Kamen Rider kick off the top and they called it a dropkick.  Where's your nerd cred at Excalibur?  

 

He was also calling a rolling savate a rolling sole butt. 

I'm sure that you were trying to say that everyone but Riho is pretty good but Riho is great.

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15 minutes ago, Tromatagon said:

I haven't seen a huge body of her adult work but Riho has failed to impress me I dunno 

Body? Adult Work? Nice choice of words. Makes it sound like she's got a porn tape, you watched it, and you weren't impressed.

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1 hour ago, Tromatagon said:

I haven't seen a huge body of her adult work but Riho has failed to impress me I dunno 

Watch Riho vs. Makoto from the last year or so. Its posted somewhere in the 2019 Internet matches thread.

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OCTOTHOUGHTS! 

 

Havoc: I liked the finger biting. Little things like that are going to be big with separating him from the rest of the roster, outside. 

 

MJF and Sammy: Great heels. I see big things in MJF’s future. Get Guevara more comfortable with the mic and I think he’d shine too. Him at the Pep Rally was very awkward, but he’s been alright in the casual goofball setting of BTE.

 

Joey Janela: The Cornette call out was stupid and unneeded. Saying that, he got a pretty good pop at his entrance. I think his match with Moxley at DoN and Page at All In has given him a pretty good rub. He just can’t be getting in fights with Enzo and doing too many cringy things like that. But maybe that fits his character. Hmmmmm.

 

Shawn Spears: I like his look. Very Handsome yet still tough stuff. I don’t like The Chairman name but eh. He’s coming away with a push that will probably lead him to fighting Cody at All Out. 

 

Darby Allin: He’s gonna be a fan favorite. The more he gets beat up and thrown around the more we’ll find him endearing.

 

Dr Brit Baker: That wrong partner tag moment will be great on botchamania. I feel her match would have been better if she wasn’t concussed. Which by the way, she shouldn’t have been doing as much as she was. That being maybe on the company moreso than her. That aside, I could see her as the face of the division. Unless they sign some huge star out of nowhere.

 

Brea Priestley: I didn’t like that head kick botch. Seemed unsafe. Is she known for that or was this an out of the blue one time deal? I guess we’ll see. Her and Baker will probably have a heated rivalry from this. 

 

Riho: I like Riho. 

 

The State of the Women’s division: I’m seeing a lot about how it’s a weak point in AEW (mainly elsewhere). It’s too early for that talk for me. It’s barely been introduced. Nyla Rose is a beast. Yuka Sakazaki is going to get crazily over. Kylie Rae will sell a lot of shirts to kids. I’m mainly pumped for the Kong battle. I’m not impressed with Allie as much, but like people have been mentioning, maybe it’s her opponents. With her maybe locked in a Brandi feud, I’m not sure if she’ll get a chance to put on classics.

 

Brandi Rhodes: I really like her on BTE but I’m not feeling her at the this last show. I really liked how she did the twist to bring out Awesome Kong at DoN, but her being a heel authority figure worries me. I think she has the charisma to pull it off (I liked her post-event presser), but I don’t trust ARE’s not-writing writing to be able to pull off the angle in a new and interesting way. We’ll probably end up seeing Brandi-Kong vs Allie-Kong, instead of what we all really want: Kong v Kong in a Punjabi Triple Cage Prison Match.

 

Sonny Kiss: I’m really big on him. Give him enough undercard matches to shine and he could be a star.

 

Adam Page: I feel he’s potentially going to be AEW’s Seth Rollins. A good portion of the IWC will complain about the layout of his matches but he’ll have a cool entrance music and be over with the live audience. I see him losing to Jericho like most of you. An avenge yourself story by taking on the Punk MJF, eventually debuting PAC, and finally beating the crude Jericho would be an epic title chase. Maybe Moxley or Omega has the title by that point and could be a great crowning moment for him. But, I could see the EVP’s put the belt on him right away and expect that to work. Doubt it, but I’m still drinking and I’m pretty sure I’m typoing. What ever happened to Craig Ferguson. My friend’s dad liked him. 

 

Jericho: I’m big on old man bitter rock star Jericho. I don’t see where the hate is coming from. I like an old heel with a belly. 

 

Kenny Omega: Something gives me the willies when he’s on the mic. I’m not sure what. I’m a fan, but he’s a willies maker. However, I do like the Bang thing he does. 

 

Cima: He’s cool. 

 

OWE: So is there VISA issues or am I just being impatient? 

 

Best Friends: They’re cool.

 

Young Bucks and Lucha Bros: I like them both. But I see why a good chunk of you are put off by the spots-spots-spots. Sad to say for some of you guys, but I think that style will probably end up playing a big part in this company. I’m happy because it allows me to do first bumps and say things like “wicked sweet”. I’d be very surprised if either of these teams are not the first tag champs. 

 

Tag Tournament: That’ll be neat.

 

A Boy and his Dinosaur: WHAT A COMBO. Very likable down to the core. Big green monster, Luke Perry’s cute long haired animal son. I’m in. I want to hug them. Their entrance is cute. Hugs.

 

Marko Stunt: Why was he there? 

 

SCU: My favorite bit on BTE. I like each of the members. I just thought the Daniels doing a move in the match was weak. I don’t feel it is always wrong for a good guy to have interference. I liked when Brandi interfered at All In, it added to the drama. But this didn’t work. Same with the Marko stuff. Poorly done. 

 

DQ’s: saying that, I don’t mind the precedent being set that it takes more to get a DQ. Keep using your belt, Cody!

 

The Librarians: Do Librarians wear Flair robes? I don’t mind the essence of the gimmick. Just let it stick to BTE and jobber matches. When it’s getting a whole complex storyline then I’ll be out.

 

Fyter Fest: It feels that originally it was supposed to be Fight for the Fallen that was the second show (third if you count All In) but they did Fyter as a favor to keep Omega happy. Maybe I’m being too much of a tin foil hat wearer, but with how it sounds like Omega left NJPW creatively unsatisfied, do you think fitting in a big gamer reference event where his comedy is the basis of the concept was a move to make sure Kenny stays happy? I’m reaching? Yeah, I’m reaching. But maybe a little true? Good idea going after the gamer crowd though. But with how Kahn said in the presser that they fit in Fyter Fest when Kenny brought up the idea had my imagination running.

 

Dustin Rhodes: How many more matches do you think he’ll do? I’m not sure if him mentioning that he was going to take a break after the Cody match was a work or not. 

 

Jon Moxley: Get him to do a spot on Conan before the TV show debuts. Get the WWE fans to know he’s Jon Moxley now. He just looks like he’s enjoying where his career is now. I see him being the champion early in his run. 

 

Ramps: Ramps are cool.

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Fyter Fest was done the year prior as a NJPW branded event (and Kenny had a banger of match Lovers vs Naito/Hiromu there last year) .   Kenny likes fighting games, EVO was during the G1, CEO was the next largest event, so he started going there.  Alex Jebailey's a huge wrestling fan and really good event promoter, things went from there.   Also the fighting game crowd really loves wrestling.

I'm kinda surprised Kenny isn't doing EVO this year.

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A mixed bag this time around, but still worth the 10 USD 'evil foreigner tax' as I heard someone describe it.

The pre-show cut out a lot of the iffy comedy which was a positive change.

I love that every single person in the 6-man tag has a distinct separate personality that is at least somewhat over with the crowd, Allin and my boy Jimmy Havoc being the standouts. This bodes well for a solid and varied midcard when TV starts.

Again on the midcard front, A Boy and His Dinosaur were over like crazy even with the puzzling addition of Marko Stunt. Why do they need to add to the act that obviously has great chemistry?

The Lucha Bros match was possibly my favourite of the night (that or the 3-way tag). Penta could easily slot into the main event with the ample talent in the tag division and the slim pickings at the top of the card in terms of star power. 

The Page match should have been an extended squash as a showcase for 'The Hangman'. They don't need to try to build a rookie up with every single fricking match a la Darby/Cody. Sometimes you just want the rising star to look dominant and grind his opponent to dust like a badass.

The main negative was the flabbiness of most matches on the card. If Brandi/Allie was mainly an angle working towards Kong/Kong or a tag between the four, why not keep it 5 minutes of simple action? Page match should have been 5-10 mins shorter, same goes for CIMA/Omega and the main event.

Cody talks about the wrestlers having the freedom to make your own music, but sometimes you need some direction or else you end up with self-indulgent 10 minute drum solos that lose the audience.

It gives a worrying 'inmates running the asylum' between that and the seeming nepotism with Brandi and Marvez, both of whom are currently massively inferior to their colleagues. Whether deliberate or not, management seems to have a real blind spot with those two in particular. Marvez was just toe-curlingly offensive at points during the announcing and brought out the worst in JR, who I thought was pretty good in the previous two shows. 

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Also, having now read other people's thoughts, and seeing the comments on the varying quality and questionable choices regarding wrestling gear, I concur.

One of my main takeaways from the Sabian/Page match (not ideal when this is your no. 1 contender's chance to shine) was 'wow, that kid must really love 7-Eleven to be repping their colours so hard'.

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I think all the gear having the same colors is supposed to be brand synergy. Like how a lot of the WCW wrestlers had WCW randomly on their trunks. Or Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware having WWF on his ass.

Any Muay Thai, and boxer gimmick wrestlers on the indie scene currently? Dark Order could use them to fill out some spots.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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10 hours ago, OctopusCinema said:

Yuka Sakazaki is going to get crazily over.

Yuka is contracted to TJPW/DDT. I've not actually watched anything yet, but the general reason I'm guessing going off of what I've seen here and elsewhere some think the division is weak is because the people who are most impressive are the joshi talent who aren't contracted beyond guest spots. They won't be showing up all the time when the tv show starts. Only Hikaru Shida is for sure a full time talent. 

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37 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Yuka is contracted to TJPW/DDT. I've not actually watched anything yet, but the general reason I'm guessing going off of what I've seen here and elsewhere some think the division is weak is because the people who are most impressive are the joshi talent who aren't contracted beyond guest spots. They won't be showing up all the time when the tv show starts. Only Hikaru Shida is for sure a full time talent. 

If I was in charge I would pay TJPW/DDT extra to ensure she's on more shows when possible.  She's the freaking best and I can't wait to see her and hear her crazy-ass theme again.  That said I did love Shoko and anybody that sees themself as a little Kaiju just warms my heart.  I did like the pre-show and it seems they learned their lesson from the last one.  Only saw the 6-man tag so far but will hope to watch a good amount of it tonight.  With the show being so long I may have to watch the rest tomorrow to ensure I don't skip anything.

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What's interesting/weird about Yuka is that her shirt came out and was part of the AEW store on PWTees, but it moved to her own store.  It was never on the DDT store, which handles and sells Tokyo Joshi Pro shirts as well (they just released a new one this weekend).

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I thought everything about this show went too long, and then I popped on Extreme Rules and I’m sitting here 17 minutes still waiting for a fucking match to actually start and nothing about Fight for the Fallen feels too long anymore.  

Edited by CSC
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If the first rule of Wrestling is Do something to differentiate yourself, AEW has already succeeded. Multiple times they brought up that the referees were doing a great job. Both the WWE and the UFC constantly ignore the ref's existence, except to draw attention to them messing up.

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41 minutes ago, AxB said:

If the first rule of Wrestling is Do something to differentiate yourself, AEW has already succeeded. Multiple times they brought up that the referees were doing a great job. Both the WWE and the UFC constantly ignore the ref's existence, except to draw attention to them messing up.

I agree... It’s not for everybody, but I loved that Tommy Young was an actual character back in the day, and made himself an intricate part of a match. They got that with ref Audrey a lot, who’s made herself recognized. But I’ll say this, I’m not a fan of the ignoring of the blatant interference. I don’t want instant dq’s. But I would like the refs to get in their faces, and throw them out if they do spots like that again. They did it with Chris Daniels. No excuse to not do it with Marlo Stunt earlier.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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23 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Isn’t the cliche “the best referees are the ones you don’t notice.” Or is that only in real sports?

I think it’s all opinion on what you want noticed. I like noticing a refs cadence, and the way he can create extra heat with the way he sells a 2.9. You see that a lot in New Japan, as they make sure you see the ref in the frame. The WWE currently prefers you don’t notice them, and they’ll sometimes zoom in to keep the ref out of the frame. I prefer the former, but I’m sure most enjoy the later. Sure Red Shoes can be too much. But I love guys like Wada Kohei, and Joe Higuchi being super animated when the match needed heat during a rest spot. Stardom has some great refs too who aren’t talked about much.

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1 hour ago, AxB said:

If the first rule of Wrestling is Do something to differentiate yourself, AEW has already succeeded. Multiple times they brought up that the referees were doing a great job. Both the WWE and the UFC constantly ignore the ref's existence, except to draw attention to them messing up.

That's not new to the WWE, though. I was watching a match between Adrian Adonis and Tito Santana from 1984 where Mean Gene and Vince McMahon did nothing but bitch about the ref; Gorilla Monsoon did it incessantly, too.

EDIT: and of course heels like Ventura and Heenan did it all the time, but that was their shtick. To have the lead guy do it is off-putting.

Edited by Marty Sugar
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Edit: What’s up with Jericho potatoing wrestlers with Tenryu style kicks? Tenryu at least kicked people in a way that didn’t draw blood. It’s impossible for Jericho to kill somebody with something so simple. Are guys just asking for this because they don’t want to blade?

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie
2 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Isn’t the cliche “the best referees are the ones you don’t notice.” Or is that only in real sports?

Well, Aubrey Edwards is very authoritative and I find that reassuring.

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