Godfrey Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Opening match was fantastic storytelling. So many little touches that advanced angles, like Omega teeing off on a guy like he did Marko or Cabana almost doing the Dark Order hand symbol but then just celebrating. Not sure who Nine was but he took a rana off the top like a champ. The Hardy/Guevarra brawl was great. I can get into this feud. Sammy's dive looked wild and Hardy bleeding a lot was a great touch. Cardona hit a nice tiger driver. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) The 12-man tag, LAX vs. Best Friends and the main event has to be one of the best trifectas of matches that I've seen on US television since the days of the Smackdown Six. The most consistent in-ring effort either AEW or NXT has put together since this whole "war" started. Blood Hydrant Matt Hardy, the destruction of Sue's white Honda Odyssey, Bischoff's pitch-perfect reactions to the debate segment, this was two hours bursting at the seams with good stuff. Edited August 6, 2020 by John E. Dynamite 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eikerir Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) That was an excellent show tonight. The 12 Man could’ve been a clusterfuck but it was anything but, super frenetic and with a big sense of urgency but everyone looked great and it went smoothly. I wouldn’t have minded if this match took like a full half an hour of the show. Stu Grayson did a 450 Splash halfway across the ring and no one seemed to notice. Cabana with the subtle almost hand gesture at the end was great stuff. Loved seeing the Best Friends featured so much tonight. And Trent menacingly saying that P&P will have to apologise to her mom ON SPEAKERPHONE was tremendous. That chair throw and running 630 from Sammy were bonkers. Cardona’s debut wasn’t st bad but felt underwhelming, I think John Silver came out of that match looking the best out of all four. Main event was nice and brutal and I loved Moxley instantly hugging and talking to a dead Darby after the match, great visual. Commentary without Excalibur seemed to gel much better this week but I still hope he’s back soon. 5/5 show tonight. Edited August 6, 2020 by eikerir 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 I didn't hate Cardona's performance here. I was a Ryder apologist to the bitter end, and it makes me happy that a genuinely pretty good dude looks like he's having fun. His work was crisp and I think his timing is really good. He looked like Matt Morgan next to those Dark Order geeks. Thought the 12 man tag was busy, but served its purpose. The debate segment was fantastic, and reminded me of the part in the movie "Old School" where Will Ferrell blacks out and defeats James Carville in the debate portion. Made me chuckle. LOVED that main event. Mox has done yeoman's work carrying the title through the covid era, and deserves better than he's gotten in terms of opponents. He and Darby always mesh well. That promo, too. Damn. I know I champion Mox as being the best North American promo on tv right now, but damn. That was truly exceptional. Just fantastic character work. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 I don't care how choreographed it is, anything with that many guys doing that much stuff is a clusterfuck. They never did follow up on the knee injury right? That's one way to get FTR out of a match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 3 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said: EDIT: Reading the wrong thread on the wrong board. Don't drink and type at work. Work always seems to ruin a good day and/or night of posting here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godfrey Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 1 minute ago, just drew said: LOVED that main event. Mox has done yeoman's work carrying the title through the covid era, and deserves better than he's gotten in terms of opponents. He and Darby always mesh well. That promo, too. Damn. I know I champion Mox as being the best North American promo on tv right now, but damn. That was truly exceptional. Just fantastic character work. I'm with you, he's been really good when he's been on the past few months. Great promos and delivering in the ring, excluding his match with Hager although even that was an okay slugfest. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Green Meanie Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Easily one of the best episodes ever tonight. Cassidy looked like a million bucks, he's got to win this match next week for sure. Loved Tony acting (and sounding) like he saw a ghost, that was some great writing there. Commentary is soooo much better without Excalibur. Sadly, JR wasn't as cranky, but him misquoting a Merle Haggard song was good enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 I loved the whole presentation for Mox/Darby. Mox’s promo, Darby’s mask, the match, the works. Love the dynamic they’re building between those characters. Will lead to even more great stuff down the line. Cardona’s debut was pretty flat. I know I just got done saying Silver needs more to do on TV, but I feel like having Cody sell for a couple of job guys for 10 minutes was maybe...not the best way to get people hyped for Cardona in AEW? And considering he’s only in for 5 dates, I expected him to have a stronger direction coming out of this match. Instead, it was all about Scorpio challenging Cody. Very weird. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamBroken Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 12 man was an exciting fast paced opener. Great stuff throughout and solid booking. Thought the debate went pretty excellent, loved Bischoff being involved. Cassidy came off very well in having to cut his first AEW promo. Matt/Sammy was insane with Matt covered in blood. I'm a fan of whatever Matt does, but the poll he put on his twitter had fans picking Broken Matt the most which I still hope he gets to do more of in the future. Another awesome Moxley/Darby main event. MJF/Wardlow interference made sense. Moxley's the man. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 I got the feeling the "5 dates" was just to test the waters. He'll be full time before long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Did you see how Brodie had numbers 6, 7 and 8 scratched out on his leg? Also, it would have been great if Nine had been unmasked as Griff Garrison (although he was ringside, so it wasn't him). Looks like the chair leg sliced up Hardy, so it might have been accidental bleeding rather than them booking two bladejobs on the one show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Then it had to be two hardways. I thought Hardy was the more likely blade culprit, even though he was grabbing at his face to check. Those skulls clearly collided, HARD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Was anyone else surprised Eric Bischoff didn't end up doused in orange juice? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) Matt was definitely a blade job. If you go back and watch the interview, he’s wearing a red wristband along with the pink and green Covid wristbands that everybody wears. At the end, you can see that he’s unfastened the red wristband after hitting the post, cuts himself while Sammy is getting the chair, and tosses it away when he catches the throw. Also, AEW already happened to have a graphic whipped up for a new Hardy t-shirt that has blood splattered all over it. Quite the coincidence. Edited August 6, 2020 by EVA 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 A+ work by Hardy, though. I really had to look hard to find it, and a LOT of people are mad online about Sammy being a reckless worker over it, so...mission accomplished. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Great segment. The face Chris Jericho's pulling in reaction to Orange Cassidy's sea level answer and OC sporting a clip on tie! I think that Jericho mug will be worked into memes and a new AEW t-shirt. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Blood: Two-Face from Barman Forever. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Oh god that Jericho face. I was dying. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Oh god that Jericho face. I was dying. Ditto. Edited August 6, 2020 by The Natural 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 It's not as funny just looking at it, you have to see how frozen it remained for what felt like minutes on end. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Okay, we got the bloody clips from last week and this week up in the BLOOD SUCKING FREAKS thread, and that reminded me that no one here mentioned yet that Mox busted out the Minoru Suzuki Special to try and end the match tonight. And it didn't win. I wonder how pissed MiSu will be when he hears about that... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 That debate exceeded expectations they played it straight and it went over really well or at least came across on tv really well. Jericho and Cassidy are gonna tear the house down. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 18 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Okay, we got the bloody clips from last week and this week up in the BLOOD SUCKING FREAKS thread, and that reminded me that no one here mentioned yet that Mox busted out the Minoru Suzuki Special to try and end the match tonight. And it didn't win. I wonder how pissed MiSu will be when he hears about that... #PrayForDarbyAllin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 29 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Okay, we got the bloody clips from last week and this week up in the BLOOD SUCKING FREAKS thread, and that reminded me that no one here mentioned yet that Mox busted out the Minoru Suzuki Special to try and end the match tonight. And it didn't win. I wonder how pissed MiSu will be when he hears about that... Think Mox used it on Mr. Brodie Lee at Double or Nothing II as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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