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Double or Nothing III - 5/30/2021


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Announced as “The Son of a Common Man”. Wow. May be the most emotionally manipulative act I’ve ever seen at a professional level. Sociopathic without a hint of irony.

Edited by A_K
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When Dusty was building up to the June 87 match for 100k vs Tully (50k on each side after already winning both the Bunkhouse Stampede finals and the Crockett Cup which had huge kayfabe payouts), he cut a promo about how his dad was a self made plumber and how he did it all without the help of a union. That surprised me. 

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Serena Deeb/Riho was a good solid bout. excellent way to get the crowd going.

Hangman/Cage was easily my MOTN. hard hitting, good reversals, solid storytelling. that's my pro wres right there.

Bucks/Mox & Kingston was fine until the end. both Bucks were in the ring for the last 10+ minutes of the match. usually that stuff doesn't bother me, but this took me way out of the match. when, THREE TIMES IN A ROW, one of the Bucks stepped from the ring to the apron specifically to tag in to the match, your ref is fucking terrible. if the storyline isn't that ref Knox is 100% in the Bucks' pocket, then it makes absolutely no sense.

Casino Battle Royale was fun and well booked for that sort of thing. hated Isiah Kassidy not being a participant but spending half the match in the ring. Jungle Boy was crowned in front of a live audience. 

LOL Cody wins. i like Cody. he was my highlight of the first year of AEW. but ever since he lost the TNT title to Brodie Lee, he has been largely unbearable.

Sting ruled in that tag match. all the warm fuzzies.

Miro/Archer was fun. the bit with the snake in the bag was LOL worthy, but was just meant to keep the fans hating Miro.

Omega 3 way was good, but the winner never being in question took a lot of my interest away.

haven't seen Stadium Stampede yet but cautiously optimistic.

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And for the love of Gotch, if Miro is gonna keep winning by ref stoppages, can he at least be arsed to make whatever he calls the Accolade now look like it hurts?  I don't know who told him the go to your back thing looks cool, but he needs to knock it off.  Ots worse than the Skull End.

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11 minutes ago, twiztor said:

 hated Isiah Kassidy not being a participant but spending half the match in the ring.

He was an entrant. He and Matt Hardy were in the same suit, so they came out together. They put the list of all five in the suit up at the end of each suit. Hardy & Kassidy were in one group, Marq Quen was in another. All 3 were in the match.

I am not a fan of the casino battle royal structure. It's just too clunky and cluttered. In an effort to be different, it just ends up being worse. Like why do we need a 10 second zoom in on what the card is? Does it matter if it's spade or club or whatever? We don't know who are in the groups ahead of time, totally pointless thing to focus on.

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13 minutes ago, twiztor said:

Bucks/Mox & Kingston was fine until the end. both Bucks were in the ring for the last 10+ minutes of the match. usually that stuff doesn't bother me, but this took me way out of the match. when, THREE TIMES IN A ROW, one of the Bucks stepped from the ring to the apron specifically to tag in to the match, your ref is fucking terrible. if the storyline isn't that ref Knox is 100% in the Bucks' pocket, then it makes absolutely no sense.

Well, they payed Knox on the new BTE.

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3 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

He was an entrant. He and Matt Hardy were in the same suit, so they came out together. They put the list of all five in the suit up at the end of each suit. Hardy & Kassidy were in one group, Marq Quen was in another. All 3 were in the match.

then that is my mistake and makes more sense. i must have overlooked his name on the list.

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There are only two refs I like in this company and that's Aubrey and Remsburg. The rest I fucking hate as much as Red Shoes.

If there is any area where WWE excels, it's with their refs.

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With a good ref you do not notice them.  A good ref doesn't try to get themselves over or the match either. A good ref stays out of the way and lets the workers do the work. AEW needs good refs.  Bryce isn't bad. Aubrey tries. Noticed her tell Sting to get back to his corner a few times. She is equal to the faces as she is the heels which is actually good to see.  A good ref does not pander to the faces or the heels.   

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If there's going to be an implied no-DQ way of going about everything regarding interference or weapons then don't start counting out people either. That's not a gripe about a specific referee, more the company philosophy. We had just seen someone take a crutch to the dome in plain view of a referee minutes earlier but now Darby has to beat a count after being yeeted into the third row?

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I got invited to a barbecue last night, so had to pass. This would have probably been a lot more fun watching with everyone else but at least I got to skip what I didn't like. 

- Best two matches were clearly the tags. The Bucks' double teams were so incredibly irritating (I mean that's part of it but still) that hopefully we get a rematch based on Rick Knox being a dumbass on Wednesday. Never in a million years would I thought KARATE MAN~! would be one of my favorite wrestlers in this promotion but being such an ass and Bam Bam-ing Darby into the crowd won me over. The Jerks 4L. 

Oh, and Sting looked good too.

- Skipped the Royale but good on Jungle Boy. Also skipped the three way, no way am I watching that shit

- I still don't like Shida and that match wasn't good. The rest was okay. Stadium Stampede paled to the first one. I really don't like the idea of a crowd watching a cinematic match that ends up with a pop for a spot and three minutes in ring. 

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-Deeb vs Riho is up there for best pre show match ever. The crowd was loud and the work was excellent. And they didn't go crazy trying to out shine the main card. A perfect pre show match to get the party started. Deeb may be the best all around worker in the company right now. Love the vicious edge. Giving me Bret Hart in 1997 vibes for ring work.

-Hangman vs Cage was fucking dope. Crowd was on fire. The match was all action. Your boy hangman took a superplex to the ramp followed by a top rope F5 and still kicked. Loved the move theft, I'm a sucker for that. Right man won. Wish they let the camera linger on the post match Hangman celebration. That's one big negative of the current product. they pack in SOOO much they don't have time to let things like this or SCU post match farewell get the shine.

-Wild Thing with a full house singing was god damn electric. This match fucking rocked too. A clash of styles that meshed well. Bucks as heels are 30000x better than faces. I know there are some that still don't like them but they are in the discussion for best tag team in all of wrestling along with The Usos & FTR. I'm fucking begging for them to at least acknowledge on commentary that Rick Knox is their boy and that's why he's so lax with the rules. It doesn't solve the problem, but it gives it a plausible explanation.

-Show fell off a cliff here. The casino royale format sucks. Lio is talented. But as an "advertised" surprise entrant it was not a good choice. If they're gonna keep doing these please for the love of god stop advertising everyone in it. Announce like 10 people. That way there's room for surprises without the pressure. 3 minor surprises is better than one big let down.

-Cody vs Ogogo was not good. The angle for it was not good. And Cody using the American Dream name on THIS of all things was a wasted opportunity. As someone who has taken a proper Cop Killer wish Cody would either do it correctly or not at all. This safe one looks like shit so what's the point in doing it at all then?

-Miro vs Archer was a disappointment for me. The match was pretty decent but the crowd was so bored from the last two that they didn't get much. Bad show layout. They also lost the crowd completely when there was the animal abuse spot and never got them back.

-Women's match was... clunky. Britt was way over and her winning got the show back on track. Great moment where she hugged Tony. I want more of that. Some nuance. A face announcer being a heel wrestler's friend without it being some heel turn for Tony.

-Sting pulling out a Code Red. Doing a dive off poker chips after taking a suplex on the ramp. Page going Bam Bam on Darby Dudley. That slick ass Scorpio Cutter catch into the Death Drop finisher. This match wayyyyy over delivered. Loved it.

-Triple Threat was great. They got me to bite on a few of the false finishes. That's all you can ask for. These three all gel really well and the finish was really well booked. Heel sociopath cheats and murders tweener sociopath. Everyones fav babyface hits the big finish for a believable fall, but gets overzealous and reversed. Chef's kiss.

-Stadium Stampede was solid. Feel bad for the ring crew that had to set up a whole ass wrestling ring on a football field for 2 minutes of wrestling in it lol. But this was laid out well. All the fight scenes came off well. Good funny cameos without being full on comedy. Blended the taped and live aspects well. The right guy got the big shine. Send the crowd home happy.

 

Overall : Loved it. Wish they would have cut a match or two to let the moments breathe. But you can't deny almost everything delivered. No more casino royales please. Also wish Cody would get back to actual storytelling like the gritty Dustin feud instead of the weird political & celebrity kinda stuff he's been doing. As a paying customer I am super satisfied with this show. Almost perfect really, can't ask for more than that.

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I couldn't watch it live because it was Monday morning here.  I was working.

A few of my friends were there live and when I was watching the replay I found myself imagining what it must have been like to be there and be part of a white hot crowd, particularly during the early pats of the show. My friends were just raving about the experience, understandably so.

I managed to avoid spoilers, took a break after the first two hours to go for a walk, ended up enjoying the show as much as I have enjoyed any watching -on-my-computer pro wrestling in years and years. Found myself buying into near-falls and marking out. Got misty for things like Sting doing movez and Christian Cage hugging Jack Perry and Tony hugging Britt and the crowd popping huge for Mark Henry. Loved Shida's all white ring gear and Konan's cameo and a ton of other little things. Yelled "No fucking way!" right out loud (even though it was midnight here by that time) when Orangey Boy hit the Beach Break on Kenny, because I legit felt, in the moment, like that was it. Was genuinely bummed out when the good guys didn't win the tag belts.

It's nice to see how generally well-received the show was on here and how much people seemed to be enjoying it on the Discord chat when I read through them this morning. I was almost afraid that it might "harsh my buzz" if people were too negative about the show but even the complaints people are making (about show length, ref gaffes, etc) mostly make sense. 

I really enjoyed that show, and I'm looking forward to seeing what AEW does with all of those dominant heel champs moving forward.

 

 

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47 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

The Casino battle royal is the most TNA thing imaginable that this company just won't back down on. 

I liked TNA's first show rumble format. Traditional rumble but the final two go into a straight wrestling match. 

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Besides having plenty of over face challengers in all divisions to make for good chases, I would barely call Britt and Miro heels at this point (at least judging by crown reaction). Both of them should be able to go against heels and faces for the title and the crowd will be good with it. Also, Britt having to win straight up after having her heelish plans foiled tells a great story about how she does not have to rely on cheating to win big matches. 

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1 hour ago, John from Cincinnati said:

The Casino battle royal is the most TNA thing imaginable that this company just won't back down on. 

For all their openness to pivot and run with what’s hot when it comes to wrestlers and angles, there seems to be some stubbornness and misplaced pride when it comes to ploughing ahead with AEW-grown gimmicks that can be too cute and ill-designed logistically.

I caught the first half (up to Britt’s win) before tapping out last night and am with the folks who are highest on the tag match. The full Wild Thing entrance, the dipshitness from the Bucks (a charisma switch has flicked on in Nick to go with the septum ring), it was all so great that I could overlook  the officiating. 
Was disappointed in the placement and role that Miro/Archer played in the overall card but it would have been even more of an exhausting night if they went all-out.

Ogogo has potential, Cody made the green guy look competent but all the decision-making that let up to this match and angle was so misguided that it’s a moot point.

Brian Cage doesn’t do much for me but for a video-game bomb throwing, finisher stealing match and for Hangman’s reaction it was great.

Using Christian in the right way to showcase JB in the battle royale, such an authentic moment with him in the ring and the crowd chanting, he surely couldn’t have wished for anything better. 

Edited by Custos
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4 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

Oh, I’d never accuse TNA of only having bad ideas. But boy oh boy, they sure had a whole lot of ideas...

Thinking further on it and the ‘lot of ideas’ point, although you’re talking about TNA here, I feel that what TK needs more than anything else at this point is a Pat Patterson to finesse and play devil’s advocate.

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28 minutes ago, Custos said:

Thinking further on it and the ‘lot of ideas’ point, although you’re talking about TNA here, I feel that what TK needs more than anything else at this point is a Pat Patterson to finesse and play devil’s advocate.

Cody and his focus groups, no?

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I thought the show was really good overall.

Mox/Kingston vs. Bucks was as good a version of that match as there is that the Bucks win. Can't imagine the feud is anywhere near finished.

Cody/Ogogo was the only match that stuck out as bad on the show. If Cody was gonna win, they should've just had him pull an experience spot on him in about 5 minutes. Otherwise Ogogo's KO in the figure 4 should've ended it. They really should just have Cody focus on QT, so no one who has potential is exposed to him.

Jungle Boy winning the battle royal was a good move, not sure about giving him the title shot in 2 weeks though, seems like Jungle Boy/Omega has more life in it. Unless of course, they do a surprise title change on Dynamite. That'd be boss.

Love seeing the live crowds react to Miro and Britt. Their matches were ok, but organic face turns is something pro wrestling has badly missed the last year plus. Tony hugging Britt was a nice conclusion to their arc.

Sting waiting for a crowd to do a live match was definitely the right call. They ate that up and rightly so. It actually felt right to see him go over here, unlike when he clowned Starks in a taped segment.

Triple threat title match was really good. Kenny just dropping a double axe handle on Remsburg after being unable to break the brutalizer then hitting Pac with all 4 of his belts was some excellent heel work. The triple threat format accomplished it's goal of giving Orange some credible near-falls.

Stadium stampede was mostly fun, even though it all seemed a bit much in aggregate. All of the arena brawl pairings were great by themselves, but the disconnect between all of them held it back. Shawn Spears looked better than he ever has, and I liked his Mr. Blonde dance with the chair. Cameos from Urban Meyer and Konnan were great too. IC going over was fine since doing a heel finish to the first full-crowd show would be lame, plus it leaves the door open for a reunion later, even if (hopefully) Pinnacle will end their current run with a Jericho injury angle soon. The finish focusing on Sammy was the right call too.

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