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All Out III - 9/5/2021


Dolfan in NYC

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You know rewatching that Casino Battle Royale, and thinking back to the last one, I’m actually more positive about them, than when they started doing them the first two years. They’re Royale Rumbles, with everybody coming in, and getting eliminated in under 30 minutes. That beats an hour plus of a Rumble for me. Being there live for these last two shows, they were actually some of my highlights for those events. I think this last one might’ve topped the previous one too. Just some really clever eliminations near the end added to it. They probably got their shit together with the road agenting, or coaching(as I believe they go by “Coaches”in AEW) for these matches.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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4 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

I want Bryan Danielson to have fun and everything, but I also don't want him to concuss himself again repeatedly and continue doing diving head butts. 

I don’t think you’ll ever stop wrestlers who insist on returning with head injuries to ever not avoid taking wild bumps. Look at that Christian match. That Rain-Trigger he took was pretty flush to the noggin, along with other head rattling spots.

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1 hour ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

You know rewatching that Casino Battle Royale, and thinking back to the last one, I’m actually more positive about them, than when they started doing them the first two years. They’re Royale Rumbles, with everybody coming in, and getting eliminated in under 30 minutes.

I don't think the Casino Battle Royales have to be an issue because I like that they are basically shorter Royal Rumbles. The biggest issue is how the entrants are treated really. Announcing who is in each suit before hand would be a huge help and possibly staggering the suit entrants by 30 seconds or so could help to so each entry gives the crowd a chance to breath. Throwing groups out there does help stop the trope of new entrant hits their signature spots as soon as they get in that has plagued Rumbles for years now.

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Also, it's a nice pun on the title of a Bond Movie, that represented a new and more interesting reboot of the whole Bond franchise (in much the same way as AEW represents a reboot of big time American Pro-Wrestling).

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The only problem with doing a buffer between entrants in each suite is you’re looking to add roughly 6 minutes onto the match for dramatic presentation.

The best idea I can come up with is if AEW sets up stages that have elevated trap doors on multiple sides of the ringside area. So all the wrestlers pop up fast but in a dramatic way with smoke, and pyro blasting.

I’m thinking this…

Pl50ad.gif

Yes even steal the “Who’s bad” sounding back-up track for each entrant.

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You guys didn’t see this on the live broadcast, but when the first finish of the Jericho match happened, referee Paul Turner was milking a contemplating walking away guilty and letting the finish happen to a fan pleaing for him to change the finish before snitching to Edwards.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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It wasn’t a show that had me bouncing off the walls, but there was a level of satisfaction, even with two days of discourse, knowing exactly how things went, etc. that was unrivaled from a PPV experience in a lot of ways. So much here stemmed from matches presented in ways to really give everyone a chance to do what they did best, and even in the situations where a match type wasn’t to your liking, you came away thinking it was done in a way that truly made basically everyone come out of it looking better. Which is tough to do when you’re cramming so many folks in there. Individual match thoughts:

-Eddie Kingston leading off the biggest PPV in years to set the tone is one of the great match placement moves I can remember. Maybe since leading off WM30 with Bryan/HHH to both get Hunter out of the way and set up Bryan’s night to shine. Miro was sensational here, and Eddie sold and fed for him better than anyone has since Miro arrived, while also putting on the classic Eddie gatekeeping performance. The inevitable rematch, most likely to close the Arthur Ashe show, will be magical, and with a match this good to build on, they have a shot to top it. 
 

-Moxley/Kojima had a match style I really enjoyed, even if there were some disjointed parts when the match veered towards Mox in control. They both went for it, and Kojima looked great for being 50 and not having been on a big stage in quite a while. I still don’t know what to make of Mox without a title, as I think it gave him an aura that was difficult to get past, but I think he’s finding his stride and Minoru is gonna help. It’s alluded to that he’ll be checking the new adds, which should be fun. 
 

-The women’s title match I really enjoyed, even though I agree with the first half not having a lot of snap. I wonder now if a sprint would have been a better option here, but the finishing stretch was brutal and definite, and puts Baker on a huge level above everyone else ahead of Ruby. Statlander really showed out here.

-The cage match was probably the best possible outcome here, as the lax selling off some huge spots and usual Bucks stereo nonsense were to be expected, but from a pacing and big moments standpoint? It kinda worked! Usually Bucks control segments in these plunder matches are a bit mundane, but they upped the brutality thanks to the Lucha Bros bumping their asses off, and the timing, especially from Fenix, on the comebacks were pretty fantastic. Tons of nitpicks, but they got the important stuff mostly right, and that means it ended up working. This was basically the show rolled up into one match for me: Rough in some spots, but never taking away from the enjoyment. 
 

-The battle Royal was fine, I liked the shine moments for Thunder Rosa a ton, and liked how Tay Conti looked, too. Ruby was expected and still made everything look great, and Tony calling out a possible singles match for her and Rosa has me salivating. That should rule hard. 

-MJF/Jericho was a great work carry job from MJF, who I hope does more show off stuff in his big matches going forward. Dude is kind of a freak athlete and can really be great as a bump and feed heel, but I’m not sure how much he intends to play to those strengths when his shtick is what brings him to the dance. Jericho didn’t make anything too much worse than it should have been, and I liked the Dynamite match better, but this was still fine and had some eye-popping MJF stuff that jumped out at you. Not sure where he goes from here, but he becomes an amazing wild card on the heel side after the additions to the roster. 
 

-Punk/Darby was a fantastic work of subtleties, as Punk knew folks would have the microscope out to pick apart his match. He knew he’d be rusty, so he did what he did best, and threw in some flair when he needed to. The best things he did in this match was respond to Darby’s flurries. Especially his final one, which played right into the finish. He made all his stuff look incredible, and in a match where Darby indeed took some insane bumps, Punk was happy to let Darby throw his body into him however he wanted to, which made Darby’s work carrying even more incredible by comparison. It will take some time getting used to this version of Punk, but he by no means put on a subpar performance. If anything, it showed a blueprint of what he feels his focuses should be, and I think it’ll be great to see what he does bringing the young guys along. Especially given how amped they’ll be to do well with him. 
 

-QT/Wight was great pro wrestling bullshit that did exactly what it set out to do. Wight doesn’t have much of anything left, but he can be used effectively as a bellwether for malcontents, and that’s fine. Just don’t know how much he should be used going forward. 
 

-The main event was an absolutely fantastic Kenny performance, even with some of the mannerisms being too much. He was vicious, he was showing off, he knew when to turn it up, he bumped fantastic for Christian’s offense, and it was my favorite performance of his this year outside the Jungle Boy match. Christian absolutely got in his ear about how to pace and structure, and I know he’s banged up, but he needs to think of matches like this going forward. It never veered into going overboard, it had some fantastic transitions, and when a big moment came, it was hit with conviction. This is the Kenny I’m fine seeing. More of this please. Christian was his usual self, which gave the match pacing and importance, but the booking not being in doubt hurt a lot of his comebacks, even with the Killswitch near fall. Still a great performance, and a great capper. 
 

-The postmatch stuff was wild to watch even 48 hours later, as Cole’s debut was so great, even if I fell for it being the ending of the show. I’m a huge Mount Rushmore mark, so Steen’s eventual move is going to make that group even better for me. Kenny running away from Bryan ruled, and there really isn’t a single person on that roster for a Bryan match I wouldn’t see. This run could absolutely cement his GOAT status, and it’s going to be the most insane thing to see him pick who he wants to work with over the next several months, which should lead to him in the 2022 G-1, perhaps the most anticipated month of wrestling I can remember. 
 

And this all happened in one night. Incredible. 

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I don’t mind the quick entrances. But somewhere along the line the production or execution needs the be tightened up. Either the wrestlers need to know not to eliminate/ do must see actions during the entrances (outside of slide in the ring moment) and/or the camera crew needs to cut to the ramp so we know what’s happening. That’s asking a lot from a hard to execute match, but the stipulation could still work as is.  

If the rapidness of a battle royale with a changing landscape of wrestlers is the appeal, then the wrestlers don’t need to shine specifically through the entrances, but in the ring. Idk if that means more spots or having everyone on the same page. A few looked great and a few got lost. I was excited for Riho, but I’m guessing that was a botch.

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2 minutes ago, Dirty J. said:

Out of the loop, can you give me the cliff notes?

She apparently called a fellow wrestler in the back an n-word, and has a history of being a Low-Ki/Ivelise type backstage. Like even with very questionable beliefs like others, she can’t keep a spot because she’s considered extremely “difficult” to work with.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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4 hours ago, RandomAct said:

Not being a trash human would be a good start.

Tessa is nuclear. I imagine AEW would have major heat with Impact if they signed Tessa right now. But Tully helping Tessa - well that leads us into all kinds of fun scenarios but she will have to make major amends.  Never say never - we got Arn, Tully and Schiavone on wrestling TV again so I am way past saying never with Tony Khan. But for now, she is not close to worth it. 

I have a hard time seeing Bailey nor Sasha leaving WWE.  Bailey seems more likely of those two. Charlotte - given Ric was backstage apparently in Chicago, can't just start a countdown clock? 

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47 minutes ago, chriskbrown50 said:

I imagine AEW would have major heat with Impact if they signed Tessa right now.

I mean you would think NWA wouldn't be working with AEW seeing as they signed some of their best talent away from them. Impact isn't in a position where they can dictate another company's signings. You would think they would have a bigger problem with none of their guys being put over strong by AEW stars or any type of reciprocation than something like that. Moreover, since they're out of the Tessa Blanchard business, they should be happy she's someone else's problem much like Bruce Prichard being happy Luger showed up on Nitro this time 26 years ago.

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23 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I mean you would think NWA wouldn't be working with AEW seeing as they signed some of their best talent away from them. Impact isn't in a position where they can dictate another company's signings. You would think they would have a bigger problem with none of their guys being put over strong by AEW stars or any type of reciprocation than something like that. Moreover, since they're out of the Tessa Blanchard business, they should be happy she's someone else's problem much like Bruce Prichard being happy Luger showed up on Nitro this time 26 years ago.

This doesn't go to your point, but someone at the AEW scrum after the PPV asked if there was any interest in the Lucha Bros taking on the NWA World Tag Team champions La Rebellion (Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf 450) to which Tony responded something to the effect of "I have no idea who those guys are" before Penta told him they were fellow Mexicans. Tony then finished by saying they had enough good tag teams there in AEW - which to me made it sound like he has no time for any of those NWA guys. Which can be disappointing for the Zicky Dice's of the world but the fact is when AEW started taking the NWA talent (Eddie Kingston, Ricky Starks, Thunder Rosa) the WWE talent wasn't available yet. Regardless, I think they got the best they could from NWA when they did.

Also, they let Red Velvet and KiLynn King wrestle at their show which seems generous of AEW as Khan also mentioned he paid for them to be there, but it's not like he's giving them Britt Baker or Jade Cargill.

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2 minutes ago, Krone Meltzer said:

This doesn't go to your point, but someone at the AEW scrum after the PPV asked if there was any interest in the Lucha Bros taking on the NWA World Tag Team champions La Rebellion (Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf 450) to which Tony responded something to the effect of "I have no idea who those guys are" before Penta told him they were fellow Mexicans. Tony then finished by saying they had enough good tag teams there in AEW - which to me made it sound like he has no time for any of those NWA guys. Which can be disappointing for the Zicky Dice's of the world but the fact is when AEW started taking the NWA talent (Eddie Kingston, Ricky Starks, Thunder Rosa) the WWE talent wasn't available yet. Regardless, I think they got the best they could from NWA when they did.

Also, they let Red Velvet and KiLynn King wrestle at their show which seems generous of AEW as Khan also mentioned he paid for them to be there, but it's not like he's giving them Britt Baker or Jade Cargill.

Speaking of the Blanchards, awhile back I watched a piece of a shoot interview w/ Tully and the interviewer asked something about how the Crockett guys felt doing shows where they were lent out and/or booked on top for Mid-South cards post purchase (it may have been Championship Wrestling from Florida cards as well). I've never seen a person be so matter of fact, straight up, or blunt as Tully saying he was totally fine being booked to eat those (Mid-South/CWF) guys up. 

None of these relationships end up fair, especially when the business end isn't comparable. You have a red hot promotion working with companies that appear to be lukewarm at best (just talking about business wise, not in ring quality). The best you can hope for is some exposure and some decent talent trades. That's it. 

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17 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

 

None of these relationships end up fair, especially when the business end isn't comparable. You have a red hot promotion working with companies that appear to be lukewarm at best (just talking about business wise, not in ring quality). The best you can hope for is some exposure and some decent talent trades. That's it. 

NWA Powerr was getting as much or more youtube viewers than AEW Dark before the pandemic. They really built the brand up through streaming on YouTube and they were hurt by not running shows after the Pandemic. I know Khan was open to working with other promotions on that Independent level like MLW and NWA but I think Corgan basically needed to work AEW alot more to keep his brand in people's consciousness during the pandemic. I don't think the NWA would be so liberal with having his active guys on AEW if the pandemic never happened. Now that the pandemic is over the NWA can pick up its momentum and they have with the Empowerr movement. They have been a constant enough brand in the past few years that they don't need AEW but obviously there's talent that are probably going to get signed by AEW after deals are up but with them being so closely associated they do need to snatch up people. 

There's always going to be a level of bias with these promoters and their promotions but I do believe Khan is very well meaning and isn't going to just swallow up IMPACT or NWA especially with the influx of recently released WWE talent. It's up to them to keep up there momentum outside of AEW.

NWA suffered the most of any of the other promotion that has visibility in the state but I think they're probably the best st setting themselves apart that they don't need to work with anyone as long as they can run shows in front of their audience. They don't even have the best workers overall all but their old school studio wrestling presentation is so much different.

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