AEW - NOV 2021

[The Natural]

This.

[SirFozzie]

Good on Jon.

 

Guess that throws a big monkey wrench into all the plans. But that's not important right now.

[Brian Fowler]

Clearly and obviously this is far more important than wrestling and booking and what not. My best vibes and wishes to Mox and his family.

But I am legitimately very very curious to see how they handle this with the tournament.

[Ace]

or how his family handles moving. They were supposed to move from Vegas to Cinci this week.

 

[Matt D]

I'd been on the fence on getting the book. Just not a lot of time right now even if the preview pages made it seem incredibly readable. Think I'm going to support the guy and pick it up. I can't imagine, especially with the timing: book tour, big push, etc., but there's no greater incentive to get help than having a kid at home, so I wish that family all the best too, for whatever it matters.

As for the tournament, we'll probably know more in 14 hours so no reason to fantasy book too hard given the circumstance; the good news is that there's almost no wrong answer given the roster they have and the two guys waiting for an opponent.

[For Great Justice]

All the best to Mox.

I am strongly resisting the urge to suggest a certain Bulgarian squash OC like a bug and then do his Umaga/Cena impression with Danielson at the PPV

 

Nope….not gonna do it

[hammerva]

When Moxley was being a huge star on the indies before the WWE he wasn't really the cleanest person in the field.  Far from it.  He was dealing with issues as well although working with CZW at that period kind of comes with the territory.   I don't know if he was dealing with the same thing in the WWE but I assume there was so many controls and restrictions in the WWE that it couldn't get that bad.  Now he is back on the indies and AEW and those restrictions aren't really there anymore.  I will like to think that having a child finally woke him to this and is getting the help.    Hope it turns out well for him and not just for wrestling

 

[Matt D]

I realize there are bigger, more pressing things going on here but I just finished the show so:

AEW Dark 11/2/21

Santana/Ortiz vs Abraham/Coleman: I liked how vocal Coleman was in coaching his partner. I like that Santana and Ortiz have a lot of potential finishers, I guess? Let's move on.

Rose vs Van: Solid squash here. My favorite bit was Van kicking her in the skull, Rose taking it, and it just not registering. I want to see the swanton again but she shouldn't be doing it every day, so it's good she didn't. Got the job done. I wouldn't mind seeing Van in a more competitive match against someone else to see what she could do.

Johnson/Anderson vs Knight/Bosede: Not a lot of meat to this. It's good that Anderson's getting frequent ring time but it'd be better if he could eat some more offense too maybe. The Knight vs Johnson segment was smooth and flashy. Spinebuster looked a little wonky to me maybe? Still neat to see Arn raise his kid's hand.

Garcia vs RSP: Finish was sixth dimensional chess. Second try for the goozle slam. Repeated counter. Repeated counter to the counter. Countered into the rear naked. That's Daniel Garcia for you. I really hope we get a few matches with him and Christian. I can only imagine what the two of them could do. Otherwise, it was good. I would have liked just a little more leg selling out of RSP as he was coming back. Garcia's offense was eclectic, though I loved the Million Dollar Fistdrop. But really this was all about the nth reversal finish.

Silver/Reynolds vs Carr/Cross: All of the Dark Order guys should use claws and each one should have a different version of the claw (10 would have the claw slam). I'm giving these ideas away for free here. This broke down a little too completely too early for me but everything was hit well and I thought Carr fed particularly well and Cross bumped particularly well so the Dark Order looked like world beaters. There's more rhyme and reason to their sequenced offense so maybe that's why I put up with it a little more than Santana and Ortiz? I don't know.

Acclaimed vs Vaughn/Smiley: Good showing by Acclaimed here. Good for them. It's not that they don't have talent. Again I think they should be protected. It's just that they're uneven. The Bowens vs Smiley strike exchange thing was pretty good. The reaction when Vaughn recovered only for him to get back body dropped into his partner was good. Yeah, this one was fine. More of this from them.

Bunny vs Garrett: Not sure if it's the second belt or her ratings success, but Bunny does feel like she's being presented as more of a threat/entity than a few months ago. Here she took the first half soundly with just mauling and tearing offense, very vocal. When Garrett came back, I don't think she had the anger/fury that the beating had warranted, but she did get to do a front handspring and full cartwheeling elbow into the corner and sweet chin music stomp, so good for her? Felt like a disconnect.

2.0 vs Bison XL/Toa Liona: It's easy to give FTR credit for big splashy moments and clever finishes, but everything 2.0 does has a lot of thought into it. I like how they took over on Bison and then kept control. Protected him. Protected them by making them look clever and crafty and dangerous. Good use of Garcia without being overbearing. XL's leaping hot tag was maybe a little much. They should probably go out and sign Liona if they haven't already, huh? Speaking of protecting, I like how 2.0 was smart enough to get out of the way but how Liona didn't sell the corner charge and just kept going. Finish was cleverly set up too. 2.0 and FTR could probably have an amazing Midnights vs Horsemen type feud but that seems like too much to ask for even in 2021.

Red Velvet vs Royal: This was totally solid. Royal has a unique gimmick with the opera thing, and who can say they have a unique gimmick at this point in wrestling. I'm not sure what kind of ceiling it has, but good for her. Good forearm too and she based pretty well for Velvet's offense. Which all looked pretty good. She remains literally the only person in history to make the Play of the Day (or whatever) look good as a finisher. I'd like to see more Royal just to see how she works her gimmick in a situation with more offense.

Fish vs Ryzin: I kind of hate Fish's shirt but it's ok because he's a heel. Impressive that he just went through a long career using his real name when that was his real name, though. Talk about low ceilings. He's fun to watch right now, just dismantling people with strikes and holds and throws. Good month for the guy. Maybe, if I was him, I'd not do the exploder into the ropes/corner/etc. in every match but hit a normal one and escalate to the more dangerous seeming version for bigger moments? I don't know. Guy knows what he's doing in there.

Fuego vs Nese: I am not very familiar with Nese. From reading Segunda Caida posts by Eric, I get the sense that he was a guy who did a lot of stupid athletic combos who developed well in his time in 205 Live and sort of figured out how to make it all work. From this match, I can sort of see that. It's funny he's billed at 205 pounds, by the way. That seems like an in-joke. This was fun. The athletic stuff like the matrix or the kick/sweep combo could potentially get annoying but wasn't here against this opponent. I like how both of them hit that sort of double jump moonsault, but Fuego's was bigger and more of a receipt since it was to the outside. You don't see a lot of bodyscissors usage these days so that was nice. Nese generally took Fuego's stuff well. The roll through power bomb into the corner looked good, but I'm not sure about the knee follow up to end the match. Maybe more as an insult to injury bit of punctuation?

PAC vs Ruas: What's up with that tree at the start of PAC's tron? Someone explain that to me. This was a fun style battle for the first half, with PAC sort of using roughneck pro wrestling toughness with the shots on the floor to overcome Ruas' professional fighting credentials. I thought it did a pretty good job of putting over Ruas who could be dangerous at any point and who could get back into a match with one good shot but I would have liked to see him just a little more protected on the finish. I get that there's a big difference in hierarchy but Ruas is unique enough that there should have maybe been a bit more of a clever/key counter by PAC or a banana peel in him going down. Instead you got the sense that PAC basically beat him at his own game winning the kicking and suplex competition before locking in a hold.

[The Natural]

This.

[Pete]

4 hours ago, SirFozzie said:

Good on Jon.

Guess that throws a big monkey wrench into all the plans. But that's not important right now.

I'd definitely be curious to know what his tipping point was, especially with how the timing of the tournament shakes out. 

[AxB]

re: Shalonce Royal:

 

[A_K]

Must be pretty severe to be taking him off air. He had put on quite a lot of weight & looked ragged but everyone probably thought that was just part of the act - maybe it wasn’t.

[Craig H]

7 minutes ago, Pete said:

I'd definitely be curious to know what his tipping point was, especially with how the timing of the tournament shakes out. 

There is a lot of truth in his promos. When I think to his promo from Wednesday, about all that matters is Nora grabbing hold of his little finger, it makes me wonder if he knew then that he shouldn't be wrestling and should be doing all he could for his little girl. 

[hammerva]

The other small really small issue is that he is the GCW heavyweight champion.  Granted he doesn't have to appear at show every time but if the hope is that he would be available for the show at Hammerstein that is cutting it close. 

 

[J.T.]

Best wishes on a proper recovery to Mox and good on TK not to put Mox's personal business on blast without getting the nod from Mox himself.

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

Rose vs Van: Solid squash here. My favorite bit was Van kicking her in the skull, Rose taking it, and it just not registering. I want to see the swanton again but she shouldn't be doing it every day, so it's good she didn't. Got the job done. I wouldn't mind seeing Van in a more competitive match against someone else to see what she could do.

Viva Van is a fairly solid worker.  I've seen her try to carry Heather Monroe and CeCe Chanel across the finish line in CWFH and CWFM.   The UWN territories are the new and strange proving ground for upcoming talent.  Viva has also done good work in Defy and Arizona Wrestling Federation.

Viva is fundamentally sound, but she seems to struggle in matches where she is the better worker and that's not good when you work heel as much as she does.  I am not sure if she's trying to work too light with green people or if she doesn't really trust the person she's wrestling, but the more experienced her opponent, the better.   

I've seen her have bleh matches with rookies like Mylo Matters one week and then turn around and wrestle a complete badass violence party with Lacey Ryan / Zoey Stark the next.

Edited November 3, 2021 by J.T.

[Infinit]

God this sucks about Mox. Hope he gets clean and sober and healthy soon. 

[chriskbrown50]

It's a pretty courageous thing for Mox to agree to share it. They could have easily not don't that; the fact that we are a year removed from Brodie Lee's illness and death that AEW managed to keep totally out of the press suggest AEW could have made something up. 

Serious stuff, way more serious than his wrestling career. Started his book last night

Edited November 3, 2021 by chriskbrown50

[NikoBaltimore]

I'm trying not to speculate so will hold off on possible reasons why he got to this point.  It's just not my place to say it and I hope he gets the help he needs.

[S.K.o.S.]

5 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Clearly and obviously this is far more important than wrestling and booking and what not. My best vibes and wishes to Mox and his family.

But I am legitimately very very curious to see how they handle this with the tournament.

Was thinking Mox would be winning the tournament, turning heel, and becoming Hangman's first challenger. I like the idea of Miro replacing Mox, but would they put Miro over Bryan? Absolutely nothing stopping them from doing it, but it'd be bold.

[S.K.o.S.]

For the record, just in case that post makes me seem like I care more about AEW's booking than Moxley as a person - he was willing to seek help before there were any obvious outward signs of him having a problem, and I'm taking that as an indication that he's going to come through this ok.

[The Natural]

This.

[Coletti]

Mox seems to be open and honest about his struggles to almost a fault, so him being upfront and sharing with the fans is both incredibly fucking awesome of him but also somewhat not surprising. Hopefully dude gets to be where he needs to be for himself and his family, and we will all be super stoked for his healthy return. 

[chriskbrown50]

15 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

Mox seems to be open and honest about his struggles to almost a fault, so him being upfront and sharing with the fans is both incredibly fucking awesome of him but also somewhat not surprising. Hopefully dude gets to be where he needs to be for himself and his family, and we will all be super stoked for his healthy return. 

His return will be off the charts. 

[NikoBaltimore]

While the tournament's secondary to what's going on with Jon I would be thrilled to see this happen on short notice.

Also, TK is gonna be on Wrestling Observer Live.  Not sure how much they'll talk Moxley but will be interesting to see what he says.

[StuntmanCrowley]

As someone who has struggled with alcoholism, my heart goes out to Mox.  I've been exactly where he is and had to make a very similar decision.  It saved my life, as did the birth of my daughter.