Go2Sleep

Even though I'm not Cole's biggest fan, AEW seems like a perfect fit for him. Way more upward mobility and gets to spend more time with Britt. Plus he's the good kind of impact signing for AEW as a guy who's been on the rise in the indies and NXT for the last decade, but still hasn't peaked at the highest level. He has enough name value to turn heads, but he's not gonna come across as a washed dude who the upstart promotion just picked up because he worked WWE before.

Another great episode of Dynamite. Loved the opening 10-man with the elaborate team intros and sensible booking. One thing you can say for sure about AEW is they protect their champs, and they have a good sense of hierarchy even if it's not accurately reflected in their official rankings. That Dark Order team was really out-classed outside of Hangman, and it would've looked silly for that group to find some way to pin both Bucks and Kenny in one match. I also liked that they didn't even drag out the 3 on 1 portion. Page and Friends looked good fighting valiantly, but the overall match was very much in line with how everyone has been presented over the last year. The main was good too for what it was. There was some clunkiness early, but Jericho pulled off the desperate old man fighting for his life against a literal psychopath really well. The finishing sequence made Jericho look good without making Gage look bad, which is the key to a great finish. You could apply that to the 10-man as well. I feel like Jericho/Juvy has a lot more train-wreck potential since death matches are naturally going to have more smoke and mirrors for limited workers. I really hope Jericho goes all in on his 98 CW champ gimmick like he did with the painmaker. I need to hear "Quasi Juice Skelera" and Jericho going down his dot-matrix printout of his 1004 holds for ideas to finish. For the finish itself, I'd be ok with the missile dropkick making a comeback, or for him to just crotch Juvy on the top then slowly climb up and hit a very awkward off-balance Judas Effect. Don't know if he could safely pull off the top-rope gutbuster as a tribute to Malenko, but that would be cool too.

Dakota is long-time NXT fan favorite. The crowds have been cooperative with her heel run for the most part, but deep down everyone still wants to see her win the big one. I'm more confused by KoR/Cole. I thought Kyle was supposed to be on a big redemption arc, but his post-match attack was very heel-ish and Cole has been getting a lot of babyface reactions lately. While I'm not his biggest fan, I can see that his style is clearly over with the crowd and he does have the all-important catchphrase. A double turn might be in order. The Way continues to be the best act on the show full of great acts. I'm surprised the Love her/Leave her match didn't make the ppv, but the sooner we get to Johnny and Candace having to be polite at dinner to Dexter with a giddy Indi the better. Hit Row/Imperium/Legado is totally the 2021 gang warz, and I'm here for it. I like MSK well enough, but they need to drop the belts to one of these three. The Grimes/LA Knight saga shouldn't be as entertaining as it is. Knight is great as a stooging heel, Grimes isn't looking weak, and working in GYV was great writing and roster utilization. Kacy and Kayden rule and would be much better babyface champs than Io/Zoey. I'd like to see Diamond Mine step up to Hit Row centered around Roddy vs. Swerve after Hit Row/LDF is finished.

I'd accept Walter losing to Ilja if it meant Walter was staying in America.

Early SD was about equal to Raw. It was redundant because the roster wasn't huge back then, but all the big names were on the show every week. In AEW's case, they have a big enough roster to basically treat it like a 3 hour show split into 2 shows.

The key to making Rampage successful is a committed effort to making sure the same people aren't on both shows each week, including the top guys. That will naturally benefit the women more at present, but should also help some of the under-used low-card men too. Dynamite is still gonna be the flagship, so you still want everyone to get exposure there. If you turn Rampage into a B-show where the wrestlers and angles who have no chance of being on ppv go, it will flop.

I don't know if you could get away with this part. Bryan/Kenny would easily be the biggest match on whatever show it's on. It's not like a Goldberg vs. Undertaker kind of legends match. You have one guy in his prime and another that's not so far past his prime that he can't go like he used to from time to time. It's also a fresh match that fans want actually want to see between guys who fans will still want to see at the top of cards for years to come. It's two guys who are on top of the world now, not two guys were on top of the world 20+ years ago. Not that I necessarily disagree with the idea of Hangman/Darby headlining the biggest show for AEW to date, but I'd hold off on Bryan/Kenny if they go that route. You could do Bryan/Punk vs. The Bucks, get about the same buzz if it's either guy's first AEW match and not risk putting your young aces in a spot to be overshadowed.

I guess the main event was karma for Xia KO'ing Mercedes at the last takeover. Not sure why they didn't just stop the match, it would've made Raquel look badass and given her a new instant-over move. Odyssey Jones looks like someone told 1996 Mark Henry to work like Keith Lee.

Man, I called Spears doing the Mr. Blonde dance back at Double or Nothing. He's obviously been studying his movie psychopaths for his new gimmick. Britt Baker has that 2015 Sasha Banks charisma. She loves everything she is doing, and the crowds are genuinely happy for her. Chavo is a step up from Vickie, but I feel like Andrade could still do better. If anyone needs to turn, it's Abrahantes because his schtick is exactly what Andrade needs. I'm really glad AEW still has a ton of momentum with the live crowds and they're putting on quality shows to match the enthusiasm.

I'd be surprised if Jungle Boy isn't next in line for one of the lower titles. I could see him beating Miro, but perhaps more likely is Jurassic Express dethroning the Bucks, then dropping to FTR not too long after. Bryan/Omega, while it doesn't need the title, seems like such a 2021 dream match that Hangman might be a taking a slightly longer swig of his stadium beer.

I don't know if I'd call a feud with 50 year old Edge a push. Seems like a classic "we have no idea what to do with these guys right now feud." Both main titles have clear trajectories that don't involve Rollins despite his obsession over it. In fact his current character mirrors 2004 "you screwed me" Edge, who was an upper midcard presence, but still a year and a half away from the title. Unrelated, but I have questions about NBC's standards and practices. They let Lashley say "bullshit" unedited, but do an awkward blackout of Charlotte throwing up a middle finger?

Nth-ing the love for the WCW themed sets from 95-98. It was the perfect balance of cheese, but also giving shows a unique and special feel. Plus there would always be a garbage match that would ensure all the props were used appropriately for a pro wrestling show. Also, Hog/Road Wild, while not having a great stage or seating, looked badass in the wide shots with the sun setting on the black hills in the background. And you have to give credit to the LU Temple as well.

Women's MITB missed a lot of opportunities with supernatural Alexa. It's pretty hard to find new things to do with ladder matches in 2021, but Alexa using her powers to lower/raise the case or doing more mind control stuff like against Zelina while the field scrambles for answers would've been fun. Also would've been a good way to put over Nikki's superhero character to bring her down (or clumsily stumble into something that puts her down if Nikki is supposed to be the Hurricane Helms type of hero). Instead they just made everyone else look like idiots as Nikki used the novel strategy of "actually try to grab the case."

So they just got Aliyah mega over and and primed for a push on NXT, only to move her to Raw where she'll have to establish herself all over again with worse writing? Hopefully she's at least getting a good payday.

It feels like Bobby Fish is on his last legs as a wrestler and is ready to move on to trainer or agent. He's 44 and has multiple major injuries the last few years. He got waxed by Pete Dunne in his return match and immediately decided he only wanted a piece of Lorcan, which I don't think ever came to pass. Now he's out there looking like an idiot losing to Tyler Rust and appears to be on pace for an even worse beating from Roddy. Just total jobber booking for him. If they had real plans for him, he would've showed up in big moment for KoR during the UE implodes angle (and not gotten told "thanks, but uh, don't talk to me anymore" afterwards) and at least found himself somewhere in the usual NA-title clusterfuck picture. I remember driving out to bumfuck Missouri for one of Harley Race's shows in 2007 because Race somehow had the connections to get KENTA, Morishima and Marufuji to fly 6000 miles to work these shows in front of like 200 people, but outside of seeing those guys live and close, I remember Bobby Fish being one of the highlights of the show. He was hilarious interacting with the front rows and was the only American who didn't seem like a local yokel and actually had upward mobility in wrestling. It always made me happy when I'd see him as an indy superstar and especially getting big matches/angles in NXT.