Go2Sleep

The Bucks stuff was great and makes sense that everyone from the production truck to the ring announcer would needle them after how they've been treating everyone the last year plus. The payoff is probably Callis treating them like shit and then reuniting with Kenny to take down the family, which is neither here nor there, but the pop for Carry On My Wayward Son will be huge. I was surprised how much I liked the Matriarchy promo. Shayna has clearly done some homework on promos since the last time they put her on the mic, so respect there. Julia/Skye/Thekla is the coolest stable that will never do anything. Swerve/Okada? Sure why not? I took the finish of the show to mean that Hangman is done with the Death Riders and they're Darby's problem now.

Very interesting trios match that's suspiciously quick after Hangman's big win. Feels like there has to be a big story pivot coming with Hanger, Mox, or both.

I also think Stat needs a real "day in the sun" reign with the big belt way more than Mercedes (who shouldn't win it until she's a face again).

Men's title could go any number of ways and be good. The true 4 pillars of Hanger, Swerve, MJF, and Ospreay give you a lot of flexibility, and that's before you add Okada, Omega, Jay White, and Fletcher to the mix. For Women's, either Athena needs to knock off Toni and then do a condensed version of the minion angle where Billie takes the belt off Athena, or if Toni fends off Athena, Billie takes down Toni in a massive upset and feuds with Athena that way. They're dangerously close to running out of credible challengers, so they kinda need to do something now. If they protected Thekla better, they'd have that in the chamber, but having her go 50/50 with Aminata isn't helping in that regard.

Yeah, I get wanting to give JR a moment after all the cancer stuff, but he sounded like he was sundowning hard by the end. Also forgot to mention they pulled off the Cope/Christian thing pretty well. Hopefully whoever was writing for Swerve and Hanger picks up this angle too. Cope made the point early on that he could see in Nick's eyes that he would turn on Christian eventually. He didn't just save Christian and pretend nothing ever happened, he's going to make Christian give the Happy Gilmore apology first. Bashing Christian in the nuts with Spike didn't bring his best friend back, it's going to take genuine empathy and self-reflection, and Cope is the bigger man taking the first step towards that.

Really good show all around that delivered everything it needed to. Felt like the right person went over in every match. Trios titles was fine, but it was the one thing on the show that felt closest to "clutter." At least it served the purpose of clearing some guys out of the main event run-ins. Men's gauntlet was good, I was a bit surprised by the lack of surprises, as it were. Juice coming back looking like the love child of Damian Priest and Ezekiel was unexpected, I guess. I like the idea of the Bang Bang Gang feuding with Ric and the Gates. Seemed like everyone got some shine and had the right pace throughout. MJF is a fine winner, the dude's way too good to be on the sidelines this long. I don't mind Dustin getting a token run with the TNT belt, but Kyle should merc him pretty soon. The Swerve/Ospreay/Bucks match was some good fast-paced AEW fun. I thought there could be some good story arcs working with Swerve and Will not being able to challenge for a year, but ultimately it's preferable to dump the heel authority figures. Wouldn't mind the Bucks back at some point since they can still go, but that trope needs to disappear for AEW's "fresh start" to work. Women's gauntlet had it's moments. I liked Stat and Megan working together and Athena finally getting a big win in AEW is the right call. Only minor complaints was the ending stretch kind of dragged and went so long without a new entrant that it didn't quite feel right with the rest of the match, and also having Anna/Penelope/Skye as seconds when they should have been in the match (or at least acted as if they were prepared to be in the match). Toni/Mercedes delivered as expected. The tombstone reversal was like the most epic Toni spot, but no one will ever be allowed to talk about it (and they didn't really give it much chance to simmer). The kiss at the end before the avalanche storm zero would've been fine on its own. Omega/Okada was fine, but didn't need all the BS at the end. Kenny can absorb a clean loss. Hangman/Mox was great, and all the BS made sense because it was all people the Death Riders took out at some point and the match was suitably violent. I have to say despite all the sports-entertainment-y stuff about it, Hangman and Swerve putting in the effort to show how blood enemies can form a respectful alliance, taking one of the most-complained-about wrestling tropes and giving it serious thought and life, is one of the best pro wrestling angles of all time. Mox's promo shitting all over their heart to heart was perfect heel work for the angle, and it all gets paid off by Swerve (and Nana) putting the finishing touches on Mox's defeat. That nod and passing of the chain was everything. They nailed the Wrestlemania finish better than WWE has in years.

So what's the deal with Adam Cole? He just wrestled Thursday and can't do anything by Saturday? I'm worried that it's something serious like blood clots or a heart condition. Even with a joint or muscle injury, most wrestlers can still do a quick squash or pre-match beatdown to complete the angle, so it has to be something pretty extreme for zero contact.

Megan's not actually that big, the majority of the AEW women's division is just tiny.

Yeah, one of the most insidious aspects of Vince having a monopoly for so long is that it permanently ingrained the idea that tag teams should only exist to break up and set one of the two up for a singles push.

Darby/Mox doesn't need the belt. Let Darby do a Sting entrance to be the decisive guy to fend off all the interference and call it a day.

Jet Speed vs. Hurt Syndicate is a great matchup on paper, but the setup was way too similar to Hangman/Mox. Not sure why you wouldn't just have them and Briscoe run 'em off in that spot. The trios match was really good. Good to see Ibushi have a strong match too. It's been sad to see him so washed, but he turned back the clock a little here. That bump on the high angle German and the avalanche tiger driver looked great. I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity with Mercedes hitting Toni with the cake, given the famous meme of her WWE vs. AEW run.

God I hope Luchasaurus can get back, because a team with him and Mortos that is some kind of Money Inc/FoF mash-up is my new ultimate fantasy booking.

You have the two matches you mentioned that were face/face, plus Hurt Syndicate who are tweeners that everyone is much more into than Dustin/Sammy. It also helps that Mercedes and Okada are in the same boat where crowds are mostly "we're happy to play along with you being a heel, but we really love you." Another great little moment in AITA was Willow's reaction when Bodies started playing.

The old-ass ECW carnies would be wise to play the two against each other for the biggest payday.

AEW is basically ROH grit and grinding their way to the big stage. Black and gold NXT was great, but that clearly had a hard ceiling. WWE buying WCW set the wrestling world back literal decades, and it's nice to see us finally coming out of the dark ages.

I disagree with this, I thought it was pretty effective considering she doesn't have a lot of name recognition. Quick beatdown of an established name, then a flashy pose that made her look dangerous but also kinda hot and it was so quick and smooth, you can tell she's probably pretty good in the ring which is the biggest sell you need in AEW. Basically came across like a much better version of The Bunny. Excited to see what she can do. The women really stole the show overall. Toni/Mercedes feels big time, and Anna and Harley really don't believe in putting their hands up. With Hangman going over in the Owen being somewhat of a surprise and having no obvious direction for Swerve and Ospreay, I was kind of wondering if they would weasel into a 4-way. It would get around the problem of not having the most compelling guys at the top of the card for the biggest show. If you're not going to put Toni/Mercedes in the main event spot, a 4-way elimination match where Mox goes out first and you have Swerve, Hanger, and Will going nuts for 30 minutes seems like a better fit for the moment. If TK finally has the balls to do a women's main, then this isn't as important and you can run Swerve/Will vs The Bucks or Claudio/Yuta.

Did a re-watch of Okada/Speedball, and it was top-shelf. It had the vibe of a Dean Malenko CW title defense on an NWO-era show. No excessive finishers and kickouts, just a lot of smooth wrestling and counter-wrestling, well-timed high spots, and a perfect tempo to keep the crowd engaged without over-stepping its bounds on the card. Way lower stakes than the main, way less spectacle than AITA, but a perfect fit on the card and a MOTYC in its own right.

Pretty stacked card with a lot of guys fresh off big PPV matches. Wouldn't at all be surprised to see Fletcher take the TNT belt.

AITA was really good. I don't know that they needed to let Bodies loop 3 times, but otherwise it was a perfect blend of comedy and violence. The Bucks were great stooging in their Continental Army getup, and I'm So Excited getting a music spot was great. Willow getting padlocked to the ring post through her gauged ear did not get enough focus. Swerve's staple gun-fu is always a blast, and the staple to the tongue was some fresh cringe. Briscoe driving the ambulance back to lock up the DRs and leave the stooging Bucks to get theirs was a good layout. The OWA through an exploding table being an afterthought was hilarious. Hanger/Ospreay was great as expected, and didn't seem to run excessively long, refreshingly simple even. I liked the touch with each trying to finish with a move from their biggest rival, showing what they've learned through their epic battles. Hanger winning is cool and somewhat unexpected. Big question is what does Ospreay do at All In now?

Big agree with this. It's too bad the heel Stat/Stoke partnership didn't go anywhere, but if they had to scrap it, I'm glad they aren't just pretending it didn't happen. Kinda feel like it could pay off with Stat eating a chair shot from one of the male Death Riders in AITA that re-awakens that sympathy from Willow. Would work best if Willow then breaks something over the same person's head/puts them through a table/whatever that gives her team the win.

Briscoe/Ricochet in a stretcher match feels like a "spin the wheel make the deal" kind of thing, but both guys have top level character work and are more than willing to take crazy bumps, so I expect it could be a quiet show-stealer. Only match I'm not interested in is the tag titles. The MJF/HS angle just needs to get where it's going, and it took a step backwards on Dynamite. The Outrunners match showed that Shelton and Bobby need to be in there with guys who push the pace, and Dustin is definitely not that. In fact, he's probably the worst type of dance partner for the Syndicate. Too big to be thrown around, too slow to hit credible offense. CRU would've been a much better fit here. Beyond that, it looks like a killer show. Hanger and Ospreay are signaling that they're going full epic, AITA is always fun, Hayter/Mercedes is a good pairing, FTR vs. Nigel/Garcia is much better suited to deliver the type of story they're going for with the tag title match, the aforementioned stretcher match, Speedball/Okada is a foregone conclusion but could be a lot of fun if Okada isn't in "mail it in" mode. Lots to look forward to.

Agreed that this segment was really bad, although I'm not as worried about that particular doomsday booking scenario. The biggest problem was it felt like they were building to *something* and then it just trailed off into nothing. MVP and MJF have been riding the tweener line nicely for this angle, but it felt like they were forcing a full heel act to try build heat for Dustin and Sammy who, I'm sorry, are a horrible act right now in AEW. Dustin cutting the same "fired up" promo he's been doing for the last 4 years and Sammy clearly in "be a good boy and don't rock the boat" mode is so grating. Plus the match is going to be terrible. Dustin is too big to get thrown around and too slow to hit credible offense and Sammy is not a sympathetic babyface. CRU vs HS would've been a fun match with the weasely heels trying to get anything to stick and maybe even engendering some sympathy as the match goes on. Dustin and Sammy should not be on a ppv. A couple other less bad, but weird, things were the Russo-ish end to the women's match and making a big deal out of Hanger/Ospreay as the main. I was really hoping we'd get the trivia note of Willow and Marina being the first women to main event an AEW ppv, plus it just feels wrong to stick AITA in the middle of a show, no matter how much of a fuck finish they're planning for it, or how obviously good Hanger/Ospreay will be. I liked the wild brawl at the end and Toni calling out Mina's entrance music was hilarious.

I've been on the Kyle Fletcher bandwagon for a while now (and still am despite this upcoming criticism), but has anyone else noticed that he leg slaps so hard his own leg bleeds in almost every match?

If that's what she's going for, TK should chip in with a fitting theme song. I'm far from an expert on what constitutes 60s/70s British counter culture music, but there has to be a good wrestling theme from Pink Floyd or Zeppelin or something. Edit: It's "Burn" by Deep Purple. Get on it,Tony.

MJF and Sterling taking over HS and reducing the original members to menial tasks would have some really bad undertones. If they aren't gonna play it straight, MJF is the one who should be getting out-smarted.