Go2Sleep
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Posts posted by Go2Sleep
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Penta's problem in AEW is that he and Fenix got the gimmick of "resident Mexican wrestlers" and the role of "second-tier spotfest filler." That role works fine for Fenix (though he's capable of more), but Penta really needs some edge. He can go high-speed, but his matches work better when he's more of a bully striker, and works in his big moves as needed.
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Dakota/Raquel getting the titles and dropping them instantly was really bad. That was like something you'd see in end-stage WCW. Just do a match for the vacant belts instead of stat-padding the roster. Also the Shotzi/Ember team does nothing for me. Dakota and Raquel are a much more natural pairing than Ember just adopting Shotzi's gimmick (whatever that is) for no reason.
Not sure when WWE learned how to book a dominant face champion, but I'm here for everything Finn Balor these days. I kept waiting for the overkill, and it never really came. Not sure why Cole burned his two main finishers with kickouts, seemed like they could've protected them a little more there, but at least it wasn't too drawn out. I also like that the distraction finish was minimal and kept Finn strong with another clear finishing run. Looking forward to what he can do with Kross, who is the most imposing challenger thus far.
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Have to agree this was a great reset show after an underwhelming ppv.
If you have to an all-time show-killing botch, you couldn't ask for 3 better promo guys in Kingston, Moxley, and Callis to run damage control at least. Hell, Kenny was great here too, had some real "DX Shawn" vibes. I won't lie, I was cracking up at "Quick north-south! 69 me Don!" Probably the best they could hope for to salvage that angle, now just let Mox and Eddie kick some ass and it'll all be forgotten soon enough.
I also don't mind Christian as a filler challenger for Omega. The top-level faces are pretty thin at the moment, and Kenny could use a less epic kind of match that he could win relatively easily. His heel run has plenty of life, but you need some expendable challengers instead of ever escalating feuds.
Penta getting some momentum by putting Cody on the shelf would be nice. They need to acknowledge where he's at with Death Triangle, though.
What was with Vickie just easily beating down the champ holding a kendo stick at the beginning of that 6-woman tag? That whole segment was kind of a mess.
The only other thing I didn't like was Sky jobbing his opportunity away so quickly and then doing an uninspired heel turn with no momentum because he just lost clean to a guy who jumped off a building 3 days ago. That was very WWE like.
The final segment was one of the best-written wrestling segments in years. Just perfect timing on both parts of the double swerve. Say what you want about Jericho, that guy can still work an emotional angle as good as anyone. MJF's new group is pretty much the perfect collection of "guys who should be in a heel stable." MJF as the trash-talking well-insulated leader. Wardlow as the muscle. FTR as the goons who can also work over the tag division. Spears as the guy no one really cares about but they insist on giving tv time, so first line of babyface attack fodder is a good compromise.
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Brian Cage's suplex stair climb with Darby doesn't deserve to be forgotten.
The main event was perfect until, well... You know. I think there might have been about 10 people who liked that finish, and they were everyone involved in the planning and execution of that horrible "literal giant brass ring" ladder match that would otherwise be getting wrestlecrap memed to death. I do not envy the writers who have to figure this one out by Wednesday. I honestly think the best play might just be some video editing and gaslighting everyone into thinking it was a big explosion.
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What is Cesaro's contract situation? I honestly have no clue, but if there's one guy who I'd like to see get an ace run in a national promotion while he still has something left in the tank...
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On 3/4/2021 at 12:53 AM, GuerrillaMonsoon said:
Where does the Shaq match rate as far as celebrity matches go? Or even on a Tom Magee miracle match scale?
Mayweather still the best. LT marginally better. Can't think of anything else as good.
Kevin Greene with Flair and Piper vs. Hall/Nash/Syxx. Perhaps not the most fair because the talent level in that match is considerably higher, but Greene held up his end. Pat McAfee Wargames was better too, plus he actually hyped it well.
Shaq lumbering around like Khali was better than it had any right to be, though. Jade Cargill has IT.
I fear for Darby Allin's health on Sunday after he and Sting made the Taz family look like chumps the last two weeks.
Can Pac/Fenix squash some jobbers every week for like a year?
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Finn/Roddy is exactly how a champ vs. midcard non-title match should go. Roddy got enough in to look good without wasting his big moves, and Finn controlled most of the match and countered a couple of Roddy's signature spots just a beat earlier than you'd expect in a full-on main event epic and got the decisive win with his full finisher sequence uninterrupted. This version of Finn is far more credible and menacing than the demon ever was. Just great stuff from him in every match now it seems like. Next week will be his biggest test against the master of overkill Adam Cole.
They blew a huge opportunity with the women's tag. Dakota pinning Shayna would've been a great long-term arc. Instead, Shayna mostly dominated her again and Dakota/Raquel ended up looking weak despite the fuck finish.
The Gargano Family sitcom makes me wonder why Johnny was a blue-chipper face for so long. His heel suburban dad gimmick is amazing, and lord help me, makes me want to watch Austin Theory of all people.
Santos Escobar is way too badass to just be CW champ. I'd love to see him feud with Finn.
I love LA Knight's promos. He's got such a smooth, old-school sound. I hope his matches are at least half as good.
Cameron Grimes' gimmick seems like it should be really bad, but he's killing it every week too.
Damn, NXT has a lot of awesome midcard acts right now.
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11 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:
I didn't know Kendrick wrestled as Spanky in WWE. I also don't recall seeing Steph without the fake tits. And why was she gonna be in a match with Albert?!
Pre-PG WWE was a hell of a place. That match in particular was part of the particularly creepy/disgusting Vince/Steph feud that culminated with an I Quit match between the two at No Mercy 2003.
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Does it count as a squash if the guy doing the squash gets dq'ed? The beating Kendrick takes in this one is pretty extreme, even by early 2000s standards.
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I don't know how Indi Hartwell fits in, but Johnny and Candace as Austin Theory's parents is pretty damn funny.
The main event angle is lame, but the NXT midcard is on fire right now.
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Double post
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On 2/25/2021 at 10:56 PM, The Natural said:
This match is so fucking good. True MOTDC in an absolutely loaded decade where so much more wrestling had become widely available. Perfect chemistry between all 4 guys as the match smoothly drifts between "plucky upstarts trying to make a name on the big stage," "surly veterans battling for pride following their epic singles match," and the best parts: "surly vets getting irritated when the upstarts try to cut in on their time." Super hot crowd for a NOAH show too.
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Xia Li's new act is so awesome, very Lucha Underground like. She didn't interest me at all as a blue-chipper babyface, but she's got some fire as a super-powered heel. I hope there's more for the Kacy/Kayden team after Xia kills them, though. Maybe it's just the lime green attire, but they really remind me of a women's version of MSK.
Feel like Escobar/Kross match went too long. Full on babyface Kross doesn't work, but this match does bode well for Escobar's prospects beyond CW champ. He didn't look out of place hanging with Kross, even with all the interference.
I am disappointed with the direction they're going with the title picture. Looks like they're setting up a fatal 4-way, which usually aren't good to begin with, and the whole UE imploding angle is falling so flat. Like you can't do a super-emotional brotherhood break-up with a heel group. These guys have spent the last 3 years using every underhanded trick to get ahead and screw everyone else over. I mean Roddy himself is only in the group because he stabbed Pete Dunne in the back, so him crying about brotherhood seemed especially hollow. Bobby Fish, the guy with most emotional connection to KoR, is nowhere to be found. If these guys all turned on each other because they were all jealous and insecure like Cole, they might have something. As is, it's not working, then they're wasting the champ who's been on a mega-roll lately by just throwing him in the middle of it for no reason on top of it.
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Dolph's brother is a good jobber. I dug Moxley using the guillotine choke to set up the paradigm shift. Great transition to a move that doesn't usually look good when he tries to hit it quickly.
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Fun thought experiment: What if when Hogan went to WCW, he booked himself like Cody Rhodes in AEW?
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Depends if you count his post-invasion win against the Rock/Undisputed tournament win. Technically it's the same belt, but I think the company doing the booking is more important than the name of the belt for the spirit of this argument.
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11 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:
Holy shit, listening to TK on WOL finally, and I cannot overstate how bizarre it is to have him referencing actual threads and arguments I completely remember from my lurking days here in HS/college.
More or less bizarre than reading Bix posts in an actual published book (the Benoit one)?
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4 hours ago, A_K said:
Is there any precedent for having a commentator who is sizeably more imposing than the rest of the entire roster? Not sure that’s a good idea at all
Not in terms of size, but a lot of the ex-wrestler announcers (Ventura, Piper, Savage, Booker T, Wade Barrett to name a few) had enough size and/or presence that they wouldn't be pushed around by most of the active roster at their respective times. The most egregious example might be Coach, who played a dopey character, but was a legit big dude/athlete. He looked like an small dweeb next to Dwayne Johnson, but he towered over guys he feuded with like Lawler and Tajiri.
Whoever said Wight should be used like late-career Andre was dead on. It'd be a hilarious full-circle for his career too.
Also I hope we get at least one match with Wight and Taz on commentary together.
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This is one of the better main roster ppvs lately since at least the in-ring action was good, even if the writing was shit.
I really liked the SD chamber, probably the best one I've seen in 7 (?) years. The key was Baron Corbin being used appropriately and not overstaying his welcome. Jey Uso also played his part nicely, and his elimination of KO was vicious. Cesaro winning would've been slightly better, but nothing wrong with Bryan. There was something wrong with him getting squashed immediately after, though. Given how the show ended, I don't see how a competitive Bryan/Roman match with Edge challenging Roman after wouldn't have been a better close.
The US 3-way was good too. Lashley was a monster and Riddle/Morrison filled in the roles of guys who can bump, but still end up getting credible offense with their athleticism. The crutch kept Lashley strong and him vs. Drew at Mania would be great.
The women's tag seemed a little disjointed, mostly because of Nia. I'd like to see Shayna/Sasha at some point. Bianca still doesn't do much for me, but at least it's a fresh face in the picture. Reginald's involvement foreshadowing more Carmella can't be good, though.
The Raw chamber was more of the usual forgettable kind of chamber we've become accustomed to the last 10+ years. Considering I only watch ppvs, I forgot Miz still had the case. I would probably be even more annoyed if I learned how he got the case back after TLC. Luckily, there's an easy path to Drew/Lashley, but it still doesn't make me want to see another Miz main event.
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On 2/17/2021 at 8:12 AM, WholeFnMachine said:
Two questions:
1. How in the hell does Pete Dunne not destroy your fingers when he does that?
Same way your face doesn't get destroyed taking multiple bare-knuckle punches.
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I wouldn't worry too much about Cole being in the title picture. The ending felt more like Cole vs. KoR with Roddy in the middle, and they've been planting seeds for Balor to face Kross. UE breaking up is also long overdue.
I really like the way Finn has been working since he won the belt. He wrestles like a true ace and makes getting any offense on him look like a struggle. Night and day from his first run. Feels like the whole "demon" thing is completely unnecessary now.
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NXT is as good now as it's been for most of its existence, it's just that its niche as the "big budget Indy" doesn't look as good against AEW's big-time modern wrestling as it did when lame-ass Raw/SD were the only other games in town.
I was pleasantly surprised they went all-in with GYV out-teamworking Thatcher/Ciampa in decisive fashion. Probably the only time a true midcard team has done that against two top singles stars in the last 25 years of WWE (at least without the singles guys turning on each other). Low-key one of the biggest swerves WWE has pulled off in a while.
Also Grimes doing a meme-stock twist on the rich-man gimmick is the most contemporary angle I've seen from WWE in a while too. Good to see someone other than New Day aware of pop culture.
I'm very ready for King Cuerno vs. White Rabbit next week. I hope Santos gets a good showing because he's pulling off the entitled Mexican royalty act way better than Almas. Not quite as well as Del Rio, but I think ADR was unfairly aided by being a genuine piece of shit.
Gargano is pretty great as a stoogy heel.
Nice video package for Balor/Dunne. Obvious filler match before Balor/Kross, but it felt like a big deal.
Is "2 teams trash-talking in front of the Dusty Cup" the new "pointing at the WM sign?" Seemed super forced, but overall a great show.
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Catching up on multiple weeks of NXT, I have to say how funny it was that Edge had to say that he would have shrugged off advice "10" years ago, so as not to sound too old, when 21 years would be far more accurate for his character. Like, dude, 10 years ago you were 3 months from retiring.
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Roman/KO would've been really great if the Pillmanizer actually took Jey out. Or use the apron powerbomb which has lost some effectiveness since its NXT use, but I think is still good enough to keep someone out for the remainder of a show. KO is exactly the guy Roman should be beating on his own at this point in his heel run. The work between them was great, though. That fisherman suplex into the chair looked like an
SvRWWE2k glitch where your regular move hits a stray weapon and the opponent just kind of freezes before doing the max sell on a random body part.Despite my general lack of engagement with WWE, seeing Sasha get a proper title run with multiple ppv wins in a row still warms my heart.
I thought the inferno match was the most interesting either guy has been in years. Hopefully the finish marks the end of the god-awful fiend, and honestly, the Bray Wyatt character in general. That gimmick has run its course and the idea that it can be some sort of Taker-like mainstay was laughable 5 years ago and just completely detached from reality now. Let Windham Rotundo try something different. Of course, I am writing this well over a week after airing and haven't watched a WWE weekly show in a couple years now, so feel free to laugh if he has already done a lights-out surprise attack on some upper midcard face for no reason.
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AEW Dynamite - 3/17/2021
in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Posted
I'm glad they put that terrible Cody/Penta match on first because the rest of the show was good to awesome. No idea why they decided it would be a great idea to kill Penta's biggest move, and then have him do the exact same turn as Scorpio did on Darby last week.
Good to see Cage breaking away from Team Taz. He seems way too good for that jobber stable, although the problem is that now he has to feud with a jobber stable.
The 10-man did a good job combining a lot of stories into one match.
Mox and Kingston could sell me on anything. Liked the nod to Southpaw Wrestling. I never really cared for the Gallows/Anderson team, but I think this AEW run is the best they've ever looked.
The women's main was a star-making match for both of them. I loved Rosa breaking the submission by just rolling Britt into the tacks. Probably the best use of tacks in 15+ years. I hesitate to say this was Sasha/Bayley level because while the initial spectacle was the same (perhaps even better), it doesn't seem... sustainable? They can't do this kind of stuff every match and there's not really a next level to take it to. It was an amazing one-off and great for both of them, particularly Britt, but I don't think this going to usher in an era of drastically improved women's wrestling for the promotion.