Custos

Whether or not to share my early 20’s pretentious wankery…? Spoilers for pretentious wankery: Lurked for 13 years then came out in mid-2019 when my fervour for AEW (which shows no signs of abating) overrode my better judgement to not actively participate in online wrestling discourse. .…I thought AxB was Ax Bomber too.

984k viewers, 0.37 in the 18-49 demo, no.3 on the night behind NBA. Coming within a hair of a million again is Cowboy Shit. Im all in on dickhead Bryan leaving a wake of destroyed Dark Order members. Thought we were only getting the amazing pre tape MJF and then he also blesses us with his presence in the ring opposite a mute Punk. Definitely up for that. Women tore the house down and Sammy belonged in his spot. Such a great show when they could have just done a filler/regroup session.

Doing @The Natural's duties as he goes off to bed. JJ Williams' shot of the new champ and his mates.

Totally agree with @christopher.annino and @Ultimo Necro that MJF/Darby match way exceeded my expectations and was a joy from bell to bell. It also had one of the better near falls in recent memory in terms of timing and the crowd biting on it with that 2.99 kickout after the Code Red. The pillows had something to prove. The Matt Jackson nod, then Hangman batting away the beer and embracing his buddies was just the right amount of melodrama for me. And Punk/Kingston and Miro/Danielson delivered very well even compared to my giddy anticipation. Would never have bet on Prince (sign) and Baron Von Raschke sightings though! Edit: just rewatched that near fall again - was so great, and definitely worth it cos the first time I'd missed Tony's jubilant 'ho ho ho!' like he couldn't believe how good this was and it's only the first match of the show.

Crazy hyped about the match, but with the ‘haggard’ filter turned up to 11 on Bryan and the setting, that poster looks like he’s the head of Vince’s mythical Hobo Army advancing on the Redeemer as God’s final test.

@Gordberg was Large Marge all along??? For real, such a cool memory for you guys. Edit to add something on-topic: for me, Miro/Dragon and Punk/Kingston are tied for most anticipated. MJF/Allin could be a sleeper hit too, not wanting to be outshined by the shiny new toys. I can take or leave the ATT stuff but apart from that, pretty hyped for every other match on the card.

Lucha Bros title match and win were a top 10 all-time MOMENT for AEW, but beyond that I have more faith in Santana and Ortiz compared to them in rising to the occasion if they were given the ball, with something to prove and get their teeth into since…god knows when. It feels like they’ve been Jericho’s hangers-on for too damn long.

Yes, I felt she very much hit the nail on the head as to why this particular mass release was crappy, rather than cutbacks in the abstract (assuming the intel from her and what @AxB said was accurate).

A fair point @eoae but the corporate analogy is a bit apples to oranges. I don’t hire 3 Accounts Payable Officers (and don’t get the vacancy signed off by the HR director) when I have the workload for one - a clearly defined role with a clearly defined task timing. In WWE’s case, it’s a bit more elastic (leaving aside the outrageously erratic creative direction). I’d compare it to a soap opera expanding their pool of actors under contract to (way) beyond the regular core. On the face of it, again not the most financially prudent choice, but if you’ve got the writing chops you could create all sorts of interesting and diverse storylines which may give an upside in viewership. Not to mention, you’ve got a spin-off in the works which may also benefit (NXT UK/HHH ‘world domination map’ in this analogy). Personally, for me the shittiest thing is having people uproot their lives, relocate and cutting them within weeks. I’ve worked for a few huge multinationals (albeit not in the good ole U S of A) and there’s no way they would countenance that kind of poor planning and people management, unless the company was suddenly and unexpectedly on its knees approaching insolvency.

Great show, just let D-Bry rip it up every Friday and I'll be a happy man. Not the biggest fan of Cole in general (the wrestler - Chugs is fucking awesome) but that main did pull me in. And echoing Punk and Kingston top 5 Rampage segment to-date. Caster's Johnny Ace line, the commentary team's reaction then Max's mugging for the camera was all fun too. Can't go wrong investing an hour with Rampage recently.

Hoping for a Trevor Wittman trifecta on Saturday. Wouldn’t put it past Weili to find a way to stop Rose (I know half of fuck-all about MMA to be honest though, mostly follow for the spectacle and soap opera drama when pro-wres can’t fill the hole!). Michael Chandler is hilariously cheesy throughout those Embedded videos, wow.

#Leave the memories alone#

By most accounts Nia Jax is pretty beloved backstage. When the weirdness with Charlotte happened, there was scuttlebutt in support of Nia, to the effect that Charlotte was acting on her self-inflated ego but against one of the few women she couldn’t impose her will on physically, hence the awkwardness. The Becky/Charlotte segment somewhat vindicates this view. Now the ’reckless’ stigma is a separate matter but as the AEW is prioritizing a good-vibe locker room, the attitude is a factor. Edit to add: given the above, it’s all the more bizarre that she has been cut. Maybe an anti-vax thing?

On his part, obsessing over how he’ll be remembered is whats getting Cody into this mess in the first place. For a (ostensibly) healthy, functioning 36 year old he talks ad nauseum about it (’legacy is a funny thing’, ’I built the bank’ blah de blah). How about, live in the same world as everyone else, in the present, kick some arse (or be dastardly in avoiding getting kicked), and stop losing to yourself in your own game of 5d chess. A splash of that grandiloquent shit in the odd ’Road To’ is more than enough thanks. Or have TK pull rank and take it out of his hands to do whats best for business.

Photo composition is interesting. Just imagining MiSu choking out a poor junior bellboy then throwing him the phone and forcing him to take the pic under pain of Gotch Style Piledriver on one of those heavy duty cases.

Spoken by the guy with the red and black avatar, to round it off neatly! I forgot to mention but remembered as others noted, Punk’s ’Reclaim The Bodyslam’ campaign to make the poor neglected move mean something, dammit (well that or an ego driven thing of ’look at me, Im so over I can make ’em pop for a BODYSLAM brother) is pretty great. Atomic drop next please.

Amen. The man is a tippy-top guy in a foul mood and is not fucking around. Loved the Yuta and 10 steamrolling to be honest.

Holy Shida! What a great match, and Bryce with the second GOAT ref run-in on the post-match attack (first being lil Naitch at that one WrestleMania). Not seen the main event yet but really dug Punk/Fish and the Mox mauling.

This was the conversation that prompted my post in June where, fron the outside , it just seemed totally bonkers the simultaneous conflicting positions and emotions that WWE talent must have in the current process.

I felt that Ruby/Ford was one of Ruby’s better showings in AEW so far (wonky Irish Whip aside) but the most noteworthy part of that match, that I’m surprised didn’t see mentioned amongst the Cody hoo-haa is professional doormat Richard motherfucking Knox laying down the law with the foreign object. How’s that for character development? Or maybe the Hardy faction didn’t pay him as much as he’s come to expect from the Bucks. The Fish mauling and the Bryan/Dustin match were a pleasure. Perceptive take on Bryan thinking he’s a good guy but basically acting like a heel and the crowd cheering him like crazy so he’s so damn good. Yes I’ve taken delight in throwing pot shots at Cody’s pomp and jingoistic crap, but the Reign of Terror comparisons are a bit much. Also what’s been omitted is the drama and storytelling that Cody brought vs Aldis at All In (the emotional heart of a show that had some pretty goofy shit) and vs Dustin at DoN 2019 (MOTY candidate). Move him on, have him ‘do the work’ without all this extracurricular stuff, wrestling week in, week out in the AEW-Verse then re-assess.

For what its worth, (and to the extent that it matters, since I think we may presuming too much over what the Saudis will and wont accept in a WWE show/WWE talent) Piper Niven is bisexual.

Happy to see TK crowing to be honest, after being pushed into a head to head fight he didnt start, them pulling out the big guns and pulling the commercial-free shit and the Fast National leaks after the past few weeks, and him pretty much staying the course and trusting (rightly) in the AEW faithful in the demo to show up. Pretty restrained really - i’d be shitposting memes of me tea bagging VKM but hey. And the winner is...the audience getting to see plenty of good shit across the board, especially that Bryan/Suzuki war. And then Hangman bringing it home with Cowboy Shit the next day plus Fish/Bryan making me rethink my position on bringing in Fish full time. Pretty fun times.

Getting withdrawal from not having my usual Dynamite fix to look forward to on Thursday evening here. On the plus side it’ll be great to watch both Rampage and Dynamite live on the weekend. Hopefully the neurosis and concern trolling about ratings (elsewhere) chills out a bit during this pre-emption time, though I know TK stoked those flames to an extent with the Smackdown smack talk. Personally I would have kept Fish on a per-show basis, but not my money. Also I saw Tony saying that he knows Windham but is not in talks about bringing him in. Assuming he’s not kayfabing that’s a relief that he’s not snapping up yet another free agent for now.

From memory, due to his 'occult' ink it was thought to be a bit dicey to travel into the more Orthodox Middle Eastern states.

Loved the crowd nailing the chant, the Danielson Special and then the Cattle Mutilation finishing the match with Nick (although Nick's obnoxious hair-dye/jewelry/feathers game was off this week which knocks a couple of snowflakes from the match rating). Good to see Jade has some gear that stays on her when she delivers a butt-whipping, agree that she is being built well and this was an okay match with a bit of a crutch from the plunder. The Mark Henry split-screen special continues to inoffensively but pointlessly exist. And Jack Evans from the Heavens, with the skeeziest look in all of televised wrestling (can't help but imagine him wearing and sleeping in that gear for like a week straight) gets a main event spot and jobs to the clippers with the feel-good finish to a quality hour.