Zakk_Sabbath

Internet works quick man! https://bsky.app/profile/kgarriguesart.bsky.social/post/3lfx3b2vyqk2y

You know, we obviously disagree about his dorky buddies (and have argued each other to death about it) but I will say: it could be a sort of "recency bias" thing because he just had the Dome match, or maybe it's the new ring music, but there does seem to be more of an air of seriousness to Omega's character since returning that I've been enjoying. ETA: For example, and this is a small detail, but his ring announcement: no "Cleaner," no "Best Bout Machine," no "Nooooorth Carolina;" just straight up "Kenny. Omega." I thought it was a nice touch.

I've been struggling with this one from a "what I want to see" versus "what is good for the health and perception of the promotion" perspective. Christian Cage is probably a top 10-15 all timer for me, and obviously until yesterday Jarrett (as you note) had a tremendous amount of goodwill with the great Hangman matches, and of course the shockingly fun Singh/Dutt/Lethal pairing - so I almost hate to say this, but you absolutely, positively cannot put those guys on top (or near the top) and NOT expect a little bit of the vaunted TNA stank to rub off onto your show. I half expected MJF to just silently point to the KhanTron and have a picture of Ted McGinley pop up, you know what I mean??

I'll third the idea of Eddie being a fantastic answer, but I've got a feeling all of this "Chris Jericho: King of New York" stuff is leading to his return, so he might be occupado with the ROH belt

That was my read too, 12 stepper and all that jazz, I completely get it - totally with you on that vibe. Also, what the hell man, I didn't f'n recognize you without Eli looking back!!

Yeah, sad to say but I agree, sa-wing and a miss. The beats were there, but the people weren't biting. And yes, 'call girl' was almost physically painful to hear once, let alone 2-3x - it reminded me of Hulk Hogan coming down the ramp on Nitro, and declaring during his air-guitaring "I am gonna kick... Goldberg's... BUTT!!" Like, I wouldn't go that route, it's not my favorite kind of heat anyway, and I'm in no way arguing for vulgarity for vultarity's sake - but if you ARE gonna go that route I kind of oddly think you need the fowl language, or it comes off inauthentic. I forget which comedian it was but someone did a great standup bit that stuck with me about watching the cable version of Scarface, and lines like "This city is one big (chicken) waiting to get (plucked)" not quite hitting - same idea here.

Yo, I'll die on this hill too - he was way over with my gf and 'casual/ex-WWF Attitude viewer trying something new' circle in the beginning in almost the exact same vintage-80s-sleaze way the Outrunners currently are. I thought this was a phenomenal edition with the exception of the aforementioned middle-section-dragging during the MJF/JJ promo (and by the way, I fully co-sign the idea that Dustin spanked both those guys on the mic in his 45 seconds). Also, this is kind of paradoxical since both were among the most memorable world title reigns thus far in its short history, but having Omega and Joe back somehow made this show feel super fresh to me. Re: Joe, I also thought the "plan" line by Taz was fantastic - I know with Forbidden Door and guys jumping and yada yada that it's not quite as "special" as it used to be, but I really like that they haven't been afraid to reference Taz' time managing Joe on TNA TV. (Also Taz on Megan 'I rememba huh from Dahk!' Me too, Taz ... Meeee tooooo.) And while I also have to agree re: the dual hard cam/180 rule, I gotta say, I thought the venue itself came off awesome on TV. I've never attended a card in Cincy, but I always loved that sorta "balcony" look (e.g. RAW at the Manhattan center, ECW at the Madhouse or Hammerstein, this last run of Christmas shows there, etc.) and this place combined it with almost like a San Quentin type thing. It came off like a larger Terminal 9 (for anyone whose seen old ROH stuff from there). Good stuff ETA: @AxBI just said the same thing to someone yesterday re: Megan/Kamille/Mercedes!! It's baffling they didn't slot her there when she was already in-house

I had this thought as well, but I'm reserving judgment because I'm wondering if it may be part of the broader Ricochet turn-story, where we're in the middle of establishing a pattern of: 1) Ricochet gets mildly embarrassed (TP in NYC, the pinballing here) 2) Swerve/another babyface goofs on him about it in a promo 3) Ricochet, in response, attempts murder

I agree, the comparatively slower pacing since the turn has helped his crowd work improve tenfold along w assists from Callis, but by the same token (and this is where your '...but manages to not' comes in, IMO) it's not like he's just catching chinlocks for 2 segments straight or anything either. He's doing a good job so far of warding off that Seth Rollins/PAC thing we've talked about here some years back, where they can be almost too flashy to work heel sometimes because it's legitimately impressive shit

Have to agree. It is crucial they stick the landing with Kenny here, IMO. Yes, there's something to be said for long term planning, but I'm of the opinion that you really, really gotta capitalize on the buzz coming off the Dome match regardless (eg your idea NoFlips, or something very similar).

I'm not down on it, BUT this stuck out to me too because it felt kinda similar to the Hangman/Jarrett issue from the fall

I chuckled at the timing on this because my gf and I caught the Elton/Bernie Taupin Gershwin Prize concert on PBS the other night, and I swear to God out of nowhere she looked at me during and went "You know, I really miss the 'Saturday Night's Alright...' Collision intro"

Id be cool with the new theme if they went fully retro WCW SN '92 or SNME with the graphics package instead of this NXT 2.5 shit. Get the Outrunners VHS filter on that bad boy.

I'm really, really hoping (against logic) that we're holding off on our Stat win so that it times with an OG Best Friends reunion. If we're not holding for that, I just don't know what the hell we're doing with OC anymore.

I enjoyed this PPV aaaasalmost wall to wall (Ospreay/Okada and Stat/Mercedes stole this one huge, with big honorable mention to Take/HOBBS) but this makes two PPVs in a row with a pretty flat ending - and no offense to Edge, but this one didn't even have a vehicular homicide attempt! My bet is we'll get Darby back in the mix on Weds making the save for the babyface team - he's teamed all of em before in various trios/quads configurations with Punk and/or Sting, so it would make total story sense. Also: I'm not so sure we're setting up for Copeland to be Mox's next challenger, at least not on PPV. We've got a couple months to go until Revolution (with I believe the big Beach Break TV coming up in Jan or Feb) - I could see Edge/Mox as a TV main event there, but only as more or less a pit stop in service of the larger Christian story. Also: I feel really badly saying this (because I'm almost certain that I'm friendly with the person who designed it) but the new Revolution logo is notttt my cup of tea at all. Gimme my Worldwide green back, man!

I could be way off, but based upon his doing the favor twice in one week, I'm getting the sense that where we're heading is some sort of Ospreay losing streak while contemporaneously, you have Fletcher on this sort of upwards trajectory with the Callis stuff. This way we're set up to revisit their issue in a month or two (Tokyo dome? Revolution might be too far, but I think the big Beach Break TV happens in between, too, so maybe there) doing another version of the self-contrast/compare from the first part of the story - but this time instead of Fletch going "I'm nothing like you!" In the build, it's "Look at your W/L record lately - I'm nothing like you because I'm better"

Dude, I was sitting there thinking to myself "Oh man, the old ECW heads are gonna destroy this poor kid..." Nope. One of, if not THE pops of the night, second only to maybe Ospreay and Swerve. It ain't my thing either, but it's clearly working. This was easily the most fun I've had at an AEW card since Grand Slam I - I hope the vibe came across on TV, because it was just so much damn awesomeness. Our balcony was a really cool group - we had a great time chatting with folks around us about past cards in the area, almost like a mini-class reunion or a couple old vets swapping stories at the VFW ('Newark? Oh, we missed Full Gear but were at the TV before that,' 'Oh, yup, I think they DID run this match in Connecticut once,' 'I'm never making that fucking drive to Boston again, but we got buddies in Philly' etc.) I strongly hope this becomes an annual tradition of its own - I think the fact I typed this much about it and haven't even addressed the (amazing) card itself yet, kind of says a lot about the experience.

Toni and I just made eye contact #ForeverUnsettled

i've informed my employer that if they want to see me tomorrow, they can catch me on TNT after the game

That's why I was into dolph a little bit early on

I'll second* this for sure, I love that match and those guys are great on it (really wish they had more time in the booth together tbh). I revisited this one like 10 years ago when the Network came out and it held up awesomely. After we get through this big ROH/AEW weekend (which we may be attending part of, depending on some IRL bullshit) I'm gonna watch it again next week. Part of me wonders if it kinda gets lost in people's memories because it's semi -contemporaneous to the Razor/Kid match which always gets highlighted (or at least used to) on those Raw old-timer nights.

I remember that Val sell too - given my young age and overall generally unpleasant disposition at the time, my read was "Totally ripping off RVD's pile driver thing"

I loved Shelton/Mortos but Ospreay/Darby stole this one in broad friggin daylight. Hats off to those guys, man

While I think you make a very valid point re: overall cool factor (and the probable outcome here), I disagree on Shelton specifically because he's a guy I think fans always wanted to see pushed there - plus he's got time in NJPW under his belt, along w the shoot credentials. I totally agree with you overall, but idk, it's not like we're talking about the Nasty Boys showing up extra outta shape on TNA TV in 2010

This card is an embarrassment of riches all around, but Mortos/Shelton is gonna be sneaky-awesome so I'm most looking forward to theirs tonight