Zakk_Sabbath

Though I probably haven't bought a comic book since Superman started rocking the electric suit, I think it's a great comparison to make for two reasons: 1) Like wrestling, writing a comic requires a delicate balance of logic and surprise, with the goal ostensibly being to fall somewhere in the spectrum between "Meh, I saw it coming, too predictable" - "I saw this coming because it was the logical ending to the beginning and middle we all just saw unfold" - "I didn't see this coming because it makes no sense" and "I didn't see this coming because I hadn't considered it, but it fits." I completely understand the creative urge to subvert expectations where possible, but it's gotta be handled with the utmost care otherwise you enter "But it's a swerve, bro" territory pretty damn quickly 2) Like wrestling, every soul alive who has ever consumed a comic (or alternatively, a comic-adjacent movie, show, or cartoon) loves nothing more than to tell you what they'd do if they had a turn with the pencil. I'm guilty of it every single day here! Once in a blue moon, one of us will come up with a good one without considering the political, financial, or future creative reasons why it couldn't happen, but it's too late by that point, the well's been poisoned - anything short of Darby and Sting descending from a helicopter and pulling Gatling guns on the Bucks (or whatever nutty idea we've cooked up) is in danger of being seen as "lazy booking" in comparison

It’s interesting seeing that kind of question coming up of ‘what it’s supposed to be’ or ‘waiting for something’. I could be entirely wrong, but the impression I get is that there's a not-insignificant part of the audience expecting a larger, over-arching NWO-redux type story. Lots of "This must be how they bring in Shane McMahon!"-type speculation (or prior to their debut, the Hurt Syndicate guys). There's certainly been some promo verbiage in that direction, but without a clearer mission statement, I worry that it makes "the stakes" seem the same as they are with any other heel group - meaning, while the presentation is really cool and inventive so far, there hasn't been a ton of functional difference between Mox's crew and (let's say) the J.A.S. or Dark Order or Undisputed Kingdom or whoever Editing again to add: for what it's worth, I'm beginning to believe that our endgame is a Kenny/Bucks/Hangman babyface turn/reunion under the guise of being "the only ones who can slay the beast (they) created" - "(they) were worried more about winning titles than protecting AEW, and (they're) gonna take it back for the fans who have been with (them) since day 1..." Yada yada. @Infinityooooooooo, I'm definitely going to that! Awesome news. I'm gonna be in the house this week for Dynamite, so if they play any videos w on sale info like they did at Grand Slam, I'll def pass along here.

Man, of all the segments last night, that was certainly one of them. Mercedes' line reminded me of that old Scott Keith thing about shoot comments that aren't supposed to be

Aw lil octo. I love that. I'm not sure where we're heading story wise with these two, but OC/Darby as an underdog superteam really works for me. I'm very, very curious to see how it unfolds between the two of them as the wider BCC war moves on - and I don't mean some dumb CAN THEY GET ALONG?! thing- but more in terms of each's actual role/function in that scope (e.g. if Darby's your Sting, extrapolating from there, is OC your Luger? Is he Savage where he ends up rolling w Mox later? The DDP-esque People's Champ, merely supportive-to-the-tippy-top?)

P-P-P-POWAHOUSE Great return for the big man. I kind of liked that the show was book ended by big tag matches - I think combined with the 4 way contender stuff w regular teams, its a really nice effort to show that they're refocusing on the tag division in earnest. Or making an attempt anyhow. Here's a "let it play out" item I can't really necessarily pass judgment on yet until we learn more: Hurt Business is awesome. Their mission is awesome. Mox's crew is awesome. Their mission is awesome. But in many ways, MVP's rhetoric sounds veeeeery similar to Mox's. So I have to wonder: unusual booking, or intentional story beat for a feud or partnership?

These back to back is why the Board is still the Board, dudes. Well done. I'm actually a little bit surprised it never happened on an NXT Takeover, to be honest with you

I honestly don't think so. Your assessment of his ranking within HOB is dead-on - maybe it is "just" the gimmick, but it's a damn fine one - people love spooky shit. Lots of horror/metal/comic book crossover in wrestling. I'm a fan, so I definitely don't intend this to be a knock, but I legitimately think his enduring level of overness can af least partially be ascribed to that: Undertaker's done, Sting's done, here's the new generation lights out spooky guy. ETA: For another example, it seemed to me like Bray Wyatt was a guy who was always similarly over in that way prior to his passing, and knew how to leverage that kind of imagery.

Ha no way, that's awesome! Funny enough, BEEF liked a Tweet of mine the other week too where I was randomly calling to put the Trios titles on him JD and Dutch, I thought I was just screaming into the void so that was kind of cool. I think this makes us 3 officially cousins now

I still have to get to the Fletcher part (pausing for an IRL work thing) but I big agree with your read on the possibility of BEEF's broader appeal - he's like the "every Kentuckian" companion piece to Eddie Kingston's "every New Yorker" if that makes sense. (The other trios match was fantastic too btw - anyone who missed this week, I'd make sure to check the DVR before the cycle starts fresh tmrw)

Agreed overall, but for last night, I felt like that moment was set up perfectly for one of the other ladies to compliment her costume, and have her go "what costume?" And was shocked we didn't get it (she was supposed to be Daphne from Scooby-Doo, right?)

You should probably check the main out for obv reasons, but I thought the tag match was fantastic - despite the fact it didn't main event or happen on PPV, I still thought it worked really well as a moment of "catharsis" both in-story and/or for those among us who aren't the biggest fans of the Bucks. (But mostly, I just wanted to quote you to see if you're on the "Fire Boone" train or not - the fuck was that showing??)

Thanks, Casey, I'm a bit out of the loop clearly - so yeah, maybe that's why the big rush with this program? Just speculatin' anyway. Also: Quick PSA for @The Natural@AxBand any of our other friends across the pond: the show's on early (I believe 12 your time) because your clocks have already changed but the States' don't until Saturday night/Sunday morning (not sure how that's gonna affect Collision for you all, but I just saw it on Twitter and thought I'd pass along quickly so no one's left out by accident)

I like all those guys, but agree huge here - I understand the idea of their last PPV bout being a necessity to get to, but I really think it wouldve done a lot more for the PP "redemption" (as well as Mox/BCC) if they were out a bit longer after the hammer attack/beatdown a while back. Speed run is def an apt word for it - in a perfect world, we would've gotten 90-99% of the same story but given more room to breathe, maybe elongated to (let's say) World's End or the big Winter is Coming TV in Dec. Thinking ahead, since they've already been announced, I wonder if there's anything planned for the Bucks and/or the titles (and/or PP, though doubtful) at the Dome in January that would necessitate this kind of pacing

@Dolfan in NYC Nice one - I hope the competition's thread this week is "Just Like You, Baby, I'm On The Hunt-er Hearst-Helmsley"

I may disagree with your stance on the Elite guys (which is a total matter of personal taste, I wouldn't bust chops) but I cannot agree more with this particular passage, as well as @HarryArchieGus' post you're quoting. It's kind of a goofy example, but that differentiation you mention is a big reason why I was wild pissed off for that month or two we had LED screens everywhere and the Weds. graphics package had a very NXT 2.0 feel.

I mean, technically Brie's made one on-screen appearance already (I kid, I kid)

Minor correction/addendum to the above: I just saw that I did get a Ticketmaster email about it, but it was listed third after Disturbed and whatever "Brooklyn Emo Night" is

This was definitely true at one time, but credit where it's due, they've upped their game tremendously in that area as of the last 2-3 cards I've attended - it used to be they might have a handful of shirts, a hat, and a hoodie, and that's it, but now they have all the usual trappings like replica belts, stickers, toys, keychains, etc. I got my better half a three pack of Willow friendship bracelets for 20 bucks last time, so that's a nice high margin item lol

Agreed Lio looked like a million bucks pinballing around last week, but it might be close! Sammy's a freak, too - there were a lot of butthole clenching moments in that Okada match.

Yeah, obviously the Punk stuff got a lot of play in this thread as the "biggest" miss but this really, really has to be up there. I'm going to Dynamite 5 miles from where I'm currently sitting in a couple weeks, and outside of TV I haven't heard a word about it, either from AEW itself or via local advertising. Meanwhile, WWE already has radio ads out for December shows in the area! Same for Grand Slam - the steady downsizing's been a real bummer.

I can't explain it, but somehow I agree with both points. Duality of man, I guess.

Ah my bad, I didn't realize that she's mostly in character and I don't watch the show so I had no clue what was currently going on with her (though I def agree that tagging her with someone was a savvy move, and your Goldberg caveat as well). Re: Shaq, here's a corporate synergy combo miss: they just announced Inside The NBA is coming back this season a couple days ago, and I thought they should've had him break the news on AEW TV by having an ambulance back into the arena and him getting out

Funny you say that, because I just saw earlier this morning that she tweeted something like "I miss just stepping on people and being That Bitch" - I thought there was a number of things one could kinda unpack from that in a (let's call it) subtextual way

I'll second this, though with the caveat that the resulting singles match between them was fucking tremendous and probably the best (or at least my favorite) of either's AEW catalogue. On a similar note, there was a period where Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose were really starting to gel as a team too, I thought they could've gone somewhere - and currently, the Deonna/Taya pairing is really grabbing my attention. Between ROH and AEW, you've got four women's singles belts, two sets of tag belts, and two sets of trios belts, but no women's Tag - make it make sense!!

Welp, I think i'm gonna leave work and lie down for a while, grab me for Rampage I guess