Zakk_Sabbath

It could be recency bias, but I'd throw a pre-COVID Keith Lee's name into the hat for this one. In keeping with your AJPW theme, I'll also say Bossman - I forget what match it was I saw a while back where he was doing like a prototype version of the Claudio/Sami-in-NXT, run-around-the-post thing, but it was super friggin cool. Like, pick a similarly built modern guy - I don't think a JD Drake or a Kevin Owens could do it today as well as he did it then, even w the template already in place. Mans was sweating like Mike Tyson in whatever match that was where he had gonorrhea

When MJF was doing the renamed American title gimmick they should have had him tweet about refusing to work Saturdays, insisting "NO Collision!! Sad!!"

I was just saying before All In, wouldn't it be crazy if that was the finish vs Swerve. I could see it happening just for the shock value at least once before Bryan wraps up full-time, but IMO this isn't the match for it. I just read they moved like 4-500 tickets since announcing it, actually - I'd be worrying about pissing the audience off, since the appetite is clearly there

Not to pile on, but I kinda get the same impression. He got a fantastic TNT title run, they hired his then-wife for a bit... Even as an outsider, it definitely doesn't strike me as a situation where they didn't at least attempt to make the guy happy where he is. On the AEW side of things, it's easy to criticize Miro's usage, sure - but you never know. Years from now it might come out that he was "Doesn't work for me, brother"-ing every idea for him that wasn't "First I beat the entire roster, then I retire as Champion after 5 years holding all 72 belts."

Ah man lucha's a blind spot sometimes, super appreciate it. I gotta get back on Twitter, I'm outta the loop - I bet you money cubs posted about this like months ago

Not an AAA guy (to my knowledge) but beating a guy like Atlantis might be a great way to start prepping Hologram for the next level (ETA: nevermind on that - thanks Mike!) Re: Jericho - I think part of what makes this current character of his so GOD damn frustrating (at least for me) is that, yeah, he can absolutely still go when called upon. '21-'22 was one of his best ever years in the ring, but with every "Hi, guys!" it seems so distant, you might as well be talking about his friggin TV title run in '96. Lionsaults, table bumps, B&G matches, vicious chop battles with Ishii and Suzuki, all on free TV... Look, I hate this Learning Tree shit too, but we're not talking Roddy Piper with the fake hip here.

Bummer but makes sense and has probably been long coming. His match with Hobbs at last year's All out was friggin awesome, I was hoping they'd run that back at some point. Agree that the Best Man stuff was horrid, but the real sin there IMO is that they didn't do enough with the "Charles" Taylor as his Butler stip - they could've gotten weeks and weeks of vignettes outta that. At least Arcade Anarchy ruled (and gave us that kick ass Stat hiding in the Claw Machine return). I also really liked the handful of matches he had with Sammy. Wonder if he's WWE-bound, or pivoting to stuff outside of wrestling - he could probably have a decent character acting career as Henchman #4 for the rest of his life if he wanted.

LOVE this, even the name. Good shit pal. ETA: I've very often had similar thoughts about a JD Drake/Dutch Righteous team, btw

If by that you mean "a big time angle and a push in earnest," then yes, I wholeheartedly agree If they aren't outright involved in the match, I could see them doing a run-in on the trios title match next week and costing BCC the titles to further the issue. That said, I could easily see PP siding with the BCC guys as a twist, in a sort of tough love, "You gave us the fire we needed"-type story. Or maybe they're the ones to unseat the Bucks eventually, and similarly, they credit it to Mox's hammer attack giving them the motivation (but without siding with them). ETA: Ok, I'm seeing they're still the match. I wasn't sure if the idea was supposed to be that BCC/Mox were taking them out of it (as a roundabout way to further the story of Danielson not being cleared due to a similar attack by them)

You won't get your All-Elite Fleet card taken away as long as you get to it within a week and contribute to the Live+7 number (On the real, I agree, but as is well-documented, I also think the weekend B/C show is almost a lost art unto itself. I would expect either a renewed focus on that, or a more clear delianation of tiers/importance once the TV deal's announced and we get more of an idea of what the future looks like re: FOX & Shockwave, TNT possibly combining Rampage/Collision into a three hour block, what the deal is with ROH, and things like that).

We watched last night (instead of watching Diggs screw my fantasy week) and as badly as I wanted to be able to have a "Oh, cmon it wasn't that bad" post ready to deploy, I gotta agree - not a great outing. My expectations might've been a bit too high, but I'm still confident they've got a better one in 'em. There were a few nice moments where I thought the gelling would start, like the armdrag thing, but they never fully got there for whatever reason. I'll say this: I bitch and moan about Dark/Elevation all the time not just because I enjoyed having something to watch on Mondays/Tuesdays, but because of stuff like this match and the Baker/Mercedes match at All In - both women were coming off long injury layoffs, and probably should've/could've had 3-4 weeks of warm-up bouts on there to shake the rust before being put on TV/PPV. Without a house show circuit, or like a warehouse somewhere to just set a ring up (like WWE did in Stamford pre-PC), I see few other ways to get those reps in - it's one thing for a midcard or lower guys to pick up an Indy date or two or whatever it is, but you don't wanna take the shine off your TV or PPV by having a top star like Britt or Yuka make their comeback in front of 150 kids at my old high school or whatever. So, you get what we've got here today, which is the way he wants it. No I'm not sure why I ended with GNR either.

FHH but "American Made" > "Real American," don't @ me

Who is going to grand slam

This might be controversial but obviously I don't give a half a fuck but Deeb is still like the 4th best worker under contract

Haha I get what you mean obviously, but just to clarify for anyone else, I meant this in the sense that to a previously-WWE-only viewer of a then-brand new promotion, it was two guys that were fresh off a Mania match with Styles/Undertaker and were 200x Raw Tag Champs or whatever

I'm good with a short term Darby reign as well, but I respectfully disagree with the Mox thing. I DO agree Mox doesn't necessarily need it, but I think Mox being the one to do it makes a shitload of narrative sense as a bow on the story of the original recipe BCC coming to an end. In my mind, it'd be hard to pass up the opportunity for such a full circle moment with how the whole thing was born out of their Revolution match. I'd honestly be fine with Pac or Claudio being the guy for the same reason (even if there are probably other matches I'd rather see as Dragon's last, and I'm guessing you feel similarly). Strongly agree with this, not just for the mileage reason you and Natch mentioned, but because I think his character works best as that perennial underdog. If I had the pencil, I'd be really tempted to do something similar to when Dreamer beat Taz for the ECW WHC and immediately dropped it to Credible. You have Darby go over Danielson at WrestleDream in this big hometown moment, maybe Sting's there in his Main Event Mafia suit along with some other buddies and family to make it seem like a huge deal, then afterward you have Christian cash the contract in on Darby. The key here is to have Nick Wayne, as the other hometown boy, involved in the Christian finish so you're set up perfectly to return to *that* issue while Christian's off defending against a returning Edge, a returning Cole, a returning Swerve, or whoever the next babyface up is (plus great tag matches along the way to keep Darby/Wayne in the main event picture). ---- ETA: One thing I really, really, really don't want out of this angle (but have been living in fear of since Mox's 'Its not your company anymore' line) is any kind of "Originals vs New Guys" or NWO-esque conflict. The Elite stuff made sense in the early days as a way to introduce Kenny/Hangman/The Bucks to the US cable audience by linking em with known TV commodities Cody, Gallows/Anderson, and KENTA to signal "Hey America, these guys are a big f'n deal," but I'm not sure its necessary at this point of AEW's life cycle, nor do I think it would be as effective. I think nü-BCC could easily take (for example) a re-signed Danny Garcia, or a poached-from-STP Lee Moriarty under their wing or introduce a newly signed Hurt Business, as simply men who share their house ethos without going full "AH'M GONNA KILL MAH CREATION" or "F.U.N.B." with it. I'm curious about this as a possible direction because I've been wondering to myself if Mox's NJPW music is any kind of story clue, or if it's simply being used because it's less likely to get a babyface pop than "Wild Thing" or "Unscripted Violence"

Sorry I got got by the fake Roderick/Danielson news the other day but this one's direct from TK and I am PSYCHED: https://x.com/TonyKhan/status/1834350734869234052?t=P7ZceQbLeXOztrv1KTJINA&s=19

I looked into this during the pandemic because I got curious about what would happen if we had to stop using physical money: the claim is that it's to keep inflation down (big lol) - I guess the idea is, if im looking to sell you something that's 50 cents at cost, pennies make it possible for me to sell it at 51-54 cents to make a profit, instead of only being able to go directly to 55 cents rounding to the next smallest coin, thus squeezing you for more than I should've theoretically been able to

@HarryArchieGusI agree - well said. And assuming arguendo that there are a couple minor plot holes: We are getting Nigel vs Dragon in New York. I repeat: We are getting Nigel vs Dragon in New York. I don't give a shit if the angle was that a magic fairy came down, gave Darby amnesia, and he simply forgot about the title shot, because (say it with me): We are getting Nigel vs Dragon in New York. To borrow a phrase from the Champ himself: FICKLE!!

Oh yea definitely but I was chalking that up to chicanery at the time - even so, you make a great, great point about those tag matches (especially as a whistle-whetter for a potential Ospreay/Takeshita singles, either as part of the CC or as a standalone INTL title match). I could also see a world where you have Fletcher vs Ospreay matched "by coincidence" in the CC, and what starts out as Ospreay besting Fletcher in a baby vs baby match between friends ends with Fletcher turning on him post-handshake/hug after the finish (maybe even essentially doing a version of Nigel's 'it should've been me' promo in the follow-up, with regard to Ospreay's banner year here so far)

I caught that as well - my immediate thought in the moment was that deeper into the match, we'd get Takeshita and a returning Davis as a team, leading to Fletcher turning on Ospreay and all of em doing a 3 v 1 beatdown/elimination

Big time - I wasn't sure if we were gonna get this one before Danielson hangs it up, so this was a super, super pleasant surprise. Also on tap: https://x.com/AIRGold_/status/1833834392608710662?t=NlYBIzUVpVSOysTDzAnlwA&s=19

I had it all ready to deploy, replete with "Am I Even Allowed To Do This?" in the thread name, and I realized at the last second that this one's dated for two weeks (I'm guessing due to Dolfan's trip) so I figured we're supposed to just keep this one going Btw gang: Roddy vs Danielson tonight!!!

Thanks to this I will now have Del The Funkee Homosapien playing in my head all day long