Steventon

You don't need to be in title matches or on PPV to be important. One thing AEW does very well is making the week to week Dynamite main events feel like big deals. How long will it be until Lee main events a Dynamite? The 'holding pattern' mindset is something I don't agree with, especially if you are going to run only 4 PPVs a year. The time in between needs to be worthwhile too (and for the most part it is in AEW). And that doesn't have to be anything too difficult, just make this existing feud with Starks and Hobbs into something with more juice than 'guys interrupt each others interviews', build to a gimmick match or something, then blow it off on a TV main event. Maybe they'll do that in 2 weeks and I'll eat my words, but the last couple weeks it feels like they've put the bare minimum effort into these guys.

OK lets forget the race part because that was a dumb comment in hindsight. I would still argue these guys are being under-utilised for one reason or another. At this point 'mid-card' is probably a bit rich for Starks and Hobbs who have had maybe 1 meaningful win in their AEW careers each (ok maybe 2 for Starks, both over Brian Cage last year). They are the guys they have dudes feud with when they have nothing better for them, and the paint by numbers 'interview interrupted' formula isn't helping create any steam. The Acclaimed have grown a lot but still seem to be in the same place they were last year. Keith Lee is one of the few guys I think most people felt should have a rocket strapped to him on arrival and he's already Just Another Guy. Now granted AEW have a track record of bringing guys in, cooling them off, then getting them hot again once they've got their feet under the table so I'm sure he will be dandy long-term, but it still feels like a missed opportunity to be doing more with him and everyone else in this bundle. Now if you had Starks in Sky's spot or Team Taz climbing the tag ranks or the Acclaimed getting into a hot non-title program or Keith being paired against a Miro or one of the major stars that would be all gravy.

The Acclaimed and Swerve were also in another segment with Starks & Hobbs about their feud with Lee, but hey I wasn't keeping count and as I say, I'm not really in that camp of people. It just struck me during those 2 segments and that it's a total 'treading water' feud didnt help. But no harm no foul.

Main event had an odd finish (Rosa gets dinged with a chair, rolls back in the ring then just hits her finish?) and took a while to get going but was pretty enjoyable and a well deserved moment. part of the JAS promo felt like they might be setting up Jericho's Sports Entertainers vs Regal's Pro Wrestlers at some point im not on the 'AEW is racist' noise but it is pretty jarring how they seem to have stuck all the black guys together in the same go-nowhere mid-card program. Keith Lee already feels like just another guy

some will love the fact they've waited exactly 1 year on to have rosa dethrone britt but they really could have done this 3-6 months ago. still looking forward to the match though i am here for a hardy boyz retirement run and moxley/danielson killing geeks

Those with IWTV accounts should go watch Arik Royale vs Kevin Ku from this weekend's ACTION show, I really dug it. Both dudes have low-key been two of the better guys on the indy scene for a while, and Ku in particular really stepped up in what is probably his biggest singles match to date.

Speedball vs Ninja Mack from last night's show has one of the nuttiest spots of the year. Ninja Mack is insanity.

I thought this, the promo certainly lead way for a double turn as an option, but then they still have the MJF-Wardlow story to come so I imagine Max stays heel for now at least

i probably enjoyed the promos on this show more than any of the actual wrestling zero interest in the redragon/elite/whatever program, feels like JE are taking a backseat in their PPV title defence, but I did at least enjoy how that whole segment rolled into the Page promo. Cole is a fine title defence for the PPV, he's a big enough pelt for Page to collect and whilest I don't care much myself, it's a match worth running at some point. would rather all these guys be doing something different than retreading previously worn ground though. bucks are basically back to being babyfaces now and will likely help Page by preventing RD from assisting Cole at the PPV thought the MJF promo was really good and interesting. you don't know whether he was playing Punk or not, and Punk sold it like he was genuinely affected by it. thumbs up from me. zero interest in this whole House of Black vs DT deal, a bunch of workrate geeks with edgelord gimmicks. I could get behind the Black/Brody/Buddy stable if they were thrown into something more interesting and pushed up the card, but this whole deal feels like its going nowhere i actually was quite into the jericho vs kingston promo and thought both guys hit their notes well. Kingston absolutely has to go over though after that, and I think they know that. funny how the whole angle of Santana & Ortiz breaking off from Jericho because they were sick of being in his shadow was just a stepping stone to another big Jericho PPV match though starks vs vance was fine. looking forward to hopefully getting some keith lee vs starks or hobbs singles at some point cargill vs conti is a nice feud for these two, though the execution of that scrap was fugly as all hell. can someone please train these girls to throw a half decent worked punch rather than these shitty elbows main event was good stuff and obviously bryan vs moxley should rule

Kinda agree on the handshake, but we're used to that stuff these days for better or worse. I though the match itself ruled though. Disgustingly violent mauling from Slade, and what a bloodbath. Slade is a scary scary man, and he obviously cut something he shouldnt have on the blade job because he legit looked like he could have passed out from it. What an ass stomping.

this is wild. wasnt it only like 3 weeks ago he was rah rah rahing on TV about AEW and being the guy who blazed the trail sounds like one of those cases where the backstage stuff is far more dramatic than what was going on screen

Man alive Cole's motormouth style of commentary these days is painful. Guy just runs through words at a 100mph constantly, almost like they are afraid of a second of silence. It's particularly grating during these big matches where he just smothers all the nearfalls with his forced shock and loud yelling. You got to let some of the big moments breathe my man.

Good show. Thought Moxley vs Yuta was good with some nice progression from Yuta, I am in favour of more of these continuity-lead matches. Bryan promo was good and interested to see where that goes. I would be down for a Team Bryan vs Team Moxley situation. Skipped the Lambert and Brandi stuff and another Inner Circle town hall feels like a rib. Main event was very good. Both guys are good at what they do, though the false finish was really well done, and it all worked. Didn't love the finish but I was expecting a screwy MJF win and it make sense in terms of progressing the Wardlow story, though it did feel like it came at the expense of a satisfying finish to this match (and maybe to the feud as a whole?).

I'm not a fan of people strategically dumping dirt on others at opportune times, and I am a fan of Kendrick as a worker, but it's hard for a company like AEW to not give in to the social pressure when the comments are that ignorant and harmful as anti-semetic tropes. It'd be different if Kendrick had apologised or changed his views since.

Ex-Dark Tranquillity guitarist Fredrik Johansson died on 25 January 2022 after a three-year battle with cancer. Fredrik Johansson was the band's guitar player from 1993 through 1999, appearing on Of Chaos and Eternal Night EP, The Gallery, Enter Suicidal Angels EP, The Mind's I, and Projector; co-writing such classic DT tracks as "Punish My Heaven", "Insanity's Crescendo", and "The Sun Fired Blanks". Vocalist Mikael Stanne left the following statement on the band's Facebook page:

I'll be the guy who didn't think the ladder match was much good. The big spots were tasty and I'm sure they've got the highlight clips they want for their video packages, but there wasn't anything else to it. Thought it was pretty braindead and Sammy's inability to sell a death spot for more than 3 seconds was really glaring here. For me, this TNT title run has badly exposed him as a guy with a bunch of cool spots but no idea how to put them into a coherent match. MJF vs Punk spot was definitely the highlight of the show for me. In a world full of guys who think screaming really loudly and angrily makes for an intense promo, Punk comes across so naturally charismatic and could make me excited about a match with Peter Avalon if he tried. Main event was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The idea of the hand stuff was fine, though I don't buy OC as a guy who needs to have his punches neutralised. Liked the metal cup spot, like OC mocking Cole before the Panama Sunrise, liked the finish. Everything else around all that was pretty unexciting. Cole and OC aren't fisticuffs guys so this could have done with more blood or nutso spots to make it memorable. Not a bad way to hand Cole his first loss and still protect him though, and I can see him being next in line for Page once Archer has been dispatched.

If this show was an opportunity for GCW to cement themselves as the best place to go for wrestling outside WWE and AEW and win some new viewers, it was sadly a flop. The sell out crowd were great, but the biggest problem remains the lack of real talent, and mixed with a bunch of questionable booking moves, disappointing no-show from Gresham, and some outright flubs made for a mixed bag that was more bad than good, though the core fanbase GCW already has may have left satisfied The luchadores 6-man was easily the best match on the show and maybe the only thing that was actually good. Nice MPRO style spotfest. Not everything was timed smoothly (in fact there was way too much of guys obviously standing around waiting for their cue) but I liked that they added their own wrinkles to this format and those wrinkles were all pretty cool. ASF was the only weak link but all the rudos were really good. Has it been confirmed why Gresh wasn't there? That really deflated the crowd and brought them back down to earth, and that Christian vs Rush match was forgettable. Cardona vs Janela kinda worked as a tribute to absurdly over-booked ECW fuckfests but at 20 minutes went way too long for my attention span, and the actual wrestling wasn't particularly good. Riot vs Katch was also pretty mediocre and that finish really soured the crowd. They were already going to be disappointed in Katch losing, but teasing an avalanche piledriver then just having a standard Riot Kick as the finish really didn't play well at all. That and Jarrett over Effy were really baffling calls. There is a universe where Moxley vs Homicide could have a cool bloody street fight together, but in this universe we get them working another tired New Japan tribute match which was dead boring. Main event at least had a huge pop for Gage's return but that finish, good grief what a fuck up that was. Made everything look real bush league, which isn't a great look for your lasting impression.

Did AEW put Quinn/Kassidy and Caster/Bowen together? I was under the impression they were tag teams pre-AEW. Dante and Darius Martin obviously came in as a tag team. Which would mean the only black wrestlers AEW 'put together' are the Team Taz guys unless I'm missing something.

Moxley promo was the clear highlight of the show, great return and you weren't sure where the line between Pro Wrestling Promo and real life was. Main event was typically good fun as we've come to expect from the Darby/Sting team. Sting's dive was fucking RAD Nothing says 'warm a guy up for a World Title match' like a long match with fodder Kazarian. I didn't pay much attention to the match itself but woof who thought that was a good booking move. House Of Black debut was pretty whatever, not particularly impressive, but I could see PAC vs Black being a good match if that's next on the docket. After Spear's hot promo on Rampage I was sort of hoping for a good match between him and Punk, but I'll take the surprise squash to move the angle along. If they are holding out on this until the next PPV, that's still a long way to go though. Personally I thought the Cody promo was the drizzling shits. I am so over these rah rah rah AEW is great meta sermons. Also he was gone for like 2-3 weeks, did that really warrant an interim title to tide them over. Jungle Express vs Gunn Clubb. Snooze. At least it gives JE another token win on the buckles.

WALTER vs Fraser on NXT UK this week was good stuff, a strong farewell match and he made Fraser look like a future star

I enjoyed the sports entertainment of Punk vs Wardlow, though that finishing cradle was ass. I think if that had been executed tighter and they had played up the experience gap between them more on commentary it would have come off better. Zero interest in the Cole & Friends/Bucks vs Best Friends feud as it feels like obvious filler until they decide to either push Cole for a title shot or do this Elite split angle. I really enjoyed how last week Deeb was hyping up this big grudge match, only for her to come out and cheap-shot Shida with a shitty win. Low-key this has been a really well built feud and it's time for an I Quit or something to blow it off. Sammy vs Garcia was decent but I think the TNT title has exposed Sammy as a guy with a great physical skill-set but quite limited when it comes to the mental side of putting a match together. House Of Black was alright. Can't say I'm that excited by Brody and his first flurry of offence on national TV looking soft didn't help that. For the 1,000th time - Lance Archer is AEW's Kane, and that's an acceptable place for him even if I have no interest in that match

Caught some of the NOAH/NJPW show and thought what I saw was entirely skippable. Togo is an all-time great but they have found a way to make him a bottom-tier cheating heel. Yeesh. I've been hot and cold on Kiyomiya on the occasions I've watched him but he was the only one in the main event who wasn't mailing it in. Okada pinning him is the least interesting and worst decision, so of course that's what happened. God forbid either side might want to set up an Okada vs Kiyomiya title match and try to make some actual money.

I'm a big Gresham fan but is he a 'big' signing in the sense that he'd be someone AEW will push heavily? Feels less likely than Briscoes, Rush or Dragon Lee.

Who else from ROH would be a big signing? Rush?

Strong vs Hayes was pretty solid cruiserweight action. Hayes is still a little green on the wrasslin stuff but clearly a great athlete. Not sure what that top rope move was even meant to be. Is Roddy gonna be the next bye-bye? 6-man was a blast. Never became truly epic but I had a lot of fun. Kinda wish they'd let Riddle be more than just Randy Orton's Tag Partner though. Grayson Waller literally has 1 win on TV and is throwing out the 'biggest win of my career' trope line. AJ should have retorted it would have been the only win of his career. Main event was nice and got VERY nice by the end. That slam through the announce table looked awesome. Bron rules, but it's so fucking weird that they still won't say the word STEINER on TV like it's a curse word or something. The guy literally won with a Diving Bulldog and Steiner Recliner and they called him the Dog Faced Gremlin, but can't bring themselves to actually acknowledge he is who he is. Such a mind-boggling half-way commitment. Is there heat between the 'E and the Steiners?