Yo-Yo's Roomie

Also wanted to say, I love the props Moxley is getting for his part in this main event. Ever since he left WWE, to me he's had this incredible aura of being 'the man' that not a lot of people can really match. I really love the Death Riders and hope this isn't the end for them. Mox as the final boss is just too perfect. Claudio as the top henchman, Yuta as the little shit willing to take a beating, Shafir with her incredible silent killer energy, Gabe Kidd can go fuck himself. Don't really know where they could take it from here, but I definitely want to see it continue.

I think this was the best wrestling show I've ever seen. There have been better shows as far as top to bottom match quality goes (AEW themselves have probably had several), but no show has ever felt so epic, so consequential and, ultimately, so life-affirming as this one, while at the same time getting almost every major booking decision right and all building to the ultimate feel-good crescendo that everybody wanted. Yes, it was a long show, and there were matches that could have gone shorter, but I was never bored and I think the match order really helped the show. I've never been a proponent of booking 'cool down' matches and I think this show vindicated that thought process as they just went out with the three biggest matches back-to-back-to-back and the crowd stayed with them right until they end. I sat on my couch for 8 hours watching this and it never dragged at all. And as someone who sat through those turgid long-ass Manias, I never thought I would say that. I guess the difference is that those shows were like a death march through the psyche of a narcissistic sex pest, whereas this felt more like a celebration of all that's great about wrestling, an event to foster a fanbase rather than to subjugate one. I could have wept tears of joy after the Storm/Mone match, so thoroughly and conclusively did they live up to the hype (remember when people wanted Athena in Mercedes' spot- not saying that was a stupid opinion, just that in the end I think it's hard to argue that Tony didn't make the right call). I did weep tears of joy after the main event. What an incredibly cathartic experience. What an incredible match. What an incredible company.

Two weeks since Mercedes and Mortos went public with their relationship, and two Dynamite main events for the Beast. What a woman Mone is.

WWE is MAGA and rapey, so she can go and get all the TV time in the world over there and it won't count for shit with me. That said, if Tony chose Gabe Kidd over her, that would displease me.

I hadn't seen Cole wrestle in ages and, with the way people talk about him around here, I was surprised by how big of a pop he got. I never liked the guy nor thought he was any good (and I still don't think he's any good), but he gets shit on so much, and he's had such a bad time with injuries (plus he's meant to be a good guy in real life) that I'm kinda rooting for him now.

That face-off at the end felt big time in a way that few do these days. I like Hayter, but it was definitely the right decision to have Mone go over her.

Coventry were literally in the play-off final 2 seasons ago, whereas Sunderland haven't been in the final since the 90's. That said, I do feel for Coventry, our own SkyBlueSam, and for Frank, who I'll always have a soft spot for for his time at Derby, haters be damned. That was probably the last time it was actually fun to be a Derby supporter. I stand by my earlier comments hoping for Sunderland to go up (proper club and Tyne-Wear derbies back in the prem) and wanting anyone but Sheffield United, who are just a waste of a space.

Anyone else getting the sense that McGuinness is gonna turn on Garcia and join with FTR? Seemed fishy the way the attack was focused more on Garcia. I thought the show was a lot of fun overall. I enjoyed the women's match and the main event a fair bit. The Death Riders look like such badasses and Swerve just walking into the dragon's den without giving a fuck is why we love him. What were the allegations against Gabe Kidd? Something to do with Mariah, right? I'd much rather have Mariah around than this guy at any rate (no idea if it was an either/or situation).

I found this interesting, because on the face of it, this seems like more the sort of thing I'd like to see from AEW. I think I'd just like to see them utilise more of their roster and in more interesting ways. But I don't know how much of the appeal of something like this is just nostalgia, and it's hard to gauge looking at it out of context, so I thought I'd have a go at transposing a card like the above to a modern AEW show, and to see if that looks more or less appealing than what we regularly get. Here's my attempt: The Butcher Vs Nick Wayne: Eddy was obviously more established than Wayne is, but as a kind of sleazy lower-card heel who gets decent exposure and heat and is rocking a title, as Eddy was at the time, with a rep as a good worker, this seemed fairly close. I think it captures the style clash element and the randomness too. Lance Archer Vs Powerhouse Hobbs: There's really no-one like Mongo, but Hobbs as a rough and ready, reasonably pushed and quite over and charismatic guy seemed as close as anyone. Archer/Meng seem close in terms of position and usage too. Hologram/Komander/AR Fox Vs Rush/Dralistico/Mortos: If anything, Rush feels too big a deal for this match but it serves the same purpose as the Nitro match. Bryan Keith Vs Daniel Garcia: Benoit was feuding with Raven at the time and going through the Flock. So for this imagine that Garcia is feuding with Jericho and going through the Learning Tree. There's really no Hammer-type on the AEW roster, which is probably a good thing. Shelton Benjamin Vs Brian Cage: One half of a tag team against a burly utility man. Adam Cole Vs Max Caster: Caster is really the modern day Disco I guess, in terms of where he is now at least. This would be an easy title defence for Cole, same as the Nitro match was for Hennig. Buddy Matthews and Brody King Vs Peter Avalon and Aaron Solo: I just thought of the two jobbiest guys I could to be fed to Buddy and Brody. Penelope Ford Vs Harley Cameron: I remembered I probably should have a women's match at this point. AEW doesn't really have midcard women though. They're either being pushed or they're there to do a job it seems like. Harley seems the closest analogue to 97 Jericho I could find in the women's division and Penelope slots in as her opponent kind of by default. Claudio Castagnoli Vs Samoa Joe: Yeah, I just kept the main event from last night. Second most featured guy from big heel faction against popular main event babyface. So, I dunno. Would people like to see more stuff like this? Probably not all on one show I'm guessing, but sprinkled in amongst the regular workrate stuff?

Yeah, right, no choice....

Well done, Leeds. I hate you lot, obvs, but you're a premier league team. Hope Sunderland go up via the play-offs. Another proper club. Anyone but Sheff Utd really. As dull as it gets. At the other end of the table, great win at West Brom today but since everyone else (except Cardiff) won down there, it's a bit as you were. I reckon because of our goal difference if we win one of our last two we should be okay. Hopefully the next one away at Hull.

Aren't Soviets red all over?

First thing I thought of was Diesel and Shawn winning the tag titles off Yoko and Owen, and then the belts getting vacated.

What did the actresses say? I muted it every time they had them or that director bloke on. Can't take the cringe.

This was the first wrestling of any kind I'd watched for probably 6 months or so and, on the whole, I thought this was a great show. Here's some quick thoughts. I only three-quarters paid attention to the pre-show while I was trying to engage with my family (to make up for not engaging with them at all during the main show, ha). Thought it was fine on the whole, standard pre-show stuff. I don't know who these Costco guys are and am probably grateful for that. Mark Briscoe is dismal. Orange deserves better than being involved in this. Appreciate them doing something different for the ROH title match. Tazz's _____ Jones thing is annoying as shit. In fact, Tazz was kind of annoying in general, at least until the more serious matches later on. I used to like him on commentary so don't know what happened there. MJF-Hangman was great. Hangman is the best, the Pedro Pascal of pro wrestling, doing masculinity properly. The tombstone on the chair was a great spot and the angel's wings was sick. MJF is hammy but he's the right kind of hammy. Good to see Mercedes is still one of the best wrestlers in the world. As far as matches go, I can't remember her ever having a badd on. Momo is pretty great too. The match had just the right amount of stiffness and struggle and grittiness. Keep that Mone train rolling. If Hangman isn't the best, then Swerve definitely is. Man, I was glad they didn't split him and Nana up. That would have been a major bummer. Loved Leslie Jones at ringside. I haven't seen a Ricochet match in donkeys and never thought he was much good anyway, but at least he has a personality now. I enjoyed this. Okada/King felt a bit flat overall. It was basically fine, but never really kicked into a higher gear. Not a fan of dog barking Brody. The Outrunners are fucking garbage. Meme wrestling at its worst. Good on them for getting over but they should be strictly pre-show comedy guys. Speaking of, I'd never seen MxM before and thought their presentation was great. Anyway, this was the first bad match of the night. Hollywood Ending was a literal masterpiece. They just nailed every element. In terms of trilogy enders we're talking Three Colours: Red or Through the Olive Trees levels of greatness. I literally had tears in my eyes by the end. Easy match of the night. The eventual Toni-Mercedes feud is going to be epic. That was really the main event, because after that the show really fell off a cliff. Omega/Takeshita was, being generous, fine. I mean, basically like any Kenny match except Kenny seems to have lost something of that intangible quality that always made even his shittiest tendencies somewhat tolerable. I wonder if it's just the injuries and miles catching up with him. The cage match, to paraphrase Stewart Lee, resided at the very apex of all that was absolute, patience-testing wank. Ospreay just is never going to get it and the fact that he's considered something like a generational talent or the next evolution of pro wrestling honestly makes me sad. Just really terrible instincts, like a child putting together a match. And Fletcher constantly licking at Ospreay's blood to show how sick he is, well, you wouldn't think there was an art to tasting another person's blood, but I guess there is. This match only highlighted what a masterpiece Toni and Mariah put together. The violence and emotion they managed to spin into a 12-minute match before getting out honestly put this to shame. I appreciate that Mox and Cope just tried to work a basic match after the last two matches pretty much shot their load all over the ring, and thought it was fine for what it was, if a bit dull. Then all the bullshit kicked in and you sense the target was those great Attitude Era bullshit main events but it ended up being more late era WCW main event. Smart to end on Swerve because the crowd needed that sting in the tail. I thought for a minute they were gonna do a Wrestlemania 9 deal where Nana goaded Mox into defending against Swerve there and then and Swerve took the title. Probably a good thing they didn't though it would have been something. So yeah, this was on course to be one of the best shows ever until the last, what, hour and a half, but it was still really good and well worth my $50.