Big Z

It was a fun show that seemed to hit on all of the right moments, but agree that there were way too many cuts to MJF during the main event. My one big thought on the show is tonight confirmed both why The Acclaimed were not slated to win at All Out (and possibly not at all initially in the near future), but also why they had to win it tonight. AEW is great about listening to its fans, and you could not deny that really wanted The Acclaimed to win the big one. However, they are still a bit raw (at least to AEW's high level), and will need some quality heel teams to carry the way (a heel FTR would work wonders with them).

I'm not MJF's biggest fan, as he is wildly inconsistent on the mic and not yet a super worker (though the Darby match at Full Gear 2021 and Punk series of matches were awesome). That said, the numbers do not lie, and the man is one of AEW's biggest draws.

I think that the recent changes/additions to different teams under TK is to address that and create a better working environment, but even I'll admit it probably needed to be done sooner. I'm a big fan of all four wrestlers involved in the brawl, but I'd be hesitant to bring any of them back at this point and keep on moving along with what is still a strong and deep roster.

I'm the same, and probably have let if affect my mood too much (thankfully taken a couple of days off work this week). I've emotionally and financially invested a lot in AEW and truly loved modern wrestling consistently again for the first since mid-late 90's WCW, and at least was a big fan of all parties involved in the fracas (and hate that my very first instincts about Punk and AEW turned out to be correct, as I was instantly back on Punk bandwagon the minute he first stepped out on the United Center stage). In a perfect world, The Elite returns at least a touch reflective and maybe an apologetic Punk can have a retirement match at All Out next year if it's back at NOW Arena (cause objectively, Punk should be listening to the message his body is trying to tell him). Realistically, I would be planning for a world where all parties are gone. While I preferred the idea of All Friends wrestling, I didn't mind TK letting things fly way too close to the sun since the in-ring action remained largely awesome and the spice could have helped liven things up (And the other channel is now trying to rip-off the everything is sunshine and rainbows feeling). However, AEW ended up getting severely burned. That being said, there is still a ton of talent on the roster (and some big stories like MJF's return and The Acclaimed's ascent) remain intact. The crowd in Buffalo was very forgiving and still gave a great response to the show Wednesday, so the good will with the company is far from bankrupt (and my good friend that jumped onto AEW bandwagon after Punk's debut is still on board and even is ready to side with AEW over Punk). Also, the optimist in me looks at how TK has helped stabilize Fulham after some bad luck and initial poor strategy the first time they returned to Premier League, and believes that he can the do the same in a sport/subject that he is far more knowledgable about. Short-term, AEW has lost same overall value and likely cost itself money on its TV renewal. Long-term though they could still be fine and even better by getting back to basics, and I do not expect the kumbaya and outside positive feeling on the other channel to last with the competing interests in the front office and lack of boundaries they are willing to push as a sterilized, publicly traded company).

Too high on Jericho-Danielson (which I'd argue to be at or just above three stars), and low (and arguably significantly low) on SIOG vs. Acclaimed, as that was right on the border for five stars for me and right there with Bucks-FTR for my AEW proper tag match of the year (counting Briscoes vs. FTR matches as ROH). The storytelling in that match was fucking incredible, and enough big moves/moments to carry it right to the five-star level. AS I wrote in the All Out thread, that match elevated from an over act (that was passable AEW level in the ring) to legit superstars. If the re-match at Grand Slam is anywhere near that level, The Acclaimed will be cemented as top of the company and also proof that they work far better as faces (sort of opposite of Jericho).

They have not done a great job on the whole with the Jags (and I'd argue that keeping Trent Baalke around is even worse then hiring Meyer), but think that they have a done a pretty good job at Fulham on the whole and think that they are poised for another solid run in the Premier League for a few years. They inherited a bad situation when they bought them (not quite Sunderland at the time bad, but still a team very much on borrowed time in the Premier League), were too scattergun in their transfer approach their first time back up in the Premier League, and unlucky to drop down the second time around (their xG had them comfortably above drop zone). This time around, think that they have the right manager and did the right amount of buying to supplement what was a dominant team in the Championship (challeging some of City's record from the last time City dropped down).

My issue with all of them, especially SRS, is that a decent portion of what they are reporting still sounds like BS to me. I'm not denying that an altercation took place, but from there it's devolved into seeing Ferris at 31 Flavors level of exaggeration. In general, I think that journalism/reporting is basically in the toilet, and well wrestling journalism is a very loose subset of that. Someone like SRS may even claim to be a rumor mongerer, but he still gets super defensive if you dare question the veracity of his reports.

A whole lot of them are likely being told now, though I'm Team Meltz among any of them just cause he actually knows the history of wrestling and tries to have a pulse on the current product (but will grant that he's not exactly Walter Cronkite these days with actual news reporting). However, they are all trying to outdo each other to gain subs and clout, and will say or write anything in that quest (though that's hardly unique for any kind of media these days).

Kind of hard to believe the start of paragraph two there if you believe that paragraph one is true (which I think is very accurate, particular SRS, who may as well have a degree in shit stirring at this point). If Steel did a tenth of what is being "reported", police would have actually been called in. Now, I'll cop that something likely happened backstage after Punk's media scrum (though I sure wouldn't want to bet my life on it), but I'd guess it was much more to level of bench clearing brawl in baseball where there is little actual violence, and not the salacious street fight that the gossip sites have been peddling.

To dare make the argument against Danileson being champion, all three of his singles PPV matches have been mediocre by his standards. Now, he's had awesome matches on TV against Hangman Page twice, Omega, Daniel Garcia twice, and Minoru Suzuki amongst others, but I'd have him go defintively face or heel for story purposes before pushing him for title to get the crowd fully invested in him one way of the other. I think there are cases where tweeners work, but Danielson's PPV matches have not been that.

That sentence sounds just as plausable as the "reported" events.

In all of the HOT GOSS (that is tracking to be about 10% true IMO), that is the wildest, most flagrant BS part of it. Confrontation after the scrum, believable. Getting heated enough to get to blows, semi-believable. The biting part that SRS and Rovert are trying to sell is rather ridiculous, and would have resulted in immediate and already known legal interaction.

In 2022 pro wrestling though, especially AEW, you also need to deliver after bell rings to be at championship level. They have not had anything resembling that level of a match as a team before (though Bowens had some very singles matches at end of last year). Even if last night was a touch flash in the pan/crowd aided, they now have that in-ring credibility to match with the entertainment factor and should get the belts soon as a result (even if that means altering previous plans).

In one night, The Acclaimed transformed themselves from a modern day New Age Outlaws tribute act to an actual, big boy, championship level tag team. Whie you cannot change the outcome of a match unless there needs to be an injury audible, they likely just earned a title run in the near future with that performance and crowd reaction.

Well, MJF was not getting that reaction from last night before his worked shoot stuff. As always, there's likely elements of both work and shoot with all of this, but it's worked well for MJF.