AEW Rampage and Battle of the Belts VI - April 7, 2023

[BrianS81177]

I try not to bag on JR too much but man oh man was he bad tonight. Calling the Twist of Fate (a move he has seen how many hundereds of times) a DDT? It seemed like he was only half paying attention to the matches.

[matt925]

5 minutes ago, BrianS81177 said:

I try not to bag on JR too much but man oh man was he bad tonight. Calling the Twist of Fate (a move he has seen how many hundereds of times) a DDT? It seemed like he was only half paying attention to the matches.

They “hated to correct” him twice and he called dralistico a good hand lol. And, clearly, he by no way meant anything by this at all, but as Billie and Jade were going to commercial before the start the last thing we hear is JR saying “she’s 18 years old?????” That legit made me laugh out loud, even though it was a completely innocent comment. 

If he doesn’t want to hang up the boots then one day there’s gonna be a comment that people can’t brush away. 

[BrianS81177]

And if he doesn't want to stop working, fine. There must be other things you can do with him. AEW/ROH has such a massive roster with so many wrestlers that most fans probably don't know much about. Let JR host a weekly spotlight show on Youtube talking about a different member of the roster each week.

[Fighting a man with a perm]

The "jezebel" count was ridiculously high tonight. Seriously, can someone just put a muzzle on JR during women's matches...and what was up with the ringside cameraman during both women's matches? at times I thought he was going to zoom right up their small intestines. 

OC continues to be a highlight every week, the man just operates on a transcendent level! Darby is equally adept at making every match unique while being uniquely Darby. Build around those 2 lads!

Looking forward to OC/Matthews and maybe Cutler putting in an Evil Uno-esque performance standing up to BCC.

[Dog]

I've thought Ross has actually been good on Rampage lately, but tonight was a definite disaster. Early in I wondered if he had, let's say, indulged too much at dinner.

[The Green Meanie]

Thirsty JR was getting reaaaallll creepy there, especially when he kept mentioning that Billie was 18 non-stop.

(JR) "She had the day off from school today"
(My wife and myself) ".....I hope he means from COLLEGE"

Also, STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME FEEL SYMPATHY FOR THE ELITE. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Having the BCC take out all of The Elite makes them SUPER BABYFACES TO ME.

They didn't mention who The Acclaimed/Daddy Magic/Cool Hand Ang were going to wrestle, so I definately had a good laugh when they mentioned one of the opponents was BOBBY ORLANDO (HI-NRG/Dance/House Music nerds, where are you at?)
https://images2.imgbox.com/63/57/mbcLlK7s_o.jpg

Edited April 8, 2023 by The Green Meanie

[zendragon]

QT IS YOUR MAIN EVENTER!!!

Anna Jay messed with the wrong spooky bitch! Don’t mess with Julia’s hat! Julia also has the best entrance music it’s like Emma Ruth rundle or Myrkr 

Taga still has the worst hell of a match with Darby though 

[Greggulator]

10 hours ago, JLowe said:

One more drunk post: Orange Cassidy was Wrestler of the Quarter for Q1 2023 and in terms of US TV I’m not sure it was even close.

OC lapped the field a few times. Dear god, what a fantastic run he has been on. He could carry me to a 10-minute 3.5 star match.

[Greggulator]

AEW’s biggest money match is MJF vs. OC. MJF trying to deal with OC’s aloofness would be magic.

[HarryArchieGus]

Saturday Morning Superstars! Fun show. Hook v Ethan Page was a terrific battle. It's really unfortunate that before they both passed Hennig and Poffo couldn't have smashed the shit out of that garbage Taz title. And then another fun QTV segment. Especially enjoyed the Dante joke which indicates to me that it isn't a career-ender. Aaron Solo, his laughter, and his binaca!!! Sometimes all you need is to freshen up! Dug the Acclaimed/Two Point 8 man and turn. I want some Memphis brawls from Parker/Menard/Bowens/Castor. Dumb question but when does Darby Allin not have a great match!? No surprise Lee Moriarty would be a great dance partner. Lee's wonderful, and quietly more wonderful each time out. I too thought we might get a 'Mogul Affliates' and 'Shane Taylor Promotions' merger. Nana and Swerve should really consider adding to their conglomerate. Cage is a nice step up from the similar sized greenhorns. Nice RJ City mediation with Jade and Taya. Not great, but not entirely the waste of time JR later suggested. Not gonna hate on JR as I found him mostly unintentionally hilarious this week (maybe it was the coffee), but 'Guest A' joins for commentary during Women's matches in JR's position wouldn't be a bad call for a growing national company in need of watching their steps. They could at least let Jim in on his beloved 'Jezebel' term being less than appropriate in 2023. It must be awfully difficult for an old perv like Jim to sit there and be a proper gentleman with Anna and Julia out there. I blame Conrad Thompson for selling Ross on the goddamn blue chew. Anyway, Anna Jass had a nice promo on last week's Rampage, despite her detractors, and this pacakge was fine. So too the Rampage-style 'Main Event'. I've heard Gorilla Monsoon call worst matches 'a main event in any arena in the world'. That said, I'm pretty certain 'The Duke of Dorchester' Pete Doherty v Tony Garea would not be a welcome Main Event for some. I dug the transition to next match and Julia's distate for Jefferson Starship's Jane. I think? A distaste I do not share. OC with another solid bout. That's the best I've seen from Dralistico in a Khan ring. I liked this, but I sometimes wish they had officials come out and send these outside guys to the back rather than *yawn another Hokey brawl to the back. Separate the parties and kick them the fuck out. Not that this is a complaint about a future LFI-Best Frenz bout. Does an ominous score Really (I mean Really) add to the Houe of Black promos? These are questions Tony Khan and Mike Mansury oughtta ask themselves. This isn't the Family Channel, it's 'Rampage baby!' LOVED the Mark Briscoe talk segment! Mark turns everything he touches into gold. Lots of bouts for him within this JJJ(S)J and S faction. Already excited about the possibilities. Jarrett, Jay, Sonjay and Satnam continue to be maybe my favorite faction in wrestling other than the BCC. Not sure what ppl were expecting from Jade-Billie? I feared a squash, but this was not that. I thought they had a 'fine bout'. Maybe I missed something on a bit of the heat skim, but I thought both looked good. Not Billie's best match, but I certainly wasn't expecting that. Taya presents very well, has terrific charisma, but will the crowd ever accept her as a babyface v Jade? Cutler getting a shot at the BCC! Not often am I so looking forward to a squash, and it's not because I don't love Brandon Cutler's deadly Doofus routine. It's in fact the opposite. Nice traditional Mark Henry led promo segment prior to the bout. I'm totally into this QT/Hobbs pairing. QT is an underrated talker, and wrestler. He looked especially good here. Ha, it's hard not to at least laugh at JR's asking what Harley Cameron's profession is. Mar-Ssh'AL and Hobbs looked like a well oiled heat machine, bring on FTR! It was nice to see the Lucha Brothers have a strong early title defense - something their AEW title run lacked. I hope Fenix didn't hurt himself too badly there. Really fun double episode on a Saturday Morning! Now time for a hearty breakfast.

Edited April 8, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[Matt D]

Playing catch up.

• Hook vs Page really worked. This has been a great series of matches for Hook between the house show where he took a lot of offense, a TV match with some BS, and now a TV brawl around the arena. Just getting his reps in against a game opponent with size and experience. This moved briskly, the shots all looked good, they built to a few big spots and reversals. Good showing for the kid.
• 8 man was brisk and fun. Just guys getting spots in. 2.0 gave them every chance to be sports entertainers but they weren't going to play the fool for them either. I do hope we get a ten man tag with Keith Lee/Adam Cole/Gunn/Acclaimed vs Jericho/Menard/Parker/Garcia/Hager before all of this is done though.
• I have to rewatch Darby vs Moriarty but I really liked what I saw, just a complete match starting with matwork and ending with bombs and finishing stretch counters with Big Bill doing his part in the middle. Loved the Reinera by Moriarty and the back focus in general. Darby having a bruised back made the Cage bump look all the more gnarly. Can you imagine a Swerve/Tully pairing? Feels weird to put him up against Darby right now when the story of the month are the 3 pillars getting wins against lower tiered guys.
• It's a little frustrating to see people surprised by the Julia character when we've been seeing her for months. I didn't love that she did the front handspring (which she hasn't done in her squshes). I though the Queenslayer/Heartless stuff towards the end was solid. Nothing was egregious certainly (Julia should have given her another second to square up before the moonsault press). It was better than Anna's match against Britt, but a heel vs heel match is a bit of a tough sell overall.  I'd like to see Hayter vs Julia.
• Really liked Cassidy vs Dralistico. I know someone like @Greggulatorprobably isn't familiar with Dralistico but the deal was that he was given the Mistico gimmick after Mistico went to WWE. That meant following the most naturally charismatic tecnico of the 21st century in Mexico, basically, and while he could never live up to that, it meant working with a full face mask and trying to figure out how to match that physical charisma, while also generating a deep chip on his shoulder for the crowd never really getting behind him. You saw all of that in this match. The full mask means that he has to move differently than most wrestlers in order to emote and that was really perfect against Cassidy's antics. I love that Cassidy will go through so much work to just get the hands in the pocket deal. It's working so hard to not work hard at all and that's what finally blows the mind of his opponent and breaks him. I thought it lost a little focus after the dive onto the people outside but it came back together for a pretty exciting finish. Back to Gregg again, but the submission Dralistico put on Cassidy was La Mistica, which was basically instant death in Mexico, second only to Atlantis' drop-to-his-knees Atlantida, so Cassidy selling it like it was the worst thing in the world when he's usually so nonchalant was completely appropriate and just a sign that he really gets who he was in with and how to respect and highlight him.

And that's as far as I got. Will hit the last two matches later. But in general, this is the sort of AEW I love. Fun match ups that you wouldn't have predicted, that you didn't know you wanted, some fresh talent trying to figure things out in the ring, some international talent up against guys extremely confident in their acts. A lot of wrestling for wrestling's sake but nothing that feels like killing time; instead it feels like celebrating the joy and variety and diversity of what matches can look like.

[John from Cincinnati]

1 hour ago, Greggulator said:

AEW’s biggest money match is MJF vs. OC. MJF trying to deal with OC’s aloofness would be magic.

Fought for the Dynamite Diamond Ring in December 2020, but for sure there's more to be done there. 

[odessasteps]

1 hour ago, Matt D said:

Playing catch up.

• Really liked Cassidy vs Dralistico. I know someone like @Greggulatorprobably isn't familiar with Dralistico but the deal was that he was given the Mistico gimmick after Mistico went to WWE. That meant following the most naturally charismatic tecnico of the 21st century in Mexico, basically, and while he could never live up to that, it meant working with a full face mask and trying to figure out how to match that physical charisma, while also generating a deep chip on his shoulder for the crowd never really getting behind him. You saw all of that in this match. The full mask means that he has to move differently than most wrestlers in order to emote and that was really perfect against Cassidy's antics. I love that Cassidy will go through so much work to just get the hands in the pocket deal. It's working so hard to not work hard at all and that's what finally blows the mind of his opponent and breaks him. I thought it lost a little focus after the dive onto the people outside but it came back together for a pretty exciting finish. Back to Gregg again, but the submission Dralistico put on Cassidy was La Mistica, which was basically instant death in Mexico, second only to Atlantis' drop-to-his-knees Atlantida, so Cassidy selling it like it was the worst thing in the world when he's usually so nonchalant was completely appropriate and just a sign that he really gets who he was in with and how to respect and highlight him

I’d still say he’s the third best Munoz brother, and luckily can’t be the worse worker in the family than their father. 

[zendragon]

And BWHAHAHA at The Bucs lackey and Kenny’s man servant cutting a super serious promo about tending up to bullies. They can’t even stand up to Matt and nick yet they are gonna take on The BCC ? I eagerly await their mailing 

[J.T.]

I love how Brandon Cutler was all YOU HAVE TO STAND UP AGAINST BULLIES~! and terrified Michael Nakazawa was just staring into the void as the void stared into him.

Edited April 8, 2023 by J.T.

[AxB]

Ever since Alex "Scoops" Marvez was moved out of doing commentary himself, he has been preparing commentary notes for the people who are at the desk. It's been fairly clear for a while that JR never really reads his, but last night made it super obvious. He spends all of Julia vs Anna talking about what a big deal it is that Julia is wrestling in the main event as a 21 year old, she's the youngest wrestling in AEW, she's only 21... and is then nonplussed when Billie Starkz shows up being an 18 year old. 

Literally everyone who knows who Billie Starkz is, knows how old she is. It's an integral part of her identity. And JR is surprised to be told that.

It's remarkably unprofessional.

[Dolphman 3000]

The "jezebel" comments really pissed me off - it's so lazy to just equate all heel women to that because you don't know the storylines

[JLowe]

I feel like he said something even worse and more sexist than “jezebel” that had me wincing but I don’t recall now and I don’t feel like watching either of last night’s women’s matches again ever.

[Technico Support]

19 hours ago, JLowe said:

Jade doesn’t really know how to sell or bump. The crowd was turning on her some towards the end.

Shit yes.  She took a brutally bad bump on a lung blower and there was one spot where time stood still as Starkz waited forever for Jade to get in position for a kick.  I know she pretty much only works squashes but can she not get some practice time in sometime?  Julia Hart has lapped Jade already.

1 hour ago, AxB said:

Ever since Alex "Scoops" Marvez was moved out of doing commentary himself, he has been preparing commentary notes for the people who are at the desk. It's been fairly clear for a while that JR never really reads his, but last night made it super obvious. He spends all of Julia vs Anna talking about what a big deal it is that Julia is wrestling in the main event as a 21 year old, she's the youngest wrestling in AEW, she's only 21... and is then nonplussed when Billie Starkz shows up being an 18 year old. 

Literally everyone who knows who Billie Starkz is, knows how old she is. It's an integral part of her identity. And JR is surprised to be told that.

It's remarkably unprofessional.

I noticed that, too!  I literally said “ Billie Starkz is wrestling on the next show!”

Edited April 8, 2023 by Technico Support

[TheVileOne]

AEW has completely and utterly given up on Battle of the Belts. These are throwaway cards.

[Krone]

I do think BotB would have benefited from FTR/Gunns being on that show, but do you really want to do a title change at 11:57pm on a Saturday night? I see both sides of the spectrum, but unless they got/get a better time slot - I understand the hesitancy to put a big time match like that on there.

I do think the AEW roster is big enough to allow for some bigger matches than we get right now. Totally okay with Jade/Starkz, but maybe an OC vs. Kip rematch? Just something where the winner isn't a given. Lucha Bros were never gonna lose either after winning the belts so recently, but that's TK booking. I wouldn't mind maybe a few more title changes just for the surprise effect than what we have been given recently.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

1 hour ago, Krone said:

I do think BotB would have benefited from FTR/Gunns being on that show, but do you really want to do a title change at 11:57pm on a Saturday night?

I think I'm with you on the whole both sides thing because my answer is: actually, yes - on a properly and heavily hyped, Clash or SNME-level or above card. This should have been a loaded show with ads running throughout the NCAA tournament on all the Turner networks. 

I almost wonder if they have audience data data to show that there's no way they can do above X number no matter who they put on the card - or maybe some of the bigger stars are avoiding being on the show to the best of their power/ability knowing it won't draw over X, like a reverse version of how Hogan would go away during the playoffs - you get a little plausible deniability to say 'Of course the show did a bad # without Moxley, Omega, Cole, Wardlow, MJF, Jericho, Sting, Christian....'

Or perhaps I'm overthinking it, and they're just crappy cards.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Zakk_Sabbath

[DreamBroken]

I thought Anna/Julia was awesome. Felt like we got a little bit of the old babyface Anna back briefly by default. Thought Julia looked the best I've seen her look overall. Loved her whole presentation in the post-match, singing along to her epic theme. And then her expression and entire mood changes when she's cut off by Orange's music was just *perfect*.  Brian Cage killing Darby was nuts. Also dug Hook/Ethan a lot, hadn't realized it would be FTW RULES until it was time to start.

Another great Orange defense. Really liked Jade/Billie. Glad it wasn't a total squash, thought Billie got to look great. Honestly more in to that than the Jade/Taya feud at the moment. Main event finish was awesome, beautiful counter to the Dirt Sheet Driver looked absolutely killer. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by DreamBroken

[zendragon]

I feel like JR has no idea how to call non Divas womens wrestling

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

13 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Shit yes.  She took a brutally bad bump on a lung blower and there was one spot where time stood still as Starkz waited forever for Jade to get in position for a kick.  I know she pretty much only works squashes but can she not get some practice time in sometime?  Julia Hart has lapped Jade already.

I noticed that, too!  I literally said “ Billie Starkz is wrestling on the next show!”

Isn’t Jade supposedly practicing with Bryan Danielson? If she is either she’s not improving at all or his teaching skills are incredibly overrated. I agree with you that she’s shown next to zero improvement, but as long as guys keep drooling over her physique then her push is here to stay.