AEW TV - 7/19 - 7/24/2023

[The Natural]

12 minutes ago, Log said:

Mox/Pac would be fun. Have they had a one-on-one in AEW? I've memory-holed a lot of the circa 2019 stuff.

Twice according to Cagematch: 23rd October 2019 and 21st January 2020. Haven't seen either.

Edited July 20, 2023 by The Natural

[Go2Sleep]

8 hours ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

- Agreed with Fozzy, either remove the coin toss advantage, or use it as a better narrative. It got boring and super repetitive watching fresh man in, evens the odds, cleans house by himself and then falls victim to the numbers game once the heels got the advantage again. It makes the heels look ineffective that they can't use a man advantage effectively, and the hope spot doesn't pop the crowd as much because it became so formulaic and predictable. Maybe have the Bucks come in and attempt to overcome the numbers, and just get completely cut down by a team working as a unit and getting swarmed, then have the last guy be the one to turn the tide if you so need to.

This has been a problem going back to 1987. I'm surprised no company has ever tried a snake entry where Team A gets the 2 on 1, but Team B gets the next two in so they get the 3 on 2 period, Team A gets the 4 on 3 and Team B gets the 5 on 4.

[AxB]

The first ever draw on Dynamite (second in AEW) was Mox vs PAC, tv time remaining.

Also Pac is the reason Mox enters from the crowd. He had been entering from the stage, but then Pac jumped him from behind as he was coming out.

[Zimbra]

Some slightly more developed thoughts on last night:

-The previous B&G worked because there was the throughline of a central animating conflict running through the match keeping things together; MJF trying not to get killed by Jericho, and Kingston trying to kill Jericho, respectively.  This match didn't really have that, despite having two good options in Page/Mox and Omega/Takeshita.  
-Matt, cover your eyes: the match needed more Hangman.  Not only were he and Mox the genesis of the feud, but this is the perfect venue for his kind of bomb-throwing offense.  He should have been the tank for his team but instead he got sidelined for large portions of it.
-The Claudio/Pac stuff was good and believable for who they are as characters: Claudio wants to be the ring general and Pac doesn't want to be told what to do.  I liked how they played the escalating dissension through the match, but if that was going to be the finish they probably needed to announce him sooner and give it a little more time to bake.  Put him in a trios match with Claudio and Wheeler or something first.
-Callis pulling his man once Pac bailed and hope was lost was great character work for Callis, but not so much for Takeshita.    feel like Takeshita would have resisted quitting the match at least a bit before he assented.  Also as somebody mentioned they needed to have him put it over on commentary before he bailed.
-I got no real beef with having the nail board: it feels natural for the sense of escalation both within the feud and within the B&G matches themselves.  But they needed to tease it and build it up a bit more before people started taking bumps onto it.  
-All of the stuff outside the cage was kinda bad and pointless and shouldn't have happened.  The rolling northern lights on top of the cage didn't really work because there was no universe in which Jackson was actually going to suplex Wheeler off the cage.
-I think the entire perception of Ibushi's performance would be different if he'd come out in jeans, cowboy boots and a sleeveless Falcons t-shirt instead of his normal gear.  He also straight punched Claudio (I think?) right in the throat so that was cool.  I thought it was weird that they didn't do more to build up Ibushi prior to the match with highlights and such, but I guess if he wasn't going to do any Ibushi stuff you don't want to get people's hopes up.  Should have at least given him a roman candle.
-The chain and handcuffs needed to be introduced earlier in the match.  They could have gotten more mileage out of Mox being handcuffed and fighting like an animal in a trap trying to get out.  The camera also totally missing the finish was pretty inexcusable.

For all my criticisms, it was a fun spectacle and I thought it went by pretty snappily.  Still the least of the B&G matches, tho'

[Pete]

40 minutes ago, Go2Sleep said:

This has been a problem going back to 1987. I'm surprised no company has ever tried a snake entry where Team A gets the 2 on 1, but Team B gets the next two in so they get the 3 on 2 period, Team A gets the 4 on 3 and Team B gets the 5 on 4.

It might be a heat thing. They could be worried about losing the crowd when the face team gains the man advantage.

As long as each team enters from opposite sides of the building, why not just have one man from each team come in simultaneously?

[Steventon]

Blood & Guts are better than NXT WarGames, but below OG WarGames. Maybe on the same level as Lethal Lockdowns. But their problems are the same as the NXT versions - they go way to fucking long and are way too reliant on props. I don't mind so much with the BCC because deathmatch geek is Mox's thing, but this still went about 10-15 minutes past it's peak. And count me in with the guys who thought Ibushi looked solidly mediocre. That said, I had fun.

Not as much fun as with MJF and Cole, but that's a high bar. Cole turning MJF babyface through the power of friendship is honest to God brilliant. Foreshadowing Roddy taking issue with it though makes me think they're going to have him attack MJF and leave Cole with the dilema.

Jungle Boy going full old school rudo was a bit jarring. I don't mean that necessarily as a bad thing, but the massive pivot in his style was sudden.

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, Zimbra said:

Should have at least given him a roman candle.

Oh man, now THAT was a missed opportunity! 

I just watched the rest. MJF and Cole really are a solid wrestling odd couple/bad comedy pair. It actually makes me give Cole more credit than just managing to do as many superkicks in a match as two people in the Bucks. 

Jack as heel is indeed a bit jarring and Hook losing was a shock. Had no idea he'd had the FTW belt since aaaaaall the way back basically when he started. That's wild. 

Callis breaking up the Entertainers because him and Jericho make some kinda Canadian-connection money deal will be interesting. So was Jericho FINALLY killing his goddamn ring music to heel on the crowd. (Never noticed Claudio's music is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", btw)

[Curt McGirt]

I just noticed that Mox is wearing a Jun Kasai shirt

[Nice Guy Eddie]

35 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Oh man, now THAT was a missed opportunity! 

I just watched the rest. MJF and Cole really are a solid wrestling odd couple/bad comedy pair. It actually makes me give Cole more credit than just managing to do as many superkicks in a match as two people in the Bucks. 

Jack as heel is indeed a bit jarring and Hook losing was a shock. Had no idea he'd had the FTW belt since aaaaaall the way back basically when he started. That's wild. 

Callis breaking up the Entertainers because him and Jericho make some kinda Canadian-connection money deal will be interesting. So was Jericho FINALLY killing his goddamn ring music to heel on the crowd. (Never noticed Claudio's music is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", btw)

Between Claudio's 1812 Overture and now Jack's Beethoven's 5th, AEW is where I go for high culture. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

9 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Between Claudio's 1812 Overture and now Jack's Beethoven's 5th, AEW is where I go for high culture. 

 

48 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

So was Jericho FINALLY killing his goddamn ring music to heel on the crowd. (Never noticed Claudio's music is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", btw)

The joke in our house was that Perry was looking for that Judge Judy heat

[tbarrie]

50 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

(Never noticed Claudio's music is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", btw)

Thank you! I knew I recognized the tune but I couldn't put a name to it.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

5 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

 

The joke in our house was that Perry was looking for that Judge Judy heat

Judge Judy heat is X-Pac heat in my house. 

[Curt McGirt]

Man, I have no problem with chains, but I HATE handcuffs in wrestling matches. 

The problem with these matches is even with all the gimmicks it's a bunch of workrate guys doing workrate stuff. We all know that's the style, but try and mix it up. At least dress in street gear like Dusty would. Don't make it look so choreographed. More chaos, and, quite frankly, more blood. I see the problem with the gimmicks when it doesn't look like people are bleeding even though it surely hurts like hell. (Mox deserves credit as always for blading his freakin' temple. Taz: "I see he lost his temple" haha)

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

Why exactly was Wheeler holding the ropes there to get strangled? And for a guy with Hangman moniker he should know how physics work. 

[Curt McGirt]

He should at least wear a cowboy hat out and hit someone with a boot. I guess a noose would be too much?

Edited July 20, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[Nice Guy Eddie]

11 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

He should at least wear a cowboy hat out and hit someone with a boot. I guess a noose would be too much?

He used a noose in ROH when he joined Bullet Club, hence the "Hangman" nickname. 

[Curt McGirt]

Well... this is TNT and TBS, not a Philly indie. 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

That segment with Jericho and Callis having a secret meeting being leaked to Alex Marvez surely had to be a rib on Jericho

[caley]

I don't dislike the MJF and Cole stuff (Though I do not like it NEARLY as much as some of you...) but I do feel it's kind of a waste of your World Champion. I guess if you're AEW, you're going to have to weigh whether ticking the crowd off in the short term by having MJF turn on Cole, or making Cole the biggest heel in the company by having him turn on MJF just after he'd won him over is the better choice. Because if you keep them together (Which is CLEARLY what the crowd wants), you're kind of stuck with a goofy dance-off world champion because you can't really get the belt off him and keep MJF as Cole's goofy buddy. The biggest loser out of this whole angle is Roderick Strong, who looks like a complete dork following Cole around in a neckbrace and going "What is going ON?!" while not actually caring so much about the guy who put him in the neckbrace.

B&G was okayish. A little too deatmatch-y for me. I thought the order of the competitors made no sense after Kenny/Claudio (The guy who wrestles long matches vs the kind of cardio), and, of course, Ibushi at the end. I like Takeshita (Though I liked him better as underdog young guy better) but him coming in as the last guy didn't really do much for me. Didn't care for the walk-outs either. Not sure how Pac goes from full of rage to take out the Elite after so many months off to "Eh, I'm out of rage and don't feel like being told what to do" in one week's time except for it needing to be done to build up the ROH PPV that they may or may not have forgotten about. I  almost feel like they should've just delayed the match a few weeks (or whatever) and waited for Kingston and Danielson because it would have been a way better match with those two and subtracting the two who really had nothing to do with the feud.

I liked Perry-Hook, but it seemed almost like AEW forgot about Hook's win streak because it was a rather lame way for it to end (belt shot) and Excalibur added almost as an afterthought "And ended Hook's undefeated streak". I like Perry's new classical theme but he almost should have just stolen WALTER's, he can't use it anymore. I think he also needs to be Hollywood-ed up a bit more. Maybe involving a limo in his entrance, put Anna Jay on his arm. Also a Mr. Hughes-style bodyguard...hey you know, he is still alive!

[Jenalysis]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

He used a noose in ROH when he joined Bullet Club, hence the "Hangman" nickname. 

He says he regrets doing that and will never do that again.

 

[Dog]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Between Claudio's 1812 Overture and now Jack's Beethoven's 5th, AEW is where I go for high culture. 

[Craig H]

I really liked the show with a couple exceptions. I’m really not a fan of the sports entertainment stuff with MJF and Cole and really didn’t like the dance off. At the same time, the dance off made me laugh? So I guess I’m a little conflicted. Still, these Cole and MJF segments feel like TNA shit.

Blood and Guts mostly ruled except it ran too fucking long. Cut the first part to 3 minutes and then 90 seconds for the advantage segments. I do hope that for the next B&G match there is less death match stuff. This was like what the pinnacle of  that should be in AEW. And Kota sadly looked like shit, but that’s for good reason. I saw one or two people on here commenting on it looking like Kota was potatoing people and they clearly are unfamiliar with Murder Ibushi. That’s just shit he does. I don’t think he’s putting everything behind those balled up punches or locks otherwise he’d be knocking dudes out for a long time.

Much to the delight of some people and based off of the comments from Kenny after the show, it felt like this was the finale for the Elite in AEW. Maybe not for Hangman, but definitely for Kenny and the Bucks. I really don’t want them to leave, but I would understand it if they did.

 This episode would have also benefited from a little bit of the Collision format or at least do the “tonight on Collision” bit at the beginning of the show.

[Jenalysis]

I wonder what Kenny/Bucks would do post-AEW if they left.  My guess is they'd do NJPW and run their own promotion out west.

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Jenalysis

[Dolphman 3000]

4 minutes ago, Jenalysis said:

I wonder what Kenny/Bucks would do post-AEW if they left.  My guess is they'd do NJPW and run their own promotion out west.

Cody just said today he's in touch with the Bucks and they helped him out with BTE footage for his documentary

 

[Craig H]

I think they go to WWE honestly if they did leave AEW. WWE kinda sorta stabilizing their top storylines and looking like much less of a mess while increasing their TV footprint doesn’t seem as bad of a destination as it once did. Things can always change though. Vince could exert even more control, everything could become shit again, they could maybe just learn to move on past the Punk drama, etc.