username Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 7 hours ago, Cobra Commander said: there's a few top AEW guys who just needed a breather, like didn't people think Joe was almost done by the end of his WWE time They thought he was almost done as he was on the shelf for the better part of two years with concussion issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordi the former AEW fan Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 (edited) Obviously, the show got off to kind of a Rocky start. I guess I could also make joke about the match being pure Chaos? Anyway, an unsurprisingly super fun and really good match. It was nice that (as far as I could tell) the announce team kept the "Orange is playing mind games" trope in their pockets and just let the mystery be. It works better for me that way. And it occurs to me that Orange actually hasn't changed his character. What's changed is mostly the way that character is presented. It further occurs to me that most of my kvetching about current AEW is about presentation more than anything else. The cake is still great. Consistently as good as or better than any cake available anywhere in the world. But grandpa here is grumbling because he prefers how they used to do the icing, back in the good olde days of 2019-2020. Hardyz vs Kingdom did nothing for me. Absolutely couldn't get into it. Guess that's proof that a nice face in peril -> hot tag sequence is not, in and of itself, sufficient to make a tag match exciting. At least for this grandpa. I bet Sir Mix-a-Lot REALLY enjoyed Skye vs Queen. Also unsurprising: Another SPECTACULAR Vikingo Rampage main event! I think El Hijo del Mantaur has definitely surpassed his father. For sure, someone on these boards enjoyed the tag match more than the main event. That is a good thing. No point in discussion if we all just agree. AEW Fight Forever added tights and trunks WITH SIDE STRIPES and bicycle shorts and a bikini top WITH CONTRASTING TRIM to the CAW suite. FOR FREE! It's a tiny baby step in the right direction. I was able to slightly improve my Ibushi, Claudio, Eddie Guerrero, Okada, Naito, AND Misawa CAWS! I guess that means I'm once again an AEW fan, but I can't change my name again for six months Edited December 23, 2023 by Gordi the former AEW fan 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 Just remembered this: were Nana and Cage both calling him "the Banana Gorilla"? (Also, it's crazy to think there is actually a fucking Paycom Center. My last job used Paycom as a company website for scheduling; I had no idea it was so huge.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 21 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Rocky Romero feels like the definition of "a good hand" who just doesn't have anything interesting. A lot like Chavo Jr. in that respect. Him stealing the damn Eddie dance doesn't help (and I thought he was gonna do the Three Amigos for a second there too). Rocky is better in CMLL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamBroken Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 Vikingo/Taurus was amazing again. I loved the perfect execution of the springboard poison rana. Taurus feels like a guy coming out great from these matches despite the losses, could totally see him as Mega champ but Vikingo's about to surpass Omega's longest reign. Also loved Skye/Aminata for a short match. Cool that Aminata's last match pre-injury back in Feb was against Skye on Dark, and now returns against Skye again here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peck Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 41 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Just remembered this: were Nana and Cage both calling him "the Banana Gorilla"? (Also, it's crazy to think there is actually a fucking Paycom Center. My last job used Paycom as a company website for scheduling; I had no idea it was so huge.) I thought it was Vanilla Gorilla. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 That would rhyme but not make as much sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 So did Vikings not have the weird problems with the ropes that he did last week or so on the ROH show? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zendragon Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said: That would rhyme but not make as much sense? well you see he's white... Saw The Black Bull v Jacob Fatu a while back so looking forward to catching this match 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Otto Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 I feel like Skye Blue has finally reached phase two of her career, as she has always been fighting from underneath as a face until now, but tonight showed her being more sadistic and going on extended offense. It's what she really needs at this time. I like the Code Blue at key moments and used sparingly, but someone has obviously clued her in that she needs to be more creative with her moveset. I applaud this decision and/or realization. I love Rampage these days. I didn't even ask for Vikingo vs. Black Taurus, yet I got it anyway! Also, holy fuck, more Black Taurus, please! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 5 hours ago, odessasteps said: So did Vikings not have the weird problems with the ropes that he did last week or so on the ROH show? Not at all. NO mistakes, besides something on Taurus' side. He still does that little balancing act thing but even the announcers pointed it out as a psychological fakeout to his opponent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 I thought the Vikingo/Taurus match was well served by the commercial break. The ROH match was an all out sprint and it probably should have been given its role on the card. The downside, and this is a problem I have with Gringo Loco too, is that Taurus’ bombs are just too credible. I can believe Vikingo surviving a bunch of stuff in the stretch but not a whole match of crazy strength enhanced monster head drops. Here, there was a segment with Taurus just using his power and fury to lean hard upon Vikingo. That ratcheted up the anticipation for Vikingo to come back and give the crowd the excitement that they craved and it allowed for the possibility of escalation. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coletti Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 That was my first exposure to Black Taurus. He fuckin rules. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SturmCRF Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 He's great, I hope they start using him more often and mix him in with some of the non-lucha talent, I can see he's great at playing off of flippy dudes, but I'd love to see him vs a Moxley or a Christian or a Keith Lee, or anyone really. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octopus Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 Black Taurus in AEW just makes sense 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbarrie Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 22 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said: Is it really debatable? Curious who out there prefers Triple Threat or First Pin rules to Elimination? I think it is, because there's more than one way a work can be unrealistic. I have no problem with wrestling physics. I mean, I watch all sorts of genres with fantastic elements. If I can deal with superpowers and dragons and God knows what, I can certainly accept that in wrestling running into ring ropes causes you to bounce back and continue running uncontrollably. Why not? But allegedly human characters who don't act like humans are a bigger problem for me. And in an elimination-style triple threat, two competitors working together until the third is eliminated is so obviously the best strategy that pretty much every match should play out that way, which would get repetitive. And yeah, ganging up on one competitor is a pretty good strategy in a single-pin triple threat too. But in that style of match, when the alliance breaks down the third person is still in the match, which opens a lot more possibilities. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 32 minutes ago, Octopus said: Black Taurus in AEW just makes sense This just made me think "If he sticks around he's gonna need a mouthpiece... Nana?" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 22 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said: Is it really debatable? Curious who out there prefers Triple Threat or First Pin rules to Elimination? I'm sure there's some triple threats that work better as first pin because the match would be too long otherwise (but those are pairings that maybe shouldn't get booked) First pin is probably sorta like how escape the cage rules are preferred by some bookers that want to limit the number of pinfall jobs that certain wrestlers do 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo2653 Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 I'd love if the triple threat match for the Gold final was a triangle match like that Sting/Luger/Flair match from Starcade 95' just switch it up and make it so the third person would have to tag in. I know it was designed like that since Luger and Sting were working double duty, but let's just get weird! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 I’m at Collision woo hoo. Anything I need to know? Last time I watched AEW in full CM punk was still around! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coletti Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 3 minutes ago, Lawful Metal said: I’m at Collision woo hoo. Anything I need to know? Last time I watched AEW in full CM punk was still around! Quickly learn the words to "Be Harder" by God's Hate so when Brody makes his entrance, you can sing along and everybody will think you're a hard motherfucker. Otherwise have fun! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted December 24, 2023 Share Posted December 24, 2023 4 minutes ago, Lawful Metal said: I’m at Collision woo hoo. Anything I need to know? Last time I watched AEW in full CM punk was still around! The Continental Classic is a round robin tournament. The Blue block is the better block, you should expect very good stuff tonight. The challengers in the trios match are coming off a pretty well regarded Rampage match last week so they have some upward momentum. This is Rosa’s first AEW match in a while. Edge works there now, maybe he’ll show up. And this one will shock you, but Bryan Danielson is still very well regarded as a professional wrestler. Have fun. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted December 24, 2023 Share Posted December 24, 2023 We’re on the hard cam side holding up the 2s. look for the purple Feel the Madness shirt 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted December 24, 2023 Share Posted December 24, 2023 Not really the best Collision. Bryan/Claudio and Brody/Garcia were good, every other match seemed clunky. Nigel is somehow even worse now that's he's decided to have a character. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted December 24, 2023 Share Posted December 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Lawful Metal said: We’re on the hard cam side holding up the 2s. Y'all were gonna start pissing me off if you did it the whole show but I didn't notice after awhile. (Wait until you get home and have to listen to insufferable Nigel's pre-written attempts at humor on commentary, which was worse. That's your punishment!) Spoiler Bryan makes everything better so despite my disinterest in Claudio recently, I stayed in the match. Besides they had the built in story of BCC vs. BCC. Danielson of course underlined it with the slow slide backing off after the initial lifter which was brilliant. Nice working to the tie; since they built it into the tournament it had to go somewhere and why not here? Caster bringing up Greg Abbott's treatment of immigrants pissed me off so I ignored their fucking match. You can go away again now Acclaimed. Would like to have better things to say about Lee/Cage but Lee just looks huge and slow (and unhealthy) out there now after all the time off. I understand it's due to long Covid and he could have died from working out so you can't fault him. Heating up the Swerve thing... well, hate to say they might should wait on it even more after all this time, but. Hook had the re-up for his corner crew in the pink backpack along with his belt, apparently. King/Garcia was fantastic. It was an even better version of Kingston walking through the fire of Claudio and winning via fluke rollup. Looked like Brody was seriously going to kill Red Death (as Brody actually mocked him with calling him that) but he stuck it out and got what he deserved all through this tournament: a win. Plus he got to play spoiler. Fuck you House of Black! FTR also came down to rain on their parade. The women's match was fine. Rosa looks a little rusty and I don't know WTF her finisher used to be; whatever that was looked like a dangerous botch of a powerbomb. Abadon is surprisingly good at playing Ricky Morton. Skye is two years older than Julia? Maybe it's cuz I'm 40 now but it feels like Tony is running a sweatshop sometimes. And then we had Andrade/King which was of course the shit. Glacial pace which served to point out that Eddie's knee is ground into powder. Andrade swearing he had the knockout blow with the elbow and his smug superiority being broken like a twig was just perfect... his facial expression was probably the best "shocked face" ever because it WASN'T a shocked face, it was this bewilderment combined with anger combined with not trying to sell it and starting to physically shake from the effort. Beautiful work. I thought they might draw it out for one more move and pinfall to stretch the drama but was perfectly fine having it end right then and there at the Northern Lights Bomb. If he didn't win, I have this little stool for looking at my records that has my remote on it and I was gonna do my own version of the table flip, hahaha. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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