AEW TV - 4/10 - 4/16/2024 - Julia Hart of (Real) Glass

[ka-to]

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

Has Kyle Fletcher ever had a non yee yee ass haircut in his life?

I think that I should work yee yee ass into my vocabulary.

[TheVileOne]

Not sure where Anthony Ogogo has been for like 20 years, but it was nice to have him back on TV again tonight. He should be on TV more. He's a great athlete and a natural heel. 

Also, death, taxes, and AEW continuing to not care about Battle of the Belts.

Edited April 14 by TheVileOne

[The Natural]

How was Collison and Battle of the Belts? Skipped it for UFC 300 which was fucking amazing.

[The Green Meanie]

I wonder where Rosa "won" her degree from.

Her and Deonna continue to be the absolute worst.

[Log]

8 hours ago, The Natural said:

How was Collison and Battle of the Belts? Skipped it for UFC 300 which was fucking amazing.

Live, the Collision main was amazing. So was Athena/Red. Also think Shibata/Moriarty is worth checking out. Some great mat work in that one. 
 

Really good crowd last night. We were really into everything except Rosa’s rambling promo. She got a nice pop when she came out, but that died off as she just kept going and going. 
 

 

[The Natural]

22 minutes ago, Log said:

Live, the Collision main was amazing. So was Athena/Red. Also think Shibata/Moriarty is worth checking out. Some great mat work in that one. 
 

Really good crowd last night. We were really into everything except Rosa’s rambling promo. She got a nice pop when she came out, but that died off as she just kept going and going. 
 

 

Cheers, mate xxx.

[Curt McGirt]

Rosa listing all of her good deeds to try and prove that she's a face is some pretty heel shit. 

[Coletti]

Collision had some really good stuff, but Fletcher accusing the cameraman of putting the protective padding back down was excellent improvisation. 

Athena on my regular cable television program fuuuuuuuuuuuck yeah!!!

[JLowe]

Just watched Rampage, it was in the C+ range.

OC-Reynolds was a perfectly fine wrestling match. I kinda wish it had been about OC being dejected and sullen and then realizing he was going to have to fight hard not to lose, instead of taking out his anger on them. The aftermath, well, I don’t know how to feel about it, because I only care about Chuck in the sense that he is in OC’s “faction”.

Hirsch-Hart was not very good before the rush home. Why the fuck is Layla Hirsch, whose whole thing is being a tiny powerhouse, doing a tope suicida. I rewound a number of times and couldn’t figure out how Julia got hurt, but if it was on that dumb, botched tope, then that’s someone needing to get their ass chewed.

The whole Anna Jay/AZM segment was weird and terrible.

Knight-Parker was a overbooked brawl as part of a terrible, never-ending angle. Why not have Saraya and Harley actually wrestle? What are they being paid for?

Main was good in the sense that it’s nice to see Jay White get back on track. The inexplicable Matt Sydal appearances continue (and again on Collision). Shrug.

[HarryArchieGus]

C+ is definitely arguable for the in-ring, but I thought the Rampage show had nice flow with all the video packages and promos. I like this direction they've been moving towards for awhile now. I was maybe a bit more into the actual action, but the real hit from Rampage was the Don Callis Family promo. At one minute in to this Control Center they replay this bit of hilairty...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akw7ZSVeoPc

[Just Dave]

For guys who (allegedly) don’t want to be there, House of Black sure do bring the effort when they’re on tv…

[HarryArchieGus]

Re: Collision
Elton John opening! Not something you see every week – always provides a thrill. I really liked the classic style standing by the desk intro from Menard/Schiavone. Daddy Magic was as refreshing as cool crisp soda all night long. Please Tony, just add him to the team with Nige. Awwwesome Jon Moxley/IWGP title win video package. I wish they did this more often – the CMLL matches in particular. Claudio/Danielson promo was terrific. I've always enjoyed Claudio's promos, but he seems to be getting better with the reps. This promo set the table nicely for the match and week ahead. House of Black v Dante/Andretti/Sydal was such a fun opener. I thought this was the best Dante has looked since returning from injury. Seemed to me like an especially big step up from the slightly disappointing FTR tournament match. The same could be said of that whole tournament. The House 3 all looked great here. Malakai really stands outwith his effective looking offense, but Brody and Buddy are pretty special too. Toni/Mariah promo was a show highlight. Toni is getting better and better with this character. Hilarious lines throughout - ‘featured in a fetish periodical’. Nice Swerve Video. Reminders go a long, long way. Some slight amusement for the Taz/Jericho interaction from Dynamite. Moriarty v Shibata felt a bit brief. And nowhere near as good as it should’ve been. Nice Athena/Billie video. Well done. These matter. The Athena promo was terrific. This did a lot to say check out this ROH some time. Garcia v Angelico also felt less than what it could be. I’m not so sure I buy that leglock as a finisher. Why not keep going with the modified sharp shooter? Angelico is a goodhand, but also a bit of a mystery to me. Pac promo was great. Pac not promoing regularly in the first few years was a mistake. Toni v AZM was fun. The character work in particular felt better placed here than usual. I’d love to see more agile performers lined up for Toni to competitively defeat. I wish AEW used officials and other elements to run two corner people to the back – namely Mariah/Anna here – whom did fine battling each other to the back, but in general these feel like a WWE cliché. May returning with Champagne unscathed was an odd choice. Red Velvet promo was terrific. Red should promo more. I long for her to be a true heel. The Mark Briscoe promo was excellent as one would expect. Thunder Rosa promo was very Rosa, rambling a bit long, but it was fine. They'd be smart to adjust the camera angle on the ‘back to the crowd’ promos. They're a bit tight. Deonna promo was excellent, also, as one would expect. Great talker. A slight presentation tweak and she's the top lady in the division. Very much looking forward to May v Purrazzo! Fletcher/Hobbs promo was fine, but they really should’ve replayed the hilarious Callis promo from Rampage. Danielson/Claudio v Hobbs/Fletcher was, to no surprise, an excellent contest. Great to see young Fletch and the Powerhouse work with two old pros. Hobbs v Claudio would be a nice singles. Loved Hobbs going over the railing ‘ass over tea kettle’. I also really dig that repetitive powerslam on the apron. What an absolute delight to watch Bryan Danielson.

Re: ...Belts
Why not 'a 3 hour Collision live event special: Battle of the Belts', rather than promote a separate show. It’s always so clumsy. A 3 hour special would allow for the actual main event to close the show rather than an AEWTV B show 'Main Event'. This was another odd 'Battle Of'. Hook v Taylor was alright. Maybe a little something missing here. It all seemed a bit like a lead along by big Shane, but not without a couple nice spots. Hook's still working things out. Rocky/Kyle promo was fine. I'm probably alone on this, but I really like happy-go-lucky Kyle O'Reilly. Roddy v Rocky was heavily marred for me by the Kingdom chewing up the scenery around ringside. Way too busy. It’s really awful having 3 heel cornermen allowed at ringside. They spread around the ring like a goddamn lumberjack match. Even when not actually getting involved Matt Taven is jumping up on the canvas at any opportunity. Ugh, the whole thing is just terrible. It may not be as bad as what I hear of house of torture in New Japan, but it feels akin to that lameness. Roddy feels like a comedy wrestler with all this multi-person chicanery, and it kills the momentum his impressive skill set offers. I couldn't get into this, completely distracted by Taven etc. The post match angle with O'Reilly felt far too sudden, a bit flat, and completely hammy from Strong to close it out. I'm very interested in a Roddy v Kyle match, but not one featuring yet another showcase for overt Matt Taven outside chicanery.  Serena Deeb promos would be slightly better if she declared her heel status card. She's a really lame sounding babyface. I did like the little copyright comment at the end. Athena v Red was alright. Athena had some nice attacks, and clearly needs to be on TV. Tho, I've come fully around on pushing ROH as having a strong presence of Women's wrestling with a true featured act. It's quietly a great way to distinguish this era of the company. I love seeing Aminata’s star rising. Very excited for her future. The Aminata v Starks match was grossly underrated by those who may have not liked the finish. I loved the finish and the match. And a lot because of the Queen. 'Battle of the Belts' feels like a band playing out their contract, but... would've been mostly fine in the middle of the Collision show. Other than the terribly disappointing Roddy match turning into another Kingdom lumberjack match. 

Edited April 15 by HarryArchieGus

[Technico Support]

Let that HOB match be your weekly reminder that this company is exceeding at putting out excellent six man matches in a division that is in a holding pattern with a thoroughly average tag team and their freshly divorced dad looking partner as the non-defending champs.  God damn, imagine awesome weekly six man matches knowing they're actually building to an incredible title match instead of whatever The Acclaimed and their mascot are doing.

Also, what the hell is Deeb's accent or vocal affect supposed to be?  She speaks very strangely.

Don Callis won the whole weekend with that promo.

Edited April 15 by Technico Support

[Just Dave]

1 minute ago, Technico Support said:

Let that HOB match be your weekly reminder that this company is exceeding at putting out excellent six man matches in a division that is in a holding pattern with a thoroughly average tag team and their freshly divorced dad looking partner as the non-defending champs.  God damn, imaging awesome weekly six man matches knowing they're actually building to an incredible title match instead of whatever The Acclaimed and their mascot are doing.

Also, what the hell is Deeb's accent or vocal affect supposed to be?  She speaks weird.

They should’ve never taken the trios titles off of hob.

[Technico Support]

Just now, Just Dave said:

They should’ve never taken the trios titles off of hob.

That's a funny way of spelling "Kenny and the Bucks."    

[Just Dave]

37 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

That's a funny way of spelling "Kenny and the Bucks."    

I agree that would be if that was at all what I meant…

 

;).

That was a dope match though.

[JLowe]

Trios titles should be united and then scrapped, they’re totally unnecessary at this point. But that opener was the best trios match I can recall in a while. Andretti fit well as a rag doll for Brody, and Dante and Malakai really clicked.

I dug Shibata-Moriarty for the most part, took a while to get going. Didn’t much care for Ogogo involvement, or him in general. I guess he’s back for All In?

Garcia-Angelico was comically bad. Better to just pretend that never happened. Also, just had a much better mat and kick based match right before.

Toni-AZuMi started with some great comedy bits before really heating up and becoming a pretty fantastic match. Was biting on some of the near falls. Crowd got really hot for this (apologies to them for my earlier comment about potentially not appreciating random Japanese stars). Rosa’s follow-up promo was good enough to get me excited for their match, and then Deonna’s got me looking forward to that feud as a follow-up and to the May match next week.

Main event was maybe not a classic like Tony claimed but it was pretty close. Good brawling to start, then settled in to the classic format and building to the bombs. The best Hobbs match I’ve seen, he’s a great bumper so having him go in with a very skilled guy who is as big as he is, and stronger to boot, made for good stuff. Maybe a couple too many European uppercuts but Claudio did try and mix them up and was using both lefts and rights. Giant swing was of course a highlight. I bit on a Hobbs pin after the WGP.

All the backstage segments were solid, as were the montages. Overall, this was a top tier Collision in my opinion.

I have not watched BotB, doubt I’ll get to it anytime soon, but sounds like I’m not missing much.

[Shartnado]

Man, that was a lot of wrestling. Penta has been cooking recently. The opener and the main event changing places worked out nicely. Dustin didn't get to finish his story, however. Joe vs Swerve will be interesting, no matter who comes out on top.

I didn't mind the Punk footage being shown, since Bucks did a reasonably good job of making it a part of the story. Blaming FTR in a way for the whole thing was definitely a dick move. The FTR promo afterwards said "let's just please move on" and I see them being the voice of the fans in this, while Bucks get to be the voice of TK and CM, whichever side you want to look at it (as in "should let it go, but can't". It wasn't necessary, but I had no problem with it.

Yeah, the Collision opener was excellent! I would like to see Andretti vs Matthews!

Main event tag ruled as well, but Takeshita was more effective after the match, though.

[Technico Support]

Gonna tell my kids this is Little Mac vs King Hippo

OR

Taz: now look here, brudda.  First hit him in the mouth, then pummel his stomach when his pants fall down.

Edited April 16 by Technico Support

[Zakk_Sabbath]

1 hour ago, Shartnado said:

Yeah, the Collision opener was excellent! I would like to see Andretti vs Matthews!

I'll second this, I really enjoyed every interaction between them in that one, and both of em certainly made the most of their time. I thought Buddy got tore up for real on that one corner bump

6 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Taz: now look here, brudda.  First hit him in the mouth, then pummel his stomach when his pants fall down.

I'm super looking forward to the Taz-led Hook/Jericho meeting because there's a non zero chance Taz legit drops some gems like this during it

[AxB]

So, I finally got around to watching the secret Collision (the one that aired at midnight, after Mania Night One ended).

• Top Flight vs FTR was more or less exactly what you would expect a Top Flight vs FTR match to be. Probably quite different to what the planned match-up (FTR vs Starks/Bill), because FTR were the de facto heels in this one. It was a good solid match. By which I mean, the brothers Martin have a bunch of spectacular flying moves that they do in every match, so they start to seem rote because they are hit perfectly almost every time.
• Pac vs Encore was a good squash. Encore is really good, but he didn't get to do anything. Although Pac's main issue in AEW is visibility, he's there for a couple of shows, and then gone for a couple of shows, when he's healthy (and there's no travel ban). And working a squash on this show in particular isn't going to help him be more visible. Also, Ospreay took his "British high flier" spot... although given that Will is a face and Pac is a heel, perhaps they should fight over it.
• Watching the Jericho & Hook vs Moriarty & Taylor match, having already seen both the six-man tag it led to, and the singles matches that that led to, it really makes it feel inconsequential. Hook hitting a T-Bone on Shane Taylor was impressive.
• Ogogo having a "former boxer with a KO punch" gimmick, while in a stable with another guy who is a former boxer with a KO punch, that's a bit untidy. Unless they give Moriarty a Knockout Striker gimmick as well, and make Stone Temple Promotions into the bruiser stable.
• The Dustin Rhodes promo where he asks for the title shot, read about in spoilers it looks like a bit of Wrestlemania bandwagon jumping. But the actual promo itself was really good, and really makes you want to see that Dustin vs Joe match (which I've already seen). AEW should have done more to get eyes and ears on this.
• Tough break for Bryan Keith, getting signed and then immediately being made the weak link on a six-man team with Sydal and Daniels. Against the House of Black, even.
• Trish Adora dressed all in yellow, it makes her look physically bigger than her usual red/gold/green gear. Or possibly it's because she's facing tiny Yuka Sakazaki. Similar issue to Pac, Yuka's been signed to AEW for almost five years, but she's barely been on TV, and then returns on a show that hardly anyone watched. Good match though.
• Claudio Castagnoli vs The Butcher has me speculating, Butcher showed up in AEW with a very unique look, especially by AEW standards. But over time he got lean instead of chunky, he skinheaded off the skullet, he trimmed the handlebar down into just a bushy tache. He used to look like nobody else, now he looks like Hall of Mirrors Dax Harwood. It's a shame.
• The main event was Penta vs Komander. I haven't watched it yet, but I bet it was really good.

[Technico Support]

18 hours ago, JLowe said:

Trios titles should be united and then scrapped, they’re totally unnecessary at this point.

Thinking about this sent me down a rabbit hole of "have trios titles ever been meaningful in the US?"  The only somewhat relevant trios/six man title I could think of were the NWA belts in the 80s.  Checking those titles' Wikipedia entry, there's reference to a regional six man title from a Tennesee NWA territory that was hot for like 6 years back in the 70s.  That aside, the belts existed in Crockett for a bit in what only felt like a way get the Russians over and, later, to give Dusty a way to get the rub from the Road Warriors and stay relevant.

Six man matches on US TV wrestling nowadays are just a vehicle to get six guys on TV and continue storylines.  You have two guys who are going to be on the PPV against each other in a month and you want them on TV but not really wrestling each other?  Give each two partners and away you go.  That's all six man matches exist for right now.  It's not as much a division as it is a vehicle.  If you want to have an actual trios division, you can't have random-ass six man matches every show that have no bearing on the division.  Why is HoB out here winning six man matches if their PPV match is against another random 3 man team with no title implications while the current champions have no match lined up at all?

It's like every other non-world title in AEW.  They need to figure out a reason for the title to exist and book things around that.  I'd be fine with taking all the really good working JTTS singles and teams and just letting them fight for the trios belts.  Make it the party match division where you know you'll get something crazy fun when those titles are on the line. 

Edited April 16 by Technico Support

[SovietShooter]

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

They need to figure out a reason for the title to exist and book things around that.  I'd be fine with taking all the really good working JTTS singles and teams and just letting them fight for the trios belts.  Make it the party match division where you know you'll get something crazy fun when those titles are on the line. 

If I had the book, the trios titles would be unisex (like in Lucha Underground) and instead of trying to book long term storylines around the titles in a regular basis, they would be the fun opening-match-get-the-crowd-on-their-feet championships that get passed around like candy. I would almost have a secret rule that the titles are never successfully defended.

But on the other hand, if I was booking and had the talent roster that AEW has, the show would be mostly trios matches to get all the stars on TV every week. 

 

But I digress...

[Coletti]

Trios titles should be defended a la lucha rules dammit!

[odessasteps]

Or Freebird Rules