AEW - OCTOBER 2024

[SovietShooter]

3 hours ago, JLowe said:

I remember seeing Michaels and Janetty before they signed with WWF.

I very much remember the Midnight Rockers from the AWA, as well as reading about them in the Apter Mags.

FWIW, thought they were a ripoff of the Rock & Roll Express.

[Curt McGirt]

How many varieties of the RnR/Midnights/Blowjob Babyface '80s Tag Team were there? We had

Rock'n'Rolls

Midnights 

Original Midnight Express

Fabs

Fantastics

Midnight Rockers

Rock'n'Roll RPMs

and that's where my knowledge hits a wall

EDIT: Oh man. There were a NEW Rock'n'Roll RPMs too. And catch this little tidbit: 

Quote

After the demise of World Class, Davis and Lane moved on to World Championship Wrestling, where they were used as jobbers. Davis later entered the Global Wrestling Federation, where in 1992, he claimed to have returned to Earth with a "Moon Rock" after he made a bungee jump following a "bungee" match between Chaz Taylor and Steven Dane outside the Dallas Sportatorium.

 

Edited October 12, 2024 by Curt McGirt

[Zimbra]

The bungee match is like my one lasting memory of watching global on ESPN after school.  That and the Dark Patriot for some reason.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Blowjob Babyface got a legit laugh out of me. 

[SovietShooter]

13 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

How many varieties of the RnR/Midnights/Blowjob Babyface '80s Tag Team were there?

I'd throw the Heavenly Bodies in there too. 

[NoFistsJustFlips]

With the benefit of hindsight, we got 5 more matches out of Bryan's "full time" run. And it's a fucking shame we'll never get that Darby match now.

-Jack Perry was a fucking WASTE of a .match for Bryan. So egregious now knowing how few matches there were.

-NIgel was a fun and appropriate box to check in this last run.

-Okada was also appropriate. It wasn't new territory but definitely fitting and meaningful.

-Tag with Yuta v Pac & Cladio was also kind of a waste because it was just an extended story building to the final match.

-Mox was another waste because it's a been there done that match. And then the post match was so bad it sours the solid work they did put in.

Feels like theybhad a chance to give us a few cool matches we'll never get again and they decide to go nahhh yall get Jack Perry. Another missed opportunity in a growing list of them in the recent past for AEW.

[The Natural]

1 minute ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

With the benefit of hindsight, we got 5 more matches out of Bryan's "full time" run. And it's a fucking shame we'll never get that Darby match now.

-Jack Perry was a fucking WASTE of a .match for Bryan. So egregious now knowing how few matches there were.

-NIgel was a fun and appropriate box to check in this last run.

-Okada was also appropriate. It wasn't new territory but definitely fitting and meaningful.

-Tag with Yuta v Pac & Cladio was also kind of a waste because it was just an extended story building to the final match.

-Mox was another waste because it's a been there done that match. And then the post match was so bad it sours the solid work they did put in.

Feels like theybhad a chance to give us a few cool matches we'll never get again and they decide to go nahhh yall get Jack Perry. Another missed opportunity in a growing list of them in the recent past for AEW.

Co-sign on all this. Cheers.

[The Natural]

1 minute ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

With the benefit of hindsight, we got 5 more matches out of Bryan's "full time" run. And it's a fucking shame we'll never get that Darby match now.

-Jack Perry was a fucking WASTE of a .match for Bryan. So egregious now knowing how few matches there were.

-NIgel was a fun and appropriate box to check in this last run.

-Okada was also appropriate. It wasn't new territory but definitely fitting and meaningful.

-Tag with Yuta v Pac & Cladio was also kind of a waste because it was just an extended story building to the final match.

-Mox was another waste because it's a been there done that match. And then the post match was so bad it sours the solid work they did put in.

Feels like theybhad a chance to give us a few cool matches we'll never get again and they decide to go nahhh yall get Jack Perry. Another missed opportunity in a growing list of them in the recent past for AEW.

 

Just now, The Natural said:

Co-sign on all this. Cheers.

Bryan Danielson vs. Darby Allin was such a missed opportunity. Should have been at Grand Slam or WrestleDream with Allin winning the AEW World Championship. Even my love for Bryan Danielson was surpassed by my dislike for Jack Perry. I genuinely thought it was one of Bryan's weakest ever matches.

[Curt McGirt]

9 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Blowjob Babyface got a legit laugh out of me. 

That's an old term from Watts or just in wrestling FYI. I think there was a conversation between him and Fritz told by some wrestler who overheard it where they were discussing booking a match, Watts asked "Where's the blowjob?" and the guy had no idea what they were talking about haha

Also, I guess we can now add THE OUTRUNNERS to this conversation

Edited October 13, 2024 by Curt McGirt

[JLowe]

17 hours ago, SovietShooter said:

I very much remember the Midnight Rockers from the AWA, as well as reading about them in the Apter Mags.

FWIW, thought they were a ripoff of the Rock & Roll Express.

Oh yeah for sure but I still liked them. Not as much as RnR Express though.

[JLowe]

1 hour ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

With the benefit of hindsight, we got 5 more matches out of Bryan's "full time" run. And it's a fucking shame we'll never get that Darby match now.

-Jack Perry was a fucking WASTE of a .match for Bryan. So egregious now knowing how few matches there were.

-NIgel was a fun and appropriate box to check in this last run.

-Okada was also appropriate. It wasn't new territory but definitely fitting and meaningful.

-Tag with Yuta v Pac & Cladio was also kind of a waste because it was just an extended story building to the final match.

-Mox was another waste because it's a been there done that match. And then the post match was so bad it sours the solid work they did put in.

Feels like theybhad a chance to give us a few cool matches we'll never get again and they decide to go nahhh yall get Jack Perry. Another missed opportunity in a growing list of them in the recent past for AEW.

 Not having seen the PPV but having it spoiled on Bluesky last night, I agree 100%. But it seems for all the talk of Bryan booking his final run and handpicking his opponents for dream matches, he ended up being the ultimate company man. Let’s not forget he also laid down for Perry in a multi-man match. This angle better be worth it.

On the other hand, I don’t think there’s a clearer sign that he plans on coming back more than as a one-off after his surgery.

[Octopus]

I just went through all the AEW World title matches on Cagematch for fun. I might be super in the minority but this Danielson run is something I’m very high on. Had a defining and consistent story and character throughout. References and matches with the future, present, and past. It had what will likely be some of my all time favorite moments (All In win, bag over head, and the Nigel match). Also, it set the big story up for the next chapter of AEW. 

This was more than the restoring moral reigns of Mox and Joe. And even though specific moments I would have wished differently, it was much more consisten in story and didn’t over stay it’s welcome  than MJF. Hangman’s was underrated but people say it failed to capture the excitement post-build whereas this created stories. Maybe I’ll do a cute reign ranking and be cute later.

With how much pain it sounds like Danielson was in, being able to ride all this out is very impressive. 

[Johnny Sorrow]

2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

That's an old term from Watts or just in wrestling FYI. I think there was a conversation between him and Fritz told by some wrestler who overheard it where they were discussing booking a match, Watts asked "Where's the blowjob?" and the guy had no idea what they were talking about haha

Also, I guess we can now add THE OUTRUNNERS to this conversation

It was Jerry Jarrett asking Watts where his blowjobs were.

[COLETTI]

Seeing that Masato Tanaka is still quite active and wrestling on the same DPW tag as FTR tonight makes me want to pleade to TK, come on, bring him in please!!!

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

It was Jerry Jarrett asking Watts where his blowjobs were.

And Watts thinking Jarrett was asking if he’d pre-arranged rats to pleasure him during his visit

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

We've gotten so many great "dream" matches in Danielson's AEW run.  Motherfuckers are selfish.

I 100% believe that Danielson wanted to work with Perry and at least part of it was because Danielson is banged up and if you watch the match again Perry was bumping his ass off and doing a lot of the movement.  It was actually a perfect match in that regard, for a broken down Danielson to give the rub and carry a younger guy who could go in there and make up for BD's limitations with what he could bring to the table, and on a show where it wasn't the main event. 

It was actually a really fucking good match too.  It might not get rated as high but I'd take that match over the Okada match on Dynamite easily

[Casey]

Up until last year, and save his first match in AEW, his run was littered with “I’m gonna face your stablemates!” type stuff (Dark Order, JAS, Elite). So run with the idea that most of those are versus people like John Silver, or Jake Hager, or a singles match against Nick Jackson. Then add in the times he did usual wacky Bryan stuff like being on Dark, or facing someone like Sydal, or Dustin Rhodes, or Miro. The run with Mox as a team against people like the Gunns or Varsity Blondes. Nothing approaching dream matches yet.

You get into 2023 and beyond, and yeah, okay, now maybe you have something. Bandido, Takeshita, Thatcher, Rush, Okada, etc.

2021 & 2022 were HUGE swings and misses. They didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what they could’ve been doing until really late into his run. Maybe that was his choice, who knows. I think that’s what some people are salty about. Instead of running Matt Menard versus Bryan or Bryan/Aaron Solo on Dark, we could have got something better. But we didn’t.

[Curt McGirt]

2 hours ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

We've gotten so many great "dream" matches in Danielson's AEW run.  Motherfuckers are selfish.

No, motherfuckers are 

Spoiler

FICKLE. 

 

[TimLivingston]

Bryan literally said earlier this year he doesn’t understand modern wrestling fans and so many of these responses are why he said it. 

[Octopus]

38 minutes ago, Casey said:

Up until last year, and save his first match in AEW, his run was littered with “I’m gonna face your stablemates!” type stuff (Dark Order, JAS, Elite). So run with the idea that most of those are versus people like John Silver, or Jake Hager, or a singles match against Nick Jackson. Then add in the times he did usual wacky Bryan stuff like being on Dark, or facing someone like Sydal, or Dustin Rhodes, or Miro. The run with Mox as a team against people like the Gunns or Varsity Blondes. Nothing approaching dream matches yet.

You get into 2023 and beyond, and yeah, okay, now maybe you have something. Bandido, Takeshita, Thatcher, Rush, Okada, etc.

2021 & 2022 were HUGE swings and misses. They didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what they could’ve been doing until really late into his run. Maybe that was his choice, who knows. I think that’s what some people are salty about. Instead of running Matt Menard versus Bryan or Bryan/Aaron Solo on Dark, we could have got something better. But we didn’t.

2021 had Omega, Suzuki, Kingston, Dustin, and Hangman. The Miro match was eh and a lot of tv matches with younger workers like Alan Angles who stated it was a highlight of their career we at least fun beatings to build a feud. I loved watching Evil UNO’s body fold after getting kicked in the chest.

2022 had Hangman, Mox, Garcia, and anarchy in the arena. I can see people not liking BCC vs JAS but I found it to be fun AEW wrestling vs sports entertainment.

With the AEW roster they had in 2021 and 2022, what would you have done differently?

 

[Casey]

35 minutes ago, Octopus said:

2021 had Omega, Suzuki, Kingston, Dustin, and Hangman. The Miro match was eh and a lot of tv matches with younger workers like Alan Angles who stated it was a highlight of their career we at least fun beatings to build a feud. I loved watching Evil UNO’s body fold after getting kicked in the chest.

2022 had Hangman, Mox, Garcia, and anarchy in the arena. I can see people not liking BCC vs JAS but I found it to be fun AEW wrestling vs sports entertainment.

With the AEW roster they had in 2021 and 2022, what would you have done differently?

 

I don’t know, I’m not a wrestling booker and my focus during that time wasn’t on Bryan. Take a wild guess as to who I cared about more (and still do). All I’m saying is, they wasted the limited time they had with Bryan on shit like a Bobby Fish or Aaron Solo singles match.

It’s all different strokes, guys. This is exactly what’s going on in the PPV thread. A dude who loves Mox can’t understand why people don’t love it too, but also admitted he would feel the same way we do now if it was Adam Cole in that spot. I mean…

A dream match (for me) isn’t Bryan versus Dustin or Daniel Garcia of all people. But I also have no dream matches for him because he’s not exactly my cup of tea, and like I said earlier - I was kinda focused on the run of someone else.

[Kevin Wilson]

54 minutes ago, TimLivingston said:

Bryan literally said earlier this year he doesn’t understand modern wrestling fans and so many of these responses are why he said it. 

But in a way, that's part of the problem, isn't it? Obviously I am a fan of AEW and probably fall in the "sicko" category but if he doesn't understand modern fans, is he trying? Is TK? Sure you can book for the sickos but some of the booking should just be for the average normal modern wrestling fan. Have AEW ratings been slowly dropping for eleven straight quarters comparing year to year due to Brian and TK not understanding modern wrestling fans, and should they be trying to or is the promotion doing well enough they can do what they feel is most entertaining regardless? I don't have all the answers to the balancing act but I'm not sure its a great thing for one of the top wrestlers of AEW to be admitting. Balancing between being an alternative and attracting modern fans is tough, I'm just not sure they are doing a good job at it for the last year on a consistent basis.

[Kevin Wilson]

Not to sound anti-Bryan Danielson, as I love the guy and think he's a top.... 20 wrestler all time but I think its a little odd when wrestlers book matches they want for themselves. Danielson wanted to wrestle Nigel, he wanted to wrestle Hechicero, he wanted to wrestle Jarrett, and that's all great. But was any of it about making fans care about the matches and contributing to a bigger storyline, or was he only concerned with his own personal bucket list and took us along for the ride. Word was he wanted to lose to Mox and that's why he lost to Mox. That's fine but was losing to Mox the best for AEW, or just the best for him? AEW has had a problem with wrestlers on the top end maybe not caring as much about big picture AEW and more about doing what they want to do for their own happiness and fulfillment.

That sounds awfully cynical and I'm not saying Danielson had ill intent (as I have no doubt he didn't), but TK being open to the top stars having a heavy say in their booking may be one reason why they've struggled so much in the last year to have cohesive long term storytelling that makes sense week to week. And have had some storylines abruptly end or change directions with little explanation (unless it was due to injury).

[TimLivingston]

He said it after the Ospreay match: the first half of the match was nothing but the crowd doing chants about how awesome the fact they were seeing the match actually happen was. There was no response done from anything in the ring for nearly the entire match until basically the stretch run. 
 

I have no doubt Mox charging Bryan to start the match during the entrance was them putting in a failsafe so that wouldn’t happen again, and also, given how the crowd responded in the post-match? Mission accomplished. They had no choice but to basically be silent because of what they saw. 
 

Bryan wanting to face certain guys on his way out as emblematic of AEW’s booking woes is a fallacy; it’s TK’s fault through and through, and putting it on the wrestlers when he doesn’t have the wherewithal to actually plan something out and stick to it is a lot easier when so many of them don’t know any better. 
 

It’s easier to dream match book than anything else. Time to grow up. 

Edited October 14, 2024 by TimLivingston

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

 

So, EVERY AEW champion is a heel now, and the vast majority are involved in "shocking betrayal" storylines in one way or another.

This post-2004 WWE/NWO era of WCW type of storytelling is not for me, personally. But it's clear a lot of my friends here  and elsewhere are really enjoying it.

The upside is it sets up lots of interesting chases.

I won't bother belabouring my take on the downsides. You can probably guess my take on how the PPV ended.

It's pretty likely the "all the good guys band together" part of the story will win me back. I'm not quite ready to give up on AEW just yet. 

 

And it's certainly cool in my book to see Okada and Takeshita holding gold in AEW. Who could have predicted that, back in 2019?

Edited October 14, 2024 by Gordi the recovering AEW f