AEW TV - 10/8 - 10/15/2024 - emI Can Dream About You

[Tabe]

For the first time in 20 years, I attended live wrestling for a national company last night. Had a tremendous front row seat so if you caught a glimpse of an old guy on the same side of the ring as the hard camera, that was me. My apologies. 

Hologram vs Komander was very good. Enjoyed that a lot. 

Mercedes vs Emi, I thought, was awful. 

The women's 5-way (or was it 4-way? There were 5 people out there) was good. Lots of action. Saraya getting slammed into the barrier - twice - right in front of me was a highlight. 

The main event tag was alright. Fun to see Danielson in-person. Felt like he spent way too much time on the floor selling. 

They do a terrible job of doing the intros for the people in the arena. For most of the matches, they either introduced just one person or the first into was barely audible or understandable. For the second ones, you'd get screen graphics so could know who people were that way. This is probably not an issue for most fans but, for me, somebody who had no idea who 90% of the wrestlers were, that was a problem. 

Overall, I had a really good time. 30 minutes of ROH, 2 hours of Dynamite, and an hour of Rampage is definitely a LOT though. 

[For Great Justice]

Everything luchador on this show was WCW as hell, in the best possible way. 

Hologram/Mortos is big Blitzkreig/Juvy at Spring Stampede vibes. Gotta make that the opener.

[SovietShooter]

1 hour ago, AxB said:

As far as their opponents go, both Saraya and Mercedes really flourished in a WWE environment where the "This is the best women's wrestling has ever been" could take hold. AEW existing in a world where all other wrestling history also exists, and Dump Matsumoto vs the Crush Gals is part of existing history, and Akira Hokuto and Aja Kong's careers are things that happened... selling Saraya and Mercedes as among the best wrestlers of all time just looks silly. And both of them look very out of place working a dominant style in AEW.

Back in the territory days, wrestlers got better by moving around to different places, and learning to work the different styles, and to the different fans in those areas. After having monopoly for almost 20 years, the WWE kinda hamfistedly destroyed that, by re-trainibg everyone to work to their house style. 

Now that things are opening back up a bit, you're starting to see where some folks that only know how to work the WWE style are having issues in other places. This always happened to a certain extent, but it was mostly with lower card talent when they were released and had to go to TNA or Japan... and for every Luke Gallows that found a way to adapt, so many guys just couldn't.

We're kinda stuck with Mercedes; AEW is paying her handsomely and she can't work.

[Craig H]

25 minutes ago, Tabe said:

For the first time in 20 years, I attended live wrestling for a national company last night. Had a tremendous front row seat so if you caught a glimpse of an old guy on the same side of the ring as the hard camera, that was me. My apologies. 

Hologram vs Komander was very good. Enjoyed that a lot. 

Mercedes vs Emi, I thought, was awful. 

The women's 5-way (or was it 4-way? There were 5 people out there) was good. Lots of action. Saraya getting slammed into the barrier - twice - right in front of me was a highlight. 

The main event tag was alright. Fun to see Danielson in-person. Felt like he spent way too much time on the floor selling. 

They do a terrible job of doing the intros for the people in the arena. For most of the matches, they either introduced just one person or the first into was barely audible or understandable. For the second ones, you'd get screen graphics so could know who people were that way. This is probably not an issue for most fans but, for me, somebody who had no idea who 90% of the wrestlers were, that was a problem. 

Overall, I had a really good time. 30 minutes of ROH, 2 hours of Dynamite, and an hour of Rampage is definitely a LOT though. 

Holy shit! I thought that was you!

[Lawful Metal]

I thought Mariah on commentary was brilliant. Saying that Hayter was dressing like Daphne from Scooby Doo was on point and accurate. 

[Casey]

4 hours ago, just drew said:

Darby just doesn't do it for me. I get why the people who like him like him, it's just very much "not for me." 

This is me, but with Yuta and DG. Their personalities are just “I’m good at wrestling” in a company full of good wrestlers. And one guy whose nickname is literally The Wrestler. I’m just not into it. Unpopular opinion, but DG going to WWE wouldn’t have upset me at all. Take MJF with you too, please.

[Tabe]

57 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Holy shit! I thought that was you!

Guilty as charged! 

[Tabe]

1 hour ago, SovietShooter said:

 

We're kinda stuck with Mercedes; AEW is paying her handsomely and she can't work.

Was she just carried in WWE? I heard a lot of hype when she was there about how great she was but I didn't see anything last night that would justify that. She's got presence and charisma but her work was not good. 

[Casey]

It might hurt some people to admit this, but save a handful of women in AEW, the women’s divisions in the WWE brands are just better talent wise - whether it’s raw potential, or it took years of listening to Sara Amato.

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

2 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'm bummed to hear that, if only because that segment was actually pretty damn well-received in the building* despite it's sports-entertaininess (especially surprising to me considering how deep into the evening it was taped, but that segment legit woke us up a bit for Okada/Sammy).

* Full disclosure: me and four fellow drunks a row over were convinced Gunn was Chris Masters; this may have enhanced the proceedings.

--

Great episode this week! I saw someone say on Twitter that it felt almost like a reboot or a season premiere type episode with all the different goings on, and I have to agree. And man, I gotta say, there is probably no better use for that Turner money than locking up Garcia, and sneaking in a couple last "Final Countdown" plays. On a personal note, we have a wedding to go to this weekend so we can't watch until Sunday and I am fucking g u t t e d about it, because as a go-home show I thought this definitely achieved its goal.

If I've got one criticism, it's that I thought the thing with Penelope taking Hayter out of the four-way was just a little bit too similar to Mox and Danielson fighting their way to the back in order to set up the Yuta beatdown (which, btw, I thought was shot wonderfully, but may as well have included a "Watch Yuta Turn on Saturday Because of This Right Here" on-screen graphic. Hopefully just a really well-done red herring, but we shall see).

 

Okay if Billy had been Chris Masters that would’ve made it a million times better and lead to a fun trios match or two. I actually liked Masters during his NWA Power run too. 

[Kevin Wilson]

3 minutes ago, Casey said:

It might hurt some people to admit this, but save a handful of women in AEW, the women’s divisions in the WWE brands are just better talent wise - whether it’s raw potential, or it took years of listening to Sara Amato.

Its really interesting and honestly I don't really know what is wrong with AEW or WWE in-ring when it comes to the women on the 'main' brands. I can't outright agree as both women's matches at the WWE PLE last week weren't very good, but I agree that Mone hasn't been too impressive in AEW either and a lot of their title matches are flat. I think both promotions have the talent (Rhea, Iyo, Bayley, Belair, Asuka in WWE and Stat, Willow, Shida, Hayter, Toni in AEW to name a few in both) but the matches themselves seem to not deliver as often as they should on either side. Doesn't mean both promotions don't deliver sometimes as they do but the consistency isn't there, maybe because they average just a match or two a week its just more glaring when a match doesn't hit.

[Technico Support]

What's the logistics behind the Callis/Jake trade?  Did Callis trade all three guys for Archer?  Or did he just trade Rush, and Rush brought LIJ with him because they were already with him?  And if that's the case, that's weird as fuck, Callis managing Rush but Rush leading his own stable of guys not managed by Callis.  Stables nested within stables.  I need an org chart.

 

[Kevin Wilson]

1 minute ago, Technico Support said:

What's the logistics behind the Callis/Jake trade?  Did Callis trade all three guys for Archer?  Or did he just trade Rush, and Rush brought LIJ with him because they were already with him?  And if that's the case, that's weird as fuck, Callis managing Rush but Rush leading his own stable of guys not managed by Callis.  Stables nested within stables.  I need an org chart.

 

Everything about that was weird and seemed convoluted for no reason, I'm just curious if Roberts will actually be on TV or if that's the last time we see him for six months.

[Log]

I don't think it was every firmly established that Rush was officially in the Don Callis Family. I know he managed him in some tags. I may have missed it.

One thing this does do is add credence to the idea that TK reads our board still. I was just lamenting with someone on here for the days of heel managers swapping guys and generally cooperating with each other (until one inevitably backstabs the other, of course).

[For Great Justice]

9 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

What's the logistics behind the Callis/Jake trade?  Did Callis trade all three guys for Archer?  Or did he just trade Rush, and Rush brought LIJ with him because they were already with him?  And if that's the case, that's weird as fuck, Callis managing Rush but Rush leading his own stable of guys not managed by Callis.  Stables nested within stables.  I need an org chart.

 

Subcontractors. The Mean Street Posse weren’t directly managed by the Higher Power, boss

[Casey]

25 minutes ago, Log said:

I don't think it was every firmly established that Rush was officially in the Don Callis Family. I know he managed him in some tags. I may have missed it.

One thing this does do is add credence to the idea that TK reads our board still. I was just lamenting with someone on here for the days of heel managers swapping guys and generally cooperating with each other (until one inevitably backstabs the other, of course).

Rush joined the Don Callis Family in July on an episode of Rampage I believe.

[EVA]

When assessing Meredes’ recent performances, I feel like not enough consideration is given to the fact that she’s coming back from a catastrophic ankle injury. It’s possible she’s still struggling with that and might never really gets back to what she was before.

Edited October 9 by EVA

[Gorman]

34 minutes ago, Log said:

One thing this does do is add credence to the idea that TK reads our board still. 

This seems like a good place to mention that I am free on Oct. 30 in Cleveland, and I've finished the script of an episode of Hey!(EW) when I interview RJ City in the style of RJ City.

[Casey]

If TK reads the board then I’m formally requesting he re-hire The Bunny if she’s mentally okay.

[HumanChessgame]

2 hours ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Its really interesting and honestly I don't really know what is wrong with AEW or WWE in-ring when it comes to the women on the 'main' brands. I can't outright agree as both women's matches at the WWE PLE last week weren't very good, but I agree that Mone hasn't been too impressive in AEW either and a lot of their title matches are flat. I think both promotions have the talent (Rhea, Iyo, Bayley, Belair, Asuka in WWE and Stat, Willow, Shida, Hayter, Toni in AEW to name a few in both) but the matches themselves seem to not deliver as often as they should on either side. Doesn't mean both promotions don't deliver sometimes as they do but the consistency isn't there, maybe because they average just a match or two a week its just more glaring when a match doesn't hit.

I wonder how much of it is also related to the WWE women working a lot more often and being able to get more practice? Granted plenty of the better women in AEW have several years of indy experience where they wrestled more often, but I'd think that when most of them are wrestling a few times a week and often working whomever they're feuding with on the house show circuit they're going to have more polish on the tv matches. Someone else upthread mentioned Sara's input and coaching, which also makes me think of if and to what extent the women's matches are being agented on each show. Are they just given the finish and time limit and told to do their own thing, or is there a veteran presence or two helping produce whatever it is they end up doing?

[Casey]

I’m pretty sure Madison Rayne and Sarah Stock help with women’s matches in AEW. I want to say I’ve read that people like Jerry Lynn do as well, but I’m not sure. I think everyone helps out to produce matches, regardless of the gender of who is involved in-ring.

I mentioned Sara Amato, and it’s important to mention that she’s the one training a lot of these women in WWE, and has been for years. AEW doesn’t have that. Amato could be in AEW producing matches, but that’s not going to matter for an Anna Jay match since she’s not getting regular reps and they don’t have a dedicated training program or anything.

Edited October 9 by Casey

[caley]

1 hour ago, EVA said:

When assessing Meredes’ recent performances, I feel like not enough consideration is given to the fact that she’s coming back from a catastrophic ankle injury. It’s possible she’s still struggling with that and might never really gets back to what she was before.

I think this could be a big part of it but I also think she works better from underneath as a face because her offence is flashy and she's, quite frankly, tiny. The problem is her character (I'm the bossss...I'm the besssst....I'm doing that goofy dance!) mainly works better as a face. Plus she stumbled into that awkward AEW fan reaction ("OMG a new wrestler! They're no longer gonna be held back! Well, wait I don't want them going over him/her! Boo! Go back to WWE") much like Saraya, Toni Storm, Ruby etc. that necessitated the abrupt heel turn (I still don't buy that she was brought in to be a heel all along, I think the heel turn was an absolute pivot based off the fans not wanting her to beat Willow). I think she'd work better from underneath against Statlander (Although she seems to be an abrupt face again now too), or fighting off Saraya and crew, providing back-up for Willow moreso than needing her own heater.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I'm sure Madison Rayne is a lovely human being, and I must emphasize that I appreciate her hard work in helping build that kick ass TNA KO division way back when... but my God I would sooner trust Helen Keller to put matches together for these women

[AxB]

Too many wrestlers want to be the Misawa of their division, too few people accept that they should be the Yoshinari Ogawa of their division. Wrestling needs more ratboys (and ratgirls, and ratenbys).

[Casey]

21 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'm sure Madison Rayne is a lovely human being, and I must emphasize that I appreciate her hard work in helping build that kick ass TNA KO division way back when... but my God I would sooner trust Helen Keller to put matches together for these women

To be completely fair, fuckin’ Albert of all people is the head trainer and the VP of talent development for WWE. Some dude Adam Cole trained is a coach. Wesley Blake is another. Somehow Jason Jordan is the lead producer, despite only wrestling for like 5 years. In-ring career doesn’t matter much for these sorts of things if you’ve got the mind for it.

But Madison Rayne did kind of suck.

(Also apparently Serena Deeb does double duty as a coach/producer as well as on-screen talent)

Edited October 9 by Casey