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AEW R-Evolution II - 3/7/2021


Dolfan in NYC

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I watched this with a friend of mine who is a lapsed fan (he quit watching once Rock and Austin were both gone). He wanted to get it for 2 reasons: he wanted to see Sting and he wanted to see the deathmatch. Afterwards he told me that while he enjoyed the show overall, they didn't really entice him to start tuning in on a weekly basis. I get the feeling that's gonna be the general reaction among the non-diehards that got this show. 

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4 minutes ago, Teflon Turtle said:

Unless your story really is that Omega and Don Callis had a fun weekend playing around with explosives and were allowed to rig up...whatever that was with no safety features...it makes no sense from any angle.

I'm not gonna pretend to know where they go from here with the bomb being a dud, but they quite literally showed Kenny Omega building stuff for the match in a workshop (and of course Alex Marvez found his way there).

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6 minutes ago, Casey said:

I'm not gonna pretend to know where they go from here with the bomb being a dud, but they quite literally showed Kenny Omega building stuff for the match in a workshop (and of course Alex Marvez found his way there).

Right. Like I said - infrequent AEW watcher, but I'm aware they did that. I may still be missing a few puzzle pieces as a result, but from the perspective of a casual AEW viewer, I still don't see how it makes sense.

If I have to sit here asking myself why AEW was obligated to use whatever loony nonsense Kenny Omega cooked up in his lab without having any kind of signoff/final say over safety measures, well...then the concept is still kinda half-baked. 

I suppose the entire concept of an exploding ring deathmatch requires a suspension of disbelief I haven't allowed myself, but I still didn't care for it. It's a shame. I say it as as fan who usually greatly enjoys Omega and Moxley. Not their fault, sorry they got caught up in that after they worked hard on the rest of the match. 

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Regarding the main event, Tony could've easily gotten one of the tailgating lots near the stadium if he really wanted to scratch that Michael Bay itch. Either that or just don't do the damn explosives. Two cinematic matches on one show would be rather rough, admittedly.

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3 hours ago, keith_h said:

In hindsight if they knew it was going to be this bad... do it cinematic style on a freighter in international waters, as it’s “too dangerous to host the match in the US.” I’d rather they go so far over the top then just... whatever that ending was. 

Court Bauer Booking?

 

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Brian Cage's suplex stair climb with Darby doesn't deserve to be forgotten.

The main event was perfect until, well... You know. I think there might have been about 10 people who liked that finish, and they were everyone involved in the planning and execution of that horrible "literal giant brass ring" ladder match that would otherwise be getting wrestlecrap memed to death. I do not envy the writers who have to figure this one out by Wednesday. I honestly think the best play might just be some video editing and gaslighting everyone into thinking it was a big explosion.

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I have not watched any AEW and decided to order the show on a whim about 2/3rds thru and was thoroughly unimpressed, apart from the unintentional humour at the end. Hyping a major signing and delivering Christian in 2021 is right out of the TNA playbook (or maybe even WCW 1998 when hyping Rick  Martel as a former World Champ). Live commentary during cinematic matches just makes the commentators sound like fools. Cena, Hardy and Takers (and to a lesser extent Wyatt) cinematic matches worked because they are larger than life characters/performers. Sting fits into that mold, but his character being a silent avenger of justice takes a hit when he actually takes a bunch of punishment. He really shouldn’t have been involved until right at the end, but even then only after saving Darby but then after momentarily falling to the numbers having Darby save him which would actually help elevate Darby (and the heels) to Sting’s level instead of the 4 man brawl with plunder in a warehouse that they had. The main was sloppy with the pyro going off noticeably before the ropes being touched, a fight in the corner with Omega and Moxley both touching the ropes with no explosions only for those same ropes to explode when touched a minute later, the pyro on the outside board being nowhere near the landing spot,  the pointless logic of the Good Brother's interference (why would they wait until the end of the match before getting involved in the finish when they could’ve saved their buddy a whole lot of punishment by coming out at the start) and Omega cutting a promo into one of the handheld cameras after the match that was pretty much missed. They would be better off just not mentioning the end explosion instead of hurting their credibility any more by trying to make it part of the story.


More than anything, I just can’t see how that ending (even if it went off in a better manner) would make someone who wasn’t already a diehard AEW fan want to care about the next show (especially the type of person who was curious about the exploding death match concept, as it both failed to live up to expectations and is not likely to be a regular part of the show going forward so can’t be used to draw them in next time). There is clearly a sustainable fan base for AEW, but shows like this seem like they would be more likely to erode that support for the company than grow it. And eventually the lure of not being WWE will wear off, especially when the major surprises are talent that never even sniffed the tippy top level of WWE, when that is caliber of name expected/hyped by claiming they are HoF worthy (but still obviously an active competitor). None of this is meant as a criticism of Christian, or even the decision to use him as he still seems like he can be a valuable asset. But saying it was a letdown because people knew he signed with the company is missing the point, because nobody would be making that particular complaint if it was Brock Lesnar that signed and everybody still knew beforehand, because his reputation would’ve lived up to the hype. 

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Naylor sharing a clip of someone else recounting their disappointing explosives experience. I wouldn't be surprised if Maffew or some other contributor interwove the audio from this with the main event footage in the next Botchamania.

Spoiler

 

 

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I'd try and play it as a Shawn/Owen delayed concussion thing. Show the clips of the brief altercation between FoEK and Kenny/Good Brothers, assuming there's something they can sell as a concussion and that he was out cold as a result.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk up Taz's work.

I love his shit talk. It comes off authentic. It's not scripted, soundbite worthy, it's menacing. It's off the cuff and it sounds consistent with the guy you see on TV. It's really good stuff.

Even the commentary stuff, I really liked the fine line he walked between adding to the broadcast and staying true to his character (and not being completely inconsistent to Taz the commentator on Dark).

All in all, I'm pretty happy I gave them my $30.

The tag battle royale was pretty good. The ending was fucking hot. Like possibly the best ending sequence to a battle royale I can think of. Maybe the final 4 of the Nakamura Rumble?

Opener was fun and did what it needed to.

Women's match was perfectly fine.

Really enjoyed the presentation of the cinematic match. It was what you needed it to be. I have no complaints.

Page/Hardy I didn't want to go that long because I think Hardy shouldn't be going that long this far down the track of his career and it probably made Hangman look bad as a result. But that's just me being pedantic with how much they protect Hardy.

Ladder match was pointless. I'm open to where this takes Scorpio Sky but it really could have been done on a throwaway Dynamite such was the throwaway assembly of the match.

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Christian wasn't a needle-mover when he joined TNA 15 years ago and he sure as hell is not a needle mover now.

They so desperately try to be too clever. A great roster plagued by some shitty decision making that rears its head like clockwork every few weeks. As in posts above - cut the gimmick crap, cut the mediocrities & boil this back to basics.

RE: Taz - he's a fat 53 year old who somehow managed to swing his talentless, no-history son into being a semi-regular fixture on primetime TV. He is not a believable bad-ass and no, nepotism in a start-up is not to be lauded. I get that w/ the EVP structure they try to skirt around having a single point of authority for this creation, but at times this thing looks rudderless & opportunism will only grow especially as they continue to beef out the roster with really old WWEers on a last-pay-day run.

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I didn't feel like Christian was a good idea a few days ago and I don't really think it's a good idea now. That being said, anyone who recalls his WWECW run knows that he does know how to use a moveset to tell a range of different stories - he'd probably make a great producer/agent and hopefully that's his primary week-to-week role.

There is another way of looking at it, which is that AEW wants to draw as much of that NXT older audience as possible and maybe Christian (Cage) is another way to do that. 

One negative is that we're seeing a *lot* of repeated surnames. Christain & Brian. Hangman and Ethan. Orange and Isiah (okay not quite). I'm not saying there's a rule, but it's funny you introduce two new guys who both have surnames in use. I think they should have just gone with Reso at this point.

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Guest Jimbo_Tsuruta
12 minutes ago, RunningFromAmerica said:

One negative is that we're seeing a *lot* of repeated surnames. Christain & Brian. Hangman and Ethan. Orange and Isiah (okay not quite). I'm not saying there's a rule, but it's funny you introduce two new guys who both have surnames in use. I think they should have just gone with Reso at this point.

A few Surname on a Pole matches should sort everything out.

Edited by Jimbo_Tsuruta
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27 minutes ago, RunningFromAmerica said:

I didn't feel like Christian was a good idea a few days ago and I don't really think it's a good idea now. That being said, anyone who recalls his WWECW run knows that he does know how to use a moveset to tell a range of different stories - he'd probably make a great producer/agent and hopefully that's his primary week-to-week role.

There is another way of looking at it, which is that AEW wants to draw as much of that NXT older audience as possible and maybe Christian (Cage) is another way to do that. 

One negative is that we're seeing a *lot* of repeated surnames. Christain & Brian. Hangman and Ethan. Orange and Isiah (okay not quite). I'm not saying there's a rule, but it's funny you introduce two new guys who both have surnames in use. I think they should have just gone with Reso at this point.

OK but why did they bring on Christian? Do they want him to be a backstage hand and booker and creative guy? Or is he going to be a wrestler? 

Christian is 47 years old and he just came off a seven-year retirement. But what value does a guy like Christian have to a primetime wrestling roster right now? AEW already has a pretty bloated roster and not enough TV time to showcase them. 

When AEW first came on the scene, it made sense that they built the main events and TV time on Jericho. Jericho was having a nice little resurgence at the time. He had a good little main event run, and ultimately they transitioned to Jon Moxley, who came in still very hot from his time in WWE. He was still a relevant talent and top star there. 

Even with Taz, Taz is a good talker, a good promo guy, a good commentary guy, and he's managing his own stable. That makes more sense. But I just don't see why you need Big Show as a commentary guy.

Even if they were to get Brock Lesnar, Lesnar wasn't even lighting up ratings and drawing interest towards the end of his run.

At the same time, to AEW's credit, I think Ethan Page was a good signing, and I'm glad they picked him up.

Edited by TheVileOne
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That ladder match was all kinds of bad. The Cody Cutter at the end was soooo bad. Totally missed. 

 

I loved the Allin/Sting vs Team Taz match. All kinds of nasty bumps and that stairs suplex was impressive.

 

Really liked the women's match but the ending was slightly anticlimatic.

Edited by MoeCristyV.1.6
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I'm 99% in on the "Omega intentionally built a dud explosion to fuck with Mickey" angle. The only reason I wouldn't go there is that people actively paid for this show expecting a big payoff and you don't want to throw it in their faces after the fact. Not unless you bring the match back down the line with the idea that this time Mox is building the ring and he's playing for keeps with this one.

(The autocorrect is giving me the giggles so I'm leaving it in. Don't @ me.)

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It has to be said that Mox and Kenny were having a helluva match for that style until the stretch. Everything died run-in on and was mute without crowd heat. Damned shame.

I’m no fan of the cinematic but I enjoyed the hell out of the street fight. Great piece of film making and everyone looked a million bucks.

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First PPV I've purchased in probably over a decade, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yes, there were dud moments, but no show is perfect.

I'll hold off judgment on the final explosion -- my major concern at the end was the tired trope of no one saving the babyface for several minutes after the match was over until Kingston came out at the last minute. That's "very WWE" and should be scrapped. You could play that lack of reaction in the storyline -- Omega is an AEW VP (I think), and he mentions this on-air and in interviews, have him claim that the wrestlers were threatened with being deleted from the upcoming video game if they stuck their nose in the match, but Kingston put friendship over finances.

The cinematic match was OK. Sting was protected and looked decent, Darby and Brian did some cool stuff. The live announcing during what was an obviously taped match might have worked on paper, but did not live.

AEW needs to sit down with Jake Roberts and tell him to stop taking anything remotely resembling a bump. I was legit concerned for his welfare at the end of the ladder match (which was acceptable -- Cody coming back to the match was another WWE trope, but at least he didn't win, plus you still saw him being treated in the background as the match went on -- this wasn't him vanishing for 20 minutes or so before returning).

I have no issue with Christian Cage coming in. Given the "big names" that were available, Christian was the one guy that made sense (most of us would poop on Lesnar due to his attitude or Angle due to his age and fragility). The fans in Jacksonville seemed cool with him joining Team AEW, so that's a plus.

Opening tag with the Bucks and Jericho/MJF was fantastic. 

For some reason, I got a kick out of Schiavone asking if Orange Cassidy was "waiting for his music to hit" to come out -- clearly a swipe at not having Thunder Rosa pop out until her music started playing.

So ... what happened to Angelico?

I must be old, as I had to look up who Paul Walter Hauser was when he was introduced. Might of helped if the announcers mentioned a film or TV show he was in.

Wondering if the new Monday show has something to do with OVW given Al Snow popping up and the announcers mentioning the company. Could be a good shot in the arm for OVW to have some of AEW's greener performers work there on a semi-regular basis (someone like Cargill, Comoroto, or Abadon could benefit with regular work there while still popping up on Dark).

 

 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, colonial said:

 

Wondering if the new Monday show has something to do with OVW given Al Snow popping up and the announcers mentioning the company. Could be a good shot in the arm for OVW to have some of AEW's greener performers work there on a semi-regular basis (someone like Cargill, Comoroto, or Abadon could benefit with regular work there while still popping up on Dark).

 

 

 

 

Listening to Al Snow in the last decade or so, I can only imagine how miserable he was watching the show.   He had to have some stake in being there.

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