Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

Double or Nothing III - 5/30/2021


Recommended Posts

E2wLa9RWQAQsCK2?format=jpg&name=large

E2wLa_hWUAEwOXI?format=jpg&name=large

Sting's worn the singlet with tights and scorpions on the side since March 1998 with a few exceptions. The look is timeless. Really liked Sting's shirt and taking it off to wrestle.

Edited by The Natural
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some auditory highlights for me:

Don Callis's, "Shit! Shit!" as OC hit the orange punch on Kenny really made me think that could be it. 

Isaiah Kassidy's scream as Hobbs spinebustered his soul from his body (side note, private party look infinitely better in this gear!) 

Couple of other things that stood out to me:

Hate animals being involved in entertainment full stop, so was unhappy seeing Jake come out with the bag. Figured once Miro yeeted it, that it wasn't a snake and was happier again. 

Some great organic pops tonight for those not necessarily considered big stars, particularly Evil Uno and Max Caster in the BR. Acclaimed face turn seems inevitable, but not sure how well that translates (see Cena, John). Was expecting Christian Cage to win it, and was a bit "meh" about the idea, so delighted to see Jungle Boy get the win, and got a bit emosh when Marko came running to him as he celebrated. 

My girlfriend (contemporary ballet dancer) walked in during Stadium Stampede and in the Sammy/Spears spotlight in the ring of chairs segment, she commented that it was not too dissimilar in movement from the "fight" scenes in the contemporary version of West Side Story we saw on Broadway just before the pandemic hit. Not a bad shout. She has some interesting observations about wrestling from a movement perspective sometimes, like she thinks Kenny Omega has had dance training based on his movement. 

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watching a PPV with a live crowd is so nice after the last year and half. Same thing with Wrestlemania. I enjoyed everything, even though I didn't think any single match stood out as being especially great, but the crowd gave everything a boost. If I had one major criticism it would be that EVERY match was evenly worked and had a bunch of kick-outs. By the time I got to the world title match, I was tempted to skip ahead because I was so exhausted and had spent so long watching the show already. They really could have done with one or two of these matches going shorter or being more one-sided just to break things up.

Page vs Cage was a fine opening spotfest, probably as good as this match could have been. Total GMSI match, but the spots were cool at least.

Tag title match had some fun moments and sections, but was another long Bucks 'epic' which wore out its welcome by the end. I have no time for the DX cosplay meta jokes heel schtick, but Moxley was a great bloody fired up babyface and him and Kingston made this enjoyable.

Battle Royale was fun. Glad they swerved expectations and had JB win, it feels like he's due his first title shot and dip in the main event waters. Cage will likely still get his shot before Omega is dethroned. Rush made me a fan in his WWE run so cool to see him signed rather than wasting away in the indys, though AEW is already bloated with guys like him. His few minutes in the match being a super choreographed sequence and low-key blowing his signature spot did not enthuse me though.

Cody vs Ogogo was fine but very average. Cody coming out in full Homelander outfit really should have made him the heel here. This was only Ogogo's third match but he clearly has potential. He has the personality, the athleticism and the stuff he hits he executes very well. He needs some direction and got lost at one or two points, but it wasn't super noticeable. Cody is the veteran and guy leading a match like this, so no surprise it was nothing special. Weird to go with that finish.

Miro vs Archer was kind of whatever. I howled at the animal cruelty heel spot. Archer once again is the guy who promises a hoss fight and spends most of his side of the match doing highspots. He's AEW's Dijak. Miro is a hot act right now and should probably get turned face. Dug the finish with the knees to the back to set up the Accolade (have they even given it a new name in AEW?)

Womens title match was as good as they could have done as a straight-up workrate match. I wasn't particularly wow'd by it, but it was a good effort. Definitely veered too much into nearfall exhaustion but we got the right outcome with Britt winning clean and Shida going down strong.

The Darby/Sting match was a blast. Sting taking the hard bump on the ramp, no-selling it, taking the shirt off, then hitting the big dive was a GREAT sequence. I popped hard for it. Compare how AEW uses Sting to how WWE uses legends like Goldberg, such night and day. Perfect use of Sting and he hit everything he did nicely. I will say I thought Page stepped up and gave a good effort and that Bam Bam Bigelow throw into the crowd was pretty nuts.

Mark Henry being signed is awesome. Again, AEW is making better use of WWE legends than WWE does. They are too busy signing hacks when they have a pool of guys still with plenty to give right there. Their loss.

3-way was OK but maybe the weakest match of the night for me. Way too long, way too much bloat, infinity nearfalls and no real structure to anything. I like OC a lot but if he is going to use the Orange Punch as a big signature move he really needs to throw a better looking punch or bulk up more. Can anyone really buy HIM knocking guys out? Omega did a good job holding things together but this seemed to go on forever for a match with 2 guys who don't really need protecting.

Stadium Stampede was decent, but I think I enjoyed last year's more. This kind of match works better when the tone is light and there's more comedy. The gags were still the highlight of this match, and were much needed to break up a half hour long quasi-cinematic match played serious. Dug the Konnan cameo. I had a feeling the IC were winning after this week's Dynamite, and I feel like they still have legs in this for another month or so. We still get any of these 5 guys in singles or tag matches and it'll feel major. Really glad Sammy got the win and big moment.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, The Natural said:

E2wLa9RWQAQsCK2?format=jpg&name=large

E2wLa_hWUAEwOXI?format=jpg&name=large

Sting's worn the singlet with tights and scorpions on the side since March 1998 with a few exceptions. The look is timeless. Really liked Sting's shirt and taking it off to wrestle.

 

I loved the pop when he took it off, we've become used to older guys wearing shirts/shorts/etc when wrestling so just this gesture got a big reaction like "oh shiet it's ON!"

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, eikerir said:

 

I loved the pop when he took it off, we've become used to older guys wearing shirts/shorts/etc when wrestling so just this gesture got a big reaction like "oh shiet it's ON!"

 

 

Well said!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, killsteve said:


Miro vs Archer was kind of whatever. I howled at the animal cruelty heel spot. Archer once again is the guy who promises a hoss fight and spends most of his side of the match doing highspots. He's AEW's Dijak. Miro is a hot act right now and should probably get turned face. Dug the finish with the knees to the back to set up the Accolade (have they even given it a new name in AEW?)
 

Game Over I believe

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like that guy who phoned up the radio station to ask what the title of that song by The Game and 50 Cent was, and wonder why the DJ always said "Hate it or Love it" before they played it.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, an awful lot's been said already but to echo most everybody's sentiments I really liked the show.  My nerdy ass brought over playing cards and we were doing Texas Hold 'em, blackjack and poker throughout the show.  We liked it so much that we're gonna see to do this every couple weeks so thanks DoN for making me do this.

I love how it was a coming out party of sorts for the young folks but there's something to be said for the veterans/legends getting their time in the sun.  Really happy Eddie in Mox's words "got his roses" and can't wait to see him feel that love when they go on tour.  Then there's Sting who through good pacing in the match looked tremendous.  One of my friends was/is a big Sting fan so we were losing our minds seeing Sting do as well as we did.  The finish was just wonderful and I really loved how much this meant to Darby.

Edited by NikoBaltimore
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know you shouldn't base booking decisions off of one crowd response, but I really think they need to run Mox/Kingston vs the Bucks back and put the titles on Mox/Kingston. Renee has to be due real soon though, so maybe that influenced the booking if Moxley was going to be gone for a month or so, but you gotta look at that crowd response for Kingston and put the tag titles on Moxley and Kingston. Looking at the tag division, I really don't see who is going to beat the Bucks that makes any sense. And it's not like Mox and Kingston have to hold the titles for long. You can swap them right back to the Bucks.

Alvarez and Meltzer touched on this last week I think, where the AEW booking philosophy is very adverse to running rematches. Bryan and Dave both brought up how sometimes a rematch makes sense and as long as you're not doing the WWE thing where you run a rematch every fucking week. This is one of those instances where a rematch makes sense without knowing what their booking plans are going forward.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't finished the show yet, and I don't have a lot to add for the stuff I have seen.

I just have to say that the pop for Kingston's hot tag really warmed my heart.  I'm so glad he didn't retire a couple years ago.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Alvarez and Meltzer touched on this last week I think, where the AEW booking philosophy is very adverse to running rematches. Bryan and Dave both brought up how sometimes a rematch makes sense and as long as you're not doing the WWE thing where you run a rematch every fucking week

One thing I want to say about this, is even though they're not rematch-heavy, they still mostly do a really nice job of bringing stuff back around when it's relevant. Like on this show, for example, you had Pac making reference to unfinished business from the first two Kenny PPV matches, and you had Orange bringing up that he had beaten Jericho twice. I absolutely love, love, love that kind of continuity.

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which wrestler was it that was saying that Eddie has no idea how over he is and once he's in front of a crowd, that crowd is going to go fucking crazy for him? Was it Moxley? Someone else? Either way, they were 100% right. Kingston has so much natural charisma and is one of those guys that easily reaches through the screen to connect with people in such a way that makes people want to see him and happy to see him.

That's one of those things that AEW has a real wealth of. Whether if it's Kingston, Jungle Boy, Hangman, Orange Cassidy, Britt Baker, Miro, Darby, and others, they just have a lot of folks who are making that connection with fans. That's such a difficult thing to do. The hope is that they don't fuck it up and squander their opportunities with these people. And it's not like it's a thing where it's going to drive them up to 2 million viewers or more, but it will at least sustain their audience and grow a younger audience.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

NSFW.

I want Eddie Kingston to win the AEW World Championship at some point. Hope Kingston will wear some Kenta Kobashi colours like he has for Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada.

Edited by The Natural
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also want Eddie to win the AEW World Title at some point, but I don't think that will ever happen. The tag titles are just as prestigious though, and that would be great. It just seems like for the world title that you're getting line behind Darby, Hangman, Jungle Boy, Miro, and Orange Cassidy. And at the rate the World Title changes hands, I would be maybe 3 at the most of the guys I listed will be champion.

Maybe that brings up another question - Should these World Title reigns be shorter? Jericho had it for 6 months, Moxley had it for almost a year, an Omega just passed Jericho for how long he's held the title and I don't see Omega losing the title until All Out.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I also want Eddie to win the AEW World Title at some point, but I don't think that will ever happen. The tag titles are just as prestigious though, and that would be great. It just seems like for the world title that you're getting line behind Darby, Hangman, Jungle Boy, Miro, and Orange Cassidy. And at the rate the World Title changes hands, I would be maybe 3 at the most of the guys I listed will be champion.

Maybe that brings up another question - Should these World Title reigns be shorter? Jericho had it for 6 months, Moxley had it for almost a year, an Omega just passed Jericho for how long he's held the title and I don't see Omega losing the title until All Out.

Honestly, I'd like Eddie Kingston to win all three men's titles. As for your question, a short reign would be a nice change of pace to the longer ones. Variety is the spice of life so they say. The first champion tends not to hold it long (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, ROH World Championship, WWE Universal Championship). I can't see Kenny Omega dropping the AEW World Championship till All Out at the earliest.

It is something getting long year plus reigns now. I never thought those would happen again. We've had on the top of my head:

Kazuchika Okada, IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

WALTER, WWE NXT United Kingdom Champion.

Pete Dunne, WWE NXT United Kingdom Champion.

Asuka, WWE NXT Women's Champion.

Bayley, WWE Smackdown Women's Champion.

Becky Lynch, WWE RAW Women's Champion.

Shayna Baszler, WWE NXT Women's Champion.

Hikaru Shida, AEW Women's World Champion.

Jon Moxley, IWGP United States Champion.

Brock Lesnar, WWE Universal Champion.

Edited by The Natural
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Should these World Title reigns be shorter?

100% absolutely not. That's one thing I scratch my head about reading the AEW threads here. Everyone wants there to be all these title changes and all these reigns for their favorites. No. Keep the long reigns. Keep the titles important. There's only 3 men out of like 100 that can say they made it to the top of the AEW mountain. While not an apples to apples comparison, almost everyone in the upper card of WWE has made it to the top of the mountain. Ziggler is a former world champ. Jinder is a former world champ. Kofi. Miz. AJ. Strowman. Orton. Rollins. McIntyre. Finn. Owens. I'm sure a bunch more. So why is being world champion a big deal in WWE? Most of the guys there get at least 1 run.

Liken that to the 80s. Backlund, Sheik, Hogan, Andre (kinda), & Savage. That's it. Even NWA in the 80s only had Race, Tommy Rich, Dusty, Flair, Von Erich, Garvin, & Steamboat. WWE had 4/5 world champions in 10 years, NWA had 8. For fuck's sake the Universal title has only existed 4.75 years and has had 8 champions and 14 different reigns already. If you want to make stars you need to keep being a champion exclusive. Because then winning the title instantly means you're a star.

I mean that's how I view it at least. If you want to keep importance on the titles you can't change them as often as the other guy does. Like people are saying they aren't sure who should beat the Bucks now. Well good. Because they should keep the tag title for at least another year. Then whoever beats them is instantly made.

  • Like 7
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed, and well said @NoFistsJustFlips. It's a tough balance to strike. And if anything, it's the TNT title that should have shorter reigns given the fact it's defended on TV so often - keep those three world titles right where they are. I also kinda like the positioning of the NWA title as the de-facto Women's TNT title, but obviously theres a host of politics and issues with actually trying to use it that way when it isn't theirs

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...