AEW - January 2022

[J.T.]

13 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

Svenghoulie is nationwide now. His show is on every Saturday night on MeTV.

He has been on a Roger Corman thing lately.  The Wasp Woman was on last weekend.

[Technico Support]

10 hours ago, just drew said:

Ruby isn’t on the level of Punk or Bryan, but she’s a huge star compared to most of the women on their roster, which is the point i was trying to make. I could’ve been clearer about that. 
 

That’s kind of my point about the UE guys, too. They’re vanilla midgets, and I think TK’s gotta get away from hoarding those type of guys, but they’re far more useful than the Joey Janelas of the world…

My dude, if you're this caught up on size, maybe AEW is not for you.  Vanilla midgets...lollipop guild.  Come on.  Honestly, I mean no offense by this.  I'm just restating something I know I posted a while back: if you don't like watching smaller wrestlers, or if you find smaller wrestlers getting over on bigger wrestlers offensive/unbelievable, you're going to have a bad time watching a wrestling company built around smaller wrestlers.  Even Punk and Danielson, who you are seemingly giving a pass, are two small for today's WWE.

[Matt D]

Ok

Dark Elevation 1/10/22

Lethal/Kiss vs Valo/Steeler: Not sure this should be a permanent thing but Kiss and Lethal worked well here. Kiss' forearm on the outside around the finish was pretty mighty. Valo has a look that reminds me of dollar store HOOK. On the one hand, someone should tell Tony the name of Lethal's finisher. On the other, every cutter should just be called a cutter to prove a point.

Rose/Sakura vs San Antonio/Blue: Not a good placement for Blue. It's sort of like when you'd have a mid-carder teaming with an enhancement talent on old Crockett TV. You knew who was going to eat the fall but not a good look. Rose and Sakura mesh well together by this point and the corner stuff worked exceptionally well on this night which is the definition of whether an Emi match works or doesn't for me. I'm increasingly convinced that they should probably turn Rose.

FTR vs Brinks/Hawkins: Cash is the third best guy in the company on a week to week basis.

Hirsch/Velvet vs Mimi/B3CCA: Nice to see B3CCA here. I know they're going with dissension but it's a shame as these two really balance each other well. I won't go on more about that out of the corner Saito suplex. I actually don't like it as a finish (it's Devlin's someone says) as it is too easy to counter and takes just a bit too much cooperation, but as a surprise once in a blue moon sort of move, it's excellent. I like this wrinkle on Hirsch going heel where she was still buddy buddy jock pride camaraderie with Velvet over the chip on the shoulder version she's been going with when Statlander is in there. Velvet tends to have one speed move in every match that's very impressive.

Hobbs vs Clancy: I kind of missed this because I was writing about the Saito Suplex on the board but I don't think there was a lot to see. Hobbs put him on the top rope. Hobbs broke him in half. Etc. Hobbs vs Martin should be a lot of fun.

Marshall vs Clayton: Couldn't give Clayton the win here? Are they building HOOK vs Marshall? The Jersey Shore people seemed mostly annoyed to be called out by QT Marshall and not someone higher on the card. Clayton's only 27 and has size. There are worse investments. No superplex/fisherman buster combos though. None of that.

Andrade vs Good: Part of Good's farewell tour. You wish that he got a chance to show just a bit more on offense, but if he was in there to take Andrade's stuff, he did an admirable job of it. The crowd was on Andrade over Flair (both) things, wanting chops in the corner. I wanted Andrade's back elbow. No one ended up happy. Then later they chanted for Charlotte and he teased the Figure Four before locking in his horrific arm destroyer submission. Generally he builds to it in the match so I wonder how much was an audible responding to the crowd. He's really on the cusp of being a legitimate contender for Page now. They should put him over Darby and give him a shot.

Acclaimed vs Matthews/Ace: Another match, another good Bowens performance. I liked the punchline on the rap on Matthews working in IMPACT. Kingston and the match structure built to him coming in but he didn't get a chance to show much. Acclaimed feel more ready to be title contenders than they were a number of months back when Lucha Bros won the titles and they were the first defense.

Martin vs Andretti: Andretti kept up for a couple of spots there. There's potentially a world without Dante Martin where they could use Andretti in that kind of a role. This is a world with Dante Martin though, so he ate the moonsault, which was so high that it was almost like an upside down clothesline.

HFO vs DO: I feel like we haven't seen a lot of Quen in the last few months. Commentary was leaning in to Private Party making mistakes, which is ok but they've been around a couple of years now and have Hardy guiding them and maybe it's best not to do that. I love the finish but you have to be a little careful on the camera angle. It films way better from the side than the front or back.

[Just Dave]

@Technico Supporti don’t mind small wrestlers. Danielson, Jungle Boy and Jon Gresham might be my three favorite guys to watch right now. What bothers me, and I think this is my core issue with the Young Bucks, too, is guys not wrestling styles that make sense for their size. I’ve been out on oreilly and fish since they stood toe to toe with AOP and threw hands with guys who could literally huck them into the next solar system if they desired. Not only that, but they expected AOP to sell it like they’d been shot. When you’re the size of Kyle oreilly, you don’t get to wrestle like Sheamus. It’s a major turnoff and is made even worse by guys like Danielson and Punk going on tv and doing exactly what they need to to establish themselves as killers without destroying the suspension of disbelief.

[The Natural]

#FTR. Best tag team in the world since 2016.

[Krone]

38 minutes ago, just drew said:

@Technico Supporti don’t mind small wrestlers. Danielson, Jungle Boy and Jon Gresham might be my three favorite guys to watch right now. What bothers me, and I think this is my core issue with the Young Bucks, too, is guys not wrestling styles that make sense for their size. I’ve been out on oreilly and fish since they stood toe to toe with AOP and threw hands with guys who could literally huck them into the next solar system if they desired. Not only that, but they expected AOP to sell it like they’d been shot. When you’re the size of Kyle oreilly, you don’t get to wrestle like Sheamus. It’s a major turnoff and is made even worse by guys like Danielson and Punk going on tv and doing exactly what they need to to establish themselves as killers without destroying the suspension of disbelief.

Are there any matches of the Bucks you can recall off the top of your head from AEW where this is prevalent? I'd like to go back and re-watch it to see what you're talking about to have a better understanding. 

[Curt McGirt]

Don't think I've ate there unless it was on the road, but I always thought A&W was supposed to be like a Dollar Tree Dairy Queen (where Dairy Queen is kind of a Dollar Tree Sonic... or maybe it's vice versa?). Anyway now I am wondering if Canada has Sonic and Dairy Queen, and if not can we possibly loan them to you in exchange for King of Donair. 

...I will probably go to Dairy Queen for lunch now.

EDIT: Your Svengoolie feature on Saturday will be Tarantula. It is followed by episodes of Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Kolchak, Lost In Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel, The Invaders, and The Powers of Matthew Star.

See, isn't this better than arguing about the Bucks?

Edited January 11, 2022 by Curt McGirt

[Infinit]

Canada has Dairy Queen but does not have Sonic.

And A&W is pretty darn good...great breakfast and arguably my favorite fast food burger.

[Craig H]

It's been a long time since I've gone to A&W because it's practically on the other side of town, but the last thing I got from there was a hot dog and a root beer float. It was good. Hard to mess up either of those.

Danhausen about to usurp Snoopy for A&W mascot. What a world. 

[Coletti]

From what I understand there is a huge difference in quality between A&W Canada and the US equivalent. Apparently the Canadian version is superior in every way. I've only ever had the US version, once, and I wasn't impressed. 

[Curt McGirt]

Huh, I didn't know they had breakfast. 

Sonic and Dairy Queen are actually disparate when you think about it, besides both having shakes and sundaes and very similar burgers and fries. I mean Sonic has the drive up and nobody else does that. 

Because of this conversation I might even end up going to Arby's. Yeah, I said it. 

[elizium]

A&W is great, Papa Burgers all day. Not the best onion rings I've ever had, but for a fast food joint they're decent.

[J.T.]

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

HFO vs DO: I feel like we haven't seen a lot of Quen in the last few months.

Quen was out with an injury for a bit.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

1 hour ago, just drew said:

When you’re the size of Kyle oreilly, you don’t get to wrestle like Sheamus.

I got news for ya, Kyle O'Riely would beat the absolute shit out of Sheamus in a real fight. Muy tai / jujitsu trained athletes are always gonna be able to tie weight lifters up in a pretzel. Sheamus is portrayed as this bar fighting hooligan character. But it's a character. He's a body guy that would gas out quick in a shoot fight setting. I say this as someone who agrees with you and doesn't really like watching O'Riley. I wasn't a fan of Bobby Fish either, until his AEW run. Something about the singles matches he's been working have been clicking for me in a way his matches never used to. But yeah man, Sheamus is built for show not for go. So your eye test is failing you here.

[Just Dave]

@NoFistsJustFlipsthat's fair, and believe me, I've seen it. I'm well over 6 ft tall and 240+ lbs. I'm a big strong guy who probably grades out at a "B-" in Muay Thai and "C-" in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. My least favorite sparring partner is about 5'4, 130 lbs, but dude is a legit blue belt in BJJ and would be a black belt in Muay Thai if such a thing existed. His hip swing is always perfect on his kicks and they fucking hurt. We always joke that I look like King Kong trying to swat the planes down when I'm chasing him and he's kicking me. My issue is #1; most fans have never had that experience, and #2; As much of an angry fucker as the aforementioned sparring partner is, he'd never just stand there and try to corner me and impose his will on me. At that point he's toast. I'm gonna forearm him out of his shoes and call his wife and tell her she's the main breadwinner now because it's damn near impossible to win bread when you're in a coma. I think that's what bothers me. It doesn't make sense, ever, for a guy like KOR to put himself in harm's way deliberately by getting inside the arm reach of guys like Akam and Rezar. The lack of common sense.

 

As far as Sheamus goes, he's just the first big, rawboned guy I could think of who wrestles a hard hitting, rugged style. Dude got his clock cleaned by Yoshi Tatsu. I'm under no illusion as to what the result would be if KOR and Sheamus got into a real fight. My issue is that wrestling isn't presented like a real fight, and as such perception matters.

Edited January 11, 2022 by just drew

[Coletti]

3 minutes ago, just drew said:

@NoFistsJustFlips...

...

My issue is that wrestling isn't presented like a real fight, and as such perception matters.

This perception is indeed YOUR issue, and I can guarantee that the vast majority of people here don't think it matters as much. 

[Craig H]

25 minutes ago, just drew said:

It doesn't make sense, ever, for a guy like KOR to put himself in harm's way deliberately by getting inside the arm reach of guys like Akam and Rezar. The lack of common sense.

 

As far as Sheamus goes, he's just the first big, rawboned guy I could think of who wrestles a hard hitting, rugged style. Dude got his clock cleaned by Yoshi Tatsu. I'm under no illusion as to what the result would be if KOR and Sheamus got into a real fight. My issue is that wrestling isn't presented like a real fight, and as such perception matters.

It doesn't make sense that anyone would start a fight with a collar and elbow tie up, or that hitting the ropes will propel you back towards your opponent, or that anyone would ever lay down for a 3 count, or anyone would be able to realistically hit a destroyer or yoshi tonic, or why anyone would just fucking lay on the mat and let the opponent go up to the top rope and then jump onto them, and yet...

Like, I'm trying not to me mean here, but your arguments are bizarre at best. Maybe you'd be better off just watching old UWFi or Pancrase or something.

[DEAN]

51 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Quen was out with an injury for a bit.

This post totally confused me because it looked like everyone involved used the wrong abreviations for Dairy Queen, A&W and IHOP.

[Matt D]

I saw this last post a minute ago, and then realized my 4 year old had left her hat outside so I ran out to get it. And I have a meeting in now one minute instead of the 3 I thought I'd have before...

but maybe what would be helpful and productive in this situation would be for @just drewto reference some specific things in matches that he thinks Danielson and Punk (as he's mentioned both names) currently do well when it comes to creating reasonable suspension of disbelief.

[Just Dave]

Maybe it's just my hang up. That could be. But I don't think it is. I might be in the minority here on this board, but there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of folks who no longer watch wrestling who used to. And to try to hang it all on the proliferation of tiny guys to the main event would be disingenuous, it's worth noting that nxt hemorrhaged viewers while Cole, Fish, O'Reilly et al were on top, and that AEW ratings are creeping back up now that Omega and the Bucks aren't corrupting every show with their pretentious nonsense. 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

 

[AxB]

WWE has long been a company in which whoever the top babyface is, they're an unkillable superhuman who doesn't sell. Doesn't matter whether they're 330 lbs or 185, if you're the top face in WWE, you wrestle like you're invulnerable.

Shawn Michaels no-sold Vader.

[Craig H]

14 minutes ago, just drew said:

Maybe it's just my hang up. That could be. But I don't think it is. I might be in the minority here on this board, but there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of folks who no longer watch wrestling who used to. And to try to hang it all on the proliferation of tiny guys to the main event would be disingenuous, it's worth noting that nxt hemorrhaged viewers while Cole, Fish, O'Reilly et al were on top, and that AEW ratings are creeping back up now that Omega and the Bucks aren't corrupting every show with their pretentious nonsense. 

Ok.

[Bryan]

34 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

This perception is indeed YOUR issue, and I can guarantee that the vast majority of people here don't think it matters as much. 

It might not be a major issue here but I would say the “who cares wrestling is bs anyway, this will look cool” mentality that too many modern wrestlers seem to have is a contributing factor to why AEW is constantly in the 700K to 1.1 million range. Despite WWE probably shedding more weekly viewers than that over the past 10-15 years.

[Just Dave]

@Craig H, you're generally one of my favorite posters here. Are you genuinely ok with small guys paying absolutely no attention to prohibitive size and weight differentials in regard to their opponents?

Edited January 11, 2022 by just drew