Mr Butternut Squash

Iyo is a cardboard cutout champion. It had no chance of being the bigger match.

Pat McAfee is bloody awful.

Enjoyable episode. This might be their best PPV build in years.

Good opener. They really got me with the finish. On the heels of the hilariously political finishes in the FTR vs HOB feud, I was convinced this was going to a draw with the time calls. But Mox pulls it out the bag with a submission right at the end. I'll forever be frustrated as long as Moxley isn't a singles babyface in personal feuds, but FTR vs BCC will do me for now. FTR Hair's punches at the end... beautiful.

Another good Copeland match. The finish felt like a genuine transgression that got heat on the heels. Excited for Garcia vs Christian and hopefully a Danny TNT title run. Speaking of promising youngsters, Nick Wayne has really found himself as a heel. Massive upgrade over Jungle Boy.

Samoa Joe was predictably the highlight of the world title segment. Swerve can be awkward on the mic but right now he's got the crowd and presence on his side. This is the most compelling triple threat match I can think of. AEW has a predictability problem, but not this. I've got no idea where this is gonna go and all the potential directions feel good.

It's great to see Toni Storm become the star I always doubted she could be. This is the best AEW women's feud I've seen.

The main event overdelivered and made me forget how dumb the stipulation was. When they cut away from Taven's mental table dive I genuinely thought someone had died for a second. Bonkers.

Weakest part of the show was The Young Bucks/Darby stuff. I appreciate the Bucks changing up their ring style to fit their characters, but it isn't clicking for me yet. Just not very interesting and wrestling in suits is something I just can't get on with. Darby was terrible. Counterproductive meta shite is the worst.

I mean he's not going out there with all his own material now is he? His stuff must get looked at like everyone else's. None of them weird rambling promos he'd do in AEW.

Cody having editors in WWE has helped him significantly. It's all about to be undone though when we see how uncool him and his dork mates Seth and Hunter are vs Roman and (heel) The Rock.

Feels like they've completely undercut the chamber with how obvious the winners are.

As desperate as I am to see BCC split I'm well into them vs FTR. The post match scuffle was the best brawl I've seen in ages.

Another good Collision if you're into pure graps. Atmosphere was bleak unfortunately. 

Was there? All I've seen is people coming out on twitter and disproving the 'planted signs' thing that Dave and Bryan have been pushing over the last week or so.

The "we want Cody" signs were fan made and is just dim Meltzer pushing his "its all a work" thing.

Logan Paul has previous with the Rock and can get away with saying what he wants on social media. Ricochet is an idiot that puts his foot in his mouth every few weeks. Not orchestrated.

This is all a big, hilarious miscalculation by the Rock and them srambling to save face.

What a fucking mess! With them muting the crowd and the way Cole was talking during the main event, I don't think a pivots coming. The opening promo felt like them going "let them get it out of their system", before continuing to plough through.

The support for Cody is stronger than I thought. Good for him.

Incredible own goal. Also, very funny.

Ah, shit. Absolutely gutted about this.

According to Alverez it was CM Punk that convinced TK to get rid of the rankings.

Another for the Punk is Right folder. 

Real good episode of Collision that. Big stars, great matches and hell, even some live babyface promos.

DG/Buddy, Roddy/Sydal, and Cope Open were all ace. Never been an Edge fan but fair play, he's had a great run so far. Loved him as the bully stiffing Dante at the beginning of their match. 

No idea where Queen Aminata came from but consider me a fan. Thunder Rosa's had such a nondescript reintroduction I presume there's politics behind it.

I'm a bit tired of Moxley unfortunately, but I like the look of Shane Taylor. Unique look and style about him. 

The Acclaimed desperately trying to recruit BCG to take on Undisputed just doesn't ring true for me. Enjoyed their segment though. One of them pure feel good moments that AEW does well. Jay White as an upper midcard babyface feels like a good place for him to settle for now.

Will Osprey is a black cloud over all this. Feels like he's a lock to take the title at All In.

I just cannot picture Okada as a weekly television wrestler anywhere although the thought of him in WWE is quite funny. Twelve minutes back and forth with the Miz, commercial break in the middle.

Already seen him in AEW and it wasn't good. He'll be another guy hanging about in a random rubbish faction in his tshirt and jeans.

It's gonna be a fascinating Wrestlemania season that's for sure.

Looking forward to Punk/Cody next week. Personally, I can't get past how performative and phoney Cody comes across at all times. Fair play to him though, he's getting away with it, the crowd adores him. I'm kinda fascinated by how Punk is going to react to his Codyness. Is it more of the happy Punk or are they going to get shooty? Do we get snidey Punk taking digs at how manufactured Cody is and potentially undercutting him? How's the crowd going to react to them and do they pick sides?

Also Dom Mysterio is awesome and throws the best punches of any young wrestler today.

Great opener and close and a load of filler in between.

Even after deducting points for Canadian destroyers the opener was good fun graps between two old pros. Love it when TK goes crazy and books a heel to wrestle a babyface.

Joe is the Real World's Champion. He uplifts everything and just brings a different quality about him. Hook hasn't shown much growth in-ring but the promos are cool and been a real boost for him. Silly one-count kickout but otherwise great bit of business that shined up Hook and continued Joe as a killer.

The Young Bucks interview was complete rubbish and I have no idea what they were talking about for half of it.

The Undisputed whateverthefuck are a dud but I'm always up for watching Roddy Strong wrestle. Very much looking forward to him vs OC.

Nick Aldis vs Roman Reigns is the hottest feud in all wrestling.

Wardlow has nowhere near the physical charisma of a Ryback, especially with his shitty haircut. Closer to Snitsky.

Felt like a show of solid course corrections. Renewed focus on the young up and comers, the tag team and women's divisions. An in-ring promo from Eddie Kingston would really have put this over the top. Live promos from over babyfaces is a strange rarity on Dynamite. 

Takeshita/Darby was madness in the best way. More Takeshita please! Just a natural. Christian continues to be a godly heel and after a rough start Mamma Wayne has fit in perfectly. The Mercedes rumours tricked me into watching my first women's match in about a year and I'm glad I did. Maria May looks promising and a decent angle at the end. 

Decent main event. I love Swerve and his cool and presence but I don't quite see it in-ring yet. Him and Hangman is a feud for the ages though.

I'm hoping that Kingston being in the Best Friends universe leads to a title unification match with Cassidy and we have one less useless trinket on the show.

Adam Cole promo was his usual smooth, solid and boring self. Already a dud of a stable unfortunately. Roddy is great, but the tag team belongs on Dark and Wardlow is the most uninteresting wrestler on the planet. 

Toni Storm gets funnier every week.

3 hours ago, air_raid said:

Plan C? If Plan A was Roman vs Rock, what was Plan B?

They were ringing up Austin.

On 1/2/2024 at 10:38 PM, Vamp said:

I'm not convinced the plan ever was to make Cody the man though. I think they look at him as the same age as Roman, with probably as many miles on the clock physically, and just don't see him as the one to beat Reigns. 

Considering Cody vs Roman was plan C for Mania last year this is probably spot on, which is madness really. As always, I'm not convinced there's any plan beyond Roman.

So .. Mercedes Mone as the devil? Let's make it as ridiculous as possible 

AEW at its best is a promo promotion. Eddie and Moxley was a reminder of that as was the MJF and Hangman interaction a few weeks ago. This 'pro rasslin vs entertainment' bollocks is just noise.