JimmyAnderson

Do we know if the best of seven series is for the trios titles?

I was expecting Regal to align with MJF so it made sense to me. And especially when MJF threw the ring away, it showed Regal that MJF was willing to win fairly, which is what he's criticised him for in the past. 

Also expecting Ethan Page to win on Wednesday to set up his title match with MJF and bring the whole nonsense with The Firm to some sort of closure. Regal planting one on Stokely will be nice to see. 

Another thing I took from Full Gear was a possible Hobbs/Wardlow tag team. The little nods of respect to each other after Joe won just made me think that maybe they're gonna look out for each other. I know they've just separated Wardlow from a similar thing with Joe but they never felt like a tag team going for anything other than Lethal/Dutt/Singh. Once that was done, Joe turned on Wardlow. Hobbs/Wardlow could be a longer-term thing and AEW don't have many big burly tag teams either so a Hobbs/Wardlow team could be fun. And with the Bucks & Lucha Bros tied up with one another for the foreseeable, it'll give the Acclaimed another option to do battle with. Possibly even a match up with FTR to play on the Pinnacle history between themselves and Wardlow. 

4 hours ago, Supremo said:

The thing with Regal turning on Moxley and siding with MJF, it’s not something that’s been explicitly teased, and it’s not something I’d even want to see happen because it would likely mean the end of the Blackpool Combat Club, but at least it would be a big moment deserving of the phenomenal build up we’ve seen thus far.

See I don't think Regal has to actually turn on Mox. Regal could take the moral high ground and it be Moxley turning on him and becoming heel in the process.

Something like MJF refusing to be pinned after Mox has hit him with everything and becomes frustrated, demanding the brass knucks off Regal only to be refused and Regal saying if you're going to beat this man then you're going to do it fairly. Basically what he was telling MJF in that promo about MJF always needing the diamond ring. And then Mox could belt Regal out of frustration but the distraction allows MJF to get the win before Regal congratulates him in the ring.

Next Dynamite Regal can follow up the promo where MJF spoke about sending his tapes to Regal in WWE (don't know if any of that's true either) and say that the lad in those tapes has now officially reached his potential. 

They've also got Kenny Omega coming back, who could easily fit as a heel opponent for MJF. Maybe Luchasaurus and Christian to somehow get a MJF/Jungle Boy feud going further down the line with Pillar v Pillar. And the first Dynamite after Full Gear is in Chicago so just get a heel CM Punk back for a couple of weeks.

He doesn't need to be face for that long either but the current reactions he's getting are making it impossible for them to keep him playing the heel right now. 

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I don't think I've seen anything as cynical as that; though I imagine there will be "Legends" in some capacity, given that Owen Hart and Brodie Lee are in the game. I wonder if part of the reason WWE went so strongly after Bret with a merchandising/licensing deal is to prevent AEW from putting him in this game.

They could easily pad that out with Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Taz, Mark Henry, and Jake Roberts as playable characters, on top of Sting, Billy Gunn, Paul Wight and Dustin Rhodes as recognisable names that could be given alternate attires to look like their younger selves/older gimmicks. Assuming they haven't made the cut for release, there's always the Hardys, William Regal and Jeff Jarrett to be added as DLC later down the line too. Brian Pillman is maybe a possibility, too.
 

One of the things that was good fun about AEW early on was "legends" showing up that weren't part of the same tired old parade of old-timers that the WWE have trotted out for years, and it would be fun to see that reflected in the game, if they are going down the route of having "Legends". In terms of people who have actually shown up in AEW - Great Muta/Keiji Mutoh, Aja Kong, The Rock N Roll Express, Gangrel, Baron Von Raschke, would all be outside the box choices.

Didn't the Hurricane turn up the same time as Gangrel? They've also got the likes of Dean Malenko, Chavo Guerrero and DDP who've all been on AEW at some point.

I wonder if they'd do a celebrity section so we could get Jack Whitehall v Mike Tyson in a match.

It doesn't feel like it's a main event level tournament though with those eight names. 

The eight men, their last Dynamite match and last Dynamite singles victory;

Brian Cage - 2nd November & 22nd April 2021!

Rush - 5th October & 6th July

Bandido - 28th September & no victories on Dynamite (only one match)

Ricky Starks - 28th September & 28th September

Dante Martin - 31st August & 12th January

Eddie Kingston - 20th July & 23rd October 2021! (in this tournament against Archer)

Ethan Page - 29th June & 26th June 2021!

Lance Archer - 22nd June & 19th January

I know most of the main eventers are tied up elsewhere for one reason or another but surely there's got to be better options to fill a World Title tournament than this. 

3 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

The Full Gear World Title Eliminator is an annual thing to be fair. Not saying they haven't had too many tournaments but I think this one is ok. Helps set up Winter Is Coming.

Aye you're right, forgot it was an annual thing. There's been that many tournaments I forget which ones are annual and which ones are just thrown together because they've got nothing else to do.

4 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Probably because it has barely been mentioned except on commentary and maybe a graphic. All I know about the World Title Eliminator this year is that Ethan Page and Dante Martin is in it. It has yet to be a ridiculously hyped event like the last couple. If it's an 8 entrant field with the Finat at Full Gear it'll be wrapped pretty quickly.

Trying not to get my hopes up for a Ethan Page v. Ricky Starks final since some of the bigger names are busy.

You'd hope they'd have had the matches set in stone by now rather than just throwing up an empty graphic when they did mention it on Dynamite.

It maybe a chance for them to bring Hangman and Omega back and have them face off in the final for their third consecutive Full Gear match. 

I could also see W. Morrissey winning it, especially if MJF is taking the title. Having MJF have a big bastard heel to start his title reign off against, a bit like Hangman did with Archer. It ties into their history together as well. Or maybe Yuta winning it to continue his long-term feud with MJF and possibly add a bit more friction to the BCC. A heel tag team of Danielson & Moxley v Yuta and Castagnoli could be fun, especially with Regal in the middle - though I am expecting Regal to turn on Mox at Full Gear and help MJF win the title with brass knucks somewhere being involved.

I'm amazed the fact they've got yet another tournament going on has been overlooked. 

Mike Tyson gonna be a guest commentator on Rampage this week. 

5 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Names, Jimmy. Give us the names. 

I'm sure you can figure out which D, Dave, David, Davide, I'm talking about without me naming them outright. 

It seems like certain people in this thread are more insecure about Punk than Punk himself is. 

It's getting to the point where it's almost impossible for fans not to cheer MJF now. Just wondering if they try a full on double turn at Full Gear. Or if they just keep with MJF going for the cheap heat because it's the only way he'll get booed right now.

During the trios title match on Dynamite the commentary team did briefly mention The Elite, which I think is more than they've done previously since the whole incident with any of those involved. So maybe they're on their way back. 

22 hours ago, mim731 said:

Top Rope do some cracking wrestling themed beers, good bunch of lads running it by all accounts too.

Aye it seems that way.

Not sure if the lads running it are fellow Scousers, but I've just read they met in Liverpool and they're based up in Bootle (home of Jamie Carragher as well).

Shandy Savage may be my favourite name of theirs. 

Not my choice of drink but the names caught my attention when I saw a couple of them in our local. 

34 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

My conspiracy take on the segment is that it's leading to the AEWomen show.

Around the time Saraya became a free agent AEW started talking soon. Soon after her release came the news of an AEWomen trademark for a show. Madison Rayne was brought in as a producer and they started booking two live events in October onwards. That doesn't appear to be ROH show otherwise they'd have announced something by now.

With Saraya quasi status of matchmaker, commentator, and doesn't look like she's wrestling anytime soon. It would be a way to parlay her social media status onto a new show. Even if it's just on Youtube.

 

I wouldn't be totally against that as long as they put some effort into it and it's not just their version of 205 live (which I'd given up on WWE by the point that turned up but I heard it was fucking pointless). They would need to build the show around Jade Cargill though because right now she's the only female in the company the fans and company seem to have interest in. If they're serious about building up the division into a credible part of their company then yeah I'm on board. But if it's just a PR stunt to say we've got a show that we don't give a toss about but it's dedicated solely to women so how can anyone say we don't care about women's wrestling then nah leave it as it is. 

I don't know if I want to see Saraya anywhere near a microphone again in any capacity. I know I'm harking on about her accent but she sounds like somebody trying to put on a typically British accent rather than sounding authentic like Regal and Hayter do. And I apologise if that is how she genuinely sounds but it grates on me. The thought of a show where her and Vickie Guerrero are the main mouth-pieces is enough to make me not want to watch. 

3 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

For me it just re-enforced the worst bits of AEW's women's division. Let's just smoosh it all into one segement and get it over with.

Could easily have a similar segment where Saraya comes out and wants to be the revolution leading to Britt & Co out to confront her, leading to a brawl. Leaving the Interim Women's Title match alone.

Storm v. anybody already exists as she's the Interim Champion. Baker & Saraya was set up by the debut last week, they're going to have to figure out soon what Saraya can actually do in the ring. Hayter v. Nightingale leading to a feud i'd be cool with that. If it's just a match that's what Willow's done her entire stint in AEW so far.

It made sense to have it all in one segment in my opinion given Britt and Toni are still kinda feuding over the title. And if they'd gone with two or three different segments, one being an interrupted backstage interview and the other being a good kicking backstage where somebody gets thrown into the shutters then we'd all be bitching about them doing the same old things again.

Basically it's one of those segments in theory that makes sense but in practise it fell on it's arse - partly because she was introducing us all to the women and at leasr half of them.were nowhere to be seen. It also doesn't help that her accent is irritating either because she sounded as bad on commentary as she did in the ring. But I will give AEW some leeway for at least trying to further things in the division in a slightly different way to what has become the norm. 

Given AEW's love for the history of wrestling and the use of the word bitch in their women's division, I can see her and Hayter teaming up as the British Bulldog Bitches.

As bad as the Saraya promo was, at least they tried to push a couple of different storylines along in the women's division. 

On the back of that one section of the show they could put three women's matches on next week that make logical sense - Nightingale v Hayter, Baker v Saraya and anybody against Storm. People have been rightly critical of AEW and their treatment of the women's division so to see them try and push a couple of feuds in one go is a step in the right direction in my opinion. Unfortunately though I still think it'll just end up a clusterfuck of a multi-tag match 

I don't know if Jade and the Baddies were there but it was crying out for them to clean house. 

It was a week for poor promos. Jericho ending the show saying his home country of Toronto is up there with the best fuck ups. Obviously it's not a country or his home as he's from Winnipeg. As good as some say he's been in AEW, especially this year, that wasn't his finest moment.

But can we just focus on how fucking comical William Regal was, yet again, on commentary?

Taz getting the giggles at the line of "that was a mouthful Excalibur...as the actress said to the bishop" was great. And him calling Excalibur a "rice krispie" who can "snap crackle and pop him any time". 

I don't know if it'd work with him as a full-time commentator because it may become overkill with snippets like these but as a guest commentator for ten minutes each week, he fucking has me in stitches.

I found the biggest problems with this week's Dynamite was none of it really mattered, despite so many titles being on the line. 

Jericho winning the ROH title could turn out to be a masterstroke but at this point one of the biggest criticisms of AEW is them putting too much focus on ROH. So does anyone really give a toss right now? Like I said, in a couple of months it could be seen as genius. At the the time, it feels oh Jericho won some title.

After the first match between Swerve in our Glory and The Acclaimed, it was obvious that the rematch was made for The Acclaimed to win the titles so there was no shock or surprise in that one. The crowd were nowhere near into the sequel either because of the telegraphed result. The big moment had to come at All Out. This one fell flat to me due to the obvious nature of it.

The All-Atlantic championship doesn't seem to have any buzz around it. Maybe because nobody seems certain as to what it's meant to be. Also Orange Cassidy seems a bit stale for me right now. There's no development from when he and PAC were competing in triple threat matches for the World title.

It never felt like Storm was losing the interim women's title and again who would give a toss if she did to any of the other three in the match? There's some potential possibilities in the women's division that could pique the intrigue of some but right now they're not Deeb, Athena or Baker. Saraya turning up was a nice surprise and can hopefully add something to the division but in fairness she (or anyone else for that matter) can only do so if they're allowed to. 

And finally the World title between Mox and Danielson should have been fever pitch for everybody who watches AEW but because it feels that whoever won is just holding it until they decide it's time for MJF to cash in, this actual match felt inconsequential. It's the third time Mox has been AEW World champ (in one guise or another) in three months. The only little bit of interest was promoted before the match when Danielson said he's beaten everybody he's lost to in AEW except Mox. And now he's lost again to him, it could be one of their long running stories that turns out to be pure gold. Otherwise though, I couldn't have cared less who won that match.

Overall, everything felt like if it wouldn't have felt out of place on any ordinary Dynamite or if it hadn't happened at all.

He's been referenced a couple of times of the last few weeks, including by Matt this week so I was wondering if Jeff Hardy is ready to return or is he still banged up?

I wonder if Punk botched a buckshot lariat during the scrap with Hangman's mates.

3 hours ago, Louch said:

No as he’s on the side that is gonna get cleared as they got attacked by a weirdo and ace steel 

Of course they will. You can't have All Elite Wrestling without The Elite.

Mox is easy to write off screens, just have him attacked by the JAS next week after Sammy has beaten Darby on Rampage and Jericho has beaten Danielson earlier on that week's Dynamite. JAS want to make sure the world title is going back to their stable by having Jericho face Sammy in the final, job done. Or have them take both Danielson and Moxley out, resulting in Garcia going after the JAS.

You've then got the history of Jericho v MJF for the world title or two of the four pillars in Sammy v MJF (with a possible jealous Jericho in the background). 

The only obstacle then is how few main eventers they have for Grand Slam. With Punk and The Elite almost certain not to be there. Do they really want Moxley and Danielson to also be missing. 

At the end of the show, Tony must be made up with himself that at long last he's got all his top stars back, healthy and ready to go. 

A couple of hours after the show and his company seems to be up the fucking wall again. And some of his top stars are going to be taking a bit more time off.