LaGoosh

Shibata/Danielson wasn't the classic it wold have been in years ago but it was still pretty great. The main thing that stood out to me was the "taking turns hitting each other" spot they did at the end which actually worked perfectly and made sense here unlike 99% of other matches it takes place in. Usually it's just a thing wrestlers do with the story of "let's see how tough we are" with no huge logic to it but here they really built up to it. Both men were equally matched throughout the entire match and had exhausted all their usual moves and tactics on each other but after all that neither of them had yet managed to gain any real advantage over the other at any point so it simply had to come down to "ok, let's just hit each other until one of us cracks". With the story of mutual respect laid into the foundations of the match it just worked here where it rarely works elsewhere.

Good lord. 

14 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

“Increased Bumps” explains the Twitter twattery on some night for little tone. 

You have your own thread for this stuff.

Thanks!

59 minutes ago, Chili said:

Booker is a bit daft and very 'DM me babez' but I reckon, in an actual ruck, I'm taking Booker. He could lamp Punk had enough that Sammy Guevera would sell it hundreds of miles away.

Yeah Booker T is a fucking massive bloke and has that "I'm a tough guy but don't need to show it " vibe to him. I can't imagine Punk would be able to handle him at all.

What makes someone valuable to AEW doesn't necessarily make them valuable to WWE and vice versa. Ospreay would probably do well in WWE but unlikely to make a huge change in their business while Ospreay in AEW could potentially make a huge difference, therefore he's worth more to them than he is to Triple H. 

WWE made an offer to Rush a while back but AEW offered him significantly more and you can understand why. Rush's act in WWE is a midcard level guy, but Rush in AEW has tons more to offer than he could in the WWE system. But likewise when someone like LA Knight's contract is coming up next WWE will probably offer him something fairly significant while AEW are unlikely to even ask him at all because he doesn't really have much to offer AEW.

4 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I fully believe the figures being thrown around are true. It's Tony Khan. He doesn't care. It's peanuts to him.
He has no shareholders to answer to and billions to play with.

That's definitely true to some extent but I think people overplay it a bit. AEW clearly has a budget of some kind that they seem to stick to other wise they'd be doing all kinds of absolutely insane shit or even just stuff like noticeably better promotion across media or making a video game that's more than just an unfinished demo. Part of me wants to see an AEW where Tony Khan does spend his entire fortune just to see how insane it would be. Though I know the above doesn't fit into the "spoiled kid and his train set" narrative that some people love hate wanking over.

Can Great Sasuke still go? I love that crazy bastard.

1 hour ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

That's reminded me - Where the hell has Britt Baker gone?

She's injured. And also fucking rubbish so who cares? I don't think I've ever seen a wrestler regress in real time like I have Britt Baker.

As for Mercedes Mone's pay there's no chance that rumoured figure is legitimate is there? It''d probably make her the highest paid person in wrestling!

Finished the show. It was mostly good! And it felt like a lot of stuff was going on which is very important.

-  Firstly, as everyone knows Jericho needs to fuck off. On a show which felt full of stars in top programmes when he turns up it feels weirdly embarrassing. Like when your a kid playing footie down the park and then your mates dad joins in and he's fucking old and crap and everyone wants him to leave but is too embarrassed to ask. Toa Liona is cool but the Gates of Agony are a dud of a tag team and shouldn't really be getting TV time on their flagship show. Apparently Takeshita and Kommander had an absolute banger on Rampage - imagine if they had put that on here instead of Jericho's bollocks? 

- Kyle O'Reilly doesn't really look like a wrestler right now. More like a guy in his late 20s who is currently going through a tough divorce and his wife took the dog. Am I supposed to be excited he's wrestling Bryan Keith, the world's smallest cosplay wrestler? Everything Undisputed Kingdom related right now is the absolute shits.

- The Mercedes Mone stuff I'm in two minds about really. It's good to see AEW get behind someone and present them as a top star and hopefully this will raise the division up. But at the same time, I'm not a big fan of her and I wish they just used these resources to get behind Willow and present her as a the top star.

- Swerve coming out with the chain looking like pure murder was good stuff, especially followed up by Joe hilariously kicking the security guard off the stage. I would have liked to have seen a follow up backstage promo with Swerve later in the show but hey gotta' find time for that vital Jericho/Hook segment I suppose.

- Elite 6 man was tons of fun and felt like an old school Dynamite trios match. More of this please! The new Elite already feel like a complete and fresh act. The backstage stuff with Marvez was really funny, especially the cut during Happy Birthday. This stuff has given a new life to the shows, they're really onto something with it.

- Darby/White was a great match which the fans were weirdly quiet for. The shows will miss Darby, I think he's probably one of the best wrestlers in the world. Has he had a single bad match in the past 4 years? I can't think of one. Brilliant ending with the bgi dangerous spot leading directly into the finish.

- Like everyone I'm pleased the Bang Bang Scissor Gang have split but this felt a bit rushed. I reckon the story beat they ran through quickly here in about 3 minutes you could have probably expanded on and spread out over 2-3 weeks to tell a decent little story. Alas. 

- Ospreay promo was surprisingly good. As a Brit I find some of his turns of phrase and slang ridiculous and annoying but at the same time it actually feels pretty fresh and new for wrestling so I think I'm just going to go with it. I've got to give props to the man, he has absolutely carried himself like a star since his arrival and he feels like a big deal. Top marks. I'm excited for the Danielson match, it feels like an obvious result sadly but personally I would go with a Danielson win. Danielson needs to win at least one of his big headline matches and if done right I don't think Ospreay loses anything from it. You've also got to slow his rise down a bit, if he beats all the top stars straight away he might as well be World Champ but it doesn't feel like his time yet. It's Swerve's time.

- Willow/Riho was fantastic. Some of the wrestlers seem to struggle with wrestling Willow because she's so much bigger than them and they don't really know how to get any heat or proper offence on her. Riho didn't struggle with this, the key is to just really lay it in. Top match that most importantly felt like a proper main event match. Get that TBS title on Willow sharpish!

- Weirdly no hype at all for Collision on this episode. Apart from Kyle O'Reilly vs Bryan Keith but if that interests you then I think there's something wrong with you.

I don't wear wrestling tshirts but absolutely had to buy this fucking beauty.

12 minutes ago, JimmyAnderson said:

With Darby written off, we're now looking at a (possible) period of time without any of the Four Pillars on screen less than twelve months after the four of them main evented Double or Nothing.

Considering at least 50% of the Four Pillars are fucking crap I'm pretty ok with it.

Just now, Nick James said:

I still have no idea why there is even a mens and women's separate leagues

Probably for the same reason men and women's chess was separated. The men are scared of the embarrassment of being beaten by women. Dickheads.

2 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I try and learn enough to be respectful of people's rights but mostly I try and be as kind as I can. It's difficult and a lot of the time I don't succeed but I do try. The rest of the time I just shut the fuck up because people have enough going on without me making it worse. 

I think that's how everyone should behave really. I don't really understand the whole trans thing really if I'm being honest with myself. But I'm perfectly at peace with the fact that something is valid, important and exists even though I personally don't understand it. And the world is fucking hard and miserable most the time, why should I make it harder by hating something I don't understand or being cruel towards someone living their life in a way they want to that is different to mine? I just shut the fuck up, let people crack on and save all my hate for the Torys.

9 minutes ago, jm29195 said:

They also had a vignette for him where he was fighting in a garage or something.

Yeah that was when they were playing up the "former bare knuckle brawler in Eastern Europe" part of his backstory. Completely fictional but I admire how he's stuck to kayfabe all these years. Pretty sure he worked in IT before becoming a wrestler or something similar. 

From what I remember as well the Bad news schtick originally came from a funny skit he used to do on The JBL & Cole Show, which was a weekly thing they used to put on YouTube. It really stood out at the time because on that YouTube show all the talents were improvising, full of personality and funny as fuck and then they would be doing the most boring heavily scripted shite you've ever seen on the TV shows.

I remember Barrett coming back from one of his injuries and he had really leaned out. Good for his health obviously but aesthetically he looked a bit weird. Went from being fairly hench to tall and somewhat skinny.

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Willow in particular. She’s the embodiment of money being left on the table.

I couldn't agree with this more. Everyone talks about Jade Cargill but I genuinely think Willow is where the money is. If I was in charge I'd probably be building the entire company around her. I'd have her on every talk show, podcast, appearance and available piece of media going. Out of everyone in wrestling right now I can't see anyone with the sheer crossover big star potential that she has right now.

3 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

Just how many people led/started a revolution in women's wrestling? Feels like every other woman claims it. 

Just one. Stephanie McMahon.

Just now, The Gaffer said:

what's already one of the worst entrance tunes on the roster

Yeah it's a shocker. The intro sounds almost identical to the Top Flight intro (which is weird considering that Mikey Ruckus didn't do this song), the same tune as Gunther's song and then just horrendous CEO chants all over it.

I think Okada vs Kingston is a pretty genius story. Every Kingston vs Japanese guy match has been built around Eddie's huge love and undying respect for Japanese wrestling history and his humble pride at being accepted by his heroes. Except this time he's facing a top Japanese star who doesn't give a single fuck about Kingston's love and respect for Japanese wrestling and also does not, and will not, show him any respect. Bloody lovely stuff.

I've only seen the first 30 minutes so far. Mone bit was perfectly fine. Wardlow vs Joe was also ok but I think exposed Wardlow's weaknesses a bit. I think the main thing that will forever hold him back as a performer is he just lacks that fire. His strikes look soft, he can't land his offensive moves on opponents who aren't cruiserweights with any real snap. He just doesn't come across as a genuinely dangerous man and if you're gimmick is that you a big war dog warrior (or whatever it is) then you need to be a real killer. Until Wardlow can be a killer he'll be stuck at the level he is. 

There's no denying that R-Truth is a pretty brilliant comedic performer but I've always been a bit confused by the character. Is he an idiot? Is he insane? Just generally, what's his deal? And I've always found the act had a kind of weird racist undercurrent to it. Most the black wrestlers in WWE history have had this at some point.

On 3/10/2024 at 8:40 AM, HarmonicGenerator said:

I grow more and more convinced something deeply deeply wrong happened with Meat Madness. They announced the match. They made it just a Triple Threat. Then they abandoned it entirely claiming not enough meat. But there’s clearly, clearly enough meat. WHAT HAPPENED TO MEAT MADNESS.

I think the most likely explanation is Jericho threw a wobbly about not being booked on the show and talked them into changing Meat Madness into a match he could be in.

Ospreay winning the title this year feels like rushing it. Personally I think the way to go is heel Hangman winning the title from Joe as soon as he's back then dropping it to Swerve at All In. Swerve needs that big babyface title win and it'll work best against his arch nemesis.

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

I love how rattled he has this place.

How miserable. 

Can't add much more to the above but yeah, fun episode. I love fat Shane Taylor and his lovely punches.

I think if Jericho was willing to change up his character to acknowledge that he's old, washed up and boring as fuck and embraced a parasitic career-leech scumbag heel character I think you could actually tell a pretty good story between him and HOOK. But I don't think Jericho would be happy to check his ego and admit that he's shite now for this story to work.

Commentary loads better without Kevin Kelly but I'd like them to add a third man. My fave commentary moment this week:

Nigel: Danielson using the ring post to his advantage, what a cowardly cheat!

Tony: So you never did that in your career?

Nigel: Well it was ok when I did it.

EDIT: another point I love. Pac is the subject of some of the best and most consistent long term booking in AEW. No matter what - he fucking hates The Elite. From day one - no matter what form it takes or whatever is going on he just bloody hates them and wants to fight them all the time. So The Elite getting a new member and Pac returning and immediately trying to fight that new member was just wonderful.

12 minutes ago, no user name said:

Well the ratings system is done in 15 minute intervals. So if viewers switched of when Don calis came out it may be that if it was all part of the same 15 minute inverval.

Take it to the ratings thread.