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AEW Double or Nothing


Mat

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I thought on a night where I knew barely any superstars, any of the wrestlers, I’d be hard fought to get my £15 worth.

How wrong was I!

By far the best PPV I’ve seen in a long time (bar wrestlemania but I was there so I’m biased).

All involves deserve a pat on the back. The reveal at the end was done perfectly too!

Dustin’s blade job I think was a little too gruesome but their match definitely something special! The after match promo gave me goosebumps and anybody without at least a lump in their throat is dead inside.

Count me in as a new AEW fan.

It is offering a viable alternative that is something I want to see in my wrestling product!

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1 minute ago, Mat said:

I thought on a night where I knew barely any superstars, any of the wrestlers, I’d be hard fought to get my £15 worth.

How wrong was I!

By far the best PPV I’ve seen in a long time (bar wrestlemania but I was there so I’m biased).

All involves deserve a pat on the back. The reveal at the end was done perfectly too!

Dustin’s blade job I think was a little too gruesome but their match definitely something special! The after match promo gave me goosebumps and anybody without at least a lump in their throat is dead inside.

Count me in as a new AEW fan.

It is offering a viable alternative that is something I want to see in my wrestling product!

Completely disagree with the bolded statement. That show was mostly awful.

The Rhodes boys salvaged it to an extent, and the Japanese 6-woman tag was pretty good but it was otherwise mostly guff.

The pre-show battle royal was probably the worst match i've watched in years, and had I not ordered the PPV already I would have avoided doing so after watching it.

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Just back to my room at MGM, what a night!!

Incredible show, especially Dustin v Cody and The Bucks v Lucha Bros.

The place went bananas when Jon Moxley debuted.

How did JR do on commentary?

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The first PPV I've paid for (network subscription notwithstanding) since Survivor Series 2005 if I'm remembering rightly.

The pre show was the absolute pits. I wouldn't blame anyone who watched that and decided to not pay for it thinking it looked the absolute worst. Only good thing was the promo video for the Cody v Goldy match later on which was pretty great.

The PPV started mid sentence from the ring announcer which wasn't a good start but the six man was a great opener. Only person in it I was familiar with was Christopher Daniels, though I've heard of SCU before. I'd like to see more of the Chinese lads from this match, enjoyed them. 

Women's three way was a bit meh, nice surprise before it began which I won't mention as there's no spoiler tags in the thread title. Poundland Bayley was shockingly shite.

Holy fuck, Jack Evans is still going?! About fifteen years ago, I used to get my ROH and CZW tapes in the post and in every match he appeared in for those companies, he seemingly always landed on his head from a dive to the outside. Last time I seen him, he was launched off of the cage of death. His knees must be fucked though you wouldn't have guessed it from watching him here. Can't say I remember much about this other than thinking his partner (Angelico?) was a bit rubbish. Liked a couple of the tag team moves and the finish in particular. 

Again, had no idea about the people in the next match apart from Kong. It's another six man btw so we're an hour and 20 into the show and not a singles match yet. Was really getting into this before the fuck up at the end which took me out of it. Enjoyable match from someone who's never watched Joshi in his life.

Holy fuck, Cody v Goldy. MOTN and was genuinely concerned for Dustin. Lovely post match promo which given the shite I went through last year, had me weeping a little bit when Cody said something to the effect of "I needed my big brother". That really got to me. What a fanny. Me, not Cody.

I'm familiar with the Young Bucks, but I could count the number of full matches I've seen on one hand. Seen loads of clips on YouTube though. Anyway they're in with a team called the Lucha Brothers. This is pretty much what you'd expect, so you'll either love or loathe it. I listen to Cornette every week and agree a lot on what he says about this type of wrestling and he makes a lot of sense. But somehow, even though there's complete overkill on all the dives and flip dives and superkicks, I still get a kick out of it.

Omega v Jericho was something I was looking forward to having heard about their match a few years ago which I still haven't bothered my arse to watch. This was okay I guess. Nothing to write homd about and had a very flat ending. Think this was my first time seeing Omega bell to bell but again, seen loads of clips on YouTube of him. 

It was nice seeing Earl Hebner and JR was amazingly putting the effort in on the commentary desk, thought he was great the whole show. Liked Excalibur too but that other guy needs to go.

As you can tell from the above, I'm lapsed as fuck. Did this wanna make me see more of their product? Yeah, probably.

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It was never going to live up to the hype it was getting, but for the very first show under the AEW banner it did exactly what it needed to. There was a match for everyone on the card apart from a deathmatch pretty much.

The Battle Royale was a mixed bag, mostly filled with guff but again it showcase a lot of the people in it. My other half was up for the preshow and she loved Orange Cassidy, Luchasaurus and Sonny Kiss was it? It was goofy, it was chaos, but it was a throwaway battle royal on a preshow. I enjoyed it.
MJF is ace as a cocky heel, was cracking up at Orange Cassidy and Michael Nakazawa. MJF calling that legless bloke Lieutenant Dan got a chuckle too, bad taste or not.

The preshow singles match was a good opener and should have went before the battle royale. Nothing mind blowing but not bad. At the start was hard to tell who was the face because they both came across as cocky heels.

Six Man was solid. Scorpio Sky impressed and Kaz and Daniels are always good to watch. Other team were decent too. Fast paced and hard hitting without going overboard.

Joshi Six Woman Tag was sloppy in parts but was much better than I expected after watching their entrances. The other women's match was the same, sloppy but overall pretty decent. Awesome Kong still has a presence to her that elevated it another level.

Dustin vs Cody was the best match on the card for me, and even if it went a little far I really enjoyed seeing blood again, felt it added a lot to the story being told. 

I'm not a fan of The Young Bucks style of wrestling and this was probably my least favourite match on the card. Kick out of big moves by all means, but they kicked out of so much that the finish was a dud for me. What made that stupid flippy piledriver move more devastating than the last 20? Would like to see the Lucha Bros against another team.

The Best Friends vs Vanilla Midgets tag team in hindsight was actually my least favourite match. All way too plain for me, despite the high-vis neon tights. Skinny nobodies. Wasn't interested in anyone involved.

Main event kept cutting out for me due to me watching a less than authentic stream so I never got any momentum with it, but it seemed alright. Can't fully judge it but saw the Moxley bit at the end and that was a fantastic way to cliffhang your last show I thought. Very interested to see Mox vs Omega and Jericho vs Page should be enjoyable from what I saw of Page tonight.

Overall it kept my interest start to finish with the odd blip. Could do without seeing a few people on there but a load of them caught my interest and I want to see more. It's nice to have an alternative, the crowd were red hot most the night and I'm open minded about it. Once the weekly show starts and we get some proper character and story progression there's no reason for it to be shit.

On a side note Alex Marvez is the worst commentator I've ever heard in my life. He sounds like a sex offender and had zero commitment or enthusiasm about anything he said. Hated him, get rid.

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Watched it live. Put some money on it to give it some extra. This is in Vegas after all. Won 23 bucks. Dissapointing. Not worth the gamble.

Never expected the bookers (Cody, Young Bucks) to book themselves to win. Looked liked I was completely fucked. Thank god for Jericho winning as he had the odds stacked against him.

They promised a real sports vibe...

However we got SCU in a PWG spotfest. Evans and Angelico doing Cirque du Soleil. The 6-man womens match was a shitstorm of choreagraphed spots. No 'real sports' vibe at all as it all looked a lot more 'fake than WWE.

Jim Ross was complaining at Starrcast for the lack of 'selling in WWE, yet he was calling these matches. Hypocrite.

The refs allowed all tag partners in the ring. Rules didn't matter at all. 

Cody vs Dustin was special.

Awesome main event. 

Overall, it was an OK show.

Ah shit, just realised I paid 20 bucks to get the show... So that's 3 bucks profit after staying up the whole night... I got kids and they just woke up...This is going to be a looong day.

Edited by LWOLeN
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The Battle Royale and, to be honest, the pre-show in general had me worried I’d wasted my money but my worries were unfounded. 

That was an excellent show, particularly Cody/Dustin which must be one of the best matches they’ve both been in.

I’m not sure about Jim Ross being part of the (or an) announce team in 2019. He seemed to struggle at times, although I thought he was decent during the Rhodes brothers match. 

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There was a lot of very good wrestling.

It’s nowhere near being a WWE competitor.

It was mostly a repackaging of your typical NJPW/ROH fare with a TNA aesthetic. There was nothing truly new in there.

The director was shite. Jim Ross is way better at commentating than he is the straight-to-lens stuff. The 6 man tags had way too many ‘wait to get hit’ spots.

Cody/Dustin was spectacular and the main event was fun.

My biggest worry for them is that it only didn’t feel small time when someone who’d been through the WWE sausage factory turned up. Omega, for what little I’ve seen of him, is the only one not from there with any aura. But it mostly only felt like a potential ‘threat’, whatever that means, whenever Cody, Dustin, Jericho or Ambrose were on screen. That’s a problem, as there’s far too few of those guys available.

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On  a simple scale, thumbs up.

It wasn't perfect. Far from it. But I think the vibe was great. The crowd were incredible for the biggest moments and those moments made these feel like a huge deal. The Rhodes battle, the main event intros, Bret Hart showing up, the big surprise at the end all felt like massive moments. That and Jim Ross on commentary giving that little bit of legitimacy to certain events made it feel like it should. It's not WWE, despite all the nods and tropes, but it felt miles above a TNA or ROH.

Agree with the comments on how dreadful the pre-show was. It was all over the place from the commentary and direction. Some things looked horrible, like that dreadful backstage interview with the librarians. The battle royal was booked terribly with big spots and eliminations missed and it left me with a bad feeling. I think they salvaged that though with the BTE guys coming out and getting the crowd going - although that cut out on ITV4 hilariously.

There's a real danger this becomes a BTE wankfest with them patting themselves on the back too much but I think they just about towed the line. It will be interesting to see the wider reaction in terms of viewers and follow-up viewers but that crowd certainly ate up the Rhodes match and post-match and the throne thing. I liked that the commentary didn't hammer that home. If this was WCW or TNA they'd have been banging on about Triple H and WWE relentlessly.

Match was great but not perfect. Dustin is the GOAT. So glad he's not done. I found the blood a bit uncomfortable if I'm honest after years of sanitised wrestling. A few spots didn't come off and a few calls were bad but overall, it was a great presentation that I'll watch again.

No other match really stood out but there was nothing I hated. Ladies tag was a bit shit. Crowd seemed a bit more burnt out for the Bucks tag than I thought. Crowd, despite being "smart" popped for all the "names" far more than anyone else including Tye Dillinger and Dreamer.

Things I really liked: It wasn't 8 hours long. AEW logo on the canvas. JR setting the tone. Focus on the title they don't even have yet. Hangman Page. MJF. The placing and pacing of the big matches. JR claiming with a straight face that Chris Jericho is in the best shape of his life - ddon't ever change, Jim. The big debut at the end.

Things I didn't: The barriers being covered. The over-use of a WWE trope "each and every one of you". Anytime the commentators were on camera. Dreadful. The pre-show mess. The six-woman tag match. General lack of selling at the right times. For all the criticism of the "WWE style", they need to establish something similar in AEW otherwise you get all these guys coming in with their holiday camp selling and facials hitting move after move and bringing shit down a notch. I'll give them time to sort that but hope someone recognises it.

Edited by tiger_rick
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Went to bed prior to Cody/Dustin starting.

Thought it was fun up til that point but not great, battle royal was shit though.

The timekeeper ringing the bell in the 6 women Tag and then someone playing Hikaru Shida’s theme for a couple of seconds ruined the result as her team was on the end of the botched fall.

Super Smash Bros turning up was weird to see.

JR was better then I expected, it’s a shame they couldn’t snap up Kevin Kelly and Don Callis (as a couple they’re the best going at the minute in my opinion)

Just watching the rest now prior to the New Japan show starting in a couple of hours.

 

Edited by TildeGuy~!
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Well said Rick. 

It stood far above RoH & Impact, but not at major WWE level.

Good:

- I was impressed with that Cody/Dustin Video package. It shows that their editing team get it and they should invest more it to more of these videos next time.

- Main Events - Very good to brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed both. Fun storytelling and calmed down the flippy fests without losing momentum or energy. 

- Some of the undercard was brilliant. I really enjoyed SCU vs China. I’m a big Daniels & Cima fan. It was a good solid match.

- The element of surprise - A bit like a mystery rumble entrant. Regardless of how good/poor they were, I’m excited about who they can bring out next time. They need to be careful not to go down the TNA route, but I think they’re wise to that. The idea they could bring out 1 or 2 random big stars like Ultimo Dragon, Luger or Muta for a bit of buzz, without going using WWE persons is a possibility. (I can dream at least 👍).

- JR - fair play, he added soooo much to the audio. He really did do brilliantly. He needs much better company though. 

NEGATIVES:

- Pre show - absolutely shite. Mistimed, poor execution, didn’t sell the show positively.

- Production - I appreciate it was their first show, but this needs to be a lot better for #2. Not the ‘style’ as such, but definitely the execution. Must do better.

- Commentary - apart from JR, it was Terrible. In fairness, we fart all over WWEs commentary at the best of times, so this needs careful attention. Someone else experienced with JR would be required. Not sure who at the moment. But whether you like him or not, this show needed someone with the passion and excitement as Ranallo. Him, with another and JR would work great for this.

- Booking of ‘certain’ talent - Before the show, I got a kick out of AJA. During the show, it was evident she should have been on it. Same goes for Awesome. Great visual, but both looked terrible. Both matches they were in were poor to average, which is a shame. I don’t mind a random gimmick tag match, using nostalgia talent. They can be great fun, but these weren’t presented well and the matches suffered.

 

Final thoughts - Overall the negatives are things you can link to it being their first show. It’s all stuff that can be fixed. They need to seriously sort out production and commentary, so hopefully that will be their main focus. I enjoyed the show, I’ll most certainly watch the next one and I hope they can start fixing initial issues.

Edited by Kaz Hayashi
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Well, I have a whole new appreciation for WWE. 

I thought it was dreadful. Honestly dreadful. Sure enough, it had its good bits, but the bad bits and the truly awful way the show was put together ruined it for me. 

The pre show was genuinely one of the worst things I've seen in wrestling. You've been promised an alternative to WWE and they've been hamming a 'real sports' feel. Not that I wanted that, but it was a complete lie. The opening shots have a no legged guy in the ring, who gets the shit kicked out of him. Various ludicrous wrestlecrap gimmicks. The wrestlers come out in big groups so you have no idea who's who. The heel who got eliminated last at least had the basics of working the crowd covered unlike anyone else. But that's where my praise ends. It was like a bad early TNA battle royal. 

The shit comedy with the smiley female wrestler and librarians was as bad as the comedy WWE gets slated for by everyone. The Young Bucks and Omega are meant to be the top stars but play out full comedy in backstage skits and come across as goofy nerds. 

There was for lack of a better phrase production 'hiccups' everywhere. Show starts halfway through a Cody promo then cuts him off. Commentary team was awkward all night. The guy who isn't Jr or Excab was grinning weirdly like a pedo anytime the camera was on him. JR tried his best but he's done in. If you wanted an old hand Tony Schivonie would have probs been better. Camera switched to the wrong entrance ramp for various entrances. Some big spots in matches were missed. There was lots more I forget.

Here's something we all take for granted in WWE, you don't see the same moves in every match. Here, every single match had dives to the outside. Nearly every match had super kicks. I though the Young Bucks match was awful for 2 reasons. 1- we'd already seen enough high risk moves in the pre show let alone the rest of the show before they were on, so it was less effective. 2- they crammed SO many high spots into the match they were forgotten about soon after anyway. And what's with the many, many over convoluted double team moves? A spike tombstone is devastating enough, why does the person jumping off the ropes have to do a 450 spin? 

The championship presentation was disjointed too. The heel should have cut his promo, Hangman should have took the belt out the bag, hit the heel with it, then posed with the belt and handed it back to Bret. Instead we get a good promo from the heel, then some shit arses who should be nowhere near the world title belt batter him, and Bret poses with the new belt, which they fail to get a good camera shot of.

Cody vs Dustin was great, for being different especially. I've soften in my old age and they're was too much blood for my liking but hey-ho. Other matches were decent but struggled for being too samey. 

Some of the wrestlers have no place on a PPV. Jack Evans? Fuck off. I honestly can wait for the@Devon Malcolm  review. 

Come back WWE, all is forgiven. 

I'll maybe think of more to add later, but I'm too tired now. Feel free to rip me apart for my opinion. Cheers. 

 

 

Edited by LEGIT
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