Paid Members JNLister Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 11 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said: Todays wrestlers have the worst tattoos. Zack Ryder had 35 years on this planet to come up with his area code in clip art font (next to his fake wrestling name, obvs.) Now imaginingĀ Mick McManus with "01Ā 071Ā 0171 0207" running down his arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted March 2, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 6 hours ago, Supremo said: Aubrey's spin. Ortiz taking a bump in shock. I love it. This show rocked. Ortiz laughing his arse off at Jericho throwing Mox into the ring post was the other best bit of that match. Under-rated little bit of AEW sop far is the fun and story-telling at ringside during matches. WWE used to do that really well. 1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said: For all the initial talk of AEW being a 'different' alternative etc etc, Revolution really proved that what AEW can do well is simply be the best pro-wrestling show out there. It doesn't need to be too different. Much of what's going on is going back to basics etc, just with a slightly modern twist in various areas. Absolutely. Because everyone's spin on "different" and "alternative" is different anyway. But they were never going to be revolutionary, which is ironic given the name of the PPV. Just different to WWE. That's everything they're about, being different to WWE. Not different to what WWE have ever being, just different to now. Giving that section of fans what WWE isn't. i think they're nailing it personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted March 2, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 39 minutes ago, Chris B said: The biggest problem they have with the women's division at the moment is that so many are still a bit green. I don't think it's that, I think it's that they're characterless. It's the reason I couldn't give a shit about 99% of WWE women's matches either. It's why a Becky Lynch or Ronda Rousey get over above the division. It's because truthfully, they're completely fucking lazy. They send out these ill-defined, at best one note, characters a couple of times a night to fill some time. I think deep down, they still think it doesn't matter as long as they're sexy. Maybe it doesn't, but it's the reason I'll keep skipping it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 Yeah, I'd disagree with the women being green. Most of them have 5+ years experience, some more than 10 years. The problem is that they still seem like a bit of an afterthought. Nothing as egregious as Emi Sakura and Riho being thrown together in a title match with no attempt to build on their 10+ years of history, leading them and their mates to do all the legwork on Twitter instead, but it was a title match with no story or heat, and I don't think anyone bought that Statlander was winning. They haven't gone "all in", excuse the pun, on Statlander's gimmick, so I don't know if we're supposed to think that she's an alien or find it funny - doesn't help that Excalibur is playing along with it, while JR is openly derisive of the whole thing, in a way I don't think he would be if it were in the men's division. And that's largely indicative of the division as a whole, it feels half-arsed, and not on the part of the women in the ring. Ā Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes was fine. Had enough heat behind it to disguise the fact that it was a WWE mid-2000s midcard match, in execution and in terms of the talent involved. Hager kind of had to go over here, but I really hope that they don't just see Dustin as someone to put people over. There's a real story in him trying to win his first World Title, that I hope we get from him before he's done. Ā Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevera was bonkers fun, Darby is an absolute star, and he manages to make the skateboard gimmick not seem try-hard, which is an achievement in itself. I like that they got the maddest shit in before the match started, as it protected the credibility of the match, and the referee, by not having them use weapons and whatnot during the match, but still meant we got all those spots anyway. I didn't like Hager coming back out at the end of the match to make the save, as we'd literally onlyĀ justĀ seen him, and that sort of thing makes the show seem smaller than it is - could have used Santana and Ortiz here instead, and the pacing would have felt better for it. Though maybe it's setting up Dustin & Darby against Hager & Sammy for the future - I had wondered if Dustin going with the horizontal half-facepaint rather than his usual vertical was because Darby was on the card with half his face painted too. Ā The tag team match was probablyĀ justĀ a little too much, though when the time cue for half an hour came I was amazed, as that absolutely flew by. I think they overdid the big moves and high spots towards the end, but as they were really the only match on the card doing it, it worked. I liked the story of Hangman going for the One Winged Angel, but then actually winning with his own move - it's him learning that heĀ isĀ good enough to get it done on his own, by being himself, but he wasn't initially confident enough to realise it. That said, the Buckshot Lariat coming after a string of insane double teams and high spots did feel a little underwhelming - like the offence of the match was escalating, then got dialled back for the finish, rather than continuing to escalate. A lot of this felt like it was the story Kenny had probably imagined for himself and Kota, retrofitted for Adam Page. Ā Wasn't a big fan of Nyla and Statlander, for reasons mentioned above, and just nothing really memorable here. The finishing top rope Beast Bomb lookedĀ nasty. Not a bad match, but not a particularly interesting one either. Ā Equally didn't care much for MJF vs. Cody. MJF blading was unnecessary and didn't add to the drama of the match - a heel blading should be to show that he's getting the shit kicked out of him in comeuppance, but this match never felt like that. I'm not as high on MJF as some, and I think this was probably Cody's weakest "big" AEW match to date. I kept being distracted by his tattoo, by expecting Arn Anderson to turn on him, and by Brandi Rhodes being one of my least favourite performers in wrestling. It shits on Wardlow's credibility as a big, tough scary bodyguard when Cody's wife and manager is sufficiently unafraid to just walk up to him and throw a pitcher of water in his face, or to try and crossbody him. Ā PAC vs. Orange Cassidy was match of the night, by far. Grinning from ear to ear the whole way through. Cassidy is an absolute top tier wrestler, and that he got to showcase it here was lovely, and against the perfect opponent. There were some not exactly subtle nods to his time in CHIKARA at the end that I popped for, but mostly this was just the perfect wrestling match, and anyone still criticising OC now just fundamentally doesn't get it. Ā I liked the main event - I felt there was more mileage in Jericho as champion, so figured we'd get a screwy finish, maybe Lance Archer debuting to cost Moxley the belt or something, so was surprised to see Mox go over clean. Some of the eyepatch stuff was hokey and I wasn't really a fan of it, but Moxley's post-match promo was the coolest and most charismatic he's seen in years, finally shedding the vestiges of Dean Ambrose prop comedy. I'm interested to see where they go with him as champion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) 15 minutes ago, BomberPat said: I really hope that they don't just see Dustin as someone to put people over. There's a real story in him trying to win his first World Title, that I hope we get from him before he's done. Yep. I'd rather he get a couple of reigns, but I'm aware that he's not the youngest any more, so second choice would be if he finally wins the big one and retires, or they get one last angle out of it where a heel tells him he's just a paper champion, and he retires after a hard-fought but successful defence. EDIT: Other possibility but not quite as appealing: he challenges a heel champ to a title vs. career match, then loses, prompting a Cody revenge angle on said heel. It'd probably have to be MJF, but given the time frame, could be difficult. Edited March 2, 2020 by Carbomb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted March 2, 2020 Awards Moderator Share Posted March 2, 2020 16 minutes ago, Carbomb said: I'd rather he get a couple of reigns Heās already had a black one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chris B Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 19 minutes ago, BomberPat said: Yeah, I'd disagree with the women being green. Most of them have 5+ years experience, some more than 10 years. That's a shame, because my reaction to quite a few is 'there's potential here - when they get good, they'll be really good. Give them time'. If they're the finished article, then that's not encouraging. Will assume a lot of it is down to less familiarity, presentation and storytelling then. I do think they're getting there - the 4-way last week was good, and it feels like they're establishing people better.Ā 43 minutes ago, BomberPat said: Ā I liked the story of Hangman going for the One Winged Angel, but then actually winning with his own move - it's him learning that heĀ isĀ good enough to get it done on his own, by being himself, but he wasn't initially confident enough to realise it. That said, the Buckshot Lariat coming after a string of insane double teams and high spots did feel a little underwhelming - like the offence of the match was escalating, then got dialled back for the finish, rather than continuing to escalate. A lot of this felt like it was the story Kenny had probably imagined for himself and Kota, retrofitted for Adam Page. I read a decent Reddit guide to NJPW in the lead-up to Wrestle-Kingdom, and it made an interesting point about how finishers are treated a little differently in Japan (and you probably know this already, but it was new to me). Basically, in the US, a modified finisher is often a super-kill move - so a top rope version, etc. Whereas in Japan, it's about hitting your move perfectly, so a modified finisher is less likely to do the job than the finisher you can do better than anyone else. So with that in mind, it also adds to it that Hangman is less likely to get a pin with a desperation use of Kenny's finisher than with his own when he hits it perfectly. It also adds a little to some of the false-finishes, as they're desperation moves, as the wrestlers aren't able to hit their perfect finisher yet.Ā It's not hugely different to what I'm used to, but it's a little bit of a difference in approach, which I found interesting, and looks like they're using elements of it in AEW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MECox Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 There are elements of modern NJPW for sure but that match was 90% of the layout and psychology that Kenny developed in his big matches in Japan. In time we are going to come to realise just how much the first match with Okada changed the business, if we havenāt already. Anyhoo, the point was that Omegaās trigger arm was so incapacitated he couldnāt deliver the OWA. Page hit it but Nick broke it up, Matt didnāt kick out.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chris B Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 4 minutes ago, MECox said: Page hit it but Nick broke it up, Matt didnāt kick out.Ā Ha, fair point. I just remembered he didn't win with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Dem Wanz Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) Can we appreciate how badass Moxley looked coming into the arena from the cold with the camera following him to the ring? Compare and contrast with Cody's entrance - which saw them do theĀ same camera thing too for a bit - where him and his crew displayed about 1/100th of the presence and coolness as Moxley did. No weird neck tattoo that definitely wasn't positioned right for Mox either. Edited March 2, 2020 by Otto Dem Wanz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 I really liked how Ross didn't acknowledge the teased Buckshot lariat on Omega, and Schiavone just quietly said "I think I saw..." and then Excalibur adding "I think I saw that too." Reminded me of the Batista-HHH storyline where you saw all the teases but they were never explicitly addressed so it felt like you'd noticed them yourself. Today it would just be "OH HE WAS TEASING TURNING ON HIM HE'S DEFINITELY BETRAYING HIM WE ALL SAW IT THERE'S A BETRAYAL COMING." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chris B Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 It felt to me like the Bucks and maybe Omega were teasing a double/triple superkick just before that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 13 minutes ago, Chris B said: It felt to me like the Bucks and maybe Omega were teasing a double/triple superkick just before that too. Yep. That was the highlight of of a great show for me. Brilliant work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted March 2, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2020 @UK Kat Von DĀ is it common for tattoos to be this poorly done? Look at the state of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Can't wait for AEW Revolution #9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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