AEW Friday Night Rampage

[tiger_rick]

56 minutes ago, Love-Wilcox said:

At this point I’m convinced Impact! Tony is the real Tony and everything else is just a grand facade.

I think there's some truth in that. I've watched a few of his media press conferences and while he's very likeable most of the time, is really gracious, gives the performers a ton of the credit for being the real stars and comes across as a big fan of everyone, he will very quickly react to anything he thinks isn't right, isn't shy of pointing out when something was his idea or when he was responsible for something happening and is generally just very to the point. In fairness, I don't think anyone does what he does without being able to stand up for themselves. He's not stupid, he doesn't suffer fools and he's not going to be walked all over by anyone. He's also not shy of telling people how good he is at stuff. I quite like him. Or to be more precise, I've seen very little to make me dislike him.

[Factotum]

He's also massively self promoting his company, which is the point of a promoter. You want eyes on your product and people watching, big it the hell up. He's also not even having pops at WWE (Unlike Roman 'someone told me to say this awful line' Reigns) He's mainly trumpeting AEW and saying how great it is.

I also think WWE don't really know how to handle him and AEW. Its quite fascinating.

[Infinity Land]

He's had years of trying to sell people on the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham. Of course he's got the snake oil saleman patter down. It's just this time he might be right more often.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

He owns and runs TruMedia Networks. Over 60% of MLB teams use them. NFL use them as do TV companies. He and his company are an industry leader, he’s hardly head of data analysis. 
 

EDIT - He’s also a co owner of an NFL team and a former Premier League football team. Head of data analysis indeed. 

He’s not co owner of the jags or Fulham, he’s an VP in football strategy at Jacksonville, and GM at Fulham. Best to look at their sites and not Wiki.  I’ll give you the trumedia ownership, that was the one I wasn’t aware of. Either way it’s still disregarding his achievements to keep dismissing it as a hobby 

[Keith Houchen]

16 minutes ago, Louch said:

4 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

He’s not co owner of the jags or Fulham,

Looks like Tony is a liar then according to his Instagram and Twitter bio where he says he is the co owner of both, even the bio of him on the Jags website says he’s co owner of Fulham. 
So if he is lying, that’ll help him fit in with his hobby of living out his wrestling fantasy. 

[Loki]

I enjoyed the Punk v Sydall match in a slightly distracted way but... at the moment I'm finding Punk really boring.  He's a rubbish face because he's so smug and unlikeable, he's doing this whole "I'll have exhibition matches" thing so there's no real storyline to his return, and personally I find his commentary TOO 4th wall breaking. You can sense the frustration of the other announcers who have to sell the fiction of wrestling, and he just stomps all over it.

I'm really hoping this is leading up to him being a heel, or something.  

I do accept though that the heavy preponderance of "exhibition" matches in AEW is popular with their fanbase, it's just not for me.  I don't know who Minoru Suzuki is really, so he just appears to be an old man who loses all the time, as part of some world tour of losing to Americans. 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Loki

[Factotum]

59 minutes ago, Loki said:

I enjoyed the Punk v Sydall match in a slightly distracted way but... at the moment I'm finding Punk really boring.  He's a rubbish face because he's so smug and unlikeable, he's doing this whole "I'll have exhibition matches" thing so there's no real storyline to his return,

I see it as a story where Punk is just getting over the line with a lot of the younger guys. He's getting more and more beat up in his matches (his selling has been first class) and I would not be shocked if he loses at some point. Then you'll see him go. I think they're smart enough to have this lead somewhere 

[Merzbow]

Who beats him? I want it to be someone really unexpected or he just gets fucking destroyed by handsome Wardlow.

[NavigatorFan]

3 hours ago, Loki said:

  I don't know who Minoru Suzuki is really, so he just appears to be an old man who loses all the time, as part of some world tour of losing to Americans. 

This is exactly my take on him. I enjoyed his match against Danielson but the first 2 matches didn't do much for me. I think a lot more could have been done to let the masses know why this old man was so tough or such a threat. The 'tough old bastard' came across on TV but as Loki said after 3 defeats it does make us non NJPW fans wonder what all the fuss was about. 

[NavigatorFan]

3 hours ago, Loki said:

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by NavigatorFan
Double post

[Devon Malcolm]

13 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

I've seen very little to make me dislike him.

The being a billionaire thing not enough?

[RedRooster]

11 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Who beats him? I want it to be someone really unexpected or he just gets fucking destroyed by handsome Wardlow.

I think Wardlow would be an excellent option, particularly if that transitions into a feud with MJF, and, from there, perhaps a feud between MJF and Wardlow. 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

I think Wardlow would be an excellent option, particularly if that transitions into a feud with MJF, and, from there, perhaps a feud between MJF and Wardlow. 

A brody/ Cody type over powering and destruction would be good if we don’t see Black do that to Cody Saturday 

[CavemanLynn]

Another solid Road To..., for the Full Gear eliminator this weekend:

 

WWE gets lambasted for being tell-don't-show, but there's a time and a place, and that's sitting down for ten minutes with Tony Schiavone telling you all about it. I've no doubt he's been fed a couple of lines, but it genuinely feels like you're getting an opinion and a little insight from someone who knows their stuff, especially when he talks with a clear affection for Dustin. Hobbs steps up with a solid promo too.

I see it going as follows:

10 vs Jon Moxley: Pretty obvious, this one. As much as I like 10, he's still green as grass, and his Batman the Animated Series' bane mask isn't as endearing as his goofy Joker one. Some clubbering back and forth, a spinebuster, but then a clean win for Mox.

Orange Cassidy vs Powerhouse Hobbs: Surely it's time for Team Taz to get a little something-something? They've been so good for a while, I'd give Hobbs a solid showing here, especially as they made a point of showing him losing to Orange in his first match but him emphasising in his promo here that he wasn't "Will" Hobbs anymore. That also gives us another big man to batter Moxley and push him closer to the psycho heel turn that's surely coming.

Dustin Rhodes vs Bryan Danielson: Bucket list stuff here for Bry-D (not a thing). It'll be interesting to see what kind of match they have here. He had the neo-Strong Style-indie showcase versus Kenny, the NJPW-lite strikefest versus Suzuki, and then the WWE midcard bout versus Bobby Fish. Against Dustin, do we get the classic WCW brawler, a WWE 'dream match', or something else? Much as I'd love a surprise, I can't see this going super-long, with a clean pin for Danielson and a handshake to finish.

Lance Archer vs Eddie Kingston: Eddie, because of course Eddie. It was kind of amusing but sad to see Big Tone struggling to think of something positive to say about Archer, and coming out with the empty placeholder of "well, ... he's the epitome of that, isn't he? Murderhawk Monster." What? I don't think there's a bigger missed opportunity in AEW than Archer, but they never seemed to know quite what to do with him. Maybe it was the booking, or the guy himself not getting to that next level of intensity, but whatever. This has the history between him and Eddie of the battle royal SNAFU and the recent Suzuki-Gun tag, but that's just a bit of seasoning to a foregone conclusion, I think. Mad King FTW.

That gives us Mox vs Hobbs and Danielson vs Kingston in the semis, leading to a Moxley vs Danielson final (holding off on that golden Moxley vs Kingston match down the line).

"I had yer beat, bonny lad." Fucking love PAC.

Jade blows Ruby Soho, Red Velvet and Nyla Rose away in the TBS Title hype segment. Vickie has turned segments with her and Nyla into fast-forward material.

Where did Lee Moriarty come from? I really enjoyed his showcase versus Bobby Fish, standard indie stuff but nicely flavoured with weakener-focussed tech. I assume he has a nice arm submission in his arsenal. Really like the baseball-inspired gear, and I'll always pop for a mention of Tiger Style. Good to see him get a little spotlight here. He carries himself well in the talking as well as in-ring, so I hope they give him a bit to do over the next few months.

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by CavemanLynn
Show-Tell, Tell-Show, Finkle is Einhorn etc.

[LaGoosh]

Pac vs Andrade 2, good lord. Could watch these two wrestle every week forever.