Merzbow Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Just now, King Mal the Glorious said: Was "Big Billy Starks" supposed to be a reference to Billie Starkz? Otherwise it it's just nonsense. I honestly don't think Jericho twigged there was someone called that on the roster, it was just shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted December 14, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) Fun opener with Hangman and Roddy. Nice comeback win for Hangman after losing the deathmatch, he looked like a superhero having to fight all three opponents at once. Enjoyed Andrade and Brody. The communication/explanation of the finish was muddled but I thought they had a good match otherwise. Andrade has put in a hell of a shift since his return to AEW I must say. In stark contrast with Miro who, memorable meat slapathon with Hobbs aside, has pissed about doing far too little. Brody has been pretty good in this tournament but has been slightly exposed in longer singles matches. I don't think he does a great job of conveying the toll a match is taking on him, or of ramping up the intensity as it goes on. He feels like he's in the same gear at the end of the match as he was at the start. Gunther is the absolute master of this in my opinion, playing the methodical monster role but still steadily turning up the heat as the fight goes on, adjusting according to how much trouble the opponent has given him. Tonnes of potential there though and I still think Brody's inclusion has been a good thing. I also still want Danny Garcia to beat him though. Jericho/Kenny/Starks/Bill segment was death. Good grief. Too long, jokes died, references died, Kenny tripping over all of his dialogue. It's also awkward because the crowd wants to cheer Bill and Starks, they love Kenny, they don't love Jericho. Just horrendous stuff. Earth-shaking appearance from the Von Erichs. Thoroughly enjoyed Toni Storm on commentary during Riho/Ruby. Riho looked good, Ruby less so. Sad we didn't get any Cool Hand. Wardlow vignette was too much for me. Overwrought and overacted. Also, in a fucking criminal editing choice, they skimmed over the Last Ride and the deadlift out of the 'rana on Willie Mack. We saw a split second of it but they should have put waaaay more emnphasis on him doing that to a dude Willie Mack's size. I said last week it was amazing highlight reel shit for Wardlow and then it's barely in the highlight reel! I also praised the vignette a few weeks ago for being nice and simple. He hates MJF, he's gonna beat him up. He doesn't need to be saying "LIKE THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL" He sounded like a doughnut. Wise to keep RUSH and Lethal nice and short. Wrestled at RUSH's pace and was much more entertaining for it. Loved RUSH getting wild with the fans and making the security nervous afterwards. If you want him to party with you after the match and smash your bottle against his head, a sign saying MATALO (KILL HIM) is definitely the right choice. Choking Lethal out as a statement after the loss to Mox was a great touch. Mark Briscoe with nothing to lose vs. Jay White with everything to lose was always going to be a winning combination. Loved the choice of Briscoe hitting his finish right at the start. No reason for him not to throw wild haymakers at this point and it set the tone and pace for this perfectly Jay White grabbing a hanful of cables on the outside purely to waste a bit of time and stall was also brilliant. I've said it before, but I have to believe Tony will give Mark Briscoe something after this. He was already the most beloved and likeable underdog on the roster before the tournament, and he has delivered nothing but belters throughout with the people behind him every step of the way. Swerve/Mox was good stuff. Great heat for it as well. Everyone is ready for Swerve to be the guy. Was a bit disappointed with the result but the finish protected Swerve pretty well. Makes for an interesting run-in for the gold league. Like many others I don't really care about The Devil angle. It'll be terrible if it's Jungle Boy. Adam Cole is the only one that makes any sense to me. But yeah, just get it over with please. Edited December 14, 2023 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted December 14, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 14, 2023 48 minutes ago, JLM said: Loved RUSH getting wild with the fans and making the security nervous afterwards. If you want him to party with you after the match and smash your bottle against his head, a sign saying MATALO (KILL HIM) is definitely the right choice. Choking Lethal out as a statement after the loss to Mox was a great touch. RUSH looked so fucking cool celebrating with the fans. They have a monster babyface on their hands with him if they get fully behind how much of a maniac he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted December 14, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 14, 2023 The worst two things about the abysmal Golden Jets segment: - It was Starks and Bill who issued the challenge for a tag team title match, despite Omega and Jericho having a guaranteed title shot - so does that count as them using that shot, or is this separate? Needlessly confusing. A smarter tactic might have been the heels goading the faces into cashing in their shot for a time/situation that wasn't in their favour. - Kenny hardly ever does his full "goodbye and goodnight" catchphrase, but the crowd say it along with him every time. He's never been a good promo, but the crowd are with him and want to support him, he just makes it bloody difficult with segments like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted December 14, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 14, 2023 Jesus, never send Omega out there with a live mic again unless he's got Callis by his side. Terrible segment. Are they turning Swerve face do we think? Excalibur mentioned he's got the most fan support and him getting cheated here garners more sympathy for him. I wouldn't mind them revisiting Hangman/Swerve a few months down the line with the roles reversed. Actually, the best scenario for AEW right now could be building the show around a heel Elite. Have Omega turn on Jericho (playing on the 'you can't trust Jericho' thing mentioned here) and have Bucks/Hangman turn with him. Hangman hasn't done the heel thing yet in AEW, Bucks are at their best as dickhead heels and it means no more Omega babyface promos. Fuck it, have Omega be the Devil while we're at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 18 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said: Jesus, never send Omega out there with a live mic again unless he's got Callis by his side. Terrible segment. Are they turning Swerve face do we think? Excalibur mentioned he's got the most fan support and him getting cheated here garners more sympathy for him. I wouldn't mind them revisiting Hangman/Swerve a few months down the line with the roles reversed. Actually, the best scenario for AEW right now could be building the show around a heel Elite. Have Omega turn on Jericho (playing on the 'you can't trust Jericho' thing mentioned here) and have Bucks/Hangman turn with him. Hangman hasn't done the heel thing yet in AEW, Bucks are at their best as dickhead heels and it means no more Omega babyface promos. Fuck it, have Omega be the Devil while we're at it. Hangman is probably the only babyface in AEW that I reckon can eventually do the Bret 97 style turn. If he ever turns, I think it needs to be a seismic shift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted December 14, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted December 14, 2023 I zoned out after the Golden Jets segment and couldn’t get back into the rest of the show. I can’t remember anything about the Rush-Lethal or Switchblade-Briscoe matches. Zoned back in just enough to see Swerve lose* and zoned out again just in time to avoid having to pay attention to the Devil. Not a vintage Dynamite. *I hate that this happened because Swerve has to be the next champion and therefore needs to be beating the big names, but maybe maybe they’ll save a win over Moxley for when it means slightly more than Just Another CC Match? I guess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted December 14, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 14, 2023 14 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: I zoned out after the Golden Jets segment and couldn’t get back into the rest of the show. I can’t remember anything about the Rush-Lethal or Switchblade-Briscoe matches. Zoned back in just enough to see Swerve lose* and zoned out again just in time to avoid having to pay attention to the Devil. Not a vintage Dynamite. Yeah, this was similar to my experience with this show too. I'm not sure what it is but every so often they put on a Dynamite which, for all the technically sound wrestling and good matches, just feels a bit soulless and empty and for me this was absolutely one of those. It just felt like the whole show lacked any momentum or oomph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 (edited) Mark Briscoe is the best. If they don't give him, RUSH and Garcia big pushes after this they're absolutely clueless. I mean they probably won't as AEW don't know how to capitalise on momentum at all but I think it highlights what a success the C2 has been that wrestlers can lose all their matches and its actually helped them. A few people have mentioned that Dynamite felt a bit lifeless, I think Dynamite can feel like this sometimes and the production of the show is to blame. Colour wise the show can look a bit dark, grey and lifeless. The entrance set is terrible and lacking any character. They do that terrible fade between segments that WWE do. The graphics are messy. I don't think any modern US wrestling show has found that sweet spot on how to present wrestling. We're far removed from 98-99 Raw - the perfect wrestling presentation where it feels alive, big time but also real and gritty. I'm no Japanese wrestling perv but whenever I do catch any modern NJPW I find the presentation a lot more pleasing. But I'll still take AEW's flat production over WWE's hostile bright PS2 game/AI generated vibe any day. Samoa Joe and Hangman sharing a ring felt like a big time moment. A fresh and exciting feud waiting to happen. Sad that they instead were talking about this bollocks Devil stuff. Edited December 15, 2023 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 Mark making a late run for moment of the year, breaking the fourth wall to give the audience a glance that says, “look at the state of these dickheads.” He’s one of the best characters in wrestling. Love him so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 I can't stop thinking about how bad that Golden Jets segment was. It's infused in my brain. What is it about Ricky Starks that makes veterans completely shit the bed? Edge did it and now Jericho. The main problem though with this tag title match is who wants to see the Golden Jets as tag champs? No one! They want Starks/Bill as Champs, they want Kenny as a top singles guy and they want Jericho to fuck off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted December 15, 2023 Author Share Posted December 15, 2023 Only just had a chance to see that segment. Didn't think it could be nearly as bad as people were saying. Oh. It really was. It was the worst of Kenny. The worst of Jericho. Shove that together and fucking hell. I don't know if Kenny just doesn't care anymore or if his body isn't up to it or whatever else but it's SO frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 3 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: I can't stop thinking about how bad that Golden Jets segment was. It's infused in my brain. What is it about Ricky Starks that makes veterans completely shit the bed? Edge did it and now Jericho. Is Ricky Starks not very well liked backstage or something? This is pure conjecture but it seems everytime he does a segment with one of the vets they have to try and dunk on him someway, but it just leads to them getting flustered and rambling like a twat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 (edited) 4 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: but it's SO frustrating. Must be even more frustrating for Tony Khan who gave The Elite massive new contracts and the Bucks have fucked off home and Kenny can't even be bothered to change out of his pyjamas for TV. It's all bonkers. Edited December 15, 2023 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 Even the most positive fans here are starting to notice what's happened to Kenny Omega. He's gone from THE guy in AEW/indy wrestling to the rubbish bit of a Jericho tag team. He looks physically absolutely shot, his back is curved and he's got a bit of a belly. He still tries to do all of the same stuff in the ring but it doesn't look effortless any more, it looks painful. That moment when his style catches up to him, I think we're there. He also doesn't act, or is presented as, a top star. I have no idea why but you have to assume that in the gold rush of buying in ex-WWE stars over the last couple of years has either disincentivised him, or Tony Khan no longer wants to play with his Andy. Omega needs 6 months off, and to adjust his style to something he can do for a few more years, like Austin or (better example) Scott Steiner did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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