AEW London 2023

[Supremo]

The first All In, I remember thinking MJF was a cheap, rubbish try-hard edge-lord who wasn’t half as good as he thought he was. Five years later he’s made a complete fool out of me. That fucker arrived last night. He’s the most well-rounded performer in the business, one of the biggest stars, with the most interesting, multifaceted character. Monster pops for a single suicide dive. People gasping in shock at the most basic of looks or mannerisms. That main event was an absolute roller coaster and a master class in taking the audience for a ride. People were losing their minds by the end.

Assuming it’s all true and Max really will be a free agent next year? He’s going to deservedly get one of the biggest contracts of all time. He’s twenty seven years old, man. Blows my mind. And his music fucking rules.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Supremo

[The King Of Swing]

I'll take the L on MJF's theme.

[Statto]

41 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

He did a superb Terry Funk wobbly sell caught between the top and middle rope earlier in the match too

On the subject of Funk tributes, did Moxley use a branding iron as a weapon early in the Stampede, grinding the point into someone? Was hard to tell on the screen but that's what it looked like.

After Eddie's promo on Collision when he promised to "burn" & "mark" Claudio I was expecting him to do the flaming branding iron gimmick in tribute, but perhaps they couldn't get clearance to even light it up, even if it doesn't get used.

[air_raid]

One thing I've had reinforced by reading about the show, that on top of all the wrestlers actually having matches - from JR to Tony Schiavone to Nigel McGuinness to Renee Paquette to Justin Roberts, AEW has that knack for getting anyone in any role that has name value or something to give to the product that isn't involved with WWE. Which reminds me more than anything else of WCW, in the best possible way i.e. that there's somewhere else for people to work. Not that drawing an 80,000 gate doesn't make them "big time" enough on its own merit. Fair fucks as well, regardless of what I thought of MJF vs Cole as "the main event" - with Jericho vs Ospreay, FTR vs Young Bucks and Punk vs Joe, ultimately the card did end up feeling very "big time" too. Good vibes all round.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I’ve always liked AEW. I was living in the States for the first All In and some of the subsequent shows and got to watch them live at a reasonable hour. I was always a fan.

But, I think, now is the first time I truly, properly ‘get’ AEW.

All the moans about it lacking cohesion, sense or complaining about them occasionally missing the mark or doubling up on spots? It completely misses the point.

AEW is a joyful, triumphant celebration of professional wrestling. It’s people just like us - in the main - getting to live out their dreams, and using their platform to celebrate and pay tribute to the things that have given them such joy. So where you may wear a Terry Funk t-shirt, Mox wields a branding iron. Where you may have a HBK screensaver, Adam Cole tunes up a superkick.

It’s fucking… glorious. We should root for each and every one of them, including Tony, because they’re crafting a love letter to the thing that we’ve all been besotted by for decades.

And then there was Punk. I’ll start my quick whip through of the show here. I’m a Punk fan. He has great matches, delivers big moments and can speak arses into seats. But, he doesn’t belong here. Where their tributes are loving, his are arch. Where they use their platform to bring us ‘all in’ to celebrate something, he excludes and gatekeeps. 
 

AEW allowing wrestlers to follow their inner muse isn’t the weakness of a billionaire coke fiend, it’s the wide net that allows them to find so many diamonds.

So, Punk’s match was great. Fun at times. It had a good finish and was a great start to the show. But his toxic melodrama doesn’t belong here. He’s a man with sharp elbows in a world of warm hugs. I hate to say it, but I’d rather he wasn’t around.

The six man was good, if a little scruffy at times. Ibushi still doesn’t seem at the races. I loved seeing Hangman, his energy crackles when he’s in the ring. 
 

The FTR/Bucks match was superb. The best match I’ve ever been present for, and I punched the air for the finish. Regardless of where you sit on the divide of Elite/CMFTR; these gentlemen worked well together, professionally and The Bucks did a clean job. Wrestling at its absolute finest.

Mox has an insane presence and charisma from up close. A genuine superstar aura. The match was - obviously - a car crash, but a fun one. The genuine definition of people ‘giving everything’ for what they love.

I’m not a Saraya fan, but that moment was special.

The Coffin match was such fun. I’m sorry to go back to it, but if a genuine legend and megastar like Sting can get along with this company, anyone should be able to. The criteria for fitting in with AEW seems to be simply ‘love what you do and do what you love.’

Seeing a 64 year old man throwing himself about with a reckless abandon, having the time of his life, was beautiful. Oh, the table didn’t break? ONE MORE TIME.

Jericho/Ospreay was good and I enjoyed seeing Ospreay get his moment. In my 20’s I trained a bit - a very little bit - at Lucha Britannia, and Ospreay was there then. He was so effortlessly athletic and graceful, and by all accounts hard working, so even if I don’t always enjoy his stuff, I was happy to see such a local lad get the moment in the sun.

Brody King has big star presence. Malakai Black has less presence than I assumed he would. Fun match to keep the crowd warm going into the main event. @Supremo - one for you - isn’t Billy Gunn massive in person??

Main event. What can you say? MJF is the guy and, I’m amazed to say, Adam Cole isn’t too far behind. They’ve BOTH been elevated by this story. It’s given them a perfect platform to show their range of abilities. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Incredible.

I love wrestling.

I love AEW.

Edited August 28, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 hour ago, LWOLeN said:

 

You fly from Holland to London, takes you 55 minutes aswell.

 

You actually get back to London about 5 minutes before you leave Amsterdam due to the time difference, brother. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

Ospreay really impressed me last night, and the match with Jericho was way better than I was expecting. He’s just so smooth and slick when he wrestles. If they bring him back next year for someone like Danielson I’ll be quite happy. 

(and not to keep mentioning my wife, but this is the first wrestling show she’s seen live, and actually the first wrestling show she’s ever watched start to finish… and she liked Ospreay too, enough to still remember who he was the day after. She especially liked when he did “the flip that he turned into another flip” which I’m guessing was that crazy dive to the outside.)

[Keith Houchen]

27 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

We should root for each and every one of them, including Tony

Nah. 

[TheBurningRed]

On the coffin match, I’m pretty sure Swerves hair was sticking out when they shut the lid. So therefore, it should be null and void. 

[Nick James]

Max Caster being the one to call Prince Andrew out on a massive stage was not on my bingo card, but I must admit, I burst out laughing at that line. Fantastic. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 minute ago, TheBurningRed said:

On the coffin match, I’m pretty sure Swerves hair was sticking out when they shut the lid. So therefore, it should be null and void. 

It was tucked in when the camera panned back, they sorted it 🤣

[Statto]

19 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Ospreay really impressed me last night, and the match with Jericho was way better than I was expecting. He’s just so smooth and slick when he wrestles.

Yep, I had to eat my words a bit on Ospreay last night. I'm not fan of the "bruv mate bruv wanker bruv" chav act(...?) but last night in that gear with that presentation he looked like an absolute star, and matched that in the ring.

Someone else who looked every inch the megastar last night - Swerve. I'm a fan in general and he's been on fire the last few months, but with the entrance with the rappers etc he came across a a true tippy-top of the mountain guy, and a legit hip hop mogul. Programme with babyface MJF for the belt, please.

[RedRooster]

It's kind of mad to see this news story on the BBC home page. It's actually pretty exciting to see AEW (and wrestling) get this much attention, but it's kind of surreal. 

 

[Jazzy G]

I like the orchestral Overture to it as well. Adds to his status, that little extra arrogance. It works really well. Sting & Darby using Seek & Destroy? I marked out. I was hyoed for Sting already (did I mention that I'm a huge fan of Sting?), then that music started and it was like the icing on the cake. 

[Cheesy Peas]

Brilliant experience, had a great time. I wanted to mention a few highlights of mine:

I’d been hoping for something – anything – from Jeff Jarrett on this show, so when his music hit I went mad. I think I was the only person cheering for him in my section, but that segment was one of my favourite parts of the show.

Samoa Joe appeared to be having the time of his life. I was a little confused about this one though. Is Punk still being recognised as a champion? I could’ve sworn his belt was held up before the match.

FTR v Young Bucks was a belter, and one where it felt really difficult to predict a winner. Not sure who FTR face next after this though.

I missed the spot with the skewers as I’d gone to get drinks, but the reaction of people coming down the steps to the kiosks suggested that I’m glad I missed that bit. Rest of the match was great, particularly laughed at Kingston flipping off Moxley at the end of the match!

Christian constantly wearing the TNT belt will never not be funny, and I was delighted when he was added to the match last week. But Sting’s video on the screen, his Joker make up, and then that song... best part of the night for me. Some of the crowd behind me were seemingly appalled that he’s wrestling and not collecting a pension, which evolved into a debate about what age he would be able to claim his pension. I think a few people were flagging at this point.

First time seeing Chris Jericho, and although it was probably a decade too late, it was still Chris Jericho. I thought he did his best, but struggled to keep up with Ospreay.

When Roderick Strong left the ring the first time, he went stomping up the ramp, and even from what felt like half a mile away, he did a good impression of someone having a strop. The main event as a whole was really good, it felt for the first time that Adam Cole deserved to be in it.

The fan reactions to everyone and everything were what helped this to stand out. Even when Don Callis appeared briefly on the screen, he was getting shit from the whole stadium. That and when they tried shilling Fulham tickets in the pre-show. Great stuff.

It’s been about 5 years, maybe longer, since I’ve been to live wrestling, and as the evening wore on, I started to remember why. I was up in 523, and by about 8:30 it was a wreck. People falling up the stairs with alcohol, launching pint pots toward the ring (ultimately only sailing 4 rows), the smell of vapes, cigarettes, and BO (at best). My row seemed to suffer from collective incontinence based on the amount of times they got up. I’ve also completely gone off LA Knight.

Nevertheless, by the time I got off the tube, I’ve already booked hotels for next year. I’d be amazed if they get a similar sized crowd, but either way, I’ll be in it.