AEW London 2023

[Guest]

Having slept on it, the show never at any point felt lesser than. It probably could have done with a few backstage interviews etc to let folk piss, found that hard enough getting across my flat to do never mind being in the stadium, but that’s what AEW shows are and they stayed true. 
 

Made the mistake of watching the press conference, what a waste of time. So many opportunities to ask wrestlers good questions about their journey, what they expected in AEW, give the wrestlers and or Tony a chance to say you can now do stadium shows with us if that’s your dream and instead we got kayfabe questions about feuds and the same butt kissing matter who was up. Was one question re their only being one womens match, as earlier in the thread I was fine with that, but where’s the challenge to them giving it was an all in call back to have it re it getting less than 10 mins? We don’t have journalists in wrestling, it’s fans with podcasts and no value is added by this set up if they can’t challenge power properly 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Louch

[2Xtreme_lives]

1 minute ago, Louch said:

Having slept on it, the show never at any point felt lesser than. It probably could have done with a few backstage interviews etc to let folk piss, found that hard enough getting across my flat to do never mind being in the stadium, but that’s what AEW shows are and they stayed true. 
 

Made the mistake of watching the press conference, what a waste of time. So many opportunities to ask wrestlers good questions about their journey, what they expected in AEW, give the wrestlers and or Tony a chance to say you can now do stardom shows with us if that’s your dream and instead we got kayfabe questions about feuds and the same butt kissing matter who was up. Was one question re their only being one womens match, as earlier in the thread I was fine with that, but where’s the challenge to them giving it was an all in call back to have it re it getting less than 10 mins? We don’t have journalists in wrestling, it’s fans with podcasts and no value is added by this set up if they can’t challenge power properly 

I really wanted to find out, how much Tony Khan forked out for Metallica last night

I did think though that this was the first press conference where Tony and every one genuinely seemed to be in a bloody great place even if there was drama backstage

Interesting though that Tony saw this as a bit of a reset and a second chance at becoming a hot brand again following the Summer of 2021

[BigJag]

Well done to AEW. Great fun atmosphere. Wembley looked fantastic.

Quite impressed by the live experience.

[Vegeta]

Quick question, me and the misses were looking for programmes yesterday, couldn't find any out or in the stadium, did anyone come across any? 

[69MeDon]

5 minutes ago, Vegeta said:

Quick question, me and the misses were looking for programmes yesterday, couldn't find any out or in the stadium, did anyone come across any? 

I didn't see any, anywhere. You'd think they'd have been at the merch stands, if they existed, and when I finally did get to the front of one of the merch queues, no programmes.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

4 hours ago, JLM said:

During the pre-show when nothing was happening a guy walked out onto the floor wearing an extremely high quality Fiend costume, with his friend dressed as old school Wyatt Family Bray. He got a nice round of applause and then conducted one end of the stadium singing He's got the whole world in his hands. 

 

Yeah we were that end and the 2 of them did a brilliant job both of costumes and getting half of Wembley to sing.

 

Did love Samoa Joe who came out a bit of the heel, but very very quickly rhe crowd seemed to turn on Punk and back Joe. The smiles on his face and giving Punk a 'wanker' sign was brilliant.

 

MJF/Cole v Aussie Open - good opener and did its job of getting the crowd going. Interesting to see how they go defending the titles now. Just a little worried about overkill with these two.

 

Hook/Perry - good match for what it was and good to see Hook get the belt back, but just seems a bit of a nothing fued that's not going anywhere and both could do with moving on to something else.

 

Punk/Joe - really wanted Joe to win but I think overall he was the winner as he had the time of his life.

 

BCG v Elite - loved that Callis got the biggest heat of the night every time he appeared (apart from maybe Mercedes). Surprised the match was on so early but understand in the context of the show it had to be really.

 

FTR v Bucks - for me match of the night. If you want to see how tag wrestling is done properly watch these matches. Bucks were doing some amazing moves and really got me invested. I honestly thought FTR would lose with what Cash has going on, but happy to see them win. Wonder if we're seeing a Bucks turn with the way they refused to shake hands and left.

 

Stadium Stampede- brutal and gruesome but I do feel these matches work better in empty stadiums or on TV. Too much going on and camera work wasn't great keeping up with it all. Did like the 'Blackpool is a shithole' chant during it!

 

Women's title - knew this was going to Saraya as soon as the Knight clan came out with her. They wouldn't have made a big deal of it if it wasn't going to Saraya. Just hope we get Statlander and the likes of Deeb next year. Shida and Baker just seemed an afterthought in this match. Ruby Soho seemed a pointless run in but hey ho. Nice pop for Saraya though and genuinely hope she savoured it and enjoyed it.

 

Coffin match- from entrance to finish it was great. Glad I got to see Christian and Sting wrestle and it was so obvious that Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne would do run ins. Feel bad for AR Fox though, but wonder if it was maybe a last minute visa issue that made them change plans quickly to bring Cage in?

 

Will Ospreay v Chris Jericho - come on! We all knew we'd join in with Judas and will be looking around at the videos online of it as I bet it looked and sounded amazing from different angles and with professional filming. Match itself was good, but not outstanding. I really thought we'd see Sammy turn on Jericho during the match but he just seemed a bit 'there but not important' but he got his payday...

 

Acclaimed v House of Black - great match and lovely tributes to Bray Wyatt. Loved the rap 'you're more of a disgrace than Prince Andrew'. Right result and full respect to HoB for handing over the belts in the manner they did. Did chuckle at Julia being scissored! Can't help wondering if they could have done more with the 'no holds barred' stipulation.

 

MJF v Cole - so many twists and turns during it that I had no idea where it was going to go. I thought when Cole had the belt he was going to lamp Strong with it but he too did the right thing. Loved the comedy elements in it with MJF putting the chair round his neck and falling to the ground. Sure I saw Cole smile at that and not just character. Credit to Bryce for taking the Panama Sunrise like that. The right ending I think overall and sent the crowd home happy. Only disappointment was that they put on the screens that AEW was coming back before Cole and TK announced it.

 

Overall 9.5/10 I think. Production was a bit iffy in places such as the screens missing key moments in the stadium, but for atmosphere and experience it was brilliant. The wife has already registered for presale tickets for next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete

[LaGoosh]

My main takeaway from yesterday is that MJF is absolutely THE GUY. Building the company around this man is the best thing they could do. An absolute star that just connects with everything, he plays to the cheapseats just like John Cena and can get anything over.

[DavidB6937]

49 minutes ago, 2Xtreme_lives said:

Interesting though that Tony saw this as a bit of a reset and a second chance at becoming a hot brand again following the Summer of 2021

And it really SHOULD be. I'm not sure how exactly but fuck if you can't smash it after a show like that then you never will. 

[gmoney]

In terms of obnoxious fans, our section had a fair few unfortunately. A complete weapon dressed as El Genrico was running about all night trying to get himself over, and at one point I had to ask him to put out the gigantic cigar he'd just lit. Another couple of women screeching at almost every wrestler to get their cock out, about 5 feet from a couple young kids. 

Even so, we had a great time, good view, really enjoyable atmosphere overall. 

[Factotum]

Must say I must have avoided all the dickheads in my section. At the start there was 2 who  threatened to be but they got told to shut up and that was that from them for the rest of the night. Overall a lot of people having a laugh. 

One thing though, is there were a lot of mullets. This haircut needs to be banished again

[westlondonmist]

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

MJF/Cole was my favourite AEW match of all time. I know there's recency bias - but I'm pretty sure I'll feel that way once the dust settles too. It did something I've never seen before in a wrestling match; tell a redemption story for MJF. He did the right thing throughout, and actually won the match in the end proving that he was right. The only thing I think was a bad choice now was putting the ROH tag titles on them; purely because it takes away slightly from the moment of them winning the AEW tag titles; which they may or may not do. Personally, if they're staying together, I'd have been absolutely fine if that were the main event of All Out. 

But I'll say this...Roddy Strong is an absolute revelation. Who'd have thought he'd end up being one of AEW's best signings in recent memory? What a brilliant, brilliant character. 

However, as great as the show was (and it was) - it demonstrated the power of singles matches compared to multi-man, and I want more of those next year. We don't need Punk/Omega (arguably, at this point, do we need Punk at all?); emotion-driven matches hit much more effectively than dream matches. On that note, I really hope they do Moxley/Kingston again in the next year - perhaps with Eddie chasing after Moxley's International Championship; then, eventually, winning his first title belt in AEW?

I wonder how different next year's card will look in terms of people on it? Will MJF still be there? Will CM Punk be gone? Could we have Drew Galloway in a headline match? Perhaps Edge? What about Will Ospreay? It's a very interesting time in AEW. 

I agree with the power of singles, although I feel straight up tags have a strong power too. I can enjoy 6 man tags but they can be messy and I think the out of nowhere finish did suit it. I've always struggled with 4 ways unless they are elimination. I kind of feel 2 people just watch as someone gets the pin which happened last night.

I really hope they don't do All Out a week later next year. I think it left them needing singles matches for the following week. 

 

Regarding dickheads, I had a couple behind me, they moved further away to sit with some friends. I could hear them but not as much, off their faces making tits of themselves. 2 people next to me left quite early so gave me extra stretch room.

Edited August 28, 2023 by westlondonmist

[SuperBacon]

A large majority of wrestling fans are absolute fannys who once confronted on their shit, will wilt, so its nice to hear that upon confrontation, these people largely shut the fuck up. 

Lighting a cigar? Jesus christ. 

What can I say about that event that everyone else hasn't? I cannot stand MJF, and think he's incredibly overrated, but my god, he was an absolute star here, and deserves all the plaudits. 

 

[DavidB6937]

2 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

I really hope they don't do All Out a week later next year. I think it left them needing singles matches for the following week. 

Can't remember exactly where I read it but I think TK said it'd be the same next year.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Sounds like our section was pretty decent as far as fans went. The guys behind us didn’t seem to like anyone, to the point that you wonder why they went to the show - Orange Cassidy? Shit. Darby Allin? Shit. Sting? Too old. Eddie Kingston? Fat and shit. Etc - but they were as obnoxious as it got.

Interesting to read about chants and things people noticed from the other sides of the stadium. Didn’t hear that Wyatt one at all. Have seen about Punk getting a split reaction but it was all boos for him and cheers for Joe round our way. And we may have been facing the entrance but clearly missed stuff, as I had no idea Saraya’s family walked out with her, or HOB did a Wyatt lantern tribute.

Still buzzing from what a great show it was in person. I do wish there’d been more women’s matches though - my wife didn’t understand why they felt relegated to one short match. Maybe Mercedes coming in will help boost the division.

Edited August 28, 2023 by HarmonicGenerator

[Infinity Land]

12 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

I really hope they don't do All Out a week later next year. I think it left them needing singles matches for the following week.

 

9 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Can't remember exactly where I read it but I think TK said it'd be the same next year.

In the press conference it was confirmed both All In and All Out will be on the August bank holiday and Labor day weekends. Hope to making them traditions.

I don't mind it.

The real issue is Grand Slam in a few weeks and they also announced a PPV on October 1st WrestleDream. That's 3 PPVs and a major televised event in the space of what 5 weeks? If they're adding more PPVs they should move Grand Slam to the 1st half of the year.