AEW London 2023

[westlondonmist]

13 minutes ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said:

I wanted one of the football shirts, but as someone else said - £65? No thanks. Just because it looks like a football shirt doesn't mean you have to charge the same

if it was £50  then maybe. they probably did cost a lot more to make and people bought them obviously knowing they couldn't just order it from pro wrestling tees. People are paying a oner for em on eBay so probably should have bought a couple to sell.

I did see the World of Wrestling stall and thought why bother. I did see people buying £10 CM Punk and All In shirts after the show. Some of it actually looked okay. 

The reality for me is I won't wear a wrestling shirt I  public so it's not worth it for me.

Edited August 29, 2023 by westlondonmist

[BomberPat]

14 minutes ago, Chunk said:

 it's hard to argue that pro wrestling isn't better for having him:

I was saying just that to a mate while queuing for the train after the show - all caveats about billionaires aside, if there was going to be a billionaire trust fund kid starting a wrestling promotion, thank fuck the one that did was a nerdy ROH message board weirdo, rather than someone who'd have just got taken for a ride by the Bischoffs of the world. It's made wrestling better, more joyous, and more absolutely mental than it's been in years. 

Edited August 29, 2023 by BomberPat

[TobyK]

We ended up watching most of the scrum last night...despite not enjoying Saraya during matches, she actually comes across as a bit of an endearing British nutter-next-door type that I kind of warm too. Probably to do with my mum being mates with some eccentric types when I was younger, so it's a bit familiar. I hope she can continue to put more work in the gym & ring, so she can improve when its showtime. 

[Jazzy G]

4 hours ago, BigJag said:

Paq, Satnam Singh, I think Ogogo was also there. Billington Bulldogs, among others that I didn't recognise. There were probably a number of low ranking celebraties too. 

Billington Bulldogs? Sounds like a dog grooming parlour near where my gran used to live. 

[Merzbow]

Shame her family have so many grave accusations against them, yet they were obviously allowed on the show. I'm just surprised mega homophobe Ronnie didn't get to play her in.

[2Xtreme_lives]

I agree, i listened to the whole thing on the way home, he truly loves what he's doing and MOST of the roster are bloody happy to be working there. Clearly MJF loves working for him too

[BomberPat]

17 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Shame her family have so many grave accusations against them, yet they were obviously allowed on the show. I'm just surprised mega homophobe Ronnie didn't get to play her in.

Presumably everyone saying that Emi Sakura didn't deserve to be on the show because she's not done enough on weekly TV can point out all the amazing Dynamite highlights involving Roy Knight.

[LaGoosh]

8 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Presumably everyone saying that Emi Sakura didn't deserve to be on the show because she's not done enough on weekly TV can point out all the amazing Dynamite highlights involving Roy Knight.

Hey, for the record I said that neither Emi Sakura OR Saraya deserved to be there. I was booing the shit out of her on Sunday, though I think I was the only one.

[Hannibal Scorch]

12 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Presumably everyone saying that Emi Sakura didn't deserve to be on the show because she's not done enough on weekly TV can point out all the amazing Dynamite highlights involving Roy Knight.

Difference is no one is saying they wanted him, or any of the Knights to have popped up at All In.

I accept they have made wrestling their life, but there is so much dodgy shit with all of them I find it weird to showcase them. Busted Open are big fans of Zak I found out yesterday, again very odd.

@LaGooshshe was the only one we stayed sat down for at the end of match celebration. I called it, but wasn’t happy she won.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Hannibal Scorch

[BomberPat]

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

Hey, for the record I said that neither Emi Sakura OR Saraya deserved to be there. I was booing the shit out of her on Sunday, though I think I was the only one.

Well, you definitely weren't alone.

On the Emi thing - I genuinely felt bad for her, given that she incorporated Queen at Wembley into her persona for years, and has made it very clear how much it meant to her, that they had the Young Bucks in Freddie Mercury gear almost identical to hers, Saraya entering to Queen, and Jericho trying to do the call-and-response Freddie thing. Just constant reminders that they understand exactly why it meant so much to her, but that they didn't care, and would rather give those moments to somebody else.

It didn't need to be a match. They could have Shida, the actual champion, enter to We Will Rock You instead of Saraya, and could have incorporated Emi into her entrance, given that Emi trained Shida, and that she's made "We Will Rock You" part of her act for her entire AEW run. I know it doesn't mean much to most people, but it was very frustrating for some of us.

It's also just indicative of the broader problem of there being one token women's match, on a show where more women were involved in MJF's entrance than actually wrestled on the card. 

 

On the Knights, probably the lowlight of the entire show was 40 year veteran Ricky laughing his head off at his wife getting hit in the face, rather than actually selling it. 

[mim731]

13 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Presumably everyone saying that Emi Sakura didn't deserve to be on the show because she's not done enough on weekly TV can point out all the amazing Dynamite highlights involving Roy Knight.

The silly thing is, it would have been very simple to just have her in Shida's corner, she was her trainer right? Wouldn't have even required much storytelling or TV time to find a way to involve her in some capacity.

[Merzbow]

But they can't do that when the one and only women's match on the card was just there to put a spotlight on a wrestler who's done absolutely fuck all positive for the company since her arrival.

I was actually happy to see her come in and get another chance at wrestling, but Jesus Christ it's been bad.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Merzbow

[Nick James]

I watched a 22 minute YouTube video earlier of purely the entrances from the show. I'm a massive sucker for entrances and can enjoy them more than the in-ring stuff some times and I must say, other than Saraya's entrance, they were all absolutely spectacular. 

It just shows, that it's the crowds that make wrestling great. From WWE in Puerto Rico, to MITB, to now All In, all fantastic crowds, all memorable shows. 

Just brilliant. Why any company would want to run their major events in America going forward is madness (money aside, that is). 

[BomberPat]

50 minutes ago, Nick James said:

Why any company would want to run their major events in America going forward is madness (money aside, that is). 

I was really impressed with the broader weekend of events, too.

RevPro drawing somewhere in the region of 4000 fans to their show, EVE and ChocoPro getting the Dome as busy as I've seen it lately (and a smaller show in Hackney that morning), and PROGRESS and DEFY seemingly doing pretty well for themselves too, plus Colosseum the day of All In, Hooked On Wrestling afterwards, all the live podcast stuff, and other shows like UKPW running a little further afield.

I said to the events manager at the Dome, they packed the place out even though they were running up against something much bigger that all of these people could have chosen to attend instead, and while it's easy to say, "well, they had a lot of out-of-towners for All In", a huge amount of those fans will have likely decided that one day of wrestling was more than enough for them and not bothered going to any of the smaller shows, so it's still hugely impressive.

I think from next year, the sense of All In being the UK's "Wrestlemania Weekend" for indie shows and wrestling-adjacent events will be even bigger, so long as there's enough London venues to support it.

[BrodyGraham]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Hey, for the record I said that neither Emi Sakura OR Saraya deserved to be there. I was booing the shit out of her on Sunday, though I think I was the only one.

You weren't, I can assure you of that.