Infinity Land Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 (edited) In this thread, or one of them, I've mentioned the possibility of Danielson v. McGuinness because of Nigel's constant digs on commentary helping to build it. That's the side of this we (the English speaking commentary audience) haven't seen or heard. Don't know if its something hinted at in the build to this week, but even if it was just Thunder Rosa getting frustrated tonight and choosing to step in. That's a trope a wrestling fan has seen many times over the years. For those listening to the Spanish comms it would play far better and be less of a surprise. For most of us on here we got a sight of her at the start of the show to remind us what she looks like. For the live crowd they might have gotten her proper entrance as a reminder as well. I do think the live crowd knew who she was as there was a reaction and the 'Welcome Back' chant started once Julia Hart and Skye Black?Blue were out the ring. It just didn't quite work visually as Thunder Rosa played to the fans. Rather than the empty hard cam side. Which meant on TV it was the back of their head hidden under hair extensions. By next week she'll no doubt be back to the more distinctive face paint and hair tied back look. It's good that she's finally back. Whether or not her reputation is 'Good in Japan'. I've tended to enjoy her work dating back to the NWA Power days. She is someone that TK's trusted to put into feuds and workrate type matches: Hayter, Storm, Shida, Deeb, Yamashita. Even when there was all that personal drama I quite enjoyed the brief ThunderStorm run trying to save her back and build to another Storm match. She's been gone long enough that she's not really faced Willow, Statlander, Athena and some others. Edited December 17, 2023 by Infinity Land Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 Blue block 4 life! Garcia vs Kignston was match of the week. Superb. Danielson is a true sicko. Absolute stunned silence when his eye started bleeding out. Malaki Black SUCKS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted December 17, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 17, 2023 10 hours ago, RedRooster said: Britt’s definitely limited, but I don’t agree that Thunder Rosa is a bad wrestler. Her overall body of work certainly suggests otherwise. While she was at her most active in AEW, the women’s roster was more limited than it is now, and the booking for that division was generally bad. Perhaps she’s not in a position to carry a weak opponent to be better than they are, but I reckon she’d do well in WWE. I wouldn’t rule out Britt doing better in WWE either to be fair, with stronger opponents and more opportunities to improve. Guidance on her promos wouldn’t go amiss either. I haven't seen anything she's done outside AEW so can't speak for her overall body of work. She's certainly got charisma and presence but in ring she didn't impress me and definitely got noticeably worse even before she appeared to be sandbagging people. Would she do well in WWE? Yeah possibly. The performance centre and house show loops mean the female wrestlers have a much better chance at getting good and staying good. Wrestling once or twice a month if that in AEW it makes sense why some performers regress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted December 17, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 17, 2023 (edited) This went from the best tournament AEW has ever done, to morphing into one of the best tournaments I can ever remember from any company, ever. Between the matches and the promos, the stories told, the amount everyone has gotten over, the focus that’s returned. It’s worked miracles. Being back the God Damn rankings. Edited December 17, 2023 by Supremo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Mal the Glorious Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 I'm glad they've started putting those promos on the actual shows these days. Far too many of the great backstage bits have just been consigned to Twitter in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted December 17, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 17, 2023 Continental Classic continues to be brilliant. Has any group ever played the tweener role better than BCC? All 3 of them can get the crowd booing or cheering whenever they want. Claudio taking the low road here and getting booed out of the building for it being a prime example. (Wheeler Yuta doesn't count because everyone hates that prick.) Kevin Kelly is shit but gets a pass this week for referencing King Of The Hill. Kingston vs Garcia was excellent. If Garcia loses to Brody next week I might cry. I really hope Swerve and Keith Lee continuing their feud elevates Lee more than it stalls Swerves momentum. Hopefully it doesn't last 6 months and actually has a proper conclusion unlike last time. A rare example of Collision being better than Dyno this week, for me. The street fight was a lot of fun, OC had another good title defence (Bryan Keith has had a standout weekend) and I'm happy to see Thunder Rosa back. Hopefully they give her some promo time next week so Britt Baker has something else to moan about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Mal the Glorious Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 (edited) Kevin Kelly does seem to have settled in a bit. I'd much prefer Excalibur or Riccaboni but he's a lot less shit/awkward than he was at the start. Edited December 17, 2023 by King Mal the Glorious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted December 18, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 18, 2023 10 hours ago, King Mal the Glorious said: Kevin Kelly does seem to have settled in a bit. I'd much prefer Excalibur or Riccaboni but he's a lot less shit/awkward than he was at the start. He's a lot better than he used to be, I think adding Schiavone to the team has a lot to do with it. He's also (unintentionally) hilarious at times. There was a moment on this weeks show when Garcia lost and the camera cut to Daddy Magic on commentary, and Kelly was just staring at him as if to say 'oh well!' which cracked me up. 5:15 here!  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted December 18, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 18, 2023 34 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said: He's a lot better than he used to be, I think adding Schiavone to the team has a lot to do with it. He's also (unintentionally) hilarious at times. There was a moment on this weeks show when Garcia lost and the camera cut to Daddy Magic on commentary, and Kelly was just staring at him as if to say 'oh well!' which cracked me up. 5:15 here!  I clocked that too. And I will also say KK has gone from awful to passable for me on coms. AEW are rich in that department, but Collision is finding its voice again I feel. and 2 womans matches to boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Daddy Magic calling Daniel Garcia 'son' on comms. Lovely stuff, this Continental Classic has been incredible. Everyone has an interesting story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 I watched all 5 hours of AEW TV this past week, since I was in a mood and needed to feel better. It was all good stuff, other than that fucking Golden Jets shit on Dynamite. Cannot echo enough the comments talking about how much of a success the C2 has been. I'm sure they'll stick the landing on this and I'm really hyped for the next couple weeks of TV, and World's End. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted December 19, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 19, 2023 (edited) Cracking episode this week. The main things that jumped out at me: - Claudio/Andrade was an excellent display of two wrestlers who are great at everything. Claudio winning via a low blow was such a perfectly dickish way to end a match like this, I loved that. That Claudio will go to such lengths to win in this tournament adds an extra interesting element to his match with Danielson next week. - Bryan Keith is a pretty good wrestler but fuck me he's just too short. I know a lot of wrestlers are small these days but when both Orange Cassidy and the referee are towering over you then it just doesn't work for me. Or at least adopt a gimmick that suits your size. If I heard a bounty hunter was after me and teeny weeny Bryan Keith turned up I'd probably laugh rather than be afraid. - Statlander/Willow in those suits did...things to me. These four had a tag match ages ago which was really good and looked like the start of a boss feud but in typical TK booking they got completely distracted and dropped it for weeks on end and then randomly decided to come back to it. Regardless of the lost opportunity due to bad booking, this was a great match. The spots were ugly and often uncoordinated but they still worked because all four women remembered the key to no DQ matches which is what the majority of wrestlers forget - you have to absolutely clobber the shit out of each other in between the spots. It's easier to look past the cracks when you can feel the hate and I felt the hate here. My only criticism would be Willow kept breaking up pin attempts on a one count - she needs to wait til the 2 count for extra drama. A great effort from all four women. Willow is one of my faves and I hope her and Kris stick together...and keep the suits. - Garcia/Kingston was a masterpiece of wrestling storytelling and one of my favourite matches this year. Garcia started off trying to stand tall with Eddie but the worn out and hurting Eddie didn't want a a chop fest so went straight into big suplexes to take out Garcia early. Garcia then changed tactics and went to Eddie's bum knee which has always been a weak point of his. Sensing he had the advantage Garcia then went back to trying to prove himself as one of the big boys and started laying in shots on Eddie. This pissed Eddie off and woke up a sleeping bear. This felt like big brother realising he needed to teach little brother a tough lesson and Eddie taught Garcia a lesson in pain. Eddie chopped and smashed Garcia into pieces. Garcia's desperation and passion came through though and eventually he took it back to Eddie and went back to what got him into the game in the first place before he went under Jericho's wing - ground work and submissions. Garcia looked to have the win and pushed him to his limits but eventually Eddie was too much and finished him off. Garcia's story in this tournament feels like him trying to forge a new identity and until he knows who he is he won't be able to get the success he wants. Every week though he's getting more sure and putting the pieces together, will he be able to beat Brody King? I fucking hope so. - Daddy Magic brilliant on commentary once again. What a gem that man is. - Main event was another brilliant Continental Classic match. This is the best wrestling tournament I can remember seeing in my lifetime. One of my criticisms of Brody King is that he's not good at stepping up and raising his level to that next gear. Luckily he was with Bryan Danielson who will basically kick the fucking shit out of his opponents and force them to raise their game or he'll eat them alive. This is the best match of King's career by far and Danielson made him look like a million bucks. - the best thing about the C2 is that it's just given wrestlers the space to be themselves and tell stories through matches and great simple promos. Proof that if AEW just got out of their own way with their inconsistent and muddled overbooking you would have solid gold. I hope they learn a lot of lessons from this tournament. Edited December 19, 2023 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted December 19, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 19, 2023 I was thinking that Bryan Keith was a pretty boring name. I was thinking it must be his real name, or is it an homage to his two favourite people Bryan Danielson and Toby Keith. Then after a quick Google I came to another conclusion. Crush's real name was Brian Keith Adams, so maybe he was a big fan of Kronik? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 Brian Christopher and Keith Lee mashup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted December 19, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 19, 2023 3 minutes ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said: Brian Christopher and Keith Lee mashup? Already done mate, and better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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