Jump to content

AEW Double Or Nothing 2023 discussion


LaGoosh

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

I thought this was a great PPV despite a couple of really low points. I think not trying to make every match a five star spotfest like they usually do actually improved the show. Battle Royal was the best they've ever done, and the double main event as others have said were spectacular even with one of the worst crowds they've ever had.
Cargill vs Valkyrie was decent and was thrilled to see Statlander turn up and finally take Jade down, and the Ladder match was a good bit of fun.

Low points of the show were Cole vs Jericho. Adam Cole is garbage and the Panama Sunrise is embarrassing. He might be a lovely guy outside the ring but I don't get him at all.
Whoever booked the finish of the match to be Adam Cole doing a ground and pound stoppage needs to have a long hard think because those punches he was throwing couldn't tear through paper and it made Jericho look so weak. That being said, Jericho is doing a brilliant job of whirlpooling all the shite in around him this time with Cole, Baker, Saraya and Co being stuck with him instead of red hot babyfaces he can kill.

I went to the toilet for the Storm vs Hayter match and missed the whole thing so that was a bonus. The House of Black match was a ice cold waste of time but I loved Billy Gunn shouting FUCK YOU and EAT SHIT as he did the Fame Asser.
FTR vs Jarrett and Lethal had a strong final few minutes but it went way too long. Jim Ross did the opposite of whatever peaking is and gave the worst performance of an already abysmal AEW career, culminating in him just losing his shit and then vanishing halfway in the show.

Three great matches, two good to ok, and four pretty rubbish. Thankfully the three great match made up for the rest of it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Presumably Adam Cole was supposed to have chain wrapped around his fist during the finish but he gave up trying to unwrap it from around his ankle and went barefisted instead. There looked to be a moment where Aubrey wasn't sure if she was supposed to call it. The chain fist might have made the finish make a little more sense but given commentary were constantly referencing the fact that AEW weren't in any way liable for anything it's still a wonder why they went the way they did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

He's consistently over wherever he goes. And he's a focal point with Britt of their reality stuff. And he's generally a nice guy who has a good range beyond wrestling too with the video games etc. So yeah I can see why they get behind him.

Is he over, or is just his entrance that's over? His matches usually have a pretty disinterested crowd. Or maybe it's just me. He had that awful feud that stopped Hangman's momentum after his title win as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

He's consistently over wherever he goes. And he's a focal point with Britt of their reality stuff. And he's generally a nice guy who has a good range beyond wrestling too with the video games etc. So yeah I can see why they get behind him.

Double post

Edited by sukhy
Double
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very mixed bag of a PPV.

Beating a dead horse here but JR needs fucking off badly. 

Jeff Hardy needs to get out of wrestling.

Battle Royal was bags off fun. Having everyone brawl in and out of the ring at the start was a smart move and there was enough going on for it not to be boring. 

Jericho Vs. Cole was complete dog shit but I appreciate that they at least held off on blading considering the main event. Looking forward to Jericho getting pissy on twitter with randoms who rightly trash that match. 

Tag title was over booked bollocks but my kind of over booked bollocks. Good fun but probably would have been more at home main eventing on TV or BOTB special. 

Women's Title was a sloppy mess.

Jade Vs. Taya was meh and I'm probably in the minority that is glad they finally took the belt off Jade since I was completely checked out on her run. 

Ladder match was fine despite the ladder breaking. Arn chomping on Luchasaurus's finger was grand. 

Trios match was Rampage quality at best and shouldn't have been anywhere near a PPV. 

World title match suffered from an obvious result but was a great effort. Totally the correct call to bump it down the card. 

Anarchy In The Arena is type of match AEW really excel at imo. Just chaotic fun.

Takeshita turning heel surly must mean that Ibushi is coming in for Blood & Guts, right? 

6.5/10.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was…boring. I wouldn’t have watched this PPV if not for the bundle deal, but there was little to love from my perspective.

Criticising AEW on here can be a dangerous thing to do, but I say what I’m about to say as someone who really wants the company to succeed.

AEW is ice cold right now, and has been for some time. This show felt like the culmination of that coldness - a mostly dead crowd, visible empty seats in view of the camera and the weakest AEW card to date.

Perhaps Tony Khan is over-stretched. Perhaps he’s used up his best ideas. Whatever the case, I think the best thing he can do right now is draft in some new faces to help book storylines. 

I’m not saying AEW is bad right now…it’s just a bit underwhelming, and far less exciting than it once was, or could be given the talent they have on their roster. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Perhaps Tony Khan is over-stretched. Perhaps he’s used up his best ideas. Whatever the case, I think the best thing he can do right now is draft in some new faces to help book storylines. 

This is a key point. AEW absolutely does NOT need any more knee-jerk signings to parachute into the cards and bloat the already-heaving roster; it needs some extra hands on the book to give their great talent something decent to do. They invariably deliver good quality in ring, it's just mired in shite, uneven builds, low or ill-defined stakes, and muddled intentions, outside (tellingly) of anything involving the Elite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the past year in the *needs help* category there's been QT Marshall, Sonjay Dutt, Pat Buck, and Tony Schiavone into titled positions. Mike Mansury hire, Madison Rayne & Sarah Stock for the women's division, Moxley & Jericho's extensions that led to more creative input, Will Washington's hire, and now Bryan Danielson on the creative team.

Either the problem's Tony and it's about getting him to step away or we're already to the point of too many cooks.

Change is coming regardless as no one there has had to deal with booking 4 hours of meaningful TV with the extra hour on top. We will have to see how that goes.

As for the show my bar was set fairly low knowing the card. Just about scrapped a pass but more for clearing the decks for what's to come. Certainly won't be one i'm in a rush to rewatch.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going forward MJF desperately needs something bigger to sink his teeth into. 

Outside of Punk though (ugh) everyone else is either currently tied up in another feud or in the case of Jericho in serious need of fucking off for a while.

All that's left is people not ready for a world title spot which is highlights how poorly a lot of the roster have been handled imo. 

Edit. 

Did that ref actually blade in the main event or was he bust open by accident? 

Edited by The King Of Swing
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

The Rock Eye Roll GIF by WWE

You’re kind of proving my point here. This isn’t a criticism of the vast majority of posters here - including you; all I’m saying is that it can, occasionally, be a bit exhausting to suggest you don’t like something about AEW, whether it’s the continued use of people accused of sexual harassment or weak booking. It’s often easier not to say anything at all. 

I find it kind of astonishing that a promotion with a roster this talented and deep could end up putting on a PPV with a card that feels this shallow.

Edited by RedRooster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

In the past year in the *needs help* category there's been QT Marshall, Sonjay Dutt, Pat Buck, and Tony Schiavone into titled positions. Mike Mansury hire, Madison Rayne & Sarah Stock for the women's division, Moxley & Jericho's extensions that led to more creative input, Will Washington's hire, and now Bryan Danielson on the creative team.

Either the problem's Tony and it's about getting him to step away or we're already to the point of too many cooks.

Or those names aren't any good at it. I think Mox is an engaging presence and killer on the mic, but if you listen to his most recent podcast appearance with Renee, he states he doesn't see himself as a coach so much as there to critique of he's approached. That's not the attitude of the kind of creative mind AEW is missing. He even goes on in detail about all the in-match storylines he can tell that are different to the norm, but that is based on more wrestling in the ring, where you have 10-20 minutes of two guys fighting, rather than 30 minutes of an angle split episodically over 4 weeks.

I'd be interested to know which prominent names are booking stuff not directly involving themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...