DavidB6937 Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 10 minutes ago, Shy Dad said: Obviously not on the same name level at all, but Mone would get the wrestling world talking and try and take some of the stink off the weekend. It would be a major coup for AEW if she has been chatting with WWE and they couldn't get it over the finish line. It won't make any major network news or do anything in the social media numbers close to Rock or Punk's return but it would directly be a "those at the top of their game right now want to work for us" that you feel like Khan is interested in parading. I think AEW definitely benefits from signing her more than WWE does. Especially if she's asking for a pretty high price. I'm not sure she'd do a whole lot for WWE but would probably be worth the investment for Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 (edited) Really fun episode I thought. Some fresh new faces/new directions, young/over acts in prominent positions, loads of variety and a great chaotic pace to it. Joe sounds so good as champion. All feels right with him at the top. Solid promo from Cole. Wardlow immediately positioned as a total punk ass bitch, but otherwise thought this was effective. Liked Jay White confronting them immediately and the brief tease of an Acclaimed/Assboys reconciliation. Good match between OC and Dante. Awkward production flub with them playing Top Flight's team instead of Private Party's Was wondering if Marc Quen wold ever come back. Nice reception for him. Toni Storm's "Luther: Scoop!" made me laugh. Swerve calling out his world title ambitions immediately on the first episode of the year. This is what we like to hear.  Mariah May/Queen Aminata was not very good. Should have been a simple Dark-style squash with Aminata getting a bit of shine but mostly Mariah winning in quick fashion. Instead, perhaps due to the placement of the commercial break, it had two fairly long back to back rest holds in it, which was death to the live crowd. Very happy to see Deonna Purazzo debut. Rated her during her brief Mae Young Classic/NXT run (though WWE apparently didn't) and from what I've seen from her in Impact she's improved a ton since then. Much more of a finished article in what is still a very inexperienced division. Another stonking promo from Christian Cage. It was immediately obvious he was going to thank himself instead of Killswitch but I still laughed out loud when he did it. Fantastic heat for it too, they have that Luchasaurus redemption moment in their pocket whenever they want it. I am enjoying lunatic Harley Cameron and, again, I find this version of Saraya where she's trying to be the voice of sanity when surrounded by nutters and love sick teenagers to be the best version of her. Man, Takeshita vs Darby... As soon as I saw the graphic I knew this would be an EXCEPTIONALLY spicy proposition, but fuuuuck meee. Sensational. I want this match again down the line and I want the shackles kept off of Takeshita for the rest of 2024 please. Was wonderful to hear Eddie Kingston sounding so happy on commentary. Eddie Kingston in a chipper mood cracking jokes and making fun of Taz because he is on top of the god damn world. He’s happy but he’s still not comfortable accepting praise, and is too humble and too focused on his next challenge to prattle on about how awesome his win, despite being prompted to do so by Exaclibur. Beautiful. Four way match was a ton of fun and I genuinely didn't know who was going to win it. Brian Cage's Streets of Rage gear is the coolest shit of all time.  Splitting the triple crown and putting more titles in the mix is rubbish though. The Continental Crown is now yet another midcard title, and then presumably the other ones will bleed back into ROH and New Japan eventually? So it won't be a triple crown any more and we just have a new belt floating around? Pfft. Still, Eddie sitting at the desk covered in belts was a glorious visual so I'll enjoy it while he has all three for now. Cracking main event. I know I'm dangerously close to wearing out the "strong in defeat" card for Garcia, but I was genuinely stunned when he kicked out of the stomp. A big main event win for Swerve to end the first show of the year is great, would rather not have had Garcia lose on this show. He was in the main event against an A-list opponent, but don't just make him the nearly-guy please. I suppooooose I can tolerate one more "put up a really good showing against a top ranked guy" but after this I want to see a run of wins and some real momentum behind him or they will undo all of the good work from the CC. Also I did get a kick out of the "holy shit" chant at the prospect of a Danny/Nana dance off. Fine with Hangman/Swerve continuing for now, though have no idea how they'll top my 2023 match of the year. Swerve is going to be the champ before the end of the year but he shouldn't be Joe's first challenger, and I like how fired up this feud makes Hangman. I think this works for both of them for the time being.  Edited January 4 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Duke Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 6 hours ago, JLM said: Fine with Hangman/Swerve continuing for now, though have no idea how they'll top my 2023 match of the year. Swerve is going to be the champ before the end of the year but he shouldn't be Joe's first challenger, and I like how fired up this feud makes Hangman. I think this works for both of them for the time being.  Considering Pages promo earlier I'm expecting a three way, which personally I am absolutely here for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Good, solid start to the year. Quick thoughts: - Schiavone getting in early with the line of the year, referring to the Devil as "A long, drawn out swerve" at the top of the show. - And what a relief to have it come to an end! Compared to some of the tripe that happened over the last few weeks it was a fresh pleasure seeing a good, justifiable heel faction open up the show with no spooky bollocks, and Bullet Club Gold more or less flip face for them. - Wardlow/Joe could be fun for a quiet month as well, though Adam planting the "And I'd HATE for Wardlow to turn on me!" seed was painfully obvious. - Good to see Deonna Purrazzo show up as well, someone who I thought for awhile now had a star power that was bigger than the places Impact/TeeEnAy run. - Mother Wayne was the missing piece for Christian's weird, creepy group.   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 7 hours ago, JLM said: The Continental Crown is now yet another midcard title, and then presumably the other ones will bleed back into ROH and New Japan eventually? So it won't be a triple crown any more and we just have a new belt floating around? Pfft. This reminds me ; I'm delighted that in AEW's attempt to book a G1 style round robin with a high stakes final, they duplicated one of the tried and tested formulae for a memorable tourney - a sentimental favourite loses their first few matches then beats the odds and comes back to win it, despite being knackered. TREMENDOUS, Joey Styles. Conversely.... no, the company doesn't need to feature more belts, especially how many of other companies' titles they feature. I'm fairly casual when it comes to AEW but watching all the entrances for All In (many of which were belting) I got sick of the sight of belts. Rather than highlighting how many wrestlers they were using of prestigious standing, it actually devalued championships in my eyes when every fucker has one. Which you don't want. Marufuji wearing the GHC belt when working a Wrestle Kingdom, it wasn't, even though I know that's what TK had in his head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 Timeless Toni Storm saying "I don't watch wrestling" with absolute disgust in her voice at the thought of it was tremendous. Probably will be the best line of the year and it's only the 4th of January. What an incredible character she's created. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 New Continental Classic, but it’s just Takeshita and Darby wrestling each other on every single show for the whole month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 (edited) Wardlow can physically dominate Max and has done in the past, and has been destroying his other opponents in double quick time with little or no resistance. With this in mind, he decided to film a bunch of vignettes talking about how he’s gonna get Max but, brilliantly, his actual strategy was to dress like a gimp and act as a foot soldier in Adam Cole’s plan to make Samoa Joe the world champion. He’s then going to continue beating everyone’s ass like he was doing before, climb up the rankings and take the title off Joe. He’s then going to agree to hand the belt to Adam Cole but ooh he probably won’t actually do that when the time comes. And then it’s Wardlow’s World babyyyy. Edited January 4 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 I'm hoping that the "Continental Crown" will effectively be defended as a single belt, and still treating it as three separate championships is just to give them the get-out clause for whenever NJPW decide they don't want to play ball any more. I don't mind multiple title belts from other promotions when they add some kind of clarity - Vikingo carrying the AAA Title says "this guy is a top star in Mexico", the same way that a NJPW guy coming in with the IWGP title tells you that they're a star in Japan. It's an immediate signifier that even if you don't know this wrestler, they're a big deal in their home country, and that's a really easy thing to establish and put across to the most casual of viewers with a minimal amount of effort. It's the ROH titles that are a drain on the show, because AEW top guys carrying belts from their little sister promotion which sometimes influences AEW continuity but sometimes doesn't, is too much to follow and too much over-egging of the product. I'd argue that The Kingdom carrying the ROH Tag Team Titles devalued the presentation of the Undisputed Kingdom's first proper appearance more than it added to them, with Adam Cole explaining how they were gunning for all the AEW belts, but already carrying the weird other tag belts.  All that aside, I thought this was a fantastic episode of Dynamite, and really felt like getting back on track after a mostly bad PPV - it built on the good stuff from World's End, and largely glossed over or didn't acknowledge the bad. Adam Cole's promo was long and really heavy on the exposition, which it kind of needed to be, but that's a rough job, so it's impressive that he managed to keep the crowd with him, particularly as he had a tendency to veer into generic heel stable "we're taking over/making an impact/putting the roster on notice" stuff. I hate the name Undisputed Kingdom, it sounds like the kind of tag team/stable name that people make up online by just smashing two existing names together, and I'd have much preferred if they tried to establish a properly new identity for the whole group moving forward. They're going to struggle as it is, given that their existing identity in AEW is largely defined by how they relate to MJF, and now they have to make people care, and to be more than just a generic heel stable, without MJF there to play off - it's the same problem that the Don Callis Family have without Kenny Omega (and to a lesser extent Chris Jericho) to be in opposition to. Cole talking about how MJF needed him more than Cole needed MJF was crying out for somebody on commentary to point out that Adam Cole was a hypocrite, and that MJF was the one defending their tag titles on his own through injury, and Cole's line about feeling bad about going after Joe because he didn't want to hurt a friend didn't get nearly the response he clearly expected, probably because it came at the end of such a long promo. Setting up Wardlow as going for the World Title and then handing it to Adam Cole couldn't have been more hanging a lampshade on "we're hitting the reset button on Wardlow, guys". I questioned at World's End why, in and out of kayfabe, Wardlow would be happy to take a backseat in a bodyguard role after they spent so long building to him getting out of that spot with MJF, and at least being supported in going for the World Title gives some logic to that, though it's so obvious that they're just going to have him turn babyface on Adam Cole anyway. Also not helped by the fact that it's more or less the same angle that Luchasaurus is working with Christian Cage. At least Jay White finally remembered he should be angry at these guys, though I'm not sure the best way to establish a new top heel stable is to immediately foreshadow feuds with a separate heel stable, and a heel World Champion. It's a very heel-heavy promotion at the moment, so thank God for fired up babyface Hangman Page putting in an appearance to close the show, and for Eddie Kingston doing God's work.  Daniel Garcia vs. Swerve Strickland, the Four-Way, and the Orange Cassidy match were all good, but Konosuke Takeshita vs. Darby Allin was phenomenal. There are some matches I want to see because when I see the match graphic I can't even picture what the match would look like (I was rooting for Vikingo to win the title shot on Eddie purely on that basis), and some because you know exactly what you're going to get, and this was the best possible case of the latter. Great chemistry, insane spots, and Takeshita looking like an absolute star. I'm hoping this is a win they can actually build on for him, but it seems unlikely given that the Don Callis Family are moving straight on to a probable loss to Sting and Darby. I don't care for Mariah May, and it's a good thing that her character is supposed to be smarmy and disingenuous because she can't cut a believable promo to save her life. Her match wasn't good, and completely and rightly overshadowed by Deonna Purazzo debuting, who could be a huge get for the division. Christian Cage is fantastic. Even when he's predictable in his promos, they're so good and so well-paced that the kill lines still get you. Given that the current thrust of the story is Luchasaurus getting his mojo back, I was expecting a Jack Perry return here, setting up a Jurassic Express reunion against Christian Cage and Nick Wayne. The real question now is what they do with Adam Copeland; he's come in as a hugely promoted new signing, wrestled one guy repeatedly and lost every time. Cage ducking him for a while gives them a reason to keep the two separated, which I think they both need, but they need a way to heat Copeland back up in another programme without it feeling like he's lost sight of Christian Cage, or that he's slumming it in the midcard and not living up to his potential, because it doesn't seem like there's a place for him in the current World Championship picture. So what do they do with him now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 I decided to watch this show - no Flair, no Jericho and an emphasis on the women’s division. That’s something I can support. I thought the Adam Cole explanation was very well done, but it seemed a bit too early to plant the seed of Wardlow turning on him. It’s also a bit too similar to what they’re doing with Luchasaurus; although the Wardlow character is clearly a bit more savvy than that. Roddy Strong is about as one note as it gets, the name shouting can get to fuck. The Deonna debut was the main reason I watched - she was great on Impact, and I’ve no doubt she’ll be great for AEW. If they sign Mercedes also, I could easily see Deonna/Mercedes headline a PPV this year. Takeshita’s suplex chain on the ramp was a sight to behold. I’m a little out-of-the-loop, so I’m not completely sure whether or they’ve done Joe/Takeshita at any point, but sign me up for that. Joe’s promo to start the show and the recap were really good, and Christian was great fun as usual - in fact, I think they nailed all of their talking segments. The fact the Continental Title is a thing makes me glad Swerve didn’t win the tournament. But the near apathy from the crowd during the number one contenders match was telling. They immediately defined the title down by having those wrestlers (Cage aside, maybe) compete for it. It’s not clear at all what it even is. If the end goal is to unify it with the TNT title, to remove the television branding from the title name, I guess I can understand that (although they could have just renamed the belt…) but as it is, the title lacks purpose. If I had one suggestion for Khan in 2024 (other than can the problematic wrestlers) it would be to ditch almost all of their title belts. The trios belts, two of the men’s singles belts, retire the FTW belt, ditch the TBS title (particularly if the plan is to introduce women’s tag titles) - I think someone mentioned it earlier, but I also felt a sense of title belt fatigue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 Add me to the Takeshita fanclub. Are they going to do anything meaningful with him though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 29 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Add me to the Takeshita fanclub. Are they going to do anything meaningful with him though? Tony seems to like him for a few weeks at a time then finds something shiny. He really deserves a consistent push somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 4 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: Tony seems to like him for a few weeks at a time then finds something shiny. He really deserves a consistent push somehow. Tony seems to find people he wants to push, but struggles to prioritise or figure out how to push them all at once - you could point to Wardlow, Will Hobbs, Scorpio Sky, Sammy Guevara, Lucha Bros, Ricky Starks, Daniel Garcia, Brodie King and Lance Archer as examples, but there are others too. He’d do well to identify the next generation of stars and chart out a roadmap for how to get them to where they need to be; while accepting that it’ll make some wrestlers drop down the card and potentially unhappy, and more likely to leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 Let's hope they really pull the trigger on Takeshita, he looks phenomenal. Whoever said about Mamma Wayne was the missing piece of the puzzle was wrong. She is the the cherry on the cake. Christian doesn't need any verbal addition in a promo, but she definitely adds a little something on top. They do need to be careful though that she doesn't come across as Vicky Guerrero light (not racist) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 4 Paid Members Share Posted January 4 1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said: Add me to the Takeshita fanclub. Having a fan club for a wrestler whose surname looks like "Take a shit" is the most UKFF thing ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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