Paid Members Supremo Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 (edited) Well that was bloody marvellous, wasnāt it? Ā A line-up that promised an all-timer and then a show that arguably exceeded expectations. I know recency bias probably plays a part, and I know a lot of it is down to the sheer euphoria coming out of that main event, but that might be my favourite AEW pay per view of all time, if not one of my favourite pro-wrestling shows period. What a belter. I canāt stop smiling. I donāt even remember doing the school run, I was on such a high. Firstly, whilst Iām far from any type of tribal fan, and I find positive and negatives in both products, there is absolutely nothing better than an AEW show with a big, hot crowd. I hope this recent return to form and the momentum coming out of this show sees more of these types of crowds for AEW. Makes such a difference. Great opener. The thing with Christian Cage is that heās absolutely amazing and despite all sense and logic heās reached his career peak this late in the game. What a performer. What a heel. Him threatening to do Garciaās dance but then switching it to do a bicep pose? Tremendous. I was hoping for a big Garcia win but those bastards stole it from me again. The Patriachy are the best pricks going today. Who needs the TNT Title though. Not our Danny G. A surrogate Dad(dy Magic) is the real quiz. My favourite genre of pro-wrestling is Eddie Kingston in front of massive crowds, getting his flowers. This man was selling his boots and retiring. Iāll never ever get over it. Brilliant match with Danielson. Real pissy scrap. I punched the air when Kingston won. Get in! I wonder if Eddie can now challenge Samoa Joe some time soon. Triple Crown? Quad Crown! Also; the way Bryan Danielson can switch from dickhead smirk to wholesome, feel good grin, effectively turning babyface with the slight change of a single facial expression, is why heās the greatest of all time. Hopefully he and Eddie become oddball best mates in storyline. Go digging for clams. Scramble match was probably the worst match on the card. Didnāt need to be on this show in the first place, and then fate confirmed that. A mostly messy affair that didnāt achieve much. Dante Martin in particular had a shocker. Felt like he fucked up everything he tried. Also, breaking news; Chris Jericho needs to fuck off. The longer he refuses to go away, the longer his inevitable sabbatical needs to last. Right now, anything less than six months is unacceptable. Nice to see Wardlow win, he seems to have found his mojo again, but surely they arenāt doing Joe vs. Wardlow as a pay per view main event?! No thanks. Cassidy vs. Strong was good fun. Some wild back breaker spots. Right decision switching the belt, too. On any other show this would have left a bigger impression, but what was to come on this show completely dwarfed it. I said it last time and Iāll say it again. I hope losing the International Title frees Orange up for a go at the World Title. Heās fantastic. Pac and Kyle OāReilly returning, Ospreay debuting, with Okada and Mercedes due any day now. Fucking hell, Tony. The roster of all rosters. Like heās turned on every hack and cheat on his EWR save. Really happy for Pac and Kyle in particular. Rumours Iād heard is that there was a chance neither could ever come back. Kyle looked like a bag of shit though. I thought he looked bad enough when he dressed as an Inbetweener in NXT! Look at the state of him! Eye bags for days! Jesus Christ! In those two years away, did he sleep at all? Makes CM Punk look healthy and refreshed! FTR vs. BCC is when the classic AEW pay per view fatigue kicked in. You can have too much of a good thing. Felt like weād been bombarded with good matches, with little to no breathing room. Couldāve done with a Grayson Waller Effect segment, to be honest. Fair play though; between the blood and the mad spots at the end they managed to drag this over the line. Surprising result with the BCC winning, too. I wonder if that means theyāll face each other again in the Tag Tournament for the vacant belts, or if this is a sign of Claudio and Mox being a top team going forward. I wouldnāt be against it. Nice change of pace for Mox and I bet theyād have belters staying in the tag division. Womenās match was fine. I felt bad for them. Easily the worst reaction of the night. They should have put them in the opener to give them any chance at all. Will Ospreay is the pro-wrestling equivalent of that, āworst person you know just made a great point,ā meme. Heās objectively a moron. Heās a bad promo. The bruv chav character is terrible and I imagine watching him as a weekly television character is going to be excruciating. But then he has a match like this, that gets a reaction like that, and I begrudgingly think, āyeah, probably put the World Title on him and build the entire company around him.ā Good Lord. Ospreay vs. Takeshita was un-fucking-believable. Mind-blowing stuff. Youād never guess I was yawning and looking at the clock when FTR came out half an hour earlier because watching this Iād never felt more awake. Never felt more alive. I think I was standing up in my living room by the end of it. This was the dogs bollocks, bruv. I donāt do star ratings, but this was off the scale. Insane. Like watching pro-wrestling from the future. You could not make a better first impression. Match of the year. Easy. I also hate to admit it, but Ospreay was actually quite charming and funny in the post-show presser, too. Listing his goals as, āwin world titles, retire Billy Gunn, get a Nandoās sponsorship.ā Fuck off being endearing, Will. Itās easier when I can just hate you, you idiot. Buy your mum a car yourself. World Title match was never going to be able to follow one of the craziest matches Iāve ever seen, but who cares when the character and stories are so spectacular. I mean, Top Rope Brainbusters are great, but equally as great is something like this. I popped huge. āHas absolutely lost it.ā ššĀ My heart is not ready for the day when his name tile states, āweāre ashamed of you - the graphics team.ā Going from, āweāre proud of you,ā to that is going to be the final straw. His fall from grace complete. But yeah. These three rule. Perfect characters. Perfect story. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. Good match, with a finish I obviously enjoyed since I suggested it a few pages earlier in this very thread and Tony Khan - clearly a UKFF lurker - mostly stole it. Tony, when you read this, once again, please. Sign Maximum Male Models. Sign Tyler Breeze and make them a Trios if you must. Unlimited potential. Hilarious bunch of lads. Great that Joe retained, and great Hangman and Swerve will likely feud forever. Big fan of Hangman just smashing shit out of refs, heās so far gone. Honestly, this might be the best thing heās ever done, and thatās saying something. Bonus points for the Bret Hart-inspired gear. Love when the wrestlers themselves prove to be the biggest dorks of us all. Swerve looking crushed at the end sealed it. Heās the next top babyface. Hunt starts now. Anyway, letās get to it. That main event was note-perfect and one of the best things Iāve ever seen. Maybe something will crop up if I think long and hard, but right now, thatās the best retirement match of all time and the classiest send off I can ever recall. From the entrances, the crazy bumps, the emotion at the end, the fucking monstrous pop for the finish. Incredible. Seminal. Beyond fantastic. Tears flowing. Everyone deserves all the credit in the world. The Bucks played an absolute blinder. Darby was willing to die. Sting taking CZW bumps and doing some of the best no-selling of all time. What a fucking triumph. All-timer moment. Pro-wrestling is the best thing ever. Waiting for that, āStingās Clones are All Elite,ā graphic any minute now. His sons looked the absolute business. Thereās a Tag Title run waiting to happen. Darbyās a fucking maniac. āReal glass! Go bleed me a river.ā Shame they cut Sting off, but what can you do. The only way the could have scripted the ending better is if Tony Schiavone screamed, āweāre out of time!ā just before they faded to black, full WCW-style. I assume the full speech goes online or is aired on Dynamite Wednesday.Ā But yeah. Spare a thought for Triple H and Seth Rollins today. Imagine watching that masterpiece, remembering what abject failures you had with Sting, despite him being nearly ten years younger. I wouldnāt be able to look myself in the mirror. Iād be calling the TKO executives, asking if they can wipe those matches from the Network. I like to imagine this is Hunter and Seth in catering tonight, clocking each other, both too embarrassed to even speak. Are weā¦shitarses? Edited March 4 by Supremo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Factotum Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 That was a sensational show with the match of the year and the moment of the year both on it. Sting going out like the absolute megastar he is was so great to see. Thank fuck Tony Khan gave him that moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 When Sting first talked to Tony Khan he was told he didnāt like how heād been treated elsewhere and wanted him to have the send off he deserves. I think he got it. - His Sons dressed up as classic era Stings and doing Stinger Splashes - Seek and DestroyĀ - Getting all his greatest hits in - Doing mad crazy shit - His bestie almost killing himself (hoping this was the scene at the brooks household last night) - Going out undefeated and as a championĀ Greatest wrestling retirement of all time. And the Bucks were absolutely perfect for the role (āSorry, We HATE youā).Ā Ā The whole PPV minus the scramble was great, Ā but thatās been talked about enough. But I want to also call out the world title 3 way. Masterful booking. Hangman completing his turn to the dark side, Joe still being a fighting champion, Swerve opting to try to win by not cheating. It will be a shame when Swerve beats Joe for the belt at Dynasty, but itās the right move because Swerve vs Ospreay for the belt at All In will be Amazing. Ā For a company that doesnāt know how to tell stories, they did a pretty good job all night, this was near peak AEW for me and worth every penny. What a show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Amazing show but fucking hell Christian Cage hitting a career best peak at 50 years old is still marvellous to me. I bet he's bloody dancing on air in this run. Never has someone loved being such an absolute arsehole. He's world class as this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 What a mark (fucking lovely though) Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Got to add how fantastic Hangman Adam Page cemented his heel turn by hitting a ref! Not just hit, absolutely mauled him and threw him out the ring. Tremendous final turn of form, heel unhinged 'BUT I'M FUCKING RIGHT!' Hangman Adam Page is going to be amazing. Him and Swerve can feud for as long as they want. What a mad run to find your career rival and just have blinders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 That Will Ospreay match was the absolute bollocks.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I can't even... How did a show I already had seemingly impossible expectations for exceed those expectations? I don't think there was a bad match on the whole show. I even thought the Scramble was good fun. Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 The whole presser was great, Will Ospreay doing a great job of not coming across as the twat we thought he was (he certainly seems heās changed since getting with Alex Windsor) but this was my highlightĀ Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Toni Storm is magnificent, what a sign off.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 Incredible match from Sting and his 3 sons. That Darby Allin but seriously might be the maddest thing ever seen on a major show. Like, Foley's hell bumps at least had some cushion to it. I just threw himself off a ladder into glass and metal! Absolute nutter. Sting is the ultimate babyface, though. He just has the artform down. A fantastic night.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 The wrong tag team partner retired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Xtreme_lives Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I've not seen a bump like darbys where I've openly gast with shock with how it shattered etc. Stunned me I only saw the main event but I'll be watching the rest in the coming days and not to rush itĀ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Most of my gushing has been gushed better, so I just want to use my post to say the MEAT hoss test of strength/pose down segment was everything I love about big dumb wrestling - do a division! - and the lethargic fuck off boos when Jericho interrupted them had me grinning like a fucking idiot. Go to WWE and retire. I don't watch their shows in full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 Hilarious to see Stingās son found Stingās unlockable Wolfpac attire (that Sting never actually wore) from the WCW Mayhem game. Iām surprised to see them dispense with the age-old, āput the other guys over on your way outā result, but if any one deserves to dispense and go against tradition, itās Sting. Not many wrestlers can say theyāve had a four decade-long career and able to walk away on their own terms and in relative good health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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