AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[tiger_rick]

3 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I respect this opinion. However I'm a bit torn on it. Because yes, Rush is a reckless, unprofessional and probably terrible person. However, he's also a fantastic wrestler and brings a genuine feeling of chaos, violence and danger that you rarely see these days. His match against Danielson is a forgotten classic. I'm not suggesting that they should push him because, well, you can't trust that he won't fuck it up and burn every bridge he sees. But there's also loads of singles matches from him I want to see. So if they could just do an absolutely booking blitz with him, put him against the whole roster week after week for say six months then bin him off I'd be pretty happy about it.

Rush vs Samoa Joe, Kingston, Darby, Orange Cassidy, Okada, Brody King, Takeshita...good lord, the list goes on and on.

Rush is really, really good in the ring. His matches really drag you in. There's something about everything he does and how he does it that matters. It's enjoyable to see. The problem is in the picture that his booking is really inconsistent, and in defence of it, I'm not sure there's anything I particularly need to see from him that there aren't 10 other people I'd rather see in the spot. As much as a Rush match gives 10 minutes of interest, when he disappears for 6 months, I'm never gonna think "I wonder where Rush went?" 

I don't really know too much about the problematic side but given that there's often said to be one, I'd be more than happy for him to disappear permanently.

[LaGoosh]

Turns out Wardlow is now finally healthy and cleared to wrestle but he has a TV role and they're waiting for him to finish filming before bringing him back.

I have no idea where he'd fit in now considering how much he was floundering before his injury. But worth another go I suppose. 

Edited June 3, 2025 by LaGoosh

[RedTwoster]

10 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

I don't really know too much about the problematic side but given that there's often said to be one, I'd be more than happy for him to disappear permanently.

There’s some pretty nasty stuff that completely offsets his wrestling ability - like the fact he’s a supporter of Stephanie Vaquer’s ex-partner who domestically abused her and his assault of Richard Holliday when he was legitimately injured during a match. He seems like a despicable human being, and I’d be perfectly happy to see AEW part ways with him. 

22 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Turns out Wardlow is now finally healthy and cleared to wrestle but he has a TV role and they're waiting for him to finish filming before bringing him back.

I have no idea where he'd fit in now considering how much he was floundering before his injury. But worth another go I suppose. 

it’s a difficult one…his limitations become very clear very quickly each time they try to do something with him. I could see him working reasonably well as part of a tag or trios team, but even then AEW has a lot of stronger options. He’s not terrible by any means, but I’m not sure he’ll ever be good enough to have the kind of matches you need to be able to have to succeed in AEW. 

[Kamran]

Currently scheduled for tonight's 4-hour Dynamite + Collision special:

Edited June 4, 2025 by Kamran

[organizedkaos]

19 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Rush is really, really good in the ring. His matches really drag you in. There's something about everything he does and how he does it that matters. It's enjoyable to see. 

He's an entertaining performer but I can't really remember a singles match where he shone (I'm blanking on this Danielson one). Only seen him in AEW though (I suspect there's another side to him i have seen that goes beyond what I'm going to describe)

The excitement to his performance generally comes from the fact he just beats the crap out of his opponent and doesn't let them do anything. This only really works if you're booked as some boss character the fans are desperate to see someone take down.. if you do it as a mid carder you just seem like one of those wrestlers who forgets it's fake and not in a cool daredevil way, in a sad "rock and vin diesel have assistants to count punches they take" way..

So it feels hes doomed to midcard, forever wrestling collision matches because he can't work a competitive match with a top star.

I guess I'm mildly curious to see LFP/Opps because I want to see someone like Joe or Shibata take Rush down a peg. But thats cos I think he's a selfish performer not a character I want to see beat. I mean if that's a work,  cool but I don't see any attempt to cash in off the work.. he just fights more lower middle carders

[tiger_rick]

11 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

There’s some pretty nasty stuff that completely offsets his wrestling ability - like the fact he’s a supporter of Stephanie Vaquer’s ex-partner who domestically abused her and his assault of Richard Holliday when he was legitimately injured during a match. He seems like a despicable human being, and I’d be perfectly happy to see AEW part ways with him. 

Ugh. Agree, get shot of this prick.

[Chili]

I like RUSH as a wrestler, but he seems like a hair trigger prick and worse, one of those who is more than happy to take advantage of someone because they won't speak up as much. Just a really unpleasant vibe about him as a person.

[RedTwoster]

That was a bit of a slog to get through, I hope they don’t do a combined show like that again, or if they do, they make an effort to run more interesting matches. I thought we’d get Swerve/Ospreay on TV, and while I’m excited about it, perhaps this four hour bloc was the time at which to run it - it needed a match that you were really excited about and that didn’t really exist.

It wasn’t a bad show, but it was a skippable one. There was little in the way of development, unless you count MJF kind-of challenging Mistico as being that.

If you’re going to run a CMLL crossover show, I think you have to make at least some of their wrestlers look credible though. And when I say ‘credible’ a good showing in a losing effort against a top AEW act doesn’t count. It’s hard for me to care about Grand Slam Mexico for that reason. 

I sound more negative on this show that I actually feel - it was fine, and if it was your usual 2-hour affair, I’d say it was perfectly acceptable for them to run an entertaining ‘holding pattern’ show in the run-up to All In. Given the epic length of this one though, they probably should have offered something more. 

[LaGoosh]

4 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

There was little in the way of development, unless you count MJF kind-of challenging Mistico as being that.

I will say that MJF's last Arena Mexico performance was an absolutely God-tier old school territory heel performance well worth seeking out so I think this match against Mistico should be excellent with a molten hot crowd.

[RedTwoster]

25 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I will say that MJF's last Arena Mexico performance was an absolutely God-tier old school territory heel performance well worth seeking out so I think this match against Mistico should be excellent with a molten hot crowd.

Oh yeah, I think it’ll be a great show - I suspect there’s every chance some people will end up nominating it for their show of the year given the unique setting. I do wish that at least some of the CMLL crew had been treated as being on equal footing. Pretty much all of them have been an absolute blast to watch, but they almost always end up losing their AEW matches!

[The King of Old School]

44 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

That was a bit of a slog to get through, I hope they don’t do a combined show like that again, or if they do, they make an effort to run more interesting matches.

I think next week's is the same again?

[WyattSheepMask]

That Steak that Mercedes was eating looked worse than that Spoons breakfast she ordered. Drier than a Nun’s vadge

[Supremo]

I tapped out at two and a half hours. Will catch up later. It was a fine, acceptable show, with lots of good wrestling, but still an endurance test to sit through.

Weekly Wrestlemania Hangman promo hit like crack. He’s going to do it! For him! For us! For everyone!

Will be interesting to see if announcing Omega vs. Okada boosts ticket sales. It feels like a lifetime ago, but the idea of that match happening on US soil was once big enough to sell out Madison Square Garden.

I hope they stick to the idea of unifying the belts. “WINNER TAKES ALL,” on the match graphic isn’t enough. I need, “WE PROMISE WE’LL UNIFY. THIS IS THE LAST YOU’LL SEE OF THE CONTINENTAL TITLE.  AND THEN WE’LL BIN THE TNT TITLE NEXT.”

[RedTwoster]

11 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I hope they stick to the idea of unifying the belts. “WINNER TAKES ALL,” on the match graphic isn’t enough. I need, “WE PROMISE WE’LL UNIFY. THIS IS THE LAST YOU’LL SEE OF THE CONTINENTAL TITLE.  AND THEN WE’LL BIN THE TNT TITLE NEXT.”

100% this, and after all these men’s singles titles are unified, introduce women’s tab belts. You can absolutely see the potential for AEW to have a women’s tag division that puts WWE’s half-hearted effort to shame, and hopefully creates a bit of envy to the point it pushes them to do better also.

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

I think next week's is the same again?

Agh, is it? Well, at least we have Ospreay/Swerve to look forward to.

[WyattSheepMask]

Said similar in the All In thread, unify the Continental & International titles and sack off the TNT title completely