AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[tiger_rick]

Other than Christian's promo, which was truly horrific, I thoroughly enjoyed this Dynamite. I made the mistake of watching Collision after the weekend and it was one of the most boring TV shows I've seen in forever so it was nice to see this well built episode deliver.

The Hangman/Mox video at the top of the show was phenomenal stuff. One of the best things they've ever done. Enjoyed the match. Wasn't a barn burner throughout but built to a crescendo with several believable finishes. Not saying this to be a smart arse but I can't believe a single person thought Mox was winning. 

The MJF/Hurts stuff is a real sharp turn but I do really enjoy the MJF/Briscoe/Hangman dynamic so it's not bothering me much.

Great stuff from the Bucks. The production touches were great again. Them implying that all these matches for money all of a sudden are coming out of their wage is a nice little plot point that has been completely missed by everyone else. It would be a nice explanation if anyone else was selling it other than the Bucks.

Get that TNT title on Fletcher tonight. Forget that Dustin's consolation prize run ever happened. Easily TK's worst decision of a really strong year of booking. It might be sentimental but it's absolutely shite. Do not drag the arse out of it any longer.

[Chili]

9 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Get that TNT title on Fletcher tonight. Forget that Dustin's consolation prize run ever happened. Easily TK's worst decision of a really strong year of booking. It might be sentimental but it's absolutely shite. Do not drag the arse out of it any longer.

I mean the only reason it happened was Fletcher winning after Adam Cole poured his genuine heart out because he doesn't know if he's wrestling again would have made the crowd even more dead. They needed a nice moment there to try and lift it back up. The old send them home happy idea but mid-show. Now Fletcher gets to potentially bludgeon Dustin and look ace doing it. 

[tiger_rick]

1 minute ago, Chili said:

I mean the only reason it happened was Fletcher winning after Adam Cole poured his genuine heart out because he doesn't know if he's wrestling again would have made the crowd even more dead. They needed a nice moment there to try and lift it back up. The old send them home happy idea but mid-show. Now Fletcher gets to potentially bludgeon Dustin and look ace doing it. 

Yeah, I know why, it's Vince's philosophy. I just don't care. There was no story behind Rhodes winning. It was a rubbish idea that was rushed through. Dustin's follow-up promo was shit. His match with Moriaty was boring as fuck. Fletcher should have beat Garcia. The crowd had plenty coming to be happy about. I just hope TK doesn't overthink it again and it ends tonight.

[Guest]

They should've have just taken it as a sign from God/the universe/the fates that the show was way, way too long and just not have the match at all. 

[Chili]

39 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Yeah, I know why, it's Vince's philosophy. I just don't care. There was no story behind Rhodes winning. It was a rubbish idea that was rushed through. Dustin's follow-up promo was shit. His match with Moriaty was boring as fuck. Fletcher should have beat Garcia. The crowd had plenty coming to be happy about. I just hope TK doesn't overthink it again and it ends tonight.

I get why they didn't beat Garcia, because he'd already dropped the belt to Cole and another loss would have made him look a bit of a chump when he's a future guy and Dustin isn't. Well I hope Fletcher wins for your sake.

On Christian, I'm not sure what happened there, he seemed all over the shop, but even the best can have an off night. Which is better than elsewhere where I saw someone saying 'does he have CTE?'

Hangman/Mox was great, they have such a good chemistry together and you can siddle off to Darby being the one to finally put the Death Riders to bed. Mox losing twice, decively to put the champ over, that's how you look good in defeat without fannying about. I'm looking at you Jericho.

[digforvictory]

Well I really enjoyed the show, unusually poor Christian Cage promo aside. I'd have also had the Outrunners win but that's just a minor complaint.

One little thing I'm enjoying is how none of the usual edgelord insults and tricks MJF uses work on Hangman. Similar to their feud earlier this year, MJF will try and rile Hangman up, saying Hangman isn't as good a champion as Swerve,  and our Cowboy just completely no sells it and makes MJF get serious. 

The way they've booked Hangman in 2025 is fantastic and how he should be booked. It's been really cool to see him portrayed as the one guy MJF can't get to, the one guy Mox fears and can't beat etc. The top guy.

Fair play to Moxley, for all the criticism the Death Riders have got you couldn't have asked for more in terms of him putting over the babyface Hangman. Two definitive, decisive defeats to show who the better man is. 

I'd have Briscoe beat MJF next week but i'm guessing MJF will win as he usually does. 

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Fairly enjoyed the show. Poor promo from Christian aside. 

Billie Starkz looks uncomfortably like an ex of mine from.when I was 17. 

Hangman/Mox was bloody great, I admit there were a couple of points where I thought Mox was taking it.

[BomberPat]

I don't think Christian's promo was as bad as people are saying, but it was just way too much exposition for one promo, and I don't think anybody could have pulled that off. There was character work in there that could have been spaced out over multiple shows, or even just multiple segments on the same show, rather than trying to fit in Christian's character development, the history lesson with Copeland, and the break-up of The Patriarchy all in a single promo, and immediately following it up with the Patriarchy beatdown, which was designed to get sympathy, but Christian is still a dickhead heel who kind of deserves it, so we're just not there yet.

I normally love the way Christian covers for his mistakes by staring out the crowd and making them feel like it was their fault he fucked up, but he over-relied on the "I'm conducting my business" line here, which, again, was because he was given way too much to get through in a single promo. 

 

All that aside, I thought it was a fantastic episode of Dynamite. A problem I have with my own enjoyment of AEW is that I got a real kick out of early days AEW where a lot of the appeal was never quite knowing who might show up, and getting a lot of big debuts and weird cameos, so even now I tend to come away a little disappointed if there's no surprises or weirdness. That's completely on me, because they have as strong a core roster now as they have ever had, and are ticking away putting on really consistently great shows with that roster (though surely any day now we start getting NJPW people crowbarred in for Forbidden Door), so I just need to shake that feeling that there could be more. The only real downside for me at the moment is MJF - I think the story with the Hurt Syndicate has been a complete waste of time and consistently has been the worst part of Dynamite for months, and the current story of MJF trying to goad Hangman into giving him a title match while Hangman insists he earn one doesn't make any sense when MJF is carrying around the means to get a title shot without earning it or the champion granting him one, but just isn't using it because...reasons?

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

 and the current story of MJF trying to goad Hangman into giving him a title match while Hangman insists he earn one doesn't make any sense when MJF is carrying around the means to get a title shot without earning it or the champion granting him one, but just isn't using it because...reasons?

I actually totally get this. The story is that MJF thinks he can get a title shot just by goading Hanger into giving him one, or some other chicanery, and he can keep the shot for if he loses that shot, or if he then loses the belt after. As he said, it's his break glass in case of emergency. He's such an arrogant arsehole that he thinks he's entitled to a shot anyway. 

I am hoping, but without any expectations, that Briscoe beats him. 

[RedTwoster]

27 minutes ago, Duke said:

I actually totally get this. The story is that MJF thinks he can get a title shot just by goading Hanger into giving him one, or some other chicanery, and he can keep the shot for if he loses that shot, or if he then loses the belt after. As he said, it's his break glass in case of emergency. He's such an arrogant arsehole that he thinks he's entitled to a shot anyway. 

Yeah, it makes sense to me too. I don’t like the Money in the Bank-style nature of it, but MJF’s strategy would allow him to get a match, if things aren’t quite going his way, deliberately get DQ’d by beating the shit into Hangman with a weapon, then immediately use his second title shot against a weakened Hangman. 

A total aside, but I really like Alex Windsor simply because she shouts ‘WINDSOR!’ for no reason into the camera. Probably the strangest reason I’ve ever gravitated towards a wrestler but I dunno, there’s something fun about her. 

[poetofthedeed]

I think I now hate moxley purely based on the fact that he CAN have matches like that, but chooses not to. Great heavyweight title fight.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Thank goodness Hangman won, as he absolutely should have. I’m still aghast that some of you thought Moxley should have got the title back. What is wrong with you.

Lots of good things on this Dynamite. Hangman, obviously, but also the Bucks giving the Outrunners their best ever match (way better than the Runners managed with FTR). I love how much the crowds love Toni Storm at the moment, and I enjoyed the Athena/Starkz team, they work really well as a duo but the clear power dynamic makes it feel a bit different.

Collision lineup looks strong too - Willow/Thekla should be good, and the TNT title match has a lot of potential too.

[Kamran]

Collision is on Thursday this week:

[LaGoosh]

I loved all the Hangman, MJF and Mark Briscoe stuff this week. I wish they had paced it out a bit better though to create a real through line across the show. The title match should have been the opener for sure.

Speaking of which, what a fucking belter of a match. An all time TV classic. Maybe my favourite Mox TV match ever. For all the shit in this run you can't say he hasn't ended it on a high. The man was a master here, an absolute heat machine. He's particularly great at cutting off a babyface comeback at just the right time for maximum heat. All the stars for this.

Briscoe's point of "I'm worried I won't see my brother in heaven because of what I'm going to do to MJF" was so great. Very interested to see where all this is going.

I don't feel like they've made anywhere near as big a deal as they should have that Darby Allin climbed Mount Everest. In fact they've barely mentioned it at all on TV. They should be promoting the hell out of it!

Weird that Ricochet beat Mark Briscoe in an all timer Stretcher match a few months back but hasn't done a huge amount since and is now putting over Briscoe in TV main events. I hope he gets a renewed push, he'd be a perfect heel title challenger for Hangman in the future. The perfect person for a Wrestledream main event.

[tiger_rick]

Skipped through Collision this morning. A pretty good show with plenty happening. Definitely way better than last week with some proper stars on show, meaningful matches and a big main event.

There are some scrubs appearing but it's generally to lose, like STP, so it's minor stuff. The biggest negative issue I had is the Max Caster stuff. It's hideously written. It should be easy too. Instead, you've got Max making two completely false claims about Bowens that make him the heel, then calling Bowens a boring, bitch or something, which is the only bit of the story that needs telling, then the match going 5 minutes without the plot that it's the first match Max hasn't "lost" all year being explained at all. So he's now gonna be 0-18-1. Fucking rubbish.

TNT Title on the right person. Hoorah. A pointless diversion but it's over now.