AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

Surely Gabe Kidd is the natural choice to succeed Moxley? I don’t dislike Claudio, but I also don’t see him as the right choice to lead a major stable.

And while I acknowledge my irrational dislike of Strong, what makes you think he’d become a Death Rider? Is it simply because of the Shafir connection? 

If it’s not Gabe Kidd, I could see it being Eddie Kingston, explaining his slightly odd demeanour right now. Moxley is being beaten down by his former stablemates, Kingston runs down seemingly to help him, and instead turns on Mox. Having him join forces with Claudio would be quite the moment, and it would give the stable the promo guy they need, and AEW a new top heel. 

I’m going to ignore the batshit insane Willow as a heel comment. But Gabe’s whole gimmick is he hates AEW. It’s the opposite of Mox whose reason to attack AEW is to bring it back to how it was when he joined. A hard reset if you will. He didn’t want to kill the company.

Strong obviously has the Marina connection, but he’s also a wrestlers wrestler. He fits the style of the wrestlers in the DR. So does Kyle to be fair, but his personality doesn’t, Strong’s does. He’s a better fit in them then the Glom.

[Chili]

@RedTwosterisn't wrong about the potential of Willow being a heel because when or if it happens they'll probably be a great story at heart, I just don't think it's time just yet.

[DavidB6937]

Just now, Chili said:

@RedTwosterisn't wrong about the potential of Willow being a heel because when or if it happens they'll probably be a great story at heart, I just don't think it's time just yet.

Oh I absolutely believe it'd work but it really doesn't feel like they've gone all in on her as a face yet, so would feel a bit premature. I feel like the heel turn is something they could happily keep in their back pocket until it's necessary.

[Supremo]

Fantasy booking a Willow Nightingale heel turn. Game’s gone.

[RedTwoster]

31 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Fantasy booking a Willow Nightingale heel turn. Game’s gone.

Hey, I fully acknowledge that I find her incredibly irritating right now, but in spite of that I fully believe they backed the wrong horse by putting the World title on Statlander as a babyface. Stat was good as a heel, but she’s a mediocre face with no promo ability whatsoever. If they were looking to elevate someone through ending Storm’s reign, it should have been Willow. But they didn’t do that.

And they’ve not done it repeatedly with Willow. There have been numerous times in which it seemed easier to make her a main event level star than not, but they’ve inexplicably chosen not to. The ‘Tony fumbled’ chant in NXT is stupid, but I actually do believe AEW has fumbled with Willow.

They’ve already shown that they don’t want to make her a top level babyface, and given that AEW does not currently have a top level female heel who could talk, a heel turn would surely be enormous for her career. People would be devastated - something that could only elevate her.

[Chili]

7 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Hey, I fully acknowledge that I find her incredibly irritating right now, but in spite of that I fully believe they backed the wrong horse by putting the World title on Statlander as a babyface. Stat was good as a heel, but she’s a mediocre face with no promo ability whatsoever. If they were looking to elevate someone through ending Storm’s reign, it should have been Willow. But they didn’t do that.

And they’ve not done it repeatedly with Willow. There have been numerous times in which it seemed easier to make her a main event level star than not, but they’ve inexplicably chosen not to. The ‘Tony fumbled’ chant in NXT is stupid, but I actually do believe AEW has fumbled with Willow.

They’ve already shown that they don’t want to make her a top level babyface, and given that AEW does not currently have a top level female heel who could talk, a heel turn would surely be enormous for her career. People would be devastated - something that could only elevate her.

Yeah... But fantasy book it. I'd genuinely love to hear the pitch for how or why you'd do it in story.

[LaGoosh]

I wouldn't. Willow is my favourite and a heel turn would be a disaster!

Decent enough show.

Both B&G matches I felt started well, dragged endlessly in the middle then had strong finishers.

I can't imagine how difficult these matches are to do with so many people, spots and risk but the womens one really highlighted some of the womens inexperience. Cameron, Blue and Hart looked pretty terrible out there. At least Blue ran the blade to cover for it but Harley Cameron in particular was shocking.

Rough night for Hayter, she got fucking clobbered by a thrown chair from Bayne then Mercedes dumped her out the cage onto the steps like a sack of potatoes. 

Mercedes bring all her title belts into the ring to use as weapons was absolutely inspired. A lot of really creative spots throughout the night actually, like Orange Cassidy getting his hands stapled in his pockets. When you can blend extreme violence with character and creativity that is absolutely the sweet spot in these types of matches.

Marina Shafir is a star and was so great in this. She'll never be good enough for a 20 minute PPV singles match but they are booking her like a special attraction and it's totally working. Choking out Mina, splattered with blood laughing like an evil maniac...hell yeah. She's believable, charismatic and unique and we should cherish this run she's on while we can. Because once the Deathriders thing wraps up whatever she ends up doing next won't be as good as this.

Toni Storm being smashed through the face with that mirror was such a great spot. Looked like it killed her.

The ending was suitably nasty. I wish they played up more that locking the other girls out was a diabolical scheme rather than it not being clear if it was planned or opportunistic. Rough to watch but it needed to be.

Hangman/Hobbs was excellent. Hangman came out of it looking like the coolest motherfucker in the world and Hobbs didn't lose anything from it. Could have main evented a PPV. Hobbs push has been inconsistent but he's really shone any time they've given him a big spot. He's long overdue a big singles push now.

Running a cage match on PPV a week after Blood and Guts feels like a bit much.

Ricky Steamboat seemed absolutely lost out there. He's usually dependable in these types of segments but he looked like he kept forgetting where he was. Painful to watch. 

Daniel Garcia had a good showing in the men's B&G match - a real, nasty violent little shit. The Mark Briscoe injury stuff felt like a waste of time and I think him and Yuta are still pratting about with chairs on top of the cage. Good performance from Mox who is really starting to show his insecurities and lack of confidence - great character stuff. I'm not quite sure why Kyle O'Reilly got the big rub in this match but fair play to him, he bled a legendary gusher here. Loved Allin's big nutty bump but I've got little time for that phony hard man Gabe Kidd - he's so cringe. The ending made sense in context but O'Reilly's ceiling is pretty low so I'll see where things go next.

EDIT:

This is hard as fuck and pure pro wrasslin:

Edited November 13, 2025 by LaGoosh

[The King Of Swing]

Enjoyed both Blood and Guts matches. Men's was probably my favourite. 

Wonder what the original finish would have been to the woman's match, if Aminata didn't get injured.

Don't think Mone added too much of worth to the match, tbh. Shame because I was actually looking forward to seeing what she would bring to it. 

Didn't expect a blade job from Mina. 

Loved the finish to the men's match. Perfectly logical imo, after weeks of Mox shitting the bed against The Better Kyle.

Those glass spots always look a bit shit, imo. 

Thankfully no Ric Flair.

Hangman Vs. Hobbs was good fun. 

8/10.

[Chili]

The Young Bucks will 'join' The Don Callis Family next week. With Kenny back, I reckon you could scrap that six man and The Bucks will get a beatdown, and Kenny and Jurassic Express make the save. DCF Vs Kenny, Jurassic & Bucks for the million dollars perhaps.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I preferred the women’s B&G to the men’s one. Thought the women’s match was really exciting, with loads of energy to it, everybody going all out (and in that kind of match I think you can cover some messy moments more easily than a singles match) and some overlapping stories that’ll continue - Willow/Stat having a no-handshake moment, the tag tournament, etc. I was into this match from the start - Willow and Skye two good choices to start with, Skye probably the star of the match, and I stayed into it all the way through. Nice they gave Aminata a moment despite her not being able to get involved physically. Really liked this match.

Whereas I found the men’s one a bit of a slog, and if I’m honest, a little boring. There’ve been several perfect ‘ends’ to the Death Riders as they are now, and it’s just kept on going, I just don’t buy that this one will lead anywhere either. I didn’t like most of the match much, but I did like the finish, made a lot of sense and KOR was definitely the star of the match so I’m okay with him winning even if I can’t see it doing much for him afterwards.

Hangman/Hobbs was great and Hangman is just the best. Eddie Kingston was acting really oddly in the post-match bit though. Maybe I’m more aware of it and am looking out for it, but he almost didn’t get in the ring, he’s wandering about talking to the crowd while Hangman was on the mic, he sat down for a bit at one point … I don’t know what is going on right now but it really does feel like something is.

Edited November 13, 2025 by HarmonicGenerator
Darby you were on fire, what are you doing

[Supremo]

Find yourself a hobby that makes you as happy as Skye Blue being allowed to blade the shit out of herself.

I still don’t really look forward or get excited by Blood and Guts or War Games matches, and think both formats are inherently flawed, but as a show itself I thought this was tonnes of fun. Dumb, gratuitous, excessive nonsense. 10/10. Would watch again.

Finish aside, I thought the Women’s match was far superior to the Men’s. Fun, breezy and clever. It’s a tiny thing, but the way Mercedes’ table of belts and Champaign bottle/bucket actually had a logical reason to be out there before eventually playing  into the match as weapons was infinitely better than everyone just running to the ring with random shit wrapped in barbed wire. Put some thought into your work, you lazy bastards!

Cant be arsed with that Women’s finish though. It’s the worst part about Blood and Guts; the way it can only finish via submission or surrender means they keep trying to come up with silly stuff like this, where people give up out of love for a partner and it never really works. Always feel like an awkward anticlimax. Just allow pinfalls. It’s the one good thing about WWE’s current version of the match. Leave 1992 in the past.

Most notable thing watching this show was what a phenomenal job AEW - and specifically Jon Moxley - have done with Marina Shafir. It’s wild how over she is and what a big deal it felt when her music hit, considering she’s still mostly shit in the ring. Just goes to show what can be achieved regardless of actual talent. For the first time in ages I suddenly wondered what Ronda Rousey was up to. Most of the problems she had in WWE wouldn’t be an issue in AEW. She’d be allowed to rehearse her matches and if they did half the job with her than they’ve done with Marina, she’d be huge. Where’s Shayna Bazler? Maybe they can bring in the Four Horsewomen of MMA and do that run in this company, instead! Shayna and Ronda coming in as Death Riders to try to take over the Women’s division? Hell yeah!

Hangman vs. Hobbs was fantastic. Contender for TV match of the year. On a show where someone jumped off the stage onto a flaming table, the height Hobbs bounced off that Backdrop from the announce table was still spot of the night. So funny. Between The Opps turning on Page, the Halloween fancy dress and now this, it finally feels like Hangman’s Title run is picking up steam and reaching its potential. Long may he reign! *smashes a bottle over your head*

In the middle of this show, announcing that Samoa Joe vs Hangman at Full Gear is a cage match was distilled Billionaire’s Son Excess. Richie Rich strikes again. Tony Khan definitely has a McDonald’s in his own house.

Men’s War Games wasn’t as good as the Women’s. That noticeable lull where you start drifting snd checking your watch was definitely more prominent. Still enjoyable, and I liked the clever spots they did come up with like stapling Orange Cassidy’s hands inside his pockets, but I still got bored.

Thankfully though, Darby’s a fucking nutcase, so between his mental table spot and the fantastic finish they just about stuck the landing. What a photograph this is! Pro-wrestling is the best!

But yeah: finish ruled. I adore this crisis of character stuff they’ve done with Mox. It’s really cathartic to watch everything he’s built come crashing down because deep down he’s a cowardly prick. Mox has quietly became a real contender for Wrestler of the Year. Not something I ever expected to say back when he was mooching about like the burglar from The Sims.

[DavidB6937]

Weirdest thing about that photo is that it took me a few seconds to remember who the other bloke even was! Look at him. Just confuses me.

[RedTwoster]

17 minutes ago, Supremo said:

For the first time in ages I suddenly wondered what Ronda Rousey was up to. Most of the problems she had in WWE wouldn’t be an issue in AEW. She’d be allowed to rehearse her matches and if they did half the job with her than they’ve done with Marina, she’d be huge. Where’s Shayna Bazler? Maybe they can bring in the Four Horsewomen of MMA and do that run in this company, instead! Shayna and Ronda coming in as Death Riders to try to take over the Women’s division? Hell yeah!

I was thinking the exact same thing! I’d be totally fine with Rousey coming in as the new leader of the Death Riders. Rousey/Storm, Rousey/Mercedes, Rousey/Willow and Rousey/Statlander could all be outstanding.

My only worry would be that she could be another CM Punk, in that I could absolutely see a situation in which she doesn’t understand Toni Storm’s character and takes her inevitable jibes very personally.

[Chili]

Problem with Rousey is she's thick as mince and if you explained Timeless Toni Storm to her she would be convinced that Storm is literally age appropriate for the gimmick and jobbing to a someone nearly 100 years old would be unrealistic... especially by submission.

Edited November 14, 2025 by Chili

[Supremo]

I’d actually forgotten about Ronda’s complete inability to understand kayfabe! I take it all back. Don’t call her.

”Why would I lose to Willow? I’d destroy her in a real fight.”