AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[LaGoosh]

Rewatched the womens match, those final 20 minutes are excellent and maybe the best B&G action AEW have done. Previous 25 minutes a bit less so.

[digforvictory]

What a turnaround for Mox though this year.

In March/April he was a credible shout for one of the worst wrestlers of the year, the PPV main event with Edge was horrendous and the one with Swerve the month after wasn't much better. 

The last few months though he's been absolutely fucking brilliant, the way he put Hangman over at ALL IN was one of the all time jobs from a heel making a babyface look great, and this story of him acting the hard man but actually being a cowardly prick is fantastic.  If you go back and look at the times he's lost this year, starting with tapping out in the trios title match against Samoa Joe the crowd go insane every time it happens. Which is exactly what you want when the heel loses. 

Hopefully they stick the landing with the Death Riders inevitably turning on him very soon. 

 

 

[Supremo]

Bonus thoughts;

This show solified what I've been thinking for a while, which is that Roddy Strong and Kyle O'Reilly are the definition of, "JUST LET THEM WRESTLE," guys. Fantastic pro-wrestlers, who can have incredible matches, but who are terribly unfunny, with zero charm, and genuinely make for uncomfortable viewing when they try and play babyface with the rest of The Conglomeration. The sooner both turn heel and stop trying to be goofy and lovable, the better. Stick them both in the Continental Classic and never allow them to try to be funny again.

As an admirer of petty, passive aggressive bollocks, my only assumption for why they did Blood and Guts in November and turned the insanity up to eleven was to wind up WWE two weeks before they do War Games. Fair play. Most years, War Games already feels like a tame, sanitised, silly game show. Ths year, after that, they might as well fly Stephen Mullhearn in to host it.

[The Gaffer]

Women's Blood & Guts was a match of the year candidate for me. Glorious fun, fantastic production on everything from the individual entrances to the camera cuts, and a red hot crowd.  One small thing is I wish Jamie Hayter went back to her old look or any other look that wouldn't make her look as if she was doing cosplay for the Halloween Dynamite every week. 

Went back to idle browsing during the mens. The Death Riders are just so synonymous with Dull AEW for me. I can't shake it, and doubt they ever can either. Put them to bed and move on. 

[LaGoosh]

Deathriders somehow manage to simultaneously be a brilliant heel stable that has got over Mox, Marina, Claudio and Yuta as top heels and Hangman, Darby, Statlander and Kyle O'Reilly as top babyfaces while also being boring as fuck. It's a ludicrous balancing act.

Edit: fucking hell, what a shot!

Edited November 14, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Chris B]

Haven't watched the main event yet, but I enjoyed the women's match so much. Easily the best Blood and Guts match I've seen so far. And while I get the execution of it being tropey enough to be annoying, the execution of outnumbering the faces at the end gave it a different feel for me - there was a genuine sense of a nasty plan that worked out.

I never fully suspended my disbelief, but I wasn't bored once during it. And I came out feeling like it was a big deal and like it tipped the audience into just seeing the people involved as proper stars.

Marina Shafir, Megan Bayne, Thekla and Skye Blue (who probably bladed at least another year onto her contract) all felt like bigger deals than they went in. Mercedes Mone and Kris Statlander both felt like really big deals. They did a couple of memorable spots, did some innovative stuff (loved Julia Hart and Thekla sneaking out of the cage), had some funny stuff throughout, and advanced a big storyline with Toni and Mina. And it was brutal and fun to watch.

Honestly, for me, it's up there for match of the year.

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, Chris B said:

Honestly, for me, it's up there for match of the year.

It’s been a stacked year - I think the Hollywood ending will probably end up being my pick, but Hangman/Moxley was amazing partly because of how elated I felt when it was all said and done. Storm/Mercedes was also great, and FTR/Outrunners was ridiculously good given the limitations of the Outrunners. Then there’s Bandido/Takeshita - basically any Bandido match would be a fair nomination here really. 

Cena/Styles was surprisingly excellent over in WWE, and Cena/Rhodes was great, though utterly overshadowed by the awful decision to bring back Lesnar. 

It’s been one heck of a year.

[The King Of Swing]

Fucking hell I forgot that The Hollywood Ending was THIS FUCKING YEAR. 

Said it before and I'll say it again. I hate time. 

One thing I really liked in the woman's match was Julia and Thekla using their size to their advantage by squeezing out of the cage. Wonderfully creative spot, imo. 

As limited as Marina is, she's been perfect in her current role. Feels like a legitimate thread against anyone on the roster. 

Edited November 14, 2025 by The King Of Swing

[Supremo]

Seems premature to be discussing Match of the Year today, of all days!

We’ve got a potential contender tonight!

[FLips]

It looks so bad on paper I might actually watch it tomorrow. It's shocking to think they're both former World Champions and that (at least I think) they both deserved it at the time of winning it. Jey Uso's star fell back to earth so quick it almost blew clean out the other side back into space.

[DavidB6937]

Meltzer rated the mens match higher than the womens which is certainly a choice.

[Chili]

8 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Meltzer rated the mens match higher than the womens which is certainly a choice.

Maybe he enjoyed the story of it more, generally his opinion is as meaningless as ours in the grand scheme.

Personally preferred the women's match, but preferred the conclusion to the men's.

[The King Of Swing]

Yeah I enjoyed the men's match more largely because of the Mox/Kyle side story which of course imo, led to a more satisfying finish. 

On a second viewing I think the women's match was better paced and flowed better once it settled down. 

I can absolutely see why someone could prefer one over the other. 

[LaGoosh]

"Alex Windsor. Riho. Congratulations on your lovely match. We will be seeing you in the first round of the tag team tournament and I wish to apologize in advance. We consider you both wonderful athletes and non-sexual friends. This is personal so please excuse us as we rip up your heads and shit in your handbags. We are lovers during a very dangerous time, and we are on a very rocky road to revenge and no woman can stop us! So please, let's have a bloody good time!”

Toni Storm is the best in the world.

Perfectly decent inessential Collision. Good matches and promos throughout. I liked Garcia and Daddy Magic naturally fighting at the start and how it led to Mox deciding to hang about at commentary for an hour or so then leaving in a huff because the fans upset him. Really fun main event - anytime Rush pops up it just reminds me of all the singles matches I want to see him in. 

I skipped the TNT title match because Scorpio Sky is and forever will be a waste of TV time.

Tay Conti is one of the most annoying promos around. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

The key moment for me was also from Toni Storm, but it was her first promo earlier in the show, where she used the term “shitarse”, confirming herself as a UKFFer.