AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[DavidB6937]

I agree with the sentiment but he's really not doing a good job of it recently.

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Him and his stupid self-indulgent storyline isn't building shit.

Whatever my feelings are on Moxley, he's completely forgotten how popular he was, the crowds he was pulling in and that they cared about what he's doing. If he really wanted to help build AEW he'd go back to that.

[Supremo]

It’s on nowhere near the same level, but it’s quite fitting that Moxley and Jericho are teaming now. The two guys who launched and carried this promotion in that perilous first year. Now doing the worst work of their careers. The two main outliers in a promotion that’s otherwise doing quite well.

Funny to think about that first year though. Remember when they closed 2019 with that embarrassing Elite vs. Dark Order brawl and it got such a bad reaction that they completely pivoted, threw all the plans out, and ended up having one of the best builds to any pay per view ever (early 2020 leading up to Revolution)? I’d give anything for Tony Khan to grow a set of balls and show a backbone like that again.

I don’t care what THE PLAN is. It’s shit. It’s not getting better. Even if they have some weird, warped loyalty to Darby, what will he even gain by beating an ice cold Moxley, as the lifeless conclusion to a universally panned angle?

It won’t happen because 2025 Tony Khan is a cowardly shithouse who wouldn’t dare even suggest it to Moxley, but imagine if the reaction to that 12-man graphic was enough to break him. If he understood that not all criticism is Bischoff-style grifting.

Come on, Tone. Fuck the whole thing off and gives Hobbs the belt. Copeland runs in like Stone Cold helping Mankind beat The Rock. Treat the Death Riders like the Nightmare Collective. Never mentioned again.

[Chili]

I'm going to throw this in here rather than the YouTube thread. This fella has made some nice big supercut mini movies of storylines and they've made one about one of the absolute best AEW title reigns ever.

 

 

[Supremo]

It almost feels sacrilege to say, but seeing Penta on Raw?

*Looks both ways, making sure no-one is listening*

*Whispers quietly*

I think I want to see Orange Cassidy in WWE.

[Hannibal Scorch]

2 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

I agree with the sentiment but he's really not doing a good job of it recently.

 

Yeah, well when big Willy Hobbs wins the belt tonight, you’ll change you tune!

[d-d-d-dAz]

27 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It almost feels sacrilege to say, but seeing Penta on Raw?

*Looks both ways, making sure no-one is listening*

*Whispers quietly*

I think I want to see Orange Cassidy in WWE.

The moments passed, but I used to daydream about heel Roman and the Bloodline demanding OC acknowledge his Tribal Chief. As they stand in front of him, fingers in the air he teases doing the same... only to pop his hands in his pockets.

That'd have been wrestling nirvana for me.

[Devon Malcolm]

I think my absolute favourite thing Orange Cassidy has ever done was when he won the International title a second time and the realisation dawned on him - oh shit, it nearly killed me first time round. Top class wrestling acting.

[LaGoosh]

37 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It almost feels sacrilege to say, but seeing Penta on Raw?

*Looks both ways, making sure no-one is listening*

*Whispers quietly*

I think I want to see Orange Cassidy in WWE.

Shut your dirty mouth.

[Chili]

It's a real shame (though out of everyone's hands) that Moxley smashed his bonce in that defence against Rey Fenix, which just blew the story of OC coming back to finally defeat Mox. Because the finale of the International Title reign where a completely bollock knackered Orange Cassidy getting mullered by Mox but right until the end, still showing utter defiance at him was one of the more satisfying heel wins because the story was so good they've done.

They really did book their current angle a bit arse backwards. I like Darby Allin, but for what the Death Riders angle was meant to apparently be (we hate jokes, everyone needs to step up blah blah), Cassidy was the PERFECT option to slay the dragon again. Mox even showing (if he could stop being the dead hard third Mitchell) glimmers of knowing OC could beat him because he already had would have been a real nice touch.

[LaGoosh]

Has a long term story ever been done where the story has been told almost exclusively through matches alone? That OC International title story was so incredible. 

Heartbreaking they gave Roderick Strong the title after OC. Takeshita was RIGHT THERE!

[DavidB6937]

52 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Yeah, well when big Willy Hobbs wins the belt tonight, you’ll change you tune!

I'd absolutely LOVE for them to do something mental like that. Shock the world! Make a star. Kill off the shitty storyline rather than insisting on dragging it out to a Darby end because that's what they want to do. 

Not to say Darby isn't the right choice but they're going to have to do a LOT of heating up again to make him going over feel something special like it should be. Rather than just "thank fuck that's over with now".

[Guest]

I'll say that Darby isn't the right choice. He isn't. 

Hobbs isn't going to win tonight, though I too would be perfectly fine if he did, but the crucial thing will be how they beat him. It'll be such a shame if he just disappears, or just drops down the card again after losing clean to Mox.  Which is what we all expect, because Hobbs personifies the stop start of AEW. 

[RedTwoster]

If the storyline was working, I’d say Hangman was the right choice. As it is, I’m not sure they should waste Hangman’s face turn on this shitty stable. Then again, maybe you do - making the storyline feel somewhat worthwhile and bringing an end to the Death Riders in the process as Hangman takes them out one by one.

Another uninspiring show for me. I’m not one for predictable feeling matches, but what what the shat-out cherry on the shitty cake was the MJF/Jarrett segment. Rather than pull MJF up to Jarrett’s level, the opposite happened and they both descended to MJF’s worn out shock-jock routine. The fact that I think that MJF was the stronger of the two is not a compliment. Jarrett’s part in this fiasco felt unpleasant, and the material was dated and hard to actually buy into. If there was an element of truth to any of it, it had a better (but still slim) chance of working but  this was a show-killing failure for me. I absolutely hated it, and I’d go as far as to say it’s one of my least favourite segments in a long, long time.

 

[DavidB6937]

There's a few people I'd happily have as champ - I still think Omega is the best and I wish we'd get a sustained push for him, but then I'm happy with Hangman at ANY point. There are guys who could naturally be in that position leading the company with no problem whatsoever.

I think this storyline could've been a great opportunity to solidify Darby as the future though. They did a lot of great work with him with Sting and he just needed some consistency in the main event solo scene to be that guy. But even though that should've been an easy win here I just don't care anymore.

One person i absolutely don't want anywhere near the main event or title is MJF.. and sorry but they've managed to kill all interest I had in Jarrett too. What a stupid misogynistic terrible promo battle that was. Awful. And the Owen stuff works as a simple fiery babyface reason but just feels uncomfortable and unnecessary when used as an attack. Especially when MJF's act is already cold. It's not the kind of thing to win me over.

Womens casino was short. Some obvious names strangely in there. Megan seemed to come out to no reaction but she'll be fine. Definitely could've been a longer and better effort.

Hobbs put in a good showing but then got the usual shit. Yawn. Love how the guys come out to save him after the attack. Even with the shortest ramp ever! Twats. And yeah silence again. Just awkward.

Oh and always happy to see Joe obviously.

Middling show. Another good venue choice but yeah not exactly their best.